The sheetrock is completed. Well, the taping is not done, but the sheetrock is on the walls. Picture me doing cartwheels through a field filled with daisies! We are getting closer and closer. I have picked out paint colors. Do I have any volunteers??

The Four Things Challenge

I have been challenged to do a 4 things list by my friend Carol who lives in Las Vegas. So, here goes.....

Four Things
4 Jobs I've had
1. Wendy's (not a huge success there)
2. Bank teller (that was fun)
3. Financial Aid Assistant in College
4. ER/ICU nurse

4 Movies I can watch over and over
1. Elf
2. All Christmas movies except A Christmas Story
3. Gone With the Wind
4. Anything with Humphrey Bogart

4 Places I've lived
1. Alaska
2. Ecuador
3. Texas (multiple moves here)
4. Georgia (two moves here)
5. Virginia
(OK, we move way too much!)

4 TV shows I enjoy
1. Whatever
2. 4 shows
3. John is watching
4. at the same time.

4 Places I've been on vacation
1. England
2. Ireland
3. Hawaii
4. Mississippi

4 Favorite Dishes
1. Beef fajita nachos at El Toro's
2. Tortilla soup (I make it myself)
3. Raspberry chocolate cheesecake
4. Chocolate anything

4 Websites I visit daily
1. my blog
2. my email
3. friends blogs
4. eBay

4 Places I'd rather be right now
1. MY HOUSE
2. the beach
3. shopping
4. MY HOUSE

Alright, there it is, The Fours List.

Treasure Hunting

We went to the Lucky Lake Gem Mine yesterday. A good friend came and picked me up. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We didn't get to mine our dirt. They just sold us buckets of dirt to dig through. And the stones that we found were planted. If we only found what they got out of the dirt there, it would all be feldspar. That is rocks made of compressed dirt. And that wouldn't be any fun at all. So, we found some Amethyst, some Aquamarine (The Mermaid's Treasure and Emily's birthstone), some Topaz, and Rose Quartz. Even though the pretty stones were planted it was a lot of fun. The kids felt like they were digging for treasure. And we got to rinse the dirt off and scrub the stones. I think just playing in the water made it fun. Ethan got soaked.

Frustrated again

My climbing monkeys! Aren't they cute??

I am frustrated again! This time for a different reason! The Durango has me stranded. It has a leak, HUGE, in the radiator. I was at a red light on my way to work and big clouds of steam began to billow out of the front of the Durango. And the thermometer was in the red! And then several nice men pulled over to help me......just kidding!!!....noone pulled over to help. In fact, a couple of MEN cussed at me as they drove by demanding that I get my heap off the road! Not very nice! Fortunately, I was right beside the hospital when it happened. After work John talked me through putting water into the radiator....not just into the resevoir....I was so proud. He's such a smart boy to be able to talk me through it from 3 states away! So, I got the stupid thing home, thank goodness. And John will be home tomorrow to fix it! And that's good news! We will be glad to see him!

Elation

When we got to the house today, lo and behold, the sheetrock people were already at work putting up the sheetrock. I am a happy girl! I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Frustration

We have a well. And the fireplace is installed. But, that's it! That's it! No further progress. Our builder said they would start hanging sheetrock almost 2 weeks ago. The sheetrock is in the house. But not on the walls. I think I will just putting it up myself. How hard can it be?

John's mother is here visiting......and where is John? Georgia. How did he get so lucky? She is a really great grandma. Her and the kids are having a really good visit.

That's all that's going on with us right now. We are fairly boring at the moment. That's not a bad thing, I guess.

What a pretty house

Our house is looking so pretty. It should be finished in the middle of August.....hopefully! The sheetrock has been delivered, but just sitting in the living room. There are stairs, finally, that lead to the upstairs. And this is what the upstairs looks like. This picture is taken from above the garage looking towards the area above the kitchen. I can't wait to move in........and never move out! For those of you that don't believe it, we really are never moving again. At least until Emily graduates from high school. Really. Not kidding.




Here are pictures of the kids when we met the President last summer. Just kidding! Ethan was determined he was going to meet the President when we came last summer. A fake picture was as close as we could get. We did tour the White House. The kids expected President Bush to just be wandering about as we went through. They thought for sure we would bump into him there. No luck! We did have some very good ice cream after they had their pictures taken though. Not a bad consolation prize.

Well, there's the back porch. It didn't survive. The builder seemed very depressed about it. Poor guy. But a note of good news, the front porch looks beautiful.....and a man was there this afternoon putting in insulation. He looked so hot we decided to go to the pool. The pool was perfect today. We plan to go back tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that......and maybe we will throw in a day at the beach.

Here is the house with the shutters on. What a difference they make! And the porch is finished. They did that this morning.
They are working on the back porch here. After they got the whole space filled with concrete they decided that it was going to collapse. The cement guy was not happy! We didn't stay to watch it fall. He was not in a good mood and I think having us there staring at them was just making it worse. So, we will go back and see what happened.
The bar area is all framed in. This view is standing the breakfast area looking through the kitchen into the dining room and out the front windows. We ordered the cabinets and did NOT go over our budget. They will be delivered on August 6. We ordered our appliances this weekend and bought some of the lighting. That was fun!
This is Emily's dance recital 2 years ago. She loved it! I thought she would be nervous when the curtains opened and she saw all those people....what was I thinking?? She starts summer dance on Thursday and she can't wait!
John started summer school today. Poor guy! He was very nervous. It is being held at a different school. But we saw some familiar faces. The hall monitor lady (I don't know what else to call her) from our elementary school was there. That made John feel more comfortable. Ethan got to see his teacher. He wanted to go to summer school when he found out she would be there. Ethan really had fun in her class.