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!



Life in a Hotel: Meal #3

Well friends day three was a tough one! I have been feeling rather exhausted lately with only 8 weeks until Snugget arrives, so let me tell you...I was just not up for cooking tonight. In all his amazingness my husband steps up and says that he will cook dinner!! SWEET! But I knew what this meant in reality...I would end up doing about half of the work.

 

I stayed on the couch as long as possible calling out the directions (and giving a few of my own helpful suggestions) for as long as I could. Just before he went into complete freak out mode I swooped in to help out, but you know what, I'll take a little stirring over cooking the full meal! I suppose I should mention that he chose to cook P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef. I also feel like I should give you a little insight into the way my husband works... He is a process guy, meaning before he starts cooking he completely measures out all the ingredients, if there is a time in the directions he sets the timer for the exact time, and if it doesn't call for it he doesn't put it in! Me on the other hand, I like to get a general idea of the ingredients and directions and just go with it. We are kind of like oil and water when we are in the kitchen together!

 

How was dinner you ask? In my husband's words..."I'm happy you didn't cook this so I don't have to tell you I don't like it!" HAHA! So, we are going to take a little stroll next door to Toby Kieth's I Love This Bar and grab a little grub, luckily today was the day we didn't have to pay for lunch so going out for dinner is technically okay this time. Hey we tried...

 

Just us with Toby no big deal..

 

 

 

Life in a Hotel: Meal #2

Day 2 and we are still holding strong to our eating in commitment! We are having Jo Mama's Famous Spaghetti  tonight. I do feel the need to say that I do know how to cook most of these recipes with no recipe to guide me, however my husband (the super planner) insisted on finding the recipes and writing me up a detailed list of groceries... sometimes I just oblige him, that's what good wives do every now and then..right?!

I feel like I need to talk about the utensils they give you at these hotels.

1 large 1 medium and 1 small serrated knife
1 large pot
1 sauce pan
1 small pot
a collinder
1 set of varios sized Pyrex bowls (thankfully with lids)
and a very small cutting board

Needless to say, my working conditions are less than favorable. Yet, I must say I have done a swell job of using what was given to get these meals accomplished! One large pot to make spaghetti? Thankfully the husband wasn't super hungry, because I had to boil the pasta first then use the sauce pan as a bowl to hold it while I made the sauce! No multi-tasking tonight, but plenty of improvising and even still finished the meal in around an hour and a half. Happy to say we have made it through and I got another back-for-seconds meal under my belt!

Must admit that the picture doesn't do it the tasty justice that it deserves, but here you go!



 

 

Life in a Hotel: Meal #1

Ok so as promised I am going to bring you an easy, budget friendly meal a day this week! My husband wanted to help (he is the planner in the relationship) so he got online and chose all the meals and wrote out my shopping list...how sweet...But he really did do a good job finding me some low prep/cook time meals.

 

Just to give you an idea of what I am working with...here is a look at a Residence Inn kitchen.

 

Not much counter space for this southern cook to work with! Not to mention my husband hustled me out of the house so quick and early this morning I forgot to bring any of my own pots, pans and knives. So this really is going to be a test of how well we can live in this room for the next week!

Today we tried Creamy Cajun Chicken. I must say it was a good choice! Quick and easy, well except for the fact that the two burner stove was a bit too small for both my sauce pan and the pot I was boiling pasta in! But had they both fit this would have been prepped and cooked within 30 minutes! Great easy recipe for anyone trying to wow on a time constraint!

Finished product:

Day #1 has been a long but successful day. Woke up at 5:15, in Oklahoma City by 9am, kill time all morning before check-in, shopping after husband gets off work, meal cooked, and BCS Championship watched! Yes, I swallowed every bit of my Tiger pride and cheered for Bama tonight...happy for an SEC win and hoping for a better year for my boys this year!

Do you travel with your husband?
What are your favorite cities to travel to?
 

New Year, New Blog

I have been less than attentive to this blog as of late. One of my resolutions is to really focus on this blog and make it a functional part of my business! I love reading other blogs and I am constantly wishing that mine was as good as theirs...yet as you can tell I haven't made my way back here to work on my own blog! So no more whining, this is the beginning of a new year and I will make this page a success this year!

This week I am traveling to Oklahoma City with the husband while he is on business. We are really trying to keep to a strict budget so cooking in at the Residence Inn is going to be a must. To keep us on track with the budget I am going to make it a point to write a post a day about an easy meal that you can whip up in the tiniest of kitchens! I will alternate lunch and dinner recipes as we get a small allowance a day for food so I WILL be making him take me to dinner at least one night! In the end I hope this helps moms on the go and wives who, like me, get to travel once in a while with their man!

I also wanted to start this new blog year with a checklist of things that are going on/coming up.... 

• I suppose the biggest event coming up would be the arrival of our little Snugget! Only 8 weeks left and if my mommy intuition is right it will be less than that because I feel like it will be a February baby not March. Since we are not finding out the sex of the baby it will be just as big a surprise to use as you! 
• March 31 marks the first anniversary of my Wedding! My husband who is so wonderfully sentimental has decided that we will get married again every year on our anniversary and I look forward to many more weddings with the man I love!
• MAY!! We are moving home! I am so excited about this, mostly because we will be near family and friends again. You should be happy because this means that we will be buuying a new home which means RENOVATIONS and lots of fun ideas and tutorials and before and afters! I know I can promise some great things to come out of this because we will be very close to my sister-in-law who is chomping at the bit to help me re-do my house. I can't say good bye to this rent house soon enough!
• Summer. I love summer. And with this will come an obnoxious amount of pool and beach pictures of my sweet Snugget (please let my baby get my husband's olive complexion!)

That is a quick list of the things coming up this year! I think 2013 is going to be a great one I so look forward to all it has in store for my family! This is my promise to keep up with this blog better this year, I promise to not dangle all these wonderful events in front of you and not fill you in on how they turn out!

I am linking up to my first linky party! One more reason to hold myself to working on this!

Do you think it will be a GIRL or a BOY? 
Is your husband or boyfriend super sentimental too? 
Are you moving to a new home? What is the room you most look forward to renovating?

Change..Change..Change

It has been quite a while since I posted last and boy have things changed in that time! When I started this blog I was going to be taking a month off work to recharge, reassess, and redecorate. About a week and a half into that break from work my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first bundle of joy! A week later we found out that he got the okay from his boss to move home! So needless to say, things are not only different for our small family they are absolutely wonderful.

 

So why the long break from the blog? Well I was kind of confused as to what to do now. I had no idea what to do and what direction to take the blog since we wouldn't be living in the house much longer and would be kind of silly to spend much more money decorating it the way I wanted to. Once everything had some time to sink in and we talked about things I realized that we still have to live in this house for a few more months...so while I might not do all the things I had in mind at first, I can still make the house enjoyable and liveable as well as document the building of my business. So there it is, change directions and keep on moving on!

 

I have really been working hard the past few weeks to build up my stock of wreaths and other house and holiday decorations. I am signed up for three festivals in the next few months so I will certainly be keeping busy trying to prepare for those!

 

I am so happy to be back and have new life to bring to this blog! Can't wait to spend the holidays crafting and blogging! Speaking of holidays...I thought I would finish this post up with at little Halloween spirit from a spooky Snugget (that's what we are calling baby since we aren't finding out what we are having).

Hope you enjoy this little skeleton face as much as we do. It is such a joy to watch my Snugget grow!

The Fourth, Family, and Fun

Last week was absolutely crazy! I had the house to myself Monday and Tuesday so I was able to casually get some things done at my own pace, slow and steady! The rest of the week was on drill sergent Ryan's time. We finally got a night on the town Tuesday when we went to watch the fireworks on  his company's 11th story balcony in Addison, it was really beautiful and we had a great time with good food and friends. After that our free time was dedicated to getting our house ready for Ryan's family to come over, what a whirlwind but we really got the house in good shape, toddler proofed and ready for a crowd.

The main thing that I am of course happy to show off are my dining room curtains!!!! They were quite a feat but worth all the work!

I am so happy with the way they turned out, I made the blue panels and really the hardest part was keeping the blackout lining straight while sewing. As for the two khaki panels they were at such a great price at Lowe's I couldn't pass them up, I bought one 84" that lined up pefectly with the ones I had sewn and I bought one 63" which fell perfectly above the window unit! I wish I could link you to the blue fabric, but I had to drive to another city to pick up their last few yards of it and can not seem to find it online, it is a Waverly fabric and after working with it it seems to be a great interior fabric brand. Overall I love the way they turned out and enjoyed the copliments from the family!

Also on my list of things to do was to hide my crooked failed attempt at a roman shade on my back door. I must say that this quick easy fix really did the trick! What do ya think?....

I simply bought a rounded curtain rod, made a loop to slip it through and finished the edges, I used the same fabric as my dining room to tie everything together. Then I used the existing holes in the door, that I was wanting to hide anyway, to hang it (no husband needed!)

As for other projects I made a wreath for my front door that I am absolutely in love with!

After all the projects were done nd the family rolled in we had a fabulous time. We broke out the smoker and had a tasty pool party, Ryan bought me a propane burner and we boiled some fresh Louisiana gulf shrimp, and I got to use my brand new KitchenAid mixer to make the most delicous sweet in the world...German Chocolate Cake! It has been sad these last two mornings to not hear a little one running around but...maybe I should just enjoy quiet mornings while I have them...

The Weekend & Day 6:

I had a wonderful weekend!... Ladies night to see Magic Mike (yep I was one of those cackling ladies in the theather!), then finally I got another man in the house to help move the last of the bachelor pad out of my living room, and my dear friend Claire brought my sweet godchild Olivia over for a little pool time!

So for the reveal.... here is a reminder of the bachelor pad:

and now...

Ahhh!... I am so happy! It looks so great and I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. This could have been so bad, we had to buy them sight unseen because this was a model they did not have in the showroom! Luckily it turned out exactly how I wanted and now we have a real living room!


The next thing that I wanted to point out was....yes...those are terrible ugly window units in my house :( As I believe I have mentioned earlier we are renting for now until we feel like Ryan's job situationis more stable. What this means for us is we have to have some extra window units to supplement our insuffcient central AC. So since that is what it is I have done my best to dress it up! This is the easiest project ever! We wanted to make sure that we blocked as much outside heat as possible (we live in Dallas so that means 3 plus months of 100 plus heat!) so Ryan taped bubble wrap over the panels, that is a great way to insulate from the heat!

Next I took some 1 inch foam and covered it with a linen fabric I had left over from an old project. No sewing necessary a hot glue gun and you are good...



So that is the final look, its not the prettiest thing but it really finishes the sides if it is something you must have, and belive me here in Texas we MUST have these!

I am off to more adventures in sprucing up this house... can't wait to share more!

Playing catch-up...Days 2&3:

Well I have had quite a long two days and not gotten as much accomplished as I hoped. I have however continued to get at least one project accomplished per day!

Monday I finished a panel of my curtains, I didn't hang it because I didn't have a rod and I want it to make sure it hung correctly before I started the other panel.

Then there was Tuesday...So project wise this is what was accomplished...

So while this doesn't necessarily look like a big deal it is!! This lamp was such a beat up eye sore, but my husband loves it because he hates our over head lights so the lamp had to stay, luckily

Rust-Oleum Hammered Dark Bronze came to the rescue! And honestly it is so much better now.

As for the rest of Tuesday it was spent at the store, like the brilliant person I am I took my car to Lowes to buy a 10ft. rod, so of course, I had to come home get Ryan's truck and go back then I spent a whole hour at The Home Depot looking for a bracket to hang the thing..litterally no one could help me...ahh I could continue on about this disaterous trip but I won't!

 

Wednesday was a bit more successful, so I wanted to create a roman shade for my back patio door that I found on Pinterest... Let's just say at least it is doing its job to block the sun and heat because it does not roll up! annnd maybe it is a bit crooked, but luckily I am just going to be able to add a valence to hide the fact that we had to hang it slanted in order to get the bottom even... I just have to laugh and hope i do better next time :) So here is a look pre-valance...

Regardless of it being crooked, I would still need to cover the holes from a previous curtain. So next up is valance pictures!

Woo! That was a long post but we are all caught up and ready for the next project!