In a Funk

Lately, I have kind of been in a funk. I'm not really sure why. I am finally feeling better physically which is awesome. I think that this whole time, I assumed that once I felt better, life would look more normal. I would be able to do everything that I needed to do. I would be able to keep the house the way I want to, do activities with my kids, cook 3 square meals a day, start finally checking things off my huge TO DO list. But so far, none of that has fallen into place for me. Maybe the physical pain gave me something to focus on. And now that that is gone, the rest is finally catching up to me. It is a strange thing. I don't feel like I even consciously think about the Bella situation much. But the sadness lingers.

My due date is slowly approaching. In many ways, it was such a blessing that she was born 9 weeks early. But at the same time, that left 9 whole weeks where I should still have been pregnant. I have 4 friends who are due right around Bella's due date. Sometimes I see them and their big old bellies and it is just hard. I am so happy for them, of course. It's just hard.

I think my goal of getting "back to normal" has been challenging also for a couple of reasons. 1) I don't really remember what normal is. It feels like it has been SO long. I can't really remember what that looks like.  and 2) I'm not sure I really want things to be like they were. I think that our time with Bella has changed us in many ways. I don't want to forget that. She opened our eyes to a world that was pretty much foreign to us. A world where people are sad and hurting. We had been "fortunate" enough to avoid that world up to this point, but we are better for knowing it. My prayer is that we will take the things we have learned this year and use it to help others who are living in that world. To reach out and minister to others.

My goal this week is to at least get back in the groove. To try to remember how to cook (after 5 weeks of wonderful meals from friends). To plan some fun activities with my family (pumpkin patch here we come!) . Check a few things off my TO DO list, and to start digging myself out of this funk!


I do have to share a few pics that I took last week. I have a secret ambition to become a decent photographer. I would love to take photos of my friends for a very reasonable price. I bought a good camera and haven't had much time to learn how to use it. Here are a couple shots that I was pumped about though.

Of course, with faces like that, you can't go wrong. :)

I hope you all have a blessed day.

~Mica

Bathroom Remodel

Well, we are ALMOST finished with our bathroom remodel. The things that still have to be done really won't LOOK much different though so I thought I'd go ahead and share the before and after pics with you. We are thrilled with the results. It was a long process, as are most remodels. And let's just sum it up to say that 3 or 4 of the subcontractors that worked on our remodel will no longer be working for our contractor. That is how it all went down. Everything went wrong. Luckily we had complete faith in our contractor the whole time. We knew that no matter what, he wouldn't stop until it was right.  Anyways! Here is a peek at our lovely bathroom BEFORE. Our home was built in 1995 so the main problem was just that everything was starting to look dated. It was also very closed in and broken up. We were able to open it up, update the surfaces and eliminate the unsightly closet!

The door straight ahead is the toilet room. The door on the far left goes into the master bedroom and the cabinet next to that is a linen cabinet. 

The shower, tub, and vanity were all made out of that cultured marble. Not horrible (it was super easy to clean!) just dated. 

the best pic I could get of the shower. Although it wasn't exactly small, it was very claustrophobic. Also notice the second shower head in the middle of the wall. Never really figured out its intended use, but it came in super handy for bathing dogs and 3 year olds.

This was my beautiful closet. yikes. 

And this is the inside of my beautiful closet. 

The toilet room. Look at that nice little window that was always closed off from the rest of the room. such a waste of natural light. 

 Our vanity. pay no mind to the ridiculous amount of toiletries. Sadly, that is just a fraction of the total. 

The main closet in the back there. Built-in ironing board on the wall. Don't think it's ever been used because I refuse to buy things that need ironing. 

notice the beautiful flooring...

Drumroll please. 

Here is our bathroom now!! You can see that we knocked out most of the walls. Removed the "room" enclosing the toilet. Opened up the shower. 

We tore out the linen cabinet and replaced it with this beauty. 

This was literally the ONLY tub we found that would fit in this space. Luckily we liked it. We NEVER used our old tub. It was jetted and I just have issues when I think about what could be in the jets. I never feel like they are clean. but...enough about me and my issues. for now. I am looking forward to soaking in this baby. 

This beast replaced my ugly closet. I love it. We each have a bank of drawers plus we share the closet (after some rearranging to make it much more efficient). Pay no mind to the decorations in here. That will be left to another paycheck. These were thrown up there to get them off of our bedroom floor. I am excited to decorate and bring some color into the space. 

We painted all the woodwork in the space a cream with a dark brown glaze. We replaced our vanity top with granite and got new sinks and faucets. Welcome to this decade Mr. Vanity. 

This is quite possibly my favorite thing in here. This is ceramic tile made to look like wood!!! Best.idea.ever! They have so many styles to chose from. You can get virtually every "wood" look you might want, but with the durability and easy maintenance of ceramic. LOVE IT!

My linen cabinet houses this beauty. I love the idea of having the loads pre-sorted. Plus our old one took up space in the closet. It is nice to have this tucked away so that we don't have to look at it. 

We love the way our shower turned out. Even though the footprint is the same, it feels SO much bigger. One thing that still has to be done is that they are going to replace the shower glass with taller glass. It was supposed to be about a foot taller. 

This handsome devil has two jets that give you a nice soak while you shower. 

The tile we used for this accent band and on the floor were a last minute change of plans. We had picked out some different ones but due to some, let's say "ineptitude", we had tilers there one day to work but the wrong tile for them to install. I had to run to Lowe's to see if they had anything decent in stock. We actually ended up liking this "slate" mosaic and the "copper" accent better than what we had previously picked out. Worked out great. 

My husband picked out these squarish sinks that we love. They add just a little different look. 

So, that is our new bathroom. :) 

Although we definitely questioned our sanity in regard to proceeding with the remodel one week after Bella's birthday, it ended up working out pretty good. I needed to be close to monitor the work, and I was stuck at home anyway recuperating. Plus it totally gave us something else to focus our attention on. And now we have a fresh start for this next chapter in our lives.