Snow Kidding

I drive by this house on my way home from the gym, and every time there's a significant snowfall they make a huge snow sculpture. Last time it was a gorilla. As I was on my way home from spinning today I saw they'd made an elephant out of yesterday's accumulation. I couldn't help but stop and take a picture. You can't really tell from the picture, but this thing is massive! It has to be 6 or 7 feet tall. I wasn't the only one taking pictures of it...as I was out there a woman stopped her Jeep and was taking a picture with her camera phone, lol.

Phase One

Woo hoo! It's my 200th blog post! I apologize for slacking lately...it's really hard to concentrate/be creative/not be a stalker during a remodel! Thank God we did this now...I realize I could never get any work done if we remodeled during wedding season. Not only is it distracting to have people in and out all day, but keeping Murph from terrorizing them is a full time job in and of itself.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a picture of the bathroom vanity area. The vanity top is a 188 year-old board that was taken out of the wall to make room for the washer and dryer. We've made it a point to reuse as much of the material from the original structure as possible. We plan on installing a beam on the ceiling that came out of the kitchen wall, and we're reusing the flooring from the dining room in here as well. Later on there will be sides and a bottom shelf added to the vanity that are made out of the same boards from the wall.

I'll have better pictures of it later on, but Bob and Matt made that moulding around the doorways to match the trim in the rest of the house. Their attention to detail and enthusiasm for doing it was wonderful. They were here every day working, and are genuinely a couple of really nice guys. I highly recommend them to anyone who is considering remodeling.

The Oldest Cooks

As a way to foster some responsibility, The Husband and I asked The Oldest if he was interested in cooking dinner for the family one night a week. He was game, so the other night he picked out a recipe, Beef Bourguignonne, wrote out his grocery list, and shopped and cooked with The Husband by his side.

Junior and I documented the occasion right up until Junior's battery died. Some Photographer I am, huh? I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but it was delicious!

I couldn't finish this blog post without adding The Youngest's transformers. These were taken last week and he's very excited for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee to make it to the blog, lol.

Meet Prime:

And Bumblebee:

Some More Spring For Ya

Taken last week in our yard. I just love the colors in the first picture!

Happy Valentine's Day!

First I want to wish Hot Husband a Happy Valentine's Day. Honey, I love you with all of my heart! Thank you for putting up with me!

Now I want to petition you for help. Since we've spent sooo much money on new fixtures for the kitchen and bath remodel, we are trying to keep it simple tonight. Thelma has graciously volunteered to watch The Boys so we can go out. I want to take Hot Husband to dinner, and he wants to take me to a movie. Since we're on a tight budget, we can't do both. Anyone want to flip a coin for us?

In other news: my online photographer friends came up with the idea of doing a Vanity Fair cover shoot, with the final cover to be posted today. You've already seen a couple of images from Thelma's shoot, but here's the one I saved for the cover. I had so much fun with this, I can't wait for the next project!

Thelma, you're smokin' hot, girl! Thank you sooo much for being such a good model!

Yet Another Remodeling Post

The Contractor's, plumbers and electrician have made significant progress on the bathroom remodel this week, so I thought I'd share some pictures with those of you who aren't sick of it yet, lol. If you're so over remodeling posts, you might want to check back in May...right now my life revolves around light and faucet fixtures, burried junction boxes and Saving Old Wooden Beams. I'm pretty sure Hot Husband is tired of being dragged to home improvement stores.


This is the new view from the toilet. The sink will go right about where that trash can is. The washer and dryer will be relocated across from the toilet behind bi-fold doors. (Am I spelling correctly? Ever since I got my new computer I can't use spellcheck...)

Looking in the opposite direction.

The view from the living room looking into my office. My desk used to sit underneath the window, with the washer and dryer on my right. I can't wait to have them out of my work space!

*Disclaimer* These were taken with my fisheye lens, which causes that distorted look at the edge of the frame. It's one of my favorite lenses, but obviously not one that gets a lot of use. I used it for these pictures because of the wide viewing angle it gives. Nothing wrong with the camera!

Macro Monday!

Macro Monday used to be the first thing I thought about on Monday morning (besides coffee), but since the remodeling started my thoughts have shifted to wondering what's going to be accomplished at the end of the day. I didn't even think about a macro shot until late this morning.

Here it is, better late than never!