In Which We Play Catch Up

So much has happened since we last updated this little blog! The busy-ness of being mamas, working, deer season (read: honeys are MIA)  and tending to Peggy Sue has gotten in the way of updating. Now that the excuses are out of the way, let's get on with it! We love us some lists. It is how we keep each other in the loop at our job (http://www.thinkconcept.com/) and how we try to keep ourselves semi-organized and going the right direction. The key word in that sentence being TRY. So below is our list of all things new and happening. Enjoy and let us know what you think!

• See this little yellow piece of paper? That my friends is a building permit, otherwise known as "the golden ticket" from the city of Alabaster. That is really all I need to say about that if you know what I mean!

• Here are some BEFORE and AFTER shots of the garage doors. Daddy thought the new ones looked so good white that he wanted to leave them that way. He didn't win that one. They will be painted the trim color and look so much better!

• We opened up the covered entrance. It felt squatty and boxed in before. The new posts aren't here yet. The door. The lovely door. It can't be hung until the sheetrockers are finished.

• New landscaping. See no pool! Just sod and pretty plants. The landscaping had to be done earlier than we had hoped because of some drainage issues that needed immediate attention before more damage occured.

•  Love, love love. The old sidewalk was all busted up because of a sewer line that had been replaced by the homeowners and never really fixed. We decided to replace it with a flagstone path. It is so darling! This picture doesn't do it justice. Multicolored stone and a taupe-tan colored mortar.

                                     

• In the upstairs bathrooms, the beautimous wallpaper is down along with some sheetrock. There were 3, THREE, 3 layers of wallpaper. Wallpaper should be outlawed. Hate it. Passionately. Cabinets are out and being sanded this week. They will be painted an antique white with a chocolate glaze. The counters will have Corian tops. We found enough of two different colors in the shop at Counter Dimensions (http://www.counterdimensions.com/), Daddy's real job, they were both leftovers from other jobs. Yay-saving some moula! Mirrors are down and some tile is up.

• The wall is out between the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen was dark and boxy before. Taking the wall out helps it to flow better. The whole area feels bigger and brighter. Cabinets ordered, granite ordered, flooring and carpet should be in next week or the week after, interior painting will be next week after the sheetrockers finish this week. The ceilings were scraped of their lovely popcorn texture and some extensive repair work will be done from the wallpaper removal damage. See why we detest wallpaper so? It is costing us some big money!
• The bottom picture is of our "desk". We meet here with our sweet Daddy and go over budgets, make any decisions for the upcoming week and write checks. We write. He signs! That tool bench is older than we are. So cool.

• The exterior has been painted, all but the windows. They will be done after the replacement windows are installed. Their trim will be the brown color. We haven't had the shutters made yet, they will be hung soon. You can also see the updated landscaping in the front yard.

Well, that's all folks! Have a good week and let us know what you think!! Thanks for keeping up with us!!

Week One

This is what we accomplished in our first week and by we, I don't mean us and some amigos . We as is in us and manual labor. Manual labor that amigos usually do. And don't go thinking we have anything against amigos. They do the work others won't do and we are thankful for all the help we can get. Anyway, all that to say this is Daddy's idea of a fun Saturday. It was really fun and gross and really hard work. I have a goose egg on my shin to prove it as well as clothes that smelled like cat pee when I finally left Peggy Sue Saturday afternoon. If it hadn't been so cold, I would have taken my clothes off before I got into the van for fear that my van would forever smell of cat urine (see pics of master bedroom) and general dirty carpet funk.

See all this carpet? We ripped it out BY OURSELVES. Daddy got us started and went to run an errand.

Here's the living room after we removed the carpet. It already felt so much cleaner, even with that dirty pad still down. We laughed and laughed at each other and at Daddy as we got that crap out of there.

Do you want to know what that black grainy stuff is behind the tackboard? It is ROACH POOPIE!! A bunch of it. We thought it was some kind mold from a old leak and started to mildly panic until Daddy quickly informed us that mold isn't grainy balls. He knew what it was right away.

Next we removed all the wire shelving in all the closets and took down all the blinds in the house. Terribly exciting I know, but we did each learn how to properly use a cordless drill both backwards and forwards.

We did have two workers ripping off the covered part of the deck and patching the roof where the deck connected. Does that make sense? Anyway, we had to clean up after those turkeys and they were messy.  While checking on their progress, we noticed they had stopped for lunch. Lunch as in Dr. Pepper and a can of Vienna weinies a piece. Since we hadn't turned the water on yet (had yet to make sure we found all the leaks), the poor things had to dig those little weinies out of that congealed stuff with their dirty bare hands. We considered offering them some hand gel or possibly a baby wipe from the stashes we both keep in our vans, but they didn't seem bothered my the inconvience so we let it ride. After fininishing their lunches, they threw their cans and Dr. Pepper bottles (full of tobacco spit-gag!!!) into the pile of wood they had created from tearing down the top of the deck. Mind you there was a trash bag ON THE DECK, BY THEIR FEET, but who cares right? Because he insists on a very clean work site, Daddy decided the wood needed to be loaded up and hauled off. So we loaded it up, Vienna cans and spit bottles and all while those two turkeys stand on the roof and watch us try not get weinie juice and (gag!!!) tobacco spit on our gloves.

And just in case you ever wondered what a roach egg thingy looks like, here you go. I (Kimmy) walked around the whole house with a flat screwdriver and scraped those suckers off every surface I could reach. Just thought you might want to know!

Thanks for checking in on the updates of Peggy Sue!! Have a great week!!