Goodbye Orange Floor!

This weekend over here in Wisconsin was opening deer [gun] hunting season. It's a huge ordeal for this area! I think I posted one of my favorite hunting songs last year on the blog... Da Turdy Point Buck!


Anyway, during hunting season is when my Mom comes up with her most outrageous creative ideas! No guys around to stop her... and she has to be quick and get it done before they come home at the end of the week. This year she decided that my house was where she needed to get her creativity out!! I was all for it except my guy doesn't hunt!! We didn't let him stop us - we did it anyway! We painted my kitchen floor!!!!!!


Y'all remember what it looked like! I'm sure you had nightmares about it! It was orange!! And my 'new' kitchen didn't have any orange in it! The floor was an eyesore and had to go quickly! We didn't want to replace it because in a couple years we eventually want to gut the kitchen and start over. We just needed a quick fix to help us make it not so ugly for the next couple of years. Painting the floor, I thought, was a perfect fix!


Did you know that they make paint specifically for your floors!!!? I didn't either until I went to get my paint and they told me!! I was so excited!!


Time for pictures... lets take a look and see what you think! You are going to love it!

Here is a picture showing you the extreme contrast of what was there and what we were doing! I was a little embarrassed that I was wearing orange pants... just ignore them or pretend that I am supporting my family of hunters and wearing my blaze orange!


We originally thought we would have to use some sort of cleaner to take the shine off of the orange floor - sand the floor - prime it - then paint it. But I tested a square the night before with just painting it and not prepping it and it looked perfect! Jesse and I both tried to scratch it off and we couldn't. We took that as our sign of... let's not make more work of this then we have to and just paint as is!! I did have to put two coats of paint on it. What you can't see in this picture is the floor has some embossing to it. So you can see the embossing of the shapes under the green. Which I loved! Because then it gave it some texture and character.


Then we needed to add a little pop of sass to the floor... so we painted this... I mean we bought a sticker and put it on the floor... I mean... my Mom free hand painted this on the floor. She doesn't want anyone to know she painted it because she was afraid she would find herself at every one's house painting swirls on their floors. In this picture at the very bottom you can kind of see the texture on the floor that I was talking about.

Our dining room!! With our hand painted rug under the table!! Oh and do you see another bit of sass under my window! I just love that touch of sass right there!!! My next project is to get rid of that white wall. I had a million color samples picked out to see what would work best there and none of them of right. So I am headed to a professional color expert with pictures of my living room for her to tell me what color to use. The professional color expert does amazing work so I have no doubt that she'll find me the right color.

We also added this black border around my painting to give it a more complete finished look. I was nervous about this addition but it turned out really well and I like it.

Just one more last look at this very cool addition to the floor! I love it so much!

There you have it! You can totally paint your floors! We even had friends over yesterday and they have a 2 year old boy... so my floor has been 2-year-old-boy tested!! Blocks were thrown on it... cracker crumbs everywhere and they swept right up... chairs were moved all over!!

I should add that I put a clear coat finish over top of everything. Just to give it a little bit more added protection and shine. (These pictures are before the clear coat.)

Cravings!

I'm slowly starting to get cravings! Personally I'm loving it! Jesse just had to go to the store to get some french onion dip and chips!! Man-oh-man I can't wait for him to get home with the goods! Of course my cravings are nothing of health and good for you foods!

I was talking to my Mom about 3 weeks ago and she was telling me how she ate some Baked Lays. I have been wanting them like none other! And! I can't find them!!! I can't get them out of my head! So then a couple weekends ago we went to my Mom's house and I thought... ah-ha! I'll get to snack on some of those Baked Lays she was bragging about! Nope! She was out of them! Even my sister was there and she was looking for them!! They are not just any Baked Lays... they have to be the plain ones with ruffles!!

For now (until my store carries them or until I find myself in the store that carries them) the french onion dip with original ruffles will work!!

I just had to blog about the first time I made Jesse go get something from the store to cure a craving. You hear about all these pregnant women who send their husband out at mid-night to get them the most bizarre foods... and I thought - really? does that really happen? Then the pregnant wife cries when the husband brings home the wrong item! Gosh I hope that won't be me...

Andy Griffith House

If Jesse's childhood had a theme song I think it would be the Andy Griffith Show song! He grew up watching this show over and over and over! When I started dating Jesse and we would go over to his parents house and the only show on their TV would be Andy!!! It felt like they seriously didn't have any other channels besides TV Land and I was amazed at how often TV Land played this show!! When I would be left alone in the living room... I would try to turn the channel to something else... and they really had nothing else to watch besides Fox News and Andy! I can say that now they have more channels like Food Network and HGTV. : )



Jesse's Dad has been trying to get me to come over to the Andy side so he thought this trip would make me an Andy Lover. I didn't grow up watching Andy... my parents are younger... so my theme song would be Cheers - Where everyone knows your name! That was the show that we always watched. My Dad and Uncle Randy even nicknamed each other characters from the show. My Dad was Norm and Randy was Woody... right? That was that guy's name? I'm having another episode of 'my brain doesn't work anymore'. A little side note: my cousin Sarah kept telling me to watch out that my brain/memory will fail me. I was not looking forward to this because Jesse tested me (for one of his class assignments) and I failed the memory test!! And I wasn't pregnant!! So for it to get worse, I couldn't even imagine it was possible! This week I learned... it is possible!! I went to a ladies brunch on Wednesday morning and I can't tell you anyone's name!! Seriously! I came home and went... hmmm... wonder what their names are!?! I have no clue! Then I was trying to run some reports for my boss and my brain kept locking up and he didn't so much like that! He told me "You can't get loopy on me now Lynn! I'm counting on you!" Sarah... it hit!! You were right!


Anyway! Jesse's Dad's birthday was a few weeks ago and his Mom wanted to surprise Dave and take him to this replica Andy Griffith house in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. We all met up Friday night at our house ate pizza and drove up to Clear Lake to go stay in Andy's house for the night. Dave had figured out where we were going Friday morning... so much for the surprise! He was on Mary's computer and opened up a document he shouldn't have.


We got there and it really looked like the house from the show!! You walked inside and the owners had hunted and searched for replica items to make the place look and feel very real to the show! Dave & Mary were very impressed with the place! Dave thought it was very neat and never thought he would be able to stay in Andy's house.


It was a bed & breakfast place so the owners lived in the house too and she made us a snack before bed which was this homemade sugar cookie with ice cream, whip cream, melted chocolate chips, and fresh strawberries! YUM! Then in the morning she had breakfast made for us and served it on dishes that they used in the show. There was an apple pancake bake, scrambled eggs, sausage, and yogurt with granola and strawberries. YUM again!


So what do you do at this place... you sit upstairs in the lounge room and watch DVDs of The Andy Griffith show! You play Andy Griffith trivia games! It was actually a very fun night and morning! It was also really neat to see the house and how much effort and work this couple put into this house to make it exactly like the original from the show. Just to give you a few examples... The couple met each other at an Andy Griffith Fan Club! They watched the show 100s of times to get everything exactly the same! They watched and counted Andy's steps when he would walk across the room to make sure that their house would be the same size as the show! They searched an atlas until they found the map that hung behind Andy's desk at the jail! The list goes on and on.


Here are some pictures that I took of the house:

The living room/ dining room.

Andy's room - where Dave & Mary stayed.

Opies Room - Where Jerry & Steph stayed.

Aunt Bee's Room - where we stayed.

Aunt Bee had fun stuff in her room. Look at all this old make-up, purses, mirrors, combs...

Each room had their own bathroom too and this room had a claw foot tub!!

Mary and I had to try on Aunt Bee's hats...

They even had Wally's Gas Station behind their garage!

Yes that is my mountain man on the right! Have you ever seen him with a beard before!?! Me either! I loved it! Jesse didn't so much... and now it is gone!

St. Louis & Hallowii Party

A couple of weeks ago Jesse and I took a couple days off of work and drove down to St. Louis to visit our friends, Ben & Katie. Brandon & Natalie were going to meet us there too... coming from Indianapolis. We were all so excited to be together again and have a whole weekend with each other!!

It just so happened that it was Halloween while were there and Ben & Katie decided to have a Hallowii Party!! We all dressed up, ate amazing food, and played Wii!!

Natalie, Allie & Brandon - our athletes!

Katie & Ben... they were characters from the Nightmare before Christmas

They even dressed up their dog, Kingsley, for the occasion!

Jesse and I waited until the very last minute to plan a costume... and well... my Mom called me one morning and told us to go as Jack & Jill from the nursery rhyme. Here we are as Jack & Jill. (Ya know Jack fell down and broke his crown.)

And the Wii...

We all had so much fun playing the Wii. I'm not sure if was the huge screen TV that made it even more fun and life size. Or if the Wii is actually really that fun. Either way we played tons of it!

Here is Natalie ski jumping.

I love Katie in the background doing the motions as well. So cute!

You have to crouch down for speed...

Then stand up straight (and on your tip toes) to jump.

Jesse also couldn't get enough. His favorite was tennis.

He tried baseball... I think he is pitching here.

We had so much fun in St. Louis and it just made me miss them even more! Ben & Katie you were perfect hosts!! I loved every minute of it!!

Our Little Blueberry!

How about just one more post about babies... okay good!!!

Jesse and I are expecting our first little one!!! : )

We went to the Dr. today and I was told I am 10 weeks 2 days along. She estimated my due date at June 3rd!! The Dr. thought she would try and find the baby's heart beat, just for fun. Well she found it!!! It didn't take much trying either! At first we could hear my heart beat and it was faint and slow and then all of sudden we hear this loud and rapid heart beat... that's our baby!! Of course my eyes filled up with tears of joy!! It just made it all real and now I really know that I really am pregnant!! Crazy!! I think it even reassured Jesse that this is for real!!

I have to go into some details just for myself so that I can look back and remember all these fun (and strange) details!! So it may be boring for you readers, so I will forgive you if you don't read them all. If you do read them... enjoy!! : )

Remember back on September 11th when I was tagged and at the end of the post I said this:

Next year I will... hmmm.... I'm not sure, but hopefully I will have the privilege of hearing little feet patter across my floors. : ) No Mom... I don't know anything! Promise! My Dad has been having a bad case of heartburn... and when he has his bad case of heartburns it usually means that someone is pregnant in the family. I got a call this week from my Mom... Lynn! Your Dad is having heartburn. Really bad! Poor guy. I am sorry this heartburn is a false alarm! : )

That heartburn was NOT a false alarm!!! Apparently I was pregnant then just didn't know it! Isn't that wild!! Seriously the heartburn doesn't lie.

A few weeks after this heartburn incident I really started to think that something was up. I felt different. I had no energy what so ever! I just moved into this house and I have no energy to finish unpacking it or starting on a new room to paint and decorate! All I wanted to do was snuggle up on the couch with a blanket and watch Rachael Ray... all day long! And I didn't feel guilty about it either!

I also wasn't sleeping threw the night! I would wake up every night to go to the bathroom. I never do that! So I cut back my water and thought I was just over drinking at night. Nope, still getting up. Odd. Very odd. I was also noticing that smells were very strong! Certain smells were just way too powerful for me... and I could have smelled them a million times before and never even thought twice about them. I decided it was time to take a pregnancy test. I went to the local grocery store... no test! The grocery store doesn't sell pregnancy tests!!? I went to our Dollar Store... no test! I went to the gas station... no test! Now I have gone to all my options and no test in site!! I could not believe it!! So I had to wait for my next trip into the city. Drove me crazy!

Thankfully I found an excuse to go into the city that weekend and I found a test at the first store I went to! When I took this test Jesse was in our kitchen trying to hang up the new light fixtures that we just bought. I told him that I was going to go see what this test had to say, he smiled and said okay. I was shaking! I was freaking out! I am not sure why... excited, nervous, scared... all rolled into one. It was positive instantly! I yelled "Oh No!" Jesse says "What?" "It is positive already and I'm suppose to wait 3 minutes before looking at it!" We giggled and said... well, we'll try the second test tomorrow morning like the package says to do. That second test said positive too!! I even took a third test a couple weeks later... just to make sure. And that said positive as well! Looks like we are for sure pregnant!

The first person to know we were expecting was my friend Laura out in Oregon. She called one night and I had known for about a week that we were pregnant and I hadn't told a soul yet!! I was trying to keep it under wraps for awhile to make sure that nothing happened. Laura and I are talking away and she asks me "No kids yet, right?" I hesitated. I was so blown away that she asked me this!! Why is she asking me this today!? Can she read minds?! I hesitated and then quickly replied "No. No. No kids!" She busted out laughing (very hard I might add) and yelling "Lynn your pregnant!!" More laughter from her and more screams!! Well, I couldn't hide it anymore. She caught me. She was pretty excited to be the first person to know and said the secret was safe! : )

I think it was about a week or two later we had our friends over for supper on a Saturday night. I opened up a brand new bottle of wine for the girls and didn't pour any for myself. They didn't understand why I wasn't having... um... not feeling like wine tonight. That worked - they didn't question me anymore. Whew! Then Jesse asked us how we wanted our steaks done. I said, well done today! Our friend, Lacy, did not like that comment. She slams her hands down on the table and yells "Someone in here is pregnant and no one is telling me!!!" I had to look her in the eyes and not smile (extremely difficult even when I am not lying) and tell her that I was not pregnant! She believed me... or at least she pretended to believe me... she never brought it up again. Whew! The night went on and it was killing me to not be able to tell them. I can't keep secrets to save my life!! So I snuck Jesse aside and begged him to let me tell them. I didn't have to do too much begging... he was all for it. So I told the girls and we giggled, screamed, cried, and hugged! All those emotions that only girls can have! Then we snuck downstairs to listen to Jesse tell the guys...

Jesse: Well guys. My wife is pregnant!

Jason: DUDE!! That is awesome!

Jerry: DUDE!!

Then the topic went onto other things that I can not discuss on this blog... I didn't expect them (the guys) to be so excited! But they were!

The next day we went to go tell our parents. Jesse's parents were pretty excited and then started arguing over whether or not we were having a boy or girl. Jesse's Mom says it is a girl and she is buying her a miniature pony. Jesse's Dad says it is a boy and he will have all the toys (meaning 4-wheelers, go-carts, snowmobiles) that he wants.

I told my Mom and Dad separately because I couldn't wait for my Dad to come home. He was out at the hunting shack and I just needed to tell my Mom! She screamed and stomped her feet and jumped up and hugged me. My Dad finally came home and I asked him how his heartburn was. He actually had heartburn that morning!! I told him it was probably because I was pregnant! He didn't believe me! I told him I was telling the truth and then the tears started to flow! He cried!! (Must be where I get my emotions from... my Dad.) He asked me how many times "are you sure?" I never expected him to react like that.

When I told my sister she instantly went into my little mother mode. She asked me a million questions and then gave me a mini lecture about telling people to early.

I think those were all the quirky details I wanted to get out... we will have ourselves a little JuneBug before we know it! And when I start to get a belly bump that actually looks like I am pregnant... I'll post those! : )

Baby Garrett!!

My sister had her baby!! And it was a boy!! No one guessed it would be a boy... we all thought girl! Even Shannon was shocked and it took her about an hour before she believed that she really had a boy. She said she kept asking the nurses and the Dr... are you sure it is a boy? Really, are you sure?

Jesse and I were in St. Louis when she had him. I called Shannon before we left to get a status report to make sure she wasn't having this baby while I was gone... she said nope she didn't think she would. To my surprise (and even hers) I got a call Saturday night that she had him!! I got to hear him cry on the phone... so cute!! Only an Auntie wants to hear her new nephew cry on the phone because she wasn't there to see him in person!!

I did get to see him last night at the hospital when we got home. It was just Jesse and I there so we got all the time we wanted with Shannon and Baby Garrett! When I walked into the hospital room Shannon is sitting up in bed all perky and excited with a smile so big! Her hair was braided and she certainly did not look like she just had a baby 24 hours ago! I thought for sure she had the nurses in there braiding her hair... nope, I did it myself she told me. I never knew anyone to have time to braid their hair after having a baby!!

Garrett was so content! The Dr. brought him in after getting a very rough procedure done (I think you know what I'm talking about) and he wasn't even crying and didn't even look like he had been crying. His eyes were open and he was just checking everything out. I held him and he fell right to sleep. He fussed for only seconds. I was just so impressed by him! Then while Jesse was holding him one of the nurses came in to check on him and he never even fussed as she unwrapped him from the blankets. Of course I had to poke around and check out his fingers and feet... he didn't care. He just slept right threw it all.

I forgot my camera in the car while we were there... but here is a picture over at my Mom's blog.

I didn't get enough of him last night so I'm going back tonight for a visit! They get released from the hospital today... so it will be about an hour drive for me to get to my sister's house... but it is so worth it! Plus I told her I would bring her supper... so she said I could come as long as I had food! : )