kristi....na

Thursday, July 21, 2011

I am loving my new job. I could not image the difference in two banks being this great but it is. I actually like going in to work? Call me crazy, but that's not normal. :)

The one thing that has taken some time is my name. See, the teller supervisor's name is Kristi; spelled just like mine. I didn't think it really was going to be an issue since everyone calls her Kris, even her name plate is Kris.....but no, it was an issue. They didn't want 2 Kristi's especially since one's a supervisor and people would be calling specifically for her. So I'm officially Kristina at work.... :(

Don't get me wrong, it's my legal name and I like it. But I've NEVER been called that unless one of two things : 1-I was in trouble with my parents, and 2- it was the first day of school in every class and I told the teacher it was Kristi.

I told them at work it would take some getting used to because it's pretty much like calling me a name like Bob; it's just something I don't respond to. Shoot, I think my marriage vows were even Kristi, not Kristina.  But now after a couple months, I'm much better at the responding, but horrible at saying it. I answer the phone, "This is Kristi.....na" and just throw the n-a on the end after thinking about it.

Something else that's happening is when my co-workers ask for "Kristi" I turn and look. I know I look like I'm eavesdropping, but it' just that they said MY name. I did go ahead and explain that one to everyone I work with because I didn't want to be labeled the nosy new girl. :)

So it's Kristina at work, Kristi everywhere else. It's kinda weird.

a recap :: windows

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

My parents came to visit the first week in June and the plan was for the guys to install 4 windows. We did 4 windows to start for a couple of reasons: the cost, and that it was one whole side of the house. While going to some home shows, the window people told us if you can't do all your windows at once then at least do each side of your house together. Luckily, the side we wanted to start on had the least amount.....4.

Here is the side that we did - the bottom two are in the living room, the top two are in the new bedroom.
I just LOVE Abe in this picture. :)
old windows....
NEW windows.....so much better!
overall after picture of the bedroom.

We have definitely noticed a difference with these babies. Our living room and bedroom are cooler! :) I bet as we replace ALL the windows, we will definitely see a difference in our heating and cooling bills. I love the sound of that.

So, if you're keeping track...4 down, 22 to go!

in the bedroom

Monday, July 18, 2011

WE ARE IN!

We officially moved into our new and improved MASTER bedroom two weeks ago. The windows are in the built-ins are done and the doors are on.

I'm not going to put up photos of all our stuff in it, because it's not pretty yet. Our mattress is on the floor, our dresser is still the one I've had since 3rd grade, etc. However, I will be posting some pics of items in the room, just not an over all photo. Not until it's done and pretty-fide.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'll get better. Promise.

the past 2 weeks

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A lot has gone on in the last 2 weeks - and I haven't blogged about any of it!

my birthday. It was the 29th. I'm now 26. I don't really know what to think about that. Mike and I went out for a very nice dinner at a place we had never been. It was great, I'm sure we will be going back for the next special occasion.

new job. I put in my 2 week notice at the bank. That bank just wasn't for me - I'm not into the whole corporate side, you need to work on $xxx,xxx (sometimes $x,xxx,xxx) worth of loans or else. I'm not a personal banker anymore; I accepted a job at an employee owned bank where you have to start at the bottom - part-time teller. I really enjoy tellering, so I think it will be a nice change. The part time kind of excites me. I can have time to DO things during the week. I can clean the house, do laundry, work out, sew, blog, go to the dentist, etc. I start TODAY! :)

bedroom remodel. It's complete....for the most part. All we have to do is replace the windows, and repaint the 3 doors and we are DONE.

new windows. We did it, we bought new windows. :) It was a big purchase but I'm glad to get the ball rolling on what will be a long process. See, we have a lot of windows.....26 to be exact. And all of them need replaced. All I see are $$$$. So we started off with 4. It's a good start. :) The windows are waiting patiently, in the basement. I can't wait to put them in and be able to open, shut, and clean with ease. Only 22 more to go....

Here are some photos of what we've done to the room in the past 2 weeks.

All the trim and shoe molding in place and painted.




The built-ins are just waiting on the two cabinet doors that will hid the bottom 2 shelves. Do you see
what I see????

Our hidden outlets!! I can't wait to start using them. It was totally Mike's idea. :)

Our new closet system. :) I just starting putting our clothes in here yesterday and I got to thinking - this is the first time in 2-1/2 years of marriage that Mike's and my clothes are in the same closet. Our final step of co-habitation. :)

you can call me a new name....

Friday, April 22, 2011

AUNT!

Mike and I became first time Aunt and Uncle yesterday evening. :) Wyatt David came in to the world about 6:45 pm EST to proud parents, Roscoe and Katie.  He weighs 7lb 12 oz and is 21-1/4" long.

We are very excited to meet this little boy, I just don't know when that will be. See, he lives in North Carolina and we live in Missouri. :(

Luckily, we just got our iPad 2 at the beginning of April and they have a Mac as well, so we are able to do facetime (Mac Skype). So I am hoping to meet him "virtually" sometime this weekend-ish.

So a big Congratulations goes out to the whole family!

sluggish

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

We are still working on trim.....

This past weekend we did make a lot of head way though. We placed the built-ins, installed the closet door frame, and put up about half of the base boards. No shoe molding yet.

progress. and you can REALLY tell I haven't painted that window trim.....yikes!
Now you finally have a picture of the built-ins. :) There are still some major changes in this built-in's future - the bottom two shelves are going to be in closed with cabinet doors (which aren't built yet.)

The arch over the top is all thanks to my dad. :) He was the one that pointed out to us that all our other built-ins (3) in the house have arches over them. Of course we knew this, but we would of never thought to add it to these two in the bedroom. I think it makes them look original and keeps with the character of the house. So a BIG thanks DAD!

a transformation

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

With all these before and after photos of the floors, I got to looking at all our house pictures. More specifically, the move-in ones. I can't believe the transformation our dining room has taken, and I adore it. I know it's not completely done - shoe molding needs to go down now that the floors are done, and I'm still searching for nic nacs for the built-ins.

This room has completely changed. Take a look!

on word - YUCK!

Now I know on the first photo I focused on the walls and the bottom photo I focused on the floors, but this is the same area of the dining room. It's weird to look at these together. Weird in a good way.

bedroom floors

Monday, April 11, 2011

We had the bedroom floors done the same time as the dining room - I'm just a little behind in my blogging. :)

We really like how the floors turned out in the bedroom; they are a little darker than the dining room, which is probably why I like them.

Here are some before and after shots of the space!


old closet space

you can't even tell what it used to be!
the entrance to the bedroom


 

i can't believe the difference!
Such character! Mike loves this center piece of wood - sadly, it's in the middle of the bedroom and will be covered by our bed...
 

Our sweet Abe approves! :)
Since the floors have been completed, I've been working on the trim and Mike's been building the 2 built-ins. The built-ins are done, except for the cabinet doors on the bottom. YAY! We worked really hard this past weekend, and got everything primed last night. It's such a good feeling to get paint on them. :) I get off work a little early today, so I get to start actually painting!   *The pictures will follow soon!*

floors...complete!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

I'm so excited to show these babies off! I love how our floors came out. Granted, I would of liked darker floors - I still love them this way with all their character.

Here's some before and afters of the dining room!




I forgot an AFTER! :)  Love Spray Paint!






I love this random piece of wood in the dining room!

hardwood redo

Friday, March 25, 2011

We met with our floor re finisher this past Wednesday. He is really nice and definitely knows what he's doing - he gave us straight forward answers on how we were going to re finish 2,200 square feet of red oak hardwood floors. It's going to be a process during this next year or so.

And we start this MONDAY!

I can't believe the first step of re doing our floors will be complete next week. :) He will be doing our new bedroom and our dining room. I can't wait! I figured it would take a few weeks to get in his schedule, and he said it would be done by Wednesday. That means we can start on our trim next week and pretty much move in, with the exception of the 2 built ins and new windows.

One of the biggest blessings, is that we don't have to be out of the house at all. We were really worried about that. It would of made the cost a lot higher if you add a pet friendly hotel in to the works.

Here are some before shots of what this guy has to fix and make beautiful: 

This is in the new bedroom. The lines on the right are where the wall was that we took down. Beautifully centered in this photo is a very large stain that I would be okay with never seeing again.

This is in the new closet. These grooves are where the old closet walls were (yes, we are totally upgrading the closet!) Luckily, we have extra flooring from the new bathroom that we are tearing out, so the floor guy will be putting that in to fill these spaces for no extra charge!  
I'm so ready for some after shots!! I guess I just have to wait......

bedroom update

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I missed out on National Quilting Day on this past Sunday to do some painting with my dad. My parents came to visit us and we put them right to work on the bedroom and closet.


to do list for the weekend
prime ceilings and walls in bedroom and closet
paint ceiling in bedroom and closet
paint closet 
paint bedroom

All was completed! I love the feeling of accomplishment. My dad was a great help with the painting, I think sometimes he missed his calling as a painter. My mom was a great help keeping the house in tacked - did my dishes, watched Abe.....and just visited - Thanks MOM and DAD!

I seriously feel is love with our bedroom paint color! I'm so glad we picked it - Mark Twain looks good on my walls. :) I can't wait to start on the trim, so the room looks finished, so to speak.

Dad and I priming the ceiling.

the closet done! sorry it's so dusty.
Dad aka my trimmer. :)

view from the closet door.

look! no second door to the bedroom!



our new fan!
 We are having the floor re finishers come this afternoon to take a look at the floors. Hopefully they will be done in the next couple weeks - we are on their schedule now.

dust and such

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I never knew we would acquire soooo much DUST during this remodel. Now don't get me wrong, I knew it was going to be dirty, just not this dusty.

the hallway side of our door closure.
Maybe I'm surprised because I've never really been around drywall. My parents did a remodel of their kitchen and dining room about 13+ years ago, but it was contracted out. Maybe they were just really clean contractors or maybe I just didn't notice. Who knows.

The whole reason dust came to mind this morning is Mike sanded the first coat of mud on the walls. He's going to buy a ceiling sanding this evening and finish taping the corners as well.

you almost can't tell there was a door. I can't wait for paint!
the new closet!
It's hard to get a picture of the new closet for a couple of reasons:
  1. It's a smaller area.
  2. There's no light in there at this point.
  3. You probably wouldn't know what you are looking at.
For those of you that have been here to visit, the new dry wall on the right is where our old closet used to be.

As you can see, we have a window in our new closet. I'm still not sure how I feel about this. We did it for a few reasons:

  1. It was the best place for a new closet.
  2. We weren't going to remove it and make the outside of the house look weird.
  3. We centered the door way with the window so, if we want, we can leave the door open and get some light.
After weighing the pros and cons, we put the window in the closet. But I still think it's weird!!



This picture above is of the hallway side of the door closure. Yes, I know I'm behind on my de-wallpapering. I hate wallpaper. I think the only reason people put wallpaper up is because they know they won't be the ones removing it, they just move. There are a lot of trendy/neat wallpapers out right now that I love, but no! I won't do it. I won't be that person that does that to the future owners of this house.

Anyway, once the bedroom is done, we have to start on the upstairs hallway/downstairs entry. I don't want to look a this for 6 months. There is going to be some time when Mike is working on his projects that are only for him, like our built ins and making our new bed. So I'm sure I'll be doing some work on this hallway while that's underway.

Thanks for looking at my mess of a house right now. Maybe it made you feel a little better about our home. :)
Anniversary