Randomness

I ran across this today - isn't it beautiful? I wish that we could get one for Sophie's room, as well as the new baby's room, but holy cow a little (or a lot) too expensive for me. Beautiful though. Don't we all wish we were celebrities and when we mention something, they send it to us for free?

Aaron is gone, yet again to the Philippines. Luckily the tropical storm has changed it's course and it's heading there anymore like they were predicting yesterday.

Unfortunately, I think one of our kitties has run away. We haven't ever let them out before and yesterday one (baby kitty as we call her) accidently got out while changing the litter in the litterbox. We've looked everywhere we can think for her and now are just hoping that she comes home on her own... She's sick and doesn't have front claws or most of her teeth, so I worry about what will/would/did happen to her if she gets in a fight. :(

Would Wood Floors Look Funny?

I really appreciate all the ideas I've gotten (on comments and email). Thanks! I know it's a big, time consuming project to update a house, but we'll get there... eventually.

Anyway, we're trying to decide on flooring now. We'd really like to fix our floors before we do too much more to the rest of the house (except for cheap, day projects). So, do you think wood floors would look to crazy in our dining room with all that other wood? Do you think that we should go with something else besides wood, or maybe paint the doors? I just don't know. I really like the idea of wood (especially using bamboo - oowwwhhh, so green-chic), but can't envision it yet with all of the other wood. If we do use wood, should we try to match it to the existing doors in the house or just get what we want and have it a different color (the bamboo would probably be a diff color)?

Thanks for your opinions!! I wish that I had more experience doing this type of thing and could make up my mind!

HELP!

So, as most of you know, we moved into our house last year when we moved to Colorado from Little Rock. Overall, I like our house - it has great qualities and a lot of potential for the things that aren't so hot now... like our flooring and our bathrooms specifically. We replaced the carpet in the living room before we moved in - thank goodness - as the old stuff was dark, old, brown shag. But we haven't gotten to the rest of the house yet. Aaron and I keep talking about it, but it seems that we go in circles and it frustrates the poo out of me - I just want it done, but we also want it to look the best possible and not break our budget.

SO - I'm turning to you - I need suggestions and help deciding what to do. Here are the 'before' pictures... before we've decided, bought, or done anything.



Let me tell you a little about our dining room, now that you're looking at it...
First - the flooring. This is the bain of my existence. Well, maybe not really, but I really, really hate it. It's a commercial grade, super-low pile carpet. I hate it. First, you should not have carpet in the dining room (IMO), especially with kids. Second, you should not put 'office' carpet in your house.

Second - you can see we have a lot of wood stuff... the dining room table and the china cabinet are both very dark (as is the shelf on the wall and the mirror in the hall that you can't see). We 'inherited' this stuff with the house basically. Then, all the wood doors - to the office, the bedrooms, the bathroom, the closets, and the laundry area.

So, what do you think we should do? Mainly about the floors, but if you have other suggestions, I would welcome them. I have a huge list of projects, but they're just not getting done right now.
Not to sway you in any way, but I've been thinking about a higher quality, medium colored wood-looking laminate (the snap together kind) that would run throughout most of the house - the entry way, the dining room, the kitchen, the hallway and perhaps the bathrooms (we can't agree on this). What I'm worried about is whether this will be a crazy overload of wood in the dining room. I've thought about maybe painting some/all of the doors when we repaint if it's too much wood. I need other people's suggestions.

This is our 'beautiful' bathroom (ignore our clutter). MAN you can tell our house was built in the 70's.

Ok, notice the super dark cabinet under the sink? What do we do about them? And the counter top is this white-ish with yellow flecks in it... The yellow matches the yellow tile in the shower. Beautiful, eh?

That weird half of a shower curtain is there b/c there is actually a window in the shower... that is not frosted or anything. I realize the shower curtain and the valence (which we didn't have anything to do with, FYI) may be the the ugliest ever.
Oh, I almost forgot... the floors in here are actually the commercial carpet too!!!!! AAACCCCKKK. Aaron and I can't agree whether the flooring that runs throughout the rest of the house should be the same as in the bathrooms. (Personally, I think it should, he thinks it should be tile-looking.)

I guess I should say that I'm looking for 'big' change ideas (your opinion on the floors, etc), but I'm also looking for little, quick ideas that would help in changing the rooms and updating them. Like I said, I have a ton of ideas... my 'to do home project list' is quite lengthy, but I want all of your takes on them too. THANKS!

So, you cute, crafty, home-decorating friends of mine - what do I do? I need ALL your suggestions!

I Don't Care

Just today Sophie has started answering "I don't care" to everything I ask her. Could she really be a teenager in a little body? Sometimes I think so.

My Solution.... OR... Super Easy Crafty Post-It Book

What do you do when you're reading the scriptures and run across a question that you have? You look in the footnotes... hmmm, there is a ton of other scripture references... do you actually take the time right then to look them up? Or do you promise yourself that you'll make sure to look your answer up later so you can finish the chapter and not get sidetracked? Then, do you actually remember to look them up? Yeah, I probably need to be better about looking things up right then, but I'm just not. I hate to interrupt the story, the flow of gospel, etc. If I start crossreferencing everything right then, by the time I finished, I'd have to re-read all that I had already read. I guess I get sidetracked easily.


So, my solution? This super cute (and easy) Post-It Book to keep with your scriptures. When you run across a question, you write it down, or the scripture reference, then move on. That way, you can finish the chapter (or whatever length you're reading) and then actually remember to go back and look up your answer. I had my young women's girls make them last night and they turned out so cute that I thought I'd post a few pictures.

I'd also thought about keeping them in my diaper bag/purse for those times when you inevitably need a piece of paper, or to entertain a 2 yr old :) Plus, it's just cute to have around the house or the office.

Picture Update

Everyone knows I'm a picture nut, so I thought I might as well give a quick update via pictures :)

Yesterday I took Sophie to the 'WaterFest' here in GJ. It's actually only for 5th graders, but, well, my dad runs it... so you could say that maybe we get special treatment :)

Here Grandpa and Sophie are encased in a gigantic bubble. She wasn't so sure about it at first. She did it with Poppa, with Momma, by herself, but when she *really* decided that she liked it, was when Tammy showed up with her kids (aged 3 and 1&1/2). Then, seeing Zoe love them so much, she decided they were the best things in the world! (And consequently bawled when we left!)

She's checking out a salamander here.

Looking at fish with her Poppa.

She thought this rolly polly bug was way more fascinating than any of the actual display animals ;)

Waterfest was a lot of fun. She loved seeing the 5th graders get soaked, the water rockets take off, etc. But one of the things that she liked the most was riding around in the golf cart!

Here's Sophie playing in her little play tent outside - what a cutie!



I rarely have dessert in the house and Sophie rarely gets a lot of sweets. However, I was trying to perfect the perfect chocolate pie recipe for a Mother's day fundraiser for church, so there were quite a few in the fridge. She's loving daddy and his pie!

Aaron got a Jazz Bass and Sophie thinks it's pretty darn neat. :)

What a good daddy!

Sophie's Getting A.....

SISTER!

Can you believe it? I totally thought that this baby was a boy. Aaron and I have both been saying so from the beginning. Then, independent of us, my mom and Aaron's sisters all thought this was a boy. But, we had our ultrasound this morning, and sure enough, it's a GIRL! We're very excited to have two girls so close together and I'm already looking forward to watching them play dress up, dollies, etc. - all those girly things :)



I'm sure most people are wondering about the name. I know that's one of my first questions.... well, we've decided on: Brielle Mae. Isn't it pretty? I love the name Brielle - I think it sounds like a name that could be cute while she's young, but also 'grow' up with her.



Mae is very special to us. Mae was my mother's grandmother's name. She died when my grandmother was still very young (and she was raised by her aunt). Of course I didn't know her. However, when my grandmother was having kids, she named her first girl: Marcia Allene Esterholdt - so that her initials would be MAE. My aunt Marcia is my mom's only and older sister. They're very close. And unfortunately, Marcia has been battling cancer for years now. Before Sophie was ever born, they found she had colon cancer and it had gone into her lungs and liver. She's been on chemo since then. She's amazingly strong. However, after taking the last kind of chemo she can take and the lung cancer still growing (everything else is gone), she is finished taking chemo. Again unfortunately, she will not be around for much longer, God bless her soul.



So, we're very excited to have a new little girl around here sometime soon. My poor nephews - I'm sure they were hoping for another boy cousin. :) Now the hard part... not buying more cute girly things since I already have a ton!

Spring Cleanup... OR, Why recycle when I can throw it away?

Anyone who lives in GJ can't help but notice that this week is our "Spring Cleanup" where everyone gets to put out all their stuff that they don't want and the city picks it up for free and hauls it to the dump. You can't drive down a residential street without having to drive halfway in the median for fear of hitting your neighbor's pile o' trash. As I drive by all these piles, I can't help but think "Why didn't you just recycle that?" or "Can't you give that to Goodwill?" Seriously, what have you done to that mattress that not even a seriously cash strapped person wouldn't use it? Is a family of rats living inside it? Is there a dead body inside it? (I saw that on a tv show or movie or something sometime. If I were to need to dispose of a dead body in a landfill, I would so do it during spring cleanup. No one would ever find it. But ok, this is getting morbid. Good thing I have no dead bodies to dispose of.) Seriously though - just b/c it's easier to push it out to the curb doesn't mean that you should do it.

I admit that I am not the 'greenest' person out there, but I think we all have to do our part. Of course I recycle, try to reduce all of our waste (we've even stopped using garbage bags for the most part), grow some of our food, have solar heating on our house, when a lightbulb breaks - we replace it with a fancy new efficient one, etc. But there are just certain things that I am not ready for. For example - E.C. (For those of you who don't know what EC is, it's 'elimination communication' - where you don't use any sort of diapers on your baby.) Yeah, I'm not ready for that. My friend Allison makes her own detergent, and while I think that's awesome and someday might aspire to that, I'm just not ready right now. However, how hard is it to call Goodwill and have them pick up your mattress instead of hauling it to the curb and making your neighbors drive around it for a week until the city gets there?

To use Dr. Seuss's words:
"Unless someone like you, cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not."

If I can use this as a jumping off point, let me go on a tangent for a minute.
First, why doesn't our city (or a lot of cities for that matter) recycle more things than they do? What about all those plastics that aren't #1 or #2? Seriously, all the food products come in #5s now. Why don't we recycle 'glossy cardboard?' Do you KNOW how many diaper and wipe boxes I have thrown away and then felt so guilty about b/c the recycling won't take them? And cracker boxes, and cereal boxes, and, and, and...

I have many more tangents I could write about (like the other day when I saw this lady stop and start loading stuff from my neighbor's pile into her van... hmmmm....), but frankly, I'm going to bed.

New Family Pics

It's been awhile since we had some new family pictures, so we decided to take some today. We actually were trying to get shots for our own mothers for mother's day... Luckily since they don't read this blog, we can post them :)

5 of the 10 virgins....

I hope you can see this, it says:

"I am convinced that of the 10 virgins, five of them served in primary callings and that is why they didn't get the announcement."

I had to laugh and hope you did too.

Compliments of: http://www.lineuponlinecards.com/