Kelsey the Kewpie

I am not sure when I heard the term "kewpie".  I am not 100% sure I knew to what it referred.  But I occasionally used it as a reference to my children, when they had bad hair days.  I took a few pictures of Kelsey, and was going to post them, but before I did I wanted to look up a few things, to make sure the reference made sense.  Enter: The Kewpie Doll!  According to Wikipedia, the dolls and figurines were originally part of a comic strip, blah blah blah, yakity yakity.  Point is, I ed-ju-ma-cated myself, and I was pretty much using the reference correctly.   Yay!

This particular Kewpie is the Construction model.  :)

 The day before, I had done her hair in a "whale spout", and while she took it out and slept on it over night, her hair still stayed sticking up into the air.

 There really is no point to this particular post.  I just wanted to let you know that I was right.  And that I have cute pictures of my daughter.

The End.

Kitchen, as it Stands

I was going through the blog the other day, and discovered that I am horrible at finishing things.  Well, ok, you already knew that.  And I guess, since we aren't 100% finished, you can't blame me for not posting absolutely done pictures.  But besides the bookshelf that I showed you in its 99% finished state (and that only recently), I don't know if I have shown you anything else.  So I will probably go through and show you where things are now, even though they aren't DONE done.  I've said it (written it?) before and I'll say it again: We are really good at getting things 95% done.  In case you want to review, here is the beginning, the fridge painting, the cabinets, the middle, and the pantry (and most recent post, I believe) of the kitchen.

So, I guess, last I left you, you thought we had been living with a completely incomplete kitchen.  Ha!  Guess again!  You don't get pictures of a "100% done" kitchen.  You don't even get pictures of "show house cleaned" kitchen.  You get "lived in" kitchen pictures, my friend.

This is the view from the dining room.  You see my all new, custom constructed (by hubby) and painted (by yours truly) cabinets, with counters installed and microwave neatly centered over the oven....  You probably don't remember, but the previous oven and microwave were off by a good 5-6 inches.  It drove me insane a little bit.  We replaced the light fixture as well as the flooring, up to and including a new subfloor.  Also note my washed dishes drying on the counter and the breadbox in the corner.  I thank you.  

 And this is facing the other direction.  See my new pantry and painted fridge in their new homes?  Before we remodeled, that area as completely empty.

 A peek at my 1920's desk :)

 And back the other direction, featuring the door out to the workshop.  There you get a peak of the only part of the kitchen that isn't done, and the part that needs to be repaired and replaced.  The big drawer to the left of the dishwasher (which functions!!!  Yay for remodels!  Remember, I lived without one for over a year) is home to the utensils.  This is a drawer that my children open several times a day.  And between the weight of the drawer and utensils, as well as the weight of the children who pull down instead of out, the drawer track has broken, as well as the face frame of the cabinet.  The part that isn't done is on the ceiling.  Look up and to the right of the door leading outside...

 It looks like this.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but that part of the ceiling has not been textured and blended into the rest of the ceiling.  I painted most of the wall, but didn't finish all the way up, as I wasn't sure how far down we would need to do some blending.  That's it.  That is where we aren't finished.  See?  We get the kitchen functioning (at the very least) and mostly finished, and then we move on....

 You can also see the two pot lights we installed in the ceiling.  These were an after thought.  We had the kitchen mostly complete, and it just seemed so dark over by the fridge and door.  The overhead light isn't centered in the space, so we couldn't add 4.  And thankfully, it doesn't appear that we need them.

 My Aunt A told me that kitchen desks were a bit old fashioned.  That's ok.  I  don't mind.  I don't really keep up with that stuff, so that was news to me.  But the desk actually serves another purpose.  Hubby came up with a clever way to hide this shelf under the desk.  It is mounted in a way to allow the modem to sit on it (this is the most centralized working phone jack in the house), as well as the wireless router (Update: I was forced to replace the pictured modem and router combo with a brand new wireless modem in one.  It was a pain.  But it is done.)  The shelf also houses the VIOP converter box for the phone (which has to plug into the modem), and the surge protector to power assorted boxes/modems and mechanical things.

 The other thing I like about the desk is the hidden drawer.  It is fairly obvious in the picture above, but the drawer slides out between the two legs.  And, in most cases, you don't know it's there.

 This was the splurge, and the most expensive single thing in the remodel.  The microwave and oven.  I love having the microwave off the counter, even though it may look a tiny bit bulky up there.  And I love that the new oven/stove actually cooks food at the temperature it is supposed to.  The first time I cooked with it, I actually burned the eggs!  Which was great because the old stove never got hot enough to burn eggs.  It was a miracle. :)

There it stands.  The kitchen as it is now.  The first of the "finished" posts from our entire house makeover.  Hopefully, this will help motivate us to finish a few more things.  Namely doors and drawers for 2 bathrooms, crown in the basement, and the hall way so we can finish that entirely...  Slowly but surely my friends.  Slowly for sure.

Lil' Miss Mudpie 2014

We interrupt this home improvement blog to bring you the latest from the Lil' Miss Mudpie 2014 pageant.  It is currently looking like this little sweetie is leaps and bounds above the rest of the competition. 

 She enjoys doing community service, and has been seen helping those in need from the recent rain storms that pounded the south.

 Her stance on politics is somewhat convoluted, but she thinks most of it is a pile of....  um, stuff.

 She sailed through the interview portion of the competition by giving intelligent answers coupled with some shy looks.

 And she accessorized her evening gown with some interesting frills and ornaments.

 Yes folks!  The judges comments and scores are in, and it looks like our winner is Miss Kelsey "Soggy Bottom" Smith!  Congratulations Miss Bottom!  May all your Muddy wishes come true!

This post brought to you by her hardworking parents, who stopped their yard clearing efforts in order to get some fun pictures of her playing in the dirt, which she promptly stopped doing as soon as the camera was retrieved.

The Backyard, Day 2

Day 2 was full of french drains, gravel and dirt.  Essentially the same process as what we did inside.  We did this first drain the hard way, but thankfully found a way to streamline the process later.  

This time, we tied into the gutter lines that ran down the yard, and out to the ditch between us and the neighbor.

We bought 100 ft of pipe.  And truthfully, we wish we had one more.  You can see there is one trench in the middle of the yard (by the fabric) and one extending towards the sheds.  We wish we had put one extending towards the house.  Regret #1.  However, thankfully, we figured out an easier way to wrap the pipe in fabric, namely just wrap and tape the sucker, rather than trying to put it down in the hole and keep everything *just right*.

This is side one after being buried in gravel and dirt.  Not bad, eh?

We got the other two drains wrapped and gravelled, but then had to take a breather.

Down at the bottom of the yard, we planned to do a wet well of sorts.  We used one barrel (of the three we originally purchased when doing the basement) and were going to pipe all the water to it, then just have one pipe going out of it.  But we ran into water.  And by water, I  mean....  WATER!  Everytime we dug, water and mud and sand and dirt filled it in.  I am fairly certain with all the dirt we pulled out, we probably actually dug the same hole 3 times over.  By the time we had the hole even close (mind you, not done) the gravel place had closed, and wasn't open the following day on Sunday.

So, while day 2 was productive, it wasn't as successful as day 1.  It did end with a fun session of playing with marking paint.

That night, after working outside for two days, I showered and went to a friends house for a much needed girls night.  It was great fun, and a good end to a working weekend!

The Backyard, Day 1 AKA The Next Big Project

Ok.  So we are a little bit crazy.  I'll admit it.  We start projects decently well, but don't always finish them before starting another.  Ain't it always the way?  Well, we decided we were tired of having a back yard that looked pretty horrible.  We wanted the kids to be able to play back there (instead of the front yard) and we came into a little extra cash, so what better place to put it than sink it right into the back yard?  Perhaps literally. This moved to the top of our priority list of things to do around the house because the weather is sorta being good for working outside, as well as needing time for the grass to grow.  

This area at the top of the yard has been home to the previous home owners makeshift garage, as well as to our dump pile.  This is one of the main reasons I don't let the kids play back there.  It is unsafe.  So we decided we wanted someone to come out with a bulldozer of sorts and scrape the top couple inches off.  And yes, we have burnt some lawn debris there recently.

We also decided it was time to do something about these sheds.  There are three (a smaller one is hidden behind the truck).  We have no need for three.  We don't really even need one, but since they were there, we DID fill them with stuff (of course).  Step one on day one was to empty them.  We found someone who said he could grade the yard, take down a few trees, fill in a few holes, and move one shed while getting rid of the other two.  And get this:  He was going to do it for cheaper than if we did it ourselves!!!!  Score!  And we would have to do less work!  Score again!

One other thing we decided to do was to put in a few french drains around the house to aid in drainage.  We started with this area up here after lunch (the first half of the day being cleaning out the storage sheds and two, count them two! trips to the dump).

It took us about 10 minutes to say "well this sucks!"  Digging trenches is just not the funnest thing I have ever done!  I looked at hubby and said, "I am going to get the trencher".  So I drove down to the local Dee-Pot to rent their 4 inch trencher, and hubby agrees that it may just be the best decision we have ever made.  

This was a Friday, hubby actually took the day off to work for me :)  By now, the girls were home from school and more than willing to supervise.

Sometimes the right equipment can make AAAAAAALLLLLL the difference in the world.  I rented the machine for 4 hours, and returned it with more than 2 left.  That includes driving to and from my house, digging all the trenches, and washing all the dirt/mud off.

It was fantastic.  Many hands make light work, but a machine is always faster :)  Just more expensive than manual labor....  Still, best money we ever spent on the back yard!  

And we ended the first day on a high note, having done what we had set aside for that day, and not killing ourselves in the process.

And thus day 1 ended in success.

Big Boy Presents

Waiting for mommy to wrap presents and stuff :)

He got everything he asked for for his birthday this year.  Mostly because he didn't ask for much :)  He got a set of legos (which he had Kari put together, and has already lost several pieces).

He got an "Inja Turtle" toy.  (Excited much?!?!)

A fun movie to watch.

And a Power Ranger.  As of yet, the two have battled many times together.  I don't think there is a conclusive winner.

We were able to talk to all of our extended family by phone or on skype.  This is Dylan talking to his grandparents down in Chile telling them how old he is.

It was a pretty good day for the little dude!  

5 yr old: The Cake

Welp.  He did it.  My little boy turned 5.  And he can now go to school.  He tells everyone this: "I turned 5.  Now I can go to school."  It is his traditional greeting.

When asked what kind of cake he wanted, he said he wanted a strawberry cake with strawberry icing.  I am fairly certain this is a throw back to Kari's fruit cakes from her earlier years.  Have you parents, with multiple children, noticed that if a child doesn't have an opinion, they will copy someone else's?  Just curious.  Daddy, being the masculine, testosterone driven man that he is, said "Are you sure you want strawberry?  What about a camouflage cake?"  Dylan readily agreed, but I backed out.  I don't do camo.  So it was all up to hubby.  Thankfully, he is pretty much always up to the challenge.  His brain is very creative, and most mediums are the "same" to him.  He can make it work.

I think he likes it.

The brown is chocolate (of course), but the green and tan are just white with food coloring.

Now blow out the candles!

The black made an appearance later when I showed hubby a small tube of gel black I had saved from something else.  We were going to use it to write something for the boy.  But it was old, and runny, so unfortunately, it didn't hold letters well.  But, it blended into the camo just fine!

Chocolate cake!  Boy after his momma's heart!  

How old are you Dylan?

I think she liked it too.

What?  Whaddeye Do?

We haven't had his well check up yet, but I will try to update on some stats when we do.

He is all boy in that he is loud and likes to rough house and run.  He makes noises for all his toys (something the girls never did) and plays with his toy "shoulders" constantly.  I am glad we got him a set of several, because he has lost (and re-found) several of them.

He wants to do everything his sisters and daddy do.

He says his favorite movies are Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians), Frozen, Chipmunks (which I don't think he has ever seen).

His favorite songs are from the Frozen movie.

His favorite color is black.

His favorite foods are bananas and waffles and green bean soup.

In about 4 months he will leave me and go to school, and I don't know how I feel about this.  I guess I will let you know in a few months.