The Little Engine That Could....

 That's us!  Our house is going to be finished before we know it!  We are half way through week 7.  The tile is ordered, the electric underground will be ran to the house, trimming will be complete, and our cabinets will be installed...all by Friday!! 

While I was at the beach working on my 3rd degree sunburn, Drew and Rick built our kitchen island and bathroom vanity out of steel.

 I'm so proud!  My baby can weld!! ;)

 This will be topped with white marble and the vanity will be topped with a varnished butcher block.

  The finishing on the drywall is complete and ready for paint!!

Our porch's wainscot is up!

The hood vent for the outdoor kitchen is being framed.

 

This is the ceiling for our front door stoop, the pine is from the 18th century!!

It looks incredible!

These are my handmade old cypress doors for the library.

These will be hung on barn door hardware.  

 

Next week the stucco will be finished and installation of siding and interior painting will begin.

Tennessee Fun!!

It looks like our little man has been having a BLAST in TN!  Here are some pictures his mom and step-dad have sent- gotta love MMS. :)

He's been to the Nashville Zoo! 

He used to only like cats, but he's turning into a real animal lover, maybe he'll be a veterinarian.

He's making new friends...GIRLfriends that is. 

I wonder if male Days ever think girls have cooties?  :)

Always wear your seatbelt!  He's so smart!

 

                And he's been doing lots of fishing at Peep's and Pop's!

Only 15 more days until our Bud is back for his long summer visit!  We can't wait, I always get so anxious a week or two out from his homecomings.  I turn into a crazed event planner trying to figure out how many fun things we can fit into our schedule while he's here, Drew has to pull back on my reigns from time to time.  Once he's home and settled in, I relax and enjoy our precious, precious time together.  I'm so excited he's going to be here for almost 2 whole months this trip!!  Yay for summertime!

DTD Builders: Gettin' Er Done!

Our house is half way through week 6 and here is where we stand...well it stands.

 The insulation is done.

 The sheet-rock is up

I'm pretty sure this isn't an OSHA approved method of sheet-rock hanging.

The Man Cave still looks like Carlsbad Caverns,

even though Drew says it looks smaller.

Do work son!

We took red, yellow, and lime green paint and diluted it with water, then rubbed the cypress wood to 

create....

Our porch ceiling.  It looks awesome!

We will, we will brick you!

The exterior brick is up!

And the interior brick is going up

The rest of this week will be finishing up the sheet rock and bricking the interior wall then cleaning up materials around the house and lot. 

Next week trim work will begin and the house will be primed for paint.  Our lighting is ordered, my
400 lb, solid granite kitchen sink came in today (Whoop Whoop!),

Smoothe side...

Rough cut side

and we picked out the tile for the laundry room and baths 1 & 2.

Laundry room and Andrew's bathroom

This is the back of a flooring board,
we're doing our guest bath like the top photo with the striped wall.

The striped wall is actually long, textured tile it's pretty cool.  :)

Things are moving right along, my builder is excellent and I would totally recommend him to anyone and everyone! 

6 Seconds of Denial

I'm sure we all process bad news, bad luck, bad decisions, bad consequences in a variety of different ways, but I think most of us experience "6 seconds of denial" when first confronted with anything that effects us in a negative way.  You know, those first few seconds after "the bad" thing happens and you're like, "No this can't happen to me."  "No that must be a typo."  "No, I didn't hear what I just thought I heard."  Unfortunately I've experienced quite a few "6 seconds of denial" moments over the last week.
Moment #1:
Last Wednesday I lost my engagement ring at the gym!!  I could remember taking it off to put on lotion, putting on my lifting gloves, going to my body-pump class, pulling my gloves off and realizing I had no ring!  Then the 6 seconds of denial hit me, "Oh it must have come off in my glove."  Nope.  "Oh I remember taking it off, I must have put it in my bag."  Nope.  "Oh it will be in the locker room waiting for me."  Nope!  Then the panic set in.  I searched the entire gym on my hands and knees and no luck.  I got in my car and bawled for a few minutes then decided I had to woman up and call Drew.  Not sure what to expect or how mad he would be, when he answered I burst into tears again and tried to say, "I (sniff, sniff) lost my ring (whimper, sniff) at the gym." (Loud crying in background)
Drew:  "What, are you okay?"
Me:  "No I'm not okay I lost my ring."
Drew:  "Oh I thought you were hurt!"
Me:  "I am hurt I lost my ring!"
Drew:  "Calm down, we'll get you another one..."
Me:  "You'll get me another one?"
Drew:  "Sure...(laughing) In a couple of years."
Me:  "Okay, (crying again) I can't believe I lost it!"  Staring down at my naked finger where my beautiful, big, hand picked by Drew, ring was no longer sitting. :(
Drew:  "It's just a ring, and in a few months you'll have a wedding band anyway. Now come help me stain this wood for our ceiling."
I couldn't believe how well he had taken it, I know for a fact I wouldn't have been quite that understanding.  Thanks Love!

Then I called my sister, Stacie.  She is pretty much my rock.  When Gloria Gaynor sang "I Will Survive" she sang it for women like Stacie.  The girl has survive everything and anything, sometimes I call her a modern day Job.  So I knew if anyone was going to have good advice she would and of course she did.  "Post a reward poster at the gym in case someone picked it up."  Perfect idea, anyone who has ever been panic stricken knows that there's no better therapy than action!  I had something to do that may help me get my ring back!
I printed posters and put them up at the gym, went back with Stacie and my niece Afton after close and looked again....nothing.

Thursday, no calls with good news.  I went and filed a police report in case someone tried to pawn it, knowing it would be a slim chance of getting it back that way.

Friday....nothing.... until 9:00am.  While in our production meeting my cell phone starts ringing with a number I don't know so I let it go to voicemail.  The lady on the other end leaves her name, number, and a brief message saying, "I think I found what you're looking for."  "Yes!"  5 engineers and shift supers turn to look at me, while I'm fist pumping and grinning from ear to ear.  "Someone found my ring!"  High fives all around- a happy chemist makes happy engineers & supers!  :)  Thank the heavens, there are still some honest people left in the world.  The gym didn't tell her about the reward so she had no idea and then tried to argue with me about taking it.  Honest people deserve a few wordly rewards from time to time too! What a happy Friday, our trip to Houston just took a turn for the best...or so I thought.

Moment #2:

We had an awesome time in Houston Saturday.  We shopped for 6 hours straight!!

 (Cue: Chariots of Fire)

Our FIRST trip through Ikea

The rug for my library

Our SECOND trip through Ikea. 

(Yes, that good lookin' thing standing way back there is Drew marking the end of our carts!)

And the "dandelion" light for my library

I don't think I have ever literally shopped until I dropped until I walked into Ikea.  Tired to the bone we checked in at the FAB-ulous Hotel Derek- thanks for the recommendation Rick and Sherry! 

The next day we hit up Niko Niko's (one of the stops on Food Network's show Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives), Y-U-M!  Then we decided to go to the Galleria.  Since we were hauling all of our Ikea finds in my folks' cargo trailor (thanks Mom & Dad) we couldn't make the height clearance to park in the Galleria's parking garage so we parked across the street from Macy's in an empty parking lot , then hit the mall!

Of course we couldn't pass up this store without getting 

our Bud a sussy- that's what we call surprises, thanks to Mr. Matt & Mrs. Brittany and originally Mrs. Merrill! :)

"Gotta New Girl"

And I got an oil painting for my library- I think I'm finished buying stuff for in

there..well except for books!

After about two hours of Galleria shopping time we were ready to hit the road.  I open my door to the truck and see that the glove compartment is open and two sheets of paper are on the seat. (???)  Drew and I ask each other at the same time, "Did you do that?"  "No."  I run around the trailer to make sure none of the locks had been cut...sigh of relief, our Ikea stuff was safe!  I go back to the truck and look in the back seat the mirrors and lights we bought are all still there.  (???)  

Here we go, 6 seconds of denial:

Me:  "Do you think the glove box popped open somehow?" 

Drew: "It must have a don't see anything missing."

And just when we almost had ourselves convinced that the glove box had regurgitated its contents....

Drew: "Wait where's my pistol?"

Me:  "Maybe it's still in my luggage from the valet?  Wait, our luggage is gone!"

Drew:  "And our laptop."  

Ew!  Just when my positive outlook on mankind had been reinforced by my ring they go and steal my discontinued Vera Bradley, Chi blow dryer and straightener, makeup, and my favorite sundress!  The nerve...the audacity...the down right crudeness of it.  I can understand the gun and the computer but my personal items...I mean really?!

 After filing my second police report in two days we finally got on the road again.  I had never been so ready to get back to my home state-  were people say ma'am and sir, mister and miss, thank you and please, smile at strangers, and turn in lost engagement rings. Once settled into traffic I busted out laughing, Drew shoots me his "You're crazy" expression, I tell him I was just thinking about how we had totally convinced ourselves that the glove box had popped open and he says "It's 6 seconds of denial."  His flight instructor, Ryan, says when the alarm starts sounding and the Engine Failure light starts flashing pilots experience 6 seconds of denial.  "My engine's not failing, that sound is a mistake."  I started thinking about the latest events in my crazy, tragic, awful, beautiful life and decided that in a five day stretch I had, had too many experiences that constituted 6 seconds of denial!  

We concluded our trip by having some of the best Mexican food ever at Pappasito's-Y-U-M!  The homemade tortillas were the best I've ever had!  We snacked on our leftovers and talked about how good it was all the way home.  I love how good food can turn a bad day into a happy memory.

Texas can keep Houston...but I will take Ikea! :)

Where's the Good in Goodbye?

Andrew went back to Florida Sunday and later this week he’ll be moving to Tennessee. The older he gets the harder the goodbyes are becoming. Every month he’s a little taller, his features have changed slightly, he has new sayings, and he looks a little more like his Daddy, if that’s possible!  I normally go into "spring-cleaning" mode the first day he's gone to keep me busy and Drew throws himself into what ever project he has going- which thankfully right now is our house!  I still turn the TV to the Disney channel in the mornings while I'm getting ready for work and I spend the rest of the week drinking all of his chocolate milk!  We miss him so much!

On our way home from picking him up we always play the “What’s Your Favorite Game,” just to see if any of his favorite things have changed.

His favorite color is still black, sometimes blue.
His favorite game is Super Mario and Candyland.
His favorite song is We Will Rock You and All the Single Ladies, the Chipmunk version.
His favorite food is bass- which ends up being fried catfish at restaurants. Only after fishing with Poppy is bass ever on the menu! :)
His favorite drink is Chocolate Milk and Root Beer (out of a bottle, please!)
His favorite candy is Fun-Dip.
His favorite animal is a dinosaur and cats.

He has quite a few habitual sayings right now. When he’s explaining something to you or trying to convince you that he should be allowed to do something he says, “Well first of all….” And then that is followed with his second point, “Second of all…” Maybe he’ll follow in his Aunt Erin’s footsteps and become a lawyer because his first of alls and second of alls are pretty convincing! HAHA! He’s also in the copycat stage right now but, unlike most kids, he likes for you to copy him so he can call YOU the copycat.

He has quite an obsession with ears too, particularly his Daddy’s. He likes to pull, flick, rub, and smooch on ears! We finally had to make a rule, No playing with ears at the dinner table! :)

I can’t believe he’s going to be starting school this year! We’ve been working hard on writing his name and he’s getting pretty good at it, every now and then his “W” will have too many humps and he still struggles with spacing. Why shouldn’t his name take up a whole sheet of paper?!

Now learning to tie his shoes is a whole other story. I can remember trying to learn how to tie my own shoes and it was tough! I mean there are too many methods! You’ve got the “Bunny Ears,” the “Loop It, Swoop It,” the “Squirrel and the Tree,” cardboard shoe cutouts, multicolored laces, etc. etc. My Aunt Terry finally got through to me using the “Bunny Ear” method. We’re still trying to figure out which method works for Bud, I’m thinking we’ll hit up Learning Express and see what they have when he comes back home.

Andrew will be home all of May and June and man are we going to be busy bees! We’ll of course be working on the house, playing t-ball, going to swimming lessons, getting ready for school, fishing, boating, flying, …I can’t wait!!

Raise the Roof!

 Week 4 is complete and our roof is finished, our doors are stained, our electrical is roughed in, the bathtubs are installed, my kitchen sink is on order, and our fireplace and brick has been delivered!  Our house is due for inspection today, insulation starts tomorrow, and hopefully sheet-rocking will begin the latter part of this week.  In between bouts of Super Mario with Andrew, Drew and I have been poring over lighting books all week and are going to finalize our lighting order tomorrow!  This weekend we're going to Ikea in Houston to pick up butcher block boards for our stair treads, and whatever else we just have to have.  The really exciting part is just beginning!

All shingled up!

The "castle-esk" door has been stained.

This is called a Groin Vaulted ceiling.  It's going to look awe-some, once our cabinet guy trims it out in cypress.

Rub-a-dub-dub, no jets to clean in my tub! Yay!

Old Chicago brick for our interior brick walls.

New brick for the exterior. 

Gas insert fireplace, in front of which all of our future Christmas stockings will hang.  

When Drew started talking about building a new home I'll admit I was a little worried about how many disagreements we would have regarding our different taste in things, but so far this has been a hassle free undertaking.  I think we are both very surprised at how similar our tastes are!  Not only have we been having a blast, but this has definitely been a bonding experience.  We've even created our own adjectives:  "too froo-froo, "modern middle aged," "meaty metal," and "castle-esk."  I've heard people, mostly husbands making digs at their wives, say if you can build a house with your spouse and still have a spouse when it's finished then you can survive just about anything.  Drew and I have survived A LOT and I'll be glad to add our latest endeavor to the list!  We are thrilled to be starting our married life in a home that we built together.

Nicknames

My coworkers and I were talking about nicknames and different things we call our children.  I started cracking up thinking about all of the nicknames Andrew has had.  The first one I can remember was “Mr. No” because anytime you asked Andrew a question his response was automatically “No!” 

“Are you thirsty, Andrew?”
“No!” as he reached for his juice cup.

“Is your name Andrew?”
“No!”

 The N-O stage was pretty fun.

Then our neighbor’s precious, little red-headed daughter, Mckaleigh, couldn’t pronounce Andrew so she started calling him “Doo.”  This of course morphed into “Doo-Doo.”  Thank goodness that one didn’t last long.

 This is Andrew and Mckaleigh at Andrew's last birthday/Halloween party.

I think every kid goes through the McDonald’s Happy Meal stage too.  We would ask Andrew what he wanted for supper and his repeated request would be a chicken nugget Happy Meal, which we would concede to twice a week.  So I started calling him “Nug-Nut.”  I still like that one!

 

Andrew’s friend Brady still calls Andrew “Little Drew” and Drew “Big Drew.”  I laugh every time they see each other when Andrew first comes home.  They both exclaim each other’s names at the same time, “Braaaaady!”  “Litttttle Drewwww!”  They’ll be playing T-Ball together this summer and I hope they’re friendship lasts a lifetime!

 

Willie and Drew’s friend Jeremy call him “LD” short for Little Drew.  

 When I look into his little blue eyes and see his Daddy's I think “LD” suits him pretty well also.

 

 

Of course Drew and I still call him “Bud” and that seems to have stuck for now.  Every now and then Drew will slip up and call him “Little Fella,” which he doesn't like and he corrects him by saying, “I’m not a little fella, I’m your Bud.”  

And my heart smiles for the billionth time.