Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Thoughtful Th...err Tuesday

This was on my daily calendar yesterday.

So true.

This is one of my favorite illustrations from Mary Engelbreit.  I have a coffee mug with this picture on it.  Each year when it turns up on my daily calendar I post this quote as my status on Facebook (if you are a FB friend of mine, you might have noticed this).  Every time I post it it gets lots of comments and likes.  It is a good quote.

Here are the things I am not worrying about today.  :)

I emailed the contractor this morning to see if he had an update on when the counter tops would be ready for install.  The original date was sometime last week.  The current date is sometime this week.  I would love to have counter tops this week...that means we will have a sink installed and that means a much closer to normal kitchen life!  The ability to easily wash produce would be a welcome change.

The painters are in the house working on the bathrooms and touching up the scuff marks we made in the hall moving the refrigerator.  The bathrooms should have at least coat one finished today.  I can't wait to see the colors!

It is interesting to try and do your hair in a bathroom with no mirror.  I had the old school medicine cabinets removed so I could hang pretty mirrors.  Good thing I am all about pony tails right now.  :)  I keep thinking my goal this weekend will be to purchase and hang the mirrors in the bathrooms, but I will be relaxing in Gruene!  I am looking forward to the weekend away...even though I keep forgetting it is coming.  Here's hoping we come home to lots of progress and (crossing my fingers) counter tops!!!

Something I should be worrying about is the fact I am not working out and not eating all the great.  That is something I need to change and something that would give me strength today.  I shouldn't worry about it...I should just do it.  Goal for today...an evening walk around the neighborhood.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday!  Here's to having a good week.  The weekend was great!  The husband and I went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science for Friday Funday and we toured the new hall of paleontology.

 

They had a ton of new fossils and it was incredible.  Some were slightly scary.


How would you like to be swimming and see this jaw coming after you?


Or be flipped into the air by this guy?

Then there were some beautiful fossils.


I would like to use these as pavers in a garden, but I think that might be frowned upon.


This one was so pretty we weren't sure it was a real fossil.

We also toured the Titanic exhibit...there were no pictures allowed in there, but it was amazing.  If you are in Houston and can go...I recommend it.  The exhibit was laid out in a timeline order with artifacts from the wreckage in each of the locations.  As you entered the exhibit you were given a boarding pass.


As you walked around the corner you were on the dock.  There were details about the captain and engineers and building of the ship.  Then you boarded and walked down the hallway that was built to look like the ship.  It really was impressive the way the exhibit was done.  Our boarding passes had details of passengers that were aboard.


The husband was a first class passenger named Edgar Meyer and I was a second class passenger named Annie Hold.  The exhibit had details about the accommodations for first, second and third class passengers.  They had china on display that had been on board for each class.  The first class china was very detailed and ornate, the second class very pretty with blue flowers, the third was plain white with the White Star logo on it.

When you got to the portion of the exhibit that was along the timeline of the sinking they had a large piece of ice for you to touch so you could get an idea of how cold the iceberg was and how cold the water would have been that night...more of the passengers died of hypothermia than drowned.  They also had a layout of the size of the lifeboats on board and pictures of items on the ocean floor with the rescued item displayed in front it.  It was a neat perspective.

At the end of the exhibit there was a memorial wall for those who died and a listing of those who were rescued.  The man on the husband's boarding pass did not survive, but the woman on mine did.  I suppose I had better odds in the sense of women and children first.  The husband of the woman on my boarding pass perished and the wife of the man on Daniel's survived.  It really made you think about what that day represented to so many people.

On Saturday we kind of bummed around and cleaned up and out at the house and then went to a birthday party.  The guys were there working on the kitchen and bathrooms.  Yay!

Breakfast room coming along

Sunday we got massages...extra yay!  And had some friends over for the night.

Sammy's friend Abba.

I hope this Monday marks the beginning of a great week!  What did you do this weekend?

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Friday Funday!!

Today is my last short Friday of the summer...boo!  Only once a month Friday Fundays from now on.  :(

Makes me feel much more like this!!

I shouldn't complain too much, I won't be in the office next Friday...the husband and I are spending the weekend in Gruene, Texas!  Woohoo!

In honor of the last Friday Funday of the summer we are heading to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  We will be checking out the new Hall of Paleontology.

(source)

And the Titanic artifact exhibit.

(source)

It should be a fun afternoon filled with lots of air conditioned walking.  I like it.

A friend posted this on Facebook the other day...I thought it was pretty funny.



I don't know what I would do without Google...it is how I found out about the Titanic exhibit.  :)

Have a fabulous weekend!

Look on the Bright Side

That is my plan today.


My daisies looked beautiful this morning.  It makes me happy for all the rain we have been getting here in Houston.


The contractor was working in the kitchen yesterday.  We are at the point that they are doing little things while they wait for the counter tops to be ready for installation.  I know they are making progress, but it isn't very visible progress and I am trying not to let that bum me out...but it kind of is.

It is also bumming me out that I am still having to eat out all the time...or most of the time.  I cannot wait to be able to cook...or even just have a kitchen sink so I can make big old salads.  I would so take that right now!

So, I continue on my happy now list...

Over the weekend the husband rearranged all the boxes and got the ones for the kitchen into the dining room so they are at the ready for unpacking as soon as the kitchen is ready.  I went through a couple of those boxes and came up with a huge stack of donation items and a box full of canned goods to donate.  That made me happy.  Tonight my plan will be to get all the donation items packed up and loaded into my trunk so I can drop them off.

Earlier in the week I came across this on pinterest.

(source)

I thought this was a really cute idea.  You can write on the glass of the picture frame with a dry erase marker to tell someone why you love them today.  I thought the husband and I needed one, so I made my version.


I found this frame at Pier 1 yesterday...perfect.


I think I might reprint the inside though...I think the I is a little too close to the frame on the left...but still super cute.  The husband liked it too.  :)

Have a wonderful Thursday!  We are almost to the weekend!  What is on your happy now list?

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Cute Picture Day

Me, my baby cousin Meghan and our Grandfather...circa 1990ish

Baby cousin Meghan (on the left in the purple shirt) with her sisters and my nieces.  Thanksgiving 2010

My nephew and niece having fun in the sun.

Sammers!

Trixie

Cute dog named Beau


Happy Wednesday!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Weekend Recap

My weekend was not very eventful, so this will be a quick post!  Our cabinets have doors.


They are not painted yet, but they exist.  Our kitchen sink is on our living room floor.


The hope is that the counter tops and the sink will be installed at the end of this week or the beginning of next.  We also picked up the back splash tile this weekend.  I don't know if this is true for everyone that has ever had work done on their house, but it seems like there was a ton of progress at the beginning...like each day we came home to something new.  Now we seem to be doing a lot of waiting.  I know we will get there, but I am super excited and I am having trouble with the waiting!!




This picture makes me feel old.  My oldest niece will be a cheerleader at her middle school in the fall.  How did that happen?  Time flies.


Pretty girls...how are they so old??

How was your weekend, was it uneventful like mine?


Thursday, July 19, 2012

I'm Floored!

In this case the pun is totally intended.  I mentioned in a post back in March that we had found hardwoods under the linoleum in the breakfast room.



They were covered in glue and burlap and were in pretty bad shape.  I still wanted to rescue them if we could.  Well, guess what!?


When I came home and saw this, I actually said to the contractor..."OMG, I'm floored!"  Then I realized what I had said and giggled to myself thinking I know what this blog will be called.  I text this picture to the husband and he said, "Wow, pretty.  Whose floors are those?"  Ours!!  I couldn't believe it.

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Controlled Chaos

In an attempt to control the chaos around me in my home I have been working on my happy now list.  I mentioned it in my Weekend Recap three weeks ago.  It is a list I keep of things I can do around the house right now that make me happy...little progresses.  This weekend I tackled some clutter that had been stacking up in our limited usable space and did some organizing.

I heard about Huggable Hangers on HGTV and I found some at Target and thought I would give them a try.



I bought two 10 packs...one of black hangers and one of off-white.  They have a felt feel to keep clothes from slipping off, I was sure that would work.  I was mostly curious about how much space they would save in my closet.  I went from an apartment with a walk in closet to an older home with a look-in closet; so needless to say closet space is very important to me now.  I decided to do an experiment.


I lined up 20 shirts between this support and a line I drew on my closet bar.  Yes, I drew directly on the closet bar...we haven't freshly painted in there so why not?  I expertly circled my marker on the closet bar in Photoshop...yes, I am super talented.  Then I replaced the regular hangers with huggable ones.


It saves me almost 3 inches of closet space for every 20 things!  That is significant in a small closet.  I will be replacing all my hangers now...or eventually.  I was very impressed.  And yes I sort my shirts by color, don't judge.

I leave you with a picture of a cute cat who is after my daisy loving heart.

(source)

Go forth, organize and love kittens!  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Do you have any small space organizing tips for me??  Do share.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Weekend Recap

I mentioned in Friday's post that we were celebrating our anniversary Friday night.  We had a fabulous date night.  We went to Fleming's Steakhouse.  If you have one near you try it...you will love it.


Outside of the fabulous food they have an extensive selection of wines and the service is amazing.



I have never once felt rushed when visiting...they are perfectly happy for you to relax and sip wine and spend time with whoever you are with.  This is our go to place for celebrations.  They really go the extra mile for you when you are celebrating.



Truffles and a gift card.

On Friday this surprise came in the mail to my office.

Sweetest anniversary wish ever - my friend's twins

On the kitchen front...we could be cooking in as little as two weeks!  I am so excited I am beside myself.  I have a whole list of awesome vegetable filled healthy recipes ready to go.  The kitchen cannot be finished fast enough.  I am ready to get back to normal!!  I am ready for my weekend recap posts to also include good news on the weight loss front.  Patience is a virtue right?  Okay.

Have a lovely day!  We might be rain free here in Houston today...weird.

How was your weekend?

Friday, July 13, 2012

Friday Funday!

It is an early Friday, I only work until noon today, so it is a Friday Funday!  We don't really have anything super exciting planned for the afternoon besides watching the contractor install the new cabinets!  That is kind of exciting.  It is also exciting that there is no yellow left in the kitchen!

breakfast area
 
And who knew the sheetrock could get even prettier??

Yay!

Tonight we are going to Fleming's for an anniversary celebration dinner.  Last night we stayed in because let's face it, it is more fun to go out on a Friday night and not have to worry about getting up early the next morning.  Anyway, if you have a Fleming's near you go...you will like it, I promise.

The husband came home with flowers last night because he is such a sweetheart.  It's a good thing I have been experimenting with decorations for the hall table.


One of these vases came in very handy.  All of my vases are still packed away with the kitchen and dining room stuff.


And yes, I turned my image from yesterday's post into a card for the hubby.  I could say it's because I am creative, but it was really more like necessity since it was raining on my lunch hour yesterday and I didn't want to go out in the rain.  Do I at least get points for honesty?  :)

Happy Friday all!