4 days and counting

Our vacation is fast approaching! I am in a craze of list-making, doing laundry, packing, scheduling, preparing, etc. Amazingly, Brian has this WHOLE weekend off!! It's been great to spend some time together while discussing all the fun we are going to have! Looks like we got the flip just in the nick of time - we will certainly share some videos from our trip.

We're leaving Friday morning for Miami...Friday night we're staying at the Epic Hotel - we have a waterview room with a balcony. I'm SO excited - we never splurge on things like this, but we found a great deal online! Also, in a bizarre twist of fate, Carnival called us a few weeks ago and offered us a fantastic price on a suite, so we upgraded!

On our cruise we're going to Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Roatan, Honduras. We are so looking forward to this much-needed vacation after the crazy hours Brian has been keeping. We've booked beach trips on two of the islands, and they are both somewhat secluded beaches - we are wanting some relaxation and peace.

Tomorrow we're going out to buy some essentials. Brian needs some sunglasses, and we also need to buy a 24-pack of water. And hopefully we can start putting some clothes in the suitcase so we won't accidentally wear them. We've already checked out several books from the library. A week of sun, solitude, and unlimited time with my sweet hubby...what more could I want? Stay tuned. I'll be sure to journal along the way.

a new flip

I'm so excited...I just ordered a Flip! I'm mainly going to use it for Kindermusik, but I'm sure you'll see some cat videos and maybe even some bits and pieces of our upcoming vacation! Stay tuned...

impress me

I just sat down to watch Idol. I will watch this 2 hour show in like 45 minutes probably. My whole attitude is...impress me. The show has started, and I'm not at ALL impressed so far. I'll blog as I go.

Oh yay - Matt Giraud is about to sing - I'm excited for this. OK. He's a good singer, and he's doing ok, but I'm really disappointed he's not doing something more bluesy. He was so amazing doing "Georgia on My Mind" in Hollywood. OK, Kara just said exactly what I just said. LOL I still really hope he makes it through, because he is seriously talented.

There are some really weird people on this show tonight. One of them is this little red-headed 16-year-old. I hate to tell the judges, but she is totally not using her voice properly in the upper register. She's not going to be singing forever if she keeps that up. I liked the beginning of the song, but when she started pushing it on the chorus, it hurt me. Also, all the jerky movements she was doing drove me nuts. She'll probably go through tonight. But I guess I shouldn't say that until I've heard all 12.

Oh, here's Kai - I've been looking forward to hearing him, even if I don't really like his hair. I really like his voice. Don't know if this is my favorite song he's ever done.

OK, I like Adam. I think he's talented, but he's not my favorite ever. He has a serious range, though.

Nobody rocked me tonight. But I hope Matt Giraud goes through.

idol stand-outs

Just for reference, here are the Idol contestants that I think have stood out so far. Keep in mind that I haven't seen NEARLY all of the audition shows, so I haven't even heard all of the top 36 sing yet. But here's what I have so far:

Danny Gokey - he's just my favorite, all the way around

Lil Rounds

Kai Kalama

Matt Giraud - loved his rendition of "Georgia On My Mind" during Hollywood week

Michael Sarver - didn't think he did that great last night, but this is a guy who, if he doesn't make it through tonight, could be a good candidate for a wild card

Ricky Braddy - I hadn't heard him sing before last night, but I thought he had a really smooth voice. I hope he makes it through.

Alexis Grace - I thought she did well last night and I haven't heard her very much besides that.

OK, those are the people who have impressed me so far. As you can see, the girls need to step it up! LOL

My picks to go through tonight:
Danny Gokey
Alexis Grace
Ricky Braddy

I guess I'm blogging again!

the latest thing that made me laugh

(Updates on the house to come later, I'm too lazy to go get the card out of my camera.)

So Brian called a little bit ago to say he was on his way home. Here's how the conversation went:

K: Hey. Are you on your way home?
B: Yes, and I've tried to call you 3 times and it's gone straight to voicemail.
K: (quietly) I was voting for Idol.
B: What?
K: I WAS VOTING!!!!
B: (dying laughing)
K: Shut up!
B: OK!
K: There's this awesome guy, I have liked him from the beginning, and I had to vote for him, but I haven't been able to get through yet!

:)

Danny Gokey rocks. I swore I wouldn't watch Idol this year because Dreadlocks Ladyface guy got WAY too far last year and we all know he can't sing a lick. It makes me so mad when they vote through people who can't sing! Anyway, I saw part of ONE audition show and Danny was on there. So I watched a little of Hollywood week just so I could see if he did well. Of course he did, so I had to watch him tonight. What a crazy show! I didn't really like any of the girls. But Danny was awesome. Stay tuned.

(If they start voting off the good singers, I'm never watching again!)

new floors

It's a good thing that this blog is not recorded, because my voice sounds ridiculous. I have bronchitis and have been home sick for most of the week. Yuck. The best part is that there are workers in and out of my house while I'm trying to rest and heal. :P Yes, I'm being sarcastic.

However, the mold stuff is done and today the flooring people are here. Today is the day that I have felt the worst. I should be feeling better, right? But it's getting worse so I'm getting antibiotics today. I will have to venture out and go pick them up.

Anyway, as I said, the flooring people are here. They're making a mess and it smells weird and they're very loud, but I just went in to see how they were doing and this is what I found:

How gorgeous is that?! That's our bedroom! It's so beautiful I almost cried. I'm not one of those people who can picture how everything is going to look, so I was so surprised...it looks prettier than I ever even imagined. It even made me feel a little bit better.

Of course, there's still a lot of work to be done. Here's a nice shot of the den and dining room:

I will post more pictures as they finish more rooms.
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OK, I'm adding more pictures - several hours later, here is the progress. Basically, my entire house is a mess again. *sigh* But I will have pretty floors! That's all that matters, right?

Here's the front hallway, the pad is partially down:
View from our master bath into our closet:
View from master bed into master bath (all the stuff from our closet is in there):
My office/scraproom, full of junk again:
Kitchen, with everything from the china cabinet and curio emptied out, along with other furniture and stuff:
The dining room, full of furniture earlier, now they moved it all into the den:

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OK, here are a few more pictures. It's 6:00 now and they have been here since 9:00 this morning. These guys are GOOD! I just want them to finish a room so I can start putting things away!

The dining room:
View from the den:
View from the front door:

latest pictures

The mold removal is almost done! (Well, as far as we know...there could still be some mold in the dining room, but there's still too much furniture in the way to check. I'm PRAYING there's none in there.) Today all the painters have been here: the guy we hired to paint the outside of the house, and two guys that the insurance/contracting company hired to re-paint the walls that were replaced. I think our bedroom is done, and they still have to do the kitchen, office, and piano room. Here's what it looks like today:

The kitchen (not great light in this picture, sorry):
The piano room (yes, the room I JUST painted a few weeks ago):
Our bedroom:
The office:
The huge mess that is still our main living area (this is seriously killing me):
You'll notice that the windows are covered. That's because of the painting that's being done on the outside, and here is how it looked when I got home from Kindermusik today:
You can see the different colors I painted on the front, LOL. Now the first coat is completely done. Tomorrow he'll do the second coat and the trim. Early next week the flooring people are coming to do the floors, and then I can spend the next several months putting everything back. :( It took one day to tear it all up, and it will take ages to put it all back.

And I just want complain about the drywall dust. The contractor said to me, "When we leave, there won't be a speck of dust." Well, he TOTALLY lied. When the light is on in the kitchen, you can SEE the dust all over everything in there. It hurts my heart! I am going to lose my mind! My house is always CLEAN, and can you see how it looks right now?! Ugh. This project can't get done soon enough.

OK, vent over. :)

Edited to add: I just ran out and snapped another picture of the outside - I LOVE the color!

Much different from what it was before (this picture was taken when we bought the house in August 2005):

the fungus that was among us

I'm laying on the guest bed keeping the cats company, since they have to be locked up in here when the guys are working. They're here hanging drywall today. I am SO GLAD that things are moving along. I'm seriously about to go out of my mind with the house being like this.

Also, we're having the house painted, but it keeps raining, so today the painter came and covered the windows. It's weird not being able to see out. LOL Our house looks pretty funny right now - plastic taped over all the windows and three different colors of paint in sections on the front. (I was trying to decide what color to paint it.) It's raining or I would take a picture.

When I came back from class, it was Grand Central here. The drywall guys were here, truck blocking the driveway, the painter was here, van in the driveway, and just as I was pulling up, I noticed that the FedEx guy was here delivering my latest KM order. Everything always happens at once!

Anyway, that's the latest. I will update with more pictures soon.

the hazmat house

Well, they found more mold, as I had suspected, in the piano room. Yes, that's the room that I just painted a few weeks ago. And they're going to have to check under the dining room window too...but right now all the furniture from the whole house is in there, so they can't check until all that is moved out.

Here's what the house looked like yesterday. Today they started putting up insulation and I'm assuming some drywall is going up tomorrow. Needless today, I've had more than enough and I'm ready to have my house back. But we still don't know when that will actually happen.

Here's my office/scraproom:

Here's the crazy zipper room that's set up inside our bedroom:
And our bedroom, behind the zipper:
And here's our lovely den, where all of our bedroom furniture is:

the mold patrol

Just when I got the house all organized, the office painted and rearranged, and the closets cleaned out...we're tearing up the house again.

For a long time we've been smelling a funky smell in our house, in certain rooms. We finally narrowed it down to the worst of it being in the 3 rooms that water came in last August during Tropical Storm Fay. To make a long story short, we have mold in the walls. Yuck! Thankfully, the insurance is covering the mold removal, cleanup, and repairs. They are also paying to replace the carpet pad in the 2 rooms and the entire floor in the kitchen. (It's in our bedroom, my office, and the kitchen.)

So today, the mold patrol came to our house. They have put up zippered plastic in all the rooms (just like you would see on "24" or the movie "Outbreak.") And when they are actually removing the mold, they wear HAZMAT suits. It's nuts. So we're without access to those areas for a few days. They started this morning. Unfortunately for them, my office (scrapbook room) is packed full to the brim with all my crafty stuff. They had to pack it all up and move it all out. They are also going to have to move everything out of our bedroom.

Before they moved anything, they had to HEPA vacuum it and get rid of all the dust. But the kitchen is already mold free! Now they just have to replace the insulation, wood beams, drywall, and baseboard in there, and repaint it. They have to remove all of that stuff in all 3 rooms, 4 feet up from the floor. It's craziness! There are also these huge machines that vacuum the air and they have to run 24/7 - so we'll have that going all weekend!

Today, when I came home while they were still working, they told me that it was REALLY bad in the kitchen - there was black mold, green mold, and yellow mold. GROSS!! I'm SO GLAD it's gone - but I really can't wait to get it completely out of the house! I swear I can smell it in the office I just painted too, so they're going to check in here on Monday.

Here are some pictures. I must say, all this does not make me fond of Florida.

Here's the kitchen. Notice that we have no access to the laundry room, so to do laundry I have to go through the garage! Haha!
Here's what you see when you pull back the zipper:
And here's a nice up-close-and-personal behind the zipper:
Here is my quarantined office:
Here's how the den looks with all the office furniture moved in there (in real life the paint is not that bright yellow):
And here's the dining room. Yes, the cats are loving it! They've been climbing all over the place: