Special Delivery!

No, the baby isn't here just yet (thankfully!), but we did get a special package in the mail!

My Aunt Mary, who lives in Connecticut, offered to sew all of Baby's bedding and we were so excited when it arrived last Thursday!

Isn't it cute?

We're going with a bit of a "vintage" theme for Baby's room so we can incorporate some of Paul & my nursery items from when we were babies (more on that later).

Here's a closer look at the bedding fabric, along with a couple prints we ordered from Zulily (I'm addicted). I thought the sayings were really cute and simple and I couldn't resist. We just need to frame and hang these babies up on the wall.

Things are coming together nicely!

K+P+Baby

Cribs up!

Today, with the help of my mom & dad, we put Baby Ras' crib up! I love it and keep staring at the room. I can't walk by without flicking on the light and peering in for a bit.

The mobile was Paul's when he was a baby. Isn't it adorable?

Can't wait to get the rest of the room put together. My Aunt MaryAnn is working on sewing all the bedding. I'm so excited to see it!

More updates to come,

K+P+Baby

Ch-Ch-Changes!

Well, I mentioned it earlier but the project craziness continues on at the Rasmusson household. After we had the upper half story painted, we moved on up there so we could have the two main floor bedrooms painted. When we first moved into our house, I was color-happy and insisted we paint the main floor bedrooms bright, vibrant colors...yeah, that had to change....

Main floor bedroom #1: Before

Main floor bedroom #1: After (plus new bedding!)

Main floor bedroom #2: Before (WOW, that's bright!)

Main floor bedroom #2: After (plus some new-to-us baby gear!)

Things are certainly changing around here. Walls, ceilings, doors and trim painted. New smoke detectors and outlets...things are shapin' up or shippin' out (to Goodwill)!

More pictures to come as Baby Ras' room comes together.

I start up my last semester of grad school this week (Wahoo!)...now it's a race to the finish line between graduation and baby. Which will get here first?

Take care,

K+P+Baby (25 weeks now!)

Movin' on up...

If you know me, you know I love projects! Or at least when they're done. Pregnancy has taken me from being a regular old project-lover to a crazy, extreme project-lover (with crazy emotions!) Paul doesn't love this.

Having a little old house, we've learned to cherish the oddities and characteristics that come with it. One of those oddities was our upper half story. It started out being our bedroom...until summer and winter came and the temperature up there was either too hot or way too cold. We ended up moving our bedroom down to one of the main floor bedrooms for this reason. Well, once Baby Ras showed up as a big plus sign on pregnancy test, I got all hopped up on the idea of getting that upper halfstory ready and useable...for us, or guests or whatever.

In September, we had it completely reinsulated which was a great investment. The temperature upstairs seems more regulated now AND our CenterPoint energy rating went from 43 out of 100 to 15 out of 100. Plus, our monthly energy bill went down and they'll even give us a credit for doing the work. Win-Win-Win!

So, now the room FEELS nice...but it was still an eye-sore. Well, it WAS until about a week ago when we had it completely repainted. We were a little timid about the idea of painting over the "quaint" wood paneling but after some counseling from the local Sherwin Williams salesman...we went for it. Two coats of primer and two coats of paint made a HUGE change, though we can't take any credit for it. We hired a friend to do all the painting and he did such a great job. Anyway...what follow are the before/after photos of the room. Don't judge the befores too harshly...the room has served basically as storage for the last year so there's some clutter and an overall lack of style....but, not anymore!

Fresh paint, new drawer handles....way more modern!
Different bedding, opened up window....way brighter!

Cleaned off bookshelves, removed some furniture...feels way bigger!

We are so happy with how the room turned out. We still have a couple things to finish up, but otherwise we're in good shape! We've moved back upstairs as our main level bedrooms are next on the list to be painted this week. More pictures/updates to come on that!

Stay tuned,

K+P+Baby (now 22 weeks 3 days along!)

This Week - Project #2

A new front fence!...only slightly more exciting than a new water heater, I know.

Sorry to disappoint, but the President of the Finance Committee (Paul) said we had to get some important (boring) projects taken care of before we could do any of the fun projects on my list...so we're getting there. There's still a couple more mandatory projects yet to do, but if they are standing in the way of me and the fun projects...we should have them taken care of lickety-split!

We still need to stain the fence, and since the deck needs to be re-stained again this summer...I figured we could take care of it all at once. It looks 100 times better than the half-broken fence we had before. Glad that's done!

I promise, we'll have more fun projects to report back yet this summer...I hope!

K+P

This Week - Project #1

A new water heater - how exciting?!?!

NOT!

But...nonetheless it was this week's first project. Never mind the fact that it took the guy 10 HOURS to install it (we won't get into that story).

Man, I just love boring projects.

More to come,

K+P

BIG news from our kitchen:

Us: WE HAVE A MICROWAVE AGAIN!

You: Great. Why didn't you have a microwave? That technology came about in 1946. You're only 65 years behind on this...

Well...almost a YEAR ago (yes, 12 months) our microwave went kaput (well, actually it flashed, sparked and nearly started on fire) and since it's an above-the-range model it wasn't as simple as "toss it out and buy a new one". (Plus...did I mention? We aren't the most handy folks in town!)

Anyway, we sorta made it a challenge for ourselves to see how long we could go without a microwave. We had many offers from kind friends and family members to have their extra countertop microwaves, BUT we have a small kitchen and just coudn't give up ANY counterspace...plus we were getting along just fine without one. We learned to heat up leftovers on the stove top or in the toaster oven and we didn't make a single bag of popcorn that entire year! (gasp!)

THEN, Black Friday happened and in my mad dash for a washer & dryer, I snagged a great deal on an above-the-range microwave too. It was great! Except then we had to figure out how to remove the old microwave and hang the new one. (It was intimidating...)

I'm happy to say that I took (read: tore) down the old one on my own, while Paul was at work one day! But, putting up the new one was something we put off until we had an "expert" to help...i.e. my brother. So, a "short" 3 months later (yesterday), my super generous brother and Paul worked together to put the new microwave up. I'm glad we had Jeff to help because it ended up being a little harder than I hoped. BUT...we have a microwave again!

I can't even describe how excited we were (it's the small things, people!) After the microwave was up last night, we made chips n' cheese and this morning we nuked my mom's famous rolled breakfast sandwiches...and of course, we both stood there watching that magical glass plate revolve....Amazing.

Now, on to things that weren't a success...

I attempted to make homemade almond milk yogurt in my slow cooker this weekend. I read about it here.

It started out great...and ended up soupy and frightening. Sadly, I tossed it out BUT I plan to try it again!

We're batting 50% in our kitchen this week...which translates to a glass HALF full in my book!

K+P

Ta-Da!

Our house is (almost) done!!! I hate to say it's completely done because frankly, it seems as though it will NEVER be completely done! However, I can say confidently that this particular project is about 99% done! I've included some before & after pictures in this post! We're pretty proud! Seriously, sometimes I go outside just to sneak another peek of it - ha!

Thanks again to all of our friends & family who helped us get this massive project done!