I have a blog??

Oh yeah I do have a blog don't I???  Don't hate me everybody.  I was doing well and then everything went down the crapper when Ryan wounded himself!  To say last week was a bit stressful is the understatement of the year.  Yep Ryan tore his bicep tendon last Monday morning and had to have surgery yesterday.  The first 3 days of last week were VERY crazy and then I was just tapped out the last 2 days and then the weekend was crazy!
Ryan had his surgery yesterday and it went GREAT.  Sooooooooo I can breathe again and get back to my regular routine!  So the next few days are going to really involve me getting you caught up on all the crap I've gotten done in the last 2 weeks.

So, here it is:  We went to Menard's last weekend and we got Ryan his very own personal present.  Here it is....

Yep, classy I know!  What can I say?  I am always looking out for my honey biscuit.  He was tired of the travelling plunger in the Westrick Homestead ;)

We also found some super cute stuff for the soon to be kids' bathroom.  I was kicking around the idea of an "ocean-y" theme and then mom and I found these at Sofa Mart.

We could not pass them up so my mind was made up.  I will share some more stuff I found later in the week. 
Not only did we get a sweet plunger and some decorative fish but we also got three more of these.

Yeppers, we are WILD and CRAZY!!

Oh and just because my kids are as funny as I am,  here Emma is playing with the plunger.

It is also possible that I chased Jake and my nieces and nephew around the house with the plunger telling them that it was the "used" plunger.  Wow, I sure am mature aren't I???

Anywho, there ya have it.  I am back and ready to rock!!  I have LOTS to share as we have gotten lots done.  So tune in, I PROMISE I won't let you down :)

11/12/07

That was when all this crazy house business started.  Back on November 12, 2007 I decided it was time to quit smoking.  I didn't really WANT to, but I knew I HAD to.  You want to know what kept me focused on quitting smoking?  I decided that all that money we would save by me quitting smoking could be put towards a new house.  So I literally started looking up plans on the internet and the rest is history.

It is also worth noting that Ryan was not really on board with the whole "let's build a brand new house" idea.  Then here he was tonight drawing up our site plan :)

Sooooooo cute <3

Happy Valentine's Day Ya'll...

In the words of one Long Duck Dong "What's happenin' hot stuff?"  Hope you all had a super fantastic Valentine's Day.  I know I did!

 

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Annnnnnndddd this is what I got Emma Jeanie and Jakester buddy....well his was a brown bear.

I got Ryan a super romantical card and a gift card to this place.....

 

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 I am sure he will put it to good use.  

He got me the sweetest card ever....made me cry.  He got me a gift card to this place.....

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Believe you me, I am going to head straight to the home goods section.  What can I say...I am as predictable as the day is long :)

Ryan, the kids and I headed to Menard's this weekend for a 3 hour tour.  Yep Ryan and I shopped on Sunday for THREE HOURS at Menard's.  It was a really productive trip though.  We priced a ton of stuff and really got a good start.  I even think that I found the cabinets that I want.  I found some that I absolutely LOVED.  Guess what we bought???

Yep, 3 more door-knobs.  We are pretty wild and crazy huh?  The best part about the trip is that Menard's is offering an 11% rebate on EVERYTHING in the store for the next 2 weeks.  All I have to do is send in a copy of the receipts from all the trips along with the rebate ticket.  Sounds like a great deal to me!  Bring on the door-knobs ;)

Good news is that we should have our blueprints this week. Wooohhoooo, can't wait to have those babies in my hands!  Then let the real work commence!

These don't have screw tops?

So this blog has nothing to do with building a new house....it does have to do with all the new things I am learning while living at home with my mom and daddy-o!

#1.  Wine is good!

Oh and apparently wine is good along with a side of steamed cauliflower like I have here.

#2 Wine is even better with your mom!

In case you were wondering, yes I do have my funny bunny pants on...you just can't see them!

3.  Good wine actually requires a cork screw.

Yep, this White Zinfandel is nothing like the fine wine I normally drink...aka Boone's farm that has a screw top!  Apparently GOOD wine requires a cork screw ;) 


#4  The term  "white girl wasted"...yep that is how Kelsey was referring to mom and me.  While I was giggling in my chair and mom was snacking on the couch with the kids!!  Ahhhh life is good :)

Oh and in the midst of this all, daddy-o was hiding in the other room from all of us crazy people!

So there ya have it!!

We are officially official now!

When we met with Craig last night he told us that we should really call DTE to have them come set a pole because it could take some time...like 2 months.  So, Ryan called DTE today and found out that we need an address before they will come out.

Soooooooooooo we officially have our new address!  We will be residing at 2800 Wells Rd. as soon as the house is finished :)  Ahhhhhh the little things that get me all geeked out now! 

Tomorrow Ryan has to stop at the Health Department and fill out some paperwork and then we will have to have the perc test done.  Not to mention we still have a ton of work to get everything  priced out before we can take the numbers to the bank. 

We have plenty of time before all the hard work begins.  HOWEVER in the meantime I NEED to order this before all the manual labor starts.

 

Yeah, yeah I know it is totally cheezy but it is right up my alley.   Come on, I have to look like I mean business out there when I am swinging my (pink) hammer!

Saving money already.

So our big appointment tonight was with a local builder who is going to draw up our blueprints.  We were initially going to go with eplans.com which is where I found the picture that I've posted here several times.  Needless to say, once we went to order the prints the price suddenly jumped another $700.  Ryan and I told the guy in the customization department that he could shove the plans.

Ryan made a couple calls and the rest was history.  Let me just tell you that we are saving a TON of money and keeping our business local.  I trust this builder WAY more than I ever would some random dude on the interweb!  We should have the blueprints in 2 weeks and I am sooooooooo excited :)

A good start!

So we've decided to start going every week and spending a hundred bucks or so on all those little things that tend to add up in the end.  The little things that you don't really think about until you are finishing up the house and end up getting nickled and dimed to death when you've already spent PLENTY.  I had today off so Ryan and I headed to Lowe's for a little shopping adventure.

This is what we got!

Oh yeah baby we got some door knobs!  We got 3 to be exact.  Now those really are the things that add up in the end.  We will probably need 15 or so and those knobs are $29.97 each.  So buying 3 or 4 each week until we have all of them will be a huge help. 

We also go these!

We got a 6 pack....of smoke alarms!  What were you thinking????  Yep, we got some pretty exciting stuff today :)  I think the whole 6 pack was 65 bucks!  I thought that was one heck of a screamin' deal! 

It is also possible that I went to Marshall's on my lunch last week and got these.

If you could see the glasses we use now you would crack up.  We have a huge mish-mash of random plastic cups that we use.  Oh, and about 6 glasses that I have gotten from some of my races.  I picked these up for $3.99 and just couldn't pass them up.  They are super cute.  I am thinking that we may have about a hundred new glasses by the time the house is done ;)

We had some good husband wife QT today and got alot accomplished.  I think I have my wood floor picked out as well as my cabinets.  Well, I picked out the cabinets I WANT....we'll see if I still want them when I get the price ;)  I guess it does pay off when it takes 3 years to sell your house.  I have had PLENTY of time to already know exactly what I want in every room.

Ryan and I have a 5:30 appointment tomorrow night to go get something that is VERY important to the project completed.  Stop by tomorrow and I will let ya know :)

The Grand Tour

Ok, we are finally settled in enough to start sharing some pictures.  Without further ado, here is the grand tour.....

Our "front door"

Yep just slide that baby open and start the tour....

The bathroom!

Yep that is the bathroom that all 4 of us are sharing.  We get a little crowded in the morning but it is working out perfectly!

Here's the kids room.  Believe it or not they are doing VERY WELL sharing a bedroom!

Looks a little chaotic here but we have their little organizers and the bookshelves as the dividers so there is no arguing over their own space.

Here is Jake in what he calls the coziest spot in the house...

Annndddd Emma looking awfully cute and cozy as well!

Finally here is where all the magic happens.  Bwwhahahhaa....just kidding!  Here is our room.

Yep that's Ryan's fart sack on top of our bed....I think mom and dad were eskimos in a previous life and they turn the heat way down at night.  I froze my tutu off the first few nights but now I got 'er all figured out and have been sleeping like a baby.

Then once the alarm goes off at 4:45 this is what I see.

Yep that is my treadmill at the foot of the bed.  Nothing like me pounding the pavement at the butt crack of dawn to start everybody's day off! 
I can't believe all the running I have been doing upstairs hasn't knocked this off....

Yep that is Ryan's deer head hanging in the living room.  Look at Ryan and mom admiring it so!

Oh and then somebody got dad going on politics at the dinner table.

Hehehehe, that'll teach dad to make funny faces while I have the camera.

I guess THIS will teach me to take a power nap after dinner :)

Oh my family and their obsession with filling up the sleeping picture photo albums!

So there ya have it.  The grand tour of our interim home :)  We have settled in nicely and everybody is doing well!

Onto the new house update!  We will be placing the final order on our blueprints tomorrow.  Yaayyyy!  We submitted the few changes we wanted and we will sign the contract tomorrow and should have the blueprints in a couple weeks.  Then the REAL work begins!  Whew, gonna take us a couple months to get all our bids and numbers squared away to go to the bank.  It is going to be lots of work but well worth it in the end.  I will be coming at you with many shopping trip updates as Ryan and I start pricing everything out.  Stay tuned......