Cary is at an event tonight with his small group.

This means I get to do some more packing. That is until about 8:00 when I take some time to myself and have a much needed phone date with a very close friend.

Until then. I'm sitting in our office (which is FREEZING by the way, b/c Cary keeps the back, "unused" bedrooms like 50 degrees) packing up our desk.

I have to write a thank you card to our new neighbor, Mary Martha for the Christmas present. I wasn't sure if my fingers would work because it's THAT cold in here. So I decided to warm them up by typing a quick blog post!

I'm not going crazy...

I finally figured it out last night.

I figured out why I feel like I have nothing to show for all the WORK I do during the day.

Why it feels like I'm running around this house 15 million times but getting absolutely no where and it looks like I've done NOTHING.

It's because I spend the morning, "cleaning up" (loading/unloading the dishwasher, laundry, etc.) and spend the afternoon packing - emptying closets, creating piles of "stuff" to take here & there.

By the time the day is done I have nothing to show for my hard work, other than new piles in corners that I just finished cleaning.

This revelation is such a relief! I'm not going crazy!!

I also have to add that I'm very thankful Cary is the type of guy who is happy to eat cereal for dinner and does not require a full home cooked meal every night of the week.

Cause right now, I only have enough counter space in my kitchen to feed Ellery!

Unexpected Gift

Our new neighbor across the street gave us a Christmas present!!




I thought this was so cute and so thoughtful. I haven't met Mary Martha yet, but I'm looking forward to visiting very soon.

Sheetrock

We have sheetrock going up this week. Cary has been working like a mad man this past weekend and even today, getting everything ready for this crew. They should be complete by Friday, which means we'll be painting next week!



You might notice the new column! One thing that Cary, Kenny and my dad worked on this weekend.


This is the master bedroom wall between the kitchen and bedroom. I told my dad this afternoon, "Now that the sheetrock is going up the house is transforming from HUGE to smaller." It's one of those transitions that renovations go through.


Here is one of the master bedroom closets.


I took this picture to show the new hardwood floors being woven into the old hardwood. But I just noticed you can see the stilts the sheetrock installer wears all over the house.


I have to tell this story of how God met us, when it came to the hardwood flooring. I mean the Lord has really shown Himself to us pretty much every single day of these renovations, but this is just what I like to call a Divine Appointment.

So when we renovated a house last year, Cary found a hardwood flooring refinisher on Craigslist. He did a great job. He had recently moved to VA because his father was ill and he needed to take care of him. Cary tried several times to contact him when we realized the scope of flooring work we needed done in this house. But after 3 attempts and constantly getting a wrong number signal we figured something must have happened and Man moved back north. Well last week Cary stopped by the flooring store (a company that only sells to contractors but somehow because our job is so small we were able to buy a few pieces of wood from them) and was waiting for the sales clerk, alone at the counter when a man walks in. He looked very familiar and Cary really thought he was our original refinisher, but wasn't 100% confident so he decided to wait a few seconds to hear his voice. That confirmed for Cary that this guy was indeed our "man" and long story short he has been out just installing the new wood at incredible speed. MUCH faster and less expensive than if we tried to do it ourselves or have our carpenter work on it. Thank. You. LORD!!!

Here is Little Miss. Very sleepy but determined to learn how to install sheetrock onto the ceiling.






Since the ceilings are plaster and have lots of the classic plaster cracks, we decided to laminate 1/2" sheetrock onto the ceilings so we wouln't be constantly trying to repair cracks for the rest of our lives.

Now I have to pick paint colors.

Other good news! The kitchen cabinets are ordered and it seems like we might have them delivered to the house before we move in. That in itself is a miracle because we were convinced they wouldn't arrive for at least a week or two after we were in the house.

I have to give credit to Cary. He is working SO hard on this house. He knows how important it is for it to be as close to finished as possible before we move in, and we are working on a tight schedule. He is pouring his heart and soul into managing all the people and making this project work smoothly with in our very small budget. I am so proud of him. This is not an easy time for us, but like I said earlier, God has been so faithful. We can't go one day with out praising Him for bringing us through another day and showing Himself to us. Amazing.

Chaos

I should NOT be blogging right now.

I should be staying focused and packing while Ellery sleeps.

But I need a break.

There is junk every where I look.

Outside of Ellery's room.
This is just on ONE SIDE of the path into her nursery from the Man Room.


Spring/Summer clothes.
Clothes for Goodwill.


Clothes for consignment.


I opened the door to the guest room (where all of our Christmas decorations are hidden) and found this!
At least the cats can find contentment somewhere in this mess!


This is what I was just working on.
Handbags and shoes.


1 more month of this....

Bye Bye Blue

Do you notice anything different?












No more blue carpet!!!
Recessed lights!!!!
Lots of dust!!!!!!

The house feels so much larger already with out the blue carpet. I'm so excited about the lights. The heat and hot water are all set up now. Since the chimney was removed we've been out of heat and water.



I just noticed the wallpaper on the wall by the door. I guess we'll have to remove that some time soon. After walking through this house a million times it's easy to look over these kinds of things!


We took the coat closet out and moved the walls a bit so we could add a half bath at the entry. I'm so glad we decided to do this!



These sliding glass doors were almost the end of Cary and his dad, Walter. Just the other night they picked them up from Lowe's and it took 4 men to load them into the truck. When they got to the new house it was dark and just the 2 of them. Well, I don't know how they did it but somehow they hoisted them off the truck and left them hanging out in the front yard; we are very grateful for a safe neighborhood!



Here is where the sliders are going in the sun room!




Here is the shower wall! Not much to see right now, but there will be a 4' wall with glass on the top, a glass shower door and then full wall, this is where the shower valves will go.





Ellery is pleased with the progress thus far.

So. This week we've been working on finalizing the kitchen cabinets. I went to place the order today but the sales associate wasn't working. I selected the light fixture for the Master Bath and we are trying to find the perfect mirrors for the Master Bathroom. Since there won't be as much cabinet space available as we currently are used to I'm thinking of maximizing every inch I can with the use of medicine cabinets for mirrors.