My version of the rainbow

 

My first quilt.  Also my first sewing project.  Ever.  What have I gotten myself into?

It sure lasted longer than I thought it would…

Here’s a riddle.  What do you get with a fresh out of school robotic husband and a Saturday with nothing interesting to do?

Boy, do I love renovations.  And if you think this is bad, then you surely haven’t seen the rest of the house.

And through this door…

You probably thought this day would never come.  I wasn’t too sure it would come either.  But here we are, seven months after moving into our new house, and I am ready to continue on with the virtual tour.

We already saw the bathroom, which was the room in the most dire need of a remodel when we moved in.  Therefore, being completed first on the list.

The other day I finally buckled down and finished off the office.  This was a difficult room for various reasons.  First, it’s extremely small.  Like a twin bed would take up half the room small.  Second, the paneling.  Oh, the paneling.  I despise it.  I anticipate the day that I no longer have to look at it. 

So, here it is before we moved in.

So, we painted the paneling an off-white, and the trim bright white.  My mother and I made a valance for the window and a curtain for the closet.  I finally got Derek to put up some shelves, and am rather pleased with how they turned out.

Derek’s beloved Fitzgerald print was the inspiration for this room, but it’s mostly an eclectic mix of things.  Some of my dad’s photography is on the shelves and the four elements fiber art next to the door is my mom’s handy work.

There you have it.  It’s an improvement at least.

I’m just glad it wasn’t pink and black

Here I am, staying true to my word.  The first room I am going to show you is the bathroom.  Our itty bitty bathroom.  While I would have loved to do a complete makeover, we didn’t.  Someday we plan to put an addition on this house, and I don’t know just how the layout is going to be yet.  So, we’ve decided not to change some things that may just be totally changed five or ten years from now.  I mean, if this isn’t going to be a bathroom at that time, why would we waste money on something like tile, that will just have to be thrown out when the major remodel comes. Right?  Anyway, here is the bathroom.  It’s not anything fancy, but it’s cute now.

Before:

I didn’t like anything about the bathroom.  It was so dark in there.  The red walls, the glare from the glass shower door, and the dark wood.  I couldn’t stand it.  Neither of us could stand comfortably under the existing showerhead, so it had to go.

After:

We painted the walls an off-white, replaced all those dark fixtures with new white ones, took out the glass door, and it made a world of difference.  We also switched out the showerhead and tub faucet, you just can’t see them in the pictures.  It turned out better than I expected it to.  I am still not a huge fan of the tile, but it works in there. 

None of the other rooms are picture worthy yet, but I will share them as soon as they are.  Hopefully that doesn’t take me all winter….

Hopefully I can keep that promise

I know, I am falling behind.  I’m working on it.

This weekend was really busy.  Now that school is finished, the work that needs to be done to the house is in full force.  Friday night, we actually went and looked at a house, but luckily it wasn’t the one for us.  We are just going to wait until our house sells, and then figure out where we are actually going to live.  Saturday, we attended a graduation for one of Derek’s good friends and then went out to dinner.  Derek and I spent the rest of Saturday night working around the house.  Sunday, a bunch of my family came over and we got most of the painting done around the house.  We also went to Block’s, a favorite nursery of ours, and stocked up on flowers and plants for this spring and summer.  I can’t wait to get to the planting.

I am officially done with classes for a while.  I was planning on taking one this summer, but it isn’t one that is required for the Nursing program.  There is only one class I am able to take before the program that is required.  I may just take both of them in the fall.  This summer seems to get busier each and every time I think about it.  My cousin is getting married in August, which I am standing up in.  My sister-in-law is due with her second child in the middle of July.  She is the one that lives in Florida, so we have to plan a visit down there sometime.  Sometime in June, my mom and I are going down to Florida for a few days to bring my grandparents back.  So, it should be a busy summer.  It’ll be fun!

So, that’s it for now.  I promise to update more than I have been in the last few weeks!

Hobbies

What would we do without them?  They keep us entertained, they inspire us to try new things, and they lead us to bigger and better things throughout our lives. 

I’ve never had many hobbies.  I’ve tried my hands at different things, but nothing really ever stuck.  When I was in high school, it was automotive stuff for me, and I don’t think you can consider that a hobby.  The only thing I can say I know I have always enjoyed is reading.  I won’t ever stop reading.  So, fast forward to today…what are my hobbies?  Well, I suppse school can be considered one, because outside of that, I haven’t got much time for anything else.  But as you’ve heard me say before, and I am sure you will hear all about it again.   Horses are my newfound love.  I never would have thought that would be it, but it is.  I also LOVE gardening, decorating, obviously blogging, cooking and doing things outside with my dogs.  You’ll hear about all those someday.

Anyway, in the past, I’ve tried crocheting (and yes, I AM aware that I am only 25 years old!)  But, it was a little boring for me.  There is still an unfinished afghan in my front closet that I’ve made vows to finish each year for the past three years.  No such luck.  It does have it’s good points though.  When I need new dishcloths, I can just whip one up, or if I want a new scarf, there’s that too.  Also, in the past I tried the whole saltwater fish tank thing, and I managed to kill almost each and every fish I put in that tank.  All but one, which I gave away when I decided it wasn’t for me. 

So, years later, when I met my husband and he wanted to try his hand at a saltwater tank, I gave him all my old equipment. THIS is where he ended up, and he is still going strong.

Albeit, there has been many transitions through the years.  One which involved a ginormous 320 gallon tank and a basement full of water from that monster of a tank.  But, we won’t get into that one now.  Another which involved me being stung on the finger by a baby lionfish, and having no running water at the time.  What are you supposed to do when that happens, suck on it?  I think not, considering it’s POISONOUS.  We won’t get into that one right now, either! 

My husband has been blessed with the quality of finishing anything he puts his mind to.  Why can’t I do that?  So, on top of the beautiful reef tank he keeps up on a daily basis, he also builds beautiful furniture.  We’ve already seen a picture of his entertainment center, but here are a few other pictures of his accomplishments. 

A coffee table for our living room…

A trunk that is supposed to be for our living room, but since the monstrocity of that entertainment center took over, we seem to have run out of room..

So, it currently resides in our bedroom.  Some coasters…

A potting bench that is currently living in our basement (so, please excuse the messy picture, there are bookshelves behind it that I had to cover up), because we found out the hard way it could not be left in the rain.  So until we have a house with some sort of portico to shelter it, we can’t really use it…

And, his stand and canopy for his fish tank.  This one was also made to match the living room, but again, we seem to have a shortage of space in our house the size of a postage stamp.  So, it is keeping the potting bench company in the basement.

There are a couple of things outside, but I wasn’t about to drag my butt outside in 20 degree weather to get a couple of crappy pictures, but I’ll get to them. 

So, there you have it folks.  If you ever need anything, just let us know!  He does wonderful work. 

That’s a glimpse into our world, and how we keep ourselves busy.

Who would’ve thought?

Growing up in the city did not prepare me for the amount of differences there are when you want to live in the country.  I’ve started the great investigation on what we need to know when purchasing property and building our house on said property.  And, my oh my, there are so many things I never would have thought of.  There is electricity to be run, wells to be dug, septic systems to be installed, and so forth.  Luckily, I’ve got a wonderful husband who grew up in the country to explain all these things to me and my citified mind.

There are so many things to consider when just LOOKING for property.  Do we want to pay more, and find land with an existing well, septic system and electricity?  Do we want completely raw land, and do everything ourselves?  If we buy raw land, how much will it cost to run electricity out there?  At this point, I think we just may live like the cavemen did, that’ll save some work for sure!  Or we could become one of those entirely “green” families that doesn’t use gas or electricity, that wouldn’t be so bad.  But I think in that case, everyone would get quite sick of me.  Seeing that I’d be at their houses all the time, houses that have normal families, playing on their computer.  Because, you can take everything away from me, EXCEPT my computer, and my camera, and my coffeemaker, and my hairdryer, and my washing machine, and this is bad…

Isn’t it funny how things have evolved?  These days, certain things are just expected to be able to lead a normal life.  In the city, you just automatically get a water, gas and electricity hookup with your house.  And nobody thinks twice about living without these things.  We really do take so much for granted, just pawning it off as a way of life.  But it really isn’t a way of life, we have just become so spoiled over the centuries, that we don’t think about it.  Well, I’ve decided that we are going to try to build the most energy efficient house possible.  Who knows what it entails, but we are going to do it!

I am not talking about living like a caveman, because, obviously, I would not be able to do that.  I too have become spoiled over the years.  I just mean a few changes here and there.  We will still have a normal house, we won’t be living in the past.  Just incorporate some different things.  For example, use a wood burning stove to heat the house, install solar panels to assist with electricity and water heating, things of that sort.

So, this is my new project.  Figure out what we need to look for when we start looking for property, and what sort of house we are going to build.  Knowing me, everything will be figured out, recorded, priced, and planned before we even begin looking.  Because that’s just what I do, I plan. 

Watching a movie.

So, last night we were watching Ratatouille, and the main menu has these little rats that run across the screen.  Anyway, Kirra got real interested in watching these rats….

I didn’t get the rest of it on camera, but when we asked her where the rats were, she began looking around and behind the entertainment center to find them.  It was so cute, so I had to share.

Since we’re on the subject of movies, I might as well bring up the new entertainment center that D built that provides shelter for all of our movies.  The design has been in the works for quite a few months now, but we are very satisfied with the finished product.

And voila, everything is hidden behind closed doors.  I love it!!  Isn’t it pretty?