jade's house

oh man. i've apologized for this before, and i'll do it again. sorry for being such a bad blogger. i've been reading blogs and keeping up with others, but again not keeping up with my own. but i decided to just dive back in. i've had two people in the last 24 hours ask if i've updated my blog lately. ok - i'm back - here goes.

so, jade's house. have you ever seen that show on HGTV called Sarah's House? it's so good! i'm kind of obsessed with it. well, if you haven't seen it, basically sarah bought a house in the country and totally gutted it. now, we get to see her decorate the whole house, room by room. it's so fun. i LOVE her design ideas. i love the country modern look she is giving this house. and, although her budget is crazy amazing (like $20,000 per room) she still gives practical and cost efficient ideas for everyday people.

well guess what? we bought a house! yep - we bought a house. part of the reason why i haven't been blogging lately. i've kind of been holding out so that i could share house stuff with you. and, i didn't really want to talk too much about the house until it was officially ours. i didn't want to get too excited and then it not go through. anyone out there who gets excited about decorating projects can agree i'm sure. so, we bought a house.

it's a great 1950's brick in a wonderful neighborhood. very close to the neighborhood i grew up in. shaun and i have been watching houses in this part of town and when this one popped up, we couldn't let it go. it's 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. a full finished basement and 2 fireplaces. the upstairs is all hardwood and we have a BIG covered back porch with a swing! this place has great potential. but, it also has original 1950's appliances and hardware. a tiny kitchen. a bathroom with brown (almost mauve) tile, and old doors. but we see the possibilities. we want to stay here a long time and we want to take our time and make this place our own.

so, we have started painting. next we are tearing down the wall the separates the kitchen and dining room. then we are gutting the kitchen. completely. then, well i don't know what will happen then, but we will keep going. for years, i'm sure.

but i am going to update you all when i can. i've taken a before picture of every room and i'm now going to blog about Jade's House. we move in on saturday. i'll start before and after pictures then.

i know this isn't the best picture, but it's the only one i have of the outside right now.

this is our new place. hope you enjoy the journey with us!

blogland slowdown

i've been noticing lately that a lot of the ladies that i follow in blogland have been more and more infrequent with their posts. does it have something to do with the fact that it looks like this outside??

(our front porch and the tulips i finally got planted last september)

i know i've been lacking in my posts. surprisingly (i guess i'm surprised people have noticed), i've had a couple of people ask me why i haven't posted in awhile. i'm still here, don't you worry. i'm just busy.

here's the thing. i sell john deere tractors. that's right. tractors. i know that some of you are saying "huh?", but lately it's true. i work for a company that gives discounts on john deere equipment to people in the equestrian world. now, most of the year my work consists of creating spreadsheets and analyzing reports for our accounting department. every once in awhile i'll make a coupon for a member who is purchasing some equipment. but in the spring, things here explode! every farmer and horse trainer and cowboy and farrier and vet wants to buy a new lawnmower or tractor. and so they need a coupon. and so they come to me. and my coupon creation volume goes from about 10 coupons a week to 100 coupons a week. i'm on my computer making coupons all day. honestly, i don't really have time to do what i'm doing right now.

so, by the end of my work day, i don't want to get back on the computer. i either want to hold my baby, or take a walk outside, or just be with shaun. i'm still reading blogs (when i can). i've been baking and cooking more with some great recipes i've been finding on blogs. i just haven't had the energy to put into my own blog lately.

know that i still love you blog friends (fran). and i will try to do better. besides being tired and wanting to be outside with my family, i have also thought that nothing has seemed blog worthy lately.

we will be working in our backyard soon with building a small landscape wall and planting flowers. maybe i'll blog about that.

or i'm going to try to etch some glass here soon. i saw it on an HGTV show just recently, and then rachel posted a great martha stewart tutorial. maybe i'll blog about that.

or maybe i'll take pictures of my sweet baby next to flowers. i could post those.

who knows. i need to go make coupons....

spring break!

well, sort of. i of course do not get a spring break anymore, but shaun does. so today we are headed to....drum roll please....WESTERN KENUTCKY! yeah! i'm honestly very, very excited! i've blogged about it before. this is where my best friend cami and her family lives. i miss cami so much, and now that we have kids and baby girls that are really close in age, i think i miss her even more. i can't wait to go and relax with them all weekend long. i checked the weather last night for calvert city, ky and then randomly decided to check the weather in destin, fl. it's going to be nicer in calvert than in destin. that's awesome! and weird.

i've also been thinking about the many blessing in my life lately. every tuesday i email with my three best friends about praises and prayer requests. we pray for each other through the week and also give praise and rejoice in each others joy. this week i had so many praises!

1- going to visit cami for a long weekend! i've already talked about that one, so it's the first and short.

2- i have a great job that lets me stay home every monday with my baby. and this week i'm taking tuesday off as well to have an extra day with C, and an extra day with Shaun since he will be out of school all week!

3- we finally made it to church this past sunday! YEAH!! double YEAH! it was so great. we got introduced to the nursery and the facility. i felt really comfortable leaving C in there and she did great! we went to the early 8:30 service b/c that works best with her everyday schedule. as soon as we got in the car to leave C fell asleep, so shaun and i decided to see if we could go to cracker barrel for breakfast. she did great again! she slept almost the whole time and didn't wake up until i was finished eating. she is such an amazing baby! we are truly blessed.

4- date night is BACK! shaun and i keep talking about re-establishing date night on a regular basis, but we haven't been able to nail anything down. well this week my sweet husband coordinated with my mom and set up a bi-weekly schedule for her to come babysit so we could go out. i'm so stoked! when he told me i instantly got a HUGE smile on my face. our first date is next thursday! i can't WAIT!!!!!!!

5- i've lost 8lbs so far since i've started WW. i know that sounds like a silly praise compared to the others, but i'm still excited about it. i'm having a off week right now (not being the best point tracker), but for the most part i've been working really hard and i'm so thankful to see results.

that's it. i hope you get the chance to sit down sometime soon and think of all the things are have to be thankful for. it's so eye opening sometimes and in a world where we hear more bad things than good, and i really value weekly praises from friends.

here are some random pics of C. just cute, so i thought i would share. have a great weekend!

caroline's monogram

it's about time....right?

i finally have this project finished. it's really not hard, i promise. you just have to wait for things to dry and when you have a baby, things always seem to take a little bit longer.

so, here's what you need:

- 12 x 12 wooden scrapbook frame
- letter of your choice
- scrapbook paper of choice
- blue painters tape
- sponge paint brush
- craft paint
- little paint brush
- glue (i used gorilla glue b/c we had it)

i first painted the entire frame white. about 3 coats.

once that dried, i taped off the frame leaving a little stripe around the edge.

then i painted the stripe pink. about 3 coats as well.

before it was completely dry, i pealed off the tape. i saw somewhere that when you are trying to get clean lines on a project like this, you should peal the tape before the tape dries. it gives you cleaner lines.

while i was waiting for the frames to dry, i painted the polka dots on my letters. instead of using the brush side of the paint brush, i used the handle. it gave me a more "dot" look and the dots were a consistent size.

once all the paint is dry, put your scrapbook paper in the frame and be sure to keep and use the cardboard that comes with the frame. its helps in the sturdiness when you add your letter.

line up you letter in the middle and glue. i let them sit and dry over night.

once dry, hang and enjoy!

i think caro likes it. what do you think?

what a weekend!

oh geez! what a weekend! i know it's already wednesday and for many the coming weekend is closer than the past weekend, but i'm still recovering from the latter.

we were a sick house! that's right - the stomach bug. i got a few of the things on my list accomplished, but the sickies put a halt on some.

so, here's a short and sweet recap:

1- i did get the house pretty clean. not as clean as i would have liked, but it doesn't matter now b/c it's a war zone again.

2- i did get baskets for C's toys. i re-arranged some stuff on the bookshelves and it's looks good and is very functional.

3- i did not finish C's monogram project. i was able to work on it some, but this was in between C getting sick and then Shaun and myself getting sick.

4- we did watch UK play as well. again, the games actually fell in between the sickness.

5- we did not get to go to church. and i have to admit, this is the one i'm most upset about. i was so looking forward to getting back into church. but C woke up saturday morning sick and throwing up. we decided that even though she was feeling better by that night, we shouldn't take her to child care and risk exposing other babies. and it's better we didn't b/c then shaun ended up sick sunday night and me monday morning.

so, what is the one thing i did fully accomplish this past weekend? i took care of my baby, then my husband, then myself. and now my wonderful mother who took care of C all day monday and let her spend the night monday night, is now sick and i will be dropping off supplies at her door as needed.

i will say, that my house may not look clean and organized at the moment, but i have lysoled and clorox wiped every surface i could. light switches, door knobs, toilet seats, you name it! i've washed blankets and sheets and pillows. i've boiled paci's and toothbrushes. we better be bug free in our house!

i look forward to these faces again...

a random quick note that i want to throw out there - i've lost 7lbs so far since i started weight watchers 3 weeks ago! i'm pretty pumped and got my first comment today about my pants looking too baggy! i know that sounds stupid, but results and encouragement go a loooong way with me.

i hope everyone is staying healthy!

"weekends, i prefer the weekend"

we have a busy weekend coming up. nothing too special, but it should be fun!

here are some of my goals by tuesday:

1. clean, clean, clean. our house is filthy... tomorrow i plan to dust, sweep, fold, scrub and vacuum everything in sight!

2. buy baskets and organize/re-organize C's toys. michael's is having a 40% off sale for baskets. we have built in book shelves in our living room and the bottom shelves need baskets of toys instead of books and candles. i'm going to have a crawler soon...

3. finish C's initial project for her room. i plan on blogging about this once it's complete. it's cute and easy. i just don't have a lot of time on my hands these days, and i haven't found the right background. (you'll understand soon)

4. watch UK play with friends and family. friends tomorrow afternoon and hopefully family on sunday.

5. go to church. we have only been a couple of times since C was born. we were able to keep her with us in the beginning b/c she just slept all the time. once she was awake more and too loud to stay in the service, it was prime flu/sick baby season. i was too afraid to put her in child care. but this week is the week. she is a healthy 6 month old that has had all her shots. we are going to church!

well, there you have it.

hope you have a fun and productive weekend!

6 months

my baby is 6 months! crazy! i can't believe a 1/2 a year has already gone by since she was born!

dear baby caroline-

you are sitting up with ease these days. you still enjoy laying back and relaxing after a while, but sitting and playing has become one of your new favorite things. i can't believe how quickly you perfected this. you are an exceptionally fast learner. definitely advanced. =)

you also started baby food this month. i wasn't for sure how you would take it because when we tried with rice cereal, you adamantly refused to swallow. but food with flavor has been a lot easier for you. you have tried and loved all the vegetables there are to offer. strangely you are having a harder time with the fruits. everyone always told me fruits would be easy. but not with you. you are a squash and green beans kind of girl.

you're crazy about buddy and he's pretty crazy about you. he loves to lick your face and hands and you are so curious to reach out and pull his hair. he tolerates you perfectly. he's still a little surprised when you pull instead of pet, but i don't think he really minds. he just wants to sniff and lick you. almost every night he comes in your room with daddy and i and joins our nightly routine of playing before bed. i know you all are going to be great pals as the years go on. and i can't wait until you can get out in the back yard and run around with him!

you cut your first tooth this past weekend, but you handled it like a pro. i kept feeling in your mouth, knowing that it would be here any day. all of sudden, there it was. you were a little fussy from time to time, but for the most part you were perfect. there is another one soon to follow, so we are ready to ease any pain you have. i can't believe you are old enough for teeth. i've been excited and scared for teeth to come, but you continue to prove that you are a cook baby. laid back and relaxed.

you love to smile and laugh. you are starting to understand different things that we say and you are recognizing certain objects. you say "ba-ba" a lot, and honestly i think you associate this word with a bottle. you have sounded like you've said "hi" on a couple of occasions and it's so cute and so weird at the same time. you still love to touch daddy's beard and you love to reach for mommy's necklace. you haven't yet reached out for us, but when i put my hands out to pick you up, you put your little hands in mine.

we love you baby girl! happy 6 month birthday!!