Welcome to our HOME!

Sorry about my lack of writing.  I've taken pictures of our new house both before and after remodeling in hopes of sharing via my old friend, Blog, but just haven't quite gotten there yet.  I've also considering "chucking" out the old friend, Blog, as I feel I am, at writing, getting worse and worse.

But I'm here now! I'm hoping to rehash the last 2 months in a quick post, but this just seems unlikely.  Here goes: 

We have again, moved.  But, ahh...sweet relief for me comes in the form of something called Permanency - a word I knew well all of my younger days but was soon tossed out the window upon entering a marriage involving the military.  We PURCHASED a home, with which I am greatly in love!  Jody and I worked hard and fixed up our wonderful home which we bought while it was trapped in the 1960's,  and I feel like we have really made it beautiful.  We still have a lot of work to do.  A LOT.  But for now, it's comfy, spacious, and my new baby.  Oh, and my "old" baby?  She loves her new home.

 This is the front door.  We painted the brown paneling on the left a dark grey, replaced the orange flooring with some pretty laminate and painted all of the 'smokey' white walls and trim a fresh white.  Next, we will remove the closet doors and place a bench and coat hooks inside.  Some day :)

 Just beginning to remove wallpaper (and odd light fixtures) in the living area.

 Midway through.  I chose a darker gray for this wall, and while I was a bit nervous, I am very pleased with the finished product.

Ta-da!  A home.

This is the kitchen and dining room before.  Half of the kitchen was covered with carpet, as was the entire dining room.  The remaining chunk had that bright orange laminate again.  Very...interesting :)

And, now!  I painted the kitchen an eggshell blue and we replaced the floors.  We also updated the chandelier, and since this picture, I have painted the "china cabinet" a clean white and grey.  I removed the class and one of the shelves as well.  

Since these pictures, we've gotten a larger table so it is looking much more sophisticated.  Jody did a wonderful job installing the floor (with the help of some friends -- thank you!) and once again proved himself a handy-man-who-can-learn-anything-and-do-it-right-all-in-one-day. 

 This is our "office" - before.  Below are pictures of what we were dealing with in the office and Cedar's room as far as wallpaper and carpet goes.  Both rooms had two layers of stubborn wallpaper and ripped up, smelly yellow carpet.  Obviously, that had to go.  The office is also painted a light grey with white trim, and Cedar's room is all fancied up with light pinks and greens.  We had so much fun with her room!

 Cat wallpaper.  Naturally.

 Hours worth of peeling, scrubbing and soaking would render this: Not much.

 Cedar's room.

Office.

 I went a little cray-cray in Cedar's room.  With the help of my new friend at Pittsburgh Paints, I finally made a special room just for Cedar Mayonaise.

Mellow Mint and Pale Primrose.  Whoever has the job of naming paint colors - I'm jealous of you.

 Midway.

 This picture is no good, and it's not complete or decorated yet, but you get the idea.  Cedar is a girlie girl.  She was just built that way, apparently, so I just had to paint that room pink. 

Completed (but cluttered) office space.

My hubby working his tail (and feet) off scraping popcorn off of the whole house.  I kid you not, with the exception of the kitchen and one bathroom, our house was covered with that junk.

 And this, folks, is the view from my front porch.  Ahhhh.

Hi, house!  And pear-shaped body!

 I hope Cedar now understands that she is "home" as well.  The poor girl.  She was shuffled around from babysitter to babysitter quite a bit during the house-remodeling period, and I worried she was getting confused having lived in so many places in her short little life.  But, she seems to be happy and comfy here.  She is even learning to help out!  Above, she is 'mopping' with Mama and helping Dad rake some leaves below.  Does it get any cuter??

 My little angel is not so much an angel anymore.  Sigh.  She enjoys getting into mischief and can throw fits like the best of 'em.

 Cedar enjoys sticks more than anything else in the world.

Walks?  They are not exercise for Mom anymore.  This monkey hates sitting in the stroller for too long and enjoys hopping out and pushing it herself, while stopping every four seconds to gather sticks.  Maybe SOME day I will get to run again.

Because it's the ONE outdoorsy thing I did this summer - (I don't even recognize myself either) I had to show a few pictures from our drive through Yellowstone last month.  We had a dear friend from Virginia come up and visit us and we took a day trip.  It was fun, except for that it took all day and into the night, rained, I was carsick and Cedar whined in the car for hours on end. 

It was really not that fun.

I prefer backpacking, camping, driving through parks and fishing SANS children, and due to my current situation in life, these fun activites will have to take a backseat until we are further down the child-rearing road.

Which is okay, because I love babies.  Especially my baby.