Making Progress

We started this morning at 8:00. We finished *almost* this evening at 9:00. About a quarter of the living room (including the bay window) has yet to be completed, but we're so close. And tired. We are so close and so tired. Here are some pictures of the living room phase
Before:

Before: (stay tuned for the fireplace makeover next)

Getting closer...

I over budgeted a little for the floors, so we had some extra to buy a rug for the living room. Trevor likes the one I picked...and he is so tired from all his hard work!

Well friends, I am about to fall asleep as I type. Tomorrow comes early with church worship department rehearsal at 8:20. Hopefully we'll get a chance to work on finishing things up, but since Trev worked so hard today, I'm not going to press my luck. Whatever strength he can muster for tomorrow will be fine with me.

Needing Advice

You may remember my recent battle with the cosmetic aisle and the makeup meltdown that occurred shortly thereafter. Hoping to avoid another such mishap, I'm soliciting advice from all of you, my (3) loyal readers :) I'm in the market for a good sunless tanning lotion. Nothing too heavily scented, and definitely heavy on the moisturizing power...any suggestions? I am currently using Jergen's Natural Glow, with which I am moderately satisfied. I'd like to spend some time in the tanning bed and get good and dark, but alas, I hear that's terrible for my skin and will leave me looking like the witch in Snow White by the time I'm 30. I'm sure my years as a lifeguard at the Yuma pool didn't help much either. Speaking of the Yuma pool - Bean, do you remember all of our goggled underwater shenanigans? I'm CRACKING up right now as I think of it...but I should save it for another post...

Self-tanner suggestions anyone?

Still working

Trevor had to do lots of calculating and cutting...here he is laying the underlay


Connecting to the dining room...


Our friend Jamin came over to help. I stayed out of the way on Monday and let the boys work.


The [almost] finished hallway...


Hopefully I can get the shoe molding done this weekend to finish the hallway completely.



I cannot wait for this project to be done. It makes such a difference in our little house, and we are LOVING the results! Living room this weekend...pictures to come...

Progress

Entryway phase I is complete. Hardwood is harder to rip up than I anticipated. Trevor told me it would be, but I'm not sure I fully believed him. We got it though. Here are some before pictures and some of the entryway floor as we get ready to begin laying the new stuff down.

Floors TODAY!

Today we begin our biggest DIY home improvement project to date: ripping up all the carpet downstairs and replacing it with this:


Gotta get to it...I'll post pictures as we go, and hopefully by Monday night - a final product!!

I Notice Things

Just some random thoughts from this morning. And it's not even noon. *sigh*

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So you know when you’re at work and someone says: “Before I bother someone important, I think I’ll ask you.” Awesome.

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I really like confetti. I like to let it fall through my fingers. I often make spiral bound books here at work and think the little rectangular hole punch leftovers would make perfect confetti. Thus, I often ask myself why I don’t save such punches in a shoe box and use them at birthdays and in presents. And then I remember: confetti is only fun for the half-second it spills out of an envelope or floats in the air. After that it’s just irritating.

Lovely

I love driving through the Tennessee countryside. It is officially beautiful here. Granted, in Winter everything looks like a tangled mess of sticks, but Spring, Summer, and Fall are simply lovely.

Trevor is working the TNU Alumni Golf Tournament this weekend at Henry Horton State Park, about an hour south of Nashville. He headed down last night to set up and will be there through Friday. Since I’m pretty much a chicken and didn’t feel like staying the night by myself, I drove down yesterday evening to stay with him. If nothing more, it was worth the trip simply for the drive. As the light streaked in oranges and yellows across the sky, I looked out over the lush, green landscape and thanked the Lord for His creation, and for giving me time away from everyday life to bask in its beauty. I know now why people don’t mind commuting an hour back into Nashville for work. I got to see it all again on my way in this morning.

I guess I’ve always pictured myself living where we do now, right in the middle of everything…but after my little getaway, I think country living might be something worth considering. Then again, maybe it’s just nice to take time away to visit…
Here are some pictures (not that I took) to give you an idea of the landscape we enjoy here in TN.

Tribe Pride

My mom has tribe pride. And a little YouTube fame to go along with it. This is her singing the anthem of Yuma Middle School - trying to motivate her kids to sing along. Not sure she had any takers...

You're welcome, mom. <3

for future reference

Browsing the Urban Outfitters website last week, I found somethings that piqued my interest. I'm posting them below as a reminder to myself:




close up:

I.love.Saturdays

Today was a good day.
We slept in 'till almost nine.
I made whole grain waffles while listening to A Fine Frenzy


Finished cleaning the kitchen in time to enjoy my favorite cooking show: Everyday Food
Listened to a thunderstorm while I got ready for a late lunch at the Frist with Trevor.
After lunch a trip to the newly opened Urban Outfitters where Trevor picked up this little gem for his new office: I'm making him return it if anyone in the office seems even slightly offended by it's ahem...porcelain perch. Did I mention that the paperclips go in the bowl and when you pick him up, they cling to his magnetic behind? Classy. But funny...
After a quick drive through downtown to look at pretty buildings, we headed to the store, grabbed some chocolate, coffee and tea, and headed home to give second chance to a movie we both hated the first time around.


Not much better this time. Maybe we appreciated it more for its artistic merit, but I don't think we need to watch it again. So Trev whipped up a little soup and grilled cheese while I napped. Now we're on to a little Super Mario Brothers 3 action on the Wii...Look out, T, you are officially going down!
I.love.Saturdays!

It's not what you might think

I'm wearing a sort of "peasant" type top today - you've seen it...the empire waist white dress shirt I usually wear with my grey vest... "Hmmm...empire waist?" you ask yourself. And yes, dear reader, you have guessed correctly: Everyone wonders if I'm pregnant. Three today, to be exact. One at lunch said she just loves it when I wear this blouse because she's so excited to see me pregnant someday and just now two women rushed over to ask when I'm announcing...

AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA

These Ladies are funny. I can’t hold it against them. I know it's just because they love me and want to be excited with me...and I love them all too much to be mad or assume they think I'm fat. In fact, it feels pretty good to be cared about so much by my coworkers and friends.

Just wait ‘till I show up tomorrow wearing spandex from head to toe. :\

And just in case you’re still wondering: we’re NOT expecting. I promise, you'll know when we are.


case in point by 6:15 (above)

My mom

Here are some pictures of my mom from her college yearbook. I see alot of myself in her. What do you think?


Mom and Dad ran track together in high school. He's the one in front with the amazing beard.

Her smile feels like home.

I LOVE MY MOM!!

Be still, Cody

The following clip is one that we could watch over and over...never mind the fact that he smacks a helpless 3-legged dog with a newspaper...

It's from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, a silly artsy film about an oceanographer (Bill Murray) who takes one last voyage in order to avenge his friend who was eaten in front of him by the rare and possibly non-existent jaguar shark. We saw it once when it first came out, but appreciated it much more the second time around. Warning, there is some brief and unnecessary nudity (female) and quite a bit of language...why do they have to include that? So the movie may not be for everyone. This scene follows one where the ship is overtaken by pirates and Captain Zissou fights them off single handedly and takes back his ship. As the pirates speed away, an insult hurling Zissou notices the three-legged dog and yells to the pirates that they are so stupid, they even forgot to take their dog. Captain Zissou then goes before his wealthy, successful, pompous rival oceanographer (Jeff Goldblum) to ask for assistance to continue the voyage. Apparently, he decides to adopt the 3-legged pirate dog as his own. The dog begins to whine while they discuss.

Begin scene:

It's probably funnier in the context of the movie as a whole...

Menu Monday

In typical hurried fashion, I am assembling my menu this week based on our available groceries and funds for said groceries. :) HA! Due to a little overage in the grocery budget last week, I'm attempting to use up some pantry and freezer items, as well as some leftovers. Now that Trevor is working again, it probably doesn't matter that much if we go a teensy bit over budget. That being said, it's so much more gratifying to have $$ left in the envelope when the month comes to a close. Plus, less $$ on other items means more $$ for fruit and we are LOVING our fruit this spring!

Here's what the kitchen festivities will look like at our house this week:
Monday: PB&J, apple slices, and strawberries..mmm!
Tuesday: Shredded pork tacos
Wednesday: crock pot Tortilla soup
Thursday: whole wheat pasta bake with fresh basil
Friday: leftover pork tacos
Saturday: Waffles, fruit, turkey bacon, eggs for brunch; pizza on the grill for dinner
Sunday: VBS worker lunch at church; leftover soup/tacos/pasta (whatever I didn't dominate for lunches) for dinner

So there you have it. Not too exciting, but not all that boring either. I think it's going to be a great week!

Overkill? Maybe?

Here's the deal. The other day Jame-Jame and I were driving down a quaint country road down here in Tennessee. All of a sudden we started to smell a familiar yet disturbing smell. All of us know the smell, most of us try to ignore the smell and none of us like the smell. That's right. It's skunk. Ever since we moved to the South I feel like I get to experience this smell more and more. This last experience with this skunkiness caused me to question God's creation.

Being a skunk is probably harder than I think. Porcupines have sharp spines, certain octopi can actually change color and despite being big enough to step on all other land creatures, elephants have huge tusks. So I can understand skunks feeling a little shafted when it comes to the self defense.

On the other hand, really? Does it need to be that potent? Does the smell need to travel for three miles in every direction? Does it really need to last for a solid week? Apparently skunks have two glands in their anus that produce a mixture of sulfur containing the chemicals methyl and butyl thiols. Couldn't something like that be just as effective in a 100 ft. radius or maybe even just a 50 or 30 ft. radius?

I know this subject matter is completely random but I really am starting to question the intensity of the skunks self defense mechanism. I will also always wonder why the aroma of a skunks stink glands has to smell like starbucks coffee. I promise it does, just a little.