Slowly But Surely

Even though it's been awhile since our last post, there has been progress made on the bathroom projects. The new vinyl floor has been installed and the cabinets in the main bathroom have been painted white. Once the trim is hung we'll have that bathroom done (unless we decide to replace the counter top), with the master bathroom to finish. In the Master bathroom we still need to paint the cabinets, install the toilet, and hang the trim.

Poop Bathroom Project Update

It was back to work on the master bathroom this past week. The walls have gone from poop brown to "Cumberland Fog". Much calmer and brighter! We also hung the light fixture today. Unfortunately after we put it up we realized that although now that it is centered over the sink, it is not centered with the mirror. The mirror is too big and we'll have to get it cut down a tad. We have definitily ran into more setbacks with this bathroom than the other one. Errrr. The flooring has come in and we should be getting it scheduled to be installed soon.

Ryan was able to spend the night with us on Saturday night and on Sunday morning he helped Uncle Tommy with house projects. Thanks for the help Ryan!!! Have a good week everyone!

Fall Weekend Fun

The master bathroom project was put on hold this weekend, as we spent the weekend with my sister and her family in Iowa. Friday night we went to my brother-in-law's (Tom) football game (he is the local high school football head coach). It was an exciting game and his team won in overtime. This win put them in the playoffs and put Tom in a good mood for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins, but there wasn't really anything to pick from, so we went pumpkin picking at Wal-Mart instead! We enjoyed a beautiful Autumn view at Pike's Peak Park on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. I think Sean enjoyed himself even though when we were parking he was insisting that this park was going to be boring.

Sunday we headed out after breakfast to make it back home in time to go to Alissa's 7th birthday party. All in all it was a great weekend. Tonight, it's back to work on the bathroom!

Poop Bathroom Project Begins

For those of you that have visited us in the past, you know we have affectionately named our master bathroom the "poop" bathroom. Not because this is what you do in the bathroom, but because the color of the wall (and it might inspire you to poop). While I was gone for six weeks back a few years ago, my dear husband painted the bathroom a very dark brown. It was never quite the color we were going for, so the time has come for the walls to be painted once again.

Three coats of primer later . . . we now have it ready to be painted once again. This time it will be "Cumberland Fog", or in English, a light blue/gray. I know, I know. We just got rid of blue in the other bathroom, so you may be wondering why we are going with blue in this bathroom. Well, that's because that's what my husband decided and it will be a much subtler shade of blue.

But as in all house projects we of course had another surprise when we removed the light fixture. This time it was the appropriate hole, it's just not centered with the sink. We picked out a light fixture today at BBC Lighting in Milwaukee, and of course for it took look right, Tom will have to move the electric box over and once again do drywall repair. He is getting really good at it!

We finally did pick out a floor. It was none of the options we blogged about earlier. When we went back to Menard's we found a different floor we liked. It will be on the darker side but larger square titles. I was happy because it was actually the cheapest among the ones we looked at, and we are trying to keep these bathroom renovations to minimum cost. I do hope it looks good though!! It should be here in about two weeks.

Kinda of Sorta Finished Bathroom

For now the bathroom is finished! The towel racks are installed and the shower curtain hung. Now we just have to decide if we will paint or replace the vanity, replace the counter, and which floor to go with. But for now, it's operational once again.

Yellow Bathroom

I'm happy to report that progress has been made on the bathroom project. The walls have been painted "Banana Cream" yellow and the light fixture has been hung. Although yellow is Sean's favorite color, we did not choose this color because of him. However, we did ask him which shade of yellow he liked from our paint samples. Surprisingly he didn't like any of them. They weren't yellow enough!

Below are some pictures of some possible floor choices. We are leaning towards the dark, multi-colored smalled square title vinyl (all choices are vinyl). Let us know which one you like!

On the refrigerator problem . . . thanks to Todd for helping us install the new copper line. Works like a champ!

Bathroom Project Begins!

The bathroom project has begun!! After debating if we really wanted to start this project this weekend or not, we decided to go for it. The project slowed down when we removed the existing lighting fixture to find instead of just the electric box, but a 3"x7" gap in the wall. Unfortunately we didn't have any drywall on hand to patch it since the stock we had on had all got destroyed in the flooded basement of June 2008. We were however still able to get the priming done on Saturday night. Today we picked up the supplies we needed to fix the hole and got it patched. Once it's dry we'll be able to paint!

On another note, to make home improvement even more exciting, the water line to the ice maker in the refridgerator has once again developed a pin hole and has leaked water all over the place. You have to go figure if you start a housing project some other thing is sure to break down and cause grief!!

Yellow Hoop Earrings

Yes, I know it's been awhile since we've last posted, but life has been pretty uneventful. This past weekend however, my sister and family were in Milwaukee for my Grandma's 90th birthday party.

Saturday we had an exciting afternoon going to the Elegant Farmer to pick some apples . . .including a giant one for Sean's pre-school homework assignment. I think Sean discovered the fun of climbing trees since he was a regular monkey in just about every tree we came across.


Saturday we also celebrated my sister's 35th birthday (which is upcoming on Wednesday the 24th - Happy Birthday Jen!). Sean went with his Daddy and Uncle Tommy shopping to get her a present. He found her what he thought was the perfect presents!!! A yellow blouse with yellow hoop earrings! When asked what inspired to pick out the presents, he said that yellow was mommy's favorite color. This is particularly funny, as yellow is his favorite color since he was brainwashed by Grandma from birth to believe this. :) I don't believe yellow has ever been Jen's favorite color. Sean also said that if his mommy wore the shirt and earrings together than she would look like a banana!!! I think Jen really enjoyed her presents and is looking forward to looking like a banana!!!

Sunday, we had a wonderful birthday party for my Grandma's 90th. It was quite the turnout with a houseful of people and gorgeous weather to boot!


We haven't done any house projects for quite the long time, but we're planning on going back down that road soon by updating our bathrooms, so check back for our progress over the next few weeks. We always have such great, fun experiences with home remodeling so I'm sure the blog entries could get very entertaining.

Thanks for stopping!

Roar of the Lion

Hey everyone, just thought I would post some pictures from our annual trek to Oak Creek's Lion's Fest. As usual we enjoyed sweet corn, beer, brats, and cheese curds (the first ones we ordered actually tasted like cheese turds). Our fun began by running into the weenies that run around Miller Park and trying to get Vince to take a picture with them. He was right for being scared that this picture would be posted online and would haunt him the rest of his life. The carnies (small hands, smell like cabbage) as usual lured the kids into their impossible meth induced games with their cheap shiney swag made in China. Uncle Tommy was suckered twice into the basketball free throw game which he lost $10 bucks on. Even if his shot was on I don't think that ball could have fit through that mangled rim. Ryan was the human weed wacker with his new light saber that he won. The light began burning out by the end of the night and I'm not sure if it's from everyone he wacked with it or because it was made in China. Alissa won a big pony "Silver" from one of the carnies (I'm sure he's retooling the game so that never happens again). Over all it was a fun evening and even though we like to joke about the carnies we love it when they come to town. Nothing says fun like beer, brats, cheap toys, and unsafe rides. Until next year.

Here's a picture of me with my favorite brother-in-law
(yes Todd, I wrote this on purpose to see if you were paying attention.) :)

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Today we left Alaska and made it safely back to Milwaukee. We had a great time and really enjoyed seeing the sights. I think our trip can be summed up with the phrase "planes, trains, and automobiles". We certainly saw a lot of Alaska by all three modes of transportation.

On the way I home I had the opportunity to sit in the "jump seat" behind the pilots on take off. It was an interesting experience to watch them do their job and listen in on their chatter with air traffic control. It certainly makes me appreciate what they do as it seemed like a whole different world and language.

It was a good trip, but we are happy to be back home and return to "summer" for as long as it will last.

Even though the trip is over, stop back and check our blog every now and again. If something exciting happens in our day to day lives we'll be sure to blog about it!