Warm Welcome!

We've been in our home now for a little over a year and most of you have noticed that there are still a lot of white walls! If you know me well and you were at our last home, you know that I am not a fan of white walls. After we moved in, I promptly started painting. My mom and dad helped paint Addy's room the weekend we moved in and from there I slowly painted all three bathrooms and the other two bedrooms. However, the main part of our house, pretty much the whole first floor where we spend most of our time has remained white. There are two reasons... 1- the front living room, entry way, stairwell, and upstairs hallway are all united so will need to be the same color, a more neutral color, and 2- the kitchen-dining-family room are one big room as well and I haven't been ready to commit to a color yet! I've had this idea in my head for quite some time but haven't had the guts to take the plunge yet... And then I realized, worse case scenario either I hate it or get sick of it right away and then I can hire someone to repaint it all for me.. And so the plunge begins.. phase 1- Warm Welcome. The main body of the family area has been painted Warm Welcome which is also the color our last basement family room was painted. Its a warm yellow, not too bright, not too light, just perfect.

Pre-Painting....
I realized as I emptied the room on Friday night and started the prep that the room was much bigger than I had thought! I feared I may have gotten in over my head. On Saturday, Jared took the kids to play, to lunch, and then to his dads so that I could paint and not worry about who was going to get into the paint (minus the cats... when I painted at our old house, delia fell into the paint tray and tracked Boston Tea Party all over the living room carpet... lovely). I finished the prep which wasn't going well as I had AJ help clean all the baseboards with Pledge the night before and well Pledge makes it so tape won't stick... As I started the first layer of edging, my fears were confirmed! It took a whopping 1 hour and 50 minutes to do one layer of edging! I had splurged and got the paint with primer in it thinking it would cover better... WRONG! It didn't even cover up pencil marks with the first layer. So note to self, stick with Dutch Boy next time. As I continued, something happened. I was relaxed and enjoying the quiet time. Painting started to go faster once I started rolling it. Jared brought me lunch after I finished with the first layer of rolling so I took a break and then continued. It took about 4 1/2-5 hours to do all the painting which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Then I cleaned up, reinstalled the fixtures, reloaded the room and Voila! It turned out GREAT! I LOVE IT!
The picture totally does not do it justice! I did sneak a few more toys to the basement and rearranged where a few others were kept. I realized something.... White walls stress me out! As I sat in our newly painted family room, I felt a sense of peace, of relaxation, a sense of home. I am enjoying my newly found happiness in the room where we spend the most time! Even the kids love the new walls. It's inspired me to continue on painting although I won't start the next color for a while due too needing blocked time without the kids to be able to paint! Hopefully in the next month or two I can get the dining room and kitchen done and get my artwork up on the walls finally!

Goals update!

I'm sure most of you aren't interested in our progress on our lovely goals for the year but tracking it through the blog helps keep me on track and see our progress (or lack of) and makes me feel a little bit more accountable to actually continue them!

So where are we at....

1-Do the compact for 2 separate months: We have chosen MARCH as month number 1! I'm excited and a bit nervous as well! Our friend Jessi is just wrapping up her families 6 month endeavor with the Compact so I am looking toward her for tips! We've settled on 75$ for the month for new items. My hope is that doing it twice this year, each for a month will give us some insight into what things we are spending money on that we don't need to.

For those of you who don't know about the compact, it started in California as a pact between ten friends to not buy new for one year. To decrease your impact on the earth, be a bit greener, recycle, buy used etc. What our friend did was give her family 600$ for the 6 months to buy new things (clothes, gifts, etc) and so far has around 150 left with only 11 days to go so she is doing amazing! The new fund excludes things that you can't or shouldn't buy used (food, gas, bills, house payment etc.). You still can pay for services (oil change, alterations, fix its, etc). You can still go out to eat, go do activities etc. So our plan is to do the 75$ for each of the months and be very intentional on what we spend it on. We'll have to make some of the rules up as we go and see what happens... obviously there are a few things we wouldn't wait on (like if the furnace died, we'd have to get a new one if it wasn't fixable, etc). My plan is that anytime I see something that I would normally have wanted and think I may still want it at the end of the month is to write it down along with the cost. At the end of the month, we'll take a look at the list and see what things we still need/want and what ones would have been more impulse buys. If there are things we actually need now, then I will see what I can find in second hand stores, craigslist, ebay, etc. or will dip into the new purchase fund if I can't find it anywhere else. Hopefully by doing this it will help us save a little money, be a little greener, and learn to be less of an impulse shopper.... We have 11 days left prior to starting so I am not stocking up or thinking ahead to what we may need for the month. The thing that I know I will struggle with most is that I LOVE a good deal (hence the impulse buying)! I love clearance sales and seem to be drawn to them. I also have friends (you know who you are) who are insanely good at clearance sales and doubling deals so I'll have to ignore them for the month! OK, I won't ignore you, I just won't be able to join in the fun! Now most of the time, I am getting things that we will need at some point, clothes for the next season, etc. But sometimes its random stuff that we don't really need.

Obviously there is a lot of stuff from a financial standpoint that we could do (not eat out etc.) but for now we are going with not buying new and seeing where it takes us. We aren't having financial issues or anything but saving is a good thing! Jared is sort of on board... The main material thing he buys is frisbees so he's been warned that he needs to order them now because if he orders them during the compact, when they come in the mail I'll hide them until the compact is over! So 11 more days until our month begins!

2- Decrease processed foods: Going ok! Went on vacation and didn't follow this there. I figure vacation, eating out, or friends bringing food over doesn't count. So when we are at home and I am cooking, we are doing really well. We are doing well for healthy, natural, or organic snacks as well! Apparently the kids love dried fruit, organic crackers, and healthy bread/toast! So overall this is going well! We still haven't used up all the processed food that was in the house to start with so that's sneaking in once in a while as well but we are mixing it with healthy stuff so that helps a little bit! So we'll keep plugging along!

3- Increase family time: Minus our recent trip, we have been making more of a conscious effort not to schedule a ton of things on nights when everyone could be home. We've been sharing more kid activities to allow more time at home as well. Jared does swimming with JT, I'm doing dance and swimming with AJ. Basketball season is almost done so that will help, although disc golf season is starting so that may be a bit challenging but I think we have a schedule worked out that will give us more time together!

Random little things:

Basement: unpacked, put away, reorganized, stuff to dump, pile for garage sale, just have a few things left to stick in the trash and a pile of styrofoam to bring to the recycling center.

Living room: toys gone through, reorganized, pile for garage sale, pile brought to Meenas

Picture wall: DONE and GREAT!

Next up... Painting the living room! So we are making progress on the forever long "wish I could do" list!

Hair!

Ok, here are my hair clips and beads from our trip! I even tried two of the products tonight and so far so good!JT got his first clipper session tonight too! He has come such a long way in such a short time thanks to the Tangle Teezer! This kid did not like his hair combed or head touched EVER! From the first moment we used the Tangle Teezer he loved it! He sits nice and even asks to have his hair combed! So tonight we used it to comb out and puff his hair up and decided to do a little trimming with the clippers. Jared sat him on his lap and Addy entertained him while he clipped. I trimmed up around his ears when they were done. He sat like a little prince and loved the extra attention!
Afterwards we had tubby time and washed/conditioned it and put some custard in and it looks great! It's so nice to have two kids who enjoy having their hair done! And really nice that Jared can now take part in the hair festivities!

Millions of Pics.... The Trip~

The trip! Miss AJ and I went to Arizona to visit a friend who is on a traveling nurse assignment there and were lucky enough to meet up with another friend who lives there too! There is a ton of pics in this post, mostly for Amanda's benefit since we only used my cameras and I'll need to burn her a disc of our pics! As most of you know I DO NOT FLY... I'm not a fan, it scares me to death. So the prospect of flying again was not thrilling. Last time I flied (last March with JT), I said I would never fly again, and yet here I am attempting another flight... ugh! So being slightly OCD, we packed up and headed to the airport really early and that's when the fiasco began.

A lovely drive up to the airport, found my "value parking" lot easily. We boarded the lightrail (me, two suitcases, two backpacks, a car seat, and AJ on her leash... I mean child safety harness). Yes I was one of those awful parents using a piggy backpack to keep my kid near me. I've never used it before but since Addy's listening skills aren't always the best in big places and I was stressed to fly, it seemed like the most appropriate way to keep track of her while hauling all of our stuff. So on the lightrail we went. It dropped us off in a random spot in the airport so I had to ask a guy where to go... boarded the tram and headed on our way. Got to the check in counters and couldn't find Southwest so decided to ask a nice (or not so nice) TSA agent where Southwest was.... she not so nicely informed me that it was at the OTHER AIRPORT! Yep, the one that I had parked at.... OK so it used to go by one name and now it goes by "terminal 2" and nowhere on my paperwork did it say the old name of which I would have recognized it so it's not like I went to the real wrong airport! So back on the elevators, tram, and lightrail we went. Me pulling the luggage and dragging my poor little tired angel by her piggy all the way back to where we started. Needless to say we cut it a little close with boarding but we made it to the gate and on the plane. Seriously, when the lady told me that I almost burst into tears... like I said... I don't fly.

Addy was super excited to ride on an airplane...

After boarding we watched them load her luggage (yes, here's is bright pink and purple) through the window and the nice folks at Southwest humored my daughter by waving and giving her thumbs up as they were loading the plane.... She was ecstatic!
And about two minutes after taking off, this was her! I however was still stressed and winding down after our run through the airport! She was a peach the whole flight!
After arriving we went back, changed clothes and got settled at Amanda's!
Our first order of business was to find some fun hair stores! We went to quite a few and loaded up on clips, barrettes, and head bands! Even got a few products to try too but since we were flying I couldn't buy too much! The stores were pretty good but not quite as good as the one's in Mobile!
Amanda bought a magazine which Addy loved...
And then fell asleep reading....
We went to one of our favorite restaurants.... Macaroni Grill!
YUM!
We were having a blast in the nice weather!

We met up with Miss Delaney and her mom Stacy! The girls were having no part of taking a picture together so all we got were candids!





It was so nice to see them again and see how the girls picked up right where they had left off! The girls are a little more.... ok a LOT more independent now so Stacy and I got to sit and talk while they ran all over and played!

The next day we headed to a park in the mountains to wander around, see the desert, and take a few quick pics....needless to say we weren't dressed for the occasion... Who goes hiking in heels! Granted mine were only like 2 inches but still not the appropriate footwear for the occasion!

Had to get a couple backward pics in!



After heading down the trail, Addy had to go potty... well there aren't potties in the desert! So we made do with a little brick wall. Poor Addy was not excited to have to go outside, "like a dog" as she called it....
She was fascinated by the cactus's! We had talked about how they were pokey and that you couldn't touch them so she wanted to take pictures by all of them! (note her new picture smile!)
A REALLY big one!

Gotta love the auto timer!


For lunch we went to Peter Piper Pizza which Addy thought the name was hysterical and made Amanda tell her the name of it about 220 times!

Prom night with Spiderman... he picked her up for their date!
We spent some time hanging out with Bianca. Addy was super excited to see B! And B was just as excited to see her little friend as well. They cuddled and played the whole week!
Delaney and Stacy came over to swim in the heated pool. Addy LOvED being able to swim everyday!
I'm not quite sure why I am taller than Amanda in this picture!
Pure Happiness!
Addy had been fascinated with a pair of red 60$ shoes that we saw at a shoe store. She wore them all around. So when we went to a store where all the shoes were 10$ (seriously might be the best store ever), Amanda bought Addy her first pair of stilettos to play dress up in! And Miss AJ can rock these! She walked all over in them and didn't fall!
A day trip to some shopping areas!
And a fancy YUMMY Thai restaurant!
And stopped at an ice cream parlor for dessert!
Our last night we went to Rustlers Rooste! It was SUPER FUN with great food!
A balloon man came and asked Addy what she wanted him to make for her... a butterfly? a flower? a kitty?..... Addy requested a cow! He asked if she wanted a cow or a bull and she wanted a bull... What a weirdo!


We had a little fiasco on the way back to Amanda's that night as well but eventually made it back to her house safe and sound!

The trip/flight home went well, almost enjoyable even except that I must have clenched my jaw the whole way because my jaw is hurting like crazy tonight and my TMJ is acting up!

We had such a fun time and it was so nice to see our friends! Addy was amazing for having no naps and kept up on her pottying the whole time as well! What an amazing little peanut I have! What was super sweet is that any time I would call Jared, she would ask if she could talk to JT and wanted to check on him!

After getting home she suggested that next time JT and JAred come with.... I guess a family vacation is in our future... but maybe not for another year or two for flying!

February Project

Its done! Last month the basement got organized. This month the photo wall is done...minus the sticky tack to fix the couple that hang crooked. Next month the Compact and maybe painting the living room!

Mrs Princess Snow Man & some fun

Introducing Mrs Princess Snowman....It was gorgeous out today and we hadn't had a chance to make a snowman yet so AJ and I headed outside while JT and Jared went to play at the mall. Unfortunately we didn't plan it well so had to use celery and potatoes... neither of which stick to snow very well and the snow was too deep to roll big snowballs!

Ummmm... does this look safe? JT is drivin!
Found a chef set that I bought for Addy a long time ago so broke it out!