Floored about my FLOORS!

FINALLY, after over a week of anticipating having our floors stained, I can officially say they have stain and one coat of polyurethane on them. Long story short, after the first rough sanding of the floors the machine kept cutting off and they had to find someone with an "up to par" sander to borrow one from. So finally that happened yesterday and the polishing, staining, and poly"ing" happened today. I was really happy with the color. I think it looks super! What do you think?

 view of the kitchen

 from hallway into great room

 walking in from garage (mud room)

 panoramic of the dining room! love how the columns really pop!

Master bedroom

Now, we also had our second load of sod come in today. The back yard got zoysia grass because it gets more sunlight and zoysia is much more sun loving than fescue! Here's a few pics of the grass in the back:

 one picture from the right side of house

 panoramic of the right back corner

 panoramic of the entire back:)

 side yard where the fescue meets the zoysia...

 right side finished near garage

 left side as it goes around back

 left side looking across the back

lots of water going on this sod...PLEASE stay alive!

Tomorrow we have my favorite crew coming back (Joey and the framing guys) to finish the deck--adding railings and screening in the porch! This is definitely one thing I've also been waiting on. I'm really pumped about my screened porch! They will also be putting in the shoe mold around the base boards and putting all the door handles/locks on. This coming week should be filled of little odds and ends that need tying up and we should be REALLY close to CLOSING! We can't wait to move in. 

Mean and GREEN! Well, just GREEN:)

Ladies and gentleman, we've come to another milestone in the house building process. WE HAVE GRASS, gorgeous fescue grass! There are certain things that just change the entire look of the house and this is one of them. All the dirt we have seen for so many months is now mostly covered with gorgeous, thick blades of deep, green grass. Now, granted this is the most green we'll probably see until Fall, it's still so pretty. With the crazy, hot weather moving our way, it will most likely get heat stressed, but we'll enjoy it while it's green. Someone once told my hubby, "There's 3 bad things about fescue." When he asked what he meant, the guy said "June, July, and August." So, all the other 9 months are gorgeous green. And because our new home is extremely shaded, we hope to see more green than just 9 months of it! Anyway, I'll stop describing it to you and let you take a peak:)

 Idea of where we started..trenching for the irrigation system

 Irrigation at the road front

 Trenches for the lighting AND irrigation near the columns at the road

 Irrigation valves

 Guys working hard to get the ground prepped

 And in comes the SOD this morning! Just gorgeous!

 Lovely at the road front!

 Panoramic view of the left side

 Rounding the corner of the driveway

 From the road...lots of pallets we had today!

 Another panoramic from the porch 

 Front porch looking forward!

 Left side curving around

Road front getting some much needed water!

These guys have been really great to work with. We have even considered letting them plant all the plants sometime next week. We (well, Jason really) just don't have much time to do all that with all the moving in and working (again, just Jason) going on. It's coming together for sure! Tomorrow's agenda includes getting sod in the backyard, so look for pics of that too!

On another little side note (but so fantastic too) is the grout work that went on today! My tile backspash is all grouted in (except for a little section under the window) and it looks fab! What do you think?

 Trusty tile guy, Mike, getting started!

 GORGEOUS if I do say so myself!

One more view!

Today was just one of those days that was fun to go to the house and watch things take shape. Tomorrow should be another one of those days since I get to pick my floor stain color! Totally transforming couple of days! We're getting closer folks:) Until next time....xoxo

Backsplash LOVE:)

We've had a really slow week at the house and are hoping for this coming week to bring much more excitement and completion. After all, July 1st is SUPPOSED to be our move in date. However, we have had unfortunate events like the sander messing up that have put us back some. On a positive note, my tile backsplash FINALLY arrived after being on a boat for months. It shipped from California and was in store in about 5 days. I thought the tile backsplash was going to be the part that held us up (since our tile guy, Mike, works very slowly), but in fact, this sander issue has really been annoying. They were supposed to be done EARLY last week and all we have done is the first initial sanding finished. They still have to go back 2 more times followed by 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of poly. ARG...come on people!

Anyway, here's some pics of the gorgeous tile we (I) chose;)

This is Walker Zanger Vibe Collection (Ashbuy Mosaic in Glossy White) The grout will be white as well which will really look excellent!

We've got a little way to go..I'm sure it will take the rest of this week to complete

One another note, a friend of mine posted a picture on facebook of her DIY chevron wall she just painted. I have loved this pattern since it got really popular, and thought, HEY, I can do that! So with a little convincing of my hubby, we spent about 3 hours taping (the hardest part) the first day. The second day we painted and removed tape, and today (the 3rd day) we went back and did a few touch ups here and there. Here's some pictures of the process:

You can see on the right, we trimmed all the overlapping pieces of tape. Before taping, we decided the best way to get the result we wanted was to run chalk lines vertically and horizontally to see where the tape needed to meet.

After we painted. We had to paint two coats!

Finished product! Completely unique and gorgeous! I love it!

Another view--hubby touching up!

Hopefully this week will be more productive. More updates to come:) Have a great week!

A Roaring Lion

How many times in your life have you been attacked by the devil? That seems like an odd question to ask, and many people may not be able to think of any times this has happened. But let me remind you friend, as I've reminded myself lately, "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) 

The devil is a conniving con-man who looks for people in their weakest hour to prey on. Think about a time in your life where you were weak. What has the devil conned you into doing? Did he tell you it was God's fault you're in this situation? Did he mention that if God really loved you he wouldn't let you feel such pain? Did he sit on your shoulder (get the mental image) and tell you that you don't deserve happiness, you're not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough etc? 

So many times I think people go through days, weeks, years with the devil on their shoulder or on their back dragging them down. I've experienced this many times in life, but in those times of need I always hit my knees and asked the Lord to bind Satan from my presence. I remember how faithful my God is to His people and that anything we ask in His name he will do for His children. ESPECIALLY ban Satan from His child's presence. 

Remember how great a God we serve! Remember how much He loves His children and how much He desperately wants His children to "cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." (Psalm 55:22) When you find yourself in a situation where you feel attacked and at a breaking point, ask God for His TRUTH and guidance. The only thing Satan feeds you is lie after lie. In John 8 when Jesus is trying to make the people understand He is God's son and the people were questioning Him time and time again about who He is, Jesus responds "For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44) 

The FATHER OF LIES. Period. He will feed you lies all day long, at least as long as he knows he's "got ya." But as soon as you call upon the Lord for help, you will notice a decline in Satan's will to "get ya." He would much rather pick on someone easier to lie to, easier to deceive, easier to manipulate. Be strong. Take hold. Do not let Satan take you down. He is much more powerful than many give him credit for. But, God is so much stronger. I pray all who read this thought from my heart will learn to trust God completely. He will NEVER lie to you, but simply give you the truth in each and every situation. He loves you.

My SUPERNATURAL Hero!

So, many of you who don't know me personally probably did not know what a hunk of a husband I have and how incredibly blessed I am to be his wife. I often wonder out of all the girls in the world, how did he choose me! I am a very lucky woman!

My husband, Jason, is one committed man! He is committed to his relationship with the Lord, to me and our family, and to anything he puts his mind to. Jason started competing in body building shows back in 2005 and really succeeded in making his body the best it could possibly be. He won many trophies and awards, but hadn't done a show in a long time. He has helped make each body building show since 2006 a great success, but hadn't competed since then. This year, he decided to compete one last time. He set his mind to it, and guys, he did it!

The road to getting to last night was tough, for him mostly. I would say it was hard on me too, but I'd be lying because I didn't really hold back on my diet as he had to. His diet consisted of many, many eggs (whites) in the morning with oatmeal, protein shakes, midmorning tuna meals, hamburger meat with no special seasoning to make it taste good, green beans, tilapia, and lots of sweet potatoes (again, with none of the fixings)! Not to mention the hard work outs he endured in the wee hours of the morning when I was still in bed. He is a dedicated man, and I love him for it!

Well, the show was last night, and I must say, I am one lucky girl. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

  Black trunks...morning prejudging

  Black trunks...morning prejudging

  Black trunks...morning prejudging

 Black trunks...morning prejudging

 Night show..RED trunks!

 HUGE OVERALL WINNER'S TROPHY!

 WON the entire SHOW! AND Mr. Spartanburg TITLE! AND LOTS of BEST POSER trophies!

 With his Overall trophy

 With all his trophies!

With his trophy wife! LOL

 Excited about our pizza at midnight! Him probably more than me!

 Yes, definitely excited!

Of course, his baby boy was also very proud of daddy!

BABE, we are so proud of you and couldn't be more happy for you! Now it's time to celebrate and for you to gain those 20 something pounds back! He was #65 on stage, but #1 in my heart! I love you Jason Hill!

Quick, fun update on progress...

You know how sometimes it's the littlest things you just CAN'T WAIT to see finished? Well, that was me today! There's not much anyone else can do right now until the floors get sanded and finished, so the electricians finished up with what they could do today (which made me super happy because hanging the island pendants is what I've been dying to see all week), my bud, Joey, came by to finish putting up the big beams on the soon-to-be screened porch, and of course, the tile guy was there grouting. Here's a few newbies from the day:

 My kitchen island pendants were hung! I just love them!!!

 Different view

Another view..lights off

 Panoramic view of the screened porch columns and deck to the left

 Jason checking out how the screened door will look

View from below

I don't know when we'll get to it, but we hope to make a little oasis down below the porch at some point. Maybe a little patio, hammock, etc....you get the picture:) Sanding tomorrow and picking a stain. This is going to change the whole look of things! Exciting!!!