What a BEE-U-TEE-FUL day!

Gosh...it is absolutely gorgeous out today. Blue sky this morning, not a cloud in it. A few are starting to come around now, but it's been breezy and warm, about 72 degrees. This is my favorite time of year. The girls went to school this morning and I went out to the shop for a few hours. It has been so nice working in the family business one or two mornings a week. I didn't realize how much I missed getting out with other people, and not just socializing, but actual working, using some of those brain cells in a different capacity than I have been for the past four years. I definitely can't complain that I haven't gotten "ME" time in the past. I do plenty of things for me, but working in a way that uses your brain differently, where people ask you questions because you are the one with the answers, has felt really GOOD! I've NEVER gotten that excited about keeping a clean and organized house!

Anyway, after hanging at the shop for a few hours, I went back to town to pick up the girls from school, but I first made a stop at the building supply store where I've been shopping for flooring and countertops. Currently, I have three rings of countertop samples in my possession and six different flooring samples. I had seven flooring samples yesterday, but returned four today, and picked up three more. I think I'm making some progress on narrowing it down. IT IS SO HARD! I didn't think it would be that difficult picking out this flooring, but it looks so different throughout the day, in the morning and day light, versus the evening, versus night when I have the lights on. UGH! But, I think I'm down to four that I like (well, three), but I think I like two of them better than the third. The three that I like are:

Toasted Maple Plank

Blush Cherry Plank

and Carmel Walnut Plank

I can't find a photo of this though.

The first two are definitely my favorites and I'm leaning towards the maple.

My cabinets are on the darker side, sort of like this color:

Sierra Oak


They have quite a bit of grain to it. That's why I'm trying to go with a more subtle grain in my floors. I think if I went with the oak floors, it would just be too much. I have quite a large space and it's very open.

So, that's where I'm at with the floors. I was told that I maybe wanted to go lighter with the floors if my cabinets are darker, but I didn't really like how it looked. I don't like the really dark colors, but more along the same tone/color that I have in cabinets, just a different wood. Any thoughts? I could use some opinions.

As for the countertops, fortunately, I have a good idea what I want, so sifting through HUNDREDS of little chip samples hasn't been too bad, otherwise, I think I might have gone MAD!

These are the two that I've narrowed down to so far. I'm leaning towards the ButterRum Granite, as it's a stock color and would be the least expensive. I'm also planning on going back to a stainless steel sink. I really prefer stainless steel. It's a cast iron in here now and I don't like it. My appliances are all BLACK.

Butter Rum Granite

Mesa Sunrise

Which do you like?

That's what I've been pondering today. After I picked up the girls and went home, we had lunch and then went outside to play. They rode their bikes and we went on the "playground" in our backyard. I love the bench swing. I swing on that and the girls run around and slide a lot! LOL! Then we came inside and had some quiet time and they watched Zaboomafoo. HUGE hit around here. I keep a bunch of those DVR'd so we can watch anytime. Now, L & S are out with the next door neighbor girl, Lily. She is six and comes over to get the girls to play quite often. They have a good time together.

I've started not napping L & S again on certain days. So far, it's been going good. We had no nap yesterday and they went to bed at 8 p.m. and were out by 8:10 p.m. They slept like rocks until 6:30 - 7 a.m. VERY NICE! On the days they nap, we've been having issues with actually GOING to sleep, waking during the night, and getting up VERY early. I think they are definitely moving towards not requiring quite as much sleep as they did this summer.

Well, I best go make my Schwan's order up. I hate to be scrambling when he gets here. Brian arrived safely in Las Vegas. Not sure I mentioned it, but he is there for the week for work. I have a busy week on tap too, and THEN...(drum roll) I will be joining my honey for three days in Vegas without the kids. They are going to my brother & SIL's and the girls are ALREADY talking about it! They can't wait and I'm excited to get away with Brian too!