Around the House

We finally found the hardware for Elora's crib, so we bought a crib mattress thinking that we could go ahead and get it set up.   But, when Brandon tried to put it together, he had to stop half way through when it became apparent that some of the hard ware was still missing.   

He found a model number somewhere on one of the pieces, and used it to try to find out what pieces we would need to finish it.  Instead, he found that the crib has been recalled.  Thank goodness nothing ever happened to it while Elora was in it...  Anyway, we are going to send the remaining hardware back in to the company to get the voucher for a new crib.  Long story short, the crib has been returned to the back burner for right now.  In the mean time, I think I'll try to get that room painted.  I have a nice, cheery yellow shade picked out for the walls in here, and I can't wait to cover that drab beige!  The entire house was painted that flat, muted color, and I am very much looking forward to getting some real color on the walls.

Our bathrooms were severely lacking in storage space when we first moved in, despite the under sink cabinets.  There are no medicine cabinets in either bathroom, and the double sinks in the big bathroom made drawers impossible.  Even worse, the plumbing was done in such a way that very little will fit under the cabinets.  The plumbing doesn't fill the space, but it hangs down so far and is so bulky that it's difficult to get anything else in there.  Really, the amount of wasted space is just shameful. 

Our solution?  Pretty little over-the-toilet cabinets and tiny little plastic drawers for under the sinks.  We just bought the second cabinet last weekend, and Brandon got it built for me Friday evening. I now have permanent homes for all of the bathroom must-haves from toilet paper to aspirin, and I got to retire that last shoe-box-turned-temporary-storage to the recycle bin.

We also got some of our blinds put up  (pictures later).  All of the windows were completely bare when me moved in, so we'd been living in a fish bowl.  We ordered custom blinds from Lowe's, but then we had to wait for them to get here.  We'd ordered two different types: cordless cellular blinds for the main part of the house, and combination cordless cellular blinds for the bedrooms.  The second set was back-ordered, so we won't be getting those up until after we get back from Florida, but we've got the first set up.  We're especially excited about the ones we haven't gotten yet.  Those are actually two-in-one; they have both sheer and room darkening blinds, depending on how much light and privacy we want at a given time.  For now, though, we still have fitted sheets up over the bedroom windows.

Since we are going down to Florida for Christmas this year, I decided against putting up my big tree.  I did put up my tiny tree, though, and it's an even better place for me to put presents.  The tiny ones are around the tree on the table, and the big ones are in the box under it.  With this arrangement, I don't have to worry about the baby or the cat getting into the tree, the ornaments, or the gifts. 

Elora napped in her toddler bed for the first time the other day!  It still isn't an everyday thing yet, but we're getting there.  I'm super proud of her.  :)