Stinky feet

With each hectic day, late night or all nighters we accomplish I continue to believe it will be the last one. And every time I am wrong. Yesterday and the day before I was calling drywall finishers and trying to get some quotes. Two guys came out to the house and one guy was maintaining phone contact keeping me posted on his schedule. Yesterday around noon I get a phone call from Jeremy (drywall guy I'd had phone contact with) and he told me he had a short break in the schedule and could in fact start the house Friday (today). He said they would use a 'quick set' joint compound instead of traditional compound (that would require them to make several trips out to the house). Instead they'd do it in one quick sweep with the quick set, followed by joint and then Monday the guys would come in for one last sanding and he would texture. I couldn't believe my ears... Monday, finished drywall??? Woohoo! I researched quick set and couldn't find a whole lot but decided what do we have to loose at this point? I just want to get moved in. I called him back to accept the offer and started brainstorming how we were going to have the house ready in just over 12 hours. I headed to Lowes, got my lumber and cement board, picked up the boys and headed out to work around 5:30. And we worked all night. Finished up at 7:30 this morning when the guys pulled in. My feet were throbbing and I was pretty tired but so happy with what we'd accomplished. And I was so happy to be headed back to the hotel because the smell of my body odor was making me sick. I can't believe how gross I smelled. And anyone that knows me well understands that typically I stand by the fact that 'my shit don't stink'. Well this remodel job has changed me; I am now aware that I am capable of smelling like a 'sweaty wrestler' from time to time. And since I live in crocs most of the time apparently my feet can not handle being confined by my shoes anymore b/c I have a nasty "foot aroma" that will not leave even with a good scrubbing in the shower. YUCK!

Okay, I'm done grossing you out for the day. Here are some pictures I took the in the last 12 hours.

Most of the time I'm taking pics of Nathan working so I had Nathan take a couple pics to show that I actually am running power tools here. I am loving the nail gun!







































Here are some before and after of the closet doors. The closet is very shallow (maybe 14 inches) so we are going to put 96" high closet doors so we can access the whole closet and utilize the space. It will just be several shelves running across. It may look kind of weird but we need to maximize closet space. The pic of the board on the floor is covering the hole where the old chimney used to be (our secret passageway to the scary old cellar).






















Here's a photo of me trying not to look nauseous and exhausted after a night of smelling my incredibly stinky, hot body! (feel free to gag)

















This is all the stuff that had to be moved outside so the house would be clear for drywall.






























And the last of the photo's is the few I took this a.m. when the sun was coming up and the house was all clean :). I was so thrilled to be done at that point and so relaxed enjoying the fresh morning smell of dew and grass and listening to the birds chirp.

Cleaning Day :)

To start today, here are two of my favorite photo's I took of little man today.



















Woohoo!! Today was cleaning day :). I am one of those people that love to clean (when it's needed) because I get so much gratification when I see the results. So today I shop vac'd (you can't tell from the pics) and organized all the leftover drywall scraps. It felt so productive and I knew Nathan would love it (he can't stand the chaos). Here are some pics of the results :)












































Here are a couple pictures of the leftover drywall scraps we'll use for the closets and possibly garage.





































And lastly some pics of play time and some of little man and I (very rare). Enjoy :)

The hotel failed THE test.!

That's right. The yucky hotel we are staying at failed my very, very important pube test. And I didn't even have to pull back the sheets to find the yucky, coarse, curled up hair. I walked into the bathroom and there they lay (yes, they, there were more than one). I'm pretty sure the hotel room never got cleaned. The toilet seat was up and a drop of seriously dark, unhealthy, yellow pee and a pubic hair sat staring up at me. If I didn't actually gag at that moment, I know I wanted to. I made a comment to nathan and he said "You are so hard to please". Yes, everyone knows I squirm at the thought of hotel rooms but nasty, curlies all over the bathroom. Yuck!

So we stayed here Friday night, at the house Saturday in the tent and then Sunday rolled around and Nathan asked if we wanted to stay here. Our only other options were Econolodge (not much better and they were completely booked for the week) or Best Western (very eerie and scary from the outside - Nathan said it looks like it belongs in the movie The Shining). So I grimaced and said "no problem, that sounds great". When he got out of the car to check in I sarcastically told him to ask for a remodeled room. He did get us a room on floor level and it was actually cleaner than the previous one. So I'm dealing with it. Little man wanted to gross me out even more the first night by rolling all around the floor (gag again). He was showered and not allowed to get off the bed sheets after that. Yes, I stressed sheets because I always pull the comforter back and sit on the sheets. Comforters are not washed and it's one more thing that gives me the "itchies" as my dad puts it.

Okay, okay, moving on....
this past week was CRAZY. I got up last Wednesday and spent the whole day going up and down the stairs filling containers and loading them on the trailer or in the car. It was a busy day and then we headed out to the new house only to stay up all night preparing for the drywallers who would be arriving the next day to start hanging. We wired more, pulled nails, picked off the remaining tedious plaster and cleaned up. The guy came to deliver drywall around 9:30 in which we were scrambling around trying to insulate all the places he was sitting the drywall. Then the guys showed up to start hanging around 1:00. Nathan and I stayed one room ahead of them and put up 2x4's for nailers wherever they asked. It was nuts. They worked until five.















Window or no window in the bathroom? I think it seems tiny and dark. I could custom order a glass block window that would not be easy to install and then we'd tile around it?? Any thoughts....
















This is what little man did all afternoon Thursday and Friday morning. We felt like terrible parents. But kids are resilient and he never was angry with us. I kept him stocked with food and movies. He's not going to know what to do when he's not allowed to watch so much tv.














It doesn't end there. We had a TON of homework to do to prepare for the next day. By 11 pm we couldn't think straight so we fell asleep until 2:00. The rest is a blur.... (insulate, pulling wires, looking for the same tools over and over again, drinking more soda, eating more candy, sleepy moments) drywallers showed up around 8, we again tried to stay ahead of them. Finally at 10:30 I had to leave and get home before closing and get everything packed. Thanks to my dad and Amber for keeping me awake on the drive home. Little man fell asleep and I filled garbage bags full of the stuff we had left. Not as little as I thought. The new owners showed up a little after one to do the final walk through. They agreed to let us come back after closing (very nice) to let us finish up packing. I was stressing because I didn't have the house all clean and was so unorganized. After closing we headed back, packed for over three hours and headed out to dinner. Then we delivered the trailer out to the new (old) house and we made it to the hotel by 11:00. Here's a pic of our last minute stuff... (what a joke)
I wish I'd taken a picture from another angle. We shoved a TON of garbage bags of crap under the desk and on the other side of the washer and dryer. Thankfully the mattress tied down held everything in place. The cars were completely loaded down as well. But we made it!

The house looked really good when we got there (see above pics) and all that was left was the fireplace wall, the wall between the living room and a bedroom and the laundry room. The next day I called the contractor and told him the house looked good, we could even up and if the guys had time this week to finish that would be great. Saturday we took it a little easier and finished up the rest of the wiring (in which I lost in paper, rock, scissors) and had to do the tedious job of feeding a wire through a tiny space in the attic (yuck). We were filthy and finally called it a night at one a.m.. Sunday I didn't even know it was Father's Day until I talked to Lee around 3pm. That's right; WORST WIFE EVER. I felt like shit. Poor hubby. So I went in and apologized and then called my dad. I'm telling you my brain is fried. So Monday I was going to not be so rushed and frazzled. WRONG. Woke up to a phone call saying the drywallers were on their way to finish up. What?? I had no warning. I need to finish putting in insulation, run a couple more wires, go over everything.... EEEkk...
I brushed my teeth and left. Little man and I had to run to Lowes to get more 12-2 to run through the attic. Anyway, I sweat bullets for about six hours straight but again, the payoff was worth it. The house is officially complete with drywall hung. Now it needs to be finished and textured (still working on finding someone for that). The house looks awesome. We cleaned for a couple hours last night and I will post pics of the finished product soon. I didn't have my camera last night. We had a TON of garbage. Anyway, sorry for the SUPER long and crazy post. I wanted to get you all caught up. I miss having contact with my family. Soon enough I will be available! Little man just woke up so I'd better get going. Have a happy Tuesday. Tonight is Mexican food and a yummy Margarita!

The clock is ticking...

The time is quickly approaching to say goodbye to our beloved home. Where will we go next? The current condition of our new house is this...




















Does it look move in ready? I don't think so. It looks like we will be camping and staying in hotel rooms for a week or two. I'd much prefer to camp but Nathan has a little thing called "work" that will prevent us from camping 100%. We could possibly make it work if we had internet at the house but we are still figuring that out since our only option currently is Satellite. We've heard Satellite sucks so we are asking the Electric company to come back out one more time to test again to confirm if we can or can't get wireless internet. All the trees in the yard are the problem.
Hubbies parents came down to help us move so Saturday we loaded up the trailer and headed out to the house to get it ready for storage space. Sunday we spent the first half the day loading up our trailer and an enclosed trailer we rented from Uhaul. Then unloaded it in the garage at the new house. Not too bad.


Tomorrow I meet the drywall guy out at the house to measure. He'll see what we need and hopefully have it delivered come Wednesday. Next step, completely prepping the house for drywall. Realistically it probably won't be until next week when we start drywalling :(



Little man is still doing great. He's been such a chatter box and so very polite. He's been using his 'please and thank you's' all the time and making us all laugh :). He loves the empty, vacant house because he can move at dangerous speeds, ramming his car into my heels (ouch). And of course he is loving every second at the farm. On Saturday when we went out to work he played out side driving his race car (clash) through dirt piles and across the driveway.

Music, music, everywhere...

It's after midnight and I should be packing but I'm taking a much needed internet break. It's been a couple weeks since my last post so I'm going to take a time out from the madness and babble on my blog. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. Our house sold rather quickly so we've been trying to hustle to get our new house ready. The big thing is finishing wiring and framing so we can start drywalling Monday. We've got a big weekend ahead of us. In the mean time we are trying to do trips to Lowes, order cabinets, more Lowes, and of course packing since we'll be closing on our precious first house next Friday. So that catches you up to speed. Today I finally needed to get music back in my life. So I copied all my songs from my external hard drive and loaded them onto my computer and into itunes. Now I'm going to have wonderful company to help me pack tonight!! Yeah :)

Considering the craziness I just can't complain. Little man has been a champ through all the working out at the house and driving back and forth.

I try to limit the movies because of the trance he falls into when the TV is on (scary).

Hammering the floors for us

He's wondering what project to tackle next :)
Working at his tool bench from G'ma and G'pa.

Adoption: I think of our little baby in Ethiopia often but thankfully I have plenty of distractions right now. But my mind wanders to it throughout the day. Is he born yet? Is he safe? Healthy? I wonder about his parents? What they must be thinking about everyday? What struggles and challenges they are facing (how insignificant my dilemma's are)? I hope he is being loved and with his mother right now bringing her as much joy and happiness she can hold. I think of them!

How my dear husband gets his kicks....

We ordered Applebee's a couple nights ago and I asked Nathan to pick me up some ice cream and thank you cards for the guys that helped us install windows this weekend. He pretends to hear me and leaves. 20 minutes later (5 minutes after the food was supposed to be picked up) he calls and tells me he has forgotten what to get at the store. I refresh his memory and then tell him to forget about it and get the food (I hate cold carryout). I hang up the phone shaking my head. 10 more minutes pass and I'm talking to my mom on my cell and the house phone rings. I say to her "I sent Nathan out for a simple task and this is him calling confused". Sure enough it's Nathan wanting to know what kind of Thank you cards to get. At this point I try to remain calm and tell him to forget about the cards and get our food. NOW! Within 2 seconds of that the garage door opens and I realize he is home. I could have killed him but laughed instead. At this point my mom says, "how do you put up with him". I'll say no more.

Why don't I drink coffee?

Well it's officially 5 a.m.. After tossing and turning until 1:30, waking up at 3:30 when I was half asleep "installing windows" and finally at 4 I rose from the dreadful bed. I can't sleep b/c my stupid mind will not shut off. I've got a gazillion things running through my head including; how are we going to be ready to move in 3 weeks? where are we going to live while we finish our house? what should we tackle at the house? should I go to the hospital to get medication for this god awful sore throat/swollen glands that make it incredibly painful to swallow? How am I going to survive tomorrow? and of course why don't I drink coffee? Since motherhood has become a little stressful these past few weeks I think I'm going to learn to like coffee. I figured out how to like beer in college so I can make this work. While all of this is going on I keep thinking "why did I have to visit my sister and swim in the bacteria bath of a swimming pool down there?" (no offense Amber). I just should have stayed at home and worked on the house. But instead I took a vacation and have landed a nasty infection, a terribly sick toddler, resulting in a impatient momma. Sorry, that's my 5 a.m. WHINE. I usually don't have anything worth whining about but I think the lack of sleep has made me reach out for sympathy (while my husband is lying in bed sawing logs).

Good Morning and Good Day! I will try to follow up with something a little more enthusiastic later.

Yes my son is drinking the nasty community pool water. (which resulted in an eye infection,
cold, cough, fever and god knows what else?). That'll teach him. And for those of you wondering, no I did not drink the water, just made the mistake of entering it. (shutter).

Oh Happy Day!!

It happened, it really happened, we got an offer on our house. We actually got it last night but the broker emailed it twice w/out attaching so I had to go to sleep last night w/out knowing what it was. This morning we finally got the word! Full price offer and we pick up closing and inspection cost up to $2500. No problem!! I'm so excited to not have to worry about selling this house anymore that paying the extra fees was fine by me. I will breath a big sigh of relief after they have the inspection and hopefully have no additional stipulations for us. They are preapproved, ready to be moved and hopefully all of this is a good sign. Please cross your fingers :).

So that is my reason for a happy day. Which also makes you a little sad. Our first home; lived in for 2 1/2 years, where little man was born and has spent 19 months of his life, and lots of memories to hold onto. We will take lots of photo's and video before we leave. Depending on the time of month I'll probably shed a few tears.

Lastly, this happy day brings FEAR. Less than one month to get moved out and somehow moved in to our "not so ready to be moved into" house. What??? It will all work out. Even if we have to borrow and live in Karen & Ron's popup for a few weeks. We can make it work :)

Happy Friday to anyone that happens to actually check out my blog today. Have a wonderful weekend and stop by again soon! After little man wakes up from his nap we'll be heading out to the "fixer upper" for a fun filled weekend of installing windows, closing all gaps that would allow mice to enter and maybe some wiring. And camping, we will camp out all weekend and I can't wait. I even bought some marshmallows :)

Tah Tah for now. More when I return home.

Shout out to the April/May b'day peeps...

Well I should have done this sooner but I've been a little scattered lately. Here we go!

First off, happy birthday to my little sister Meagan who turned 21 on April 29th. Happy 21st poe. Sorry we couldn't be there for the big night.
Here are a few things about Pity (Meagan) that you should know.
-She sucked her thumb (and possibly still does :)
-She once had a "fake" stalker (heeheeeheeee... we'll never let you forget this poe)
-She LOVES the environment
-She loves movies and has a habit of quoting them ALL the time
-She is a klutz (sorry poe it's true) and once ran her bicycle into our pop up camper (no her vision was not at all impaired). She's also wrecked her bike in front of a campus bus (LOL)
-She is one of my bestest friends (along with my five other sisters)
-She is laid back
-and lastly, she is beautiful!
Happy belated 21st Meag!!




Happy 28th Keely! Keely's birthday was May 6th. She is another sister (just 2 years older)
Here a few things you should know about Keely!
-She can make the ugliest faces of anyone I know (don't worry she takes pride in it. She's very pretty, she can just make very strange faces)
-She married her high school sweetheart
-She lives in the Rocky Mountains
-She went to I.U. w/Nathan for two years. They were/still are hilarious together
-She has a great body
-She was an adorable child (Keel - remember our conversation :)
-She can make me laugh at the weirdest moments (and inappropriate ones)
-She does not know how to _____ (keel, remember the mall incident - I almost put it)
-She would kill me if I finished the previous sentence
-She used to make fake bruises with black and blue pens in front of the mirror in our bedroom when Lee would hit her.
-She's possibly a little dramatic (see previous sentence).
-She is a great sister and aunt
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEEL!!



Quentin is the oldest of us 11 kids. He turned 32 May 8th. Happy Birthday Q!!!
What to say about Quentin...
-He likes to hunt
-He likes to fart (alot)
-He has actually found a girlfriend that lets him do this (strange, I know).
-He drinks milk ALL the time
-He is an electrician
-He can sleep anywhere
-He is a tightwad (something we share in common). We prefer "frugal" but the rest of the world interprets it as tightwad.
-He likes to fart (did I already say that?). He must be the only man in his 30's that farts at the dinner table (Sorry Q, It's no secret).
-He's a wonderful big brother and has filled the role like no one else.
-He may move to Kansas one day and I'm crossing my fingers b/c we would only be 3 hours away from each other
-He has a very nice girlfriend (who's smart, patient and funny)
-He has a BIG heart.
Happy Birthday Q!!!!!



Matt's birthday is May 26th so I'm actually ahead! Happy Birthday Matt
As for Matt:
-He is my brother in law
-A great one!
-He is a people person
-He got me the worst shot on my 21st b'day but drank one with me (I'll never forget it Matt)
-He has a Harley
-He loves warm weather
-He has been a great older brother to Nathan
-He is dating 'sweet Melissa'.
-He doesn't like french fries (seriously)
-He loves mac n cheese (seriously)
-He is a lot of fun!!
Happy birthday Matt!!


Lastly (for April/May b'days) is Kelsey! My little sister will be 23 May 30th. Hope it's a great one Kels! And for you...
-Her nickname is Mojo (compliments of our dad)
-She is the shortest of us girls (and there is a battle b/w her and my mom on who is shorter than the other)
-She has my dad's witty sense of humor
-She is at Purdue (along w/Meagan)
-We lived together one semester and she was my favorite roommate in my college career
-We played lots of Mario and shared lots of laughs (mario/shots/cheesesticks - remember?)
-She is funny
-She likes to argue (she'll be going to law school)
-Her farts gross me out more than anyones (sorry Kels, I had to put it LOL)
-She is a great listener
-She has awesome hair
-And beautiful
Happy Birthday Kels




No, I didn't forget my sweet husband. I will make a special post for him :)

Latest "fixer upper" photo's.

I was downloading pics from our camera tonight and decided to post some recent pics of the house. We finally have it completely gutted (nevermind, just looked at pics and realized we still have laundry room ceiling left, yuck). This weekend we will be installing windows and then we'll have to finish up the wiring and we can finally drywall. Yeah!! We also have our house in Nixa listed on the MLS and hope to sell that quickly (cross your fingers everyone)!

Here is a pic of one of the fields


And another



Nathan gutted the wall on either side of the fireplace (we still need to raise that ceiling)


Our bedroom


A working toilet


Our living area


The TV room (like father, like son)


Our dirty son running through the house


And his dirty butt (it's impossible to keep him clean).

Officially "official"

Friday around 2 pm we got the call that our dossier was reviewed, accepted and we are "officially" waiting!! Expected wait time until referral is 7 months which would put us at December 11th. But I'm preparing myself for late December, early January and then travel sometime in Feb/March. Regardless, it feels so good to be officially waiting. June 15th until sometime in Sept CHSFS will not be giving out any referrals due to court closures in Ethiopia so I know until Sept/Oct it's going to seem like we are not moving forward at all. So, that's the scoop for now. Woohoo!!

I can hardly stand the wait!!

Our dossier should be arriving to Minnesota by 10:30a.m., May 10th, 2007. Little man and I got up at 7:00 and this morning could not be going any slower. I know, I know, we still have a long time. But to be "officially waiting" is a really big deal so I can't wait for a phone call!!! And of course I had asked Alexa to call my cell phone which is NOT working. I may have to bite the bullet and go to Sprint and buy a new phone (and then tape it to my forehead). I've been so distracted this week I've lost my cell phone twice. It's not easy being a scatter-brained, busy and distracted gal.

I did get all of my papers faxed in last night so we can get our house listed on the MLS. So this weekend the house needs thoroughly cleaned and I have to get this baby SOLD!

Hubbies parents should be getting into town in one week so that will be nice. We will have a babysitter!! Yeah :) We will be installing windows next weekend with the help of the MTA guys. And after that we get to drywall. Woohoo...

It's 9:30 pm and I just realized I never finished this post. The day went quickly, CHSFS never called, I could not get Sprint to successfully transfer phone service to another phone so I finally searched the house for my missing phone. Found it, switched service back to it and now have a cell. Went crazy a couple times and hubby wasn't here to keep me sane (I miss you honey). But Little man went to bed well although kicked around in there for a while. I have to give him credit, he knows he has to stay in there and doesn't put up much of a fight.

Tomorrow morn I think we will get up and drive to Texas to see Amber, Brian and the kids. Little man will have fun! Hubby won't be back until Tuesday so we need to get out.
Happy Thursday!

Almost there....

We are getting closer to "officially waiting". Yesterday Nathan and I met for lunch at the bank and had all of our dossier documents notarized and then last night I compiled all of it and made 2 copies (one for the agency and one for us). Whewww... I was tired.











Then today all I needed was to get 3 documents certified by the state (luckily there is a local office) and I could send it in the mail. Well, not so quick, I called the local office and they were closed for Truman Day. Whatttttt??? I was so crushed. But in the adoption world you get used to telling yourself that everything happens for a reason. So, today I neatly organized all the dossier documents and tomorrow we will swing by the Secretary of State office and overnight "the official dossier" to Minnesota. Yippeeeeee, almost there...