Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Ahhhh

Meet my toilet.


I have a special fondness for this lovely piece of porcelain.

We are smack dab in the middle of renovating our bathroom.  Hubby was hopeful that the entire project would take him 4 days (so we went to my mom's house for a visit before the baby comes).  Ah, but no.  We should know better.  This cute little house is 116 years old!  You just never know what you are going to find behind walls and under floors.  It turned out that the floor under the old sub-floor had dry rot.  So, hubby had to pull all of that out and replace beams.  He also found that someone had really taken some short cuts on the plumbing.  So, all of that had to be fixed, too.  Needless to say, M and I are back in town and "roughing it" at our house.  Oh, in case you didn't know, we have one bathroom.  So, for 24 hours we used the convenience store and grocery story for a little relief.  NOT fun when you are 8 months pregnant!  Yes, this is a first world complaint/issue.  I am fully aware that I would not fare so well 8 months pregnant in an outhouse or using a pit in the ground.  I can not tell you how happy I was when our toilet was installed last night.

Tub is going in right now.  Hooray!

One more picture of my friend.  I do have before pictures and can't wait to show you them along with after pictures when we are done.  Consider this a sneak peek.


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Monday, February 27, 2012

Some Odd Going's On.....

This weekend was an interesting one.

Friday: I started the weekend off on a horribly sad note.  I found out my friends brother took his life.  This following her fiance's suicide in June and one of her best friends (In her suicide awareness group) in December.  Having this all happen to one person almost within a half of a year is unimaginable.  My thoughts and prayers are with her family and her precious two little kids at this time.  

If this story does not make you consider having the "Suicide prevention" talk with your children (age appropriate children of course) I hope you will.  My heart has been aching all weekend for those left behind to grieve and try to make sense of these tragedies.

Saturday: I bought me a Groupon to a new trendy little diner that opened here in town here this past summer called: Sammy's.  
  Makes me hungry just looking at it!

 Look at this menu.....YUMMMMMM

They are famous for their Pie Shakes and old fashioned diner style burgers and fries.  They have a kind of Retro/Indie style atmosphere and put a large emphasis on supporting local musical talent.  

I was stoked....we got the family ready to go, drove down and they were filming a MOVIE downtown at our Ghetto bar blocking off the entire road!  Really???  So, instead we came home, cooked us some dinner, ordered me a new laptop (hooray) and filed our taxes.  Super exciting night I tell ya'. 

Sunday: on our way to Sunday dinner at the in-laws house we decided to take a walk on a trail along the Provo River.  That was an adventure in and of itself.  The trail was sandwiched (by chainlink) in between   two of the saddest looking trailer parks I have ever seen, the slow dirty remnants of the Provo river and a run down KOA.   To top the trail off, it abruptly ended in pieces at the base of a torn up viaduct, thanks to the seemingly forever-ongoing freeway construction.  NOT what I was expecting from a "river trail" and NOT a trail I will recommend or visit myself again. 

We ended the night on a positive note with some delicious food and the Oscars!  Congrats to the Artist.  I thought it would take it.  There were some AMAZING movies nominated this year.  I have not seen the Artist yet but really want to.  

Maybe on our next date night....IF I can drag the hubby to it.

How was your weekend?





Sunday, February 26, 2012

Art Attack & the Oscars.....

One of my goals for 2012 has been to make more time for fun with the kids.  I have challenged myself to do a Craft/Project with the kids or the very least Indiana once a week.   

Sadly enough, even being home, life just gets so busy and finding time for the little things that count can sometimes be difficult. 

Indiana has been begging me to paint; so,this weeks project was PAINTING!  
 We just went for freestyle this time.  No project, just paint....which is always the best!
I just can't get enough of her little people-SO PRECIOUS
She did a great job!
She even helped her sister....which is a nice change to the usual sibling rivalry.
And there she goes....

Overall I think it was a success.  Some new art for my walls and my project checked off for the week....not to mention the girls had some fun :).

I am just a little pumped for the Oscars tonight!  I told the hubby that one year I am going to have myself a cheesy Oscar party where everyone dresses up and the red carpet is rolled out.  

It's on the bucket list ;).

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Bring on the Spring already!

In direct contrast to my last post.  I am SO ready for Spring!!

I got my snowman AND got to wear my cute new snow boots....it is time to move on ;).  

In tribute to our Spring fever my mom planned a cookie bouquet day for the kids (she is absolutely amazing at finding fun interactive kid projects). 

We had a lot of fun!  
 First we started with A LOT of cookies (I think the count was close to 100).....
A couple tubs of frosting, some bamboo skewers and a big bag of gumdrops (YUM).....
A set of little hands.....
Some quart canning jars......
And one of the best grandma's ever....
In the end we made enough to give one to each of my siblings' families and a few for neighbors and friends.

They were a big hit and a super yummy!  
 
I think it may just become a "break out of the winter blah's" tradition (as long as grandma's on board ;)

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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Baby Shower

My dear, and very sweet friends, Jody and Cindy, threw the perfect Baby Shower for my little guy and me on Saturday.  It turned out so nice. 

Cindy hosted at her beautiful home and was a decorating pro!  I thought I took a picture of the little clothes hanging above this table.  I'm so sad that I didn't.  She had clothes for the baby hanging on a clothesline just above the table.  Such a good idea. 


 
The picture in the white frame is the little guy's ultrasound and it says "Love at First Sight" below.  Isn't that the cutest?


These are the clothespins that Cindy made to hang the little clothes above the cake table.  She glued 3 layers of brown scrapbook petals on top of the pins and added little blue ones for the middle.  Leaving no detail behind, she even placed a little drop of glue in the center.  They turned out so cute.

I loved the "Wishes for Baby"!  Jody was in charge of games and brought these for everyone to fill out.  It was fun to read them when I got home.  And, I'm super excited to have something for the baby's Baby Book!  I still haven't finished M's.  So, this makes me feel a little better about having something for Baby #2.



Isn't this cake AMAZING?!  The bow, tag and base were made of sugar.  I really hated cutting into it!



The inside was just as delicious as the outside looked.  Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate....YUMMM!



The little guy received many very nice gifts.  I loved the little suit with tie.  Cracked me up.  He'll still be too young to have an opinion about it....I'm thinking it will be perfect for Easter next year. 

It was a great shower.  Thanks, ladies!

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Monday, February 20, 2012

I finally got my SNOWMAN!!

We FINALLY got some snow!  It didn't last very long and I knew it wouldn't; so I rushed my family out the door yesterday to build ourselves a snowman!  It has been years really :).  

It was a family affair.......
"B's" ate her some snow!
The "Coyster" took out his snowball blaster
Funny how the four year old helped more than the twelve year old ;)
The hubby even helped....after my comment, something to the effect of "don't be a lame-bo parent & come build a dang snowman" :)
As I said it truly was a "Family Affair" 
Indiana named him frosty.....it was love at first sight!
SUCCESS!

How was your weekend?



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Make sure that your seatbelts are buckled.......

And keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.

It appears that our pursuit for a new home will be more akin to a Roller Coaster Ride.  Now I love roller coasters, but taking a ride without the promise of cotton candy and corn dogs after simply isn't the same!

In the past week we have made an offer on a house that needs A TON of repairs (mentioned in a post last week), they rejected the offer and said they were taking their chicken coop and swing set with them.  Ha!  Okay....we are submitting another offer to them today because we just keep coming back to that house.  And, we are submitting an offer on another house that the hubby and I keep forgetting about.  "Why?" you ask.  Well, it's a short sale and a very good deal.  We have learned so much about short sales in the past week.  Brother!  What a mess our country is in.  Oh, yeah, the very first house that we REALLY liked online had it's first buyer on its' short sale fall through.  So, we got first dibs on that one a few days ago.  But, when we went to see the inside, we ended up hating it.  Isn't it funny how different things look online than in person?!  Can you imagine how many surprises people have had with online dating sites??  Hahaha!

Bathroom at one of the homes we put an offer on.  LOTS of TLC needed.

We also ran into a Real Estate Agent last Saturday at a home we saw listed that day.  He heard that we didn't have an agent and jumped right on it.  I can't tell you have great he's been so far.  That has been a blessing.  Especially with all of the Short Sale and Bank Owned rules to learn.  It has been a relief to hand over the task of looking for homes to him.  I am at 32 weeks this week!  This girl has got to get ready for a baby!  Which brings me to another twist in our roller coaster ride:  Our house.

Another bathroom in the same home.  It's too bad some of the tiles are broken.  I love the 50's style!

Hubby has been tasked with painting our kitchen this weekend.  I can tell you that he is NOT looking forward to it.  But, with a baby only 8 weeks away and needing to put our house on the market, it is a must.  Poor guy is currently enduring my "scheduling".  I had to pull out a calendar last night to show him just how very little time we (HE really) have to paint our kitchen, completely remodel our bathroom, paint our bedroom and have carpet installed.  That's everything that needs to be done in the next 2 months.  After the baby comes, he's got to work on replacing fences and getting the outside ready to sell.  THEN, if we do close one one of the houses we are making offers on, he will have a lot of work to do there.... It will be a VERY busy spring to say the least!

I'm off now to purchase a changing table.  Preparing for the baby needs to be top priority.  Otherwise we'll end up in the same boat as when M was born!  I'll tell you that story soon.

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

My theme for V-Day this year....IRONY

Here is a little continuation to the V-Day theme.  First of all Heather your post was VERY sweet!  I loved the candy bar idea, it reminds me that I need to make time to do cute little crafts like this for my kids.  Just looking at it made me smile.  

My mom always makes the BEST heart shaped sugar cookies every year and my hubby's mom makes hand dipped chocolate strawberries.  Mix those together and you can never have a bad V-Day!  

The only thing that my Valentine's day lacked was the pictures!  Even without them I have to blog about it.  

This year I had a "serious" discussion borderline argument with my hubby about his lack of surprise, romance, or sentiment when it came to Valentines day.  I seem to keep bringing up the ONE year he went to Wal-Mart in the morning and bought me a really bad gift....poor guy. 

The irony....I said ALL of this and I myself, headed for Target yesterday afternoon (Yes on Valentines day) to pull together a last minute present for the hubby :).

He decided this year to prove me wrong.  He planned the sweetest outdoor candlelight dinner (in our backyard) in front of a fire in our Chimnea.  I am telling you the guy REALLY pulled it off!  

He hired (bribed) the kids to be the waiter/waitress and got my parents to watch the baby.  

We walked back and he had the table set up, sent a text to the waiter to queue the music (A CD I had put together for him on a previous V-Day) and out came the waiter and waitress with a menu of Bombay House my all time FAVORITE restaurant.

It was awesome!  It made me cry a little.  My husband said he was going to go into work and shout "I SCORED" and no one would even know he was talking about the Valentine's idea ;). 

Bringing us to the lack of pictures.  I asked the waiter aka the "Coyster" to bring out the camera and he couldn't find it.  Too bad for the hubby, I told him he needed to pack a picture around in his wallet for the next time I tried to bring up the Wal-Mart incident.

Last night could prove to all men that your plans don't have to be elaborate or expensive to mean a lot to a lady....the just need to be PLANS! 

To add a little visual interest to all you visual blog readers out there (I hope you were able to make it through the V-Day blurb).  Heather and I were talking about the "Stay Home Mom Life" yesterday and I came across this picture I thought EVERY stay home mom or even working mom alike would appreciate.  

I love this, so true.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was in such a hurry to get M to pre-school this morning that I forgot to take a picture of her.  She's such a sweet girly girl.  She wanted to wear a pink top with hearts on it, pink pants, pink socks with hearts and sparkly pink shoes.  Definitely the perfect Valentines outfit!  She was so excited to take her little Tinker Bell Valentine Cards to all of her little friends.  It was very sweet.

Speaking of sweet, my mom is so very sweet.  She sent M and I Valentine gifts yesterday.  Check out these cute candy bar wraps she made:


Aren't they Awesome?!

She first took some scrapbook paper and cut it to the size of the candy bar.  Then she just wrapped around the candy bar and embellished the front with ribbon, scrapbook gems and buttons.

This one is mine:


This one is M's:


I love the cute little ladybug button!

My mom is very creative and always does things with style. 

She's great in SOO many ways!  She's truly the best mom.  I'm only sad that we haven't gotten her VDay gift in the mail.....this Saturday we are taking a few packages to the post office.  Wait, I'm having a baby shower on Saturday.  Going to have to recruit the husband.  He'll love that.

I love Valentine's Day!  I never have been one of those people that dreaded it or got grumpy thinking about it.  I've always looked forward to it.  One of the reasons that I have always loved it is because my mom has always gotten me a sweet gift for Valentine's Day.  It always made me feel so loved.  I have fond memories of Valentine's Day growing up.......I remember one VDay when I was in Junior High School my mom got me the cutest outfit.  It was a pink top with a white skirt and pink leggings.  You pulled up the skirt on one side and fastened it with a big pink pin, so that the leggings showed beneath.  It was the '80s and it was perfect!  I have a little gift for M when she gets home.  I am hoping to pass on the same good VDay memories to her.

How about you?  Do you love/like/hate/dont' care about Valentine's Day?

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Friday, February 10, 2012

I'm O-U-T!

St George here we come! It is like pulling teeth to even get a LITTLE getaway these days but we have decided no time is truly IDEAL and we are ready to go.

Things I am looking forward to:
65 degree weather
Sunshine
Blue skies
The beautiful Redrocks

 Oh and maybe taking some new family photos.....I have lost some weight AND now some hair! 

Oh Heather I LOVE the studio by the way!  I think I need one of those myself ;).

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Thursday

Only one more day until Friday!  Hooray!

Did you know that you can freeze pancakes?  I had never thought about it until about a year ago.  Hubby likes to make pancakes on Saturday mornings and he typically makes far more than we will eat.  A while ago we decided to see how they would freeze.....not bad!  M loves them for breakfast during the week.  We found that putting a small piece of wax paper between the pancakes (in a freezer bag, of course) is the trick.  It keeps them from sticking together and helps prevent freezer burn.  Now all I have to do on weekday mornings is take one out of the bag and warm up in the microwave for 1 minute.  They taste much better than the frozen varieties in the grocer's freezer section, there's no preservatives and they are a money saver.



Yep, Domestic Diva here.  Just thought I'd share that one.  Guess what M had for breakfast this morning?

Other things on my mind this morning:  A house and remodeling.  Hubby and I made an offer on a house yesterday!  Now it is making it hard to concentrate on anything else.  We weren't expecting to buy a house anytime soon.  Things just lined up in the last couple of days.  We saw this house on Saturday and were surprised by the price.  So, we looked at it on Monday night.  It needs A TON of work. Like the entire house needs SERIOUS work.  But, the area is great and my husband just happens to be a Contractor and I'm an Interior Designer.  So, what is probably scaring most people away is a challenge to us.  We haven't heard back from the sellers yet.  We're hoping they counter-offer today.  I am trying not to be too excited by it, as there are so many factors to be dealt with between now and a potential closing (if we agree on a price).  But, I can't help but think about this:


And this...


And this....


And this....



And then there is this....


I know, I know....now I'm just dreaming.  Isn't that studio just AMAZING, though?  Jody, this is what I think of when I say I need a Studio.  :)

Dreaming,
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