King of Pop

As everyone in the world knows The King of Pop has passed away today :( Michael Jackson was a BIG part of my life when I was little. I listened to his music all the time! I loved it all from the old stuff back in the Jackson Five days to his most recent. MJ was such a GREAT entertainer in every aspect of the word! I know he turned alittle weird the older he got but if you look as his childhood you can't help but be inspired by him. He overcame so much abuse to become one of the few names that will live on forever. So to Michael, your music and legacy will live on forever and to his family and all those who loved him, my prayers are with you!

Share your favorite MJ song!

Mine is :

Man in the mirror

My Perfect Job

Since Addie was born Graham has given me the best gift he could ever give me, he works very hard so that I can be a stay-at-home mommie. I could NEVEr Ever tell him how much this means to me.

Let me back up, growing up I didn't play house, I played business. My dream from a small age was to have a business, work as a CEO or something along that line. I know, BIG dreams, lol. As I got older and started studying business in college my dreams changed. I wanted to graduate college, move to New York City and world with the Stock Exchange. After taking a few international finance classes I decided that I wanted to work with money exchanges. I graduated with my Bachelor's of Finance and got married. I started looking for my perfect job, nine months into our marriage, Graham and I found out we were pregnant. Now, I am not going to lie, I was alittle upset at the very first. I had always wanted to have a career, be successful, and have my own money before kids. I really thought I didn't want kids till I was 30ish. God had a different plan! Isn't it funny how we make all these plans and the God throws us a curve ball as if to say, "haha, your not in control, I AM!" Instead of continuing the search for a perfect job and having to leave as soon as I got it, I put that on hold. Eight months later we were blessed to welcome Addison Nell Hines into the world!

When Addie was born I quit my job because I knew IF Graham made me go back to work I was going to do something in my field of study. When my 6 weeks were up I had a break down and told him I didn't want to go to work, I wanted to stay at home with my angel. I remember him laughing and saying, "honey if that is what you want, that's fine. We will be fine! We may not be able to take grand vacations, buy a big house, but I'm willing to put that all on hold if you want to stay home." See Graham thought I wanted to go to work, he had no idea I wanted to stay at home! Silly Graham, what mother doesn't want to stay at home??

So that began the journey of my "Perfect Job". I had NO idea that being a house-wife and stay-at-home mom would be my dream job, but it is, and it is what God intended all along! Even though my bonuses are smiles, hugs and kisses Money could never compare! I love walking into Addie's room every morning and seeing her hair all crazy, jumping around in her crib, then seeing me and holding her arms out. BY FAR the best part of my day!

Over the past 16 months I have become EXTREMELY domestic. I cook dinner and have it on the table every evening at 5:30 on the dot! I make a meat and one veggie side. I bake CONSTANTLY and really don't understand why Graham and I are loosing weight instead of gaining??lol. I clean everyday all day, I am constantly picking up toys, and loose snacks Addie and Ellie throw on the floor. I steam mop my floors in the kitchen and living room ATLEAST 2 times a day and I vaccum my rug in the living room ATLEAST 3 times a day! I do laundry on Mondays and usually Thursday or Friday. But all this cleaning and baking is not all I do...............I attend and sometimes host Tea Parties, picnics, I play dress up and take pictures, I watch Barney and play outside. Sometimes we get a blanket and lay in the yard and read books, this is something my mom did with me and I LOVE doing it with my little girl! I change LOTS of diapers, Lately we have been running to the potty constantly too! I give baths, I sing silly songs, we dance and we make tents under the kitchen table! Don't get me wrong all this play is very tiring and when Addie takes a nap........I have to clean up!

I love my life and hope it lasts forever! Thank you to my most AMAZING husband for giving me this opportunity! I LOVE YOU!

Hump-Day Treats!

Wednesdays are usually the day I bake some YUMMY treats. So I'm going to start sharing them with you through Hump-Day Treats! I messed up alittle this week because my bananas were getting old and I baked yesterday. I made some YUMMY Banana Bread, here is the recipe:

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/2 cups smashed bananas

*When I bake, I take a recipe and change it till it's the way I like it. I have worked on this banana bread for several months and finally got it Perfect!*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl- mix flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside

In a medium bowl- cream the brown sugar and butter with a mixer, then STIR in eggs and bananas

Stir banana mix into the flour mix and blend well.

*I use a wooden spoon so there are chunks of bananas, if you want it smoother use a mixer*

Bake in a greased pan for about an hour. Check it at 45 mins it may be done.

Let it cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then put it on a wire rack to finish cooling!

Cut and enjoy!

Addie and Ellie LOVE this bread! I usually make two batches and use one batch for muffins! You can also freeze these for a later use!

Kitchen.........again :)

So I have TOTALLY changed the whole Kitchen Remodel!


The other night Graham said if you want to change the color of the kitchen this is the time to do it. That thought hadn't even crossed my mind! WOOOHOOO I thought! See a year or so ago Heather had an idea of a________kitchen and didn't do it, but I thought it was ADORABLE! So after getting her permission I have been working overtime to get all the colors, countertops, hardware, sink, etc to go together. Even though Graham isn't LOVING the new color scheme (which I just don't care anymore :), Addie and I are going to Home Depot to pick new countertops and paint colors and hardware. I know, most of you don't care but this is my life right now so it's what I am going to post about :)





I have come up with an AWESOME decorating idea for this room, here is alittle hint:

Randomness

So this is how hard it is to get Addie to look at the Camera!

And we Gave up after that one :)

After a week of arguing about the kitchen remodel, colors of the roof (I'll tell you more later), and just normal, "why can't you pick up your clothes from the floor (me to Graham)" , " Do you not know where the dish washer is?? (me to graham, AGAIN)" , and " I've had a LOOONNNGG day YOU put Addie to bed (me to Graham)", Graham set up a date for us on Friday night. I REALLY needed it! We started off having dinner at Red Lobster. It was so nice to be able to have a glass of wine, and just talk with my sweetie, without having to entertain Addie! I love her to death, but she is NOT GOOD at restaurants :) After dinner, Graham ran into a few stores with me to give his opinion on some dresses I have picked out for Sam and Nikki's wedding on the beach in September (Graham's brother). We ended the night with a movie, my pick! Ofcourse I picked:
It was GREAT!

Last week sometime Graham put safety things on the cabinets and Addie helped him! She was so proud of herself!

I know this post was all over the place! Sorry! Have a Great TUESDAY!!!

I love my husband BUT......He is CRAZY

You know how couple get divorces when they build a house together........................well Graham and I may get a divorce just trying to MINIMALLY redo the kitchen! HE IS HORRIBLE TO WORK WITH!

Here is how our evening went.......

Graham calls and says lets run out to Lowe's and get a REAL estimate on the cost of the counter tops, paint, hardware, lighting, range hood, and sink. Although I was in the middle of getting estimates on a new roof, getting Ellie home, taking Addie from my mom's house (we went swimming and she took a nap there) to Dottie's house and running down to the church to meet the fence guy (we are putting in a fence to keep the little kids in one place) I managed to get it all done, jump in the shower and be ready to go when he got home (I had about half an hour!). We get to Lowe's, find the sample of counter tops we want and proceed to find someone to help us with the estimate. After pressing the call button and waiting AWHILE a guy comes up and says that the counter top guys leave at 6 and won't be back till 10 a.m. tomorrow. Now if you know Graham you know he is pretty quiet, and generally a nice guy to everyone.........well not tonight, he got mad, proceeded to tell the guy that it was STUPID for the store to be opened till 9 and not have anyone there to help. He said that he works all day so that he can afford counter tops and he couldn't be back at 10 in the morning. He then turned around and walked away while saying VERY LOUDLY, " I will NEVER buy anything from Lowe's again!" Needless to say, I was Embarrassed.

We went over to Home Depot, found the same counter tops and sat down with the guy to get some prices. Everything went smoothly until we walked over to look at sinks and facets. I just want a basic white sink, after seeing prices of the nice pretty granite sinks Graham agreed to the one I picked. He then walked to the facets, oh my! We had talked before and decided to use the same facet we have because it is really nice and was new when we bought the house. Apparently he didn't remember this. So he tells me to pick one, I say IF we are going to spend money to buy a new one when ours is FINE then this is what I want.................it was like $250. If I am buying a new one, then I am getting a nice black one to go with every other accent in our kitchen. We stand in the isle at Home Depot and fight for 15 minutes about buying a facet or not! AHHHHH!

After a few minutes I walk over to the range hoods, bad idea. I find a NICE one on sale and say what about this? He says there must be something wrong with it since it is on sale like that......OKAY then FIND ONE! We argue YET AGAIN about what looks good and what doesn't. Somehow we end up by the microwaves that vents in them....the ones that go over the stove. Well, the range hood that HE likes is like $198 and a decent microwave vent thing is $220. WHY IN THE WORLD WOULDN'T YOU JUST BUY THE MICROWAVE?????? I'll tell you, because GRAHAM doesn't like microwaves over the stove, and GRAHAM is the MOST important person in this house, and you know it matters to him so much because he is the one that has NO counter space while cooking and it would be so nice to get our current microwave off the counter! Double ARRHHHHH!!

To sum up the whole evening, I am so upset with my CRAZY husband that I am about to go to bed, and I very well could lock the door. We said two words to each other since we have left Home Depot and I'm sure my blood pressure is through the roof! I can NOT imagine building a house with this man, we would NEVER EVER EVER make it! Thanks for listening and letting me vent! I love Graham very much but my goodness some things need to be left to me to decide!

Oh Yeah we changed our counter top color/texture to this color. It has a texture to it! It is alot prettier!

New kitchen!

Wow, we are in the middle of picking things out for our kitchen.................and it seems to be escalating into a whole house remodel! Now Graham wants to tackle the backyard too!

Kitchen:
Our cabinets are in really good shape but just ugly stained cabinets. It makes the room look dark so we are starting by painting them white and adding new hardware! You can imagine the white paint but here are the handles that I LOVE!!

Next off we are going to replace our counter tops. After ALOT of compromising with my wonderful husband (who has too much of an opinion about decorating, I assure you he isn't gay just likes things to look nice,lol) we agreed on these counter tops :

It's called Rustic Slate. Since all our appliances are new (we got when we moved in) and are black, and the cabinets will be white we thought it would look GREAT to have dark counter tops. If you know anything about my house I have used black as an accent color in almost every room. I'm not a dark person I just LOVE black! These counter tops will have alot of colors in them so the next owner will have alot of colors to choose from for the walls.

The other BIG project is to knock out half the wall between our living room and kitchen and make a bar. Our living room and kitchen are two pretty big rooms, so knocking this out will make it seem that much bigger and make it flow better. We are SO excited about this!

So our plan is to go order the counter tops tomorrow night and get started on knocking the wall down, then paint! Hopefully in the next 2 weeks we will have a new kitchen!!

FINALLY!

FINALLY Graham has given me the okay to paint our kitchen cabinets! And POSSIBLY go ahead and tear down half the wall between our kitchen and living room!
I wanted to do this when we bought the house but after painting every blame wall, ceiling and door (which we still have 3 doors not painted ;)) we were burnt out on painting. I also, at that time, thought I HAD to paint the inside too..........well I've seen some cabinets not painted inside and it looks fine!
We are on a tight budget, as everyone is. We both agree that we can go without all the extras so that I can stay at home with Addie. Not that we really go without alot, Graham does a GREAT job of giving me and Addie everything we need and most the stuff we want. When we do have extra money we would rather go on a cool trip than do things to our house..........we will probably always be that way. Have a nice house, but have some AWESOME memories from the cool trips we get to take. We have always prided ourselves in everything we do we do ourselves. We didn't have help from our parents when we bought our house, they didn't pay for paint, cabinets (bathroom) or any remodeling items (not that they didn't try, lol). We really like sitting in our home and knowing that it is all ours, we paid and did everything in it. I am very proud of us for this!
Anyways, this is all we want to do in the kitchen:
1. paint cabinets
2. replace all hardware
3. new counter tops
4. new sink
5. knock out half the wall between kitchen and living rooms and put in a bar (I.E. more counter tops)
6. new lighting in that space
7. new bar stools
8. decorative railing for the top of cabinets
9. range hood (it's the only thing that hasn't been replaced in our kitchen, appliance wise)
10. lighting for the top of cabinets.

It really wouldn't be all that expensive to just do it all at once but I'm NOT going into debt to redo a kitchen when we probably will move with-in the next 3-4 years. So I think we are going to start with painting the cabinets, changing the hardware, and taking the top of our cabinets off and making a shelf, which we will do lighting up there too! Then in a couple of months we will do the rest! I am so excited, this is the last thing INSIDE the house we need to do (it will help with resale value too!).
The outside will cost us like $10,000! So we really will have to wait on that, if we even decided to do it????? Here is that list:

1. Knock a door out of the laundry room (there is no exterior door to the back yard, weird huh??)
2. Buy a door for that
3. Poor concrete on the gravel part beside the side of the house (where our camper stays)
4. Carry that concrete around to make a patio OR
build a deck.
5. Put up a fence (Graham only wants to put up a privacy fence?????)
6. landscaping
7. Furniture
8. MOST IMPORTANTLY---get a HOT TUB!!! (Yeah this will NEVER happen, Graham will never go for that!)

Like I said, $10,000 atleast! Even with us doing most of the work! So that will have to wait, we don't normally keep that much money laying around,lol. Actually if we did, we would be taking a trip to Alaska, Italy or SOMEWHERE!
My plan is to let Addie spend the day and night with mom on a Friday night. Thursday I will take everything out of the cabinets, and sand. Then Friday, while Graham is gone, I will get most the painting done ( i could do it alot faster without him telling me how to do things). Then Saturday we will finish up! I'm hoping it goes that fast! Ellie will be gone on vacation the last week of June so I'm shooting for that weekend! I am so excited!! Pics soon!!

Summertime!

I LOVE SUMMER because:

I can take the girls OUTSIDE to play

I get to have a tan

The Beach

The pool

My mommy is off from work (she is a teacher) and I get to hang out with her alot!

I love the smell of fresh cut grass

I LOVE playing outside in the evenings and..

this year has been the first year Addie is actually fun to play with outside.

Last year we would go outside for alittle while here and there but she couldn't run and play. Now she is everywhere, doing everything (even stuff she isn't supposed to do) and basically into EVERYTHING! But I LOVE IT!

Today, I took the girls to my mom's at about 11 to go swimming. I take Ellie an mom takes Addie in their floats and we play play play! It is a blast. We swim for an hour or so and that's about all the girls can take. So they have lunch and lay down for a nap. This is my fav part..........me and mom just layout in the pool catching up, remembering the past and laughing ALOT! It's even more fun with Cale is there. I Really do have the BEST brother ever! I love these times and know I will cherish them forever!

When Graham got home and was almost finished with cutting the grass Addie and I came home and we all played in the yard the rest of the evening. I know I will remember nights like this for the rest of my life. Tonight was the best just watching Addie and Graham run around in the yard, I can't imagine life being any better than it is right now in this moment. Don't get me wrong, I hope we will have more children and I am sure I will think those are the best days but for now, these are the best days (haha)! Well I hope everyone is having a great start to the summer!!

Forgive me I don't have any pics from today/tonight but here are some I took at the park last Saturday:

My mommy's Blog!

I have to introduce my mom's new blog, angelwithaclippedwing.blogspot.com. Forever now, she has talked about writing a book about my brother. He has a very inspiring story that everyone should hear, so I after ALOT of encouragement she started a blog! I'm so excited to read it everyday, and I know all the stories! I'll give you a brief background on my sweet, wonderful and loving brother.
Cale had a stroke in my mother's belly (sorry I can't say womb it sounds really weird to me) and it caused the left side of his brain to 'die'. I say 'die' because I am not sure if it just stopped growing or it really did died??? ( I know I should know these things) Anyways, even though throughout the entire pregnancy she knew something wasn't right, we didn't know for sure until he was like 5 or 6 months old. After several tests the doctors diagnosed him with Cerebral Palsy (CP). That started a whole lot of tears, fears, thankfulness, and mostly motivation on my parents and Cale's part. Read my mom's blog she will take you through the amazing story of Cale's life, all the heartache, the joys, and how Cale, The Angel with the clipped wing has inspired everyone he meets!

House Plans

Can you believe I have posted so much this week?? I'm so proud of myself!

I came across this picture and I am in LOVE! I have been thinking about and looking at designs for a new house lately and I totally have narrowed it down to two type; Victorian or Colonial.

When I was in high school I went on 2 mission trips to Cape May, NJ, it is on my top 5 places to live list. It is beautiful! Imagine hundreds of Victorian Mansions...........right on the beach! Ahhhh.........perfect! There is also alot of history in this small town. There is one house that was actually cut down the middle, moved down the street and put back together, twice! The first time took place in the winter of 1881, and farmers were hired for the job. They moved the house on giant tree logs pulled by mules and horses! http://angelofthesea.com/ here is the website to read all about it. I went with the adults one day to tour this mansion and other things in Cape May (while all the teenagers went to the beach), I know I'm an old soul! Anyways, it is BEAUTIFUL there. I beg Graham every year to take me there. One day I'll just make him!

Here is the picture that has inspired my rambling:

Isn't it just perfect? I love all the different shapes and details! It's just my dream home! I can imagine sitting on the front porch with my sweetie and a glass of sweet tea watching our kidos playing in the yard. I WANT, no scratch that, I NEED that life! You can not appreciate the beauty of a Victorian mansion unless you see one in person. There are so many details, so much time put in, its just amazing. Can you tell I'm in love? I can imagine the inside, dark hardwood panels from the floor more than half way up the wall, where the top makes a shelf to hold pictures. The real hardwood floors that are scratched and dented (love marks are what I call them), I think they are beautiful and add character. I can see a small closet under the stairs that Addie can play hide and seek in. I see a grand dinning room, a formal living room, and a big den/kitchen combo. I would want everything to be in original condition except the kitchen. I would have a magnificent kitchen. I would do it though in a way that it fit. I could go on and on and on about my plans. Poor Graham is going to have to figure out how to pay for it all :)

The other type of home I Love is what I call Colonial, but after looking around it really is more of a Southern style, Plantation even home. Here is a pic of what I like

Yes, this is Noah's house in the movie "The Notebook" , but I have loved this style since I was a small child. There is actually a house like this just over the GA line from St. Elmo. It can only be seen in the winter when the trees are bare but I have dreamed of living in this house since I was little. It's HUGE and has SEVERAL fireplaces, lots of land and is beautiful!

So...................which house do you like better?? (there is a poll to the side)

Addie's 2nd birthday plans!

I know there is 8 months until Addie's second birthday, BUT I have already been planning her party alittle. Addie's birthday falls in a bad time of year. First of all, it's right after Christmas. She more than likely (with all these grandparents around) will have gotten anything and everything she could think of for Christmas. Second, it's in a cold time of the year! No pool parties, camping out parties, not even a party at a cool playground! I know how this was, my birthday is in March and I remember wanting a pool party SO BAD! Luckily my mom was the BEST at making my parties awesome and I want to be the same way. So Addie will have ALOT of slumber parties, maybe even in a hotel every now and then, maybe (if we can afford it) she can have small trip birthdays, but nonetheless it will always be so cool! lol I hope.

Anyways, since her second birthday party will probably be the last one I get to decide what we are doing, I am thinking a.........

TEA PARTY!

Not really the Disney Princess(unless she is obsessed with them), I'm thinking more old timey. I want to get hates, scarves, dress up clothes, and jewelry for all the girls (and boys) to wear. My mom has a HUGE teapot collection that I hope she will let me borrow and I am going to do the whole menu myself. The tables will be lined with lace and pretty fabrics, very fancy. Addie plays tea party now and thinks it is the coolest thing ever, so I think she will really like it!

Why do we have kids??

Oh yeah.............That's why! We can Teach them to help out with chores! And they really do LOVE helping! LOL

My car looked great......................until it started raining this afternoon!

Have a great Wednesday!