TYLER - this is for you.

I know you are as tired of hearing about this house as I am of writing about it. this all consuming project is pretty much all I have blogged about for months. moving, waiting, watching, and moving again. I am tired of focusing there. but my brother has asked for the virtual tour, and I feel compelled to oblige, since that is what has been our lives. so this will be my last official post about this house. from this time forward you will find stories that unfold within our HOME on this blog. and with that fresh perspective,

I give you... our mostly finished abode.

the reading "loft". there is a bench and some great views here at the top of the stairs.

the "lounge" great for bedtime stories and family prayer.

the unfinished master bath and a peek at the master bedroom.

the family room/TV lounge and "jungle gym" (more on that later.)

dining and entry.

living room, where we would LOVE to sit and visit with you for hours on end as soon as you choose to make your visit. see you soon?!

here I am....

literally. most of my waking moments revolve around this room. not a bad room to frequent - especially if its clean. it's a nice place to live. and the crux of my story is that I am happy I'm here.

I no longer feel the stress of our "adventure", or dread my daily grind. normal is settling and it feels pretty nice.

don't be mislead, I still have several boxes to unpack (as evidenced in the picture) rooms to organize (with pleasure and anticipation of guests) and several touches to apply (oh, to hang something artistic!).

I am realizing that it's not necessarily the pictures on the wall that make it feel like it's home. it's the buzz in the air of feeling comfortable and happy in the place we reside.

happy we are.

our daughters adjustment was instant in this place. no sleepless nights or fretting moments of newness. we really came home.

I've taken my time to unpack and organize, and now that time is past. I now understand it is the new constant for us. the time has come for friends and family to fill our home with fun and love. so with that - come one and all to visit! there are no pictures on the walls, but the welcome mat is at the door and we look forward to seeing you grace our door!

so glad to be back - home.

bus driver, MOVE THAT BUS!

it's been long enough. and since this was the single most exciting moment of our Thursday, it was meant to be shared!

and although ours is a sanitation receptacle and not a bus, the sentiment is much the same.

we were more interested in seeing the dumpster removed than, than well a long list of of other projects still in the works.

and the end results. not too bad, don't you think? siding was completed the end of last week. we are begining to settle, but settling is slow in coming. eventually all the pieces will fit together and we will really be home again. the girls are anxious to give everyone a tour - soon I am hoping I will have it together enough to share some of our favorite nooks, too.

oh baby.

words can not describe the beauty of bamboo. not just bamboo, THIS bamboo. yeah, I could live here.
they say it is one of the HARDEST hardwoods available. I'll let you know the week my dog moves in how it holds up... gulp!

and this is Rendall. he is on our team of super heroes who are whipping things into shape so we have a mostly assembled house to live in. he has by far spent the most time at our house since this project began. sitting and waiting, working, cleaning, organizing, doing a little yelling here and there, dealing with me when I pop in unannounced with fear in my voice and fire in my eyes. doing all he can to make it all happen. we really like the guys on our team and are really glad they are still on our side. really our contractor, Matt Russell of Russell Construction, has been a great mastermind. working with John and trying his best to get it together for this scrutinizing architect of ours. the product provided and the results are truly thrilling. I think it's a good thing we like them so much - they'll be in and out of our daily lives for a long time to come. welcome to the family boys!

further development

wood floors delivered (finally) and acclimating to our house before being installed on WEDNESDAY!

doors installed and gorgeous.

doing a blitz craig on the tile (moving fast and furious). love that.

more dirty tile to adore.

John spent the weekend on closets and shelving. pricey odds and ends those. so glad to have Ikea near by. ish.

lots of fairytale play going on these days at the house.

right now its great because everyone has their OWN room. except for mom and dad...

Ruby is channeling Alfalfa to keep us all smiling and happy.

two weeks to go. just to keep it interesting we decided to rip out a wall in our laundry room - we found serious water damage down there.

Cabinets in one week. appliances in two, along with carpet (thanks for helping me dad and mom!). here's hoping for counters, plumbing fixtures, siding, and being able to use my garage!

we are taking donations in the form of cardboard boxes - it's time to begin packing it all in.

BOLD: paint and other news

all weekend John and I (mostly John) swept and vacuumed, dusted and swept, blew out crevices and swept and vacuumed, wiped down and swept and vacuumed some more (all me that time). then we did it again so we would be ready bright and early Tuesday morning for this scene. isn't it a lovely mess? and it quickly went from this....


to this! clean bright and cheerful. I LOVE how the light is reflected off that shiny ceiling. and the orange. leave it to John and I to go bold - but I love how just that little bit lights up the house with such energy!
that is Ella holding her nose as she dashes to the deck upstairs "away from the smelly paint". I am intoxicated by that smelly paint. in a very good, non glue sniffing way.

next week interior doors, siding (it was supposed to start last week...) then hardwoods, and cabinets the following week. we are truly holding our breath, but not because of fumes.

and if anyone has any screaming deals on carpet worth actually installing in this place (I have unfortunately HIGH standards) I'd love any leads. so far my bottom line and the carpet show rooms are not in sync. again holding our breath...

and then there was this small surprise. actual glass in our living room window. (we just pretend the grass out there is nice and green a lush. at least we did our part to conserve water this year!)

and look at all the trucks reflected in that beautiful thing. I hope that's reflected each day for the next three weeks. the count down continues! the little red wagon moving corp. will be up and running again soon, I panic to think of it. let the good times continue to roll. PLEASE.

in other news - I have a great Whirlpool Gold stainless steel stove and dishwasher and an OK working micro hood (microwave and stove top hood/vent) I need to unload. I'd let it all go for $300. any takers? let me know.

well insulated

I know - FINALLY! here is an update on the progress. August brought with it hot weather for sure, we thought we would blow our budget on some amazing insulation.

the plan was to keep the cold weather out and ease some of the pain we know we are gonna feel as we pay our gas bill every month this winter. surprisingly it also kept a lot of the heat out as well. the temp inside the house dropped by 15 degrees easily. not a bad investment.

and insulation can not stand alone forever so our contractor got the drywall in as well. it has been a slow process. sadly that's pretty much all we have to show for August, but its progress so we will take it. and they have done a great job so no complaints there.

add two weeks for tape and mud and we are ready for paint!

we now have about 30 days to get it together so we can move in. I wrote the last check for rent last night and gave them our notice. we can't afford any more time in our home around the corner. so keep your fingers crossed and wish us luck - the hiccups keep coming but so far we are rolling with it. Moving day is in just a couple weeks, let the count down begin!

pro- Egress

windows? check. all but one - the big one.
but the egress chills I got going are nice.
double pane, aluminum clad, awning, casement, french door chills. ahhh. feels good.
to single out a couple of favorites:

gigantic kitchen window. (yes that is the neighbors house, but what can a girl do?)

family room love.

individual bunk windows for two sweet girls who don't always want to share. but mostly they do.

the next step

I realize that it has been a woefully long time since you have gotten the house update. of course you are upset and I don't blame you, but you will get your fill this week I promise! and just in time I tell you - because I was about to go nutters waiting for something worthwhile to post about! honestly I didn't even care about posting I just needed to SEE progress, in the form of large amounts of materials made into, you know house parts. I mean plumbing and electrical excite John and I, but I doubted you would get giddy looking at valves and switch boxes. but this - this is worth some ooh's and ahh's!

our "floating stairs"

no more ladders to the upper floor, you can waltz up and down all day long without the worry of toppling to your doom. well - maybe we should still be worried, but the stability factor is way up there, I promise. the thrill of going up and down stairs has never been greater, really. you should stop by and give it a try, we'd love to share the joy.

honestly though, things are starting to take shape. we have bathtubs and faucet valves, light boxes, a furnace and duct work, and are so close to a water heater and AC unit. add to that real WINDOWS and exterior DOORS, not just holes in the walls anymore. oh I can feel the excitement building! now you have something to look forward to this week, so be sure to check back! it can't look like this forever!

second stories

I have been waiting this week for good sunshine so I could get some decent pictures - I failed to bring my camera the two days it was sunny and now rain is in the forecast for days. happily regardless of the weather the framers have been hopping!

in only a week we have a second floor, outer walls, a roof, interior walls and "windows". I had to take these during working hours so no serious interior shots, but don't worry you will love what you see. next week I'll show you the interior spaces and introduce some of the fun details.

the pop out serves as an over hang/roof for the steps and a landing and window seat for the second floor. I am predicting that space is going to be my second favorite new spot - my brand new closet only wins by practicality. walking the actual rooms is such a thrill, the spaces are laid out really well and feel just right as far as size and shapes.

no mistake, there is no roof over that room. it's a porch - the sleeping/sun porch off the girls bedrooms. as of today the entire house is sheathed in nice clean plywood and all the new window openings are cut. pretty much all the interior walls are in place and as of last night we have closed on our loan! windows are now ordered and it's time to start actually purchasing some final touches. I am so excited at this point the butterflies are about to burst! check back early next week for the next update, an interior tour, views from the second floor, and if all goes well a brand new "floating" stair case. my architect sure has some grand ideas.... better pictures then, but at least you can see progress!

house wrecked

here truly begins the saga of the house that John built. well, he isn't building it himself, but he sure is attached to it. that is why for the duration of construction I have been forbidden to share any form of design/drawing/sketch of what is to come. the creator wants it to unfold piece by piece before your eyes. (I know I know - don't ask, believe me I have begged. let's all just think of it like this. say you have chosen a name for an unborn child. say that name is Rumplestiltskin, a little unorthodox. it is a name you are not sure people will receive well, but you're sure it is THE name your child should be known by. do you share it any way? ponder that...) ahem, so moving on.

exactly one week and three days ago a group of clean cut strapping young men walked into my now abandoned home. with in minutes all hell broke loose and so did many walls. now one week and three days later a little more than sheet rock has gone missing...

notice anything different?

this is the problem area that got me into this mess. after several years of carrying on about why I deserved a new kitchen; (he did promise me a brand new kitchen within the year we moved in, Ha! I should have seen this coming.) it didn't take much to go from this -

to this. dinner anyone? I didn't think so... John and I (mostly John) have spent many nights shoveling "crap" (for lack of a better term) and doing our part to make a tight schedule tighter. after suffering one big delay - rain on the day they were to take down the roof - today came another - the framers didn't make it to begin drying it back in. oh well, I figure if I live by Murphy's law every other day of the week I can't complain!

I do however like the lovely new "view" from my entry way don't you?

I'll try not to let this project over run my blog by keeping these updates a weekly issue. in this case one week and three days had many phases - most of our pictures however are in digital no where land so this happens to be the very latest.

I only ask one favor of each of you, please pray for no rain.....

reason #3

we are moving.

if you haven't already heard. and not a typical get all your stuff and go kind of move, so it's a little tricky. we are popping the top on our house - putting up a second story.

I have spent the better part of last week applying for and researching lines of credit. (with much help from my sweet friend DeeDee - Thank You so much!) and this week, having pretty much tied up the financial questions we will now play that waiting game with the underwriters. so my efforts and attention have turned to how high can I really stack the boxes into this room.

and where I can get a hold of more of these items without actually paying for them - bubble wrap is pricey stuff! and determining what should come with us, what can get stored, and what should just get chucked. it is a little comical, if you think about it, that I have to move out of my house so I never actually have to move away. but they say to be careful what you wish for, so I guess I'm learning that lesson now.

you see, after we moved in to our non discript run down little house and got nice and settled; I turned to my architect husband and said, "I am never moving again. so if you decide we need more, you better make it happen at this house." I was sure my constitution could not handle moving our little family. (and it must be noted that the request came in many tones of whining and pleading, not in ultimatum form -this home was scheduled to get flipped a year after we aquired it and three years later we were still sitting pretty. HA!)

so we got to work. the basement came out, new plumbing and walls went in. a new roof, and some new siding, new cement work, step after step of updating and rebuilding a tired old place. all on the premise that we would sell. then gratefully John got attached too. granted it took him three years to my three minutes, but it happened. at least that is what I believe. it could just be the realization that if we did flip, we would end up in the very same situation we would be leaving. a tired new to us house that needs work.

some where the wheels began turning and once in a while we would talk "what if"s" and apparently, then John would sit down at his computer and draw those conversations. suddenly the idea of those house dreams got closer to possible realities. and today I am packing up my 2400 square feet of stuff to live in a 900 square foot rental down the street during these next months. we will be out of our house by May 18th, and our home will literally be missing it's roof by then of the third week of May.

talk about butterflies - that back country race has no comparison here.

who knew Johns grand dreams of architectural bliss, and my dreams of being rooted in one spot, would become the new reality we will live ( or try to live through - not sure how to put that).

but right now my reality is that I have A LOT of packing to do.

I am hoping that by sharing my final reason for being so distracted will bring lots of advice of how to survive it. as if life wasn't too much for me to handle every day already, I guess my constitution is gonna get a work out - I'll keep you posted on that goes.