can i get a fairy to send me back in time?

poof. here she is.so like any good oscar speech. i, of course, forgot to mention a key individual. it has been brought to my attention that i did not mention my sister. jodie. i would like to take this time to acknowledge that she spearheaded the organization of bo's closet. if anybody knows us as sisters, you of course know that she is the organized one. i prefer to leave things in a haphazard manner and hope for the best in remembering what is where. so thank you jodie for making sure that each of bo's shorts and shirts had a match, and if they didn't for not getting rid of them. even tho mom said you should. i couldn't have done it without you. or let me rephrase. i wouldn't have done it without you.

i also didn't mention our parents by name, because i mean who really wants their name all over a blog besides me (and jodie.)? but just to reemphasize, we would never be near moving into this house without the help of my parents, chris' parents and our neighbor. and all of our friends who have helped. i won't call out names here because i am sure i will leave one out and then here we go again with me needing to issue an apology via press conference.

so thank you all again.

i will leave you with a parting shot of myself that pretty much sums up how i feel everyday now.

first things first.

first is the closest i will ever get to an Oscar speech.

chris and i would have never ever ever never never been able to start, or finish this house without our family and friends. these are the people who are truly happy to see this thing almost done. our parents (and deborah :) have cleaned, moved, shopped, picked up bo, kept bo, cooked supper, gone to lowes 45 times (or more), gone to ikea 3 times (this number is correct), assembled ikea furniture which is close to brain surgery, washed clothes, gone to the grocery store and done countless other tasks that we didn't have the physical and/or mental capacity to handle on our own. they have also listened to all of the whining and complaining which was a job in itself. they have helped us make decisions, or made us feel good about the decision we were second guessing. listened to hair-brained ideas that they knew weren't going to work, but let us figure that out ourselves. our friends have kept bo and cooked for us and shared in our happiness and aggravation. we can never say thank you enough or pay them back for all of their dedication to a house that isn't even theirs. the best we can do is say that the house is as good as theirs too, and they are all welcome anytime. i will be handing out the keys later. oh and the beer fridge is our gift to them as well. i hope this small token of our appreciation makes a dent in our debt to them. we love them very very much. and we promise never to build a house again.

proof that these people are helping. i could never have organized this on my own...

bo's room.bo's playroom
and for some crazy reason, i decided it would be a good idea to get bo's ears pierced in the middle of moving. basically because she has been begging to have it done forever, and she needed some quality time. i am not sure that this is actually quality time because she looks very pitiful, but she is also very excited about her new earrings and you basically really can't tell her anything now. why would i do this to my baby?i mean how sad is this?
she made a pretty quick recovery tho.

here's hoping that everyone involved in this house process makes as quick of a recovery as bo did.

so we moved. ugh.

and this is pretty much how we accomplished it. with a car trailer. it took 3 loads. (in the trailer. it took about 15 loads in regular cars. not.even.kidding.) the trailer has now officially been used more to move our crap than it has to move the car. and chris is complaining there are footprints inside of it. so if you helped move, please be considerate enough to come back and help clean the car trailer. i mean its the least you could do.there was much discussion of how best to go about things. it got heated on several occasions and people had to be told to chill out. none of those people live in the house. imagine that.

we only broke one thing (a t.v. and it was old anyway), but we lost about 25 things. so if you have seen our toothbrushes, alarm clock or paper towel holder. we need them. i do not know how you lose something when you are only moving about a football fields distance. i think it has something to do with cramming 3,000 s.f. of stuff into a 1,700 s.f. house and living there for 10 years, then moving it. i don't know. i do know the new house is full and i am not even finished moving or unpacking yet. hmmm.

the doors are now stained. as well as the stairs.
the living room and dining room are partially assembled. it is of course a work in progress. and by that i mean, in a year it will be right. a year or so.
our bedroom is being pieced together

when everything is just so, i will post some more pics. but i know you were just dying to see. ok maybe just sort of curious because you didn't have a lot else going on to look at on the internet. every other room pretty much looks like a bomb went off in them at this point.

and lastly, water softeners are crap. do not get one. if somebody tells them you need one, you tell them they must not care about their appearance. my hair has officially looked like mess everyday since we moved in. i told chris we would just have to sacrifice faucets, sinks, etc. i do not care how much hardwater and calcium build up in them. i cannot go around looking like a grease head everyday for the rest of my life. he concurs. i look like mess.

don't even ask

what this is about. or why chris is so happy about it. he may just be happy because i already stocked the fridge with applesauce.
i am simply documenting progress here. for posterity's sake of course.our first dinner at the new house! if you live near us, and don't always have the time to make your very own bbq sauce. you need to go to bi-lo and hook yourself up with mrs. abrams. shes a nice lady. you will like her. (p.s. this is how i make bbq chicken sandwiches. on the stove. that is right.)
fine. so i took the plastic off. and then proceeded to follow everyone around with granite cleaner. please also note the fly swat in the background. its seen more action in the past two weeks at the new house, than in all its 35 years at the old house. (it's just past the token beer i manage to get in every shot. nobody hire me to shoot your house for a real estate listing.)

somebody needs to come clean this stuff.

putting their big yucky handprints all over my new stuff. the nerve.and no. i'm never taking the plastic off the counter tops. it will work out better for everybody that way.

the faucet that goes with the sink

is in. and it may be my favorite part of the house. besides the elvis bathroom of course. which i am worried may not get enough light to properly illuminate my gallery o' elvis. more on that later.

the faucet.more kitchen lights. which my electrician proclaims are "the damndest lights he's ever seen". i am fairly certain he didn't mean that in a good way.and finally why i am a jackass, and probably a pain in the ass (literally) at the jobsite.
i did every one in the house this way. the saying may vary, but the meaning stays the same. anybody uses this, its gonna be me. if i catch your ass on it, you're out. and i mean that in the most literal sense possible.

thanks for all your hard work, but um you need to hit the port o pot. and there it is, at the waaaaaaaaaay very end of the football field size drain field. lots of bathroom type things going on at the house. i take that to mean we are nearing completion.

booyah

counter tops are in. and they are the awesomest of the awesome. and so is my cousin who installed them. he did some complaining like "do you know how much this granite weighs? it's heavy. you are trying to kill me, etc. etc." to this i say "isn't this your jobbie?" and also "thank you thank you thank you!" (ps, he is the only reason i have granite. granite = normallyoutofmypricerangeunlessinstalledbyadirectfamilymemberwhotookpityonme). amen.

the kitchen. with lights from ikea. which = in my price range.if you were curious how much that island weighs. awesome cousin claims its like 1,100 pounds. and yea i need to clean the floor and the counters too. i'm sure that will be a daily battle.

and our bath. that sink is kinda weird. i kinda like it.
awesome cousin said he bought this granite on a steal, and couldn't give it away. people said it was ugly. i said "the hell you can't. give it away to me. " and here it is. and it is very not ugly.
and finally, bo's playroom floor. which she says she doesn't want to be turquoise. uh oh.

down to the wire

is what this week is. lets all hope for the best and prepare for the worst. lots of things need to be happening. but i have the looming feeling that exactly nothing is happening there right now.

we put in a good solid two days of work at the house. which is starting to get old. i'm not fond of working 8 hours at a place that a) doesn't pay me to be there and b) i don't currently live in. come on already!

but on a good note, we got this done. first remember the before....
and now the after... see, the green is nice. yes?

hardware has been installed on the cabinets. i'm liking it. and how about those fly strips? they really set off the turquoise nicely i think.

more on the fly situation and how chris spends his time.

i wasn't kidding about the flies. this is what a fly strip looks like after about 8 hours at my house. add that in to the 10 other ones we have hanging throughout the house. i hope they don't become permanent fixtures. my cousin/counter top man got one stuck to him, and i thought that the granite deal was off at that point. its gross.
and this is what chris does during the day. he claims he doesn't have time to help me finish this house because he's soooo busy. whatever, isn't this like every little boy's dream to grow up and do? if your husband calls you and asks you to come out and do a photo shoot of his work, he doesn't dislike it near as much as he claims to. (i am pretty sure that it isn't super fun to get this get up out on the highway.)
at the house siding continues to go on the outside of the house. and trim work is going on in the garage. i have no pictures of this at this time, because, well i think they put up about one piece of siding a day. and garage trim honestly isn't all that fun. (nice, just not fun.) so maybe the plumber and electrician will show up soon. for pics and whatnot.

if you don't like turquoise, minor catostrophes and flies. then you should find another blog.

sooooooo, my cabinets went in. and a minor geyser in the middle of my kitchen went up. apparently if you touch a little pipe that is glued into your floor, things will go bad for you. (and by you, i mean a dude that works for the cabinet guy. not me, i don't do bad things at my new house) . and they will go bad quick like. and your cabinet guy will make a diving leap onto the pipe, stick his thumb over the pipe, and get soaking wet until the water can be turned off. (which takes about 30-40 minutes i think). and then your brand new floor will get wet. which is a bad, bad thing. fingers crossed it dries out ok.a saving grace for my cabinet guy is that 1. it was a true accident and 2. the cabinets look superfabulousoexpeallidatious.as seen here. (warning, if turquoise is an issue for you, turn away now). and p.s. the flash makes things look a little brighter than they are. but the cabinets do set off the blue in chris' eyes very nicely. good thing he doesn't read this blog. the pantry. this single unit contains more cabinet space than i've seen in about 10 years.
and for the final bit of turquoise i will subject you to today, my sink. oh the sink.
if it makes you feel a tad bit better. chris actually likes the cabinets. they were approved of before hand, and he liked them when they showed up. so there.

on the other hand, he may not be so sure about this cabinet. but hey, how often is he really going to be in the laundry room? crap. i may have screwed myself here and given him an out on the laundry situation. but isn't that sink good looking? or rather the idea of the sink is good looking, because that thing needs some help. which is coming soon.

and something that may make you feel better about all this crazy talk color, bo's chalkboard wall in her playroom. i don't care what you say, thats a good idea.
and now for a good solid, non crazy note. the units beside the fireplace. they look good and classic, yes? good. they are getting some green paint on the backs soon.
so we've dealt with the turquoise and the minor catastrophe of the flood. and now for the flies. there were 3,456 flies in the house yesterday afternoon. we know because we killed 3,244 of them, and just guessed at the amount left. disgusting. do you know how long it takes to kill 3,244 flies with 2 fly swats? (which mostly we operated with just one, because bo said she needed to "help" swat). it takes about 3 hours. and then you have to sweep them all up. just ewwww. do you want to know where 3,456 flies come from? if you husband dumps loads and loads of chicken litter in your back yard, that will happen. the neighbors complain, especially the ones who also got a dead chicken included in the load beside their house, but chris says something about how he doesn't care because chicken litter = profit. etc. etc.

ok. one more pic so that you know i'm not totally interior decorating insane. finished living room ceiling. we may or may not leave the bag on the fan.