I love this picture...

11:43 PM Edit This 4 Comments »
Almost as much as I love the little girl. It makes me smile to look at it. It is just so 'her'...when she is feeling sweet. She also has "the mischevious", "the attitude", "the silly" and "the frown" down pat these days...but she's always a joy. We are so very, VERY blessed to have this little girl. And I pray every day that we make good choices for her, and that she has as wonderful a childhood as she deserves. And I pray that God will always be a part of her life, and that she finds her own path with Him. What a gift she is.

My latest cake

11:19 PM Edit This 2 Comments »
My family and I just got to do a baby shower for my cousin. It was so fun. It's exciting to have another baby coming into the family! This is Anna's second cousin (Avery was her first) and we are all very excited. So, here are a few pics from the shower...mostly of my latest cake, and our pretty little girl. It was a 22 hour labor (no pun intended) of love. I wasn't thrilled with all of it, but overall, it turned out OK. I think my cousin was happy, and that she felt special and pampered on her day - and THAT is what mattered most to all of us.




Little changes, big difference. (PART 3)

5:24 PM Edit This 1 Comment »
This is the final installment of this one for now....we need to move back to BIG projects again!

We did the linen closet in the bathroom last week too. We previously had a linen closet in the hallway. But I thought it would make the hallway seem more open and less cluttered to wall off where the door USED to be, and put the doors in the bathroom instead. After all, it is all bathroom stuff that we access in there anyway.

So, we framed up the wall over the door. Then, Curtis had the great idea to use the prefabbed cabinets in there, since we were going to have to buy the doors from them anyway to make them match our existing vanity. So we worked and scratched our heads and finally figured out a configuration of cabinets that would A) fit the space and B) be in stock, so we didn't have to wait for a special order. We got them all in (after some additional creative framing) and it looks awesome!

Once we get the linen closet stuff put back away, we'll have SO much more space than we did. I can't wait!

Little changes, big difference. (PART 2)

5:15 PM Edit This 0 Comments »
The Back Step:

We have had only one entrance to and from our house since we started working on removing the back step. So, Curtis built our new steps leading from the kitchen so we could have our yard back. I LOVE them! We built them from that synthetic decking, Trex. No maintenance, splinters, wear, etc. It looks awesome. And we made them a cool deign, instead of just boring straight steps.

Little changes, big difference. (PART 1)

8:42 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
We have been wrapping up a lot of LITTLE projects lately; things that seem to go slow for their relative size and scale, but fortunately make a BIG difference in our ability to LIVE in this mess.

Project #1: The kitchen pantry.
Our one, small, kitchen pantry got deeper in the remodel, to accommodate the hallway wall. But, in the meantime, we had to empty it, which means we haven't seen our kitchen nook for several months now. My mom had the bright idea to go ahead and finish that now, so that we could get our kitchen back - because the rest was pretty much unchanged. BRILLIANT! So, we moved the electrical that ran through it, finished framing, drywalled and taped.

Then Curtis had a business trip for a few days. I told him that I might try to build the shelves for it while he was gone, and he LAUGHED AT ME. (OK, in his defense, the shelves had to be cut from a full sheet of 3/4" plywood, that SHOULD have been done on the table saw, not with the skill saw. He said he was envisioning me trying to maneuver THAT on my own, which, would have been VERY funny.)

Anyway, I DID IT!! I cut all of the shelves myself (relatively straight even). Cut the supports. Mounted them all and covered all of the shelving. Voila! We have our pantry! My mom came over and helped me organize and clean. It was SO good to have a functioning kitchen again! I owe it all to Curtis and my dad anyway for teaching me everything I know about power tools and woodworking. (Which actually isn't THAT much - but enough to get the job done, huh?!)

BEFORE:


AFTER: