MORE PROGRESS!

My furniture is now in the front room. I am so excited about it. It looks fantastic! Thanks to Myrna & James for storing them for me for the last 4 years! (It worked out well because I as able to see my couches up against her kitchen walls and knew I had to have that color in my front room because it goes with the couches perfectly.) But first, you have to see the "before"...

This is the way Kent had his front room.

The buffet & dinning table & chairs are projects that Myrna and I re-finished. That's the results of all the sanding, dusting, painting and finishing that we did. We went to Wal-mart after a Ward Conference Leadership training on Saturday and bought the PERFECT material for the seat cushions on the chairs. (they're not on right now. Once they are it'll break up that big mass of black in that area. lol!) It's a dark red with swirls in it that are almost the same color as the curtains. They go beautifully with the couches.

I can't wait until the curtains are hung on the front window. It'll really make that bench pop. There's a night stand at the end of the bench now, but that's not staying. That goes in the craft room. It's just sitting there for now until I can find the perfect table to go there. I can still kick myself for not getting myself tables like we got for my parents house. They would be perfect in mine. Oh well. Something else will be found.

These pictures really don't do the room justice. You'll just have to see it to know how great it has turned out. I am so excited to move in- even more than before! Now, if we can just get the bathroom done so we can move on to the kitchen and have all of the major projects done... It's going to be fantastic!

cute boy!

OK- since I'm adding pictures, I just have to add these two of my nephew Harrison singing. He had us entertained all night. He's 2. The best was his "Take me out to the Ballgame", but he wouldn't look at me while he sang it..

ANOTHER WEEK GONE BY...

So, I just went home to get my camera so I could add pictures today.. Here's the office again... brought my cedar chest over last Saturday. Leah put up the cork board with the map on it then too. Here's the ghetto load that was in the back of Myrna's truck. I totally laughed about it.. The kitchen table is straddling the buffet, and my bench is sitting up against the window. We were determined not to make more than one trip. And we did it. (the chairs and drawers were in the back of my Explorer.) Here's the picture wall Leah & I put up. I helped hold the pictures while Leah put the screws in the wall and put them up. - I totally count that as helping! (lol) I totally love it. I can hardly wait to see real pictures in all the frames.

This is my niece Samantha (we call her Sister- she's the youngest of the foster kids Myrna & James are working to adopt.) She LOVES to wipe things down. We had to wipe everything down before we brought it inside since it's been stored outside for months. She was out there wiping those drawers down for at least 30 min. - dang cute girl.

PROGRESS...

So, I worked all week last week and so I didn't have time to work on the house or post for a full-time job. Friday night however, Myrna came over and her and Leah- mostly Leah put up my picture wall in the front room. It looks fantastic. At least the frame arrangement does.. The majority need pictures put in them, but that will come later. We'll get together and put together scrapbook like pages to put in the frames. It makes the wall funner to look at. So, needless to say, Friday night was a long night.. we had to pull out all my decorating stuff. For the most part we had already done that.. but I found some more stuff. I think I've got enough stuff to do about 3 more picture walls.. LOL! I didn't bring my camera over here today, but I'll add pictures to this blog next time. Saturday I had the carpets cleaned. The guy didn't do as great a job as I thought he would. Oh, well. There's still spots, but at least it smells different now. I went and helped Myrna load up my buffet, dinning room table & chairs, and a bench into her truck and mine and brought them over. They're the ones we refinished.. They've been stored outside this whole time (under cover of course). It's nice to finally have them in the house. We'd have brought the couches over, but they are in Myrna's upstairs living room and we weren't about to lug those big things down the stairs. So, we'll wait until after Tuesday when my bro-in-law James & bro. Kent are back from the ranch. We didn't get to work on projects as much as we wanted on Saturday because Myrna and I had to do Stake training for 2 wards. It's their ward conference weekend and our new stake pres. has brought back the Saturday night meetings as an opportunity for individualized ward training. It turned out fantastic. We split the presidency up and met with the two wards individually. We'll be doing the same thing for each set of ward Conferences.. (2 each time they're scheduled.) Next week it's the Spanish branches. The rest are farther out. Sunday was BUSY!!! Started off with Country Club ward conf. had about 30 min. to go home and fix some lunch before having to be at the Gateway ward conf. then had about an hour for dinner before having to be at a camp meeting @ 5:30. Then, right after the camp meeting was a Stake Youth Fireside where our new Stake Presidency spoke. It turned out fantastic. What a bunch of funny men. They all told funny stories and I think the youth really enjoyed getting to know them better. Two more days have gone by with no work done on the house, but It'll be done soon. Hopefully I'll be in by the first of Feb. We'll see.

SECURITY

Today I installed the alarm system. Instead of just beeping when a door is opened.. it tells you what door is open. Mom came over to check it out tonight and wants one like it. Didn't work on anything else since I worked a 1/2 day for a member of our stake Pres. I'll be helping him out until he can find someone.

FRONT ROOM

Here's a picture of the front room with the two colored walls and the curtains up. The mirror set against the wall is actually going on the wall to the left like my parents house. It'll be the first thing you see as you walk in the front door.

THE OFFICE

I was just responding to an e-mail from my fabulous friend Lindy and decided I needed to add pictures to this blog today to show some of the progress I've been talking about, so here goes...

Here's 3 stages of the office.. 1. The way it looked when Kent lived there. 2. Cleaned completely out and ready to paint. 3. Painted w/ the book shelves up. Myrna's coming over when the kids wake up to help me move the computer desk over there so the office can be completely done..

ps. the stuff leaning up under the window in stage 3- is my picture frames and other decorating stuff.. right now it's just being stored in there. The other stuff is in the closet. Maybe tonight I'll move it all to the closet so when I take another picture, it'll look more done. All that'll be left to do is put the floor molding down... You can't really tell how beautiful the brown paint is on the wall, but trust me, it looks great.

MUSCLES

Ok- reading that last comment at a reasonable hour, it made me laugh all over again because obviously I was sleep deprived... I do have more arm muscles.. what I meant to say was that I have them because of all the painting/rolling I've been doing on the house.- they didn't just suddenly appear. I have got to stop typing on this blog at midnight and later.. it clearly shows the lateness of the hour when I do.

muscles!!

OK- I just have to add, that I was looking at my arms today and noticed that I totally have more muscles - it made me laugh out loud.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Started the morning off @ Home Depot. Got some more paint and more flooring to be able to do the kitchen floor. I wanted to do real wood, but with no job and no $$ left, I'm using the leftover laminate that I got for my parents house..., but there wasn't enough, so I had to go get 3 more boxes. The color is not an exact match, but mixing the pieces together will look beautiful. I added a 2nd coat of white to the kitchen and finished painting under the cabinets. Now, the kitchen is finished being painted. Once the floors are done I'll add the floor boards around the cabinets and walls and that room will be done. Wahoo!!! I also added a 3rd coat -Leah did the first two a few days ago.. on the front door (outside). We decided to paint it black and it looks beautiful. I painted the inside of the door today. 2 coats of white. I didn't do around the door knobs because they need to be taken off first. I also did some touch ups on a couple areas in the front room that got nicked.. I got 2 gallons of red paint for the craft room today but won't be painting that room until everything else is done since it's currently the storage room. When I get to it, it's going to be like the painting we did in Benjamin Knights room- 2 tone, with a black board separating the red on bottom & brown on top... I'll take pictures so you'll see what I mean. I can hardly wait. I already have Levi material curtains- dad calls them overalls because they have the fantastic metal hook & snap like overalls do. I think it's going to be fabulous.. Kent also got the Internet line put into the office so we set up the modem and router on my laptop. Now the room is ready to have the desk in it and the floor moulding and that room will be done!!! Yippeeeee!!! Now, we need to start on the bathroom. I will be so excited when that room is done. That is definitely the complete make over room. maybe I'll start that tomorrow... we'll see.

SLOWLY BUT SURELY...

So, yesterday after vacuuming the front room, hallway and office - even using the wand to get the very edges... I started painting the kitchen. I got the first coat down, then ran out of paint and time. I had a young women's pres. meeting. So now I've got to go get some more paint. I woke up this morning barely able to breathe. My throat hurts and I'm congested. I've caught what my mom has. Dang it! So, today I'm not sure what I'm going to be able to accomplish. Right now I just feel like sleeping.

CONTINUING PROGRESS...

Today started off with attending the funeral of my Uncle George Mills with my parents. He passed away last week. Unfortunately I didn't know him that well. His wife was my dad's sister. My favorite cousin Adam is the only active member in that family. He's the manager of a funeral home so he was in charge of the funeral services just like he was for his grandma a few years ago. It was an awful day for a funeral because it rained. The Air Force Color Guard was there to do the flag presentation, and they were soaked clear through standing in the rain waiting for everyone to get to the grave side. (the services were in the chapel on site so it was just a short walk to get there) Afterwords, my parents and I went out to lunch and had a great time. I am constantly exhausted from working on the house, so I came home and sat in dad's recliner and ended up falling a sleep for about an hour and 1/2. Watched some TV with my mom until my sister Myrna called and said she could come over to help get the office organized tonight. So, I brought over all of my movies and some more books to add to the shelves and Myrna, Leah and I organized them and put them on the shelves. (by organize I mean alphabetize by author for the books, and separate by type for the movies- although I'll be going back and re-doing the movies. I actually like to sort my "old" movies differently.) We found several duplicates in both books and movies... oh well. So, now we just need the Internet hooked up so I can bring my desk and computer over to set up and the room will be complete.

A DAY OF REST

Thank goodness for Sundays! This one came around just in time! I'm not sure I could have worked today if I wanted to. My hands are swollen and sore, I can barely move and I still need about 10 hours of sleep. (That will have to wait until after my meeting tonight for girls camp.) I did go over to the house to look at a couple of the mission scrap books today. Ahh, the memories. My cousin Carolyn came over so of course she had to be shown around the place too. Still can't wait for it to be done!

"SATURDAY IS A SPECIAL DAY..."

The morning started off with a trip to Home Depot with 1/2 the family. (lol) My sisters, Dad and I all went. Dad came because he loves to go to Home Depot. We had to get special lights for the ceiling fan in the office.. - long story short... I got 4 matching ceiling fans- same serial # and all- the packaging was a little different but I figured one was just new packaging.. needless to say 2 of them have candelabra base light bulbs (small) and the other 2 have regular.. Anyway, so we got light bulbs, paint for my room, curtain rods, etc. Leah painted the front door outside black. The inside will be white.. Myrna painted the window sills in the front room and office. I taped my bedroom and painted the corners while Leah painted the walls. It's a light color- called Antique White. It's mom's favorite room because it's the lightest. She only likes white rooms. I'll have to take some pictures and add them here so you can see the colors. Kent put up the ceiling fans in my bedroom and the front room and put up two curtain rods and hung the curtains in the front room. Dad switched out the light switches to the rocking kind instead of the flip kind in the front room & office. It looks fantastic! Myrna & I put up the curtain rod in the office and hung the curtains. It looks fantastic! Myrna & I started putting the 4 book shelves I got from Big Lots together... I lucked out and Adam - my brothers friend finished them up so I could work on a different project. Anyway, the office is now done.. Myrna spotted the carpet which was really all it needed, so we put the book shelves along the longest wall. It looks fantastic. We also went through my "storage room"- the one that will eventually be the "Craft Room" - basically because we were so excited about the office we wanted to find stuff to decorate it with. While we were rummaging through everything we organized all of my stuff by room so it would be easier to find.. plus so we could see what I really have. It was like Christmas! I totally forgot about 1/2 of it. The progress is coming along slowly but surely. With the office move in ready, I'm even more excited because things are finally coming together and I can see the results. Thank goodness for every one's help! It is definitely coming along quicker because I've got help.

HAPPY FRIDAY

Today started early considering I didn't get to bed until after 2:00 last night. When I woke up I had an incredible hankerin' for a good breakfast of country fried potatoes and scrambled eggs. yum! So, I made it for me and my parents. After breakfast it was straight to work on the house. I put a 2nd coat of paint in the front room and on the doorways. I finished painting the hallway. Spackled some more nail holes in the walls and then sanded them down. Taped the front room walls to be painted brown then taped the office ceiling and painted the corners and edges. (Can I just say that I have been up and down that ladder today more times than I care to remember.) Leah came over after work and helped roll the 2 brown walls and the office walls. It's great to see the progress happening. Myrna came over later and helped. Tomorrow's another big day full of lots of work to do, but believe me I am sleeping until I am done sleeping tomorrow.

JAN 3RD -

So, Thursday (still my today since I haven't gone to bed yet.. the date says the 4th because well, technically it is) I went to help my new sister-in-law Suzanne organize. Merging two families with 5 kids each - together into one house has taken it's toll on her space and organization. Myrna went with me and today we worked on the front room and the kids rooms. A lot was thrown out, and some great stuff was given to DI. Less is definitely more in terms of organization. The kids rooms looked like completely new rooms by the time they were done with them. Now we'll have to go back and help with the other rooms... but first, I need to get my house done and moved into while I'm off work and have the time. The sooner the better because I really can hardly wait to decorate the place. I have lots to decorate with, but couldn't really tell you what it all was since I haven't seen some of it for 5 years. It'll be like Christmas going through my boxes and putting stuff up and away. I LOVE to be organized and finally having a place to put everything and knowing exactly where it is and how to find it is definitely going to be HEAVEN!. I stopped off at Home Depot after dropping Myrna off at home. I got some more paint - spray paint to paint the up-duct covers white, and an outlet box because I have one that's broken. OK- so I had the carpet padding in my garbage can and I put it out today to be picked up before I left the house (about 9:30 am). When I got home, it was still there. Ughh. Apparently the garbage man came extra early today. So now I have to wait until Monday to get the first load out. Can't wait until it's all gone. I guess I'd better get to bed tonight so I can actually wake up in the morning to start working all over again. Sheish, with all this physical labor I'm using muscles I haven't used in a long time and it's taking it's toll on this old body of mine.

JAN. 2ND -

Wednesday I painted ALL day. Started at 10 and went until about 6:00. Boy was I sore at the end of the day and so very tired of rolling paint. I finished the ceiling in the front room, office, bedroom and hallway and also the walls in the hallway and front room (except for the two walls that will be color highlight walls.) I can't wait until the painting is done. I'll have to add a 2nd coat to the front room, but I think I might leave that for my sister Leah who loves to paint. (and doesn't leave streaks like I do...) Took some TylenolPM and slept very well that night!

OH, WHAT A DAY!

The day started out early with a job interview. It was alright, but I don't think it's the job for me. I got home and after finally thinking it over, I decided I'm not going to use the new carpet I just got.. so that meant putting it on Craigslist to sell. I posted it for $250. (I paid $100) Anyway, I had a guy respond and he came out today to look at it.. I wasn't sure about the measurements, blah blah blah.. long story short, I let them take it for $150. So, basically it was a wash for me. I got my $100 back, and $50 back for the gas I had to put in Myrna's car to get to Queen Creek & back. I'm just glad it's gone. I have to deal with the padding- but that's easily thrown away. As I was posting the carpet on Craigslist- I went next door to take a picture of it and noticed that Kent was packing his stuff onto his truck & trailer by himself to move. So I hurried and sent the posting and went to help him. We loaded the rest of the smaller furniture and misc. items- then drove 3 houses down and unloaded it at his house. My brother in law James came near the end of our unloading. His 2 brothers joined him about 15 min. later and they helped load the heavy furniture and get it down to Kent's house. So, for all intents & purposes Kent's moved out (except for a few things in the bedroom & bathroom, and the kitchen still needs to be cleared out.) My sisters are going to help me start painting the office tomorrow. The guy with the doors finally called me back today. I bought the 6 doors from him. He was nice enough to deliver them to me. They will be fantastic in the house. Dad was very excited about them too. The day ended with the multi-stake Youth dance from 9:00-12:30. I got home at 1:00. Now, I'm watching a Fred Astair/Ginger Rogers movie. I'm giving up on it in the middle right now though to go to bed. I'm exhausted!