House pictures...at least from upstairs

Please forgive my massive delay in putting up some pictures of the house.  If you got the Christmas card you've at least seen the outside of the house, which is progress, right?!?

Anyway, due to the fact that I am swamped at work, running around like crazy getting Christmas gifts for our families and kiddos we've adopted, and running like a maniac with my loyal partner Will, taking pictures of the house has kinda been on the back burner.  Not to mention, I have NO idea where my camera is at the current moment, so this iphone pictures will have to do for now!

So...let's begin shall we?  Oooh and if you want to know why I have all this time at work today to post these pictures, allow me to explain.  Today is the second to last day of school, the last full day of school for the year and also PJ day.  We haven't done a darn thing all day, and my kids are staying with their classroom teachers because they are all having parties.  So, let's just say I have a lot of time on my hands.

Let's start with the master.  We love our bedroom.  When we first put the paint color on the wall I HATED it.  All I could think of was a Carolina Tarheel-sick-but it has started to grow on me, and it makes the room bright and cheery! (the fact that Brad picked out the color has nothing to do with me disliking the color-just sayin')

View from the door

View from the door toward the window and bathroom and yes I did make those curtains, with help from Grammy of course!

View from closet toward vanity/bathroom area

View from bed to vanity area...heeeeey Rachel in the mirror!

Vanity area

Master bathroom

So there you have it.  The master bedroom.  If we were on CRIBS I would've taken a picture of the bed and said a lie about how "this is where all the magic happens" but let's get real...how many of those people on cribs that said they were getting lots of action were actually married? Ha.  Just kidding!  Brad will KILL me if he reads this post!

Next up, the guest room, which is our UGA room.  We have our diplomas and artwork, AND since we live in orange country-gross, disgusting, tacky-we thought we needed a room so we could represent.  Holla.

Georgia room-view from door

Another view from the door

LOVE that painting-goes perfect in our room!

Diploma wall-notice that my side has 2 diplomas :)

This room is great and has already seen it's fair share of house guests.  Both sets of parents, all siblings, wonderful friends from Indy, and hopefully many many more people to come!  Secret-the reason there is a black strip at the top of the wall is because there was a border on the walls that had already been painted over a few times.  Since we had to strip wallpaper in the guest bathroom-we did not want to jump on this task-especially since the layers of paint had acted like an adhesive and super glued it to the wall.  So mom had the great idea of just painting a black strip at the top.  Problem solved.  No wallpaper removal required, and I think it helps anchor the room.  Thoughts?

Next up-the hall bath upstairs.  I wish I was better at taking pictures like other friends I know-Amelia-but alas I'm not, so I do not have 'before' pictures.  BUT if I did, it would show you a bathroom with wallpaper AND border.  Ugh.  Talk about a pain in the rear-end.  Once I finished stripping the wallpaper and border combo, mom painted the bathroom with some paint she had leftover from a sorority room or from lord knows where and it looks like shabby chic room.  

View from the hallway-bright and warm

View from the shower...the light fixture used to be an awful gold color, along with all the other hardware in the bathroom, so we just sprayed those suckers along with the frame of the mirror to make it match and not seem so dated.  The light fixture has actually grown on me!  Crazy?  Maybe. AND don't hate on my little Christmas tree!

Last but certainly not least in the upstairs photo tour...the mancave.  I already told y'all about the closet to desk area transformation-so here is just a quick look at the room.  The pictures really don't do it justice-oh well.  This is Brad's favorite spot in the house-mine too!  We watch movies up here, play DJ Hero on XBOX-yeah, that is what we do for fun.  Judge away.

View from the door-the lighting looks awful in this picture...should've turned on the lamps instead

Another 'larger' deer is on the way to keep our friend company-update to come upon arrival

View from couch-see Brad's little man tree?  We really need to bulk up his man ornament collection.

The closet that was turned into a desk area

So, that about does it for the upper level house tour for today.  One day when I find my camera/get a better one, I will put up better pictures with soft mood lighting.  Until then I hope these give you a little taste of what the house looks like.  I will get ones up of the bottom floor ASAP.  

Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

How many trees is too many?

That is the question that my dear misinformed husband asked me on Sunday as I was excitedly putting up 3 more trees at our house...4 if you count the one on the front porch...errr 6 if you count the two tiny ones in each bathroom! :)

After going shopping a la store de Grammy to find some Christmas decorations for us as well as my classroom, we had quite a few more things to add to our collection.

Since I have YET to put up picture of the whole house-I swear I will by Monday-let me describe our rooms.  Clearly I am the best wife in the world.  I let Brad turn one of the guest rooms into his mave aka man cave.  So in the spirit, his room got a little tree...he still needs to beef up his manly ornament collection, but that will come over time, and when they're all on sale after Christmas!

Our other guest room is an actual guest room.  Since we have such beautifully framed diplomas and UGA artwork-thanks to Thom-we wanted to make sure that they were displayed properly.  So why not have a Red and Black guest room?  What kind of tree do you think we have in this room...you guessed it, a UGA tree.  Go Dawgs!

Finally, we have a little tree on the kitchen counter.  It is cute and the little train around the bottom is from la store de Grammy as well!

So there you have it, some more trees for Christmas.  I did buy two little tiny metallic tacky trees for the two guest bathrooms.  I like them, get off me.  More pictures to come soon, and next time I will take them of the entire house and rooms, not just the trees!

Perspective

As I said in my last blog post, I am an ESL teacher at an inner city school in Tennessee.  This means I spend my day teaching kids who speak a language other than English the thrilling rules and exceptions to the English language-oh boy are there many.  I work with mostly Hispanic-Spanish speaking students, but I also have a mixture of other elasticities and languages-which makes my groups diverse and totally awesome.  I have Spanish speaking kids using Russian words and African students speaking Spanish...it truly is a community of learners-meshing different languages, cultures, customs, and traditions together. 

I know there are many people in this country who have a problem with immigrants, how they got here, why they don't speak English, etc, and I understand the frustration and attitudes that these people have, but to you I say, please come to my school.  Please come and see how wonderful these little kids are and how much they appreciate everything that is done for them.  Come and see how wonderfully involved their parents are with their school work and progress.  Come and see how respectful they are-and their parents-to their teachers and peers.  These are children, and they are wonderful.  No child should ever be the subject of a political debate, fight, or made to be an example.  Ever.  

With the holidays fast approaching, I have been given a heavy dose of perspective by my little ones and their families.  Many/most of these families don't have two pennies to rub together, but they would do anything in the world that I asked of them.  If I called them and said I need 28 pieces of cinnamon gum (just for you Amelia) in the next 10 minutes, they would find a way to get here with all pieces and never think twice.  They would do anything for me, and because of this, I try and do a lot for them.  I'm their advocate, their friend, but more importantly, I'm their family.  I make doctors appointments, go to birthday parties, and worry about them when it is 25 degrees outside and I know they don't have a winter coat-like it was this morning.  I love my little kiddos and their families more than anything-almost more than my husband...just kiddingish! <3

So this holiday season make sure to take time to be thankful for what you have, not upset about what you don't because you already have it much better than most.  Sure it would be nice to have a shiny new XBOX, a brand new purse, or a diamond ring, but there are so many more people who need, not want for the things we take for granted.  I've always known that poverty is all around us, but I guess I never looked for it, or just refused to see it.  Don't ignore it...open your eyes and heart!  Don't pass up the man outside of Kroger singing Christmas carols ringing the bell for the Salvation Army or a family/friend in need.

I'm such a softy full of cheesy ideals, hearts, and warm fuzzies.  Sheesh.

My home away from home...

Well, I thought it was about time to share pictures of the place where I spend more of my time that at my house...you guessed it, SCHOOL!  Since most of you will never get to come and see my classroom, I thought that I would share it with you via the blog. 

I have a wonderfully cozy room-where I can control my own heat and air...I am VERY lucky!  For those of you that do not know, I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher at an inner city school in Tennessee.  I LOVE working with the demographic and socioeconomic population that I do.  I feel like they are thankful and appreciative for all that I do.  It is truly encouraging when you see kiddos who don't even have food to eat every night, come to school with a smile on their faces.  It really puts things into perspective.  My bad days never top the ones that some of these children have daily. 

With that being said, I like my room to feel like a cozy home, not a cold, boring classroom.  I only use soft lighting-lots of lamps, which is proven to help inner city students feel at ease and more prone to learning. 

Here is a view from the door...

The view from the window to the other side...

 The desk area...

The window area by the desk...

The writing board...

The front of the room...

The view of the library...you better believe I have my UGA flag up!

And my behavior chart...ha!

I'm in the process of putting up my 'winter' themed door and flag...more pictures to come of that soon!  It's the little things, like decorating for the seasons and holidays that make all the stress, tests, scores, etc. a little more bearable.  Plus, my kiddos love when I break out all my snowmen!  Gotta keep it PC...I am the ESL teacher after all, I should be the most culturally aware and sensitive person in the school!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, I must confess.  I put up our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving.  But before you judge me, allow me to explain myself.  Brad and I cooked our first Thanksgiving meal in our new house.  His whole family came down to partake and overindulge in all of the food.  The tradition I grew up with was that we always put up our tree after we ate on Thanksgiving day, but with that many people in my house, I decided it would just be easier to do it ahead of time.  I was definitely right!

Another issue about decorating for Christmas in our house-one that always brings conflict into our marriage-is the color of lights on our Christmas tree and decorations.  I grew up with WHITE lights on our tree.  I like WHITE lights.  I think they are classy and oh so pretty.  Well, the hubbs-for some reason unknown to me-LOVES colored lights.  Hence where the problem starts.  For the last 2 years he has won the battle, and he will probably continue to win this battle due to the fact that we got an amazing pre-lit, skinny tree for next to nothing after Christmas a few years ago.  It is 9ft, but with the tree stand and all it is easily over 10ft.  It does look great in our living room, and I guess I just have to embrace it.  I mean, who doesn't love a tree that easy, that looks that good, that was almost free?

So, I added ribbon to the tree and some glittery berries to make it look a tad more "Dolly"!

And the garland with ribbon...no lights because apparently this builder decided plugs in the hallway were unnecessary...LAME

More pictures to come as I continue to decorate...happy decorating!

Picture Wall

With the holidays looming, I have been on a warpath to try and get some things done in the house before everybody comes in town-yes, we are having Thanksgiving at our house this year.

I talked about having a picture wall on one of my first posts on this blog.  It is something that I have seen in countless magazines and other blogs, and I just absolutely L.O.V.E. the idea.  It is a great way to show off pictures and other things that you might have around that need a special place to hang.  So, with this in mind, I bought some frames from Goodwill back in the summer.  Here was the picture from then:

I thought this was the way that is would look in the house, but that was back when we thought we were buying our first first house instead of our second first house, which we live in now.  Anywho, so with renewed strength and inspiration, I started on the picture wall again.

The frames were gold and not so pretty looking when I started, so I just spray painted them all the same color.  Not all the frames were the same when I bought them-which I was ok with-so using the same color finish for all the frames is a nice way to bring the wall together.

This was when I was spraying all the frames.  As you can tell, the top ones are the original gold, and the bottoms are after a coat of spray paint.

 

Here are the frames after they have all been spray painted and are ready to be filled with pictures. Most of these pictures had mats in them, and I was worried that they might be an irregular sized mat.  BUT I went to Michael's and they had the exact sizes that I needed for the frames.  For $20 I got all new mats for the frames to give it a unified look.

After the frames were filled, or at least prepped-I still do not have all the pictures made that need to go into the frames-I placed them out on the floor to give me an idea of how they would look on the wall.  Eeeek!

 Here are some pictures of the frames so you can see what is inside.  I didn't put pictures in all of them.  I thought it was much cooler and meaningful to put some other things from our wedding in them.

Here is the key to our 1st house.

 

This is a napkin from our wedding.

This is a speech from one of the groomsmen at our wedding.

So after I did all this, I put them on the wall.  I started off like this....

And it ended like this...

So...what do you think?

Don't mind the sunflower picture in the middle.  I'm waiting on our wedding pictures to be developed! ha!  And I'm thinking of finding a B & R to maybe go on the wall somewhere. 

A year of wedded bliss

On November 6, Brad and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary!  I think it is absolutely C.R.A.Z.Y. that we have been married for a year and 10 days...but who's counting?!?  Everybody assured us that after the wedding, "things would slow down," but that has yet to happen.  The last year has flown by, and I find myself sounding like my grandmother thinking, "time sure does fly."  I used to make fun of those parents who gushed about their babies being all grown up-placing emphasis on how quickly they grow up and time goes on, but now I get it.  We have done a lot over the past year: watched some of our best friends get married, gone on COUNTLESS road trips, had amazing friends come visit, and most importantly bought our 1st house! 

We've learned a lot-I need to stop being so damn anal about EVERYTHING-he needs to learn to actually get his clothes in the hamper, not just aim for it-but all these things have made it one great year.  To those couples out there that say they never fight, bicker, argue, or disagree-you lie-and are missing out on one of the best parts of marriage.  It's these moments that make you thankful and make you grateful for the person you married.  Lord, if Brad did everything exactly how I wanted it, then he would be my girlfriend, not my husband.  We help balance each other, and the times when you want to physically harm the other one (said with <3), are the times when you learn the most:  patience, compassion, kindness.  So, cheers to the past year, and cheers for those yet to come!

I love you BHD!

Long Overdue

Well, we have been in our house for over a month now, and we absolutely LOVE it.  Like Love with all capital letters, hearts, rainbows, and all that jazz.  Our neighborhood is wonderful.  We no longer live in the ghetto, have to worry about another thug breaking into our house, and Blu (no I didn't spell that incorrectly, let's just be glad the hubs isn't a teacher...just sayin') actually has a yard where she can play and lounge in the sun!

I know I am a SUPER slacker because I haven't updated the blog with pictures of the house or anything, but we have just been oh so busy.  It seems like we haven't had a chill weekend since we moved.  When we closed on the house-it was a Thursday-and we had company coming the following weekend.  So we had a week to get moved, unpacked, decorated, and settled.  Being OCD I had a plan of attack from the beginning.  Mom came in town and things were done, like promised, by Friday when Indy Lindy & Dave arrived.  I know, I'm just that good.  Aside from the sheer exhaustion that came along with that, it was wonderful to have everything done...or at least unpacked and functional. 

Since then, we have been tackling small jobs around the house.  Adding things here, doing things there, and this weekend was no different.  Mom and Dad came to town to help us with a few jobs around the house that needed just a tad more expertise than Brad and I could offer.  Our conversations normally go something like this...

Brad: "does that look level?"
Me:  "yeah, that looks level-put a nail in the wall."

So, Brad and Dad had a long honey-do list.  The list included:
1. Turn Brad's closet in the mancave into an office (obviously this was the MOST important project of the weekend, thus the #1 ranking)
2. Put the closet doors on in the master bedroom (yeah, we have been living sans closet doors for a month and a half.  The previous owner didn't have them up because she had curtains on tension rods...and a task that we thought would be quick and easy, since the doors were already there, turned into a $150 2 hour project.)
3. Fix the dining room light that mysteriously stopped working after Brad tried to shorten the chain...
4. Put up blinds in the master bedroom
5. Fix the toilet in the guest bath upstairs
6. Fix the outside light that WOULD NOT TURN OFF
7. Fix attic light switch

Whew...that is a long list, and I am proud to say that Brad and Dad successfully finished every single item on the list, with the help from their two lovely assistants and better halves.  :)

Sooo...the mancave transformation was the biggest and best of the weekend.  Since I am such an AMAZING wife, I gave in and let Brad turn the smaller of the 2 guest rooms into a mancave.  It isn't like we have lines of guests trying to stay at our house, so Brad continually pointed out that 1 guest room would be plenty.  He won only with the stipulation that once we decide to have kiddos (this is not an announcement saying we are ready...don't get crazy) he will forever lose the mancave to a cute nursery. 

Being that the room is tight on space, with the inspiration from mom, I pitched the idea of turning the closet into an office area, allowing more space in the room.  After much doubt from my wonderful husband he gave in and said the 'trusted' my idea...I mean I am ALWAYS right.  So, this weekend the process began.  There were already existing shelves in the closet on one side, along with a white wiring shelf to hang clothes.  Out came the white hanger and in went the custom shelves made by Brad and Dad. 

Brad and Dad measured, cut, and installed everything before it was painted or stained so we could see how it was going to work.  After the 'ok' from the boss...aka me, off to Lowes mom and I went to pick out a color for the closet.  We really wanted the closet to stand out instead of just fade into the room, so we decided to give it a punch of color...a maroonish red.  After we painted and painted...it took 3 coats, the shelves were installed, baskets were bought, lamps and accessories added, and we had ourselves an office space!

Here is one picture...

I'll take some more tonight and add some of the process too. 

Lots more pictures to come very soon...definitely before Thanksgiving.  All I have to do is make some pillows and we're home free for a long while on home repairs and updates....at least until our 'Kitchen fund' is large enough for a glass back splash and new counters! :)

The important things...

Well, clearly you can tell that we watch a lot of TV...cue the enormous TV above the fireplace!  The TV is up, mounted, and working just fine.  This was a big job to do mainly because of the size of the TV.  It is 55 inches...whoa.  Big.  Anyway, Brad had a company over today to run the wires and put up the TV.  I think it looks pretty good!  The house is quickly coming together...more pictures to come soon!

Moving on up!

Well, we did it.  I never thought this day would come.  We are FINALLY legit homeowners.  We closed on our new house on Thursday afternoon and have been moving stuff ever since.  Things have been C.R.A.Z.Y.  You never realize how much stuff you have until you try and move.  The amount of stuff and junk you acquire over a year is rediculous.  We will definitely be staying in this house for a long while because there is no way I want to move soon.  Like ever.


The best part of this whole deal is that my mom came in town on Sunday night and is staying until Friday to help us  paint, hang stuff, decorate, supervise the movers, etc.  That way Brad and I don't have to take off work, and let's face it-she's better at this stuff than we are!  She painted the laundry room, master, and half bath in one day.  She. Is. Awesome.  AND my parents bought us a NEW energy efficient washer and dryer as a housewarming present!  THEY ROCK!

Here are some pictures of what she has done so far.

 Laundry Room with new appliances! *Thanks mom & dad!*

Master-This room is BLUE.  Brad wanted some color and did he ever get it! 

Bad roof...who told you that?

SO...after the roofer man came to our second 'first' house-yeah the one I wrote about here & here-and told us that basically the roof was shot to hell, the seller got her insurance people out there immediately.  Well, as the saying goes, the saga continues.  The insurance adjuster met our realtor over there this morning, shimmied on the roof, and proceeded to tell him that this "looked like a 30 year roof"-as in it has 30 years still left in it aka new.  This news comes as slightly confusing considering the other man was ready to start ripping off shingles while he was there (maybe he needed the $$?), but I guess we have to trust Mr. Insurance Man-which seems like something people warn you about). 

Since the husband doesn't want us taking any chances with having to replace a roof while we live in this house, he has somehow managed to get the roofing company to give us the 10 year warranty that comes when you put on a new roof. (No wonder he does so well in his job...he is great at talking people into doing what he says-hello salesman of the year!) I thought that we would've gotten this anyway-like just transferred over into our names-but he quickly pointed out that normally it is only for the owner of the house when the roof was actually replaced.  Add that to the list of times when Brad is right...good thing he NEVER reads this thing because he thinks it is L.A.M.E.  Ha!

Now that the roof issue is taken care of, I think we will be able to close on this house early next week!  Keep your fingers crossed and prayers acomin' because by damn, I think we might actually get this house!

Sewing with Grammy 101

Last Friday I took a much needed "mental health day" from school and tagged along with the hubby on his drive to Georgia to go hunting.  After he had a sales meeting in Chattanooga, we were off on the trek down 75 to God's country-as Brad calls it.  I took the opportunity of him passing through Atlanta to get dropped off at Grammy's house (my mom's mom) for a weekend of sewing curtains, pillows, and anything else I could think of.

**The fabric I took and used to make curtain for this house is actually the fabric that I bought for the other 'first' house.  Luckily it will all still work in the house now and besides having extra fabric, we aren't out anything.  Talk about lucky!**

My Grammy is the bomb.com period, but she is definitely the queen of sewing.  While I was growing up Grammy made ALL my Halloween costumes.  I was every Disney Princess under the sun, and Grammy made every single one of them from scratch.  And apparently the sewing of my clothes started much earlier than just my yearly Halloween costumes.  Grammy let me in on a secret-she even made my mom's maternity clothes when she was pregnant with me...And wait for it-made us matching outfits when I was just a newborn!  That's right-get over it.  My mom and I were styling together long before I had a say in it!

Anywho, I have never sewed anything in my life, not a button, not a hem, nada.  So, the idea of sewing curtains, adding trim, and making pillows was S.C.A.R.Y to me.  I would like to take more of the credit, but aside from making a LOT of pillows, making and messing up the kitchen window valance, Grammy did most of the harder stuff especially if it required that it needed to be sewn in a straight line.  That is one thing I didn't seem to master over the weekend..all in good time young grasshopper.

So, here are some pictures.  Once we actually get a house and get moved in, I am going to share pictures of all the finished products!  Woohoo!

The 84 inch panel for the master bedroom window...preeetttyyy:

Same panel after measuring and ironing the hem (so it is easier to sew):

Me (with my new hair color, might I add)-concentrating VERY hard-I'm trying not to jack this thing up-we had NO extra fabric:

Finished product-beautiful panel for the master bedroom window...too bad this window was only halfway done at this point:

This is a coordinating pillow that I made for the master bedroom...same colors, circular pattern, but not too matchy matchy-this fabric was originally purchased for a window treatment for the master bathroom in the 'first' first house:

This is the fabric that will be in the living room and the kitchen-this is the valance for the kitchen window:

After a long weekend of sewing & playing in Grammy's yard-this was exactly how we were feeling:

So, this was just a snap shot of the sewing that took place this past weekend.  The master bedroom is completely finished from window treatments to pillows.  The kitchen valance is finished, but the living room and "man-room" curtains had to stay with Grammy to get finished up (we aka she is putting trim on these because we mixed two fabrics-crazy, I know).  

I bought all this fabric-over 30 yards-for $150 at this fabric warehouse close to mom and dad in North Carolina.  Their fabric is beautiful, heavy, and inexpensive aka my favorite aspect of it all.  Nothing I bought was more than $4 a yard...can you believe that?  They said to get the price you would've paid at an actual fabric store you should multiply what you paid by 10!  Sheesh...I would say I got one heck of a deal!

You know the famous quote from Field of Dreams-if you build it they will come?  Well, I'm hoping the same is true for my house and curtains...If you sew the curtains your house will come soon?  Wishful thinking?...possibly.

Second verse same as the first...

Well, it seems that the first time home buyers blues keep following us around like a stage five clinger.  After having all the drama with the our first, first house-we thought this house we be much easier.  The hail damage from the storm in April had been 'fixed'-or so they said, and our contractor had already given us the go ahead on the house.  We were supposed to close yesterday, September 19, but yesterday came and went and we are still living in a house full of boxes. 

Our home inspection showed us that while the roof had been replaced from the storm, there was still damage on it-WHAT?!?!?!  Yeah, that is exactly what we were thinking...how do you have a new roof with hail damage?  It just did not make sense to us or the seller.  After a roofing company climbed up on the roof, they deemed that indeed there was enough damage to say that the integrity of the roof had been compromised, and that the seller should take out an ADDITIONAL claim to get ANOTHER roof put on the house-all in the span of 5 months.  WOW! 

So for now, we are just waiting-not so patiently anymore-to finally get into a house, any house.  We are hoping that this gets taken care of by the end of the month so we don't have to continue to shell out MORE IN OUR RENT than we will in our MORTGAGE!  Plus, we really like the house-I've(Grammy) already made curtains-more to come about that later-and we are really looking forward to living in our new hood. 

So, right now we are crossing our fingers, legs, arms, and any other parts that are capable of crossing in hopes that we get moved in and semi-settled before we have visitors the weekend of October 7th...Eeeeeek!  Talk about cutting it close.  Dang. We. Have. A. Lot. To. Do.

Remembering 9/11

It is such a beautiful day here in Knoxville, it is hard to believe that 10 years ago this day was so far from beautiful.  By this time 10 years ago, both towers had fallen and the country was trying to wrap its head around the amount of damage that had occurred.  I do not think that anybody quite understood the magnitude of the attack, the death toll, or the impact it would have in shaping this country forever. 

Let this day remind us all to come together, respect one another, and honor those that are still fighting to ensure that this country is a safe place to live.  The amount of patriotism that was displayed after 9/11 should not just be something that we dust off once a year, but rather a constant state of mind that we adopt daily.  

My heart goes out to those that lost loved ones 10 years ago, not only today but always.

God Bless The United States of America!