Roughing it

 Things are still very much a mess around here.  This morning, the guys showed up to demolish our fireplace.  Ugly ~ isn't it? But the good news is that now that the fireplace is removed, the guys are here putting in the subfloor and starting to put things together again. This week floors, next week put our kitchen back in and *hopefully* finish the floors the weekend after this one.

As of this weekend, we moved out of the master bedroom and into the guest room.  Awesome...

We are pretending we are visiting friends who are hoarders.  Take the pile of pillows off the bed and put them on the floor. In the morning, take them off the floor and put them on the bed. I can't find a darn thing since everything is either in storage,  or stacked in piles in the closet, guest bedroom or the garage. UGH.

I sleep on the right side of the bed, smooshed up against the fridge, and at night, the dogs in the stacked cages.  - Stack 'em deep and sell em' cheap!  (Just kidding)  ;)

Poor babies, they are tired of all this commotion and mess! Us too.

We are guessing another two weeks or so.  Pray that we make it...

Not such a peaceful place...

After the moving company packed up most of our stuff, this is what the living room looked like with the floors still in place

The plumber came and took out the sink,   the electrician removed the stove, the microwave, and the oven, and the granite guy came and took off our counter tops.  I didn't realize what a habit it was to come home, put my handbag on the island, and how often I actually go to the kitchen sink to wash my hands, fill up the dog's water dish, etc.   What a pain. 

 This was yesterday, in the kitchen with all my lower cabinetry gone, the fridge gone and the flooring, gone.

This is our view as we exit the hallway from the master bedroom (for now).  See that huge machine?  That is the dehumidifier and it is loud and annoying.  As much as I dislike it, it is no where near as annoying as the drying fans we had last week, and may get again this week, depending on how wet the slab is.  Dear Lord, please help me...

The only hardwood flooring that survived on the first level is in my office.  Even the flooring in the dining room had to go.
We are squished like sardines with the four dogs in the master bedroom and it's about to get even more squished as we move out of the master into the guest room. As long as we are knee deep in dust and debris, we've decided to have the carpet removed in the master and the hardwoods extended in there.
I think this spring with all the allergies we usually suffer from, not having carpet in our master might make a difference.
I'm trying to be patient, I'm trying to keep a smile on my face as I know many people have it much, much worse.  This is also the kick in the butt we've needed to really start getting rid of all the excess "junk" we have around here and don't need.
I'm hoping this process goes quickly.

What A Mess!

We moved into our home about 4 1/2 years ago.  The day we closed, this is pretty much how the house looked as we walked in the front door.  Lovely faux paint, gorgeous hardwood floors, nice open space. It's been a very nice place to live until just recently.

 See these gorgeous floors and that beautiful stone fireplace?  Well, they are about to be ripped out.

 My island, my stove top, all my countertops have to all be pulled out.  Torn up. Gone. No stove, no refrigerator, NO KEURIG!

 Really??? Yep. We had what we thought was a minor water leak with our hot water heater.  Turns out, water travels much further and faster than you ever imagine and our entire living space downstairs is being packed up today so the demolition can begin.

Oh, and I work from home.  And all of my office has to be packed up and moved to storage...I can keep what I need in a few small boxes - What!!!??? It's my office! And it's time for business taxes, and I need my client files, and, and, and....Ugh. How do I decide what is absolutely important and what I can live without for possibly up to 6 or 8 weeks?  

I know me, and I'll keep out all this stuff I think I need (never to touch the entire time!) and pack up the rest and that is exactly the file, or whatever that I'll really need. Can anybody else relate?

Doug and I will be moving into our tiny little guest room that also has to house our four dogs, along with all the items the restoration people don't think should go into storage (art, TV's, etc)  Oh yeah.

Really, just what a mess.  So if I'm a little cranky and a little preoccupied - please just say a prayer for me.  I know in the grand scheme of things, this is really just an annoyance.  We really are blessed beyond measure and nobody got hurt, nobody died, we didn't lose any of our possessions (although we could stand to rid ourselves of so much stuff!).  It could be so much worse....

Valentine Crown Class

I am just *in love* with my Valentine Crown!  You must check out Jackie's blog to see all the variety on each person's crown.  Each one came out so beautiful, but aside from my own, my second favorite is Lisa's crown with the sweet pig on it.  (I'm not meaning to BRAG, but I'm so happy about how my crown turned out)
      
A special surprise was that one of my friends that I haven't seen in a long while was there to take the class too.  Hope to see you again soon Terri!
Oh! and I won another one of Jackie's paper dolls. :)

As I've said before, there are so many fabulous classes coming up!  I wish I could take them all, and I'm signing up for as many as I can.  Wait until you see...

Valentine Swap

This year seemed to be a slow one for Valentine Swaps.  I didn't see very many being hosted and I knew that I just didn't have the time or the energy this time around to host or participate.  

Chris from  Perfectly Printed decided to have a one to one Valentine swap and I signed up. This is the Valentine I received from her, along with a couple other vintage valentines:

This was the Valentine I created for her.  I'm not sure where the image of the little girl came from, I just thought she was absolutely adorable.

What have you been creating for Valentine's Day?

Valentine spool

Another fabulous class with Jackie at the Paper Crown last night!  We made these fun Valentine spools.

 I was the lucky winner of the door prize ~ one of Jackie's fabulous  paper dolls made from the Character Construction stamps. Yay me!

I wish I could take every single class that is offered at the Paper Crown.  The talent of the teachers, as I've said before, is just amazing.  In the next two months, there are so many beautiful classes coming up and I plan to take as many as possible.
Happy February!