Bathroom Remodal is done!

Well, the bathroom remodal is done. Has been for a couple of weeks, really, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it. DH did great work, and I love, love, love, the paint color. The whole bathroom looks like it came out of a bed and breakfast somewhere, which is exactly the feeling I was aiming for. And the price we did it for was unreal, just way low. We shopped around and got some great deals, like Oak molding and trim in a bundle, enough for the whole bathroom, for under $20. And DH added some great details, like you would expect in a craftsman home. Like the rosettes in this pic: And although this pic is way too dark, this corner in the bathroom is not dark. We picked up the dresser at a flea market for $20. Well, my dfil saw it and asked us if we wanted it, and of course we said yes, and it fits this corner perfectly! And it's great for storing towels , etc. I picked up the lamp at a garage sale for exactly one dollar. It was a lovely rococco gold with a pleated shade when I bought it, and now with a little matte spray paint and a glue gun and some fabric, it fits the bathroom perfectly:
Here you can see the tile-DH did a great job, the rows are straight and even, and the tile adds a great base to the room. The last pic is a shot of the sink side of the room. The sink looks soooo much better than the old cabinet that was there before. I love this bathroom now, and it gives me great ideas for the rest of the downstairs!

Old House Remodel

Well, the old house remodel has officially begun, sort of. As is the way with most of these things, it started simply. Smaller Dog likes to play with his water, splashing his paws through it as he drinks, which results in a gigantic puddle around his water dish. We tried to solve this problem by putting the water dish on a boot tray, but that wasn't wide or deep enough to contain the mess he likes to make when he drinks. As a result of this constant mess on the bathroom floor, the self-stick tiles which make up the bathroom floor began to come up. So we decided that we simply had to re-tile the bathroom floor.

Re-tiling was always the plan, I just planned to wait until I actually had the money to do so.When the tiles started coming up, however, the situation got urgent. Here are some pictures, of the bathroom currently, the bathroom at it's worst, and the bathroom pre-remodel.

As you can see, things have gone beyond a tile job. After my dh got the tile up, we discovered that the lovely fake tile on the walls was nothing more than glorified cardboard. And since we hated it anyway, we decided to put up drywall and paint. And then of course we needed a new sink to go with it... Shades of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" , anyone?

In the middle of all this, we all got a lovely case of intestinal flu. So our two-day tile job is now at a week and counting.

When it's done, however, it will put the rest of downstairs to shame, and I can't wait for it to be done, so I can take pictures and share!

Aprons!

A while back, my dmil promised me a box full of old aprons that her dh had inherited from his mother, but didn't know what to do with. I love all things old and feminine, so I went online to check out old aprons, and have since become completely enamored of them-they are so girly, and useful too, especially when you're at home all day with a houseful of children who want to paint, color, play with clay, and "help" you cook.
Blog after blog I found about aprons, which are apparantly enjoying a resurgence in popularity right now.
The following blog is having a mother's day apron giveaway, if anyone wants to enter:
http://maplelane-jan.blogspot.com/
She sells her creations too. Anyway, lots of links there, if anyone wants to go and browse!

Share With Me, Please!!!!!!!!!!

Answer the following questions: Who, What , Where, When, Why, and Seven Things I Will Never Grow Tired Of:

Who: Me: Redeemed, Wife, Mother, Sister, Friend, Day Care Provider
What: Whatever God currently is Providing: It's All Good
Where: In My New House, Of Course!
When: Now, and Future, but never past.
Why: To Please my God and my husband.
Seven Things I Will Never Grow Tired Of: God's Mercy, My children's smiles, My husband's love (never get used to that-how did I get it or deserve it? ) , Rocking babies to sleep, the first green of spring, the first red leaf of autumn, the first snowflake of winter. I could go on...

4:17 A.M.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, with an urgent need to, um, use the facilities, so I grabbed my glasses off the night stand, got out of bed, and crept my way to the door, trying to avoid the major squeaky spots so as not to wake my sleeping husband. As I did, I glanced at the clock: 4:17 a.m. I quietly opened the door, took a step into the hallway, and promptly found myself face down in a veritable pile of puppies. (On a side note, if you're in the market for a family pet, don't pick a black one. They simply disappear at night, leading me to believe that Alice's encounter with the Cheshire Cat was simply an encounter with a black cat in the shadows of a tree's leaves. Silly Alice.)
Now, the nice thing about dogs is that when they sleep, they really sleep. One of them sort of sighed, but they both never moved as I extracted myself from the pile. Once freed, I went down the hall to the restroom, which is equipped with a handy night lite so as not to wake the whole household at 4:17 a.m. This is not one of those plug-in nite lights, but an actual wired-in light with a switch on the wall, with a wattage of about 4 or so. When I was finished, I thoughtfully turned off the light before opening the door. My night vision now truly gone, I stepped outside the bathroom to once again find myself face down in the aforementioned pile of puppies. They seemed to have thought it was funny enough the first time to quietly move down the hall way and lay in wait outside the bathroom door for a repeat performance.
This time, however, they were not quiet about it. "Woo-woo-woo!" said our Malamute, while the black lab did his hound dog imitation:"Roo-roo!" "Shhh!" I told them, then extracted myself from their wagging, licking embrace, and stepped over them. I've had dogs long enough to know what a 4:17 a.m. howl means. Grabbing the wall for support, because I've been here before, I cautiously asked them,"Outside?" and was promptly almost knocked off my feet by two swirling masses of fur competing to be the first to the back door, the lab stopping halfway down the stairs to run back up, circle me, lick my toes, and jump three steps in an attempt to catch up with the quietly confident Mal.
Once they were outside sniffing, I leaned on the back window for a good look at our sleeping neighborhood. The narnia house behind us (my name for it-you can only see a window between several tall trees, but there's a street light near it that casts a permanent glow in the back yard, and in the summer they leave a side window open, and a trick of the breeze causes the curtains to blow out into the yard, giving the illusion that you're inside the house looking out. ) , the totem pole in the yard next to us, and the eternally blinking light in the garage next door.
I let the dogs in, settled them with a treat, and went back upstairs to my warm bed. I lost this particular battle in the war of Who Lets the Dogs Out at 4:17 a.m., but that's alright. Falling face down in a pile of puppies isn't too bad, when they're your puppies.

Random Stuff

Well, we've all had the flu to various degrees here. I think I had it the worst, and when it left, it left behind a nasty sinus thing which I am still struggling with two weeks later. Thank God it wasn't that nasty 1910 flu, which killed thousands of people, but it was bad enough, thanks.
Things tend to get neglected when you move, and the list of things I've neglected due to simple forgetfulness grows longer daily. I recently realized we haven't had the oil changed in the family van since before we moved here in September. I normally have it done every 3ooo miles like clockwork, but for some reason it just escaped me when we moved. So I'll try to have it done on Thursday this week, my only short day of work, currently.
We had a lovely warm day on Sunday, and managed to get all kinds of cool, warm day-like things done: we got the car washed and vacuumed, cleaned out the garage (two dogs in the garage on a long day of shopping equals one messy garage!), picked up trash in the backyard, and dd picked up a weekend babysitting job due to a local mom going back to her weekend seasonal job at the local ice cream place. The dogs got to spend quite a bit of time outside, which meant they both needed baths afterwards. Didn't get them, but then that's on the list for the next free day.
I like spring, but it has a nasty habit of leading to summer, which I just sort of suffer through to get to autumn and winter. I can't stand the humidity of a midwest summer, but it's better, IMO, than the dry heat and various poisonous creatures of a western US summer, and the nasty weather of an eastern US summer, so I'll stick around here, at least until I win the lotto and can afford to travel during the summer. ( Notice I said ," Until I win the lotto"? I have every confidence I'm going to win. Have to, every week when I pay the bills, it's what keeps me going until the next week!)
On the list of neglected things is the two full size quilts I'm currently working on. One has been so frustrating I'm not sure it will ever get done, and the other one is simply awaiting a few spare minutes. Spare minutes are not something I have in great supply; I'm writing this blog post while the daycare kids are playing at my feet, so this time doesn't count. I can't quilt with babies in the room, there are too many spare pieces of thread and needles to chew and choke on.
I recently bought a pair of reading glasses for when I work on my cross stitch. I ignored to need for them for quite some time, but the last time I tried to thread a needle, I ended up poking myself in the finger so many times that I just gave up. Old age threatens, but hasn't won yet!
Well, that's all for now. I'm off to change diapers.

Some things I've learned

Well...Over the years, In spite of the fact that I try really hard to be smart on my own, there are some things I've learned, in spite of myself:
1. Children will learn from what you do, not what you say.If you go to church, they'll think that's the thing to do.
2. Babies will get sick when you least have the time, or the money to go the doctor.
3. Dogs will eat anything.ANYTHING!
4. Emergencies will expand to fit your emergency savings.
5. Your friends and family will be just enough to help you through the rough times. But most friends suck. Stick with God. He's cool, and He's there ALL the time.
6. All those hymns you learned in sunday school will be just what you need to help you up on days you couldn't get up otherwise.
7. God is GREAT!
8. I'd rather have Jesus, than anything... (that's a hymn...)
9. A husband is a gift from God.
10. So are children, and friends...