The Suspense Is OVER!

So here is the much anticipated update on the house.  You'll have to look back here to see the before pictures.  We'll start in the bathroom.  This room is totally new except the ceiling.  It's still very tiny, but much more functional and pretty.

Now on to the living room.  I've already shown you some updated pictures, but here is the final view.  It's painted, I have new curtains, the furniture is arranged how I want it and the pictures are on the walls.

The flooring guy put new laminate by the front door, but neglected to make the area larger like I had asked.  I called and he's going to stop in and fix that next week.  He did a great job, but also didn't put back on two doors he took off.  Guess I'll have to talk to him about that one as well.


Now on to the laundry room/utility room/half bathroom.  It's painted, I have new flooring in there too, and I now have a functional washer and dryer.

Look what I got to paint around.  No wonder painting took me forever!!!!  Glad it's done.

Now on to the kitchen / dining area.  I'm so excited that the floor is now done!!!!!  It just simply looks marvelous.  But you judge for yourself. Hey and notice the new hardware on the cupboards.  Such a little knob makes a huge difference.

And check out the dining room!  No carpet under the table anymore.  I also love how it divides up this big room, so I actually have a dining room now.

And here are a couple shots of the living area.

And now for the moment of truth.  The moment I've been waiting for for over two months.  Are you ready?  Don't scroll down unless you're really ready  Cause it's gonna knock your socks off...literally.






Keep going....






















You're almost there...


















You won't believe it...


















Ready?

Yep, I finally walked barefoot in my house.  But I have to go put socks back on because my toes are cold.


So there you have it.  The update.  There is still lots of little stuff to do, but the big stuff is done.  Well, I do need to replace the counter tops some day and all the carpet in the house, but those things can wait.


Well, I have to run.  Lots of stuff to accomplish today.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

I Promise

Okay guys. Enough excuses. I promise to post a house update by this weekend. I have pictures and lots to fill you in on.

Today the dreaded, awful, terrible, horrible, disgusting carpet in my kitchen is getting torn out and the laminate is getting put down tomorrow!

I'm very excited about this and have been doing the dance of joy all morning. Yes, the customers have been looking at me like I'm strange. Okay, so I'm not really dancing on the outside, but on the inside I'd win the mirror ball trophy. So check back soon!

Who Wants One?

Blogging has become difficult at home. I'm not going to go into details, but let's just say my computer isn't cooperating.

There are many updates on the house and I have some pictures I want to post soon. Just to tide you over, I thought I'd show you what I did today.

Anybody want one?

These bad boys are going to the office on Monday morning. If you want one stop in at Hometown Insurance, we might save you one. Otherwise visit this link to make them for yourself.

House Update

I brought my camera to work because my laptop has been a little difficult with pictures lately. So then I plugged in my camera to give you a nice little photo update on the house and I see that I have been very bad about taking pictures of the updates. So I guess this will be a short update with few pictures, but I did want to get on here and post SOMETHING. I know...I know...I've been very bad about posting lately. My only excuse is that as soon as I get home from work, I start in on the house and work till it's time for bed.

The bathroom project was only supposed to take a week and we are on week three of the project. Some unforeseen things have come up, but the guys are also busy and get to my project when they can. It is SUPPOSED to be done this week, so we'll see.

My painting projects are going well. Stacey Ryal and her two kids came down for a few days last week and helped me get my living room painted. Stacey would do some while I was at work in the afternoon and then we'd paint together when I got home. I'm very thankful for her help.

The kitchen was all done at one point. There was a little phone cubby hole on one wall that I had asked the contractors to drywall over, so I knew I'd have to repaint that one section. Well...well...well...To match the texture of the plaster walls, he sprayed this stuff on, but not just on that one section. No, he had to spray the entire wall and even part of the ceiling. So I finally got all of that repainted Tuesday and finished up last night with a second coat in some areas.

I still have to paint the hallway by the bathroom and bedrooms. I've left that since I knew it would get nicked up with the construction in the bathroom. If they finish in there today, that will be my project tonight. I also have to paint the utility room. The utility room is a story in itself. I'll save that one for its own posting.

I'm learning a lot. Mostly, that owning a house is a lot of work. I'm also finding out where my security has been. This has been an expensive venture and I've had many moments of fear while I watch money fly out the window (my dad would say it's not flying out the window, but increasing the value of the house.) That being said, it's been hard for me to see my savings not sitting in my account. But I'm seeing time and time again that God provides. I'm so thankful to have my Savior by my side.

So here are a few pictures I do have.

This was the surprise I found when I came home the first day of the bathroom construction. There were going to leave the walls...so where are they? Good question. Still don't know why the walls were torn out.

Here is my new bathtub / shower surround. I love it!!!!!!!!

My bathroom looks completely different than these pictures, so I'll have to take some more and show you the updates. It's really taking shape and hopefully they'll have it done and I can show you finished pictures!

Here is my front room (using as piano and library room). You can't really see the color very well, but this picture was taken to highlight my new curtains. The wall color is grey. It looks really classy.

These last two shots are what I found when I came home to Stacey painting. Don't worry...it's all covered up, but I just loved the little painted "love notes."

Thanks for stopping in, and please literally stop in for a visit. I'll put a paint brush in your hand.

Names of God

Hope this encourages you today.

First Day

Today was my first day working at Hometown Insurance. I can sum it up in one phrase (but you know I won't)...I'm gonna love it! I really enjoyed working again and the interaction with people. I have sooooooo much to learn, but it is so evident that this is where God wants me. I'm really excited to dive in and can't wait till I'm a pro at insurance.

Thanks so much for all your prayers. And please don't stop praying!

On a side note, every time I answered the phone at work today I had to keep myself from saying, "Iowa Regular Baptist Camp, this is Erin." I seriously had to stop and think before I answered EVERY TIME! I'm sure it will start to come naturally soon.

House Pictures!

Okay, so I'm finally going to download some pictures for you. Look back a few posts to see the before pictures. I'm not going to take time to post them again. The progress made is amazing!! I can walk into my house and smile instead of cry now.

A huge thank you goes out to Mom and Dad. They worked so hard and taught me so many things. Their coming helped take away that overwhelming feeling of being inadequate in owning a home. I'm so thankful for the parents God has blessed me with and I can't even tell you how much I love them...not just because they helped with the house. They are just incredible all the way around.

So without further adieu...here are the pictures.

Sorry it's dark, but notice the new lighting. The other side of the family room also has the new lights. Guess I should have turned them on for the picture.

Here's the kitchen. New lights in here too as well as the paint. I went with orange...who would have guessed? The next picture lets you see the color a little better.

Haven't painted the living room yet, but all the boxes are gone and Mom labored away on that awful border for several days this past week. It was a huge task and she got it all off. Now it just needs to be painted and it will be done. Dad replaced the yucky lights in here too with the ceiling fan.

Here's my bedroom. It's a small room, but I really like how it turned out. The walls are purple and the ceiling is light gray. The shades were originally $40 at Lowe's but we found them on sale for $9 and I got 10% off as well! Yippee! They are too big for the windows, but that's where Dad came in really handy. Notice the new ceiling fan in this room too.

This last picture is the spare room. The walls are gray and the ceiling is a lighter gray. I got the same shades for this room.

So there you have it! Pictures of the progress.

Finally...A Picture

So I thought I would finally show you a picture of the outside of the house. I had to included the "sold" sign as well.

There is still a lot to do, but I've made progress and now it's time to get some of the improvement projects done. Not every box is unpacked, but I would guess there are only 10 more to go. I had to leave something for my mom to do while she's here.

I went and picked out paint colors today. I'm ready to put my touch on things around here. I'll be sure to take before and after pictures to keep you updated on all of it.

My parents are only about an hour away. We'll do some measuring, take another look at things and then head to Lowe's in Des Moines. When you move the Post Office sends you a 10% coupon to Lowe's. I look forward to making great use of it.

Thanks for all your prayers during this process and I'd appreciate you continuing to pray for me as I adjust to a new home, new town, new job, new church and I'm sure other new things. I've been pretty overwhelmed this past week, but I continue to think on God's faithfulness and His loving care.

Progress

Sorry, still no pictures to share. I wouldn't have time to download them anyway. So here is a list of the progress I've made:

• Clean shower - 1st thing I did and it took a looooooooooong time. :)
• Clean kitchen (this one could have sub-bullets all on it's own, but I won't get that detailed)
• Unpack kitchen boxes
• Wash all kitchen stuff
• Find a place for all kitchen stuff
• Touch up and clean more of the kitchen
• Polish up the cabinets
• Clean kitchen floor (I know I said I wouldn't get into the nitty gritty of cleaning the kitchen, but this one deserved a point of it's own. The previous owner put carpet in the kitchen...yep, you read that right...C-A-R-P-E-T. I'm thoroughly grossed out by it and it will be one of my first projects to get rid of it. I won't even walk barefoot in there after I vacuumed it. Enough said here.)
• Broke down all empty boxes and put out for trash (my back hurts now)
• Clean washing machine and dryer (There was some nasty stuff left behind there. This one took awhile too.)
• Hook up new printer (Had to so I could print out forms to change automatic withdrawls.)
• Made phone calls to contractor, electrician, flooring guy and furnace guy, so I can set times for them to come next week when my parents are here. I need Dad's knowledge for this stuff.
• Went to Wal-Mart every day as I continually discovered things I needed. It's my goal not to go the rest of the week. We'll see how that one holds up.
• Went and signed up for the Homestead tax thing-a-ma-jigger. Still don't know what that one's all about, but I can cross it off my list.
• Went to the bank.
• Went to the post office.

Whew! No wonder I'm so tired. And who knew just the kitchen would take all of one day and part of two others. Now I'm on to the rest of the house tomorrow starting with my bedroom and the utility room/bathroom. Can't use the real bathroom yet, hence the call to the contractor. Anyone free to come unpack some boxes and clean? I'll feed you a sandwich...okay I might even spring for pizza! :)

Just wanted you to know that I haven't been sitting around eating bon bons.

Home Sweet Home

Well, I'm in my house...all my stuff is in my house...there is lots of dirt in my house...I'm working in my house.

I closed on the house on Monday afternoon. My dear, sweet, wonderful friends, Aaron and Anna, drove all my belongs down in a U-Haul that evening. Guys from the office came to help unload that night too. They heard I have a piano and still came to help anyway!

I spent yesterday cleaning and working on unpacking the kitchen. It's almost all clean. Most of it is unpacked and now I need to find a place for everything.

Sorry there aren't any pictures. I found my camera last night. I guess I shouldn't have packed it.

I've also been to Wal-mart everyday that I've been here and will be making another trip today. A huge praise...While I was there yesterday I did a quick trip down the clearance isle. I noticed some curtains that were nice and only $7. I measured and then called my dad to see if he thought the measurements worked. So, I'm headed back to buy two sets for my living room. New curtains for only $14!!!!!

Well, I need to get back to unpacking and cleaning, so I'll sign off for now. Thanks to everyone for your prayers!

I'M HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!