10.31.2009 Halloween

I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday when my friend April called me for my plans for Saturday. I was like, uh, "Same as always, working on the new house". And she said "No, I meant for Halloween..what are you doing?!"

Silence. Gulp. Halloween...this Saturday...Right! No costumes were planned out, no plan made at all. As a mom I get an "F". The house is an all consuming deal right now. Plus I was sick. Yea, that's the one i am sticking with. I was sick so i didn't make a plan. Oh wait, i think my sister had my neice's outfit all planned out like 2-3 months in advance. Even made her a cute matching treat bag (hand sewn and all!) Me? I completely and totally lack that area of my brain function right now. I used to be a planner. A perfectionist. Every detail thought of and covered. What happened?! Life i guess, and an over FULL PLATE.

So i did what at least 10 other moms no doubt did, ran to KMart on Friday night to see what pathetic excuse for costumes they have left. Bubba put in his order - he wanted to be a Black Ninja. Should be easy, and it was. Costume, (check!), Sword (check!) bonus..it had fake blood inside to give it a more authentic(?) appearance.

Now for sis, she's a bit more difficult. She doesn't like to Trick'or'Treat (always TOO COLD) plus no Kmart costume is ever good enough for her. So after like 20 times of hearing "No Way!" i was just about resolved to her passing out candy in her pajamas. She really wanted to be a Devil. (um NO!) That's only cute on the 2yr and under crowd or the over 30 crowd. I just couldn't do it. So i attempt to steer her toward the Dorothy from Wizard of Oz costume - Stuffed dog & picnic basket at home-score! She then replies "Who's that?"
...sidenote....Man! I need to get my kids to watch the classics! When i was a kid i couldn't wait to see it when it came on TV each year. There was no TIVO back then, we made sure we were in, done w/ dinner & homework and hunkered down 3 feet from the TV to watch it! EVERY YEAR. Now Charlie Brown Christmas they have seen and love. But how can i live not having exposed her to the Wizard of Oz? That must change soon. Stay tuned.

..but i digress.. back to the hideous excuses for the costumes. How about 2 peices of Bacon? Seriously folks- they had it. Or the Mustard. (Would have only been cute if i could get Bubba to be the Ketchup...darn...they were plum out of Ketchup!)

Can i also mention at this point, that we live in the frozen wasteland?! Two out of the last three years it has been below zero when these kiddos do their Trick 'or' Treating?! These Kmart costumes are SKIMPY. Paper thin. Dare i say practically made of negligee material or the thinnest polyester known to man. I was shivering FOR HER just thinking of some of the options. I really tried to get her to go with Tinkerball, HECK, they have matching attitudes so it would be perfect! Throw on a turtleneck and some sparkly tights , or two or three pairs...Nope! I seriously thought there would be no Halloween for my 7year old.

Then we found it! The cutesy punk style witch. Purple and Black with cute details -- thick - in that there were a few layers to the skirt part (score!). Nevermind that it is a size 10-12. I don't dare mention that. There were limited options people! I could pin it, belt it, whatever! If she liked it we were gonna buy it. Whining had set in and i was gonna go balistic on my kid in the Kmart on the Friday night before Halloween - even though it was MY FAULT we were in this perdicament to begin with. So we grabbed that little gem and i even talked her into the most adorable black wig with purple highlights to match. Some black nail polish and lipstick and we were set! Oh, and she begged for this cute purple trick or treat bag and i caved - cuz man i just wanted to get the heck out of Kmart without more whining and arguing. Oh wait, it was ME doing the whining and arguing! LOL!

She tried the wig on when we got home and proclaimed that she absolutely would not wear it. But Halloween night appeared and she had a change of heart. It looked WAY TOO CUTE. Honestly, it made the outfit. That and the black nail polish. I tried the black lipstick but it was too macabre for her or something so she made me wipe it off. At least she was wearing the wig, mom wins that battle.

Bubba was a trooper, super happy with his outfit and sword and swung it like a Ninja pro! He didn't care what degrees it was outside, he was a NINJA! And proud! He wore that costume like a badge of honor.

So here are the little munchkins. *sigh* What a cute witch eh?


The missing teeth are perfect!


My little angels.


First stop, we HAD to Trick'or Treat at Dawn & Jen's place (their babysitter) She and her friends even took them around to like 8-10 houses for me while i sat in the warm house. It was only drizzle/light rain and at least 40 degrees this year! We got there while it was still light outside, the rain only came once it got dark and dropped like 20 degrees in 2.3 seconds. Ah, the joys of living in Montana.

We also hit the Harvest Party sponsored by the local churches in the community. Lots of carnival style games (indoors) and candy in the warm cozy fairgrounds center. We even visited TWICE tonite bcuz the lines were too long and I promised they could play on the big blow up Pirate House. UGH.
**2 POSTS TODAY!!**
Don't forget to scroll to "OLDER POSTS" this one was so long it threw my other post from today onto the next page. Exciting house stuff, can't wait for you to see.

10.31.2009 House Breezeway

I have no idea how it's been over a week since i posted last!

Oh, wait, yes I do! I was SICKER THAN A DOG all week. Today is the first day i even feel human or that i can fully function. So, sorry about the lack of posts or updates. I tried to Twitter, so you can see whats new on the right sidebar if i haven't put up a post - so you know that i still love ya and want to keep u updated even when i can't get to the computer to do it!

It was a crazy week with me being sick and all - office work to do, not much got done house related. Plus, it was just plain old cold and nasty all week. So i don't think anyone was in a hurry to rush up there and freeze to death while working exposed to the elements!

Between Friday and Saturday though MUCH progress was done on the Breezeway.
-It is sheeted (yay!)
-ALL the windows are in (yay!)
-We have 2 new doors (yay!)
Excess concrete was cut away (so it wouldn't just collect water up next to the house.
And likely after i left, most of the vapor barrier (Tyvek) stuff was put up.

The bathroom base for the flooring was poured this week. My injured drywaller was out 1 day this week and again today (Saturday) to work on some more priming and texture. As soon as the last bits of electrical are done upstairs we can finally get the pantry sheetrocked. So hopefully early next week on that one.

I left with the most beautiful Rainbow just East of our house and it made me smile. Hope for completion. YAY for progress!




Front of House (east) view of Breezeway.


Backyard view toward breezeway (west side)

**Not sure how well you can tell..but it's really cool. We have matching doors directly across from each other so you can access the breezeway not just from garage to house but from the back yard or front yard if we are working out there or whatever. Also the matched windows are across from each other to give us lots of light. There is a smaller (non opening kind) of window in the triangular part of the breezeway where the existing concrete retaining wall is. (Recycled, this was once in our bathroom-turned vertically-where my glass block now sits) On the "slider" side of the (Formerly large covered porch area) breezeway we re-used the huge window that was in our master bath/front of the house. Money savings and they both worked out perfectly!


This is the side where our future jacuzzi will be. The really cool part is it is actually framed inside for a slider or french doors/header and all. Then we framed for a window within that. That way, later we just have to take out the window and open it up to add the jacuzzi and slider! Awesome!

Now we just have to roof it - we may put siding on it if we can borrow some more or just wait till the Spring if we can get financing without the siding being done. We will see i guess. But the most important thing is it provides warmth. Pretty soon i can drive out there, park in the garage, and never even know the "REAL" outside temperature is! Hallelujah!

See last post to compare the progress...it's great!

10.23.2009 The Breezeway is Started!

It gets cold here. (DUH) It is windy. There will be snow. In honor of such challenges we thought it wise to build a breezeway as our garage is detached from the house. Detached and about 25 feet from said garage to warm toasty house. Exposed to the above mentioned elements. Smart plan eh?

So the build begins. We don't have enough money for the two additonal doors (so you can access from the front yard or the back) right now - but it is framed. Ditto with the window. We have one - but the second one is over $200 so we just framed it and will cover it over for now. Also DeRell is planning the large part (under the existing covered part) to house our jacuzzi so we didn't close that up on that side. Not sure if any of this will make sense, so I'll try to narrate the pictures.



The Breezeway looking from front yard


View from backyard - see windows and doors are framed


Open side where we can put in jacuzzi. We will have big picture window there


View looking down interior of breezeway from garage toward house


Reverse view from house toward garage (there is a door but we haven't installed it yet. Sorry for the blurry photo! D took it!

10.23.2009 NO FEAR - PART 2

In keeping with the theme...here is yet another photo i ran across from this past weekend. We call this playing "On Top of the World". They even have a cute song they made up that goes along with such hijinks.

Amazingly, no limbs were broken during this past weekend. But stay tuned, you never know! Ugh.

10.22.2009 NO FEAR and other Musings of a Mom

When exactly did children lose all fear of heights and dangerous rickety objects?! Apparently when the objects became part of our life during this construction project. Try as i might to talk them down from scary places, they just laugh it off. "Oh Mommy we are FINE, don't woowy about it" my Bubba tells me. My stomach tells me otherwise.

Here they are on their latest adventure...the scaffolding.


DANCING no less...OMG!

How can i make 'em come down when they do THIS?!

10.21.2009 Meet Arlee ..

Wanna meet the newest member of our family? She adopted US really. Her real family lives just behind us up the road. But she likes our property and - I think - our kids that keep her entertained for hours. Honestly, she has been a blessing.

She is ferociously SMART, CUTE, and the best fetcher (...is that a word?!) I've ever seen!! Seriously! When we get there she is usually already waiting for us, or trots on over as soon as she sees us. She finds a stick, chunk of wood, or whatever is handy and will proceed to drop it at your feet. She even brought over her own frisbee on Saturday. If you don't get the object she placed at your feet (because you are actually pre-occupied by WORKING) she will proceed to pick it up and chuck it at your shins or feet to get your attention. Over and over. Throw, fetch, bring back, REPEAT. She NEVER tires of it.

She has the cutest little head tilt - and if you talk to her (rather than throw her stick/wood/frisbee/object of her obsession) she will just crouch there paws outstretched in front & bottom in the air ready to pounce with that cute little head titlting right, left, right again. I'm pretty sure she is saying "Hey Stupid, I brought it back, now comes the part where YOU THROW IT...got it?!" Or maybe "Why are you talking to me when all i wanna do is fetch?!" "What is this that you are speaking? Throwing the object of my obsession does not require words!" She has these crazy obsessed eyes but she is just all energy. I could lose 30 pounds if she was my dog - and she would wear me out!!! Or wear my ARM out i guess. She is lighting fast. She is adorable. And when we tire of her we say "Arlee go home" and she runs off to her house. Or her family yells for her and off she goes.

We love her like she is one of our own. I'm sure you will see lots of her!




Here she and Max were competing for the same stick. Guess who won? (*hint* not Max)

10.20.2009 Painting...it's Contagious

Not only did the adults get some painting done on the new house this weekend...the kids had their own little painting party as well. They used foam pieces as brushes, and scrap wood as their canvas. They were imaginative and creative and it kept them busy for hours. Quite the advantage when the adults are busy WORKING.



More posts of the kids and their "fun" to follow...stay tuned.

10.19.2009 Where to Begin?

The Outside it painted! Yippe!













The garage roof is on! Yippe!














The pad/apron is dug out and the yard is leveled! Yippe!










The construction site is cleaned! Yippe!

And the Trim is started!




Whew! It was a busy weekend. I would fill up a whole blog page with photos! The exterior paint got finished Saturday. One last minute drive an hour away to Home Depot to get 5 more gallons of paint...but it still happened. There was a LOT to do with our 2 day window of good weather. D even talked me into trying out our future trim color (for when we get new siding next summer) on the house. I was not really into it and was fine to leave the window trim the same color as the house. But I tried it...and guess what? I liked it! So I got all the lower level windows/front door trim painted and the plastic removed. I need scaffolding and a huge ladder to do the rest and it got too cold for the paint to dry. It was about 7pm and I knew the rest would have to wait for another break in the weather. Here's some photos. I have like 25 but i'll just post a few.

It is supposed to rain Monday and Tuesday (and it is) so there will be electrical work on the inside and the final grading done before the tractor has to be returned at noon on Monday. The shower plumbing fixtures will be put in today and we should be able to lay the tile in the small bathroom on Tuesday. If the weather stays as promised Wednesday I'll be out there trimming the last 5 high windows and we will be done with the outside. We will have rock/gravel brought in for the driveway and the concrete apron for the garage (driveway) this week. It's MOVING ALONG now folks...hope to be in there soon.

10.16.2009 The Bathroom

There is still so much to do, but we are making progress. As of Friday the bathroom is in need of tile but the floors and shower are prepped to go. The glass block window (my favorite!) is in the shower and looks great!

They started the painting of the exerior on Friday. We have only a 2 day window where it is gonna be 60-65 degrees and sunny/scattered clouds (only Fri and Sat.) so we gotta hop to it. Since we can't afford siding right now and the house so desperately needs NEW siding, we are just having to paint it back the crappy brown color for now. It seems pointless at this stage to reprime & repaint over crappy wood that won't last another season. So to save money we are not even priming, we are just painting over the existing. We tried to color match as best we could, but it is actually a little lighter and more toward the rust color. It's not as hideous as ca-ca brown and almost looks like dark stained cedar houses look. They got the South side (it was the most faded, weathered, peeling paint side) done on Friday and part of the West side of the house (the back). So they will finish the steps, deck and back Saturday. The North side will be the easiests (least amount of paint) because that is where the new breezeway will be and the paint is in good shape on that side. Then the front! We should definately be able to finish the exterior paint for the house on Saturday. We are also having to paint the garage Facia/Trim and Soffit before they put up metal roof sheets. I guess it somehow wraps or something so if we dont paint it now it will be a big pain later. So i got the NEW COLOR for that - so we will be mis-matched until next spring or summer but who cares! We will be warm with the garage and breezeway this winter.

They patched up the area by the front door and new bathroom window with good siding we removed from the other side (where we are enclosing it) and it worked really well.

The goal for Saturday is to get some more electrical done (so we can bring the spare fridge), Erick & I will prime the kitchen & living room, and the guys will start building the Breezeway and moving stuff from the hosue to the garage so we have more room to work. I'll take some before and after pics hopefully. We got all the locations figured up and the boxes in place for all the electrical in the basement. Whew!

Here's some pics of the bathroom.

 

The floor where the vanity will be

 

The toilet area

 

My glass block window

10.14.2009 Happy Birthday to me

I know, silly eh? I guess i finally reached the milestone where Birthdays really don't matter anymore. I never thought i would hit that. Maybe it's nearly 10 years of being with Mr. McScrooge who celebrates nothing (stiil luv ya honey!) But actually it's more of "whats all the fuss". It is in fact just another day. My newfound attitude likely has nothing to do with my lack of sleep.

Last night/yesterday was a doozy. Bubba had been on Tylenol/Motrin for 3 days and wasn't snapping out of whatever he is getting. Daddy gets home and sees poor lethargic baby in our bed curled up and shivering. His fever is 103.9. We call the Dr. ofc and tell them all we have tried (baths, medicine, blahblah blah) at what point should we be worried? Basically based on his weight (he is small for his age and only 36 pounds)104 is a bad thing. Give him a popsicle, wait a half an hr to see if it goes down at all - if not go to the hospital. So Daddy puts him in the shower (that would make 3 baths in 12 hours) slowing lowering the temp of the water. No dice. His temp actually went up to 104.5 I took the fastest shower, we threw on clothes and off we went. **side note** did you notice i tweeted?! I'm in THIS century folks,, its on my right sidebar - kinda liking the tweet thing.

By the time daddy got to the hospital (i took seperate car to drop sis off with friends-thanks Dawn & Jen) he said he looked better & didn't feel as warm could i stop by the pharmacy & get a thermometer? Seriously?! Apparently we didn't want to be amid the masses of over-concerned parents flooding the ER. Anywho-it was just over 102, so we took him to the hospital Convenient Care (like urgent care) instead. They did a culture for strep, ruled out swine, said it was just a bad FLU and to rest, give him fluids, and keep him cooled with wash rags. Also, for all other parents who might have tried what we did...doc said if they are in bath/shower and are cold enough to shiver that actually RAISES their temperature (who knew?!) Thus the reason his got so high so fast. So back home we go. Is it just me or do kids actually get sicker a.) right after you've already taken them to the dr. or b.) on a Friday night when you cant get to the doc until Monday ?! This always happens! Wouldn't you know last night same thing! He eats, we hydrate him, and BLAM fever is astronomical AGAIN. I was pretty much up all night with bits & pieces of sleep trying to keep washrags on his neck, forehead, under his arms...all the things they recommended. I swear i am gonna OD my kid on Tylenol & Motrin. 4 hours in between - how about 3...thats close enough right? Ughh. But i knew there was nothing that could be done at the hospital. By his 3rd dose this am he was down to 102 - and we are currently hovering around 101.

The good news is that he is a cuddler and wants to watch movies and snuggle with his Momma- so i got the best Birthday present a mom could get. The End

10.13.2009 We've got "The Sickies"

 
As adorable as this might look, he's just plain ol' miserable! First thing to note: school closed at noon last Wednesday due to an overabundant amount of sick children. The 6/7/8th grade class had only ONE (1) kid on Monday. Needless to say it has hit hard. Strep, colds, flu, and 2 possible cases of Swine Flu. It is in our valley with many confirmed cases. My kids of course, were fine. Sis has a few sniffles and a cough here or there, but NADA. Just 2 1/2 extra days off to make moms everywhere scramble for a back-up plan.

Well guess what? On Saturday (of all days) sis is coughing more and more. By Saturday night her & playmate Colton (Thank you April for watching them those 2 days they were off school!) both had fevers. I was none the wiser at home furiously packing (playroom is 1/2 packed yippee) with Jen and her pal. We moved the crap in the garage so my car can park inside (and out of the cold). I did umpteen loads of laundry, cleaned my kitchen and just got "stuff" done! I then ran some boxes up to the new house - and arrived at April's to witness 2 children who had been sacked out on the couch since like 7:30. Never happens people. Especially not my Bubs.

Well Sunday they wake up both with Fevers. Seriously? 4 1/2 days off school, they go back tomorrow, and NOW they get sick?!!! Ughh.

Last night was the worst. Bubba had a really high fever and was lethargic. No other "flu" symptoms (so far) just runny nose and fever. Sis was coughing her head off. I am NOT about to give her cough meds though. It was what pediatricians like to call a "productive cough" if you know what i mean. So as long as she is coughing that crud out - i hafta let her cough it out! So after a 4am bath for my little man - in which mommy had to sit next to that bath and eat my imaginary Birthday Cake and Pasta his imagination was serving up ...i got him back to bed and crashed myself.

Now it's Tuesday, we are home again. My poor little man has had Tylenol and Motrin like crazy and the fever isn't breaking. He wanted to wear jeans (to be warm) and has 2 shirts on. Long Sleeve. Poor baby. But he is catching up on all his Backyardigans on DVD so is otherwise happy curled up on momma's bed. I even get a snuggle here or there..so all in all sick days aren't so bad. Just leave out the puking...i can definately do without that!

10.09.2009 Our first SNOW!

UGHHHH! I DO love snow, really i do. But this snow and cold snap is about a month too soon. Usually it gets cold around Halloween then snows after that.

We have a roof still to put on the garage, a breezeway to build outside, leveling/grading to do. Lots of "outside" stuff. Secretly i am happy. It means stuff has to be done INSIDE instead. But really, before real winter hits we do need to get the outside stuff accomplished. We are racing against the clock. It's kind of a no win situation. But at least we are getting heat. Heat is good.

Standard operating procedure around here is for the kids to go out and frolick in the snow. Bubba couldn't wait to make snow angels. They were gonna build a snowman. Unfortunately, the snow wouldn't stick together enough.

So they had to settle for jumping on the trampoline. 20 degrees, bundled up, jumping on the trampoline. You know you live in Montana when....



....when this is just another weekday photo.

Have a great weekend ya'll!

10.07.2009 Bubba's Dental Checkup

Poor Bubba, the dentist is just a normal and FREQUENT part of his life and will be for years to come i am afraid. It is just the way it is. Today he got a regular checkup and x-rays to check the progress of that "phantom tooth" and see where it has moved to. Sadly, he will have to have more oral surgery at the first of the year to remove it entirely - as it is working it's way backward.

So he got his cleaning, x-rays and 2 prizes. Here he is enjoying the movie playing on the ceiling flat screen. The cavity we were "watching" does need to be filled. It is between 2 molars so both will need to be filled. So in 3 weeks we go back again. Big Fun. Then a 6 month break before we have to do the next surgery.

10.06.2009 Shower Anyone?

Now I KNOW ya'll are gonna be jealous of this one. Our new bathroom is long and skinny - which was a bummer. There was no room to have a tub AND a decent size shower (both DeRell & I detest those showers that are a tiny square you can hardly turn around in..i mean c'mon! i am seriously claustrophobic!) You may remember when we bought the house it has a huge soaking tub and no shower. Now i cannot do baths. Ick. I'm a once a year soak sore muscles then get out kind of girl. And who wants to try to step into a tub almost 3 feet high every day just to take a shower. Ummm...short family...not gonna happen!
Anyway - we decided to design the bathroom with no tub (the kids are gonna be bummed no more jacuzzi tub) in mind. What we got was a massive shower with not just one..but TWO benches. TWO shower heads. Heaven. That means i could take my super HOT skin scalding shower and DeRell could take his lukeWARM sissy shower - AT THE SAME TIME. Oh yeah. Life is good. And it is coming along nicely.

We initially were gonna make the shower a good 3 feet shorter and put the toilet at the end of the bathroom beyond the shower. We just couldn't get both showers to fit that way, and we would have to buy a new vanity (oh ya - 60/72 inches like i wanted)for the other side of the bathroom to even things out. There was no room in the budget for $1000 more for a new vanity and countertop. So for now we have to stick with the existing little one - and one sink. But it is bigger than what we have now (which does NOT work for us)so that is good. With the enormous shower, we put the toilet on the other size of the bathroom. I got my wall. Battle won. So the toilet has it's own private area and i don't have to see him going to the bathroom while i am brushing my teeth. TMI? Sorry. It just never sat well with me...and we often are getting ready at the same time. So the Linen closet and Old Vanity will stay. I am hoping to either paint or restain them a dark java/espresso brown and add some nice hardware to spruce them up.

I also took out the huge window as it looked out to the neighbors house down the road - and they could look right IN! We put up a little tiny 36 x 12 window just big enough to let some light in and be able to OPEN to let steam out or a breeze in. Neither of the 2 windows in there opened! Stupid design! We took out the other smaller window also - the neighbor right next to us could see directly into our bathroom! It will now be in our shower so we are changing it to glass block. The gargage is now out that window, so she can't see in anyway but i thought glass block would look cool as part of the shower and still let some light in.

SO we are about 1/2 way on the bathroom. We obviously have no tile or fixtures, but it is all framed and the plumbing and electrical relocated. That is the hardest part. If we could get the other bathroom done this one could be done as we go.

Here's some BEFORE shots of the bathroom

Nice cracked toilet, ugly linoleum eh?

The tub before was against the big window. No way would we step into that every day to take a shower. The previous people never even put in the shower fixtures! That is the linen closet and vanity that will stay with a "facelift". I am hoping to tile the countertop to match whatever we put in the shower instead of the ugly formica top it has now. We might even go with a glass bowl sink.

Partially "gutted" to begin the remodel.

CURRENT BATHROOM PROGRESS

10.05.2009 Jen's Birthday

Today was Blissful for the kids. Not only did Sis get her glasses, but it was the birthday of their favorite babysitter extrodinaire!

CAKE and GLASSES?!!! Almost too much excitement to bear.

Happy Birthday Jen, we love you!





Look who got to blow out the candles!

10.05.2009 The Glasses are in!