Hiatus till 2013

With the Holiday season underway, I've decided to not blog until the new year and spend all of my time enjoying the ones that mean the most to me. With that said, I'll be back some time in January. I hope you all have a great Holiday season! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

~ Jodee B.

Liebster Award

Ok so, no surprise to anyone that I'm a total slacker and didn't post this sooner! haha! I got this award about a month ago and I'm just now getting around to posting about it and paying it forward! First off, a HUGE GIANT thanks to Yen over at Green House on top of the Hill for nominating me! You're the best, girl! Now here is a little about the award...



Liebster: (der) n. sweetheart, beloved person, darling

Facts of the Liebster Award:
The Liebster Award's origins are pretty much a mystery. Bloggers nominate other bloggers that have 200 or less followers. It's basically a "Hey, that's a sweet little blog you've got there. Here's an award!" You can't just accept the award. You have to play by the (ever changing) rules and pay it forward. Then you can put the award on your blog for all to see.

Rules:
Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
Answer the questions that the nominator set for you, plus create 11 questions for the people you've nominated to answer.
Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
Go to their page and tell them.
No tag backs.

11 Things About Me:

- I have a pointless hope that one day *NSYNC will reunite. I know it will probably never happen but a girl can dream!

- I don't have any close friends. Every time I've ever opened myself up to someone I've either gotten hurt or they have died (my bff died two years ago in a car accident), so I'm completely closed off most of the time.

- Although I don't have close friends, Paul is my best friend and to me that's worth 10 close friends.

- I hate my house being a tiny bit of a mess, it drives me wild! I have to vacuum and sweep everyday!

- I used to not be close with my MIL, to be honest, we HATED each other but as time has gone on I actually enjoy being around her and holding a conversation with her.

- My all time favorite color is lime green but I enjoy decorating with lots of different colors.

- I've been to several concerts in the past, everything from Britney Spears to Incubus to Trina. I've been to so many I couldn't even keep count anymore!

- My favorite Holiday is Halloween but I love decorating for Christmas!

- Our cat Pepper that recently had kittens a few months back is pregnant again and due anytime in the next week or so. I'm pretty excited! The daddy is my cat Max this time, after this litter she's getting fixed... that little hooker! ;)

- I could shop at IKEA every week for the rest of my life and never get sick of it!

- I'm obsessed with getting my eyebrows waxed. I think it drives Paul a little crazy too. lol

Yen's Questions:

1. What is your current top 5 favorite songs at the moment? Beauty & a Beat - the Biebs, Diamonds - Rihanna, Red - Taylor Swift, Stereo - MGK, One More Night - Maroon 5

2. Why did you start a blog? I started a blog so I could share all of the changes to our first home together, which then turned into a blog more about me and my life, but the core of the blog is about DIY.

3. If you cook, what is your favorite go to dish to make? Grilled chicken, broccoli & white rice

4. What is your favorite holiday and why? I answered that one up there, but Halloween!

5. What foods do you hate and why? Hmm. Probably egg plant. Not a big fan of egg plant. It just doesn't taste good to me.

6. If you could have any profession in the world, what would you want to be? Britney Spears' personal assistant, that's a no brainer ;)

7. List 5 weird habits you have. I don't think I have 5. Hmm. I bite my nails. Does that count?

8. Coffee or Tea? Coffee! But I like tea too, when I'm sick. :)

9. Current book you're reading? I'm not reading anything at the moment, but I'm trying to get on the 50 Shades of Grey train. I just gotta get the book. Mostly just to laugh at it. ;P

10. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? Hopefully living up north somewhere, with the ones I love most!

11. Do you like the city/town you're currently living in? HELL NO. LOL. I really haaaaate it here. HATE.

My Questions:
1. Who is your favorite celebrity couple?
2. If you could have a interior designer enter your house and do all the work for you, which room would you makeover?
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
4. What's your best childhood memory?
5. Favorite place to go out to eat?
6. Favorite TV show?
7. You're stranded on a island in the middle of the ocean. What can't you live without?
8. Favorite place in the world?
9. Where do you see yourself in 3 years?
10. What's your all time favorite meal?
11. Favorite season?

I Nominate:

Welp, this is the hard part. I don't know 11 bloggers, so here are the couple I've decided to nominate!

Beauty & her boys
Paper Crowned

I wish I knew 9 other bloggers but I don't! :(

5 Years.

Gracie - 3 months old

Five years ago today I gave birth to the sweetest baby girl anyone could ask for! I can't express how proud I am to say that Gracie is my daughter. She's so smart & such a great little girl. She of course made it clear to everyone she came in contact with at school today that today was her birthday & she was 5! I'm leaving in about 20 minutes to bring her class cupcakes & juice for her special day. She's so excited! After school, we're taking her to her favorite restaurant for lunch, Chili's. Should be a great day for my little one!

Happy Birthday, princess! We love you SO much!!

A Happy DIY Halloween!

It's my favorite holiday! Isn't Halloween just the best? As originally thought, I wasn't going to dress up today but then when I figured out I could get my entire costume that I wanted to do together under 6 bucks, I decided, what the hay! I ultimately decided a while back that I wanted to dress as Rosie the Riveter. For those of you who don't know who she is, she's a icon for woman during WWII who was put all over posters to encourage woman to go to work while the men fought the war. She's a major feminist icon! Which only means that I HAD to be her. This is what I'll look like...



But you might know her better as this... in all her original glory.



I decided that since I would only be wearing it once I'd just check out thrift stores, because what's the point in buying a brand new jean shirt, I'll never wear again? So, off we went on the hunt for Rosie clothes. I got lucky and found the perfect jean shirt for $3.99 at Thrift City USA and then after looking at more than 5 stores, I found a red bandana. I really looked hard for the red with white polka dots but it was impossible to find! I found black & white and pink & white but no luck on red & white. So, I settled for red. I got that on sale at Michael's for $1.98! Talk about a steal!

So, costume totals... $3.99 for the shirt & $1.98 for the bandana + tax = $6.01

I'll obviously wear jeans I already have and use makeup I already have, so money saved on those two things! Anyway, I'm excited to dress up tonight and walk around with the kids. Should be a good time!

In other Halloween news, Gracie & I decided we'd do a glitter pumpkin this year. This is how you do it.



Supplies needed:
- Glitter
- Glue (you can use spray adhesive, but I ran out so I used wallpaper glue & it worked fine)
- Newspaper (to keep area clean)

Put the glue all over the Pumpkin and then shake the glitter all over. Make sure to have a clean piece of paper under the pumpkin so when the excess glitter falls off you can reuse it. Repeat the process until all of pumpkin is covered.

It's really that simple! This is what it looked like when she was finished.



And of course she chose pink! But really, you could do orange or black or any color you wanted! That's all for now. Have a Happy & safe Halloween!

PS. Sending love to the North East who were effected by super storm Sandy! <3

Exciting things to come!

So, pretty recently I had a sit down with my MIL about moving out of Florida, since she is able to retire in 4 years, I asked her about moving with us, basically anywhere north. She surprised me in saying that she wouldn't want to wait 4 years that now is the best time to do it. She works for the US Post Office so she can pretty much work anywhere. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am! We actually decided on a state. I'm not sure if it's the one we'll definitely end up going to but it looks so far like it's the one. The last place I'd ever thought about living, honestly. Delaware!

I was even more excited when she told me to start looking at houses online and if I found anything good, to email it to her. Well, boy did I find a good one! A 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom home that has a apartment attached to it, also known as a mother/daughter home. With also a small house in the back of it, for guests. And it's in our price range! Now obviously, the chances of us actually getting that house are pretty low since we aren't moving tomorrow or anything. We did talk about visiting sometime next year, probably in the Spring to look at houses, get a feel for the area and see if it's the place to call our new home! As this process continues I'll be sure to keep everyone in blog land in the loop. I'm pretty ecstatic about this whole thing! Finally, real fall weather & real winters! That's the way to my heart. ❤



In other news, I don't think I mentioned that we're taking Gracie to Disney World for her birthday next month. Thanks to some really amazing family connections we actually got tickets for free and get to stay in the new amazing Art of Animation Resort for more than half the price you'd usually pay. Aren't connections the best? We're going about two weeks after Gracie's actual birthday, but we have a great two fun filled days planned for our littest one!



Day one we'll be visiting the Magic Kingdom and possibly park hopping to another park, more than likely Epcot since that's her favorite. Day two we're going to spend the day at the pool area at the resort, then get cleaned up and head to Downtown Disney so Gracie can be transformed into a Princess at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. She gets the whole 9 -- hair, nails, princess dress, a birthday sash, makeup, etc etc! She's so insanely excited, it's all she talks about, and we still have a month to go!

So with that being said, lots of fun and exciting things to look forward to in the future! This is one happy and excited girl looking forward to the next chapter! :)

October is here!

Holy smokes, it's almost the middle of October and I haven't updated! What is my problem? Lack of motivation I suppose. But hey, I'm here now! ;) With October comes all of my favorite things, cooler weather (not nearly as cool as I'd like, but I digress), Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Halloween & pumpkin patches! Gracie actually went on her first field trip this past week to a pumpkin patch with her class. She had such a great time, got to pick her very own pumpkin and also got a bag of goodies to go with it (coloring book, orange lollypop & pumpkin seeds)!

We also have been checking random stores (Target, Walmart, etc) for Halloween costumes. Their selection was so awful. We used to just go to a local Halloween store but after it closed last year, where it had been for years, another store popped up in it's place, so it couldn't be there this year. Finally, after asking my cousin on facebook about it, she told us about one that was by her job. So, after the kids got out of school last Tuesday, we went and checked it out & the kids picked out what they wanted to be. Personally, I wanted the kids to be something that went together. Yanno, a doctor and a nurse, a cop and a prisoner, etc etc. But, Jordan wanted to be something scary, as most boys his age do and Gracie wanted to be something cute and cuddly, as most little girls do. This is what they decided on...



Gracie originally chose a really adorable cat costume but they didn't have her size, and were sold out of the cute leggings that went with it. She was really disappointed, until she found the bunny. She tried it on when she got home and man, it's so cute!

Jordan wanted something with a mask, but I knew after 10 minutes of walking around he'd just end up taking it off for being too hot, so I steered him to the zombie costumes and he chose that one. Instead of the crappy mask that came with it, I'm going to do zombie makeup on him. We even got really cool fake wounds to put on his face & neck. He's gonna look so cool when I'm done... or so I hope! haha

Other than that, I thought I'd share my week in Instagram ;)...



Have a great weekend! :)

Fall Fashion

I'd have to say that out of all the seasons fashions, Fall or Autumn is my favorite. Unfortunately, Florida doesn't really experience fall, the way we used to in Jersey (waaahhh!) but when the cool weather hits, no matter it being in the mid-70's, I grab my favorite scarves and rock them with pride! My husband tends to give me the stink eye, "You shouldn't be wearing scarves in Florida, babe" But hell, what does he know? He lives in Miami Dolphins t-shirts. So hush, fool.

Anyway, with that being said I thought I'd share some of my favorite Fall fashion pins from Pinterest! Feel free to follow me. :)

Unfortunately, neither one of the first two images links lead them anywhere, just the image itself, so I can't tell you where you'd buy any of the items in these images but I'm sure just window shopping in your local mall, Target, Kohls, etc, you'll find something similar.






- 81 HOURS Cardigan

- Khaki crochet pumps – Khaki crochet flat ballet pumps. 100% TEXTILE.

- Marc Jacobs Bruna quilted leather tote – Quilted leather tote by Marc Jacobs featuring zip fastening along the top, double leather handle, branded clasp fastening at the front, leather strap embellishment around the top with buckle fastening and designer stamped plaque across the front.

- G by GUESS Braided Friendship Bracelet, GREEN – Take your friends by the hand with this sweet and tender friendship bracelet. Braided design with crystal embellishments. Rhinestone and beaded detailing. A fresh mix of bright green and soft brown hues.

- Stephan & Co. Dahlia Stud Earrings – Half-Yearly Sale-save on select products for women & kids! Densely petaled dahlias fashion whimsical stud earrings.



$18 - kohls.
Derek Heart New York Dolman

$39 - styleserver.de (but really, any white Tank would do the trick)
Tusnelda Bloch / T-Shirts

$108 - farfetch.com (any skinny jeans will do)
ROY ROGERS 'Leo' stretch

$325 - mytheresa.com (imitation Uggs are super easy to find almost anywhere!)
UGG Australia Classic Short

$125 - barneys.com (instead of spending an arm & a leg on a scarf, visit Target. ha.)
Rag & Bone Tomkin Scarf

And last but not least my all time favorite fall fashion pin is...



Sadly, you can't order this item in the US, at least not a place I could find. It's also sold out online. I want this cardigan so badly! I love it so much! I hope to one day find something similar available in the US, if you find it before me, pleeeaassee link me.

Isn't fall fashion the best? I could wear any one of these, with a Pumpkin Spice Latte in hand, sitting outside enjoying the cool weather. Ahhh, fall! :)

Add it to the list!!

That's right! Add the table & bench in the kitchen to the list of things that are finished!! My kitchen is now 90% complete!! All that is left is the side of the kitchen where we will be adding the tall floor to ceiling cabinets and window seat. Now if only we could find said cabinets at a yard sale or thrift store! That is the next step.

I decided about two weeks ago that instead of painting the Chevron print in yellow on the bench at the kitchen table that I would instead buy yellow Chevron fabric and a seat cushion and just cover the bench. A lot easier! I looked online and found this fabric. I ordered waaay more than I wound up needing, so throw pillows are in my future. lol! I'm also thinking about making seat cushions for the chairs in the kitchen as well, to match the bench, or maybe little pillows for the seats. We shall see what I get myself into next!

Anyway, here is the kitchen table & bench before I painted it...



And after I painted and upholstered the bench... (Hiii Clarabelle!) ;)



A little closer...



I can't even express how much I love it now! Completely different, isn't it? Yellow Chevron makes me a happy girl. :)

Going a different route.

I've decided I'm going to start being more candid about my life on my blog. I don't really get into anything personal but I'd like to start. I constantly find myself not knowing what to blog about. So, I thought I'd open up about my life more and our journey to get pregnant. With that being said let me explain a little about what's happened this far.

Over two years ago I had the IUD (aka Mirena) removed. I was told by my doctor that it shouldn't take me long maybe three months and I'd end up pregnant. I also read online from other women that it happened quick for them too. It's now over 2 years later and countless negative pregnancy tests. I can't even tell you how disappointing and heartbreaking it is month after month to see negative results.

After 6 months with no menstrual cycle (I'm irregular but have never gone more than 3 months) I honestly thought something was crazy wrong with me. Could it be my uterus? Maybe my thyroid? I didn't know. I sat in bed one night and with tears running down my face expressed my worries to Paul about it. He told me to call the dr first thing the next morning and schedule an appointment to be checked out. Mind you, I'd already taken 3 HPT and all were negative. So, I knew deep down I wasn't pregnant.

Finally, after three long weeks of waiting for my appointment to see the dr, I expressed to him my worries and how I'd been interested in fertility drugs to move this process along. He agreed that fertility drugs were the next step in my journey. We also did blood tests on my thyroid, uterus, etc. All the tests came back perfect. There is thankfully nothing wrong with me & I have no cancer. I was so relieved.

Next week, I start my first round of Clomiphene, a fertility drug that I've done lots of reading about and have read lots of positive success stories from woman who have gotten pregnant from their first round! So, I'm feeling positive about this next step and I hope with everything in my body that this is finally what will help us in becoming pregnant! Fingers crossed.

Big things & Little things

My little one started Pre-K this past week. I can't believe my baby isn't a baby or a toddler anymore, but a big kid going to school everyday! It's amazing how time flies. One minute you're rocking them to sleep and changing diapers, the next you're picking which school you want them to attend. We actually decided to send Gracie to the same Pre-school Paul went to 20-something years ago! There is even a lady who still works there from when Paul attended all those years ago. I couldn't believe it!

Here is Gracie on her first day of PreK. She was so excited & still remains excited everyday. She even goes to bed early all by herself now. "Mom, it's bedtime! Turn my tv off! I have school tomorrow." She's the best!



Other than that I finally got my butt in gear and got on the kitchen table transformation. I'm changing it from this...



..to a black table with a dark charcoal chalkboard top. The bench will be yellow & white chevron on top and black on the bottom. I'm so pumped! I've always wanted to paint something chevron.

Here is what I did today. Sanded and primed.



I still need to paint sometime today after it dies and I lightly sand it one more time.

Please comment! Don't just read and leave! Let me know you're actually reading these posts so I know I'm not just talking to myself. ;) Until next time...

The Kitchen Reveal!

I'm back, I'm back!! :) First, thanks to those of you who tweeted, emailed, commented telling me I shouldn't give up on my blog as well as all of the sweet comments you sent along. It was much appreciated! And because of you, I'm back! :)

Before I went on hiatus, we finished the kitchen. Although we still need to add the floor to ceiling cabinets and window seat... more on that later. But for now, here are the befores (somewhat) and afters. I don't have any original before shots of the kitchen before we started this entire project due to my computer crashing and losing everything on my hard drive. But here is the basic idea, from an earlier post.
B Everything was white. Green counter tops.


The original back splash was OLD OLD tile from when Paul's parents lived here. A few years ago I decided I'd just paint it red (that was the theme). Then when I knew I was going to be redoing my kitchen this time, I ripped them off the wall.

(Once again, sorry for the awful quality. These were taken on my Nokia.)

After.

After we installed the beadboard backsplash, before the paint. See that spot above the cabinets that is spackled? It was a corner that served no purpose, so we closed it in.






Annd after everything was painted!







This is the area above my sink. It used to be a ugly mirror with glass shelves. Awful! My dad built this for me & I love it so much! This picture was taken before I moved the honeypot to the shelf above the oven.


Also, a couple weekends ago we were out doing our Sunday thrifting and I found this amazing mail sorter, something I've been looking for forever! This is the before.

And after I painted it yellow and hung it up. I love it so much!



So, that's the kitchen! I'm so happy with it. As for the floor to ceiling cabinets I mentioned above, they will look something like this...



Mine will be blue like the bottom half of my cabinets. And I'll probably add a coffee table in front of the window bench to make it more welcoming to sit on and be a little coffee break/socializing area. The problem right now is trying to find used cabinets like these. I've looked everywhere and sadly I haven't been lucky, but I'm not giving up. I'll continue my hunt until the day I have them!

Welp, that's all for now. Until next time! ;)

Hiatus.

I'm putting HH&S on Hiatus. I don't know when or if I'll be back. I have 0 motivation to update since I get 0 comments. It is what it is. I just don't see the point really. It's been fun while it lasted.

SO FLUFFY!!

I always think of Despicable Me when I say 'IT'S SO FLUFFY, I WANT TO DIE!' Gracie loves that movie. We've watched it... a lot. haha! Anyway, speaking of fluffy... I forgot to post pictures of our newborn kittens! They are now over a week old, almost two weeks on Saturday. They are just now starting to open their eyes a tiny bit. I'm counting down the days till they can run and play and look up at me with their beautiful kitten eyes. I can't even express how stinkin' cute these guys are. Oh yeah. Most of them are guys. 3 boys and 1 girl. The girl was born first. We.. er.. Paul named her Clarabelle, because she looks a cow. This is Clarabelle from Disney btw, for the reference. Nearly all of our cats are named after cartoon characters. It's getting a little outta hand around here! lol. I kid.

Anywho. Who wants kitten pictures? *Raises hand!* I made these on my Nokia, so bare with me, people.

They were only a few hours old here. I'm completely smitten with the stripe/tabby kittens. I want one so badly! Paul says no. Boo.



Here they are with Mama kitty, Pepper. She's super protective, as expected. We had them in a cardboard box, like I'd done for years with my Mom's dog when she had puppies (4 litters!) but she didn't feel safe enough, so she moved them one by one to my closet. So, I helped her out by removing all of my clothes that were folded on the shelf, and replaced them with a soft blanket. She's much happier in there with them.



These pictures were taken yesterday and today. They are so fluffy now! I love snugging them when Mama kitty is using the litter box or eating.. or just generally taking a break from being Mama kitty... hey we all need our breaks. ;)



Aren't they sweet? Paul's mom is taking the black kitten. We are keeping the black & white one. She's Gracie's. The other two are undecided at the moment. I WANT A STRIPE KITTY SO BAD. Someone call Paul and convince him for me!! I'm going to surprise my parents with a striped one for my Mom's birthday but she already knows. lol. My dad on the other hand has made it clear he doesn't want anymore animals because they aren't getting any younger but my mom wants one so badly, so he'll just have to DEEEAALL with it. ;)

I'll be back tomorrow or Friday with a kitchen post. It's finally done! Well, 85% done. The important parts are done! Stay tuned! :)

I've got it covered!

What do I have covered, you ask?! Ok, you probably didn't ask but I'll just tell you anyway. Today, my dad & I hit up Home Depot (my current home away from home) for some ideas on fan covers for above the stove/oven. We looked up and down two different isles that offer different types of covers for the fans but nothing that really caught my eye. Plus the fact that most of them were nearly $60 to $100 bucks. Yeah, no bueno. I don't have money to just throw away on a brand new fan, plus I only need the cover, which all came in the wrong size.

Our home, like many homes is pretty old. It was built a long time ago, I couldn't even tell you when, so trying to find things that fit just right on something that has been in the same spot for generations, just doesn't happen that often. So, my dad being the brains of this operation said to me, 'why don't you just spray paint it?' Um, duh! Why didn't I think of that? Because he's the brains. Like I said. ;)

I quickly put together a before & after collage of pictures on my Nokia and emailed it to myself. So, bare with me on the not so high quality photos.



Not too shabby! I'm pretty happy with it and the best part? Didn't cost me a penny since I already had the paint (and the fan cover!) for a different project. That's what we in the biz call a win/win! ;)

In other kitchen news, we finished putting all the backsplash beadboard in the kitchen. Like it's DONE. Next step? Painting! That is the plan for Saturday. You can kind of get a sneak peek in the pictures above of the area behind the fridge & oven. Once it's allllll finished I'll have before, during the process and after pictures for you! Next week. Promise!

Crazy busy & sunburned

Things sure have been busy around here lately! My niece Taylor came to stay with us for about a week, we visited the Zoo, took Gracie (& Taylor) to her first Yankees (minor league) game, had a big 4th of July shindig at my parents & then visited the Florida Aquarium where I got an awful sunburn on my thighs... of all places. So bad in fact that I could barely walk for a good 2 to 3 days because it seriously felt like my skin was ripping off. Yeah. Awesome.

Today, I finally had money in hand to go get the last bit of supplies to finish the kitchen. I'm so thankful for my parents & their constant help when it comes to these things. Mostly, my dad. That man is a boss! Him & I will be getting our boo-tays in gear tomorrow on beadboard installation & whatever else we can cram into one day. I'll be sure to take pictures as progress happens.

Gracie asked to spend the night at my parents house, so I got to work on cleaning, because lord knows when the kids are home, it's HARD... IMPOSSIBLE to clean. Straightening up is about all I can get away with, but seriously CLEANING is just not something that can happen. I got so much accomplished today, I'm pretty proud of myself. I still need to get in Gracie's room and clean it as well but that room is seriously overwhelming. I'll just put it off till Saturday when she'll be with my parents for the entire day. Because I'll need a good 8 hours in that pigsty. Hey, I'm just keepin' it real, people.

One last thing, Pepper our Mama kitty is still pregnant. I have a feeling tho that these little kittens will be here in the next day or so. She's been very clingy and loving and I read online that that is a sign of pre-labor. Fingers crossed for healthy kittens! :)

I'm a Vox Boxer!

Ok, I don't really even know if a Vox Boxer is a real thing but I did get my first VoxBox from Influenster this past week. I was so excited when I checked my mail and saw a little white box waiting for me. Here is what I got in my box...



IVORY BAR SOAP, IMPRESS PRESS-ON MANICURE, STASH TEA SUPERFRUITS TEA SAMPLER, QUAKER SOFT BAKED OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIE, DENTEK FLOSSERS, DINO LINGO LANGUAGE SET FOR KIDS, NEKTAR HONEY CRYSTALS.

Here is a play-by-play of how I rate everything I've tried so far... (can you tell I've been watching LOTS of Yankees baseball? hehe) First up, the Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin cookie. Unfortunately, I don't like oatmeal or raisins so this rating isn't coming from me, but from Gracie. I asked Gracie what she thought about while she ate it and her answer was, 'Mmm, it's good! It's so soft and yummy!' So, there you have it, right from the mouth of a 4 year old. It's a win! I did happen to feel how soft the cookie was and it felt like a good cookie, but that's as far as I got. lol. But, hey it's a thumbs up from the kid!

Later that night, Paul & I had a cup of Stash tea. Paul tried the Blueberry Superfruit Herbal tea, which he says was really good but the one I had, Pomegranate Raspberry Green tea was even better. I agree! He has also tried the Acai Berry but says it was not very good. We still need to taste 3 other ones to finish the box taste test. Those ones are; Yumberry Blackcurrent, Goji Berry Green, & Mangosteen Green. We'll probably try more tonight.

For three or so nights in a row I used the Dentek Flossers & I gotta say that my mouth did feel cleaner. I've tried other flossers before mostly just store brand ones and I didn't notice much of a difference. So I'd say these flossers are pretty darn good! I'm going to have to check the price at Publix when we go shopping in a week. I might have to buy more!

I still need to test out the Ivory Soap Bar, the Impress press-on Manicure, Dino Lingo Language Set or the Nektar Honey Crystals. But, in time I'll have everything tested and will make another post about those.

I wanted to quickly mention that I received each product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster. I was not paid, or anything of the like. I just got lucky enough to be selected to test these products. Thanks Influenster!



In other news, we got a new kitty! Her name is Pepper... and she's pregnant. About 4 weeks or so... Cat pregnancies last about 6 weeks. So, we're almost there. We got Pepper in exchange for Niko, our dog. I had to get rid of Niko due to him constantly peeing all over Jordan's room. I don't know if it was a jealous thing or an attention thing but it has been going on for a looong time and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. Since trading pets I found out that Niko is much happier being the only animal in the house and gets lots of love & attention, so it's a win/win!

Hey, anyone want a kitten? ;) I can't wait to see what they look like!! So, about a week or two from now I'll be posting all about kittens!

I've also had my niece Taylor with me since Friday. I love when she comes and visits. She's staying with me till Wednesday for the 4th of July picnic at my parents house. Should be fun! So, if I don't post before Wednesday I hope everyone has a fabulous Independence Day! Stay safe & enjoy lots of great food & fireworks.

We're also hitting up the Tampa Yankees game on Tuesday for hot dogs, baseball & fireworks! Talk about a good time! :)

Bedroom flip-a-roo

Two posts in one week? Who am I? haha. This rarely happens anymore. But hey, here I am anyway! Earlier this week I got a fire under my ass and decided to rearrange my bedroom... again. But this time I really dove in head first. It took a whole day to get everything done, which I didn't mind since Gracie was with my parents for the day to go swimming. If you wanna see what the bedroom looked like before the big switch, you can see those here.

I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to move our Ikea PAX closets to a different place in the room. I made several drawn by hand maps of where to put them but nothing was working. Then finally it hit me and I was like a tornado taking everything out of my bedroom. I put everything in the kitchen (mattress, end tables, clothes, dresser, etc) for easy moving in the bedroom.

Of course, Max took it upon himself to sleep on top of the mattress the minute I put it out there.



And now pictures of my bedroom...

During the spring & summer months, my usual black & white fancy comforter is waaay too heavy so I put on our old pink one. The pink & green remind me of a watermelon, which then reminds me of summer. It's a win, win. I have plans on getting a new comforter, a green, white & grey one from Target but yanno, don't have the extra funds at the moment, but in time, we'll get it!



See. I moved the Pax closets to the opposite side of the room. In front of the window. Putting them in front of the window is no big deal since the view out that window is just a fence. No biggie!



My vanity is on the left side of the closets...



Paul's dresser is on the right side, next to his side of the closet.



This is toward my side of the bed.



The TV is actually not in a bad spot. We can still watch tv from where the bed is now.



And this is the view from across the bed. Yes, we neeeeed to have a fan going at night. The mix of the sound & cool air helps us sleep like babies.



Here is another shot of the bed with the lamp lights turned on.



And of the closet area.



Here is a close up of the area above the headboard... my favorite part!



We both love the room so much like this. We actually have what seems like lots more room to walk around, fold clothes, do a little happy dance, whatever. ;)

Have you rearranged a room recently? Did it take you a whole day too? Feel free to share the deets. ;)