Projects and Ideas

Lately, all I've managed to do are add to our projects list and ideas bank. Things are getting done, but they are both too slow and too fast for me. I feel excited, frustrated; in other words, overwhelmed.

PROJECTS:

Paint MB-done

Paint and set up Fam Room-done

Put up curtains in both MB and Fam Room-done

Paint front door RED- done

Update timer for side lights-done

Change light bulbs for side lights (after fixing the wiring)

Finish installing the radiant barrier (very high ceiling)

Decide on paint for the rest of the house-done

Decide on paint and redo for half bath-done

Re-texture ceiling (orange peel)- done

Redesign front yard-slowly being done

Take down all wall paper in the house

Put shelving in laundry room

Replace all toilets-done, done and done

Acquire and care for live orchid plant-done (for 75% off or $3.24!)

Buy, place and care for ferns indoors-done (two varieties)

Organize pantry and kitchen items-slowly

Find the perfect pendant lighting for kitchen over island

Change island counter to granite

Paint the stairwell and banister

Redo the front walkway

Empty out storage

Replace all kitchen cupboard bling

Save up enough for kitchen redo

Change carpet to wood floors

Get a dog by Christmas

Make house Green and Energy Efficient-Slowly but surely!

Send daughter to BYU Hawaii safely and have a great vacation-in process

Get her P&Qs sorted out, in line and out of the way before trip to Hawaii

IDEAS:

Too many and plastered on each wall for reminder.

Maybe, just maybe... Going to Hawaii on Tuesday will clarify my head enough to get all these things done on a timely manner and without breaking the bank (fingers crossed on both hands).

Have a great Thursday!

Another Sneak Peek

We are tackling the Family Room. We started to paint. Mr. Man wanted this room/Media Room to have a cave-like feel. Cozy, warm and secluded. Sounds lovely...

We are not done yet, but I have been slowly finishing it day by day. Our textured walls are proving to be a challenge, not to mention my being height-challenged. But each day is a completion towards what the hubs want.

Why grant what he wants? Because I love him and I get to choose the paint color for the rest of the house! (laughing maniacally)

I didn't want the rather square family room to feel closed in, so we chose two colors- a dark one that could provide a "tunnel effect" and give the air of a longer room. Then since we wanted a more tropical theme, we chose a complimentary to our accent color and reminiscent of a tropical jungle.

So after a quick trip to Lowe's and a few weeks of traveling, we changed this blah white room...To something cozy, romantic and secluded... Just like being in a Tropical Jungle! The RED reminds me of all fiery colors of hibiscus and rare red orchids in many tropical places such as my own home, the Philippines. The earth tone reminds of the deep earth colors that big jungle canopies provide. Oh, just so lovely a vision it makes for us!

Our kids helped choose both of these colors- Valspar "Bamboo Reed" and Dutch Boy "Red Caboose".

We started on two walls, the window and its adjacent wall by the fireplace.

When we finished, Mr. Man did the finishing touches on the corners.
Look how great it turned out! That trio of color is Sherwin Williams Natural Choice (orange peel ceiling paint), The result is truly calming...
And here's what the wall colors look like at night. Mr. Man was so delighted and we both can't wait to finish the whole room!
We totally achieved what we wanted! I am so psyched!

Painting is so inexpensive but makes a great impact. We wish you the best colors for your home...

Thank you to our host Susan and to all of you for visiting! Glad to join in this week's Met Monday!

What a Wonderful Week...

... this has been! We got so much done and had tons of FUN, too!

As many of you know, we are busy:

Maintaining the exterior: foundation soaking, lawn trimming and watering plants. Mr. Man and I cleaned up the cuttings last Monday night. What a great alone time together though the buggies thought our legs were yummy... :-(

Organizing and decorating... (using Feng Shui of course)- still a work in progress as you can see. This past Monday, the kiddos and I tackled the Living room and waited out the thunderstorm by candlelights... I'm between finishing up the Family and Master Bed ROOMS, so here you go... Can't wait to put up some curtains to soften up this room! The color, still being decided on.

We changed our backdoor cover shade from green to red as this is our SOUTH-facing door (Fame and Recognition/Fire/Red wall)

Since it rained yesterday, we also baked some... (and opened all the windows to enjoy the cool, wet air- very nice to relax and do Sudoku by...)
I-Dude is concentrating- he wanted all that flour to be sifted just right. ;-)
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies! (My own recipe! Really yummy! Isn't that batter just delish?) L had an impromptu "scavenger hunt/movie" fun with her church friends so these were one of their movie snacks. They loved 'em!

Today, we watched the whole Book 3 of the Avatar series, J-Pony made lunch (the other two helped), we walked to and from the park and since we got caught in the rain, we decided to play for a little while longer!
L-Infinity took the picture but she was with us when the rain, lots of it, came. It was a great moment to share with my kids, as I used to look forward to those Manila rainstorms so I can play, just like we did today! (Mr. Man barely woke up and he was peeking from our Master bay window! lol

I wonder what next week will bring! I can't wait See ya then!

Where did the UTILITIES go?

Ok, I've heard of home ownership mishaps but of course you think those are just made for TV situations, right? Wrong...

Last Saturday, we go and visit our house to label which ceiling fans the contractors need to take down to the garage and which ones they need to put back up once the ceiling work is all finished. Mr. Man decides to check out the water dispenser on the fridge and barely any water came out! Not until after I-Dude "tests" out their bathroom and discovers he couldn't flush, that we figured out that the water was turned off. (Can't you tell we're new at this?) It was the weekend, no office hours for city employees. Great...

The gas and electricity were still on when we checked on Sunday even, but we unplugged the fridge and left a note stating, "PLEASE DO NOT TURN ON". Well a lot of good that note did!

Today, after calling the utilities company to have things transferred to our name, we discovered that there's no electricity even though our power company says, "...today, immediately." Which actually translated to- "anywhere from now but no later than midnight." *sighing*

Then I check out the gas on the stove and only fumes! None of the burners came on and I even barely smelled gas fumes. Man!

The best part is that the contractors that would be removing the popcorn ceiling need both water and electricity! Can you say DELAY? Spell it first. "D-E-L-A-Y? DELAY!" (Yes, unnecessary but here we are.)

The water coming on Wednesday along with trash and sewer. Gas, tomorrow. Speaking of trash...

In front of our house, the sellers piled on their "unwantables" that amounted to the whole stretch of the lawn area by the curb. We discovered that in one of the boxes, the sellers stashed a whole slew of hazardous spray cans (lube, paint, etc...) Well, Mr. Man diligently called the city and found that we cannot be putting such items for curbside pick-ups. Mr. "Seller" says, "they pick up anything on Mondays!" Great!

Of course, we call our now "former" realtor, Misty and informed her that the sellers need to pick up their hazardous items, their iron (that they left behind like their OLD dryer) and their son's collage frames of himself and friends "mooning" people, at the front door. We also informed Misty that if the city leaves behind any debris from the pile they left, we will have to invoke our right per the contract since the sellers would be in violation of agreeing to "leave the property in clean condition."

Oh... I also found out that my realtor's office was supposed to transfer all utilities accounts to our name as part of their complimentary service. NOT in this case... The lady in charge completely forgot to do that for us. We would not have this problem if she did... *deeply sighing*

Can you hear that?... You can't? It's quite loud! Yeah, my head throbbing!

SH Day 6- Drip, drip... Whoosh!!!

That's what we woke up to this morning. Water streaming from our bath's ceiling vent. Our bathroom is directly underneath the kids' bathroom. It could only be one of two things: either the tub or the toilet overflowed. I don't know about your children, but mine do not take baths early in the morning...

I-Dude and J-Pony, the two groggy and stunned culprits, had different, and not helpful, reactions (speechless and totally shocked) to what happened while Mr. Man leaps out of bed to assess the damage then just as quickly, gathered all the towels (ewwww!) to sop up the rising flood (the result, 1 inch of water and 1 foot wide perimeter outside.

Good morning, Mommy and Daddy! :-)

We made sure that "Daddy" took care of upstairs and I took care of downstairs. After so much "eww de toilette" (no I didn't spell it wrong, just making a point), I assertively informed Mr. Man that we are replacing our towels, TODAY! (thank goodness for paychecks!)

Then we also realized that our original "project" is not gonna fly as our "budget" went out the window; and if you know me well enough, high budget means NOTHING WILL BE BOUGHT OR EVERYTHING WILL BE RETURNED.

After a quick trip to the storage and returns of the materials from the original plans, we ate lunch and went to Ross. With my eye singled on the a new but similar angle, our project materials list was completely crossed out and we were under budget by almost $50.00! Yay!!!

Tonight, dinner was all leftovers, meaning completely FREE!

Food Budget Trick: Eat with your mouth, not just your eyes. Chew your food and let your brain taste it. I insist that no one asks for a second helping until they show that their plates are empty. I also insist on not piling on too much food on anyone's plate if it's a new dish or a favorite dish. If a new dish, it shows how much we like it and if it's worth our money to cook it again. For a fave dish, I prevent overeating and waste on plates.

Other than that, it was pretty uneventful... Mr. Man and I went on our "Smallville" date (FREE) and did our taxes. Oh yeah, the kiddos, all three, yes, all three because the bathroom was filthy on top of the disaster; were sequestered into manageable shifts to THOROUGHLY clean the bathroom, I mean dusted, mopped, wiped down, swept and sanitized!

So... How was your Friday?