Rockin' the Suburbs: Part II

Seth came to get down.  And get down he did.

Rock on Seth!

Bathroom Update

The bathroom still isn't officially "finished", but I am making progress!

For those of you who were holding out for the galloping horses shower curtain, I am sorry to say that it remains for sale on target.com.  

For those of you who liked the bargain shower curtain, I am sorry to say that it has been returned to the store it came from.  It is back at home, nestled amongst the other bargain treasures.  I decided I liked it more for its bargain status than for...well...the way it actually looked.  It was a bit fancy, and I am just not even a bit fancy.  

The new shower curtain is one solid color.  My family teases me that while growing up, I wanted everything "plain".  I liked plain birthday cakes with plain ice cream.  Well, I guess I have retained my preference for plain.

The main thing still missing is the mirror.  I am still deciding what I want.

My Dad came over and helped me install these cute corner shelves. I wasn't sure what to put on them, and then I got a fabulous suggestion from our friend Annie who is currently working in Germany with her husband Walt.

I went to college with her sister Sarah, and we have remained great friends ever since.  Sarah and Annie (and Molly!) have some of the coolest parents around.  Steve and Kathy are so fun and welcoming and let our whole group of friends crash their house many times during the last 10+ years.  They also let us take their suburban on a road trip from Arkansas to California to Mexico and back during our senior year Spring Break '99. 

What were they thinking?  :-)

Anyway, Annie suggested that I hit up Kathy for some of her beautiful pottery that she makes on her very own pottery wheel out in their shop behind their house.  She thought it would look great on those little corner shelves.  What a wonderful idea since I already HAVE some of her mom's beautiful pottery in my house!  

I was so excited when I discovered that this pot had the exact color of the shower curtain in it!

Thanks, Kathy, for (inadvertently) helping me decorate my new bathroom!

A Question For You:  Is it weird to put a family picture in the bathroom?  

My husband is back!!!!

And he looks like this now:


A lot can change in 17 days! But the Horvath's are so glad to have husband/daddy back at home.

He is wearing his salwar kameez that he bought the first day he was in Pakistan. It is the traditional outfit that most Pakistani men and some women wear daily. The pants he is wearing would literally fit a man that weighs 100 pounds more than Steve. They are one size fits all, and they have a drawstring at the waist that you have to cinch up.

I picked him up at the airport on Saturday morning, and even though it was nighttime in Pakistan, he was able to stay up until 8pm to try to get back on schedule. But he was t-i-r-e-d. And somewhat incoherent at times.

He was detained a bit for extra questioning in customs coming back into the states in Atlanta. I can't imagine why. He has about a month's worth of beard and was wearing this hat when he got off the plane:


He brought back hats for Seth and Caleb. Seth loves his.


Caleb....not so much.

He had an amazing trip and has lots of stories to tell. Some of them I was very glad I did not hear until he was back at home.

Safe. Drinking a cup of Chai in our living room.


Like meeting Danger Face with an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder. In their hotel. They had tea with him.

Or the Pakistani man with the British accent that they met first thing when they got off the plane in Karachi. One of the first things he said to them is, "Are you guys crazy?" Also during the conversation, they told him they were going to ride a train to Multan later during their trip and he said, " You'll be lucky if you don't get drugged and robbed." Isn't that just what you would want to hear when you step foot off the plane into a foreign country?

Steve brought me back several beautiful gifts, and this shawl/scarf is one of them.

This is how covered the devout Muslim women stay when they are in public.


I am doing my best Pakistani pose. Which means I am not smiling. Steve said they would meet people, have tea with them or share a meal, laugh, tell stories, and as soon as someone would bust out a camera - everyone would stop smiling.

I had to turn this picture black and white because the colors were all crazy weird. I would have had Steve re-take it, but he is passed out cold on the floor in Caleb's room. We all were in there tonight reading a bedtime story, and Steve hardly made it through the first book.

I will post some pictures from his trip later. Ta ta for now.

Family Portaits

I realized that I posted way back in October about the fact that we were getting our family portraits taken, and then I never posted the pictures!  A lot of you will have already seen these on either Facebook or our Christmas cards, but this blog is actually taking the place of Scrapbooking for me right now, so I wanted to post them on here so they can be included in our family history for this year.

If you have a blog, did you know that you can get it printed into a book?  Check out this site called Blurb.  I am planning on getting mine printed by years..one for 2007, one for 2008, etc.

My friend Janet Wisner took these pictures for us in November.  The location was old downtown Plano, in behind all the old buildings.  She will be launching her new photography website soon!

These are some of my favorites:

With a Mixture of Glee and Hesitancy

...I will post a picture of the bathroom.  Why am I gleeful?  Because the big work is done, we have a working tub, toilet, and sink, and I don't have to wait on the plumbers for anything else. Hallelujah!

Why am I hesitant?  Because deep down inside, I really don't want to post a picture until EVERYTHING is done. Until the towel bars are hung, the mirror is up, there is at least one picture or decorative thing in the room.  Right now, it is beautiful, but it is also sterile...in a hotel bathroom kind of way.

Alas, several people have emailed me and asked why I haven't posted a picture. So - for you guys, I am posting.  But this isn't going to be the official "Grand Opening" of the bathroom.  I am shooting for the end of next week on that one because Steve comes home a week from Saturday and I want to have something to show for the 17 days he will have been gone!

(Also, Steve has our nice camera in Pakistan, so these pictures were taken with my little ol' point and shooter. The colors aren't quite right, but it is close enough for you to get the picture.)

(Notice Seth has made himself right at home.  He is laying on his back with his feet propped up on the side of the tub.  The kids were SO excited to take their first bath in the new tub!)

New faucet...still working on the kids not playing with it during bath time!

Side view of Caleb's mullet.  If anyone has any objections to how long his hair is, please feel free to come to my house with a pair of scissors and a straight jacket.  And maybe some ear plugs to drown out the screaming...

Mom!  It's been so long since we were clean!  Thanks for finally giving us a bath!

These are some nice little corner shelves I found at Target.

They will go right here to fill up this lonely little corner.

Here is the hardware I still need to hang.

I decided against the galloping horses shower curtain.  Here is the one that I chose.  You can't tell by this picture, but there are some nice icy blue accents in the pattern.  I found it at a Marshall's for $14.99.  Score.  I went to Target first, but the only shower curtains I could find there that I liked were at least $30, some $40!  I just couldn't do it.  I had to bargain hunt.

If anyone has any suggestions for something to put on those little shelves, let me have it!  

From Ashes to Africa

I have a dear, sweet friend Amy who has written a book with her husband Josh.

It is the story of their journey towards choosing adoption, meeting their son Silas, and becoming involved in a community of people who are truly making a difference in people's lives in Africa. They are coordinating the sponsorship of an orphanage in Ethiopia and have already gotten 100 kids sponsored every month for 3 years.  They are also in the process of adopting their second child from Ethiopia...a little girl!

If you would like to support this family, buy their book!  You will not be disappointed.  Amy is a great storyteller, and Josh is an amazing writer.  You can read a sample from the book on their website if you click on the button on my sidebar, or use this link.


And I am pretty sure that there are going to be some pictures of Silas in the book, and he is definitely the cutest little Ethiopian that I know!

Here is proof:

This one kills me. Those lips!

HOUSTON...we have a problem

Well, I just THOUGHT my bathroom was going to be done today.

It seems that we shouldn't have installed a baseboard behind where the vanity was going to go. The vanity is open underneath and sits on legs, which is why we put a baseboard back there.  But the baseboard keeps the vanity from being able to sit all the way against the wall which I guess is no bueno.

No bueno.

The plumbers went home and said they would be back tomorrow.  sniff sniff

Hey, if I have waited this long, I can wait one more day right?

So to pass the time while I wait, I have been online browsing shower curtains and I think I found the perfect one!

Waiting....Waiting....Waiting

The plumbers are here working and I am twiddling my thumbs.  I am just a tad bit excited for it all to be installed and see the finished room.

So this will be sort of a "I don't have anything else to do but post random picture on my blog" kind of post.

This is what things look like right now:

They are currently in the living room installing the sink faucets into the vanity. They also have to install the toilet and move the vanity in and install the granite backsplash above the sinks. I am trying not to hover.

Random Notes:

A couple weekends ago, my friends had some $115 tickets given to them for the Dallas Stars hockey game. At the last minute, they decided not to go and gave the tickets to me. I called my sister up and we headed downtown and went to the game. My first professional hockey game (I have been to a minor league game when my cousin used to play) and it was lots of fun. They won in overtime.

However, I have decided that neither of my sons will be allowed to attend any Dallas Stars games until they are 20...or older. Maybe never. :-) The "Ice" girls that come out and scrape the ice whenever there is a time out are, to put it nicely, scantily clad. During the break time between periods, the "Ice" girls ride around in the Zamboni's and do the pageant girl wave to the crowd. Riding with them each time were 5 or 6 kids, somewhere between the ages of about 8 and 12'ish that got to ride around and wave at the crowd, too. Ummm....uh uh. No thanks.

We were also on the same level as the cheerleaders. Yah, I didn't know hockey had cheerleaders, either. But they do, and you guessed it...scantily clad, and their moves were not really "family friendly" either. I am either getting old and less tolerant, or girls are wearing less clothes these days. Yikes.

*Note: Climbing down off of my soap box.*



Random Note #2 - Steve and I both had the same dream when we were kids. We both wanted a dog that would sleep in bed with us. We have let Jake go in Seth's room a few times recently while Seth is getting to sleep, and one night Steve went in to find Jake (our 80 lb. lab) asleep on Seth's twin bed with him. I don't really know if that is the type of dog we ever dreamed of having sleep with us (my dream was more about my cute little cranky cocker spaniel Nick who would never settle down and stay in the bed unless you continually pet him. As soon as your hand stopped petting, he was gone) but Seth loves it even though Jake takes up half the bed!


Random Note #3 - My husband just called me from Dubai. Do you know where Dubai is? I wasn't exactly sure until I consulted this map


Until I looked at this map, I thought Dubai was in Saudia Arabia. See Saudia Arabia? To the right of Saudia Arabia, there is an orange country named United Arab Emirates. The capital of this country is Abu Dhabi, which I think is just plain fun to say.

Did you try it? It just has a way of rolling of your tongue...

Dubai is on the northern coast of that country. He has a 5 hour layover there, then he has a 5 hour flight to Karachi, Pakistan. Can you see Karachi? It is on the southern coast of Pakistan. He will be there for about 15 days, and then will make the same trek back through Dubai, this time with a 10 hour layover. He thinks they will have some time to get outside the airport and look around a bit.

We are nearing the home stretch....

I hope.

On Monday night, Leah and I put up the sheetrock to finish the walls.  Yesterday and today, I have been texturing the walls (in between cleaning up throw-up out of every nook, cranny and crevice of Caleb's crib, room and toys.  Sigh.)

This is what a good ol' bucket of texture (you thought I was going to say throw-up....), or joint compound, looks like.

It isn't always pink.  In fact, the first 5 gallon bucket of the stuff that I plowed through was gray when wet, then dried white.  This bucket, however, was pink when wet and dried white.  Or in Seth Horvath's opinion, it was vanilla ice cream and strawberry ice cream.  And the grout was "chocolate glue".

So basically, you just slap the stuff up on the wall and spread it around with a trowel to get whatever effect you want.  Essentially, the choice to do this type of texture is an effort to avoid having to actually pay someone who knows what they are doing.  Those people can do the smooth walls.  This gal cannot.

This is what it looks like as it starts to dry.  Certain parts are still darker gray, so you know they are still wet and need more time to dry before you paint.

Here is my Michealangelo-like wall.  

Here is what the countdown to plumbing hook-up looks like:

1.) Texture dries overnight.

2.) At 6:30pm tonight, we have people coming over to help us move the vanity from my Dad's shed to our living room.  This way, it will only need a short move down the hall on Friday.  The thing weighs 400 pounds.  Yikes.

3.) Paint the walls tomorrow, then call Leah to come over and install the base boards and caulk around the tub.

4.) Friday morning, the plumbers will be here bright and early.  We will move the vanity in, they will install the toilet, hook up the shower and tub faucet, and install the two sink faucets.

**The UPS man delivered my two new sink faucets today. I ran to the door with texture all over my hands to prevent him from doing the standard "bang, bang, bang...ring" the doorbell because Caleb was asleep. I was extremely happy to see my faucets arrive. Maybe a little too happy because I think he thought there was something wrong with me. But it could have just been the white gooey weird stuff all over my hands.**

Here they are in all their graceful beauty. I know. I know. I am talking about a faucet. Immerse yourself in a bathroom remodel and then see what crazy things YOU start saying!

Here is the stock photo I pulled off the EBay auction. Great EBay find! These were about $50 cheaper than any I could find at Home Depot or Lowe's, and since I had to buy 2, that added up to serious savings people. AND, they are really heavy, well made faucets. Score.

We won't talk about what still has to be done after that.  It's mostly cosmetic, and I just want to revel in the fact that by Friday afternoon, we will have a usable (and beautiful) bathroom!

California Moment #2 - Corona Del Mar

When you're 4 and 2, there is nothing better than a long stretch of beach to explore, rocks to climb, and tide pools to search for crabs in.

(I love that you can see the sand flying out of his hand in this one)

Happy New Year!

Well, I am still recovering from Tile Tuesday.  We picked up the tile saw at 7:30am and, except for a few short breaks, worked all the way until midnight.  (Home improvement projects always look easier and quicker than they really are.)

Here is Leah cutting tile, complete with head lamp because, at this point in the day, it was after dark and we had the saw set up outside.

We had some funny moments with this saw. For one thing, it kept shocking Leah, but it wasn't shocking Steve or me. My Dad finally told us it was probably that Leah's shoes didn't have thick enough soles. Sure enough, after she changed shoes, she was fine.

We tiled the shower walls first. When I say "we", what I really mean is Leah tiled and did all the cutting, and I did all the handing her things she needed and carrying the tiles back and forth. I hope I did my gopher job well. I had some good practice at that growing up and handing my Dad tools.

We were at the accent line of tile, and we weren't sure if we should do two or three tiles high. We asked Steve, and he said, "Why don't you just add another accent line a little bit higher?" We loved the idea, and Steve was proud later as we were all talking about how much we liked it with the two lines of accent :-)


Here is what it looks like currently.

(And if you are wondering, we don't have a miniature tub. The lens I was using to capture this picture somewhat distorts things when you are close range like this. But it is great for getting a shot of a whole room while standing in the room!)

The adhesive should be set, and the next step is to grout the tile. Then we still have to repair all the walls and re-texture, paint, add the shower fixtures, install the vanity and sink faucets, put in a toilet, purchase and install lighting over the vanity, put in baseboards, towel bars......

I think we still have a lot to do.

The end.