Wash and wear

Well hello there! I'm back and beginning the new year by finally finishing up all my half done projects. I'm not much for resolutions but I have decided that it is high time I tie up all my loose ends!Just about every room of our home has some tweak that remains to be done whether it's touching up a paint job, adding knobs to furniture, or just some serious organization. There is one really big project we are hoping to finish/open a whole new can of worms on soon.  You see, I've shown you my renovated kitchen but I've never shown you the shameful other half. 

Yes, yes that is a door with a dryer in front of it, with a hot water heater next to it, with the washer next to that! Glamorous, I know!
Yep, our laundry is in our kitchen, our already ridiculously small kitchen, and it seems that no amount of pathetically dehydrated house plants can make it look any better. I watered those right after I took that picture I swear! Why our laundry is not in our garage, which is conveniently located next to the bedrooms, I could not tell you. My best guess is that the fella that designed this house in the 50's, hated his wife and wanted her to suffer as much as possible with a terrible kitchen and laundry area. But it get's even better (or worse really)...the reason that dryer is in front of a door is because that door used to open up to a rickety 2nd story deck, that was then torn down. Now the door it just opens up to a 12  foot drop to the ground below. With 2 little ones in the house we decided that until we could afford to re-build our deck that it would be a good idea to just block it off all together.So here these have sat since we renovated the kitchen in the hopes of someday moving to their new home in the garage. Not that the garage is a much more glamorous option, but in our tiny little home there is just no room for a real laundry room. 

like this one from here, *sigh*

Currently we are in the middle of relocating the laundry out to the garage which is only a few steps down the hall from the bedrooms, and I will finally have a laundry sink (thanks, Honey!)After the washer and dryer are snug in their new home we will be removing that huge beast of a hot water heater and installing a gently used high end on demand water heater we picked up off craigslist a few months ago. The best part about our new hot water heater is that it is installed on the outside of the house. Thus eliminating the need for venting and freeing up loads of space.Next we plan to rebuild the deck just outside the door, and install a fancy new door with a large window panel in it.Since we currently have no pantry in our kitchen the plan is to remove those upper cabinets and build in a large pantry unit. We are also considering just buying a large hutch like piece of furniture and placing it there as a pantry. Honestly it's pretty hard to imagine what I'd like to do with the space so long as those hulking machines are there, but hopefully they'll be settled in to thier new home by hte end of this week. So that's what we have been up to, and will be up to for a while. What have all of you been up to?

& Perkier plant life

Home again, Home again

We are home from Hawaii and only slightly disgruntled to have to get back to everyday life. Our trip to the big island with my in-laws was wonderful to say the least! I'll spare showing you tons of pictures and only show half a ton. Clearly I really enjoyed the trip, but what makes me the happiest is that the hubs (who never wanted to go to Hawaii) is already ready to go back!
We decided to not take our kids this time and instead had Gramma come and stay with them. Being so far from them was hard but knowing that they were safe and sound with someone who loves them definitely makes it  easier.  Gramma is the real hero of this story, so thanks again mommma!

 While we were there we relaxed on nearly every beach we could find

We took in some sights

This was my favorite sight of all!

We hiked down from here all the way down into the Waipi'o Valley

And played on the black sand beach

we took in a few beautiful waterfalls

My momma-in-law and I searched for shells, beach glass and heart shaped rocks

We played in the beautiful rivers

 We took a day trip over to the volcano

Which we pretty much had to do since this guy's a geologist!

(which also meant that we broke the rules and took a few small examples of the different kinds of lava rocks to show the boys, but it's strictly educational so you won't tell right? )

we checked out all the craters

and literally ran through the wet and drippy Thurston Lava Tube!

and then took a moment to meditate on the sea arch at the end of the park road. which was without a doubt my favorite part of the whole trip.

And ended everyday on the beach with a cold drink watching the sunset!

Now that we are home I am having a really hard time getting back to normal life, although I'm overjoyed to have my babies back. Last night was my first shift back to work and it was rough to say the least!

I'm also pretty bummed that I can no longer go to the farmer's market and buy bag loads of tropical fruit. 

How awesome are those apple bananas?!

&  Big Waves!

Hawaii Bound!

So long Blogland! I'll be lounging in the sand and sun for the next few days!Love ya!

Via Pinterest

& Umbrella shaded beverages

Let's Catch up

Good morning my friends, I hope the day finds you all doing well. I am happy to say I am finally back to my old self and scheming up all sorts of new projects for me and the Mr. I've decided today would be a great day for all of us to catch up.  Our Holidays were pleasant, albeit the same hectic pace that they always are. I am so tired of traveling for the holiday. Each year we alternate whose family we will spend Christmas with and each year I swear that the next one will be spent in our own home. But even I know myself better than that. If we were to stay home we would only wake Christmas morning to find ourselves longing to be nearer to our family. Next year we are to spend the week with my husband's family but in lieu of cramming all four of us into what may be the smallest guest room known to man I have decreed that we will be renting a  vacation house of our own for the week. There are so many cute little vacation cabins in their town that we should be able to find a happy compromise between having our own space to build our own traditions and being able to spend quality time with our loved ones.Do any of you spend the holidays away from your own home? Oh how I wish we lived near ANY of our family!
How is everyone's New Year been thus far. I am happy to report that I have not managed to screw mine up yet, so that's good news. Did you know that my wonderful hubs and I will be jetting off for Hawaii in just a few days? Do you also know how utterly depressing it is to be trying on bikinis right after the holidays?! well it is very depressing indeed. Nevertheless my very white thighs and I are bound to have a great time.We have never been anywhere tropical together and I am so super ecstatic, and only a teensy bit nervous about being on an entirely different land mass than my children who will be with Gramma. I am just certain that they will both come down with the flu as we leave or something else that will make me feel like a reptile of a mother for the whole trip.The kids are bummed they were not invited but we've promised to bring back lots of presents.

Speaking of presents here is the little white owl I made Mason for Christmas. He was a big hit and he is now in the honored place of being one of the 5 babies Mason has to have to go to sleep. I also made a kitty for my niece and a frog for my nephew, which I of course forgot to take pictures of. He knew right away that it was the little white owl from his favorite story and is still telling us thank you for it, so I think it was well worth it!
Well, I'm off to get the boys to school then to spend some time on the elliptical undoing all that Christmas Cheer before we jet off this Friday. I hope you all have a great day! & Tan lines!