The floors are coming right along. Actually, he is finished, however, we won't be moving back in until Thursday or Friday. Below is a picture of the progress.

This photo (below) cracks me up. That little guy is Rue. Our beloved, Fed's, right hand man. He speaks  very little english, but he is all smiles all the time. I called Fed and his crew to come help move things out last Tuesday. It was a little fast and furious and very last minute. They hauled our mattress and box springs out to the pod in no time...then Rue came back to get the metal bed frame. I asked if we should take it apart? I'm not sure if he understood I'm positive he didn't understand me...he shook his head and carried the whole thing out in one piece. It was pretty amusing.  At one point we had three mexicans attempting to take our back door off the hinges. I couldn't watch...I was little nervous and a lot amused!

The hubs and I hit the road this weekend. Since we have been crashing at my parents house, we decided they probably needed some space. :)

On the way over we paid TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS! to go to santa land. If you are a holiday enthusiast like moi, it is totally worth it! 

I tell ya, I have a good one. This man held on for dear life as we made our way up and down (several times) the tollway and 75. He is so patient. I think he secretly liked the stops at Wisteria and Northpark. Shhh...

Let the fun begin...

The floor guy was scheduled to come 3 days from now, but he called and asked to come early. So we busted our tails and got out in no time flat! Big thanks to my mom, her yard man and his crew! I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to do it with out them!

One week out

We are going on one solid week without our Ollie. I have cried every single day for the past seven days.
I can't imagine how parents do it when they lose a child. I. would. die.

Our Ollie

December 2005, I received the greatest gift--in the form of a fat bellied, fluffy headed, puppies breathed great dane. He weighed 12 or so pounds. He was tiny and perfect and we named him Oliver.

He was so cute that I forgot to ask to see his parents. In the weeks that followed, I worried that maybe we bought a black lab instead of a great dane, but within the year I was sure that he was the most awesome great dane ever. :)

Today, we had to put him to sleep. This has been the hardest day ever. The house feels so quiet without him. He is missed so much.

We will miss him coming to check on us before bed.
We will miss his internal clock of 12 and 5--time for food! And his strange obsession for toothbrushes.

We will miss his persistence to have fresh, clean sheets and those moments after when we all laid on the bed together.

We will miss the security he provided when strangers showed up on the porch and his unbelievable ability to tell the difference between a fed ex truck and a UPS truck (which he hated) without looking out the window.
I will miss his protection of me. Jason could hardly give me a high five without a protest from Ollie.
Ellie will miss rough housing with him and those long quality naps RIGHTNEXT to him. :)

Ollie loved Jason. It always warmed my heart to see him greet Jason after work. Such enthusiasm. Such love.
Ollie has been the most loyal and sweetest dog--with the exception of the one time that he bit a small child, but that only happened once. :/
We are all heart broken. He was so loved and already terribly missed.

Two vs One

Backsplash

Our little backsplash was installed this week! I'm super excited about it! 

before

 

after

I'm feeling pretty fancy with a backsplash. :)

And the house hunt continues...

We I probably drive my real estate lady nuts-o. I called her first thing Monday morning to ask if she'd show me a house nearby for lease. This house looks relatively small from the outside, but inside there are FIVE bedrooms. It is so cute and has so much charm. All the doors across appear to be original with the original screen doors and there is a great screen porch on the side. Much of the original hardware is in place and in great shape. However, the kitchen and baths (go figure) need to be gutted and brought up to date. 

Apparently the lady who owns it is a older lady who grew up in the house and from what I understand will not sell it. Which is unfortunate, because it is so cute and so close to being...run down. The back bedroom had at least 14 inches of ivy growing through the window--as in the roots were OUTSIDE and it crept in through some crack. This sweet little house needs some love--and a yard man, desperately. 

THISclose

For the past few weeks we have been working around the clock in preparation for a possible move. We have been crossing things off lists like crazy. The stripping, sanding and painting seems never ending.
All was riding on our neighbors house making it to the sheriffs sale. Today (five days prior to said sale), we dropped by the courthouse and learned that it has been POSTPONED for 90 days!
Booo. We have decided to continue to work on getting the house ready for renters--hopefully in 90 days. :)
While we ran to the courthouse, Ollie and Ellie were left to roam the house--this does not happen often. When I got home, the pyrex dish was half way off the counter and the saran wrap had a huge hole in it. That Ellie. I swear. She is such a ghetto hooch pooch.

A guy came out today to measure for a backsplash. It's been a few years since the kitchen project and we still haven't decided on a backsplash. The possibility of moving next door forced us into a decision. This is today, with a little templet my mom drew.

Inspiration comes from here:

And here:

BES says...

Going through my photos on my phone when I found this photo.
If you saw the light fixtures, you would have stopped and left a note too.

It's like this and like that and like this and huh--

This has got to be the best poboy in the SBC. Holy cow. Marilynn's shrimp remoulade is the jam diggity.

*The blogger app is also the jam diggity.

Keepin it classy...

Keepin south highlands classy with our blow up pool and Fifty Shades.

Two years later

Two years after receiving gift certificates to Leontine Linens--this arrived on my doorstep.

The details in the package were impressive! I was a little giddy. :)

Stranger Danger

 I came across this photo today as I uploaded my camera.

This is our bedroom and it looked this way until about two months ago. It looked this way because I'm a hunter. I look and look until I find what I want and love.

 I'm not very good at capturing spaces. 

I love everything in this room (except the lamps, I digress), but it all just fell together quickly and randomly...

A few months ago a local place called and told us that they had a king headboard we had paid for 5 months prior and never picked up. I told the girl there was no way. We had bought the same headboard (queen sized) for our guest room, but never paid for another one. We would have known. We are just too tight to let several hundred dollars disappear, but they insisted we pick it up and we did. I didn't want this as our headboard, but it was free so what the heck. 

After a few months on the hunt for fabric for a bedskirt, I found one dirt cheap at Wisteria. It's the color of the pillows. Sort of a dark khaki. Which is fine, and actually looks really nice. 

I have been eyeing the mirrors for several months when my mom found them in the warehouse sale at Wisteria for dirt cheap and snagged them for me. The ikat, however, was not cheap, but it looks good. 

And just for good measure...

The dogs enjoy their bed that was paid for...

Chi-town

Jason and I zipped up to Chicago for a long, cold weekend. It was so nice to get away and not have anything to do. Granted, I think i would have preferred doing nothing at the pool, next to the beach. *note: at the pool, next to the beach, because thats how I roll. Anyway, February has been a rough month, so a weekend a way was just what the doctor ordered. yeah. I'm that cheesy.
We really didn't do anything special.

We were able to get in at Rick Bayless' restaurant, which was delish...J finger at RB's

We walked miles and miles and this is the only photo I took...

We checked out the Jellyfish exhibit--along with every other small child in the state of Illinois.

I shopped and he played on his phone... good husband.

Monday, I picked up the dogs from the Rose Cottage Dog Hotel. Oliver does okay there. Not great, just okay. It was probably his last time there. Ellie on the other hand loves it. She always pouts on the way home. She stayed like this for a majority of the ride home. When she wasn't smooshing her head between my seat and the window with her eyes closed, she was smooshing her face up against the window looking backwards. It was pitiful.

love

If I knew how to make the little heart symbol, I totally would. whats not to love about this?

Love this guy.

I'm dying over here. I've been laid up all week with a mega virus. I haven't been this sick in a very long time. Yuck! 

However, this little video made my night. I want to bring him with me to Sonic...I might order more than a Route 66 (or 44?) unsweet tea. Home dude has an awesome voice. 

Wisteria Chair Before & After

Three of the four chairs from Wisteria had a little rust on them. 

Before:

After some scrubbing with some fine steel wool and some black spray paint you would never know that they had been rusty:

Last year, I scored a bolt of linen from an estate sale for $6. I used that fabric for the cushions. They look really good and are of better quality, but they were twice as much as the cushions offered at Wisteria. RAR. :) 

Cost Analysis:

4 Chairs:         $296

Paint & wool: $15

Cushions:       $265

Fabric:            $6

Grand Total:::  $582      

Versus:

4 Chairs not on sale:         $1196

Cushions:                         $150

Total::::                            $1316

So we saved $734! Whoop! Whoop! 

           

A swing and a miss

 I was trying to do this:

But ended up doing this:

Whoops. I get my coordination from my mother. :)

A new record

I ran a 12-minute mile today. HOLY shit! For all you jokers out there who can run 13 miles--suck it. Because this morning, I ran ONE 12-minute mile! That is huge for me. I hate running, but I did it! GO ME!

Random rambler...

School has started and I just know the next 7 weeks are going to suck. Each week we have readings that cover 5 chapters out of three books, PLUS projects. I am the slowest reader ever...so this should be interesting absolutely horrible. Ah well.

I ran into an old friend at home depot.

We always see each other there. So weird.

Anyway, we picked up like no time had ever passed, as usual. Mid conversation--get a closer look at her shirt. PAY N TAKE. Wait thats MY shirt! haha!
I haven't seen this long sleeve, red shirt in FOREVER. I'm talking years and years.

Pay N Take was a favorite in Flagstaff. My senior year, I think we stopped into PNT several times a week, after a day on the mountain. Those were great times. Sometimes blurry, but definitely great.

Here's to a great week, filled with an exorbitant amount of reading. Boo. :)