Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go.....

We are beyond exhausted but we must carry on! Here's what has been happening:

The office got dry walled 

The guest room got dry walled...this is the same room shown in our before photos. In case you forgot what it looked like before, here it is again....

The hallway got dry walled

I think Willy and Janie were tuckered out too. Since the AC hasn't been installed yet (that should be in the next week or two), we do wet them down to help them keep cool. 

The moving line - Josh with his truck, Dereck in his brother's truck, Diego in his green Chevy, and me in our car

Furniture moved into the Living Room even though we don't have flooring yet

Washer and dryer got moved in and installed

I got to use the paint gun to prime and seal the office

We painted the office - 2 walls are a dark gray and the other 2 walls are the same color as our hallway, kitchen, and dining room

Ceiling fan got installed in the office

The guest room and hallway got painted too. Curtains were put up int the office and guest room. 

Next up: flooring in the office, finish moving out of the townhome, deep clean the townhome (we have to be out by the 31st, this Saturday), then finish everything else in the house once we are moved out of the townhome. 

Establishing the living quarters

We are moving right along. Time is running out before we have to move out of our townhome. School is officially out now (hip, hip, hooray!). Now we only have one job to focus on....finishing the house. It has been so stressful this month trying to maintain sanity, being a kind teacher without snapping on my students during the last month of school, and having patience with everything. Cheers to getting things done!

Dereck painting the Living Room

Master Bedroom is painted

Ceiling fan is installed in the Living Room with the help of Diego

Master Bedroom ceiling fan went up too

Dereck started installing the bamboo flooring in the Master Bedroom

The Dining Room - curtains are put in (these are the cheap roman paper that are temporary blinds but they work great for now on saving money)

The Dining Room and Living Room colors (the Dining Room is the same color as the kitchen walls). Oh yeah, the dining room light was installed. It is small but I think once we have a dining room table, it will be the right size. 

We brought over curtains that we had at our previous place and installed them in the Living Room. I think they fit perfectly with the Living Room color.

Kayla, our niece, and Dereck's mom stopped by. Kayla had fun giving Grandma "hair" using the cut off bits from the Dining Room curtains.

Dereck LOVES to sleep in a room with absolutely no light. These temporary black out curtains work amazingly well for $5. I'm impressed!

We've had to move the guest bed and a few things into here as we are now dry walling the office, hallway, and guest room.

Drywall, Dust & Denim

So we've been drywalling the Living Room, Dining Room, and Master Bedroom. This process literally has taken us the last 3 weeks (beyond our regular job hours and weekends). We've had some great help from friends lately. Diego and Josh have been a big help in getting this process moving faster. Today we just finished sanding the first layer of plaster and put on the second coat. Tomorrow we'll sand. Thursday, we'll put on the final coat. Friday, we'll spray foam the rest of the house (because the additional foam we had to order will arrive this Thursday). In addition, this weekend we will do the final sanding and use the texture machine (loaned to us by Josh and his family...Thank you!!!) to texture the walls. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Oh yeah, don't forget that we'll be putting up drywall in the office and the guest room this weekend. It's a sprint to the finish line. 8 days left of school. 2 1/2 weeks left with our rental unit. Needless to say, we are crazy from stress. Thank goodness we're not bickering.

Here are photos to prove our progress:

Living Room & Dining Room

Josh and Dereck plastering

Plastering the Living Room

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom (Panoramic View)

This is denim insulation: It is made of recycled jeans. This insulation is placed in the walls as a sound barrier between the Living Room & Guest room, the Living Room & Master Bedroom, and  between the Master & Office.It surely does make a difference. This was noticed immediately upon installation.

Wall to Wall craziness

Sometimes, okay often, I feel like I'm going cuckoo. It's almost like a Merry-Go-Round ride that never ends. I even feel like an awful daughter, sister, friend, and coworker because my immediate priorities involve getting a house livable. Right now we're putting up drywall in the Dining Room/Living Room and Master Bedroom. Last Saturday, our brother-from-another-mother, Diego, helped us out incredibly by adding another set of hands and tips from previous drywalling experience.

Prior to starting the drywall, Dereck finished installing the Radiant Barrier (looks like aluminum foil) in the attic. This acts like the sun shades you put up in the car windshield. We've noticed a dramatic difference of the temperature inside the house especially since we have no A/C installed yet and we have reached the 100 degree temps outside.

Dereck cooking our first meal in our newly installed kitchen

The main bathroom is functional!!!

Definitely a relaxing spa in our own home!!

Dereck and Diego drywalling the ceiling in the Living Room

The drywall is halfway done in the Dining Room/Living Room

Starting on the ceiling in the Master Bedroom

I can now envision this place as our home. I'm excited but stressed at the same time.

Kitchen Project continuing

Our kitchen is galley style and turned out to be a lot bigger than I thought it would feel like. A big factor was taking away some space from the Master Bedroom and removing two walls that seperated the old water heater/pantry room from the old kitchen. I wish I had before pictures of the kitchen.

Dereck's working on installing the water to the sink & dishwasher, hooking up the garbage disposal

Installation looks more like a tornado has arrived

Yeah, the beautiful sink is almost installed (it's almost 36 inches wide)

The main bathroom has seen the toilet added (the sink & cabinet seen in the picture had to be returned shortly after taking the photo...it's didn't work with the location of our plumbing)

We took a break from the house on Monday to attend the Phoenix Suns game (tickets courtesy of our boss). We were invited to stand with the Suns players during the National Anthem. Here we are waiting off the court for our turn to go on with the players. Only 5 of us teachers made it on time for this special event. The rest were either late (or avoided being in the spotlight...which were at least 8 others)

Oh look, it's DONE except for the finishing touches (molding, fix walkways, install toe kicks onto the base cabinets)....oh how the little things always keep getting added onto the list

LOL

When testing week is so stressful and boring for teachers (because you walk around proctoring for 4 hours a day for 4 days), this student cracked me up last Thursday morning. It was the last day of testing and I was nearly in tears from laughing so much without sound (I didn't want to be on the video). I hope you have a good laugh too!

This video was taken during our homeroom time which is when the students eat breakfast and announcements are made. On this particular day, the announcements included a song revised with testing related lyrics.

Testing Week Brings Out More work!

It is AIMS week. The much glorified testing week that somehow (wink, wink) teachers don't fret about. After all, supposedly teachers don't teach to the test but yet everything we teach must be something tied into the standards which is what we're tested on right? Also, when you teach at a high poverty school where more than 50% of the students start Kindergarten not speaking a word of English. Even if a student speaks English more than 60% of them can't read any basic sight words (i.e. and, or, the). By the time they reach me in 4th grade, they're still trying to play catch-up with where they should be. Needless to say, it is beyond difficult to retain a student. Paperwork and policies make it difficult. Especially if a student is labeled as SPED (special education). You have to have all your balls in a basket to actually get a student retained. Now, I'm not trying to say I'm for retention but if a student isn't academically ready for the next grade level and he/she will just struggle to the point of possible frustration there's no need to put a child through that torture if another year in the same grade will help allow them to get caught up and mature (often that's another issue....it seems parents like to start their child in school sooner than their maturity level is ready). Being a teacher now it puts a whole different level of appreciation for my parents delaying my start into Kindergarten since I have a late summer birthday. Yes, I did two years of Preschool instead of the usual one year (at least in those years).

Okay to back to the house: Testing week allowed for all before and after-school programs to be cancelled....this allowed for us to sleep in a little bit (since I didn't have Breakfast Club in the morning). Then after work, we would go straight to work on our house. Whoa, that's wierd...OUR HOUSE! Yes, the paperwork has been submitted to the county making this place our house.

Dereck finished the grout on the kitchen and bathroom tile floor. Then we started installing the cabinets in the kitchen:

The wall where the sink & dishwasher will be placed

The side for the stove, fridge, & microwave.

The wall where the sink & dishwasher will be placed

That countertop really isn't installed yet....just resting in place so it's off the floor

Janie decided to be in the picture