Look what we got

If ya know me I'm always getting things from free cycle & Craig's list. Well yesterday i checked Craig's list before we left to go to grandma's and someone was offering tile. So i emailed them and left Mike's cell number. (when we aren't home we don't have email access) So while we were at grandma's doing a few things for her the person called and said we could have them. When we got there there were more than i expected. Isabelle, & Patrick helped load then in the truck. While Mike brought me bigger stacks he loaded in a box and i unloaded. The couple that were giving them away their 2 young sons helped us load them too.

Our lives are sooo busy....

We got another fur baby. She is a chug (pug/chihuahua) We named her Princess Abigail VonDutch. But call her Abbie.

Do you know how hard that first picture was..lol Brandon, Lola, Casey, Me, Lillie, Gracie,Patrick, Isabelle, Abby, Marissa & Jakie. I added a few pictures of Abby. How could you say no to that sweet face. lol Abby and the kitties sleeping on the couch.










Yesterday while I was walking all 4 dogs i decided to take a few pictures of the house from different places in town. Now on to the work part of the house. Mike has been working on the electrical, plumbing and partial walls this week.The next picture is Mike drilling a new drain hole. He is getting the new drains and vent stack in today. The next picture is the wiring in the kitchen, pantry and 1/2 bath.










The next picture is the starting of the new kitchen. We finally got all the cabinets after 3 trips to the place (i won't say the place but usually have great service) and decided on a stain after 2 weeks. What upset us about the cabinets was one of the sales people told us to call on a certain day when they would have a shipment of cabinets. So Mike called and the guy said they were there. So we packed up and drove all the way there (almost 2 hours with the trailer. plus the price of gas these days) But when we got there another sales person said we couldn't have any yet because they had to pull all their will calls first. Not once did they offer us to order any. I got so mad i walked out of the store and told Mike to deal with it. 10 minutes later he had what we need of what they had. We had to still go back this week and get the last few but that was no problem.
Yesterday we went to Lowe's to get plumbing supplies and stain. We also found 1 exterior door that we need. We just need 5 more. The problem with the doors are they are not average size doors. (Just like the window aren't average size.)One thing i want to point out in the kitchen is the island we are making in the center of the room. In the picture it is sitting on some of the cabinets but when it is finished it will be like a huge table with a shelf. oh and it's 10 feet long. I can't wait. So i will say what Mike always says....this house isn't gonna get done by it's self. So off to work i must go.
TTYL
Kat

Kittys and dogs

Everyone know that i call mike Dr dolittle. Almost everyone animal loves him (but casey) So when ever he sits down all the other animals have to sit on his lap. Gracie, Lillie, Lola & Jakie on Mike. Jakie & Lola chillin'. Jakie sleeping. And Gracie trying to find me upstairs in all the mess.

The weekend...

Mike is still working on the area with all the water damage. (the bathroom areas) Right now we are waiting for the building inspector to get here so he can continue. The first picture is of the kitchen we are using now when he broke thru the wall. The second picture is looking up at the upstairs bathrooms. (no floor, no sub floor & no joist) The third picture is the wall all cleared out. The fourth is the new joists for the upstairs bathrooms. The fifth is the new joists, part of the new sub floor and the new wall studs. (oh and Mike) The sixth picture is Isabelle helping me paint her room. The seventh is Brandon helping me paint Isabelle's room. The eighth is me, Gracie, Lillie & Casey resting on the couch. And the last is Patrick with gracie in his sweat shirt. (brandon & isabelle behind)

Don't do what we did....

Never catch a wild animal sharing your home without checking to making sure it's not a mommy with babies!!

When we caught the squirrel last week we never imagined there were babies. We kept hearing this squeal like baby birds. We even went up the the attic to look. We found nothing til i was on the back porch talking to Mike and went in one door. Patrick was coming out the other back door and yelled "hey there's a baby squirrel over here." Come to find out 1 baby feel out of the attic onto the concert porch. He seemed fine and we put him in the trap we had. I did some research online and found a wildlife group. Mike called them and they gave him the number to a woman that lives only an hour away. I told him that squirrels have 3-4 babies so there are more. He called to woman in the morning and of course she wanted to help. She also told him there would be more babies. So He went up to the attic to tear up the floor boards. (we have a 1,500 sq ft floored attic) Right in the area that he kept seeing the mommy squirrel he pulled up the floor boards and what did he find but 2 more babies. I helped him put them in a box and after reuniting all the babies we were off to the woman's house. She was so happy to see that we went searching for the other babies and would be adding our 3 to the other 5 she already had. We are so happy that this turned out with a good ending.

TTYL Kat

The jungle is no more....

I didn't get any before pictures but the back yard was as tall as me in some places. (i'm just under 5ft) We borrowed Nana's riding lawn mower because the push mower just couldn't do it. It looks so nice now. There is dumpster #2 almost full.

I also added some pictures of the kittens. They are 3 1/2 weeks old and we figured out they are both lil girls. But we are going to keep their names Jake & Lola. (Jakie is the big fluffy one and Lola we call Yoda because of her ears about a week ago looked like yoda's) They sleep ALOT & are so cute (1 lola sleeping 2 Jakie fell asleep in the kitty food 3 jakie asleep in the middle of the couch cushion with strawberry shortcake..lol

The Mouse in the house....

the squirrel in the attic.....

Mike finally caught the squirrel...Every morning and evening we would hear it in the attic above our room. We got the humane trap and Mike put peanut butter in it to catch it. well the first time he went to check it the squirrel ate the peanut butter but didn't get caught. So the next time Mike put a smaller container. The next evening i was watching tv and he asked me if i heard something in the attic. I told him to go look. Sure enough the squirrel was caught. After we let eveyone see it we took it about 5 miles down the road to a wooded area and let it go.

Busy weekend

We went to an auction again this weekend. We didn't buy as much as the first time but we got some "nice" building materials. We decided to use marble tile for the counter tops instead of granite. I wanted the one called cherry blossom and Mike wanted the one called coffee. I was bidding on the cherry blossom with some guy but didn't want to go to high so i let the other guy have it. If the other person doesn't take it all the second bidder can usually have some at the winning bidders price. I was kinda pissed when the guy took it all. So next was the coffee. I didn't even get in on the bidding for it but did get what we needed in it. We also picked up the under layment for the laminate flooring, some wall tile for the master bath and some flooring to fix the floor in the downstairs hallway back where the bathrooms where (all the water damage).

Saturday evening we purchase a very nice Victorian couch & love seat. We decided these will go in the formal living room.

Mike is still working in the back area of the house. We finally got a utility sink for the laundry room so he could get the wall out in the kitchen we are using now. So once he gets everything tore out he can finally start building it up. The last 3 pictures are of the back area he is working on. The first one is from the kitchen we are using into the 1/2 bath/pantry/new kitchen. The second picture is taken from the area of the new kitchen up where the upstairs bathrooms used to be. The third picture is a wider angle of the second picture.

I have been working on so many projects of my own. Cleaning out the clothes room & putting finish on the panels for the living room ceiling. We just got panels for Isabelle's ceiling and i started painting those today. The kittens still using the bottles they are now eating solid food and drinking water. The doggies are doing well but don't like when the kittys bother them. Casey is doing fine with his nail that had to be removed last week.

The kids are all adjusting to the new school year. Marissa is a jr, Patrick is a freshman, Brandon is a 4th grader and Isabelle is a first grader. We found out at the older kids dental check up they both need braces. And the closest dentist that takes our insurance is in chesapeake.(next to the one mike & i used to use) So both have appts at the end of oct for evaluation. I picked up their xrays this morning when Isabelle was getting a small filling. We are done with dental appts til next month.

Well i think the first panel for isabelle's ceiling is dry so i best being working on the next.

TTYL

Kat

More of the mess..lol

So the washer is still not working correctly after replacing the lid switch and the coupling. Mike thinks it could be the transmission and would be $150. I'm still using it but have to stand by and baby sit it when there is a load in it. FUN fun...

So we got a few cabinets to start finishing them. That's

them in the first picture with the new dish washer. This the wall inside the back door where the sink will be. The pantry will be behind this wall. The next picture is the sub flooring in the pantry and 1/2 bath.

I had to add a few pictures of the kittens and the dogs. The first is Lola with a full tummy sleeping. The next one is Jake. This was about 2 weeks ago (the week we found them) We were in Chesapeake getting a huge deck that someone was giving away. We had to take it apart but it was the best price....FREE! That's a picture of Patrick, Isabelle & Brandon helping Mike & I take the deck apart and load it to the trailer. We are planning on using this deck to replace the deck on the side of the house we demo'ed a few weeks ago.

This is were we found the kittens at 10:30 at night on a sunday. There was a wall that is had to break apart to get to them. And lastly but not least are the doggies. Casey (the blue & silver chihuahua) hurt 1 of his back toe nails this past monday (labor day). It being a holiday we had to wait til tuesday to get him to the vet. We think he got it caught on something and broke it half way off. The vet had to remove it. They bandaged him up with a bright yellow tape. Looked like he broke his poor foot. (i think the nail being removed hurt just as much) We tried to keep him in his crate monday night to keep him from walking on it but he cried so i let him sleep with me. I put him on his back so his foot was in the air not touching anything and he was fine. Today is thursday and he is running around the house fine. TTYL

The kitchen/pantry/1/2 bath

Wow it has been awhile since I've post anything about the house. I had to go back and see what the last thing i posted about. Mike had the floor joists in but not the sub flooring in the kitchen & hadn't started in the pantry & 1/2 bath. Well we now have sub flooring in the kitchen, pantry and 1/2 bath. Yeah! The first picture is when we hadn't gotten the wall down. The second picture is when Mike took the sledge hammer to it and down it came. The third picture is after it was removed. the fourth picture is when Mike got the floor out to replace the joists. The last picture is the new flooring we are going to put in the kitchen. I have to continue in another post since i have more pictures.

Kat