After nearly five years in this house we finally updated the light fixture in the powder room. That's one down, three to go! Amazing how such a small change made me like this little bathroom so much more.

52 Nights Update - Night 31 - I was on a plane last evening to Blacksburg, Virginia, to recruit at Virigina Tech, so I don't think that counts towards the challenge! I'll make up for it, though - I've got to get my latest project quilted and bound in two nights plus get ready to host a baby shower Saturday morning, so I'll have more no tech nights this week just trying to get it all done!

Labels: 52 nights, homework, simple pleasures

Just a quick floor update - our 2nd of three rooms, the living room, is done! A reminder of our nasty carpet:



And our gorgeous new floors:



Now I just need to finish recovering the couch throw pillows, stain our new coffee table, and figure out what to do with those great windows...

P.S. - See that awesome shag rug??


This is Hitch prepared to attack. So ferocious! Thanks for modeling the rug.

Our neighbors were throwing it out! What a deal.

We're off to San Antonio for the weekend to visit a dear friend and go to another friend's Texas wedding reception. I'll see you when I get back!

Labels: homework

When I was little, one of my favorite places to go was the local stationery shop. I especially loved testing out new pens. To this day I constantly am tempted to pick up new pens, or swing by the supply room at work to see if there's anything different. That's the only reason I can think of to explain this...



Trying to make good on my July OPAM (yes, I know July is over, shush), I got to work cleaning out drawers.



People, this is ridiculous.



I tossed the ones that don't work anymore, got all the others in one spot, and called it a day.



The truth is, I can't make much progress on my own, since most of the junk in this room is Pete's computer stuff. Heaven forbid I suggest tossing any of the ten defunct keyboards in the closet! So much for July's OPAM. What should I do for August?

Labels: homework, OPAM

If I could play a little trumpet fanfare right now I would, that's how excited I am about this.



Many weeks past my OPAM deadline, the master quilt is actually done!!



I am so happy with how it came out - it is by no means perfect, it has so many "learning experiences"... But I love it!!



And it goes so far to helping our bedroom look "finished" instead of just tossed together. Please ignore the concrete floor - we're getting there!

52 Nights Update - Night 22 - I discovered last night that the new quilt fits in my washing machine, thank goodness. Part of my plan had been to wash it fairly often, since it will soon be covered in fur and possibly footprints (downside of having a dog door when it rains), so I was worried I'd have to drag it to the laundrymat every time! In addition to washing the quilt, I went running, did some more laundry, and picked out fabric for a new project. Great night!

Labels: 52 nights, homework, OPAM, quilting, sewing

Sorry for the slew of home improvement posts! Hopefully you're like me and LOVE before-after pictures. With $40 of paint (why is paint so expensive???) and some motivation to finally hang things on the wall, our office nook went from this:



To this:


Ignore the concrete floor - one step at a time!





It's still a little plain and definitely needs some organizing, but I love it!

Labels: homework, OPAM

Where did this weekend go??



We made progress on the floor. (Well, the boys did, I cheered them on.)



I made another batch of the caramel shortbread - I put a batch in the Relay for Life auction at work and the lady called to remind me I owed her!



Is it bad to go to my book club meeting when I haven't finished the book? Turns out in this case it was a good thing, since now I'm motivated to finish - seems like there's a lot of interesting events I haven't gotten to yet!



And among other chores and errands I got the nook ready to go - hopefully paint will go up tomorrow, thanks to no tech night!

Labels: homework, misc

My two-color plan for the nook is half done! I realized in my before picture you can't see the bookcase wall, but it was the same off-white as the rest of the nook.



Now it's khaki! Two coats are up, and I don't think it will need a third. Tomorrow I'll tackle the other color. Off to work on pinning my quilt - I haven't touched it since last weekend!

Labels: homework, OPAM

I mentioned Sunday that my June OPAM is to fix up our office nook.



This is such a great space, it's close enough to our big back windows to get a lot of light, you can still easily talk to folks in other parts of the house, and it has a ton of space for storage.

This OPAM is purely cosmetic - paint, and some things I've been meaning to hang on the walls. Maybe for another month's project I'll tackle cleaning out all these drawers and cabinets, full of whatever we threw in there willy nilly when we moved in four years ago!

Labels: homework, OPAM

The house is still a total disaster because we've moved on to the floors in our main living area, but luckily we have some progress to show for it. Our dining room is done! It only took two months...



It's hard when we only have time to really dedicate on Sundays, and not even every Sunday...



When I look at this room, I dream up plans for the walls, the windows, recovering that couch... Someday, when we finally finish all the other floors! Luckily they should go faster since we learned so much doing the dining room.

Relay for Life Drawing - I can't believe I forgot to pick a winner of the RFL drawing! I am so excited to announce that my cousin Megan won. I can't wait to make a bag for you! And thank you for supporting the American Cancer Society.

52 Nights Update - Night 9 has come and gone! I followed what is becoming my routine - got a little exercise (mowed the lawn), worked on a project, made dinner, did some chores... Of course, I was especially motivated to sew, since my sewing machine is away for a tuneup! The novelty of getting so much done on a work night hasn't worn off! In fact, even on non-Mondays, I'm getting more done, often not getting on the computer or checking Tivo until just before bed, for a much shorter amount of time. After only nine weeks! I'm excited to see how my habits will change after the full 52.

Labels: 52 nights, homework, me

If you were to come over to my house right now, you would be greeted by bare concrete...



We're finally replacing our thin crummy dirty carpet with new floors! You can see the little sample in the picture.

What you can't see in the photo is the growing layer of dust on *everything* - you apparently have to sand the concrete so you can level it? I'm leaving the details to the handyman. All I know is it's messy. But since this picture shows the little bit we've started, by far the smallest room we're doing, I'd better get used to this chaos!

(I've responded so far by shutting myself in my sewing room, so I'll have some good things to show for it soon!)

Labels: homework

We had a little adventure in furniture buying this weekend! We went "just to look" and I ended up falling in love with an oversized set of living room furniture. "Oversized" turned out to be the key word. It did not look like normal furniture once we got it into our living room.



It's hard to capture on film. In the above photo, I'm sitting on the loveseat. Not the couch, the loveseat. Which is just about the size of our old couch. This comes the closest to describing how I felt:



Luckily, we were able to exchange it for something very similar, but a much more normal size. I am pleased to present, our new living room!!



These will also serve as "before" pictures, since I have grand plans to bring A LOT more color into this room. Just wait! I think I'll actually paint on Saturday, which will help a lot with all the tan.



And just to prove this set is a more normal size, here is Peter modelling our new couch.



I'm off to cuddle up with the model!

Labels: homework

One thing our house still really needs is more things on the walls. We have so much bare wall space. In an attempt to help with that, I've started keeping my eye out for large things I like for on the walls. I also picked up a collage frame, and made a collection of pictures from our honeymoon.



I hope to do something like this for every major vacation we take. Unfortunately, we haven't gone anywhere major since our honeymoon almost two years ago! I'm crossing my fingers that our Alaska trip becomes a reality next summer...

Labels: homework

Someday I would like to have a beautiful garden outside my kitchen window. We have the perfect spot for it, and it gets just the right amount of sunlight for just about any kind of plant. I didn't get it started this year, though, so I must satisfy myself with my plant shelf instead.



Now, normally I don't have a green thumb - it's more black. I've killed most plants, even ones that are supposed to be "easy." So I am especially pleased with how well so many of my plants are doing on our patio!



My bell pepper plant even has a pepper:



And look at my beautiful my "ornamental peppers" are!!



As long as I keep watering them every morning, hopefully they'll keep getting bigger!

Labels: homework

I have discovered a wonderful motivational tool - before and after photos! I present to you, a photo essay of my crafting areas...

First, evidence that my actual craft area has become so messy that I have overflowed into the kitchen:



Truthfully, I do usually sew at the kitchen table since then I don't feel tucked away from the rest of the house, but my stuff has been set up there way too long because I don't have anywhere to put it away. Here is why:







Considering in addition to one secret weapon (my shelves) I also have a wonderful closet to store things in, I have no excuse for such a mess. So I spent a surprisingly short amount of time actually putting things away, and I now have this gorgeous space for crafting:





As if I didn't have enough "plans" I have some great ideas for things to hang on the walls in there to inspire me to be crafty. One of these days!!

There is no "after" pic for the kitchen table because I do still have more fabric to cut tonight, and that table is the only one big enough to fit my cutting mat. But at least now I actually have somewhere to put it away when I'm done!

Labels: craft room, homework

Man, I stink at creative titles. Here are the valances I spent a lot of time making this weekend:



I still need to hem them - that's why there is a lighter strip along the bottom. Here is a closeup to better see the colors:



I did get to make that apron I wanted, and it is super cute - I haven't taken a picture yet, so I'll post it tomorrow!!

Labels: homework, sewing

Our room is painted! It looks awesome! We spent a lot of time this weekend working on it, but it didn't take up all our time or anything. So I took a few different views...



Like the picture above the bed? I think it looks really good. It will look even better when there are curtains on the windows to soften it up a little.



I can't wait to find a mirror for over the dresser. And when I recover that rocking chair, Peter's going to have to stop keeping his clothes there.



We're going to hang my bridal portrait over Peter's dresser, it looks really good there, we just haven't got around to that yet. The small frame on his dresser with the bear is the part of my wedding bouquet we saved. We're getting so close to having this room just the way we want it!!

Labels: homework

Finally, I had a chance to take some pictures! This post will have a lot, so bear with me!!

First, here is some new yarn I got...



This is for Karen's scarf. The pattern is here. It's really more of a celery in real life, but it doesn't photograph very well.



This is for Kristen's scarf. The pattern is here. I think it will be really pretty.

Now some works in progress...



This pink scarf was supposed to be for Jenn, but it's much brighter pink than I thought. So I might make this for Lauren and give the turquoise scarf to Jenn. It is going so fast! The pattern is a ladder pattern, which you can kind of see in this close up shot:



Now for something Mom can't see. Don't click if you want your Christmas present to be a surprise, Mom!! For more pictures, click here.

Finally, some pictures of our house... I finally got the wreath I wanted for above the mantel! I added some fall colored candles, but I will replace them with more red candles after Christmas. I have better pillar holders coming, but they're on backorder from Target and should be here the first week of December.

The mantel:


The wreath closer:


And even closer:


I have big plans for this weekend, so hopefully I'll have even more pictures to post!!

Labels: homework, knit/crochet, wip