Cabinet Makeover

I just realized it's been over two weeks since my last post-eek! Sorry to anyone who actually reads this thing! Between settling into the house and David's crazy work schedule this blog has definitely taken a backseat. Hopefully now that our bigger projects are done on the house I'll have more time, though I'm not making any promises with a busy toddler running around!

What do I mean when I say "big projects"? While the house was in pretty good shape when we moved in, it still needed some work for it to be considered "home". It's hard because when you move you leave a house that you spent years making the perfect home and then you end up starting from scratch all over again. Some people enjoy the thrill of starting over, and while I do to a certain extent, this type-A mama wants to be settled and done! I keep having to remind myself that "Rome wasn't built in a day" and the house won't be settled overnight.

I did decide very early on that the dated maple cabinets in the kitchen had.to.go. They didn't match the tile the previous owners had laid down and weren't what we had in mind when we were looking for the house. After some research and a few price quotes (helloooooooo, expensive) I decided I could tackle this beast on my own. I headed to Home Depot where I found a kit from Rust Oleum that provided all the tools I needed to DIY this thing!

My parents were in town for the weekend helping with a few other things (you don't realize how incredibly helpful garage door openers are until you don't have them!!) so my mom and I tested the kit on the bathroom vanity. It turned out great! After that success story I decided I could tackle the kitchen on my own. David took down the first set of cabinet doors and there was no looking back!

First step was to degloss all of the cabinets with the handy-dandy deglosser they included in the kit. You wait an hour before you move onto the next step of bond coat. This takes 2-3 coats and requires 2-3 hours of wait time in between each coat. The final step is the top coat which requires a 12-hour dry time before you can rehang the cabinets. That is it. I propped the iPad up and watched quite a few episodes of Gilmore Girls to keep me from getting bored and went at it. 

The Before.

Preparing for the base coat.

 First part of the kitchen.

Gotta keep going. . . 

. . . and going. . .  

The After!

Please excuse the messiness-we have a toddler, aka certified mess maker.

It was a process. Oh, was it a process. But I'm definitely glad I did it. There were quite a few steps required to get it done, but in retrospect the steps I did were a lot less than a lot of other methods I Googled. It opened up the kitchen and really makes it feel bigger. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

Home Sweet Home

It's official-we have a house!! After three longgggg months in an apartment we could have fit multiple of in our Concord house, we found a fantastic house in Holly Springs. 

I mentioned a month or so ago I posted about my thoughts on house hunting in this hot market. Before we got to this house we had put in offers on four other houses; all either at or above asking price. We were beginning to feel very discouraged and I may have sworn we would be in an apartment for the rest of our lives (okay, okay, I was being a smidgen dramatic). When our realtor sent us the house we almost didn't go; David was hesitant because of the distance from work. We were heading to Fuquay Varina that evening to visit with some good friends so we decided to go on our way to Fuquay, and boy am I glad that we did!

From the moment we walked in, the house felt right. Everything from the updated kitchen to semi-open floorpan caught our attention so by the time we went upstairs we knew we would be putting in an offer. We talked with our realtor and asked if we could get moving quickly given how hot the market was. We got the offer together that evening and by the next afternoon we were under contract-whoooo!

Now, it's not perfect (hellooooooo, 15-year old AC unit) but it is perfect for us. The floor plan works perfectly for our family and allows us to grow in the coming years. The yard is huge and meets up to the neighborhood greenway trail. The lot next to us is owned by the neighborhood and can never be built on. And while we may never have the wonderful cow neighbors again, we do back up to trees which offer a lot of privacy.

We are so excited to continue to tailor this home and make it our own!

Thoughts on House Hunting

Do you know what's stressful? House hunting is stressful. Yea, sure, it's fun. Or, at least parts of it are fun, but as it continues it becomes stressful. A month and a half into our hunt and we have driven countless miles, lost track of how many houses we have seen, and put in four offers to be back at square one. 

When we put our house on the market we loved the fact that the market was so hot. It meant fourteen showings in three days and multiple offers. We were riding high! Now, on the other side of coin, we are drained. We have seen houses in immaculate condition and houses that are falling apart. We have been to the top of our price range and to the bottom. We have waited outside houses to go in (because so many others are there) and have been some of the first. It's exhausting, but has taught us a lot. A few things we have learned:

pictures can do wonders

There are some really good photographers out there who can make a rough house looks amazing. Unfortunately for them pictures can only take you so far. . .

asking price just won't cut it

In this market you better be prepared to go above and beyond asking if you really want a house. 

not all realtors are equal

Our realtor is AMAZING. She has been so helpful and has truly gone above and beyond. If it weren't for her I'm pretty sure I would have lost it already.

the TV shows are not realistic
"Reality" is definitely not what those "reality" house hunting TV shows are. There are WAY more than three houses to see and usually takes more than one day to see them all and make a decision.

we are very fortunate
We are so fortunate to be able to go on this crazy/fun adventure!

Preparing for Departure

One week from today a team of packers will be descending upon our home and packing up four years of memories. A week from tomorrow we will be pulling out of our driveway for the very last time. 

Cue the tears

Don't get me wrong, we know that God is guiding us to Raleigh and has wonderful plans for our family there, but the ache of leaving our first house is pretty raw right now. This is the house we pinched pennies and saved for. This is the house we sought for months. This is the house we watched come together from the bare bones. This is the house we hosted countless community groups and family gatherings. This is the house I healed in after Emerson and the same house we brought Amelia Grace home to a year and a half later. 

Our first house.

I know it's only a house and there will be others, but this house will forever be our first. 

Nursery Fit for a Princess

I am pleased to report we have FINALLY finished the Nursery and we are all ready for our baby girl to make her arrival next month!

View from the doorway.

We started the Nursery process a year and a half ago while readying our lives for Emerson. We painted and David put together the furniture my aunt kindly gifted to us when my cousins were done. That's about as far as we got we received the news we lost her. Until recently the room just sat empty. 

Flash forward to about two months ago when we really kicked it into high gear to personalize the Nursery for Miss Amelia Grace. It was about this time that we started sifting through the few gifts we received and start tidying things up. David also kindly hung up the frames and wall decor we had picked up along the way. I also found enough energy one afternoon to craft a few puff flowers out of tissue paper. The end result was a room fit for our princess!

Changing table with waiting doll baby:-)

The sign about reads: Promise me you'll always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. 

 The glider I'm sure is going to get  A LOT of use!

Dresser with adorable owl lamp (Hobby Lobby snag for $17!)

Her reading corner:-)

The crib with my homemade puff flowers!

Gallery Wall Fun

Anyone who has ever been on Pinterest knows the popularity of the gallery wall. My original obsession with it began last summer. I found some frames I liked, cut out paper to plan the organization on the wall, and waited for my handy hubby to help me. A year later we had nothin'. Enter summer vacay and a plethora of time to troll around Pinterest and reignite my excitement, much to my hubby's chagrin. 

I set out for IKEA with a new plan in mind and stocked up on frames. I decided that the organization freak in me wouldn't do well with the "organized clutter" look. I wanted a pattern and plan. I bought enough frames to keep the IKEA frame section in business and got to planning. David wasn't super comfortable with making a gajillion holes in the wall so he researched some and found these awesome sticky things from 3M.  We highly suggest these for all your wall hanging needs!

If you follow me on Instagram you know this was a work in progress. We had to hang a picture, wait an hour for the stickers to adhere. Put the picture up, then space the next set of frames out and continue.

It may have taken all week, but the frames are all up! Next step is getting some pictures in those frames. . .

Friday's Letters [07.19]

Happy Friday, folks!!

Dear creatures, Why are you hanging out at our house?? Seriously, go away!



Dear AC Moore, Please stop sucking me in with all your fun, crafty projects. My budget cannot handle all these new purchases.

Dear Davido, Thanks for letting me tag along on your trip! I think I could get used to this Colorado thang. . .

Dear world, Would you visit us if we moved to Colorado? Because this place is pretty stellar.

Friday's Letters [06.21]

Happy Friday, folks!!

Dear Suzy Subaru, You sure are giving us some grey hairs this week! Between the pulling on the interstate to the tire tumor, you are giving us a run for our money. If I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to end up in car heaven. . .

Dear summer vacay, I am LOVING this sleeping in, running errands, cleaning our house for the first time in eons, napping, so on and so forth. I could get used to this. . .

Dear Davido, Sorry about the onslaught of house chores. The good news is our house is going to look like it popped out of a magazine by the end of summer-yay house projects!

Dear Crossfit, Whoooeeee you have made me sore in places I didn't know could be sore. I love the workout but would really appreciate being able to get out of bed and get dressed in the morning. Appreciate it.

Calling All Green Thumbs

Calling all green thumbs, we need your help! We have a lovely little piece of our yard that needs some TLC. 

Up close

A ways back

 The neighbors with the fluffy white terrorist finally finished their fence (HOORAY!) and while we are very grateful for this addition to the neighborhood, it has caused some issues for David in the mowing department. I don't know if you can tell but the yard slopes down into a little ditch and rises back up in the corner. David used to be able to turn the lawnmower around at the top, but the fence makes this very difficult. We know we want to plant some thing there, but have no idea what to do. 

This is where you (hopefully) come in. . . it gets sunlight almost all day and I'm an idiot when it comes to plants, so anything high maintenance should be removed from the list. I'm thinking something that is pretty and hard to kill

Any thoughts??

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend started pretty low-key with a date night out. The weather was gorgeous so we skedaddled over to an outdoor mall (picture a mini-Charleston) for supper and to walk around. We decided on Baja Soul Taqueria for their delicious, fresh Mexican.

The perfect way to kick off the meal.

Gigantor burrito and street corn.

My handsome hubby.

 Delicious salad with all fresh ingredients!

Saturday morning had us at Lowe's bright and early for planting supplies. 

According to my father these puppies are hard to kill and very low-maintenance. My kind of plant!

Poor Suzy was loaded down!

David spent the day doing outside work (which he did a FABULOUS job at!) while I Spring cleaned the inside and ran errands. A pretty boring day, right? Wrong! That afternoon things got interesting. . .

We were both minding our own business, me looking for a recipe for homemade pokey ticks and David chatting with our neighbors, when out of nowhere a dog comes and attacks our poor Daisy! This dog was tied to a tree (they live next door to us) and had pulled itself loose. She had raced from behind our houses and straight to the front towards our sweet girl! One minute I was sitting on the ottoman looking up recipes, the next thing I know I see something small and white whip past the window and then these two dogs come barreling at me. 

One thing you have to know about Daisy is that she is very timid of other dogs. Even if she is the bigger of the two she will cower down. She has never been aggressive towards another dog, or a human. David worked very hard to train her that way. So, when a dog comes on too fast Daisy just runs. Sometimes it can be annoying, but for the most part I am thankful that she doesn't stir things up. When this dog came racing to her she ran to me for protection. I knew better than to put my hand down in the middle, but was freaking out at what to do. The door was open since David had just stepped outside and he came racing in as he heard me scream hysterically. He was able to get the rat dog off of Daisy was she cowered against the wall. He stepped on the leash and picked up the little terror by the rope. Keep in mind the dog was still yapping and trying to attack. He took it over and gave it back to the son there.

Here's the kicker, this is not the first time this dog has attacked. It attacked Daisy last Spring, but the mother was out and quickly got it under control. Then, last summer it attacked a child! The little boy had only gone over to see if their younger son could play and when they opened the door the dog attacked the kid. It was so bad it broke the skin and they had to take him to the ER. You may be asking, "why the heck is this dog still around??", so are we!

In the end Daisy is fine; no skin was broken. I called animal control, but never heard back or saw a car. I plan on calling again to follow-up. Our neighborhood is FULL of kids of all ages and I hate to imagine what would happen if that terror got loose and no one was around to get it off the kid. 

Any suggestions on taking care of this??

What Now?

I bit the bullet and got this. . .

So what now?

This was prompted by a series of things. 

Prompting 1:

David gave up dairy and began drinking coconut milk instead. After a lot of research we determined that drinking milk was not good for us. It gives both of us stomachaches and makes us feel sluggish. My concern was losing the calcium it provided, but my fears were shut down when I remembered the gigantor calcium supplements the nephrologist has me taking to counteract the bone depreciation of the prednisone. After more research we realized how wonderful coconut really is.

Prompting 2:

Pinterest peeps are pinning it left and right. It seemed like every time I get on Pinterest someone has pinned something about coconut oil. I followed a few of the links and learned all that it offered for your health.

Prompting 3:

It offers an alternative to a variety of things. Need a household cleaner? Try coconut oil. Want to get rid of acne? Try coconut oil. Want to fix a squeaky hinge? Try coconut oil.

So, after collecting all this information I picked some up. The question becomes, what now? There are so many options I don't know where to start!

Have you ever used coconut oil??

Friday's Letters [02.08]

Happy Friday, folks! Want to blog? Link up with The Sweet Season for Friday's Letters!

Dear Davido, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am so excited to celebrate your birthday even though you would prefer it pass without even a whisper. You're a quarter of a century old now, old man, we better do all the celebrating we can:-)

Dear long week, You have thoroughly kicked my booty. I cannot wait to relax this weekend with the hubby and leave you in the dust.

Dear OB appointment, You make me nervous. You probably will for many visits to come. Please provide us with results of some sort. We'd appreciate it if you could toss some good news in there too. It's very draining to continue to visit doctors and continue to be disappointed. . . thanks.

Dear freshly painted house, You look amazing! Grassland was the perfect shade to complement the furniture and woods throughout the house. You make it seem so much more homey and we are very pleased with it!

 This picture doesn't do it justice!

Dear Spring Break, What to do? What to do? What to do? Where would you like us to go to celebrate your gloriousness? Preferably somewhere warm and sunny so we can kiss this gloomy winter goodbye!

Friday's Letters

It's been a while since I've linked up for Friday's Letters, but I figured today was a good day to get back into the groove.

Dear February, Thank you for finally arriving. January was rough for us there at the beginning, but through God's grace we started to see the light through the darkness. The Mobleys are ready to see what good things February has in store for us!

Dear Friday, Welcome. You are culminating my first FULL week back, so your arrival means much more this time around. I am excited to celebrate with date night this evening at a new restaurant with a stroll around a local used bookstore afterwards. Do we sound old? Probably. Do we care? Nope.

Dear students, I cannot thank you enough for your warm welcome back. You have picked up right where we left off in December without a second thought. I am so thankful for every single one of y'all.

Dear crafty folks, Anyone have a fun, inexpensive craft to do? I was bitten by the crafting bug again last weekend and want to keep going. The only issue? How expensive they can get. I'd love to hear y'alls suggestions!

Dear house, I am excited for your new changes, are you? You are probably going to give David a conniption fit over how it will all look, but I have faith it will turn out fabulous. I cannot wait to see how you look without all that builder's white!

Operation Nursery

From the moment we found out we were expecting, I have wanted to work on the Nursery. My lives-in-the-real-world husband was good about reminding me we should probably wait a bit before until we decorate because I'm likely to change my mind 15 times. He's so wise, that one. We knew the room that we would use as the Nursery namely because it was the only room in the house without furniture in it. We go for simplicity around here, folks.

So, when I was about three and a half months pregnant we went ahead with the first step of painting. Choosing a color wasn't difficult because we knew we wanted this to be the Nursery for any future children we had-boys or girls. We went with a neutral color referred to by Lowe's as "tranquility". Honestly, it's a lovely sea foam green color. Something that would look good with blue accents for a boy and pink accents for a girl. We dove right into it on a Friday evening and finished in just a few hours. Minor touch-ups were completed the next day but overall it turned out pretty well!

We decided not to purchase any furniture because my super sweet and generous aunt had furniture from my cousins she was more than willing to pass along to us! And before any one freaks out my last cousin isn't even in kindergarten yet so things still meet code:-) We saw it for the first time at Thanksgiving, and I couldn't wait to get it home and set up. It sat in my parents' garage for a few weeks before they kindly brought it down to us. We made plans to put it together this past weekend, so imagine my surprise when I come home Friday afternoon from a long week at work to see this. . .

My sweet husband had put it all together to surprise me! I sure got a good one:-) 

The next step? Wall hangings. We picked up some things when we were in Boone a few months ago that I can't wait to put up. After that we'll get a dresser of some sort and bedding then we should be all set for her! It's making it all so much more real!

Friday's Letters [10.18]

Happy Friday one and all! I'm linking up with Adventures of Newlyweds for another edition of Friday's Letters!

Dear Mumford & Sons, You are total awesome sauce. From the moment I bought your album 2 weeks that is all I have listened to. I may have to break down and buy your entire collection. Want to throw in a discount?

Dear pregnancy brain, You are soooooo not a myth. Everything from forgetting to wash my hair when I take a shower to taking my students to lunch TEN MINUTES EARLY has completely thrown this type-A organizer for a loop. On a side-note, I've taken the kiddos at the same time all year and not a single one of them said something. Gotta love middle schoolers and their love of socializing:-)

Dear house projects, We have quite a few of you coming upon us this weekend. How about y'all go easy on us and actually work the way you are supposed to? K, thanks!

Dear David, You are going to do amazing when you preach on Sunday-I just know it! I am so excited to hear what the Lord has to say through you!

Dear Apple/AT&T, This is getting ridiculous! It's been 3 weeks and you originally told us 24-48 hours. I would call and complain, but I know that's not going to do any real good. Seriously though, how about you get on the ball and get those phones out!

Friday's Letters [09.28]

Happy Friday!

Dear spiders, What is going on?! It seems like every time I open a door to our house you sneak in. I know you're good for killing other bugs, but I have a hard time remembering hat when I see you scurrying across our kitchen floor. How about y'all just vamoosh?

Dear slow drivers on one-lane roads, I totally get and respect the speed limit. It's there for a reason. Meaning you should be going at least that speed! It makes for a super frustrating drive to work when I get stuck behind you and cannot pass you.
 
Dear readers, Have you heard of the Matched series by Ally Condie? I started yesterday and was hooked from page one! There are only two books in the series so far, but the third one is coming out in November-score! It's a cross between The Giver books and The Hunger Games. Don't expect to get much done once you start reading. . .

Dear school techie people, Whose brilliant idea was it to schedule a maintenance over the weekend?? Don't y'all know that's when teachers actually have time to catch up on work?! I SUPER appreciate all the awesome y'all do for us, but that is really putting a damper on my weekend to-do list.

Dear iPhone 5 owners, What do ya think? Is it worth the plunge? I'm due for an upgrade, but after all the stuff I heard last weekend about the maps and stuff I want to check to see if it's worth it.

Happy Birthday House!

It has officially been one year since we closed on our house, and my has time flown. A year in the apartment and I was chomping at the bit to get out. A year in the house and I feel like we are still settling in. It is definitely home to us, but parts of it are still new. There is a great balance that was never there in the apartment. It may have something to do with the fact that it is ours to play with, or maybe it's the fact that we now have a place to invite others. Whatever the reason, we are very thankful. So today we will be celebrating by lounging around and preparing for the many years we have to continue to make this house home.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
-Joshua 24:15

Friday's Letters [08.10]

It's a fantastical Friday to link up with Adventures of Newlyweds!

Dear coffee, What would I do without you? You are the boost that gets me going in the morning, and the little oompf I need again by afternoon. If it were not for your awesome sauceness I would probably only make sense 5% of the time. Thanks for all that you do and keep on rocking it.

Dear house fixer upper people, I totally get that y'all have a long list of places to visit and people to please, but a four hour window? Really? With the few precious days I have left before school kicks back into gear there are 34229843 things on my to-do list, all of which seem to need to happen away from the house. What are the chances y'all could coordinate and come on the same day? Or, even better, actually come at a reasonable time?

Dear Cori H., Congrats, you are the winner of a copy of Mission Possible! Be on the lookout for an email with shipping details:-)

Dear readers, Over a hundred followers?! Wow. I am honored that y'all care enough about my incessant rambling to want to read more. I am touched. Be on the lookout for another giveaway to recognize all of your awesomeness in the coming weeks!

Dear Davido, Thank you for not only understanding, but for also getting my crazy. I know I am not always the easiest person to live with, what with my need to always have ten projects going at once and my total inability to ever sit still. I really appreciate you and your way of reminding me to chillax.

Dear leopard shoes, How did I possibly forget your existence? You are super cute and comfy, a rarity in shoes. I apologize for my negligence. Get ready to rock this world.

Wordless Wednesday [08.01]

30 Before 30: Cookout

One of the tasks on my 30 Before 30 List was to host a cookout. I was really hoping to have a big soiree to show off our expanded patio, but that would require us to have expanded our patio. It's in the plans, but won't be happening for quite some time now. The opportunity to host over the long weekend presented itself and the "Martha" in me just couldn't say no!

I have always loved celebrating summer with family and friends. There is something about gathering 'round the grill with a corn hole tournament going that is really good for the soul. Now that we have a house we can finally host our very own cookout! We ended up having 4/5 of the Wardlets together again (missed ya, Manda Panda!) which is impressive in and of itself. We also had a few of my close friends from childhood over to catch up and celebrate life.

The smell of burgers and hot dogs greeted guests out back along with a table filled to the brim with sides, dips, and desserts. As neat as it is to be able to host and provide food for everyone, there is something about inviting everyone to share their signature dish. I can't wait to get some the recipes to share with y'all!

A few pictures from the weekend:

TJ and Megan came to visit us from Raleigh!

Bored? Crack out the Mario Kart of course!

Friends for over 20 years!

Family portrait:-)

How many engineers does it take to move a light for games?

Can't wait for the next opportunity to open our home up to everyone!