Home Projects at a Halt

Emily's room got painted, but it's the wrong color.  I had taken a picture with my phone of the inspiration photo for her room. Having my phone with me, I matched it the best I could, but it turned out a little too grape-ish (hmm, is that even a word?  I doubt it.)  I know Bud isn't going to want to think about paint for a while, so we may just go with what's there for now.  I'm terrible about judging things before they are finished anyway.

We have to slow down a bit on all our home projects.  I still haven't decorated the new kitchen/dining room wall.  I keep getting way ahead of myself on other projects.  It's time to slow down and take a breather because our schedule is getting crazier and crazier.  Home projects are going to be more of a weekend thing, I believe, even though the weekends are going to be busy as well.

The girls signed up for entries in the upcoming county fair.  Morgan is entering jewelry and bread.  She makes one mean zucchini bread!  Allison is entering photography and probably some sort of food item.  (she's been gone for the last couple weeks and hasn't been able to see the complete list)  Emily is entering wearable art and cookies.  This will be their very first entries in a county fair, but I have a very vague memory of Morgan entering a painted picture back in elementary school and winning 3rd place.  She doesn't remember and I'm wondering why I didn't keep up with it.  Next year, there will be livestock entries.  Oh boy. 

I am hosting a fall festival here at our home for our homeschool group in October.  I have the tendency to go all out on things, so I have to watch myself.  I have a few moms who have offered to help, so I think I'm going to let that happen.  I'm excited about it!  I'm also creating the homeschool group's yearbook this year.  For the activities some of the other kids are doing, that I wouldn't normally go to, I'll be there as much as possible to make sure there are photos taken of everything we want to include in the yearbook.  Our homeschool group is very active in a lot of areas, so this will be some hard work going on.

So, not really a whole lot of time to worry with little things like putting pictures up on a wall.  We won't be home long enough to enjoy them anway.

Can I take a nap now?

.....zzzzzz

Purple She Says

I have a painter here at the house this weekend. We call him Bud. Aka, our son. He has been doing some work around the house while his dad is gone to work. I must say, I could get used to this! He has learned really quickly that he doesn't like to paint. Ha! Now he understands why I gave HIM the job!

My father in law brought over some help today to get the piano unloaded. It fit so perfectly where I decided to put it. The kids will go in the room and play it and even though they only know a few songs, it sounds magical to me. I love the sound of a piano. Even the sound of one that needs to be tuned.

Emily has never been a girly girl but yet not a tomboy either. She just sort of fits in somewhere in between like her sisters and me. So, it shocked me a bit when she requested purple for her room. I tried to persuade her to go a different route, but she has the final say since it is her living quarters. So, after Pinterest, we found a room we both agreed on. This is our inspiration room:






I am really loving these colors together! Now that Bud has one of the back bedrooms painted, this will be the next he works on. Emily is so ready to have her room finished. So am I.

Those Irons in the Fire.

Here is your answer, Aunt Connie.

The past few days have been full of planning. From the new school year to the holidays, to making time to visit with family we haven't seen in too many years to even mention. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this time of year is swamped. From August through April we have birthdays just with our kids and grandkids. Actually, if you include Mother's Day and Father's Day and the one kid who waited until July to be born, our entire year is taken up with something to celebrate each month. This time of year is the most wallet emptying time, though with the holidays and the kids' activities.

Since I am easily overwhelmed, one would think filling up my plate to the point of overflowing would not be a good idea. I beg to differ. It actually depends on what it's filled up and overflowing with.

For a couple sad years, I got to the point of not getting the kids involved in anything, letting them do whatever they could to find something to entertain them. It resulted in me becoming quite lazy as far as not wanting to go anywhere or do anything that I didn't deem necessary. I lost a lot of connection with my kids, and they became lazy as well, spending too much time with friends away from home (because I'd rather the friend's parents entertain than me having to do it), and if they were home, they were always in front of some type of screen. Now, that doesn't mean I didn't spend any time with them, because I did. After all, i do homeschool, remember? We played games and went on family vacations and such, but it still wasn't the way it used to or should have been. Times flies by and kids grow up too quickly to worry about anything else but raising them and making their childhood the best to your ability, even if it's board games every night.

I spent too much time in that mode and I became depressed. Clinically.

So, with that skeleton out of my closet, with our family moving back to our hometown, it has become easier to get back on track with the way things always were back in the day. I've gotten rid of the things that just simply doesn't matter. This is why sometimes I change my mind on things I do plan to do. It has to fit in with the important things. When I realize it's a waste of time, I get rid of it or the idea.

That's not at all to say I don't ever get overwhelmed, because I do. I'm very much a go getter and want to "do it all", MYSELF. I'm learning that's impossible and I just have to live with it. Delegating really is a good thing and when you are delegating kids, it really doesn't hurt them. In fact, it helps them. That's a different point, though.

These kiddies of mine get to choose what activities they want to do. What they have chosen for the next few months is as follows:

Morgan: Jazz Dance, Guitar, Piano

Allison: Jazz Dance, Piano

Emily: Drums, Piano, Soccer

As for me: Stained glass and finishing my pharmacy classes (stopped when I started homeschooling)

Mondays are filled with drums and guitar, Tuesdays with piano, dance, soccer, Wednesday, church, Thursday, soccer and stained glass, Friday, free, Saturday, soccer games.

I'd much rather spend my time watching my kids spend their time doing something that helps them become more well rounded than see them in front of a screen or being idle.

As far as things I get myself into, well, I've always been for self improvement. I'm a lover of learning.

Back to the calendar. ;)

Stained Glass

Isn't it beautiful?

It's always been intriguing to me and I've always wanted some type of gorgeous piece in my home. I've never even priced a piece before because I've always just assumed they were entirely too expensive to own. Don't ask why because I don't know.

While I drool over supplies of different types in craft stores, I've been seeing decorative glass in small sheets. They are just beautiful, yet I give no thought to them being for making stained glass projects. From now on, I'll dig a little deeper and more than likely load up on some of it. Why?

Because I found a stained glass class here in my remote little town. Are you serious???


I was so happy when I heard the news I had to figure out who would want to join me.

Who doesn't work during class hours?.....hmmmm.....

Aunt Debbie!!

So, long story short, I have a stained glass partner. (because I want one)

We start next week and I couldn't be happier. Well I could if the class was free, especially because I found all sorts of tuts online. Oh well. It'll be time and money well spent.

Pudding Cups and Potatoes

Three pudding cups


Three potatoes mashed



That's it. That's all I've had to eat all week.

Dentists. They have never been a fear for me, but over the past year I dread them.

The Novocain or whatever "Cain" is used in dental offices these days makes my heart feel as if it's going to jump out of my chest. The dentist gets really irritated with me because my body is shaking uncontrollably. This time when it started happening, I asked for the gas. I inhaled that so deeply and quickly I'm surprised I didn't pass out. BUT.....

If I hadn't taken the gas, I would have been able to save myself from this diet I've been forced to eat all week. Before going into my little room, I had new x-rays taken. Letting the nurse know what tooth I wanted worked on, she pointed out another one that needed tending to. I was all for it.
Getting it over with in one visit suited me just fine. So, with the one she pointed out and the one I went in for in the first place, I believe that's two teeth? 1+1=2.

As I'm getting all settled in, in that lovely reclined position, the dentist tells me what he's going to do. Our conversation went something like this:

Dr. Quack: I numb bottom first then come back and numb top. Ok?

Me: Um, why the top?

Dr. Quack: Because you have tooth there. Three teeth I do today. Ok?

Me: Uh, no. It was just two. This one and this one.

Dental assistant: No chart say 3. Ok? Ok.

Me: (thinking I may have missed something). Well, ok.

The procedure starts and I begin the gas after my body goes into it's well known fits. I'm going to get as drugged as I could and hopefully just fall asleep.

Just as I was as high as a kite in the sky in spring, and felt the pressure of the dentist pulling the tooth I knew nothing was wrong with, I hear the dental assistant tell the dentist. "Oh, here's her chart. We had the wrong one."

It was too late and I was too drugged to make sense of it to fight back.

So, this is why soft foods are on my menu for the week. Id rather have a root canal any day over an extraction. I'd also rather have one of these rather than another pudding cup:


Such is life.

I Need a Vacation

My best friend moved back home from Dallas a couple weeks ago, so this week we have been catching up and switching out kids.  She has a daughter who is a year younger than Emily, so they have spent the entire week together over here or over at my friend's.  Needless to say, it's kept me from being able to do too much of the work I intended to start doing the minute Clayton left for work, which in turn has put me in a non motivational slump.  So, I decided to drown myself in some Pinterest to get energized and get busy before I'm completely settled in for too long.

One of the projects I was bound and determined to do (and surprise Clayton upon his return) is to do a complete makeover of one of our bathrooms.  Since we have had so many PAST plumbing problems in this home, I've learned a lot about plumbing.  I even think it would be fun to accomplish something like an entire bathroom without the help from a man. ;)  I can do this!  

As I was trying to figure out just which of the 3 bathrooms to do, I realized something I had never realized before.  There is not one closet in any of my bathrooms.  I mean, I've KNOWN that, but just realized these are the first bathrooms I've EVER seen without some type of linen closet or something in them.  No wonder I could never figure out storage in them since we have been here.  To add salt to the wound, there's not really any place to put one.  The doors open straight against the wall where I can't put anything.  My only hope is the fact that the vanity in each bathroom doesn't have to be as big as it is.  They aren't huge, but they do take up quite a bit of precious space.  That's where I can win the battle of no storage.  I think.

I'm still looking and thinking for the right kind of storage, but I don't know if I'll get there until the bathroom is completely gutted and everything is ready.  Guess it just may have to wait a while.  Bud has moved into his own apartment and is in dire need of furniture and everything else that is needed to live.  It'll be fun to shop for him and help him get on his feet.  Adam is moving into a dorm, so there's not much he needs at all.  Next year, I'll have Morgan's apartment to furnish, but I have all year to kind of stock and save up for that.  I may actually get around to my house sooner or later. ;)

I'm also trying to gear up for the new school year.  Fall is the busiest time of year for us, even with homeschooling.  When things change and our daily routine has to be sacrificed, it's hard to get on a new track.  We've also been looking for a new way to do school.  I believe we have found our answer, though.  You can read about it here.

Also, we have decided to switch bedrooms with Morgan.  She's looking forward to having the big bedroom, but I'm not looking forward to repainting, moving the heavy furniture and totally disrupting the house now that I'm just now getting it back in fairly livable conditions after what we've done the past couple months.  Oi!

On a brighter note, we have decided where to go for our family vacation!

Here's a clue:

It will be richly needed.

Epic FAIL!!

So, today I went to Home Depot to get the color I wanted to paint my kitchen cabinets.  I couldn't wait to get home and try it!  I even picked up some new knobs in a oil rubbed bronze finish to match my new french door handles since I love that finish so much.

I got home, whipped out the two samples of paint that were pretty close together in color.  It's just not going to happen.  The color I chose was more on the khaki side with green being the undertone.  Green dominated once again in my house.  It failed in every way possible.  It was too dark, it was too green, it didn't go with the new knobs, it made my "maybelline" paint in my dining room look pink.  The knobs?  Well, they will work for now, but they aren't even right.  They don't have enough bronze seeping through and look solid black from only about 3 feet away.   We will get there, though.  No worries.  So, for now, it's back to the white, which won't hurt.  The cabinets were already in need of a fresh paint job.  I'll do my temporary counter top resurfacing for the time being and be fairly happy.  I'll also rip down the soffits which will give me a great deal of happiness.  No banquette yet until we decide on the table and measure the benches from it.  Do you understand how I've been looking EVERYDAY for a table?

On another note...

I'm getting my grandmother's piano from my aunt sometime soon.  Maybe this week, if I feel like more traveling.  I really really want my writing desk in my dining room and a comfy chair in the corner by my fireplace, so that leaves me without a place to put the piano.  I also found another piano today at Goodwill for $100.  I will be getting that tomorrow!  Since it's second hand, I won't feel bad about refinishing it.  It's already repainted black and has a mirror on it that will definitely go and what I plan to do with that area is looking quite nice in my mind.  In my mind.

I have this cubby shelf thing from Ikea in my living room now:

It's great.  It holds quite a few things and I've never been able to fill it up completely.  I plan to take it out of there and put the Goodwill piano in it's place.  What I will then do with that shelf is DIY me a Pottery Barn shelf  for my kitchen like this:

I adore.

It's fun falling back in love with your house again, right?