in a bit of a rut....

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! My time has been split between lots of packing and chasing an energetic 15 month old. This lovely weather isn't helping with my blog inspiration either....

So thankful for a nice weekend to look forward to! We're supposed to spend Saturday at the park with family for a going away party (my cousin is headed to Indonesia for a year!) so some sunshine will definitely be appreciated.  Hopefully the week after next will feel more spring/summer like!

plan update

Valerie commented on the last floor plan post, asking about our lack of countertop space. The previous layout actually added about 2 feet of space to what is currently in the galley kitchen, which isn't much but in a house this tiny (988 sq. ft to be exact!) it's something. My biggest concern with the layout I showed you last time was the placement of the fridge. Not only did it break up what could be a nice long section of countertop on the far wall, it also made it so we had a big spread-out work triangle. In the layout above, which is our most recent concept, we're sacrificing pantry storage space for more countertops and a tighter work triangle. I'm used to not having a pantry anyway, and think we could make it work. Any thoughts?

rainy day encouragement

{via}

1. Know that you are valuable and important to God, and made in His image.

2. Know that you are unique and that people want to know you more.

3. Focus your will onto something meaningful (relationships!).

4. Lean into your fears; learn that things do not have to be perfect.

5. Learn that people usually don’t care about the things that bother you.

6. Learn to take a small hill. Start small and invite people into your life.

7. Make soul-friends, friends who get what you are all about.

8. Love the unlovely. Does it really matter what your house looks like?

9. Combat materialism. You don’t need the newest or the best.

10. Fight cynicism, which can drain us of hope, creativity, and energy — all building blocks for courage.

{via}

preggy pants

No, not a new nickname from the hubs for this pregnancy (transformers had just come out when I was pregnant with Emma and he affectionately took to calling me "pregatron" any time my hormones got the best of me).

"optimus preg" {not an original drawing, but I can't remember where I found it}

I had a pair of Karen T jeans when big in the belly last year, thanks to my MIL (whose name happens to  be Karen!). She got them for me at a little boutique in Idaho and I haven't found them anywhere since. I LOVED them and couldn't understand why women are always complaining about maternity pants. They have the low elastic waist band and fit just like my normal jeans, but with extra give. They're awesome.

This time around, I got some jeans from Motherhood Maternity and found out why people hate maternity pants. These have a full belly panel, and fit very comfortably until they start to fall down the second you move in them. And I know it's not the size - I tried L, M, and S and they all had the fall-down problem. After wearing them for a while and doing the hike-them-up-every-2-seconds-thing, I got frustrated and started trying some different approaches.

No-fall-jeans trial #1: Roll down the belly panel.

This only made things fall faster, which is no bueno.

Yep, I'm that big already.

No-fall-jeans trial #2: Keep panel up, but tuck in an undershirt.

We have a winner! Tucking in the under shirt gives the panel something to grab on to so it doesn't move when I do. The only problem I can see with this is when it's mid-July and I've got 3 layers of fabric over my huge belly. Definitely looking for some low-panel elastic waisted shorts!

Happy May! And more Kitchen Ideas

I can't believe it's already May - this year is flying by! The warm weather and less rain will be a welcome change for me and my little lady (she loves playing outside!). We didn't let April's showers hold us back, though; we used them as opportunities to try out our rain coats:

She's quite the cutie if I do say so myself!

When we're not playing outside, we're making plans for our new kitchen. I'm so excited and nervous about finally getting to renovate our own place.  I've only gotten to see a little bit of the work my hubby's done in other people's homes and I can't wait to see how ours turns out - he's so good at what he does!

We've already got the cabinets and countertop, thanks to a job he did a few weeks back. We've also got flooring and appliances thanks to another job (he always asks homeowners if he can snag stuff they're going to be getting rid of - most of the time it's not very old and it's going to save us a huge chunk of change!)

I'll try to take photos of my floor and countertop samples soon so you guys get a sneak peek, but for now we'll start with layout. Here's what it looks like now:

FYI - floorplanner.com is my new best friend. You should definitely check it out!

And here's the plan:

We'll be turning our cramped, tiny living room/dining room/kitchen area into one big open room. I'll go into more details about what the changes will look like in future posts, but for now what do you think of the plan?