rejuvenation

No one will argue with me when I say that there’s something so entirely, incredibly rejuvenating that comes along with the entrance of spring. This year, especially, we have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for spring to arrive. And arrive it has.

My soul is revived. Energized. Excited.

I have bee more productive in the last two or three weeks than I probably was for the past four months. I am tackling tasks that kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed off. For another day, another week, another month. Evan has been landscaping and working in the yard like crazy – he is in his element. Evalyn is enjoying hours of outside time nearly every day. Gwen is excited to learn and explore in the grass.

With this season comes new life. New hopes and new dreams.

It makes me excited for the adventures my girls and I will have in the coming months as we enjoy the outdoors, the sunshine and all the beauty of God’s creation.

The windows are open and the breeze is bringing with it the fresh smell of spring air into my kitchen. My house is filled with the smells of food I’ve been cooking all morning while Big Sister is at school and Little Sister is sleeping. I can hear our chickens clucking away as they are wandering around the yard, getting used to this place they now call home. I can see the dog sprawled out in the sun smack dab in the middle of the front yard. Across the road, I see our favourite neighbors feeding their (or, our, as Evalyn would tell you) horses, goats, donkey, chickens and ducks. I’m itching to get outside and move as soon as the baby wakes up.

Today is a beautifully rejuvenating day here in my home.

Thank you, God.

this house. our home.

I had planned to write a post reviewing my February goals (HA HA HA --- you’ll see how THOSE went soon) and set some for this month. But then something happened at breakfast that totally changed the course of my thoughts for this morning. The baby is an early riser and as of late, so is Evalyn. Up until she was potty trained she was always a 7am or later riser. Since training, we’re lucky if she sleeps until 6:15. I fought it for a long time. I hated it. I got frustrated. But now? I’m learning to accept it. And then add the baby to the mix, she’s always up early anyway. Again, lucky if we get to 6 am with her. With Eva as a baby I could do the whole “make her stay in her crib until 7am as long as she was happy” thing with no qualms and eventually, she always slept past 7. It wasn’t such a hard game with her, though, because when she was a baby, waking up “early” meant 6:45.  Leaving the baby in her crib to “learn” to sleep later isn’t as easy this time around because if I do, she wakes her sister up and then I’m just left with two pre-6am risers.  I used to feed the baby at 4am and crawl back in bed relishing the idea of sleeping another 2.5-3 hours. Now when I climb back in bed I pray I get another hour. Anyway, this is getting away from me – this post isn’t even meant to talk about when we wake up – I just say this to say that I am learning to embrace the early mornings. As much as I can.

The reason I mention the change in our mornings is to say that one benefit is that our mornings are less stressful these days. Getting up at 6 gives us more time before Daddy races out the door at 7:25 than when we used to roll out of bed at 7 or later. What this means is that after we spend a few minutes all huddled together in Mommy and Daddy’s bed,we make our way to the kitchen for breakfast.

This morning it worked out that all four of us were sitting up to the table together to eat. As soon as I sat down with my coffee and oatmeal, Eva said, “So, Mommy, how was your day?”

And in that moment I realized how beautiful it is that she sees our dining room table as a place for conversation, communication and family. That this is the place we gather. This is the place we connect. Where we touch base. Where we share details of our lives and learn more about each other and join together as one unit at the end (or in this case, the beginning) of the crazy, hectic days of our lives.

When she said this, I looked around my dining room table and realized what is most important… that my girls see our table, our dining room, our home as a safe place for them to land.

It’s been almost a year since we started on our journey with this home. March 20, 2012 was the day we first saw this house and put an offer in. Over the next days and weeks as the details got sorted out and multiple hurdles were overcome, God quickly showed us that this was, undoubtedly, meant to be home. Logically, when we look at how it all went down, we never “should” have gotten this place. There were too many things that happened to work against us. But we were blessed. It was a God thing.

It’s been 9 months since we took possession and started renovations. Seven months since we moved our little family of four to the country to start something new.

If I’m being honest, we are no where near where I expected we’d be after over half a year of living here. No where close. My expectations were too high. My plans and goals were unreachable.

This is what my dining room looks like, at this very moment.

 

Our table is old and ugly and falling apart. It is surrounded by random, mismatched chairs. There are old towels strewn about, trying to protect our home somewhat from the damages of baby led weaning, there are no doors on the closet, with coats and hats and shoes thrown about, no window coverings, no china cabinet. Random toys are stacked on, around and under the table. There’s a dollar store bunny chair cover over the chair where’s Eva booster, that she no longer even uses, is. Eventually, our table and chairs and china cabinet will be refinished and repaired and the rest of the room will come together. And until today, I kept feeling like it’s just not happening fast enough.

But then a few simple words from my always wise two and a half year old reminded me that this doesn’t matter. When we sat down together and she looked at me and asked how my day was, I realized she doesn’t care.

When we spend time together in this home, do my children notice that our table and chairs set is incomplete? Do they notice that there are no closet doors in our rooms? Or that the baseboards are missing? Or that the decor is lacking? Or that our front door is old as the hills? No.

They notice none of that.

What these sweet babies notice is that our mornings start with the four of us (often five when the dog joins us) curled up in Mommy and Daddy’s bed, giggling and giving good morning hugs and kisses. What they notice is that we have the privilege of enjoying coffee and breakfast together. What they notice is that we are together. Our family is together. Healthy, happy and completely, entirely in love with each other.

Sure, we could focus far more of our time and energy on completing the unending list of projects, decorating, renovating … we could do that. We could consciously devote more time and energy to making this place home.

But I know now that it’s okay if we don’t, not all the time. It’s okay to just be sometimes. To forget the list of projects and have quiet mornings and quiet evenings together. To go for walks as a family, instead of always going, going, doing, doing. It’s okay to do this.

It’s okay because the biggest mistake we could make would be to get ourselves so focused on checking things off a list to make this place home that we miss the life we are living here, that we miss the memories we are making and that we miss these moments we’ll never ever get back. Because these moments?

These moments are what make this house our home.

House Tour: Kitchen (Before) and (Now)

Today’s installment of the house tour features the kitchen. The kitchen is even more in the “now” state and way farther from the “after” state than the living room. Basically, not a lot has been done in the kitchen except a few things that were absolutely necessary so that I wouldn’t cry every time I looked at my kitchen.

You see, I’m a cook. I’m a baker. I am a kitcheneer (yes, that’s a thing). So, funny that in my new home, my kitchen is my most hated space, right? Yeah, it’s hilarious, really. When we bought this house, the kitchen was actually one of the main selling points for us. Hello, potential. But, as it stands right now, it’s in bad, yucky shape.

Here are a few shots of our kitchen that I took the first time we walked through after having our offer accepted.

And just for fun, here’s a shot taken from the living room looking into the dining room and kitchen just a few weeks before we moved in. Yikes.

And here  is where’s it at today. Well, on Thursday at the tail end of Gwen’s morning nap after I spent a good thirty minutes cleaning, if I’m being entirely honest. It’s quite a lot messier today.     As you can see, not a whole lot has been done at this point. But, if you look carefully, you will see that some things have been done. Evan replaced the floor. This floor is possibly temporary. It may stay when we renovate, it may not. But regardless, it was necessary. The existing floor was very, very bad. The room was also painted. This included transformed the sea foam green ceiling (!!!!!) to a clean, crisp white. The walls were done the same color as is in the living room, dining room, n=nursery and master. We like to keep it simple. Or cheap. However you like to look at it.

We went close to four months living here without a dishwasher and when we finally purchased one, Evan added an extra few feet of counter top to accommodate it. Don’t you think the hunter green ties in so nicely with the rest of the look? (Sarcasm font!) This was just a piece of counter top he had laying around so for now, it will do. I must say, despite the huge eyesore of the mismatched counter top, I feel so much less frustrated and more settled since it was added. It may look horrible, but the extra few feet makes all the difference in the world. Before this piece of counter top, and the dishwasher, there were constant dishes piled on either side of the sink, and often on the cook top as well. There was not a natural or ideal place to serve as the work space. I felt like I was on top of myself all the time and so cluttered and cramped. If you remember our apartment, you’ll know that I’m used to a large, spacious kitchen with a lot of counter space. Getting use to a less functional space was tough.

The cabinets are in bad shape. Really bad shape. Many people have asked if we’d consider painting them for the time being to spruce it up. But honestly? All that work is just not worth it. There’s only so much covering up you can do, you know? The sink and above the sink window are super grunge, too. As well, the oven is tiny. It’s smaller than a standard oven so that has posed some difficulty for me, but I’m adjusting. Lastly, the cook top is horrific. It’s old and dirty and nasty. It’s way less dirty and nasty than when we got the house but again, only so much you can do. Only one burner works entirely well. Two work so-so. One doesn’t work at all. I don’t think I’ll be able to put up with it for too much longer. I was trying to hold off to see if I could just make do until we renovate, because I’m not sure whether or not I want to keep the separate oven/cook top kind of deal, but the idea of sticking with this piece of junk until I get a brand new kitchen is getting less and less wonderful as the days go by.

I have big dreams for this space. Big. I can see the potential. Every day I come up with new ideas of how to make this kitchen my own. That right there is another post all together. I know that once we scrape together enough pennies (ugh, pennies? More like dolla dolla bills, y’all) and my husband works his magic in this room, it will be my dream. My absolute dream. It is spacious. And open. It will be perfect.

Until then, I just keep truckin’. Or, erm, cookin’.

bathroom: before and after

It’s kind of ironic that the first home renovation post is showcasing our bathroom considering our bathroom wasn’t one of the first things on our list to renovate. We were intending to just bear with it and put up with it for a few years. That is, until one Saturday before our move in day when I showed up with supper in hand and found my husband sitting on the toilet in a bathroom with everything except the tub and toilet ripped out. So, yeah. I guess plans changed. Without me knowing.

Now? I am very very glad that he made this decision. I’m not sure I could have lived with that sick nasty bathroom for long. Witness, exhibit A:

Wow. I couldn’t even manage to close the lid before snapping these photos? Bah. I guess I was just excited. They were taken the first time through after our offer was accepted.

Really, adding the bathroom renovation to our list didn’t take a lot of money out of our pockets because Evan was able to repurpose many of the materials he already had. In the end, the only things we purchased were the toilet, the beadboard for the walls, the baseboard, the counter top, and the outlet covers/fan. The sink and shelf were given to us by my Aunt, the vanity and medicine cabinet and mirror were removed from a job Evan did last year, the paint is the same colour used in our hallway and the light fixture was sitting around at my Dad’s store not being used. The flooring is the same that we put in the kitchen, entryway and (eventually) playroom. It was also free because it has a slight flaw running through it, so my dad couldn’t sell it.

We did end up leaving the tub the way it is. Which is clearly not ideal. But? This bathroom renovation is really just a facelift. The bathroom sits between the master bedroom and the tiny extra room (which will be a playroom for now). Eventually, our intention is to tear out the wall between the bathroom and the playroom and make a larger main bathroom and a small ensuite bathroom. Eventually. Needless to say, because of that plan, we decided not to put the time, money and effort into tearing out the old tub (including tiled walls) to replace it. So, we pull the shower curtain closed and ask you to refrain from looking at the few inches at the bottom where you can see the lovely turquoise peeking through. The hardware in the tub, faucets, showerhead, taps are relatively new so it’s working out just fine for us for now.

So, for a couple hundred buckaroos and a little (lot) of time, we (I) think it was definitely worth it and makes the room much more comfortable and home-y while we wait to undertake a more major renovation.

We did it.

We did it. We moved with 2U2 and lived to tell the tale. Because of the weather forecast we ended up making a last minute decision to move most of our stuff on Friday night instead of Saturday. It was definitely a good choice as it rained the better part of Saturday. We also decided to stay at Evan’s aunts’ place for the weekend so we could get things organized around here before bringing the kids to sleep. Another wise choice.

We were blessed to have tons of help over the weekend (and, really, throughout this whole process – more on that in another post), which made all the difference in the world. Friends to help with the babies, the lifting, the organizing, the cleaning – the whole deal. We really wouldn’t have been able to do it alone.

After nap on Sunday, I brought the girls up to “da new house” for the first time since we had moved any stuff in. Immediately, Evalyn was SO excited to see her big girl room. Once again, she has surprised me and impressed me with how seamlessly she’s made all of these transitions (again, more on this in another post … can you tell I have a lot to say these days but no energy to actually sit down to say it?).When we arrived, my parents were here to help for the afternoon and were already busy cleaning my kitchen. On Monday, Evan took the day off and we tackled a lot of unpacking and organizing, Monday night, the Aunties arrived and we tackled the kitchen. By Tuesday morning, I woke up feeling fairly impressed with how much unpacking and organizing we’d done in that short amount of time.

Of course, there is still a ways to go. A long, long, long ways. I mean, things might be better once there is a sink in my bathroom. And a door. (Note: if you are coming to visit, pee before you arrive). But, regardless, we have what we need to function and the rest will happen as it happens.

For now, I’m working on things bit by bit and trying to take some time to enjoy the last few weeks of summer as we watch this place transform into our home.

It’s getting there. Starting to feel like home.

As my precious, tell it like it is, almost 2 year old said to me yesterday while playing with her toys, “We at home now. Da new house is my home now".

Happy Birthday Gwennie– Part One

I wasn’t sure where to start when telling the story of Gwendolyn’s birth. The truth is, this experience has God written all over it and deserves some background context in order to truly convey how marvellous God’s mighty hand is. So, forgive me, but the story is going to take a few parts and is going to have to start a few days before we actually met our daughter. I hope you’ll stick around. I promise, the story has a great ending…

If you know me, you know that I like to be in control and that when preparing for the arrival of a new baby, this control flies out the window. I can’t control what they will be, who they will be, when they will come into the world, or how they will come into the world. And sometimes? This lack of control drives me nuts. Near the end of my pregnancy, I started to get very impatient about when the baby would arrive. Apparently I forgot about the fact that I felt this way near Evalyn’s birth and was quickly reminded that God was in control when she came into the world on the best possible day for my husband’s schedule. Again, Gwen’s birth is a repeat of that.

Along with the impatience, I was dealing with a lot of anxiety over what would be done with Evalyn during the birth of her sibling. Again, a result of my desire to be in control and my inability to let go and remember that God is in complete control. I joked with people that my ideal birth story would include going into labour after Evalyn went to bed and having her wake up to a baby sibling. And guess what? Evalyn went to bed in her own bed the night I went into labour because I had no indication it would happen that night. Gwen’s time of birth was 7:08 am. Evalyn woke up between 7:10 and 7:15 that morning. God has a funny way with these things.

In the days leading up to Gwen’s due date, I was noticing a lot of markers that labour could be imminent. I was having a lot of cramping and lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. Even though I never expected to have an early baby, all of these “tricks” were starting to get wearing on me. Constantly wondering if today was the day got old fast. At my 40 week appointment, my midwife offered to check my cervix and do a stretch and sweep if I wished. I agreed. She determined I was 2 cm and thin so she went ahead and gave me a good sweep. She told me things didn’t feel like I would for sure go that day, but it wouldn’t be surprising if I did either.

I went home and spent the rest of the afternoon hoping that things might get started. Nothing. Just a few cramps and a little bit of bloody show. Nothing unusual at all.

Thursday morning rolled around and Evalyn and I headed to the park with Caley and Connor. Around 11 at the park, I started feeling kind of funny and asked Caley to go home because I was feeling dehydrated. Shortly after, I started having more noticeable contractions – ones that felt ‘real’ according to what I remember, rather than just BH or period type cramps. The rest of the day was spent feeling these contractions intermittently. I never stopped to time them because they didn’t seem to getting very consistent, but they were there, and noticeable. By 3-4 pm, they were definitely noticeable, never with more than 7-8 minutes between them. Evan came home early and offered to make dinner while I rested (bless his heart) and said he wasn’t going to go work at the house, just in case. After dinner, we took Evalyn into town for ice cream and a trip at the park – thinking that this very well might be our last evening as a family of three. We made the decision to go ahead and put Evalyn to bed at Marcia and Linda’s. I was pretty sure this was going to be the real deal and I figured I’d rather have her sleepover there and it be a false alarm than have her at home in case it turned real. So, off she went and Daddy and I headed home to get some other things in order.

We went for a nice long walk, and then Evan’s nesting urges hit and he started cleaning (the bonus of having a false alarm, I guess). He scrubbed the patio windows, baseboards and cleaned the hard surface floors. I cleaned up dishes, finished getting a few things ready and brought in some food from the freezer in case I needed to feed birth attendants. In the meantime, I had called my parents to fill them in on what was happening.

They were intending to head to our place on Friday afternoon for the long weekend, regardless of whether the baby had arrived or not, to help with some things at the new house, so they decided they might as well go ahead and come down Thursday night so they’d be here for when/if things started picking up.

I had a bath and both Evan and I climbed in bed, hoping to get a little shut eye, fully expecting to be up through the night giving birth to a child. Unfortunately, as the night progressed, I realized this wasn’t going to happen.  I didn’t sleep well because, although slowly down significantly, the contractions were still evident enough to wake me up, causing me to lay in bed just waiting (hoping) for the next one to come soon after.

Of course, this didn’t happen and by 2:30 a.m., I knew that tonight would not be our night…

His. Mine. Ours.

There’s not much to say today other than … finally! Yesterday was a day we have spent years waiting for. There will be lots more to come as the months go by, so for now, this photo will sum it up.

Home sweet home.

Calling All Christmas Fairies!

This is the part of Christmas that I don’t like.

The cleanup.

Ick. Blech.

I am currently sitting in my house staring at a pile of cardboard from boxes of toys that Evalyn for for Christmas, a billion piles of Christmas decorations waiting to be boxed up and put back into the storage room, a cupboard full of Christmas dishes that need to be swapped for our regular dishes, two piles of gifts that are looking for a home, and floors that are in desperate need of a good vacuum, swiffer and mop.

And yet, here I sit.

Looking at it all.

Wishing that it would clean itself up.

I was (not so) secretly hoping that if I gathered everything into tidy piles, the Dude would get the hint and box everything up and help it all find the way to it’s home. But, much to my chagrin, he got home from work last night feeling as though a truck ran over him, so I clearly could not bring myself to ask him to do it.

And now here we are, nearing the end of Eva’s first nap of the day and none of the piles have been touched.

Granted, I haven’t been entirely lazy this morning. I did make some phone calls, reorganize the baby’s armoire, make my bed, and sip away at a cafe mocha – but I have not even begun to tackle the daunting task of putting away.

I’m calling ALL Christmas Fairies to sweep in and put my house back in order.

Falling for Fall

I love autumn. It is by far my favorite time of year. One thing I love about autumn is being able to decorate my house with leaves, pumpkins and scarecrows. Obviously, this autumn is going to be a little different for our family as we're going to be spending it adjusting to having a little one kicking around. I decided that I did not want to forgo the things I love about fall, so I decorated last week, a little early, in order to ensure that it was done before the Monkey arrived (are we surprised?). I haven't really picked up many new fall decorations since last year, so if you've been a reader for a while, you have probably seen a number of my decorations but I thought I'd share anyway!

I will let the photos do the talking....

An autumn table runner and gourd candle holders

The dining room

The living room

The hearth - my favorite space in the fall

The pumpkins tucked away in the corner

The bathroom doesn't have many decorations but this little wagon adds a little fall touch

Scarecrows everywhere...

My pumpkin nightlight. One of my favs!

The kitchen

I love the scent of fall as well. Starting in September I almost always have a candle burning. This year, my choice scents are Harvest Pear and Cranberry Orange. Delish!

What do you do to make your home cozy for fall?

N-R-G!

It is amazing how much difference a good night's sleep can make to your energy level after having weeks, and weeks, and weeks, of crappy sleep. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I woke up this morning and feeling refreshed, looked at the clock to discover it said 5:56. Granted, I wasn't pumped about being wide awake just before 6 am but I was pumped about being wide awake for the first time all night just before 6 am!

I woke up starving so got up for a bowl of cereal and thought I would crawl back in bed but I didn't even feel the slightest bit sleepy, so up and at 'em I was!

It is now 8:30 and so far I have gotten up, unloaded and reloaded the dishes, eaten breakfast (twice), gotten dressed, made the Dude's coffee and breakfast, vacuumed the whole apartment, swiffered the living room, mopped the kitchen, dining room and bathroom, and put a load of laundry in.

Like whoa. What's going on here? Who is this girl and what has she done with Lazy Lucy?

My cold feels like it's all gone and I feel like I'm ready to tackle the day! I can feel a cool breeze floating in from the patio door, for the first time in a while, so I'm about to head out to take Nika for a long walk.

Then I'll get ready and head to town for groceries. My SIL and I are having a big freezer cooking day tomorrow so I've got to stock up! And then my mom and I are planning on doing a bit of canning next week so I need some supplies for that. I'm spending the afternoon visiting with a friend and doing some more organization in the baby's room.

I hope everyone has a great Friday. Don't forget, today is the last day to enter my giveaway. I'll announce the winner this evening at 6 pm.

July Review and August Plans aka THE LAST MONTH BEFORE I HAVE A BABY

First things first, be sure to enter my giveaway! You have until Friday.

Ladies (and gents??), I cannot believe that we have entered August - the last full month before I become a Mama!!

Let's check out what took place in July ...

1. Visit with our friend's from Ohio.

They came up to visit during the first weekend in July. We had a blast with them and had a lovely get together with a bunch of our friends. Click here to read about it.

2. Visit the in-laws.

We just went this past weekend.

3. Replace carpet in baby's room (um, this is actually not on my list. Hint, hint, FD).

Yay! Carpet was replaced last Thursday night - it looks great! Thanks Dad and FD!

4. Set up baby's room - arrange furniture and start adding all the finishing touches.

The furniture is in there but not fully assembled and arranged. We decided to paint one wall after all, so that should get done tonight and tomorrow night and then I can get moving with the rest of the stuff.

5. Condense and purge scrapbooking/crafting/board game cabinet. This is going to be a daunting task. I keep thinking about doing it and finding a reason why I should wait just a bit longer. Yesterday I opened it, took a look at it for about 5 minutes, closed it, and walked away. IT.MUST.GET.DONE.

Yay! Done.

6. Send FD away on a boy's fishing trip and spend some girl time with my mom and sisters.

We all had a great week together. While the boys fished, the girls cooked, ate, shopped, played, and celebrated Little H's birthday.

7. Attend my baby shower.

Thanks so much to my Mom and Sisters for hosting such a great shower for me!

8. Get a hair cut (can't tell you how badly I need this one).

Got my hair cut the same weekend as my shower. Just a little freshening up pre-babe.

9. Organize freezers and freeze cherries for the winter.

The freezers got somewhat organized but I totally dropped the ball on freezing cherries. I literally blinked and missed cherry season. Other than eating them fresh, a few batches of muffins and some delicious ice cream, I didn't do anything with them this year. Sadness.

10. Begin harvesting and preserving veggies from the garden.

I have been picking veggies like crazy but nothing that's been preserved so far. My MIL and I canned peaches and BBQ Onion sauce this weekend, but that wasn't with stuff from my garden.

Even though it wasn't on my original list - I can't forget to mention one of the most exciting things that happened this month - Shaina and Jenny came to visit!

August Goals

I'm sorry to say but this month's goals are a wee bit narrow in focus. I'll trust that you can all understand why :)

1. Finish getting baby's room ready.

2. Buy, wash, and organize baby's cloth diapers.

3. Finish gathering and organizing birth supplies for home birth.

4. Pack mine and baby's hospital bag so we are prepared to transfer to hospital if necessary.

5. Finish stocking the freezer with food for post baby days.

6. Celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary.

7. Can pickled beets with my mom.

8. Celebrate my mom's birthday (which, yes, was way back in June - but this will be the first time she's been able to come visit since then).

9. Attend my second baby shower.

10. Put my feet up, relax, rest and enjoy the last few weeks of my pregnancy!

Before Baby Nesting Projects

First things first, I must mention that today is a SPECIAL day. Today, my mumma turns 50!!! Everyone give a great big shout out and a Happy Birthday to the Old Girl! Love you Mumma.

Now that my thesis defense is all done and over with, I have the next 3 months or so to prepare for the arrival of the Bambino. I am going to be working a little bit but I will have quite a lot of downtime. I am hoping to maximize the time off, avoid boredom and keep myself organized and actually doing something, so I have prepared a fairly lengthy list of tasks that I hope to accomplish in our home before the big event. Most of these relate to transforming our space to accommodate the baby. I am planning on keep track of this list on my sidebar so I can cross off each job as it gets finished. I'm sure many of the tasks will be blogged about. Some of the jobs are just for me to do, some are just for the FD, and some will be a joint effort. I'm committed to getting a lot done over the next three months so that when the baby comes I won't feel like there are tons of jobs left unfinished that may never get done.

• Empty and clean/reorganize all drawers in kitchen
• Organize laundry room: including pulling out everything and replacing the floor, clearing off and organizing shelves, re-purposing plastic storage drawers
  
• Transform 2nd room from spare bedroom/office to baby's room - definitely the biggest job!
  
• Replace flooring in baby's room
• Purge and condense scrapbooking supplies
• Empty desk and sort through what needs to be kept and what needs to go
  
• Find a new home for filing cabinet
• Organize books on bookshelf into books to keep out, books to pack away, books to give away
• Possibly find new home for bookshelf
• Organize top shelf of both of our closets
• Clean out and organize junk drawer in FD's dresser, and drawers of our bedside tables
• Go on a short and sweet "babymoon" together - already done! Maybe we'll get to sneak in another one.
  
• Transform shelves in armoire to a "closet" for baby's room
• Build baby's change table
• Stock freezer with pre-made meals so we can survive the first few weeks postpartum without starving to death
  
• Make a baby wrap using Jen's instructions
  
• Get armoire and change table painted (we were going to do this ourselves but we got the hook ups for some free professional painting)
  
• Pick strawberries and blueberries (freeze and preserve some)
  
• Do some canning: bbq onions, salsa, jam, diced tomatoes, pickled beets, dill pickles, red pepper relish

What do you think? Can we get it all done?

Ready ... set ... GO!

What Weekends Were Made For

This weekend, I rediscovered what weekends are made for.

Rest, relaxation and rejuvenation.

On Friday night, the FD and I puttered around the house, doing some gardening and some work in the man cave (well - I didn't really venture into working in the man cave, but you know what I mean). We finished the night off enjoying our first batch of homemade ice cream on the back deck with our landlords.

On Saturday, the dude was going to help my bro and SIL move so I got up before he left to make cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting for breakfast, ate one with him and then crawled back into bed for an hour or so.

When I got up, I puttered around the house and did some cleaning (okay - I know that doesn't really fit in with the R&R&R theme, but when you have the house to yourself and a Saturday with no concrete plans, cleaning can actually seem restful). I made myself a good lunch and while I was eating, got a call from my lady C-Biscuit to make plans for the afternoon. She headed over, we went for a big long (sweaty) walk and then wandered over to her in-laws place where we got more exercise floated around in the pool on giant inflatable lounge chairs for two hours.

When the dude got back to town he swung by to pick me up, jumped in for a quick swim and we headed home to finish the house cleaning. He did some more "work" in the man cave (I say "work" because I'm never really sure what he does in there - the man cave deserves a post of it's own) until C -Biscuit and Bigg Burd came over for a campfire where we chatted the night away.

Our Sunday was spent fellowshiping with our church family, followed by a homemade pizza lunch. While I cleaned that up, the dude went out to wash and wax my car and I joined him and vacuumed and cleaned the interior of the car.

Then, we headed over to my aunt and uncles to spend another afternoon by the pool. Seriously, I could spend my whole summer doing that. The dude out lasted most of the kids in the pool, playing the colour game, marco polo, and some diving board high jumping while I sat on the side and visited with my Aunt Shelley.

We came home, had a snack and the dude is now taking a nap while I catch up on some things on the computer (including writing this post which will be scheduled Monday morning). Tonight will consist of leftovers for supper and a long walk once it cools down a bit.

Having a relaxing, yet still productive weekend like this really helps me enter the week feeling refreshed, focused and ready to go!

The View From Here #2

Since I posted last week, the BFF, the dude and I have finished planting the rest of the veggies in the garden and we're now eagerly awaiting the harvest. Lettuce and swiss chard should be popping up and ready to go pretty soon.

The thing that amazes me most about growing a garden is how quickly the progress takes place. When we left for the weekend last weekend, our potato plants were quite small. When we got back Monday afternoon, our jaws dropped as just how huge they had gotten. I can literally see changes in the growth on a daily basis.

On Wednesday morning, I was outside looking around and I saw that 3 or 4 tiny bean plants were starting to sprout. When I went out Thursday afternoon to take some pictures, the entire row of beans was up and had grown a good inch! Amazing!

Strawberries

Onions

Peppers


Butternut Squash

Cucumber

Zucchini
Acorn SquashOops - looks like I didn't get any photos of the tomatoes or Okra.

When I posted last week, Jessica asked me how we keep critters away from our garden and prevent them from nibbling on our plants. I told her that we have never had trouble with having rabbits or other animals eat our plants and we always assumed it was because Nika kept all the critters away. Well, I shouldn't have spoken so soon because the next day, we went out to find a lot of our pepper and tomato plants had been chewed away!

We were quite surprised to find that a rabbit had been able to make its way that close to the garden without getting chased away by Nika, but it looks like it did. We're going to give these plants another week or so to see if they can bounce back and if not, we'll have to replace them and think about ways to keep the rabbits out.

As you can see from the photos, we desperately need to do some weeding out there. If the weather is nice, I plan to get out and take care of that on Saturday. The problem is that I don't like to weed until the plants are a bit bigger because I'm scared of accidentally pulling out veggies. Last year while I was weeding, I got a little carried away and accidentally dug up an entire row of carrots. The dude was not impressed. Oops. So, I guess I will just weed around the bigger plants and leave the rows that still have seedlings waiting to pop up until a little later when it becomes more obvious what are weeds and what are plants.

The other thing that has taken place around our little "farm" this week is that the Dude has spent a few hours working on the chicken coop and making it a little more, um, presentable. I don't have a great photo to show you how incredibly white trash horrible the coop was before, but this one gives you some idea.

And now it looks like this ...

Much better, don't you think?

Nika and Mr. Quacklewayne have had a few showdowns over the past week because the Dude usually let's the birds roam free while he's out and about working back there. The duck is certainly not afraid of Nika but it's possible that she might be somewhat afraid of him. I am going to try to catch one of their interactions on video to share with you. It's a hoot (or, um, a quack)!

Space Repurposing

A few weeks ago, I had a sudden burst of energy which resulted in a lot of spring cleaning around the house. If this is what they refer to as nesting, I sure hope there's a lot more where that came from! One of the tasks I tackled was to clear out one area of organizational space that has jut not been used to it's fullest potential to this point and get it ready to be re-purposed. If you were around here way back when when I featured the House a Home challenge, you may remember that one of my favorite pieces in my home is the deacon's bench that my grandfather built for us as a wedding gift.

To say that this piece of storage/organizational space was not being used to it's fullest potential is a huge understatement. When I decided to open it up and do something about it ... this is what I found.

Yes, that's right. The bench was entirely full, to the brim, with bags. Big bags, little bags, plastic bags, paper bags. Bags, bags, bags. Gee, I guess I really need to stop making fun of my grandmother for the insane collection of grocery bags that was found hidden in the drop ceiling when we moved her out of her house (shh, no one tell Grandma I said that). I guess I'm just as bad!

For a family that uses reusable bags for grocery shopping and whenever else possible, there is definitely no need to have an entire bench full of plastic bags. So, I unloaded it all and was left with this...

A giant pile of bags. And an empty bench.

I decided to bunch up a few to keep for the times when I really do need a plastic bag. Only, this time, I promised myself I would keep this collection under control and store it hanging on a shelf in the laundry room. So, I packed up all the bags and had one large pile to go out to the garbage** and one small pile to keep.

Now, I am left with the task of deciding how to re-purpose this space. It seems to me like the perfect place to store hats, gloves, scarves and mitts for the winter. I know as the baby grows up and as (hopefully) more babies enter our lives, we'll soon have a giant collection of these items, but for now, we don't have that many of those things - and we also have a great space for them in the entryway "closet".

Right now, I have begun using the bench as a temporary location for the few baby items that I have started collecting. These were all stashed on the top shelf of my closet, but let's face it - that's another space that needs an overhaul - so I thought this would be a great place. Now they are all together and ready to be moved as soon as we get the spare room/office transformed into the baby's room.

When that time comes, and the bench finds itself empty again, I will need to come up with another use for it - something more useful and productive than an old bag holder. I know it would be a perfect place for extra pillows and blankets but I don't need that because I've got a blanket box in the living room and my hope chest in our room. What about a makeshift toy box for when the baby comes? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

And don't you worry - I have a feeling this will be the first of many many space re-purposing posts as I attempt to transform this wee apartment into a home ready for baby.

**After receiving two comments scolding me for throwing these bags away, I thought I should add a little snippet here to clarify - I didn't put them in the trash trash. They are in the garage in the blue bin (recycling bin) ready to be taken out on garbage day because we have road side recycle pick up! Don't anyone worry - we recycle like crazy around here :) I just refer to everything that goes out to the road as garbage, even though it's sorted into recyclables and non-recyclables .... but thanks girls for keeping me accountable for doing my part :)

Friday's Bullet List

Here are some random tidbits that I want to share with you on this fine, sunny Friday morning...

• Pregnancy hormones and country music do not mix. On my way to school the other day, Alan Jackson's song "Remember When" came on the radio. Now, let me admit, this song can get to me at the best of times. But, folks, I was a blubbering fool! When he sang the line "Remember when old ones died and new were born, And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged" I nearly had to pull over! Seriously folks, not cool.
  

• We have absolutely no plans for this weekend. This, my friends, is perfection and something that has not happened in a long, long time.

• To answer a few of your questions about the laundry detergent post - I haven't really had any major stains to deal with since I started using it, so I cannot really speak to how well it would do. As Taryn mentioned in her reply in the comment section, she still pre-treats stains, just as she would with regular detergent. Washing soda is not hard to find. It should be available in the cleaning section at any store. I shred the soap with a fine cheese grater. I will definitely be investing in a cheese grater that is for this purpose and this purpose alone. It is kind of hard to get the soap residue off the grater. I do not like soap flavored cheese.

• I haven't been able to get into Idol this season. I think because the contestants are, um, not so good. But, I did tune in for the last 15 minutes last night just to see who was getting sent home. Am I the only one who felt super super bad for Haeley during her goodbye song? Seriously ... "The Climb" ... could there be a worse song to have to sing right after you got kicked off of American Idol? I think contestants should avoid those types of songs just for the sheer fact of how hideous it will be if they get kicked off and have to sing it. Evan was laughing at her while I was nearly in tears and wanted to wrap her up in my arms and tell her it would be okay.
  

• Remember in my post yesterday how I told you I have been having some crazy dreams? They just don't stop. Last night I dreamed that I was in my high school auditorium with MckMama's husband during a piano recital. MckMama was playing a song she wrote for her unborn baby and when she was done they announced that I would now be playing a song I composed for my unborn baby. Please note: I have not played the piano in over a decade. MckMama's hubby had to help me waddle onto the stage (because I was very pregnant and also very nervous), where I sat at the piano and played the 'song I had composed', which sounded to me an awful lot like Hot Cross Buns. Then, I got up from the piano, gave birth to my baby on the stage, stood up, took a bow and walked off the stage??? This is the second dream I have had about giving birth in a very strange location. However, neither of these dreams were quite as whacked up as the one where my baby became an alien inside of me and transferred some unknown disease to me causing me to be quarantined to solitary confinement lest I pass the disease to other pregnant women. I'm wondering what it is about pregnancy that makes my dreams so crazy. Or, does it have anything to do with pregnancy at all? Does anyone remember the hippos flying on celery dream?

The weather is beautiful here. I hope it's beautiful where you are also. I am planning on getting outside for a big walk later today and tomorrow and Sunday as well! My fingers are crossed that spring has really sprung! Happy Friday my sweet friends!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

A long, long time ago I started making homemade fabric softener. I am still using this, although I don't use it as fabric softener - I use it as dryer sheets, by dipping a rag into it, wringing it out and tossing it in the dryer with each load. Ever since I made that, I had planned on making homemade laundry detergent when I ran out of the store bought stuff that I had. I had all the supplies on hand to make it, but I didn't need to start until a few weeks ago because first my mom bought a high efficiency set and gave me a few containers of detergent that she couldn't use and then my aunt did the same. I ended up with about a year's worth of free laundry detergent, which was great. Thanks Mom and Shelley!

A few months ago, though, I came to the end of this supply so I decided it would be a great time to try making my own. I put together a small batch, so I could see how I liked it. I made enough to last about a month and was quite pleased with the results, so this time, I made four times as much, so that it will last me quite a bit longer in between making batches. It is so cheap and easy to make. The only tedious part is grating the soup. But, I just do it while watching TV (or better yet, ask the FD to do it for me) and it's no problem at all!

It cost me between $10-15 to buy all the ingredients (a large box of borax, a large box of washing soda, and a bulk package of Ivory soap) and this will give me enough to make at least 5 batches of detergent (based on 2 bars of ivory per batch, 10 bars in the package). At that point, I will still have lots of borax and washing soda left but I will need to restock on bar soap.

What you will need:

Homemade Laundry Detergent - from Tereasa and Taryn
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
4 cups finely shredded gentle soap - I use Ivory (One shredded bar equals approx. two cups)

Mix all ingredients together in a large air tight container and store in your laundry room.

I use two tablespoons of the mixture per large load and one tablespoon for a small load.

February Goal Review and March Goals

Welcome, March! Please bring Spring with you. Thank you.

February was a big month here in our household! Now it's time to go back and see how I did with my goals amidst the excitement of telling all our loved ones that we're on our way to becoming parents.

1. School goals: Mark my student's first assignment in a timely fashion (i.e. within one week). Mark their presentations within 24 hours of seeing them. Complete analysis and begin writing discussion chapter. Mark midterms. Wow, busy month!

First assignment has been marked, recorded and handing back. Presentations are marked and results given. My analysis is complete and a draft of my discussion chapter will be e-mailed to my advisor this afternoon. Midterms were marked over reading week (last week). I will record their marks and give them back to the Prof. to hand back to students later this week.

2. Travel to Ohio to stand up in our dear friend's wedding. And do some other super fun exciting stuff while we're there. ;) ....you'll have to wait and see what we've got planned.

We sure did! Check out this post to see a recap on the wedding weekend which also included A SUPER FANTASTICAL BLOGGY MEET UP WITH SHAINA AND JENNY!

3. Get back on track with menu planning. And not only planning, but menu plan following. January has been weird. And crazy. And my menu plan following and organized grocery shopping has suffered as a result.

I have done pretty good with this this month. I haven't been posting my menu plans as I normally do but I have been making them and trying to stick with them. The reason I got off track in January was because in the early weeks of my pregnancy, cooking was the absolute least appealing activity. That, combined with the tired factor, and I was not in the mood to whip up any amazing meals. I have gotten back into the swing of meal planning, organized shopping and cooking, although our meals have been more subdued than normal.

4. Spend a weekend with Little H while his parents go on vacation.

We had a great time!

5. Continue to exercise at least 3 times per week (usually more).
Hmm ... well ... ugh. Okay, so major fail. The weather has been my excuse. I like to be outside. Snowy weather does not bode well for that. So, therefore, my exercising has suffered. I will get back on track in March!

6. Complete bathroom renovation (I will be posting more about this soon).
Done, done, done. Although this really should not have been on my goal list as I did basically nothing, except watch. The Fabulous Dude did an amazing job with it! Check it out here.

7. BEGIN WATCHING SEASON 6 OF LOST! WOOT WOOT!

I have been watching each episode with my friend, T. She moved last Friday, though, so starting tomorrow, the dude and I will be watching at home. I am so excited that we seem to finally be getting some answers ... kind of?

8. Organize our bedroom closets and dresser drawers.

Wow. The last time I thought about this goal was probably on February 1st when I wrote it. I definitely did not do this. Except I did clean out and rearrange E's tshirt drawer. At this point, I think I will probably wait to do the complete overhaul until when I need to revamp my wardrobe and swap out my regular clothes for maternity wear.

What's up For March:

1. School goals: Finalize discussion chapter, begin conclusion chapter, mark 3 presentations, mark student's second assignment, complete and finalize thesis reference page (for someone as organized as I normally am - I have done a horrible job keeping my reference page up to date as I have worked my way through writing the chapters of my thesis. This is going to be a messy, messy job.)

2. Finish the book of Acts and begin the book of Romans through the Text Project to stay up to date with my through the new testament in a year goal.

3. Welcome a new niece or nephew into our lives ... any day now!

4. Spend a weekend with my mom, sister, SIL, and many girlfriends from church being uplifted at the Beth Moore conference.

5. Begin preparations and planning for our 2010 garden.

What have you got going on in the month of March?

The Bathroom Redo: Before and After

You may remember way way way back when, I posted about our bathroom. I did not like our bathroom. I bought some accessories hoping to spruce up our bathroom. It kind of worked, but didn't change the fact that we had a yellow speckled counter top, mismatched walls and a mint green sink.

The FD has been trying to convince me since we moved in here over three years ago to agree to redoing the bathroom. I always talked him out of it, saying that we wouldn't be staying here that long anyway, so we could just deal with it. Read - I am cheap and did not want to spend money on it.

Well, three something years later, and with no immediate plans to buy a house, we're still here and our bathroom was still hideous in need of improvement. The FD finally convinced me to propose some changes to our landlords and lay out a plan regarding what we'd like to do and what we would be willing to pay for, and what we would ask them to cover. Well, guess what? They agree to the plan and they were gracious enough to offer to pay for the entire thing, plus some extras that we hadn't included in the original plan!

So, a few weeks ago, the dude got to work on renovating the room. It was a crazy few weeks and the house was turned upside down, but now, I am so happy with it. Let me tell you, it is amazing to be married to such a handyman. I found myself in awe so many times at how he worked ... I just cannot understand how one can know how to do all of that stuff. I would seriously be lost.

As of yesterday afternoon, the renovation is 100% completely done so I thought it would be a great time to share some photos.

Unfortunately, the shape and size of the room makes it quite difficult for photos, but I did my best. As you can see, we chose our materials based on the bathroom accessories we already had so that we wouldn't have to buy all new stuff. And, at first, I wasn't sure I loved the way the shower curtain looked against the new floor, but now that all the decorations are back and the hooks/towel bars are hung, I think I like it. Of course, I will probably be on the look out for some new and cute accessories but for now, I think it's just fine the way it is.

So, without further adieu, our bathroom renovation: before, during and after.

Before


During


After


So, whaddya think?