One of my favorite bloggers, MJ from Note to Self, is hosting a 24 hour blogathon tomorrow, April 25th, starting at 9 a.m to support Police Wives Online.
Please stop by the blogathon page, read some great stuff, and make a donation!
Thanks in advance for your support!
In case I every find myself living in Las Vegas or Kentucky, I'm adding Zappos to that list. Another amazing idea wrapped up in a company culture that's worth being apart of.
If you're still not convinced check out the Nightline episode and tell me what shoe-loving girl wouldn't want to work here?
At long last, our suffering has ended and our dreams have come true- our bathroom is officially the nicest room in the house. The contractors did an amazing job and we are so happy with our end result that we've already asked them to come back for our next big house project- the garage!
I have a real bathroom now with tile floors and nice overhead cabinet storage! Everything looks so new and clean! The window is a very safe distance away from the shower and we have a ceiling fan that works like a charm.
Hallelujah! We have running water in our bathroom and the toilet flushes! Words can not express how excited I am! No more running to Safeway to use the restroom and no more Sri Lanka style baths with buckets! Woohoo!
They aren't quite done yet, but man what a difference!
It's been a long week without a bathroom and running to Safeway everytime I have to go pee is getting really old! We're half way there and by this time next week, I'll be soaking in my new tub something I never dared to do in the old one.
Here are some of the not so glamorous before shots.
I'm not quite sure what the previous owner was thinking when they installed his and her medicine cabinets. And the black thing in the bottom center is the space heater we have to use to dry out the room when ever we shower- it will not be missed!
As I'm sure you can imagine, they found an incredible amount of moisture and mold when they dug up all the old floor and walls. And there was absolutely no insolation in any of the walls. Wow!
And here is a shot of the "fan" in the bottom center that was not connected to anything. No wonder it did such a poor job!
But it's starting to turn around and the window is no longer in the tub, which is a good sign.
Forest and I can't wait for the bathroom to be done (although probably for different reasons)!
After almost a year of saving and cutting costs, DH and I have finally saved enough to get started on our bathroom remodel! I'm so proud of us!
2 years ago when we bought the house we knew the bathroom needed to be gutted, but basking in the dreams of our future we didn't think too much about reality. 10 months ago reality hit us and we committed to saving although we didn't have a lot to put aside.
At the end of every month, after paying the bills and putting a little extra towards our debit, I put a hundred dollars in a savings account. After a few months of "forgetting," I set up an automated savings plan, which turned out to be our saving grace. We started off with just $25 a week and when that was successful I bumped it up a little. We paid off some of our debit and I doubled the weekly contribution. DH and I got raises and I doubled the weekly contribution again. Tax refunds and birthday money all went into our savings acount. And finally we had enough money to secure a contractor and wouldn't need a loan to do so.
It feels great to work hard for something. While I won't be doing any of the physical labor to make my bathroom happen, I did work hard to cut back our spending and beef up our savings. We finally did it! I'll post some before and after pics soon!
Last month I was introduced to Operation Nice, if you haven't heard of it before I strongly encourage you to check it out. With all the ugly things happening in our lives these day, it's easy to lose sight of the good that exists too. Operation Nice has helped me remember that it only takes one person to make a difference in some one's day.
Today is my last day of the 29 days of giving challenge. At first I thought 29 days was a whole lot of giving, but as I got into it I realized how much I give without even thinking about it, just because it's "the right thing to do". Cooking DH dinner after a long day of work, letting a car pull out from a side road in front of you during rush hour traffic, and giving people compliments for things they've done. All very simple things that we do during our regular days and don't even think about.
I'm really glad I got involved, I did somethings that I wouldn't ordinarily do like send a care package to a sick child. But more importantly I became mindful of all the nice things I do and all the nice things people do for me. By week 2 it seemed like DH was being abnormally nice to me- washing the dishes, rubbing my back, mowing the lawn. My new mindful state made me appreciate his efforts that before wouldn't have got more than a tired "thanks hun". I think it's true if you do nice things, nice things happen to you.
I'm going to continue following Melissa's weekly challenges and Nice Testimonials and I encourage you to check it out too!
