Kitchen Re-Organization...part 1

So...pinterest*.  Who's with me?  How many home renos and redecorating stories can be blamed on pinterest, really?  TONS, I'm sure.  Having just bought a house and being in the "making it our own" stage, I have been stalking pinterest faithfully, looking for ideas for each room of the house.  Last night it was kitchen pictures that were catching my eye.  Now, I would LOVE to have a brand new kitchen with custom cabinets and... ... ... drool.  But that said, I am positive that I can make these cabinets last for a few years yet and even be happy with them.  All it'll take is some re-organization and beautifying.  As I combed through the pictures, a picture of a fridge stuck out to me.  My first thought was, "why would someone pin a picture of a fridge?"  And then I looked closer.  And then I went to the website behind the picture.  And before I knew it, I had explored the kitchen of a perfect stranger.  And right then and there, I was inspired to revamp my poor kitchen into a thing a beauty.  A work of art, per se.  Ok, maybe not that far, but indeed, it could be much more functional and organized than it is right now.  Everything has merely been brought out of boxes and thrown into the nearest available cupboard.  Time for an organizational overhaul!  And since I was inspired online by someone doing this very thing, I thought I would share what I hope will be a transformational moment right here on my blog.  So today is part 1.  BEFORE pictures!  I am slightly embarrassed, but as with every messy spot in my home right now, I just push the embarrassment aside and explain to myself and others that a month ago we weren't even living here yet.  So there.  Messes aside, this is what my kitchen looks like now:

"back" of kitchen, opposite sink

right side of u-shaped kitchen

left side of u-shaped kitchen

pantry

fridge (yes, I hope to organize this as well!)

below microwave

below microwave, right side

below microwave, left side

above microwave

above fridge

oop!  Levi!  How did you get in here?

above stove

double door cabinet on left side of kitchen

corner cabinet - pretty useless design if you ask me...tiny opening but great depths of cabinet space beyond!  Any suggestions???

single door cabinet on right side of kitchen

drawer on right side of kitchen, right side of dishwasher

drawer on right side of kitchen, left side of dishwasher

drawer on left side of kitchen, beside stove

left side of kitchen, beside stove

lazy susan on left side of kitchen sink

under sink

right side of kitchen, right side of dishwasher

right side of kitchen, left side of dishwasher

There.  Now that I've posted these pictures, I'd better get to work!  I hope to have some "after" pictures for you all by the end of the week.  Is it terrible that the thought of this makes me giddy??  Wish me luck!


*Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. - Wikipedia

Life has kinda been a blur the past month or two.  It has been wonderful.  It has been crazy.  It has been overwhelming.  It has been perfect.  It has been tiring.  It has been stressful.  It has been reassuring.  It has been encouraging.  It has been...interesting.

I'm sitting here, in front of my laptop, thinking that I want to blog.  I want to let you all know how I'm doing, but I'm really not sure.  I've had so many people say that they've been blessed by the honesty and openness on my blog and I really long to be open like that, but lately it seems like it's just easier to give surface updates and keep what's inside buried deep down.  Out of sight.  Tucked away safely where no one can comment or judge.  Hmm...is tonight the night to bare all and share?

I think maybe it's not.  At least not here. 

I believe that sometimes God nudges us to share; to be open, not knowing who is reading or how he's going to use you.  Perhaps me sitting in front of my laptop tonight is a result of that nudging.  I don't know.  But I do know that I don't think I'm ready.  I don't think I have words to fully explain what I'm feeling.  What I'm feeling about the move.  About being a pastor's wife again.  About being a mother.  About where I've come from and where I'm going.  About LIFE.

But I do know this: as I think through things, mulling them over and tossing them around in my mind, I know that God is good.  I know that it's not always obvious.  I know that it doesn't always feel like God has any idea what is going on, or it doesn't feel like he cares what is happening to us, but I do know that he's good.  And he can be trusted.  And that is what we just need to hold onto sometimes. 

God is good.  He can be trusted.

God is good.  He can be trusted.

God is good.  He can be trusted.

Life.

*So, I wrote this post DAYS ago and noticed yesterday that it was nowhere to be seen on my blog!  Agh!  Fortunately it was saved as a draft so all I needed to do was post it.  Weird...  Anyway, keep in mind that this was written LAST week and Nathan is now mostly done his first week of work, I've gone through the closets by now. : )

Life is good.  New job.  New community.  New church.  New home.  While change can sometimes be overwhelming, I feel like we are adjusting well.

Nathan officially starts work on Monday, though he has spent a day or two at the office already just moving in and getting settled.  I think he's just really excited to have a job and office of his own again!  He keeps saying that he's not exactly sure what his days will look like and what exactly he'll be doing, but I'm sure it'll be a good fit.  It's obvious in so many ways that we are meant to be here and what we know of the job seems like a great fit for Nathan, so it'll be fun to find out more about what Nathan will be doing!

I still have a few closets to go through and organize in the house, but otherwise we're basically unpacked.  I'm really enjoying all the space we have (the house is about 1000 square feet with a fully finished basement and a 100-150 square foot screened deck that acts as another room on the house).  As I was unpacking the first couple days, I kept running out of space to put things and started wondering if we'd bought too small a house.  Then I realized that my basement and closets were still mostly empty!  The house we were renting last had an unusable basement and next to no closet space so apparently I'd forgotten that we had all that storage space available to us now!  I mentioned a couple posts ago that I was finding I'd forgotten how to settle.  Well, I think I'm remembering.  This house is really beginning to feel like home and, after a few instances of, "that's right, I CAN unpack this box even if I won't use this stuff for 6 months," it's been hitting home that we're here to stay.  I like it. : )

Levi has adjusted to the new surroundings quite smoothly.  We tried to keep his schedule as normal as possible and he didn't even really seem to flinch.  He just carried on with life, exploring and playing and sleeping and eating.  He's a pretty laid-back kid so it didn't really surprise me that he adjusted so well.  He spends his days exploring the house, playing with his toys, discovering the joy of banging on playing the piano, and pretty much just being the happiest baby I know.  That said, I think he may have a few more teeth coming, cause there have certainly been a few days when ON Mommy is better than close to Mommy.  How can I mind that, though.  There are few things as sweet as having your 10 month old crawl into your lap and press his face against your neck.  Oh the things I'll never take for granted...

As a family, we have been busy exploring our new town.  We have gone for countless walks (Lennox loves that, though he rarely gets to be off-lease these days, except in our yard)...we've walked down almost every street in town now.  We've gone garage-sale-ing (more of that as soon as Levi wakes up from his morning nap!).  We've gone for a picnic in the park.  We've gone to the beach and played in the sand.  We have been enjoying lots of family time while we have it because, before long, the pace of life is going to pick up and we'll have to wait for time off work to be able to have lazy days like this again!

We have gotten lots of fun pictures and video lately (having an iPhone is really handy!).  Here are a few... (let me know if you can't watch the videos, k?)

Playing on the deck

Super-cute buckle pants, just like Auntie Alicia's!

Kinda unsure about the feel of being covered in sand

Sitting in the stream with Daddy

House pictures!

I finally took some pictures of our new house today!  I guarantee there will be times when it is cleaner and more "put together" and I could definitely have taken better pictures, but I was tired of waiting and I know at least some of you are dying to see where we're living these days so these will have to do!  Keep in mind that we only moved in 10 days ago and are not completely unpacked and settled so you WILL notice random boxes and things that just look out of place.  That said, if you would like a better look, come visit!  That is my formal invitation to you.  We are a perfect stop if you're on your way to anywhere and need a meal or a bed.  We are also a 3 minute drive from a beach...have I convinced you that you need to come visit yet?

Dining Room

Kitchen

Living Room

Main Bathroom (tub/shower behind door)

Master Bedroom

Upstairs Hallway (door on left is Levi's room, first door on right is a closet, then master bedroom, door on the end goes to the deck)

Basement - play space, tv space, craft space

Basement bathroom

Basement bedroom (guest bedroom)

Storage room/Nathan's work out space

Under the stairs storage space (there is another section jutting out to the left that's about the size of this space again)

Laundry area on main floor (excuse the mess, it's laundry day around here)

Screened deck...windows on the bottom, screen on top...you can see the garden and garden shed out the back and our yard goes to the far green fence that's on the other side of some light coloured rocks back there.

There are a few things that I'd like to do to this place to make it home, so how about I post "prettier" pictures as I finish each room, yes?  Hope you all enjoyed the tour!  This is where we are!

10 months.

Levi has reached the double digits!  Technically he reached that milestone yesterday, but so what if I'm a day behind?! 

(Note: it's amazing what good lighting can do for pictures!  This month's pictures were so much better than last month's, I just had to include lots to make up for the last monthly post!)

 
I love that I have a 10 month old.  He's just so much fun.  He's learning new things and changing all the time.  And sleeping through the night.  And spacing feeds up to 5 hours apart during the day.  And crawling all over me and reaching for me and even turning into a bit of a snuggler!  I love my 10 month old little boy!

Levi seems to know more and more what will make us laugh.  It's so fun to see him figuring humour out for himself!

He's finally started saying "mum" and "mama" which makes me very happy...especially when Nathan asks him to say "dada" and he just looks at him and says, "MUM."  hehe.  The tides have finally turned : )

Levi's disposition is quite pleasant.  It always has been.  We have met many people in the past few days and a few have asked if Levi is ever unhappy because every time they see him he is just so happy.  We usually answer that he usually is a happy, content baby, but he does have his fussy times.  Usually those times come when he is hungry or tired.  Observe:

Aah, but we love him!  He now has 6 teeth: four on top, two on the bottom.  He, I'm guessing, is still right around 18-19lbs.  I haven't had him weighed for about 3 months but it doesn't really feel like he's changed much.  He has gotten longer though.  He cruises around furniture like nobody's business, but still hasn't ventured out on his own yet.  A couple times he has let go and stood there holding a toy but it's never lasted very long.  He sleeps from 8pm-6am almost every night and, after a 6am feed, sleeps until about 8am.  It's a great routine, though I'm hoping to get rid of the 6am feed in the next month or so. 

Levi has been loving to explore his new home.  In our house in H-town, he would pretty much stay in the same room as us, but here he will crawl all over the main floor!  I'm not sure what the difference is but I like it!  It could just be that he's getting a bit more independent and doesn't mind being away from us as much...

Levi's favourite games right now are a form of "peek-a-boo" that involves him holding whatever he finds over his eyes (or forehead), we'll ask "where's Levi?", he'll reveal his eyes (or forehead), and we'll exclaim, "there he is!"  He grins every time.  He also likes "this little piggy went to market" with his toes.  And he'll laugh like crazy when things fall (off a table or off your head or pretty much off of anything).  I think he'll be a slapstick lover for sure!  Like mother, like son. ; )

Two more months until we have a one year old!  Where has the time gone?  Last August, I was thinking that Levi would likely come early and was half-expecting him to show up any time starting in the middle of August.  If someone would have told me that I'd still be waiting two months from this point, I would have probably climbed into bed and tried to sleep at least a month of that waiting away. : P  But now he's here and completely worth the wait.  Worth the 3 year wait and worth the 10 day overdue wait.  How I love my boy!  Happy 10 months, Levi!

Laughter...

Whew!

It has been a busy two weeks for us...hence the lack of blog posts.  But I'm sure they will pick up again soon!  We spent a week packing and cleaning our rental house.  Once we were done that, we sped off to the city to sign papers for our house and from there headed to my parents' place.  We spent a few days visiting with my parents and then spent the weekend with almost the entire Reimer side of my family for my Grandma's 85th birthday.  It was lots of people (30-40?) and lots of hours visiting, but wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to see everyone again!  I don't remember the last time that many of us were together (me included).  Perhaps my wedding?  And really, how much visiting does one do when they're they one getting married??  Once the weekend was over, we packed up the car and headed home to H-town to spend not even 24 more hours in our place.  We packed and cleaned in a hurry and tried to get some sleep.  The next morning, bright and early, we threw what was left into boxes, loaded up the trucks that our new church sent for us (men in the church came to help us move) and drove to our new home!  And now we're here.  And most of the boxes are empty in a pile in the garage...I mean, burning in a bonfire in the backyard...  We still have alot of organizing and unpacking to do, but it's starting to look like home.  I'm not sure my mind is caught up with my body though...I seem to have forgotten how to settle.  How to put down roots.  My body is unpacking boxes and living in this new house, but my brain keeps thinking, "we should hold onto this box for next time..." or "it doesn't really matter where I put this because we'll be moving again in a few months."  I can't quite wrap my mind around permanence right now.  It feels like we're camping in someone else's house.  Hopefully it'll make sense to me soon.  But in the meantime, the fact is we're home!