If I could spend all day organizing....I would.

Some items I ordered from Amazon came in yesterday.  So I spent the first half hour of being home putting them to good use.  I bought two of these separators (Better Houseware Large Organizer White).

I kind of wish I had bought more.  Because they are awesome.  I would just have to figure out where to put them.  Sometimes I love my cabinets, and other times, well, I loathe them.  We have the built-in slide out shelves and sometimes that prevents us from using that space appropriately.  But I will figure it out.  Maybe I'll look into a smaller (shorter) organizer to see if I can use it that way.  But here is what I did with two of the cabinets. (I only took pictures of one because I got so excited and forget on the first one.)

As you can see, or not see (that's the point) it was very crowded and not organized.  Well, besides the fact that it's all baking-type stuff.  I found out that I have 3 pie pans I have NEVER used.  I credit this to the fact that my loving husband bought me them, mistaking them for cake pans.  I prefer glass pie pans so I've never used them.  I'm thinking maybe I can save them for kid crafts or something.

So this is the "back".  All cake pans go in the back (except the bundt because well, it didn't fit nicely).  Then the mixer bowls sit in front and can easily be pulled out.

I have two mixing bowls because I got tired of having to quickly wash one if I wanted to make icing or another type of cookie.  I still think I need more.  I definitely need more paddles and whisk-type mixers.

So that is what I did.  I did other things, like start more baby laundry, starting putting clothes into the newly divided dresser for the baby, and put all cleaning supplies in a shoe organizer on the laundry room door.  But those didn't get pictures.  But the baby stuff will.  When I can do a really nice long post on how awesome it is.  Because it is.  Awesome. 

"Any closet is a walk-in if you try hard enough"

(Quote by Steve Connelly)

So this thing growing inside of me seems to make everyone want to nest.  And Hubbs got the lovely idea to redo the closet.  Now here I was just thinking that I would add a few cute boxes and get rid of some old clothes.  His idea involved a complete remodel.  Which is totally fine, we had discussed this previously.  But his mindset was that if we don't do it now, we won't do it when baby comes. 

So he ordered all of the stuff (we went with Martha) (from Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZc1vx/h_d2/Navigation?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#/?c=1&1z0yja9=1z0yja9) in case you want to see the stuff.  And it arrived.  In boxes.  Tons and tons of boxes.  I'm not kidding, there were like 30 boxes in our living room.  Let me remind you that we are having the baby shower at our house, next weekend.  So he had two weeks tops to get this thing done.

This is what the closet used to look like (I can't find a real photo):

It was the really crappy wire bracket shelving and it was going to fall down.  We had too much weight on it and the bars were bowing.

So first we moved all the clothes out and put them in other closets.  This took some time.  Hubbs did most of the work though because he is awesome like that.

Then he ripped everything out.  This was the only photo I got of that process.

Then he patched and sanded the holes from the old brackets.  He's so handy.

Then he painted.  That picture is on the tablet so, you are going to have to wait.  But we just painted it white.  Then he installed.  And installed.  And installed.  And finished!  YAY!

This is Hubbs side.

This is my side.  I have more to the left but couldn't get the whole wall.

A whole system for shoes.  Just shoes.  Can you believe it?

And this is the whole closet.  Sort of.  You miss out on the shoe side but that's ok.  We have already filled it with clothes.  Hubbs finished all of his side but it's taking me quite a bit longer due to the fact that I'm large and have a ton of clothes.  And it's not as simple as work shirts, t-shirts, sweaters.  As it is for some people.  So once it is completely full and I am satisfied with how it turned out, I'll take another set of photos. 

Isn't it purrrty?



Why did Tigger look in the toilet....?

To find Pooh, silly... And that is just what we did.  Find Pooh, not look in the toilet.  We decided on having some Winnie the Pooh themed decor in the nursery (is it weird that I think it's weird to say nursery and just want to say the baby's room?).  But we didn't just want Pooh, we wanted Pooh having fun.  And lucky for us, we found really nice wall decals that are easy to remove down the road when Miss Marley is over Pooh.

Hubbs did an excellent job of putting up most of the wall decals while I was at my second (and last) prenatal yoga class (I'll expand on that later).

So here we have Tigger swinging Pooh from a tree.

Then in the middle we have a Christopher Robin quote.

Then we have Piglet waving from the other tree.

And that is the whole wall.  As you may be able to see, the crib is not full of a mattress or sheets, but clothes needing to be washed any my baby scrapbook.  We think the wall turned out quite lovely.


On Sunday, I went to a friend's baby shower.  She is having a little baby boy in October.  And I decided to make her (well, him) a baby blanket to go along with his gift.  So Hubbs and I went off to Joann's and picked out some fabric.  I was lucky to find some that semi matched their jungle animals theme and a blue (or turquoise if you ask the old lady in Joann who told Hubbs that her whole house is that color) that matched perfectly. 

So first I laid the animal one down with the print facing OUT.  Then laid the blue on top.  Then cut to match, more or less.  Then I did some fancy measuring and marking and cut strips into each side.  I then tied to the two fabrics together.  Easy peasy.  And this is what turned out:

And here is a not so good shot of the basket...

Rose are red, violets are blue, come Christmas time, a baby is due!

That's what the fortune said in the fortune cookies we made.  There were several other available "fortunes":  A new piglet will arrive soon (hubs mother called them piglets as kids); Another Max is on the way (MIL and FIL call all new babies Max since no one shares the name before the birth; and We are one step closer to a grandkid baseball team (this will be 8th grandkid for MIL and FIL).  We had planned the whole thing out, made Korean beef tacos, had some other Chinese-esque dishes, and invited the family to MIL's house for dinner.  We arrive with crock pot and fortune cookies, I easily fib about where they came from (courtesy of work) and we settle in for the night.

I start out the convo with my MIL talking about another surprise I had (this was purposefully done to get her excited and off the baby trail).  So we chat about that for awhile while waiting for the SIL and StepBIL to arrive with families in tow.

Well MIL gets a call from SIL and they are headed to the hospital due to baby #2 having some seizures.  Turns out it's not a big deal and everyone ends up being fine...

StepBil arrives with two oldest boys and we hang out and chat until dinner is ready.  As we are sitting down I have to convince nephew #2 that we don't open the fortune cookies until after dinner, that they are a dessert.  He is still trying to open it and I'm panicking a little, but finally convince him the fortune won't come true unless he waits.

We chat and eat and eat and chat.  Then finally MIL picks up her fortune cookie.  Hubs and I glance at each other and my heart starts beating faster.  Below is the convo that followed:

MIL:  (reading fortune out loud) A new piglet will arrive soon.  What?  What a stupid fortune?
FIL:  Is there something you'd like to tell us MIL?
StepBIL:  (opens his fortune cookie)  We are one step closer to a grandkid baseball team.
MIL:  What a stupid fortune!  They always give us stupid fortunes.
StepBIL: (who we think has picked up on the idea)  I guess we're all pregnant.
I open my fortune and get the Roses are red one.  MIL is still not getting it so I hand her mine.
MIL:  Roses are red, violets are blue, come Christmas time, a baby is due.  Is this true?  Is this real?

Hubs and I nod yes and of course everyone is super excited and we get hugs and hugs.  Which for me is not that great since I'm still experiencing the dreaded all day sickness.  I don't feel amazing and I don't like to be touched.  We eventually bid our farewells and head home.  All in all a good night.

=====
Jump ahead to 18 weeks later.  Yes, at this point I am 18 weeks along and am still having to take drugs to keep from upchucking.  I have also started gaining weight, which I am of course stressing about.  Because, well that is what I do.  It happens.  The stress.  I can't control it.

But we have started "nesting" as it is called.  Hubs painted the nursery.

 Four walls have the grey and the window wall remained white.  We think it looks pretty snazzy.  All the furniture that we ordered is white.  And once we find out the sex, we will use accents (curtains, storage boxes, etc.).  We have also decided on using some Winnie the Pooh accents (stickers and a quote) on the wall.  I think the quote will look the best since it's black.  It is also a great quote.

All in all things are going OK.  Although, there will be more posts later about what people say to pregnant women....                                           

I'll always come back to you...



So I have finally taken pictures of the TV's new home. On the WALL!  I still get nervous thinking about it, but will have to trust that hubs did it right.

  



I also have a picture of our new dinning room table.  Which hubs bought without a final agreement from me, so I was giving him a hard time and letting him sweat about whether I liked the table or not.  It's a gorgeous table, but it's always fun to give him a hard time.



Also, instead of digging up the hard clay in our backyard for a garden, hubs found a nice way to have a self-watering garden without a lot of the hard work.  So he built his box:

And then he lined it with a liner and tunnels.  (As you can tell I listened very intently when he was describing it).

And now it has plants in it (sorry no picture yet).  But it has tomatoes, basil, peppers (bell and japs), some rosemary, and then flowers to attract the bees.  We also have parsley and cilantro in another planter.  It is pretty nice.  And we'll have fresh basil and tomatoes, just add mozzarella for deliciousness.

Where have you been my long lost friend...?

So, we finished the remodel so I took some time off of blogging.  Well, really I got super busy at work and had NO free time to do some blogging.  So I thought I would catch up.  We did some minor work on the house which included:  hanging our huge (and very heavy) TV on the wall (above the fire place, it looks super nice and fancy...but now we have a HUGE blank wall but that's ok since we have tons and tons of things that need to be framed/hung up), redid the exercise room (yes, we are fancy...it has a treadmill, weight bench, weights, ab ball, and the super fun and squishy gym flooring.  Hubs also mounted a TV for while working out.), and we rearranged our office.  This is the one I am most excited about.  We got a new desk that we can both work at and got some new bookcases.  And a new office chair.  It's leather and nice.  I will provide some pictures later since well, I've been so busy doing this stuff I don't have any right now. 

I also (super proud I'm a girl moment) put together my very own sewing table.  Hubs got it for me for Christmas and it is super nice.  This is it (from Walmart):

 

That is the picture from walmart.  Also, here is my new chair (from Target):



And my new bookcase:



I'm in love with my new office.  It also is nice since I occasionally get to work from home.  Go me.  More later (including photos!).

It started and ended with a shower....

Well, well, well.  The time has come my friends for me to hang up, put away, and just plain stop remodeling for a bit.  Are you quitting you ask?  Why not, my dear blog followers, we are done.  Yes, you heard me correctly, we are done!  Everything is done.  The floor, the walls, the toilet, the tub, and of course, the piece de resistance, the shower (there is loud booming music playing in my head)! 

Let's recap, shall we?  First, it was lavender and builders grade tile, shower, well everything.

So we selected new paint!

 Then ripped eeeeeverything out!



 Then started to put everything back together!

We put down brand new tile (and the nice wood underneath it) and re-tiled the tub and shower.



We added things like crown molding, fancy lights, and the toilet.



Blake and hubs installed/squeezed in the vanity.  It was a very death defying moment and I think I had several minor heart attacks.  Hubs also put up the mirrors and our nice towel holder.  Which I think fits rather nicely in between the mirrors.

We put up some photos and some shelves (which are now filled with our awesome orchid (home made, towels, and tiny witch's ball - photo to come later).

That is an Austin Kleon print (http://www.austinkleon.com/) about marriage.  We also put a photo in the throne room...that will also be uploaded later.

And our shower doors came in and the shower is complete.  I must say that having two shower heads is very nice.  The bathroom is like walking into a spa.  It turned out just as nicely as I expected and it is so nice to FINALLY be able to use my bathroom again.  Now, I just need time to put everything back in the vanity.  Ooops.

Hope you all enjoyed this foray into DIY bathroom remodeling.  Next up, the TV mounting.  But maybe some nice recipes before then. 

(more photos to come later!!!)

It is always best to accessorize!

No outfit is complete without at least a few accessories.  So why shouldn't a room, or say a bathroom, be the same?  I agree.  Everything is better with accessories.  Which is why, we have added a few, as well as fancy fixtures in our lovely shower.  Really, we just like to spoil ourselves and make life easier.  But who doesn't?

Our first lovely, awesome, extra is a hook.  Now you might not think that a hook is so special.  But, when you no longer want to have an "over-the-shower-head" shelving unit, a hook is quite necessary for things, like loofahs.  So hubs found a lovely two-pronged hooked and installed it.

Next, we wanted to go big.  And indulge ourselves.  So we added an extra shower head, one that removes.  Which maybe doesn't sound that awesome.  But after a long day, sometimes you just want to sit on the little corner bench and this shower head allows me to do that and still get clean.  No judgement.

There are going to be many other accessories (not in the shower) but they haven't been installed/put up yet.  But here is the (almost complete!) shower:

 It just needs some doors.  No Big.

"We aim to please. You aim too please."

It seems that the remodel is slowly coming to an end.  I'm sad but also thrilled with the prospect of taking a nice hot bath in my new bathroom.  You will be jealous.  Oh so jealous.  Hubs finished the grout and the sealant.  And we put the toilet back in!  YAY! 

There are so few things left to do.  But one of the biggest is getting the vanity in place.  I don't even want to think about it.  It's heavy and the space is small and complicated.  I have horrible pictures in my  mind of it dropping on some one's foot and/or the tile and cracking one or the other.  So let's all out there in the blog world throw up a little prayer to the bathroom remodel gods and hope that nothing goes wrong.



PS.  In a completely side note, my sister-in-law provided me with this awesome blog (http://chrisandrobinsnest.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-clean-microfiber-furniture.html) that helped me clean my microfiber chairs and couches.  And it worked!  Perfectly.  Now I just need to find slipcovers for odd shaped chairs (or get adventurous and make them myself).

Lights, Camera, Action!

Sadly, no action, or use of the bathroom yet, buuuuut, we do have lights.  And I used a camera.  We decided to go with a more upscale, spa like, awesome light as opposed to the typical builders grade lame round bulbs.  The only downside is that we only had one outlet and therefore the largest lamp we could find that didn't break the bank was 5 bulbs, as opposed to the old 8 bulbs.  So we lost some light but really who wants to be all bright and fluorescenty at or dark thirty?  I definitely don't.  Plus this light just looks waaay cooler and probably brings the value of our house up.  Well, that's what I'm telling myself.

We also have two lights over the tub and shower and decided to replace the one over the tub with a nice hanging pendant light (yay, picture added).

 (it's obviously rotated so just turn your head a little)

Ladies and Gentlemen...may I present to you....a SHOWER!

So, let me tell you a story.  A tidbit really.  A well-known or lesser-known fact, depending on who you are.  Everyone loves getting calls.  Especially from people you like, or even, dare I say it, love.  But there are times when maybe those phone calls aren't at the best time, don't make you feel that great, or bear bad news.  This is a story about one of THOSE calls.

I am at work a few days ago (yes, be astounded and hateful for me) and I receive a lovely phone call from hubs.  It went like this:

Me:  Hey.
Hubs:  Hey.  So I'm, uh, at Home Depot.  And well, you know those tiles that we are putting all over our bathroom?
Me:  (slightly annoyed since I'm at work and he isn't) uh, yeah.
Hubs:  Well, they've been discontinued.  And Home Depot is out.  So I'm going to the one in Sterling (he may have said Reston, I don't remember) since they have some and am going to buy a whole bunch.
Me:  Oh.  Okay, do they have enough?  (this is where I started to panic a little).
Hubs:  I hope so.  Ok, love you bye.
Me:  Bye.

Yeah, not exactly what you want to hear when you are in the middle of a bathroom remodel.  But alas, we (he) thinks we have enough now.  And I was graced with the below picture:

Today (Friday) the shower door people are coming to take measurements and then in a week or so, we get shower doors!  Yay!  Also, you can't see it in the picture but last night I was greeted with crown molding (very chic) and a completed tub!  He's so handy.  I may just keep him around for a while.

UPDATE:  SEE CROWN MOLDING:

SEE TUB:

SEE EXCITED NICKY: