Staining Floors

Well the end is soon approaching.... We have moved to the final stage before we move in: finishing the floors. This past weekend Adam & I stained all of the floors with Minwax Stain Dark Walnut.

Since we had a bad trial run with the poplar floors in the bedroom and living room, we prepped them first with a coat of wood conditioner. We used Minwax and Cabot brands for this.

Staining is a long, painstaking process. It is done on your hands and knees by ragging the stain onto the floor, and then wiping off with a clean rag. Poor Adam did the first coat of stain on all the floors all by himself. His hard work is pictured below:

The staining all went very well. Yet the foyer and dining room did not stain up quite dark enough on the first go around. So Tuesday night, while Adam worked late, I went back and put another coat of stain on the dining room and foyer floors. The second coat really gave us the color that we wanted.

Last night we put on the first coat of polyurethane. Adam insists that I go check it out on my lunch break because so far it had turned out beautiful! We used Minwax Polyurethane Clear Gloss.

We will apply the second coat tonight, and the third on Friday. The poly will have to set for at least 72 hours before moving any furniture on it. To check out all the pictures of staining and pre-staining, check out the latest pictures on our Flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamandmariahshouse/

Drunk Driver Update, Up-Close Tile, and Kitchen BeadBoard

Well, we are still patiently waiting to straighten everything out with the truck situation. After receiving the police report, Adam followed up with the other driver's insurance company to get the ball rolling on the claim. After going through numerous questions and gathering of information, the insurance adjuster advised Adam to get the process started with our insurance company when it came to taking care of our vehicle because "this guy may not have insurance". Stunned by the woman's statement, Adam asked what she was basing this assumption off of, where she proceeded to tell him that the company sent him a cancellation letter for non-payment on Oct. 24. So the jerk was drinking and driving, with no insurance. Fantastic..... Thankfully we do have under insured/uninsured motorist coverage on our policy, we just pray it doesn't raise our rates. So we are still patiently waiting....

As far as the house, it is really starting to look like a home. We mentioned that the tile was finished in the last blog, so I thought I would include some close up shots and rooms shots of the finished tile with grout and sealing.

Here is the bathroom tile, we used a dark grey grout, which I think tied it altogether really well:

The hallway turned out really well as well. We went with a light colored grout, similar to the color of the tile. We had originally planned on a dark grout, but decided against that. Unfortunately, the old bag of grout was in the truck when the wreck happened and exploded on impact, so we did not get to return it to Lowes. Either way, we are much happier that we went with the lighter grout.

We plan to lay a piece of quarter-round down along the side of the hallway baseboard to clean up and finish the look of the tile.

Last night Adam and Darron nailed up the bead board in the kitchen. Some pieces have one coat of paint, while others are still unpainted. They all will be painted with the white glossy enamel paint that we have used in all of our trim work. Although it is far from the finished product, the bead board has really begun to tie the kitchen together to look like a real kitchen, and not just the room with the stove in it. Check it out:

Drunk Drivers and Tile work complete

Where to begin.....Friday night the two guys from church that have been so helpful with the tile work in our house came over and we finished laying the hallway and also grouted the bathroom. The bathroom turned out beautiful and we called it a night about 11:45 pm on Friday. Mariah and Lilly had stayed home from the house that night because there was laundry that had to be done and we were going to Louisville on Saturday for a birthday celebration with our friends John and Savannah. I left our house right at midnight and began my drive to Mariah's parents home where we've been staying while completing the restorations on our house. I was exactly two blocks from our house when I came upon a two way stop on the intersection on High Street and 13th Ave. I did not have to stop and was crossing the intersection when BAM I was hit on the driver's side of my vehicle and spun around.

It's funny how our human instincts take over when events like this happen in our lives. Once my truck stopped moving my first thought was, "Am I ok?" Once I determined that I had all my parts I then thought, "I have to get out of here!" My door was jammed from the impact, but I was able to hop over and get out the passenger side. Once outside I got my breath and call Mariah and told her about the accident and that I was ok and she needed to come get me. I then called 911 and they had units there in less than 2 minutes. After I made those phone calls I asked the guy, "Didn't you see that stop sign?" To which he replied, "My throttle got stuck on my vehicle." Rrrriiiiiight, I thought. The cops got my information and the EMT's and firefighter's made sure that I was ok and then I looked over and saw that the police were giving the guy that hit me a field sobriety test....then a breathlizer....then handcuffs and the backseat of the cop car. DUI. Unbelievable!! I have just become a statistic. I've been hit by a drunk driver! Mariah tooks some pics, which I've posted below, and we went home and I finally was able to fall asleep about 3:00am. The next day my hip and elbow were a little sore, but nothing major. I felt as though I had played in a highschool football game on Friday night but not mush worse than that.




Saturday we had a lot of help on the house from Mariah's grandparents, her mother, and step sister and her boyfriend. We got most all the trim painted and I finished the grout in the hallway. We didn't take any pictures, but we'll try to tonight and post sometime this week. Sunday, we took the Lord's advice and rested. Hopefully we'lll be able to get most all the trim finished up this week along with putting our bathroom back together and then we're thinking that we may get to move in next week or the following weekend. Keep your fingers crossed.

All Hallows Eve, Homecoming, Etc.

So this past weekend was quite eventful. Friday night was Halloween. Saturday was Western Kentucky Universities Homecoming and Sunday was a visit with my family in Springfield, TN and a birthday dinner for Mariah Step-Grandmother Sunday night. And we got a little work done on the house too.

First off lets talk about Halloween. Mariah and I had been invited to a costume party at a friend of ours house Friday night. Since WKU's Homecoming was the next day I knew that a lot of the poeple that I went to college with would be in attendence so we were pretty excited about it, but we had to find a costume. One night Mariah and I were talking about what we could be and it hit me.....I said "Let's be Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and all six of their kids!" Needless to say Mariah thought I was brilient and so that's what we went as. Mariah found a great wig and a dragon tattoo at the local Halloween costume tent and she also ordered this paper off the internet that you can print whatever you'd like on and it peels off and has an adhesive that sticks to your skin so it looks like a real tattoo. Genious! My outfit was pretty easy I just bought a hat like I've seen Brad wear, got some sunglasses and threw on a white sports coat. Oh yeah and I went to Wal-Mart and bought a baby carrier that goes on like a backwards back pack. See pictures below. We had a great time and won a trophy for "Best Costume!"

This next picture is of all the award winners that night. On the left is the winner for "Funniest Costume," Daisy and Donald Duck. On the right is the winner for "Scariest Costume," Gomez & Morticia Addams. And in the center is us Brad and Angelina.

The next day, Saturday, I went and worked on the house that morning and then we went tailgating and met up with a bunch of our college friends. That night we went to a bar where Mariah's cousin was playing and then called it an early night.

Great, great, fun weekend!!!

An update on the house:
We've got a little more tile to lay in the hallway, then we've got to finish some of the trim painting, put a little Bead Board in the kitchen and stain the floors before we move in. There are a few little projects that we're probably not going to get to before we move in, but we're so ready to be in the house that we'll just have to manage.

Hallway Tile & New Wall

While Adam and I were out celebrating, Harold and Scott were kind enough to work some more on the hallway tile. Adam and the guys were able to get about 1/4 done on Thursday night, and the guys got about half of the job complete on Friday night. We used a simple 12x12 travertine style tile for the hallway placed in a diamond pattern. So far it looks great!

Then my always thinking husband decided to take on another project. Since our living room had so many doorways (5 to be exact) he thought it would be a great idea to board up the door that leads into the hall (since it doesn't make a lot of sense anyways) and create more wall space. I was hesitent at first, since I just couldn't imagine taking on another huge, messy project. But he assured me the project would be quick, painless, and cheap. So Saturday morning he went to the house while I stayed behind and did laundry. He tore out the facing to the door, nailed up a 1x6 board as the stud, and purchased the 1/4 inch drywayll. Sunday and Monday he was was able to hang the drywall, mud, and tape the new wall. Check it out!

Bathroom Tile!!

Tuesday night, Adam and the 2 gentleman from church were able to lay the bathroom tile, which we are super pleased with! It took approximately 5 hours for them to complete this task, taking the first hour to plan out exactly where the tile would start and end. Laying tile (especially tile this small and intricate) I would definintely recommend having someone who knows what they are doing on hand. You don't realize how much planning goes into everything to make the tiles line up just right. We still need to lay the tile in the hall, and then grout and seal both rooms, but check out the progress so far!!

Insulation Blows & Backerboard Bites

We had another productive weekend when it came to the house. Adam and I were able to install blown-in insultaion to our attic (which had virtually none to begin with). After a week long struggle to actually obtain the blower from Home Depot, we were finally able to complete our task. While blowing insultation is not a difficult task, it definitely will wear you out. I stood outside and loaded in the insulation in the machine while Adam crawled around the attic and controlled the hose. It took us roughly 4 hours to blow in 25 bags, which with what little existing insulation there was, gave us a R30 factor. If you choose to do blown in insulation, we HIGHLY recommend masks, because you will be covered in the stuff, as seen here:

Here is the final product: (not the most exciting, but definitely will save on the energy bills, and very cost effective to install!)

Well last night, we had 2 wonderful gentleman from our church come over and help us being the tile installation process. Adam helped and learned the art of installing backerboard. Backerboard is installed in protect from moisture and provide the tile with an even, supportive surface. Once they got a good start and had all the supplies, it took roughly 4 hours for them to install the backerboard in the bathroom and hallway. Here is what that turned out like:

Lilly, always trying to hog the limelight...

So tonight the plan is to install the tile, which will just be mind blowing! And if all goes as plans, then Wednesday the plan should be to grout and seal the tile! :)))))

Will update again soon!

Bathrooms, Beadboard, and Inspiration..

We are still working hard on the house, but we are starting to see it come together. One of the big excitements is the bathroom. If you have looked at the BEFORE pics (which I highly recommend you do http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamandmariahshouse/) then you can see the bathroom was a disaster. It still has quite a bit to go, but we have made some big progress. Here are the inspiration pics that we have worked from:

As far as paint color, decor, and beadboard, we took inspiration from this bathroom

We also liked the way the tile and beadboard looked in this bathroom. The dark grout looks good with the black and white tile, which is what we plan to do. We also liked the painted tub, so we plan to paint our tub black.

This is the tile we ended up choosing, the brand is Daltile and can be obtained or ordered from almost any tile company.

So last night we put up the beadboard. The boards have the 1st coat of paint, which was applied with a power painter. The walls have 2 coats of Meadow Lane paint from Porter Paints. Check out our progress!

If you want to look at all the bathroom before, demo, and remodel pics go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamandmariahshouse/ and check out "Best of Before" album and "Bathroom" albums! Thanks for stopping by!!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! (Like a month ago, lol)

So Adam and I are now officially first time home owners!! We have been so excited and busy with our house, that we are just now getting around to putting up a blog about it. But we have not just taken on the adventure of being first time home owners, but also first time home re-modelers. Our home is what you call a "fixer upper" built back in the late 1800's, you could say it needs a few updates. The house is sound, has more character than you could ask for, plenty of space, and an ideal location for us. It's located in historic downtown Bowling Green. Thankfully, the major aspects of the home have been updated (roof, windows, heating/ac, garage,

etc.) So mainly what we are doing is making the home more ours and also more functional. So if you would like to join us on our adventure, feel free to drop in and check out our progress (or even better, give us a call and I'm sure we have a job for you to help with!)

These are pics we took the night we got the sales contract signed...

And these are from when we closed on the house...can you tell we were excited?!?

Seeing the Before Pics....

Well we have been working on the house for about a month or so now, and have made a lot of progress, but for you to fully appreciate where we have been, you must understand where we came from. These are the BEFORE pics (not how it will be when we live in it, lol) I have included a link to an album that has all the before pics, because quite frankly, it's a pain to put pics on here, lol. But I will post more directly to the blog once we get to finished products (and I become more skilled in my blogging). Enjoy!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamandmariahshouse/

Randy Pausch

Life is funny sometimes.....for instance. I had heard the name Randy Pausch a few months back on Good Morning America and thought that he was pretty interesting but hadn't given him much thought until yesterday. I knew that he was famous for a lecture and a book but that was about it. For whatever reason I couldn't get his name out of my head yesterday so I did a little research on him and tracked down his "The Last Lecture" he gave for his students (headfake....his children) on September 18, 2007. If you've got about 1:16:27 I would highly recommend that you check it out. This lecture is from a man that one month prior had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told that he had 3-6 months to live. As humans we tend to listen to those folks that are dieing much more intensely. Maybe it's because we think that what they have to say is much more important or maybe it's because we do it simply out of respect for the dead (or in this case the dieing) but whatever the reason I am so glad that we live in such a tech savy era that his words can be captured on websites like Youtube.

If I were to go on with this blog part of it would be babbling and the other part would just do Randy and injustice so check out his Lecture and see if it doens't give you a differnt/better perspective on your day and your life.

:)
ADAM

Cops suck and blogs should not be done too late at night

It's Mariah, and this is my first time typing for this blog. My wonderful and sometimes ADD husband decided to create this blog for us, which so far is pretty cool. I went out of town last night to stay with our friends Savannah and John as to make an early morning appointment, and my husband's ADD kicked in. He is a great story teller, and I really enjoyed his first blog about this past weekend, but it is obvious that he loses all proofreading skills when typing late at night. I am now in charge of doing a spell and grammar check for each posting.

Today went well, my reason for being in Louisville so early was for a job interview with the American Heart Association. This is my second time interviewing with this company. I was turned down for the first position because another candidate had more experience, but they offered me an interview for another position within the company. I have mixed emotions about the position, but it cannot hurt to interview and no real decisions have to be made unless I am offered the job.

So anyways, the interview went well, I was heading back to BG, and making great time. That was until I hit Bullit County and met up with officer "I take my job too seriously". I saw him sitting in the median, waiting for his next ticket, but didn't slow down due to the fact that I had already drove by 4 other officers going the same speed, and no problem. Well for this guy, it was. He pulls me over, asks me how fast I was going, I told him I thought 79, he says he clocked me at 81. I told him I thought I was ok as long as I was less than 10 miles over, and he said "79 is still speeding". Yup, definitely getting a ticket. He actually gave me a little bit of a break, he wrote me down for going 79 instead of 81, which saved me 3 points on my license. I'm hoping for a deferment and a trip to traffic school, at least that would be best case scenario.



So anyways, back at home now, just finished a nice dinner which consisted of lemon pepper chicken, corn, sweet carrots, and rolls. Adam and I have discovered a new TV addiction called Wipeout.....absolutely hilarious! The commentary is priceless! Tivo it if you get the chance. Well, I'm outta here for now, and we here at the Yates' home wish you a good night!

Kyle vs. Racoon & Lilly vs. Wasp

This past weekend Mariah, Lilly and I went to Mariah's father, Kyle, and step-mother, Donna, house. These trips are always relaxing because there is no cell phone service, The house is on the top of a peaceful mountain away from all the noise of the city and most importantly Kyle make some kick ass chocolate gravy! This weekend turned out to be more adventurous than we had anticipated. Once we got there Kyle was limping around with a foot that we almost sure is broken. He hurt is foot by releasing a raccoon that he had trapped. You see the raccoons mess with the cats and the cats don't liked to be messed with so Kyle traps the raccoons and then releases them away from the house so that they don't mess with the cats. Kyle had picked up the raccoon trap and was walking away to let him go when all the sudden the raccoon shifted his weight and sent Kyle a tumblin...He twisted his foot and it immediately got a knot on the side and started to swell. (Mind you this is about two hours before Mariah and I arrived). Upon arrival Kyle tells us the story about the shifty raccoon and we can't help, but feel terrible for the man. Not only is he in bad pain, but he LOVES the outdoors and is now trapped indoors with nothing but us kids to entertain him and two lowertabs on board to keep him from the pain. On top of all this Donna cooked a delicious dinner of steaks, wild rice, baked beans and corn on the cob and Kyle couldn't help but have a nice big plate. That was a bad choice. About an hour later the food decided that it didn't like being it the same confined space as the lowertabs and one of them had to go. The lowertabs won and up comes the food. Poor, poor Kyle. Later that night Mariah and I got in the hot tub with a glass of wine and discussed problems of the world and how to solve them. Pretty common talk in a hot tub once wine is mixed in. :)

The next day we slept in and lounged around the house for a little while. That afternoon, Mariah, Lilly and I went to a recreational park at the lake and went swimming. It cost us a dollar to get in and we were on the honor system, but of course we paid. After we had been there about and hour we got into a little trouble for having Lilly there, but here's the kicker. We didn't get in trouble for having her at the park, we got in trouble for having her in the lake! Are you kidding? This old man came up to us with is trash bag and his mechanical trash picker upper thing and told us "You can't have the dog in the water..." Being the elder respecting people that we are we obliged and got out of the lake with our dog. The old man then proceeded to tell us that dogs weren't aloud in the recreational park, but that they sometimes allow them as long as they are well behaved. Still though I have no idea why they aren't allowed in the lake. I wonder sometimes if old people like playing tricks on young people just to see if they can get away with it. You know, wonder if the old man looked at his wife before he said anything to us and was like, "Hey, Vivian, watch this. I'm gonna confuse the Hell out of these kids." Probably never happens, but it makes me smile to think that these type of things go on. I hope that I'm a prank pulling old man one day and am able to say "Hey Mariah....watch me confuse the Hell out of these kids." :)

Back to the house we go and grab showers and pack up our stuff getting ready for the two and a half hour drive back home. I go outside to put stuff in the truck and I look down at Lilly. I notice that she looks a little sadder than normal and I noticed that her left eye was slightly swollen. I didn't think much about it and continued to pack things into the truck. Lilly's eye was definitely swelling by then time we left Kyle & Donna's and we decided that she had been stung by a wasp because that's the only thing around that could've done this. About an hour into the trip it was nearly swollen shut and we were getting pretty worried. So what do you do when your an hour and a half from home and your boxer dog is in the back seat with one of her eye's swollen shut from a wasp sting? Why, you get on your blackberry and google what to do, of course! Google said the you can give a puppy benadryl and to make a paste out of water and baking soda. Give the benadryl as directed and put the paste over the swollen area. I gotta tell you it works like magic! The benadryl made her sleepy and the paste helped with the swelling tremendously. This morning we woke up and Lilly's eye is almost back to normal and right now, I can tell that her appetite is not back to normal, but the looks and seems to feel a lot better.

All in all a great weekend. I was reminded of the beauty and the sting of mother nature. She's a beautiful lady, but she's got a bite so you might want to keep your distance.

Nothing yet...

Hello all,
If you've stumbled upon this then first off I don't konw how. I'm brand new to this Blogspot thing and we've obviously got a lot of work to do. It's too late tonight to do it justice, but I'll be back soon to update you on the life of me, Adam, my wife, Mariah and our dog Lilly, the boxer.

Be back soon,
The Yates Family

:)