Remodeling Blueprints

Since we decided to go to the library and grocery shopping on Friday night, we had a "free" day on Saturday. E didn't have band in the morning, but Josh went to work til lunchtime (where he found that one of his servers had crashed, but he got it up and running again before coming home to eat).

As I think I've mentioned before, Josh's work has a computer program where you can design houses and buildings to scale. Josh had taken all the room measurements beforehand, and we had a pretty good idea of how we wanted our remodeling plans to be, but we still needed to get all the measurements down and see how things looked to scale.

After lunch we all went over to Josh's work. E and G did some homework, and the kids watched a movie and played in the halls while Josh and I spent the afternoon working on the remodeling blueprints. It was fun!

The computer program is pretty awesome because you can view what your plans look like in 3D, complete with furniture even! Josh said he could make a video walk-through of our plans and send it to me, but for now, I can show the 2D blueprints. (None of the plans I'm posting have measurements on them other than the total square footage of the level because we didn't print them with those options for now.)

Our house is a tri-level with an unfinished fourth basement level under the living room and kitchen level.

(Our house last fall)

The washer and dryer are currently in the basement, and we will be keeping them down there. Here is a picture of what we plan on doing.

The bifold door in the boys' room gives access to the back side of the furnace. The stairs go up to the family room level (lower level with walk-out patio doors you can see in the above house photo).

Now for the upstairs ...

Here's the way the bedroom level is currently laid out. (I drew in the bathroom fixtures on this plan at home, so they aren't to scale, but you get the idea.)

Here are our plans for the upper floor. (This time the bathroom fixtures are to scale.)

The door between the master bedroom and master bathroom is a pocket door. It's a bit odd to have 2 windows in the master closet, but we are keeping all the windows in the house as is.

After getting back home and pouring over the plans some more, Josh decided to move the wall separating the master bedroom and master closet into the closet another 6 inches. We'd also like to put a corner electric fireplace in where the master bedroom jogs out toward the master closet.

The funny thing is that we designed the floor plan and then took a look at how many square feet each of the bedrooms would be. Both our bedroom and the girls' room was the exact same size ... 189 sq ft! (Although ours will be a bit bigger now with bumping that closet wall back.) When we took a look at the sq footage for the boys' room, it came out to 188 sq ft! Wow! We couldn't have done that if we'd tried! Funny how they all worked out that way!

Josh still has some tweaking to do to the blueprints, specifically in regard to the electrical plans, before he can submit them to the building inspector to get the needed permits, but he said that he'd like to start by digging the hole for the egress window in the boys' room around May 1.

Master Bed & Bath Remodeling Ideas

The past few days I've been contemplating the colors, style, bedding, and decor for our master bedroom and bathroom when we remodel this summer.

I'm thinking of going with chocolate brown and light blue bedding with brown dominating, painting the walls light blue, and decorating with some pics taken by yours truly turned into sepia tones. The I'd like long white sheers on the windows hanging from a decorative brown iron rod with brown iron "tiebacks" on the wall with blinds or shades on the windows, too. I'd love a hardwood floor, but Josh wants carpet because he thinks the hardwood floors will be too cold. We'll need to get new carpet anyway with the remodeling.

The only thing is that our bedroom furniture is a medium oak. I don't really care for the style anymore. I/we picked out when we first got married, and I know much better what I like now. I'm not sure if the medium oak color will look ok with the chocolate brown. Josh says we're not going to paint it though. And we're not getting new bedroom furniture.

I'm thinking of painting the master bathroom the same blue as the bedroom. The cabinetry, sink, toilet, and shower will be white. I'd love to have large brown slate-look tile on the floor and put a few colored pics of Josh and me at the mountains and beach in WA on the walls in brown frames (wood or metal). I think the blues from the mountains and water will go well with the blue walls. I'm thinking maybe putting a few brown metal hooks or decorative accents on the walls, too.

If anyone has any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, I'd welcome them!

It's Time for Another Movie Review Post

• The Taking of Pelham 123 - The premise and plot of this movie were interesting, but the language was awful! I don't think the movie ran more than 5 minutes, maybe 10, without hearing the f word. It was really bad in that respect, and the language was distracting. I wouldn't recommend this movie, mostly because of the language.


• Public Enemies - Honestly, the real reason I chose this movie was because parts of it were filmed in a town in WI that we sometimes drive through, and I thought we'd maybe recognize some things. Well, we did, but the movie wasn't real great. It was slow, and I fell asleep about 3/4 of the way through. Josh told me how it ended, and it doesn't sound like I missed anything worthwhile.


• Star Trek - I'm not a trekkie, and I don't know if I've ever seen a whole episode of the original series (although I have seen some of the subsequent ones). Josh isn't a trekkie either, but he's seen enough Star Trek episodes to get many of the references to the original tv series in this movie and explain them to me. However, even if Josh hadn't been there to share the allusions with me, I think I would have enjoyed this one. I didn't care for the love interest angle or Spock meeting himself, but other than that, it was pretty good.


• The Proposal - A predictable yet sometimes cute and funny movie. Mostly fluff rather than substance. Entertaining, but nothing special. Not for kids.

Another Big Basketball Weekend

The gradeschool basketball tournaments were at the high school this weekend, so I had to work Friday, Saturday, and today. I am so glad they're done!

We actually weren't as busy as in years past, but the time there gets so long, and 3 days in a row really shoots the weekend.

Now I only have 3 more nights of basketball that I'm scheduled to work concessions ... 2 next week, and 1 on the 11th.

J had his last C team basketball game at MS on Saturday morning. I couldn't go, but Josh and the rest of the kids went. J even made a free throw!

For My Valentine

I looked and looked for a valentine card for Josh and just couldn't find one I really liked this year. I usually get him some dark chocolate which he likes, too, but this year I got a little bit more creative.

I bought a bag with a bunch of Ghiradelli dark chocolate squares in it. This is the 16th Valentine's Day Josh and I have been together, so I typed up 16 slips of paper that have a sentence or a phrase on them relating something about us or our lives to the numbers 1-16. Then I took out 16 of the chocolates and taped one slip to each of the 16 chocolate wrappers and hid them around the house where Josh will find them ... in his socks, by his alarm clock, in his shoes, by his razor, etc. Then gave him a letter that told him what I'd done and how he didn't have to look for the chocolates right away but rather I hoped he would find them unexpectedly and they would put a smile on his face the same way thinking about him puts a smile on mine.

Basketball Weekend

Friday J and G had their yearly checkups at the dr's. Josh took them. Apparently the 2 boys were quite the comedic duo for the dr while they were there.

E had a basketball game in N. E, F, S, and I went to that E could be at the school 30 min before her game while Josh and the other 2 drove separately from the dr's office.

The other team had some 6th graders who also had to play A team basketball later in the night, so they had to take them out for part of the game. At halftime, we were down 12-2. The other team didn't play their 6th graders during the 3rd quarter, and in those 6 min, we scored 20 pts, and the score at the end of the 3rd quarter was 22-12! Then their 6th graders came back in for the 4th quarter, and we lost 29-24. It was an interesting game!

E had a basketball tournament in H today. Her first game was at 9:00 am. We lost. G was invited to go with his friend in the interim time between the girls' games, so we let him.

When E's game was done, we drove 30 min back to the kids' school for J's C team basketball game. They lost, but J scored his second basket of the season.

Then it was a 30 min drive back to H for E's second game. We ate a lunch of sandwiches in the van on the way.

Our girls won their second game, and E made her first basket during a game for the season! The look on her face was great, and it was neat because all of our fans really cheered loudly for her when she made it. In addition to that, E really played a good game, sticking to the person she was guarding, shooting alot, and not just standing in one place.

Since it was the end of E's season, the coach treated the girls to custard at Culver's. We all went along and had some, too. Yum!

Then we had to go to a ballroom in H. Josh's work's charity auction is going to be held there again this year, but the ballroom has gotten a new sound system since the last time we had an auction there. Since Josh is in charge of the sound stuff for the auction, he wanted to check out the new system, so we stopped there for about 15 min before.

We still needed to go grocery shopping for the week, so we stopped at Wal-mart in H, and did our shopping there before heading back home.

Monday

Josh was home from work at noon today because we had some guys coming to tune up our furnace. When I got home a little after 2:00 with S, Josh went back to work. The furnace guys left soon afterwards, saying our furnace was in really good condition. I'd hope so since it's only about 3 yrs old!

Then I baked another batch of valentine cookies. I didn't frost them though. Didn't get a chance to stop and get more powdered sugar yet.

G and F counted out their 100 M&M's to take to school tomorrow to celebrate the 100th day of school.

However, the 100th day of school may get postponed til Wednesday. There is a big snowstorm on the way with 12-16" of snow predicted. It's supposed to start at midnight tonight and last all day Tuesday. The winter storm warning lasts til 6:00 Wednesday morning. So we may have a snow day tomorrow. Atleast we're not getting pummelled with 2 1/2 ft like the east coast did!

Josh is gone to a town about an hour away this evening. He should be back around 9:00.

Super Sunday

Today we had a guest preacher at church who is a WLIM chaplain who regularly goes into 7 different prisons in WI and has Bible classes. He led our adult Bible class this morning, too.

After taking the rest of us home from church, Josh went to Menards again to get some more drywall. It's on sale with a good rebate, so he's stocking up for this summer's upcoming remodeling projects.

My sister R stopped by around noon to pick up her laptop on which Josh had installed a new hard drive. She also told us her cell phone fell out of her pocket into the toilet this morning, so she was on her way to get a new one. WTG, R! ;)

I spent pretty much all afternoon baking and frosting these cookies for the kids to take to school for their classmates for their Valentine's parties on Friday.


I need 90 cookies for the kids for school, but I knew that the kids would want some, too, and I only had 3 left over. So, I'm going to make another batch yet this week. I need to run to the store to get some more powdered sugar for the frosting since I ran out.

In the late afternoon, our friends, the P's came over for supper. Although it's Super Bowl Sunday, that's not why they came. Neither of our families are big football fans! They stopped at Costco before coming here and brought some chicken and buns for supper. I made some scalloped potatoes in the crock pot and salad. P's also brought ice cream sandwiches which we had with some of the valentine cookies I made for dessert. We had a good time with them before they left around 9:00 to head home.

Peachy Pink Roses

Here are some pics of the pretty roses Josh bought me.

First Place!

E had band practice early this morning.

Then she came home, and I spent 45 minutes doing her hair for her cheerleading competition. (All the girls had to have high ponytails with curls.)

I worked concessions at E's cheerleading competition but was able to get into the gym to watch her squad perform. They did a GREAT job and ended up winning first place in their division!

E is on the right with her back to the camera.

E is in the middle holding the 2 girls' feet on her shoulders.

Meanwhile ...

Josh took the rest of the kids along to LF's funeral.

Then they went home to eat lunch before taking G to his classmate NT's birthday party at a bowling alley. G got 6 strikes!

While G was at the party, Josh and the remaining 3 kids went to Menard's to get a new service door for the garage, some paint, and a whole bunch of drywall.

When I got home, I discovered 6 peachy pink roses in a vase on the kitchen table. Josh bought them for me because he knew I hadn't had a great week, and he thought they'd make me feel better! :)

What a Week!

... and it's not done yet!

I don't mind having a busy week sometimes, but it seems like every week has been really busy lately. This week was no exception and seemed even more hectic than the last few weeks have been, especially the end of it.

In addition to working at church M-F this week ...

Wednesday:

• E had cheerleading practice.


• Josh had a special church council meeting.

Thursday:

• I had a dr appt to address the stomach pains I've been having (most likely an ulcer).


• E had basketball practice.


• I worked concessions at night.

Today:

• S and I went to the library and grocery shopping.


• E had a basketball game.


• Josh and I had to supervise for 2 hrs during the games.


• E and the cheerleaders performed their competition routine at halftime of the B boys' game.


• I went to LF's (Josh's coworker whose grandchildren I used to babysit) wake/visitation since I won't be able to go to her funeral tomorrow.

Rethinking Remodeling Plans

Josh and I have been planning to finish our basement this summer, adding 2 additional bedrooms down there. Before getting our building permit, Josh had to contact someone with our county's planning dept and get their approval first because we have a septic system. In doing so, he found that the number of bedrooms our house has determines the size of septic system we are required to have. Due to the size of our septic system, we can only have 3 bedrooms in our house. If we want to add more, we have to put in a bigger septic system. Ironically, we can add more bathrooms with our current septic system. (How much sense does that make?!)

We need the bedroom room. The boys are okay in their room now, but it's tight, and as they grow older, we will definitely need more room for them.

Even though the plan was for E and J to each have their own room in the basement, G and S to share upstairs, and F to have her own room upstairs, it looks like we will have to stay with a boys' room and a girls' room.

So now, the plan we're considering is to remodel the whole upstairs so that the 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom up there are turned into 2 larger bedrooms with 1 regular bathroom and 1 master bathroom. Then, the 2 bedrooms we were planning to put in the basement will turn into 1 large bedroom for the boys.

We were all disappointed in learning that we couldn't do what we'd been planning for quite a while, but we can't put in a new septic system and add the bedrooms. It's one or the other. Although the revisions we're considering will still cost more than our initial plans, they're still more feasible than dealing with the septic system.

Last night Josh and I played around with layouts and plans, measuring things, etc., and trying to come up with a way that we could get things to work. I think we've got about half of it worked out, but Josh needs to play around with some kind of program they have at his work that can draw up accurate building plans.

Basketball, Basketball, and More Basketball

Thursday night I worked concessions again. Even though it was dead on Tuesday, we were really busy that night.

E had a basketball game last night. Her team lost.

G was at a classmate's birthday party all yesterday evening.

J had a basketball game this morning. I finally got some pics of him playing.

His team lost, too.

After J's game, we hurried home for lunch before taking E back to school for an extended cheerleading practice. Their cheer competition is coming up next week Saturday, so they had a special 3 hr practice this afternoon.

While E was at practice, the rest of us went to the library and grocery shopping. We also picked up Josh's college diploma from Hobby Lobby. (Josh has been talking about getting it framed for years. It's an odd size, so we knew it wouldn't be cheap. At Christmastime, I'd told him that part of his present this year was to get his diploma framed.)

We got home just in time for me to drive back to school to get E from cheer practice.

I cut Josh's and all 3 boys' hair tonight.

Dead Sea Scrolls

Last night Josh and I went on a date to see the Dead Sea Scrolls which are on display at the museum in the big city. Josh was able to get a free ticket for himself and a discounted ticket for me. We got a babysitter for the kids, and off we went!

How was it? Well, before seeing the scroll exhibit, we saw the "Secrets of the Dead Sea" movie on IMAX in the planetarium. The movie was NOT worth it and barely had anything to do with the scrolls. As Josh said, it was like someone said, "Hey, we have this awesome planetarium. Let's make a movie that maybe has a tiny bit to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls but gets people into the planetarium so they will bring their friends here."

There were maybe only about 10 exhibits with the actual scrolls, but there was a big replica of the Isaiah scroll which I think has all (or most) of the book of Isaiah intact. It was neat to see where certain familiar verses were on it like, "For to us a child is born ..." (Isaiah 9:6)

There were lots of lamps, pottery, glass jars, etc. from the time, too.

The 5-10 min (free) movie shown continuously in the actual exhibit was MUCH better and more informative than the IMAX one. It was basically what I thought the IMAX one would be.

And then there were copies of other Bibles there, too, like a Gutenberg Bible, one of Luther's German Bibles, KJV, and other translations. There were 6 pages of an RSV Bible which is being commissioned by some monks in MN and is being hand calligraphied and illustrated (complete with gilding) by some monks in Europe which was neat to see.

All in all, it was alright. It was a nice night out, but I wouldn't go see the exhibit again.

We did have a good time when we went out to eat afterward though!

When Josh and I were on our honeymoon, we went to a Cheesecake Factory in Victoria, BC. I'd never hear of the restaurant at the time. Since then I've learned they're a chain, but we didn't have any in WI til recently. It seemed like a good choice for our late dinner!

Josh had the charbroiled flat iron steak, and I had the garlic noodles with chicken. Both were absolutely delicious ... and calorie-free, of course! Ha! Ha!

Since it was 10:00 by the time we finished our meal and since we were both full, we opted not to get the cheesecake ... this time!

Even though the scroll part of our date was only so-so, we just had fun going out and being together.

Daddy Day

Today was "Daddy Day" for S's class at school. The students' dads were invited to come visit the classroom from 10:00 am til the end of the 3K's school day at 11:15.

Mrs. R, S's teacher, told me afterward that S was more bouncy and talkative even before Josh arrived than he's ever been before. Daddy is his favorite person, and he was so excited about him coming.

On another preK note, Annabelle the classroom fish was missing from her fishbowl this morning. Mrs. R said she found the fish on the floor under the shelf the fishbowl was sitting on. Apparently Annabelle took the leap of death out of the fishbowl and onto the floor.

I worked concessions tonight.

Boys and Guns

First off, let me say that Josh has never been hunting. We don't own a gun. I don't have anything against those who own guns or hunt as long as they are responsible with the guns and ammo; I just want to let you know where I'm coming from. That said ...

What is it that makes boys drool over Nerf guns? Run around the house shooting each other? Set up targets in the basement to shoot at? Build a gun mount out of K'nex?

(This is the same boy who has rigged up a gun rack with hangers at the foot of his bed for his Nerf gun.)

And, just in case you think I'm being sexist by only asking about boys doing these things, how many girls do you know will take a bite out of their sandwich quarters and then shoot them like a gun without outside influence from a person of the male gender?

Honestly, I'm not worried about the boys and their Nerf guns and what it might mean for them in the future. Their heads are usually screwed on right.

It's just that there are interesting differences between boys and girls.

Movies, A Party, and Good Deals

Josh and the kids watched Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs last night. I peeked in here and there while working on the computer. From the bits I saw, I wasn't real impressed.

Then, after the kids were in bed, Josh and I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We both liked it, but, as with most books-turned-into-movies, the book was better. There's just so much more to a book that doesn't lend itself to screenplay and/or would make a movie extremely long.

Church this morning, then back home to eat lunch.

E was invited to classmate SP's birthday party at the roller rink in C this afternoon. I took her, and, instead of going back home and picking her up when the party was done, I went shopping at some stores nearby. There wasn't really anything in particular that I was looking for other than a valentine card for Josh which I ended up not getting because I couldn't find one I liked. However, I came away with some good deals from Kohl's.

I'd gotten a $15 Kohl's gift card for Christmas that I hadn't spent yet. I'd been thinking about getting some dark brown dress pants for work, and I found some on the clearance rack for $14.40 (70% off the original price). I also found a church dress for next winter for E on the girls' clearance rack (60-70% off) and some long sleeved t-shrits with Lego Star Wars on them for J for next winter (about 50% off). I even had a coupon in my purse for 15% off the whole purchase which I'd forgotten about, and yesterday was the last day it was good for. I came away only spending $22 of our money. Good deals!

I picked E up at 3:30. It was only her second time at the roller rink, but she had fun!

In Which I Earn the Bad Mom Award

E had basketball games at her school last night. It was also our night for our "compulsory volunteerism" in which we had to supervise at the games for 2 hrs (make sure there are no problems with fans or students from our school or the other team's and help as needed).

E's team lost, and when her game was done, I handed over the blaze orange supervisor's vest to Josh to wear while I went and finished proofing and printing the bulletins for Sunday since they weren't ready for me yet while I was working there earlier.

After putting the kids to bed, Josh and I watched The Soloist. I wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't horrible or anything, but it was R.E.A.L.L.Y. slow. I think it could have been a good movie, but it just seemed so drawn out when it didn't need to be. I watched the whole thing, but Josh fell asleep during it.

J had a basketball game this morning at P, H. Josh took J and S to the game while I took E, G, and F grocery shopping with me. E and G wanted to come with me and pick out presents for their friends whose birthday parties they will be attending soon, and F wanted to spend the remainder of her $10 money from Christmas. E was scheduled to have a 3 hr cheerleading practice this afternoon (or so I thought), so we had to get the errands run in the morning which meant we couldn't all go to J's game.

J's team won his game.

After lunch I took E to school for her practice. We were about 5 minutes early. Pastor's car was the only one there, but that didn't really faze me since the other cheerleaders usually get dropped off, and the coach gets there right when practice is supposed to start. I watched E open the door and go into the building.

On the way home, I had to stop at Piggly Wiggly to pick up a couple of things that they had really good deals on.

When I pulled into the garage, Josh came out with the phone in his hand and said that E was waiting at school and didn't have practice. Oh, no!

I drove back and picked her up, but I went into the office and checked on my computer there. Practice was scheduled for 1:00-4:00 NEXT Saturday afternoon!

I felt so incredibly horrible! Bad mom award for the day? Yep, that would be mine. :(

At home once again I spent over 2 hrs cleaning the house and folding laundry. Not fun, but productive, and now the house looks much better.

With our permission, J has started reading the Harry Potter books. Someone at school is reading the first one. Because it wasn't in the school library, J started with book 2. When we were at the community library this morning, I checked for book 1, but all the copies there were checked out there, too. Guess I'll have to put it on hold for him.

J just started reading the Harry Potter book this past Wednesday and is already almost done. Pretty good for a boy who mainly enjoys non-fiction!

Still Here

Yes, I'm still around. I've had to work concessions the past two nights and will again tonight. When I get home at night after work, I just don't feel like getting on the computer. I've usually been curling up with a book.

Over Christmas vacation, my SIL L mentioned the tv series Flash Forward and how they liked it. Josh and I thought it sounded interesting, so we've been watching the first 10 episodes online. Last night we finished watching the last aired episode and are now all caught up and just have to wait til March when the latter half of the season airs. It's got an interesing premise, and we've enjoyed watching it.

I've been exercising every weekday, doing the 30 Day Shred. I haven't been eating really well lately though. I think working concessions has something to do with it, but I'm trying.

Music, Movies, and Sunday

The concert we went to last night actually ended up being a full worship service rather than just the concert it seemed to be advertised as, so we were a bit underdressed. That was okay though, and the band sounded great!

Last night after putting the kids to bed, Josh and I watched the movie Flywheel. It's by the same people who made Fireproof. The movie's message was good, and the movie was pretty good, too.

Josh had to usher for early service this morning, and F and her kdg class sang in the same service.

G's classroom celebrates summer birthdays on the child's half birthday. Since G's half birthday is today, he and I made dirt cake cups (his choice) for him to share with his friends at school tomorrow. There was enough left over for everyone in our family to each have some, too. Yum!

Josh went over to work in the afternoon and was there til almost 7:30 trying to fix a bunch of computers.

The kids watched The Jungle Book 2 movie this afternoon. I entered some budget stuff on the computer and putzed around with a bunch of blog stuff.