Wednesday, September 10, 2008

This old house, continued


Before I get to the house update, here is last Saturdays upward flag football tryout for Cedar.


The before picture going upstairs. (I had already taken off the rails before I remembered to take a picture.) Notice all of the art work on the walls. Here is something I didn't know yesterday, but I know today. Pen, marker and crayon bleed through paint. If you are going to paint over wall art like I did, spend 10 min. with one of those "magic erasers." I just figured I would paint over everything, and it would be gone, right? Ummm, not quite. Paint covers dirt, finger prints, fading, chocolate milk and most of the normal wall art that is found in most homes. (Yes, chocolate milk IS normal wall art at our address...) We'll see how many cotes of paint it takes to cover up the rest of the wall art... I'm on 4 for around the rail area. :) I still have another coat of paint before I take the after pictures of this, but even with the magically appearing marker and pen, it's looking GOOD! I now know why when you go to choose paint there are about 10000000000000000000000 choices of white. It's so you can take home one of each of them, match it PERFECTLY to the wall that is really high and hard to paint and then when you miss a spot or 12 near the top, or bottom or where ever, no one can see it. Love it!


This is the closet in our bedroom that we tore out to make a nice little alcove. I just put the first coat of paint on and it's looking good too!




And the basement is ready to paint. The ceiling is textured, the window is done and it is dry! I will prime it tonight!

Next up is the carpet quote - This afternoon!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Updates and cute pictures!



The Kindergarten performed at the first PTO mtg at school. The bottom right shows two of Cedar's kindergarten friends. Noah, Cedar, Aiden.


Olive. Dancing, dressing up and sleeping in curlers.


Aspen. Ooo! You're too cute to be scary!



Cedar. 90% natural smile.


One of the top ten reason's that I am glad school is in. My very cute kids remember how much they actually like each other when they are not forced to spend most of their waking (and sleeping) hours together.



Sunflower update: Wow! We had to cut them down because they were just too heavy. We saved a bunch of seeds for next year and then set them at the edge of our lawn. We called this our birds and squirrel grocery store. That way they will have lots food stored up for the winter.

Basement update!


I knew that no one would believe me unless I had actual photographic proof. So here it is. Our basement is actually getting done!!! Wednesday I called around to get quotes and one of the guys that a friend of mine had recommended gave us a great price AND the clintcher was that they could start the next day! (the above photo's are what it looked like Wednesday after I cleaned it all out!)

So here is day one progress. 18 wall boards, 9 ceiling boards.

Carpet is being quoted next week. We are going to do the whole house!! That means that I have until the carpet is put in to get everything painted. Nothing like putting a fire under you to get something done! It all has to wait until next week though. This week I am babysitting an escape artist for my friend. She usually goins to a head start early learning program, today though, when I took her I didn't know that if you were there late they wouldn't take her. So for her last day she gets to spend it all with Olive and I. The gates are up and the doors are locked! I appreciate my kids personalities so much more this week!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Auction for Nie Nie

This post is quite a bit different than my normal, travel log of my family and mostly my kids, but it's all for a good cause! Nie Nie of Nie Nie Dialogues was in a plane crash last week. I don't know her, but as I have gotten a little into the blogger world, I have gotten to know her blog. Gabrielle, over at Design Mom started this idea to have a web auction. I wasn't going to do it (really, what would I auction???) Then I remembered that I have just won these fabulous earrings from Blue Poppy Jewelry off the very same design mom site. I could auction those off! So here it is....
The Succulent Earrings made of stunning blue-green algae set in sterling silver. Retail price: $78.00

Here's how it works:

Leave a comment by using the comment link below with your bid. Your bid must be higher than the previous bid. Make sure that you leave a way for me to get in touch with you if you are the lucky winner. The auction will end Sunday at 8:00pm eastern time. I will contact the winner Monday and the winner will need to pay via the Stephanie & Christian Paypal fund, then they send me an email copy of their receipt and I will send out the earrings! Pretty easy!

***Please note***

I won this giveaway August 13th. I have not yet received the earrings from Blue Poppy (they are custom, hand made items, I'm giving them some time!) I will send them out as soon as I get them. If the winner chooses to wait until I have the earrings in my hand to pay the paypal fund, that would be just fine.



Happy bidding!

Just wanted to let everyone know that my sister-in-law Allison is also participating in Nie Nie day and is auctioning off $500 (!!!) worth of photography stuff. If you live in or around Park City Utah, head over to her blog http://englishphoto.typepad.com/english_photography/ and bid. What she does is not just take your pictures, she creates a truely museum quality, they will stay on your walls forever becauce it is too beautiful to take down work of art. (Seriously, you could check out my walls for proof!)

What I've been doing


After I blogged about Olive going to school Katrina commented and asked what I do with my free time. Honestly, I haven't had much. The first two weeks of school I only had one day where someone wasn't sick. That was the day I blogged! But I have been up to something, and for many of you who know me, you may double check and make sure that this really is my blog, but I've been moving around the girls room and sewing. Yep, that's not a typo. SEWING! I dusted off the old sewing machine that I made Jonathon buy me 6 or 7 years ago (I'll try not to calculate the cost per time of use!!!) Now not to scare any one with my domestic skills, I haven't tried to tackle anything truly mind boggling, but I have made: two sets of curtains and a pocket pillow! Now, aren't I the domestic diva? I have been discovering the online blog world and am amazed at the talent that is out there. It truly has inspired me to try a few things!

Cedar's curtains (I suppose valance would be technically correct...)

Aspen picked out this totally cute material. I think that it will go great with her dresser and the wall stickers I got for AFTER I paint!

I also have been moving things around. I will be painting (just about every room in the house) but I couldn't wait for the paint to try a new look for the girls room. I already knew how I wanted to move things, I tried it and it looked great. The only problem was that the vent blew right on Olive as she lay in her bed. Not so good for my allergy prone croup girl. That only lasted a few days.
In true Tennessee fashion I decided that instead of going back to how it was, I would just move the vent. Here's the play by play of Olive's food storage bed with movable vent! One day we will get her a "real" bed, but until then, this is really a great way to store 10-15 buckets of wheat!



Now, just imagine the curtains on the window and that it's still clean!
p.s. Of course, we also made cookies!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Knock Knock

Dinner time at our house has been full of jokes lately. The kids especially love knock knock jokes. I thought I would share the family favorites!



Cedar's favorite:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Cash
Cash-who?
No thank you, I prefer peanuts!

(Cedar got this out of a joke book we got at the library. The other night he asked Jonathon to read him jokes instead of stories before bed. I was downstairs and after a few minutes I heard Cedar laughing uncontrollably and Jonathon joining in. For what ever reason, this cracked Cedar up for a very long time!)



Aspen's favorite:

(Well, she has a lot of favorites!)

Knock knock
Who's there?
Little old lady
Little old lady-who?
I didn't know you could yodel!



Olive's favorite:

(First, imagine Olives little voice and face. They really make the joke!)

Knock knock
Who's there?
Blue
Blue-who?
I'm sorry you're feeliong so sad. What can I do to cheer you up?



Jonathon's favorites:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Atch
Atch-who?
Bless you.


Knock knock
Who's there?
Impatient cow
Impatient c-
MOOO!
...ow who?



My favorite:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?

Knock Knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?

Knock Knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?

Knock knock
who's there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn't say banana!



Now it's your turn! What is your favorite knock knock joke?

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