Weekend Recap

Friday Mike and I headed to Jeff to go out to eat. Planned on watching the movie, Little Fockers, time didn't allow this to happen. We waited a long time to eat at Chili's, which was probably a good thing since we were both too tired to go anyway. Got groceries and headed home. It was nice to get out for once since we've been cooped up in the house with getting it finished.

Saturday was a day of deep cleaning. Went over the carpets again with the shampooer to make sure I got all the soap out. Looks like new! Started removing more paint off the hardwood floors when I got a big surprise. White dust everywhere! Apparently the dust from my dad cutting our new bathroom sink was too much in the garage so he opened the door. Why he didn't open the garage door to the outside, beats me. Spent the rest of the morning cleaning the floors really good. Since they were all clean I decided to go ahead and unroll our rug. Looks good with our furniture and it's so soft. It was a good accomplishment to get all this done by noon. Spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the house, baking cookies and making katie-dids. I'm no Betty Crocker, cookies were bought all ready to go and all I had to do was pop them in the oven. Makes for an easier clean up. :) I thought I would be smart and set the timer two minutes before the actual time it calls for since I'm not used to this oven. Well in 8 minutes I managed to burn them. They weren't too bad and still tasted fine. Must have since they are all gone, Mike finished them off last night. On to the katie-dids, it's a tradition that my grandma has these little appetizers for Christmas at her house. It's thin slices of ham rolled around cream cheese and cut in half. I made these to take to my friends house where we had our better-late-than-never Christmas party. We had a good time and exchanged gifts. I ended up with lots of items to make my house smell good and not smelling like paint. We ended the evening by going to the local pub.

Sunday Mike and I headed to my parent's house (Wow! That will take a while getting used to instead of saying my house). Loaded up everything except for all my antique dishes. There wasn't much room left in the trailer and Mike's truck so we didn't risk moving them. Always another time to get them. To my surprise everything is put in it's place all except for one box and a few miscellaneous items in the spare room. I was too pooped to cook an actual supper so I cheated with hamburger helper, beef pasta. It actually wasn't too bad. I did add spices to it and onions to make it taste better. Mike ate three helpings, so that's a plus. He's a picky eater, but I'm slowly trying to break that. Ended the evening watching Desperate Housewives.

Our weekend was filled with anticipation, excitement and accomplishment. We couldn't have done this without the help of our family. We're very blessed and so grateful to have each and every one of them in our life.

Wednesday Ramblings

- At the end of this month we're going to see Jason Aldean. I'm super excited about it. Last year we had the chance to see him in concert. It ended up being on the same day that we had not one, but two weddings to attend in one day. Maybe next time I will have to take Mr. Blake to go see him. Since Big Green Tractor is "his and his April's song".
- Speaking of Mr. Blake, I feel deprived from him and his little brother Nathan. Getting anxious to get the house completely done and the first free weekend I have I am kidnapping them.
- The canvas picture of the boys turned out way better than I thought it would. I love it! I will try to remember and post a picture of it next week.
- It's going to take me awhile to get use to Dish channels and it's features. So far I like DirectTV way better, it has more options with using the DVR to record/delete shows to make your life more easier. Don't get me wrong, Dish does have those options just not near as many like deleting a whole group off your list, instead you have to go show by show. But then again, I haven't really had too much time to mess with it.
- Well I've been a little hesitant to post this in hopes of it turning up. I've lost my favorite necklace! Not only was it my favorite, it was the necklace that Mike gave me last year on Valentine's. They say you lose items during the moving process, well that is the ONLY item that is lost. Last time I saw it was when I took it off at the new house before I went to bed on Christmas Eve. I'm hoping it will turn up soon. Crossing my fingers!

Weekend Recap

Friday I headed to the house. Unpacked my car and enjoyed the rest of the evening sipping on hot chocolate while watching tv. It was nice to not to a darn thing at the house for once, although there was still plenty to do.

Saturday Mike and I woke up early. He went to help with moving their cows all morning while I did laundry and started in on touching up paint. Our neighbors were trimming trees all day, I was half tempted to see if they would trim ours. Heck it was only two trees, so why not! My friend, Danielle stopped by to see the house. Got me out of house cleaning for a bit. :) We're finally getting in the home stretch of having the house finished.

Mom and dad came over around noon to help us as well. I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up Mike's bathroom. Funny how a small room takes up more time than painting a larger room. So much to trim out. There was about 3" gap between the vanity and the wall. Well you could see the gold paint in there plain as day. As my mom has always told me, if you're going to do a job, do it right! So I was bound and determined to get it done. Dad was going to move the vanity out so I could finish it. Well... it was nail on so good that when he went to move it, he ended up breaking it. I think Mike was glad, he said he hated that vanity. I think with this housing process, Mom and I have turned Mike into a house flipping freak! Ha, not literally, but he is noticing more and more he wants to change. In the beginning he didn't want to change a thing in the house besides the gold paint. If our pockets would let us, I think he would change everything! Ended the evening playing pitch.

Sunday we headed to my grandma and grandpa's for dinner. Food was delicious as always, grandma really out does herself anymore with her Sunday dinners by going all out. Had a good visit, then we headed to Rolla. We picked up a new vanity and sink. I was really wanting a black or dark brown vanity. But I left it all up to Mike on this one. He didn't care too much for the dark vanity's (Darn the luck!), and stated that we should probably go with the same type of cabinets that are already in the house. Which he is right, we should and we did! I think the HGTV shows are sinking into his brain. Got home and finished up my bathroom before leaving yet again. Wasn't sure how the weather was going to be on Monday morning, so I went ahead and stayed at mom and dads house. Better safe than sorry, plus this week isn't a good week for me to miss work. Lots of deadlines! Crossing my fingers the weather allows me to work in the morning because I HAVE to be here.

2011 Purchases

This goes against one of my new year's resolutions already, but I have made a few purchases online that I have to say I am pretty proud of.

Thanks to a great friend who commented on my blog yesterday about Bath & Body having a sale - including my FAVORITE lotion, Winter Candy Apple. I stocked up since it won't be out until next year. I bought 3 bottles of lotion and 8 bottles of hand soap, all for $35! Can you say obsessed? I think so!


My second purchase was from walmart.com, an 11x14 black and white canvas of Blake and Nathan. Can't wait to get it in the mail so I can see it in person. I had planned to put it in my bathroom, but it's just too cute it keep it hidden away. May have to put it in the living until I get my huge print of my grandpa Feeler working in the cane field that my uncle Wayne painted. It's my all time favorite painting of Waynes, captures grandpa to a T.

Wednesday Ramblings

This Wednesday Ramblings is going to be a list of New Year's resolutions I will try my best to keep for 2011.
- Eat more healthy. Or at least avoid the drive thru's for lunch.
- Drink more water. I love water, but tend to not make that my number one drink of choice when thirsty.
- Try not to use the dryer as much and rely more on my basement to hang our clothes etc.
- Think more positively.
- Save money for rainy days. 18¢ in the savings account just isn't cutting it, but buying a house will do that to ya! ;)
- Get up early for work. I tend to snooze as long as possible in the mornings, therefore, resulting in my hair always being curly. Which most days I'm not too fond of it being gelled especially on these cold winter days.
- Go to church more, whether it's with Mike's church or mine.

What's your New Year's resolution(s)?

New Year's Weekend Recap

Friday
Mike and I got up early and started getting everything ready to go for yet another day filled with painting and cleaning. Dad brought over a guy he works with to help us paint as well. Those two combined sure got a lot done in a short amount of time. Mom had came over early as well. Due to the weather, the power went out at their house so she had to bring everything over to make lasagna for us at my house. Made my house smell good and the paint smell gone for a short while! I was so happy we were able to get our cable hooked up on Friday as well for the weekend. The guy that hooked the DishTV up for us is actually a previous homeowner (2nd homeowner, I believe). It was nice to hear his stories of the house, their paint colors they used, and how the house used to look. Thanks to him and his wife for a major overhaul on updating the house when they had it. That evening Mike and I got ready to head to his friends' house to bring in the new year. The guys played cards while the girls chatted and played with the kiddos.

Saturday
Spent the day painting, again!

Sunday
More painting. Both my brothers came over along with my mom and dad to help us paint the doors. Dad had recently bought a paint sprayer to use on his garage this spring. It worked so much better spraying our doors then to do them all by hand in Mike's shed. I got to spray four of the doors, it was actually fun and only took me about 5-10 minutes. Later I decide to clean my carpets with mom's shampooer she just bought. Put it together and as soon as I started to shampoo the carpets, it had an awful burning smell. First I thought we maybe I assembled it wrong or left something on there I shouldn't have. Double checked everything and it was all in the right place. Dad decided it was fine since it had a heating system in it and thought it was a normal smell for the first time being used. Well we knew better than that and he should have listened. He tried it out to prove us wrong. Little did he know the first strip of carpet he did, it left a LONG black streak! The carpets are very new, but luckily I think we're able to get it all out. Lets just hope!

Wednesday Ramblings

- Last week I paid off a small loan. Felt good to get that payment out of the way in time of purchasing our house.
- Yesterday Mike and I closed on the house.
- I had the day off yesterday so I spent the morning having "April time" in the new house. There is just so much to do in so little time. Took me all morning to get all the paint specks off the floor. Good thing it comes off easy.
- When we arrived Monday night we were surprised to see that someone was disrespectful enough to drive through our yard and the neighbors. I was livid, especially to see that they literally drove right next to the house and almost hit one of our trees. Hopefully it was just some stupid kids and it won't happen again.
- We went ahead and exchanged our rug for the other one. So happy with our final choice plus we saved $50!

Here is a sneak peek of our living room and kitchen. The only two rooms that are some what finished.

Living Room, ignore the lamp turned over on the shelf. I just now realized it was still there. lol This is my favorite room in the house.

Kitchen - a little messy!

Friday morning with our first attempt to head to the house from my mom and dads at 7:30 a.m.

Christmas Presents

I must have been a very good girl this year! Here is some of my prize possessions I received this year for Christmas:
- With the help of my mom, Calvin Klein Euphora perfume from my brother, Todd. I've been wanting to try something different and so far I really like the smell of this perfume.
- Not one, not two, but three pairs of yoga pants! I got two crop pants from my mom and one from Mike's aunt who had my name in the secret Santa gift exchange.
- Four gold/yellow glasses with a pitcher from my mom and dad.
- Olay Wrinkle kit from my parents. I think mom was tired of me complaining about my little wrinkles. LOL
- Lotion/Bath set from my brother Chad with a picture frame from Bath & Body.
- Miss Me jeans from Mike. Super comfy!
- TWO Winter Candy Apple Lotions from Bath & Body from Mike's Aunt. This is my favorite and it only comes out once a year so I try to stock up. I've been in three different Bath & Body stores this past month and they were all sold out. So glad Mike's aunt was able to find some.

Quick, Cheap Fix

On my to-do list was to change out the knobs on my cabinets and the face covers for the outlets/light switches. I HATE gold and it is throughout the whole house. I know money wise I can't afford to change everything out and especially not right now. So a quick fix, thanks to my mommy was hammered paint. Looks completely different. I'm sure over time it may rub off, but I can always respray it.

Christmas Weekend Recap

Thursday night I got everything together, crammed as much as I could in my car and headed to our house for the first time. Got there to find out my garage door opener needs a new battery, at least that's an easy fix. I think Mike thought I was crazy for bringing so much stuff along, but later realized that everything I brought we would need at some point and time during the weekend. After we unpacked my car and put everything away we headed back to my parent's house.

Friday we woke up early to head back to the house. Both Mike and I didn't think the weather was going to start that early or at least not get that bad until later in the day. By 7:30 a.m. we had 4 inches of snow and it was still coming down. I usually have pretty good luck driving my car in the snowy weather with it being front wheel drive. Well about a mile from the house we got STUCK on a hill. I was in tears, I just knew my car was not going to come out alive. :) Thankfully no one was coming and we were able to back down the hill and head back to the house. We waited until my parents was leaving so we could hitch a ride with them over to the house. Got almost to Vienna and realized the more we drove towards our house the less snow there was. Dad and Mike started painting the living room while mom and I cleaned the kitchen thoroughly. That evening we went to my grandma and grandpa Feeler's Christmas. We had a very small crowd this year, but we are all very blessed to celebrate another year with my grandparents with many more to come. My little cousin Elizabeth wanted to do a play for Christmas, she's had it planned for two months. Wasn't too sure everyone could stop visiting long enough to have it. To my surprise everyone watched, listen and with most, participated. Afterward we headed back to my parent's house for our immediate family Christmas. I made scrapbooks for both my brothers, they enjoy looking through it reminiscing. Mike and I headed back to our house since we had a long day ahead of us.

Saturday we woke up early. Mike headed to his mom and dads house to get clothes and to take his shower there since none of his stuff was at our new house. While he went with his uncle to church, I stayed at the house getting everything ready for mom and dad. By the way, I had no such luck in convincing them to stay home on Christmas. Parents just don't listen very well! ;) Mike came back from Church so we headed to his mom and dad's to eat dinner. Came back home and helped my mom and dad with the painting before we had to leave again. My brother Todd showed up to help as well. That evening Mike's family had their Christmas at his aunt's house. To our surprise Dad was still there at the house painting when we got back. Bless his heart, he was trying his best to finish the living room and the wet paint was blending in with the primer. You couldn't tell the white spots until the paint was almost dry. He finally finished it at 10pm! Mike's sister Lisa, her boyfriend Joseph and cousin Matthew all came over to see the house and to play pitch the rest of the night.

Sunday Mike and I woke up early to get everything cleaned up and touched up more paint before mom and dad arrived. Are you starting to see a pattern? I'm very lucky my family is bound and determined to help us with the house. We had to leave for yet another Christmas while mom and dad stayed there to paint. Mike's immediate family had their Christmas that morning. Came back to the house to paint yet again. We had a lot of visitors on Sunday. Mike's friend Jason came over to see the house and to visit for awhile. Later in the day Mike's mom, aunts, uncles, and his grandma all came over to see it as well. His grandma and aunts were doing a lot of reminiscing of how they remember the house. Once we put a contract on the house we found out it used to be his grandmas brother's house - I believe I have that connection right. Back in the 1960's, the St. Elizabeth high school's Building Trade class built the house for him. We are currently the fifth owners. To most of you reading this that may alarm you knowing it's been through five owners. We know all of the previous owners and just like us this house was a good starter home before they built their dream house. Didn't know you were going to get some history today reading my blog, did you? Okay back to the weekend. I was surprised to see Todd showed up again to help. I was glad he did, he helped dad finished up our kitchen. Mike worked on touching up paint and then tackled the bathroom with priming it. I don't believe I've mentioned yet in this post how much we are painting. Well we knew the walls for sure needed primed. After starting with that, we noticed the trimmed was yellowed and so was the ceiling. So we have been priming the walls, ceilings and trim plus painting. Quite the job! About 7 p.m. we all headed home. We've all put in some long hours this weekend. Mike and I are very grateful and couldn't thank them enough for their generous help.

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!
Pictures of the house to come later this week.

Early Christmas Present

Just when I thought our luck was running out to see our house before the end of the year I get a call.

Last night on my way home from the dentist, Mike calls to tell me the best news... we got the keys! Thank the Lord, I was beginning to think there was no hope at all for this week. Prayers were answered!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family willing to help me out. Since we celebrate my immediate family Christmas on Christmas Eve after my grandparents' Christmas, mom and dad was willing to paint on Christmas Day for us. I'm trying my best to talk them out of it, it's Christmas for heaven's sake so they need to relax and enjoy the holiday. Plus Mike and I will be gone all throughout the day celebrating his families' Christmases. Just wouldn't be right having them work on Christmas especially when we can't be there to help. It was a nice thought on their part.

We're still waiting to close on the house, but at least we can go in and start on the painting to make our house OURS. A very nice early Christmas present to Mike and I.

Wednesday Ramblings

I know this is a day early, but I had a few minutes at work and decided to go ahead and take advantage of it by blogging. I'm sure the next few days are going to be very hectic here at work - more than they already are.

Well as a few of my readers already know, Mike and I were unable to close on the house Friday. We were very disappointed. I just knew we would for sure have it by Christmas, boy did I think wrong! We're still waiting on the title process to be finished. Once that is all done we can CLOSE!!! Our poor house is all alone for the holidays! :)

I will try to post my weekend recaps again soon, I promise! Between dealing with the house and work, it has left me very little time to blog on Mondays. Plus this past weekend I was sick the whole entire time so you didn't miss much on my weekend life. I did, however, have to cancel on going to my friend's house for our girls' Christmas party. I was so bummed, but at least we were able to reschedule in January since a few others had to miss it as well.

We celebrated our Elrod Christmas last Sunday. It was a typical Elrod family Christmas, minus the presence of my grandparents. Grandma Dodie and grandpa Andy would be very proud to see my dad and uncle still coming together for Christmas, with of course the help of my mom!

Hope everyone has a safe and joyous holiday!
Merry Christmas!!