Visits and a bathroom update.

My mom was here this weekend on her monthly visit - which we plan over Christmas break when we both get out our next year's calendar and pick weekends. We honestly didn't do ANYTHING of note except go see a movie once Chad got off work on Saturday afternoon. She ran errands with me on Saturday as I try to decide what towels and shower curtain to buy for our bathroom. I am actually embarrassed to say that I haven't bought any yet and no, the bathroom isn't finished. Sigh. Life.


So, projects for this weekend: make a decision about towels and shower curtain and purchase them. Sand the doorway and window frame to prep for paint (FYI: the I hate to call them stupid, greedy, or corner cutting but that is what they are people that "flipped" our house before we bought it took some major short cuts. Things that covered the problem without really fixing it - NOT what me or the guy I am married to are OK with! For example: all the doorways in the house were stained/varnished wood. They did not sand or strip them before painting a semi-gloss latex over it. This means that once it chips, it peels off in huge strips. And now WE have to sand off ALL of the paint to be able to rough up the varnish and start over with an oil-based primer to be able to paint a latex semi-gloss over it.) So, THAT is my project for today and this week. Lots of sanding, priming and painting. It is the last step in the bathroom fix besides a deep cleaning and Chad still needs to attach the faucet to the shower (something about an issue with the length of the pipe? One thing after another, around here.)


So, heading to Target then back to work on my To Do list before Chad gets off work at 3:30!

Good times.

I spent Friday night and all day Saturday at our GS camp in Knoxville teaching girls about the Gold Award. It is always gratifying to be able to answer their questions, challenge them to dream a little bigger, and encourage them to achieve the highest award possible in our organization. This group was a little challenging - not very talkative and looking intimidated by the process - but I think we made some progress. And, they know how to find us when they are ready to ask questions - they can put a name with an email address or phone number so maybe WE will be less intimidating!

Chad is working today so we just had lunch with J and he headed to the hospital for work. It is raining and nasty outside so my plans include lit candles for a good smelling house, working a little more on cleaning out the craft/spare room, starting some Christmas craft projects, cleaning up the kitchen, and maybe a little movie watching. It is going to be a good afternoon.

Then, I have tomorrow off work too! We will do a little bathroom tiling - its coming along slowly but surely - and then a trip to the animal shelter to look at dogs. Someone we know (NOT THIS HOUSE) might be getting a dog for Christmas! I'm excited! Of course, it takes everything in my power to not come home with another cat - I just remind myself how much food costs and how much the annual vet bills are and then I remember why we have cats and dogs instead of kids and I think, why not one more? :)

Another semi-productive weekend.

Another long weekend presented itself and I enjoyed every moment of it. First, my momma made her visit for the month this weekend so I got to enjoy her company to its fullest. We didn't do much - ran a few little errands and just generally hung out around the house. Honestly, while it doesn't sound all that exciting, I can't really think of anything I would rather do on a weekend off than just hang out around the house with the people I love the most. To top it off, Chad had the weekend off to so we just got to be HOME for a couple of days together. Lovely weekend it was.

Today was LABOR day and I sure did labor - but I saved it for the second half of the day - as to not get too carried away. Chad and I are catching up on old TV shows (specifically Alias - Jennifer Garner's finest work in my opinion...I love that show!) and just jumping into season 3. We caught up on a couple episodes before Chad had to go to work and I got cracking on my to do list from my last long weekend. I went to Lowe's and bought the wall paint for the bathroom since it was on sale this weekend and then came home and painted! I got the ceiling painted with two coats of white and the walls painted with one coat. I bought grey for the walls and I am pretty excited about getting it all on there in the next couple of days. I did more laundry (how does it never end??), cleaned dishes, vacuumed floors, and changed sheets. All in all, a pretty darn productive day. Long week of work ahead but thankfully, it is only 4 days long. New staff member starting tomorrow that I am very excited about - super positive, upbeat, and coming from another Girl Scout council so we don't have to train her as much. It's gonna be a good week!

Overwhelmed.

Sorry it has been so quiet around here. After my last trip to Knoxville, I have been barely treading water with work - super long days and the responsibility to write a budget for a department that has never existed before (by a girl who has never written a work budget before!) I know it isn't supposed to be that hard but since I am NOT very good with math and I have a deep desire to "get it right" and do a good job, this work has been particularly stressful and overwhelming. I think I am slowly learning how to swim and I should be able to submit my budget this Friday - a full week before it is due. My goal is to NOT have it breathing down my neck this weekend when Chad is off work and we can spent lots of time together.

I DID however, make giant leaps on the master bathroom project this past weekend. I sanded the drywall mud that we put on there last week and then - I tell no lies - scraped all the popcorn texture off the ceiling. I promise it isn't as bad as it sounds. It is very easy - just time consuming and super messy. I had popcorn in places I don't care to mention (Ok, I will - just for funsies - my bra!). I'm excited to literally have a blank slate for our bathroom to create something beautiful and simple! Chad did more mudding today so I can sand again tomorrow night and we can start the process of potentially getting things ready to tile this weekend!! Everything is picked out - just not purchased. Saving up a storm and we are about ready to bite the bullet!

I'll try to be better about updates (fingers are NOT crossed behind my back). :)

Foiled plans.

You know that saying about "the best laid plans..."? Well, I could use it to perfection for this weekend.

On the way to work Thursday, the transmission light on my car came on and long story short, I don't think you want to go out of town in a car that might possibly have a transmission problem. I tried to take it to the Honda dealership but they couldn't see me until Saturday morning which sort of would have ruined my weekend travel plans. So, I found another local car shop that works on Hondas a lot - they came recommended by my boss who has a similiar car - who was able to get it in on Friday and get the part to fix it. One crisis averted. (It turned out to be something fairly minor - a sensor went out instead of the entire pressure system. Big sigh of relief.)

I woke up Friday morning, after taking my car to the shop, and saw a message that the reunion was basically being called off. The attendance was so small anyway and one of my besties had to back out because of her family passing around the stomach bug (I think I'll avoid THAT at all costs, thanks!) so our numbers were dwindling fast. I guess it is for the best since my cold would have made travel less fun, I wouldn't want to make my parents sick, and baby lovin' would have to be kept to a minimum (lame!).

Instead, we re-did the plumbing in our master bathroom for the 3rd time yesterday. We've had some issues with reduced water pressure since we started messing with the system. We think we've got it figured out and part of the problem is an old sink fixture that is making us BELIEVE we have bad water pressure. We are finally ready to start putting walls back up now and making some visual progress and I am pretty excited about it.

Chad is working this weekend so I am going to help K at her house some more - painting, cleaning, etc. - trying to get it ready to put on the market. Headed to walk with Uncle J now and lunch with Chad before he has to go to work. I am determined to enjoy a nice weekend at home with a long to-do list even though that wasn't my original plan!

Master Bathroom Renovation - Day 1

If I haven't mentioned it before, we are beginning the process of renovating our master bathroom. Not sure why it is called a master because it is super teenie - same size as our hall bathroom - but it is the only one in a bedroom so I guess that makes it the master. We will eventually renovate both bathrooms and the kitchen because the people who "flipped" our house (a realtor and her brother) did an absolutely terrible job on most things. Mainly, they made cosmetic fixes instead of actually fixing the problem leaving us with a leaking roof (who's stains they painted over), and 3 layers of tile on the bathroom walls, among other things. I guess it means that we get to a bathroom that we love so it will eventually be OK. We've saved for this for a while so we are attempting to do it with no debt and then we will save again for the next bathroom and kitchen, etc.

Anyway, today was Day #1. I am not sure why we decided it was a good idea to demo a bathroom after inviting my entire family up for Christmas but it's fine. In all honesty, the "dirty work" will hopefully be done the end of this weekend (meaning most of the demo in the shower area). We won't be finished by the time they come up because it is going to probably take us a couple of months of weekends to finish our weekend warrior project. Today we tore down 2 layers of tile with drywall between each layer. I guess I can't blame the cruddy job on the flippers because someone before them obviously did the same thing. Either way, the bottom layer is a plastic tile, very thin, so it will just come off with the last layer of drywall. The walls have been patched so many times that we are just going to take it down to the studs on 3 walls. The 4th wall is the outside wall of the house and has a window so we should just be able to sand and make that one look nice. 8 bags of trash later and we are on our way. I've taken before and during pictures so far so one day I will show you the ewwwww that is the inside of the wall. :)