Day.... ? LOL... A Whirlwind Weekend...

4/16: Wowza... what a weekend...
Last Friday the tub guy, David, came to refinish the tub. Wait, let me back up a bit.... Thursday night we drove into town to Pizza Hut, WM and Lowe's. As we were leaving Lowe's we heard a horrid sound and pulled right over. The serpentine belt was shredded. Gone. It was rainy and nearly storming and 9pm and we had no one we could call locally. So we called Traci, she lives 30 min away from WM in the other direction of the 30 minutes away that we live.  She came and got us and we all packed into her Suburban. The next morning as David was unloading I told him Tony would be right with him that he was on the phone calling the tow company. As I explained what was going on David quickly said "Stop him!" So I did. David said he knew how to fix the serpentine belt and that as soon as he got the first part of the refinishing done he would go with Tony to town to replace the belt. The tow was going to be $70 and the dealership was going to charge around $200 to replace the belt So Tony and David headed to town, got the new belt and David found the problem that caused the belt to shred. A pulley had gone bad. So they bought the new pulley but David did not have the part to install it. It was such a busy day and they thought it would be fine to wait a day or two until Tony could find the right ratchet to change out the pulley. After all, it's probably been bad for a while, right?

Are you still with me? LOL

So it's Friday in my house, the packers are on their last day of packing the house, I have to keep up with what goes with them and what we are taking (remember we are about 6500 lbs over what they will pay for taking), David is working on the tub. Packers and David left, Charlotte came by for a goodbye hug, the Realtor dude came by with paperwork for me to initial and sign and we had received an offer via email from someone we don't know to stay rent-free in their little rental house in exchange for doing some work there so Tony wanted, for that reason and because we needed to get our truck up there, to go to SC for a quick weekend. The plan was to leave around 5 and get there around midnight. We did not get out of here until nearly 7 and we did not get there until 3:30 am. It was an incredibly difficult trip there. I was so.very.tired. Only the Grace of the Lord got me there... and I am very serious. I have never, ever had such a difficult drive, I was so sleepy... We got to the hotel, got checked in and konked out.

Saturday morning we drove over to the post office to set up a po box there. We got lunch and Tony made contact with Joe (with the old farm house for rent) and Kelly (with the freebie rental in exchange for work). We went to look at Kelly's house. It's a sweet little not quite 900 sq ft, two bed, one bath right down from their house. They are a sweet, sweet Christian family :) [ I put an ad on Craig's List that we were looking for a place and that's how she contacted us.] The house was not that dirty but the previous tenant did smoke. Ugh. Remember two of us are allergic to smoke and it's so hard to get smoke out of a house... So we went to look at the old farm house. Oh people... I do not even have words to describe this place. Suffice it to say we decided to take Kelly up on her offer... ;)

Where was I? Such a long story... is anyone still with me? LOL We drove out to the Nine Times house because we needed to do some measuring for a)the pool fence and b)the drive entrance to make sure an 18 wheeler can fit in the entrance and have room to maneuver in the yard. What a precious blessing I received... my three favorite things in the world, yard-wise are Magnolias, forsythia, and dogwood trees. We knew there was a magnolia beside the house but now with spring springing there is a small forsythia bush and a dogwood tree in the yard.  So sweet...

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the BK right outside of the hotel parking area and heard that, now familiar, whakerthump. Yep, shredded serpentine belt. The children and I walked back to the hotel and Tony and the boys checked out the issue. Tony had an extra belt but did not install it at this time.

The next morning they put the new belt on and drove to Pep Boys to have the new pulley installed (that they had purchased with David on Friday). PB put on the new pulley and belt. On their way back to the hotel from PB... yes, you guessed it... whakerthump! The new pulley disintegrated and the belt shredded. So, Tony had the van towed to PB and they put on two new pulleys and a new belt. They did not charge for the pulleys or their labor, Tony had already purchased a new belt. Go Pep Boys! There went our Sunday, we were going to leave Sunday but decided to stay until Monday at this point so we could clean the rental some before we left.

We spent Monday buying kennels for the dogs, beagles, chickens, having them delivered, we assembled them and Tony and some of the olders worked cleaning the house. They got all the walls wiped down and the kitchen and bathroom cleaned and then we were out of time and had to head back home. We got here around 1am.

We have quite a bit to do here before we can actually move up there. Praying we can get it all done in the next few days. Monday is his start day and we really want to just make one more trip up there so we need to get it all done ASAP. I'm guessing we will move up there, unload the Uhaul into the storage space (rented while we were up there) and check back into the hotel (they love us there LOL) for a few days while we/Tony gets the new place painted. What a whirlwind!

10 Days...

10 days... really?!

The past week was a whirlwind of activity... we had Brokers here Monday to do the Comparative Market Analysis... Tuesday we drove to Greenville and started House Hunting Trip #2. Looked Tue afternoon, Wed, Thur, Fri... Thursday made an offer on a house. Friday received a counter, we countered, they countered, we countered... waiting to hear tomorrow if they accept or counter again.

Spent Friday evening with the wonderful Sauls family. What a blessing to meet their precious family ♥ The younger boys are now really, REALLY excited about the move 'cause we have friends there now, Mama!'

The moving surveyor came today to do a walk through and determine how many days to schedule to pack and load... and to do a rough estimate of our poundage. We are way over the paid-for limit... surprise anyone? LOL. We had already planned to rent a Uhaul but I guess we will need to rent a larger one now ;) Unless the extra fees for over poundage negate the price of a Uhaul and storage... ? So much to figure out...

What a ride!!! Weeeeeeee............

~*~ Our Home Sweet Home ~*~

  ~HOME SWEET HOME~

~Our Dining Room~

~Our Library & School Room~

 

  

~Our Living Room~

 

~Our Kitchen~

~The Pachyderm Powder Room~

 

~The 'Downstairs' Bathroom~

~The Girls Room~

~The Boys Room~

~The Sewing Room~

~The Play Area~

~The Friendship House (Our Little Guest Cottage)~

Still to come... Master bed and bath, pantry, laundry room, back yard pics :)

17 Days

17 days... bathroom is all prepped and Tony is painting in there...

Front porch is prettified ♥ New cushions for the chairs, new paint for the table and door and some pretty flowers ♥

Lots of cleaning and organizing going on!

Now if the rain would go away and bathroom paint would dry faster! LOL. Tony picked out a pretty shower curtain for our bathroom and a nice paint color :) I can't wait to see it all put together. We picked up the new vanity today also.

My list is dwindling!

Please pray with us that the Lord will send a wonderful family our way who love our home as much as we have ♥ Thanks y'all!

18 Days...

18 days... Tony is installing a new light on the front porch. So pretty ♥

I need to get the bathroom all finished and prepped for painting... and we have some serious straightening and cleaning to do :)

20 Days...

20 Days! Woohoo! Excitement is mounting in the house! ♥

Speaking of 'house' :whistle: Ours is for sale :) 2800 sq ft, 10 acres in Grand Ridge. Holler if you know someone who may be interested. I'll be putting up pics soon :)

21 Days...

21 days... Tony's start date got moved back a few days ;)

Still have sickies here. :(

I really need to work in the bathroom today... only two small areas to tape and mud but they are over the tub which means I need to stand on a barstool in the tub. LOL. See why I've been putting that off?

Brokers are coming Monday for the market analysis.

So much to do... we really need to feel better so we can get it all done!

23 Days

23 days... Yesterday I got the taping and first coat of mud up in the bathroom. Today we have friends coming to spend the afternoon so I get out of work... roflol. I have a decided opinion about mudding... either you have it or you don't. I don't. LOL.

The Amazing G's (and their assorted Lewis Labor Force) got the front porch beam and columns almost finished! So pretty... I know you want a picture, don't you... LOL. And the soffit is almost finished on the back... and (don't you love my 'ands'?) part of the eave on the north end is up!

Tony got new tires on his 'new to him' commuter and our Super Number One Son Matt put on new roaters and pads... roters and pads? One or the other! Actually Matt changed out one with Sam watching and Sam changed out the other with Matt's supervision. I am so proud my boys are learning all these important things... brakes... roters... (how do you spell that anyway?) and they have learned so much working with Larry & Sandy Garver ♥

What a great day we have before us!

 

Miss Sandy and her shadow... Joseph!

24 Days

24 days... The Amazing Mr. G is working on the front porch! It's going to be so pretty! The Amazing Mrs G is teaching the older boys how to hang soffit. Hang? Hmm... install? Yes, install sounds much better!

As for me... well... I'm "planning" ;)

25 Days

25 days... what will today hold? I think I will *not* plan to get the FH done and see what happens. LOL

It's a stormy, dreary day. I sure hope it clears up! Yesterday they got all the old soffit down from the front and back of the house and the support pieces up. One half of the front has the soffit installed.

And I looked through a jillion real estate listings... we need a couple of 'back up' options in case our favorite house doesn't work out. ;)

In case you are of the understanding that roosters only crow as the sun rises... I would like to educate you otherwise. LOL.

And thus ends the train of random thoughts from the brain that never rises this early... LOL

26 Days

26 days... still haven't made it to the Friendship House yet... lol. But the wonderful, amazing, patient Larry Garver came today to begin the work on the exterior. We happily supplied a good work crew for him ;) I think Joey has a new best friend in Miss Sandy. LOL. The new soffit looks lovely! And the porch is going to look sooooo nice!

27 Days

27 days... I think I will work in the Friendship House today... get it all staged and photographed so we can start stashing stuff from the house there...

Oh and I did a little work in the kitchen yesterday, it looks less cluttery now... Amazing how all the stuff on the fridge really clutters up the look of the room!

Molly worked in the pantry, it looks Fabulous! Today we will finish clearing out the buffet and disassembling it for Jennifer to take to her home ♥

28 Days

28 days... sweet plumber man came yesterday to repair the leak in our master bathroom (that we discovered when we removed the old wall boards) and set a new sink in the Pachyderm Potty Room LOL. White is so much nicer than blue ;)

The big boys are working on finishing the hanging of the drywall. Caleb has declared that he will never hang drywall when he has his own home... to which I promptly replied that he will probably end up hanging drywall for a living just for saying that! ROFLOL... he quickly amended his statement to "I HOPE I never have to hang drywall..." LOL

A New Journey for Us!

We are embarking on a new path in this journey of life :) Tony has received a promotion and will be the the new district manager of the Greenville SC office :) Rejoice with us! The Lord is surely leading us and we are excited to see what the future holds ♥ And y'all come see us sometime! :)

Tutorial: Pillow Case Dress

This tutorial is for a size small 2/4 dress.  Measurements for other sizes at the end of this tutorial.

Cut 19 inches of fabric and fold in half Fold to Selvage:  (note:  your fabric piece is now 44 x 19 and actually folded in fourths)

Measure from the fold over six inches and mark

Measure down five inches and over another two

Using these marks draw a "J" shape for the armholes

From the end of the "J" draw a diagonal line to the cut end of the fabric

Cut

Measure 20 inches from the top edge at an angle to the bottom edge, mark to cut off edge of corner to make skirt gently rounded and even

Like so

You should have two pieces that look like this

Now begins the construction.  Place right sides together and sew the side seams.  I use a serger, you can use a sewing machine also.  You can see I serged the very top also.  If you are not using a serger, just ignore this part of the photo.  :)

Next sew binding on the armholes.  You may use single fold bias tape, double fold bias tape or you may make your own from the same or coordinating fabric.  In the example I am using single fold bias tape.

Stitch in the fold nearest the cut edge.

Finished it will look like this

Now you have two options.  You can fold the entire bias tape to the inside and top stitch

Or you can fold the bias in half and topstitch which is what I did for this dress

Next sew the casings, make them about half the width of the ribbon you will be using.  As I serged this edge I just folded it to the needed width.  If you are using a sewing machine, make a narrow fold and then a larger one to accommodate your ribbon.

Now press

See how neat the bindings look after they are pressed?

Thread the ribbon through the casings

Seal the cut edge of the ribbon by either using Fray Check or clear nail polish or heat sealing with a cigarette lighter


VOILA!  All done!