Fall Porch

Well...decorating for fall inside our house just isn't happening this year! Maybe I can start super early with Christmas decorations. I'm sure my neighbors would love to see my Christmas tree in the window in mid-November. Just trying to keep it fancy around here.

I did want to at least decorate my porch for fall. I started last week, and my aunt helped me finish up while she and my mom (my mom and she?...that one always gets me) were here this weekend. At least on the outside it looks as if this house hasn't lost it's grip on reality and sense of time!

Clean House

After a month of lots of this:


I can't stop staring at this:


It's the floor. I can see it. And it is good.

Mike and I spent the weekend getting things back in order around here, and it's starting to feel more like a house again. And less like a garage sale. I'll post some pictures of the new upstairs space later, but in the meantime...you need to see this. We had to re-do our closet after the reno, and this is what happened.


Mike hung his shirts by type and color. I've never been more proud of him in my life.

Sheetrock is Dirty

Things are getting messy around here, but luckily not nearly as messy as I thought. The good news: we get our closet back by this weekend! Whoo hoo! Here are a few pictures for the few who are curious how things are going...





We think everything should be done by the end of next week, which is perfect because I'll be pushing 36 weeks. That gives me a little bit to get things ready and back in order before the big day. And if not...well, we'll figure that out later.

Casa McD

Construction has been a little slow at Casa McD this week, but it is picking up and should be busy the rest of the week. I kind of got used to having people in and out all day, and it's kind of quiet around here without them! Tomorrow is sheetrock day, so I'm a little worried about dust and dirt invading every inch of our house, but that's why my mom's coming this weekend...right mom???

Here are a few pics of what's already done. I know these aren't very exciting, but here it goes!

The back of the room

The front of the room and down the stairs

The door, down the stairs, and the hallway to the bathroom to the right

The bathroom...clearly

Under Construction

We are under construction here at The McLife! When we bought our house, we knew that eventually we would have to finish out the unfinished bonus room upstairs. So, we just decided to go ahead and bite the bullet. Is it weird that I want to explain that idiom to you? Must be a product of my elementary teacher days...

Since we know our family will grow by at least two kids in the next couple of years and we expect to have lots of visitors once grandkids arrive, we decided there was no time like the present just to get it done! Of course...we like to do things at the best time possible:


Yes, that says FEELS LIKE 117! Construction workers are brave souls I tell you. They have been up there (no air conditioning, but there are windows) all week, and I am so worried about them! They assure me they are used to it and they would just be working somewhere else if they weren't here, but it must feel like 140 degrees up there!

Here are a few before pictures:


We shall see how it ends up when it's all done! And just for the record...this is our master closet right now. Which doesn't stress me out at all. Not even a little. Especially when you have to visit three separate rooms in the house just to get dressed. I should have planned that one out a little better.

The Opposite of Nesting

This is my house right now:




We have started a bit of a house renovation project that I'll share with you over the next couple of weeks, but this means lots of mess around here! We had to empty our closet, back hallway, desk area, laundry room, and the list goes on.

This is definitely the OPPOSITE of nesting and getting the house organized before we add to our family. Oh well. It'll all go back...eventually! And I'll bet Max won't ever even know...or care.

And the Beat Goes On...

We have had family here this week, so not much unpacking has been done. What a great break, though! We have had fun, and we are wrapping up our visit today. More posts to come, soon! Here is just about the only part of our house that looks presentable right now: the front door! Could I use a few more exclamation points?!?

I saw this Welcome sign on Bless Our Nest awhile back, and I thought it would be fun on the black door. I got it from Scribble It...check them out!

Or if you are my mom...spend some time thinking about how you could totally make this with your Cricut.

Packing Paper Hates Me

Not much to report here this week. We closed on our house last Friday, so we are up to our eyeballs in boxes. I promise to post pictures once it's all done, but that could be awhile!

On the adoption front, our first homestudy interview is Thursday. I had to cancel my trip to Dallas (boo), but I am ready to get all of this stuff done! Hopefully, once we get started we can wrap it all up quickly.

Off to bed...or to unpack just one more box...

Multiple Choice

First, I would like to say that I promise all of my posts won't become about things I want to buy. But...I have something much more serious that travel bags to purchase. Bedding for our new room. Consider the bags the pre-test. You have shown yourselves worthy. Now on to the big stuff. Let me know which one you like the best. Pretty please.

And next time, I promise to talk about better stuff. Like which rug I should get for the living room. Just for the record, I want this one in blue.

1. From Bed Bath and Beyond:


2. From Linens n Things (It comes in Blue and Brown too!)


3. From Macy's


4. From Macy's

Our New Digs

We bought a house! We haven't closed yet, so it's not officially a done deal. I wanted to show you some pictures, though! We are super excited, and we can't wait to move in and get settled!

Kitchen...I am going to LOVE the big pantry!

Living Room

Hearth Room...It's basically a second living room in the kitchen.

This is the "unfinished" part of the house. There will eventually be a bonus room up those stairs, but for now we'll just keep the door shut. But if you come visit you can use a sleeping bag and pretend you're camping up there.

SOLD!

I forgot to tell you all the good news! Our house sold in FOUR days! Our option period is over, and the buyers sign tomorrow. We will close on Thursday! God brought us the perfect buyers and the perfect situation!

Now, I have to go clean out the fridge. And the closet. And the garage. Oh dear...

It's On...the Market

I really do have great aspirations to become a more regular blogger very soon. I have been very busy this week, though, mostly because a sign much like this one went up in our yard a few hours ago!


I am always a little particular about the way things are arranged in my house, but now I feel like people will be stopping by every day (hopefully) and judging the food I have in my pantry and the way I hang my towels. It's a little stressful. Plus, I watch way too much Designed to Sell on HGTV, so I keep walking around thinking about knocking out a walls or adding water features to entice buyers. I probably won't reach for the sledgehammer. But I think a water feature may look nice in the living room.

Getting There

Well...After a weekend of moving in our house is finally starting to look like a home! I am sorry that I have run out of witty banter (because apparently I find myself witty), but I'll let the pictures do the talking today...

This is the kitchen on Friday...not so good



This is the kitchen as of Sunday...not perfect, but a lot better thanks to my mom...



On the top of the cabinets in the kitchen...what do you think? Let me know if you have any better ideas about what to put up there or if you think anything looks out of place!



The bedroom...what do you think? The black and white are a lot different than what I had before, so it will take awhile for everything to match!



The light well...



And a hallway...

Almost There

We had our final walk-through on our house yesterday! Everything looked great, so now we are just waiting to close. Here are some pictures. I'll have more someday after we move in.