Archives for July 2009

Bathroom Makeover Step 2 Day 1

July 31, 2009 by Amy 1 Comment

Scott started on the tile and toilet replacements today. He was able to rip up what we had and cut and place all the tiles. Tomorrow will be the grouting. It will be several days before we (he) can install the toilet. I feel weird saying toilet so much. Commode? It doesn’t seem much better.

I didn’t get a great picture of the before because he started before I got home but we had a white linoleum you can see here:

After the rip out. Please notice the mint green our bathroom and bedroom walls were when we moved in 5 years ago:

Tiles are placed:

Assuming that we won’t be here more than five years we went with the most affordable and neutral tile we could.

And yes, we have a very small bathroom. It’s one of few things I don’t like about this house.

More Face Painting

July 30, 2009 by Amy 1 Comment

Bath this morning and then face paint…of course. It’s like make-up for kids! Emma insisted I put these on the Internet. Just in case someone else wanted to do it like this. I feel a blogger in the making.

I have no idea what Emma’s is. I tried copying some random design on the Internet. I really needed to airbrush a base, but you know, I do what I can.

Lexi had two swishes on the bottom that made the whole thing look like a heart but she washed it off.

Renovation Progress

July 29, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

The Bathroom

Scott went and picked up the mirror yesterday. So excited that it is here. I feel the need to mention we got it for free again. Thanks, again and again to my friend.
I ordered the lighting yesterday but it’s back-ordered for a week. I can’t do anything to the mirror until I get the lighting.
We bought the tile on Monday night. Scott will be installing it as well as the new toilet and molding this weekend.

The Kitchen

We got a quote on the laminate counter top. The lady said it’d be just as cheap to get it formed instead of Scott buying sheets and trying to do it himself. $675 to get it formed and Scott would still need to cut out the sink hole. I called today to get the quote on just the sheets. $85 for all of it. Just as cheap? She’s crazy and Scott will be at least attempting to do it himself. Worse case, we trash it and spend the money and we’re out less than $100. For $85 why have I waited so long??
We still need to go look for glass tile for the back splash. I’m going to allow myself to spend extra here if the counter top works out.
Turns out Scott and I disagree heavily on the sink. He still wants stainless steel even though Sally suggested an almond/biscuit porcelain. I’ll have to decide this before the counter top.
I’m having a hard time finding a rug.
I need to finalize and order the lighting.
Mom found a lamp for my yellow cabinet for $15. Score! (See below)

Bedroom

We bought a new picture for above the bed for $50 (!) and moved the existing one to the other wall.
I got quotes on getting the closet doors replaced with mirrored doors. Not sure if I mentioned that recommendation on the original post. It was going to be $800 for both closets. I nixed that idea quickly.
The only other thing sitting out there is we’d like to get a flat screen so we can get all the electronics off the large dresser. We may just have to treat ourselves for our anniversary for this. But shhhh…Scott hasn’t heard that idea yet.

Again, see the original plan here.

Face Paint

July 29, 2009 by Amy 1 Comment

I took Emma and Lexi to the store today to pick out toys so they could use their own money. They both had about $10. Lexi got Barbie stuff but Emma got makeup and face paint. Emma had a very specific thing in mind for her face paint. I followed her directions specifically but it looks a little like an amoeba crawling on her face. I think she was trying to describe one of Heather’s from a fair last year. Lexi is supposed to be a cat that we copied from a random site. She washed it off about 2 minutes after putting it on. And mine…I asked for a butterfly and Emma did her best. No matter how it looks, we had fun and it was a different activity than normal.

I can’t say I’m not tempted to copy one of these full butterfly patterns on my own later. Who says face paint is only for fairs?

The Bachelorette: After the Finale

July 27, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

Not to be confused with After the Final Rose.

So, as predicted, I’m ok with Ed. But as well spoken as the guy is, I was a little disappointed with his proposal. Even Reid’s comment about what was going on there without him was wrong was more moving. Nevertheless, I think Jillian and Ed or “Jed” as some hardcore fans might say will be quite happy.

I was a tad disappointed with her not picking Reid after him coming back for her. It would have been good drama for her to pick him and he’s such a cutie. He will make someone very happy. As for Kiptyn, after I saw the home visit I was sure it wasn’t going to be him.

As much as I twittered about the show tonight, there’s not too much left to say. Although I have to end with mentioning the funniest 2 seconds of Bachelorette history. The shot of the volcano at the end of Ed and Jillian’s date was probably unnecessary and unprofessional but I was laughing for the entire commercial. And then? The tweet at the end of the show: Cue the volcanoes!

For a season I hadn’t planned to watch, I have to say it was a good one. Congrats, Jed!

The Bachelorette: Thoughts Before the Finale

July 27, 2009 by Amy Leave a Comment

Even though it’s Ed and Kiptyn in the finale, we all know Reid shows up tonight. We also know that someone has a secret and things go awry. I have no idea what that means. Even RealitySteve doesn’t know what it means this year.

But since I didn’t get to blog last week, here are my thought going into tonight.

She still has great chemistry with Kiptyn and I think she likes him. It just worries me that she worries too much about him and doesn’t seem to be 100% comfortable.

For Ed, she seems 100% herself but I do know there are rumors swirling about a girlfriend back home so he might be the one with the secret. He also seems to be a sweet talker and I just wonder when reality sets in and he’s not all the time convincing her how much he’s thinking about her what will happen.

As for Reid, I really, really like Reid. I was sad to see him go last week. I really think they are great together. I love how she is giddy with him. Their lifestyles seem to mesh. Reid just lacks the ability to commit and communicate, all of which I think can be taken care of with time.

All that said though, a tiny part of me is rooting for Kiptyn so I can say “I called that”. Part of me is rooting for Ed because they seem like they’d make a great couple. And then a larger part is rooting for Reid because he’s the underdog and well, I just think he went too soon.

So, all in all, I think I’ll be A-ok with any of the 3 and trust me, this is the first year I’ve ever not cared very much. Which leads me to think…maybe if I’m not convinced on any of the 3 that she really shouldn’t pick any of them.

Seven minutes to go for me and I can’t wait to see how it goes down.

iPhone Purse

July 27, 2009 by Amy 9 Comments

Etsy.com has a few really cute iPhone purses but none of them were quite what I wanted. I’m not a fan of belt clips and a lot of times, don’t even have anything to clip it to. That left me carrying my phone or sticking it in one of my pockets which left me with unwanted bulk. [Cue that commercial with the phones in their back pockets.]

I simply wanted a phone on a strap. I wanted a plastic front so I could use my touch screen and I wanted to be able to put it upside down in the pouch so all I had to do was tilt it towards me to see the screen. In other words, I wanted to be as lazy as possible.

I mentioned it to Dani’s mom who had a small business making custom purses for people. She was intrigued enough and had a prototype a week later. A day later, I had this:

While not the MOST stylish thing ever (well, except the back because that zebra and lime green monogram is CUTE), it was FANTASTIC while I was cleaning the house the other day. It has been great while running in a store without needing my entire purse. And really is there any kind of phone holder that is stylish??

I just thought it was fun actually designing something and seeing it happen. Well, Dani’s mom of course designed all the technical specs but you know. I just wish I could sew and do this kind of stuff on my own.

And for the record, she’s willing to make more. She said she could make it all fabric and could make it any size to fit any kind of phone so let me know if you’re interested.

It’s Going Swimmingly

July 27, 2009 by Amy 1 Comment

Well we’ve had a good month with our pool. After a week with the cover on and blazing temperatures it was NINETY FOUR degrees yesterday. It felt more like a hot tub to the point you had to keep half your body out of the water just to breathe properly. I love it though. 89 is my favorite temperature and anything above that is just icing on the cake.

The girls are improved so much in just a few weeks.

Lexi was technically swimming at the end of last year. But this year…oh boy. She’s swimming and now diving. She does canon balls, belly flops, back flops and literal dives into the pool. One time she did such a perfect dive I was scared she had hit her head. We nixed those dives and she can only dive straight out from the steps. She will do pretty much anything you ask her to. I help her do handstands and front flips because the poor girl is too little to get to the bottom on her own. She really amazes me with her fearlessness and Mom is insistent she should be getting with a coach on diving/swimming.

Emma has had a harder time. She has been swimming above water for a while. The thing with her is she hasn’t quite mastered blowing air out of her nose so she’s had to do underwater things while holding her nose. Most of the summer she’s been barely jumping off the side, making sure to go feet first and trying to keep her head above water. She was swimming above water as much as possible and only going under when we’d really challenge her.

Well, last week she finally put on a mask that covered her eyes and nose and wow, what a difference. She is now swimming underwater and doing her own canon ball. And then today…she started doing flips underwater on her own. And then all the sudden she did THREE flips without coming up all on her own. And she’s trying really hard to get to the bottom to do a handstand.

So, all in all, it feels really good that the kids are swimming so well. All the pool trouble has been worth it just for the girls to be comfortable in and around water.