Thursday, March 28, 2013

Good Gravy!

Good Gravy is a term I seem to be using ALOT lately.  Probably a little old fashioned but with three little sponges parrots kids running around it is certainly a better choice than the words I really want to say.   I was hoping by this time I would be excitedly displaying pictures of my new built in cabinets that were nearly completed but this is all I got at the moment:
 Oh...what is this you ask?....why of course its the pile of lumber we bought to make the cabinets...but it still sits in our garage untouched......
 And this?.....its my dining room now being used as a make shift toy storage room.....
And there my friends is what has been accomplished in the office this week.......ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (insert GIANT frown)!!!........GOOD GRAVY!!!

My husband had vacation last week and the plan was to do nothing but work on the cabinets.......so why aren't they done you ask?......well its like this.....our week of nothing turned into the week of nothing but chaos.  Which in our house should be nothing new when you have a fireman husband, a wife who works around the husbands already goofy schedule, and three little ones who each have their own little schedules of school, sports, and other activities...now throw in some bouts of life happens, extended family functions, and time with friends and there you have it!!    Often it feels like our life is just one big game of tag...you're home~oh good~Tag You're it!!  We even refer to ourselves as "the tag team" and our way of parenting as "tag team parents"......its actually been WAY better since I lost my job....my new job isn't nearly as time consuming, demanding, and stressful but still it does take time away from my family and provides the "tag team" environment we've become accustomed to.   I'm not complaining....our schedule definitely has way more benefits to it than cons.....I'm just explaining its a very different life than what most people are used to and often is very CHAOTIC!!!

Oh yah....so back to why the cabinets aren't done.....so besides the normal chaos, less my husband being off for the week, my in-laws (father in law and step mother in law) were coming back from spending a few months in Arizona so we were planning on picking them up from Buffalo.  Well on the same day my other mother in law also decided to come into town from Arizona to attend a funeral and rather than fly into Rochester thats only 30 minutes away she also decided to fly into Buffalo but on a different plane that would land 3.5 hours earlier in the day.  Normally that wouldn't be an issue as we would just hang out at the airport but apparently that wasn't going to work this time.....so now my husband has to drive 1.5 hours to the airport, pick up my mother in law and travel her 2 hours to attend a wake that evening while I am left to get the kids off the bus, immediately pack them up in the car, drive to Buffalo, pick up my in-laws, drive them 3 hours back home then drive 1 hour from their house back to our house, fit in dinner while on the road, and get the kids in bed hopefully by 10pm which is WAY too late on a school night but apparently the only option......GOOD GRAVY!!.....so needless to say we have been crazy.....my mother in law is unexpectedly now staying with us this week and we have been doing nothing but running around from here to there, and back again......literally yesterday I put my coat on and got in the car at 8:45am and didn't take my coat off until 4pm, then made dinner, ate, put my coat back on and got in the car and came back home at 9:30pm.......to say the least its been a week of the unexpected happenings!!!  So thats why our cabinets aren't done.........such good intentions but throw in a crazy week and there you have it....Good Gravy!!!  I think we'll be taking a few days off just to get caught up on laundry and cleaning around the house (which I should be doing now before I have to leave again and pick up my daughter........I'm just too tired)!!  Anyways...hopefully we'll have some cabinet pictures for you soon.....we definitely have full intentions of getting them done sooner than later!!!

On a side note the model home in our development is done!!
It is practically in our back yard which I don't mind as its adding a bit of privacy to our lot, and we'll still have nothing in our back yard so we keep our nice view of the rolling farm fields and woods!!  The grand opening was this weekend but I have yet to take a peak at the inside.  Its a Milan model with the cottage style front......it looks very nice from the street view.....I can't wait to get in and see what types of decorating inspiration I can get from it!!  We visited a Waverly model not too long ago that was to die for and we certainly came home with a bunch of ideas to add to our list of to-do's.  I should have taken some pictures to share but didn't think of it until just now...........we sooo need some landscaping in our backyard.....oh yah I believe thats on our to do list this spring...Landscaping!!.....thinking perhaps a small burm in the back part of the lot with  some river birch trees, pine trees, maybe a sunburst locust tree someplace in the yard, would love a flowering dogwood in the little corner yard area between our morning room and where the office is........hmmmmmm anyone out there have any trees or landscaping arrangements they love and that have done well in their yard........have you planted them yourselves or hired out......I would love to hire out for our landscaping but think it may be too costly for our budget........would love some inspiration, ideas, and thoughts on DIY or hiring out for the landscaping before the planting season begins.......

well hopefully we will find some time in the coming weeks and I'll have some cabinet pictures for you soon my friends......until then happy decorating and keep all the wonderful ideas coming!!!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Back to Square One

so a few days ago I gave you all a mystery clue for one of my upcoming projects.....unfortunately I'm disappointed that it won't work out after all :-( Initially I got that fabric swatch thinking I would use the fabric to reapholster my grandmothers old wingback chair that I plan on putting in our bedroom some day, but the colors didn't quite work the way I wanted.  They did, however, work awesome in our morning room and I thought they would make excellent valances to replace the existing ones I have now (which I really don't like), and recover the toss pillows in the living room (which I also don't like anymore).  However, now I can't find the fabric online and in store it would cost me a giant fortune to buy the amount of fabric I really needed so I guess I am out of luck with that project.  Probably a good thing as I've been checking out some different possibilities.

Here is my dilemma with the morning room....I love having valances on the windows but I have drapes on the sliding glass door for privacy and I think it looks out of proportion.  Should I forgo having privacy and just continue the valance over the sliding glass as well or should I get rid of the valances and just do drapes on each side of the door and sections of windows?  What have you all been doing with your morning room windows and sliding doors?  Its just one of those projects I can see all sorts of ways and haven't found the exact one that I LOVE!!

SO while I'm asking questions.......I've been seeing blogs about the tile that looks like hardwood floors.  Have you seen this stuff?  I saw it a few months ago in one of the big box stores and didn't care much for it, but that was just looking at a pile of tile....I've been seeing pictures of rooms done with this tile and it looks amazing when its done.  People have been putting it everywhere in their homes; bedrooms, laundry rooms, living rooms,dining rooms, kitchens, entrys and honestly from their pictures it looks like hardwood floors.  So I looked into the reviews of this tile and its been getting excellent reviews as well.  So now I'm considering putting it in our master bathroom so it would look like hardwoods but have the durability of tile.  Have any of you seen this or have any thoughts about it??

Well hopefully I'll have more to blog about soon. I've got a paint swatch next to me that is strongly suggesting I run to the paint store now to get it and start painting!!!

I'll be eagerly waiting to see/read your morning room curtain tips and hardwood tile thoughts!!