Sleepless Nights

Emily's first soccer game is tomorrow (today).  She's been so excited about it all week and now is the time for it to happen.  I don't think it will.  Anticipation is the worst thing to have on your mind when you need a good night's rest.  She is STILL awake after 3am because of this anticipation.  Of course, so am I since I've spent the last few hours trying everything I can think of to get her relaxed and finally drift off to sleep. 

First, I put on a cd of soft classical music.  No luck.  I gave her a full body massage and warm milk. Still nothing.  I've searched every square inch of my house to find SOMETHING lavender.  I don't have anything.  I REFUSE to give her Benedryl like a few parents I know would.  I don't believe in that and find it to be abuse of the drug.  Dramamine would knock her out in a heartbeat, but that's not going to happen for the same reason. 

I think it's entirely too late to have her soak in a tub full of bubbles.  We would have to leave the house by 7:30am at the latest to be able to make it to her game on time.  I wish I knew other ways to get children to fall asleep during moments like these.

Any ideas for future reference?

The Fun Part

The bedroom and bathroom are completely ready to be made new now. We went window shopping the other day, but really didn't find anything we wanted. I've been looking online for ideas of what I want and tutorials on things I've never done. There's definitely a lot more to this stuff than I thought. Since Clayton's been the one to do all the remodeling in our first home together, I can understand now why he's not as enthusiastic about this as I was just a few weeks ago.

While researching information about the tile job I want in the bathroom, I found out about needing a moisture barrier between the drywall and backer board. I would have never known. Come to find out, it's code. Good thing the Internet exists. I read to buy roofing felt for this. So, I did. After that purchase, I did more research only to find out it's asbestos. Wonderful. The next inexpensive option is to use plastic sheeting. I always have that handy, so that's what we will use instead.

So, now that the new insulation is installed, the needed studs up, and the old door from hall closed up, it's time to start installing everything. No, that's not the fun part I'm talking about. The fun part? Shopping, of course!

I picked out my tile today. This is the color scheme I'm going with:

Of course, this isn't the layout, just some samples.  There are so many options with tile, so it was a hard decision. I just bought these pieces to bring home, so if I find something else somewhere, I'm only out a few bucks. I do love it, though.

I also bought my tub faucet. It's not exactly what I was looking for, but I liked it.  I'll be returning it tomorrow, though.  I read only bad reviews on this product.

As far as the sink, I have one picked out. I was originally going to go with a round vessel sink, but decided on using a white sink so the white tub and toilet didn't overpower one side of the room. I didn't like any of the white round vessel sinks so decided on this wading pool sink:

I've looked high and low for this sink, but at first only found one that was similar. It just didn't do it for me though, so my quest continued. Overstock satisfied my need and at a fraction of the cost of any other sink I found:

I had the faucet picked out, but since I'm having to return the tub/shower faucet, I'll have to find something that will go with it.

Clayton is definitely going to build the vanity and STORAGE TOWER. Yep! I'm going to have storage FINALLY!!!!!

Even though we are using the existing tub, I cant wait to soak in it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My Child

As many people know, I am an unintentional self-inflicted pain type of person. I am clumsy to say the least. If something could happen while participating in a certain activity, you can bet it will happen to me. No matter what precautions are taken, I will prove anything is still possible. Allison is the same way.

Remember just a little while back when she rubbed the leaf oils into her eyes which ended in an emergency room visit? Well, she missed the emergency room, obviously, and decided she'd stick a ring on her finger which was entirely too small.

We did everything imaginable to try to get it off. Nothing. That's when her dad gave us the go to take our (what seems to be monthly) trip to the hospital. They did everything they could before deciding to bring out the ring cutters.





After cutting a little more than the ring itself (finger), we were good to go. Turns out the ring was plastic. That could have saved us a few hundred ER dollars. It felt and looked like metal at home. Wish I'd have known.

The girls used the trip as an excuse to grab some chocolate from the store since we were already out late.

I obliged.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Yuck!

I'm taking a break right now, trying to muster up the courage to finish tearing out the last of the walls in the bathroom.  I pulled up the toilet and moved out the vanity and started ripping out what was left.  This is by far the most disgusting job I've ever done.  That includes sewer problems, ok?  The back of the vanity at the bottom was damp, so there of course is stink that wasn't noticed at all until the cabinet was moved.  There's evidence of things long gone that I wouldn't want in my house.  EVER.  The adjoining wall which is Allison's room is patched with newspaper.  Newspaper.  Hmmm.  That wall will be replaced soon.

I only have a little bit left where the water valves are.  The bathroom was wainscoted with some type of wallboard that is harder to break away from around anything.  We are trying not to have to turn the water main off, especially this time of night when baths, dishes, and laundry is done, so that's why we are avoiding just undoing everything. 

This job is so disgusting I've almost lost my momentum.  

We bought a door today for the bathroom.  All the interior doors in this house are just plain builder grade doors.  Doors really make a space, so we want to go in with all new.  I planned to buy the 6 panel doors, but decided for only a couple bucks more we bought this kind:

Of course, you can't tell how pretty it will be just from this picture, but you get the idea.  It'll have the same type of door handles that my french doors have.  So pretty.

I really want to show a lot of progress in the next day or two, so I better bust a move.

If These Walls Could Talk

I'd ask them just what was going through the heads of the people who built this house.

With every single job we do, we run across strange ways someone improvised. I guess it's ok though. After all, in my living room we had enough space to put up new drywall without having to tear down the old. So, we have two layers on one wall. Who cares?

We found the same thing in the bathroom we are hooking our new bedroom up to. On that same wall, 6" studs were used instead of 4" like the rest of the house. I'm going to use that to my advantage, possibly, by having built in shelves. The 6" allowance gives me deeper storage.

The past two days I've spent ripping out the rest of the drywall in our future bedroom and bathroom. I'm almost finished, but can't get behind the toilet and vanity just yet. That's for tomorrow, if I find any time whatsoever.

This picture is only after we built the opening for the door going into the bathroom:




It's a total disaster right now, of course but I'm so excited to see the changes being made. It feels like a different home just entering this bathroom from a different angle. The bathroom itself even seems bigger.

So, right now, the bedroom and bathroom are gutted and waiting on us to make them new and pretty. Clayton mentioned building the vanity, so I'm hoping he will do that this week. I'm also hoping to get a vessel sink. I just love them! I am trying to keep this as low cost as possible though, and if I do, the existing sink will be used. It works, so whatever.

I'm also wanting to tile the shower surround. I've been pretty confident in myself that I can do it, but after a little further research today, I'm not so sure. We may settle for a ready made surround, but I won't be happy. We will see.

The demolition hasn't been as complicated as I originally thought it would be. In fact, it's been very simple thanks to the old, brittle drywall. Im so thankful we are doing this, not just to make it a beautiful bathroom, but because of the things I found behind those walls.

Spiders. Big spiders. Dead, but still spiders. LOTS OF THEM.

I'm sure if these walls could talk, their most spoken word would be EEEK!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Coolest of Family Nights

Ok, so today was another failure in the exercise world.  I walked 1/2 mile.  My walking partner's legs were jelly today so she could hardly stand.  Allison walked with me at soccer practice and decided she didn't want to accompany me very long.  I planned to walk once we got home, but I brought one of my dear friends home with me from the soccer field.  This is why:

I surprised the family yesterday with an idea Morgan had a few weeks ago.  It's not perfect, but it does the job amazingly.

Welcome to the Hood Family Cinema:

It's amazing what a little PVC pipe, velcro and painters canvas can do, right? 

We are really wanting the burn ban to go away now so we can have hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire and really enjoy being outside in the cooler weather.  We put the whole set up in the backyard near the outdoor kitchen.  It was originally meant for fun, not meant to spend a lot of money.  I can see it now, though.  I'm sure this will all be tweaked a bit for a more permanent feature.  That's just how Clayton is.

Day 3 - Fail

I didn't do anything yesterday as far as exercising goes.  I didn't even walk.  The guys were watching tv so I used that as an excuse not to do anything.  My legs were jelly anyway.  Today, however is soccer practice again for Emily, so I'll be forced to walk.  When we get home it'll be family time at a very cool level in which I'll post about later. 

I have to do day 3 today though.  No giving up!

Day 2 - Over, Thankfully!

Today during Emily's soccer practice, a friend of mine and I walked 2 miles.  It wasn't that bad at all.  I'm quickly building myself up without getting tired.  Tonight, during day 2 of P90X, I wasn't as successful, but I'm not calling today a total failure.  I did about half of the workout and it wasn't due to soreness at all.  It was strictly leg work today.  After the walk today and of course going in full force yesterday, my legs have become limp.  Totally not doing anything but wobbling.  Bud, who is majoring in kinesiology was here pushing me (taking all the fun out of it..lol) to keep going.  He finally went to take a shower in the middle of my workout, so I cheated a bit. Ha ha. He caught me though, so I had to continue. :(  Like I said though, not a TOTAL failure.  At least I DID do a lot today.  I know my legs will be completely non-functional tomorrow, for sure.  Good thing tomorrow is Shoulders and Arms then another Ab Ripper X.  Not that I'm really looking forward to that. At. All.

I'm so tired I can't even keep my eyes open.  Something's working! 

Night!

A Week in the LIfe

All the activities have started except for dance.  I missed the registration to the studio where the girls were going to take it, but another one came along for us.  Allison and Emily start after Labor Day and Morgan starts in October.  Also, we are trying to find another guitar and drum teacher, so the girls didn't have that this week.  We have been so fortunate not to have any of the schedules clash, except for soccer.  Practice has been changed to Wednesday evenings. I'm not liking that, but it will be over in November.

After Bud painted Emily's room, we had a change of plans and wound up knocking all the drywall out of that room to go in with new.  We are now going to take her room, she's taking Morgan's and Morgan is still taking ours.  The reason we had to go in with new drywall is because we are also taking out the closet in that room to open up the middle bathroom more and didn't want to have new and old drywall in the same room.  It's a good thing too because there was the presense of mold.  Flooding causes all these types of problems, you know.  (something on my washing machine is leaking at the moment too.  Geez)

I guess I don't explain things very well because I've tried explaining this closet before to people and they just don't seem to understand what I mean by saying the closet is BEHIND the tub.  (there's a wall that divides it from the bathroom, people)  Here's a quick pathetic drawing (not to scale, of course):

We will be closing off the opening to the closet in Emily's room and opening that space into the bathroom, scooting the bathtub into it and changing the plumbing to the toilet.   This will be the main bathroom. That's all in a different post, though.

With this being our bedroom in the near future, we are going to close off another bathroom from the hall and opening it to access it from the bedroom.  There is a slab that used to be another kitchen years ago (I have no idea why), and we are going to close it in and add it to the bedroom for a sitting area.  The bedroom is entirely too small for our bedroom furniture, so we will probably only have enough room for our bed.  In the addition, we will have to put our dressers and add a closet. The addition will have to wait a while.  Then again, you never can tell what we are going to do.  Again, another blog.

I just can't seem to get that breather, but as long as it gets done, I'm not too concerned.

Fun week!  More of them for a while, too.

P90X - Day 1 - Complete

Today I did chest/back and the ab ripper x.   

Do we seriously age THAT much in just 2 short years?  When I first bought/tried this program 2 years ago, the first day was a breeze!  Today, HELLO!!  I can't do pushups, but I tried.  I did most everything, but of course, not as much as they did on the tv.  I feel ok with what I did accomplish, though.  My back will be in some pain tomorrow.  I already feel it and it's very uncomfortable.  I did this alone too.  Clayton didn't join in, but at least he didn't laugh at me doing it, either.  Ha!

89 more days to go.  It will only get easier from here, right?

Pre - P90X - Day 1

Isn't it funny how you can anticipate something for so long and when the moment finally arrives you dread it?  That's so how I'm feeling right now. 

Clayton and I just walked briskly for about 20 minutes, so I'm assuming at our pace it was about a mile.  I could have gone longer, but knowing I'm about to start my 90 day program, I came indoors.  It feels so great outside with the cooler winds from the storm in the gulf.  I wouldn't be able to even walk outside without breaking a sweat a few days ago.

I have my before pictures taken and my weight and measurements recorded.  I can't understand this, but I actually weigh 5 lbs less than what I did the last time I weighed myself.  I thought I had gotten bigger.  Honestly, I probably did.  I more than likely loss muscle and gained twice as much fat to make up for it.  Oh well.

Anyway, I'm off.  I feel my body losing its endurance.