03.14.2010 Why I like 5 things Friday

I like 5 things Friday because if it has to do with a "to do" list it makes me get it out (on paper? LOL) so that i have a goal. Goals are great. And completion of goals are even better!

Guess what happened this weekend? You'll never guess! At least 3 of the 5 things were completed! Woo Hoo! And by 3 i mean 2 items and 2 "1/2" items so that totals three in my mind.

So lets get straight to it, shall we? It's a good thing i put the caveat about the doors (hoping at least 3 would be completed) because that is EXACTLY what happened. Lets just say the 1st of the 3 was SUPER hard - then the next one went ok, then they pooped out. Then after sleeping on it we found out we didn't leave enought gap (?!?) under the doors for air circulation? Me ... well i'll be honest, i wanted as little gap as possible for "aesthetics". C'mon i am a woman! And if we are "truth tellin" here ...lets just say to drown out the sometimes loud whining or screaming children that feel their timeout is unfair. Just being real people.

Well i guess if the gap isn't big enough air cant circulate and pump out and be returned. (the return is in the hallway so if you sleep with the bedroom door closed it works like a vacuum and doesn't pump any heat to that room)

Thankfully that was the guest room. Ouch! Did i say that outloud? Needless to say Grandpa froze his patootie off. Since it is already hung and all trim put in place our only options to fix it were
a.) cut a hole above the door to vent/let air circulate
b.) take off solid wood door and plane/cut some off bottom -or-
c.) make a return someplace else

I opted for C. There is no way in heck i am gonna cut a rectangular hole above my doors and beautiful custom trim to thus draw the eye to this ugly "vent". Also not so much liking the idea of letting amateurs saw on very expensive doors. We then got creative and with some brainstorming decided we could cut a vent thrhough the closet area to the other closet. Liking that. So that's the plan.

Hard to get photos when all the doors/rooms are in a hallway - but basically 3 doors were completed - the guest bedroom, Bubba's Bedroom, and Sis' bedroom.




So i don't get the photographer of the year award - otherwise i wouldn't have a shot of a closet with no door also! And if you like the 1st picture that is the guest bedroom. Perfect if you like to sleep like a penguin. The nice warm color is to invite you in, then apparently now to remind you that you are visiting the Frozen Valley!

We also got the PLAYSET completed (which deserves it own post and comes complete with photos of happy, smiling children!) and 1/2 of the unwanted boxes in the living room unpacked! And about 6 loads of the laundry that has no place to go once it is done. (rugs, sheets, shower curtains, xtra car seat covers....) Oh how i wish my basement was done.

P.S. It is NOT done. Sheetrock is not finished, nor will it be finished Monday. Shocking, i know. But we ARE having a birthday party on Saturday so he better get busy!

03.12.2010 5 Things Friday

It's been a while so i thought i would jump back in with a 5 things Friday.

5 things i am hoping will happen this weekend regarding the house - i should put a p.s. in here....p.s. Grandpa arrives this afternoon. Yippe! So much more gets done when he is here, Hallelujah!


1. Door Jambs and doors hung (there are 9 left since only the bathroom has been done) so i am gonna hope for at least 3 doors to be finished so that not all my dreams are dashed. Plus i am a little sick of the doors laying in the middle of my living room floor.

2. My everlasting PILES of laundry = approximately 12 loads of laundry will finally be complete. (it was 20 loads this time last week, so it is slowly deminishing) All those blankets used for moving, towels used for who knows what in the construction process, myriads of sheets, rugs - rugs - and more rugs,etc.

3. The Play Fort/Swing Set will be assembled. This is a FULL DAY project and we are expecting more snow on Saturday.

4. Have all remaining sheetrock HUNG in basement so taping can ACTUALLY begin on Monday. (could you feel the sarcasm? - it's not pretty)

5. The remaining 12 or so boxes (also sitting in the middle of my living room floor) will be unpacked. These are the "leftover" boxes. I'm sure everyone had those after a move. Boxes full of absolutely non-related items. Stuff that you have no idea where to put it.

Since i am "wishing" - i could add that a couple of entry closets & Hubby's closet be finally completed and maybe the trim put up around my french doors in the master bedroom so my curtain rod could finally be put up. But it is much to ask. And since i am none too handy - i just bark the orders without really having to do the work. My only job is to keep the laundry going, food flowing, and kids from killing one another.

Seriously though..."It's all good!" At least i have a roof over my head. A warm place to lay my head, enough to eat, and enough clothes/items to have that much laundry! And i am blessed with those 2 hellyuns that call me momma. I can't ask for anything more...

...except maybe a Horse. =) I'll leave it at that! Have a GREAT weekend!

03.10.2010 A NEW "DO"

I am done. Done with long hair. I think it may have something to do with the fact that i wear it up in a french twist w/ a clip everyday. I needed something different. I think it also has something to do with feeling OH SO MUCH BETTER lately in general. You know like when you wake up after 5 days of an ugly cold and your head feels cleared up? Thats how i feel about life. It's good. Very good.



Jack was a little annoyed- can you tell?

I was going to go with more blonde highlights - but decided to wait until i get some color first so i dont look like a pasty ghost all the time. =) Hehehe



Apparently there is one wayward alfalfa hair so excuse that.
So here's the new me.....what do you think?

03.09.2010 Say it isn't So!

It's been a rough couple of nights at the ol' homestead. I'm keeping it together mainly bcuz hubby is out of town on business. But it's hard.

Katie is missing.

At first, it was, well she is off "exploring". And the last time one of the cats did that we feared the worst..(hawk, coyote, mountain lion,) only to find out Jack was up in a neighbors tree all night. Happy ending. This time it's Katie. And the story is not so great.

Sunday night a man came and bought our 16 ft. enclosed trailer. We should be rejoicing - yay we can finish the bathroom. But here's where the story gets bad. Apparently during our hooking up, inspecting process the curious kitty hopped inside. Unbeknownced (sp?) to me i shut all the doors and he was off. He is from Alaska - and in a strange twist of fate his parents live in a neighboring town. We being on the "East"/hill side of the valley - they being on the "West"/mountain side of the valley. It just so happens when i met him at the bank Monday morning i mentioned that my cat was missing and joked it off hahaha i hope she's not in that trailer headed for Alaska. He laughed too and told me no way bcuz he opened it that morning to put some ski's inside and no cat. Well about 12:30 that afternoon he calls me back in a panic. It seems when he opened that trailer again there was in fact a cat in there and she darted out and down the road like someone has shot her. (apparently the 1st time he had opened it that morning she must have been sleeping up in one of the racks).

I hurried up there, walked, hiked, called for her for over an hour before i had to give up. Then i went to Sis' school, picked her up, made fliers to post and we both went out calling for her. You see...it's her cat. The "replacement" cat from when Pixie got run over while we were away on vacation the summer before last. I thought sure Katie would hear her voice and come running. No such chance. It started to rain after an hour - so we headed back to town.

I - trying to be strong for my girl - said most likely the rain will drive her into someone's garage or onto their front porch. They will see her pink sparkly collar and call that number - and in no time we will be picking her up. I hoped. I prayed. No call. Sis was insistant we NOT tell Bubba the whole truth. That she ended up in a trailer and now is missing in the mountains. I told her i would not LIE but if he didn't bring it up we can just let him go on thinking she was just outside playing somewhere or off catching mice in a field. But guess what?

I awoke at 6:30am this mornig to OVER 6 INCHES OF SNOW!! Seriously! We have had 5 days of over 50 degree sunny weather and now this? Puxawtawny Phil does not know how shattered my little girl is going to be to have lost not one but TWO cats within 2 yrs!

Katie does not like rain, and she does NOT know snow. She wouldn't ever step a paw outside when it snowed. And that poor curious little girl went on a trip in a trailer and is now out in the wild somewhere. She barely goes outside people. I am thankful she has claws but she is seriously a pampered cat that rarely uses them.

Please pray for Katie. For her safe return. Please pray for my daughter. She is beside herself with worry and practically refused to leave the house this morning.

I know it's just a cat. But she is FAMILY. We weren't ready to let her go.

03.02.2010 Catch Up???

If you thought that last post about a typical week made your head spin...the last 2 weeks have been even more so.

Praises/Good News! = We are completely moved out of old house. We got a check. I ordered doors and hardware. The concrete was cut and new plumbing put in the basement for bathroom and mudroom. (We thought we wouldn't be able to do this until this summer!) We got a bathtub for bathroom, shower enclosure for mudroom, New shelves up in garage, and Craiglist has become my new BFF.

Speaking of Craigslist - I recently sold our Pool Table, the snowmobiles/trailer, a Dresser, and my Wine/Curio Hutch. We have 2 other items that are sold in "trade" deals so they are still ours until the work is done. I also listed 2 ads in the "wanted" and trade for both a Barn Builder and a Horse for sis. I got responses for BOTH! We will have people coming out for quotes for barn this week and *small world* someone called with a PERFECT horse..and it turns out i actually know them. Also one of the construction guys & i started talking horses too. And some random stranger emailed me a photo of his horse (slightly out of our price range but awesome!) I know we need to finish the house and take a deep breath before embarking on the latest area of our lives (HORSE PEOPLE) but Sis is so excited to start 4H and she LOVES all things horsie. It doesn't hurt that her mommy is madly in love with them too! Bubba can't wait to ride - and i saw some cute tandem/buddy saddles on eBay that you can hook on the back of a saddle for tandem riding. Oooh fun.

Anyway - I'm so very sad that the camera is missing. I take it EVERYWHERE and cannot find it at all. Here's to hope and prayer that it turns up. I do SO want a Digital SLR but there is no way on this Earth that is possible. I checked Costco - i had NO IDEA they cost so much. So there will be no photos for a while.

Ok, maybe one...I'm gonna throw in the horse photo the guy sent me that is trying to sell me his horse. Cuz he is just so stinkin cute! Oh and he has long fuzzy hair bcuz here in the Frozen Wasteland the horses hair grows out in winter then you use a shedding blanket and comb to remove all that come spring and they look all pretty and handsome. Just an FYI for inquiring minds that may think he looks shaggy. It's just his winter "furr coat" LOL. Ain't he the cutest?!!

Look at those EYES - so hard to resist eh?