House Photos #1

HEY LOOK….I’m overcoming a little more perfectionist-isms every day!

We got these two rooms detailed enough for after photos today, so I thought I’d share some before and afters. I LOVE before and afters. =)

First up: The old family room turned master bedroom suite:

More pictures of the other side of the new master bedroom and bathroom:

Then there is the original living room:

To the new and improved:


And remember that hallway I posted earlier…there it is again. This is the view from a little farther back. =)

And of course, to be continued…we ran out of energy hanging things today, so the finishing décor isn’t done on those other rooms down there. =) But it will come…=)

And a very special thank you to Aunt C. She gets credited for at least 75% of our décor, thanks to her always giving us first dibs on her yard sale stuff! =) She has the best yard sale stuff ever! =)

Anyway, that’s it for tonight…laterz.

Junk Funk

I hereby declare a war on the junk funk in which this silly box of junk drawer mess from our last house has left me. I will destroy it. Destroy it all. And I have 2 hours to do it. I can do this. I can do this. I can…

So help me, if I didn’t know there were things in here I needed, I would chuck the whole box in the trash and forget about it.

But no….I must destroy it by….

ORGANIZING IT. :-/

 

 

UPDATE: 1 hour, 40 minutes later:

Junk Funk: DEFEATED!

Well, mostly. There is still one small container of “Tiny or unknown junk” that is bugging me…it’s the things I wasn’t sure if it would be safe to throw out or not….lol. But it’s in one container all nicely labeled. I can live with that.

Also, FYI, this is a nice “after” of the closet in the bedroom that is currently utilized as office/storage. Unfortunately, I don’t have a before picture of the closet, because it didn’t occur to me to take closet pictures when I walked through with my camera. I can tell you that the paint job in here made it look 110% better though. We just used leftover paint from each room to paint it’s closet instead of buying more paint. =)

I wonder if I could get all the school supply boxes unpacked and organized into this closet really quick, too….HUMMMMMMMM…..

Rewind…

Back to Christmas…before it turns into NEXT Christmas…

A few pictures:

Christmas Morning:

Christmas Afternoon:

And last, but certainly not least: Uncle R’s birthday:

KC’s mom decided Uncle R’s birthday this year should be celebrated in style disguise:

So she wrapped up all these little gag gifts for him. She almost couldn’t stop laughing long enough to explain the purpose of each “gift.” LOL. It was funny to watch! LOL

And he was an extremely good sport about it, too. LOL!

Spicy Chicken Chili

I haven’t made this yet, but KC really liked it from a church dinner, so I asked for the recipe and thought I’d put it here so I won’t lose it when I get ready to try it out. I’ll have to figure out a way to shrink it, or else I’ll have lots to freeze for future meals…lol!

Ingredients:
1 lb pack of Great Northern Beans (dried)
1 lb pack of Red Beans (dried)
1 lb pack of Navy Beans (dried)
8 Chicken Thighs
2 Chicken Breasts
5 medium potatoes
2 large red onions
1/2 package baby carrots (sliced)
4 celery stalks
1 bell pepper
Hot Pepper (optional depending on desired heat)
Hot Sauce (optional depending on desired heat)
6 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Put all beans in crockpot and cook until about 3/4 way done. Season with salt, pepper, & garlic.

Put chicken thighs & breasts in separate pot and season with salt, pepper, cumin, and 3 of the cloves of garlic.

When chicken is done, remove from broth, debone & chunk chicken to add later.

Use 1/2 – 3/4 of broth to cook vegetables.

Take broth and veg mix, add chicken and beans. Mix all together. Add remainder of spices and hot sauce if desired.

Let simmer approximately 1 hour to mix flavors. Add additional broth or bean juice to achieve desired consistency.

Serves 20-25

Overcoming Perfectionist Tendencies

Sooooooo….in an effort to get over some of these horrific perfectionist leanings of mine, here’s a before/after shot in which the “after” is not perfect.

Not TOO shabby, huh? So…this is a sampling of all that white trim I was talking about in previous posts. All those doors are painted, and all those frames are painted, too. I have a couple doors left, but they’re not in these pictures. LOL. Also, the hall light is still not changed out, the doorbell monstrosity hasn’t been updated, there’s no pictures on the walls yet, and the hardwoods have not been refinished yet, but that will probably be awhile. Still…perfection tendencies aside, it’s still a pretty impressive improvement in my opinion. After all, there was horrid wallpaper, UGH-ly carpet, and no doors at all in the “before” picture…LOL.

In case I haven’t said so before now…I absolutely ADORE our little housey.

I’ll have more to show later, when I get ALL my perfectionism under control. Baby steps, y’all. =)

Wrapping It Up

Well, I updated the ol blog for a happy new year. I flipped through my digi scrap stuff and picked things I liked, then I uploaded the new header….and realized it kinda matches our Christmas card this year. ROFL…obviously I’m really into black and white and red at this moment. Hahaha.

So it’s the end of another year. As always, I can’t believe another year is gone. It seems like we just started 2013 and now it’s time to write in a new date.

I’m actually quite proud of me…despite all the upheaval and transitions this year, not to mention spending all my spare time on so many things from house to school to church, etc., I’ve actually got next year’s planner all ready to go. And now I’m wrapping up the blog décor for another year. Plus, all the Christmas décor is down and I have an empty slate for bringing out everyday decorations…and I still have ONE day left of 2013. I’m SO proud.

Also on wrapping things up, while we’re not quite there yet, we’re getting VERY close to seeing some “after” pictures of several rooms in our house. I can’t wait to get those posted. Ya’ll have NO idea!

I LOVE finishing things. Maybe my project for 2014 should be getting out ALL my unfinished craft projects and finishing them, then selling the ones I don’t need anymore…lol. Seeing as how our new (smaller) house doesn’t have a space for a craft room (and I’ve already experienced the trauma of trying to work on crafts in our basement…did I tell you about that?), it’s probably way past time for me to take a stern look at my craft supplies and just ditch a large portion of it.

Huh. Something to think about. =)

Merry Christmas

Here’s a really poor quality (and slightly crooked) picture of a portion of our Christmas card this year. I took it with my phone, which explains all of the above. LOL. But Merry Christmas to all. =) Hope everyone had a beautiful, peaceful holiday. =) We sure did.

If you didn’t get our card this year, here’s a blog-edited version of it:

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello and warmest holiday greetings from our family. We hope this note finds you and your families happy and well. Every year it seems that fewer and fewer folks take the time to connect or be together (outside of weddings and funerals). Although we know that Jesus may or may not have been born on December 25th, we can celebrate His birth, life, death, and salvation every day of the year. This is just a good time to stop and send some greetings and an update or two.

Our MUNCHKIN is in fourth grade this year, and K-MAN is in second. They are both reading like champs now, from our second grade Magic Tree House fan, to our fourth grade Warriors (among many others) enthusiast. Neither of them enjoys the homework, but they love their teachers and classes at school.

We sold our house on SOME STREET in July. Unfortunately, we were not able to find another house to purchase before our closing date, but God worked it out for us to find a temporary rental house for the interim between permanent housing. The housing market in OUR TOWN seemed to experience a boom this year, which is great if you’re selling, but made it difficult when the houses we wanted were being sold before we could get in an offer.

We were very grateful to finally find a house in September. It needed a lot of work, and frankly, it still needs quite a bit, but we were able to get a lot finished before moving in on October 31st. It’s kept us very busy in the last few months (hence the lateness of this annual card and update), but we’re finally feeling semi-settled again and looking forward to staying in this one for a good while.

All in all, it just doesn’t seem possible that another year has gone by so quickly. It feels like we blinked and 2013 disappeared. We have had a very busy year, and the old saying rings true: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” We’ve truly been blessed this year, and we hope that you have, too. We’d love to hear back from you, and please stop in anytime you’re in our area.

All our love,
KC, Faith, MUNCHKIN, & K-MAN

And sounds like we’re ready to head off to grab some lunch, so this is it for today! Have a WONDERFUL day!

Bowchikkawowow

I am Ex. Hau. Sted. Millions of things running around in my head at this moment, but I wanted to stop and take a few minutes to update the (sorely) neglected blog.

Translated, this is what I do when I’m sitting at my desk trying to make homemade ornaments and I don’t feel like plugging the hot glue gun up for the few spare seconds before time to head to church…so I divert. Also, glitter and I have a love/hate relationship and I’m avoiding her right now, too. I figure divert is a MUCH better option for just before church than say hot glue guns and glitter.

And since I haven’t “diverted” to the blog in a while….like over a month (HOW HAS IT BEEN THAT LONG?) I thought it might be time.

Today was my last photography 110 class. Photography 115 and 120 start in January, but I’m going to enjoy the time off until then. I finished with a 98-A (yay).

Here’s a few assignments I had to do this semester that I don’t think I’ve shared yet….

Story telling assignment:

Lighting assignment: (diffused lighting and diffused directional lighting)

Depth of Field Assignment:

Composition assignment: (spot: the leaf; line: the stairs)

I really like class (although a couple of the classmates really try my patience—ugh) and even most of the homework isn’t terrible. I feel like I learned a lot this semester. Now when I take a bad picture, I know what I did wrong. LOL.

So in other news, the house is coming along nicely. I have Munchkin’s closet still to paint, and unfortunately, still some white trim that isn’t finished. ARGHHH. White trim makes me REALLY frustrated. Mostly because there is SO stinkin’ much of it that I paint and paint and paint and still don’t get finished. *sigh* The kitchen is functional (all but the microwave, some small trim, and replacing the electrical outlets and lights). Hopefully those things will all be fixed very soon. Also, we’re still looking for furniture for Munchkin’s room and we really need to go ahead and get closet organizers for both kids closets so I can unpack their toys and books. SOON…very soon…I hope.

I should have some before/after shots pretty soon, also. I just keep waiting for perfection…it’s just the kind of person I am. LoL. One day I’ll learn to get over that. Maybe.

Okeydokey…time for church. Later…whoever still reads this. =)

Whoa

Wow, the things I could say tonight…if I had energy to stay awake. This is the first day my computer has been opened in like…over a week, I think.

That is highly unusual, to say the least. I’ve just been a wee bit exhausted (as I am right now) and haven’t had the energy to find my computer and plug it up and open it. I’m not sure where I found the energy tonight, but I figured since it was open, I’d post a quick update.

The update is:

Our three month rental ended.

The house we bought didn’t get finished with renovating. We moved in last week anyway.

This picture is a small sample of life in our house at the moment:

I have no countertops, no finished cabinets to unpack anything into, no wall cabinets. But I only have one dirty utensil from supper. There are small benefits to not having a working kitchen. LOL…great excuse not to cook. Although, three months (going on four) of my kitchen packed in boxes, I’m actually looking forward to cooking again. I hope I remember how! LOL

Painting is my life story these days. Some day in the VERY near future (I hope), I will be back to share before and after photos! =)

There are so many other things also in my head right now but I have no energy to get them out. Goodnight. =)

Unpacking Stinks

I have to say though, it beats living out of boxes for 3 months like we’ve been doing.

And before you think it (or maybe you already have), no, we’re not unpacking boxes yet. Still lots of work to be done before we can move in, but the other kind of unpacking (like at the end of a nice weeklong cruise) is pretty much painful, too. =)

In case you missed that reference, yes, we were on a cruise last week, and it was beautiful. No, I wouldn’t have planned to take a cruise right in the middle of major time-crunched renovations, but we had it booked before our other house even sold. We had no idea when we booked, that the week of the cruise would be smack in the middle of trying to get our new house renovated to move-in ready status.

And we went sans-kids…a very nice mommy/daddy break. A break that was passive-aggressively protested by not doing schoolwork or bringing it home as homework when it didn’t get done at school for an entire week. Kids will be kids.

As far as cruises go, it was awesome. There were a few minor issues I could have done without (like a midnight ER visit right before getting on the ship the next morning, and then needing to drink lots of cranberry and take antibiotics and ibuprofen every few hours all week…yes…I could have TOTALLY skipped that…lol) but on the whole, it was a fantastic time! KC’s cousins met us in Port Canaveral and went on the cruise with us, and we all had a blast hanging out. Laughed SO much…it was great. I shared most of the pics on facebook, but for the few of you who wanted to see them but don’t have facebook, I’ll post some of them here for you. =) Love you, Aunt C! =)

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I spent more time having fun than I did taking pictures…but I still got a few I really liked. =) We went snorkeling off a catamaran in St Thomas, paddle-boarding in Coco Cay, walked around St Maarten a few minutes and then decided to go back to the ship and enjoy having it mostly to ourselves while 80% of the other cruisers were off doing excursions, rock climbed, played ping pong, read a few books, took a few naps….got really spoiled.

REALLY SPOILED.

*sigh* I love cruising.

And then it was like being tossed into a cold shower of reality. Piles of laundry. Homework. School. Housework. Obi had a messed up tail and had to go to the vet for prednisone. I had to go back to the doctor for another round of antibiotics because my little problem was still hanging around. Bills due ASAP. Mail to sort through. ON AND ON…and we can’t forget those renovations still need attention because we are another week closer to the due date. ACKKKK.

No more complaining though. Obi’s tail is perking back up again, and my tail is hopefully going to perk back up again, too. Everything else will (*fingers crossed*) fall into place as we go….

Well, back is hurting and eyes are drooping so I’m headed off to the sack. Night. =)

Reflections

I am caught up on homework. Ahead even. Hallelujah. Life is crazy at the moment and my head is trying to tell me it’s too much crazy by pounding like an axe into a block of wood. Totally an accurate comparison (blockhead=me). LOL. So true. But I could do without the splitting, although truthfully, even with a splitting head, I can’t complain. There are too many people I know personally with much bigger problems than a headache. So it’s all good.

Shot in Camera RAW and Manual mode today in class—two things that always really intimidated me before this class. I’m totally proud of myself. (although by no means am I going to let my head get too big—pride still goes before a fall…lol)

Our new house is progressing nicely (even if it does feel really slow because I just want it done already). The previous owners left us this beautimous old 1920’s player piano (probably because it weighed a few tons, was grossly out of tune, and would have to be restored to working condition again). We let it sit there for a few weeks, I called a couple of piano places to see if it was worth anything (they didn’t seem to think so), but anyway, KC arranged to get it gone and it was picked up today. One more thing off the list. 

Wallpaper removal is another one that is slowly getting done. Here’s an “in progress” shot…the left side has been removed and there’s a section on the right that you can sort of see the old wallpaper. This hallway is now wallpaper-less (both the wall AND floor, lol) and we’re down to one room (a bathroom) that still needs de-wallpapering. Closer than we were but not as close as I’d like to be. I really wanted to work today but my head is not working with me on that. 

When I left today, the crew was pouring concrete around the drain for the tile shower in the master bath. I can’t wait to get after pictures….it is going to look fan-TAS-tic!

I really really need to put this headache aside and go back over and do something small (like pulling staples out of the carpet padding in preparation for carpet removal) just so I can feel like I did something today. But it’s almost time for the hubby to get home from work and then I’ll have to feed the masses and get everybody out the door for church, so I guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.

Moving on…lots to get done.

Have I mentioned that I have a FOURTH grader now? This kiddo gets to go on the overnight fourth grade field trip to the outer banks this year. I say that because one more thing on tomorrow’s to-do list is to go to the parent meeting for the trip planning.

I also have a second grader. I was a horrible, horrible mom this year and didn’t take first day of school pics. I meant to go back and do it on the second day….never happened. *sigh* Guess this year will just be a no-go on that. =( I still might stage it and pretend it was the first day…haha.

Something that really puzzles me though is that the fourth grader has pretty much NO homework, and the second grader has nightly homework that takes at least 30 minutes every night.

And now for a rapid change of subject…I think I broke my once a month record of posting. HA!

And just because I really like pictures right now, I’m going to leave on one. =)