Snow Day 3.5....at least

I am beginning to forget what it is like to work. I haven't been at my desk since Monday and last week I took off early 3 days to deal with house issues. We are currently at a level 2 which means I do not go in until 12...unless we are still at a level 2 at 10:30 and then I get the remainder of the day off! :) There is hope for that....

We started out Tuesday on our way to drop Brennen off at Gramma and Pap's.....the roads were HORRIBLE!!! We were sliding all over and saw people going off the roads in the 5 mile drive. We decided it was too bad to try and make it to town....We ended up getting snowed/iced in at my in-laws. So we stayed Tues night. Around noon on Wed we lost power....they have a generator so we stayed put. It was only out about 13 hours...Thursday we got another snow day and Adam and I decided to try and make it over to Mom's...Several roads were closed due to ice, downed trees, and or downed power lines. Mom's electric AND phone lines were out last we knew. When we finally made it here the electric was back on but no phones....and there wasn't even cell service! We are still without phone...Oh and cable! At least the internet is working and allowing us to keep in touch with the world! haha

Adam went in to work this morning. They have a new judge who decided to interpret the severe weather policies differently than everyone else. It's always been that if at 7 it's a level 2, you are off until 12...if at 11:30 it's still a level 2, then you're off the rest of the day. Well the new judge has decided a level 2 means that you have until 12:30 to get into the office!!! This wouldn't be so bad but he never went over his interpretation of the policy and was upset when a couple of people didn't show up to work yesterday!! (Including Adam~) So he went ahead and went on time this morning to try and make up some time....I have another hour and 45 minutes to wait and see if I'm off for the rest of the day. I know work will be crazy when we go back on Monday, but I'm really hoping to have the rest of the day off with my little man. I've gotten spoiled having him so much...and I think he has too! Mom and I ran to Walmart last night and to pick up a pizza...when we got home Brennen came running and hugged my legs going "Moooom! Mooom" Oh it was too sweet! LOL....he got chocolate milk with his pizza! :)

Flying Boxes, Busted Pipes, and.....

a perfectionist for a contractor!

Oh what a day yesterday was! My Mom calls to let me know that the 8 chairs I ordered for our dining room table are in! YIPPEE!!! ( I wasn't really looking to get them until closer to the time we are going to move in....But that's a long story and they needed to be ordered sooner!) Well there was no place to keep them at the store and I needed to pick them up. My sister-in-law who is ready to deliver anyday said she needed me to come and help install carseats and help her figure out some features on hers. My cousin was wanting to know when I was going to come and see his new baby. My contractor was calling freaking out that I don't have an aerial view of our kitchen so he knows down to the millimeter where to position the light over the island..............Ay yi yi! With everything going on I decided to take some of my comp time and leave early from work.

Ok let's start w/ the daily report from Chris: Windows were going in yesterday...at least on the front of the house. The back of the house they have been having trouble getting the shingles on due to ice on our sheeting. They had the heater up there on Tuesday w/o much luck and Chris doesn't install windows until that portion of the roof is completed for fear of falling shingles breaking a window...So as far as we know the 9 windows in front were put in place yesterday. The electric was getting ran...at least started....yesterday. The heating and air guy said we should go w/ 2 seperate units...one for each floor. We had several people recommend this to us due to the efficiency of it, however we didn't think we could afford it. We were very pleasantly surprised for Chris to tell us that it really wasn't costing much extra! And he's totally freaking out about the light over the island...I am telling myself that it's a good thing to have someone so anal building our house!!! LOL!

So I leave work early yesterday and go to my Mom's store to pick up the chairs....We are talking 4 HUGE boxes...>They come up to about my shoulders, wider than me, and are pretty deep as well. They aren't that heavy just very awkward. Mom and I load them into the truck and two weren't real tightly wedged in. They had about a 6" gap b/w the box and bed of the truck. It wasn't windy, they were up against the cab, and I planned to drive cery slowly so I wasn't worried....(couldn't strap them in b/c of a toolbox in the holes for the straps...if that makes sense....well at least we didn't think we could strap them in....). So off I go. I go down Jasper...doing fine. Turn left onto 104....doing fine. Going about 35mph and I look back to see one of the boxes rocking....I was about 1/2 mile from Jasper... As I SLOWLY start to put on the breaks the box flies out, goes end over end a couple of times, and lands dead center in the southbound lane!!! At this point I am starting to freak out and mourn the loss of 2 of my chairs! I am in Tim's old truck and the flashers do not work so I'm trying to get turned around to go and get my box....Well this long line (9-10) cars going southbound will not even let me turn off into a driveway!!!! They can see my box...they can see the boxes just like it in the bed of my truck!!! Finally the guy behind me turns on his flashers and gets out to get my box off the road. I get turned into a driveway and run down to meet him. (Please remember the size of the box at this point....) I meet him about 100 yards from my truck. He hands me over the box and walks away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So here I am on the side of the road trying to figure out how to make this work...people zooming by. I am in my dress clothes from work and am freezing! Finally about about 20-25 minutes 2 guys stop and get everything squared away for me. I drove 35mph all the way to our storage unit on 23 north of Waverly. I loaded up the 3 good boxes and finally got down the damaged one. I slowly opened it up hoping to see all this wonderful packaging....Let me say that LIberty makes D*MN good chairs! They were not really packed other than plastic bags over the backs and a box b/w the seats....that was it and they were still perfect!!! :) Now getting all those boxes into the little space we had left was not fun! And to top it off my phone kept ringing. My M-I-L was calling to let me know they didn't have water and wanted to know if we could stop and get them some. Adam kept calling and fianlly I just ignored the phone! They are in the storage unit...I just do not want to be the one to open that door next time! LOL

My sister-in-law decided she was too tired to mess w/ the carseats.
Our can was finished and ready to be picked up once we got home...from where my brother-in-law backed into it.
Nicole never called about going to see Hayden.
So the remainder of the evening was fairly uneventful.
We'll see what today holds!

Thank goodness!!!!

Brennen is feeling MUCH better!!!!

Bridget, I just got your BRAT suggestion!!! I remember reading about that somewhere now that you mention it. I guess we sorta did our own version...>Brennen really wanted applesauce on Sunday and he had a few bites of Rice Baby Cereal w/ apple and banana baby food mixed in! And Brennen HATES toast...can't figure that one out!
Sunday Brennen woke up about 2 am sick and proceeded to just lie around miserable most of the day. He started refusing to drink Pedialyte ( I think it's too strong tasting for him!!!) and requested "his Juice" instead...so we did about a 10:1 ration w/ water and he was happy and able to keep it down. I went to shower and he requested APPLES.....Adam and my Mom chopped an apple and gave it to him w/ water...that promptly came right back up. He basically cuddled and watched TV all morning....fell asleep about an hour on the floor and woke up miserable. He was crying and just couldn't get comfortable....And I noticed he was running a little fever. We decided to give him a dose of Tylenol in hopes it would calm him down and let him rest...this was about 4.....by 4:30 the little guy perked up and was ready to play!?!?!?!?!?!? He ended up eating a cup and a 1/2 of apple sauce..and then later about 7 1/2 a bowl of chicken noodle soup w/ crackers. We gave him some more Tylenol about 8:30 and put him to bed for the night...HE SLEPT ALL NIGHT! Til 9:00 the next morning!!!! And he woke up smiling and happy....didn't ask for food and I didn't want to push it. I got myself some Multi-grain Cheerios and he ran right over for "bites". He pretty much devoured my cereal and was a happy, playful boy all day yesterday! He only ate about 1/2 of what he normally does during each meal but I figure his little tummy has shrank...I know we are really having to tighten his diapers more to keep them on. It's amazing how much they can lose in just a couple of days! He's home w/ Daddy today. Adam is on 4 day weeks and yesterday should have been his normal day off...but with the holiday it didn't count, so he's off again today! He has the best schedule!!!

On a sad note...Our contractor, Chris, had our garage wall fall on him last week (400lb wall!!!). He went to the chiropractor who told him to take it easy, keep it iced, and not lift over 5lbs because he had a slipped disc. (This is the same chiropractor I worked for before coming to JFS>...actually where I met Chris!) Well by Thursday he was feeling better so he was back out working like normal...he was prying something and his back went out again. He went back and saw the younger brother of who he saw last week....(Dr. B. who I adored when I worked there and who actually asked me to come with him to open his own practice....long story!) Well Dr. B ripped him a new one and told him he now has a bulging disc that is ready to rupture!!! and that his entire back is sprained...he is to not lift anything for 4-6 WEEKS!!!! Chris is going nuts! However he grabbed another guy and they were out there putting on our shingles yesterday! I baked them some homemade chocolate chip cookies and took them out...I felt so bad that they were out in that cold like that! Anyway our windows should be in tomorrow and we ordered doors yesterday..Oh that's another post about Lowe's!!!!!! They are going to start wiring on Thursday or Friday! So she's coming along! I can't wait!

ok that's all for now. I'll try a Lowe's post later! ;0)

For the first time in 23 months....

Brennen is really sick! He's had a touch of this or a bit of that before but nothing to really keep him down. We Saturday morning he woke up at about 4:30 am and was throwing up all over. By 6 he was at it again. We were supposed to make a family trip to Dayton to go to my sister-in-laws baby shower...well that plan went out the window. Yesterday he did really well. Adam and I both commented on how pleasant he was all day long...he just didn't want to eat. He had about 5 crackers and 4 bites of chicken noodle soup...and I went and got him Pedialyte...all of which he kept down. I was really thinking we were escaping the big bug and he just had the 25 hour thing....well 2 am this morning he was back to throwing up. He hasn't gotten up and played at all today. He wanted an apple and water...which he did not keep down. He's not been wanting the Pedialyte today so much and he's got diarrhea! :( He's been a total grouch...although it's understandable. He did keep down a little applesauce. I wasn't too keen on giving him any but he was screaming and crying for it so hard I thought he would make himself sick anyway.....
So right now Momma's getting a break and he's lying on Daddy...So here are some pictures that I've been meaning to put on here for a while!...Ok I was waiting on the pictures to load..and 502 server error is what I get after 10 minutes...I'll try later.

Baby it's cold outside.....

Oh my goodness! I enjoy the changing of the seasons. I am not a person who would enjoy living in a place that was always warm and sunny....Although if you could guarantee me NO days above like say 87...I'm in! Anyway back to what I was saying.....Ienjoy the changing of the seasons but this makes me wish I lived in Florida! I took Charlie (our Springer Spaniel) out this morning to do his thing and by the time I made it back inside my hands were bright red and stiffening up around the leash!!!! The good news of the day is that we didn't have to get Brennen out in it. Adam works only 4 days a week and today was his day off. So my guys are still in bed.....and yes I'm VERY jealous!

To further my pain..this isn't exactly weather that you can shingle a roof in either I guess! :( So nothing is really happening at 192 Ware road.....other than working on floor plans for basement layouts! :) Gotta love PaintShop! Nicole is going to move in with us and finish out our basement as "rent"....and then that will be her little place to live. We are hoping to take some income tax refund and finish our bonus room over the garage and have the house finished....well as much as a home is ever finished. I know I will always want to do, change, or add something!!! I get bored very easily and like change often! I think sometimes that worries Adam when he realizes that in about a month we will have been an "item" for a DECADE! Gees I'm feeling old! LOL!
So here are some basement options...let me know what you think...Well I guess they are at the top. I haven't quite figured out how to put pictures where I want them in this thing!!!

Why don't people just....

DO THEIR JOBS???

I have really began to question the ethics of the people in our country....I was going to say our county but I have dealt with people all over lately and there seems to be a common theme. No one wants to just do their job. We contracted a company by the name of Southern Ohio Septic to install our septic system. They had came recommended by others in our area. They seemed a little "hillbilly" in their operation but everyone said that they knew what they were doing. We got an estimate from them that basically boils down to 20 words on an invoice sheet that is then scratched out and written bid over that. They installed our system on 11/19/08 and called to say that now the Health Department would have to approve it. Ok....
Now am I crazy or would you expect a follow up stating that .....well wait just a minute, let me give you a little background. Our county is notorious for not allowing septics to go in during the winter.....and we are getting ours installed on 11/19/08!! Also Southern Ohio Septic calls us AFTER they have installed the septic to see if we purchased the permit before they called the health department....Now let me continue...
Am I crazy or would you too expect to get a statement in the mail where it is finished and approved along with an invoice to pay? I will admit I probably should have questioned not getting one before but to be honest we've had so much going on with my Grandpa passing and the holidays that I haven't thought another thing about it. The ONLY paper we have from them is a Bid that they wrote out on 9/13/08. Well last Friday they call threatening to come to my place of employment and if I didn't have the full amount to give to them by the end of the day they were charging a 10% late fee!!! HELLO!? Where have these people been? How did we know what/whom to pay?!
The septic was set up as a 3rd party draw from our bank and was included in our mortgage. So we call our bank to see what we need to do to pay them. Oh well they have NO RECORD of us requesting a 3rd party draw, even though I have record of them requesting the name and address of who A 3rd party draw is to be given to!
They do send us a draw sheet which we sign w/ the agreed upon amt w/ Southern Ohio Septic to Southern Ohio Septic. Who adds a 10% late fee to the amt and sends it back stating we are 118 days PAST DUE on this acct! The septic was installed 55 DAYS ago! I realize that 55 days is a lot...but we were never billed or informed it was approved. So I called the health department today who informed me that it will be approved but they are still waiting on paperwork FROM SOUTHERN OHIO SEPTIC before they send us out the finalized approval!!! So these people can kiss my *** if they think they are getting a late fee from me!
Basically it's tax time and they want their money.....
Thank you for listening to my venting...
On a happier note...they are sheeting our roof today and will be putting on felt and starting shingles tomorrow! :)
Have a great day!....or at least better than me! :)~

I see restraining orders in my future.....

Quick Brennen Story:
Yesterday we were at Bonanza for our nephew's first birthday party. His mother's family was there and several little girls were in attendance. One little girl had a cell phone that she was texting on and taking pictures...I'm going to guess no older than 5 or 6!!!! and a little sister who was about 3. Brennen digs his phone (PLAY PHONE) out of my purse and runs over to the older girl holding it out to her going "hey.....Hey.....HEY!" when she wouldn't give him the time of day. We of course are imagining him asking her for her number and laying out his best lines through all of this....About 1/2 an hour later we look over and he has his arm around her little sister's waist and he looks back with a purely rotten grin on his face and is nodding his head up and down!! We lost it! So yes I see restraining orders in my futures....The boy doesn't have a shy bone in his body and is ALL ABOUT THE GIRLS ALREADY!!!!

Venting....

Oh let me tell you...I usually LOVE HH Gregg...but right now I am SO MAD AT THEM!!!!!'

I was ready to buy all of our appliances the other night. I found a Fridgidaire DW that was a closeout for $385....it was 35% off original price and all the other closeouts were 40-50% off.
I found a Whirlpool convection oven marked at $900...originally $1000...I didn't think that was a great deal, but I found a French Door refrigerator w/ ice and water in the door for $1660 which I thought was awesome and it was Whirlpool...and the microwave was like $330....about $35 off original price... So with tax the whole set was going to be like $3500...I only wanted to go b/w $3200-$3300 because I wanted money left over for flooring....anyway I didn't think it was unreasonable.

The lady who was working with me was also working with several other couples...which didn't bother me.
However...there was a couple looking a a fridge that was originally $1800...marked down to $1400. She made the comment that they wanted it for $1000 and she couldn't give it away...They left and got it for $1150!!!! When we sat down to talk about my entire package she told me that she couldn't budge on ANYthing!~!!! I argued with her for about 1/2 an hour and finally left. The Fridge I couldn't see them coming down on...but the range I really felt that they could...and a little more off the other two as well. But such is life. Back to the drawing board and the sales fliers!

I don't know if I've written about my knob dilemma...I dont' think I have. of course I've said that we want Black knobs that can't be found anywhere! Well I found some from a seller on e-bay, ordered them, and was very content...until he wrote and stated he couldn't have them in until at least 1/22/08 and would THEN ship them out to me. So I cancelled that order and began to freak out because I need them next week!!! I found the same handles on www.simpsonshardware.com for CHEAPER and they called me personally this morning to let me know that they were being shipped out today!!! How is that for customer service?!?!

Brennen did the funniest thing the other night. We got home and the Fiesta Bowl was just starting. I was of course parked in the recliner. Brennen comes through dragging a bag of pull-ups...(more on that in a moment..) This was the conversation: "Um....Mom" He says this while looking up to like the corner of his eyes...."Yea Baby..." Um.....Mom......Me......Poop!" Once again while looking up to like the corner of his eyes..."You pooped?" "Um....Yea"!!! LOL!!! I think he's showing signs of being ready to potty train but I had really wanted to wait until a little after we got moved in!!!! I didn't want the move to cause him to have a set back!!! What do you guys think???
As for the Pull-ups...Brennen is a HUGE peer!!! He was leaking through the diapers EVERY night. Huggies makes an overnight diaper but the stores around here only carry it up to size 5 and he's definitely a 6!! So I found overnight pull-ups...Not great but better than the diapers!!!

Ok that's it for now! Will try to get pictures up this weekend! They have the garage framed!!!!

Happy Belated New Years! :)

I don't know if anyone is really following this other than Bridget, but even so thought it was time to update! :)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEARS! :) Life with the Montgomery household is going well. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Evelyn Grace..our neice! :) She is due February 8th but I would bet a paycheck that she will be a January baby! We just had the first babyshower for her here at work and have 2 more to go! Talk about last minute! That would have driven my crazy.

Things on the house are progressing. The other day we had to make an executive decision regarding our stairway. As I may have mentioned before, we did not buy blue prints..although I've been reassured from others that that doesn't always mean smooth sailing either... Well there wasn't enough room to have a landing between our steps and the hall leading from our bedroom to the bathroom. We thought we had it figured out by putting a small landing and then a turn w/ another step or 2....which by the way I'm still not entirely convinced wouldn't work......but the builder said No. So then it was whether to turn our stairway around making the basement entrance in the front hallway and the upstairs entrance right off the kitchen/laundry area which would leave the upstairs alone. Or leave downstairs the way it was and wall off our bedroom and bath seperately, allowing for a landing at the top of the stairs. We opted for the second because we didn't like having the upstairs stairway so out of the way and it also would allow the door to the bonus room, which was originally in our hall connecting the master bath and bed, to be accessible to the entire house. Well then came the decision about whether to slant a wall in our bedroom allowing a full size dooor into the bonus room, or whether to move the doorway but have it cut off. This led to our first time being on the 2nd floor of our home. We had to climb a ladder that was sitting in the garage up through the bonus room opening....mind you I still have a bad ankle and this is a TALL house! Oh and did I mention I'm terrified of heights???? As soon as I could get my head above the floor level I had a mini panic attack. I didn't want to go any further because I started thinking about having to get back on the ladder. Our builder assured me he wasn't letting the ladder go anywhere and helped me up. We walked around and really became even more excited. We decided to slant the wall because on the other side our closet wall is slanted per the original plan to allow eaier access to Brennen's room. When we started up the ladder they were starting on the stairway. I stayed and waited and bless their hearts...they stayed and finished so I could walk down the steps!!! :)
We ordered our front door and french doors over the weekend. Oh and the other 2 for the garage, but they aren't special! :) And I ordered all the door hardware for the house today. We are so difficult. Leave it to Adam and Mandy to like something out of the ordinary. We both love colonial homes...and have found great inspiration from a website called : Classic Colonial Homes. Several of their homes have black hardware and fixtures...I was in love. Little did I know that NO ONE stocks these items. Luckily I am queen of finding what I want on the internet! I got a great deal on the doorknobs....which is good because the faucets I found are PRICEY!!!! YIKES! We keep telling ourselves that this is the "only time we are ever going to build a house" and "if we don't have it now, we probably never will". However I do realize that at some point we will have to put an end to this line of thinking and just shop w/i our budget!!! I've been letting go on the light fixtures I want...If I got what I really wanted, it would be about 2- 2 1/2 times our lighting allowance! OUCH! So I have reasoned that although not an electrician, if wiring is there Adam is quite capable of changing out lighting and it's something he's willing to take on w/o too much prompting!!! So we are going cheaper for now on that!

I'm currently debating on blinds. I LOVE wood blinds and think they would really go in this home...but guess what? PRICEY!! LOL The real dilemma is that ALL, yes ALL, of the toilets are in front of windows....in the FRONT of the house!! So I'm trying to decide whether I should take my chances and just order a few that are really needed and order others as budgeting allows....or wait and make sure they all match. I'm anal like that...they need to match!!!

Trusses are being delivered either tomorrow evening or Saturday morning and will be put in place on Monday. I can't wait to see a roof....and windows....and doors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to stop there for now....hopefully will be adding pictures soon and a venting session about my experience at HH Gregg....stay tuned! :)