Whew! ...Let me say that again.... Whew!

So as most of you can tell, I really struggle with keeping up my blogs up to date. Let's be honest... I'm horrible at it - almost as horrible as dieting. Ok, I wont go there...

Lots going on at the Casa de Jameson these days! My step kiddos are here for the summer! Yay! In-laws have already visited (NO COMMENT), little brothers have come to visit.... wait - have I ever told you that I have 12 year old brothers?! They're twins! NO, THAT DOESN'T MEAN I'M STILL A TEENAGER. When I was 15 my mom remarried and decided to start a whole new family. Lucky for her, God decided to be comical and bless her with twin boys. And boy has she been paying for it ever since. LOL. JUST KIDDING MOM! OR AM I?!? muah-hahahahaha 

So anyway... we're still remodeling our house - and ya'll, can I be honest?? I'm SOOOO over it. My 'get up and go' - got up and left after the first week... and I ain't seen it since! I don't think it's ever coming back either. I'm ready for this whole process to be OVER - and you can bet your bottom dollar - I will NOT be doing this again.... ever.... never ever... no way.... I'd rather take a fork to the eye than do this again.... comprende? 

The unfortunately part - is that we still have a loooooonnnnnng way to go... *silently sobs*.... If I can live through this ordeal and keep my sanity - ya'll can just call me superwoman. HA!

Thankfully - the kids rooms were primarily finished when they got here (with the exception of building out their closets). And ya'll - we hadn't even told them that we bought the house!! It was a total surprise! The bad thing is that they remembered going to see houses when they visited at Christmas - this being the "oldest" one that we saw... so they immediately remembered it. I got a better reaction out of my DOG when she ran through it for the first time, than I did when the kids walked in. *sad face*

Oh well... can't win 'em all. 

I think their first night in their own room with their own things - and then swimming in the pool changed their minds a little bit. They've warmed up quite a bit, and we've tried to keep them entertained too. Miraculously, this has been one of the coolest summers we've had in years! Just as it was getting into the 100s - it began raining - and has rained for the last week and a half! So we're back in the 70s and 80s again!  We took advantage of the cool weather by taking the kids to the drive in movie! Yes! We have one! We had so much fun!! And can I just say - regardless of all the haters and speculation out there - I thought the Lone Ranger was a great movie!

I guess at this point, I should also update about my garden! It's alive and well! Everything is flowering -and I have a feeling we'll have more baby veggies in the next couple of weeks. My okra are growing like crazy! I've already picked two or three off the plant - I get about one okra a week. Not really sure what to do with one Okra - so I've just been collecting them. Only one plant is producing so far. As soon as they all start producing - I see a mess of pickled okra in my future. YIPPEE!!

Well I guess I'll stop for today - I'm pretty sure your head is already spinning. I have a couple funny stories that I'll share in my next blog. Never a dull moment at the Casa de Jameson. Thank ya'll for keeping up with me - and dont be a stranger! I love comments!!

Master Bedroom Remodel

Here is a (TINY) glimpse of the transformation that happened in the Master Bedroom! I'm exhausted just reviewing the pictures! Enjoy~

BEFORE

Step 1: Strip Ceiling

Step 2: Remove Carpet

Step 3: Re-tape Corners

Step 4: Texture the Walls & Ceiling

Step 5: Paint

Step 6: Encase Windows, Install New Blinds

AFTER:
Crown Molding Up, New Ceiling Fan, New Carpet

House Hunting

So..... we're getting a jump on one of our New Years Resolutions!

We've already put a contract on a house!! It's a fixer-upper, but it's going to be a really nice house when we finish it. I've decided to blog some pictures of it, and share ideas of how we'd like to improve it, if everything passes inspection and we get to close. Inspections are happening this week, and if we get clearance, we'll just be waiting for financing to go thru.

Needs some landscaping... ok LOTS of landscaping. But some pretty flowers would bring it back to life! It also needs a new front door and some porch lamps.

I think we'll push back the retaining wall a bit and widen the drive way. It needs to be smoothed out too. 

Back porch is overgrown, and needs to be cleaned up. It leads down to an above ground pool.  We'll be removing the pool and possibly building a pergola as an extension of the back porch one day. 

Master Bath: Has a his and hers closet on each side of the Jacuzzi tub, with a walk in shower.  We'll be expanding the shower and raising the ceiling above it....removing the wallpaper and painting the walls.... adding a few pot lights in the ceiling throughout the bathroom.

Ok, so obviously, all the paneling needs to go. We'll be sheet-rocking the walls and possibly even enclose the top portion of the fireplace in sheet-rock as well. We're also replacing all the flooring with darker wood and adding extra pot lights in the ceiling.

I dont understand why you would need 3 sets of french doors, but we would either enclose 2 of them  and turn them into windows OR just replace them with clean cut white sets.

The kitchen is the worst part of the house. The right wall is connected to the living room. We would LIKE to knock out  a portion of this wall and open it up to the living room. We'll also do a complete remodel and flip the kitchen completely around.

The house has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths and a 2 car garage. It also has a formal dining room. We were originally looking at houses at the top of our price range, but after coming across this one - we decided that we might actually come out on top in the long run by finding something that could use some work, but we could make money on if we ever had to sell. We're gonna replace the carpet in the bedrooms, tile the kitchen and bathrooms and put hardwood floor everywhere else. Add a little color and repaint everything. Relandscape...  and it will look like a completely different house! 

Fingers crossed that the inspections come back clean and the financing is approved! It's in a great neighborhood, in a fabulous location. It's quiet, and safe and has so much potential! YAY!