Quit my day job?

I like to think of myself as a creative person with a good visual eye. I love seeing a project come together, the process as it goes from conception to reality.

I enjoy decorating my home and find contentment in bringing life to our walls. Just as I have been really looking forward to seeing our basement project come together.

My husband and I joke about "KK Designs" and "BK Designs," as we argue over what paint color to choose in the store. He wants this, I want that. We just never seem to be on the same page.

B: "C'mon, just let BK Designs take this one."
Me: "Ohhhh, no. Because then KK Designs will be forced to ride in and save the day."

It's quite humorous. Trips to stores such as Lowes, Home Depot and Sherwin Williams never go smoothly. I'm absolutely certain that the employees of these places think we are absolutely nuts.

So, we picked out a paint color this weekend. Not going to lie, it was mainly my decision. I happened to win this particular battle of KK vs. BK, but he did agree.

Well let me just say, I will not be quitting my day job anytime soon to start KK Designs and become an interior decorator.

The paint color was wrong.

And so was the second one.

Yes peeps, we are now in the process of picking out a third paint color.

In my defense though, the lighting in our basement is just off. The sales lady couldn't believe the original color with a rich blue hue undertone was looking like "baby blue." Oh, and the second color? More of a grayish blue. Well, it just wasn't what we wanted either. Too light.

So, as much as I don't want to admit it or give in, I am officially biting the bullet and turning this one over to BK Designs.

I Just Love Mondays

NOT.

I really hate Mondays if you want me to be completely honest, but at least I get to offer you a Memoir Monday (hosted by Mrs. Ruby), recapping our much-needed 'kick-start to our basement project' weekend.

Oh joy, we started painting. Another thing I love so very much. We started with the trim, going from oak wood to clean creamy white, and will hopefully paint the walls this weekend. The room has a ledge that goes around the entire middle of the wall, so it will take a few days to get several coats of prime and paint applied.

However, I keep telling my overly-anal husband, that if we would just go to town on priming/painting and not get too caught up in sanding, removing floor trim from the wall, sanding again, etc. etc, these projects would go much faster. But he doesn't listen.

He wins most battles when it comes to painting.

And as I stated in my last post, we had some time to do a little family photo shoot for our Christmas Card. The photographer you ask? Only our good friends, Tripod and Timer. Tripod is very trust worthy and always stands very still.

Not sure which one(s) we will use, but I think we have some pretty good choices considering our quick, self-photo shoot, sans photographer, at a park near our house.

Brian hates this one because of his culdesacs, but I just love it:)

Isn't Jake such a cutie? He was such a good boy while we were snapping photos on the bridge. He stayed close by and wasn't even leashed!

So, I was so excited seeing the photos on camera screen that I applied them to my Shutterfly drafted cards last night. I am very pleased with how they turned out, but am even more confused on which card to go with now! The colors in a photo can make the card look completely different.

Sunday, we had the pleasure of visiting the Greens and baby Grace. More to come on that adventure, along with the crock-pot taco soup recipe I took over there. Delish.

Here's to a happy Monday!

Memoir Monday

Memoir Monday is brought to you by a college friend of mine, Mrs. Ruby.

We were on Union Program Council (UPC) together and became buddies while planning fun events for the K-State Union. Check out her amazing blog here, it's one of my daily reads!

I already posted about Halloween, so here's about the rest of our busy-filled weekend.

We surprisingly had a stress-free trip to Nebraska Furniture Mart on Saturday. Most of our trips there end in arguments, with both of us not agreeing on anything. However, this trip concluded with more decisions than I thought I could make in 2 hours. More to come later about that. :)

After not getting to bed until 4:30 am (thanks to some difficult temporary tattoos), we were up early the next morning to see the Chiefs take on the Bills.

It was quite a scare for a Halloween game, but luckily, we pulled off a win! Chiefs are 5-2. Hooray!

Fun fact I pulled off a friend's facebook: The Chiefs have won 5 games in the past 49 days. And the 800 days before that? 5 games. Yikes.

 I found Waldo! And Michael.

 We ran into my cousin and uncle who were only one section over.

Finally Friday!

Fridays are da bomb. It's the end of the work week, the start of the weekend and a time to breath and relax!

And, it's jeans day at work! Well, only the last Friday of every month, which happens to be today. It's the little things that excite me these days. You would think a construction company would be more laid back. Nope, not my company.

But it's also Finally Friday! at the office today. A little event we partake in where everyone goes to the rooftop mid-day to have cocktails. We have a super awesome rooftop in downtown KC.

Staying consistent with my random posts lately, here's a follow-up to a bunch of random things.

MS Ride
I'm happy to report that fundraising went GREAT for both Brian and I! We both reached our goals! Yipee! Brian actually ended up smoking me. He had some big time donations from a couple subcontractors. Thank you to everyone who supported us. We are greatly appreciative.

Now, the fact that the ride is tomorrow is totally freakin' me out!! So much for a relaxing weekend. I am super nervous. I must admit, we have not trained properly or had nearly the amount of time it takes to prepare for something like this. We are definitely excited, just unsure of how it will go. I might end up only riding one day, but in my mind, a 100 miles is a huge accomplishment.

We'll see...should be interesting and something to add to the scrapbook.

Y&R
I have not watched one second of Y&R since I called it quits. I am so proud of myself!! I really thought I would think about it more, but no. Not missing it much at all. Happy to have the extra time! Except for the fact that I added a couple more shows to my TV addiction. I'll have more to report once I decide my true opinion of them.

Chimney Project
I have yet to have the time to research and purchase a new small, digital camera from my recent win of a friendly bet with hubby.  But -- Mark. My. Words. I will get one. I won the bet, fair and square. If anyone is wondering...the project still isn't 100% complete. Not keeping score or anything, just stating the obvious. It's completely visible from the exterior of our house. No paint yet.

Checkbook
I joined the 21st century and decided to stop manually balancing my checkbook!! After being compared to an old lady at the grocery checkout line from a friend (ahem, Ted), I have not opened my trusty old checkbook ledger since the day I clicked publish on that dang post. I know, I was major old school, but habits are habits.

Sidenote! (I love me a random sidenote of news worthy info!)
Our friends Ted and Megan are at the hospital RIGHT now having their first baby girl! Such exciting news for a beautiful Friday. Congrats to them and new bundle of joy, Gracie!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Driver or Camera????

Sorry to keep you all waiting, I was in Columbia, MO for work all day.

Here's the outcome from our little bet. Drum roll please...

Ta-da!! Yes-sir-eeeeeeee...that's a photo of a pretty new point-and-shoot camera!

Okay, I have some major explaining to do because my husband deserves A LOT of credit for taking on this project. Although, it's not complete yet (he finished all but caulking and painting), he did a fantastic job! Not to mention the crazy wind on Sunday and Monday that highly affected his progress. Large pieces of wood + extremely tall ladder high in the sky = NOT SAFE.

 Mark helped out for a bit on Sunday.

There was also one other thing that slightly held him back. A couple games called Golf, Waterfalls and P&A. Thanks to friends that came over Sunday night for a bbq, where it turned into a college reenactment of drinking games, he had a late start on Monday. He said he was "sabotaged." LOL :)

To reward his hard work (he was out there almost all day, every day the entire weekend), he will most likely end up with the driver anyways:) He definitely deserves it!

But a bet is a bet, and for the sake of saying who won, I win!!

Game On

I had to work a little later than the hubs yesterday, so I came home to a little surprise.

This is what greeted me when I pulled into the driveway:

Brian on a very tall ladder and the entire chimney pretty much ripped to pieces. What do I call this? Oh, only another project he has gotten himself in to.

Just so you know, this is typical behavior for my husband. It doesn't really surprise me anymore. He will find something that needs repaired, or just something he thinks needs a change, and just go at it right away. No need to think about how he will put it back together or if he even has the time to complete it. Hence, the tons of other projects he has started that are not finished in our home.

He thinks it's really funny to start these projects when I am out of town so I can't talk him out of them.

Seriously. He is up to his ears with home improvement projects.

This one just happens to be on the exterior, where it is entirely visible to everyone that goes by our house, including our neighbors. So this little project has to be completed in a timely manner.

He is convinced it will be done by the end of the Labor Day weekend, which means end of day Monday. We have initiated a little bet.

If he completes the project by Monday (paint included), he gets a new driver (golf club). He has wanted one for a really long time.

If he doesn't complete it, I get a new point and shoot digital camera (a smaller one that is more than 5 pixels). Yes, my old one is 5 pixels. Does that give you any idea as to when I purchased this? A LONG time ago. Luckily, I have my big camera as my main source of documentation.

We'll just have to see who wins the bet. I think he's absolutely nuts. Our neighbors do as well. One of them asked, "Are you doing this all by yourself?" Brian responded, "Yep." Next, they asked, "Do you know what you're doing?"

I'm confident in the hubs, but only time will tell. I have a feeling I might be impressed with his skills.

 Demolition. Taking out all the wood-rotted pieces.

 Installing new pieces.