Christmas at the Terry home

We were so tempted to start decorating for Christmas in October, but resisted the temptation until two weeks ago. I've always loved Christmas decorations, but this year is extra special because it's our first real Christmas in our home. Yes, we lived in this house last year, but below is a reminder of what our home looked like this time last year.

Nowhere for a tree unless I wanted it covered in the drywall dust that was everywhere. I also would have had to take it down immediately after Christmas because that's when we put the flooring down.

The other great thing we have to be excited about this year is the new big tree my mom gave to us along with her Garfield Christmas Village.

I'm holding off on putting the porch decorations out so that I don't torment my neighbors too soon. That will be my post-Thanksgiving project.

Playing Dress-Up

We have been playing dress-up in the Terry house.

This is Homecoming week at David Crockett High and Tim has been actively participating in the dress-up days. Yesterday was Decade day. He went with the 70's like last year, but skipped wearing the wig he wore last year. I didn't bother to take a picture of him this time, but have posted a picture of him from last year. I so do not miss living in a home with unpainted wall and unfinished floors.


Today was Twin day and the other teachers in his pod decided to all dress in the gothic style today. I don't yet have a picture of the whole group, but I do have the one from this morning. Sexy, huh?

Last Saturday, we hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner Party for friends from karate and their spouses. It had a 50s theme and we had costume suggestions for each of our characters. My character was known as "Pris" whereas Tim was the rebel.

We are being visited by our families this month. My mom is coming up Thursday and staying thru the weekend. Tim's mom and dad are arriving the following weekend to stay thru Wednesday or Thursday. We love it when our families come to visit.

If Tim dresses up as anything else interesting, I'll post them later this week.

Long Time, No Post

Since the major construction projects around the house are finished, I don't think about updating this blog, but I've been told that some of our readers are interested in an update so here goes....

We went to Knoxville for the Terry Family Reunion. This was the first time in about 15+ years that everyone has been together. We had a great time!

There are all nuts so I blended in nicely.

We received the gift of a new riding lawnmower from our parents.
We also received the gift of a new Big Screen TV and stand.

We planted two bell pepper plants and have enjoyed several peppers off of them. The picture is of the first peppers we picked from it.

Our deer have returned this year as well as the turkey. They come into our back yard and eat the apples and pears. We did not spray the fruit trees and the bugs took over the apples before we had the chance to enjoy them. The pear tree had too many pears on it so they did not grow very big and only the deer have eaten them.

This was taken from the back bedroom.

We've been very busy since the school year started. We started back in karate classes in April. Tim is actively participating in his Masonic Lodge.

I became an AVON representative two weeks ago to help us pay off the evil credit cards so we can maybe start a family. By the way, my website is www.youravon.com/aterry3894.

We are hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner this Saturday for some of our friends. I could be living with a murderer.

My mom is hopefully coming up in two weeks to stay for a long weekend then Tim's mom and dad are planning to come up the next week. We have a busy month ahead.

If you're lucky, I'll remember to update after some of these events. Have a great week!

Visiting family, a broken rocking chair, new furniture, and our first (dead) snake

Since the last post a lot of things have happened. Some wonderful, some not. We had the honor of being with Tim's grandmother when she passed away Memorial Day weekend. She was an important person in Tim's life especially when he was in grade school. She had a poodle named Rebel who was her constant companion for the last 11 years. My mom is taking care of him right now.After her funeral, Tim stayed in Savannah, TN, to help his parents begin to sort through the paperwork. Apparently, Maw never threw anything away because he found tax returns back into the 1950s. He and his family came to Kingsport at the end of the week for a week's vacation at our home. The family included Tim's mom, dad, niece (Kelsey, almost 15 yrs), and nephew (Jonathan, 12.5 yrs). Beside the usual suitcases they also brought a recliner, cedar chest, and dining room table and chairs from Maw's home. We don't have to eat on a card table with folding chairs anymore!

We had a great time all week enjoying lots of local activities including Wetlands, Bays Mtn, and Fun Expedition. We worked on the yard and played lots of badminton. The kids enjoyed the slip-n-slide, but only one afternoon. They complained the next day of being very sore and refused to play on it again. We built a campfire and pitched a tent for the kids. We made s'mores and had a good time around the fire before the kids settled in for the night. Or at least it was supposed to be for the night. Unfortunately Jonathan didn't believe us when we said he would get sick if he kept eating s'mores so sometime after midnight he and his sister moved back in due to him feeling very sick to his stomach. They never offered to sleep in the tent again. We had a casualty during the week. The rocking chair that Tim's dad got for us at an auction and painted UT orange cracked right down the middle of the seat. It's now in the burn pile. Our geranium was blooming like crazy though.

On Thursday, Tim's dad set up his kettle and fixed a delicious meal of TN river catfish. We all ate until we couldn't eat anymore. We invited Pat and Midge's family to join us as well as friends from work and church. This meal timed out perfectly for Pat's family as that was his last night on this Earth. Unfortunately Pat was diagnosed with liver cancer only a few weeks ago and was unable to handle chemo. He was able to be at home his last few days and was surrounded by his family. My mother arrived on Monday in order to tell him goodbye and be with Midge. She and Midge developed a close relationship last summer while she worked on the house. Pat was the one who mowed our yard last summer because he knew we didn't have the time. He also offered all his tools to us whenever we needed them. I lovingly referred to their home as the Nunley General Store.

Here's the whole family at Bays Mtn.

My mom left on Friday while Tim and his family left on Saturday. Tim came back home yesterday which was just in time to deal with our first snake. Earlier this summer I saw the tail of a snake as it slithered into the field beside us. I spread moth balls along the edge of our property hoping to keep out future visitors, but apparently it didn't work. This afternoon, while sweeping the porch, I moved the bench aside and saw a black snake coiled up and napping on the cool concrete. Unfortunately, snakes are the one phobia I do have so Tim was called upon to remove the visitor. The goal had been to coax it to the field since it was not poisonous, but it kept trying to come back to the porch so it had to die. Our hoe is now known at the snake killer.

Our Rose Bush

Our rose bush exploded with blooms while we were gone last weekend. I went head-to-head with it and came away with several scratches, but I won and it is now tied to a trellis.

My war wounds. I wore gloves, but not sleeves.

Before we tied it to the trellis

AFTER

We still have to turn the ground around it so we can plant flowers in it. Of course, I(Amanda) do not have a green thumb so whatever I plant may not live long, but I'm going to try it.

Pics from Open House

We have finished all the major projects. There are a few details/projects to finish, but we're ready to show off our home. If you weren't able to come to our open house, never fear! I've posted the pictures below and you are welcome to come over and see it firsthand. But, until then, enjoy the pictures!

KITCHEN

Living Room

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Guest Bedroom

Guest Bathroom

Our special cakes made by my friend, Ellen, for our open house/ my birthday party

Video of house before the remodel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kktADyt85bw





Watch the video we made when we walked thru our home for the first time with our realtor. This should make you both appreciate all the work we've done and also question our sanity for taking on this huge of a project.

Open House Planned

(NEW VIEWERS: If this is your first time looking at a blog and you would like to start with the first pictures, scroll to the bottom of this page and click on "Older posts". Scroll to the bottom of that page until you reach the first post and then work your way back up.)




We have scheduled our Open House for April 4th. We are having two parties that day to celebrate. The traditional "drop-in and see" party is from 2pm to 4pm. That evening at 6pm we are having another party to celebrate my (Amanda) 30th birthday. My actual birthday is March 16th, but it makes more sense to have the party on the same day at the open house. The evening party will be BYOB and my friend, Ellen, is making a Mickey Mouse birthday cake for me. Both parties are as casual and relaxed as me and Tim. Call or email me if you need directions. We are very proud of the work we have put into this house and want everyone we know to come see it.


We did take a break from home remodeling two weeks ago to go see Disney On Ice in Johnson City. If we can't go to Disney World then we have to feed our Disney craving somehow.

Laura is returning on March 20th and staying a week to help us finish up the last major projects. We will still have a few odds and ends to touch up even when we have the open house, but, as I've been told numerous times by others, we will always have things to do around the house so I see no reason to delay the celebration.

Recently we got the new bathroom plumbed in and we are enjoying showers in our new 4x4 walk-in shower. Tim insisted on having the shower head tall enough so that he would not have to duck. It is so tall that I cannot reach it at all. He LOVES IT!

I don't have any other really good construction pictures to show you in this post so I thought I'd share with you images of our construction zone. Imagine living like this for seven and a half months.

This was the scene in the living room when had the contents of the master bedroom and closet cleaned out so the floors could be laid.

This is the constant pile of supplies in the dining room/kitchen.

This is the end of our bed. I get to squeeze between the stuff and the bed to get to my side.
Our master bedroom right now. See the toilet! and the air compressor and the safe, and the bucket of nails, and the paint, and....

Under that pile of baseboards and crown moulding is our couch. In front of that is our coffee table. I guarantee that no furniture in your home can collect as much stuff on it as ours can.



The last picture is from last summer when we had unpacked the kitchen boxes and Daisy decided to bury herself in the pile of crumpled newspapers. I just love this picture!

Don't forget to let me know if you are coming to the open house so I can be sure to have enough food.