Picnic Table Painting

Well! It has been quite the eventful month! After writing the last post, we attempted to go to the closing, only to be told that there was a slight glitch and they had to postpone. We ended up closing the next day, which wasn't a huge deal, but it did set our plans back and we didn't get as much accomplished as we hoped. After we closed and picked up the keys we started cleaning and painting Aislyn's room. It turned out so cute! I'll post picks soon, right now there's laundry waiting to be put away...

Moving in went smoothly, with the exception that no large furniture would fit up the staircase.... so they put it through the 2nd floor window. I pretended I didn't see that and was involved as little as possible... what if they dropped out new bedroom set?! ahh...

We've slowly settled in and gotten used to the routine. I started my summer college sessions and it stinks. It's four days a week and a ton of reading, plus the dance recital is coming up too so between that I'm staying super busy. But I did happen to paint a picnic table for Aislyn :)

The previous owners left it at the house, and it was in really good shape other than some weathering:

 I sanded it down and then primed it:

 Then painted it BRIGHT yellow!!

Aislyn loves it and keeps saying "Mommy paint my table yellow!" 

She's so cute sometimes.

I'm looking forward to seeing her play on and use this table a lot this summer.

Post soon!

Kaitlin

Our AWESOME New Home :)

 

Today is the big day! May 15th babyy! We close on our new home today! We are all excited, nervous and a tad stressed, but overwhelmingly happy. Aislyn is probably the most excited out of all of us. Yesterday we had the final walk through and when we went up to the second story she led everyone down the hall saying, "My room! My room! So pretty!" and then went up to the 3rd floor finished attic and had a little accident. We've regressed a little in the potty training area, which is to be expected...

We are doing a little painting this week to freshen things up and then we are moving in this weekend! Once we are all in an settled I can start posting room updates and fun things around our *NEW* house! But for now I have to get ready and go to the closing.

Happy, happy day!!

Kaitlin

Father-Daughter Dance

Mike took Aislyn to her first sweetheart dance at the YMCA on Friday night, and boy let me tell you, she had a GREAT time. We got her all dolled up in a pretty pink dress, painted her finger nails, curled her hair and put on her new white dress shoes and took pictures before heading over. Mike also cleaned up good :)

I came in towards the end of the dance and she was running around and dancing like a maniac. She was one of the younger ones there but she was probably having the grandest time. It was SO cute. Mike and Ais had some pictures taken together at the dance itself but we haven't received them yet. I'll post them when we do (look below!). We expected her to crash on the way home, but she was so excited, she babbled and talked the entire way back and took way longer than expected to fall asleep. All signs of a great time.

Her Southern roots are showing!

Happy Sunday!
Kaitlin


edited to add photos:

Here are the pictures of Mike and Aislyn at the Sweetheart dance taken by YMCA staff :)

Aren't they darlin'?

Freezer Makeover!

Mike and I scored a freezer for $50 off craigslist recently, but it needed some work. It had some rust spots on the front and a paint chunk missing inside. Instead of sticking to white we decided to go all out and paint it turquoise! Because who doesn't need a bright blue freezer? I can't wait to get it set up in the basement. This was a super simple and fast project.

Here's before:

Here's some of the rust spots:

And AFTER:

The tape on the hinges and handle wasn't removed in the pictures, but you get the idea. We'll probably do a second coat after we move into our new house (we close May 15th!! YAY!). At that point I'll post some updated pictures that are hopefully better quality. I'm also toying with the idea of sealing it to give it more of a durable finish, but it's not going to be in a high traffic area so I'm not sure it that's necessary. 

How do you like it?!

-Kaitlin

Hello!

Well, that was quite the vacation from blogging! Life has gotten in the way since I wrote my last post. Lots of good stuff has happened and some not-so-good... We've found a house we love and are in the process of buying it, we close May 15th. With that comes a lot of stress and worry, but we know in the end it's what is best for our family and we will succeed! We've also had a trip to the ER, because little Aislyn had a mean allergic reaction to an antibiotic. Never again will she have a penicillin based  medicine. She had hives and her joints were all swollen, nothing life threatening, but man, that was scary! It's also the end of the school semester for me, which means professors don't think we have enough on our plate, and throw another paper or ten on top of the ones you already are falling behind on. YAY! [sarcasm.]

But overall, life is good. Life is especially good cause I went shopping yesterday and found my favorite pair of jeans ever are on clearance and marked down to $20. You can't buy half a tank of gas for that. So naturally I went back today and bought a couple more pairs. Hey, I needed them, right?

I'll post in the next few days a revamp of a freezer we recently bought off craigslist that desperately needs some love. But first, I gotta take that love and cover the freezer in it or you're going to have a horribly disappointing blog post.

Thanks for coming back & remembering me!

Kaitlin

Tasty Thursdays: Mud Hens

I pinned this recipe awhile back thinking that I'd make them when I had time & was in the mood for something gooey and chocolate. Today was that day. Here is the original source.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup shortening
• 4 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 2 eggs, separated, plus 2 more egg whites only
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Chopped Nuts (optional. I used pecans)
  
• 1 Cup Mini Marshmallows
• 1/2 Cup (or a little more) Nestle Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar (dark or light)

Cream together butter, sugar and shortening. Add two egg yolks plus an additional egg, mix until combined. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix thoroughly:

 Spread into a well greased 9x13 inch baking pan.

 Top with chocolate chips, marshmallows and nuts

 Whip 4 egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold in brown sugar until fully incorporated. Spread over mixture, covering completely.

 Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

 

Yummy Goodness!

Thrifty Tuesday: Castile Laundry Soap

I've mentioned a few times that we make our own laundry soap. I just ran out of our last batch and it was time for a new one, so I made some up this morning. I tried a new recipe because although the other one cleaned the clothes well, the soap & water separated and you had to shake it up before you used it. I wanted to make a more concentrated detergent without all the water. So I did some web research on Castile laundry detergent and this is the recipe I decided to go with: Homemade Castile Laundry Soap.

You will need:

1/4 cup liquid Castile soap (I used Dr. Bronner's)

1 cup baking soda

1 cup super washing soda

1 cup distilled white vinegar

1 cup boiling water

 

 Add the soap, baking soda, and washing soda to a large mixing bowl. 

Slowly add the vinegar & prepare for a bubble explosion! 

Aislyn loved that part ("my turn mama, my turn!"). Then whisk until thoroughly

 combined. Pour in boiling water and whisk again.This is what you'll get:

It should be a loose paste. Store it in an air tight container and use about 2 tbsp per load. If you leave it uncovered, it will solidify so unless you want a huge rock hard block of unusable detergent, don't do it. :)

While I was finishing up the laundry soap, Aislyn was busy cleaning her table. She's such a good helper!  (It's the only picture I could get of her as she's going through a phase where she hates her picture taken... and yes, her hair is nuts :))

Happy Thrifty Tuesday,

Kaitlin