We recently have done a couple little projects to upgrade our country kitchen.  Our kitchen was already a good size, complete a breakfast eating area, and the appliances were all fairly new.  There were a couple things about our kitchen that were really holding us back...but for around $100.00 we have really improved the look of our kitchen.  When we bought the house the kitchen had carpet...barf...so of course we tore that out right away.  The carpet went up the side of the cabinets so when we tore it off it just left a gross black board between the bottom of the cabinet to the floor.

So I went up to Lowes and bought some "cove base" then came home and stained it.  That was where my job ended and Brady's began.  He measured it, cut it, and tacked it up.  I'm sure no one else looks under our cabinets...but I do...and now I can look at them and smile!

Then it was the stove area that needed some TLC.  I don't have a "before" picture for this one (I got too excited and forgot to take one). But just try to envision this disgustingness...dirty stove pans (the ones that go under the burner on an electric stove), and a MUSTAND YELLOW range hood...ick, ick ICK...it looked like baby poop!  So I went out to Bed Bath and Beyond...coupons in hand, and bought new electric burner pans...trying to clean these things is impossible, and they are so cheap that it's not even worth it to try cleaning them.  I also picked up a can of white appliance spray paint from Lowes.  We took off the range hood, cleaned it up, and then I went to town with the paint!  Brady put everything back together and it looks amazing!  This was such a huge improvement and it cost less than $20.00!

The last thing we improved was the kitchen sink area.  We had a mustard yellow sink (to match the baby poop range hood of course) and a really old ugly faucet.  Doing dishes already sucks...and when you are doing them in an ugly sink it just makes the chore that much worse!

We had an extra white sink laying around...one of the great benefits of buying a house, barn, and an art studio...we found all sorts of treasures!  And I bought a Moen faucet and kitchen curtain from Lowes.  My handyman hubby installed the new sink and faucet and did all the plumbing by himself.  I hung the curtain and we love the final product! 

Even with our sexy new kitchen sink I still don't like doing dishes...oh well!

So we didn't go to prom...we went to after-prom, so that's not as creepy right?  Brady's cousin, Cole, is a junior at Tri-Central High School and it's the juniors every year who plan prom.  The juniors also plan the after-prom with help from their parents.  This is an alternative thing to do after the dance that provides a safe environment that is drug, alcohol, and sex free...unlike many other after-prom parties. 

Brady's Uncle Mike and Aunt Jenny are Cole's parents and they were very involved in planning the after-prom.  Aunt Jenny is always helping us out with projects on our house, watching our dogs, and saving coupons for me.  So when she told Brady that they might be short on parent help and could use a couple extra volunteers, he said yes right away.  I was kind of a baby about it because I was pissed that Brady would volunteer me for something without even asking me, especially when the thing he volunteered me for was on a Saturday night from 11:30 pm - 3:30 am.  But after much complaining I went along with him and it ended up being a super fun date night!

Brady and I helped out at the "Casino" where the kids could play blackjack or poker.  There were also areas where the kids could dance, do laser tag, go in a "cash cube", go inside giant hamster balls, there was a cartoonist, and a photo booth, and tons of food and drinks, and many other fun things that I am sure I am forgetting.  

I was really surprised by how many kids actually attended the after-prom.  When I was in high school hardly anyone went to the after-prom.  Everyone seemed to go to the person's house where the parents were out of town and the big brother bought beer.  I am sure kids here do that stuff also, but a lot of them really don't and it's cool to see that side of high school that I was never a part of.  It just makes me I feel like I have moved to Pleasantville or have gone back in time to the 50's because I live in such a morally upright Christian community. 

I know I make fun of Sharpsville a lot and I always tease Brady for being so sheltered because he grew up here.  But I really do love this little corner of the world, and I can't wait to raise our kids here.  This really is home and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

After being up till 3:30 in the morning, my prom date and I need a nap!
Thanks for reading!

Its already the middle of April and it feels like 2012 is trucking along a million miles an hour!  I thought it would be a good time to check on how I am doing with my New Year's Resolutions.  I posted my resolutions on the blog as my first post of the year, so I could be accountable to my readers...all two of you =)  You can read that post by clicking here.

Here is what I resolved to do in 2012...let's see how I am doing...

2012 Resolutions
1.  Read the Bible in a year...Brady and I are doing this together and it is going very well.  We haven't slacked and we are right on track.  We are reading the Bible in chronological order following this plan.  So far we have read all of Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, most of 1 Samuel, and some of the Psalms.  We read every night in bed together, many nights reading out loud to each other.  It is such an intimate and special time where we grow closer to each other and the Lord.
2.  Mail two cards a month...I also have done good (that is not proper English) on this resolution.  This is a pretty easy one for me to keep because I love getting and sending cards.  It also helps that I recently bought 2 packages of super cute Vera Bradley greeting cards at the outlet sale!
3.  Blog twice a week...I am not doing as well on this one.  Sometimes I feel like I don't have time to blog, and sometimes I feel like I just don't have anything to say.  Hard to believe I know...I will try to do better =)
4.  Research one topic a month...Also not doing amazing on this one...I have researched three out of four months but not in a very organized fashion.  I have learned about marriage, vitamins, and natural childbirth (my dad is laughing reading this...he thinks I am a freak...HI DAD!)  I have learned a lot of useful information about these three topics and definitely want to continue to learn about marriage and natural childbirth.  Learning about vitamins wasn't as exciting and I am done with that.

How is everyone else doing on their 2012 resolutions?  I would love to hear!

I remember when Brady and I were looking at our house as a potential home to purchase.  It was the perfect location right on the farm and it had three acres complete with a woods and a barn.  Brady was is hog heaven...I on the other hand couldn't get past the wallpaper, shag carpet, funeral home curtains, and old person smell.  We ended up buying it and we have done a ton of work, our house really is a home and I love it!  I have learned that the work is never done on an old farm house and a year later the remodeling continues! 

When we bought the house we were very pleased with the large guest bathroom.  It was complete with a large vanity, double sink, linen closet, and nice shower and bathtub.  It also was complete with celery green shag carpet (yes...in a bathroom!), an old person shower sprayer (you know, the one on a long hose so you can wash all your nooks and crannies...like under your saggy boobs or your wrinkly balls), a light fixture that hung from the ceiling by a long chain, and both sinks had that really modern metal ring around them (insert sarcasm here), oh and of course there was a nice white countertop with celery green swirls on it to match the carpet. 

We didn't have a ton of money to gut the bathroom and start over, and we really did like the layout...we just wanted to make it a little more modern and a little less hippie.  We painted the walls a high gloss chocolate brown, replaced the light fixture, installed tile flooring, and put up a new shower curtain and it looked so much better.  We still had the same vanity, sinks, and top...but all the other wonderfulness in the bathroom took away from those things and it wasn't a big deal to us at all.

In January I noticed some humps in the floor...great.  Turns out that there was a sneaky little leak behind one of the sinks and it was constantly dripping behind the wall, in turn getting soaked up by the sponge-like particle board.  We tore out the flooring and found out that the subfloor was sopping wet, we then tore that out, and tore out the vanity and found mold.  So of course that led to tearing out drywall and spraying bleach water on everything. 

We since have gotten the floor replaced and now we are going to install a new vanity.  Brady and I went to Lowe's last night and picked everything out.  It is a custom size vanity so everything had to be special ordered but it should be here in 2 weeks!  I can't wait! 

Where we saved a ton of money on this remodel though, is that we are going to use a custom Formica countertop with two drop in sinks.  If we would have gotten a custom order bathroom vanity top with the two sinks built in, it would have cost us between $570 and $827 depending on the material.  And there were only about 20 choices.  Using a kitchen countertop gave us hundreds of choices, and it was so much cheaper.  We upgraded the standard Formica by adding a high gloss finish and a custom edge on the front and it still only cost $143.49.  But of course we didn't pay that...hello do you know me?  I had a 10% off coupon for Lowe's so our bathroom countertop only cost $129.14 before tax!  We had to buy two sinks then since they weren't built into the countertop but those were fairly inexpensive and we still came out way ahead! 

Our bathroom upgrade will end up costing a grand total of just under $1000, but with payment from our homeowners insurance Brady and I will pay substantially less than that. 

This whole bathroom remodel could have been super stressful...and it was at times.  Especially when we found out we needed a "custom size", but everything has turned out wonderfully and I can't wait till everything arrives in a couple weeks and get it all installed! 

Here is everything we bought at Lowe's...all for 10% off BABY!

Thanks for reading!

We are still winding down from a wonderful Easter weekend!  We spent the weekend in Illinois with my parents and extended family.  We celebrated the life of Jesus, His death, and resurrection!  It was a jam packed weekend, and while it is always good to be gone, it is always even better to be home. 

We didn't leave Sharpsville until Saturday evening because we were busy planting and repairing fence in the cattle lot.  Of course the first thing we did upon our arrival in Grayslake was hug and kiss everyone, then challenge my parents to a game of Scrabble.  We won't talk about who won...it wasn't me. 

Sunday was full of church, family, good food, good drinks, and watching Bubba...no not Brady, Bubba Watson...win the Masters.  On his Twitter bio he describes himself as "Christian. Husband. Daddy. Pro Golfer. Owner of General Lee 1."  Yes his parents call him Bubba, yes he is a county bumpkin from Georgia, yes he drives the General Lee, yes him and his wife just adopted their first child less than a  month ago, and no he has never taken a golf lesson in his life.  How awesome was that?!  I love that guy...he is such a fresh face for the game of golf.  He isn't a emotionless robot like the golfer stereotype.  And he definitely isn't a psycho dickhead like Tiger. 

On Monday Brady and I were invited to speak on a Diversity Panel at a local middle school.  It was basically career day for the 6th graders.  There were eight of us who sat at a table in front of all the 6th graders, and all the kids had a list of all our careers and they had to try to match up the person with their job.  We all answered vague questions that might lead the kids to guess what our job is, but we didn't tell them who had what job until the very end.  There was a famer (Brady of course), a dog trainer, a vet, a marine, a cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, and a couple others including me, the crop insurance specialist...how exciting right!?  A couple kids thought Brady was a Marine!  It was a great day for us and the kids!  We had a lot of fun and got to meet some great people, the kids also learned a lot and a lot of stereotypes were broken down...letting the kids know they can be anything they want to be when they grow up!  The best part of our middle school visit was when Brady revealed to all the kids that we were married, he put his arm on me and said "me and my beautiful wife work together on our family farm"...you should have seen all the kids giggling and whispering =)

Then Monday night Brady, Mom, Dad, and I went to Bills Pizza...yum.  Sidenote - whenever we go to Illinois I have to eat either a hot dog or pizza.  Yes we have both of those food staples in Indiana...and yes they also suck.  I was so spoiled with delicious food growing up close to Chicago.  Anyways then we drove down to Linden and hopped on the train to Wrigley.  We spent the evening bundled up, sipping on Old Style, cheering on our Cubbies.  Of course they lost...what's new...but we still had a great time!  

Our weekend trips to visit my parents are always fun and eventful!  I love seeing Mom, Dad, Dan and all the extended family!  I wish they would just move down to Indiana already! 

Sorry its been a while!  Thanks Megan for kicking me in the pants and making me blog!