Work in progress

I managed to put the room back together in it's introductory form. I call it me England corner. I have my English Tapestry and the paintings I have bought from there on the walls. Now I am in this spring fever phase of wanting to organize my life. Last night we-my two oldest daughters and I-went through every junk drawer in the house and threw out any pen or pencil that wasn't worth keeping. It was a terrific birthday gift to not have that looming over me. We also made popcorn "just like the Wights" for they the kids bought with their own money a whirly popper for me. It was quite the family event making the popcorn. It took 2 hours to finish the boxes of junk. Now I am going to buy one of those little drawer organizers for each desk. If I get one thing organized a day I have to make a difference eventually right!

Looking for some sympothy (see post below first)

OK, so I bath and get the boys to bed, practice reading with one child, do the spelling test with another, help another with her science test, put away dinner, debone the chicken, clean up the dishes, look for the lost form, fill out the found form plus several others and as I am just about ready to go up stairs and roll the room I have spent the last three days inbetween all my other activities edging to perfection Becca enters and says "hey, Dad's up stairs painting for you". Yes, that's right, he rolled the room for me. I know he was being helpful. I know he was trying to be nice. I just have to keep telling myself that.

Current project

OK, I have now torn my sitting room to pieces and have begun the trimming. I have finally come around to the using a brush theory rather than the tape and paint theory. My friend Nina has informed me that the "professionals" rarely tape. They use a good brush and a steady hand. It takes longer for me to edge but I don't know if that is really true when you consider the put the tape up, take the tape down and fix all the oops that leaked through. My husband is always such a great help with painting. After the edging job he did in our last homes master bath I wont let him edge anymore. I have discovered I am an edging snob. I hate when you "boff" the ceiling and of course I never know what color the ceiling is and have no ceiling paint. So instead I just try to be very very careful. So alas, I do the meticulous edge work, clean the walls, fix the holes, take everything off and out and then he comes home-picks up a roller and says-I'll help. I have finally told him he can't do that anymore because that is the icing on top of all the work. It's just not fair to do all that work and then not get to do the rolling. I will but up pictures when I am done. Next is the shared girls room. Since we have 3 girls and 2 rooms for them (the boys are the youngest so they will always share a room according to the girls) Becca and Roz will both be in middle school and will be sharing next year. To console my poor Becca from not having her own room she is designing, decorating and painting her room. She is doing it as a young women value project so we are on stand by until she gets the small requirements out of the way first. She also refuses to have the new bedding put on before she moves in. Eliza may contaminate it. As always, my house is in total disarray, the kitchen is a mess but I am painting!

Planning a Trip

So my current fun is planning a trip to Boston with Becca. I got this idea from my friend Corinne who takes all her chlidren on a mother/child trip when they turn 12. We are studing the writters from the area during the early 1820-40"s and then going to see the places they wrote at and about. Currently my list includes Nathnaiel Hawthorne, Henry James, Edgar Allen Poe, Thoreau's Walden Pond, Mary Swensen, Alcott, Emerson and Washington Irving's The legend of Sleepy Hollow. This should keep us busy for awhile. Most importantly is a trip to Kimball's icecream. They normally open on Patriots day and that is the day we leave. It might have to be our last stop on the way to the airport but I can't go all that way and not go!!!! I am actually very nervous about the trip. We rarly go on vacations that aren't driving to see family in CA or Utah. This will be the first time I am the one renting a car and being in charge. Wish me luck! We don't go until April 10th but I think the planning is just as fun as the trip itself.

Boys Room Done

So I was just getting ready to post the new pictures of the boys room when I heard about President Hinckley. Now I don't feel to much like writing about my never ending painting escapades. Doing the boys room was much harder than the other rooms as they want to sleep in there. When they are asleep is my best time to paint. Thankfully we will be replacing carpet in there in a year or so (since the stock market decided to leave us with no money we will be waiting now). The odd thing is the blue smeared hand prints in the carpet that no one seems to have done. I even checked hands and they were all clean so at least they know how to clean up after the crime. Hope you all have a good week.

CHECK! The Bedroom is Done.

So we finally picked a color on the blue side and painted the bedroom. All is dusted well (I love having to move furniture) and put back together. I have been back and forth to Kohls so many times buying things and returning them I am afraid they are going to put a hold on my account there. Don't they track people who return stuff to much as possible thieves?

I decided to get a pass to OMSI today. I really wanted to do an "outing" with my kids and lets face it-It is just to darn cold to go outside-so I returned the really cool matching sheets my husband vetoed and rationalized buying the OMSI pass with the money instead. So if anyone else has one and wants to go let me know. It was one of those I can't let my children sit in front of the computer and TV all day but I searched on the Internet for fun things to do and there just wasn't much out there that fit all the age differences. What does everyone do for fun around here when it is freezing outside?

Sunday was a big day for Becca. She was made Beehive class president, finished her dress she is wearing for her first young women value project and gave a talk in sacrament meeting. She did great on all accounts and we are very proud of her.

Well next on the list is getting new carpet for the den. Whittling away on the home improvements continues one little project at a time.

Bathroom counter is done!

Christmas vacation in our house was all about ripping out the old shiny pink tile in my spare bathroom. (It is supposed to be our guest downstairs bathroom but because Becca has taken it over as her own, everyone refers to it as "Becca's Bathroom") I am thinking that this whole possessive thing is going a bit far. She actually tried to have an opinion on what the new tile should look like and Nate told her he didn't care what she wanted. I don't live in a home of opinionated people do I?! Now I keep buying rugs and towel sets and taking them back because no one can agree on that either.

After much discussion we picked the tile, ripped out the old (my job cuz I like destroying things) and then cutting and putting in the new. Of course we couldn't just add the new tile on the old base so we ended up stripping and sanding and then more stripping and finally refinishing the cabinet. Of course it actually doesn't look any different cuz we couldn't decide on a new color. Fresh and clean is something anyway. So now we are almost done, it looks great, I am so excited. My husband puts in the grout and after it dries it is the wrong color. Now I debate for days and decide, yep, I can't live with the wrong color so grinding we a go and out comes the old and in went the new. We still have to seal it and it wasn't done by the Pride and Prejudice party but I like it much better. I finished painting the new very boring off tan color because my husband wouldn't let me keep the yellow I liked. I just keep saying clean and fresh, clean and fresh. Besides, neutral base means I can decorate whatever color I want right!

Now if I can just pick a towel color and find a good rug to match!

Next-the bedroom. I have 6 shades of gray that are all actually shades of green and blue. More to come.