It's been a whirlwind around here lately ... starting about last Wednesday. That's the day we got the word that the carpet would be put in Lindsey's and the new upstairs room ... on Friday.
Here comes 'Speedy Petey.' He and my guy started putting in all the baseboards and trim. This needed to be done before the carpet came in. Oh, it could have been done the other
way around, but it would make a mess on the new carpet. No way, said Pete. "We'll knock this thing out!"
Don't Pete and my guy look great in their matching shirts? They did this as a fashion statement for the Johnston Chronicles. Yep!
Mission was accomplished... and Friday morning, here came the carpet guy.... he did a great job, too!
Here we are standing in the hallway looking in Lindsey's original door.
Now, you may be thinking, "Well, so what? That doesn't sound too bad to me!" Well, let me show you something else:
This photo is not to show the wheels on The Great White....no, it's so you can see what's in the back. A washing machine. Thank goodness "when it rains it pours" was not referring to the water in our ANCIENT washing machine. It did leak some on the floor. I had been telling my sweet husband 'WE NEED A NEW WASHING MACHINE!' He patiently ignored me...until he ran out of clothes and I told him WE had to go to the laundromat. Ah ha...that did it. Thus, the photo above!
This led to the garage situation. It's a disaster. This has been the dumping grounds for everything that was in the rooms we've been working in. Only now, we needed some room to manuever the washers. So... a great part of Saturday was spent cleaning out some of the garage.
This was a pile starting for St. Vincent de Paul. 
Now, I certainly didn't throw these away! It's a whole basket of Gabe's baseballs. Homerun balls, balls from when he pitched... but they're in the garage right now.
Can you guess what these are? These are Gabe's old baseball pants, torn and ragged, but he wants to keep them.
Once the washing machine was finally in (and the old one is sitting out in the driveway since the dump was closed!), then Pete came back to finish the electrical. 
See this photo? Well, Pete didn't realize I had walked into the room. Think, blog readers...can you guess what happened? Hint: I almost got to practice CPR.
Give up?
Well, I took a picture...with a flash.
Pete didn't know I was there...he thought he had hit a hot wire and it was arcing...or however you say it. I swear, I've never seen Pete move SO FAST! He jumped and maybe he even screamed. I think I screamed. I apologized...and apologized. He laughed. I didn't.
Then came the ceiling fans....another story.
So the ceiling fan was put in. They turned it on... it worked. The light was on, the fan was fanning. Ah...it was finished, it looked good. Ron turned the light off but left the fan on. Fast forward about an hour later. My guy went up to admire their handiwork, flipped on the light...well, he flipped the switch, but no light. Fan was still fanning, but no light. RATS!
He saw Pete a little later and told him. I will not repeat what Pete said. Just suffice it to say, it's not for a PG rating blog.
Pete being Pete, here he came back over...found the problem and fixed it!
We're working on it. There's still so much to do, but it's coming along. Behind this door are the beginnings of two piles...one is for Lindsey to go through, the other is for Gabe. We don't seem to have much of Joshua's old things...except we do have his Marine medals and awards, which are staying here for now!
Lindsey and Gabe, here's a preview of your piles...
Now do you understand what I mean when I say, "It's been a whirlwind around here..."?
Blu, although we haven't met in person/canine form yet, is nothing short of remarkable. Look at him here. He's just 'one of the girls'... (although I do believe he's a male). He's just hanging out, singing karaoke with Thalia and her friends. 
It's been a whirlwind around here lately ... starting about last Wednesday. That's the day we got the word that the carpet would be put in Lindsey's and the new upstairs room ... on Friday.
way around, but it would make a mess on the new carpet. No way, said Pete. "We'll knock this thing out!"
Here we are standing in the hallway looking in Lindsey's original door.
This was a pile starting for St. Vincent de Paul. 
Now, I certainly didn't throw these away! It's a whole basket of Gabe's baseballs. Homerun balls, balls from when he pitched... but they're in the garage right now.
Can you guess what these are? These are Gabe's old baseball pants, torn and ragged, but he wants to keep them.
See this photo? Well, Pete didn't realize I had walked into the room. Think, blog readers...can you guess what happened? Hint: I almost got to practice CPR.
Then came the ceiling fans....another story.
So the ceiling fan was put in. They turned it on... it worked. The light was on, the fan was fanning. Ah...it was finished, it looked good. Ron turned the light off but left the fan on. Fast forward about an hour later. My guy went up to admire their handiwork, flipped on the light...well, he flipped the switch, but no light. Fan was still fanning, but no light. RATS!
We're working on it. There's still so much to do, but it's coming along. Behind this door are the beginnings of two piles...one is for Lindsey to go through, the other is for Gabe. We don't seem to have much of Joshua's old things...except we do have his Marine medals and awards, which are staying here for now!
Now do you understand what I mean when I say, "It's been a whirlwind around here..."?
And what a cutie he is!
This is how that mud was mixed. Ron said the bucket, "wanted to get away." Ha! It didn't have a chance with my guy holding it tight. He's good at holding things tight. I like it when he holds me tight!.... I digress...
With this mud, Pete's been taping and mudding...taping and mudding...then Ron would sand...then Pete would tape and mud... that's been going on for a week.
Yesterday, they textured. That's actually what the 'mud' in this post was used for. I think it had to be a bit thicker for texturing.
This is a view out the window...well, it's still the hole for the window, but that's changing. You can see part of a woodpile - that will be moved. You can see the corner of Pete's ladder... that's still there. You can even see part of 'the farmer's' backyard. Um? Wonder what the farmer is up to?
Here's a better view of 'the farmer's' backyard. Um? Do we see anything...illegal growing there? Probably not.
I loved being pregnant... I loved it all. I think this next part was even OK... Labor!
It was especially OK, because of what I was blessed with ... Joshua! All 9 lbs. 3 oz. of him.
Joshua was "Joshua" since the moment I knew I was pregnant. Before I was even showing, I would refer to my baby as "Joshua." There were no ultrasounds or anything like that. You didn't know if your baby was a boy or girl until it was born. But I knew. I just knew. At work, people would pass me in the hall and say, "How's Joshua?" "Oh, he's just great!" I would answer.
Joshua and Saddy
Joshua and my dad
He probably got his love of the outdoors from his 'Pops'... 
Joshua was the absolute sweetest baby... He was my dream-come-true...
Happy Birthday, Joshua! 
Not only did Joshua and Erica get married, but we now had a lot more 'family'! 
"Well, look at you, Jack! What a cutie you are."
At that statement, he just laid his head back on his mama, and thought, "Oh great...here comes all that gibberish."
His mama scolded him for not being more attentive. He sat up, a little surprised.
He then started telling me about his new modeling career which I hadn't heard about. Not a problem, he said. He brought along his portfolio and was happy to share it.
He was being real careful...you know, to sit just right.
Who needs a bear-skin rug? Not this model!
Jack did want to show he could model clothing too...so he included these last two in his portfolio.
What a little man!
You may remember him from here...
Now he's a baby....not a newborn infant. His mama loves to kiss those sweet cheeks...
He even laughs at the antics of his 'Ya Ya' ...
My friend, Laner, was asking him to solve a math problem to show me how smart he already was... he looked at me and we agreed she was a bit crazy.
Well, his Ya-Ya persisted in letting me know how smart HER GRANDSON already was, so she put him in the desk to prove it. 