kitchen cabinets

Yesterday was a very exciting day!  The walls were starting to get painted and the cabinets were starting to get installed.  I wanted to share a little inspiration first... (link to photos)

White cabinets on the walls and dark cabinets for the island!

love the hardware

love the backsplash

I loved the idea of getting white cabinets and at the last minute decided I wanted a contrast in the island.  After going to the Parade of Homes and seeing all white kitchens vs white and dark cabinets, the contrast really won me over.

the island

Just a sneak peak.  Mark did get them all installed on Wednesday and they look awesome!  I can't believe how many cabinets we have :)

lips

My favorite lip gloss lately...

link

I have been wearing this everyday lately!  It is the E.L.F. Essential Lip Gloss Stick.  Yes it does look like a huge crayon.  I have it in red (movie star) and pink (not sure which one).  I love how it gives good color like a lipstick but is light and glossy.  And it is only $2!  Can't beat that! 

"Another Place at the Table" by Kathy Harrison

link

I decided to read this book after I found out from a foster mom that it is a really good look into the foster care system.  She did warn me that it was kind of an extreme take on fostering.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  Kathy took in some of the more extreme cases, dealing with sexual abuse, so there was a lot of problems that would go on in her house because of it.  The book did a good job detailing how the foster care system really is, and showed an interesting look at what it could be like.  Unfortunately for me, I read it and thought to myself that I hope my fostering is nothing like what happened in the book.  Some of it was really nice, her relationship with her kids that she ended up adopting.  I do hope the same thing for me and my husband.  I just know that I wouldn't want to deal with the extreme cases.  It's so sad to see how things really are with such a messed up system for these kids.  These poor kids suffer because of underfunding and not enough resources.  Whether wanting to be a foster parent or not, I still think it's good for people to see how the foster care system really is and that there is a lot of help needed for these poor children. 

Weekend away in the woods...

Last weekend, Mark was away hunting with his boss, so I thought that would be the perfect time to visit my sister.  I invited Starla to go as a little girls weekend away (even though I kinda felt bad about taking her for a weekend away from her hubby).  We headed up Saturday morning around 8am and got to Sara's around 12pm.  When we got there, we hung out for a bit to let the dogs (Stella and Remi) play with Eli for a bit before we would kennel them.  We decided to check out the new Shopko in town (the kids specifically requested me going to check it out with them:).  This was a HUGE deal to those northerners!  They have no big box stores in their town, so everyone decided to make a stop at Shopko that day.  It was PACKED!  I was afraid we weren't going to find a parking spot.  We had a good time walking around and Sara picked up some stuff she needed.  Adalai had a little money and wanted to buy something so she picked out pink zebra print stick on nails (so cute!).  After that, we headed to the Super 8 to go for a swim.  It's so nice that they let people pay to use their pool, even if they aren't staying at the hotel.  We all hung out in the hot tub and relaxed for a bit.  It was much needed after my stressful week.  We let the kids (and Starla) swim for a bit before we headed home.  We had a yummy beef stew that my sister prepared.  After we finished dinner, Adalai and I worked to get her nails on.  All of us adults didn't think to make sure that they were small enough for little kid fingers (which they weren't!).  But Auntie Kira was determined to make it work, so we used all the small ones and got them on.  Let me tell you...I COULD NOT get over how freaking adorable she looked with her fake nails on.  Adalai has never been a girly girl until now, and I LOVE it!  Then we got busy playing Yahtzee and Apples to Apples.  We had SO MUCH fun!!  The kids really got into Apples to Apples.  With a little help from the adults, we made it work.  They are such smart kids. :)

When we got up in the morning, we ate some yummy pumpkin french toast that my sister made.  SO good!!  Then we looked through some photo books, so Starla could see how awesome we were as children.  (Ha!)  After a little big of playdo fun, the kids wanted to play games again!  I'm glad they had such a good time playing games with us.  And of course before we left we also had to do a little bit of Zumba with the kids.  Wyatt hadn't done it before and he had a big grin on his face the whole time.  They loved it!

pirate ship

Starla and Adalai's owls

We had such a good time up north visiting my sister!  So happy Starla got to come and that the kids had a good time with us :)

randomness

I saw something on Facebook with people doing a list of random things about them.  I'm not a huge fan of sharing too much on Facebook so I thought I would share it here.

My list of 25 randoms...
1.  I can't give up soda, even though it's the one thing I need to the most because of my stomach.
2.  My favorite soda just recently became Mello Yello, even though I have spent my life loving Mountain Dew.
3.  Me and my hubby flipped our last house so we could build our dream house, which we are currently in the process of doing.
4.  I have worked since I was 11, so this is the first time in my life that I haven't had a job.
5.  I never thought I would ever get married or have children.  I always wanted to be single forever.
6.  We hope to one day have children of our own, but are very excited to be doing foster to adopt and give a child a good life.
7.  My sister is my best friend.  We are completely opposite in some ways, and completely the same in others.
8.  My family was never close until me and my sister became adults, now we are extremely close.
9.   I am totally Type A, and need everything organized and in it's place before I can relax.
10.  Marrying Mark made me a happier and better person.
11.  I try to be mostly Vegan.
12.  I have had GERD since I was 10, but wasn't diagnosed until I was 15.  The doctors said I was faking sick to get out of school.
13.  I lived in Florida for 3 months.  I'm surprised I made it that long...
14.  I had 15 piercings and now I only have 5, 4 in my ear and my nose never completely closed.
15.  I have 4 tattoos.  The only ones I like are my most recent one on my foot, which is of Luna's actual paw print, and a heart on my hip that my sister has the same one on her back.
16.  I was always a cat person until we got Stella 3 years ago.  I was terrified of dogs because a dog broke my arm at the age of 3.
17.  We foster for dogs, and it has been the most fulfilling thing I have ever done.
18.  I went to Catholic elementary school, but now consider myself a Christian rather than a Catholic.
19.  I can't run and doubt I will ever be able to, which is why I love Zumba.
20.  I love taking my dogs for walks.  I could walk all day long.  I definitely get that from Little Grams.
21.  Big Grams has always been my rock.  I told her she isn't aloud to die because I don't know what I would do without her.
22.  I love when my niece and nephew come and stay with us in the summertime.  It's the most quality time we get with them and we always have a blast.
23.  I am the queen of returning stuff.  I buy stuff and always return it.
24.  I hate moving.  I hope moving to the new house is the last time I will have to move for a very very very long time.
25.  I am extremely indecisive.  I hate making decisions, so building the house has been very difficult for me.  I will be so happy when it's over.

say something

When I hear a song that really touches me, I listen to it over and over again.  I can't get enough of this one.  It's so perfect.  Simple.  Beautiful.

"Say Something"

Say something, I'm giving up on you.
I'll be the one, if you want me to.
Anywhere, I would've followed you.
Say something, I'm giving up on you.

And I am feeling so small.
It was over my head
I know nothing at all.

And I will stumble and fall.
I'm still learning to love
Just starting to crawl.

Say something, I'm giving up on you.
I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you.
Anywhere, I would've followed you.
Say something, I'm giving up on you.

And I will swallow my pride.
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye.

Say something, I'm giving up on you.
And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you.
And anywhere, I would have followed you.
Oh-oh-oh-oh say something, I'm giving up on you.

Say something, I'm giving up on you.
Say something...

walls and tile

So much progress is happening on the house right now!  We are getting down to the end, and there is so much happening all at once.  We have to move out of our rental in December so the house has to be done in time!

This week the walls and tile were all going at once.

The walls started with blue board and then they came in and plastered over it.  We decided on plaster because the guys we used charged less for plaster than for drywall.  (usually it is more to plaster)

blue board

plaster

For tile, I had picked it out awhile back and now all of the tile is installed on the floor and he started to work on the showers!  My favorite tile I picked was for the guest room and it looks really good.

before tile

my favorite!

I had to order the flooring for the rest of the house.  We are doing carpeting in the bedrooms and office, and wood floors for the great room, kitchen, dining room, entryway, and hallways.  It was SO hard to decide on which flooring to go with but here's what I picked...

The white and espresso cabinets are the colors we will be having in the kitchen.  The walls will have white cabinets, and the island will be espresso.  I picked a darker floor than what I originally wanted because I just thought it was SO pretty.  It is an engineered, hand-scraped hickory wood.  We chose this over real hardwoods because of the dogs. I can't wait to see what it all looks like together!

This week the cement is FINALLY going in!!  I can't wait until that is finished because that means we will have a garage and basement floor, and a front stoop.  It is going to be awesome because that means the furnace can be installed.  We will have HEAT people!!  Then the walls are being finished today which means that this weekend the painter can come in and get working.  As soon as he gets going, the cabinets can be installed in the kitchen, which means the counter-tops can be ordered.  So much to do!

healthy eating

As a child I always had stomach ache's ALL the time!  I was 10 and the doctor's would tell my mom that I was making it up to get out of school.  They would say there is no way that a 10 year old could have ulcers or stress stomach aches.  Well, when I was 15 I finally found a doctor that believed there could really be something wrong.  I had an endoscopy and my wonderful doctor found that I had severe acid reflux disease (GERD) and erosive esophogitis (EE) pretty severely.  Along with that they also discovered that I was allergic to the protein in milk, AKA whey (or casein).  This started my long journey to getting healthy.  They started me on a medication that would help heal my throat and would help with my reflux.  Plus, I had to eliminate dairy from my diet completely.  After about a year, I had another endoscopy and they found that it had really helped my throat, but the reflux was still there.  I continued on my medication and worked to change my diet to help my reflux.  I had always LOVED milk and cheese and ice cream and pizza and mac and cheese and anything dairy.  It was hard to adjust to living without dairy but I worked hard.  At the time, I only drank soda, no water, which was something else I was told to cut back on. 

More recently, I had started to see an acupuncturist.  Not only was I still having stomach problems after all this time, but I was also having trouble with my hormones.  Going to the acupuncturist really helped because she was also a nutritionist.  She was really helpful in understanding how food changes in the body.  She gave me a general guideline and lots of books to read.  I stopped seeing her awhile back, because it was WAY too expensive, but I think it definitely helped overall.  The main thing I learned is too eliminate dairy, which was easy since I already have committed to that.  Then she got me to stop drinking soda, which was a huge accomplishment, since I've never been able to.  The last thing that I never thought I would ever be able to do, was stop eating meat.  I didn't completely stop ever, but I try to keep it to a minimum, and instead focus on eating mostly veggies.

The bad thing is that once we moved and were overcome with all the chaos that is building a house, I have found that I rarely follow my diet!  I am back to at least one soda a day, sometimes two.  I also find it very difficult to cook at this house.  I don't have all of my kitchen stuff, and it's super small and unorganized.  Plus, I have to wash all the dishes by hand, which I have NEVER in my life had to do.  It is a very hard adjustment.  All of these things have contributed to not following my diet.  My goal is to get back on track.

Week one:  eliminate dairy (this should be very easy)
Week two:  cut back on meats (again this should be pretty easy)
Week three:  eliminate soda (this will be the most difficult)
Week four:  work on switching to gluten free
Week five:  cut back on sugars
Week six:  less processed foods (should be fairly easy)

Other things I want to make sure I'm doing along the ways are...

working out 3 times a week (I go to Zumba twice a week, so just have to find one other activity)
take my herbs 3 times daily

I am going to be rereading "The Kind Diet" as a way to help keep me on track.

Zumba!

In September, there was an announcement at church that they were gonna have a free Zumba class on Tuesday nights.  I had never tried Zumba but I knew it was kind of a dance workout class and I though it would be fun to try.  Since we are pretty new to the church and this was the first workout class I had ever been to, I recruited Starla to go to the first class with me so I wasn't so intimidated.  We had a BLAST!  It was the best time ever doing a workout!  We have been going every Tuesday since!  They titled the class Zumba Cares, so instead of paying for the classes, you can make a donation to a cause, which they have a different one every month.  For the month of November we are donating to the food pantry.  Our instructors obviously teach other places as well, so I signed up for classes with them too.  This way when I can't make it to church on Tuesday, like this week and next, I can still get my Zumba on!  The other night me and Starla were being super nerds and looking for our classes music on YouTube.  We found our actual routine for one of our favorite routines!  Here is it...Enjoy!

saying goodbye

This weekend has been busy!  Friday, we spent a lovely afternoon saying goodbye to JoAnn.  They had a really nice luncheon after an awesome balloon release.  It was just perfect! 

After, me and my sister went shopping at Target and Trader Joe's.  She had never been before, but that's where I go grocery shopping every week!  I was excited to be able to take her.  We bought a lot of goodies and then she went back to Grams.  I went home to clean!  My house was a disaster, so I spent the rest of the evening picking up.  It felt good to go to bed that night with everything in it's place.

Saturday, I went to get a flooring quote in the morning.  After that I had to take Remi to the vet because she still had an infection in her tail.  Luckily the vet loaded her up with antibiotics and it seems to be doing better.  Then, I made a run to American TV to get a quote on appliances.  We ended up putting $ down because we are needing them soon.  I later was able to find a much better deal on some of them and ordered those to be delivered in a few weeks.  After all that running around, I met Mark at his mom's to enjoy an evening hanging out with his family.  His step sister was in town from Colorado with her family.  We had a good time playing with the kids, and his mom made a really good dinner!

Sunday, I went to Zumba with Starla in the morning!  Zumba is my favorite work out!  It was quite a bit different then Zumba at church, a little more intense.  I'm definitely feeling it this morning.  Then I had to run a few more errands (buy outdoor lights) yesterday.


House update:

foam spray today
drywall the end of this week
continuing siding
finishing up electrical
tiling

This week is gonna be a lot of transformation!  It's gonna be very exciting!