7 Quick Takes - Monopoly & Horses

Also linking up with Kelly for a 7 Quick Takes post.  Thanks to you guys for hosting!!

1.  I had a whole bunch of random stuff that has been going on around here so I thought I'd do a Quick Takes post and combine it with a What I Wore Sunday link-up.  So here's the Sunday pictures...

From the porch...

Courtesy of my in-laws' back porch swing.  I had on the same black skirt I wore in my last WIWS post, the shirt is a new one I scored on sale from Kohl's.  It's summertime in the Midwest (and I knew I was going to be visiting the country) so I braided my hair and had it twisted up.  Doug was giving me grief that I was wearing my "Catholic bling" (miraculous medal) with the silver necklace he gave me last year.  Medal is new, I picked it up when I visited the adoration chapel to do a holy hour on Friday.


2.  I cantored my last time at 8:00am service this week.  We will move to our new Mass schedule next week, the new early Mass time is 7:30am (which I happen to be scheduled for next week).  Hopefully I won't wait until the last minute to practice like I did this week...

Saturday around 11:00pm

Rockin my daughter's pink headphones, listening to music and not wanting to disturb the little kids who were already asleep.  I don't normally wait that long, but it's been a weird week.  I was super excited that I got to sing Amazing Grace, my all time favorite hymn.  I figured it was only a matter of time before it came up and today was the day!

3.  More horse pictures...

Princess riding bareback

They get REALLY close!

Firstborn & Savanna

Loving Princess' borrowed blue boots

He's not particularly fond of horses
so points for riding

Dad & Toddler Boy

We spent Sunday at Doug's folk's house and Princess was going into horse withdrawal so Grandma agreed to take her out to the pasture.  No fear with her, she absolutely adores the horses.  The older two boys commented that "the horses seem smaller since last winter".  No, the horses aren't smaller, you've grown bigger!

4.  We attended our Protestant church Saturday night and had a potluck afterwards to welcome our new pastor and his family.  Complete with a bounce house, it's always nice to have something new to bribe the kids with to get them to be good through service.  Added bonus, they were so worn out that bedtime was easy that night.  The adult conversation was great too, it's good to be able to sit and talk with old friends while your kids run around with other kids and burn off energy.  Usually it's so busy after church that it's hard to say more than hi and bye (that's if you even happen to attend the same service, we have four to choose from).  My Catholic parish is also getting a new priest this coming month.  What are the odds that both churches I attend are getting new pastors within the same month??

5.  What is better to do on a rainy Friday morning?  Play monopoly of course...

Rolling dice

Counting dice

And moving!

The little kids talked me into a game, which took quite awhile when allowing the youngest to count and move.  BUT, great for math skills, the teacher mom in me is excited!  I was the banker to help keep things moving along, Princess quit and gave her estate to Soccer Boy, I merged my estate with Toddler Boy but in the end Game Boy came out on top.




6.  Referencing Miraculous Medal from take #1, I was glad I was wearing it this Sunday while letting Firstborn drive down to his grandparents house.  It's took us about an hour and he had to go through a construction zone AND pass a tractor combine on the way and we all survived the ordeal.  He's not a terrible driver by any stretch, but Doug and my nerves are about shot.  And to think we have to do this four more times.  We've logged in about 8 hours with Firstborn, only 42 more to go!  I think I need to stock some heavier liquor in la casa, drink recipes welcome...

7.  My girlfriend gave birth to her twins last month!!  They are so sweet!  I've been spending some time at her house helping out and holding babies...

Princess holding baby girl

Me with baby boy

My friend is awesome and taking things in stride.  She also has three other children, the oldest being 8 years old.  So if you could say a quick prayer for her and her husband and family I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

That's it for me, but head over to visit Kelly @ This Ain't the Lyceum for more 7 Quick Takes and check out all the other beautiful ladies at Fine Linen and Purple for more WIWS posts.

Master Bath Remodel

A couple weeks ago Doug and the oldest three boys headed off to camp.  While they were away I asked my folks to come up and help me with a surprise bathroom remodel...

Here are the before shots...

Single towel rack and rusting curtain rod

My daughter is an "artist"

Floor missing tiles
Counter a jumbled mess...

I asked him to make a sad face!

About 8 years ago we remodeled our master bedroom and in the process we enlarged our master bathroom.  The bathroom floor was not completely level but we were in a hurry and didn't have time to correct it (which then caused the ceramic tiles to crack years later).  Since it was in our master bathroom it was a project that was put on the back burner.  My dad offered to come over and help me install a new floor and since you have to rip everything out to do that I thought I might as well go all in and do a complete makeover.

As soon as the boys headed off to camp I removed everything from our bathroom and put it in the boys' bathroom down the hall.  Then dad came over and we removed the cabinet and toilet and took up the old floor.  We discovered the copper pipes sat about 2 inches high so we needed to build the floor up to meet it or else the toilet wouldn't sit level.  Dad did new subflooring and then he laid a floating tile on top.

I did lots and lots of painting.  Painting until 1:30 am on multiple days kind of painting.  Some of the pictures come off as green, but the wall color is actually a neutral beige.  Installed a new toilet and a new, curved curtain rod.  I kept our curtain because it wasn't that old and it happened to match the new paint color.  But I did pick up a new white rug, white towels and a double towel rack.  I hear what you're thinking...white?!  I love the white, and bleach can fix anything.

Pics of the process...

Primer coat done

Adding the subfloor

New color...

New floor!!

Painting over her mural

We barely got everything done and the house picked up before I had to head off to camp to pick up the boys.  They were impressed, Doug said he could leave town again if we wanted to do another project.

The finished product...

Added space from curved shower rod

Floor makes me so happy!

Love the white cabinets

Doubled towel bar

Dad wood worked a new piece we
stained to match the floor

I've got to say one of my favorite things is the amount of shower space the curved shower rod adds.  The illusion makes it appear that the shower is 50% larger, which is very cool.  Laying the floor pattern the way we did makes the space seem bigger too.  The white towels gives it a spa like atmosphere.  I went with the more expensive Behr Marquee paint because we were doing a bathroom and I wanted to avoid mold.  Since the plaster had never been painted (and I was covering the "artwork") I did a base primer coat before the color.  Here's the specifics:

ceiling & shower:  Behr Marquee white interior satin

cabinet & mirror:  Behr Marquee ultra pure white interior semi-gloss

walls:  Behr Marquee interior satin MQ2-37 Eiffel For You

floor:  Allure Ivory Travertine tile flooring

Note to self...I was interrupted no less than 50 times trying to finish up this blog post, which took two days.  Probably why I don't blog more.  #lifewithyoungchildren  #Iwouldn'tchangeathing