Laundry

I don't know about other moms, but my laundry basket seems to always be full :)

This guy is definitely a challenge at 20 months, but so loving and cuddly that it is hard to lose patience with him for long.  Everyday he is amazing me with the new words I am hearing.  Today he took one of his toy kitchen cups to the counter the Keurig sits on, placed it in front of the machine, said "Keurig", then made the noise like it was brewing coffee.  Love him.  The boy knows his coffee, but won't say his colors if his life depended on it. 

He is the first to remind everyone at dinner to say grace, and is a little cookie monster.  Today he got the box of Nila Wafers out of the pantry and emptied the contents onto my floor.  He knew he had only seconds before I was on scene, so he started shoveling in as many as his little mouth could hold. 

My brother-in-law was the first to appropriately tag him with the nickname "boots", because that is exactly all he wants to wear 24-7.  No boot is safe. 

Boy, can he ever throw a tantrum.  If I won't give him a cookie, he'll flop on the floor and kick and scream.  P never did that, even well into his 2's.  At least he is finally calling Patrick by his name instead of "Na Na", and last week he said his own name for the first time. 

My Tommy - he's a pistol.

Bathroom Remodel

Work has wrapped up in record time on the hall bath shared by the boys and guests.  Anyone getting sick of before/after pictures yet?  Good, because we will probably be doing projects for the next ten years.

Before:  

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After: 

The walls are Hazelnut Cream by Behr and are lighter than what I wold have preferred, but
1. Neutral sells and 2. We already had the can of paint leftover from when we moved in.
Target towels and mirror.  Kids bathroom toys stashed under the vanity.  New light fixtures put up today by Tom (who needed a bar of soap in his mouth by the time he was done with the project). Would never guess this is the kid's bathroom, right? Does it make you want to buy the house?  Now on to some sanding tonight downstairs, then more painting tomorrow. Two days until photograher arrives. 

Four Days

That is how long I have to get my house looking spectacular for the nice lady who will be taking photos of our house for the real estate brochure and website.  The hall bath is nearly done - the door just needs to go back up, a threshold strip nailed down, and the new light sconces wired in.  I accessorized her up today using a shower curtain I have had for years as the basis for the color scheme and a mesmerizing rug  found at Marshalls.    

Tomorrow will be a great day to continue working at home with all the snow we received and the frigid temps.  Tom has been a little under the weather, but otherwise we are all doing pretty okay. 

The End

At least, the end for our basement saga. That's right, the last paint, the last carpet squares, the last rug is in place and I am DONE.  Gone is the scary room that existed when we bought the house, and, all through our own sweat equity (well, and an electrician). 

When we bought the house, it looked like this:  original 70's acoustic ceiling tiles (complete with 30 years of grime sitting above them), 70's dirty, dirty carpet, and old, yellow walls. Tom had actually already started taking up the carpet in these photos.

We started by painting the walls an off-white color and Tom put up new acoustic tiles by keeping the existing metal grid frame (we just spray painted the grid with a coat of fresh white).  We had an electrician get rid of the hanging light and install pot lighting throughout.  The scary window was replaced with a safer glass block one. Tom took out the old brown wood door and installed a fire rated steel door all on his own.  Did I mention how handy he is?

We even tackled under the stairs- there had to be a good use for this space, right?

The worst part for me was ripping the old carpet off the stairs and removing the hundreds of staples that remained before we repainted them and used our carpet squares (just cut in half)  from Home Depot as stair treads ($2/stair instead of the $10 real treads cost).

But after a year of working on the space off and on, this is what we ended up with:

That under the stair unusable space was suddenly the perfect place for all my ribbon and wrapping paper supplies.  Being that I am a bit on the impatient side and couldn't wait for my husband to build me spindles into the back of the stairs, I got adjustable cheap curtain rods from Walmart and wedged them in between the stairs. Not the ideal solution, but it has been working well to hold all the spools.  The second changing table we had now doubles as my wrapping paper and gift bag holder.

My laundry area got a quick makeover with a wire wall bin from TJ Maxx.

What a difference it has made -  I don't dread going down to throw in laundry or to grab something from the second fridge now.  If we were staying, the garage was going to be next on the list.  Celebrating the end of this project tonight!

Overwhelming Blessings

Today I spent about two hours at the new house meeting various people for estimates and measuring for rugs, curtains and furniture layout.  It was a bit overwhelming to start thinking about all the things that will need done after we just spent 2 1/2 years doing most of it to our current house.  Good problems to have, I know, but still daunting. 

For now I will share with you just a few photos.  The first is the view from the back of the new house.  A little creek runs between the trees in the tiny ravine that borders the backside of the property, complete with a tiny waterfall.  I grew up near woods that had a creek about this size, and I would explore there for what seemed like hours.  No doubt the boys will love it.  And get dirty in it. Maybe that explains the six cubby mudroom directly inside the back door...

Original 50's chandelier that hangs in the foyer.  This is absolutely staying.

Teak parquet flooring in the dining room that needs a little TLC to be stunning

The back family/great  room is a wall of windows that overlook the backyard

There you have it- a little glimpse for now.  More projects planned for our current house this weekend including (I hope) the final 2% of our basement project.  Hooray!

Moving- No Pain, No Gain.

Well, the house still isn't listed (we have less than 3 weeks), but we are checking projects off our "to-do" list left and right.  The basement is now 98% completed - just a few carpet squares need to go down to finish off the edges now that the floor in the laundry area has been painted.

Can you see why some paint was needed?

The washer goes against this wall.

First coat of paint on the floor.

The upstairs hall bath that the boys share is also a work in progress.  Tom demolished the original 70's yellow/gray tile floor  over the weekend in preparation for Rebath's visit yesterday.  After one day, we now have a new, non-yellow shower and tub.  Hopefully in the next week I can paint, and the yellow toilet and 80's lighting will be replaced.  We still need someone to re-tile the floor, but  at least the new tile is already purchased and ready to go in the basement.

Word to the wise-when you have a yellow toilet and tub (even the old exhaust fan was yellow): trying to coordinate the room with even louder yellow paint (not us) is not the best decision.

I am tempted to put these lights on ebay to see if they can find a new home.  

After Tom removed most of the floor.

And our new white tub/shower

I warned you there would be less blogging and more working.  I also caught a cold and have had zero energy to do much of anything, so it has been slow going.  Friday I get to go have a peek at the soon-to-be new house, so perhaps a few pictures will make their way onto the blog soon. 

The boys have been healthy and a handful.  Tommy is big enough where he is almost bullying Patrick.  He takes P's cups, snacks, toys, glasses and P just stands there and cries about it.  I am just short of encouraging P to lay one on Tommy to teach him a lesson, but somehow that seems like really bad parenting. 

I will do my best to make a blog appearance again by the end of the weekend.  Over and out.

Our New Year's Tradition

Each year, we head for the hills (Seven Springs Ski Resort) on New Year's Eve.  This year, there was lots of snow, but frigid temps, so we spent more time at the indoor Putt Putt course than sledding.  We did purchase P's ski helmet, and now his ski gear checklist is complete.  We have no expectations that he is actually going to ski this year, but we figured we would try it at least once during our next visit.

At the lodge ice cream parlor

Unsure who was more wiped out.  Taking a break from house organizing was all too short-lived.

P and I celebrating our 7pm New Year's kick-off with a toast.

Now that we are officially in 2013, the pressure is on to get things done.  Remember the basement? Well, the floor has been cleared and scrubbed- ready for the first coat of paint that should go on tomorrow.  I have been sorting, tossing, and storing like a champ.  It is starting to look pretty good around here.  My treat for working my hiney off?  I wanted to watch the first season of Downton Abbey, but there are 160 holds ahead of me for the 3 copies in our library system.  So I ordered it.  Can't wait! 

Happy New Year from our family to yours.