We Can Only Go Up From Here.

You know how they say things have to get worse before they get better?  Well, I found an exception.  It ("It" being the floors) really doesn't get any worse than this.

That's why I was sooooo excited to get started ripping them out on Saturday.  Normally, we could have laid the new floors right over them, but there were two reasons we couldn't do that here.  First, patches of the floor were missing, so we didn't have a level surface.  Second, we knew that some of the sub-floor needed to be replaced(because it felt soft underfoot), and we wanted to inspect all of it.

While Pat took Madison on a grocery run like the Super-Dad he is, I got started by ripping out the quarter-round trim around the cabinet bases. 

Then I found a good starting point for peeling the linoleum and got crack-a-lacking.  Or whatever you call it.  For your viewing pleasure, I've included all three layers of linoleum.

Layer 1:

 Layer 2:

 Layer 3:

 Layer three is so damaged in the above picture that you really can't tell what it looked like. Here it is in another location.

Once I ripped up all three layers of linoleum, I was left with this (treated? adhesive covered?  blackened for no apparent reason?) wood.

 It came up in decent sized chunks, which I hauled out the back door for later disposal.  Actually, we'll just be sneaking bits of it into our regular trash pickup.  It will probably be gone by March 2013.  

 The Pampers box was especially useful for the tiny scraps that peeled off along the way.  I hate construction (demolition?) mess.

An hour later, I had removed all but the most stubborn bits of backing.

 As I mentioned before, we expected to have to replace a good portion of the sub-floors.  Thankfully, there wasn't as much damage as we expected.  We marked the places that needed to be replaced, measured, and then Pat headed off to Home Depot to buy the lumber, plus a few other materials we knew we would need more of. 

 Once Pat got back home, he cut out the bad patches and ripped out that top layer.

 Once we cleaned up that mess, we were left with this.

 Pat caulked the edges to prepare for the next step: leveler. 

 Here's the floor all prepped for the leveler.  Or so we thought. 

 It turns out you have to use primer to prep the surface to accept the leveler.  And the primer has to dry overnight.  Meaning we couldn't apply the leveler until Sunday after church.  Meaning we wouldn't get to install the tiles that weekend.  Meaning we wouldn't have a working stove until at least the following Sunday.  After we absorbed that discouraging news, we read the instructions for the primer and got to rolling.

 We set up the fan to blow out the minimal fumes.  It was very cold that night, so we worked as quickly as we could.

 Thirteen hours after I started on the floors, we were done for the night.  Sunday after church, Patrick started on the leveler while I played with Madison/annoyed him by making him pretend to work while I got pictures.

 The leveler was about the consistency of runny pancake batter.  I would have been really nervous to do this step, but Patrick's pretty experienced with concrete-y type things. 

 The leveler spread into all the low places (of which there were many), creating a perfectly level surface.

 Madison supervised.

Once it was done, Patrick finally took a break,

during which he inadvertently let Bella out of the bathroom.  

 Since, as I mentioned, we are stoveless, we picked up some Little Caesar's.  And it was good.

 This is how the floors look for now.  Come quickly, Saturday!

 I can honestly say I think even this is an improvement over the before.  It doesn't look like leprosy, so that's a plus in my book.  Why, why, why, did we let that floor stay for so long?

Oh yeah, we're okay in the food department.  I went over to my mom's yesterday and baked a party-sized lasagna (healthy, no?) and made some beans and rice.  We'll be able to eat out of the microwave until Saturday.  Don't tell anyone, but I also brought the remainder of the banana pudding back from my mom's.  You know, for my potassium deficiency.  Health is first in the Philpot household!  I wonder what deficiency sweet potato pie would help me with...

What were you up to over the weekend?  Has Thanksgiving wrecked your diet(not that I'm on a "diet"), too?

-Kelli

Flores. Or Something Like That.

Do you know how when you use a word a lot, like a lot lot lot, it starts to sound/look funny to you?  Well that happened to me recently with the word "floor".  I typed it into so many search engines that I forgot how it was really spelled.  Thus "flore" was born.  I'll blame it on Madi.  I think I lost a few brain cells while I was baking her.  Maybe I'll find them again one day.  Maybe they're buried under my pile of paper on our desk.  Is it obvious I'm in a weird mood today?

Anyway, I think I was supposed to be talking about our floors.  Let me remind you what we were working with originally:

That's hot.

As classy as that floor was, Pat and I were ready for a change.  Real tile was not an option, because our house shifts a LOT.  We probably would have had cracks on day 2.  I was hoping to find hardwoods underneath, but that was not the case.  And the $,$$$ to install them was a little out of our price range, especially considering we've already hit the ceiling on the value of our house.  A floating laminate tile floor would have worked, but it would still have been more than we wanted to spend.  Plus, I kind of think those tend to look cheap.  So we were left with two options: vinyl tile and vinyl roll-out.

Initially, I thought roll-out was the way to go.  Then I found out there would have to be a seam.  Way not cool, so vinyl tile it was.  Pat and I were torn between two options in the vinyl tile category.  Pat wanted to use imitation ceramic tile, and to use a semi-new process of installing it where you actually grout the edges like it's real tile.  I tend to shy away from "imitation" anything (except when it comes to spray-"butter", and you all know where I stand there).  I was drawn toward this crazy idea of using commercial vinyl tiles (you know, like the ones used at Walmart) in a checkerboard pattern.  I was inspired by this kitchen:

Source: kathrynjasper.blogspot.com via Kelli on Pinterest

 Guess who won?  Here's a hint: my mom wouldn't let me join the debate team in high school because she thought I had an unfair advantage I was already too stubborn, and she thought I would get even worse.

Long story short...wait, I can't even make short stories short.    Anyway, Wednesday afternoon, Pat, Madi, and I headed out to the Home Depot.  We're typically staunch Lowes shoppers, but Lowes doesn't carry my our flooring.  We searched high and low, and had just about given up on finding what we needed when I spotted the mother-lode. 

And then we took pictures of Madi's first trip to a home improvement stoor store.  Wow, I really hope I get those brain cells back soon.

I'll leave you with a shot of our new tile.  I picked a much more neutral palette than the inspiration room, only because we hope to sell this place soon.

Tomorrow, I'll reveal how much we got done over our four day weekend!

Were you working on your place over the weekend, too?

-Kelli

What's on My Mind Monday

Linking up over here!

I.  I never would have guessed I would still be sore four days after the Turkey Trot 5k.  I think I recovered from the marathon in less time than that!  I blame Madison.  : )

II.  Not too many men can really rock a crocheted flower.  I guess I just got lucky.

III.  Until digging into our most recent project, I had forgotten rule one of DIY.  When estimating time and money required for a project, multiply by two, then repeat. 
IV.  I also forgot rule two.  If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.  I'll explain more later this week.

V.  There's a refrigerator in my living room.  At least he's not lonely in his new environment; the stove is keeping him company.
VI.  I'm still in shock that Leinart is out for the season.  First Schaub, then Leinart, watch out Yates!  We still pulled out a win, but I'm more than a little concerned about next week.  Especially since Foster seemed off his game yesterday.  Two fumbles?  Really?

Happy Monday!
-Kelli

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Santa, his helpers, and Spiderman!

I Made my Bed...

...and now I have to lie in it.

Actually, I didn't.  Not literally, anyway.  I'm pretty sure our bed hasn't been made for at least a week and a half.  And I wish I had to lie in it.  No time for lying down today!  What I'm trying to say is that my procrastination has left me with entirely too much to do in one day, but I have to do it, anyway. 

So here's my list:

• Take Madi's 22 week picture
• Give her a bath.
• Wash her doll.
• Find a blanket and bow to coordinate with her Thanksgiving onesie.
• Find a time of day where she'll be happy enough to hopefully smile.
• Upload pictures, find a decent one, crop if necessary, and upload to facebook.
• Try not to hover on facebook reading every comment as it comes through.
•  Get new flooring for the kitchen
• Decide between the tiles I really want (which are not mainstream and may not sell well, but cost considerably less than the alternative and require WAY less work to install, and (in my opinion) are prettier) and the "sensible" (boring) alternative.
• Load Madison and all necessary baby care essentials (like a burp rag, back-up burp rag, and back-up back-up burp rag) into our car (which reminds me I need to clean out our car).
• Stop by the credit union to get money because we live in the stone ages and only have one debit card, which Pat had to take today.
•  Drive to Lowes (or maybe Home Depot depending on pricing), cart a (hopefully asleep at this point) Madison around the store, have a terrible time finding what I need because their customer service SUCKS, and hopefully leave with all the goods.
• Make my Thanksgiving food contributions. This will actually be fairly easy since all I've committed to is mashed potatoes.  Well, technically, we're bringing the turkey, but all I had to do was defrost it.  Do I get points for that?  I mean, it took me days.  I was also kind of hoping to do some "extra credit" and bake pumpkin loaf or something.  So this list is optional, but I'll try to get it done.
• Find a decent recipe for something Thanksgiving-y that I think I can handle.
• Go get all the ingredients (meaning another trip with Madison). 
• Prepare.

Now for the list of things that should (and probably won't) be done.
-Laundry
-Dishes
-Mopping the kitchen floors
-Balancing checking acct.
-Paying off the hospital (we've had money set aside for this for over a month now, and I just haven't gotten around to sending it.)
-Making the bed.

How's that for full circle?

I'm curious: do you make your bed every day?
-Kelli 

An Update on the Pumpkin-Eater

Actually, she hasn't tried pumpkin yet.  We do have some squash for later this week, though. : )

One of the nurses in the hospital took to calling her "punkin", and somehow I got in the habit.  Strangely enough, I alternate between calling her "punkin" and "punkin eater".  Every time I make the switch, her Daddy reminds her that cannibalism is not acceptable.

Two weeks ago, I decided enough was enough when it came to Madison's poor nighttime sleep habits.  While researching solutions online, I came across what sounded like a crazy method to teach her to soothe herself.  I resolved, for the first three nights, to try the method, which involved picking her up every time she cried, then immediately putting her back down into her crib.  I planned to evaluate it after the third night.  In all honesty, I expected it to fail.  Two weeks later, I'm about thisclose to calling it a miracle.

She still wakes up probably as much as before the "training", but now instead of cries, we hear her soothing herself with little coos.  It definitely didn't work overnight, and there have been some exceptions.  Like when Pat's mom stayed the night with us.  Ms. Dorothy, I'm sorry you had to share a wall with my little screamer!  She also still occasionally gets gas at night, and we have to give her mylicon, but then she settles right back down.

In other news, today Madison is five months old!  She sits up really well, she can grab anything in reach, and she insists on feeding herself.  Sometimes she gets the spoon in her mouth better than I can!  She still refuses to roll over anymore; I think she's decided that would only encourage me to keep doing tummy time.  Don't worry- I still have more red hair than she does.  I fully intend to win this little stand-off. 

Regardless of how rough her day has been, she always has big smiles for Daddy when he gets home.  She loves to pet Bella, and grins ear to ear every time Bella shakes.  Nana (my mom) insists that yesterday in the car she identified her nose when prompted.  I'm (more than) a little skeptical.

She threw her first fit on Sunday.  She really wanted to get a smiley faced sun off of one of her toys, and it wouldn't come off.  Probably because it's not supposed to.  First she started throwing her arms frenetically, then she tried and failed one more time.  Real tears and loud sobs ensued.  Mommy put the mean toy in time out.

We've been using baby signs since she was born, and she recognizes "milk" and "eat" already.  Sometimes while she's nursing, she'll continuously sign "milk", but she has still never used the sign to ask for milk.  She doesn't even notice when we sign "Mommy" or "Daddy", but I guess she's got her priorities.  : )

I don't have her five month picture yet, because hallelujah she is still asleep, but I will definitely share tomorrow!

What nicknames do you use for your kids or loved ones?
-Kelli

What's on My Mind Monday

Linking up over at Carissa's!

I.  N-64 was the last gaming console I enjoyed at all.  All the new-fangled XBOX and Playstation and whatever else has come out since is just too complicated for me.  Give me Mario Kart over Halo any day of the week.  However, I had a blast (ha ha)playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 with Patrick last night. We completed our mission on the highest level!

II.  Having White Glove (like I mentioned here) is pretty much worthless while breastfeeding.  Basically, she told me it wasn't strep, then prescribed two medications that I couldn't take.  I'm still sick.  Maybe I'll feel better in seven months when I can actually take an antihistamine.  Okay, now I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea.  Exeunt pity party.

III.  Thanksgiving is this week?!  How is it that I was prepared weeks in advance for Halloween, and forgot that Thanksgiving was this week until my mom reminded me to take the turkey out of the freezer?  Good grief.

IV.  I'm a little concerned about Thursday.  That morning, we're running the Turkey Trot 5k.  My goal (while I was still prego) was to run the whole thing (not a lot, considering that five miles was my typical workout before we found out I was pregnant).  And now I haven't run for over a week, and never more than a mile with the stroller, and my lungs are still full of garbage.  This could be interesting.  And by interesting, I mean a colossal failure.

V.  Our desk is ridiculous right now.  I would share a picture, but I can't find the camera.  It's probably either behind the iron or under Madison's burp rag.  Or maybe our stack of bills(we really need to go paperless) ate it. 

Happy Monday!
-Kelli

Preview- Our "Christmas" Pictures

Cristina Murphy, the amazingly talented lady behind Snapshotz Photography, was kind enough to deal with me, Patrick, Madison, and Bella on Sunday afternoon.  As it turns out, Bella is not the most photogenic lass(ie) that ever was.  She finished out the photo shoot in the car with the windows cracked.  Of course, by those standards, I should probably have crawled into the shotgun seat with her, but I don't think Pat would have let me off that easily. 

One of the really cool things about Cristina is that she gives you full rights to all your photos.  Meaning you pay (not much) for a session fee, and then you can make as many prints as you want for whatever the going rate is at CVS (or Walgreens, Walmart, or wherever else you may choose to have your pics printed).  So we'll be able to make our Christmas cards for CHEAP!

I fully intended to give a little effort for these photos.  You know, brush my hair, touch up my makeup, look in a mirror, the works.  Unfortunately, Sunday was insane, so that wasn't a possibility.  I was, however, able to put on pants.  You're welcome.  Thankfully, Cristina was kind enough to let me know when there was hair in my face or if Madi's bottles(if you know what I mean) were hanging out. Oh, and Madison was having a hair crisis that day.  Like mother, like daughter!

So, with all my excuses firmly in place, I now grant you full permission to go check out our pictures.  Oh, and make sure to look closely at the one of Patrick kissing me-yeah, we totally missed.  We've only been practicing our technique for 9 1/2 years; maybe in another 9 1/2 we'll actually have lip to lip contact. : ) 

Happy Friday!
-Kelli

Thankful Thursday

Today, I have so much to be thankful for. 

I've got an amazingly selfless husband who has completely fallen in love with our beautiful daughter.  I love watching them together.  He earned his first sustained giggles from her last night.  I could get used to that. 

I've got a daughter who always smiles when she first sees me(or anyone, but it's usually me) in the morning.  And her smile is more than contagious.

Thanks to the aforementioned amazingly selfless husband, I've got the privilege of staying home with said beautiful daughter. 

I've got a God who saw fit to coincide my first time being sick as a mom with Madison's first week of sleeping through the night consistently.  And that rocked my socks off.

I've got family (near and far) that loves our sweet girl and is ready to help with her when we need it, or sometimes just because.

I've got two large cups of Guatemala Antigua every morning.  This is the one and only thing that Patrick and I splurge on, and every day, it makes my day.

I'm betting you guys have a lot to be thankful for, too!  Have a great day.
-Kelli

Blegh.

I'm sick.  EXTREMELY sore throat and off/on nausea. 

Days like today make me grateful for Pat's benefits, namely White Glove.  They're going to send a nurse practitioner to our house, bring me a care package(Jello, ginger ale, chicken noodle soup, kleenex, throat lozenges, cough drops, etc), diagnose me, and give me any prescription I may need, all for $20. 

Please pray that Madison and Patrick don't catch whatever I've got.  So far, so good.

-Kelli

Twice as Nice

 Shopping is something I tend to avoid, probably because it occasionally ends in spending money.  Which, in my book, is rarely a good idea.  That being said, shopping (at least window shopping) sometimes becomes irresistible to me.  For example, last week I was waiting for my mom in her accountant's parking lot.  I looked to my left, and behold! 

 Assorted furniture and accessories for my viewing pleasure.  I saw something (not pictured) that caught my eye, so I waited for Mom to get back to the car to be with my sleeping Madi and then went to investigate.  I prepared myself for disappointment on the way, reminding myself that my idea of a good deal is typically about half (sometimes even less) of a retailer's idea of a good deal.  So when I saw the price on these (gonna-be) beauties, I was more than a little excited.

Unfortunately, I had no cash on hand.  I also have a "sleep on it" policy for all non-grocery purchases.  Although I was certain they would be gone the following day, I did the sensible (to me, anyway) thing and went home to try to forget about them. 

The next morning, I took Madison for our jog/walk.  On my way home (and probably smelling like a wet dog), I couldn't resist checking to see if the lamps were still there.  Amazingly, they hadn't been sold!  I spoke with one of the owners, who told me he'd be glad to hold them for me.  I decided the polite thing to do would be to shower before returning, so a few hours later (I had to wait for Madison to take a nap) I returned with the money.  "How much," you might ask?  $15.  For both.  Total.  Yeah, I was surprised, too.

While I was there, I looked around the rest of the shop.  They really do have a little bit of everything.  All the furniture is what caught my eye, but they also had a big selection of gifts, Christmas decor, collectables, and even clothing!  I was tempted to bring this mirror home with me, too, but I'm too tall.  Or maybe it's too short.  But I should probably take the blame.  : )

 They also had a lot of nice antique furniture (read: out of my price range).

 Since this is kind of reading like an ad or infomercial, I should probably tell you that I'm not getting paid or anything crazy like that.  (Why would they pay me, anyway?)  I just write about what I like.  And I like this store.  Especially since Pat can now stop reading by the light of his flashlight at night. 

 I've got plans for those lamps.  I love their size (they're BIG), and they've got great texture.  I think with a few coats of spray paint they'll be perfect for our room.

Am I the only girl that hates to shop?  Do you ever get buyer's remorse after purchasing small things like lip balm, gum, or Old Navy flip flops?  Have you ever "slept on" a $15 purchase?

-Kelli

What's on My Mind Monday

Linking up over here!

I.  It's amazing how much a twenty-week old changes in one week.  Since last Monday, she went from an average of four wake-ups per night to about one and a half (excluding Saturday night, more on that later).  She also started actually eating her rice cereal, as opposed to swirling it around in her mouth before spitting it all back out.  Oh yeah, and she can sit by herself now, for about five minutes (after which it's usually nap time, because she wears herself out!)

II.  Trying to fit attending a send-off party, having an overnight guest, baby dedication, Madison's first restaurant experience, Christmas pictures, a five mile walk hike, a week's worth of schoolwork(Pat's), and a call-out from work (also Pat) into one two-day weekend was probably the worst idea I've ever had.  Madison's sleep schedule agrees.

 III.  Madison's "Uncle" John ships out for the Air Force tomorrow.  We had to say "bye" last night.  It'll only be a couple of months before we see him again, but I'm pretty sure the longest Pat's gone without seeing him before now was, like, a week.  And they had withdrawals then.  Now seeking a brutally honest, painfully generous, loyal-to-a-fault friend for Pat.  All applicants must come equipped with at least fifty never-heard-before swear-replacing phrases that in some way reference spherical toys.  Training in Brazilian jiu jitsu a plus.   The patience and long-suffering required to deal with us is a must.  Now that I put it that way, I'm pretty sure we won't be replacing John Ballard any time soon. 

IV.  I missed most of yesterday's game, but I'm still proud of my Texans!  I know it was just the Buc's and everything, but 37-9?  Without Andre Johnson?  I hate to jinx anything, but at this point I think it's pretty safe to say I'll get to watch more than sixteen games this season, if you know what I mean.  : )


Happy Monday!
-Kelli