>>I AM HAPPIEST WHEN I'M HOME

I finally made it home from my week long training in Albuquerque.

I never want to do that again.

I think this was my hardest time being away from home.  I hated leaving Curtis and Millie behind for that long.  And the 2 days of driving to get there and the 2 days of driving to get home totally sent me over the edge.

New Mexico itself was fun (despite being homesick) and I did enjoy hanging out with some fun work folks, but boy does it feel good to be home!

When I arrived home, Curtis had flowers waiting for me and Millie had a new trick to show me.  She can now sit and shake on command.  It was a wonderful welcome home from both of them!

We're still working on getting down the stairs with Millie....but we'll get there eventually.  While she is still little, I will continue to enjoy scooping her up in my arms and carrying her down the stairs.


It is so wonderful being home with my sweetums...and with Millie (even though she doubled in size while I was gone)....and sleeping in my own bed last night was pretty darn peachy too.

Awww, home....thanks for being awesome!

>>BATHROOM ART

I've been wanting a little something on our bare bathroom walls for some time now, so today I decided to get crafty and make some art to hang up.

And by crafty...I mean I cut up some scrapbook paper and put it in a frame.

So simple, yet it adds a little something fun for the bathrooms.

overnighter

Curtis and I took an impromptu overnighter this last weekend.  It was only for one night, but oh boy was it just what I needed!  I think every now and again a quick trip away from home is essential...and that's coming from the biggest homebody on the planet.
 
I could hardly wait to leave town, but when we returned home from our getaway, I think the first thing I said was, "aww, it feels good to be home."

And that my friends, it why I find these little getaways so important.

They help me to appreciate home...wherever that may be.

a kitchen story

Once upon a time lived a very sad kitchen.  She was often described as being very drab....dull....and ugly.  Sometimes people would yell insulting things at the kitchen like, "go back to the 70's where you belong!" She was very unhappy.

One day some nice amazing good looking people came to the kitchen's rescue.  They couldn't stand to see the poor kitchen in that condition and knew they had to help.  They gave her a good cleaning . . . sanded and polished her right up . . . gave her some color to her otherwise dull and dark exterior. 

The kitchen looked in the mirror for the first time and squealed with delight!  She was no longer drab and lifeless.  She was bright and cheery and looked like she belonged in this decade.

And she lived happily ever after.

The end.

my favorite transformations so far

THE KITCHEN:

This wall was covered with wood paneling. We pulled the paneling off to find the drywall covered with hard, thick glue. We spend days scraping, sanding, and filling in cracks to get the wall smooth and ready for paint.

It was worth it. The wall looks great.

Then we moved on to the adjacent wall. It too was covered with paneling and had a big board nailed in place that was covering a hole for the swamp cooler.

We removed the paneling to find rotten drywall covered in hard thick glue and a big hole in the house.

We removed all the drywall and replaced it with new. We then covered the drywall with bead-board.

We rewarded ourselves with a new kitchen table. We haven't had a table since we moved to Thermop back in August.


THE LIVING ROOM:

Our living room was covered with paneling. It was everywhere and it was quite overwhelming. I think I asked Curtis at least once a week since we moved into the house if we could paint the paneling.

He finally gave in. I LOVE our new living room. It is so bright and cheery. I love it. What a difference the paint made to this room!!


Next on the docket . . . bathrooms, roof, yard work.

Anyone wanna help roof our house? We'll give you lots of ice water and even feed you dinner. Pretty good bargain if you ask me.

our never-ending projects

Have any of you ever helped your husband put up drywall but you struggled to hold your end up and then your husband got mad at you?


Me neither.


We are up to our ears in house projects...most lately...drywall. I hate drywall projects. They are one of the messiest of projects. The dust . . . oh the dust. And not to mention, those drywall boards are heavy...not that I can't hold my end up or anything...cause I totally can.

Here is a peak at our most recent project. It is what I call our intended-couple-hour-project-turned-into-a-full-weekend-thing-and-still-isn't-done-project.


This is one of those projects (ugly wood paneling plus rotten dry-wall plus a big hole right through the house) that leaves us scratching our heads and asking ourselves, "what now?"

We may or may not have a clue what we are doing.


This brings back memories of our first home in Utah. The day we closed on our house, we were hit by a giant drop of water falling from our living room ceiling. Before we knew it, we were up on the roof pulling off shingles. After an entire month of pulling off old shingles, putting down new boards, new flashing and one-by-one hammering on new shingles, we finally had a new roof...a long process that had us again scratching our heads many times and asking ourselves, "what now?"

The joys of home-ownership. I love it. I truly do.

paint, paint and more paint

We spent the weekend painting (again) . . .

Our bedroom before:

Curtis used the existing nails in the walls to hold his belts. He wanted me to leave the nails there...sorry dear. Looks like we need to find another place for your belts.


Our bedroom now:


I ordered some fun pictures yesterday to put on the walls (pictures we have taken ourselves). We'll throw those up on the wall and our bedroom is good to go.


And now to celebrate...

. . . it's going to be a good day.

see ya later pink family room

It took a while to come up with a color for our basement family room. I went back and forth a lot and at one point Curtis and I agreed on a color, but then the next day we didn't. Thank you thank you for those who gave us advice on paint colors. I am excited about the Restoration Hardware Silver Sage that several of you mentioned. I decided I want to save that color for the upstairs living room (after we conquer the paneling).


To remind you of our family room before in all of its pink glory:

And here it is now in its new City Escape color:

And here is our Social Situation accent wall (colors these days).

It took us a couple of hours to warm up to the new colors, but now we love 'em. It totally changes the feel of the room. It's so much more bright and happy.

There is now no more pink anywhere in our house. Yay!

the family room

Here is our downstairs family room how it is today...in all its pink glory.


I am getting anxious to paint it....maybe even this weekend.

We are having a hard time choosing paint colors. We (I) want to do something fun. We are being more reserved with our colors upstairs, so downstairs, I want to do something a little more bold...but what? Right now I am liking blues...oranges...and yellows. Not combined...we will just do one color...unless we do an accent wall. See, I just don't know.


What colors have you guys used that you have either loved or hated? Any suggestions?

before and after

We started the new year off with a bang by getting our hardwood floors refinished. Wow, what a difference!! I LOVE how they turned out.

before:

after:

(maybe one day the wood-paneling will come down, but for now...we'll just call it cozy)


H.A.P.P.Y. B.I.R.T.H.D.A.Y. G.R.A.N.D.M.A

>>PROGRESS

We are making some progress on our house. We painted the kitchen this weekend and got our new appliances installed.

As per my grandma's request, the before and after...

Here is our pink kitchen before:

priming:

And here is our kitchen now: (it's a light creamy color)

I polished the cabinets too, but I didn't get a before picture. They look so much better. It's amazing what a little lemon oil can do.

I'm excited to work on the rest of our house. Next up...the pink bathroom.

>>SNEAK PEEK

who doesn't love yellow?

>>THE HOUSE HUNT

House hunting is . . .

fun

exciting

overwhelming

stressful

frustrating

exhausting

time-consuming

and, did I say stressful?

I'm not complaining though. Really, I'm just stating the facts.

I am happy to be in a position where buying a house is even possible. It is overwhelming and frustrating and even confusing at times...but it is also fun and exciting.



We have found some potential homes, but the narrowing down and coming to a final decision is TOUGH. We have to ask ourselves A LOT of questions and figure out what is most important to us in a home.

Do we buy a more expensive house that requires no work (but lacks character)??

or

Do we buy a cheap fix-er-upper that requires quite a bit of work (but in the end will be a great house)??

It's tough.

Guess what is causing us the most frustration? A garage. You've seen our current garage, right? You've seen the bikes and the scooters, right? It is pretty apparent that a garage is a necessity, at least for us. This plays an important part in our decision and it also limits us somewhat. You know, not every home for sale (at least in our price range) has a garage. Boo.

I think we are getting closer though and hopefully will be finalizing our decision soon. I'll keep you posted.

changes:

Changes are in the making. Our house is full of boxes and we're busy making piles, lots of piles ... piles of:

things to pack
things to give away
not sure what to do with
Curtis stuff
Jen stuff
junk
etc

Yep, we're preparing to move.

Move where, you ask?

T H E R M O P O L I S, W Y O M I N G

Just the name of the town is fun. Ther-mop-o-lis. Curtis was fortunate enough to receive a great job offer with a firm there. We are excited and are looking forward to this new adventure.

Here are a few facts about the place we will soon call home:

It's home to the world's largest mineral hot spring
Has a population of about 3200
It's home to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center featuring a life-sized T-Rex skeleton
The Big Horn River flows right through town
It's home to the Old West Wax Museum
And my personal favorite, taken directly from the Town of Thermopolis website, "Thermopolis offers the romance, charm and ambiance of the old west." Any town that is described as being romantic and/or charming is the perfect town for me.

It's a beautiful town and we are excited to make it our new home!






We still have a couple of months before the big move, but we have a lot to get done and I know the time will go by fast. We will do our best to enjoy Laramie to the fullest before we have to say goodbye.