Quarry Orchard

2011-11-16T12:11:00.001-05:00

Congrats to comments number 2, Allenaim Photography and Design!YOU WIN the Shabby Apple Necklace!I have emailed you with the information that I need. =)

Shabby Apple Giveaway

2011-11-04T09:48:00.001-04:00

I always see the great products from Shabby Apple around the web. They have such beautiful vintage clothing pieces. When I was a classroom teacher, I always wore jewelry. I wish I had discovered Shabby Apple’s jewelry sooner!

Today, I’m excited to be able to offer one of their great vintage jewelry pieces, Key to Wonderland, to you!

There are so many beautiful vintage dresses, pieces of jewelry, and skirts at www.shabbyapple.com that was very difficult to choose. Now that we have a girl in the house, I can’t wait to shop in the baby and kids section of their site as well!

There are three ways to enter to win this amazing necklace. You can do one, two, or all three.

1) Like Shabby Apple on Facebook. Come back here and tell me in the comments.

2) Become one of my followers and let me know. (Or just let me know if you already are one!)

3) Share about this giveaway on your blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, etc and let me know in the comments.

On November 14th, I will randomly select the winner. Please make sure that you are not a “no reply” commenter so that I can reach you!!

For the next 30 days, you can also use the code quarryorchard10off to get 10% off your order!

Happy shopping and good luck!

Shannon

*We are finally starting to get into a routine where we feel human once again. Linden was 3 weeks as of yesterday and still sleeps like a champ! While I’m on maternity leave, I plan to get caught up on posting about projects that have been brewing here for the past several months.

Oh, Baby!

2011-10-24T14:22:00.001-04:00

She’s here! Yes, SHE

On Wednesday, October 12th, after a morning trip to the specialist, a scary amniocenteses that wasn’t as bad as I expected, and a few hours of waiting in the hospital, Linden Marie was born at 3:13 in the afternoon at 35 weeks and 6 days.

Weighing in at 5 pounds 12 ounces at birth, she’s so little, but not as teeny as I actually anticipated!

After a whirlwind of a day of sitting around while waiting for lung maturity test results, we got the call at 2pm. The specialist called my cell phone just after I sent Dustin down to the cafeteria for some lunch. I had been fasting since midnight but Dustin “gets the shakes” if he waits too long to eat. As I hung up with the specialist, the nurse came in to tell me the results were mature and that my ob had called to report that we’d have a csection at 3. (do you remember that I said it was 2?). I called Dustin to tell him to hurry and to call his mom. Moms and others had been on standby at home all day. We were fairly certain that we would be having a baby that day, but it wasn’t 100% until that phone call with the results.

I had been getting prepped for surgery most of that afternoon, so at 2:45, we headed back.

W cannot say enough wonderful things about our doctor. We love, love, love her. (She actually had a baby boy one week after delivering our little bundle to us!) We didn’t know we were having a girl until birth. A few weeks ago, our dr asked us about names. I joked that we had some but a lot of Dustin’s were getting deleted. (no offence if you love the name…) but I didn’t see myself having a baby named Walter. I said that if I gave birth to an 80 year old, we’d call him Walter. As she was delivering, our doctor announced Linden’s gender by saying, “this baby is going to be so mad if you NAME HER WALTER!!!”. It was funny and perfect . She had actually only found out we were having a girl that morning. There was only one ultrasound girl who knew, and she lied the whole time and said she didn’t. We found out the next day that she knew and had actually bought us some girl clothes a long time ago. (Not only is our doctor great, but everyone in her office is as well!)

We are finally getting a bit of a routine down. And by a routine, I mean that we’re able to start functioning once more. I’m complete off pain meds and am finally learning when to sleep. Dustin has been fantastic and gets up with us 99% of the time for feedings. He changes her and helps wake her up and passes her off to me. I’m off work until December and Dustin just works one more day for this season. In December, I just work VERY part time. This week, my brother, sister in law and nephew are in from LA visiting. So, we have a bit more of a houseful this week, but they’re holding their own with meals and laundry Who know how many cloth diapers a newborn went through in a day!!

More pics to come! We have a few…

And the winner is.....

2011-09-17T16:29:00.000-04:00

Gail from Myrepurposedlife won the UPrinting giveaway!
Congrats, Gail!

Coming soon when I get a breather... How not to prep your house for a baby. That's the approach we seem to be taking :)

A quick UPrinting giveaway!

2011-09-13T22:51:00.004-04:00

I have a great giveaway from UPrinting!

One winner will receive:

250 Personalized Stickers that measure 2" x 3.5"
70lb Label Matte, Front Only Printing, 4 Business Days Turnaround

Restriction: Limited to US residents 18 years old and above only.

These Personalized Stickers can be used for anything! Address labels, fun stickers to use for Christmas cards, anything! By hosting this giveaway, I receive one set of 250 as well. I am using mine as labels for the wooden toys that my mom and her hubby are making to sell at a new local artisans and farmers market (more on that SOON!).

If you aren't sure where to start, they have great Product templates!

In addition to the stickers, UPrinting offers many different Printing Services as well!

Now, in order to win, just comment on this posting what you will do with these if you win!
A winner will be selected at noon on September 15th.

This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive stickers for hosting.

I told you I was bad at resolutions....

2011-08-13T18:05:00.000-04:00

See why I don't make New Year's resolutions? :) 13 days later, I'm back. But the thing is, I'm at my blog every day. I use it as my gateway to the blogs that I read on a daily basis. So I have a daily reminder of being a slacker.

But, a few things I do have to blog about:
-Can It Forward (did you know today was National Can It Forward Day?)
-Our livingroom into a diningroom transition (It's in the works now)
-Table drama
-and all the things that come with the above topics.

I also need to get in gear with some baby projects. (side note, I failed my 1 hour glucose test this week... fantastic... so I get to go do the three hour this week, fun)

So, there are things happening around here! I even stopped biting my nails! I know, shocker! I count that as a victory even though it seems I can either bite my nails OR blog. Breaking nailbiting AND blog slacking at once may just be too much to handle :) No really, I'm just working a ton in order to take more time off and have less students in December. When I'm not working, I'm writing papers. I'm also planning to take a leave of absence on my doctoral work this fall. And, when I'm not doing that, I'm napping.

So, I make no promises. But, I am still plugging away on things and even take pictures of them alone the way :) So, one of these days....

Resolution, Procrastination, and Silhouette Imagination

2011-08-01T17:05:00.001-04:00

August 1 is just as good as a time as any to make a resolution, right? I never make New Year’s Resolutions, so why not make one for August 1?

I’ve given up on not biting my nails. So, I’ve decided to get in gear and get back on the blogging routine. I started slowing down while I was sick during the first 3 months of this pregnancy. Then, I slept through the next 3 months. Now, we’re 6.5 months along (YAY) and I’m getting some energy back. I’m also starting a super busy month of work. But, I seem to do better when I’m super busy. When I have too much free time, I just seem to nap.

So, here’s to getting back into blogging. I have a lot of stuff to write about!

First up: my first project with my Silhouette…. that I bought in February. Yup, that’s right. I’m that much of a slacker. It didn’t just apply to blogging. It applied to everything including fun things (like the Silhouette) and important things (like cleaning).

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a project. It’s not that it was that intricate or difficult. Again, it’s because I’m a slacker.

(I should have realized this when Dustin asked me a few months ago, quite hopefully, “so, when are you going to start nesting?” We both laughed… me from the couch and him from the kitchen where he was fixing supper… he’s a keeper, that one)

So, I present: the project that took me a month and should have taken an hour.

Ok, so it’s kinda three projects. But still, it was an afternoon project, not the lengthy process that I drug it out to be. Hudson actually outgrew the onesie that I originally bought for this project while I was procrastinating.

Part of the reason for dragging this project out: I’m cheap. I wanted to avoid buying iron on transfer and tried cloth with iron on stuff on it first. Then bought print and cut iron on transfer stuff… then broke down and waited for my shipment from Silhouette. So, basically, these cost me at least triple what they should have. But, I’ve got supplies for days!

I never did figure out how to get my fabric to cut neatly. Here’s my first attempt:

Blah. That got promptly thrown away and caused my first break in productivity. Which, I guess was good since this started out saying “Hudson” and he would already not be able to wear the clothes with his moniker attached in blue fabric.

So I waited patiently (slackers can be very patient). And worked on my design while my shipment headed my way. Since I was working on something for 2 boys and one girl (nephews and a niece), I tried to find appropriate things to add to their names. Hudson is a farm baby and Hadley is obsessed with Thomas the Train. The green crane can pass as Cranky to a 2 year old, so it wasn’t all too difficult to fine what I wanted… and in one purchase!

Then, I just laid them out on the page. I wanted them to be a bit more than just a name with a picture, so I altered Hudson’s name a little to make it look like it was being pushed by the dozer. (Or at least that’s the look I was going for :))

It was super easy. Those Silhouette people created this for people like me. I just highlighted his name and then UNGROUPed it. I kept Hallie’s a bit simpler. Once I saw the butterfly, I thought it was cute enough with no ‘extra’ added to it.

Then I was able to rotate the ‘n’ until I thought it looked intentional and not just a sloppy, slacker accident. Once it was in the right place, I highlighted all the letters and the bulldozer and regrouped it all so it was easier to move around.

For Hadley’s, I just clicked his name and used the green ‘thing’ at the top that appeared and rotated it so it looked like the crane was picking it up… or putting it down.

Immediately before this step in the photo above. I got stuck though. I used the Silhouette to cut the images out (luckily, the iron on transfer reminded me that I needed to reverse the images!). But, I’m a nailbiter (in case you forgot since I mentioned it an hour ago when I started typing this massive post).Nailbiters have a difficult time getting the negative image off the clear sheet.

So, Mom came over to can some veggies and I used her nails to get them started. A step that was impossible for me to do alone took us about 5 minutes to accomplish. (Dustin is not very accepting of a nailbiter’s woes, so I waited on Mom instead of asking him and being told I shouldn’t bite my nails :))

Hudson and Hallie will get their shirts when I see them tonight (the main reason why I finally ironed them on… again, a 5 minute job that I put off) Hadley’s is going in the mail to head to California soon too.

I do have an older niece, but I thought she’d enjoy the tattoos more than a shirt. So, once I get those done (ok, and the tattoo material ordered… ) I’ll get started on those and inform you of all the nitty, gritty, boring details :)

*Anyone else notice a trend in the baby names in the family lately? I told Dustin I almost feel the need to find an H name for the unknown gender baby who is coming in 10 weeks or less*

Victory is (almost) mine: garden success

2011-07-10T21:59:00.000-04:00

The zucchini is starting to bloom and produce!!!

The tomatoes are also starting to produce. These are about the size of dimes in this picture.

Knock on wood, the chickens have been kept out of these! I do have something eating leaves on my tomatoes. I'm on the hunt for him tomorrow.

All tiled out

2011-07-08T21:43:00.001-04:00

Over the past two weeks or so, Dustin and his mom have been working on getting our downstairs (under the stairs, actually) bathroom put together.

We once had a foundation leak (as seen here) that led to use ripping the whole bathroom, purple and black mold, included. That link also includes all the fun we had with a backhoe in the backyard fixing the foundation leak, the masks we wore while we ripped out moldy drywall and bleached it all down, and flooding that was both IN and OUT of the house that summer… fun.

This wall is the back of the house and is MOSTLY underground. Dustin wants to replace the window and make it useable. (my vote is to just cover it up…) But, this is what we had after he drywalled (here), plumbed (here and here), and studded up a wall (here)… in the complete reverse order I have listed :)

So, after all that fun, Dustin and his mom primed the drywall and put a few coats of masonry sealer on the back wall. Minus the gross, old, boarded up window and the still nasty floor, it was so much cleaner in there just with paint.

Then, it all got a coat of Bay Oyster (a Valspar color we had matched in Behr semi gloss) and Porcini (another Valspar color in Behr, satin). The while is what the trim is in the bonus room. We bought enough to paint all the trim in the house with it. Porcini was going to be the floor color in the bonus room until we decided to stain the plywood instead.

Then, another evening, they tiled the floor using the Orchid Tile ceramic tiles that we won from the DIY Club in December. (the link to the plywood floor talks about that).

The light bulb in there is an awful “daylight” one hanging from a wire, but here is the “finished” tile job minus the grout.

The color in this next one is completely washed out, but it shows the back wall along with the beadboard wall next to it. We wanted to keep the block wall open for now. We know the leak is fixed, but we like to keep an eye on it. We would like to maybe tile the wall eventually.

Luckily, we won 25 sq feet of tile. We have about 6 inches square left over! Just enough to keep in case we need to get more or to match it to anything!

Now, we just need to grout, trim, touch up, and (oh yeah) bring in the toilet off the side porch….

But I”m SO HAPPY with the progress so far! As we get closer to being done, I’ll get together a really before and after post of this room. Although it’s small, the difference is already amazing. The mold may have been beautiful shades of purple, green, and black, but mold is mold… any shade and color scares us! So, this room is already a 100% improvement! And, it’s mold free!

“Pot” garden expansion

2011-06-27T18:02:00.001-04:00

Yes, we joke and call our container garden our “pot” garden. But, hey, it is doing WELL!

We started with this…

And had to expand to this interim size….

I plant too thickly and have to transplant. My theory is that if I just plant a few seeds, they won’t germinate. If I plant the whole packet in one pot, my pot will runneth over.

I still haven’t thinned out MOST of this. I really only transplanted the basil, zucchini, and kohlrabi.

Basil earned three new pots (and is still technically too thick… but it also too small for me to be a good transplanter)

The zucchini, on the other hand, took over several pots and are growing strong. I went from one clump of 6 plants, to 4 pots.. some with one, some with two. I figured even if they are a little crowded, we’re still going to have more zucchinis than we know what to do with when they start coming.

Things also seem to be doing quite well in my shoe organizer turned planter.

This as taken with the camera held way over my head… not a bad job if I do say so myself! :) It’s also the only way I can tell if anything is sprouting in the top level!

When I first planted this, I watered it nightly. Then, I started backing off a little to every other evening. We’ve had about a week of DOWNPOURS daily, so I was given a break and it is doing great! I worried that it was raining so hard that it would break things off, but everything (even my cilantro!) is doing well.

Starting at the bottom, I have mixed lettuce, basil, kale, cilantro, romaine lettuce. Each type was given an entire row. The bottom row was the only row where I planted an entire seed packet in the 4. It is VERY THICK. I think once it gets a little bigger that I’ll pull them out and divide them up. I’m not sure how well it will do so crowded. Again, I needed some restraint and needed to follow the directions. (I did neither)

Hopefully, next year when I’m planning our pot garden, I’ll read this for reference and will take my own advice…

we’ll see….

Baseball tickets and FOOD giveaway!

2011-06-20T17:23:00.000-04:00

Take me out to the baaaalll game....

Source: everyday-glimpses.blogspot.com via D on Pinterest

Take me out to the croooowwwwd!

Source: google.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Not only does Indiana Family of Farmers want to take you out to the ball game, but they want to FEED you and your family while you're there!

When: July 19th

Where: Indianapolis Indians game at Victory Field

What it includes: 8 tickets, along with wristbands that will get you a hot dog, hamburger, or pulled chicken BBQ. Baked beans, pasta salad, fruit salad, cookies, and drinks will also be served!

How to win this glamorous package:
Entry 1: Head on over to http://www.facebook.com/FamilyofFarmers
to LIKE them. Come back here and leave me a comment that you've done that.

Entry 2: Follow then on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/FamilyofFarmers). Come back here and inform me of this as well.

Entry 3: For those of you who REALLY want an extra bonus entry, follow my blog and leave me a comment about how you are so in love with my content and projects (and how big of a slacker I am these days in the blogging world)... or just become a follower and tell me that you just want the tix and exclude the compliments I jokingly fished for. I'll still count those as well. :)

My hubby and I plan to make the almost two hour trek up as well, so not only do you get all of the above mentioned prizes, you ALSO get to see us. (please still enter, we won't talk to you or act like we know you if you politely tell me so when I notify you of your winnings :))

For even more information, see the IFOF's website.

I'll do a random drawing on July 2nd. Good luck!

Pssst- Once you LIKE them on Facebook, you can also see other blogs that are giving away this same prize!

Green thumbs

2011-06-10T09:29:00.003-04:00

Throughout the summer, my mom always has a gigantic garden. As veggies start to ripen, we can like crazy. Dustin and also get veggies to eat fresh there too. We had a small garden once. I didn’t weed it (too many snakes around here back then). We tried a few container tomatoes last year- I think we harvested one tomato.

This year, we’re giving it another shot. Since we now have the Chickens of Mass Destruction and since I still don’t plan to weed a garden (my growing belly is my excuse this year!), we’re giving container gardening another shot, but with a different angle.

I recently discovered and became obsessed with Pinterest. I found an awesome vertical garden there, but knew that we just don’t have time to guild anything. So, I searched some more and discovered that people have been using over the door shoe hangers with success.

Most people who container garden have limited space. We have the space, but with the chickens, my weeding boycott, and all the trees, we don’t really have a good spot for a garden (even though we tried one year…that area is now the day lily garden).

I hoped to score a shoe hanger at Goodwill, but struck out, so I hit the dollar store and for $6, this was all mine.

I ripped it open and got to work. It had a pretty strong chemical smell though, so I checked the tag to see how to wash it. Instead, I found this, which I then ignored.

Since we’re planting in it, I didn’t like the chemical smell and thought it was best to wash it to get as much of that out of it as I could. So, I washed my over the door shoe hanger so I could put dirt in it.

This set us back a day, so the next night, Dustin hung it to the clothes line for me with a few nails.

As always, his ladies came flocking (ha). They follow him around when he’s outside.

*Evidence of my need to weed can be seen in the above picture at the ends of the day lilies.

Then, we filled them with dirt, planted the seeds and covered them up.

After giving it (and myself... and the baby) a good misting with our hose that apparently needs to be on tighter, we were done with this part. I still had some seeds left, so I decided to plant the leftovers in some of the pots I have.

I planted them all and then made little rock name tags so I wouldn’t mix up my kale and spinach, my zuch and squash, etc.

I lined them all up on the backs of the bench just off the kitchen. They get good morning and afternoon light here. And, hopefully, this area is fairly chicken free, so they’ll stay out of them.

This project was less than $20. That includes the seeds, 3 bags of “dirt”, and the shoe organizer. That’s not too bad, unless it all becomes chicken feed :)

There a chance that this might be totally unsuccessful.

Well, there are probably a few reasons, but the one that I am aware of is with the dirt I used. When purchasing it, the checkout girl told me they had something that was $2 cheaper per bag. “It’s the same stuff”. Sure, I’ll take it. We got home, planted all our stuff and then I saw on the bag that it said “not for use in containers”. What? It definitely was NOT the same stuff.

I’ll be happy if 1/10 of my seeds germinate and produce some veggies for us. I tend to overplant and crowd things, so hopefully I have to thin out all my plantings, but I’ll be happy with just a summer of basil (and enough to freeze for winter) and zucchini! We’ll bum the rest off of Mom :)

$5 find

2011-06-07T21:36:00.001-04:00

Today is Dustin's Saturday. That means that he’s been going a million miles an hour since his feet hit the carpet. Late this morning, he wanted to run some errands and I wanted to check out Goodwill and hit the dollar store and True Value for an upcoming project.

I struck out at Goodwill, (or so I thought) and had to get my supplies at the dollar store and True Value. But, on my way through, I spotted this frame.

(Since these are obviously taken from my house rather than the store, spoiler alert: I had to go back later today and buy it)

As always, Sophie showed up just as I was taking the pictures. In this next one, She’s helping to show the largeness of this frame, along with the gross backside of her tongue. I apparently didn’t give her time to get cleaned up before snapping the pic.

Anyway, the painting has a gash in it diagonally up from Sophie’s ear. Lucky for me, I didn’t buy it for the painting. The frame itself is (mostly) wood and is very well constructed. It is made to hold a canvas. And, it’s HUGE.

I followed Gail’s $5 rule and still walked away this morning thinking “Dustin will die if I walk out with this and not what I came for” and “where will I put it”. It comes up to my belly button so there was going to be no sneaking this out to the car. He doesn’t mind when I buy things, since I NEVER do, but, his hesitation starts when I can’t identify the exact location/purpose for an object immediately before purchasing it. Not a bad trait, but one that can get in my way when I find a bargain I can’t pass up (a second time).

By this afternoon, I was still thinking about the $5 frame and all its glory and possibilities. So, when Dustin realized we were out of kitty litter (EMERGENCY!), back to town we went. I knew not to push my luck and see if he’d grab it for me, so I tagged along and crammed it in the back with Ellie, kitty litter, and dog food.

The deciding factor(s)? Well, it’s huge… it was ONLY $5… it can be painted… and, since we’ve lived here for a little over 5 years and have 99% blank walls, I think I can find a place to put it. (Dustin had no argument in return when I posed that last point!)

So, for now, it’s probably going to end up in the TO DO pile, of course. But, we’re in the midst of redoing the baby room and possibly the living/diningroom and my office while we’re at it. (go big or go home, right?)

So, I have plenty of potential places to hang a possibly empty, gigantic, $5, Goodwill, I-gotta-have-it-Honey frame.

You can't have anything nice....

2011-06-06T19:56:00.000-04:00

Dustin wasn't a cat person when we started dating. Slowly Margot and Dyna (who got hit by a car almost 2 years ago) slowly won him over. They were cute kittens and constantly wrestled. It helped that Dyna was more like a puppy than a cat.

Over time, he started calling them "vermin" and started saying on a daily basis "you can't have anything nice with cats". They didn't destroy much. They were hard on things though.

Over time, he still says "you can't have anything nice with cats". I don't hear the term "vermin" as much anymore; it must have been reserved for "Dyna so Fina" as he called her :).

However, he has never had any pets that I could say the same about... until now.

Enter the Chickens of Mass Destruction.

They eat every bloom on every flower I have. They pull up a lot of those flowers at the roots. Then, they found the lavender.

I ran them out every time I saw them in it. They apparently loved it. I got pecked. I got ignored. I even tried to shove them out of it and got no reaction... other than my foot getting pecked even more.

So, I moved my lavender.

This was lavender that I bought on SUPER sale last year and nursed back to health.

Can you see the little bit of green life left in it? Here's a close up...

Oh wait... the Chickens of Mass Destruction completely killed all 6 plants that I had.

I've given up on trying to plant anything where the lavender originally was. It has turned into the chicken dust bath area instead. I can't win. I feel too bad leaving them in their coop and runs all day when it's hot. This is what I get for being nice :)

Fancy is lucky I think she's the cute one with her jet black eyes. (It helps that she's also the little one).

So, from now on, at least I have a leg to stand on when Dustin starts "You can't have anything nice..." I can not interrupt him and finish with a "with chickens of mass destruction".

*He also told me before we got them that they would eat bugs and kill/chase away snakes. I have seen zero evidence of either of these. In fact, last summer, they were all in a circle (when Margot was stuck in the tree for the second time). I went to see what was going on. As I got closer, a snake that was part of the circle took off in one direction, scared all the ladies and they ran in another (closely on my heels).

You can't have anything nice.... (well, except for daily fresh eggs :)... I won't add that part though....)

My task for June: Spare bedrooms

2011-05-29T20:47:00.000-04:00

It's not gonna be pretty.

It's not gonna be fun.

But, it's driving me crazy.

First, I'm tackling the closet in my office:

It's not awful. But, it has a mix of crafty supplies, wedding dress, stuffed animals from my youth, sorority clothes from college, frilly dresses from when I was less than 3 feet tall, and Barbie dolls still in boxes.

I'm planning on getting out everything but the crafty stuff first. Then, the craft supplies will be tackled along with this room:

This room is part baby stuff, (Most of that is shoved into the closet), part furniture with nowhere to go, part craft stuff, part "where's this go? I'll put it in here for now".

There are also MANY mini projects in this room-- empty photo albums and boxes of pictures, my crate of house ideas waiting to be put in a binder, my box of cookbooks waiting to be gone through and put into some sort of binder/organization.

This will all have to be done in between naps, work, and paper writing :)

Here's to June and productivity!
Cross your fingers!

Marital bliss- The Matt and Mandy Edition

2011-05-26T22:57:00.000-04:00

A few weekends ago, one of my younger cousins tied the knot.

A week before that, we took out the minor for some good, clean, bachelorette party fun.

Sarah (far right and sister of the bride) and I were the only ones in the 21 and over crowd and I'm preggo, so we spend a good portion of our afternoon at a Japanese Steakhouse at the hibachi grill. Mandy, the bride is on the far left in the pic. My belly and I are in the middle :) We did try to get Sarah to be a team player and party for all of us, but she was responsible and declined :)

As usual, the restaraunt was not a disappointment.

For the wedding, Mom and I were in charge of reception decorations. I also stole Mandy's NICE camera and went to town.

The date that Matt and Mandy selected also happened to be our grandparents' anniversary (they didn't realize that when they set the date!). When my grandma turned 16, my grandpa gave her a locket. When Mandy turned 16, Grandma gave her the locket. It found a very important position on May 14th. (which, ALSO happened to be my grandfather's birthday)

(Mom used to own a flower shop... so she did all the flowers too )

The happy couple is also in this picture too :) I'll spare them from being plastered all over the blog though.

We also happen to think that May is a great time for weddings. Tomorrow, Dustin and I will be celebrating our 5th anniversary.

Here's a blast from 5 years' past :)

We plan on celebrating by breakfast out (most likely Bob Evan's, ha) and a trip to Lowe's.

Tomorrow is also the second birthday anniversary of our little boy, Lane. So, we will be spending tomorrow evening just as it gets dark at the cemetary with our family as we do another sky lantern release like we did last year. It's a day of mixed emotions, but one we celebrate and honor.

California and Indiana randomness

2011-05-10T15:16:00.001-04:00

Where to start? Well, we're HOME! :) We have been for almost a week :) I'm just now getting back to my routine again. I use “routine” loosely these days. I went to the dr last Wednesday and baby was moving so much it was hard to get pictures! Today, I also started a new kind of blood thinner. Now, I only have to give myself one shot a day rather than two. As someone who has 'needle issues', this is HUGE! :) And, this type isn't supposed to make me bruise as badly either. Another victory!

So, since I’m so far behind, here are some California fun pics!

Dustin spent about 5 days in Daniel’s attic rewiring. Then, one afternoon finishing up the recessed lighting and their new light fixtures. This room previously had no lights. (The weird shadow is from a lamp, not the lights)

We took their dog to the dog beach one afternoon for a day of fun in the sun, selfies, and crooked sunglasses.

It was a neat beach. Dogs were allowed off their leashes and loved the water. There were a few sailboating classes going on at the pier that we could watch also.

On our last day, we headed to a new park in Culver City and took in some views of the city.

Then, Dustin got to be pampered by an early birthday present from Daniel and Angie; he got to go have his first massage. After spending a week in their attic, I think it was the perfect gift! :)

For our last evening, we headed to another park to swing, walk along the pier, and have dinner.

Today is Dustin’s first day off since we’ve been home. We got home at 9 last Tuesday night and he was at work at 9 the next morning. Today’s festivities have included dropping his keys down the garage drain and cutting down a dead tree in our yard.

As always, the beagle and I were there for moral support, watching, taking pictures, and being glad that the tree fell where is was supposed to fall and that the keys were retrieved after about 15 minutes of effort…. and being a bit stalkerish and taking pictures from afar while the subject was unaware.

Guest post at MyRepurposedLife

2011-04-29T12:24:00.000-04:00

I'm a day late and a dollar short.We were without power here yesterday because Daniel and Dustin were in the attic while Hadley and I played trains, read about trains, pretended to be trains, talked about trains, and sounded like trains :) Today, they're back at it (while Hadley's at schools and I'm online working). Hopefully they'll be able to get the recessed lighting in the living room done today!

Head on over to Gail's to check out my guest post at MyRepurposed Life from yesterday. I made homemade dog treaties that Ellie loves and are super cheap and easy!

Workin' in sunny Cali

2011-04-27T20:47:00.000-04:00

While it is POURING at home, we're soaking up some sun where oranges grow in your backyard.

We landed in Los Angeles on Friday, hit SeaWorld on Saturday (in San Diego) and have been working at my brother and sister in law's new house ever since. According to Hadley, my 2 year old nephew, the boys have been "working real hard". The past few days, they have been.

Yesterday and today, my brother and Dustin dug a trench to their garage to bury the electric.

Hadley put it best when walking outside. "It's a mess!" But, they did a good job of putting it all back together. They finished up the garage today.

Yesterday, while the boys worked, I was on train duty. ALL. DAY. This little guy is obsessed. We even made additional "freight cars" by adding other toys so we had a longer train.

Today, while he is at school, Dustin and Daniel worked in his room. (while I worked online... have I mentioned that I love my job?) He had no overhead light when he left this morning, but will be coming home to this great toddler fan.

It took some attic crawling and hole cutting in plaster, but between the two of them, it didn't take all too long. Lucky for Uncle Dustin, there was already a pipe with wire (I'm technical with my electrical, I know), so he was able to use that space to easily get the wire for the switch where it needed to be.

Up next, hanging some shades outside, possibly staining their back concrete, and doing recessed lighting in their livingroom. For now, we're all hanging out underneath red bowls trying out the possibilities.

Tomorrow, I'll be back on train duty with this little guy.

**I'm only posting this because it's SOOO stinkin' cute of him. When I showed it to Dustin, I said something about it being an awful picture of me and makes me look 9 months pregnant. His response: "can't you PhotoShop yourself or something?" Thanks, babe :) This is what playing trains ALL day does to Aunt Shannon :)**

Oh, and don't worry... we have a full time house/cat/chicken sitter to take care of everyone and make sure no one steals our ~~junk~~ awesome stuff while we are away :).

we still have a toilet on the porch...

2011-04-19T22:51:00.000-04:00

...but, the bathroom has made some progress.

I think Dustin is taking an unwritten, unspoken project break with me. Since he's doing 100% of the cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc, I guess that's ok :) I've been spending a lot of quality time with the couch and the 'pink' tabby kitten.

Don't let her fool you; she's only calm and cute when she's asleep! (the cat too, har har)

Against my ~~bossiness~~ better judgement, Dustin patched the drywall along the wall where the sink will be. his defense: "A big mirror will go there and cover that..."

For his second drywall job, it's not bad. He still hates to drywall, but he's learning some tips along the way.

At least this is a small bathroom :).

We leave for LA on Friday (don't worry, we have a full time house sitter to keep the animals company). So, it doesn't appear that we will be getting the floor tiled before we go. Oh well.

What's a toilet on the porch for at least 2 more weeks? I told you we are classy ;)

Where have I been and some big NEWS!

2011-04-08T18:17:00.000-04:00

Where has the time gone? March 22 was the last time I've posted. WOW.

Well, I have a great excuse :)

As of yesterday, we are 9 weeks pregnant. This is our 6th pregnancy, so I'm hesitant to post this. In the past, I've posted before, only to have a bad appointment the next day. While we are nervous, we are also very excited and always want to share the news with people, regardless of our outcome.

We have a fantastic doctor who is "cautiously optimistic" right along with us. We've seen every specialist (and 2 of some of them). We've had every test taken. On paper, "everything's perfect!" Except... It hasn't been. So, I'm on every medicine known to man and then some! We are treating all the typical causes of miscarriage in the hopes that I have something that isn't testable.

Each day, I take my regular prenatal, an extra folic acid, a baby aspirin, a prescription strength ibuprofen (I was taking 3), 2 blood thinner shots, and progesterone. Luckily, I'll get to stop taking the progesterone and the ibuprofen when we hit 12 weeks. The rest are there for the long haul. But, if stabbing myself in the stomach twice a day gets a baby here safe and sound, then I'll hold my breath twice a day and get over my fear of needles. (The first shot took me 45 minutes to do) I think what once we hit a certain point, I'll also add steroids to the mix. We lost our son, Lane, at 37 weeks, so one specialist recommended a steroid to ensure lung development happens quickly in case we have to deliver early.We were told that if ANYTHING is not perfect, he wouldn't hesitate to deliver as long as lungs are ready to go.

I'm starting to feel a little better.. which, to be honest, makes me nervous... but I'm finally up and off the couch. We have weekly doctor appointments with ultrasounds, so it is reassuring each week to see a heartbeat and how much change happens in 7 days. Right now, baby is 1.7 centimeters but has a head, body, arms, and legs...and, a little fluttering heart. Heartbeats have taken on such a powerful and stressful meaning to us in the last 3 years. We've had early ultrasounds before, but never "good" ones, so this is a new experience for us seeing the weekly growth like this.

So, cross everything you can cross, hold your breath, and say an extra prayer for us. Meanwhile, Dustin has once again, had to take over 100% of everything. I can't hardly even go downstairs. There is some cleaner (I think it is my homemade laundry soap) that makes me sick every time I smell it. I can't stand when the dishwasher is running either. The entire downstairs smells to me. It's just cleaner, but there's something in that I can't stand when I'm pregnant... at least in the beginning. I've been pregnant a total of 18 months, I think it is now.. and 12 of those months have been first trimester months where I'm helpless, sick, and glued to the couch and/or kneeling in front of some porcelain. So, Dustin has definitely taken on more than his fair share around here! (Lucky for me, we still have a toilet on the porch, so I can even head outside when the moment stirkes :))

It sounds like I'm making it up though.. "honey, that cleaner is going to make me sick... can you the laundry... and the dishes... and cook supper... and... ??" Hey... if it works ;)

*Just kidding, Dustin... it really makes me want to yak.

Slow but steady

2011-03-22T16:42:00.001-04:00

Over the past few days, Dustin has been plugging away at finishing the bathroom.

He insulated, reinforced, and shelved the soon-to-be itty bitty mini closet.

And today, he hung the beadboard along the bottom half.

We’re getting closer and closer. We just need to hang the drywall, trim, paint, and tile. With such a teeny space, hopefully none of those things take too long!

A touch of class

2011-03-15T15:55:00.002-04:00

Although I’m up to my eyeballs… wait, make that ‘past my eyeballs’… in work, I thought I’d share a scene from our house that I just captured.

Please note that this is not the first time that something like this has been seen at this house in the last 5 years. However, the first time, the photograph was from the backyard rather than the side of the porch.

Folks, you saw it here first.

We are the epitome of class.

Stop judging us :)

Where else are you supposed to put the toilet while you remodel the bathroom? We like to think that it is now getting a nice natural cleaning while it sits out in the elements for a (cross your fingers) week or so.

Cleaning out the closet

2011-03-09T22:23:00.001-05:00

Dustin and I have been saying since October that we are going to clean our our closet. Tonight is my last bit of free time for a while, so tonight, we started in here. These pictures don’t do the mess justice. It was way worse than it seems here.

We slowly turned this mess into a bit of organization.

We planned to do this during Modern Family, but it was a rerun. That might be a good thing cause we got a lot done in a short amount of time.

We started a pile on the bed of things to get rid of (minus the beagle who made herself at home)

And, what’s the deal with cats and hangers and laundry. Sophie loves when we mess with clothing.

The pile on the bed turned into this pile on the other side of the room—everything but that black trunk. Tomorrow, I have an all day meeting and will be with someone who is in charge of a local clothing drive at his church. Most of this will go there. The other part will go to the women’s shelter in town.

Plus, there is a big pile of dark sweatshirts that I’m going to wash before adding to this pile. Margot apparently made herself a bed on the top shelf with the sweatshirts…. and has been sleeping there for about 5 years.

I also found a stash of hair ties. Margot has always stolen hair ties and apparently Sophie has started as well. My rule is… once the cat carries it around, it’s hers.

(Random note… when Margot was a kitten, I had to keep all my hair ties in a container. She figured out how to open the little drawer they were in and cleaned me out one day. When I moved out of that apartment, I found them ALL… under the stove. I think there were 40+. She also used to try to pull them off my wrists when she saw them. Obsessed.)

But back to the closet…

It’s a win-win. Other people get clothes and we get some tidiness back.

We aren’t quite done in here, but aren’t quite sure what we want to do yet. I think I want shelving on the side where the pants are. I want to leave about 2 feet for longer things like pants and dresses, but I think shelves would serve us much better. I also want something else for our shoes. Maybe they’ll get some space on the new shelves that we might do.

We aren’t in a hurry about it. We don’t NEED the space yet. So, for now, this is “done enough”! Well… it will be “done enough” once we get the car load of clothes out of the bedroom floor.

Something we’ve put off for months… and it took us less than an hour!

I {heart} CSN!

2011-03-07T16:44:00.001-05:00

I’ve mentioned here before that I love CSN Stores. They have everything under the sun there.

Recently, I was lucky enough to get to choose a few products to review. I’m still waiting for the third one to arrive, but the first two things arrived quickly and are already used daily in this house.

The first, a replacement carafe for our big coffee press.

When the original one broke, we just bought a smaller press rather than a replacement carafe. However, we’ve missed those 12 cups :) I only drink one cup most days, but Dustin typically drinks it all morning.

Our second item was a phone for our kitchen. We’ve had a cheapy silver phone there and Dustin wanted something cool. When I searched CSN, this immediately popped up and I knew this was going to have to be ours.

We love it! It is a bit more plastic than we expected, or at least than I expected. But, it still serves its purpose and it still a unique piece for the kitchen.

It doesn’t have to have money to be used, but it does accept coins and can be used as a bank with a key too.

The third item is a spaghetti fork. So, while it isn’t something spectacular, it is something we’ve been looking for. We’re slowing trying to eliminate as much plastic as we can. (minus the new phone, ha) So, the stainless spaghetti fork is much anticipated and will be used at least one a week!

What better than a good bargain?

2011-03-01T16:23:00.002-05:00

A FREE DEAL!

Earlier today, Dustin came home from our neighbor’s house. After being home for a while he told me that our neighbor sent me some treasures. Knowing our neighbor, this could be any number of things. Dustin said “Tom said that if we don’t want them, throw them away.”

Let me tell ya, this really set the bar pretty low for what I expected to help him unload :)

I walked out to find not only one, but two slices of heaven.

Yeah, they are a bit rusty. But they are in excellent shape. One of them still even has its original leather handles.

The interiors of both are also in great shape. And both have trays that sit inside them.

They are both covered in metal. It’s rusty, but just on the surface. While I do appreciate some rust here and there, I see these babies painted up with metal one color, the ‘trim’ and nails another and the hardware a third color.

But, let’s be honest, by the time I get around to them, I might decide to air ‘em out and clear coat them. (doubt it)

They are actually both in MUCH better shape than the $5 trunk my mom got for me at a yard sale.

But, with some loving (and a LOOOOOOOOOT of elbow grease), it went from this

To this “pre blogging picture and pre digital camera days” picture
*If I make the picture any bigger, it’s too blurry to see

While that project was in my preblogging days (shoot, that was pre married days) I did blog about it here. Luckily, I took a ton of pictures along the way. I think that this trunk was my first big project in saving something like this. I loved it. I’ve had a ‘thing’ for trunks ever since. I’m so curious about the stories they have to tell.

These two new rusty lovelies will get the royal treatment soon enough. Once it warms up, I have a stack of projects taller than the house to start!

Beach(less) bums

2011-02-28T23:06:00.001-05:00

We are still being project slugs right now. Yes, the plumbing got done in the bathroom… last week. Then, we had a rainy day, went to the library and have both been reading in our spare time. I haven’t read a book (well, one that’s not about quantitative or qualitative research strategies in months). The book I did end up reading ended up being… meh… but I still read it in one night. I was still really curious about the characters even though the plot was a bit predictable. It’s a series, so I’ll give her another chance.

Ellie and Wubba have even taken to our bumming around in the spare bedroom/office.

While I didn’t get the reading help that Dustin got earlier today, I did end up with quite a crew as I watched the Oscars last night.

I think they were just trying to soak up some body heat from me. Soph wanted to sit with us, but she and Margot despise each other. They have an unspoken (however, quite hissy) rule that they can't get within 5 feet of each other.

If the beagle could have her way, this is how she would spend each and every day .all day. and all night.

And, if her daddy’s look is any indication, I think he’d be ok with that too.

L-O-V-E

And, since I”m doing nothing but talking about how much we’ve been sitting around the house lately… today, we made a major revelation. We watched the entire series of The Tudors over the past 6 months. Mainly at night before we go to bed. (Yeah, bad plan on those nights when someone got tortured).

Well, we knew the series ended and he died—It’s Henry VIII, we know he’s dead. So, we watch all of them and in the final disc, he just collapses and it goes to blank screen. We thought, “wow, that was to the point” and went on with life.

Today, Dustin happened to look on our tv cabinet in the bedroom and found the disc with the last 2 episodes on it.Apparently what we thought was “the end” was just a dramatic collapse. Yeah, he still dies, but there’s some closure at least. So, Nick and Megan, we didn’t mean to steal your last cd of The Tudors :) We finished it tonight and got to see him really die. What a relief.

And really, in between all these beach(less) bum pictures and stories, we have been REALLY productive. None of it is blog-worthy though… unless you wanna read my problem statement for my research class. :)

Plumb done

2011-02-23T19:30:00.002-05:00

They may not be pretty pictures to you,but to us, they are beautiful!

While they may look like pictures of a ripped apart bathroom…

…they are representative of FINISHED PLUMBING.

(well, except that we might try to rotate the toilet if that is something that is earthly and “codely” possible… but that’s further down the road.)

Dustin also announced that he liked plumbing better than electrical work (which he used to do) Music to my ears. Electricity makes me nervous. Water will mop up. (or vac up, as is our experience)

Up next, ripping down the rest of the painted wallpaper. Then, measuring the walls for _____. Bead board? Board and batten? Moldy drywall? oh wait… that’s what we just got rid of…
:)

*After I posted this, I went back through old posts because I wanted to link to a post about shop vac-ing up water. LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER. While I have blogged about the foundation leak, I apparently have neglected to tell the story about Dustin breaking off the water main INSIDE the house for 40 minutes.... oh, honey, do I have a story to tell about that. Megan can vouch for that one :) I'm not sure her dad's shop vac was ever the same after fighting the hundreds of gallons of water that came from the kitchen floor...

A very special 2 year old

2011-02-21T09:28:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we got to celebrate with this little guy, my nephew.

He lives in California with his mommy and daddy. And just so happened to be in Indiana near his second birthday. Many members of our family were able to meet and we had a great party at an ice cream museum. Here, he and my mom (his Nea) are anxiously awaiting the next present.

Aunt Shannon and Uncle Dustin got him a chicken that (quietly) crows when you shake it. My sister in law is gonna have fun with THAT at the airport! (Sorry Angie!) He was very impressed with our chickens at Christmas. Later, back hom in Cali, he was naming his family: Dustin, Shannon, CHICHENS! So, it was a necessity to get him his own. Bonus points that it makes (quiet) noises:).

I didn’t get a lot of pictures, somehow, but this is a great one of Hadley and Poppy playing with the grill set that they made for him.

He was the proudest little almost two year old as we sang Happy Birthday to him. He just sat there and looked around the table to soak it in that everyone really was singing for him. My brother was still in California, so he attended the festivities via Skype on an Iphone.

I think Nea and Poppy need to go into the handmade wood toy business myself! They are pretty good!

The California crew is in the process of buying a house, so we’ll get to go out soon to help get the house ready and head to the parks to play on the wooden swing sets in the sun. (Hey, there’s another idea for Nea and Poppy!)

As for today, the party’s over and it’s back to business. Today, Dustin hopes to finish the plumbing in the 1/2 bath. He loves plumbing with copper though, so he might stretch it out on purpose…

On your mark, get set, PLUMB

2011-02-19T11:04:00.001-05:00

Today, we are without water while Dustin works on the plumping for the bathroom. Currently this half bath has only cold water. The water lines are in the concrete below and the previous owners had to cap off the hot. Since we’re already running hot water along the wall and through the new wall, we might as well go ahead and do the cold just in case the cold line in the concrete decides to go ka-put as well.

When we redid the laundry room a few years ago, we knew this day was coming, so we started to run some of the lines then. See that window up there? It’s the twin of the one in the bathroom. So, when we figure out what we’re doing with one, they will both get special treatment.

Yesterday, Dustin ripped out the layers of tile that were in here. Unfortunately, that also meant that some of the linoleum in the hallway got ripped up. OUCH. So, now, we’re gonna have to find a solution for that little problem.

Ugh.

Tiling the hallway was not on the short project list. I don’t think it even made the “if we won the lotto what we we do to the house list”. However, it has managed to become quite high on the “sooner than later” list.

He also knocked out the mini wall that was in there. We plan to finish that little area a bit and put cabinet doors here. This just got thought of yesterday :) So, the new plan is to store all the cleaner-type products in here so they are away from the pantry.

We also got the tile that we won from the DIY Club yesterday.

I love projects. But… having everything stripped down to the bare concrete is just… ugh and gross. I’ll be more than ready when we can finally get this project marked off the list! (remember, it’s been a ripped apart bathroom for a year and a half :)) So, it’s been gross for a while :) We just want it completed by the end of March. So, we aren’t in a major hurry but we have a reasonable time frame to help push us along.

And, when I say us, I mean Dustin since he’s done 99% of the work in there lately :)

The projects I would have done if I wouldn’t have been DIY lazy this week.. and last week…

2011-02-18T11:30:00.001-05:00

I’m not exactly sure what I’ve been doing lately that’s caused me to stop blogging, doing projects, and being productive in general. I blame Liz Lemon. We just got Netflix instant a few weeks ago and we’ve been obsessively watching 30Rock. We saw the first season in one week. We are trying to pace ourselves through Season 2. It’s hilarious.

So, here are the things that I would have been doing had I not been watching 30 Rock in all my free time.

#1 piano/organ bench:

It would have had the bottoms of its legs cut off to shorten it. The cover would be taken off; it would be painted and then glazed. Then, I would have decided whether the cushion should be recreated on top.

Untouched project #2: Photo Wall

Here, we will be putting OLD family photos along with new ones. We have a quote we LOVE that I will be painting onto a board to hang here too.

Evidence #3 of my slacker days- This chair

It just really needs recovered. I got it for free from a neighbor. I know once we start, I’ll be find. But I’m nervous about starting. Any reupholsters out there who wanna come to southern Indiana and show me the way? :) (Technically that open space on the fireplace is really high up on this list too… we need to enclose that. We’ve needed to enclose that for about 14 months now… :))

A new addition: #4- the dresser that I decided needs a paint job, new handles, and my clothes in it. It currently holds computer related stuff and off related stuff that we never use. Ever.

And, #5- the quote that I won from the Diy Club. I just bought a board for it this week. We have paneling everywhere, so I need to put it on a board to hang up rather than just putting it on the wall.

I don’t feel guilty about being a DIY slacker as of late :) Dustin has been working in the bathroom while I work. Then, we take a 30 Rock break. So, at least he’s making progress :) Today, he’s removing the nasty tile in there and hopes to start the plumbing.

In other news- our car FINALLY got here. Dustin found this on EBay at a car dealer who focuses on mass sales rather than making a lot on each sale. We got a great deal. And yes, I now drive a station wagon :)

We also spent some time last weekend stalking this barn.

We think we need it so we can convert it into a house to live in. There is a 99.999999% chance that we won’t do this. But, that didn’t stop us from stalking it with the camera and binoculars on Sunday :) It’s still fun to imagine :) And, yes, this is as close as we could get :)

What a stud

2011-02-12T10:42:00.001-05:00

Ew. Don’t you wish your bathroom looked like this? {well, it is the half bath that we don’t use, technically}

It has come a long way. Dustin has gotten a lot done in there over the past few days. He framed a wall {we need to run hot water to this bathroom and needed wall space to do that} and has been working on the electrical. He also decided that he wants to actually use the window that’s in there now too. We were going to just cover it up like it already was. But, we’d like the natural light and as long as it’s gutted, now is the time to do it if we’re serious.

This has also turned into his nemesis. Yesterday, he spent most of the day trying to pull new wire. This would be an easy task, but it wasn’t because he had to find where the wire went. I don’t really get it… but apparently it didn’t go where it should have and was wired to the back of something that doesn’t make sense.

Today, he’s working on plan B and plans to get the light on the ceiling moved over a little and the wiring taken care of and done.

We thought he had about 3 or 4 months until he went back to work, but they called yesterday and want him at the end of March. Good news, but we’re gonna have to get organized and prioritize what we definitely want done before then. The 1/2 bath is definitely numero uno.

Today, we’re also picking out the tile that we want. The DIY Club winnings from December include the exact amount of tile that this room needs!

All in a day's work...

2011-02-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

I told Dustin earlier that I needed a secretary or a teaching assistant.

How dare I forget the help I get on a daily basis.

The above pic showcases one of her favorite places. Her other is using the mouse as a pillow. Both are extremely helpful and greatly add to my productivity.

Can you tell I've been a slow DIYer lately? :)

Tomorrow Dustin is building a wall that we are adding to the bathroom. (only to give him space to run some water lines since the current hot water line doesn't actually have any water at all in it) Hopefully after that we get the ball rolling and I'll stop showing you the animals :)

Nobody puts Pookie in a corner

2011-02-06T18:23:00.001-05:00

Unless, of course, you are this mean little thing…

Then, you get to do whatever you want around here. Including, putting Pookie in the corner for a day and a half.

We don’t know what he did to deserve such a lengthy punishment. Dustin walked in to find it after the sentence had been delivered.

Would you question the jailer?

We’ve witnessed quite a mean streak even since she was itty bitty.

But, Pookie 2 should be grateful. Pookie 1 got his face eaten off and all his fur pulled out shortly after this sunbathing afternoon. Her punishments are neither fair nor fitting of the crime.

Nobody puts Soph in a corner.

Unless she wants to be there.

The 1/2 bath that’s taking us 1/2 a century

2011-02-04T20:23:00.001-05:00

Ok, maybe I’m a bit dramatic with that title. And maybe it’s because we have project ADD and tend to jump from project to project. AND, (I’m giving this reason MOST of the credit) we had to make sure that our foundation leak was fixed before we even considered moving forward. I think that after 20 months of no foundation leaks, we can say it’s fixed…

So, today, here’s where the bathroom progress is.

Yes, these are technically the “after” pics. Today, they also became the DURING pics too though.

See that window? The one that looks out at nothing? Yeah, it gets on my nerves too.

If you think these pictures are pretty, here are a few blasts from the past when we discovered mold and mildew and other beautifully colorful shades of nasty.

And I present, the collage featuring Shades of Nasty.

Quarry Orchard

Shabby Apple Giveaway

Oh, Baby!

And the winner is.....

A quick UPrinting giveaway!

I told you I was bad at resolutions....

Resolution, Procrastination, and Silhouette Imagination

Victory is (almost) mine: garden success

All tiled out

“Pot” garden expansion

Baseball tickets and FOOD giveaway!

Green thumbs

$5 find

You can't have anything nice....

My task for June: Spare bedrooms

Marital bliss- The Matt and Mandy Edition

California and Indiana randomness

Guest post at MyRepurposedLife

Workin' in sunny Cali

we still have a toilet on the porch...

Where have I been and some big NEWS!

Slow but steady

A touch of class

Cleaning out the closet

I {heart} CSN!

What better than a good bargain?

Beach(less) bums

Plumb done

A very special 2 year old

On your mark, get set, PLUMB

The projects I would have done if I wouldn’t have been DIY lazy this week.. and last week…

What a stud

All in a day's work...

Nobody puts Pookie in a corner

The 1/2 bath that’s taking us 1/2 a century

Take a minute and vote for Gail!

DIY Mirror, Mirror on the wall

Housekeeping: TIME OUT

One A Day

The bold and the beautiful

It's electric... and about 5 other projects

Office help and a kitchen in the living room

“New” desk, again.

My “new” desk twice removed

Tournament of Champions

A “new” desk

Prizes and an extra special surprise

Mythic Paint from The DIY Club

DIY Club winner!

Holiday (doll) house tour

Plywood to plank flooring tutorial

Painting the living room

We are (almost) DONE!

busy little bees

Hindsight is 20/20

To paint or to stain…. and, you had me at “clean” button

CSN review- Recliner slipcover

The flooring process

Cut floors and cut nails

One step closer in the Bonus Room

So close!- The Bonus Room redo

CSN Stores

Acupuncture

Kilz Complete…. well, hopefully

Clean slate: Starting the bonus room redo

It’s about to get messy…

Anti-Fall Beagle and Project Stashes

Acupuncture and a concoction

Julies’ weddings

2010 Awareness Walk

A not quite so caffeinated day

Lia Sophia Winner

Giveaway TOMORROW!

Congrats to Nat(e)

Starburst mirror envy

A year and a prize

UPrinting Giveaway!

UPrinting GIVEAWAY

Ghostly Candles

Jar O’Lanterns