Green Art

I don't know as we'll have a chance to go to this as I just found out, and we are planning a major relaxing weekend (too much busy lately!).  BUT, what a neat concept, check it out.

Untouched

I am happy to report that Eric's parents' house is untouched by the Rice Canyon Fire. It got close enough to be considered within the fire perimeter by a few of the burn maps, but the blaze did not hit their street. Parts of Fallbrook were opened back up today, and Eric's sister drove up to check out the house. She mentioned that there was orange fire retardant on some houses (dropped by aircraft), and that some areas looked charred. But, their house is fine, and it doesn't even smell smoky- and their is no soot inside. Additionally, she reported that *not* all of Live Oak Park is gone, although areas not visible from the road may be. And though the fire is not fully contained, it does appear that the active burning is done in Fallbrook. Our prayers are now with those who have been uprooted and those still in danger near De Luz.

The Escondido fire also stayed just shy of my dad's girlfriend's home and that of her elderly father. I believe my dad said that some of the father's neighbors were hit by the flames. Thankfully, they are all in their own homes this evening.

Again, I am just so thankful that all those I love are safe while being saddened that my hometown of San Diego was so terribly hit.

Eric's parents are on their way to Pennsylvania now for the second leg of their vacation.  There was a teary goodbye at the airport, and we will miss them terribly.  I'll have to update on pictures and our visit with them later, but thought I should just post a fire update.

For now, the Rice Canyon Fire/ Fallbrook Fire seems to have stalled out.  I get word that they may even begin to let people in to town again today.  So it would seem that their house is unharmed right now even though one fire map shows it within the fire perimeter.  I think that map is just wrong.  Most people seem to say that the fire damaged very little west of Gird Road.  Now we'll just hope that their house is livable when they return and not smoke-damaged.

As for the other fires, I hope they reach 100% containment very soon.  This is unreal.

I'll get back to the floors and posts about normal life, but right now things are far from normal.  Eric's parents are here on a planned trip, but we are so glad they are here instead of in Fallbrook, San Diego where they live.

As you may have seen on the news, much of So. Cal. is burning.  There was a mandatory evacuation of all of Fallbrook yesterday.  Paul and Donna (Eric's parents) have joked that they evacuated early- to Tennessee.  Out of uncertainty and worry, comes humor.  Truly, they aren't "worried" because they are safe, everyone they love is safe, and a dear friend of theirs even ran by their house on the way out of town and grabbed baby photos, family recipes and some cherished jewelry.  The unfortunate thing is that anyone fleeing spent a LOT of time in traffic last night.  The road out of Fallbrook are tiny two-lane roads and many of them were blocked to remain out of fire's way.  40,000 people leaving at once causes quite a traffic jam!  Again, we are glad that they happen to be here.

My dad is one town over, and as far as I know, has not been evacuated.  My brother and his girlfriend are in downtown San Diego and are out of harm's way, as well.

We are certainly frustrated with the lack of official information.  The most up-to-date info has the Rice Canyon Fire (the one near Fallbrook) burning only a mile or two from Paul and Donna's home and that report is hours and hours old.  I know they are wondering if they will return to an intact home.

I'll report back, but do keep everyone in their prayers.

Post yanked

Some of you on Monday may have seen my post.  A very frazzled Me wrote of our woes with the floor delivery.  Yes, part of the delivery was damaged by the freight company, and, yes, we've been discouraged by some of the planks having some flaws.  But, after Eric and I were unified in our acceptance of what had happened and had decided on how to proceed, I looked at what I wrote and figured it needed to be yanked.  No need to be whiny or to complain.  The floors are being installed, some of it "is what it is", and some of it "is what Tisra was overly tired and nit-picky concerning" (it is always helpful to have Eric come home and put some things into perspective),  and we are thankful that our home will be in order again shortly.  There.  Enough said.  Can't wait to move the furniture back in, and show off our house!  :-)  The floors are beautiful!

the BIG PROJECT begins

The wood planks are being delivered tomorrow, the floor crew is tearing out the tile tomorrow, and we should have fully finished hardwood floors by Thursday at the latest.  Really, it should be Wednesday.  For now, things are a mess- but an end is in sight!  The powder room sink and toilet will have been removed (as I type, the toilet still needs to be unmounted), the fridge, the oven, the washer and dryer, and maybe the dishwasher (we're still uncertain if the wood will be installed *under* the dishwasher) and- um, yeah- all the downstairs furniture is either in our master bedroom or in the garage...full chaos around here! And did I mention how tired we are?!  I suppose it doesn't help that The. Biggest. Week. for Eric's workyear is this week- the User's Conference they host annually for their clients.  Argh.  The timing of it all!  And the deadline- Eric's parents arrive on Saturday, so this all has to be ship shape before then.  Hee.  :-)  Well, at least they'll see it in a much more "finished" state- they haven't been to Nashville since we bought in this neighborhood.

Since we moved in, the floors have been the BIG THING.  It has driven us crazy for nearly 9 months (have we been here that long?!)- especially since we thought it would be one of the *first* fixes.  However, it took us all this time to arrive on a budget and a decision on flooring.

What a weight off it will be to have them installed, and the icky tile gone.  It will feel more like *home*.  Sure, there are other projects we want to tackle- but probably none that anyone else would give a second thought to (curtains, yardwork, custom paint colors...).  There will be nothing left that is "imperfect" or falling apart- it will finally be just down to normal personalizing and decorating of the house.  It will feel less like one big project, and more like Home.

Praise God for that!

What I've kind of suspected all along about some of those cold medicines for kids

Look, I have grey hair!

I'm still sanding!

Dust Everywhere

This is what we did this weekend.  How about you?  :-)

Our living room isn't huge and there was a ventless gas fireplace built into the room.  This huge drywall box with mantle and fireplace took up a LOT of space.  I love fireplaces, but it was for the greater good of the room to demolish it and gain the square footage.   Additionally, the room is even more light-filled now that the drywall box is not shielding a window's light from being cast on all parts of the living space.  Goodbye poorly-executed fireplace, we don't miss you at all!

Now we're in the final stages of drywall finishing (sand, mud, sand, mud, sand....) before we can paint.  The painting just may wait awhile.  With such an open floor plan, painting that portion of wall will force us to give a coat to half the house.

All the details aside ('cause- wow!-there's so much we went through....), I am super proud of Eric and I.  We've grown in experience and confidence regarding home projects and can tackle so much more than when we bought our first little house on Longview all those years ago (you know, when *painting* a room was a bit frightening!).  And, there is just something so cute and irresistible about Eric working as handyman- and I'm not just saying that because he worked harder than me.  I'd hire him anytime!  I think it's also pretty awesome that we saved ourselves $1,000 on just the finishing alone (we never even priced the demo portion of the project).  Yeah, $1,000 to hang 2 1/2 sheets of drywall and mud them.  *That's* why we did what we did this weekend.

Now, our floors can be delivered, and installed.  Hopefully next week.  So, sorry to bore, but there are more house pictures to come in the near future.  :-)

New countertops

The kitchen is transforming into something more "us".  We've not done a complete remodel, but just a few little updates, and we're on our way.  When we first moved in, we immediately put brushed nickel egg-shaped knobs on, and chucked the flashy brass.  And, this past weekend we finished installing new laminate countertops.  The old ones were laminate, too, but they were a white faux marble.  They looked a bit old and the kitchen had a very washed out appearance with the white cabinets, white countertops, and the white ceramic tile.  We opted for a textured laminate that gives the appearance of slate or granite.  Not 100% convincing (plastic will *never* look like granite, no matter how much you try), but the tones are there and it does look more modern.  Ready for the Before and After?  The first pic is from when we viewed the house prior to purchase, and the second is this past weekend.  So, for a bit of effort and a small budget there are some big results.

We also have just made a major purchase.  Our hardwood flooring is on its way!!!  That will further transform the kitchen, but also the powder room, living room, dining room, and laundry room.  Simplefloors.com has been very helpful and informative, and they had the wood in stock and it is already being freighted here.  After some waffling, the Brazilian Teak won out over the Brazilian Cherry.  It's hand scraped and wide plank.  I can't wait!  We have also decided to have someone come and install it which also relieves us of a BIG chunk of stress and worry.

Since our adoption is running on the longer end of our estimated time, we feel pretty secure in spending a bit of money.  We will not be traveling to Taiwan any time soon.  Savings are all on track.  Hey, if we can't have our little girl, we might as well have some new flooring!  Right?  :-)

Thank you to everyone for your sweet comments about our Baby Girl.  Uplifting and encouraging.  We do trust the Lord and His timing and His perfect wisdom as we follow His direction.  We feel blessed and expectant.  And full, so very full with all the love.  Thank you.

So, there is a lot going on here in the home improvement category.  I'll update more when I have a chance, and also once I've transferred pictures from the camera.  BUT, I was looking for rugs on Overstock.com and Amazon.com and had to laugh at this entry.  Talk about a specific market!  Anyone want to buy it? ;-)