We moved back into our house !!!! Yeah !!!!!

So the progress on the Linkous House is really good. We have moved home and are cooking and living in the house now. Yeah ! I am so thankful !!! Yes, we have more to do....the basement is full of things that need gone thru and fixed up and I have a few details to get together but for the most part we have survived.

(me down behind the stove wiring it up when it came)

I looked so horrible this day Kelly just had to snap a photo ! Lol

I lost 15 pounds from Jan 2 to March 2 from all the hard work and I have determined that it will only take me half that to put it all back with all the cooking that we are doing in the new kitchen the past two days.

(My & Mikey's homemade chocolate chip cookies...yummy they were good)

Breakfast this morning was nice. We had our first guests and tonight we have a full house. It reminded me today standing in the new kitchen talking to guests that we love what we do here. Tonight I looked past the nice beautiful living room into Mikes office and saw Mike setting at the desk, Dr Chemma setting on the desk and Rod from the Hospital perched up on Mikeys tiny chair in the office and figured out....we gotta have a couch in the office ! lol   I love sharing our home with guests. I love it. I love their stories and learing who they are and about their lives. I love it when they say they slept like they were home. That makes me happy.

I am going to pop in the room with camera in hand tomorrow morning and snap a photo of everyone eating. I am excited for Mike and I to prepare breakfast again for them all. I hope It goes as smoothly as it did in Mrs Linkous old Kitchen.

I made the best homemade chocolate chip cookies in there yesterday and today made homemade lemon pie. Made breakfast buritos today and practiced up on my omelet making tonight :) 

Now in another week I think I will be up and ready for scrapbooking !!!!! That is when I will know its all over and done....when I get to set down and scrapbook again ! 

-Wendy

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March 19th Progress on the Linkous House

In what has become ten of the hardest days of my life...second only to the 10 that followed the hysterectomy last June, I have pushed to finish the work on The Linkous House to open for business again on the First day of April. We are so excited to welcome our guests again this year.

One room at a time it is all coming together. The first floor is complete with a few tiny exceptions such as a stove and fridge. However, I have started to think that maybe I am not getting another stove ? hmm ? Maybe it isnt really on order. Maybe Mike is not letting me have another one since I was

so careless with the last one ?

The first guest room to be totally completed and ready for guests is the Papper room. The room is named after our first guest when we opened the bed & breakfast 6 years ago. 

Jim "Papper" has became a very dear friend to us.

On days when I am frustrated with the Bed and Breakfast game...I always think of Papper. I think of him and how had we not gotten into this business we would not know him or other wonderful people that we have taken in over the past several years.

I am posting a few photos here of the room today. I need to get a photographer to come do photos of the rooms when we are totally finished to use on the website. I cant seem to get photos I like on the second floor. The room is beautiful though. The quilts in that room make me so happy. I think I might sleep there tonight.

We have also finished the dining room on the first floor.

This is the front living room. I love love love it :)

(I still need some area rugs and a few things)

(fridge and stove come in next week)

(still gotta get the dishwasher in that hole)

Thank You every one who has sent well wishes and said prayers and words of encouragement during the past two months of renovations. It has been long and hard and we are so excited to get back in business again very soon.

-Wendy

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WE HAVE A KITCHEN ALMOST !!!!

Really quickly I wanted to post up a couple pics of The Progress on the Kitchen at the Linkous House B&B. It was wonderful today :) Its March 9th and we have a kitchen almost !!! yeah

I must admit that today I had to just set in the room when the crews were all gone and have myself a little bit of a cry. I couldnt help myself. It is so wonderful to see this mess almost over. It still needs lots of countertops, baseboards, sinks, appliances, etc but it got cabinets today built by Dave Wilks Cabinet Co and they have totally impressed me with what they can do. Thanks Guys !

The Painters (Mike Steele) made the walls this beautiful red that I was sorta getting worried

about..hehe...but now I totally LOVE !!!!

Okay gotta go...more to come...

-Wendy

New photos from the progress on the Linkous House Bed & Breakfast cleanup

So there are no scrapbook pages to report.

I havent gotten to make a scrapbook page in a very long time. It was nice to go to the scrapbook convention last weekend but I miss my scrapbook life.

That makes me sad but right now the push is on for the Linkous House.

(me and Mike Steele the painter)

 Its long hard days and we are pushing to get the whole mess cleaned up by April 15th.

Today I reported for work at around 8:15 and began scrubbing the floors. Its a hands and knees scraping and scrubbing thing to get all the fire soot up.

Before I could think I had two carpet men laying carpet on the third floor in three rooms. Which means that they tore that place apart !!! Shew. Right when I get one room sorta organized and cleaned up.....someone tears it apart and moves the furniture and rips into the whole room.

 They worked until five and didnt finish so the mess will continue into tomorrow on that project. At the same time....There was two drywall men who tore the second floor apart ! OMG ! I hate hate hate the process of hanging drywall. It is so so so messy. They are really good. Steve and Roger from AmeriKlean Rock !

(the wallpaper in the dining room finished today)

Then I had the ADT guy who came to service the units so that we can be sure

that we are safe when we get to journey home.

 I also had the wonderful painters today. They are super ! I noticed today that no matter what else is happening once the painters come thru....It looks good :) They are from Catlettsburg so its a long day for them even before they get to the house. We had a small delima today...lol....The front entrance was Blue before the fire. The color I picked out for the floor turned out to be not exactly the color I ended up with so it looked super ugly with blue....this led me to go to the paint shop with a sample card that I thought was going to match. It was one of the worst colors I ever saw put onto a

wall....hehe....It was like bird poo yellow !

So then....on the next go around we did a brown sorta color I thought...but that turned out to be more of a peach....shewie....Nothing matches this stupid floor !

(front entrance in peach for now)

I laugh that I am going to keep painting it a different color just so I can watch the adoreable painter longer :) Isnt the kid there in the middle a cutie :)  And the perfect man...he never says a word...just walks around and works and looks pretty. Hehe :)

We laughed that the color that I picked out when I went on my first trip to the paint store was the exact color of the guy in the middles shirt ! (hehe) I swear that was the color of the walls on the second try ! I think when I was at the paint store I was subconsciously matching his shirt...hehe :)

Thank heavens that Mike the painter is so patient :) For now I am keeping the peach color.

Big Mike, my hubby, came in from work tonight and the first words out of his mouth was....

"Yuck ! I hate the front entrance color"

Did I mention that It was a long day?

After the painters left, the adt guy left, the carpet guys left, the drywall guys left.....shew...I went into the kitchen and cleaned up. I just know that they are sick of me cleaning around them. I cant even help myself. Tonight I wanted so badly to just see the kitchen floor. So after my fifth time mopping the first floor I cleaned up the kitchen and organized the painters stuff. Poor fellas will come in tomorrow, again, and not be able to find any of their things. Lol 

On the bright side....the kitchen and pantry look so pretty :)

Okay, enough about the day....it was stressful and now its over...everyone says...Oh it will be over soon...or its no big deal..its not that bad...Its been 60 days since the fire and it is not getting easier...Everyday is more stressful and harder than the day before. I am tired in ways that I cant put to words. I so badly wish I could take back the whole mess. I just want to go home.

(the pantry in progress...lordie that freezer is filthy)

Tonight when we ate dinner,after I finally called it a day, Mike and I were saying how badly we miss our guests. I so much want to go home and open the front door and see one of our wonderful guests standing there. I miss the exploration of the day at the Linkous House. I miss the conversations over breakfast in the morning and I miss going to sleep knowing that someone from someplace else in the world has entered our home and found safety and comfort in their journey.

-Wendy

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CKC Big Buys from Louisville Ky this week :)

Where do I even begin with all the wonderful finds from CKC Louisville ? It was on my 40th birthday. Feb 26th-28th at the Convention center in Louisville Ky. And since I realized that while I was gone...my drivers liscense expired and I am gonna have to go take the darn drivers test...lol...it was a nice

little weekend get a way and Kelly and I had a ball !!!

 There are so many things I want to share. Maybe I will post a few of my favorites and put pics of it all in my sidebar and if you want to see them you can peek into the photos on the side bar in the next few days I will get them up in a file there.

(me getting into the photo)

(my partner in crime...Kelly )

(me with my beautiful little quilt pillow from the flea market)

(these super cool old bingo cards came from the flea market & we got lots of them for .50 cents from a guy who just didnt know that the scrcapbook stores sell us these things for 1.00 or more each) hehe

(I got these bottles caps and there was 46 in the bottle. I shared with Kelly and I only had to give the guy at the flea market booth my "fake"phone number to get these super cool deals...hehe)

Did you notice the one there in the center with the flower on it. That is a rub on I added to the top of it. I thought it would be so cool to decorate them to match the pages instead of just using the limited store bought versions that you get at scrapbook stores. We had bought a pack the day before at the scrapbook convention that had 6 on it and they were like two bucks for 6 lids and they were limited to what was already on them. Love this idea !

Did you notice the three clock faces. They were from old watches that had fallen off in the bottom of the guys boxes and we got several each for use on pages. A big ole snot dot on the back and these are gonna be great. The keys were the flat ones and we just dug thru bucket loads of them to get these. What a great find :) Dont you just love it all. I think Kelly and I both are forever addicted to flea markets now.

These little locks from old furniture are so super cute. Tim Holtz sells some like this I think and they are very wonderful but a little expensive. Ya'll know I am a Tim Holtz nut...but I had to have these they were so cheap !!!! I got this little batch from the bottom of a junk box that me and Kelly dug thru

and I love love love them !

We go overboard every year when we get close to this booth...shew...but they are so darn cheap here compared to home so we end up buying extras...hehe  It doesnt hurt that this booth is the very first booth as you walk in the door. At that point we are usually on such a high from the sight of it all that we are jumping to make a purchase...lol...we both said later...gosh...we went crazy at the bling booth. (lol)

Here we found stickles and since that was like on top of our list...we went nuts...hehe...it was buy five get one free so we did ! (twice) I am in love with the green one there second from the right !

I love it So much that I got two !

More bling...I told you I couldnt help myself...it was 1.00 each so I just had to get one of each color

At the flea market we found lots of little pieces of paper with different things on them like this stack of pillsbury cards we got for .50 cents.

(more pics of my lids, clocks and keys)

This stack of little quilt pieces were from a lady we met there who I loved. She gave me an old quilt before I left and I just fell in love with her. I invited her to come stay with us at the bed & breakfast as soon as we are up and going again. I hope she comes. I really liked her. She had the greatest ideas about quilts and I will post pics of her as soon as I get the photo from Kelly that she took of me with her. She had wonderful little quilts and purses and pillows and I just loved her ! Her name was Joyce.

I have a super duper plan for these...I will share later...so so pretty !

I took this photo of Kelly while she was taking a photo of me. When you scrapbook you learn to get pics of yourself in odd ways...hehe  I love this pic of Kelly.

And here is the one of me :)

So my very very favorite thing I bought this weekend is this little stack of wood trees. I got several because I am in love with trees right now. Just think of all the things you could use to make the top part. I have just laid a few of the items I found at the flea market on top of them so you can see the idea of what I am gonna do with them. I will post where they came from in a day or so because I know if you havent seen these your gonna want some. I love love them !!!!!

I got these coins off an old braclet that I got for 2.00 and Im gonna use them to make a tree.

(wont it be cute !)

OMG I love these trees !!!!!

On this one I am gonna put one of the old doillies that we got from the quilt lady. (Joyce)

I got lots of little things. Too much to list it all tonight but as I use it I will share it with you all. Notice I did get thickers...we found some for 1.25 a pack but they only had a few of those because they had sold em all before we found them. But we found some along the drive at a few big lots as well for 2.00 a pack.

Some more things from the flea market and the cutest little bird die cut ! Kelly got an owl one that I am so jealous of. I gotta order one of them. I know she will share with me too :)

I love these strips of bling. They were 1.00 each. Love em !

Love all the little butterflies :)

(us goofing in the mirror)

Okay I just cant share it all tonight. Lol. It was alot of fun and I love all the stuff. I will make a video this week of it all for youtube so you can see it all as I get it out.

Thankful for my goodies and for my trip and for Kelly who is almost as crazy about scrapbooking as me.

-Wendy

Progress was made today on the fire cleanup :)

Awwww....I was cleaning some of the things on my huge list of things to clean from the fire...and ran across this little bunny that I had made 21 years ago to hold the outift that I brought my son, Aaron home from the hospital in. I sewed the bunny from a pattern and the little cap is the one that Pikeville Methodist Hospital put on him the moment he was born to keep his little head warm. The little sailors outfit is what I brought him home from the hospital in and the two pair of glasses are the first two pair that he ever wore. No..the second and third...he lost the first pair...hehe...but the little bunny sets on top of a cabinet with a collection of ole lanterns and I dont get to really see it often. So when I got it down to clean today it made me smile. I am gonna do a scrapbook page of this because God forbid we ever lost the whole house and not just the kitchen...lol....then this is one of those things I would miss after. Im so thankful that it is okay.

So I am gonna put up some photos of the progress on the Linkous House from the past few days. Its amazing to watch how fast it seems in the photos when the time seems to be stuck during the days when I am actually working on it...lol

This is the kitchen at the beginning of thursday morning 2/25/2010

and this is the end of the day 2/25/2010

okay so this is the primer in this blue-ish color....but I sorta wish I had painted this color...lol....but tomorrow it is gonna look super scary....hehe...because the paint is going to be like RED ! But the cabinets will cover almost every wall surface and just a little red will show later so when I post the photos of it RED...remember that It wont be as bad when all those white cabinets go in :)

Filthy...dirty...nasty me :) I think I may never be clean again from all the work and fire soot

the dining room with the work going on still

(the front living room with work going on)

This is the front sunroom this morning before the work began and during the installation of some vinyl

(this is the truck load of clothes that the cleaning company delivered back to us today that I am dreading so badly having to carry to the third floor ) oh and they are stacked in the sunroom that I had just emptied )

(the wonderful painters)

(my birthday flowers from my Aunt Linda and Uncle Rich in Chicago that came in the middle of the mess) Thanks Guys...they are beautiful

(this window is between the sunroom and the front living room and this is a painting on the window from a local artist who is amazing. Its a photo of me and Mike and Mikey :)

(thats me again...Kelly was getting me all dirty for a scrapbook page) hehe

my nice clean drinks cabinet :)

(front living room work)

(some of the boxes that need carried up to the third floor & our clothes again)

this is me one year ago at the louisville ckc....my how hard this year has been..

..hysterectomy, fire, turning 40,my grandma sick....yuckie year :)

So thats todays progress. I will keep you posted....but for now....everyone be sure to watch Holly Fossen on Home shopping Network on Sunday morning at 6 am and 10 am. She will be showing my 15 butterflies and dragonflies templates in a Hot Off the Press Kit then...so excited !

I am off to Louisville tomorrow with my friend Kelly for the Creating Keepsakes Convention CKC. Cant wait to hit the shopping ! I need stickles colors...Tim Hotlz inks...more of them...hehe....some cardstock...maybe I dont Need the cardstock...but I know I will get some...hehe...okay...I will post again the progress on the house sometime next week.

-Wendy