Manda's Mind Meltdown: house

Showing posts with label house. Show all posts

Craziness ensues as the days go by

OK, well...we started out with me going to the IRS and Bob being a SAHD. Well, things have gotten more interesting from there. Mom and Dad have been considering for some time moving closer to us, so they could help with the boys (hence, the reason they moved 500+ miles). They are currently in a different town & school district, so this summer has proven very difficult since Mom has been keeping Cohen. Anyway, they decided to start looking at what was out there and planned to move sometime after school started since housing sales are always lower & prices will get lower as well. Surprise...they have found a house they've fallen in love with and decided to see what it will take to put their house on the market & buy this one. It's 3 minutes away from the elementary school!!!!!!! About 7 minutes away from us!!!!!

So now, it's to the point where Bob can go back to work whenever they finally get moved since the boys will get on & off the bus at Nan & Pap's house. The school has already started taking money out for the boys' after school care ($150 EACH)!!!! We'll have to wait and see how the next chapter turns out!

I keep getting more info & requests from the IRS. I swear I'm having to fill out 5,000 different forms. And I'm still not guaranteed anything since I have to get a background check, fingerprints, & tax checks! Don't foresee any problems, but I'm not giving my notice yet either...never know what types of freaky things can happen.

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, as most of you know, we bought "The Money Pit". The foreclosed house, empty for over a year, with LOTS of potential. Bob and I (yes, you read that right...I love power tools) roofed the house last year. We just recently had all of the beautiful (but messy & dangerous) pine trees removed out front [8 semi truck loads]. Bob gutted the kitchen and is 3/4 the way done tiling the walls with slate. He put our new range hood up (still not working, but up) over the Spring. The furnace and air conditioning are in (still not working), the bathroom needs spackled, taped, and sanded...only THEN can we paint. He recently removed two closets, built a new closet and restructured my sewing room. Needless to say our house is a WRECK!!!!!!!!! I have pics of the renovation on MySpace and Facebook.

Bob's dad has told us on numerous occasions he was planning on coming down to visit. So needless to say, we figured he wouldn't go through with it this time either. SURPRISE...he, his girlfriend and his girlfriend's parents are coming to visit the 29th-31st. So this weekend has been nothing but cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. How do you clean a mid-renovation house????? I really don't think you can. Bob has adopted our future TV room as his "crap room"; filled with all those things that haven't made it to the basement cause we MIGHT need them to finish a project upstairs -- tool boxes, 2x4s, drills, miscellaneous furniture that doesn't have a home, insulation, on and on and on and on. We got the house to a suitable "let people in" mode, but there is still SOOOOOOO much to do. At least the double mattress and boxspring are out of my hallway...they are now in my sewing room where they are going to sleep. Now what are we going to do with the outside we haven't touched in years???? This is really putting a dent into my Happiness Project!!!

Oh, and did I mention I have 2 adult strapless dresses, 1 T-shirt quilt, possibly 1 shower curtain, 1 gown, and 1 banner to do? Not including the reusable sandwich bags I want to get made for website samples!!!

It's only hump day....

Most the time I don't even feel like humping...even if it is hump day!!! Had a migraine last night, in the weirdest spot...right above my left ear. Of all the ones I've had, never there. Thankfully, it's not here today, but I am feeling the leftover effects.

I just got another request for a strapless dress! Just need to get measurements for the two I have and I'll be on my merry way. I also need T-shirts to do the T-shirt quilt and the terry cloth gown is underway! Just a little bit at a time...baby steps!

Have a 7 year-old still wetting the bed...any suggestions?

Cohen is a Mini-Manda & I'm not liking it one bit!!!

I'm forgetting a lot lately, maybe the rheumatologist will find a fix for that in August.

Speaking of August, if you are a prayer soul I need you now more than ever. If not, I need you to cross your fingers. There's a big, life changing event about to occur and with your help, it will happen!!!!!

I finally found the lights I want in the kitchen. They would match perfectly with the multi-colored Fiestaware. They have all sorts of different styles which would make it easy to decorate the entire kitchen/dining combo with peacock feather lights!!!! I also found the Shower I want to install in our Master Bath (someday!).

All is well in Whoville!

Well, for all of you that care, the buttscope came out fine (no pun intended!!). I'm paying for most of my activities this weekend, like not caring what I ate, sewing, cleaning, and playing in 100+* heat! Yes, we are still a/c free. Hopefully since Bob is off Friday & Monday this/next week, we'll be able to have someone in by July. I sure as hell hope so!!!! Don't know how much longer my weeny self can handle this! The boys helped Bob wash his truck for Father's Day (he's been trying to sell it to get something else). Of course, hot sun + fun in water = a REALLY bad sunburn!!!! Bob, not the boys...he was consciencious enough to put sunscreen on them!

How does time pass so fast?

Today is Benjamin's last day of First Grade!!! I feel so old. He had two teachers this year; they are in an L shaped room so they combined two classes. It worked out really well. The other teacher made a DVD for all the kids with tons of pictures from throughout the year set to kid music! It was so great to have it for his future...you know, like the naked butt bath pictures!!!!

Benjamin is SOOOOO excited about going to the Boys & Girls Club this year. He gets to go swimming twice a week, rain or shine at the University. Cohen is excited to be going to Mom & Dad's for the summer. With Bob working in the basement on the furnace all week, he's gotten a bit of a taste for it since she's taken care of him (SPOILED???) It's going to be a logistics nightmare in the morning, but it will be worth it to save the $280/week we would have paid to the Elementary School for summer camp. Bob goes back to work on June 1 (thank goodness); he's such a moody butt lately and I'm sure it's because of Cohen's incessant talking and questions. He's either gifted, ADHD or just plain dumb. He'll look at you with a broom in your hand and ask, "Are you sweeping?" Of course, his Ls sound like Ws, so you're never sure if he said sWeep or sLeep.

Decisions, Decisions...I can't decide if I want to change the name of my business. A majority of my work is not quilts, so I think it's a misnomer when people look at it and pass it by. I am SO much more than quilts!!! Of course, speaking of quilts, I spent most of last night and today finishing the piece to the right. It's a 66" x 87" T-shirt quilt. I know, strange angle for a picture, but I couldn't reach the new tension wire Bob put up in my sewing room and I need pictures quick to send to the buyer. I had to stand on a chair cause I couldn't stand back far enough to get the whole thing in the picture.

Christmas in Montevallo yesterday!!!

Not only did our furnace/ac come on a 40' long semi (which will NOT fit anyway up our driveway), but Bob also received his grout gun (a really cool invention that puts the grout in the seams...with all our tiling projects, we needed this YEARS ago). We also go our new upgraded cell phones. OK, I've never thought I could love a material thing, but this phone is like a computer about the size of a business card. Since I'm so losing my mind (thank you Arthur Itis!!), I have my whole life on a flash drive. Now I can keep it on my phone with a back up on my computer. Ahhhhh, technology. The tree guys have taken another two loads of trees (for all of you playing at home that makes 6 loads of trees). So, we'll be getting our check shortly for all the timber...more Christmas!!! And I'm so excited, Mona was at the house yesterday!!!! Apparently she's been there for a week, but with all the boxes and other crap around the house I didn't notice until yesterday, so it just topped off Christmas in May!!!!

Benjamin has four more days of school and excited to beat hell!!!! He is such a social butterfly. Cohen has been back and forth to Nan & Pap's since Bob's been busy with trees and furnaces and grout, OH MY!!! So he's getting pretty spoiled for his next three month stint at the parental units.

I got to fabric shopping yesterday for a couple of new orders (banners...they are going to be SWEET!!!!)...sorry Traci, not rubbing it in :o) I plan to get my T-shirt quilt done this weekend. Since I'm feeling a bit better I haven't been sleeping at lunch...I'm been doing Quilted Memories projects...it almost makes the first 5 hours worth it!!!!

Let it be COOOOOOOOL!!!!!!

We moved to Alabama November 1, 2005. Bob had come down and found an apartment and got a seven month lease. As a stay-at-home mom, I had nothing better to do than search the web for a house right...(read: no 20 neighbors upstairs or roaches from hell!!!!) We started looking at our now house in December. After all the trials and tribulations of buying through VA repo, we bought our house in March 2006. Of course, we knew it needed a lot of work and didn't have a working furnace...it literally had NO a/c cause someone stole it for the copper. We got all kinds of quotes to replace it with the lowest being about $12,000!!!! Yes, it's quite a large house with a finished basement.

We worked on it until our lease was up in May. I have been living on subfloor (you know the floor below the REAL floor) since then. Only the kitchen, laundry and hall bath have new tile. It's nice when you spill things cause it doesn't stain the carpet, hehehe!!! Until the beginning of 2007, the boys were able to dance in the rain...in the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But Bob and I got up on the roof and fixed that problem. I believe the roof is my favorite place in the house ;o)

The last two summers were torrential. I never realized how sick I really was until I spent last summer in 100+ degree heat for days (and nights) on end. We finally broke down and bought air conditioners for the bedrooms. I found a deal from a company in Kentucky. Bob got an awesome unit for $3,000 and is putting it in himself!!!! It was delivered today...we just ordered it TUESDAY!!!!!