Mr. Edison Would Be So Proud...

Because now when you walk into the house and flip the switch (that wasn't even there earlier last week) you are rewarded with....light! It is so cool to be able to walk around the house turning on lights and really being able to see the finishing touches coming together.

Dining Room fixture.

Lights! Sconces in the half bath. Time to get serious shopping for that mirror now. :)

Lots of Changes at the House!

I have been shocked at how quickly they get things done on the house and this week was no different. Last Friday Matt and I went to visit and found workers still in there working on mudding the drywall. Most of the mud was still wet throughout the house.

When I drove by Monday evening I was shocked to see a garage door. That typically meant "lock down" or that something big was happening inside that they didn't want people to steal. I didn't have time to go in that night but finally made it back on Wednesday.

You can not imagine my surprise when I saw the changes that had happened between Friday and Wednesday:

Garage door installed!

Railings on the stairs. Wood will be stained to match the cabinets.

Kitchen cabinets. Cabinets were also in the bathrooms and laundry room.

Doors installed. Also notice the walls have been sanded and primed.

Chair railing and wainscoting in the dining room installed.

Double tray ceiling in our bedroom finished.

One counter top installed in the kids bathroom.

Trim installed. Both base boards and trim around the doors and windows.

When Matt went back by yesterday they had installed about 75% of the electrical boxes, outlets and light switches, throughout the house and had painted the baseboard.

Makes you wonder what is going to take so long that it won't be finished before the end of February doesn't it??

Goodbye Sweet Girl...

Last Friday was a difficult day for the family. We had to say good bye to the sweetest dog I have ever known. Ginger had been fighting Cushings Disease which was  causing her body to produce too much cortisol and therefore making her liver over work and grow too big. If this had been left untreated, it would have quickly killed her. But it was detected early and she was on medicines to keep it that way.

However on Monday of last week her breathing became labored and got worse as the week progressed. On Friday morning mom called the vet to get an appointment. She was very upset when she called me but I wasn't aware of how bad it had gotten. I went with her to the vet and we were both beyond shocked to discovered her lungs were almost completely filled with cancer. Come to find out the cortisol was keeping the cancer at bay but once it was being managed by the meds, the cancer rapidly spread and the doctor didn't feel as though there was anything we could do at that point to help her. She told us a biopsy of the lungs would be extremely tough on her alone.

We never want a dog to suffer and that is all Ginger would have done. So we made the extremely hard decision to say good bye to her. She would have been 12 next month. As I held her in my arms saying goodbye, I couldn't help but relive the moment we first saw her in that cage in Louisville and how we all fell in love immediately with that sweet face. She was the perfect fit for the family and for mom and will never be forgotten. In my mind she will always be Ginger Lee even though her official name is Precious Ginger.

We love you sweet girl.

Gettting in the Christmas Spirit!

Last Saturday was a fun filled day of Christmas stuff! The day started out with Matt and I hitting the mall for our one day of Christmas shopping. We fight the crowd, stop at PF Changs for lunch and try to knock out the final things on the list. And honestly always have a great time doing it. I had told him he could stay home this year but he surprised me by jumping right in the car with me.

After we conquered the mall we headed to Frankfort to attempt to make candy with Nana. Making candy with a 10 and 2 year old is quite entertaining for sure!

We stopped for a break around dinner to head down to Buffalo Trace to see some lights and to meet Santa. The boys even left the UK/UNC game to go with us. The funniest moment of the night happened as we were leaving. Alex had heard us all telling the guard lady good night and Merry Christmas so when he got across the street, he stopped, turned back to the lady and yelled, "Hey lady! Have a Christmas!" It had to be one of the funniest things I have heard yet come out of his mouth.

After we made it back home, Sandy, John and Kathy came by and the chaos just grew but fun was had by all.

Mom and I had to set back together on Sunday to finish up the candy but when all was said and done we managed to make bourbon balls, peanut butter balls, haystacks, peanut butter roll, cookies, fudge and chocolate covered pretzels.

Here are a few pictures I snapped during the fun:

Working hard on the peanut butter.

Time to roll up the balls.

Me asking Reagan to show me her peanut butter ball.

And then I asked Alex to show me his.

Reagan laughing at how many adults it takes to make fudge.

The official taste tester. Once she got a taste of the peanut butter roll she wouldn't leave the room.

Matt and Sandy being Matt and Sandy.

Chilling with Santa. When Santa asked him what he wanted, his response was to point at the big bowl of candy canes and say, "that!".

Goofy child.

I wonder how much longer she will humor me with pictures with Santa.

Pre-Drywall Walk Through...

Last week was a big moment at the house. We had our pre-dry wall walk through. This is pretty much the half way point and when things start getting finished on the inside.

At this meeting we were introduced to our project manager, Jamie, and we walked through the entire house pointing out any concerns we might have and were able to ask any questions we had. 

We also learned that they are installing insulation today or tomorrow, will have the drywall delivered probably tomorrow and may even pour the driveway and porch this week since the weather is suppose to be warmer.

I got really excited when our realtor mentioned that we are about 60 days out at this point which would put us about 3 weeks earlier than expected. But then he mentioned something about a 3 week break for Christmas so we are right back to where we thought we would be at the end of February. I am still keeping my fingers crossed it gets done a little early but my expectations are really low.

Hopefully I will have some more updates really soon with walls, cabinets, etc. Exciting times!!

On a funny note, I can't quit buying for the new house. On black Friday, when I was supposed to be buying Christmas gifts, I brought home new bath mats, new tupperware, new Pyrex dishes, and a bed in a bag set for the spare room. Considering the lack of storage space we have, I should probably quit buying until we move. But it is just so hard!

A New Friend We Call Marley...

I may have mentioned before that there are some 4 legged friends on the farm that aren't horses. Doug (the owner) has 3 dogs that we see around the farm every once in a while. We actually don't see them as much as I expected we would though, just occasionally running around. We have never asked Doug what their names are so we just made up names from them. There is a goldendoodle we call "Doodle", a terrier mix we call "whitey" because he is all white, and a Jack Russell we call "Jackie". Jackie was the first to officially welcome us to the farm when we first moved in. We had left the door open as we were moving stuff into the house and we found her just hanging out in the office. She was as content as can be and it took us a bit to convince her to leave. 

This weekend a new friend showed up. A blonde lab. We call him "Marley" from the movie Marley and Me. He is the most playful and sweetest dog I have seen. He played with the kids for a long time last night and when we finally went inside to eat dinner we saw this lab head pop up at the kitchen window. I tried to snap a picture but he disappeared before I could. He was back this morning to say hello and was thrilled when Alex spilled his Trix all over the carport getting into the car. Since Matt threw him some chicken off the grill last night, he may never leave. :)

Here are a couple of videos of them playing last night. The first one is cute because you can hear Alex say Marley.