House Updates

I wanted to share some updates on our house with everyone.  

We have made a lot of changes, but I have avoided putting them up because the house still looks like a construction zone.

But, I decided to post some pictures anyways because I think the progress is exciting even if everything doesn't look great yet.

So here you go:

The Wall:

(yep, we finally made a decision)

We decided just to make the opening bigger to make the rooms feel more open.  Nick and my dad cut the opening about 3 feet wider.  I like it a lot better.  It obviously still needs to be drywalled, and we will add a nice trim around it.
We also painted the living room a gray blue color.  The dining room is prepped for paint, but we haven't chosen a color yet.  But HALLELUIA....No More Yellow!

(check out the super cute 1940's chair I got for $20 at a garage sale!)

We did some other painting too:

(The colors are a little off, but you get the idea.)

And we had new windows put in throughout the house!

When we had the new windows put in, we decided to replace the window in our bedroom with a sliding glass door.  It is by far my favorite update yet.

There is still so much more to do.  

We bought wood floor over the weekend, so ripping up the carpet and prepping the floors is next on the agenda.  Things are going kind of slow because we are doing everything ourselves, but it is so worth it to save all the money we are saving.

This is our new floor.  I love it!

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Letters

Dear Heat,

You're too late.  Summer is over. Please leave.

Dear Headache, Sore Throat and Runny Nose,

You are not welcome here either.

Dear Monday,

Please don't come until the above requests are granted. 

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Red Ants and Lost Minds

red ants......

The other day at school, I came out to recess duty and one of my kids (we'll call him C) hustled over to me looking very concerned. This is how our conversation went:

C: Mrs Kinnier, I got bit by a wed ant. Thewe's a wed ant hill ova on the field. (note the adorable lisp)

Me: Uh-oh, you should make sure to stay away from there.

C: It's weally bothewing me.

Me: Ok, the bell is about to ring, so when we get back into class, I will write you a pass to the nurse so you can get some lotion on it.

C: Okay. Umm...evwethings stawting to look bluwy (blurry)

Me: Maybe you should sit down at the tables.

C: Okay. Umm, did a cloud just pass ova us because evewething just went dawk.

Me: No, no cloud. Can you see anything?

C: Not weally.

Me: Ok, well the bell just rang. Do you think you can make it to our line.

C: I think so.

He did make it to the line and I sent him down to the nurse. He came back good as new. Who knew calamine lotion could cure blindness.

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lost minds.....

On Monday, I got a call when I was on my way home from school. It was my mother's frantic voice. She locked her keys in her car. She was subbing at a school in Garden Grove and needed someone to come pick her up. That someone was me. That is the priviledge that I am blessed to have because I commute so far to work. I pass almost every member of my family at their workplaces on my drive. So, I am the natural person to call. Anyways, I had to pick up my dear sweet mother and then drop myself off at home and let her take my car to find her spare key and meet up with my dad to go back up to Garden Grove to get the car.

(Belle with her real mom and dad)

Fast forward to today. I get another call from my mom. Same time. Another frantic voice. She LOST her keys this time. She had a key that would let her into her car, but not the key that would start her car. She searched the classroom she was subbing in 3 times. She emptied her purse 3 times. She searched the car 3 times. So, I came to her rescue once again. I searched the car and emptied her purse. I wanted to go back and look in the classroom again, but mom was too embarrassed because she had already been into the office multiple times to turn in the sub keys, then get them back to search some more, then turn them in again. I drove her to the car dealership so that she could get another key made. They informed us that they are unable to make a new key for you without having your car there. Which means the car has to be towed there. And, no big deal, it only costs $280 to get a new key made (they are opting to go with the cheaper valet key instead, which is only $130....what a deal). Thankfully, Aunt Karen has AAA. So, I took my mom to meet up with my dad, and he gets the pleasure of taking over the situation from there.

Dear Dad,

Please don't die anytime soon. As you know, my mother is a little high maintenance, and I am too young to have to take care of her already.  I am glad that is your job right now (a full time job in itself). Plus, you are really good at cutting out walls.

Love,

Mindy

p.s. Mom wants to blame you for her little key problem she keeps having.  She says you took the keys off the key ring and that's why she keeps having these little mishaps.  Just thought I'd warn you. 

p.p.s. I know you hate the font that I normally use on this blog, so I wrote your letter in a different font.  Wasn't that nice of me?

Post Script

The key saga continues.  Read the comments to hear more.

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Sailing and Some News

Sean and Kristina took the whole family out on their new sailboat for Labor Day(minus Nick, who was in Sacramento with his soccer team....did I mention he is coaching for Hope University?....that's another blog post). Since we were all together, we decided to celebrate my mom's birthday.

I only took a few pictures on my camera because we had my mom's really nice camera that we wanted to use.  So, there will be more pictures later, once my mother gets me those pictures.  Here are few to enjoy for now.

This is the cake that Kim made for my mom!

So cute!

GOOD NEWS

BAD NEWS

GOOD NEWS: My brother-in-law,Sean got called back to be a pilot.  If you didn't know, he used to be a pilot, but then they furloughed a bunch of pilots, so then he wasn't a pilot.  Then he became an air traffic controller.  This is why he and Kristina live in El Segundo.  Nice and close to us (well close enough).

BAD NEWS: Sean has to leave in less than 2 weeks to move to Atlanta for training...without Kristina.  Then, he will be stationed in either Atlanta or Washington D.C....with Kristina.  They have to move. :(  And they will be gone for at least 18 months.  And we, the entire Swenson family, are extremely saddened by this news.  We do not like to be across the country from each other.

GOOD NEWS: Sean and Kristina will have flying benefits and will be able to fly home whenever they want.  This is a big comfort.

BAD NEWS: But, they are still moving.

We will miss them EXCRUCIATINGLY (and their boat....unless they want someone really responsible and trustworthy and careful and smart and cute and funny who lives close to Dana Point to take care of their boat while they are gone...I mean, if they know someone like that.)

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I Have a Funny Dog

Nick called me into the living room laughing the other night to show me this:

(Please ignore my extremely annoying laughter in this video....in fact, why don't you just turn the volume off when you watch this.)

Just for the record, Belle got herself tangled up in the blanket...I would not torture her like that.  She just loves to be all wrapped up.

That amazing, I just can't get enough music playing in the background is Mumford and Sons....
but you didn't hear them....
because you turned off the volume when you watched the video....
right?

Random sidenote:
We bought my mom the Kindle for her birthday.  It came in the mail today.  I should not have looked at it, because now I need one too.

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Dining Room Dilemna

We are still struggling with making a decision about our wall.  We keep scheduling a day to work on it, but we end up postponing it every time because we don't know what to do.  I have been looking for ideas for hours, and this is all that I have found for inspiration for our specific situation.

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In the first picture, I love the opening in the wall with the post down the middle.  In the second picture, I really like the shelves on the wall and the cart below them (nothing to do with the wall).

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I love the huge doorways with the pretty trim around them.  This makes part of me want to just widen the opening between the living room and dining room instead of knock out the whole thing.

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I like the bench couch as seating for the table in the first picture.  The second picture makes me think that we could knock out the wall and have one big room.

 

And this has nothing to do with the wall either, but I LOVE this and want to do this in the dining room.

Oh my!!!  I don't know what to do.  I like all these options, and I keep going back and forth.  Maybe we should just start by widening the opening.  Then we could keep going if we wanted, or add a little window in what is left of the wall.

Tell me your opinions....PLEASE!

Also, if you know of any good interior design websites or blogs, let me know.

I think I will try to post pictures of the actual wall in question later.  Maybe that will help you visualize what we are talking about.

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Katie and Collin's Big News!

I am so excited to announce that Katie and Collin are ENGAGED!!

I am EXTREMELY happy for them and for their wedding in February.

We had a little engagement party for them over the weekend, and they told us the whole proposal story.  I got it on video, so now they will have it to remember forever.

We all had a lot of fun celebrating with them.  They are so perfect for each other!  And I am so honored and excited that Katie asked me to be a bridesmaid in the wedding!  We are going to have so much fun!

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Dining Room Inspiration

We were scheduled to tear down the wall between our dining room and living room yesterday, but then we started to have second thoughts.  So, we are debating between 3 options right now....leave it as it is, tear it out completely, or make it a half wall or window cutout. 

I have been looking online for inspiration.  And, since my camera battery is dead, and I left the charger at my sister's house, I thought that I would put some of my favorites up here.  That way I have them all in one place.  

But I do have some seriously exciting things to blog about once I get that battery charged.....like one of my closest friends getting ENGAGED!

Okay, so on with the dining rooms....

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The two pictures above are what made me think that I might like a cut out window in the wall instead of knocking out the whole thing.

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There are many, many more, but that is all I have time to post right now.  I have been listening to Mumford and Sons non stop today.  

I am obsessed with them right now.

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Biola Alumni Game

Nick played in Biola's Alumni Soccer Game last weekend.

Unfortunately, the alumni were not victorious this year.  They won the past two years, so I guess it was bound to happen sometime.  You can see last years win here.  Nick was a big contributor.

But, despite the loss, it was still a lot of fun to watch the game and see old friends.

This was one of those times where I really wished that I had a nice camera.  I could not get a decent picture of Nick playing.  Oh well, at least this picture proves he played.

We'll see what next year holds.

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My Belle

When we were in Mexico, I sent an email to my family to let them know we were alive (they worry about that kind of thing).  However, I did not get a response from any of them.  The only one that was sweet enough to reply was my dear little Belle, who was staying with my parents while we were gone.  This is what she wrote to me:

Dear Mindy,

I just wanted to let you know that I am well taken care of at my vacation home.  I enjoy lazying around, sleeping in my room, and even going on a walk (short though it was).  I only have to look cute to get treats here and that is not hard to do.  I did get in trouble once for going to the bathroom on the carpet instead of outside, but they just didn't see me at the door in time.  The lady that I am staying with - who I vaguely remember and see from time to time - was not very happy.  I didn't seem to get into trouble, though (probably because I am so cute).  I only had to stay at the other house for a little while during the day one time, so don't worry about me because I have not been lonely at all.  Oh, I got sick yesterday and threw up, but that is because that girl named Kim gave me itching medicine without any food in my stomach and I had already gotten it the day before.  I feel fine now.  I am missing you, but I just wanted  to let you know that I think the people that I am staying with really love me just as much as you do.  I do miss my walks with you, though.  Anyway, I will see you soon.  I hope you are having a wonderful time.

I love you and miss you!

Belle

And, then, she was thoughtful enough to send me a follow-up email.  Two in one week! I love that little pup! 

Dear Melinda,

This is Belle again. I would just like to clear a few things up from my last email. Kim only gave me the medicine because I was super itchy because my father would not let Kim pay for me to get a bath. Can you believe it!!? He said he would give me a bath this week and guess what? he hasn't, and I'm still itching away. I've got to hang out with my favorite sister Kim a lot this week. She is so cool. I wish I lived with her instead. But you are definitely my second pick. She brought my upstairs to hang out with her and since I couldn't make it up the stairs by myself, she carried me. That is my favorite part about your house, no stairs!! But I watched Kim make a cake for the last two days and scrounged around looking for food of course. Well, besides yesterday when I first had diarrhea and then I threw up... 3 times. It was gross. The second and third time weren't very much, I just had to get everything out... on the carpet.... mom wasn't too happy. (She doesn't know about the third time, shhhh). But I didn't feel well at all and I could tell Kim was worried. (She kept calling everyone and talking about me... so annoying). So, I perked up a little later and went right upstairs to hang out with my Kimbolicious. I laid down a lot and slept to make my tummy feel better and I didn't eat all day. I hardly even had anything to drink until super late. But I feel much better now :).  Kim's cake is so cool. I stood under it all day today just waiting for anything I could get, which wasn't much... I guess my begging only works on the old people. Kim did give me some healthy chicken though, yum yum. My favorite part of the week was when I woke up the other day and came into Kim's room and slept right by her head. I used to cry at her door every morning till mom would let me in but now Kim kind of gets annoyed with me cause all I do is look for food and it keeps her awake. But I was so good this time, I hope she lets me do it again before I go home. Alright, well I hope you're having fun! I love you and I can't wait to see you when you get back! 

Love,

Bellerina, Beller Babe, and Beller Butt

She despises baths...note the "I hate you" face and the escape attempts.

But she sure does love to lounge around.
I love coming home to my little pup!

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Happy Birthday Momma!!

Tuesday was my mom's birthday.

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!

She was kind enough to spend her birthday helping me get my classroom ready for the next day.

And then I, her loser daughter, didn't even have the decency to do a Happy Birthday post for her that day.

And she is probably my most faithful blog follower. (Even though you would never know because she doesn't comment).

Mother dearest, please find it in your heart to forgive me.

I am utterly sorry for not having this posted on your actual birthday.

But, please know that I love you excruciatingly and am so thankful that you are my mom!

To make it up to you, I decided to post this so that everyone could see how incredibly talented you truly are (and dad too).

Everyone MUST watch this video twice, focus on my mom one time, and my dad the other time. You will be thoroughly entertained!!!

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