The new and improved...

Here is a look at our handiwork! (so far). We have overhauled the master bath as well but there is still a little work to be done so pictures of that will soon follow. 

 

Thanks Painter Pat

So the guy who is painting our house is named Pat.  He is a simple man, maybe a little old fashioned; example, my name quickly went from Michaela to Margaret and Bella (our dog) was Beulah.  Anyway, this is a note for all you guys out there, just because you hear the whirring of a saw, doesn't mean you have jump into the mix to see what's happening.  And while I do appreciate chivalry, I'm on top of it.  I had one little piece of flooring left to put in to complete a particular row and Painter Pat decided to knock it in for me.  He said that it was a real tight fit (said in a really heavy Alabama accent) and therefore he would do it.  Mind you, he was already banging away while he said he was going to do it. Well 1) it had not been put in yet for a reason as I needed to trim it and 2) these muscles of mine might not be defined but they definitely refined.  Now, I have a piece jammed in incorrectly and the row is so tight I don't even know where to start to get the piece out. Again, thanks Painter Pat. On that note, while writing this, he nearly fell off his ladder. Great, that is all I need on top of everything else.  Safety first Painter Pat!  I can't complain too much as he was only required to paint two walls in the house and he is painting the entire house other than the office, small guest room and our room. For that, I am most appreciative. 

However, as I am currently painting my master bath myself, I will admit that I have avoided telling Painter Pat of my actions.  HAHAHAHAHA.  It is one of those "what would he think?" moments.  Yeah, I know his painting looks a hell of a lot better, but the termite company isn't paying to have my bathroom painted as well unfortunately. I have been telling him I have been organizing the closet instead. I think the reason he is painting everything so that the level of quality is raised to match his perfection. Hey, whatever floats your boat, I am not complaining!

The end is near...

What a wild past 4 months. I can't believe it has been that long!!!!  For all who need a little background on the situation, 4 months ago, I tore out over 1000 sq. ft. of our flooring in our house and was intending on installing new wood laminate flooring as a "keep me busy" project while Rich was deployed.  I got a third of the living room and dining room complete when I noticed a little dirt pile that would kept coming back after I cleaned it and sprayed God knows how many chemicals on it. Long story short, we had termites (our house is only 3 yrs old).  I had to rip out the portion of flooring I had installed and the biggest wall in our house and one of the walls in a bedroom were completely ripped out.  So for the past for months, our house has been a construction zone.  Rich will be leaving again soon so we have been busting butt to get everything done.  The contractor we went with has been great and has moved along very smoothly.  The painting is almost done and the brick on the back of the entire house will go back in hopefully next week.  I gutted the master bathroom (when in Rome...) and Rich and I tiled and I am now finishing painting, mirror replacing, etc. In addition, we are about 90% complete with the floor installation! I will say, I have been super artsy the past couple of weeks making fancy pillows, silk curtains, cornice boxes, etc. So that is the reasoning behind my lack of posting.  Have no fear, the house is back on track and so am I. I will post pictures this weekend once everything is complete!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

New Bedroom wall

This was on the exterior part of the house between the brick and wall!!!
No Brick yet but the house is all sealed up and ready to go.
New living room wall with a new, termite free door! The entire wall was replaced.

HGTV Watch Out continued!

The pictures are crappy but oh well. The explanation for the pictures are in the previous post!

Watch out HGTV!

Boy have we been busy! As Rich gears up to leave again, we have have been super busy working on the house. As many know, when it rains at our house, it pours. No really, when it rains, people couldn't even walk to our front door because we have officially the WORST layout when it comes to bad weather. In our entry way, there is a small opening in the roof so all the water from the room comes flooding through the opening, creating our own personal waterfall. Not anymore!! We finally got gutters put up! We had some very nasty weather today so we got to see first hand, and sure enough, no more waterfall.

In addition to gutters, Rich and I spent ALL day yesterday (Sunday) planting 5 trees, shrubs, extending the gutter outlet thingy, etc. In the front we planted a super cute Rosalinda Indian Hawthorne and in the back we planted 4 Bradford Pear trees. After recieving numorous citations for our trash can being in view of other lots (don't even get me started) we built a little fence particion and planted two Bougainvillas that will hopefully fill out sooner than later. Oh and did I mention our lawn is flourecent green after a little fertilizer? In short, you can't miss our house driving by!!

I still haven't even gotten to the exciting part!!! On one of our billion trips to Lowes, we checked out the laminate wood flooring as we often do. We have wanted to put in floors since we moved in. However, as many know we have a very open floor plan so that is a lot of square footage. We have been doing awesome saying "no" as we have been doing our best to keep to the budget. Low and behold, it was worth the wait. Lowes got in a new floor that 110% perfect for our house (matches the cabinets, lots of color variation) and the price was right! We now have around 100 sq. ft. of wood flooring in our garage. While Rich is gone, I am tackling the wood floors and tile in both the bathrooms. YAY!

Orchids

Rain Rain....

Rain Rain don't go away, please stay a while and make my yard look fantastic....that is how the song goes right?  Well apparently the April showers could not wait until April.  The past week we have been getting dumped on.  It has been great for our yard as mentioned before but everything else is suffering.  Rich has one more flight for his upgrade and hasn't been able to complete it due to the weather.  At that, he will most likely need to start "spinning up" or whatever (flying more, getting back into the grove) before he leaves again.  Mother nature has other plans.  Oh well, I do love rainy weather so I am not complaining.

The pups have been doing great.  Bella keeps finding new ways to be cute and definitely has both Rich and myself wrapped around her little paw.  Vance still has his moments (ate soap again but it was Dial....he only gets sick off of Ivory) but he has been really great.  The other day Rich took them swimming in the sound and due to the weather, the water was still high and choppy. So, Vance of all dogs wanted Rich to hold him up in the water!  No, Vance is not a pansy, he was working that hard in the water. I have never seen him so tired in his life!  He couldn't even scarf his food like normal. He had to sit there bite for bite.  Like I said, he has been very cute of late. 

I have been stalling to take pictures of my orchids as I am waiting on one (my fav) to open. I think it will be a little while so I will post pictures in the next couple of days!

75 Degrees and Sunny...

The title says it all.  It has been absolutely beautiful here. Is it barely 9 am and it is already up to 70 degrees.  As most know, I could sleep for a week (if I were a bum I probably would).  But the mornings are so nice I don't want to sleep!  Every morning Rich and I get up, open the back door and the windows and don't close them until we go to bed (or we leave the house).  

Every Saturday we go to Juana's, A local bar on Navarre Beach, to play beach volleyball. Due the the gorgeous weather I had to stay home and start working on the front yard.  Just because it was winter, doesn't mean things didn't grow.  The grass went dormant but that is about it.  There were more weeds, grassy looking things, and smelly fungus things then anything else.  It took quite a while to clear all that out!  Once I finished that, I figured why stop?  I was one of the 10 billion people attempt to go Lowes and get flowers, pots, soil (my front yard is sand...figures), etc. People were bartering over petunias, playing bumper cars with the shopping carts, and yes I even witnessed somebody's cart getting robbed of a geranium pot!  A little sunshine and warmth and everybody is in a frenzy!  I only worked on the little flower bed and the pots as the needed products can put a nice hole in the wallet...a little at a time. 

WAY TOO LATE!

OK, so this post is almost a year late, sorry.  I promise to update our page on a regular basis from here on out.  So much has happened over this past year.  For starters, we made the move from Enid, OK to sunny Gulf Breeze, FL.  We bought our first house and love it.  With the help of my Dad, we have started the landscaping.  It looks fantastic! Here is a before and after picture...

We have big plans for the rest of the house.  We won't do anymore big projects until Rich's next deployment in a handful of weeks or so.  I am taking on a lot of the projects myself (which means I am making my Dad help me) because 1) I love to do it 2) it saves a lot of money and 3) it helps keep me busy when Rich is gone. 

The nice thing about Rich deploying so often is the money we save while he is gone (think grocery bill or lack there of).  When Rich got home after this past deployment, we were able to go to Europe for a little  bit to visit friends.  We are both in agreement that Bern, Switzerland is our new favorite place.  Though it was very cold and snowy, it was absolutely beautiful.  

When we are not traveling, home improving, playing with the puppies, or going to the beach, both Rich and myself are in school.  We both are just plugging along.  I think we are both a little over school but what can you do? That's life.

As many know or don't know, I am very passionate about orchids.  Moving to Florida has been fantastic for all my little plant babies.  They are starting to bud/bloom.  I will post pictures once a few more open up.