we have chicks!

Pretty sure John thinks I'm crazy, but I've convinced him to build me a chicken coop. I mean, I think I'm crazy. I'm a little terrified of birds so wanting chickens is an interesting thing for me. Backyard chickens are everywhere in Atlanta, I'm not sure I'd ever heard of it until moving here. People make it seem so easy and fun AND you get beautiful fresh eggs without worrying about what all the labels in the grocery store mean, "organic", "free-range", "cage free", etc and they all really have no meaning or regulation. So. back to the chicks.

We went to pick out our little chicks yesterday. I had no idea what I was doing or even what to ask - thankfully our friend and fellow chicken lover came with to help us navigate the different chicks. We finally settled on 5 to start:

2 Americana: Twinkle and not yet named

1 Partridge Rock: Cow

1 Golden Sex Link: Hulky

1 Production Blue: Also To Be Named

And so begins our journey to chickens and tasty backyard eggs. Hoping we can get the coop done in time. Should have a post about that soon :)

dots is upstairs

We took the plunge this weekend and moved Dottie upstairs to her new room in hopes that she will have a chance to get used to it for a week or 2 before the new littles arrive.

The transition has gone fairly smoothly. I guess we'll see how the rest of the week plays out.

She also had a chance to hang out in studio with daddy for a bit. Definitely liked all the glowing buttons to push.

Poor booger doesn't realize how much more change is coming her way :(

down to the wire

We might be cutting it a bit close on this one. 4 weeks away from our due date and still have much to get done.

(cooking with Nan)

Thanks to our awesome families we have a lot less though. You all have been such a great help - I hope you know how much we appreciate you coming down to help tile, stain, paint, clean and of course play with Dots :)

We have officially moved upstairs, leaving our guest room open for anyone who dares offer a hand.

Martha helped me pick out some awesome new dressers and a vanity for our bathroom while they were in town, I can wait to get everything put away and in place. These are going to look amazing!

Kids bathroom is mostly done (functional) as well as their room. Moving Dots into her new digs will be our next step this weekend when John is back and can lend a hand.

Our master bath is the last big piece of the puzzle. John and Kent worked tirelessly to get the place waterproofed and the tile going. John was able to finish up the floor tile over the weekend and install the toilet - huzzah!

we have progress!

Well, it took a few months longer than expected, but, the contractors are GONE. Out of our house, GONE! So excited to have my house back - even if it is still unfinished. Now the real work begins.

My father-in-law was kind enough to fly in the day after christmas to help us get our hardwood floors installed. He and john worked for 4 days straight and finally got them all in - and they look fabulous.

Dots' was pretty excited to hang out with "Boppa" too.

This pic doesn't do them justice - they really look great!

We had some kind friends volunteer to help us paint while we waited on the tile to arrive. The kids room and the master bedrooms are painted thanks to all their help. John has been working tirelessly to get the trim, vents, and doors stained and installed to keep us moving forward.

With roughly 2 months before these twins are due, we've still got a lot to get done.

Baby-Steps ;)

rain rain go away

Construction has stalled for the week and a half of rain we've been getting, sigh. And last night was a doosey, with all the acorns and branches falling it sounded like a war zone inside. Luckily Dottie somehow managed to sleep through it all. Perhaps it was her cozy sleeping den complete with fan and personal heater (man I need to get one of those)

I have to admit I'm ready to have my house back - we are steadily losing storage space. Last week we had to take everything we'd stored in Dottie's closet out, so the plumber could run a pipe. So now everything is strewn around her room, on the bed and out into the front room. To combat our shrinking space I'm trying to sell other stuff off, with little luck :/

BUT

We did pass our last inspection, so now all we need is HVAC and skylights installed, insulation (which will be greats it's freaking cold in our house at the moment), and drywall. Then the real fun can begin.

We did manage to spend most of saturday looking at flooring and according to John, who is now in NYC, the sun does still exist - he sent me a photo to prove it. Hopefully we'll be seeing it again soon.

Dots made the most out of all that time spent shopping for floors and has been practicing so she can help with the install.

let it begin

The build out has begun! Well to be honest it's almost done, at least the contractor part of it.

We've been so lucky with the weather - nice and cool so turning the AC off didn't even phase us. The rain - well - we were mostly lucky with the rain. We had one awesome night of battling the rain flooding into our downstairs bedroom/bathroom thanks to a giant hole in the tarp and a nonfinished roof. But, thankfully it was just one night, and we survived.

the kiddos new room

Kiddos room inside

Master bath

master bedroom inside

master outside

another great benefit to the renovation is that the ceilings in the kitchen will all be the same height - woot!

The roof is complete, the framing is mostly done, now on to the plumbing and electrical - hoping to have the contractors out by the end of the month so the real work can begin.

Did I mention that our timeline for this project got shortened by some unexpected news?

There will be a few more nowaks in the house come March (yes, I said a few). More to come on that later.

For now let the renovations continue!

permits!!

we have finally been approved and have our permits,

let's get this party started!

upstairs here we come still...

Yup still living on the first floor of the house. Seems like a year ago we had the plans in hand ready to go,

oh wait it was! The city of Atlanta is very helpful when it comes to building anything on your own property. After taking months and months to find a contractor who would work with us and let us do some of the work (9 contractors later), we finally have one and are making at least a bit of progress. Our plans have finally been approved by the UDC with of course more money going to the architects to revise plans they said were "all we would need".  Dropped off the plans to get their literal stamp of approval. Now all we have to do is go downtown and walk them from one office to the next one across the hall - yes, I'm serious - and then the real fun begins - PERMITTING!

So it looks like our spring 2015 start date will be closer to fall 2015, if we are lucky.

In the mean time we've been doing small improvements around the house to keep ourselves and the in-laws busy.

We have replaced the hall lights with some mush prettier tiffany style ones.

John built us an arbor going down into the garden area with rock stairs coming soon.

And Martha helped me rough up these all to shiny, new, and perfect chairs - they look great!

the colonel

This week we said good bye to our sweet bun Frank.

aka. the colonel, fluff butt, gin bunny, bun of the future, bun, frank the tank

He was 11 years old and has been a part of our family for most of that. I'm so glad we got to spend one last Easter with him.

And that we managed to get in one last photoshoot with him and Dottie before he left us. He was always such a sport when it came to photoshoots, whether it was getting "nibbled" on by the baby or put in the oven to help announce her arrival.

I never thought about how much he was integrated into our daily lives, there's a 5lb bag of carrots in our fridge.... and yesterday I finished an apple and walked into the living room with the core for him to nibble on, forgetting that he wasn't going to be there.

Sweet Frank we loved you so much our lives will not be the same without you.

Hope you are enjoying your shady spot under the tree.

upstairs here we come

With the kitchen done, and RTB arriving soon, we decided to go ahead and start getting things moving on the upstairs expansion. No we're not crazy, the actual work won't start until springish 2015 - we're just looking to get a headstart on the planning part. So we hired a great architect to draw us up some plans to get us started on the path to a 2 floor house we can actually use.

Currently the upstairs is more of a holding area for stuff and for guests if we have multiple at the same time. I have to say I am looking forward to being able to settle into the house once this is done (2+ years after moving in)

Looks pretty nice and spacious eh!

final kitchen photos

I know everyone is probably sick of hearing about our kitchen. But we finally had a chance to take some good photos of the finished product. And I put together a little gif to show how far we've come.

Looks pretty good huh?!?

birthdays and gardening

Someone had a birthday this month - and that someone has an affinity for chocolate. In his honor I made this chocolate cake with berries and cream. I have to say - it was quite delicious. We munched on it for a week...mmmmmmm cake.

I have also got my little garden going, thanks to john and his superior building skills. He has built me a start of 3 garden boxes. I think in a few years this garden might actually produce some yield (if i don't kill everything first.) The berry bushes we inherited from friends have taken off nicely and are already producing some delicious raspberries/blackberries. Can't wait for the blueberry bush to come in and the few peaches we have on our trees. I have also discovered we have wild blackberries ALL over the yard. I suppose I might try to transplant a few of them - although they seem more bitter (maybe good for pies or jam though?)

Here's to a short week!

it's been awhile

I'd like to apologize for the hiatus - things have been a bit crazy around here (see below).

 

So lets see here - whats new - We spent the entire fall/winter waiting on a kitchen table that never arrived. It's a long story but ended with us demanding money back and purchasing a new table from somewhere else. I love it - now we just need chairs......Sullivan of course volunteered to check it out first and make sure all was satisfactory.

And now it's spring! Finally. After what seemed like forever and 2 snow storms ( i know it doesn't seem like a lot to anyone who doesn't live in the south - but for us it was monumental) Spring is here and our yard is already getting way out of control again. Even after pillaging it all winter for firewood.

Now that spring is officially here. I've been putting john to work in the yard digging out giant stumps and building me some raised garden beds. So excited to get those going started from seeds this year, we'll see how that goes - my black thumb doesn't tend to like to make things grow - HA!

While walking around the yard the other day I did discover 2 random peach trees. I suspected them of being peach trees last year, but never saw any peaches - this spring however, we've got a few buds going, so i'm hoping I can keep the squirrels away long enough to get a few. Mmmmmm peaches.

I know it's going to be a busy rest of spring and an even busier summer and fall with the little one joining us mid August. I will try to be better about posting and not let it be another 5 months with out a post :)

Happy Spring!

mostly done

Not a whole lot of action in the kitchen since the last post. Just some last odds and ends. The contractor is done (aside from the door he broke the other day so we're getting a whole new door  - but that is the absolute last thing he's got to do.

Since then - John's been working on the sanding and staining of all that wood in there. It took us a while to decide on a color - but  we finally found one we both agree on - and I think it looks great! Still more to do on the other side of the kitchen - but the cooking area is done!

finishing touches

Thanksgiving is over - and everyone's gone back home. The kitchen is...well...it's almost finished.

The guys were back yesterday, hard at work, putting up the ladder rail and knobs and draw pulls installed. Now just a few more finishing touches and this kitchen will be complete and we can have our house back to ourselves (not that we haven't enjoyed chatting it up with all the contractors every morning and evening.)

:)

Oh and that kitchen table we were waiting on for thanksgiving - wont be ready until Christmas now - guess it's a good thing we had a back up!

countdown to T-Day (1 day)

With the Nowak's and Porter's in the house the contractors were sure to get us a working kitchen for the big day. But judging from the pics from the day before - they still had a very long way to go - I wasn't holding my breath.

They were at the house all day working hard - at one point I think I counted 8 contractors in the kitchen working...

Not to be detoured by the noise in the kitchen we all hung out in the living room watched some movies - went out for lunch and generally just tried to stay out of their way - while still having a good time, and a few drinks. The sun set and Kent started making his now famous "Outlaws" for us - while I made coffee for the workers - who were still at it.

Finally around 8pm they said they were as done as they were going to get - the lights, stove, sink, fridge and dishwasher were all working - so they were going to clean up and go.  They had made good on their promise - while the kitchen wasn't done - it was definitely functional at 9pm when the contractors left the house.

No sooner had they closed the front door  - than we started up the baking - it was going to be a long night.

the list of goodies was short, but time consuming. But I could think of no better way to break in a new kitchen than with a large batch of Porter Rolls (even if it did take until 2am - thanks for staying up mom!)

countdown to T-Day (2 days)

Sorry about the lateness of these posts - we were getting the rest of the house ready.

The inlaws and outlaws were coming in this evening (tuesday night).

countdown to T-Day (3 days)

 3 DAYS!!!

countdown to T-Day (5 days)

well. the new, updated timeline puts us with a finish date of wed. nothing like cutting it close!

but. we did have some progress yesterday. there has been a huge hold up with the tile, it was ordered the place just wasn't delivering. long story short it took a ton of phone calls and trips up there, along with the constant nagging of our contractor, and 1 month+ after he ordered "in stock" tile, we finally got it in our hands, and it looks great!

tile guy is coming back today to finish up, then its off to the races on monday!

countdown to T-Day (7 days)

Ok so I know I said i'd post something everyday, BUT that was when i thought there would be work done every day.

Tuesday went by with nothing done, and yesterday they were putting the final coat down on the floor - so i couldn't walk on it.

Today is the big "work" day - so hopefully I'll have some good stuff for everyone in the morning.

fingers crossed!

and now for your viewing pleasure, since I have no updated images of the kitchen,

everyone's FAVORITE grumpy bunny, FRANK!