Planning for LeDoux #2.

So Shawn and I have decided that we are at a point where we are ready for baby #2. So, I am starting to track my cycle, temperature and all that fun stuff. :-) I don't know how long or short it will be. I would like to get in sync with myself before we get pregnant. But if it happens quickly, we will welcome another blessing!

I haven't told anyone, except my mom, that we are trying. I don't want the "So, when is the next baby coming?", "How long have you been trying?", "It is taking you long" and other unnecessary comments from people if we announce we are actively trying. I think this board is a great way to track (respectfully track) our progress with the pregnancy. And I know this is the place to let out frustration and hopefully get thoughts and prayers along the journey.

I joined a Bible study at Christ the King Catholic Church here in Little Rock. It is the Women of Grace Bible Study using DVD lessons taught by Johnnette Benkovic, who will be attending a day long Women's Retreat at the conclusion of the Bible Study. I am very excited about this, since it has been a LONG time since I participated in a Bible Study. And I think this one will fit me great for this part of my life with trying to get pregnant again.

Starting to see the light...

So, on Tuesday night, we sanded the compound and applied a light second coat to spots. I think we finished at 10:00 that night. On Wednesday we sprayed a texture on the walls. Finished about 9:30. I think it looks pretty good. On Thursday night, we were both exhausted and didn't do anything. So tonight we are gonna prime. If i can convince my child that it is bedtime... Stay tuned!


So we did prime that Friday night and Saturday. On Sunday, I bought the paint color and we painted when Jeanne went down for a nap. I bought a great little edger brush which knocked the time in half! Why I didn't buy this for the primer, I have no idea! So here is the finished color:
I like it. Now we are trying to decide about painting the handrails and baseboards to match the color of the countertop and the trim in the rest of the house. I think it will tie it all together, but that project is not on the front grounds! Lol




First, I am trying to decide how to put a curtain on our bay window in the kitchen. I have gotten several suggestions, and haven't tried playing with it yet. I still need to decide on a color/design curtain.
Here is the bay window. For those who read this, what do you think? Should I try to have a rod that follows the window itself? Or just one rod above the windows that is straight across?

What was I thinking??

So when we first looked at the house, I knew I would want to paint the kitchen and get rid of the wallpaper. It wasn't terrible, but it just wasn't me. Plus the seams were coming open. Sure enough, not long after we moved in, Jeanne started playing with the seams until she was able to pull a big piece! So I said it was time to remove the paper. One night, I pulled all the wallpaper off under the chair rail. Well, I realized I only pulled off the top layer. No biggie though because it came off so easy!




The next day (Saturday) we got out a scorer and chemical to remove the top layer above the chair rail (because I knew it wasn't coming off so easy). We sprayed and sprayed and the paper was stuck. So after fighting it for an hour or more, my husband got mad and just started ripping if off the wall. We soon realized our demise. Whoever built the house did not properly prime the sheet rock, as was common in the 1980's apparently, and the original wallpaper got glued straight to the sheet rock. As we were pulling the wallpaper down, we were also removing the sheet rock paper. This was turning ugly fast!!! My husband was not happy that this was not turning out as easy as we thought. As he does when something is going his way, he stomped off to the living room and I finished removing paper from the wall. I think I finished at 10:30 that night.

Shawn did prime a section behind the fridge sometime on Saturday, thinking we would find a smooth wall the next morning Wrong again! The paper was bubbled and cracked bad. So I went off to Sherwin Williams (which I highly recommend) for some help. The guy there explained that we would need to sand the walls down and then apply sheet rock compound since we were down to the gypsum board. So I brought the supplies and began working. I sanded the whole kitchen. Shawn comes in and sadly says that he didn't think it would be good enough. He was afraid the paper would still roll up. That just broke my heart! What was I thinking?? Why did I let myself think this would be a good thing to do?? Why didn't we just paint over the wallpaper??

Shawn then went to the store and bought a power sander. When he got back I had cheered up again, and he was confused. Until he went in the kitchen. I had cleaned the floor, swept up all the wallpaper, and laid out newspaper everywhere. I had control over something and it made me happy. Anyway, Shawn put the sander to use and sanded down the whole kitchen again in less than 30 minutes, whereas I spent a few hours. Plus the wall was smoother. After we put Jeanne to bed, we put up joint compound on part of the wall. I only bought one container, and it barely made one part of the big wall... We finished again about 10:30. Shawn kept saying, "What if in the morning the wall is just on the floor?" That was my biggest fear. Needless to say I didn't sleep well. The next morning, we woke up to a nicely compounded wall!! That night, we finished putting compound on the rest of the kitchen.