Thanksgiving Day

Colton and I really enjoyed our first holiday in our new home yesterday. It was so nice to wake up to yummy smells and gobble up all of the goodies. He took one look at the turkey this year and decided it was "yucky" and didn't want to help cook it (hehe); however, he did help me 'make the eggs naked' and peeled them for me to make deviled eggs. I am so blessed to have my little man.

We never did get around to carving Colton's pumpkin for Halloween, so it became our centerpiece for Thanksgiving. Yes, it probably would have looked better stuffed completely full of flowers, but still turned out cute. I still think the room looks way better than the dark scary pine cave before picture where you can see the sticky nicotine on the walls (uggggh). If you disagree, I still have a few stinky planks out on the porch that I'll be happy to wrap up and give you for Christmas.

I am very thankful for all of my friends and family that have helped us get into this house. Love all of y'all!!!

PS - Ignore the 99,000 birds on my bookshelf - I'm working on that!

Lazy Me

Okay, so I still haven't posted any new pictures, but I must admit to being pretty laid back the last week. I just needed to catch up on some rest and spend some time with my favorite little turkey. Maybe I'll throw out a little decor for Thanksgiving and snap some pictures? Maybe...

Gobble Gobble! Can't wait til tomorrow...lots of goodies including the pure sugary goodness of BUTTermilk pie - my favorite sweet.

I've Moved In!!!

Yes, I am way freakin' behind on posting. It's taken me two weekends to move all of my stuff in, but I am in! Sorry for not updating...will try to get my act together and post some pictures this weekend!

Day 162 - Coat 3 of Poly

Boy, am I tired tonight! We got up early for Colton's soap box race for Boy Scouts. Are you asking if he won? Well, of course he did, silly. With the racing genes he inherited from his mama and maybe a few from his daddy, he's a born rubber-burner.

I scuffed the floors and put the third coat of poly on the floors today. I did see alot of tiny bubbles in the floor today that bothered me, but it is what it is. They are still gorgeous and I'm probably the only one that will really notice them. I'm posting some before pictures as well as the after pictures so you can get the full effect of the change. These pictures were taken after the second coat of poly had dried. I am so pleased with the transformation from dark pine cave to shiny shiny goodness and light. Again...ignore the baseboards as that will be a project one night next week! And maybe one day in my fantasy world, the light fixture will get re-hung. Note - the furniture in the before pictures is not mine as I took those photos when I was looking at the house. The first picture reminds me of a horror film...so dark and I can picture someone tied to that chair getting tortured - that's how scary the before is.

Day 161 - PJs

Yay...costume contest at work today, so we decided to be comfy and come in our jammies. Aren't you jealous?

From left to right: Tobi, Tess, me and Amber

Day 160 - Shiny Shiny Goodness

I couldn't sleep so I stopped by the house before work and my floors are...well, they are stunning. They are absolutely everything I wanted them to be. Whew...breathe out. I did take some pictures and promptly left my camera at the house, but I did snap this one with my cell. It's pretty grainy/blurry, so I promise to get pictures posted ASAP!

Day 159 - 2nd Coat of Poly

Okay, first of all, I think I got overzealous on buying the poly. I bought seven cans and even after the second coat tonight, I had barely dipped into the third can. It didn't take near as much tonight, but man it was tough seeing where to apply it. It's already shiny and it was super hard to see where you would stop and start again. Tess stopped by to loan me her vacuum so I could clean the floors before I started. She of course, stayed and helped me poly, so by 9:30, we were done. I have to say...the floors look pretty awesome.

Being the cloud of negativity that I am, I am worried about the second coat of poly. I've read that it's the coat that may give you trouble - not wanting to adhere to the first coat. I sure hope I scuffed the floors enough...I'll find out tomorrow!

Day 158

I scuffed the floors tonight....at least I hope I did. The guy at the store gave me these big things that looked like giant ScotchBrite pads. I really expected to see alot of sanding dust and some dullness on the wood, but for the most part, it didn't seem to change anything. Which has me worried...hope he is right.

On the bright side, I was worried that I might see alot of trash in the floors. As I was apply the poly on Saturday, I kept thinking I was seeing some trash, but I think what I was seeing was the poly raising the grain of the wood. I only found three bristles from the brush I used to apply it and one of my hairs. I tried to sand them off and it took some of the stain off, so I had to dab some back on. Hope it looks okay.

Tomorrow the second coat of poly will go on...yay!

Day 157

Whew! My floors look great! I was worried after yesterday, but they really look so shiny even with just the one coat of poly on them. I picked up a sanding pole and will scuff them tomorrow evening to prepare them for the second coat.

PS - Forgot my camera...darn it!

Day 156

I couldn't sleep last night wondering how the floors were going to turn out. I went over first thing this morning and about had a heart attack. I saw what I thought was tons of "milky" spots on the floors. It was hard to tell since I couldn't walk in there on it & still don't have that light fixture hung...it was scary. I had read stories about water based poly turning milky, but oil based is not supposed to and that's what I used.

Since there was really nothing I could do about it, I left. I was going to clean in the den, but the fumes were so strong from the poly, it made my head hurt...or maybe that was from worrying about the floors.

I stopped back by tonight and I think it's going to be okay. I believe what I thought was "milky" spots, was just where the poly had dried more or less. We'll see...