Weekend Happenings

Business as usual - busy weekend.


Saturday

• Went to the DMV. Got Christi's license and also got the address changed on my license. They have a new DMV office and it is actually really nice. Despite a large amount of people, things moved very quickly and there was plenty of room for seating.
  


• Went over to Jason's house to help with some limbs. Jason and I carried and cut up some limbs while Christi did her lesson plans inside. Afterward we ate lunch at Margarita's.
  


• When we got home from eating lunch we started pricing our yard sale items. It took a long time and our garage is full of stuff, but we got it done.
  


• We went over to Christi's parents house to watch the Bama-UGA game. Loved seeing UGA get beat. I hope we can do the same. Roll Tide!
  

Sunday

• Went to church with our friends Jody and Jessica. We enjoyed their church and we're thinking about going back. We also ate lunch with them and Jody's parents at Zaxby's after church. It was good, as always. I don't think I've ever had bad food from Zaxby's.
  


• Jody and Jessica talked us into going to the fair with them and Mackenzie, who I again say is the cutest little girl I've ever seen. We spent a few hours at the fair. We saw a bear show, watched Mackenzie ride tons of rides, cheered as Mackenzie won 3 (yes 3!) goldfish, and did a bunch of other things.
  


• Although we were tired (and slightly sunburnt) we didn't lay on the couch when we got home. Instead, we went over to Christi's parents house and then out to eat. We went to Wild Wing again, but the service sucked big time. Food was good, service awful. They were good last time so I'll chalk this one up to a bad night.
  


• 
  Now we're back home and Christi is snoring on the couch as I write this. The sun was out all day today and it definitely took the energy from us. Much hotter day than it had been in a long time.
  

Speaking of sleeping, I'll think I'll be going to bed shortly too. I need to go into work a little earlier because there are a bunch of things I want to do around the house tomorrow afternoon. Christi's dad is coming over tomorrow afternoon so he can pick up some of the tools that he loaned me to get some work done around here. He has a few projects of his own around their house that I know he wants to get done soon.


That's all for now.

Up Early on Saturday

Normally we like to sleep in, but we have to go to the DMV to pick up Christi's license. They were supposed to mail it to us but since we moved addresses the post office would not. Of course, they didn't tell us and we had to call and find out where her license was. Ugh.


We're about to go down there. Later today we are going to see Sara and Brandon and baby Aden. We'll also be busy getting things ready for out yard sale next weekend. We're not looking forward to that but it needs to be done.


Picture problems: I'm looking for our camera battery charger. It was in our camera case, but I'm not sure where it is. Once I find it I can recharge the batteries and take the final pictures. I know, I'm officially the world's worst at getting pictures posted.


Have a good weekend everyone!

Congrats Brandon and Sara!

My cousin, Sara, and her husband Brandon had their baby last night! Aden was born at approximately 7:40pm last night. He was 7lb, 13oz and 20 1/4" long.


We were at the hospital until around 7:15 last night. Her mother came out and told us the doctor said she would deliver around 10pm - so, we left to let them have some rest. As we were leaving, Sara's sister (in the room with her) called her mom to tell her she was ready. They didn't think she was actually ready, but shortly after little Aden was born.


After work today Christi and I went up to see and hold Aden. He was adorable! I have a fear of holding newborn babies because I am afraid I am going to do something wrong and hurt them. After some convincing, I held Aden at the hospital today. He was great! He was just sleeping the whole 10 minutes or so I held him


Congrats again to Brandon and Sara!

Weekend Happenings

We had a busy weekend - again.


Normally I write long, detailed post that I think bores everyone. So I'll try to keep it short and sweet.


Friday:

• I gave blood in the ASBP (Armed Services Blood Program) blood drive at work. Blood goes directly to the troops overseas.
  


• Christi's school had a "family picnic" night. After work I went there to meet some of her students and hang out with her teacher friends.
  


• I left the picnic early to go to my 5 year high school class reunion. Christi had to stay. It was ok, got to see some old friends and talked with some people.
  


• My cousin, Ashley, was on the homecoming court but she didn't win :(


• My friend Kam and his girlfriend, Lindsey, were at the reunion. We went out to eat afterwards with Christi and several of her fellow teachers. We laughed for probably 2 hours. Good times.


• Kam and Lindsey came over to our place to check out the house. Unfortunately the place was a mess since all the bathroom supplies were everywhere. We were also doing laundry so we had clothes all over the place. We were very embarrassed.


• Despite the huge mess they seemed to really like the place.


• After they left we cleaned for over 1 hours because we were so embarrassed. Now the place looks really good.
  
  

Saturday

• I put the finishing touches on the bathroom. Everything is done except changing the shower head.


• Christi's friend from school who also teaches 1st grade, Jessica, came over to plan for the upcoming week. Jessica's husband Jody also came over.
  
  
• Jody, who is a Georgia fan, and I watched the GT game. He was impressed with our new offense. I was too. We are looking good.


• After the game we decided to go over to there place to tailgate for the UGA game. Yes, I know, what am I thinking? The tailgate was a lot of fun. Jessica cooked some great food. We watched some other games before the UGA game with some of their other friends who came over. We also played some random games and just chatted. There was a Tennessee fan there. Poor guy.


• We didn't stay the whole game. We left after the 1st Q to go see Christi's parents. They had just returned from a week in Sanibel Island, Florida, so we wanted to see how it went.


• Christi's parents seemed to have a great time. We are planning on going there next year. They brought us some presents and also showed off their huge bag of sea shells

Sunday

• Watched the Falcons game. Glad to see another win. Still, I'm holding judgement until we beat someone who is good.


• Went to a new restaurant in Macon - Wild Wing Cafe. They had one in Macon but we never went. The atmosphere and food were really good. A little pricey for bar food but it was good


• Tried to rest but ended up doing things around the house. Have to start pricing for our yard sale

That's all for today. I will post pictures of the finished bathroom later. Thanks for reading.

Ninja Cat

Saw this and couldn't resist not posting it! That cat is incredible. And a little scary.

Tired of Painting

I just got finished putting the second coat of paint on the walls. The trim around the ceiling and edges may need another coat since it was the first coat in those areas (it was too late last night.) I'll put another coat in those areas tonight, if needed.


After this we'll paint the baseboards and touch of any places that we can find. Then, I'll install our new lighting fixture so we can have some more light in the room (been using a work lamp) and also see what the room will look like without a huge flood light on it.


Here are some pictures of how the room has progressed over the last few days:

Walls Primed, Ceiling Primed and Painted



Wall Primed over sink



First coat of paint



Where lighting and mirror will be

Well, that's all for tonight. We've found that preparing for the next step usually takes long than the step itself. For example, setting up the tarps and putting painter's tape where we want took longer than actually painting. Go figure.


Right now we're watching some TV while the paint is drying. Stay tuned for more updates. We are nearing completion and should meet our goal of being finished by the weekend, but we're not going to slack off until it is done.

Busy Saturday

Today we were pretty busy. We woke up later than we had hoped, but after we ate breakfast we were on our way. Using the supplies list we made last night, we went to Lowe's and Walmart to get everything.

Some of the supplies

Our To-Do List

We worked a lot on the bathroom when we got home. Here's a short rundown:

• The popcorn ceiling was removed and sanded


• The walls were washed to get rid of the remaining glue


• Walls spackled to fix gouges, screw holes, etc


• Walls sanded to create smooth, even surface


• Walls, floors cleaned to have clean surface to paint

Here's some pictures from the day

Down with the popcorn!

Sanding the ceiling smooth

Dust. Everywhere. Including on me.

That's not all we did today. We watched GT lose to VT. Very tough loss. Similar game as last week, except we couldn't overcome 3 turnovers this week. Normally I'm not that upset, but this week I feel we gave it away. I hate to sound like I'm making excuses, but the fumble at the end of the first half cost us. That allowed them to go ahead with the TD. Even still, that horrible personal foul call on Cooper Taylor when he hit golden boy Tyrod Taylor on 3rd and long gave them the first down on their final scoring drive. I was NOT happy. Horrible call. Stupid refs giving them the game. I honestly think we should have won. VT is a good team and they earned the win, but it came with a lot of help from us. We beat ourselves. The good news is that I don't see any team - ANY - remaining on the schedule that we can't beat. We have some work to do, but even when we play bad like today, we are still in the game right down to the end. We'll be a tough team the rest of the way.


That's all for today. I have to go touch up a few places. Have a good night.

Bathroom Progress

Well, we've gotten some of the things done in the bathroom. We've taken down the mirror, light fixtures, towel rods, wall paper - among other things.


Here's what the bathroom used to look like.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Above the shower. > There used to be a mirror and lights there. Brown spots are where the mirror was glued to the wall and pulled the top of sheet rock off.

Wall Math. Not sure what it is but its there.

As you can see it's just sheet rock on the walls. Tomorrow we have a big day ahead of us. We're going to Walmart/Lowe's to get some things that we need to work on the room. We will be taking down the popcorn ceiling, spackling the walls, sanding the walls and ceiling, priming the walls, and painting the walls. We'll also at least pick out a new shower head, new faucet (maybe), new mirror, new lighting fixture, and paint. It's going to take a while and be a big process. We hope to have it done by next weekend. Ambitious? Probably. We'll see.


We'll definitely be taking a break at 3:30 to watch our Yellow Jackets play. I'm worried about this game. Everyone is picking us to win. We're playing well but not that well. VT is a tough team despite their recent struggles, especially at their place. We have 2 starting linebackers out (AT Barnes and Brad Jefferson), a staring offensive lineman out (AJ Smith), and our best wide receiver (Demaryius Thomas, aka BeBe) who is also a great blocker, which is HUGE in our offense because the WR's have to block for the big plays. Go look at the highlight plays - every one was because of a down field block by the receivers. I think we can pull it out, but it will be close. It will be another tough game. I trust Paul Johnson will have our players ready and think he will give us a chance to win. Let's hope we take that chance.


That's all for tonight. We have to rest up for our big day tomorrow. Check back later for more updates. We'll be taking pictures of the process to document the changes. Later everyone.

9-11

A day to remember. Never forget.

Weekend Happenings

Food + Family + Football = Fun
Yes, I came up with that all by myself.


I originally started typing this Saturday evening, but we got busy unpacking some things in the bonus room and getting ready for the yard sale. By then I was too tired to finish. So I incorporated it into my weekend happenings post.


We watched the GT game Saturday. I'm very happy that we pulled out a great win against a stout Boston College team. I really think BC will be better than most people think and they have the best defensive front 7 we will face all year. Hopefully we will be able to keep this good play up and carry it throughout the season. I think we can surprise some people this year. We didn't play great, but we kept fighting and pulled it out in the end. We would not have won this game last year. I really like our new coach and know that in a few years we are going to be VERY successful.


Before the game I had a pre-game cookout at our house. It wasn't anything extravagant, just hamburgers and hotdogs. We also had chips, dip, and turtle cookies. I've always wanted to have my own tailgate parties and since we don't have season tickets (yet) I'm going to start cooking out here and inviting people over. Saturday, it was Christi, her parents, and her brother. Next time I think we may try to expand the group, although the number of GT fans is limited in my family. Everyone else is a UGA fan. I know, what are they thinking, right?


As mentioned in the beginning of the post, we also worked on the bonus room. That has been the place where we put a lot of out unpacked boxes. Well, after Saturday that is no longer the case. All of the boxes have how been sorted and we taken a lot of our older items into the garage, which will be sold in the yard sale. We're in the process of putting our seasonal decorations into the attic and then most of our boxes will be put up.


Phase 2
Since we're so close to having most of our things unpacked, we started Phase 2 of our remodeling plan. You're probably wondering what Phase 1 was, right? That included redoing the guest room, repainting the master bedroom, and getting all the furniture for the office, living room, and master bedroom. We've essentially done all of that. Our goal is to have most of our remodeling plans done by Christmas, so we have to keep working hard to meet that goal.


Phase 2 is redoing the guest bathroom and bonus room. The guest bathroom has wall paper throughout. I hate wall paper. If you're thinking of putting up wall paper, consider these 2 points:


1. Don't do it
2. See #1


It's really annoying and time consuming to take wall paper down. I do think it does look good, though, so if you're thinking about putting it up I'm sure it will look good - just don't call me to take it down, please. If you do put it up, make sure to prime the wall. In pictures I will post once the wall paper is down, putting wall paper up on sheet rock is NOT a good idea. That's what the previous owners did. For whatever reason, it's infinitely harder to take it down if the wall hasn't be primed properly.


We (me and Mike) started Sunday afternoon, around 4pm after we watched the Falcons surprisingly dominated the Lions (note Falcons fans - Detroit's defense is really bad, so let's not get too excited.) We worked for about 5 hours Sunday and another 3.5 hours tonight. We're about halfway done. The bathroom is not that big. However, we did pick up a new wall scraper and should be done by tomorrow evening. Wednesday we'll probably get the paint and hopefully by Friday everything with the paint will be done. We're also planning on taking down the popcorn ceiling and replacing the mirror and possibly light fixtures. We're excited about the possibilities.


Also, I forgot to mention on Sunday we went to Smiley's Flea Market - a local place that is always packed. Definitely not a place we will be frequenting. They had animals for sale and it was horrible. The breeders obviously didn't care about them - they all had mange, fleas, and malnutrition. It was very sad. Basically a puppy mill. A lot of the items for sale were questionable. Some of it appeared to be stolen, most of it was obviously fake - unless Gucci started making a $2 line of purses. There were a few booths/vendors with some decent stuff, but overall it was like a really bad yard sale.


Well, that's enough for tonight. It's getting late and I need to get some sleep. Have a good week everyone.

Day in Review

Nothing too exciting going on today. It is my dad's 47th birthday, so I called to wish him a happy birthday and remind him how old he is getting. We're going to take him out to eat sometime this weekend and give him his gifts.


I did take the shutter hardware back to Lowe's and got a smaller set. I did have to buy a masonry drill bit also because the smallest size to hold the shutters were already being used with the old hardware. Since the holes are stripped, I have to go to a larger diameter but I didn't want to go as large as I previously had. Enough hardware talk.


I went to the grocery store after Lowe's to get food for the next 2 weeks or so. I will say that I had the best checkout/bag person I've had in a LONG time. She made sure to group everything properly (breads with breads, eggs separate, chips separate, etc) and did a good job of doing so. Everything was well organized and I didn't have to try to repack my bags because I was afraid something was going to get squashed or messed up. I know it seems like an easy task, but you'd be surprised how many people I've had put bread in with a 2-liter drink or bananas, chips with milk, etc. One of my pet peeves. Drive me crazy.


Christi came home about the same time I got the the grocery store and she started cooking supper for us. She also did some much needed laundry. We both hate doing laundry so we have a tendency to not do it unless needed, although we have been much better about it since we have been here. For supper Christi made one of my favorite dishes - chicken casserole. It's very good and I could eat the entire dish by myself, but I scaled back because I wanted to take some for lunch tomorrow.


We're about to watch some TV for a while. That's all for tonight. Check back later!

It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday. The long weekend has thrown me off. It definitely doesn't feel like Wednesday, but I'm glad the weekend is only 2 days away. Next week will feel really long, though.


I went to Lowe's today to buy some anchors and bolts to hang the fallen shutter. However, I didn't know that I did not have the size of drill bit to drill the holes out larger to fit the anchors. So, tomorrow I'll have to stop by Lowe's and either pick up a larger drill bit or get different anchors. I haven't decided which route to go, although it probably would be easier to get smaller anchors.


We ate supper at Buffalo's with Christi's parents and Jason. Afterward we were going to the grocery store, but we decided not to because we weren't sure of everything we needed and didn't want to forget some things and have to make 2 trips. Now that we're home we at home we've made our list and will be going tomorrow afternoon.


That's pretty much it for today. Watching a repeat of Criminal Minds. It's still good even though we know what's going to happen. That's all for now.

Weekend Happenings

It's been a busy weekend so far. Really, a busy week, which is why there has been a lack of posts so far. You would think that since we have been so busy I would have been writing a lot about what we've been doing. However, now that I look back on the week - I can't remember exactly what we've done. Bad memory I guess - I'm getting old. Speaking of that, my birthday is coming up on September 10th. Everyone has been asking what I want for my birthday but I honestly have no idea. There are a few things I can think of, but I'm going to sit down and make a list sometime soon.


One of the things I'm thinking about asking for is a riding lawnmower. I wouldn't expect any one person to buy me that, but yesterday I was talking with Christi and her parents about it and they suggested everyone get me a giftcard to where I decided I want the lawnmower from and I can use that to help pay for it. I'm thinking about asking for that, but I'm not sure yet. I definitely could use a lawnmower, that is certain.


Saturday I again borrowed Mr. Mike's (Christi's dad) lawnmower to cut the grass. We have to pick it up to put it in and get it out his truck bed and lawnmowers aren't exactly light. So, it's this reason I'm seriously considering getting a lawnmower for my birthday. I could get a push mower, but it would take forever to mow our grass. Foe example, our neighbors have a push mower and have almost the same size yard as us. It takes him 1 hour to cut his front yard, which is about the same as ours, and only about 1/3 of the total yard. In contrast, I cut my yard in a little over an hour, which is nice because I then had plenty of time to edge the driveway and use the weedeater around the house and our garden areas. So a riding lawnmower is a must if I want to do anything else on the days I need to cut the grass.


While I was working on the yard Saturday, Christi and her parents went to a craft fair at Indian Springs. It wasn't quite as advertised and they didn't come back with anything they wanted, except some apple cider. After they got back in town, they stopped by a furniture store that was going out of business. Christi and her mom found the perfect piece of furniture to compliment our dining room table. We got it for a good price too since they are trying to get rid of everything. It matches the wood and is large enough to fit our china, crystal, and silver. I'll post some pictures soon. I realized I also never posted pictures of our bedroom furniture, so I'll post them as well. I'm planning on making a whole new post of before and after, or maybe just after, so everyone can see what we've done so far.


Yesterday, we spent a lot of time unpacking the remaining boxes we have and loading the server piece with our china, etc. We also hung a lot of pictures and other decorations, which really adds a lot to the rooms. We're still trying to figure out what we want to put in certain area of the house so we have some bare walls, but we are getting there. I have to say major thanks to Mr. Mike, Mrs. Debra, and Jason for helping us go through many of our boxes. We are accruing quite a large collection for our yard sale. The goal date for our yard sale has been set for the 1st weekend in October. Hopefully we will be able to do that and gain full use of our garage.


Today we are going to unpack some of our last boxes (yes, we still have more - you would be surprised at how much stuff we have.) Also, we are also going over to Christi's parents house for a Labor Day cookout / dinner. Well, it's time to get back to work. Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!