We have had an extremely busy weekend. Miss E spent Sat-today at her Grammie's house, so we had time to get stuff done. Saturday I painted our bedroom (finally!) and it looks awesome! I was afraid of how the color blue was going to turn out on our accent wall & turns out, it is perfect. I'm so in love with how it is coming together. While I painted, Brandon worked on Miss E's loft bed/playhouse. Sunday, we both worked on her bed, I got all the pink & white parts painted, so today I'm going to paint all the purple parts. Then when Brandon gets home tomorrow night we can finally get it in her room and get it put together! I am SO excited since this has been in works since January. We still have to get the crack in her wall fixed from the tornado, and then I can finally get her room back together.
Once her bed gets done, our next project is our bed. We have decided not to put it on the old frame & posts since it is so high. We took it down when Miss E was born for safety reasons and decided we want to keep it low to the ground(but not on the floor like it is now) to keep it safe for Miss E & any other future kiddos we have. So Brandon is going to build us a platform bed & a headboard. Oh and matching nightstands as well. I'm very excited about how our room is going to come together.
We should be finished clearing the trees in the front yard this week. Then we can start the grading work and hopefully get sod down within the next month. Then we have to start the back yard. We just have to take it one day at a time, as frustrating as that may be sometimes.
Miss E is doing awesome. She decided to go ahead and have another growth spurt, so now she is in 3T/4T shirts (she has some 4/5 that fit as well) and went straight into a 7.5 shoe. I can't keep up with her growth spurts & it gets expensive quick!
Right now, life is good, just busy, but I'm enjoying all the progress we are making!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Home Improvements
A lot has been going on this past week. Good news is that all the damage on the house has been officially repaired. The gutters are fixed and the window that was broken is now also fixed. A guy is coming tomorrow or Saturday to pressure wash the entire house and then I can re paint the front porch. Our house is going to look amazing! Now all the focus is on the front and back yard. We are on our 4th roll off dumpster($300 a piece!) for the yard debris. But our front yard is really starting to come together. Brandon's dad has been here almost every day when he gets off work and works until about 9pm. When Brandon is home, he also goes straight to work as well. To say they have been working hard is a huge understatement. I am so very grateful that Darryl has done as much as he has because he doesn't have to. He is seriously one pf the best people I know.
While the guys have been busy improving the outside of our house, I've been busy improving the inside. On Saturday I started making the guest bath into Elyse's bathroom. She picked out the theme she wanted and then I painted it light purple(purple is her favorite color). The bathroom before was a light but bright blue, so covering it was not easy. I got the 2 in 1 paint and primer and had to really layer it on. I didn't get finished til after 11, so touch ups had to wait til Sunday. After I finally finished touch ups on Sunday, I hand scrubbed every inch of the bathroom. I'm talking on my hands and knees cleaning square by square on the floor kind of cleaning. Then I put in all of her new stuff and moved all of her bath stuff in. I had bought her all new towels and washcloths to match. Every thing looked great! I am so happy with the way it turned out. The best part was Miss E's face when she saw it the first time. She said "mommy, it's purple"! I said "this is your new big girl bathroom" and she said that she loved it. Now she wants to go in there numerous times a day to stand on her step stool and brush her teeth by herself and I happily oblige.
Monday Darryl came over early and surprised me by telling me to go pick out new carpet for the bedroom! I can't even explain how happy that made me, our bedroom is in dire need of new carpet. He said we had enough insurance money from the tornado to put carpet in the bedroom. He had told Brandon that morning that he was going to surprise me with it. It almost brought tears to my eyes, this is something I've wanted to do since before Miss E was born, but we just couldn't afford it. We have a pretty big bedroom(it measured out to be 35.33 yards of carpet needed), so this is just awesome. He had already called the guy and told him that I was going to be coming and told me to pick out whatever I wanted. So yesterday Miss E and I went up there and picked out the type I wanted and brought the samples home so I could pick the color. I went back and ordered it this morning and it's going to be installed next Wed! Happy doesn't describe how I feel! It's enough to make me forget about what a crappy day I had Saturday.
So now I am on count down mode to Wednesday. After it gets installed, I'm going to pick out paint and finally paint our bedroom. We've lived here for 6 years and the walls are still bare and white and our bay windows still have no curtains. So I'm changing that and making it what I want it to be=) After I ge the bedroom how I want it, I'm going to start on the kitchen. I have plenty to keep me busy this summer with home improvements=) I'm excited because I love having projects though.
While the guys have been busy improving the outside of our house, I've been busy improving the inside. On Saturday I started making the guest bath into Elyse's bathroom. She picked out the theme she wanted and then I painted it light purple(purple is her favorite color). The bathroom before was a light but bright blue, so covering it was not easy. I got the 2 in 1 paint and primer and had to really layer it on. I didn't get finished til after 11, so touch ups had to wait til Sunday. After I finally finished touch ups on Sunday, I hand scrubbed every inch of the bathroom. I'm talking on my hands and knees cleaning square by square on the floor kind of cleaning. Then I put in all of her new stuff and moved all of her bath stuff in. I had bought her all new towels and washcloths to match. Every thing looked great! I am so happy with the way it turned out. The best part was Miss E's face when she saw it the first time. She said "mommy, it's purple"! I said "this is your new big girl bathroom" and she said that she loved it. Now she wants to go in there numerous times a day to stand on her step stool and brush her teeth by herself and I happily oblige.
Monday Darryl came over early and surprised me by telling me to go pick out new carpet for the bedroom! I can't even explain how happy that made me, our bedroom is in dire need of new carpet. He said we had enough insurance money from the tornado to put carpet in the bedroom. He had told Brandon that morning that he was going to surprise me with it. It almost brought tears to my eyes, this is something I've wanted to do since before Miss E was born, but we just couldn't afford it. We have a pretty big bedroom(it measured out to be 35.33 yards of carpet needed), so this is just awesome. He had already called the guy and told him that I was going to be coming and told me to pick out whatever I wanted. So yesterday Miss E and I went up there and picked out the type I wanted and brought the samples home so I could pick the color. I went back and ordered it this morning and it's going to be installed next Wed! Happy doesn't describe how I feel! It's enough to make me forget about what a crappy day I had Saturday.
So now I am on count down mode to Wednesday. After it gets installed, I'm going to pick out paint and finally paint our bedroom. We've lived here for 6 years and the walls are still bare and white and our bay windows still have no curtains. So I'm changing that and making it what I want it to be=) After I ge the bedroom how I want it, I'm going to start on the kitchen. I have plenty to keep me busy this summer with home improvements=) I'm excited because I love having projects though.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Tuesday we got our new roof. They came at 7:30 in the am and were up there banging all.day.long.I would have packed Miss E and I up and left for the day, but I was completely blocked in and I would have had to ask all of them to move their vehicles & the dump truck, so we just stayed in. It was a very long day to say the least, but our new roof looks amazing! We got an architectural roof and it looks so much nicer than the old one. And the best part is they finished it in one day!
The siding got finished this morning. They were here yesterday and had to come back and finish this am, but I am happy to say that is done too! We still have gutters to replace and some more minor things, but the big stuff on the house is done!
Miss E's room is still all messed up, all of her furniture is gathered in the middle of the room still, except for her twin bed, which is still in it's normal spot so she can sleep in there. I can't wait to get that room back to normal. Anyone who knows me knows about my OCD and I freak out a little every time I walk in the room.
The kitchen window is still broken, but luckily we have double paned windows, so it's just broken on the outside.
Our insurance adjuster is AMAZING! Since Darryl is doing the tree removal himself(the insurance only pays for trees that caused damage to the house, truck, and Shyla's pen), it's looking like we should be completely covered and not have to come out of pocket for anything(well, we will have to be reimbursed for some of the things that have already been done). This is a huge blessing since we have about 100 trees down and it was going to cost about 10,000 to get them all taken care of. Our front and back yard is going to have to be completely redone( I can't even begin to explain what they look like at the moment) and sod is not cheap. So this is really a huge weight lifted.
It's probably going to take all summer, but it's going to look amazing when it gets done=)
The siding got finished this morning. They were here yesterday and had to come back and finish this am, but I am happy to say that is done too! We still have gutters to replace and some more minor things, but the big stuff on the house is done!
Miss E's room is still all messed up, all of her furniture is gathered in the middle of the room still, except for her twin bed, which is still in it's normal spot so she can sleep in there. I can't wait to get that room back to normal. Anyone who knows me knows about my OCD and I freak out a little every time I walk in the room.
The kitchen window is still broken, but luckily we have double paned windows, so it's just broken on the outside.
Our insurance adjuster is AMAZING! Since Darryl is doing the tree removal himself(the insurance only pays for trees that caused damage to the house, truck, and Shyla's pen), it's looking like we should be completely covered and not have to come out of pocket for anything(well, we will have to be reimbursed for some of the things that have already been done). This is a huge blessing since we have about 100 trees down and it was going to cost about 10,000 to get them all taken care of. Our front and back yard is going to have to be completely redone( I can't even begin to explain what they look like at the moment) and sod is not cheap. So this is really a huge weight lifted.
It's probably going to take all summer, but it's going to look amazing when it gets done=)
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Big Picture
Darryl & Brandon started leveling our yard out today. Right now it looks like a huge muddy mess. But according to Brandon, you have to make a mess to clean up a mess. We have a huge roll off in our yard, a loader, piles of limbs, huge logs, etc. But I'm trying to look at the big picture. I'm finally getting the yard that I've wanted since we moved here. Since we are going to be stuck here for awhile, I'm glad we are able to make it into what we want. We are going to have a big front and back yard. Miss E is finally going to get a swing set in the front yard and have a place to play. I'm finally getting a backyard that I can put a vegetable garden in.
So even though I want to cry every time I walk outside and see the huge mess, I'm trying to look at the big picture, and then I start smiling again.
So even though I want to cry every time I walk outside and see the huge mess, I'm trying to look at the big picture, and then I start smiling again.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Stormy weather
I'm about a week late on this, but I'm sure everyone has heard about the tornadoes that hit Paulding County last Friday. Well it hit our subdivision really hard, meaning that it basically destroyed our neighborhood. It's heartbreaking to drive around here. Everyone has tarps on their roofs, their windows are boarded up, yards are covered with fallen trees and limbs. Our usually quiet neighborhood is now busy with contractors, roofers, constant chainsawing, & hammering. As I type this, the Dish guy is here walking around trying to figure out where he is going to mount the satellite since our we haven't been re-roofed yet. We've had to put 'No Soliciting' signs up at the top of our driveway since they have been like vulchers. Saturday(the day after) cops had to close off our neighborhood bc apparently we were the big attraction of the day for everyone in Paulding County. I tried to leave around 2 and couldn't even get out of my driveway hardly. I had words with quite a few people that day. I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt like we were some kind of freak show that everyone wanted to come see. Sunday was no better. Elyse was with her Grammie and Brandon had gotten called to work at around 6 am so I was really wanting to sleep in, esp after not sleeping at all the night of the tornado. But no, contractors started ringing my doorbell at 8am. I was irate. So I put a sign on the door that basically said if you weren't here with a hammer or a shovel, then don't even think of ringing my doorbell. It worked too, so that afternoon I moved it up and put it on the mailbox so they wouldn't even come down the driveway.
It these kind of times when you realize exactly who you can rely on. Darryl and Dennis(Brandon's dad & uncle) were here first thing Sat am and got to work. All day long, people were in and out bringing materials, and volunteering to help us. My friend Angela came over first thing that morning (my phone had been dead since we had no power) and helped me clean out the fridge & freezer and salvage anything we could & stored it at her house. Then brought us back breakfast. Misty came that evening and brought all dinner and hung out with me for awhile. It was great to have company to take my mind off of what was going on around me. The power finally came back on Saturday night after being off for 23 hours. A bunch of Brandon's family called or dropped by to check on us, but of course no one in mine did. Sometimes I forget that I really don't have any family, but it's times like me that I'm slapped in the face with the reminder. Heck, some of our friends didn't even check on us, but most did. I made a mental note of the people that didn't though, mark my word on that.
It's going to take months to get all the trees and everything cleared out, but once we do, we are going to have a nice big front and back yard for Miss E to play in. That's the upside in all of this I guess. We were just so incredibly blessed that none of us got hurt and that our house wasn't worse than what is was.
On an unrelated topic, I put the twin bed up in Miss E's room and she absolutely loves it. On the other hand, it made me sad last night when she said she wanted to go night night in her big girl bed and went right to sleep in it. She has slept with me every night of her life(except when she spends the night with Grammie) and I'm not ready to let that go yet. Luckily Brandon could see that and moved her to our bed when I was ready to go to sleep. I guess I'm just not ready to have her grow up and be so independent. I love going to bed and laying down next to her and saying a prayer for her while she sleeps. I love snuggling in with her and the way she rolls into me as soon as I lie down. So we decided that she can decide where she wants to fall asleep, but one of us will just move her before we go to sleep.
I don't really have time to go into anything else since the Dish guy is coming up to the front door, but I will try to this weekend to update everything else.
It these kind of times when you realize exactly who you can rely on. Darryl and Dennis(Brandon's dad & uncle) were here first thing Sat am and got to work. All day long, people were in and out bringing materials, and volunteering to help us. My friend Angela came over first thing that morning (my phone had been dead since we had no power) and helped me clean out the fridge & freezer and salvage anything we could & stored it at her house. Then brought us back breakfast. Misty came that evening and brought all dinner and hung out with me for awhile. It was great to have company to take my mind off of what was going on around me. The power finally came back on Saturday night after being off for 23 hours. A bunch of Brandon's family called or dropped by to check on us, but of course no one in mine did. Sometimes I forget that I really don't have any family, but it's times like me that I'm slapped in the face with the reminder. Heck, some of our friends didn't even check on us, but most did. I made a mental note of the people that didn't though, mark my word on that.
It's going to take months to get all the trees and everything cleared out, but once we do, we are going to have a nice big front and back yard for Miss E to play in. That's the upside in all of this I guess. We were just so incredibly blessed that none of us got hurt and that our house wasn't worse than what is was.
On an unrelated topic, I put the twin bed up in Miss E's room and she absolutely loves it. On the other hand, it made me sad last night when she said she wanted to go night night in her big girl bed and went right to sleep in it. She has slept with me every night of her life(except when she spends the night with Grammie) and I'm not ready to let that go yet. Luckily Brandon could see that and moved her to our bed when I was ready to go to sleep. I guess I'm just not ready to have her grow up and be so independent. I love going to bed and laying down next to her and saying a prayer for her while she sleeps. I love snuggling in with her and the way she rolls into me as soon as I lie down. So we decided that she can decide where she wants to fall asleep, but one of us will just move her before we go to sleep.
I don't really have time to go into anything else since the Dish guy is coming up to the front door, but I will try to this weekend to update everything else.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Please slow down!
It really hit me hard today that Miss E is really not a baby anymore. When she came out of her room fully dressed in clothes that she picked out & dressed herself in(headband included), it stopped me in my tracks. She said "I did it"! so enthusiastically with her arms raised in the air. I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her while wiping tears from my eyes. My baby really isn't a baby anymore.
We have been doing "unofficial" homeschooling for a few weeks now. She is like a sponge at this age so I want her to soak in anything I can teach her. We do letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. She knows how to spell her name and we are working on learning how to sign it as well. She does it pretty well most of the time (as well as her 2 yr old motor skills will allow). We also do some kind of craft or art project daily. We both really enjoy this time and she really enjoys learning new things. When she is 3 is when we will start "official" home school.
I think it's funny how some people perceive home schooling. I get the "looks" and the "oh I would never do that, I wouldn't want my kid to be socially awkward" comments. The same crap that we heard when we said that I would be a SAHM and not put her in daycare. I used to get really defensive to these ridiculous comments, now I just laugh. Miss E has never stepped foot into a daycare and she is nowhere near "socially awkward". She's a happy, normal, 2 year old. We decided to home school her after looking at the public schools around us and looking at the pre k programs and just not being happy with them. The student to teacher ratios are terrible and quite frankly, I'm not comfortable dropping her off somewhere where I don't know anything about the other kids and how they are raised. You can say that I'm keeping her in a bubble and she needs to be around other kids and blah blah blah, but I am perfectly okay with keeping her in a bubble to an extent. By doing home schooling, I'm able to teach her one on one and really make sure she is learning. For some reason people thinks that home school=holed up at home all day. I'm not sure why this is the case. Have you ever tried to sit at home all day with a 2 year old? It's just not possible! We get out and about just about every day. That's another good thing about home schooling her, she's not couped up in a class room all day. Once we are done for the day, we are free to enjoy our day. We can go out and do things, like go to the park, go shopping, and have play dates. That's right, we have these things called play dates. You know, social interaction with peers around her age(catch my sarcastic tone). She loves going on play dates and I love them because I know who she is interacting with and I get to know the parents as well. I've actually made some good friends. She also gets to interact with kids of all ages, not just other 2 year old kids. So with all of these factors, the better question to me is, why would I NOT home school? At least during the these crucial learning years.
I guess my point is, don't look down on us that choose to home school our children. It's not something I blindly decided to do. It took a lot of research, time, discussion & prayer to come to our decision. I'm doing the best I can do for my child.
I think it's funny how some people perceive home schooling. I get the "looks" and the "oh I would never do that, I wouldn't want my kid to be socially awkward" comments. The same crap that we heard when we said that I would be a SAHM and not put her in daycare. I used to get really defensive to these ridiculous comments, now I just laugh. Miss E has never stepped foot into a daycare and she is nowhere near "socially awkward". She's a happy, normal, 2 year old. We decided to home school her after looking at the public schools around us and looking at the pre k programs and just not being happy with them. The student to teacher ratios are terrible and quite frankly, I'm not comfortable dropping her off somewhere where I don't know anything about the other kids and how they are raised. You can say that I'm keeping her in a bubble and she needs to be around other kids and blah blah blah, but I am perfectly okay with keeping her in a bubble to an extent. By doing home schooling, I'm able to teach her one on one and really make sure she is learning. For some reason people thinks that home school=holed up at home all day. I'm not sure why this is the case. Have you ever tried to sit at home all day with a 2 year old? It's just not possible! We get out and about just about every day. That's another good thing about home schooling her, she's not couped up in a class room all day. Once we are done for the day, we are free to enjoy our day. We can go out and do things, like go to the park, go shopping, and have play dates. That's right, we have these things called play dates. You know, social interaction with peers around her age(catch my sarcastic tone). She loves going on play dates and I love them because I know who she is interacting with and I get to know the parents as well. I've actually made some good friends. She also gets to interact with kids of all ages, not just other 2 year old kids. So with all of these factors, the better question to me is, why would I NOT home school? At least during the these crucial learning years.
I guess my point is, don't look down on us that choose to home school our children. It's not something I blindly decided to do. It took a lot of research, time, discussion & prayer to come to our decision. I'm doing the best I can do for my child.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Couldn't stay away
I am keeping up with my promise to blog more. I was going to do it last night but my head had other plans when I got a debilitating migraine. This was like no migraine I have ever had in my life and of course Brandon has been out of town since Saturday. I put Miss E to bed early because it was just too much and she picked last night to decide that she was boycotting bed time and stayed awake til after 2am. Lucky for me I have an amazing best friend who lives seriously 8 minutes away and she brought me meds at about 10pm. Thankfully after a little while it started becoming bearable and I was able to function again. Thanks again Ang!
I was hoping Miss E would sleep in some today since she stayed awake so late, but of course she didn't. She was up and ready to go at 8am. I, on the other hand, was not. I was still feeling crappy(if you've ever had a migraine, you know what I'm talking about) and exhausted. We started off the morning by Miss E dropping her yogurt and it splashing everywhere. Not a good start. Brandon called and wished me a Happy Valentine's Day and I realized that I completely forgot about it. We don't ever really celebrate Vday, but I do usually remember it. Like I said though, he's out of town so I can get something together before he gets home. I got a nice surprise from him, he had beautiful roses, a bear, and chocolates delivered to me. It is nice to know that he was thinking of me.
The rest of the day was fine, we stayed in since the weather was rainy. I did school with Miss E this am and then we just relaxed the rest of the day. It was nice. I had to make a call to my dr since I am 8 days late and that is not normal, I am very regular. I haven't been worried though because I'm not in any pain, no cramping, no nothing. She told me that sometimes after women have been on birth control for awhile they stop having periods. I've heard of this before, but I've been on it for a year and a half and I find it odd that it's been normal and then nothing. So of course I went and googled it. On the website for my birth control it says that if I miss a period I should consult my dr. Well....you see where I'm going with this. I'm gonna try not to worry about it for now, we will see what happens next month I guess. She told me to call her if I don't get it and we will go from there.
I already have reactivated my Facebook. I know, I didn't last long. When Brandon is gone & after Miss E goes to bed and I've caught up on everything I get pretty bored(and not to mention lonely). But I don't get on it much while Miss E is awake and I can stay off of it while Brandon is home because I'd rather my time be spent with him.
I was hoping Miss E would sleep in some today since she stayed awake so late, but of course she didn't. She was up and ready to go at 8am. I, on the other hand, was not. I was still feeling crappy(if you've ever had a migraine, you know what I'm talking about) and exhausted. We started off the morning by Miss E dropping her yogurt and it splashing everywhere. Not a good start. Brandon called and wished me a Happy Valentine's Day and I realized that I completely forgot about it. We don't ever really celebrate Vday, but I do usually remember it. Like I said though, he's out of town so I can get something together before he gets home. I got a nice surprise from him, he had beautiful roses, a bear, and chocolates delivered to me. It is nice to know that he was thinking of me.
The rest of the day was fine, we stayed in since the weather was rainy. I did school with Miss E this am and then we just relaxed the rest of the day. It was nice. I had to make a call to my dr since I am 8 days late and that is not normal, I am very regular. I haven't been worried though because I'm not in any pain, no cramping, no nothing. She told me that sometimes after women have been on birth control for awhile they stop having periods. I've heard of this before, but I've been on it for a year and a half and I find it odd that it's been normal and then nothing. So of course I went and googled it. On the website for my birth control it says that if I miss a period I should consult my dr. Well....you see where I'm going with this. I'm gonna try not to worry about it for now, we will see what happens next month I guess. She told me to call her if I don't get it and we will go from there.
I already have reactivated my Facebook. I know, I didn't last long. When Brandon is gone & after Miss E goes to bed and I've caught up on everything I get pretty bored(and not to mention lonely). But I don't get on it much while Miss E is awake and I can stay off of it while Brandon is home because I'd rather my time be spent with him.
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