Evelina is 4!!

Evelina is one lucky 4 year old.  She had a wonderful birthday weekend filled with fun, family,  friends...and Frozen.  What more could you ask for?   On her actual birthday we kept up with the tradition of visiting the Southwick Zoo.  Saturday, we had a tasty and sweet girls lunch at the American Girl store.  Sunday was her Frozen birthday party.  Click HERE for some photos.  

Rendering Vs. Reality

I can't believe how realistic the rendering was. Whatever software was used is fabulous!! I like the real thing better though :-)

The {Empty} Basement Reveal!!

The basement renovation finished up on Friday!!  We love the results!!  It looks just beautiful and we can't wait to start using the space.  It will take a little while to furnish, but at least we have a couch on order and an entertainment credenza purchased.  I'm most excited about the mudroom area.  It makes so much more sense for us to take coats and shoes off downstairs after coming in from the garage instead of walking all the way upstairs and into our foyer.

Here are some before and afters:

Basement Paint Selection

Floors were laid down yesterday!!  We are really happy with our floor and tile choices. 

And, after much deliberation, we have chosen Shaker Beige by Benjamin Moore for the walls.

Shaker Beige in action

via

via

Basement Flooring

Final decisions were made on our flooring last week.  We've decided to go a little lighter with the vinyl flooring and have chosen the lighter stained option below (the one on the bottom was our original choice).  We were just worried our original choice would be too dark for the space. 

We also choose a 12"x24" slate-like porcelain tile for the mudroom area. 

When the tiling is complete, it will look similar to the room below.  As much as I loved the herringbone pattern mentioned in my previously post, we thought it would look a little strange up against the vinyl/wood since the width of the tile would have been the same as the vinyl. 

via

Basement Clean Out

I love me some before and after photos!!  This was how we spent the weekend...well, Chris mostly.  The basement has already been transformed and most of the framing was completed today.  Yay!!

 

 

Garage holding what we have left....we can still fit one car since all of the junk on the left has been trashed.

 

Updated Basement Plans

Updated plans for the mudroom bench and storage under the stairs.  Can't wait to see how all of this turns out!!  Work begins on Monday, but our works begins this weekend when we have to clean out the basement...no fun.

Basement Color Palette

As much as I'm drawn to grays and golds these days (dining room, kitchen...and hopefully re-painting the living room and front entry soon), I would like to do something a little bit different in the basement.  I'd like a warm space but not too dark since there are only 2 tiny windows that will be exposed.  We will have lots of canned lights to brighten up the space, in addition to some ambient light so hopefully it doesn't feel like a cavern.

This room caught my eye and I really like the beige and blue combination.  Perhaps with white accent furniture instead of darker wood-tones.  My goal will to try to prevent it from looking too beach-y/nautical. 

Potential color palette:  Benjamin Moore Bleeker Beige, Hudson Bay and Simply White

This is the flooring we have chosen for the living area. It's actually a vinyl floor that looks like wood, great for basements and can take a lot of wear and tear.  We still need to go search for mudroom tile.  

Preparing to Finish the Basement

We are so excited that our wish to finish the basement is going to come true!!  Ever since Daphne was born and we lost our guest room, the need to finish the basement has gotten greater. It will be so nice to have extra living space, a place for guests to sleep and a mudroom....oh how I have dreamed of a mudroom.  Construction is set to begin on March 10th.  Of course, we aren't looking forward to cleaning out the basement, although I can't wait to purge and organize!! 

We received some preliminary plans from our contractor (the son of the builder who built our house) and it's exciting to "see" how the space will look once it's completed.  We will definitely be making some changes to this design, but for the most part it is a good representation.  The space isn't huge (since our garage takes up half the basement) but allows for a nice comfortable mudroom/family room.  We will most likely use the smaller back room as a storage area for now.   

Some elements I'd like to see in the space are slate like flooring in the mudroom, a functional mudroom bench and built-in storage under the stairs.  I can't wait!!  

Slate Flooring in Herringbone Pattern

Mudroom Bench with Hook and Shoe Storage

1, 2, 3, 4

 Under Stairs Storage

1 & 2, 3, 4

Have I mentioned I'm excited? 

Blizzard 2013

Yup, we had a "blizzard" last weekend.  Not sure what the exact total for Ashland was but based on totals from the surrounding towns we got between 24" and 30".  Chris lucked out in the snow-blowing department.  Since he was up north snowmobiling for the weekend, we hired a plow company. 

Evelina LOVES playing in the snow.  When I picked her up at school yesterday one of the first things she told me was, "I climbed a mountain today, Mama!!".  Meaning a snow bank of course...too cute.  While driving home, she was looking out the window at all of the snow and the following conversation ensued: 

Evelina:  (While pointing to a snow bank) Mama, that snow dirty.  
Me: Yes, it is dirty.  
Evelina:  Move it, Mama.  
Me:  Move it?  You want to move the snow?  Do you mean shovel it?  Someone could move the snow with a shovel like we were doing over the weekend.  
Evelina:  No, I want to move it.  
Me:  Why do you want to move it?  
Evelina:  I want to move it, get new snow.  
Me:  Ohhh, you want clean snow?  
Evelina:  Yeah.  
Me:  I see, well, it may snow on Thursday so all the of the dirty snow will get covered with new, clean, white snow.  
Evelina:  Okay, Mama. 

Do you think she takes after Chris and I or what? 

Yard Sale = Success

Chris and some bargain hunters

On Saturday we held our first ever yard sale and it was a success!!  Boy, are we glad it is OVER!! It took a lot of prep work, going though everything in our basement and some spare closets, making and hanging signs, and setting up, but it was totally worth it.  

We had advertised that the yard sale was to begin at 8:00a and we had our first two bargain hunters around 7:30a before we had even finished with the set-up process.  By 8:30ish, our street was a parking lot.  It was a lot of fun.  We were able to catch up with most of our neighbors (two of which participated in the yard sale), and meet a few people from neighboring streets.  "Shoppers" came in waves and with each hour that passed, we would either slash prices or put more items on the $1 or free table.  We did NOT want to have to have to lug anything back up the driveway to the garage or basement.  In the end, we made $460.  We plan to donate $400 to the cancer walk we are participating in on Sunday and Chris and I split the remaining $60.  

It feels wonderful to be cleansed of so much extra "stuff" in our lives and it's refreshing to walk through the basement everyday.  

The Ciano Fam!!

A special thanks to my mom...without her spending some quality time with Evelina, we would have never been able to pull the yard sale off. 

Itsy Bitsy Spider

NOT!!! 

Meet our 4th resident.  Heebie jeebies, heebie jeebies.......

Remember this post from a few weeks ago?  Well the only time there hasn't been a huge intricate web weaved between the umbrella and one of our tiki lanterns was during hurricane Irene. I wonder where he hid out during that storm?!? This is the spider that won't quit...he (or she, I have no clue) must get some great catches each night.   

I snapped this picture at around 7:45 tonight and I just checked in on the fellow and he is busy fixing all of the gaps in the web that were caused by last night's victims.  He moves so swiftly and gracefully, truly an amazing artist. He only appears at night, during the day, he hangs out underneath the protection of the lantern.  

With his legs out (he curls up frequently), he is probably between the size of a nickel and a quarter.  Brown/orange in color with some faint spots. Close up his legs look similar to crab legs with little spurs or hairs on them, I assume used for web building.  

We can't bring ourselves to kill him.  Chris flicked him into the grass last week in hopes that he would go away but that night he just weaved another web.  He is no fool.  The good news is that we always know where he is hiding...so far anyway...as I write this I keep feeling something on my arms.  HEEBIE JEEBIES!! 

Yard Sale Prep

One of our 2011 goals was to hold a yard sale to purge the abundance of stuff that has overtaken our basement.  We have accumulated sooooo much for a number of reasons:  

1) Our taste has changed which means that many things we used to love, we no longer love, so they were moved down into the basement to make room upstairs for new things that we love. 

2) We had a baby!!  As a result, we had to make some room for her on the main levels of the house which resulted in more piles to the basement.  

3) We never completely unpacked from when we moved into the house back in 2008 (or when we moved in together in Charlestown for that matter).  Yesterday I was going through boxes with housewares still wrapped in newspaper dated from March 2002...yikes!!  Needless to say, these things are yard sale bound. 

Over the past week, Chris and I have been spending our evenings, after Evelina is in bed, along with her nap times, in the basement going through all of our stuff and moving things into the garage that we plan to sell at the yard sale this coming Saturday.  A few of our neighbors will also be participating. I'm envisioning a big cul-de-sac yard sale party!!  I'm praying for a good turnout AND good weather.  We don't want a repeat weather day from Evelina's 1st birthday party that's for sure.  

Our goal for the yard sale is to get rid of inventory.  As much as we would like to make some money, we are more focused on getting rid of stuff and moving on to the next project, ORGANIZING the basement.  I.CANNOT.WAIT!!  Chris and I also decided that we plan to donate the proceeds from our portion of the yard sale to the UMass Medicine Cancer Walk that we will be participating in on September 25th.  

Anything we don't sell will be listed on Freecycle or trashed.  I LOVE purging!! 

I've listed our yardsale at yardsalesearch.com and plan to list it on Craig's List as well.  Find more garage sales in Ashland on Yard Sale Search.

I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes!!  I desperately need to post (or photo dump) about a few farms we've visited over the past month but it may need to wait.  Too many pictures to sort through/edit and too little time.  

Holy Spider Web

I won't be sitting on the deck, or even going near the deck, until this is taken care of.  Gives me the heebie-jeebies. I wonder where the spider is?

Deck Dining

We've been having so much beautiful weather lately (finally!!), that I couldn't bring myself to feed Evelina inside on such a gorgeous evening yesterday. So outside the high chair went.  

Perfect Evening

I love eating outside, especially when the neighbor's dogs come over for a visit

Yummy, veggies

Very excited about peas, carrots, green beans and Lima beans

Fish face

....snow....

Yowza, what a Winter!!

More snow is forecast to arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and I'm not really sure where in the heck it will be moved too.  I wouldn't be surprised if our deck collapsed from the weight of it all...not really, but we must keep a look out above as we walk out onto said deck.  We have a constant fear that a lethal icicle will smash down on us each time we bring Violet out to do her biz.  

Here are some images from last week's storm that dropped another foot on Wednesday night.  

It wouldn't be a snowy day without snowflake jammies!!

WTF?!?!

First Snow of 20-11

Another whammy. This nor'easter dumped over a foot and a half of heavy white stuff.  Attempting to work from home with a 7 month old who only likes to take 2 hours (on a good day) maximum of naps a day, is pointless. Plus, who wants to work when they can spend extra quality time with their little one? 

What's going on out there Papa?

Seriously, must you take my picture right now?  Can't you tell, I am freezing!!  Where's my bed?

Hawk

Since being on maternity leave I have seen lots of wildlife around the yard.  Groundhogs, turkeys (not in the yard, but close by), turtles, endless song birds, deer grazing and the highlight of the street, and a family of broad-winged hawks. 

These hawks glide above and rest on our trees on the lookout for their next meal.  No wonder we don't have many squirrels and chipmunks around.  Their unmistakable shriek can be quite a nuisance when we have our windows open.

The other day, Chris and I were doing some weeding and when I came in to make lunch I looked out on the deck and there was one of the hawks munching on something.  It was crazy to see him/her close up!!  I called Chris in quick and whipped out the super zoom lens.  The picture above is from our neighbor who is a photographer and the one below is the one I took of the hawk on the deck.   

Favorite Maternity Photos

We received the proofs from our maternity photo session...now the hard part will be choosing which images to purchase and in what size. I don't want a house full of belly so we have to choose carefully. I wish we had all of the money in the world so I could get all of the images on CD and print my own but maybe I will wait for Cashina's newborn shoot to splurge. Here are a few of my favorite maternity pics.