It is done...finally the countertops are done

So, here are the shots as progress was made on the countertops.

Step 1: apply a wet concrete mixture to the countertops, 2 coats...

Step 2: apply dye (this is where it all went desperately, sadly wrong)

Step 3: apply a lighter coat of dye to try to salvage it (nope, still terrible)

Step 4: cry, then try to faux finish paint the countertop (still hate it)

Step 5: spend lots of time at Home Depot, Hirshfields, etc in the paint aisle trying to figure out how to fix this. Come up with the following...A coat of antique white latex paint, the apply spray stone product in 2 colors and 12 coats of top coat sealer.

Now, I like it. I am bummed that the countertops don't look or feel like concrete. I have loved that look for years and that was really what I was going for. But, this will do the trick. I wish I would have tried this first, it was TONS faster and only cost $50. The first attempt with the concrete and dye products cost around $200. Live and learn, right? I think the hubby summed it up best when he was consoling me. He told me that of all the home improvement projects we have done, this was the first one that didn't turn out the way we had hoped. And, he was right. I can't be too disappointed in that. Hubby also put the kitchen sink back in tonite! Ya, 2.5 weeks without a sink and now it's back! We still have to put the island back in place and do the trim in the kitchen, once that's all done, I'll post some of the overall before and after pics.

We have pileated woodpeckers- and they are NOT nice!

A pileated woodpecker used to be quite a rare sight. They are on a comeback now and are a non-migratory bird. From a distance, or rather from inside a house sided in steel or brick they are kinda pretty. However, from a house with cedar siding they are not nice to look at at all!!! We have to re-side the whole front of our house and all the trim pieces next summer thanks to our new "neighbors." Pileated woodpeckers are a federally protected bird (or I would do something pretty aggressive) and of course, they are one of the most territorial birds! Aren't we so lucky? It freaked me out when I saw this dude in the backyard the other day too, I knew we had woodpeckers, but I had no clue how big they were. This guy was well over 16" in body length alone! I read online that they are generally 16"-19" tall with a wingspan of 26"-30". Not a small bird. With it getting dark so early, I have not had a chance to get a pic of the 4-6" holes, yes multiple holes- in our house from this bugger. Oh and just today, I saw 2 juvenile pileateds in our yard. Ya, a family of house and tree destroying birds. Oh joy.

it's official, the countertops look awful!

Yep, I applied the 3rd coat of the finish to the island tonite and I hate it. The hubby thinks it looks pretty awful too. So, I tried using a paint that I have on hand to faux finish it. I watered the paint down and ragged it on, sponged it off and the texture look is pretty cool, the color, however is terrible! So, back to the drawing board...The only good thing right now is that it feels like we have concrete countertops, we just need to tweak the color - ALOT! I am too tired to drag out the camera, so I promise a pic of how both finishes look so far later this week! I promise!

Onto good news!!!!! Baby stuff!!

We had our 28 week midwife appt today. It was great as usual. We got to hear the heartbeat which is my favorite part. It was all over the 140's which was wonderful since Baby was moving around lots. Baby is likely about 16" long now and weighs over 2 pounds. And, it feels like it inside me! I love the feeling of baby moving around and tumbling. I have no back pain, swelling or anything; pregnancy is still a delight, a blessing and truly a breeze! I am not doing the glucose tolerance test that most doctors require at this stage, but we did do a blood test today for iron levels and such. K and my midwife both agree with my decision not to do the glucose test. The ways that I am eating, (the dietary restrictions due to the fibroid) really don't leave a lot of room for high blood sugars. I am not showing any symptoms of gestational diabetes either. Also, K has had Type I diabetes since he was a pre-teen so I can test my blood sugars with his meter if we get concerned. I refused the test mainly because I have not had that much sugar (50 grams) in my entire pregnancy collectively, why in heaven's name would I pump that much terrible stuff into me now? It just makes no sense to me. Also, at this stage of pregnancy, baby's eyes are opened and blinking! Baby can also cough and hiccup too! I don't think I have felt hiccups yet, but I am not sure.

The kitchen project takes a turn for the worse

I hate the countertop refinishing so much that I am not even taking a picture of it at this point. It isn't even worth getting out my camera, taking a pic and downloading it. Ya, it's that bad! Here's the recap: imagine taking a hot, fresh cake out of the oven, now while it's still hot, frost it with super wet, sloppy concrete! Ya, it's that much fun for the first 2 coats! The "primer" is like a mixture of wet concrete and tile mortar. Trying to skim that over the countertop wasn't too bad, but the curved front and backsplash drove me to the edge. Then, between each of those coats you have to sand it smooth. Basically, you are sanding hard, set concrete. Waaay more work than I had anticipated. So, each of those coats took a full day and then some. I just put the first coat of color on and I still don't like it at all. There are 2 coats of color left to apply. I hope to do both tomorrow, but I don't know if that's possible since the Monster dog and I have therapy dog work tomorrow at the VA Hospital. Sigh, this is really the worst home improvement project I have undertaken and it's the only one that I have been unhappy with the looks of at this point in the game. Once I do get all color coats on, I promise to take a pic & post it here. I think tomorrow I'll be measuring the countertops and looking at new laminate tops. We've been without a kitchen sink since Thursday nite, this is getting old and there is no reward for it since it looks so terrible. Sigh...

waking up with a smile on my face

Despite the alarm clock going off, the dog wiggling against the side of the bed and the cat meowing at o'dark-thirty this morning I had the best wake up of my life!

My amazing hubby rolled over, wrapped his arm around me and snuggled with me. At the same time, Baby woke up and started the morning calisthenics inside me. I could not imagine a better way to wake up and start my day than with the arms of the man I love the most wrapped around me and our baby moving inside me. It was extra special because of the way K was holding me he could feel baby moving around too. Even thinking about it 6 hours later still makes me so happy. I am truly blessed!

My hubby is so incredible!

We spent over 2.5 hours last nite at a baby store registering. I don't think K has ever been *in* a baby store in his life...let me tell you, nothing phased that man! He had some great ideas that I had not considered too. I was certain that I want to use glass bottles (for daycare when I go back to work) and he reminded me that sometimes we may want to have a plastic (BPA free) bottle that is less prone to breakage when dropped. Good call. We registered for both. Then that spurred a conversation about babies feeding themselves a bottle. I am not a fan of giving a baby a bottle, propping it up and letting them feed themselves, I don't like for a multitude of reasons. K had never thought about it and thought it was a normal way to give a bottle. So we had a great parenting-talk moment. It was nice to get to talk about some of those things. As we moved around the store, we had a few more of those kinds of conversations too. None of them were accusatory or nasty, just nice conversations about hopes and expectations. After we left, I asked K how he was doing, (I was wiped out!) he said it was actually all ok and he was feeling fine. I looked right at him and said, "Good, we need to hit Peapods soon to register there too!" The awesome man that he is, he didn't even flinch! What a trooper! I love him so much!

Cousins meet!

On Halloween the Yellow Monster and I went trick or treating with my sis and her kids. Afterwards I had a snack and hung out at her house, and Baby was pretty active. My niece and nephew were both able to feel the baby move, it was so great to share that feeling with the kids! I love them dearly and really treasured these moments. My nephew was so adorable, he was afraid to put any pressure on my tummy, I was pushing his hand so he could feel the baby and he was scared that he'd hurt the baby. He is such a compassionate, caring young man! My niece was talking to baby and telling it secrets via my belly button.

What is up with that?!?!

Ok, my camera says I am not 6 months, 3 weeks pregnant, but my sisters camera says I am and then some! This was taken 2 days ago with my camera; me and the wonderful Hubby! I love him so much!

And here is my sister's camera taking a pic of her and I on Halloween nite. This is the moment she felt Baby kick for the first time!



See what I mean? And the Halloween pic was taken a week ago, my pic was taken 2 nites ago. I guess Mom was right, slouching doesn't do much for the image! :-)



Here is my mom feeling Grandchild #7 move!

Pray, Vote, Pray Some More

K and I were in line at 6:40 this morning to vote. I have voted in all elections since I turned 18, regardless if they were "just" local elections or the big ones. I grew up in a home where voting was taken very seriously. There has been so much bloodshed and sacrifice so that we might have the freedoms to vote, how can you take that for granted?

At church on Sunday, our pastor talked about our job as Christians. Not only should we be voting today, but our job doesn't end there. We need to pray for our elected officials, regardless of whether or not we voted for them they represent us now and our country, state, county, city. They need our prayers. These are some prayers from the sermon:

(Proverbs 8:15) Father, guide our government officials, that they may use wisdom to lead well and to make fair laws.

(Daniel 2:20-22) Praise Your name God, forever and ever, for You have all wisdom and power. You control the course of world events; You remove kings and set up other kings. You give wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. You reveal deep and mysterious things and know what lies hidden in darkness, though You are surrounded by light.

And this from the Billy Graham web site:
"...we should remember that God calls us to pray "for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" (1 Timothy 2:1-2). I'm glad your pastor prays for our leaders, because they need it.Does it make any difference? Let me answer that by asking you another question: Have you ever asked yourself how much worse off the world would be if we didn't pray? God answers prayer, and even when we can't see it, He still is at work. Yes, we live in a world that is filled with danger and evil—but if God's people neglected to pray, our world would be a much worse place.Evil is real—and evil is real because Satan is real. But God is also real, and by His Spirit He restrains Satan from doing even more evil. The Bible says that "the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:7).Pray for our leaders, as well as the leaders of other nations. Pray that God will give them wisdom and will even overrule them when they go astray. Most of all, pray that God will help you and your family to be faithful in living for Christ and praying for our world. "

Amen.

Halloween Party

I am not a big fan of Halloween or Valentine's Day. I'd be just fine if we could remove both days from the calendar. We have friends though, who love Halloween and hosted a party this weekend. Since we were going we figured we might as well wear costumes. Remember the game Operation? K dressed up as the operation guy, he made his whole costume too! He used Velcro to attach the parts to his sweats and then we grabbed some metal salad tongs to use as the game tweezers and a buzzer from another game. It was a hit! People were trying to take the parts off during the evening.

I figured I should use the belly to my advantage, so I was a fishbowl! I just cut open a tank top and used face paint to paint on the fish, plants and water. It was easy and cheap. I just need to replace my tank top now.