Kitchen Craziness!

Well, after 3 long weeks of waiting and great anticipation... we finally got our kitchen fully installed. Would you like to see it? We decided after the install on adding one more set.. it has 4 drawers (since my current set up only has 1 drawer).
We also are waiting on our microwave to be installed. I'm guessing it will be installed when they install the last drawer set.

Fireproof yourself!

Oh my goodness!! I was so blessed this morning! We visited another church because we saw a sign posted near our house that a nearby Bible believing church (one that we're somewhat familiar with) was having a Fireproof weekend. On Saturday, they showed the movie and had Kirk Cameron (who played firefighter Caleb Holt in the movie) speak afterward. Then, on Sunday he spoke as he kicked off their 7 week series on fireproofing your marriage.

All I have to say, is that Kirk Cameron has such an anointing! He spoke so well. He added a little bit of humor in there... he was so clear, so straightforward. The sermon was a little longer than I was used to... but I didn't notice at all. He was THAT good.

He had 3 points that I'd like to share with you (and for my own reference when I lose the paper I wrote on.)
1) Home problems are heart problems! There is only one person that can fix that... God.
2) We're either signing Sinatra ("My Way) or we're surrendering to self.
3) We need to burn more bridges (to sin) and build more alters (to God, of forgiveness)

I could go on, and on, and on about his sermon. If you'd like to hear this sermon yourself... click here. I also bought his book... it's a great read thus far!

Enjoy!

I took the picture above... I was so excited!
He gave this funny little smirk as I was taking it.
Then I had to "keep the line moving" so I couldn't retake it.
I guess, you take what you can.

Fabulous Floors!

This week I had the most amazing morale boost! We have put a huge dent in transforming the look of our house. Last Tuesday we got our basement floor installed. If you remember from previous pictures we had this suspicious "adhesive" in the basement... so we were told by our inspector to put some sort of barrier between us and the floor. We went to Home Depot and fell in love with the cherry colored Trafficmaster Allure flooring. Good value for the price (or so we believed). How do you like it??

Before

After



Albeit dirty, this is the basement with the drywall...
this was our Saturday project

Also this week, they started the daunting task of refinishing our hardwood floors. As some of you could attest, our hardwood flooring throughout the house was pretty badly damaged by the former tenants (we believe mostly from their large dog and poor housekeeping skills). Unfortunately, I don't have a before picture (at least that I've located yet) of the hardwood floors, but the before picture below shows it with carpet... now, so you can get an idea.. all the spots on the carpet that one might think is simply just marks just from walking on a "nice carpet" are actually pet stains. With that in mind... look at the before, and now the beautiful after.

Before

After (Living Room)

Below is the before picture of our bedroom...
Again, remember spots mean yucky stains
and please, appreciate the lack of graffiti on the walls
4 coats of heavy duty primer later... I WON!

After... isn't it beautiful?! LOVE IT!

Well... that's it on the home front! I hope everyone else is enjoying their 2010! I'm starting to actually get a vision for OUR house!!

Happy New Year!

Jeremy and I wanted to extend to everyone the hope of an amazing 2010. We have several friends who are moving into new homes... having new babies... and just a ton of excitement all around! We pray the best for you. And if there is anything that we can do for you to help you out... please let us know. With the close of the 2009, I did a little bit of reflecting. Jeremy and I have been truly blessed to have such great families. We also have great friends who have blessed us so much this year.

Keep up the blogging! I love to see what's going on in everyone's lives. I'll do my best to keep updating. The excitement has just begun!!

Happy New Year! May God bless you and your family richly in 2010!

Kellee

A missing treasure... found!

Well, I guess "treasure" is not quite accurate.

You see, during the course of waiting for our house, we were asked 3 times to get an inspection for wood destroying pests. And all 3 times we came back with, no wood destroying insects were found, inactive (aka dead) ones were found... recommends seasonal spraying.

Well, today, we found the jewel. When the guy who is installing our new bathtub took down the old surround, down with it came a whole slew of carpenter ants!

Turns out the"inactive" carpenter ants were living under the plywood the the yucky bathtub was sitting on. Luckily by the grace of God, they were only destroying the plywood that was attached to the bathtub, and left the rest of the bathroom alone (or so it seems right now). It was odd, because there was also a large amount of concrete also helping support the nasty tub. Needless to say, we are trying to move past this, and head into the wonderfulness of a new bathtub... hopefully that project will be done by tomorrow.

Hammer Wielding Woman

Oh yes! I totally got to knock a wall out at our house. Here are the pictures! I am soo excited about how it all came out. There was even an amazing surprise... under the one wall, is also beautiful hardwood. Where we thought we'd have to have it "fixed"/patched actually looks great! So, it shouldn't be soo bad.

Personally, hammering out the drywall was so much fun. Any frustration or stress I had from this week or moving or whatnot... TOTALLY gone! I am also very pleased with our progress.This is my masterpiece

We recruited my cousin Andrew to take out the 1/2 wall
I think he may have even enjoyed it! (See video below)

My same wonderful cousin pulling out little tiny staples
that once held the carpet pad down to the floor.


We had some visitors come check us out.

Mine! Err... Ours!

This picture says it all! But alas! We are homeowners.... or as I say "mortages assumers."

Thank you to everyone who kept us in their thoughts and prayers over the last 3 months. It has been such a crazy ride. We are really excited about the adventure allowing us to embark on.

Furthermore... anyone want to help, we'll be having all sorts of priming parties, painting parties, moving parties etc. No experience necessary. We will feed anyone who comes to help. It will be loads of fun! The more the merrier!