I made the final mortgage payment

On April 4,2017 I sat down at my desk, took out my payment sheet and checkbook and wrote the check for our final mortgage payment. I had looked forward to the day I'd write that final check for so long that when that day came it was almost a surreal feeling. My hand was actually a little shaky and I felt kind of nervous--how crazy is that?? I actually wrote 2 checks...one for the April payment and the actual final (May) payment which was only $75.  But, still, I didn't feel completely FREE until the check cleared the bank. When I got the text notification from the bank that the check had cleared...well, THAT'S when I got excited. I looked around at the tralace and embraced the idea that it was ours, free and clear.
I know to some, probably most, it's not much...but this little acre of land and the tralace are home.  And, when I walk through the door and look around I'm happy.

I don't know if the time will ever come that we need to refinance for some unforeseen reason but for right now, for this space of time, we own our home outright and it's a great feeling!

A photo because no blog post is complete without at least
one photo, right?

I just had to share the happy news :)

I wish you all a wonderful day!

Rhonda

Puppy birthdays!!

Holy cow...has it been a year already?? It's hard to believe a year has passed since our "boys" made their grand entrance into the world and our family.

I had preached and lectured the kids over and over again not to get attached because I was hardening my heart and we would not keep a single puppy. I have never allowed dogs in the house because it was just too much work to deal with the potty training, the messes and most of all, the hair and smell. I have always been a little grossed out when I've seen people out in public and they have pet hair on their clothes or things. I certainly didn't want to be one of those people...ewww, lol.
I guess I missed the flashing lights warning me of the karma train headed straight towards me because not only did we keep one puppy, we kept two. Poor Roscoe...I actually gave him to another family (oh, will the guilt never cease!!) because we had chosen Sam as the puppy we were keeping from day one. And we were only keeping ONE. As with every single puppy we rehomed, I asked them to please please return him to us if for some reason they decided not to keep him. I believe he was gone 7 or 8 days when the lady contacted me that he wasn't going to fit into their family because he was growling at the kids and they were terrified of him (hahahahaha--I still laugh about that because Roscoe was a cuddler then and he's a cuddler now). I don't know what was going on between their kids and our sweet Roscoe because he's never growled nor shown aggression in any way whatsoever before they took him or after. He was only 8 weeks old when they took him so your guess is as good as mine about what the issue was. I am just so thankful that they did give him back rather than trying to find someone else to take him or worse, send him to the shelter. I'll never forget how happy he was to see us the day we met the lady to bring him home. I decided right then that he was home to stay. And that's how we came to have 2 puppies.

To say that it's been a challenge is an understatement. Boy, is it an understatement! At first it was the incessant potty incidents that were the worst. Poop, pee, poop, pee, poop....you get the idea. I thought it would never end. Anything left within their reach was fair game to be chewed up destroyed.  Shoes (of course), socks, jackets, toys, home decor...you name it and they chewed it. I won't even talk about how bad the back yard got (I shudder at the memory). And then it got to the point that when we let them outside they were wandering out of our yard...disappearing for hours at a time, leaving me stressed to the point of tears. So, we finally got the backyard fenced thinking it would be the answer to our problems. And it has helped SO much. Unfortunately, Roscoe has found an escape hatch and has to be monitored constantly while outside, even in the fence.  And, a few months ago---presumably due to hormone---the fighting started. OMG...the fighting :( :( :(    With our 2 males and the male that my son kept that is here at least half the time, it was getting completely out of control. Now, we only allow one dog outside at a time and very little playtime between them inside.  Sam and Roscoe have appointments one week from today to be neutered (is it normal to feel so much guilt over taking a dog's balls away from him??) and we're hopeful that will greatly reduce the fighting for alpha status.
So, challenging? Oh, heck yeah! Worth it? ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY!  I look into their sweet little faces and my heart fills with love for them. I never thought I'd be one of "those people" and yet here I am and I wouldn't trade the furballs for anything.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our "boys" and here's to many many more!

Here are some photos of them at 2 days old and some taken yesterday on their actual birthday. Enjoy :)

This is Titan and he was the first born of the 8 puppies and
he belongs to our son, Garrett. 

This is our little Sam (Sammy, Sambo--he answers to them all)

There's our sweet Roscoe <3 

 And oh what a difference one year can make...here's the boys "all grown up"

Sam

Sam

Sam and Roscoe playing and loving one another

Sam and Roscoe love each other so much when they
aren't fighting, lol. 

Roscoe

Roscoe

Roscoe

Titan

Titan hiding under the table

Titan

Titan

Our single wide mobile home tiny bathroom remodel

I know it's hard to believe after all these months but the hallway bathroom is a good 95% COMPLETE! Woohoo!! I mean, seriously...color me HAPPY!  I was to the point that I was thinking it was neeeever going to happen. To refresh your memories...we bought the tile to do the floor back in October of last year.

First, I'm going to show you photos of the bathroom "before" and I mean before we moved in...right after the home was set up. I took pictures but I did a majorly crappy job of it...I think I was just holding the camera out and clicking. I wish I could go back and kick myself and I will definitely do that as soon as time travel is available to the average person ;)

No amount of cleaning ever got this tub clean. All that
black around the edges? It never went away...EVER. I
was always mortified when company needed to shower
because I knew they'd think I was nasty and never cleaned.
But, really, I tried everything on it. I even caulked over it and it came through
so I don't know what was up with that. Maybe if I'd put the calk
thicker? 

I guess the drain had leaked for the previous owners and
that's the reason there was some kind of caulk around the
drain.

So, now that you've been completely disgusted but the before photos, let me disgust you even more with the "during" pics :)

This is the bathroom after we put the new vanity in a couple months ago.

We had put down these stick on tiles a few years ago when
we did the kitchen. They actually held up fairly well until
we took the old vanity out and then they began to
separate pretty rapidly. 

The bare floor

This is the cement board going down...I think he said it
was called hardie backer board and it has to go down
underneath tile.

Mr. FixIt himself...taking down the shower walls and
getting ready to take the tub out.

NEW TUB!!! We had to order the tub from Home Depot because
the only tubs we could find locally that would fit in the 54 inch
space we had were fiberglass and we really didn't want to put
another fiberglass tub in. SO, it was totally worth the wait to get
the enamel tub--It's just a basic plain tub but I love it!

Tile...FINALLY...tile

Notice there are still no shower walls here? Well, that's
because we also had to order those...Because nothing
can be easy, right? lol

And, now...prepare to be dazzled. Haha...ok, probably not exactly dazzled, but hopefully, slightly impressed with the difference.

There's my very own Mr. FixIt again :) He had to cut
some of the wall away to get to the plumbing and he's
replacing it here.

How much cleaner and nicer does that look???

Remember that I did say it was 95% finished...we still
have some paint touching up as well as trim work to do.
I gave him the weekend off to go fishing because I'd been
cracking the whip on him to get it finished, lol. 

The mirror will be replaced as soon as I can find a
replacement that I like and that fits.

 My daughter in law came in the other day and made the comment that I'd ruined the remodel by adding in the pink. Well, let me tell you--I hastened to correct her..."It's not pink, it's coral".  I really wanted something that would stand out and the coral certainly does that. I picked up the flowers and vase at Hobby Lobby and the towels from Walmart. The shower curtains were ordered from Amazon. It's difficult to see in the photos but everything is so crisp and white...the walls are gray and it all came together so well!

We did not replace the toilet because honestly, it just seemed crazy to replace it just for the sake of saying it was replaced. Haha...it made quite the porch decoration--It sat on our front porch for well over 2 weeks...yep, we're those neighbors, lol.
In total, we spent just under $1,000 on the bathroom and even though it was a headache it was totally worth it :)

New front door FINALLY as well as some personal updates.

Hey, y'all. I guess everyone thought I'd abandoned the blog but nope, lol...no such luck! I'm still here and I've thought about posting a million times and just didn't. I actually did start a post a few weeks ago and the power company, who were out working on my neighbor's power, whacked our power with no warning and I don't know where the post went--I don't know if it autimatically saved somewhere or if it's lost out in cyber space for all eternity. Either way, I'm here now :)

The holidays all came and went --Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...as well as my first ever birthday party and 2 grandkids birthdays. It's not that I've not had anything to post, it's just that I haven't felt motivated.  I really do this blog thing for myself for the most part and I've just neglected it. I decided that I wanted to do 2 separate blogs...one (this one) dedicated to nothing but home and life and the other dedicated only to crafts. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to do that without the two being linked through google. I can't update any info on the new blog without it changing it on this one. I'm not the most tech savvy but I don't consider myself tech illiterate either; it's just more than I have been willing to tackle.

ANYWAY...there have been some home updates--including the new front door that has been on my list for years :banana:  That happened in November and I still love it <3

Remember in my last post how I said that we got the tile to do the hall bath?? Well, ironically, my husband is finally laying the tile TODAY! Yes, it's been almost 4 months and the tile has been sitting in there in the floor of that teensy tiny bathroom all this time. I finally told him to just please take it all out of there and to the building and BOOM...he took a vacation day from work and is working on the bathroom...who knew that's all it would take??  I've taken *before* pictures and I will, of course, be taking *after* pictures and I will share those, hopefully, sooner rather than later.

I've done a few scrapbook layouts since New Years too...just not sure if I will post them here or not. 

Since probably the most important project that's been completed has been the new front door I'll share some photos of that...just because it feels weird to post an update without any photos, lol. This happened back in November.

So, in case you didn't know this, mobile homes have narrower doors than regular stick built homes which is the main reason the hubs kept putting this particular project off. He knew he'd have to rebuild the door frame and he was not enthusiastic about the idea. Did I mention that he's not quite as motivated to remodel as I am? Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get the smallest things accomplished and I get so irritated and frustrated with him. But, on the flip side of that, he does work 6 days a week and does almost all the grocery shopping and even cooks supper at least one day per week. I know the last thing he wants to do on his one day off per week is to come home and work on one of my literally never ending projects.  So, even though I get aggravated, I do appreciate him and he does a great job when he does finally get to it.
So without further ado here're the photos I promised :)

Haha...I almost forgot to take any *before* pictures
but, luckily I remembered before the old door
was completely down.

Removing all the door trim

Nothing but a big gaping hole for a little while...just
long enough for him to rebuild part of the frame.

Here's the outside view of the new door and the new
storm door...that I LOVE! 

And, here's the inside view <3 

And that's it for this post...thanks for reading!

Hey...I'll try not to wait as long to share the bathroom floor update ;) 

Just living life at the Tralace

It seems that I've been quite the slacker when it comes to keeping up with my blog these days. But, the fact is, that I haven't really been doing much of anything that's blog worthy.

Right now we're in the process of doing a mini makeover in the hall bath. We changed out the vanity which has been a vast improvement and we have the tile for the floors but my handyman, aka my husband, hasn't had a chance to get it installed just yet. But, soon...very soon!

The master bedroom is also undergoing a pretty drastic makeover but it's a slow process and I am waiting until it's closer to the finished mark before I do a reveal. I can honestly say though, that I absolutely love it so far! And I will give you a quick peak at a project I just finished last week for my room...some Pinterest inspired wall art. It turned out even better than I anticipated and I love seeing it on the wall.

I've not done any scrapbooking and that is beginning to concern me. I don't know that I've ever gone quite this long without at least starting a layout. But, I'm sure the urge will strike me as soon as I get more of the house stuff out of the way.

We're into the 3rd full week of October and all my fall decorations are still stored away. Normally, I can't wait to decorate for fall...I love the colors and seeing all the decorations make me happy. But this year I decided that my many tubs of fall goodies as well as my sanity would fair best if I didn't subject them to the 6 month old puppies who are so keen on chewing anything and everything in their paths. This is one "phase" of puppydom that I will not miss!  I made a Dollar Tree run last weekend and picked up this little paper turkey and stuff him on the table so I can at least say I've decorated. It counts, right? LOL

So that's what I've been up to...I'm sure I'll have more posts to share soon!

Stampendous Fran'tage Embossing Enamel

Let's talk about this incredible product :) 

 Stampendous Fran'tage Embossing Enamel is one of my all time favorite products and I recommend it to everybody. Honestly, this stuff is phenomenal...none of the photos I managed to get really do justice to this stuff so please keep that in mind as you're scrolling through them. 

While it's a little more difficult to work with than regular embossing powders, the results are beautiful. If you're looking for something to give you fine detail this may not be the best product for you. This is an embossing ENAMEL and it melts with much more texture and dimension than a typical embossing powder. It's just thicker...not sure how else to describe it. I know you've all seen me post layouts and projects where I've used this stuff but I wanted to dedicate an entire post to just highlighting these because I really love them that much. 

Here are some photos I snapped this morning of some of the colors that I own. And remember...the pictures do not do justice to how beautiful this enamel is. 

These are the colors that I own and there are a couple more
colors available that are still on my list. The majority of mine
I ordered from ebay because my nearest Hobby Lobby doesn't have them.

 These powders run at approximately $8 per bottle but a little goes a long way. I honestly don't think anyone would be disappointed in these.  I'm not much on doing videos myself but there are some great ones on YouTube that might better depict how to use these. I try to heat from beneath with these because otherwise the goodies tend to get blown around by the heat gun. However, I have also heated from above using another piece of paper as a buffer between the powder and the heat gun.

You can kind of see the combination of powder, gold flecks
and gold glitter in this shabby pink. It's the combination that gives
such a stunning effect when these are melted.

This is the Chunky Metallic...you can see that's it's an
incredible combination of different granules of enamel and
when melted looks amazing. (see photo above)

I encourage anyone who wants to add dimension and pizazz to their scrapbook layouts or cards or any other project to give these a try. Get just one bottle...that's what I did. I started with the "aged teal" and as soon as I opened the bottle I was completely hooked. I'm betting the same thing will happen to you.