Bathroom remodel is done

I told you we were busy and were doing a lot of work around the house. You should see it. Boxes filling up the garage, parts of the house packed up, things misplaced. I'm hanging in there through it all. Noise, phone calls, people coming and going, kids, working. Yep, I'm getting by. At least one thing is done. The bathroom! Yeah! And it's going to be so easy to clean. Love it!











Ok, Ok. I have to keep my sense of humor here. But, it is easy to clean - because I don't have to. I heard a truck rumble up on Thursday. Hmmm? What now? Oh, Andy is here. Andy Gump that is. No worries, it's all part of the transition. And if I was worried about it, well, I don't know what I would be doing. Just going with the flow, so to speak.

This is the end of day Thursday.

Friday afternoon, the house looks like this. Love it. I love the way the front looks. I try to picture the end result and almost can. The inside wall is down and we have a big piece of plastic to protect the rest of the office from the new space. The furniture is all back and it's cramped, but only temporary.




This weekend was hectic. With a capital H. Saturday morning Evelyn and I finished getting her room ready to paint. Moved the furniture in the center of the room and boxed up "stuff". I got Evelyn off to Marissas as she was headed to Oceanside with the family. Then the painting began. Oh, talk about sore arms!

In between coats of paint I did some yard work. Dug up the big hibiscus near the front door (looks so much better now) transplanted some plants to fill in the gap and re-planted the hibiscus in the back yard. Finished painting in Evelyn's room and ran out of paint.


Tom did what he could in the garage to get some order in there. We have paths going through all the boxes.

Sunday, before church, Greg and I headed to Home Depot for more paint and other supplies. After church, we headed to Anaheim to meet with the floor guy and pick out flooring, etc... From there we drove to Oceanside to get Evelyn. We hung out at the beach and Greg also had a great time riding the waves. We stayed for dinner and then headed home. It was nice to just sit on the beach for a while and relax. And then to have dinner on the roof top patio and watch the sun start to set over the ocean :) Thanks for having Evelyn and us :)

Monday was quiet. It was a nice break. But I did get a call earlier this morning for the schedule for the next project. 9-18-08 is the projected date. Coming up fast.

Monday night I finished painting Evelyn's room. It looks cool! Now just to get her furniture back and get her room functional again. At least she can get to her dresser and closet.

When we got home this afternoon, all was quiet. The electrical is finished and the insulation is inside the walls. I think the roofer will start on Wednesday. (note: I had a great relaxing afternoon at the beach while the kids tired themselves out in the waves. I feel so much better)

And of course, if you are a 10 year old boy who should be living on 50 acres of wooded farm land but instead are living in the city near a wooded area but your mom won't let you play there becuase there are coyotes there and who knows what else, but you have lots of wood scraps in your front yard, what do you do with it? Well, first of all, your mom confirms it's ok to use the scrap wood and helps you dig it from the trash trailer (Thursday) . And she also asks the guys to save it for you (Friday) and they do. You then toss all the wood over the side fence and proceed to build this ultra cool fort in your own back yard. Complete with floor and ceiling. And completed after this photo was taken, a cool walk way and fence and also 2 plant areas. And your mom even let you dig up some of the transplanted plants to plant in your planter area. And she even planted some more for you when you were busy doing other things. And you get to hang out there all weekend. And the neighbors don't care that part of it sticks over into their back yard because they are really cool neighbors.


And when you have a friend sleep over you are cool enough to invite your sister too, and the 3 of you sit out in the fort with a lantern and flashlights and a lot of snacks and chat and chat about stuff.

Trying to keep things sane around here

And the fun just keeps on pouring in. Along with the chaos, etc....
My house is.... a mess. And I really don't care. I have tried to keep things pick up for the most part and try to ignore the rest of what is going on. I have tried. But it's a constant. Kids are slobs. End of discussion. When does school start???? Oh, yes I will miss them but it will be nice to have the house almost to myself again.

Evelyn's room is painted. It looks so cool!!! My camera is someplace and I can't find it so photos will come later.

Today, in about 30 minutes, we are jetting down to Oceanside. Some friends are staying there for the week, right on the beach :) Evelyn went with them on Saturday and we picked her up Sunday evening. Evelyn is going back today. She will stay with her friend for another day or more. I am also bringing Greg and his buddy down for awhile to tire them selves out in the waves. It's not like they are not tired already as they had a sleep over last night and got to bed a little late. Then were waken up early, 7, by the pounding pounding pounding outside.

If I was not headed to Oceanside, I think I would sit in a corner and cry or eat a lot of ice cream or just say, you know what, forget about it, let's load up the car and go somewhere. Because I just have to get out of here! It's been no stop for more than a month and I just have to get out of here today, now!

I have not posted any pictures of the house lately and it looks so different. I need to find my camera to download the recent ones. The guys were here early today. Monday was quiet. Now its the waiting game for the inspector. Then the roof can start as well as the insulation and plaster. Yippee! Then it's time to move inside. Yipee again. I love watching things progress each day.

September 18, or there abouts, starts yet another project. Then even more chaos. And who's to know what happens in between now and the 18th.

Have a super great week!

Remembering Henry

Henry, my friend, you will never be forgotten. Never. Your sense of humor, your drive and determination, your kindness and your generous heart. I think of you often and miss you. My prayers are with your family always and I pray for you too.
All who know you will never forget that dreadful day. Your memory will always be with us.
Justice has been done but you can never be replaced.
Go Bruins!

Yosemite Day 2

Oh, the smell of the outdoors! Who doesn't love it? I sure do!


While the guys were going golfing at Wawona, the kids and I wanted to go horseback riding. First we met with the ranger at the ranger coffee at the amphitheater which was right by our camp site. Got some ideas of what to do. We got reservations for the 2 pm trail ride. 2 hours!




I had the kids walk through the history center with me,
and then we met up with the rest of the gals and kids for a swim. The kids also took off on a barefoot rock hike down the river.





Time for our trail ride. Evelyn rode Bucky, Greg rode Tucker and I rode Tuscon. We went on this nice cool shaded trail around Wawona for 2 hours. It was great!







It's just beautiful here!



Back to camp to swim, again, dinner and more s'mores. To bed early as we were headed to the Valley early in the morning.

Framing is started

Today started out early again. Framers were here before 7 am and started working at 7 am. Not too long after that the walls were shaking and the hammering and sawing began. I quickly ran around the house taking down pictures from the walls and stuff off some of the shelves. It needs to come down anyways.

Now things are really looking different around here. See for yourself.

This is taken from the front door window while the guys were working. We could not get out the front door for awhile.


Looking at the front door. Need to trim those hibiscus!
This is from the front porch. I'm trying to get an idea of what it will look like.
I love the smell of wood. This is Douglas Fir. That is part of a knott and it smells so nice and piney. I walked around smelling the wood as it just smells so good. My window is open now and I can smell it too. Ahhh!

It was noisy here today and I know it will be tomorrow. My head is pounding and I am tired. But still much to do. The goal is to completely pack up the office tonight so the furniture can be moved tomorrow. Anyone want to help???

Vacation Day 1

First day of Vacation! Oh Heaven! We pulled out of Starbucks at 6:30 am and met up with Chris and Martha and their group in Bakersfield. Hit the road again and met up again in Oakhurst around noon for grocery shopping and lunch.


We were at our camp site in Wawona around 3.
Set up camp and the kids couldn't wait to get into the river to play and swim.



This is a bear box. You need to keep all your food, drinks, toilitries, soap, sunscreen, etc... in this box. Then you close it up and lock it, at all times, unless you are loading or unloading or standing next to it (so says the Rangers). This is to prevent bears from tearing off your car doors to get the the food. Or even rummaging through your camp site and going through your coolers. I remember when we had to hang our food from tree branches in burlap sacks!
It also makes a nice extra table or seat or just a place to keep stuff.


Off to the other Murphy site to hang out and dip our feet in the nice icey cold and refreshing water.


There were 4 families/groups and we all had dinner together at Chris and Martha's camp site.
The gals pitched in cooking and getting ready then the guys cleaned up.

After dinner the kids would swim more or play frisbee or bocce ball.
Then the camp fire began and it was time for s'mores.


We headed to bed around 10 pm and boy I slept great! Ready for the next day.

Happy 10th Birthday Smurphy

Major milestone for Greg while we were on vacation. He turned 10! Yep, double digit guy! Wowza.


He did get to open one present before we left.



On the eve of August 6, we celebrated at our camp fire in Wawona. I had everyone sing "happy birthday" and then Greg opened one present.




Evelyn hid the other one so he had to hunt around the camp site for it. He was thrilled with both of them.




We had more s'mores and another great evening at the camp fire with our camping friends and family.



On August 7, his actual b-day, we started the long drive to Eugene Or. Greg decided he wanted to get there in one day. It was a long day, 12 hours in the car (but that included stopping various times).


We had yummy pizza in Ashland, OR and then continued our trip to Eugene.


The next morning Greg got to open even more presents and we had a great stay in OR. More on that later.





Well, Greg-O Smurphy-O, happy birthday to you my best bud. You are one heck of a special guy and we love you so very much and are so proud of you. Love ya bud :)

Foundation is done

Friday and the weekend and Monday went by with no work on the house. Until Tuesday morning, today. We were told the cement truck would be rolling in around 7 am as would the workers.

I pulled in the driveway around 6:45 am (after boot camp) and a worker was parked in front of our house. I walked in the door and Tom informed me there was about 3" of water in the trench for the footings. Oops. My bad. The lawns were very thristy so I watered yesterday afternoon. I left the sprinklers on extra long out front as Greg and the neighbors HHH, were all having a great time out there. The sprinklers don't turn off very well. I thought I had it turned off just fine and didn't see any water leaking from the sprinkler turn on thingy. And it's right next to the new foundation. So, looking at this water, the cement guy says it's ok but do we have a cup or something to bail it out?

I got the pump from the garage and a few buckets. We quickly began bailing as the very noisy cement truck was situating itself in front of our house with a driver who looked very anxious to unolad his noisy load. I heard this guy coming down the street and it was like 6:50 am. I am glad most of our neighbors are early risers!

After moving trash cans (it's trash day), cars, and confirming that it was ok to start pouring, the fun began. Since the cement truck is too heavy, it couldn't go up over the sidewalk and park on the grass or park on the driveway, plus there is a pile of lumber there. The guys would load up a wheel barrow of cement, push it up the driveway and dump it in the hole.

I was a shy photographer this morning and took these through the window in my front door. Holly, you can kinda see across the street.


K was so anxious for her walk that I bolted out of there with her after the guys got busy working. Then she layed in the house with a confused look on her face wondering what the heck all the commotion was. By the time I left to take Greg to the ortho at 9 they were just about done.



Keep in mind that Evy's room is right next to this new addition. Could anyone sleep through a cement truck churning away in your front yard, right outside your open window? Well, my girl sure can!

Time is now almost 2, workers are gone, Oops typed too soon. The guy just showed up to move the sprinkler valves. They sit directly against where the new wall will be.

Framing should start tomorrow. It's getting crazy but I'm ok with it. I know it will be over in a few months and things will be looking great!

I waited a little too long to get a photo and now have the nice afternoon shadows.






We carved our names in the hardening cement. I waited to long though to put in our foot and hand prints. We also drew designs with knives in the hardening cement. I could't get all of our cement creations because of the shadows. But you get the idea. Greg's friend is over today so he also carved his name in the cement.

Keep on Checkin it off

One more off the list today. The inspector came by this morning and signed off on the re bar for the concrete slab that will be the floor of my new office. Thank you Mr. Nice Inspector :)
This means that we may be able to pour concrete tomorrow, Saturday. Oh yes! Then framing can start on Monday.
I chatted about the painting. Left message with the floor guy and arranged another appointment for more work. It's been a busy morning. And to top it off I was on the phone with Cox using their automated system to get my Internet back on.
Evelyn was so helpful and helped me box up the office stuff yesterday. I will get the guys to move furniture on Monday.

Greg is playing in yet another tournament this weekend. It's in Chino Hills at the Field of Dreams. Very cool looking stadium. 2 games on Saturday and Sunday's depend on how we do Saturday. This one is only 2 days. Then I think it's a rest for awhile for the Sox as soccer season is starting up right after Labor Day.

If you are looking for a contractor, check out ours here.

Last day of vacation for me then it's back to work on Monday. I finished up my last run this morning. My mile time was 8:33. When we started 8 weeks ago it was 9:38. Yeah me! For sure not Olympic time but hey, I'll take it.

Evelyn has finally gotten out of bed. So now we are getting ready to head to the lake for awhile. Need to enjoy my last day of vacation. And Greg has practice tonight. The fun never ends.

Have a fun and safe weekend everyone :)

All righty, now I will tell you

Once upon a time, not too long ago. Our house looked like this. Well, it is actually part of the house.

Then I had to move the plants to here

Then, the day before we left for vacation it looked like this

And it stayed like this until the day we got home from vacation. And when we arrived we saw this



Because of this

and here it is again

Why? What? Ok, ok. Maybe you have guessed it. It is time for an overhaul of our home. There are many things on "the list" and this is the first thing that is happening. Like I said, a lot of waiting. We are adding onto our office. I work here, the kids computer is here, our home computer and stuff is here. There is no more room. None. It's cramped and crowded and always a mess. No matter how hard I try to keep it clean, it just doesn't happen. So, we decided to expand. More room!

I have big ideas for this room too. Oh, I am sure it will be nice.

There are many other things on "the list" too but one thing at a time. Maybe 2 or 3 down the road. But this is the start. And now I need to get busy and call the flooring guy back and the painter, etc... Big list.

So I will keep you updated on our progress. One inspector came by this morning. Then the workers. They had some more work to do and moved the pile of dirt and the lumber. Now the car can get out of the garage.

And speaking of the garage. Not only do we still have the furniture from Greg's room there, as well as other stuff. But this afternoon I finally focused and convinced Evelyn to help me out and started to pack up the office. The book shelf is empty and the desk is, but for Tom's stuff. It all needs to be moved to take out the existing wall and put up a temp wall while the rest of the room is completed. so, those boxes are in the garage. Want to keep the house clear of them.

The next inspection should be on Friday. (crossing fingers) and then the foundation poured Monday, inspected, then the framing starts. Maybe by the end of next week we will have what looks like a room.

So, that was the big thing I was mentioning. I just didn't want to actually say something until the work was already started. I sure can't wait till it's all done. The on to the next items on the list and hopefully in a few months my house will be all done and nice and new.