Home Sweet Hartselle

Head over Heels in Love

2010-07-20T07:30:00.001-05:00

Mike and I are already head over heels in love with this little guy! We can't wait to meet him in about 11 weeks!

David's Room

2010-07-09T09:15:00.004-05:00

We are making a little progess towards David's Room. Here are a few pictures.

This has to be the most fabulous chair in the world! Mike did a great job picking it out!

This monster took us over 3 hours to put it together! We tried to get Loretta to test it out to make sure it would not fall apart, but she declined! We are waiting on our bedding to be finished. Ashley at Willow Tree Fabrics in Decatur is making it and I can not wait to see the it!

This was my piggy bank when I was little that my mom made. I am so tickled that I get to pass it on to our little man!

I will try to get better pictures. I took these with our Flip camera and the still shots really did not turn out well. We have our 4D ultrasound on Monday and if we get a few good pictures I will post them.

We are having a....

2010-05-19T14:11:00.002-05:00

BOY! We are very excited! Here is our favorite picture from our ultrasound on Monday.

There are five fingers there but he was moving so fast that was all we could get on video! Mike and I are getting started preparing his room and we can't wait till October!

Happy Birthday Carie Katherine!

2010-05-05T07:17:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday CK! We hope you have a fabulous day! I can't wait to see you on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2010-05-02T07:38:00.000-05:00

We want to wish my mom a Happy Birthday! We love you and hope that you have a fabulous day!

Happy Birthday Loretta!

2009-12-15T07:34:00.003-06:00

3 years ago today Mike decided that Leroy needed a little sister. So we headed up to the Fayetteville Tennessee Humane Society and brought home a very feisty bundle of joy, who he name Loretta. She is definitely the boss around our house and we would not have it any other way!

Happy Birthday Eli!!

2009-12-14T09:59:00.005-06:00

This post is a little late, but I wanted to get a picture of us together from his party on Saturday.

What a difference a year makes!!

Uncle Mike and I love you Little E and are very thankful that you are in our lives! We hope you had a great birthday and can't wait to see you this weekend!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-09-20T13:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Daddy! We hope that you have a great day! We love you!

Tractor Weekend

2009-08-31T08:46:00.005-05:00

A couple of weekends ago we rented a tractor to bushhog the field with and also move around some of Mike's birthday present. We had the best time! Mike showed me how to drive the tractor and I loved bush hogging! I can't wait to do it again!

Mike wanted dirt to make flower beds, fill in holes, etc for his birthday so I had 2 dump truck loads delivered. That is a lot of dirt!

Happy Birthday!

This is Mike moving the dirt for the flower bed in the back yard.

Matt and Carie, for Christmas we want one just like this one but in the best tractor colors:

GREEN AND GOLD!!

Happy Birthday

2009-07-29T08:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Mike! We love you and hope that you have a great birthday!

Love,

Erin, Leroy and Loretta

Hummingbirds

2009-07-22T11:11:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of neat hummingbird pictures we took the other night:

They sure are fast!!

Weekend Recap

2009-07-16T13:13:00.009-05:00

The Ritty Rats love to climb trees! Leroy and Loretta are also liking their new "siblings" a lot more than they did a couple of weeks ago!

Mike got to fire up his new grill and he made yummy chicken and a steak!

Our newest favorite pasttime is watching the two hummingbirds that visit or feeders.

On Monday we had the rest of our tile work completed. Our kitchen backsplash is beautiful!! It really changed the look of our kitchen! We are going to change out the plugs, switches and covers so they blend in better together.

Ritty Rats, Vito and Carmella

2009-07-01T14:19:00.005-05:00

Vito and Carmella are two new members of our family! Mom found a litter of kittens at City Hall in the spring and they had been abandoned. They were scared to death of people and now they won't leave you alone! They are two of the sweetest cats and start purring when you look their way! Leroy and Lorretta are sure of what to think about the Ritty Rats that have come to live with us, but they love to chase them up the trees!

Of course Mike named them and they are named after two characters his favorite movie, The Godfather (Parts I, II and III). Vito Corlenoe is the head of the Corlenoe crime family (loving referred to as the Godfather) and Carmella is his wife. Leave it to my husband to name our cats after a mafia movie.

Vito
Carmella

P.S. Don't worry Granny, they are outside cats!

2009-06-23T13:48:00.003-05:00

We had our the last of our concrete poured last week and here are a few updated pictures:

We are still adjusting living here but we LOVE it! We still have to have a few lights on at night to find our way around, but I bet we will know it like the back of our hand before long! Last week Mike got up during the night and he woke me up saying that he was lost and could not find his way back to the bed in the dark! After I stopped laughing I got up and cut the light on.

Leroy and Loretta are very happy here. They are getting much better about coming when called and love not having to be leashed!

Pictures, Finally!

2009-06-18T13:37:00.010-05:00

We are officially moved in! Boy, do we have a lot of stuff! How in the world did we accumulate all of it?

Here is a recap of the past week:

Granny and Poppie came up last Thursday to clean before we moved in. They did an awesome job and we really appreciate it!

Mom also came up on Thursday to help us clean and move. We could not have done it without her! Mom and I picked up an awesome little cleaner called The Shark. It is the larger one that they sell at Lowes. It is FABULOUS!! It will clean anything!

Dad and Tyler came on Saturday to help move and also do a few finishing touches.

Monday night we got to try out the transfer switch and it worked like a charm! There was a very bad storm that knocked our power out and it was very nice to be able to hook the generator up and pull the switch! We were able to run everything except for the larger appliances like the dryer, ovens and HVAC. There were several homes here in town that had very large trees fall on them. We only had leaves and small limbs down so we were very fortunate!

What a long crazy week it has been! We are very grateful for all the help our family has given us and also very thankful that we have a beautiful place to call home!

Here are a few pictures that I took last night. We are still working on putting everything away.

WE HAVE MOVED!!!

2009-06-15T11:10:00.001-05:00

WE HAVE MOVED IN!!!!! I will have a bunch of pictures to post when I get back to work on Wednesday!

Lights, plumbing and appliances

2009-05-29T10:42:00.010-05:00

Yesterday we got power in the house and the plumbing fixtures hooked up! It was so nice to go into the house yesterday and feel the cool air from the A/C unit! With most of the appliances inwe have been trying to decide what should be our first meal in our new house. Any suggestions?

CABINETS!!!!!

2009-05-26T09:30:00.009-05:00

We got a fabulous surprise yesterday when Dad called to let us know that Mr. Lewis was putting in our cabinets in !! I could not get to Hartselle fast enough! Sorry for all the pictures but I think they turned out great and want to show them off!!

Folding Table, Bookcases in Den and Bath 2

Master Bath and 2 pictures of Kitchen

Jack and Jill Bath, Mike's Vanity and Laundry Room

Last but not least, the hood.

Grout and Appliances

2009-05-26T09:22:00.006-05:00

On Friday our master shower and the sunroom tile work was grounted. Saturday, my parents brought some of our appliances up that we purchased in Birmingham. Thanks mom and dad, you are the BEST!! We really enjoyed spending a little time with you and can't wait until you can come and visit us in the new house!!

Tile work

2009-05-21T10:00:00.010-05:00

Here are a few pictures with of the finished vinyl and the tile work.

Tile

2009-05-13T13:32:00.005-05:00

The tile work has started! Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

Master Shower
Laundry Room

Jack and Jill Bath

Colors

2009-05-13T13:22:00.004-05:00

Here are the colors we have picked out for the house. Sorry for the paint chips on the scanner but since the lights are not functional yet at the house, this is the best I could do!

The dining room is the red, the master bath, kitchen/breakfast room and Jack and Jill bath are the Fernwood green, our bedroom is the linen sand, bath 2 is summer shower, the spare bedrooms, utility room and carport are the light khaki and finally the foyer, sunroom, living room and den are the golden straw.

2009-05-11T13:53:00.001-05:00

Update

2009-05-11T13:26:00.002-05:00

The sheet rock has been finished and the walls have been primed. I love seeing color on the walls! All of the brick has been finished and it is great to finally have steps to use to get into the house instead of a ladder! All of our flooring has been delivered and the ceramic tile is staring to go in today. We bought appliances on Saturday and my bathtub has finally been delivered! Also the most of the base boards, crown molding and window trim is up. It is very exciting to start seeing the finished product!!

Happy Late Birthdays!!

2009-05-11T12:04:00.005-05:00

We are back and have a ton of updating to do! I would like to wish my fabulous mother and sister-in-law a Very Happy Birthday!!!

Mom at her Fabulous and Fifty Surprise Party last year. Now she is fabulous and 51!!

CK and Matt relaxing at Christmas.

Fireplace

2009-04-27T13:59:00.002-05:00

How awesome is this? Things are really starting to come together!!

Insulation

2009-04-22T15:22:00.006-05:00

The insulation is in! The dry wall started going up today and I can not wait to see it! I am going to meet with an Interior Designer today to help me pick out the room colors. My mom is great at this but unfortunately she is 3 hours away and I need to have this done soon!

Bird and Bat House

2009-04-22T14:46:00.006-05:00

Mr. Mike made us several blue bird houses and a bat house. We can't wait to put them up!

2009-04-17T14:58:00.002-05:00

Close one

2009-04-14T08:00:00.010-05:00

We have been having a lot of bad storms up here lately. Dad called us Monday and said that he needed a chain saw because a tree had fell and was blocking the road. We had no idea how close this tree had fell to our house. I guess Sunday nights stormed turned out to be a little bigger than we thought! We are extremely lucky that this was the only damage that was done.

There were also two trees that fell that were in the back of the house. This is looking out our sitting room window. Mike sure does have a lot of work to do! Does anyone need any firewood?

This is a tree that is behind where Mike's barn will go.

And finally, what kind of post would this be if we did not get a little of Leroy and/or Loretta in it?

Loretta, the Sand Dog

Sunroom Heater

2009-04-14T07:50:00.004-05:00

We picked out a little heater/fireplace to go into Mike's sunroom the other day. We got it at Southern Home and Hearth. It is going to be perfect!

2009-04-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

2009-04-07T08:23:00.001-05:00

Felt

2009-03-31T15:02:00.001-05:00

The Attic

2009-03-26T10:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Late Birthday Bullet!

2009-03-26T10:18:00.004-05:00

Mike and I want to wish my brother, Matt, a Happy Birthday! We hope that you had a great brithday and can't wait to see you next weekend! I love you little brother!!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-03-25T13:02:00.002-05:00

I just want to wish my fabulous husband a Happy Anniversary today! We have been married 3 ~~long~~ wonderful years!

Joe Cat

2009-03-25T10:20:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was a very sad day in the Helmick Family. Our dear Joe Cat passed away. He was a wonderful and very loving cat. He was an excellcent hunter and brought home many trophies to give us. I have included a few of my favorite pictures of him.

Week 8

2009-03-24T10:03:00.002-05:00

Ms. Mary and Scott Visit

2009-03-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Ms. Mary (Mike's mom) and Scott (Mike's brother) drove over from Georgia yesterday to see the house and spend the night. I am excited that they came, but the visit was way too short! Scott flew back to Minnesota this morning and Ms. Mary is driving back today. I pray that they both have an easy journey back home.

I took a few pictures of yesterday's progess and of course I had to try to take a few shots of the family. Looks like yesterday and today are the only days they are going to get to work on the house because of the rain coming in tomorrow. I am thankful for the rain, but I sure wish they could get the roof on!

Roof

2009-03-20T10:39:00.001-05:00

Raise the Roof!

2009-03-18T08:53:00.001-05:00

2009-03-17T08:29:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 8 more days till our 3rd Anniversary!!

The guys were really busy yesterday! They got the garage framed and almost all of the sheating put on it! Poppie (the Master Carpenter according to Granny) started his first day on the job yesterday.

Please see the pictures below.

Garage

2009-03-17T08:19:00.001-05:00

Up on the Roof

2009-03-11T12:30:00.003-05:00

The pictures in this post were taken as we stood on the roof of the storm shelter closet. You can see all the ceiling joist. We also took pictures of the area surrounding the house. Mike sure has a lot of work to do with getting everything cleaned up! :)

Sorry for the little fuzzy spot on the pictures! I guess since it was hot yesterday, we had a little condensation form on the lens.

2009-03-11T12:20:00.003-05:00

The sheating is up and here is a picture of the front (minus the garage)

and here is the back

Update

2009-03-04T13:20:00.002-06:00

It is week 5 and things are really taking shape! All of the walls have been framed and the master bedroom closet/safe room block has been finished. Dad and the boys started putting up the sheating yesterday. I have been waiting for this part because it really starts to look like a house! Needless to say I am super excited!!

Mike and I have been feeding the guys a couple of nights a week and I am in need of some good crockpot receipes. If you have any, please send them to me!

Sheating

2009-03-04T13:05:00.001-06:00

Photobucket Album

Framing/Week 5

2009-03-04T12:30:00.000-06:00

Photobucket Album

Framing/Week 4

2009-02-27T13:16:00.000-06:00

Photobucket Album

Subfloor

2009-02-24T13:17:00.000-06:00

Photobucket Album

First Cookout and I Beams/Week 3

2009-02-24T10:02:00.001-06:00

This was our first cookout at the new place! We had yummy hamburgers and all the fixings. I had a great time and Mike did an awesome job on the burgers! By Friday they had all the I Beams in place and had started on the subfloor.

Week 2

2009-02-16T09:21:00.001-06:00

1st week update

2009-02-09T10:42:00.001-06:00

Last week we made a lot of progress on the house. Below are some pictures of all of the progress and of course some of Leroy and Loretta too!

The blocks will start to go up this week. Hopefully the beautiful weather we have been having will hold out, but I think we might have a little rain on Wednesday. Our road held up under the weight of the concrete trucks but we had to have a little work done of Saturday. Dad said that he was a little nervous watching them go up and down the road, but we passed our first test with the road!

2009-02-09T10:41:00.001-06:00

We have started!

2009-02-05T07:46:00.000-06:00

The fun has begun! Dad and Shane laid off the house yesterday and the digging will start today.

I am still learning how to use the video camera so it is a little shaky. The side that you see is the garage side. Inside the wood frame is a spray painted outline of the house.

The spray painted area above is one of the master bedroom closets. I will try today to get better video and pictures.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-28T08:39:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-28T08:35:00.000-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving in the trenches! We put together and laid the pipe that the electricity wires will go in. Now we are ready for power!

2008-10-02T14:06:00.001-05:00

Building the Road

2008-09-30T11:08:00.001-05:00

Last week we started clearing out for the house, barn and road! Most of the driveway has been cleared and rocks put down. It is going to take about 6 weeks to get everything finish but we are getting closer! Pictures are in the above post.

It's a ....

2008-09-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last night Matt and Carie Katherine told us that Puddin' is a BOY!! Mike and I are very excited and we can not wait to meet him!

2008-09-05T13:14:00.000-05:00

2008-09-05T08:07:00.001-05:00

HOUSE PLANS

2008-08-21T12:51:00.000-05:00

I can not believe that I forgot to blog about getting our house plans! I picked up our plans last Thursday on my way down to Gordo for the Girls Weekend at the beach. We love the way everything turned out but I think that we might be changing the roof style. We have a gable roof on the plans, but we really like the look of the hip truss roof.

I think tonight we are going to a flooring place to try and start picking out tile, hardwood and carpet. We are slowly moving toward our goal!!

Joe Wheeler Electric

2008-08-21T12:38:00.000-05:00

Well the people from Joe Wheeler Electric finally came out to look at the land and start working on getting power to the house site. We met from 7:30 till 9:00 this morning, and I think that we have all the possible routes for our power covered so that he can work on an estimate for us.

We have two main options for getting power to the house. The first is running a line over the road and this option involves getting a special permit from the State and that usually takes at least 1 month. The second option is pulling the line from the house that is right across from us. The engineer said that he will go by and talk with them about it, so hopefully they will give us premission to do this.

Please say a little prayer for us that the second option is the one that we get to end up going with because it will be much easier and we will not have to cut down a lot of trees.

New Piece of Furniture

2008-08-09T18:05:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the new coffee table that I picked up today for our formal living room. I think it is great plus I got a really good deal on it!!

Brick

2008-08-09T11:46:00.000-05:00

We went to Jenkins Brick today and picked out the brick that we like. While we were there they gave us the address of a home that used the same brick. We got to see how it looked. Dad is also putting this same pattern of brick on a house he is building. We picked out the Menawa brick in the Queen size.

Parks

2008-08-08T19:29:00.001-05:00

Parks Plumbing

2008-08-08T18:00:00.002-05:00

We had a great time picking out plumbing fixtures for the house. We got everything picked out in a little over 2 hours! I have included pictures which give you a good example of some of the things we chose. All of the fixtures are going to be brushed nickel. For the tub/shower combo there are two options for baths 2 and 3. The first is a single unit combo (without the shower door)and the second is a cast iron tub with tile on the wall around it. The master bath tub faucet will have a handheld shower head, but they did not have one like that on the showroom floor.

Last but not least is my bath tub. It is WONDERFUL!! Tomorrow we are going to look at brick!

Land

2008-08-05T10:12:00.001-05:00

2008-08-04T20:55:00.000-05:00

Mike and I went to Parks Plumbing Saturday to look at fixtures. We were totally overwhelmed! The lady we dealt with gave us a stack of plumbing fixture books a foot high! Well we have went through them, marked the things we liked and have an appointment with her on Friday afternoon at 2:00. She said that it could take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to get everything picked out. We will see how far we get on Friday.