Interesting article about YOUR car seat and Winter

I just read this article, and i can believe that winter coats and car seats dont mix , but what about adapting you car seat straps when you change from a heavy coat to none?  I adjusted my kids regulatly.  We are in boosters now,  but i still ALWAYS make sure the seatbelt locks. Please do read and share. If nothing else it is something we probably dont think of. 

http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/149235/the_important_winter_car_seat?fb_action_ids=10202293696612662&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=post_bottom&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B192587920881860%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.recommends%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%22post_bottom%22%5D

Trying Tuesday!!

Wow!  Today has been one for the books.  Work was crazy busy, again.. Picked up my Ladies and headed home. Miss 4 has been a pistol! It was a school day and she is tired. Her ears seem to need new batteries.

So hubby gets up and ready for work. I tried to help out and made him 2 turkey sandwiches, thinking he would have time to handle some bank business and get to work early. Well, that didnt happen...

Someone lost their wallet.  Am I surprised, nope!  His brain is stuck on LOST most of the time and it has been a daily event for him to lose his keys, lock them with phone in work locker, forget this, that, and the other thing.  This stresses me out because I am OCD about keys go here, lunched packed and ready to go night before, clothes set out... Its rather humorous when I stop and think about it!!

Anyways, he stopped at a rite aid on his return home after dropping the girls off at 9 am and after searching the house and car, when he called, lone behold.  And YES, he was late to work...

But that stress left with him and besides the furnace switching to a mode that kicks out COLD air, forcing me to go into the creepy basement with a flashlight to reset it, our night has been calm, thank you Lord! 

Bring on Hump day (my best impression of the camel, as re-enacted by miss. 4!!)

 

Speaking of LOVE...

My 7th wedding anniversary is 7 days away, and I have a few ideas brewing. 

Hubby and I just celebrated 12 years together.  We have had great times, rough times, happy/sad times and just ok times. Through it all, even this major two year remodel, we are closer than ever.  Now, we are still learning this life of ours, but I think we are doing pretty gosh darn good.

I mean, how many people get to say they are spending their lives with their best friend? 

With this remodel, we are also trying to get to the Duggers status, debt free!  We have eliminated our house payment and minimized our bills, by replacing as many things to energy efficient, from furnace to light bulbs.  We even put in a tankless hot water heater!! 

So, our journey has had occasional hiccups, but at the end of the day he truely makes me happy and I love, just as I did as our relationship blossomed, if not even more. 

 He completes me.  

So here is to 7 years and to many, many more!!

  

Kids vs. remodeling duties

So as I have mentioned before, I have this incredibly LONG to do list. So far, Ive accomplished nothing! My GOAL this week is to get my kitchen painted. Have you ever painted with a 2 & 4 yo? 

Well about 3 weeks ago I made this very mistake!  I decided to attempted to paint the doors for our second floor.  My Dad had them off and on stands in my kitchen and I thought to myself, alright, I can frickin' do this!  So, one night I decided to get out my mini roller, my paint tray and my paint and between dinner time and bath time, I got started.  An hour later I had 1 door done, ready for coat 2 and another half painted.  During this process, my 4 yo only touched wet paint five times... So, here I am, asking her not to touch, for the tenth time, and managing to get paint ALL over myself!!  

Well, the one door looked good! Needless to say, last weekend Hubby took them all outside and used the Wagner on them. He even sanded and repainted the doors I worked so hard on!! 

So, im gearing up for round 2 - project Kitchen!!  

I am in need of lots of luck!!!

Monday madness?

It was back to work for me today, after a 5 day break.  Stressful doesnt even begin to describe my day.  See, a few weeks ago my boss pulls me and my co-worker into her office and informs us that we need to start looking outside of the company.  Now, we were grateful for a heads up but, its been difficult to give my all knowing I am so disposable. I have been in the job for five years and while i used to love my work, lately I feel over worked and under paid. I came to the company with promises of advancement and yet nothing has come up yet... 

So, i went to work today, all while wishing, hoping, praying that I could just be home with my girls! 

Last evening my Hubby commented about how nice it has been with me home and how he is getting sleep bu not having to get up with the little ladies.  God has a plan, I just need to let it happen...

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Gray Gables, A back story~

I wanted to share a little background on Gray Gables Farms.  It was built in 1892 by a successful Timber retailer, Aaron Chesbrough.  He was a wealthy, to-do, who lived in Toledo, Ohio.  I have been unable to find out his reasons for purchasing the land which soon after housed Gray Gables Farms, also referenced as CHESBROUGH Farms.  I assume it was a summer home, since it is very close to Maumee Bay State Park, which was a recess outlet to Lake Erie.
I believe the house was built for Aaron and his two sons and daughter and late wife, Mattie.  She passed in 1898 and it arises questions in me, as to whether she was able to stay in the home at all.

Aaron remarried in 1904.  He also had one of the first automobiles in Toledo, Ohio.  I found a newspaper clipping from 1910, in which another wealthy, to-do was driving his automobile from Chesbrough Farms and was involved in an automobile accident with a local transit bus downtown. This was an exciting find for me, proving that Aaron had used the home to entertain!

The house was sold in the early 1920's to a J. Casper family.  There is some proof that the house was powered by underground gas.  I have connected with some past residences who occupied the home in the 1940's who remember some sort of generator in the basement of the carriage house.

The house changed hands again in the late 1940's to the Toth Family.  They lived in the home until the late 1990's.  Since then, the house has turned hands a few more times than I am sure it would have liked.

We obtained the property in March of 2012.  It was in bad shape!  It was on the condemn and demolition block and after a small bidding war, we were able to obtain ownership.

The house has a lot of awesome architectural details. The ceilings in the living room and dining room are coffetted mahogony wood.  It also features a giant stone fireplace.  An englenook also occupied the space next to the fireplace for additional seating.

There is also an old window in the dining room and a portico which houses a massive porch underneath and driveway area.

The house had original cedar shake and a tiled bathroom, ceiling to floor.  We did remove the bathroom, although neat for its day, it was very dated.  We also had to replace the cedar shake, it was in bad shape and falling off with a single touch. We updated with a vinyl cedar shake fake.  We had to stick with the gray, it is Gray Gables after all!

We have been working very hard to maintain the old world charm that the home brings, but updating it to the twenty first century.  We also had to add our own spin on things.  We took the five bedroom, one and a half bath house and converted it to a 3 bedroom, 2 and a half bath home.  We sacraficed two bedrooms to make a master and master bath.

We have a long road ahead of us.  We added a pond and pole barn to the property as well.  We had to move in on October 01st of this year, which was LONG overdue!  We are making it all work, even though we are missing the flooring in the kitchen, upper cabinets, stove!  We also do not have a completed laundry room, deck and our backyard is dirt and weeds!  But this is small potatoes in the grand skeem of things!

We are making it work!  Our lives have been turned upside down for the past two solid years and we are stronger than ever!

I am making this work for my kids.  Their transition to these new things has been my number one concern and as a Mom, I think I am doing ok.

I want to use this blog to reach out to those of you who might be going through the same adventure.  Have you heard your friends say to you, What the hell are you doing??   We have been hearing this for the past two years!  But in the end, we upgraded our 1800 sq ft living space for the 3000 sq ft living space and we are customizing it to fit our life!  That is exciting in my book.  Now, dont get me wrong, it has been nothing but a big challenge and broken major relationships, which is a sad thing, but as much as I wish we would have jumped on the plane and high-tailed it to Arizona, I feel at peace being where we are right now.

I am also addicted to Pinterest- a lot of my house has been from pictures from Pinterest - and we have put our own spin on a lot of things.   I am also a Mom, and I have tips, tricks, and fun stuff to share!


So, if you are here, reading my pen to paper, welcome!  Please join me on my wild, crazy adventure and I will share my philosophies of life, and feel free to share with me your thoughts and experiences also!  I love to relate!  This is all new to me too!!

Thanks for the read!!!  ~looking forward to the future, one day at a time....