Construction Construction... I can't Function!!

Oh yea I just went there with my little version of the School House Rock song. Who ever decided it was a good idea to have a baby, buy a house, move out of state and renovate that house is CRAZY!! I guess that makes me the crazy one!

Anyway, here is an update on where we stand...
-Floors are down in the back of the house and mostly in the living room
-The back of the house is DONE (except for shoe molding)
-All of our things have arrived from Texas

This week has been a tough one, my husband flew back to Dallas practically as soon as he dropped off our stuff for a work meeting. My little SnugBug has also been sick with a litttle chest cold :( this is so sad for me and all he wants is to be held, so as any good mother would I have been doing lots of holding and snuggling! So as you can imagine it is hard to get much done with Mr. Man in my arms all day.

As much as it makes me sad I think we are going to take about a month off from any more renovations, I will still be decorating the rooms that are mostly done so stuff will be getting done. But we just need a break from the madness!

So here are some pictures to see some of the transformation:

These two are the Master bedroom!! In. Love.

The hallway (I know kinda boring) 

Snugget's room!!

Guest room/man cave? 

Newly painted fireplace. I was against painting it at first but I must day..what a gorgeous transformation!

Living Room Painted!! It is so nice to not be in the Pepto Bismol house anymore!

And this is the front entry.. still a mess :( But on the bright side no more tree or sky lights!

We still have a long way to go but we have come so far! I love what this house is becoming and can't wait to get to the end. I also want to give ny brother-in-law Cameron Hernandez a shout out for taking so much of his personal time to help us get this done! Thank you so much we love you!

Please check out his company's Facebook page JBC Construction.

As usual I will leave you with a picture of my sweet man..

The Grand Tour

As promised, I am here to give you the grand tour of our new house! I just want to prepare you for the 1977 fabulousness you are about to see...about 90% of the carpet and paint are original to the house. I know....gross. Some of the pictures aren't the best And we are missing a few good ones of certain rooms because my husband took these when he went for the inspection, I had to stay in Texas because I was 9 months along with our little SnugBug.

Finally...the reveal:

This is the front, quite a bit different than the traditional southern style home I envisioned us purchasing! Needless to say the landscaping has quite a way to go! And by quite a way I mean we have to pull everything and start over! 

Sadly this is the best before shot we have of the arboretum! Yes, there is a tree right beyond the front door! A 14ft ficus tree growing from a hole in the foundation!! I am sure it was a cool idea at first but forty years of no maintenance and it was just a tall skinny tree intertwined in the ceiling fan!

This is a peak at the kitchen. Not a bad size and the only appliance we have to replace is the cooktop...not bad! What you see in the middle there would be a Jenn Air grill in our island. As antique as it may be, it won't make it through the renovations.

This is the best example of how fabulous the wallpapering is in this house! Yes, the shower curtain matches the wallpaper, and yes, the curtain rod was wrapped in matching fabric! Geez!

This is the living area. Not a bad space if you love pink on pink, yes the carpet is pink too. This room was easy to see the potential with the high ceilings and abundance of natural light. And just wait to see what we are doing with the fireplace...

My Office!! I get this whole room with vaulted ceilings and built in cabinets to use as my craft space! This was the best before picture I have since they went right to work on this space. I am so excited about this space because I get to do whatever my creative heart desires here!

The last picture I am going to leave you with is this one...
Yep, that is wallpaper on the ceiling! and no picture we had did justice to the blinding yellow paint that was on the walls. I feel sorry for the small child that had to spend time in here.


Well, there it is! That is the majority of the house in all its 1977 grandeur. Lots of work has already been started so I am anxious to start getting some after photos up for you!

 

Limb Loss Awareness Love

I thought I would sneak in another quick post since the little man and I have had such a good morning! He slept for 5 hours last night!! I know its not a whole night's sleep but oh how much easier it is to function with that many consecutive hours of sleep!!

I really just wanted to give a quick shout out to my Daddy. April is Limb Loss Awareness Month and..well..he just happens to be my favorite amputee!

In 1994 he lost both of his legs when he was electrocuted while at work as a lineman for an electric company. He was only 26 years old. I was 6 and my brother was just 2 years old. With such overwhelming circumstances set before him it would be easy to understand if he was angry about what happened, but that is not my dad. There was no anger, only determination. Determination to live life for himself and his family.

Growing up it was just normal to my brother and I to have a dad with no legs! I mean other than that he wasn't any different from our friend's dads, he still coached our baseball teams, brought us to rodeos, and kept us in line {on the rare occasion we were anything other than angels of course(: } If anything I think it enriched our childhood by showing us that you can't let anything slow you down. He taught us so much without saying a word because his actions and attitude spoke volumes!

Since the minute he woke up in the hospital he has defied the odds and overcome any obstacle that was in his way. He is an inspiration to everyone that knows him. I know you don't really care to be in the spotlight Daddy, but it's too late...I've just let everyone know what a wonderful person you are! I love you so much!

 

I am cruising over to the Sunday Social, please follow me there and find some more amazing blogs!

I would love to hear about an amputee in your life that has been an inspiration to you.

I'll take all major life changes at once...Thanks!

Whirlwind doesn't even begin to explain the last two months of my life! My little Snugget arrived, we bought a house and are moving home next month! Is there a level past exhaustion?...Because that's where I am right now. 

First I would like to introduce my Snugget to you.

Meet Mr. Gregory Patrick Snedigar!

March 7, 2013 @ 6:08AM

7lb 10oz - 21.5"

 

 

To say the least this has been the best month of my life. He has brought so much joy to my husband and I! Even at 2AM I can't be mad because this little face is smiling at me.

 

As if being a new mommy isn't hard enough we decided to buy a house, in another state and travel back and forth to renovate and pack at the same time. Yep. At just two weeks old my little man made the long trip from Texas to Louisiana so we could begin renovations on our new home. When I say renovations I mean RENOVATIONS! The house was built in '77 and still had original carpet...EWW!! So every room had to be repainted and carpet pulled and concrete stained...and that's just the beginning!

I am so excited to share the transformation of this house with you! I know, I know, the suspense is killing you...what are we working with here. Well you asked..here it is...

Strange I know, but it was the right deal in the right neighborhood!

I will be posting more pictures as rooms get finished! 

Coming up this week..I'll give you a tour of the house pre-renovations there are some surprises waiting in this house you won't believe!

Thought I would leave off with a picture of my sweet pea!

Baby Prep Day

Well I have been up cleaning since 6:30 this morning. I guess this is when the heavy duty nesting kicks in! The house has been bugging me a little but I gave it a good once over and got things back to order so I feel much better. Ryan, of course, got to sleep through all of this and wake up to a sparkling house! I must admit though that he is being a super husband today because I sent him to the grocery store with the longest, most detailed list ever and he left with a smile on his face! 

I still feel rather unprepared for the arrival of Snugget despite the amount of goodies we racked up at our showers! Please tell me that no one ever feels truly prepared for their first day of parenthood and I am not alone in this feeling! To help alleviate some of the stress I am preparing lots of crock pot freezer meals to have ready for when the time comes. I used to think that the crock pot was for people who didn't really know how to cook...growing up the crock pot was ONLY for warming meatballs and dips at parties...however I have recently purchased one and love it. I have been able to make these freezer meals ahead of time and the beauty of it is you get multiple meals and only have to clean up one mess! Plus it frees up my day when I pull one out, I can put it in the pot and get completely lost in my crafts (or naps) and by the time Ryan is home from work we have a meal ready to eat! I. Love. It. 

My next goal is to get our master bedroom ready for baby since I will not be traveling up the stairs to the nursery too often! I am pretty excited about this because (I can't believe I am admitting this) we have been using our queen size comforter on our new KING sized bed since we got it! I am so ready to quit fighting over the covers. So my goal is to redecorate and clean before baby for less than $100! Good luck to me, I am going to need it. Here is what I am thinking...

These colors came after lots of  "NO's" from the hubby! He axed turquoise, red, orange and teal! But we finally came to an agreement on these and I must say I am happy with it!

I am trying to keep it plain, simple, and cheap! So to start out the most important thing is the duvet, which I thought I had found at Target for only $35 but I couldn't seem to find it online today, hopefully they still have it at my local store! Lamps I plan on making myself from goodwill finds, I want beautiful emerald bases with grey shades! The headboard will have to be last, and even if I make it it may be a bit expensive. I did the one in our room now but it isn't tufted so this should be quite an undertaking but I am ready for the challenge.

Other than baby prep I was pretty busy this week making wreaths! I am super happy with the one I just made for my brother-in-law's front door...And what an accomplishment to make something that a man is willing to hang on his door!! Granted, his girlfriend bought it, I am just tickled he said it was "awesome".

Gone Fishin' Wreath

I have to get back to cooking before I lose all my motivation!!

Any new parent advice is always welcome! Or funny stories. Or helpful hints. 

Link up with me for the Sunday Social over at Love Bakes Good Cakes!

Is it spring yet?

I don't know about you but I am ready for spring and summer! I'm tired of all the dead grass and trees, ready to see some greenery and blossoming flowers! So since I can't just wave my magic wand and get all that to happen I decided to redecorate my mantel with some spring accents. And boy has it brightened my living room! It also makes me happy that my little Snugget is going to arrive to a bright and happy home. 

I love the fresh tulips, they have been blossoming out so beautifully the past few days. I don't know if you can tell, but the one farthest to the right is my favorite, it curves in a different direction every time I come in the room! Fits my life so perfectly...one crazy bloom just doing its thug thing ;)

On another note Dr says Snug is staying put for a few more weeks so I guess that means I need to waddle around my favorite craft stores a little more and hope to help this arrival come sooner rather than later!

I am linking up with Not JUST A Housewife's party! Stop by for lots of other great blogs and ideas!

Showers and Nesting...The countdown begins!

Since we returned from our trip to OKC I have been one busy bee. I have had two baby showers in two states, worked on Etsy sales, and had family in town for a shower gift deliver/visit! I feel like I should start out first by thanking the wonderful hostesses of both of my showers. These ladies did such an amazing job. My first shower was thrown by my neighbors who have been so wonderful to my husband and I since we moved in, it was really nice to feel a sense of family here in Texas since our family will be so far away when Snugget arrives! My shower at home was thrown by my loving family and was such a fun time, Snugget is already one spoiled baby!

Just a few of the wonderful neighbors who attended my shower!

My MawMaw and Mother!

 

 

So of course, along with showers comes lots of gifts and the where to put all of it! I must admit that since Ryan and I live out here without much friends or family to visit...we sometimes errr let's say let the house take over... So organize time it was! And we have been doing just that. With a couple of weekends to get one shower load settled in before the second load arrived I would say that we have done a rather nice job of cleaning and "baby-tizing".

 

My favorite part of the organization spree was the peg board organizer we added to my craft area!!

 

 I tend to get a little mad scientist in my area and let it start to overtake the rest of the living room and kitchen so having this board helps me to have everything where I can see it without it being strewn about the whole downstairs area!

Here is just a glimpse of how things went from really bad to MUCH better..

I really have to give it to myself for getting this done! I am so much happier working in this space now!!

 

And sadly I have just sent off my brother and grandmother back to Louisiana after they were so kind as to bring all the shower gifts from home since I flew out this time around. It is always so nice having people over, I just never want them to leave once they get here! We had a wonderful time though; we brought them to our favorite nail salon and got a great laugh at my overly ticklish 6'4" brother, had a great dinner and nice relaxing morning before they had to head back to the country. Ryan even set the camera up with the auto-timer so we could all get a picture together!

The next few weeks are going to be full of naps, baby gadgets and date nights as we await the arrival of baby Snugget! Only 4 weeks left!

I am linking up to the Sunday Social again! Hop over to find some other great blogs!