I QUIT!

I hate P90X. Oh my gooddddd.... it sucks.

1. I am too heavy to be gallivanting around my living room. This house is too old and these poor floors cannot support me stampeding around for 55 minutes every night.

2. You seriously have to be in military style shape to even keep up. This workout is for people who are already in prime shape who would like to build muscle and endurance (and I assume torture themselves).

3. Finally, the guy who hosts/invented the work out is a cocky windbag. I hated watching him as much as my floors hated me jumping on them for an hour.

So needless to say, I need to just jog my fat butt around the block the good ol' fashion way to get some of this weight off. Maybe go back to my Biggest Loser dvd for a few weeks.

If only I could afford lipo-dissolve... :)

Sunday Remodeling Projects : The Foyer and Hallway

The foyer and hallway... Nothing too exciting right? Besides the basics of paint, 6 panel doors, and white base moulding, we didn't have to do much. This house is a 50 year old ranch style house, meaning that all of the living and sleeping is done on one floor. We do have a basement that walks out into the backyard but it's unfinished... and scary.

So here is the foyer... Chris found this knight at the mall when I was pregnant. We saw it once and I wouldn't let him get it because we were living in a teeny-tiny one bedroom apartment. The next time we went to the mall, before we got into that store, he asked if he would be able to get it if there was one left. I said yes because the last time we were there, there was only one left and I was praying someone else had bought it in the meantime. Not the case.

{view looking into the kitchen}


The paint color is the same as the paint color in the dining room, since the dining room is right behind the wall the knight is on. When you're standing in the kitchen, looking into the two rooms, it looks "clean" since the color is consistent.

(cheap new light, $10 at Lowe's}


{the original floor with the house-- very ugly, but very cool history}


{foyer view from the kitchen}


I bought the mirror at Garden Ridge for $50. It goes with the metal color of the knight and makes the space feel larger. The 6 panel door was also $50, but it was unfinished so I had to paint it white. As you go through the rest of the house, you will notice that I have 14 interior doors, so there was a lot of painting done. We saved a lot of money by doing this ourselves. Also, the interior doors came pre-hung with gold hinges. When I went to the store to get "brush nickel" hinges to match my new light fixtures and door knobs, I found out they were $3/each. This would have been a huge expense for just hinges totaling about $10/door. Instead, I took the gold hinges off and gave them all a coat of silver spray paint in my front yard. This was a lot of work, too... But an easy way to save money.

Moving on to the hallway and the front part of the house, the bedroom wing.

{view from sitting room}


The hallway and kitchen are painted a light cream color, almost the color of a stick of butter before it's melted.

{our old fashion laundry chute that we had to pad-lock to keep Haven from falling down into the basement}


{built in nook}


This is a wedding box I bought for $20 (at Garden Ridge, of course). I put an invitation, our vows, my bouquet, and his bootiner inside.


I bought the hallway rug at Garden Ridge, too... Along with 90% of everything in my house. I think it was around $35. It is the best place to find variety and good prices.

{view from master bedroom}


The last way we saved money in these spaces was to clean the old vents and then spray paint them white. Vents range from $10-25, so this was another easy way to save money. Next week, we'll tour some of the bedrooms. This is really motivating me to deep clean each area before I take pictures. :)

P90X

Since March, I've lost 25lbs... but in the last couple of weeks nothing has come off. This is my own fault as I haven't been working out and dieting like I had been. I've been celebrating my small victory too long. So with that said, I am starting P90X tomorrow. I figure on top of the little cardio I will be doing everyday, I will also follow this program.

Chris (bless his soul) recorded my measurements tonight... And even took a shameful "before" picture. In 90 days, mid October... I will post the photos.

Wish me luck!

Sunday Remodeling Projects : The Sitting Room

On to the sitting room. I think this room was originally a formal living room... But we just kept things simple, only two pieces of furniture. This room is also a make-shift play room on days when Haven is tired of his own room. It's also great for when we have people over because we can turn the room into whatever we want.

So it might look empty to you... perhaps boring, but it flows nicely into the dining room.

All we did in this room was paint it a warm earthy green, added the white base moulding, and continued the white cotton curtains into the room to match the dining room. All of the colors between the two rooms compliment each other. We bought paint, supplies, base moulding, a rug, curtains, and curtain rods. I've had the chair since college and the piano is Chris' grandmothers piano. All together in this room, I spent $280, since I didn't need to buy a chair, piano, and the wedding photo was a gift.

{view standing in the dining room}

Isn't the wedding make out picture classy? Ha. I'm just that vain.


{a few pictures on the wall}


{standing at the piano}


{Rug- Garden Ridge, $80}

I love how the rug is a light color, meaning, I don't have to vacuum it everyday.

{view standing against the wall of our wedding photo, looking into the foyer and dining room}



Next week: Foyer, hallway, and spare bedroom.

City Garden

We ventured downtown last night. I think the City Garden has been open for over a year now, but this was our first visit. It is full of statues, splash pads, fountains, tiny pools, and even an ice cream man. Best of all, it's free. We went down there around 7pm. It was still very warm, but not unbearable. We had the most fun we've had in a long time. Although there were hundreds of kids down there, everyone was really respectful and I didn't notice any problems. The water is treated with chlorine as if you were at a pool, so I let Haven run loose.

I hope you enjoy the pictures :)

True Love

He knows the way to my heart.



{while I was uploading this post, he went outside and watered my flowers}

Gotta love a good man.

Sunday Remodeling Projects : The Dining Room

A few of my favorite bloggers live in beautiful, enormous houses. They have photo albums that show off their guest rooms, craft rooms, gardens, and commercial style kitchens.

I'm green with envy.

Since I am in student loan debt up to my eyeballs, we bought a little fixer-upper. The house has good bones, a lot of charm, and enough remodeling projects to make someone go crazy or broke (whichever comes first).

From now on, every Sunday, I will dedicate a post to a room/area in my house. We have lived here for just now a year and we are about 90% done with our projects. With Chris finishing his Master's and our little bozo growing like a weed, some of these projects have been put on hold.

So without further adieu... THE (small) DINING ROOM...

{view standing in the sitting room}


We painted the walls a heavy beige, added the white base moulding, and white cotton curtains.

{all place settings and glass from Pier 1}


I think I only spent $80 to decorate the table top. It's affordable enough to change it out during holidays.

{original chandelier, almost 50 years old}


I've contemplated spray painting this white (like I've seen on several remodeling blogs) but I can't bring myself to do it. It's too pretty the way it is.

{standing in the sitting room, looking into the kitchen}


{wall art from Pier 1, $50}


{family pictures in frames that compliment the chandelier and curtain rods}


{original oak floors}


{outdoor, parson chairs; Garden Ridge, $20/ea}


I really wanted parson style wicker chairs from Pottery Barn... But instead, I saved $130 per chair by purchasing these ones. They are great right now because I can easily wipe them down after we eat (mainly Haven). Down the road, I'll look into splurging on something nicer.

{craigslist, $25 plus some stain and an hour of time}


I found this on craigslist for $25. After sanding it down and applying some stain, it looks just like the pedestal table that I wanted at Pier 1.

All together, with paint, supplies, base moulding, furniture, window treatment, and decor, I didn't even spend $400 :)

Little Gary

Grandpa Gary (1954)




55 years later...



Haven (2009)



So crazy!!!