Twice Remembered is a FINALIST Thanks to You! + More Hardwood Flooring Installed

I am over the moon thrilled to share with my blog readers some very exciting news! All of your votes for our projects that we entered into the first round of the Repair-Home contest really paid off! I entered projects in 11 different catagories, and in 10 of those categories, our projects were voted #1! YOU through your votes made that happen and hubs and I can't thank you enough! I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a great year for Twice Remembered due to this contest because we are finally going to get to complete projects that we've been putting off for a long time!

I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a great year for Twice Remembered!Not only did your votes help us to place at the top in individual categories, but it put two of our projects into the final round of the contest. {There are only five finalists' projects total.} This final round ends on December 15th. The winning project receives a prize of $1000 {not too shabby, eh?!}.

So once again, I'm asking for your help and vote. {I appreciate your patience with me and my "like-a-child-at-Disneyworld" exuberance, hehe, but I've never done anything like this before and am thrilled that we've reached this final stage.}

The two Twice Remembered projects that made the final round are our Cottage Kitchen Ceiling project and our Kitchen Windows and French Doors project. You can click either photo below to be taken to the main voting page to cast your vote and to see more of the project photos if you haven't seen them already.

Cottage Kitchen Plank Ceiling

Kitchen Windows and Doors

Thank you once again! I may be posting about this once more before the contest ends in a couple of weeks ,and then you won't have to hear any more of me on the subject:)

In Other News...

Folks, we've got hardwood in the living room and hallway now! Yes, we really, really do! Hubs, who was sick last week, still worked like a dog to get the flooring laid - despite my pleading with him to put the project off until later so that he could rest. We still have a little more to do - we just ran out of time before hubs had to head to Memphis for the week, plus I was starting to come down with a cold bug myself. Have any of you laid hardwood before? Then you can commiserate with me on Mainly I just wanted to post a booty shot of hubs.how labor intensive it really is! I've been out of commission for a few days now {my cold has a bit to do with that, I'll admit} and I wasn't even the one doing the backbreaking part! No, I was the one picking out each individual plank of wood and laying it where it would need to be nailed down. I know - not so tough physically, but it does require some forethought and concentration...seriously! I wanted to make sure we were varying the lengths and that the pattern was random and interesting. Afterall, we could be looking at these floors for the next 20 years:)

I took photos when we were halfway finished, but I realized later that I had forgotten to put the memory card in the camera. When it is completed this weekend, I'll take some photos to share, but in the meantime, above is a booty shot of hubs laying out some planks across the room to get an idea of how many rows we'd need and if he needed to cut the first row. {But mainly I just wanted to post a booty shot of hubs.} Even though we aren't quite finished with the flooring in this space, OH BOY- I tell you that what we do have installed has completely and totally changed the feel of our living room! It feels crisper and cleaner than before - even with our ugly, flaking popcorn ceiling above and several other less appealing aspects of the space {future projects}. We just have three bedrooms to go and our flooring will be complete - but we'll get to those rooms a little down the road. My studio will soon need my attention again...I'm running out of time if I'm going to make my end-of-the-year deadline!

A Little of This and That...

I so appreciate all the kind comments in my last entry about my new haircut and color and especially regarding my little known facts about myself. I'm thrilled to know others who share some of my kooky ways! We're all beautiful people, aren't we?

We went to a lovely wedding last week sometime in between the days we laid hardwood. It was so.much.fun! I don't know if I was more sore from stooping over piles of planks or from dancing! But well worth it either one!

Our little Ruby was not doing well at all last week. It seems that her neck went out and I'm not sure how. She's a mini doxie, as you may know, and these little dogs are prone to slipped/ruptured discs and easily hurt their necks and backs. I believe that her leaping off our couch over the last couple of months is probably what caused the trouble. We don't let her on anything higher, but even 15 inches can do damage, apparently, and I should have been more careful to prevent her from leaping around so much. She's small and she's fast and she's slippery - like a wet seal. So it's not always easy to catch her in time.

Our little Ruby was not doing well at all last week...I was actually terrified.Anyway, she was in such poor shape suddenly - and I do mean suddenly - on Wednesday night. The vets office was closed on Thursday but we took her in first thing Friday morning only to find that they wouldn't be open until Monday. Argh!!! We called the emergency number and told the vet Ruby's situation and told him that we did have some prescribed pain/anti-inflammatory medication for our elderly dog, Cara Bella. After telling him the name of the medication, he said that it was exactly what he would have prescribed {but in lower doses} had we been able to bring Ruby in. Thank goodness! So we kept her confined to a small, warm space, gave her medication, and now she is fine and as rambunctious as ever. I am a lot more careful now about not letting her jump off the sofa or go down stairs, though like I said, she's a fast and slippery little creature!

But there was a day or so that I was so worried...these little dogs can even be paralyzed or die from such injuries. I was actually terrified. So take that situation and combine it with being in the middle of laying flooring, the house absolutely upside down with stuff stored and piled everywhere, three restless kids pretty much confined to their bedrooms, a sick hubby, a sick me, and a wedding that we wouldn't miss for the world...I just wanted to find a dark closet to curl up in until everything was right with the world again! Hubs insisted that we keep moving forward despite everything that could set us back - and I'm glad he did. I'm the worrier, he's the optimist. Gotta love him.

Today I'm going to try to restore some order to the house before hubs returns from Memphis tomorrow. It's upside down, I tell you!

Thanks for reading this novel of a post and have a wonderful rest of the week!