Progress

I finally feel like we're starting to make real progress in planning this wedding.  So much effort for one day -- I hope we can get most everything done well enough in advance that we can relax and ENJOY the day!

Things that are done or well underway:
     *  church rented
     *  wedding dress purchased AND altered
     *  premarital counseling for Morgan & Solomon has begun
     *  still don't know about the "first choice dresses", but the back-up dresses are all here and the girls have tried them on to make sure they fit -- so the bridesmaids have SOMETHING to wear, anyway!!
     *  invitations finished and mailed, and responses starting to come back!
     *  we now have a pretty basic idea of the foods that will be served -- still have to order it after final head count is done
     *  I made trip to three local Jewish deli's and/or bakeries and got an education in kosher laws!!  I hope to sit down with Solomon's mom sometime this week and plan out what the menu will be for our guests who keep kosher
     *  tentative decisions have been made on the flowers
     *  the photographer has been hired
     *  the videographer has been hired
     *  a string quartet has been hired (not as extravagant as it sounds!!  my youngest daughter's violin teacher and three of her top students will be playing at a REALLY reasonable price!!)
     *  music for the reception is being worked on and a friend of ours will be providing a sound system for us
     *  working on set-up plans for the tables and food for the reception

So all in all, things are starting to come together...... now, if only the house remodelling would get finished soon, I would feel SOOOOO much better!!

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The renovations begin!

Well, the installation of the laminate floors and new foyer linoleum has begun. We didn't get quite as far along as we'd hoped to today, but we definitely got a really good start. We ended up having to do a lot of the cutting indoors because of the heat, so there was a LOT of sawdust generated, necessitating a lot of cleaning up. Here are some pictures from the day:

The first boards being placed

The piano was put in the corner just to keep it out of the way, but I kind of like it there -- it just might stay there!

We decided to let everybody sign the plywood before we covered it with the laminate.  Who knows?  Maybe in 20 or 30 years, the next owner will tear up the floor and "find" us!!

Nelson signed for himself and his wife, Sarah.....

Morgan signed for herself and soon-to-be-husband Solomon.....

We signed for Bryanna and Mike, since they weren't part of this project today......

Mackenzie not only signed, she traced her hand!!

And then Morgan decided we couldn't leave the dogs out, so she "drew" their signatures, too!

A look down the hallway as Josh works on the flooring.....

......and a view down the stairs before work on them began.

Nelson works to set the last planks in the dining room while Morgan supervises!

A view down the nearly-finished hallway.  We still need to do all the trim work and the closet doors still need to be re-hung, but it looks SO much better!

Josh is working on the stairs -- the only part of the project that will be hardwood.  Here's the hard part of all this -- he's putting in oak boards, which still need to be stained and polyurethaned.  This means they need to be kept dry and stain-free until then.  Uh...... with two dogs in the house???  And a rainstorm predicted for tomorrow?  Now THIS ought to be fun....... hah.......  I think we'll be putting plastic over the stairs for the next few days.

Hope you enjoyed looking at our renovations!!  And hopefully, more pictures to follow in the next few days!

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Full day.....

From getting up early to finish laundry and shopping, and get ready for Bryanna's wedding.......

........ to this..........

.... to small dinner out afterwards with family.......

....... complete with family weirdness.......

.......... to stopping by the jeweler's afterwards to check on the availability of the wedding ring Morgan has her eye on.......

......... to coming home and beginning removal of carpet in living room, dining room, and hallway in preparation for installation of new wood flooring on Friday.....

..........only to find water damage near the back door........

........ which HOPEFULLY can be easily fixed so  the floor installation is not held up.......

........ and add in two stressed-out dogs who can't figure out what on earth is going on in their house for the last week and a half.......

....... and add in several exhaused, stressed-out humans in the house......

....... and that will pretty much describe the state of affairs around here right now.  I think it's time for some sleep....... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....................

G'nite.............

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