We're adding on...

Finally. We have decided to do something.
After several years of 'looking' for a new house, we found one worthy of making an offer on. The house had cute curb appeal, the inside was semi updated and the location was perfect. So that house went on the market (FSBO) on like a Saturday. We looked at it on Sunday. Made an offer on Monday morning. But a cash offer beat us! We offered more, and the cash people beat us again.

So.
That was that.
We were deflated.
We finally just decided to go ahead and commit to adding on. We really like our 'hood so we are staying.
For now, anyway.

When all is done, we will have a master bed, bath and closet, a laundry room, a built in desk/work space, a screened in porch, and an additional porch space.

Okay here are some before and during shots:

We took the back porch off then replaced the hot water heater with a tankless hot water heater. You can 

see the green color which was the house color many, many moons ago. Lookin pretty trashy.

I really dropped the ball on photographs from this point on. whoops. 

We did have to take out two windows in the living room because of the add on. We did that several weeks before the actual construction began so that we'd have inside construction completed before the baby came. 

Before the light was taken away. We miss those windows a lot. 

And thats the end of that. 

Okay, so these are from late October...

And finally, this is from yesterday.

One year and one day later...

Sheesh.

2012 really sucked. I think thats why I just stopped posting updates.

2013 has been pretty eventful.
Some quick highlights:
In February we found out we were having a baby! No pics to share on that one...
In April we witnessed these two beautiful people exchange vowels in Naples.

In June we attended another wedding on the other side of the country--in San Diego.

She was beautiful--I on the other hand look 150 years old.

In August, I finished my masters! YAY!

On October 1, we broke ground on our addition... pictures to follow. 

October 21, we welcomed our girl Margaret Kathryn aka Maggie Kate, Maggie, Mags, Mad Mad Maggie.   

More photos to follow! 

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...