a little (more) taste of home

Our house, in all it's glory... no landscaping, but semi-removed-once-overgrown shrubbery, mini-van clad, and dresser on front porch. Once upon a time, it had rotting wood siding, but my handy husband remedied that. Soon to come: shutters, flowers.

Also, once upon a time, the above picture is what our bathroom looked like. And yes, that little lamp was the only lighting that there was... that worked any way.

Now, the only similarity: the tissue box. We removed the wallpaper, textured the walls, painted, laid new flooring, installed the pedestal sink, and new mirror (which I bought for $10, btw).

Above, Corban's bedroom, covered with the old peoples' junk. Notice the pretty border, and beautiful curtains (and my sarcasm). Also, the floor was covered in really lovely, cat-urine stained brown carpet. Oh, the picture of perfection.


Now!! One of my most favorite rooms in the house! We removed the carpet, laid laminate flooring, painted tan and that pretty green stripe, removed the closet doors, and put new stuff in there. The bed is actually part of a bunk-bed set that was Jordan's growing up. The bedding and room accessories are from Target (of course), and what wasn't given to me was purchased at 50-75% off. Total room cost: less than $300. (floor included!)


(P.S.- the lamps are waiting for bulbs for their final placement. Also wanted to add that I haven't put any of the stuff up on the walls yet!)

Another before, complete with the previous owners. Isn't it lovely? And yes, we bought the house looking this way! haha. My favorite part are the really awesome medieval looking sconces by the fire place. When you flipped the light switch, they produced a non-light producing flicker, mimicking a flame. They found a really nice home in the dumpster!

Okay, so these aren't really 'after' shots... as the room isn't finished, or even close to it. This is the room I'm considering making a play room. My dilemma: the first picture is what you see when you walk in my front door, and you look to the right. The second picture is what you see when you're sitting at the kitchen table. The last one shows where the doors are in relation to the rest of the room.

Okay. So what do you think? The furniture is being sold on craigslist, and the only thing we plan on (as of right now, anyway) putting in there (as far as 'real' furniture) is a futon that Jordan's grandparents are giving us. It's a nice, real piece-of-furniture futon, not just a dorm-room style one. A definite upgrade from the blue hand-me-downs currently occupying the space. I've got a few ideas of my own floating around, but I'm not ready to commit quite yet. So, I'm wanting to hear your suggestions, with having 'seen' the space I'm working with.

Please, people. I need some feedback. I'm ultra-motivated to finish my downstairs, and this is the last hurdle. So what do you think?!

rrrrrrrrrrrrandom.

It's Sunday after church... Jordan is still at church (for second service, and then clean up), and Corban is sound asleep for his morning nap. I've got all kinds of things I could be doing, but I'm going to enjoy a few quiet moments to myself.

I am seriously craving some Hint of Lime tortilla chips. With roasted red pepper hummus. Mmmmm. A snack straight from heaven, in my opinion. :) We flew through a bag this week- I had forgotten how yummy they were. And now I want more. A Kroger trip may be necessary this afternoon...

Hmmm... what else? Our trip to PA was w o n d e r f u l. I started to write two posts about it, with pictures and everything, but something happened both times. So I said forget it. Some highlights include: seeing Brandon and Holly (duh), shopping, going to Lake Erie, going to an orchard/festival thing, playing some crazy games of Apples to Apples, yummy food, touring Lake Erie College Of Medicine (where Holly is in her second year of med school), and the awesome, awesome chocolate shop. We had a great time just hanging out, and look forward to the next few months with visits from Brandon and Holly.

I did some serious bathroom cleaning this week. I'm hoping to prime the walls today, and get them painted tomorrow. Then all that remains will be Jordan laying the floor, installing the light fixture, sink head, and shower head. And then our bathroom will no longer have peach walls, choo choo train border and red-white-blue shag carpet(!!!). It will be a glorious day. I have until next Saturday (6 days!!) to finish cleaning out our guest bedroom. This wouldn't be such a huge task if, well, the floor wasn't completely covered with stuff, boxes, clothes, etc. and if I didn't have to go through the ginormous tub of baby clothes to pull out all of the white onesies and gender neutral things. Once the room is clean, we will then paint, and eventually put in Corban's big boy bed. And then start the process of turning his old room into a nursery for Baby Girl. I really am looking forward to having these things done, as it will mean the bulk of our house remodeling is finished. It's just little things from there... like painting trim, touching up paint, putting on the new doorknobs, etc. We are installing our NEW WINDOWS on November 1st, thus the reason for my deadline. I mean, it'd be helpful to be able to walk into the room to install the windows, right?

Moving on... Thanks for the baby name suggestions. I'm so curious to see what we'll end up actually naming her. I'm hesitant to say that my current favorite, and what we're really leaning towards at this point, is Emilia... because chances are, I'll change my mind again. But as of today, that's the front runner. I like this spelling (vs. Amelia) for a few reasons: One, I think it looks prettier, more feminine, and two, because it has cuter nicknames- Emi, Em, etc. So, there you have it.

Oh- and I had to share this. I know I posted the ultrasound photo the other day, but I was going through Corban's newborn pics and found this, and couldn't believe it!! Check out the resemblance: (Insert minutes of frustration here---- Why does it only add my pictures to the very top of my post? And then not allow to me to drag them down? And why can't I find my pictures saved anywhere? I have to re-upload them all after deleting them from the top. Grrr... I don't like blogger! I much prefer the simplicity of xanga. Or the 5 years I have using it, that makes it seem easier... Either way, this is dumb.)

Okay- well forget it. I'll just make a new post to show the pictures. But can someone PLEASE explain to me how to make this work? I even made sure that the cursor was at the end of my post, where I wanted the pictures.... Blah.

I took Corban to the park yesterday. We had a blast. :) He loves to just play, run around, climb, throw mulch, etc. Such a boy, and such a joy. I've learned though, that the only way to get pictures of him smiling is to catch him in action (because let's face... he's always IN action). SO I took 80... yes, seriously. But don't worry- I'm only posting a few. He's pretty sweet, if I do say so myself. :)

In other news, it's officially fall. The 45 degree temperatures outside (and 59 degree temps inside!) gave it away. It really was less than 60 in our house this morning... We have non-windows, basically, and air just seeps right in. We're going tonight when Jordan gets off of work to compare prices at Menards, Lowes, and Home Depot, as all three have windows on sale right now. A friend of the family will be helping us install them- praise the Lord! We had two companies come and give estimates... the first was $18,000!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me!? Who has that kind of money? And really, who wants gold lined windows anyway? (Just joking.. but they were lined with the same stuff that's on astronauts helmets.) Our 35 year old house that is just years away from being bulldozed is not deserving of that kind of investment. So store brand, it is!

Corban and I had a coffee date this morning. We went to my favorite little local place, Mama Bears, and I drank a chai latte half-spiced/half-vanilla straight from heaven while Corban ate his cheerios and craisins. He then wandered throughout the establishment hugging all the his-sized bears (which there were 3 of). Before we left, he started saying 'bear', which is a new word for him. Afterwards, we went to Bible study at church and he played with the kiddos and ran around the gym and completely wore himself out. He skipped lunch and went straight to naptime. So, I'm relaxing while I finish my lunch and then a laundry-folding I go.

I'm new to this site and am still trying to figure out how it all works... If you read this, leave me a comment and let me know. I don't think you have to sign up for an account or anything- you can just use a name. Anyway- adios!