Are you serious????

When you think things are going okay another curve ball is thrown. I am hiding in the old part of the house right now because today was suppose to be the day we got the wirsbo started in the addition. Chris spent all day working on getting the boiler and water heater set up and at 9:00 tonight he started filling up the system. He found a few leaks, but were able to fix them with a few turns of a wrench. Unfortunately I heard drip, drip, drip and looked in the garage and saw that water was leaking from the smoke detector hanging from the ceiling. Hmmm, "Chris there is water coming down out of the smoke detector?" "SERIOUS!!!" We ran upstairs to see the floor wet by the wall between the back west bedroom (parents room) and the bathroom. Now I am hiding and hearing a lot of banging.

How easy is it to patch a hole in the cement floor? I feel bad for Chris, we are getting to the end and this happens. What next?

No More Deadlines!!!

Now that we are coming to the end of the project I have come to the realization that deadlines are not suppose to be made. Every time we put one out there something comes up that prevents us from making it, and usually it take 5 times as long to reach the deadline. So now I have come to expect the unexpected and to tell people we are moving in June 6, 2016, and we will have the open house the third Saturday in June for Jasmine's graduation party. All is invited. There so now everyone is told and should put it on the calendar.

Now that the holidays are approaching, Chris is stressed even further. I see why Hunting season is a necessity for the guys...to de-stress before the money spending holiday season comes full swing. He is pulled between spending his paycheck on the house and getting us in or scaling it back and celebrating the holidays. I see how tough it is for him so I think this year will consist of more homemade items.

Happy Holidays everyone and hope it is full of fun and less stress.

Dubie Dubie Du

It's been crazy busy down here in the South. It is hard to believe it is already November and the holidays are right around the corner. October flew by in a blur with the kids' party, hard to believe they are one year older, and sorry folks those pictures are on the camera still.

Jasmine and Nick are working hard at school. We had their first conferences at the end of October and as usual Jasmine is doing well and is quite busy now that she is participating in both the band and choir. In addition to her horse riding once a week, Jasmine has decided to give pitching a chance so we have softball clinics on the weekends. She is excited about all the different things she gets to do, but I think the most exciting thing for her now is moving up a level in her horse lessons...now she is in charge of the tacking her horse and eventually rounding up her horse from the field in the beginning of her lesson. She keeps asking when she gets to lease a horse, but I tell her she needs a job first.

Nick on the other hand had a difficult transition to full day school, but Mr. B tells us after seven weeks of school he has found his groove. He is a social boy and loves to talk so now he sits at an all girls table, but Mr. B tells us he is a helpful guy and helps the girls too. To help with Nick's energy Nick now plays hockey. He has never been on skates before and so learning to skate and play the game at the same time will be a new experience for him. He started on Halloween morning and lasted about 45 minutes before he decided that sitting down was the best way to go, but to his credit every time Nick fell down he got right back up and tried again. His second day went better and Nick was able to stand up on his skates and take a few strides, but he usually ends up down on the ice again. They are learning to push on their skates and use the sticks to balance too. He is really cute on the ice and seems to like it as well. He is looking forward to that day he skates circles around Chris.

The kids are busy and Halloween time was no different. This season is no different when it came to the costume ideas. Jayna wanted to go as candy to get candy, so she got to go as a Hershey bar which was nice. She got to wear her winter coat under the costume to stay warm, and little Tony went as a blue M&M. Nick by far is the easiest, because he wants to be the same thing every year...a repair man or worker. We get to reuse his costume over and over again.

Jasmine on the other hand went out with friends and I have no idea what she ended up going as, but I think she did say this was going to be the last year she went out for candy. We will see.

I am left speechless when it comes to the house...we finally got the electricity on, and thanks to Kevin Herr we are getting the trim done on the house. Chris attempted to trim, but we will just say he is a better plumber and leave it at that. So we are extremely grateful for Kevin for helping us out. Once that is done we can call in the carpet guys, crank up the wirsbo in the floor and put on the finishing touches. There seems to so much to do, but once again Tim aka Old Guy has done so much...putting light fixtures up, assembling fans, outlets, closet lights, and just plain cleaning. Oh and I forgot now he is staining our windows to match the trim FABULOUS!!!!

This is a picture of our Electricians...well you know the dubious question of how many electricians does it take to screw in a light bulb? Here is proof to how many electricians it takes to put in a light switch. Thanks Joel, Justin, and Sager (Chris).

I guess you can say the best part of this addition is the ability to do laundry at my own house again. Take a look at the joyful faces we have at the first load of laundry in my new laundry room!!!! I will never again complain about doing laundry. We still have a long road ahead but the end might be just around the corner.

Nick's 6th Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated Nick's 6th birthday and he had his first official kid party at Chuck E Cheese. I think he had fun from the limited time I saw him. He invited two of his friends from school, Luke and Charlie, and Zac came too. It was fun to watch him interact with the kids outside from the school setting. It is hard to think of Nick as a 6 year old and how far we have come in six years.

Nick's birth six years ago was a moment in our lives that was crazy. We did a lot in just a few months with our wedding, moving into a new house, and then changing to a family of three to four. It is amazing to think we are now a family of six and still living in the same house ;-o

I will forever remember waking up in the morning to contractions and being scared because my mom was up North. I called her at my Grandpa's house, only to have her tell me what was she suppose to do three hours away and that I should be calling the hospital. Later on I found out that my Grandpa tripped over a chair getting to the phone, I guess I forgot it was 5 o'clock in the morning. As if my stress level wasn't high enough, I called St. John's to find out they were full and that I would have to go to St. Joe's. More nervous now, I woke Chris up and Jasmine (hard to believe that she was only 5 then).

Gals...never let your husband take their time when you are in labor. Chris, more girlie than me, had to shower so he didn't stink and groom himself as I waited in hard labor by then. Poor Jasmine had Cheez Its for breakfast and was rushed away in my truck. Wow I forgot about that until now that I we had to take my tiny Maroon truck, because Chris didn't have gas in his truck. Again gals remember to gas up your vehicles if you think you might be going into labor.

We never gave it much thought that I might have to go to another hospital and that directions might be a good thing. Chris drove like a mad man giving no thought to traffic laws or road directions and finally got us to the hospital. We didn't know how to get into the hospital, and he had to call his mom for directions. It looked dead inside so I told him to get me to the emergency entrance. There was no one in sight and I remember Chris running inside and grabbing a wheel chair only to have a security guard tell him that he needed to move the truck and couldn't park there, totally oblivious that I was doubled over in labor pains.

A nurse finally showed up and whisked me away to maternity with Jasmine running behind. I was afraid that Chris wouldn't show up in time because the nurses told me that the baby was coming and the doctor barely got there too. So seven minutes after arriving at the hospital, Nicholas Rocco Carvelli was born. It was extremely hurried but we got to the hospital and Nick was healthy. I just remember Julie walking into the room and commenting that Nick was already born.

Nick's birth only made the other kids to follow easier and less stressful and now six years later he isn't my baby anymore :-(

One Step Forward, Five Thousand Steps Backwards

I don't even know the words to describe how this week has been. I can't even imagine what Chris feels after all that he has been through. We were both excited Monday afternoon after we got the install date for the counter tops for 10/8 and that the appliances were coming Wednesday 9/30. Things were/are coming along at a pretty good pace. Johnny Mac was down here trimming out some of the upstairs rooms, so now when the washer and dryer shows up the laundry room is all ready.



Then all of it came to a stand still. Time was burning a hole in Chris's pants literally...now we have a hole in the ceiling of the finished ceiling of the first floor. Chris decided to air test his water lines only to find out that he had a leak some where. Guess and Check and two holes later the leak was found and fixed, but the sheet rock is gone.

Despite the holes, some progress has been made in the painting area of the house. Thanks again to Tim's help the hallway is painted...pawtucket peach!!! It is peachy. Jayna's room is coming around and her focus wall is finally finished aside from her purple closet.

Nick's focus wall is finished also and now I just have to paint the rest of the rooms.

We are coming to the end of this project but it seems to be so far away still. From the pictures it looks great but walking the long hallway and seeing all the walls that still need to be painted is CRAZY!!! Once this place gets down it will be wonderful to live in the space but I think we need a vacation to get away from this place first.

The kitchen is giving Chris gray hair. I don't think he likes the putzie work that comes along with putting cabinets together, but it looks great.

In the next week and a half, the kitchen will get finished and the walls will get all painted so hopefully we are only waiting on the carpet people, electrician and tinner. Then next month is going to be a whirl wind of activity.

Appliances

When was the last time you got excited about appliances? This coming Wednesday is the day I do my happy dance. Warner Stellion, courtesy of Bob, is delivery my cook top, dishwasher, double oven, washer, driver and exhaust hood. I am overjoyed to have them in my possession and once they get hooked up I will be over the moon with excitement. You could say my Christmas is coming early and hopefully in two weeks my counter tops will be installed so my kitchen will be almost complete. Yeah!!!

That means I have to get in gear and paint again. I have Jayna's room painted and tape removed, Nick's blue wall painted and waiting for the other three walls to be painted, two bathrooms and laundry room finished, and our room finished so that means I only have Jasmine's room and Tony's room to finish that hasn't been touched and Nick's too. Oh I also forgot the hallway and ceiling upstairs and then the first floor walls and bathroom too. Wows er there are a few walls to finish.

Now that the weather is getting colder the fire has been light under our butts to get this addition done. The tile is all finished to I guess the carpet is next and hopefully trim too. Finishing touches are coming quick. Home stretch here we come.

Getting There.

It feels like the addition is consuming our lives. I spent the beautiful Labor Day Weekend painting rooms upstairs in the addition and it doesn't even feel like I got anything done but here are a few pictures of what we are doing. The first set of pictures are the girls' rooms. Jayna's room gets the wonderful look of lime green on three of the walls and her focus wall is a checker board with the other colors of her room...light pink, dark pink and orange. All of these colors can be found on her bed spread and her pillow covers. Right now it looks a little bright, but once the lighter pink dresser, white chair and book shelf get into her room it will help tone down the color. Oh I forgot to mention her closet is purple too.

Jasmine is excited for her room too but right now only part of her design is on the walls so the blue tape is the only thing showing on her walls but she too will have a brighter room with 5 colors floating through her room.

Nick and Tony will have calmer walls but not by much. Nick loves the color blue so I am going to bring two shades of blue into his room with a portrait design. The lighter blue is going inside the picture frame and the darker blue will be the rest of that wall. The other three walls will be a gray to bring in the garage/construction theme that I am doing and his closet will be red to help bring in his bed colors too. Tony on the other hand I haven't had the chance to give much thought. I was looking forward to doing some type of sports theme on his wall...baseball diamond on the wall with a 3D bat in the corner, but unfortunately I don't think Tony is going to be my sports boy. So I am thinking of doing a Monster Truck room.

On the other hand, our room is the tamest by far with a lovely brown on the walls to match our bedspread and that is about it, but by the look of the picture it is taking on more of a tawny color.

Painting is going slow as I wait for the hundreds of colors to dry, I took the peacefulness of only having three kids and Jasmine back in school to organize the 177 boxes of kitchen cabinets that we got last week into cabinet piles so hopefully Chris will get the motivation to put them together. At least Chris got a chance to enjoy his one and only paid holiday weekend and now it is back to the grind stone.