I'm BAAACK

Well it's been a while since my last blog, life has been busy... between the kid, family, work, school, church, & home, life can be pretty crazy. As for now we really haven't made any changes to the house. We did locate a hole in the fence that needs fixing... really haven't done a whole lot other than just keeping things up. I'm going to start looking for a contractor loan after January to start on the addition! :o) We haven't been in the house long enough yet to get any kind of loan really. But we said we weren't in a hurry to build on, but we did want to start on it next year (before summer). Nigel has GROWN! He's outside now- we built him a little dog house. We had two foster puppies last month, and well the three of them managed to destroy the back yard- so that's a project on my list... to get it cleaned up and looking nice again. I think I want to plant some fruit trees along the fence line on the side of the neighbor with the pool. We have shrubbery and whatnot all the way around, but nothing on that side, and I'd like some fruit trees! Maybe peaches and pears...

A Sad Day Today

Sign Vivian Dobson's Guestbook

Mama Dobson, "Nink Nink" passed away this morning at 10 am. Her entire family is very close to ours. Adam grew up with Alan, her grandson. Miss Diane (her daughter) keeps Andrew for us. All wonderful people, and practically family- we keep them in our prayers today. Nink Nink was a special lady and touched a lot of lives... even in her death I think her life will still touch a lot of lives. I know she has touched mine.

Settling In...

Well everyone's getting more settled in with the new puppy. We're working on training him (house breaking, no jumping...) it's going okay. He stayed in his crate yesterday for the first time all day while we were gone... he was tearing up the bathroom door so we decided to get him started in staying in his crate all day. Monday was his first day, and I came home at lunch to check on him and take him out. Unfortunately I cannot do that every day, working in Macon and living in WR, but I hauld butt home Monday since it was the first day. But yesterday all day he did just fine! So it looks like that's going to work for us... now it's the house breaking part of it... he keeps going on the floor! But only in the rooms with carpet (when he can get in them). I usually close them off... but if he has to go and gets in there... yeah. Like this morning I took him out at 6, then he ate breakfast. I was getting ready to take him out at 6:45 before we left, and he used my floor as I was getting my shoes on! So we're working on that. But I said to myself better on the floor so I can clean it up now then in his crate later today while no one is there. He'll only go in his crate if he can't hold it any longer... Monday he didn't poop when I took him out at 6:45 (after he ate) so he did go in his crate (luckily I came home for lunch). But yesterday he went at 6 and 6:45 and didn't go in his crate... today he went at 6 outside and at 6:45 on my floor... so he should be okay for the day! lol We're working on it... he's 3 months old now, so he'll be getting better at holding it in, and also hopefully we'll be able to teach him to only do it when we take him outside!!! Oh the loveliness of house training. :o)

Dog & Cat Lovers

New Little Addition!

Black dogs DON'T Finish Last!

Well we got our puppy! His name is Nigel and he's an 11 week old beagle/hound mix. He's SO precious! His pictures don't hardly do him justice either... and he's smaller than he looks in the pictures too! (You know what they say, the camera adds 10 pounds...) Well it's true in this case! Okay maybe not 10 lbs, but he does look larger in his pics.

And let me tell you if you're looking to adopt or even foster a puppy or dog, contact Furever Friends Humane Society. I absolutely love what they are doing. It's only $100 adoption fee, and the animals are already neutered or spayed with up to date shots, and come with a microchip with a lifetime subscription (at no additional cost to you) in case the dog is ever lost or stolen. You have a microchip number, and if the dog is picked up by a shelter, they will scan the dog, get the number, and track you down. It's really cool! But like I said I love what this humane society is doing. They do have people foster all of their animals since they don't have their own facility yet, but I think that is just awesome. I think a home is a better environment for a dog, whether it's a foster home or a real home, vs a shelter. But they have some of the sweetest most adorable puppies, young dogs, and adult dogs at this time. Visit their webpage and take a look!

But Nigel is already partially crate trained. He sleeps in his crate from about 10pm to 6am. He cried for abut 5 minutes after we left him in there, then I didn't hear him all night! I went in this morning and he was just laying in his crate like a good little puppy. He seemed very happy. Crates are like a dogs den... so if you introduce them the right way, dogs will like them! It's a really cool thing, and it keeps things from getting chewed up and pottied on. It's a good house breaking method, because a dog will not soil it's "den" unless it absolutely can't control it. But Nigel is a GREAT pup, and we're excited to have him!

The Black Dog Syndrome

Checking In

Well, so far the larger room addition is winning. I had a feeling it would! I love the design myself, I just don't love the price. Any feedback in regards to how much value it would add compared to how much it would cost would be appricated. We've recieved an estimate of about $20G to add on the large room, and $10G for the small room. But then we'll be looking at probably another $5G to add on a new deck since we'll have to take out the current one for the larger room. So if we add on $25Gs worth of house (some of that plus interest on a construction loan), I basically need to find out how much that will raise our property value... We'll be lucky to have the $5Gs for the deck... we'll have to take out the full $20G for the room... if we did the small room, we'd probably have half that available to us in a year. So yeah, cost wise the small room is better... space wise the larger room is better... but what will be better "value" wise?

Cute Design Ideas

My sister recently bought a new house before we did, and her two step daughters got to do their rooms however they wanted (and if only I had some before images of these rooms). I think they are just adorable, and really portray both of the girls. Both rooms were painted by Cindi. Another project of Cindi's was my mothers office at work.

Mak's Room:

Kiri's Room:

Mom's Office (she LOVES giraffes):

Cindi (in the picture above) painted the larger giraffe on the wall, and the window painting of the giraffe sitting on the table as well.

Floor Plans Campaign

1st Plan for Poll:

2nd Plan for Poll:

Click Images for Larger View!

New Idea

Well we've talked about it, and I've scetched a 2nd floor plan for our room addition. The catch is this idea would cost closer to $25,000... But either way should increase the value of the house, this way may increase it more, being that it would add more sqare footage than the other. I'm going to create a poll to take a vote... but here's the 2nd idea plan:

Pro's of larger room and new deck:
1. New and larger- A LOT of space
2. Add's more square footage and value to house

Con's:
1. At least 2x more expensive
2. Makes back yard a lot smaller (of course this can be a pro when it comes to yard work)


Add on larger deck plan:

Pre-remodeling Trance

Well, I can't stop day dreaming about the possiblities we'll incurr after building our new room... I want a baby girl. I spend free time on Target.com looking at everything pink! :o) We've got the plans, and an estimate of $10,000 to add on our new room next spring. My husband's father is a contractor, so that's one less expence we'll have to worry about! We know we'll have to hire someone to do the foundation, brick, and roof. The rest we seem to think we can handle. We know that we'll have to talk out a small construction loan, but whatever $$$ we get back from taxes will be going towards our renovation.

Bathroom

I still have plans for this bathroom, but for now we've made minor repairs... I really want to get new window fixtures and turn this into a "tropical" palm tree bathroom. I've already got the rug! :o)
The bottom of the sink cabinet is sunk in where it's somewhat rotted out from a previous leak. It's not horrible, it's still usable, and not even very noticable unless you get down on the floor and look at it, but I plan on fixing it none the less!

Before: (not a very good picture to begin w/)


After: (not a whole lot of change...)

Dining Room

Well our dining room is sorta crammed, as our living room has somewhat flooded over into it... another reason for adding a room off of the dining room, as to take care of some "clutter". I'm just glad the salmon pink curtains are gone (yes I hated them that badly).

Before:



After:


New Dining Room Table Set: $199.95 (Kmart)

Current Den

Before:


After (still not quite all moved in):


Tall bookcase in Den and 2 in Living Room $30 ea. (Big Lots)


He thinks this is his room...

Kitchen

Again, we didn't do too much to the kitchen... New furniture, washed the curtains that were left with the house, cleaned it up. If it ain't broke don't fix it. We are in pursuit of a new microwave...

Before:




After:


New Breakfast Bar: On SALE $60 (Kmart), original price $110, THE bargain shopper: PRICELESS

Master Bedroom

We didn't do a whole lot to change our room... put in carpet, put up some dollar store curtains, moved in... I liked it the way it was really, and after Andrew's room I wasn't about to rip down wall paper unless I absolutely couldn't stand it or work with it...

Before:

After:

New Curtains: Full 3pc (Attached for 1 curtain rod) Set $15 (Family Dollar)

Andrew's Bedroom

5/21/07 Upcoming (hopefully, if I can find the camera this weekend): After Pictures of Andrew's Cars room.

MY TIP: One thing I've learned that if you do-it-yourself you can save a lot of money. And if you bargain shop the right places for materials, you will save a lot to!

Some BASIC materials used for Andrew's new room:
Disney's Cars Wall Border Sticker $10.99 TARGET.com
Disney Cars Wall Stickers $13.99 TARGET.com

Nothing a little paint can't fix... Lowe's Valspar Paint $26.00

BEFORE:

AFTER: