Master Bathroom: Chapter Three

A few weeks ago the hubster earned some major brownie points by giving me the gift of extra storage.  He installed our newly purchased medicine cabinet above the existing vanity in our master bathroom. 

The cabinet provides us plenty of room for all of our toiletries leaving the storage space under the sink for extra towels, wash cloths, toilet paper, etc... I am pretty thrilled to have extra storage but the main reason I love the new cabinet is I no longer have to bend over to retrieve my make-up and other toiletries out of the lower cabinet.  Now I can just open up the medicine cabinet and everything is right there.  Love that!!

Here is the mirror we had before.  Our new cabinet/mirror combo is a definite upgrade for our space.

We  wanted our new cabinet to have a "built-in" feel so hubby recessed it into the wall so it was flush with our existing wall and trim.  He also added some trim to the top of the cabinet for a more finished look. 

We opted for a medicine cabinet that was longer than the mirror we previously had so we could maximize our storage space.  To make room for the cabinet Hubby had to move the light fixture up a little bit.  I think it was way too low to begin with and definitely looks better a little higher up on the wall.

All around the room above the bead board there was a piece of trim.  It was thick/wide enough that it almost made a small ledge.  We never really liked the ledge look in the bathroom all that much so hubby trimmed the trim {ha!} so it would be narrower.  We also had to remove  one section of trim so we could allow for the longer cabinet.

Here is what the new trim looks like now.

There was a reason we wanted to get rid of the ledge and I will show you why in my Master Bathroom reveal post!

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our weekend + some recent thrifting fun

Did you all have a good weekend?  Our weekend was pretty fabulous!!  I got to spend Saturday with a new friend and then the boys and I had dinner with some friends we have known for a while now.  After dinner we fed them cupcakes while we picked their brains about homeschooling {they were both home schooled and we are really considering the possibility of me home schooling our little people posse}

And the best part about the weekend?  The temps were in the high 60's!  We even hit 70+ degrees at one point I think.  I was over the moon about that.  We made two trips to our neighborhood park and took the boys on a wagon ride.  I was so thankful for the warm weather and for the opportunity to spend some time outside. If you'll remember we just had snow last weekend.


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Ok, on to the point of this post............

Last week I found this fun necklace at Salvation Army.  Don't pass buy the jewelry case at the thrift store ladies!!  There are some fun things to be had, I promise.  The beads on my necklace  range from light pink to a watermelon color.  It was just the thing to get me in the mood for spring!! 

Occasionally I find something for the boys when we go thrifting.  I have found a lot of really nice, practically brand new clothing here lately.  Sometimes we also find some great toys.  I am pretty picky about the toys we buy though.  I have to be able to really clean and sanitize them.  A few weeks ago we found "Bullseye" for the Woody we already had at home.  He was in pretty good condition but we still brought him home and let him soak in a nice long bubble bath.  Then we coiffed his mane and he was good as new. 

In case you haven't noticed Target has lots of goodies on clearance right now.  A lot of bedding, window treatments, bath accessories, and other home goods are on sale.  I found this lamp shade on the end of the lamp aisle.  The clearance sticker said $9.08 but it rang up for $3.24!!  

While at Hobby Lobby {twice this weekend!} I noticed they had the home decor clearance marked down to 80% off.  I didn't find anything that I needed but maybe there is something there that you might like.

And while we are on the topic of Hob Lob, did you know that Michael's will honor  any coupons from Hobby Lobby?  I went to pick up some silver leafing supplies at Hobby Lobby but they didn't have everything I needed.  So I ran over to Michael's and I happened to ask while I was checking out if they would take my 40% off HL coupon.  And they did!!  You all might already know that but if not I thought I would pass on that little tidbit. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

p.s. I have lots of things in store here at Tales and Trials over the next few weeks.  Stay tuned for a BIG announcement coming at the end of the week!!!  

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snow day!!

Yesterday in the early afternoon snowflakes started to fall from the sky.  By evening time we had gotten several inches of snow.  Noah was super excited and I was praying we wouldn't be having a repeat of last years snow/ice storm where we lost power for 36 hours!  At least we wouldn't have a newborn this year. 

This morning I whipped up an Oh So Yummy Blueberry Coffee Cake so we could have something warm and delicious on our snowy morning.  Then Noah and I headed outside to play in the snow for a while.  I thought we would spend a good hour outside building a snowman and playing.  The snow was too fluffy and wouldn't pack very well so we just stomped around the yard.  I think we lasted a total of eight minutes.  ha!!  

I did manage to snap a few pictures before Noah was complaining that his wet hands were cold. 

Our husky of course loved the snow!!  

After coming indoors I was trying to think of something fun to do when I thought of making snow ice cream.  Noah loved the prospect of having ice cream before lunch of course!!  I found a simple recipes at allrecipes.  We made enough for us to each have a small serving and then we put the rest in the freezer to share later with daddy and Graham. 

• 
  
• Snow ice cream
• 
  
• 4 cups snow
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 
  
• When it starts to snow, place a large, clean bowl outside to collect the flakes. When full, stir in sugar and vanilla to taste, then stir in just enough milk for the desired consistency. Serve at once.

Enjoy!

{recipe adapted from allrecipes}

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master bathroom: chapter one

Well the master bathroom is coming right along.  I do think we shall have a working shower any day now. Well, surely by Easter anyways!

No seriously the Hubs is making progess on the master bath shower renovations.  Can I use the word progress even if he works on the shower only about eight hours a week? :)  It's hard to find time to work on re-modeling your house when you have very little free time.  Hubs really has made tremendous progress in the short time since he first demo'd the first tile.  I stand amazed sometimes at his handy-ness.

Would you like to take a tour  of our master bath, the one we had a few weeks ago?  Come on in!  Ok stop right there.  There is only room for about 1.5 people in here at a time so you'll have to take turns. One at a time now!

So as you can see from the doorway you are looking directly into the shower.  Don't you just love the maukhaki tiles?  No, I didn't make that word up.  When you take khaki+mauve you are left with maukhaki colored tiles.  In certain light they look khaki and about 90% of the other time they look mauve.  Barf.

Apparently there was a shower door at some point because you can stil see the holes from where it was attached to the tile.  We had been making due with a shower curtain until now but the shower curtain made the bathroom feel so much smaller than it really is.  Who am I kidding?  It is a small bathroom!

Now step over the threshold a little bit and turn to your left.  Now you are looking at small wall with a window that looks out onto the backyard.  We are leaving this portion of the bathroom as is.  We love the beadboard that was already there when we bought the house so it stays of course!

Now turn around and you'll find some more beadboard, the toilette, and perhaps the smallest vanity known to man!

I really can't believe I am showing you this picture but I am for some reason.  Hubs had emptied the contents of our shower caddy and stuck a few things on our 1.0001 sq. inch of a countertop.  And look the bed isn't even made and the bedskirt is all wonky.  Oh my.  Well at least now if you ever had an pre-concieved notions that I might be the spitting image of perfect you aren't fooled anymore!

Ahem, back to the tour in progress.......We will be keeping the toilette and vanity but will be getting a spiffier {pretend that's a word} mirror.  Most likely we might steal the one we currently have in our other  bathroom at the moment.  Oh and the floor tiles.  Those stay as well.

Now fast forward a few days and look Hubs has already started tearing out those maukhaki tiles.

And he also removed the stuff that was behind the tile.  Somebody help with the name of that?!? Anyways he essentially took the shower down to the studs.

Fun stuff no?  Next he installed some new cement board {not pictured because how exciting it cement board to look at?}

 And now on to the really exciting part.  

He start putting up these babies.  White subway tiles!! Oh how I love subway tiles.

The bathroom already looks 8,000 times cleaner and brighter than it did before.  It truly is amazing what some new tile can do for the overall look of a bathroom.  {the picture below shows the tiles pre-grout}

Hubs is almost completely finished tiling the entire shower and when he is done I'll post another update.   Hopefully, we'll be heading to the home improvement store this week to pick out a shower door and a faucet/shower head.  I can't wait!

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{christmas wrap-up}

well hello there.  it's been a while.  i know christmas was ages ago but i thought i would still post about it since part of the reason i blog is to capture our memories.

the in-laws drove over from oklahoma to spend christmas with us.  the hubs and i have spent a few holidays just the two of us and let me tell you i would much rather spend the holidays in the company of our family.  living out of state from our whole family has really made me appreciate the time we do get to spend with our family.  i am truly blessed with such wonderful in-laws and always enjoy their company so much.

it was fun to experience christmas through the eyes of a child.  noah really enjoyed tearing into each of his presents.  i know christmas isn't about the presents but it was fun to see him get so excited.  he had fun helping everyone else open their packages too.

noah's favorite present by far was his mr. potato head.  it came with several "outfit" changes so he has had funny mix-n and matching different faces and accessories.

grammy could have cared less if he had gotten any presents {and thus the reason we didn't get him that much}.  he mostly crawled around looking for loose snippets of wrapping paper.  and when noah wasn't looking he would drive away with his brothers presents!

for christmas grammy got his two front teeth.  sorry, i just had to say that!  he actually got four of his top teeth just in time for christmas.  i am still trying to get a picture with his new teethies.

i hope you all had a wonderful CHRISTmas and that you have a blessed NEW YEAR!!

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{look what i can do}

i have been trying to teach graham a new trick for the past couple of weeks but he didn't seem to be getting it.  finally last night at target out of no where he decided he would bust out his new skill.  unfortunately i didn't record him last night as i was at target alone with two boys and trying to speed shop before a meltdown occurred.  {just for the record i am usually the one having the meltdown!}

today at lunch grammy decided to "perform" again.  this time mommy dear was ready to capture his new skill on video.

{please excuse the excited mommy in the background.  boy do i hate hearing my voice played back to me. ha!!}

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{my little helper}

lately i have been giving noah little chores to do throughout our day.  {now i use the word "chores" lightly} i have him help me set the table which he seems to actually really enjoy.  i give him the silverware {minus knives} and the napkins to place at each persons place setting. he puts the big spoons and forks at mommy and daddy's seat and the little ones at his seat and on graham's highchair tray.  


i have also had him occassionally help me clear the table after dinner as well.  i pick one or two little things for him to carry into the kitchen for me.  these are items that if dropped wouldn't cause a major disaster or cause a ginormous mess.  he also takes his sippy cup into the kitchen when he is done with it after each meal.


at the end of our day when he is changing into his jammies i have him take his dirty clothes and put them in his hamper.  and sometimes i have him help me gather all of the dirty clothes out of the hampers when we are getting ready to do laundry.


i figure this is a good age to start teaching him to help out around the house a little and for him to have a few responsibilities.  so i am curious, do any of you have your little ones do any little "chores" at your house?  i wanted to implement a little chore chart and maybe put stickers by a task once it is completed.  he loves stickers so i figure this might be exciting for him.  has anyone done this with there kids?


i think i am going to use the above pictured chore chart.  and you can use it too! just click here to download your own chart.

{image+chart  via ModEco Kids}

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the newest addition to our collection

So you might remember a while back I mentioned that Hubs had sent a package home while he was in Europe recently?  Well that package finally showed up on our doorstep on Friday evening.



There were several items inside including, a nutcracker {I heart nutcrackers!}, some nutcracker ornaments, and a Cuckoo clock!  I was really excited about the clock because we have a small clock collection. To be honest I wasn't quite sure if a cuckoo clock would fit in with the style of our home but once it was hung it actually fit quite nicely in our living room.

I must say that the whole family is pretty smitten with our new clock but Noah just thinks it is the best thing since sliced bread Chick-fil-a nuggets!! Every time it goes off {which is every 30 minutes} he comes running into the living room and says, "Wow!  NEAT!!! Birdie!!!}"  And then as soon as it stops making sounds he looks at you and says, " Broke?"  He apparently thinks it should constantly make noise and that if it is not it's broke.  That kid sure cracks me up sometimes!!

Here is a little snippet of what it sounds like in case you are interested.



{The song the clock plays is Edelweiss from the Sound of Music in case anyone was trying to figure that out.}

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relief and pics of the bebe

The clouds finally parted today and out came the sun. PRAISE the Lord! I think all us Georgians were in need of a little relief from the rain.  I really was not exaggerating about all the rain we were getting.

Not to change the subject or anything........ but isn't this little guy the cutest!!



I always feel a little guilty that I haven't taken as many pics of Graham as we have of Noah so this week I have been trying to snap a few when I think about it.







He makes this serious face all day long and it cracks me up every time I see him. Oh how I love this little guy!

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thanks for sticking with me

Sorry for the "woe is me" post yesterday.  It was just one of those days.  I could have pretended everything was peachy around here but I figured I would just keep it real and tell you how I was really feeling.

We're allowed to have a pity party every once in a while right?  I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere in the military spouse code of conduct. Not really, but just play along with me.

I'm feeling much better today so that put me in a better mood. Plus I got an email from the hubster last night. It's hard enough to have him out of town but to have very minimal communication with him is the pits. I feel like he is on board a ship again and out to sea. Thank goodness he's not though!  He mentioned a little something in his email about a package that was heading my way with some goodies in it for the boys and I. It's always fun to get mail so I was excited about that.

The boys are both in bed so I am off to relax for the evening. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

p.s. It is still raining buckets. We have gotten over six inches in the last few days. Anyone else in GA feeling a bit water logged? :)

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tempted to have a pity party {for one}

I'm sick.

Hubs is gallivanting around Europe at the moment.

It's been raining since last Wednesday.

And ants decided to make my pantry their home this morning.

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tiny dancer

Usually at least once a day we have a dance party around here. It's a great way to tire out your toddler and to waste some time before nap/bedtime. Not to mention I probably burn a few calories while I twirl my 25 lb two year old through the air.

Lately the LB likes me to turn the radio on in his room so he can get his dance on. He seems to think that his rug is a dance floor for some reason!



***Don't laugh at the window treatments in LB's room. If you looked close enough you would have seen that one window has an OU blanket in it and the other a purple sheet. I know. I have mad decorating skillz! Actually LB sleeps better if it is darker in his room and I have yet to find curtains that I like. Don't worry there are actually bamboo blinds in the windows so it doesn't look so ghetto from the outside looking in.

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my basket runneth over

How can the addition of one tiny kid triple the amount of laundry I do? And why didn't anyone warn me about this? If you are expecting your second kiddo sometime soon then consider yourself warned!! :)

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just checking in

Hello internet peeps. Just thought I would pop in and say hi. And while I'm here I figure I better give you a quick update on what has been going on 'round here.

Truth be told there is actually not too much new to report. We've been having a really laid back summer so far. Isn't that how summer should be? The biggest happening of the summer to date is that hubs got promoted to Lieutenant a few weeks back. There was a little promotion ceremony that the boys and I attended. I got to pin on his new LT. bars. Apparently it is tradition for the wives to do that. Not "wives" as in multiple wives per officer. Maybe I should say the "wife" of the officer. Whew... that's better. Now where was I. Oh yeah.....Here are a few pics of our little family after the ceremony. You got to love how none of us are looking in the same direction. This is what happens when you have like six people trying to take your picture at once. HA!

Doesn't Grammy look like such a little man? Oh, I am just so in love with this little guy. He is just absolutely the sweetest thing ever. Obviously he takes after me.  I am amazed at how much he has changed in the last month or so. Gone is my newborn that only nurses, sleeps, and poo's. These days he is reaching for everything. He reached for my glass of sweet tea the other day. I need to slow down and cherish this time when he is still a baby because before I know it he will be TWO!

And speaking of two. The LB just turned 2 last week.  Seriously, I don't know where the time has gone but my baby is already two? Before his birthday I asked him if he knew his birthday was coming up soon. He replied, "Ya!" And then I asked him how old he was going to be and he said, "Cake!" Oh well at least that boy has his priorities straight!

Ok, on to more happenings. We of course attended the annual 4th of July neighborhood parade. There were more people/kids in the parade than there actually were watching it. I felt so bad for the little kids but I don't think they noticed one little bit. They were just happy to ride their streamer decorated bikes and chunk candy at the four little kids who came out to watch the show. I was busy taking a video of the whole parade and almost didn't even notice that there was one thing missing.

THE LAWN CHAIR BRIGADE!!!

To be honest the ONLY reason I attend the neighborhood parade is for the lawn chair ladies.  I wonder what happened to my beloved lawn chair ladies? Hubs said there probably weren't enough ladies who volunteered to do it this year. Dang it. I bet they were one lady short and I let them down by not offering to fine tune my lawnchair skillz and join them in making a fool of themselves all the fun. Oh well. There's always next year. Next summer will be our last summer in GA so I might as well go out with a bang don't ya think? 

Well I gotta run but I'll leave you with one last picture of my newest little guy!

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home ownership is fun

A few weeks ago I was in our main hallway bathroom getting ready for the day. I had just finished putting on my make-up and went to wash my hands. As soon as I turned on the faucet things went downhill real fast. For some unknown reason the handle went flying off and water started shooting out in gyser form straight up to the ceiling. Once the water hit the ceiling it then shot down again at my head. And on it's way up it hit the lightbulbs in the light fixture. And of course these bulbs where piping hot and the water was cool. So now throw shattering glass into the equation. Needless to say this commotion scared the crap out of me and I hollered for Hubs while simultaneously bolting as fast as I could out of the bathroom. Luckily Hubs came a runnin' and was able to turn the water off quickly. Unfortunately we were still left with a huge mess and a broken sink.

Now this would have been annoying had it happened on any ol' random Saturday but this particular day we had some friends coming over. Actually they had just flown in from D.C. and were in route from the airport. AWESOME! Luckily the hubs is handy and all. He rushed out to the home improvement store to get a new faucet while I stayed behind and mopped up the flood. He managed to install the new faucet and have everything cleaned up fifteen whole minutes before our friends arrived. And somehow the baby slept threw all this commotion. I don't know how because between me screaming. light bulbs shattering, water gushing, Hubs tinkering with the faucet and LB banging metal tools on the ground we were making quite a racket! I'm just thankful that Hubs was home and in town during this excitement. Can you imagine if he hadn't been home?!?

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seriously when did he get old enough for this?

A  few weeks ago we moved LB to his "big boy" room.  And with the big boy room came the big boy bed of course. 

Seriously how is LB old enough for a big boy bed? It kind of made me a little bit sad when we adjusted the crib mattress up to the highest setting and moved LB² into the nursery this week. Sometimes I still forget that LB isn't the baby anymore!

I am so thankful that this transition of crib to bed went so smoothly. Next up: Potty Training! Yikes. Let's just go ahead and save that for a later date! :)

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i have no energy for a creative title

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew. This week has been a doozy. Let me pause and catch my breath. _________________________________________ Ok I am good now. As you can tell I am way behind on blogging. The little buddy has been sick for the past week so that put me out of commission. Can I just say that it is hard to care for two kiddos when one of them is sick. The LB wanted to be held a lot but it is sort of hard to hold a toddler when you are nursing and have a boppy in your lap. Fortunately the LB doesn't seem to mind just sitting on the boppy while I am nursing. I am not too sure that the baby enjoys his older brother practically sitting on his face while he tries to nurse. Thankfully the baby has yet to be suffocated by his older brothers hiney.

I am just thankful that LB² or the Hubs or I didn't get sick too. The pediatrician said the baby should be safe since he is breast feeding. Thank goodness for that. I finally got to use up some of my back stock of frozen breast milk this week. I missed a few feeding here and there while I was taking the LB to the doctor. I knew there was a reason I was pumping. It sure is nice to have an emergency milk supply for your baby. 

And on a completely random note......If you have emailed me in the last week or so and I have failed to email you back then too bad. Just kidding! I am so sorry but I have had little time for email this week. I was wrapping up some last minute baby shower details in addition to caring for the LB. I will try to email you back within the next few days if I don't end up deleting everything in my inbox just so I can instantly cross "email" off my "to do" list. just kidding. sort of.

Well folks I am off to go put my feet up and relax. I am going to pretend my floors aren't semi sticky from throw-up residue, my toddler is sleeping {instead of chunking his books over the bed railing}, and that my kitchen is not a disaster. 

Happy weekend ya'll!

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notice anything new?

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