Blocks are Finished!!!

Well our blocks got finished today! It was neat to walk around and be able to see each room. Here are a few pics. The first pic is of the front porch of the house. Directly behind the front porch is the living room, to the right are the small bedrooms and the hall bath. The second picture is of the master bedroom, bathroom, closet, and hallway with closet. The third picture is of Travis walking in the garage.

BLOCKS!!!

Today they began to lay our blocks...it's beginning to take shape! They have completed the back of the house and one side. I could see our breakfast nook (it's the little wierd shaped area in the first pic) and our back patio (the second picture). They will finish laying the blocks tomorrow and we will be backfilling it this weekend. We have to take those huge mountains of dirt and fill the big hole in the middle of the house. We are busy interviewing plumbers and still trying to sell our house as well!!!

Offers...maybe?

Well we have had two sort of offers on the house so far. We recieved one last week but it was just too low so we turned it down. Then tonight we sorta recieved another one...the guy is going to call back tomorrow. So hopefully we will be selling this house very soon and will be lookin for temporary housing until our house is finished! Wish us luck!!! Anyway...here are two cute pictures of Tucker "couch hugging". He loves to sleep on the back of the couch and he gets in such a deep sleep that he sinks further and further down into the cushions. I love that boy!

We have footings!!!

We have footings now! They were put in this morning. We should get our blocks laid next week. We had a blast walking around in our new house. You could definitly see the room layouts! We had a bobcat sitting in our living room. The room with the rebar sticking up is our master closet...it's being prepped to be our safe room. How exciting...it's taking shape.

Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day! The kiddos at school were so very excited...they were WILD today! Here is a picture of one of the flowers in the bouquet Travis sent me today. I love this flower...I have no idea what it is! The other picture of the small pale pink rose was from one of my students. There is nothing sweeter than a little boy walking into a classroom carrying a rose for his teacher! Melt me!

twenty-seven

Well today I turned 27! I have never really felt any different on any given birthday except this one. I woke up this morning and I thought "Wow! I'm really close to 30!" It is a little frightening...it wasn't too long ago that I still considered myself within that "young twenties" era. So in honor of my twenty-seven years ...here are 27 things about me and my life that you may or may not know!

1. Even though I graduated with a degree in education, I started college with a major of chemistry!


2. Travis remembers what I wore when he first met me back in the sixth grade. {By the way it was an Orlando Magic jersey :)}


3. My best friend Ashley predicted that I would marry Travis even before I officially met him. We just saw him as we were driving by a playground and he was working at the after school program. She said "you're going to marry that guy" and I didn't even know who he was!


4. I love Diet Dr. Pepper.


5. I love scrapbooking but don't ever do it anymore!


6. I love to bargain shop (especially for our new house).


7. Travis and I won a proposal contest on the radio and got a lot of our wedding stuff for free!


8. I am named after my great-grandmother O'randa.


9. I drive a Jeep and I love it!


10. I love our Wii!


11. I asked Travis out on our first date...he was way to shy back then!


12. My best friend Julie and I have matching tattoos.


13. I had to go to Saturday School the morning after my senior prom! Total bummer.


14. I am a list maker and organizer.


15. We named our dogs using our baby names so now we have to come up with all new baby names that we like! :)


16. I lost both my grandmas last summer within five weeks of each other.


17. I lived with a girl named Eureka Wood Fork my freshman year of college...not much more I can say about that.


18. I cannot roller skate for the life of me...I have tried and tried and I just cannot do it.


19. I have continuously held a job since I was fourteen. My first job was working concessions at the Landers Theatre in Batesville. To this day I cannot stand the smell of popcorn or the movie Twister.


20. I am terrified of frogs!


21. I love fabric and want to sew so badly, however I have no patience or talent for it whatsoever.


22. I tutor two little girls afterschool and I really enjoy the one-on-one time with them.


23. I have only quit one job in my life and that was a summer job with the Girl Scouts that required me to live in a rustic, screened-in cabin for the entire summer. After one night I realized that I don't like living outdoors and I have serious pollen allergies. I came home the next morning and do not regret it one bit!


24. In high school I dreamed of having a big, black, step side, 4x4 chevy truck!


25. I've always wanted to learn how to drive a stick-shift. Again, tried and failed miserably.


26. My favorite tv show is the The Office and I cannot wait until the new episodes come back on!


27. I have a truly blessed life with great friends and a loving family!

Here's an old pic of me from back in the day! It's one of my favorites.

Our dirt pile

Here's an updated pic of our big pile of dirt. We had someone come in and cut off about 2 feet of dirt off our hill so we can have our footings poured. So we now have a large pile of dirt on all sides of the lot. It lookes like big mounds of red velvet cake. It's nothing but sand really...I guess that's what we get for building on top of Crowley's Ridge! We should get our footings poured Monday if the weather hold up. I can't wait until it's framed up and we can walk through it! We are showing our house tonight twice! Once at 6:00 and then at 6:30. Wish us luck!

Our great find!

While in Batesville this weekend we bought two sinks for the new house. We purchased a double sink for our Master bath and a single one for our half bath. We still have to get one for our spare bathroom. We got them at this furniture outlet place that has incredible discounts. Most of the furniture is either factory returns or slightly damaged. The only thing damaged on the double sink was a loose leg that is now fixed and the single sink has a small crack on the back of the granite top that you can't even see. We also got the matching mirror for the single sink! We saved tons on them. Plus it was cheaper to purchase the sinks this way rather than having vanities built by our cabinet guys. And on top of that...these have granite tops instead of marble! We're hoping they get another one in soon so we can get it for our other bathroom! Here's a picture of the double sink that I "borrowed" off the manufacturers website!

I can't wait!

I cannot wait until this summer! Every summer since she was little, Haley has come to Jonesboro to stay with us for about a week. We have a week filled with shopping, trips to Build a Bear, Chuck E. Cheese, and the park. We always have such a great time! Hopefully this year we will be in our new house when she visits. She'll have a new, long driveway to ride her bike in and a big backyard to run around with the pups!

We got to see her this weekend-it had been since Christmas since we had seen her last. I miss that little stinker so much! She's so funny and always has something off the wall to say! Love that little girl!

Our houseplan

Here is a pic of the inside layout of the house we are building...there are a few minor changes such as doors being moved, the fireplace is being moved, etc. The only major change is that the whole thing is flipped to where the garage is on the left. It also doesn't show the bonus room that we are putting in above the garage. As far as the outside goes, we are changing the front door area and windows. We are not using those wierd sunshine looking halfcircles above the windows. We're using a single arch instead. We are also using a brownish brick that is called chocolate brown with a dark mortar rather than the red brick.