Weeks 3, 4, & 5 DVR Style

Do you love DVR like we do?  Mine and Joshua’s fav way of watching tv is to let The Blacklist or Big Bang Theory build up then watch them all as fast as possible, of course, with a side of popcorn sprinkled in Parmesan cheese and a few M&Ms scattered throughout.  Well, I’m going to catch you up DVR style from the last 3-4 weeks so I can show you the good stuff next! 

Joshua and I got to steal ourselves away from the projects for a morning to shop for kitchen cabinets and it was such a fun time.  I don't know why it feels like such a treat to go off together with no kids..but it does.  We chose a company in Fair Play, called Yoders.  You can find out information about them here: http://www.goyoders.com/  All of our dealings with them have been professional, efficient, highly skilled, and affordable.  I highly recommend them! We had a really good time and can’t wait to see the results!

Here is a sneak peek at our choices. 

Back at the reno, the sun finally broke through the rain one glorious day so we gathered up some strong boys to help us clean out the woods.  We filled up half of our 2^nd dumpster (I'm not even kidding) with some exciting things! We all left with scrapes and bruises that day from digging stuff out of the woods.  My favorite find was a swing set!  My friend stopped by and was determined to help so she convinced me we could carry this thing out! What an achievement!

We were extremely thankful for these brave and determined little fellas who worked so hard.  You know, they didn’t complain at all.  I believe they really enjoyed the challenge and usefulness.  Fresh air was welcome too! I look forward to spring when we can really get out in the yard and enjoy exploring.

I told you we did make time to celebrate Christmas and actually we had a lot of fun with this new tradition!  Last Christmas, I was telling a friend of mine my idea about building our nativity scene over a period of a few weeks.  She is from Mexico and shared their tradition of celebrating Three Kings Day.  We loved this idea so we decided to adopt that tradition.  To participate in Three Kings Day you tell the story of the how the wise men visited Jesus to worship and give him gifts and it is celebrated a week or so after Christmas.  This year it was January 6th.  We moved our wise men closer to Baby Jesus each day with anticipation.  When they arrived Jesus was covered in kisses and hugs, thanks to the 2 year old. I loved extending the season a little longer and continuing to see the boys enjoy the nativity. 

Here they come!!! 

 Last year, you might remember the boys got this gift on Three Kings Day.  This year to the circus we go and it’s the last show with elephants so I’m glad we are going to enjoy them.

Back at the Stinkbug Reno, the projects are bright! A relatively new friend stopped by to ask what we were doing with the kitchen cabinets and he was able to use them.  Isn't that exciting? I love how much stuff has been reused. We are taking doors and the sink and such to Habitat for Humanity, downtown. Anyway, he generously offered to teach Joshua how to install can lights in our ceilings.  They chose LED lights so when you come over DON'T LOOK UP!  The lights woke that house up and scared all the stinkbugs away!  Just gorgeous! We took down the ceiling fans that were heavy in brass decor. By scraping the ceilings and painting them white, then adding the can lights, the space is much brighter and more open.  The ceiling feels a lot higher! 

I'd say it's high time for some paint!!!! Hallelujah!! Except picking paint is mine and Josh's worst skill.  Yuck! There are a million choices of just white and million more for gray. When you finally pick one it never dries on the wall like it shows on the card.  Right??? We are extremely grateful for yet another friend who dropped off a paint sprayer, so Joshua was able to spend a few late nights (Christmas break is ova!) spraying primer on every inch of the house.  Hello white!  Then we threw a few sample colors on the wall to help make our decision.  We've never bought samples before..maybe that's part of our problem.  I have to say, it was well worth the extra few dollars and day spent to observe the samples in morning and evening light and really decide which one captured my (I mean, our) attention.  

Sooo many choices!

We chose the one on the far right. Isn't it dark against the white?  It's called Passive, By Sherwin Williams.  Check out other ways people used this color by clicking on the link.  It is a neat color that shifts with the light. You just can't make up your mind what color it is. I love that! Mostly because I change my mind a lot!

It looks white in the can! But gasp, I love opening paint cans!

Here is the color we chose for the bedroom. It is called Jekyll Grand Dining Sea Mist, by Valspar.  This is one shade lighter than our current bedroom.  This was a color we just said, "Oh forget it, just pick one and we'll live with it!" and we loved it! I'm telling you picking paint isn't our thing!

Well, as you can imagine, the hubs is spending all of his free time at the reno and is very busy trying to meet deadlines.  His little sidekick is missing him deeply and is constantly asking to go see him.  A million times (he is strong willed to the core!) he asked to go to the new house. We weren’t there 5 minutes and he said “I don’t like ___ Rd House!” He keeps us laughing. The mess and all of the loud tools is a bit much for the kids.  It doesn’t matter how tired Joshua is when he gets home he always has enough energy to “love” on the boys, with tickles and wrestling.  As much as possible we have been eating supper together, even if it means sitting on boxes amongst the rubble.  I am so proud of him!

There’s nothing like toddlers to keep you humble!  I took Happy, our very large toddler puppy, to work at the house with me.  Numerous times we enjoyed the outside space and creek and were having a wonderful day. I think Joshua had to go out of town for part of that day. Anyway, the last time I let Happy out he darted to the front yard, looked back at me laughing, and ran to chase a truck. Well he’s big enough to cause some serious damage to a vehicle, like the crazy deer around here.  One time a deer came out of nowhere and hit my car.  Have you watched Robots lately? It was like the giant hammer in the movie that came to sweep me away!  I’m sure that is how that man felt when he saw Happy charging his car.   Long story short, the traffic on this very busy road came to a complete stop..cars piling up in every direction (ok, it was only 3 but it felt like so many!) and tiny me standing in the middle of the chaos with my hands on my head and the dog running in circles. Mind you, I am solid white covered in drywall dust from head to toe: hair, eyelashes, shirt, down to the shoes, WHITE! The man driving the truck had to open his car door for the dog to come to him then I grabbed him and wrestled all 105lbs of him to the ground while the cars slowly peeled themselves away craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the new neighbor with a dumpster in the yard who can’t control her animal. 

And then that happened again on another day. I must be stupid. 

Alright, so the hall has been transitioned into a powder room and the wood wall has gone up..want to see?  The rest of the walls still need to be put up. I think we plan on all of the walls being wood.  

Okay, so progress has slowed down some with us going back to work, but by the end of the 5th week the walls are painted and it is starting to feel much fresher in the Stinkbug Reno.

The kids are still cheering us on!

They are hammering old nails deeper into the subfloor so flooring can be installed.