Sunday, December 4, 2016

New York Trip - Travel Day

We flew out of Sea-Tac on Friday at 4:00pm to come to the Big Apple!

So... this happened. About 10 minutes
from the airport.

Enough said. 

Happy girl. Ellie Coffee and
chicken nuggets (see on top of the suitcase).
It was a very, very full plane. They were asking 33 passengers to gate-check their carry-on bags. We quickly sorted through what we had in all of ours, and determined that Robert's (which had a combination of a bunch of stuff including Ellie Jo's medicines and some of my clothes) was the only one that needed to stay with us. So we had the rest tagged, and then they announced that the lack of overhead compartment space was only going to affect passengers in rows 1-19. (We were in 23.) Sigh. Oh well. I had thought ahead and made a detailed listing of everything in our one big checked suitcase (I've had my luggage lost before), but I didn't do that for the carry-ons.

It wouldn't have mattered in the long-run, because by the time we got in line to board (back to front of the plane), they were walking down the line tagging people's bags. Now, it doesn't make much sense to me that they didn't do this for the passengers in the rows that were actually affected (they boarded after rows 20-back), but whatever. It wasn't a big deal.

So we're almost on the plane, and all of a sudden, we hear this BANG BANG BANG on the counter at the gate adjacent to us, and a lady shouting, "HELLO! HELLO! I need on the plane!"

Yup. A crazy.

She apparently felt she would miss the plane we were boarding. So as 150 people looked at her in awe, she continues her rant at the counter where we were boarding the plane. This is when Jack said, "Oh boy, we got a crazy on the plane?!" Psh, unfortunately! Haha!


I was thrilled to leave the rain!
I think the plane actually left the runway at 4:18.
Here's Ellie Jo, happily looking out
the window with Grandma Hey!

Gorgeous horizon!

The Cascades

















I took the below picture of the moon as a defense mechanism.

The grown man in front of us (we're talking gray hair and all), had a little incident, which caused his wife to panic, and the stewardess to exclaim over the intercom, "We've got a situation in the aisle at row 22! Please assist!"

Yeah. Don't worry. It had nothing to do with a medical emergency, and everything to do with a fully capable grown up who didn't know what adulting was.

He spilled his cranberry juice. 

You guys. I cannot make this up. Robert, Ashley and I were all sitting together, and we were trying to figure out what the heck was going on. The struggle was real with this man-child and his juice emergency.

So this guy is literally just sitting there, seemingly helpless (and yet, there was literally nothing wrong with him), while his wife and 2 stewardesses attend to his every need. And then came the icing on the cake of pity: His wife says, "Do you need to get your bag from the overhead compartment? I can start moving stuff! Do you have another pair of slacks? Is that your only pair?"

We all refrained from commenting. I know you're proud.

So, here's this super awesome picture of the moon below!



The moon!

Hello, New Jersey!

So cute!

Here's Elizabeth Johannah in Elizabeth, NJ!





















We arrived at our hotel around 1:00am, and got some pizza before we all crashed.

Stay tuned for more updates! Want to follow our adventure in real time? Follow me on Instagram: @kimisan08 or SnapChat: @kacrombie

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Recent Projects and a Little Spring Cleaning

We have always got a project (or 5) going on here!

Ellie Jo running after her daddy on a recent
shopping excursion to the Home Depot
Especially since we had our neighbors' 80ft cedar tree fall on our house and property back in November, we've added many, many projects to our to-do list.

When we first bought this house in 2013, we knew we had a lot of work to do before we could even move in. There was nicotine running down the walls, and a horrible stench. It had popcorn ceilings, scratched hardwood floors, old doors and windows (single-pane aluminum glass), and 1/4 acre of unkept property.

With a lot of hard work, a lot of help from family and friends and determination, we moved in 2 months after we closed.



After we moved in, there were still many projects. The windows and sliding glass door, finishing the bathroom (including installing a new window), landscaping, etc.

What we didn't plan on was a rotten, unmaintained tree from our neighbors' yard hitting our house and property! Our punch list quickly grew. Items we lost when the tree fell included: Our BBQ, shed, canopy, outdoor heater, and hot tub. There was significant damage to parts of our house, mainly the roof. Our total settlement from our home owner's insurance company was plenty for us to do the work ourselves. But, it meant that a lot of our winter was consumed with repairs. We were able to replace the BBQ and outdoor heater, and we're planning to rebuild the shed and canopy. Speaking of which, this is one that I saw at Costco that I felt would work great for us:

But, that price wasn't working for Robert. He insisted that he could build one just as nice for about half the price.

So, recently, we placed a gigantic order with Lowe's, and the materials to build it are included! Yay!

This project is not as high on the list as others, though.
Ellie Jo on our adventure at Costco





We decided against replacing the hot tub for now. It's not a necessity, and we weren't using it anyway. We're using that money for projects around the house instead!

A lot of our purchases have been ordered online through Ebates so that we get cash back for all our purchases (I will be detailing the expenditure and savings tracking in an upcoming blog post). The only problem with ordering online is that sometimes, we don't know exactly what we're getting. A lot of the nuts and bolts (literally) aren't what Robert has been expecting, and the BBQ was quite the adventure... We ordered the biggest, most expensive BBQ we could find, because I got it on sale for an amazing price, and our insurance money covered the whole expense. (Yup, we got cash back from Ebates, too!) Anyway, when we got to the store to pick it up, they wheeled a box the size of a smart car around the corner at the Customer Service desk, and I thought Robert was going to pass out! He said, "Uh... so I guess there's not much assembly required?" We had to scramble to figure out how to get it home in the pouring rain, but luckily it worked out, thanks to his parents' perfect timing being at the store next door at the exact same time we needed to borrow their pick-up truck! Haha!

I was able to order our outdoor heater online. We went from a tabletop sized one to a full-size 7-ft tall outdoor heater! (We may be buying a second one, as I didn't realize that Robert wanted a different style than the one I bought).


My garden is a more pressing project, as I've already started to miss spring planting dates. But, as with  most things in my garden, it's pretty subjective. So I feel like waiting a bit is okay.

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and Robert said it wouldn't be difficult at all to build. We do have a different gate, which was given to us from my cousin, Melissa. But I am so excited for how this turns out! I'm planning to plant lower-growing crops like lettuce, carrots, potatoes, celery, etc. in this garden. My other two raised beds will still house my corn, artichokes, peas, beans, etc. We also have about 20ish pots (blueberries, peppers, tomatoes, etc.) I'll be posting an update on our garden plans soon.

For now, check out how much work Robert has done just since Saturday!

(Please ignore the weeds in my other garden to the right. It's been neglected for awhile).

I swear, my husband can build, fix or re-do anything. And he does a very respectable eye-roll when I start dumping Pinterest plans on him! Haha!







In addition to all that, I've been working to get some spring cleaning done. I have no official list - I'm just doing what needs the most attention. To be quite honest, we've just been accustomed to living in a renovation zone for the last 2 1/2 years, and it means that things are kind of crazy most of the time. Cleaning the 3 carpets we do have, the upholstery, and giving the floors a good cleaning in general were at the top of my list this year. I've already cleaned 2 of the 3 carpets, and I have to wait on the upholstery until we have an evening where I can do it quickly before bed. I also did a lot of toy sorting/ cleaning/ rearranging with my dad and Robert last week.

Here are some pics of the progress I've made with cleaning:

Ellie Jo's carpet


Living Room carpet


















Ta-da! No more Mt. Vesuvius of toys in the
family room!



I swapped Elizabeth's toy box with her Princess shelves, and now the toy box houses toys in the family room, and the shelves are in her bedroom. Much cleaner! 














Before & After of my recent
painting project: hand-me-down
3-drawer bins that were reddish-
orange, and are now watermelon
pink!

Drawers to the left of Ellie Jo's play kitchen
area.


The only place I can put this for now to keep it
out of our way...
I recently purchased this Disney Princess Dream Castle thing on a buy/ sell/ trade site for $5. It retails on Amazon for $349.99! It was a little dirty and had some marker/ pen stains on it. I cleaned it right up with my favorite cleaning tool, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and it looks brand new! (Of course, I sanitized the rest of it, taking apart what I could and soaking it in Lysol!) I called Mattel, and they shipped me all of the missing pieces for this! (I haven't received everything yet, but I'll take a picture when we get it all delivered!) What a deal! This may be the best deal I've ever scored!



Of course, we never miss our nightly FaceTime session with Grandpa, no matter how busy we are!


The blanket I made for my sweet friend's baby shower recently! I was inspired by one on Etsy, but I think mine came out decently, compared to the "perfect" one I saw online.
















Here's Robert showing all his tools to Ellie, and
explaining the difference between the "Daddy,
Mommy and Ellie" sized hammers!
For Christmas, Robert's parents gave us 3 of our new windows! This was a huge and generous gift! They were custom-made for our house, so that we do not have to rebuild another wall (that is something that we now know how to do, but don't have time to do), and they even ordered us windows with grids in them for the front 2 (Ellie's room and my office) and one without the grid for the back bedroom (our master). Robert and I decided to I convinced Robert to install Elizabeth's window last weekend, because we were all home on a weekend day when she took an early nap! Opportunity!
He actually took baseball swings to get the metal
frame out, but I missed it with my camera :(

Helping Daddy remove screws


Because no home improvement project is complete
without an impromptu trip to Home Depot.



What the window(s) looked like before: Aluminum,
single-pane glass with a storm window (ew).

Finishing touches installing the window itself
(obviously, we still have to do some drywall)

The new sill I insisted on, haha!
































A project I decided needed to happen... our Master
Bedroom closet doors. I've always wanted bi-fold
doors (I cannot stand bypass doors!), and I
found them at Home Depot this weekend. I said
that I couldn't possibly paint/ prep them if I didn't
own them, ha! Many trips in our SUV have this view...

The last picture doesn't look like much, I know. But Robert and our friend, Jeff, spent 13 hours (13 hours!) on Saturday, clearing all the debris and yard waste from the tree falling. They hauled 3 full dump trailer loads to the dump, totaling around $200. It was about 3.5 tons of stuff! WOW! 

Needless to say, this picture is progress. PROGRESS! 

As you can see, we're busy! We have a lot going on, and we like it that way. Ellie Jo is learning a lot about what we can do with what we have, and how to use simple tools like hammers and Daddy's power tools (just the screwdriver function, and only with help). 

*Disclaimer: If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen a lot of these pictures. And if your name is Keri, you've already seen all this in our most recent texting conversations, haha!

Monday, March 21, 2016

My Friend Far Away and Mommy Quiet Baths

Oh, how I miss the days of bathing a newborn! I never thought I'd say that, back when I had a newborn, 3 years ago! The reality is that it's increasingly difficult to manage a squirming toddler in the tub, especially when she needs to get washed up, but I just can't convince her to sit still!

Because I have a kiddo who is prone to respiratory problems, I have a routine that I do to keep her healthy, and one I do when she's sick to help nurse her back to health, too. (Don't all moms do that?!) I know when her coughing is more than just a typical cold, and when it's triggered by her asthma, and I also know when it's time to get her to the doctor before she comes down with a serious illness, like pneumonia.

Anyway, this late-winter cold season hasn't been kind to this household. Robert was sick, then Ellie Jo, and then me. We all had different colds, and different symptoms (go figure). Now, I'm not a "granola-y" mom, and I'm also not an "all about modern medicine" mom. I'm somewhere in the middle. (I'm not about to bore you with my personal opinions on antibiotics and/ or immunizations, don't worry!) But I'm all about trying anything possible to keep my sweet girl smiling when she's sick!

So, naturally, when my good friend, Keri, spent an entire evening brainstorming ways I could help care for my poor girlie who had a nasty cough (and was starting to come down with it myself), I was just soaking up everything she was offering as a solution. Keri and I are 3 states apart, since she's in California now. But the distance doesn't matter. I still consider her one of my very good friends, and we're always swapping crazy crafting ideas, swooning over Fixer Upper and Flip or Flop ideas on HGTV, or just having an insane texting session! This one night in particular, I had asked Keri what she thought I could do to help make bathtime productive to for Ellie's coughing. She suggested that I do a detox bath for Ellie. The recipe is super simple:
I love this stuff so much, I started
adding a couple drops to my stone
soap dish in my shower before I shower
and get ready in the mornings!

  • 1/2 cup Epsom Salt (2 cups for adults)
  • 1/4 cup baking soda (1 cup for adults)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp oil; 3 drops essential oils (3 tbsp oil; 10 drops essential oils for adults)
  • candle (for light)
  • soothing music (recommendation below)
Keri uses DoTerra essential oils, and after she told me that Breathe is great for respiratory health, I dove into my medicine cabinet for the last few drops I had from the last "care package" she'd sent with samples of everything she loves. I put them in the bath with the salt and baking soda, and put Ellie in there. Keeping her calm and quiet was very difficult, but I was able to do it with some soft music on my phone. I didn't like the first several options I tried, but after about 6 of these detox baths, I finally settled on this YouTube video to help settle Ellie Jo down, and keep her calm. Also, I always light a big jar candle and turn off the lights to help maintain the quiet mood! I just use her regular shampoo/ body wash, and I don't allow toys. Instead, I let her lay down on her back over my arms, and I gently rock her back and forth with one hand on her neck and one on her legs, and I just sway her from one end of the tub to the other. It's almost mesmorizing to watch her beautiful blonde hair swish and curl around her while her little eyes close and her sweet little smile appears on her face! It totally reminds me of when she was a tiny baby!

Now that it's been several weeks, sometimes I do these baths for her just because! We started calling them, "Mommy Quiet Baths," because the soothing music and water sounds + essential oil and soak really do help to create peace and calm! One night, I ruined it for everyone, because Elizabeth was restless so I was frustrated, and resorted to watching a show while she was in the bath. Even though the light was off (as it always is), and the candle was going strong, the rapid movement from the screen had us both on edge, and I gave up and made Robert come in and take over. I walked away feeling defeated and discouraged, hearing Ellie whine and cry. I knew I'd ruined the whole experience, and it was just a bad night. 
Yes, this picture has a toy in the bath, but I
snapped it quickly before I got her in the bath!

It's something I look forward to now, and whenever I have time, I sneak in a Mommy Quiet Bath for myself! Ellie asks for them often now, and it's really a special and enjoyable time to relax!

To recap: baking soda + Epsom salt + Breathe Essential Oil by DoTerra + soothing music + candle = bliss. 

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Dad's (Extended) Birthday and My Foodie Obessions

Each year for my dad's birthday, I give him the gift of a homemade meal of his choice, and some kind of fun family outing. It's an unofficial tradition. Part of it is because his birthday is December 23rd, and it was always super important to me to make his birthday and Christmas special for him. This year, we couldn't celebrate until New Year's Day, due to our schedules and when we had time off from work (You might think a banker and someone who works for a community college could find some common ground in time off, but when you throw a toddler and Grandpa into the mix, it becomes a bit more complicated!)

For my dad's birthday this year, he requested Chicken Parmesan for dinner. Here's me, prepping in  the kitchen:
Yes, that's the Pioneer Woman's cookbook! AKA,
my food bible!

The prep took longer than I anticipated, but it was definitely worth it! My dad loved it, and Ellie even ate it!

After dinner, we were headed out pretty quick to go on a very special trip down to Seattle! I scored 3 tickets to the Woodland Park Zoo's WildLights display with my corporate discount from work! It wasn't much, but any discount is okay with us!

We were planning to leave as early as possible, but we didn't end up getting out of the house until after 5:30. (WildLights is only 5:30-8:30pm).

The drive down was pretty quick and relatively uneventful. Robert got turned around in one of the first parking lots, but we eventually found where we needed to park.

 The walkway was completely lined with lights on trees!
This is from the walkway looking down

Here's the entrance, once you get through the
gate
Everywhere you looked, you could see lights and animal shapes, silhouettes, and even moving light displays!


The pathways were not all open, but we didn't
feel limited at all. There was plenty to see!

Our little sweetheart, bundled
up cozy in her stroller! 
Under the regular lights at the zoo, some of the LED lights made the pathways appear purple! It was really neat. 
Robert, Ellie and my dad in front of a big
butterfly display

Daddy & Ellie looking at an amphibian display



My favorite part was seeing how everything looked totally lit up in the dark! It was really neat how they had everything set up! 

My dad is on the right, going into the Komodo
Dragon exhibit 

Ellie Jo and Daddy looking at reptiles 

Some reptile thing

Some slithery thing

She was happy to have Grandpa and Daddy right
there with her!

Turtle!! I love the pattern on its back!

Rawr!

We were a little cramped in a tight space
in this exhibit, and Ellie was the only one of us
who could have expressed her frustrations - and had it be socially acceptable. 

Another turtle! It was so carefree! Like the ones
in Finding Nemo!

I took this pic on my iPhone! Amazing clarity!

A pathway of animals!


The largest animal we saw! And I can't even
remember what it was...



She liked the exhibits where she could
peer in from the ground :) 

Daddy explaining about frogs

Looks like this was out of a 1980s
National Geographic. But it's not.
It's my DSLR lens vs. dirty glass.
#vintagenoeffort


Real? Or display? You decide!

The Spectacled Owl, Kova! We got
to listen to a whole demonstration
about him...until Ellie Jo got cranky.

One of the last things we did was take Ellie Jo
on the carousel. She LOVED it!  

As we left the zoo, we decided that we needed to have some dessert. We debated about where to go and what to eat, and then I used Siri to find something for us. I looked up something like "dessert" and found the closest locations I could. Then I decided one place that had molten lava cake "Hot Cakes" in Ballard sounded interesting, so that's where we went!

Little did I know what was in store for us...

In Ballard!! For real! We NEVER
go to Seattle anymore, and since
we have a kiddo, it's hard to be
spontaneous. 
But we were spontaneous that night!
Ellie Jo was excited to get inside
and get warm! (Note we all have like
4-5 layers on under our winter
jackets!) 

























This place did not disappoint! From the moment we walked in, I was wowed! Most of you know how much I adore Chip & Joanna Gaines on HGTV's Fixer Upper.  (I mean really, I just applied to be on the street team for their book coming out on October 18th!) I just love how they work together as a couple, how they involve their kiddos in their work, their personalities, and their taste! Well, Hot Cakes may as well have taken a page right out of their book, because it was a Fixer Upper fan's dream!


Waiting in line

Rustic, yet classy decor


I was being slightly tourist-y, trying to get the
right angles and shots to send to Keri... with my
iPhone... we both realized there aren't enough
texts in the world. 

Look at the gorgeous sign! 

Tasting table! The Whiskey Caramel
is to die for!

That's right; it says, "DRINK your dessert" !! 

Yes, a s'mores bar! 

That wall!!!!

Brick + lighting fixtures + sign graphics = goals

The whole place


When we walked in, my dad immediately said, "No way... no way." I said, "What? Don't you want some dessert, Daddy?" He whispered, "I'm like, the oldest person here!" Robert and I laughed so hard... because he was right. The average age couldn't have been higher than 22 before we walked in, with the median age around 20. (No wise cracks about my math nerdiness! And no, I did not attempt to calculate the mode!


So Elizabeth was thrilled to be in a "big kid" place for dessert, lol! 

The biggest chocolate cookie she could find. 

Do you see this decor? DO YOU?!
Yeah, I don't think any of you truly understand my obsession with Fixer Upper...

...or my kiddo's sheer joy and happiness from a simple
cookie. 

Can we just take a minute to appreciate the
bathroom decor?! YES - BATHROOM! 

Hold the phone!!

Liquor "cabinet" goals...

To make my dad feel young, I encouraged him
fiercely to take a selfie. Okay, okay; I forced it
upon him. I know, right? You should have heard me
trying to explain what we were doing. It was hilarious.

Daddy and his girl outside Hot Cakes! 


We didn't actually eat the food there, we took it back to my dad's house for a special treat. I got the apple bread pudding, and it brought me up to a whole new level of appreciation for baking. Seriously. They put cardamom in the bread pudding. Cardamom! My favorite spice! I studied that bread pudding. I shall duplicate it sometime in the near future. I could seriously dedicate several posts to Hot Cakes alone...but I digress...

Dad had a really great birthday, and I had the most fun I'd had in months. Seriously! Or as Elizabeth says, "Sersssoly." 

Anyway, my pictures are a bit disheveled and not quite in perfect order, but it's good enough for my first blog post in nearly 3 months!