We were so excited to have all the new drywall to be read to be textured.
It was such a great feeling. Until...

My kids ran into the wall. Oh no....
Then I noticed that it wasn't the texture I wanted in my room. Husband ordered a different texture than what mamma wanted.
This wasn't good.
The first real miscommunication with the house. Things got really tense for awhile. People say construction can tear a family apart; I can see why? It really is a high stress project, yet we were bound and determined to work through this one.
God is so good because just at the right time my Aunt Janette called to talk about her drywall projects. That was God's grace. It helped us to get out of our sorrow.
We ran over to her house to see the types of textures. She helped us to make a decisions, and educated us in the process. 
Thank you Auntie.
Thankfully with one phone call Eddie got it all squared away.

So while the adults were handling that problem, my kiddos were busy at work.

Sampling colors. (I got in the mix too Aged Beige we will see how you do)

Setting up solar lights for the front yard. My son figured these guys out without directions. (Lol)
Then my girls spaced them apart and set it all up.
Thank you smartie cutie kiddos.
And of course...

Playing... and posing for pictures.

Well here is the view from our entry bench.

Psalm 16:5 says God maintains our lot. It was God's grace for me that not only did He maintain my lot at the new house but for the old as well.
When I got home, I realized I left my stove on. (not good) The only damage was my pot was burnt up but God covered me.
I was so discouraged at my stupidity, but I had to keep going forward.
The baby sitter came over and Eddie and I headed off to the house to work.

So we packed the car and off we went. Here's another grace point.
Even after a rough afternoon, Eddie was gracious and took me out for a coffee.
He loves me;I love him.

One day I will wear make up again, and wear cutie clothes, but it's work time.

The crazy wall paper marathon.

So proud of the kiddos. Look at those lights glow.

There they were all ready for bed when we walked in the door. Our babysitter was reading to them and gave them a great afternoon of fun. God's Grace Again.
I am so thankful for all the help we've received in watching the kiddos.
Thanks Nicole and Kirey, Michelle, Gina, Lisa, Debbie, and Becky.
Blessings.

Today, the family and I got to lead worship for Calvary Chapel of Orange. We had a wonderful time there. It's always been a blessing.
Soon the fun stopped another began.
I went from heels to hammers.

Since we are in a bit of a crunch hour, we had to work work and work our way through the weekend. All the drywall that needed replacing had to be put up so the dry waller could continue on his journey through the house.

Then it was off to work we go with our helpers.

Then again, as always, it was another run to our most visited store.

Then again. This time just my son and I.

I enjoy the journeys of errands. It give me a chance to recalibrate.
You know buying a fixer upper is quite the experience.
You first are so excited about it, then reality of all the things that are wrong kick in, then you start to put it back together, and the excitement returns, and finally the decorative stage and move in.
Well, our journey has us 23 days in the finding the wrong and starting to put it back together.
We've been quite tired and overwhelemed at times, but that is just part of the journey.
Thankfully, my family is all been hard a work to help us.
Thanks you all.
Anyway back to the day.
Then it was on to more wallpaper removal.

Victory!!! I finished the dining room.
Boy it took me at least 3 days of work. It's coming off slow and steady.
Now on to the last and final room. (It happens to be the biggest of them all lol)
But I am up for it, but my body has to rest up for that job.

Then it was dedicating the new closet my kids will share.
The wood work looked so much like a cross that we had to put Jesus' name on it.
Just a Berry thing to do.

Well, when we all could handle no more work, we called it a night.
Another weekend over and another week to begin.
Such is the cycle of life.
Blessings.

Since our drywaller is able to get to our house, today became a day for patch work and more well you know...

wall paper removal.

I borrowed the bandana from Bob. Lol I love it. It empowers me to work harder. LOL

I love my mom in her tool belt. She is so prepared for everything. LOL
Bob is also working to do some patching some places.
So thankful for them.
Meanwhile, my son returned home from camping just in time for In & Out lunch.
Fast food has been my survival lately. It's a love-hate relationship for sure.

Then it was back to wall paper.

It's someones birthday around here.So we had to make a few fun stops along our journey today.
Then it was a bit of home work (lol) and off to the construction stop for more supplies.

Back at the house, it was such a joy to see the first step of drywall getting done. My son was excited to see his room getting prepped.
Exciting, soon we will be ready to paint; If I can find the color I want.
The hunt is still on.

Then, the hunt was on to find the camping gear. Mind you we've never camped out, so this will be my sons first time.
Success! We found it.
Now it was time to go prepare for the expedition.

When Daddy got home, they did a mock set up to make sure all was working in proper order.

Since the boys were having fun, the girls were gonna have a fun night out.

There was dinner...

Presents...

Of course, CAKE!!!

Now that all the fun is over, we got to get ready for a big, big, big work weekend.
Blessings.

When I woke up, I had the brilliant idea to pack up the car so that we could start moving boxes to the new house. I was proud how I tied the rack to my car all by myself. :)
But then it happened.
What you say?!?
Well, Little Missy here decided she was too tired to work.

So while, she was getting work done on her...
I was working on a little appreciation gift for our hard working family.

It just feels so good to bake. I love it. Sorry missing picture of the final product...

Here a little trivia about our house: it has two or three different types of texturing on the walls.
Some from the 60's and one more modern touch.
So we definitely need a texture guy especially with all the wall paper removal.
So here's were the answer to prayer begins.

Not only did we complete the wall paper in the master bedroom, our dry waller called and said he could start the job earlier than expected; his job got postponed on the other site. Hooray. (Secretly, I had been praying that he could start earlier but he had another job in between getting to us) So when he called, It was God. (even his wife said that she thought we must have been praying :) Yes Mam)
So with Drywall going in, it's really time to make those carpet and paint decisions.

Ralph came over to drop off some more carpet samples and Annalee and I think we decided on Eternal Sand. I like the sound of it.

Meanwhile, the kiddos were happily playing outside.
Here is the shot from the kitchen window....I see you.

It's funny when you buy a house, how your name gets on all kinds of lists. We have people trying to sale us all kinds of stuff right now. Crazy. They drop of gifts, drop of notices that we have packages, but in all reality, it's just more marketing. Some things we appreciate others well, not so much.
Lol
It's all apart of the journey of being: Home Owners.

Then, Eddie and I had a night away to meet up with the couple Eddie will be marrying in a couple of weeks. Just a nice time to hang out and chill.
Blessings.

Truth be told, we Berrys all had a rough night last night.
Kids exhausted, Daddy exhausted, and mommy too. It just wasn't how we wanted to end the night. Thankful thought, God's mercies are new every morning.
We woke up to this note from Daddy.
Thanks for the Reminder. Let's have a better day.

Back at the house, we had run into some electrical issues. At first of course this bummed me out, but then I realized it was a blessing in disguise. Had we not found the first problem, we wouldn't have found the others. There were wires completely exposed in one part of the house, so when the electrician went to investigate, he was able to fix it all up. Thank You.

Then when Dad got home, it was off to work we go. High Hoe High Hoe it's off to work we go.
The kiddos had another plan: peeking over the neighbors yard.
This is one feature I don't like about our yard: low walls.
We will need to build those up soon but for now our kids think it's funny to peek over.

Yeah, kiddos come over here. There is another neighbor in our back yard we can peek out. What?!?
Yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Robin.
Be careful their nest had a beautiful Blue egg waiting to hatch.

That's it for the outside, now on to the inside.
There was writing our names on wood.

More paint sampling...

Of course more wall paper removal....
Then it was off to the store to make a decision on base boards.

Should I go large (4-6) or small (3.5)
Decisions Decisions everywhere.
I will keep looking for now.
It was a well deserved birthday pizza break.

Watch out, she thinks she's 16!!!!

Blessings

Here's our layout so far. The first step is to pick them out. Second is to paint them on the wall. Third, is to say yes to the paint or No.

Another way to make this a totally experience, it to have your friend come along. Not only is she a doll, she's a designer and I am so thankful for her help today.
Now it's time to get it on the wall.
But first I need the brushes. I forgot them.

The kiddos and I decided to track just how far the beach is from our house: 3.5 miles.
We got down to the beach, only to have our friend and her children pull up beside us.
They live just around the corner from us. Well, they had a beach pass and we didn't, so we headed home while they got sand in there toes.
Note to self: get a beach pass.

We got to the house and mom was working hard. You just never know what Nana will be up too.
Just glad she's there to help us do all the handy work. Thanks Mom.
We called it a day.
Blessings.

I am learning that doing a bit of fixing up on our new home can be quite consuming. It seems that we've created quite the pile of to-do lists for the new home. Some things are going quite fast while other projects are taking more time than expected.
I hear that is normal, yet there was one thing I wasn't prepared to handle: Both homes.
With so much focus on the new home, my duties on the condo have fallen down a bit. There is a delicate balance here that I am finding out.
Where to put my attention and when?!?
Dishes here, wallpaper there. Trash here, watering there.
So in the midst of it all, I am torn between two worlds.

Balance is key here.
So Sunday we decided to keep God priority and take time to go to church.
It was actually nice not to put the work clothes down for awhile and to dress up a bit. LOL

But then it was time to get those clothes back on and do some more improvements to the house.

Bandana Bunch.
I actually felt a bit empowered with the bandana on. It felt good.
So today's task was of course Wall Paper removal and a bit of saw dust.
Mom loves to create a saw dust festival in my house.
She sends it flying....

I send it to the dump....

Then there is the balance of the kiddos.
It's not easy to have the kiddos around during all this change. They've been absolutely wonderful helpers, but sometimes they just need to stay home and play.
So we've been fortunate to have helpers come over and help them.
So whether it's TeePees at the new house
or TeePees at the condo, giving the kiddos some fun time as been a necessary thing to do.

Finally, back at the new, there was another first.
I watered my entire yard for the first time.

Hooray. It's done. 
I hope I kept in my 15 minute time frame. 

When you have helpers coming to the house in the early A.M., there's definitely a need to stop and get some "Joe" okay and bagels.
We were having plumbing issues, so we called a friend.
They sent out a guy lickadee split. 

Then it was the carpet haulers. Phew look at that 60's carpet go.

While he was on that, I was on sweep duty.

So much better. 
That's it for the house at the moment.
The kids and I are headed to find a fun lighting if we can.

We saw many beautiful things, but still not sold on our entry light.
I want to make a statement with this piece, just not sure how.
The search continues.

Later Daddy came home and we all got to work together again.
Team Berry Style.
That's basically it today.
Somedays there's just not a lot happening.
Pace, Pace, Pace.
​Blessings

The kids have been doing so well with this journey, so I decided to let them have a casual Saturday morning at home before we headed to the house.
We stopped on the way to pick up lunch for the family that was hard at work.
We brought a cooler and sun tent for the occasion.

After lunch it was busy time on the inside.

Then I heard a loud truck and saw it pulling up in my driveway. Who was that?
Dad with more landscaping for the backyard.

Then we got a call: Friends were gonna come.

I love watching my kiddos work with their grandparents.
Today, my dad was able to educate us and our friends all about grass.
Funny, how the kids were fascinated by this process.
So a mini-lessons was learned today. Hooray.

After the Lesson was the fun.

Then it was back to work for me on WALLPAPER.
But soon another friend showed up.
Took time out for a selfie.

And finally, my replacement for the wall paper showed up.

Slow and Steady wins the race.
Okay, so I really didn't get that much work done today, but yeah, I got to learn about grass, see some friends and feed the people I love.
It seems like a success to me. Don't you?

Yeah the Grass is really Greener on this Side. LOL
I was always wondering about that saying.
Blessings.