what i did today

Updates are obviously slowing down at this point.  We have been living in the bedroom since this past weekend.  We love, love, love it.  I love that it’s big and comfy and we all find ourselves hanging out there instead of the living room sometimes.  Finally, I feel like we have a choice where we can all crowd together.  And seriously the carpet is so lush I just walk around in there for no good reason at all.

Today the shower grouting will be finished.  He has all but the ceiling done and the guys came yesterday to measure the frameless glass.  I am SO pleased at how it’s looking.

The other big thing going on right now is the closets!  I really wish I would have budgeted more money (or ANY money) on the closets because it turns out they cost a lot!  We did get the linen closet finished and I’m so happy to have my CVS stuff out of the playroom closet!

I think we have a tentative plan for the main closet that Scott will be working on today.  I really need to get all this STUFF out of here:

So I can put this STUFF in THERE ^ so all these toys can be reorganized (given away *cough*)

Oh yes, keeping it real.  These two gigantic messes have been the hardest thing to live with these past two months.

We are getting really close!

Friday night was a simple breakfast-for-dinner and Walmart trip. I think we were trying to keep it low-key before a big Saturday.

Saturday the kids headed to my parents for the day while Scott and I went to our first of two adoption trainings. If you ask Scott he’ll tell you he was bored out of his mind but I thought it was so interesting, enlightening and terrifying all at once. The purpose of the training is to prepare you for the issues the child might have coming from DSS. We talked about the different types of abuse and neglect, the grief they experience losing everything they know and ways we can help them assimilate into the family. I was heartbroken at some of the stories we heard. Sexual abuse happening even as young as 9 months old without recollection from the child and yet, years later their little brains remembering what happened and causing them to act out. Physical abuse so severe it causes a lifetime of issues. Neglect so bad a child is incapable of trusting anyone. In fact I found it fascinating that neglect can be the cause of this hoarding we are seeing more of on TV.

I can’t tell you how much I wanted to encourage parents and especially mothers that are feeling like their job isn’t important. It’s no surprise but parents are so, so important. Even little things can mean the world.

I also walked away hopeful and yes, scared that we could make a difference in one of these kids’ life. Will we “fix” them? No. But can we give them the stability and love to give them a chance? Yes. There are risks, no doubt; my risk list was long. But I am confident this is what we’re supposed to be doing. Oddly I was energized yesterday. More than ever I wanted to be part of the change we need to see in today’s youth.

Saturday evening Lexi had her first sleepover birthday party. That brave mother kept 11 kids overnight. Lexi had a blast. Emma and I spent some much needed girl time. I made some steaks and got out my china. Sadly Emma didn’t even know what it was. How has she gotten to 8 without knowing? We did manicures and pedicures and a little Mary Kay makeover just for fun. She opted to watch tv over going to spy on the prom goers to see dresses. We had a great time and I can tell her attitude is much improved from days past. With my new work schedule and the addition it has been so much harder to have this kind of time with them. And trust me, it is not lost on me how much harder it will be with a special needs child (not in the traditional sense but almost all children out of DSS are considered special needs because of the emotional and physical issues) coming into the mix.

Today was church and dinner at Moe’s. I stopped by Dani’s new house this afternoon.  I am glad to be passing the remodeling torch over to her.   I can’t wait to see what she does with her new space.  This evening was low key, just eating leftovers, running some errands and paying some bills.  It’s going to be a long week with 3 days in the office so I’m happy to have had a low-key Sunday.

As for the addition this week I think sketchy plans are:

• Put up shelving in linen and maybe clothes closet
• Get doors and drawers for the vanity (I will be shocked if this happens)
• Put in HVAC (YES)
• Finish tiling the bathroom
• Monday we get the template for the counter-tops done and Friday it’s installed
• Possibly begin remodeling our old room for the girls.  We need to repaint and get the carpets cleaned as well as find two twin beds! Craigslist anyone?

Hope you had a great weekend!

Today we got carpet!  And since Scott was home you know he couldn’t just sit around…all the furniture got moved stat!  This is no final reveal but we sure are looking at a bedroom now!

Did you catch he hung the chandelier last night?  Yes, that was #3 in my blog post!

The girls got home and were stunned.  They took turns doing a happy dance (and run) and pretending to sleep on the carpet.  The carpet is SO SOFT. I love it so much.  The girls kept saying it looked like a hotel room and indeed, I hope that’s what we end up with!

And another near miracle, we got part of our cabinet installed today.  This cabinet has been the biggest pain.  The guy that did it is one of the worst communicators I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.  We called at least 4 times over a 5 day span about the install date with NO return call.  My mom finally stopped in one day when she was going by and found out it wasn’t ready AND he was going to use the WRONG stain.  It took 48 hours for him to produce a sample, on the same day he said he would install it on, in the mean time ignoring at least 3 cell phone calls. All this time I’m having to push back our template appointment with the countertop.  Finally today he shows up, 2 hours after the last time he said he would show up and only brings the base because the doors and drawers won’t be ready until next week.  Holy cow.  I don’t even want to give his name.  But of course the guy makes up for his lack of communication skills with his woodworking skills.  I suppose that and his price make up for it.  I can already tell I am going to be in LOVE with this cabinet.

I think we are nearly done with everything. Everything that was on the list this week is done!  We’re just waiting on the last bit of the tile to come in so he can finish the shower and backsplash (after the countertop is set next Friday) and measure for the shower doors and mirror.  Oh and I need to decide on some lighting in the bathroom and closet.  Oh!  Which reminds me…you can see the carpet got installed in the closet there to the left in that last picture.  Which really reminds me, what really will be next is figuring out the configuration of the closet and then moving that stuff over so the girls can get into our room!  Whew!

In the meantime, I will be having my first night in the room tonight.  Too bad we don’t have A/C (which reminds me, that’s on the list for next week too) because I’m not about to turn that fireplace on!

As I thought he might, Scott hooked up our toilet.  The girls thought it was HILARIOUS when I used it the first time.  I’m not sure why, but they were just giggling.  I think partly because the window was open above my head.

And if you remember this is the fireplace I said I wanted in this post.

.

And LOOK

Oh my, oh my!  I can not wait!  Did I mention I got that fireplace for $75??

I

am

in

love

with

my 

new

hallways

A few small updates today. 

First, Scott took up the carpet and part of the hardwood from the entry way

Second, Scott hooked up the lights and got bulbs!  Really exciting to turn those on.  Lots of clapping and high fives!

And finally, he finished the tile!  Here are some pictures with all the pot lights on (still no chandelier and all the vanity lighting)

And a picture with just the shower lighting

I know it’s hard to appreciate with all the dust, but we’re getting there!

Upcoming items:

• Grout the tile
• Another coat of bathroom paint
• Hardwoods in the hallway
• Cabinet is getting set on Wednesday
• Template for countertop on Thursday
• Bedroom and closet carpet on Friday
• And as a bonus, I’m going to guess Scott might hook up the toilet after the grouting is done.

Whew!  What a week! 

We had such a great Easter weekend.  My uncle and his family came to stay for the weekend and I’ve been missing my out-of-town family (everyone but my parents/sister/in-laws) something fierce lately so it was so good to spend time with them.

Friday we met up with them at Sonny’s BBQ on Friday night before heading to Concord Mills to shop.  However, I had to work for a few so off to my nearby office I went.  Thankfully it was super quick and I was back browsing the stores before any really knew I was gone.  I refrained from shopping except for buying the girls new bedding.  I would show you a picture but it’s in my van which is at the body shop as we speak.  More on that later.

Saturday morning was a wonderfully lazy Saturday morning.  Mid-morning we headed to my Mom’s to spend time with everyone.  We did, well, not much!  The kids played, we watched TV and just chatted.  After lunch we headed to a festival across the street from their neighborhood but it was small and had all sorts of activities the kids liked like face paint, hair color, petting zoo and one of the best balloon animal-makers I have ever seen.

Best of all, all proceeds went to the Children’s Attention Home.  It’s weird when I think of that place now because I think, our son could be living there now.  Weird, right?  The rest of Saturday evening was spent back at Mom’s.  The kids dyed eggs and did an Easter egg hunt.

Sunday morning was of course church for Easter and then Easter dinner with my family.

We scooted off to Carowind’s for the afternoon with the whole family.  We branched out past the kiddie part and it was a real treat.  Emma rode her first loop-d-loop roller coaster, The Cyclone.

Emma is sitting to my left.  I wish you could see her smiling and our fingers linked!

We linked our fingers on her handlebar and halfway through I looked to find her head down through the loops.  I thought she might be getting sick or scared but at the end, you couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.  She really enjoyed getting a big congratulatory hug from her daddy.

Sunday evening we spent with Scott’s family eating dinner, doing an Easter egg hunt and just watching the kids play together.  It was a nice relaxing evening.

I certainly did not want to get up this morning but the kids were off to school and we had to get the cars to the body shop to get all that hail damage fixed.  We got a toy car for a rental (Chevy Aveo, to be precise).  Scott hit his head on the ceiling handle bar trying to turn and see what was behind him to his left.  But the best part of it is Emma asking me what those things were:

Oh dear.  Next thing you know those darn kids won’t know what a steering wheel is!

It’s getting really hard to take decent pictures.  It is really dark in the bathroom.  Good thing we designed lots of lighting for it! 

OK, so see these neon mats?  Those are HEATED FLOORS.  Heck, yeah, I’m getting heated tile in my bathroom!  And as Scott pointed out, I could leave my towel on the floor as I shower and have a heated towel too!  I feel so spoiled already!

And here it is all covered up:

And, here, is our in-process shower.  I know it’s difficult to appreciate with that red.

Now just imagine frameless mirror door and wall to the ceiling.

Can. not. wait.