Off to a Foreign Land We Go

Kyla and I are heading out tomorrow morning on her long awaited birthday trip to visit her beloved Aunt Kristel. Who lives in Canada. Way, way up in Canada. In order to make this trip doable money wise, we are going on the cheap. We are taking planes, trains, and automobiles to get to Grande Prairie, Alberta and we are up for the adventure.

Our voyage starts with a car ride to the Seattle area. We'll enjoy an over night stay at the Lee Hostel/hotel/family crashing place and then take a commuter bus to the train station the next morning. The train will take us to Vancouver, B.C. where we will catch two flights taking us north east.

Once we get there we will have a week of fun spending time with Kristel, her two adorable kiddos, and her entertaining hubby. We'll then take two flights to Vancouver, hop an Amtrak bus (weird, I know), catch a ride with someone that I'm related to from Seattle back to our hotel/hostel/family crashing place. We'll drive south to Oregon the next morning with my snl and her gals. Wow, that made me tired just typing it:)

Here are a couple of pics to hold you over until we get back. Enjoy my two precious (weird) kiddos.

See ya!

Making it new and shiny

So for the past month I've been updating our bathroom, priming and painting, adding bead board and base trim, and swapping out old for new. We aren't in a position to go and purchase everything new, not that I would if I could since I'm such a penny pincher:) So here is how I was able to make this old bathroom of ours sparkle with a little bit of elbow grease and some dedicated time for searching.

First up is the cabinet hardware. I'd recently been reading about other homeowners who had painted their pulls and hinges with great success so I decided to give it a try. Worst case scenario is that they turn out awful and look better than they did before:) I rigged up a handy-dandy spraying box and went to work.

The only draw back was the silver fingers. Yeah, I had silver nails for days:)

Second is the new to us medicine cabinet. I found it at the local Restore for a steal and it just happen to fit our small weird little whole from the old mirror. Well I thought it would fit:) It was about three quarters of an inch to wide and to long. Seriously!! So Chad, being the handy man that he is, cut it down to size and I painted that sucker up and we had it in the wall by dinner time:)

The foot stool was another easy thing to update that made a big difference. I just added some fabric that I had left over from the making of the curtains and modpodged it right on. I finished it with a spray acrylic for wash ability and for strength. You don't have to be weak to be pretty:)

Now the laminate was easier than I thought it would be but still a bit tough in the actual installing. Chad was a huge help here, pulling out all his manly tools and doing math and stuff:)

This is what we had...

This is what we have now:) So pretty.

While I was doing all this work, I found this...on the back of one of the switch covers. What a wonderful idea, a journal of the work done on our house. I ended up not using this cover being that it was beige and going on 40 years old, but I transferred the info onto a new cover plate and put it up for the next people to find and enjoy:)

So say goodbye to my old, dreary bathroom (after I had started the demo)...

And say hello to the new!

In the words of my nephew...Ta Ta Ta Da!!!

My bathroom update is done!

Please come in and stay a while:)

Now if you notice, the yellow is different in almost every picture. The color just depends on the lighting. It's so soothing most of the time:) I think the new look mixes well with the age of the house and gives it an updated yet historic country look.

Here's a glance at the same bathroom as we were purchasing the house.

Right after we moved in I painted the cabinets and we added a chair rail and bead board around the tub. Notice anything different:) I'll do a break down of what I did in a later post. Now I'm going to go and stare at the beautiful thing that is my bathroom:)

Speaking of Aunts

I haven't been sewing much lately what with the entry/bath remodel keeping me busy but I wanted to share this apron that I made early this summer for my aunt. It's my go to gift if you remember:) I had picked out the fabric last time I was in Indiana (2009) and finally got around to making something special for my Aunt Peg. She is my mother's sister and one of my favorite people in all the world:)

This apron is my own design...something I've been thinking of doing for a while now. I honestly don't use patterns much as it is and I thought it was time to branch out and start designing more stuff. So far so good:)

She reports that it works wonderfully well in her kitchen:) I also made a taggy blanket/toy for my cousins new little boy, Elijah. So soft and cozy!


Now I'm off to finish that dang remodel so that I can dust off my sewing machine and get crankin':)

More From Indiana

During our yearly visit to the mid-west, we were able to spend some time with my dad's family as we all gathered for my cousin's wedding. Each time I see my family, I try to get pictures for memories sake. I know that you are all surprised with this desire to photograph every aspect of my life...oh wait, you're not surprised:) So here are some of those yearly pictures that we can look back on in the future and reminisce.

Here is the Bonnell Clan. Most of us are there and what a great big bunch of people we have become! Now this is just my dad's mom and her children and their children and their children:) Please notice that my children are no where near me. In the last three wedding pictures taken while in Indiana, my children have found other family members that they love and I am left to stand alone.

If you don't believe me this was taken in 2008 at Abby's wedding. It's like playing wheres Waldo. Where are my kids??

I'd like to introduce you to my grandmother. She is the rock of the Bonnell side of the family. A couple of years ago we thought that we might lose her to cancer but she's a tough old bird (her words I swear!) and we still get to enjoy her in our lives. I'm told that I take after her quite a bit:)

All of us came from that tiny, amazing woman. Now I'd like you to meet my aunts. They are all strong women and have each influenced me in different ways. They work hard, get things done, and love their families with everything that they have.

Are you noticing where I got my short genes:) I love my family and the history that makes us who we are!

Clean Desk = New Chair

Our sweet Kyla is the picture of her grandmother. She may look like her grandmother but she got her organizational genes from Chad and I, poor kid. She just doesn't stand a chance unless we do something drastic...like teach her how to organize and keep it cleaned up:) So we've been working on it. For almost two weeks now, we've been working on her desk, yep it was that bad. We emptied all the drawers, organized, recycled, filed, threw away and re-filled.

A couple of weeks ago as we were trying to figure out how best to help Kyla learn this new skill set, I realized that she didn't have a chair. Of course her desk top was so covered she couldn't actually work there thus the lack of chair. In my searching for bathroom remodel treasures, I found an antique chair at our local Restore and brought it home gleefully.

It had nice lines and was super sturdy. Those were it's good points. Unfortunately it had multiple layers of varnish and a shoddy repair job, but for $2 it was a steal:)

I sanded it down to the wood and prepped it for painting.

Now part of our deal with Kyla, her grand prize as it were, was the ability to paint her new chair ANY color she choose as soon as she completed the cleaning/reorganizing of her desk. And wouldn't you know that kiddo of mine chose gumdrop purple!

Kyla now has a pretty purple chair for her clean desk and she actually has written letters while sitting on it. Who would have guessed a desk could be used for that kind of stuff?:)

Oh gorgeous gumdrop purple, welcome into our home!