Lots of Work

There are so many projects going on at the Bailey house this week that I thought I would share the main 2 with you and hopefully have the finished product pictures for you on Monday! I am so excited that all of this is finally getting done. E and his pop have been working well into the night for the past 2 nights and again today. Wednesday night I worked with them and painted and almost finished painting the living room but these past 2 days have been full of sleepless nights so I have been going to bed early. I lay in bed and hear the sounds of hammers and saws and the backdoor opening and closing...they have been working really hard!! But here are a few pictures of the work.

The basket shelf still has to come down and they are going to add a back to it today and then it will be done with the exception of a coat of paint. The new walls and the hinged storage bench just need a coat of paint as well.

Here is the desk that E has been working on for me. He finally finished it last night and now we just need a coat of paint here as well.

Here is my project...I finished painting the living room except for this part that I couldn't reach without the boys moving furniture for me...and I think I can do this even after my father-in-law leaves. However, I did have to call E a few times to come help me off of the floor after I finished trimming the baseboards.

The project for today include a book shelf behind my desk and some shelves over my desk. Hopefully they can get around to the recessed lighting and chandelier project this afternoon too but I will be happy regardless of what they finish up today. (Sigh of relief) Do you know how long I have been waiting for this room to be finished and to have a desk? All of the contents of my desk have been in a box crammed in a closet for the past 2 years. There is still lots to do but at least I can help with the painting...I am not so good with the power tools!! So this GREAT!!!

What is Happening?

Well, E's dad arrived last night to help work on the house for a few days. E took a few days off of work to work with him and I am very thankful for them both!! It is such a relief to have a husband who is actually handy! This is what he did this weekend. He got all of the walls installed until he ran out of wood and then installed a light fixture. I love days like this one where at the end, you can really see the difference in what you started with and what you ended with.

What did I do? Laundry...it was Saturday after all...and then I painted a little more of the Living Room took a nap! But we have lots of plans for this week since the boys are working for 3 days straight, that I hope come to fruition...

1.) finish the laundry room

2.)install recessed lighting in the dining room

3.) hang new chandelier in the living room

If they finish all of those things and I finish painting the Living Room, we are really putting a dent in our work. Wish us lots of luck!!

P.S. Here's a picture of Maggie when E opened up a new bag of dog food and left it in the floor for her to chow down...What a bunch of animals!! I guess this is the dog version of drinking milk out of the carton!

What's Cooking Wednesday is Just a Fluke!

Yes it's Wednesday and yes I am posting a recipe, but by no means is this the return of "What's Cooking Wednesday!" Too much crazy happening at the Bailey household.

Well there are 3 soups that I love to make every winter...One of those soups is Beer Cheese Soup! I have a recipe that I used last year from William-Sonoma that I kinda liked but I thought I would try a new recipe this year just to mix things up. I am always leary of using a Cooking Light recipe because I know I am going to have to doctor it up to give it some smidgen of taste. And this time was no different. I had to add plenty of extra salt and pepper to taste and I also doubled the cheese that I put in there.

Since we all have different taste buds (and I am pregnant and things taste weird) I will post both recipes...the one from last year and the one fromt his weekend. The Beer Cheese Soup from last year had a much smoother texture and was much quicker to make but the taste of beer was alot more than I wanted.

The Beer Cheese Soup from this weekend was a little thicker and it called for homemade croutons and sliced green onions. Also, the taste of beer was no where to be found...more of a thick cheddar soup. So if you have lot of time, try them both and see for yourself which one you liek the most...this year's? Or last year's!

Epiphanies

So I had an epiphany this morning that I wanted to share...you have probably already had this one so humor me!

Whenever I go to the store to buy baby supplies, I can always tell where the girl stuff ends and the boy stuff begins because of the color change from pink and purples to blues and greens...and then there's the unisex rack full of yellow. So I pondered that for a while...because I am not really a pink type of person. I can and will live with it but if you ask me what my favorite color is, I promise it won't be pink.

But why is it that everything you can get for a baby girl has the color pink or purple? Hmmm...and then it hit me. As a baby, you can't tell a boy from a girl so the clothes are the only ways to distinguish between the sexes and let people know who walk up to talk to you, that you are holding a girl, hence the the pink hearts all over her top.

Baby Buys

While we were home for the holidays, E picked out a few things for the baby...yes the baby who is still a month away from making her grand appearance. He picked out some pajamas for her and some socks, etc...but the strangest thing was this...

You think that's funny what till you see what he bought her at the grocery store a week or so later....

I am curious if our daughter has a chance of being normal with her dad forcing the Daring Book for Girls and Schoolhouse Rock DVD down her throat long before birth.

Progress

I feel like such a slacker this week since I don't feel like I have posted anything at all. Most of this slackerness comes from the fact that I got that computer virus going around on my machine here at work so I am working from a lab computer. Good Times!! So as a quick update, I thought I would show the progress being made on my house.

First, E was able to finished the laundry closet this weekend. So we (nevermind, not we, but E and a friend from work) finally got the washer and dryer stacked and into the closet this weekend so guess what I did all day Saturday? You guessed it ... LAUNDRY!!! Since the washer and dryer had been unhooked for so long, laundry had seriously piled up. Here are a few pictures.

Since the nursery is as finished as it can get for the time being (awaiting family to bring the rest of the stuff we couldn't fit in our car on the way home from the Christmas), I needed a new project. I have this mindset that at some point I am going to be too miserable to help around the house so I am working hard until that day comes...if that day comes. So I started painting the living room last night. Here is the color...yes, I really loved the green but after 2 years of the green, I was ready for a change. Plus, I saw this color in my sister's house and fell in love with it so don't think for a second that this was an original idea! I decided this over Christmas break so I was able to collect all of my new accessories and pillows and dishes at home with all of the nice stores that were having nice sales after the holidays! Hold on..accessory colors are orange and yellow! You will see...it will all come together and be AWESOME!!

My new dining room chandelier from CB2 came in the mail yesterday. I am excited about this...Look at my old contractor grade chandelier and you will find out why I am so excited about the new addition. We have had a rule at our house that we will not change any of the bulbs in the old light. So if all the bulbs go out, then the time has come to get a new one. We got the new one just in time...there are only three bulbs left.

And last but not least, the baby's new playyard came in the mail yesterday too. Small story behind this...Me and E have been saving our change for about a year now. I saw at the local grocery store that they had a coin star. I had used these in the past and enjoyed the fact that I got cash and didn't have to count all of that change even if I lost 10% of the money as a service fee. Now, you can buy a gift certificate to a few vendors and you get to keep the extra 10%. So I started thinking and researching. Since Amazon is one of the vendors, I checked Amazon's baby stuff to see if there was anything I could use. HECK YEAH!! They have alot of stuff! So I got an Amazon gift certificate and was able to pay for playyard and a few other small things for the baby. I was pumped...it was like all of that stuff was free because I never think about how much change I have. So here is the new playyard.

Next week, E is taking a few days off of work to work on the house with his pop, who is coming into town for a few days to help out! We are very thankful for this!! So I hopt to have more pictures for you next week!

Recipes to Share

So I have had this post ready since Tuesday and have been waiting to post it until I remembered to post the pictures and I keep forgetting. So before the post becomes 100% irrelevant, I am just going to go ahead and post it without the pictures and play catch up later. Enjoy...

Well, it was a long weekend in more ways than one. With a sunday school social at our house, a dinner at our house, I helped at a friend's baby shower, finished the nursery and re-organized the kitchen and E's closet, I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. But there was alot of cooking that went on in my kitchen.

First, I made the clementine cake from Smitten Kitchen that I told you about earlier and honestly didn't like it. I made it for dinner guests on Sunday night and they all seemed to eat it up but I guess I am my own worst critic. I sent some home with Erika and Elizabeth who were dying to try it and will find out their reactions later on. It was a super easy cake to make and fairly cheap too with only eggs, baking powder, clementines and almond powder(which I still can't believe I found in our small town grocery store). Since I forgot my pictures, here is Smitten Kitchen's picture of the cake.

Second, I made a Brie Puff Pastry using my Blueberry Compote Recipe. I love this recipe and don't know what I would do without it. It's so good and so easy, I think I may make again this weekend for some friends. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of it but will try to remember to this weekend.

Third, there is enough of Giada's Chicken Carbonara in my fridge to last us a week and I have already given some away. It's excellant though. Such a good dish for when friends come over for dinner. It never as good the second day though...you have to add a little more heavy cream and shredded parmasan cheese before you warm it in the microwave.

Last but not least, Bacon Spinach Quiche. I made 2 of these for our class at church on Sunday and everyone seemed to love it...including me...I had 2 peices. E ate the one peice that was left with his fingers in the car on the way home...I will take that as a sign that he liked it. The recipe called for swiss cheese and a refridgerated pie crust(which I forgot to get at the store) but I used colby jack cheese and a frozen pie crust instead. Turned out great. Super easy and super quick. Definately worth trying!

Nursery Time

Me and E spent all Monday morning trying to put together the baby's crib. We kept putting it off over and over again and I am glad we did. We really needed some extra time. It wasn't a new crib. But I had cleaned, sanded and repainted it and it was looking great. However, we started putting it together and quickly realized that we were missing MORE THAN A FEW parts.

Luckily, E is the "think on your feet" kinda guy and immediately started going through his stashes of extra fasteners and before we knew it, the crib was done. The front gate doesn't move up and down like it is meant to but we can just adjust the mattress height when we get to the different stages of the baby's life. But nothing was spent here and I am super proud to proclaim this. The bedding is from a friend back home, Emily, the sheets were given to me by my 3rd grade best friend, Ashley, (she found sheets she had never even opened when we went to visit), my parents gave us the crib and we used paint we already had in the garage and a little elbow grease!

But here is a preliminary look at the nursery. Keep in mind that it's not finished yet and won't be until my mom comes a few days before she's due. But regardless, this is a good start and I feel ready.

Here is the changing table, given to me by the same friend that gave me the sheets, Ashley, with all of the storage containers that my sis, Brit, gave me.

Here is the night table I just finished painting along with the new lamp I just bought.

These are all apothecary vases I had...one I got at the beach this summer and ironically, my Nanny gave me a large one that matched for Christmas so I went out and found one more that matched and filled them all with Valentine candy. I still think I need to double the amount of jelly beans in the large jar but until then, I think it turned out really well.

I finished the chair before Christmas and bought a rug last week. I really like that rug and I seem to have to fight Maggie to get off of it.

Now I am just waiting for my mom to show up and make pillows for the bed and paint a few peices of artwork for the walls.

Oh yeah...here I am at 35 weeks in my pjs. 5 weeks to go. I have completely lost sight of my feet, which is probably a good thing since my ankles are softball sized these days but all in all, now that the nursery is somewhat put together, I feel alot more ready for my own version of Labor Day.