tap, tap...is this thing on?

Is anyone out there? Remember me, that blogger who used to blog nearly every day? Yeah, I'm still alive. Apparently I took a week long hiatus without realizing it. I suppose you could say life is pretty freaking busy right now, huh?

Let's play catch up, shall we?

1. A few weekends ago I got on one of my cleaning kicks and scrubbed our place top to bottom. Because my mother-in-law has mad housekeeping skills [the woman scrubs the inside of her oven all the time, and cleans their coffee pot with vinegar each week!] I sometimes feel inspired. After all, we live right above her display of perfection so it makes our flat seem like a pig sty in comparison.

So I tried to emulate my mother-in-law with her "soapy water and bucket trick" for the floors. I suppose Nate found this amusing and decided to take pictures of me without my consent.


When I noticed him snapping away like the paparazzi, I asked what he was doing. He replied, "Taking pictures of this for your blog." Wow! He's come a long way, folks.

2. Henry got his monthly haircut but something went horridly wrong. Can you notice the difference?

Before:

And After:



He has a rat tail, a worm, a little stump, whatever you want to call it! The horror! His once long and luxurious locks [ahem, maybe they were a little ratty looking?] are gone all because of a wicked matted mess. We are getting used to his new tail but it was quite startling at first. I think he digs it, though.

3. I purchased a dress for the third and final wedding. I went with Ebay and got my first love, Lydia, in black for $120 [originally $250]. No, it's not the greatest deal ever but I love it and decided I needed a fabulous LBD. I think this fits the bill!

4. Fun with the mail:
A. Brigid's album arrived!
B. One of my many dorky PT magazines actually looks quite interesting this time:

5. I had my blood drawn for a health and wellness test at work. The biyatch totally blew my vein as you can see:

As Nate pointed out, this picture did not turn out very well and I waited a few days too long for the true hideousness. So I photoshopped my version of the bruise for you fair readers. This is how it FELT at least:
What, you don't think that looks realistic? Please. At if that isn't dramatic enough, I walked around the hospital with an ice pack on my arm the day of the blood draw. So sue me.

6. On a more serious note, the marathon is less than two weeks away. And I'm FREAKING OUT. Especially because my running partner might be down for the count. Poor Nate hasn't had the best of luck with training, considering that he has to study every night after school and many hours each weekend. His ankle immediately started hurting him after our 22.5 mile run and it really hasn't gotten better. Well, I take that back---it gets much better when he doesn't run for a few days, but as soon as he tries to run again it gets bad. So bad that he told me it feels like his Achilles tendon might rupture.

You don't have to be a medical person to know that would be very bad. It's not worth it, in my opinion, to get seriously injured over a stupid marathon. It's not life and death, we have plenty of running years left in our old and crumbling bodies, and right now Nate's priority is school--not marathoning. Of course Nate is a stubborn Type A like his wife and doesn't like to give up on anything, so he's not totally counting himself out just yet. He will see how it treats him this week and then make a decision. I'm sad to possibly lose him as a running partner---crossing the finish line together has been our goal since we started this training back in May. But running in a full marathon was my idea and I'm still going to do it no matter what.

I cannot believe it's only 11 days away. Barf. I'm scared.

DIY kitchen curtains: project complete!

Mom is napping before her flight back home so I'll catch up on some posts if you don't mind.

Our kitchen curtains are complete! Total price including the curtain rod and fabric=$63. I know you can buy store-bought panels for much cheaper but it's hard to find printed fabrics in the correct colors for our kitchen, so we splurged a bit. Total time spent sewing=2-3 hours? I don't know because I just observed the sewing done by Mom:)

Here is the fabric we chose: I love stripes and the colors are perfect for pulling it all together. We had to make the top 4 inches vertical stripes to add length but I love the result.

Fully closed [not going to happen much]:And pulled to the side [my favorite way]:

I know the orange stripe doesn't perfectly match the walls but that is okay. It's supposed to blend and represent the same family more than being a perfect match. And of course the browns tie in with all of our wood. I like how the fabric is sort of 1970s [which goes with the old/vintage parts of our kitchen] but the stripes are more modern [which is for our updated stainless steel parts of our kitchen]. Am I reading too much into these curtains or what?

Meanwhile, the boys were hard at work on one of the final kitchen projects: installing the new microwave. Please note the light fixture as well---I will explain shortly:

Ta Da!

Here is the REAL light fixture Nate picked himself and spent three hours installing. Apparently the electrical stuff is pretty challenging in an old house. And remember how the previous picture showed a light without the glass cover? That's because Nate accidentally hit the glass during a project and it cracked. There were many cuss words floating around the kitchen at that moment. But luckily the lighting store gave us a replacement shade for free! So all is well in the land of Nate:

I would now like to show you the final before and after shots of the kitchen. Remember, the only thing left to do is the back splash and we might do it sooner than later. We'll see.

1. Right hand wall BEFORE, complete with wooden built in: And right hand wall AFTER without built-in and with our fabulous new microwave. The stove obviously stayed from the original kitchen because it still works and I think my in-laws have purchased enough appliances to last them a lifetime:) Maybe someday we'll replace it but then again, I don't really care:

2. Left-hand wall BEFORE, complete with hideous yellow counter top:
And left-hand wall AFTER with our new fridge, cabinets, counter top, sink, and Nate's under cabinet lighting. He's very proud of this as well:
3. And the front wall BEFORE where the old fridge [now in the basement for storage] and stove used to sit:
And AFTER where we have our little breakfast table. And we even use it! You can kind of see the textured walls in this picture if you look hard enough:

Whew. When I look at the grand scheme of things it's easy to see how hard we've worked on this kitchen.

It was worth it. There, I said it. :) But I'm so happy it's finished. And I don't want to do another one for YEARS.

I never thought this day would come...

...but our kitchen is [basically] finished!!!

Whoo freaking hoo.

Seriously. The appliances are in [still have to buy the microwave but whatev].
The woodwork is finished [still have to apply the quarter round to the baseboards].
And the cupboards are packed full of our stuff. No more make shift kitchen in the dining room. No more stupid cardboard boxes. No more running up and down the stairs to get a glass of milk.

The final list for the kitchen? Puny. I scoff at it:
~microwave
~quarter round to baseboards
~tile back splash [I don't even care about this right now]
~replace window
~curtains!
~start making bad ass meals in our OWN functioning kitchen.

I will post the finalized before and after pictures once the details are complete. But let's just say I'm one happy girl right now.

AND did I mention that my mom is coming for a visit on Friday? She's coming to relax, chat, and work on that headboard. And maybe even kitchen curtains. Things are looking up around here!

Just call me Bob Villa

I'm so handy it's scary. I used a laser level, tape measure, drill, hammer, and a lot of muscle to complete my wall. And nothing has fallen off yet!Yes, that is a lot of pictures. But I tried to remove a few wedding pictures and replace them with engagement pictures, honeymoon pictures, and Henry pictures. So that makes it less obnoxious, right?

My H found it's spot!

Family wedding pictures, plus our typed up vows on digital scrapbooking paper. Probably my favorite part.
So you likey? If not, too bad. I'm not touching the thing anymore. :)

P.S. The kitchen floors have been grouted. And the final box has been broken down and stored away.

And I can't believe we've only been here three weeks. In some ways it feels like forever.

P.P.S. My mother-in-law outdid herself tonight. We had: turkey breast [think Thanksgiving style], mashed potatoes, gravy, Stovetop stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, fresh rolls, and then homemade apple pie. Freaking ridiculous, I tell you.

Hard work and no play...

...makes Julia a dull girl. The Shining anyone? Creepiest.Movie.Ever.

So where have I been lately? Well, the black hole of a kitchen sucked me into it's domain. But I have progress pictures for you, so sit back and get comfy.

I. Project Chai Spice paint in the kitchen:

Before [fridge will be in corner]:After:

Before [stove and microwave go here]:

After:

Before [the door will have it's wood trim reapplied]:

After:

So yeah, painting still sucks. Primer, then two coats of the stuff. I don't think you can tell from the pictures but we made the walls a little textured with joint compound. We tried the "Mediterranean Trowel" style to cover the bumps and cracks. We are still considering a color wash on top of our paint to make it more of a "fresco" look. We'll see how much energy we have. Also, the paint isn't THAT orange in real life....it's more of a muted brownish terracotta. And I love it.

II. Project wall decor:

You see these four GIGANTOR boxes? They are full of my picture frames, wall decor, and shelves. This doesn't include my big framed art. I have a sickness, I tell you.

A. The family room. This is my current project but I have everything laid out for inspiration. I'm going with the "funky haphazard collage" style for this room. All frames are some form of brown or silver. Gotta have themes, people.

This is my inspiration. LOVE this [not sure where I found this picture, sorry!]

I framed our little "H" from PaPaYa and I love how it turned out. It's going in the collage, too.

So this project will likely take me all day. Nate is working today so I'm on my own to figure out the frustrating shelves and sconces....but as God is my witness, I'll figure this out somehow! I usually rely on my detail oriented hubby for hanging objects using levels and measurements. My theory is I can just eyeball everything to save time, but he does not follow this school of thought. We'll see if I can manage:) Pictures to follow.

Also, our big "H" found it's home in our family room. Note my cute painting sweatshirt and pajama pants.

B. Our bedroom:
I finally found our lampshades after much cursing and searching every box in existence. Where were they, you ask? Inside our giant stock pot, of course. Now our end tables are dressed and the bed is ready for it's headboard. Can't wait!

I decided to put our wedding shadow box above my dresser. Please ignore my awesome white lab coat. It doesn't fit with my theme, does it?

C. The guest room:
I like this room to display our college diplomas, marriage license, my PT license and random pictures. The theme here is black frames and of course I laid them out before hanging them.

I had an empty frame and decided to create a little something with scrap paper and scrap lace. I love the result!

So this is how I spent my night:

I apologize in advance to our guests. This shelf is the bane of my existence and is tilted despite my best efforts. If it collapses in the middle of the night we could be in trouble. But at least it looks nice!

Above the desk: Packers clock and calendar, Chicago and Duluth panoramic shots, and our half marathon shadow box. I know I have a lot of stuff hanging in this room but I quite like it.

III. Project kitchen floor:
I can't take credit for this one but the boys were up until 1 a.m. last night slaving away on our floor.

Let's take a moment to commemorate the yellow linoleum from the 50s:

And now? FABULOUS vinyl tile. It looks just like ceramic but it won't crack because it's vinyl. The boys stuck them down last night and today will add the grout. I am in love.

Doesn't it look great?

Henry is not impressed.

So yeah. We've been busy. And the boys are definitely not cutting corners with anything because they spent about five hours just prepping the floors. And it's not completely done yet.

But you guys.....it's almost finished! I even have our dishes unpacked into the cabinets! Just the grout, some finishing touches on the woodwork, possibly some faux finish on the walls, tiling the back splash and then we are done. Once the appliances and our kitchen table are in I just might cry.

In the meantime I'll be hanging a pimp wall collage. And nursing my new injuries including:
~lumbar strain from improper body mechanics
~carpal tunnel from carrying boxes/objects
~broken fingernails from too much manual labor
~scratched cornea from a stray wall chip, sustained while hammering a bitch of a nail into petrified dry wall.

I know, I'm whining now. So I must go. But pictures of my masterpiece will follow!