Lizzie's room in progress...

The new bed was chosen on Monday ...





and delivered today!! Yes that is one super TALL mattress. We may have to get a step stool for the room on a permanent basis!

So with the bed comes the realization we need bedding...





Off to the Warehouse we go (love that place). I found the perfect bedspread in full and NO queen... Until we saw it on the clearance rack! Last set for $45. My first word was "mine!" Then curtains and some new sheets and wahla.

The room is coming together:











So far it's all Liz approved as well ;)

Next up the green end stands get a coat of paint and new hardware... When we thaw here... If ever. BURRR! We barely got above freezing today. Canada needs to take its winters back. It's cold out there!!!

Living room Curtain make-over.

Before:

After:

MUCH more bright and airy in there now!

Just call us the Clampets

Two of these:


One of these:


One of these:


One of these:


Looks like this:



When a husband packs it up for the consignment store - sweet!!

And so it begins

The new bookshelf full!!


The HOLE where I am cramming most things for now...


The lonely twin bed with some art awaiting the placement once the new queen bed is purchased.


The desk that will be next to be replaced.


And the progression moves forward this weekend. Maybe a trip to Ikea and the purchase of a queen bed? You never know ;)

Target clearance finds.

I say each year that I will NOT buy on Christmas Clearance but Target is EVIL and always has fun treasures for me to find!!



Sweet scissors for $.50 each. Can't resist a good pair of scissors. I got three and left some for other bargain hunters.


I also found the illusion Scotch Tape this year which is good because I have. Kid with a tape fetish ;)


I found washi tape simply by the grace of being tall and being able to see that there were little rolls if tape in the box on on top if the shelf. Sweet. I actually got 10 rolls total. Only two if the solid gold however I guess the gold rose wasn't popular.


Cookies. Cookies. There were a few other varieties and chocolate that is not pictured.



My personal favorite. A poker set for $1.99 cheaper than a deck of cards (ok a very NICE deck of cards, but still!)


And finally there were a few new friends for a coworker. ;)

Vain thoughts

Oh, wait those should be vanity thoughts...
During my horrendous upgrade the 3rd and 4th - and continuing through the 9th I haven't had a minute to spare. This is about the same time that Mom and Dad had a large water leak in their house taking out the their bathroom vanity and wetting the house pretty good on that end. I was RIGHT on the first day of the deployement of software.
Yeah.. Poor Mom and Dad didn't get ANY help from me. Butch went out there to help take care of what he could as well as there were also SUPER freezing temps as well with a whole 24 hours plus that didn't get above 20 degrees - for Georgia that is RARE. The good thing is we had NO rain during that time so it was freezing rain - thank goodness!!
Anyway, poor mom and dad were not only without a bedroom (it was torn up to move beds and end stands, etc.) they are without a master bathroom AND without water thanks to the super freezing temps. To top if off, there was no-one to be able to call because during this time frame, I'm in the middle of a horrible deployment that lead me to have 35 hours of overtime (really I get comp, but who's counting?) during a 6 day period... with one whole day off thinking oblivousely that the upgrade went just fine on Sunday... yeah, nothing like working two work weeks in a matter of 5 working days... NOT good, not good.
NOW that I'm out of my oblivion I'm able to help mom and dad a bit more and OMG, what a mess.
They are doing good, they got the whole thing cleaned up and dried out, but getting the repairs done in the amount given and NOT going into the deductible, that is another matter. Fun stuff.
NOW there are a few kinks in here too - the cabinet that we have to replace? It's custom - what?? Yes, it's only 30" tall. They don't MAKE them 30" tall anymore. This would not be an issue however the lovely home builder who built the house GLUED the mirror down so in order to stay under the deductible we're just not left with a lot of good options - 1)build a custom vanity 2) remove the mirror and most of the freaking drywall 3)repair the current vanity (only the back , the bottom and the right side have much, if any damage. Where are we right now? Yep, repai the current vanity. We'll see how well that goes as most of it's in good shape... reinforce the bottom and put anew back on it (partial, I'm sure) and we'll be off and running again. AND we're able to have Steve come out and asst with the fix so we can get things moving along and done in short order - by this weekend, we're hopeful to have them back in their bedroom and bathroom and have it all in good order and with only the insurance money spent.
We may need an extra prayer to get to that point... but we're on our way to that end.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2014

This was my view from the top tub issuing in the new year this year... best decision I ever made... getting in there... I was nice and toasty watching all the fireworks going off all around - GREAT Show Liz and Butch!
Two finale boxes and a bunch of mortars - it was a great way to ring in the new year!

Who's the luckiest one of them all?

Getting ready to pull the wishbone!!
Photobomb by dad.





And we have a winner


Happy face!


No face. Booo Angie didn't win this year.


(I personally think she's. Winner daily as she's now a pseudo only child! Wait until she sees what the new year will bring!)

The party's over....

Christmas was a wonderful adventure. Sally was able to come down to spend the week with us. She came down on Monday and I was able to join her with time off as I only went to work on Monday of that week.

We drove out to look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve night. It was sadly funny in that we went to the places that were listed in the paper... and they were a sad affair of smaller lights and nothing really of note. We went to one that we hadn't been to in ages - it was an older man who used to have a train around his yard and apparently age has gotten the better of him and even his train was defunct at this point. Sad day. We were able to see quite a few cool lights on our adventures through some neighborhoods and found some that were much prettier than anticipated and one in particular that really was great off of 41 north of town - I need to load the video here later tonight (I'm cheating and emailing this update from work)

Christmas morning we actually had a child wake us up - that hasn't happened in a while. Angela was the first one up and getting everyone else motivated and out of bed. We dove in and ripped open packages and enjoyed a feast of muddy buddies for breakfast! We had a variety from peppermint, peanut butter and classic. Those things are addictive. We then dove into fixing Christmas dinner! What a feast we had with Ham, Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe cassarole, greenbean salad, sauteed brussle sprouts - yum! Mom and Dad came over to the house to open their presents and to visit and have dinner.

The rest of our days were spent chatting and relaxing with a little shopping and a few returns here and there for bigger sizes of jammies, etc.. We did take one drive out to the Hotel Furniture outlet store in Forscyth GA.. We were able to find two VERY heavy lamps and two pieces of art for Liz's more adult oriented room and looked for a queen headboard. We didn't find a headboard, but the rest was all purchased and brought home to work on that transition.

Poor Sally got sick sometime during the week and was down and out on Saturday. :( She was up and about however not feeling well enough to venture to ATL with Liz, Angela and I when we went to Ikea.

The Girls and I had the adventure of a TON of people - we went straight to Ikea and straight out, but with traffic and everythign, by the time we were just leaving Ikea at 5:00 and were starving. Liz wanted Pizza so did an "around me" app on the phone and found a place. We drove over and thought "hum, looks a little "iffy"" drove past then drove right back over and pulled up and got out. We found out it wasn't the pizza place, that place was closed on Sunday - bummer. So we ate there - Gio's. It had been featured on the food network just that morning too - small world, eh? It was chicken. Angela got Chicken parmesean, Elizabeth got Diavola (spicey pepper)and I got Almafi (green olives and onions) and they were all to die for! After that, we had to inaugerate Elizabeth into the Varsity for an orance shake (like a dreamcicle in a cup). She had to agree it was tasty (and on the way to the freeway too, so win/win!) And with that we were on our way home! The traffic and the amount of people was scary on the roads. When we were driving up I had seen the traffic at a dead stop on the way south and really thought that was what it would be like when we headed home, however, we were in luck, we had a LOT of slowdowns, but never true stops. It still took us about 1.5 times longer to get home than normal. Good thing I don't mind driving, eh?

And with that my little staycation was drawn to an end. :( Back to work and reality today - and an all day effort to sneak time in to draft out this update!

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas 2013

 her expression was NOT caught on camera for this one, she really DID love it - a LOT of colors for the girl to expand on her painting :)

 Gotta love my IOU for a backscratcher - apparently a ROCKING one was ordered for me :)

 cashews and wine, what more could a woman want?

 Awkward pose when told to hold it in front of her chest instead of out towards me.  Silly girl - nope, she'll never be a model :)  We love her and will keep though!

 It's a supernatural thing :)

 It's a Dr. Who thing (weeping angel I found at Goodwill) I could NOT resist getting it for her... she said, "it really creeps me out"  hahaha - I have done my job this year :)

 What does the Fox say?  Oh, wait, that's a raccoon, disregard!

 It's a Dr. Who thing!

 Angela got the GREAT gift of a computer drawing tablet - it's been the hit of the day for sure!

 It's still a Dr. Who thing... yes, she's a whovian :)

 Note the weeping angel earrings as well as the bracelet :)  Gotta love these girls!

  Car emergency kit because she'll be taking her car back to college with her along with a new parking pass thanks to Mom and Dad.  No to mention a new tire and a gift card for Wal-Mart that can be used at the Murphy Oil there in her town as well.  Lucky girl!

 It's a thermos mug... somehow from the first look, it wasn't what he thought it was :)

 Hers was at the bottom of the pile and she was VERY unsure she was getting one :)  Happy girl!

 Checking out this years Calendar

 Lizzie checking out her book from our trip to Europe and all the photo matching that was done. 

 SCORE one for mom, I made her cry over her book from her trip to Italy!  She loved it!

 she is still teary looking at the NEXT present... awh, tender hearted girl!

 You'll shoot your eye out!!  ha!

 Ornaments with the girls pictures in them  - awh!!

 Thank you Uncle Donald and Aunt Robin!!

Everyone had a wonderful Christmas morning opening presents and eating on the variety of Muddy Buddies we got - yum!  peppermint and snicker doodle are surprisingly good :)  That and a cup of coffee and we were all happy.

 

 

The Turkey and ham and all the fixings for dinner with Mom and Dad!  We had a great long visit with them while they were here, we ate a HUGE meal and sent a lot of left overs home with them to enjoy later and still have a LOT left for us as well.  After a rest period after dinner we had a rousing game of Push the Dummy!

We hope our extended family also had a warm and wonderful holiday season wherever they were.