Almost done!

Here's an update on the bathroom process. We have a shower!! Woohoo! You have no idea how excited we are about this b/c more tiles in the downstairs bathroom continue to fall! Plumbers came about a month ago and installed at the pipe work. Then we set to tiling the bathroom. This was a fun experience. I really enjoyed it. As long as I could keep them straight. Mostly I liked playing with the thin-set.

The most difficult part was the cut tiles. We rented a saw from a local place in town and had it from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning. Tony worked all day Friday trying to take measurements and getting the tiles cut. We realized later that it would have been much easier to do with two people. This way one could double check that if fit right. On top of that, Tony froze his butt off using the wet saw and by the time I got home from work he was ready to stop for the day.

Since we had a few more tiles to cut we decided to get up early on Saturday and get these done before our 10:30 deadline to have the saw back and only get charged for one day.

So we got up early ready to go. However we had a nice surprise when we went to cut more tiles. It never occured to us that it was really cold outside and we have a saw that requires water to work properly. Needless we found out that the water tubes to the saw were froze! Something we did not plan on. This took some much needed time out of our short schedule. So after a couple of buckets of hot water and a hair dryer or two we got the saw back in proper working order.

The rest of the morning was a busy blur but we made it. Some of the tiles could of been done better but overall I believe we are statisfied with our first tiling experience.

Tony grouted and sealed the whole bathroom. I found out that I wasn't as good at this but I did try grouting on very, very, small part.

All that is left is painting, installing the new vanity and faucet, medicine cabinet, and other finishing touches. I can't wait!

On a side note, I received some good news at work this week. I received a promotion and I will be moving across the street to the corporate office. I look forward to the challenges, excitement, as well as the summer hours it brings ;)

New Truck

This story is actually Tony's story to tell but I've been hearing from people that we need to update the blog so here you go.

A couple of weeks ago Tony rolled his truck on interstate. He was fine. Didn't have a scatch on him, the the good Lord above. The Toyota didn't fare as well. The insurance ended up totalling the truck. So for the past week and a half we have been truck shopping. It was a lot of back and forth. At the moment we don't really need a full sized truck but we would like to have one in the future. After much hunting (the internet was a big help), Tony found a few that he wanted to go test drive. One day before his class in Rochester he test drove a few. Later that night he told me he thought he found his truck. After a quick phone call to the best mechanic in the world, I was like okay, lets go look at it tomorrow night after I get off work. The next day I go home for lunch. Tony's says I think I may have found a better truck. It was a year newer and it had less miles.

So that night was a long night. One truck was in Fairbault (about an hour North) and the other in Rochester(45min east of Austin). So we made a big trip. We got to Fairbault and the truck was up on the lifts. They were fixing something(like I said, Tony could tell this story much better). Anyways we got to Fairbault at about 5:30, expecting the test drive the truck and head to Rochester and test drive the other truck, but we had to get there by 8. We both knew we'd be cutting it close since they were working on this truck(kind of a bad sign huh). I think it was 6:45 by the time we were able to get in the truck. Drive it for a bit and headed to Rochester. Tony was thinking he liked the one in Rochester better, and after seeing that one, I did too. So that's the truck we got.

We had to go back the next night to get it and sign all the paperwork but so far we have enjoyed it. It's definently something we plan to have a very, very long time. Probably the biggest downside of it is it doesn't fit in the garage :( Which means we, or I rather, get to play musical cars in the morning if I want to take the car to work. Oh well, I'm in love with the truck...I've always wanted a big truck although it came a little sooner than we planned.

Really wish we had a sled about now :)

Thought I'd share this picture with you. We are having a large system come through. It's supposed to snow until Wednesday. I think our folks in Kansas are going through the same thing too.

Here's a photo of the snow that has accumulated in our front yard by taking it off the drive way. We are going to start running out of room! They said we are supposed to receive between 7-10 inches when all is said and done.

Hope everyone is well!!

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad!

Wish I could be there to spend it with you! A girl couldn't ask for a better dad. I look up to you in so many ways. Thanks for aways being there and supporting me!

Hope you didn't have to work today, but I do, so you should feel sorry for me :)

I hope you have a wonderful day!I love you!

Love,
Your Pokey Pocahontas

Bathroom Redo

So by fate we had to start remodeling the bathroom. We were wanting to do this project next but I think we both thought we would wait until around springtime. Well as luck would have it, life had a different idea. Our shower downstairs needs replaced and we were hoping we could do that after we got the upstairs bathroom redone. That way we had at least one operating bathroom at a time. Well, last week Tony was taking a shower and about 6 tiles decided they had had enough and fell. So our alternative. Get the upstairs bathroom ready to go. This is our biggest and most difficult project so far. Lord help us we are going to tile! Really wish my brother-in-law didn't live 8 hours away!

Hopefully we will be able to accomplish this task and at least Adam is only a phone call away if we get into some difficulties. Maybe he'd be able to talk us through it.

So yesterday Tony started taking down wallpaper and the nasty blue plastic wall tiles, as well as the adhesive behind those. I'm thinking we are going to have to buy some adhesive remover because that stuff is as hard as a rock!

Last night we went to Home Depot, spent a few good hours collecting anything and everything(hopefully we got everything) that we will need. Thanks for the gift cards from those that gave them! They we put to wonderful use last night.

So since Tony has his academy all day today, I'm tasked with taking down the rest of the wallpaper, only one layer this time (Thank God for small blessings), and the tiles. Most of today I have been scraping glue from the wallpaper off. What a messy job. I'm taking a break to write this otherwise I think my arm would fall off. I do have to add, there is some sexy pink paint under the wallpaper. Just thankful the bathtub wasn't pink!

Well that's all I have for now. Wish us luck!

Before

Bye, bye medicine cabinet...

Not looking forward to removing the adhesive...yuck!

Snow, snow and more snow.

Just wanted to show you an update of what the house looks like with all the multiple snows we've had. One thing I've learned since moving to Minnesota, the snow doesn't melt in a few days. I think when it comes its here to stay until Spring! We had around 3 big snow falls this year. Two being rather large storms. The other times we've had just a few inches.

Had a take a picture of the bird my our feeder this morning. (Sorry its kind of hard to see)

Merry Christmas...a few weeks late!

Tony and I had a wonderful Christmas despite the terrible weather. We had originally planned to leave Christmas Eve and if we did I don't think we would of made it. We left Austin at 5 Wednesday night. It had been snowing for a couple of hours in Austin, big flakes. I-90 was terrible. I wanted to turned around even before we got to Albert Lea. Once on 35 we were good until we hit Iowa. There we hit the freezing rain.I think it took like 3 and1/2 hours to get to Ames while it normally takes 2. We were going 35 most of the time. Thank God I wasn't of driving. There were people in the ditch all over. But we made it into Alma at 2 in the morning. The whole trip only took around 9 hours which is only an hour and a half more than normal.

Alma got pounded with the white stuff on Christmas Eve. We had some eventful occurrences on the way back from church both times. :)

Christmas day we headed over to Aunt Elaine and Uncle Danny's house. (Which the new remodel looks fabulous by the way). There we enjoyed a wonderful meal, some bingo, and a joke on Duane. Duane, our family wouldn't be the same if we couldn't make fun of you :)

I am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

Christmas day night, we headed to my mom and dads for gifts because we weren't able to make it in the morning due to the circumstances. Mom and dad spoiled us! Gift cards to Home Depot, Tony has a real gable to hang up his deer so he doesn't have to use the contraption he made, and I got the entire series of Dr. Quinn Medicine woman!!! I was so excited!!! Thanks again mom and dad!!!

The next day we got to see Adam and Bailey and they opened their gifts. Bailey found a lady bug after the presents and that kept her occupied for a good 20 minutes. She is so much fun! After this we headed to Grandma Sally's for another great dinner and some funny conversations.

We didn't get to really hang out with friends while we were back. Darn weather. Oh well, Michael did stop by when he was finally able to get out of his house and it was nice to meet up with him.

While we had to do somethings this Christmas "out of order" we had a wonderful time just being home with our families and we can thank you all enough for all the support, encouragement, and love you have given us. One thing is for sure, many, many memories were made this Christmas.

Tony got some new insulated waders for trapping.