It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Wow, there went the first week of December! Only 3 weeks until Christmas and I'm getting ready! This past week was just the normal busy, busy. Nothing good, nothing bad.

We found out last Monday at Hannah's gymnastics class that her teacher is going to move her up to the next level class starting in January. It's pretty much the same thing as she's doing now, just no parent involvement (which we've started backing off a lot anyway) and it's a 15 minute longer class. That's exciting except that Hannah REALLY likes her teacher, so hopefully moving on won't be traumatic for her! We're not sure yet which of her other classmates are moving on with her, so we'll see how that goes.

That's about all the noteworthy material from the week that I can remember at this point. Friday night, we went to the mall after work. Boy, those teenagers are taking over!!! Oh, and we're really bummed that the mall doesn't offer free strollers anymore...good thing we had ours in the car! I did a little more shopping and then called it a night. Saturday, I cleaned the house and then went out to do more shopping. I'm almost done with my buying, only a few more things left to do. We had the girl from down the street come over to babysit and Tony and I went to play cards. Neither one of us won any money, which was a bummer because it was a big dollar tournament for our league. Oh, well, it was a nice time out as usual anyway. I wrapped gifts until about 1:30 in the morning. I wanted to get an inventory of everything I actually had as well as get it wrapped, so that task is almost ready to be checked off the list!

Sunday morning, Hannah and I made breakfast and then I had her write out the birthday card for Julia (Grandma Doggies) Happy Birthday by the way! OK, I feel sort of like I'm bragging about my almost 3 year old, but mom's are allowed to do that, right? Especially on my own blog!!! Anyway, I'm so amazed that for a couple of months now she's been able to spell her name. She's been writing it for about that long too and does it without any help. I think that's so cool considering she doesn't even turn 3 for almost 2 more months (January 30). I finally got it on video (please excuse the talking as Roman was banging on the door to come in and Hannah's hair kept getting in the way of the camera!)

Then she amazed me once more. I put the card in the envelope and asked her to write Grandma's name on it. I told her to write a "G" and she did. I told her to write an "r", but she needed help with that. Then I said "A" and she did. "N" and she did, "D" and she did, "M" and she did and one more "A" and she did....here's the envelope and I swear all I helped her with was the R

Here's her signed card too...

Then we were off to see Santa and meet up with Grandpa Tractor and Grandma Doggies for her birthday. The visit with Santa went remarkably well!!! She wasn't even shy. She confirmed the Barbie Diamond Castle was still on it's way and she posed very nicely for pictures. Here's the one I got, she's not looking at the camera, but she did great!

Found the one from last year too....what a difference a year makes!

This is a picture of Hannah with one of the Reindeer at the garden center. Thought it was cute!

We had lunch with my Dad and Julia and then they came over for cake and ice cream and a visit.

I ran to the grocery store after they left to pick up a few things and then we decorated the tree. Hannah had a great time helping and decorating the tree....it's a different look to the tree when a 3 foot person puts the ornaments on (it's a little bottom heavy!)

I leave for Columbus for a few days tomorrow, so Tony and Hannah get to have a party without me! All this is fine and well other than Hannah will have ragga-muffin hair each morning!!

Thanksgiving Week

So it came and went already!!! We had a good week and weekend, but it always goes so fast.

Anyway, we went to my mom's for dinner on Thursday. It was nice, the food was very good and I'd love to share a picture, but my camera died once and for all! It's been on it's last leg for a while now, and I wasn't able to even take a picture at the dinner table - I did try. Oh, well. Hannah tried some turkey, will not go near mashed potatoes and at a like a bird overall. We went over to Dawn's after that and stayed there until almost 10! Hannah did great, she has a blast going over there and playing with everyone and the dogs!

Friday, I had to wait for my washing machine repair guy to come. He fixed the machine without having to replace any parts (thank goodness!) and I got away with a $127 bill....I guess that's better than buying a new machine, but still really sucks since it is only 2 years old! Oh, well!

We went out shopping after that. I had to get a new camera and couldn't wait until Christmas, so we went to Best Buy and I took three years to decide on one. I bought it and then we headed to Target. They were advertising the (almost) same camera for $70 less than what I just paid at Best Buy for it, but of course, they were out. We headed out toward Great Northern and I checked their Target - out, but the lady told me they get trucks overnight and maybe they'd have some Saturday morning. We went to the mall and then home. Nothing too exciting and we didn't really buy anything.

I woke up at 7 on Saturday morning to be the first one at Target to get the camera. I was the second one to walk in the store, but unfortunately, my Target didn't get any on their over night truck....that was really crappy! So I drove to Steelyard Commons and I GOT ONE!!!! Had pretty much no clue where I was going, but I was on a mission and I got one! I compared the specs to the one I got at Best Buy and they're the exact same. I love my new camera!!!!

So Tony decided to put up the lights on the house since I mentioned that it was going to be a half way decent day out. I think that ended up being a mistake because it ruined his day as it does every year! Oh, well....they're up and Hannah is so very happy, so it's worth it. It looked very nice last night. Hannah loved playing in the snow while we were outside. I was actually surprised she liked it that much. She was building snow castles!

And here's the house in lights...

After that, Hannah and I headed out to go return all sorts of stuff I had. We went to 6 stores and to Cici's for dinner and she was so good for me. It's sort of a pain taking her in and out of the car, but for some reason, it was no big deal last night...we were just buddies together! She was silly when she got her jammies on and put her pants on her head....what a card!

This morning, we made banana pancakes and then went to church. She wore her dress, which really made her happy and then during children's sharing time, she made me so proud! There were only 3 kids up there today and I was worried that she wouldn't say anything because she'd be too shy. Well, Pastor Kathy showed an advent calendar and asked if anyone knew what all the planning was for and Hannah yelled "For Jesus"! She was right! And I was so proud of her!!! It was really cool! She was so good in church and everyone always makes comments to me afterwards about how good she is and what a delight she is!! (Of course, I knew that!!)

So here she is today: she is now 2 months away from turning 3! I can't believe it! She's so excited about Christmas and loves the snow. She talks a storm and is just the sweetest thing I know!

The remodeled bathroom

OK, here it is.....finished!!! I'm so glad it's done! I do still have to paint the brown doors white, but I think that'll have to wait for another round of ambition....I'm exhausted!

So, obviously, Tony picked out the color scheme! I found this shower curtain on ebay:

And Lowes can match team colors, so the walls are "Ohio State Gray".

I made a curtain for the window and hung new fixtures for the toilet paper roll, hand towel and a hook. I have a towel bar too, but just can't seem to figure out which wall to hang it from, so it may just not go up, we'll see??

Here's the new floor - I think this is the part that I'm most proud of! I can't believe how well I got it layed down. And, I'm also proud to say I didn't waste ANY tiles!!! I actaully cut them all just right without screwing them up. It looks great, maybe a little too much brown in the color of them, but it looks really good!

And lastly, the new mirror and light fixture. They look really nice too!

I have to share my funny story about the light fixture. Since I've never installed anything with wiring before, I wasn't real confident that I knew what I was doing, but when I took the old light fixture down to paint, I realized there wasn't that much to it, so I figured I could handle it. I was ready to put up the new light, so I shut off the breaker and I got the base all leveled and installed. Then I connected the black wires and then the white wires and then the ground wire and got the light all screwed on. I then put up a globe and screwed in a light bulb. I figured I should see if it worked before I finished, so I flipped the breaker back on and nothing. So I disconneted it all, re-did all the wiring and put it back together and screwed in a light bulb. Flipped the breaker - still nothing. I thought to myself, what could be wrong? I wondered if it needed all three bulbs in before it would work, so I screwed in all three bulbs, flipped the breaker - STILL Nothing! I was getting so annoyed and stood there thinking what else could I possibly have to do differently as this really isn't that hard??? As I stood there staring at it, my eyes glanced down the wall and saw the LIGHT SWITCH!!! Ah, yes, you do need to turn the light switch on to make the light work and alas, it worked!!! I thought that was pretty funny after I got over being annoyed that I had just wasted the previous 15 minutes re-doing the light that probably worked fine the first try!

And here's one last picture from the doorway:

So now I wonder what I"m going to do with my time now that this is finished? Tony suggests I relax a little, but I don't seem to kow what that means?!?! I guess now I can finish my quilt for Christmas and start getting ready for the holidays since they are approaching rather quickly.

Tony went to freeze at the Brown's game today and Hannah is still at my mom's since we had cards at our house last night (didn't win by the way). I am enjoying my alone time right now and will be off to get groceries soon.

On a bad note, I think my washing machine is broken - my year and a half old washing machine! The basket is making a sound similar to a jet plane during the spin and I'm getting a million little pieces of plastic in my laundry loads after the wash is done...I guess I have to get a repair man out - wonder if I'll pay more for him than for a new washing machine?!

I'm here - Just Been Under Construction

I've been absent from the blog now for a couple weeks. Good reason due to the "quick, easy, inexpensive" bathroom remodel project - which has been none of the above!!! I've spent every night and all day during the past two weekends working on it. I have to say, I"m quite proud of my work and it looks GREAT!! I'll post pictures over the weekend once it's totally finished. I've just got a few more things to do and then the finishing touches. I've done things I have never done before such as mud and sand drywall, install a new light fixture, remove and replace the toilet, lay a tile floor really well and uninstall and reinstall baseboards. It's been a lot of hard work and serious elbow grease and yes, several hundred dollars too - but I guess it's going to be worth all of the money and hard work. Now, just to keep it clean!!!

So anyway, the past few weeks had some good things that I haven't yet posted. Hannah had a pajama party at daycare a couple weeks ago where they got to wear their PJ's all day and slept on the floor for nap and they watched movies. She loved that! Then they had a tea party day where they dressed up and actually had tea and biscuits and cookies (she was not a fan of the tea by the way). She looked awfully cute though that day. She wore this cute dress, tights a hat and she had a feather boa to wear for the tea party!!!

She got her Christmas pictures taken - those will be coming out in cards soon - which reminds me, I've got to get cards and stamps!!

Oh, and I totally got suckered into buying Hannah "Barbie Diamond Castle" - the playset. So I was pretty much done shopping for her and had decided that she was NOT getting the "not worth $99.00 playset" that is all she talks about! BUT then, I saw it at Target for $70 and as we walked past it she said (for the 4th or 5th time in a couple weeks), "Santa is going to bring me that". I couldn't bare it anymore - how could she be disappointed Christmas morning if she didn't get it? So I've now got to sort through all the stuff I've already bought and decide which things are to be saved for her birthday in January. But NOW, I am done shopping for her!

We got our first snowfall this week. Hannah woke up this past Monday morning, I told her that there was something new outside. She asked what it was and I told her to go look out the window. She saw it and said, "mommy, it's beautiful!" I said, "no, it's yucky!" And she said, "no, I like snow!!" So then Tuesday as it was REALLY snowing, I had to go out at lunch to buy Hannah some boots. I found a pair of snowpants too, so when she got home that night, she convinced daddy to take her out to play in the snow. Here she is in her new gear:

And then out to play:

And since the only other things I can remember of the past two weeks were the enormous amount of fun I had spending my entire Saturday scraping glue off the concrete floor in the bathrroom and painting, sanding, and tiling....I guess that's about it for this post. I'm really excited to share the bathroom pictures soon, so stay tuned!!!

Halloween - better late than never

I realize Halloween was almost a week ago already and I'm just NOW getting to posting, but I have a really good excuse which I'll explain later........

So about Halloween:

It was good. Hannah was real excited about dressing up as Cinderella and going trick or treating. She had her party at daycare on Thursday and they dressed up there too. They bobbed for apples (without water) and she didn't quite get it! She (surprisingly) wasn't afraid of the way Val decorated her house (some of the stuff as kinda scary looking). Hannah has loved looking at all the Halloween decorations and she had a special "silly witch" (as she called it) at one of the houses in the neighborhood that she looked for every time we drove past. So Friday after work, we came home and got something quick to eat and then got dressed. She had a special pumpkin to go trick or treating with. Here she is, all ready to go.

We have met up with our neighbors every year and now that we have the kids, they went out together - in princess style. Here are Hannah, McKenna (the older one) and Allison.

Here's a couple of them trick or treating

She had fun, but was pretty much done after about an hour. The girls came back (with dads) and we hung out until 8 passing out candy to the rest of the trick or treaters. We hung out at Laura & Aarons next door for a little while and came home. Hannah was VERY ready for bed.

We had a busy weekend. We got up early Saturday to go to by friend Erin's house. It was Mackenzie's first birthday and since we weren't going to be able to attend the party, we wanted to stop over to see them all. Emma was REALLY excited to have a friend over. If you read Erin's blog, you'll know that Emma's pretty much always excited and wound up. Anyway, it was great to see them all and to see Mackenzie (well, Emma) open her present. Emma and Hannah had more fun playing with her toy at first, but later, Mackenzie found it great to eat too!!! So anyway, Happy 1st Birthday again Mackenzie!!!

I ran Hannah out to my mom's after that and then ran back toward home to get my hair cut and colored. I got home and sat down for, oh, about 10 minutes and then Tony and I left to go get dinner. After dinner, we ran to Kohl's to get him a new winter coat. Then we went to our poker tournament. Long story short of the evening, Tony placed second in the main tournament. I went out half way through, but 10 of us started a side game that I ended up winning, so we made out pretty well for the night!!

We got up Sunday and went to breakfast. I got home and cleaned a little, paid some bills and made a grocery list and then went shopping. I got home and made a lasagna and then took off to go pick Hannah up. I got home around 6:45 and we ate real quick and then got Hannah ready for bed and THEN I finally sat down!!! Told you we had a busy weekend - seemed like it was non-stop.

So now for my really good reason I haven't posted:

I had this brilliant idea that I would redo our bathroom downstairs. You see, when we moved here 5 years ago (can't believe it's almost been 5 years!) that bathroom was declared to be Tony's. The only problem is that they had it decorated in seashell wallpaper and nasty carpet on the floor. Well, we've lived with it for this long, but I thought it was finally time for a change and since I figured it could be done fairly quickly and inexpensively, now was the perfect time to take on another project, right? Oh, did I mention that I'm trying to make another quilt for Christmas along with a few other Christmas present projects I'd like to do - not to mention that I work full time, have a 2 year old and am joining a Woman's Network Group that will require monthly meetings and other events here and there....ok so, yes, re-doing our bathroom seems to fit right in there nicely!

So Monday night (after gymnastics), I decide I'm going to tackel this room and start tearing off the wallpaper. It all peeled right off the walls so easily!!! So easily in fact that it only took seconds to discover the MOLD all over the walls!! The good news for Monday was that I got all the paper off. The bad news was what a mess - and wondering how deep this mess went???

So Tuesday after going to the store to buy rubber gloves, bleach and mold & mildew cleaner, I also do a little research online about mold and talked to a few people to see what they all thought. They all agreed bleach water was a good idea, but my dad reminded me that mold doesn't grow in dry places and I had to find out where the moisture was coming from. He suggested cutting away part of the drywall to see if it was coming from the outside walls. Can I tell you how gross it is to cut away drywall to find that it is completely black on the other side?? Yep - Disgusting! So now, I have a 2 foot square section cut out of my wall to repair. I think I've isolated that area to the mold problem - or at least I hope I have!! I've scrubbed the walls down with bleach water and sprayed it all with the mold & mildew cleaner. I'm going to do it again this weekend and let it dry out real well and then get it patched back up next week. So much for the inexpensive project!!! Of course I forgot to take the before pictures, but here's what I've got right now:

The goal is to have it done by November 22 so I've got 2-1/2 more weeks to make it happen (along with the quilt and other mentioned above items I've piled onto my plate). And I thought I was tired before!!! Wish me luck!