Laundry Room - Before and After

If I had been smarter, I would have submitted these pictures to HGTV or something and tried to get them to come and "Save my Laundry Room!" Although they don't really have that show... but I still might qualify for Save my Bath. Anywho... here's the horrendous BEFORES!!

this is the best picture I have of the "laundry room." It was actually a breeze way connecting the kitchen to the garage. This pictures is standing in the kitchen looking at the washing machine. You can see that there is hardly a passage way between the door and the machine- it was a tight squeeze. And if you take just a few steps to the left once in the "laundry room," you will find yourself in the garage. Oh and don't worry that this tiny space had the washing machine, 2 windows, 4 doors, a set of drawers (blocking a door), a broom, and other odds and ends. It was full and not functional.


You might be saying to yourself... where is the dryer? to that I would say, great question. When the washing machine is finished, please load all of the wet clothes into a basket. Turn around in the cramped space and carry the heavy basket out to the garage. Be careful when trying to exit, the garage door tends to close on you and your hand will get hit while holding the basket.

Please place your basket of clean clothes on the gross and dirty garage floor so that you can load them into the dryer. Be very careful not to drop anything onto the ground, or you will have to wash it again. Thank you. Good job. (Just looking at this photos gives me bad memories!)

Did I mention that our "laundry room" had concrete floors and 2 of the doors leaked water under them when it rained really hard and that this was the light fixture?

Needless to say, anything we did was going to be a HUGE improvement!! I actually took daily photos of the progress and intended to blog daily. But due to the large Spanish test looming over my head, I did not blog. But I very wisely used my time to study. And thus missed out on huge blogging potential. Oh well, I saved you from days of boredom because there were many days that I had to look REALLY hard to find something new to take a picture of :)

So here are a variety of photos from the process and the end result. I actually still need to "decorate" and "beautify" the space. But after 1 full month of doing laundry at the laundry mat (while studying Spanish), I am thrilled to have it looking as it does.

Now on to the tour!!

AFTER

This picture was obviously early on in the progress, but i feel it gives a good view of the layout. I am standing in the door to the kitchen when I took this. Straight ahead is the HALF BATH that we added!! (we only have 1 full bath in our home, so this half bath was much needed!)

To the immediate right, the wall goes back about 18 inches (okay exactly 18 inches) so we were able to put a full wall of cabinets there. If you walk to the left, that is where the washer and dryer are and the door to the garage. Do you get it?

Here's our main worker! He's great. cheap labor and works constantly!! very trustworthy!! I'll give you his number if your interested. (oh yeah, he's my father -in-law :)

We put that bathroom door on an angle to save space. It really was a wise decision!! this small spaces feels so large and ROOMY!! I love it!

Now here is looking off to the left. Those cabinets are above the washer and dryer (obviously MIA in this pic). the bathroom is just out of view to the right and the garage door is just out of view to the left of the cabinets.

Here is the beautiful light fixture in the bathroom!! It is a combo light/fan fixture! Can you believe they make such beautiful fans?? I was so excited to find it!

Here's my sink! Oh how I love it!! corner pedestal- ordered from vintagetubs.com. I am in love!! The bathroom is this deep blue color. The laundry room is kinda creamy with a yellow hint to it. I think all of this pictures were taken before we did final paint touch ups- but you get the idea.

Here's the whole bathroom- very small - but very necessary!! you can see how the white fixtures just pop against this gorgeous blue! and isn't the tile just great :) I love it!! we're actually going to replace the kitchen tile to make it match this... in time. I will put up a mirror and decorate this eventually. And also there is a towel hook and toilet paper holder up now, but this pic was before that.... so I'll have to blog again!

and the most exciting moment in the last month!!!!!! MY FIRST LOAD OF LAUNDRY IN OUR NEW LAUNDRY ROOM!! I made Ty take pictures of the whole process. He was actually so excited that he didn't even make fun of me for wanting the pictures!! notice how the dryer is RIGHT next to me! oh the ease! oh the comfort!! oh how i love laundry!! (well at least for a few more loads, until the honeymoon wears off.)

So the two machines actually sit about 5-6 inches off the wall because of the hoses behind them. SO I think I'm going to put up a small white shelf just over the machines- and really just to decorate on and to cover the hole. I love decorating :)

Now- here's the BEFORE and AFTER from outside.

BEFORE: (notice the breezeway - it sat back from the garage and the living room- so it was the fartherest part back... it has 2 windows and a door on it) ps- my spell checker is telling me that "fartherest" is not a word- but it IS when I'm trying to explain something, duh.


Now- the garage and LAUNDRY ROOM are all the same level... smooth!! and the new windows are tall (instead of short and long like before). The door is gone!! (we NEVER used it before) and eventually we will get black shutters to match the front of the house. OH and eventually we will landscape as well. can't wait!

And that is what has been happening here. Since you missed out on the day by day building process... I think I will make up for that by doing constant "Decorating" posts. So get excited. Oh and feel free to give some advice or opinions as well :)

I'm actually missing a few other pics you should see... more motivation to post again :)

Now we are off to little brother in law's high school graduation! Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Testing

As a high school senior I could think of nothing better than going to college at the beach. So I did. I went to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. I loved every second of it. I loved it so much, I took a victory lap year (aka 5th year).

I graduated with a double major, biology and Spanish. Two subjects I loved, professors I adored, and no thoughts of what I would do for a career. Hence came the Victory Lap year, and a teaching license.

I left college with a North Carolina Spanish Teaching license... but no plans on staying in North Carolina. I didn't always use my brain well... remember, I only went there for the beach. I'm not the best "future planner."

Anyways... years later, a few jobs later, a few towns later, a husband later, etc... I'm a teacher in Texas with an expiring NC license. So, I began the process of converting my useless NC license to a TX license. And do you know what every state does? They make it very hard to convert a teaching license. oh and very expensive too!

I took (and passed) all the required tests while in NC, but TX of course has their own set of tests. They work the exact same way, they cover the exact same material, but they have a different name and they cost more money.

And you may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much lately- even after my recent return to a "happy heart" (that's for you Sarah W.) Well, I've been spending every spare second studying Spanish. In the last 2 months, I have gone through 2 college grammar text books (cover to cover). I have done practice questions downloaded from the internet. I have gone through hundreds of flashcards!

Fortunately, the test is over. Last Saturday I went to a testing center and took my Spanish Texas Oral Proficiency test. I had to sit in a classroom with one other person (the test proctor). I had to listen to a tape recorder read off a situation or question. I had 30-60 seconds to think about my answer in Spanish. Then I had to speak perfect Spanish into the tape recorder for 45 seconds, 1 minute, or 2 minutes (depending on the question).

My stomach was in knots. I know I used a few wrong words. I was supposed to use EVERY verb tense. And I haven't counted, but I think there is close to 15 different ones. I did use them all (I think). It's all a blur really. They asked some WEIRD questions: "Do you think all teachers should be drug tested?" "Describe to a business man all of the major cities in Texas and their defining characteristics." "You're meeting with some other teaches to plan a field trip, where do you think you should go and why?" "You are the guest speaker at an education conference in Mexico. What is the main problem today facing elementary students?" (you could have chosen high school or college, but I teach elementary so I chose that.)

And on and on. for 15 questions.

and now it's over. PRAISE THE LORD!! I think I did well. I felt prepared. I know I made mistakes, but I think overall it was good. And I can't worry now. There is not a thing I can do. They will send my tape recording to 2 graders (real live people). They will both grade it and either decide pass or fail. As long as they both agree, then that's the final answer. If one person passes me and the other fails me, then they send it to a 3rd grader for the final decision.

So, I'll know in a month or so. And then I just have 1 more test until I am an official Texas teacher. But that one is about education stuff- not Spanish.

We've been doing big time construction at the house- and I've been taking daily pictures! So now I just need to upload and blog. Now with all my free time... maybe I will later this week!

GROSS

3rd grade is in here right now... and I'm not sure who is the guilty one... but someone has terrible BO. It's spreading over the whole room! In fact, I'm going to open a window. Quickly! bye.

Quite the Accomplishment!

In 1st grade today we had some time to read Spanish books silently. They were pretty cute about trying to guess what the Spanish words mean based on the pictures. And they actually did a great job!!

So this one precious girl is reading a book about La Corazon y Los Pulmones (heart and lungs- I have a body series, very interesting). (Keep in mind 1st graders are about 6 ot 7.)

She was one in particular who really enjoyed sharing what she was learning or could understand and came up about 10 times to tell me something about your lungs. Finally she comes up and says, "My mom told me not to smoke and I NEVER HAVE!"

Seriously- that really is quite the accomplishment!! ha!

So Helpful

A little 2nd grader was giving me a hug, then she looked up, backed away and pointed at her nose. I asked, "what's wrong?''

"YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING IN THERE!"

"okay, thanks." So I blew my nose, then went back to her. "Did I get it?"

"Well, no, it's actually hair hanging there."

Awesome. I love the honesty. so embarrassing.

Giveaway... cottage style

One of my favorite blogs The Lettered Cottage is doing a giveaway today! It's the best blog! full of great cottage style decorating ideas- right up my alley! Of course, I've not actually done any of them yet. But summer is coming soon, I'll some free time, and I believe my first order of business of the fireplace re-do. Check her's out.

Anyways- you can enter to win this sweet table runner today.

Or you can just go to this etsy shop and buy one. Looks like she makes tons of cute burlap stuff.

Anyways, I get to enter the giveaway by writing this post. I'm finished, so now I'm off to officially enter. Over and out.

FIRE!

Last night we went out to dinner with the Manthes while Ty's parents babysat the kids at home.

We returned to a smoke-smelling house and many candles lit all over the house. "Interesting," we thought.

Ty asked what was going on and his mom replied, "Well, everything is okay. But I think the microwave is dead. Yeah, it's dead. Oh and there were some flames. but we got them out."

We all immediately went to the kitchen (where the smokey smell grew intensely worse) and saw a microwave that was completely yellow inside. She went on to explain that she was popping popcorn for the movie and she doesn't know how it happened, but when she came back into the kitchen there were small flames and smoke everywhere! And she had scrubbed and scrubbed, but the microwave would just not get clean.

Everyone was fine. The house is fine. The microwave might have seen it's last days. But all is okay.

After they left, Ty looked at me and said, "I've always imagined it was possible for a 16-year-old babysitter to burn our house down, but I didn't think my 50-year old mother would do it first!"

Note to self: keep this in mind when we have kids and are choosing babysitters :)

More Silliness

My happy heart has even allowed me the privilege of sharing some funny kid stories...

1. Some missionary friends are in town visiting and they came to school today to talk with some of the kids. We were in the kindergarten class talking about what missionaries do and where they live and stuff like that. Then Josh gave each student a bracelet made in the Philipines but said they could only have the bracelet if they promise to pray for his family and for people in the Philipines. All the kids quickly yelled "I promise!" "Promise" "I'll pray" things like that. Then from the back of the room we heard, "THOMAS!" oh man, I thomas to pray for you! Ha!

2. I was teaching 3rd grade and was going to explain why so many South and North American countries speak Spanish. I asked the kids, "Who discovered America or the New World?" I heard many names come up, but my favorite answer (again very loudly) was "American Einstein!" Now that's a name i've never quite heard before!

Back to JOYFUL

well... a few monumental things have happened lately.

First of all, I mentioned in an earlier post my negative attitude creeping in due to job stuff. Actually I'm not sure how specific I was, but that was the problem.

Anyways... Thursday we had a huge faculty meeting and the Pastor of the church (that our school is affiliated with) came and spoke. And let me just say, God is good! My heart was convicted of my negativity. Which is a good thing.

And even better... I originally got into teaching as a ministry. I know the Lord has called me to ministry and I have figured out (through the process of elimnation and other jobs) that the type of ministry is teaching. The classroom is the perfect place for many hours of uninterrupted influence!! Just think of how much your elementary teachers impacted you. I guarantee you still know all of their names! Now imagine if they had been guiding you toward the Lord and a Godly life... the impact is huge!

Well, back to last Thursday. Basically the Pastor spelled out a vision for exactly this type of intentional ministry! He knows some changes need to occur to reach the goal, but that is the goal! So I am totally onboard with a VERY happy heart!! I can't wait to be a part of this ministry and even more exciting, help BUILD it!!

So, my joy is back. The Lord has restored me. I feel refreshed and ready to take on the challenges!! I can't wait for the next school year!