Sunday Fun-Day!

Whew, it's exhausting having fun, isn't it? :) No, seriously it is. We decided to take a break today from any home projects and just spend some time with the kids, and it was SO nice. The blueberry festival just happened to be this weekend up in South Haven, Michigan and I had been wanting to check that town out since we moved here so off we went for an afternoon of fun. If you're ever in the Southern Michigan area, you have to check out South Haven; we will definitely be going back! The beaches are nice, which is a requisite for us, and the town is simply charming. It is a bit more "touristy" than St. Jo that we frequent, but I still love it. It's also a little more hilly, so that was a bit of a challenge with navigating the stroller, but I only dumped the girl out once so that's a win in my book. We didn't bring our swim gear with us this trip so we just walked the beach this time around. The weather was perfect and the kids were....well, not perfect exactly but pretty darn well behaved. All in all, it was a great day. Here are a few snapshots I took from our outing....

These 2 go hand in hand just about everywhere....sigh.

Few things are as good for my soul as running with my kids on the beach.



HollyWOOD

Exploring down town South Haven

Watching the tractor pull

We did a lot of boat watching today; the kids loved it.

I have a strange affinity for signage...

These are funny, right?! Well I thought so, so I stopped to take a pic. This guy with a thick Northern accent stops and tells me, "only a Southerner would be interested in something like that". So I responded "Is that right?" in my somewhat Southern drawl...the dude rolls his eyes and continues on. Northerners....good grief :)

And of course no visit is complete to a blueberry festival without bringing home some blueberries! I came home with a measley 10 lbs. These are like 1000 times better than those store bought ones. For real.

And if you haven't tried blueberry butter, you are missin' out folks. This stuff is D-licious.

So that wraps up our trip to the Blueberry Festival. The day was filled with kettle corn, sno-cones, lots and lots of walking, and of course a load of fun and memories. Hate to say it, but summer is drawing to a close up North so I am soaking. it. in.

Rainy Saturday Success

Happy Saturday to ya! It's been a wet and rainy morning here in Indiana, but we have made the most of it. I was tempted to stay at home in my jammies all morning, but there were a few moving sales I wanted to hit. Garage sales have been on the back burner all summer, trumped by the home renovations. But we're FINALLY getting past all the major projects and are starting to have some free time. Can I get a Halleluia?! I loaded up my wild child while the hubs stayed at home building a sandbox with my little engineer in the making. For those of you have ridden in the car with the monkey, you understand why I'm always skiddish to take her anywhere. Just this past week, I was running errands with the kids and she got so mad in the carseat she threw up. She has done this more times than I can count, and I'm starting to think she really does get car sick. The girl has a temper to boot, but the only time she pukes is in the car, so perhaps there is something to it afterall. Anyway, I decided to take her with me and it actually went well. We hit a couple of garage sales that were a total bust, but on the way home I happened upon the motherload. That's what I love about garage sales, you never know what you're gonna get. Well here are some pics of what I got this morning: solid wood Amish made kids chairs, for $1 a piece. SCORE! :)

2 of the chairs are weathered like this one and 2 are in their original state. The weathered chairs were kept on a front porch for 7 years and the other 2 were kept indoors. I actually like that they are different colors; keeps things from being too matchy-matchy.

You can see in this pic what the original color of all 4 chairs was. I've put the table and chairs out in the sun room, and the kids are loving it. They even had their lunch at the table today; something I would have loved when I was a kid. It's like you're outside, but you don't have to worry about bugs in your food. Perfect combo.

The kids enjoyed some finger painting during the rain. I also found a new Wonder Color set, unopened, for .50 this morning. It was a jumbo set which I've seen for around $15 in the store. 

My oldest artist

My youngest artist

Considering I didn't get out and about til 10:30 this morning, I was pretty fortunate to find the chairs. Sometimes a rainy morning works out in your favor :) 

Dining Room (In Progress)

Well, we can finally add another room that is somewhat finished. The dining room is at least presentable this week, nowhere near finished, but presentable. Last weekend we had a crazy storm that blew through, and with it brought flooding rain into four different windows in the house. One of them being the dining room that the paint was literally still drying on the walls. My handy man was actually washing the paint out of the rollers and brushes when the storm hit. After having two companies come out to evaluate things, they both decided it was a fluke incident. 80 mph winds can cause some flukes here and there, I suppose. Nevertheless, we've got some caulking to do around here, just to ensure (hopefully) that it doesn't happen again. Ahh, home ownership, ain't it grand? :) 

Okay, so I spent today cleaning out the dining room of all the tools, paperwork, toys, etc, etc that gets piled there daily. Why do we do this to ourselves? If there's a flat surface in the house, it becomes a landing strip for junk. And it's so easy to leave it that way, because we've been eating at the island just about every meal it seems. Can't complain; it's a nice place to have a meal with the monkeys family, but the dining room deserves to have a meal eaten there every once a while. Otherwise it's a total waste of square footage. And there's something about sitting down at the TABLE together to have a meal as a family. Not at the bar, not in front of the television, but at the table. So here are some pictures of where I'm committed to having our dinners from now on, and more importantly to have conversation with the kiddos and make those memories.

The dining table and 6 chairs were a garage sale find here in Indiana. I paid $125 for the entire set. It is a very solid set, but  not in perfect condition by any stretch of the imagination. The lady I bought it from ran an in-home daycare so the furniture took a daily beating.

My big helper loves a clean and organized house. He is one happy fellow today.

The above pic is taken from the living room and is looking into one doorway of the kitchen. See that hole in the cabinet? Yeah, we do too and we thought we had the solution: a wine fridge that was the perfect dimensions. Turns out, it's on back order so the hunt continues.....

I chose things from other parts of the house at random just to get something on the buffet, but I may leave it this way for a while. The mirror is a freebie from my mom, who I think got the mirror from a garage sale. The lamp is another garage sale find. The three candlesticks are from Hobby Lobby a few years back. The letter "G" is from Gordmans several years ago. And the decorative boxes are a clearance item from the Dollar General. Yes, I am so cheap frugal I usually just shop the clearance at the DG.

These chairs have undergone a major transformation, but unfortunately I don't have a before shot. Just trust me on this one, they were nasty before they were recovered. I chose a faux silk vinyl that I love, in a sage green color. I found it on clearance for $3 per yard at Hancock Fabrics. Be forewarned though, it is nearly impossible to reupholster with a fabric that is this thick. I chose it for durability and clean-ability, but man I thought my husband was going to give up on this little project. And he's not a quitter, folks.

The light fixture is the most expensive element in the room. It is from Menard's and I paid $139 for it. It puts out a whopping 600 watts....perhaps a bit much so I scaled down to 60 watt bulbs so we're a little less Christmas Vacation over here.

Before the room is complete, we need to hang the window treatments and install the stone on the fireplace, but the like the rest of the house it's a work in progress. Have a good weekend, friends. Hug your children and tell your loved ones that you love them. And thanks for stopping by.

Baby Girl Bedroom

Hi there! The kids' rooms aren't completely finished, but they're getting there. We still have our youngest in a crib, and will keep her there as long as we can. To put it mildly, she is a wild thing and I really don't want to worry about her wandering around in the middle of the night. I can pretty much guess where she would be though: pilfering through the pantry for some snacks. So anyway, in her bedroom we have the crib and we recently purchased a twin bed for her room as well. Our new home only has 3 bedrooms, and when our family visits from out of state they tend to stay a while (we like it that way). So until we get the basement finished out, we put the king size bed in our oldest son's bedroom and guests will stay there while he has a slumber party in sissy's bedroom. It worked out really well when my parents were here for 3 weeks helping us move. So here are some pics of M's room.

I scored this antique dresser in the pic above at a resale shop for $40.00. I had plans to paint it, but I've decided to leave it in its original state. It is over 100 years old, and I can't bring myself to update it....some things are better left as is :)

 The only thing that is new in M's room is the twin mattress and boxsprings. Most eveyone knows I am a bargain hunter to the extreme, but I don't do used mattresses. I did however get the bedframe and wicker headboard at a garage sale for $5 total.

 The Jenny Lind crib is a hand-me-down from Clint's side of the family. I found the Pottery Barn crib bedding at a garage sale in Edmond, Ok for $3. It had never been used, and actually still had the tags on it.

 The Jenny Lind rocker was a garage sale find from my Mom, as was the wicker bookshelf.

I found the hot pink panels at Wal-mart for $12.99 each.

 The "artwork" above the crib are actuallly felt placemats from Bed Bath & Beyond for .99 a piece. I figure if the little monkey pulls them down, they will be pretty harmless!

 The button monogram was a project I did back in Oklahoma when visiting my parents. I would never get anything done like this at my house; hot glue and my 20 month old do not mix. And the kid never naps for more than 30 minutes, which is how long it takes for a shower....

 The alphabet behind the rocking chair is a vinyl cling from the Dollar Tree.

The milk glass mirror is a garage sale find from my mother that I love. The turquoise lampshades were a find from the Christmas Tree Shop for $5.99 each.

This bedroom was definitely done "on a dime". Here is the breakdown:

Twin Quilt: $3.00 - Garage Sale
Twin Headboard and frame: $5.00 - Garage Sale
Dresser: $40.00 - Resale Shop
Crib: Free - hand-me-down
Crib Artwork: $3.00 -  Bed Bath & Beyond
Crib Bedding (Pottery Barn) : $3.00 - Garage Sale
Window Panels: (4) at $12.99 ea - Wal-mart
Rocker: Free - Garage Sale
Wicker Bookcase: Free - Garage Sale

Grand total: $106.00

The day the countertops came

Picking out the countertops turned out to be an easier decision than I initially thought it would be. Ultimately, we were deciding between quartz and granite and originally I thought we would go with quartz. I had heard and read about the cons of granite being the hassle of sealing them, but after talking with more and more professionals, we came to realize that sealing the granite just isn't a big deal at all. Personally, I like the natural look of granite and that it isn't a complete uniform pattern (like quartz), but I understand those who prefer the uniformity of quartz. Just a personal preference; I don't think you can really go wrong with either one. So my husband and I had looked at granite at the big box stores, and were pretty surprised at how expensive it is there, especially compared to quartz. So we expanded our search to the Chicago area and found a wholesale granite distributor and we went and picked out our slabs. That was a fun process, and I highly recommend picking your own slabs if you ever go the granite route. No surprises about how it will look when it is installed, and if there are veins you want to avoid you can express that. I knew I wanted a lighter color granite since the kitchen cabinets are cherry and we have wood floors. We chose White Kashmire. It turned out so nice and looks great with the stainless steel appliances and the cherry cabinetry.

I was surprised the countertops were hauled over on the back of a small truck. I guess I was expecting something a little bigger? Anyway, I thought this was funny.

The employees of the granite factory are all from Poland. And of course they speak in their native tongue the entire time. I can't be sure, but most of the time it sounded like all explitives while they were doing the installation :) And man do these guys earn their money! I really did feel bad watching them carry this stuff up the front steps. They told me the island slab weiged around 800 lbs. One of the guys banged up his shoulder carrying this in. And while I don't know how much these men make in a day, I can tell you it's not enough. 

 These two DID enjoy watching the show!

 And this little monkey will only sit still if she has a snack. So we do lots and lots of snacks around here.

 So here is the kitchen in its current stage. We still need to decide what kind of backsplash we want and what material to use on the back of the island. For the island, we are thinking cherry beadboard or possibly a stone material that would match the fireplace wall.

 The fireplace wall on the left side of this picture is what I'm referring to. It will be wrapped in some kind of stone....don't know on that yet either :)

 We chose to do a 10 inch overhang on one end of the island so we can have seating there. On the other side of the island, it would be too close to the fridge and dishwasher to have a barstool there.

 The gas line still needs to be ran from the basement up through the cabinet beneath the cooktop, which is why that drawer is off the hinges right now.

So that is what the kitchen looks like now. We ended up paying $31 per sq ft on the granite, which did include installation. This price was so much cheaper than anywhere else we looked, so we're happy with not only how it turned out, but the reasonable price as well.

Master Bedroom

It has been busy, busy, BUSY around here. Our days have been filled with lots of unpacking, organizing and more of the same. And now we FINALLY have a room that is (somewhat) finished. And by finished, I mean the room is clear of boxes! Here is what the master bedroom looks like currently. I love the view from this room; it looks out onto farmland and the pond out front.

There were no window treatments whatsoever in this house when we moved in, and I decided to take the simple and clean approach. I chose plain white panels for most of the house. A bit boring perhaps, but I love them. We've had wooden blinds throughout two of our previous homes, and they're just not for me. Why, you ask? Too much dust. I hate to dust, so I am simplifying things. When these get dusty, throw them in the washing machine and problem solved. I also wanted to avoid obstructing the view from the windows; it's just too purty to cover up!