The Other Thing About Moving Is....

You get behind on blogging. 

We are semi-settled now into life in Chattanooga. I am still pinching myself over this fact: that I live now live in Chattanooga. Many days it still feels like we are just here for a long visit and that in a week or so, I will have to go back to Alabama. Now, Alabama isn't bad. I'm a big fan, but living in Chattanooga once again surrounded by family and friends was a dream that I had gotten used to believing may never happen for us. So I am still trying to wrap my mind around this dream come true. The other morning, I had taken Hudson to the back bedroom to change his diaper and had left the boys in the living room watching a video only to come back to find that my boys were sitting on my Mom's lap giggling with each other and swapping kisses and hugs. She was there, had stopped by  on her way to work, just to get kisses and hugs from "her boys" as she calls them. And three nights ago, Alder asked me if he could spend the night "just by himself with KeeKee, JoeJoe, and Uncle Jes" and asked me to "call KeeKee to check and see if that would be alright." I did and he went. I can't believe these things are happening and I am oh-so-grateful! Jared is loving his job. Absolutely loving it and looks forward to a bright future there. Now, if we could just sell our 2 houses in Demopolis so we could buy our own house here and get really settled. I am posting the pictures of the before and after of our house we bought and renovated a mere weeks before we moved. I think it turned out pretty darn fantastic. If you are looking to own a house with the zip code of 36732 in wonderful Demop (its a 3 bedroom, 3 bath with a new kitchen), we would love you to buy 502 N.Main or our other house just right next door.

Isn't she pretty?

502 N. Main 

Before and After Shots

*please ignore the dusty, white hardwood floors. the floors were diligently cleaned after we had moved and i am told they sparkle. we just couldn't get it all done before we rolled out of town.*

The Lott House aka The "Have-We-Lost-Our-Ever-Loving Minds?" House

 This little cutie of a house with the sweet, sun-faded 4 wheeler out front is our newest addition to the chaos in our lives.

This house is right next to our house and we recently purchased it to renovate and then to sell or to rent. Jared and I love old homes. Actually love is a bit of an understatement-we adore and are slightly obsessed with them. Jared currently serves on two boards here in Demopolis that serve to protect, enrich, and rebuild the old homes in and around Demopolis. Well, we thought we would buy this one and transform it or rather get it back to its "original self."  This house had been in the same family for generations upon generations and the lady who sold it to us was actually born in the front room over 70 years ago. Mrs. Lott had gotten too old and had not be able to keep up the house anymore and so we were glad to be able to buy it and fix it up. It needs painting, all new flooring throughout, a new kitchen, new bathrooms, lighting, and the list continues. So these last few weeks I have added a new title to my already demanding job: CONTRACTOR. 

No worries, I have done this before with our own house and so Jared and I are banking on our previous experience to get The Lott house restored. 

I will say though it has added a new level of demands on me (and Jared too). I have painters ringing my doorbell in the middle of me nursing the baby. I have flooring guys knocking on my door while I am feeding everyone lunch asking me a handful of questions. I have a baby in my arms and my bigger boys racing through the house only coming back to me with "mudding dust" all over them or Kingston with a dead roach in his hand. 

Its pretty much craziness. 

I thought I would post BEFORE and AFTER pictures and give a little sneak peak on what it will (hopefully) end up looking like when we are finished.   

Our house to the right in the photo.

Foyer with terrible laminate on the floor.

Entrance Hallway

Dining Room

Kitchen

Kitchen (looking into dining room at right)

Mudroom/Backdoor entrance

Mudroom window

Living Room

Bedroom 1 (yes, those are vines growing into the house)

Jack 'n Jill bathroom

Bedroom 2

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Our materials and color choices. 

Stay tuned. 

Nesting, Stain Removal Tip, Spring Flowers, and HELP!!!

I have been busy. I have been nesting with fury. This obsession with being prepared and organized and so on is not unlike me normally, but it only intensifies when I become 9 months pregnant. I believe it has only become increasingly more, well, obsessive since I will be having my 3rd baby in 38 months and thats, well, a little intense. So, I made lists, checked them twice, employed the help of my WONDERFUL mother-n-law for several days a few weeks ago, and worked like mad. We cooked and cooked and cooked. We cleaned and washed and organized. I have filled up my cabinets, pantry, and closets. I feel like if there was a national emergency we would make it swimmingly with all my stockpiles (although I am not quite sure how I would feel about having the baby in my bathtub with only my hubby to assist). I think I will find comfort in these pictures weeks from now when I am snowed in under huge amounts of chaos and deep into a baby moon. They will remind me that.... yes, I was organized at one point and may get there again. 

I do have to share this wonderful tip on stain removal though. I am very diligent about cleaning my clothes and especially my children's since so many of them are hammy-downs and I want to return them in the condition that they were given to me. So I am a Nazi about getting stains out, but I do not have neither the time nor energy to stand over the sink and work on each piece of stained clothing. SO......my dear friend Amanda passed this little "potion" along to me and it works GREAT! It is gentle on ALL clothes, you can soak clothes for days in the stuff and nothing gets discolored, and you can add a scoop to each load (whites and darks and everything in between) to boost stain removing chances. I love it. Also, my children have decently sensitive skin and I have not had an issue with any rashes or what not. The recipe is simple.....

1 PART REGULAR CASCADE

1 PART BIZ

1 PART CLOROX 2

Mix all together and your set. I put mine in this lovely container I grabbed at Wal-Mart, shake a shake a, and away I go. 

Enjoy!

And here are some lovely spring flowers that the boys and I cut the other day. We drove around and had such a fun time cutting the branches and talking about springtime. 

And our bulb experiment seems to be doing wonderfully....

our hyacinths have bloomed and the tulips are on the verge. Alder is loving his job of spraying them down with water every few days and watching them flourish. Kingston really just loves the rocks in which they grow.

And lastly......I am asking for HELP!!! I recently inherited this sofa from my Grandmother's storage unit a few weeks back and Jared and I CANNOT seem to find a fabric (or agree on one) to suit this piece. We need to update it with the fabric we pick, but nothing to "printy" since it needs to remain sort of neutral and be able to "move" nicely if we were to do so in the next couple of years. Has anyone run across a good fabric lately? Something that is just perfect for this sofa??? I know its a long shot, but I thought I would ask. I am hoping maybe some of my regular (and ubber talented) readers like this one or this one will read this post and give their two sense. HAHA. I would love any recommendations. 

**Please ignore the side table that is in this pic....it was just there until we moved it to the attic (sadly we did not have a place for it in our house currently), the ugly flash on the picture, and the messy playroom all the way at the end of the hall.**