Back to Reality

Well...grad school is over. I now only have comprehensive exams to worry about, but those are on August 1. I am giving myself time to relax and enjoy life again, but there are many projects I want to complete over the summer. I am also looking forward to actually cooking and cleaning again! Life has been so insane since we moved in to the house that I have not had time to complete many of the things I want to!  We are also hoping to get our first time homebuyer's tax credit, and with that we want to purchase a new television and completely redo the bathroom upstairs.

Here is a list of projects I want to complete this summer!

1. Replace faucet in kitchen
2. Install baseboard in small bathroom
3. Tile laundry room
   
4. Replace baseboard in laundry room and paint woodwork in laundry room
5. Clean carpet in family room
6. Paint paneling in laundry room
7. Install track lighting in family room

Summer Dishes!

I have an addiction.

And it is to tableware.

I bought these melamine dishes and salad plates at Kohl's.  They were on sale.

I also bought the rattan chargers you see here.  Also on sale.

Did I mention they were on sale?  That makes it ok, right?

Now I must have a cookout with friends in order to use them!

Laundry Room

Our laundry room is nothing extraordinary. Our garage door goes in to it and it has a door leading to it from the family room. Here is a shot of our window (and yes, the cafe curtain is too low. In the process of trying to fix it, I brooke off the drill bit because it got stuck in a wall stud. Whoops. I am waiting for C to dig it out so I can put it in the correct spot.)

Anyway, before I painted it, it was a mauvey-pinky color.

Here is the before (the only one I have):

I painted it a nice sage green, the same color as the small bathroom that is off of it. Here is the after:

My lovely front-loading washer and dryer. We have four cabinets (the same that were in the kitchen...and big bathroom...and small bathroom...)

I don't know why, but it looks like an olive in this picture and it definitely is not. Here is a shot of the large, blank wall that I do not know what to do with. And the Ikea hooks that I bought. We want to buy a shoe bench to put under it. And unfortunately, the litterbox has to stay.

Here is the long wall again, but from the opposite way.
Notice the hideous drop ceiling and ugly light fixtures that need to be replaced. This is the garage entrance. It also has a full-sized closet.
My mom has a ton of 12x12 tile that I am going to use to tile the area. The linoleum is pulling up in the closet, is stained with paint and just yuck, so I can not wait until I can replace it. That is my project for August.

I don't know what else to do in that area. Any suggestions?

My mother-in-law rocks.

While my mother and father-in -law were cleaning my father-in-law's mother's basement (she is long passed, but his sisters live there still), they came across his aunt's silver tray and teapots.  My mother-in-law cleaning the crap out of them and tonight surprised them by giving them to me!  Check out how awesome they are!

I can not wait to have a tea party to use them!!

I woke up at noon today

Or 11:45 AM.

I had a tough time thinking of a title, so that I decided to go with that.  I have hardly slept the last few nights with C out of  town and just my overall jitteriness of still being in the new house all by myself.  I think it all just caught up with me and I woke up, took my BBT, then went back to sleep.  Whoops.

After I finally dragged my patoot out of bed, I ran to Home Depot to get the paint for the bathroom and came home and got to work.  I want it to be as put together as possible for when C gets home, because I am proud of myself.  I am going to have him put the cabinet handles back on though, since they are in a new spot and I don't want to mess it up.  I have a tendency to not measure anything and put numerous holes in walls, which pisses my husband off.  I also painted the girls' night stands from Ikea finally!

Still need to get:

Rug for in front of sink

Handtowels from Kohls

White bath/tub towels

Edited: Busy bee

Husbo is still out of town until Tuesday and I kept myself very busy all day.

Woke up much later than I wanted to and got right to work painting.

The vanity in the bathroom is done and the doors are almost finished. I also painted the girls' nightstands white, since I had it out anyways.

Tomorrow, I am headed to Trader Joe's with Rach to stock up on frozen mango, my numero uno summer treat. And since I am jumping back on the Weight Watchers wagon starting tomorrow, I want to have a stockpile. After lunch, my brother is coming over to mow the lawn (bless his heart) and then I have class at 5. Somewhere in there, I need to pick up the paint for the bathroom (a light blue) as well as a rug and some hand towels for the bathroom.

Katie from All Bower Power gave me some great ideas for the bathroom, and I finally decided to incorporate her ideas with some of my own. C hated the gorgeous Pottery Barn shower curtain and I am not sure I can bring myself to pay $69 for it. So, for now, I am going with just a white curtain. I did go with Katie's ideas to paint the cabinet white (which I wanted to do anyway) and the walls light blue, and I am going to attempt a beachy-type theme. I also love the idea if the apothecary jars on the counter. I plan on getting some of these towels from Kohl's in yellow stripe for the towel bar above the toilet.

Here is the shower curtain from Bed, Bath and Beyond. You can't tell, but it is a waffle-print:
And here are the towels from Kohls (sorry for the teeny picture):

Part of me wants to throw out the blue idea and paint the walls white because I am still sketchy on the blue and yellow together. BUT, I found a different shower curtain from Pottery Barn, and then it was taken off their website. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it magically reappears so I can order it.

Single gal

Well, kinda.

At least until Tuesday night.

Husbo is heading out of town tomorrow early for work and is not coming back until late Tuesday.  J and A are with their mother (although, it is quite possible they will end up back here, but we shall see how that unfolds).  I have the house to myself.  And I am not sure how I feel about it.

When we lived in the apartment, if C was not home, I would have to put in a movie or watch TV in order to fall asleep, which is what I used to have to do while single.  Now, in the house, the silence is even louder.  

The downside?  We currently do not have a television in our room.  Or cable.  What am I going to do?  No kids, no husbo...I am nervous even thinking about it.  Being in the new house by myself still gives me the willies.  

This is the number one reason I need a dog.

Anyway, I plan on keeping myself busy.  We are running a booth at our local rib cook-off to raise money for our Relay for Life team for the American Cancer Society and I am going to be there the majority of the afternoon tomorrow and Sunday.

I also want to start painting the vanity in our bathroom as well as repainting it.  My family from Idaho is coming in a week from tomorrow and my cousin and her family might be staying with us.  Must have the house perfect by then!!

There are some things going on with C's ex wife that I don't want to get in to right now, but if anything unravels, I will be sure to let you know.  It is not often I ask anyone to pray for me or my family, but in this case, pray that both girls are with us permanently by the time school rolls around in August.  Pray that they are safe and healthy and that we are able to give them both the type of childhood and home they deserve.