Let the home projects begin

Okay,
So I have been promising home projects and because it's summer and nice out, not much time is being spent indoors to get things done. However, I did find an hour or two to spruce up our upstairs bathroom today.  A few things to know about it:
- The only room in the house that hasn't been totally redone
- It's very 70's ish - complete with shell sink (see below)
- My color scheme was off

So, everything in my house is warm fall colors (rust, mustard, sage, etc.) except for the bathroom. It's tan and I had a green blue shower curtain, sea foam green rugs, and some really old pictures.  Probably had this bath set for about 6 years.

My mother in law recently shopped for a new shower curtain (and by recently I mean 9 months ago!) and gave me one she purchased and couldn't return, because she didn't care for it. I love it, it matched the rest of my decor and I have just failed to put it up because I knew I had to then get new rugs, towels and artwork - which can add up.

Cue birthday money (gift card to Target) and a few good clearance deals and we have a NEW Bathroom.  Granted, we still need a new vanity, sink and light fixture, but our house (like almost everyone's) is a constant work in progress.

Here are some before pictures:

Baby Blue, Sea Foam Green, and White Curtain/Green Rugs

Pictures are nice, but very water spotted as they are in the bathroom and have no glass on them

This picture is well.... outdated but it matched so I kept it up

This is the lovely shell sink. In person it's like a faded nasty yellowish color

And the simple light fixture - both the sink and fixture stay for now, but will be replaced some day

And here are the AFTERs:

Colorful curtain in my classic decorating colors, new black rugs which bring out the black diamonds on the floor

These mirrors were on Clearance at Target. I subscribe to some design blogs and apparently decorating with multiple mirrors of all shapes and sizes is all the rave. I wanted to do this in the bathroom so felt really blessed when I got to Target and found the last two mirrors on clearance! I thought about antiquing these as well but have to research how to do that!

This wall now has no picture. I have ideas but haven't found what I like, I would love to buy some fabric that accents the curtain and frame it on this wall.... still searching. For now, it's a blank canvas.

Stay tuned.... I hope to paint my pantry and closet this weekend. If I get to it. I promise to post pics!

Other things we hope to accomplish: Staining the deck in the next month. Finishing our wood floors on the stairs and hallway upstairs.  These are both more involved!

Hope you all had a GREAT July!

The Pool

I love the pool! The weather has been super duper hot here the last few days. The only way you can play outside and enjoy it is if you go to the pool! So, that is where we have spent our evenings. It's so fun to see Eli jumping through fountains and sliding down slides.  He is much more outgoing in the water this year. Last year he was a little "cautious" which was a bit frustrating for me, I must say. I just wanted him to swim and jump because I knew how much fun he could be having.  So, this year, it's awesome to see him enjoying the play areas and even the other kids.

One thing he totally doesn't get is lines. At the sides, I say "Get in line honey"  He just stands there and lets all the kids keep walking in front of him and when there is a brief break in the action, he finally brings up the rear and is the last kid down. Although he doesn't seem to mind! I jsut tell him, "Stand behind this little girl/boy and after they go, you can go." But if another child approaches, he just moves out of the way and lets them in!  It's really quite sweet that he is thinking of others (at least that's what I like to believe!) but it also leaves me a bit baffled because the other kids are pushing, shoving and cutting in line, which is what I fully expected him to be. That's just normal kid behavior.

Anywho, I know I promised home projects and they will come. On the list, painting pantries and closets on the main level, a step we skipped when we moved in. But I am really looking forward to this one: Painting Eli's dresser. May sound boring to some, but I bought a nice oak dresser at an antique shop. It was inexpensive and little beat up, but very sturdy and I thought it would be a good starter for him.  So, we use it and it works great but I have been inspired to paint it a sunny yellow (Banana Split is the paint color).  There isn't a lot of yellow in his room, just hints of it here and there so I thought that would be fun to accent with.  And it sits in front of his window which dons chocolate brown curtains - so it will really pop! I subscribe to a few home remodel, design blogs and seeing what some have done with dressers got me thinking.... It may flop, but I will journal all of my progress.  More on that in a few weeks!

Tim is gone for a week. He is chaperoning our youth group to Youth Camp in Oklahoma.  We are in between  youth pastors and since he used to be our youth pastor, they asked him to fill in.  It's a lot of work driving, overseeing and being the man in charge of the teenagers for a week.  He's fully capable, but it really is exhausting. So, please keep them in your prayers this week if you think of it.  Also, the heat down there is in the 105 degree range and they do spend time outdoors in the afternoons.  So, pray for safety, strength and SLEEP!!!

Bad Blogger

I just thought I would take a moment to confess that I am a bad blogger because I haven't posted in several weeks now.

So, here is quick fill in on what's been happening.

Coming back from vacation in June was like the harshest reality check I have had in a while. I am not sure what caused it but was thinking that it was the first vacation I took since taking on two part time jobs. So, I think coming back and getting into the swing of both jobs and house cleaning and all the other mom/wife duties just took me for a loop.  Which also testifies to the fact that we really did a whole lot of nothing on vacation, exactly what was needed! But my mind wasn't ready to engage so quickly into a normal routine!

After that it was just busy! Tim and I both have been busy at work and putting in extra hours, making our time together pretty slim.

And before we knew it the Kole Family Reunion had arrived!  That was a great time of connection and fun! It was so good to catch up with family and see the kids play.  Rook was my favorite, so a huge thank you to the youngest Roskamp cousin for bringing cards! I hadn't played in years and it's one of my all time favorite card games!

So, since then, we came home to a very sick puppy. She is finally on the mend.  Stella stayed with Tim's mom over the weekend of the reunion and she ate their doggies food (which she has done many times before).  The vet said she just had a reaction to it which ensued uncontrollable diarrhea for several days. Poor girl!  She was quarantined to the outdoor areas for several days.  I think she is finally over it, on an antibiotic and special rice/chicken diet!  I gave her another bath today (fourth time this week!) and think that should be the last one for a while.   I have some friend that are groomers and they are going to supply me with some ointment to help with the "rawness" factor (enough said about that!)

Hope you are all amazing and that you have a very happy Fourth of July! We plan to chill out as much as possible this week because Tim is leaving next Sunday to take 9 kids from our church youth group to Oklahoma City for Youth Camp for a week!  Back in the saddle of youth ministry for a week :)......

Much love,
C

p.s.  I am going to take on some remodel projects here soon (some of them firsts!) so will post pictures and progress!

Vacation

Well, one of the things I like is VACATION!  We recently took a trip out to the Black Hills. Tim's grandfather has a cabin up in the mountians by Hills City.  We got to stay there which was awesome. It's beautiful, quiet 2 bedroom cabin with a full living room and kitchen with running water and all the appliances you need. So, we set up shop, cooked there, slept there, played there and of course did some sightseeing as well.

We went to Old McDonald's Farm - a petting zoo/farm place where you can get up close and personal with the farm animals, complete with pig races, tractor rides and pony rides. Best part is that one day's admission (about $10 a person) is good for three consecutive days. So, you can enjoy it more than once. We also went to the Ellsworth Air Force Base Air Show (free admission, expensive food!) and Evans Plunge (I don't recommend this pool/waterpark).  All in all we had a great time and spent our evenings relaxing in the quiet mountains.

We had beautiful weather - 70's in the daytime and 40's at night - perfect!  But what most of you want is pictures - so here are a few! (couldn't figure out how to rotate a few of them, so do the "head tilt")

Happy to be at the cabin

Picking up pine cones

Playing with his favorite cars

In front of the cabin sign

Fishing

Dad showing E the ropes

Petting the baby goats

Feeding the goats

Pony ride at Old McDonald's Farm

A tractor/train ride (his favorite part!)

Chillaxin' in the hammock at the cabin

Photo op with dad!

Posing for the camera

Photo op with mom!

Having fun together...

Great friends

We feel so blessed to have some amazing friendships with co-workers, family and people we worship with at church. They afford us opportunities to build relationships, expand our mindset, challenge our thinking.... and occassionally do something we never would have been able to.

Tonight, a friend of ours from church, who is a pilot and flies F-16's, allowed Tim and Eli to come out and watch the planes take off.  The boys had a great time! Tim also got to invite some co-workers and their kids.  Although I was not able to go, I am so glad "the boys" could spend some quality time together watching the planes! I talked to Eli on the phone afterward and he was clearly excited, telling me all about the planes and how they had to go to bed, so sadly they were on their way home to see me!  It was priceless.... And since a picture is worth more than a thousand words....

Eli is sitting on our friend's lap (Josh) inside an observatory vehicle.  Tim's co-workers are taking a photo opp on the passenger side :) Even Tim was grinning ear to ear when he got home!

Eli's Music

We had some open houses to go to this past week and spent a little time in the car.  Eli loves music and that is something I adore about him. He loves to drum and when he doesn't have drums in front of him, he plays the air drums. Lately though, he has been starting to sing alot and make up songs. He catches lyrics pretty quickly.

Please excuse the video quality -it's from my phone :( That's a whole 'notha story

Here he is in the car this past weekend singing: Something Holy by Stellar Kart

Reading

Well another thing I have really started to enjoy is reading.  I got a Kindle this past Fall, right before Thanksgiving and that pretty much sealed my love for reading.  The books are cheaper and the device is portable (not that books aren't, but multiple books on one device is ideal) which makes it easier to bring everywhere.

I have read a lot of great books in the last 6 months, but the most recent I have read and really loved is called: Unplanned.  This book is about a gal who used to work for Planned Parenthood, a pro-choice Christian, and loved the work she did there. However, after a change in her life and the company, she is now pro-life. It follows her journey through several years of this process of change. I am always a sucker for true stories, so this was right up my alley!

I encourage everyone to give this book a chance if you're a reader.  No matter which side of the "fence" you are on, you are bound to learn some new things about the other side. I know I did!

 The next book I want to read is called: Signs of Life. Another true story.....