Just when you thought it couldn't get harder...

So sometimes things in my life sail along pretty smoothly.... that is not the case today. We have now 30 days until we need to be in our new home, and 35 until we are expecting a baby. We still need every room patched up in some way, painted, carpet or floors installed and refinished, new back doors, a master bathroom tiled, and the lights and electrical work finished. Unfortunately, electrical is one of the first things that needs to happen before the other things can get finished. We hired an electrician that we could afford financially, but now I am wondering if we have the time to afford him. He told me that he needed to miss a day of work to support his girlfriend (ok, no problem), but now he is sick and the one day has turned into 3 and I don't know when he'll be back.

I feel like Heavenly Father is blessing us to be able to find the things we need for good prices, and that we have saved a lot. But, at the same time I feel like we are bleeding money and won't possibly be able to get everything done. In fact, I know we won't be able to get everything done, but now I am concerned about the things needed for the first phase of this fun project, "making it livable again".

I am still very excited about the potential, but it is pretty stressful. Along with the wonderful day of reality checks, we got to have Halloween! It was actually fun to see the kids excited about trick or treating. Hyrum was a cute little guy and seemed to rake in the candy even though he didn't want to go to any house that looked even a bit sketchy. So for only visiting 1/3 of the homes, he did pretty well.

So gravy mix was dumped all over the floor

Then we looked and learned that Hyrum wanted a bowl, and the gravy mix bowl was the best he could find I guess.

The Project!

We bought the house next door and have started renovations. We need to move out of this home completely by the 30th of November. So that is 40 days from today. Here are some pictures of the home as we bought it.










We have been working hard on getting it ready to fix back up. We don't have the after shots, just the before, and the middle shots of some of the rooms.

One big pile of Crazy!

I decided to start a blog, since I'd like to have a record of how we survive these next few weeks/months/years. So this is more for my own benefit, but anyone who'd like to join the ride is surely welcome. :) "One big pile of Crazy" is the way I best describe our phase of life right now. We have decided to take on more projects at one time than most sane people would ever choose to do. Here is a little glimpse:

- Baby #7 is due to arrive in 9 weeks

- Rick just started work on his master's degree which will take 2 years

- We bought a home that needed fixing up, and have started renovations. We are supposed to move in 7 weeks.

- Basketball season is about to start, Rick plans to coach at least 3 teams for the kids I believe.

- Regular life and what that brings with it.

- Very limited budget.... should get interesting.

I am not complaining, I'm actually very excited about where we are in life. But I know that it is not going to be easy, so it is concerning for sure! Here goes the sugary sweet part... I have awesome kids! I love my husband to pieces, and our differences make me giggle (and often make the both of us crazy). I've dreamed of having a home of our own that is perfect for our family, and I really think this one has the potential to be that home. We've had lots of adventures up to this point through basketball and living in Germany, and I'm excited for the adventures we get to have here. Being in Germany kind of limited the amount of chaos I could allow into my life at one time. So, I have to be more careful not to allow too much chaos in, now that the possibilities are endless. :)