DIY Project #1: Refinishing Our First Level Floors

I don't have a whole lot of time because I have about 15 hours of cleaning left to do. (I am determined to virtually sterilize the house before we move in there!) But here we go to those floors I promised!

HERE IS WHAT WE HAD BEFORE...

THIS WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE AFTER THE CARPET WAS PULLED UP:

THEN THE SANDING BEGAN...

...AND IT CONTINUED FOR TWO FULL DAYS...

THEN MY DEAR HUSBAND AND FATHER-IN-LAW STARTED PUT ON THE VARNISH...

THEN THEY SANDED SOME MORE...

...AND AFTER THREE COATS, THIS IS WHAT WE GOT!

Clearly, we are not totally finished...we have to figure out what to do with the transition from the living room to the dining room because there use to be a wall there, and the traditional floor molding is too small. Likewise, the original baseboards were broken when they were put on. So Jared and I have to decide what we want to do. Try to put them back together, or just get new ones. We're leaning towards getting new ones, but if we do, it might not happen for a little while because we've had a few problems with our toilets and still trying to figure out if we need to hire someone to take a look at them, or if we are able to fix the problem ourselves with the advice of a master plumber who works with Jared at The Home Depot. PLUS...I'm really not a huge fan of the almond color that we have going on with trim, so I'd like to do something different. I do not make decisions very quickly, especially when I have so much going on with trying to move, clean two places, and helping out with family stuff since my mom is still in out of commission.

So basically, I think the floors look great! I can't wait until all the finishing touches are done and we are all moved in. I think we are going to be living in a "work-in-progress" for some months to come, but I love that about our house. By the time we're done, I know we are going to appreciate every minute that we put into it because it will be totally, and uniquely ours.

I'm still here! I promise!

Owning a house is stressful!

Moving is stressful!

Actually, I don't think it would be as bad if we had moved in a single day because I think we would have had more help from friends and family. But because we are moving slowly over the span of a week we have basically had no help. In addition, we have some plumbing stuff we need to deal with ASAP, and the floors took longer than we thought they would...but they are done! I will post pictures soon. I swear!

I have been going non-stop since last Thursday, I think ???? I have no clue...but I feel like I have accomplished nothing. I have a lot of partially completed tasks. Most of which will go unrecognized, (i.e. cleaning the window blinds). Not that I am looking for recognition, but I feel like I am letting Jared down because although the stuff I am doing NEEDS to be done, it really hasn't had an affect (yet) on getting us out of our apartment and into our house.

Tomorrow MUST be incredibly productive. All I can say, is that not having a job right now has been a blessing in disguise!!!!!!

OH! I forgot to mention, part of the reason why I have been so busy this past (almost) week is because my mom has been in the hospital. She had both of her knees replaced last Thursday, followed by a minor complication, (a spinal leak from her anesthesia), on Saturday. However, she is doing well now, and is actually going to be out of the rehab center MUCH earlier than planned. We thought she would be there 10 days or so, but it looks like she might be coming home Friday (which would make that only 5 days in rehab).

Pictures of the floor will be posted late Wednesday night...because they look so good! I promise!

We're Home Owners!

My poor husband had a very long day. After work a 13-hour over-night shift, a trip to the bank, countless delays and two attempts at signing our closing papers we finally walked away with the keys to our very first house!

I think my dear husband has only slept two hours in the last twenty-four, and now he's back at work!

We got a call early this morning from our loan officer requesting that my husband come in ASAP to sign some papers, which he said are typically signed at closing but for some reason our underwriter needed them done right away. So Jared didn't even go to bed when he got home from work.

We were then informed that our closing was set for 10:30 AM, which was not what we were told late last night when our realtor called to inform us that there were more delays, and that we wouldn't be closing until late today, or tomorrow morning. So after the bank, we headed to her office, and after waiting for 45 minutes we were informed that it wasn't going to happen until 2:30 PM. Argh!!!

So we show up at 2:30, and they still didn't have the paperwork ready! (Are you kidding me?!). Then at 3:00 PM, to ease our nerves, we started signing what papers they did have ready for us and over the next two hours, as the paperwork slowly trickled in, we slowly began to purchase our first home!

Up Next: We start our first DIY project tomorrow! We are tearing up all the carpet on the first floor and finishing all the hardwood floors. We don't want to move anything into the house until we are finished. So we have a busy weekend ahead of us! Fortunately, not only is Jared's dad coming into town to help us, be he was able to get Thursday and Friday night off of work because he was been working extra hours.

(By the way, if you can't tell, I colored and chopped off my hair. I will have better before and after pics coming in the next day or two).

Book Review: The Brethren

The Brethren by John Grisham


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I was not impressed with this book. It is a story about three ex-judges in prison extorting gay men who reply a personal ad in a magazine under false pretenses. I thought that this book was predictable, took over 200 pages to get slightly interesting. It had a less than desirable ending. I would not recommend this book to anyone.


View all my reviews >>

We're No Longer Closing Tomorrow

Today Jared and I did our final walk-through of the house in anticipation that we would be closing tomorrow. We later got a call saying that it was not going to happen. We now have to wait until Wednesday morning. BUMMER!

I guess it was something to do with paperwork...not totally sure. When I was out of town we found out the my name had to come off of the purchase agreement because we are taking out our loan under Jared's name only because of my job situation and amount of student loans. I don't think it is a big deal, but all the extra paperwork was a huge hassle for Jared since I was out-of-town, poor guy!

So our new closing time is Wednesday at 10:30 AM! YAY!

Although I was REALLY looking forward to being a homeowner tomorrow, it might be nice to have an extra day to rest and get things in order. I'm still pretty tired from my vacation, and the next couple weeks are going to be chaotic because before we move anything into the house we are re-doing all the wood floors on the first level!!!!!!! Eeek! So please pray for nice, cool weather! We don't have an AC unit, so if it decides to get hot and humid on us, our floors could have a week to dry and we may have to camp in our backyard, LOL.

Home at Last!

After 15 hours of driving, my mom, sisters and I made it home just before midnight. It felt like a quick, but good trip. I always enjoy seeing family, but I am sure glade to be back home.

LOTS of updates to come. Jared and I are celebrating our anniversary today, and tomorrow we close on our house!

My Big Accomplishment of the Day

I know some people get bored sitting at home all day, but I'm not going to lie. I'm enjoying all the time I have for rest and relaxation.

My big accomplishment today was finally figuring out how to sync my e-mail accounts with Microsoft Entourage. About a year ago, for no reason, this program stopped working with my primary e-mail account and it has been driving me nuts every since. So I thought that since I had a little extra time on my hands I would put a little more effort into figuring out my problem.

LOL. I know this is a really pathetic post, but I'm so excited about this! It makes checking your e-mail very simple. Especially if you have more than one account. This program also has a calendar, task manager, a notebook, and a shared address book. I LOVE IT!

Do you have any programs that you love because they help simplify or organize your life?

Weekly Recap

Here is a recap of my last week:

• Monday: Took RN Licensing Examination
• Tuesday: Found out I passed!

• Wednesday: Went to the library to get a few books to read for fun!

...and watched Twilight- sooo good!

• Thursday: Continued packing...

• Friday: Got my nursing license in the mail!!!!!

• Saturday: Made my firs successful loaf of banana bread using this recipe before going out with my husband and his friends to watch the UFC fights. (Don't ask why I went...because I don't know...)

• Sunday: Went to the Saints game with the husband because he got some free tickets from work....it was a BEAUTIFUL day!

Now I am getting ready to leave for Pennsylvania tomorrow...my cousin got married on a beach somewhere and she is have her reception at her parents house; so my mom, two of my sisters and I are driving out there. We will be stopping in Chicago, which I'm really excited about because I've never been there before.

The packing has begun

First of all, is it "the packing has begun" or "the packing has began" ???? I'm not really sure what the difference is between began and begun, so if you do, please share!

So onto the packing. It's really hard to know how much you really need to pack when you are only moving 10 minutes away. Part of me thinks that it would be easier to pack everything because it will make it easier to move everything from the apartment to the car, but the other part of me thinks that because the distance is so short it might be easier take everything over to the house "as is" because then there will be less unpacking to do...what a dilema.

To top it off, I sort of forgot that I am going out of town for a week. Apparently I am leaving at 4 AM on Wednesday. My cousin recently got married on a beach somewhere and my mom, two of my sisters and I are going to drive out to Pennsylvania for the reception. Which means I have about four days to pack everything, if that is what I decide to do, because I won't be getting back until the day before we close...and frankly, I don't think Jared will do a whole lot of that while I am gone.

So I have started to pack some stuff. Like all the extra towels, kitchen stuff that I don't use, games, out of season clothes, and these:

Have I ever mentioned that we own a ridiculous number of DVDs??? AND we belong to blockbuster online. What can I say? Movie watching is pretty much the only type of entertainment we can afford, and frankly, the only thing we really have motivation to do after a long week of work and school. We're sort of homebodies.

Wait! I have MORE...

Yes, that's right. All 10 seasons of FRIENDS and a leather bound album filled with MORE DVDs. No room left in the two boxes I have already filled...that's okay, I think we'll just keep them out for now in case I get bored.

Do you know how many DVDs you own? I don't. Maybe I will count all of them someday and let you know.

I PASSED!!!!!!!

I woke up at 8:30 AM and checked the MN Board of Nursing right away...and saw the most wonderful four letter word- PASS!

Hallelujah!

I had a HUGE God moment today.

I have hesitated in writing anything about my RN licensing exam because I wanted as few people as possible to know when I was taking my test to avoid the humiliation if I were to fail...but something really important happened to me this morning so I say screw humiliation. I need to share my experience...

I actually took my test today. It was completely awful and I called my Dad in tears when I left. (Jared wasn't available...). I honestly didn't feel confident about a single one of answers, and to top it off, I got the minimum number of questions which means I either did really well or failed miserably. (I will find out in 48 hours, so stay tuned).

So anyways...back to the purpose of this post, my BIG God moment. My test was at 8 AM, but to reduce anxiety and get to the test on time I left at 6:45 to make the twenty-three minute drive...what can I say? I was in a near state of panic. Then, it happened. I hadn't been in the car more than three minutes when a gentleman on the local Christian radio station came on with a daily verse, and said:

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
1 Peter 5:7

My initial thought was "Are you serious?!" Then I proceeded to burst into tears...and not tears related to my impending agony, but tears of joy. I cannot begin to tell you how much I needed to hear those EXACT words.

The man on the radio then proceeded to reflect upon the verse, and discuss how we need to pray to God about exactly what is causing us to worry, and trust that he will help us through whatever the situation is that we are in. So when he finished, I began to pray, out-loud. Which, by the way, feels a lot better than praying in silence....then, when I was finished, I had this overwhelming sense of peace and comfort in knowing that I was truly not doing this alone. And though I guess I knew that all along, I think that maybe I didn't really believe it; or maybe I just felt like I had more control over the situation than God did. But I was SO wrong!!!! It became painfully obvious to me that God was the one in control, and that the only way I was going to get through the next few hours was with him. God was with me in such an real way today!!!

With all that said...I guess I also feel a little silly that I needed to hear that verse on the radio telling me to cast all my anxiety on God because the truth is I have been reading the bible and praying about this test for weeks now. Yet somehow I was never fully able to let myself lose, what I felt was, control over this situation. For instance, instead of taking the entire day off yesterday like we were told to do the day before the test, I spent several ill-advised hours studying AFTER my mom and Jared payed for a wonderfully relaxing mini-spa day. Seriously?! Who does that? Get a nice relaxing massage, facial and pedicure and then stresses them self out again three hours later?

Despite everything that I do that makes me a complete bonehead...I am grateful that God has never left my side, and I am still able to recognize and appreciate moments like the one I had this morning that remind me of His everlasting love, and his willingness to forgive me for trying to do everything on my own. Sure I'm worried about what the outcome of my test will be. But I also know that no matter what happens, God is with me and will give me the strength I need to make it over the next obstacle I face whether that be re-taking my board exam, or finding a job.

I just felt so blessed today that I had to share my experience. I hope you too have a wonderful day!

I made it 6 months!

My new years resolution was to give up pop, or should I say Dr. Pepper, for six months. Well today marks the completion of six entire months! I honestly can't believe I did it. Would it be really terrible of me to go buy a 2 liter right now?


I think I might...My birthday is in a week, July 7th, and I want my 25th year of life to be all about getting healthy for the next 25, which will, God willing, include children. My plan is to get my body into baby-making shape (more details to come) because I think by this time next year I might be ready to start thinking about having kids...so maybe I'm entitled to a free week? I don't know. We'll have to see if my car makes any stops on my way home from the library tonight :)