Archives for 2011

Stone Day 1

April 7, 2011 by Amy 4 Comments

Ahhhh…I’m so excited. We have stone! I so wish my pictures did it any sort of justice but it is *just* what I wanted. (just to be clear, it’s only halfway done)

Not sure when the rest is being done. Maybe next week for most of it. I do know we are waiting on two special pieces that go around our garage lighting and those don’t come in for another 2 weeks so I’m not expecting it to be done-done soon.

Other notes:

The power company can’t come until Wednesday which pushes the dry wall back to at least then.
I ordered light #3 today at lunch because apparently every other one I picked is like $600.

American Idol Top 9

April 6, 2011 by Amy 6 Comments

Tonight was awesome. I mean thinking back to some other Top 9’s in other seasons, there’s just no comparison. It’s going to get really hard in the next 2-3 weeks to say goodbye to some of these constants. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the top 10 got contracts. But let me not get too ahead of myself. Here’s a rundown of tonight.

Jac0b- No one can deny that Jac0b can sing but I think if anyone is a single act show it’s him. All drama, all the time.

Casey – Yes! I was so excited to see Casey with his bass tonight. Randy is totally right that Casey is making it cool. Because when Casey is playing it he sounds cool. There’s a comfort level and sassiness he gets when he’s with it. Awesome, awesome.

Lauren – Not my favorite of hers but she did well. I’m ready to see her funky/sassy side show through again.

Scotty – I am telling you I was giggling like a school girl watching him sing Elvis. And that’s about all I can say about that.

Haley – I think I may have enjoyed last week better. I felt like she was screaming this one. And really, I still don’t know what kind of album she would make.

James – Could be my favorite of his so far. I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to see him rock on rock week but his gamble paid off with the end of that song. Gorgeous!

Stefano – I could barely pay attention. I’m just not a Stefano fan and just don’t see what Jennifer is fawning over.

Pia – I heard some really great stuff in that song. Maybe even some Christina. Definitely in the right direction but I’m with jennifer, there’s more in there.

Paul – I love Paul. He’s so fun and his voice is so unique. He’s got such an old soul that Johnny Cash was a perfect fit. Loved it.

Favorites: Casey, James, Scotty

In trouble: Stefano

Pre-Bathroom Tile and Lots of Other Nonsense

April 6, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

I have to be honest, I’m starting to get to the point where I’m throwing my hands up on any kind of scheduling on this addition. I’m sure many are asking why I was trying to schedule in the first place. We’re not on any tight deadline really. Part of me just needs! to! know! what! is happening! Well, part of it is trying to understand what is happening so I know when to start picking the next thing out. But I admit I’ve taken it a bit far and poor Scott has had to answer 80 billion questions about what comes next. And if you know him, 20 questions isn’t his favorite game. Poor guy.

After the storms this week I think it was a final straw on trying to figure anything out. I had assumed we’d be doing drywall this week but I guess I assumed the power company would have been out here on Monday when Scott moved the electrical box but Scott didn’t call them until today and now they are so swamped because of the storm they don’t think they can get out here until next week. Which means no drywall like we thought this week.

In super good news, the mud for the stone outside is nearly dry and they came today to put the board down for the bathroom tile floor and shower and mud the floor for the shower pan or something along those lines. It’s starting to look like a real shower! The tile will be here Friday but will have to wait until the drywall is done sometime next week (or whenever!). And if you don’t recall, it will be chocolate tile floor to ceiling and on the knee wall on the outside and then glass from the wall up. The jury is still out on whether we are going to need a glass door or not. We prefer not but I hate drafty showers too so we’ll see.

Scott also finished off hand-rails on the back steps yesterday.

And I’m just going to throw this picture up because I thought it looked funny that we have a window between our bedrooms. Won’t be there long!

And finally for anyone wondering #1 won the lighting choice yesterday by a landslide.

#7 came in second

and #2, 3 and 10 tied for third.

For me right now I’m thinking maybe to put #1 or 7 in our bathroom and #3 in the bedroom. Thank you so much for voting!

And finally, let me just say I’ve decided I do not like granite for my bathroom. Everyone keeps saying we need granite because we’re going kinda upscale on everything but it’s just so BUSY and I’m just so not a BUSY patterned person. I went today to Tile Collection’s Granite shop to look at some remnants and there was one piece that if we do go granite, it would work but it’s just so…veiny. I must have some really bad memory stuck in my brain folds somewhere of an old person and granite. It just feels old and out of date. Although when I go in restaurants or friends’ houses I think it’s quite beautiful. I know that makes no sense but all I can say is it just did NOT excite me picturing that piece in my bathroom every day! So I’m planning on stepping back and seeing what other hard surfaces we can get. Wish me luck.

OK, whew, thank you for letting me vent and update a little about the addition.

So I’m stepping back and looking…we are only 26 days into this project including weekends. Pretty amazing.

Pre-Stone

April 5, 2011 by Amy 1 Comment

I’m exhausted today but I wanted to throw up these pictures for you. They’ve been preparing the front of the house for the stone. It was pretty exciting to come home and find all the mud up!

Top Ten Tuesday: Lighting Choices

April 5, 2011 by Amy 18 Comments

Decisions, decisions. This is for our bedroom. It will basically hang at the foot of the bed, midway between the fireplace and headboard. What I really was after was a pretty chandelier to be the girly jewelry in an otherwise manly room. However, after a quick look at lightingdirect.com and shadesoflighting.com, I have just a *few* more options. Halp!

23
4
5
6
7
8

9
8375chi

What say you?

See more Top Ten Tuesday posts over at ohAmanda.com

Weekend Progress

April 3, 2011 by Amy Leave a Comment

We have more progress!

Scott turned all this wood…

…into our back porch.

Obviously still in-progress but at least you don’t have to hike your leg up 3 feet to get in there anymore. We really hadn’t planned anything except a set of steps but I guess you have to do more to pass code *sigh*. It’s all temporary (well, somewhat) as we hope to tie it in to our nearby pool deck (maybe next year?)

Also this weekend they insulated the outside walls and ceiling.

It’s really starting to shape up! Also, a fireplace! I don’t think you’ve seen a picture yet of my $75 find!

Something I really should have taken pictures of are the piles of trash I cleaned up today. Whew!

So, plans for the week are to FINALLY move the big electrical box and gas line to the new outside wall. And once that’s finished, they will start dry wall! That should take about a week I hear. That includes cutting open the walls for the hallway and the girls’ new closet. In other words, it’s going to be a T. TOTAL MESS around here this week. Also happening this week is supposed to be the stone on the front of the addition and garage. Rain may hinder that but hopefully towards the end of the week we’ll see some progress there. Oh! The cabinet guy came and measured for the bathroom counter so that is being built, but we won’t see it for about 3 weeks. Whew, I’m tired just thinking about all that. My mind just wandered off to final tile selection (we ordered the floor and shower tile on Friday), countertop (need to make that appointment) and paint colors (halp). Is it Friday yet because I feel like I need another weekend already!

Coupon Shopping Spree

April 2, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

The past few weeks and months I’ve been racking up member points, coupons, gift cards, etc. to our favorite stores until all the sudden I had a huge stack of really great discounts. Plus, the girls have been working hard on their chore chart and had saved all week for a trip to Justice. Since starting work I’ve been so exhausted in the evening and even into the weekend and have not felt like shopping. Well. I’ve gotten some great rest the last two nights and Scott is working today so if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may well know I made it a girls day out!

Last night Lexi insisted we make an itinerary so we wouldn’t forget anything and put it in my wallet. After each place today we checked it off. It was so much fun. Especially since we walked out of some stores paying absolutely nothing. I felt a little like a robber hitting up stores but I knew that some of these things had been well-earned from our loyalty (and money!) to the stores before. And just because I was curious, I decided to see just how much we saved today and thought I would share.

Build-A-Bear

Total before sale: $20
Total after coupon: $0

Saved: 100%, $20

The Limited

Total before sale: $198.59
Total after sale $98.95
Total after coupon $48.95

Saved: 75%, $150

Justice

Total before sale: $24.05
Total after coupon: $14.43

Saved: 40%, 9.62

Ulta

Total before sale: $52.85
Total after sale: $37.90
Total after coupon: $34.90

Saved: 34%, $17.95

TrySports

Total before sale: $10.23
Total after coupon: .23

Total saved: 99%, $10

SAS Cupcakes

Total before sale: $2.49
Total after sale: $2.49

Total saved, 100%, $2.49

Smoothie King

Total before sale: $13.98
Total after coupon: $6.98

Total saved: 50% $6.98

All told, we saved $217.04 with an average of 83% off retail value. Not a bad of shopping!

The Checkmark

April 1, 2011 by Amy 7 Comments

It’s funny how a stroke of a pencil can change your life. A little checkmark in a little square box among pages and pages of information.

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Scott had been trying for months to get hired by a police department. Since I was the designated "secretary", I was the one filling out the driver’s license number, years of addresses, work history and education history page after page. I remember one of the last applications I filled out getting downright frustrated and near angry at having to fill out another one. Surely there was a more efficient way! As we were filling out what ended up being the last application, one question stumped us. "Are you willing to be assigned to another county?" Which really meant are you willing to leave a town you’ve been in nearly your whole life, along with your new baby girl, away from all your family, probably your job, for a strange town, maybe in the middle of nowhere South Carolina? A little checkmark. On paper it was insignificant. A little stroke of a pencil. But how much more it meant. We checked that checkbox over eight years ago. Scott got the job and we were told had we not checked that little box, he would have been passed over. A dream denied, lives altered. I honestly don’t know where we’d be without that checkmark.

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One of the most stressful aspects of adoption so far (and we aren’t far) is the four-page checklist in our application packet. It’s the number one thing the computer will use to match us up to a child. Because of the conditions that children come out of from DSS, it’s near impossible for them to come out unscathed. In almost all cases, these children have been abused and/or neglected in some way. Emotional issues are always present in some form and sometimes physical. And the thing about adoption as the adopter is you get a choice on what you will accept. If you thought deciding what race would fit in your family would be the hard decision, you are sadly mistaken. This list is quite comprehensive. There are checkmarks for cheating, stealing, several for sexual abuse, HIV, cancer, cleft palate and on and on. And not only are these listed, but the severity of it from none, mild, moderate to severe. And not only is the child considered but also the birth parents. In other words, would you accept a child whose parent has HIV? It’s insane really. How do you determine whether a child that has a moderate case of lying and a severe case of cleft palate with a parent who has HIV would fit into your family, whom I should mention has their own list of ailments in one way or the other? It’s a messy thing. But be sure, these checkmarks will change a life. Nay, many lives.

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Adoption though is so connected to God and the way His Kingdom works. First and not the least is the command to us to take care of orphans.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

That’s going to look very different in each of our lives but be sure, it ought to reflect some part of your life. In ours in this season, it is adoption. And what a beautiful way this particular action reflects how God adopts us. Verse after verse proclaim that we are God’s sons and daughters, becoming one of the family, receiving every inheritance that Christ receives as the Son of God.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God John 1:12

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ Romans 8:15

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons,
the redemption of our bodies Romans 8:23

He predestined us to be adopted as his sons
through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Ephesians 1:5

To redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. Galatians 4:5

We are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26).

And when I think about that, I think about the pages and pages of a checklist God must have on me. One ailment or another that I carry a mild to severe case of. Jealousy. Anger. Stealing. Cheating. Pride. Lying. The checklist is endless. Four pages wouldn’t begin to cover it. And yet, God, without question, went over to the Severe checkbox of every single line and said YES, I will accept her no matter what. God said YES!

And you’d think those were the checkmarks that changed my life. And indeed in many ways it’s a part of what changed my life. I have a heavenly Father that treats me as His own. Loves me. Wants good for me. Gives me every good gift. And yet, it was another lone checkmark that planted the seed of change. One stroke of a pencil that really made the difference. The one where I said yes to him. The one where I let him be my Father. To love me. To give me every good gift. Because here’s the thing about God. His gift of adoption is conditional on your checkmark. It’s the one labeled faith. And sometimes you have to leave everything you’ve known as home to follow Him. You may have to move. Leave family. Lose friends. You will for certain lose yourself.

But it’s so worth it. It makes all the difference. One stroke. One checkmark. The little one that changes your life.

This post was written in part for the She Speaks Conference scholarship opportunity posted at a Holy Experience