normalcy

Well life is starting to resemble some sort of normalcy around here.  As normal as our life gets.  I'm back at work in the salon full time now!  Finally.  Things are coming together there.  We still have just a few pictures to hang, some shelves to hang, and a reception desk to get built.  Other than that we are going good.

The duplex on the other hand is still a complete disaster.  I just don't know where to put everything.  I finally just packed all of our sweaters and winter clothes in a tub.  I feel like I'm in college again, when your closets were so small you just couldn't take your summer and winter clothes all at once.  So I'm going around trying to find anything that I can pack away and not miss too much, just to give us a little more room.  The downstairs still looks like a tornado went through, but it will come at some point.  Lately I just get home from work and don't feel like doing anything, although we have found that if the dishes don't get washed everyday the pile can get pretty high.  So that job MUST be done every night.  I really miss my dishwasher....and my shower.

Khloe is in full fledged potty training mode.  She wants a guitar really really bad and has been promised one as soon as she gets the potty training down.  Today was the first full day that she stayed dry ALL DAY LONG!  WHOOO HOOOO.  Big accomplishment at our house.  Especially since I thought for sure she would still be in diapers when she went to pre-school.  Hopefully the next few days bring the same progress.

My picture taking has been put on a back burner and I just realized I don't think I have taken hardly any pictures of Khloe this summer.  I really need to jump back on it and start taking some.  My Photoshop skills are getting a little rusty.  I'll have to line up a photo shoot with Khloe here in the next couple of weeks. 

I'll try and get some pictures posted on here soon, but to be quite honest I'm not really worrying about too much here for the next month.  I decided just to chill and have the rest of the summer.  My main concern is getting to the lake as much as possible. :)  After Labor Day I will start blogging more, scrapbooking more, and sewing more.  Hopefully this place will be cleaned up by then!

We are in

....our lovely new temporary (I hope) home.

AUGHHH what a week!  Could have we picked a hotter week to have to move?  It was unreal here!

I am supposed to start at the salon tomorrow and as I'm laying here on the floor typing in the middle of a mess in the basement of our duplex all I can think about is sleep.  I'm so tired!  Khloe hasn't been sleeping the greatest since we moved.  I think she is a little confused about everything that is going on, but then who wouldn't be?  The poor girl, tonight I told her we needed to take a bath at our new apartment and she got tears in her eyes and a really sad face and said in a tiny quivering voice, "Mommy, did you sell my other bathtub?"  I think I could have started bawling on the spot.  She got pretty upset when I told her that we sold the other house and her bathtub went with it.  She started screaming that all she wanted to do was go take a bath in her bathtub at our house.  Little does she know that is all I want to do too!  Sounds crazy to say, but I really miss our old bathroom out of anything in that house.  We had it all done up the way we wanted and it had nice water pressure and I didn't actually have to duck to wash my hair under the spout.  Ahhh the little things that you just don't appreciate enough when you have them.  I hope we find a house REALLY REALLY soon.  

The kitchen here is so full we have not one tiny bit of counter space by the time we put our pizza oven and microwave on it.  I thought our old house didn't have much counter space....this is terrible.  I have no idea where all of our pots, pans, silverware and dishes are going to go.  I really don't want to even think about it, but how can you not when you are tripping over stuff all the time?

Well now that I have completely brightened your night with how terrible my life is right now, I'm headed to bed.  I'll try and post pictures soon, but it is going to be a really busy week trying to get the salon done and things organized a bit.

on the move

Well it is Saturday and I am sitting in my living room in one of our outside lounge chairs (that is now in our living room) watching my tv that is sitting on the floor.  This means exactly what you think it means.  Our furniture is gone, kitchen table gone, washer/dryer gone (darn, you mean I can't do laundry this week?), deep freeze gone, scrapbooking table gone, etc.  The only big things we have left in our house are some beds, filing cabinets, and the treadmill (simply because Troy DOES NOT want to move it again and will put it off as long as possible).  

We were EXTREMELY lucky today to have two of our friends and Troy's dad come to help us move.  I always think it is a true testament to friendship and family when you tell people you are moving.  You can just see the fear in your family's eyes like "Where can we say we are going to be so we don't have to help move?"  There are people that will be there no matter what and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you can count on them and we were lucky they were here to help, because I really don't think it would have gotten done without their help.

Our friends brought a 30 ft trailer that had a lift on it so we didn't even have to lift anything up into a trailer.  We piled our furniture, table, chairs, and some other random things on there and 4 of us rode on the trailer to hold onto various items and down the highway we went.  We got quite a few stares and I only wish I had a camera with me to snap a few pictures.  I'm sure we were a sight to be seen.

It has been a really really long day and as I sit on my lounge chair typing, I just can't help but think that I can't wait until this process is over.  I can't wait to scrapbook again.  I can't wait to go out, see the sun, and get a tan on my pasty white legs.  I can't wait to get to the pool and see my little girl back float.  I can't wait to get into my new salon.  And I especially can't wait to just have a normal night at home with my family.  

It will be here soon!

treasures

I found some really great things at a craft store awhile back.  I'm working right now on them now with a few cans of spray paint.  I'm not real sure at the moment what I'm going to use them for (something in the salon), but they were in the 80% off aisle and I couldn't pass them up.  The majority of them weren't over $3.  

Ugly I know...but the backside is usable.

I do know what this tray will be used for.  I think I will put all of my products on it on top of my station.  Just can't decide what color to spray paint it.  May have to wait to paint it until after I'm in and see everything together.

The rest of the items I'm sure you will see around my salon somewhere.  Keep your eyes peeled once we get everything finishedl

we're rolling

Here is some more progress.  We have the trim around the doorways and one set of track lights up in the waiting area. 

Notice there are only two pendant light covers instead of three?!?  Khloe decided she was going to "clear" off a spot for her baby to lay on one of my displays.  Just so happened that is where my pendant lights were sitting.  I was in the other room when I heard a crash.  I knew instantly what had happened and luckily Khloe didn't get hurt and it was only one and not all three.  Troy was already commenting on how expensive the lights were and now we get to add another one to the list.  Unfortunately we can only find them at a store about 2 hours away from us.  We are trying to hunt down someone who would be in that area and could bring us one. 

It's official....

....our house is SOLD!!!!

We have to be out in two weeks....yep that is right two weeks.  Meanwhile the salon is not finished so we have to finish that, move the salon and move the house.

There is a ton to do yet, but yet again it is Netflix time at our house! :)  I have had "Dear John" sitting on the counter for a few days and each day have been dying to watch it.  So finally it is time.  So far so good.  I love Nicholas Sparks books/movies.

Anyways back to the salon news.  Here is what has been happening.

New flooring has been laid (still need trim around the edges) and my track lights have been hung in the salon area.  Things are coming along.  Trim needs to be added for baseboards and also around the opening between the rooms.  We are in the process of painting and hanging that.

Khloe has been soooo good throughout this entire process.  Always hanging out at the salon when we need her to.  She plays so good up there.  For the most part does a good job of entertaining herself.

June 30th

I thought that day would never come and finally it is almost here.  We have been working on selling our house and signed papers over 8 weeks ago.  We are set to close on the 30th.  

There has been screwy deal after screwy deal along the way and who knows if this whole process will even come to an end tomorrow.  We talked to the Realtor today and they said now it could even be the 1st of July.  Will this nightmare never end?  I just want to know where I'm going to be living for the rest of the summer....is that too much to ask?  We have not packed a thing (just worried the deal won't go through, then who wants to have to unpack everything) so it will be a full two weeks of packing before we get "kicked" out of our house.

Oh and not to mention we will be moving my salon during that time too.  Should be tons of fun if it all goes through, right? :)  

I'm not even going to start stressing about it until I have a check in hand from the bank.  

As always, I have tons of pictures of the salon that I haven't posted.  It is coming together perfectly and I only have Troy to thank for it.  He has been amazing to say the least.  Always keeping me on track, even when there were a thousand other things we both wanted to do then have to go up there and work.  I wish I could say there is a long vacation coming at the end of this process, but I don't think there is.

I'll get pictures posted soon!

Monday again

Alright...how is it Monday already again?  I swear I just posted on here, but it has already been a week.  Here is an update.

The salon is moving along.  Lets see....other than the rotting walls, the leaking walls, the wet floor, and the furnace that leaks gas and carbon monoxide we are doing really well.  

Oh and I forgot my horrid blue bathroom that I just can't get covered up.

Did I mention they painted the ceiling, door, pipes, and air duct blue too?  It really is wonderful.

The good news is we did get our new toilet and sink in.  They pulled the 1940's sink off the wall only to reveal a huge hole behind it.  Troy did some wonderful mud work and it looks better than any other part of the wall in that room.  

I don't know the guy who did the other patching in there, but I can only hope that construction was not his "real" job.  

I'm doing a little more painting in there today and little by little it is looking better.  I'll take some updated pictures tonight.  I always forget to take my camera when we go.

We pulled the carpet back in the "salon" area over the weekend only to reveal a big wet spot and the flooring underneath soaked.  We think there could possibly be a window leaking?!?!?  This is kinda a bummer because it holds us up from having our new flooring laid, which was supposed to happen this weekend.

I'll give you a few more progress photos.  I know you have seen this first photo.  But here it is again just to refresh.  So we cut an opening in that wall to go into the salon.  There is a door off to the left that we Troy filled in. 

  

This is the backside after he took the sheet rock off.

Here it is with the new opening cut in.

I will take some more pictures tonight when I go up so you can see how far we are now.  I have the whole salon area painted and the whole waiting area painted.  We need to get lights up, flooring in, trim done, and the plumbing in yet.  Those things should hopefully go pretty fast as soon as we find out about the wet floor.

Khloe got to spend a day at my parents awhile back and they pulled out my Big Bird that I had as a little girl.  They thought Khloe was just about the right age.

She had a ball on it!

10:00

It's 10:00 and as usual, lately, I am beat.  

But I am on the couch blogging and just stuck in the movie "Leap Year."  I'm really too tired to watch it and have way to many things to do, but I refuse to let Netflix get their money's worth out of me.  I am determined to watch my movie at least once a week or cancel it.  I know...so stupid...but still I have to get my money out of it.  By the way, we did rent "It's Complicated" last week.  Great flick.  Troy thought it was the first good one we have had from Netflix (he didn't watch "New Moon").  It's been awhile since I have heard him laugh really hard at a movie.  Pretty funny.

So here I am, thinking about the business cards that need to be designed and printed, the rice bags that need to be made (warm rice bags....for my clients to put over their weary eyes while they relax in the salon...I know....exciting....shhh it is supposed to be a surprise), the gift bags that need to be put together, the products that need to be priced, the promotions that need to be thought up, the blog that needs to be designed.....and trust me people, this is the tip of the iceberg.  But by gosh I am going to get my use out of Netflix, so here I lay watching "Leap Year."

I told Troy tonight I am so ready to get back to normalcy.  His reply to me "What exactly is normalcy?  Can you tell me the last time we had it?  Was it before we had a kid or before we got married?"  My normalcy is being able to clean my house, do laundry, pay bills, play with Khloe, scrapbook, sew, and maybe see some sun on my pasty arms.  Cooking a decent meal is right up at the top of that list too.  Instead of the usual Rice Krispies, watermelon, popcorn, or whatever else I can grab real quick before heading to the salon.  I'm just ready to have my life back.  I keep saying "By the 4th of July it should all quiet down."  I just keep repeating that in my head.

Alright are you all tired of hearing how busy I am now?  I hate when people do that, but since this is my blog and it is my place to rant sometimes....I guess this is what you get tonight! :)

Ok so on to some pictures.  These are all straight out of the camera, no photoshopping tonight so sorry if they aren't the greatest, but here goes.

Lets start in the waiting area tonight.  Here are some before pictures.  

All closed up.  A rather drab area.  Dark and gloomy.  Here are some photos of us making progress in this room.

our little helper

Troy working the texture gun.  I think by the end he actually was having fun.

Here is how we are looking today!  Much more open and airy.  The walls on the left have been textured and painted by now and this room, except for the flooring (which arrived today), shelving, and lights on the wall, is finished.  On to the actual salon! 

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have some progress pictures of the salon.  

In the next couple of days I will post some pictures of the other rooms.  Wait till you see the progress on the bathroom.  The sink that has hung on the wall for the last 60 years has been removed only to leave a huge whole in the wall.  Not to mention you could easily just peel the entire wall off because it is about all rotting away.  Troy is in the fix it stage right now before the plumbers come back tomorrow.  

It always ends up being a bigger project than you think, right?

By the way...the movie is going well.  I really like Amy Adams and I haven't seen Matthew Goode in anything since "Chasing Liberty."  I think that was about 10 years ago.  So far it gets my recommendation....but I'm only in about 30 minutes.