Stairwell Before and After

Inspired by The Alabama Stitch Book and this beautiful Heather Bailey fabric (thanks KEVIN!), I finally made a basic window covering for my stairwell. Naturally, my favorite part is the least noticeable (bottom left), some decorative stitching placed with a wing needle to add that slight heirloom stitching feel.
Just enough covering to stop TV glare and still allow light into that beautiful entryway. It had been kinda fun creating a house that balances Kevin and I's complimenting styles. He likes modern and bold, while I think I am more attracted to a cottage look, a crafty look, and an eco look all at once. I think they can balance each other.

And because I love before and after shots, here are a few of the entry way after the home sat in foreclosure a year.
BEFOREBEFORE

AFTER

As we begin to slowly add to the house, I find that I am loving our home more and more. Next entry to come... bedroom before, during, and after.

For Arika

A reminder from Arika today... "post some belly pics!" Thank you Kevin for taking and cropping. I actually did not know that I was actually this big today until the picture was taken. Yikes! Blowing up like a blimp as they say... Are you supposed to show this much this early? Maybe not, but my baby does what he/she wants!

At ten weeks a few close friends started noticing, so we took a picture to mark the occasion.

I am very excited to have a little one in my home soon. Last weekend I was able to entertain two friends for most of the weekend and it was so nice. I really enjoy having a full house. Kev and I also went to visit some grandparents from his side of the family. I enjoyed an evening of looking through family photos, what a beautiful family he comes from.

This past week Kevin and I attended a meeting held by the MDEQ for public comment of some severe groundwater pollution working it's way east through AA.
If you are from Ann Arbor please focus in on the Gelman/Pall Plume. This 1,4 Dioxane plume (carcinogen) is already present on the west side of ann arbor and has the potential to contaminate Barton Pond (also where 80% of Ann Arbor residents get their drinking water from). Kev and I live at the tip of the plume right now and are hoping our representatives get their act together and require proper clean up from Pall Life Sciences, before it hits us too.

If I may rant for one moment, Michigan has an abundance of fresh water. The world population is increasing. We need water to live. It isn't a free comodity. There is a limited amount of clean water available. In michigan we have it, but we are polluting it. We have huge aquifers capable of providing clean water to many, but we are polluting it. I say we because it isn't one company. Many companies discharge to the ground. We buy their products, because we expect people to be honest and righteous and understand the impacts of their actions. But when they don't, we don't hold people accountable in the manner they should be. There are plenty of brilliant people out there who can help prevent this and effectively remediate some of the damage already done. I know this for a fact because I work with some of them. Bad companies... please pay the scientists to make your liability go away. It will save you the bad press and the money, not to mention the ability to sleep at night knowing you are doing the right thing.

That is my opinion of the evening. On a positive bedtime note, I would like to say thank you to the CARD group for all of your unpaid efforts to keep our water clean and to keep the public educated. It was wonderful to see so many passionate intelligent people gathered on Wednesday night!

Kitchen Remodel

I think I will slowly post the house remodeling pics, room by room so I can have a log of what we did and so you guys can see the results. We are very pleased with how everything turned out. This is Kevin and I's first home flip. We worked with Old School Construction (out of Ann Arbor) and a whole lot of friends and family (Thanks JONES', BENSONS, ROBBINS, Emily, Brenna, Caroline, Teresa, and Steve).

Before - All appliances removed, cabinetry sloppily put together, linoleum floors, the only entrance into the kitchen is the one you are looking at, strange staining all over the walls, chimney behind multiple layers of plaster and drywall, no ventilation

During - Three separate layers of floor removed to even floor bottom and add to space, all plumbing was found to be out of date and needed replacement, while walls where open - new insulation added and electrical completed, windows were replaced and chimney was cleared off, wall to the left taken out, new entrance added to living room, and ceiling opened up as well.In this pic a ventilation hood is still not connected, but above the stove is where it will go... with Kevin's cooking it seemed like a good idea to add one. Cork floor is added here, and appliances are moved in. Chimney is clear.

New windows and new trim thanks to some serious assistance from my mom and uncle rick, concrete countertops are added here. Water from sink is heated by a tankless water heater for energy efficiency.


Woodblock used for areas that we would like to be warmer.
Open shelving located just above the dishwasher for easy after meal cleaning. And the entire thing painted a lovely shade of purple! We love it.

A Belly Shot

So here is what I can tell you so far...

At five and a half weeks I have a rice grain baby that has a healthy beating heart!
As small as the little guy/gal is, it is growing in my uterus and not my fallopian tubes or anywhere else where it or myself could get hurt.

I am bulging already... not because of the size of the baby, but because of the uterus that has doubled in size the past few weeks. I did not expect to show so soon. I am not eating as healthy as I would like because most foods sound awful to me, and I just keep sleeping. That is the news in baby world.

News!

Baby on the way!  This is where I would like to upload baby belly pics, some ultrasound stuff, and info on the baby. 

This will have to come next week as I am in San Francisco right now with Kev's sister and fiance (great times), but for now check out how creepy this little embryo is.

Baby at Seven Weeks

Where is your water from?

House is wrapping up, winter is wrapping up, GIS classes wrapping up... blogging again...? I hope so. With the internet hooked up again there is an increased likely hood of new posts.

Awesome display of important info above, found at GOOD magazine.

I also enjoyed the Huron River Watershed Council Film Festival. Keep it up HRWC!
Maybe with my increased amount of free time I can do some more volunteering.

Why this week has been wonderful

I am so pleased that other countries were able to watch us elect this man last Tuesday. I am very excited for what he means for our future. When he speaks I am overwhelmed with a great sense of pride. I am honored to have him representing all of us in our relationships abroad and home. Congratulations to the Obama's and to us. Our country is a better place today.

That of course is the big news.

In house news we would like to update that we have picked cork flooring for the kitchen. Natural and I guess you can drop a lot more glass on it with minimal breaking.
The photo below is the slate tiles that are going in the bathroom.
And all of our appliances are in...

Kevin's sister and fiance came in this weekend from San Francisco. We are still trying to convince them to move to Ann Arbor although we love visiting them. It has been decided that due to all of our new homes, apartments, the economy, etc., we will all be making our Christmas gifts. Sweet. So I will be updating on that after christmas on the off chance those guys are reading this right now.

Here's to this week being as good as the last.