Moldy Kitchen Demolition

You may have read before that we found out recently that there was a lot of mold behind our kitchen cabinets and appliances. We had to tear out a wall and rebuild all of the backs of lower cabinets. Here are some pics of the process of demolition in the kitchen!...Hopefully it will be restored in the next couple weeks and we can repost its new and improved look.

Date Night

We had so much fun for date night, Monday! During the day, we found a used black dishwasher on Craigslist(where else?!?) and it was very inexpensive....We are switching our kitchen over to black appliances and my current dishwasher is missing some pieces, causing me to have to rewash everything that I put on the top shelf. Needless to say, I was very excited when Aaron said we could get it. ( Aaron can tend to be pretty cheap/practical) I assumed that date night would not happen Monday night, bc we drove to the Steele Creek area to pick up the dishwasher and had definitely already spent date night money plus some on this appliance.
To my suprise, on the way home Aaron brought me to one of my fave restaurants in Matthews, AZTECA!! I love it....and he also brought me to the 1.50 movies to see the Hulk movie( I know the movie theater here is no longer 1.50, =( .... but we still call it that) ........the date night wasnt over yet though, Aaron also brought me to the Krispy Kreme there even though the "hot and fresh" sign wasn't lit up. We ordered 3 donuts, and they gave us a dozen, because they were closing up for the night! soooo I had one of the best date nights ever........I sure hope the dishwasher works whenever we finally get it hooked up!

Update

so what have we been up to?

* We have begun having date nights. Monday nights are officially our going out nights. I have been so excited about not cooking on Monday's and also being able to get out of the house with Aaron. If anyone has any free date ideas, I would love to hear them. We figured we had to do something since church softball is over! =)
* We found alot of mold in our kitchen- My dad is amazing and he came over to check out/fix the mold that was in our garage. Turns out is was in the back of most kitchen cabinets and smelled terrible. My dad has been working on Saturday's to rebuild our cabinets. So I have been getting to see my mom and dad alot! I love it.
* I was diagnosed with GERD after not feeling well for a week. I was having trouble swallowing and was having arm and chest pain...after a week I thought my "sore throat" just wasnt going away so I went to the doctor's office, only to find out I have some kinda reflux problem that was caused by asthma, which was "possibly caused by mold" NO FUN, but I am feeling better.
* We bought some beautiful appliances, because when you take out cabinets, you must break countertops. We chose new countertops! and decided to replace our freestanding oven with a wall oven and cooktop in black! and a new over the range microwave. I cant wait to see the final product.
* Speckles has been allowed to stick around on the front porch. Harmless little kitten eats a lot, but other than that she is great! She just sleeps on the porch and rubs up against the screen door, while Abby sits inside hissing at her on the other side.
* we found free Iris' on Craiglist and filled up the flower beds a little more. We love Craisglist! Aaron found these plants and his family went and got them for us!! We planted the flowers and hope to see them bloom next year. They do make our flower bed look fuller.
* We got to see Aaron's family. We went over for lunch a couple Sunday's ago. We had so much fun. We haven't been able to go for a while b/c we have been so busy with the house and gas is so expensive.
* we went to my grandma's house for a birthday get-together and got to see all of my family. We got to show everyone pics of the house, and eat lots of good food.
* we have enjoyed having dinner guests with our dining room (that is now overflowing with dishes from the cabinets that had mold, but will soon again, be in working order.)
* we have been watching lots of disney vhs's that we found on Craigslist. I love Disney movies! and did I mention, we LOVE craigslist. We got 30 disney VHS's which seem to have terrible quality on a projector screen according to Aaron.
* I got my haircut again, even shorter, I love it. Aaron's status is still pending.

I will get pics up soon of kitchen renovations and maybe even the haircut.

A Cat Named Abby

Ever since Aaron and I got married I have wanted a cat. I have dreamed of a cat, and begged
for a cat, and looked for cats on craigslist, and petted them at Petsmart. Aaron has always said
"As soon as we get a house, we will get a cat".......
I grew up out in the country where we had "barn-cats", this meant that at some points in my childhood, we had up to 20 cats/kittens living out at the barn. Everyday, I played with my kittens. I am an absolute cat-lover, so wonderfully, we were able to get a beautiful cat from Aaron's brother, Andrew and his wife, Regina. They are having a baby in October and decided to get rid of "Abby." She is a great, white, fluffy cat that is very well-behaved and friendly. I LOVE having her around. Just a couple days after we got Abby , a little kitten showed up on our doorstep. She is little, and cute...and homeless. Aaron did not want me to feed her, and wanted to "drop her off on the other side of the neighborhood" to "die there, and not in our yard." I cried ALOT over this. Aaron finally gave in and said I could feed her, and find her a home somewhere else. I understand that Aaron got me my cat, and he wants 1 not 2, but this cat is sooo cute. I have named her "Speckle" =) (trying not to get too attached) and she has become my buddy. So basically, Speckles is not allowed to stay, but I wanted to post a picture to show her cuteness.....besides, maybe he'll change his mind.

Abby =)

Speckles!

Our flower beds are looking a little better, although I don't really know what I am doing.

Living Room

Kitchen filled with Coke stuff

"Reading Area?"

My favorite, the dining room

dining room

Aaron's 22 Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!

Aaron and I with his "birthday cake"

This is Constance, Aaron's mom

Mike and Audra (blog approved =))

My mom and dad!

Aaron turned 22 on Saturday! For his birthday, we had friends and family over for a cookout. Of course, it was toooo hot to be outside for long, so no volleyball, or slip-n-slide happened as planned originally, but we were so excited to have our first "party" at our house. Another exciting thing for me was that my grandma Loretta got to come from Marshville and see our new house! We had friends from Monroe, Indian Land, Indian Trail, Wingate, and even from the neighborhood. It was so sweet of everyone to make time to come for Aaron's party. My camera batteries were pretty much dead, so I didn't get a good pic of the whole group =(, but I'm sure you get the picture!

Living on Lanshire Court

We closed on our house on the 7th! It has been so exciting and new. SO many people helped us move down from our 3rd floor apartment to our house on the hill. Our parents and friends have been so wonderful helping us fix things, move things, decorate, etc

It has been a very busy time ever since we moved in. The day after we moved in, our friends Angelo and Kasey got married. It was so much fun to experience their wedding day and for the countdown to finally be over for them.

After the wedding, on Monday, Aaron left for a business trip to Reno, Nevada. I was not ready to stay in this big house by myself and was quite disappointed to see Aaron go. I will be so happy to pick him up at the airport on Saturday. It has been good for me to be here and get things done though. ( I will post pics soon)

Audra will be coming up to stay with me on Friday and spend all day with me Saturday. I love getting to visit with her and catch up.

Another new thing going on that I am very excited about is my job. I am going to begin making calls from home on Monday. I think it will be wonderful to be able to get my work done from home and still be at home to get other house work done as well.

One question I have to ask, does anyone have any good ideas of flowers/plants we could plant in our flower bed this time of year?

Well, I think that is it for now...

Life is good

I know it has been awhile since I posted, I just seem to forget quite frequently that I have a blog.  We are closing on "our" house on Monday!!  It doesn't seem like our house yet, but soon Im sure it will...We are getting so excited.  We looked at this house back at the beginning of April and it has been a long process of buying it.  The house was foreclosed so it is in need of work.  Luckily, my parents are able to help us fix the minor issues that are going on.  I am so excited about no longer carrying my groceries up three flights of stairs, or being worried that if we play Dance, Dance Revolution our neighbors below us are going to get upset.  It will be so nice to have our own space, with our own yard, and to be able to have a grill again.  All the things in life that matter most. =D The house is close to work and school, lots of friends, and both of our parents are only about an hour away.....

Other things that are going on in our lives.....My sister, Emily moved to Indiana.  I miss her so much!! Emily and I have always been really close, so it is strange not having her around to watch old movies with or to meet for dinner, or to talk about 90's songs from Baywatch, lol.  We have one of those relationships, where you don't have to say a word, but know everything the other person is thinking.  Having a sister is wonderful.  Emily is the best...I can't wait to go and visit her.....

We officially joined Crossway about a month ago.  We are getting ready to visit some regular care groups and make that transition up from Mission28.  It is bittersweet.  We are sad to leave M28, but I think it will be great to be with other married couples, meet new people, and take a look into that next "season" of life.  Yes, Aaron "season,"  just for your laughing pleasure....

Aaron is enjoying his job at UNCC.  He went to a conference in Maine last month to learn more about what other Assistive Technology Specialists do and to get ideas.  Although, all I heard about was all the food he got to eat and how the staff made his bed so nicely everyday... of course, just like his wonderful wife does at home....=D  The week after the move, Aaron will be going to Reno for a conference as well. He will be gone for a week this time. He is happy to have a job where he gets the chance to travel some, although I have trouble getting used to being at home alone...It is so wonderful having Aaron as a husband.  He does such a good job providing for me and taking care of everything for us.  With the house, he has researched for countless hours about financing options, ways to fix things, how to save the money.  He has also taken care of all the paperwork, dealing with the bank, and real estate agent. I haven't had to think twice about how something should be done.  Aaron teaches me how to be patient, and wait on what the Lord has in store for us.  This has proven to be the best way repeatedly, when I would've rushed into things.  I thank God for giving me Aaron.  He has been leading me/pushing me in the right direction ever since 7th grade when I met him.  He truly lives for the Lord and I love him so much!

Here are some house pics for now....I will put more soon

The House

Breakfast Area

Kitchen

Dining Room 

Bathroom

Living Room

Stairs

Front Porch

Backyard