Getting Rid of Color

This was a busy weekend for the weekend warrior known as Doug.

He decided that he needed to do something on the house. But he didn't want to spend any money. Both very good objectives. So he looked around and decided to prime the colored walls in the front room and the kitchen, which were dark chocolate brown and dark red, respectively. There was, after all, a half gallon of primer left over.

The chocolate brown.
Unfortunately, no pictures exist of the red...or maybe that's fortunate?

Normally I'm all about color. And I did actually like the chocolate brown and red, but not on these walls and not in this house. I like the primed look better, actually.

The red used to be on those strange triangular walls above the kitchen.

And here's the wall - primed just in time to be a backdrop to Christmas!

For those who have visited in our other homes, you might say this is just because I feel at home with primed walls. You might be right.

Now I get to actually paint a color. Or a non-color, since Doug officially vetoed the yellow idea (see my post on colors here). I pouted for a day, then decided I would move on. 

Maybe I should go for texture, since I'm denied the joy of a bright color? It's more work, but I've never tried it before and really want to see how it works. Perhaps the linen look. I'm now grinning again. Be very scared, Doug. Perhaps you should have let me go with the yellow idea!

Lovely textured walls - do you think crayon would be hard to get off?

Bwah hah ha! (That's the evil witch laugh, in case anyone missed it)

It's Beginning to Look...

...well, a little like Christmas.

As stated before, I am kind of a control freak. Doug and I got all the Christmas boxes from the garage and moved them to the house. While we were doing this, the kids were unpacking anything we left unattended. So Collin was swinging around the Christmas stockings, Malena was "trying" stars on the tree (we have two), Jack and Sophia were just happily taking things out and trying to figure out what to do with them, and Bonnie was looking through some of our Christmas books - which we also pack with our Christmas stuff.

Mayhem.

We got the tree up on Friday after Thanksgiving, but didn't get anything else out because Malena wouldn't stop asking about decorating said tree. Saturday was the mayhem described above, but we still didn't get the tree decorated - for the same reason as Friday.

I did get a few things done, though. Outside lights, kept to a minimum this year - only snowflakes over the porch. Inside lights and garlands. Bows on our little spruces on either side of the driveway, and a tree next to the front door.

I did let Malena decorate this one, even though
the tree inside is still not done

The snowflake lights, ethereal against the blue sky

Oh, and fake poinsettias in a pot outside between our porch chair and sofa. I can hear the groans from here. Fake poinsettias? Yup, there they are.

Our decorating budget is zip this year, which is sort of okay, since we are consolidating our Christmas stuff from at least three locations. But I still didn't really  have anything to put in this empty pot. So I took the poinsettias that have been in storage for ten years, and that the kids have been running around tickling each other with all day, and plopped them in the pot. Hopefully they won't look as horrible from the street as they would up close and personal in the house. Hehehe.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year.

I woke up late (okay, 8:00 am) and ate a leisurely breakfast while reading the paper and watching Doug prep for dinner. Then, as I was still plowing through the numerous ads, Doug looked at me and said pointedly, "I've gone as far as I can go without CELERY and YAMS!" I laughed.

But I did quickly make my leave to go to the store. The store was hilarious - there were stressed-out wives, but mostly husbands who had obviously been sent out for that last minute "thing". Many of them had their kids with them. You could almost hear their wives shouting, "I need XXX! Go to the store, and you are Taking the Kids With You!". I was strolling happily through the aisles just grinning at people. Yup, not cooking today. Yup, kids are at home, doing the cleaning. Life is good.

Doug was rewarded with a huge smooch when I got home.

For dinner, Doug's brother Rich and his wife and daughter came over. We had a lovely time stuffing ourselves, then playing games and generally relaxing.

I'm so thankful for Thanksgiving! And for the husband who made such a relaxing day possible. With such great food, I have to add.

First Snowfall!

Actually, this is the third time we've had snow, but it's the first time I've been here to see it!

We've had snow three weekends in a row. It's early, so it's not sticking for long. Long enough for a picture or two, though. And it makes even our sad yard look beautiful. Bless you, snow.

From left to right: the big emptiness to the south of the house

Then comes the house...with only one pumpkin still here for Thanksgiving decorating

And the corner, with some frosted trees looking mighty festive for November.

Jack-Attack Turns 4

I know, I'm surprised he's lived this long, too.

He was actually an incredibly wonderful baby and toddler, though. It's only in the past year that the Terrible Threes have claimed him (seriously, Terrible Twos are nothing in comparison). Now we're onto the Fearsome Fours.

Jack says he had a wonderful birthday - lunch at the Mickey-D's playplace with his friend, playing with another friend in the afternoon, and pizza and ice pops for dinner. Most importantly, he got a Buzz Lightyear. It doesn't do anything. It's just a large, stuffed Buzz.

To cap off a wonderful day, here's a photo gallery of the little tyke. Sadly, there aren't many photos of him as a little baby, since our computer crashed several times since he was born (coincidence?), taking all our digital pictures with it. Evil computers, stupid parents for not learning our lesson the first time.

7 months old, June 2008
Taken in Sumter, SC, where he was born

2 years old, Christmas 2009
Still in Sumter, SC

Almost 3 years old, October 2010
He was Spiderman for Halloween in Logan, UT

Last week, a pre-four-year-old, November 2011
Doing chores. That's what I love to see.

He's gone from a tiny thing to a "contender". Here's to another eventful, wonderful year, sweet boy.

Happy Birthday!

It's my birthday.

And it has been fantastic, thanks to mostly my husband. Because of him:

• I was able to spend four days without children at a friend's home in beautiful Portland, Oregon. I was also able to meet a friend's 5-1/2-month-old daughter, who I've been dying to hug ever since her debut earlier this year. I spent my days relaxing, sleeping, reading, getting my hair and nails done, shopping...basically, it was a sleepover for 30-somethings. 

Jack is helpfully pointing to my new pedicure

• My garage door opens automatically! I would show a picture, but I'm pretty sure most of you have seen a garage door retract and then close again. Doug picked me up at the airport today. After we arrived at our house, I offered to get out and manually open our garage. At which point, he pressed the remote! And it opened by itself! Very exciting.
• The reupholstering project is back underway. I wanted a pneumatic stapler, but he found this electric one that should do the job. Without me having to lug our large compressor inside, or drag the chairs out to the Doug-out (what we laughingly call the detached garage).

Stapler found at Harbor Freight Tools. I'll let you know how this works out.

• The house was moderately clean when I returned. Apparently, no child was allowed to eat until the entire house was clean. For every meal. I thought I could hear wailing and gnashing of teeth all weekend...
• I enjoyed a marvelous birthday meal without having to lift a finger. Shepherd's pie, homemade french bread, and a cake cooked from scratch. Oh yum.

In addition to my husband's wonderful gifts, my friend Sarah also gave me these cool magnetic teaspoons:

There are several of these, but Sophia was busy with the others

Sarah also has a daughter not quite a year older than Sophie, so we got tons of hand-me-downs:

Modeling the zebra P.J.'s

And, of course, I was treated to the joy of friendship all weekend long without being tired out by the joy of motherhood. I returned thrilled to see my husband and children, and ready for Jack's birthday - which is tomorrow. All the shopping mentioned? Mostly to get gifts for his birthday without him being there!

Anyway, awesome birthday. Thanks to everyone who FaceBooked or emailed a happy birthday, too. It's great to be 39.

A Child's Perspective: Livestock

We have five lovely chickens (although whether they are lovely or not is entirely dependent upon your perspective). At the moment, that equals four eggs a day. One of them is on a break.

Must be nice.

My kids have decided that their eggs are "chicken eggs", whereas the eggs we get from the store are just "eggs". They have not figured out why I think this is funny.

Oh, and Jack calls the chicken coop the "chicken poop". Very well enunciated, too. As in, "Dad puts the chickens back in the chicken poop, mom." Good place for them I say.

I had to make this picture larger so you could see how Jack's feet are not even on the ground. That's how excited he is about going to the "chicken poop".

Just had to share.

Busted!

I never know when Doug is actually going to read my blog. Apparently, he was reading yesterday's blog and was a little put off by how I was talking about him.


Which is sad, since I think he is the greatest guy EVER. But his saying "That's a Wintertime Project" is funny. You just can't get around it. I have to laugh every time I hear it. Or groan, depending on my mood.


So he came home yesterday after reading my blog and helped me get the halogen light bulb out of the kitchen light. See, greatest guy EVER.

The denuded light fixture above the sink

The light bulb, along with the other pieces of the light fixture.

I'm not sure what the lesson is here. Make sure Doug likes what I write, so that I don't offend him? Continue writing what I want, in hopes that he'll come home and fix one of my outstanding issues? Hmm....dilemma.

Winter Projects

Doug has a favorite saying: "That is a Wintertime Project". Said whenever we need something done inside. This extends to assembling children's beds, changing light bulbs, etc.


And, while I was gone this weekend to my niece's wedding, it snowed. Maybe it's winter enough? Possibly...he actually started working on my number 2 item below! (!!!) I'm very excited.


So here's my short list for him this winter:

• Tiling! The kitchen and our bathroom really need help finishing tiling projects that are already started. A backsplash for the kitchen wouldn't come amiss, either.

The previous owners had this tagged as a plaster project. Behind the stove? Really?

• Children's beds: a captain's bed for Bonnie (maybe) and fixing the bunk beds for the boys.

Bed pieces stacked against the basement wall. Useful place for them.

• Light bulbs (seriously): The kitchen has a halogen lamp that I cannot figure out. Maybe he can get the @#&! bulb out so we can have light over the sink. Or maybe I'll just find a new fixture. I could do that alone...
• Update the bath hardware in the kids' bath. The hardware is already there (purchased by the previous owner), we just have to put it in. It would be nice to have a decent showerhead in my shower, too, but I might be pushing things here...
• Add cabinet hardware in the kitchen. My fingers are getting tired of prying the drawers out and opening cabinets. Perhaps a lovely bin pull for the bottom cabinets and something a little more funky for the top cabinets?
• Finish the stair railing. Again, the pieces are there, we just need to add them to complete the project.

Trim details are important...if you like finished projects. (Me! Me!)

• Basement bathroom. This will be a big project, but even if we get just the drywall done, it will be such a happier place in there. 

The spraypainted wall. And no, we didn't do that.

Guarantee I'll come up with more if I sit here much longer, so we'll call it good for now. : )

Progress!

It has been six months since we moved in. There are still boxes to unpack, but in the main, the house is livable.


To celebrate, I updated the main house photo - the pumpkins are actually our jack-o'-lanterns turned backwards. Reduce, reuse and recycle, right? I'm reusing them as my harvest decorations. Although the one by the couch looks kind of like a hard-boiled egg the way it's sitting in that pot. Something to make me smile and make everyone else wonder about our sanity. That's what I'm going for. : )


Just to remind you what it used to look like:

The three-months-after-move-in pic. Okay, not a lot has changed....

Channeling My Inner Control Freak

Here's how pumpkin carving usually goes at my house:


Mom says: "Come on, kids! Let's carve pumpkins!" The kids get their pumpkins and sit at the table. Then they fight over who gets the knives to open the pumpkin. Then, they whine over the gooey stuff in the middle: "Mom, can you get this stuff out? It's gross!!!" Then comes the actual carving, which is fraught with the possibility of one of the children loosing a digit or two.


By the time we're done, I'm a wreck and the kids must go outside because the mess is more than I want to deal with - at least, with them still under foot.


So here's what I tried this year:


First, I took the pumpkins to our outside table. It was a gorgeous day - sunny and maybe 65 degrees. The girls were off playing with friends. The boys were helping Dad in the garden and unpacking their camping stuff (from a week ago - Finally!). The baby was exploring the garage, which Doug and I have been cleaning out for the past two weeks. So I calmly carved off the tops, and cleaned them out. It was Zen-like. I even saved some of the seeds for next year's garden (Doug want s a huge pumpkin patch so the kids can sell pumpkins in our front yard next year).


The mess was negligible. It was cleaned up very quickly, and I was still in a good mood afterwards. Not bad. That was Saturday.

The emptied pumpkins, on a beautiful clear day in October

On Sunday, the kids noticed that there were cleaned pumpkins just sitting on the table outside. They brought them in, after getting permission first (they are learning!), and set to work drawing their faces.
The carving produced no blood, and the mess was again, negligible. I did get one complaint that I had already cleaned out the pumpkins, but it was from the daughter who Really Hates to get her hands dirty. So I am not concerned there. And, whew!, we are done with carving pumpkins.
Definitely doing this again next year.

Sophia's pumpkins (carved by me)

Collin's pumpkin

Bonnie's (left) and Malena's (right) pumpkins

Jack's pumpkin (carved by me, but dictated by Jack)

Note: for Halloween pictures, see the SideKicks page!

Happy 1st Birthday, Sophia!

Oh yes, our youngest is one year old. She has had a busy year:

• Birth (this is probably a big one from her perspective): the first breath, the first cry, the first fight as the doctor tried to get fluid out of her lungs. We were rooting for Sophie: "Go, girl!"

In the OR a few minutes after birth

• Name: It took us a good week or so to finally decide on Sophia. Originally, we were thinking Carolina Grace (which Omi still wants), but Sophia won out.
• Trip to CA: Oh yes, she got to travel across four states while only four months old. This was for her great-grandfather's funeral, sadly, but it was wonderful to introduce her to many family members. On a positive note, she was also blessed while we were in Cali. (For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a baby blessing is for giving the infant a name on the records of the church and an official father's blessing, much like the blessing Isaac gave Jacob and Esau in the Old Testament of the Bible). Cool stuff.

Four months old and still on the floor - at Omi's house in CA
(Omi is German for grandma)

• Move into our house: We were living in Doug's mom's basement for about a year while we transitioned from South Carolina to Utah. A long year without much light, but that year allowed us to end up in a great house - and we were able to sell our house in South Carolina a whole month before we bought this one!
• Birthday: the crowing achievement for a little girl who has actually survived a year with four siblings. You made it, girl.

More pictures from Sophie's first year:

1 month old

Almost three months old and smiling

Five months old and rolling around

Ten months old and crawling and cruising

Eleven months old and everything goes in the mouth

Someone's having a birthday! She's been practicing standing alone all week...walking isn't too far away!

This has been a busy and difficult year. I am so grateful for this little one and all the joy she has added to our family. Happy birthday, Sophie!

Gardening: the Wishlist for 2012

As a corollary to what I've learned, here is my wishlist for 2012.

• Gloves. Every year, I wear out my current pair. I need very good gloves, because my hands are always getting dirty. 
• We need hardscaping. This actually splits into two parts for me: 1. the fence, which is my number one priority, due to small children; and 2. pathways, which is lower down on the list but still there. If the hardscaping is in, it should be easier to plan and execute the whole landscaping design. 

Fencing: A more modern look? Or...

Should we go more rustic?

I really like this flagstone path...

But this grey paver path is also so sweet.

I love everything about this picture -
maybe we could do the rustic fence above, using these gates,
pebble the drive access and then use pavers or flagstones for the pathways?

• We need a good sprinkler system. Doug spent many weeks making sure that the garden and the new lawn behind the house were watered. Everything else I had to water by lugging around a hose. The more plants I put in, the more laborious this chore became. Next year, this is high on my list.
• A plan. Mentioned in passing above, this is really my biggest wintertime project this year. I need to map out our yard. Unfortunately, this does require a lot of measuring. And plotting. And thinking. But what else am I going to do when it's snowing outside?

This doesn't sound like a lot, but honestly that fence is going to be a killer - budget-wise and labor-wise. Doug wants to put it in himself, and we still can't really agree as to what type of fence we want. Our city also has extensive codes that we need to figure out before we can determine where to put the fence. The codes even dictate what materials can be used. We're not in an HOA (House Owners Association), but our city certainly acts like one sometimes.


So much for a relaxing winter...

Gardening 2011: What I Have Learned

Every year I learn more about gardening as I try new things and improve on older things. Here's my list of good and not-so-good things from this year:

• Peat Pots! This is the first year I've actually had success with seeds. True, amazing success. And I attribute it to peat pots. I have tried Dixie cups, paper towels, egg cartons, you name it. This time it actually worked. 
• Give plants their space - they grow faster than you think they will. When I put in the seedlings, they seemed to have way too much room. And since I'm a lazy gardener, I didn't want them too far apart - too many weeds that way. The good and bad of it is, those plants are very crowded in some places. Especially where the native plants (also grown from seed) are taking over.

The echinacea (coneflower) to the left and the malva zebrina (the striped purple flower in the middle) are being overtaken by the evening primrose (the pink cupped flower to the top left and bottom right). The primrose is a native, so I'm going to let it grow wild...but on its own, not in the middle of my flower bed!

• Buy plants in fall. We were too busy in spring to do much more than put in our seedlings from the peat pots. Which was okay - the seeds did great, and when I got around to buying, I got great deals. We'll have to see how well they overwinter, but I'm guessing it'll turn out okay.
• Wear gloves. I know, Duh. This is a big one when you have puncture vines (aptly named). Even with good gloves, I have a new splinter in my hand every day or so. When I don't wear gloves (this is a daily lesson because I try to pull weeds when I see them instead of running to the garage to get my gloves), I get a sticker in about 1-2 minutes. 
• Watering is not optional. Thank heaven (and also the city) for secondary water. In the "Intermountain West", as the Salt Lake Valley is called, there is no atmospheric water. Establishing plants requires constant watering. 

The weeds (to the top and right) seemed to have enough water,
but the poor eunonymous is about half dead...but still half alive!

We'll find out next year if I've learned any of these lessons.

Finally, the Door is Painted!

After priming and a couple of red coats, the door is finally red:

And we loooooove it. I know I said it before, but: LOVE IT!


While I was taking pictures, Sophia got tired of waiting for me, and decided to knock to be let in:

Open! Open! Open!

Malena took pity on her and let her in.


Here's the sad part. Are you ready? Jack took a dry erase marker and marked all over the sidelight. Luckily, it was only inside. I didn't take a picture, because incriminating evidence is not a good thing when kids do not-so-good things. Especially since I'm hoping to have it completely repainted by the time Daddy-o gets back from his work trip to Minnesota. If it's already fixed, he has a tendency to be less angry. I understand, I'm the same way.


Oh, Jack.