Just what you always wished for...

Another post about my new house... I know you are all so excited! Yesterday, Drew and I took a trip out to Ikea (he has to go again today, but that is a really long story). Here are a few items that we picked up today:

This is the new computer desk. It goes in the corner and closes everything up so that you don't have to look at the computer if you don't want to. I plan on getting Drew another small table or desk for reading and grading papers at some point. Me, I am a "curl up in a comfy chair" type of reader. I tried to put this desk together last night, and one of the pieces is the wrong piece, so, Drew has volunteered to drive back out there this morning to pick up the right piece. He is such a sweetie!

This is one of the pillows I bought to go on the new couch in the living room. It looks fantastic. I love that it has houses - kind of symbolic, don't you think? I also got some really cool pillows for the den too, but the photo on Ikea's website was kind of crappy.

And we got a new duvet and duvet cover. It is really hard to see the detail here, but it is cream colored and light brown, with a kind of wheat pattern. This photo seriously does not do it justice! I can not wait to get my bed moved so I can make my bed. How often do you hear someone say that?? (Especially me!)

We also got a kitchen cart to act as an island for a little more counter space. I had to get the small one, otherwise we wouldn't be able to open the stove and the fridge at the same time, haha. I picked up some rugs for the bathroom and the hallway, although I think the hallway ones are about half the length too short, and the bathroom ones are a bit too large. I looked at curtains and was absolutely disgusted by how expensive they were. $120 is TOO MUCH for one room of curtains! I know, I know... curtains are expensive. Yeah, well, my dining room is fully outfitted with curtains that cost me a mere $30, and they are beautiful. So, my goal today is not only to get a bunch of stuff packed, but to make a run to target to look at curtains. I have this thing against being in the house when it is dark and having no window coverings - I also don't want to move in my stuff where everyone can see in, so, it has become a priority, haha.

Well, off to work! Check in later for more kayaking photos!

Photo Post #1 - Kayaking Adventure

Well, for some reason Blogspot is being difficult tonight with the photo uploads, and I can only upload 5 of my wonderful kayaking photos. More tomorrow though, promise.
Drew and I had such a wonderful time in Missouri, as usual! I love getting to spend time with his family, and honestly enjoy all the different things we get to do while we are there! It was so nice this past week to not have to worry about anything! Drew and I greatly needed a week off from house repairs! But back to the daily grind tomorrow - electrician at 8:30am!

Check out my etsy site for new updates - www.tothemeasure.etsy.com

Boating Extravaganza

Dear Sunday School Class,
You guys rock. I know these pictures kind of suck, but they are here for your enjoyment none the less. If you click on the photo, a larger image will show that you can save for your very own.
Thanks for being awesome!
Love,
Marcie

More updates... it's getting close!

So, pretty soon, I will actually be posting photos of the "nested" living space, but we are getting close! Here are the latest updates:

This is the den, on the wall where our tv will go. There was a panel that was missing the wood, so, I covered it with the below fabric. I adore it. I haven't finished putting the quarter round back up because I didn't have any nails, but I got those today, so, that is on the to do list for tomorrow.

Here is the fabric from Make. Seriously, check out that store, it rocks!!

The bathroom is really coming along! You can see the tile work in this photo... simple and clean! They are hoping to finish up tomorrow - cross your fingers!

Our bedroom and the paint color we chose. In this room, I have high hopes, but I don't know if I will actually get to everything before we move in. I kind of want to paint the ceiling a very light blue color. On the windows, thanks to an idea from Joanna, I am going to use sticks as my curtain rods with sheers. It is going to be an "earthy" theme.

And here is our ever growing ball of tape. It is pretty impressive right now. I suppose I should go ahead and throw it away, but when you spend so much money on something, you should get more enjoyment out of it!!

Maybe more tomorrow!

Warning: This might be a long one.

Here are some updates we have made to the house over the past couple of days.

This is a picture of the new light fixtures I bought for the hallways. Hallway #1 has the ceiling completed and light fixture up. Hallway #2 has a single coat of white on the ceiling, and will hopefully be complete tomorrow so I can get the light hung as well. Then I will start working on the walls, which will be the same color as the living room.


Our tub was delivered and installed today, woohoo! In this picture, you can see the cool tile that was on the floor before they put down the larger tile. I love old timey tile! I have no idea where the Ajax came from, because I assure you I have done no cleaning in the house as of yet (although it needs it badly!) I figure it is pointless to clean when there are two guys tracking in dirt all day long, and painter's tape everywhere.


This is the laundry room that I painted today. It is the same color as the kitchen - my new favorite paint color! I feel lucky that the kitchen only took half a gallon so that I could use some in the laundry room as well. Maybe if I am lucky, I can get Drew to agree that this color would look fantastic in the bathroom as well! Who knows... I doubt I will even get to the bathroom until late this week anyway since the guys will be tiling.


This is the box that our tub came in. If I were a kid, I would have SO much fun playing in this box. Instead, I am going to cut it into pieces, take it to school and force my students to create awesome works of art using cardboard! (muahahaha)


Whew, the 4th and final coat of red (well, 3 coats of red and one coat of tinted primer) went up in the office today, thanks to Drew. He still has a bit of touch up work to do around doors and windows, but it is looking fantastic! I can't wait to have an awesome computer desk, book shelves and Drew's screen printed posters up in here!


Here is a picture of the chandelier that we bought to go in the dining room to replace the very tacky one that is there currently (if you love the old one, I am willing to part with it, haha). Now all the light fixtures in the house will match! I am so excited to see this up. In the photo, it looks brassy, but it is more of an oxidized iron finish. I think it will look really amazing with the green walls and my dining room table! I can't wait to have dinner guests!!


Here is a photo of my latest art endeavor. Lindsey, if you read this, I could really use some arty advice. I don't think it feels finished, but I don't know how to finish it!

Now on to eat dinner, watch some tv and crash! One week til Missouri! Yay!

New family member!

My aunt Jerri has finally gotten confirmation on a travel date to China to adopt another beautiful little girl! We are filled with excitement for Jerri and Grace, and are also very prayerful as they make their journey to China. I wish I could go with you!! Her name will be Anabel, and she is currently 10 years old. I am pretty sure she likes red things, which is cool cause red is a good color. She is also wearing cool pants in this photo and apparently likes peace a lot, haha... as you can see we don't know much about her! But as with Grace, all that will change as soon as this little girl is immersed in our crazy family!

The whole adoption process has brought up a lot of emotion in our family (especially Jerri) - excitement, nervousness, hope, and a lot of nostalgia. My aunt Jana, as I have previously written, passed away over a year ago. It was incredibly difficult on our family, and we still miss her terribly. She was the instigator of a love for China in our family. She adopted beautiful Darcey, and also traveled with her two girls (Gillian and Darcey) and Jerri to China to bring Grace home. Because of her, Jerri developed a passion for this country and for the children it so flippantly disregards. Because of them both, I am soon to be the proud cousin of 3 CAP's as Gillian calls them - Chinese American Princesses, hehe.

If you would like to donate to help Jerri and Grace out with their travel expenses, please do so here:


You can also visit Jerri's blog here to learn more about their journey and all of the latest developments.

I can't wait to meet the three of you in the airport in just a few weeks!

A Photojournalistic Approach to Homeownership

This will be someone's Christmas present. It could be you... if you are lucky!

My view as I walk in my house. Isn't it beautiful? Now, imagine it with white linen curtains on the windows in the green dining room and antique plates displayed on the wall behind my beautiful dining room table. *sigh*

This is the new light fixture for the entry way. I ADORE this light fixture. I want all of the matching ones...

Here is a matching one that I bought for the hallways. (Well, I bought 2 of them actually). They are larger in diameter, but shorter I believe from ceiling to tip. Anyway, they will be BEAUTIFUL and they were such a bargain! I really (REAAAAAAAALLLLLLY) want to get the matching chandelier!

Today I started painting in the kitchen (more photos soon), and here is what I discovered when I took off a switch plate. How hideous!!! Who would paint their kitchen that horrid color????

This is one of the Brandons, as we have been calling them, working on my plumbing in the bathroom. God bless Brandons.

List of what was accomplished today:

-Finished painting the mantle.
-Watered the lawn (for too long... oops)
- Bought bathroom light fixtures, hallway light fixtures, and entry way light fixtures
- Finished painting the ceiling in Hallway B
- Started painting (1st coat) the ceiling in the kitchen
- Taped off the kitchen to paint tomorrow
- Drew completed the 2nd coat on the red in the office... but ran out of paint (sad day)
- The Brandons removed the bathtub from the bathroom
- The Brandons found looooots wrong with the wiring in the bathroom
- The Brandons fixed the plumbing in the bathroom

-(non-house related) Girl's Bible Study - discussion of the power of praying for your husband - amazing. I seriously love the girls in my Sunday school class and I am so thankful to be able to meet with them every Thursday!

To Do:
-Sleep.

Homeownership: Day 7

Again, no photos because I forgot to take my camera, but I wanted to update specifically to thank Rebecca and Jeremy for all of their hard work today in our beautiful home. I am so excited about all of the work we got done today!

I spent the morning with the girls (G, G and D). We went over to the house to water the grass, played charades in an empty room while we were there, ran a bunch of errands and went back to Meme and Papa's for lunch. I ran out to Home Depot to meet Papa and get a couple of gallons of paint for the dining room and kitchen, and then back to the house.

Drew got a quote today for garage doors. Looks like we might have to sell our souls to make that happen, but the quote at least gives us something to save up for. It is going to be expensive!! Looks like the bikes and lawn equipment might be finding a home in the laundry room for a while.

Jeremy and Drew got all of the marble removed from the bathroom, but sadly, it did not all make it out in sheets like we had hoped. I am just so glad to have that part of the project finished. Now we just have to get the bathtub out, which looks like it might be more of a trial than we were expecting. Apparently, the previous owner put in the toilet AFTER the bath tub was in, and now Drew is going to have to saw off part of a board to get the tub to go sideways so we can get it out of the door. Right now, if you have to go to the restroom, you have to sit sideways, so, I hope it gets out of there soon!

Rebecca and I got the dining room 1st coat of paint completed today. It is a beautiful green color called Boston Fern. I think it will go nicely with my dining room table and with the other colors we have chosen in the house.

It is so nice to walk in the door and see fresh paint in such beautiful colors! I should take a picture of what it looks like when I walk in the door.

I met another neighbor today. I think her name was Joanna, but I am so bad at remembering people's names the first time. She started telling me about how stupid her dog is (Em, it is a really cute pug!), and then about how her son is in the hospital because he had a stroke, and another one of her son's died 4 years ago. All in all, it was a very depressing conversation, but she is old and drives a cool car, so, all is forgiven.

Well, I am off to shower and watch some tv on dvd... perhaps some Bionic Woman or CSI. More tomorrow!

Homeownership: Day 6

I never thought the day would come when I would be happy it was raining so that my grass would get some water... man, home ownership does crazy things to your brain!

So, here are some updates to our house process. It is a very slow process, but I can finally see things changing, so, I am still hopeful, although incredibly tired of cutting in. It used to be so much fun to paint my room... but now I have like 10 rooms to paint and the task seems daunting! And oh the checks I have been writing. There should be a warning label on the house when you get the keys that says "warning: prepare to write an abundance of checks with too many digits!" But that is just my tiredness talking.

I also have a growing list of injuries. I was hurting my feet all over the place, but I was lucky enough to get some new shoes yesterday so that I don't have to step on any more screws, or kick any more sprinklers, or the other stupid things I did. I also have bruises all over the place... Most of which are of unknown origin. One of them happened when I was trying to get the paint roller off the roller frame and slammed my arm into the sink. As most of you know, I am allergic to EVERYTHING, so, I am constantly itchy from all the crap we are stirring up in the house and lawn. Un-house related - I also think I could have possibly broken my pinky today... turning my steering wheel trying to get into the hideous parking space reserved for me at the apartment complex. It hurts :( And my cat bit me last night (I think he needs some attention). Enough whining... let's see some photos!!

Here is the painted mantle and living room. I think it turned out very nicely. Now if I can just figure out how to get the fire place to look less... dirty. Well, I guess I'll just have to get over that, huh? The card on the mantle is a VERY sweet New home card from Lynda. I love cards!

This photo is of our ever growing painter's tape ball. It is currently about 8 inches wide, and that is just from the living room (although it is a very large living room, and the tape isn't balled too tightly)

These lovely boxes contain the tiles for our bathroom. Amazing how such simple items can cost so much! In this picture, there are 1050 tiles. Can you believe it? I am really looking forward to taking a shower in a brand new tub!!

This is the first coat of the "Daredevil" red for the office. When I was describing the color to Drew before he saw it, I told him it was Daredevil red, not Superman red. It is amazing how marriage makes you adapt to another person. Before, i would have chosen other descriptors, but with my wonderful sweetie, comic books are a better way to relate, haha.

Bathroom demolition, stage 1. We (and by we, I mean Drew and Jeremy) removed the cabinet above the shower and the top sheet of marble. Amazingly enough, they got it off without cracking it! Tomorrow the rest comes off... hopefully. Jeremy and Rebecca, have I mentioned how much I appreciate you both?

Papa came over today and we got the wall oven removed. I am very glad to see that there is wood behind it and plenty of room for a few shelves for a microwave and my kitchen aid mixer. I also chose the paint colors for the dining room and kitchen today, although they have not been purchased. I decided to make the dining room a pretty sagey green color, and the kitchen will be a greenish blue color. Next step, call Joanna and get her expert help on the bedroom!

More updates soon!

Etsy is awesome.

I want to tell all of my wonderful friends about an encounter I have had this week on Etsy. (Etsy.com check it out if you do not know what I am talking about... it rules).

A seller named BayMoon Studio had an awesome (thing) that I had been thinking about for weeks to get as a small thank you gift for my awesome realtor, Katrina. Sue, the owner of the etsy shop I am speaking of, was INCREDIBLY helpful, and shipped my "order" (long story, but Sue really rocks!) super fast! I received it today, and seriously can not wait to take it to Katrina! If it weren't already 10:20 and I thought Jackson wasn't asleep, I would go by and hand deliver this little piece of awesomeness.
Seriously, check out her stuff here.
Here is an example of other things she does:


Here are some other things that I really want to get on Etsy:

This is a totally cute kitty food bowl from creaturecomfort.etsy.com I think Clark would totally dig eating out of this master piece!

Ok, I seriously wish I had thought of this... and I seriously wish I had one! How cool is this knitted dissected froggie made by CraftyHedgehog.etsy.com

Cool reusable grocery bags from baggreen.etsy.com

These are cute moving announcements from hadleygetscrafty.etsy.com I love that there is a bird, and that they talk about nesting... cause that is totally what I do.This is a rubber address stamp from sweetpaperie.etsy.com Rebecca, this is the one I was telling you about tonight. She has a lot of different options, and I love them!



Don't forget to check out my shop too! ToTheMeasure.etsy.com

Home Ownership Day 2

Well, today was exciting and busy. Our dear friend Jeremy came over and was very encouraging and helped us start the demolition on our bathroom. It already looks better!!! We got the top cabinet out and the marble around the front... now we just have the 3 huge sheets on the side walls and the tub to get out. But we needed an alan (allen? Allan?) wrench to remove the water fixtures, so, we had to stop and go eat... which was probably a good thing cause I feel much better after some fries and a Dr. Pepper!

We also worked on painting a little more. We got a coat of tinted primer up in the office, and most of a first coat of the red color we chose. It is going to be really pretty once it is solid color instead of the blotchy-ness it is now. Plus, the color is called Red Pepper, which made me smile. You know me and cool paint color names!

I haven't taken any photos of any of the work we have done yet cause I didn't remember to take my camera today, but hopefully I will get a few posted tomorrow.

Tomorrow, our plan is to go on a hunt for a bath tub. I found one I really want, but it is a little over my desired price range... but with the people we found to do the labor, we might be able to afford it. The same tub at Lowes is about $150 cheaper than at Home Depot! Do they do price matching?

We are also going to go check out Discount Home Warehouse which is owned by friends of family friends. They take stuff out of houses that are being Demolished and salvage certain useable things. I think we might be able to find a bathtub here, and possibly some cool light fixtures.

I have also heard some great things about the Habitat for Humanity outlet, so, we might go check that out too.

And then of course... FIREWORKS! I love 4th of July! I could go see Fireworks every day!

I think by the time we are done with this house, I will have the thighs of wonder woman!

Day 1 of Home Ownership

The picture in the previous post... well, that room is now painted. And I am too tired to write anything else! Well, one more thing - we got a quote on redoing the bathroom, and it is going to rock.
That's all. More tomorrow.
Goodnight Never Never Land.

Home Owners!

Well, we did it! Drew and I officially purchased our first home today. I am so excited! This is now MY mantle, where my art work will hang, and my family's christmas stockings will hang, and where I will lay by the fire, and much more! I am so excited!! Come over if you want to paint (it's so fun, you can't believe it!)