Hear Ye, Hear Ye, The Cabinets Are Done

I know you may be tired of hearing about our house improvements, but that's all we've got to talk about at this point. Oh, and no, I'm not showing yet so I'm not going to give anyone a silhouette of my belly.

We have started painting the hallway right beside the kitchen. Ben chose the color and it's called "nuture". I think it's rather nice.







Here's the wall... I'm standing in the kitchen taking this photo.
















This is what the cabinets looked like before... and the wallpaper.
















This is after a few weeks of work. We still need to paint the window above the sink.














The kitchen as a whole.
















Ben is not only hard working, but a wonderful husband. I told him to give me the best tired pose he could. He really was tired tonight.






















In other news, we recently got some used furniture. This armoire looked normal sized until it got into our house. I still like it though. We bought a bed and two night stands too that match this.

Ode To Kansas

Well... now that I'm in Kansas I feel like I ought to share some info about the state. I always like to know state information. I'm not sure why... so here it goes.

The state capital is Topeka, but the largest city is Wichita. (I've never been to either) Kansas is the 15th largest state.

Where did they get the name Kansas? Well... I've heard that it was named for Konza (also called Kansa or Kaw) Indians who lived in the area. I've also heard that the name is from the Sioux Indian meaning "south wind people." Not too sure.


Here is the state flag. You can't see it very well but it has a sunflower at the top because Kansas is the "sunflower state." It also has some people in covered wagons and Indians hunting bison on it. It also has the state motto: "Ad Astra Per Aspera", which means "To the stars through difficulty" in Latin. Inspiring huh?



The state song: Home on the Range
The state tree: Cottonwood
The state bird: Western Meadowlark










State Animal: Bison





There is also the state repile, the state insect and the state soil, but that's just getting ridiculous. Anyway... hope you learned something new about the mighty state of Kansas.

FYI

Some of you may wonder what I do during the day since I don't have a job. Well... I give myself assignments most every day. These pictures are some of what I did today amidst going to the bank and grocery store. Ben helps me when he gets home and by 9pm we are both exhausted!

As you can see in the first photo the evil brown wood color is showing.

Oh, and FYI... if you use painter's tape (the blue one) when you paint, take it off before the paint dries. Everyone must learn that the hard way.














In this photo you can see the new creamy white interior of our cabinets. They all will eventually look like this.

What's It Like?

Today as I was going through some more boxes I came across this poem that I jotted down from a book I read one summer. I thought it was so beautiful that I should share it. The painting at the bottom is by an artist called Danny McGraw.... lovely.

Mom, What's It Like?

When you felt the foot within your womb,
when the infant cry first filled the room...
to think that you and heaven just circled the moon...
what's that like?

And the day the bus pulled to a stop
and you zipped the jacket up to the top
and placed a kiss on a five-year-old's cheek
and waved good-bye, then saw the trike-
silent and still- what's it like?

The first time you noticed his voice was deep.
The first time she asked if you were asleep
and wanted to know when love was real,
and you told her. How did you feel?

Then the candles were lit.
She came down the aisle.
Did you weep? Did you smile?
And when your child with child told you the news,
and in the quiet of the corner asked for clues.
"Mom," she whispered, "What's it like?"
What you told her would you tell us?
Indeed, what is it like?

Kitchen Update

In recent days we've both been working on painting the kitchen. Ben especially has been working very hard. In his words- "once you start into it, you can't stop". I find it easier to stop than him it seems. :) Anyway, we've painted our kitchen yellow and we've had many a discussion if it's too yellow, too much egg yolky... you get the picture.

This is Ben posing.






This is Ben priming the cabinets. Notice the primer is bright white.















These windows have mainly been my project. I painted them a creamy white tonight. Aren't they lovely? (say yes... please)














This is tonight. We've decided to "glaze" our cabinets. It's hard to explain, but basically you paint the main color (for us the creamy white) and then you get the glaze (a brownish color called Cottonwood for us) and apply it. Then you wipe the glaze off a bit and the glaze stays on the grooves for a nice affect. We've never done this before, but I was impressed with the outcome.


















Here's a close up of our "glazed" cabinets.

31

Today I turn 31. I have a feeling my 30's will go by in a blur. Ben took me out for Indian food last night- YUM! It's my favorite... and to think I never had it until I met Ben. I had a concert tonight with my choir and while I was gone Ben went out and got a birthday present for me. It's a changing table I had admired on Craigslist. I think it's really great!

Baby Barreth's First Picture

Today Ben and I went to the doctor's to have our first sonogram. We both found it very interesting even though it is difficult to make out what you are seeing most of the time. The lady giving my sonogram said that I was not as far along as I thought (I was not surprised). I was supposed to be 19 weeks and 1 day, but instead I am at 17 1/2 weeks by all the measurements she took today. That makes my due date at June 9th.

These pictures are hard to make sense of I guess, but the head is over on the right and the baby has its mouth open. The lady taking the sonogram said "maybe its singing." I thought that was pretty appropriate. During the sonogram we saw the heart beating and also we saw the baby sucking. She said she saw fluid in the baby's stomach so it's been drinking fluid.

This second one is equally hard to distinguish. Again, the head is on the right (the baby was laying across my stomach long ways or transverse) and it is facing the camera with a hand up in front of its face.

The lady said that my placenta is to the back, so that means I'm going to feel this baby kick more. It's only 7 ounces right now she said. We have decided to not find out the sex of the baby. Ben wanted to be surprised and I have been talked into not knowing. After today's sonogram if she told me the sex I'm not sure I would believe her anyway. It's so shadowy. I figure the baby won't mind what color I paint its room anyway. We are so grateful everything looks ok.

House Work

Ben is becoming such a handyman! Here are some pictures of our work in the kitchen. I thought this first one was funny because he got spackling on his chin.
















Here he is cutting cabinets. Our fridge hits the wall when we open it... so we decided to get rid of a cabinet.
























Here he is with his saw.






















Now we are priming. Does the work ever end?























I couldn't stand it anymore and had to see some of the color we chose on the wall. Here is one wall I painted. It's called "warm cocoon". I've personally never seen a cocoon that color! I like it.













On a completely different note I recently made my first quiche! Hurray! Happy New Year!

Sips N Strokes

Last night Ben and I went with my mom and my sister to a thing called Sips n Strokes. The idea is that you paint and you bring your own beverage to sip while you work. They guide you along the way and we all paint the same thing. Last night we were all painting a cat.

This photo is of the studio before everyone started.


This is a painting that the owner of the studio painted. I thought it was pretty.

Ben and I getting ready to paint.

Ben decided he didn't want to paint a cat. He decided instead to paint an oceon scene.

The finished product.

This is my cat I painted.

Christmas in Alabama

This year, as always, we drove down to Alabama for Christmas. This year has been filled with change for everyone it seems as my mom and dad have a new house.

We had a gathering of our family on Christmas eve to open presents and a nice dinner. My niece and nephew were beside themselves to open presents (we had told them when it got dark we would open them) and so when we discovered that they had already arranged all the presents out on the floor we knew we'd better go ahead and open them.


This is my neice and nephew, Chloe and Clay. They were distributing presents with the help of their mom.

After we opened all our nice gifts I sat the kids down and explained that I had brought some Christmas crackers like the people in Britain open on Christmas. Usually in Britain everyone opens them at the dinner table with arms crossed, but I forgot about them at dinner. We enjoyed the little paper crowns and prizes in them. This is Chloe wearing her red lips that came in her Christmas cracker.

This was my prize... the moustache. I couldn't smile or the moustache would fall off.

We told my brother, Preston, that we needed a picture of the royal family. This is a very typical look you get from my brother.

This is my sister Stephanie and me with our crowns.

This is my parent's new house. It's beautiful.

Most of the houses look pretty similar, but my parent's house has one defining feature... this huge boulder thing in the front. It was left over by the builder and they said they'd come back for it and never did. My mom likes it and wants it to stay. Strange how things work like that.

Today I went to my sister's house to look through some baby items she has kept. Needless to say... I was a little overwhelmed with everything, but thankful we won't have to buy it ourselves.

"We Made It Through The Rain"- Barry Manilow

Actually, we made it through the snow. It's been a while since I've updated this blog due to some issues with getting hooked up with internet. Anyway... we have moved now and we are enjoying the whole reality of something being ours. Ben has been very enthusiastic and knocked down popcorn ceilings and we've both peeled wallpaper. If I never see another piece of wallpaper that will be ok with me. These house things seem so easy until you start them and then the conclusion comes to you that it is a nightmare. All that to say it's not as easy as it seems. Wait until we have a child right? ha!

These pictures are of Ben loading up the 26 foot truck we rented. I must have had a pregnancy moment or something because when I saw him drive up in that thing I started crying. It looked like he was driving a tracter trailer or something.... and to think you just need a regular driver's license for one of those! (think about those Miami drivers in one of these puppies) I finally relaxed and realized that it was going to be ok.

We are in Alabama now visiting my parents in their new "city" living. Actually it's just a larger town, but it's a major difference from Holly Pond. I'll have pictures soon. Tomorrow is Christmas eve and we have our big family shindig then. One thing of note... Ben and I drove down here and on our way down I was looking out the window and guess what I saw? Camels!!! Camels in Tennessee. I can't say you see that much in the south. Merry Christmas everyone! Remember Jesus is the reason we celebrate!

Our First Home

This past Thursday Ben and I closed on the purchase of our first home. Here it is! We are so excited. We haven't move in yet, but we are looking for refrigerators and talking about paint colors. We are very thankful to the Lord!












Here I am.

Let It Snow!

Today it snowed. It's hard to get a good picture of snow coming down, but just know that the size of the snowflakes were about the size of a ping pong ball. It is beautiful to watch from inside... not so fun to drive in.













Here is from our front porch. See the snow on Pam's car? It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Christmas Blooms

Yesterday Ben brought home a blue poinsettia for me. I can honestly say I've never seen a blue poinsettia before. This is also a picture for my family that has asked for more shots of my hairdo.



















Here it us up close.


















I have been waiting for what seems like two years for my orchids that I brought from Miami to bloom again. I guess they didn't have much light in Miami in our little bathroom window. Here it is and you can see that two more blooms are on their way.