Updates & A Christmas Craft

Remodeling Updates
I had to let you know that after church, Henry came out and helped Doug replace the trim above the cabinets. He has a nail gun, which made things much better for all of us. LOL! It didn't take much time to get all the trim up. Doug mentioned last night about going ahead and replacing all the trim down the hallway as well today, but I think I convenienced him to wait until after Christmas. It's not such a sore thumb like above the cabinets was. Henry and Doug did a great job! We had pizza for dinner, to celebrate. I should have taken a few pictures while they were nailing up the trim, but I was too busy running after Colton and decorating the house.

Millard and Peggy took Katie to church with them tonight because they were having their Christmas party with Santa Claus. Katie put on one of her special Christmas dresses, she was ready to remind Santa what she wants more than anything ~ a Strawberry Shortcake Playset. Later, Katie told me that she wasn't shy around Santa Claus. She wrote Santa a letter at school that I've got to take a picture and show you. It's cute.

With Henry and Doug working on the trim, Katie gone with Millard and Peggy and Colton taking a little nap, I got busy putting up Christmas. Oh, I can't wait to show you my front door display. I tried to copy Laura with her front door decoration, but with my own twist. I'm still working on it, but as soon as I'm finished I'll show you. I Love It! I didn't put out all of my Christmas decorations, but I finished around 5PM. I'll take pictures and have a Show and Tell very soon. We have a some old and a little new to share with you.

Christmas Craft
I am so planning on doing this craft with my children, but I wanted to make sure you saw this sweet ornament before Christmas was over. You still have time, so go out and do this ASAP.

Are these cute as a button or what? I just fell in love with them. The idea came from Eighteen25, in order to get the full instructions and to find out what materials you will need.  They are true works of art from your child. These small canvas of snow are actually your child's fingerprints. The rest you just draw with a toothpick. Very simple and easy. I plan to stop by Hobby Lobby tomorrow, in hopes to get some small canvas. Honestly, I didn't know they sold such things. As soon as we do ours, we absolutely share them with you.  If you decide to do these artsy paintings, please share them with us because I would love to see them. 

ND Band at Yankee Stadium Video

This is pretty awesome to watch!

Hawaii Band Formation of a Ball Being Kicked

Really Neat!

Enjoy!

Updated Living Room

We're finished with the Living Room! I absolutely love it! We painted the walls Churchill Hotel Maple. The chair rails and door frame in Cream Delight. Once the paint completely dried, I went over the top half with lime wash to lighten it up and make it softer. It turned out so nice. Most of all, Doug really likes it. I don't know what it is about him. He starts out hating or thinks I'm crazy when I do a project. When it's complete, he ends up loving it.

This morning, we put all the furniture back. I wanted to take pictures right away, before the kids got ahold of the room and put their mark of existence in it.

Of course, we are not completely finished with the Kitchen and Living Room. I'm waiting until after Christmas to get our curtains for the Living Room. I'm going to need a valance in the Kitchen window, I might be borrowing my mother's sewing machine to make one. We were having problems with our trim in the above the cabinets, so Doug is having to replace the trim. We should have to done by next weekend, so I won't paint above the cabinets until this is fixed. We have tile picked out, but not purchased yet. It's pretty expensive, so we will wait until sometime this coming year, to install. I think the tile will add a lot to the Kitchen, so pretty and goes with the maple/cream perfectly.

The previous owners had filled the cracks between the trim & ceiling with cocking.  Now, the cocking is old and coming apart.  Thus, it looks awful!

Doug will have to replace all the trim from above the cabinets to down the hallway - YAY! (that was sarcastic)

A piece of new trim (goes all the way to the ceil - not a big crack)

We are hoping to replace our appliances within the next couple of years. Hopefully by that time, we can get Katie & Colton's rooms painted and re-decorated. Projects, projects.

Katie was so excited tonight because we actually got to decorate our family tree, along with her and Colton's personal Christmas trees.  Tomorrow, we'll try to get our snow village up.  We're just going to have to take it one day at a time.  I hope to get some baking started on Monday.  Do ya think it can be done?  We shall see. 

Tomorrow night, Katie is suppose to go to church with Grandma Peggy and Paw-Paw Millard.  Santa will be visiting the children.  I told Katie that she needed to make sure that he know exactly which Strawberry Shortcake playset she wants.  She told me, "but mom he already knows what I want."  I'm hoping she'll go, so I can catch up on some gift wrapping.  ;) 

Deep Freeze in the South

We woke up at 15 degree weather this morning. I was so prepared to receive at call from school stating that school will be delayed for a couple of hours, but nothing. Instead, we looked like a few Eskimos getting into the vehicle this morning.  We drove by the church and the fountain out front was froze over.  Katie pointed it out to me right away. 

Katie's school has already cancelled classes for tomorrow because a big front is suppose to come through here.  This front will warm things up for the weekend. 

Show and Tell
Do you remember the hard time I had decorating the Gingerbread Haunted House this past Halloween?  No, well here's the post to remind you HERE!  I just knew it would be my last gingerbread house to decorate for many years.  It wasn't long before Katie began, "mom, when are we going to make a Gingerbread House for Christmas?"  Ugh!  I told her more than likely we won't be decorating another Gingerbread House anytime soon.  That was until I discovered this lovely already assembled and decorated Gingerbread House staring right at me as soon as I walked into the Walmart.  About a week ago, I purchased this gingerbread house for the kids for Christmas.  Katie is already wanting to know when we can take it out of it's box. 

Laura posted yesterday about how she's been deliberating on doing the Gingerbread House for Alise.  This post reminded me that I had not shared this little jewel, I found, with you.  I believe I paid $20.  It's pricey, but it is so worth keeping your wrists and fingers intact.  Decorating the last house, the icing was so thick that I had some trouble squeezing it out.  When I finished, my hands were throbbing, but it was worth a smile on my babies' faces. 

This Gingerbread House is not only boxed up, but wrapped to stay intact

I think it's cute and Katie loves it

Colton tries to get his hand in there

Katie Story

I took the kids with me to Lowes to get more supplies for my renovation project.  Katie has a hard time listening to me.  I like to blame the age she's in right now.  LOL!  I had some more paint mixed and they always dab a little on top of the lid, to show you what color you're buying.  I just got through telling Katie not to touch the paint because it might be still wet.  Well, I turned around and she was looking at her finger.  Yep, it had paint on it.  {sigh!}  It looked like she wiped her finger on her pants, but I couldn't find any paint on her clothes.  Ugh!  I finally asked her the big question, "will you finally listen to me when you're married with children of your own?"  Do you know what she asked me?  "Will I be married to Miles?" she asked.  Then she began giggling.  I asked her if she really wanted to marry Miles.  "YEP!" she responded without a second thought.  Little girls, little girls are something else.  All I could do was giggle.  Of course, she added "but I will marry Miles after I graduate from college.  Right mom?"  I'm so glad she's thinking ahead.  Surprised because the last time we talked she didn't want to go to college, instead she wanted to become a mom.  I asked her what made her change her mind about going to college.  She said she needs to go that she wanted to become a ballet teacher.  Sounded good to my ears and her daddy's when I told him the story.

Project Kitchen/Living Room Remodeling
I'm on my 3rd week of remodeling.  The cabinets are finished, as I posted before.  The rest of the walls are coming right along.  I'll try to post a few pictures this weekend.  We'll have to stop painting and remodeling by Saturday because I've got to get to decorating for Christmas.  I do have the Kitchen and hallway painting finished, except for the lime wash and above the cabinets.  I started on the Living Room painting today.  Doug is planning to stay home Thursday and help me finish up.  Roller painting goes much quicker than brush painting, but I have to do some puttying and priming.  Let's not forget that I can't paint while Colton is here.  I am able to paint and do little things during his nap time, so that helps.  Millard and Peggy have been complete angels picking Colton up twice a week for the day.  Bottomline, things are coming together (slowly) and we couldn't be more pleased.  Katie told me today that it's like coming into a different house. 

My Little Mermaid

Katie's Swimming Lessons
Today was the first day of Katie's swimming lessons with Mrs. RA. Bless her heart, she was a bundle of nerves. She was so excited, but nervous. Poor baby was on the couch and I noticed her tearing up. Taking it serious, I sat down beside her and asked her what was the matter. With her lip stuck out, she said "I wish you could watch me swim." {Awww!} The past couple of years at the old facility, I've had to drop her off and come back in a half hour to pick her up. I didn't know what to expect at the new facility, so I promised to get there a little early and watch for a few minutes. She felt better after my pep talk.

Oh my goodness, the new facility is AWESOME! After looking around the outside and inside pool area of the Aquatic Center and I fell in love. It's too bad, I'm not exactly in bathingsuit shape. I didn't get to check out the weight room or any of the other accomodations, but WOW I was amazed. Katie begged me to stay a little longer and let her play on the playground by the pool. HAHA! I had a hard time explaining to her that the slides were part of the pool. She's never seen anything like that, her eyes were HUGE. Plus, we are not members . . . yet. A friend of mine, Shelley, is a member and she said that they are only paying for membership during the Summer months at $75 a month. Talking with Maryann and Whitney last night, they told me that they offer family rates at $65 a month. I told Maryann, I'd love to join for the weight room when Katie starts school because they have a secure daycare center available. Doesn't it sound great to drop off Katie at school, take Colton to daycare and workout for about an hour a day. We might have to see if it can happen.

As soon as we met up with RA, she took us to the inside pool area, which was so nice. Guess what? Colton and I actually got to stay in the atrium area by the pool and watch Katie swim. Us there made her so happy. She did good swimming with RA. RA kept the flotation device off of her during most of their training. I guess she felt Katie was ready to swim without the device, with her keeping it off of her most of the time. She put it on her to practice her reaching with her arms. I think she liked the flippers on her feet. LOL! She looked like a little fish flopping around in her flippers and goggles.

I posted a few months ago about finding out that we had a local swim team and how I think Katie would love to be a member. She LOVES the water and she is doing so great swimming. I mentioned it to RA this morning and she seems to think Katie will do well. I asked her when she thinks she'll be ready to be apart of the team. She wants to work with her for a couple more years. She feels that Katie should be ready for the team when she turns 6 years old. She said the coaches want the children ready when they can swim a full lap, which she feels Katie is almost there. I got to see some of the team practicing in the outside pool. RA told me that the coaches are there every morning and she wants me to go talk with them about Katie. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to talk with one of them tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Bathroom Update
The painting is finished and all the rods and holders are hung. When I went to hang up my picture frames, I noticed one important detail that I didn't notice when I purchased them. One of the frames didn't have a anchor on the back of the frame. Ugh! On top of that, it was my favorite of the two frames. Hobby Lobby still has their frames 50% off, so I'm going to see if I can find something else. If I can't, I'll just make this frame work. I really like my metal design above the toilet, so I'm going to see if I can find something else to go above the light switches. Needless to say, I don't have any of my decorations hung yet. I did find a valance that I thought would go well. The fabric seems to go well with the shower curtain. I think I'm going to have to break down and put blinds back up. I was hoping to put up all curtains, but my window is so small that I can't find anything that will really go well.

Before

After

Before

After

I hope you can see the color wash, I took a close enough picture of it.

Lessons learned - don't purchase curtain rods where you have to apply adhesive or possibly glue on it in order for it to stick to the wall. Why I say this you ask? Well, Doug had to use a hammer to knock off the bases of the curtain rod. It took forever to knock it off the wall. Doug hit it so hard that I just knew he was going to knock a hole in the wall. My newly painted wall. Ugh! The only damage the wall suffered was a little ripped drywall. I applied compound, sanded and went to work painting. No big deal.

Father's Day

I hope you had a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. We were fortunate enough to go to two different places to celebrate with our dads. First, Katie and Colton spent a little time with their daddy before we went to church. Katie's card was so touching to Doug, a moment that will be treasured. I wanted to get a picture of my dad with the kids, but I don't think he and mom were feeling too good.  So, we'll have to take that picture at another time.

Bunny in Papaw Millard's yard

Baby birds just hatched

Operation Remodel Bathroom Almost Complete

Operation Remodel Bathroom is almost complete!  I worked on the room from 10AM-1AM yesterday.   It being my first day, I did all the repairs and prepped the room.  Luckily, I was able to get 2 coats of Kilz and paint on all 4 walls and ceiling.  Yay!  I was so tired, but the rewards were great. 

Some before pictures.  The walls are a cream color with cranberry trim and accents of dark green. 

Today (day 2), I spot painted and color washed the room.  I've never color washed a room before in my life.  I debated on doing it from the get go because I'm always afraid of doing something new or different that is this big.  I'm glad I did it though.  The clerk that helped me from Lowe's reminded me about starting the color wash behind a door in the corner first, until I got the hang of it.  Well, what if you don't have a wall behind your door?  I decided to chance it  start the color wash/lime wash behind my toilet and in that corner.  I have to tell you when I first started, I was thinking to myself, WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING?  I just knew that it was going to look awful and it's not a professional job by no means, but I was worried concerned a GREAT deal.  I just took my cheesecloth and dabbed and rubbed down in spots, to soften it.  I didn't get the softening brush because the directions stated that you could use either the brush or cheesecloth.  Here lately, I've been keeping a supply of cheesecloth.  Don't ask me why.  While I was texturing my newly painted walls thinking oh my gosh, I'm going to have to paint all of this over, I could see some glimmer of hope.  Thinking to myself, I wanted to paint a section of the room and then I would step back and see if I love it or hate it.  I'm glad I did because I nearly stopped and was about to repaint over it.  As I kept texturing, I could see the creation and really enjoyed doing it.  I was hoping Doug wouldn't come into the room until I got most of it done, but he slipped in when I got a small section finished and came unglued and was as concerned as I was.  LOL!  I just told him to leave and come back when I got more done.  We both really like the effect the color wash leaves on your walls.  We're glad we decided to do it now and it was so simple.  It's not hard to do, but you need to go by the directions of how to color wash/lime wash.  The wash dries really fast.  You apply a LIGHT (barely touch the wall - that light) coat with a 1'x1' "X" on the wall, followed by several small "x"s all over the wall until the glaze is gone from your brush.  Like I said, the glaze dries fast, so you'll have to brush those x's.  At one point, Doug thought I was beating the wall with the brush.  LOL!  Well, it's just that I was working fast, so the white glaze would lighten up and give the effect I wanted.  When we paint the Kitchen/Dining Room/Living Room areas, I think the color wash would look great.  I'm planning on painting these rooms in warm colors.  I haven't decided on a particular color, but it will be along the line of taupe or a type of coffee.  By the way when you pick up color wash it is naturally in the color white, but you can have it tinted in another color. 

Here's a sneak peek of yesterday's finished paint job.  You'll have to over look all the reflections bouncing all over the room. 

Light from the flash bounced off the mirror some how and now I have a reflection on my new wall. 

I don't have any pictures of the color wash today, but stay tuned. . .

Tomorrow, I plan to hang up our new bathroom wares (towel rack, hand towel holder, shower curtain rod and paper holder).  I have yet to find valances/panel to hang up in the window.  Ugh!  I thought about just making them, but mom informed me that her sewing machine is not working properly because dad tried using it.  So we're on to step 3, I'll have to go with another color for the curtains.  Since there are touches of antique white/off white, surely I can find some lace curtains.  Beings that I threw away the blinds that were in the room because I dropped a piece of hardware down the vent . . . oops, our curtains are currently a piece of newspaper taped on the glass.  HAHA! 

You've heard of the saying, "when it rains it pours."  Well, it came a down pouring these past couple of days and all I could do was laugh about it.  Day before yesterday, I kept running into brick walls when I was trying to get things lined up for my paint job.  Today with me painting the bathroom, it's been hard to use the sink because of all the stuff on the counter top.  So we've been using the Kitchen sink in it's place.  I was in the process of cleaning up my mess in the bathroom and went to wash my hands in the Kitchen sink when a nice fountain was pouring down onto my feet from below.  Yep!  You guessed it.  The Kitchen pipe busted. No, let me rephrase that it disintegrated and I've got the pictures to prove it.  Doug and I began laughing as soon as he pulled it out from underneath the sink.  We couldn't believe how it just fell apart.  Lowe's here we come.  While we were there, I went ahead and picked up the bathroom wares (towel holders and paper holder).  I haven't decided on the hooks on the back of the door.  I would like to have another 3 hooks, but I may have to get 3 or 4 individual ones.  {hmm} Decisions, decisions. 

You probably can't tell, but that's a huge hole in the middle of the pipe

This part just fell off.  Doug decided to install PVC this time around.

By the end of the day, the bathroom got cleaned up and the sink was fixed, thanks to my handy wonderful husband. 

Tip of the Day: You may already know this tip, but I discovered it this afternoon when I needed some paint thinner.  Not having any paint thinner in the house, I thought "why not fingernail polish remover?"  It's basically a paint thinner just in a small container.  I had some paint on my skin and little droplets on the bathroom floor.  The polish remover worked really well.  I guess, I went through about 6 cotton pads with polish remover on it.  Now, before you think "my gosh Mirya, don't you believe in drop clothes?"  Hold on.  I did use drop clothes.  I've recently discovered that I have a mild case of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), I can't stay focused on one thing for very long and then I catch myself merging over into something else.  Luckily, I'm able to slap myself back into focus.  So, I started cleaning off the paint spots and discovered that the polish remover does good to get the stubborn residue that catches in the dimples and dents in your linoleum.  Before I know it, I'm down on my hands and knees working the cotton pad in the corner crack of the floor, trying to get this dark speck out.  Ugh!  Needless to say, after the labor I've been doing around here, I had to rub my neck and shoulders down with Aspercream (scentless of course).  Ahhh! 

Great Finds

I've been trying to fit some healthy ingredients to me and my family, you've read my past posts about Whole Grain, High Fiber Diets and all that.  So, I wanted to get us some oatmeal cookies.  Well, if you like oatmeal and chocolate chips, you might like "Chips Ahoy Oatmeal Chewy Cookies"  Oh, Colton and I love them.  Doug and Katie are birds of another species.  I think Colton is going to be a lot like me when it comes to chocolate.  He loves it!  Katie and Doug both prefer vanilla over chocolate.  Colton and I just don't understand that reasoning.

Cooking Suggestions
As you know, I've been mastering pizza.  BLAHAHA!  Bottomline, you can't mess up a pizza!  Last time I made pizza with pesto, Doug remarked how he didn't like the pesto at all.  I have to admit, it gave me terrible heartburn.  So this time around, I made sure to put just marinara sauce on the pizza crust.  I substituted the ground beef for ground turkey.  We really liked the ground turkey and will be adding it a lot more to my pizza creations.  I think this one I made was a big time winner because we (Doug, Katie and I) had to go back for seconds.  The toppings included: ground turkey, ground pork sausage, crumbled bacon, sliced black olives, sliced button mushrooms, ripe diced tomatoes, diced green peppers, diced onions and lots of mozzarella and provolone cheeses on a whole wheat crust.  YUM!

Katie had to have her picture taken

Movie Time
Katie's had a hard time controlling herself from all the excitement because she found out that "Toy Story 3" is out and her grandparents have agreed to take her this weekend, if nothing happens.  The movie is suppose to be in 3D, so Doug and I were trying to explain to Katie about having to keep her glasses on throughout the whole movie.  At first, she said she could watch the movie without glasses.  After we explained the way the movie would be, she told us "but it's not real it's just a movie."  Finally, she told us that she would keep the glasses on during the movie.  We'll see if she'll do it throughout the whole movie. 

Diva
Ya know, I thought I would have a couple more years down the road before I had to deal with "The Miss Know It All."  You know her or him, if you have sons.  You have a dear sweet child, who holds on to every word that you say as the gospel.  Then before you know it "MKIA" creeps into your sweet angels life and as time marches on the "MKIA" takes over completely until they reach about 14 years old and then it morphes into "I Da Know" kid. I've probably posted about this before, but guess what?  I'm venting again.  Katie is an overall great kid and the sweetest thing you'll ever know, she just likes to keep that person locked up and I'm still trying to find where she's hiding her.  She has to have the hardest head {figuratively speaking} and will do just about anything to get a charge out of me.  What's so bad is Colton is falling right in line behind her.  What sister does; therefore, he shall do as well and she loves it.  Ugh!  When we go to Walmart, I never take the same route and all I hear from the back seat driver is "momma, do you know where you're going?  I don't think this is where Walmart's at?  Momma, are you sure?  Oh no, we're lost!"  Now, I'm sure you reading this can find lots of humor, I can too NOW.  At the moment, all I can think of is my happy place.  Like Jim Carey in "Dumb and Dumber" when they stopped off at a gas station and the truck driver arrived.  "Think of a happy place."  Yeah, it can start to get next to ya.  It's amazing, I've had my driver's license for 20 years, lived in the same town for over 30 years and never knew I was lost because I was once one of those . . . (tada) "Miss Know It All".  She doesn't limit herself to just directions to Walmart.  Oh, no!  This is a constant thing about everything, even washing my hands.  We were getting ready to eat, I washed my hands and I told her to wash hers.  She didn't see me washing mine and asked me if I washed my hands.  When I said "yes," she went as far as asking "are you sure?"  I try not to tell her where we are going.  She'll ask where we are going, but I try to tell her "just sit back and enjoy the ride."  She doesn't like it when I tell her that.  Sometimes, she aggravates me so much that I have a tendency to cave and finally tell her.  Ugh!   Lord, give me patience.