New Contractor

Well, it is official! The contractor that was awarded the contract in May is indeed going to be the new contractor until this project ends in 4 years. What does this mean for Jim's current employment and future plans? We don't know as of yet, but should have a better idea in a month when they officially take over. We do know that it has put a kink in our plans as to when he graduates, since the company he was hoping to switch to did not get the contract and are pulling out of the area.

At least we now know who it is and can now make some solid plans once the dust settles from the transition. Definitely a move is in our future, but when and where is still to be determined. Ahhhhhhhhh life . . . .

Is There a Sign Around My Neck That I'm Not Seeing?

For some reason in the past couple of weeks I have been asked A LOT, and I mean A LOT, about when or if we are going to have any more kids. It seems I can't get away from it (ie church, card club, grocery store, Zumba, etc.) Usually it is by people who do not know our story, so they ask very innocently. Often I just brush them off or just change the subject all together. Not only is it a deeply emotional answer, but I never know quite what to say. Also, my mood at the time seriously comes into play as to how I want to answer vs. how I should, which is another reason I just keep quiet.

If there is anything I have learned in all of this, it is that this is a personal and private decision that you can't just assume you know the answer for someone else. You just never know what all is going on or is involved. I also know that if you do ask that question, you need to be prepared to really hear the answer, not just wait for a canned answer and walk away. Maybe that person really needs to talk it out or maybe they just really want to keep it private. In other words, be prepared if you are going to ask a question like that. The answer just may surprise you.

Card for the Month

This post will be short. Why? Father-in-law coming tomorrow instead of Friday; house a wreck due to remodel; remodeling still in process (father-in-law rescinded on help offer - grrrrrrr); babysitting friend's little one tomorrow morning which is causing me major panic due to the lack of time I will have to clean.

So just for preservation's sake here is the card I made for this month:

This is the outside.

:

This is the inside that is a pop-up.

Here is the envelope that I made with it.

The theme was female birthday. Thanks to my Silhouette, I just had to pick out colors and piece it together. (Definitely glad I bought a new blade!)

Operation: Grass Is Greener

Now that the cavalry (aka my dad) has arrived. Some bigger projects are in the works. For example, the deck! Here is the deck before:

See how it has no railing and it is pretty high up? Stupid, right? Yeah, we thought so as well. Oh yeah, and we found out it was not up to code and should not have been sold to us that way. Yeah, great. One more reason we "love" the previous owners. Anywhoo . . . . This is what we have been working on and here it is as of tonight:



The railing is all done and now just needs to be stained. It looks so good we may even consider inviting people over for a barbecue and not be embarrassed. However, that and the staining will have to wait since we want to take advantage of the extra help we have right now so next is the basement. If you don't hear from any of us within a week, you may want to send out Search and Rescue. We may have been swallowed by all of the junk down there.

Operation: Grass Is Greener . . . . the Saga Continues

If you have followed me on Facebook, you will know that there have been some interesting events in regards to this project. However, all that is left is to clean up the caulking around the edges and it is truly done. In the meantime, here are some pictures to give you an idea of what has been going on:

This is what the surround looks like in the hall bathroom and is identicle to what we had in our bathroom, except our surround had some cracks due to the domestic violence that occurred between the previous owners.

Jim caulked over the cracks as a temporary fix when we first moved in but it was starting to come off and we also knew we needed to replace the surround before we could put the house on the market. We agonized over what we should do and I made the decision to tile and even decided on the pattern and color.

I was shocked when I ripped it out (yep, ripped it out all by myself - thank you very much) that it was a ceramic surround and extremely heavy. That tells you how violent the previous family was. YIKES!

This is what my husband got to see after mowing the lawn and realizing what I was doing. HEHEHEHEHE No going back now!

And the final product! Didn't it turn out nice?! I am so proud of my hubby! (Notice the grout matches much better than the kitchen. Guess who picked out this grout. Sorry honey. Still love you!)

Here is a close up of the pattern and shelving. I'll be so glad to have our bathroom back! Stay tuned. Many projects are hopefully going to be done in the next couple of weeks thanks to our dads coming to visit and help out.

Roses . . . . . . Finally!

This past winter my roses were all killed by the bitter cold temperatures we had during the winter, so I had to plant all new ones. Due to the cold and rain we had in May and early June, I held off on planting anything new until mid- to late June. Finally they are starting to bloom!



Each bush is a different color of rose and so far this bush and a Fire and Ice bush have bloomed. This picture doesn't really do this one justice. It is sort of a brownish peach color, which I have never seen before but looks so antique and elegant. I can't wait to see what the other bushes actually produce!

Card For the Month

Here is the card that I created for July:

Very simplistic, but it was all the imagination I could muster this month.