Making progress...slowly.

I decided I was ready to start working on a flower bed for the front of the house about 3 weeks ago.  I took some "before" pictures (but I won't post those till I have the "after" pictures too) and dug in, literally.  I laid out the shape with the water hose

Then I dug the cut the sod out, then rolled it all, all by myself, then moved it to other spots that needed it, all by myself.  It was tough work.  I rolled it while squatting for about 2.5 hours.  I was sore for the next three days!!

Then I added plastic edging and got the kids to help me.

Then about a week later I decided to rent a tiller to turn the dirt over because it was so tough.  Being around the house it got lots of traffic, large equipment, trucks, lots of stuff compacting that soil so hard it was just holding water and not soaking in at all and I could not even get the shovel to turn it over in some places.

Here is Loy using it for me.  But before this, he had to use the tractor and the box blade to break the soil up because that is how hard it was, the tiller couldn't even dig in!  And this is the way it sits.  I have done some work on it.  I wanted to add leaves to it then put weed fabric over it, but without something (mulch) to go over it to hold it down it did no good.  I worked, in the wind (stupid I know, but when you have a moment you take it), gathering and spreading leaves and then putting down the fabric for about an hour for it all to go to waste in the end because the wind blew it all away.  Boo...  So I will not do anymore work on that till I can have the mulch in hand to put on top of the fabric to hold it down.  I plan to go get the free mulch, but timing and finding it.  Humph...

Here are a picture of some flowers that broke off the plants I bought at Lowe's on clearance. 

And here is a sneak peak of our next project we started this last weekend...

More on this soon.

Projects!

"We now have to have projects."  My husband says with slight distain.

"Hey, I haven't got to do much 'projects' in years, its time!"  I defend

I can now get back to enjoying projects of all kinds.  Sewing, photography (still learning), the decorating, and hopefully soon building things.  It has been about 4 years since I have been able to do anything like this.  Both with having small kids, going to school, then working full time, and just not having any room to do projects, it has been a long drought.  Sure I have done a few sewing projects; kids Halloween costumes, a duvet cover for Grace (which is now ruined), and a few other odds and ends things, but nothing big.  It was just too much to take on a project in that small trailer.  I had to drag everything out and if it was say, sewing, I had to use the dining room table, well more than likely, I would not finish in the first day, so by meal time, I had to pack everything up and put it away so that we could eat on our dining room table.  Just a pain!

But anyway, I can now have projects.  I debated on what to do with the girls room and their bed.  I was originally going to do two matching twin beds, in which I found two wrought iron WWII quartermaster hospital beds (or so I was told) for a good price, then I sent them to my husbands uncle to sand blast for me.  Well, I had only received one finished after 3 years, so I had to kinda figure something else out.  My concern turned to the lack of a guest room.  Where was I going to put my guest when they came to stay?  On the couch, on the floor, in separate beds?  Then I decided my best bet was to have the girls share a queen bed and then I have a guest bed!!  Now I know some of you think its not fair to have them share a bed, but so far they are loving it and they are so small its like they have their own bed.  If they decided in the future they don't want to share, I think there is enough room in there room that we can put a twin bed in there also, but till then they can share.


This was my first project and really my first furniture project.  I found this bed on Craigslist for $125.  (this is just the footboard, I forgot to take a picture of the headboard before).  I thought it was a pretty good price for a solid wood bed.  Then I went to Lowes and bought supplies- orbital sander pads, primer, paint, paint brushes and rollers and got working!  It took me two days to sand the booger!  I used the orbital for as much as I could, then did the rest by hand, in between the cracks and around the curves.

Foot board

Head board

Here it is after paint.  I decided to paint it white and then distress it to give it the cottage feel.  It took me two days to prime and paint and then a day to sand. (not full days, but a few hours a day).  And the final results...

I found a duvet cover at Target on clearance in their Shabby Chic section that I thought would look just perfect and since I already had the duvet, it was perfect!

Another view.  I really liked doing it.  The sanding part was the artistic part, I felt.  It was really fun.  I went through so many sander pads though.

After it was all said and done I probably spent more on the bed then I was hoping.  We already had the mattress but had to buy a box springs, plus the all the painting materials and the duvet cover, it was probably more than my original "This is a really good price!" thought.  Oh well, it was fun and now I just need to finish decorating the rest of their room.  I plan on doing it in a shabby chic kind of theme, but not over the top.  Antiques, feminine, and cute.  I have a few ideas, so stay tuned in the future.

Memories of a new home

This is a post making fun of me mostly.  Its also a lesson in think before you speak.  This story is about looking back at a few memories that I have of my new home, Oklahoma.  Loy and I started dating in the summer of 2002.  In 2003 the week of Spring Break I drove to Oklahoma to visit my boyfriend.  On the weekend we went to his parents house for a visit.  So lets set the scene... we are driving down to Southeasten Oklahoma from central Oklahoma.  For one, I have never really seen as many trees along to road or around than here (besides CO) and we are driving down the road at 65 (more like 70-80) down the road.  So flying down the road I'm watching out the window, enjoying the scenery.  Then it comes... (I'm already laughing) "Why did they spray paint those trees purple?"  I ask.  

"WHAT?!" Loy says.  

Agin "Why did they spray paint those trees purple?"  

"Those are Redbud trees and those are the blooms!"

Doh!!!

Example of what trees along the road look like (think going 70 miles an hour  past them)

So in my defense, these little trees are in amongst all the other hundreds of trees along the road and when your flying down the road it just looks like there are trees just sporadically colored a different color.  To me it looked like the ones sticking out farther than the others were the ones that were a different color.  And never having seen a Redbud tree, I had no idea.  Upon closer inspection I saw that they were really buds, and purple, not RED!   

These trees are beautiful and one of the things I come to love about Oklahoma and look forward to every spring.  Of course, its also a good reason to laugh at me every year.

Other memories of my new home, include Scissor- Tailed Flycatchers.  

First experience watching them was shortly after the redbud incident.  We were in a parking lot, like at Wal-mart or something at night, sitting by a light pole

and here are these two beautiful birds snatching up all the bugs they could.  The way they flew through the air, whipping their tails to dive and chase the birds was mesmerizing.  I still love sitting and watching these birds in the air. 

My first memory, includes my now brother and sister-in-law, who brought me to Oklahoma for the sole purpose for me to "marry her brother" (another story for anther time).  I piled in their car with their oldest son who was 2 at the time and drove to Oklahoma from New Mexico, heading to Lake Eufaula.  On the trip there I got to experience singing/learning "Oklahoma" as we cross the Oklahoma boarder.  Then I was quizzed.  "Whats that say?"  (Looking at a town name)  And I had to pronounce all these really crazy names of towns, where I was laughed at a few time for my funny pronunciation, or total butchering.  Things like Anadarko, Pottawatomie, Pontotoc, Checotah, Muskogee, Okmulgee, Tahlequah, Pawhuska, Tecumseh, Wapanucka and others.  They stared out just looking at the signs along the road, then they pulled out the map.  I was getting pretty good at it.  We had some good laughs though.

These are all precious memories I have of this place that I soon after learned would become my home.  The place I would live, build my family, make new friends and build my life.  I has been a great almost 8 years and I am still learning about Oklahoma and all its beauty and wonder.  

Whats your favorite memory of Oklahoma or maybe you have similar memories of a place you now call home?  I would love for you to share.  There is just something magical about learning about all a state or area in the country has to offer and how its different than what we grew up with. 

Snow days, snow daze.

So obviously this is a back post, but I wanted to share these picture.  Shortly after we moved in we got be break in the wood stove

just in time for Sno-kahoma or Sno-magedon as it was so lovingly became known as, not just in Oklahoma but across the nation.  The first storm hit on a Monday night while I was a work and I had to drive home in blizzard and snow drifts and straight horizontal blowing snow.  School was closed for 3 days with this storm (if my memory is correct)  Loy got to stay home a couple of those days.  Friday Grace went to school.  The next storm hit just a couple days later, while I was at work, and I had to drive home in it, but this storm was much more pleasant because it was minus the 50 mile an hour wind.  Again, no school for another two days and Loy home one of those days.  This time we got to go outside and PLAY!  It was alot of fun and we had a blast.  Not great snow for making snowballs, although we did our best, or a snowman, but we still had fun.

Snow angels, with help from Belle.

Daddy and Claire

"I'm gonna getcha Momma!"

Watch out behind you Grace!!!

Claire was not having much fun.

The snow was so deep that Belle couldn't walk through it well.  It was so funny to watch her run in it.

The dogs had a blast too

Andrew, Belle and I went for a walk down to the pond, but Belle couldn't make it so I had to carry her.

Awww...

The White House in the white snow.

Catching up

I uploaded some pictures from my camera finally and decided its time to do some catch up postings with pictures.  First I'll start with the last pictures from our building process.  This will be quite picture heavy, so just be aware.

A few of the kitchen.  We ended up having to get a different dishwasher because the silverware drawer hit the handle of the dishwasher.  Its not a Maytag like the rest of the appliances, but I do not care, at least I can open my silverware drawer without having to open the dishwasher every time.

My faucet that was another had to have items.  I love it.  Its from Huntington Brass and is brass and heavy.  I really like it.

Drawer pulls in the kitchen. Still dirty and dusty.

Door pulls.  Plain and simple.

A full view of the kitchen.  Before paint and stain touch up, thats why the bar legs are still unstained.

On to the bathrooms...

Powder room.  

Bathroom faucets.  All look the same.

Kids bathroom.  Best picture I could get of vanity, mirror and light.

Cute towel hooks for all three kids.

Master bath vanities.

His side of shower.

Her side with personal hand shower.

Lighting is really bad, but this is the family room from the kitchen

From the family room looking into formal living room.

Looking down the stairwell. (still dirty)

Master bedroom with carpet.

Looking down hallway towards stairwell

Hall and banister going around to master bedroom.

And last but not least a family picnic in our new house before we moved in.  It was fun,  nothing fancy, just sandwiches, but the kids liked it.

Flylady, routines, couponing and more

Wow, I have been bad about keeping up.  I have just been busy trying to get use to my new surroundings and trying to get into a routine (which hasn't really set in yet).  I am still not fully unpacked, but I have my kitchen clean, and well, most of my downstairs.  I have no decorations up on the wall yet, I need hangers first.  Plus, I'm nervous about punching holes in my walls.  But I need to, I need some sound dampeners.  I still need to go through several boxes, especially in the garage so I can get it cleaned up.  I still have stuff in our shop building, but I asked Loy to let me get everything taken care of here first before we brought more over.  I plan on having a huge garage sale this spring then what ever doesn't sell will go to Goodwill.

I need Flylady back in my life.  When I started school I used her to help me keep a house cleaning schedule and I did well for a little while, but became a slacker and now I need to get back to it.  My laundry is out of control still, I need to clean my bathrooms regularly, keep my dishes up and sink empty.  I also want to be able to spend more time with my kids and I think this will help me get the things done that need to be done daily, instead of letting it get out of control and then have to spend hours on getting it caught up only to ignore my kids.

My next adventure is couponing.  A few of my friends went to a coupon class a couple weeks ago and I started reading the blog www.couponcloset.net and learning lots and decided I was going to try and do this to save money.  I have gone two weeks and done ok.  Then last night I went to one of her classes and learned alot.  I am very excited about using all of these tools to save lots of money on groceries for my family and then be able to turn around and give back to others.  I will keep you all updated on my progress and share how much I have saved.  Then I plan on saving a ton more when I start my adventure in gardening, canning and freezing.  That is a whole blog in itself and I am very excited about getting that started with my friend Danielle.  With the weather getting so nice after our blizzards the last couple weeks has really get me excited about getting outside.  I have ordered a couple seed catalogues, but haven't got them yet.   I will be starting from scratch and have lots to figure out.  I need to find my book that I bought a couple years ago about vegetable gardening.  Anyway, more on that later.

I finally got my PRN position at work.  After this week I will switch over and I can work as little as one day a week!  Of course, I have to pay for my new house so I have to work two for the most part. My goal for my hours is enough to pay the mortgage and maybe I can work one extra shift a month to save for other things like decorations, plants, furniture, stuff to make my patio outside and other things that come up.  It will be so much easier on me to keep  up with everything else around here and hopefully be a better mom and housewife.  

Geeze, I feel like that is alot for right now, so I will leave it at that and try to be better about keeping things updated and post more.  I promise I will add pictures soon.

We're in!!!

We are finally in our house, all moved in, but not settled.  We moved last weekend, Friday and Saturday and finished up the last tiny bit Sunday.  They they came to get the trailer ready Monday and Tuesday it was gone.  We are loving our house!  There is so much room and its beautiful.  I bought some furniture and Friday Loy picked up my rug, buffet and a chair and ottoman that will match my couch and chair that I have ordered.  We still have boxes everywhere and I am still trying to catch up on laundry, but its coming along slowly.  I had so much laundry, like every laundry basket in my house (which was about 5, some had dividers) plus clothes on the floor, clothes that we found as we were packing, under beds, couches, behind dressers under toys in the closets, there were clothes everywhere and that all added up to about 3 LARGE, black trash sacks!  So while I am trying to catch up on all that, we are still doing our normal thing and dirtying more clothes, which just back piles, and it just seems never ending.  I am hoping to have that under control this week and we can start getting in a routine.

As for the boxes, I have lots of purging to do!  I accumulated so much junk, I had no idea!  I mean, I knew I had stuff, but not as much as I ended up with.  I believe I let it get out of control because I just did not have the space to organize and go through stuff and so I just shoved it into the corner to get it out of the way and there it stayed and then more stuff got piled on top and it was just a vicious cycle.  If I did try to do something about it, it would get strewn about or messed up, or I just took on too much at one time and got overwhelmed and didn't give myself enough time to finish it so I just didn't do anything after a while.  But now I have the space to go through things and start getting rid of stuff.  Toys, clothes, and whatever, its all going!

I do not have pictures to share because,well, its just kinda boring right now and kinda messy.  But hopefully in the next couple weeks I will have everything fixed up.  I am having my first playdate with my mommy group on Valentine's day, so that is my goal!  I am so excited to finally have people over!  Its been 4 years since I have had company!  We have been so extremely blessed by being able to build this house that we now need to use it for the Lord's work and glorifying Him, since He is the one who made it all possible.  I still feel a little unworthy of such a beautiful place, but I know God has great plans for us and we plan to do His work with the blessings He has given us.

In other news, which i will blog on later are changes in my work, plans for our home, schedules, organization, weight loss and healthier eating, couponing, Flylady, and much more.  There are many things that will change now and I am very excited to finally have a place of permanence and I feel like we can actually get in a routine of some sort.  So obviously this blog will change a little bit since we are not building our house anymore, but I still want to continue the blog.  Any ideas on what to blog about?  Share them with me.  And I want to get better about blogging more often.  Well until next time...