Don't Call Out the Cavalry

I will be MIA for the next week or so, for several reasons.

First, I have my Master's Thesis due this week and my presentation/defense next Thursday. Since I have been a little preoccupied, I have to kick it into high gear and use every single spare second I have to finish this up. I didn't work this hard - and this long - to do a half-assed job.

Second, someone opened a can of whoop ass on me on Sunday and I still haven't recovered, so every spare moment not spent working on my thesis, working at my full time job or taking care of my munchkins is spent in blissful slumber. Unfortunately, that "blissful slumber" consists of about 5 hours of sleep a night right now, and I'm just not willing to give it up to post updates on here. And you should thank me for that, since they would probably read like this:


"yawn"


So I'll be out of the loop for the next ten days or so. I have lots to tell you, so I'm sure I'll more than make up for it when I get back.

Wish me luck!!

WOW.

The benefit concert for Beth & Ciana was incredibly successful. We raised nearly $17,000.00 yesterday, on top of the $5,000 we already had in ticket sales.

That's $22,000 towards Beth and Ciana's medical bills.

Not too shabby for an event that was put together in 8 weeks two people who have never done anything like this before.

My friend Tim, who has now become a member of the family, has an amazing heart and put so much time and energy into this event. His generosity is unlimited. The two of us made a great team.

And since everyone asked us when the next concert would be, I have a feeling this will become an annual event.

http://your4state.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=110476

The auction was amazing. Erik, the auctioneer, did an incredible job (and helped us so much with the benefit - he's become a great friend). The bidders raising their hands, the guys in the crowd cheering people on, the whoops of joy when someone would win a bid - it was awesome.....

Although most of yesterday was a huge blur, two things from the auction stand out in my mind. One of the people helping with the concert - a very good friend that I've known for more than 20 years - bought this picture of Ciana at the auction for $500.

I cried.

Olivia's donated piece of artwork was auctioned off by moi - yup, that's right, I got to auction it off. Erik told me he was going to make me do it and I was nervous - but once I started and the bid got higher I really got into it!!

My baby girls donation alone brought in $450. Yes, you read that right - $450. Beth's brother and sister in law were in a bidding war with my mom and dad for it and were the eventual winners.

The best part though? They walked over to my mom and gave it to her.

I cried.
(Do you see a trend here?)

And I have to tell you how proud I am of myself too. Know why?

I had to get up twice to speak, thank everyone, send some shout outs to all the people that helped, etc., etc.

I didn't cry. Either time.

(Almost - but I held it in. I'm very proud of myself !)

It was such a wonderful day.

And today I'm paying for it with a sore throat and a fever.
(And the post-event celebratory drinks I had aren't helping either- ha!)

How I met my house

I just HAD to join the party.....

Welcome Home

As a child, we moved around quite a bit.

I spent my pre-teen years in New England and those years had a profound effect on me - in positive and negative ways.

While they were tumultuous years emotionally, that time in my life is when I recognized my love for New England, houses and land.

Some of my favorite memories come from our last house in Connecticut. I loved that house, I loved our neighbors and I loved living there. I was heartbroken when we moved south.

Trees along the driveway in the spring - they're gorgeous...

Flash forward 20 years. Brian and I had been in our starter home for 5 years longer than we had anticipated, and now we had two children, two dogs and the walls were closing in.

It was a lovely little home and we were sad to think of leaving it, but we knew it was inevitable.

One day, while visiting dear friends, I realized while sitting in their kitchen, that there was a familiarity, a comfort almost, in the house. It felt like home.

The Breakfast Room

Only problem was, it wasn't my house, and it certainly wasn't for sale.

The house was next door to my mom, so I visited often. A few years went by and one day I mentioned to mom's neighbors how I felt about the house. I don't know why. I just wanted them to know how a profound feeling would come over me when I walked through the door. Again - such comfort...

Back Yard

They mentioned that they would be moving in a year or two and would we like to buy it?

Um, yes please????

That would give me time to save some money and sell my house. Perfect!

Well, the market crashed, things got complicated, and things didn't go as smoothly as I had planned (do they ever?).

Dining Room

But, it all worked out and we now live in that wonderful home.

A few weeks after we moved in, I was walking through the house, thinking of all the wonderful plans I had for it.

In my mind though, I was seeing other rooms.....

That's when it hit me.

I realized at that moment why this house had such a profound effect on me and I laughed at myself for not recognizing it sooner.

It's almost identical to the house from my childhood in Connecticut.

Drumroll Please

First came the laying of the tile……

Which quite frankly was a pain in the ass, but well worth it.

  

Have I told you how much I hate grout?

 

*Gratuitous butt shot*

 

And then, came the finishing touches.

 

 

Ooooh la la!!

          

 

 

Are you ready? 

Really Ready??

                

 

TA DA!!!!!

 

FINALLY.  We are done. 
Use of the new bathroom has commenced.
Thank God.

 

Sydney took this picture.  Apparently she likes my eyes. 

         

But not my mouth.  Probably because it’s always telling her “NO”

A VERY productive day....

I stayed home today and once again had a very good day.

I finished a rough draft of my project and got my financials almost done.

Seriously???? I'm like 95% done.

OHMYGOD.

That's so freaking awesome.....

A little change in plans....

I make my presentation to the Graduate School and defend my thesis on May 6'th. That's more than 3 weeks away.

No problem.

But then I get an e-mail from my advisor that my project must be complete and turned into him - IN FINAL - no later than April 29'th.

(insert maniacal laughter here, because I just about had a nervous breakdown when I read that)

I was counting on having that last weekend of April - after the concert was over - to get everything all finalized, do a thorough run through of it, have my brother edit it and THEN have it bound and ready for presentation and submission.

This weekend I was planning to move the girls back into their NEW bathroom and finalize things for the concert the following weekend. Unfortunately, that will now have to wait. Eh - what's a few more weeks, right????

Oh, and if you hop on over to Beth's website you'll get to see some pictures of me in a tree!

Where I got stuck........

I knew I shouldn't fall for that.

Psh. The "special camera" didn't make me "lose ten pounds".

I've been tricked.

http://your4state.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=108265

Hopefully the video is posted now. (EDIT: You can't see it until it's run on the 11:oo news apparently)

I'm not going to say anymore.

The story says it all.....

News, News, and More News!

Well, the bathroom's done - WOW!!!

Before and after pics coming soon - just a few minor things to do.....

In other news.....

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/art_life/display_horizon.htm?storyID=103520

The newspaper article on Beth and the Concert for she and Ciana came out today. Check it out.

And in other, other news.....

I'll be posting a link to the television story we filmed at my house today. It's on tonight at 6 & 11 on WHAG -TV - the local NBC Station and should be on the website at 8 o'clock tonight.

That was an experience - LET me tell you. I'll post more about that later.

I'm not going to tell you about how wonderful the reporter was until I watch the story and see if what she said about these new cameras taking away ten pounds is true.....I'm not exactly television material.

Four weeks from today...

...I will be defending my thesis and finally done with school.
(*cough* God willing *cough*)

I have been neglecting this project and finally, after a very long lecture from Brian, realized that I have to concentrate on this project because I am so close to the finish line.....

So I have tried to put everything else aside and work on it. It's a little hard what with the concert/auction I'm helping to put together for Beth and trying to finish the bathroom, but I took the day off today and really plowed through a lot of it.

Tonight was a dry run, and I rocked the house.

I have a ton of work still to do, but I feel much more comfortable with the direction of the project and where I am right now.

But the BEST thing, is that Beth's tumors are gone. She's officially in remission after only three chemo treatments. There's nothing better than that. She still has more treatments and surgery in her future, but things look excellent. That's the best news I've gotten in a long time.

Once the concert is over, and I've graduated, I'm doing a few things:

1. Sleep

2. Go away somewhere with my husband for a weekend alone. We haven't done that in about 5 years. We need it.

3. Sleep some more.

4. Take a family vacation - hopefully to the beach! We haven't done that since I started school two and a half years ago.

5. Take a nap.

There's a lot packed into the next four weeks. It's gonna be crazy.

Good thing I thrive on that crap.

I. hate. grout.

That is all.

Tile's Done!

Remember when we first got Internet and EVERYONE had AOL and when you would download a file that nice man inside the computer would say...

"File's done!"

Yeah, well, if you don't remember that you're too young to be reading this blog.

Anyway, we didn't get around to laying the tile until today (we procrastinated - we weren't sure what we were doing so we put it off until we had a whole day - you know, in case we screwed up and needed to call in a "Tile Pro-fessional")

Brian laid it. I "supervised". I get to grout tomorrow. YAY!

And yes, tomorrow is Easter but somehow I think Jesus will be OK with me grouting so I can FINALLY get the bathroom done.

I'll most definitely thank Him when I'm done.

So, pictures later - right now I have to get to the store, or else the Easter Bunny will totally skip our house.

Not good.

Happy Easter Eve!!!