One year ago...

One year ago I married my best friend,
the one I want to grow old with,
the one I love more with every breath I take.

One year ago we promised to love each other
as long as we both shall live.

Little did I know that one year later...
We'd have our first home.
And, in 6 months, there would be a new little Jones joining us in that home.

Yes, you read that right. I am expecting - due May 16th. We are both thrilled (obviously).

I'm sorry I took a hiatus from the blog. I missed you all, but it was WAY too hard to keep this secret inside for as long as I did. Stepping away from blogging was the only way I knew how. I hope y'all will forgive me. :)

I'm still alive!

Wow...remodeling a house has taken over my life! For the past two weeks, Mr Jones and I have spent all of our free time working on the house.

It's all coming to an end though (thank goodness...I'm tired!). The bedrooms are painted and carpet will be installed on Friday. The professional painter is coming tomorrow to start working on the great room, kitchen/dining room, and hallways. I am beyond excited to see how it's going to look when everything is finished!

I promise to post updated pictures soon. :)

In the mean time, I'll leave you with a picture of me with my trusty sander sidekick (we've become great friends).

Sorry the quality sucks; I used my phone. Oh, and I promise I don't have a weird skin disease on my forehead...

House Progress Pictures

I promised progress pictures so here you go! Today, Mr Jones finished pulling out all the carpet staples while I cleaned all of the windows and window sills.

We are really excited by the progress we made in just one weekend. The next project is sanding the paint off all the walls so we can prime and repaint. The previous owner painted directly over the contractor's paint without priming so now all (literally) of the paint is peeling off the walls...wonderful.

The plan was to sand the walls today, but the other projects took up all our time. The good news, though, is that the floors are completely ready for new carpet! We will be re-carpeting the bedrooms and putting laminate flooring in the hallway and all three bedroom closets.

I'm so excited to go pick out paint colors! Any good brand suggestions?

Upstairs Hallway - Before

Upstairs Hallway - Progress picture

Front Bedroom - Before

Front Bedroom - Progress picture

Back Bedroom - Before

Back Bedroom - Progress picture (the carpet is completely gone now)

Master Bedroom - Before

Master Bedroom - Progress picture

Master Closet - Before (worst closet ever!)

Master Closet - Progress pictures (ALL GONE!!)

Carpet and laundry drain tub ready to go to the dumpster!

It's official...we are grown ups!

You see that house? It's finally mine, all mine.
Well, technically it's Mr Jones' too, but you get the idea. :)


We spent all day at the house today replacing the toilet seats and tearing up the carpet in the bedrooms and upstairs hallway...it was SO dirty and gross! The previous owner definitely didn't believe in cleanliness. We plan to re-carpet the bedrooms and put down Pergo flooring in the hallway. I can't wait to see it finished!

Tomorrow, we will be carpet shopping then going over to the house to sand the walls in preparation for priming and repainting.

I will post progress pictures tomorrow night so stay tuned! :)

Oh the irony!

The first time Mr Jones and I went to see the house with our realtor, there was a bird in the front landscaping area that was none too happy with us getting near her and her nest/eggs. We assumed she was a kildeer and made sure to give her a lot of room when we walked by. Nonetheless, she squawked and ruffled her feathers every time we walked past.

We were proven wrong. The home inspector identified the bird as a sand piper, not a kildeer. Google images confirms he is right.

The funny part about this story? Our address is xxxx Sand Piper Dr. Too ironic.

Apparently, we like to move fast

About a week and a half ago, Mr Jones and I decided it was time to start looking at houses. Baby needs a room of his/her own...and apartment living just wasn't cutting it for us.

We quickly started browsing realty sites and came across our dream house...for a crazy cheap price. We thought it was too good to be true so we called on it the next day and scheduled a time to see the house.

The only downside was the previous owners didn't like being foreclosed on so they took the kitchen with them. Yes, the entire kitchen. Cabinets, appliances, sink...you name it, they took it.

Within seconds of walking through the front door, we knew this was our house. Kitchen or no kitchen. The layout is exactly what we both want (a big great room with the 2nd floor overlooking it). We made a full price offer the next day (last Wednesday) and the bank accepted our offer on Friday!!

I held off on this post until today because I wanted to be sure everything checked out with the home inspection. Everything looks great so Mr Jones and I are officially homeowners!

I promise I will update with room pictures once we get in and start working on everything!

The joys of moving...and preparation for motherhood??

...and no, it's not what you think!! At least not yet.

On Monday, Mr Jones and I decided it was time for the kitty-babies to move into the new place. Prior to this, they were living at my old apartment and I was stopping by on my way home from work every day to feed/water/play with them. Don't get me wrong, I felt so guilty leaving them there by themselves, but our new place was still a mess and we wanted to organize a bit so we didn't stress Sammy and Bo out anymore than we had to. (Just trying to be a good mommy!)

The car ride went as well as could be expected - Bo was royally freaked out, but I pretty much expected that so I put him in the carrier. Sammy is such a good boy that he just sat on the seat next to me and looked out the window. Once we got to Riverwood, Mr Jones grabbed the carrier and I got out of the car with Sammy in my arms. Not 2 seconds later (not exaggerating), at least 10 neighborhood kids (they came out of nowhere!!) were gathered around me wanting to see/pet the huge cat I was holding. I know Sam is a big boy (as all Maine Coons are), but geez - I didn't realize he'd attract that much attention!

An old pic of Sammy and me

Once I managed to get past all the little grabby hands, I let Sammy inside where he promptly ran under the desk and meowed at the wall (poor baby!). Eventually, he found his way into the shower...and then into the sink (his favorite lounging place). Once he got settled, he was back to his normal, laidback/easygoing self.

Bo, on the other hand, not so much. That cat is driving me nuts! Every night since the move, he's roamed the hallway crying big ol' kitty tears. For hours. In the middle of the night. If I roll over to make sure he's ok, he comes running into the bedroom and pokes me with his paw trying to get me up. I know he's stressed and I know he wants attention from his mommy - but mommy needs sleep or else she gets really cranky! I'm hoping this nightly routine stops soon. He's sure giving me a taste of what motherhood might be like...oy.

Mr Jones was a busy, busy boy

This was technically his project last weekend, but my camera decided it didn't want to work properly then...so we'll just pretend I posted this a week ago. :)

Now that we are getting place together, we decided it was time to get "adult" furniture rather than the cheapie pieces that don't really go together, but serve the purpose. We drove around to a few furniture stores in the area, but didn't really find anything that jumped out at us so we planned a day trip to Ikea (which made me very excited because I love, love, love Ikea - seriously). It was definitely a successful trip (not that I had any doubts it would be). For the price of one dresser at the furniture store, we bought:

- 2 bedside tables
- 2 long dressers (which we will put side-by-side)
- 1 tall dresser
- glass tops for all of the above
- 1 behind the couch storage unit
- 4 baskets to go in the storage unit
- 3 bins for closet storage
- 2 under-bed storage bins

Mr Jones spent all weekend putting them together. We aren't done decorating and all my stuff still needs to be moved in, but you can still get the general idea of how it will look. :)

Just getting started (look at all the boxes behind him still waiting to be assembled)


Glue holds it all together - these drawers aren't coming apart if he can help it!


Almost finished!


And the finished products...

Bedside tables and under-bed storage bins (the bed and round lamps were previous Ikea purchases)

Long dressers


Tall dresser (in between closet and bathroom)


Behind couch storage unit

It's the little things in life...

About 5:30pm yesterday, Mr Jones and I realized I didn't have a key to the new place yet (which could definitely pose a problem) so we headed over to Lowe's. While standing at the key counter waiting for someone to help us, he suddenly turned to me and said, "Do you want a fun key?" (the boy knows me so well!). I, of course, jumped on the offer. There were so many cute ones - black with pink rhinestone hearts, pink camouflage, leopard print. How is a girl supposed to choose when faced with so many great options? After much contemplation (and an impatient Lowe's employee glaring at me), I finally chose my key - a pretty black and white print.

I know it's just something small, but it makes me happy when I look at it. It's my key to our first place together. Yayyyyyyyy!

Another check off the Wedding To-Do List

After spending all day yesterday moving Mr Jones into our new apartment (pictures to come after I move in), we decided it was time to take a break from unpacking and organizing. Rather than be *completely* lazy, we pulled out the paperwork for the reception site and got to work choosing our menu/drink selection. I'm so excited to check another To-Do item off the list. I felt like I haven't been getting much done lately.