Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot...

And however the rest of that song goes.... This is that time of year that bloggers across the world wide interwebs take the time to look back at their year and summarize what's happened on the blog or summarize a series of significant bloggy and/or personal events.  I guess i'm much the same.  Actually, it's not just bloggers that do this.  With the year ticking up one more notch, I think it's human nature to think about the year in review and try to make some sort of sweeping generalization or judgement of whether it was "good" or "bad".  I think that's a bit unfair to good old 2013...it was a long 365 days.  Too much happened to summarize in a few snappy paragraphs.  I'll do my best to hit a few hghlights (some of which were mentioned, some are new).
We did a lot in Sarah's Big Girl bedroom - check out a few of the posts here:

• New lamp
• Memo Board

And the biggie is that we did a full-on down-to-the-studs renovation of our kitchen. 

• Meet the kitchen
• Moving Out
• Demolition
• Designing
• Sliding Door
• Framing
• WALLS!
• Paint
• Tile
• Cabinets
• Counters
• Reveal!!

So one thing I've come to see is that I didn't do a lot in 2013.  Less than half the posts when compared to 2012 (my first full year of blogging).  I should fix that (do I sense a resolution there??).  There are a few reasons - the biggest reason was the kitchen.  In a small house like ours, a huge kitchen renovation like we did was so disrupting, that it was difficult to even think about anything else, let alone DO something about it .  Pretty much no matter where I went, I was facing evidence of the destruction/or construction that was going on.  So other projects were untouched and or dining room (a.k.a. my craft space) was cluttered and messy.  I'll say this, no other project has had such a positive impact on our day-to-day life than our kitchen reno has, and it's only been done for a few months.  Baking Christmas cookies in there was FANTASTIC.
Now that all the excuses are out of the way, I'll say that 2013 was a great year.  We've had tons of fun, completed off the BIGGEST project on our house so far, potty trained the 3 year old.  To do's for 2014 include addressing our ugly stairwell, maybe the basement, and getting healthier.  Plus, I want to do more crafty things, smaller decor and organizational projects.  I hope to have closer to 100 posts in 2014.  About 2 every week if all goes well.
I'd like to take a moment to wish everyone a very happy Happy HAPPY New Year.  I hope 2014 brings joyful moments, fun projects, and fabulous memories.  I hope for health and happiness for me & my family and for you and yours!  

Shades of Greige

I've been a bad, bad blogger.  And I've maybe been a lazy homeowner.  Since we got our kitchen to a usable state, we stopped.  Nothing much has been going on around here - in the home improvement area anyway.  We have been enjoying a bit of a break from the work we do around the house.  It been nice to have a break because the kitchen had been such HUGE project, and while it's not *done*, the bulk of the inconvenient/messy/frustrating work is over. YAY!

The break is over and I've switched gears to something completely different.  The living room.

Meet the living room as it was when we bought the house in 2007.

A few things we did first: Mirror, Wallpaper & Carpet = Gone.  That table is gone too (although it did hang out in the basement for a long time).  The front door and windows have been replaced.  And we painted.  The paint color I chose was called "Coastal Sand".  It's a neutral brown, sort of a medium toned tan.  It's the color in my parents' family room.  It worked because it went with everything.  It was fine.

Fast forward to a few years after that when we painted our bedroom a color called "Kindling Wood".  This was before this color family got trendy and got the name, but it's a shade of "greige".  I remember as i was rolling it on, I said to Jason, "I really wish we had put this color downstairs because I love it."  And I do still.  Truly, ever since we painted the greige in our bedroom, I've hated the color in our living room.  Hate is a strong word, but maybe I knew the tan color just wasn't it.  

So last week while I was procrastinating writing a paper for an education class I'm taking, I decided it would be the best time to paint the living room.  And since the Home Depot guys convinced us that we would need 5 gallons of paint to do one bedroom, we have had 2.5 gallons of this paint in our basement.  So I did it.  I shook the heck out of that can of paint, grabbed a brush and cut-in cup and went to town.  

Here's where we are now:

I LOVE IT.  It's so much more the feel that I was going for.   This angle is the same as the last of the 3 living room pics from 2007, just so you know what you're looking at.  And sorry for the weird shot - I"m trying to shoot around the Christmas tree :)

Here's a peek at this year's tree compared to last year's tree so you can see the old and the new colors side by side.

And is it crazy to decide to repaint the living room a month before Christmas?  I guess a little crazy, but it's totally worth it.    

So what happened to November?

That's the big question, isn't it?  What happened to November?  I'll tell ya, if I can sum up theme with one phrase, it'll be this: Everyone Got Sick.
Sure, it started with Sarah and Chris trading sick days, but not super sick.  Then came Chris being super sick.  Like down & out for about a week.  I think it was the flu, poor dude was full-on miserable.  Then as that was wearing off, Sarah ended up at the pediatrician for a checkup and bam - ear infection.  Then the very next day - I kid you not - the VERY NEXT DAY I woke up with a sore throat.  And that was it.  All down hill.  Sick sick sick for over a week.  The flu, I think.  Fever, aches, headache, chills, cough, congestion. Grossnesss for DAYS.  And not just me - Jason had it too!   And you know what's not fun?  Being sick when the other adult in the house is as sick as you are.  
It was so pathetic.  The two of us, bundled in blankets and suffering through hours of bad TV for a week.  Oh and we had to cancel our Thanksgiving plans.  So that was a little unexpected fun for November, my first ever TG dinner to prepare.  Can't let the kids down, ya know?  
So I bet you are wondering what's going on in the house...NOTHING.  A zillion things to do and we've all been too sick to get anything done.
Needless to say, I'm glad to put November behind us and I'm so looking forward to December and Christmas and 2014!