StayingInChicago

Gardening

stayinginchicago — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:19:07 +0000

I took the opportunity to finally plant some flowers today and had so much fun! I have never thought of myself as having much of a green thumb, but it’s amazing how much better a few flowers can make things look!

This is my hanging flower pot that is just beautiful (with the bird bath in the background)…

Facelift

stayinginchicago — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:53:22 +0000

I absolutely love our house. Especially now, since spring is here and the front of our house is not looking so…dead. The front of our house was looking a little sad and so Scott decided to build a little front porch and it turned out GREAT!! I think it makes the front of our house look so much better and there is nothing better than walking out of our front door in the morning and smelling the cedar wood that it is made out of. I plan on putting some flower pots on the porch to purdy it up a little bit. (please excuse the ugly porch light)

Basement Bedroom Finished!

stayinginchicago — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:38:10 +0000

Here’s the before…

Here’s the after…

Colorado Trip 2009

stayinginchicago — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:52:28 +0000

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Dangerous Women Creed by Lynne Hybels

stayinginchicago — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:37:27 +0000

Dear God, please make us dangerous women.

May we be women who acknowledge our power to change, and grow,

and be radically alive for God.

May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.

May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot

speak for themselves.

May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.

May we pray deeply and teach wisely.

May we be strong and gentle leaders.

May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.

May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction compel us,

and righteous anger energize us.

May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.

May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.

May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.

May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus.

And in that name and by that power, may we change the world.

Dear God, please make us dangerous women. Amen.

CARPE-T DIEM!!

stayinginchicago — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:09:00 +0000

TA-DAAAA!!!! Here is our beautifully finished basement! Scott forced me to go to Menards with him yesterday to pick out trim (seriously boring). I’ve decided that we will never be able to build a house together. I hate making decisions. When Scott asked me yesterday if I would prefer white or almond colored electrical outlet covers. I mean, seriously?!? I couldn’t care less (we got white if you were wondering). I just hate making those small decisions because it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t pay attention to those small details in our house.

Anyway, we got the trim and Scott painted it all and put it up and it looks so great. We had 2 choices (another decision for me to make) on which trim to buy. There was one kind that was cheaper and thinner, but easier to use. The other kind was twice as expensive but looks way nicer. In this whole process, I learned that cheaper isn’t always better. We got the more expensive kind and ended up spending about $230 on trim alone, but that will provide enough trim for our entire house, upstairs and downstairs. It looks really nice.

Precious is being camera shy, as usual.

My hand touching the carpet and letting the fact sink in that we have a fully carpeted basement now! Yipeeeeee!!!

Dusty Trail

stayinginchicago — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:59:00 +0000

Here is our almost finished painted basement. We meticulously picked out a wall color. I mean, seriously, we lost sleep over this. Not really. But we did pick a neutral color called “Dusty Trail”. We’ve used this same color in a few other rooms of our house and it’s easy to decorate and match things with because it’s so neutral. I was a little worried at first because the carpet color was very similar to the wall color and it felt like one big beige box. But once Scott got the trim up (you’ll see those in the next post) it really made a huge difference. We were up until midnight last night enjoying our new basement once we got some of the furniture moved back in. And that was like, way past my bedtime.

We go together like cinnamon and sugar

stayinginchicago — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Each morning on my way out the door, I pop a few pieces of honey wheat bread in the toaster and then top it with melted butter and a coating of cinnamon sugar. This usually tides me over until lunch time and it’s about all I have time to make for myself since I’m usually running behind.

I use an old cinnamon shaker for the cinnamon sugar mix and noticed that I was getting low last week. So come monday morning, I expected to open the cupboard to find my empty cinnamon sugar container.

Low and behold, it was completely full!

I thought to myself, did I fill it up last week and I just don’t remember? Scott doesn’t use cinnamon sugar for anything so I don’t think he would have filled it up. Nonetheless, I was thankful to have a bounty of cinnamon sugar for my toast that morning. When I got home from work, I asked Scott about the mysterious refilling of my cinnamon sugar container. He gave a sly grin and I immediately knew that he had filled it up for me. My heart swelled and I was reminded why I married this man.

It’s the little things that keep a marriage going. It was such a small thing, but I really really appreciated his gesture especially since he had nothing to gain by re-filling it.

Prime Time

stayinginchicago — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:33:00 +0000

Hey guys! Here are a few updated pics of the basement. It’s coming along really well and I am so pleased with how fast Scott has gotten this done. The first picture is looking at the back of the basement (to the right when you walk in). You can see part of the new bedroom door on the right of the picture. We use our woodburning stove a lot in the winter so we didn’t want to get rid of it for the reno.

Here’s Scott priming the walls for paint! We bought paint tonight ($80 later!) and we’re going with “Dusty Trail” as our wall color. It’s basically a beige color. Nothing too exciting except that it will go with a lot of different color palates.

Here you can see the nasty linoleum tile floor. This will be covered with brand new carpet next week sometime! Can’t wait!

Scott is working hard. Good job babe!!

Drywall…how I love thee

stayinginchicago — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:38:00 +0000

We decided to go with recessed lighting in the ceiling. Before the reno we had this horribly blinding track lighting that gave me a headache whenever I was down there. This is much softer option. We will be laying new carpet once the walls are finished.

Looking into the spare bedroom…..

Our sweet little spare bedroom (*hint hint…we have EXTRA room for you to come visit so come one come all!). It will be a cozy little nook for you to stay in and you’ll even get your own bathroom!