My Two Best Friends

These are my two best friends...Pat C and Judy P.  We decided to have a Christmas brunch and exchange gifts at our new house this year...starting a new tradition!  Another new tradition...no buying anything new!  All gifts had to come from things we already owned, or were handmade by us!!  I thought this would be easy!!  Turns out we all three stressed about our gifts BIG time!!  Which was totally ridiculous...we all three have different talents that we ended up putting to good use!! 
I made a new recipe for a breakfast casserole, Judy made homemade muffins and Pat brought the best honeydew melon I've tasted in a LONG time!!  We sat and ate and talked and talked and talked!!  We shared memories and made new ones.  We laughed and cried over some of those old memories...which was wonderful.  I am SO greatly blessed by these two ladies...Godly ladies who are an example of how we all should live.  I thank Jesus every day for bringing these two beautiful ladies into my life.  I hope they know how much I love them and value their friendships.  They are the kind of friends you grow old with!!  And, those gifts that all three of us agonized over?  No need to...we all three loved our gifts!!  Merry Christmas!!

A little fancy table setting so they know how
special they are!!

 

That is Pat on the left and Judy on the right...we were taking
pictures of each other taking pictures of ech other!

Pat and Judy...the best friends a girl could ask for!

CLOSING UPDATE!! New House Closing has been re-scheduled...

Our Mortgage Lender knew that the loan percentages were changing and waited until the very last moment yesterday to get us locked-in to a lower rate.  Legally, we are required to wait four days afterwards to close on the new house.  So...our new closing date is Friday, August 30th.  We will be moving on Saturday, August 31st.

Today is Brother David's Birthday!!

I want to wish my beloved husband a very Happy Birthday!!  If you want to know how old he is today...you'll just have to ask him.  My husband is a man after God's own heart.  He is the head of our household and he takes that role very seriously.  He is wonderful, thoughtful, funny, super intelligent, a great hiker and hike planner, a good steward of our finances, patient, loving...and so much more!  He is the love of my life and I absolutely adore him!  The following pictures are not in any date order...they are just pictures of my darling husband!!


Brother Sacker, and our two fabulous friends from Louisiana;
Mark and Donna Mader.  We were at DI's restaurant in
Basille, Louisiana

Valentino, Brother Sacker and Sundance hiking at Woolaroc

A man and his dog!

We were almost finished with our Fiery Furnace
Hike in Arches National Park.  VERY challenging
hike, VERY exhausting hike, but worth it (at least
Brother Sacker says it was worth it!!  Me...not so
much!)

David at the Salt Flats in Utah.  That is NOT snow;
that is salt!

Sister Sacker, Sundance, Brother Sacker and Valentino
hiking in Woolaroc

Brother Sacker on the Fiery Furnace hike in Arches
National Park, Utah

Brother Sacker on the trail to Delicate Arch in Arches
National Park, Utah.  Yeah...the trail was across these
HUGE boulders...very cool!

Brother and Sister Sacker on the trail to Delicate Arch in
Arches National Park, Utah. 

One more week and it will officially be ours!!

We met with Mark C. (believe me, you want this man to be your construction manager!) and Nick A. (Sales Rep extraordinaire!!) to do a walk-through tonight at 5:30.  What this means is that we (Nick, Mark, Brother Sacker, me and Bro Stan Short) went room to room to room (you get the idea!!) and checked EVERYTHING!!  They had all the lights on, fan on, dishwasher running, water running and water plugs down, to make sure everything was in perfect running condition.  Mark showed us EVERYTHING in every single room and we pointed things out that needed fixing...only about five things, actually.  It took us about two hours to go through the house room by room by room!  Mark will make sure everything that needs fixing will be fixed and we will do ANOTHER walk-through on Monday, Aug 26th, then on Tuesday, Aug 27th...the day we have been waiting for...our closing date!!  We will be putting boxes in the 4 Runner, going to the closing, then going to our new house and taking boxes in the house.  During the remainder of next week, I will be making trips in the 4 Runner, taking boxes over to the new house and then the movers will be moving us in that weekend!!  Then, our new house will become our new home...we are so blessed.

This was taken on Monday, Aug 19...fencing was almost done
being installed

That tree is actually a Cleveland Pear tree

 

House, fence, tree, shrubs, and mailbox

 

Brother Sacker and Mark C.

Brother Sacker, Mark and Brother Stan Short

Our house...is almost a home!

Rausch Coleman is finished building our house!  On Tuesday, August 20, Brother Sacker, me, Brother Stan Short, Mark C. (our wonderful Construction Manager) and Nick A. (our VERY patient, Rausch Coleman rep) will meet at our new house for a walk-through.  I already started a list of things that I would like to see corrected (see previous posts), but there really were not that many things.  I notice things like cabinet doors not hung correctly, etc.  Brother Stan Short is going with us because he notices things like drainage problems, etc.  As Nick said...we will be going through the house with a fine tooth comb!!

I looked up the definition of house and home...mainly because some people ask me how is the home building coming along and I've always thought of a house as simply the building and a home as where you live with your family.  That was the reason I titled this post the way I did!!  Our house is built and on Tuesday, August 27th, after signing a million forms...our house will then become our home!!

House:  noun: a building that serves as living quarters for one or a few families

Home:  noun:  1.  one's place of residence 2.  the social unit formed by a family living together

We went by our new house after church today.  Of course, it was locked!  But, we looked in the windows...the floors are clean and shiny, the carpets have been vacuumed, the windows are sparkling clean, our new garage door was installed, AND the fence posts are in!  I'll go over tomorrow and see if the fence is completely up and get pictures.  But, I don't want to go inside until Tuesday when we do our walk-thru.  I've seen the carpeting and the kitchen tile backsplash, but I can hardly wait to see Brother Sacker's reaction when he sees how very nice the inside is.  The outside of our new house amazes me...it's exactly what we both wanted it to look like!

Our house!!  Isn't it gorgeous?!  Over on the left side, you can see where they have the fence posts up.  And, that is
actually our garage door, not the "borrowed" one that was up before.

Our house...is almost done!!

There was a LOT going on at our new house today!!  The two previously elusive windows were framed and the walls repainted where they had to be retrofitted.  Mirrors were in their frames in both of the baths.  Carpeting was down in all four bedrooms and all the closets.  The front door was being painted black.  They installed a light in the pantry.  I forgot to check if the towel racks were up!!  AND...here's the biggie!!  Drum roll, please!!  Our Mexican tile backsplash in the kitchen was up!!  And, it is flat out gorgeous!!  I absolutely LOVE it!!  Love the carpeting also.  I made a really pretty red burlap wreath for our new black front door and I can't wait to see it up on that door; I think it will really make our front door POP!!  Brother Sacker told me that we have home orientation next Tuesday with Nick and Mark at the new house.  This is when I'll get to go over my list of things that need to be fixed!!  (I noticed that some of the kitchen cabinet doors are not hung evenly and the stain on the mirror frames need to be touched up!)  Nick told Brother Sacker that we will be going over the house "with a fine tooth comb"...I think my comb is a LITTLE bit more fine toothed than theirs, though!!  Poor Nick knows by now that he is dealing with a perfectionist!! Brother Sacker told Nick that I am the warrior for our house!!  And, I guess I am!!  Still have the "borrowed" garage door up, also, so anxious to see our actual door with the hardware on it.

The painters had just finished the front door!  This is where
our refrigerator will go.

I love the Mexican tile backsplash!  Sorry the picture is
blurry!  Maybe I can get Bro Sacker to take one for me later!

  

I honestly LOVE the backsplash! 

This is the framed mirror in the hall bath.  Mirrors in both
bathrooms are framed and stained to match our cabinets.

Framed and ready for some paint.  Love having
so many windows in our new house!

Isn't that a pretty front door?!  It might just
be a black front door to you...but to me it's
a black door just waiting for a pretty red wreath!!

Love the carpeting...especially in the closets!  Especially in
the closet where my shoes and boots will soon be living!

Valentino seemed to like that carpet too!

This is the pretty red burlap wreath I made for our black
front door...can't wait to see it up.  I just need to put the
black organdy ribbon on it to hang it up properly with!!

Gettin' down to the wire, here...

I went out to our new house today, thinking that maybe since it rained so much today, maybe the carpet would be installed in the four bedrooms.  Hasn't happened yet!!  Probably a good thing, since they would be traipsing around on our carpet with muddy boots, dirty tools, etc!!  The kitchen sink was put back in the countertop, though and the shower door in the master bath was installed, as well as the shower head.  The front of the house is rather stunning, in my opinion!!  They finished the rain guttering today, which was rather appropriate since it has rained the last two days!!  I can't wait to get a picture of the house without trash stacked up in our driveway!!

Kitchen sink put back in the new countertops, just waiting for
the Mexican tile backsplash

I think the muddy boot prints really add to
this picture, don't you?!



I like the contrast of oil rubbed
bronze and the lighter walls

Finishing up with the installation of rain guttering

All this rain is REALLY good for our sod, tree and bushes

I wish I knew how to photoshop the trash and the green
barrier out of the picture!