Tap, tap, tap is this thing on????

Hello my loyal followers!!  Did you miss me yet???  Yep I gotta figure I've been gone long enough for you to miss me.  Sooooooo I am back and get prepared for WAY too many pictures!  You wanna know why?  Cuz I ordered my new camera today!!!  It should be here by the weekend and I can't wait. 

We just took a few family pictures on the property this weekend for our Christmas cards.  My plan is that by next year our family Christmas card will have OUR NEW HOUSE in the background. 

I have PLENTY to update ya'll on....however before I get into the nitty gritty, here are some of the extra pictures from this weekend :-)

Oh and just a little preview on the updates, after all that obsession I had over dark red brick and white siding we have decided to do the out side with some stone, siding and shakers.....see what happens when you have WAY too much time to plan ;)

Here is kind of what we are going with......

LOVE IT!!  Happy to be back and chat with ya soon.





P.S. Mom, don't have the big one cuz I actually blogged tonight ;)

Of course I need a new patio set!!

Uhmmmm DUH why wouldn't I need a new patio set?  I mean I don't have a house let alone a patio to put it on.  However, don't worry your pretty little head, cuz I did indeed score a brand new patio set for my non-existent house with my non-existent patio :-)

Yep you heard me correctly.  Let me take you back to May....I have been eyeing up this patio set at Kroger for MONTHS!!  Every time my mommy and I would stop at Kroger in A2 I would look at it adoringly.  Annnnnddddd just like clockwork my mom would say why don't you just buy it?!!?  I would shake my head and move on because it was 600 BUCKS!!  Waaayyyyyy too pricey for my blood.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago.  Mom and I stopped at the same Kroger in A2 and there was the last floor model market down to 299 bucks.  While that was a good deal, it still wasn't cheap enough for my blood! 

Soooooooooo, I stopped at the Kroger in Sylvania the day before we were to head to the Lake for a week of vacation and there it was like a beacon in the night....my fave patio set, brand new in the box for............scroll down.............wait for it........
























150 BUCKS!!!!!!!  So what did I do?  I called my mommy again and she said DO IT (read:  I am tired of hearing you talk about it so BUY IT ALREADY)!! 

So, here it is:

Yup I love it!!  Let me tell you that Ryan was really impressed when I told him that we needed to take his truck down to Kroger the next day to pick it up.  I will not go into any details about Ryan and I trying to load it in his truck and me thinking he blew his bicep out again.  We'll just keep that between us!  YIKES!!

Ok, do ya'll like the fact that I have pretended like I haven't blogged for 7 weeks?  I thougt if I didn't point it out, then nobody would notice.

So here is the scoop!  I think we have decided to change our exterior.  We are pretty excited about it.  Not only do we think it is more unique but it is going to save us some moolah :-)

Oh on another note, if all goes well we are hoping to start our barn in September!  Wooohhooooo, I think I am going to have plenty to keep you updated on now.....I PROMISE!!

She's Crafty.

Nope I am NOT talking about myself.  I am talking about Emma Jean.  Yep she has always loved doing arts and crafts but I think she has found her calling.  She found a bunch of youtube videos on clay and decided to give it a whirl.  Sooooooo we took a trip to Michael's and 80 bucks later she was ready to try out her clay skeeelllzzzzzz!!  Here are just a few of the things she has been making.  She makes little necklaces out of most of them.  I wished I was half as crafty as she is.  Obviously she got it from Ryan.....

Seriously how cute are these?  A waffle ice cream cone, a traffic cone, a cinnamon roll and DUH a red solo cup (I fill you up.....let's have a party)!!

Another waffle cone, a waffle with butter and a rainbow cake with a slice taken out!  As I said, she's crafty :P

Ok onto house news!  We just might get things going a little sooner than we thought.  I am not going to say anything more than that so I don't jinx anything.  We have to cross a few more T's and dot a couple I's before I get too excited.  Stay tuned and I will keep you in the loop.....I promise!  No really I do :)

Deal of the day!!

OMG!  While perusing the Lowe's online ad this morning before our big family fun road trip to price stuff I found a SCEAMIN' deal! 

We got this at Lowe's today......

Hahahha, sorry this is just the picture on the outside of the box cuz apparently it does require a little assembly ;)  However, this vanity AND the sink (oh and the handles are included too) were on sale for 199 bucks!  I couldn't pass it up......so there ya have it.  I also found the solid surface sand stone vanity tops that I want for the kids bathroom vanities. At the rate we're going, we are going to have EVERYTHING we need before we break ground :-)

Oh and just an FYI.....

The washer is broke ;)  Not a good thing when there are 25 people living in one house!!  (Oh and for the record I am on vacay thus my lack of make up)

I made it to Oregon and back in one piece!

Oregon, OHIO you crazies!!  You know I don't make it much further than Ohio ;)  Sooooooo I found my new fave website....well my my new favorite house stuff website.  If you go to Menard's website, they have this crazy little thing called Rayslist and it is the BOMB (wow that sounds really lame).  It has, according to the website, "display models, open box, minor damage or discontinued items in our Menards® Store Bargain areas."  Did I mention that I am hooked???
So you can search for all of the screamin' deals by location.  So, I found this counter top that would fit PERFECTLY in my future laundry room.  As ya'll know I bought these cabinets and I am going to paint them white or cream.....

So I found this counter top on the website and was stalking the Oregon Menard's the last 2 days to make sure they hadn't sold it.  I mean come on 20 bucks for the laundry room counter top?  You cannot beat that.  So thus far I have a whopping $120 wrapped up in the laundry room.

Counter Top

Once my brotha from another motha told me that there was a big ole bridge on the way to Oregon I started to panic a bit.  Soooooo I conned my dad into going with me.  I got out of work at 3:00 today (thank you CoE) and headed home to get my daddy-o and hit the road.  We made 'er in one piece.  ***However let me just say that I about passed out while driving across the bridge.

 

 Source

We did make it across (both times) and dad also pointed out to me that it used to be a draw bridge but instead they just made it really HIGHER and alot BIGGER.  That did not help my white knuckles and my driving 50 mph in the middle lane ;)  I digress....back to my new counters!

Here they are in the back of Ryan's truck!

Here is dad pushing my $20 find through Menard's on the biggest bummer cart ever!!  Let me just say that picking a piece of crap cart must be genetic.  I have the gift of picking the worst cart in Kroger EVERY time I go.  I think we got EVERYBODY'S attention with this hot mess of a cart!

Ryan and I are off until Monday so that means lots of house stuff for the next few days.  We REALLY need to get our shizz together and really finish getting all the numbers so we can go to the bank with final numbers.  We also have some more work to do at the property so I'll have lots of action photos to share!