Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
We're Moving!!!
Well, the cat's out of the bag. (Actually, he's in a box...) We're moving back to Calera! We love our new house! Can't wait to start a new chapter of our lives together!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Un-Handy Husband Renovates & Celebrates!
A lot has happened since my last post, so I'll try to play catch up.
With the help of our amazing family and friends, we completed our whirl-wind renovation of Jackie's granddad's old place. Y'all know that I'm not that good at being handy, but this experience has forced me to learn.
So this was the master bathroom before:
As you can see, we had already ripped off the mirror, which was no small feat. The mirror was glued directly on the wall. Other mirrors we took down had a paper backing and came down easily. This one didn't have the backing, so the back of the mirror was stuck straight to the wall. It shattered as Keith Warren (who is Ingrid's very Handy Husband) and I were trying to pry it off, but still wouldn't come down! We ended up peeling it off one tiny piece at a time. It took forever!!!
Next the flowery brass light fixture came down. And this is what went in its place:
Of course, after Keith and I finally got it on the wall, we could only find two light bulbs... and they didn't even match.
Later, I swapped out the itty-bitty shower head for this bigger one:
All the renovating took it's toll on Jackie, but this picture gives you a look at the laminate flooring that my Dad, Keith, Jeff, and Matt put down. (I helped, but my contribution was mainly standing on the pieces so they wouldn't move as the other hammered them into place.)
Like owner, like cat:
In the kitchen, I swapped out the round, plastic fixture for this chandelier. (FYI: The hardest part was opening and closing the stinking chain links!)
Then I swapped out the doorknobs and deadbolts:
My brother came over and helped Jackie put in quarter-round in the living room and bathrooms. They did a great job. The funniest part was that the piece that gave Zach the most trouble was a small 1 inch part!
After all of the renovating was over, we made a mad dash to get all of our stuff out of the apartment. On our first day of moving, we had a caravan of 3 cars, 3 trucks, and a trailer. And the forecast that day was STORMY!
After dodging the storms, we managed to get everything unloaded just before the storm hit again. As the winds were kicking up, Jeff moved his truck away from the house so it wouldn't be right under some big trees. No sooner than Jeff moved the truck, the wind roared, and we heard the unmistakable cracks and pops of branches breaking. Matt and I turned around just in time to see a massive branch fall about 60 or so feet right were Jeff had moved his truck.
We didn't know that Jeff was already back in the house, so Matt and I took off toward the truck, fearing the worst. We were so relieved when we realized he wasn't there. Amazingly, the truck suffered relatively minor damage because the branch hit a power line just before it landed on the truck, taking out most of it's momentum.
The force of the falling branch almost pulled down the power pole near the shed and our house!
Alabama Power came out that night and fixed both of them. We appreciate their prompt action!
The next day, we celebrated Liberty Day in Columbiana. It was a much-needed day off from the renovation/moving grind. We had a great time, but it was SO HOT during the day! We met up with our friends that night to watch the fireworks show.
The next day, several of Jackie's cousins came to move the rest of our stuff. Dad also brought over a 16-foot enclosed trailer. They moved so fast we were packed up and unloaded at the new house in less than 4 hours!!! We couldn't have done it without them!
After moving, Jackie's cousin Shane cut down several trees that were in danger of falling on our place and on her grandparents. We're still in the process of cutting them into smaller pieces and hauling them off. Here's the video of Shane cutting down the last tree:
Jackie and I spent the week rearranging furniture and unpacking box after box after box...
I went back to the apartment today to get the ice packs we forgot in the freezer and to turn in the keys. I was SO glad to climb those 32 steps up to the third floor for the last time!!!
Our new place already feels like home, and we are so thankful that her parents are letting us live here. We have been truly blessed by the Lord. We look forward to spending the next several years here. And I've already laid down the law about our next move: It cannot and will not be during the summer!!!
I am still awed by the fact that we accomplished a total renovation and move in less than a month. But we owe much of that credit to our amazing friends and family. We owe them big time!
I'm also thankful for all of the handy people that helped me along the way. Maybe this Un-Handy Husband isn't so un-handy afterall.
With the help of our amazing family and friends, we completed our whirl-wind renovation of Jackie's granddad's old place. Y'all know that I'm not that good at being handy, but this experience has forced me to learn.
So this was the master bathroom before:
Next the flowery brass light fixture came down. And this is what went in its place:
Later, I swapped out the itty-bitty shower head for this bigger one:
A couple of days later, Jeff, my super-handy father-in-law, helped me hang the mirror. You can also see that I swapped out the wooden towel ring for a brushed bronze one that matched the light fixture.
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| Ta-Da! It looks great!!! |
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| She's napping on a patio chair cushion. |
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| Just thinking about remodeling and moving made Smudge tired. |
Then I swapped out the doorknobs and deadbolts:
After all of the renovating was over, we made a mad dash to get all of our stuff out of the apartment. On our first day of moving, we had a caravan of 3 cars, 3 trucks, and a trailer. And the forecast that day was STORMY!
After dodging the storms, we managed to get everything unloaded just before the storm hit again. As the winds were kicking up, Jeff moved his truck away from the house so it wouldn't be right under some big trees. No sooner than Jeff moved the truck, the wind roared, and we heard the unmistakable cracks and pops of branches breaking. Matt and I turned around just in time to see a massive branch fall about 60 or so feet right were Jeff had moved his truck.
We didn't know that Jeff was already back in the house, so Matt and I took off toward the truck, fearing the worst. We were so relieved when we realized he wasn't there. Amazingly, the truck suffered relatively minor damage because the branch hit a power line just before it landed on the truck, taking out most of it's momentum.
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| Where the branch broke off. |
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| The dent over the back door. |
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| You can see the leaning pole at the corner of the shed. |
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| And this is our leaning tower of power. ;) |
The next day, we celebrated Liberty Day in Columbiana. It was a much-needed day off from the renovation/moving grind. We had a great time, but it was SO HOT during the day! We met up with our friends that night to watch the fireworks show.
The next day, several of Jackie's cousins came to move the rest of our stuff. Dad also brought over a 16-foot enclosed trailer. They moved so fast we were packed up and unloaded at the new house in less than 4 hours!!! We couldn't have done it without them!
After moving, Jackie's cousin Shane cut down several trees that were in danger of falling on our place and on her grandparents. We're still in the process of cutting them into smaller pieces and hauling them off. Here's the video of Shane cutting down the last tree:
Jackie and I spent the week rearranging furniture and unpacking box after box after box...
I went back to the apartment today to get the ice packs we forgot in the freezer and to turn in the keys. I was SO glad to climb those 32 steps up to the third floor for the last time!!!
Our new place already feels like home, and we are so thankful that her parents are letting us live here. We have been truly blessed by the Lord. We look forward to spending the next several years here. And I've already laid down the law about our next move: It cannot and will not be during the summer!!!
I am still awed by the fact that we accomplished a total renovation and move in less than a month. But we owe much of that credit to our amazing friends and family. We owe them big time!
I'm also thankful for all of the handy people that helped me along the way. Maybe this Un-Handy Husband isn't so un-handy afterall.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Another Tale From the Un-Handy Husband
As I recently blogged, Jackie and I are moving to her granddad's old place. And that means we are remodeling... everything.
The first thing we tackled was ripping up the emerald green carpet. And it was everywhere. The living room. Hallway. All 3 bedrooms. Every closet.
Even the bathrooms.
For the most part, the carpet came up easily. After that, we took up the pad and hammered down the staples. There were hundreds and hundreds of staples, and there was often no rhyme or reason to how the staples were placed. You could go several feet and not find one staple, but then there would be a patch with about 20 staples in a space about the size of the palm of my hand.
After sending the carpet from the Emerald City on down the yellow brick road, we had to paint over the faux marble walls, which meant that every single square inch of wall space was going to need paint.
After picking a color at Lowe's, we got to rolling...and rolling...and rolling...
After a long day of inhaling paint fumes, I serenaded Jackie with my own version of the Reading Rainbow theme song (Butterfly in the sky... I'm feeling really high) and a new twist on Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel" (Jesus, take the roller. Take it from my hands, cuz I can't paint this wall on...my...own).
Once all the walls were painted, we turned our gaze upward to the light fixtures, which were originally all ugly, round, plastic fixtures. My brother-in-law Matt showed me how to change them out for new ones. And my brother-from-another-mother Keith Warren helped swap out the ceiling fan in the living room.
Today the estimator from Lowe's came by to measure for carpet, and I also hauled almost 20 boxes of laminate flooring from my parents' house to our new place.
After the Lowe's guy left, I decided that I could tackle replacing the light fixtures over the kitchen sink and by the back door. I was worried that the Un-Handy Husband would really screw it up, but it wasn't too bad.
I still have one more ceiling fan to change out (one in the master bedroom). And we have to lay the floor in the living room, but things are looking good for the Un-Handy Husband.
Jackie and I also owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to her parents for giving a place to live rent-free and for helping us so much, to my parents for the laminate flooring (and my mom for painting and my dad for staple duty), Jackie's brother Matt for his help and time, and to our friends (that are family to us) Keith and Ingrid Warren for their unending help and support.
That's it for now. I'm sure the Un-Handy Husband will have a few more adventures before this remodeling adventure is over. So stay tuned!
The first thing we tackled was ripping up the emerald green carpet. And it was everywhere. The living room. Hallway. All 3 bedrooms. Every closet.
Even the bathrooms.
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| Adios carpet!!! |
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| Working in the hall |
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| My future office/Star Trek room/man cave |
After a long day of inhaling paint fumes, I serenaded Jackie with my own version of the Reading Rainbow theme song (Butterfly in the sky... I'm feeling really high) and a new twist on Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel" (Jesus, take the roller. Take it from my hands, cuz I can't paint this wall on...my...own).
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| You call it a duster. I call it a hair piece... a bad one! |
Today the estimator from Lowe's came by to measure for carpet, and I also hauled almost 20 boxes of laminate flooring from my parents' house to our new place.
After the Lowe's guy left, I decided that I could tackle replacing the light fixtures over the kitchen sink and by the back door. I was worried that the Un-Handy Husband would really screw it up, but it wasn't too bad.
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| This has GOT TO GO! |
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| So far so good. |
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| Yikes! We've passed the point of no return! |
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| Looking good! |
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| Much better!!! |
Jackie and I also owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to her parents for giving a place to live rent-free and for helping us so much, to my parents for the laminate flooring (and my mom for painting and my dad for staple duty), Jackie's brother Matt for his help and time, and to our friends (that are family to us) Keith and Ingrid Warren for their unending help and support.
That's it for now. I'm sure the Un-Handy Husband will have a few more adventures before this remodeling adventure is over. So stay tuned!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Just a Quick Update
Sorry to have been MIA the past week or so. Jackie and I went on a mission trip with our church, the First Baptist Church of Columbiana, down to Baldwin County to do Vacation Bible School-type ministries with migrants and Hispanic families.
Our church has been going on this mission trip, which we call Migrant Camp, for approximately 43 years. (Depending on who you ask, you'll get a different number.) Migrant Camp is completely deserving of its own blog post, and it will get one. So stay tuned!
Jackie and I have also been prepping for our big move. This will be my third move in three summers, but hopefully this will be the last one for a couple of years. We're moving to her granddad's old place, which happens to be a stone's throw away from both her parents' and maternal grandparents' houses.
Yep, we're moving to the Hawkins Family Compound! <gulp>
In all honesty, I'm really looking forward to the move. It will be so nice to have a place to call our own...and to not have to share walls and floors with neighbors!
Today I told the office manager at our apartment complex that we were not renewing our lease at the end of the month. When she asked why we were moving, this was the image that immediately popped into my mind:
While I may have been thinking it in my head, I did not tell the manager that the sky-high rent was the reason. However, rent is playing a major factor in our decision to move. I've always hated paying rent. To me, it always seemed like I was flushing money down the drain. You pay all this money for an apartment that you will never own and that will never earn you any money in return. With what we've paid in rent this year, we could easily have bought a nice, new small car (like a Kia or Hyundai).
While I'm looking forward to living in our own place, I am dreading the thought of packing all of our stuff up. (How do two people accumulate so much stuff in just a year?!?!?) We are going to move as much stuff as we can ourselves and then hire movers to move the furniture. (I'm not carrying all that furniture down from the 3rd floor. Momma didn't raise no fool!!)
So this will be a month of packing, remodeling, moving, unpacking, and trying to settle in...all while I'm trying to get my independent study done for school this summer. And we're doing all of this in the zillion-degree heat of an Alabama summer!! (I've already decided that when we move again, it will be winter time!)
I have also recently become addicted to Words with Friends. I love that game!!! My handle is BruceFinklea, if any of y'all want to start a game!
So that's pretty much what's been going on and what will be going on in the next couple of weeks. I'll try to type up the Migrant Camp blog in the next day or so.
Our church has been going on this mission trip, which we call Migrant Camp, for approximately 43 years. (Depending on who you ask, you'll get a different number.) Migrant Camp is completely deserving of its own blog post, and it will get one. So stay tuned!
Jackie and I have also been prepping for our big move. This will be my third move in three summers, but hopefully this will be the last one for a couple of years. We're moving to her granddad's old place, which happens to be a stone's throw away from both her parents' and maternal grandparents' houses.
Yep, we're moving to the Hawkins Family Compound! <gulp>
In all honesty, I'm really looking forward to the move. It will be so nice to have a place to call our own...and to not have to share walls and floors with neighbors!
Today I told the office manager at our apartment complex that we were not renewing our lease at the end of the month. When she asked why we were moving, this was the image that immediately popped into my mind:
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| Jimmy McMillan from The Rent is Too Damn High Party!! |
While I may have been thinking it in my head, I did not tell the manager that the sky-high rent was the reason. However, rent is playing a major factor in our decision to move. I've always hated paying rent. To me, it always seemed like I was flushing money down the drain. You pay all this money for an apartment that you will never own and that will never earn you any money in return. With what we've paid in rent this year, we could easily have bought a nice, new small car (like a Kia or Hyundai).
While I'm looking forward to living in our own place, I am dreading the thought of packing all of our stuff up. (How do two people accumulate so much stuff in just a year?!?!?) We are going to move as much stuff as we can ourselves and then hire movers to move the furniture. (I'm not carrying all that furniture down from the 3rd floor. Momma didn't raise no fool!!)
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| Hope this doesn't happen to us! |
I have also recently become addicted to Words with Friends. I love that game!!! My handle is BruceFinklea, if any of y'all want to start a game!
So that's pretty much what's been going on and what will be going on in the next couple of weeks. I'll try to type up the Migrant Camp blog in the next day or so.
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