We need a week off.... To sleep. :)

Well, well, well... Here we are, almost mid July already and we're still working our tails off to get this build done!!! :)

I"m not feeling overly clever today... We stayed up too late yet again last night trying to get the last bit of mud on the walls... Ran out of mud, so we're finishing up tonight and hopefully hitting the pillow fairly early...

Status as of yesterday:

Big room (living room) is textured, sanded the ceilings last night - and plan on texturing the ceiling tomorrow:




This is how pretty we look while sanding and texturing....



I think every piece of 'weekend wear' clothing we own (shoes included) are covered in mud:



You would not believe how tedious and time consuming mudding and sanding is? It seems like we've been working in SLOW motion, but we haven't! Hello???? Can we be DONE with this already? haha... I know, I know... Don't rush. But dang! We'd like to pick out paint! and flooring!

Ok, ok... I'll post more this weekend when we have the rest of the texture finished. Yay!

Much love,

H

Another Month gone by.... Sheesh!

I cannot believe that yet ANOTHER month has flown by... Just yesterday we were wrapping up Han's 12th bday party - and since then so much more has happened!

First of all, the house progress is amazing... Tiring... but it is really coming along. We have to stop having guests out on the weekends though - completely halts all productivity!!! and has something to do with bigger headaches than normal the next day! hahaha...

Anyway - since the last update:

Hannah won a band award (the only one given that night!) and wrapped up 6th grade:



Jeremy and I celebrated out 6 year wedding anniversary:



Holton got the flu - and kept it for an entire week:



Once feeling better - he helped daddy an me put the siding on the house:



Which WORE that poor boy OUT:



Speaking of siding, we got the breezeway done and where the two garage doors used to be - can't wait to paint:





In the middle of all this madness - we celebrated Holt's 3rd birthday - and he got his first gas-powered 4 wheeler:



We added to our family two barn cats - Hank and Dolly... (Hank is a girl):



We painted Hannah's room upstairs and put in her new furniture - yes, it is VERY VERY VERY PINK:



We set up the boys room upstairs (almost there - not quite RIGHT yet):



We had some fireworks inside the house:



We finished the sheetrock in the soon-to-be living room, mud room, hallway and stairwell AND have started (and almost finished with) the first round of tape and bedding:




Installed a couple of windows:



And most recently - started sanding the ceiling to finish up the taping and bedding so we can texture:

PRETTTTTTY.... NOT!



On the list of to-do's for the weekend - hopefully we'll get to finish all of the tape and bed and POSSIBLY start the texturing process... I'm thinking we're another week out for that...

What makes all of the long nights worth it??? Moments like this:



Whew... Soon enough - we'll be done with the add-on... and start the remodel on the inside... and then onto the cows/horses/barn and the fences... sheesh! We'll see rest in 2013. maybe.

hahaha...

Much love...

H

25 Things I've learned since moving to our mini-farm....

1.) Spiders and me do not co-habitate... I do not care how "good" they are suppose to be for other bugs... You all must die. seriously. (already knew this - hello bought a freaking farm!! Hi GENIUS!)

2.) Drywall should be hung horizontally... for real.. not kidding... me stupid. you not. don't look at my mud lines.

3.) There is a reason that studs are set 16 inches apart... Learn from our mistakes... 16 inches... for real.

4.) A "rasp" is quite important when you are sheet-rocking...

5.) I learned what a rasp was.

6.) According to spell check - sheetrock is not one word.

7.) Many screws are necessary... NOT as necessary as dad says... (if I could interject with a picture example here - I would)... asshole...

8.) Listen to your elders...most of them can actually give you good advice... really...most do.

9.) Your elders might not be older than you.

10.) I am WAY stonger than I ever thought I was... and Jer is superman.

11.) That ANYTHING is possible with the right attitude. (thank you God)

12.) Don't borrow gas out of the barn... Just don't.

13.) That #12 makes Jer laugh - because he did. (the 4-wheeler is smoking like we lit it on fire)

14.) That "dishpan" hands - don't really happen... No dishwasher - 6 months - my hands are fine..

15.) Septic peeps want to suck your shit. because it costs $350. You don't need your shit sucked. well.. We hope we don't.

16.) Air-tools are THE coolest thing ever... other than the miter saw. that bitch rocks.

17.) Jer is a rockstar.

18.) You can live without air conditioning 24/7. Sweat will not kill you - unless you are trying to sleep.

19.) Sleeping = a $500 electric bill.

20.) June bugs = rockets... they love beer too. Cover your beer.

21.) I love beer...oh wait...I already knew this.

22.) Buy the expensive toilet seats... just do. especially if you have boys in the house.

23.) Don't squish the fat spiders -unless you want to see 400 little ones spread like wildfire.

24.) Screw dusting, mopping or even sweeping. Do it - you will be pissed in less that 5 minutes.

25.) Cows die. When they do - most of their body parts will end up in your back yard. and it stinks. really really bad.

Many...many...many more to come...

Much love... and many blessing to you and yours... (and ours!!)

H

Ok... Two in ONE day? NO WAY you Say!

hahaha... Cat in the Hat anyone??? :)

I've got SOOOOOOOOOO many pics of my itty bitty babies (who the heck am I kidding)!!! I should start describing them as my 'almost teenage freaking momma out - Hannah', my 'little boy that really isn't little anymore and has lost all BABY associated with the term BABY, toddler or little boy - Haden' and my 'baby that's not a baby anymore but more like a full size bulldozer boy- Holt'...

It's all part of it, right? Ugh... Killing me - but makes me so proud at the same time. :) As birthdays go by, I remember that my birthdays are going by too. I haven't found a gray hair yet, but I'm sure they are coming - and I can't see crap since my hair is still so blonde...(yay!) It also reminds me that I've kept them alive for one more year! (haha.. I know - sad... but damn - it is TRUE!) Especially with my daredevil bulldozer Holt! :) I wanted to post of few of my favorite recent pics... If you read my updates on Facebook - these are all there... But some folk haven't made it to the FB world yet - OMG? WHAT? haha...

ANyway - I got them all in the same shot - and while Holt's eyes are shut - Han looks so pretty! :)


I posted "To My Child" on FB - and it was then decided that I would forgo(sp?) working on the house that evening and blow bubbles with my kids... and so we did... And played volleyball, soccer and basketball... Maybe a little frisbee too! :) Holt drank more of the bubbles than blew... Oh well. He's not even 3 yet - I'll give him that. :)



From a few days before... I followed the boys around on a 'walk-about'... The creek is their favorite it seems! :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!



I have so many more.. but this is it for the moment...

Much love,

H

Is it really almost Mid-May? Whew!

Wow, can't believe that it's been over 20 days since my last post... I've been busy people!!! ;) We busted rear for 2 months trying to get as much done as possible for Hannah's 12th birthday party sleep over... Which BTW, was a TOTAL success!! We heard "Hannah, this is the best birthday party EVER!".... (pat on the back) haha... I love this little smirk on her face... it is basically "OK MOM - you can stop taking pictures now!!!"



As far as house progress:

Ram came out Friday and helped Jer finish sheet rocking the hallway and the rest of the 2 car part of the garage... I insulated the stairs and the rest of the garage so they could sheet rock (still need to SR the stairs - but that's going to take some engineering!!)


We've taken a MUCH needed break since Friday... Party Saturday, a trip to Keller to drop off my two favoritest girls Michaela and Miranda... a trip to the AT&T store... (hello iPhone... I LOVE IT!) and then a visit with Dillon and Barb... :)

I think we may start attacking the 3rd car part of the garage tonight or tomorrow... Demo is always fun, right??? Not really... But I'm ready to get this show on the road and close everything up so we can use the AIR CONDITIONER!!!! UGH!!!

We still haven't quite decided on how to tackle the air/heat downstairs... Under NO circumstances do we want to put in a third unit... Nor do we want to have to build out floor to ceiling 'boxes' to run air conditioning vents from upstairs... So we may be settling on a window unit that will handle the square footage... I can cover the monstrosity outside with rose bushes or something so that we can't see it from the road... (who cares really but us???)

This one gives me an idea of what this place will look like when we are done... Love it! Thank you to Hud for the lights!!! :)



haha... Speaking of Hud... Jer and him did a little bit of lawnmower racing a few weeks back... I wish I had my video camera on me - because it was quite amusing!!! :)



And last but not least - Jer 'took' the boys fishing in the part of the pond that falls on our property... Holton caught his first fish!!!



Much love from the Moorhead abode... :) If you haven't come to see us yet - get your rears in gear! Bring a hammer and energy...(kidding!) We'd love to see you!

Love,

H,J,H,H and H

Today's To-Do's.... Hmph...

My.. my.. my... do I have alot that I need to get done... Scratch that... WE have alot that WE need to get done... Knowing that, sometimes there are little comments made here and there that remind us of why we are doing what we are doing... I received one of these such 'comments' this morning from Jer's Aunt Karen:

"Heather and Jeremy’s house is really awesome and looking forward to a gathering there as well.
I am so proud of the two of you and your family life. What a model. After we left, Robby is surfing internet for a place like yours.
I am so excited about this shower and being with you all.
Love, Aunt Karen"

Now, tell me that wouldn't make you feel good and make all of the late nights, sore muscles, and the need for tetanus shots totally worth it??

Anyway - had to put that out there, because it really did make us feel good... We're building (literally) a better life for our babies and for ourselves!

Now, onto that TO DO list!!! So that I don't forget!

1. Find or get new Birth Certs for Haden! Little man's registration for Kindergarten is suppose to be this week - but they've extended... I cannot find his birth cert ANYWHERE! Nor Holton's... Order please!!!

2. Figure out where we are with the house remodel budget... Doesn't include flooring - that we can finance... (thank you Home Depot for 12 months no interest and continually upping my credit limit!) Should be able to floor the entire house when the time comes... (that will be LAST)

3. Reinvent the wheel... No, really... Just re-invent our family budget... Need to get serious about meal planning. So many of my mommy friends are on top of this, and I just am not that inventive! (and Haden won't even eat spaghetti) pfft!!!

Ok, that's all for now... Happy Day... :) Yay for the weekend coming up!!!

AHHH... One more thing... I forgot that the boys have taken up Golfing... :) They are so funny!!! Holton seems to be more like a hockey player with the club and the ball... But Haden can really whack it and gets air and distance on his hits! :) Too cute if you ask me... (and I'm not biased... AT ALL!)

Time for Rest... We don't have TIME for that!!!

So, it's Wednesday - and we've taken a little time this week to rest... When I say A LITTLE - I mean LITTLE... Last week and weekend we were going 90-to-nothing and it caught up with us yesterday Morning when ALL of us, including the dogs, overslept. When you wake up during the week to the sunshine beaming on your face.... It's an instant "OH CRAP!" haha... :) Pretty sunrise, but not so pretty getting to work 2 hours late!



So, last night we ate leftovers, bathed the kids and were all in bed by 8:30!!! Definitely not enough rest, but we'll start again tonight possibly painting Han's room or finally finishing the clean up of the tile we installed two weeks ago...

Not sure yet, but I do know that we have to get the stairs functional and the walls built upstairs before Han's bday party on May 8th! She's got 8 girls staying the night - and I can tell ya - they won't fit in the main house!!! It won't be sheetrocked, but atleast they can use the stairs to go up and down during the chaotic sleepover...

A few pics that I've posted on FB already - but this is the ceiling coming down:



We've still got so much to do... and so little time and $$ to do it! :) That's life right? Anyway, mega buckling down in May... On all things money and time related... I may start posting daily - as a reminder of what I am suppose to be accomplishing that day... Kind of a tracker to-do list... :) we'll see.


My little munchkins didn't feel well this weekend - which wasn't helping.. I'm praying that it was just allergies and not all of the dust we spread around when demo-ing the garage! :( bad momma!



The boys like to be in the middle of everything - as you can see... They look like red-headed step children on the weekend... If I'm not putting on my face - I'm not doing their hair! :)





Hannah hid in the house most of the weekend - so - not pics of lil' miss sunshine! :)

Gotta run! Much love!

H