3 little Miracles

3 little Miracles

Friday, January 29, 2010

Can't help but Dream . . . . . . .

I love looking at real estate even though we aren't in the market and even if we were in the market it's WAY out of our price range.  This beautiful home had me at the doorstep, it is way bigger then what we would need, but with two active boys and hopes of another child . . . . . .space is ALWAYS welcome.
 
  
  
  
LOVE LOVE LOVE this kitchen and the use of black in the island base.
  
  
Spacious ground floor Master Bedroom
Generous size upstairs Bonus Room
 
Type Single Family Detached
Price  $799,000
Location  Morehead City , NC 28557
Country  USA
MLS#
or ID#
 

Beds  4
Baths  4
Half Baths  1
Sq.Ft  4,566

A wonderful home located in this soundfront community that offers a soundfront pool and day dock. The home abounds with details and quality along with oversized rooms and plenty of storage. Four bedrooms with four and one half baths, plus a home office, plus a bonus room means you will not be wanting for more.

Features
General
  1-5 Years Old
  Residential
Indoor
  Mixed Flooring
  1 Fireplace
  Crawl Space
  Central
  Heat Pump
Rooms
  Great Room
  Eat-in Kitchen
  Designer Kitchen
  Formal Dining Room
  Den/Study
Outdoor
  Well
  2 Car Garage
  Septic
  Under 1/2 Acre
  Other Style
  Asphalt Shingle
  Frame/Wood
Amenities
  Hardwood Floors
  Fenced Yard
  Area Fishing
  Tile Floors
  Area Pool
  Boat Access/Dock
  Deck
  Two-story Family Room
Special Markets
  Luxury Properties
  Premium Property
Rooms' Dimensions
  Great Room: 18.4 x18.8
  Kitchen And Breakfast Area: 14.6 x26
  Master Bath: 12 x14
  Master Bedroom: 14 x31
  Foyer: 20 x11.4
  Dining Room: 13.7 x15
  Bedroom Four: 12.7 x14.3
  Bedroom Three: 13.4 x14.9
  Utility Room: 9.2 x7
  Bedroom Two: 11.7 x13.5
  Bonus Room: 14 x27.8
  Home Office: 15.4 x13.4

Show Us Your Life - Fashion Tips

 
Kelly's activity for today in her Show Us your Life series is - Fashion Tips.  Now I will be TOTALLY honest, I am not a fashionista by any means, nor do I have the body to really be one.  But over the years I have found the things that work for my plus size figure and gathered even more information from places like MyShape, Fashion-411 and the show What Not to Wear MyShape really is my favorite, because you literally plug in your measurements and the styles you lean toward, I am more classic, romantic, with a touch of trendy fashions.  MyShape will make suggestions and provide sources for clothes that flatter YOU. Do I buy from them all the time? NO WAY!  But, I use MyShape's fashion suggestions to buy in some of my local stores and find outfits that model after their suggestions.

Believe me over the years I have made some stupid fashion mistakes trying to dress like smaller woman and trying to cover myself to hide my figure, but I just can't do it  anymore and so over the years I feel like I have found what works and I am sticking to it.  For my day to day SAHM style you will find me in jeans and a comfortable shirt OR you will find my in my workout gear on gym days (MWF).  I dress for my comfort plain and simple and I don't really care if someone else is impressed or not.  I wear very light makeup on days I am not at the gym(I don't wear any at all to the gym), and you will generally find my hair pulled back into a hair clip because I really can't stand to have my hair flopping into my face, I am thinking of cutting it again.  BUT staying on Target with the topic, here are my four fashion tips for plus size ladies or ladies with softer curves like myself ;-)

#1 thing I have found that works for me, V-neck or open neck lines, the less pattern the better.  This takes the focus off my multiple chins and ugly thick neck.  YES I can say that about myself, because I am honest with myself and because I am working on getting rid of both of these body issues, HA.  I mostly wear 3/4 length sleeves and cap sleeves, but I am not afraid to wear a tank top and show my arms, my arms are what they are for now.  AND if you ever saw my wedding dress, you would know I am not afraid to show my arms (my wedding dress was a halter style).
 
 
And dresser tops like these from Jessica London 
#2 I wear DARK colored jeans that are long and have a boot cut, this lengthens my rather short 5'3" pudgy frame I make sure when I am buying jeans, they don't have a lot of detail or flapped pockets on the back, I don't need extra baggage.  I also don't like jeans that have details on the legs, or cargo pockets, again the idea is to draw the idea down the body length and make me seem longer.  My favorite jean is one I found at Belk by Kim Rogers.
Warmer months I am found wearing these style pants most of the time
both of these can be found at J.Jill
#3 I wear dresses that follow my plus size hourglass form instead of adding extra material or SAC like dresses that just make me look larger because of all the extra fabric.  I LOVE wrap dresses and dresses that speak of classic styles.  I can say of most of my dresses, that even as I loose weight, I will have them altered and keep them for many years to come because they are well made and speak of fashion style that will last forever.
Here are just a few of my favorites from my closet
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Top Left to Right:  Coldwater Creek, Cato, Jessica London
Bottom Left to Right:  Target, Ulla Popkin, and Crossing Point 
(this company is no longer in business)
#4 Jewelry.  Fact is I don't wear a lot of jewelry, on a daily basis I wear a small pair of basic silver hoops or small silver studs with my birthstone in them.  The only other jewelry I wear on any regular basis is my Pandora bracelet with my Southern Living at HOME charms on them or my silver charm bracelet that I have been adding charms to for 14 years now.  I tend to be like a lot of pieces by a company called Silpada.

  • Opt for a monochromatic outfit where your top and skirt or trousers are the same color or hue.
  • Wear blazer and cardigans long and unbuttoned for maximum vertical lines.
  • Oblong scarves are a great accessory when  tied loosely around the neck, creating a long, vertical line.
  • Match pantyhose hue to skirt or pant and shoe color to create a slender silhouette.
  • Avoid chokers,  long necklaces or pendants are more slimming.
  • Choose shoes with at least a 1 inch heel -- the taller the better.
  • Elongate the neck with open necklines such as v-necks, sweetheart necklines and vertical cowl necks.
Like I said, I am not a fashionista, I just try to dress to flatter my figure as best as I can without giving away the FARM.  I believe I dress for my age most of the time, and currently I am pretty happy with the styles I choose for myself.  I hope you enjoy some of my resources and styling guides.  Hope on over to Kelly's Korner to see what other's have to say in regards to Fashion Tips. 

Follow Friday

 
Welcome to Friday Follow celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades!  They invite us to join them every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs.  It is all about sharing and having fun.

Here's how YOU can join the celebration:
  • * Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky  on one of their sites. Only need to add to one blog linky.
  • * Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.  They will follow you back.
  • * Follow as many blogs as you like
  • * Comment on the blogs telling them you're from Friday Follow
  • * Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow
The Blog Hop is the same at each of their three hosts blogs so you do not have to add your blog at each site. Just one - but you can follow each host blog.  Here is the great part, they will follow you back.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Update on Team DIY Storage challenge and what I have gotten done

On January 12th I joined the Team DIY Storage challenge for my out of control storage spaces and my home office.  Our re-organized storage spaces were supposed to be done by January 31st.  WELL, here we are at the end of the month and I got our master bedroom closet organized, but nothing more, and started on my office closet, but didn't make it past pulling all the boys rainy day activities out into a rolling bin, and lets not even mention the office.

SO, determined to make SOME progress and be able to submit at least one of my spaces back to the Team DIY Storage challenge by the 31st . . . . .  I hit the boys closet today even with the boys under foot.

Boys Closet BEFORE


 
 

Boys Closet AFTER
Beginning of the process today, I moved all the family games to the top shelf of the boys closet.


Pulled Jon's 18-24 month clothes out to be sorted, stored, and bagged for salvation army.

 
 
So after pulling the clothes and the large bin of Davey's outgrown clothes (saved for Jon) from the closet I started with labeling the toy bins because Davey is starting to read some and I want to help him recognize more words that he sees every day.

Then I organized the shelves at the end of the closet

I put all the boys linens and blankets down on lower shelves.  And extra house linens, table linens, and special baby  momentos on higher shelves.  On the service trunk I put the boys basket of stuffed animals which aren't played with all the time but still accessible.

Finished product


Other organization 
that had to happen to make this possible:
My bed became a sorting area for clothes the boys had grown out of

Bins were filled and marked for the storage unit.  (I don't physically label the bin since I re-sort and reuse storage bins all the time, so what I do is write what is in the bin on a piece of paper with PMarker and then put that in a plastic bag.  I do this because I am always afraid that somehow if I just put the paper in there, it would somehow bleed onto clothes since it is stored in a hot storage unit)

Finally, the bins and bags were loaded into my car to be taken to the storage unit and salvation army tomorrow.



All done organizing for today, projects #2, #3, and #4 will have to wait until tomorrow, HA!

You Capture Challenge - Colors

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One of the blogs that I have started reading recently, Dancing in the Rain, did a post today on another blog that she follows, I Should Be folding Laundry.  Her blog post today caught my attention because the post was about a challenge that Beth from I should be folding Laundry gave regarding photo's . . . . .  and she had me at hello, HA!  So, this is Beth's Challenge:  "All I want you to do is pick up your camera and take a picture of something that you love.  It can be a rock or your kitchen sink or your child’s toes, just capture it.  Oh and since it’s supposed to be a challenge, try to do it WITHOUT your flash".  Each week Beth will be issuing another photographic challenge (I will post next weeks challenge at the bottom of this post)

So because I LOVE taking pictures and have a ton, I jumped on the chance to post some pictures.  This weeks challenge is a focus on colors, I took these pictures with a friends Canon EOS 50D, my normal daily camera is a GE 12.2 E1250 TW, I borrowed his camera because I am seriously thinking of a major upgrade.


These first two photos were taken outside when my boys were playing on one of our warmer days.  Typical for my little Jon, he found water and dirt and MADE MUD.  He kept loosing his green croc in the mud he made.



This photo was on a day when we dragged the kayak's down to the river.  I love the POP of the boat colors.

Finally, this picture is of my kitty Crocket.  I loved his look and I love the brightness of the blanket colors under him.









 


FACES!

Get up close and show us some cute, handsome, stubbly, soft-skinned, furry, adorable, beautiful faces!  Even yours, if you’d like!

HAPPY CAPTURING, FRIENDS!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Won't you Read to Me? - Sleepy Bears


This is my first week participating in In the Warm Hold of your Loving Mind's - Won't you Read to Me? weekly event. I have said before on my blog, that I am totally head over heals in love with children's book and I have PLENTY to choose from for this weekly activity and to read to my boys for many years to come.

The book I want to share with you is one of my favorites and top on the list for my boys favorites, they choose this one all the time.  Sleepy Bears written by Mem Fox was actually given to us by my best friend Erin who bought one for my boys because she said her own children loved it so much.  Sleepy Bears is illustrated by Kerry Argent and was written in 1999, this book is so beautifully illustrated that the pictures alone will draw you into the pages of this visually delicious children's book.
 
This adorable story is about a Mother Bear who realizes its time to bed down for winter, but her six cubs don't want to go to bed.  So, Mother Bear coaxes her cubs with the cozy invitation of curling up on the big feather bed under the quilt and each getting their own special rhyme.  
 
The author does a wonderful job creating the image of a chilly winter day and the overwhelming call that a cozy quilt creates on the crest of a cold night.  The whole bear family curls up together and mother bear watches to see who looks the most sleepy and Baxter bear yawns a BIG yawn.  (It is at this moment that my boys and I pretend BIG YAWNS).
Mother Bear softly tells Baxter of his pirate adventures on the open sea, chasing after other pirates, and finding his treasures, and Baxter gently falls asleep to the dreams his mother paints with the rhyme she created just for him.  After Baxter falls to sleep Mother Bear watches as each of her cubs become sleepier, and sleepier, and she creates a special rhyme designed for each of the remaining five cubs.
 
  
 
 
In the end all the Bear family is falls asleep even Mother Bear, and they all rest until spring.

Sleepy Bears is a fantastic story that you will love reading to your children night after night, and even if your little one chooses for you to read it every night of the same week, you will love it, I promise you.

Wordless Wednesday


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