The "so far" pics!

Here they are, what you've all been waiting for: Pictures of the updated rooms! Not all of the rooms are finished, but the ones that we've done a significant amount of work in are posted.

The following are all pictures of the kitchen. Here is the pass through to the den.

Perfect place for some art from a local artist that I know. Who knew masks and pianos could mix?

This way to the man cave. War Eagle!

This is the dining room. We are in the process of changing out the light fixture, even though the previous owners wanted to take it with them and decided at the last minute to leave it.

The upstairs den.

This is the downstairs basement bedroom. Thanks to Adrienne, we ventured out of our comfort zone and put plum on the walls. Believe it or not, it's going to look spectacular. Between the dark purple, the light green, and the white furniture: Amazing! Good call, personal designer!

So there it is! About 1/3 of our house, and none of it is complete finished. We are making progress slowly but surely. Now that you've seen it in photos it's time to come see it in real life! Now accepting reservations for the spring season.

E

The last few pieces

Well, here we are, two floors of the new house 95% done (with the little things). Paint is on the walls, and most of the trim is white. The trim that isn't white is taped so it can become white. The 5% exception is the bathroom, well two of them actually. The hold-up? Why repaint a bathroom when the sink and accessories all have to be replaced and the walls repainted a second time where the old and new don't match up? Well, in an effort to launch this project off of paper and into reality, I have started the beloved task of scraping the remaining wall paper. There are only two bathrooms left that are covered in the wretched material, and once those two rooms are rid of the wretch, our home will be free of the disgusting glued material! Easy, right? I WISH! The bathroom on the main floor is covered from wall to ceiling in the paper, but was apparently pasted up with the strongest grade of adhesive ever invented. I have been working for six hours and have cleared one wall and 1/3 of a second wall. Unfortunately, the completed wall is the one with the cutout for the door, so it doesn't even really count as a full wall. I am hoping to have all of the paper gone by Saturday morning. That being said, it's time to get back to the scrapper. If you know anyone who has an unquenchable urge to remove an earthly adhered horrendous paper from a half bathroom, send him my way!

30 day dred!

So, the winter weather mixed with a husband who works close to 10 hours daily is putting a slight damper on my spirits. I mean, there is plenty of work to do around the house, but there is only so much work one person can do before she contemplates the ways that one can die via paint (wether it be fumes or straight up drowning...). That being said, one of the many ways to combat seasonal mood swings (mainly mine only swing when it's cold!) is to include some form of daily exercise. This sounded mildly appealing considering all of the wonderful foods that found their way into my body over the lovely holiday season. In talking with my bestie (maybe former, the way my muscles are burning), she suggested that I make the short trek to Walmart and invest a whopping $9.00 in the Jillian Michael's video, 30 Day Shred. This video promised to whip your butt into shape in 30 days through three different 20 minute workouts. I never thought that I would be able to accomplish a decent workout in 20 minutes. When I was in the M-town, I would workout with my trainer for 60 minutes, then try to get in some cardio on top of that. This 20 minutes incorporates all necessary components to a solid workout: strength training, cardio, and abs. All I have to say is, HOLY CRAP! I can't believe how sore I was after one 20 minutes workout with 3lb hand weights. And I'm supposed to do this 30 days in a row?! I decided that I needed to keep my spirits up, and what better way to do that than to look smokin' hot during bathing suit season? I completed day one and felt good, but exhausted. Day 2 rolls around, and I'm sore. It's that good sore where you know you are building muscle, so I went for day 2 workout, too. Now that I've completed day 2, I think those were some of the best 40 minutes that I've spent in the past couple of weeks. Anyone looking for a way to shed some pounds, keep yourself motivated, and don't have excessive amounts of time? Invest your $9 and head over to Wally world for the 30 day dred, I mean shed.

Where the heck?!

So, where the heck have you been?!?! I know that's what you are all thinking. I have been holding myself hostage in the home. We are slowly (according to my preferences), but surely making progress in making this home our own. The basement was finished before I left for AL for Christmas as one of J's big Christmas presents. Was he surprised? Of course not; but he was very happy with the final result. Now that the big room of the basement is finished, all that's left is the guest room and the bathroom. The paint in the bedroom is halfway finished, and the bathroom is on hold. Once I'm done with the bedroom, I'll consider the basement level to be completely done (for now). The main floor is 99% finished as well. Thanks to a massive family paint effort, the living room, dining room, kitchen, den, and hallways were all painted. All that stands is painting the trim in living room and the hallways. The kitchen is completely done! The den is completely done! The dining room is completely done! These are all great things to check off of my to-do list, but I will feel much better when 2/3 floors of this new house are finished. I can't believe that we've been in VA for almost 3 months and in our new house for 6 weeks. It is actually starting to feel a little bit like home, but as everyone knows, change is a long and difficult process!

It's a really good thing that I enjoy our new home and have plenty of projects to complete indoors because it has been colder than cold lately. I think there were two weeks straight when our high temperature was still below freezing. Seeing as how I cannot stand the winter, this has really been unappealing in almost every way for me. I guess it wouldn't really matter where I was these days because the temperatures have been so low across the country. I think my parents were running a string that even we couldn't hold a candle to. Our two weeks of below freezing was nothing compared to two weeks of single digit temps. GROSS!!! I really can't stand being cold, so these temperatures are confining me to our wonderful new house. As lovely as it is, I am ready to get out of here. Where to go, though? Your guess is as good as mine. Hopefully, I'll be able to share my escapades shortly, whether they be big city adventures or tales from a newly hired substitute. Stay tuned for pictures of the improvements we have made so far!