The Basement is Finished!

As of last August!  Yup...this post is about 7 months late.  My computer was having "cookie" issues (I have "cookie" issues, too...leading to the breakdown of my annual New Year's Resolution) and I was unable to log into blogger, and too lazy to figure out another way.  But recently Pete introduced me to Google Chrome and cookie issue solved!!  

Anyway, here's a little tour of the (not so) recently completed basement!

Half Bath:

I based the color scheme off the canvas above that we've had for awhile.  We bought a super cheap vanity, top and faucet set at Williams Outlet, which ended up being smaller than what we planned, so we filled the space with a storage tower from Target.  The room could use a bit more styling, but eh...it's a basement bathroom. I don't use it very often, but every time I do, I think, "Oh yeah...I need to do something with this" and then I return to crafting in my fabulous craft room and forget about the boring half bath.

Hallways:

This hallway is at the bottom of the stairs.  We hung an IKEA curtain rod with clips for future artwork display, and also frames for pictures of each kid (no, that is not an announcement).  Ben's 1st Birthday cards are proudly displayed until he starts producing art.

This hallway leads to the main family/play room.  I made these french memo boards out of cork board and fabric from Hobby Lobby.  Super easy and cute.  If you want to know how to make one, let me know.  I'll show you :)

Craft Room :

(AKA Most Important Room in the House)

Ah, craft room...I've been waiting for you.  As some may know, I had a fantastic craft room at my first bachlorette pad.  I loved it and have been waiting for a designated craft space ever since.  It was so much fun to design the space for form and function.  There is a sewing area on one wall.  I made an ironing table by upholstering the top of an old changing table I inherited.  It works great!  Another wall houses miscellaneous craft storage and my Cricut.  My scrapbooking stuff and countertop occupies and third wall.  I saved space by moving lots of items up the wall with a bunch of IKEA kitchen storage items.  The closet has a lot of storage, and instead of a door, I hung a "curtain" that is actually a bed sheet!  It was cheaper and easier than hanging a door and adds a pop of pattern to the room without the permanence of wallpaper.  The fourth wall will become the kids' art area, but that will require another trip to IKEA - and some time to save $$$!

 Playroom:

This was also a fun space to design.  It is full of Pinterest inspired projects.  There is a magnet wall made from a piece of HVAC duct, a cubby under the stairs painted in chalkboard paint, a storage bench made from a converted kitchen cabinet ($10 at Williams Outlet!), and a little art project - the making of which taught me that painting is not in my wheelhouse. I'm pretty happy with how the space turned out and it has been getting a lot of use.  We love having friends come over to play!

Family Room:

We reserved a little bit of the playroom as "adult space".  The furniture is what we had been using as the main furniture until we added the new sectional upstairs.  We purchased a new entertainment unit for the TV and some CD storage for the wall above the couch, but this space didn't require much work.

So there you go.  The house is (was seven months ago) finished.  Officially.  

Now it's time to sit back and enjoy it....

...until spring when the yard work, gardening and fence painting recommences.

Summer Lovin'

Yup...Summer Lovin' on this guy and lovin' summer!  Well, trying to survive summer, more like.  This summer's average temperature is about 20 degrees higher than my ideal zone, but we're surviving.  Here's a little overview of what we've been up to (besides finding out which toys make the most noise, changing dirty diapers and shoveling food toward Ben's face)...
Basement
We're slowing plodding along in our quest toward a completed basement. The walls are all painted and as of today the trim and doors are hung (sadly, not yet painted). We went out to Home Depot tonight and bought a $24 piece on vinyl floor for the bathroom (not much to write home about, but the price was right for a tiny basement bathroom). A couple of weeks ago we got a vanity/counter top/faucet combo (for $210!!) at the Williams Outlet, so the bathroom just needs to be assembled and it will be finished. After I get around to painting the trim, the next step will be carpet and then we can move the stuff back down!! I'm so ready to have my dining room back and not have drywall dust tracked everywhere! We'll finish the drop ceiling later this fall when the finances bounce back from the carpet purchase.
Here are some pics of the progress (Sorry for the water spots!  Guess the camera lens could use a cleaning :)

 

 Here's Ben's little workbench all ready to go in the play area!  Found this on a garage sale for $5 :)

This is the cubby under the stairs that I painted with chalkboard paint for Ben.  So easy!!

This is the bathroom.  All but one wall are painted this bright blue.  The other wall is white and will host a piece of accent art.

Craft Room!!  This area will be my scrapbook zone.

This area will be my sewing zone.  The walls are yellow & grey - my new favorite color combo :)

This is the great room - standing in the play area, looking toward the TV area

We (dad) trimmed away the wall at the bottom of the stairs to make the hallway area feel more open (and make it easier to move furniture in & out)

And these dusty footprints are EVERYWHERE ELSE!  Yeah for dark wood floors :(

Backyard
AKA Weed Field.  The good news is it hasn't flooded this year (not like we've had any rain), but the bad news is the newly planted grass from this spring hasn't exactly flourished (not like we've had any rain).  Oh well.  Baby steps.  Baby Steps.  We haven't done any painting back there yet (neither the fence nor the shed) because it is just too darn hot!  Someday. 

This picture on the left is looking from the house into the yard - you can see where the drain tile was installed.  I'm told that grass will eventually grow over the gravel.  The picture on the right is looking from the yard back to the house - you can see the shed, deck and patio, which we've been enjoying this year when it's not a million degrees outside!

There are a couple of bright spots.  The first is the garden.  It's doing pretty well considering the hot, dry weather.  We're just starting to get some tasty goodies.

Our little garden!!  This year we're experimenting with what we want and how much, etc.  It will be refined next year. :)

Here's the garden bounty I picked one day last week!!  Yum!

The other bright spot is the newly installed clothesline.  Man, do I love me some line-dried sheets.  Nothing better.  Except maybe homegrown tomatoes, which we also have. :)

Today I felt like a pioneer woman living off the land (well, the land and the Target store a quarter mile away - which I walked to, so that's kind of pioneery, right?) 
After I hung my washin' on the line, I commenced to puttin' up some homemade pickles with zucchini from my garden.  Hopefully they're edible!

My Zucchini Pickles - (potential) yum!

Hopefully my next update will contain finished basement pics!!

B..B..B..Busy!

We're welcoming Spring (or is it Summer?!?!) at the House of K!  Lot's of things have been keeping us busy, but there are a few highlights...

The Backyard:

You may recall that we've had some drainage issues with the backyard since last spring.  The township agreed to fix the problem, which they did last fall, but they didn't fix the entire problem, just the part that affected their domain - the sidewalk.  Plus, when the patio was put in last fall, the equipment used did quite a bit of additional damage to the lawn.  The backyard looked lovely under a blanket of winter snow, but needless to say, yard carnage returned in the spring.  :(  Pete has been diligently plugging away at the multitude of issues, but we're afraid the time has come to bring in the professionals.  This goes against our DIY grain, but we are looking into having the entire backyard regraded with top soil and having new grass seed put down.  Our DIY projects include painting the fence (it is ugly!!) and the shed (didn't get to that before winter).  I'm also hoping we can get a clothesline and garden in this spring.  Then I can have two of my favorite things this summer - line-dried sheets and garden-fresh tomatoes!!

The Basement:

 

We started working on the basement this winter and hope to be done(ish) in the next couple of months.  My dad and Pete framed the walls, Pete's dad is currently working on the electrical, and drywall will be starting soon.  We will have a large storage area, a half bath, Ben's play area, Daddy's play area (home theater) and Mommy's play area (craft room!!!!! :D ) when we're finished.  I can't wait!

The Bubba Roo:

Ben is now three months old and getting cuter (and more fun!) by the day!  His favorite things include eating, NOT napping, smiling, going for walks, playdates with friends (well, they play and Ben tries to not get stepped on or sat on :), and consignment sale shopping with Mom.  Well, maybe that's not his favorite thing, but Mom sure enjoys it!!  And it's a good thing, too, with the rate this kid grows!  He's in 9 months size clothes now, and unfortunately, I'd stocked up on winter clothes in this size.  With the sudden onset of warm weather, I've been hustling to find summer options instead.  We're looking forward to the start of garage sale season soon! 

Up next for the Bubba Roo is solid food (which is good because making baby food has become my new obsession and the freezer is stocked with baby delights :), laughing, rolling over and sitting up.  We're also trying to wean him off the Nap Nanny he sleeps in.  This is proving difficult...he loves to snuggle in that silly thing and has gotten pretty good at going off to sleep by himself and going back to sleep if he wakes up.  The crib alone is not so cozy.  Ben misses the Nanny and so does mommy.  : (  But he can't sleep in that thing forever (he'd look a little goofy dragging it along to his dorm room), so we're trying to live life without it. : (

For those interested in a more detailed look at the life and times of Mr. Benjamin, you can visit our YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/bubbarootv.  I've tried to upload videos to this blog with no success, so I put them on YouTube instead.  This link should work for viewing all the videos.  If it doesn't, let me know!  I'm new at this... : /

Four Weeks Later...

He's here!  Benjamin James Klooster was born on December 21, 2011 at 12:49 pm.  He weighed in at a whopping 9 lb, 15 oz and was 22.5 inches long.  Four weeks ago today we were in the hospital, 10 hours into labor and getting close to thinking about pushing.  A lot has changed in the past 4 weeks and I've had several key "learnings"...
#1 - Being tall does not equal having an easy labor. "They" all said this to me, but oh so not true. 12 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing is not an easy labor in my book. Granted, many people have far worse birth stories than mine, but I wouldn't describe mine as "easy". I never thought that such a level of exhaustion was humanly possible. The end result is worth it, though.

#2 - The epidural is the greatest invention in the history of mankind.  Seriously, I do not know why anyone would not have an epidural.  They don't give out medals for having a child without one!

#3 - A bigger baby does not equal a good sleeper.  This is another thing "they" told me.  "Oh, he'll be sleeping through the night in no time."  As previously stated, they are dirty liars!  We're definitely making progress on the sleeping thing, but are seemingly no where close to sleeping through the night.  Going from 10 solid hours of sleep to 5-6 broken hours was/is quite the adjustment for this momma, but we're surviving!

#4 - Babies have to learn how to be babies just as much as parents have to learn how to be parents.  It's amazing to see how much Ben has adjusted to life outside the womb in the past four weeks.  He really is quite a good baby.  Things that used to majorly upset him like diaper changes, baths (he's still not too sure about those), the car seat, his crib, and having clothes put on and taken off no longer bother him as much.  He enjoys the swing, bouncy seat, being held, eating, being passed around...he's pretty easy going with most things.  Except naps and sleeping though the night!

#5 - We are incredibly loved!  I knew this already, but we've seen it lived out in the last month.  I haven't had to cook since he's been born and we still have a couple of meals in the freezer.  I won't have to buy clothes for this little guy until this summer - the gifts were plentiful!  We've had so many visits and well wishes from so many people.  Ben gets all kinds of affection wherever we go and that makes this momma happy and proud. 

Here are some other highlights from this past month...

Happy family of three at the hospital on Dec 21

Hmm....what should I do next..eat, sleep or poo?  I know!  How about I cry and make mom guess?!?

He likes the bouncy seat.  I think I took this picture after I turned on the vibrate feature for the first time...this is his "whoa" face.

Testing out the play gym for the first time...not too terribly interested yet, but maybe soon!

Ben was baptised on January 15.  We had close to 50 people over to our house after the service.  We are so blessed to be a part of a great extended family and church family!

This is what Ben wore at his baptism.  I think it's so stinkin' cute.  Pete said it's a giant argyle sock.

Sheesh people!  I know I'm the most adorable baby in the history of babies, but enough with the pictures!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Have I mentioned that patience is not my virtue?  Because it's not.  I don't like waiting for something that I know should be happening, or is going to happen soon.  Or maybe it's that I don't like not knowing when something is going to happen.  I actually like waiting for things like vacations or Christmas because the anticipation is half the fun.  So, maybe I'm a control freak (surprise!) and not such an impatient person.  I'm becoming increasingly jealous of all my friends who enjoyed the beauty that is the scheduled induction.
Anyway, all that to say that we're still waiting for Peanut to arrive.  He/she is not overdue yet (official due date is the 14th), but after my doctor's appointment last week, we thought this could happen at any time.  The doctor said I'm ready to go and could go quickly once the birthday party starts.  Well, that was now 10 days ago.  Boo. 
I finished up at work last week (Dec 4) and am now waiting for my new job of stay-at-home-mom to start.  This waiting period hasn't been all bad...I've got to spend some time with a friend and her babies (Peanut's first playdate...too bad he/she was still in utero), catch up on scrapbooking, get some Christmas baking done (although the closer to Christmas this baby comes, the less likely it is that the Klooster Three will be attending Christmas gatherings), clean the house, sleep in and run errands. 
But, I want this baby to get here soon!!  Because a) I'm pretty much done being pregnant, b) I'm beyond excited to meet this child, and c) nobody wants a Christmas birthday!! 
At my last appointment, the doctor said they wouldn't induce until I'm a week and a half overdue (granted, that's still a while away) and upon doing the math, I figured out that a week and a half after Dec 14 is Dec 24/25.  That would make for an interesting Christmas this year and bummer of a birthday for Peanut.  (I will be lobbying for an earlier induction, if needed, at my next appointment : )  So...we're hoping and praying that this child makes a grand entrance sometime in the next week! 

Long Time, No Blog

Fear not...we are still alive in the House of K.  I have been negligent in my blogging duties due to general busyness and things like growing a baby.  But projects around the house have not stopped!  Here's a little overview of what we've been up to...

Nesting in the Nursery...

Here's Daddy - putting together the furniture.  We got the furniture from Wal-Mart - 4 piece Graco set (crib w/ mattress, changing table, glider rocker w/ ottoman) for $400.  Best deal around!  (Side note: I think Pete looks mighty fine standing by that changing table, don't you? ; )

The Bedding: I struggled with whether or not I wanted to buy a bedding set or go rogue because a) baby bedding is ridiculously expensive and b) most gender-neutral stuff is animal-themed.  I don't like animals well enough to theme a room around them, even if it is a baby room.  But, I ran across this 10-piece geometric patterned set for less than $100 and in colors that would match the existing paint job.  Bingo! 

The set came with three wall hangings, but they looked like sad little potholders, so I needed to get creative on the walls.  On the wall across from the crib, I arranged a family photos in various sized frames.  I bought some cheap frames from Target (the "back to college" section is a great place to shop for affordable decor) and spray painted them the four main colors from the bedding (blue, brown, orange, yellow).  Below the photos is a cube bookshelf from Target with some baskets for storing toys and other goodies.

On the other walls, I arranged various sized circles that I made from adhesive wall vinyl.  I found a website (vinylexpressions.com) that sells 1'x2' sheets of removable adhesive vinyl for walls in a rainbow of colors.  I bought a few sheets and cut out circles in a variety of sizes using a cricut die cut machine.  I made a ton of them so I'd have plenty to play around with...if you need some giant circle stickers, let me know!

Once I had them cut out, I arranged them temporarily on the walls using masking tape until I got a look that appeared balanced yet random.  I then used the masking strategies I learned during my college summer job (working at the road commission making road signs) to apply them to the walls.  I must say, they look pretty sweet - much better than the lame-ola wall potholders.  (However, Pete has already informed me that I'm on my own when it's time to take these off the walls.)

 

Here's what the (mostly) completed nursery looks like from a couple of different angles:

Fixing the Facade...



 

Notice anything different?  We painted the front door and upsized what I call "the eyebrows" (the elliptical designs above the windows).  The previous "eyebrows" were about half the width (about as wide as a single window) and I thought they looked a little sad above the double windows.  These give the front of the house a little more presence.  Someday, I'm going to send Pete up on a really tall ladder to paint that white vent the same color as the door and "eyebrows".

Backyard Busyness...

We hired someone to do the excavating and lay the base for a paver patio area (to the right of the deck as you look at it from the yard) and a shed (to the left of the deck).  This would have taken us FOREVER and would have been hard work, so money well spent!

After the base was laid, we got to work on placing the pavers.  I toted literally tons of the them to the backyard from where they were dropped off in the frontyard...maybe not the best idea at 6 months pregnant  - definitely felt that for a few days.  Pete laid them in a pattern he designed using four different sized bricks.

It actually came together fairly quickly and looks really nice.  It was like tiling in the great outdoors...instant gratification!  We bought a patio set on "end of season" clearance at Menards that fits nicely on the space.  We are excited to eat out on the patio next summer!

Work has begun on the shed that will be to the left of the deck.  Pete and my dad are building it from plans they found online.

The rest of the backyard is still a work in progress.  The excavating for the patio and shed left quite a bit of turf damage.  Also, some repair to the sprinklers was required after the excavation and patio installation.  The township has finally installed the yard drain they promised us about 6 months ago, but now we (by we I mean Pete) have to dig a trench the entire length of the yard for the additional drain tile he wants to install yet this fall.  He will also tie in the gutters that were recently installed to the new drainage system.  Hopefully, there will be no "Lake Klooster" next spring!  As I type, Pete is beginning to dig the trench for the drain tile and my dad is cutting lumber for the shed rafters. 

Building a Baby...

So, while all this other stuff has been going on, I'm building a baby...and visiting the bathroom, eating...and visiting the bathroom, sleeping...and visiting the bathroom, reading pregnancy/birth books...and visiting the bathroom, shopping for toilet paper...and (you guessed it) visiting the bathroom.

Here I am at 20 weeks.

Here I am at 30 weeks.

And here is Peanut at 21-22 weeks!

Peanut is quite active these days.  The "experts" say to do kick counts twice a day and to make sure you feel at least 10 kicks in an hour.  I can usually get to 10 kicks in 10 minutes!  Peanut especially enjoys womb gymnastics at 1:00 am, 4:00 am and 6:30 am.  Not so much a fan of that. 

It's hard to believe he/she will be here in 9 short weeks, but we are ready to meet him/her!