first, there was a ceiling...

...and then another ceiling, and another, and another one after that...

...until we (he) finally hit the rafters in our little kitchen. Out came the rafters, and out came 100 years of dust and pseudo-insulation. Then the sledgehammer came out.

New insulation.

Then we (he) cut a hole in the wall (sorry about that, Dad). And started ripping out 100 years worth of drywall, wallpaper (so cool!), plaster, and more dust. The doorway between the kitchen and dining room was in an awkward spot, which was, well, awkward, given that it's maybe the most-used doorway in the house. Its new home (on the left) makes traffic flow so much more smoothly.

And tonight, there was more wall demo, which involved the unpleasant discovery that there was no insulation over the window (arrgh!). I am so grateful to be married to such a flippin' stud. He does all the hard stuff. I'm good for cleaning up after him. Monday we'll go buy some flooring and some lights, the electrician comes on Tuesday, then we'll take a deep breath and rip out the lower cabinets before installing the new ones.

in which he works and i take pictures

* It has snowed. A lot. 

* Our next-door neighbor has a snow blower. I love our next-door neighbor. And not just because of the snow blower.

* I have been avoiding said snow. I have a little baby, you know. He should stay inside. And he needs me to stay with him. 

* You've seen this mac & cheese recipe on Pinterest, right? Make it. Tonight. It makes an amazing side dish. Except, if your kids are like mine, don't call it mac and cheese, because this is clearly not mac and cheese, if you follow me.  

* Fairy gel? Two, please.

* The man and I saw The Hobbit on New Year's Day. We both liked the movie pretty well. I just re-read the book a few months ago, so although it was helpful to have the plot fresh in my mind, it also made me sort of irrationally upset when there were blatant (and, to me, unnecessary) inconsistencies. So if you are also the type to get irrationally upset about that kind of thing, be warned. Also, the best time for us to go just happened to be a 3D showing. It was our first time seeing a movie in 3D, and it was fun, though I'm not sure I would pick a 3D movie again. I thought the glasses were annoying.

* We're almost done remodeling the entry way. It's looking goooood. Home reno posts coming right up on that and on our new bathroom. I love it so much that I keep making up excuses to go hide in the loo.

* Okay, so maybe this blog is not going to be completely people-free. But I feel a little less worried about people stealing pictures of my husband's backside. In fact, I completely understand people stealing pictures of my husband's backside. 

* Thanks for all the support on that last post. 

* And thanks to an amazing Christmas present, I've been reading up on super-helpful posts like this one and serging the crap out of everything. What? It doesn't fit? I can serge that. I'll just give your socks a good serge while I'm at it. Don't the dish towels need to be serged, too? What a funny word. Serge. Seerrrrrrge.

* I want to make one of these monsters. Their mouths zip open! Rawwr.

going on

My Dad sent me a little virtual nudge in the ribs the other day to make sure I was still alive. That I am, just not a lot going on...yet there's a ton going on...every moment seems hectic, yet sometimes at the end of the day I have to think really hard about what I've accomplished. Not being gloomy, just sayin it like it is. You with me?

So anyway, there was Halloween. This is the best picture we got, right before the church party, the quick sit on the couch, no, sit together, look at the camera would you, MAREN! look over here, quickly before Max starts crying, QUICKLYYYYYYYYYYY------

That same week there was also Wacky Wednesday at Lizzy's school, a measly attempt to make up for the fact that the kids aren't allowed to wear their costumes to school (whaaaa??). She was all about the four ponytails. This is her rock star pose, where she gives winks and thumbs-ups to an imaginary audience.

And the other big news (except wait, was there big news to begin with? hummm) is that we started the bathroom reno. And when I say we, I really mean Dan the contractor. We've turned out to be much less into DIY that we anticipated, and it is delicious to sit back and watch someone else do the work. We are knocking out a wall between the bathroom and the kitchen pantry to make the one bathroom in the house bigger than a space you can just barely turn around in. After Dan spent two whole 8-hour days demoing and explaining all the weird, freaky DIY jobs from homeowners past that he kept uncovering, I was even more glad that someone else who knows what they're doing is handling this one.

Besides a whole lot of nursing, diaper changing, and QUICK GET YOUR COAT ON, NO SERIOUSLY YOU HAVE TO PUT THAT DOWN RIGHT NOW AND RUN, THE BUS IS HERE-ing, I got to do GI Jane Day IV this week, which was awesome. Pictures of me with a machine gun tomorrow.

updating the entry, part 1

We've spent a lot of our Memorial Day weekend renovating the main entry of our house. After ripping up the last of that gorgeous shag, we found this totally rad linoleum-ish floor smiling up at us. We were really excited about it until we found a few damages that made it unsalvageable (sniff, sniff).

Out came the floor, out came the ceiling, out came the walls. And when I say "we," I really mean "he." 

We think this is some of the original(ish?) wood siding on the house. Super cool.

We He spent Saturday wrestling with beadboard. Monday: caulk, trim, drywall, tile... can we do it all??

Probably not, but it'll be a whole lot better than it was before.

so basically...

my parents are the raddest ever.

over + out.

on being a power drill weenie

So my man has been gone for a month. (Not deployed. Just in training.)

In Army life, that isn't too big of a deal. But still. It's a deal. 'Specially when you're cooking a small human inside your tummy and you have two other small humans outside your tummy to look after.

After a month by my onesie, I am so happy to tell you that 1) he's coming home, and 2) I ain't afraid of no stinking power drill no more. I decided that it was time to quit being such a weenie about drills, hammers, anchors, nails, screws, and other previously intimidating-to-me "manly" objects. and really? It's empowering to wield a power drill with a big mean bit on it with a big ole pregnant belly, to boot. 'Specially when I'm out with my belly in front of my house on a ladder drilling holes into the front of my house. Makes people drive by reeeeal slow.

Anyway, my point is, I drilled holes in a bunch of crap this month. Like my walls. Which is really not all that exciting. 

Except that it is.

My first attempt using anchors. I'm dumbfounded that it's still on the wall. Like, securely.

Ta-da! music box with wheels.

I found the most awesome vintage hook to use as a curtain holdback. Print from Graphic Anthology.

Sexy glasses, eh? This is a funny picture because my man is not short. He's 5'9. His commander is just ha-yuge.

Welcome home, love. I missed you. You can have your drill back now.

hitting the barf bucket

i don't know whether it's sadder to watch a 2 year-old barf who doesn't know how to barf {it's messy, see} or to have her decked out on the couch like this for a whole day and not want to move. barf bucket close at hand {i knew we saved that joint compound bucket for a good reason}.

killing me. but i won't deny enjoying the unlimited snuggle time.

lizzy had it first. then maren got it. and mama was not spared, nopeity-nope. so not fun.

and then the neighbor kid got it from us, for which i feel like a worm of a human being.

but at least the 3 of us all did our puking at different times, which was a blessing. 

all 3 of us puking simultaneously would have been a nightmare.

on the bright side, it was super short-lived. we slept it off. and slept. and slept some more.

AND i got my curtains up. yeah, color!

choosing minty paint

Since we bought this house, I've become a huge believer in paint samples.

Lots of them.

lots. of. them.

So many that the guy at the hardware store laughs when you walk in the door. Ah-gain.

Picking a minty color isn't anywhere near as trying as gray was, but I'm still glad I laid down the $20 to figure out which color I really love most {'cause, it turns out, the color I would have bought if I hadn't done any samples turned out to be my very least favorite of them all, ahem cremedemint}.

The colors are all a little wonky with the lighting when I took that picture, but you get it. Peridot has just the right balance of whu-bam and ahhh. Figuring out the right color makes me feel much more motivated to get in the bathroom and patch up the walls so I can paint!

{sea glass by glidden. marina bay + creme de mint by benjamin moore. peridot, spring stream, + herbal mist by behr. see my bathroom inspiration gallery here.}

cement gray + my dad rocks the house

My dad rocks, friends.  r o c k s.

Not only did he fly across the country solely to paint my house,

not only did he babysit at least 3 times,

not only did he take us to dinner and buy us {me} Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Therapy, shoo me upstairs for a nap every day for a week, do the dishes, take the girls to the park, go half blind by painting the china cabinets semi-gloss YELLOW {no really, Benjamin Moore Yellow. just yellow}, manage the disaster of our very first Unauthorized Sibling Haircut without losing his mind {more on that later, too}... 

he's just so rad. So totally rad.

And I love him.

Thanks, Dad. Mwah.

The walls are Cement Gray with Dove White trim, both Benjamin Moore. I went through a laughable number of gray paint samples. Stonington. Abalone. Dolphin Fin. Ashes. Porpoise. Barren Plain. I was torn about spending so much on paint (Ben is not cheap), but it covers so well, which we really needed on these walls. I would have ended up spending just as much on extra paint for a second coat if I'd picked a lesser quality paint. Cement Gray is so lovely. Not too brown, not too blue, no funky pink overtones, just calm and cool and lovely. I'm so excited to get curtains and artwork up.

the gray has landed

Since December, we have gone from hanging sheet rock...

to taping and mudding (goodbye, gorgeous retro wallpaper)...

to talking my dad into flying to NY to paint for me...

to some lick-the-walls gray gorgeousness.

More pics tomorrow. 

little happinesses.

:: popcorn :: requested often by all. with butter. lots of.

:: very orange :: fabric arrived this week for dining room curtains

:: singing :: happy birthday with the girls to my mom on the phone (60!)

:: sunshine :: making more and more frequent appearances

:: board games :: these little ones are taking a sudden shine to

:: park deliciousness :: went twice today for bike riding, mud slinging, and pretend gardening

:: vintage hankies :: making curtains soon, inspiration here

:: olive leaf :: soap. completely unexpectedly luxuriously delicious.

:: sunshine :: did i already say that?

good / bad

bad. stepped in {clean} toilet at 11 pm last night.

good. slipper dry after sitting on the heating vent all night.
bad. this is the same slipper with which i stepped on the primer can lid and tracked primer all over the floor.

good. rocking my goals {thanks for the encouragement!}.

good. snacking so much healthier lately + the girls love taking "lunch boxes" in the car.
bad. deny my children sweets but then stuff myself with sweets the second they've gone to bed.
or the second their backs are turned.
good. me and my rad sis in law Amber are totally on the same page about this.

good. discovered an {{uh-may-zing}} tower of safety-orange metal shelves in the basement.

bad. shelves are covered in rust. attempting to fix. the cat is supportive.

bad. splashed self in the face with lemon/borax mixture immediately after thinking how terrible it would be to splash oneself in the face with lemon/borax mixture. 

good. I suddenly realized how totally chic this pipe/hand rail is that goes down to the basement.
we are totally rocking the vintage-modern industrial vibe.

good. haircut and target run tomorrow, in which I will undoubtedly fulfill this recurring prophecy.
good. mint nail polish. revlon minted.

good. had the best library day.
good. but also kind of sad. random man in checkout line asked, "are you really going to read all of those books to your children?" then told me how jealous he was because his mom never read to him.
it was a weird moment of mixed sadness/go-me.
good. THE BASEBOARDS ARE ON! see them? see them??
good. have finally picked a gray paint color. can't remember the name right now. i have lost track of how many samples i've gone through. ask me for synonyms for "gray" and you'll get an earful.
good. happy almost-weekend!

bathroom remodel inspiration: mint, gray, sunshine, + glass

We're saving our pennies for a major kitchen overhaul, so in the mean time I am going to give our bathroom {we only have 1!} a little facelift. A little paint, a nice picture or two, and some little finishing touches are gonna go a long way. I'm pretty smitten with this color palette, but I'm curious -- do you have any pet color palettes lately?

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I can't wait to get started -- my dad is coming for a visit + to help with this + a bunch of other projects in a couple of weeks. Eek!