sink or swim

This past weekend was sink or swim.  Either we get everything done at the new house so it'd be ready to move in next weekend or we don't...and we have to move in anyways.

Well, we swam! Everything got done this weekend.  Although this has been a long and exhausting process, I am actually going to miss doing these weekend projects with Matt.  I know there is still a lot of work to be done eventually, but it's just been fun doing this together. The only thing we have left is the kitchen.  The cabinets are supposed to be in on the 28th and then will begin the demolition of the old kitchen and the re-installation of the new and improved kitchen! Once we rip out the cabinets and counter-top, we (I say "we", but it will really be more Matt) will paint the kitchen, install the new cabinets and then wait for the counter-top company to come install the counters after we are done.  We bought the faucet and an under-sink water filtration system this weekend.  Matt says I can't put a PUR water filter faucet adapter on a brand new nice kitchen (like we have now)...so under-the-sink system it was.  We will have a separate faucet head that will dispense the filtered drinking water.  How cool is that?  

We finished ALL the painting this weekend.  The very last rooms were completed.  Saturday, we primed and later painted the laundry room, love love loved the color so we painted the upstairs bathroom the same color, painted the spare bedroom, master bath, and lastly finished the 1/2 bath downstairs on Sunday.  It feels so nice to have everything painted and beautiful.  I LOVE it!  For the record, compliment my painting job on the 1/2 bath downstairs every chance you get... I NEVER want to have to paint that again.  That was the most pain-staking room to paint ever in the history of rooms. 

Finished living room. The grey looks way different here.

Starting to cut-in the laundry room with primer

All primed and ready to go!

Cutting in with the fabulous purple.  

I love it! This actually ended up being one of our favorite colors that we did in the whole house.  Of course it looks different in these pictures.  It's so cool! I love my purple laundry room! Can't wait to see those stainless steel washer/dryer in here with the color :)

Yay!

Cutting in the 2nd bedroom

My handsome handyman :)

All done! Ready for the black and white bedding and furniture.

Cutting in the master with the same color

We loved the purple from the laundry room so much that I extended it upstairs to the spare bath

Hanging light fixture...now fixed 

My BFF when it comes to cutting in the rooms 

We stayed until 2 am on Saturday and then got a little rest before going back at it on Sunday.  On Sunday my Dad, Ann, Janet, and Daniel our nephew stopped by the house.  We visited for a quick minute and then it was back to work.  Janet got to work too (as always).  She gathered up all of the blinds and took them out in the backyard to hose off, scrub, and lay out in the sun to dry.  Those blinds were gross.  So dusty.  Now they look brand new and sparkling.  She is so so great.  She always steps up to the plate and gets stuff done.  I think we get along so well because we are so similar. 

While she got the blinds clean, Matt was upstairs installing our new closet system (with Daniel's "help" of course) and I was downstairs picking up all the painting tarps, trash, empty paint cans, odds and ends;  replacing light switch plates; sweeping, vacuuming, swiffering the floors; and windexing and lysoling everything else.  It smells so good in there. The house is now spotless just in time for the move in.  Yes, I know it will get messy again during the move, but I just HAD to have the house clean before we left.  I needed all evidence of the remodel (ignoring the still-needing-to-be-done kitchen of course) to be out of sight so we could just enjoy our new house next weekend.  Light fixtures are back on the walls, mirrors are hung, and the laundry room is ready for the new washer/dryer.  No more drywall dust on the floor and windowsills, no more empty paint cans, no more tarps or cardboard boxes on the ground; just shiny hardwood and freshly vacuumed carpet :).

Here is the closet progress...

Before...one old metal rack and cedar on the wall

Matt ripped out the cedar boards and repainted that section

The beginning of the new closet system!

This closet was more complex than I thought. First, we had to plan out how we wanted it. One row, two rows, shelving, corners, how far 2nd row comes across to be able to hang long stuff, on and on and on.  Then, we had to measure everything to know exactly how much of the racks we would need and how high it needed to be to accommodate our clothes.  They sell them as huge long pieces and then you cut it to size.  Matt had to have all the measurements before he went so he could have it cut there.  No truck anymore=work with what you've got.  You also have to buy all the mounting pieces, joiner plates, end caps, support bars, corner turns, etc.   What would I do with my husband?

The start of the row of 5 shelves on the inside wall

Hand-sawing to get just right

TaDa!! Isn't it beautiful?! I LOVE it! I can't wait to hang up our clothes in there.

Corner turn and tie/belt rack

On Sunday evening, Matt and I went to Best Buy to finally buy our new washer and dryer.  The ones we wanted (and have researched for forever now) were on sale online.  Yes! But, once we got inside the store and I spotted them the price tag was different.  The pair was on sale for even lower than online. Double yes! We also got free delivery, installation, and old pair haul-away ($90 value), 10% off one of the storage pedestals, and 20% off extra warranties that we bought.  Plus, since we are paying them off right away from our Best Buy card, we got a ton of Reward Zone points which will come out to being a $120 gift card in the mail.  Perfect to buy our over-the-stove microwave with! I have never been so excited in the my life to do a load of laundry. 

glorious!

We left on Sunday night with the house looking like a home.  We both looked at each other with huge grins like "This is our house and we are almost living here".  I just can't wait.  I work Monday-Thursday this week, finish packing (yikes!) on Friday and then we move on Saturday bright and early. My mom is actually moving this weekend too. Kind of stinks that it worked out that we are moving the same weekend. I know she really wants to be here to help.  She will get down soon enough!  We've got Matt's mom and couple of Matt's strong friends coming to help us move.  Bring it on!

I just had to include this picture of Jax.  It cracks me up the way he is sitting and hiding in here.

Thursday update

This past weekend my friend Abby from California came into town.  We all had a wedding on Saturday for a friend from nursing school.  Abby came to the house on Friday night to hang out.  Our other friend, Abbey, from nursing school came over too.  It was like old times.  Like no time had passed since the last time we got together. I loved every second of it.  That next morning, they both joined me for BodyPump.  It's way more fun when you have friends to join you.

After BodyPump, we made our way up to Lebanon to meet my mom half way so she could take Jax for the day.  He was super excited to see her.  It's so nice that our moms' willingly take Jax when we need them to.  Good thing he's such a good dog :).

We got ready and headed up to Kokomo for Kylie's wedding!  The ceremony was beautiful, the weather was great, and it was so awesome to all be together again.

On Sunday, we took Abby over to the new house.  We had some painting and such to get done.  She wasn't interested in painting so she mowed...

Love her.

I've been so busy blogging about the house that I realize I haven't given an update on BodyPump lately.  I sent my video (of me teaching my own class) in for assessment a couple weeks ago.  Word on the street is that it takes 6-8 weeks to hear back.  That is a long time. If I pass, I will be a certified BodyPump instructor! If not, I will have to film again but nobody wants to do that... Once I am certified, I think I still have to "try out" for the gym in front of the group fitness manager.  If all that goes well, I can start subbing for other instructors and eventually get my own class! Wahoo! I really miss being up there and teaching.  I haven't taught anything since I filmed the first weekend in June.  I really do miss it and realize what a good decision it was for me to go through with training.  This has been a loonnngg process-beginning April 1st when I did my initial training.  I just have to be patient and it will happen!

1st birthday

Saturday was our fur-baby's 1st birthday! When we got Jax, he was 12 weeks old and the cutest puppy in the entire world.  I love this dog so much.  He is the first dog I have ever had for longer than 2 weeks and our first dog together.  He is such a good dog-easy to train, hilarious, so obedient, and so loving.  He is my buddy :)

Riding home with our new puppy last year

Our first night together

Such a baby! He was so small! He has now a little more than doubled his weight to about 16 lbs.

Happy Birthday to you!

color!

We actually have color on the walls!  

A few of my samples...

Valspar paint ROCKS! So far, we have only needed one coat on the walls! It is super thick and goes on so nice.

It was a big weekend.  I had to work Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, but my mother-in-law came down to help Matt get some work done at the house Sunday evening and stayed until Monday night.  I don't know what we would've gotten done without her! Matt was left to work all by himself on Saturday, so he was relieved to have someone else there on Sunday to get more done quicker.  On Sunday, I went to the house after work to check things out. I brought them some pizza and we ate a little dinner at our "table" (aka the floor).

After dinner, we started back to work.  I helped Janet paint the upstairs hallways (the first color on the walls!) while Matt finished working on the walls in the laundry room and bathroom.  It was so awesome to finally see color on the walls after all the work it has taken to prepare and prime them.  We worked until midnight and I left to go home and go to bed so I could get up at 5:30 the next morning for work.  Needless to say, I was dragging at work on Monday.  I was actually better than I thought I'd be until I sat in one of big recliners to bottle-feed a baby at 5:30 pm.  Torture. Absolute torture.  Not the feeding the baby part, but the staying awake part.  I got my second wind when I realized I was going to be able to go check out the house after work.  I made my way over.  I walked into the house to see the dining room completely painted with color, the upstairs hallway dry, the 4th bedroom painted, and the living room being cut-in.  Fabulous! Here is the dining room progress...

Cutting in with primer

All primed and ready to go!

LOVE it!

The next step was the living room.  Matt and Janet had it all primed and cut in when I got there Monday night, and we stayed until 1130 pm finishing painting the room.  We could have gotten up the stairwell done too, but we ran out of paint.

Drywall work in the living room

My hubby is seriously the best at everything. He did all of this drywall work without ever doing it before.

View of the living room through the cut-out in the kitchen

Primed and starting to cut in with the grey

Hard at work!

The damn chandelier.  We all 3 bashed our heads on this multiple times.  I stood straight up into in and Matt and Janet both walked right into it a million times.

Next step-the bathroom.  Matt sanded it down to prime.

Make-shift mask while sanding

Best dog in the world.  He was so good for them all weekend! He just laid in his kennel while we painted.  No one likes a paint trail in the form of paw prints...