Things Keith has learned after buying a house.

ATTENTION!

Please note that the following is meant to be humorous. Just a little something for anybody who has ever loved a house back to life.

1. The dingbat you bought the house from didn't know how to make repairs or contact a qualified painter.

2. If you poot in the attic, it has nowhere to go.

3.The expensive flashlight WILL burn out, but only after the power to the house is cut off and you are in the darkest, coldest, and farthest reaches of the attic.

4. Electrical work stinks.

5. I hate plumbing.

6. No matter how good your friends say your restoration is going and how pretty it all is, it's still full of runs, drips, and errors.

7.Paint scrapers vanished from existence between 1950 and 2007.

8. Plants and shrubs are supposed to grow? Really?

9. The winds of change do, in fact, blow. Once my shop had a roof. Now it doesn't. CHANGE!

10. Hardwood floors, although nice and beautiful, turn the house into a tap dancing hall as soon as your long-clawed retriever mix needs to go out.

11. Electricians in the 1950's should have known that, nearly sixty years later, we would have coffee pots, microwave ovens, electric tea kettles, griddles, and halogen puck lights and should have wired the circuit breakers accordingly.

12. Where the attic insulation does exist, it's the variety that is comprised of fifty years worth of...whatever, and you are deathly afraid to be alone in the dark with it.

13.Nobody else has two feet of water under their house on a consistent basis.

14.The fence in the backyard will rot and fall down the second the deed has been signed.

15. Heating and air conditioning? Huh?

16. Carports were designed to attract the rain.

17.Azaleas run in fear from your dirt.

18.Mud stays muddy longer when you are the proud owner of it.

19. "Ants Marching" is an appropriate theme song for your kitchen and bathroom.

20.It's ours...all ours!

*No houses, animals, or humans were harmed in the creation of this blog*

Keith

Thanks to all for the calls and prayers for Keith. Surgery went good and he is on the mend!

Floor and Teeth

We have a new floor in the laundry, thanks to Keith! He did a great job! Also, if you have a quick moment, send a prayer up for him...tomorrow he is having his wisdom teeth cut out!!

Laundry Room

Mudroom/Hall

Cold Weather

It has been a VERY COLD week! But we are so glad it is Friday, and we have a nice three day weekend! Or, I will...Keith is having his wisdom teeth cut out on Monday :(. Anyway, when I got home yesterday I decided I needed to vacuum the house...had been awhile, but since it was 63 degrees in the house, I decided to keep my coat on. Keith thought it was pretty funny and snapped a pic. The animals and I have found a good way to keep warm...they just pile on top of me while we watch TV. They have decided that this is the best thing to do when I am in the bed also. Keith has the whole side of the bed, but each cat feels they need to lay up right next to me on either side and Gracie at the foot on my side. I guess they are trying to keep themselves warm or me warm! Who knows which one!! It is ok until the 18 pound cat decides to walk across me at 2 in the morning! Not so much fun! We had a little mix up last night in the laundry. We are putting a laundry sink in that we did not have before. Keith had gotten some pipes and got those put in, we just had not brought the sink in. I was washing clothes and we heard water running...fast...and ran in the laundry and saw the water coming up out of the sink pipes...this should not happen. After a call to Travis, my family, and Charles, we have figured out that the sink drain should be above the washer drain...we did not know this. At first we thought we had a frozen pipe, but after much hot water used, Keith discovered that was not the case. We were supposed to put the floor down this weekend so Chan could finish up next week, but after much texting back and forth with him, we have decided he needs to take a look to make sure. We DO NOT want that happening after all is said and done! So, it may be a couple more weeks before I have any different pictures to show. Anyway...I guess I felt just like blogging today. Hopefully the weather will warm up and we will all have a nice restful weekend!

Nicole, Gracie, and our 18 pound cat, Cobie

For Kerri!

Keith and I want to wish Kerri a Happy, Happy Birthday!!!

We hope you have a WONDERFUL day!!

We love you!

Natalie, Kerri, Hailey, and Alyson

Apurr!

Last Thursday night, my best friend, April, came for a visit. We had a great time. I fixed chicken spaghetti and we watched Grey's Anatomy. April and I met while at HCC in 2001. She also met her husband, JD, there as well. We had some great times!! She only lives an hour and a half away, in Winona, but we aren't able to get together as often as we would like. She is such a sweet, sweet person and I'm so thankful I have her as a friend! I love ya, Apurr!!!

Pictures as promised

I have all the pictures I promised yesterday...and more! So, thankfully we live on a hill. Unfortunately, our house is on a hill with a hill behind it. As most people are aware, we've had quite a bit of rain this week. The new project that will Keith and I will be working on is how to keep water from going under our house...and staying there for a while. Also, we will be working to get the water that does come out from standing in the front yard. There's always something when you own a house right??

This is a picture of under the house. You can see on the brick column where the water came up to.

The river down the hill from us is also very high. Crazy high! Keith, Gracie, and I walked down yesterday afternoon to take some pictures.

This is the gravel parking lot that is right by the river, in the big curve.

Laundry is looking GREAT! Chan has the thresholds in and most of the room paneled. He also has the washer and dryer placed. It looks so great!! Keith and I are so excited about it!!

Looking out of the kitchen into the new mudroom/laundry.

New back door.

New carport door. Kitchen doorway is to the right.



Outside new back entry. (Ignore the mess!:))

Ok, so I mentioned yesterday that Keith has been restoring a clock. This clock is around 100 years old and belong to his grandparents. Keith began restoring it in 2002. It had 4 layers of paint on it that had to be removed. Rae's Jewelry has rebuilt the "gut" part of it (the actual clock movements). He has finally got everything on the outside of the clock finished and placed back on the clock. He still has to take the clock back to Rae's for them to install the "guts". It is beautiful! Keith has done a great job and I can't wait for us to have it in our home!

Projects...

So, I thought I would just update to let everyone know what we've been up to. Keith and I are both back to work. I am getting ready to start classes next Monday. I am probably going to be receiving some more duties at work, so I will have to cut back on my class schedule. For those that do not know, I am working on a second bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. I was hoping it would not take too long, but now I am not sure. I will be adding scholarships to what I already process, loans. Unfortunately, the scholarship program is very manual, so I will be in charge of placing all university scholarships on each student's account...doesn't sound very exciting, but it will give me some good experience. Laundry is coming along very nicely. Chan has been back this week and his gotten more paneling up, the dryer moved, and the vent for the hot water heater put in. I will post some pics after he works today. Everything is going good with Keith's job. He is going to have to have his wisdom teeth taken out in a couple of weeks. He isn't too worried about it, but I am not looking forward to it!!! He is a large man...and put him on drugs...I may have to get a wheelchair to get him in the house. I had mine out several years ago and all I remember is all the blood coming out of my mouth...and my mom thought I stopped breathing once. It is going to be very interesting. Any volunteers!!!????? So, anyway, Keith has been working on finishing up several projects he has started. The one I have a picture of that I will post about today is his knife. Keith made the knife and sheath 100% completely by hand. The sheath is even hand stiched. He is very proud of it and I am proud of him for getting it completed. I don't like knives, but I have to agree that it is really pretty. He has done a great job on it! I'll post later about the project he has been working on since 2002, a clock! I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy New Year!!!

So, today has not been the greatest of days. My Mama, Daddy, and Papaw came today for lunch. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, and the good-luck black eyed peas. But, I spent the majority of the day in the bed. Yesterday, started with a cold...a bad, runny nose, coughing, sneezing every breath, raw red cheeked, cold. Today, while I was trying to enjoy my lunch, without being able to taste much of it, I had a migraine to creep in on me. So, instead of visiting with my family, I ended up in bed for the rest of the day. No fun! Anyway...the headache is gone, so now I'm enjoying the rest of the first day of 2009 continuing to blow my nose...sigh...Anyway...enough of that. On a lighter note, our contractor, Chan, has rocked this week! He worked Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesay. The laundry is completely closed in, insulated, doors attached, and some paneling done! It looks so great!! Not the warmest yet (no threshold yet), but it looks great! Last night, Keith and I braved the very, very, very cold weather to attend the "Block Party" in downtown Columbus. Nash Street, from Starkville, was preforming and we've been wanting to hear them for a while now. They were scheduled to play around 9:30, so we walked up the hill at about 9:15. They didn't start until a little after 10:00. I talked Keith into only staying for a few songs because I felt terrible and we wanted to be there at 12:00 for the "ball drop." We left to thaw out and went home to watch a rerun of CSI and wait out the next hour. Well, I fell asleep on the couch. Keith woke me up about 11:40 and we bundled back up to see the ball drop in downtown Columbus. The "ball" was a fabric shaped ball hung up about 20 feet in the air by a crane. Someone lowered it at midnight after the countdown. No lights on it, no spinning, no spot light shinning on it...just a silver fabric covered ball...sigh...I have to say though it was fun. I hope everyone had a great start to 2009 and hope that mine will be better tomorrow than today!

Carport view of new kitchen door and enclosure.

Nash Street

Sorry, you will need to tilt your head to the left to view the video!!