Happy ARBOR DAY!

I joined the arbor day foundation a few weeks ago.  With my membership I was given 10 free trees to plant!
 http://www.arborday.org/shopping/memberships/memberships.cfm?trackingid=528
I gave away several of them, because they probably wouldn't grow well in Corinne (according to some people) and they weren't really what I have planned for our yard anyway.  But I did plant the few I kept.  They are just tiny little sticks in dirt right now, but it will be fun to watch them grow at our new home, as the years go by.
I also got 2 more free trees today.  I had to swing into walmart to get more tape for packing boxes, and Nucor Steel was out in front giving away the state tree to celebrate Arbor day!  Blue Spruce wasn't in the landscaping plan either, but now I think I will incorporate them anyway, cuz they are so cute :0)  Probably going to be putting them between our yard and the Hardy's on the west side of us.  Not sure yet if I want to put them in the front of the yard or in the back yard.
To learn about the first Arbor day go here:
http://www.arborday.org/arborday/history.cfm

I love nature and love that I get to have a beautiful yard full of beautiful plants and trees.

and since you have been so patient

here are the colors on the walls......

Packing and Stacking

I definately want to take these fellas along :)

It is starting to get mighty crowded around here.

So tomorrow, Sat. May 1 !!!!  is National Scrapbook Day.  It is not my fault that my big scrappy day landed on the weekend we should be moving in.  As we got closer to being finished, Tyson said that we could move in slowly, and that I could scrapbook on sat.  Well, he changed his mind (I thought only women were allowed to do that).  He announced that Monday would be our big move in date.  So instead of taking my time getting the walls painted, then packing and moving things a little at a time - I am stressing out, I painted every free second I had, and packing is just crazy, and then we had to take our SUV to the shop, so I couldn't even move stuff after I packed it- the boxes literally have no where to go in this tiny apartment.  I tried as hard as I could to keep my "ME" day, but alas, in order to have anyone to help us, we had to do most of the moving on sat.  (most people don't have mondays off, like Tyson does).  So I am determined that I will get at least 5 hours (7am to noon) of my scrapping, and then I will relinquish myself to the "important" tasks that demand my time.
I don't have a lot of scrapping people in my life (just my online scrapjazz friends) - so no one understands this fight I have been putting up.  my brother tried to tell me that I could celebrate national scrapbook day next weekend instead -- to put it into terms others could understand I said "telling a scrapper they don't need to scrap on National Scrapbook Day cuz they can do scrapbooking any other time, is like telling a soccer player they don't need to go play in their game cuz they can kick a ball around anytime."
last year I actually won a BIG prize - it was so sweet to get rewarded for doing my hobby that I love (and spend so much $$ on LOL).
so anyway -- tomorrow, the big MOVE starts -- well, actually I moved clothes over today - just put them in big black trash bags after sorting and folding the clean laundry.  I ran some over while Thomas was at school.  Then ran over a second load after he came home.  He thought it was so cool that we had clothes in our closets :)
We also walked next door to visit his buddies Nicholas and Joshua.  They are the boys he's been playing with this whole time we have been building - they moved today.  So when I told him we were going to go see them at their house, he started to head to the car, and I told him we were just going to walk there.  He was a little surprized, I think, to finally understand that they are going to be NEXT DOOR!!!!!

paint is done

I know this post is worthless without pictures, but my camera battery is dead, so you will have to wait.
But I am so in love with all the colors.  It was long hard work, but I am done, and I am happy with the results.  (except the laundry room, I bought the color on a whim, and it will take some getting used to - or repainting  - I wanted a color to brighten up the room, but the light shimmery blue that I picked just makes it look darker.  so we will see about that one)

now to pack and make the big move.

picking the colors

the cutest helper EVER

so today I sat out at the house for a little while.  I spread all the color samples out on the blue carpet, and  tried to decide which "tan/brown" I liked for the living room, and which blue for the bedroom.  It was a lot harder than I ever imagined.  LOL.

but after much deliberation here are the ones I have settled on!!

midnight dream (dark blue) for the bedroom

Frappe' (grey) for the dining room

and Cafe' Au Lait (I don't even know how to pronounce that) (tan) for the living room

Keep your fingers crossed for me, that it all works out awesome in the end!

aww, I am flattered

Thomas is getting better at drawing.  This, he says, is a picture of me.  isn't that sweet!

Sneak Peek Tour

made a video for ya'll to see my house in the final stage!!!
It's still dirty cuz I did the video before I finished the cleaning up, cuz I wanted to do it in the daylight (those cfl lights are a bit dim)
I wonder when the reality of it all is going to hit me?

here it comes......

just 2 more days to go until the house is officially ours! 
The weather forcast for our open house Thurs. night - drenching rain :( 
 Tonight I cleaned and cleaned.  I hauled all our tools and misc. stuff out of the house to make it spotlessly clean -- I felt like I was moving out instead of getting ready to move in.  LOL
Tomorrow there is still more cleaning to do -- tubs, floors, hose down dirty driveway and sidewalks, vacuuming up all the new carpet's loose fuzzy stands
Oh yeah - here is our BLUE CARPET!!  Doesn't it look awesome?

also the giant hill in the back of our houses has been cleared away!  It is great to finally have a clear view of what our magnificent backyard will look like - so much easier to see it's potential!

For anyone that is planning to come to the open house on Thurs April 22 from 4-6 ---
 you take exit 365
head west
once you are in Corinne, on the right side you pass by the gas station, then the Golden Spike Cafe, then turn left - if you pass by MIM's pub, you went too far.  You will see the tiny post office, then up ahead the red brick church - turn right in front of the church - this is 2350 w.  - keep going west until you see all the new homes (about 3 blocks or so)  I tried looking for street signs today, but there are none, so this is the best I could do.

Our Last Saturday

can it really be true?
Our work hours for saturday are 7am to about 5 or 6pm.  Tyson has always been the one to get up and go every saturday morning.  Today was my very first morning to go early.  Tyson said he had a lot of fun this morning hanging out with the boys.  I got a few odds and ends done (like scrubbing tubs, washing windows, finishing touch up paint, etc.), then I came home, and sent Tyson out to do the last of the "bigger" projects.  He has to plaster some holes in the garage, put ceder under the steps that go out to the garage, put in the dead bolts, and put the weather strip back around all the exterior doors.  Today is also the day that Norm wants us to clean up all the tools we have been using and get the "pod" reorganized and ready for the next group.

Today is also our 6th Anniversary.  Since it's still a work day, we won't get to do much to celebrate this year, except going out to dinner.
I just want to tell Tyson that he has been wonderful to me, and it amazes me how he puts up with some of my silliness so often.  He is definately my match.  I am looking forward to this new chapter of our lives in our new house.

One week to go

Next Thursday (APRIL 22)  is our open house (from 4pm to 6pm).

We are feeling the crunch this week.  I want to be out there ALL the time, but with the kiddos, it's just not possible.  So far this week we:
got paint on the exterior doors, one more coat on one side of the atrium door, and one more coat on the garage side door today and that will be done. 
touch up paint done around the house - windows, doors, baseboards, closets, dings in the walls (there are just too many of those)
Tyson poured a cement step for the front door. (and at the neighobors, too)
the wood flooring needed all the skinny baseboard strips like around the base of the kitchen cabinets, and the doors, (Thanks to Ryan who came and helped Tyson get that pain in the neck project done), and the big transition strips put down too - but we were one piece short so Ty got it ordered, and is going to Logan to pick it up this morning and then out to the house to get it put down.
We are getting everything all cleaned up so we can get carpet put in.  The first house got theirs in on Monday - it looks great - and when I walked in, the biggest surprize was that the ECHO was gone.  LOL - it was so weird. 
We have to take all the doors in the house back down for the carpet people (inset rolling eyes here - I hate all this putting them up and then taking them back down business)

Floor and Countertops!

Here it is!  The wood floor.  The color is called Butterscotch!  It is really bright, and taking me some getting used to :)  But it sure is beautiful!

Tyson's brother Ryan, and my brothers Nate and AJ came last Saturday and helped put it in!  They knocked it all out in just one day.  Thanks so much you guys!  We could not have done it without you!

***********

COUNTERTOPS!!!

The mirror guy came to measure all the houses yesterday, so I expect to see those get put in soon.

my new hairdo

I am still trying to figure out how to do photos with this new format

Here is a pic of my new hair!

I went to get a quick haircut when I finally had some free "me" time.  And when I walked in my mouth said

"I would like to get some highlights" 

LOL  I spent more time and more money than I had intended, but I really do like the new look.  I was always too scared to try this when I was younger, eventhough it was really a popular thing to do. 

Tyson likes that I am "blonde" again!  It's like the best of both worlds :)

Hmmmm

well, the other night I did some "update" on blogger, and now I cannot figure out how to post photos =-( How stupid that they would make it more difficult, instead of easier to do more on your blog. I am pretty mad about this.

A fun Easter!

20 days AND COUNTING!!

much has been done on the house this week -
Plumbing!
We have sinks, showers, toilets, disposal! WAHOO!
There were a few snags.
When the plumber came on Tues. he discovered that our water heater was not going to fit in the utility room, because the furnace was installed too far over. The countertops weren't put in until Thurs. So the sinks sat around on the floors, and Tyson had to move the kitchen sink into the living room so that he could prep the floor for putting in the laminate. Also on Thurs. Tyson did a bunch of work to get that waterheater into it's correct spot. he said it is a good thing he knew how to do some electrician work (thank you marine corps).
As mentioned the countertops were put in Thurs!!! I haven't gotten to see them yet, I am dying to.
Tomorrow is the big day! We have several helpers coming to assist in putting in the floor. We hope to do it all in one day. *fingers crossed*
Next week we have to get the interior doors painted - they have been standing up in the garage for days - but the waterheater has also been standing in the garage for days. Then when Tyson finally got it out of the way, and was ready to paint - the paint sprayer would not work. He got one big shot of glop on the top of one door, and then it quit.
After we get the doors done, we have lots of paint to touch up around the house, around windows and the tubs where things were taped off, and the paint came off with the tape :(
Not much else after that. Put the door knobs on the doors, hang the towel rods, etc.
Carpet comes the next week.