The end

It's time for a change. Goodbye blog! Friends, please visit me at my new home :)

New blog: LifeAsMyWitness

Bookshelf project complete!

We still need to figure out what to hang over the fire place, but the bookshelves are up!

Reading update

Ever since I started blogging my reading lists, I have not done a good job at posting on a regular basis. The original goal was to post immediately after finishing a book. So far I have been going in chunks every few months. It has been 7 months since I last posted a reading nook update, so I apologize if I am leaving any out (and I am sure I am), but here goes it...

"Dear John" writen by Nicholas Sparks
This was a nice weekend read. Though extremely predictable, I recommend it. It's sweet, quick, and has a nice ending.



"Nineteen Minutes" write by Jodi Piccoult
If you are a Piccoult fan, I highly reccomend this one. If you haven't read her novels before, this is a good one to start with.




"Sundays at Tiffany's" written by James Patterson
Surprisingly this was my first Patterson novel. It's ok. Definately a quick read. Though I wouldn't go raving about it, I wouldn't steer anyone away from it either.


The "Sookie Stackhouse Series" written by Charlaine Harris
Honestly, this series leaves seomthing to be desired. Though there was something about it that kept me reading, I don't reccomend it. I will say however that it is 100 times better than the HBO series (worst show ever produced) and that although it starts out slow, I really enjoyed books 3 and 4. Not to mention my newly developed fictitional crush on Eric.

Bookshelf project

Hello dear friends! With the repairs in our house coming to an end, we FINALLY are able to start decorating. First step - bookshelves! I saw this wonderful before/after segment on designsponge and am attempting to apply it to my onw home. Here is our current living room (along with a dancing Maddie):

Here is the before/after segment I am pulling my inspirationg from:

The back splash on our bookshelves will be the haddon hall green of our walls, and the face of the bookshelves will be the coconut color of our molding and fireplace. The idea is to make the everything on that wall (firplace and bookshelves) work together as one piece. I will post pictures as soon as it is complete! (gool: next weekend).

"How'd they shoot him dead?"

I remember when we talked about colors and numbers. Now, as my beautiful daughter continues to grow, our conversations continue to grown more interesting. She asked last week "Mama, how'd they shoot him dead?". After a long series of questions I figured out that she was referring to Dr Martlin Luther King Jr.

The interesting thing about a five year old, is that she wasn't curious about "why" they shot him, she wanted to know how shooting him resulted in his death.

It was a strong reminder of how important it is to pay attention to the media and the toys that you expose your child to. Also, the importance of taking the time to talk about what they see and hear in that exposure. Because Maddie isn't aloud to play with toy guns or watch movies that depict violence, it had never occured to her that shooting someone with a gun kills that person. On one hand, it is comforting that a person can live with that feeling of safety. On the other hand, it scared me. Because we don't have guns in our house it had never dawned on me to talk to her about gun safety. As she grows older though, we do not have the luxury of being with her at all times and she could easily find herself at a play date where there are guns kept in the house. Suffice to say, we sat down that evening and had a long talk about guns. We spoke of their purpose, their mechanics, and the importance of not touching one.

Maybe I was affected differently because I just finished a novel about a school shooting... either way, I am so grateful that the opportunity presented itself since I hadn't thought of it on my own.

"How did all the people get here?"

Two weeks ago Maddie and I were driving home from school when she asked me "Mama, how did all the people get here?" Beleiving in religious science as I do, and being a firm believer that everyone should partake in a faith (or lack of faith) that makes sense to them, I was careful not to say "this IS what happened...". I instead took the approach of explaining that there are lots of different beliefs, but that Mama believes is that... (btw explaining evolution to a 5 year old puts a lot of strain on the brain).

I can't help but wonder though, is it better to teach children a truth at this young age and then encourage them to explore different faiths later in life? Or is it best to keep the road maps of faith open from day one? As an adult I still struggle with wanting to have one firm belief, one which I have yet to nail down, craving a "known truth" which for me does not yet exist.

Parents, what do you chose to teach your children? And non-parents, what do you think you will chose to teach when your time comes? I would love to hear from you.

The things we get excited about....

Danielle:
Yay for a new vacuum!!!!!! I am now the proud owner of the Electrolux Ultra Silencer. Whoohoo! I am ridiculously happy about this home purchase.

Kevin:
New lawn mower!!!! Okay, I can't tell you anything about it other than we bought it at True Value and it came with a two year warranty. Other than that all I know is that it is a push mower...

Maddie:
New hair cut! Two weeks ago she cut her hair (again) because she wanted short hair. So we chopped off those beautiful locks and she is back to sporting the inverted bob. She pulls it off quite well if I do say so myself. She LOVES it.

Progress

No time to write a blog but my flickr account has been updated. As you will see the floor color has changed, we have added paint to the walls, and the trim work/molding is in process. (And look! No more baseboard heat!!!!)

click here for photos

It's official!

We officially own our very own home!!!!! Too much to write about tonight but you can view "Project Remodel" highlights here.

Floors!

We officially have our floor contractor!!! One project down, one million to go.

Doors, doors, doors...

Today we made a visit to Franks Lumber - The Door Store, in Shoreline. We fell in love with several styles of doors, but these seem to be claiming a place in our hearts. The decision that needs to be made is do we A) choose a door that would be painted to match the trim and molding, or B) choose a door that would be stained to match the floors. We decided that the best route would be to wait until the floors, trim, and molding are complete to make the decision. That way we will have a better understanding of the statement and flow we would like the hallway to have. Have a look at our favorite finds.

To be painted to match the trim and molding:

To be stained to match the new floors:

Silver Oak floor stain

Isn't she gorgeous!!!!!!!! Our hardwoods need refinishing before the move in (well I guess "need" isn't exactly true for the entire house, but it is for the bedrooms). Seattle Floors is coming out on Tuesday for our on site estimate. After the estimate we will schedule an appointment at the showroom to chose our stain. I am really loving these silver toned floors. LOVE THEM!!!!!!

Silver Oak: Relaxing. Beach getaway. Self indulgence. Earthy.

Graphite: Stunning. Romantic. Lovely.

YUM!!!!!!!!!!

Daily dose of inspiration #8

I give you Maddie, playing in her new back yard for the first time!!! It's not a great photo, it was actually meant to be of the yard, but I managed to capture her and the neighbor kids playing. Looking at her out there is such a wonderful reminder of why all of the hard work (loan apps, debt payments, house hunting) is so worth it. I cannot wait to move in!!!!

The packing has begun

Our property manager asked that we allow him to come in on Monday to take pictures for the rental posting. We of course agreed since they have been so cooperative with our move (we are breaking our lease). I decided that staging the house for photos was a waste of our time and it would be better to use that time to pack. We have been super productive this weekend and the packing is really moving along. Unfortunately... packing makes your home messy. Oh well. At least we are using our time wisely.

WEST SEATTLE HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!

On a whim, before submitting our counter offer on Friday, we drove by a house that went on the market Friday morning. While sitting at dinner we gave our agent a call and asked if we could take a look at it Saturday morning. She was unavailable Saturday but happy to take us as soon as we we done eating. We met Dena at her office in Eastlake and off we went. The moment we walked in to the living room, we new it was the "one". A gut feeling. After poking around and making note of all the wonderful improvement we could make, we went back to Dena's office and she wrote up an offer.

Saturday morning our offer was submitted. This afternoon, our offer was ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!!! We are set to close on October 14th which gives us 15 day to refinish the hardwood floors (yeah for no carpet!), paint the walls, put up the crown molding & wanescoating (they are freshly painted, but freshly painted stark white), and anything and everything else you can think of.

So excited!!!!!!!!!

House Stats:
3 bedroom
1 bath
Living Room
Dining Room
Galley Kitchen with window looking out in to the backyard
Mud Room complete with washer and dryer
Dutch Door on the front entrance (added bonus!)
Partially finish bonus room (IE music room)
All appliances (all of which will be replaced eventually with energy efficient ones)
Back patio
Nicely Landscaped backyard
Japanese dry sauna with roof top deck
Did I mention there aren't ANY carpets?!?!?!

We are extremely excited!!!! WEST SEATTLE HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!

Daily dose of inspiration #7

DIY Wanescoating

Daily dose of inspiration # 6

DIY Painted Cabinets

Kitchen counters

The sellers counter offer came back absolute poo. They offered us their asking price plus 4k towards closing. We are going to offer what we had planned on maxing them at but the outlook does not look. It is probably back to the drawing board but we will keep you posted.

Offer made

Well, last night we made our first ever offer on a house. The offer expires at 7PM tonight so hopefully a counter offer will be received soon (and we are expecting one). We aren't able to meet the asking price because the house needs an immediate add-on to work for us so we have to keep some of our down payment, but hopefully things can be negotiated. Please keep fingers and toes crossed for us! And if you pray, please do so :)

Making an offer!

Pending one more look through tomorrow, we just may be making an offer on a house this week!