Just Popping In

I have had such a splendid weekend celebrating Easter.  The weather was perfect for part of the weekend and I just love getting outside and getting the winter "stink" blown off me.  We had a very nice easter dinner with family and extended family from out of town.

With all of the beauty taking place outside and this Easter celebration I am reminded of Christ's love and goodness to me.  I just wanted to share one of my favorite verses with you today.  I hope it's a good reminder to you as it is to me.

Waiting for Spring

I don't know about you, but this gal is ready for some spring.  A couple of years ago while in the middle of a debilitating battle of anxiety, I learned to really just enjoy life during whatever "season" I'm in.  An appreciation of life...sort of.  Well, this winter has proved challenging to me.  Normally I enjoy the winter, but for some reason I am more than ready to see winter go away.

I am trying to decide if it is truly the weather, or more the "season" of life I am in right now.  Don't get me wrong, my life is great.  Just busy.  And not busy by somes standards, just busy by my own standards.  Quite frankly I don't like it.  It is only temporary.  This too shall pass.

Sometimes life feels a little stale.  I don't want to complain about that.  Really.  I just think sometimes we are ready for a little change.  Excitement.  Life.  Color.  So, I'm hoping that maybe when spring finally rolls in it will bring with it some of these things.

More than anything I hope it brings a fresh perspective.  One reason I love the change of seasons is that in some ways I feel like I get a fresh start with each new season.  That's what I'm hoping for this spring.  How about you?  Are you ready for spring?

A Friday Night

I just wanted to show you what a typical Friday night might look like around our house.  I happen to love Friday nights.  It seems to be the only night of the week we can stay up as late as we want.  Here it is 10:45 and guess what?  I'm the only one up.  Andy fell asleep long ago and I made the boys go to bed just after 10.  So, here I sit.  Me and my computer (and you).

I love it when we make no plans and can just stay home. 

We worked on a puzzle, had ice cream, watched a movie and played games.  Even the dog got a treat.  My house is a disaster, but hey, this is life.  Right?

Bathroom Reveal

Well, several months back my husband and I decided to re-do our bathroom.  It was time.  See for yourself.

The floor was dirty and disgusting and beyond the point that you could clean it.  The color of the tiles and the tub, can you say ugly?  The sink was scratched and dirty.  Don't get me started on the heater.  I've mentioned it here.  Let's not go there today, okay?

We tried to work with it and made a few minor adjustments.

It helped, but not with the floor problem.  Underneath one of the rugs we were missing floor tiles, so needless to say, when the time was right we tore it apart.

Sadly, we said good-bye to the old cast iron turqoisey-aqua tub, tiles and floor.  Okay, it wasn't sad.  However, living without a bathroom is never pleasant.  Especially if it's the "girls" bathroom of the home and during construction all girls have to use the "boys" bathroom.  Use your imagination on that one.

So, after several months, it is finally completed.  Can I get a woo-hoo?!!!!  Andy worked on this when his time allowed.  I certainly wish it went faster, but he did the best he could. 

I am very happy with how it turned out.  Instead of replacing the drywall where the old tile was, we decided to use a bead-board to cover over it.

It's so fresh and clean.  I would still like to add to this wall a picture of some sort and possibly a towel rack.  It's just so nice and crisp that I'm not in a big hurry to put holes in the wall.

Here is my sparkly white brand new tub.

I've already had the privelege of a good soak.  I'm enjoying it immensely.

I love taking showers now.  No more sharing the boys shower.

We had quite a time trying to find a vanity that would work in this space.  We actually wanted a smaller one in length than what was previously there.  It did not allow a lot of space between the toilet and vanity.  Andy finally found a used one on Craigslist.  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but the price was right.

We just topped it with a one-piece granite top from Lowe's.

This shows you just how much space we have now between the vanity and sink.

Much better.  And oh, did you notice the new heater?  No more rust and pee stains.  Hallelujah.  I decided to add a little more storage space and was quite pleased when I found this at my favorite little primitive shop in town.  And, for only $25.

While the bathroom was under construction, we had the mirror resting in the hallway.  Well, with 2 boys running around you can imagine what happened.  It broke.  It turned out to be ok.  We ended up having to cut it to fit with the new size vanity.  Andy built a frame for it, and we painted it to match the vanity and storage cabinet.

I think it looks great.  We just recycled the old light, but unfortunately had to replace the glass shades because somebody (I won't mention who) managed to break one.  That turned out to be the biggest fiasco of the whole project.  I won't tell you how many trips I took to Lowe's and Home Depot to finally find some that would fit.

One more before and after. 




Before

After

So, what do you think?  Did we do okay?

I'm back!!!

Yay!  I am so excited to tell you that I am back.  Back here at learning as we go.  There are a couple of factors to my decision to return here.  First one being, I had too much trouble getting my new blog working on blogger and didn't really care for blogging at wordpress.  Because of that I sort of lost the desire to continue blogging.  But the truth is, I've missed blogging.  Which leads me to my second reason...I miss writing.  Or is this talking?  Journaling?  Typing random thoughts?  Whatever it is I have missed it.  And for whatever reason this feels like home.  This little special blog of mine. 
So, here I am.  I'm back and hopefully here to stay.  There will be posts coming, so please, if I haven't lost you yet, come on back.  Soon.  I think I've officially lost it.  : )

Saying goodbye, and starting a new adventure.

Hello to anyone who happens to be popping in at learning as we go.  I've a bit of an announcement to share with you.  I've decided to stop blogging.  Wait, before you leave you must know that I'm starting a new blog.  I am really excited about it.  It's a blog I feel a little more comfortable with and because of that I will probably be a little better about posting.

If you know me at all, then you know how much I love to make my house a home, and how much I love to decorate and all things that pertain to simplifying life and home.  It's a bit of a work in progress, so I hope that you will bear with me as I get it up and going.  The blog that is.  I am so excited about it, and I can't wait to really get started.

So, look for me at www.thisprimitivehome.blogspot.com.  Say hello and let me know you've stopped by.  I'm starting the blog with the December Photo Project.  What fun.

Just want to say goodbye from learning as we go and thank you for all of your support and reading through some of my "thoughts."  I'm far from done sharing, just done sharing here...I think.  : )  It's really not a good-bye, just a sideways good-bye.  See ya.

I've been a little busy.

You will pardon my lack of blogging as of late.  Some of it comes down to a sort of writers block, some to lack of things to say but mainly to lack of time.  I am not someone who can handle too many things at once, so the more important things take precedence over blogging.

We were out of town last weekend for a trip to the beach.  It was wonderful except for the $80 ticket my husband got for speeding through Delaware.  Though it was a little annoying she was actually generous and only charged him with a lesser speed than the actual.  *Note to self:  send in the payment.*  Ugh!

Was on my way to one of my cleaning jobs last week and I got hit by a deer.  Yep, you read that right, I got hit by a deer.  I was braking to avoid hitting one, when a second ran out and ran right into the back of my car.  I am so glad it didn't do any damage.  Only damage was to my emotions.  What a nerve-racking moment.  Do you ever wonder why silly things like those happen?  Strange.

Anyway, I've done a few small projects around my home that I've shown on my blog.  Well, we just embarked on a big project just last week.  We are knee deep in renovating my bathroom.  Who knew that one small room could create such havoc.  But I must say it is worth it.  My bathroom has been a mess since we moved into this house.  Clean, but a mess.  Mainly the floor.  The tiles were coming loose and the grout was looking a little...gross.

I will show you what we started with.  The first picture shows what the room looked like when we bought the house.  I must disclose to you that the tub (which is hard to see) was actually the turquoisey minty color.  Though very clean and in relatively good condition, the color was just not my thing.

I decided to put a band-aid on it until it was time to renovate, so here is the most recent photo of our bathroom.

As you can see, I did my best to work with what was there.  I removed the wallpaper and freshened up the walls and vanity with paint.  I placed those two rugs on the floor to hide the loose floor tiles.  What you can't see in this picture is the pee stained rusted out floor heater right by the toilet.  It was nas. Tee.  Nasty.  (Did I just write the word toilet on my blog?)

Anyway, since the majority of this renovation would fall on my husband it was up to him when he wanted to get started.  Well, he wanted to get started and I was in full agreement.  So, we are down to one bathroom.  One woman sharing a bathroom with 3 boys and a dog.  It's proving to be a challenge at times, but we'll get through it.  (No, my dog doesn't use the bathroom to do her business, her food and water bowl is in there.)
Not to mention the fact that my washer and dryer are also in that bathroom. 

Well, here is what my bathroom looks like now.

Nice huh?  Well, you will see I like to keep my rooms decorated during renovating.  ; )  Why not?  Makes me like to go in there.

I will keep you posted as to how things are going.  Aside from the toilet lid getting busted everything has been going smoothly.  I only hope it continues that way.  I can't wait to get to the putting it back together part.  Soon.