12-19-12

Rodrigue is in the house!

Hoffman is over the fire place!

Nana's mirror and crystal lamps are on the buffet!

The tile is grouted!
I feel home. I had a deep rooted sense of belonging and  peace tonight like I've been missing a long time.

Spent two hours cleaning up the old place with Lysol and bleach (not at the same time) and couldn't wait to get out of there and back to home sweet home. 

12-18-12

Scarf for someone special...

Pillow for someone special…

Leg warmers for someone special…
Today my MIL left for MKE and we kept working on our nesting process.

 The Storyman finished our tile grout.
Here he is sweeping up. Last and final task...

We decided to celebrate our anniversary tonight and went to The Hound for a fabulous dinner. Oh my, it was really good. On our real anniversary we went to a department party, so this was a real treat. The bread pudding with homemade ice-cream and caramel sauce was fantastic, and I've never had a veggie burger any better in my life.

12-17-12

This means we are home. The chicken chandelier has traveled with us from Virginia to Kentucky to Alabama and where the chickens roost, we roost too. Today I worked hard on my crochet projects to get them shipped off tomorrow, and we continued to unpack. The carport is a mess. We have way too much stuff. Even after downsizing twice, we still have too many belongings. I had to work this morning - interviewing a couple prospective students and meeting with my GA. It was very quiet at school.

The Storyman made a grout sample today and we like the color.

12-16-12

Unpacking continues. I went to church this morning with my MIL and it was comforting. This evening we had dinner with my mother and friends- a spread of leftovers from weekend parties. I ate yogurt because my tongue is still ulcerated. However, chocolate mousse for dessert went down just fine. Yum.

12-15-12

Today my big task was cleaning out the attic so we could take my trunk of childhood memorabilia and other things up there. I had to wear a respirator. Insulation fluff everywhere. I found a cool old mirror and a Christmas wreath and tons of Christmas lights and some track lighting and loads of long, cheap curtain rods and old pull down roller shades. I got everything swept and hauled to the trash and then just started feeling sick. Napped a while and played solitaire on my phone and crocheted. That task just wiped me out. And my tongue is ulcerated again so I got a steroid prescription filled at Kroger and went back on a liquid diet. Juiced two bags of carrots.

12-14-12

We moved today! Two truck loads of furniture plus a couple van loads and many car loads. We have just begun to unpack what was put into boxes in June and I am so looking forward to seeing my artwork up on the walls again. Drapes will come in time... and a mantle if I get my Christmas wish!

12-13-12

My dear friend "Lips" gave us a ton of wrought iron hardware we could use if we wanted to. I finished painting all the cabinets today with oil paint (what a pain) and mounted the hardware she gave us.

 

Dan finished the cork floor, and everything is ready for our move tomorrow. The Dish satellite was installed, the Internet was installed, and most importantly, we had all the ducts cleaned today so the house is free of 60 years of clogged arteries. The worker showed me how much crap he vacuumed up from the ducts. Amazingly disgusting. I recommend this to anyone with an old house!

12-12-12

 
My sweet Jes got her radiation pill today. Iodine 131. She got about 75 millicuries which is a lower dose than normal. Her scans last week were good- no cancer spread anywhere. She called me from the car on the way to her apartment to recuperate in isolation for a few days. She sounded great and we are so glad the end of cancer treatment is VERY near. My girl is a superhero. 

12-11-12

 

Dan has been hard a work laying the cork floor. Here is it on it's way to being finished. See the green cement beforehand? I painted all day. Mother In Law (MIL) arrives this evening. We are in the "push" to finish.

12-10-12

Kitchen is coming together. Start of a new week- I had lunch with colleagues Lyric and Octave today after working all morning at the house, and then went back and worked some more. So much to do.

12-9-12

The Jade Rise and Fall Light
Made in France
The piece that started it all...
I love it.

12-8-12

We hung the chandelier today. It's made by Visual Comfort, the same company that made the chandelier we had in Lexington.  I think I'll have drapes the color of the shades.

12-6-12

Still wet floors with their second coat of polyurethane today. One more coat tomorrow then a painting extravaganza weekend.
Worked on Digital Measures today after two meetings. Semester winding down. Need to finish some IRBs too. Maybe tomorrow!

12-5-12

The hardwood is being refinished today, tomorrow, and Friday. I won't be able to work on the house so hope I get a lot of tasks done at school. Oh my goodness, the wood looks so fresh and new! We are having it stained "English Chestnut" which is a reddish brown.

12-4-12

Today I painted the fireplace trim. Wish I had a mantle. Hint hint... would make a great Christmas gift!

The transom windows are on their way. We painted trim in the dining room today too.

This is the awesome tile we found in Atlanta. Can't wait to see it on the wall!

12-2-12

Oh my goodness, my kitchen looks beautiful. Just look at that limestone floor. We worked at the house all day today painting walls and trim. Exhausting.

12-1-12

Tonight we went with my mom to a Bike club/Wine tasting club gathering and the people had their Christmas tree mounted upside down. it was a bit unnerving. I don't drink wine, so didn't enjoy that part but got to meet a couple interesting characters.

11-30-12

Happy 27th anniversary to Chrissy and Dan. We went to a department holiday party and had a really nice time socializing with my colleagues. I'm working on this afghan and don't know who it will be for.

11-29-12

Squirt designed, built, and programmed this display device for my office and the facilities crew (three men) drilled two holes in my wall today and mounted it. All I have to do is send a tweet through Twitter and the message displays right outside my office door. My son is truly awesome. Everybody in my department wants one now!

11-28-12

Dan found this tile on the website, Specialty Tile, in Atlanta. We tried to go see it last weekend and the store was closed for the Thanksgiving weekend. So today we trekked to Atlanta and bought it. Some tiles are kindof green, and some are more blue. They are made in Italy and we got a GREAT deal on them.

11-26-12

Our fancy Kitchen Aid stove and hood is installed.... See, the den behind it is a royal mess. Our moving date is December 14th so soon we will have a new kind of mess going on back there. Tonight I taught my last class for the semester. The students had perfect attendance all semester long, which is a really remarkable accomplishment. So we had a pizza fest on our last day of class.

11-25-12

The view out the other kitchen window.. a nice red Japanese maple. They are in color all over town right now. See the blossoms on the bush out the window? Camellias bloom all winter here.

This is the color we painted the living room. I love it. Much better!

This is the view from my mom's front door-- she has a Japanese maple in color too.

11-23-12

 

I met with some old high school friends today for lunch. Good times.

11-22-12

We got our fridge installed today!

This is the Squirt's room-- a nice deep grayish blue. Peaceful.

Our room again, as a contrast.

We got our faucet installed!

11-21-12

 

We chose this green for the girls' room since they both like the color. It's the largest bedroom and will fit a futon as well for extra sleeping capacity.

11-20-12

 

We started painting with our bedroom. It's a nice light/gray tinged blue.

11-19-12

 

The countertops are in!!!
We met with our interior decorator today and picked out all the paint colors for the house. Let the painting begin.

11-17-12

Went to the house this morning and took photos of the tile samples with the cabinets. Photoshopped them across a wall and disliked them all.

The woodworkers finished the cabinet near the dining room. It looks great.

And they finished trim at the ceiling but the ceiling is not flat so there is a slight gap.

I had an upset stomach today so didn't do much. Last night Squirt and Dan and I went to an art show and beer-tasting. I passed on the beer, but had a delicious latte. We went to dinner afterwards and got home late. It was a full day yesterday between Montgomery and all the stores and then the evening activities. Today I'm just not good for much.

11-16-12

 

This week was exhausting. Meetings every evening M-Th. So today I decided to go to Montgomery with Dan to look at tile and carpet. We picked up samples from three stores, and picked up carpet samples too. Along the way home we saw this van which took us by surprise. In Alabama? A weed-flavored lolly pop van???

We got a chuckle when choosing this carpeting. It's pronounced "chicken soft" around these parts.

11-12-12

This is the rug we currently have in our den,  but I may use it in the dining room because I like the colors there. Today starts a very busy week. I taught tonight so it was a long day. Also went to a new dentist this afternoon. My mom recommended him.

11-11-12

25 years ago today my Nana died. I only got to spend the first half of my life with her in it... and I wish I could talk to her and spend time with her still.

Dan is prepping this window in our kitchen for painting.