Look at the bright side...

It was weird taking a shower this a.m., and looking at my neighbors kitchen! Something just felt NOT RIGHT! I guess when you look at the bright side, I still have a shower, right? ;) I caught myself thinking... What if it rains? I have a giant hole in my wall since the window fell out... But i guess if water comes in (rain) it will come into the shower which is made to deal with water anyway... So no harm, no foul, right? I asked when the new windows are coming... Not till the end of the project! Yikes!

Am a little bummed about the water damage and how the previous owners did not do the job correctly. They had disclosed to us that there had been some water damage in our bathroom and that they had to cut away some drywall and re tile, but they did not tell us they cut away ALL the drywall and that the water damage had effected the studs! When you look at the picture from the outside of our bathroom, you are looking directly at the backside of my tile! There is no drywall between the old studs (which are completely gone) and the tile. And when they re did the window in the shower there was no stud support between the ceiling and the window, and now that the window fell out there is nothing supporting that whole wall of tile. Wow! That would totally suck if I slipped in the shower and used that wall to steady myself! The neighbors would sure get a show...

The cool part of this is Mark and I never really liked that shower anyway. There were all sorts of things that we kept saying " oh I'd love it if..." I guess now we can make it what we want. It just stinks because we didn't budget for this ;( so I don't know where that $$$ is going to come from. But I guess if you are going to do a project you gotta do it right! So now I get to spend some time on PINTEREST to figure out what I want to do... That's the FUN part! ;)

I think I get to come home to piles of dirt all over my backyard today. They are supposed to be prepping the dirt to begin digging the footings. I was kinda sad last night. All the boys were in the living room playing video games and I just wanted a place of quiet to go sit and have a beer... But I had no patio!!! So I walked out back and whined to my husband that I just want this to be done... He was not amused! This process is gonna be a pain in my butt but the end result is going to be wonderful... I am about to start taking bets to see how long the project is going to take... Hopefully it will be done (the house part anyway) by the end of summer. But i have been told it never is done when you think it is gonna be done. Any one wanna venture their own guess?

Water damage :(

So they found some pretty extensive water damage behind our bathroom wall. Not fun! The studs were so badly damaged that you just tapped them with the handle of the hammer and they crumbled. Not sure if it is from the DIY tile job the former owners did 15+ yrs ago or for a leak in the ceiling?!? But we resealed the tile a few years ago and it appears there is no current leakage. Not a HUGE deal, except than now we have to strip all that stucco too and replace all those studs. My husband said they stripped it all and the window just "fell right out" not so sure I wanna sower in there with no window?! Ummmmm feeling a bit 'au naturel' huh... There doesn't appear to be damage behind the boys bathroom wall tho so I guess that's a break.

They are also cutting back the roof today. I think once they get all that done, they start digging the footing. Not sure what that means. I am excited for all this craziness!!! Had a fantastic conversation with our neighbors of 13+ yrs about what we are doing. They just finished a major renovation that took them from start to finish 2 yrs! I was NOT encouraged that it took so long ;( but I was very encouraged by her kind words and assurance that we would just LOVE it when we are all done. It didn't help that her last sentence to me had to do with how she hopes our marriage can handle it! ;) hahaha... Only time will tell I guess huh?

Anyway, I held bible study last night for our junior and senior high kids from our church. Last Sunday I had told them this was all going to happen starting Monday so we had our study last time on the patio. This time they could not believe ow different everything looked! Always a new adventure... Am excited to see what I come home to today!

Progress as of Friday afternoon... Excited for what's gonna happen tomorrow...

A little bummed tho...they had to disconnect the air conditioning Fri night :( wondering how we are going to make it till the end of the project with no AC... I JUST KEEP TELLING MYSELF... IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT!!! right????

I don't think I thought this out real well...

Ummmmm, yesterday was my youngest's birthday and he wanted to have a party "at the house" like he "always does". He is the one I mentioned earlier is really struggling with this whole CHANGE thing ( hmmmm I wonder where he gets that from :). So I being a GREAT MOMMY (not so sure of that) said sure honey! So today 15-20 kids are descending upon my house and there is no where for them to play the games, sit, eat pizza, etc. we usually have the parties on the back patio or on the front patio... Problem... There is no back patio and the front is full of tools, recycled brick and pond parts ;(. Even the font lawn has all our scattered patio furniture which won't fit anywhere else... The DUMP BIN is still in my driveway and so is the trailer... So this should be interesting! My living room is pretty good sized but is a complete mess... I guess my kid will have to do some CLEANING today! My poor carpet looks awful from people coming in and out of the mud pit... I feel my anxiety level just shooting through the roof! Thank God kids are forgiving... It's their parents I worry about! Hahahahahaha anyway... More pics soon!

This is what the finished project is supposed to look like...I guess time will tell...

Its just a flat pile of dirt out there... Now for the stucco removal...

For the first time...

Yesterday the 24 of April, I was excited to come home and see what progress had been made... I am doing my best to get beyond the attachment to places or things and trust that God has this whole thing under control! Mark and I have been praying for MONTHS AND MONTHS that this would be a GOD thing and as I look at it right now... There are a million sermon applications that can be derived from this experience.
1) change HURTS ;(. For anything beautiful to happen it takes some pain! Wouldn't you agree? I mean... DUH really. Look at pregnancy, look at child birth, look at true LOVE, look at parenting, marriage, the corporate world?!? All takes some amount of physical, emotional or spiritual HURT To get anything really GOOD. I see that a thousand times over in my life! Why should I expect this to be any different?
2) stuff is just STUFF! My son saw my struggle the other day, wrapped his arms around me, and said "it's ok mommy, you still have meeeeee!" And wow!! That struck me because my memories aren't wrapped up in a pond or a patio or a plant, they are wrapped up in my family! Praise God for the wisdom of children!
3) HOPE for what is to come! I can't even imagine what THIS MUD PIT is going to look like when it is all done! But when I look at this in the realm of faith and HOPE, I KNOW in my heart of hearts that it will beyond my imagination! ;) it's like heaven... It is not going to be what I imagine... It is gonna be BETTER!

These are just a few of the life lessons I am sure. Excited to see what's going to happen today...

Tuesdays work 4/23

It's time for a PARADIGM SHIFT ;)

So yesterday I came home and everything was gone ;(! Pond - all cracked up and ready to be gone, grass - gone, iris - gone, Mexican Sage - gone, brick - starting to be dug up by the Bobcat. I started off the day being so sad... But some of my friends reminded me that this is a BLESSING and I need to rejoice in what is "going to be"!

Our friend who is doing this project came over and walked us thru the timeline and where things are going and what needs to happen next. I am going to be honest it was easier to envision the new stuff now that the old stuff is all gone!

So I am making a choice! I am CHOOSING to be excited about this even in the middle of the mud pit that is my back yard ;). It is going to take effort I think but this is a good thing and I really am excited about it. I just am NOT good with change! I am German AND Lutheran ... What do you expect?!!? ;)

Anyway... Paradigm shift... COMPLETE! Lets see how long this lasts... Hahahahahaha

Is this MY house?!?!!?

Soooooooooooo this is what I came home too today :( I'm gonna cry! More emoting later...

I feel like the sky is falling...

I can't believe how sad I am ;( I guess I am silly... I just didn't expect to be so emotionally attached to a space...a pond, a patio, even a tree! It's just that when we bought this house almost 15 years ago, the yard was such a HUGE part of what we loved about it. The pond was my special place. My kids would sit in it when they were little to cool off on warm days, I would put floating candles in it on evenings when we had parties. I even have the BEST picture of Joshua at 4 years old kissing little Daisy standing dripping wet in their cute little clothes in the middle of the pond! We tell them often that that will be the cover of their wedding invitation someday! I remember when I was on bed rest with Jacob, my father in law built me a porch swing that faced my pond, so I cold just sit and relax as I listened to the waterfall ;(... Now it is no more. I think I am going to use this blog to also help me recall my best memories ;) aren't you in for a treat!?! HAH! ;) anyway... More later...

Before pics...

Soooooo I'm kinda FREAKING OUT!

Here's the deal... I am a married mom of 3 boys. Oldest is moderate-severely autistic. Middle is a 7th grader, responsible, sweet boy! And youngest an 11 year old Aspergers kid who is BRILLIANT and... Eccentric! My husband, pastor of a church in orange and a SAINT, has been my best friend and GIFT from God! We are starting a home addition... Tomorrow! I am freaking out... My sister in law told me to do this. She said blogging might be a nice way for me to deal with my anxieties about this project and maybe also find some humor in it. So, here it goes. We spent the weekend cleaning off the back patio and moving junk. Tomorrow they bring a Bobcat in to start the demo. I LOVE MY BACKYARD ;( I love love looooooooovvvveeeeeeeeee it! I know we need more living space and I am trying to be rational here, but THIS is gonna break my heart! ;( so I took before pics... I will post when I figure this out... And will post stuff in the meantime too. So feel free to join me on this journey... I promise it will be filled with CRAZINESS! Blessings...