Hello

I miss blogging. I doubt many people read or follow me but I feel better knowing I have documented my triumphs and accomplishments. I started this post in April 2013 and am just getting around to finishing it. I just think, what is the point?

Take Sunday for example- we had demolition day in the kitchen. All the backsplash and countertops came down/off. I seriously have been dreaming off taking this tile off my walls for two years. Serious. It was time.

Now I wish I could share these photos but I can not. Someday in the near future I hope to gain enough courage to spend the money to add photos and keep up on this lovely blog. I don't like having  facebook to document my pictures. Just the word facebook makes me cringe. I am soooooo anti pop culture.

Any way since starting this post in April many more kitchen accomplishments have happened. No only did we demolish the ugly 97 cent tile counters and back splash to make way for the new and improved counters- we sucked it up and BOUGHT new counters. Ocean green granite from Elite Counters in Hillsboro. I couldn't be happier. Truly it was a beautiful sight to come home to. I laid on it and hugged it. It is so pretty.

A few weeks after that we did the back splash installation. Many hours of cutting and aligning the beautiful matte white subway tiles. I also hugged this once it was installed. The white on the black counters was truly a magnificent sight to see. I was so happy that our kitchen was coming along.

Many DIY blogs and websites say that you should put the mortar or whatever it is behind the back splash but FIL is an independent contractor and doesn't know why? When there is an extremely easier way to accomplish this task. He simply caulks the back of the tile and sticks it to the wall. Easy one step done. Why would you do anything else? We had to cut spots for the outlets and cut to fit around the corners and tricky spaces. It took us merely 3/4 of a Sunday afternoon but it was TOTALLY worth it.

Fast forward to mid-week and our sheet rock guy "rocky" comes multiples times to finish off the disgusting holes in the walls. He came back sparsely and fit us in when he could. He knew we had been living with it for 2 years and that we didn't need to be the priority, out kitchen had other things that could be addressed.

A few more weeks passed and hubby and FIL grouted the tile. Plain white one white. Then we sealed it with an expensive sealer. Now my master bath is 99% complete and I consider the kitchen 95% but hubby disagrees and would lean towards the 99%.

The wall in the kitchen still needs a cap. FIL has a vision for some crown molding type edge and I believe it will be fabulous once complete. Also the kitchen island needs a toe kick. We saved tiles from the wall demo and island installation to hopefully be used for this.  So with those two things needed I consider the kitchen 95% done. That is still really good considering where we started 2.5 years ago.

For the master bath all that is needed is the toe kick tile to be installed and then it will be finished.

Once the dry wall and tile and everything was in I decided to paint the great room! We went to Home Depot and brought home a few samples. I was hoping for a nice gray to compliment the black counters and white back splash. We settled on Martha Stewart's "Chinchilla" color matched at Sherwin Williams "Mistic Gray". Hubby went on a mid week motorcycle trip and I took the alone time to accomplish the task of painting a great big room. Took me two nights, 1 gallon of paint, 9 plus hours and a bottle of wine. Worth it!

Oh glory day, I cannot believe we have come this far. I wish I could share pictures with you but alas, I am cheap and cannot.

Check back soon for updates!

Good Riddance

Is one of the most iconic songs of my childhood. If I were to make a soundtrack of my life it would most likely be number one.

This song means so much to me. 

The summer before Junior year I headed off on exchange to the mystical land of Peru. The night before I took my adventure my three best friends and I gathered in my bedroom talking about the possibilities to come and how we would never drift apart. Of course, none of us knew what to expect from my drifting off into the unknown. "I hope you had the time of your life" (we changed "had" to "have" so it would pertain to us) was on repeat that night. Hours of best wishes.

"A lesson learned in time" Nine years ago my life was entirely different. I was so young and lucky. My experiences that year abroad taught me so many things. I learned how to decipher between the things in life that matter and the things that don't. I learned how to dissolve my life of drama. This was by far the greatest lesson and I wish I knew how to teach it. Once a person understands that little things that get under your skin aren't worth your time and that its the good little things that really matter, you are free of many burdens. I may not have as many friends now because of it but I am truly content with who I am. Isn't that what matters the most? Being content with whats under your own skin.

"So make the best of this test, and don't ask why" The last month or so of the trip I was introduced to a wonderful mid western girl named Bre. She had resided in a town south of the one I had lived in. We quickly became close. We had to part ways when our exchanges were over, but luckily for us, she had family in my native state of Oregon. The summer following our exchanges we visited. We had both had an incredible time transitioning from life as an exchange student to life as a "normal" student. None of our friends understood our adventures and tired of hearing about them 24/7. None of our families understood that our brains were still thinking in Spanish but we were now in an English speaking country. None of the people around us understood how much we had experienced and gained in that year (I am not just talking about LBS from trying all the delicious cuisine). We stayed up all night talking about how we didn't have a place in the worlds we knew before our exchanges. We had evolved and everything at home had stayed the same. We were destined for more. We vowed to meet up 5 years later....in 2010. It hasn't happened yet but we think it will happen this year, 2013! Now we are both married and home owners. Life has been good to us.

"Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go" I think I was born mature. I have always been referred to as an old soul. But that year I matured more than I could grasp, even in my infinite wisdom. My best friends at home seemed different to me. However I was the one who had changed. I had experienced the world. Literally. I had traveled to 6 countries, met countless other world travelers and encountered dozens of indigenous cultures that year. I had changed, for the better. And honestly it is not about the world travel it truly isn't. It is about who I became. I arrived a 16  year old wide eyed girl and left a 17 year old adult, never to return the same.


"For what it's worth it was worth all the while" Why, yes Greenday it was worth all the while. My world was upside down and I knew who I was and who I wanted to become. I wanted to see more of the world and meet more of the people, see the ancient ruins and feel the earth beneath my feet. These were not feelings I had before hand. These are feelings that I still posses.

"It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right" So what I think I am getting at with this lengthy post is that we need to get past anything holding us back from our dreams and take life at what its worth and make the best of what we have. You cannot choose your destiny but it is yours and yours alone so make sure you have "the best time of your life".

Christmas Time

Its Christmas Eve at the Beaverton Carey's this year. Buckle up kiddos its gonna be a bumpy ride.

The hubs and I are hosting My grandparents (2), parents (2), sister (1), cousin + fiance (2.5) that is a grand total of 9 people at my home that I will have to feed. HA. I pre-ordered a 8 pound bone in ham that I will pick up 12/20. I will make mashed potatoes, I think I will go with garlic mashed because lets face it, I am a garlic enthusiast. I will make green beans. I think just sautéed in, you guessed it GARLIC and olive oil. Simple, quick and healthy! My grandma is going to bring a fruit salad which is her specialty and my mother will bring green salad and the gravy making ingredients.   Of course I will try to make a traditional desert as well, pie? I don't know about that one.....

I am not concerned about the food I am mostly worried about seating. We only have the kitchen island which has 4 stools possibly could hold 6 and then our round dining table that holds 4 possible 6. I just don't want anyone to feel excluded.

Christmas eve at my house and then christmas day at MIL's. I am excited. I made her a homemade heart felt gift that I am pretty proud of. I am also excited for this because I will be enjoying the last day of a large breasted woman. AHHHH I am so ready for this.

Christmas time this year, (is awesome).

Happy Holidays everyone!

Weekend Happenings

Oregon is kind of whacky. On the first day of spring we got 1.5 inches of snow. That was Tuesday. By Friday it was sunny and wonderful out! We got A LOT done this weekend. Friday was filled with cabinet fun! I also went to one of the three Goodwills within a mile of my house and found some good things. The best find was this desk organizer that someone had taken the time to paint a beautiful green, then they donated it and I snatched it for 1.99!!

Saturday (another beautiful Spring day might I add) we were supposed to go help my parents move their wood stove for cleaning but by the time we got there the project was done so we went out to lunch in Forest Grove. Some good ol' english food and a couple rounds of Jenga later we headed back up to their house.
Next stop was his parents house where we met the newest addition to the Carey clan puppy Tucker.

We also saw baby J for the first time since her birthday bash seen here. The little 15 month old has taken her first steps and couldn't be cuter doing so!


One of the silliest things about our Carey family is when O "works like a man". Meaning anything from shoveling poop (one of his FAVORITE past times) to watching papas do handy work. The best moments in his life are when he is helping spread manure or in his language "banure" in the pasture. I have memories of him sitting in the back of a pickup hands folded under his chin watching the Sh** fly behind. This weekend he was on the back of a quad watching the banure go. He has learned how to be somewhat of a ladies man, or a dork, you pick. Either way I think he is the cutest.

Grinning and pulling the throttle.

We then headed home and I accomplished something I had been waning to do for a long time- painting the master bath to match our bedroom! I had been waiting for the pedestal sink and ugly cabinet to be removed so this was my chance and I wasn't going to wait a minute longer. I was even able to get hubby to help. He was reluctant but I simply couldn't reach high enough above the shower! He's a wonderful help when he wants to be ;)

Sunday we headed out to run errands. I like to get things done before the crowds emerge from church or hangovers on Sunday morning so we went to the mall at opening 10AM and got my ring inspected/ cleaned. We then were off to the place where dreams come true- Home Depot. We got a towel rack and faucet for our bathroom. Seemingly boring things but to me they bring joy to my life.

As it was another gorgeous day out and our front yard is lacking in the beauty department we decided to give it some TLC that it so desperately needs.

Taken in 2011 but you get the idea. Not much has changed. Yes, we are "those" neighbors.

Our original plan was to get a bull dozer out to level the playing field so to speak. I decided that we should atleast try to scrape that last layer of white rocks off on our own. Was it worth it? Yes indeed. I spent 3 hours hoeing (yes, I know how that sounds) and shoveling. We got the rocks into pile throughout the yard.

 The next step was putting the rocks into buckets to be transported to the farm.

A good portion of my time was spent pulling up landscaping cloth or weed block. Do you have any ideas what took so long to pull up? Of thats right all the weeds that were growing ON TOP of the block. You see the trees in the first pictures on the right? Those were not planned I found out, those are WEEDS. I could start a nursery!

End result to some may seem like nothing. To us, the people who have been staring at sparse white rock for 13 months this is a MAJOR improvement. The rocks you see are simply going to be tilled in. The brown is the excessive amount of barkdust or mulch that was used for "landscaping".

 Dweet has taken a liking to the new cabinets, who wouldn't?

This is a post I wrote back in March 2012 that was never finished due to the "lack of space" issue I had. Sorry but I hated seeing it as a draft when it had so many pictures1

Grinning from ear to ear

Yesterday was what I call a "Fun fun furlough Friday" as I normally get to do something different on these days. Friday furloughs are a bittersweet day. Its an unpaid day that I would normally be working so it causes a pay cut for state employees while supposedly saving tax payers 2 million per furlough (They haven't confirmed this statistic but stick to saying its real). Unlike holidays, state employees are the only ones with this day off so it creates a day to conduct business during business hours that I usually don't get to do. For instance last June I went down to the court house and got our marriage license and scheduled our ceremony on a furlough Friday. Courts aren't open on weekends so I don't know when I would have done this otherwise. Unfortunately I can't conquer DEQ on these days as they take the same furloughs as I do. Stores aren't as busy as holiday Friday's or weekends so I go get things I have needed. As you know we are on the search for our granite and wouldn't you know that granite shops are only open Monday through Friday 8-5? Crazy right? So yesterday we went and viewed some stone for the kitchen and bathroom, which again, we wouldn't have otherwise been able to do.
Are you grasping the bittersweetness of these Furloughs? The "Fun fun furlough friday" is sarcasm OBVIOUSLY I don't get paid for that day and I have no choice but I can get some important things done.

Wondering about the title of the post? You know I am not grinning from ear to ear regarding furloughs right? So yesterday my wonderful Father In Law (FIL) texted, for the first time might I add, and asked if he could get into the house to install (!!!) our cabinets! He didn't know that we would be home to help. So he arrived with this beautiful site:

Box van full of our cabinets.

Lots of drawers.

Dweet loves them too!

By this time I had been jumping for joy singing "woohooo, woohoo, woohoo" for about an hour. I have been waiting for this moment for 13 or more months. I cannot describe how ecstatic I was when this happened. 

Remember what the kitchen looked like before? Big open wasted space?

Somehow, Delilah managed to make it into most of these pictures?

The void is no more!

First step we had to remove the backsplash? toe kick? Trim? I'm not sure what its called, but I got rid of the tile border on the wall where I wanted cabinets. Enter putty knife and hammer and the only demo for this portion of the project.

Husband scored the tops of the tiles first.

Some where harder to remove and kept splitting in half.

FIL even organizes his garbage. 

I later found out that he was saving some of the full tiles for the toe kick under the new cabinets. Organized with reason, I like it.

There are electrical outlets that we want/ need to be functional so they measured where the socket matched up with the cabinets and cut the square out.

This is the hole.

 Then the cabinets were put into place.

First you want to make sure they are level. Easy if the people who installed your floor did that level.  

The men screwed the two cabinets together. Teamwork to make sure it is level and doesn't distort the wood.

Between the back of the cabinets.

 The cabinets also got attached to the wall.

Caulking on the bottom. 

See the big hole? Thats for my microwave! The outlet is in the drawer below so there needed to be a hole from the microwave to the outlet. Enter hubby with a power tool.

 They added wood behind so it wouldn't slip when in use.

 I asked FIL to clean the microwave but he said it would cost extra ;)

Lets have a reminder of the kitchen when purchased:

Listing photo

So Fridays finished product looks like this:

 Drawer fronts and cabinet doors to come, I promise.

Fior garbage and recycling.

Shelving on the left. Notice clean microwave!

A door and shelving will go here.

Look at the counter space!

I know it doesn't look like much yet. But oh my gosh! The kitchen isn't as gigantic anymore and the space is useable! I am seriously in love. I wanted to eat dinner staring at its beauty.

When we add the bar portion it will really help break up the room between kitchen and living space. Counter tops will be nice too. One step at a time. We are most likely going to wait a few months for the savings account to grow in order to buy all that granite. We are adding granite to the pre-existing counters, the new ones and the bar. Thats almost 6 different pieces we will have to get. Luckily FIL knows a guy who can get it for us at stock price. They do lots of business together to it is only fair.

I cannot wait to go grocery shopping and put the bags ON MY ISLAND!! It seems so minor but its a dream come true!

FIL also installed bathroom counter!! More on that later.