Pages

3.21.2016

Wooden Egg Crafting With Millie

A couple of weeks ago we had to make a trip to the big city. What makes the place a big city? It has a Target. That's all. 

Confession: I hadn't been to Target in ummm..5-6 months? We don't get out much. So I conned my husband into making a Target run and I was dreaming about the dollar aisle. 

I'm also in the process of packing for an unknown moving date and it has occurred to me that I do not have much of any Spring or Easter decor. It's a travesty I know. I never really cared, but seeing Millie's excitement of getting outside and playing again has made me an even bigger Spring fan. I stumbled on some wooden craft eggs in the Easter section, probably while hunting for my husband-he'd long ago ditched me. I thought they were the perfect craft and addition to my slim Easter decorations pickins.


We had a quiet Sunday afternoon at home so we got the eggs out. I love crafting with Millie. I love giving her whatever colors fit her fancy. I love letting her have free expression and I proudly display a plethora of her creations.

But these eggs I wanted a little bit of control over. If they were to be out for the next forever I wanted them springy. Mixed orangegreenyellowbluepurplepinkgreen wasn't exactly what I was looking for. So I played control freak and mixed up some pretty pastels. Then I let her at them.


I negotiated two eggs for myself and we worked on a craft together. Which actually doesn't happen very often. Usually I have my project and she has hers. I generally write, cook, do my own craft, or read at the table while she crafts. It's 10 minutes of quiet. Or 5 or 3 if I'm being honest. This project was ours and it was fun!


And actually this working together thing made her work longer. We worked on these eggs for around 30 minutes. 30 whole minutes!


And the mix of colors worked perfectly. I love how they turned out. So cute. Probably one of the best $5 I've ever spent.


See? So much concentration. Momma was holding her egg so Millie needed to as well.

We talked about Spring. The reason for Easter, and why we see fresh, new things this season. They all can be seen as a symbol of our new life in Christ.

She's so cute. After each sentence she would look at me and say, "YEAH!" With her expressive little eyes gleaming.


A Sunday well spent indeed.

Blessings!

3.18.2016

House Update-Little Victories

Hi there! Crawling out from the rock that has been Spring Forward over here. How about you? Think night owl baby staying up to a time Momma considers late. That's saying something. Think Momma laying on the couch singing, "Go to sleep little Millie. Go to sleep little Millie. Go freaking to sleep little Millie. Please?" It didn't work and I don't know why...

Anyway there's a reason I'm here and it's to give an update on the house. The name of the game this week has been little victories. But these little victories have had big payoffs. 

Little Victories have included:
  • Electricians all but done--actually this is a big victory. It's been 9 weeks on and off of them hanging around. Jerrel has learned a lot in the process of seeing the rewiring. 
  • Brick cleaned 
  • Beadboard going up
  • Bedroom walls washed
  • Kitchen hardware cleaning--kinda



The electricians have finally gotten to where we can work without waiting on them. Hooray! Our main focus is the kitchen right now and they said we are good to go so we...GO. Jerrel is dabbling in table saw management, circular saw correction, and jigsaw control. It's going fairly well and we are excited to see clean surfaces of bead board and can't wait to add finishing touches like trim and paint...or maybe that's just me. 


We have cleaned the brick and bought sealer. That's on my list to do next week. 


Measure twice and cut once. Actually its waayyy more than that. 

Then I always get to hear. "It's not straight! Why is nothing straight?!" Almost a 100 year old house dear. The wall isn't straight.

That's why we loved it. Looks straight enough to me. 


Hey look we have two outlets on one wall. Fancy that. I'm happy I'll be able to not fear getting electrocuted and being able to do two things that require electricity at once. 


In other news the wallpaper is all down and those rooms now look scary too. You can see the wood work more now, which is good but the dirty walls aren't exactly the kind of character I was going for. So now I'm cleaning the walls of wallpaper paste and bits of paper. This room is ready for patching and painting. The walls look so much better after a scrub down. 

Whoever's wallpaper paste recipe the previous interior designer used, knew their stuff. That paper wasn't peeling hardly anywhere and left quite the residue behind. 

I tell you what, these plaster walls? They owe me. 


I became weary of washing walls one day and decided to try and get the hardware off the cabinets so I could clear them of the layers of paint. Stripped screws later and I was defeated for the day. I took a picture, patted Jerrel on the back, said good work, and went to find food at my parents. This little hinge was my little victory.

The week has been productive. And we had a little bit of an overwhelming moment when the electricians left and it was all on us now. To get it done. To do it right. To move in. It's hard for me to even see moving in at this point. But I've made a list and I'm plugging away. It's how I cope with too much to do and no time.

It's worked for me before so I know it will work again.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming. 

Name that movie.

Anyway, little victories. That's what's keeping us swimming.

Blessings!

3.03.2016

On Millie Being Two

When writing yearly posts such as birthdays I always like to go back and read the year before. And it doesn't seem possible that a year has passed since we celebrated Millie's birth. The day that rocks my world to this very moment. 

We all know that I like to get all nostalgic but I'm working on savoring this moment. Celebrating with our girl who doesn't quite understand what a birthday means but is excited for things like going to the park with Daddy, having Mac N Cheese, steak, and making S'mores. Watching her delight in the decorations for her birthday party and giggle and tell Chester "NO!" when he nibbles at the baby doll in her arms. 


So much has changed in our Millie girl this past year but the best things are still the same.  Millie is so bright. She is empathetic. She is persistent. She is kind. She is clever. She is funny. She is rambunctious. She is spunky. She is beautiful. And more and more we are seeing that while we call her "baby" she really isn't a baby. She's our baby. But not a baby.

We have conversations with her, though we carry them. We give directions and she follows. We play jokes and have dance parties...girlfriend has got the moves. We give kisses and she wipes them off...or rubs them in. It's her new thing.

I just remembered saying as I held her for the first time "She's ours." and then thinking "I get to take her home." I am so thankful she is ours and I have loved being home, watching her grow, helping her learn, and loving her with every fiber of my being. Almost two has it's challenges. I'm sure two will be the same but different-because that's how every stage of this raising kids thing goes.

So I think I'll go tuck myself in bed now with my baby and let her sleep so she can start climbing the mountain of 2. She needs her rest. She's got S'mores to eat tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Honey Girl. Love you always.

Momma & Daddy

Blessings.

3.02.2016

House Update-Worse Before Better

Right? That's how these things work, correct? Because that's where we are. Take a look. 


This shows the floors after the nasty tiles were taken up. Actually those look better. But the walls. The walls have the linoleum taken down and the house looks...questionable? Like shady deals and hidden secrets happen here. 

But they don't. 


Finally a better picture of the dining room. Sans tile and better-ish but I want to clean so.bad. I want the clutter gone. I just want to fix it! Patience Jessica. Patience.


Cute kittle niche. For a chair? A window seat? A desk? To drink tea? To write? To enjoy my African Violets?

I don't have African Violets...yet.


And the hallway void of yet another mismatched floor covering but revealing a giant terrible, mismatched patch. I have to figure out a solution. Soon. Any suggestions would be helpful. 

I'm thinking of finding a grate to fill the space and add more character. Or trying to feather in a patch...both seem like a pain but something needs to be done.

So lets talk about the kitchen some more. It's first on the agenda. Clearly. 


Ground Up-Floors refinished in a more brown tone--over the years they have yellowed and read more orangey. Bead-board from moulding to ceiling paint in a...color still to be determined. Creamy white? Light green? Light blue? Bright white? I'm working on it. Moulding/door in a color called Whipped Cream. It's a wonderful basic white but yummy color. New Base Cabinetry. All Cabinetry-including pantry in a White/Cream color...again still looking and weeding out paint swatches..I'm just.about.there! Countertops butcher block. Fridge in the corner shown. Farmhouse sink centered under window. Dishwasher to the right.


Brick will be sealed. The area where the built in was will be built up with some old spindles, butcher block will be put on top and I will have about another foot or so of counter space plus a tiny bit of storage-think oven mitts. Stove will go next door.


Pantry will basically stay the same but I'm debating on keeping the cabinet that was hanging here. But after seeing our cabinets I think I might need the extra storage.

It's small but we really think it will be efficient...and pretty. Priorities!

Moving on...


There's a hole in my laundry room floor.


And we have begun de-wallpapering. Thats when the real mess started. 5 layers. Each getting prettier-seriously. I tried to salvage one wall in the bedroom with no luck. It was the last layer and just didn't work. I'm still a little sad. It's a much easier job than we thought it would be which we are thankful for-just time consuming. 


So it's worse than before. And these are good pictures. But we are beginning to see "The House." Not the wallpapers, the nasty curtains, or the bad linoleum. The actual house we bought, the house we could imagine it to be. And thats scary and encouraging all at the same time.

Blessing!