Saturday, July 31st, 2010
Here's a new scrapbook page that I made with last week's new DHD products.
I Heart You
I Heart You
Friday, July 30th, 2010
They also came and poured our sidewalk today.
Friday, July 30th, 2010
On Tuesday, Clay from Valley Supply called and said that our glass shower door had arrived. Originally, when I called to let our Ron Lantz, our installer know, he didn't think he would have a chance to install it until some time next week. Ron called me earlier this morning to let me know that he had a cancellation, and that he could come today.
Overall, we really like the shower doors. The glass is pretty and they look great with the tile.
Overall, we really like the shower doors. The glass is pretty and they look great with the tile.
Friday, July 30th, 2010
1.) Updates to the blog. We are still working on some of the little bugs with the blog. So if you come to the site and you see a July Archives to find anything that you may have missed.
2.) Carla. Last week, I posted about my new Pea friend, Carla, that I met last Saturday on the Photowalk. Her younger brother died this week, and she's been on my mind a lot this week. Please pray for her and her family as they are dealing with this loss.
3.) Evaporator. We ended up having to replace the evaporator in the jeep this week in order to get the A/C to work. It was just about a month ago that we had to pay to have some boot thing on the jeep replaced. The jeep has 160,000+ miles on it, so I guess we should expect repairs like this to come up, but recently they are starting to pile up. With all the house commitments, we just aren't ready to look for a new car, so we're just hoping that this will hold us over for awhile.
4.) Nathan's shoulder. Nathan shoulder is still pretty sore. The doctor said it could take 4-6 weeks to heal, but it doesn't really seem to be getting much better. His softball season is most definitely over.
5.) New designer. I found out this week that we are gettting a new designer at shop next Thursday for a new face and some awesome releases.
2.) Carla. Last week, I posted about my new Pea friend, Carla, that I met last Saturday on the Photowalk. Her younger brother died this week, and she's been on my mind a lot this week. Please pray for her and her family as they are dealing with this loss.
3.) Evaporator. We ended up having to replace the evaporator in the jeep this week in order to get the A/C to work. It was just about a month ago that we had to pay to have some boot thing on the jeep replaced. The jeep has 160,000+ miles on it, so I guess we should expect repairs like this to come up, but recently they are starting to pile up. With all the house commitments, we just aren't ready to look for a new car, so we're just hoping that this will hold us over for awhile.
4.) Nathan's shoulder. Nathan shoulder is still pretty sore. The doctor said it could take 4-6 weeks to heal, but it doesn't really seem to be getting much better. His softball season is most definitely over.
5.) New designer. I found out this week that we are gettting a new designer at shop next Thursday for a new face and some awesome releases.
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Andy Kerns is supposed to come and install the rest of our granite this week, so Clair built us a frame around the fireplace inserts, so Andy has something to glue the granite panels to.
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
The guys painted the gas pipe in the front our house to make it blend in with the siding. It will eventually have some landscaping in front of it, but either way it looks so much better now.
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Clair installed all of the handles on the kitchen cabinets.
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Clair installed the hardware on our bathroom vanity cabinets today.
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Steve came out today and leveled the front yard.
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Nathan went up to the house and laid out all of the kitchen backsplash tile. It is a natural travertine and can have a bit of variation in the color. We basically wanted to make sure we took out any of the ones that were really white or had funny holes in them.
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
I made this layout for Faith using some of the new DHD products.
Journaling reads:
Tara posted on her Facebook page that Faith was lovin’ the beach, and also uploaded this picture of Faith and her new do.
Journaling reads:
Tara posted on her Facebook page that Faith was lovin’ the beach, and also uploaded this picture of Faith and her new do.
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Today I went to Charleston to participate in the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk. All over the country, groups of photographers met up to take pictures around the cities. We actually had a pretty good size group in Charleston. I'm usually only into portrait photography, but today was actually a really neat experience. I haven't had time to edit any of the photos, but as soon as I do, I'll be sure to share them. The walk also gave me a really good opportunity to practice my settings and learning my camera. I spent the whole day with my camera on manual and really worked on nailing my exposure and understanding metering.
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
1.) Site maintenance. With the blog maintenance going on, I wasn't able to post regularly as we were testing things. We think we've got all of the bugs worked out, and I should be able to go back to posting daily. So in order to catch, up I had to do some mass updates. The blog home page only displays the last 5 entries, so most of the entries have scrolled off the page, but if you are a regular reader and want to catch up on things, make sure you check the archives:
July Archives
June Archives
There's a lot of pictures of the house progress, some new scrapbook pages, and a few photography sessions thrown in.
2.) Five on Friday Recap. As I go through my week, I make notes for my Five on Friday posts. Sometimes these are mental notes; sometimes I actually jot down little notes or even type up a blurb or two. Despite the fact that there hasn't been any Five on Friday posts on the blog lately, I've still been making notes. So instead of going back and post dating a bunch of stuff, I've decided to do a Five on Friday Bonus Edition. Basically, I'm just going to keep numbering until I've got all of my updates out of the way.
3.) Carpal tunnel. So I had my EMG testing last week, and as it turns out I do NOT have carpal tunnel. Not even close. The doctor said I have no signs of nerve damage. He doesn't really know why my fingers were tingly and painful for an entire month. He is guessing I may have had some type of nerve irritation for overworking it, but he said there was no permanent damage. When the tingling had gotten better the last few weeks, I just figured the wrist brace was working. I had been wearing it at night, when I was typing, and when I cross stitched or quilted anything, but he said he didn't think it was necessary at this point. Obviously, I had good reason to question "Veronica's" diagnosis.
4.) EMG. An EMG, which studies nerve conductions (by delivering electrical impulses to the nerves) and muscles (by inserting a needle probe into different muscles), is an uncomfortable procedure but a very useful and sensitive test for carpal tunnel syndrome.
Overall the EMG wasn't too bad. I was worried, because I had read so many things online about how painful it can be. It definitely hurt a little bit, but nothing too horrible.
5.) Car problems. As we went to leave the neurologist's office after my testing, we were glad to have the clear diagnosis and excited that it didn't take too long, because we were hoping to make it out to the house and talk to Clair and the guys before they quit for the day. We had a good 45 minutes to make it out there, so we were set – or so we thought. We get in the car, and it won't start! Lovely! Nathan
checks some things under the hood, but we weren't really sure if it was the battery or the starter or what. So we called my parents, and they head our way to try and give us a jump. We eventually get the jeep started and took it to Advanced Auto. It turned out to be a bad cell in the battery, which was actually still under warranty, so we didn’t even have to pay for a new one. Needless to say, we didn't make it out to the house in time, but at least we didn't end up having to spend a bunch of money on repairs.
6.) The E.R. That same day, Nathan had a softball game at 9:30. During the game, while Nathan was playing in the right outfield, he made the most.amazing.catch! Seriously, it would have been a highlight on ESPN if we had it on tape. It was a foul ball, and he had to run clear off of the field, practically into the parking lot, and jump 10 feet in the air, while completely stretched out horizontally to catch the ball. It was seriously A.MAZ.ING! After he caught it and was walking back to the field, everyone was cheering and clapping, and I said, "Oh yeah, that's my husband!" Well, a few innings later, he had to run up to try and catch another fly ball. He didn't make it there in time and kind of fell and rolled forward trying to dive for the ball. When he fell he landed on his shoulder. It really didn't look too bad, but after the next pitch he came off the field holding his arm. He tried to sit for awhile and watch the rest of the game, but the pain was pretty bad, and we were afraid he may have broken his collar bone, so we left and went to the emergency room. We waited at the emergency room for 3 hours before they even took an x-ray, and it was another hour or so before we got to see a doctor. The doctor took a quick glance at the x-ray and said that nothing was broken. He told Nathan to ice it and get an MRI done next week if it wasn't feeling better. Nathan went to see an orthopedic doctor on Wednesday, and he said he thinks Nathan separated his shoulder, but luckily nothing appeared to be torn. Nathan is still in some pain, and his softball season may be over, but in the long run he should be OK.
7.) Sunburst. I FINALLY got a new phone. The outer screen on my old one stopped working months ago, but I didn't like any of the new ones, so I just kept on using my half-broken one. Well, the other day the inside screen also stopped working, so I finally had to call it quits. It was one of the older Razors that I had for years – and it was pink. It was a good phone. I ended up getting the Samsung Sunburst. It was free from Sams. Nathan has had the same phone for a few weeks now, and had pretty good luck with it. It has a lot better reception than the Solstice that he had before and had to return. I don't text or twitter or search the Internet, so my requirements for a phone are pretty simple. I wanted something thin that had good reception and basically just made calls. Overall, I don't hate the phone. These are my biggest complaints:
- It beeps and lights up when the battery is fully charged. This may not seem like a big deal, but most of the time I charge my phone at night. So I plug it in, and then an hour or two later once I am sound asleep it makes this loud beeping noise and lights up. Highly annoying.
-You cannot change the background on the screensaver when the phone is locked. Basically it just has a group of random images that it rotates through. You do not get to pick a single image and you cannot delet e any of the images in the rotation. Yes, this is annoying and I think I should be allowed to pick my own screensaver, but more importantly, Nathan and I have the same phone. So if our phones are both locked – which they are the majority of the time unless you are actually using them, they look exactly the same laying on the table. We were able to change the font on Nathan's so at least there is a slight difference.
I have actually emailed Samsung about both of these items, and they confirmed that there is no way to change those features. Other than those things, and the fact that it doesn't come in pink, I am adjusting to the phone. I am thinking about ordering one of the custom skins for my phone. Just so it looks nicer and so we could tell ours apart. Has anyone ever ordered one of those before? Is it just a sticker or does it stay on pretty well?
July Archives
June Archives
There's a lot of pictures of the house progress, some new scrapbook pages, and a few photography sessions thrown in.
2.) Five on Friday Recap. As I go through my week, I make notes for my Five on Friday posts. Sometimes these are mental notes; sometimes I actually jot down little notes or even type up a blurb or two. Despite the fact that there hasn't been any Five on Friday posts on the blog lately, I've still been making notes. So instead of going back and post dating a bunch of stuff, I've decided to do a Five on Friday Bonus Edition. Basically, I'm just going to keep numbering until I've got all of my updates out of the way.
3.) Carpal tunnel. So I had my EMG testing last week, and as it turns out I do NOT have carpal tunnel. Not even close. The doctor said I have no signs of nerve damage. He doesn't really know why my fingers were tingly and painful for an entire month. He is guessing I may have had some type of nerve irritation for overworking it, but he said there was no permanent damage. When the tingling had gotten better the last few weeks, I just figured the wrist brace was working. I had been wearing it at night, when I was typing, and when I cross stitched or quilted anything, but he said he didn't think it was necessary at this point. Obviously, I had good reason to question "Veronica's" diagnosis.
4.) EMG. An EMG, which studies nerve conductions (by delivering electrical impulses to the nerves) and muscles (by inserting a needle probe into different muscles), is an uncomfortable procedure but a very useful and sensitive test for carpal tunnel syndrome.
Overall the EMG wasn't too bad. I was worried, because I had read so many things online about how painful it can be. It definitely hurt a little bit, but nothing too horrible.
5.) Car problems. As we went to leave the neurologist's office after my testing, we were glad to have the clear diagnosis and excited that it didn't take too long, because we were hoping to make it out to the house and talk to Clair and the guys before they quit for the day. We had a good 45 minutes to make it out there, so we were set – or so we thought. We get in the car, and it won't start! Lovely! Nathan
checks some things under the hood, but we weren't really sure if it was the battery or the starter or what. So we called my parents, and they head our way to try and give us a jump. We eventually get the jeep started and took it to Advanced Auto. It turned out to be a bad cell in the battery, which was actually still under warranty, so we didn’t even have to pay for a new one. Needless to say, we didn't make it out to the house in time, but at least we didn't end up having to spend a bunch of money on repairs.
6.) The E.R. That same day, Nathan had a softball game at 9:30. During the game, while Nathan was playing in the right outfield, he made the most.amazing.catch! Seriously, it would have been a highlight on ESPN if we had it on tape. It was a foul ball, and he had to run clear off of the field, practically into the parking lot, and jump 10 feet in the air, while completely stretched out horizontally to catch the ball. It was seriously A.MAZ.ING! After he caught it and was walking back to the field, everyone was cheering and clapping, and I said, "Oh yeah, that's my husband!" Well, a few innings later, he had to run up to try and catch another fly ball. He didn't make it there in time and kind of fell and rolled forward trying to dive for the ball. When he fell he landed on his shoulder. It really didn't look too bad, but after the next pitch he came off the field holding his arm. He tried to sit for awhile and watch the rest of the game, but the pain was pretty bad, and we were afraid he may have broken his collar bone, so we left and went to the emergency room. We waited at the emergency room for 3 hours before they even took an x-ray, and it was another hour or so before we got to see a doctor. The doctor took a quick glance at the x-ray and said that nothing was broken. He told Nathan to ice it and get an MRI done next week if it wasn't feeling better. Nathan went to see an orthopedic doctor on Wednesday, and he said he thinks Nathan separated his shoulder, but luckily nothing appeared to be torn. Nathan is still in some pain, and his softball season may be over, but in the long run he should be OK.
7.) Sunburst. I FINALLY got a new phone. The outer screen on my old one stopped working months ago, but I didn't like any of the new ones, so I just kept on using my half-broken one. Well, the other day the inside screen also stopped working, so I finally had to call it quits. It was one of the older Razors that I had for years – and it was pink. It was a good phone. I ended up getting the Samsung Sunburst. It was free from Sams. Nathan has had the same phone for a few weeks now, and had pretty good luck with it. It has a lot better reception than the Solstice that he had before and had to return. I don't text or twitter or search the Internet, so my requirements for a phone are pretty simple. I wanted something thin that had good reception and basically just made calls. Overall, I don't hate the phone. These are my biggest complaints:
- It beeps and lights up when the battery is fully charged. This may not seem like a big deal, but most of the time I charge my phone at night. So I plug it in, and then an hour or two later once I am sound asleep it makes this loud beeping noise and lights up. Highly annoying.
-You cannot change the background on the screensaver when the phone is locked. Basically it just has a group of random images that it rotates through. You do not get to pick a single image and you cannot delet e any of the images in the rotation. Yes, this is annoying and I think I should be allowed to pick my own screensaver, but more importantly, Nathan and I have the same phone. So if our phones are both locked – which they are the majority of the time unless you are actually using them, they look exactly the same laying on the table. We were able to change the font on Nathan's so at least there is a slight difference.
I have actually emailed Samsung about both of these items, and they confirmed that there is no way to change those features. Other than those things, and the fact that it doesn't come in pink, I am adjusting to the phone. I am thinking about ordering one of the custom skins for my phone. Just so it looks nicer and so we could tell ours apart. Has anyone ever ordered one of those before? Is it just a sticker or does it stay on pretty well?
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Tonight Bryce and Kaleigh invited us all over to their house for dinner. Marvin and Bryce finished building the fence around their backyard last week, and Bryce has set up a great area arond the fire to hang out. I was trying to take a pictures of the guys all sitting around the campfire. I was standing on the back deck taking the picture, and couldn't really see the guys until the flash went off. Each time I would take a picture, one of them would hold up their arm and flex for the photo. Each time I would just shake my head and try again. The last one I took was this one. Aren't they funny?
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
The state road crew came out and added the drain cover to the last drop inlet. We should now be ready to do the final grade next week and smooth out our yard.
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Today they started working in the garage. They trimmed out the two windows.
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
They finished the stair railing today.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Today they are working on the railing that goes up the staircase.
Monday, July 19th, 2010
They installed the faucets in the master shower.
Sunday, July 18th, 2010
Dad and Nathan went up to the house today and added a few screws to the top of the master closet support system. They wanted to make sure that they hit as many studs as they can to support the weight of the whole thing once we start filling it up. After they were done, Nathan and I swept it out and tried to clean it up some.
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
They installed our garage doors yesterday. Overall, the experience was kind of a let down. The first thing I noticed was that the windows are wrong. It's hard to tell in this picture, but the window grid pattern is different on the big door than the smaller one. Plus, one of the windows is broken. Then when you got up close to the doors, the walnut stain really just did not look right. It is scratched and worn in some places. Kendell was actually able to just rub it right off with a handkerchief. Miller Door assured us that they would make everything right and get us completely new doors. They have been really wonderful to work with, and I have complete faith in them, but it was just kind of a disappointing day.
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
Here's a recap of some of my latest scrapbook pages.
Everyday Love
Everyday Love
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
You Make Me Smile
Friday, July 16th, 2010
The DOH came out and poured the concrete for the drop inlet.
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Here are some new pictures of the kitchen. It has just about everything installed at this point. We are still missing one piece of crown molding, a few kick plates, and my tile backsplash, but you can really see the whole room come together now.
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Nathan and I stayed for a few hours tonight and finsihed installing the master closet. Clair had already installed all of the top header bars, and some of the racks, but we finished off all of the accessories and accents.
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Here are some more photos of the finished railing overlooking the family room.
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Today Andy (from Kerns Marble and Granite) installed our granite countertops in the kitchen. I LOVE them!!!!
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
The DOH came back out today and started working on the second drop inlet.
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Clair is continuing to work on the trim for the kitchen cabinets. It's really starting to shape up in there.
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Today they put up the new coach lights. We decided to swap the two beside the front door for the slightly smaller version. I think these look a lot better in the space.
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
Mandy has been my best friend since we were both three years old. Growing up, she was the closest thing to a sister that I had, and I love her and her family like she was my sister. Mandy is quite the photog herself, so when she asked if I could take some shots of her family, I was completely honored.
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
I couldn't help but share a few more of my favorites from my session with Mandy's family. I love this one of them all cuddled up.
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
Today we drove out to Country Cabinets to pick up the other bathroom vanity cabinets. This is the master vanity. It is 9 ft long and will have two sink bowls.
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Today they worked on the bead board trim in the Jack and Jill bath.
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Greenscape came back today and finished the retaining wall. Not only did we have them add the caps, but we also decided to have them extend a few of the sections out so it stair-stepped more quickly.
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
They finally finished the siding on the outside of the house. Most of it has been done for weeks now, but there were a few places left they had to finish up. They finished one part above the windows in the sunroom.
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
They had to trim the sides a little bit to make them fit, but the guys got both of our Jack and Jill vanities set into place.
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Today, we came up and added some extra insulation to the basement. Once they frame it in, they will be adding regular R-13 insulation, but this is a special rigid foam board that can sit behind the frame. It adds a little extra insulation value and also acts as a water barrier.
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010
Today Nathan and I came up and painted the basement with a water proof paint.
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Now that the back of the house is painted, they started adding trim to the basement windows.
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Today they painted the exposed basement walls in the back of the house.