HOUSE...s

We bought a house. Well, our offer has been accepted and if all continues to go well, will close on 29 June. I will give you more details later.

Chris' brother Rob flew in tonight and we are driving to Yellowstone tomorrow. It should be a good long weekend.

Also, even better news, WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!! We accepted an offer today and are closing on 22 June.

YEE HAW!!

Ryan and The House

Ryan, aka Sags, spent this past weekend with us and I don't know what we would have done with out him! Poor guy came to visit us, well Wilson, before he went to Brazil for 5 months, and we put him to work. Ryan and Chris planted trees, weeded the rock beds around the house, moved rock, built shelves for the closets and cleaned out the garage. Ry not only helped with the house, he watched Wilson so I could clean and paint AND he cooked (and cleaned up afterwards) a fantastic Mother's Day meal. Guatemalan black beans, enchiladas and rice. It was one of the best meals I have in a long time. Deeeelicious!!

Now Ry is gone and the basement is FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you understand what I said here people? The basement is finished! Our Realtor brought other Realtors from her office by today and we all ready have someone scheduled to look at the house tonight. You never know we may sell it today... An Open House is scheduled for this Sunday and our Realtor thinks we will definitely have offers, if not today, Sunday for sure.

Saturday Chris has an air show and afterwards we plan on driving to Spokane to, hopefully, put an offer down on a house. I have been working with an agent there and have some houses that I am dying to see. You never know, this time next week we could have bought a new home in Spokane and sold this one. I don't think we will find a house as great as our home here but you never know. I will sure miss this house and this neighborhood!

Superman

Just look at all Chris has done this weekend, and the weekend isn't even over yet. He should get a lot more done today because our friend Jason just called and he is coming over to help. Thank you, Jace!



He has the large room's ceiling just about finished:

As you come down the stairs.

Above the bar

Buck with a drywall nose.

Basement and Belly

Here are some pictures from the basement. Chris has the fireplace in and all the insulation up. He even has a few pieces of rock up in one of the rooms. We rented a sheet rock hoist tomorrow and Chris plans on hanging rock all weekend.

We took some pictures of my belly last night. It is crazy how big I've become. The only shirts I can wear now are Chris'. My maternity tops (even the size large) show my belly. I never thought that I would be able to fit into, or should I say fill out, Chris' shirts. I cannot wait to wear normal clothes again and sleep on my belly. Just the thought of laying on my stomach makes me smile.

I am enormous!!!
Today I have been super TIRED. I slept well last night, which has been a rare event this pregnancy, and went back to bed after breakfast until almost noon. Normally I would feel bad about all that sleep but not today. I think my body is naturally preparing for labor and infant feedings. I know I won't be getting much sleep the next, oh, 18 years.

Busy weekend

Wow did we have a busy weekend. It all started last Thursday when Home Depot dropped off basement materials. The delivery truck arrived at our house around three with an entire trailer full of supplies. We had 3 pallets of insulation, 1 pallet of bathroom materials (shower rods, sinks, faucets, etc.), 1 pallet of drywall mud, bi-fold doors, molding, and 155 4x8 sheets of drywall.Everything went smoothly until it came to the drywall. The night before it snowed and our driveway was covered. Naturally, the contraption the man was driving could not get the drywall inside. He kept spinning on the snow and said that the weight of the drywall was just too heavy. I asked him if he would take the drywall back to HD because it was snowing and deliver the material another day. After all, I can’t help that it snowed the night before and that his contraption cannot do its job. Well, that was not an option. He would not and could not take the drywall back!! He had “other deliveries” and was going to leave $1,500 worth of materials outside in the snow. Needless to say, I was not too happy but there was nothing I could do about it. So he left the drywall IN THE SNOW and went on his Mary way. That night Chris and I covered the drywall up with a tarp and crossed our fingers for cold weather. Thankfully, the weather held up and Chris had some guys from work come over and help him move all the drywall inside on Saturday. (We were super lucky too because Sunday it warmed back up to 45 degrees and all the snow melted.) Saturday, not only did Chris get the drywall inside he put in the fireplace, rearranged the spare bedroom, and put the crib up!!!

Have I mentioned lately that my husband is amazing!? Everyone always worries about the pregnant one (how I am feeling, coping and adjusting to the idea of delivering and having a baby) but the men have a lot going on too. Chris is so strong and doing so much for me. I am sure (he hasn’t told me this) that he is dealing with similar anxieties and emotions but he just keeps it all together. He balances work, home construction, me, the dogs and the idea of becoming a father like a star- never complaining and faithfully dependable. I am so lucky!!

Sunday Chris worked on the basement (fixing the final things the inspector suggested) and I had my baby shower. The shower was wonderful. We shared stories, laughed and ate some yummy chocolate cake!! I can’t believe how many people sent things for us from out of town!! Seriously, it was great!! We really miss you guys!!! Thanks so much!! It was like I had you all there.

Taking it easy and loving my man.

Okay, so there have been some changes over the weekend. I will spare everyone the details but let's just say that we think Junior will not wait until his due date to arrive. I have put myself on bed rest for the next week- in hopes that he stays put a little longer. While I have been taking it easy Chris has been running around like a mad man.

Saturday he made a baby supply run. We now have diapers, wipes, some onsies, diaper cream, a mattress, sheets and pacifiers. There are a few other things we need but I am not worried about getting them. After all, when I do deliver I will be in the hospital for 2 days- so we will manage. Our car seat is in the car, not hooked up but in the car, and our bags are packed.

Yesterday, Chris spent most of the day at Home Depot. He has ordered most of the supplies we need to finish the basement (everything from the toilet to nails) and I think that they are delivering the sheet rock and insulation one day this week. It is a sigh of relief to both of us that we have everything ordered or under control. The basement won't be done by the time we meet our son but will we get it done soon after. Along with shopping, yesterday my engineer put all of our expenses in a spread sheet and we know exactly how much we need to sell the house for when we leave. That is another weight off our chest. We have dropped a lot of money into this house but think it will all be worth it in the end.

Okay, I need to get back to propping my feet up.

Basement pics

The bathroom is officially plumbed! Chris shut the water off yesterday and connected the lines. We now have running water downstairs!! C really did a wonderful job!! He just keeps impressing me! There was only one minor leak (drip....drip) which just required some tightening at the connection. The tub is even hooked up and ready to go. Next step: inspection.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the movie... Originally, we were going to go to the early show but the basement trumped those plans. So we decided to go to dinner then the show. Dinner was good (besides the hair in my burger); we took our time and dined but my body just couldn't take sitting in a movie for another 2 hours. (When you are this pregnant sitting for too long is just plain uncomfortable and the only way you can get semi-comfortable is to lay down.) So, we didn't make it to the movie but we did rent one that I enjoyed while laying on the couch.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all brought the new year in with a blast. We had a boring but relaxing evening. Chris worked on the basement while I took down the Christmas tree and got some things together for my Graduate school applications. We had dinner around 7, watched Over the Hedge, and went to bed by 10. Exciting huh? The kid isn’t even here yet and we are watching cartoons and going to bed before the New Year rings in. (At least it was midnight EST.) Oh well, I feel great today and am finally beginning to catch up from our trip to OH.

Today, for the first time in a LONG time, I went to the gym . I have been walking the pups at least 3 days a week for 45 minutes but haven’t been able to get on a cross-trainer in some time. Since I am taking the semester off from classes I now have Mondays and Fridays free. So I plan on making it to the gym at least 2 days a week (in addition to walking) until the baby comes. I am starting to freak out a little about my after baby body. Maybe I should have put the fudge down this Christmas because I know that the baby is not the only contributor to the “cheese” on my legs!!! Please, oh please, tell me that I will be able to get rid of all this jiggle.

Chris is busy being my electrician in the basement. I am so thankful to have such a handy and talented hubby. He is really moving along down there. After the electric is complete he has to put in the water supply line and then he can call the city inspector. After the inspector comes we will be in the home stretch. I think that we will get the basement done before Junior arrives. (Less than 2 months now!!)

I hope that you all start your year off right. May this year be filled with health, love, happiness and laughter. I think that 2007 is going to be a great one!!


Look at how beautiful it is here today- sunny and blue skies. I love it!! The snow on the ground really adds to the backdrop.

That's Amore...

Painting debacle-

Update at the bottom~

The Painters are supposed to be here tomorrow to finish painting our doors. (My bad- I need to catch you all up to speed on our painting situation.)

The Painters finally showed up to our house to paint, after 5 months of avoiding me, on October 9th. They took every door down in the house, including closet doors, put them in our basement and painted away. Around noon everything looked okay. The interior doors were finished and hung back up. THEN Roberto, the Painter, proceeds to hang up our exterior doors. His helper (assistant- whatever you want to call him) took out a chunk of drywall on his way up the stairs- only to find that the paint did not do it’s job and cover the door correctly. So- Roberto took the door back downstairs and proceeded to sand and repaint it a 3rd time!! BUT that did not work out… Roberto then called a “paint expert” and they determined that the door was contaminated. (Listen, Roberto- I didn’t contaminate my freaking door and to be honest I don’t care who or what did. I JUST WANT IT FIXED!!) After some more analyzing and phone calls the paint expert, now at my house, and Roberto decided that the problem was not contamination it was that the door was too cold. Apparently, when you paint doors you should make sure that the door is between 50-60 degrees. (I would think that a Painter would know this, but what do I know!) By this point- the fumes in my house were SO BAD that my head wanted to jump off of my body, my mood wanted to kill all in sight and there were purple elephants dancing in the kitchen (just seeing if you are paying attention).

I had been trying to avoid the fumes all day (worrying about what I was exposing our unborn son to) by sitting outside. However, after a couple hours at 50 I started to freeze. Which I'm sure aided to my headache and mood. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. We had to leave this fumy house. So, Chris and I decided to go get a bite to eat. Roberto was going to hang our doors back up and take off as well. We said our goodbyes and scheduled a time to have Roberto and his team paint another day in the week. The plan was for Wednesday. When we came home about an hour later our front door was hung but our door that goes to the garage from the kitchen was not. Hmm, that is nice Roberto! It is supposed to get down to 30 degrees tonight and our garage is not insulated. Are YOU going to pay our electric bill? Chris pried the door in its opening and put a chair in front of it to hold it in place. I then found some socks and stuffed the handle and lock holes. This should do… After all, they are going to be back in 2 days. What’s two days?

Wednesday (10/11):
Two days came and the temperature dropped to around 30-something and the snow began to fall. Not exactly the most ideal painting conditions. So we reschedule, AGAIN. I asked Roberto why the door was not hung and found out that he couldn’t hang it because it has special hinges (that make the door shut back when it is left open) and he needed a certain tool to hang it back up. Okay- thanks for telling me!! I guess that I can leave the door sitting in the hole with socks in it for a couple more days since you obviously don’t have the tool!

Sunday (10/15):
It's Sunday morning and no Roberto. I called him and got his voicemail. A few hours passed, still no Roberto and no call. By this point- I am a little hot! C is gone and the door fell out of its hole (it is not an exactly easy job to put the heavy door back in the hole) and now has a dent in it… Grrrr! Finally, around 8pm Roberto calls. I kindly say, "I will be home tomorrow. " "Okay Ms Jamie, I will see you tomorrow." Roberto says.

Monday (10/16):
7:30 Roberto is scheduled to be at our house. He shows but along with him comes rain- and it is starting to get colder. The news is calling for snow. “Not a good day, Ms Jamie” Roberto says. I agree. I asked him if he could hang the door and he did not have the tool. We scheduled to have him come back on Friday.

Between Wednesday and Friday the door fell 2 more times adding more dents to the door and leaving white paint on my red couch and the chair. The dents are so bad that I think we might have to buy a new door. JOY! Those are only a couple hundred dollars. I have that growing in my garden around back!!!

Friday (10/20):
Again, Roberto calls and is coming around 7:30. The weather outside looks terrible it’s cold and raining. The high for the day is only 44. “Not a good day, Miss Jamie.” Roberto says. I agree but insist that he hang the door back up and show him the dents. Turns out that all he needed was an Alan Wrench. Are you kidding me?? If they would have hung the door up the first time (like they were supposed to) it wouldn’t have any dents. (Lesson learned! If people aren’t doing their job correctly you should not have to put up with it. Tell them to do it right. You don’t have to be mean just firm. NEVER AGAIN, will I be a push over.) The door was hung and we rescheduled again for this Sunday.

Saturday (10/21):
The weather looks okay. When I took C to the airport this morning it was raining/snowing. It is “supposed” to be clear tomorrow. Fingers crossed that this is the last time I have to schedule any painting!!

Monday (10/23):
The doors are hung!! Now they just need to fix our hinges the "special ones" b/c the door is not closing properly and the lock appears to be broken. Maybe, just maybe, I will be finished coordinating repairs this week, or month, or year [don't say a word Kari!]... who knows. At least there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Basement and Belly

Watch out!! I have the nail gun!!

18 weeks and 4 days



Chris had to take a picture of my shirt... Thanks Angie!! I am so glad that you passed it on to me. It is definately appropriate.

Today's progress

I tell you what, that hubby of mine has been hard at work. Just look at what he has accomplished... IN ONE DAY!! He is amazing!

Snowing in September

Yes folks it is SNOWING... Believe it or not I am actually not upset about snow in September. Mostly because the mosquitos are now DEAD and next week they are calling for temps in the 80's. 80'S!!!!

 

Grass and geese

Do you see the green patches in our yard? What are they from you might ask? Jake. Most dogs kill the grass when they use the restroom. Not Jake. Apparently he helps it grow. Strange.



I love our back yard! In the early summer we watched the wheat grow and blow in the wind. Now we get to sit in our rocking chairs and watch the geese fly and graze.
 

Waiting on the freaking painter.

Okay, so when we bought our home we made a check list of things the builder needed to fix. One major thing on the list is our doors: they all need repainted. I called the painter 2 weeks ago. He was out of town. I called the painter last week... He forgot about me. Thanks! The plan was that he would come by Monday night, AKA last night, and take down all the doors. Did he show up?? I think not. Then he told me that he would start painting "very EARLY" on Tuesday. Is he here? What do you think? Would I be writing on the blog if he was? NO!! If you can't come, CALL!! Uhhhh! That really irritates me. It takes what, 2 seconds to call someone? I think I am most "irritated" because I have been waiting since MAY for my doors to be REpainted!! Mr Painter Man why didn't you just do it right the first time!!!!???? Why?

The yard had it's first "hair cut"

and boy was that a job! Considering that it was 100 degrees on Saturday and 104 yesterday I had to mow the yard in increments. It took me 2 days but I have it done!!

Yesterday, I was so HOT that I sprayed myself down with the hose in between mowing sessions. It was a great idea but five minutes later I ran out of gas. So, I had to change into dry clothes and go to the gas station. After I got home with the gas I decided that it was too hot to finish the yard so I would wash the Aztec. It started to rain on me but I was able to clean up the space ship just in time. It is now sitting on the base “lemon lot” with a big FOR SALE sign in it’s window. Hopefully we can sell it!!!
At around 9pm it cooled down enough for me to attempt to mow the yard again. One hour later I FINISHED!!! Talk about a sense of accomplishment!! I was so happy to be done with the yard that I wanted to do cartwheels!! But… it was too dark and late. My luck I would fall and break something. Maybe I will do them today. Wait. Will that hurt the baby? Maybe I won’t. I will just do cartwheels inside (myself).

Here ya go Dad.

My Dad has requested some yard and garden pictures be added to the blog and considering his hard work is the reason we have it done I agree. :)

I think the above photo is of cucumbers. Does that sound right to any of you?

These are my Alaskan wild flowers

and these are my giant sunflowers.

The yard looks pretty good. A few brown spots here and there, but all in all it's coming along. I think it is time for us to invest in a lawn mower.

Look at that sky. It looks like another storm might be moving through. It's amazing how fast they come and go here.

Our fence is totally done!!

Our friends, Karen and Tom, came over today to help finish the fence. It looks great!! Now we can have our doggy friends over to visit... Madden's, I hate to tell you this but I think Jake might have a new girlfriend. He has a swimming date with Luna, a young little Weimaraner, later this week. Please break it to Chena slowly. He still cares for her... But the distance is just too much.

SOD

Before...




After....


We aren't done just yet, but we sure are gettin' there.


Here are a few more pictures.