The Flipping Files: Delays, delays, delays

The Flipping Files: Delays, delays, delays

Hi all! I just returned back from our flip house and wow. 

We officially closed on the house on 1/5/16. Because the home was my cousin's we were able to do a bit of demo prior to closing. Thank goodness! We knocked quite a bit out the week before Christmas and then things just stalled. Between Christmas and New Years, I knew we were in for delays. What I didn't expect was a freak blizzard that shut the city down for a week! It was the craziest thing! And what happens when a city gets shut down for a week? All construction gets pushed back for two weeks. Ugh.

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The Flipping Files: And So It Begins

The Flipping Files: And So It Begins

We have our first house to flip!!! It's probably one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities - we had a relative who wanted to get rid of a house that sat vacant for years. While left vacant, there was a water leak and vandalism and the place is in bad shape but man is it an amazing house!!! It's got so much character and such amazing detail. I'm beyond excited to work on it! The kicker in all of this? It's 6 HOURS AWAY!

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The Balance of Life and Family

Hi all! Today I'm going to write one of those personal posts - you know, the thing I don't typically like to do (hey, there's a big internet out there and people are cray-cray)!

With the princess after her last surgery.

With the princess after her last surgery.

For those of you who know the story of my eldest, feel free to skip this section. :-) My daughter has a heart defect known as Ebstein's Anomoly. Basically, the right side of her heart was too big. Because of this, her tricuspid valve was malformed. I knew nothing about it until she was born. She spent the first 7 weeks and 6 days of her life in the NICU. I didn't hold her for the first time until she was 18 days old. At 20 months old she had her first surgery. It almost killed her. Her second surgery was less than 2 weeks later. She was given a mechanical heart valve and all we could do was wait. For 2 years she did ok, but was never 100%. The valve kept clotting and she was in and out of the hospital getting it working the way it needed to. In 2010, we took her to the Mayo Clinic because the valve was failing. We learned during that surgery that the previous surgeon did quite a number on her. He was an excellent surgeon - just not for her condition. The surgeon at Mayo was actually the foremost expert on her condition. Basically, if we had started with him, she very likely would have only had to have one surgery in her life, but because of the mess the first surgeon made, she has to have surgeries for the rest of her life. Stinks, right? Sigh.... After the surgery at Mayo, she has thrived in regard to her health. Praise God for that. Unfortunately, though, she is starting to struggle in school. She has a hard time remembering what she reads and, based on numerous studies that have been done, we believe it's because of the anesthesia she had as a child (check out more about that here). For the last few weeks I've been working tirelessly to get her the help she needs to get her back on track.

In the meantime, my health has been a bit crazy. From July of last year until March of this year I gained 20 pounds - all while working out 4 - 5 days/week. Of course I went to the doctor to find out the problem and oy... it's been crazy. After a few labs, it's become apparent that quite a few things are out of whack. My kidney tests show that I'm in stage 2 kidney disease. My brilliant sister (a nurse) believes it's because of my high protein diet (I always lose weight on high protein. Well, I used to anyway). My doctor actually missed it on my labs. We just happen to find it while compiling everything together. So I'm trying to figure out what to do about that. And there are other things that are out of whack (hormones, thryoid, insulin..). I got my insulin under control by busting my butt at the gym lifting weights. I've been following a body building program and dropped my levels from 47 (on a normal scale of 3 - 19) to 8 in two months! Woo hoo! But yeah, still haven't lost a pound. LOL. The other stuff, I'm still trying to get worked out. I'm a big diet and exercise person, so I'm trying to figure out the best method to get things back to normal.

And then there is the construction business. We have been super crazy. The job I manage has been tough because I took over management mid-project and I'm trying to get things flowing better. Here are a couple before/afters :-)

Obviously I love the work and I can't wait to see it finished but it's definitely been stressful.

So what is the point of all of this? I'm busy. I'm stressed. I have so many things to do around the house but I just can't seem to find the time. With that, I've decided to take a break from the blog for a bit so I can get the important things in life back on track. My plan is to pick back up after the first of the year. I would say I may check in from time-to-time, but I'm making myself take a break. Hopefully those of you who have followed will still be around next year. :-)

For now, I'm off to clean my house (something else that has gotten out of hand). See you all in a couple of months!

From Pass-Through Aquarium to Fireplace

From Pass-Through Aquarium to Fireplace

Here's something you don't see much of... when we moved into our home we were surprised by something in our bedroom - a hole in the wall! When we toured the home there was a dresser in the middle of a wall. When that dresser was moved there were wood paneled doors about halfway up the wall. I opened them and found a shelf with electric outlets and a water faucet. It turns out, there had once been a pass-through aquarium between the living room and bedroom! You can see it in a pic from the original home listing from 2004.

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Cat Scratch Fever (How to Fix Scratches in Wood Floors)

Cat Scratch Fever (How to Fix Scratches in Wood Floors)

Frank. That's our cat. He's such a love and quite possibly the best.cat.ever. No really. He's awesome. He doesn't tear toilet paper up, he loves to snuggle, he lets you know when he needs his litter cleaned (seriously) and he's pretty low maintenance. His fault? He scratches the heck out of my floors. He's your typical cat in that the littlest noise scares him and he reacts by running away. In the process he scratches up the floor. 

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DIY Stacked Crown Moulding End Caps

DIY Stacked Crown Moulding End Caps

Ah...terminating crown moulding - the design nuisance those of us with partial or split walls have to deal with. In most rooms crown terminates into itself because of the square/rectangular nature of the space. In rooms that have a fireplace, varying wall height or, like in my master bath, a split in the wall, you are left with 3 options: a hanging return, a corbel return or a finial return.

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When Good Projects Go Bad

When Good Projects Go Bad

It's been FOREVER since I've had a DIY post and I'm so sad that my first one back is a fail. As in major fail. Let's take a walk down memory lane.

After doing the kitchen and dining room I decided to wrap one other little project - the powder bath. It's a really ugly little space. It has great floors (extra from my bath remodel) but other than that, it's terrible. 

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