BASEMENT PICTURES

It was a long and grueling process, but I did it and it turned out alright.  Do you remember what our basement looked like before? Let me remind you:

BEFORE

Before we moved in about 2 1/2 years ago, I repainted every room in the house except the basement. The walls were pretty beat up and it was so bright and so green, which actually wasn't too bad for my daycare, but it was time for a change. So here you are, wah-la!

AFTER

Here is a picture of the texture I used. My friend Gina is AMAZING and she came and showed me the technique of it all. Basically you need a lot of mud and a lot of love (ie. joint compound and patience). Then you prime it, then you paint it and then you glaze it.

 

As you can tell, I did one wall red and I don't have much on the walls yet, but this particular wall will be dedicated to Tim's sports memorabilia, so when I get it hung I will post a picture.

Does it look like a lot of work? It was, especially for one person. :) Please just allow me a moment to toot my whistle that I did this all by myself. :) Thank you.

Tim is not a fan of any type of home renovation project, if you know Tim, then you know that he can't handle this kind of thing (he stresses) and he's not afraid to admit it either. Thank goodness that I am not afraid to tackle a project of large proportion. I just told him to, "Stay out of the basement." :) Next up, I'm going to install our basement bathroom! Okay, probably a bit more than I can handle.

Do you like the window? How did I do it? Just buy an old window at an antique store and hang a wreath on it. Cost of the window $10, cost of the wreath, $15, cost of a unique wall hanging..... you guessed it..... priceless. 

JAZZ GAME

Addi has been to several Jazz games with her dad, but this time I actually remembered to send the camera! She doesn't look very excited in this picture, but she actually loves going to the games, mostly to see the Jazz Bear. It was their lucky night because it just happened to be the Jazz Bear's birthday and so he had invited all of his fellow mascot friends for a birthday celebration. There were giant animal mascots running around all over the place. Unfortunately the Jazz lost to the San Antonio Spurs 100-106 and aren't looking too good this year due to many injuries, but at least it was a fun daddy daughter date.

Deron Williams

Addi and her daddy.

Tim Duncan warming up.

Addi in front of Tim Duncan warming up.

LITTLE PINK MARSHMALLOW

Tim and Hally on their way to go tubing a couple weeks ago. Hally is always up for an adventure. Addi just wanted to stay home with mom, I think she doesn't like to walk back up the hill after she goes down. 

INAUGURATION THOUGHTS

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." - President Barak H. Obama

I don't know about you, but I was very overwhelmed by yesterday's inauguration. I am not going to sit here and tell you who is right and wrong when it comes to the political spectrum. I can see both sides and have always been able to see both sides of every aspect of life. I am not saying that I am a Republican and I am not saying that I am a Democrat, all I am saying is that I can see both sides.  

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I am glad to have witnessed a part of history yesterday. It was pretty amazing for me to see the first African American president take the oath of office. It touched me to see millions of people, waving their flags, in the freezing cold, just wanting to get a glimpse of a moment in history. I sat in front of the T.V. for a couple of hours watching all of the people come in. It was neat to watch the past presidents, whom are still living, and the current president, be so gracious to each other. 

Barack Obama is the new president of the United States of America and whether or not you or I agree with him, he is still the president and deserves respect, just as President Bush deserved respect. President Obama is an amazing speaker and although I think he's got a lot of problems to fix and it's definitely going to take a long time to fix those problems, he really has a way of putting hope in the hearts of the American people and I guess if that's all he can give us for right now.... then I'll take it.

I am proud to be an American.

1 MONTH HIATUS

(I started this post on January 9th and finally finished it and posted it today, January 21st. I guess that's why it says posted on the Jan. 9th?)

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. After the busy holidays I got started redoing our basement and that has consumed most of my spare time, but I am finally finished, so now I can get back to my normal routine. I have a lot of things to catch up on, so this may be a long couple posts. 

Christmas morning we had at our very own house. This is the first time in 6 Christmases of being married that it was just us. It was kind of nice. On Christmas Eve we had a nice ham dinner and then opened our p.j.'s, but then we were left feeling like, "What's next?" I didn't take many pictures because we got our video camera fixed and so I just used that most of the time.

Addi got Baby Alive and Hally got a dollhouse. Tim and I bought a joint present, a couch for our basement. This cut WAY back on the stress that incircles my hubby around Christmastime. We'll probably be doing the joint present thing every year.

Hey, nice handlebar mustache babe!

Hally Blue Eyes

Then on Christmas afternoon we headed to Cedar. It was a good time as usual. There were 35 of us at Tim's parents house. It gets kind of crowded and crazy, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. Tim's mom, Becky is the BEST cook and always has food ready to serve. We also always stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning playing games. This year we played a game called Loaded Questions. I'm tellin' ya, if you are fan of games, then you will LOVE this game. We were laughing so hard we were crying..... it's fun. I can't forget to put in a good word for my other favorite game, Ticket to Ride. Have you heard of it? It's a great game!!! Hey let us all have a game night! Is anyone in?

Stubbs' Grandkids

Mayhem of opening presents.

Playing outside in the snow.

~I can't forget to mention the lovely party we had at my mom and dad's house the weekend before Christmas. Thank you mom for all of the good food and gifts! Once again I forgot my camera, urgh.

MORE SNOWMEN

We had a HUGE storm today and when Tim got home from work he had to dig out our parking spot before he could park. I tried to do it earlier in the day, but I'm not a very good shoveler, plus it just snowed again over everything I had already shoveled. Being the nice guy Tim is, he decided to shovel our neighbors parking spot out too. The kids decided to go out and "help" him.

CHRISTMAS SNOWMEN

Snowmen Cookies

• 1 c. powdered sugar
  
• 1 c. butter
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 c. & 2 T. flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. cream of tartar
• 1/2 t. salt

~Refrigerate for 1 hour. Cook at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. No cookie cutters needed for these snowmen, just roll dough in a ball and then decorate as shown.

Frosting

• 1/3 c. butter
• 1 t. vanilla
• 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 3-4 T. milk