missing/almost finished!

sorry to be such an absentee blogger, but life has been hectic, to say the least.  in our last stage of closing in our screened-in porch, we decided to get our whole first floor re-finished.  they're amazing!! moving out for a loooong weekend to my parents, cramming all of the furniture into the kitchen, bathroom, garage and everywhere else that wasn't being worked on, not so amazing.  but the floors. beautiful!  we haven't let the dogs in because their nails need clipped, i want to sweep after every single meal, i love them.  

and we have reached our final stage of adding on: the built-ins.  yippee!!  a storage bench will line the back wall and the windows will be framed by bookshelves.  i took a few pictures just now because i had the time, but will definitely post the finished product (which hopefully will be done by tonight!).  our contractor is doing these himself and surprisingly, we let him kind of do what he thought would look the best.  turns out, he knows what he's doing.  enjoy!! we are... 

blush and bashful

 we have trim and windows!

(did we have windows in my last post about this?)

 view from the room into our dining/living rooms- look at all the space!!

(and the front end of bryan's new mini countryman- don't get him started, he LOVES it)

the last three pictures are there to demonstrate my inability to keep the house clean choose a wall color.  as i mentioned before, i was inspired by a color board on 100 layer cake, and also by nicole for having almost every wall in her chicago bungalow pink without it looking like a cotton candy machine.  so we ventured to lowe's, home depot, and our local benjamin moore store, zeke's.  i could write a whole post about how ridiculously overpriced their paint is, but i won't.  i'm sure it's good paint.  after buying four (4!) different shades of pink, and after bryan telling me "i think it's starting to grow on me...", it was time to move on from my vision.  i said good-bye to shelby and her weddin' colors, bluhsh and baysh-ful, and we went with martha stewart's tahini.  it's the top yellow and it reminds me of butter.  always a good thing.  i was happy to discover that the same colors that i had wanted to put with the pink are going to look just as good with the yellow.  i'm pretty sure this is what the color scheme will be:

and just in case there isn't enough, i may throw a little fuchsia in there...  who knows?

progress!

here today...

gone tomorrow!!

the major wall is down (which makes all the sounds that are being made SO MUCH LOUDER).  the vent guy is here doing his thing.  bryan's working three nights in a row, of course, because doesn't it always work out like that.  and the boys are getting pretty attached to the two main guys that are doing most of the work, scott and noah.

we're continuing our discussion on what color we're going to paint the walls in there, and have decided we're going to re-paint our kitchen while we're at it.  so two new colors!!  i saw this post on 100 layer cake yesterday and got a wild hair to paint one of the rooms a dusty pink, or 1950's pink, as it's labeled there.  i started thinking i'd like it in the kitchen, and was vetoed pretty quickly by bryan.  which i expected, but not because he's a macho beefhead who refuses to let anything feminine into his house (thank god); in his words, "i just don't really like pink."  fair enough.  so then i suggested it maybe in the new room, which i think we'll be calling our sunroom, and he hasn't shot it down quite yet.  i like the idea of something subtle, but obviously still enough color to not think it's just white.  so still a bit down the road, but exciting to think about.  also thinking about a couple or few of these prints, since it's kind of going to be geared towards being a playroom.  i love the jazzman, but it's sold out. :( then don't list it!!

lots of goings-on, and i can't wait!

the start of something big

 yes, people, that's snow. in late march. so not cool.

the dumpster's here.  and what a sight it is...  after a very much anticipated wait, we finally got our permit to close in our screened-in porch!  we're knocking out the wall you see in the last picture and enclosing the rest.  adding a storage bench that will double as a window seat along the back wall, some built-in bookcases, and a cozy rug.  

i am someone who needs to wake up and come down to a clean kitchen and have enough time to unload the dishwasher before the day actually gets going.  right now, our only play area for the boys is down in the basement.  or dungeon, as i sometimes call it, especially on spring days when it's blizzarding outside. (thank you, kansas weather)  so as soon as we come down, we have to have breakfast on the table. and after breakfast is finished, we must get to playing!  which means, on days where it's just me, the dirty dishes pile up in the sink because the dishwasher hasn't been unloaded, i have no motivation to unload it, and then the whole day just unravels.  all because i couldn't have a clean and empty sink.  so i'm being a bit dramatic, but it's mostly true.  i feel like having this room is going to solve all my problems.  it's right off of the kitchen, where i'll be able to see the boys, there will be windows and daylight all around, and i just may be able to enjoy my own breakfast while they play!  hallelujah!

the framing guy is already at work, the boys are enthralled, and bryan and i are so excited.  now all i have to do is convince bryan that the big purple oar doesn't really belong in our dining room.

happy new year to me.

there is no time like the new year to make me feel like i'm going to lose my mind if i see one more piece of clutter/junk/toy we haven't played with in a year/etc in my way.  you start out a pretty organized person,  you have kids, you have no time, blah, blah, blah, your priorities shift (with good reason), and you find yourself up to your ears thinking you should just move instead of deal with it all.  well, since we aren't going to do that (yet), as soon as the boys were back in school (the hallelujah chorus blaring on the pretend blog speakers), we started purging.  not that kind, although i wouldn't mind a quick weight loss plan - kidding!  we started at the top: our closet.  disclaimer: what you are about to see isn't pretty.  i'm not proud of it, and yes, it made me a bit nauseated too.  

holy hell!  we put some tunes on, and were done in a little over an hour.
whoa.  and this is the result:

SEVEN bags full of our clothes to take to good will.  how does it get to be that bad, you ask?  well, i'm one of those people who finds a good shirt and buys one in every color.  i know, i know.  resolving not to be that person anymore.  wasteful.  and although there is still some organizing to do, i thought i'd give you a little relief from the before to the after:

we moved onto the boys' closet, which actually wasn't bad.  i had just thrown all their smaller clothes into a laundry basket in the corner to be put away at a later date.  that being yesterday.  we filled a couple of big bins and moved those into storage.  i won't bore you with the rest (kitchen today, toys/playroom tomorrow), but while we're on the subject of organization, this was my christmas present from bryan:

i've since cut the lower dowel in two and spread out the ribbon,

if you're concerned about the bowing.

which, i'm sure you are.

i'd seen this in martha (of course), and elise just did something similar in her workspace.  my main goal was to have my desk completely clear of clutter.  i saved a few essentials - laptop, picture of my babes when they were brand new, my favorite sharpies, and this anthro candle that will never get old.  in my last post, i wrote that my bf's version of heaven was chocolate and classic movies:  mine would include that candle.  can't get enough.  moving on, i cleared everything else off, including my desk calendar that i love, but was too much to have in front of me all the time.  and the board needs more organizing and adding to, but it's totally working for now.

seven trash bags full of clothes and shoes, two or three boxes of various household appliances/knick-knacks, basically everything but the kitchen sink.  it's a good feeling. resolving to simplify our lives; first step, de-clutter. check.