have you seen my stapler?

Hello! 


First and formost.. FOOTBALL UPDATE!!:


WE WON!!!  Woop woop! Moved up to number 10, yall! The game was so much fun!! Here are some awesome articles I found today:

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/photos_show_auburns_high-flyin.html?ref=nf

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/28296/page/weekend-rewind/hot-and-not-in-the-sec-week-4

and this last one is the best, by far:

http://www.dailygamecock.com/mobile/viewpoints/auburn-hospitality-sets-standards-1.1648337

CHILL BUMPS! I LOVE AUBURN!!!!! 

Here is my new gameday button! How cute is it?!? It's from Stamp in good ol downtown Auburn. 

SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!

Something other than the house Update: 

My jobby job! I love my job, everyone. I like the people I work with, I like the atmosphere, I like this..

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is a kegerator. I made it extra large so you could get a good look. And this aint no natty light keg, yall!!! That's Newcastle sitting there, and we've been known to have Sweetwater 420. DELICIOUS.

I also enjoy this:

The airstream!! 

Isn't it awesome?!? THERE'S A CONFERENCE ROOM IN THERE!! Apparently the building use to be an old auto repair shop, so there were ramps to get the airstream up there. Pretty cool!! Here's another shot:

Nifty, eh?!

There are bleachers right there on the left where we have big company meetings. Also, every month we have birthday day! September was cupcakes.. DELISH. 

Can you see all the natural light in all the pics?! I love natural light. And sunshine. And being outside. SO, imagine my sadness when I found out I was moving from here:

so spacious!

natural light!! 

TO THE BASEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!! 

Have you seen my stapler??

Hehehe it really isn't going to be that bad, there just aren't any windows. I have already said that instead of smoke breaks, I will take some sunshine breaks. haha Our company is growing so fast that someone had to move to this room, so my unit decided to go on and move down here.. It's going to be alright, BUT I am sandwiched between two bama fans.. SO I will be accepting donations of Auburn paraphernalia to put on the walls..

(Disclaimer: if someone from work reads this, I really like my job! I just thought the circumstances were funny.. and I maybe taking sunshine breaks, fo real.) 

Home Sweet Home, no longer Home Suite Home!

Hello All!

It's finally happened! We have moved back in!! Yay!!!!!!! There has been so much stuff going on that I haven't been able to update the ol bloggy blog. So here's a recap:

We got to leave the hotel on Monday morning. I made sure to get up early to get an omelet, because I hadn't had one the ENTIRE TIME we had been there. It was delicious, and I was a little sad it was my first and last omelet.. I have been spoiled with having a fountain drink machine to quench my diet coke addiction every morning. The hotel had tiny plastic cups for the cokes.. and by tiny, I mean shot glass size, not even big enough for a cup of coffee.. so we all tricked them by bring in giant cups from the house. SO SNEAKY! I will miss my morning caffeine dose.. I guess it's back to coffee at work for this girl.

When I checked out, I felt like a celebrity! OOOHHH, you're Ms. Herring?!  Yes, yes I am.  I think we became a bit of a joke in the hotel as the girls that had been there for over three weeks.. I would run into a staff member in the elevator and they would ask how I was enjoying my stay. I would inevitably tell them that we had been there for weeks, but I loved it because of happy hour and the breakfast. I would get: OOOOHH, you're the ones with the house problems?! We're celebrities, yall!

Here are some pictures of the house right before we left the hotel:

After the painting, before the outlets.

Outlets! at night... dum dum DUMMMM!

Creepy chandelier cover.. I got creeped out when I was there alone.

They left the kitchen to paint after the floors were finished so we could go on and get back in the house. HOW SCHWEET!

Another view of the unfinished kitchen.

Floors before the refinishing.

OK. Back to the day we left the hotel.. On my lunch break Monday I went to check on the house. The roomies were already there and were suppose to be directing the movers on where the furniture went. The emptying of the pod was suppose to start at 9:30am. Well has anything gone smoothly this entire time?!? Of course not. Michael had called me earlier and told me they had an emergency job that came up this morning, but they would be there in a couple hours. (The movers are the water/fire restoration people, so understandable). They weren't there yet when I got home at lunch time. This was on the door to greet everyone:

hahahaha The roomies left it up for me to see. STOP! Give your floor time to mature! You definitely don't want to encounter an adolescent floor.. trust me. They looked glorious by the way..

so shiny!!

Look how the sweet roomies got the rug out and vacuumed to be ready for the furniture! I took pictures and got ready to go back to work. I checked my phone. Text from Michael: Hey rachel, we are still at this job. Can we move you back in tomorrow?  WHAT?!?!? EXCUSE ME?!?!? At this point, Andrea has already gone to get her dogs from the kennel. I was SUPER MAD, to say the least. I don't usually get sassy with these workers, but my blood was boiling. I called him immediately..

Michael: Hey rachel.
Me: HEY.  (<-- that was short and snappy. and a few octaves louder than I usually talk)
Michael: Are you mad at me?
Me: Uhhh, WELL YEAH.
Michael: Well we're just still out at this job..
Me: WELL WE ALREADY CHECKED OUT OF THE HOTEL. AND WE HAVE THE DOGS OUT OF BOARDING. NO WAY ARE ANY OF US GOING BACK. YOU CAN AT LEAST COME GET SOME BEDS OUT OF THE POD SO WE CAN SLEEP.
Michael: Ok, ok. We gotta stop by the office, but we'll come out there.

Thank the lord. I was going to be welding a hole in the pod to get some beds out had he not agreed to come on. I went back to work, and they didn't show up until 3:30. He was only going to unload beds, but my equally snappy roommate told him that all 4 of us had been in one room for 3 1/2 weeks, and he could just go on and unload the whole pod. And unload they did!

After work, I got to go pick up the pups!!!!!!!!!! I was SOOOO EXCITED!! I thought Diesel would be sooo excited and do a little tap dance (that's what he does...) Nope. He was MAD. He wouldn't even look at me at the vet's office!!! Cotton, on the other hand, gave me sweet kisses and sat right next to me while I finished paying. Such a schweet girl.. Diesel wouldn't even listen to me when we got back home! He eventually got over it, and now he won't leave my side.

This was in the car on the way home! (not the best pic.. See how diesel wouldn't look at me?! He wouldn't even come close for the picture!!)

We discovered that night that our TV wasn't working. We called and got an appointment for a DirecTV guy to come out on Wednesday. EEK! And it's premier week on TV!!!! Oh well..

Tuesday morning, the painter comes out and finished up painting the kitchen. She looks glorious! FINALLY I can have a home cooked meal. That night, I pushed the stove back far enough to where I could plug it in. I made steak and asparagus... YUMMMM. I wish I would've taken a picture, because it was a glorious sight to behold, especially after having fast food for a long time.  After my meal, I went about figuring out how to get the internet back up and running. Of course, this didn't work either.. hence why the bloggy hasn't been updated in a while. Luckily enough, the AT&T guy could come on Wednesday as well! Here's the kitchen painted:

They touched up the cracks in the boards around the whole room! How nice! My dad gave me this thermometer..(I think he only parted with it because it is broken..) I think it's just the neatest thing!

Everything was up and running by noon on Wednesday. Back in business people! I had a busy rest of the week, so sorry, my little bloggy frogs (HA!), who have been trying to see an update. 

I have to send in the receipts for the hotel and dog boarding to the insurance guy so I can get reimbursed.. I call him. He is out of the office until Monday. OF COURSE HE IS!! I called the number he left for his supervisor.. she has yet to call me back, and I left a message a couple of days ago. Oh well. At least we are back in the house.

Next week, the final phase begins: the cabinets are being installed. It turns out the cabinet guy is able to make custom cabinets to match the existing! How exciting! This means less will have to be torn out, since the small area that is being redone can be matched to the existing.

cabinets on the other side of the kitchen

This "desk" area is what is going to be replaced. It will be raised to be level with the regular countertop height, and doors and another drawer will be added. The cabinet guy took one drawer to match it. He also took some of the wood that was cut out of the kitchen wall to make the new doors. HOW GREEN!!

The cabinets will be replaced, then they will do a template of the countertop to ensure one more time of the measurements, and that the top is level. THEN they order the countertop and it will take 3 or so days to get here. Installation after that. I've also got to get the stainless steel bar tops that my dad is cutting for me in Dothan.. Hopefully someone can bring those up here and get them installed (hint, hint dad!).

AND THEN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE HOUSE WILL BE COMPLETE!!!!



Football Update: We squeeked by Clemson. Another nailbiter. I have no fingernails left. This game was the True Blue game.. or Blue Out.. whichever you want to call it, the fans were supposed to wear blue! Bonus: they gave the student section NAVY SHAKERS!!!! I WAS SOO JEALOUS!!!!! Here is an awesome video:



You can hear a guy go: Blue! Come on!!! Because there was a big rumor we were going to wear all blue uniforms and blue helmets.. Then Chizik said we would be wearing our normal uniforms, but nothing about the helmets. THEN this little gem surfaced:

What a tease!!!!!

It doesn't look photoshopped to me, but who knows. Nevertheless, they didn't wear them. Maybe these babies will come out later in the season. Saturday at 6:45 we are playing South Carolina in the glorious Jordan Hare stadium. They are currently ranked number 12 while we are sittin pretty at 17. I am super nervous.. but this gives me hope and makes me smile: http://www.thestate.com/2010/09/23/1478411/morris-ranking-the-sec-stadiums.html

WAR EAGLE!

there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

There's a light at the end of the tunnel everyone! Here is some of the progression through pictures. I made the pictures extra large so you can see them better..

The first cut is the deepest! Haha (sorry for the lame reference to Sheryl Crow..) The wires hanging down were from an outlet that was in the bottom of the wall. Unfortunately, a plate has to be put on top of them in the most awkward place high up on the wall.. You can see the header board, which was why the opening was smaller than I wanted it would be. To the left, they removed the door frame and the "window" cut out that looked from the kitchen to the dining room. There is also a header board placed above that opening as well. 

View from inside the kitchen. There's Alan, the contractor, there on the left. You can see where the stove is pushed out from the wall. The unpainted wood area up top is where the old cabinets were torn out, so that will be repainted with the red that you see there. 

Patching up the holes. They do a lot in a day! The sheetrock has been put up to cover the holes. You can see the metal around the frame on the left side. Alan was covering all that with mud when I got there (you can see where he finished the section on the right).

Full view of everything again. You can tell in this one where they have cut out a hole and dropped a light switch on the dining room wall.

Everything has been mudded on this day. The dining room hole had been patched as well, and everything was drying. Looking good, I think! 

When I went by there today, Alan was putting up the door casings around the bedroom doors that had been damaged. Tomorrow, the painting starts! Light at the end of the tunnel, yall! There is A LOT of painting to be done: the dining room, the den, the kitchen, the hallway, the door casings and the ceilings in the dining room and den. They tell me this will only take a couple of days, which hopefully means the flooring people will come in on Thursday or Friday. The floors will take a day or so to sand and finish, and then a couple more days to dry, AND THEN, ladies and gentlemen, we will get to move back in! 

The hotel is still going good! The staff knows us by now. I've made buddies with some of the front desk people, the valet guy, a room service man, little moe with the gimpy leg...

Man, I love a good Home Alone reference!! I tried to find a clip of Tim Curry saying: Here's your complimentary CHEESE PEET-ZAH!  (in his lovely British voice.. but sadly I couldn't find a clip..) However, we do get lovely pizza here, not complimentary and with pepperonis.. yummy!

room service, for the win! 

Hopefully just one more week! Small football update: Auburn beat Miss. State in quite the nail biter of a game.. Clemson this weekend at home! A glorious night game at that! WDE.

we're makin' progress!

Hope everyone had a lovely labor day weekend! Mine was awesome. Auburn then the lake. You just can't beat that!

Football recap: Auburn looked pretty good. Our defense can definitely stand to get better, but this was the first game, so we have room to do that. Next gameday is in TWO DAYS! I'm a little nervous for our first SEC game. BUT, our quarterback is pretty awesome. He had 171 rushing yards.. 171 YALL!!!  Offense is going to be our saving grace. Neil Caudle, the third string quarterback, came in for a play and threw a completion for 42 yards! HOW BOUT THEM APPLES?!?! It was beautiful by the way.. I hope I don't jinx our team, but I am very excited for what's to come. We moved up one in the rankings... we are now 21.. Bama didn't even move up.. (ha. ha.) 

glorious view from my seat!

Everyone else in the SEC seems to be doing well for the most part! My condolences to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.. Florida even moved down in the AP poll. It's gonna be a tough year. I can't wait for conference games to start. There are 7 ranked SEC teams right now.. SEVEN! Don't tell me this isn't the toughest conference.. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

House Update: I went to the house this morning to meet the contractors. From the last bloggy, I was told my design wasn't going to be possible with the duct work and load bearing wall. Here are some drawings of what I WANTED to do on Google SketchUp:

First off, pay no attention to the really tall "pole" on the left. I pulled the wall up too high when I was doing it on SketchUp and didn't fix it, because honestly, I thought no one would see these drawings except myself just so I could get a visual.. of course now everyone has seen them, so I decided to put it on here. I recommend Google SketchUp to EVERYONE! It's FREE! F-R-E-E. Download it. It's really user friendly, and perfect for things like this. Even for smaller projects, like if you want to rearrange furniture, and you want to check if it fits! SO CONVENIENT! You can add colors and even materials, like brick and wood floors (which I did on the second draft). ALSO I only did the half of the kitchen that is being redone, but I added the rest on the second draft as well. 

Here are pictures of what is there now:

See the duct work on the top?? PAIN IN THE PATOOT. AND compromising my design.. haha. The wall with the wood exposed is the load bearing wall, which is why the cut out has to be so small, and why there has to be a "column" on the corner there. Someone suggested a decorative column.. no thank you. My design tastes are more modern and clean cut. Simple lines. Side story: when I was picking out furniture in college, the furniture sales people kept trying to point me to these frilly cut pieces of furniture, with spindles and flowers and curves and a bunch of extra stuff. I would always try to be polite, and be like: noo, I don't think I like the cut outs.. I don't think I like that.. etc etc etc.. My mom finally blurted out: She likes more MASCULINE lines.. thanks mom. (insert red face). That being said, maybe I have more of a dude's taste, but that's ok.. ANYWAY, there will be no decorative columns. everything will be wrapped in sheet rock. Here is the NEW draft of the kitchen:

TAH DAHHHH! I didn't match the colors very well.. They will stay the same, so feel free to scroll up and look at the picture of the actual wall.. the countertops will be white Corian, and the "bar" top will be stainless steel. (I tried to color them correctly on SketchUp, but the shadowing made them both look gray.) The cabinets will all be white. They should be done with the cut outs by the end of the week! We will then get the floors sanded and refinished so we can get back in the house.. THEN the cabinet guy will come and put those in. Beginning stages, everyone.. we're makin progress!! 

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's here everyone! Football season is upon us! In a few hours I will be in God's country waiting to see the Tigers play tomorrow. War Eagle! I am a HUGE Auburn fan. The countdown for tomorrow has been going on in my head for months.. Let's make sure we have all the game winning ingredients:


1. Lucky panties: Don't laugh, these babies work.
2. Lucky shaker: I used the same shaker the ENTIRE 2004 season.. she sadly came apart the next season, and had to be retired. Ever since then, a shaker is deemed lucky when we win a game. If we lose, the shaker is tied in a knot and not used.. ever again.
3. Face tat: I LOVE THESE! Mine has to be the classic AU from J&M.. I don't know why.. it just does.
4. Game day dress
5. Get to the game in time to see the VIDEO! This is one of my FAVORITE things, besides the eagle flying. Here are some of my favorites... (insert chill bumps..)




Welcome to the Show! They did this song a couple of years in a row. Quite a pump up.. I have it on my Auburn playlist.



Last year's video. Woo!


And here are random favorites:



listen closely..



the Rain Game. one of the best games I've ever attended. and, yes, I stood in the rain.




OKAY, sorry for anyone who isn't an Aubs.. onto some house updates..


I went by there today to meet another contractor. Sheet rock is back up in the hallway ceiling and they have taken down the molding to replace it! WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS PEOPLE!

I had long discussions with the contractor about the kitchen remodel. First let me say that since I'm a GIRL and I'm YOUNGER than them, all these men think I'm an idiot and think I have to be told something 37 times before I understand. I can grasp what's going on, guys. I took several architecture classes, I understand load bearing walls, I know what studs are, I know about electrical wiring and codes, etc etc etc.. So let me summarize what took them 30 minutes to explain to me: Since there is duct work AND a load bearing wall, my design was not going to work. (sad face) They were going to have to re-route the duct work (cha-ching$$). That's not gonna fly on this little fish's budget. The kitchen/den wall is the load bearing one that also has the duct work at the top, so that's the issue with tearing it down. Instead, the new kitchen design will be more of a cut out in the den/kitchen wall, and dining room/kitchen wall will be cut out to open that room up. I am working on new drawings, so everyone can see! They'll start that on Tuesday, because of course it's a holiday weekend.. Delays are fun, everybody!