Music

While working on the house the other day, I said something to Johnathon. He didn't act like he acknowledged that I was speaking to him....so I said his name and still nothing. I walked over to him and realized he had on earphones so I tapped him on the shoulder and asked why he was wearing them since I had the radio on.

"Duh, I don't like that music" was his response.

When did that happened? I don't listen to the "cool" music anymore?
Oh well, I still like it - come on who doesn't like classic rock?

.....and that leads into another type of music I listened to this week. My friend Deborah and her niece Jenna performed in the musical "The Music Man" at Rend Lake College. I attended their first dress rehearsal on Monday and took pictures. Here are a few:

Summer Sports

It's official - I'm on vacation for a week! Unfortunately it's going to be a working vacation, good thing is that I'll be working on my house and editing pictures and working on my house some more and taking a few pictures and then working on my house!

We're within the final few days of regular season baseball/softball and then in a week the tournaments will start. Here are a few pics of the kids season (if you're friends with me on facebook you've probably already seen these. Sorry, haven't had time to edit any others so I'm posting the same ones).

A series of Johnathon hitting the ball.....rounding 1st......and 3rd base.....

.....HOMERUN!

Oh I forgot to mention the bases just happened to be loaded when he hit that ball in deep right field.....GRAND SLAM BABY!!!

Yah, he was a little excited along with the entire team who ran out of the dugout.

Katie hits the ball (and throws the batt - almost got an automatic out)....rounding 3rd base....

HOMERUN!!!! Running those bases wears you out!

Exciting game, can't you tell??.......safe at first......called safe at home by the umpire, aka her father, but in my personal opinion I think she was out.

Catching......

Short stop caught a pop fly to end the game with a WIN, just liked this picture with Katie (left #7) and Carlie and the coach celebrating her great catch!

Matthew 'cheesing' for me on first base right before the game started.

Matthews hits the ball deep in centerfield....rounding the bases

......Matthew hits a HOMERUN!!

Oops, missed that one....

Tagged out the runner.......and then in "deep thought"?

This one isn't related to me, just lives down the road though - he's one of the kids on Michaels team - Big D caught a pop fly/line drive quite by surprise.

......and this is what summer baseball is all about
Just look at the joy on Big D's face!

To tile or paint?

Hopefully we'll get to start on my bathroom next week (when the ball games are wrapping up for the summer season). I'm pretty good at visualizing a room as I want it to be, not as it is (or in the case hasn't even been constructed yet).

But I'll admit I'm having issues deciding what to do in my bathroom and the guest bathroom. I think my biggest problem is that currently I change my bathroom about every 4-5 months - have to admit, it's the cheapest room in the house to redecorate. My two bathrooms will only be about 9x6 so my options on placement of tub, toilet and vanity are a bit limited and I'm not sure I want to mess with tile. But of course if I do want to do tile, it'll be so much easier doing it before the other stuff is put in there....decisions, decisions.

I think I'd possibly like to use slate in the guest bathroom or a grey toned glass tile mosaic, both are shown below. I'm using the existing tub that was present when I purchased the house. Question is what to do to enclose it for a shower??? Tile or a tub/shower fiberglass style enclosure......

.....I'm thinking this will be the sink/vanity in the guest bathroom. The slate tile would look great with this - don't you think?

My only concern is that it will be too dark for such a small space. I'd thought about painting the walls a pale yellow and only using the tile around the tub and maybe some type of back splash for the vanity.

I have an addiction to the look of metal right now and found this tile below. It's a combination of glass, natural stone and polished metal. I think either the copper or the darker pattern with pewter would also go great with the vanity.

And if I paint the walls yellow these tiles would look great. I love the tile pattern with the different sizes & shades of browns. Of course the black vanity will still look great in there!

Or a white one like this will also look great with the walls painted a pale yellow or light tan.

This just looks like a bathroom that belongs in a country home.....don't you think? I'm not all that hip for the tile though and both bathrooms already have oak hardwood flooring that will stay put. But I love the wainscoting in the bathroom.

Love the teal/turquoise tile wall but does this look like it goes in a country home?

This tile could be used for a similar look - just worried that in a few years I won't be as hip to brown & blue combo and then what? Replace the tile? And how will I decorate the bathroom at Christmas if it's blue & brown? I know it can be done - just involves a little more effort in finding just the right accessories to color coordinate with the tile.
While I'm using the existing tub for the guest bathroom, do I want to get a tub for my bathroom or just do the ever popular tile shower stall? I haven't taken a 'bath' in years so do I really need a bathtub? I can always use the guest bathroom if I so desire and/or find the time to soak in a hot tub. Next issue is that I love shower curtains. Will a shower curtain look stupid on the custom tile shower stalls?

Oh the decisions......

House Update: Week 2

I've owned my home for two weeks now. Unfortunately I don't have much to report on progress this week. We had ball games EVERY night last week and I believe we'll repeat the pattern this week - ugggh - only two more weeks of summer ball :) Above are my kitchen cabinets painted white, huge improvement from their previous state which you can see HERE.

In addition to all the games last week it was just down right HOT here, temps in the mid to high 90's with high humidity making the heat index between 100 and 110 degrees! YUCK-O! Johnathon did mow my lawn for me for the first time this past week, he's overjoyed with that job. But if he wants a cell phone, I get lawn service (I think I got the better deal).

Progress this week:

** Closet/half bathroom between two bedrooms is gone. This will become my closet.

** Board above the cabinets is gone - it was just ugly, that's all.

** Kitchen & dining room ceiling has been purchased

** Pretty sure I know what type of flooring is going into the kitchen/dining room

** Purchased new handles for the kitchen cabinets

.....and that's about it for the week - lame, I know. This week I need to purchase my bathtub, stool & sink along with all the plumbing 'stuff', 2x4's and sheet rock so we can build my bathroom & hopefully my closet. I'm only working 4 days this week and then I'm off for a week to work on the house so hopefully in the next two weeks there will be some real progress - no promises though.

I checked my mailbox today and received my first electric bill - it's for a whooping $15.30. Too bad it won't stay that low!

In addition to all the ball games, I decorated and photographed my cousin's outdoor wedding Saturday. That will be the last outdoor wedding I decorate unless it's in late September or October. As hot as it was Saturday, I'm thinking I'd even do an outdoor wedding in December before I agree to decorate another one the last weekend of June.

That being said the ceremony and reception was beautiful, here's a sneak peak.

I hope everyone has a great week. I can't wait for it to be Friday so I can work on my house again!

House Update: Week 1

In the first week of home ownership, this is what's been accomplished:

1) carpet removed from bedroom/future dining room
2) closet & wall between kitchen and bedroom is GONE (Dad did this - he's decided he's good at tearing things up!)
3) kitchen cabinets have 1+ coats of paint (still working on the doors & drawers - ran out of paint)
4) sliding glass door between the sun room/entry and living room is gone - very odd spot for a door, not sure why they had it there
5) garage was sprayed out with the power washer (needs done again at least once - still a strong smell of oil - previous owner worked on garden tractors/lawn mowers and wasn't real neat about spillage of oil)
6) closet and 1/2 bathroom between 2 bedrooms has been demolished down to the studs
7) new kitchen faucet installed
8) new fridge made it safely inside the house

I know I should have pictures but they're at home and I'm not! I'll try to get a Part 2 to this post tonight with pictures of the progress. Plus we still have 2 & 1/2 weeks left of summer ball. I have tons of pictures to get edited & posted from ball season this year and a wedding to decorate and photograph this weekend, plus four other sessions to get edited......UGH, I think I need a vacation!

Since every post 'should' have a picture, here are a few from a bridal shower I shoot several weeks back. You can see more on my PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG!.

Super cute favors - note pads and pink or orange Sharpies


Part of the foods spread (all prepared by her parents)

New Coffee L-O-V-E

Chocolate + Coffee = One Happy Camper

I ran into Target a few days ago to pick up a gift and while walking to the check out, the coffee aisle caught my attention. Several months ago I started drinking Dunkin' Donuts Original Blend coffee and truly enjoy the taste but have had trouble finding it in my area.

So, you understand my excitement when I saw it on the shelves at Target and quickly picked up 2 bags. Then as I turned my cart around I noticed this.......GODIVA Chocolate Truffle coffee and decided to get a bag of it also.

OH MY GOODNESS
If you love chocolate you need to try this coffee. I mix 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 Dunkin' donuts grounds to brew. The only bad thing about this is that it won't last very long, not due to the size of the bag but rather the fact that I've drank 4-5 cups every morning since I bought it and sometimes have 1-2 cups in the afternoon too!

Crisis Averted

Just a quick update - the fridge mishap from yesterday has been resolved without having to frame a larger (36") door on my house. Once all the great minds gathered last night, took a few measurements, removed the front door off it hinges........

.....the basic answer to our dilemma was to remove the fridge doors making it 31 and 3/4 inch deep, I have a 32'" door. When we pushed the storm door (ugly storm door) open all the way it pressed against the brick and broke one of the glass panels. When we started to move the fridge in it was determined that the storm door needed to be removed to give us enough clearance to get the fridge in (water hose was going to catch in back). The door was ugly and with it now missing glass panels it's not going back on, see we killed two birds with one stone - didn't like that door to begin with :)