Holiday Decorations 2014

Photo dump!  Here's is our Merry Christmas cheer (inside).  Jeff did a GREAT job with the outside again, but somehow...no pics.  Oops.

Thanks to Grandma Hartman and Aunt Judy my Snowbabies collection exploded this year!  YIPPEE!

Next year I'm doing a kid-friendly tree with NON breakable ornaments...the silver and gold is pretty, but not toddler friendly...

I got super sweet monogrammed stockings from Pottery Barn Kids (whoa, needed a coupon for that one).  Also notice we were "hot" in December (the door is open!).

My kitchen..........bleh...........can't wait to renovate....

Nesting?

Is it considered "nesting" if I can't wait for my housecleaners to come again?

They cleaned last week on Wednesday, and are coming again this week on Wednesday...and I'm freaking out about every speck of dust they missed last time, and the floor being slightly dirty, and the bathrooms needing to be cleaned again...

Now mind you, I'M not the one who is going to clean - but I can't wait for them to come again!

Other things "hanging over my head" that I am being a bit ridiculous about:

I am doing a zillion tiny loads of laundry because I don't want any dirty clothes in the baskets. Also, I have like 3 pairs of pants and 5 tops that fit (for work). Must wash often.

I have reorganized the clothes drawers in Peanut's room about 4 times. Now things are sorted by size though (newborn vs 0-3 vs 3 months vs beyond).

I drank spoiled milk the other day and didn't realize it until a quarter glass through...my taste buds have been 'off' so I just figured that was it. I made Jeff smell it and he about gagged. Oops. So then we both completely threw stuff out of the fridge (when we lost power during the ice storm things got a bit warm and spoiled faster than expected).

I have made about 12 different lists of stuff to do before I go into labor. One of which included "paint toenails". Also, "pack snacks for hospital bag". (Really?)

I am paying my bills on an every-other-day basis. My usual schedule is once every 2 weeks.

The bird feeders are getting refilled at about 3/4 empty. Usually they go empty for a day or two before I notice.

I purchased almost $300 worth of groceries this weekend so I would "have stuff on hand"...

So...is all of this nesting? Or is it just me being SUPER TYPE A to be as prepared as possible???  WHO KNOWS!

Peanut's Nursery

Without further ado - Peanut's nursery!  Jeff stood in the middle of the room to take the photos and kind of turned in a circle, so you can see everything in there.

The only thing left is to put some curtains over the shades, but other than that - I think we're done!

We have actually been this close to done for a really long time.  We ordered the bedding and furniture ages ago, and Jeff has been a rock star at putting everything together to accommodate my Type A personality.

We have a drawer for footed jammies, a drawer for sleep sacks and onesies, a drawer for outfits, another drawer for bedding, and a drawer for blankies and burp cloths.

We got the diaper genie put together and have one (!) box of diapers.  

We also kept the twin bed in the nursery, for guests and also exhausted parents :)

OK PEANUT - WE'RE READY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YOU CAN COME OUT ANY DAY!!!!!

 

Making it comfortable

Lois came to visit while en route to Florida...just in time to experience our cold and #Atlantasnow 2014!

But before the weather set in, Jeff and Lois decided to improve the comfort of our house by insulating the basement.  

I'm so grateful!  They put up rolls of insulation all through the basement, crawled into the crawl space to do the same, insulated a bunch of vent things (which is also probably how the mice were getting in), and tacked up foam boards all around the concrete areas.

I was skeptical that those changes would make a difference to how the house feels - but it was COLD this week and the house felt a lot more toasty than it normally does.

THANKS for the home improvements!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Redecorating

My mom has been so so so helpful in finishing our home.  We recently turned our former dining room into the fish tank sitting room (who uses a formal dining room anyway?).

Jeff got a new saltwater fish tank probably about 2 years ago and we have been slowly getting the room ready.  My mom said - and is right - we should do all of this kind of stuff before the baby comes.

So we have a new sofa, artwork, lamp, and rug...the rug is so soft, Peanut is going to love crawling on it.

I've already taken MANY naps on the sofa.  It's great.

And it's so relaxing to have a room to watch the fish.  This room is also right next to the office where Jeff spends a lot of time, so we decompress together while I sit on the sofa and he is at the computer desk.

We also FINALLY got a new dining room set, just in time for Christmas dinner!

Our old set was purchased - used - in Rapid City, before we were married (and when we were still in college)...so well over 10 years ago.  The chairs had been reinforced but one was a little lopsy.  The tabletop had some stains on it.  But it served us well.  AND I re-sold it on Craigslist for probably half what I paid originally.  Not bad!

Our house is almost ready...we still need to purchase some kind of storage / flat top item to put all our downstairs baby stuff (like bath and diapers and clothes).  Our main floor has only one closet - the coat closet by the back door - and we have no place to put anything!  I think we found something at Target that will work for now, but we are going to keep looking a bit...but you can't argue with Target prices, especially for something you're not sure you will need long-term.

Holy Productive Weekend

Remember that massive Honey-Do list? Well, we knocked it down (Jeff in particular) this weekend.

This is going to sound like a laundry list - because it is! I want to take the time to CELEBRATE all of the good work the hubby has been doing.

The nursery is PAINTED! (It looks super fab, even if the color we chose is Martha Stewart's "File Cabinet" tan from Home Depot.)

My childhood bookcase is repaired and repainted an awesome light turquioise / bright blue (covering up the lead paint that was likely on there before LOL). Apparently the shelves were in tough condition, and Jeff had to wood glue and hammer together some fixes on the trim as well.

The guest bathroom paint was touched up (had been damaged by bleach cleaner around the toilet).

The bathroom shower handles were repaired and are no longer leaking!

The kitchen paint that was dinged because I leaned my purse against it too soon after painting was touched up.

The lawn is trimmed up for fall - probably another mow is required to chop leaves but we might be about done.

My car got cleaned, vacuumed, and fully detailed inside by the hubby (it was a bit funky!).

Purchased a foot pedal switch for the fish tank room lamp (long story) and bamboo wood roman shades from Home Depot.

We ordered a crib. :)

We purchased a crib mattress, changing pad, and cover.

We started a baby registry (mostly to just keep track of what we will need to buy, and to take advantage of the discounts when we ordered the crib!).

I bought another pair of jeans and another pair of work pants from Motherhood Maternity (aye-yie-yie).

We tried out a new restaurant - Newk's in Newnan (and it is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

I went to the bank, picked up my fancy shampoo and conditioner, stopped by the farmer's market for my weekly egg supply, bought birdseed (with a coupon!!), and dropped off more stuff at Goodwill.

I started a baby blanket crochet project and purchased YARN and a BOOK for a new project for Peanut.

Washed 4 loads of clothes.

We had dinner with friends and their kids (OMG, I LOVE LITTLE 3-4 YEAR OLDS! THEY ARE HILARIOUS!!!).

Took a nap!!! Ok, maybe 2.

Honestly it kind of felt good to be at work on Monday...all of that stuff made me tired (and I only did about 15% of it!).

Honey-Do List

Our honey-do list in advance of the baby grows!  It seems like we are so busy during the week (with my new job and Jeff has been REALLY busy at work lately) we don't have mental or physical energy to tackle a lot of this, so we save it up for the weekend.  But on the WEEKENDS, I want to have FUN!  And I insist on going out and doing fun stuff instead of honey-dos.  So stuff doesn't get crossed off very fast.

AND unfortunately with my being a bit out of commission the past two weeks with sciatica, I haven't felt up to doing much...so Jeff has been handling the brunt of it!  He is a champ though - #1 husband if you ask me. :)

Since I have a terrible memory anyway (which is NOT improved with the pregnancy), I have made a list.  Truthfully, when I put everything on a list - in one place - I got a LOT overwhelmed.

I'm hoping when my family comes for the holidays they may be able to help a bit with some of this stuff too - especially the outdoor stuff (Dad, I know you like to be busy, and you like to be outside...it's for the best!).

Here's where our list stacks up today:

Peanut's room

• Repair and prep for painting
• Paint walls 
• Hang new light fixture 
• Modify new roman shades with ribbon 
• Prep and organize mural 
• Paint mural
• Hang quilt on wall 
• Buy crib
• Buy rocking chair
• Shop for daybed frame
• Shop for daybed bedding that matches our theme (click HERE for the super cute nursery stuff we got) (but we don't have the bumper, bedskirt, curtains, diaper hanger, or mobile because it's been DISCONTINUED! Blerg)

Outside

• Purchase and lay down pine straw 
• Redo front mailbox bed / border 
• Trim front bushes down the hill
• Power wash and paint the front porch and steps 
• Cut apart fallen tree on property line 
• Repair fence 
• Chainsaw downed tree in back 
• Gather and burn limbs and sticks 
• Clean gutters 

Guest room

• Dresser – polish and buff
• Hartman table - polish and buff
• Complete DIY headboard 
• Look for side lamps 

Office

• Buy and Install Wood Blinds (4)
• New office chair 
• Artwork over desk 
• Look for another downstairs rocking chair / glider

Miscellaneous

• Run new network cable to upstairs bedrooms
• Have another garage sale, including a mower, TV, night stand, dining room tabl and chairs (in addition to the other stuff that didn't sell)
• Begin researching all baby products
• Start baby registry
• Crochet blanket
• Crochet booties and hat
• Make a Goodwill dropoff

It's a big list, but I know we have plenty of time to tackle it.  Right? Right? Right?

Fall Clean-Up

If you are lucky (or maybe if you're not), you have a room in your house that is your catch-all.  You know, the room where things "land". 

You're not sure where something goes, or you're not quite ready to get rid of something, or you're holding onto something for someone...it goes in this room.

We have 2 catch-alls: The Pink Room and The Basement.

The Pink Room is one of the extra bedrooms upstairs (painted Pepto-Bismol pink by the previous owners) and has recently been home to 2 beds, a sofa table, books, photos, training guides, instruments, yarn, extra clothes, camping stuff...you get the picture.

The Basement is the basement.  We put up 2 sets of row-shelving, resembling a poorly stocked hardware store.  We had several shelves that were unorganized or stored in un-ideal ways (think boxes instead of Rubbermaid containers)...and also just had stuff we didn't need anymore.  Like a coffee pot, baskets, contemporary flower vases, mismatched pot lids, unusable fish stuff, shoes (where did those come from?), boards...

Guess what - all that stuff is GONE!  Jeff is taking a HUGE load to Goodwill today and we have several folks lined up to take our extra furniture. 

We worked really hard this weekend to get the physical junk and clutter out of our life...and it feels good.

Happy Fall Saturday!

After a bit of a chaotic week, Jeff and I are having a GREAT Saturday.

Well, for sure - I am.  I sometimes love these Saturdays (as long as I can force myself to wake up).

I went to my favorite Zumba class at 9AM - 40 minutes of dancing, followed by 20 minutes of weight training / ab work.  I used to hate this class because I could literally do almost NOTHING during the last 20 minutes...now I can do most of it (but not always as fast as everyone else -- hello, leg raises).

I dropped off some too-big clothes (YEA) at Goodwill, followed by a gas fill-up and a 'clean out the car so it doesn't look like a hobo lives in it' time at the station.

I came home, made a cup of coffee and let it sit, let the kitty outside to the backyard - and then watered all my new pots of mums and purple salvia, cleaned up and re-filled the bird feeders, cleaned out and filled up the birdbath, repaired squirrel damage to my windowbox of lettuce, watered my herbs, and finally got around to drinking my cup of coffee and reading the local weekly newspaper.

The weather here is BEAU-TIFUL - high 70's, sunny, only about 50% humidity...about the best you can get in early September.

Meanwhile, Jeff had been working on installing our transition pieces from our new floor into the kitchen.  As always, DIY projects take longer and are more difficult than you think (I'm beginning to boycott HGTV by the way)...but he got it done!

I heard him say, "Gosh, I just don't have enough things for weights."  Ha!  I had an idea...time to re-purpose my Zumba weights!

Have a great Saturday!

Flooring Update

This weekend we accomplished (in no particular order)

0. Pulling out the last 'old' hardwood flooring board that was 1000% stuck
1. Learning how to use new flooring stapler (Jeff)
2. Figuring out how to set up jigsaw and miter saw cutting area in garage
3. Learning how to measure & use miter saw to cut boards (Jess)
4. Installing a new Cat Genie (new project)
5. Troubleshooting new Cat Genie when it filled up with poopy water (Jeff)
6. Spending 3 hours on the phone over the weekend with Cat Genie only to have them not figure it out and need to call back on Monday
7. Learning how to rack hardwood flooring. 4 different times. 4 different ways.
8. Lining up flooring to be straight without a chalk line.
9. Learning how to use a pneumatic air nailer to toe-nail boards
10. Discovering our air compressor was not powerful enough and needing to borrow the neighbors (thanks Chad)
11. Attending to first aid misadventures (broken skin and slivers)
12. Cooking made-at-home Egg McMuffins (delish by the way)
13. GAME NIGHT WITH FRIENDS (yippee!!!!!)
14. Bit o' laundry
15. Prepping paperwork for eye surgery on Wednesday

No wonder we only got 7 boards fully installed.

DIY-ing

At the commencement of this renovation project, I was so excited to get my hands 'dirty', to learn new skills, to have pride in a project, and to save money.

I have decided all of those noble things are COMPLETELY overrated.

Except the 'save money' part. I am super glad we were able to get a nicer floor by saving money on the installation.

However, we have not actually started stapling the floor - so I reserve the right to change my mind.

I am super proud of how hard Jeff's been working on this - if not for him, I would FOR SURE have hired everything out. As it stands, all ceilings and walls are painted with 2 coats, all the floors are prepped, we have practiced racking, and we have all materials (even a new flooring stapler) purchased. (Do not ask us how many trips to both Lowe's and Home Depot, and another Home Depot, we have taken in the past 3 weeks.)

WE ARE READY FOR THE WEEKEND!

The Work is in the Prep

Jeff and I spent the whole weekend prepping for our living room and dining room renovation. The whole weekend. We never anticipated it would 1) take 2 full days; 2) require such thorough work and re-work; and 3) the scope of work would expand as we revised the project plan.

As I am sitting here, preparing to write you the summary of our weekend - and truly how much work it was - I am struck by how REAL this real-life example applies to my WORK life right now.

You see, I partially messed some things up this week at work (the other partial was out of my control but not sure if people are remembering that part). I actually messed it up way back a few months ago, and it is just coming to pass that there was a problem. As I am now doing damage control and clean-up this week, I am practicing the arts of humility, admitting when I was wrong, and acknowledging I was over-worked and skimped on details. I skimped on the PREP. And just like with our house project, things turned out poorly (but our house project won't because I have a great perspective-giver named Jeff who makes sure our prep gets done).

Anyway, I digress. Back to the renovation stuff.
GOAL: Three-Room Renovation: Dining Room, Living Room, and Entry / Foyer.

TASKS: Paint ceiling and walls in dining room and living room. Install hardwood flooring.

PREP: Move furniture. Move piano. Relocate and rewire the cable modem and router. Remove non-essential fish tank equipment. Drain fish tank 3/4s and move it on sliders. Re-install everything on fish tank. Apply crabgrass preventer, spray clover weeds, and fill bird feeders (ok, not part of prep but still necessary). Pull out carpet. Pull out pad. Remove tack strips. Remove carpet staples. Scrape up plaster and any other imperfections in the subfloor. Fill nail holes. Wipe up excess putty after drying. Repeat if necessary. Sweep and clean ceiling. Clean light fixture. Wipe down all walls with TSP solution. Wipe down all baseboards, molding, and chair rails with TSP solution.

Collapse.

P.S. - this was only in the dining room and living room. We haven't started prepping the foyer yet.

Adult-ness, and Cleanliness

This is not an XXX post (contrary to the title).

I am happy to report we took two more steps forward on our way to adulthood (nevermind I'm 30).

1. We have hired housecleaners.
2. We purchased a safe.

Over this past wonderful 3-day weekend, we spent an entire day deep-cleaning the master bedroom and closet. Curtains down and sanitized, walls washed, baseboards swiped, carpet edges dug out, all furniture moved, ceiling fan cleaned...and we did all the normal vacuuming and dusting as well.

Two things: One, the room smells amazing. (Does dirt smell? I think it does. Indistinguishable, but present.) Two, Jeff decided our time together and our continued focus on getting healty(er) is more valuable than devoting an entire day to cleaning one room. Especially given that several of his days are now occupied with his new job.

As he said, "Something's got to give."

So we have housecleaners coming tomorrow to finish cleaning the rest of the house we didn't get done (which would be everything except the master bedroom).

And we decided it was time - we got a bolt-down safe to secure all of our important papers and especially valuable stuff (ok, mostly just papers). With new people coming in and out of the house, it was the final push to get all of that identity stuff secure.

YIPPEE for outsourcing!

Ekornes, come to me

This is the only room in the house we have upgraded...with Ekornes chairs!!!





The seed was planted 2 years ago for these chairs and we have been coveting them ever since. Finally, the world's finest Scandinavian engineering is in our traditional-flavor home.

In the photos - the walls are not quite so orange (they are more red) and the chairs are not quite so light (they are more espresso-colored). BUT you get the idea.

This is the only room in which we have all new furniture (except for one piece). Other than that one end table by the sofa, no hand-me-downs or college bargain buys or consignment shop specials can be found - which is different than every other room in our house. And we are thrilled to finally be grown up!

A bit o' decorating

I realized I never posted photos of my mom and Kathy's handiwork. So here it is - several of our travel souvenirs are featured - including our 'rock collection', some German and Austrian items, and a book featuring the Northern Lights in Iceland.

Looks good! We are soooo happy with it :)