Wednesday, February 15, 2012

What I Got Done

First Week of January:  
Upstairs bathroom:  shelves removed, primed and painted.  Room Done.  Check.
Allison's room gutted of junk.
Bedroom:  shelf removed and hole in wall from security system patched.
Jacob's room:  completely gutted.  Primed and painted.  Room Done.  Check.
1/9 LaMon came over and patched up and painted woodpecker holes.  Octagon window molding taken down.  Took some thrift store items.
Anne came over and helped clean out Isaac's room some.
I Painted lots of brown trim.  Scraped and primed back door frame.
Dinner from the LaClaire's.
1/10  LaMon cut brick molding and nailed up frame for octagon window.  Filled the rest of the woodpecker holes.  Caulked some areas.  Took more stuff for the thrift store.
I Painted two coats on back patio door.  Painted trim on front door and around garage door.
Went to Menards and bought more paint brushes and primer.  Bought one 16' mason wood siding to fix warped board at the back of the house; cut to 10' and 6' pieces.  Jacob and Isaac painted the board, but didn't dry sufficiently so they're in the basement drying.  
Jacob and Isaac helped start a fire and burned up the the majority of brush and sticks in the backyard that have been building up for years.
1/11 Packed in the living room and tidied food storage under the stairs.
1/12 Worked in living room more, worked in bedroom.
1/13  Finished cleaning out bedroom.
1/14  Finished brown paper that covers the infamous MN mural, and fixed wall in entry way.
1/16 Prepped Family room for paint; primed green.
1/17 Cleaned out hallway, patched holes.
1/18 Cleaned out some of hutch.
Prepped and painted hallway.
1/19 Busy day.  No time for house stuff.
1/20 Cleaned wall in Allison's room with Magic Erasers.  Love those.
Packed up toys.
Scraped ceiling in bathroom downstairs, sprayed popcorn on, puttied nail holes.
1/21 Two coats primer in bathroom
1/22 Two coats paint in bathroom
(Yes, I know it was a Sunday.  I needed to get the tape off asap; Ox. Mire.)
1/23 cleaned out downstairs bathroom cupboards.
Started to pack in office.
Put up new shower curtain.  Looks great!
1/24 Packed up lots of kitchen and cleaned.
1/25 Filled holes in kitchen and bedroom.  Touch up paint in Allison's room and kitchen.  Took down toaster oven.
Justin: took down tv in bedroom.  Working on door jams.
1/26 Painted holes in bedroom.  Cleaned out laundry room.  Took picture of laundry room(!!)
Cleaned freezer - Jacob did fridge the other day.
1/27-1/29 Photographed most of the house!  Yay!
1/30 Packed half bathroom hallway closet.  Cleaned kitchen.  Worked on taxes a couple hours.

Friday, February 10, 2012

More house pictures




 Notice our new couch (the one with gum in it, thanks to a sleeping Ammon).

 Old office, now Jacob's room.  Massive transformation.






 Beautiful glass door Justin picked out.
And the curtains.  Sniff.
I love how this room turned out.  Too bad we have to leave it only just shy of a year's completion.
 I'm so sad to leave my garden.  So sad.  My newly planted fruit trees, blueberry bushes.  Established strawberry patch and raspberry bushes.  Not to mention my perennials.  But now, maybe I'll be able to get some of these things for FREE from my daddy!
 This has been a good GREAT house for our family.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

GI Joe

A past co-worker posted this of Justin on Facebook awhile back and I ran across it again.  I think it needs to be cataloged in our family history.
He is clean shaven now and looks like a wee little boy with a double chin.  He sported this beard about three months.  He's coming home this weekend.  Love him.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Party for my Girl

I'm letting all four kids have one last birthday party with their friends in Minnesota.
I let Allison invite five friends (Grace was sick), so there were only four.  Allison was in charge of the games. 
Right now, they're playing "button button."  
We went to McDonald's for ice cream.
It amazed me how long they could "play" with their cones.  All kinds of games ensued.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Randomeness Dec-Jan

12/1  I love doing these random posts.
We call them "meat sandwiches" in our house.  Not to confuse them with the jam variety.
Getting excited for a holiday party tomorrow night.  
I forgot how light it is at night when it snows.  It seems magical.
Bought a new teflon pan and LOVE it!  Can you hear my singing?  Love it!!
The Cosby Show is funny.
Justin went to dinner tonight with his boss.  We had tortilla pizzas/tortilla's with cheese and beans.  Fancy.
I've never seen Casablanca.
12/2  I learned the first section of the Batman theme song to sing to Ammon when he wears a Batman shirt.
Or Batman undies.
Jacob and Isaac almost came to blows this morning.  No school days here are loud and crazy.
Quote from Downton Abby, "No one hits the bulls eye with the first arrow."
"What would be the point of living if life didn't change us."
12/4  You're not going to believe this one...we left Ammon in the van asleep after church.
For 30 minutes.  In 25 degree weather.  
We sat down to dinner and I asked where Ammon was, and no one knew.  Then Allison piped up that he fell asleep on the way home from church.  
He was holding a soccer ball hunched over and toasty warm.
12/5  Justin and I bought a new couch at Ikea today.  It was perfect.
At least the size is.  Not sure on the comfort.
Allison cried herself to sleep because she is going to miss our old couch.
The one with holes wearing through the fabric and wires that poke you in your bum.
12/12 Phew!  We're safe!
 Found out early about ward boundary changes, and we're still in Shoreview ward.
I know there are lots of people who read my blog and never leave comments.
Had a fun day with the family yesterday decorating a gingerbread house, singing carols,
driving around and looking at lights...and even driving through a live nativity with a real camel!
12/14 I think I like Minnesota much more than I thought I did.
Made Oreo truffles tonight with Allison and Ammon.
12/18 Ammon asked if "hut" was a number.
12/19  Found on the 16th that our family is moving to Utah.
Justin had a wisdom tooth pulled today by a great friend, Nate.
He now has like, the worst breath ever.   And he isn't in any pain.
I have about 25 pairs of shoes ready to leave the house.
12/22 I woke up to take Jacob to seminary and no glasses on my night stand.  After crawling around looking for them all I kept thinking to myself, "I need my glasses.  Man I can't see without my glasses; why don't I put on my glasses to look for them."  Totally duh moment for me.  Finally had to put in my contacts.
Made sugar cookies yesterday.  Mmmmm.  I haven't made them in at least a year.  And now I remember why.  It is SO much work, from beginning to end.  But, oh so yummy.
Today is our Christmas Eve.  We leave for Oklahoma on Saturday.
I don't know how I'm going to do all of this alone with Justin in Utah for 6 months.
Justin brought home Dominos pizza.  It's a family tradition to eat pizza on Christmas Eve.
Cookies decorated for Santa.  We have his name spelled out in cookies.  (Alphabet cutters).
Sold our Thomas the Tank Engine toys today on Craigslist.  Wahoo!  Less toys to move.
Also sold a bunch at Once Upon a Child.
12/23 It's snowing on our Christmas day!  Miracle!
There has been no snow on the ground.
12/29  In Oklahoma for 5 days now.  I am sick.  Sore throat and achy body.
Beautiful outside and warm.  Kids are having fun getting to know their little cousins.
Ate at Fat Guys Burgers last night and got 2 of  hugest order of large fries I've ever seen.
There is almost always a baby/toddler crying or pooping.  Not used to that anymore.
I'm going to miss coming here for Christmas.
They have the best shower here EVER.  EVER!!
1/7/12 Justin left for Utah today.  Talk about sad.  As soon as he closed the door, racking sobs wouldn't stop.  Allison heard me crying and she started sobbing too, so we cried together on the couch.  No one can ever doubt how much I love him.  He is my best friend.  This is going to be one of my biggest challenges to face.
I finished painting the upstairs bathroom and got it all back together.  It looks great.  It's nice to have one room completely done.
I've been working on Jacob's room/old office.  I'm allergic to something in there so I've been sneezing and blowing my nose for three days now.  I got one coat of primer up on the dark blue.  Took me hours to get all of the shelves off, nail holes filled, sanded, taped.  It sucks to know how much work I'm putting into the house and knowing we will not be getting a penny back from selling it, maybe even having to pay at closing.  What a rotten deal.
Allison's favorite tape, some Disney nursery rhymes, broke today.  She got very weepy over it.
So I didn't go to a soccer party at the Berges and watched High School Musical with her.
I love her compassion.
Ammon lost his first tooth.
I like Pixie sticks.
Pink Party Popcorn.
I think it's weird to put foot lotion on my hands.
Finished Jacob's room!  Still has a blue-ish tint but I'm DONE!  Only 8 more rooms + garage to go!
1/11 It's weird to watch pre-cell phone shows.
Justin went to a yoga class. . . . wait for it. . . . bwahahaha!
He's the most UNflexible person I've ever seen.
Ammon was taking his shirt off and he said, "I'm going to do this like a cowboy."  He takes his shirt off and by the arm, flings it in a circle in the air.
1/12 Not as productive today as I'd have liked to have been.  Maybe it's the lack of sunshine outside.
Jacob had his second "behind the wheel" today.  Not much improvement from his last lesson.
Something else to worry about is how we'll be able to transfer his Drivers Ed to Utah.
1/13 I hate it when people with dogs think their dog is so unique.  "My dog is nice, he won't..."  "My dog blah blah blah..."  uh huh.  Whatever.  I still hate your dog and I don't want it jumping on me.
Five days of seminary.  Ouch.  Putting me off my game.
I'm so thankful for Puffs with lotion.  All this dust from cleaning out is killer.
Ding Dongs taste so much better foil wrapped.
I found my glasses!  They've been lost for a couple of months.
I am so lonely for adult conversation/company.  Netflix can only go so far.
1/14 Video chat with Justin makes my heart squeeze.  I miss him.
Bought chocolate licorice at Walmart.
Covered the mural today.  Sad to see that disappear.
1/15 ARGG!  I keep waking up at 5AM.
1/16 Ammon got a cavity refilled.
1/18 It is so cold and windy.  Seminary was even cancelled tomorrow due to wind chill.
1/20 I have hit a major slow down in terms of getting the house ready.   So Tired.
I need a jolt.
1/21 The previous owners weren't fans of painters tape and sharp lines.  Spent a good amount of time getting turquoise paint off baseboards etc.  Primed bathroom.
1/23 Is it okay to eat taco soup at 9:32 AM?
Cuz it sounds yummy right now.
1/24 Get to pick up Justin in 45 minutes!!!
Celebrated National Pie Day at LaMon and Barbara's.  Apple pie. mmmmmmm.
I'm getting fatter by the day.  I can't stop eating.
It has been so nice to be in one state year after year and same job company for taxes.
Boo for next year.
1/25 It's like Justin was never gone.  He completes our family.  Snuggling is the Best!
1/26 Need.  More.  Sleep.
Did a newborn session tonight.  She was an angel!  As always, I'm scared to look at my raw work.
Ammon misses his Dad.  It makes my heart squeeze.
1/29 Justin leaves tomorrow morning.  Boooo!
Sold a bunch of photography stuff on craigslist.
Only $2000 in the red for my "business".
I'm 20lbs over my desired weight.  Poop.
Less than three weeks until The Vacation.
1/30 I always get a start when I watch British tv shows and they drive on the other side of the road.
I'm so excited to eat the chips part of fish n' chips in New Zealand.  I hope we can find a shop that packages them in newspaper.  They taste better that way.
1/31 I'm loving a show my sister told me about called Doc Martin.
It's British.
Done with the first parent teacher conference this round.
Ammon is doing very well.  Although, found out he's been trying to kiss a couple fellow students.