curiosity

I enjoy taking pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have any real knowledge of how to take pictures. Every once in a while, though, I get a picture that I particularly like. Here's one of them (it's better if you click on it to see it larger):

B&A - Caroline's Room

Caroline's room has probably seen the least amount of change. The floor was already uncovered and finished. We did, however, have it refinished along with the rest of the floors. The walls and ceilings were all painted. Caroline's room is the only one to have new curtains at this point. Everything else is pretty plain right now. We haven't gotten any pictures up on the walls yet and all of her bedding is gone (except sheets, of course). I'm hoping to get things decorated a little better before too long. Anyway, here are some before and after pictures and a close-up of the curtains.

Mommy and Nathan project

Nathan and I have been talking about planting some flowers in our little flower bed by the sidewalk in front of the house since way before we moved. It's just been too stinkin' hot to put anything out there. The last week or two, it has finally cooled off, so we got some plants in this weekend. We have daisies that will be blooming soon, gardenias that will bloom next year, and verbena that is blooming now. We haven't made it to the store to get much yet, but here are the pictures as things look right now.

James 1:4

I read James 1:4 the last couple nights and have been mulling over one phrase - "perseverance must finish its work". I keep thinking "What does that really mean?" I can't really come up with an answer that tells me what that looks like. It clearly says in the rest of the verse "so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." So, we know the result of perseverance finishing its work. In verse 2, it says "the testing of your faith develops perseverance", so we know how we get perseverance. Now, what is the middle step? What is the work of perseverance?

weekend work - part 2

In the front, I worked on getting rid of dead stuff and some things that I have no intention of keeping or relocating. Nathan also helped. He worked on sawing down a dead branch for quite a while. I really don't know how long it took him, but I would say maybe 20 minutes. Things don't look good yet, but we've made progress. Most likely all the bushes in this section will be removed or relocated. Below are before and after pictures as well as pictures of Nathan's sawing conquest and mine.

weekend work - part 1

This weekend, I spent a good bit of time clearing out some of our yard. At this point, I'm not even attempting to prune anything (it's really too hot anyway). I'm just trying to get rid of all the junk that is growing. Here are some pictures of a section of the backyard that I worked on. You can see that it is just off the patio. Eventually, this whole area will be reworked. (You may have to look at the larger version of the pictures in order to really tell what is or isn't there.)

plant identification

Plant 1



Plant 2


Plant 3


Plant 4


Plant 5


Plant 6


Plant 7

B&A - Dining and Kitchen

The dining room didn't get too much work, but it definitely looks different. The ceiling and walls were painted and the floor was replaced. It originally had a berber carpet on top of a nasty green carpet on top of a vct tile. We took it down to the tile and put plywood and sheet vinyl on top.

The kitchen had more work done. We removed one of the dividers between the dining room and kitchen. The countertops were replaced and a dishwasher was installed. There was also some plumbing replaced under the sink. Again, the ceilings and walls were painted and vinyl was put down on the floor. In the kitchen, the floor was two layers of old sheet vinyl so plywood was also laid on top of it first.

Thanks to Mama and Daddy for lots of help in these areas.

B&A - Bathroom

The hall bathroom (our only full bath) was probably the biggest job that we did before moving in. The door was moved and a closet that was previously behind the door (and triangular in shape) was removed. Originally, the door opened so that you were looking right at the sink. Now, it opens to the wall that runs basically straight with the tub. Norm and Matt did all this work along with some help from Adam Megginson (from our Sunday School class). The light box and switch were moved and and an outlet was installed. Originally, there was only an outlet on the light. Again, Norm and Matt did this work. The old toilet and sink were removed, some re-plumbing was done. New vinyl was laid on the floor. A new toilet, vanity, sink, and linen cabinet were installed. Daddy and Matt did the plumbing projects. A few parts of the walls still need some drywall finished and painted. Thanks to Mama and Ginger, most of the bathroom got a coat of paint before moving in. Matt installed a new light and a new mirror. There are still several projects to do just to get the bathroom in a "finished" state. Eventually, we will probably paint it a different color and completely redecorate. For the time being, though, the ducky stuff from the kids' bathroom is in there. No, the towel at the window will not stay...it's just there for lack of anything else.

B&A - Living Room

I am finally beginning the series of before and after pictures. We are not completely unpacked yet, but (just being honest here) I want to start showing off the changes. A lot of people have put a lot of work into our home. So, here we go with the living room.

In this room, the dirty beige carpet was removed by Daddy and Matt, and the original hardwood floors beneath were refinished. Everything in the room was painted including the ceiling (well, the front door hasn't made it yet...but that's a project to come). Thanks to Ginger who did the majority of the walls and trim and to Mama who helped lots with the ceiling. The room was rewired to have three prong outlets and a light box was added. Cliff (my uncle) installed a new ceiling fan so that we could have some light in the room. Matt installed a new deadbolt and door knob and Daddy put in a new threshold. I think that's about it. So, here are the before and after pictures:

all moved

So now we're all moved. Yay! As one would expect, we've got stuff all over the place. The computer room is particularly packed out. We've had lots and lots of help from folks that made things go quickly today. I don't think we even had any major disasters. I can't remember any, anyway.

We're really tired. Now we can get some rest (though there's still plenty to do here). We're going to sleep well tonight.

moving tomorrow

We are moving tomorrow...ready or not.

We've got lots of things packed, but lots of "stuff" around that still needs to be boxed tonight.

We have lots of things done at the house, but lots of projects (some half done and others not started) that we will still be working on for a while. The hardwood floors are finished, the carpet is in, and we'll finish up cleaning tonight.

Ready or not, here we come!

house update

I haven't had time to post anything new lately because we have been extremely busy getting the house ready (and doing a little packing). I still don't really have time to put up pictures, but I'll give a quick written update.

Do date, the majority of the painting is done. There are still some areas that need to be touched up, but that may not happen until after we move. The quarter round in Nathan and Caroline's rooms had some problems so we're working on getting that repainted and finished up. I hope that will be done today. There is still a little trim in the hall that needs paint and several places that need to be touched up from when they redid the hardwoods. The hall bath still needs some paint, but at this point it may have to wait as well since some drywall finishing still needs to be done. I would really like to get Nathan's stripes done, but we'll see.

The hall bath is getting close. The door has been moved and the drywall has all been patched (but not quite finished all the way). The new vinyl floor is down and the new toilet is in. The new linen cabinet is sitting in there but is not yet attached to the wall. The new base and quarter round will have to wait until after we move. The plumbing is all moved so the vanity and sink will be hooked up today.

We're not going to do anything to the master bath yet. There's just not time. Hopefully, we'll be able to get it done before too long.

The new kitchen counters are in and the new dishwasher. The plumbing has all been redone so that we no longer have a leak (it was big). The ugly oven hood has been removed and the new one is standing by. We have started putting down plywood over the dining room and kitchen floors. Hopefully, that will get done in the next two days. We're not planning to put the vinyl down before we move in, though. The fridge side divider was taken down and all the spindles. We are leaving the one attached to the counter, but replacing the top. Again, a project for after we move.

On lighting...the fan/light has been put up in the living room so we now have some light in there without lamps. The outdoor fixture in the playroom has been replaced. Hopefully, the hall bath light will be replaced soon. The switches in the whole house and the outlets in the bedrooms have all been replaced.

The hardwoods will receive their final coat of poly on Thursday. The carpet will be installed in the computer room (closed in carport) and the playroom (addition on the back) on Friday morning. We need to get some vinyl entries put in at a couple of the doors before the carpet is installed.

We plan to basically be done by Wednesday night...at least done with what is happening now. I sure hope that we can get there. We need Thursday and Friday to do a bunch of packing. Things will be nice once we're finished...I just can't even guess when that will be. It will be nice to be there, though, and be able to work on little parts when the kids are sleeping and such. I've about had enough of all this passing in the night and handing the kids off all the time. I'm ready to settle down!

lawn toilet

In our new neighborhood, this seems to be the new trend in decorating so we decided to follow suit.

People at Fripp

Fripp nature

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the beach. More to come...