Mudroom Thoughts

I LOVE home improvement/decorating. I always have several house projects brewing in my head. I have to let them brew because it takes me a while to decide what I want. Then it takes me even longer to decide that I'm ready to spend the money and make a permanent change to my house. This process usually takes a year or more. We'll be coming up on three years in our new house this August. All this time I've been trying to come up with ideas for our mudroom. I've been seeing mudroom makeovers all over the blogosphere and Pinterest but none of them work for me.

via bhg.com

First of all, where are they really putting their coats? I know I have an unusual obssession with outerwear, resulting in what is likely an above-average number of coats for our family, but come on. Those hooks just won't do it in our house.

Second, I like to hang my coats on a hanger. It keeps the shape of the coat better, especially if it is tailored.

Third, where are the rest of their shoes? I keep my heels in the closet in my bedroom, but the everyday wear-type stay in the mudroom. They're too dirty to go anywhere else in the house. And there are several pairs of them. For each of us.

So here's what our mudroom looks like right now:

It's only about five and a half feet from the hall door to the garage door and seven and a half feet from the left wall to the back of the closet. There used to be closet doors but we took them off because they were just getting in the way. When guests are here we shut the hallway door to hide the ugliness.

I'd love to have hooks on the left wall for the kids to hang their backpacks and a place for them to put a pair of shoes. I was about to buy these RETUR Recycling bins from IKEA, which I thought would be perfect for storing shoes, but then my local IKEA decided to stop carrying them (sigh).

This isn't even all of our coats. Feeling optimistic about warmer weather, I took some out and hung them in a wardrobe we have in the garage. The cubes are working okay for our shoe storage. We each have one, which is nice, but they are constantly falling out and we have to keep out of season shoes somewhere else, which is kind of a pain during transitional weather like we've been having.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but there are a couple feet of unused space above this shelf which I would love to start using.

I'm thinking we'll take out the wall that held the closet doors so it's all one big open space. I'd love to have a place to sit to put on/take off shoes. I need the full length of hanger space. And a place to keep the vacuum and other cleaning supplies would be great. And I want it to be pretty. Anyone want to draw me up some plans?

Orlando Vacation, Part II

Emma with her souvenir of choice.

The next day was our magical Magic Kingdom day. Thanks to smaller January crowds and fast passes we were able to do just about every attraction in the park. The weather was gorgeous. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.




Audrey was able to wow the crowd with her mad hula hooping skills.





Proof that I was actually there. This is the only picture I'm in
out of the few hundred we have of the trip.



The last thing we did was visit Mickey. With a stroke of luck, Minnie was there too.

Orlando Vacation, Part I

As a Christmas present to the girls, we took them on a trip to Orlando. They had two days off school in January and we thought that would be the perfect time to go. When we first started talking about going, we were planning on driving. But then Greg figured out that his frequesnt flier miles would cover five of the six of us (yes, he has been travelling that much lately) and it was a no-brainer.

It snowed the morning we left. It made going to Florida
in the middle of winter that much sweeter.

It was Emma's first time on a plane. She was so nervous but she ended up loving it. When we landed she was so mad and confused that the plane didn't take us to Disney World.

We had dinner at Steak 'n Shake

 then went to Downtown Disney, where the kids tried on just about every pair of ears,

got a sprinkling of pixie dust,

rocked out at a dance party,

and rode the carousel.

The next day we went to Clearwater, a beach on the Gulf coast. It was a little chilly to be swimming at the beach, but it was fun anyway.

We spent the rest of the day warming up at the heated pool and hot tub at the resort.

 

In Case You Missed It

Here is our appearance on The Nate Show.

 

Yes, that is a shot of just Nate and me. You're jealous, I know.

Happy Valentine's Day

Formula for a Perfect Day

One thoughtful Christmas gift from a loving husband

Two awesome grandparents to watch the kids

A short drive up to New York City

Lots of walking around and seeing some sights:

Columbus Circle

Central Park

Broadway

Times Square

Watching dancers through the windows at Alvin Ailey

Two tickets to see the Nate Berkus Show

Dinner at a tiny and most delicious Thai restaurant

Fantacizing about what it would be like if we didn't have kids and lived in New York City

Sightseeing in D.C.

Ahhh... Do you hear that? The quiet, peaceful sound? That's the sound of my kids back in school. I really did enjoy having them home, but it's just so nice having my quiet daytimes back. Greg took off work for the whole break and it was awesome having him around.

On Friday the 23rd, we took a day trip to D.C. There are so many places there that I haven't been yet so our theme for the day was "Sights We've Never Seen." We started out at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It is closed on the weekends so we figured this was the perfect chance to go.



Probably the closest Greg will ever get to $1M.



After that, we ran (literally) back to our car then drove and parked near our next destination, Ford's Theater. We managed to get tickets for the last tour by just a few minutes. This was our favorite site of the day. We had an awesome guide who told so many details from the days leading up to Lincoln's assassination that you don't hear in history class. We even got to go right up to the booth where he was shot. Then we went to the Petersen house across the street and saw the room where he died.

Outside Ford's Theater



Next, we went to the Old Post Office Pavillion. I had never even heard of this place until a few days before. They have a food court where we had lunch and there is a bell tower that is the second highest point in D.C. (The Washington Monument is still closed because of earthquake damage.) We went to the top of the tower and had a very windy and cold 360 degree view of the city.

Then we went to the National Archives and saw the the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. They also had an exhibit going on called "What's Cooking Uncle Sam?" It explored the government's effect on the American diet. It was interesting.



Next, (Are you tired yet? Our kids were.) we drove to the temple to see the lights.