Lack There Of

I once again apologize for the lack of blog posts. I was so crazy about decorating this house and was having so much fun. BUT, then, I seriously came to a grinding halt and I have no idea what to do anymore.

I have definitely hit a decorator's block. Which, was pretty easy for me to hit because I have such a small arsenal of decorating ideas.

I think the issue was that I also had pretty much stopped reading blogs when I started working. And, since that is where I get so many of my creative ideas for both the house and the kiddos, we virtually hit a standstill.

But, the problem is I LIKE reading blogs. I have to make time for it because they do REALLY help focus my creative energy. Not that Ryan would agree. (^-^) He gets a little tired of my crafts. Oh well.

So, the moral of this story IS, I hope to get back to reading blogs and posting more.

What really motivates me is that I know there are people out there that DO read this, right Kate and Rachel? And of course, the grandparents.

Love you guys. I promise I will write more.

Back in Business, Well Sorta

So, our internet is working but, our wireless isn't. So, here I sit on the floor next to our only working outlet. But, hey we have internet.

No air conditioning however, in this NY heat wave. The high today was 96 degrees. It has been super hot for like the past 5-6 days. I can't say we have no air conditioning because 2 days ago we purchased a portable one that lives in our bedroom. We just couldn't take it. We needed to have someplace to go for refuge. Granted most of our day is spent down on the main floor. But, occasionally we each take a break and lay on our bed for awhile. The boys have been sleeping on our floor these past few nights too.

No TV yet. The Dish Network people say they can't get here until the 20th. Ryan isn't too happy about that. He'd like to be watching the Tour de France.

Ok, I am going to post pics that I should never post. The house is a total mess. Boxes here and there. Molding pieces here and there. Etc. So, bear with me.

This is what it is like living in a construction zone. Chaos truly breeds chaos.

The left side is our junk and some of our builder, Phil's and the right side is all Phil's. Ryan can't wait to organize this place.

Our mud/laundry room. We will be putting in a laundry sink as soon as we have our last electrical inspection. I guess you have to have a 3 foot perimeter around the fuse box. The plumbing is all there and ready. We just have to hide it for now. Shhh.

Open faced lockers will go along the left wall eventually.

Half bath. So exciting, I know.

So, I already told you chaos breeds chaos. We have so many little things that don't have a space yet and they seem to congregate on our peninsula. And, Manny is getting an evening snack.


Tonight I have to clear everything off the counters so that Phil can grout them while we are gone.

The dining room. Ryan thought this was going to be such a wasted space. So, what we have started to do is that, whenever we are all around for supper we eat in here. Otherwise, the boys can sit at the peninsula or the kitchen table.

The fireplace is a work in progress. We still don't know exactly what we are going to do for a mantle and surround. But, for sure the TV is going here. I still am not so sure about that one. I had grand ideas for decorating this bugger.

Our computer area. For now anyway. This is where I am currently sitting. Poor Manny has been deprived of internet for weeks.

The area above our front closet. This is also a work in progress. I am not sure what I all want here.

Our entry light.

Manny's room

Johnsie's room.

The attic. Remember chaos breeds chaos. The way back left is all organized but, you can't see it with all of the junk in front.

Yay, our closet is finally ready.

Now the biggest problem is that Ryan and I can't decide how we want to organize it.

And because we can't decide, our room looks like this. Boxes of clothes line the walls. The carpet in the closet just went in yesterday so, we couldn't pile our boxes in there.

Master bath

Master shower. Another thing that we are waiting for.
I love the front of our house. It looks just like I wanted. Of course, you need to imagine the grass and flowers like I do. And the painted porch.

The pots sitting on the steps have the 50 trees and shrubs we bought back in April. We only lost like 6 total.


The boys were watching some deer in the area between our 1st and 2nd tree line.

We are hoping to plant some shrubs around our pretty propane tank. Again, you need to imagine grass and a patio this time.

Sorry for the picture overload.

Grumplestiltskin

Ok, so the other day I was a total Grumplestiltskin. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to get anyone worried, Dad. Because really, so what if the house isn't done yet. It will be eventually. Seriously, who am I to complain. I am living in a brand new house. SO many people in this world will never be able to say that and actually can't even imagine it.

So, Here Comes the Sun, right?

Things are slowly being finished. My biggest concern really was the grouting of the counter tops phase. They need to cure for like 4 days. I was wondering how in the world am I going to be able to keep things off them for that long. Well, the light bulb went off over my head. This Thursday we are heading down to Jersey for a family reunion and we will either be coming home Sunday night or Monday morning. Counter tops issue solved. Phil is going to work on them while we are away.

The bulldozer smoothed out our yard yesterday. Most of the molding is finished. Carpet for our closet comes in on Tues. And, right now black top is cheaper than concrete. So, we may end up with a beautiful driveway to boot.

Plus, Ryan installed our new mailbox post, (the guy dropping off our storage trailer ran the mailbox over, he did give us $100 for it) so, that is not hanging all kiddywampus anymore.

Oh yeah, and we are supposed to get internet Tuesday. Yay.

Still here

I am still here. Life has been so crazy. We still have no internet. Our development is so new that it is not coming up on Verizon's computer so, they don't think we can get internet. However, we keep telling them that our neighbors get their internet through them and their box is actually on our lot. Whatever!

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House is still not complete. We are getting a tad bit frustrated. Our closet, bathtub, shower and some molding still aren't finished. The linen closet and front coat closet are not done yet. One cabinet in the kitchen is still missing plus, the granite tiles haven't been grouted yet. Some floor tiles need to be relaid because they are not even. Crown molding on the cabinets needs to go up. Front steps need to be built. All 3, pocket doors need to be finished. Fireplace, stairway and part of the laundry room needs at least 1 more coat of mud before we can even prime them. AND There's MORE.

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So, with so many things still needing to be finished we have boxes sitting everywhere and everyday we take more and more out of our storage trailer b/c it has to be back on the 1st. We can't even put it all in our garage because half of the garage is full of our builders stuff. Oh and yeah, we can't open 1 garage door because the track isn't up yet and neither is the garage door opener and oh yeah, they still need to drill holes in 3 of our doors for dead bolts.

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OK, I am going to stop because I could just go on and on.

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I am grumpy and tired and today was so muggy and of course we have no air conditioning because everyone said we wouldn't need it. Yeah right. Today was so nasty. We could have gotten a little relief by sitting downstairs in our basement but, OH YEAH, that is a mess and full of our builders stuff too. We have been putting some things under the steps because there is no room anywhere else down there.

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UGH!

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OK, so I am off to read my Better Homes and Gardens and get in a happier mood. I feel better already getting all of that off my chest. But first, I need to roll up my magazine and squish the stupid fly that keeps landing on me. Who knows where our fly swatters are!

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Thanks guys. Till who knows when.

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Just got the dang fly. Yes, the day is looking up!

On goes the Porch

It is so crazy to think that when we get back to NY, Friday night we will be moving into our new home. The whole process seems to have started forever ago.

This is the boys bathroom upstairs.


This was what the septic looked like when we left. You can see Johnsie and some friends playing on the gravel pile of to the right. He is going miss playing on the mounds of dirt.

I am so excited for this porch.

I plan to spend many hours out here.

We are installing recessed lighting out here, besides the 2 front door lights. We plan on putting them on a dimmer so, we can adjust the light for those summer nights on the porch.

The plan right now is to paint the porch white. But, it has to sit for at least a year before we can paint it. :(

I can't wait to see the next pictures of the house.

Here Comes the Sun

I have been thinking about house decor like crazy. What am I going to put here and what am I going to put there?

One thing, that I know FOR SURE, is I want the saying, Here Comes the Sun, in my bedroom.

Huh? Why? Well, you see all the vinyl wall sayings that are out right now, right? Most people put sayings like, Always remember to kiss me goodnight or All because two people fell in love. Love both those sayings by the way BUT, they have no special meaning to me.

Now, even before all of this vinyl word sayings became popular I always wanted to put, Here Comes The Sun, on a little plaque or something in our bedroom.

Again, Why? Well again, when most people have beautiful, romantic love songs for "Their Song" Ryan and I picked, Here Comes The Sun. Not really a slow dance song. Try it. It doesn't really work well, I know. Anyway, we both have always loved this song and even as young kids, who got pregnant and got married, we must have known that everything would work out. The sun will always rise, a new day. Each day we can embark on a new journey, each year and now as we are reaching the end of our second decade together, each decade. Whatever issues arise we can count on the sun to shed a little light on us.


For me personally, the song also means that Ryan is my sun. He is my light.

Here Comes the Sun



Not sure what is up with the mushy, cheesefest posts. I just feel so overwhelmed lately. Our new home is almost finished. My baby is graduating and then 10 days later she will turn 18. We have all been sick. I have a 21ish hour car ride coming up with 2 kids and 2 dogs. I have to pack up and clean this house yet, can't really move into the new one. It all has me weepy.

BUT,

Here Comes the Sun!

Didn't even think about that, Here comes the sun, after all these next crazy filled weeks until, I reread my post looking for mistakes. Cool. That's when I added the BUT, Here it comes!

Where do you store your poop?

Yay, we now have a big poop storage tank in our back yard. Something I have always wanted. Dreamed of actually.

So, today I learned a lot, once again. I really had no idea how a septic system worked till today.


Ok, so color me dumb, I never took the time to really think about how this bugger works. So, this is what happens. You go to the bathroom, everything that is solid stays in the tank and any liquid gets pumped out and goes through a bunch of sand that is supposed to filter it before it gets down into the water table.

I seriously thought that the tank held everything. I know we have been talking about a sand filter and all but, like I said I never really pondered it. So, take a gander at the diagram I found. I really hope you are telling me that by the time that poop/pee water gets to my well it will be thoroughly cleaned right? I am not so sure about that.

Let's just say I am REALLY happy that the well and septic both slope to the south. It still creeps me out a bit though. If my water tastes like urine, I WANT a REFUND. Ugh, I just totally realized that there are 2 houses north of us. Oh, gag me with a spoon!

This is the drain field or whatever it is called.

The boys, of course, liked watching the equipment dig our new pee/sand pool.
I took these yesterday.

The guys were working hard in temps of high 80's. Ryan brought our cooler over to them stocked with ice and Gatorade.

Most of the tile is in but, the guys haven't grouted yet. This is the entryway.

This is the tile in the kitchen. The empty squares are where some decorative tiles are going and the other tiles have to be cut to go around them. Can't wait to see it all done.

The start of our front porch. I didn't realize how small it is going to be. I am not complaining I just envisioned something else. Oh well. I still can't wait to sit on it.

Carpet goes in tomorrow.

The Throne

Just in case you were wondering and I know you all were, this little pretty will be going in our 4 bathrooms. Her name is Alexis. It actually really is. She is called the 30014K Alexis HET dual flush.

She has so many wonderful qualities.

1. She was only $99 from Sams Club.
2. She is a High Efficiency Toilet
3. She has a dual flush feature. If you pee you push down on the #1 button and if you poop, you press the #2 button. Cool Huh? The #1 uses 1 gallon of water and the #2 uses 1.6 gallons per flush.
4. She is 17.9 inches tall. Who cares you say? Well a standard toilet is between 14-16 inches. Now, the BIG benefit we see from having taller toilets is that there will be less splash from my boys, which means less clean up for me. Granted we have no idea how Johnsie is going to measure up to these but, he'll grow and until then he can use a step stool.
   

The only negative we, I mean Ryan, sees is that he can't put magazines on the back for his daily reading time. So, I told him I would get a basket or something for him.

aDOORable!

Seriously, I took pictures of our lighting, still in the boxes. I really need to get a life.
Oh, and isn't Diet Mt. Dew so wonderful! Ahhh

For our dining room. Nice and simple!

Matching pendant for the entry.

Ryan and I spent a day taking turns painting the molding. A DAY. Holy smokes there was A LOT of molding.


Ryan loathes to paint. He needs to listen to his ipod otherwise, I think he might go crazy. I myself love to paint. I am not good at it at all but, I still enjoy it.

The siding guys are cruising right along. They work everyday, till it is done, unless it rains of course. And, we may get a few sprinkles tomorrow. So, they may get a reprieve sooner than later.

This is the back of the garage with our little doggie door. The plan is for this door to lead to a fenced in area about 7ftX10ft on a concrete slab. We are hoping that we can teach them that when we open the kitchen door that leads to the garage all they need to do is go through this door to get outside.

We NEED to contain the doogie do.

At our old house they always went in the front yard and I hated it. And I don't use the word hate very often. I would stress about always making sure it was picked up, so people wouldn't see it. And in the spring we always had poop soup and our grass was all spotted.

No More Baby!

I am always trying to sneak around and take photos of the guys working so, I have some action shots. I don't think they really appreciate me taking their pictures all the time. But, these guys are such a big part of our lives right now and we are very thankful for them.

I never took a picture of the steps from the kitchen. Here you go.

I spent most of today painting the boys' closets and our bedroom. For our room I chose Blue Heather from Behr. It really is the most beautiful shade of blue. I really need to get Ryan in here with his camera because mine has no flash and all of our colors are seeming really muted. This just looks gray but, it isn't.

Ok, so here is our aDOORable door. I hear it was one heavy little lady. We had 2 guys outside and 2 guys inside lifting her into place.

Here I am sneaking shots.

She is so beautiful. I am in love and I want to make a wreath tomorrow for her. Or at least ASAP.

Later today, we went back to the house and the back was basically completely sided.

Super, Super excited!

Johnsie is going to miss playing on all of the dirt piles.