Summa Summa Summa Time.

(My life is a constant 80's and 90's soundtrack.  I apologize.)



This whole "Summer" thing is new to me.  I was a 8to5'er +on-call for the past for-EV-ER (Sandlot style).  Due to a certain sweet little baby girl, I get to have my summer back!
We're gonna live it up.... in good ol' OHIO.... not spending any money 'cause Dad got furloughed.  Sweet.

Here are some things we're gonna try:

First: Plan, plan, schedule, and plan.
 This lady is a GENIUS!  She's scheduling out time for the most important things that summer has to have to be SUMMER.  We're going to do it.  Here's the pin.  
After they take care of their normal things (chores, reading, etc...) they focus on something per day.  It all has alliteration that makes it really easy to remember!  Jonah's really excited for the summer especially because of this list.

Second: He's not so excited about this...
The JOB JAR!  Thanks to my good friends example of what they call "Creative Discipline" I'll be changing up our discipline approach.  Not quite sure how it'll work, but I'll put up a post about it whenever we're in the swing of things.  It's a task oriented approach, like, "If I tell you again to ____ you'll have to do a job!" instead of the "if you do ___, you're grounded!"  I love it!   And your house is cleaner!  Wahoo.  These friends are funny about it, too!  For example, they had one child cut (some of) the grass -- WITH SCISSORS.  Hilarious.  I'm definitely down for that.  They came over for dinner and because one child didn't listen to the parents request, she swept my floor!  Amazing.

Third: SCIENCE.... Weird Science.
Jonah loves science.  We'll be trying some of these experiments and we might invite a few friends over to try out our successful ones.

Here's hoping I get to reclaim my summers.

mom fail to mom win.

Like any good mother, I followed my Pinterest guides (with this pin) to try to start my son's summer off right!  I failed.  He cried.  And cried.  And cried.

So to make it better, we put a wig on little sister.    

and then the dog.

It was a blast.

Enjoy your summer!

Today

I'm still not so sure how I feel about it, but in general, it sucked.  And I'm not talking like, illness, death in the family, tree crashed in to our house kind of suck.  I'm talking about one of those days where you keep accidentally injuring yourself, literally. And where your 5 month old is mad at you and won't sleep or nurse. And your 7 year old is mad at you and won't do his homework or keep his crap off the floor.  And somehow all those Oreos that were just in front of you have disappeared and you have no recollection of actually eating them.  And you make sucky spaghetti for dinner because you don't want to cook anymore and you eat a ton of the crappy spaghetti and then you feel like crap.
That was my day. in a nutshell.

I am not normally a complainer, but today I feel as if I have utterly failed as a mom and wife.  Horrible.

But my little baby and my big baby and my furry babies are all sound asleep. And my husband is happily watching the NFL draft.  And I crocheted a purple bow for my bff's baby due in July.  and I get to see my out-of-town sister on Saturday. And see another bestie's newborn baby boy on Sunday.
Life is decent.
Life is good.

Good thing tomorrow is only a few hours away.  I need a new start.


Promise to not eat any more Oreos.

Easter rehash

I'm delayed. 3 weeks late. My apologies.

Here's what we did for Easter!

I made these! I have two little ones, but two of our nephews were coming over for Easter dinner, so I wanted to make something special for them!  These are inspired by this pin  and I tweaked it a little bit to add the bow for the boy's bunnies and then the little flower I made for Cleo's bunny.  I cut out the pattern, embroidered the faces, sewed together (for the girl bunny, I put the seams inside. A happy accident of sorts).  After I made the bows and flower, I attached with a quick stitch and then filled with goodies!  Easy peasy Easter ... squeezy?

I also tried the THIS PIN, but did it in more of a tie-dyed effect.  I accidentally peeled too much egg off when I was taking the shell off.  It would have looked really cool otherwise!

This is my son's basket.  I got a few things at the dollar store, a few items off the clearance rack a few months ago and there you have it!  Underneath the items at the top of the basket is a huge box of sidewalk chalk. Funny story.  We've had the sidewalk chalk for about 2-3 years.  I think I've given it to him at least 3 times as a present and he thinks it's new every time.  It just never gets used.  Instead of filling my house up with more stuff that will go unused, pretend the old stuff is new!  Yay!!!

We did an Easter egg hunt.  A tradition my husband grew up doing was that his dad would put random change in the plastic eggs and then you would add it all up to see who got the most.  Math!  We also did a Golden Egg!  I was thinking of putting $20 is the Golden Egg, but then I realized that the kids would get JUST as much excitement out of $1 than they would $20.  One dollar it is.


P.S.

Easy Baby Gifts Part 2

Little Miss Cleo

This is my beautiful girl!  

She's wearing a hat I made!  and this is the tutorial I used!  This hat took about an hour to make.  I'd say that's a success!  The nursery's colors are a greyish brown, white and coral.  I used Sugar 'N Cream from Lily in a Coral color.  Cute! Cute! Cute!

For Christmas, I made my newest nephew, Kip, a big fun quilt!  It's actually my first quilt ever so I am really quite pleased with the outcome!  I used 2 of the smaller "jelly rolls" of fabric that were on clearance at Wal-mart. I love the jelly rolls because you don't need to coordinate yourself and they're pre-cut!  I did the "Jelly Roll Race" brought on by this post from the Missouri Quilt Company.   




I backed it with denim so my sister could lay it where ever she wanted without fear of stains!  I quilted it in a diamond pattern. I also did the self-binding from the tutorial on this pin.  Pretty basic sewing and muuuuuch faster than binding it (and I'm only speaking out of trying to bind once, when I made a t-shirt lap quilt so long ago).  I'll definitely be repeating.



I made this doll for my niece for Christmas 2 years ago.  She named her Maria.  An odd name for a red head, but it'll do.  I used a doll pattern from Martha Stewart back when you had to get an invite to join Pinterest.  I don't have the link, but it it's very simple.  Make legs, arms and a head then sew with right sides together using the dress.  Leave a small opening to flip right side out.  Stuff with poly-fil. Finish off with hair, face and whatever else! You can see the pieces in an earlier post.  


I'll have to continue later!  I've got a baby to cuddle with post nap.  best. time. ever.

Easy DIY Baby Gifts

I'm cheap.  I'm talking really cheap.  I don't spend money unless I have to spend.... like literally.  It's sort of always how I've been.  Or maybe I've just always been poor.  Isn't that a saying, something like, "Necessity breeds ingenuity."  Well, I'm no genius, but these projects have saved me tons of trips to the baby aisle, AND they're fun to make!  I should also say majority of these have been inspired by the one and only Pinterest, but some were translated... or malformed in some cases.

Here are the pics and info if I've got it.

 "burp" Burp cloths. Gave it to the momma with matching BOW burp cloths.  I used just the regular burp cloth tutorial, but before I made them, I cut out the letters, sewed them on, then made the bows with this tutorial and attached them really fast with a quick stitch.  Gave them as a cute set!

Here's a set! It's a "Bath Apron" with bath mit and then 2 onesies, one with a tie and one with a bow.  It was a boy's baby shower (in fact! he was just born yesterday!!  Congrats Migi!)  and there is not a ton of stuff out there to make for boys, so I made a regular thing INTO a boy thing with the fabric I chose!  It's got skateboards and... bikes and.... other... boy things!  Haha, not sure quite how to describe the testosterone in this fabric.
I took this pin: 
and decided it was pretty simple to replicate a pattern.  I made some quick "bias" tape (I say "bias" tape because I didn't cut the fabric on the bias like you're s'posed to.  BECAUSE I'm cheap! and I don't want to waste any fabric cutting part of it off just so it can be lopsided!).  I folded the towel in half, cut the corner off and set it aside for the mit.  I added a panel of the very boyish fabric to the front like is pictured.  I sewed the "bias" tape on as it shows in the picture along the edges of the towel.  I didn't make it cross in the back, though.  I just did a simple loop for the head and then followed the bias tape down to the hip area and finished the edge of the bias tape. Easy!
For the mit, I just rounded the corners of the leftover towel fabric, sewed on a small panel for the front.  With right sides together, I sewed it together in a U shape, flipped it right side out and VIOLA!  Coordinating Bath Mit!

For the shirts, I just combined a few pins like THIS ONE and THIS ONE and whipped them together!
(can't you see the skater dude.  so BOY!)

Here are the pins I sourced these ideas from: Tag Letter link (except I filled mine with poly-fil.  Rice Noodle link (I call it a Snoodle.  Get it? Snuggle Noodle! bah!) Self-binding baby blanket link  and then I made a wash cloth the same way I make the burp cloths... just smaller!  (p.s. it was totally by accident because I cut the fabric too short for a full length burp cloth.  Wash cloth it is!  (I'm embarassingly cheap)).

a little tie blanket with the baby's letter!  This one was a personal creation!  I made blankets for my little sisters (they were in high school at the time) and decided to convert to baby size!  I drew out a letter, cut the fabric, machine sewed on, then did a hand stitch to make it pretty, then tied it!
This I made for my little lady.  I used the fabric crayons and just made it look like paper!  Here's the pin.



OK.. so it's 11:30p and I am just now realizing that I've made too much stuff to fit in tonights post.  this will have to resume later on! nighty night.

Under Construction

I watched a Real Housewives episode recently and Vicki (sp?) said she was Under Construction.  Profound, Vick.  Aren't we always?  And as it is so, so is my blog.  My poor, mistreated, unvisited blog.  This is my commitment to get this blog right.  Just like with Vick, please pardon the mess.

My most recent project

This.  This is my most recent project.  It's Cleo. And she's my girl.

Sorry if I get side-tracked, but this is my excuse.

What's that?  You don't like excuses?
Too bad.

She is exactly 5 months at the time of this post.  My sweet, sweet (sometimes very cranky) girl.

Motherhood is...

time consuming.  Obviously. But what great reason to spend that time.

However, I've neglected you, dear blog.  I'll try my best at taking better care of you. For you, are my link to the past... as long as I put the present on here, I'll be able to look back... in the future. Profound.  Especially for so early in the morning.

If I write down that I plan on going back through some past projects, then maybe I'll actually do it.  If I write down that I'll actually write down what's going on in my life, maybe I'll do that too. 

So, here goes.

Boys are camping.  It's 34 degrees this mornin'.  Ouch.  Girlie and I slept comfortably snuggled up to each other.  She had her usual schedule: to sleep around 8p, and wake up to eat at 11p, 3:30a and 5:30a and was up for the day.  She just went down for nap #1.  It's 7:20a.  I am going back to bed, too, hopefully before she wakes up. But first:

This is Easter weekend.  Last night I worked on the little bunny treat bags I'm making for my kids and the nephews. 

Today I have to go get Easter eggs for hunting, because my husband doesn't like keeping them stored. Silly husband.  I'm hoping to maybe make a pie of some sort... here's to goals.  We have my in-laws coming with the nephews for the big dinner.  We've got the ham in the fridge, onions on the counter, Tatoes in the corner, and eggs in the carton waiting for hard-boiling.    Will do.  

Must.... nap....

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life...

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.

The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,

"Which wolf will win?"

The old chief simply replied,

"The one you feed."

The Chair.

Forward: I am often far too optimistic.  I think I can do things I can not.  I put unrealistic time frames on everything... but it's just because I am ignorant and never learn my lesson.

After moving in to our house and needing more furniture than we had, I thought it would be a perfect time to take on a reupholstery project, because now I had a garage that was all mine (and my husbands, but who said it had to be his?!) that I could take over if need be. So I did.

I began this project about a month and a week ago... on a trip home for a quick lunch break, I happened to take a back way and stumbled upon a garage sale. It was furniture galore. Apparently a Mother-in-law sale.  At any rate I saw 2 wingbacks and an ottoman... for $10. Altogether.  Yes. They were horrendous, and already had a slipcover attempt go awry, but I don't shudder at the nasty 90's decor.  I think, stupidly, that reupholstery has got to be easy.  As long as I've got my staple gun and fabric, I am good!  I was wrong.

The most I had ever done with upholstered furniture was sit on it, sleep on it, or move it.  I didn't know what hid underneath that fabric!  But my bravery withstood my stupidity, and the journey began. I took it apart just how all the blogs told me to, like an onion, working my way from the outside in.  Ok.  I also read that it was smart to take pictures, of everything.  I mean Everything.  I took probably about 100 pictures, but I wish I had taken more, of the little things, like the sizes of the staples in certain areas or WHERE they stapled each piece... Ah well. Just had to figure that out on my own.

 

So I stared at it.  A lot.  I would remove one staple and look.  My husband would come in and ask, "how's it going?" and my response, "Great!"  I had no idea what I was doing, but my blind confidence got me through somehow!

This picture is of me trying to figure out just how they put this thing together, AND that this chair requires much more sewing than I was expecting. Sewing is not a great attribute of mine... but so be it.  I dug myself this deep so far, might as well give it a go.


             

  Here is the fabric we chose.  You wouldn't think it, but this was a huge time consuming, heart grueling process. It's really the first time I had ever made any type of fabric decision that actually had an effect on me. Everything else I've ever chosen has always been fun fabrics for a blanket or something goofy... never FURNITURE! Ack.

 So I recruited Dave's help to be my EYE, because my brain was in distress and it couldn't make one more decision.  If you know me, you know I don't like decisions.


    So here you have it.  The fabric. The wall. The curtain.  I still don't know. I put it on the chair to find out.  Looks decent enough. I cut it up to pieces that somewhat match the original fabric and keep going. And going.


and going.


and going.

And finally, I get here:  The CHAIR IS DONE!

well,

except for the cushion.


ugh.


I think, "It can't be THAT bad, I just did that whole chair.

I watched a video or two and started putting the cushion together like the confident girl I thought I was.  It was not working very well, but I pushed on, but these thoughts were running through my head...

I've never sewn a ZIPPER before!  I've never had more than 2 pieces of fabric to piece together.  Cording?! What's that?!

At any rate.  I put it together, and all of about 6 inches was sewn.  So I finally put it the pillow in to just see how my great work was looking.


and I was mortified.


It was supposed to look like a big fat blocky letter T...  It was, but Italisized.  No one wants their cushion to look like it was sewn in Italics!


I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture.  THAT bad.  I even tried to recruit the help on Facebook.  No takers.  I started looking up upholstery companies.  For as cheap and as determined as I am, that's big.

I mulled over it for a few days, bummed at my lack of this ability... my future dreams of yet another personally owned business, shot!

But!  I am the same woman, so I finally decide to watch some more instructional videos and try again.  More careful and patient this time...




...

and

SUCCESS!

I don't know if I have ever been more proud of myself for such a silly thing as a CUSHION.

SO here she is in all her glory:

 I still have to find good throw pillows to go with the green walls.  Side note:The fabric is not as shiny in person.  The thread in the stripes is a bit metallic, but certainly not THAT shiny in person.

Moral of the story:
I encourage whomever sees this to try things you're afraid of. Ya never know, it just might turn out to be a brand new skill you can add to your list!

Now I just have one more chair and an ottoman to go!

My what A SUMMER!

Were you aware it was summer?  Oh, yes.  It is.

And Mine has FLOWN by.  June and July were consumed by "THE MOVE."  We purchased a home in this cute neighborhood.  The home was owned by the original owners since 1957.  How CUTE!  And the house is the same.  We came from a townhouse, so this nice house with a full finished basement, a 3 season room and a huge yard is a wonderful change.  Starting in mid June, we started moving a few boxes or a car load every other day or so, depending on how crazy our schedule was.  When he had our big move on July 16th, I thought we were doing really great.  At that point, we had moved very box we thought we could pack, and then we would unpack them in the new house, and then refill them with new things at the town house.  July 16th came and went.... and there was STILL stuff in the town house.  How is this even possible?!

I'll tell you.  We had one of thos Mary Poppins bags... but it was our townhouse.  Magically spilling out things we don't really need, but have...

On the big move day, we had to put everything back together.  Beds, shelves, tables, you name it, it came apart and needed to be put back together.  Endless tasks were spilling over.  I suppose that happens when you're an adult.

Then.  Dave left.   for a week.  Bummer!  I promised him that upon his return, I would have the whole townhouse emptied and spotless.

That didn't happen.

I had to go to Cinci on Monday to have Jonah visit grandpa.  Jonah was allllll sorts of excited for the trip.  They talked about going to the zoo and going fishing and the throwing the ball!  How fun is that!  What kid wouldn't be excited?!  My son was... until we got in the car to leave.  I drove down the highway with him screaming, "I don't want to GOOOOOOO!"  Uhhhhh what just happened?!  5 seconds ago all you wanted to do was peace out!  The he fell asleep.  Phew, drama handled.

Or so I thought.

We got to the predestined restaurant to have dinner with G-pa and have Jonah leave.  I kid you not, I was there at bob evans for close to 3 hours.  45 minutes of which I was trying to get Jonah to sit on his bottom on his own like any other normal 5 yr old.  The other 2 hours, he was crying and hiding  and yelling.  What?!  Jonah had been to his g-pa's plenty of times before.  after all that time, I was DONE.  We got in our cars and started ot drive away.  Jonah reached for his Ninetendo DS.  OH NO YOU DON'T.  You do NOT do that to G-pa and get to play your DS.  and then I heard even worse crying.  So I ask, "If I let you play your DS, will you go to G-Pa's?"
"YES!!!"
Ok then.  you're going.
"But I will still miss you mom mom. "
"That's fine, Jonah, but you'll be fine."

Crisis averted.  Jonah drove away with G-pa.  and I was alone.  and I cried.

I got home and was alone.  How weird.

A few updates:

  Hello hello!  It's been a fun summer so far, but since my memory ain't so keen anymore, I'd better document the fun so far!  A lot has happened in the last month.  We've been moving in to our new abode, changing a few things and hitting a few landmarks.   The first exciting thing that happened since the last post is that we had a massive hail storm here in D-town.  My immediate neighborhood wasn't hit so bad, but just south of us had baseball sized hail, along with very serious damage.  There were so many cars with their windshields blown out and windows in houses shattered.  Meanwhile all this was occurring, sirens going off, our power out for the day and madness on our hand cranked radio, Jonah, Kitty and I were cramped in our half bath with our "emergency tub" (a Sterilite container full of flashlights, matches, rope and the like) and whatever food I could grab in about 30 seconds.  Jonah was only worried about Dad who was stuck on Campus, in a basement and barely had reception.  So, with the help of technology, we learned we were both safe.  Then, when the storm calmed, I realized we had no electric, and wouldn't probably for a while, and then thought we had to get dinner in us, since we had just gotten home from Jonah's judo class before the storm.  We went to Subway, and ate fresh.  In this act, I left my technology in the car, not realizing Dave was freaking out because I hadn't responded.  Needless to say, he wasn't too happy that he had leave class early, fly down the highway racing home to make sure we were alright just because I left my phone in the car while eating dinner.  Whoops. 

 His frustration ended soon after because about a week later he had is last day at school!  Do you see that stack of library books he was returning?  Oh yes!  That was for his last paper about something having to do with Korean "Othering."  With that came intellectual and political mumbo jumbo.  At any rate, he's a smart dude and shortly after his last day in school, he graduated!  Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!  I can't describe my pleasure with his graduating -- and with a 4.0.  Proud wifey over here!

 So after the graduation, we have started getting serious about projects at the new house.  Project #1, remover wall paper in basement.  If you remember, it was pretty nasty wallpaper.  It was brown, yellow and orange, much like the rest of the basement.  Well, my awesome momma picked us up a Wallpaper steamer removal thing and in a matter of about an hour, we removed all that wallpaper!  It took a bit getting all the other glue and such off, but look how much better it looks!  I am mildly questioning their choice of blue paint, but not as much as I was frightened by signs of their previous paint choice.  That's right.  Just look at it!  It's ORANGE!  But I guess that's the 70's for ya.  
 

 NEXT!  We painted the living room.  I took these pictures when the sun had already gone down most of the way, so no natural light aided this picture, which makes the color look a bit off.  The paint was "New Avocado" from Valspar (i think).  We love it!  Because all of our current living room furniture is going to the basement, we've got to find all new (and wonderful ) living room furniture that goes with the green.  All of window sills are slate and the fireplace is a grey stone.  We went to IKEA and found the perfect pillows that are going to help us tie it allllllll together.  I am  looking forward to that!

  On a family note, we celebrated Father's day at my Mom's house.  There are quite a few "Dads" we have, but this year we ended up here.  The year before we were at Dave's Dad house, so next year, we should end up at my Dads.  For mothers day at my moms house, we had a Mexican potluck.  It was such a hit, we decided to do an Asian Feast for Father's day!  It was so delicious!  Dave and I brought sushi and egg rolls.  The Sushi was top notch, but the egg rolls didn't turn out so well.  I made them in the morning.  Note to self, make them right before you cook them.  YUCK.  My momma made a few different kinds of Spring rolls which were divine, my brother made a few different types of "meat on a stick," and there was also endless other noodle and soup dishes.  Endless yummieness.  This picture was taken more towards the end, where everyone was so stuffed we could barely move.  What an amazing meal!

It's been a while!

A LOT has happened since the last post....  Yes, offer accepted, but then a few issues with inspection, but really, a lot fewer issues and expected on a house thats over 50 yrs old.  So we dealt with that... then we had to have the appraisal.  Oh, appraisals!  It's a good thing they are there, to let us know how messed up the houseing market REALLY was a few yrs back.  So, there were a few issues with that, but we quickly came to an agreement when we agreed to :

1. Close a month sooner.
AND
2. buy their old patio furniture!

The second one made me laugh, in a giggle sort of way, not snarky.  The furniure was the only stuff left in the house besides all the appliances and all the manuals for said appliances. The house was owned by an old couple who were original owners since '57.  The husband was an engineer and the wifey, an elementary school teacher.  Can you get more cute than that?  No way!  Every inch of the house has cubbies and storage holes.  It was also the cleanest house we saw out of over 25 we walk-through'ed. In looking through the papers left behind, there are papers like the landscaping layout, the houses electrical layout, plans for the 3-season room addition, etc.  Very handy to have I must say!    They took excellent care of the house and we are so excited to have found the gem!

It is a gem, how ever, it is an old gem hat needs some polish... so here is the beginning of what might seem like an unaccomplishable task of turning this house in to a well oiled modern machine!  Here are some pics of projects to come:

First and MOST importantly is this room!  It is the Laundry room, but will soon enough by my Craft room!  The are pictured I am wanting to put in a fun table for doing crafty things.  Maybe also some Wall hangings, shelves or something. My initial idea was a retractable folding table of some sort that could also be used as a cutting table or just a table to do something on while I stand.  Regardless, lots of possiblities, especially because there are already 3 built-in closets in this room! 

 Basement Hangout room...  We'll be putting our current dinner table & booth down here for the current wet bar to turn in to the family fun room area.  There is plenty of room for a ton of activities.  Right behind where I was standing to take the picture is where the TV and couches will be and then to the right is a huge wide open area where we'll probably put a few of Jonah's big toys. Excitement to be had by all!  The only real issue is the wallpaper...  I know! The're classic!  But really, we don't need all the different types of alcohol plastered on our wall.  Instead, we're dumping the old stuff, giving it to whomever wants it, and then making a bit of an homage to the classic drive-in movie theatre type deal.  We already have the little characters and a few classic movie posters, all we need now is a color other than BROWN.  Don't get me wrong, if you know me, you know I am a huge Brown fan... but not an entire BROWN area.  The previous owners did a decent job with their decor, which was all bright GREEN via 1973. Albeit awesome, there just aren't a lot of options for green furniture these days... nor is it an option, because really, the only color you can accessorize it with in this room is bright yellow.  and I just will not do that.  Also, Not sure if I am willing to paint over the pine paneling, just because it's awesome, high-quality stuff and really did look awesome 40 yrs ago, it will most likely be back in within the next few decades... right? 

Here is a picture of some of the backyard.  When Dave went over to meet our new backyard neighbors, the couple whispered to themselves as Dave walked away, "They must have really loved the house to live behind big hillbillies like us!  Tis true, neighbor!  At any rate, I am hoping to eventually get some type of garden in there... cucumbers or strawberries or something that I enjoy eating. Or, maybe flowers!  Since those are fun to look at.  Regardless, this tree is of need of a tire swing.  STAT!

Ok.. that's all I have time for now, and my picture uploady thing is weird... sometime real soon!

One step closer....

So, we've been a little busy. 



BUYING A HOUSE.


Well, we're at least at the next step... We put in an offer on a house last Monday and it was accepted!  We have out inspection this week.  If all goes well, we'll be there before you know it! 

A little about the place:

Its close to Lincoln Park/Fraze Pavillion(which is an outdoor concert hall), it has 3 bed 2 baths and a finished basement.  The first floor is circa 1993.  Gold, flowers, white and navy blue.  Awesome, I know!  The basement gets even better.  Think Orange, yellow and cedar and you have our new basement!!  So amazing, right?  We have a huge ( literally 3 1/2 feet x 3 1/2 feet) painting of sunflowers circa 1976 that we got when we were first married that went with our sunflower oval dinner table and bucket swivel chairs.  It is very sad that we had to give away the table and chairs about 5 years ago, but we still have the painting! AND It fits right in, I am pretty pumped. 

Projects to be added to the list already:

1. Remove awful pink and blue wall paper in the kitchen.
2. Remove fresh new carpet to expose even better hard wood floors.  At least in the living room and dining room... and get new furniture... and put the older stuff in our new play room (basement living room). 
3. Bathroom circa 1957.  Its about time for an update... at least its not pink ( which is why it's # 3)
4. Add one corner of fencing, thanks to neighbors who have already put up theirs, and get a new furry friend!
5. Wainscott our bedroom...
6. Chalkboard paint in Jonah's room?

and I am sure a gazillion more to come.  Perhaps I will add the "To-Do" list on the side of the good ol' bloggy to keep a running update on progress.  Yay for progress.