A Time to Cut Back: More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Our Finances

Patrick and I have really buckled down on our finances.  Our house mania a couple of months ago (which, by the way, has since subsided) forced us to take a really close look at our cash flow.  See, we thought we were managing our money well, but when we actually sat down and crunched numbers, we were surprised to see a much larger margin between our income and necessary outgo than we expected.  At first, in the midst of our I-want-a-bigger-better-house-and-I-want-it-now mentality, that was an exciting find.  It meant we could afford a larger monthly payment, right?  WRONG. 

We realized that we had been just blowing through our margin each month, not decreasing debt or increasing savings AT ALL.  Then, after much time spent in denial, followed by about a week of non-verbalized but simultaneous doubt about whether we should move forward in our plans to "move up" in housing right now, we finally admitted to each other that we need to get our finances in order before committing ourselves to a larger monthly payment.

Since that time, we've (finally) paid off the hospital where Madison was born and started saving to pay off our last old, bad debt.  And when I say "bad", I mean "don't drive through Wichita Falls or you'll go to jail" kind of bad.  It turns out that it's not a good idea to throw away your traffic ticket and forget about it; eventually, they'll remind you, probably right around the time you renew your license.  Oops.  So, yeah, we're about two months out from being debt free(excluding our mortgage).

Our basic blueprint for our finances is Dave Ramsey's Baby Step Program.  If you've never heard of Dave Ramsey, well, crawl out from under the rock you've been living under for the last seven years and go check him out.  He is, admittedly, extreme in his financial views, and for good reason.  He became a millionaire in his twenties, lost it all and some(largely because of the risks he took with credit), then started over, building more wealth than ever, without using debt.  He is a firm believer that "the borrower is slave to the lender", and now so are we.

By our estimate, it will take us until the end of the year to finish Baby Step 3 (fully funding our three month emergency fund).  Until then, we are operating on an extremely limited budget.  There is a little wiggle room; Patrick and I each get $2.50 discretionary spending for each paycheck.  I've got my eye on a pretty sweet bookmark, and if I can talk them down a little, it just might fit in the budget!  I'll be sure to share the deets with you as soon as I close on the deal.

But seriously, you can expect to see some posts on saving money pretty soon.  A few areas of concern right now:

• Home decor
• Madison's Birthday Party
• Groceries
• Madison's Birthday Party
• Clothing
• Madison's Birthday Party

I feel like I'm leaving something out.  Oh yeah, Madison's first birthday party!  Pinterest, here I come.

So you're all caught up on the goings on over here at the Philpot abode.  What have you been up to lately?
-Kelli

Beiging It Up.

Do you ever wake up with the urge to just hurry up and get something done?  Maybe something you hadn't really thought about doing until right that second?  Well, that happened to me Monday morning.  I decided that during Madison's nap (ha!) I would paint the bathroom.

Let's go over things that can get done during one of Madison's naps.  A load or two of laundry.  A load of dishes.  Sweeping/mopping the floors.  A shower.  Painting some frames.  Heck, it only took two of her naps to finish the fence last week!  But painting the entire bathroom in one nap?  Yeah, I must have been high on paint fumes when I thought this one up.  Oh wait, that comes later in the story.

So here was the plan:

1. Put Madison down for her nap.
2. Turn off air conditioner, seal off bathroom from rest of house, and nursery from rest of house, just to be safe.
3. Paint the bathroom.
4. Clean up and put away paint and equipment.
5. Relax a little.
6. Once Madison wakes up, bring her to Nana's and PawPaw's while the paint dries.

Step one went off without a hitch, and step two was a breeze.

 Now it was time for step three, the actual painting of the bathroom.  You can see in the next picture that I was all ready to go.  I was feeling pretty good about myself at this point.

 I mixed up the paint, which was free (my favorite color, ha ha) thanks to my parents having a little leftover from painting their house.

 I dumped it into our well used paint tray.  I count four (five, with the new paint) shades represented here.  I think we may have already gotten our money's worth out of this particular piece of equipment, and she's still going strong!  Hmm.  I never thought about it before, but it does seem like a "she", doesn't it?  With as much use as she's gotten, we should probably give her a name.  I like Patty.  Patty the paint tray. 

 So after Patty was filled with our free paint, I started rolling.  Here I am about two minutes into the project.  "I'm doing so well on time, why don't I stop for some pictures?"  If I only knew.

 Since our walls are paneled, I had to roll in two steps.  First, I'd press really hard on the roller to squish all the paint into the cracks.  I believe the technical term for this technique is the "press and squish", but I could be wrong.  Oh, and for some reason the next two pictures make the new paint look greenish.  It's not at all green.  The name of the color is "Desert Fortress", and it's a nice medium beige.

 Then I would do my Trading Spaces "W's" (or was it "M's", I don't remember) to smooth it all out. 

I worked for about an hour when I heard a terrible sound...Madison woke up early - like an hour and a half early!  My mom had already offered to watch her if I needed help, so of course I called Nana, then drove Madison over and got them all set up to play, then drove back home to finish the job.  Or so I thought.

I worked for another hour.  At this point I had already rolled the whole bathroom, and "just" needed to cut in.  Here's the thing.  There's nothing "just" about cutting in our bathroom.  It's practically all cuts.  I didn't think it would be a problem; I'm actually pretty good at it.  See below?  No tape necessary.

*insert pic of me patting myself on the back here

As luck would have it, somebody got hungry before I could cut in the whole room.  And it wasn't me.  Well, actually, it was me, too, but the "somebody" to whom I am referring weighs about a hundred and thirty pounds less than I do.  For those of you counting on your fingers and toes right now, well, I'm glad you'll run out of digits before you get to the result.  : )

So I ran drove down to Mom's, fed the sweet girl, put her down for a nap in her pack n play, then came back to the bathroom.  After about forty minutes of painting in the edges (as well as portions of the toilet seat, the faucet, the floor, and our new bath mat, since the paint fumes had reached their maximum concentration at this point), I was gloriously done.  Except for the touch up, which I have yet to begin.  But it's done enough for an "after" shot!  Forgive me.  I didn't have the energy to clean the mess out of the bathroom before taking the picture.  Actually, minus the radio and disgusting towel on the floor, it still looks a lot like this.  Maybe cleaning the bathroom is something I could accomplish during one of Madison's naps.  I might give it a try...next week.  : )

Honestly, while I do think it's an improvement over the "before", it's a bit boring for my tastes.  Maybe with a new shower curtain and towel rack and other staging, I'll like it a little more.  Maybe not.  But who really cares if I like it?  It's time to appeal to the masses, yo!

Wow.  I painted on Monday, it's Thursday morning, and the fumes still have me doped up enough to type "yo".  Maybe next time I'll crack a window.   

Please note that no brain cells were harmed in the making of this post.  All necessary (and some additional) precautions were taken to protect myself and my family from any toxicity in the fumes.  It's just nice to have a handy excuse for embarrassing slips of the tongue and paintbrush.  So hang up the phone already, Mom.  Unless you'd like to come babysit.  Then you can carry on.  : )

What a List!

Phew!  We met with our future listing agent for the first time last night.  We knew the news wouldn't be good, but secretly hoped that we would be pleasantly surprised.  Well, let's just say we were right the first time.  The news is not good.  It's not terrible, but it's not good.

As we suspected knew without a doubt, we paid between $14,000 and $20,000 too much for our house.  Another way of saying that is we paid between 20% and 28% too much.  Both ways hurt pretty badly.  There are two tiny bits of silver lining.  First, we've been here for a while, so we've paid down the principal a bit.  Second, we've significantly improved the interior.  Without those two facts, we'd probably be stuck here indefinitely. 

We're still not out of hot water, though.  In order to have a chance at selling where we need to sell to come out clean (walking away from closing without any money changing hands), we've got a long list of things to do before mid-March, our target time to list.  And by long, I mean 20+ not minor things to do to the house.  Deep breath. 

Most of the things that need to be done are very inexpensive, or even free since we already have materials(read: paint) on hand.  Only two of the items cost $50 or more.  Unfortunately, one of those items will be at least $2000.  Any guesses what that might be?  You got it...the roof. 

If I could talk to the nineteen year old me right now, I'd have some pretty strong words.  First of all, I'd tell myself to get a decent realtor.  Like, not my completely inexperienced self.  I'd also tell myself to find a house that's actually a good deal, not just one we can afford.  When it comes down to it, I'd tell myself that it would be better to rent until I grow a brain.  One that's not solely ruled by emotion.  Heck, I'd probably even tell myself to quit watching Property Ladder, Flip That House, Flip This House, and every other investment real estate show out there.  Those things are hazardous to your (financial) health.

Dumb.

Oh well, in five years, I'm sure I'll have another set of decisions to bemoan.  In the meantime, I guess I had better just do the best I can with what I've given myself.

Another silver lining about this list from h*** is that I'll have plenty to share with you guys!  For now, though, I'm off to start my "homework".  ha ha.

-Kelli 

What's on My Mind Monday

Linking up over here!

I.  2012 New Years Resolutions:

• Physical: Run five miles in under fifty minutes/run a 5k in under 25 minutes/run a 6.5 min mile/run a quarter mile in 1:05.  (That last one has me a little worried)
• Financial: GET A NEW HOUSE without compromising our financial situation.  We've been working out the logistics of this move for about a week (which in real estate time is about a minute), but we're really excited about it!  I'll be posting more about our financial goals sometime soon.
• Spiritual: First of all, let me say that I know our relationship with God is supposed to be a natural outpouring of our love for Him, not an item to be checked off a list.  However, there are times when the only way a conversation will happen is if you make yourself do it.  That's why a daily quiet time is one of my goals this year.  And from past experiences, I know that forcing myself to do it for a few weeks (maybe even a few months) will lead to me looking forward to that time.
• Relational: Be a better friend!!!  With Madison, it's easy to get distracted for days at a time and forget everything else.  For example, Ana, as I was typing this, I remembered that I never replied to your text last year.  Sorry, there was a diaper Event (trust me, it's capitalized for a reason) and I didn't remember 'til now.
• And more.  That really aren't any of your business.  And I mean that in the nicest way possible  : )

II.   Madison has a cough.  And she slept through the night for the first time in two and a half weeks last night.  Although I'm pretty sure the two are not connected.

III.  Patrick and I both got new running shoes!  Madison's health permitting, we're going to hit the trails with them for the first time today.  While trying them on, I jogged around Academy excitedly screaming things like, "No wonder my knees were hurting!  Is this what it's supposed to feel like?!"  In retrospect, I probably could have been a bit more discreet.  In my defense, these are the first new running shoes I've gotten since the fall of '08.  And I run A LOT.  I was more than a little excited.

IV.  Our Christmas tree has been prepped for burial.  And by burial, I mean taking full advantage of the lifted burn ban.  A new tradition?

V.  Our TV decided not to turn on yesterday.  We've got a Christian (!) television repair company coming out to look at it today.  We're really hoping it's a cheap fix, because while we are not above living without television until after we've got a new place, it sure is nice to have a mindless way to wind down at the end of the day.

Happy Monday!  Oh yeah, and happy new year!  I know I'm a day late, but with it being a leap year, we've still got 365 days to go.  So yesterday didn't count, right?
-Kelli

What's on My Mind Monday

Linking up over here with Carissa!

I.  Patrick graduated with his Associate's degree Saturday.  I'm so proud of him for deciding to go back and finish what he started.  And I'm so thankful that he opted to sacrifice sleep instead of time with our sweet girl.  Now he has a few weeks "off" (from school anyway) before his next semester starts.  And he'll only be taking one course, because that's all he lacks to get into the business school at UH Downtown, so we'll call that an extended break!

II.  Pat and I were proud to be a part of our church's Christmas program yesterday morning.  The choir did a beautiful job!  I think that's the best Christmas program they've done.  And no, I'm not patting myself on the back, because thankfully, I was not a part of the choir.  That would have been a disaster.  Patrick and I just read introductions to a few of the songs.  And our mikes were (almost) always on when they were supposed to be.  : )

III.  Because we were on stage for both services, and my mom is in the choir, Madison stayed in the nursery all morning.  She got a little fussy during the first service, probably because she was woken up so early.  Dang train whistle.  We live quite a ways from the tracks, but for some reason the sound really carries!  After she took out her misplaced frustration with the nursery  workers by peeing on one of them(sorry,
Bonnie!), she felt much better.

IV.  When we invited people to come see Patrick graduate, we specified "no gifts".  Is it normal for people to bring gifts, anyway?  Because after seeing Pat's loot, I'm second guessing every "no gifts, please" event I've ever been to!  Nevertheless, I'm grateful that our sweet friends and family were so generous.  Patrick was a little overwhelmed by it all.  : )

V.  Oh, Texans. How will you ever beat the Packers in the Super Bowl if  you're gonna let the Panthers beat you?  Well, I guess if the Chiefs can do it, so can you.  But I expect a "W" next week, ya heard me?  (If you're not a Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns viewer, well, sorry.  You're just not gonna get that one.)

Happy Monday!
-Kelli

Check.

 Our kitchen floors are D-O-N-E!  Patrick laid them Saturday, it's now Tuesday, and I'm still surprised every time I see them.  I guess when you live with this:

for over three years, waking up to this:

is gonna be a shock to your system.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's see...I believe we left off here:

Early Saturday morning, I woke up my sweet husband and put him to work laying out our (commercial vinyl) tile.  This was especially important for our house, because "square" was apparently not a very prominent architectural style in 1945.  Either that, or the builders didn't feel like measuring while they were building our house.  Irregardless (love you, Michelle), we (and by we, I mean Patrick) needed to lay out the tile so that we could find the angle that looked the most square from the most perspectives.

We also went back and forth between splitting the cuts (meaning to have the grid centered on the floor and have cuts on all sides) and working from a corner (which is obviously what we chose to do).  Our reasons for choosing to work from a corner were three-fold.  First, it ended up looking the best.  Had we centered the grid on the floor, we would have been left with itty bitty cuts on either side.  This way, we have no cuts on the two most seen sides, and half-ish cuts on most other sides.  The second reason we chose to work from a corner was that it was easier.  Pat had to make exactly half as many cuts as he would have otherwise.  The third reason was to save our marriage.  Just kidding...after I surprised Patrick that morning with a triple grande double-blended white mocha frappuccino, he was putty in my hands.  I probably could have gotten him to lay the floors on a diagonal if I so pleased.  Which I didn't.  But he did vacuum the dog hair off the floor.  I wonder if a quad venti frap would get me a clean office...

 Once we were sure of the layout, Pat made marks and we popped some guide lines (you'll see them in red).  Then he double-checked that everything was perfectly square:

 At this point, Madison and I were expelled (due to extreme fumes from the adhesive).  We went to Nana's and PawPaw's (about half a minute down the road) and played all day.  Well, we played all day except while Madison took a nap and I ate sweet potato pie.  Three slices.  By myself. 

Once we were safely (obviously not safe from pie) out of the house, Pat opened up this bad boy:

 and started spreading.

 He did a three foot strip, then let it dry until it was tacky.  I wish we would have known a week and a half ago that these tiles were supposed to be laid on a tacky surface...all that demo was for nothing!  (wahm, wahm, waaahhhmmm)  It took about forty minutes to set up. 

 As he laid the tile, he would flatten the joints by pounding them with a rubber mallet.  This helped them get strongly adhered, and also eliminated almost all the ridges.  Seriously...the floor feels seamless.

 Notice I said "almost" all the ridges were eliminated.  After he finished the three foot section and felt comfortable with the process, he spread adhesive over the rest of the floor, waited for it to tack up, then laid it all at one time.  Once he was finished, a few problem areas kept popping up.  Pat put some weights on them, and we hoped for the best.  Actually, the weights are still there.  I guess it's time to move them and put our kitchen back together!

This was my original checklist for the kitchen:  You'll notice I've now crossed through some items and added new ones in red.
-Replace flooring
-Replace countertops/backsplash-
-Repaint the stovetop-
-Paint (or replace?) vent hood-
-Paint refrigerator -Buy new refrigerator
-Convince Patrick that our refrigerator needs to live where the stove is and we need a new stove/oven/vent hood for the island
-Install island
-Buy/make barstools
-Paint base of table
-Reupholster dining chairs
-Build window seat- After de-kennel training Bella, that is!
-Install recessed light over sink
-Find shallow drawer pulls
-Install quarter-round
-Finish painting trim (including column)
-Touch up paint
-Upgrade electrical switches and outlets to GFCI
-Find/DIY art for wall behind table
-Stencil or otherwise decorate the soffit.
-Overcome my claustrophobic tendencies and invite thirty people over for a human game of chess.  


Okay, that last one is never gonna happen.  But night before last, I was a knight and Pat was a bishop, and I totally kicked butt.  Boo-yah.

Have you been working on your house lately?  Or eating pie?  Or manipulating your spouse with highly addictive sugar and caffeine-laden beverages?
 
-Kelli

And the Frames Keep Coming.

 I'm having more fun than I expected with the frame wall project.  I've been digging through our "sentimental" box (mostly filled with stuff that should have been thrown away, but wasn't, thank goodness), and it's been a fun walk down memory lane. 




Sorry, I had to go rinse the taste of bile from my mouth.  Being so cliche made me a little sick.

I think this project came at a good time; it's really easy, with a new baby, to lose focus on our relationship.  Looking through all the mementos of our very early days has reminded me of how we felt about each other back before we were "Mommy" and "Daddy".  And, minus the obsessive co-dependency, I'd like to get back to being this way.

First, I found two very important ticket stubs.  After seeing The Crocodile Hunter, Patrick told me for the first time that he loved me.  It must have been a very romantic movie!  And our first kiss was after watching Star Wars for probably the sixth time in theaters.  It took him more than three full cycles of POD's "Satellite" album to work up the nerve.  Yeah, we were that cool.  Who doesn't want their first kiss to happen while listening to "The Messenjah"?

And yes, I did put them in the wrong order.  My lazier side is telling me to just say I sorted them alphabetically, but I'll probably end up flipping them.  One day.  It'll probably be the same day that I iron the creases out of Madison's curtains, clean out my email's spam folder, and organize the junk drawer.

 Probably my favorite find so far was this calendar page.  It's written in gel pen on black paper, because that's what all the cool fourteen-year-old's were doing.  Just kidding; I've never been cool.  Anyway, the reason I was so excited to find this is that June 2002 is the month we started dating.  I was so enthralled with Pat at this point that I used a code to mark the days when I saw him; any date that has a smiley face was a Patrick day.  June was a pretty significant month for me.  Aside from starting to date my future husband and baby-daddy, we went to Super Summer, Jeff and Michelle (our youth minister and matchmaker) got hitched, and my granny passed away.

Do you like my camera technique?  I call it "The Cobra"!

 I also decided to frame my favorite of Madison's newborn pictures, by the talented Cristina Murphy.

 The next is just a snapshot from a disposable camera, but I L-O-V-E this picture.  It completely captures everything we love about snowboarding.  New goal: we will go snowboarding next winter (2012-2013).

 And finally, a totally meaningless "filler" frame.  Something about it kind of reminds me of an old tube television.

What have you been working on lately?  Did watching The Crocodile Hunter or Star Wars lead to any major milestones in your life?  Have you ever memorized not only the words but also the drum solo to "Youth of the Nation"?  What's your favorite vacation activity?

-Kelli 

The (Never Ending) Frames

As I mentioned in my tour of the hallway, we plan to cover one of the walls in the hallway with frames.  I've been gathering frames for this project since I saw it done over on YHL.  After Madison and I scored these three lovelies on her first thrift store expedition, I decided I finally had enough frames to give it the old college try.

 First, I pulled all the other frames out from storage (under the guest bed/laundry center/mirror stand) for a good dusting.  And they needed it!

 I think I might need to move the bed and get to cleaning.  Ick.

 After they were clean and dry, I brought them to the back yard for (what I thought would be) a few quick coats of spray paint.

 By the way, the box I used for this was (obviously) from Madison's travel system, which I L-O-V-E.  Go get yourself one.  Or do like we did, and register for one.  You might just get lucky!  (Thanks, Grandma, Aunt Becky, and Aunt Christie!)

Since a lot of the frames/decorative iron thingy were metal, I opted to start with spray primer.  That first coat gave almost no coverage, but I'm hoping it will give the paint that extra stickagization.  Which is, regardless of what my spell check is telling me, totally a word.

 After a few coats of spray paint, I noticed that the corners on a lot of my cheaper frames were noticeably imperfect.  Which is my mild way of saying "totally jacked up".  So I took the caulk to 'em, gave them one more coat of spray paint, and called it a day two-and-a-half weeks.  I kind of got distracted by a little thing called life (aka Madison) between coats.

 I left the frames outside to cure.  Then I forgot about them, until a miracle happened.  It started sprinkling!  See, Texas is going through a little (see what I did there?)bit of a drought right now.  When I saw the strange stuff falling from the sky, I was so surprised and excited that it took a few minutes for me to remember that my frames were in the backyard getting the full benefit of the miracle. 

I managed to save them before any major damage was done, but a few of the cardboard backs warped a little as they dried.

 No big deal, I just replaced them with cardboard from boxes that we have lying around.  I think I'm a mini-hoarder, but only with bags and boxes.  I have no problem getting rid of things that have actual and sentimental value (for instance: we sold Madison's bassinet a few weeks ago), but on trash day, I just can't bring myself to haul the boxes to the curb.  Instead, I break them down and store them in the garage.

Pat's not a huge fan of holding onto the "trash", so I'd like to take this opportunity to rub in his face point out that for this one project we used three of my boxes.  Bam.

 I still haven't finished the project, which means that right now the hallway, along with the rest of the house/yard/garage, looks worse than before I started this craziness.  So here's how the project looks right now:

I bet you'll never guess what this has to do with the project!

Our friend John came over to run with Patrick yesterday.  When he stepped in the hallway, he asked whose murder we were planning. 

Still not perfect...

I'll probably never stop adding more frames.  I picked this one up Saturday.

 

 What are you working on right now?  Is the space beneath your beds completely disgusting also, or should I have left that little tidbit out?  Do you hoard anything?  Do your projects ever always take longer than you expect?  Is "Bam" a frequent flyer in disagreements with your spouse?

-Kelli

House Tour: The Nursery

Madison's nursery is, by far, the most completed room in our house.  It still lacks a few of those finishing touches, yet I'm pretty proud of where it is right now

It all started with this rug from Target:

I found it online, and was so excited to design Madison's nursery around it.  The hostesses for the shower my family was throwing us planned to buy it.  But before that could happen, Target sold out!  I was sooooo disappointed.  I had convinced myself that this was THE rug, and that nothing would be the same without it.  Well, it was true; it's not the same, it's BETTER!  I think the rug I settled on from Overstock(or the O, or O.co, or whatever they're trying to recreate themselves as this time) is waaaayyyyy better in quality, style, and function.  Based on reviews, I'm pretty sure it's better in smell, too.

One of the things I really appreciated about the new rug was that, thanks to the pink and butterflies, it allowed me to go a little more "girly" in the details.  These mobiles are a (not quite as good, but still fun) knock-off of a project that John and Sherry (who else?) did for their little girl's nursery:

Forgive me for the following picture: despite all appearances, the room is not slanting.  That would be the photographer.  Pat and I made the valance, and the curtains are blackout, which is great for nap time(s). 

Madison loves to crane her neck to see the pier one print above her changing table.  The fan, strangely enough, is one of my favorite things in the room.  I plan to steal it from her one day.  The fun lamp is from IKEA.  I love that place.

You already know all about the table and (soon to be) frame wall.  The glider, surprisingly enough (to me, anyway) gets hardly any use.  Madison just doesn't appreciate rocking gliding.  Maybe it'll be good for kid #2.  Not that we're in any hurry.  Don't start a bump watch just yet; anything you see on my midsection right now is most likely the result of my foray into the baking world.

This is one of the few to-do's in the nursery.  One of the drawer pulls came off a while back (two months, but who's counting), and we have yet to twist it back on.  Unfortunately, this is the wipes drawer, so I slice my fingers (not enough to draw blood, just enough to irritate the skin) on those threads on an almost daily basis.  Kinda like the proverbial howling dog on the porch that won't get off the nail. 

And because I think it's important to close on a good note, I'll leave you with this shot of Madison's diaper pail.  We considered the other route (you know, the Schmiaper Shmenie?), but decided we'd rather not have to buy specialty bags along with diapers and wipes.  I also thought the big plastic trash can was kinda ugly, and the few times I've been around said Schmiaper Shmenies, there was a distinctive diaper odor, anyway.  Instead, we just found a trash can with a lid at IKEA.  We dump a generous portion of baking soda in each new bag, and sprinkle in a little extra when depositing diapers that hold a little extra, if you know what I mean.  It usually looks better than this, but our Walmart doesn't sell medium trash can liners, so we're stuck with the too big tall ones until we get to Kroger.  In my opinion, it doesn't stink at all, but since I live here and may have acclimated to any smell, I can't be 100% sure. 

 

Our Nursery To-Do's:

• Reattach the drawer pull for the changing table
• Fill out the frame wall
• Iron (or toss in the dryer if I'm feeling lazy) the curtains
• Find a basket to set underneath the side table for extra toys/books/blankets

That's pretty much it!  Have you ever been disappointed not to get one item, only to find something much better?  What do you do with your diapers?  Is there any two-minute project around your house that you keep putting off (like the drawer pull)?

-Kelli