So I was talking with my parents and my brother, John, tonight after the priesthood session.  We were talking about reading classic books and I now have a new favorite quote from John.  He said, "I didn't have to read any classics because I watched 'Wishbone.'"

 

What is "Wishbone," you ask.  Well, it was a PBS show about a kid and a dog.  The kid would be going through some situation in life and the dog, Wishbone, would find a classic book that fit the situation and then act out the book.  Yeah, it was pretty sweet....

Report

Just wanted to let you all know how my projects are coming.  First of all, Sam and I have been very good about making dinner and eating at an earlier time.  Next week I'm planning to take pictures of our meal because some people (well at least one that I know of) doubts that I do or know how or can actually cook.  Well, at least she used to.  Also, I've done some sewing.  I made a skirt, a bag (turned out awful), and a carseat tent-cover-thing.  Whatever you want to call it.  A couple of my neighbors recently had babies so it was a gift.  I'm currently washing the fabric for my next project.  AND, I've scrapbooked 5 pages.  Yep, last week was very productive.  Oh, I also worked out quite a bit.  Hopefully this week will be just as busy. 

Pixle Junk Shooter: the sequel

Pixle Junk Shooter is a video game on the PS3.  Sam and Cole love it.  The second one recently came out, so they've been playing it a lot.  When I asked them what I should blog about, that's what they said.  Yes, they were playing it at the time.  I sometimes sit downstairs while they play and look online or read or make cards or whatever.  It's one of the more tolerable video games they play.  Halo is super annoying to watch and I don't love Super Meat Boy.

As for the project ideas, thanks.  Mary Ann, yours is on my list.  And I'm thinking of going to Las Vegas for spring break.  Colorado is far, and I don't quilt but I could watch Isaac...maybe during the summer???

Pixle Junk Shooter

So lately my life is pretty dull.  But I like it!  I'm working way less hours at the fabric store and I love having my afternoons free.  My goals are to clean my house more consistently and to work out more frequently.  And since I tend to eat more when I'm home I think I need to be more pro-active in my hobbies.  If y'all have any project ideas for me...I might take them into consideration.  :)  Oh yeah, I'm also going to try to cook dinner at a more timely hour.  We usually eat pretty late and I don't love it.  I guess those are my resolutions for March...since I didn't post any new year's goals, I figure now is as good a time as ever.

Sam loves his deal sites.  Woot (one of his favorites) does a shirt a day.  This was today's shirt and I thought it was hilarious, so I decided to share it with you.  The theme was "meat."

The Vending Machine

So, here is a story that some of you know, but some of you don't.  Recently I have been asked about this experience by a couple of my siblings, and I thought it would make a pretty good blog post.

When I was about 8 or 9 (we lived in a trailer park), there was a vending machine near the manager's house.  Being the sugar addict that I am, I would often buy candy from the vending machine.  This particular day my brother, John, was tagging along with me and my friend.  He was begging me to buy him something too.  I kept telling him no.  He had his own money.  Why should I buy him candy?!?  When I got to the vending machine, he was still right by my side.  I put my money in, and as I pushed the button of the candy I wanted, he pushed what he wanted too.  And then, a miracle happened.  My candy came out, and so did his.  Wait, it gets better...someone had the idea to push the coin return, and I got my money back. 

We weren't stupid.  We continued putting the money in and pushing as many buttons as we could at the same time, to maximize our buying power.  By this time, my sister Sandy had joined the fun, and another friend, Joey.  (We fondly referred to him as yellow teeth...weren't we so kind?!?)  Within a few minutes, we had the entire vending machine emptied.  Best day of my life!  We divided up the candy and each had a bag full.  I remember walking around the neighborhood living up the moment.  I started my candy binge with one of my least favorite kinds of candy, a nut roll.

Delicious...not.  By the time I was about half way through the candy bar, I started feeling really guilty, along with my sister, Sandy.  (John was apparently void of this feeling at his young age.)  Despite our friends', and brother's utter confusion, we confessed what we'd done to our mother.  She told us we needed to give the candy back and pay for what we had eaten.  We took the candy back to the manager and gave him the money we owed.  Yes, we made the right choice in the end, and yes it felt better than having a whole vending machine's worth of candy. 

Fall Break

Fall break was fantastic this year!  Sam and I went to Washington D.C. to visit my sister and her family, and of course, to see the sights.  My parents went with us, or we went with them, but we bought our tickets first, so they went with us.  It was so much fun!  We did so many things and I loved it.  I won't bore you with too many details, but I'll try to post some pictures...Sam's pictures (I didn't take many myself).  If you ever go to D.C.  I highly recommend going to Mt. Vernon, getting tickets to go up the Washington Monument, and hitting Arlington.  I love the changing of the guard and there are some cool things to see there.  We walked around so much that my legs were sore a couple of the days (and I consider myself to be in pretty good shape).

 There are some pictures for you.  If you'd like to see more you can check out my Dad's blog, or apparently his facebook.  He's much more diligent about getting pictures out than I am.  And just fyi, there was one day we didn't have our cameras because we went to the White House, so yes, you are only getting a taste of what we did.  Also, many places don't allow pictures.  But it was a great vacation and it was so hard to go back to work.  Such is life.  Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

So here is the new kitchen...I love it!  It is almost all the way done, just have to install the dishwasher, get a new light for above the sink, and fix the hinges on one door...you'll see what I mean...

This is the old kitchen...obviously (I hope)

Destruction process...so much fun

New cabinets are in...no molding, handles, or knobs

Finished product...excepting those few things I mentioned at the beginning....Isn't it lovely?!?

Back to Work

Well, the summer is over.  And it has been for a couple of weeks now.  I started working last Monday.  I'm working at a high school...yay!  Probably my favorite age group to work with.  So far the teachers and staff at the school have been great!  Some of the secretaries I've encountered at other schools have been a little bit condescending.  So, I'm liking my new assignment.  Plus I love the high school schedule...minus the getting up early part, but it's worth it to be done so early. 

The summer flew by, as usual.  Seemed to be pretty uneventful.  But we did have some good vacations to California, Colorado, and the Uintas.  Also, we finished painting our whole upstairs...that was really awesome.  Vaulted ceilings are not the most exciting thing to work with when it comes to painting the house.  Love them otherwise. 

The past couple of weeks, Sam has been diligently working on getting our kitchen cabinets made.  I think I helped a lot too, but of course he's put more hours in.  I do know that I could not make cabinetry my profession.  Wow!  The process that they go through to finish cabinets and doors is insane.  You put stain on to wipe it off.  You lacquer and then you sand it off.  You lacquer again and then you sand it again.  You put a glaze on and then you wipe it off.  And, of course, you put another one or two coats of lacquer on.  Very tedious.  Sam's standards relating to cabinets are much higher than mine, so he's made most of the choices for our new kitchen cabinets.  It'll be great when it's all  installed...which should be within the next week.  I'll take some final remodel pictures then.  It'll be really nice...I'm excited.

I'm proud to say that I got some sewing projects finished over the last week of summer break.  Curtains in my living room and a coat I started last October.  Rest at ease, Mom. 

Sunday Evenings

I love Sunday dinner at my mom's house.  Fortunately, I get to eat there with most of my family every other week.  Well, I guess it's only half my family.  But still, a good time.  We usually play a game or two after we're done eating.  Last night we were reminiscing and decided to re-visit our childhood instead of playing games.  Here's what we made...

I'm sure many of you don't know what this is.  You're probably not a Carter.  It's a potato bug house.  Still confused?!? Shocking!  When we were young we made mazes out of legos and put potato bugs in them to see if they could find their way out.  Sounds stupid, I'm sure.  But, it entertained us for hours as children, and for a little while last night.  Not all of my siblings participated in this activity.  I think it was mostly the younger ones.  It was fun to remember how awesomely creative we were as kids!

You bet we found a potato bug and put it in!

Did I mention I cut 13" off my hair a couple weeks ago?  Ugly picture, I know.  But I am loving the short hair.  I forget how nice and easy it is.  Man I look scary in that picture!  (It's the only one I have of my fabulous new hair...this was from the first day too!)

And no, our house is not finished yet.  They've just been mudding and sanding.  Trust me, you're not missing anything without pictures of it.  But, it is looking good and they should be done today.  And then Sam and I get to clean and paint. Yay!  Anyone want to help???

Days 15 and 16

It seems like our house really might be finished by this weekend.  They said they will have to come Saturday to put the texture on the walls, but otherwise they will probably be done tomorrow.  I know!  I am surprised too.  But, I'm a couple days behind, so I hope you're ready for a lot of pictures!

There is no longer a hole in our bedroom leading to the loft.

The wall is almost completely done.

They got a lot of the new ceiling mudded.  Those were all things that they got finished yesterday.

When I got home today, my house looked a lot different.  I am loving it!

They started mudding around the new part of our bedroom wall, I know, it's hard to tell in the picture.  You'll have to take my word for it.

The wall is now completely back up, withe some more mud on it.

And, this is what the kitchen now looks like.  I know, it needs some paint.  It's got a multi-colored thing going on right now.  But, isn't it awesome?!?  It's way more open and light.  I LOVE it!

Last, but not least:

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The last little bit of wiring that Sam did.  There was an outlet in one of our cupboards that he is moving to the wall.  So, yes, he's made some holes in the wall, and sure he's taken down about 5 cabinets, but it'll be okay.  The holes will be covered by the cabinets and the range when we move it back.  I guess he knows what he's doing since he works in a cabinet shop and they always do these things when they install.

I'm really loving the way that our house is turning out.  I can't wait til it's all finished.  Of course, I'm not really looking forward to all the dusting and deep cleaning that will be required when they stop sanding everything.  But, I guess it'll be worth it!!

In answer to a question

No, we're not rebuilding the loft!  They will finish what will be the new ceiling while the loft floor is still there....for convenience.  They will tear out the loft floor last, so that they don't have to mud and sand the ceiling on ladders.  You will understand when it's all done, but just imagine that the old floor is not there.  Where the can lights are will be the new kitchen ceiling.  Maybe it'd make more sense if you'd seen our house before.  I don't know.  I guess you can wait for the finished product pictures.

Day 14: the fun conitnues

So, it seems like an eternity since we started this fun little remodel.  Though there aren't many pictures to be shown, a lot has been done.  The electrical work is finished, which is a miracle!  Most of it Sam was able to do himself.  I'm sure that will save us a lot of money.  So, I didn't take pictures of the day to day work on the wiring.  Not all that much to look at, I promise.  Yesterday the construction guy came over to start putting our house back together.  Yay!  He thinks he'll be done by Friday (in a couple days)...I think it'll be great if he's done by Friday the 11th of June.

See!  Our can lights are in (wired by Sam) and we have a ceiling!  Yay!

And this was a wall that we tore down. (Kicking myself for not getting before and after pictures of this wall.  It had some amazing texture on it.  A Quarter inch thick in places.  We decided it'd be easier to build the whole wall from scratch than try to sand the texture off.)  So the wall is half built up again already.  Happy day.

Day 3: umm...

So there really hasn't been much change the last couple of days.  I know I thought it'd be awesome to do daily pictures and updates, but it kinda looks the same.  I'll post a few pictures and point out the changes for you.  It seems like they are a little stuck on the electrical changes that need to take place.  Yeah, our kitchen was, apparently, the central location for all the wiring in our whole house.  You think I'm joking?!?  Not so much.  So, currently things are at a stand still. 

This week has been a fun one, however.  Got my tires rotated today and had to buy two new tires, even though it has been less than two years since I bought my tires.  My car's alignment was pretty jacked up...got that fixed and am looking forward to another repair.  Something to do with a bent something or another that has to be replaced!  Good times.  Next week should be better.  Only 7 more work days til summer vacation...WAHOO!!!

See the fancy new can lights they've put up?  Not that they actually work right now...but hey, I guess it's progress.  And I think they tore the ceiling off since the last post.

Remember those dry wall patches in the entry hall way?  Those are being mudded and will eventually look like the rest of the wall.  Cool! 

So, yeah, that's basically all the progress I've seen the last couple of days.  Might be taking more meals at our parents' houses the next couple of weeks.  It's gonna take a while before things are less dirty (dusty) and more usable.  Hopefully, in the end, it'll all be worth it....

Day 1: Demolition

So, we are having our 6'11" high kitchen ceiling vaulted to match the rest of our living/dining room area.  They started work yesterday.  They got most of the demolition done...I think.  From what I hear, that's the hardest part.  I hope that's so.  Although, as they uncovered the walls that were there and the ceiling, I think they found some wires that may make the electrical more difficult than anticipated.  Isn't that always so???  Honestly, when we got the bid, I figured it would be more than they quoted us, and maybe take longer then they said.  But, we're okay with them working late, so maybe they will get it done within the week (still not holding my breath).

Here are some before pictures:

We are super sad to be losing our completely useless loft.  Well, at least I think Michael is a little sad that we are taking his room and making it part of our kitchen.  Sorry Michael...but I don't think Nora would like to live there with you.

And some pictures from the end of day 1: