What NOT to do for your Dad's birthday...

Justin: So this was the big moving weekend. I am happy to report that Stace and I are officially moved into our new home. We even spent last evening sitting on the front porch enjoying a strong summer thunderstorm. A couple of friends of mine, Grover and Greg, and I started on Thursday and moved her out of her apt. that night after work. On Friday my dad came in and we packed everything up at my rental house. Saturday morning Grover showed up at 7 with his trailer and Phil turned up around 9, 9:30. We got all the big stuff moved by noon. The rest of the weekend was the small stuff and doing small projects around the house (door stops, cleaning, setting up the stereo - Oh don't act like that wasn't important - installing showerhead, etc). Yesterday I dealt with finishing the utility setups and some unpacking.

Did I mention that Sunday was my Dad's birthday?

Yep. Nothing like 12 hours of manual labor to celebrate your special day. Poor guy. Nothing was working out to schedule. By the time Stacey and I were able to give him his cake (which Stacey ate all the ice cream before hand, by the way) it was almost 10PM. In my defense I did take him to The Penguin for lunch. The Penguin is Charlotte's oldest diner and is a real treat to hit. We both had the Small Block burger (double fried hamburger with cheese - mine was Southern style: chili coleslaw, mustard, onion) and split an order of chili cheese fries. Such fatfilledgreaseygooeycheeseymeatygoodness. Mmmmmmmmmmm...... Needless to say it is not a place to hit on a regular basis.
Anyway, we made a lot of headway while Stacey worked at her office doing realtor magic. The house is cozy and warm feeling. It still has a long way to go but it is definitely off to a good start. I will add pictures from the weekend this evening. Unfortunately I was too busy to be in "documentary mode" so I didn't get pictures of the guys helping, but I may be able to round up something.

CAUTION: Hardwood refinishing in progress

Justin: So here are a few shots of what is going on. Doug and John started this morning and got two of the three coats down today. The third will go down Monday night. Needless to say we are very excited! Of course in the picture they are wet however supposedly they will retain a similar yet not as drastic look when finished. I personally am hoping they shade a bit darker but they are beautiful just the same.

Before - Living room floors after removing carpet.


Before - Another shot of the living room floors...


During - This is after second coat was applied.

Update? Ha! I wish!

Justin: Well, there is a reason there have been no updates here for a while: WE HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING. I suppose that isn't true. Last weekend we spent a good 12 quality hours droning on in the Wrangler thru the rain going to Knoxville and Chattanooga then back. We took Friday off and left after Stace finished up some last minute work details and busted on over into TN to see my mom and dad. They took us out to eat and we slipped in a little shopping as SOMEBODY didn't have an outfit OR gift for the wedding she was going to the next day. But she picked up a very cute lil' black and white number and a nice spice rack so it was all good. Sunday was great as Stace got to hang out with two of my most favorite people, Paul and Deidre. Paul brought me a truly wonderful birthday present - a didgeridoo - that found him while they were at the Bonaroo festival.
A didgeridoo! Love it! The neighbors won't, but I do. Now if I could just make that "owl" sound...
The house? HA. That is where our big nothing is going on. We are waiting on the floors to be refinished, which is scheduled for this weekend, before we really do anything. There has been some light cleaning and some garden work but no moving, no renovating, no nuthin' till those floors are finished. COME ON, DOUG! Doug lives up the street and actually works for a hardwood company, doing jobs like this on the side. He grew up around our house and really wanted the job. He was recalling a few childhood memories of sitting under Josephine's window AC unit during the summer and eating oranges. He and his father, Jeff, have been mowing her yard for almost 20 years, they said.
Hey Jeff, no reason to stop now, neighbor!
Just kidding. Kind of.
Anyway, so Doug was all excited about doing a good job. I suppose we'll see come Monday. We are to wait 48 hours for the stain to cure and set before really doing anything on them so it looks like we will be moving the weekend of the 25th. My father is coming over on the 24th to help, which is incredibly fitting as that Sunday is his birthday and we all know you should be helping your children move on your birthday.

Hopefully we can think of something good for him to get into while he's here.