Changes

  On Friday I said that Dan was working on a couple of projects that I hoped I'd be able to share today.  Well, I can!  Dan worked really hard all day Saturday and got the project finished, painted, and installed.  Then I spent Saturday evening doing my thing - you know, the pretty stuff.

Let's go back and look at the pictures of the family room on Friday.

Do you notice anything with the windows?  No???  Well, you wouldn't.  They were very unfinished.

Now, let's look at today.

 See the shelves???  Yep, Dan built the shelves for me this weekend and I think they look pretty awesome.

We have ordered some curtains that we hope will be in this week that will change this area even more.  I think it will be the finishing touch for these windows.  Anyway, I am so happy with the shelves.  I still need to "tweak" the left side of the shelf on the picture above.  Not real happy with the way it looks - but I'll work on it. 

Plus, we were able to get rid of another box from the garage!  Yes!!!!

We also worked on one other area.

Back to Friday's pictures.

 This is the breakfast nook/coffee bar area.  I'm sure you were wondering about that big blank wall staring at you.  Well, I knew what I wanted there the whole time and we were able to install them Friday.

I had always envisioned big chunky floating shelves here.  Dan kept trying to figure out how he was going to create my idea.  Well, I was looking in the IKEA catalogue to show him the shelves and we discovered we could order the shelves that I liked cheaper than it would cost Dan for the lumber - not counting his time.  So - what does it look like?? 

 Here they are!

Now, if Dan had made them they might be a little bit thicker - but I think they look awesome.

  

Here's a close up for you.

The faux pine cone is just a space saver for now - I am going to do a chalkboard there but I just needed something to fill the space for a little while.  Almost everything else on the shelves are antiques.  The lantern on the top shelf was Dan's grandfathers, the bowl on the bottom shelf I got at an auction when we lived in North Carolina - it is filled with antique butter molds and I have my antique coffee mill that I also got at an auction.  Then there is my antique dough bowl in the corner.  Things are starting to take shape.

What else did we do last week?  Monday night I watched the Bachelorette on TV - this is probably the one show that Dan and I don't watch together.  I go into the bedroom on Monday night and watch it while Dan watches something else in the family room.  I think this week might be the final episode, but I'm not sure.  I like the girl this time and I wish her the best. 

Tuesday we went to an ice cream social here in the Village for the residents of River Woods (the private home owners).  I don't know if I have ever said what all is here in the Village as far a housing is concerned.  We have apartments that are rentals (duplexes, some triplexes, two HUD apartment "high rises" - one is three stories and the other is five - , and a few rental houses), there is a mobile home park (the residents there own their mobile home, but rent the lot), an assisted living facility, and a nursing home along with the private home "subdivision" called River Woods which is where we live.  Here in River Woods we own our house and land - we can sell whenever we want or we can leave our home to our family upon our deaths (you just have to be at least 55 to live here).

Wednesday we went to the grocery store and Lowes to pick up a few things - like the lumber for Dan to make my shelves.  We also got a couple of plants and planters for that area by the garage door.

Here they are before I got them planted.

There is one on each side of the garage door.

Thursday we had our friends Bud and Joyce down for dinner - nothing fancy - baked spaghetti, salad, and bread.

Friday we worked on the shelves.

Saturday I did laundry while Dan worked on the family room shelves.

Then came Sunday -

Actually I guess the first clue was Saturday - I had gone online to set up some E-payments and I noticed a deduction that I didn't know what it was - just a very small amount, but it just looked fishy.  Of course, our bank is not open on the weekend, so I wrote everything down and told Dan I would go to the bank Monday and check on it.  Well, Sunday I get a phone call from the fraud alert system at our bank about "suspicious" activity.  I call and sure enough someone had cloned my debit card and was using it in Orlando.  None of the hits were large amounts but they cancelled my card and told me to go to the bank today to get a new card and "dispute" the debits so we could get our money back.  I was at the bank this morning by 9:30, we have our money back, and I have a new debit card (this one has the chip in it - the old one didn't).  I really don't understand how the cloning of the card works - they didn't have my card- but they were using it as a "charge" card so you didn't need to have the pin, but it still is deducted from our checking account.  We have no idea how or where this happened - I  NEVER use the debit card online - but it happened at some store.  We usually only shop with it at WalMart, Lowes, or the local Village grocer so we are somewhat at a loss of how, but anyway now we have to decide if we want to continue to use the debit card or start using a credit card and paying it off every time we use it.  With the chip in the debit card it might be okay - I don't know - we'll have to make a decision on that.  I'm just thankful that I noticed it and the fraud alert team were on the ball and cancelled the card before any big charges were made.

Well, that just about does it.  Three posts in less than a week.  A new record!  Hopefully, I can continue to post regularly but I don't know what I'll write about.  We'll see! 

Have a great day!

Doctors Appointments and a LONG weekend

We are still working on the back patio.

The concrete forms have been put in and we are waiting for the 

county to come and inspect before we can pour the concrete.

The county is SUPPOSE to be here today

and we will pour concrete tomorrow.

At least that is the plan.

We had a nice long weekend -

Saturday - Dan and I spent the day doing our

normal running around.

Breakfast first - then into Sebring to look at a few things.

Didn't buy anything - but we are looking for some 

things for the patio once we get it finished.

Sunday - Dan went into Lakeland to his grandson's Baccalaureate service.

I stayed home and did some work around here - 

Laundry and cleaning house.

Monday we kept Little Miss for a little while -

Then Melissa and Justin came over

for dinner - Hamburgers and French Fries.

Yesterday we spent the day in Lakeland -

I had two doctor's appointments -

Mammogram first (had a 3-D scan)

then lunch at Cracker Barrel.

Then back to Watson Clinic and my 

first appointment with a dermatologist.

Had three moles "burned" off my

chest.

They are a little sore this morning, but all is well.

At least they weren't anything to worry about -

they just needed to come off.

The rest of the week should fly by.

As I stated earlier -

tomorrow - they are suppose to pour the concrete.

Friday - Dan goes back into Lakeland (third time this week)

to his grandson's graduation and I'll be keeping 

Little Miss.

They are also suppose to pull the forms off the concrete on

Friday.

Dan will be putting the retaining wall around the 

"beach" area on Saturday. Hoping to have the

sand delivered the first part of

next week so we 

can get it set up by next weekend.

We also hope to get the pedestals installed on the

washer and dryer this weekend, but 

Dan has to have help.

So, we are hoping that Justin can come

over and help him get these

installed.

Then we can get the patio furniture out of the little

storage unit and get the table, chairs and lounge

chairs set up on the new patio.

That would also help with getting the storage unit 

emptied.  I am still hoping that we will be able to

get everything out of the small unit before the end 

of the month - but to be honest - it's just 

not looking good.  

We shall see.

Sunday will be church.

Seems like we are going to have a

busy week.

I'll let you know how much

we get done.

Have a great rest of your week.

Hugs -

Carol

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.