must decide on colors.

Ok, think with me. Hall bathroom.  Here's the list of thoughts so far [submitted by creative friend- C. Henry].

Persimmon Red

Potpourri

Ballet Slipper

Oh man, decisions, decisions...

Another Monday.

ok- I don't even know where to begin.
I guess- first my apologies.  quite a few days have passed and boy have I missed being chatty Kathy with all of my lovely followers!
Of course, I have perfectly good reason- because I have not STOPPED all weekend. Like, go- go-go. But boy do I like it!
I've gotten into my groove here in Augusta.  Who would have thought - the weekend that I miss Cleveland, TN so much is that one that truly clicks and brings about new excitement for my Augusta life?  God sure knows what he is doing, huh?
So, Friday was a major renovation day.  The boss let me off work around lunch and I quickly joined Dad at job site #2 for some intense work.  I had help from the wonderful Lana and Morgan and a perfect visit from Tandy.
Things that were accomplished on Friday:  drywall hung and Spackled by Dad. 1 bedroom floor bleached [to remove all things gross from the floor].  Bedroom primed [ceilings and walls].  And on into Saturday... all tack boards removed [from around the base boards- the old strips that held the carpet on. tedious to remove.]  more walls and ceilings primed.  hall bathroom overhauled and walls/ceiling primed, sink/vanity removed, holds puttied, walls sanded [and sanded and sanded], old floor ripped up... Outlet installed in Master bedroom.  [evidently, houses built in the 70's placed outlets on the light fixtures? odd and inconvenient if you ask me.]
Goodness, I could probably go on with this list, but I'm getting exhausted thinking about all that was accomplished.
The good news???  I can see this real faint light at the end of the tunnel. And boy is it a beautiful thing.  I mean, we are talking, hang a little section of drywall, sand some more walls a few times, install 2 toilets and 2 vanity/sinks and then we are ready for paint and floors!!! Man o man.  It's getting good...
Want some pics? [for those of you who follow me on twitter- you may recognize these. sorry for lack of variety]

Hole in the ceiling.  [this happens when someone decides to remove a wall...]

Sweet Mom & Dad- installing a ceiling.

Hall bathroom before. This doesn't do it justice bc this RR was nasty.

Hall Bath- lacking sink & toilet

Hopefully now you feel a bit in the loop. I can't wait to share Before and Afters side by side with the end result.  You are NOT ready.  

Okay, so I just have to share about my Sunday experience. First off, I have started to serve in the Children's ministry at SCC and I am just loving it.  I was in the 2 years old room and boy are those kiddos precious precious. I also spent some time  in the lobby inviting anyone and everyone who looks close to my age to join us in 4:12 [college and career ministry] and now that was fun.... its an odd thing walking up to a stranger and asking them how old they are.  A lady who was greeting Sunday commented after- "What are yall saying to the people- they all walk away smiling?"  My response along with my accomplice Emily- "Girl, they aren't smiling- they are straight laughing at us for how ridiculous we must sound!" Needless to say- I feel like I met some neat folk and are crossing my fingers that they may eventually show up.  Now we did take a group bowling last night and a few that we invited came- big success! The night was full of LAUGHTER and just plain joy.  Okay- you know those girls that do stupid things [or not stupid- maybe mindless?] on purpose to be funny?  Well- I have a tendency to do those- except not on purpose.  You guessed it, went to bowling last night and lost grip of the ball and yes- it went soaring at the people standing behind me. This just so happened to be at a moment that all 5 lanes with SCC were watching me.  My embarrassment overwhelmed me.  I hurried and grabbed the escaping ball, picked it up and literally launched it at the pins as quickly as possible.  When I say launch, I mean exactly what you're thinking- it was like a sloppy throw down the lane.  Miraculously, this throw knocked every remaining pin down and somehow turned in to the play of the night.  Yep, you can't script moves like that.... 

Also, I think I am in love.  Or at least smitten.  Don't that just make yall curious?!  ha...that's all on that subject.

Ok, back up a few hours to iServe.  Perfect evening at Stevens Creek celebrating our volunteers.  Man, it was enough to make you want to donate every ounce of free time to doing something productive at the church. I am blessed. 

Opening act. Rocking some worship time.

Boy am I being unproductive. Signing off for now.... Cheers.

forever proud.

Thursday.  Love it.
I am having a day of intense nostalgia.  Just missing my friends from Lee and all of those memories.  I know for everything, there is a season, yet I still love to dwell on those good times.
I know I've mentioned DZT before- well this is "induction week" or "greek week" as us Lee folk call it.  Tonight, a batch of new deltas will be welcomed with open arms into the sisterhood...and of course, I won't be there to be a part.  When I graduated and left those lovely ladies, I left them a piece of my heart.  Serving as their chaplain, biographer, and president will continue to be some of my most cherished moments.

I could share with you a number of picture memories, but this is from one of my most fond nights in the club.  Tap night Spring '10.
Okay- house fun.  It def continues and I hope to see some incredible improvement before the weekend is over!  Like- ready for paint kind of improvement.  If you are reading this and feel prompted to help, I believe some of us will be hard at work tomorrow around lunch time! All hands are welcomed.
So the last few nights, I have been dreaming about the floors in my kitchen as I realize this will be a decision that must be made soon.  One night, my mom told me that without a doubt, my floors were laminate hardwood and my kitchen walls would be a purple/gray.  The next, Dad was showing me the correct way to lay tile!  So what's a girl to do?!  Of course, initially, i think, oo, hardwood type flooring would bring warmth to the place.  But then tile- its durable and great for the wear and tear of a kitchen.  Also...these are my cabinets.

Decisions, decisions.  As always, I'll take any thoughts from you all. Knowing the Baker family- I am sure I will have some entertaining stories to share about the installation of one of the above two...in due time.

worn slap out.

well let me just say. i am Tired [notice the capital T].  I came into this renovation with eyes wide open and excitement in every project, and now, hardly a week into it, my muscles ache, my sinus are upset with me, and by eyes feel a bit puffy!  I went to the house straight from work yesterday, and two hours into painting trim and prying up tack boards, I must have hit a wall.  A large brick, unmoving wall.  My arms weren't doing what I told them to and every time it squatted down, I felt like getting up would certainly be an issue. When Mom & Dad arrived, i quickly saw that they were in the same boat as me.  Regardless, Dad pushed onward, determined to remove the guest toilet and the molded part of the sheet rock behind it.  Bless his heart, Dad walked around hunched over the entire night because standing all the way created too much pain.
The good news?? Check out what arrived yesterday!

I went straight to work loading all of our mess and quickly realized - I am by no means buff and should not try to load such waste.  So I quit.  Mom did prove to be useful in the dumping process...

No pun intended.... lol.
So now for goal setting...
Ceilings: Done by Friday
Sheet rock: kitchen walls and bathroom patches: up Saturday
Prep work for painting: Saturday & Sunday
Painting begins: Monday- Friday [maybe a room a day?]
I know, this is a bit ambitious, but I must see the light at the end of the tunnel!! Of course, I have had a precious friend who felt prompted to help after reading my blog posts! [Thanks Lana!!! I appreciate your sweetness!] SO maybe with a few extra hands, this will actually happen.  And sweet Dustin plans to return so that I have a light switch for every light [that poor chandelier with no switch to it's name]...
I did have a guy come check out my air vents yesterday.  The good news is, he wasn't too bad to look at and just had the kindest eyes... The bad news...it seems my vents are filthy and even show signs of mold...:(  Just add another to-do to the list!
Side not, I was watching the Today show this morning with my morning cup of joe and a designer, Nate Berkus was featured for the home portion of the show.  His spot was focused on old furniture picked up off the side of the road and transformed into something beautiful...exactly what I have sought to achieve with my personal furniture makeovers. [I couldn't find a link online just yet...but evidently he has a show coming out mid-September.] Anyway- got my creative juices flowing.  I have this lovely vanity that needs some TLC- fresh paint and new knobs maybe?  I am thinking a pretty grey and maybe crystal pulls? It has a matching chair to go with it.... and of course this is for my bedroom... Have I mentioned my Martha Stewart bedding [I found on major sale at Macy's]?

As you can see, the colors are white, charcoal, light grey, and green... I have a white bed [that I found at a yard sale and painted...pics to come soon] and am thinking plum walls.  How do y'all feel about this?  Add a nice painted vanity and have a perfect room?
Ok- well the good news is, it's Wednesday- which mean church night- which means no house work tonight! Whoo hoo!!
I guess I am out...

you think you know.

Best. weekend. ever.
Goodness, I don't even know where to begin.
First things first.  I was visited by one of my all time favorite friends, Courtney.

Courtney and I met freshman year at Lee U and went on to share some pretty perfect memories.  We were tap sisters in Delta Zeta Tau and our last semester in, served as president and vice president together.  Unstoppable pair. She's a forever friend.
Anyway. She had the week off and was visiting her fam in Abbeville, SC [yes, hometown to THE Marty Baker] and decided to make the little trek over to see lil ole me. We went out with Stu and his gf Maddie to Rooster's Beak [def recommend. quaint little hole in the wall with wonderful/unique tacos] downtown followed by a movie, just us two- The Switch.  Of course, we were tuckered out after this and called it a night with some girl talk.  In the midst of all this fun, I did give her the grand tour of the new place and she is a fan!  Court is a visionary like me and has an eye for beauty- so her encouragement and opinions came highly appreciated.
Well, after our fun, the work began.  I clocked in around 10:30am Saturday morning.  We continued scraping and painting ceilings.  My two brothers came to assist.  Now- they are precious and mean well, but aren't really keen on the manual labor thing. I think Stu was overwhelmed and Sammy was just not into it.  The two raided my shed and I caught them playing some baseball in the backyard.  They did eventually get to pulling the carpet out of several bedrooms.  [Due to the arrival of Cliff.  He is all guy when it comes to projects like this house and eagerly tackled some tasks.] Now talk about progress.  Of course, with 35 year old carpet comes 35 year old carpet padding.  Talk about disgusting.  It fell apart so easily and had to be persuaded off the floor.    But the good news is, the elderly smell [somewhat] left with the carpet.
After the floor removal, Maddie and I tackled all the closets in the house with a new coat of paint.  What was seemingly a simple task turned into an all day affair.  But the change was incredible!!
Ok, so on to day 2.  Have I mentioned that when we put a contract on the house, Dad was highly considering removing the wall that divides the kitchen and living room?  [He is the risk taker/visionary of the family, as I have mentioned]. Well...his plan came to fruition yesterday...much to my surprise.  We had somewhat ruled the idea out, assuming the wall was load bearing and we'd be bighting off more than we would like to chew.  Then, I had the brilliant idea of inviting my friend Dustin over to help.... he is a contractor.  Well, he and dad got to chatting without me and before you know it, the wall is deemed safe to come down so why not!  Cliff arrived soon after and that wall didn't stand a chance.
Well, with the lose of the wall, we also removed all paneling [which originally, I had planned on painting and embracing] and a couple light switches.  Ergo, we've add to our list of things to do.  Electrical and dry wall hanging.  Perfect.  Don't believe me? Before, during, and after.

Of course, in all honesty, I am thrilled.  The room will exceed expectations.  
Now it's Monday- and I am exhausted! My voice seems to permanently have taken up camp in the hoarse/raspy stage from inhaling the debris and wearing myself out.  And on top of that, muscles I didn't know existed are aching.  So I guess what I am saying is, any faithful readers out there want to contribute to any of the following: physical labor, demolition clean-up, mani/pedi, massage?
Well, back to work.  Side note- Stuart just came to my office and sang a few lines to a song on his heart, after which he said, "Man, the acoustics in this room are incredible". Translation: Man, I love listening to myself sing.  Ah, a day in the life... Like the Real World intro- you think you know, but you have no idea... I think that everyday about living/working with my family...
Ok- enough for now.  Peace.

tgif. bringing down the roof.

So I've debated on if I am going to share renovating pics throughout this whole process or just wait til the end of the big effect of the Before & After's side by side. Of course, I prefer B&A together- but we could be looking at 6 weeks before that point and I just can't imagine you guys waiting that long.... Anyway, while I let that marinate in my mind a little while longer, I'll at least share a sneak peek...

Morgan & I

Morgan helped out with a little ceiling removal and has been quite the trooper.  Somehow, I have managed to be the messiest [that is truly an understatement] ceiling scraper.
Here's the process, we have our garden sprayer, as you see pictured.  Fill that sucker up with hot water and some vinegar [of course, my measurements vary every time- so just use personal interpretation].  Spray an area of the ceiling pretty well then get on the ladder and scrape and spray simultaneously.
Now my personal secret to success is the safety goggles.  [I got them in college for some analysis work I did at a factory.  Tell me you're not impressed].  Well- they may not lead to my success as much as my mess... You see, putting the protective eye ware on somehow made be invincible as I began to spray and scrape directly above my head.  Not one of my brighter ideas, but, efficient.
Of course, I managed better than Mom.  Precious Pat-Pat, she had a difficult time getting started with this project.  It creates a lot of dust and debris and handling that is half the battle. So, I so selflessly lent Mom the cherished eye ware and fetched her a mask to cover her nose and mouth.  Immediately, it's like she forgot how to breath with the barriers covering her face.  Then, she insisted that the goggles impaired her eye sight, and proceed to lose all depth perception and misstep off the ladder.  All of this is not a good combo and led to Ma being put on paint duty.

I must say, though, Dad has exceeded all expectations and has put in some dedicated service... then again, ain't that what Dad's are for?!

So there's my lovely first home update.  I am gathering any willing soul to join me tomorrow to [hopefully] put a major dent in our work... so, stay tuned.
Aside from home details, my brothers have been major cute by keeping me informed with funny happenings that would be "great for the blog".  [Remember: age 16 & 23.  So- the awareness they have of how "funny" they are is...special].  I'll weed through their submissions and get back to you with some blog worthy tales.  In the mean time, have a super weekend!!

shout out to Sammy.

Somehow, this week started and I woke up today and its Thursday! I love these kind of weeks.

Of course, I haven't had too many major or exciting events to take place that have been blog worthy.  Let's all face it, my CraigsList friend is hard to top.  Regardless, the show must go on...

Well this week, I have truly been coping with my baby brother going back to school.  After our summer of fun, I just plain miss him during the day. [Obviously, you can see by his photo... I use the term baby loosely. But isn't he precious?]

Sammy goes to school!

[To give Sammy some credit, he isn't really going to school in this hooded Buzz Lightyear bookback.  You can check out that story here> http://securegiveblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/beauty-in-generosity.html]

Well, this whole process with letting him go back to school [11th grade! crazy times] has brought to surface the fact that I am going to miss this kid as my roommate [eer-housemate. ha] when I finally move out.  Our routine of watching Friends in the evening and making fun of Mom or Dad is going to have to come to a terrible halt and I am just not sure that I am looking forward to it.  But, I press on... Let me refer you to my FB status a few weeks back.  But more specifically, Sammy's comment...

AKA- Sammy just may miss me as well.
The other night I had the pleasure of [baby]sitting for the wonderful Waller fam.  I have been with them for years and years and absolutely love it.  Well, when Tandy got home, we got to gabbing about this and that.  She's been one of the faithful LtB readers [Love the Blog for you slow ones] and commented on some of my posts. We discussed the beauty of the pink work space previously mentioned, which simply get me more pumped for my all girl house.  And from here, we carried on to laundry room talk.  I don't know if I have mentioned, but my new laundry room is any woman's dream.  Off the side of the kitchen- large- plenty of shelfing!!  Bliss.  Well Tandy and I discussed laundry baskets and the impact of a cute and easy to use one... Lets all face it. Laundry ain't always fun- so why not try and improve it with a great hamper!?

So- how to pick a hamper.  I love this first one- dividers so that cloths can be organized according to wash. Ideal.  But lets be honest, visually, i get nothing from this one.  

Next we have a good woven, natural looking hamper. Love this look.  Earthy and cozy. But from experience, I do not enjoy the lid on top. This too easily becomes a shelf or table for me... maybe I am unique in this fact... 

Apartment Therapy

So what next? Well, Tandy shared with me her newest laundry room addition... made from the people who make the Scout Bags, we have this Trash Cache which can double as a hamper... 

Bungalow Co

It's collapsible, easy to clean, fashionable, and light weight. Um, yes please!

So- do you have thoughts? Do's and don't for the laundry room??