I'm basically rambling today...

My siding is almost complete, the roof has been felted and the roofer started installing the shingles today. If you click to enlarge the pic, look on the roof on the far left corner and you might be able to see the run of shingles there. The right side of the house is all the siding guys like and they have to wait for the framers to build my back porch before they can finish that side. After that they will attach my shutters.















Our meteorologists have been claiming for several weeks now that we would be getting snow or ice. Each week we have had a system moving through that didn't blow the way they thought it would so we have had nothing but a few flurries and some sleet. Not that I am begging for ice or lots of snow but a little snow would be nice to look at and right now would be the time for it to hit. Tonight we have a system moving through and they expect us to end up with anywhere from 2-4 inches of snow with a bit of ice under it. Actually if you want my opinion on the matter , 2-4 inches isn't really a snow but if that is all I can get I will take it.
They have specifically mentioned that Southeast Tennessee will be hit by this system and they have already put out advisories and watches on us, those were issued last night around 10. I am about as Southeast Tennessee as it gets. The county that I live in borders the North Carolina state line. At first I was positive that I was hearing them wrong until they said that the advisories and watches were issued for counties south of Knoxville...that would be us! They are watching this system closely because it is coming out of Mexico and when they come from that way and stay on course, we get actual accumulation instead of just a flurry here or a flurry there. With that being said let me just say that I will believe it when I see it!

We have most of our belongings moved out of this house and into storage except for the kitchen items and of course our beds, clothes and two television sets. We will be completing our move to my parents house on Saturday. I am not worried about us getting along with my family but I have this thing about moving back home . I know right now it is best since we have had lumber stolen off of our building site but to be honest I am really going to miss this place . Mr. Breazy won't have it any other way but to move at this point and I think it has something to do with him being male and someone taking his lumber ... are y'all getting what I am saying.. let me put it this way , I can hear Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor grunting ! LOL!

The positive sides of this move are :
1. I get to spend more time with my family .
2. I won't have to worry about packing and moving everything while we are finishing up the house.
3. We will save two months rent payments plus utility bills.
4. My son will have a place to ride his dirt bike.

Let me explain number 2. We chose to have our contractor build only 90%. The reason we chose to do this was because we saved almost $20,000 by hiring people that we know that are professionals in these areas rather than having our contractor hire sub-contractors. I am very picky when it comes to my floors and walls . We also chose to install the kitchen appliances ourselves, don't ask why , I will only tell you that I am extremely picky when it comes to the kitchen. I have saw too many floors get scratched (hardwood) and too much tile get broken when the contractor installs the kitchen appliances and if that were to happen to me that close to moving time , I would probably have a stroke! LOL!

I probably won't be around much today because I will be extra busy running errands and I am going to paint the bathroom and bedrooms here. Anytime that I have ever rented I have always re-painted the bathroom and bedrooms before moving. I know it is a weird thing but I can't help it. I don't change the colors I just put on a fresh coat of the same color paint. Our landlords have been very good to us and I can't help but take that one little extra step for them.

Y'all have a good day, be safe , take care and have fun .... oh yeah and think of me while you are having fun! I will try to get around blogland to read your blogs on my breaks from painting. :)

ahhhh ... yeah baby!

I finally got warm last night believe it or not . I made home made chili for supper and it was just the thing I needed . Home made beef stew is on the menu tonight! LOL!

Well the house looks so good now . I was surprised when Mr. B and I drove by around noon to find that the siding guys were there . I had to stop then and delay our daily lunch . I am so pleased with the color I chose for the siding. The framers were there finishing up with the roof sheeting . This pic was taken when we stopped around noon.














This pic is just like the one above except it is a closer view .














This pic was taken around 4:30 when we took the kids over to see the siding. I didn't realize when I was over there earlier that they already had the back and the left side done . As you can see in this pic , my roof is two sheets away from complete . I didn't understand why the siding guys were only going so far up then Mr. B said that they set up scaffolding to do the rest . They got a lot done in three and a half hours . The four people you see huddled around the fire with their back sides to us are my two daughters , Mr. B and my son.














For the first time since the blocking stage I was able to get a pic of the back side of the house. As you can see we told the excavator not to do the backfill in the back because we have to clear out some brush and things so Mr. B is going to finish the backfill when we do that.














This pic is of the left side of the house and it has been a while since I was able to get a pic of it with all the mud. The entire part you are looking at is the master bedroom and closet . Once we move in to the house Mr. B is going to put stone over that block . He wanted to do it himself but he wanted to wait until warmer weather so it will happen after the move .















The siding guys said they would be done by noon on Wednesday so you will get to see my complete color scheme outside by then .

Last night I was looking through all the pics of the framing and I noticed something . Mr. B and all three of the kids have had a solo pic done with them in or standing in front of the house . What I noticed was that I wasn't in any of them so I think I am feeling a HNT coming on ! LOL!

If you look around my blog you will notice that I have been playing with the new customization settings a bit . I didn't like the complete look so I went with my regular template then added color codes to it to make it look much better in here. I never liked that green for post titles and now I don't have to look at it!

I really hope I am not boring y'all with the pics and talking about the house . I am just sooooo excited about it that I just have to share.

Y'all have a wonderful day , be safe and take care ! Now I am going to get my day started and lecture myself about behaving ! LOL!

BRRRRRRRRR

It is absolutely freezing here ! Right now we are sitting at about 11 degrees and with the wind chill it feels like around 3 degrees. Wind chill or no , it is cold !

The meteorologists kept saying that we would wake up to a light dusting of snow yesterday but we only had flurries however, they were right when they said that our temps wouldn't go above freezing .

On to my pics !

Friday I went over to our land to check the progress again around 4pm . The framers were just putting everything away to leave so I talked to them for a bit then snapped some pics when they left . This first one is a close up of my little front porch. Please excuse the rough dirty look of it but as with all construction sites , it is very muddy. This summer we plan on adding more porch onto this one because I am a firm believer in a front porch to sit on and think or just visit with friends.














This pic was taken to show that I finally have a partial roof on the house . The sun shining through the kitchen window was just an added bonus.. lol !














Here is just a close up of the front door and laundry room window. That is the window that I climbed through a couple of Thursdays ago to get into the house because my short legs wouldn't reach from the edge of that row of block to the front door . It is about six feet across and I am only 5'1. At the time that I went through the window the actual window had not been installed .My sister found my climbing through a window funny and told my framers about it when she went to see the inside of my house for the first time two Fridays ago so my framers made me a walkway out of boards that went straight into the house.














This pic is to show the outside view of the roof sheeting they completed Friday. I also liked the way the evening sun was shining on the house. This was the only side of the roof that they sheeted that day because there were only two of them due to another having the flu.














This pic was taken yesterday around 3:30pm. As you can see I am in my vehicle because it was in the low 20's so there was no way I was getting out of my van in the cold . I couldn't anyway because the lens kept fogging up, it fogged up with the window down as well so I had wait a minute to get the pic . The framers worked Saturday so I had to have some pics of their progress before they come back.














This one is the same as the last one except I used my zoom so it would give a closer view . The L shape there in front is all that needs sheeting . I did notice after viewing this pic on my pc that they also started putting on the shiny aluminum foil looking insulation tape around the outside of the windows .














My vinyl siding should start going on this week ... yay.. I am excited to see that! I should have steps added to the front porch and my back porch added by Wednesday. The roofers should be over there to start doing the shingles this week and the plumber should be coming to do a rough in soon. Pretty much after this week or sometime next week the work will be inside.

Soon I won't be posting as many pics as I am now because the work inside the house will go a bit slower than the outside. I am going to get a pic of each room this week before they start doing anything to it so that I have a before and after. I am also going to my local scrapbooking store to start picking up the supplies I need to start my little project with all of these building pics.

I want to go snuggle back in my warm bed and go back to sleep until spring but I don't think anyone around here will like that! A rare thing happened last night, I slept in socks , a long sleeve tee shirt and my pj pants. Usually I don't wear socks to bed because they make me feel like I am choking to death, don't ask me why since my feet have nothing to do with my neck or airway. It has to do with the way they twist while I am moving my feet in my sleep.

The latter part of the week into the weekend is going to be extra busy for me so I might not be online much then . It won't be that way long though!

Y'all have a good day, stay warm, be safe and if you are having warm weather please don't brag about it because I might just be knocking on your door in a matter of hours if you do! LOL !

unusual

I normally don't post on Saturday but I am bored out of my mind , no ones on to chat with so I am going to chat with y'all this way ...LOL!

I drove by the house today and OMG!!! They have almost the entire roof sheeted. Wanna talk about it looking more and more like a house . The framers said they are going to work tomorrow as well , I rarely do any kind of work on Sunday but if they want to work I am not stopping them . However , we are supposed to have a bit of snow in the middle of the night ..YAY!!! I just want to see a bit of snow then I will be happy . Whether it actually happens or not who knows !

I am so tired tonight . We have packed and moved stuff to storage all day . Once we finished with that Mr. B took the kids to his moms while I got in the shower. I stood in the water for almost twenty minutes just letting it run down my head and over my body and take my tenseness with it . I had the water as hot as I could stand it so when I finally finished my skin was bright red . I felt very refreshed and just a bit less stressed . I have a knot of tension right between my shoulder blades. This week has been a week I hope not to repeat in the next fifty years .

Our temps tomorrow aren't supposed to get above freezing so in the morning I am putting a turkey in the oven so that it will be done when we get home from church . All I will have to do then is prepare the veggies to go with it and viola! we will eat . Normally we go out to eat after church on Sundays but I am not going to want to be out in the cold unless I have to . I can't wait til after we eat tomorrow , I am going to hit the couch and not move until time to go back to church.. ahhhhh .

This upcoming week is going to be a very busy one for me but I am hoping that I can still post daily , if not that is okay to.

I have my bed sheets in the dryer right now and as soon as they are dry I am putting them on the bed and climbing in ! I do believe I will be able to knock back some serious z's tonight after the day that I have had . My house looks so empty now that we have moved everything but furniture and clothes to storage. We should be moved to my moms by next weekend so I may have a day or two that I can't get on .

I am not bothered a bit about moving to my parents house for a month or month and a half since we will be upstairs , which is like a huge apartment . I will be sharing a kitchen with them since there is only one in the house but we would share that anyway. I am excited about having more time to spend with them since I don't get to spend a lot with them now . My sister and I have a blast when we are together but we never have the time to just get together and have fun anymore . She has a bedroom upstairs so I will have plenty of time with her and that is exciting to me .

Family is so important to me and here in the past two years I haven't had as much time with them as I would like . That is sad since we only live a mile and a half from them now . I try every now and then to take my mom and sister out to lunch just to spend time with them . On those days I will go over that morning and sit around and chat with them then I take them out for lunch, we always have a great time.

Well I am done gabbing , y'all have a good night !

Friday , Friday , Friday.....

It's a good thing I went over to the house earlier than planned because I got there just as they were nailing on the first sheet of OSB to our roof.














This one shows the back fill around the house and the fascia board they put up around the top. See how pretty and warm the sun looks? It lies I tell ya ! It is cold out here !














I don't think the picture actually captured what I was wanting but maybe it will if you click to enlarge it . What I am wanting you all to see is part of my front porch is now on . I couldn't walk over there because they done the back fill yesterday and it is all muddy and mud doesn't mix well with leather shoes .














This is a pic of the tile that will be going in the wet areas , kitchen, bathrooms and laundry. I put it on my dinning room table hoping you could have a better view of it . It will match everything in the house . With hardwood I am going with a cabin grade rustic natural wood . Meaning that it will be different colored boards with no stain . I have so many different shades of wood pieces that I needed something that would blend well . Hopefully I will have a pic of that soon but as of yet we haven't ordered the hardwood .














my favorite day of the week ! Good morning fellow bloggers! I hope all of you are off to a wonderful start to your day .

I will be back later to post progress pics of the house . I was over there for about an hour yesterday and didn't take not even one little picture because the framers were putting the fascia board on and I didn't know if that would really show up . So I have to go back over there today and get some pics. Late yesterday evening we went over there and the excavator had done the back fill around the house which means that my porches should go in today sometime . It is every bit of 20 degrees here so it will probably be around noon when I venture outdoors. I also want to give the framers a little time to get some of the roof sheeting on before I take more pics .

It seems this has been my week to make new friends with other bloggers. I have made two wonderful friends through Jillies blog who are like kindred souls G-Man and Top Cat . They are so much fun ,we comment back and forth all day long on each others blogs, as it sits right now one of them has 126 comments ...heehee! Some of you already have these two guys on your blog roll but if not then go check them out because you will have a good time with them . My other new friend , Brad, found me through Lime Monday . He is getting ready to build a shop with an apartment attached to it so I will be checking on the progress daily. Yesterday he gave me a mention in his post so go check him out .

I have been so cold for the past three days , it seems I just can't get warm and when I do I fall asleep . Wednesday I got so cold around 4pm that I put on an extra pair of socks , a sweater over my long sleeve tee shirt then topped it off with my winter coat. This is how I cooked dinner , ate dinner and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. The kids thought it was the funniest thing and wanted to take pics but Mr. Breazy didn't think it was too funny because normally when I get that cold it means I am getting sick however , all that I am having problems with right now are my sinuses , thank goodness ! My kids kept saying "you might be a redneck if you cook , eat and clean bundled up like an eskimo". I say " Redneck I might be but I was a warm one"!

We keep our thermostat set on 72 in the winter so it is nice and cozy in here but sometimes I just get chilled and once my feet get cold you can count me out . Last night when I went to bed I was all snuggled up trying to get warm but I continued to shiver . Mr. Breazy rolled over and snuggled to me to help me get warm and I stuck my feet between the lower part of his legs , it didn't take him long to tell me to move my "ice blocks"...LOL! Normally if I am cold when I go to bed I put my feet between the lower part of his legs and they are warm in no time but last night he wasn't having it because my feet were so cold . I thought my nose was literally going to fall off due to being so cold.

Okay that is all the gabbing I am going to do for now because I am starting to shiver again and it is hard to type when you can't keep your arms still ... lol! I am going to go snuggle back in bed for about an hour then I will get ready to go take some pics . Y'all have a good morning , be safe and take care !

Don't forget to stop back by after noon to see updated pics !

HNT...

I have been thinking back on the past for several days now and just remembering the good times of being a kid . I went through all of my old photos that my mom has given me and it is hard to believe that I was once that little girl . Now I am all grown up , will be 32 April 29th to be exact, with kids of my own . I couldn't think of anything exciting to do for HNT so y'all are going to walk through memory lane with me .

This first pic was taken February 5,1977, I was 22 months old . This picture holds more sentiment to me than almost any other that I have because of the dress I am wearing . What about the dress you ask ? Well my mamaw , who died from cancer in 1999, made this dress for me . She made herself one the previous spring and my mom said that I loved that dress so mamaw made me one . I still have this dress and I got mamaws dress like this when she passed.



















This pic was taken on April 19, 1979, I was 3 yrs and 11 months old. I have always loved this pic of me and I don't know why . As you can tell from the coloration of the picture , it was taken at Sears.



















This pic was taken on April 27, 1980, I was two days away from my 5th birthday. This one was also taken at Sears and the reason it was taken is because I would have nothing but to have my picture taken professionally so I could show off my newly pierced ears . I had my mom to pull my hair back so everyone could see them in the picture and know that I had ear rings ! LOL! You can tell by the smile I am sporting that I thought I was the stuff because of the new ear rings, that plus I was wearing pink.



















This pic was taken on September 23 ,1980, I was 5 yrs old and in Kindergarten. I have always thought that this one shows a softer side of me than what I displayed at that age . There was only one girl in my neighborhood at that time so I was a huge tom boy.



















This pic was taken on October 8, 1982, I was seven yrs old . This is my second grade fall picture and as you can tell I had a huge fascination with Laura Ingalls and Little House On the Prairie . This was an out fit that had a skirt the same color blue as the little flowers and it just looked like something Laura Ingalls would wear so I had to have it . My mom had to add the two ponytails and ribbons to make me happy . If you look at the right side of my face you will see a small scratch, proof of my tom boyishness . I received this particular scratch by climbing up a huge Weeping Willow tree in our front yard to get my brothers kite . What this pic doesn't show is the big bruise on my back from falling out of the tree . I was half way down the tree , had the kite in my hand and lost my footing , it was the first (unfortunately not the last) time I had the breath knocked out of me. If I am not mistaken this pic was taken not long after I gave my bangs a good cut , that is why they look so messed up .



















That is all I have for HNT . I hope y'all have a good day!

If you want to participate in HNT then click the orange button in my sidebar and find out how!

HAPPY HNT!!!

I have a roof !!

Just to refresh your memory I want to show a pic of what my house will look like when it is complete . Of course my outside colors are different but that doesn't matter . Also our house is on a higher foundation than the one in this pic. They normally build this house that close to the ground but Mr. Breazy said no , he wanted a big crawl space underneath so they went five blocks high instead of the normal two or three they normally do. If you look at the front door , go over to the left where the two windows are , that entire section is the master bedroom.

When you walk through the front door and enter the foyer if you go straight you are in the office , if you go left you are in the master bedroom and if you go right you go into the living room . I can see the house taking shape except ours looks much bigger than the display of this house looked, I think that is because it is on our land with no other buildings around it and it may have something to do with the fact that the one on our land is actually ours and not a display if that makes sense . Can you see it taking shape yet ?













Okay , here are the new pics of the house . I went over there yesterday and took some pics of the roof trusses . The framers were on lunch break and came back while I was there . They had just a few more trusses to put up then that part was done. I didn't get a pic of it with all the trusses up because I didn't have time to wait. Here is the first pic .














This pic is basically the same shot as above but taken at a closer position . For some reason it looks like I was laying down on my belly when I took this one but I wasn't , I just have short legs ! LOL!














In this pic I was inside the house in what will be the living room . Blah... look at that cloudy sky. See why I wanted to sleep all day yesterday?














This pic is of a view that I haven't taken yet . The entire side of the house . By the end of this week there should be a small porch off that door you see there. The framers are going to put the sheeting over the trusses tomorrow which will put the house "in the dry" as they say. Then the roofers will come next to add shingles . My vinyl siding is already there to so that should be going on soon . The guy that dug the footings has to come back and do the back fill around the house , then the framers will build my porches . We are going to spread more straw around in the next few days so I should be able to get a pic of the back of the house which I haven't got so far except for when they first started the block. If I went back there right now I would never make it out of the mud .















The framers had thought they would be done by last Saturday but with all the rain that we have had it slowed them down a day or two which is no problem for me because each day they are over there I see progress which means they are not fooling around , they are actually working .

Anyways, that is all I have for today . Y'all have a good day , be safe and take care !

Happy Hump Day !

good morning ....

I normally post the night before so that there will be a post here when everyone comes over but last night for some reason I just didn't post. This morning after taking the kids to school I came back home and snuggled back into bed . I was freezing to death when I got home plus I didn't sleep well last night and since I had everything done before bed I was able to take a morning nap. Mmmmm I feel better now !

It was like World War III here this morning . My two youngest were at each others throats until I had to threaten to get rough with them both. Normally all I have to do to get them to calm down is threaten to take away their already limited tv time after school but this morning that didn't even phase them so I had to threaten with something worse. I told them to either apologize and get along or I was bringing out my paddle. That calmed them down because as I threatened I had the said paddle in my hand waving it at them. I very rarely have to put that paddle to use but sometimes there is no other way. Of course when I do bring it out I don't give them but a tiny swat but it lets them know that I am not joking and I am at the end of my rope .

I don't have any updated pics of the house yet today. Yesterday when I went over there they had lifted the trusses up to the top but they hadn't raised them yet so in a little while I am going to go over and snap some pictures of it . They told me getting the trusses up there would be slower than normal because they normally get a crane in to lift them but it has rained so much lately that the ground is way too soft for a crane to be on . As a matter of fact , last week a truck delivered the felt that goes down before the shingles and it got stuck in my yard .

Is anyone else having trouble with Blogger this morning ? It is taking me forever to comment and load pages but only on Blogger , nothing else is different .

It is a very dark, cloudy, cold day here and if I could I would go back to bed and sleep the day away. Three years ago there is no way that I could have slept during the day but now there are some days I could sleep for an entire day. I guess that comes from not always sleeping good plus if I get cold all I want to do is snuggle up and sleep .

Okay that is all the gabbin' I have for now . I am going to go read other blogs then go take pics of the house . Y'all have a good day , be safe and take care !

come on in and check it out

So I have some pics of the house . I snapped these on Saturday because I didn't even go over there Friday until after dark .This is the front of the house. As you can see it is really starting to come together . By Tuesday I should have a roof and then one day this week both of my porches should be added . I am hoping they start the vinyl siding this week as well since they have already delivered it. Let's go inside !














This is a pic of my dinning room window and half of the back door . I was amazed at how different everything is starting to look now and I can't wait to see the inside coming together.














This is our front door . As you can see my two youngest were heading out as I snapped this one .














Here is a pic of my back door and the window that will be over the sink . The kitchen is the one room that I am so ready to see come to life because that is where I spend most of my time at .














These two windows are of the windows in our living room . It is odd how the insides look smaller with just the interior walls up . Once the sheetrock goes on the rooms will start looking a bit bigger .














That is all the pics I have right now . Actually I have pics of every room in more than one angle but I don't want to bore you all with them .

Later today while I am running errands I am going to stop over there and get some pics of the roof trusses going up . Our framers normally have a crane brought in to lift the roof trusses up for them but since we have had a lot of rain lately the ground is way too soft to hold a crane so they are going to lift the trusses by hand .

I will be in and out today because I have a lot to do . We spent Saturday packing up a few things and today we are going to take those things to our storage building . One thing I do want to say before I go is GO COLTS!!!!! Woohoo! Going to the super bowl for the first time in 36 years , oh yeah baby !

I would like to thank Jillie for a wonderful conversation over the phone yesterday evening . I had never talked to a blogger friend on the phone until then and it was very exciting to do so . Jillie and I exchanged cell numbers a couple of weeks ago while chatting in IM and yesterday was the first chance that either of us have had to call. I came home from church yesterday and about three hours later decided to see if my cell phone was dead . It surprised me that I had a voice mail, what surprised me the most was hearing Jillies voice . I knew upon hearing her who it was because she had told me she would call when she had time . I immediately called her back . Thank you Jillie and I hope we can chat over the phone again sometime soon !

I hope all of you have a good day ! I have to get going or I will be running the entire day . Be safe and take care !

finally Friday.....

I am so glad to see Friday finally here . For some reason this week has just been a sleepy week for me and I am ready to move on . Yesterday Mr. Breazy and I drove over to check progress on our house , I wanted to see if they had finished wrapping the house in Tyveck and get pics of it if they had . We had a rain/snow mix all day that was pretty steady so I didn't think the framers would be there but much to my surprise they had been there . Not only had the house wrap been completed but I had windows as well !

I knew once the walls started going up that progress would fly for a bit but I never expected it to go this fast ! So here is a pic of what the house looked like yesterday evening .from a distance. I had my leather American Eagle raisors on so I wasn't about to get out in that mud . As always , click for a larger view.














Since I couldn't get out of the van I decided to zoom in a bit so that the windows can actually be seen. . Today they should install my front and back door then get started on the roof . I am going to go over there in just a little while because I want to make sure that the design in the front door is the one that I ordered .














Other than tonight , we have no plans for the weekend . We have a storm system that will be moving through Sunday into Monday and they are not sure what we are going to get or how bad . Tonight we are going to my parents house for dinner . My mom is making her homemade chicken enchiladas and everybody in the family loves it when she does . Mmmmm my mouth is watering all ready !

I could really go snuggle back in bed right now. The sky is all dark and stormy looking outside and it is cold so that to me is a perfect recipe that needs to be topped off with some heavy sleeping .

This is going to sound odd but I don't think the fact that we are actually building a house has really sunk into my brain yet . When I go over there I know I am the homeowner but it feels more like I am just taking special privileges from someone else . I have no clue where this thought came from either but yesterday when I saw those windows in there it really brought the fact to me that , yes we are building a house and for some reason it just isn't sinking in .

I am currently reading a book that I picked up at Hastings the other day. It is called "Checklist for Life for Teens" . This book helps teens with any problem, concern or worry that you could ever dream of .I thought I would read it then pass it on down to my 14yr old daughter and maybe it will come in to play in her life one day . If you have a teen I do encourage you to go buy this book . You can't miss it , the cover is shiny lime green with a purple check mark on the front. You can't miss it . I really like the way they break everything down and add checklists of things to do to have better self-acceptance and also how to treat others , for example gossip . This book covers anything that a teen could go through and so far I am really impressed with it .

Okay , I am going to go for now . Y'all be safe , take care and have a great Friday !

HNT

What happens when someone realizes at 2 in the morning (when they can't sleep) that they have forgot to do an HNT pic ? Scroll down and find out , don't let it scare you ! LOL!
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If you want play go to my sidebar and look for the HNT button! Hope I didn't scare you too bad..teehee! Have a good day!

HAPPY HNT!!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it ! I have a house !!!!! Look at this . I couldn't be more pleased with the framing crew because every time I go over there they have accomplished a lot . This is a side frontal view of my house . It looks so much bigger now that they have the walls up . The pics really don't capture just how big it really looks.














I am short so I had to stand on my tiptoes to get this one. The window I snapped through is one of the front master bedroom windows . The window in the back is the window in the master bath.














This is a view of the right side of the house . Our drive will come up this side and go up almost to that door way you see back there in the very back . That is our kitchen door and the smaller window to the left of it is the window over the kitchen sink. The next window down is my middle childs bedroom window . The one on the end is my oldest childs bedroom .














This is a better view of the front and part of the side . The first window is my oldest daughters front bedroom window and the last one is my sons bedroom window. Mr. Breazy just has to pop up in at least one of every pic I have taken thus far ... LOL! Next time he needs to snap and get me in one .














This one is part of my oldest daughters room and my middle childs closet and room . They left this exterior wall out to get the interior walls in . This pic gives you a better view inside the house . I am not going to explain what every room is right now because that would be confusing for all of us .














This one is like the last one except a better view and more to the left side . You can't see it real well in this pic but my son actually has a closet now . The bathroom is the middle room and the bigger room is the utility room .














I can't wait until they get the interior walls complete . Then I will climb up in there and get better pics of each room . This house is really coming along and in the next couple of days they will be putting the roof trusses on , wrapping the house , shingling the roof , installing the windows and exterior doors , then comes the vinyl siding . I actually have tears in my eyes right now , that is how excited I am . I kind of feel like somebody needs to pinch me to show me that it is all real . We have waited so long to build on this land and now that it is happening .... WOW !!!

I hope y'all have a great Wednesday ! Be safe and take care !

quickie...

Please come back later and I will have pics posted of the exterior walls on my house . My batteries were dead so I couldn't get pics when I was last over there . I charged my batteries all night and now I am ready to go snap some shots , I will post them as soon as I get back !

Thanks ! :)

Good news !!

WE HAVE POWER !!!! The power company hooked it up while I was shopping . Our contractor and framer were so happy . My framer joked around with me on the phone and asked me if he ever needed to light a fire under anyone would I do it for him . I am so glad that I don't have to drive all the way down there to that office to get nose to nose with someone . That butt chewin' sure is rough on a body , meaning the one giving not the one receiving . With that being said , I am a pretty happy little camper right now!

I had so much fun shopping yesterday . I even got all flushed and fluttered over a huge casserole dish that was clearanced out in the Waterford-Edgewood shop ... lol ! I didn't buy the casserole dish but I did buy a souffle dish from Emeril Lagasses line for over 50% off .I can't wait to use it. See the thing is I have this love for all things that go in a kitchen . I have more casserole dishes than anyone woman should be allowed to have and I use every single thing that I have right down to the smallest gadget . I am also a Pampered Chef freak and we won't go into that or I will be on their site with my credit card out ! I had a really great time and I can't wait to do it again .

I don't have any pictures for you today because yesterday when I got back home it was raining hard and I couldn't get my camera out but today I am going over there to get pics of our temp pole , meter and power lines .... LOL! Sounds crazy I know but when this is all over I am going to make a scrapbook of the complete building process and at this point that power has been a major thing if you know what I mean . I will also be taking pics of the walls which is what the framers will be working on today . I am real excited about the walls because I have never seen the walls of a house in progress get raised before . If all goes well the framing should be complete by Saturday afternoon . I am hoping the weather holds because we are expecting snow today and two other days this week . I don't think we have much to worry about when talking about snow because it can snow all around us and we only get flurries .

Mr. Breazy has a very odd schedule this week and this is the first time he has had this schedule . Tomorrow night at midnight he will be re-sanding and finishing the floors in our local Texas Roadhouse restaurant . He has to wait until they close before he can go in and get to work . He is hoping it will only take him two nights to complete it . It will be odd for me because I am use to him being here when I go to bed at night .

Alright , I have gabbed long enough so I am going to sign off and get going on what needs to be done around here which thankfully isn't a lot . Y'all have a good day , be safe and stay warm !




I also wanted to mention a little something to you all . If any of you have ever smoked and you have quit then I need you . I am getting ready to drop my cigarettes and I am going to need some major support . It is like anything else that I do , I have to get it set in my mind and I am pretty much there . I will be going cold turkey because cutting down so many cigarettes per day and so on will only be a huge tease to me .

progress update and much more ....

It is Sunday night and I won't be home tomorrow until late afternoon I thought I would go ahead and post tonight so y'all have something new to read .

First of all today has been kind of a rough day. It is the 23rd anniversary of the death of my baby sister Kendra . I was only seven when she passed away and I didn't fully understand everything at that time and then I kind of tried to put it out of my mind as I got older . When I got married at age 18, not long after that Kendra's death really hit me so as the years go by it is a bit rough each year on her birthday and then on the date of her death. I normally don't talk about it with anyone but I don't think I have ever told you all about her and I just have her on mind today .

She was born July 22,1982 , I was seven . The doctors knew immediately that things weren't right with her . Soon we found out that she was born with Hydrocephalus or as I have always known it , water on the brain and later she contracted Pneumococcal Meningitis. She passed away on January 14 , 1983 , she was five months and twenty three days old.

My oldest offspring has had her camera out again as you can see and she couldn't have picked a worse time to want a picture of she and I together . The wind had blown my hair every which way but off . Please excuse everything you see in the background because we are starting to pack .














A lot has happened with our house since I posted last . The framers finished the floor joist . Let me tell you , this thing is really starting to take some serious shape with each step they complete. That little indention you see there is where our small front porch will be . Later we are going to add a bigger porch on the front .














This was Saturday morning . I wanted to get some pics so I drove over there and I was surprised to find the framers there with part of the floor decking on . The main guy told me to climb on up and get some pics from a different angle so I was standing in what will be the walk-in closet in the master bedroom when I snapped this one .














This one was taken today after church . As you can see my son wouldn't have it any other way than to get up there and walk around . I do believe now that it is shaping up , the kids attention is directed on the house instead of the port-a-potty.














Mr. Breazy snapped this one for me because I couldn't climb up there since I was in a dress . He is standing in what will be our middle childs bedroom .














Today when we drove onto our property there was a strange car and a young guy walking around on our newly laid decking . It turns out he is the vinyl siding guy and he was coming to check things out since they will be starting later this week or early next week . The house is starting to look bigger and bigger with each step as well . I can't wait until they set the inside walls . There will be a couple of days that I will be gone most of the day . I am going to be there through the whole process when they raise the walls and the trusses .

I will be out tomorrow until probably late afternoon . I am going shopping and to have lunch with a friend so I will catch y'all when I get back. Have a wonderful and safe day !

this , that , and some more ....

Today has been one of those days that starts out good , gets better and then falls apart .

First things first . Remember me telling you all about the electric company we are dealing with ? Well today they met my very bad side . I am going to make a long story short and tell you that our power will not be hooked up tomorrow(Friday) it will be hooked up Wednesday. It is a long story that has to do with an inspection for underground wires such as telephone and cable and a permit being issued that is only good for 14 days. I was informed today that our permit expired Monday which was the day before the state inspected my temp pole. The temp pole is all good but we have to wait three days before we get another permit for the underground wires thingy . It would have been real nice if our electric representative had told us that we had been issued a permit and that it was only good for 14 days. Had he done that he would have cause a lot less confusion and kept one of his big bosses from getting chewed out to the max today. I don't know if any of you caught on to the 14 days thing . That means that we could have had our temp pole set and inspected two weeks ago instead of waiting like the electric rep said . I can bet you a hundred dollar bill that by 9 am in the morning he will be regretting his decision not to tell us that a permit had been issued .

To fill in a bit more of the story , I called and blew up on one of the big wigs at the power company . I apologized to him twice telling him that I knew he wasn't at fault but his guy was . What I ended up doing was hurting myself because my blood pressure went dangerously high and I ended up with one of those bad headaches that could almost be called a migraine. Before I chewed Mr. Electric out I did ask a few questions meaning I didn't just blow up over nothing ,even the big wig understood why I was mad . I called them out to our property almost a month ago , just two days shy of a month ago to be exact and the rep we have been dealing with has been yanking our chain since then and that makes the entire electric company look bad so Mr. Big Wig wasn't too happy about that . I wish I were a fly on the wall in the morning in an office at that power company. Our power will be connected Wednesday . To be honest , I am feeling a bit ashamed for blowing up the way I did but oh well it is over and no need to dwell on it so on with my post .

This morning our contractor called to find out why the power wasn't connected . I told him the power company was supposed to come out tomorrow and do it . He told me that my framers were out there right now waiting to get busy so I asked him if we could run Mr. Breazy's big commercial extension cord from my cousins which is right behind my house , he said yes that would be very helpful . So I grab my camera and off we go with the big e.c. Sure enough our framers were there and ready to get at it . They explained the framing process with us and then got to work while I snapped some pictures .

I took this pic while talking to the framer , as you can see they had already started moving lumber and setting up . As always , click on the images to get a better look . Isn't the sky beautiful ?














This one shows most of the completed block foundation except for the back corner on the left side . The block masons done a really good job cleaning the block and cleaning up after themselves, clean workers make me real happy !














Here is a pic showing the back corner I didn't get in the previous one. It is shaping up nicely if I do say so myself !














LOL! I had to get this one of part of the framing crew because I just couldn't resist . I have never saw workers so anxious to get to work, I guess because they are busy guys. The guy that you see there walking by the dirt pile, khaki pants and a cell phone in his ear is Mr. Breazy . Sometimes I hate his phone because it is always ringing therefore he is always on it . When we sit down for breakfast , lunch or dinner I ask him to put it on vibrate so that we can eat in peace because if he doesn't silence the phone then his dinner is interupted with three or four calls .














Even though it is pretty crappy about the power the good thing is , my cousin is letting us use a couple power outlets off of his garage which is about 150ft through that small wooded area where Mr. Breazy got poison ivy. Meaning the framers aren't going to have to stop working and wait on the power to be connected . They can continue to work on it . I am going over there in the morning to snap some more pics because I want as many pics of the framing process as possible . My house is going to be popping up very soon my friends and that I am excited about .

To tell the truth I am ashamed for letting myself get as mad as I did . I haven't been that mad in a couple of years and it doesn't hurt anyone but myself so, no more of that ! I eventually had to take a pain pill to help with the headache and to help calm me down . I have just a bit of a headache , the shaking has stopped but I am totally drained and there is just no sense in it . Once the power has been connected I think everything will go smoothly from here on out . I couldn't be more pleased with our contractor and the subs that have been working over there .

Now , with all that being said let me say that I hope each of you have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend . I may post late Sunday night but if not then it will be Monday evening sometime . Monday I am taking some much needed me time and I am going shopping with a good friend and we are going to have lunch , I can't wait ! Y'all have a good one !

so sad ...

I had a HNT post here then I went to Os's to give him the "I'm up" . When I got there I read a post Os had about a hnter being killed in a car wreck last thursday. They have canceled hnt for the week so I will catch y'all next week . Even if you didn't participate in hnt you might want to go over to Os's and send some condolences his way . He is heartbroken as are many others . I didn't know the person killed but it still makes my heart sad for those that did.

Thanks all , have a good day and please be safe !

a bit of this a bit of that ....

I want to apologize for continuing to post my daily posts the night before . My mornings are very hectic and I have to take what time I get to clean and get things done around the house so I post the night before so that when you early birds come through you have something new to read . With that being said , let's get on with it ... lol ...

I told you in my previous post that we were expecting flurries and if we had them I would get some pictures for you . Well I have come through on that promise however , you are probably going to have to click on the images so that it will be large enough for you to actually see the "flurries" we had. I also told you in the previous post that I would have pictures of our completed block foundation but I forgot my camera when I went over there to check so those will have to come Friday or who knows I may add them in with HNT. In this pic I was trying to get a good angle so that you could see the flurries as the wind was blowing them everywhere so I thought , take one out the back door . Well I am not sure if you can see them or not but here they are . Before anyone asks , yes I have two vans just alike .The only difference is the silver one or as we call it " the smoking van" is a couple of years older and it is for our rough going . The maroon one or as we call it "the non-smoking van" is newer and our "around town, to church van" . The maroon one is also a Warner Brothers edition and the silver a plain Jane . Don't look too close or you will see the writing in all the dirt on the back of the silver one , I haven't had time to wash it and when I do have the time it is too cold .














This pic was taken from the front door . The wind was blowing so hard that I had to stand behind the screen door , with it half open to get this pic . As with the last one , click on it to get a larger view.














This pic was taken out the back door and I think you can see the "flurries" better than you can in the others. I haven't looked at any of these up close .














Now for an update on our property and progress. Not only did the block masons finish the foundation but the state inspector came out and inspected our temp pole and passed it . Friday the electric company is supposed to be out to hook the power to the temp pole (I'm not gonna hold my breath on the E.C.) then on Saturday or Monday the framing will begin. They have told me that it will take six days to get my house completely in the dry and I am hoping that will be six days in a row instead of broken up like the block . That includes the vinyl siding ,shingles , the whole nine yards . I am so excited to see the framing begin because even though it is shaping up with the block foundation now complete , it will look more like a house with each step of the framing . Hopefully in two weeks (maybe sooner, cross your fingers) I will be posting pics of the outside of my house .

There are some changes coming up in my life and I might be offline for a day or two , maybe more but it shouldn't be long . My schedule is going to be busy for the next month but I will still make time to get on and read each of your blogs daily and to post daily here.

Thank you for all the comments about my children . It is kind of weird how when they are little it feels like you will be changing diapers , wiping noses , and cleaning spills for the rest of your natural born life but all I can say is cherish every dirty diaper , every dirty nose and every spill because they grow up fast . I think it was in the spring of 2005 when that thought struck as reality in me . They were on a youth retreat with our church , Mr. Breazy and I had the entire weekend to ourselves and I cried the whole weekend because I was so lost without them . The first night they were gone Mr. Breazy took me out for a very nice dinner and all I could talk about was the kids , finally I asked him " what are we going to do when they grow up and move out"? Mr. Breazy replied " I am sure we will think of something" . Do men not feel the "empty nest" thing getting closer and closer as each day goes by? I have been feeling it for almost two years now and it isn't fun . I am very proud of who my kids are and I am excited about seeing them grow up and to share their lives with them as they choose a career , marriage and children of their own. That I am excited about but I wouldn't rush it for anything in this world . I have never been able to picture myself as a grandmother but I think it will be so special to be holding a life that your child created , wow ! There are some days that I sit down and talk with my eldest daughter and it blows me away at the knowledge she has . She isn't even 15 yet, she will be in mid March but she amazes me . The one thing I have always worried about is , are we incorporating the importance of reading their Bibles and living it , the importance and power of prayer, the importance of attending church and being a good worker in that church . There are days that I , like any mother , worry about these things but then along comes one of my kids and says something that assures me that we are instilling all of that and they are accepting it and putting it to use in their lives. There are many days that my oldest comes home from high school and says " Mom, will you help me pray for this girl at school she..."? that is what assures me that I am getting out there to them . Also for Christmas C asked us for money to buy her friends at school a small gift . One of the gifts happened to be a King James version Bible (the Bible we live by) for a girl that C had talked to a couple of times and she told C that all she wanted was a KJV Bible but her parents wouldn't buy her one .Okay I have to get off the subject of my kids and their growth rate or I am going to need lots of tissues .

Today started out rough for me because my stomach wasn't feeling well so I took the kids to school , came home , took medicine for a bad headache and went back to bed for about an hour . When I woke the headache was gone and as the day progressed I felt better and better . So much better that I got all of my cleaning scheduled for tomorrow done tonight . I still have one load of laundry in the dryer but five minutes will take care of that . I think I am going to use my time in the morning to watch some tv or read a book . I have been watching more tv since declaring on new years that I was slowing down my schedule but I haven't taken the time to read and reading is something I love . Who knows , I might even get on yahoo to chat a while if anyone is on . If you see me there buzz me and we will chat .

I am going to go for now since it is getting late . You all have a wonderful Wednesday , take care and be safe !