A Roller Coaster of Emotions

I’m not sure where to start.  The past few months really have been a whirlwind of emotions.  At first I thought it was only September and October, but I guess it really started in the summer, back in June.  I wrote this post about my grandmother being in the hospital and thankfully making a miraculous recovery.  We had the joy of the birth of our nephew in August.  We had the joy of finally after years of searching purchasing our home at the end of August.  We quickly sprinted off to the beach with my family and then returned home to finally settle into our home. 

Unfortunately, life never goes as planned.  And this has always been a tough lesson for me, very Type-A planner.  Early September 28^th, we lost my grandmother.  I was on my way to work when my mom text me that I needed to call when I got to work.  Knowing that at 7:30am this was not normal.  I immediately pulled off the road and called her.  So in a vacant Applebee’s parking lot I learned that we had lost one of the most beautiful women I have ever met.  I knew her health was not the best and I knew that she was having a very hard time remembering us, but it doesn’t make it any easier. 

We flew up to Chicago Saturday to prepare for the funeral.  It was truly a bittersweet time.  I was able to connect with some of my cousins that I haven’t seen in years (seven to be exact, when my grandfather passed away).  We went through so many things from her home, especially pictures.  We put together a board for the visitation that had pictures of her with all her grandchildren.  These are just a few of my favorites.

It hasn’t been easy.  I cry a lot.  I miss her a lot.  I think about her a lot.  My cousins have been sharing stories back and forth on Facebook about her and my grandfather and it’s tough to read.  Some make me smile, some make me laugh, some make me cry so hard it hurts.  I’m not sure my words could ever do her justice.  We read 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 at the funeral and no truer words could ever be said about her.

The following weekend I took a drive down to Auburn.  I debated most of the week whether I wanted to go or not, but I’m glad I did.  It was a nice relaxing Saturday.  Mallory, her sister and law, her mom and I went to the Auburn v. Arkansas game and it was dreadful.  Unfortunately, we are worse than terrible and it was miserably hot.  But, I loved spending time with one of my closest friends and her family.  We ate, we slept, we laughed, it was great. 

My mom had her second knee replacement surgery.  Unfortunately, it did not go as well as the first.  She spent five days in the hospital with a fever and a sinus infection. But, she is home now and doing better every day, hopefully. 

And we have started our first “big” project for the house.  I believe in my previous post, I mentioned how terrible the landscaping or lack thereof is.  I’m not sure what made us do it, but we started taking out the bushes in the front yard.  Ryan took the chainsaw to them, we also cut down a tree in the backyard, talk about mini panic attack, but alas we made it unscathed.  My BIL came over this weekend to pull stumps up out of the ground, these bushes were like trees, and if we had to dig them up by hand I would have quit.  Right now our hard is much “cleaner” we have laid top soil down to map out our plan.  We took a trip to Lowes, Home Depot and Pikes and still have yet to figure out what we want to plant.  We were minutes away from buying an apple tree, but upon further investigation, they grow to be about 15 feet wide, so the front yard is not ideal.  No worries though, I have big plans to clear out the back yard and plant two apples trees back there (they have to cross pollinate to produce fruit).

I almost forgot, in the midst of our landscaping mess, we took a break to head to the pumpkin patch.  It was Lainey’s first trip and I’m so glad we got to go.  Boiled peanuts, homemade ice cream and pumpkins, what’s not to love!

 

Happy Hump Day!

To Do List:

I love to do lists.  I love writing them out and the satisfaction of crossing off items that have been completed.  I even love rewriting my lists so that they don’t include the items checked off because I love the clean look of a list (weird, I know, I’m a little OCD).  So, I figured since my to do list is a mile long and I need somewhere to keep track of all my projects, I would post them here.  Hopefully this will help me stay on track and hold me accountable for actually completing the projects.  It doesn't help that Pinterest has so many great ideas! If only there were enough hours in the day and enough dollars in my bank account!

Thanks to my wonderful parents, one of my items was checked off immediately.  My mom and dad spent the first few days in our home completely redoing the laundry room floor. The linoleum was looking pretty rough so I wanted to cover it with the peel and stick tiles.  My parents kindly volunteered for the job and did a much better job than I ever would have.  Instead of putting the peel and stick tiles over the current flooring, they ripped everything out, leveled off the floor and installed the new tiles.  My dad even repainted the trim.  It looks fabulous and I’m so happy to have a clean, updated laundry room.

Family Vacation

So we moved into our home and then took off for the beach!  It sounds crazy and probably is a little bit, but the vacation was much needed!  We’ve started taking a family vacation every year to Seagrove, FL.  We used to go as a family every summer but once we were in college it was hard to find the time.  Thankfully now that we are all out of college and we can save our vacation time, we are able to take a trip as a family again.  I took my camera along but unfortunately never took it out of my bag.  Instead relied on my phone for quick pictures.

We took some time one night to take some family pictures.  Not too long ago we realized the boys all had the same shirt, so we had them wear it and turned out quite funny.  And if I do say so myself, this was the cutest baby on the beach, and as my aunt pointed out, she was the only baby on the beach!

We visited some of our favorite restaurants while down there, we had breakfast at The Donut Hole and we went into Destin one night for our favorite Amberjack sandwich at The Back Porch.  There is also a new rooftop bar in Seagrove, owned by a pilot.  Of course we had to check in out for the Bears/Packers.  Who knew a fire pit could be so wonderful at the beach?!

It was a lovely trip and really hard to come back to reality, when reality is unpacking from moving, unpacking from vacation and going back to work.

At Last!!

Does anyone else hear Etta James in their head when they say that? 

If you follow me on twitter or instagram or are friends with me on Facebook, you’ll know that I posted this photo two weeks ago announcing that we are finally home owners!! 

It was a very loooong process but we are so excited with the outcome!  We are blessed to have a four bedroom, two and half bathroom home in a wonderful neighborhood.  We have many projects to tackle, but that’s to be expected.  We spent the first few days cleaning, redoing the laundry room and moving our belongings in.  I was very thankful for the help from our families and the long weekend in which to get it all done (even though two weeks later there are still several things to unpack). 

Miles isn't quite sure of his new home, he seems a little restless, but that’s good for us, he runs up and down the stairs a lot which tires him out!  He does seem to be slightly more attached (more so than he already was, if that’s possible) and very protective of me.  He does seem to bark a lot more, but there are several more birds, squirrels and trees with leaves to look at.  Hopefully he will settle down in the next few weeks, I think he must think we are going to abandon him and once he is sure of where he is, he can chill out!

The only downside to this move, is we are in Woodstock, GA, which is a great area and we love it.  BUT, it increased my commute quite a bit.  It's an hour every morning and I'm lucky if it's only an hour coming home. But, I am trying desperately not to complain, even though my husband might tell you otherwise.

I’m hoping to post some of the many projects on here as a reminder of what the house was and what we make it into.