Best Tool Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For everyone reading this who needs a quick pick me up please follow these directions. Step 1. Find some ceramic tile in your house or someone elses house (if you do this be very sneaky)that you abhor. Step 2. Mosey on down to the tool rental department at Home Depot and Pick up a Demolition Hammer (this step is key to feeling good about yourself). Step 3. Return to the tile (if this isn't at your house, do not tell them I told you to do this!!!) and whisper something to the tile ( I chose, "Fredo, you're nothing to me now. You're not a brother, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want to see you at the hotels, I don't want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there. You understand?" Feel free to throw in any Godfather quote of your choice) let the ceramic know that it did something wrong to you personally and will be eternally sorry. Step 4. Throw on some clothes that a homeless person wouldn't dare be seen wearing. Step 5. Pull the trigger on this bad boy and let the demolition begin!!!!



So, to appreciate the power and glory of this tool it may help you to know that on Wednesday after work I spent 1.5 hours taking up half a tile with a hammer and a crowbar. To say it was demoralizing and emasculating fit the bill all to well. At that moment, the ceramic tile held the upper hand in the relationship and it let me know it. How you ask? Oh, it had its ways.

But the victory that it sensed was short-lived dear friends. Tyler, the protagonist of this lovely tale came out on top.



Seriously, this thing cost like $50 bucks a day to rent and it makes you feel awesome about your life. If psychologists knew about the power of this tool to change the way people feel about themselves, they'd know that their best days are behind them. Tara got down on this bad boy as well... ata girl. Wow, I love this woman!


Hello Friends,

Funny story (well to me) during my three hours of taking all this nasty ceramic up, I started yelling at the ceramic about how I was fully victorious and it was pathetically losing. Tara called me out in front of her parents that night about screaming at the tile. That's the equivalent to someone talking about you flexing in the mirror after the shower...just me...well of course. Anyway, I manned up to me verbal tirades while using this machine because I felt it was owed a proper tribute after our paths magically crossed.

Please, if anyone knows of a tool that has similar psychological benefits, I would love to know about it.

Good bye, dear friend (2/20/2010 8am - 2/20/2010 1pm). You lived an awesome albeit short time in our house.

BIG, Busy Weekend!!!

This weekend was SO productive!
We are getting closer and closer to getting the wood floors installed. There are a few things that have been our goal to get done first since we moved in. Our first project was getting the downstairs painted. That is completed except for the guest bathroom downstairs, which is going to be a total renovation.
Our next goals were to get the wood floors installed and the chandeliers put up. When the previous owners moved out they were kind enough to take their lights with them to leave us a clean slate...and very dark rooms! We have purchased and/or painted all of the necessary chandeliers and are now ready to let there be light! Tyler and I have both painted chandeliers and this weekend I completed our last chandelier. I also added ribbon to the shades.





This week Andreas and Luis (our wonderful painters) are coming to install 3 chandeliers. The first will be in the entry where we do not have light at all. (We are SOOOO excited!) The next will be in the den. We got a 5 foot chandelier to go in that room to replace the tragic gold fan. Finally, they are removing a canned light in the back staircase and putting in a chandelier that we got from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Larry. In order to get the chandeliers installed we needed to rent 15 foot scaffolding. We went down to our local Home Depot and they do not carry the safety pins for the scaffolding. (Seriously! No safety pins!) So they would not rent it to us (and we didn't want it with out them). So we went to another Home Depot to get the scaffolding. After loading it carefully in Daddy's truck, a slow drive back and unloading it into the house we have scaffolding! Sunday we put it up for Luis and Andreas to use Monday.








This week we are also getting the crown molding in our room installed!!! (YAY Andreas and Luis!) We are also scheduling the wood floors and hope to be rid of this carpet by the end of March! (A great birthday present...no carpet!!)

So many changes and we are loving it! This house turns more into our home everyday!

The house in the snow!

the work continues

As requested I will give you MORE pictures and LESS writing.

The attached pictures are from a lot of the updates that are going on or that we have already completed. From painting to our current project, kitchen renovation. Now we have a CRAZY kitchen. Tyler and Ryan Cockrell did demo and now there is a huge section ripped out of our cabinets. Ty and dad are building a floor to ceiling cabinet for us. (There is a picture where I didn't know that they were working on electrical...whoops! I guess when you are holding an electrical box in your hands you don't want to see a flash. Needless to say I might have given daddy an unwanted surprise! So you will see the picture I took and a picture of daddy's response.) Also the kitchen cabinets are down so they can be cleaned and painted.

The upcoming projects are for the wood floor to be put down, chandeliers hung and the cabinets to be painted black. Our house is a MAD HOUSE, but it is amazing working on all of these projects and seeing things come together. We still have yet to hang anything, we just aren't there yet, but we are getting close!

(I have to add that the furniture in the pictures is NOT the furniture that will be in the den.)