House Update - Good and Bad News

Our adventure in home repair and a little remodel continues. It's been quite a week!

I'll start with the bad news. (I want to end on a positive note.) Yesterday when they were demoing our old kitchen floor the contractor and flooring guys found Subterranean Termites! YES! AAAAHH! So.... the "bug guy" is here now squirting poison foam into the wall and ground outside the house to kill the little suckers. Good thing we decided to upgrade to laminate flooring. If we had just replaced the carpet with carpet, we wouldn't have found these little pests!

On a more positive note. Demolition of the rest of the carpet and baseboards was done on Wednesday. O was able to help our contractor with removing the baseboards. A benefit of only being in school for half a day. Notice the gloves. She had to go and get her gloves so she would match Mr. P. 

They started putting in the flooring on Friday. It was suppose to be Thursday. Another problem with another Sub. Again, my contractor was very angry! It all worked out and the flooring is almost done. The guys are here working as I am typing.

The flooring is beautiful! We absolutely love it! The girls have already "sock skated" on it last night and this morning.

Oh, the other thing that was finished this week was the stucco under the front window. I didn't take pictures of that yet, but it looks beautiful! Just needs to be painted. The stucco guy rocks!

The painters should be here next week, Monday I think. I'll let you know how that looks when it's done. We won't be able to paint everything right now. With all the added expense, some painting will have to wait. I just want my house back together! We'll be painting this spring and summer.

I Can See The Light

There has been a lot of work being done on the house this week. We can finally see the light and feel everything will be done soon. YEAH! Here is what has happened this week:

Tuesday the electrician came and installed three can lights in our family room. What a difference!

Wednesday our contractor was back to finish installing the windows! YEAH! He also added insulation. What a difference in temperature.

I had some fun and took some cool construction photography while the guys were working. I couldn't resist.

Can you tell what we did different to our front window? I did not take a close up, so you'll really have to look. (Leave a comment)

The last thing that happened this week (as of today) was drywall! YEAH! The Rockers came early this morning (7:45am!). It took them no time at all to hang all the drywall. Talk about fast.

Oh, the other thing that has also started is demolition of the flooring. We're getting ready for our new floors. I don't have a specific date of install for the flooring yet, but I'll keep you posted.

I'm not sure if I'll tell you what colors we will paint the walls. I might keep that one detail a surprise. hmmmm.....

NOW, it feels like our house is getting put back together! Stay tuned for more updates soon.

Cell Phone Pics

On Sunday the girls and I went to hear Papa play his Tuba in the Ohlone Wind Orchestra. What a treat. We also had the pleasure of hearing a wonderful piano solo by Brenda Tom.

The only camera I had was my cell phone. Here are a few pics I took.

The girls just outside the Smith Center, where the concert was.

Smith Center at Ohlone College

The lobby of the Smith Center.

I couldn't resist taking this picture (again with my cell phone). What beautiful fall colors!

Caught By Little Sister

I'm making dinner on Saturday night and the girls are in the kitchen.

O: (in a very sing songy cute voice)  "K why do you smell like chocolate?"

CK:  doesn't say anything - just shrugs  shoulders, doesn't open her mouth and makes a question noise

Mommy: "CK did you eat chocolate?"

CK:  shakes head no

Mommy: "CK did you eat chocolate?"

CK: shakes head no

Mommy: "CK DID YOU EAT A PIECE A CANDY? Tell me the truth, because if you lie to me that will make me more angry, and TALK to me don't just shake your head." (I KNEW she wouldn't be able to lie to me if she spoke. Shaking her head and humming no was too easy to lie.)

CK: walks toward mommy crying

Mommy: "CK look at me, did you eat a piece of chocolate? TELL ME THE TRUTH. DO NOT lie to me!"

CK: (crying) "Yes."

 

It was much more than eating a piece of candy (right before dinner!). I was angry that CK lied to me (3 times).

I think it's funny that O smelled the chocolate on her. That is totally my sister.

P.S. I had to post this, but don't tell CK.

Celebrating Halloween

I gave the girls' teachers each a bag of "Pumpkin Poop." They loved it. I can't remember where I found this, but the girls and I love making them.

O during her Kinder Halloween parade. They went in and out of the classrooms.

We joined CK in the afternoon for the school parade and her class party.

O with our REAL cowgirl friend! She dressed up just for O.

We put our Halloween witch in the office window. We love her. She looks so cool. The girls were all excited that our house looked like a haunted house for Halloween.

Getting ready to go out Trick-or-Treating. What a fun night. It rained on and off. We met up with friends from school along the way. We Trick-or-Treated our entire neighborhood. That is the most we've ever done in our neighborhood. The girls got so much candy, they could barely carry it home.

Happy Halloween

Tonight we carved our jack-o-lanterns. What do you think?

O (far left) drew her jack-o-lantern's face herself. Daddy cleaned out the pumpkin and carved it.

CK (middle) told me how she wanted it carved. Giving me step-by-step directions as I carved it.

The kitty jack-o-lantern C and I worked on together. We both designed it, I cleaned out the pumpkin and C carved it.

It was a great family night. I think we had just as much shooting them as carving.

I'll post photos from Halloween on Saturday.

A Sad Day for Mommy

CK (7 years old): "Daddy, how do you know that Santa is real?"

Daddy: {without hesitation} "It's the same as believing in Jesus and God, you have to have faith."

Tears flooded Mommies eyes as CK left the room.

Window Install - Day 1

8:00am sharp Allen was here with his worker guy and they jumped right into working on installing the window. It was exciting to see them work. It was interesting to see the process. Tools all over the front yard—they were noisy and I loved it. 

It was going to take them all day, but it was going to be beautiful by the end of the day.

Or not. This is what it looked like at about 11:00am. Four out of six windows didn't fit. Didn't fit, as in too small!  I couldn't believe it. Boy was Allen mad. He was barely talking. The window guy must have forgotten how to measure. (NO Allen did not make this mistake)

Allen and his worker guy (can't remember his name, Scott I think.) did what they could. They installed the two center windows. They are beautiful, BTW! We love them. They put up all the construction adhesive and then boarded up the window spaces and put plastic over the entire thing, since we are supposed to get rain this weekend. 

Allen is working on a rush for the replacement windows. I'll keep you posted, but it will be about a week. A week. I just keep telling myself it will be so beautiful when it's finished. So beautiful.

Demo of Front Window

Today was the day. Allen (our contractor) was here bright and early to demo the front window.

Allen demoed the window and repaired some of the damaged wood. He ended the day by boarding up the front window.

New windows are sitting in our side yard, waiting to be put up tomorrow. We can't wait! Their beautiful.

Allen started his demo at about 8am. Yikes.

You might have noticed - no more bushes under the window.

Allen was nice enough to take them out for us. I'll put something else in their place. Maybe some type of small flowering plants.

No more trim

.

A new windowsill.

Starting to board up after removing the old windows.

Looks like a foreclosed house.

It was very strange to come home to this after Catechism class.

"It smells."

We're looking forward to being able to see out the front windows tomorrow.

Poor O thought Allen wouldn't be back for another few weeks. He assured her he would be back tomorrow to put in our new windows.

Weekend in Review

We had a fabulous weekend. Here are a few highlights.

I am lucky enough to be able to volunteer in both girls classrooms. Friday for O and Thursday for CK. Friday is a great day to help out with the Kinder class, because that is art day and cooking day!

This past Friday was finger-painting. It was so funny to see some of the kids nervous about touching the paint. Some kids had never done finger-painting before. O, of course, has and loved it. The images tell it all.

Friday evening we went to visit a friend, her son, husband and brand new baby (1 month old)! Yes, I got my baby fix! C and O went early. O got a great play date with her buddy (who is 4 years old). They had a great time with the bouncy house.

CK and I joined the party after our Brownie meeting. We had a great evening catching up. (sorry no pictures from this fun evening)

Saturday afternoon my friend and I had a wonderful afternoon of pottery, PJs, and a movie with the kids. It went from 2:30pm to 10pm. It was great.

We first went to the pottery place and glazed some pieces. Everyone had a piece to glaze. Even little N (who is only 1-1/2 years old).

N - football bank

CK and K - ponies (of course)

O - small vase (A gift for Mommy. I couldn't look at it. So sweet.)

A (my friend) - small bowl

Me - cup and saucer

I only have one picture from the pottery place, it was hard to take pictures and paint pottery at the same time. I can't wait to see all our piece finished. A and I want to go back without the kids. Now that would be a fun girls night out.

After painting pottery, we did pizza and a movie....in our PJs. It was a lot of fun. We didn't get home until 10:30pm. It was great. What a great day with such special friends.

Sunday morning we were still able to get up and go to Mass. I was amazed. C got home late from work, so I let him sleep in. It was a nice end to a wonderful weekend.

Happy Mother's Day!

I know, I'm about 7 months early, but today it's Mother's Day for me.

I was finally able to use my wonderful gift certificate for The Spa today. My wonderful husband gave it to me as a Mother's Day gift. Yes, back in May. It's been crazy and I just now used it.

OMG, was it wonderful, relaxing, and heavenly! I left the spa so relaxed I was limp.

I'm ready for anything today, I'm so relaxed. Anything can happen. I really don't care!

Thank you my beloved for such a wonderful Mother's Day gift!

MONDAY!

Monday is the day the work should get started. The windows will be here on Friday. I just spoke to my wonderful contractor and he'll give me an update on Friday, but he should be here on Monday morning to start fixing the front window leak. Everything will happen pretty fast after that. We can't wait!

I'll update the blog with "work being done" pictures on Monday when they start the fun stuff.

YEAH! I'm so excited!

My Beloved is 38!

Yesterday it was C's birthday - 38 years old!

We have been together for 14 years (married for 12). We have two smart, caring, funny, beautiful girls together. C is my strength, my support. He always knows what to say to make me feel better. He makes me feel like I'm the most beautiful, sexiest woman on the planet. He is a wonderful caring father. He takes wonderful care of his family. He makes me laugh until I cry. I love our time along together; date nights, weekday morning walks, evenings by the fire. He takes us on wonderful family vacations. When I look at my beloved I feel excited, peaceful and loved. I am so proud of him and his career change. He's my hero!

Happy Birthday my love!

House Update

It's been 4 weeks since demo day. Yes, we are still living with concrete floors and insulation for walls. I do have faith. I know it will all change soon.

Last week the roofers came and repaired the leak. Yesterday, my wonderful contractor did a second water test on the back roof to make sure the leak was fixed. It is! Yeah!

Next Step

We are waiting for our new front windows to come in. That should be another week or so. Hopefully sooner. Once the windows come in the leak on the front window can be repaired. Which will entail all the trim on the outside of the window be removed and redone. The paper stuff on the house will also need to be replaced, along with new windows.

In the mean time we need to pick paint colors and plan out when we will paint. I also want to paint the kitchen cabinets. We'll see how much we can get done before the flooring goes in.

Hopefully this all gets done soon. It's getting cold in here.

Referral List

I have started a referral list on the right side of my blog, below my favorite quotes. I will add who I am using for what to this list as they finish work on our house. I've started my list with my contractor and roofer.

Our Fall Weekend

Saturday morning we went down the road to a local farm's pumpkin patch. It was the most wonderful pumpkin patch. They had all sizes and colors of pumpkins; pink, blue, white, and orange.

There were tall sunflower plants on either side and short rows in the back. The fall colors were beautiful. Behind the pumpkin patch was the field where they grew the pumpkins. It seemed to go on forever.

The girls had a great time running around, looking for the perfect pumpkins. They enjoyed making faces out of the windows of the "haunted house." It was a nice family outing.

After the pumpkin patch and after Daddy went to work, the girls and I took a ride to the Outlets to look for CK's birthday gift. I had promised to get her boots for her birthday. The Outlets didn't have anything that she liked or fit so we went to Meryvn's. We found the perfect pair. They are so cute. So grown up looking. No more baby. (sniff)

I had to include Genie in this post. She was in one of her moods this weekend. C was getting her all excited on Friday night. The girls loved seeing her in attack mode. She is 11-1/2 years old now. It's great to see her still so playful.

Sunday night the girls and I went to my parents for dinner. We had a great visit and a wonderful meatloaf dinner. YUM!

We also got to see my parents new "neighbor," Charlotte. I posted a wonderful image of her on my photography blog. Check her out.

7 Years Old!

CK is 7 years old today! We can't believe it. It seems like yesterday I was in the hospital holding my miracle baby in my arms. Now she is 7 years old, in Second Grade, reading, playing piano....it's amazing.

Her chocolate brown eyes melt our hearts. That smile puts sunshine on a gloomy day. She always knows just what to say to make me feel better or cheer me up. So loving and caring. Best friends with her little sister. Smart and loves school. Always helpful.

Happy birthday my sweet angel!

New Scar for Daddy

C is proud of every scar he has. This one is work related. He cut his head on a broken window. For more details email or call me.

C went to the hospital to get it glued. No stitches or staples, they do glue now. Of course, he flirted with the hot nurses.

He is fine, BTW.

Making Me Smile

This week has gotten a little better, not much, but my girls can always make me smile. Even when they are at school.

On Tuesday morning, the girls were at school and I was taking care of things at home. I was still cranky, but the quiet time was good. I walk into the girls room to put something away and see O's bed. That bear is so loved! It put a smile on my face to see Doga (No idea where the name came from) all tucked into bed for the day.

Need to Complain

My husband tells me I can complain about him on my blog. My blog doesn't need to just be about the good stuff. Everything, he says, is not "balloons and cotton candy." So...here I go. Nothing about my husband to complain about today. Just the house and kids.

The girls are both home sick from school today! I hate when they miss school and I hate when they are home sick! That is my time. I have learned to love them both at school.

O has a bad cold and I thought the kinder teachers really don't want her coughing and sniffly at school today. I pretty much knew that at bed time last night. This morning CK says she has a tummy ache (upset tummy). Yikes. I'm sure she does. She doesn't fib about that kind of stuff. Not yet anyway. She loves going to school.

The house is still torn apart. No workers yet. The roof will get repaired tomorrow. I should know more by the end of the week. Three weeks! I've had it! I need my walls back. I need my floors in. I need furniture to sit on! This is why we haven't done anything to our house until now. It took a leak to do anything, because this sucks!

Now, to make everything worse, I've got to pay bills!