February Goals and a January Goal Recap

(source)

Having monthly goals was a huge help towards the progress I wanted to see! One of my New Year's Resolutions is that, at the end of every month, I'll go back and see how I did with my goals. Here's the update on month one! 

January goals

House:

o   Paint the guest bedroom/office.
Done and done! We went with the same white that we've used on literally every other thing in the house! (Lilac Muse, by Valspar)

o   Print/hang artwork in the guest bedroom/office.
I at least got started on this! There's still more I want to add.

o   Finish peeling off border in the sunroom. 
This will have to happen next month. Oops!

o   Organize/purge master bedroom closet.
I've successfully donated over 15 paper sacks FULL of clothes and shoes, so I think I'm well on my way. The ultimate goal?? This!

o   Finish painting hallway doors.
We finished with the roller, but not with the brush. So it's 80% done?

o   Find a nightstand for our bed.
I found what I want at IKEA, but I have yet to get it. So technically, I completed this goal... It looks like this will be a rollover goal for February!

           

Health:

o   Exercise at least 3 times/week.

As close as I got was charging my fit bit and borrowing some workout DVDs from a friend.

o   Make a weekly plan to eat healthier.
I only felt at a loss for what to make for dinner once the entire month. This, my friends, is a win for me!

Personal:

o   Make meal plans once/week.
I made meal plans mentally. So that's a start. Next month, I'm going to write them down.

o   She Reads Truth at least 5 times/week.
I reread Hospitality, and I read Nehemiah. Both were so good!!!

o   Finish reading one book.
I spent some extra time on this one, because once I get going, I find it difficult to stop reading, but the first book I finished was The Nesting Place, by Myquillyn Smith. [LOVED it!!!]

The second book was Bread and Wine, by Shauna Niequist. SO good! I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn or grow in cooking and/or hospitality. 

o   Become an expert on one thing.

This month, I chose to become an "expert" on the different types of fabric used to make clothing. I found this website especially helpful. I'm still planning on learning more about this as I work towards the goal of purging my closet and filling it purposefully.

o   Invite 2 new people/couples/groups over for dinner.
I started small with people I was already friends with, but hadn't invited over for dinner. One night, I had a dinner party of eight, and one Sunday, we hosted a couple from church for lunch.

Having monthly goals helped me so much in knowing what I wanted to accomplish and what my deadline was in doing so. My goal list was right by my bed so I could view it daily! Here's to February!!!

February Goals

House:

Finish peeling off the border in the sunroom.
Finish my clothing purge.
Finish painting the hallway doors. 
Find/buy a nightstand for our bed.
Figure out a floor plan for the home office/guest bedroom.
Buy hanging files and organize my teaching stuff/craft room.   

Health:

Exercise at least 4 times/week.
Make a weekly plan to eat healthier.
Plan out grocery shopping trips.
Sleep at least 7 hours/night.
Drink 64 oz. water every day.

Personal:

She Reads Truth at least 5 times/week.
Finish reading one book.
Become an expert on one thing.
Invite 2 new people/couples/groups over for dinner.

Here goes nothing!

what color was that??

Our front door is Autumn Fire by Valspar (Exterior).

Our living room is Filtered Shade by Valspar.

Our fireplace is Lilac Muse by Valspar.

Our bedroom is Elephant Gray by Valspar.

Our trim/molding/interior doors on the first floor is Lilac Muse by Valspar.

Our closet is Autumn Fire by Valspar.

Our bathroom is Hunter's White by Valspar.

Our guest room is Lilac Muse by Valspar.

Our guest room door is Enchanted Forest by Valspar.

Our kitchen walls are Ocean Storm by Valspar.

Our kitchen cabinets are Lilac Muse by Valspar.

Our sun room walls will be Lilac Muse by Valspar.

Our sun room ceiling will be Autumn Fire by Valspar.

My New Years' Resolution: Don't Make New Years' Resolutions

(image from LaraCasey.com)

I know January is already a third complete, but I felt like sharing my January goals anyway. My only New Years' Resolution is to take the year one month at a time, and make my goals accordingly. My January goals are split up into three categories and so far, I've done okay with them! Hopefully, at the end of the month, I will have a January goal recap along with new goals for February!

January goals

House:

o   Paint the guest bedroom/office.

o   Print/hang artwork in the guest bedroom/office.

o   Finish peeling off border in the sunroom.

o   Organize/purge master bedroom closet.

o   Finish painting hallway doors.

o   Find a nightstand for our bed.

           

Health:

o   Exercise at least 3 times/week.

o   Make a weekly plan to eat healthier.

Personal:

o   Make meal plans once/week.

o   She Reads Truth at least 5 times/week.

o   Finish reading one book.

o   Become an expert on one thing.

o   Invite 2 new people/couples/groups over for dinner.

I'll give a recap in a few weeks and hopefully have a room finished, a book finished, and be an "expert" on something (that I'll tell you later)!

Fifteen lessons I learned in 2014.

In the past year, we have found a house, put an offer on a house, closed on a house, started tearing apart a house, filled that house with wedding decorations, emptied the house of wedding decorations, painted walls, fixed more leaky pipes than we can count, and tried day after day to turn that house into a home.

If you had told me last year, on January 8 that we would have a house that we not only got a great deal on, but a house we can afford, a house we can afford to fix, and a house that really does feel like home, I would've assumed this house was in the worst part of town. But God had the perfect house for us in the perfect place for us at the perfect time for us. And in the last (almost) year of this house adventure, I've learned a few things...

1. If this is the house God wants for us, the inspector and appraiser will give the go-ahead, no matter what issues come up.

2. It's okay to have a house that isn't finished. There's a reason it's a "fixer-upper."

3. Fixing things the right way by yourself takes time, and that's okay.

4. Sometimes the budget doesn't allow for the prettiest option.

5. Temporary solutions are just fine. And they are just that, temporary.

6. Even unfinished homes can feel cozy. When people walk into our house, I don't know what they think about our flooring issues (that melted carpet padding that looks like mold), or the rooms that aren't finished (or even started). But when they come into the living room, I know they can feel comfortable in the warmth of the space and the hospitality we offer.

7. It's okay to "undo" the finished things that were waiting for us in the house, like the basement. The house just becomes more "us" every time we do.

8. Painting isn't as easy as it looks. And it is ALWAYS more time consuming that you plan.

9. When house issues come up, sometimes you have to prioritize. Not everything can be fixed every time.

10. Always look around at the store. You might be surprised to find a $400 10x12 rug that's in the $80 bin because it has a tear. Or a $20 coffee table because it's "out of season" (whatever that means).

11. The sooner you quit being a perfectionist, the easier it will be to finish a project.

12. Kids are messy. Let go of how "nice" things should look now. That will make sharing life with children so much more enjoyable. Besides, kids spill milk and vomit on couches sometimes, that's just life.

13. DIY blogs often have big budgets. DIY doesn't necessarily mean "inexpensive."

14. Sunlight can make any dull space spectacular. Just open the blinds already!

15. Don't compare your house or your stuff to others'. Comparing yourself to others only leads to arrogance or shame, but never happiness.

I'm sure 2015 will bring LOTS of lessons. Here's to hoping that I will add to the lessons learned instead of starting over at square one.

Reach for the sky!

When Isaiah and I bought our house, the kitchen looked like it had a TON of storage space! Since the cabinets were all a plain oak color, it felt like there was wood grain everywhere, but once we really thought about it, there wasn't much space to store all the kitchen gadgets I collect things. Our kitchen cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, which is fantastic, but since the cabinets are all on the wall with the windows, where there could be cabinets, there are windows and then small cabinets above the windows. So while it looked like a ton of space, we really only had one full set of above-the-counter cabinets (and I can't reach half of it because it's so tall). Our other above-the-counter cabinet set is above the stove and it contains the vent for our range hood, so it's not full storage either.

Our kitchen is an eat-in kitchen with a wide open space as soon as you enter the kitchen from the dining room (which will hopefully someday turn into a half wall/counter something that ties the rooms all together.) But until then, this empty space wasn't conducive to storage, and we had considered buying a huge cabinet/pantry unit, we couldn't find one sturdy enough and cheap enough and we didn't want to build one, because there are so many other things we'd like to build that it didn't seem that urgent.

[Here's the part of the post where we solve that problem.]

Isaiah and I had a date night at IKEA about a month ago, and we I fell in love with these almost floating shelves that would look PERFECT along the wall across from the cabinets, leading to our sunroom. The only downfalls were that the kitchen still hadn't been painted and the shelves were out of stock. So Isaiah took care of painting the kitchen, and I took care of the shelves (by stopping by IKEA once every week or so until they were in stock on Saturday). We purchased four of these with a connecting bracket to put two long shelves end to end. (At IKEA they sell the shelves and brackets separately.)

From my other post on shelving you might have learned that measuring is not top priority in buying shelving. But this time I measured first and promptly forgot how long the wall was. So I got home and realized that the shelves are each 47 inches long, so they are 94 inches end to end, plus we needed just enough space for the brackets, and the wall I had picked was 93 inches long. Which led us to plan B...

We decided rather than doing really short shelves, or returning them, to just move the shelves to the open eat-in area of the kitchen. Isaiah spent sometime Sunday afternoon putting these gorgeous shelves on the wall with some heavy-duty, 300-some pound rated screw attatcher things (because I don't remember the technical term, go figure). This mostly completed the look of the kitchen and give me a place to put my fun dishes! While it looks very similar to my favorite relaxing hangout in Kansas City, T. Loft, it makes our kitchen look SO good!

More on that paint job soon! 

Friendsgiving 2014

My friend Emily has wanted to do a Friendsgiving feast for a few years, and since our small group/community group gives us an automatic group of friends, and we have a space that is bigger than 700 square feet (like Emily and my old apartment), we decided to just do it this year!

We joined up with another small group from our church to have our feast, and we piled (if I counted right) 31 people into our quaint house. We asked our friends to bring a dish to share, and between the 30 of us, we had two turkeys, two hams, three dishes of mashed potatoes, three dishes of green bean casserole, two vegetable dishes, corn, two bowls of stuffing, three bowls of gravy, seven pies, forty mini pies, at least eight bottles of sparkling juice, two jugs of eggnog, two jugs of apple cider, and tons of other stuff I can't even remember!

The evening filled our house with laughter, football on TV, ping pong competitions, telling stories, sharing lessons learned over the years, and getting to know lots of new people!

So here's another lesson on hospitality: just do it. Don't worry about what might get spilled, where people will sit, whether or not there will be enough food, whether or not your sewer system can handle that many people, what temperature the house should be, which window sills didn't get dusted... Just. Do. It.

 It doesn't require an elaborate plan to be hospitable. It just requires love and action.

Artwork that's inexpensive and eclectic.

Artwork in homes has always intimidated me and confused me. I've never really understood what makes art "art" but having bare walls isn't something I'm necessarily a fan of. I shy away from the sentimental art pieces that proclaim things like "family is what makes a house a home" and "live, laugh, love" assuming that anyone who doesn't advertise that way obviously doesn't value family, know what love is, or enjoy laughter.

I enjoy graphic prints and I enjoy changing things up, so when I ran across this idea on one of my favorite home improvement blogs, I thought that this would be a perfect way to add some fun art without spending a ton and committing to a piece that I'm not in love with.

I had been itching to do this, and I took the opportunity to get started while I was out at Home Depot buying a fire pit for our house. Since I was already at the store when I decided to buy the materials, I skipped the first rule of a project, which is measure twice. I figured since I didn't measure, I should just be extra generous on the amount of materials I buy. So for what ended up being roughly a three-foot-wide portion of wall in our hallway, I bought 32 feet worth of shelving. I knew that I wanted four shelves, and I didn't know how long they needed to be, so I bought four eight-foot pieces of lumber. Because, math.

The lumber I got was 1x2 primed pine boards that were eight feet long. It ended up being PERFECT (after I cut them down a LOT). Other than buying boards that were too long, everything else was straight from John and Sherry's supply list.

Maneuvering around the store with these in my cart was a joke, and loading them in my Camry was an even bigger joke. Apparently, the problem-solver in me was not along for that shopping trip.

Since Isaiah and I didn't have a Dremel to use for this project, we improvised and used a circular saw. If newlyweds can do this stuff with the wrong tools, you can do this with almost anything! We (Isaiah) cut a ridge down each board about two-thirds of the way across.

We measured 11 inches between each shelf to allow room for 8x10 prints/pictures if we decided to use those someday. We used drywall screws (from what I remember) and 2.5 inch screws to make it through the pine boards and into the wall. Each of the boards went into the wall fairly easily and they are really sturdy, which isn't super necessary, but nice.

After about a half hour of measuring, cutting, and screwing attaching, the shelves took their place gracefully on our hallway wall. After about two months, we finally filled in the holes left by the hardware (with wood-filler, so it wouldn't shrink up like caulk does) and painted with our favorite classic Lilac Muse from Valspar.

I've been collecting artwork (postcards, greeting cards, and a few other things from some of my favorite places) and I have enough that I can switch things out as seasons change, or as I find new things. This is how I've always wanted to decorate my house anyway. Now I can very easily and very subtly change the art in my home and I don't have to occupy too much storage space.

My birthday card from my bestie, Emily!

My mom read this quote at my bridal shower, and it's been one of my favorites ever since!

I found this at a shop that was closing in the Crossroads Art District of Kansas City about a month after our wedding.

Some of my favorite pieces on the wall are from Raygun, Hammerpress, Paper Source, my best friend, and the green Portuguese coasters are from Porch Light Antiques.