Instagram Summary

The past few weeks has been a whirlwind of craziness, stress, changes, home repairs, work insanity, and lots of excitement about the upcoming holidays (not so much about the weather). Here is a look at my iPhone pics and Instagram (Indymamma) photos that I love.

1. Wish list item: Matrix Exquisite hair oil to tame this mess without having to pull it back in a ponytail ALL.THE.TIME.

2. Papaw came to visit (and fix the water heater that was leaking). Camden had TONS of fun with him!

3. Water heater broke out of the blue (or we just realized it) and was leaking underneath the wood laminate floors. We dried them out and replaced but will tile before the end of the year. (Gotta find some money and motivation.) We also unfortunately found existing, old white tile underneath. Who does that?!

4. My baby loves to go to Target!

5. So this Pinterest felt tree idea has taken off and Target has noticed. I made one last year out of leftover felt and bought a giant piece of green for the tree. I still think (read: hope) I spent less than $10. Regardless, it's a great deal.

6. Who knew they had FREE KIDS COOKIE SAMPLES at Target? I mean, I feel like I was depriving my child.

7. The toddler bed transition is going well. Hah. (He actually does really well, but he woke up early and climbed up here but fell asleep.)

8. Wish list item: EOS lip balm. Gotta try it. It's all the rage, apparently. Even my 75-year-old patient the other day had some. If that doesn't make one feel old (and behind the times), nothing will.

9. First snow of the season. Camden and all his school friends were raving about it that day. He loved to play in it, but sadly it was melted by the time he got home.

Space saving solutions

When we purchased our home in 2012, we knew that we were going to lose about 800 square feet of space, mostly in the storage and kitchen areas. We were both okay with that considering the significant location and home quality upgrade we were getting. I knew in order to keep up my hoarding of kitchen items/gadgets that I had to invest in some creative solutions.

 

I searched around for many inexpensive organization solutions and this is what I came up with:

 

Item #1: Pantry

 

We went from a walk-in 6-foot pantry to this. Yup.

 

BEFORE

 

If you're asking yourself, "Is that the smallest pantry I've ever seen?" Yes. It is, my friend.

 

My solution was to put in pantry shelving that was custom-cut at Lowe's so that we could have ample storage. We also ended up repainting in there since it was gross and hey, why not.

 

As you can also see, we put in a trash bag holder and a command hook to hold my aprons. HUGE space savers right there!

 

AFTER

 

 

Item # 2: Cabinet storage

 

We cut the number of cabinets that we had in our kitchen in half. Literally. I did the math, cried, and then put on my big girl panties and went to Wal-Mart.

 

BEFORE

 

When I found these organizers for less than $5 a piece, my heart (and wallet) were overjoyed. I secured them to the bottom of the cabinet and voila!

 

AFTER

 

Those are probably my favorite addition to the kitchen organization. I remember the old days when pans were stacked on more pans and the one you needed was on the bottom. Clanging and banging around to get one dang cookie sheet? No more!

 

I also installed something similar in the cabinet where we organize our pots & pans so that the lids are separate and easy to access as well as the pans, too.



Kitchen upgrade!

As our Christmas gift this year, we received new Corian countertops in our kitchen. With it, we purchased a new faucet, under mount sink, and garbage disposal. Here are some of the before and after pictures.

 

The main thing I've learned with solid surface countertops is that you really have to dry them when cleaning. Otherwise, they leave an awful-looking spotty film on the surface.

 

BEFORE:

 

 

 

AFTER:

 

 

 

 

We painted the walls green as well. For the last picture, there are three electrical boxes that we found behind the tile on the wall. (A BIG NO NO.) We aren't sure what the far left one is (maybe an internet or phone), but the middle one is an electrical outlet we plan on rewiring back over there. The far right box was the old light switches that they rewired to the upper white cabinet so that will stay a panel as well. It looks SO MUCH BETTER than the ugly, flowery, white tile. :)

 

They look amazing and really give our kitchen that well polished look!

BIG NEWS: The Jones' are moving!!

After much consideration, Brad and I decided earlier this year to list our current home and see if we could find our "forever" home. Well, as luck would have it, we did both! Our current home sold in 3 weeks and we immediately made an offer an a home we had looked at twice and fell in love with! Although there are some things we will change (both immediately and in the future), we absolutely love the home and the location couldn't be more perfect!

We negotiated the price, had the inspections and negotiated repairs with both our current and new home. We are ready to close in a couple of days on Friday!

Moving with a baby will be hectic, stressful and ridiculous to say the least. In the end, it will be 110% worth it to be happy. We knew the home we currently live in wasn't going to be our forever home. When we moved in, we said, "Let's give it 5 years" and then we'd move. After 2 (seemingly long) years of complaining, updating, and frustrations with the neighbors and location, we knew it was over. It's not a bad area or location, but it was just not a good fit for our family.

Here is a sneek peak at the new home. These are pictures I took during our first showing of the home and also from inspection:

This is the front window in the living room. Love this!

This is a view from the back door out onto the amazing deck (two levels!) and back yard.

This is the view of the kitchen from the family room (entry is to the right and back door, left). Love the built-in fridge!!

And of course this is the gorgeous front of the house! We are finally back on a street instead of a cul-de-sac and we couldn't be more excited! Also, I spotted some pre-teen/teenage girls next door. Can we say BABYSITTER!?!?

So we have some big plans for this beauty. Some longer-term updates would be to paint the green trim on the exterior (seriously, what were they thinking?) and to build a wall, door, closet and make the loft into a 4th bedroom.

Some of the immediate updates we would need to do is replace the garage door opener (loud!), add closet organizers, and paint a few rooms. I wanted Cam's room to be the exact same colors as this home so it's hopefully less of a transition for him. He is my main concern when it comes to moving, especially in one day! I know it'll be hard on all of us, but I think it'll be well worth the fuss in the long run.

Is it sad that I'm already thinking about Halloween and how much FUN it's going to be to go trick-or-treating with him in this neighborhood!

Sneak Peek

.. a sign of things to come ..

Magic Eraser

I was going through my pantry the other day and discovered that I had almost two full boxes of magic erasers! I love those little things. I think I bought so many when we first moved in because the house was so gross. Instead of using that, though, I decided to bleach everything because well it was just more sanitary. To say I don't go through the house and wipe the door knobs each month would be a lie.

So naturally my insatiable urge to clean kicked into high gear. I got excited and found the dirtiest, most dinged-up door I could. I found it in our garage. It was the grossest looking door, but the magic eraser worked its magic and now the door looks brand spanking new!!! Brad had never used one before or seen what they can do. Needless to say, he was extremely amazed and excited how clean our door looked afterwards.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

I would think that everyones dirtiest door would be this one; from the garage to the house. In our first home it was this way as well. I'm so glad this door got cleaned up and I'm even more excited that I have many more erasers to use. Unfortunately it did take 2.5 sponges to clean this door but I have plenty left!

Now if only I could find a magic eraser for stretch marks ... hmm ...