Sometimes I Wish I Had A Clever Story To Tell You.

But not all days have funny stories.

In fact, the last couple of weeks and the next couple to come were/are filled more with sore elbows, creaky fingers and late nights.  There are some funny things sprinkled in to keep the comedy in the back of your mind, but for the most part it is straight up hard labor.

We are into our second week of the remodel/revamp/renovation and we are definitely feeling it.  We really have got a lot done, thanks to the team we had over the weekend.  Seriously, these guys & gals were working their butts off – and all we could do is feed them and keep them as happy as possible… they wouldn’t except our wages. 

That is what family does I suppose, but really – they went above and beyond.

We had Shala & Myself all of last week.  Also my Mom made it over a few times last week after work and helped. I was able to get Friday & Monday off of work so I had full days that day to be able to work.  Shala’s Dad was able to spend the majority of the day Friday at the house also, not to mention My Stepdad who was able to shake loose from work on Friday around lunch.  Shala’s Mom showed up not long after that and My Mom was back.  Once Shala got off, we had a pretty full crew.

Saturday Shala’s Brother & his wife joined in bright and early, along with everyone else mentioned above and Sunday was the same. 

Unreal.

But just to give you an idea of what got accomplished since Tuesday of last week…  here is a quick list (and I’m sure I will leave out a lot):

Removed all baseboards throughout the house.

Mudded the Den that had panelling along with sanding it to make it appear like it had normal walls.

Textured all the ceilings throughout the house to cover up old horrible texture job.

Textured Den, Office & Master Bedroom walls and applied a California Knockdown texture effect.

Primed & painted Den, Master, Office, Bedroom #1, Bedroom #2, Sunroom, Living Room & Dining Room.

Primed & Painted all baseboard that were new and didn’t need to be removed, window treatments and doors.

Painted all closets bright white, along with laundry room and other small areas.

Removed all the carpet & padding in all the rooms with carpet (Den, Master, Office, Bedroom #1 & Bedroom #2.

Scraped, swept, vacuumed & mopped all rooms with carpet that was removed.

Installed new ceiling fan in the Den.

Installed all new 3 prong plugs throughout the house along with new switches.

Redesigned the Master Bedroom closet, demo/rebuild/rewire/drywall/mud/texture/paint included.

Repaired fence in the backyard.

Repaired gates in the back & side entrances.

Redesigned Vanity portion of the master (not yet completed), have all the pieces anyhow.

Replaced A/C vents throughout the house (still on-going).

Mudded over horrible texture in the kitchen that previous owners throught was cool to do in only a few places and leave big gaping gaps here and there and look stupid – so we had took care of that for them.  ;)

Primed kitchen, preping for paint.

Cleaned, cleaned & cleaned (and continue to clean).

Demo’d built-in cabinets from the 1960′s that made our Master Bedroom NOT functional – added another foot to the room.

Made 9,000,000,000 trips to Lowe’s, Home Depot and the liquor store to allow for everything above to happen.

Not to mention we spent 7 billion dollars over the past couple weeks… but hey… who gives a…

Quite a list eh?  Thought we were joking huh?  Nope.  We have carpet being laid today, and then we have baseboards, trim and crown molding to put up.  Not to mention the hall has to be painted along with the baseboard in there and the kitchen.  Yup, it never freakin’ ends.  Oh wait.  And we have 4 new ceiling fans to put up, 4 light fixtures and about 8 or 9 a/c vents. 

I could keep going… but then my wife would bean me in the head with a shovel and jump off a bridge.

I promise we have done our best at trying to capture most of the transition in pictures, but hell… we missed some.  SO!

Get off our backs already.  Sometimes you forget, and sometimes your fingers hurt to bad to push down the lil button on the top of the camera.  This is one of those times.

So enjoy a few choice photos with my attempt at a humorous tagline and then you can go about your business today.  That is if you are still reading and haven’t jumped off a bridge yourself.  Welcome to Wednesday.

This is the Den before we bought the house.  Dark red painted panelling… SUPER overcrowded and gloomy.

Den Before Remodel

This is the den after – minus the baseboards & crown molding & carpet of course… but freshened up a bit.

Den After Remodel

This is the Living Room & Dining Room before we bought it…

Living Room & Dining Room Before

This is the Living Room/Dining Room after – with fresh paint, minus the crown molding.  Actually, this was the only picture we had… so its more of the Dining Room with a lil bit of Living Room – but still… you get the idea.  We will do better!

Living/Dining Room After

This is the best picture we got of the sunroom prior to move-in…

Sunroom Before

This is it with a fresh coat of paint, of blue…. who would have thought.  We have big things planned for this room, just wait.

Sunroom After

Here are a few shots of stuff that just need to be seen, we have lots more to show, but need to take better pics.  The first one, our big pile of trash & stuff that got taken out of the house.

Pile of Trash

This one is of the old dishwasher that we are replacing (as soon as ours comes in), it cracked us up that it had a slider for “Clean/Dirty”.  Dirty was definitely what we left it on.

Dirty Dishwasher

This next one is the Master before we got started and it had a tiny closet that we demo’d and made HUGE.  You can also see the edge of the vanity that we are totally redoing in the next couple of days.  The vanity that DIDN’T have a plugin AT ALL.  Seriously.

Master Closet & Vanity

Another Master pic with the awesome colors… and imposter furniture of the ex owners still in it.  Not to mention their awesome paint selection that made the room look so dark and sad.

Master Prior To Redesign

We could go on and on, but we want to drag this out so you guys have more to read when you get bored.  So we will give you an update when the carpet is in and we have some more progress made.  Just wait.

I’m Sorry…

I’m sorry.

Really I am.

I’m sorry for those that are losing their houses.  I’m sorry for those that have lost their job in the past year and are standing in the unemployment line waiting for a check to feed their kids.  I’m sorry for those businesses that have already had to close their doors and those that inevitably will have to shut their’s as well.

Times are hard.

I’m sorry for those that live in West Texas and have seen the benefits of overpriced oil, overly-available jobs and have had the luxury of watching our cities boom.  I’m sorry you have grown accustomed to having money in your pocket at the expense of the nation.  I’m sorry you were taxed so much because you made so much and now the thought of oil coming back down to reality has jeopardized your lifestyle.  I’m sorry your lifestyle has grown accustomed to eating out every meal and drinking yourself into a semi-coma with “clients” or “training in Abu Dhabi” has been cancelled this week.

I’m sorry we had to live through uber-high oil prices, a soaring stock market and pockets being padded to an extent that the average worker locally had very little to worry about… while the rest of America was busy dealing with life and putting food on the table or gas in the car.

I’m sorry things got so comfortable.

I’m sorry that our housing prices have gotten a bit out of hand and that you made 80k off a house you bought 3 years ago.  I’m sorry you put money down to build that house that was priced way out of your league and with the economy bottoming back out your 401k isn’t what it should be.  I’m sorry you have a new mortgage and selling it might mean you being taxed on capital gains.  I’m sorry you have capital gains, losses would be much better I’m certain.

I’m really truly sorry you invested all your time in the oil field, going to school to find the perfect job like your father, your uncle and cousins.  I’m sorry your eggs were forced into an overloaded basket and the thought of a new administration not focused solely on the “drill baby, drill” philosophy will crack a few.  I’m sorry if your eggs are one of the few.  You remember 8 dollar oil barrels and the “suckers” you felt sorry for back then, I feel the same about you too.

I hate to hear your down in the dumps because you can’t get a loan at a whim.  Your credit is bad, your bank is on the verge of selling out and you don’t know if the government will bail them out – I’m sorry.  Sorry that you used all your credit on that new sports car, and that boat and building that new house – based on an income that was blown out of proportion and now you have to figure a way out of it when everything settles back down to reality.

Sorry that your office job where you sit and send funny emails about deer or huge snakes caught out in the field is now possibly downsizing at some point, since oil is down.  Sorry you won’t be making 3 times the normal teacher’s salary to ride around in a company provided truck and “gas up” your jet ski on your way to the lake house on a Friday morning.  Perhaps the worse part being that you will have to go in and do actual work, hate to hear that.

Sorry to those that hate to see equality, hate to see a man of color playing the president in real life… but in movies, that it is perfectly ok.  Sorry that a woman from Kansas and a man from Kenya picked the middle name of Hussein, I’m sure based on their love of Saddam.  I’m sorry that our generation finally has it’s momentous figure to talk about, and its moment that will “live in infamy” – much like you do with your memories of JFK or FDR.  I’m sorry that lady didn’t give up her seat that day years and years ago that even made this possible.  Sorry MLK had that dream… and we haven’t awoken yet.

Sorry for the hope instilled in folks that had nothing to hope for prior.  My apologies for giving young kids a dream of becoming president no matter the color of their skin.  Sorry the civil rights movement is still an ongoing process.  And I’m sorry the American dream is still alive and well.

I’m sorry the line of church & state has blurred so much.  I’m sure our forefathers didn’t really mean that literally.  Sorry our country has become so diverse.  Sorry our country is so great that immigration is now a sour issue.  Sorry we have folks working in the field, taking jobs away from Americans.  Jobs that I’m sure wouldn’t be taken anyhow… but still… accept my apologies for that.  Sorry that America is so promising that people would rather risk persecution just to get a chance to make some money to take home to their not-so well-off country.  Sorry that those Mexican fellows were not at Lowe’s the other weekend and you had to hire out the tile work to a higher bid.  I’m sure it is just a phase and they will be back.  Maybe we are building that fence to high… sorry about that.

Sorry for all the welfare cases.  I’m sure it is just those “abusers” taking advantage of “the system”.  I bet none of them have lost their jobs because of the mess we are in, sure it has to do with them wanting an “easy way out”.  Sorry your tax dollars and social security is going to “support” these “losers”.  Maybe we can get that cleaned up so that we don’t help out anyone in need.  You know… the American way.

So sorry about our occupation of Iraq might be drawing to a close.  I know that hurts your pocket heart.  Sorry we have to cut our losses, and try to end this thing.  We can chalk this one up as a win, because of “the Surge”.  Yeah, that makes it ok.  Sorry to our grandkids that will have to dig out of the deficit created by a war about oil nothing.  Sorry we didn’t find WMD.  I’m sure they were well hidden or they will turn up sooner or later.

I really do apologize to everyone.  I’m sorry about this whole election thing.  Sorry we couldn’t find a better way to satisfy everyone.  Sorry we thought of ourselves, and those less fortunate.  Sorry America needs a revamp, and the only people left to do it is me and you.  Sorry it is going to be so much work, and it is going to take time to fix it all.  I hope we have the will-power.  I know you don’t want to hear this, but we all will have to work together.  And I do mean work.  I know… I’m sorry for that as well.  Sorry we just got a new marketing department for America and you don’t like it all that well.  Once again, maybe its just a phase.

So sorry for those that get left behind.  Those that wait for something else to happen, something else to blame, someone to point a finger at – I’m sorry.  Sorry if your tax rate changes, or you have to work a few more years to ensure a safe retirement.  I truly am sorry for that.

I guess what I am trying to say is…

I’m sorry.

We Are Alive, We Promise

The new house is officially ours and we have started the renovations.  So you know what that means.

Drunk painting.

drunk drywalling.

Actually neither of us has even been close to drunk – yet.  Too damn busy to get drunk. 

We finally got into the house on Monday, and started by preping for some priming and a little bit of carpet removal.  Got some remodeling figured out (which we eventually nixed) and mudded up a room before heading home.  Day one in the books and we put in about 13 hours between the two of us.  Not to mention, my Mom & Grandpa came over to help assess the situation – so another couple hours of their time.

Glad we don’t pay anyone.  ;)

Tuesday we got our new dishwasher ordered and commenced work for the second day.  Mashala’s Dad came by and he assessed the fence and we came to an agreement just to repair it for now, instead of putting a whole new one.  Shala went on to paint the dining room and I put a second coat of mud on the living room. 

We took off early last night to get some rest and check on the election – so we only put in about 8-10 hours in yesterday between the two of us.  Add a few for Donnie (Shala’s Dad), and we are about at the 30 hours mark.

This morning about 4 I woke up, because I have a bruised heel and it was bothering me… then after being up for about 30 min trying to fall back to sleep… I decided “To Hell With It.”

So I told Shala I was headed to the house (it is just down the street, couple minutes) and I got started about 4:45.  I got the living room mud sanded down (which I hate doing more than anything).  Pulled some more trim off and rolled some texture on the ceiling to try out something.  Before I knew it, it was almost 7 and I headed back home to get ready for work.

Tonight should be a good night.  We should get some texture on the wall and change the floor plan a little as far as our closet goes.  Shala & My Mom are going to continue the priming quest and hopefully I can hop in with that as well.  Expect to see big changes in the next couple days… hopefully we can get some pics for you intra-web-ers!

Wish us luck… we need it.