It's Starting to Look Like a HOUSE

Not a HOME yet (no furniture or decor), but a HOUSE. That is a HUGE improvement over looking like a construction zone or, at times, a demolition zone. ~Aaaaahhh~ Life is grand. :-)

We had a great Sunday. My Sunday School class involved paper chain caterpillars ("old things are passed away") and ink blot butterflies ("behold, all things are become new"). FUN. :-) Brother Hopkins preached a fantastic message that day; possibly the best I've ever heard him preach. Or perhaps it just spoke to MY heart. I felt some definite conviction and refocusing going on in my heart and was so thankful for the opportunity to talk to the Lord about it in the altar. I love those times and need them regularly.

After service we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, then back to the church to do our cooking for the Mission Pot-Luck to be held after service that night. James had opted to cook up the last of his frozen green chilies from Hatch to make some enchiladas. Since our oven STILL isn't up and running (lo-o-o-o-o-o-ong story) we had to go to the church to make them. Brother Washburn showed up to take care of some BTI stuff and Katie helped him address envelopes while Sam commandeered his phone and played games on it. Brother Washburn was also so kind as to help Joe bust open the coconut James had agreed to buy for him. It was quite an endeavor and I really wish I'd taken a few pictures of it.

We were able to get a little bit of rest before returning for the evening service and dinner. We had a great meal--always do here--and enjoyed the fellowship. We sat with the Booths and the Carpenters and had a good time. We stayed around and visited with the Coxes and the Hopkins after everybody had left and ended up standing in the parking lot and visiting with the Coxes until nearly 11:00, I think!

On Monday I helped kids with school for most of the morning, then I painted yet one last coat of blue in the foyer. That's a long story I'll spare you from. In the end, I'm very happy with how it turned out. I LOVE having a dark blue foyer with white trim and doors. It looks fantastic.

Monday was also a red letter day for the kids. They moved out and into their own apartment. Not exactly, but that's what it feels like! We had intended to move them upstairs to camp out in the chapel room, but they all begged and pleaded to move to the basement instead. The more I thought about it, the more benefits I saw to the idea. James agreed and the kids were thrilled. We cut the carpet out of our bedroom into three big squares, one for each kid, and hauled them to the basement. Once they finished school the kids spent the rest of the afternoon moving their bedding and all of their belongings out of the living room and down onto their squares in the basement. They still seem to be loving the arrangement and for the most part so do I. But there is much less supervision when they're down there (thus the feeling that they've moved out!) and that scares me. HA! They spend most of their time up here with us anyway and when they ARE in the basement we're able to hear pretty much everything that goes on through the vents in the floor, so I guess it should be okay. :-)

We moved everything out of the living room, foyer, hallway (James' favorite place to keep that obnoxious compressor of his--ha!) and our bedroom and closet--in anticipation of NEW CARPET the next day. :-) That night the Ridlespurges came by to see our progress and see the joint one last time before it got its new carpet. We had to FORCE them to stay and eat dinner with us. Probably because "dinner" consisted of sandwiches and left-over enchilada from the pot-luck. HA! We had a good time with them, as always.

Tuesday morning was thrilling. The carpet guy came! On time!!! EARLY, even! And he had carpet. Lots and lots of carpet. ~sigh~ Oh, happy day. :-) James had some appointments and errands to take care of that day, but the kids and I enjoyed a nice, quiet day at the house, mostly just hanging out and playing some games while Larry worked away on the floors. At the end of the day the slate floor in the foyer had been prepped, and we had carpet--new, fluffy, cushy, pretty carpet--in the living room, our bedroom, and James' office. Wa-Hooooo!!!

That night James went to the auction while I stayed home and finished wallpapering our bedroom. :-) James came home with a game table for the kids to keep in the basement. They were bouncing off the walls with excitement and have been having a blast with it ever since.

Wednesday was a grand and glorious day because Larry FINISHED our carpet!!! It looks so WEIRD in the foyer and the hall because I've never seen carpet there before, but I LOVE it. It's the carpet that made all the difference in things looking like a HOUSE instead of a work zone here.

I spent a good portion of my day trying to teach Joe how to work with fractions. It will surely be the death of me. As I was ever so patiently ~ahem~ reminding him for the umpteenth time that the fractions must have common denominators before they can be added, I couldn’t help but hear my mother’s voice screaming at me from 20+ years ago, “’OF’ IS A PREPOSITION!!!!!!!” Prepositions were my weakness. Apparently fractions are Joe’s. I actually called a teacher recess that day for about an hour. I NEEDED it. Ha!

Once Larry was finished with the carpet and gone, I moved everything out of the utility room (lots of things had been crammed in there since it wasn't being carpeted) and back into the closet, cleaned it up, ran some laundry, and moved ALL of the kid's clothes down to their apartment. ;-) Though we now have carpet, we are still on the air mattress for right now—got to finish this house up so we can MOVE IN to this floor!!! Soon. Please… soon. :-)

Last night was CPMA service, then Bojangles with the Washburns. We had a great time with them and stayed out way later that we had planned. It was fun and we learned some things we didn't know before about them. DID YOU KNOW THAT TAMMY WASHBURN WAS HOMECOMING QUEEN????? I love it! ;-)

Today has been a real bust as far as progress on the house goes. But still a success, really. I've been spending more time with the kids and their schooling this week and it just feels so nice. It's so much better for them AND for me! Katie and I have been playing a game of Phase 10 Dice over lunch each day and tonight the whole family played I Buy. (It did occur to me that we must be OLD; all of our kids are old enough to play I Buy with us now?!) The only thing we really got done on the house was shaving down four doors that were scraping too tightly across the new carpet. We've got some work to do on the front door yet, but we'll get it figured out one of these days. I did managed to put a coat of polyurethane on the countertops tonight, as well as the dining table (it was in need of a fresh coat or two) and the bead board. Did I mention that we ran out of beadboard for the backsplash about four feet shy of completing it?! James bought a small pack and I stained the boards a couple of days ago and finally got some poly on them tonight. One more coat and they'll be good to go.

And now--at long last--some pictures!

Joe was all weird about me posting pictures and video of the Skate Show he and Katie put on for us the other day, so I thought I'd just put this one shot--the one that's so far away you can't possibly see that his skates have pink wheels. ;-) Mostly, it just shows the fantastic area they have to skate in. So fun!

At the other end of the basement was Sam's concession stand. He had cookies and granola bars and juice and water--and even pellet guns for rent. He is his father's son. Ha! He had everything all written up on his sign and ready to go.
Joe has had big plans for the Horne Gazette this past week, though I can't recall the last time he actually wrote a new edition...
I found these pictures that James took out back a few days ago. They really don't begin to show how pretty everything is. That bush in the left of the picture is COVERED with pink/white flowers now. It's amazing.
We have several dogwood trees on our property and they have white blooms all over them now. I love it when the wind blows and hundreds of them float through the air to the ground. It's the Alabama way of snowing. ;-) They are beautiful.
Ah, yes. The kids' apartment. ;-) This is Sam's square. That huge pile is the cave he created. He sleeps there and stores most of his junk there, too.
Looks like Joe is just hoping somebody dares to trespass on his square. ;-)
I didn't get any pictures of Katie's square because she was still arranging all of her stuff and didn't wasn't ready. I finally gave up and went back upstairs before she finished.

Katie and Sam were sooooooo excited about the new carpet. It wasn't even installed yet--just rolled out in the living room--but they rolled all over it like a couple of wet dogs trying to dry themselves. Oh, happy day!

And I thought I'd post these since Mom is so anxious to see how things are looking. I almost hesitate to do it because the color looks so funky. This is our bedroom. The upper part of the walls is a nice brown color--nothing mustardy like in the pictures. And the green wall doesn't clash with the wallpaper nearly so bad in person as it does here. HA!

Since those pictures were taken James has installed our ceiling fan. ~Aaaaaahhhh~ I LOVE IT. I am a very strong advocate of ceiling fans in bedrooms. I have a hard time sleeping without one, even in the winter when James won't let me run it. Ha! I like to be bundled up under plenty of covers in a nice cool room with the fan blowing the chilly air around. He has no appreciation for that at all. But this time of year I'm allowed to use it and I love it! I'm so thankful to have it.

When we were getting ready to leave for church on Wedensday I went into the utility room and walked around the corner to find this...

A strange place to curl up for a nap I thought, but he was out cold and snoring happily.

And one last picture--of my fantastic blue and white foyer :-) and into the hallway--these are floors that have never seen carpet before. ~Aaaaaaahhhh~ It just feels so nice and cozy and homey this way. And soooooooo much cleaner than the nasty floors that we've been living with all this time! It's a grand and glorious thing--new carpet. :-)