The addition nears completion...

I love that they were able to get the exterior to look like the original...that planking stuff. All it needs it a coat of paint. I'm getting really excited. I'm starting to look at colors and house magazines again. I think I have the paint colors figured out. I'll have to paste them in here some kind of way. I also think I pretty much know how I want to arrange most of the rooms. I've spent too much mental time on this:) I just hope it can actually become what I'm imagining...but really, I'll just be happy to have the house move in-able. Can't WAIT! I may never leave it. Please come visit me here. There's a good chance I'll just stay in the house and stare when it's all over. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! 

And, Happy New Year!!!!

Cool Kid's Birthday

Last Saturday was Matt's 33rd birthday, so I wanted to dedicate a post to him. Birthdays are big! I think they should be at least....and when your birthday falls exactly 1 week prior to Christmas, it's easy to get the short end of the birthday celebration.

This year I have to admit. I really blew it at doing something cool for his birthday. The first year we dated, I did "The Month of Matt" and had a small gift or card for him to open each day. Yeah, I was hunting for the husband commitment:) got him! No no, that sounds bad, I just needed to show him how sweet I could be...it's just too bad that was the only year I really went all out for his birthday. Wellll, wait, we did throw him a surprise party for his 30th...but we had it at like the very beginning of November, and to this day, it could be July and we're going somewhere and Matt's like, "we're not going to a surprise party for me, are we?" I will never live down the month and a half early surprise party.

So, we had already decided "no gifts" for birthday/Christmas since each week is like getting a gift..just in the form of dry wall, flooring, and cabinets. But, still, it needs to be acknowledged, so for a gift I gave Matt a 6 pack of Newcastle, beef jerky, and a duck whistle. That last one makes no sense, but I saw it in the aisle at Kroger and it made me laugh. Of course, that might have been his favorite. Its quacking sound was hilarious. What's even crazier is I kept thinking, "that thing looks familiar," and we finally figured it out that he had gotten me the same exact one as a stocking stuffer a few years ago. Why are we so weird?

Anyway, other than that we celebrated with Gus' Fried Chicken (his only request), and potato salad and chicken salad from Bozo's. It ended up being a really fun and special celebration, and I hope his 33rd birthday is a fun memory in his mind.

In the spirit of celebrating Matt, here are some reasons I think he's cool:
He does the dishes
Everytime he's out, he'll call and ask if there's anything I need before he gets home
He irons his own clothes for work (wow, I'm just exploiting my bad wife qualities)
He surprises me with my favorite wines (this should have been #1)
I think he has cool hair
He breaks out in dance on a regular basis and I can't help but crack up (now I'm just being incriminating)
We can hang out and enjoy our time even if it's just waiting in line at Kroger
He totally lets me be me (it took some time, but I don't blame him) :)
He never gets upset if I want to spend time with friends
He's goofy and silly
He goes out of his way to help anyone
He is the BEST caretaker of our animals and I can tell how much he loves those crazy kids (larry and wally you know)
He works hard, super hard, at his job, and rarely complains
He's honest to the point that he can't even keep a straight face if he's trying to hide something silly like a gift he's gotten me.
And, really, he just rocks as a person to me, and I admire him, and for some strange reason, he really loves me. And I love him.
Happy Birthday William Matthew Cox!

Someone is really happy about fried chicken

Having fun fishing

For some reason, this is one of my all time favorites of Matt. I laugh every time I look at it. I would say he was skipping, but that wouldn't be nice of me to call that out. Although, it does add to why this is hilarious. I mean, who skips like that? 

The 'I didn't do it' face.

The 'i did do it, ha ha ha' face.

Keep a good perspective

So, this is what I'm having to tell myself right now. I'm having a moment of, 'this house is taking too long to get done oh my gosh people probably think we're crazy the world is ending' type of thing. If I stop and think of how long it is taking, I have a panic attack. Okay, not full out, but I seriously won't even let my mind go to the thought of realizing how long we've been doing this, and how it's still not done..and we don't have toilets or paint on the walls or lighting or cabinets, yet. I've had people say, "yeah, our house was built in months." Ohhhh, gosh, we are renovating for ETERNITY. I'm just so ready to be settled. But, then my mind goes to, "you haven't sold your house, yet, what's the rush?" which is immediately followed with, "YOU HAVEN'T SOLD YOUR HOUSE YET!!" Double whammy. World coming to an end.

I need to remind myself of my attitude toward it all. It's all about perspective. Right?.... Right? We're doing what we can, as quickly as we can for 2 inexperienced house renovators not using a contractor and might I add we did knowingly make a decision to add on when we were close to the finish line, so that was self inflicted:)...also living almost an hour away from the whole scene makes it tricky. So RELATIVELY (that word always makes things better) this isn't taking too long if I think about the sequence of events and circumstances. And, surely houses stay on the market for quite sometime. Yes, surely.

I know we could just drop the price to bare minimum or below that and hurry the sale, and I know we could probably make quicker decisions on the house to get it to move faster, or I don't know...

I need to quit the doomed outlook here. At least we have a roof over our head and another roof waiting to be over our head one day that we'll be so proud to know we were able to do together. Surely, one day I'll enjoy the sight of house magazines again, and I'll think fondly of my HOUSE organizer book...which I currently hide from myself until I need it. I'll forget the annoyance of each new bill and invoice from the builders, and I'll be able to stand the sight of HGTV again. I'll miss asking Matt, "have you talked to so and so about so and so," and he'll miss having to remind me that the house could show ANY day, so we need to keep it in order. I'll miss the fact that my renovated house went through TWO Halloweens, Thanksgivings and Christmases in a state with no electricity. Really, this isn't helping! :)

It reminds me of my engagement. Weird comparison, but I remember when we first got engaged, I was soaking up the bridal magazines, organizing all of my vendor information, happily making calls to wedding people, etc...then, it just became about getting married and reaching the actual wedding day. When we first bought the house, I had a bazillion ideas, and accumulated house magazines like a hoarder. I created a 'cute' house book all organized with pictures I liked organized by room, etc...but I was quickly inundated with 'what type of  air conditioner do you want and who do you want to use for insulation?' type questions. After months of this, the house magazines and ideas grew old, and now we're just ready to move in.

By the time we reach the fun part, I will be so worn out from it, I'll probably have the strangest looking house ever. "Yeah, sure lime green walls with purple polka dots and stars rock, how about glow in the dark walls in the bathroom, sure those turquoise and pink cabinets are great, they're on sale right? Yes, honey, we can put a kegerator in the kitchen. What type of toilet? Oh sure the one with the furry top please." AHH! I don't even know what I like anymore. Here we are, nearing the end, and I've lost my steam.

So, the topic of the post is far from its contents. I should have labeled it, "Amanda whines like a champ."

I feel better. Maybe I can move back to my good perspective, now.

"The tragic or the humorous is a matter of perspective."

nice. Matt and the camera

So, for some reason my stomach has hurt for about a week now. Just uncomfortable...you know, like I've worked it into knots and it's just rubbing it in my face for a while. Anyway, for the past couple of days I've come home and had bouts of cleaning/activity and then total immobility when my stomach would start hurting. Well, today, I found lying on my stomach helped, so I passed out in my super awesome robe face first on the bed, and Wally found me and decided to take a nap, too. Matt decided to document the scene, and I just thought I'd share.

This one had to be included. I had broken a candle holder earlier and ran to the bedroom to get shoes so I could clean the mess without cutting my feet, and before the animals got into it. This was my quick attempt at shoes. Then, the stomach annoyance, and pass out happened. Mismatched shoes on and all. And, poor Larry's cow cow is gasping for air under my leg:)

Time for bed. Again:) Face first of course.

Pictures of the addition

I never realized how high houses are from the ground.

Getting ready to install the new support beam.

So this, plus all the way to the end of the house, is 8 feet to the kitchen, den, and bedroom. The kitchen/den are pretty much one big room. The addition to the bedroom will be half used for a long closet (i'm PUMPED!!), and the other half will be bedroom space. I'm giddy over the closet. I was going to be sharing a closet with Matt (which is fine), but it'd also be where I get ready in the morning (only place we could put a vanity area), but now there will be plenty of room for both and all of our clothes. The addition to the den/kitchen allows us to have an island in the kitchen, and room for a breakfast room. I am so excited. The builder said it should be about 3-4 more months. Well, he said less than that, but that was his original estimate for the addition, so I'm going with that. And. Yes. We still have to refinish the floors, put in the lighting, and put in the kitchen cabinets, but I'm so very excited. I'm not expecting anything earlier than a Spring move in, but that'll be perfect. And, surely, our Memphis home will sell (right??) hope so. really, really hope so:)

A few before and afters...

Before

After

Before - Front room of the house. Before there was a hall through that door, then a door into the tiny stairs that led to the ceiling. 

After. We actually have spindles and a railing...I need more pictures:)

Before - This was the kitchen, looking into the den.

Same look. We knocked out the wall and chimney

Upstairs bedroom. Notice the ceiling height.

Not the most up to date picture, but you can tell the ceiling was raised.

Play room/office/media room etc, upstairs. Again, the ceiling was not even 7 feet.

We made this one big room, and raised the ceiling.

SCARY basement. The stairs now come in from the upper right (hallway). They did come in from the kitchen which was odd.

This really isn't a great picture of the basement, but you can tell it's finally enclosed.

The other upstairs bedroom. We made that little cut out another closet. We REALLY needed more closets in this house! And, this room had short ceilings, too.

I didn't really capture the full room, but you can tell the closet was built in to the right. I feel like these after photos just look like a dusty mess.

Anyway, I need to go through the house with my 'before' pictures and capture the same angles. These were pretty good replicas, but many of them don't show the most recent look.

We're adding on to the back. This is 8 feet to the kitchen and den. We crazy.

I am supa pumped about it nearing the end! 3-4 months. Funny, I thought I'd be in the house by March. 2010. wellll, maybe March 2011 is more like it:) For a renovation, I have to say it has been low stress. Not there there haven't been moments of indecision, arguments, sweat and tears:), gosh even blood (demolition injuries), but I think we've gotten used to the decision making and have become immune to the stress. I do have occasional panic attacks, but mainly geared toward the fact that our high point terrace house hasn't sold. It's been nice to be close to work, and of course, to not be homeless, but I really hope it sells soon.

Mumford and Sons

I've really been liking this group lately. Their lyrics are neat and I like their sound. I'm not sure how to describe it...folk-ish/rock maybe. I love their instruments! They are made up of 4 guys from England, and I think they started the group around 2007/2008.

Anyway, the first song I heard was The Cave and I really like it. The second is Little Lion Man which is really dramatic. I have to apologize, there are some explicit lyrics which my mom so quickly pointed out when I played it with her around. Please mute them, I don't mean to offend:)

Check it out! I posted them in the 2 posts below. I'm technologically challenged, and couldn't figure out how to put them all in the same post.