This past weekend was the opposite of relaxing, but it was so productive that I almost didn’t mind! I LOVE relaxing weekends that include no plans but reading, watching movies, and sleeping, but those are few and far between for me since I work Saturday mornings then usually have a lot of other things to accomplish before the work week starts again. Most weekends I can fit in at least a little bit of relaxing, but this weekend was go, go, go and I didn’t take a single nap… a rarity for this pregnant lady.
The biggest thing accomplished this weekend was that the baby’s nursery got painted! Woohoo! Since I’m pregnant, I decided to steer clear of the paint and its fumes, so my mom painted the walls and Jerry painted the baseboards. This room kind of needed an overhaul. The hardwood floors were scratched and stained, so we got a carpet installed a few weeks ago. It also had no lighting, so we got a ceiling fan/light installed as well. The last step was painting, and now that it’s finally done, we can begin moving his furniture in and setting up! We went with a light gray color, because it’s part of his nursery theme, which I will reveal at a later date with pictures.
While they were painting, I busied myself with other things around the house, like cleaning and attempting to re-organize our kitchen a bit. We love our house, but we HATE our kitchen. It is too small for us… not to mention it looks like it came straight from the 1970’s. At any rate, I moved some things around and declared once and for all to stop using the table as storage! We generally eat in the dining room, and rarely at our kitchen table, so it’s been used to store crap for awhile now. I decided to clear it all off and add a centerpiece to try and motivate us to stop.
I also cooked TWO meals on Sunday! I am NOT a cook at all, but I’ve been cooking dinners in the Crockpot over the last few weekends so I can try to learn before the baby comes. It makes me feel like a better wife too. So I cooked chicken chili for dinner in my Crockpot, then borrowed my mother’s Crockpot and made chicken and stuffing at the same time to bring to work for lunches and such this week. It worked out pretty well. I was feeling like Suzy Homemaker over here.
I got to have a little bit of fun too, this weekend. As you may recall, last week Jerry and I celebrated our first anniversary. As part of his gift to me, Jerry decided to work overtime and then give me that extra money to go shopping with. To no one’s surprise, I chose to go shopping for primitives! I LOVE primitive and country decor… I’m obsessed with it, in fact. Before we had a mortgage and therefore had extra money, we were hitting up craft and antique co-ops on a weekly basis for a couple of months there. But alas… we are now responsible, mortgage-paying adults and I have not been prim pickin’ lately, so this weekend was it! I picked out an adorable red hall table with heart cut outs on the side and a handful of decorations. I do consider this to be productive because ya know… I love beautifying my home! My hubby is the best and sweetest, and this totally made my week!
We’ve got quite a few more house projects to complete, hopefully before the baby arrives, but ya know… money. We kind of have to do a little bit at a time and are taking baby steps to fixing up our house just the way we want it, but it is SO rewarding to get things done and make it our own. Simple things like decorating the house and painting a room really improve the look of our home, and I am so proud with every single thing we accomplish.
We’ve gotten quite a lot done already since moving in, but as it is with older houses (ours was built in 1961), as soon as one project is done, there are a million more waiting in the wings. So far, the major home improvement projects we’ve done include: a lot of painting, a lot of wallpaper peeling, replacing a toilet, fridge, and dishwasher, completing a small bathroom makeover, installing two ceiling fans/lights, hot water heater repair, bathroom tub plumbing repair, and carpeting the nursery. There is so much left to do, but we are careful to save up our money and do only what we can afford at the time. It sure would be nice to win the lottery so we could remodel the entire kitchen (our biggest dream!) and re-carpet the entire downstairs floor, but these are two big projects that will have to wait many years. Our more attainable goals for the house before the baby arrives in January include:
- Getting two more ceiling fan/lights installed (in our bedroom and the spare bedroom).
- Replacing three light fixtures with more modern ones (front foyer, kitchen, and dining room. Good news – our front foyer light has been purchased and is getting installed on Thursday!).
- Completing the crown molding in the upstairs bathroom and touch up the paint job in there. My dad started the molding this past weekend and will be finishing this upcoming weekend, we hope! This will complete the mini bathroom makeover we did, which I will share soon! We did a few things in there to remodel a bit that weren’t TOO expensive. A full remodel will have to come later.
- Replacing the downstairs toilet. We just replaced the upstairs toilet because it kept running after flushing, and lo and behold, the other toilet is now doing the same exact thing. Go figure.
- Replacing the mailbox. Ours is a sad sight.
- Replacing the doorbell. Ours no longer works.
- Finish cleaning out the garage so I can park my Jeep in there in the winter so the baby won’t have to be out in the snow!
So I think these goals are pretty attainable if we’re smart with our finances over the next few months. I love updating the house… it gives me a certain sense of pride that comes only with being a homeowner! Things like new toilets and lights never crossed my mind as exciting… until now! Funny how life changes as you grow older and more responsible. My book money has now become my house project money! Like I said, we have a few expensive projects that will have to come MUCH later (particularly an entire kitchen remodel and overhaul), but these are some things we can do for now that will spruce things up!
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