i hate viruses

Oh I promise I'm not turning in to a once-a-week blogger. Actually, this latest dry spell isn't even my fault. (Well, mainly not.) My computer has some virus on it that - get THIS - attacks my antivirus software, and then proceeds to make my computer think and act like I'm out of memory no matter how much space I clear up. I mean really - who comes up with these things? They need to GET A LIFE! Ugh. But I've got the hubby working on it now and hopefully it will be up and running again soon. Until then - I've hijacked his computer for a while ;)

But anyway - we've had another fairly productive week at our house. James cleared out all the remaining boxes in the garage. Meaning, PRAISE JESUS, I can finally park in there now! (Means a lot now that our days are reaching 103...) I got the Jack-and-Jill bathroom painted. It's been under construction ever since we moved in, Kilz-ed it and ripped out all the fixtures. Sneak peek...





I love the way the light mossy green is turning out in between Knox's blue stripes and baby girl's brown and pink. We still have to hang some fixtures, paint the trim, and put up a new vanity light, but it is SO very close! And already a far cry from the royal blue MESS it was...



Good call on James' part for replacing the big commercial mirror with 2 smaller polished edge ones above each sink. Opens up that room and makes it look much more homey :) Maybe by this time next week Knox's 597 bath toys will be gracing his OWN tub...

We also got the nursery painted and the crib put together this past week...

Love, love, LOVING the chocolate brown with the antique white! So clean...



(James obviously still needs to edge out the ceiling.) But how sweet is that plaque over her balcony? It was one of the first things I picked up when I found she was a girl :) And although I adore those double french doors... They are screaming for window treatments! You'd think you were witnessing the glorious reappearing if you ever stepped foot in there in the morning and caught that sun.

I found the cutest little custom boutique shop for her bedding and I'm ordering swatches TODAY so we can get the ball rolling on that. We're still looking for the remaining pieces to her furniture set and I may decide to do some kind of fun accent wall behind her bed once I pick her fabrics.

Yep, we've done a lot to this house in that past 2 months we've been here, but it seems like there still SO much to be done. I finally sat down the other day and typed up a 'Master List' of honey-do's and hung it up on the inside of our cabinet...



See what I mean - A LOT! I tried to arrange them in to what needs to be done first, and anything that's going to require a purchase - big or small - is highlighted in green to help us better prioritize. I like to call these "family projects" but truth be told, this is everything I can't do on my own so it ends up being more of a James list, although I try to help as much as possible. But don't worry, I'm not slacking...



I made out my own 'Just Jess' list! As you can tell we're concentrating on finishing up the upstairs first (the J&J bath, nursery, etc.), then the yard, and hopefully one of these days the downstairs will get a little attention ;)

Of course we also celebrated Father's Day Sunday and... James' THIRTIETH birthday Monday. At 7 years his minor - I'm having too much fun with the 30 jabs! Since I can't really buy him anything without him being like 'What the heck did you spend $$$ on?!' I usually always try to cook him something special. This year he picked Pecan Encrusted Chicken*. Good choice! And then he got cards from both his babes and a new Willow Tree figurine to add to our collection...



I got him a different 'Daddy and Baby' one when Knox was born, so although it's called New Dad, this will always be baby girl. (James suggested me some how making a tiny bow for her head!) And for his birthday, he went to Lowe's and picked out a new something-or-another for his tool collection.

Oh and fun fact : Some of our church friends had their twin baby girls via surrogacy on James' birthday! In all my mother-baby nursing career, I've never come across a surrogacy situation, so it has been such a blessing to watch them walk through this whole process. And the thought of them being able to finally bring their babies home yesterday about made me cry! I signed up to bring them dinner Wednesday, and although I'm pleased to help out the new mommy and daddy, it's really all just a ploy to get my hands on those sweet things ;) (I swear, you'd think with working with newborns I'd get my fill!) I foresee many foofy, frilly playdates with the A girls in our near future...

Tonight James and I are thinking of treating ourselves to a night out. He's got a gift certificate to a FANCY restaraunt down town. One of those ones he's always taking his clients to, and never his wife! Definitely nicer than any place I've ever been, so I guess if our sitter is still up for it I need to dig through my closet and find something that (a) fits, and (b) doesn't have paint all over it!

*Since James is still on his diet (over 12lbs in 2 weeks, it must work!) I changed up my recipe a bit this time by leaving the butter out of the liquid batter, so it was just egg and honey. It tasted just as good! Just a little less, well... Buttery ;) And I think I've improved on this recipe a bit by using chicken tenderloins, Panko breadcrumbs, and running my pecans through the food processor to grind them in to a finer consistency. All seem to make for a crisper finished product. Oh, and I usually add honey dijon mustard to my liquid batter but we were out so I just sprinkled some dry mustard in with my breading along with dry parsley flakes, salt, and pepper. I baked the tenderloins on 350 for 25 minutes and they were perfect. Family fave :)