Are you serious?

So this is our weather today. Yesterday it was 37 degrees, BEAUTIFUL. Today, not so much. The worst part is I just shoveled the sidewalk and cleared and sandwich board 10 minutes ago!

Toilet Paper Savings

The quote below is a solicitation comment that I got on one of my recent posts:
" David said...
The ultimate bathroom retreat is not complete without a bidet or better yet.......a portable bathroom bidet sprayer. The hand sprayer gives you superior control and water volume and if the bathroom was not designed to allow for a bidet it offers the convenience of installation on the existing toilet AND you don't have to get up and move every time! You will pay for it many times over in toilet paper savings. "

I was laughing so hard at the part that I will pay for the toilet many times over in toilet paper savings! OK you are talking to a girl who has trouble peeing outside if there isn't an available toilet. If I can't keep my own pee off my pants how am I going to do with a sprayer in my own bathroom. I just picture myself walking out of the bathroom with dripping hair and a sad look on my face and Todd saying, "Sprayer got you again, huh?" and I would say, "Yep" and the thought of all the money we would be saving on not using toilet paper would not be consoling in the least!

So David thank you for the thought, and although this blog is open to any suggestions on our remodeling however I can tell we will not be getting a bidet or a sprayer on our toilet.

There are pink horns under that hat and a boogie man in our house.

This is the face of a child that cried for 3 hours the previous night. She just wanted to be held. I was trying to be Super Mom and let her cry it out. It was painful. She was dry, she wasn't hungry, she didn't have a fever. I went down the check list and finally Todd said that turning the lamp on in her room helped her sleep.

This is little miss after her Oreo cookie for dessert last night... does that have something to do with the boogie man? Who knows??

Painted Turtle

This is the tile for the Bathroom and the paint color for the bathroom.

Tile and paint again.

Here are the three paint colors for the bathroom, hallway and bedroom. I'm nervous now that everything that we have bought will come together and look terrible and cheap. I also started looking for a shower curtain. I haven't found one yet but still looking. Where do you shop for bath accessories??

Also note the difference in the brown color in these photos. They are all the same paint chip but they look totally different.

Progress and Vocabulary

So I don't have any pictures today of our remodel but I can tell you we have made a lot of progress in the last week. The cement board is up around the tub, there is a brand new window in the bathroom and in the bedroom. We have a vanity and top along with all the fixtures we need including a toilet. We picked out paint and now I just wait patiently as Todd ticks things off of the to do list. He officially entered week 3 of the lay off. Which if we all do our math correctly leaves him 2 weeks to finish the bathroom. However we leave next Tuesday for Phoenix for 4 days, 3 nights quick trip to support everyone's favorite baseball team!
We have a family member who works for the Milwaukee Brewers and will be in Phoenix for their spring training. So we are making a trip down to see her and the team play. We are all excited. It will be Isabelle's first trip on an air plane. Don't worry there will be copious pictures from the trip.
In other Isabelle news she has starts to say so many new words this past week it's incredible. She can say animal, apple, and her first sentence "Hi Baby!" and this morning she said "Hi Dad." Todd was frying up some bacon when she said this and he turned to look at me with bewildered amazement and then a knowing look that we are now all in trouble. It's like a switch has been flicked on. I can't wait to see what she comes up with this week.
I will post more photos tomorrow however Todd wanted to clean up the construction zone before I put pictures up.

Tuesday Morning

Good Morning Everyone! Happy Tuesday!

This is a block model of our daughter. I think that dad is having more fun with the new blocks than Isabelle!

Oh sweet bath tub, how I love thee

This was last Friday morning. The sub floor was down.
And a wall was put up


And this morning we got to sit in the bath tub for the first time!

Words cannot describe how large the bath tub is. I LOVE IT even more today! Literally Todd and I can sit almost side by side. the foreshortening on the photo above doesn't let you see how long the tub actually is.

Yesterday Todd and I spent the afternoon at Home Depot and Menards picking out tile, fixtures and vanities. You will see a lot of progress this week! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Baaa, Baaa

Here are the latest additions to the Neumann Farm.

There are 12 Ewe's and all but 4 have come in with lambs.

Bath House

This is what I came home to on Tuesday night! It's out of the box!

Here it is! Can you believe it! I can't!

Todd wouldn't let me sit in it because he needs to put a grout base below it. It was really hard to not get in and just sit there!


Seriously there is room for the whole family in the bath tub. I'm not even joking.

Oh sweet bathtub we have been waiting for you for so long!

So today on day 3 of the layoff. Todd will be pouring the grout foundation below the tub. The lay the Luann wood that will go beneath the laminate wood flooring.

On Sunday Todd and I will be going to Home Depot to pick out tiles for the shower and a vanity.

Seriously it took every fiber in my body to no go get a glass of wine and just go and sit in the tub.

Isabelle should be able to have her first bath in the tub next week! YEAH!

Tuesday Morning

This was the bathroom on Tuesday Morning.

That in the big box with the motor is my(our) bathtub.

Do you see how big it looks in the box! I can't wait to unwrap it!


Also lets note the beautiful french door! It brings so much light into the bedroom area.

Library of my Dreams part Duex

So last week I discovered that you could listen to books on tape on your computer from the library! I'm loving it! I love books. I love to read. I'm not a fast reader and since my little Isabelle has come I haven't made much time for reading. This year I have physically read 1 book and finished two others that I started at various times last year.

But now in the course of 1 week I've listened to 1 book and I expect to finish the 2nd today. I love it! I'm listening to Comfort Food right now by Kate Jacobs and it's brilliant. I highly recommend this book. Just wanted to share my joy of listening to books with all of you out there.

Getting out of bed.

When my lovely husband was working he would have to get out of bed at 5:30 ish. Which meant when 6:00 AM rolled around I didn't have a whole lot of trouble getting out of bed because the only thing stopping me was my own lack of gumption. In the past few weeks I have been getting out of bed and doing the Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred. I like it, it's good, its hard and it's only 27 minutes from warm up to cool down.
However this being Todd's first day of being laid off he didn't have to get out of bed at the crack of dawn. Which means my 6:15 to 6:45 work out got moved to 7:00 to 7:30. This isn't horrible by any means but its really hard to get out of bed when there is another warm body there.
That's all I'm saying. I also would like to thank Todd for getting up at 5:30 am 4 days a week for 52 weeks a year. It helps my gumption.

The State of Our Union

As of today I am the bread winner in the family. This is not a surprise or a bad thing by any means. Todd has taken a 5 week voluntary layoff from his job. During which time he is going to FINISH THE BATHROOMS! Did anyone notice the S on the end of bathrooms. That's right PLURAL. God willing my ever so handy husband is going to finish the main level bathroom for which this blog was originally started and to make over our upper level bathroom as well. (I just about crapped my pants when he mentioned that because we have not been able to use the shower in the main level for well over a year. AND since August we have only had 1 room that even resembled a bathroom.) So cross your fingers, toes, legs and arms that a miracle will happen in our home in the next month.

The other part of Todd's being home that I am really going to enjoy is not having to rush around in the morning to get Isabelle and I ready to head off to work and daycare. Isabelle will still be going to daycare but Todd can get her dressed and fed all while I get ready for work. That and we can spend a little time together every morning as a family. Secretly I'm more excited for this than my bathrooms, which I have learned to live with.

Close Up

The only way Isabelle will let me take her Picture now is close up.

This one cracks me up.

If I say just wait there while I take your photo I get this face. Pure frustration.

Here is my favorite outfit to put her in right now.

I used to have a lamb named Wonk. I called him Wonk because he had one ear that would perk up and the other one was "wonk". Wonk was taken to slaughter one fall afternoon and I never got to say goodbye. Isabelle's pig tails on Friday reminded me of Wonk.

1st Birthday Party

The party was a while ago but here are some photos. Erica my friend took the top two. I LOVE THEM! In the last one Isabelle is trying to put on her new shirt.

The library of my dreams

I love books. If I had the money to own a thousand I would. On the other hand I'm not a fast reader, and I don't have a lot of time to read. Therefore I sometimes will opt for books on tape. Today I was at my local library's website to check hours and what titles I could get on CD and I found out I can download library books to my computer. SWEET GOODNESS! I will be able to listen to books on tape all the time now. I can even burn some of them to a CD during the time I have them "Checked out". It does need some free software but I am so excited! I can't believe it. I can go the library with out even having to leave my comfy couch. "Ahhh" I say with a contented sigh. I don't even have to leave my living room to go to the library! YEAH!

13 months Old Today!

Happy 13 month birthday Isabelle!

Here are some new things that you have done in the past month. - You have all sorts of new sounds for animals including a cow, dog, cat, sheep, pig, horse, duck, chicken, and every ones favorite the tiger. You are picking up new words every day including Truck, PJ's, grandma and many more. Your favorite song is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and you are working hard on the motions. You have a new mad or frustrated face everyday that brings your father and I to tears we laugh so hard. ( I swear we are laughing with you). You suddenly love to be surprised, startled and chased. Your grandpa Neumann spent a good 20 minutes making you jump and chasing you on Sunday. I've never heard you laugh so much in your life. Also This past week you learned how to stand up for yourself and fight back.

On Thursday you were at Grandma Neumann's with Addy. Grandma went to the bathroom and suddenly heard crying. As she started to leave the bathroom you and Addy were headed right for her. You were fine but Addy was in tears. She told Grandma that you had taken her crayons away. Grandma looked in your hands and there were no crayons. Then she looked in your mouth and you had all 4 crayons in your mouth. Way to go girl!

Thank you for all the joy that you have brought to our lives. We love every second of watching you grow even if it's in the middle of the night and you say "HI" in the most chipper voice!

Love you- Ma

Some fun pictures

I'll admit it, I need to get my but in gear and up load photos to my computer from my camera, however I'm not exactly sure where out connection cord is. I'm pretty sure it's right next to Isabelle's juice glass that she mysteriously lost on Sunday. We are not sure where in our house the purple juice glass has gone. Todd thinks that she is trying to make jail house hooch. We'll find out soon enough, hopefully.

Luckily for you and me we have a few pictures to share from the camera on my phone.

Here is the smartest baby in the world putting on her mamas mittens that we in her diaper bag.

Someones got her new shoes on!

Here little miss is opening up a birthday gift that came to her via mail. She was pretty excited and it included lots of ooohh's and pointing.

And here is our trial run of the BACON EXPLOSION! It was wonderful, need the Neumann tweaking but over all WONDERFUL! You all can expect it to be seen at many a social function.

Other wise things are pretty calm around here. We are all anxiously awaiting Friday because Todd is taking a 5 week voluntary layoff from work. During that time he will be working on the bathroom and hopefully completing that before we leave for Phoenix in early March.