Our abode-- not made of adobe.

There is so much I wanted to do before posting pictures of the new house. But the fact of the matter is, it could be years before it all gets done, so I might as well just show it as it is. Except upstairs. You really are gonna have to wait for that one!

The abode, in all it's glory.

The view when you walk in the front door.

The view of the front door from inside.

When you walk in the front door, to your right is the formal dining room. Looks super formal, eh?

To the left of the front door is the formal living room. Again, you can see that we are all about the formal. I have lots of plans for this room. Starting with an acceptable couch. After I finally find the perfect one (I'm picturing vintage, floral print) I have mirrors that I'm going to do over it.

Walking through the living room, or going past the stairs in the entryway is the family room. Another room I have plans for, but they are low on the priority list. There is actually a fire place behind the entertainment center, but between dealing with kids constantly messing with the glass door and the thought of having to find a new entertainment stand to accommodate the space, it's covered.

To the right of the living room is our kitchen. Ohhhh, our kitchen. I must show you some before pictures.

I know you can't tell really by the picture, but the kitchen was disgusting. The appliances were horrible and not even completely operable. So the first thing was to get new ones. Then, while looking at the place I didn't realize how disgusting the cabinets were. But after we moved in and I started to clean them, I realized that they needed a major change. So very crazily, I decided we should paint them. I will NEVER make that choice again! Sure, it saved us a couple thousand, but holy cow did it take forever. We ended up hiring someone to paint the doors so we could just finally get it done. But, overall, I'm happy with the outcome. Now we just need to get some new countertops. And it should be noted that this picture was taken a couple of months ago, so it has changed a little bit, and we no longer have paper taped up over the door...as classy as it was.

From the family room, there are stairs down to the basement.

Another place we have a lot of plans for. We want to add another bedroom, put in a bathroom down there. Open up the huge storage area to add more space. Who knows if any of that will ever happen. So right now it is a playroom/extreme home gym. (Don't be jealous of our extreme home gym!)

To the left of the basement stairs:

To the right of the basement stairs:

And that's what you get so far. I really truly hope to have the upstairs showable here soon, but, you know...best laid plans and all.

One last hurrah!

Since I have almost everything I need for my Wall o' Looooove, I decided I needed to decorate for Valentine's one last time with some of the items before I put them up on the wall.

I absolutely looooove my antique mantel and I loooove decorating for the holidays on it. It's a little plain, but that's ok.

I still adore these old postcards, and wish I could find out if these people ended up together! I'm still pretty sure I was meant to live in the days when post card sending was a normal way for a man to ask a woman to a dance.

And I think these will always be a favorite! I simply painted canvases and glued buttons on to. I think simple and sweet should be my motto, and I think these fit perfectly.

Yep, I love my mantel!

And one of these days I'll actually have the whole house put together so I can post pictures!

Slowly but surely...

Ever so slowly my "Wall o' Loooooove" is coming together. I now have almost everything I need to put up on the wall (o' Loooooove).

Months and months (and months) ago, I was looking through pictures on facebook from my favorite antique spot. (A spot that is sadly too far away to frequent now that we have moved.) At any rate, there was a picture of something with this quote by Samuel Lover on it, and I absolutely loved it, and I knew I needed to do something with it.

I've had about 22.6 ideas, but this is what I ended up with.

Some of the ideas I had were grand, and some were simple. But I'm glad I went the simple route. I am a simple person, after all.

As with everything I do, I started with a specific idea in mind, and it kind of morphed as I went along and realized what would work and what wouldn't.

I started out with two colors of red scrapbook paper, and I went old school elementary school and weaved them together. I was going to cut the words out of that, but it was really hard to get the craft knife through the two layers of scrapbook paper, so on to the next idea.... I just cut the words out on plain white paper and put it over the weaved scrapbook paper.

I'm happy with how it turned out, with the two colors showing through. And in spite of my lack of skills using the craft knife, I guess I like that it looks like a 3rd grader wrote it :)

If my calculations are correct, I only have two more things to do, and then my Wall o' Looooove will be ready for display! So at the rate I've been going, I should be good to go in about 4 months.

sentimental feelings (emphasis on mental)

So here's the truth: I don't want my kids to grow up.

I planned on keeping jT in his crib until he was 8, but then one night I checked on him, and realized that he practically had to fold himself in half, or hang out of the crib to really fit. So at the beginning of the year, we moved him into a bed.

I hadn't planned on potty training him...ever. (He has a certain poop problem that I won't go into details about, but let's just say--He holds it in, all week.) I was convinced there was no way I'd ever get him in underwear. It didn't stop me from talking about it to him and pointing out other kids that used the "big potty". And then last weekend, after seeing one of his friends wearing underwear and using the potty, he decided it was high time for him to, as well. (Well, he still holds his poop in, but at least he does his other business in there now.)

I remember thinking he'd never talk in sentences. And I swear one day months and months ago, he woke up and spoke to me, and could have conversations with me--with individual thoughts and all.

I remember so clearly when he was a newborn, and holding him in the glider in his room during all hours of the night. He was the tiniest little thing who fit perfectly snugly into my folded arms. And I would just sit there, gliding, content, holding that sweet little baby. Then a couple months ago when he was sick, and I held him in that same rocker, his body completely enveloped mine. I wanted to cry. Ok, I did shed some tears. Because my first baby no longer resembles a baby in any way.

As much as I love the boy he is, I absolutely miss the baby he was. I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want him to grow up, and in spite of my best efforts he did it anyway.

My heart absolutely breaks.

We have a new addition to the family!!

Everyone, I'd like you to meet izC.

She is the sweetest little kitty! And one of those cool cats that doesn't constantly want all of your attention, but just wants to follow us around and sit right outside of where all the action is.

And in spite of my children not really being aware of boundaries, personal space, and what is fun for them/annoying to her, she has been so very patient.

(Not that jT has been injury-less since her arrival, but he seems to think her playful scratches are worth it.)

I have been asked how we came to have this here izC, and the story starts about 6 years ago. When juC and I were dating, I expressed my love of cats to him. We always had cats growing up and they were just a part of a happy life. But always renting since moving away from home, I hadn't been able to have one in a long time. Expressing this love of cats to juC was met with him insisting he was allergic to cats, and he'd never get one. But finally, he promised me that when we got married, he'd let me get a cat.

Umm...yeah, we've been married for almost 5 years, and he finally made good on his deal. (Whenever I'd bring up his promise, he'd say "I never said when you could get the cat.") It was quite the battle. But finally, after again being reminded that every kid deserves to grow up with a pet, I made it happen.

She feels right at home with us and we love having her.

For the Wall o' Looooooooove

You wouldn't know this by looking at my last few blog posts, but I seriously never much considered myself to be crafty, or had a whole lot of interest in being so. But thanks to the example of crafty friends, and a desire that started when I became a mother and felt like every mother needed to have some crafting abilities, I have delved into it a little more each year. I mentioned on my wreath post that I want to do a Wall O' Looooooove. And now that we are mostly settled into the new house, and I have almost everything I need for the Wall O' Looooooove, I'm determined to get it put up before this month is over. I know a lot of people are getting their Valentines crafts ready, but believe it or not, this wall is not just for Valentine's Day. This will be a year round display, because as my sister LoW, I LOVE love--and I feel like it should be celebrated all year long, with it's very own wall display.

With all that said, my latest craft to get ready for my Wall O' Looooooooove is this embroidery piece. I was inspired by this piece that I found by chance and absolutely loved. I'd never embroidered before, but basic embroidery looked simple enough. Determined to get everything I wanted for my wall done, I decided to give it a try.

I went to the store, bought all of the materials I needed for embroidery, and gave it a shot. It was a learn as I went experiment. And I have to say, I love the end product.

Now if I could just figure out why all of the washable pen isn't coming out, it would be perfect! Oh, and find the perfect frame. Something I probably should have done before I cut the fabric. But what else can be expected from a newbie?

It's the little things

I very rarely have good ideas. I could probably count my good ideas on one hand. Perhaps even one finger. So when I had this idea, I had to give myself a little pat on the back.

One of my biggest internal debates has been whether or not to get a recipe stand. The thing is...I hate taking up counter space for things. In fact, I'm constantly trying to figure out ways to get stuff off the counters (even normal things like toasters and paper towel holders drive me slightly crazy but I live with it) And even though I wouldn't need a recipe stand on the counter all the time, when I'm making recipes is when I want to free up as much counter space as possible.

So when I put my brain to work and figured out a solution, I was super excited.

Wall mounted microwave + magnet + printed off recipe = perfect solution!

And not only is it up off of the counter thus leaving me more space, but it's also at a great eye level. My other solution was going to be to glue a clip under the cabinets to clip the recipes to, but this one was much easier to execute.

So here's the thing...

A large majority of my family members (50% of my parents, brothers and sisters, AND nieces and nephews) are good at art. They draw and paint and do things that look amazing. This is, much to my dismay, a talent that was not bestowed upon me. Yes...it's very dramatic.

But nonetheless, I get ideas in my head. Yesterday involved an idea wherein 3 year old little jT would help me paint a most wonderful Christmas tree. In my head it was perfect. In 3 year old jT's head, it was something completely different. It was something a little like this....

Wonderful? Yes.

What I had in mind? No.

So, I took it upon myself to create the idea in my head. Then I realized that I couldn't even paint a Christmas tree the way I wanted to, that's how bad I am (in my head, the Christmas tree took up the whole canvas). So, step by step, I came up with ideas, until I ended up with this....

Wonderful? Hardly. But it's growing on me, ever so slowly

What I had in my mind? Not in the least.

Will it work for now? Yes, it'll do.

Does it give me tons more ideas that I probably won't be able to fulfill? Absolutely.

Apparently it's what I do

My last post was THREE months ago! So sad. I know all 2 of you have missed me, as always.

I come to you once again, with a wreath. This is probably my favorite. I love Santa belt decorations. I don't have nearly enough, so when I saw an idea to do a Santa belt wreath on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one of my own.

It was super simple.

All you need is:

wreath form (I know some people get the Styrofoam ones, but I prefer the straw ones that are wrapped in plastic. They are sturdier and cheaper)

red yarn

black felt

something to make the belt loop (I found some self-adhering shimmery stones)

hot glue gun

You just wrap the wreath form in the yarn, cut out a long strip of black felt for the belt and glue it on to the wreath. After that I figured out the center of the belt, and put on the stones in the shape of a belt buckle. BAM! Ya got yourself a Santa belt wreath!

I've thought about putting a "Ho Ho Ho" or something on there, but sick kids have drained all creative juices the last few days.

And maybe I'll post again in another 3 months with another wreath.

me...giving a tutorial...funny

I am absolutely not a very crafty person. So the fact that I am about to give a craft tutorial is absolutely hilarious to me.

So in just over a week we are moving in to our new house. Which would explain why I'm here, blogging a craft tutorial instead of packing and cleaning. It's called denial. But the thing is, I'm so excited to be in our new house and to decorate it. I have so many ideas that I know I won't be able to use them all. But one idea I am determined to do is have a "Wall o' Looooove" in our bedroom. It will be adorned with hearts, and flowers, and sweet antique romantic pictures and postcards. Although, I keep thinking that if it's our room, other people won't get to enjoy it, so maybe I should put it somewhere else. But then I wonder if people will just think that I keep my Valentine's decor up all year long. Oh, the decisions. But I digress...

I saw this super cute wreath a couple of weeks ago, and I just knew that I had to make it, or something like it. I went to Michaels last weekend for other things, and went ahead and got the materials I needed. They didn't exactly have the felt colors I wanted, so I ended up getting a huge sheet of red, and I'm so glad I did. Because now I know it will go perfectly on my "Wall o' Looooove".

And just so you know how not very crafty I am, so this must be easy to do...one of the things I had to buy while there was a hot glue gun!

So with all that said...here is how I made this here "Wall of Loooooove" wreath.

I have seen several felt flower tutorials, and finally figured out the best way for me, that is quick, doesn't require a lot of gluing, and I like how it turns out.

First cut a circle with your felt. Some people use something to get all their flowers an exact size, but I prefer to cut freely so I have different sizes and dimensions.

Then starting on an outside edge, cut in towards the center making it into a spiral. Make sure to leave a circle in the center. I like to cut it somewhat unevenly so that the top of the flower won't be flat.

Start rolling the felt starting with the outside piece.

Once I get the rolling started, I like to keep my thumb at the bottom of the flower to make sure the bottom stays flat and even. Some other tutorials will tell you that you need to give dots of glue every so often to hold it together. This killed my hand squeezing the glue and took forever. Turns out if you just hold it, it will stay together, then the last step will keep it all together.

You want the bottom of the flower to look flat like this. Then the top of the flower has more shape and character.
When you get to the end and just have the center circle left, use a hot glue gun to put a dab of glue on the last part of the outside of the flower to hold it in place.
Then put the glue all over the bottom of the flower.
Once it's covered, push the center circle over the back, thus holding the flower together. Seriously wish I would have figured out this way sooner, it would have saved me so much time!
And viola! Your felt flower.
The first one that I saw on the blog had a wreath covered in flowers that I loved. But I loved this wreath that I found at Michael's (for about 7.99 I think) and I didn't want to completely cover it. I made the flowers all different sizes instead of like the one I saw that had them the same size (mostly because doing different sizes helped use up smaller pieces of felt) and after gluing on the flowers, I added some leaves to some to add a little more color. And donezo!

birthday shopping and house buying

Apparently I break promises, because I promised myself that if I blogged on the Milan Maternity blog, I wouldn't deny my own personal blogs. Clearly, I have not kept that promise. I know all 2 of you are disappointed in me.

So yesterday I had the lovely opportunity to venture out on my own to do a little birthday shopping for little jC. He is turning 3 in a little less than two weeks. WHAT?!?! How in the heck is he already turning 3? That's what I want to know.

At any rate, I don't frequent Toys R Us, but it is the best place to look for toys. Being that they have a million of them all in one place. And it turns out a percentage of their toys are a bit...ummmm...what's the word I'm looking for?

Disturbing.

Now don't get me wrong. I think that being a stay-at-home mom/housewife is wonderful. But something about this just rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know about you guys, but...having a cleaning trolley is not "just like home". There was a whole line of products for girls from this "Just like home" line that had all sorts of unfortunate advertising on it.

And this one. I don't know what to say about this one. I guess your kids have to aspire to be something, right? (Not that anything is wrong with fast food employees.) But really??

Yes, really.

Can you guess which one of those 2 toys I got for little jC?

In non-distrubing children toy news, we are moving. In less than 3 weeks. (Which is why I should probably be spending my time PACKING instead of blogging. But when do I ever do what I should be doing?) We decided that since juC got his new job and we'd be staying in this area more long term, that now would be a good time to find a house that we have more room to grow in. (I don't particularly care to raise the 20 children I plan on having in our townhouse.)

The house is wonderful, and if everything goes as planned, we will be moving in on September 16. The best part about it is that juC will be leaving for 3 days the week we move. That doesn't stress me out at all!

So that has been the extent of my life since I last blogged. Birthday shopping for jC, and selling our house and buying a new one....ya know...the usual.

I put the "er" in expert

Did you know that I am an expert in all things maternity and motherhood related? You didn't? Oh. Probably because I'm not.

But for some crazy reason I've been given the opportunity over the next couple of months to post on the Milan Maternity blog. Milan Maternity is an online maternity clothing store. They also have stuff for nursing mothers, too. They started a blog about a year ago and post about all things pregnancy, baby, motherhood, and fashion related.

I will be posting there on Mondays and Thursdays, and have already done a couple posts! (entitled "kids clothes for less" and "documenting the baby bump"). If there's anything you think I should post about, feel free to let me know. And make sure to post comments on the blog, which you can find here:
http://milanmaternity.blogspot.com/
And I'll let you in on a little secret. They are doing a giveaway right now! So you better go and enter!

I feel the need. The need...for speed.

You know what feels good? Knowing that out of all the children your dad has, that you are absolutely his favorite!


For as long as I can remember, Sundays in our household growing up were spent with my dad watching NASCAR. It was the bane of my existence!! I really, really, really, really wish we had DVR back then. And I really, really, really, really wish we had more than one tv in the house in my earlier years.

MY DAD LOVES NASCAR.


So when I provided for him the opportunity to DRIVE an actual NASCAR car around the Richmond track, I automatically moved into the actual favorite child position. (My dad has this bad habit of telling all of his kids that they are his favorite) but now, I really actually am his favorite. Sorry everyone else.

Watching him speed around the track as he fulfilled his dream was awesome!! Now I just need to become independantly wealthy so I can provide him the opportunity to do this all the time.

Bless his heart

My poor husband.




He has donned the same haircut for years, and has relied on the same barber to maintain his haircut for years. I think he looks mighty handsome with his predictable short on the sides just a smidgen longer on the top style. It's the way I've always known him.

Unfortunately he was in a horrible hair cutting accident! You might think that this happened because he decided to go to a different barber. That is not the case. His barber just failed him miserably. And he is now the proud owner of a mighty long lock of hair right at the front of his head.

He's still trying to figure out what to do with it.

This is when he attempted a faux-hawk but he generally goes with a wave.

So unfortunate, isn't it??

We're calling it a reverse mullet. Party in the front, business in the back. Only problem is, no one is coming to the party.

Luckily, his ability to be a good husband doesn't rely solely on his haircut, so he is still able to make me amazing dinners like this one:

But trust me, he just hasn't been quite the same since the accident.