We are in.

So, we are in the house and officially have internet. Well, supposedly we have "had" internet since Friday, but I just got it working in the last day or so. It is coming along and I will have pictures to post later... hopefully tomorrow. I do not have the computer set up and my laptop has seen its last days, so I only get to use the computer when Caleb is at home and isn't cracking the whip. I know you are all on the edge of your seat... hopefully I will have pics up tomorrow. Night night blog world!

Quick Update

So, this one is going to be short. I just wanted to let you guys know where we are at in the project. Caleb and I feel like zombies, so exhausted from spending all of our free time for the last 2+ months working on the house... We did not move into the house this weekend due to certain circumstances, BUT we will be moving in next week!!! It is definitely less than ideal to move during the middle of the week, but as with everything else, we literally had no option. The POD will be delivered at the beginning of the week, then we will unpack it and be in by this weekend! We are thrilled and can't wait to show you pictures of the finished product. Of course, as with any home, there is still some work to be done, but nothing the city won't let us do while we are living there. Pray for us tomorrow as we have the plumbers and electricians coming to finish out and will be calling for inspections in the afternoon. Pray that everything is complete and we can move forward without any hiccups.

Houston, We have counters!!!!

What a fun day!!! We got our countertops!! was so interesting watching them do it... So, here's the story. I was told I needed to be at the house between 10 and 11, and that it would take around 3 hours to do the entire install. Well, around 9:45 they called so I raced over there to the house (I was buying plumbing fixtures.. another day!). By 10, I realized I had the wrong faucet and needed to go get a new one. Well, as I was getting my stuff together, I heard the workers talking and it sounded like they were concerned about something, so I glanced out the back door. Lo and behold, I see the guys with my big L-shaped piece on the orange Home Depot-esque 3 section dolly trying to get up the back stairs. They were using one of the guys shoes to protect the granite from the concrete (real reassuring, eh?) and they had the weakest dude trying to hoist the granite and the dolly up the stairs all by himself. In my mind, and of course out loud, I think, "Would you like for me to help you with holding the bottom of the granite so you can get it up the stairs?" Well, as you could probably guess, I got a snicker and a polite, "No mam, we've got this" response from one of the workers. After standing there staring at them while they try to figure this thing out, I figure it is probably better if I just left because I will annoy the tar out of them staring while they try to not break a very expensive piece of stone as they ghetto-rig it up my stairs. They had my number in case it broke while I was out.. Well, luckily, they didn't need it. By the time I came back, they had set all three pieces of stone on top of the cabinets and were getting ready to start cutting the hole for the sink and faucet. It was insanely loud while they cut the sink hole and of course, as a special ed. teacher I began worrying about the state of all of our ear drums and went on an unsuccessful hunt for ear plugs from our tool box. Oh well, I settled for looking like a 2-year old holding my ears closed. About 2 1/2 hours after they started, I had beautiful countertops to enjoy for many years!! Enjoy some pics of their handiwork!

Our countertops and the trusty dolly...
The countertops, view from the dining room.. Notice the faucet to the left of the sink.
Close up of the countertops... New Venetian Gold Granite

Another view of the c-tops and the kitchen.

the list is shortening..

So, our laundry list of everything that will make our home "liveable" according to the city of Richardson is getting shorter. YAY!! We have one bathroom left to tile, the kitchen is tiled, the countertops will be delivered Friday and hopefully at the beginning of next week, we will have all of our plumbing fixtures in!! And, the only other big thing is that we have to blow insulation in the attic, which we have heard is not a big task (comparatively speaking, I guess...). That means that hopefully next weekend (May 16-18), we will be moving in. I am a little nervous to say that because I don't want it to not happen, but I'm just going to go ahead a put it out there. I need to call and get our appliance set up for delivery. Do you remember several months ago when I was so excited about my appliances?? Well, it just so happens that my wonderful, fabulous appliances will probably end up being delivered on my birthday!!! It may seem weird to most of you, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking and being in the kitchen, so we have probably spent the most money, love and attention to that space so I can enjoy it and through my cooking, my husband, family and you guys, my wonderful friends, can enjoy it as well!! As I type, the light fixtures are being installed in the house. Things really seem to be coming together and I just can't wait to not be living out of my car and always on the go. That's it for now!

Oh, P.S. Caleb is taking the GMAT on Saturday, so say a prayer that he will be able to focus his attention completely on that this week and that he would have good rest. I guess that means you should pray for me too because I'm coughing up what feels like my left and right lungs all night long, so my husband can't sleep either.

Much love!

oh so different...

Well, the title says it all. Things are oh so different for us these days. Here's what's happening in the Morris family:

1. We found out we couldn't move in on Tuesday of last week and had to pack our whole house in a matter of 3 evenings, with the help of wonderful friends and family, and move into a 16 foot POD. By the way, get one larger than they recommend... My idea of a fully furnished room is apparently much different than PODS.
2. We played Tetris first with our cars to save a spot for the POD on the street on Friday, then with our stuff on Saturday and Sunday, again with the help of wonderful friends and family, so that we could get 95% of our stuff in the POD.
3. We had our floors refinished all last week, and by the absolute grace of God they were finished in spite of the humidity and rain last week.
4. We moved in with Caleb's mom and step-dad for the remainder of the home remodel (hopefully no more than 3 weeks... no offense Frees, but we are ready to be done with the house!).
5. We hired someone to tile the kitchen because there isn't a snowcones chance in Hades that we can get that done ourselves in a timely fashion.

The list really could go on and on, but I won't bore you. Sorry, I don't have any pictures and can't promise that we will have any prior to moving in. Our computer is packed away and in a POD until we move in to the house. That's all I have for now. My brain is fried from a lack of sleep! Love to all who care about enough about the blog to bug me until I update! I hope this was worth it...

Happenings at the hizzy..

Soo... here's what is happening at our hizzy: Last weekend we tile the tub surround in the master bath and had to prep the house for the floors to be refinished. Basically what that meant was that we had to get all the equipment and supplies out of the house, then take out all the carpet, carpet pad, carpet tack, nails and staples from around 1300 square feet. Yikes. Luckily we hired a few day laborers that were wonderful and worked so hard. We also, as you will see from the pictures below, completely cleared out our garage to the street so that everything could be picked up by the city on Monday. On Sunday, our big project for the morning was to completely wrap all of the duct work in the attic so that our A/C can be functional. It was suprisingly a lot of fun. It has been one of the few times where Caleb and I have gotten to really work side-by-side on a low-stress project for the house. I probably enjoyed it because Caleb told me it would be a lot like wrapping Christmas presents, which I am weird and love to do! Enjoy the pictures.. More updates on our chaotic life to come..

Our trash pile.
Our home... It looks finished when you look at the front, which makes me happy. It is very deceiving, though...
The hardwoods, after they have been stripped.
Living room view of stripped hardwoods.
One of the bedrooms, hardwoods stripped.
Before they were stripped... look at the lovely star pattern on the floor.
Another view of the hardwoods, before being stripped.
Nita after a hard day of work!
Geary after a hard day of work, smiling on the outside, hating me on the inside. Haha..
Two hard workers, feeling tired and dirty.

The Heinz 57 Post

Because I feel like the Heinz 57, or at least like I have 57 + different things going on in my life, I named my post that. That's about the extent of my creativity at nearly midnight after just getting home from a 14 hour work day between school and the house. Here goes...

After a long weekend and what also turned into the last few days, we have tile on both bathroom floors... WOOHOO! We are so proud of our work. Geary, Caleb's stepdad, even told us he didn't think he could do a better job, which is a huge compliment! He's a pro... and while I don't believe our work is professional, I am very proud and think we did a great job. Enjoy the pics! I included tile, the kitchen cabinets and some lovely worker bees who donated their time to our cause. It's Operation Finish Morris Home!

Caleb and Trog posing.. haha, dorks!
My cute mom painting up a storm!
Caleb, my dad and George putting up backerboard.
Geary, the cabinet painter extraordiare!
Hall bath tile.
Master bath tile.
B-E-A-utiful painted cabinets!
More cabinets.
Mendi and I, definitely posing. We don't even have sponges on our rollers. Oh well, we look cute and so does the 50-gazillionth paint color on the walls. =)

Prayer Requests!!!

Pray for us as we really begin to enter that final stage of getting our house ready for moving! If you feel so inclined, here are some things we need specific prayer over:

• First and foremost, that God would continue to be Lord over this project, the timeline and how we "manage" all of our contractors throughout the process
• Pray specifically for tomorrow (April 10th), as Caleb will be working with two guys from 4L Engineering to completely redo all of our duct work. They have been soo wonderful and gracious, with the owner of the company being not only one of Caleb's best friends dad, he's also an Aggie. We really need the duct work done quickly because we did not plan to do any major HVAC work which means we didn't include it in the budget... and with it costing us a lot per hour, the quicker it is done the better. Pray that their work is done very thoroughly, and very swiftly.
• Pray that this weekend would be free of hiccups, and that we can go in to it with all of the supplies we need in order to put a serious dent in the tile work. Ideally, we could completely tile both bathrooms in the course of the weekend. We shall see.. But regardless, we need prayer that our time would be consumed with laying tile rather than making Home Depot and Lowes runs!
• Pray that the weather would cooperate.
• I know this may sound silly, but pray that we could find paint for our house that we like and goes well. I just don't think I would be a good steward of our finances if I kept spending $5 here and $10 there to try out different paint samples, even though I like the paint when it's in the swatch but not on my walls. It is very frustrating!!
• Pray that the Lord would truly guard our finances with regards to the house and that every penny spent would be put to use wisely.
• Pray that we would be good stewards of our time and that we would truly finish the work God began in our lives through the commitments we have through the end of the month.
• Pray that God would provide sweet rest and that the moments we get a chance to stop, that we would be thankful for all of the blessings and that we could find peace and rest in the hope that God is going to carry us through the end of this project.

I am sure that isn't everything, but that is all my brain could handle and all the prayer requests my mind remembered at the moment! Thank you all you wonderful prayer warriors!! We can't wait to show you the fruits of your prayers when this project is complete!

Exhausted!!

SOo... Here's just a quick update for you! We had a CRAZY BUSY day, but got so much done! We literally had a 12 hour work-day, leaving before 8 a.m. and not getting home until after 8:30 tonight. But wow, what a productive day! And for starters, I must give a few shout-outs to the rock-stars of the day. Geary, Caleb's step-dad and remodeling extraordinaire, came through like you wouldn't believe. He helped us rework the moulding on the tops of a few cabinets, helped us pick out a painters rig so we could spray the cabinets, helped us finish prepping the cabinets for paint, probably sprayed 4-5 coats of primer, helped us sand down the primer and prep the cabinets for paint and then sprayed a coat of the cabinet color. And that's just the stuff I saw, I know there was so much more he did that wasn't in my plain sight because I was working on other stuff. Next shout-out goes to my parents, Richard and Debbie, who were amazing. They came over with their yard materials, fertilized our yard, prepped both of the bathrooms for paint (taping, etc.), sanded down the wood in the bathrooms that had texture on it, filled holes, painted the ceiling, painted some walls, put up some sheetrock, put up some concrete backerboard and SO MUCH MORE!! Wow.. It was a crazy day, but it was so productive! I am most excited at this point about our cabinets, they look amazing! I can't wait to share them with blogworld, but it will have to wait because they are not finished. That's all for now. Sorry it was so short and no pics. You'll have to wait until next time!

Archways and Cabinets

Thought I'd change it up and put the pictures first... I'm gettin' wild and crazy on you... Or maybe I'm just going crazy from this project... Or maybe I was already crazy.. All of the above are possible! Enjoy!

Archways (view from inside the kitchen into the dining room) and our sweet workers who just prayed before eating pizza! How amazing is that???
The master bathroom, ready for tile... Does this make anyone want to volunteer to help us tile?? Hehe..
From the left: First inset is the new washer/dryer closet, Second Inset is the space where the fridge will go, Third Inset is the space where the pantry will go
Archway (view from the hallway into the living room and entry way)
Cabinets... LAAAAA! (imagine the sky opening up and beautiful music playing!) I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen and can't wait to cook! Who knows what this lady will whip up with all the new inspiration?!?

Two fun things in our home are in the house and make such a difference! It is starting to feel like a home! And we are starting to feel the pressure to get the house done in the next 27 days... AHH! Pray for us as we try to do our best to get this home finished with quality and that the Lord would truly direct the time schedule over the next few weeks and that God would send us contractors who want to work for free, or at least cheap! Here's what is on the books for this weekend:

• This weekend: Painting another coat on the kitchen ceiling, filling all the nail holes in the cabinets, sand all the filled holes, vacuuming the cabinets until they are 100% saw dust free, tape the kitchen, tape the windows, caulk all the corners to prep for paint, seal the room off from the rest of the house, spray the kitchen cabinets (courtesy of our FABULOUS STEP-DAD/FATHER-IN-LAW Geary) with primer and paint... you can pray for hot and dry weather, rip out all the door frames and trim throughout the whole house, finish peeling up the "hopefully not asbestos tile", paint the master bedroom and 3rd bedroom, paint the bathrooms, finish tearing out the wall paneling, take all the paneling out to the garage, fertilize the yard, hope we can revive the grass, spray the kitchen cabinets with final coat (hopefully it will be ready!!!), tear out all of the duct work through the entire house, and not lose our ever loving minds!

Soo, is there anyone out there who watches HGTV like it's going out of style and really want to take a crack at some DIY home improvement? Or even better, we got any closet tile experts willing to sacrifice some time to help us out? We really aren't afraid to be beggers at this point! Haha... I'm kidding, unless you really wanna help! I hope this gives you an idea of the craziness that has ensued at our casa. Well, if I can tell you anything, I will tell you this. None of the pictures I have posted throughout the whole process have done the home justice. The before pictures didn't show how bad of shape the house was in and the after pictures don't show how beautiful the house is now. Hopefully once we are in the house and it is done, we can throw a big party so that you guys can all come see the fruit of the labor of us and our friends and families and everyone we either paid or thanked for their help on our project. It will be all worth it. Well, that's all for my novel this evening. Say a prayer for us as we enter the home stretch!