OOHH...we're halfway there!

Today marks 20 weeks along.....halfway there already!!! It seems like the time has really flown by. Travis was saying the other day that it has been 3 1/2 months since the day I came home and told him he was going to be a dad. Pretty crazy how fast the days have gone since then. As you can tell from the picture below, I think this baby is going through a growth spurt! I'm definitely getting comments from just about everyone these days. It's hard to imagine how much bigger my belly will get, but I guess it happens so gradually that I'll just get used to it. Anyway, I'm still feeling great! Never had any nausea (minus one day last week when I threw up during my morning jog...but I think that was from not letting my breakfast settle long enough!). I'm feeling a little more energetic these days I think. I'm still doing the injections every day, and they are going fine. I'm really thankful that everything has gone this well so far. I just hope the last 20 weeks go as smoothly as the first 20! :)

20 weeks!

I got the shirt I'm wearing in that picture from Kids Market, a two week long consignment sale in Huntsville that they have twice a year. (By the way...it was $3.00....brand new WITH tags still on it). It started Monday, so of course I got there right when it started at 9 AM. Gotta get those deals, right? Well apparently lots of people are even crazier than me. This was the line 5 minutes before the doors opened!!!

Looks like Black Friday, doesn't it??

Luckily for me, most people headed right for the kids stuff when they got inside. I went straight to the maternity clothes. This store was as big as Wal-Mart and full of stuff....clothes, toys, books, games, baby gear, etc.!!!! It was INSANE! I ended up spending about $45 on 10 items of maternity clothes (dress pants, skirts, shirts). It was awesome! I decided to check out since I was finished before the long check out lines started, and so I put my stuff in the car, and headed back inside to look at baby stuff.

I could've spent all day there just looking at everything! (Travis is sure glad I didn't though....haha). My arms were sore just from moving clothes on the racks..haha. I ended up buying the cutest diaper bag. It looks brand new and it's made of material that can be easily wiped clean. I'm excited about it!

Isn't it cute? :)

I know Travis was hoping for a more "manly" bag than that since he'll be carrying it around too, so I told him I'd be on the lookout for a cheap black one too :)

And, of course, I couldn't leave without buying some cute clothes for our little girl!!! So excited about these! Most of these were $1-2 a piece, so I spent about $20 total. Not too bad since they all look brand new!

Can't wait to dress her in those clothes!!! :) Kids Market lasts through the end of next week, and on the last two days, everything is 50% off. I'm strongly considering going back to see what's left!! I can't resist :)

Hopefully when I go back next weekend, the checkout lines won't be this bad...

This was AFTER standing in line for at least 20 minutes already...

Today was my only day to work this week, so other than shopping, I've been staying busy with a little painting project at home. Several months ago, I bought a nightstand for our guest bedroom from Encore Furniture, a consignment furniture store in Huntsville. (Noticing a theme here? I'm thrifty!!) It was $25 I think. My plan was to repaint it and turn it into something that would match and look more modern. Well I finally got around to painting it this week, and I'm so happy with the way it turned out!!

Not the best quality picture, but this was taken at the store before I bought it...

It had been sitting in the guest bedroom for months, so Travis took it out on the back patio for me, and he took the hardware off.

Ready to be transformed!!

I sanded it all over and wiped it clean before we took it back inside. Then, Travis primed it for me with Kilz. I'd read that you shouldn't paint with oil-based paint while you're pregnant, so he did that part for me. Such a sweet husband! :) Next I painted it with two coats of light blue paint from Home Depot. After that dried, he carried the nightstand back outside for me so that I could sand it again around the edges. Then it was time to distress it with some dark brown paint. This was the part I was most nervous about! When I first started, I did NOT think it looked good. But, I kept going with it, and by the end, it really did look good! I also spray painted the hardware to cover up that ugly brassy gold color! After painting two coats of polycrylic to seal it, the nightstand was finished!! So...check it out!

So excited about it!! Next up...I'm going repaint an old chest of drawers that Mom is letting me have. It will go in the nursery when I'm finished. I'm seriously considering painting it pink or green to match the bedding I ordered. We'll see :)

Anyway, that's about all the news around here. We're heading to Andrew and Stephanie's wedding this weekend, so we're looking forward to that. Monday is Columbus Day, so Travis has the day off. Maybe we can book and plan our anniversary trip this weekend.....and maybe we'll even pick out a name for the baby. Is that being too optimistic?? :)

Hope you're having a terrific Thursday!

The Bookshelf

Yesterday, I started a project that I've been meaning to get around to for a while now. We've got this bookshelf that (I think) used to be my sister's back in the day. I guess she wasn't using it anymore because it went with me to Tuscaloosa when I lived in the dorm until Travis and I got married. And, it's been with us ever since.

I remember staying in Tuscaloosa for the first spring break we were married. It was an awesome week with no class and pretty much no one else on campus but us! We spent the week walking around the Quad, throwing the frisbee, making snack runs to Publix (just a few minutes walk from where we lived), and just hanging out. That week we also decided to tackle one of our first "house projects" together. Repainting the old bookshelf.

It was lime green when I first took it to Tuscaloosa which worked out perfectly because it matched my bedding and accessories in my dorm room. But, unfortunately it looked TERRIBLE with the more "grown-up" look I was going for in our apartment after we got married. Our color scheme was chocolate brown, copper, and red...and lime green definitely did not look good with that! So, that spring break Travis and I headed out to Home Depot and bought some sandpaper, wood stain, and a paint brush. Our plan (ha!) was to sand all of the paint off of the bookshelf and then stain it a nice brown color. It was a nice idea...in theory. After carrying the bookshelf down 3 flights of stairs to a nice grassy area outside, Travis sanded and sanded and sanded and barely made any progress at all. He did uncover a peach color underneath the lime green, but it would have taken HOURS to sand the whole bookshelf down. Looking back on that, what were we thinking??? Haha!

Well, we ended up just "staining" over what was left of the paint. The result was not exactly what we had in mind! Instead of a nice brown color, we ended up with a streaky purple bookshelf with specks of green showing through. Wow! I think we debated over whether or not to just throw the bookshelf away at that point and buy a new one, but we ended up just going with it. It was definitely a unique-looking color, but I guess we got used to it over the past few years. It actually didn't look all that bad once we got it back into our bedroom...at least, it was better than the lime green.

The newly renovated bookshelf!

This was our first apartment together in Tuscaloosa

Fast forward a few years, and now the bookshelf is in our guest bedroom. And again, the color is all wrong. The walls are taupe, and the bedding is navy, light blue, and cream. Not exactly a great combination with our purpley-lime green bookshelf!

Guest bedroom

So, yesterday, I finally decided to repaint the old bookshelf again. This time around, I was smarter and didn't try to sand the whole thing down first! I lightly sanded it before painting it with some of the leftover paint from the walls we had. I'm pretty happy with the results! I may end up going over it with some polyurethane to give it a glossy finish, but so far it's a huge improvement!

The "new" bookshelf!

Painting has been one of my favorite projects that we've done so far in our new house. Probably because it doesn't involve sweating outside and a lot of manual labor! I really enjoy seeing the transformation that occurs in a room or on a piece of furniture just with a simple coat or two of paint. Even something like our old bookshelf can get some new life just by changing the color. Pretty cool.

Maybe I'm just feeling extra sentimental today, but I'm glad we've still got a spot for that bookshelf in our house. It's been with us the whole 4+ years we've been married and with me for 2 1/2 years before that in the dorm. It's moved as many times as we have...from our 425 sq ft on-campus apartment to our off-campus apartment in Rivermont to our basement apartment at Baugay's and finally to our house. It held our textbooks when we were in school and now our "just-for-fun" books since we've graduated. It's been there through all of the changes in our lives since December 2007. I guess it reminds me of college life when things were simpler...study, go to class, have fun on the weekends, go to football games in the fall, etc. That was basically our life until we graduated. Things are different in the "working world"...not necessarily better or worse. There are things I miss about being in college, but I also enjoy just working and staying busy around the house.

College days--ROLL TIDE!

 I'm glad to have little pieces of "college life" still around like that old bookshelf to bring back fun memories of our time in Tuscaloosa. Sometimes it feels like those days were so long ago, and things are really different now...living in a new place, working, and owning a home. But, just like we've changed some since we were in college, that bookshelf has changed too with a fresh coat of paint. It's definitely an upgrade from the old look! Hopefully, Trav and I are changing for the better too. It's a work in progress! Stay tuned :)

Lessons of Life from Paint, Mud, and Sandpaper

Last weekend started off a bit rough. All of the rooms in our house were painted, and it was time to paint the closets. Except that I didn't want to paint the closets. In fact, I didn't want to do anything except move all of our stuff in and stuff the closets so full that we wouldn't be able to paint them if we wanted to. I was tired of painting; after all, we'd been at it for 2 1/2 months...

When we first started our painting marathon back in January, Travis wanted to paint every room including all closets and the garage before moving in.  Then, the next several weeks flew by, and we quickly realized that if we didn't do something, it would be the end of the summer before we moved in! So, we came to a compromise. We would paint the pantry and master bedroom closet (basically, the essentials) before moving in, and we would paint the other closets (linen closet, coat closet, and the other two bedroom closets) and garage afterward. So, I was satisfied with that. I didn't really think we should worry with painting them in the first place, but after some convincing by him and others, I agreed.

But, suddenly, it was the middle/end of March, and we still weren't moved in. Every week that passed I was getting more impatient. Then, Travis decided somewhere in there that he thought it would be a good idea not only to paint the pantry and master BR closet before moving in, but that we should take down all of the shelving and replace it with totally new shelving as well. It's just the perfectionist in him. And I just about had a meltdown. I could just see this taking weeks and weeks, and we would never move in, and what's the point of painting a closet anyway when you can't even really see the walls after your stuff is in there?

You see, this painting project has been a real learning experience for us. We definitely have different standards of quality when it comes to work. 

Here's Travis's thought process: "Do it right the first time; take your time and don't take shortcuts; buy the nicest stuff, and it will last a long time; it doesn't matter if you're painting a closet or the living room, you put the same effort into it."

And here's mine: "Do a good job but don't obsess over the little details that most people (especially me) won't ever notice anyway."

You can see how those philosophies don't exactly hold hands and love each other. 

The problem lies in the fact that although I may not notice the little details (like the paint in the closet or the shelving in the pantry), Travis does. And "the popcorn from the pantry will taste better with new shelving up and fresh paint on the walls." Yes, he said that. I guess that's what I get for marrying an engineer. It's all in the little details.

So, how do we get anything done when we work together? Here's what I've discovered:

1. Compromise: Sometimes, it's just not worth arguing about it, even if I think he's crazy or he thinks I'm irrational, etc. We meet in the middle, and come up with something that will satisfy (at least partially) both of us.  This is why we aren't going to paint every closet before moving in, but we did paint two of them.

2. Patience: What's important to me may not be important to him and vice versa. If it's that important to him that it will make his popcorn taste better to eat it from a newly renovated pantry, maybe I should just agree to the new shelving and paint. If I take a step back, I realize that it's going to get done eventually. We will move in sometime this century. And it's not worth getting upset over the fact that we haven't moved in yet. 

3. Love: We really do make a great team. Yes, we butt heads occasionally...sometimes every weekend. But, in the end, I love that we're different. We each bring our own mindset and ideas to the project, and when we work together, we end up with a great outcome! I think every room in our house looks way better than it did before we got a hold of it. (That's a teaser for the upcoming "after" pictures in a few weeks...haha). Working with someone on a big project like this can either be a disaster or a success, and it all depends on your attitude.

I'm glad to say that our house projects have been a success so far! :)

So, here are a few pictures of our recent work before I end this novel:

Here's Travis's newest toy (he gets one just about every week...haha). Meet DeWalt, the Cordless Drill:

DeWalt was a lifesaver when we started taking down all that shelving!

Part of the pantry shelving before we took it down

Dismantling the pantry

Master BR closet before we took the shelving down

Let's just say we mudded and sanded well over 100 holes after taking all that shelving down. Then, we painted the walls. After this weekend when we put up some new shelving, the pantry and closet will be new-and-improved for sure! Told you we work well together! :)

Tentative move-in day is April 9th. But don't hold us to it :)

Come back, spring break!

Even though I don't really miss college that much (at least the studying and tests part), one thing I do miss is having spring break. Once spring break gets here, it means that summer is right around the corner. The weather is warming up, and I just want to get outside and enjoy it! When we lived in Presidential, we used to really enjoy spring break just staying in Tuscaloosa. We almost had the whole campus to ourselves because everyone else was at the beach or at home! It was fun to walk around the Quad, throw the frisbee around, play tennis, and just get caught up on everything. Now that we're "grown ups", spring break is just another work week I guess. Oh well! I'm still loving the fact that it stays lighter later at night; I don't think that will ever get old. Just seeing the sun and not having to wear a jacket outside automatically makes me happy. 

Last weekend was a very productive one! We got the guest bathroom painted, and it was a lot easier than painting the master bathroom since it's smaller and there are less things to paint around. It looks much better gray than it did sky blue! With a nice shower curtain and some towels hanging on the wall, it will look complete! We've still got to hang the mirror back up and do some touch up spots, but other than that, it's pretty much finished. Completing the painting in the bathroom means that we've now painted every room in whole house, minus closets and the garage! Whew! It's definitely taken us a while, but I'm really happy with the way everything looks. 

Our painting station :)

Travis fired up his lawnmower and weedeater on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, and he managed to make our yard look way better than it did on Friday. Those purple flowery weeds were taking over! Good news is they are gone now...at least for a few more days :) He had a big grin on his face while he was cutting the grass because he'd "been waiting to cut the grass at his own place for years." I guess it will get old after a while, but he definitely had fun with it last weekend!

Travis's new toy!

This weekend, we're going to work on painting the pantry and the closet in the master bedroom. The tedious part will be taking down the shelving and putting it back up; the painting shouldn't be too difficult hopefully. Once we get those two done, we'll be ready to move in I think! :)

Travis is playing laser tag tomorrow night with a bunch of the guys from church, so I think I'm going to move some more of my kitchen stuff over to the house and get my cabinets organized. I also need to measure all of the windows in our house for blinds and buy some paint for the closets. 

Yesterday, Mom and Jenn came up to see all of the progress we've made on our house. It was the first time for Jenn to see it at all. I think she's got a spot picked out on the La-Z-Boy to sleep in next time she comes :) We also went to this thrift store right down the road to look for furniture possibilities for the house. I didn't find anything, but Mom ended up getting a new lounge chair for the lake house. All it needs is a cushion, and it will be good to go!


Today I met Travis, Alisha, and Emily at Chuck Wagon for lunch. It's this little hole-in-the-wall BBQ place in Madison that reminded me a lot of City Cafe with a different menu. It was really good! And, tonight we're eating corned beef for supper with the Grant fam and Tyler. Should be a fun time!
 
Hope you remembered to wear your green today (or hurry and put some on if you didn't!).

:)

Getting closer!

I can finally see the light at the end of tunnel with all of this painting. Hooray! We got the study and guest bedroom pretty much finished up this past weekend. They are both the same color (taupe), and they look great! Both of the rooms have window seats, and one of them needs to be painted white (it's currently pink--the old room color), but that could even be done after we move in.

This weekend, we are going to try to start AND finish the guest bathroom. It is currently painted "sky blue", which matches the counter top the previous owners put in. We're going to re-paint the room a light gray color, and eventually I'd like to replace the counter with something a little more neutral. 

In other house-related news, we are now the proud owners of a programmable thermostat, a weed-eater, and lawnmower. Actually, Travis is the proud owner of the lawnmower and weed-eater since I'm hoping not to ever have to use them! :) The thermostat is up and running after Travis installed it Monday night. It looks nice and it shouldn't be too hard to use. He's hoping it will save us some money on our power bills this summer. The yard is looking pretty rough with the weather warming up some-what and all this rain we've gotten, so the grass/weeds really need to be cut soon. We're hoping to rope Andrew into giving us some landscaping advice sometime in the future....we need help! We've got enough other projects going on right now, though, that we'll probably wait until next spring/summer to start planting bushes and flowers.

Yesterday, I spent some much needed girl-time with Emily Smith. I really enjoyed lunch and the afternoon just hanging out! We need to do it again soon :)

Today is the last day of a class that Travis has been taking this week for work. It's on "Rotorcraft Fundamentals", and it's being taught at UAH by one of their professors. In case you were wondering, a helicopter is a type of rotorcraft. (I didn't know that until recently!). The project that Travis is working on at work involves helicopters, so he said the class has been really helpful. 

Yesterday, I got a good deal on a magazine for Travis. You probably know that he's pretty interested in personal finance. He keeps meticulous records in Quicken, we have a budget spreadsheet in Excel, and he enjoys reading books like "Stocks for the Long Run" (haha). Well, yesterday on Eversave, they had a deal where you could get a year's subscription to Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine for $6. But, I had a $5 credit on the website just for signing up a few weeks ago, so I got it for $1!! That's like 8 or 9 cents an issue!! I love getting good deals :)

Time to get to Kohl's (for another deal--I have a $10 coupon on any $10 or more pre-tax purchase, so I'll just have to pay tax if I can find something I like for $10!!) and head to the gym after that. I've been going about 4 times a week, so gotta keep it up :)

Hope you're having a fabulous week! 

March is here!

I'm absolutely loving this beautiful weather we've been enjoying today and yesterday. It reminds me of sunny California...can't believe it's been over a year since we were there. Time sure does go by fast. 

Speaking of time, it's almost been a year since Travis graduated and we left Tuscaloosa. Now, that's crazy. I guess we're fully in the working world now. I've been thinking lately about how much I miss t-town. It was easy to take for granted having so many friends our age around. Now, we have a few friends up here that we hang out with occasionally, but for the most part, we don't do a whole lot...at least with friends our own age. Everyone I work with is at least 15-20 years old than me, and I'm sure it's the same for Travis. And, we love Kelly Spring, but there are very few people our age there also. I wish that I could just gather up all our friends from college and transport them up here permanently. Anyone in their mid-twenties who lives nearby want to be our friend? :)

Here's my weekly painting update: We've got the cut-in finished in the study. Yay! Our goal is to finish the study and guest bedroom this weekend. They are going to be the same color (taupe), so it makes sense to paint them at the same time. We'll probably dedicate next weekend to the guest bathroom, and the next weekend to our closet and the pantry, and THEN maybe we'll move in. I think we'll probably end up painting the other closets and garage after we move in...otherwise, it'll be this summer before we get there...haha. As it is now, it'll probably still be the end of March/first of April before we actually move. 

Travis ordered a programmable thermostat and a lawnmower online last night, so he was excited about that. The thermostat was only $65, and it's supposed to save you a lot of money on your power bill every year. 


This is my week to work Thursday instead of Tuesday, so I'm up at the crack of dawn (actually before) for the next two days. It sounds awful, but I actually like getting it over with early rather than staying late. Starting work at 5:30 AM means getting off at 2 PM, and that is awesome.

Spring break for Alabama and Auburn is week after next, I believe. This will be the first spring break since before I started kindergarden that I won't have off! Last year, even though I was already working by that point, they let me have the week off to spend in Tuscaloosa with Travis. Sigh. No more long breaks unless I take ETO. That just makes me look forward to Fripp Island even more! P.S. Jenn, you need to come up here during spring break and see us! :)

That's about all for now. Thanks for reading! 

Random ramblings

Painting: We started and finished painting the hall and laundry room last weekend. Woohoo! The hall was yellow, and now it's cream. The laundry room was lemony-white, and now it's cream. They both look much better. Sunday afternoon, we both decided that we're getting burnt-out on painting though. We've been at it for over a month now, and we're just ready to be finished! What's left? The guest bedroom, the study, the guest bathroom, ALL of the closets, and the garage. Maybe we'll get started on one of those this weekend, but it's going to be hard with the gospel meeting at church going on too. Oh well, I'm looking forward to the meeting, and it will be a good break from what's becoming our normal weekend routine. 


Other House-Related Stuff: Travis got started lining some of our kitchen cabinets on Monday, so I'm excited about that. Once they are all lined, I'm going to start moving some of my kitchen stuff over there. I've got so much that I could probably have enough at both places to make do for a while. We also met some of our neighbors Friday night. They were really nice and seemed to be pretty close to our age, so it'll be fun to get to know them better!

Work: Travis has a 3-day week this week. He had Monday off for President's Day, and Friday is his normal off day. I have my normal 3-day week too, except our off days are totally different. Go figure. Work has been fine so far this week....nothing too exciting, but nothing bad either. Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day too. 

Weddings: Yesterday, I ordered my bridesmaids dress for Alisha and Tyler's wedding! Only 154 days to go :) Now it's time to get started planning the bachelorette party of the century! :)


Well, I feel like my blog posts are getting really boring, but we really haven't done too much that's very exciting lately. Our lives have mainly been working and painting since we bought the house. When we finally get finished, maybe we'll have social lives again. I can't wait to have people over at our house....that'll be so much fun! We did go out to eat with Matt and Maggie on Saturday night, but that's about the first fun thing we've done all month. Oh well. I just keep reminding myself how blessed we are. Good health, family, friends, jobs, etc. We have so much to be thankful for! :)

 

Another week...another update...

I cannot believe we're already over halfway through February! 2011 is going by so fast. Travis and I have been homeowners for over a month now...that's just crazy. No, we still haven't moved in. Yes, we're still painting. Haha :)

One day, the painting will end. 

Possibly not until next February, but it will end.

Seriously, though, we are making good progress. The dining room is completely finished, and the living room is almost there. We've got to roll it a second time, and it will be done. It looks awesome! It's a darker shade of beige than the dining room, and it looks great with our new furniture. Everything is coming together! Next up, we'll paint the hallway and laundry room, and after that, the guest bedroom, study, and guest bathroom. Finally, we'll paint (to satisfy the OCD in my husband) all the closets and the garage. Whew. My original hope to move in by the end of February seems pretty unrealistic now, but no worries. Maybe by the middle of March??

This past weekend, we got a wonderful break from all the painting when we went to Trussville to celebrate my favorite sister's birthday. We worked on taxes for part of the time we were there. Isn't that sad that doing taxes was a nice break? :) Mom made some awesome BBQ in her new crockpot along with the normal fixins like potato salad and coleslaw. Made me wish summer would hurry up and get here!

We had a low-key Valentine's Day on Monday night. I guess this is the 4th Valentine's Day we've been married (crazy!), and we usually decide to cook supper together rather than go out to eat with everyone and their brother. Last year we made Baked Salmon, but this year we decided to try something a little different. Everyone probably knows that Travis LOVES seafood. Lobster, crab, shrimp....all of it. Well, I found a recipe called Lobster Colorado that involves lobster, steak, bacon, and lots of butter. Sounded right up his alley, and it was! It turned out really good, especially the lobster part. We also had Texas Toast and salad to go along with it. It was a quick and easy supper to fix, which was great considering the fact that I didn't get home from work until about 7 PM.


Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about the moron who poisoned the trees at Toomer's Corner in Auburn. Apparently, they've already found and arrested the guy who did it. Good. I just can't believe someone would do something like that. It definitely made me mad when I heard about it, and I hope things don't escalate from here. It's one thing to have a heated rivalry, but it's another thing to let it get out of control and start doing stuff like that. I hope both Alabama and Auburn fans will act classy about this and not let it go any further. And I hope the guy who did it won't ever be allowed on either campus ever again.

"Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. " ~Romans 12:17-21


That's all for today! Have a wonderful rest of your week :)

Go away, snow!

I guess the groundhog lied, didn't he? No early spring yet! Last night we got more snow and ice around here. Not sure how much, but it looks like a couple of inches at least. Schools are closed again, and the Arsenal delayed its opening by 2 hours. Yay for Travis getting to sleep late! It's not supposed to warm up very much today, but I hope it will melt before I have to go to work tomorrow.

Last weekend, we worked over at our house pretty much all Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. We got the painting in the kitchen finished up, so that's good. Mom came up Saturday afternoon, and she helped me decide on the rest of the colors for the other rooms, so that was huge progress. Thanks, Mom! :) Our living room furniture got delivered, and we love it. We might be doing things backwards to be painting the living room AFTER the furniture is in there, but at least we were able to pick out a color that matches well. Saturday night, we started painting the dining room. It's going to be a really pretty beige color. I didn't want it to be anything too dark since the room doesn't have any windows. We did the cut-in a second time on Sunday afternoon, and Travis rolled the walls once Monday night. We're hoping to roll them a second time tonight, and then the dining room will be pretty much complete! Next up is the living room and foyer....that's gonna take a while...

This weekend, we're heading to my parents' house to celebrate Jenn's birthday. Her birthday isn't actually until next week, but we'll celebrate a little bit early I guess. I picked out her birthday present yesterday, so hopefully she'll like it :)

Today sounds like it's going to be a good day to stay inside. I may head to the gym this afternoon when it warms up a little, but other than that, I'm going to just stay here. Plenty to do without getting out! :)

Scratch that...we just found out the Arsenal is closed today. Travis gets a long weekend! I guess we may go over to our house (if we can get there) and do some extra painting :)

Yipee!! :)

All mixed up

So far this week, that's what I've been. And, no, it's not from breathing paint fumes almost every day at our house :)

Instead of my usual Monday, Tuesday, Friday work days, this week I worked Monday and I'm working tomorrow and Friday (5:30 to 2). That doesn't sound like a big deal (it's just one day different), but I've got in such a routine on my usual off-days that it's really gotten me mixed up on what day it is! I think I prefer getting 2 of the 3 days over with at the beginning of the week, but at least I didn't have to work a late night on Tuesday I guess. Every 4th week, I'll work Monday, Thursday, Friday instead of my normal days. Don't try to figure it out...Travis can't even remember when I work. 

Update on the painting project: The master bedroom and bathroom are finished...COMPLETELY!! :) I'm really, really, really happy with the way the colors turned out. Now, we just have to get the outlet covers back on and do a little cleaning, and those rooms will be ready for our stuff! We've also got the kitchen almost finished. We did the cut-in twice this weekend (first coat Saturday and second coat Sunday), and then I rolled the walls for the first coat last night. We'll need to do a second coat, I'm sure, but I think we might get away with just one gallon of paint. Yay! Now I have to say...it's pretty green. It's a lot of green! But, I do like the color, and I think once we get the fridge and stove back in place and hang curtains and pictures on the walls, it won't be so overpowering...I hope :) This Saturday, we're getting our living room furniture delivered, so I'm super excited about that! I'm afraid it's going to be hard to get Travis up out of the recliner to paint once he sits in it cause it's so comfortable :)

This weekend was like a little taste of spring. I can't wait for warmer weather! I feel like I'm just a happier person when it's nice outside. Apparently the groundhog didn't see his shadow this morning, so maybe spring is just around the corner...

I guess that's enough rambling for today. One of these days, I'll take some pictures of our painting progess so you can see how it's going. Hope you're having a great week so far! And happy birthday this past Monday to you, Gran! I love you and hope you had a wonderful day :)

Making Progress

The painting has begun! We started last Friday with the master bedroom, and it's pretty much finished. We may need to roll it again (at least in a few spots) to make sure it covered well, but I definitely love the color!!! It's a really pretty caramel color called Butte Rock. It's darker on the walls than in that sample picture, but it's just a very warm, inviting color. Definitely beats the pale blue color that WAS on the walls...


We also got started painting the master bathroom last weekend. It will need to be rolled a second time, but I already love love love the color (Adobe Beige). It's hard to tell from looking online, but it's basically a lighter shade on the same strip as the paint in the bedroom. It really looks great with the dark cabinets and the cream-colored tub and shower. I'm so excited!!


Next up, I think, will be the kitchen. It's going to be a really great shade of green that I found. I think it will look good with the floor and cabinet colors. 


La-Z-Boy is having a one day sale today on the living room furniture that we've picked out, so tonight, Travis and I are going to go up there and order it. We're going to get a 3-piece set (sofa, loveseat, and recliner). We measured our living room (even spread out sheets and towels in the floor in the size of the furniture pieces), and I think there's room for it all, so I hope it looks good and not too crowded. The furniture itself is really comfortable, so it'll be a nice upgrade from the old stuff we have now :)


Yesterday, I picked up my ring from Kay Jeweler's. I'd been without it for about 2 1/2 weeks! When I took it to have it inspected a few weeks ago, the girl told me that it needed to be re-rhodium plated. I had no clue what she was talking about! But, she held my ring up next to a ring in their display, and my ring (which is white gold) looked really yellow next to theirs. Apparently, all rings made of white gold are dipped in rhodium, another metal which is used to make the white gold look more white. Eventually, the rhodium wears away and you need to have your ring re-dipped in it. I asked the girl how often I need to do that, and she said that it really depends on your skin (I guess your body chemistry differs?). One website I read said that they recommend the re-rhodium plating every 12-18 months! I don't know why I'm just now figuring this out; after all, I've had a ring on my finger for 4 years now!! Actually, I've gotten my ring re-sized several times, and one of the prongs had to be tightened once, so I think they must have re-rhodium plated it every time, and I just didn't realize it (although I knew it came back looking great!). So, now my ring looks all white and sparkly again. I'm so glad Travis got the extended warranty on my ring though! Who knows how much money I would have had to pay every time I got it re-dipped or re-sized!?! 


Travis got back yesterday from a quick trip to Tuscaloosa. He went down there Tuesday afternoon with his boss, Danny. They spent the night Tuesday night in a hotel, and then they spoke to two freshman EE classes Wednesday morning about the PIF and the co-op program. Travis said it was a good trip. They ate at Chuck's Fish for supper Tuesday night. We never went there when we lived in Tuscaloosa, but he said it was really good. Breakfast Wednesday morning was at the Waysider (I'm jealous!). The presentations apparently went really well though--one of the ladies in the co-op office emailed Travis and Danny to thank them for coming and to tell them that they had kids lining up outside of the office after the presentation was over. I'm figuring that this won't be the last time Travis goes down there for something like this :)


Well, gotta get busy! Hope you're having a great week so far :)

We're Homeowners!!

I'm a little behind here, but we're officially homeowners!!! We closed on our house last Thursday, so we've had about a week for it to sink in. Closing day was pretty chaotic. Apparently the snow and bad weather delayed a packet of information from getting here from Nashville that Regions needed to determine the official total amount of money that we needed for closing. We were suppose to close at 4 PM, and we didn't find out the total until about 3:55...no joke! We were already at the attorney's office, so our loan officer at Regions had to bring our certified check to the closing for us! It was pretty stressful, but I'm glad it all worked out. 

As for the closing itself, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. We did sign a ton of paperwork, including one form stating that our names were really our names...haha. The attorney was awesome...he explained everything in simple terms to us, and the whole thing was pretty laid-back and casual. When we got the garage door openers and keys from across the table, my first thought was, "Is that it? We really own the house now?!" But, a week later, it's sunk in for sure. We don't have to have a realtor let us in the house...we can go whenever we want to! 

Today, I went to the house to take a bunch of "before" pictures. I know a lot of you are curious what the inside looks like! It's going to look a lot better once we re-paint, do a little updating, and move our stuff in, but this will give you a general idea of our house...

Travis actually took this picture on Sunday before the snow melted, but here's the front!

The foyer (with coat closet to the right)

Coat closet

Family room (door goes to the back patio)

Fireplace

Looking from the back door toward the front of the house

Looking from the family room into the dining room

Dining room

Looking from breakfast room into dining room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Breakfast room

Looking from kitchen toward family room and dining room

Looking toward laundry room and door to garage

Laundry room

Pantry

Master bedroom (closet on right, bathroom on left)

Master bedroom

Looking toward hallway

Master bath

Separate tub (there's a shade that pulls down over the window!)

Double sink :)

Hallway to other bedrooms

Guest bath

Linen closet

This will be Travis's study (once it changes color!)

Love the window seat :)

Closet

This will be the guest bedroom

Another window seat :)

Same bedroom

Walk-in closet

Garage

Extended driveway for extra parking

Backyard

 

Back patio

So, there you have it! We're planning to re-paint almost every room, so that will help make it our own. I think I've got the colors picked out for the bedrooms, master bath, family room, dining room, and kitchen, but I'd like to try out some samples on the wall to decide for sure! Updates to come!