365 Days

It feels like it was yesterday that Tom and I got married.  I know that it is a cliche saying, but it is the honest truth.  It is crazy to think that we have celebrated Holidays, experienced job promotions, fixed up more on our house than most people complete in the entirety of their 30 year mortgage, and are now in the process of moving onward and upward.  Maybe the year went so fast because we have been on-the-go since December of 2007, or maybe it is because we have really enjoyed our first year of marriage and starting our official life together.  Having the type of love that we have is truly rare and I often find myself sitting back and smiling at the fact that we found it.  What a blessing!

Tom was in Chicago last weekend which was a nice treat!  I love having him around and it as much as we hate working on our house right now, it is nice to see it all come together.  He managed to get a lot more sanding done of the drywall, and it looks great!  I see finishing a basement in our future!  I was also able to finally paint the wall that was formerly the doorway to our kitchen-looks awesome!  Its hard to think that everything will come together when your entire house is in shambles, but we are proof that things eventually do turn out! 

As great as the house looks now, this phase was really not that much fun!

The fantastic new wall!  There was a doorway there?  Could have fooled me!

This weekend I am headed up to the Cities for our Anniversary.  Tom has planned out the entire evening and I am excited to see what he has in store for me.  I know that it will involve church at Gustavus Adolphus on Sunday, which I am excited about.  It may be a bit cheesy, but I think it will be so special to go back to the place where it all happened.  Thank you, all, for being a part of our fantastic first year!

Summer is around the corner!

This weekend was my weekend to head up north to be with Tom.  I managed to head out of town on Thursday afternoon and beat the weekend rush.  It was so nice!  Tom and I were able to enjoy a home-cooked meal together, which is rare now that we are both alone all the time.  Chicken Fajitas and a bottle of wine never tasted so good! 

On Friday we headed up to Duluth for Tom to get some work done, and for me to start the hunt for our next house.  While we aren't ready to buy just yet, it was nice to drive around and find some neighborhoods that we could see ourselves living in.  I definitely found a few that we won't be living in!! 

Pattison State Park

Tom enjoying the Little Falls

We were able to get the dock in, along with the boats and the raft this weekend as well.  It is so nice to see things going into the water!!  Maybe summer will come this year!  I absolutely love being up there, and am thrilled that soon the entire family will be able to enjoy it.  Graduation can not come soon enough for Emily, I think.  

Have a wonderful week!!

Drum Roll Please!

Okay, so most of the siding is complete.  There was a minor issue with communication and they need to come back to finish framing in the front window, but other than that it is all done!  These pictures really don't do any justice to how great the house looks now.  Not only were we able to remove the window in the bathroom that went nowhere, but we were able to cover up where the other two windows in the kitchen were so that our house looks complete.  As much as I loved the patched-in-siding look (wink, wink), I am happy that it is gone! We also got all new gutters which really finish off the place.  This place is really starting to look pretty good!!

No, there is not a window there... that is the hole that the old window left!  If you haven't seen our house yet, please know that this is literally half of the first floor...  Needless to say, I was a little concerned with such a large hole in my wall!  

Ignore the fact that there is a little missing siding around the new front window because that will be fixed this week.  Looks pretty good, right?  I LOVE that all of the windows are functioning and properly sealed up!

Our new gutters!  And, to the left of the window on the side of the house was once another window in the kitchen.  Today you would never know!  

The back.  A pretty big difference here!  I can't help but sit in our patio furniture and stare at our "new" house!

The inside of our living room with the new window.  It is incredible how much bigger our room seems now with this new window! 

It was so nice to have my parents here for the weekend.  My Dad and Tom were able to get a TON of stuff done around the house!  This place is really starting to come together and I feel like the end really might be in sight!  We enjoyed a couple of good meals out and a good meal cooked on the grill.  We even managed to find the time for a walk to Dairy Queen.  Considering all the madness... it was a perfect weekend! 

Changes

As I write this, my house is under a complete transformation.  On Monday we had all of the windows on the first floor replaced in order to get the house ready for today- new siding.  The new windows alone made this place look like an entirely different house.  And, we have windows that actually open, imagine that!  I woke up this morning to a group of men ripping off the old siding and in a matter of 45 minutes, my house was completely bare.  It was quite impressive! 

I am really excited to finally have the siding done right.  The house has been completely wrapped in foam insulation, and then wrapped again in a plastic barrier.  Its too bad that we won't get to see the fruits of our labor next year when the heating bill comes, but at least it will be done for the next owners.  I look at it as "paying it forward" since I just saved them all sorts of money in plastic for the windows!  I just hope that the next owners appreciate all of the hard work we have put into this place so that they can move right in and enjoy this house.

Tom is on his way home right now, and will be here this afternoon.  I am so thankful that I won't have to do this siding inspection all on my own, since I know nothing about it.  Two sets of eyes are always better than one.  Once the project is complete, I will upload a picture of the house with the new windows and siding.  But, to refresh everyone's memory...  This is what the front and the back looked like when we moved in.

Stay tuned for the finished product!  From when I left this morning to when I got home, the house looked completely different.  And, if I do say so myself, it looks pretty darn good!

Time Flies...

I just got back from dropping Tom off at the airport... it is all very bittersweet.  It was SO nice to have him home and to enjoy his company.  And, as much as I hate the fact that he is gone,  I am excited for him to start in his territory tomorrow and get his feet wet in the world of sales.  I have no doubt that he will be great in his new position and that the commission checks will be rolling in before we know it (or at least I hope, haha)! 

We have a pretty big week coming up.  I have meetings and seminars every day this week, as well as a presentation that I have to give at my Company's monthly sales meeting.  Needless to say, I am not excited.  Tom has two days of co-traveling with his fellow MN sales reps to start of his week.  And, to top it all off, our new windows are going in tomorrow and our siding is getting replaced on Friday.  Wouldn't it be nice if we tackled one thing at a time?  But, I guess our lives would be boring if we didn't have a million things on our plates all the time. 

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Easter!  Pick a pretty colored egg and eat it for me! 

Interesting...

Tom recently wrote this and I thought I would share.  I don't have as much courage as he does, so it will not appear on my Facebook Wall, but kudos to him!  These are facts and as much as people want to argue them, they are true...

Interesting: we've passed a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, signed by a president that also hasn't read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes..., all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke...