Sewing Project

Here is the sunroom complete with my window valances!! If I am to never use my sewing machine again it has paid for itself (the machine costs me what the seamstress shop told me they would charge me to make these 5 things!) They look pretty darn good if I must say so myself!!!!

Kitchen Remodel Day #2

We are making wonderful progress at our house and I am soooooooo thrilled about it!! Here are some photos of today's progress:

Now we just wait for the electrician before they can continue................

DEMO DAY

The demolition began this morning at 7am! They made quite a bit of progress before calling it a day. Here is what the area looked like before 7 this morning:

And here is what it looks like this afternoon:

They will be back in the morning with the electrician to work out some kinks they ran into today; ie. apparantly the pantry was the old laundry room so there were exposed valves under the wall, one of the air vents on the office wall was in the way and there are a few electrical outlets in the way. Nothing too big so that is exciting! We have to wait on the alarm company to come out (they said Wednesday afternoon) to move the alarm box also before they can start framing the arch! Never a dull moment when remodeling!!

Happy Monday!

CMG

From I Do's to Honey Do's Part III

My first sewing lesson was a GREAT success. Tayrn showed me how to sew using the fabric I purchased for the backdoor (so technically she sewed the door panel!) It looks fantastic and dropped the temperature in the room by about 20 degrees it seems! (it's also nice not being able to have people walking by see straight into our sunroom and laundry room!)

In about 2 hours I learned how to officially sew on my own and made my first valance for our bathroom window (if you look closely enough you can see that I need to work on straight lines but not bad for the first time!) I am going to work on the

valances for the sunroom windows this next week and hopefully have them up soon! It is amazing how different a room looks with a little color and fabric at the top of the window!!

BEG and I have been discussing busting out our pantry wall which connects to the office currently and making it a den off of the kitchen. This is obviously something that we could not take on ourselves so we had our friend Paxton's dad, who is a contractor, come and look at it last week to see how involved it would be and to give us a quote. He came over last Wednesday alone, brought his partner and the electrician back last Thursday, called with a quote this morning and will start Monday at 7am!! I am really excited about this project!! It will allow our house to flow so much better than before. I won't feel so isolated while in the kitchen cooking and I'm excited about having a formal living room AND a den!!! He said it should only take a week.......

I'll post pictures next week!

Here's to never ending home projects! Happy Friday!

CMG

From I Do's to Honey Do's Part II

Well, BEG hit his first snag in our "do it yourself" home remodel this weekend. He had hoped to dig the post holes for the back deck on Wednesday night so that he and Paxton could work on it this weekend, however he was in for a nice little surprise. About 6 inches under the dirt where 2 of his holes need to be he hit brick!! We are not quite sure of the bricks purpose, all we know is it is exactly where our holes need to be so..................the covering of the back deck will just have to wait. Paxton came over yesterday evening and was able to use a hammer saw (I think that's what it is called) to bust through the brick so BEG will attempt to continue digging the holes this week and hopefully they will be ready to start on the cover soon (fingers crossed!)

But in the meantime, there are plenty of other things that need to be done! So since BEG was available on Saturday I put him to work painting a piece of furniture I was given while living in DC and have used in my house ever since. We have it by the backdoor at Gladstone to put our keys on when we come in and just for a little bit of storage. It looks sooooo much better now that we painted it. Here are before and after pictures: (I forgot to take a before and am having quite a difficult time finding one; I will continue to look for one but in the meantime here is the after!)

We finally found an arrangement in the living that suits BEG and I both (thank goodness!!) so we were on the hunt for an armoire this weekend as well. With the rooms being so large and the ceilings so tall we were on the hunt for a relatively large piece and we found the perfect one at the Caboose Antiques in Shreveport. I love the piece and it is perfect for the room! I needed a place for all of my "knick knacks" and books and this is just the perfect piece for that and it looks beautiful in the room. It is our second piece from Caboose. (Side note: That is my new sewing machine to the left of the bookcase.)

I thought a plant for the living room to put behind the chair and a half (need tall things since the ceilings are 12 feet tall!!) would be nice but I refused to pay full price for one at the store (they are really expensive) so while out and about a few weekends ago we came across a garage sale down the street from my old house and we found a plant for $2!!!!!!!!! Such a steal! I was so proud of myself for my cheap purchase and it is exactly what I had envisioned. Looks pretty good for $2...

I have my first sewing lesson on Wednesday night and I am so excited! This whole sewing thing came about last week as I need some valances made for the sunroom/breezeway. The lady we have used for years for sewing is getting older and will retire before too long so I thought it would be a good idea to learn to sew for myself. Other shops intown are just so expensive for "little" projects and I refuse to pay their outrageous prices when I could just buy a machine and do it myself for the same price! Hopefully my valances will turn out decent enough to hang. If so I will post a picture for you to see!!

Have a good week!

CMG

From I Do's to Honey Do's

Since Blake quit the bank and is back doing landwork, we decided that Shreveport is the place to be at the current time so we have taken the house off the market and will enjoy Shreveport while we are here! The house has been off the market now for about a week and we have already started on our "to do" list around the house.

The first task at hand was to put a hood in the kitchen over the range (somehow the previous owners got away with not having one in and Blake and I nor the inspector picked up on the fact that there wasn't one!) I found one that I loved at a store in Shreveport but it was sooo expensive so I googled the model # and info and found one almost identical for half the price online!! It arrived on our door within days and they began installing it yesterday! They should finish today and we can finally cook something without being constantly remin

ded of what was cooked for the next week (bacon was the worst!!) Here is a before picture...........................

And after..............

Ahhh, much better!! There are a few more things to be done in the kitchen but the main thing has been checked off of the do list (finally!!)

Blake and our friend, Paxton, are starting on our 2nd project which is to cover part of the back deck. I am about as excited about this as I am the hood finally being up!! We have a beautiful 2 level back deck but no part of it is covered so I am thrilled for a few things namely
a) I will finally be able to enjoy my hammock (it is extremely hot to sit outside right now with no shade)
b) I love to watch it rain while sitting outside but I would get all wet if I attempted to do that now
c) the dogs continually get soaked when it rains b/c there is no where dry for them to go

I will keep you posted on their progress but here is what the back currently looks like

We hope to get a lot done this weekend so I will post with our progress on Monday! Have a great weekend!!

CMG

Time of My Life

Whew, what a month! I've been catching quite a bit of heat for slacking on my post but I do feel that I had a valid excuse. But do not worry, life is slowing down so the post will begin to be more frequent!!

We started the wedding weekend off with a bit of a scare. Blake's parents were in an accident in Tyler, TX on their way into town for the weekend on Wednesday. Thankfully no one was injured but the car is still in the shop as I type this. Blake went and picked them up in Tyler and brought them to Shreveport just in time for us to meet my parents at Superior for supper.

All of our family and friends began to arrive intown on Thursday, May 13. Blake and I had everyone over to our house for tacos and beer and are so glad many were able to make it by. It was so much fun seeing everyone and being able to visit. There were a few folks (the Downers) that I hadn't seen in a few years so it was great to have some "down time" to catch up. It was a wonderful way to start the weekend.

We got up a hit the ground running Friday morning. I was off to the Bridesmaid's Luncheon with the girls while Blake did some errand running. The day was over before it even started (or so it felt) and before I knew it it was time to be at the church for the Rehearsal. Thankfully we have wonderful friends who really came through and helped when we needed them. A BIG thank you to Bennett (and Dave) for errand running with Blake gathering up much needed things for the weekend (kegs, suits for groomsmen, etc) and a ENORMOUS thank you to Jill (and Mikala) for everything you did all weekend (there is too much to even mention!)
Blake's parents travel hicup was just the beginning as we had a few of our out of town guests get SUPER delayed along the way. We had 1 groomsmen stuck in Dallas, TX all day Friday finally arriving 12 hours after his scheduled arrival time and the Luddeke's stuck in Dallas as well not arriving until Saturday morning. Thankfully the McQuown's flight made it out of Houston in a brief window of good weather. We want to thank everyone who traveled in for the weekend. We know that traveling is not easy and we thank you for coming!
The Rehearsal Dinner was so much fun. A friend of ours from work, Clark Chandler, catered the event and the food was delicious. The location, Fox Creek Farms, could not have been more appropriate for the atmosphere we were looking for. Thankfully the weather held out too until everyone was inside the barn and it had stopped raining by the time we left that night. A BIG thank you to the Garrett's for a wonderful evening with family and friends.

Saturday morning began with rain. Blake had been telling me for days (as I looked at the forcast and saw rain) to only worry about the things I could control so I just prayed all day everyday for sunshine. We had a lot of people doing a lot of praying for pretty weather and low and behold, about 9 am it quite raining, the clouds evaporated and the sun started shining!! It was a glorious moment for me! Daddy dropped me off to get my hairdone at 7:30 am and picked me back up at 8:15 and he and I went and had a father/daughter breakfast at none other than McDonald's (a good balanced meal to have on your wedding day!) We really had to be efficient with our time considering the wedding was at noon and everyone did a great job of getting where they needed to be on time.
It was noon before I even had time to get nervous and daddy and I were lined up about to head down the aisle. It was such a moving moment to see all the people who have meant so much to Blake and I throughout our lives all in the same place. I cried, which I knew I would, when I got a glimpse of the 20 people standing in the front of the church. Blake and I both have been blessed with the best friends any one person could ask for. We feel extremely blessed to be surrounded and loved by such wonderful people!
The wedding was PERFECT!! The guys linen suits looked amazing on them, the girls dresses were beautiful, the flowers were soft and elegant, the homily was good (and short!), Blake's surprise feet washing was so Blake and so moving, Matt's solo was breath taking and the Sounds of Harmony recessional of "Oh Happy Day" was not only entertaining to all in the church but exactly what I had imagined since I was a little girl. PERFECT is the only word I can use when people ask how the wedding was. It truely was and neither one of us could be more grateful for all the hardwork from everyone involved.
The reception was just as wonderful as the ceremony. We ended up tenting the entire outdoor area at the Barnwell Center since rain was predicted for the day. It was a little hot at first but once the crowd cleared out the breeze was able to cool us down a little. KC Ray and the Southside Rockers were fantastic as always and really got people moving and shaking on the dance floor, the Petroleum Club out did themselves with the food, Alison Foreman's cakes were delicious (as always) and Thirfty's milk punches were a crowd hit (and Blake's favorite)! Sadly, we were told that the band could not play forever and that we must leave our reception (I could have stayed and danced all night long!!!)
We were not away for long, as we reappeared at the Robinson Film Center for a dinner celebrating our marriage hosted by many of my parents wondeful friends. It was a great way to end the evening, being able to visit with many out of town guests who we were unable to visit with at the reception. When I say the stars aligned perfectly for us on the weather front I am not exaggerating. As we entered the Robinson Film Center 2 hours after our outdoor reception ended the bottom fell out and it began to pour down rain!! All I can say is the Lord really had a hand in our special day as he will throughout our marriage!!
After the supper, we hit the tables with our wedding party. What a great way to end a fabulous weekend! I started with $100 and lost it all after about 2 hours at the BlackJack table (not bad for someone who knows nothing about BlackJack!) Blake and I finally headed home about 1:30 am to catch a quick nap before waking up at 3:30am to head to the airport! (It was totally worth the lack of sleep to be able to hangout with our friends!)
For everyone who was here to help us celebrate, thank you. To those of you who were unable to attend, you were missed and you missed one heck of a party!!

Honeymoon post coming soon..............