Bunco!!!

Tonight was our monthly bunco game. It was a luau theme and everyone dressed for the occasion! We had margaritas, mojitos, fondue, and lots of other goodies. I always love our girls night bunco games! I borrowed this group pic from Emily's blog...thanks Emily:).

6 months later

Our house building process have left a permanent impression on me. Before we even began construction, I tripped over our silt fence and landed onto the street below on my elbow. It was a total mess and now, 6 months later, I have a long scar on my elbow that will always remind me of our house!

Thirteen Thursday

• Thirteen things I LOVE about summer:

1. Summer break!


2. Longer Days


3. Green Grass


4. Swimming


5. The sunshine


6. Sleeping in


7. The smell of sunscreen-my favorite smell ever!


8. Haley (my niece) comes to stay with us!


9. Fireflies


10. Going to the lake


11. Camping


12. Grilling out all the time


13. Sno Cones! (Travis and I have a goal this summer to try all the flavors)

Trim Work Day 2

Today the baseboards were installed. ! It looks really good! Tomorrow will be the crown mouldings! Super Yay!

Trim Work Day 1

Today was the first day of trimwork. We had planned on hanging the crown moldings, baseboards, doors, and window boxes ourselves. But this guy gave us such a GREAT price that we decided to have him do it. Today he hung all the doors and door frames. Tomorrow he will begin the baseboards. Once that's done, we will paint the trim and then the walls. And no, the color you see is not the wall color...it's tinted primer.

Priming...day two. AHHHH!

Travis has worked again all day to spray prime the house. I had to make several trips for paint for him. He hoping to get it finished today so that our trim guy can come tomorrow and begin to hang the crown mouldings. We were going to do it ourselves but decided to hire it out for time's sake. We are going to still put in the baseboards ourselves. Then we will spray the trim pieces, hang the doors and spray them. After that we will paint the walls. Once that's done we will be ready for cabinets and flooring! Here is a pic of Haley helping to paint. We did a small patch of one of our real paint colors just to see what it looks like. This color will be in our living room, kitchen, dining room, and breakfast area.

Priming the house

We worked all day today to prime the house. We finished the bonus room, the staircase, the master bedroom and bathroom, the half bath, and laundry room. We worked for about 10 hours again. It took awhile to get set up. We borrowed a sprayer from a friend of ours. We weren't used to it so the set-up was a little difficult. Then we have to cover windows, doors, etc so that the paint doesn't get on them. We also had to make several runs to different places to get stuff we needed. I didn't take any pictures of the paint today because the sprayer puts so much into the air that I was afraid it would get on my lens. I will try and take a picture or two tomorrow once the paint settles some. We used a tinted primer so that it makes it easier to actually paint later. Also, it helps to see where you've already sprayed. Haley was so excited to help paint. We gave her a cup of paint and a brush and just let her go at it. She ended up with more paint on her than on the walls!!! Here is a pic of her sporting her safety glasses that we had to go buy in order to keep the paint out of our eyes. Tomorrow we will try and finish priming the rest of the house.

Prima Ballerina

Haley got this tutu from the same co-worker of mine that gave her the castle, Ms. Cindy. Ms. Cindy teaches ballet at Fox Meadow. Haley loves to pretend to be a ballerina and she loves this big tutu now! She was showing us all her best moves.

Chuck E. Cheese!

One of the first things Haley asked for last night was to go to Chuck E. Cheese today. We told her that she could go tonight if she helped us around the house and took a good nap. After cleaning all day and a 2 hour nap, she woke up and spoke two quiet words "chuck e. cheeses". So we spent a few hours at Chuck E. Cheese...she and Travis won 700 tickets and she got this great backpack filled with a real plate, bowl, cup, fork, and spoon! It was the best prize she's won there so far! She was so excited that she claimed it to be "the best day of her life."

Break Time!

When Haley grew bored of working she took a break by playing with her new castle on the back porch. She got the castle from a wonderful co-worker of mine who gave it to her this morning. Then we ran to Target for some princesses to play with it. When she grew tired of playing "castle" she went to the big sandpile in the front yard to play for awhile.

Haley the Helper

Last night Haley decided to come and stay with us for a few nights. We met my brother in Tuckerman to pick her up. Today she woke up bright and early (6:30) ready to head over to the new house to help out. Our plan today was to purchase the paint and clean out all the drywall dust so that we could begin to prime. Haley and I went to several places to get paint this morning and then we headed over to the house to work. She was such a big help...she wiped down walls and windows, helped sweep, and even got to run the blower. That of course was her favorite!

Texture

Today we got our ceilings texturized. Tomorrow they will sand everything down and then the drywall will be finished. We'll be painting by this weekend hopefully! Here is a pic of the ceiling texture. Also a few pics of the pond at the end of our little cul-de-sac.

End of the Year

I have only 3 days left of school until summer break begins. I will begin summer tutoring one day a week in 2 weeks. Other than that I plan on packing to move into our new house and working to get the new house finished. I am soooo ready for a break. Here is a painting I had made for me...I thought it was super cute!

A hill in Jonesboro???

We realized that we have built on one of the only hills in Jonesboro. We are actually built right up on top of Crowley's Ridge. We are the second highest house in the neighborhood...the one besides us has us beat by a little bit. That means we have a pretty nice view from our upstairs bonus room window. In the winter when there aren't any leaves on the trees we'll be able to see really far away! Here is a pic looking out the bonus room window and then of the bonus room itself.

The dogs get to visit

Today the dogs got to visit the house. They were so excited from the moment I turned into the neighborhood. They loved to run all around the house...even though they sneezed several times from the drywall dust!

Book #3

Okay, if you've been keeping track, I have read the first two books of the "Twilight" series in the past two weeks. Tonight I purchased the third in the series and can't wait to start it. These books ae majorly addictive! There will be four total in the series...the last one doesn't come out until August. So after I read this one, I'll be waiting anxiously until August!

House update

Here are a few pics of our completed bricks. They pretty much finished up today. They still have a few small touch-ups here and there. And then they will have to brick the mailbox and a small fence by the front. But for the most part, they are done!

Taped and mudded

The drywall was completely installed today and now we're in the finishing stage. It's being taped and mudded! These pics are of the kitchen and living room.

Drywall

I was SHOCKED to see how much drywall our guys put up today! They are just almost finished hanging it! The like only a few walls. I couldn't believe how different it looks with the drywall up! It's so wierd not to be able to see through the walls. It really looks like a house now! Won't be long until we're painting.

More Reading Material

I finished "Twilight" the other day. It was so good I couldn't put it down...I finished it within a few days. I HIGHLY recommend it! The movie is coming out in December and I can't wait to see it! Now I'm reading the sequel "New Moon". I'm only 3 chapters into it but then again I only got it this morning. I can't wait to find out what all happens between Bella and Edward! Love it!

The Monster

The monster came today. Travis' tv was delivered this afternoon and he and has dad worked to unwrap it and make sure it works. Travis is super excited now! His dad has a meeting here this week so both his parents came to stay with us for a couple of nights. They got to see our house for the first time today!

Truly the thought that counts...

Today one of my former students brought me this orchid. He walked in with it tucked under his jacket with the biggest grin on his face. He told me that he had a surprise for me for mother's day. Then proudly he pulled out a small box that contained this brown, half dead orchid. I couldn't have been more thrilled. I oohed and ahhed over that thing as if it were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. This little guy is so very special to me. He was in my classroom earlier in the year but wasn't quite ready for first grade. So he was placed in a K-1 transition classroom . I really hope that I get him again next year! Here is a picture of a note he wrote me a few months back. It says "Dear Mrs. Home, I miss you so much. I just wish I should come back. Love, Christian." He is always doing the sweetest things for me! :)

Walk-in shower

Travis framed our walk-in shower today so that it can be drywalled next week. We are going to tile it with this marble tile that we bought a loooong time ago.

Bob the Builder

Travis is my very own version of Bob the Builder. Being an engineer he definately has the mind for creating things. He's built several pieces of our furniture and he has had part in building several things in our new house. Today he framed our master bathroom shower. Tomorrow he is going to build in some shelves on the sides of our fireplace. On the right side he is going to build shelves to hold all our tv components and video games. On the left side will be shelves that hold dvds, etc. that will be behind a door. So we will have alot of nice, hidden storage around the fireplace. Here he is measuring to make sure the humongous hole he left above the fireplace is going to be actually big enough to hold the humongous flatscreen tv he just bought. (FYI it barely fits width wide.) :) I told him that if he shaved enough off our house budget that he could get his dream tv. And he did just that the other day. He found a 52 inch Samsung on a great sale from newegg.com.

still bricking & insulation complete!

They are still working on our brick. (Well not actually working today.) They are SUPPOSED to be finished on Monday. But then again they were supposed to be finished a week and a half ago as well. The whole two brick color thing really set us back because they are having to tear out and redo several sides. On a brighter note our insulation is completed. It looks crazy! We used a blown-in cellulose material. Our walls look like they are covered in grey fur! The cellulose is made of mainly newspaper but contains other paper as well. It's been treated with a fire retardant and pest retardant chemical. Dry-wall begins on Tuesday! :)