Elizabeth Newlin - Arizona Real Estate Agent

I’ve been meaning to post pictures of some of my more recent knitting projects. I think the cold snap out here has kicked my hobby into high gear. Too bad my desire for woolen creations will be gone with the chill in about two weeks. But until then, Jason has a new hat:

This was his Christmas present that didn’t get finished until slightly post-Christmas. And hey, it’s reversible:

I also tried my hand at cables and came up with this hat for myself:

I love it, but I think I’m going to also do one in a more solid color so the cables stand out better.

Lastly, I went to a baby shower this weekend and attempted my first ’sock’ pattern to take as a gift. Of course it was way more complicated and time consuming than I thought tiny baby sockies could possibly be, so I only have one done:

It will also have to be delivered slightly late (luckily the babe is still tucked away in the womb so he is not yet missing it.)

In other news, we have begun our kitchen remodel. A couple of weeks ago our horrid old dishwasher died and we were forced to buy a replacement. Since we were buying a dishwasher, we figured we might as well bite the bullet and replace the oven/range as well (Spencer’s gave us a discount). Sadly, though we love our new appliances, they have really shined a spotlight on the shoddiness of the rest of the kitchen, thereby prompting us to head over to IKEA and purchase our new cabinets. We haven’t begun ripping out our installing the new cabinets yet, but Jason did take a minute this weekend to put together our new freestanding pantry so that we could get all of the crud off the counters that’s been living there for lack of enough cabinet space. Check it out:

SO SO much extra space:

Oh my goodness I am going to love my new kitchen so much I’ll never want to move!

This weekend I actually had no real estate related appointments for the first time in several months. It was really nice to take a break and get things done around the house that were begging to be accomplished. I paid bills, changed beds, I even ironed the sheets. Which is moronic. I swear I only did it because we have these really nice new sheets from Pottery Barn (my sister-in-law works there and we get 40% off! How awesome is that?), and I thought maybe I would try it this once. You know, like, ‘One time i went sky diving!’, ‘One time I peed in the snow’, ‘One time, I ironed my sheets.’ I’m never doing it again. It took an hour and was entirely pointless. So there.

Anyway, notably, this weekend (besides the sheets):

I had dinner with my Papa (my mom’s dad) and his wife, Ann, who were in town from Florida for the first time in a few years:

Gray has developed an utter obsession with bananas. I think he’s going through a growth spurt, but he literally had three yesterday and two of those were just to stop the incessant ‘NANA!!’ demands he was shrieking:

I made a cover for the bench at the end of our bed. I used fabric from IKEA and whipped it up last night. I’m really proud of it. I’m going to make pillows to go on the bed from the same fabric:

I think that pretty much covers it. I’m working on several new marketing campaigns for my biz and am in talks with my web designer over a new look for my site (you can expect it May 1st!). More info on all of that will come later in the week!

Well, the renovation bug has bitten me again. The master bath is *almost* done. I know, I know, it’s ridiculous. We started the whole thing back in July and it’s still under construction. Although, I have to say, Jason has done an amazing job and an insane amount of highly skilled, detailed work. He’s been up in the attic the last four nights in a row installing the extra lights to make the bathroom bright enough for me to do my make up. Check it out (ignore the mess, like I said, it’s *almost* done):

Pretty, right? I’m in love with the whole thing. Those mirrors swing open to reveal extra deep cabinets with outlets inside. I also love the new Ikea towel rack:

And the racks above the toilet (Jason bought me those cute brown baskets for Christmas with this location in mind):

Anyway, now that the lights are working, pretty much all he has left to do is finish up some painting (the ceiling) and put the door on to the shower room. Oh, and there’s the small matter of the transition between the tile and carpet of our bedroom, but we’re still in talks over it. Regardless, I already love my new bathroom (now if I could only get the tools our of our bedroom…).

So the near completion of the bathroom has gotten me antsy for the start of the kitchen. Obviously, because of the time it has taken my perfectionist husband to complete the bathroom, we have decided to hire a contractor to handle the kitchen. Jason just couldn’t get it done in a reasonable amount of time with everything else he has going on, and I cannot live without a working kitchen for a year or so. Or really, even for more than about a month.

Yesterday, in an attempt to do some quick Internet research, I filled out a survey on this site, and within hours, was contacted by two different contractors who wanted to bid on our kitchen remodel. They both will be coming by on Thursday (one in the AM and one in the PM) to take measurements and talk about what we are interested in. I seriously can’t wait to have a pretty kitchen! We are absolutely going to gut the thing. I’m thinking about having a ‘Goodbye Kitchen’ party and then not letting anyone see the inside of my house until it’s totally done, and having another ‘Meet the New Kitchen’ party. I think it would be fun to not let anyone see it as it progresses. Don’t worry, though, I will take pictures along the way!