HGTV should give us our own show.

We were excited to get our hands on our new house. We had plenty of time before closing to plan our remodel. Could we have moved straight in? Sure. Did it need a bunch of work. Not really. But, like I've said before, we like to make things our own. On Saturday mornings we watch "Kitchen Crashers" and "Bathroom Crashers" and "Yard Crashers" while we eat our waffles. The Property Brothers have nothing on us.

However, we aren't fans of living amongst construction like a lot of those people on those shows. So our plan was to get as much construction completed before we had to move in. The remodeling list included the following:

• bust up all of the tile on the entire bottom floor of the house and replace with laminate, including the staircase.
• new carpet upstairs.
• paint both exterior and interior.
• paint kitchen cabinets.
• replace all can lights.
• install new ceiling fans.
• install new outdoor lighting.
• hang new entry light fixture.
• demolish and rebuild the family room fireplace.
• gut the master bath and install new flooring, tub, lighting, fixtures, vanity, and shower.
• remove unnecessary outdoor fencing.
• gut the utility room.

Yes, it is quite a list. And this isn't even everything.

We closed on the new house on January 6th. Moving day was scheduled for January 18th. That gave us 12 days to remodel the entire house. There wasn't a corner or a crevasse that we weren't planning on touching. Actually we wouldn't get in to remodel until the morning of the 7th, and we needed as much done as possible before moving day, so we really had about 10 days (TEN!!!) to get all of the construction completed.

Noooooo problem. All of our contractors thought we had lost our minds.

"Can you do it?" we would ask.  And they would smile and nod while on the inside I'm sure they were thinking that we were nuts or smoking some kind of hallucinogenic medicinal weed.

As much as we wanted it to happen, we realized that our list wouldn't be completed in ten days. There was no way in hell that was ever going to happen. We were realistic...somewhat.

"I just need the floors and the interior paint done," I kept telling the Golfer. "If those two things happen, we'll be okay to move in," I would say followed by a big, deep breath.

Would we have to live in a little bit of chaos? Yes, definitely, but we would make it work. Yes, we had to make it work. Were we confident? Sure. Overly confident. But that's how you get when you are in the throws of planning an exciting new project: everything is possible.

Until it isn't.

:: This little monument sits near the California Oak in the middle of our cul-de-sac. I think it brings good vibes to the neighborhood. ::