Summer

What have I been doing all summer? A little bit of this

The coolest thing ever!

I think I have discovered the coolest thing ever! Messing around on my computer I have figured out how to create my blog in Word! This is awesome the coolest thing EVER!...

-Jen-

Finally DONE

After months and months of living in hotels and rental houses, we are finally done! I have to admitt we finished a few months ago but once we were in we had to furnish the place. Trying to buy ALL new furnishings is almost as hard as the remodel was. To many decisions! But I think it is beautiful, stunning, comfy, relaxing and homey! It screams our style, which is a little rustic a little traditional. It is A Little Bit of Southern Livin! The one thing we realized through this process is how different Shawn and I really are when it comes to style. I love pattern and movement, he loves anything with antlers and camo. So after much frustration and many weeks of no furniture because we could not agree we finally have a finished house!

But....when I say finished I really most mostly finished. Of coarse there is always the changing of the seasons that brings new ideas and projects. It is actually a recent project I did, refirbing a old chair, that gave me the vision for the curtains I want in my bedroom, and of coarse what I see in my head I dont see in any store! It has really been fun transforming our house into the home we always wanted!

To Split or Not To Split...

So if you have know me or have been reading this you know that our house flooded and we have two boys. As long as my kids have been alive they have shared rooms, they have laughed in the middle of the night, they have scared each other, slept together and snored together. Since our house flooded and we were forced to jump ship they have been sleeping in separate rooms in this roomy rental house they gave us, with very...small...beds...

So yesterday I casually asked them, "Hey guys, no need to answer right away, just think about it for a bit" Thinking I am crazy for thinking they actually like the sleeping arrangements they were forced into here, I say "When we move home do you want to split your rooms and each have your own space or do you want to keep bunking with a totally cool playroom?"

Faster than, oh I don't know something super fast they said and at the same time I must add "YES LETS  SPLIT" I was SHOCKED! My little boys, who are 9 and 6 (not really so little) want separate rooms. So now I am depressed and have to deal with splitting their rooms, but who gets the bigger room? The younger one still plays with all the toys so naturally he would get the bigger room, but the older one needs his space and has a desk so naturally he would get the bigger room....I am stuck, shocked, and depressed.

I have been dreaming of the day that they would want separate rooms, so that I can they can decorate their rooms and make them everything I want they want them to be. And now it's here and well WHOOSH went the air in my hot air balloon.

Wish me luck!

Yummy Yummy In My Tummy

So much has been going on this week!

The front door, so cool and just our style!

They stained the cedar and attached it to the ceiling! These guys are my heros!

We also have a fireplace again! Funny story actually, when we hired the contractor he priced the Austin Stone Veneer...no prob not to much...when we walked in last Friday he had actually installed REAL Austin Stone! We were so happy to see it, and then we found out it was cheaper and our check book started smiling too! But, and yes there are always buts...the cedar mantle we ordered is now to small so we are still waiting on the mantle, they are having to custom cut a piece of cedar for us, how cool a custom mantle!

And finally we have stairs again. For the last 6 weeks we have been missing the first three steps on our stair case. Our kids had to scale the wall just to get upstairs.

A little piece of heaven right in my very own kitchen! They look so good I could eat them!

A New Day A New Color

My Cabinets Before Staining


When I left my house last night our cabinets were plain, pretty but plain. No stain no color just wood. And today I arrive - TAADAA!!! Pretty! They are the most amazing chocolate color, they look like a big Hersey Bar I love them that much! After so much chaos in our lives, it is good to have something go so good!

Now on a lighter note, my kids are in about as much chaos as my house. It has been hard since the flood to balance kids, home, fixing my home, and so on and such. So unfortunatly the boys have taken a backseat to the house and all the insanity and now they are starting so let us know. Friday Robert got in trouble at school for singing "I'm a Barbie Girl", we had to laugh but then we had to punish which was having him go into the middle of the road and yell as loud as he could I'm A Barbie Girl. Hoolarious, we laughed so hard we cried. And Chance he is a whole other issue. We think his hormones are begining to do what hormones do best...RAGE!

Other than all that fun, nothing new here. God Bless and Goodnight!

It's Been a LONG Time

I Love Texture!


We Have Walls! God Bless the Walls!


Peek-A-Boo! I can see through my garage...



The stairs, also known as "The Death Trap"



Hey guys, I think we got robbed...

Hey there friends and family! It has been awhile! Most of you already know what has been taking up our time, but for those of you who dont (and for my friends who think I need to document the last few months of my life) let me fill you in.

Back in December we were finally blessed with our first home, we spent three months getting settled in, decorating, cleaning up the yard, all the fun things you do when you buy your first home. Then....on March 4th what we now call "The Great Poop Flood of 2010" happened. I will spare you all the dirty details and let you use your imagination....the city sewer mainline, yes I said sewer, backup up right in front of our tap causing all the nasty stinky sewage of my wonderfully delightful neighboorhood to back up into my house. We woke up to 5'' of raw sewage in every crevis of our BRAND NEW HOUSE. There was so much our poor chichuaua was swimming, literally. After several hours of standing in my entryway with the front door open sweeping sewage out my front door the flood subsided and we were left with well... a leather couch and recliner. We made the death call to our insurance company to file a claim and after deciding that yes we do have coverage they send a restoration company came out and completely demoed the inside of our house leaving only our master bathtub behind. And on that day we began the rebuilding of our dream home. It has been one disaster after another ranging from the insurance company agreeing to pay then refusing to pay, then deciding once again to pay, having to many contractors lined up and no money, then money and no contractors. And now it is all coming together. As of today we have walls again, sheetrock and texture and as of 4pm we now have cabinets, vanieties, linen closets and closet shelving (which is a big thank you to my wonderful husband). We have worked our butts off during this whole thing. I can actually say with assurance that I am a professional insulator! I am also a professional mortor remover and chip hammer user. I can rip sheetrock out with the best. And Shawn he is a jack of all trades, he is an electrician who can frame, sheetrock, plumb and install custom shelving. Oh and a tree trimmer!

And where are we living you might ask? We were in a hotel for about a month but now we are in a townhouse in Saginaw. It is dirty and the rental furniture sucks but hey its free so we cant complain to much.

I am going to keep updating as things are happening and also will post pictures of everything along the way. It has been a long month and a half but we are here, strong and relying on God! Hope you enjoyed the crap story that is our life right now!