~~ They're leaving the nest, sew it's time for a trip - or two - or three...~~ D~'s bag ~9/22 ~~

[LittleFlounder]

Yes- that is a long lay over. Which airport will you be at? We were at O'Hare for 4 hours and it was so boring. And their toilets... I still never really figured them out. They were the oddest thing I'd ever seen.

Just make sure you have your chargers accessoble, so you can plug in and use your device to pass the time... Or a good book - something.

Oh, I didn't realize Chicago had more than ORD, yes, my layover is at O'Hare. Weird toilets? Thanks for the warning! Since I'm only taking a carryon, I'll have access to all my chargers, devices, books, etc...but it's still going to be a long 4 hours! I wish ORD had the shopping that MCO has. I don't think I'd have trouble wasting 4 hours at MCO. I'm just glad the layover is on my way home, not on the way to Disneyland.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I am proud of myself for not giving up. That is the most important part... Once you give up, it's game-over. There is no game-over here.

As I've said before, you are such an inspiration. It is great to hear you are happy with where you are and feel back on track!

I do plan to take Allison into the urgent care walk in clinic - she is having some throat swelling and pain...

I hope Allison feels better and hope it's nothing too serious.

 

[jandlinz]

Just catching up!
Yippee for another day!
I loved hearing about your childhood experience. It really is inspirational.
I hope your sweet girl feels better.

 

[missjackiemcg]

I love how open and honest you are about the challenge of eating and weight issues, D~!! Thanks for sharing and sharing so openly!!

Weird toilets at O'Hare?! That cracked me up I'm sure you mean those weird sanitizer seat cover thingies, right?? Definitely bizarre, but once you get the hang of it, not so bad I guess.

I hope your weekend got off to a good start! We had some of the weirdest weather here all day. It was gusting up to 50 mph winds and kept blizzarding on and off all day long. It would suddenly start then stop and be beautiful and sunny, but SO windy!! Good thing I was working at Hallmark all day, so it didn't ruin any of my plans

 

[DMGeurts]

I love V's prom dress, she looks gorgeous! I am glad to hear the driver training is going well, our school offered Drivers Education when my daughter was learning and she had an excellent instructor so we lucked out there.

I am happy to hear your knee & tooth are better And that you are back on track with your healthy lifestyle!

My Sister is on the mend, thank you for asking. I enjoyed reading about your trip to your Dads and seeing pictures of your Foster Family.

Have a great weekend,
Monica

Yes - it's super cute, just a little relieved that she was able to find one to borrow - so that's awesome!

That's awesome... Here we have to have 6 hours of training with a certified instructor, but before she does that - she has to have 50 hours with a parent and 10 of those have to be at night. She is at 31 hours right now... So she is getting there.

Thanks - it feels good to have my body almost back to normal.

I am so glad to hear about your sister - I know that it hasn't been an easy time for any of you.

Thanks Monica - you too! And thanks for stopping by - it's always good to see you here!

It must be nice having this weeks custom order finished and a side project as well. Now you can enjoy the weekend without have to think about the custom order that is not finished

You are doing a great job with your food and exercise. It really is a life long project that never ends.

I hope Allison gets better soon.

This process with a new car has now been taking 2 years. So yes you really have to be patience when dealing with the welfare system. But I'm so glad that we have it and that I have the right to get the help I need even if I have to fight to get that right.

It feels so good to be on top of things - for sure!

Thanks - there are many days where I struggle, but it just feels great to have progress again, even if I am not back to where I was at this time last year.

Thanks - me too! Poor kid.

Wow - I remember you first telling me about this, I can't believe it's been 2 years! I am glad you have this available to you though and you are able to fight for what you need.

Oh, I didn't realize Chicago had more than ORD, yes, my layover is at O'Hare. Weird toilets? Thanks for the warning! Since I'm only taking a carryon, I'll have access to all my chargers, devices, books, etc...but it's still going to be a long 4 hours! I wish ORD had the shopping that MCO has. I don't think I'd have trouble wasting 4 hours at MCO. I'm just glad the layover is on my way home, not on the way to Disneyland.

Well, they are strange to me... They are plastic wrapped and automatic... I never did quite figure them out.

They might have some shopping? I am not sure... Allison and I never ventured out of our general gate area. LOL - I don't think I'd have a problem wasting 4 hours at MCO either.

As I've said before, you are such an inspiration. It is great to hear you are happy with where you are and feel back on track!

I hope Allison feels better and hope it's nothing too serious.

Thanks... I just tell it how it is. LOL And sometimes, I often think I tell it way too much... But I am glad that I inspire you.

Thanks - I'll talk about it below.

Just catching up!
Yippee for another day!
I loved hearing about your childhood experience. It really is inspirational.
I hope your sweet girl feels better.

Hi!!! Welcome back - thanks for taking the time to catch up.

Thanks... I used to be so sensitive about it - but it is what it is, and in the end, it was my choice to turn a rough childhood into a positive experience, or a negative one... So, I took all of the positive I could from it and ran with it. In the end - all that really mattered was that I was truly loved by every single person in my life.

Thank you - I will talk about it below... It wasn't what I expected for sure.

I love how open and honest you are about the challenge of eating and weight issues, D~!! Thanks for sharing and sharing so openly!!

Weird toilets at O'Hare?! That cracked me up I'm sure you mean those weird sanitizer seat cover thingies, right?? Definitely bizarre, but once you get the hang of it, not so bad I guess.

I hope your weekend got off to a good start! We had some of the weirdest weather here all day. It was gusting up to 50 mph winds and kept blizzarding on and off all day long. It would suddenly start then stop and be beautiful and sunny, but SO windy!! Good thing I was working at Hallmark all day, so it didn't ruin any of my plans

Thank you... Sometimes I think I share too much or too deeply about it - but it's a hard road, and sometimes my writing here helps me process life - especially my journey for better health... So, I just write what's on my mind. I really appreciate that so many of my friends can relate and are inspired by my thoughts and feelings on that subject - in turn, that inspires me to keep moving forward and pressing on. It's really a 2 way street.

Hahaha... Yes those thingies... I wasn't sure what to do with them? And for that matter - I am not sure I ever figured it out? LOL

Yes - your weather sounds like our weather... We must live close to eachother? Sorry - I can hardly remember everyone's real first names - never mind where they live. LOL But our weather was much the same - although, not blizzarding... There was snow though, nothing that wasn't gone almost when it hit the ground, but it was there. And when it was sunny - it was gorgeous out, I'd step outside thinking it would be warm and beautiful - but it was freezing. LOL

Have a great remainder to your weekend!

************************************************************************************************

So, yesterday - I had my 2 cups of coffee... and then some. It was a strange eating day for me, but in the end I was OK.

I woke Allison early, so we could get to the walk-in clinic right away... They did a strep test on her, and sure enough - the kiddo has strep! This shocked me... She has only had strep twice in her life... And COUNTLESS times the school nurse has told me to bring the girls in for strep tests - but never has one been positive until now.... So, now I am just waiting for the rest of us to get it. Sigh. Afterwards, we went to get her prescription filled - then we headed home so she could rest. Despite having strep - she was feeling pretty good, with only a sore throat as a symptom (which is one of the main reasons I didn't think she had it).

So, by the time we got home, Josh was up... And he looked pretty motivated... So, I showed him my list. I was super excited that he was on board with my plan. We all sat at the table and made a plan... We decided to start in the living room - and we won't start any other rooms until the living room is DONE. I've been waiting on trim for my living room windows and the baseboards for 8 years now... And we've had all the supplies to do it - but it's never been done. I am beyond excited!

See... We took out the whole wall in 2008... And rebuilt it... Along with new windows, siding and insulation through out the entire house...

We've done a lot of work to this house over the years...

So, the living room list looks like this:

1. Mud and tape where necessary
2. Paint
3. Trim windows
4. Trim baseboards
5. Possibly new carpet??? Although, new carpet will come before baseboards - so I'll need to make a decision on that soon.

Yesterday morning, we cleaned off the walls in the living room. We moved all of the furniture to the center and covered it. Then Josh started mudding... Essentially - our entire bay window wall needed to be mudded from when we replaced it in 2008... And then the corner where we used to have our built in entertainment center which we ripped out at Christmas time... So, lots of mudding to do.

At lunch time, the girls and I headed off to Home Depot to pick out paint... At first I was thinking a light blue - but light blue doesn't go with the color palette of our house at all - so in the end, I went with a "sand" color. I am pretty excited, because I've been sick of the green in my living room for years now, and I've wanted to lighten it up... This will do that. Sadly - all of our window trim is a light/medium wood color - and white looks better with sand colored walls... But whatever... I am NOT going to paint all of the trim - it would just take too long, and we need to get this done. So, the color palette I chose for the living room is sand, dark brown and a dusty blue accent color... I found drapes to pull all of these colors together nicely - so hopefully it works out OK - otherwise, I may have to ditch the dusty blue and go for red.

Anyways... by supper time, our living room looked like this...

Today... Well, Josh says we will be priming this morning. And painting the first coat by this afternoon. Double It's possible that we will also have the 2nd coat on today, as well. However, because of all the furniture we have - we are doing half the room at a time... So, once we are done with all these coats and they are dry... Then we will have the hard part of me emptying the China cabinet (again) and moving that... And the HUGE curio cabinet... But thankfully - because we never did any remodeling to the remaining walls, we should just have to prime them and paint them - no mudding or taping. Josh is hoping to have the other half of the room done by next weekend... And then we will move on to the trimming of the windows next weekend. You have no idea how excited I am to FINALLY have trim on the windows!

I will need to decide by the end of the week if I want new carpet... The only reason I am hesitant right now, is that Cooper is still a puppy - and well, I hate to put $$ into new carpet and have him ruin it... I am half tempted just to put down an area rug and be done with it. I am not sure? I will give it some thought this week. What would you do? Our carpet had definitely seen better days... But if I put a ton of $$ into new carpet, and the dogs ruined it - I would be sooooo upset.

So, that's all of my exciting weekend! I hope you all have a great Sunday!!! Pixie Dust to all!

D~

 

[jandlinz]

Poor Allison. I hope she gets better soon.
It looks like quite a big project! I'm sure it will turn out great though. What about installing hardwood floors? You could do an area rug. I understand your dilemma with the puppy. We need a new couch, but want to wait until our youngest gets older because even kids destroy things. Good luck. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Terkina]

How exciting that Josh is on board with your plan for the house. It's sounds like a very good idea take one room at a time and finish that room before moving to the next room.
In Norway most people don't have carpet floors in their house. Most people in Norway has parquet or tiles on the floors. Some people has smaller rugs on top of the parquet. If you suspect that the dogs still are going to ruin the carpet then it will be cheapest to wait with new carpets.

Sounds like you have your hands full for a long time to come, but your house is going to be so great when you're done.

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

Poor Allison! She's had a rough time health-wise lately! But the meds should have her feeling much better very soon. I really do hope none of the rest of you get it!

You got so much done yesterday! I think your color pallet is lovely and I look forward to seeing pictures of the finished project. We really need to do something like that in our house...except that my husband refuses to paint since we're only renting (and may be moving next year), which I totally understand. I really miss our house in Georgia that we hand-picked, planned, had built, and had everything done the way we wanted it. *sigh* Oh well! I do better with home renovation projects when I have a solid deadline to work to....otherwise I just procrastinate.

I continue to be thankful for your great example of perseverance with your quest for better health and fitness. You are so inspiring!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I woke Allison early, so we could get to the walk-in clinic right away... They did a strep test on her, and sure enough - the kiddo has strep!

Aw, I hope she feels better. While I have never had strep before, I hear it's not too fun...

Wow! Lots of excitement going on in your house! I can't wait to see how everything looks when it's finished! Love the colors you are picking for the living room.
lLso, carpet + puppy =
Lol my dog ruined most of our carpet and when we did construction on our house we pulled it up and just put in hardwood floors. Maybe do what you were saying - with the area rug? That sounds like a good idea.

 

[ljcrochet]

Can't wait to see the finished finished living room. I would price out the carpet and then decide if you want to go for it now or later. I know my dogs have wrecked my upstairs carpet twice, i'm thinking about getting hardwood. Only reason we haven't is because we have laminate wood in most of the bedrooms and hardwood in the living room that are different colors, not sure how to pull it together.

 

[DMGeurts]

Poor Allison. I hope she gets better soon.
It looks like quite a big project! I'm sure it will turn out great though. What about installing hardwood floors? You could do an area rug. I understand your dilemma with the puppy. We need a new couch, but want to wait until our youngest gets older because even kids destroy things. Good luck. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Thanks - she is doing much better now.... She's had a few doses of her antibiotics and she is back in business. She slept for 18 hours between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

It is - it's not as big as the original project though - which took us 2 years to complete. I would LOVE to do hard wood floors in there - it would be the perfect solution, however, this house is OLD - it was built in 1890 (or before... We've been unable to truly date it), so my floors - especially in that room are very uneven. Josh said there is no way we could do wood in there, because it would separate and crack. So, sadly - even though I would LOVE to have wood floors in this house - it's just impossible. We did price carpet yesterday - and sadly, I don't think it's in the budget for this project... Soooo, it looks like we will be cleaning this carpet like crazy when this project is over - and I have a rug I'll put down - it sort of matches the color palette, and we'll just go with it. Unless we find a great deal in the near future on carpet/installation...

I don't blame you on the new furniture... We had hand-me-down furniture our entire married life... About 3 or 4 years ago, we finally splurged and purchased our own brand new furniture... We spent a lot of $$ making sure we got a reputable brand (Lane) and we took a lot of time choosing the style and color... In the end, I am mostly happy with it - but in some ways, I'd like to find something a little smaller - as our set is a little larger than I'd like in our space. I'd say that my girls were about 13-14 y/o when we got this set, and for the most part - it was a good time to get it, they had mostly settled down enough to respect it. If I were to do it again though - I'd wait another year + for sure. But I was soooo tired of every one else's hand-me-downs - I wanted something that I'd chosen for myself.

How exciting that Josh is on board with your plan for the house. It's sounds like a very good idea take one room at a time and finish that room before moving to the next room.
In Norway most people don't have carpet floors in their house. Most people in Norway has parquet or tiles on the floors. Some people has smaller rugs on top of the parquet. If you suspect that the dogs still are going to ruin the carpet then it will be cheapest to wait with new carpets.

Sounds like you have your hands full for a long time to come, but your house is going to be so great when you're done.

Yes - I was pretty excited! Now, the biggest hurdle is yet to come... To keep him motivated until the end of all the projects. My list is long, and sadly - there isn't much on there that I am knowledgeable about. I guess I could always YouTube it?

I wish I could do something other than carpet in my living room, sadly - our house is so old and the floors dip & sag in places - especially in that room and the kitchen... Josh said that any sort of wood or tile would just warp and crack. So, unfortunately - we are stuck with carpet - which I really don't like all that much. We did look at carpet yesterday - but sadly, I don't think it's in the budget at this time, unless we can find a really good price somewhere? We will clean the carpet really good when we are finished with this project, and I have a rug downstairs - which matches the color palette in that room quite well - and I'll just put that over the main area of the living room, then call it good. Sometimes - even though we don't want to - we just need to stick to our guns and stay with in budget.

Hahaha... Yes - well, if we wouldn't have taken an 8 year break - we would have been done a long time ago. LOL I am looking forward to FINALLY having this project done! And we are well on our way!

Poor Allison! She's had a rough time health-wise lately! But the meds should have her feeling much better very soon. I really do hope none of the rest of you get it!

You got so much done yesterday! I think your color pallet is lovely and I look forward to seeing pictures of the finished project. We really need to do something like that in our house...except that my husband refuses to paint since we're only renting (and may be moving next year), which I totally understand. I really miss our house in Georgia that we hand-picked, planned, had built, and had everything done the way we wanted it. *sigh* Oh well! I do better with home renovation projects when I have a solid deadline to work to....otherwise I just procrastinate.

I continue to be thankful for your great example of perseverance with your quest for better health and fitness. You are so inspiring!

She has!!! Just when it seems we are done - another bug comes along. Thankfully, it's never been anything serious - so for that I am grateful. So far, all of us are healthy.

Thank you! I am getting excited to have it finished. We still have a lot to do - but we are making great progress - and I think the worst of it is over? Josh's least favorite part in this process is the mudding and taping (I don't blame him), and it looks like we are mostly done with that.

I totally understand not painting if you are renting - that makes total sense. But I understand making a house cozy and a little bit of "your own" too... Hopefully you are able to move soon and get to enjoy that process again. Hehehe... I totally understand the procrastination thing - I feel like we are masters of it here.

Thank you... Like I've said many times - you all motivate me, as well - so it's a 2 way street. You all keep me honest.

Aw, I hope she feels better. While I have never had strep before, I hear it's not too fun...

Wow! Lots of excitement going on in your house! I can't wait to see how everything looks when it's finished! Love the colors you are picking for the living room.
lLso, carpet + puppy =
Lol my dog ruined most of our carpet and when we did construction on our house we pulled it up and just put in hardwood floors. Maybe do what you were saying - with the area rug? That sounds like a good idea.

Thanks - she's had a few doses of her medication now - so she is doing much better. Now to keep her taking it for the full course - that's always the hardest part. So far, the rest of us are healthy - so I am hoping it stays that way.

Yes - I just hope we get everything finished. We will have to be very dedicated to getting it done - or it won't be done on time.

I wish we could do hard wood floors - or anything but carpet - I am not really a fan of carpet. But sadly, our house is very old, so the floors dip and sag... Josh says, if we were to put down wood or tile, it would just warp and crack. So, sadly - I think we are just going to leave in the really crappy carpet and clean it really well when we are done. It's not optimal... but unless we can find carpet and installation with in our budget for this project, we will have to make due with what we have until we can afford to replace it.... Which maybe in time for V's graduation party? We'll have to save some projects for her's too. LOL

Can't wait to see the finished finished living room. I would price out the carpet and then decide if you want to go for it now or later. I know my dogs have wrecked my upstairs carpet twice, i'm thinking about getting hardwood. Only reason we haven't is because we have laminate wood in most of the bedrooms and hardwood in the living room that are different colors, not sure how to pull it together.

Me too - I feel like I've been waiting so long for it! I almost can't remember what we'd initially had planned. LOL We did price out carpet yesterday - sadly, I don't think it's within our budget at this time - unless we can find a really good deal in the next few weeks? I'd love to do wood - any sort of wood, or even tile - anything other than carpet... but our house is old and the floors dip & sag... Josh says that if we put down wood (my preferred option) - it would just warp and crack. So, we are very much stuck with carpet in this space, even though it isn't at all what I want.

I totally understand your hesitation with that... It's things like that, which I get stuck on too. I hope you are able to find a solution... Pinterest has been my best friend lately!

*************************************************************************************************

OK - so... Yesterday Allison wanted to run to town to get juice. She was feeling much better yesterday morning, since she had 18 hours of sleep between Saturday afternoon and yesterday morning.

While we were at Target, we decided to look at curtain rods... They have a coupon this week for $10 off of a $50 home purchase. I found the rods I wanted, I need 3 of them... So, 2 of them are on sale this week for $20 and the big one for the bay window is on sale for $30. Yesterday, I purhased the one $20 rod and the rod for the bay, which equaled exactly $50... Down to $40 with the coupon... then down to $34 after all of my discounts... Not too bad. The curtains I want for the other 2 windows are on sale this week too - for $30... So later in the week, I will buy the remaining rod and the curtains - which will be the same price, since they equal $50 too.

Now, I am not so certain about the curtains I purchased for the bay window initially... So, I am still hunting for something better.

Allison and I came home and we hung out for a while - while Josh finished up the sanding of his mud/taped areas.

We did have to run to Home Depot yesterday to grab a few other miscellaneous supplies for this project - so Josh put the girls in charge of priming the 2 walls... They did pretty good - but he had to do a 2nd coat of primer when we got home... Which means we didn't make as much progress as we wanted to yesterday - but overall, I am happy with it. (Excuse the mess... My entire house is a wreck right now)

The primed walls yesterday afternoon...

And the first coat of paint last night... It looks so much brighter and cleaner in there. Now that the paint is up - it seems a hair more yellow based than I wanted... I think I wanted it just a little more brown tinted... But it's too late - so I'll deal with it. It isn't horrible - but just not exactly what I was thinking either.

It sounds like Josh will be working on baseboards and window trim on this half of the room in the evenings this week - I am so excited about this - you have no idea!

Once he is done with that, we will move all of the furniture over and start on the other half of the room. The other half is easy - there are no windows to trim, so it's literally paint and putting up the new baseboards.

Today - I will work out this morning, then I am home and working here all day... I have nothing else planned. I will begin on my next custom order and I also hope to start another side project.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!!! Pixie Dust to all of you!

D~

 

[Wood Nymph]

I like the new paint color but I understand about the color being different than what you expected. Our living room paint turned out more yellow than I wanted and the master bedroom looks too pink in the daylight but perfect with the lights on at night.

I bet you can't wait until you see that trim on the windows. It will look really nice.

I've heard that people have had problems with the dogs scratching the hardwood floors, although I wouldn't know for sure. Our house was built with hardwood floors in the bedrooms but not the living room or dining room. I don't know what they were thinking.

 

[missjackiemcg]

I really like the new lighter paint color!!! It does have a little yellow tint to it from the look of the picture, but I bet when you put up your curtains with the brown hints in it, that will pull out the more brown tones you were hoping for in the paint!!

My input on the carpet conundrum--I think an area rug sounds good for while you're still dealing with puppy issues....if the floor under your current carpet isn't in bad shape. Otherwise maybe stick with what you've got for now. I totally agree that spending lots of money on a fabulous new carpet only to have puppy spots all over it would make me furious!!

 

[jandlinz]

Looking forward to seeing the new room. I like the color. It is definitely bright and cheery.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

The new color on the wall looks great. Looking forward to seeing it when it's all done!

 

[kittylady1972]

Yay for kicking home projects into gear! I'm sure it will look great when it's done. Makes we want to do some kind of renovation myself, but we've done a few over the last year...and when I say "WE" I mostly mean my husband. My ONLY request after years in our house had been to replace our kitchen floor because the linoleum was starting to come apart at the main seam and it was just looking rough. We looked into tile...SO expensive. And then hardwood...but with the animals the scratches would not be good. We have done a few laminate wood-look floors in our house so far and some of them look really nice. Husband did our living/dining room last year and I LOVE it! It is highly scratch resistent and perfect for the animals.

Better look and color:

So when it came time for our kitchen, I was debating the laminate again...except our kitchen ends up with more standing water on it from the sink, dishwasher, and cat/dog water dish. I wasn't sure laminate would be a great option.

We ended up finding vinyl planks instead. 25+ year warranty and much better water AND scratch tolerance. So we initiated this project RIGHT before Thanksgiving.

Floor Before (with pre-cuts for removal of linoleum and underlayment floor):

During (everybody pitched in to help...it's a large room):

and AFTER:

I love the looks of BOTH of these floors and they are great alternatives to wood. We actually have done our entire basement floor in a wood-look laminate as well. I think my favorite is still the living/dining room one that is the first series here because it looks VERY real.

Just some options for you. My husband has ended up doing all of these laminate floors himself and the snap/lock makes it pretty easy that if you are even the slightest bit handy it is easy to do, much easier than real wood or tile!

 

[Terkina]

Yes - I was pretty excited! Now, the biggest hurdle is yet to come... To keep him motivated until the end of all the projects. My list is long, and sadly - there isn't much on there that I am knowledgeable about. I guess I could always YouTube it?

I wish I could do something other than carpet in my living room, sadly - our house is so old and the floors dip & sag in places - especially in that room and the kitchen... Josh said that any sort of wood or tile would just warp and crack. So, unfortunately - we are stuck with carpet - which I really don't like all that much. We did look at carpet yesterday - but sadly, I don't think it's in the budget at this time, unless we can find a really good price somewhere? We will clean the carpet really good when we are finished with this project, and I have a rug downstairs - which matches the color palette in that room quite well - and I'll just put that over the main area of the living room, then call it good. Sometimes - even though we don't want to - we just need to stick to our guns and stay with in budget.

It's best and wise to stay with in budget. Sounds like you are stuck with carpet at the moment
Get Josh to show you how you do some of the stuff so you can do some of the work. Looking at videos on YouTube is not a bad idea either.


This morning my phone rang. It was the guys that was supposed to deliver my electrical wheelchair on Friday that said that they were coming with the chair now. The things they thought NAV had to mount on the chair, the garage that is doing my car has to mount. So now my electrical chair is standing in my garage. I also had an appointment with NAV to get my electrical wheel for my manual wheelchair customized. When I came to now I told them all about what happened with the electrical wheelchair. They shook their heads and told me that I don't have to do anything now until the garage calls and tells me they are ready for me to test the car. NAV told me that what is left to mount on the chair is some stuff so the chair can be secure in my new car and those things can't be mount until everything is in place and they see where the electrical wheelchair will be in my car.

The electrical wheel for my manual chair was customized for me. So now I'm ready to give it a real test outside. I didn't take any pictures of me and the electrical wheel because there were 5 people watching me trying the thing. I will get Ulf to take pictures when we go outside to try it.

When I went out of the house today to go to my appointment at NAV I took my winter coat and winter shoes on as usual. I didn't think to look at the weather outside or at the temperature. I soon discovered that spring has arrived and it's now time to stop using my winter coat and maybe also my winter shoes. Spring has come early this year. Normally I don't change to summer clothes and shoes until late April / early May.

 

[DMGeurts]

I like the new paint color but I understand about the color being different than what you expected. Our living room paint turned out more yellow than I wanted and the master bedroom looks too pink in the daylight but perfect with the lights on at night.

I bet you can't wait until you see that trim on the windows. It will look really nice.

I've heard that people have had problems with the dogs scratching the hardwood floors, although I wouldn't know for sure. Our house was built with hardwood floors in the bedrooms but not the living room or dining room. I don't know what they were thinking.

It's definitely growing on me - especially now that I've really seen it during the day - it's not quite as yellow as I was worried it would be. And it's such a bummer about yours - it sounds like it's grown on you a little bit?

Well, he started the baseboards last night - I've also been with out baseboards on the bay window wall of the living room for 8 years... So trim of any sort makes me very excited right now. LOL I love having a "project house" but I am kind of tired of the projects and they never seem to stop. LOL

I could see our dogs scratching the floors - they get pretty crazy after dinner. Sometimes I worry that nothing will survive. That is strange that you have hardwood in the bedrooms but not the main living spaces... I know there are many times where we scratch our heads too, concerning this house - in the end, I think we will have managed to remodel every space in some way.

I really like the new lighter paint color!!! It does have a little yellow tint to it from the look of the picture, but I bet when you put up your curtains with the brown hints in it, that will pull out the more brown tones you were hoping for in the paint!!

My input on the carpet conundrum--I think an area rug sounds good for while you're still dealing with puppy issues....if the floor under your current carpet isn't in bad shape. Otherwise maybe stick with what you've got for now. I totally agree that spending lots of money on a fabulous new carpet only to have puppy spots all over it would make me furious!!

Thanks - I love it too, it's definitely not as yellow as my brain was thinking - there is a yellow tint to it, for sure, but not too bad - nothing that makes me dislike it or anything - it's just not the exact color I was thinking. I found curtains yesterday that I really, really want... It's just pulling the trigger - they are a bit more expensive than I wanted to spend... But I think they would really add a lot to the room. We'll see...

I think we will end up keeping the carpet - even though it's not great... We will give it another good cleaning - like we seem to do every few months - and deal with it for a while longer. I figure we have another year before Cooper is out of the worst of his puppy stage - maybe we will have it done in time for V's graduation open house? LOL And it's not even the puppy spots that worry me - he is very potty trained with accidents very rare these days - and never on the carpet, thankfully... My biggest concern is that both dogs like to "pick at" things... When MM was a puppy - he liked to gnaw at the carpet - so I have spots in my carpet that are bare down to the ~um~ webbing (I think is what a person would call it?) - And that just isn't fixable or cleanable... So, that's what worries me the most. So far, Cooper has never done that - but well - I would be nervous if I got new carpet while he was still a puppy. So, unless we can find a good deal on something that I wouldn't be too hurt about the dogs wrecking - it will stay the way it is for now.

I hope you have a great day!

Looking forward to seeing the new room. I like the color. It is definitely bright and cheery.

Thank you - me too... Still lots of work to do - but there's progress, so that makes me happy! I've tried to take pictures of it during the day - so the true color can be seen better, but it's just so bright in there with no coverings on the bay window, the pictures don't turn out at all. Hopefully I"ll be able to get some decent ones when we are done.

The new color on the wall looks great. Looking forward to seeing it when it's all done!

Thanks, me too - I am very excited!!!

Yay for kicking home projects into gear! I'm sure it will look great when it's done. Makes we want to do some kind of renovation myself, but we've done a few over the last year...and when I say "WE" I mostly mean my husband. My ONLY request after years in our house had been to replace our kitchen floor because the linoleum was starting to come apart at the main seam and it was just looking rough. We looked into tile...SO expensive. And then hardwood...but with the animals the scratches would not be good. We have done a few laminate wood-look floors in our house so far and some of them look really nice. Husband did our living/dining room last year and I LOVE it! It is highly scratch resistent and perfect for the animals.

Better look and color:

So when it came time for our kitchen, I was debating the laminate again...except our kitchen ends up with more standing water on it from the sink, dishwasher, and cat/dog water dish. I wasn't sure laminate would be a great option.

We ended up finding vinyl planks instead. 25+ year warranty and much better water AND scratch tolerance. So we initiated this project RIGHT before Thanksgiving.

Floor Before (with pre-cuts for removal of linoleum and underlayment floor):

During (everybody pitched in to help...it's a large room):

and AFTER:

I love the looks of BOTH of these floors and they are great alternatives to wood. We actually have done our entire basement floor in a wood-look laminate as well. I think my favorite is still the living/dining room one that is the first series here because it looks VERY real.

Just some options for you. My husband has ended up doing all of these laminate floors himself and the snap/lock makes it pretty easy that if you are even the slightest bit handy it is easy to do, much easier than real wood or tile!

That does look GREAT!!! I will have to look into these vinyl planks... They sure look like they would be a good option. It's so hard when a person has an old home and can't always do what they want to do, because the basic structure of the house doesn't allow it. I really dislike carpet a lot - especially in the main living areas... So I will be looking into some of these options for us. Thanks for taking all the time to post pictures and give descriptions. And your house looks awesome!!! I love it!

It's best and wise to stay with in budget. Sounds like you are stuck with carpet at the moment
Get Josh to show you how you do some of the stuff so you can do some of the work. Looking at videos on YouTube is not a bad idea either.


This morning my phone rang. It was the guys that was supposed to deliver my electrical wheelchair on Friday that said that they were coming with the chair now. The things they thought NAV had to mount on the chair, the garage that is doing my car has to mount. So now my electrical chair is standing in my garage. I also had an appointment with NAV to get my electrical wheel for my manual wheelchair customized. When I came to now I told them all about what happened with the electrical wheelchair. They shook their heads and told me that I don't have to do anything now until the garage calls and tells me they are ready for me to test the car. NAV told me that what is left to mount on the chair is some stuff so the chair can be secure in my new car and those things can't be mount until everything is in place and they see where the electrical wheelchair will be in my car.

The electrical wheel for my manual chair was customized for me. So now I'm ready to give it a real test outside. I didn't take any pictures of me and the electrical wheel because there were 5 people watching me trying the thing. I will get Ulf to take pictures when we go outside to try it.

When I went out of the house today to go to my appointment at NAV I took my winter coat and winter shoes on as usual. I didn't think to look at the weather outside or at the temperature. I soon discovered that spring has arrived and it's now time to stop using my winter coat and maybe also my winter shoes. Spring has come early this year. Normally I don't change to summer clothes and shoes until late April / early May.

I agree - we are trying hard to stay within our budget... Thankfully we had most of the materials, so this is a small cost, lots of effort project.

Yay for getting your new wheel chair yesterday!!! I bet that was exciting! So, do you have your new wheel too? Or just the new electric wheelchair?

I am just so excited that all of this is coming together finally!!!

And yay for spring!!! It's always nice when the weather turns nice - at least for me!

********************************************************************************************************

Sometimes I feel like everything I write here is so boring - I am such a creature of habit.

Yesterday morning, I worked out right away.

Then I worked upstairs all day.

Allison and I took some time before Josh got home to rearrange the living room a little bit... Since the couch was already in the center of the room - we decided to put it in front of the bay window to see how it looked. I've always resisted doing this, because I don't like to block it - but if we don't use that space, the room is very lopsided and not functional. Once we put the couch there - it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. It's not my preferred location for it - but it's not terrible. So, we are seriously considering putting either the couch in front of the bay or the love seat... Then we are able to set up our living room in a more eye pleasing and functional way. And like I told Josh and the girls last night - it doesn't have to stay that way, if we don't like it - we can always move it back, or do something else.

Along with that idea... We've decided to move the China hutch into the dining room, where it's supposed to be. That does make the dining room very small - but as I am coming to realize - family dinners are few and far between these days, so we don't really use the full function of our dining/kitchen area like we used to... So, it's worth giving this a try. Which means my mantel is coming down... It pains me to say that - because I love it. It will go up again - but we are not sure where yet? We have some ideas.

I also plan to bring down one of the long dressers from our bedroom, and we will convert that into a media console... We've been making due since Christmas until we found something we liked - and of course, Pinterest gave me the idea of using one of our dressers - I guess it's a "thing" now? So, we will be joining the ranks on that.

Both the mantel and the dresser will need to be sanded down and refinished... A HUGE project that won't happen in time for the party - but hopefully it will be done before V's party next year? Until then - they won't match any of the wood in our living room... story of my life - since none of our wood matches anyways.

Phew - sorry about all that rambling. Hopefully all of this moving and rearranging will make our spaces a bit more functional?

So, last night, Josh was able to get most of the baseboard trim up on the two walls we have painted. I believe next he will be working on the window trim? Then we will move all of the furniture over to the other side of the room and work on that side. Sadly - we won't be able to get anything done tonight, as we have other plans. I think we will resume tomorrow night?

I only have one photo of progress to share with you all... It's the baseboards under the bay window (and my terrible carpet) - they still need to be painted white, right now, they are just primed. And sorry for all the shadows in the picture... I can't take photos in here during the day because it's just too bright from not having curtains on the bay window - so you have to deal with shadows of all our furniture in the middle of the room. But you get the general idea.

And then, to keep this PTR interesting... Some cute Coopie pictures from last night... He was so tired from "helping" Josh. MM is scared to death of Josh's air tools, but Cooper has never seen them before... Max was hiding in another room and Cooper was right behind Josh on the floor trying to look over his shoulder - it was quite funny.

I am also knee deep in trip planning stuff... I am ready to pull the trigger any moment on Allison's airfare to Europe (and home again). I hope to have it purchased before the weekend - I've been saving for it since we returned from Disney, and it looks like I have enough now. This terrifies and excites me all at the same time... I've been distracting myself with house projects - if you can't tell.

Along with that - we are working on V's Disney trip... This is our month to make ADRs... As usual - I will wait until the beginning of next month to share our ADRs, just so my dates aren't too transparent. At that time, I will also share our plans. I am very excited for this trip to happen!

Anyways... Today is a heavy lifting day for me... So, I will do that just as soon as the girls get on the bus.

Then I will be working upstairs all day. I have my meeting tonight, so I'll be done with work a little bit early and pick up the girls from school. Tuesdays are always my long days.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!!! Pixie Dust and hugs to all!

D~

 

[kittylady1972]

That does look GREAT!!! I will have to look into these vinyl planks... They sure look like they would be a good option. It's so hard when a person has an old home and can't always do what they want to do, because the basic structure of the house doesn't allow it. I really dislike carpet a lot - especially in the main living areas... So I will be looking into some of these options for us. Thanks for taking all the time to post pictures and give descriptions. And your house looks awesome!!! I love it!D~

Thanks about the house! It's always good to have some new options. The planks might work well because they have some flexibility to them, but I will tell you my husband struggled a bit more with them than he did with regular laminate planks because they tended to shift more easily. In any case, it is a nice look and totally changes the look of our kitchen...and of course makes me now want to do something new with our cabinets. Thanks though. I actually do love carpet but carpet does not love my pets..or maybe it's the other way around. Yanking the carpet from our living/dining room was a long time coming and now our entire first floor has only one area of carpet...our family room and I refuse to pull that.

Good luck planning out your ADRs...we still have another month to go for ours and I can't wait.

And wow on booking the airline ticket to Europe as well. I would be avoiding that just like you are if one of my kids was going even though it will be an awesome experience.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Remember I said we moved all those dressers around at our house last week or so?! We did the exact same thing with a dresser from our bedroom--our entertainment center was humongous and awful, so we finally dismantled it and put it out at the curb!! I actually really like how the dresser looks in the living room...however, we still have a giant old-style TV and it is a bit of an eyesore. My husband has been lobbying for a flat screen TV and I keep saying we don't need one...but we sort of do, especially now that I see how dumb our old tv looks in that spot!

Exciting that you're about to book Allison's flights for Europe! She must be SO excited for this adventure!