arbitrary

the painting is done and i am oh so happy. we painted every single wall and ceiling in the whole house. it looks much better now. no more rose walls in the hall anymore.

we were using my sewing room as the temporary storage room for the tools, paint, rollers, towels, brushes, etc. while we were painting everything. i haven't used my machine in over a month but tonight i'm busting it out again. cause if you haven't heard, the painting is done and now the room can go back to it's original use. i have a million projects in my mind that need to be executed.

i've been obsessed with reading lately. i'm at a pace of approximately one book per week. 2 weeks ago it was the lovely bones. it was decent, i liked it. last week it was the goose girl and i loved it. this week i'm reading water for elephants. i have mixed feelings about it. i can't put it down, but there's definitely parts i don't like about it. the next two in the lineup, the poisonwood bible and a prayer for owen meany. so far i've read 6 books in january. if i keep this up, that will be 72 books in one year, what! do you think i can do it?

my new favorite snack. they are perfect. not too unhealthy and a little sweet.

i like this month. it's a good one. lots of great people born this month. my sis, my nephew, my father in law, 3 childhood friends, mindi (who did this with me) and another niece will be born this month too. some other people born this month: ronald reagan, bob marley, jennifer aniston, abraham lincoln, chris farley, john mcenroe, michael jordan, john travolta, steve irwin, george washington, steven jobs, pierre auguste renoir, johnny cash and john steinbeck.

lost starts tomorrow night and i am excited for the final season to begin so i can finally see how it all ends. hopefully i wont be disappointed because then my time invested watching the series wont be a total waste.

some things i've been eyeing lately
necklace
pattern
headband
dress
fabric
hand towel

oh yeah and infertility is the pits. but i guess it's good to laugh. i love laughing.

hall bathroom

We did this a couple weeks ago and we were able to complete it in 3 days. We thought the paint might have too much pink in it, but turns out it's perfect. Oh and I guess the toilet wasn't really re-installed until a week later. We are really happy with how it turned out.

BEFORE

Here's what we did:
Pulled everything out
Painted the walls and ceiling
Ripped the floor out
Put new floor in
Put new baseboards in
Re-installed everything
Reccessed the medicine cabinet in the wall
Installed new hardware

Hung new light

Hung new mirror

Decorated (the best part)

AFTER

backyard

Before and after - extended patio























Backyard before




















Backyard after




















We extended the patio, painted the shade structure, covered the structure, made the grass grow {still needs to grow in some spots}, removed 2 trees, added a storage shed and re-stained the fences. We still want to do some more landscaping {add some trees} but we'll probably wait till it gets a little cooler. Originally we talked about hardscaping the backyard because it would be more renter friendly if we ever rent the place out. But it was more expensive/more work and letting the old grass that had died grow back in seemed a little easier and cheaper. We still might change it later.

electrical issues and some curtains

When we moved in I was confused... none of the light switches went to anything. You'd flip a switch and nothing would happen{seriously in every room}. Some of the switches went to outlets, but if you don't want to have a lamp in every single room, they are useless... useless I tell you. All the rooms have fans, so we ended up having to pull the cords on the fixture to turn the fan/lights on or off. It got annoying very fast. So Eric took it upon himself to re-wire everything so that when you flipped the switches they turned the lights on/off{genius concept, I know}.

It took removing the fixtures, several trips into the hot attic{while it was 110+ degrees outside}, a little help from me, some new hardware, wiring, a couple electrical shocks, flipping the breakers a million times, living without lights for several days, replacing the fixtures and a lot of thinking & planning.

Eric did get a little advice from his brother and an electrician but ended up doing everything himself. Way to go Eric{read that last statement with a slight pause between each word, sounds much better}. And now it is magical, the switches actually turn things on and off. And it took me a while to get in the habit of using the switches again. For a while there I kept forgetting that they all worked and I would just do everything in the dark. It was quite comical.

These are the only pictures I took, not too exciting.
























If you noticed, there are different curtains in each picture, but it is the same room. There is a slider in the master bedroom and it lets in A LOT of light in the early morning hours. To make a long story short we bought and returned 7 sets of curtains until we found what worked best. In the beginning we just bought some that we liked which means they blocked out no light. Then we bought some that were supposed to block out light but they were extremely ugly and still didn't block out light. Then we got smart{after many trips to different stores} and we bought the curtains of our choice from Ikea and a blackout liner purchased online. The picture on the right is the end result and now we sleep well into the morning and it's fantastic.

ps-I didn't get the job as ASU. I know, serious bummer. But I have several other options in the works that I am excited about. Hopefully one of them leads to an ending I will be happy with.

did i mention

we LOVE these windows... seriously the best thing we've done since buying the house. our AC runs a million times less, they're pretty {can windows be pretty}, they let light in-but no heat in and they're extremely easy to clean {they pop out, it is so cool}. Oh and they're energy efficient so we get money from the government. Enjoy the before and after!

some thoughts

thanks to everyone for all the positive feedback on the kitchen. we've loved reading all the comments. and we love having a functioning kitchen.

i cooked the first meal in the new kitchen last night and it was fantastic. i think because i so enjoyed cooking in the kitchen that it made me cook better and the food was delicious. or maybe it was just that we hadn't eaten a home cooked meal in a while.

i interviewed for a job at ASU yesterday. the interview went amazing. i don't think i could have asked for it to go any better. i would love to work there. as much as i am enjoying not working. i am getting a little excited to get back into a routine and start making some money.

we got new windows yesterday. i think that has been the best investment in this place so far. we noticed a difference immediately {finally no heat seeping through the windows} and hopefully our ac will be happier now too.

we are trying not to work on the house right now, so that eric can get into school mode. it is not working.

the kitchen

BEFORE

AFTER

Here it is... we absolutely LOVE it. It turned out just like we were imagining. I find myself wandering in there just to stare at it all. {It's even better in person... which means you have to come visit and see it}

sneak peak

We've pretty much finished the kitchen and we LOVE it.

Stay tunned, you wont want to miss this transformation!

don't forget to check out the stump post below

our lovely little stump, check it out

There was a big tree in our backyard... a dead one. So Eric chopped it down. Then we were left with a big stump in our backyard. So this is {one of the many} things Eric did yesterday.

We rented a stump grinder and ground the stump away. It was actually pretty sweet. The thing was massive and I was mesmerized while watching it whack away at the stump.

Now we can move forward with our plans for the backyard!

making progress

We are getting close... it may not look like it but we are coming along. All the cabinet doors are back on! And now we're just going to do some touching up and then paint the walls. The color we chose is called Tony Taupe. In the picture on the right {the one with Eric in it} you can see some paint colors on the wall. We went with the one that is on the left. I am getting excited!

If you remember the picture of the backyard. There is a patio cover structure but no cover on it. We are priming and painting the structure and we bought a cover for it.

While Eric was outside priming it he found a tiny little friend. We named him Primer. He was the cutest baby lizard ever.

Here he is hanging out with Eric {on his right shoulder} keeping him company while he primed.

palm trees

We found a palm tree on craigslist for free. But we had to go dig it up. So we did and it took forever. We finally got it onto our trailer and headed home and then it was late by the time we got home. So Eric and I {mostly Eric} dug a big hole for it and plopped it in. The crazy thing was that we were both dripping sweat and it was 10 o'clock at night.

We're pretty sure this one is a Fan Palm. It looked real pretty right after we planted it. But now it is turning brown. We've read that they go into shock and it can take them a while to adjust to their new surroundings. So we're hoping for the best.

We got our second palm tree off craigslist for free also. This one took a lot longer to dig up and was a lot heavier. But we managed to get it to our place and planted it in the front yard.

If you go to this post here you can see the front of the house without the palm tree. We think this one is a Date Palm and we like it!