I'd say they're settled in.....

I think the stress of the move is catching up with our Allie (on the right) but then she's also 13 years old and as neurotic as they come!  Abbie is rolling with the punches as long as we're around and she has her basket (for sleeping) she's cool.  But here is a typical evening for the pups, as they age, they seem to become closer and closer.  I can tell when they had an argument during the day - Abbie (on the left) will lay down on their cushion and take the whole thing so there's no room for Allie on it.  They are funny people!

Awwwww.....

Well...the picture below looks comfortable, doesn't it......

IT finally happened!!!!

We were able to go for a boat ride...... and we didn't break anything!!!!!   WOO HOOOOO !!!!!

We had the best ride ever!!  It was windy enough to give a great ride but not so windy it was a lot of work.  I didn't get a lot of pictures from it because I was just enjoying being out and about but did get some of two of my favorite people messing around and having some fun!

And this is what she thinks of Monday mornings......



Shuttle Endeavour

Something totally cool just happened here at work!!!  The Shuttle Endeavour flew by on it's journey to California!!!!  Seriously - it was SOOOO close!

Here are some other pictures taken in the office from different vantage points.

Not only was seeing history fly by, one of the coolest things EVER that I've seen from up here on the 27th floor, it was seeing an office of "formal" people and seeing them all run to the windows from office to office - from one side of the floor to the other - squealing like little kids to SEE it and be a part of it!!!  THAT was awesome!!



I love today!!!!  It's a unicorn kind of day!!  :) 

Fairies and Unicorns

Well with everything we've had going on, I felt it was high time we invited some fairies and unicorns to come to our house, plus they bring good luck :)  right?  So we made it a "Fairy Night." We have been collecting some things to make them come and hopefully stay for awhile. 

So last night was our night to build our fairy garden.  Who knew it was going to be so much fun!!  Mikayla really got into the project.  We started by lining the basket with these coffee filters...seriously - have you ever seen such big filters?  Somehow Michael brought them home and I love them...I have got to make something with them.....one of these days... (I need ideas what to make with them...HA) they're HUGE!!! So in the mean time we started with lining our basket with some filters.

Then we filled our basket with dirt (the ultimate plan is to grow some small plants in there but for now we used silk flowers).

She then lined the basket with pebbles for the fairies to walk on or even sit on to rest until we can get a bench :)

We LOVE it!!

Seriously, if you were a fairy flying by, wouldn't you LOVE to stop and rest for a spell, there's a big door in the back that opens if your wings won't fit in the front.

So there we have it...I sure hope we get a fairy visitor!!!

3 for 3......

You know how things come in 3s.....

When you think of major purchases (as far as expensive goes) in your life...what do you think of?

I think first of house and cars maybe boats too.....right??  Well it would appear that we have all bases covered.... and each one gets a bit more expensive than the last....

Change #1

in June we had to go from this 200,000 mile car with only 3 hubcaps (we replaced countless hubcaps through the years), melting and sticky steering wheel and NO air conditioning (it broke) (and to repair it was going to be about $4000 and that is NOT all that was wrong with it).  Michael, bless his heart never complained about the condition of this car but when I drove it...YIKES can you say POS (piece of @#$%)

Moved from that to this.....2011 Sonata = AWESOME car!  We are so impressed.  Yay for safe and happy transportation for Michael (and new family car) (and a seriously positive carmax buying experience).  The car has perks I'd probably not ever pay for - so yay!!

Change #2

Then we went from this house that we had just upgraded with tile ($), it was in an "OK" neighborhood but we were worried about falling property values and decided to see what would happen if we decided to sell.  So we were listed for 14 days...one looker...one buyer.

To this - totally, incredibly, beautiful, amazing, DREAM home for us.... in spite of our flood issue, we LOVE this house so much!  It IS a dream come true!!!

Well.... Change #3 happened MUCH MUCH sooner than anticipated or expected.... for awhile we've been smelling gas/exhaust with the car below.... (sorry it was late last night when I took the picture so it's dark).  Monday it seemed exceptionally bad so Tuesday morning when we were all packed up and leaving for the day, Michael (very last minute - I say divine inspiration led us) said you know, lets switch cars today and I'll see if I can find out what's wrong with it.  So we did that, I drove Change #1 car and he drove the below POS (piece of #$$%) and well.... turns out that the gas tank has a crack in it!!!   um...WHAT????? and we are not to fill it above 1/2 or go below 1/4 tank of gas..... SOOOOO incredibly dangerous on sooooo many levels, not to mention smelling it so badly inside the car or the potential blow up possibility!!  and it's going to be about $2000 to fix it and that's not all that's wrong (other stuff probably minor but in light of the major repairs required...) so... we officially reached the point of no return with her :(   just 2 months ago we put in $560 in repairs, 2 months before that $230...and so on... so unfortunately (or fortunately) we just can't put any more in.....

SO that leads us to.....Change #3.... OHHHH SHE IS SO PRETTY our new Expedition......loaded to the hilt with features I'd never pay money for... (again sorry for darkish pictures, it was early this am)

Mikayla says HI!! (through the sunroof)

OK....so we are officially 3 for 3.... I hope and pray we're done with these big purchases.  Our goal for today is to NOT spend any money......

Also... yes.... this is our 5th GREY/SILVER car...we just can't seem to get out of the grey's....LOL  HA!!!

Fingers crossed and prayers nothing else goes wrong - we're at the end of our tolerance..... 

So, we're officially on to new chapters.... new cars, new house, soon to be new flooring.... ahhhhhhh it's all good!!!! 

Well....well.....well.....

The picture below will show you the little gems that caused our entire problem.... the white tube is the overflow inside the toilet tank - the plumber cut off these 2 inches because it was too high for the water to flow out...meaning it flowed out of the tank before it reached the top of the overflow tube causing our flood.... and because the tube was too high - the black cord was kinked and wouldn't sense the water.... so between these two small gems and the fact that a label that the toilet manufacture sticks on the lid of the tank got wedged in the flap preventing the water from shutting off....we officially had our own little perfect scenario for disaster.  So please, go check your tanks and make sure the overflow is appropriate to the tank fill line AND make sure there is no darn laminated label inside the lid that will eventually fall off!

So it has been determined to STOP trying to dry out the flooring, it ALL has to be replaced.....  so demolition has started on the evening of the anniversary BEFORE OUR FIRST WEEK IN OUR NEW HOUSE!!!!!  (sorry, got carried away)

We will bid farewell to our beloved hardwood flooring that sold us on buying this house...and the carpet.....

Cement Palace here we come... I don't know how long it will be until we are able to get new flooring - or even how long until we can finish unpacking the first floor of our house *sigh*

All down to the slab....wow!

Now, I'd like to think I'm a good friend..... but seriously this is taking it WAY too far...the picture below is my BFFs house right now - she had a major plumbing problem and they have had to remove ALL flooring in her home and has had to live on cement for the last 5 months and 1 to 2 more months until the foundation issue has a chance to resolve.... so below is her bedroom.... hello cement.... you have another friend just down the road.....



Seriously- what are the odds of that?

The good...the bad...the ugly!

The good..... (don't you practically hear harps when seeing this 1/2 of the kitchen) (I do...LOL)

The bad... um...where is that stuff going to go?

The ugly...um...yea.....

Ahhhh....the good

The bad........

The Ugly.....

What are those marks on the carpet.... well.... it's water..... hum....that's pretty ugly huh.....

but just wait....there's ugly, uglier...and ugliest....you pick what you think....

picture below is my beloved butler's pantry :(  water is underneath it....

So...the gist of what happened is something went very wrong with the plumbing in the master bathroom, meaning the water was running full force into the room for several hours.... it went from the toilet room, to the master closet, to the rest of master bathroom, to the master bedroom, to the hallway, down the room from there, in another closet, into the formal living room, into the powder room, into the living room, into the dining room and butler's pantry and I discovered the water when coming into the kitchen and slipping on the floor.... and tracked down the culprit..... SO we called a water damage/remediation company and they came out (it happened on Tuesday) they were there from 4:00 pm to 1:30 am…. they started with a super water sucker (I had been sucking water with my carpet cleaner, bucket after bucket after bucket, that didn't even touch it - you wouldn't believe how much water there was).  They took all the base boards off – drilled holes in the walls every 12 inches for the water to drain out of the walls, fans/dehumidifiers… you name it we have it going on.  :(  my beautiful new home..... 4 days before disaster.... (how's that for dramatic?)

Each of the yellow tubes from the fans go into a hole in the wall (not all the holes in the walls get one though..ha) The clear pads are sucking water out of the hardwood floors or blowing it to try to dry it out, and the FUNNY is that the fans are blowing so hard they blew a roll of toilet paper right off the roll!!  HA!!

The sunshine in the storm of this is that I was home and discovered it before it had been all day, ALSO that it wasn't upstairs coming downstairs and damaging both up and down.  We don't know how much damage has happened yet, the hardwoods are a 50/50 chance to save but they are already buckling and separating....so.... ???  it will take 4-5 days to completely dry out and before the equipment is gone and we can start again.....

In spite of it all.... OHHHH we love love love this house, it is everything we hoped and more!  We moved upstairs until the "dust" (aka water) settles and my house doesn't sound like an air plane.

Here is a video tour for you..... the house is SO loud - you can hear the fans humming from the outside! 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QidSY_JSaQk&feature=youtu.be

We're moved!!

Here was our moving transportation....LOL.... guess the neighbors had a clue we were going....  I did have one neighbor ask...so... are you moving? 

Um... yes...yes we are....

The best part of the move was the birthday party!!!  LOL  We really had fun at Dakotah's party at Chuck E Cheese!!  Good times!!

Then we went back home and started the chore of unpacking.... more to come!!  A LOT of water under the bridge so I'll try to recreate it for you......

Oh....and not all of our stuff fit on the truck.... it took 3 trips with multiple cars each trip to get it done... um...too much stuff?

YES!!!

What does the picture below remind you of?