Remodeling

Last month we worked really hard on getting some much needed updates done to the house before Mike's brother and sister-in-law came to visit. With all the excitement, I forgot to post some before and after pics!

Bathroom
The bathroom still needs to be decorated, but we are trying for a sunken treasure theme. Eventually we will deck it out with treasure maps on the walls, some fake gold coins, and maybe some spooky lighting. The possibilities are endless!



When we moved in, the walls were an awful green and the countertops matched in awfulness.

















We painted the walls blue, put up a sailboat border, painted the bottom brown with sponging, and replaced the hardware on the drawers. Then we had someone install new countertops and sinks for us.














Here's a closeup shot of the sink before the udpating (but after we painted).













And here it is after, complete with a few accessories we found at Goodwill. Much better, yes?











I wish I would have taken a picture of the old light fixture above the sink. I suspect it was installed when the house was built in 1976.

But anyway, here's what Mike installed in place of the old junky light fixture. I think it complements our theme nicely.








Here's a shot of the opposite wall.













Doors
The old, gross brown doors in this house were really driving me crazy. We painted all the trim white as soon as we moved in, so we've been ready for some new doors for a long time. Thankfully, the guy who did our carpet and bathroom fixtures also put in new doors for us for a great deal.




Here's the best place to illustrate our door problem - the hallway. All I can say is yuck.















Now this picture includes the new carpet, new light fixtures (that Mike installed), and our new doors. Pretty!

Recipe of the Month - Shredded Taco Chicken

Looks like I've been doing a terrible job at my monthly recipe postings. Anyway, here's one I've been wanting to post for a while. Enjoy!

Super Easy Shredded Taco Chicken

You need:
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1 crock pot

You do:
1) Put chicken in crock pot. I use frozen chicken all the time, and it turns out great.
2) Combine broth and taco seasoning and pour over chicken.
3) Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
4) Remove cover and using two forks, shred chicken in the crock pot.
5) Stir shredded chicken with the remaining juices and replace lid. Let sit in warm crock pot until ready to use.

This chicken is perfect in enchiladas. You can also add chopped white onion, green peppers or chilis to add some extra flavor. Also great over nachos. It's so easy and requires minimal prep time.

My favorite baby

I have three other nieces on Mike's side of the family, so I can't really say that Kelly is my favorite niece. But she certainly is my favorite baby! Look at how big she smiles for the camera every time! What an adorable little girl. She's like a ball of sunshine, and I can't wait to see her again!

Summer is here!

Ok fine, so I really stink at blogging. Apologies to everyone out there who's been dying for news on the Shipley happenings (all 2 of you?). But hey, better late than never. Have I already said that in a previous posting?

Anyway, so I was sick for the last couple weeks in April. It was awful, but thankfully I am 100% back to normal now. Still working at my temp job, which I love. I'm trying to convince them to keep me, but we'll see. Mike's doing well at his job, and we're getting dental insurance now! That's how you know you've really made it in this world. :)

Tonight we're supposed to having an Indiana Jones party at our place (just watching the movies, nothing weird), but it's been so hot I'm not sure everyone will want to stay too long. Darn this old house and its lack of air conditioning! Anyway, tomorrow we'll be seeing Scott and Nancy and Kelly up at my parents' place (which thankfully has AC)! I am super excited about this, since I don't get to see Kelly nearly enough. I can't believe she's almost 8 months old!! I think it's really time I had my own baby.

So as I said, it's been super hot here (today should be in the 90's!). So yesterday we got out the kiddie pool that Tannen loves so much. It's always great fun to watch him play in it. Mike set up the hose so Tannen could bite and dig at the water. We really need to take him to the beach or a lake and let him really swim.

Tannen could do this for hours, really.

We got them this pool last summer, and I guess they were a little smaller then. Now it just looks sad to see a full-grown dog have to play in this tiny pool. :)

Marty doesn't like the water as much, but he does try to get in the pool every once in a while. But Tannen won't have it, and bites his legs until his brother retreats.

Good bye, March

Wow, where did March go? I can't believe it's already a week into April. I am so behind on my postings!

This is going to be/has been a busy week for us. Mike's brother and his wife arrive early Friday morning and will be spending the weekend with us as an early birthday celebration for Mike (April 15 - tax day baby!). Mike's mom will also be coming up on Friday and we're all going to Cirque du Soleil Friday night. I can't wait! It's very rare we get to do fun things like this with Mike's family, so I know he's really looking forward to it, too.

In the meantime, we're trying to get a few house improvements done before our guests arrive. Today we should be finished installing new white doors (to match our white trim, finally!). Then tomorrow we're finishing up the bathrooms with new countertops, sinks and faucets. Thankfully, we've got a great contractor who's doing all this for a good deal, so all it requires on our part is money (yikes!). But there are so many other things to organize, clean and make pretty, I don't think I'll get it all done before Friday.

I've been working at my temp job for a few weeks now, and it's been going great. I get to pick my own hours basically, and everyone at the office is incredibly nice! It's been a good break for me to go back to work in an office for a few hours a day, and I hope they can keep me on longer than the 6-week assignment. We'll see!

Ok, I guess that's all for now. I really have to get to work on this house. Will I get everything done in time...? Tune in next time to find out!

The Flu, Friends, and Bathroom Paint

So remember how last week I was hoping not to get sick before my interview? Well, my wishes didn't pan out, and I ended up with a 101 fever early Wednesday morning, a few hours before my interview. I had no choice but to cancel, hoping they'd be willing to reschedule and spent the rest of Wednesday sleeping. Thankfully, I had enough strength to make it in for the interview Thursday morning (somehow) and got the job! It's nothing big, just a temporary 6-week job with the City of Vancouver's HR department. It's also part-time hours that I get to pick, which is perfect for me. So as soon as my criminal background check goes through, I should be starting next week. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :)

Other than catching that awful bug last week, Mike and I have been doing very well this week. He went to Denver for a couple days on business and didn't catch my bug! Amazing! Last night we had some friends from church over to eat some wonderful steak and play Rock Band. It was a great time and I'm so glad we're starting to make some close friends here, finally! After only a year at this church, and we're finally starting to integrate ourselves. :p

So Mike's doing good, I'm doing good, and the dogs are good. Of course, I'm a little behind on the house improvements after being sick, but soon we should be painting our guest bathroom. We've decided on a "sunken treasure" theme, with deep blues and browns and tarnished gold accents. It's either going to look amazing, or really cheesey. Let's hope it ends up looking as good in reality as it does in my head.

Long Time, No Blog

Either we've been incredibly busy with no time for new posts, or absolutely nothing new has happened that's worth blogging about. I'd like to say it's more the first reason, but it's probably a combination of the second one and my laziness. But I guess there are a few things I can say about these past few weeks.

A few weekends ago, we went to see Mike's brother and family in Sacramento (thanks for the Southwest gift cards for Christmas!). It was a fast but very fun weekend, including a great game of boys vs. girls Cranium with a couple of their friends. Girls won, of course! Has anyone ever played with the boys winning? I don't think it's possible. :) We also had a great time with the kids, who are growing up way too fast.

I've begun a search for temp work recently and have an interview lined up tomorrow morning. Of course, today I woke up with a wee bit of a sore throat and some achiness, so I'm just hoping this doesn't get in the way of my interview. And speaking of illnesses, Mike's had some stomach pains recently, for which we found ourselves in the ER this Saturday night. It wasn't serious, but after looking up some symptoms on the Internet, we got a little worried that it could have been his appendix. Thankfully it wasn't, but some x-rays and blood work put our minds at ease. I guess next time we shouldn't start looking up symptoms on the Internet. :)

So, I guess that's good enough for now. Thanks for checking up on us!