Our first snow at the new house!

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All Moved In!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting. We actually moved in the Week of Thanksgiving and it has been a whirlwind ever since.

Here are some pics with everything moved in.

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We still have lots to do. The biggest project will be the master suite that we will be adding on. That project cannot start until we sell the old house. Which we still need to get cleaned up and ready to put on the market.

I still need to get some pictures on the wall and some decorative items. We still have some things in storage that I need to sift through.

We still have outlets and light switches and outlets that need to be replaced with brand new white ones.

And we still do not have the kitchen cabinets finished. All of the doors and drawers are waiting in the garage to be painted and installed.

At least we are in the house. It doesn't bother me that a few things are not completely done. I just am thrilled with the S P A C E !!! looking forward to Christmas and a New Year in a New House!!!!

We are in the Home Strech!

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Unexpected Projects

Another unexpected project: Stoning the fireplace and steps. It looks awesome!

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This week has been kinda slow. But tomorrow things pick back up.

Friday-Carpet Installed, Furniture Delivered, Cable ran in every room.

We will start moving things in on Saturday and hubby will start the tile.

On Monday the appliances will be delivered and the cable will be turned on.

You think we will get it all done by Thanksgiving??? (without killing each other)

Paint Update 3 & New Furniture

The painting is complete!

I have to be honest. It was quite a shock walking in the house and seeing that yellow. Hubby wasnt too happy with me either. I was so sure of this color on the paint chip. Maybe it was just the shock of finally seeing color on the walls. It has grown on me already...

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The kids and I drove to Selmer, TN to Henco (Its worth the drive) to buy furniture. We purchased the kitchen table & chairs, 2 bar stools a sectional with ottoman, bunk beds and three matresses. We will buy our master bedroom furniture once the addition is finished. Sorry, I didnt take pics of the matresses. hee hee...

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Paint Update 2

This is only primer on the walls. But you get the idea!

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Paint Update

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I am FRUSTRATED :0(

We were getting really frustrated with the painters. They showed up on Monday and today, but we couldn't see that anything was really being done. Hubby called them today so see what was up and they said that they have just been doing prep work. You cant paint over wet caulk. They said that they would be done by Saturday.

E came over yesterday with his landscaping crew did some clean up work.

I took some pics last night and went back over there there today at lunch to get some pics in the daylight.

They cleaned up the circle part of the driveway

They thinned out the monkey grass and the hedges

They shaped up the tall bushes

and they redesigned the pond/waterfall

It was a big surprise to come over there and see all that done. There is a big brush pile in the back and were gonna light it up on Thanksgiving. It will be our first bonfire!!!

Times Running Out!!!

The drywall guys have finished the ceilings. They are so smooth and fresh looking. I am really glad we decided to scrape the ceilings. It really makes a difference.

The roof was put on Saturday. We had a few leaks, so we decided to go ahead and put a new one on. Looks good.

Hubby and C pulled up the carpet and quarter round to get ready for new carpet and tile.

They look like they are really busy, watching the football game on C's "work TV".

The painters will be starting tomorrow. Get ready for COLOR!!!!

More Progress

Since we have family coming in for Thanksgiving, we had to speed things up a bit. We have hired out some work. Drywall guys to finish out the ceilings and a painter will be starting on Monday.

I stopped by the house today to see how some tile looked with the cabinets and the granite.

I haven't been over to the house since the drywall guys have been there. They have been working on smoothing out the ceilings from where we scraped the popcorn off (they still have to sand down a few places) & have been filling in holes on the walls to get them ready for painting. The woodwork is starting to get primed.

It gives me a better idea of what the white trim is gonna look like and I love it! It already makes the room look so much bigger!

As I was leaving the roof shingles and supplies were being delivered. So I guess they will start on that on Monday as well!

Big Purchase

I went to Lowes and bought all of the appliances today! Yay!
Refrigerator Stove Microwave Dishwasher Washer Dryer
This is fun!

next big purchase...furniture!!! Ooohhh

Moving Right Along

The trim dilemma has been SOLVED! White Trim in the kitchen. Thanks to all who voted in my little poll. I really had made my decision when I wrote that post. After I found those pictures online, I had pretty much made up my mind. I just wanted to see what you guys thought. Even though black was your favorite, white was my favorite and that is what I think will look best.

All of the granite is in and we just need the faucets installed and the place where the stove goes will need to be cut. Otherwise it is finished.

Hubby started priming the kitchen cabinets this week. We had the primer tinted grey since they are gonna be black.

He started painting the black tonight. Looks good! I cannot wait till the second coat goes on and we get all the hardware!

I have a dilemma

What color do we paint the trim in the kitchen?

As you know, we are painting the kitchen cabinets black. All the trim in the house is currently stained and we want to paint it white to freshen it up. But in the kitchen, I am not sure what to paint the trim since the cabinets will be black.

Here are pics of my kitchen (pre renovation)

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Here are the options...

BLACK trim to match the cabinets? (in the kitchen only)

WHITE trim to match the rest of the house?

or CREAM trim? (and make the rest of the trim on the house cream)

I have set up a poll to the right. Cast your vote!!!!

or

Leave a comment!!!

We have Granite!

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They started on the granite tonight!!!!!

But GUESS WHAT??? The power went out. The guy cant come back till Wednesday.......should have known...

Black???

Granite didn't go in today as planned. One of the guys workers had to go out of town, so they will start tomorrow. We went ahead and bought the faucets today.

We also bought paint today. We are painting the existing cabinets instead of replacing them to save some dough.

The cabinets are going to be painted BLACK. Ok, I'll give you a minute to soak that in....

While I think it is a fabulous idea, my parents think otherwise. They are practically begging me not to do it. I really like the black cabinets. It hadn't really crossed my mind until E (hubbys BFF) suggested it.

I had seen black kitchen cabinets before on HGTV. I really like the look of it. Clean & Simple. "It's not so bad really, you just have to see the finished result!" I told them.

Heck HGTV Kitchen Design is proclaiming Trend Watch: Black Cabinets!!!

I'm setting TRENDS, people!!!

Now some of the kitchens that I have seen with black cabinets are very modern. That is not the look that I am going for at all.

Ok, here are some pictures that I have found on the web that will maybe shed light on all of the fuss.

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Please tell me what you think. Even though I'm still going through with it. You never know though, maybe when it is all said and done with, I might HATE it. There's always more paint...

Granite

Since mom was sick Thursday and Friday, I had a few days off. Even though I started feeling yucky Friday morning, I tuffed it out because I knew that we had to go and pick out our granite on Friday. Mc had thrown up early Friday morning so she stayed home from school, so she got to come with us. We went to this big warehouse in a not so nice part of town.

It didn't take us too long to narrow it down. This is what we picked out...

>

This will go on all the counter top surfaces in the kitchen, all the baths and the laundry room. We will also be getting new undermount sinks for the kitchen and the bathrooms.

I also went to Lowes and picked out some faucets for the kitchen and bath. We needed to have an idea of what we wanted so they will know how many holes that they will need to cut for the fixtures.



I also looked at some appliances, but I'll save that for another day...

Week Two of Renovations

Things are coming along at House of Woodall. I finally finished all of the wallpaper. I know EVERYBODY says this, but "I don't ever want to see wallpaper again!" I'm just glad that most of it came off easy.

This is the best picture that I could get of the Glitter Popcorn Ceiling.

Hubby is using a sander that is attached to a shop vac to cath all the dust.
Mess in the kitchen.

Mess in the den. The carpet has been taken up.

Popcorn on the stove.

Smooth as a babys bottom.

This is HARD Work...

I went to the utility office today to get the power turned back on at the new house. As I was sitting there waiting for my number to be called. I noticed this sign on the wall. "please control your children" Now, who thought of this? And who approved the work order to have this sign made? You know that they don't have "please control your children" signs at Office Depot. When I realized that I had my camera stashed in my purse, I had to take a picture. Then the security guard says, "mam, please don't take any pictures". And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought it was funny. Do you want me to delete it?" He says "No that's OK, just don't take anymore". I'm not sure why he didn't want me taking any pictures. Maybe because its a government office? The city does own the utility company. Or maybe because of all the scandal that happened recently. Just thought it was funny and that I would share with you.



I headed over to the house around 4:00 to meet the man from the utility company. He turned the power back on and I went to work again on the wallpaper. A coworker had a wallpaper steamer that he let me borrow. It worked beautifully! I got the top half of three walls done. I had to go and pick up the kids from church, so I couldn't stay as long as I wanted. The steamer made it so much easier. I am so thankful that I could borrow one and not spend the money to buy or rent one. I'm on a budget, you know!

The hubby and two of his friends started scraping the ceilings last night. I snapped a few pictures of the mess.

I took some pictures of the ceiling, but you cant really see anything.

We may start painting ourselves this weekend. We'll see...

Renovations-Wallpaper

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So we started stripping wallpaper today. B (my BFF)called yesterday and said that she would help me. Thank goodness! We started in the laundry room. It was not coming off so easy at first. We had to figure out how much to score the paper and how much to wet it. We used a vinegar/water solution and it works pretty well. We were in business when we figured out that if you peel off the top layer and leave the backing for later, it works so much easier!

The kitchen paper peeled off in sheets. No scoring, wetting or scraping! Same with the half bath. Easy Peasy.

We were just as lucky in the den. The den has "string paper". It did leave the backing, which we came back later and wet it down and it comes right off. How lucky can we be? This has been a snap. All that dreading stripping off wallpaper was for nothing.

But when we started the dining room, which will the the playroom, we were humbled very quickly. The paper was not as thick and was not coming off as easily. What happened to the wallpaper that came off in big chunks? It didn't matter how much we scored an sprayed, this stuff is not coming off! I think that I will try some wall paper remover solution or I have read on the internet that some people have used fabric softener. Or maybe we will rent a steamer. I don't know, I really don't want to spend the money to rent a steamer, but it looks like we may have to. That's why I went with the vinegar/water solution! It's cheap!Ugh!

We started at 11:00 am and just got home around 8:30. I cant believe that I have the energy to even write this post.

B and I are gonna go back tomorrow after work and finish up. We didn't quite get done with scraping the backing in the den and entryway. And we left all the paper on the floor. We'll have to clean that up.

Hubby said that he might start scraping the ceilings tomorrow.

Were off to a good start!

Friday, CLOSING DAY!

WARNING: long post, but worth it to get the full effect!

times are approximate (I wasn't staring at the clock all day)

Here we go...

7:30 am Wake up! Get a shower, get dressed. Get the kids up and dressed.

8:00 am See hubby and R off to work and pre-k. feed baby & girls breakfast. watch the today show wedding. cry. why am I so emotional this morning?

8:30 am take girls to school

9:00 am get quick breakfast at Mickey D's, get gas

9:15 am go to pick up hubby at his office

9:30 am drive to Millington for closing to be there by 10:00 am

9:50 am get call from realtor, closer is running late. she is having a problem uploading the package. trying to have the package resent in a different format. closer will not be there till 10:15 am or 10:30 am

10:00 am driving back to the house to get a shirt to take back to hubby's office (wasting time)

10:15am driving back towards Millington

10:30 am arrive at Realtors office to close on the house

10:15 am realtor calls closer to see how close she is. closer has not left her office yet, still has not received package in new format.

10:20 am trying to keep baby occupied. yes we had to take the baby. our one and only baby sitter (my parents) are out of town. not the best time. but hey we work with it. feeding him everything in sight, he is cooperating.

10:30 am closer still has not made it

11:00 am closer has arrived. we start signing away our lives.

11:10 am baby has met his threshold. is not happy anymore. wants to get up, wants to get down. room is getting hot since they closed the door. doesn't want the cheese-its. doesn't want the keys. doesn't want the cell phone. doesn't want his milk. only wants the pen. writing on the table.

11:20 am start signing my life away

11:30 am still signing life away. baby is pissed.

11:45 am signing, signing, signing

12:00 pm closer is rechecking all of the papers to make sure we didn't miss anything or signed in the wrong place. has back up copy in case we've messed up. of course we did mess up. signed some more.

12:05 pm closer notarizes everything. rechecks to make sure she didn't miss anything.

12:15 pm we're all done. seller is closing at 1:00 pm. realtor leaves to go meet them at a different location

12:16 pm driving back. M (title co & also my brother in law) calls to see if we are done so he can wire money to seller. call bank branch to see if HELOC papers are ready to sign. of course they are NOT! call H (handling our HELOC loan). H calls branch. drop hubby off at restaurant to eat with coworkers. baby is passed out.

12:30 pm baby & I drive home. lay baby down to finish his nap. yeah right. I lay down for a minute.

12:50 pm get call from mom & dad. me: yes, were done signing. close my eyes for just a minute. get a call from sister. me: yes, it was a fiasco, but we are done signing. close my eyes. get a call from H. emailing papers again. couldn't open the package. the same thing that just happened at closing!

1:00 pm call contact at bank branch to let her know that we will come in around 4:00 pm to sign. hubby wanted to get back to work for a couple of hours.

1:20 pm get call from M. seller is closed.cant rest. baby is awake. supposed to be asleep! ugh!

1:30 pm baby is being quiet watching tv. sneak some time on the computer. catching up on my blogs.

1:45 pm realtor calls. states will meet me at the new house to get the check, keys and some paperwork that the seller put together on things about the house. realtor has to pick up daughter from school at 2:30 will meet me soon there after.

2:00 pm realized oh, sh*t! I have to pick up the girls by 4:00 pm. worried that I wont make it in time, I go check them out of school early.

2:30 pm check girls out of school.

2:45 pm drive over to new house.

3:00 pm sitting in car waiting for realtor. have to pee. girls are hungry and thirsty. I have nothing except the rest of the cheese its from this morning and some nasty banana puffs that are the baby's. luckily, M has some of her lunch that she didn't eat. pickle, stackers (fruit roll up) and a few yo gos. they found a water bottle in the car from yesterday.

3:30 pm realtor is still not there. baby is screaming. have to pee. girls are still thirsty. ahhhhh!

3:31 pm realtor pulls in the drive way.pulls up the SOLD sign. hands me the check, keys and papers. go into the house so I can relieve myself. she takes the lock box off the door. hugs my neck. thanks us.we all leave.

3:45 pm race back to meet hubby at branch to sign HELOC loan papers. Also need to cash check from seller. luckily check is drawn at the same bank.

4:00 pm arrive at bank branch. wait in car for hubby to arrive.

4:15 pm hubby arrives. we all go in. baby.girls. hubby. me.

4:30 pm all papers are signed. lady notices that we have a check to cash. offers to take care of it so we don't have to stand in the ever expanding "its Friday, got paid today, dont have a checking account, need to cash my check for the weekend" line. Looks at check. she says"ooh, can't cash it". we don't have that much money available to cash it. what! a bank doesn't have enough money to cash my check. we need the check cashed not deposited b/c our bank would put a hold on it! we need the cash to get started on renovations! we have two house notes! aaaaaahhhhhh!

4:45 pm driving like a maniac to my bank to deposit the check. bank will hold for 4 days. ok, thats better than 5 days, right? but wait, Monday is a bank holiday! so it really is 5 days! check will not be good till Oct. 13. next Saturday. oh well. this hasn't been the smoothest process. has it. we should have expected this.

5:00 pm baby, Mc and I drive home. hubby had left from the bank to get R at pre-k and took M with him. arrive home. hubby arrives home. hubby leaves again. sit on the couch and sulk. baby wants to play. play with baby. lifts my spirits a little.

6:00 pm get dinner ready for baby. me and the girls are going to a party at church. baby in kitchen eating in highchair. sit in the couch for a minute. baby has worn me out.

6:30 pm E (hubby's BFF) drops by. stand and talk outside about the house. wait for hubby to come home. they are gonna go out to the new house while me and the girls are at church.

6:45 pm Mc wants the neighbor to come with us. go get diaper bag ready for baby. go talk to neighbors mom.

6:50 pm leave for party at church.

7:00 pm arrive at church. eat pizza, chips & dip, cookies& brownies. make a craft project. visit with other moms.

8:15 pm trying not to pass out while I am doing this craft project. getting frustrated cause I cant get the ribbon though the hole! me: I promise I am more crafty that this!

9:30 pm leave party and go home. walk neighbor to her door. scream at the girls to get in the house. talk to hubby for a while.

10:30 pm close.my.eyes.go.to.sleep.