It's Friday!

We took the night off from painting because we had dinner plans with my sister for her 36th birthday. We had some good food and great conversation. Jack was even a good boy at dinner. He walked around from person to person trying everyone's dinner, but he was a good boy. Now the kids are sleeping and daddy is in the garage exercising. I am reading blogs of friends and writing on my own.

Today was a good day. 1st, I woke up and weighed myself and realized I had hit the 60 pound loss mark. I can't believe it. 6 months and 60 pounds later, I am feeling good about myself. I still don't know what to say when people tell me how good I look but I just smile and say "I am trying"...it's the truth, I still have a good ways to go, but I am over halfway there. My 31st birthday is in 6 months and I would like to be at goal by then. It was also a good day because all my closest friends were at my house today and we had a great time. Steph, Stacy, Michelle, Carrie, Jenn, Bree and Sandra were all here today with their kids and they all played hard. The pool was hopping and the food was flowing. It's always a good sign when the clock says 2:30 and everyone is amazed it is so late. I love spending time with the mommies in my group. OCplaygroup has become more to me then just a day of the week where I can get out and let the kids play. It has given me more friends than I have ever had---at least close friends like these gals. I have known a few of them longer than my own kid LOL I just have a lot of fun with them, and I love their kids. There will always be a place for them in my life---even when our kids are having their own playdates---in fact Aunica and my friend Michelle's son may grow up to have some playdates of their own---to the mall, movies and dare I say to dinner LOL

I am off to read my book. The new Iris Johanson is dynamite!

More painting, and a free evening for me

Well, last night ken's brother, his girlfriend and Ken's father all came over to paint. So last night we got the 2nd coat of Jack's room and the 1st coat of Aunica's room done. Tonight Ken's dad is back and they are going to do the 2nd coat of Aunica's room and then be done with it until Saturday---that day we will do the hall and our room, both coats in both rooms. Sunday will be the moldings. So since Gary is here I am not painting tonight and instead am either going to start reading a new book (I have the new Iris Johanson) or I will watch mindless TV. I took the kids swimming this afternoon at my sisters and they wore their boating life jackets so they swam all over the pool for almost 2 hours...wore themselves out. They were out cold by 6:30. Now I have no kids to watch, no rooms to paint and I can do what I want (well, within these two rooms LOL)

Painting, Carpet and Windows AHHHH LOL

Well, we have the 1st coat of Jack's room done and tonight we will do the 2nd coat on his room and the 1st coat on the hallway. In other news, the carpet is coming. Sooner than I thought, but it is coming. The rep called today and gave us the rundown---the cost of the installation, stain warranty, pad and taxes is more than the cost of the dang carpet. Oh well, I LOVE it and the back of the house will look great when it is done. I think we will be keeping all food and liquid out of the back of the house from now on though LOL

Jack is talking up a storm lately and I think he is actually starting to understand that poop is not fun to have in your pants. He tells me everytime he has poop now and asks me to change him. I will wait until he is more ready but I hope that he will be trained by his 3rd birthday or soon after. The way I see it, he is my last in diapers so when he is done with diapers I will be too!

Ceilings are DONE!

YAY...now tomorrow we do the 1st coat of color on the kids walls. I can't wait to see what The Fairest of them all Pink and Silly Ol Bear green look like on the walls. I hope I don't hate them LOL

Nothing goes as planned!

Well, last night at 9:30 we went to put on the second coat of white on the ceilings---and wouldn't you know it, they were still tacky (as in sticky, not like bad taste LOL) so we have to wait until tonight to put on that 2nd coat. So our new schedule is somewhat different. Tonight we will finish up the ceilings and then tomorrow we will put the first coat of color on the kids rooms, then Wednesday the 2nd coat on the rooms and then we will move to our room and the hall on Thursday and Friday night we will be done with all color painting. So on Friday when my playgroup comes over they will be able to see all the rooms almost complete (my room and hall will need the 2nd coat and all the moldings will still need to be painted), but by next Monday we will have all painting done and just be waiting for the carpet---they come tomorrow to measure!!!! YAY

Painting has begun!

Well, as I type this Ken is in the back of the house putting the first coat on all the ceilings. He has completed that on the 1st two bedrooms and is working on our room (the biggest) and then the hall. At 9:30 PM we can both start in on the 2nd and final coat on the ceilings. We would both be working right now but Jack is still awake so I have to be out in the front part of the house to watch his crazy butt.

Yesterday Ken and his dad installed the tankless water heater and this afternoon I filled up the kids pool with warm water out of the hose! They loved it! Jack even swam in it---he put his whole body in the water. It was like a giant bath for him and he was so excited. I hope he tired himself out enough to want to go to bed soon. He was with my inlaws today so he did have a nap. I will have to make a trip to home depot in the next hour because we need another 2 gallons of the ceiling paint. The texture is making it so we are using more paint than expected to cover it. Oh well, it is sure looking nice so far.

Our painting schedule is going to be 1 room per night then. Jack;s room first, starting tomorrow night. We will do both coats on the walls tomorrow night and then we will move to Aunica's room, then ours and then the hall. So by Friday we will only have moldings and the coat closet to finish. I just want to get the painting done before the carpet gets in.

Carpet is ordered

Well, I ordered my carpet tonight. Thank heavens for the Home Depot employee who told us last night to wait until today to order it, since it went on sale today. The carpet is normally 4.97 a square foot and it was 25 percent off today. We upgraded to the thicker pad, but it still is going to be cheaper than if we had bought it yesterday. I LOVE this carpet---it is called chocolate cake and the texture of it is heavenly. They are going to call me on Tuesday between 7 and 9 am to let me know what time they can come to take the measurements, then I will get a call a few days after that to let me know exactly what the total will be and to schedule the install. Now we have to get that painting started and completed before the carpet is installed. I hope to start painting tomorrow evening. We have to do 2 coats per surface with 4 hours between coats. So if we start at 6:30 then by 10:30 we can start the 2nd coat. Ken thinks with both of us painting we can do all the cielings in one night and then 1 room per evening. So hopefully we can get it done this week. I just need to not put Jack down for a nap so he will go to bed early. I can't wait to have it all done!

I can't believe it is Friday again already! This week went by pretty quick. Last night Ken and I left the kids with his parents (they took the kids to get ice cream) and we went to Home Depot. Now, normally I dread going to Home Depot. I don't find that store as fascinating as my husband does. BUT we went to pick out carpet and paint colors. I had lots of fun looking at all the colors and textures of carpet and paints. We went with Fairest of them all Pink for the little princesses room, Silly Old Bear green for the Jackman, and I picked the yummiest yellow called Banana Split for our room. The hall is getting a neutral color called Weathered Sandstone. The carpet we looked at is a very rich brown---it's called chocolate cake. Kinda funny that the 2 people watching what they eat are turning their oom into the chocolate cake floor and banana split walled room LOL The guy in the carpet department of Home Depot (or Home Deposit as I like to call it lately) said that the particular carpet we chose is going on sale today so we are again leaving the kids with Ken's parents and we are going to order that carpet tonight. The guy said that we will order it tonight and then 3-5 days after that they will come to measure and then 7-10 days after that (minimum 7-10 days) they will come to install. So from today we have about 2 weeks to complete all the painting. We have to paint ceilings, walls and moldings in 3 rooms and a hallway. I like that we are not rushed but have a schedule at the same time.

Now, on Saturday Ken and his dad are going to order the windows and finally install the tankless water heater (they already took the window out, ran the piping for the new gas line) and then on Sunday we have a wedding so we probably won't get to painting until Sunday night or Monday night. I am so excited. Once the carpet is in we can go buy some furniture (3 beds, 4 dressers, a couple nightstand lamps, a new toybox for Aunica) and decide on the closet organizers. Whew, I am tired just typing that.

Back from the Mall

I ended up buying a new shirt. I hope it goes well with my new skirt (I bought last week). I have a wedding to go to on Sunday that is at 10:30 am, so I am thinking that the new outfit will do. I have to go find some shoes to go with it though. I am thinking a sandal...I am so bad with fashion. I need queer eye for the straight somewhat heavy girl LOL

Crazy Stephanie!

My good friend Stephanie must be crazy if she thinks the back of the house will be all done being painted by Friday LOL Tonight we are supposed to go to Home Depot and deposit some money there to buy supplies to start painting. We will do the ceilings first (all white) and then work our way down to the floor in the the other rooms with color. Jack will have Silly Ol Bear Green, Aunica will have The Fairest of the all Pink, and we are going to have a NON Disney yellow color. The hall will be a Navajo White or something like it. I am happy to report that the texture is all done, dry and looks awesome. That one step really makes the back of the house seem totally new and nice. It is amazing what a little mud will do to a house :)

Now, we are off to the Mall to get the kids an Auntie Anne's Pretzel and me a new bathingsuit or shirt or something. I need new clothes, but I hate clothes shopping.

Mud Mud Everywhere!

Ken and his dad are finally texturing the walls in the back of the house. Really, they are spraying a mud compound on the walls using the air compressor and a special texturing attatchment. What a mess, but the walls are looking SO good. Last night we went to Home Depot and to the grandparents house after that to drop a movie off, so Jack wasn't able to fall asleep until 8PM. Unfortunately, he was still up at 7, so we didn't get any extra sleep.

Last night Ken went to the back of the house to start taping off the moldings for today's texturing, so I went and helped. Who knew it would take us 3 hours to get it all taped off. MAN, my back was killing me last night. But, it wouldn't have gotten done if I hadn't helped and then the texturing wouldn't have been done today. Tomorrow Ken gets the day off!

Also, last night a good friend called me to let me know that one of our former coworkers passed away yesterday. Cheryl had end stage Lung Cancer and called WLPS (where we all worked together) and said her goodbyes and said she was just tired of fighting it and she was ready to go. She died the next morning. I am sad but am glad she isn't in pain anymore. Cheryl was down to 64 pounds last I had talked to her and was doing chemo and couldn't speak because a tumor had obstructed her esophogus so she couldn't eat either. Cheryl had battled stomach Cancer about 15 years ago as well, and beat that one. She never was able to kick the smoking habit though. She always said that was one of her biggest regrets---she wished she had neve starting smoking. She will be missed.

Well, it is almost 5 and Jack never napped so back to the yard we go---I have to keep him busy now until it is time for him to eat and then he will definitely fall asleep soon afterwards. I will shoot for 7:30 but it will be a fight to get passed 6:30 LOL

Summer Fun

Today we had Friday Playdate and it was SO fun. The kids all played great and the moms all talked and we had lunch and waterplay and we were all suprised when we looked at the clock and it was 2:30! Jack and Aunica are watching Toy Story and I am thinking about putting Jack down for a nap.

The remodel is taking twice as long as it was scheduled to take, but that isn't suprising to me. Ken is working very hard on it, but he has been busy at work and it is all the small stuff that is taking so much time. Once the moldings were in he had to seal them with caulk and that takes a lot of time. Tomorrow they are finally spraying the texture on. It shouldn't take more than a few hours hopefully. Then we are going to party in the afternoon and then Sunday is Father's Day. We got daddy Kill Bill 1&2 and the kids got him a card and Aunica made him a present at school. We are going to have a BBQ on Sunday for Ken and his dad and I need to decide what to make for the occasion---either steak and chicken shish kabobs or hamburgers and hot dogs. The latter is easier and not too much fuss, so hopefully that will be what daddy wants.

Thursday June 1st

Well, Summer is almost here!!! YAY I am so excited about the warmer months. Starting in the middle of June I will be watching my 10 year old (he will be 11 in July) nephew everyday---I am not sure how that will turn out but we shall see. He will just have to be ready to attend my playgroup stuff with me. Now that it is warm, I have been spending a lot of time outside in the backyard with the kids. I am trying to get Jackman used to the water, he hates being cold, so DH attached the hose to the water heater and we emptied the 40 gallon water heater into the pool. It didn't make it bath water, but it took the chill off of it. I think this might be the 1st summer we don't sign the kids up for swim lessons. I am sad about that, but the place we always go to is closed again this year due to construction of the new pool. We went through the city last year and it totally sucked. Aunica had a ball in her group (tiny tots) but the mommy and me class was so crazy---the teacher just had us play in the water, there was no structure at all. The heater in the pool broke so the water was like 63 degrees and Jack hated it. We ended up not even going in the water the whole second week. Anyway, I am sad that this year we will probably skip it. Aunica is a fish and she seems to even be swimming in the pool we have in the backyard. I can't wait to go to Bass Lake in August and see how well she does. Of course she will be wearing her floatation jacket anytime she goes in the water or boat. On the diet front, I am still doing well. I am teetering between 199 and 200 but that is mostly because of the Holiday weekend combined with aunt flo coming for a suprise (early) visit. Hopefully by Bass Lake (which is 9 weeks away) I will have dropped another 8-10 pounds***Keeping my fingers crossed***
UGH I better stop chatting with myself and go do some much needed cleaning and laundry---tomorrow is playgroup! I love my playgroup friends. We have so much fun. I am so conflicted a lot of the time though. I want my kids to grow up and be independent and in school learning things. Aunica goes to Kindergarten in September and she will miss playgroup all the time (unless she is on vacation) and that makes me kinda sad. Jack has another 15 months before he starts school---I guess I will just be the only member who comes to playgroup who has no kids LOL