New Microwave!!

Thanks to Gray, we have a free microwave! It looks styling and it seems to work just fine. I knew good karma would come my way if I started giving away things (like the kids' clothes, toys and books they've outgrown). Now I need to get me some frozen TV dinners!!

The Re-REvitalization of the Crapalicious Mail Box

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better. POW! We've outdone ourselves once more!

Wait for it... THE HOOD IS DONE!!!

WOO HOO!!! I can't believe my house is getting closer and closer to completeness!! Fence and closets, here we come!! Builder Dad sure spends every spare minute on this house (well, unless a UT football game is on that is!)

My extended kitchen

I'm so happy to finally be almost done with this kitchen!! We now have storage and a little homework nook at the end!!

Colorful Daycare Center

Well, the green and yellow day care center behind/beside our house is now being painted red and white. It went from a jolly rancher to a candy cane. It's starting to look much better though!

Wow- $200K!!!

Crazy!! The "camel back roof" property next door to us just went up for sale. They're asking $200K for it! Unbelievable!! And the house on it even needs to be torn down!! We got a great deal for our house!!

More progress

I know this is slowly but surely... but here is some more progress as of this weekend. Notice, I STILL don't have my hood, but I do have one linen closet with a full length mirror attached to it. Also, I'm grateful that the walls got painted behind the hood and near the thermostat. Now we just need to find a day we can turn off all of the electricity (since the electricians labeled everything wrong... Builder Dad figured that out the hard way- electrocution style). Also, I'm happy to have an extra drawer in the kitchen... as well as some more counter space!!

Dry wall done for the hood vent

The drywall was done on July 10th for the hood vent and for the holes in the hallway (from the thermostat patch). We'll see how long it takes to get the painters out here. I would LOVE to have my hood vent installed finally! Would be a nice thing to have in the summer months of cooking!!

Missing Tent

Silly us left a 4 man tent set up on our side patio last night. We had a sleeping bag and two pillows in there. The boys loved playing but we decided to come in because it was too hot. When we woke up this morning, the tent was gone... we thought maybe Builder Dad had taken it down, but apparently he forgot. I guess the tent has legs because it just walked off!!

Boys are sad :(

They'll get over it!

ROT Rally Parade on our street

I didn't realize that in our new house, we'd be able to witness the yearly ROT rally right on our front doorstep! The boys loved the roars of the bikes, the bikers who threw lollipops, and the revs of the engines. They sure bring out a crowd, that's for sure! We timed it... it took 35 minutes for all of the bikes to pass us!! They were going at least 10 mph too!!

Revitalization of the Crapalicious mAiL bOx

After a few hail and wind storms, this is what our mailbox looks like now.... a $10 mailbox.



Also, here is a view of our new "curtains"

Crack Heads Across the Street

I guess the East Side is cleaning up. All the owners are dying, and all of their kids can't afford the old houses anymore (that need to be torn down). Apparently, a call was made about the house across the street from us... the one with the mattresses outside. When the Code Enforcement guys were called out, they found tons of needles on the floors inside. I'm so glad one of my kids didn't crawl in that house and find the HIV needles themselves.

So, there is a contractor out there now who will be boarding up all the windows and doors. If we see anyone go in there, we are to call 911. Wowzers! Sounds like the house next door is about to be put on the market for sale too. Hope it goes soon! And I hope we don't get a condo next door... but rather a nice modern home that houses a family!

Flies, Weeds, Gas, Beer, and Hood

These are the flies I look at and listen to buzz when I'm at my computer. We have lots of flies!

This is the path that was full of weeds this morning. It was HOT out there!!

Here's the eye sore keg we have in our living room. At least it's got beer in it.

Here is our beautiful hood. Still a work in progress. Turtle progress.

Oh- and we have gas again. Hot water and cook top, here I come!!

How embarrassing

So our gas was turned off today... there goes my weekly menu! No penang curry tonight!! We failed to put the gas in our name. We had been paying a gas bill (at least we did in April) and just thought it was for our new house (was for our old one). So now we have to pay a few months of gas as well as any deposits, etc. I'm just bummed that I won't have hot water again for a couple of days!!

Wow-only two days later

This was a quick clean up job! I guess the daycare center decided to take care of it. They even cleaned our patio off!! Fast!! The shed seemed to fall back into place even though the roots are still there.

More storm pics

The Storm on May 14th

Wow. We're certainly glad our house is strong! We were pelted by some large hail, saw a tree fall down onto and into our carport (luckily it just looks like some gutter damage). Check out these pictures! The daycare center's China Berry fell down, it's roots popping the shed up and almost over.

Gutter Changes, et al

New gutter routing... so that we can collect the rainwater in the back.

Gutters on the carport

The back of the side yard... we need some landscaping ideas and dollars!!

Corner of the living room- note the in wall speakers.

The boys' bedroom-- the 2 seconds the bed was made today.

Crapalicious mAiL bOx

Lovely. It cost us $10 to make this mailbox... talk about getting the most bang for our buck!! I'm sure you'll see a pic tomorrow of this same mail box sitting on it's side, or better yet- GONE! We'll see if the mail lady will deliver mail now- or if she does, we'll see if she gets electrocuted by the live wires dangling above......to be continued....

Roof Pics, Front Yard, etc

We have another hole from the kitchen wall to the outside of the house. Luckily there's a plastic bag with duct tape covering it so no "weather" gets in. Not sure what the ETA is on finishing this project, but it will probably be like this for at least a few more months. Sorry, no pics of that.

Also, Builder Dad decided to go up on a really tall ladder to take some more pics of the roof. Looks pretty good without too many leaves on it yet. Wait for fall! Also, I think he got a pretty good pic of his dad on the front walkway. You can see the nice xeriscape and the herbs we have growing in pots.