Zora Mail

Here is Zora with her Grandpa - my Dad. I'm so bummed the picture is a bit fuzzy, it is one of the only pictures of Zora that I have where she isn't moving!


Alison's birthday was the other day and Zora's birthday is coming up. I guess she was thinking about one or the other when she drew this cake and ice cream theme. Look at the cherry on top of the ice cream!


I'm not sure if this is a kitty because there is a leash involved. I haven't seen my name written by Zora before, so this is great. To Kristin From Zora

Pictures of Day One

The drop ceiling


The strips that we are going to keep, since the ceiling is so bad - we'll just put the new drywall over this... taking out all of the staples is going to be time consuming though.



Here is the living room debris field. 99% is now in the dumpster. I did that part!



The Kitchen area


This is where the stove used to be. You can see the vent opening still

Jupiter Court Day 1

I just woke up from my nap on the couch. It's 9pm. Before that I had dinner and Tom and I were watching Shepard Smith. I like Shep. He's a hoot. I don't normally fall asleep in the middle of his show, but I did - I made it to nearly 7:45pm. I think I'm going to write this, take a shower and go to bed. We are going to start early again tomorrow.

So I started with the end, but the beginning went pretty well today, too. Tom left our house early this morning and arrived on Jupiter Ct around 8am. The two guys Tom has hired to help were there and the three of them tore apart things that needed to be torn apart. The bathroom and the walls between the bathroom and the masterbedroom, the kitchen cabinets, the wall between the kitchen and the laundry room (for some reason they have only destructed one side of that wall) and the ceiling in the livingroom. The dumpster didn't arrive until 4pm, so all of this destruction was piled in the house. I do have to say that these boys did a real nice job of making piles of rubble and stacking stuff so that there was a lot of room to walk.

When the dumpster did arrive it was placed right next to the house and just about 6" from a window - which turned out to be ideal. I took it upon myslef to start tossing the debris into the dumpster and having that window opening was perfect. I spent about two hours tossing trash. Every muscle gets used tossing trash, even if all you have to do is pick it up and maneuver it out the window and toss. The cabinets in the kitchen weren't regular cabinets, they were actually made right in place. Getting them out required a ton of effort. In fact the base cabinets are still not all the way out after day one. Anyway, the sheer number of nails in the cabinets is mind boggling. Maybe I should have taken a picture of some of the pieces. Clearly someone enjoyed using a hammer. I am covered in scrapes and scratches from all of those nails and assorted other jagged pieces of wood and debris. Most of them I didn't feel at all, but tonight when I washed up with some hydrogen peroxide, I felt them.

I spent most of the day sitting at home waiting on the FedEx guy to arrive with Tom's medication. Since we have to sign for the package and they don't deliver on Weekends, it was very important that someone be here to answer the door. So, I watched HGTV for a few hours while I did laundry, cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed. Later I watched "The Jazz Singer" that I had recorded on the DVR sometime last week. (It was only given one star --- I would have given it at least two!) Finally at 2:45pm he finally arrives and I'm out the door over to our new home.

Tomorrow I am to start the crew off at 8am. I went over to our garage unit this evening and got some shovels and brooms, two garden hoses and some buckets. We can at least clean off a bit tomorrow with the hoses and the shovels are going to be key in getting all the tile out of the kitchen after it has been broken.

I think that is pretty much the highlights of Day One of the Jupiter Court flip. Come back tomorrow night for Day two!

Have a Great Day!
Kristin

Just funny

I don't know if these are real or not, but I got such a laugh that I had to help spread them around the internet. Enjoy!!!
Kristin


Doctors' Comments On Patient Charts:

* "Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year."

* "On the 2nd day the knee was better and on the 3rd day it disappeared completely."

* "The patient has been depressed ever since she began seeing me in 1993."

* "Discharge status: Alive but without permission."

* "Healthy appearing decrepit 69 year-old male, mentally alert but forgetful."

* "The patient refused an autopsy."

* "The patient has no past history of suicides."

* "Patient has left his white blood cells at another hospital."

* "Patient's past medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days."

* "Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch."

* "She has had no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night."

* "She is numb from her toes down."

* "The skin was moist and dry."

* "Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches."

* "Patient was alert and unresponsive."

* "She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce."

* "I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy."

* "The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stockbroker instead."

* "Patient has two teenage children but no other abnormalities."

* "Skin: Somewhat pale but present."

* "Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Blank, who felt we should sit on the abdomen, and I agree."

* "By the time he was admitted, his rapid heart stopped, and he was feeling better."

* "The patient was in his usual state of good health until his airplane ran out of gas and crashed."

* "When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room."

* "Patient was released to outpatient department without dressing."

Us Girls

Kristin, Hillary and Alison.

I'm in black, Hillary is in the middle and Alison is standing up in back wearing the black and white. Hillary gets that far off look every so often. Not sure what she's thinking about.

I'm the oldest, Hillary is the youngest and Alison is right here (can you see the hand motion) she's in the middle. We were born more than 5 years apart, so according to some "experts" we are all considered first born. I think that's why we are so independent, so different and yet we are all so much alike. I've got the BEST family!

We took this picture on the stage at the Williamston Theatre the very first week of March 2008. We saw a preview of the play "Hate Mail" - it was very very good.

Funny, but I really like this photo of me. My sisters are going to get me for posting this, I can just see it coming. You know what, I don't think I've ever noticed this before, but Alison and Hillary have the same smile and the same type of mouth -- I've got a much smaller mouth (just like my Dad and Grandma Corlett.) Hmmmm, very interesting. I knew I had that same look, like grandma, but I don't think I'd ever analyzed that I was the only kid in the family to have it.

Well, here are the three girls. Alison is having a baby in just a few days. I can't help but think how exciting it is going to be for her daughter to have a sibling. It may not mean much to Zora the first year or so, but as she gets older, she will hopefully have an incredible relationship with her sibling as I have with mine.

Sending lots of love from Florida to Michigan!! Wish I could be there on the new baby's birthday.

Love, Kristin

Cool, very cool

"Unassembled snow men are going to fall from the sky again."


Raven (Pati)


A friend of mine from an online group posted this statement about the weather they were expecting later in the day. I thought that it was so clever! I don't want to forget it. I can almost see the card with this printed on the front... Love It!

Have a Great Day!
Kristin

Nervous Nellie

Tomorrow morning I get to go to the bank and authorize two cashiers checks to be cut from my account. Two checks = two houses. Even my toes are cringing.

I'm actually really excited about the flip project. I've been dreaming about paint colors, walls being removed, bathrooms renovated, floor covering, contractors showing up, sub contractors showing up, then I sit straight up in bed and wonder why I'm doing this!

Tomorrow is the day we send in the money. Friday is the day we own two run down houses.

Oh my. I've started another journey.

I can say this - It is going to be better than owning a scooter rental business. Much better.

Have A Great Day!
Kristin

WFMW - The Dishes

Welcome to another edition of Works For Me Wednesday! Each week hundreds of people from around the world gather at Rocks in My Dryer for WFMW and share their tips. Please take a look when you have finished here. Thanks & I'll see you again next week.

I heart doing dishes, is the title I put in the WFMW post. I love to do dishes. I do. I am one of those mutant types that loves to have my hands in hot soapy water. My tip for you all this week is one that I've known about for a very long time. Wash the dishes as you go. I know, it seems so easy and so impossible all at the same time, but if you wash the dishes as you cook or at least fill up your sink with hot soapy water and toss items in the sink as you use them, you will find that your kitchen stays cleaner and your clean-up time is so much less.

I have a dishwasher and I only use it a few times a year...I run it to make sure it still works lol I hand wash all my dishes. I do it because I like the water, the soap, the time to reflect on the day. I also get to admire my dishes that I picked out so lovingly. It's one of the few times each day that I actually finish a project. All the dishes get done, the counters washed off, the room smells good and it is clean. End of project...well, until someone wants a snack, but for a brief moment in time the kitchen was completely cleaned up.

This is a habit that you need to work yourself into, I don't think you can just all of a sudden be a cleaner-upper while cooking dinner if you haven't before. So, fill your sink with hot soapy water even if you don't end up using it. Keep doing it and pretty soon you find that it is really helpful. You might even get a family member to do the dishes while you cook - that soapy water will just look inviting :0) (I know, I know, I'm dreaming!)


Have a Great Day!
Kristin

Milk for Kitties

I've been reading a lot about cattle lately. Pioneer Woman on her blog (one of my almost daily blog reads) and another friend has been sharing stories of her life on the farm, birthing baby cows and snow.

I saw this picture in my photobucket account, not sure where it came from, but it just fit the theme lately.

Don't ya just know that the kitties wait for this treat each day. I can just see the pleasure that the man has -- he's been doing this for a long time. His aim is perfect.

Kristin

Bye Bye Tiki stuff

The Tiki Hut inventory is gone.

Bye Bye

Yippppeeeee!!

This really nice couple came by to look at all of the inventory over the weekend. They called back yesterday and said they would take it and they came over today to count and load. We went piece by piece, finding the wholesale amount, writing it down - then when we had finished, we took about 15% off that total and that was that! They got a great deal and I gott rid of all of it out of my garage.

I was terrified it was going to stay around for 5 years or more like everything else in those garages... but I sent out lots of "I Want a Tiki Business" vibes into the universe and I was sent a buyer!!

It is a Great Day!
Kristin

Happy Birthday Alison

Happy Birthday Alison!!!

Funny

I don't know where this came from, who took it or who played around to get this picture but I Love It!

Springfield Ct.

This is our beauty on Springfield Court.

She is amazing.

I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of the entire front of the house. That little driveway to the left of the house goes back to a shed/garage-like structure. I can't for the life of me remember at the moment if it has a garage door if it is just a shed. Whatever it has, it is a real nice room. It is going to look great.

I sent an email to my family yesterday telling them that this house was the same floorplan as my Grandmothers home in Nebraska. Now I'm sure that a two bedroom, one bath house can really only be configured a few ways, but the thought of this having anything to do with that great little house in Maywood, NE makes me happy as can be.

This house is a gem if I ever saw one. My husband put an offer on it before I even saw it. In fact, I only saw it a few days ago. Anyway, the place needs a new kitchen layout, and I think I'd have open up to the dining room (which is really too small to be a dining room these days.) I would leave the seperation between the living room and the existing kitchen since this house is so small - a little privacy and noise reduction is going to be welcomed. Our carpenter suggested putting an entrance to the kitchen from the living room - but if we incorporated the dining room into the kitchen design, then we already have an entrance that way. Well, I'll be posting a million pictures.


I can't decide what to do with that front porch. (Besides a nice paint job lol) It either needs trim to make it look like it isn't just stuck on, or it needs to be taken off. I think I'm for keeping it and just sprucing it up. It is always nice to have a screened porch to keep the skeeters away.

We close on this house on Wednesday. Our carpenter is going to live in this house for a few months, work on the Jupiter house and this one and then we'll buy another one for him to live in, flip and so it goes...or we'll just see how this goes first. That's the plan anyway.

This is Springfield. She is going to be something great. I can see it now.

Have a Great Day!
Kristin

Cool Building

My husband was taking me around the city of Jacksonville the other day, showing me houses, when we came upon this little gem. It was just the neatest building. We stopped and got a cone, each of us. I got a small one - 3 bites. OK - maybe it was 10 bites but it was just the perfect size. Besides needing a good cleaning, it was just a perfect place. The people who have recently purchased the place were putting up a fence on one side - I guess to protect the picnic table area from the street just steps away.

I have no idea where in Jacksonville this place is located, although I'm sure my husband does - but it is someplace I will try to tell everyone about so it will stay in business for another 50 years.

Have A Great Day!
Kristin

Flipping Wonderful!

Here she is...

Miss Jupiter

Isn't she pretty?

She'll be all ours on Friday.

The list of things to fix, repair, replace, take out, move, demolish, upgrade, level, paint, stain, refinish and keep are numerous. When we get finished with this three bedroom, one bathroom house (plus a sort of started half bath in the garage) it will be a...

Three bedroom, two and a half bath, eat-in kitchen, original hardwood flooring, landscaped & fenced yard with a new roof! (The fenced yard will actually be roofless, but the house will have a new roof lol) There is deck access through the Master Suite, but that is just one of three decks gracing this property. Central heat and air as well as all new electrical throughout the house are among the amenities you will find in this charming home on Jupiter Court.

Have A Great Day!

Kristin

Caffeine

Caffeine is not my friend. I had one 12-16oz glass of dietCoke last night.

I was awake until 7 am this morning.

I keep telling myself that I cannot have caffeine, but it doesn't sink in. Maybe if I actually blog about, tell everyone about it and make it real - I can't have caffeine!!!!

Don't do it!

STOP!

There... I'm going to bed now since I only slept from 7am until 10:30am.

Whew, glad I got that out.

Have a nice night...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz


PS I quit having a daily dose of caffeine in 1992. This is something I've known about for a very long time.

Spelling Alphabet

My husband was a private pilot for many many years (and will be again, I'm sure). I think he got his first airplane when he was 17 years old. I've always been facinated with the alphabet that pilots used in the air, so I thought I'd pass it along today.

The alphabet is actually called the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet (also the Phonetic Alphabet...although it's not phonetic, so I don't know why it is called that or the NATO Phonetic Alphabet). For this "lesson" it will be called the...

International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

A = Alpha
B = Bravo
C = Charlie
D = Delta
E = Echo
F = Foxtrot
G = Golf
H= Hotel
I = India
J = Juliet
K = Kilo
L = Lima
M = Mike
N = November
O= Oscar
P = Papa
Q = Quebec
R = Romeo
S = Sierra
T = Tango
U = Uniform
V = Victor
W = Whiskey
X = Xray
Y = Yankee
Z = Zulu

Most of the words are recognizable by native English speakers because English must be used upon request for communication between an aircraft and a control tower whenever two nations are involved, regardless of their native languages. Wikipedia

I think it is fun to know these words - especially when you are trying to say a UPC code or something over the phone. "Did you say D or B??" Now you can say - "Did you say D as in Delta or B as in Bravo?" You'll be oooh so clever!

Have A Great Day!
Kristin

WFMW - Greatest Hits

This is a rewind edition of Works for Me Wednesday...This is one of my tips that I thought I'd showcase again...Enjoy!!

Works for me Wednesday

I’ve been reading the WFMW posts for about a month now - you all have some great ideas. This is my first week posting a tip for WFMW, I do hope you enjoy. I love to clean things, but I also want to spend the least amount of effort doing it. I want it to be fast and easy and I don't want to use smelly chemicals. I'm a fan of soap and water.

If you’d like to see more Works for Me Wednesday posts, please click here.

I have a love affair with my shower. It is a man made composite material of some sort, it is bright white, it is supposed to look like tile, but it isn’t. It is supposed to look like there is grout between the tiles, but there isn’t - it is just one big plastic-like tub surround...I just love it. I hated it when I first saw it - When I toured other condos in our building I was shocked that even those folks who upgraded their bathrooms, still kept that awful tub surround. THEN I found the trick...

It is a chamois type product - It is called The Absorber - I googled it and this is just one of the many places I found -- The Absorber. It is the best thing EVER. I found mine at Target in the clearance section a few years ago, but now that I know how awesome it is, I would gladly pay the going rate.

When I get done showering, I pick up the absorber from its throne (laying across the tub faucet) and I get it wet -- I then wipe off the walls of my plastic-like tub surround. It takes a moment - maybe three moments. The fake tiles, two years later, look like they have never had a drop of water on them.

The Absorber is stiff like cardboard when it dries - but when you get it wet you can literally roll it up. I have placed it on the floor of the tub so you can get a little bit or perspective on the size of the cloth. Have I mentioned that I love this product!



For the tub, I use a magic eraser once a week - I keep it in the shower and just before I finish up in the shower I just grab the magic eraser and clean the entire tub, hose it down, turn off the water, wipe the walls with my absorber and my tub and shower are tide-clean!

My quick tip - Clean the shower while you're in it.

Have a Great Day!

Kristin

I am grateful

When I watched The Secret for the very first time (I'm in my hundredth watching by now I'm sure) one of the things that popped out to me immediately was this quote from Bob Proctor.

"I am so happy and grateful now that..." fill in the blank. I say it many times during each day & I love how I feel when I say it. I have a connectedness that I had never had before. Or maybe I just feel the connection rather than just racing through life.

I purchased The Secret Daily Calendar this year. LOVE IT! Yesterday's message was....

Bob Proctor, featured in The Secret, suggests writing down what you want. "Begin each sentence with, I am so happy and grateful now that ..." (and you fill in the rest). When you give thanks as though you have already received what you want, you are emitting a powerful signal to the Universe. That signal is saying that you have it already because you are feeling gratitude for it now. Each morning before you get out of bed, make it a habit to feel the feelings of gratitude in advance for the great day ahead, as though it is done.

Today's Secret message is....

Laughter attracts joy, releases negativity and leads to miraculous cures.

On this April Fools Day, lets be Grateful and Laugh!!!!!!!!!

Have A Great Day!
Kristin

March Links

Going Home
Mocha
Pelicans
Books
Pioneer Woman
WFMW - Backwards Edition
I Went Home!
Chalkboard chalk tip
The Note
Purse
Chandelier
American Accent
St. Patty's Day
WFMW- 11:11
Making a Home
Spring Peepers
#42 The Laundry pt 2
Journaling
Oprah's Big Give
End of the Tiki Hut