Happy new year!

It seems just like yesterday we were singing 1999 by Prince and that 1999 would never come.  The fact that it is 2012 amazes me.  As I get older, the years seem to fly by so quickly.  Looking over 2011, it was a swift pass in time but we did accomplish a lot.  Our first full year in our new home was filled with needed improvements: adding gutter covers; hiring an arborist to take out dead limbs and trees that were encroaching on the roof; painting the exterior of the house; and starting to redesign the inside of our home.  For 2012, we have lots of grand plans to continue the transformation of our house into our home.

First and foremost is our Christmas gift to one another.  I think I have mentioned my love/hate relationship with our kitchen. It is huge and spacious, which I love.  However, its beautiful makeover by the flipping flipper was done poorly.  The cabinet facing is already discoloring and the doors are warped. Drawer facing is either missing or falling off.  In addition, I am convinced that a man who knew nothing about cooking or enjoying one's kitchen designed it.  The main storage is not in the cooking area but facing away from it and into the dining area.  It just isn't functional.  Enter The Home Depot and their cabinet refacing program.  They are not only going to help lighten up the color of the cabinets but they are also going to rearrange them for us as well.  I will get some before pictures up shortly.  We narrowed down our facing choices and they will bring the two samples for our consideration this week. EXCITEMENT!!!!

Looking back....

Trinity's bathroom was originally a very bright aqua before we toned it down

We love our trees but an oak in our front yard was getting choked by a vine

Underneath the vine is a healthy tree, thankfully

We couldn't get over how thick the vine had gotten over the years

Vine not tree...seriously!!!

Cleaned up pecan tree in the back yard.  Many dead limbs removed

Prepping for new paint!

The Flipping Flipper strikes again...pillars made of press board instead of wood.  What an idiot.

Our painters had almost two weeks worth of prep work.

Christmas is in TWO days!!!

I have decided that 2011 is the year of days going by way too fast to even fathom.  After Thanksgiving, I had a business trip to San Diego and then a wonderful family vacation to Disney World.  To say the last two weeks have been nuts is a complete understatement. Evenings filled with Christmas gatherings and weekends packed with ballet recitals, birthdays and celebrations is enough to put the most organized person behind. I think I am getting the last of our Christmas cards out today and hopefully doing some Christmas shopping tonight (if the recovery from my minor sinus procedure cooperates!). At least all things from Santa have been handled!!!

My husband and I have started working on next home project that will kick off in January 2012, so I know I'll have something interesting to share then!

Until that time, I wish you and your family a blessed Christmas season.  Thank you, Lord, for the birth of your Son!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Happy Thanksgiving and Lazy Black Friday

Yesterday was a beautiful day for Thanksgiving.  The air was chilled just enough and the sun was shining brightly.  The food and company were excellent.  I usually do not brag on my cooking but I will say that I will never buy a frozen turkey again.  This year we splurged and purchased an organic, free-range, never frozen, fresh turkey from Harry's Farmers Market.  OMG it was SO good.  Yes, you can tell a difference!

19 lbs. of pure yumminess! 

Hanging with dad!

Cheesing with mama.

Princess approved dinner!

Even the little one ate all of her turkey this year, which was a big improvement over the 1+ hour show down we had last year with her and her dinner plate.

As for today, the infamous Black Friday, it is nothing but the great chill out for us.  I thought about heading to Target for their midnight opening but fell asleep during the 11 o'clock news at some point. Dear husband did have to work a few hours this morning since he is in retail but the afternoon and evening will be spent relaxing and snacking on leftovers.  To me, it sounds like another absolutely perfect day.

Hammer and a nail

I did it! I put some holes in the wall and I wasn't even tearing down sheet rock!  The first set of tiny little holes went into my kitchen ceiling.  I collect friendship balls or witch balls as they are called in some areas of the country.  Mine come from a variety of locations - some are hand blown from artisans in Savannah, Georgia while others come from New England.  The witch ball is a hollow sphere of colored glass hung in the window of a house to protect it against witchcraft. The webs of blown glass inside the ball are there to catch the bad spirits. As best as I can tell, they originated in the 18th century.  Friendship balls do not have the webs and have been around since the 20th century.  I love them as they are each unique and are mesmerizing.

I was agonizing over where to put them and finally went with a corner of the kitchen eating area.  I was hoping for a place with more light but this is remotely familiar as it is about the same location I had them in our former home.  I still have a few more to put up and I am not sure where I'll put them but I must say it is nice to see them again.

So Thankful...

It is hard to imagine that Thanksgiving is this week and it will be our second family celebration of this holiday in our home.  Last year, we moved in most of the first floor just in time for the big dinner.  As I sat on my front porch this afternoon, soaking up the beautiful fall sunshine and mild weather, I still feel like I need to pinch myself.  We live here now. This is our home.  Funny how a year can go by and it still feels like we are living in a dream.

Maybe it is because we still own our other home. Maybe it is because we still have boxes in storage. Or maybe it is because we are still trying to figure out who gets to put a nail in the wall first (or to attempt to use the picture railing and frame hooks that we have!).  Who knows why it feels like we are living in a dream.  I really don't care because I know that I don't and won't ever wake up from it!  

This evening, I was browsing through some old photo files and found pictures from our first Thanksgiving in our 1910 dream home.  Can't you smell the turkey? I hope you and yours have a blessed week of many thanks! 

Paul and I stayed up late the night before Thanksgiving, hanging curtains and rods.

First bird in the new house! I think it was about 18 lbs.

Cooked!

Table dressed and ready to go.

Sweet treats are icing on the cake!

Life in Scaryetta

We had so much fun with Halloween this year.  Here are a few pictures of our haunted house.  Can't wait to see what the child wants to do with it all next year.  She picked out the spiders herself (eek!).

Take this rug and shove it....

I don't want you any more!!!  Well, that is an exaggeration to some extent.  Remember when I posted about that beautiful runner we finally found for our stairs?  We had it installed and we have been miserable ever since. Not because the rug is ugly or poorly made but rather due to the install.  I knew the day the flooring guys arrived at the house and I spoke to my husband on the phone that he was not a happy camper.  You see, at the top of our very old, narrow stairs is a very unique shape called pie stairs.  We happen to have three of them.  When the consultant came out for the first inspection and measure, he was very confident that the installers would be able to accommodate our pies.  Ha! Not so much...

So we now know we love having carpet on the stairs as it makes it much easier for all of us (animals included) to get up and down the stairs with ease.  However, the pies are an eye sore since the carpet pattern is all out of whack.  Thankfully, The Home Depot is a great company that stands by its word and they have refunded our money completely.  We have now located a carpet company that is more than confident that they can do the job.  They have shown us examples of pies they have done which has raised our comfort level. Unfortunately, we are back to the drawing board on what pattern to pick.  We attempted to look at samples this past weekend at the showroom but every pattern I seemed to touch belonged to the wool family which runs about $68 a square foot.  Yep, you read that correctly...SIXTY EIGHT DOLLARS.  We are going to try and get back there later in the week to search through the many, many books of samples to see if we can find a match.