Budget Friendlyness

I have a super big problem when it comes to doing anything house related. 

I have caviar taste and our budget is more suited to fish sticks. 

If I walk into a store, chances are, the item I like the most is the most expensive thing in the whole store. What can I say? I must have good radar!

The website Houzz is Nick's new best friend. I say Nick's because while I am the one that searches things, he is the one that benefits because I always manage to find ways to save money by finding amazing looking things done with items that cost way less. 

I am a super visual person so if I can't see it, I generally want something that ends up being much more expensive. 

Case in point. 

We have a pathway that goes around our house. It is gravel, sorta. We have pretty much demolished our front yard. I wanted to do a paver path or stamped concrete. 

But then I saw these photo's

Both gravel, clean lines. Beautiful! 

And by going the gravel route, we save at minimum $500 if not more!

Home Sweet Home

We have done a lot to our house (I need to update our house tour page...it looks different)

Care for a list of what we have done?

Inside:

Hardwoods

Tile floors in entry and guest bath

Full kitchen remodel including all appliances (but fridge), cabinets, counters, sink, faucet ect. 

Full guest bath remodel including sheetrock, bath, fixtures, toilet, floor, sink, hardware, paint, electrical

Paint on all walls in the house

A ton of demolition of old stuff

Back wood french doors

Conversion to gas stove in fireplace

All new outlets and switches in the house

Outside

Level and change slope of backyard

Build gate, arbor

Build Garden

Change out front light fixtures

Demolish front yard (still demolished)

Remove most landscaping plants

Plant some new landscaping plants

Get rid of tons and tons and tons and tons (and tons) of blackberries

Prepare pad in the back of the property for a shop

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There are probably more projects that I cant think of at the moment, but is is safe to say, we have done a ton of stuff to our house. 

Then I was thinking about the things that I would like to complete before I would consider our house "done"

Inside

Finish Baseboard trim, new door trim

Change all interior doors to wood and get a wood door for the front door

Wool carpets in bedrooms

New linoleum for the laundry room, stacked Washer and dryer, floor to ceiling storage system

Backsplash in kitchen

Wine fridge/small sink/coffee area in kitchen

Hide wires for the TV

Complete master bath redo

Double french door to deck in master

Tankless hot water heater

Exterior

New siding (ours is recalled), new exterior paint

Carriage style garage doors

Repaved driveway

Blacktop asphalt anywhere we currently have gravel

Paver path around front of house to paver patio in back

Larger deck with covered screened in area

Landscaping trees and plants

So basically, there is still a lot to do. 

But that really wasn't the point of this post, I let the list get away from me. The point of this post is this. 

I always kind of had my eyes on this being a "starter home" - granted, it really isn't a starter home in the true sense of the word - it's in a great neighborhood, most of the people who live here are middle aged and well established, it is really a nice house and was even before we pretty much demolished and re-did everything and it is on acreage which is super nice. But again, I found myself always dreaming about our "future house." I would even look on the internet for it. And here's the thing - we may well end up moving someday if we end up moving to a different city like say Bend or McCall in the future. 

But here is the realization I had the other day. I really love our house. I love how much like home it has become. I love how "us" it is becoming. I love all the memories we have here from living in it without a kitchen, living on subfloor, one bathroom, being newlyweds, professionals, being pregnant, getting a dog, having a baby. This house really holds so many memories.

In addition, if you notice the list of things we have done and will do, many of them are kind of specialty things. Things that are less about increasing the value of the house for resale and more about making the house a great house for us. Things like wood doors inside and out, wool carpets, tankless hot water heater. These are things that we value but may or may not be viewed of a a value item for potential buyers even though they are "premium" items. 

And for the first time the other day I realized

I can't imagine moving away from here. I really love this house and what is has become and is becoming. 

Master bath idea

This is here more for me to remember...the dimensions of this look similar to the dimensions of our bathroom. Perhaps this would be a good direction in the future.

modern bathroom design by austin architect Webber + Studio, Architects

Shower area 3x5
 shower tile is Bisazza Glass Mosaic and is a mixture of colors
brown wall is Caeserstone Lagos Blue, 4350
Lighting Direct.com

Guest Bath & Master Bath Update

If you haven't checked out the house tour tab at the top of our page, I have added some new pictures including some before pictures for fun. Again - that tab is a work in progress and I will update it from time to time so check back often. I still need to add pictures of the guest bedroom, our bathroom, the nursery, the laundry room and the guest bathroom. In addition, I should add some pictures of the outside and grounds.

Here is continued progress of the bathroom. With Nick working so many hours and then doing other side jobs in his free time, there hasn't been much in the way of time for completing the project. I looked back through the blog and noted that we started tearing this apart April 10 - we had hoped to get it finished before the baby joined us, but alas, it is still in a state of unfinished-ness. Here are some pics of the progress. They are out of order.

Part of the Greenboard sheetrock up. 

Putting a piece of the Greenboard sheet rock up (greenboard is mold resistant sheetrock and it is a good idea to use in bathrooms). 

George (Nick's dad) measuring out a board for something. 

Working together, Nick and George.  The lighting makes it look like Nick is balding in this picture - happily, there is no balding going on with my dear husband and he would probably appreciate me pointing out that it is the lighting. :-)

Nick - I believe he was a touch frustrated here. 

Cutting the board. I have learned how to use this saw! Yeay me!

And now, some pictures of our bathroom as it comes together!

From our bedroom looking in. For now, the baby will be changed in our bathroom, later on, he will be changed and have his stuff in the other bathroom. 

Standing in the closet looking toward the bathtub. 

The baby's drawer in our bathroom. Washcloths, butt cream, diapers, clippers, towels, etc. 

The mirror and the changing pad on the counter. 

Less than 24 hours before my next appointment and it can't come soon enough - that is, unless it is anti-climactic and I find out that I still haven't dilated more or something. With any luck, my doc will tell me that I am wrong about the baby having turned sideways. Stay tuned for updates!

New Camera and Back Yard

I FINALLY got a new camera! Nick's dad bought us a Canon Rebel T2i SLR camera for the impending arrival of the baby and I have been busy trying to learn how to use the camera really quickly before little bear arrives!

Trooper has been a really good subject because he moves around a lot and I have a feeling our child will move around a lot too! I am not really that great at taking pictures yet and I have not ventured into using any of the fully automatic features and have not tried out the second lens an EFS 55-250mm but I am learning and trying new things. Here are a few pictures (no editing yet) of Trooper:

So hopeful...

Um, hello? The dog would like to be outside!

Ah, this is the life!

Yes, I know I am handsome...

We have been working on all kinds of projects and have ourselves stretched thin on them - with the summer winding down, we really needed to finish out the smoothing of the backyard so that once it starts to rain, we don't have a huge mud hole in our yard - so we had to smooth, rake, and plant new grass. This is what our backyard looks like at the moment:

Looking from the house toward the back of the property. 

Looking from halfway back on the property and to the side. 

Standing at the back of the property looking back toward the house. 

Looking at the house from about mid-way back. 

So now we are watering the newly seeded lawn to try and get it to grow over the next few weeks while we still have sunshine to help it along!

In pregnancy news - no changes that I can tell. Baby Bear is just hanging out all comfy and warm. I keep telling him that he would have more room if he just came out - but he has chosen to stay in. 

FLEAS!

Our poor little (2 days ago) birthday boy:

has fleas :(

When we go down to my parents house, he usually gets them - hard to keep a flea problem at bay with 4 cats and 2 large dogs - but generally, he is a bit uncomfortable for a day and then better. 

Not sure what the deal is with this batch of fleas, but they are NASTY! He is awake most of the night itching. Poor little guy - losing tufts of furr. We applied some advantage flea control, which we do monthly. 

Our sheets are in a hot wash. 

All pillows will go through a hot dryer cycle. 

The comforter will go through a hot dryer cycle. 

Throw blankets - hot wash, hot dry

Throw pillows - hot dry

Dog toys - hot wash, hot dry

Carpets will be vacuumed. 

Dog will be brushed and we will re-apply flea meds in a week (per instructions on box for infestation)

Here is what the line up looks like:

In the mean time - I feel so bad for our little guy! It is very difficult to keep him from scratching :(

I hope he doesn't loose too many tufts of furr. 

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And just in case you were wondering to yourself, hm, I wonder if Kenzie and Nick have decided on a kitchen backsplash after having their kitchen in for 3 years - you can stop wondering about it! The answer is yes, finally! We have a backsplash tile (not in mind you) but we have one picked!!

Not installed, just propped up for now - but this is it! Hurray!

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And one more thing - 

I admit, I should choose a cuter shirt to wear, but remember - I am de-fleaing the house so this is what you get. 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant - anytime between 6 days and 42 days. My fingers are seriously crossed that we don't get to 42 days! That would mean Baby bear would be 2 weeks late and I would be pretty much DONE! In my ideal world, the timing would be 27 days or less - if we are talking perfect world, I would say 2 weeks from now. That would = 38 weeks. But I will take whatever I am given - I don't have much of a choice :)

More House Progress

We are making progress! We have blinds up on all the windows with the exception of 3. The babies room, the guest room and the laundry room window, which I just painted the trim on:

Painted white - pretty!

We have all the blinds, we just have to put them up!

In the family room! (I plan on having a rocking chair on the other side of the room from this which will serve as my feeding chair and I don't really want to give the neighbors a peep show!)

The large front window that never did have blinds, even when we bought the house. 

The guest bathroom is progressing too. The false wall where the shower piping will go and the plumbing to the spout are in:

It is hard to get a good picture because the space is not all that huge. I am standing where the toilet will go. 

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In other news, I downloaded some Nidra Yoga CD's - If you have ever done a yoga class, Nidra is the part where you lie on your back in the dark and they get you to super relax. I am going to try to use these guided meditation CD's to help me through labor. That, and a hefty dose of whatever they put in an epidural! I am not even going to pretend to be a hero - bring on the modern anesthesia!!

Projects and Playtime

Nick hanging the mirror trim

Getting it just right

Trooper doesn't like house projects. They make him feel insecure. 

We got our project on this morning - hanging some mirror trim, baseboard trim and working on the bathroom (the guest bathroom that is). 

Then Trooper got some Daddy time - 

I want the ball!

Hey, where did you go?

Ok fine, I will share my ball with you. 

In other great news, I feel good again. Backache gone! So much better!! If I keep feeling like this, pregnancy continuation isn't such a horrible idea - more sleep, more "us" time, etc. I am crossing my fingers that I keep feeling this good!!

Bye bye extra stuff!

Remember the dresser that I re-did? As a refresher, here it is.

It came from a garage sale at a rather seedy house but was $10.00. Score! Then it smelled like smoke :-( So I painted the inside of the drawers:

It went to live in the closet since the baby's room is small and I want to have a bed in there for me to lie down on if he is fussy and Nick needs to get some sleep. (Speaking of sleep, I seriously just woke up an hour ago after getting 9 hours of sleep and I could curl up and go back to sleep again). I came home the other day and I noticed it smelled kind of funny in the house. I had noticed an increasingly funny smell in the area where the baby's room was over the past few days too. I opened the drawer and confirmed my suspicion, the clothes etc smelled "smoky" - Now Nick thinks I am crazy and have some sort of uber pregnant smelling ability, but I don't really trust his allergy nose either. Anywhoo, if I can smell it, pregnant sniffer or not, it is there - and I certainly don't want the kiddo to be stuck in clothes that even remotely smell, whether it is smoke, mildew, or whatever - babies are so sensitive and the last thing he needs is smokey clothing. 

All the clothes got washed. Again. The dresser made its way over to our friends Neal and Jessica's house to be painted black and become a tool chest. The curtains I hung in the closet got replaced (again) by the original doors, which are now painted. The closet was fitted with some wire shelving from Home Depot and now all I have to do is make my way to IKEA to pick up some of their fabric bins which will be drawers for the time being. 

Sadly, the Nursery went from almost finished, to complete disaster with clothes and stuff sitting out all over the place. 

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In other news:

• My business is taking off and I have been very fortunate to have enough work to keep me busy and making a good living at it at the same time. 
• My business income has been a welcome way to pay things down. Happily, I will be paying off my car this weekend! (Sadly, the car has 164,000 miles so I am hoping that it lasts as long as Honda's are supposed to last - can we hope for another 100,000 miles with no major problems?? so that I don't have to add a new car payment anytime soon)
• We sold our old bathroom "appliances" - So long bathtub and sink and toilet. Hello New Canon Rebel T2i (when I get around to actually buying it) I didn't quite make the amount needed for the Canon which is $849 - but I got close. The tub sold for $375 and the sink and toilet sold for $125 so I am only $345 short. I think that my hard work with my business can make up the remaining. 

• I found a Pediatrician! I am so thankful that I have lucked out with Doctors. I love love love my "women's doctor" and I met with a pediatrician close to my house that I found by searching the internet (because all my friends go to a place in Tualatin which is kind of far for me) and just love her. She is 1 year out of residency so she is super young, building her practice and has so much energy! I am very excited for little bear to meet her!
• We are "narrowing" down names. The remain the bane of my existence. Like I said, he wont have a name until he is born because we have to meet him - but the good news is, we are getting better and better at knowing what we do and don't like. 
• We still have a ton left to do on the house before the baby comes. I looked at the ticker and realized that we have 44 days until our due date! That means that the baby could come in 23 days or 54 days and be full term for any of the time in between! So insane!! I feel like it sounds like longer if we go by weeks, anywhere between 3 and 7 weeks. Ok, maybe not. Yikes!!!

Baby Infiltration

Signs that our lives are about the change forever are starting to pop up all over our house. Here are a few sneak peak pics of the babies room and other pictures of baby things that seem to be infiltrating our house.

Baby backpack hiding next to the couches in the living room. 

Bob Stroller trying to blend in in the living room.

Pack n' Play in our bedroom. 

Sneak Peak: Futon Couch in Baby's room. 

Curtain for the closet.

Rocking chair next to curtain. 

Some of the crib

Sneaky swing, hiding by the chair and stereo in the family room. 

Not baby, but I realized I haven't shared the guest room sink. Here she is. The string, of course, gets removed. I can't wait to share pictures of this beauty when she is in use and installed. The bottom shelf will get baskets which will hold baby bear's cloth diapers and other diapering supplies. 

And Trooper - He doesn't know what to think about the whole baby thing. He just wants us to remember that our bed belongs to him - and he doesn't have to share if he doesn't want to. Hm Trooper, we will see about that. Just because you are 2 doesn't mean you won't have to share with your little brother. But don't worry, it goes two ways, he has to share with you too. Trust me, you will like him when he starts eating and discovers the "drop food on the floor for the doggy" game. 

Ok ok, and a belly shot - I am the world's worst first time pregnant person because honestly, I have not only not shared pictures, but have not taken them either. PS. not the greatest picture. PPS, um- I am measuring big - as in, I have to get an ultrasound to see if it is me or if it is the kid. I would like to think it is because I am narrow and the baby had nowhere else to go, however, perhaps it is just that I have *gulp* gained a little more weight than I should have...nervous laugh nervous laugh.