Updating some stuff

The week just seems to fly by.  On Monday I think the week is going to take forever - then the next thing you know it's Friday (or Sunday)!

Last Saturday we went down to Ft. Myers.  We went to Hobby Lobby to pick 

up some picture frames then went to Home Goods and found some items for the house.  Sunday was spent cleaning and laundry.

This week didn't have too much going on during the week - 

we went out to eat Friday night and then

went up to Lowe's to pick up some things that we needed to

complete some of the projects we are working on.

Saturday we went down to the farmer's market in Okeechobee.

I guess I really didn't realize that it is as close to go to

Okeechobee as it is to go to Avon Park.

Anyway, the farmer's market there is a nice market and we were

able to pick up a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit.

Today, I went over and visited with my mom for a little while.  Then I came home and cleaned house and did the laundry.

Dan hadn't been feeling well this week - a bad cough - but 

he did go fishing twice during the week, and he is 

out fishing now.

He is really enjoying being able to just walk out the back door,

walk across the yard, lower the boat, get in, and away he goes.

I listed a couple of things on Craigslist, but haven't gotten any "hits"

on them - so, we will probably just donate them and take the

tax write off.  That's okay - it will all work out.

The main thing is getting the stuff out of the garage.

To give you a little update on our projects:

There are some things that we want to do - most of these are outside - so, we have been getting some estimates on the work.
So far, we have not decided which project we are going to do first.  That will be decided after tomorrow, as we are getting an estimate on adding A/C vents in the family room.

The family room was, at one time, a screen porch.  It is under the roof of the house - not an add-on - and the former owner had windows installed to make the family room; however, since they were only winter residents they did not have a/c vents put in.  Well, there is a marked difference in the air temperature between the living room and the family room.  So, an a/c man is coming tomorrow to see if we can add the vents without having to get a larger a/c unit.  Depending on what they say (cause we have GOT to have air out there) will determine what else we will be able to do - as we are paying CASH for what ever we do!  (If we can add the vents WITHOUT having to

upgrade the A/C unit we will be able to do at least one of the 

following projects)

Some of the other projects that we want to do are:

1) the vents in the family room (first priority)

2) add a porch all the way across the back of the house - 

not all of it will be screened - but it all will be under roof.

This project will have to be done in stages - 

with the concrete slab going in first - 

then the roof over - 

and finally closing in the screen room part.

3) fence the back yard

(I think that is more important than the porch since Little Miss

will be playing in the yard this summer and I don't want to have 

to worry about her and the canal)

Those are the big projects that we want to do - of course, we will be

painting and doing updating in the house, but that doesn't count as these won't be MAJOR expenses.

Here are some before and afters of the house so far.

(The before pictures were taken that first Saturday we 

took possession.)

 Living Room Before:

 Looking from family room to front door

From front door to family room

Now:

From family room to front door

Front door to family room

Looking toward the Dining Room before.

Dining room now

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom now

Guest Bathroom Before

Guest Bathroom now

This is the room we have been working on this week. 

Changes so far include:

New shower curtain, towels, rug

(from our Home Goods trip)

New hardware on vanity

New light fixture over vanity

 The pictures, lamp, and decorations in here

we already had.

I've ordered the wallpaper we are going to use in this room

 (It is a paintable bead board wallpaper)

and we have settled on the paint color 

we are going to use above the wallpaper

 and on the wallpaper itself.

So, this room is a "room in progress". 

(and it will probably be the first room "finished")

Guest Bedroom/Nursery Before

Guest Bedroom/Nursery Now

and

finally

Kitchen Before

Kitchen Now

So far, we have made the most changes to the Kitchen -

New Stainless Steel Appliances

(the only large expense inside the house)

New handles on cabinets

New curtain

New rugs

(still need to change out the dishwasher but that will have to wait)

So, as you can see, we have been making steady progress but there are still projects that we want to accomplish. 

(Can anyone say PAINTING!)

We are going to get estimates on this too, since Dan has 

decided that he doesn't want to paint the whole house. 

However, I don't think we have done too bad 

since we have only been in the house a month.

Now, of course, I have to leave you with some pictures of Little Miss.

These were taken this week - hope you enjoy.

She is getting "SO BIG!"

Gosh, her Nana loves her "SO MUCH!"

Hugs -

Carol/Nana

P.S.  I am still thinking about the other blog.  I'll let you know IF I decide 

to tackle another one.

Happenings

Wow!  Has it really been almost two months since I did a post (other than the notification of comment verification being put on the blog)?  That just is amazing to me - I don't know if it is because I have been so busy, or because I don't have anything to say.  Well, a lot has happened so it can't be because I don't have anything to say - so, I'll just blame it on being WAY to busy.  Let me see if I can get you somewhat caught up.

We closed on the house on March 13th - after a lot of drama the preceding couple of weeks,  the closing went down with no problems.  Now, while we closed on Wednesday we did not get possession of the house until Saturday, March 16th.  I actually think we were turning down the road to the new house as the previous owners were turning on the main street out of our subdivision - Dan was that anxious to get here.

I think I told you guys that we bought the house furnished.  However, there was very little that we wanted to keep.  So, we arranged for a consignment store to come in and they bought all the furniture.  The only problem was - it took them a few days to get everything out, which meant we could not move our stuff in.

Dan did paint the master bedroom while we were waiting to get all the old stuff out.  With the help of our fantastic SIL we moved things in every night for a week - then on Saturday the 23rd we FINALLY had all our furniture in the new house.  I guess I should qualify that statement - we had all the our furniture that will FIT in the new house.

There are just some things that won't go in this house because this house it just too small.  However, I'm not worried about it - if it doesn't fit, it's gonna be GONE!  We are planning on a HUGE garage sale and just get rid of all this stuff.  (I am determined to make THIS our forever home - so if it doesn't fit in this house I'm not going to pay storage to keep it!)

We have been making some slight changes  in the house already - I'll show those pictures in future posts.  I'm just excited to make this house a home for all of us.

Little Miss is doing great - growing so fast.  She is standing on her own more and more, but still not walking yet.  I'm sure it won't be long - but I have a hard enough time keeping up with her while she is crawling - don't know what I'll do once she is walking!  (I guess there will be more doors closed than what I normally like.)

I'll give you an example of what I am talking about.

We put a baby gate up going into the laundry room to keep Little Miss out of the dog food and water.  I had to leave the gate up off the floor so the pups could go under to get in.  Well, the pups kept going in and out, showing Little Miss how to get in - well, about two weeks after we moved in I missed Little Bit - and this is what I found

Well, we don't worry with the baby gate any more - it doesn't do any good.

I so wanted to get a video of her going under - it is so cute - but every time I got the phone out to video her - she wouldn't go under.

This one was taken a couple of weeks ago too - Grampie Dan with all "his" girls.

I've been trying to get back into the swing of things - but I don't know why it's a lot harder this time.  Anyway - I'll get my mojo back soon - I'm even thinking of doing a different blog for the stuff we do to the house and just have this one as a "weekly" diary of what we are doing.

Just something that is going on in my head - the other blog would have the DIY projects, menu's, cooking ideas, maybe some stuff about our diet efforts,  and, of course, stuff about Little Miss.  I know that some of you that read this blog don't want to hear all the other stuff, but I find that is what inspires me to write.  So, I'm thinking that if I get into that - this will be the diary of our everyday life - with posts on Sundays.  The other blog would have posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  So, what do you think?  Think I can handle that?  Like I said, just something I'm thinking about.

Well, gotta run - think Little Miss is up from her nap.

Talk to you soon!

Hugs -

Carol

Putting up Comment Moderation and Verification

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in awhile.

I will explain in a later post, however, I wanted to let you know that I have been forced to put comment verification onto my blog.

I have been over run with spammers and I am so over it.

So, if you want to get in touch with me, and you don't want to do the verification (and believe me, I don't like it either) you can reach me via my facebook account.

Sorry guys, but hopefully this will stop the spammers.

If not, I will delete this blog, which I hate to do because it has all the records of our time on the road and the remodeling of the old house, but I will do what I have to do.

Hugs to my friends!

Carol