Playing House!

I love to play house; when I was younger and even more so now! I guess that's why I'm itching so bad. Itching to get into the house! We're getting closer everyday. These last couple weeks we have been working on the tedious things (patching dry wall, repairing crown moulding, painting trim and window mullions, etc) that take a long time and have relatively little to show for it. But that's ok, at least it's getting done before we move in. Painting is not fun to do once you're all moved in.

I was working with my friend Lindsay on our Christmas cards this year (she's a WONDERFUL graphic designer in Dallas, TX-- CLICK HERE FOR HER WEBSITE) when I realized that Justin and I have been married 5 years (6 in March) and every single Christmas we have sent our Christmas cards from a different house! This is nothing to be proud of, rather explains why I feel as though sometimes I've lost my mind. (Speaking of, I found my Smart Shade make up on Sunday... a really short (3 year old) robber must have stolen it and put it in a toy box!) If you've ever moved (even just once) you know the stress of it and if you've ever moved with children then you can take the amount of stress a move causes and multiply that times the number of children you have. Pretty soon you can institutionalize yourself! Can you tell that I'm almost there!?

Despite all the moving, I somehow have mustered up the energy to play "house" once all the boxes are unpacked at each house we've lived in. Here in the rental house that has not been the case. I have not played house since we've been here and I'm chomping at the bit to do so! I consider myself a "people person". I love to have people over. We have been in the rental house for 7 months now and in 7 months I haven't had anyone over. Did you know that it's driving me nuts? We don't have a table and chairs here. And since we eat our meals either on the floor or on the couch I've been a little hesitant to reach out to new friends to have them over to sit on the floor and enjoy a meal. Soon and very soon we'll be able to sit at a table and invite others to do so with us!! I can't wait!

Here's what I can't wait to do:

hang the blinds

hang the curtains

make our bed

decorate and arrange the girls bedrooms

lay out the rugs

turn on the lamps

arrange the furniture

wash dishes in a sink that doesn't back up

eat meals at the table or bar

and have more counter top space in the kitchen besides 2.5 feet x 2.5 feet

and of course..... turn on Christmas carols and decorate for Christmas... if all my boxes are unpacked by then!

Wooo hooo!

And she's off...

Our little 15.5 month old is bipedal and we are thrilled. She's actually pretty close to mastering it in just 2 short days. She took her first few steps Sunday night and now she has very little trouble navigating the space between our walls. We are so in love with her (and her sister) and we are so proud of her latest accomplishment!! You go, Raiger!!

Birthday Video

Couldn't resist a little footage of the Birthday song!

Morgan Turns 3!

Yesterday was the big day for our sweet oldest daughter, Morgan. She turned 3. I can hardly believe it. She was born 3 years ago in Anniston, AL. We had no clue what we were in for. The last 3 years have been so precious with her in our lives. She's chatty, bright, sweet, and adds so very much to our family. I love the things she says and wish that I could remember them all. She told me she wanted a "little girl" iron for her birthday, of course, I couldn't resist. She's been so busy ironing and now she wants a "little girl" washer machine. :) Sunday morning she wanted to wear her bracelet with a cross on it so that she could "praise Jesus" when she was at church. She told me this morning that she couldn't wait 'til she turned 4. Her only request for her party was that there be lots of balloons and Curious George. GiGi did great and came through like a champ with the theme. Balloons and George paraphernalia everywhere. She loved every minute of her birthday and we did too!

Cousin-fest 2007

Tambourine from Lucy Ford

Not sure about this face, she was happy though!

Opening presents w/cousins

Ironing

The fruits of her labor

Eufaby (u-fob-eee)

We have a WONDERFUL dog and she never gets credit on the blog, mainly because she's not living with us while we're in the rental house. Erika and I got her while we were juniors at Auburn. She came from some guy friends of ours who could no longer keep her. One of which was Michael Nebrig. I've probably only seen Michael (& his sweet wife, Krista) 3 times since I graduated (6 years ago) but he never fails to ask about Eufaby. I can do nothing but sing her praises to him. Well, a few minutes ago I found myself reading Michael & Krista's blog rejoicing that I had Eufaby and Michael and Krista do not. Now, Eufaby doesn't have long hair so hopefully she would have been spared from the wrath of the clippers but you have to read Krista's last post. It made me laugh so hard!! Krista, I can sympathize with you... this is probably something I'd do too (seeing as how I'm cheap and all) but next time, you may want to dish out the $80 for George! Does he seem to mind his new "style"? You have to let us know!!

Click here to read her post!

I Can't Resist!

I can't resist sharing pictures of my Fairy Princesses from last night. There are several pictures... feel free to scroll through them!! As you will see there are a lot more of Paiger... she tends to hold still and be an easier target of the camera; I'm trying to find the positive in this not walking yet business. She can push her stroller, as you will see!! We went to church for the Fall Festival and had a wonderful time. We somehow managed to make it home with NO candy. Morgan didn't even know they were giving it out and spent most of her time in the "jumpy" things. We were so thankful to not have to endure the "candy battle" when we got home!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b5enhlt.9p8xcjs1&x=1&y=gb9cre

Happy Reformation Day!

Ok, so she's dressed for Halloween but... I decided to spice things up a bit and rather than say "Happy Halloween", which is rather cliche and very pagan in nature, I thought I'd get your wheels turnin' this morning and offer you a "Happy Reformation Day". So, do you know what it is? I must admit, I used to not know either. I had not ever celebrated Reformation Day prior to my precious time at Faith Pres in Anniston, AL. Reformation Day marks the day in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. At that time Luther was dissatisfied with the teachings and practices of the Catholic church, mainly the abuse of the practice of accepting indulgences (money in exchange for the pardon of sins). This prompted Martin Luther to argue that we are justified through faith in Christ, who paid all debts of all sinners in full by his ultimate sacrifice. Thus, starting the Protestant Reformation. Because I do have friends who are Catholic (who read this) it's only fair to mention that not only was the Protestant Reformation started, but also, the Catholic Reformation which focused on examining their theology, doctrine and having a personal relationship with Christ.

Moving right along to more shallow and less important issues... a few years ago (I think 4) we bought a chair. It was a chair that was kinda ugly. I knew it wasn't "cute" or "fun" when I bought it. But it was a good deal. And if you don't know me well but read this blog, you've probably learned that I am cheap. And since the chair was a good deal I bought it and made it work. I decided it was time for the chair to have a makeover. I love a before and after picture so I thought I'd show y'all an exciting transformation that can take place at an upholstery shop. Without further adieu here's the ugly chair before...

This is the best picture I could find... it's from our house in Tallahassee. The chair was covered in a fabric that was "atztec" in nature and faded hues of red, gold, and green. Not all that exciting. Well, with the help of my sister I found some outdoor fabric that is stain resistant and weather resistant (so if our new roof leaks the chair won't get wet). Anyway, one trip to upholstery shop, $150, and 5 short days later, the chair is covered in a cute navy blue and white trellis fabric (which I think is even pictured on E's website in yellow?) and adorned with some antique brass nail head trim. Pretty dramatic, huh?! It's a little loud but I love it and think it will be very nice in the family room!

I was so pleased with this chair that I made a run to the Highlands Antique Mall yesterday with my SIL (sister-in-law) and found a few more items in my favorite booth (which just so happens to be the cheapest)... and decided I couldn't pass them up!! I now have 2 (Thomasville) wing back chairs and a Chippendale sofa for my living room!! I may have to wait until next year to have them upholstered but at least I snagged them before anyone else did! Can't wait to show the afters... but for now, here are the befores!

Floors! Floors! Everywhere!

We had a great weekend here at home and had the pleasure of keeping our two nieces so that their "mommy & daddy" could go to Auburn to watch the Tigers win! Morgan and Paige love their cousins and the girls are welcome back anytime. Friday night I thoroughly enjoyed myself at "Girls Night Out" with 10 ladies from church! We had a wonderful dinner and watched The Devil Wears Prada. It was great to get out of the house and actually stay up late. If you know me well at all, you know I have a hard time staying awake past 9... you'll be delighted to know that I managed to stay awake during the whole movie! It was a very cute "girlie" flick! Here is a picture of my nieces. Paisely (left) and Penelope (aka "Nellie"). They were great house guests and only ate one smores granola bar! :)

The floors are all FINISHED and look fabulous! They're a little dusty as the dust seems to still be settling from all the grinding they had to do on the high parts of the slab. We are very pleased and they even cut us a huge deal! I'm not sure if they felt sorry for us after all the debating over whether or not to keep the terrazzo to save money or if it was just out of the kindness of their hearts! We do know it wasn't a mistake (Justin questioned him on the bill) and for that we are very grateful! They were super nice guys and very patient with us! Here are a few pictures! Now, we have to hop on getting all the shoe molding down and start crank on that kitchen... it will be time to move in before we know it!!

I knew he'd smile when they were all said and done!

Sewing room/Office... but the blue counters are going to go... I changed my mind

They are building a really small (8,000 sq ft) house next door... at least it won't be a bad view

A good decision to put wood in all 4 rooms!

And last but not least the rooms that caused us much grief! I'm very relieved to see the wood throughout!

I just finished my 3rd Granny Kat's Pumpkin Roll and thought I'd offer you a little advice:

-Line your cookie sheet/baking pan with parchment paper... it makes it so easy!
-I did mine in a 16x12x1 cookie sheet. The batter doesn't spread all the way across the entire sheet... probably 4/5 of the way. But it doesn't melt all over the place so you can just spread it evenly across the pan even if it's not all the way to both ends... make sense?
-Wet your dishtowel completely under the sink and then wring it out really good. Don't soak it but don't just spritz it with water either!

Erika, I made one for you to take to the tailgate tomorrow... you girls think of me when you eat. How is that I always seem to miss out on these fun gatherings!?

Oh, and by the way, Lenzie, Graves, and Abby... I was just teasin' about your blogs! I hope y'all know I love to read what's going on in your lives and I imagine y'all all have much better things to do than update your blogs... 3x a day! :)

Top of the Morning to ya'!

I wasn't going to post this morning... but then I started thinking... I get so disappointed when I click on blogs that I enjoy reading to see the same (burrito {Lenzie}, kids sitting in a pumpkin patch {Graves}, new baby {Abby} ) over and over again. So, I thought, although I have nothing tremendously noteworthy to say this morning, at least you'd have something "new" to look at when you click on this blog! :) And for those of you who like to "stalk" I hope that gives you just tad bit of excitement this Friday morning!

Seeing as how fall is now in the air in LA (lower Alabama) I'm going to make my all-time favorite dessert this afternoon... Granny Kat's Pumpkin Roll. It's the same recipe I've used for years and always tastes DELICIOUS and is much easier to make than it looks! And always gets "oooos and ahh's" from a crowd. So, if you're looking for something festive, fun, pumpkin & cream cheese, I highly recommend this one! Mmmm!

We've had a productive week at the house and by the grace of God we are still married and sleeping in the same bed. It's been a rough one this week. That dad gum terrazzo will get you every time. As aforementioned in this blog, we discovered terrazzo as we peeled back (sounds so easy) our carpet, linoleum, and tile and thought we'd see what we could do with it. We went ahead and ordered the floors for the "great room" (kitchen & family room) because we had decided to put floors in there. I'm a little bit particular and like a seamless look and think floors should only change at thresholds. Well, last week we decided we'd at least clean the terrazzo and see what it looks like. I told Justin that if he spent all this time (4 days!) cleaning them, would he promise to not be upset if I still don't like the look and want wood?! Well, 4 days later, lots of sweat equity and long hours... unfortunately (for Justin), I still wasn't big on the terrazzo. Don't get me wrong... I think it could be really cool in the right location (sun porch etc). But seeing as how our house is more "traditional" I just couldn't find myself happy with it. It was only in the kitchen and den and the transitions into these 2 rooms were drastic and involved thresholds because the wood was higher than the terrazzo. The wood (wild pecan) looked so "finished" and "rich" and the terrazzo looked so "cold" and "unfinished". There's a big stone fireplace in this room and to me the wood would be more appropriate in this room. So, after much debate (thankfully not too heated) and great patience on behalf of our floor guys (who sat around looking at us yesterday as we tried to make up our minds) we decided to put the floors in the kitchen and family room too. It was a stressful decision and we could have saved a lot of money... however because the floors are tongue and grooved coming back later wouldn't be easy and would leave the floors with strange thresholds... where as now the look will be seamless.

For your viewing pleasure I'll attach a picture. I think you'll see what I mean about the rooms (which are open to one another) look drastically different and that the wood will look EXCELLENT throughout! :)