Hotel Stay......without the Vacay

I'm friends with a handful of guys on Facebook that Jason went to college with.  Every once in a while, one of them will post a picture and Jason is included.  I see it and gasp out loud.  How in the world is he really gone?  I love seeing how my boys look so much like him.  Especially Hudson.

The house drama continues.  I will spare you the HIDEOUS pictures of our wood floors.....needless to say, our floors looked like a 5 year old did them.  Horrible.  So, we spent 4 nights in a hotel while they completely redid them.  Good times.

We did get our new game table delivered though before we left.  Excited to play games and work puzzles with my crew in here.

I have this little chalkboard stand in my kitchen.  I have been writing little "pep talk" sayings to myself to get me through this season.  Beyond ready for life to get back to normal.

Shawn checking out the floors.....

While we were at the hotel, we ran back to our house to see the guys putting in a french drain on the side of the house. And of course they cut the brand new AT&T internet line that was just laid.  See those flags and neon spray paint? Yea, not sure how they missed that??

One fun thing we did recently was make a trip to Market.  We are working with a designer friend and we found a couch and a few chairs for our living room.  Can't wait for those to get made!

While in the hotel, we got a chance to swing by the new Steel City Pops. Yum!!

The boys got birthday cards and money from their aunt Pearl.  They were really excited!

This made me laugh.  And is a true reflection of what life is like for me with 3 boys.  (sigh)

Wresting in the hotel.  I'm pretty sure boys never outgrow this.

After 4 nights away.....we came home to everything in our house covered in an inch of dust.  Yuck.

Thankfully the cleaners came and gave everything a good wipe down.

This weekend while we were away, I found this hanger organizer for my laundry room.  I was wanting something to store our hangers when we were not using them.  I love this one and it slides right in my cabinet so its hidden away when I'm not using it.

Have a good day!

What's Up?

On March 8, this guy turned 14.  How did my tiny little baby turn into this 6 foot man child?  Ha!  He isn't a fan of pictures these days so I have to just sneak them when I can.

We FINALLY moved on March 11.  Of course lots of craziness on the day we closed and it hasn't slowed down since......but I'm hopeful things will get better real soon.  At least we are out of here!

Our movers pulled up and got started.  If you are local and need some temporary storage, check out Zippy Shell.  We were really impressed.

And we currently feel like this.  Can't find a darn thing!!

Last year when I knew we would start building a new house, I started dreaming of my kitchen.  I got paper, a pencil and a ruler and basically designed my cabinets and the layout.  That design did not include a microwave.  It took me a bit to convince the hubby........I shared with him lots of articles and research on the dangers of microwaves but also how they literally zap and kill any nutrients in the food.  I told him that an toaster oven would do everything we needed.  He eventually did what I told him to do got on board and our kitchen does not include a microwave.

Fast forward to the week we moved.  It was nuts over here with lots of trades coming in and fixing things that were not done when we closed.  We were barely eating because of the chaos so one day I ran to grab lunch.  I ate and he didn't.  His food got cold and around 4:00 he was starving.  He needed to heat his food so we took it to the toaster oven we had yet to touch, as I proudly exclaimed that it has a "reheat" feature.  He put it inside and turned the dial to reheat and we were shown that it would take 15 MINUTES to heat.  Folks...... if. looks. could. kill.

We got a good laugh......or at least, I did......until yesterday when my coffee got cold and I needed to reheat it.  Yea, not funny.  But I WILL learn to survive without one.  Change is just hard, ya know?

The other day, I had to run to the grocery store so I grabbed some things to decorate for Easter.  (although, I must confess I have no idea when Easter even is) #crazylife

I bought these glass urns back in the fall and just kept them in boxes until we moved.  This made me happy!

This guy turned 11 on March 16.  He saved some of his money and bought a Lego Batman kit.  Can you just feel his excitement??

Tired.  Moving is not for the weak.  Taking an evening break......and dreaming of patio furniture so that I don't have to rest my feet on my water hose!

That's what we've been up to.  Lots of craziness but we are blessed for sure!

How to Line a Pantry

We finally "moved" last weekend.  I say "moved" lightly because 90% of our things are still in boxes.  I was excited to tackle my pantry before I started filling it because I wasn't sure if I would find the energy any time soon to remove everything in order to make it happen.  So, this was my first project on the list!

Here is the main section of my pantry that I wanted to line with pretty paper.  I have seen a few inspirational pictures on Pinterest and Houzz and I figured it couldn't be that hard, right?

You can find shelf liner at Lowes, Home Depot, some "home" stores like TJ Max and Bed Bath & Beyond, and even on Amazon.  I chose this simple self adhesive liner for my background.  You want to use a cutting mat so that you are not cutting directly on your counter top or table.  A sharp pair of scissors or an exacto knife will offer clean lines.  A pencil if you feel you need one.  A credit card if your paper is thick and you need help smoothing it down.

I placed my paper with the pretty side down.  Make sure it is snug in the corner and then just roll your paper down to the end of your shelf.

I used my finger to create a SCORE in the paper (a line so that I know exactly where to cut)

Take your sheet to your cutting board and cut on your score line.

With the backing still on, check that your cut sheet is the correct size.  Make any cuts or adjustments now before you peel the back off.  Once you have the size you need, peel the edges off (I gave myself about 3-4 inches to work with) and place it on the back of your pantry shelf wall. 

Move the paper along, slowly peeling the back layer off and smoothing it down with your other hand.   My paper was fairly thin so I did not need to use a credit card to smooth it out.  I just pressed down hard with my hand and went all along the paper.....don't forget to really focus on those edges.   A few times, I needed to pull several inches off and reposition the entire sheet and that is okay.  My paper was very forgiving.

You can try to match up your design in the corners if you get the hang of it.....but don't worry if it isn't perfect.  Once you fill your pantry, those imperfections will not show.

Here are a few of my shelves lined and I love how it turned out. 

Then you can start filling it up and finding some fun containers to keep your items organized.

I found these chalkboard canisters at my local At Home store.

These baskets.....which will soon hold my onions and potatoes....were purchased at my local Costco.

These wicker baskets were purchased at Walmart.  They had a few different sizes too.

3 medium sized Market baskets from Mary & Martha.

That's it!  This was a super easy and very inexpensive way to give my pantry a little bit of pop!

Crazy Busy

Not much new to report although life has been super duper busy.  I haven't taken many pictures but trust me....lots going on.

We ran by the house last week and saw these guys in our front yard.

There really is so much I could write about this whole house building process.  I hesitate to do that because it is 99% negative. That's right, this process has been horrible.  Stressful, frustrating, exhausting, etc.....and I honestly am not sure its worth replaying in my mind in order to document it. I use this blog as a "scrapbook" of our lives and one day I hope my boys can look back and read my stories. This is one area that is probably best just generalizing instead of giving all the crazy details. 

Good news.....we close and move this Friday!!!

Yesterday, one of Shawn's good friends got married.  We are happy for Curt and LaShelle!