Yesterday Mom kept calling and calling and finally she left a message on my phone that we had to come over tonight for dinner and brownies.

Well this is my LONG story made super short… Mom surprised Doug and I with an early birthday gift. A little black puff ball of a puppy. He is the same breed as Colby so hopefully after he gets past his antsy jealous stage they will be two pees in a pod.

As Doug and I were laying in bed listening to the puppy whine about being in his kennel alone, we threw out names like Billy, Bongo and Joe. I said jokingly that we should name him Syrus and immediately Doug said "That’s it, that's his name" I laughed thinking is he really serious?!?! That is too strong of a name for this cute cuddly puppy that doesn't even know how to bark yet. I'm pretty sure I fell a sleep right away and there was no more chat about that.

It does sound pretty cute... doesn't it?

I Love Wall Art

I have this adorable friend named Shannon who is a awesome artist. She has been painting 5x7 water colors to make thank you cards for the people who help her while she is on a trip to Europe. She took multiple copies of them and offered me 2 ocean scapes, which I LOVE!!!

So I made a little project out of them. I really wanted a simple matted frame and didn't want to pay a whole lot for them, but I also wanted the frames color to fit in with my home.
Immediately I was on a quest to find the right frame at a yard sale.

They were a buck each with the mat and picture included which was an awesome price tag for what I had in store.

I pulled out my handy dandy spray paint and went to town. The frame was transformed to a soft ocean blue and the mat is a sandy tan to go with the beach atmosphere. When all was said and done they looked a thousand times better and the color pops on my wall.

Whirl Wind of an Adventure

It has been so long since I've blogged about anything but here is our life in a nut shell… Go to work, come home and work some more… and there you have it :)

Here is a short version of what we have been working on at the house since the middle of July.

This is a before of the flower beds...

And now the yard no longer looks like a jungle

The kitchen cabinets were so quickly hung in the garage by Doug's brother Steve and his Dad Dave.

Doug framed in what used to be the pantry.

The leaking window was fixed and the drywall was replaced.

Then came the fun of painting. We had so many people over for a few days to paint that it really didn't take that long to paint the whole house.

Here is my shout out to all those folks, THANKS!!!

Dad pulled up a little tile from the front door landing.

Then came the long hard pull of laying the kitchen floor till 2:30 in the morning but it was well worth it.

.One of my favorite elements of the house is the paneling we hung in the frontroom, kitchen & hall.

I recently saw a picture of stripes in a bathroom and loved it so much that we figured out how to do it.

~Drawing perfectly straight lines wasn't Doug's favorite task but he really likes it~

The finished stripes are so fun. Doesn't it look phenomenal.

I love the fun yellow we painted the craft/creative room downstairs. Isn't it fabo?

Wow, as if that isn't enough… The little odds and ends keep adding up.

We finally got carpet and it makes the house feel like a home.

Doug and Colby absolutely LOVE it!

Dave (Doug's Dad) works for Re-Bath so he had them come take care of the old shower. They did a fantastic job! I would recommend them to anyone.

*Just let me know if you need a new shower cause I know a guy*

Do you remember my cute clearance mirror from Lowes?!? Well here it is hung on the bathroom wall. Doesn't it look lovely!!!

Well thanks for joining us on our whirl wind of an adventure.

See you soon...

I'm so HAPPY to have a Hubby who is willing to work all day long and immediately turn around and work 4 to 5 more hours on our little project called "the house"

It's really a new adventure for the both of us… Neither of us know what we're doing. Doug borrows a few tools from Dad and gets a few pointers here and there and then he's off to figure things out on his own.

Last night Doug started cutting sheet rock and while he finishes up tonight Dad is going to start on the mud and tape, the most unexciting part of the whole process. A whole lot of waiting, and sanding, and reapplying the mud over and over again.

But no worries cause when the sheetrock is done were gonna be flying through the rest of our projects SUPER FAST!!!

little arms

Michelle came to help with yard work last night after the big rain storms. while we were in the garden planting my bunny tail grass

She giggled, and picked up a snail

He had a tiny stick that was stuck to his little belly and it made him looked like he had little arms.

Reflecting on Bargains

lately we have been taking daily trips to the local hardware store, we even go so far as calling them our date nights/stunning night out on the town...

This Friday while I was at Lows I found a real beauty, she measures 44x32 and was only 36 bucks, regularly 100 (on clearance of coarse) I took a good look at her and thought "where am I supposed to put a big mirror like that, so I walked right by.

As the night of vigorous work came to a close I ran to Doug and said we have to be to Lows in 5 minutes because they close at 10. (considering its a 15 minute drive from our house) I figured out where we can put the mirror...

You see this big, chunky medicine cabinet/mirror?!?! I think my framed mirror will fill in the space very well while looking beautiful at the same time

Isn't she a beauty!!!

check out the detail in this beauty... I love how much character she has

Now it may seem really simple to put up baseboards and a little bit of paneling but it took us all night to get it done.
This is the head wall in my bedroom… As you can imagine we're not really going for the old 70's hotel look so this paint and border have got to go or at least be covered up.

I was thinking a little more cozy, a built in look, maybe a little something like this.

We got 3 sheets of wood paneling from our local hardware store which Doug cut down to size.

I cut the two vertical boards and Doug used the nail gun to put it all together.

And there you have it - a beautiful wall that's ready to be painted a good crisp white. Seeing this room take shape makes the whole mess worth it!

Tune in next time for some more remodeling fun...

Good times, Great stories.

Last night Doug and his dad Dave were working at the house on electrical. Doug was up in the roof most of the time and Dave was doing random little project here and there. One of which was adding more light switches to some of the bedrooms. They had a great time and got so much done in the 3 1/2 hours they were there.

Doug always turns on the outside lights when he leaves but this time they didn't work… What could be wrong. They tried the lights again and again but nothing happened. Doug checked the breaker to see if it flipped off but it was still on. He flipping the light on and off while Dave walked around thinking of what could possible be wrong. Suddenly Dave noticed the lights going on and off, on and off in the bedroom.

While Dave was changing the switches he goofed and now the fan switch in the bedroom turns on the outside lights and the outside light switch turn on the fan in the bedroom. Good times, Great Fun!

Many hands make light work

I've been working in the yard because I'm not much help when it comes to electrical. But Yesterday Dave and Doug tore out 2 of the 4 sheds in the backyard and the dog run for me.

It was lots of fun listening to them trying to one up each other the whole time... "Watch me knock this down!" "Well I'm twice your age and I can still pick this sledge hammer up!!!" :O) It was a great bonding time filled with lots of laughs.

A little later Michelle, Mom and Dad came with a trailer to fill up with the load. It's amazing how much more you can get done with a few more peoples help, Thanks so much to all my family!!!


Just the 2 sheds and the dog run filled an 18 foot trailer about 6 feet high. It was a great nights work.

Our First Home!!!

Smile for the camera
"It's your first picture in front of your very first home!"
It's a cute split entry built in 83,
with so much potential and an awesom yard.

It was a long road getting here but now the real work begins...

Doug pulled out all the carpet cause it's probably older then me and not in the best of condition.

Rather then having a railing the last owners had a pony wall. It was the first wall to come out.

Doug borrowed this hammer from Dad and soon realized that it's not as strong as it looks.

Doesn't it look much more open now?

This was the next wall to go. It divides the kitchen/dining from the front room.

How would you like to walk into this every time you open the door?!?

This is the before picture.

He had a blast taking it down.

Taking down the Sheetrock.

This is after the "WALL" came tumbling down.
Check out all the dust

This is the backyard in panoramic view and it's also my favorite feature of the home. We have a few fruit trees apple, Apricot, Pear, and Peach. I even found another Apple tree after cleaning out a few dead tree trunks.

These are the 2 sheds in the north corner and a dog run that is hidden in the back corner.

This is a really bad picture but its the view straight out the back door

The south corner with an adorable pond feature that you really can't see, it even has Bamboo.

This is a good picture of the Apricot tree right next to the house.