Today I have been working on organizing the office… which has been kind of difficult seeing as how my tabletop to my desk broke during the move.  So for now I have a folding desk working as my desk, and it seems to be working out quite nicely.  There are a few things I will need to pick up while out doing errands this week for me, and R needs a small desk as well since he will no longer be using the dining room table as his home office (yay!).  Pictures sometime next week I promise!!!!!!

I’ve also been working on completing my workbook work for the semester in cosmo, since in a couple of weeks I will be starting a full course load worth of day classes as well so will have less free time during the days for taking care of things at my own pace.  I have been able to pre-apply to take my state licensing test which I mailed in a couple of weeks ago, so I am now on full scale mail alert… patiently waiting for date to be mailed back to me.  I can’t wait to find out my test date… I am so excited for schooling to be completed so that I can start working!

So this is my living room sort of before.  It had this blue carpet all over, and stark hospital white walls.  Here I have painted the walls a nice oatmeal-y colour, and that is the reason it is all pulled back from the walls all crazy.  Let me tell you something… if you thought this blue carpet was bad, you should have seen the hideous gold and brown lino that was underneath the carpet!!!!!

Here is my seriously cool carpet getting installed.  This stuff is like office carpet.  Not a lot of pile, a thick, tight weave and a fun pattern which will hopefully hide wear, tear and any stainage that might happen.

Here is another shot showing the tile R laid for me at the entryway to the front door.  It divides the great room from the office.

Here is a close up of the super gorgeous tile.  It is black with almost a patina-y finish with blue, golds and greens….

And finally some shots of the house, pretty much finished.  It looks a bit crowded, but really it’s not.  There is lots of space!!

Sorry for the lighting in my pics….

Here is the photo of the border in G’s room when we got it.

Floral Border

Perhaps just a little too girly.

Today R put in this…

Surfing USA

Much cooler!

Well it is done.  The house is ours.  Escrow closed Thursday, we got the keys on Friday and have been happily at work ever since.  Saturday G & I washed down all the walls and taped things up to prep for painting.  Sunday R & I painted the living room and office, and got the first coat down on the hallway.  Today I plan on finishing up the hallway, and tomorrow doing our bedroom.

The rest of the week I will be piddling around and working on the bathrooms and kitchens.  Saturday R will be installing some tile in the entryway and a week from today the new carpet will be installed.

So we are pretty busy but things are coming together so nicely!!!  I will take pictures today of the house so everyone can see the transformation!

So we did the walk through on the house last night.  I’m still so very excited to move in!  We have picked out carpeting, I already know what paint colours to go get.  Over the last two weeks R & I have scoped out some new furniture, and this morning I put the final financial stuff in motion, to cash out some money for prettying up the new place.  We plan on new living room seating, a dining table and we need a new bed.  After that I should have about $1k left to get some small decorations for the house and some much needed new dishware.

Tonight I have to go back to school, I’ve enjoyed my vacation, but am cautiously optimistic about going back.  This Friday I will have my 1200 hours done, so that I can pre-register with the state to get a licensing test date that is hopefully just a week or two past when I will be done with my 1600 hours which should be the end of April.  (keeping my fingers firmly crossed).

This is the last week I will be cooking regularly for the entire family, as next week I plan on spending most of my day at the new house, painting, cleaning and making sure the carpet gets laid out nicely so that we can start moving furniture next weekend.  My days will be full next week with the house and then going to school, so the poor older kids are going to have their very first week of fending for themselves, but will actually include cooking for R & G.  I will probably go ahead and do the grocery shopping and leave the recipes out for the kids so it is easier on them… but for this week they will still be well taken care of.

Monday:  Red Beans & Rice

Tuesday:  Borscht

Wednesday:  Chile Verde

Thursday:  Spaghetti & Meatballs

Friday:  Mexican Stuffed Peppers