A Little Bit of Paint

If you know me, you'll know I love painting, and basically anything Do It Yourself (DIY).

Over the last few years, Ive really started to do more painting and DIY. When we were getting our properties ready to sell we decided to do most of the work ourselves, apart from a few things.

Painting is one of the things that is easiest to do and it can make a world of a difference in how your home looks.

Since we moved into our new home, Ive had the itch to paint. The color in our home isn't horrible, but its all the same color. I need something more than just one color! I mean seriously as I sit here Ive just put on a coat of nail polish on my nails! We need color people!!

So, Andy and I have talked a lot about paint colors, and what might work in our house and what might not. Ive done a whole lot of pinning on pinterest, and knew what I liked and what I didn't like.

One morning after I spent the evening searching my heart out online for paint colors, I decided that today was the day, and I was going to start by painting one wall. The accent wall! The wall with the fireplace. I had an idea of what color I would like to do, so I walked into Rona, grabbed a paint swatch and walked out with my paint. If you know me, you know thats how I roll, and it drives my husband crazy!

Lucky for me, it turned out well. The color looks amazing!

This was the conversation when Andy got home and saw the wall:

Andy: "Karla!! You painted!? I thought we agreed that we were going to talk about these things before we do them?"

Karla: "Andy!! Thats all we've been doing is talking about painting, so I decided it was time to do something."

Andy: "It looks really good."

Karla: "I know."

And thats how the accent wall was born. But it didn't stop there. This week I had that itch come up again. Seriously, I can't push it down. While standing in my kitchen making meals, or tidying, I stare at this one wall, and its calling my name to be painted. So I grabbed my paint can and went to it. Even Judah got to help, and i have to say it looks good!

Ready to see the pictures??


Here is the before, notice all the walls are the same color??

And After! What do you think!?

And here is the impromptu painting of another wall. Im happy with it, honestly I love this color so much I feel like one by one all of my walls could turn into it, but Im going to stop myself. Ill find a different color to paint the rest.

Painting is one of those things that is so easy, and can transform a space!! What do you think about the color?

The Eyebrow Chronicles...

Eyebrows.

Oh where to begin. My eyebrows have seen better days, and through the years they have been all shapes and sizes. If Im honest, my eyebrows have been one of the things Im most self conscious about.

Maybe Ill set the stage for you! I over tweezed my brows big time in jr high and high school, thus resulting in needing to pencil them in quite drastically.

I remember not being quite too make up saavy, and even using a pencil crayon (which was pretty much black!!) on my face. Okay, don't judge. Go ahead, laugh. Ill explain how I used a crayola pencil crayon to pencil in my brows. Id warm up the tap water nice and hot, and run it under the water to basically melt it or soften it, and then draw my eye brows on. As I typed that, mid sentence, I had to stop and laugh out loud (and hang my head low) because its rather embarrassing to thing I did that!!

Okay. Now that we got through that!

Heres some pictures! Go ahead and laugh! A few things have changed over the years, so be aware! Not only have my brows changed, but I got laser eye surgery, and braces!! So my teeth and eyes, and now brows have all changed! Here we go!!

Newlyweds back in 2007

Work Christmas Party - Still newlyweds

My dear friends wedding

Engagement Pictures in 2006

2014

No braces!! Check out those straight teeth!

2013

They're not even!

2012

More recent eye brow days! 2015

Hello Mexico! 2014

My wedding day in 2007.

Pregnant with Eli - 2008

Hanging with my mama

First day with Braces on.

And.... Here is current, my before eyebrows, no being filled in at all, and the after....

Do  you want to know what I did??

Its called Microblading. 

Sounds scary right?

 Microblading is a manual method used to deposit small amounts of ink in the superficial layer. It is done in crisp strokes that resemble hair. It is done with a small blade (it basically looks like a razor blade!!) and she goes to town! It is like a tattoo, but different because tattoos go through 7 layers of skin, microblading does not go that deep!

I found Nancy online at myparmanentmakeup.com , and had looked at her webpage probably a year ago when I was thinking of doing permanent make up. Something so permanent scared me, and with eyebrows being messed up... well then what!?

I watched Youtube videos of it being done, and read blog posts, and did a lot of research. Finally after Andy bought himself a brand new spankin bow, I decided I might be able to convince him that I should get to splurge on myself just a little bit. He said okay, and I made my appointment. 

Although at this point, Im not sure if he realizes Ive even had it done. We haven't really talked about it.

Nancy works out of her home, and so I made arrangements for childcare and went on my way. The appointment itself takes an hour and a half. I was very comfortable, and didn't feel nervous at all. I looked at lots of photos of her work before going in. She has also done extensive training on micro blading which helped put me at ease a lot. 

Going through the consultation she asked me a few questions, and we got on our way drawing in my brows. She told me that she would do 2 different brows, and we could decide which one we liked better. We decided that the one that used all of my current hair worked/looked best. She suggested a color, and went to mixing it up and prepping it.

Next she numbed the area with a topical freezing creme, and let me sit for 10 minutes. I have a fairly high pain tolerance, so the pain factor wasn't a concern for me. 

We got started, and she explained that the front is usually more sensitive that anywhere else. One of the reasons being is because your nerves right at the front of your eyebrows are your "sneezing" nerves, so if I felt like I had to sneeze at any point to let her know.

She held the skin quite tight and went to town. I've had a lot of people ask if it hurt. I don't think it did. There were times where it felt uncomfortable, but not unbearable, and more than anything it felt like a bit of pressure.

Every little bit she would get me to sit up, look at the brows, and we would continue on. After about an hour and 45 minutes we were done. I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe that my brows looked like they had hair where there should be hair! It actually looks like little hairs where I have no hair!! The redness you see in the picture lasted only about an hour, and was gone after that. 

I didn't notice the numbing go away, or feel any pain afterwards. I was told to keep vaseline on them so they don't dry out for the next 3 days, and then after that I can come back to have them touched up, and thats when we'll make them absolutely perfect. They will also fade once they're fully healed, so they won't be quite as dark. By touching them up we can make them darker if I like, or add, or fill in any spots that maybe Ive noticed Id like worked on. This is all included in the original cost.

Already (only in 2 days!!) of doing my make up, its been amazing not HAVING to fill my brows in. I feel confident, and even after washing my face I can't believe that my brows are still there, and they look as amazing as they do! I can go swimming, and not feel weird because of my missing eyebrows! I don't have to worry about my brows wiping off, or one of my kids hitting me in the face, and smearing my eyebrow! Yes, that is a legit fear.  Call me superficial!

So, what do you think? Would you ever do this? Am I crazy for doing it?! So far Im in love with them, and I haven't even had them touched up, or fade yet!

And so the eyebrow chronicles continue...

2015 In Review

I feel like I have some catching up to do with our lives over the past while.

Our desire was always to live on an acreage, however we didn't want to spend what most acreages are worth. We desired to be debt free, and lower our mortgage. Those things don't usually go along with living on an acreage.

After much consideration we decided to put our house up on the market. Now let me catch you up. We first bought our duplex when we found out I was expecting Eli. We lived there for 3 years and then we found out we were expecting Judah and decided to look for something bigger. Hindsight, we really didn't need anything bigger. The duplex would've suited our needs with a family of 4 (and even a dog!!) just fine.

We started house hunting, and found a home that had been on the market for quite some time. It was empty, and originally when I saw the listing on MLS, and I saw what the kitchen looked like, I told andy I would never live on that street because of it being a bus route, and the kitchen was ugly. Never say never, because we ended up buying this home. This home also ended up being right around the corner (within walking distance!!) from our duplex, which we planned on renting out!

Before & After of our kitchen renovations

So we moved into our house and prepared to have Judah. After living in this house for 3 years, we decided to get it ready to sell, and move back into the duplex while we looked for an acreage. We did a lot of work on the house and in the end it was looked amazing compared to when we bought it. We re finished the cabinets, put new counter tops in, put in new doors, re did the bathrooms, painted, and a few more little things (like taking the stick on tiles off the back entrance wall and putting up wood panelling!).

We put the house on the market, and on the first day we had 12 showings! Amazing!! We had an offer come in within 4 days, and it was at full asking price. They did the inspection and found a crack in the foundation downstairs, and walked away. We were shattered, and kept waiting. Trying to keep my house clean for showings at a moments notice with 2 small kids was hard. After close to 4 weeks on the market we got another offer, and it was a waiting game. This time the offer and inspection went through, but heres the kicker!! They wanted 15 days possession. It was between our house and another house (we'd heard that before!!) and they wanted to know how fast they could get in. Our duplex wasn't ready until July 1st which was another 6 weeks away! We told them we could make 15 days happen, and it was a go!

Now what???

Andy called his mom and she told us we could stay at her condo until July. She went to stay with her parents and we stayed in her condo. This is a 4 story adult only building. To say the least this was not a fun way to live for 6 weeks, but we were so blessed to have somewhere to sleep! 

When our current home came up on the market there was just exterior pictures. If you've bought a home or two, usually that means not good things for the inside. We waited. Then pictures came up of the inside, and when Andy showed me, I told him we needed to go see it. Our realtor had us inside the next day around lunchtime. 

We pulled up to the house and she said "Guys, I haven't been inside the house, but I just feel like maybe this is your house!" At this point, we had been looking for quite awhile, and working with this realtor for sometime. She had been through the ups and downs with us, and knew how we felt defeated. We went inside, and it was beautiful. Most of the acreages we looked at needed to be gutted and updated, but this one didn't need that. 

There were a few things that we didn't love, like no garage, and no basement. So that equals not a lot of storage. But for 3.5 acres, and a 1600 square foot house, for under $400 000, you almost can't go wrong.

We decided to put an offer in, and after going back and forth a few times she accepted our offer! We were ecstatic!

The next day I got a call from our realtor saying there were a few issues. The home we put an offer on was built in 2003. It had all the permits pulled but not all of the inspections had been completed. To name a few was the foundation, and electrical. Electrical wasn't a big deal, but foundation was. She needed to extend how long we were pending for, so she could get it sorted out. She wasn't aware when she listed it that this was an issue. When she bought the place, her husband dealt with all of it, and he had passed away shortly after they purchased.

Everything worked out however, and she was able to get the final building inspection done, and we were okay to move forward. But because she needed to extend how long we were pending for, that meant the possession day got pushed back as well to July 25th. We told Andy's mom we would be moved out the first week of July!

This was an issue. We both felt like we couldn't stay at the condo for another 25 days, and it wasn't fair to ask this! But our duplex was available for July 1st.

We made the choice to move back into our duplex (with the absolute bare minimum, so all of our belongings were in storage!!) and get the duplex ready to sell while we lived there!

In 25 days we moved in, gutted the bathroom, painted the fence, replaced carpet, and did a few other odd jobs. 

We put it up on the market, and received an offer even before a sign was placed on the front yard saying it was for sale. Here things may get familiar to you! We accepted the offer, and the inspection was done. The moisture level in the basement was high, and the buyer decided to walk away! We again were shattered, and continued waiting. We waiting a few more weeks, and finally got an offer and accepted.

We moved into our acreage on July 25th, and couldn't have been happier!! Andys mom took the boys for the afternoon and a sleep over that night and dropped them off in the morning and went on her way.

As I was unpacking upstairs my cell phone rang, and Andys mom as on the other end, asking to speak to Andy. The cell reception in our house is horrible because its concrete walls, so we went out onto the deck to talk to her. The police showed up at her home to tell her that Andys brother had unexpectedly passed away that night.

The next 10 days were a whirlwind. Between trying to unpack, take care of grieving family, and plan a memorial, it was crazy!

When Andy's brother Jonathan passed away, he had been living in and out of shelters, and the night that he passed away (which was actually in his sleep) he had been staying in a shelter. I went with my mother in law and also my sister in law a few days after he passed away to pick up his belongings, and speak to the director at the shelter. They invited us to come back later that week, where they would put a memorial service on with some of the other clients and friends that Jonathan called hid family. This was an amazing service, and I gained a new respect for the people who struggle with addiction. The people who showed up, and spoke new Jonathan, and loved him. He was only 34 when he passed away.

After the August long weekend was over, Andy went back to work, and we settled into what was a new routine of living on an acreage.

Just a few short weeks later, Eli started school, and then we needed to find a new normal and routine with only Judah and I being at home.

This last year has been one of the hardest years we've had to face. Between moving 3 times, renovating 2 homes, and having a family member unexpectedly pass away, was not something I would've believed if you told me was going to happen. Im ready for 2015 to end, and 2016 to start.

Thats where Im going to leave you for now. Thanks for reading, and please comment if you feel like you have something to say!

I'm Back!!

Okay folks, Im back!

Its been 2 years (almost to the day!) and I realized today as I sat down at my beautiful Mac desktop that I should be using it for more than just pinning on pinterest! I love following other peoples blogs, and now that our lives have changed so much, Im feeling more passionate about certain things. And I'd love to share those things with you!

I think that blogger has changed their templates over the last 2 years, so I feel like I've walked into a whole new world. Bear with me while I try and figure out the new templates, and what works (and looks good!!) and what doesn't! If you like something, tell me me!!

So much has changed over the last 2 years. I now have a 3 year old, and a 6 year old! We also have moved, more than once, and we got a dog!!

But our lives have settled down, and we feel like we are in our forever (dream!!) home! We ended finding a beautiful acreage outside of town, and its quiet, and we feel like we live in a little cabin! Its perfect for us!

Eli has also started grade 1! He takes the bus to a rural school, and Judah and I are spending lots of time together, just the 2 of us! I've realized that when people told me that I should enjoy the early years because it goes so fast, they were actually right. Although, in the moment when they told me that I always just thought I was trying to survive that day (or night!!), let alone trying to enjoy it.

I've decided that this time around with the blog, its going to be more than just our day to day lives! I love refinishing furniture, and pretty much all things DIY, so I want to show case some of those things, and maybe even attempt a tutorial or two in there. What would you think if I threw in some make up or hair posts. Im such a girly girl, why not right?!

So here we go!!

Im going to post some pictures, to update you on where we're at in our lives. And over the next few days, Im going to become reacquainted with blogger, and try and get the blog looking a bit better!

Oh, and if your following, and enjoying the posts, please please please leave a comment! Its fun to know what you are enjoying!

After 8 years of marriage, and 12 years of being together, Id say we look pretty good!

Judah with our newest family member, Thor!

Went on a girls trip to Jasper. Nothing like the mountains to make you slow down and realize how amazing nature really is!

Our new home. We like to call it paradise, although we might be a bit biased!

The boys enjoying the new bathtub. They've never had a jetted tub before, and they like to call the jets geysers! 

My oldest has lost a few teeth!! How does this happen so fast?!

Judah and his happy face!!

Andy took me to the shooting range for my birthday!

Our beautiful kitchen.

First day of school before I got the phone call that Eli needed me to come because there had been an accident, and there might be a chance he could use a few stitches. 

Eli. First day of school, which he only made half way through because he tripped and fell while running with a friend, and hit his head on the concrete. Luckily, he didn't need any stitches, but you can see how impressed he looks. You can also see how much Judah enjoyed hanging out as well!!

All ready for date night!! I love this guy.