House Remodel

We have lived in our house for almost 5 years now.  It was a fixer upper when we bought it and we have very slowly been fixing it up.

The absolute worst room in our whole house was the Master Bathroom.  And every single day we use the disgustingly gross and outdated bathroom.  We want to change it, but it’s a major undertaking.  And since no one else really sees that room, it seems to get ignored.  Well it’s not getting ignored anymore.  Or at least I think that has been our decision.

And now I am overwhelmed looking at tile, showers, vanities, etc to do a complete gut and remodel of our bathroom.  It’s exciting, but also feels like a room I really don’t want to mess up.  I’ve been looking at a lot of inspiration.  And luckily we have an old claw foot tub that was my great grandmothers.  It’s actually it really good shape, we just need to find someone to do a little restoration to it and make sure the plumbing all still works.  But I am so excited to finally have a bathtub to use again, instead of borrowing the kids.

We don’t really have any pictures of our bathroom.  It’s really that embarrassing, but I promise to take some so you can see what I’m talking about.  We haven’t started any demolition yet, but it should be happening soon.

Along with the Master Bathroom project we are also finally going to tackle making a first floor master bedroom and bathroom for our daughter.  In order to get these two large projects done we will actually be hiring some of the work to be done by a contractor.  It’s always a hard decision to figure out when to pay a professional for something you can do, but you just don’t have the time.  It’s the age old question of how much is your time worth?  It’s something we will be struggling to figure out in the next few months!

Happy Valentines Day

I received some pretty pink roses for Valentines this year.  We had sick kids at home, so I knew getting a babysitter was not going to be a choice.  I had received an email from our local grocery store who was running a special on a pre-cooked meal that looked pretty good.  I hinted around to my husband that might make a good choice to eat at home.  I was guessing he was wishing he could just stop by and pick up one of those heart shaped pizza’s at Papa Murphys instead.

But he surprised me and offered to make us dinner, he had even stopped off at the grocery store and bought all the ingredients needed.  I’m thinking this is the first time he has cooked us dinner, especially a 5 course meal.  I’m not saying he never cooks.  He normally grills, will make tacos, burgers, frozen pizza, etc.  He is the usual breakfast cooker.  But this is the first time, he put thought into a meal for the two of us. It turned out great and was very sweet of him!

For the kids this year I quickly sewed up some pajamas.  I was all about the practical gifts, they get enough candy at school.  And for some reason our kids can’t get enough pajamas.  I even have them wear their pjs two nights in a row, and it seems like there is never enough.  Maybe it’s because we are particular about their pajamas and have favorites…after those are dirty my husband usually starts putting them in mismatched sets.  I have never figured out what is so difficult about finding the shirt and pants that have coordinating prints!

Here are some snapshots of the kids opening up their valentines.

In the bottom left hand corner you can just catch a glimpse of Bella’s pajamas, they are bright and colorful.  Trying to get us out of the drab cold depressing winter blues!

Oliver put his pajamas on right away.  His fireman hat was actually bought really cheap after Halloween a couple years ago.  He has really been into fighting fires recently, and trying to put them out with pretend water.   Not too mention playing with the many different fire trucks he has.  So his fireman hat and pajamas were a fitting choice.

That was our valentine’s day/weekend.  Pretty relaxed and mostly spent indoors at home.

Thank you to my family….I love you all!!

Snow Week

Last week was a crazy week of snow, more snow, cold weather, and sickness, which all meant kids at home.  Add to that potty training – zoo style, which is what it felt like here last week, living in a zoo.  And finally a Kindergarten Musical.

I had a few plans for this week, being Valentine’s week and all.  But in all honesty I think I will be catching up on everything that got dropped last week.  We will see if I can sneak a few quick projects in.

I volunteered to help with my daughter’s Kindergarten Musical, which meant I sewed up three kimono’s for costumes.  This is were the purple silk dragon print came from.

 

The musical finally happened on Friday after being postponed due to the snow days. 

It was quite a production and they did a great job!

Olivia Pope-Scandal-Loungewear

Is anyone else obsessed with the show Scandal?  I just started watching it this summer and it’s my favorite show to watch while I’m on the elliptical.  It keeps me so entertained, I don’t realize how long or how hard I am going.

A lot of people follow the main character’s business attire, but I am very jealous of her loungewear.  It’s always silk and cashmere, and she is always drinking a glass of wine at night.

Now around my house I hardly get to drink a glass of wine at night.  In fact most days I go to sleep as soon as my kids go to bed.  Mainly because my children wake up at 5 in the morning.  So I usually get to wear my loungewear in the morning.  And most of my pajamas are pretty pathetic.  So I sewed myself a new pair.

My greatest pleasure is getting the time to drink my morning coffee and catch up on my blogs while the kids watch their morning cartoons.

My Olivia Pope Inspiration.

For the pajama set I bought this pattern recently.  Mainly because I loved the shirt with the lace, and the pattern itself was on sale for $1.

I used some black lace from a shirt I already owned and a very soft cotton jersey.  It’s super comfortable, but maybe a tad on the big side, I might have to take it in.  You can tell it’s the middle of winter….I am pale as can be.

The pants I made from a leftover silk I had bought for a different project.  You wouldn’t typically think of purple dragons as a pajama pant, but the fabric was so buttery soft and I had a couple yards extra, I just had to use it.  My only complaint about the pattern is that it called for 1/2” elastic at the waist.  I like wider elastic as I think it feels more comfortable.  I had already cut out my pattern before I noticed the elastic size.  I would have preferred 1” elastic, but I was able to get 3/4” to work.  Next time I will cut the fabric higher so I can fit in wider elastic.  Also make sure to measure you hips and use the pattern size that corresponds correctly.  When I measured my hips it said I needed to make a medium.  Which sounded about right.  When I saw in the parenthesis next to Medium that it was for a size (14-16) I thought that was crazy.  But in the end it was correct.  Not sure why patterns show larger sizes than the stores have (in the store I am a size 6-8).  I also added some length to the legs, to make sure I had enough room for my pants to hit the ground.

Just like Olivia, I love my pajama pants to puddle on the floor.  I can’t stand buying store bought pajamas and having them shrink up.  Which even for my 5’-4” frame tends to happen a lot.

It was an extremely quick sew, I highly recommend this pattern.  And we all need some fancy and practical sleepwear.