~Nothing But the Kitchen Sink~

The last three weeks have been a blur of activity in our household, so here I am hoping to get back into the blogging groove. It's so difficult to know where to begin when I've been out of this space so long and so much has happened during the interval! But I will do my best . . .

I'm thinking 'short and sweet' posts may be the best answer to it all . . . so to start off, instead of sharing 'everything, but the kitchen sink', I'll take it slow and show ONLY the kitchen sink! ;)

Now, prepare to be disgusted . . . 

here is what I have been washing dishes in for the past 8 years. Yes- I did indeed scrub it before I took the picture . . . yes, those are the nastiest stains ever. But do you see the good news?

Let's get closer, shall we?
What- What's that? . . . praise be to God!  A CRACK! A hideous, can't-be-fixed, leaks-everywhere crack! 
The perfect excuse to FINALLY replace the horrible, old kitchen sink!!! 
And The Husband cannot say no!! (insert maniacal laugh here)!!

Goodbye, monstrosity . . . ! 

Hello, gorgeous!!!!

No divider to make scouring pots and pans nearly impossible! No hideous stains or leaking cracks!! This baby cleans up like nobody's business . . .

And to add further excitement,  that dream beyond dreams . . . a sprayer!!! Be still my heart . . .

It's been three weeks now, and I can't stop cooing to it and petting it each time I walk by. Which may mean I'm crazy . . . crazy in love!

Back Soon- Cheers!

~Spring Break~

Even though Spring Break was two weeks ago I am still trying to recover from it.

 It started with Easter Sunday and two sick boys.

 Though being sick didn't stop them from dying eggs the night before,

or hunting for eggs on Easter morning.

And it ended with time alone with the Oldest while his brother was away being spoiled by his Nana.

We needed to get out of the house, so we spent an afternoon walking in the Portland Arboretum. 

The rain spared us.

The magnolias were in bloom.

And they took our breath away.

So that was the beginning and end of our Spring Break.

Curious about the middle?

Well- we spent the majority of it in our hallway.

Sanding it.

Taping it.

And staining it too.

From this:

To this:

TA-DA!

Not perfect, but such an improvement over three years of slivers from the unfinished floor. 

Exhausting, but definitely worth the effort. 

(we're talking four hours to tape off that floor!)

And now, with nothing but play rehearsals, school to teach, meals to deliver and a field trip that required hours of training to help with, I am in desperate need of a Second Spring Break. This time one that doesn't include sick kids, home improvement of any kind nor walking over a plank for four straight days to get to our only bathroom! ;)

Cheers!

~Before, After, & after-After~

Back in June my 'sewing studio' (really, my desk) was moved from our guestroom to my bedroom. This has been in order to turn the guestroom into a bedroom for Oldest who will be turning twelve in a couple months. It was promised that at twelve he would no longer have to share a room with younger brother- a change I am looking forward to in hopes of less bickering. (please!) But all this moving around (not to mention painting, and repairing) has caused quite a few things to go homeless for awhile while I get around to finding new places for them. My sewing corner has been no exception. I knew the nook off our bedroom would be an okay place for relocation, but for nearly two months, this is how it looked. . .

Yeah- not pretty.

Or even useful.

Okay, it's really just a big mess.

But finally, necessity presented itself in the form of a friend's new baby arriving and I just HAD to make a blanket. And so, time was finally set aside and some order was created.

And thus- Behold, my sewing nook . . .

Here it is from afar- I'm actually pretty happy with how it has turned out. I honestly wasn't thrilled about having an area like this in my bedroom- too easy to have everything end up piled with clothes that need putting away. But I admit wanting to keep it clear enough to use has gotten me to put the clothes away directly which is probably a pretty good thing in and of itself. And I've been surprised by how peaceful it is to do sewing up here; far less interruption and it's also very pleasant to sit and feel the breeze from the open windows and look out into the treetops if I'm hand stitching. Very nice indeed.

And so, here we are up closer . . .

And there is my rainbow-ed collection of happy spools of thread . . .

And some details from above: embroidery floss in a see-through container from Ikea, a collection of covered oatmeal containers to store everything from binding to zippers (guess I eat a lot of oatmeal), and a bit of bunting to make it fun.

Still have a few more plans and tweaking to do, but for now it works for sewing, and that is what matters. In fact, here is what it looks like at this moment . . .

I've been having lots of fun playing in my little corner as you can see. I'll share more on that later. Happy happy Friday- I hope everyone gets the chance to have some 'playtime' this weekend. :)

Cheers!

An Unusual Before and After~

Okay~ I admit that I had a completely different second post for my blog planned, but life has come in and tinkered a bit. And so today I want to share a very special before and after shot in the way of 'Home Improvement'. The kind of improvement brought on by life happening.

Behold a bucket~

If you look closely, you will notice that this bucket happens to have a plunger and toilet scrubber sitting nearby. They are a little clue as to where this lovely blue bucket happens to be:

. . . in the corner of our bathroom . . .

. . . where the toilet use to be . . .

. . . our only bathroom I might add.

Oh, yes. -At 10pm last night Husband began the two-hour process of ripping out our one and only toilet. And believe it or not, this was not an overly zealous re-decorating whim that brought us to this place, but a suddenly discovered puddle in the bathroom coming from underneath our toilet, which eventually led to the discovery that every nut and bolt was completely corroded and the wax seal underneath was simply no longer with us.

Of course, taking out a toilet is simple- and a very nice U-Tube video showed us just how simple it could be.

Unfortunately, 'simple' never seems to happen much to us, and in fact it was one of the most disgusting late-night nightmares ever, due to the two bolts at the bottom being so deteriorated they must have broken off years ago.

I'll leave it to say that the night was thus filled with a metal saw, lots of towels, a hammer, and some 'colorful' language. I will also note here that the male species is incredibly lucky in their anatomy in this situation, and I will future note I am so grateful that my dear neighbor across the street stays up really late- and has a working toilet.

However- there is a silver-lining. (Aside from us mean parents getting a good laugh at the look on the younger's face when he came downstairs in the morning and found a bucket where his throne once was.)

Early this morning, Husband and I were off on the hunt for our replacement, and I do believe we scored. The ReBuilding Center across the river in Portland was our destination and it did not disappoint. For only twenty dollars we came home with this beauty . . .

Isn't it wonderful?!!!!

I can honestly say that after twelve hours without one, at this moment there is nothing more beautiful in my home. Period.

I would also like to note that our old toilet was lacking in the 'flush' department, and this baby has some power to her! Oh, how I love her!

Also noted:

The flowers on top were simply added for the effect of something pretty to look at in case not everyone is as enthusiastic over her porcelain beauty. Hard to imagine though . . . ;)

Cheers!

~Jennie

PS. In case anyone is interested, I'm super excited and honored to have my home featured on Etsy's blog Get the Look Decor. Check it out if you get a minute, and, I promise, there are no toilet pictures over there!