A Quick Craft

It took me 2.5 years and several scoops of Spark to discover the joy of naptime.

I mean, naptime was also nice when I was sleeping with Little Bit, but this having an hour or two to myself AND feeling good enough to do something during it?

Pretty sweet!

I didn't have any pre-set plans to accomplish during naptime. Except to go through a hamper of stuff I am purging... pulling out the "save for the consignment sale", "throw away", or "give back to someone" piles.

Then, just as the snoring began, it hit me!

A new wreath! Several years ago, I scored some wreath door hangers on clearance & this past winter, I actually hung a wreath. Which I crafted & loved. But, I was ready for something new & was hoping to sort through some stuff in my (messy) craft corner.

I had already worked on the felt flowers, so I plugged the hot glue gun in & went to town.

Here's our before wreath:

{Please ignore the slant! Yikes. And, yes, thank-you-for-asking, I HAVE lost some weight! FIFTEEN pounds to be exact, WOoHoo!}

And our after wreath:

For much less than $5 [Probably less than $3 if I break the calculator out & really figure it out], I have a brand new door wreath! I am trying to not let things like the width of the wreath not being perfectly symmetric or the bumps of the vines or flower I had to move three times bother me, because I am pretty happy I got a little crafting done today!

Now if I could only convince my husband to let me paint the door the color I want!! ;)

I still have nearly an hour of naptime left; think I will tackle that hamper now!

A New Month: November

We primed & painted the room this weekend. The mural is done! Little Bit's room has been transformed & after our trip to IKEA next weekend + Daddy setting the hutch up... it will be all done! :)

If I can get Blogger to cooperate, I will post pictures! It worked, here goes!




Otherwise, I have been hanging out with other mamas in the area walking between 2-4 miles on several mornings each week! So nice... If only I could kick the cherry coke addiction...

We continue to purge the extra junk in the house & have sold three items in the last few days on Craigslist. Which is thrilling! We are getting more space in our house AND adding money to our Christmas Jar. Double whammy!

Our church participates in Samaritan's Purse Operation: Christmas Child shoeboxes. We purged some baby stuff & used the money to fund the mural cost & then had plenty left over for shoeboxes! It can be exhilarating! I asked Hubby if we could provide even more shoeboxes & he obliged happily! So, we have even more shoeboxes headed to sweet little toddler boys & girls. Pretty awesome.

Oh, we also have a girl's craft day. I didn't have too much planned, but brought a huge tub of stuff to play with. I started with painting letters & frames, then moved onto learning how to roll fabric rosettes, & making felt flowers. Was so much fun & refreshing to just hang out & be a bit creative for a while. We are hoping to do it once a month from now on. Here's a shot of the rosettes & flower I made for a baby girl's headband.


Cute, right?! :) I thought so.

Another picture to end the post. Our church had a Family Fun Day to celebrate 15 years. Little Bit loved jumping in the bouncy house. Here's the clearest & best picture I could snap of him:

Ooops!

Missed posting regularly... Sorry!

I have been good, though, about meal planning. In fact, we haven't gone out to eat for an unplanned meal since then! And we seem to have plenty of leftovers, too. I have several new recipes I want to try & even froze a couple of meals in advance for future meals! Alright, huh? I'd love to do the Once A Month Cooking, but my sweet friend Melissa encouraged me to just make a meal or two at a time to start with. So, I made a double batch of chicken enchiladas; we ate one then froze the other. Yesterday, I chopped chicken, onion, carrots, broccoli, & sweet potatoes then I added Italian dressing, threw it all in a freezer bag, & into the freezer it went!

Little Bit's room will be painted this weekend in preparation for the mural my amazing friend Anna will be creating next week. Tuesday & Wednesday are the special days! Then, we will add some ledges for books, a framed baby picture, a cubby shelf for toys/books, & the hutch on top of his dresser. I'm pretty excited about getting his room all set up. Then, we can move onto his bathroom & our bedroom! Seems like it is all starting to be real! :)

Quick Catch-Up!

Since the last blog post, I have become a full time stay at home Momma... only. No more night shifts at the hospital. I miss my coworkers and I miss our extra income and I miss my job as a Labor & Delivery nurse... but I missed so much more of Elias... I feel like a new person since making the decision to only be a Momma.

Since then, we have been doing lots of fun stuff. For two of the three weeks I have stopped working at the hospital, our nieces stayed with us. I didn't get much done at all in the way of cleaning, organizing, or unpacking. But we have had lots of water playtime & E and I have had lots of snuggle time.

I have a wiggle worm in my lap right now, so I will just resort to bullet points...

** At nearly 22 months old, the little one is weaned. We weren't able to self-wean as I'd hoped due to impending fertility treatments. But, we have been able to snuggle a lot to make up for it & he is loving his almond milk.

** I had a "minor" surgery to remove a uterine polyp prior to moving on with IVF. That was not fun.

** I have made small accomplishments in the playroom. Hope to do more in the next weekends.

** Our first home had become a rental property when we purchased our current home. The tenants broke their 12mth lease & we are sort of scrambling to find new tenants. We have lots of yard work to do there to prepare for new tenants, but praying we can get someone in by July 1. Yes, we know it's only 4 days away...

** Our IVF #2 start date is July 19th. Two days after our anniversary. By my calculations, we should know by mid August if we are pregnant or not.

** E has become enamored with trucks and matchbox cars. He lines them all up. Real life tractors, golfcarts, tires, anything to do with outside stuff. He loves to wear his Daddy's work gloves. He loves to give kisses & goofy smiles.

** E still signs for us. Mostly: please, drink, water, bath, sleep. He SAYS: Momma, please, dog, Sydney, Dadda, bath, one-two-three, cookie, fish, turtle, & more that I can't think of...

** He loves cheddar cheese, almond milk, goldfish, peanuts, strawberries, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce/salad, hummus, ranch dressing, PB&Js, cookies, spaghetti, Mexican beans & rice. And the junk food his Momma might have... ;)

** We are back to cloth diapers & lots of diaper free time. We have little potty-s on both levels of the house & he frequently sits on them. We are still working on USING the potty! No pressure, just introduction.

Well, I think it is nap time for my little buddy, so we will head upstairs. I have plenty of towels to fold & another load of laundry to start! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

1/365: A New Year

A Blogger I follow is nearing the end of her 365-in-a-row blog posts and it has motivated me to do the same for this new year. We have many goals and dreams for this year and it will be nice to have a running diary of sorts. I hope to post a photo every day, too, but that may or may not happen.

Here are some changes our little family experienced this past (2010) year...
** Nick received a promotion in the very beginning of the year. Much more responsibility as a plant and quality control manager.
** Elias turned a year old and has just amazingly developed into a curious, adventurous toddler. So amazing to compare pictures, memories, and journal entries. It is hard to imagine it being the same little person.
** I passed the state board of nursing exam in March, worked as a shift supervisor from June through October at a somewhat local nursing home, then accepted a full time position with a local hospital in the labor and delivery unit in November.
** We bought a house on more land in October. Our mobile home/land is being cared for by renters. There isn't much work in the way of structural repair, only a couple of larger projects and the decorating/organizing/personalizing that comes with any home!
** We lost a dear dog, Irving. He was our shelter rescue and we feel happy to have given him an extra 6.5 years of life to enjoy.

Some goals we have set as a family and I have set as an individual...
** Replacing the flooring upstairs. This will be "Big Project #2" after the A/C unit is paid for. We plan to replace the current carpet with some sort of hardwood flooring. Probably bamboo.
** Finish painting the walls on both levels of the house, set up each area, & declutter-declutter-DECLUTTER! Ensure the house is functional.
** Drink soda only once/week. I would love to cut it out altogether, but realistically... that probably won't happen.
** Get pregnant! We hope to not have to pursue treatment, but will if that is where we are led.
** Restart our contributions for Hubby-Bub's IRA, Squishy's educational fund, & open an IRA account for myself.
** Begin a savings fund for the fencing for the property.
** Planning & some execution of landscaping for the front of the property.

As you can see, most of our goals are related to the house & financial planning! :) As long as I continue to work, my paychecks will go toward house & savings. This way, we continue to live off of one income in case we need to return to a single income family.

We are very excited for the year ahead, but I must admit to being a bit anxious, also. I begin my night shifts this week & am wondering how it will all work out with watching Squishy during the day & being away from him three nights/week. I will definitely be updating throughout... although maybe not as wordy on those days following working all night! :)

Have a wonderful New Year!

Progress

Accomplished Friday:

* Closing of the house
* Cleaning of guest bathroom
* Sweeping
* Carpet cleaning
* Assisted seller to move stuff out

Accomplished Saturday:

* Sweeping & mopping (first time)
* Scrubbing of kitched + bay window area
* Scrubbing of interior side door
* Confirmed seller was leaving

Accompished Sunday:

* Nothing (w/ church & working, it didn't leave much time to do anything)

Accomplished Monday:

* Kitchen cabinets/shelves cleaned out
* Fridge cleaned
* Mopped floor twice. Scrubbed as I went.
* My awesome friend, Ashlee, came over & scrubbed the baseboard + walls & also cleaned the interior of the front door.
* Upstairs windows & flooring vacuumed
* Pantry shelves cleaned & put back up. Pantry cleaned.
* Laundry area dusted (yuck) & mopped.
* Windows cleaned.
* Interior back doors cleaned.

Accomplished Tuesday:

* Another mopping!
* Ashlee came again & scrubbed the remaining baseboard (dining/play room, hallway, & guest room.
* Put contact paper + liners down in kitchen cabinets. (Even put some stuff in them already!)
* Unpacked three or four boxes.
* W/D moved in the house; will be hooked up later.
* Scrubbed the living room area.

It sure seems like we've done so much... and we have, but there is still so much to do. More scrubbing & mopping of the main areas. Some walls need to be primed. Almost all of the walls + baseboards need to be painted. I haven't even started the deep cleaning of the upstairs bathrooms, but want the bottom to be done first! And, obviously, we need to move in! Then, it's final painting, unpacking, & decorating... making it our HOME.

We also need to clean the current home for the renters moving in November 1. That won't be nearly as exhausting! :)

Hoping to head over more Wednesday to keep cleaning & move a couple boxes or so in the van. We will see if it happens or not...

A New Beginning

On Friday, we are set to close on our new house.

It's a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, two-story house set on 5.82 acres. Our backyard will include 4100+ acres of protected state forrest. There is a sweet bay window for a breakfast nook & an open floorplan very similar to the floorplans we've dreamed about. We were mesmerized by it back in May, when we first found it & made our first offer on it.


We tend to be a family that can look beyond cosmetic or even minor structural defects. Thankfully, this place has only cosmetic defects. As in, extremely messy. But, once the current owner's possessions are removed, there is just the normal, deep-cleaning, you'd plan to perform on any house you moved in with an exploring, adventurous toddler!

Because we do not feel the need for a formal dining room @ this time, we will use the dining room as Squishy's playroom. I may have a craft corner in there somewhere, too! ;) The breakfast nook will be where our small dining room goes... our current place has limited dining space, so we've used the small table for years to fit perfectly here.

Some of the features we loved...
** Stained concrete flooring. We plan to re-stain it before moving furniture in, but have always wanted stained concrete in our forever home.
** Lots of closet space! Coming from a home that has 3 closets, it will be wonderful to have the storage space in the new house.
** Secluded "neighborhood". It's almost like you can't tell there's other house around!
** Tucked away staircase. You'll see what I mean once I start posting photos!
** A dormer cut-out space for a bench or reading area.
** Jacuzzi tub!
** HUGE master room.
** Area that will be great for guests... the bottom bedroom will be a guest room & the full bathroom downstairs is just steps away. No awkward running to the bathroom for our guests! :)
** More rooms than I have ideas for... yet!
** Squishy will have his OWN playroom! Mom & I have been working on getting all the stuff for it @ Target months ago. I can't believe the deals we got & am so excited about putting it all together!!
** Lots of projects & personalization!! I will post lots about that, too!

As I sit in the midst of what is nearing 100 boxes to move, I can't help but get more & more excited!!

This weekend will consist of cleaning bathrooms & kitchen, getting a carpet cleaner hired, & wiping down walls + taping walls off for the concrete staining that will happen next week. Oh, working, too!! I will be working my regular 3p-11p shift! Probably more packing up this weekend, too! I'm anxious to clear out our stuff from the current place so I have plenty of time to clean this place before handing over keys to the renters!

Hope you will join us as we step through each hurdle & get this place up to our par! :)

A New Place

Both literally & virtually!

We have decided to rename & revamp the blog.

We are in the process of purchasing a new home;
which will require lots of cleaning, decorating, & personalizing!

We are blessed with a beautiful baby boy that we never take for granted.

Hubby-Bub works full-time so that I can stay home during the week with baby;
I work part-time as an RN shift supervisor to add to the family budget.

Hope you enjoy taking these next steps with us & following along!!