March: Nursery

Today you get to see the nursery:) It's basically done, as in the walls are painted, the carpet is installed, the trim is even in!!! We have most of babe's stuff in there but haven't hung anything on the walls yet, nor have we figured out the queen size bed supports. Right now it's just a mattress on the floor with the quilt draped over it. But when Mom and Dad come they'll have somewhere to sleep other than the pull out couch with a bar that shoves into your backside no matter which way you lie. Our poor guests:P

This block is as finished as it is now. I made the queen duvet cover, crib quilt, change table cover and summer swaddle blanket.

Gifts and in progress shots of projects. Homemade baby wipes, burp cloths, receiving blankets, quilt planning, cradle (that Aaron slept in when he was wee), homemade cradle sheet, Aaron's "goodnight moon" quilt from when he was little and the mobile pieces.

The grunt work. The baby room has taken more time than any other project in our house! We ended up re-drywalling the whole thing as it was in such bad shape. At that point Aaron had the bright idea of twinkle lights and beams. I mean, why do it simply when you have the option of making it complicated?!?!

Project 360: Week #5

We kinda slacked this week so some of the pictures are a little- well- boring. I need to remember to take the pictures before ten o'clock at night.

Monday: Den paint colors

Tuesday: Bookcase

Wednesday: What love and hard work do to a man's hands:P

Thursday: a tool bag Aaron won from Home Depot but the pictures all had our last name in them so I didn't post it!

Friday: Lebanese Dinner!

Project 360: Week #4

Week #4 I did some extra photos this week. Namely because we got a new camera (!!!) and so have been taking lots of pictures. I also just realized that for some reason I start my week on monday instead of sunday. I'll have to change that.

Jan 23: Aaron working on the baby room

Jan 24: My favorite loose leaf tea ever!

Jan 25: cheesecake cupcakes baking

Jan 26: Pretty flowers:)

Jan 27: Packing goody bags for the sunday school treat

Jan 27 again: The baby room again

Jan 28: Eating cheesecake

Jan 29: The baby in the baby room- 30 1/2 weeks

Jan 29 again: Aaron and I

Project 360: Week 3

I did some other posts with photos this week so we'll include those and here are some other ones.

1. My broccoli is finally growing and it's Jan.
2. The dining room (the light was 20 bucks!). We don't really have chairs and the table is waiting to be painted. Also we stained the floors awhile back.
3 and 4. The living room and the best cup of tea. Ever. Orange Cinnamon Spice. From By the Pound in Ann Arbor, MI. Doesn't look like they have a website but I linked their contact info.

Project 360: Week 1

One of my friends (Candace of Studio D ) is doing a photo a day for 360 days. Project 360. She started on Jan 1, 2012 and I've only decided to start today. I'm going to do one or a couple a week until baby is born (yup- we're expecting at the beginning of April!!) and then I'm going to attempt to do one a day. Maybe. If I'm sane.

So I'm digging backwards through my photos to see what I've got from the last couple of weeks......

WEEK 1: I had to cheat. I took not a single photo. But I have photos of stuff we finished that week or did around that week!

Demoing the baby room.

The headboard/picture we crafted. Inspiration came from pinterest but there wasn't a source website. It's a wood frame with plywood overlaid and then a shower curtain stretched across the whole thing!

Big mirror for checking out growing baby bump!! This is what greets company right when they walk in the front door. For now anyway. The stairs are next on the list- they'll be carpeted. The Den..... ahhhh well we are waiting for some sort of wood to go on sale so Aaron can build bookcases in his spare time.

gardening for dummies

Hello again! Usually when I don't write anything for this long it's because IT'S BEEN INSANELY BUSY 'ROUND THESE HERE PARTS!

The other day we went to a local nursery and they were giving away vegetable plants! Aaron and I had talked about doing a garden but I don't really have a clue so was dragging my feet- this works out perfectly because now if it flops I'm only out some hard labour.

I had dug up my beds about a month ago and it was such hard work that there was no way I was doing more digging so I just squished those poor little veggies wherever I could fit them. (I know you're not supposed to plant under evergreens but as I said... if they die... no biggie.)

Here's my gardens:)

I have lavender, lemon grass, basil, thyme, peppermint, lettuce, tomatoes, squash, melon, broccoli, peppers, onions and cabbage:) We'll see if it grows:)

the kitchen cupboards are in

The day you've all been waiting for, or more aptly, the day I've been waiting for. It's been a year and a bit with no kitchen cupboards, countertops or dish drainer. I've used folding tables, the floor, plastic shelving units, a laundry tub and a massive rubbermaid (with the lid upside down for drying dishes). It's been all right but I'm for sure ready for the next stage which is called, cupboards with no countertop or hardware:P We also plan on installing a ceiling fan (IT IS HOT), range hood and two windows up above the cabinets flanking the stove. It'll come- Aaron has some ideas so it might be awhile but it'll be worth it.

By the way- the best thing ever?? Standing in one spot making a meal with EVERYTHING YOU NEED WITHIN REACH. Ohhhhhhhh my land! Delightful!

The cabinets are Kraftmaid, maple wood, chestnut stain and an onyx glaze.

(Please ignore the random red vase perched up there, I forgot to take it down.)

busting open basement windows

The other day I left the house in a frenzy as a friend was picking me up and I woke up late. Fast forward a couple hours and the lightbulb above my head went off, "I forgot my keys on the table at home!?" I checked my purse and sure enough, no keys. I called Aaron in a panic and was told to get dropped off and check all the windows and doors in case they were left open (I never leave windows and doors open as I am paranoid about robbers).

I got dropped off (did I mention it was pouring rain?) and proceeded to start checking all the main level openings into our home. Nothing was open and I was getting soggy and grumpy. Aaron had informed me when I called him that I NEEDED to get inside as I had stuff to do! See, we had company coming for the weekend in two days and well, you know what we do for company. So I had a couple more coats of paint to put on a wall, another room to prime, drywall dust to sweep up, papers to organize, a house to clean and tidy, laundry to do..... Yah.

So I checked the upstairs window (that Aaron put a chair through a couple of months ago so it was already busted). I thought it was latched good and hard and it was scary up there waaay above the ground. I seriously thought my ladder was going to come crashing down and that I would meet my untimely end. So down the ladder I went to inspect the basement windows.

SCORE!!!! A lose pane of plexiglass (our house is ghetto)! I gleefully rip off the metal screen into tiny little pieces (there are holes in it anyway) and re-inspect the pane. Yup, very, very lose. "BAM", my foot enters the house. "BAM", again and again until our poor little window is a hole. My heart swells with pride, only there is a cloud on the horizon, how on earth am I going to fit in the hole?! This basement window has a slat down the middle of it making it about half the size of a normal one and most definitely smaller than my hips. I know that Aaron will not be please if I bust the frame too so I figure I have nothing to lose by trying. I drop down to the muddy ground and shove my legs into the house wiggling myself till my hips are pried between the edges of the frame. I carefully place my sweatshirt covered forearms on the glass shard covered sill (from the last break window pane) and tilt my loser body at a 45 degree angle. My hips are now inside the house, I furiously kick my legs attempting to determine what is below me in the dark, unknown depths. I grip the sill with my finger tips as I lower myself downwards. My adrenaline is pumping and my heart is beating. This is the most thrilling thing I have done since riding the roller coaster at tinker town when I was 12. My tippy toes scrape concrete and I let go of the sill....

Amazingly enough there were no boards with nails poking out right below me, there was no unknown hole, there were no tools to cause me to lurch and fall flat on my back knocking me out, I was alive!!! I ran exuberantly up the stairs and unlocked my front door.

I am woman, hear me roar.

Then Aaron came home. He did not congratulate me on my amazing entrance into our locked house! Instead I was lectured on not:
1. trying all the basement windows for one with that would open with no breakage
2. going through the open, broken upstairs window (oops)
3. moving the ladder where I left it leaning up against the house under the aforementioned window
4. covering the window I broke (bugs/rodents/animals)
5. phoning him for advice before I broke the window
6. calling my father-in-law who can get into a house in 5 minutes with a credit card.

My Aaron, I promise I will never break into my house again (unless it is absolutely necessary).

the kitchen is PAINTED!

We bought some red and grey paint for the dining room and kitchen. We tested them. Way too dark.

We bought some white paint. It is called "restful white" (or something like that) by Sherwin Williams (they had a 40% off sale!). We tested it. It is yellow. We painted anyway.

Hopefully it grows on us.

Here it is is all it's *shining* glory. (We might be getting KITCHEN CABINETS SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

(Our table is in the middle of the kitchen because we plan on sanding the dining room next!)

ceiling texture

I've been slacking. Much has happened around our humble abode and I haven't felt like blogging about it. It's gotten bad enough that one of my sisters said I had to post pictures as skype was blurry. (Yes I wander around my house with the laptop pointing it at various and sundry projects.)

Anyway. I figured I'd start with a before and after of our ceilings. Kinda boring. Unless you've had to stare at a bad drywall/old plaster job for a couple of months. The light would hit the ceiling and you'd see waves. Big waves. Like think crashing ocean waves. Aaron has told me that if he ever thinks he should tackle a drywall finishing job again that I need to stop him. at. all. cost. It is awful junk. So we bit the bullet and rented a texture sprayer thingy. Yes, that's the technical term. It involved spraying and then smoothing it out. Here are the before and after with the before taken about 6' away from the ceiling and the after about 1'. Oh- and the after has been primed and painted. (The before was painted too but I don't really want to talk about all that work.)

It looks pretty simple eh?! NOT! This is what had to happen to the house to do this: (1. standing in the living room looking into the dining room. 2. the den. 3. the kitchen. 4. looooove.)

This is why we ate out a bunch. We didn't really even have a place to eat pb&j's:P

progress

I'll post pictures later. If I posted them today Aaron would be like, "You had time to do a massive blog post?!!!????" We are alive though. Just busy. PAINTING!!!!!!!!!! I may use too many exclamation marks in general but in this case, there is no such thing as too many. All of our stuff is piled in the centers of each room with drop cloths over it. We figured we might as well attempt blitzing it. So last night we ate at Culvers and the night before at Pizza Hut. I'm suffering veggie withdrawal. Hopefully the kitchen will be back together in a couple hours and we can have something (anything) homemade.

Life is good:)

Pinterest and Snow

So a week ago Sunday it was 82 degrees F. It snowed like 3 inches last night. The kinda snow that is perfect for a snowball fight, snowmen and making dirty trucks. Did I mention I packed all of our winter stuff away? Oops. Seriously though? After EIGHTY TWO DEGREE WEATHER I STILL NEED TO EXPECT SNOW?!?!?!?!?! Where am I living?

On another note: I found the coolest website ever! It's called "pinterest". It's a place where you can pin any inspiration photos you find online. So rather than rightclicking and saveasing you just click "pin it" up on your toolbar and it stashes to this website. You can browse other people's boards and pins and repin them on your board. Anyway- check out my pins so far:

angelinalynn on pinterest.com

Mostly I have house ideas, but there are some gift ideas. (For instance- the baby mobile?? Not for me:P) The biggest thing we've been collecting is built in bookcase ideas for the den. So many cool ideas!

And! My sister had a baby girl:):)

junkedy junk junk junk

Not much happening around here. Paid some bills, made myself another batch of dry scones, cleaned the porch off of all the junk, helped my in-laws, worked on my sister-in-law's bride book and cleaned up after working on her scrapbook (crazy how little bits of paper get everywhere).

I somehow have to gather up the energy to tackle the mess in our dining room that's a direct result of cleaning the porch. Bleh. All of Aaron's junk. Tools, ladders, shop-vac, old windows, a fan, buckets of some sort of gumbo, cement board, tile, plywood, drywall, pipe, lunber.... I could go on but that's all I can see from where I'm sitting in the living room. It's very inspiring (NOT)! Of course there is NOTHING over there that is mine. Nope. Nothing at all.

Just please don't poke your head into the kitchen.

Teaser: Aaron's working on our dining room table that we found for free on the side of the road and that needed to have a humpty dumpty done to it! It is so beautiful:) Soon. Very soon:)

Brrr it's cold in here....

Our house is drafty. As in when you stand by any exterior wall you feel a breeze. Our bedroom has no baseboards and there is a space between the drywall and the floor through which you can see the exterior wall. No insulation. So Aaron has started piling our shams along that wall to stop the breeze from hitting him when I steal all the covers. Now our covers. We have. the. best. sheets. ever. Aaron's Aunt and Uncle gave us a set of the warmest, most loveliest sheets that I have ever had the pleasure of sleeping under. Fleece sheets. Seriously- go buy them. Now.

coasters and ugly fans

You might have noticed in the photo from this post my coasters. I made 'em!

We had leftover tiles from our shower (still under progress) that weren't being productive and we needed coasters so I stuck them on the end table which they promptly scratched. (We have those cheap ikea tables and they mark up so easily and attract dust to no end.) So I glued felt to the underside of four of them and they work perfectly. Ever since I've been scoping out all the clearance sections at the home stores for cheap tiles for more coasters (cute gifts no?!) and nothing. nada. zilch.

I love the clearance sections. And if you know the right people (yah we spend a lot of time in them) you can usually beg a bigger discount. We chewed them down on our fridge, stove, washer, various lights and fans..... :)

(Fact: fans are ugly. Fact: we have no air conditioner. Fact: I love fans.)

sea green/blue pretties

Aaron bought me a rug for our living room back in July for my birthday that has pretty much all the colours we planned on using in our house- dark brown, beige, red, cream, and sea green/blue. Check out the rug here (It doesn't include grey which we are planning on for the kitchen and den but I'll use colours from the rug to tie into the grey.) So far all the things we own are tending toward the blah colours in the rug- lots of browns and creams and not much else. But have you ever tried finding the perfect sea green/blue??! Yah. IMPOSSIBLE! Until C bought me the prettiest little vase in.... the perfect sea green/blue!

Now I have an item I can take shopping with me when I look for fabrics or paints. You can also look at the the link posted above for a picture of the chair that we intend to recover. I'm looking for an upholstery fabric with a large scale floral print with that aforementioned blue and some of the other rug colours on a crisp cream background. It's gonna be purdy! If I can figure out how to recover. That's a big if. I hate staple guns. They scare me. What if I shoot myself?! Here's a link to a recovering chair tutorial that'll I'll refer too. Unfortunately it doesn't come with staple gun instructions.

Oh- did I mention that that chair cost us ten dollars!!! Yah. TEN DOLLARS!! We love it.

(By the way- when I say "we", I mean "we". I can not do ANYTHING around the house without Aaron's aok. Not even move furniture. ESPECIALLY not move furniture. Fortunately he actually has really good taste. Hopefully he doesn't read this confession or I'll never hear the end of it.)

Sleepovers and Frenchdoors

Why do I always leave things till the last minute? You know- the whole bloody chicken thing???! C and Th (my sister and her little boy) are coming to spend a week with me and I spent all day yesterday painting the french doors into the room that they'll be sleeping in. So the house is covered in yucky dust, I haven't folded about 4 loads of laundry and I leave in one hour to pick them up. That's what I love about sisters. She won't care. Ohhhhh the french doors look good:):) We got them from my in-laws garage. They were supposed to go into a house they built in 2005. Picture doors sitting in a garage for over 5 years. Yah. But once they shrunk down and unwarped by hanging unfinished for 3 months they're starting to look normal. AND with white paint they look so crisp. OH and SEETHROUGHABLE as opposed to the nasty plastic that comes from the factory that was filthy. I'll post pictures later. As aforementioned- I am too busy to be blogging:P:P

What company came to see!

This is what company saw when the walked through the door (Sorry for the bad quality picture- it was taken after dark):

All in under 24 hours. Becca (Aaron's sister) came over Thursday night and helped (!) cleaning up all the dust, then we painted, and painted, and painted. We finished painting at 4 pm on Friday. Aaron and I then cleaned, hung fixtures, installed electrical covers and ran around like chickens with our heads chopped off (well- he was pretty calm and moving like molasses in January, I was the chicken).

Dinner was 35 minutes late and as I was setting it out on the table I realized. I forgot to cook. Noodles. Chicken and sauce needs noodles. Anyway they forgave me. I was too stressed to take pictures. I did take a picture of what was left of desert though! See Aaron and I had to dip into it again after company left to have with our coffee (WHY can I not lose weight?!?!). Banoffee pie. First time I ate it was at the T's in Scotland. Second time my mom tried to make it the sweetened condensed milk blew up all over the kitchen (you have to boil the milk in the tin for 4 hours and the pot boiled dry) so I never ate it that time. And third, voilà:

Chocolate, bananas, toffee, whipped cream and heath. Good stuff.

Company is Coming

We're having company over. Tomorrow night. This is what our living room looks like:

Are we crazy?! But what this means is that a thing called PAINT will SOON BE UPON IT!!! WOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!! The window trim has been roughly sanded and all the staples pulled out. The mudding is almost done. One final sanding and then I need to somehow get three coats on it plus make a nice meal for tomorrow and clean everything. I'm thinking it may be a late night:)

Dining Room Fixture

I used to be a brand snob. Especially with clothing. Not such a brand snob that I’d spend hundred’s of dollars on jeans, but enough of one that buying clothes at a grocery store was below me. Enough of one that my mother was horrified at my expenditures. Enough of one that I wouldn’t tell my sisters how much I had spent. See, they were all married before me and knew what it was to have BILLS, BUDGETS and BABIES. Therefore they spent no extra money. I wondered how they survived.

Now I know. (Sort of. Kammy says I still spend way too much on groceries.)

Translate this to house goods. We can not afford fancy shmancy house stores so we live in Home Depot, Lowes and Menards. We know exactly where all the clearence sections are. I know the lighting guy in Lowes so well he practically jumps up and down waving when he sees me. Apparently I’ve asked him for a few too many discounts. We do have a couple SWEET fixtures though! Aaron converted a foyer light into our den light and I love it. We also got some grey metal pendants from Ikea. I love them too. But I have one more fixture to buy and I really want it to be something special. Something that you can’t find in the clearance section at a big box store. I want this for my dining room, a transition between the more contemporary fixtures in my kitchen and my bronze traditional fan in the living room:

Ventura light from Overstock.com

What do you think?