Monday, November 29, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tony and I had a great Thanksgiving with our close friends. We are so lucky to have people we consider family in NC. Well Thanksgiving is our first start to the holiday eating season also called putting on the winter weight. Pounds gain...0...good job.

We did not do Black Friday. First time in a long time we did not get up early to go shopping. It was nice to relax this past weekend. I can't even remember the last time Tony and I had a four day weekend and just stayed home. We always travel somewhere. My Christmas shopping is almost done. Scored big at Kohl's and Macy's over the weekend.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thought for the day....

Why do female mannequins have nipples? Even the males look like a Ken doll so why do the females have more detail?

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Patio


I promised pictures of the patio a long time ago. Finally here they are.
The patio used to be 10x10 and now is 14x22.
Just need to add the covered roof now.
Can you believe there used to be a shed here?
The trees need to rebound since they back side was blocked by the shed.
This is really pretty in the summer when the flowers are blooming.

It's Finally Done

Our flooring is finally complete! We still have a of cleaning to do in the other rooms and a few more decorations but for the most part it is done!


I can't believe this is my fireplace. Tony did an amazing job.


The brown walls are starting to grow on me. I need to buy green pillows and get rid of the brown ones.


The dinning room chairs look better against the brown walls.



I love my bedroom rugs from Target. They are so soft. The headboard is from World Market. I might get rid of my Euro Pillows since they cover it.


I have a fireplace that goes under the picture. Still need to put that back in the room.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tis the Season for Flannel

Yes it is only in the 60’s right now in North Carolina but after living here for over five years now 60 degree weather is cold to me. So much so that on a sunny day of 68 degrees I decided that was the day to get out my flannel PJ’s.

Flannel PJ’s must be a husband’s worst nightmare. There is nothing sexy about them and to make matters worse for Tony he says I look like my mother in him. Hmm…maybe they are the new excuse now for “having a headache”. Now when sex is out of the question I put on my flannel PJ’s and he gets a vision of my mom…total mood killer for him. I don’t have to make any excuses verbally because the PJ’s speak for themselves. I am sure Tony’s favorite flannel PJ’s I own are the pink and purple set with schnauzers all over them. Even I will admit it they make me look like a whacked out mental patient. But hey, they are comfortable and warm in the winter time.

I bought Tony some flannel PJ’s one year envisioning us cozied up on our flannels and watching movies on the couch with hot chocolate in our hands. I’ve never seen him in the shirt. I think there is something about matching tops and bottoms for sleeping in that men do not like. Unless they are completely metro sexual and the PJ’s are made by Ralph Lauren.

House is Starting to Come Together

The hardwood floors are complete in the living room, dinning room, and the main hallway. We just have left the bedroom and another hallway. I can't believe it is all coming together. I think my camera has some water spots in it from when I took it snorkeling. I may have to send it in for warranty work. The stabilizer also does not seem to be working.





Monday, November 15, 2010

Surgery

I am going to have surgery on December 8th for my knee. It will not be for a tear like the doctor's originally thought in the beginning of all of this. I have damaged cartilage in my knee and they are going to scrap it clean. My doctor said in 90% of people this heals on its own but I am that 10% that needs surgery for it to be fixed. No more going back and forth on this anymore. It is finally going to happen. I can’t wait to feel normal again.

Progress

Tony and I went into this past weekend thinking we were going to have our floors fully installed. Boy were we wrong! We did not even get maybe a quarter of the way through. Saturday was an entire day of prep work that included painting, base board installation, and a few other things. Sunday is when we finally started to put down the flooring. Tony was a little glue happy in the beginning so we were fighting the glue coming up between the seams but we were able to get it under control. My body is so sore from all the squatting and bending over. We did not finish the clean up until around 10:30 and then I still needed to wash all of the glue and other garbage off of me. My clean up took over an hour! The clue was caked onto my feet. Never did I think I would use the orange goop as a method to pedicure my feet. I scrubbed for nearly and hour on my feet and they still are not all the way clean. I have a rash on my skin were glue was in contact. I am so glad I wore gloves on my hands. I finally feel asleep around midnight only to get up a few hours later for work. I have no idea how Tony and I are going to even want to put down more flooring tonight. I probably am going to fall asleep as soon as I get home.

Yes that is all we got done in one day.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Making Progress

My builder came yesterday to fix the cracks in my foundation and replace the cracked tiles. We got all new tiles in the laundry room and they replaced the cracked ones in the kitchen. They come back Saturday morning to grout and put the membrane down over the cracks they sealed in the living room and bedroom. Tony finished tiling the fireplace and we just need to hang the mantel. The living room painting is complete. The tile work built up so much dust! I have a lot of cleaning a head of me once this all is over with. Right down to the curtains, windows, and pictures. Tomorrow Tony starts the hardwood floor installation!


New tile in laundry room minus the grout


Our upstairs mess.


Tony's beautiful work on the fireplace

Sunday, November 7, 2010

My Messy House!

I can’t wait to get my house back in order. This place is such a disaster. Tony tore up the carpet in our bedroom and we found the worst cracks yet. I am glad we are getting all of this taken care of by the builder. We are sleeping upstairs in our spare bedroom for probably the next week and a half until our new floors are down. It is kind of fun to mix things up a bit in our house but long for the day my life is no longer tossed around.



I can tell the stress of all the things that need to get done is wearing at Tony. Probably more so since football is on. I help out as much as I can but the truth is this shit is a man’s job. I try to want to do everything and be strong woman but this shit is for the men. I was painting base board thinking to myself this would be a great thing to pay the neighbor kid to do. But I know Tony would refuse. Then I thought to myself this would be the perfect job to screw up so he never asks me to help out again. Score for the women. You all know what I am talking about. Men always purposely strew things up so we never ask them to help again. With how they do the laundry, the dishes, vacuum, you name it. Somewhere along the way your man purposely did something so horribly wrong for the purpose of you never asking him to do it again. As tempting as it was to do a crappy paint job on the base board I did not since I would be the one looking at it when it is all done. Although the thought did put a smile on my face.



Tony painted our living room and dining room brown from the green we had. I am not sure I like it. Our furniture is brown, floor is brown, rugs are brown, and the last thing we need is more brown. When I told Tony I do not think our pictures will match he replies with “We can go to Kirkland’s and pick up some new pictures. They have a lot of those with brown tones.” My response: “Just what we need is more brown.” Our plan is to put chair rail up and paint the bottom part white but in the meantime I am not going to like it very much. Especially if we put our pictures down there and they clash horribly. Last thing I want to spend money on right now is new pictures. I do like the color but not sure it is right for our house.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Election Day

I turn on CNN anxiously awaiting the first poll results to come in.

Tony: “This is just as exciting as the super bowl.”
Me: “I know!”
Tony: “I was kidding.”

Wow am I a political dork.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Praying Mantis


This was only the second praying mantis that I saw since living in NC. Smaller than the last one. He was just sitting still hanging out by my flowers.

Our Labor Intensive Halloween

We started tearing up our hardwood flooring this past weekend. Friday we went to Lowes to pick up supplies and tile for our fireplace. Saturday Tony gave it pretty hard with tearing up the flooring. He worked from about 7:30 AM to 9 PM. I did my grocery shopping that morning and had every intention on helping him when I came home but a flu bug hit me when I was in Walmart. I thought I was not going to make it out of there before throwing up. Perfect timing to get sick. Once I returned home I laid down for a while and slept as best as I could with the noise. I tried helping Tony out as much as I could by throwing wood in the back of the truck, sweeping up small pieces of wood, and scrapping glue but this is a job that really is a man’s job.

The tile that will go on our fire place. Matches our kitchen.

Tony’s back kept locking up and I knew this was not going to be good if he kept doing this on his own. I suggested we hire our dog sitter. Tony wanted nothing to do with that at first. I finally convinced him he needed help so I hired Sean to help on Sunday. Tony reminds me of my dad when he wants to do everything himself and cannot admit he needs help. I learned over the years that whenever Tony takes forever to complete a project or does not want help I just start calling him Bob. He always used to make fun of how my dad never finishes anything when we first were together. Over the years I noticed Tony starting to become just like him so in those cases his name becomes Bob and then he starts to get things done.

Tony hard at work.

I could tell Tony was going to be in incredible pain on Sunday if I did not do something about it. I gave him anti-inflammatory medication and had him sit in the jet tub after he was done working. He said he felt like a kid but I knew he was enjoying the king treatment. Nothing like seeing your man take a bubble bath while reading a Harely Davidson catalog. It worked. The only thing that was sore on him Sunday was his hands from the blisters.

Sunday Sean and Tony worked really hard to get just about the rest flooring ripped up. Now we just have the hallway and part of the dining room left. We still have to scrape up the glue yet which is a pain the butt job. Tony is renting a machine today to help with the rest of the flooring. He was going to get it over the weekend but the place was closed.

Sydney was a pumpkin and Oscar a spider

We took the dogs around the neighborhood for Halloween dressed in their costumes. We did not have any trick or treaters. Next year I am not buying any candy. Lights will be out.
Jack was a bee