Bueller....Bueller....Bueller

So I'm sitting in the hallway outside of class because I am obsessively early anywhere I go. I guess that is a good trait but it can be very stressful to me. Anyway, I'm sitting beside this Asian girl who is munching on chips. Don't get me wrong, I wish I had some chips right now but Lord, it can be very nerve-wracking in a silent hallway.

Okay so I didn't get to finish my blog. One of my classmates walked up and started talking to me so I shut down the iPad and went into class. Im pretty sure I had some really great things to share but honestly after 3 hours of class I simply cannot remember what it was. Oh well, I never really claimed to be a good blogger.

9 years

Today is mine and Williams 9th wedding anniversary. We've been together for 12 years but married for 9 and I have to say I am just as in love with him today as I was 12 years ago. He is the greatest husband, father, and companion anyone can ask for.


After 9 years in this sacred institution of marriage, I can safely say: there's no one with whom I would rather be institutionalized!

Happy Anniversary Baby, I love you!

Stand still

We are currently at a stand still with the decks. We have, however, made great progress. We have 3 decks built, 2 of them stained, and have run out of wood. We have wood left, just not enough to really start on the rest of the decks so we're stopping where we are until we complete a few other projects. Namely the back door and windows.

I have to say this is the best project we have done at this house, other than the pool. William and I have really enjoyed spending time on our deck in the evenings. I dare say it has brought us closer as a couple by allowing us to spend time together in a setting that we both enjoy.

I am hoping to get started on the back door in the next few weeks. This has been the last week of school so there are many activities going on with Britt and the next two weekends have been dedicated to working on side/service jobs so I fear we are at least 3 weeks out on the door. Unless, of course, William gets frisky and we just do it one day.

In any case, we're at a stand still and I am ok with it. Until we start building again, I am perfectly content curled up on the couch, on the deck, with my glass of wine.

Moving forward once again

After 3 weeks of everyone in the house being sick, we are finally working on our projects again. Over the past week we have slowly been setting the blocks for the pool. When I say slowly, I mean at a turtles pace. We finally bit the bullet tonight and put up the wall of the pool. Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. William said he had been watching videos and studying up....thank God for that, otherwise we would be hiring it out. Anyway, the pool wall is up and we're ready for the liner; hopefully by June we will have that. Of course, William does have some side work coming up so that's always helpful in getting us a little ahead of the budgeted plan.

I have to work tomorrow and so does William and, tomorrow night we have to go see Kelsey race so I imagine we won't be working on anything then. Sunday will probably be the day we start back. I hope we start with either the deck or the back door. I would prefer to start with the back door but honestly, at this point I don't really care as long as we keep moving forward. I cannot wait to see the finished project. It is going to look so good. I've been documenting the progress through photos and I looked back through them tonight, we have come so far and it already looks so much better.

Well, I'm off to get a glass of wine. This tired ol' body is in desperate need of relaxing.

Update

We managed to get the pool taken down last weekend and did the ground work for getting it set back up. Unfortunately William started getting sick on Sunday and we haven't done anything in the last week. I doubt that we will work on anything this weekend either considering he is still sick, getting better, but still sick.

Of course I'm just happy that we're making progress. We knew it was going to be a slow process and we were okay with that but I was worried that it would eventually become a project that we gave up on and never completed.

I can't wait to get the pool set back up, although it will be June or July before we can get the new liner for it, and start working on the last deck. We don't have to wait until June or July for the deck build, just set the pool up. After that, it's all easy stuff. Replace the windows in the living room and the kitchen and of course the back door that is sitting in my garage. I look at it every morning and every afternoon when I get in my car to leave/come home for/from work. Eventually I will be looking at it from my living room and overlooking my deck! YAY!

After these projects are complete I think I'm going to focus on the granite for the kitchen. It really is the easiest of all but it's also very expensive. Well, I say it's expensive, it helps that I work for a company that does granite countertops but even so, my discount is still more expensive than I would like.

Then, after that, I'll work on the granite for the bathrooms. The master bath will be a complete overhaul...come to think of it....both bathrooms will be a complete overhaul.....hmmmm, we'll stop at this, I'm getting way too ahead of myself here. Right now I'll just concentrate on the pool!

Regrets

I've never been the kind of person that has regrets and in my lifetime I have very few of them. I believe everything happens for a reason regardless of how good or bad it may be. I do have to say though, I do regret wasting so many years fighting for something that was inevitable. If I had known then what I know now, I would not have fought so hard to make my family a family; I would have concentrated on my own family because in the end, the only person hurt, was me....well, and my family.

It's amazing when I think about how much time I wasted for nothing. It's amazing that it took me 12 years to realize it. I truly do feel used and hurt. To grow up in the family environment that I did and to crave the same for my own and never really get it just hurts my feelings. Furthermore, for me to be the only one that seems to even care makes it even worse. It's just disheartening that the people involved may never realize what sacrifices were made for them.

I am, however, not one to dwell so I have moved on and have vowed to live my life the way I want and not how someone else believes I should.

That monkey is finally off my back.

The pain

So two of the three decks are built now. We have also drained the pool. We're going to take a break on the decks because we have to move the pool in order to build the last deck. In the meantime we will finish Britt's window, install our new backdoor, and then install the other windows in the living room and kitchen. And then, the projects will be complete and we can focus on our other projects. Not to get too far ahead of myself but after we finish all of these, we're going to concentrate on granite countertops for the kitchen and bathrooms and then an all over painting (both inside and out).

Whew.......did I mention we have a lot of work to do on our house?

It's all worth it if you ask me. I have no plans of leaving my house anytime soon, in fact, I'm hoping to have the house paid for in the next 7 years so I want to get the majority of the remodeling done prior to that. Despite my soreness right now I'm excited about the progress we're making and am eager to get started on the next project.

Well, I'm tired and I think a muscle relaxer is in my future so I'm gonna run and take a hot bath and get ready for bed.