A bit of finishing work...

After the stomach bug that knocked us off our feet for a few days, we had a for real week of finishing around the Puckett house. Like...

finishing the mocking piles of laundry that somehow grew exponentially in spite of the fact that we didn't change out of pajamas for days at a time. I'm sure you are all painfully aware, as I am, that laundry is never truly finished, just maintained. I'm a laundry maintainer, it's what I do.

We are also moving closer to DONE on the bathroom redo. So close, in fact, that I hope to write an after post this very week! Happiness! Until then, I'll tease you with a few of the finishing projects in the works.

After no less than 17 trips to the fabric store, I chose this yummy floral print for the roman shade and a natural linen for the shower curtain. Mrs. Industrial Cottage helped me with *read made* the roman shade and shower curtain. They are AMAZING, and I love her for it.

Mr. LORIENDEVON installed a BEAM! that runs the length of the space.  And while it is not reclaimed wood from an old abandoned barn in Vermont, a sledgehammer, ax, stain and some muscle turned ordinary Lowe's wood into an affordable beam to be proud of;)

This is the before and you must check back for the after. If I say that loud enough, then I'll stay motivated to actually finish it ALL.

Hope you are well. And thanks so much for your heartfelt and thought provoking comments on my last post. My eyes filled up with tears just reading them. You're the best.

Lori



A Year in Photos~ week #8

{wrapping up the bathroom remodel}

Life???

Maybe I should just go ahead and do a blog post using the pictures of my messy house like I thought I would. Or maybe I should post the pics. of baby Dave taking a bath in the sink, because that would be easy and make everyone smile, and I wouldn't have to go "there."

But I guess if I'm gonna do this whole blog thing, I better be true and honest with what I'm feeling. If people weren't interested, they wouldn't be reading my blog anyway, right?

You may all stop reading now;)

So I'm 32. *gulp* I've been thinking lately about myself at 22. I was pregnant with the twins and three years into my marriage. I have a few things I want to tell my 22 year old self, and I want her to listen...

I want to tell her to STOP and do the hard thing. I want to tell her that it's gonna hurt like...a lot, but it will be OK. You WILL be OK. I want to tell her to trust, love and forgive no matter what. Slow down and savor the moments. I want to assure her that there WILL be a time when you can actually sit down at the dinner table or park bench, sleep through the night, and have a real conversation with an adult that involves eye contact. I want to say that while having four kids in four years seems like a stretch now, one day you will watch them all experience life together and you will not be able to imagine it any other way. And this whole buy a house and fix it up thing is going to work out. I know the place looks like a disaster now, but he'll make it a lovely home for you and the kids. Promise. Kiss them longer, hold them closer, and smell them more deeply. Oh, and by the way, you truly shouldn't gain SO much weight when you're pregnant, 'cause stretch marks are ugly and they stay with you basically FOREVER. Thanks for that one. Ha.


With that in mind, I could seriously use a good heart to heart with my 42 year old self right about now. I think she'll be a somewhat insightful lady, and I have many unanswered questions running through my mind these days. I could use her input on HUGE issues like family size, adoption, homeschooling and careers. And her input on small things like whether or not running now will make my 42 yr old knees ache? What kind of moisturizing cream is best? And how much money I should be saving for retirement, really, 'cause I've got kids to feed and bills to pay now, you know? Should I let the boys get the dog that they've been begging us for, or is it more work than I really need in my life? And don't you think it's a good idea for our family to buy a house on the beach in Catalina and run away?

Just kidding...

I think;)


Well, as lovely as this conversation would be, we all know it's an impossible dream. I think that's why they say you learn as you go, praying and asking for godly advice along the way.

So I'm asking you, not really to answer any of my questions, but rather to share something you have learned along YOUR journey in life. Please share, even you young ones. I truly care and would love to learn from your experiences.

Oh, and don't worry. I'll get to the messy house, cute baby in the sink post eventually;)


Lori

We got our Hairs Cut...

Yahoo! A mommy~daughter date, a chance to get out of the house and away from all those BOYS!

Lane says, "we're going to get our hairs cut and you can't come with us."

Not the least bit interested in hairs or cuts, I think the boys were thrilled to see us go.

{not daddy, though. He snapped our pic. as we left.}

Laney's hair was shoulder length, and she's been telling me for a while now that she wants it to grow REALLY long like the girl in the movie tangled. She says, "maybe then it will light up when I sing." I can assure you that while it has never lit up, this hair of hers has managed to fall into cereal, yogurt, gum, glue and any other sticky substance that happens to be nearby. Making this mom of hers quite crazy. But I rolled with it, telling myself that she wants to be a princess with glowing hair and I shouldn't squelch her four year old dreams;)

When I mentioned in passing that I had an appointment for a haircut and color with our friend Mrs. Olivia, she nonchalantly and in all seriousness asked if she could have her hair colored PINK.

"Probably not, my girl, but maybe I could ask if Mrs. Olivia would cut your hair?" I optimistically suggest. 

"Ummm?...OK," she says.

"What about tangled?" I ask.

"No, Mom, I changed my mind; I want my hair short like yours." 

Awww. Sweetness. 

Well, that was painless enough. Let's hope she's this easily talked out of pink hair when she's 16. 

{some long hair smiles in the car before heading into the salon}

Scary, right? And sadly this is the last picture I took of myself that day. So you'll have to trust me when I tell you my haircut came out great and my brown was not turned pink.

{could she get any cuter?}

{Oh, wait. I lied. There I am. See, still brown}

Even though your hairs may be shorter, you'll always be a princess to me. A tangled little princess.

A Year in Photos: #1-7

Have you ever seen the "a year in pictures" concept where a photographer snaps a photo every day for a year. This idea has always been intriguing. However, I think EVERYDAY is a bit too ambitious for my hectic, mom of four, cleaner of the house, feeder of the children kinda life. So...I've decided to embark on my own version of the game.

I will try to capture one(or sometimes two if I can't help myself) picture that best represents our WEEK for 52 weeks and in the end have a snazzy reminder of 2011. Good idea, right? Well, the only difficulty is, I'm exactly 7 weeks behind. So I've gotta work quickly.

Don't worry, I have a master plan for making it all happen. With the help of my day planner, blog and the 800+ pictures I have stored on my computer; I should be able to remember my life so far this year, don't ya think?

I'll give it a shot...Sorry if you've already seen the pic. In the future, I'll try not to double up. New and fresh material from here on out;)

WEEK #1

{my big boys turn N.I.N.E.}

WEEK #2

{Baby Dave joins our world}

WEEK #3

{Baby Zeke follows four days later}

{and...The plumbing in our house completely stopped working hours before Zeke's coming home party! Yep, that's Ben with his head practically IN our septic tank fixing the problem. Oh, how I LOVE that man}

WEEK #4

{family vacation to the Goodnight Moon}

{proud Papa hands holding both of his newborn grandsons.  favorite shot}

WEEK #5

{bathroom remodel is in full swing~digging a trench to bury the waterlines}

WEEK #6

{AHBC Valentine's Banquet}

WEEK #7

{School on the trampoline~ a much appreciated, sunny day in FEBRUARY}

A year in photos will be a simple post happening around here each weekend. If you care to join us, I would love to have you follow along.

On a sad note~ four of us were VERY sick this weekend with some sort of a horrendous stomach bug and had to cancel all of our planned fun.

The good news~ as of this morning, I'm thinking the Puckett family just might LIVE to see another week. Things were a bit iffy there Friday and Saturday;)

Hope y'all are doing well

Stream of Consciousness...

{Because, really, shouldn't every post begin with a picture of Batman at your kid's 3rd birthday party?}

Baby girl is still running a fever. Which pretty much means I spent the bulk of the day attempting to school my offspring and maintain the chaos all while holding a clingy four year old. As perfectly lovely as that may sound, I did occasionally glance down at my yoga pants and slippers wondering if perhaps I might get a chance to slip into something more presentable than the outfit I wore to bed the night before. Didn't happen.

I need a shower curtain and a window treatment for the new bathroom, but that would require I go to the fabric store, pick out fabric, find my sewing machine and sew. All of which sounds like a lot of work if you ask me. Rather confident the neighbors would appreciate it, though. Tonight I had to prop an extra sheet of drywall in front of the window before I hopped into the shower. That's a sure sign a fabric store BETTER be in my not so distant future.  

I'm a diet failure as of late. However, I'm convinced the problem lies with the food and not with me;) It just tastes so stinking good. What's a girl to do? But I've vowed to do better with my running and eating. All I know is it's a good thing I've got an 8K I'm running with friends coming up in 5(ish) weeks. Oh, and then there's the dreaded weekly email hanging over my head. (You know, the one where I have to confess to my eating sins and give a total of weight lost or gained) Yeah, THAT email! It's keeping me humble~ that's for sure.

On a positive note. Have I been negative? Sorry. Tomorrow should be sunny and warm. Maybe we'll throw open the windows and send our sick germs out into the neighborhood. We have get togethers planned with friends this weekend. And I have an appointment for a much needed haircut next week. Yahoo! Don't you just love a good haircut? It might even inspire me to shed the old yoga pants and actually get dressed for the day. One can hope;)


What are your plans for the weekend? I'd love to hear...

Bathroom remodel: During

This is my sick baby girl at 10:00 this morning. Right after throwing up her breakfast, she crawled into my bed and fell fast asleep. Poor thing! I can't tell if I'm catching it also, but I'm feeling a bit like climbing in myself.

The only problem is, I don't have time to get sick! We are having parties this weekend and the bathroom redo is getting oh so close. We MUST keep moving!

Thought I'd share a few of the during pictures, since you were kind enough to bear with the before pictures from a week or so ago.

The floor is in...

We chose a laminate due to weight restrictions on the space. Frankly, I also can't handle the mess and work of backer board, tile and grout at this point in my life. Call me lazy, I'm OK with that.

Lighting is in...

Toilet is in...

I even have a toilet paper holder. Yahoo! It's the small things in life, people. However, looking at this picture, I'm sure you can see we still have our work cut out for us with the whole painting of the trim thing. We're working on it!

The half wall was installed next to the potty. And... LOOK. A small section was left next to the window. I begged my contractor for a makeup/hair station. You know, an area just for ME. He agreed~ he's nice like that.

No, I don't have a problem with MY space being RIGHT next to the toilet. Why do you ask?;) I take what I get around here.

We just so happened to have the exact amount of counter top needed left over from our kitchen. Love it.

The sink area is coming along nicely...

Yep, you've seen this design used before in our home. Hey, when you find something that works, stick with it, right? We had two cabinets left over from our old school room, so we put them to good use once again; they look terrific and were FREE.

If you're curious, both paint colors are from Restoration Hardware- the Flint collection. Many failed attempts over the years at picking out paint colors have taught me to leave it to the professionals.

I'm convinced the colors change when you take them home and apply to your walls. It's the paint company's way of making a buck off of clueless consumers such as myself. 

Often magazines will list the paint colors they used. If you like the way a room looks, remember the color. It'll save you money and headaches in the end. Promise.

The lightest, Pumice, is what I have on the walls. It's a lovely gray with just the right amount of blue. I love a hint of blue in a bathroom. It is peaceful, calming and reminds me of the ocean. Ahhhh!

The sink cabinet is painted the darkest color {not pictured}, Flint, which we already had and have used for a pop of color throughout our house.

Progress is happening. But in case you think we've got it all together, I'm showing you the last two trouble spots.

Closet: a complete mess and nowhere near finished...

And then there's the loft area that looks down into the bedroom. The man I've hired for the project;) has mentioned more than once that he has no idea how it's going to turn out in the end. NICE! I'll get back to you on this one... 

So there you have it! Thanks for following along, friends.

Random Ramblings

For Valentine's day Mr. LORIENDEVON gave me plaster, a half wall and trim. Love it! Oh, and we had a romantic afternoon rendezvous in the Lowe's parking lot. Awwww! That man really knows how to warm a girl's heart. We're getting closer on the bathroom redo; he said I need to think about paint colors. OK-I will...HELP!?!

Tate's bottom two teeth are wiggling around in his mouth! WHAT! NO! He's my baby boy. My sweet smoochy poo who just yesterday was asleep in my arms. He cannot lose his teeth! My heart can't handle it. Stop. growing. up. children!


On that note, I saw the most hilarious commercial yesterday. A mom was reminiscing of the time when her kids were babies, while the big kids are running around in the background reeking havoc on her house. She says, "When my kids were little, they were so cute, I just wanted to eat them up." *pause* "Some days I wish I had!" Ha! love it. Isn't that how we feel at times, and then they go and wiggle their teeth for you and you break into TEARS! Figure that one out. It's called MOTHERHOOD!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings. And LOOK, an entire post without a single picture. I didn't think I could do it, but I did! Sorry. I won't let it happen again:)

Hope you have a super day, friends.

Love Fest~ Day # 10

I HEART food and friends...

Friday night was the annual Valentine's Day Banquet at our church, and somehow my mother, who was in charge of the whole shebang, was able to use her skills of persuasion to convince me and my lovely sisters-in-law to host a table for 10.

We served a scrumptious {if I do say so myself} 
crab/shrimp boil with all of the fixins. Yumm!

I'm confident you all would agree that the ONLY thing better than a good meal is a good meal surrounded by great friends!

Friends~ as abundant as the crab legs and calories consumed!

 

Love is in the air....

Sing with me now...Oh, oh, oh

This post could not possibly be complete without an opportunity for a glimpse at the 5 contestants in the male fashion show competition.

While each of the men were delightful in their own way, none could compare with the winner of the evening. 
May I please introduce to you...

The DAPPER, the SHARP, the STUNNING
 and slightly DISTURBING~

 Mr. Valentine.

That's right, folks!

My DAD...At pretty much his finest hour!

And I've never been more PROUD!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hoping your day is filled with happiness, loved ones, and chocolate.

Lots of CHOCOLATE!:)