Weekend checklist

Flooring in nursery - check
Crib assembled - check
Hang photos in kitchen - check (pictures of this to come)
Sorting/purging of kitchen cabinets - check
Sorting/purging of dresser in craft room - in progress
Hang shelves in craft room - postponed (We didn't have the correct type of screws)

Today's accomplishments

We've had a busy day today.
We started our day with a trip to Lowe's. We needed some more underlayment for the flooring in Lincoln's room and another organizer basket for my closet. We spent most of the afternoon working on the flooring in Lincoln's room.

Here's Steven, sprawled out in the floor, working on the closet flooring.

Throughout the afternoon, all of the animals had to check out what we were doing. Actually, it was hard to keep the girls out of our way. Minnie and Emerald have separation anxiety issues. Roush was pretty good about staying out of the way though. He just checked in occasionally to fulfill his supervisor duties.





I love it! It isn't quite finished yet, but after all the work we did, we got worn out and had to take a break from it.


We also assembled the crib!
Steven had to get in the crib box to make sure we had all the small parts out. :)


The proud daddy with his finished project.


And the happy mommy...

Getting ready for baby

We have officially started working on the nursery.

Over the last couple of weeks I emptied the guest bedroom and closet, dusted, and vacuumed. This was not an easy task. It also involved emptying and reorganizing the living room closet, reorganizing some things in our bedroom, cleaning out Steven's closet, several trips to Abilities Unlimited (and another pile waiting in our kitchen), and piling LOTS of stuff into my craft room. We'll worry about that later.

Steven is home for the rest of the week, so he took advantage of his spare time this week and started on his part of the nursery work. The carpet and trim have now been removed! We will be going Friday afternoon to pick out paint and will be getting the new flooring sometime this weekend. Hopefully we'll make a decision on paint colors, technique, etc. today. Hopefully.







Minnie Pearl and Emerald were very curious about what Daddy was doing and what was making so much noise.

Bathroom - check

Well, almost. I still can't find a light fixture I like!

Here is the latest picture. After we take out the braces today and I get everything cleaned up I will take a better picture. I'm pretty excited about it though! I think my husband did a fabulous job with the trim.



Oh, and here is a before picture.

Our Kitchen - the neverending work in progress

A few of my friends have requested that I post pictures of the work we are doing on the kitchen. Well, it is definitely a work in progress. I'm not sure it will ever end at this point.

Done so far:
painted the cabinets (Never again.)
replaced and refinished the ceiling (That was an experience!)
took out ancient lighting fixtures

In progress:
painting the walls
taking down old chair rail

To do:
paint trim
find new light fixtures
replace blinds
hang photos
get new door/drawar pulls
get new baby proof latches
get new baseboard for dining area


Wishlist: Well, more like the extended to-do list.
replace stove
replace flooring
replace counter tops
tile backsplash behind stove

Before:

It actually looks better in these pictures than it did in person.

In progress:

The raspberry color will only be under the cabinets in the kitchen area. Everything else will be gray, including the dining area.

Kicking and Screaming

Thursday night I felt my first baby kicks! I was lying in bed, and at first I thought I had imagined it, but then I felt it again! Friday morning when I woke up, I still wasn't convinced. I thought maybe I'd been half asleep and dreamed it. I went to stretch out on the couch for a bit and felt it again. Still not convinced, I changed positions and waited. Yep, still there, and in a different place! They are still light enough that I have to be paying attention to notice it, but it sure is exciting. Now I just can't wait until Steven can feel it too.

Oh, and the screaming? That's because we have way too much junk! This week I made my 5th (yes, that's a five) trip to Abilities Unlimited, and I'm still not finished. Can someone please explain how two people that have been married less than two years have so much junk?

New Furniture

I'm finally posting pictures!
Here is the furniture I got for my birthday.




More naps than I can count have already taken place on the couch and loveseat. Actually, I even caught Steven napping on the ottoman the other day. :-) Yes, that is a tv tray in the corner. We are still searching for the right end tables. We actually need a pretty large end table for that corner, and have yet to find any we like that are big enough.



I'm even more in love with this dining set than I was when we bought it. It is the perfect size for our tiny (read: non-existent) dining room. Also, because it is so tall, I don't have to worry about the dogs snatching anything left on the table while we aren't watching.

And here is a picture of the collage I finally got put up of Steven's sister's family. I'm so happy to finally have photos of our sweet nieces up to show everyone.

The big comfy couch

We got our new furniture in! They delivered it on Friday. Wow, it makes a difference too. Our living room looks a LOT better. We are still planning to get an entertainment center, but we have yet to decide on which one. We also need an end table of some sort, and preferably inexpensive. I guess I'll post pictures of our new stuff later. Honestly, right now I'm being lazy and have no desire to move my butt of my new couch just to take a picture of it. It's that comfy. Sorry. You'll have to wait. I'm sure you all really care what my couches look like anyway, right?

Hopefully Steven will get the kitchen and dining room painting wrapped up this week. Then he can put together my new dining room set. We decided to take a break from all the painting this weekend since Steven will be off work all next week. I figured he needed a weekend of nothing before going to work on the honey-do list. Oh yes, that's right. He has not one, but two weeks off work! We're pretty excited about that too. He's hoping we get some warm, dry weather, so he can mow the yard. He's missing his mower. And I must admit, our yard is missing that big green machine too. :-( It's lookin' kinda pathetic.

Anyway, I'm really hoping we can be productive in the next two weeks. We realized tonight that in May, we will have had this house 2 years, and we're just now really getting things the way we want them. Maybe it will be finished eventually.

My little troublemaker

Tonight I started painting my cabinets. After getting all the doors to the top cabinets painted, the pantry door, the sides, and some of the trim done, I decided to call it a night. I walked into the living room to grab my camera for a few in-process pictures of the kitchen. When I returned to the kitchen, this is what I found...

Apparently when Steven took the baskets off the pantry door, he just laid them on the floor of the pantry. One of those baskets just happened to contain doggie treats. Emerald attempted to help herself to the treats, and got covered in paint in the process.

I don't mean to be rude.

I feel like this girl right now.

If you have tried to contact me in some form or attempt to contact me this week, don't worry if you haven't/don't hear back from me right away. I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just super, super busy. I will get back to you though! Right now I'm taking a breather to let my mind settle before heading to bed.

Here's a little look into my crazy life lately:

Thursday, October 9:

• Class from 9:30 - 2:30
• Went wedding dress shopping with a friend
• Drove to Batesville to pick up Steven

Friday, October 10:

• Steven rented a backhoe and demolished/cleaned up our backyard. (Photos to come!)
• I finished editing Kayli's pictures (check out my photo blog!)
• I started on a 4 page (so far!) web site critique essay.
• We went to the Westside/Highland football game (Go Warriors!)

Saturday, October 11:

• I continued work on my essay.
• Steven continued work on the yard.
• I did LOTS of laundry.
• I took 2 quizzes for my online class.
• We had a date night and went to see Fireproof. Awesome movie! We both really liked it.

Sunday, October 12:

• Revival started at church
• I taught the toddler class.
• Lunch at church.
• I went to the bank while Steven went to pick up the TrailBlazer from the shop. (Oh yeah, did I mention we've been down to one car for a week now?)
• We came home, Steven grabbed a container and went to get diesel for the backhoe, and I put together my photo equipment. I also discovered that one of my light heads doesn't work! I'll be on the phone about that in the morning.
• Steven packed up and left for work, and I sat down to take a test for my online class.
• I spent an hour or so photographying my buddy, Carter, at his grandparents' house.
• I had dinner with Jason, Nikki, and Carter.
• I came home and worked on my web site critique essay some more.
• I started the typed portion and did some more sketches for a 40-page design book I have due on Tuesday!

And the upcoming schedule...

Monday, October 13 (tomorrow):

• Finish the web site critique
• Work on more sketches
• Class at 2:00
• Gym time/studying for Abnormal Psychology Test (I multitask!)
  

Tuesday, October 14:

• Web site critique essay due
• Abnormal Psychology test
• Design book, rough draft due
• Write 3-page pager over the influences and contributions of the portable scanner to digital media and design

Wednesday, October 15:

• BREATH!
• Class at 2:00 - Paper over the portable scanner due
  
• Photo session at 3:30
• Church (or more likely, sleep!)
• Put together door prize for Saturday
  
• Start editing photos from this week
  

Thursday, October 16:

• Clean house/laundry
• Print order forms for craft show
• Steven comes home

Friday, October 17:

• Clean house
• Put together background for Saturday's craft show
• Last minute stuff for craft show
• Set up for craft show at 5:00

Saturday, October 18:

• My first craft show!
• Photo session with my cousin right after that

Sunday, October 19:

• Back to church
• Photograph a birthday party at Craighead Forest Park

See? I told you I was busy, busy this week!
P.S. - Please pray that I don't lose my mind and/or forget anything really important!

What took me so long?

I finally started painting my bathroom! Before I started painting, I was a bit nervous about the color I picked, but once I got some on the walls I realized it was perfect. I've got two coats on most of the walls, and this evening Dad is coming to take the tank off the toilet so I can paint behind it. I'm pretty sure it will be completely done before Steven gets home on Thursday. Hopefully he will be able to find time to go buy the new baseboard this weekend. I'd like it to be installed this weekend, but I'm not gonna be too upset if it isn't. I'm just ecstatic to get it painted!

The color is Valspar, Mocha Syrup from Lowe's.