Update and another Birthday for Nick!

What a weekend! We celebrated Nick's birthday and worked on the house! Check out Nick with his strawberry shortcake and one candle:

The house is coming along nicely. Rob and Nick worked on the spare bathroom. The had some issues with getting the wainscoting to adhere to the wall, so they came up with this nifty apparatus:

But it turned out great- see?

Ingenious! Here's what the bathroom looks like now:

We still need to remove those white things and get the sticker off the toilet. Check out the awesome dual flush toilet. One's for yellow and one's for brown and its all eco friendly!

We're getting close!!!

Countertops!

Look at our awesome marble counter tops in the bathroom:

So pretty! Now we just need the back splash! And the tile is finished in the shower!:

And since there was leftover tile from the master bath we were able to do the spare bathroom also!! I love it!

I know it looks a little sparse because the fixtures aren't there, but believe me its a vast improvement from before:
I promise you it will all come together soon! The finishing touches are right around the corner! Paint, fixtures, lighting etc. I can't wait!!

Reading reccomendations

I like to read. Pretty much every night before I go to bed I read a book and I've come across some really good books lately. So, I thought I'd share my recent favorites with you.

First up is "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein:

I LOVED this book!! If you don't fall in love with Enzo, Denny, Eve and Zoe, I'll eat my shoe! Warning: tear jerker alert!! I think this book is even better than Marley and Me. Gasp! Better than Marley you say? Marley was a story about a dog. This book is a story told by a dog. Give this one a try. You will not be disappointed.

Next up is a very fun read by Sophie Kinsella. She wrote the Shopaholic series, which I also loved. This new story, "Twenties Girl", is full of fun and an easy read:

You'll enjoy the wacky family dynamics and I loved the ghostly aunt!

Next is a book my Mom gave me for my birthday. The story is told in a series of letters:

When you are finished with it, you'll want to visit the island of Guernsey the same way I want to! I had no idea the Channel Islands were occupied during WWII. Thanks Mom!

Lastly, a book about a girl who receives a kidney transplant and sets off on a road trip to find out about the guy who donated it to her. "Driving Sideways" by Jess Riley

She encounters some people and adventures on her trip, and finds all kinds of things she's not looking for! Isn't that just like the journey of life?

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

Don't you just love Sundays? Today we went to cousin Tammy's house to watch football. Check out the game day faces on Jack Henry, Rob and Brian:

What is that thing behind his head?

They watched the whole game like that! And the Cardinals tromped all over the Seahawks! Go Cards!

In other news.....I got an itch to bake something this week, so I made some peanut butter and jelly cookies. They were delicious. This is how many were on the plate on Wednesday:

This is how many are on the plate now:

They were Yum-meee. If you want to try out the recipe here's a link: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-jelly-thumbprints
They are delicious with coffee or milk!

I can't do a post without a little remodel stuff. Here's the shower tile. No grout yet:

I can't wait to take a shower in there!!

The bathroom & Happy Bday Suzanna!

First things first: I went to a lovely little soiree last night for my friend Suzanna's birthday. It was a great time! Thanks for having me! Here's Suzanna with her daughter:

Aren't they cute?

And now, the bathroom: I was thrilled to see that they started tiling the floor and the shower!

The floor:

The shower walls:

And they put some tile at the outside entrance to the master bedroom so we don't trash the carpet going in and out to the porch: (when I say "we" I mean "Sunny the dog")

AND- There was enough tile to do the pool bath floor! The tile is set but not grouted:

Its so fun to go to the house everyday and see all the progress. With any luck, we might have Thanksgiving turkey in our new home!! **Fingers crossed**

Tile and Cabinets!

Sorry its been awhile since my last post! So much is happening at the house. We got the beautiful bathroom cabinets!!

I love the color! (They are a little dusty- but they'll get all cleaned up after the tile/counter tops are in!)

And - even MORE exciting is the new flooring! The tile is all set- it's getting grout today! Here's a peek of it without the grout. Laundry room:

Remember that fireplace? I'm still workin on it!! I'll keep you posted.I just love that the toilet is in the bathtub! Awesome. Remind me to thoroughly scrub that tub!!

Closets and doors!

Get excited, people! The new interior doors went in! They look so great! This is the entry coat closet:



The doors still need paint and doorknobs, but they make the whole house look new! And the exterior bathroom door finally arrived! It looks great, too!

The closet shelving is going in and I am thrilled! I am so ready to fill the closets! This is the existing closet, (which we took a little space from for the linen closet in the pool bath). It only had a single bar before:

(Those tools belong to the carpenter.) I addition to the existing closet, we have the new walk in in the addition! (I think this is reason enough to go shopping. Rob disagrees.)

I'm gonna hit the mall today!!! (Just kidding, Rob!)

Blast from the Past

Ok- Imagine its 1966 and you've bought a fabulous new John F. Long home. Its on a big cul-de-sac lot and your ready to move in! Your stroll through the front door and you spin around like Mary Tyler Moore! And then you discover THIS is your flooring:
You Shriek at your husband to "Make it go away"!! He tears off his polyester pants, puts on his coveralls and gets to work:

Whew! Ok- back to 2009. This flooring was in all of the bedrooms, underneath the carpet and pad! It was so old and brittle it popped right off the floor.

Fear not!! The old pukey brown tile is gone and this was delivered today:

Those boxes contain our new flooring which will begin going in this week! I can't wait! Lots of big things are in store for this week, and I'll try to keep up with my posts!