I found an excuse...

to buy this kit I've been wanting for a long time! It is called lakeside retreat, and well, it's not like I have any pics of us at the lake. lol  But, if we EVER go to a lake, I'm now prepared!

I took almost no pictures on my birthday, so I decided to do a layout of myself instead.  I had to cheat and use pics from when I was 36, but I figure I look pretty much the same considering I've only been 37 for less than two weeks :)

Lakeside Retreat - Kristin Cronin-Barrow

Cindy Schneider - template #13 Yearly Faves

stitching from Traci Reed

It's Friday?

I've been confused all week about what day it is - between being sick, having the kids out of school, and Bryan's odd work schedule... I'm totally "off"!

I got two calls today that made me happy - the rest of the tile for the bathroom is finally here, and my new couch is scheduled for delivery this Friday.  Now I just need to get rid of my old couch/love seat and get the rest of the bathroom painted!  It also looks like Bryan's work schedule will be going back to normal in another week or so.  Brady's baseball schedule is crazy the next two weeks, so I certainly hope Bryan will be home in the evenings. In a span of 12 days, he has six games... six!!  Soccer just started for Drew and Mallory, too, but they only have practice once a week and their first game isn't until March 31st.

I'm off to go raid Brady and Drew's underwear drawer.  I'm not certain they remember that tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, but a visit from the leprechaun will remind them :)

So far, so good

Glass and floor tiles came in, and the contractor arrived this morning right on time. I am finally starting to feel like myself again... I honestly can't ever remember being sick that long, with the exception of having mono when I was a kid! I got the vanity area of the bathroom painted yesterday and will finish the tub area once the other work is done. Kids are with Bryan's parents, and it looks like the majority of the work will be done before they return tomorrow :)

ETA - We are short one glass tile and 4 floor tiles. Unfortunately, they have to be ordered and won't be in until Friday... it always has to be something, right?

A work in progress

Here is what the hallway bathroom currently looks like -

Pretty classy, huh?  I got the priming done on Saturday, then had intentions of starting the painting on Monday.  Unfortunately, getting sick got in the way :(  On Monday, I decided that if I had to wait until Thursday to start again, that I could probably still get it done in time.  I have someone coming next Monday to put in new flooring and a few other things, so I really want to get the painting done by then!  I'm not quite feeling up to it yet, but hopefully tomorrow I will feel well enough to at least paint for a bit.

I figured I would pick a neutral beige/tan tile, but both Bryan and I think this looks great against our "wood" floors.  I did order it in a square tile, though.

I love the look of glass tile, but it's expensive! So, to get in a little without breaking the bank, we are running a small border of it above the current backsplash.

Replacing the light fixture and faucets will make a huge difference in the way the bathroom looks!

I can't wait to see how everything turns out :)  Since the bathroom is small, the cost of making these changes isn't too bad... esp. compared to the cost of replacing the flooring and shower in our own bathroom. LOL  

I don't have any definite plans for the walls yet.  We took everything down and patched all the holes before I primed, and the only thing that I know is going back up is a towel ring next to the sink.  I figured I should wait to see how it turns out before I made any decisions.  I definitely would like to make something with one of my safari/animal kits.

One year closer to 40...

in case you missed it, Sunday was my 37th birthday.  While I kid about approaching 40, I really am happy with where I am in my life.  Of course, sometimes I want to pull my hair out when dealing with Mallory (esp. the whole potty training thing), but hey - no one's life is perfect! LOL

I mostly spent my day relaxing around the house.  I got two layouts done, which made me happy :)  We went to dinner, and then I lounged around and watched Breaking Dawn (one of my gifts).  Only thing I would have changed is that I started feeling sick by the end of the day.  I thought it might have been from the fumes I inhaled while painting the day before (hallway bathroom, no ventilation whatsoever) but it is now Tuesday and I'm feeling worse now than I did then.

I had good intentions of taking some pics of myself with the kids, but I stayed in my jammies most of the day and then Bryan had the kiddos loaded up in the car for dinner before I realized it - hard to argue with that!

My last two pages for 2011 - woo hoo!!

1st and 10 - Libby Pritchett

Jumbo shape templates - Libby Pritchett

scraplift of a layout by SmallMoments 

1st and 10 - Libby Pritchett

Slip In Style Builders 1 - 6x12 by Traci Reed and Cindy Schneider

Rewards

About a month ago, I put chore charts back up in the kitchen for the kiddos.  Brady and Drew have had them in the past, but this was a first for Mallory.  It's their job to check off the chores they complete each day, and then I give them allowance at the end of the week based on the number of checks.  There is a set minimum number of checks to earn any money, then after that, they get an additional $.10 per check.  That additional money I threw in REALLY makes a big difference! I didn't do it that way last time around, and it makes a huge difference in their motivation.  Now the boys will actually be disappointed if I ask one of them to take out the trash and the other doesn't have the opportunity to earn that check.  Of course, I try to even things out as much as possible :)  The other smart thing I did was specify on the chart WHEN we would go shopping.  Otherwise, they are constantly asking when they will get to spend their money!  Our first shopping trip was this past Thursday, and they had a ball.  This is partially because they had money in their wallets from birthdays, Christmas, Valentines, etc. in addition to their allowance money.  Next month, they won't have quite the buying power. LOL

Perusing her new Dora book on the way home...

Both boys chose a new ds game and pokemon cards.

In addition, Brady got the Percy Jackson movie, and

Drew bought a new set of beyblades.

Mallory had significantly less money but

was very happy with her Dora book, Tom &

Jerry movie, and paints.

I enjoyed three hours of quiet that evening while they all played/watched their new things :)

Thursday was also a big day for Mallory because she earned a trip to Chuck E. Cheese! She kept her panties dry all day and went #2 in the potty.  The latter is a big deal because she has only done it a handful of times.  She gets wet occasionally, but overall she's got the peeing in the potty thing down.  The other still needs some work...

Her favorite game - "feeding" the dog

Last but not least, Brady had another visit from the tooth fairy last night!  He had a loose tooth that we thought would come out days ago, but it hung on a lot longer than we expected.  He was quite happy to discover that it had basically fallen out while he was in bed... what more can you ask for?

Valentine's Day (revisited)

I'm really happy so far with the flexibility my new scrapbook gives me.  Compared to a postbound album, the three rings make life so much easier!  For Christmas, the boys went shopping with Bryan and picked out some scrapbooking supplies as a gift for me - mainly paper and stickers.  I decided to do a Valentine's layout with a few of the papers, and then put that beside one of my Project Life pages.  The fact that I can put a traditional layout next to a Project Life page protector next to a digital layout (and move them all around with ease) is awesome!

 Project Life

Traditional layout

Drew's handiwork from school

This was a magnetic frame - I just took the back 

off to make it less bulky and adhered it to the

back of the page above.  I tried to remove the pic 

from the frame, but some of the hearts are stuck to it :(