Moving...

Alright, folks. The next 2 days are moving days. Things seem to have gone from bad to worse in the last 24 hours, but we are moving nevertheless :). The cable guy comes Monday evening so hopefully we'll be back then. Pray people, PRAY!

Days 12 & 13

This post has a lot of different subjects, so bear with me as I jump around.

First of all we took Sunday off for the most part since it was Father's Day.

Yesterday I worked at the house for a few hours painting the master bedroom and doing kitchen cabinet touch-ups. We went to dinner at Ray's the Steaks (yummy!) because it was Joe's birthday!

We had great steaks and Grayson enjoyed his fingers.

After dinner we made one of our many trips to Home Depot to buy more paint, light fixtures (I'm telling you, EVERYTHING has to be replaced in this house) and order appliances. I was hot, I still had a dress on from dinner, and the guy doing the order didn't really know how to use the computer. And it took a long time. AND, worst of all, because we are such geniuses and waited until the last minute, the appliances won't be delivered until a week after we move in. Way to go Team Dickerson.

I don't think I've mentioned that Donnette, Joe's mom, has been here since Friday watching Grayson while we work. What a luxury! But somehow, I didn't snap one picture of Grayson and Donnette the entire time. They did some great bonding though and now a tired Ami D is off to the airport.

I do feel like I need to apologize to the public of Reston, VA for all the places I have been in dirty paint clothes. It is of course kosher to do this in Home Depot, but I have extended the list to include Target, Potbelly, Santini's, bakery, etc. I want you to know that the paint on me is dry already and I know how ridiculous I look. The shorts are so bad that they look two-toned on purpose. Solid paint. In fact, I don't really remember how long it has been since I got up in the morning and put on normal clothing.

However, in Target today I saw something I never thought I'd see:

Leather (faux-leather) MATERNITY pants. Really, Liz Lange? Leather pants shouldn't be worn period. However, ultra-skinny people MIGHT get away with it on a motorcycle or if they play in a heavy metal band. But a PREGNANT woman? I don't think I even need to explain why this is wrong on SO many levels.

Tonight, Joe and our good friend Jason (from Joe's work) are working on the house together. Jason is like the handiest man of all time and has basically redone his whole house by himself. His wife Megan and little baby girl are home in Ohio for the week, so we are thrilled to have his help! Plus, since he lives an hour away from work he's going to stay with us! yea!

Hope you're having a good week!

Days 9,10,11

Sorry for the delay the past few days. The work schedule is starting to wear on us, but hopefully this time next week we will be in the house! AND tonight I am showing you the kitchen cabinets.

We have:

finished hanging all the cabinets
drilled new holes and installed new hardware on cabinets and drawers
finished ALL the painting downstairs (kitchen, trim, chair rail)
began switching out electrical outlets (plates and sockets)
began laying hardwood floors
painted master bedroom walls (Kyle)

Total time spent: who knows?

Joe doing the electrical work. I was banned from this jurisdiction after I shocked myself the second time. There were serious sparks people. (And I was only unscrewing the plate!)

Before: previous owner painted over wall plates and sockets. AWESOME.

After. Joe is pretty amazing. And, even more amazing, those sockets are only $.22 a piece at Home Depot! Who knew? (Well, maybe Allen)

Kyle painted over the pink in the master bedroom today! A beautiful thing.

TA DA!

Up close so you can see the "distressed" look

The beginning of the floor installation. Joe was doing a GREAT job. However, due to time constraints we will be paying to have most of it installed later in the week.

Finished chair rail

Tomorrow we are going appliance shopping- yea!

And a happy early first Father's Day to my sweet Joey!

Oh, and a HUGE, SUPER-DUPER thanks to Kyle for your hard work!!!!!

Too tired

....to post the last 2 days of work. Soon....

Day 8

Have I mentioned how excited I am about my kitchen cabinets????!!! I hung a couple of them tonight before I left just to see how they looked- woohoo!!

-2nd coat of paint on trim downstairs
-removed kitchen cabinets that will get in the way of new refrigerator
-final coat of poly on kitchen cabinets
-removed old oven and refrigerator
-patched wall behind refrigerator
-fitted shelf paper in kitchen

Time spent: 4 hours

(Pics aren't too exciting today)

Nasty wall behind fridge that is roughly the same age as me

Hopefully tomorrow will be the last day of painting downstairs. (please!!) We need to roll the kitchen one more time and one more coat on the chair rail in the den. Then we prep for floors!

Day 7

Oh my heavenly stars, I am so excited about my kitchen cabinets!! But no pictures yet- they have to be completely finished...maybe today!

- Painted stairwell
- Final coat of paint on cabinets
- "Distressed" kitchen cabinets and drawers and applied polyurethane to the front side
-Painted first coat of trim downstairs

Time spent:

Joe- 3.5 hours
Nick- 3 hours
Ash- 8 hours

Nancy kept Grayson during the day. She is John's mom and was also the room mom for my class this year.

Our patio furniture before....

Our new patio furniture from Chris and Noel! It is WONDERFUL. They got it at a garage sale this last weekend, but the more we think about it and look at it, the more we are suspicious of the price they told us they paid for it....so we may have to have a discussion about that...

Nick showed up and saved us HUNDREDS of dollars when he brought his "Little Giant" ladder and helped Joe paint the stairwell last night. We gave him Chick-Fil-A for dinner- not exactly an even trade. You're the BEST Nick!!!

And while the 3 of us worked, Maren kept Grayson at our house. She has a new camera and I hear they had a photo shoot, so hopefully we'll see those pics soon!

Day 6

Forgot to take pictures today...sorry, I know that's no fun!

-Taped off to paint trim
-2nd coat of paint on cabinets and doors
-"Distressed" kitchen drawers

Time Spent: 3 hours

Also, our friends Chris and Noel found some AWESOME Crate & Barrel patio furniture at a garage sale this weekend and gave it to us as a housewarming gift (and went through a big mess to get it to us). It is BEAUTIFUL and there will be pictures tomorrow!

(I am currently moving out of my classroom as well at the moment, so that takes extra time!)