02.13.07
Posted in ElisaLou at 4:28 pm by elisa
It has been snowing/sleeting since midnight last night. We got a lot of snow and then it switched to sleet.
The kids are home again. In fact Andy is now home because they pretty much have closed down the whole city. Of course he is working from home. The dogs love the snow. I like it too, it’s pretty, and it actually isn’t that cold.
Shiloh loves it and it is fun to watch her bounce around. She is always wiped out when she comes in, and wet and cold. She loves to get wrapped up her blankie and sleep by the fire.
Blake loves to play outside, especially in the snow.
The backyard is a winter wonderland.
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02.10.07
Posted in Life at 8:24 pm by elisa
Today we went out shopping for a new floor for our basement. First we thought we were going to do carpet, then we decided a wood laminate made more sense, but the flooring we came home with instead was cork. Cork seemed to be the perfect choice for our basement as it insulates against both temperature and noise. It’s easy to care for and not too cool to the touch.
What I really like is that cork is a natural product. The trees are not cut down, only the bark is used. And 9 years later it is ready to be harvested again and therefore considered a “green” product. It is also self heaing, much like my cutting mat! It has to sit in our house for a week before it can be put down on the floor. Jim is supposed to be done painting and putting up trim by Tuesday and on Friday my in-laws are flying in from Texas. Perfect timing!
This whole thing got me thinking how it would make much more sense for my husband to work for a place like Lowes or Home Depot rather than selling womens underwear. We need a good discount on building supplies. I mean there are only so many pairs of underwear a girl needs, but the home remodeling projects are endless. Hmmm, must google where the corporate offices are. Hang on.
Ok it looks like Lowe’s is located outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. That would work for me.
Home Depot is in Atlanta. I don’t know much about Atlanta. Probably a little warmer than here.
Speaking of weather, pack warm, Grandma and Grandad - we are in for a bunch of snow next week.
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02.09.07
Posted in ElisaLou at 1:53 pm by elisa
Here is a great idea for Valentine’s Day- besides an Elisalou Gift certificate of course.
SoapyLove Soaps.
Very cool soaps- you can check out her website here
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02.08.07
Posted in Life at 6:19 pm by elisa
This is for my mother-in-law Susan who wanted to see pictures of our basement remodel (in progress).
Our basement has two sides. One side had paneling up when we moved in but no real walls, only cinderblock. We tore down the paneling because of water damage. Andy dug a new french drain from the back of our house by the screened porch all the way to the curb. Because of that we will never move 
Even the neighborhood kids helped. Large trees are nice but when their roots grow into your drainage pipes it can quickly cause a wet basement. Then we had new gutters with gutter topper thingys installed. An expensive but well worth it project. Result is a dry basement. We are lucky that our basement has really high ceilings, a rare thing in an older house. It really helps with the feel of the room.
Here is what it looked like before
This is the main room, a cinderblock wall goes down the middle and supports the house. One side is this open area, the other side is storage, mechanicals, and a crawl space. It will eventually be a bathroom and the mechanicals.
We had Jim bust through part of the wall (an area that had a workshop). He had to put a big support beam up
Here are some in progress pictures.
I had him put beadboard up the stairs and carve out these little niches under the stairs. To the left is storage and will eventually be a bathroom.
I am really weird about details and one thing that I HAD to have was a square newel post. Very traditional. LOVE it.
here is the wall that was busted out and the built-ins that he carved into the wall. Behind the built-in walls are mechanicals. We had to do a drop down ceiling in this small room due to vents overhead and we wanted the ability to get up in the ceiling for the remodel of our kitchen. Yes our whole house needs remodeling! I am really glad the rest of the basement could have a regular dry-walled ceiling with can lights.
That’s it so far. Still trying to decide on the floor. Probably go with a wood laminate. I’m not a big carpet fan- 3 boys, 3 dogs- well you get the idea.
I would love love love to put my studio down here but it’s going to be a playroom for the boys. The studio is destined for bigger and better places.
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Posted in ElisaLou at 4:27 pm by elisa
So my mom calls me today and says, “I just can’t figure out how you do it. After watching your kids for a few days I’m just not sure how you take care of them and still run your business, grocery shop, clean your house, etc- at least without going insane.”
See that’s my secret, I am insane. That and the fact that I don’t grocery shop (I ask Andy to pick up milk on the way home from work) and we eat a lot of take-out.
Today is one of those days when I would just like to lock myself in a room and have no one say my name all day. Why does this always happen when Andy is out of town? Anyway, to give you an example of how my days sometimes go around here- the boys actually did go to school today (although they are off tomorrow for some teacher day). Cole was mad, and it was my fault apparently, that he didn’t have school. Grumpy. all. day.
I slipped on the ice in my driveway and fell on my butt (while holding the puppy). My kids laughed at me.
The puppy peed in my car.
Cole spilled his High-C (which was red) all over the inside of my car.
Cole locked me out of the house while I was taking the puppy out to pee, I wasn’t wearing a coat.
I did a mad dive over our old dog when I saw the puppy trying to poop by the back door. I grabbed her and took her outside and stood there freezing while she played and never pooped. Apparently I scared the poop back up.
There are white footprints all over my hardwood floors, Cole went down to the basement to see Jim (who is painting today) and I guess stepped in some primer. Now I get to scrape it all off.
But…….
When the puppy peed in the car, most of it went on Cole’s tote bag for school. He looked at her and said, “why did you do that? that bag is special!”
I told him that I would wash it for him and he said, “thanks mom you are the best mom in the world.”
Then I got an email from Mighty Goods saying they featured a product of mine. This was included in their email
“Mighty Goods is a shopping blog dedicated to finding the small bits of happiness that money can buy. It was selected as one of Time Magazine’s 50 Cool Sites of the Year, and was chosen Best Shopping Site by both Forbes Magazine and Business Week. “
So that’s pretty cool although the picture they used stinks.
I am not superwoman- just crazy. And I am off to order some pizza.
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02.07.07
Posted in ElisaLou at 10:37 am by elisa
Really, this is getting a little old. Now it’s not the cold temps but lots of snow. And get this the kids don’t have school on Friday- teacher work day. So if they go tomorrow it will be one day this week. I don’t mind having them around when they don’t fight.
My basement guy Jim just got here. The basement is looking good. I am tempted to skip the idea of the kids playroom and claim it for my own. Hmm….
Gotta go box up some do-dad holders that are off. Look at this cute nautical one
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02.06.07
Posted in ElisaLou, Life at 9:29 am by elisa
Well we are all home- again. With very cold temps. At least today we might get some snow. That makes it a little better.
In the meantime the dogs are rolling around playing on the floor, the boys are playing lots of video games and I am sewing.
This bag is so cute I couldn’t resist putting it up before it heads out the door today.
More Amy Butler fabric on the way- I couldn’t resist ordering more. I love it.
AND- check out the website- NEW fabrics are up. Yay!
I took one picture while we were in Florida and here it is. Andy and our rental car, a sunshine yellow PT Cruiser. We just knew that everyone was laughing at us. But then we realized that everyone drives a PT Cruiser in Florida (although most weren’t sunshine yellow).
Notice the car behind Andy? Another PT Cruiser. Florida- the land of PT Cruisers and Vera Bradley Bags! But, check out those cool “sharpy trees” (as Cole calls them) behind him. Ahhh, tropical land is good.
And just in case you were wondering, yes she is still cute
For some reason our dogs love carseats
So if you live in the Midwest, try to stay warm. And please please bring your animals inside. Sad stories on the news about dogs left outside.
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02.05.07
Posted in ElisaLou at 8:30 am by elisa
It’s too cold! They closed school because it is too cold. Just seems a little strange- I grew up in Michigan where my hair always froze on the way to school.
My kids of course are thrilled, and I am happy too, we can hunker down and not go any where. As long as they let me sew.
It is looking like tomorrow might be the same way.
A big fire in the fireplace and a dog for each kid to snuggle up to.
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02.04.07
Posted in Life at 6:59 pm by elisa
No, it’s not just cold- it’s frigid. I don’t mind cold weather but when the temps go into the negatives (which I don’t remember ever happening while I have lived here) I don’t like it. At all. Guess it doesn’t help that I have just flown in from a warm local.
Of course this cold weather makes me think of summer, beaches, vacation plans. Our tentaive plans are to do another K family beach trip down in Texas. We had a really good time the last time we went and there were plenty of kids to play. This year we are thinking that we may want to stop in Austin because our Austin is now old enough to really appreciate the coolness of the city that he was named after. The place where Andy and I met. So while I was sitting here eating some chili and trying to keep warm, I googled a few things to remind myself what there is to do. And that of course leads to this.
A development that we have looked at before, located on the lake. And yes, I prefer old homes but since I am day dreaming about warmth that means a big house with a big pool and spa and 360 views of Lake Austin.
I keep reminding myself of what the summers are like down there but at this point even that is sounding good.
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02.03.07
Posted in ElisaLou, Life at 8:52 pm by elisa
So nice to be back home even though it is cold cold cold.
We dodged a tornado and had two quiet dinners.
The Orlando airport was a breeze- no hold-ups with my expired license. Weird how security varies from airport to airport.
Happy to see three little boys and three doggie faces.
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