Happy Week

Now I know that TRUE happiness comes from so many NON material things. And I feel like even on my bad days, when I do the things that I feel make me happy, I am truly, truly happy. But this post isn't about THAT kind of happiness!!

This is about things that bring pure material happiness. :) And I'm feeling it today!

You see, First, earlier this week (Tuesday, actually) my BEAUTIFUL leather sectional was delivered!!! An dit's better than I remembered it being in the showroom. I'm so in love! It's so comfy and pretty and EASY TO CLEAN! I'm in heaven.

And 4 of my 5 pillow orders have shown up! I'm still waiting on the blue pillows. And pillow forms. But so far I'm loving each on that has arrived! I just can't wait to get them on the couch and all set up!

My goal is to have throws and pillows all set up, as well as accessorizing the wall behind the sectional and a few other spots, by the end of February. I told Jason that for Valentine's the only gift I wanted was the gift of him not wasting money on flowers or gifts so I could spend it on a few little things I have planned in my family room. Awful? Probably. But that's me, I guess! :) I can't wait to have it all together and post pictures! Because already it's a whole new room!

And last, today I had a REAL dishwasher installed in my kitchen!!!!!! We have lived over 2 years now without a dishwasher. I noticed that the maintenance people were adding them when anyone moved out. Then another neighbor friend asked for one and got it! So I asked if we could get one too. And they ordered it right away! So now I have a brand spankin' new dishwasher in my kitchen. I can't wait to dirty some dishes tonight and use it! I don't have to wash dishes by hand anymore!!! Yay!!

Again, all super shallow things, I know. But they have me in a good mood this week. I just can't wait to get things together and show everyone pictures!!! Hope you're all having a happy week too!!

You know that saying...

"It always gets worse before it gets better"?

That statement has so been proven true this weekend in regards to cleaning/organizing our apartment! Ugh. It's been a lot of work. But the end is finally in sight.

I had a couple of goals. One was to take down Christmas decor. What? You think it's weird that I still had Christmas up in February? I know. I'm ridiculous. But in my defense, my husband has been working out of town and I can't lift the things that need lifting in order to get all this stuff put away! So I was just waiting on his work schedule to give us any opportunity.

Goal number two had to do with that lifting I can't do. Because of the way our crawl space storage is we decided to get a storage shed to keep all our extra stuff. Most of the stuff is holiday decor, old kids' clothes/gear, and summer stuff. And pretty soon I'm going to need access to a lot of that baby stuff. With Jason away so much we figured getting some extra storage that I can easily access would solve a lot of problems. So we are in the middle right now of moving everything from the crawl space over to the storage shed.

And the last goal was just to CLEAN. Not the regular cleaning (which I'm not so great at keeping up on anyway) but DEEP cleaning. I don't know why but the spring cleaning urge always hits me at the beginning of the year. I just like to take one room at a time and de-clutter and deep clean. It makes me feel light. As much as I'd love to get the whole place done, I'm realistic. So my goal this week, along with the other two and everything else we had going on this week, was simply to deep clean the family room. In preparation for the new couch, of course.

So now Christmas is finally down, the family room is super spotless, and we're about halfway through re-storing and organizing all of our storage. I'm exhausted, but it just has me motivated to keep it up next week. Unfortunately, Jason is flying out for work on Monday, so it'll just be me to all the work. But all that's left is deep cleaning the rest of the apartment. So if I take it one room a day, this place will be spotless in no time.

Don't you love the feel of a perfectly organized and clean home??

"For the Baby"

Soooooo......

With a baby on the way in just 5 1/2 months, I've been thinking about what things we do and don't need. There's not a whole lot this time around, since this is baby #3 and since we already have both boy and girl things. But there are some things that need to be replaced. Like several baby items that molded in storage the last coupe years. Gross.

I made a short list of the few things we need to replace and we decided that with each paycheck we would purchase one item until baby arrives. That way it won't be overwhelming financially and we won't be stressed about getting everything together at the last minute.

One thing at the top of my list "for baby" was a new couch. Some may argue that a new couch is not something a baby needs, but anyone who has seen my couch will argue on my behalf. Baby needs a new couch!

We purchased a cream colored microfiber sofa several years back. We were so excited about how easy to clean it was supposed to be. So I wasn't concerned about the light color. Turns out, microfiber is not so easy to clean. It takes a lot of scrubbing. It's annoying. And after you're done with all the annoying scrubbing it leaves a lovely water ring where you've scrubbed. Ugh.

I wouldn't say we're the cleanest people on earth, but we're not the filthiest. However, we do have some bad habits. We love to eat in front of the tv. Not all meals. Breakfast is always in the kitchen. And lunch too. And USUALLY dinner. Unless there's a special show on or we're having a family movie night or something. We also like to eat our treats in front of the tv, especially on movie night.

We should know better. We have young kids. There are going to be spills and there are bound to be plenty of little fingers wiped all over the upholstery. We've tried to enforce the "kitchen only" rule, but the truth is, we don't live by it, so it's really hard to enforce it with the kids.

Anyway, short story long, we have realized that leather is probably the best way to go for our family. And for years now I have been yearning for leather. Easy, clean, wipeable leather.

I can't bring a baby home in a few months to lay on our DISGUSTING sofa. And what happens when I'm nursing on the couch and baby spits up? That would be such a nightmare on upholstery!!

So now with the baby on the way and taxes done early I couldn't tell myself no! I was headed to Utah the other day to help my dad organize and file his home office, so I popped in to RC Willey on my way. And that is where I met this lovely fellow:

And now I am just ONE SHORT WEEK away from tossing that nasty old sofa out the window!! You have no idea how excited I am. Well, maybe you do. I don't know. Maybe your sofa is as bad as mine. Or worse. I'm just saying I am RIDICULOUSLY excited about this thing!!

For Christmas the only thing I wanted was a gift certificate from Jason saying I could buy this bad boy with our tax return and he followed through. He's the best husband ever. And not just because of the sectional. But the sectional bumped him up crazy high! :)

So with the sectional on it's way next week I started thinking about the next purchase "for the baby". And of course it was pillows!! Baby NEEDS pretty pillows on his/her pretty new sectional, right?!

I headed to my favorite shop in the whole wide world. And of course they had exactly what I wanted, just like always. And I expected it to cost a little more. But I did not expect it to cost over $1000 for 7 couch pillows!! I firmly believe in buying quality pieces. You definitely get what you pay for. But $1000?!?!?! Heavens no! Not gonna happen! Not even for baby.

So I started hunting my favorite shops online. And none of them had what I wanted. I started to wonder if I should just suck it up and just forget the kids' college savings and get the pricey, pretty pillows. I knew it was crazy and irrational, but I just wanted something pretty!!

And then I turned to Etsy. Oh Etsy. How I love thee! Of course my old friend delivered. I got JUST what I was looking for! So I hurried and made the purchases before someone else could snatch them up and now I sit waiting for these lovelies to be mine:

I know they aren't for everyone, but they match my family room perfectly! And they're just so pretty! And I just can't wait to throw them all over my new leather sectional!!

And for those of you thinking that I'm spending irresponsibly, I just want you to remember:

It's for the BABY!!