Murphy's Law

We have all heard of Murphy's Law.... What ever can go wrong, WILL go wrong.

This week I thought that we were going to make great strides with the house. We had several things lined up and really thought that we were making progress. However, Murphy found his way into the equation.

We had our kitchen cabinets and the bathroom vanities custom made. They were to be installed this week. We weren't quite ready for the bathroom cabinets to be put in place, because we are still doing some painting and the tile has not yet been laid. So the kitchen cabinets were going to be installed and the bathroom ones brought to the house and installed at a later time.

On the same day, the tile in the master bath was to be laid, or at least the process started.
Our installer works on our floor in between working his factory job.

It sounded like a good plan....no problems. The workers were to arrive and install their respective products while we were out aquiring bath fixtures and more paint. It was a good feeling to think that several things were to be happening at the same time. We were saying, "YES....Progress"!!

So we go out, purchase the things we need and head back to the house to see all our things taking shape. We walk into the kitchen and the workers are buzzing around measuring and leveling and making the kitchen come to life. All seems right, so we go to the master bath and see that the backer board for the tile is almost completely in place. Except for the area around the tub. We then realize that the tub installer has not allowed for a floor. The tub has been installed and the granite set in place. The tub is surrounded by granite. Heavy granite.
The tile installer says that the tile should go under the granite, that the tub should have been installed with an allowance for a floor. So we call the tub installer. They are reluctant to remove it and recut it to fit properly. They say that we stand a chance of breaking the granite moving it and recutting it. They suggest that we install the tile up to the tub and have the grout seam against the tub. But part of the granite is supposed to be the access to the motor of the tub and easily accessible in the event that there is a problem. So we are at a stand still with the floor until we decide what to do. Do we take the risk of recutting the granite or just adjust the tile to the tub? If we don't recut the granite, the access part will be very hard to remove without messing up the tile. We have even thought about surrounding the tub with wood to match the vanities, but that would be an additional cost to us and such a waste since we have already purchased the granite.
Anyway........while all this is going on the cabinet installers are busy installing cabinets. Michael is on the phone with the tub installer and I walk into the kitchen to see the progress in there.
At this point the cabinets are in place and they are in the process of putting on the doors. They are beautiful, BUT have the wrong handles on them and the stack of drawers are in the wrong place. I feel like I want to cry. I get on the phone with the cabinet guy and tell him of the problem. He checks his file and says, no, that's what you ordered, but asked if I could come by the shop to see if we can figure this out. At this point I am sick. Michael wraps up his conversation with the tub guy and we head off to the cabinet shop.
Turns out that they wrote down the wrong number for the handle. When we arrived he knew exactly which handle I had choosen. The one he showed me at the time I placed the order was in his show room and had been placed in an open box of other knobs, so the wrong one was ordered. He remembered showing it to me. So........to get the proper handle on my cabinets ALL the door fronts have to be remade. It wouldn't be a big deal, but I wanted handles and they put on knobs. I hate knobs......didn't even want them on my drawers. As for the stack of drawers, I'm not sure how that happened, but I decided to just live with that.

So once again, we are sort of at a stand still with the house. We are making progress with the painting, but now have to wait for cabinet doors to be made over again and to decide how to procede with the master bath tile.

We are having the carpet and hardwood people out on Friday to measure and give us an estimate.......SURELY nothing can go wrong with that. Hopefully Murphy will move on to someone else. :)

The House

I wanted to show everyone how the house is begining to take shape. We are beginning to add some color to the walls. The kitchen tile is finished and we have the bathroom tile. The cabinets and bath room vanities are ready to be installed, just waiting to coordinate with the cabinet maker a day that they are available. We are in the process of chosing light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, med. cabinets, mirrors, hardwood, etc...etc... So many things to decide and to make blend together. I like the shopping part, but spending the time picking out things and trying to get them where you need them when you need them,is a bit of a challenge. It is coming together though slowly, but surely.
The pictures are of Lindsey's room. We still have some trim and doors to paint , but her room is close to being finished. I'll take more pictures and post them in the near future.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Me.....I'm working. I've been in retail for going on 8 years and it still is amazing to me how many people are out bright and early on week end mornings. But keeps me in a job I suppose.........

Smoky Mountain Fun

It's been a while since I have Blogged. I have been VERY busy. Between working, working on the house, homework, cooking, cleaning, etc...etc... I hardly have time to breathe. Add in a school trip to the Smokies....whew...I'm beat.
Lindsey is in the Richardsville Elem. Chorus and they for the second year in a row have attended the Smoky mountain Music Festival. They have been the only Elementary School in this competition. They have competed against Middle and High Schools. For the second year in a row they have come away with not only the first place trophy in their division, but a proficient score of 97.6 . They placed 3rd overall with the top highschool score only being 1 and1/8 points higher than theirs.
We spent 3 days in Gatlinburg. Arrived on Thursday and just strolled around the parkway. Sang on Friday and visited the Aquarium. Then on Saturday went to DollyWood. We had a GREAT time. I have attached a pic that we had done while there.

Talk to you soon.
I'll try to get some updated pics of the house on her pretty soon.

Jeanette

Weird or Compulsive? You Decide!!!

So I've been tagged.....now I have to tell everyone "6 Weird Things About Me"
I can probably come up with 12.


Where to start, Hmmmm......

1. I HAVE to have EVERYTHING hanging in my closet facing the same way. Of course like things also hang with like things. (Pants together, Shirts together, Dresses together etc....) And when an item is removed, the empty hanger is put in a specific place, not just left where it was.This does make working retail a bit easier.

2. Clothes that are put in drawers, are done neatly. White socks folded and placed together, then colors, then black ones. Panties and bras are folded and placed into the drawer in their appropriate place.

3. Towels HAVE to be folded a certain way, so that they fit into the cabinet and have that uniformly folded look, no unfolded edge showing. Washcloths and hand towels are treated the same way, folded and placed into their respective place.

4. Laundry has to be done on a daily basis. I can't function if I don't do at least one load of laundry a day. I will put a load in while getting ready for work, or sometimes late at night if I have been out and about that day. I even do laundry while on vacation.

5. When cooking I wipe my sink, counter and stove off about a million times. If anything is dripped or splashed onto these surfaces, then it has to be wiped off....right then. I am pretty particular with my kitchen. The other rooms in my house can get messy or cluttered, but not the kitchen. The same goes for water in the bathroom. If you splash water, wipe it up.

6. I am a VERY nervous driver. I hate driving on the Interstate. I can do it, but in areas where there are many lanes, I panic. I could never live in a big city that I had to deal with that on a daily basis. Give me a country two lane and I am fine.

7. Glasses in my cabinets are grouped together and lined up in a row. Kind of like in the movie Sleeping With The Enemy.

8. Items stored in the attic have to be placed in either a box or a plastic storage container and lined up so that you can move in the attic and find whatever you need to find.

9. Dirty clothes also have to be put in their proper place. I have a wicker laundry basket in my bedroom that I put my things into when I take them off. There are two clothes baskets in my laundry room for dirty items to be placed......one for wet things, one for dry. A simple task you would think, but one that my daughter has such trouble with.

10. I can't stand dirty dishes in the sink. Rinse it off and stack or place it neatly beside the sink and I'm fine with it, but don't put it in the sink.

11. When I place dishes in the dishwasher they all face the same direction. (plates mainly) Certain items have certain spots that they go in even though they actually fit into many. I know that they would get just as clean from any spot that they are put into, but I can't stand it if they are not put in their special place.

12. When I go to bed at night, I have to have to be covered up. It doesn't matter if it is 100 degrees, I have to have my cover. I can't fall asleep if I am not covered up.

This was way too easy to write. I feel like such a compulsive nut case,
but it's all true and it's me.
What else can I say.
Now I Tag Carol

Mi Vida Loco----My Crazy Life

It has taken me a while to get these on here, but finally here they are, pictures of our mini vacation.

It was a sort of rocky week. It began with Hartsul and his mother spending the week end with Michael's sister, Pam(which I find to be strange in the first place). Before Michael went to pick him up, Pam and her husband took Hartsul out for lunch and a little shopping. They bought him a Playstation 2 game. They don't see him alot and he was there........However, the second he walked through the door here, he stuck the game in Lindsey's face and said" Look what I got, now I have 9 games and you only have 4". Lindsey and I looked at each other and said well we know what kind of week this is going to be.

On Monday we did a little shopping, just Lindsey and I. We wanted to get her some things for summer. She no longer can shop in the little girls department, we have to shop the juniors department.....WAHHHHHHH My baby is not a baby anymore. BIG WAHHHHHHHH
Anyway, we had a great time shopping and just being together.
Lindsey had some money that she had gotten for doing chores and keeping good grades, but found that it wasn't as easy to turn loose of it as she thought. She discovered that if SHE was the one forking out $56.00 for those Holister jeans or capris they don't look so cute. Funny how that works......Moms money spends so much easier than hers.

Then on Tuesday, we took my car to Beaver Dam for some car repairs. Michael and Hartsul drove up also. I left my car and from there we went to Owensboro and spent the night at the Executive Inn.
It is a nice place. They have a really big indoor pool and of course that is where the kids wanted to stay. We did manage to get them out for a walk and a little antique shopping. Hartsul continued to be a little shit. He at one point sat down in the floor and threw a fit because Michael wouldn't let him buy a guitar. At that point, Lindsey and I went to walk around by ourselves. We walked all around the Hotel. That is when I took the pictures that I have posted here.















We left early the next morning, drove home to pick up Adam(who had morning classes) and headed to Nashville. We visited The Country Music Hall Of Fame and walked around downtown Nashville a bit. Took a few pictures of The Ryman, checked out Tootsie's Orchid Lounge (the little hole in the wall that alot of country music stars got their start...like Gretchen Wilson), then headed back toward home. All of the kids actually had a pretty good time. It was neat to see all the stuff that is displayed telling the history of Country Music. We stopped in Hendersonville to have dinner at a little place on the lake called Steamboat Bill's. It was pretty good. I recommend the fish!!
After we arrived home Barry came to pick up Lindsey and she spent the night at his house.
He brought her home Thursday afternoon. I spent the day cleaning and such....... and returning to Beaver Dam with Michael and Hartsul to pick up my car.

On Friday Lindsey and I had an appointment at the Spa. Lindsey really likes the spa. We had a manicure and a pedicure. I had a massage(which I highly reccomend), Lindsey had a makeup session and her hair cut and styled. She looks sooooooo cute. The only problem was that it was storming. The spa building has ALOT of windows. I wasn't real comfortable being there during a storm. But we were monitoring the weather. We left the spa in between storms and met Michael and Hartsul for lunch.
We were being seated and Hartsul started saying something......I didn't understand what he was saying, Lindsey did. I just heard Michael telling him to be quiet. That of course, peaked my interest in what he was saying. He was saying" I got a PSP, I got a PSP....". Turns out that when his Aunt Pam took him shopping earlier in the week she noticed that he was admiring the PSPs at Best Buy and asked him if he would like to have one of those.......well duh........he said yes. Lindsey has one ( a gift from her father after a bit of discussion and disapproval from me).
I fealt that she was too young for it and it has been a subject of some controversy, but she has it and with her brothers help has learned how to use it. She also knows what it is and is very careful with it and knows that it is not a toy to just toss around. Anyway, getting back to the story.....Aunt Pam has decided that Hartsul needs a PSP. Pam doesn't know what a PSP is, doesn't realize that it is really targeted to teens, that Hartsul does not have access to the videos or music that can be downloaded to it, or that the majority of the games and movies that are available for it are teen or mature rated. So he is going to have a system that he will not be able to do hardly anything with. But he wants it, so he shall have it..........
So we have that.......plus during this meal Hartsul kept kicking me or Lindsey under the table. He does this alot, most of the time I try to ignore this behavior or finally tell him to stop. However, as we were getting up to leave, Michael excused himself to go to the restroom. At that point Hartsul kicked me, not a little kick, but a full hard kick. I was reaching the boiling point. When Michael returned he could tell I was upset. I informed him of what was going on and that I was reaching the point that I could not take much more. We discussed the PSP, his son's mis behavior and attitude. Lindsey and I then left. Of course this was the topic of discussion for the rest of the week. Hartsul kept doing things that he knew was bugging me or Lindsey. Michael finally tried to discipline him. Most of the time the only thing he does is to talk to him, which he laughs the whole time. Well this time that is what he was doing, but I sort of lost it during his little talk. There was Michael talking to this kid who was laughing at him and sort of mocking what he was saying. I lost it......... Michael doesn't like to deal with unpleasant things but I think he is begining to see that this kid NEEDS discipline. He did end up giving him a couple of swats on the butt, but he had to chase him all over the yard to do it.
This whole situation makes me step back and think.......
Michael did talk to his sister that evening and tell her to hold off on the PSP.
But she bought it the next day and has opened it and the game that was bought to go with it. So it is just a matter of time before he will get it.
So thanks for listening (reading) allowing me to vent a bit. I welcome your comments or questions.

It's been awhile since I have Blogged......I've been so busy lately with work and the house.
The drywallers are going to begin hanging the walls this week.
I think that will make a BIG difference in making the house look like a house rather than a destruction zone. I know I am ready to see it come back together.

We took the kids to the circus on Sunday. It was fun. I hadn't been to one since I was very young. Lindsey had never been. She liked it alot, especially the Frisbee catching dog. We got there early and went down on the floor for a ringside preview of the show and some autographs of the performers.

Lindsey is out of school for Spring Break and I am on vacation, so we are going to spend some time doing Mom--Daughter things. We went shopping yesterday and plan on visiting the Spa later in the week. We are also planning a little trip to Nashville. I've always wanted to see the Country Music Hall Of Fame.......so this week we plan on going there. Hopefully the kids won't be too bored with it.

Making Progress

Well here it is Saturday at last. Another week has gone by and FINALLY we can see progress!!!!

To the right you can see the back of our house as it was when we bought it. Our construction of the new bathroom and the expansion of the master bedroom has begun. This week we have had workers everywhere. One crew working on the outside and then ourselves and others working on the inside. Remodeling and constructing at the same time, plus working 40 hours........I'm beat.
It does feel good to see our house begining to come together the way that we want it to. It is hard work and we still have a long way to go, but step by step and one day at a time we will get it there.

Lindsey has enjoyed getting to walk from school in the afternoons to the new house. She also has liked helping with some of the work. She really likes pulling out nails......and there sure has been ALOT of them to pull out. Hartsul also likes to work on the house and of course being a boy has had to explore the huge dirt pile in the back yard. Both kids are excited about the house and we like that they want to be a part of getting it the way we want it.
I'll try to keep you up to date as we go along.

Destruction, Destruction, Destruction

Well it's been a long week and boy am I glad that the week end is here. It's been a crazy week at work. We have a new District Manager and she made her first visit to the store this week. So we have been scrambling to get the store perfect. She actually commented on how good my department looked. Yeah!!!!!!


As you can see from the pictures, we have done some destruction at the house. It looks like we are tearing it down. LOL
They finally delivered our dumpster, so now we can get all that debris out of the house. Thank Goodness!!!!! Hopefully we can get that taken care of this week-end. We still have a door way to open up and another one to close in. Carpet needs to be torn out, plugs and switches moved, etc...etc....etc..... Alot of work to be done.
Our contractor did get the addition started this week. We have the hole dug and the footer poured. I'm ready to see some walls go up...............

I'll try to post more pictures as we go along.

It's getting late and I have lots to do tomorrow. Take Care All!!!

It's Saturday and It's COLD!!!

Well here it is Saturday at last......I can't believe how cold it is. Just a few days ago my neighbors were outside washing their car. Today we have snow and freezing cold temps.

We spent our day at the new house. Trying to line up all the contractors so that we can get this project moving. We've started that process of changing things. Hopefully we won't find too many problems along the way.

We let the kids help with tearing down the wall that was between the kitchen and the living room. They had so much fun. We let them actually kick the wall to get it down. It was the half wall with the spindles at the top, paneling on the kitchen side and drywall (with this UGLY blue stucco) on the living room side. The cabinets are being replaced, the dishwasher is going on the other side of the sink, the stove is moving a bit, a snack bar is going to be where the spindles were, and the floor will be tiled. The wallpaper is going also. Making a few changes...............

I added some pics so you can see what it looked like before we started. I'll try to take more as we go along so that you can see what it looks like when we are done.

Take A Look At Our House

Finally home from work. Been watching it snow off and on all day, but still no snow on the ground. A few times it was coming down pretty good, but then a few minutes later...nothing.
Oh well.
Well I must say that I have enjoyed reading the blogs over the last couple of days.
I find it so interesting how peoples lives are so alike. How you think sometimes that you are the only one who feels a certain way, when in fact alot of others have the same feelings or fears that you do. It is a good thing to know that you are not alone.
Michael and I have just bought a house together. We got it at a great price. It had gone through a forclosure, so it needs alot of TLC. I am so looking forward to doing the repairs. We are going to expand the master bedroom and bath. We have a contractor lined up already and as soon as he finishes the job he is on now, he will start on ours. I can't wait!! I have attached a pic so that you all can see it. I am excited about getting to redo the house. It has so much more room than the one we are in now. It is very close to Lindsey's school. I can stand on the front porch and watch her walk to school. The funny thing is, this is her last year there. She will be going to Warren East Middle School in the fall.
Linney, I know how you feel about signing those papers for a house. It is a big step, but well worth it. I took a look at the pics of the place you and Jay are loking at....Looks very nice.
For those of you who are wondering.....Michael and I will be getting married in April 2007.
Adam still has a year of college to go and I don't want him to lose his grants, so we have decided to wait a bit to get married.
Well I guess I'll go for now. Need to decide what's for dinner tonight. The kids think for some reason that I should feed them tonight......

Joining The Rest Of The World

Hello All...... Well I guess it's about time that I join the rest of the world and Blog.
I must say that I have enjoyed reading others and look forward to bloging.
I an just a novice, so bear with me.

Well it is getting late and I have to be at work at 5 a.m. So I'll try to check in tomorrow.