Back to School

Just like everyone else we started back to school the first week of September. What an exciting time. I am very pleased with the teachers both the girls got and think it will be a fun year. Here are a few quick pictures of the first day of school.

My Room is Done!

Wow - it sure has been a while since i posted -but it has been worth it! We finished moving my office/craft room this weekend and I think it turned out quite nice. I need curtains/blinds and some wall decorations (not that I have much wall to decorate - LOL) but it is wonderful. I plan on spending the rest of the day creating in my new space!

Would anyone like to see some pictures? Okay there are quite a few pictures but you will get a good feel for my whole room this way - It just makes me so happy I have to share the whole thing!

We will start just to the right of the doorway (the wall the girls painted) and work our way around. This is my paper and stamp storage. Uh Oh - look there is empty spaces - guess I need to do some more shopping - LOL!

Here is the left side of my desk - this will be my creative center - I can look out the window and reach all my inks, paints, stickles, pearls, tools and some of my embellishments.

This is the right side of my desk (yup another window - I LOVE IT!!!). Here is the home of my Cricut, computer accessories, cutting tools, die cutter etc. The shelf above my scanner is where I keep the special items that my friend Froggy (Dawn) has made for me!

The next two pictures are the shelves on the last wall of my room. These shelves hold everything else - LOL. There is so much storage it is wonderful. I want to get a few more decorative baskets and items for these shelves but it is a great start! Oh did I mention yet that Eric has made all the furniture in my office (desk, bench and shelving units)? Isn't he wonderful! He even has plans for more units. I love that he is so supportive of my addiction!

Remodel Update

Well ........

We didn't finish by Sunday the 13th when the girls came home - big surprise. But we have been chipping away on it each night and each weekend. The floor took over 28 hours to lay down - there were a lot of tricky areas but it looks really nice (all 4 rooms are 1 continuous floor). Eric finished the shelves in my new pantry yesterday and we got the door stained so it is going in tonight. He is going to make the bar tonight also - then major clean-up for the party on Saturday.

Here are a few more pictures (I will do before and after when I can) of what has been happening. I am so ready to finish this and stop living in CHAOS!! I will be so glad to be putting things away - things are still pretty messy around here bet will start getting better today now that I have places to start putting things.

Dining Room Before (will be my office very very soon)!

Dining Room (Office Now) After (there is still trim work to be done but it already looks so much better):



The girls got to help paint - they loved it!


Kitchen with very little counter top space before:

Love the new counter top space (will love it even more when i can clear it of - lol):

Day 2 - Really only day 2???

Well we are a good day behind where we wanted to be at this point - the electrical work yesterday afternoon took longer then anticipated. But we are still plugging away (no pun intended). We have made some progress - the drywall is now all up (still working on the mudding though - yuck), the old laminate is up, all the staples are out, the carpet on the backside of the fireplace (the new dining room) is up (and the staples from the pad are out - man I am never going to get away from staples -lol), the kitchen demolition is complete. Wow it sounds like a lot more then it looks like. Our new goal for tomorrow is to finish the mudding, get the new cabinets in, cut and install the new counter tops, make a new bar, run new electrical for the kitchen, install the NEW SINK (whoo hoo added bonus for me - that wasn't part of the original plan) and rip the carpet out of the front side of the fireplace. Hmmm seeing it in writing make it sound so much more ambitious that it did when we were coming up with the plan. Wish us good luck!

Now for the fun part - pictures of the progress!

Here is my HATED counter top from my bar!! Do you notice it is on the floor and no longer on the bar? WHOO HOO!!! That was the most satisfying thing for me - I wouldn't even let Eric help me take it off - he just laughed at me.

One last look at the configuration of the old kitchen - i will not miss it! I am so looking forward to having counter space - and not having to make cookies on the table in the dining room!

OH MY GOODNESS - WHAT WERE WE THINKING!!! Such a mess - it got to be pretty overwhelming looking at all this mess. We were wondering if we were in over our heads. Can we really get this done before the girls come home on Sunday? We will have to wait and see.
Okay we took some time and cleaned up the mess - we really needed too before we could rearrange the cabinets. It looks so much more manageable. And boy does the kitchen look so much better - I already have so much more counter space and we haven't even added the new cabinets! It also looks so much more open without that big cabinet sitting on my precious little counter space next to the sink. Eric had to bust it up with the sledge hammer to get it out - so it will not be going back!Look at my wonderful new pantry!! Lighted and everything! The door leaning against the wall will go in as soon as the mudding is done and we have it all painted. I can't wait! It is all going to look so different.

Well we went from being completely overwhelmed this afternoon to thinking this is going to be doable by tonight. There is still a TON of work to do and I'm still not sure it will be finished by the time the girls come home - but we are making progress!

The Work Begins!!

Well after our Mini-Vacation - Eric and I left the girls with the Grandparents and came back home to do some summer remodeling! I am finally getting my new floors and part of my new kitchen (have been waiting for 2 years now)! We don't have enough to get the new fridge or the new cabinets that I want but we are getting the floors, a pantry (FINALLY!) and new counter tops! We are also moving the dinning room to the back of the fireplace and making the old dining room into my craft room (then freeing up more space downstairs for a game area in the family room). I know - flooring, counter tops, framing, drywall, and electrical - a pretty big undertaking for 5 days - but hey we have always admitted to being crazy!!

How are we on our timeline? Okay I admit - we are already behind and I should be upstairs helping not updating my blog - but I have the lovely job of pulling out thousands and thousands of staples from the old flooring and my hands needed a break.

Here are some photos:

Here is Eric working on getting the old floor in the kitchen and dining room up - this was a mess - it was all stapled to the sub floor and we had to pry it out bit by bit (and of course the staples stayed in the sub floor so we get to pull them all out one by one).

Here is the old dining room with its original floor:

Here is what it looks like now - much better already!:

Here is the start of the pantry - we are closing off the doorway from the kitchen to the old dining room then Eric is adding the pantry where the old cabinet used to stand:

Here is a before photo of my kitchen - I can't wait to tear out that UGLY BAR!! I have hated the counter top since day one! That will be my the Highlight of the demo for me!!

I will have more updates tomorrow and more pictures!

Mackinac Island

We took a Mini-Vacation this year to Mackinac Island. What a fun and busy day! The girls got to go across the bridge for the first time ever, they were suitably impressed. Then the ferry boat ride to the island - we sat on the top deck and the girls loved it!

While on the island we visited the Fort - it was fun to learn about how people lived back in the 1800's. The climb to the Fort was long but well worth it! Check out these views!

We also visited one of the butterfly houses and of course I had to take some pictures of the butterflies! They were beautiful! These are a couple of the shots that don't need any zooming or adjustment for the light - amazing!

We even biked around the island (all 8.2 miles - next time we go remind me NOT to wear a skirt!). Eric rented us tandem bikes (he believes these were the same bikes he rented on his 6th grade field trip - yes they were that old!) - next time we are bringing our own bikes! But we made it!

Bailey's Birthday

Bailey is now officially one year older! She got to open presents from Leah first thing in the morning (after breakfast that is)! Then after dinner she got to open the rest of her presents from Mom and Dad! We were going to go Mini-Golfing but a big Tunderstorm came through (large hail and everything) so we ended up just staying home - but she still had a fun day!