Bathroom Before & After

We've been slaving away at our house and think we finally got the downstairs bathroom almost done.
Steve and I have had this little experiment with our basement project....to try and do it all as cheaply as possible. That being said I've been totally out of my comfort zone with what we've done concerning paint colors. I am a color nazi. Every other time that we've painted any room in our house it's taken a million paint swatch colors - some of them practically the same exact shade and I've gone back and forth for weeks before I chose a color.
This project has been different (hence the trying to do things as cheap as possible) and I hate to admit it, but somewhat fun. We've been shopping strictly for the "oops" paint only. We've had swatches to get some basic ideas, but after that we've been at the mercy of the Walmart, Menards and Home Depot paint department to choose our colors. This involves taking a weekly trip to the stores to see if any new mess up paints have become available. It's kind of following the "one man's trash is another man's treasure" concept. Obviously we're not going to paint a hideous color that we actually hate, but it has been kind of fun to live on the edge and not be so in control of our paint colors and instead let the mess up colors from our local paint departments decide the fate of what our rooms will look like. So far we've spent a total of $12.00 on paint and have purchased 4 whole gallons! Normally that would have cost us about $70.00 for that amount of paint!
I was a little nervous about this green we used in the bathroom, but I think it actually turned out okay and ended up kind of fun. Definitely different from the normal colors I choose.
Here's the boring before picture:

And the after (not shown is the cabinets, we painted them gray and used that as an accent color to go nicely with the rug we put in there)



















All in all I'm pleased! We finished painting up the downstairs guest room last night and I think the two colors we chose in there turned out nice as well. Next up is to find something for the family room!

Roses and a Hip Grannie

Further evidence to prove that I truly have the nicest, most thoughtful husband in the world. This is what I came home to on Monday.
So, so sweet!

On to other funny news, I got a Halloween card from my 91 year old Grandmother yesterday. No, the fact that she sends us Halloween cards isn't what's funny, although it is kind of funny. Growing up we've always got cards for every holiday from our grandparents, Halloween, Thanksgiving and so forth. Usually the cards always have a check for $5.00 (but I noticed it got bumped up to $10.00 this year for Halloween!) in them as well. Anyway, back to Grandma. So, the card she sent had a nicely typed up letter telling me all about her new computer.

She's had email for awhile on her old laptop, and it always kind of confused her, but now that she has a hot new desktop she's really living on the edge and decided to download skype! Really my mom did the download part, but I think it's totally cool that a 91 year old is that willing to branch out and learn something new - even though it would be easier to sit in her recliner and watch old episodes of Little House on the Prairie (no joke, her and my mom LOVE that show).

We actually haven't had a chance to skype her yet, so I don't think she'll really understand how it works until we do, but she's so cute how she's all hip and cutting edge in her 91 years of age.
I can't wait to see my sweet grandmother's reaction when she realizes that she can actually see us live when she talks to us over the computer!

Party Time!

I threw a party for Steve on Friday. It was a beer-float themed party. We got a few different kind of beers (Blueberry beer, Guinness, an Amber and a Summerberry) and paired them up with different kinds of ice cream to make beer-float!
Steve had read about this in his Men's Health magazine last year sometime and thought it would be fun! To decide on your favorite, you mix a little bit of beer and ice cream in a shot glass to see if you like the flavors together. Once you've found your perfect combination you make a float. I heard some good things about the blueberry beer and strawberry ice cream (sounds disgusting to me) and Steve really enjoyed the Guinness mixed with some chocolate.
Of course we had soda to for the old fashioned root beer floats, and what kind of birthday party is it if you don't have a cake?

On top of all the birthday festivities we had a good weekend. Saturday we actually took a break from working on the house and instead went shopping at Home Depot for more supplies....not really what I call fun, but much better than all the manual labor we've been doing. I'm finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and think we should finish up our basement project in the next few weeks. It was nice to actually kind of take a day off on our only day off! Saturday night we hung out with Sarah and AJ and I was tired and probably the most boring person ever to be around.

We got a bit of painting done on Sunday and will work some more tonight....yuck! Have I mentioned lately that I cannot wait for our projects to be completed? Okay, enough whining from me. I gotta get back to my fabulous day!

Today is a good day. It may be rainy and gloomy outside, but I've just been thinking about all of the good things that God has been doing in our lives and has done and I feel so extremely blessed.

When I look at all the little details that seem to keep coming together for us there's just no way that I can say it's all coincidence - God is at work and I'm so very thankful! I've been feeling super overwhelmed and stressed with how busy we've been and our home renovation projects, but I still can't help but feel happy when I see all that God has done for us.

It's one thing to look at the big stuff, but completely different to look at the big stuff and see how God has worked through the little details to make the big stuff come together.

I am so filled with gratefullness and hope for the future and know that it's only because of God's goodness to us. It's gonna be a good day!

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to my favorite person on the planet! My wonderful husband is 28 today.
Yes, I am a cougar, but the way I see it, statistically men die at a younger age then women, so maybe it will work to our advantage and he might just out-live me!
I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, hard-working man in my life that is so full of integrity.
Sure, maybe sometimes I wonder if I'm married to a child trapped inside an adults body (hence his obsession with Hot Wheels, action figurines and the constant "shooting" (with an invisible gun, of course) of enemies that might be hiding around the corner. If more proof is needed, see below picture), but when it comes to the important stuff I'm married to a man who is wise beyond his years.
I'm so happy for the time that I've had with this sweet man and am looking forward to many more years together of celebrating birthdays.
Steve has been working so hard on our house renovations and hasn't had time to relax since who knows when. Tonight I think we're going to go out to dinner and maybe rent a movie. Friday we're having a birthday bash at our place and will be experimenting with making different kinds of beer floats. Apparently Guinness and chocolate ice cream pair fabulously.
This year, of all years my husband really deserves a nice birthday celebration full of fun and I intend to give him just that! Happy Birthday, babe!

All work and a little play...

Our weekend was filled with work and play. Friday night we had Nich & Sarah over for dinner and watched "The Proposal." Such a funny movie and if your a fan of Oscar from The Office prepare to laugh!
We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to go pick up our new floors and get to work. Steve knocked out a bunch of the family room and I got most of the downstairs bathroom painted and new mirrors and artwork hung.


Later on in the afternoon we paid a visit to our first Wisconsin Corn Maze! So fun!
Schuster's Playtime Farm is where it's at! The corn maze was supposed to take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half and we made in to the end in about an hour. We also went on a hayride, watched some pig races and then had a bonfire. The guys had a good time being guys, playing on the playground (which I think was really supposed to be for kids) and wrestling with each other.
Wisconsin is such a fun place in the fall!
After the fun stopped Steve and I went home to stay up late and work more on the house.
Besides church on Sunday the entire rest of our weekend consisted of working on that darn basement. I will be so glad once this project is done.
I know I've said it before, but I truly believe with all of my heart that I have the best husband in the entire world. He has been working so hard to put our new floors in and has had to deal with a lot of mishaps along the way (let's just say we found some surprises under the 2 layers of linoleum that we've had to tear up from underneath the washer and dryer). He has been working non-stop all weekend and since he came home from work yesterday only to take a break for community group last night. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man.
Tomorrow is Steve's birthday so I'm taking him out to dinner for a much needed night off. Just a few more pictures of my sweet husband...

Empty Nesters

Another weekend has come and gone. It was a very quiet weekend - and the first weekend since we've moved to Madison where we've had the house all to ourselves.
Dale and Jacq moved into their new place on Saturday and it was so eerie in our house without them there. We found out a few things in their absence:

1. Our refrigerator and freezer are absolutely gigantic. Seriously, even with 4 people living under one roof we rarely ran out of space in the fridge, but now that it's just Steve and I, our fridge looks practically empty.

2. Our house feels absolutely HUGE! The basement area where Dale and Jacq stayed is not glorious by any means (we're working on that though), nor is it spacious. But, it's amazing how an extra bedroom, bathroom and family room make our house feel like a mansion!

Steve and I are still getting used to living on our own. In the last 2 years with all of this selling of our house, moving, and buying a new house we've lived with lots of people, including us in Steve's parents house, me in the house of complete strangers for a few months and then Dale & Jacqueline with us for a year. After getting used to living with people it feels strange to have to get used to living on our own again.

Steve and I both enjoy being around people, so it all feels a little weird with just the two of us in the house. It was kind of sad for me to wake up on Saturday morning and not have other people in the house to chat with over coffee.

All of this weirdness will be short lived as the house will be full again in January with the arrival of Jess. In the meantime though we'll be plenty busy with fixing up our basement.

On the to-do list tonight: paint the bathroom (while Steve's out stuffing his face with the guys to see who can put back the most chicken wings)

I am so not looking forward to this!

Week in Review

Then.....................and..............Now


- Today is sweet Caleb's first birthday and I'm so sad we can't be there to celebrate the little cutie. I cannot believe that it was just a year ago that I drove faster than lightning back to St. Louis to welcome the little guy to the world.

- My coffee plant looks worse now then it did when Steve brought it home on Monday. I think I should just give up on caring for plants!

- Speaking of coffee, I've gone all week without having any. I'm looking forward to a nice warm pot with our Saturday morning breakfast though!

- I've realized that I've become absolutely horrible at keeping in touch with friends that I swore I would never lose touch with and it makes me so sad. I wish there were more hours in the day.

- I officially took out my winter clothes this week and it's been so depressing!

- I realized this week that's it's been a year since I started using Shaklee cleaning products and am still amazed that I haven't had to buy ANY cleaning products this entire year! This stuff not only works great, is environmentally friendly and chemical free, but it's also quite the bang for your buck! I couldn't be happier with my decision to make the switch and am so glad that Lindsay told me about these amazing products!

- I am so bummed that the Dodgers beat the Cardinals last night. I really thought they had this game. I've been feuding with my brother (who lives in the OC and is obviously a Dodgers fan) all week and I hate to admit defeat! Hoping for a comeback.

- On to other sports news (who knew I cared so much about sports?) I think I will officially become a Packers fan now that we've lived in WI for a year. I was never really a big Rams fan in St. Louis, so I don't feel like I'm betraying the Rams at all (at least not like Brett Favre betrayed the Packers..haha!) by cheering for a new team. I don't think I'll really EVER get that much into football, but I guess if I need to pick a team to cheer for it might as well be the Packers. I know Pat will be thrilled with my decision!

Yep, that's all folks. I really am that boring!

Coffee Plant

Steve got me a coffee plant yesterday and I'm so excited! Yes, it obviously needs quite a bit of TLC, and no, I am not green thumb, but I'll try to nurse it back to life a little.

One of the volunteers that Steve oversees at work had this plant that she was getting rid of and once Steve found out it was a coffee plant he knew I would love it. Coffee plants produce coffee beans (well, duh!) and normally it takes about 3 years to get enough beans to make a pot or two of coffee. The lady that gave the plant to Steve has made coffee with the beans once, so I'm sure we have quite the wait until I can roast up some joe.
The process requires stripping the beans once they're ready and then soaking, drying and of course roasting. Since I like to roast my own coffee anyhow, I've got that down, but the rest of the process should be interesting!

I'm hoping the plant won't grow too much as it's already pretty huge and I have no clue where I'm going to put it in my house - especially since it's not exactly pleasant to look at. I read somewhere that if you live in a climate where you can plant the coffee plant outside, it can grow as high as 40 feet!

Anyway, I'm super excited. I know it sounds stupid, but I really love coffee. Everything about it actually - the taste, the smell, the intricate process of roasting it just long enough after the first "crack" of the bean in order to have a perfect batch...it's all so fascinating to me! So, all the being said, I'm excited to learn something new.

PS...Check out strawberry daiquiri mix in the picture to the left of the coffee plant in my extremely messy kitchen. We bought 4 bottles of this stuff for a total of $1.97 over the weekend on clearance at Costco! Sweeeet! Maybe summer time is over, but that doesn't mean the daiquiris have to go away! :)

Good/Bad

We had a rollercoaster of a weekend with lots of goods and bads.

Friday night:

Bad - going to a visitation for a friend of Steve's that was way to young to die. He was just 26 years old and had four kids. We were supposed to have dinner with him tonight and then he was going to go with us to a Monday Night Football party some friends are throwing. So sad.
Good - after the visitation hanging out at Borders with Steve and just looking at books at magazines. I can't remember the last time we got to just spend quality time together doing nothing that involved planning for church stuff or things we need to take care of around the house. It was so nice!

Saturday:

Good - Sleeping in until 7:00 am, strawberry waffles for breakfast, finding a great deal on new floors for our basement and spending time with some great new friends that are absolutely fantastic!
Bad - Forking out a lot of money to get my car worked on, running errands that seemed to take forever, cleaning the house, getting completely overwhelmed at home depot, working on our budget, cleaning the hair out of the bathroom drain - total yuck!

I'll leave it at that. Sunday was just overall blah and not very exciting. I did get three loads of laundry done though!

Just For Fun....

Perkins tagged us on facebook in these photos from his wedding and they made me laugh. Good times!



These two are always hilarious when they get together. I think those pants of Steve's need to go to Goodwill. I didn't realize how huge they were on him till I saw this picture.