Living Park Life

2012-01-30T13:29:00.000-06:00

1. I got my new phone and I have no idea how I survived without it, nothing short of awesomeness!
2. I still haven't primed crap in the foyer, this project won't be complete for quite some time. #not motivated.
3. This semester has been easy peasy so far, Brent is jealous.
4. I'm obsessed with pinterest.
5. I ordered my new dishes I've been eyeing for some time last week. Yay! Crate and Barrel was running a free shipping promotion, I ended up saving about $17 because of it. Sweeeet. I'm excited to eat warm food again, our current plates suck all the heat out of your food before you are done eating.
6. I dyed my hair back to a dark reddish brown. For now...bwahahaha.
7. February starts this week, eeek to being another year old.

2012-01-12T13:09:00.000-06:00

Yay, my new-to-me phone is finally at the post office today which means I could get it tomorrow. We both have smart phones but the ones we have a realllly old and mine is starting to act funny and as technology advances it starts to suck more and more. To the old ebayer we went and bought a used htc eris for my upgrade to cell phone civilization, it has a droid operating system (currently I have a windows based phone) and can do the whole pinch and zoom thing (something I always forget my phone does not have.)

I've worked a little on the foyer since my last post, I stained and polyed the bannister hand rail part of the stairs. It has two coats on it now and needs a third as I just lightly sanded it for a smoother finish. Holy crap the poly product I'm using STINKS, gives me a headache and just stinks for days. Soooo...I haven't put on the final coat yet, procrastination. Nor have I primed a thing, procratination.

My semester started this week. Although I have a major case of senioritis this semester appears to be quite easy, not much busy work, not much extra reading other than my psychology class. I am also taking a philosophy logic and reasoning class this semester. I just remind myself that in a few months I'll have a nice long summer break and I will be able to simply enjoy the summer before starting back again.

2012-01-08T17:46:00.000-06:00

Booooooo. I'm done removing all the wallpaper that I am going to take down. 5 layers on some parts of the foyer and only one layer on the new drywalled parts but...the previous owners didn't prime the drywall first, so the wallpaper is pulling the drywall paper with it. So, I'm done removing wallpaper since if I remove anymore I'll have to skim coat the entire wall I was working on. Next step, skim part of the wall, patch holes, sand, prime, stain bannister, paint walls and woodwork, paint new light fixture (from the homestore) and decide if I want to use the sconce I also bought from the homestore.

At some point we'll install new blinds, curtains and frames. I been eyeing some stuff on pinterest..

Year In Review

2011-12-29T22:21:00.000-06:00

As the year is almost over I figured we would do a year in review post.

1. Cut down the huge rotting tree in the backyard.
2. Had a new roof installed on the back porch, new fascia, soffit and porch posts rebuilt.
3. Had the house painted...for 7 weeks and wrote a fat check.
4. Repainted and finished painting the kitchen cabinets.
5. Tore down the closet in the living room, installed drywall on the the ceiling and crown molding.
6. Traveled to New Orleans and Florida.
7. Makenna started her final year of preschool.
8. We continued going to school..

Next year....

1. Paint my bedroom furniture black.
2. Remodel the foyer (remove wallpaper, paint walls, paint woodwork, stain bannister, new window treatments, new light fixtures) Any takers? This project will probably take me an entire year to finish.
3. Continue going to school...
4. Paint some trim around the house.
5. Repaint the upstairs bathroom and paint the trim.

Christmas and New Orleans Photos

2011-12-27T16:39:00.003-06:00

Makenna in her bunk on the train in our room.

Waiting for breakfast on the train.

Katelyn sleeping on the train.

Makenna at the aquarium.

Yummy food at Bubba Gump.

Singing Happy Birthday.

Streetcar to the French Market.

Makenna and Santa at the French Market.

Lafayette Square in the Quarter.

Riding the streetcar with the alligator.

House of Blues.

Taking a tour with Papa.

Opening Christmas presents with Grandpa Pat.

Chris and Kimberly enjoying Makenna's toy.

Take 2

2011-12-12T20:33:00.000-06:00

1. Christmas number one was this past weekend, we made lots of cookies too. Insert me gaining some pounds over the holiday via cookies here.

2. I think I made a run of almost all my errands for the week. Meijer, Goodwill, Payless, Gordmans, Payless in the mall, Forever 21. I got home just in time to accept a couple of packages from the mailman. I believe my Christmas shopping is done, I'm waiting on a few packages to come still.

3. I have a cold, Brent had it last week. It really isn't bad, just makes me a little tired and ache.

4. I need to start packing.

5. I received my grade for my psychology final. I like A's. I'm still waiting on my grade for my Technology and Society class.

6. I need to go the library for some reading materials.

Thar she blows!

2011-11-26T09:28:00.001-06:00

Yay, the house is finally done! We have a couple of storm windows being repaired still...only three weeks over the scheduled time and $85 over budget. We are very happy with the end result.

Before

2011-11-07T10:44:00.000-06:00

We've been busy this week, school work, midterms, house work and such.

The house is still being painted, we are on week 5 of having the work done. Part of the final color is on the house, yay! A couple of days ago the painter guys started painting the corner boards on the side of the house that is painted the final color. It looks really nice.

Final green color, tan final color, trim being painted.

Primer on..

Green is the final color, it looks different now, I'm too lazy to get a new pic...

Makenna had fun trick or treating, she is was Rapunzel this year. She had a little parade at preschool and then later that night we did traditional trick or treating. After trick or treating, on the way home, Makenna asked if she could have some candy we said yes, she chose a box of jelly beans. After eating only two she was stuffing them back in the box and said she changed her mind and wanted something else. It wasn't until a couple of days later while going through Makenna's candy did we realize those jelly beans were "special" halloween flavors. Some of the colors were the original flavors and then some of them were flavored like vomit, pencil shavings, rotten egg, dog food....I guess we know why she wanted something else, lol. Ps-the rotten egg was THE WORST..

Makenna at preschool

You're hot then you're cold...

2011-10-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

We had a chance to pick up a sweet deal on a new fancy kitchen faucet.. so we took it. The installation was pretty quick and it has a lifetime warranty.
It is pretty:

Fiber being run in front of our house.

Photos of the prepping and priming process of getting the house painted.

2011-10-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

1. I have a new obsession with headscarfs. I can find them at the goodwill for about a buck a piece. Fold them up, pompador my bangs and some hair behind the scarf, instant hairdo.

2. Went out with an old friend last night, we have our little gabfests at a local bar downtown. Good food. Good hard cider. Although they were out of the pear cider I wanted to try.

3. Work is still going on the house, they started prepping last Thursday. I think all the lower windows are scraped, filled, sanded and primed. Today is day two of scraping the tongue and groove ceiling, I'm glad I'm not the one with sore hands, shoulders, arms and necks at the end of the day.

4. School work is done for this week. I need to start looking at which classes I want to take next semester. Psychology is a given, maybe two psychology classes..

2011-10-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

1. I finished my midterm for my Abnormal Psychology class today, it isn't due until Monday but I feel better now that it is done..although there are a couple of questions I'm still mulling over. It is so hard to believe that the semester is already half way over, it is speeding by.

2. I should have taken a picture of the big tree before we had it chopped down and hauled away, that part of the yard looks so different now.

3. The house was washed last week, the painter dude came for the paint samples today, tomorrow the prep starts. The neighborhood is looking like a parking lot for contractors, lots of revitalization. Contractors for the new building at the end of the block are working, the house two doors down is being worked on in the inside and out, our house is being worked on and our next door neighbor is suppose to have someone out this week about working on his house as well.

4. This week we had our yard all painted with lots of colors and decorated with lots of flags...they are running fiber this week in the neighborhood, sweeet.

2011-09-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

1. We had a nice relaxing weekend. Ran around town most of yesterday, including getting our flu shot. Yay! Hopefully that means I will be getting less sick this year.

2. Our mondo tree gets buzzed into a million little pieces this week!

3. This semester has been pretty nice so far, hopefully it stays that way. I do need to catch up on some readings from my psychology book..

4. Lots of rain today, makes for nice naps on the couch!

5. I finally decided on the paint color for the foyer, Nantucket Gray by Benjamin Moore. That only took four samples...all the colors I chose would change drastically when put next to the woodwork. Now I just need to get the motivation to actually start the project...and buy the paint. Lots of drop-cloths, extension poles and ladders will be involved.

Bahhhhh

2011-08-31T10:37:00.001-05:00

1. This is the second week of the semester. One paper written. One quiz taken. Two assigments done. Six chapters read.

2. We reinstalled the porch swing last night. I finally repainted it with a color very close the new trim color for the exterior, a creamy color with green undertones.

3. The baby fish are getting bigger! Most of them have their colors now but some are still black. They were zooming around the pond last night while I was cleaning the pond pump.

4. Makenna's first birthday party is this weekend. I bought the burgers last weekend but still need to take an inventory of the party supplies that I need to buy. And clean the house.

5. Got an update from the painter, now he talking mid to late September. Whawhawha, I should have specified a date in the contract. It isn't a big deal but I would like to get it over with so I can stop second guessing myself.

6. I've been loving me some pinterest lately. It started out as a way to find yummy recipes (like last nights) but I can also use it for wardobe, organizational and decor inspiration.

7. I'm thinking about painting the foyer. I'm wondering if I can find a grey that plays well with the woodwork...yes, I am in love with grey. I'm also wordering how much work taking down the wallpaper will be..eeek. It should be noted that I'm driving Brent crazy with all my projects and he isn't even the one doing them.

8. I finish resealing the metalwork for the gable and the mailbox, this time with products designed for the exterior..

9. I also fixed the fence panels which had popped off the vertical 4x4s when the tree dropped a huge branch on it. We have a "special day" with a tree removal service towards the end of September. Last night Brent cut down the dead branches on the red bud, they were wayyyy dead.

Grey-er

2011-08-23T10:12:00.000-05:00

Second coat on porch with retinted paint, tinted a little darker and grey-er. Before and after shots.

1st coat

2nd Coat retinted a tad more grey and dark

1st coat

2nd coat after retint

Dos

2011-08-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

1. Second coat for porch is down. Went back to the paint store to have them retint the paint a little, the porch looked quite a bit more blue than my swatch and posts were reading more grey from my original sample. We'll see how it turned out tomorrow when dry and light outside.

2. The semester started today. I dropped my Women in Technology class, a little too feminised for me annnnd the teacher was a little crazy. I for one don't want to have to write a paper next week or read 69 pages this week, so dropped it was. I picked up a technology and society class and picked a professor that worked for IBM for 30 years, he is pretty laid back and chill. Nicccce. Psychology class looks like it will be easy as pie. Niccce. Only a few more semesters to go and then I'll be done. I think 4 more to go? That is with only taking 2 classes at a time, I'm in no rush, just enjoying the ride.

3. I'm quite enjoying my shiatsu massage chair after two days of painting the porch. Deeeeep tissue massage.

4. Maybe tomorrow I'll start prepping the porch swing for repainting.

Bippity Boppity Blue!

2011-08-22T11:33:00.000-05:00

So over the weekend we did a little work on the casa. Brent ran an electrical outlet at the front of the house while I spray painted my porch light fixture (again). I painted it once before installing it and after getting it up there decided it wanted it to be darker than it was...so I just taped around it and taped some newspaper to the ceiling, sprayed it right in place. I also decided hey why not repaint the porch one of the accent colors of the new paint scheme..it is a grey blue navyish color (Mark Twain Grey Brick), from Valspar's Historic Color Line. It is an improvement over the brown, I must say. I have some touching up to do since it was pretty dark by the time I finished on the driveway side. I might roller another coat quickly to see if it darkens a little bit I like how it makes the yellow door pop! I am well aware the house looks crazzzzzy right now.

Close up of body color, trim color and door color

Touch screen pop machine at Jimmy Johns!

Tada! And Vote!

2011-08-17T11:05:00.002-05:00

1. I realized I never posted photos of my finished cabinets.. Tada!

2. Last week we visited Prarie Fruit Farms. On Tuesdays they sell goat cheese, produce and gelato and we also got to see the goats! We had blueberry, apricot and cucumber mint gelato. My favorite was the cucumber mint, it was yummmmmy. By the way.. this is Carmen.

3. Earlier this week we got rid of a bunch of furniture that was out in the chapel which we either weren't using or had broken. Yay! Next month we have an appointment with a tree company to come cut down the huge mulberry tree which dropped one of its limbs on the fence and is rotting from the inside out. Yay! We've been wanting to get rid of that tree but now we have an excuse, it is super huge so we are paying the professionals to do our dirty work. We are getting closer to when the painters are suppose to start on the house. I'm getting antsy!

4. Speaking of painters, pick which photo you like most. The colors depicted on the house aren't the actual colors, color renderings on the computer suck. Even though the gable above the porch looks darker it won't be, it will be the same color as the body. Pick your favorite by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post or in the cbox app to the right.

Rendering 1- Dark Posts dark trim above posts

Rendering 2- Light posts, light trim about posts

Rendering 3- Dark Posts, Light trim above posts

For Lara:

2011-08-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

Nursery Ideas--Some of the more interesting ones I've found for inspiration

Pretty blue green greyish, gold, white and pink. Love the name above the crib.

Coral! and crisp white and pink!

Greeeen

This kinda reminds me of your old bathroom?

Bright, fun colors!

Pale grey blue and pink

Silvery purpppple

Purple brown and white

Light green white and blue, especially the ceiling

The flowery curtains make it more girly

Donnnnne.

2011-08-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

All coats are done. Reassembly tomorrow.

1 Down

2011-08-05T12:09:00.001-05:00

1. Coat 1 is done on the doors (did it last night). Backs of the hardware are also done, waiting to be turned over.
2. I still need to do coat 1 on the frames, coat 2 on the frames, coat 2 on the doors and the fronts of the hardware...
3. I could get it all done tonight, if I was realllly motivated. We'll see. Onward.
4. Still working on purging the house of stuff we don't need. I made a few trips to the Goodwill and mostly just put stuff out on the curb with a free sign and listed it on free section of Craigslist. Decluttering feels sooooo nice.

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

1. Yay for the stock market taking a dump today, I'm not even going to log into our investment accounts..

2. The bottom cabinets and their doors are all ready to be painted..just waiting. Scrubbed them, sanded them, rinsed them..next step 2 layers of paint.

Uppers are done!

2011-07-31T13:24:00.000-05:00

Progressing..

2011-07-30T18:50:00.000-05:00

1. Hardware is drying.

2. Upper doors have their first coat and are ready for the second coat.

3. Upper frames have both coats now.

Glass still needs a frosted glass recoat. I should be able to squeeze the second coat for the doors out tonight, hopefully it will take less time than the first coat took...

Operation Grey Update

2011-07-29T16:27:00.001-05:00

Kitchen cabinet uppers and frames have been TSP-ed, sanded and rinsed, then primed and now dry...dun dun dun and the house stinks like oil based primer. Now I can paint with color! Made a run to the homer depot since I ran out of rolling tray liners, and bought some satin nickel spray paint to refinish the hardware and another can of frosted glass to refresh the cabinet glass.

If I keep updating the blog maybe I'll get it done this weekend...

Operation Grey Kitchen Cabinets..

2011-07-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

It has begunnnn..the upper doors have been primed, just need to prime the frames. Bought the paint today from Benjamin Moore, went with the expensive stuff hoping it will hold up really well. Although it wasn't a whole lot more expensive than buying less quality paint and a quart of poly. With the quality acrylic paint I bought I won't need to use the poly coat. Less work for meee. After I get the uppers done I'll start on the lowers which need to be primed as well (I'm being cautious). I'm pretty speedy when using a roller. Primer can be recoated in 2 hours and my Benjamin Moore paint can be recoated in an hour, I believe, it dries superrrr fast but reaches the full cure after 30 days. Wish me luck..at some point during all of this I'm also going to repaint my cabinet knobs, they are oil rubbed bronze right now, gonna make them silver..I think. Also I'm going to paint my horse shoe...white?

My previously purple door, now sporting my grey paint choice..it is Martha Stewart's Schoolhouse Slate.

Pin it...

2011-07-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

1. I have a slight obsession with pintrest..home design, food, fashion, colors. Mmmmmm.
2. So I'm thinking I want to repaint the kitchen cabinets...grey. As you can recall they were (at the least the bottom ones) painted green a couple of years ago...and I never finished the top ones b/c I wasn't really feeling it so I figured why put all the work into it when I was going to repaint anyway..I have a slight obsession with yellow and grey. Pintrest inspiration...

Photo dump...

2011-07-16T15:46:00.000-05:00

Dirtyyyy

Purrrrrdyy

New mailbox paint

New paint

New paint for the buns

Camera 1: Light colored post

Camera 2: Dark color post

My $5 habitat light

Our ironwork

Our loverly beadboard, we need to put trim back up..

At the 4th of July Parade

Hey Beeeeaaadboard..

2011-07-15T21:44:00.000-05:00

1. So the other day when installing our ~~new~~ awesome habitat light (I will post a picture), peeking from under the ~~devil's wood~~ plywood was the oh so pretty original beadboard ceiling. I mentioned to Brent today that I would love to tear down the plywood to reveal the beadboard but was scared there would be a huge hole somewhere in it. Brent suggested if there were big holes cut in it we would just put up new plywood......ding, so he ~~twisted my arm~~ convinced me to do it, I blame him, haha.Tonight we tore down some of the molding and one of the panels.

2. I'm thinking of repainting the front porch swing the dark blue from my color palette, it needs it. It also needs a new cover, I'm working on finding a fabric I like..

3. Still deciding on color placement for the porch posts, I have two painted up with differing schemes....I'll post a picture. And I'll post a picture of the new iron work.

2011-07-10T22:11:00.003-05:00

1. It was a lovely weekend, we kept busy doing random stuff.

2. I painted the mailbox and painted the house numbers on it.

3. We took down the house numbers on the house by the door and the ones that were in the porch gable. Painted the porch gable and installed the ironwork that we bought. I sprayed a sealer on it, only to notice after I installed that the can says indoor use only, dahhhhh I'll have to take it back down and use the exterior sealer I have down in the basement. We also installed a new porch light fixture from Habitat's restore, it is pretty!

4. This week we had the back porch flat roof replaced, the dudes are suppose to come back this week to fix some of the concerns we had about the quality of work done.

5. Looks like the house painting is going to be pushed backed to September instead of the of July. I'm still working on the placement of colors. I've totally changed my game plan with it comes to my color scheme, I decided the red would be a little much considering there aren't many houses with color on the block annnnnnd I hate wearing red clothes. I was concerned I would hate it in a couple of years. So we are going with an olive-ish sage-ish body color, a sandy beige-ish color for the trim and then a brighter green and a navy-ish color for other accents. The swatches have been on the house for a couple of weeks now and the longer they are up, the more in love I become. The palette came from Valspar at Lowe's and it is made from their historic colors line, it should be pretty. We are going to paint the front door orannnnnnnge.

Making progress..

2011-06-24T10:06:00.000-05:00

Our second round of virtual house paint photos arrived in the mail yesterday and were quite pleasing. I am not into how the grey house paint scheme looks on our house, especially not after being offered the plethora of paint options. The decision was really between the the red or green (the new green photos were lighter than the previous green ones). The green didn't super wow me, I mean it was nice, ok, safe, and the dark green was masculine. Honestly though, I have never passed a green house and thought wow! Well, except that I do like our painters house that he painted green.....except that I don't ever remember it being green, I remember it as red, or orange...wierd, but he has a nice craftsman green on his house that lends nicely to the yellow windown trim and black window frames. So I think I'm going to go balls to the walls and paint the house RED. I have a pair of curtains in the living room that adore and I have a paint scheme much like them that I am thinking of using. I should add that I also have a green version of those curtains, much the same as my brown ones but in green and I just don't like them that much, they just just ok compared to my lucious brown and red curtains, which is why they are in the downstairs bathroom now-a-days. I am working on matching paint chips at this point, which I will then have the 8x11 large paint chips sent to me (did I mention my painter is awesome), after I like the big paint chips my painter will bring samples to paint on the house for me to ensure I totally like what I have.

Red for the body

Lighter Yellow for the soffit, facia, widows, middle of porch posts, balastraudes

Darker Yellow for the porch rails, the tops and bottoms of porch posts, all crown, trim above the porch

Grey/Greenish Taupe for the doors, gingerbread brackets, porch swing
Dark Brown for the existing roof and front porch floor

Dun Dun Dunnnnnn

2011-06-17T15:39:00.000-05:00

We got our sample photos for the house painting in the mail with examples of paint schemes. 15 different schemes to be exact! Holy crap, I almost fell over when going through the photos. I am doubting my original paint scheme now and am a little overwhelmed. We had another meeting with the contractor today to explain what we did and did not like about certain schemes and had four schemes out of the 15 that we wanted him to tweak a little to see if we liked them any better. We should get those in about a week. The contractor reassured me that if we need to do a third round of schemes and tweaking it would be fine and we have plenty of time to work it out. Apparently choosing the contractor and writing the check for the deposit was the easy part, lol.

On and on..

2011-06-13T09:55:00.000-05:00

1. Last week we got a new doorbell, woohoo, looks like one I saw in the Restoration Hardware catalog.

2. Wednesday we had Country Carpentry out to do some..carpentry work. Rebuilt the two porch posts at the base of the front porch, and the ones on the back porch, replaced some rotten fascia and soffit on the back porch, patched some aluminum siding and repaired a window sill. They did great work and we are having them come out and replace the flat roof on the back of house which is apparently well past the funtional life, not to mention not properly flashed, bahhhh!

3. Last Monday we signed our painting contract with the dude we really like. He is now working on the color virtualization, picking a few color schemes to show me, sooooo excited, he really has an eye for color. We should have those in a couple of weeks. He says the painting itself should take about 3 weeks to do. It is a lot of work, painting all the fascia, soffit, siding, reglazing the windows, painting the windows, doors, gutters and all the porch trim. Holy crappola, I'm just glad that I am not doing it. They will be using an articulated lift to reach the gables since they are so high. Painting should start around the end of July.

4. This past week I received my results from the blood work I had done a couple of weeks ago. I've been taking an over the counter supplement that I have read in multiple medical journals is suppose to help treat my PCOS, it loosely related to vitamin B but not really, it is something our bodies make ourselves. Anyway I had my Dr. draw my testosterone levels and cholesterol levels, since both levels have to do with PCOS and were both elevated last year. After taking the supplement I've been taking for three months my testosterone levels fell by 53%, which means they are no longer elevated (and are well within the normal range) AND my cholesterol levels also decreased and are now within the normal range. Yay for finding my over the counter solution that has no side effects and works amazingly well!

5. Last week we took a little trip to visit Grandma Helen and Grandpa Lee and spent the afternoon with them. Makenna has lots of fun, including going to the park and getting some icecream. This weekend we met up with some friends and their kids to go to the American museum, then mexican, then the park and had some icecream. We were worn out by the end of the day!

2011-06-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

I am craving lemon poppyseed cupcakes like crazzzzy. I have really been feeling lemon lately, warm summer is what is causing it. LEMOOOON
I have a recipe for a blueberry cake that looks really yummy, I have a coupon for blueberries so maybe I'll make it this week.
Last week was crazy. Makenna had a doctor appointment for a physical, I had a doctor appointment and we were getting estimates for exterior house work. We are suppose to meet with the first contractor again tonight, to go over a few things.
I am reading two books I am enjoying right now, one is a psychology book and the other is about consumerism.
I am about 95% over my cold now, yay!

Holiday weekend

2011-05-31T08:04:00.001-05:00

1. We had a lovely three day weekend, did a bunch of nothing. (Except yardwork and coloring my hair)
2. The new pond fish are starting to enjoy themselves during the day now, swimming around. I believe we have five currently. Four shubunkin fancy goldfish and one butterfly koi.
3. The house is fairly clean, yay, although I could stand to vacuum today.
4. Makenna got a cold on the last day of preschool, booo, and now I'm getting sick too, double booo.
5. We got our first estimate for painting the house yesterday. Suppper impressed with the guy, we have another estimate scheduled for Friday, although we will most likely go with we guy we met with yesterday. He does color imaging so he will give me multiple schemes to choose from, including the one I am thinking about. We are getting a quote from a carpenter tomorrow to rebuild some porch posts, replace some fascia and a rotted out window sill. We have reached the point of just paying professionals to do work labor intensive work, we are getting old, lol.
6. Yes, I was thinking about vinyl siding but paint on the aluminum siding should last quite a while for less money sooo, yeah.
7. I am going to be off this week due to the holiday, I need to remind myself that it isn't Monday...
8. Moved one of my hostas yesterday to front of one of my beds, looked like I needed something there since my chicks and hens died which I had planted last year.

90% Done

2011-05-17T10:21:00.000-05:00

So our operation drywall is 90% done, let me tell you nevvvvvveeeerrrrr again will I do drywall. Patching is fine but no hanging and finishing. The ceiling looks decent but the seams are still visible to me, they could have been sanded for another two weeks before they looked really good and flat via the ceiling fixture. It does look loads better than the cracked textured over plaster though.

All in all we took down the closet, installed and finished the ceiling drywall, patched a large section of a wall with drywall, installed the chair rail and quarter round that was covered by the closet, primed and painted the wall that was in the closet and installed crown molding. Photos of the craziness:

Wall patched, primed and partially painted.

Sand, sand, sand and sand some more...

Finished and furniture moved back in..

I See Ya Ridin' Round Town..

2011-05-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

We've been thinking about ripping the aluminum siding off the house and putting something ~~less white~~ more period appropiate on it since we bought the house. I think we are getting to the point that we are about ready to do it. We are thinking about vinyl lap for the body and then having the fascia and soffit painted. I have an inspiration house that I would like to mimic and I lurrrrrv. It reminds me of New Orleans and these picture do it no justice.

Photo Dump!

2011-05-05T16:04:00.001-05:00

I just uploaded a bunch of photos to our shutterfly account from around Christmas time to present day...have at it! The link is on the right hand side towards the top of this page, it is named Our Photo Page.

Almost done...

2011-04-25T17:57:00.000-05:00

With this semester...it seems to be dragging on but after this week I'll be done. Brent still has a couple of weeks left before he is done. I'm really excited that I will have three whole months of not-school. I have three quizzes and one final left this semester. For the Fall semester I'm taking an Abnormal Psychology class and a Women in Technology class. I managed to turn in all the homework that was due this week this morning while at the tire shop getting one of my tires plugged (they had wifi and comfy seats)! I think tires secretly have magnets in them because I always seem to be running over a nail or screw...

Brent took off Thursday and Friday of last week so we could have a four day Easter weekend. Yesterday we celebrated Easter here with Easter baskets, and Easter egg hunt, coloring Easter eggs and making Easter cookies. We had quiche for brunch, turkey cucumber wraps for a snacky lunch item and then crawfish etouffe for dinner along with a strawberry pie for dessert. I forgot how much I like crawfish etouffe and I don't think I have made it in a couple of years. It was yummmo.

The flowers are starting to bloom and I'm going to work really hard at killing all the honeysuckle I can this year. I bought some more salvia to replace the two plants I killed last year when trying to spray the nasty invasive lovely smelling vine. I would love to kill it all and replace it with more lillies. I still have to finish the drywall ceiling in the living room, I have not had the motivation at alllllll. After the semester ends I should have more time to do it...that is the idea at least.

Florida Summary In Photos

2011-04-13T17:07:00.000-05:00

2011-03-24T19:49:00.000-05:00

Blah, I have a cold...again..no one else is sick in the house, they sniffled for one day and that was it. There is one thing I hate more than having a cold..having a cold while it is warm outside, and what do I hate more than that? More than that I hate getting over my cold once it has turned fricking freezing outside.

Looking forward to Florida, the sun, the beach, the hot tub, the tan. Still working on getting ahead in some classes so I won't have to do a ton of homework while away. Note to self- must buy new sunglasses before vacay. Got some new warm weather clothes so I something new to wear and have a few new pairs of sandals too, wooohooo.

2011-03-11T11:07:00.000-06:00

Makenna is doing better now that she has been on antibiotics for a few days. Early this week I realized that she had been ignoring me (more than usual) and then she started talking really loudly. So at dinner while she was focused on eating I said her name, cupcakes, candy, puppies and she didn't look up. At that point I was sure she had an ear infection and simply was having problems hearing. So we made a run by the convenient care on our way to get some icecream, double ear infections for her although she says that her ears don't hurt. Anyway like I said she is doing better.

It is suppose to be nice and warm today and tomorrow, maybe I can do some yard work, the daffodils are starting to poke through the ground. This weekend would also be a good weekend to start finishing the drywall in the front room. I am also going to plan on taking the dog to the dog park today, hopefully it isn't too muddy out there, or windy. I would also like to finish some homework that is due this weekend and workout. Something tells me I won't get everything I want done today...

Ahhhh nice weekend..

2011-02-21T10:28:00.000-06:00

This weekend was sooo nice, the weather and the company. Friday Mom and I took a walk out at Meadowbrook, it was a little muddy and we had to find our way around some big puddles but it was pretty warm and not too windy. This past week I also made a run to the Urbana park district office to get Daisy a membership to the dog parks in town. We have been twice since then and she is getting better socialized with other dogs, something that she hasn't had much experience with. She is fine with dogs her size and smaller but tends to be scared of those larger than her, like I said she has gotten much better just in the two trips we have taken out there. I don't think when we took her last year I had trained her on a come call yet so she would just go where ever, much more nice when I can yell at her to come and she catches up with me. She is also doing much better with simply watching where I am at all times and staying within ten feet of me.

Saturday we went to Danville, Brent watched Makenna and hung out with a friend and his kids while us girls went out for a girls night. We started off at the Possum Trot meeting up with about 6 others and then moving the party to Sleepy Creek Vineyards in Fithian for wine, wine slushies and some live music from an awesome artist. She was like a combination of Nora Jones, Joss Stone, and Adele...loved it. We managed to make it back around 10:30 just in time before the guys fell asleep..

We haven't finished the ceiling in the front room yet..boooo. After I got over being sick, after being sick, I got sick AGAIN! This time it required lots of puking, so last week was my first week of not having a virus or cold in about three weeks, yeah..

School is going well.. A's ...my communication theory class is extremely boring but the work isn't hard so...blah. I wrote my paper that was due today for Psychology last night since Makenna doesn't have any preschool today. We will be running to the library today so Makenna can play and pick out some books while I catch up some textbook reading for school.

I've been told to go and take a shower so we can go to the library so..peace out!

Crazy Cold Crazy Weather

2011-02-01T16:26:00.000-06:00

I have a super crappy cold...actually we all have a super crappy cold, so if you have been trying to get in touch with me, I'll call back in a couple of days. Blah.

The crazy weather has started outside too, although I suppose at least since we have snow days we are multitasking by using them as sick days too.

Up Up and Away...

2011-01-29T18:01:00.000-06:00

Look what we hammered out, errr screwed out last night:

Yay! All the ceiling drywall is hung!

Now you see it..

2011-01-28T12:32:00.000-06:00

Now you see it...

Now you don't

Wednesday we did it, we jumped in, we took the plunge. We tore down the ~~big ass~~ really big closet that was in the front living room. Honestly the room feels twice as big as it did before! It was fairly easy to disassemble, namely because Brent did it while I ~~watched~~ supervised. Seriously though it was put together with only nails, no crazy screws or glue or wall anchors to ~~curse at~~ remove. Last night we removed the falling plaster ceiling pieces that were loose then found our studs, snapped them with our chalk line, made our t-brace drywall jacks out of parts of the closet (perfectly sized lumber for the floor to ceiling) and then started screwing in our first sheet of drywall. We then found out we needed longer screws b/c we are going through the old lathe, plater and the new 1/2 inch drywall. I ~~forgot~~ neglected to take that into account. Luckily our homedepot is open til 10pm, woohoo and someone was really nice and gave us a giftcard for Christmas. New longer screws, a drywall dimpler (didn't buy before) and a drywall square (forgot to buy) later we were able to finishing installing the first sheet. In our current photo, excuse the fact that the drywall doesn't end on a stud, I forrrrgottt about that before we hung that sheet. It ~~will~~ should be all good though, we just drilled it straight in to the lathe which is obviously nailed to the stud. Onward tonight.

Slow progress..

Yesterday I also ordered our new couch. Woohoo, we've had the ~~tan~~ green with the couch cover, couch for almost 4 years now and while it is still functional I've been searching for something different. Initially a couch at Ikea caught my eye. Although it was more than I wanted to spend, then add on the fact that they want $320 to ship it to me or I have to rent a truck to get the boxes down here from Chicago and then still assemble the thing myself, the Ikea couch was a no go. So I found a dupe. The Ikea couch was huge, and actually bigger than our current couch but the one we bought was less than 2 inches smaller than our current couch. The couch we bought is also microfiber while the ikea couch was cotton. Tada.

Ikea $800 couch

Our new couch for less than half.

New Year New Hair

2011-01-06T10:32:00.000-06:00

We made it through all three of our Christmas celebrations and now it is 2011. Makenna started back at preschool this week, I start my semester next week.

Some photos from recent:

Just wanted to say..

2010-12-24T07:46:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2010-12-20T11:16:00.000-06:00

Christmas! Yes, it is this week, so hard to believe. Makenna had her preschool Christmas party on Friday and now she is out of school for the next couple of weeks. The kids all sang some holiday songs, gave gifts to parents, got to sit on Santa's lap while getting a gift and then we had cookies and icecream.

Friday I also had scoured the web for my next haircut. I'm still growing it out but was bored with the 5 month old, now very long layers. I wanted a cut I could use as a style with still growing length. The cut I chose was a midlegth shag, oh yes, lots of layers=extra light hair but with all my length still. My stylist did a great job replicating the photo I brought in to her and decided to cut it all with a razor, oh yes! I loooooove getting my hair cut with a razor, the end product comes out so much more texturized and edgier. Needless to say I am in love with the new cut, I'll have to post a photo of it in the near future. I also went back to red hair this past week, firery red to be exact from Wella. It is a great red and it along with my new haircut make my highlights I did a couple weeks ago really look nice. It is also a demi haircolor so it will washout after a couple of months, ie-no roots, yay! I finally feel like me again, instead of a soccer mom..

I'm done Christmas shopping, finished last night actually, now I just have to sit and wait for my packages to come rolling in. I made the mistake of trying to Christmas shop in town last week and suddenly remembered why exactly I don't. TOO MANY PEOPLE. So I came home and finished the day shopping on web, including shipping, the exact same price as buying in the store but less work for me.

I have all my grades now for the semester and rocked A's on both finals and my term paper. Woohoo for another good semester and getting paid to finish my degree.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-15T11:10:00.001-06:00

Well my semester is finally over! I know my final grade for one class but the evolution class still has to grade my term paper and grade the final, although I did have a very high A before both of those so I should get an A in that class too.

Next semester I'm taking two classes again, this time Child Psychology and Into to Communication Theory, should be an interesting semester. I'm really looking forward to the Child Psychology class.

Last weekend we went over to Indiana to take part in the annual cookie making festivies, we had lots of fun and then on Sunday we celebrated Christmas there too. All our neighbors were happy to see me standing at their doors holding a plate full of cookies for them, lol.

This weekend we are suppose to meet up with Grand and Grandpa West around Bloomington to do some catching up.

I can't believe that it is almost 2011, the year will be over before we know it!

Here we go

2010-12-08T09:31:00.000-06:00

Well...the semester is almost over now. I've turned in my term paper finished all my assignments except replying to a couple of posts and only have one final next week to review for. Luckily it isn't over the entire book but only over the last four chapters.
Last weekend we took a little road trip to Indy in order to meet Chris, Lara, Cathy and Darrell for a little weekend get together downtown. We had lots of fun cruising the downtown although it was a bit chilly.

Monday I took the car in to the dealership to get a recall done on it and had them install a new 12v battery while they were at it. The car had the original still in it and the voltage test in the car suggested it was dying. So in order to save myself a little pain and hassle since it is a vented battery and there are a ton of other connections you have to disconnect on the battery to get it out, I let them do it for me. It worked out well, they have wifi there so I plugged in my laptop and cell phone chargers and then pounded out the rest of my term paper.

This next weekend the three weeks of Christmas starts. This weekend is Christmas at grandpa Pat's then our Christmas then the Tennessee Christmas. Whew...

It has been a while...

2010-10-22T09:25:00.000-05:00

since I've posted.

I should be in the shower right now, get crap done so I'm not rushing when I have to take M to preschool this morning. Like earlier this week, when she got to preschool and one of the teachers mention she has her shoes on the wrong feet...errr, I pretend she had put them on.

Last week I painted the dining room the same color as the kitchen, I love it. It makes the dining room feel so fresh and clean and HUGE!

Tonight we are going to the homecoming parade woohoo, M enjoys it when we go and I don't think we went last year. The weather is suppose to be quite nice today.

Tomorrow night I'm hosting a get together for some girls from high school. It has been quite some time since we have all been together and I'll admit that the planning and locking everyone in for a certain day was a lot less work than I had envisioned.

School is going well, midterms were last week. I actually didn't have any midterms, but did have a regular exam for my biological evolution class. I'm really enjoying this semester, probably because both classes I'm taking are science based and I lurrrrv science. I'm really excited that child psychology is going to be offered next semester, I really wanted to take that class but it wasn't offered this semester. Brent is also doing well in his classes, one of his classes he received the highest grade for the midterm in the class.

The other day we rented homer depot's truck and decided to buy the drywall for the living room ceiling, we were using the truck to move a large chair but figured we could kill two birds with one stone. So the drywall is sitting in the chapel, waiting, and taunting me. That project will require a little finesse. Tare down crappy closet, move alarm box, tare down crappy ceiling trim, drywall ceiling, paint the wall that was behind the crappy closet, install the chair rail, poly the trim that was behind the closet, decide if I want to install crown in the living room. One. Step. At. A. Time.

Yesterday at Walmart I found my coveted cinnamon flavored floss, yesssss, I've been looking everywhere for cinnamon floss and they had it!

What a weekend

2010-10-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a busy one, for sure.
Friday I met Grandpa Pat and Patty in Danville to hand off Makenna, so she could spend the night with them on Friday and Saturday.
With someone to watch Makenna we were able to go to the annual campout. It was a little chilly that night while sitting by the fire but our sleeping bags were nice and cozy. Sunday we drove to Newport, took a walk around the hillclimb and then made it back to Champaign. After we got back in town I changed the inverter coolant in the prius and then we picked up Mom from her bus that had arrived from Chicago. It was a busy day, I fell asleep around 9pm!

This week isn't too bad school wise, I have about three assignments to do, two chapters to read and then an exam that opens this weekend.

No big plans for next weekend, it is suppose to be warmer than it was last weekend.

Whewww

2010-09-27T14:54:00.001-05:00

So I just finished a psychology paper, homework and a quiz, I have a couple of minutes before I have to run to pick up M from preschool. I apologize for the lack of post, the more papers I have to write for classes, the less I want to write here.

We were suppose to go to a birthday party in Danville this past weekend but didn't make it b/c Makenna was sick. She woke up Friday with a fever so I kept her home from preschool, around 5 we went to Convienent Care to get checked out b/c she had really swollen tonsils and I wanted to make sure she didn't have strep. Some steroids and antibiotics later she was on her way to feeling better.

Tonight I need to stop by Mom's to check in on her cats as she is out in Oregon visiting Aunt Jenni! It's been a while since she's had a vacation and I think the first time she's been to Oregon.

I am patiently waiting for my newest package to arrive...from Hong Kong. It's a palette with 88 neutral eyeshadows, kinda like the Urban Decay naked palette, but not $40. Bought it off ebay, I just hate how long it takes stuff to get here from Hong Kong though.

We got a new laptop that has a webcam so now we are able to skype, which has been pretty cool. The laptop we got is a Dell Mini, it's sooo mini! I really like the size.

This weekend Makenna gis oing to spend some time with Grandpa Pat and Patty so Brent and I can go to the yearly campout, woohooo! We really enjoy going every year and are thankful to those who make it possible for us to go.

For dinner tonight, Pasta bake! I had leftover spaghetti sauce from last week sooo...

2010-09-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

1. Last night Brent helped me move the desk from the laundry room in to the dressing room to use as a vanity. This way I can move ALL my makeup out of the bathroom upstairs and put it in a room that has lots of natural light! I'm excited!

2. Mom dropped off the loveseat cushions with the new cushion covers last night, they look sooo good! The whole loveseat looks great now and it is so comfy! I'm glad she can sew, I simply cannot. She took some throw pillows back with her to make covers out of the leftover dropcloth.

3. Brent's taking the day off tomorrow since it's Makenna's birthday!

4. I'm thinking about making a run to Biglots and maybe the homestore today.

5. I need to post my homework that is due Sunday, since we'll be so busy this weekend.

6. I'd take a picture of the vanity, loveseat and wall but I need to find the camera first.

2010-08-30T18:10:00.000-05:00

1. So yesterday I painted ~~all~~ most of the trim downstairs in the sitting room. I had to take a few breaks since I was finding it super difficult to focus, at one point I broke a lamp, at another point the hammer fell off the ladder and landed in my pan of paint (spraying paint everywhere).

2. I also painted a "reverse" accent wall in the sitting room. So all but one of the walls are still the dark blue but one is a light blue. I also slapped a new coat of paint on the fireplace, to freshen it up.

3. While at Homedepot we looked at some of the bathroom vanities they had on sale to replace the sink in the upstairs bathroom. While the sink that came with the house was a cool, 1920-30s sink, we desperately needed more storage, for things like toilet paper. Yes, we brought it home in the Prius. In fact, we didn't even have to lay any seats down, it fit right in the back. Brent hooked it up yesterday, I have some finishing work to do since this new sink is shorter but wider than the last one.

We decided on this one, the sink is as white as the photo but the countertop is a darker tan:

2010-08-28T22:51:00.001-05:00

1. Spent a very small part of the day working on the house, re-glazing a window, scraping some failing paint off the exterior, priming the last few pieces of shoe molding in the sitting room. I bought a gallon of the white I've been using for trim, antique white, it is a kinda very light creamy marshallow whitish color. How many days do I have left before I'm suppose to have my short term goals completed?

2. The rest of the day was spent driving around..for lunch..for increase..going to the bank...going to the home depot..going to the grocery.

3. I should be helping Brent fold laundry but I'm here posting...

4. Drove to Indiana on Friday, felt like taking a drive so we went and visited some family and took a dip in the pool.

5. Friday night we hit up the sweet corn festival over in Urbana and enjoyed the live music. This evening you could hear the live music while sitting on the front porch.

6. I made some super tasty ham and bean soup with corn bread for dinner, yum!

Blog Challenge; Day 14

2010-08-27T08:53:00.000-05:00

Day 14: Post a photo of something you ate today and 10 confessions.

Confessions:

I skipped day 13. I was at a loss for words and was trying to come up with something, that is why I haven't posted in about a week.
I didn't eat the above bagel today, I ate it yesterday. It was so yummy, from Einstein Brothers Bagels on Lincoln. An everything with onion and chive cream cheese, chews like it's from New York.
We got the rest of the shoe molding cut and nailed in place last night around 11. Now I need to paint the rest of the trim so it doesn't look so grimy.
Today is Friday but it feels like Saturday. Brent took off yesterday since it was so nice outside and we had dentist appointments in the morning. No cavities, yay! Makenna had her teeth cleaned too, even had x-rays taken, she did a really good job.
Last night I also cut the threshold for the bathroom. Now I can't decide if I want to paint it white and poly over it (it will turn a little yellow from the poly) or just poly and keep the wood look (there is no other unpainted wood in the kitchen or the bathroom). I'm doing well on my August goals!
I can't believe it will be September next week!
We bought Makenna a ~~new~~ used VCR to replace the second one she's worn out. We have a nice looking sony now from the Homestore. I also bought a frieze carpet remnant that almost exactly resembles a rug I've been eyeing online and at Meijer. Rug at Meijer and online $70, carpet remnant at the Homestore $7.
I have a psychology assignment due Monday that I haven't done yet, Oh noz!
I am loving this much cooler weather and have some fall-ier clothes coming my way in the mail.
I've not colored my hair in over 4 months and the last time I colored it, it was a wash out demi permanent color. Say it with me now, oooooOOoooo.

Blog Challenge: Day 12

2010-08-21T20:59:00.001-05:00

Day 12- A picture of your room and don’t cheat by cleaning it. Share a secret.

Let me warn you it is messy! Now where's ~~Waldo~~ Nermal in the photo? Can you spot her?

Here's my secret: After being not so smart yesterday and drinking TWO glasses of ice tea at dinner, I was still up at 3am..don't post your Day 11 challenge late at night b/c you'll end up having a nightmare about it like I did.

Another secret: This creature scares me on a daily basis

Blog Challenge: Day 11

2010-08-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

Day 11- A picture of something you dislike.

Maggots...need I say more.

Blog Challenge- Day 10

2010-08-19T17:38:00.000-05:00

Day 10- A story about a past relationship.

Hmmm, so since I married my second boyfriend I had in high school this will be from when I was a young'in.

In 5th grade I "dated" a boy who I really liked but he got in trouble a lot at school, didn't do his homework which resulted in terrible grades. I made an ultimatum, either he changed his behavior and grades or we couldn't be "together" any longer (ie- he couldn't sit by me during free reading time). He tried, it didn't last long, it didn't work out. At that age I learned that you can't expect anyone to change for you, they have to do it for themselves. I also learned at that age that you must stand true to who you are. I learned to not change yourself to be with someone else because at that point you are no longer yourself, are you?

Now you know why I got married at eighteen. I get it, I got it.. young. There are some people double my age that still don't get it....

Blog Challenge- Day 9

2010-08-18T09:44:00.002-05:00

Day 9- Something/someone you’re proud of.

Our house: We've been here almost 6 years now and it truly feels like home. No other place else could match what this place does for us. I'm proud of all the work we've done to it and love we've given back. This photo was taken when we were first buying it. Before we cut down all the bushes in the front, repainted the front porch, had a new roof put on. We've also done some work to the inside too like ripping up the carpet on the first floor and refinishing the hardwood that was sitting under it. We have made some smart financial decisions and managed to get a house with everything we wanted and needed for a fairly small mortgage (for this area). This small mortgage makes it much easier to pay the house in full someday. How exciting will that be!

Blog Challenge - Day 8

2010-08-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

Day 8- Short term goals for this month and why.

1. Reupholster the loveseat w/the dropcloth I bought at Meijer yesterday. A goal b/c I've been wanting to do this for months and slipcovers piss me off.

2. Finish mitering and install the shoe moulding in the blue sitting room. The room is like 90 percent done except for this, well, the trim could use a fresh coat of paint too.

3. Scrape, sand, prime and paint some of the outside window sills. Why? Some of the paint is failing...and it looks crappy.

4. Cut and paint the trim I have for the bathroom threshold to cover the seam in the new vinyl. I should have done it months ago.

I'm calling those my short term goals for August....

Blog Challenge- Day 7

2010-08-16T12:21:00.000-05:00

Day 7- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.

My little baby girl, love her more than I ever imagined I would.

Blog Challenge: Day 6

2010-08-15T11:01:00.000-05:00

Soooo, I missed a few days of the blog challenge. I had a busy week; Wednesday a trip to Cayuga, Thursday a trip to Danville and Friday a trip to the pool. Onward!

Day 6- A hobby you have.

Cooking! I really like cooking, the smell, the sound, the textures, mmmmmm. New recipes, old recipes, it doesn't matter.

Photos posted...

2010-08-10T16:57:00.001-05:00

New photos are posted from the West reunion that we went to last weekend. Go check em' out!

Blog Challenge: Day 5

2010-08-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Day 5- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.

The Dominican Republic and Punta Cana were soooo beautiful and well worth the moola!

Blog Challenge: Day 4

2010-08-09T16:11:00.000-05:00

Today's blog challenge was interesting, I just went through my Itunes library. It should also be noted that I have not bought new music in forever.

Day 4- List 15 songs that represent your life’s soundtrack.

LaLa- Ashley Simpson
Chasing Pavements- Adele
Walk A Little Straighter- Billy Currington
Perfect- Sara Evans
My Prerogative- Britney Spears
Back At One- Brian McKnight
Save Tonight- Eagle Eye Cherry
Cheek to Cheek- Ella Fitzgerald
Glamorous-Fergie
Bitch- Meredith Brooks
Home- Michael Buble
Smile- Nat King Cole
Want To- Sugarland
Breathe Me- Sia
Amber- 311

Blog Challenge: Day 3

2010-08-08T20:09:00.000-05:00

Day 3- A habit that you wish you didn’t have.

Peeling my fingernail polish or biting my nails when I'm nervous. This past semester I tried to not bite my nails while doing school work. I ended up having BOTH eyelids twitch for around a two week period, after which I finally gave in and bit my nails..the twitching stopped. There it is.

Blog Challenge- Day 2

2010-08-08T20:03:00.000-05:00

A little late b/c I was out of town but....Day 2- A picture of something you cannot live without.

Blog Challenge- Day 1

2010-08-06T16:44:00.002-05:00

Today's Blog Challenge:
Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.

I like this photo, my bewbs look nice in it, haha. Loved that hair style but my hair couldn't take the flat iron on a daily basis.

15 Interesting facts about yourself:

1. When I learned to read in 1st grade, it made more sense to read from right to left, instead of the opposite.

2. Because I'm left handed I occasionally go to the wrong side of the door to open it without thinking.

3. I jack the radio up LOUD in the car when cruising around town and get really excited when they play old school snoop in the afternoon. d-o-double g!

4. I get hit on by really weird guys on a regular basis. Like yesterday...and the day before yesterday..

5. I love my vintage engagement ring more than I ever thought I could. I think I was born in the wrong era as I love the 40s and 50s.

6. I hate that I don't have any lady friends that have kids Makenna's age. Yet, I refuse to wear sweats without any makeup and greasy hair to the library so I am more approachable to the other moms. I just can't do it.

7. I'd love to start my own business someday but I don't want to take the financial risk, even though I know I would be successful.

8. I really don't like the sound of crickets or cicadas, especially cicadas...diiiiiieee already.

9. I get treated differently by people if I wear my hair naturally curly the first time I meet them. When meeting a doctor or employer for the first time I will always straighten it, otherwise I'm not taken seriously.

10. I enjoy shopping at the second hand stores in town, ebay or on craigslist. I can't stand paying full price for something. Shoes, clothes, cooking utensils, engagement rings, exercise machines, wood chippers.. you name it. Most everything in our home was used.

11. I'm not really keen on my dogs name but I haven't changed it because her name was my justification of choosing her specifically. Haha.

12. I just realized I forgot to look at a canvas drop cloth at Home Depot that I was going to use to upholster a loveseat with. Booo. I also don't know how to upholster and am very bad at sewing.

13. I have no idea when my semester starts..and didn't even think about it until I received my textbooks yesterday...

14. I can't believe my baby is going to be 4 in a matter of weeks! That makes me feel so old...but not as old as some people that haven't had any kids yet.

15. I spent more money shopping today than I "should" have even though I'm not stuck to any kind of a budget. Even though my shopping binges come nowhere close to a regular person's, I still feel guilty.

Blog Challenge for 30 days:

2010-08-05T17:55:00.001-05:00

I saw this on another blog and thought it was an interesting idea. So..as a way to spice up the blog and increase posting...I am gonna do a blog challenge. Starting tomorrow...Lol.

Here's the challenge. You a post for 30 days and you post something different based on this schedule:

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself.

Day 02- A picture of something you cannot live without.

Day 03- A habit that you wish you didn’t have.

Day 04- List 15 songs that represent your life’s soundtrack.

Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.

Day 06- A hobby you have.

Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.

Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why.

Day 09- Something/someone you’re proud of.

Day 10- A story about a past relationship.

Day 11- A picture of something you dislike.

Day 12- A picture of your room & don’t cheat by cleaning it. Share a secret.

Day 13- Write a letter telling someone something you could never tell them.

Day 14- A picture of something you ate and 10 confessions.

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle & share the first 10 songs that play.

Day 16- Something you could live without.

Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why.

Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have.

Day 19- Nicknames you have & how or why you have them.

Day 20- If you had 3 wishes, what would they be.

Day 21- Share a picture from your day.

Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else.

Day 23- What is something you crave.

Day 24- Share a story about your past that you are ashamed of.

Day 25- What I would find in your bag.

Day 26- Places you want to visit before you die.

Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge?

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned.

Day 30- A picture of you today & 20 goals you want to accomplish.

Stayed tuned for the Day 1 posting tomorrow!

New photos are posted..

2010-08-05T10:48:00.001-05:00

New photos are posted at shutterfly, use the link on the right sidebar!

Ding Dong

2010-08-04T10:05:00.000-05:00

~~Avon~~ Fedex calling.
This morning the doorbell rang and the Mr. Fedex dude dropped off my textbooks for this coming semester. They were in a bubble envelope. Oh yes. Just two less than an inch each textbooks. From the looks of things it is going to be a very nice semester. The biology evolution class looks like it is going to be exactly what I wanted. Evolution looked at from a cellular level, gene alleles, heterotrophes, transcription and all that, hellls yeah. My brain eats up natural sciences like nothing else. I'm also taking another psychology class b/c they are also very interesting and my brain likes them too.

That's it..two classes both science, score!

Hazy Days

2010-08-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

The heat has finally let up a little this weekend. I am all ready for fall, this summer has just been too hot. On top of that we didn't have much of a spring either, just summer.

We haven't done much this weekend. Yesterday we took a trip to convenient care because Makenna's tongue looked a lot like she might have a case of thrush. She also had been sick the past couple of days, which didn't bother me as much. Anyway, the doctor said the virus she has is hand, foot and mouth, a self limiting virus and he wasn't sure if she also had a case of thrush or not. So we have a prescription to fill if it starts too look any worse. So Makenna isn't suppose to be around kids for a couple of days b/c she is contagious, so we've been home. On a side note the convenient care in the county market by us closed...booo.

I still haven't uploaded all the photos from our trip out east, maybe I'll get that done today.

New York and PA

2010-07-27T16:42:00.000-05:00

I'm having some problems with the new photo loading tool on the blog, so one of the photos was loaded 4 times and isn't allowing me to delete it. Whatever. Here are some photos from our latest roadtrip. We drove out to Pennsylvania for a family reunion and also took a jog over to New York City while we were on the east coast.

Favorite Quote in the exhibit.

Say Hay!

Ellis Island

<><>

<> <><><>

<><><><><><>

New York City Pizza!

<><><><><><>

Brent shooting at the farm.

<><><><><><>

Makenna's new hat.

NYC

2010-07-22T19:20:00.001-05:00

Over in NYC, photos will be posted once we get back!

TURN DOWN YOUR SPEAKERS-Makenna at the Navy Pier

2010-07-06T15:19:00.000-05:00

Chris and Lara shot this video of Makenna at the Navy Pier on our Speed Boat ride.

The Fourth

2010-07-06T15:09:00.001-05:00

The past weekend we traveled up to Michigan City, Indiana to see Chris and Lara's house and celebrate the Fourth! We had a nice time catching up with everyone, including Cathy and Darrell. We made our own private fireworks display and made a trip to the Navy Pier. We hit some crappy traffic on the way home, boo. Chris and Lara took Makenna to Indiana Beach yesterday, she had a great time. A special thanks goes out to our dudes at CarX for replacing our left wheel bearing a couple of days before we left town, we had a nice safe smooth ride up to Michigan City and back.

Today I am catching up on laundry, dishes, cleaning and doing a little more painting of the trim. As you can imagine the house can always use a cleaning with a three year old. Friday Grandma Bonnie and Terry are coming to visit us for a little while. I've got a laundry list of stuff to get done before they get here.

2010-06-21T10:13:00.000-05:00

We had a really busy weekend, Brent says he felt like it was a mini vacation. Friday we went to dinner, stopped to meet Mom's new cat "Nooggie" (she hasn't renamed her yet) at her apartment and then got on the road. We headed to Gibson City for the drive in movie theater. Our first time there. We saw Toy Story 3, or at least most of it. The winds started picking up, along with some lightening and then the tornado sirens. Sooo, we left and drove into the storm, booo. We got home late that night, as the movie didn't start until about 9:15.

Saturday morning we got up and got on the road to Danville, where we met up with a friend of Brent, his wife and his daughter. We went to lunch and then hit to the road. This time to Indiana Beach. About two hours later we arrived. We hit up the waterpark and then had some fun on the rides. We stayed until the fireworks ended, basically til the park closed. We had a great time with them and as always Makenna had lots of fun with their daughter too, they are kinda close in age. We arrived home around 12:30 on Sunday morning, very tired.

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day with lots of naps and eating out. For lunch we had Indian food and then for dinner we hit up dollar sushi night. It was gooooood.

I think today Makenna and I are going take it nice and slow today. Maybe just a run to the grocery store to grab a few things for dinner tonight.

June

2010-06-17T10:01:00.001-05:00

1. I can't believe it is the middle of June already! Summer will be over before I know it.

2. I would post some photos buuuut I haven't taken any lately (ducks behind the couch).

3. Yesterday I got a certificate from Eastern in the mail. I made the Dean's list, woohoo.

4. My hydrangea must have heard me last year when I said I'd give it one more year before ripping it out. It's blooming as we speak, for the second time since we've been in the house. Let me tell you what I did to get it to bloom..........nothing. Just like other years. Whatever.

5.We've been to the pool a couple of times this week. Thinking about going again today, I think my side boob burn has healed...

6. We've also been to the library multiple times this week. I'm in need of a good summer book, the one I was reading started to ~~blow~~ get boring about 1/3 of the way through, I quit reading it. A good summer book=something a little trashy and usually based in the south, lol.

7. Yesterday we went to the indoor playground after our picnic at an outdoor playground. I got my walk on for about an hour while Makenna ran around and played. Worked out well.

Summer Loves

2010-06-12T12:37:00.003-05:00

1. The sight of the fireflies in the backyard when it is pitch dark. It looks like a floating construction site. I tried to take video of it but it didn't show up well.

2. Going to the pool as many times a week as the weather permits. And the awesome radio they play.

3. Sitting at the picnic tables while sharing ice cream with loves at the local custard dive.

4. Summer tan lines.

5. Summer thunderstorms.

6. Finding the exact product you were going to buy brand new at the local thrift store for 1/10th of the price.

7. Driving with the windows down and wind in your hair.

8. Knowing I have no homework.

Wonderful Wednesday

2010-06-09T20:45:00.002-05:00

1. Went to the pool today, it was soooo nice and sunny. I'm gonna miss it come fall.

2. This past weekend I gave in and had layers cut back in my hair so it would look better when I wear it curly, so I can wear it curly. The flat iron on a daily basis was killing my ends! It is soo much better now. My long term goal is to grow it out...but you know how I am.

3. Listed some more stuff on the ole ebayer today. Selling an old camera, phone, and flat iron. I believe I have a buyer for my craigslist ad too, we will see.

4. Brent says he needs a vacay, I agree.

5. I'm on a ploy to eat out less. Wish me lunch.

6. I did a lot today: worked out, went to the pool, went to the library, listed ebay stuff, returned a movie, yadayadayada...

2010-06-07T17:47:00.003-05:00

I remember why I liked Makenna going to preschool so much:

1.The house stayed wayyyy cleaner.
2. I didn't have to argue with a 3 year old...as much.

On the way to the car from the library Makenna pointed out that a car we passed looked like our car, to which I said "yes it does". And then she repeated the statement no less than TWELVE times in a row. Arrrgggghh, you know in dumb and dumber when the dude asks if he wants to hear the most annoying sound in world....word repetition is mine! I know I'm in a crabby mood.

I got to Walgreens to pick some more fish oil since I knew they were doing a buy one get one special and I had a free redbox code. I forgot to write down the specific kind of fish oil I've been using, doh. But I did pick up some shout and dryer sheets which I needed. Buuuut, the whole point of going to Walgreens instead of the regular grocery was the fish oil. FAIL.

On the upside, I made my bed today. On the down side I did not workout this morning, boooo.

Who's making me dinner?

Happy Wednesday!

2010-06-02T17:08:00.001-05:00

I FINALLY uploaded photos to the photosite, you can find them to the right in the sidebar under our photo site. Enjoy!

Memorial weekend

2010-06-01T15:46:00.002-05:00

1. Saturday we (Makenna and I) went to the pool for the first time of the season, the first day it opened. We enjoyed the lazy river, ahhh, so relaxing. Makenna even saw some of the kids from her preschool class there too. After the pool we enjoyed some dinner from Red Lobster b/c frankly I hadn't taken my fish oil pill yet and was reallllly craving seafood.

2. Sunday Mom was nice enough to watch Makenna for us while we went over to Lake Shelbyville to spend the day boating with one of Brent's old coworkers. We had a nice time though the water was a tad cold. We got back kinda late Sunday night but Makenna was spending the night with Mom so it wasn't a big deal.

3. Monday we picked up Makenna and then just bummed around the house. It rained off and on most of the day, though we did take a walk in the rain at one point while Makenna pretty much rode her bike. She is getting the hang of the pedaling now and we moved her seat up for her.

4. Today was the first non-preschool day. I've done well today. By noon: dinner was in the crockpot, I had put in 30 minutes on the elliptical, breakfast and lunch had been served and we were getting ready to head to the pool again. Go me.

Busy bees

2010-05-24T09:29:00.005-05:00

1. This weekend was a busy one. Saturday we were all, ahhh we aren't going to do anything, and by Saturday night we were like ahhhh, it is so nice outside lets do something. I should mention that it rained this past week every single day but this weekend was supppper sunny.

2. I finished priming and painting my brackets. They took forever to paint b/c of all the little details. I ended up just painting them my Queen Anne Lilac from Sherwin Williams, the color the porch use to be. About 7 Sunday night they were installed, Ethan was nice enough to let us borrow his finishing nail gun, and it was sweeeet.

3. I pieced together the old post and part of my "new" old post from paca to make one non rotted post, it looks nice. I still need to caulk around a couple of points to help the water stay away.

4. Brent was super nice and mowed the lawn for meeeee!

5. Brent also was super nice and cleaned out the pump filter and skimmer filter for meeee!

6. The front porch is like 99% done, there is one spot on the threshold I could reach with the screen door open while painting from the inside. On the second coat of porch paint we added a non-skid additive to help the porch be less slick when wet.

7. I caught the mouse Brent saw run under the entertainment center, we let him go in a field... far far away.

8. Saturday we went for a picnic at one of the local parks. Blanket.. check, dog..check, food, especially some tasty food from the farmers market from earlier..check.

Halfway

2010-05-19T21:44:00.003-05:00

1. The week is halfway over, woohoo.

2. Monday night we had the Grandparents, Dad and Patty over for dinner, it was tasty and everyone enjoyed themselves. The Grandparents brought Brent a bike over, it has worked out really well for him b/c he is so tall and so is the frame. Oh yeah and the fact that it has two pedals! He's been riding it since they brought it over!

3. Tonight it was nice enough not to rain, Brent put a second coat of porch paint down, this coat had some non-slip traction crap in it. Maybe with the non-slip stuff, the porch will be a little less slippery when wet, cause holy crapola it was slippery.

4. I haven't even started priming my porch brackets yet. And I am not sure what color I want to paint them after I prime them. On the plus side, Ethan has a finishing nail gun and agreed to let me borrow it when I install them..sweet!

5. The lawn needs to be mowed.

6. Daisy has been hopping around on three legs since yesterday when she was rough housing with Makenna and Makenna won. She started putting more weight on it this evening, so I am not too concerned. Let me tell you it doesn't slow her down AT ALL.

7. It was warm enough today that I was able to wear my new to me, really cute, black tier skirt that I bought from the goodwill for $3. I must say that it is my favorite skirt at this point, I rocked it with a pair of wedges and a shirt that happened to match my toe polish. I've really been trying to work on working with my wordrobe.

8. I am starting to get my tan on, fake tan that is. Annnnd, I just bought my pool pass for the summer online, watch out, here Makenna and I come (then I'll have a real tan)!

Ta da!

2010-05-12T09:06:00.005-05:00

1. Turns out I got an A in all five classes I took this semester, woohoo. Go me. I did manage send my books back like a good girl, those mother's are heavy! Brent's last final is today, he turned in his last assigments last night. Go him. He will have a sigh of relief after this week, since it has been so busy.

2. Last night while Brent was writing his paper, I went ahead and finished taping off the kitchen and then decided to just get it over with and paint it. Ahhhh, it feels so much better in there with the new creamy yellow, works much better with the dark green cabinets and dark blue counters. It feels so much bigger. Here are the before and after photos, these were taken at night in artificial light. Soooo much softer.

3. Pick up some brackets yesterday from the homerdepot. They are ornate victorianish brackets to put next to the porch posts to try and frill up the porch a little. Brent and I decided we liked the larger bracket, so I returned the smaller ones and bought some more big ones. They need to be primed and painted now.....

4. Made a repair to one of the front porch boards, we'll see how long it lasts. I first tried just using some wood filler, but the hole was too deep and it didn't setup properly. So I dug all that out, removed all the rot, blasted it with a hairdrier (I don't have a heat gun) and had read online about bondo being used with success in rehabing damaged wood. Soooo, bondo it was. I laugh as I think of the faces my father and grandfather are making as they read this. See, there are other uses for bondo besides making cat pawprints for school projects..I mean car repairs, lol.

5. For Mother's day/our anniversary of 10 years of dating Brent bought me a new necklace. Sooo pretty, I've been wanting it for a while. The other day at the mall I also found a super cute headband, some ribbon, some feathers, some netting, love it!

6. For good measure: A photo of Miss M. after preschool, they had fun with face painting.

DONE!

2010-05-10T09:37:00.003-05:00

1. Classes are done for the semester, woohooo! Grades are due today, I know I have an A in all my online classes, that just leaves one, one credit hour class that I took remotely at Parkland. Not sure what I got in that one.

2. I have a list of errands to run today. Run by the post office to return my textbooks to Eastern, they let you rent them. Take some stuff back to the library that is overdue today. Go to the mall for a secret shop, yay new stuff for me!

3. It is still pretty cold today, only around 55 this morning and it is going to rain this afternoon. Actually, it is suppose to rain most of this week, boooo. Since the cold snap this weekend we were unable to get a coat of the brown porch paint up on the porch. It takes a while to dry, so we need some warm and dry days.

4. Yesterday I got around to planting the veggie garden of the year. I still need to plant my lettuce but everything else is in the ground, ok well raised beds, not ground. This year we are growing: red onions, yellow onions, broccoli, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, basil, cilantro, parsley, strawberries and apparently cucumbers...seeds from the first year we had our garden that just keep coming back.

5. I have a little bit of cold, that Makenna gave Brent, and then I got. Just some sinus discomfort, but at least I don't have any homework that I have to do.

6. Maybe this week I can get back on my workout bandwagon. Thought about bringing the elliptical inside and putting it in the guest room for a bit, better accessibility for me.

7. We got a new vacuum this past weekend. It really sucks, literally, it does an awesome job. It had great reviews on amazon, it was recommended on a blog I read and it was the right price (and on sale). My old one had been chewed on by the bunny a long time ago and if you weren't paying attention and grabbed the power cord wrong way watch out, zzzzappp! The floor level adjuster was also broken and it makes a super loud sqeaky sound when you turn it off. Although it was eight years old, it did last. I spent slightly less money on my vacuum I bought this weekend than I did eight years ago, score. Did I mention the new vacuum came with a stair tool?

Finally posting..

2010-05-03T16:36:00.003-05:00

1. I finished the rest of my finals for the semester this morning. Scored an A on my psychology final and I have yet to have my nursinig final grade released, this usually means you didn't miss any. I finished just in time to jump in the shower and run to the store for some preschool supplies before picking Makenna up for the day. Now I just need to work on packing up my books to mail back to Eastern. Brent has a paper and two finals left for his semester.

2. Yesterday we finally found the perfect paint colors we were looking for. We decided on Bittersweet chocolate for the front porch floor and cornbread for the kitchen and most likely the dining room. Cornbread is the perfect warm creamy yellow! We tested two other browns on the porch that didn't work out and probably four colors in the kitchen that we loved on swatches but not in actually paint swatches on the wall.

3. Picked up some plants this past week from the homerdepot since they were having an awesome 5 for $10 on some quart plants. I bought quite a few hostas, I have a small obsession with them. We now own some pretty cream and green ones, and by some I mean like 8.

4. It is a short week this week. Brent took a furlough on Friday, it is our 10 year dating anniversary. Can't believe it has been so long! What to do, what to do.

5. This past weekend we had fun going to the first farmer's market of the season, lots of people were there and lots of vendors were there. Kettle corn, vegetarian bbq, lemon shake ups and funnel cakes, yummmmm.

6. Yesterday when Makenna fell asleep in the car, we decided to make the most of it, parked and got some Cocomero. Brent also went and got us a roll from SushiRock, it was sooooo goood. I really want to go and actually eat there. Kofusion watch out.

7. The new pond pump, filter and skimmer for the pond have been working super great. The pond is so clear and the fish like it because they just zoooom all around the pond.

8. A couple of weeks ago I decided I was going to color my hair since the ends of my hair were a good two to three levels lighter than my roots. I read a blog that talks only about hair color cause I looooove hair color. Anyway, I wandered down to Sally's to buy from a line that the blog recommends. WELLA oh my wella. I decided on chestnut by wella, a colorcharm, a demi-permanant color. Freak my hair has never been as shiny as it was after I colored it with this stuff. It did turn out a bit darker than I anticipated but I lovvve the color and apparently it does run a level darker. Go get yourself some. I also picked up a packet of the ion effective care treatment, verrrry nice.

2010-04-19T16:40:00.002-05:00

Our weekends always seem to fly by! This past weekend we had a little get together with Ryan and Heather and their two little ones. We had a nice time, grabbed some lunch, went to the park and then grabbed some yogurt. Last night we went out to celebrate Mom's birthday at Buttitta's.

I haven't posted new photos on the photo site in forever, after the semester ends I will make an effort to get that up to date. Only a few more weeks. Only two of my classes have test finals, the other two have papers I write for finals. I still have a psychology quiz to take tonight, finally finished reading the chapter today.

Ordered a new pond pump, filter box and a skimmer for the pond this weekend. Our pump died at the end of last season. Not bad considering it was pump that came with the pond when we bought the house five years ago. I figured we would also try a skimmer this time around, that should help remove the large debri before it has the chance to sink and clog the filter and pump. Got a decent deal on ebay.

Thursda---err Wednesday

2010-03-31T17:56:00.003-05:00

Since it was so nice outside today I started on homework early in the morning so I could head to the mall. Makes sense right. Any had a victoria secret free panty and $10 off a purchase coupon. A pair of bright blue panties and a pair of shiny gold panties later..I am $4 in the hole. But the gold pair is really pretty! You remember that episode of Sex in the City were Carry is a model in a fashion show and she wears nothing but a coat and some rhinestone panties, along that line. Shiny pretty, Oooo Aaaahh. I must be part raccoon. Anyway I also had some limited coupons, one for $15 off a purchase, except after reading ALL the fine print exclusions, decided that getting a $15 discount would end in me spending at least $20, booooo, no new limited clothes for me.

It's nice out, the windows are open, ahhh fresh air. The house was colder this morning than it was outside.

Brent is fetching bread and cheese on his way home, woohoo to the close grocery, I'm gonnna make some cheese fondue and eat my leftover shrimp..yuuuum.

I keep thinking tomorrow is Friday, it is not. I have a couple more assignments to finish before the end of the weekend, booooo. Really only one big one though..and I'm procrastinating, which is why I went shopping instead of doing it today.

I like it when Makenna's preschool class goes to the park. I am returned an extremely worn out child and she sleeps, shhhhh. That means I get to watch tv on the net!

I've been doing well with working out and eating healthily this week, whoohoo. Lost a little bit of weight. On the wii I unlocked a step level that lets you watch normal tv while working out and repetitively stepping, OOOHHH heck yeah! I am still working towards unlocking the meditation balance game..must..keep..trying.

I can hear some live music being played from downtown...ahhhh..I love Shampoobanana.

Monday Monday

2010-03-29T22:49:00.002-05:00

Whoot, whomp whomp. I did a TON of homework today, yet only seemed to actually get a few things done. One quiz. One assignment. Read one chapter...almost, few more pages to go. Wrote one paragraph for my geography essay..almost. Seriously.

Friday we (Brent) took the car the CarX across the street to get the oil changed. Mentioned that it was sounding a little rough. The water pump was on the outs, got a new one. She purrrrs like a kitten now. Not to mention CarX rocks and had the car ready that same afternoon, they ROCK!

I can't believe Easter is this weekend, seriously. I have no motivation, none. I want to make egg jigglers, if someone finds a mould let me know. Stopped at Target over the weekend to look at little bikes with training wheels for Makenna. Mannn, they are also the cost of a full size bike! Went to habitat today to see if they had any gently loved ones, no dice. Next I'll be looking at one of the Salvation Army stores, craigslist doesn't seem to have any listed either, booooo.

Got a quilt at Tjmaxx this weekend, it happens to look a lot like the bedding that the decorating blog I like to read has...imagine that. It is a nice thin quilt for the summer time, when you want covers but don't want the heat from covers. And don't get me started on top sheets, I get tangled in those faster than a fly on flytape (bwah hahaha, you should see your face). I'm tired, as if you couldn't tell. Out!

Spring Break

2010-03-23T10:03:00.003-05:00

This week is Champaign's and the U of I's spring break. Eastern's spring break was last week, it was nice, I actually didn't do any homework...I also failed to realize Makenna had spring break this week. I did work ahead in my geography class a couple of weeks ago so I don't have to worry about that but I have a psychology quiz (still need to read the chapter), a medical terminology quiz (need to read this chapter too), an adults in transition quiz (guess what I need to read..) and two discussion essays and response posts to write...almost all of this is due Sunday. Yay. Brent has agreed to watch Makenna a few nights while I go to the chapel or library to do some school work. Whew. I was FREAKING CRAZY for taking a semester of full time classes. The fall semester of 6 credit hours (two classes instead of 5) will be much easier for me to deal with. I only have 6 more weeks of class this semester and then I'll be FREE all summer!

Brent is doing well in his master's classes, he is only taking two which seems to be a good fit for him. We are both getting A's in all our classes, aren't we special. He will also have the summer off from school, whoot. Brent had a nice birthday yesterday, we tried out a new restaurant, Hoolihan's. It is next to the Ihotel, it was mehhh, hotel food. For dinner Brent wanted to go to Escobar buuuut apparently it is closed on Monday's. Booo, so we went to the Great Impasta instead.

I'm going to get a pool pass this year so I can take Makenna multiple times a week and we can have some fun. I figure twice a week at the pool, twice a week at the park and then on friday at some point she will go to preschool (just to keep the familiarity with going). The teacher said Friday Makenna made friends with a little girl named Isabella and they just chat away at each other all day.

The spring planting has started. I've planted some more lillies (love lillies) and I bought some elephant ears (yeah I know they aren't hardy). We also went to Prarie Gardens this weekend and I picked up some sweet pea, more lambs ear, crap and some other stuff that I don't recall right now. They are sitting downstairs in the kitchen ready to be planted today, when I get around to it. Today looks like it will be a nice and sunny day to do so!

Washed away by a gentle tide

2010-03-15T12:57:00.006-05:00

This weekend was a moderately busy one. Chris and Lara came down Friday night and spent the weekend at our house. They took Makenna to see Lara's nieces at the ice skating rink here in town, I took the opportunity to get some primer on the dressing room's walls. The room was a tealy color before, rather reminded me an easter egg, you remember.. the last post I was talking about it, how I didn't like it..yada yada. Anyway, it you look under my links there is a new blog that I love to frequent. Called Young House Love, take a gander, they have some great decorating ideas. One of their bedrooms and their kitchen is painted a color called "Gentle Tide" by Glidden, that's right (ahhhhhh), say it with me.. Gentle Tide (catch a whiff of the warm salty air, ahhh).

ANYWAY, I liked the color in the photos, so I took a gander to the ole' homerdepot to get a paint chip, errrr, a sample b/c it is a discontinued color, BUT it is still in the computer so they can mix it for you. I slapped that puppy on the wall, and man it is a light color, especially for me, lets face it, my entire downstairs is dark colors. In certain light Gentle Tide looks blue, or gray, or green..it. is. LOVE. I've been looking for the perfect light bluish but not really bluish color for years, and this was exactly what I was looking for, it feels so fresh and clean. So we finished the room yesterday and words cannot explain how beautiful it is, I'm going back to the Young House Love blog and I'm going to collect all the paint chips of colors they recommend. Ladies and Gentleman I present, the before and afters...

Vacay Pics from the DR-Punta Cana

2010-03-07T19:57:00.006-06:00

We had a great time on our vacation to Punta Cana, I'd like to thank the Grandparents and Dad & Patty again for watching Makenna while we were out of the country. Punta Cana was beautiful and we would definately go back again, and no they don't primarily speak english, they speak spanish. We were only one of a few American couples we came across, there were lots of Canadians and French speaking vacationers along with other foriegners, which was a nice change of pace for us.

The mountains as we were coming over the island:

Ohhhhh, how pretty...

Passion fruit YUM!

A very small part of the very big pool!

Our room:

HUGE lantern thing in the HUGE lobby:

Flying over lots of ocean:

Waiting for our transportation back to the airport:

Fly back into the city of Chicago

Carpet Cowboys

2010-02-18T09:31:00.007-06:00

Yay, the carpet is installed and it. is. so. nice. It took a group of three guys about 5 hours to install it yesterday. They and home depot did an awesome job with the carpet, everything was spotless when they left and we had them leave us the two remnants we had, one will be put downstairs in the living room, I think. We need to trim most of the doors since this carpet has a much higher pile than the previous carpet. The carpet is so soft and squishy, I'm glad we went with the one we did.

Tuesday night we ripped all the old carpet up, ourselves, after moving all the upstairs furniture into the two side closets that weren't going to be carpeted. My butt hurts now from all the squatting I did, owwww. With ripping up the carpet we got the see the original pine floors underneath, which made me feel extremely guilty that we were going to carpet over them again. Ehhh, maybe next time the carpet needs replaced I'll think about refinishing, we'll see. We also found a nice shadow of a wall that use to be in the dressing room, so now we have a better idea of the original layout. Kinda. This house is always a mystery.

Last night Brent finished moving much of the furniture back in the rooms and we changed around where to place the bed and such in most rooms. We also put the queen bed downstairs and brought the full upstairs and the antique headboard, whoot. The queen is just too big, we don't use all of it when we sleep, and it takes up a ton of the bedroom. Just seemed like a waste. So for anyone that comes and stays now, your room has been upgraded, with a queen sized bed. Enjoy.

Last week Brent finished the vinyl in the bathroom, so that too is done, well, like 95% done. You know how that is, there are still some finishing touches that need to be done.

We also booked out vacation yesterday. We were looking for a warm beach warm ocean beautiful getaway and I found a resort in Jamaica that I really liked but there was a special sale going on and now it's booked until April. So, I just moved on to another country. Next weekend we'll be going to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, wooohoooo. It's looks beautiful. We are going to try the whole inclusive resort thing for the first time too. Wooohooo, we leave on my birthday and all this is only possible because the Grandparents were VERY nice and are watching Makenna for a few days, we can not thank them enough:

THANK YOU GRANDMA HELEN AND GRANDPA LEE!

Photos for youuuuu-- Closet crammed with stuff!

The Current color of the wall and the greyish, bluish, green color I like:

Naked Stairs:

Dressing room and Makenna's room with new carpet:

Our bedroom, Old Carpet

Pine floors

Brent worshipping the new carpet:

Bad Romance..

2010-02-10T18:16:00.004-06:00

This past weekend Brent was able to finish the vinyl in the downstairs bathroom, most of the caulking is done as well. I looks wonderful! Except...the tannish floors make the kitchen's yellow color REALLY BRIGHT. Really bright, like school bus yellow, eek. I'm not loving it. So I'm on the hunt for a new color...

Speaking of new color, I've got a new color swatch on one of the walls in the "dressing room", the room off our bedroom. Right now it's a hellish greenish, tealish, just icky color. Unfortunately Brent loves it...it was a clearance oops paint and I wasn't feeling it when I first painted it...that was about 4 years ago. Today I went to Home Depot and had them make me a sample of Glidden's Gentle Tide, a kind of bluish, greyish, ever so greenish very muted color. And I think I love it. Now if I can just convince Brent..lol.

Our carpet installers called today and we are scheduled for next Wednesday! Ekk, I'm so excited! Chocolate-y brown, luscious comfy new carpet!

Hot vinyl on a Saturday night

2010-01-31T10:40:00.002-06:00

Eat in Chicken-Kitchen

2010-01-30T09:52:00.003-06:00

Some photos of the kitchen progress: Antique glaze, I was only going to the pinstriping but Brent liked the all over glaze look, so I did both. After painted green:

Applying the glaze:

Drying after the first coat of poly to seal it:

Might be laying the vinyl this weekend too.

Last but not least Makenna after playing with a tube of sunblock: Yep, that took a lot of shampoo get out...
.