Thursday, September 26, 2013

I Can See! ...But Not Walk...

About a month ago, I realized two things: I was not getting anywhere trying to find new contacts, and I had enough money for LASIK.Rare for two things like that to coincide, but coincide they did.
So I made an appointment to talk about LASIK. And another appointment to have it done.

This is a seriously scary prospect for me: as a mother of five, I really can't afford to lose my eyesight. And blindness is a possibility of any eye surgery. I also can't really afford a lot of downtime, since I live my job. It's a 24/7 kind of thing, as any mother can attest.


Therefore, I was a bundle of nerves yesterday morning when I walked in for surgery. I had asked my sister about her experience - two of my siblings have had this kind of surgery - and she was laid up for about 3 full days and was in a lot of pain. Granted, her procedure and mine were a little different - and her surgery was 10 years ago. 10 years makes a huge difference in technology when you're dealing with an emergent procedure.

There was a woman ahead of me with her sister, and they were busting up laughing about everything. "This drop is going to sting a little," the nurse would say, and they responded, "That's why I'm here! Pain! Yes! Bring it on!" It definitely doesn't translate so well, but it made me laugh and made me think of my sisters. It doesn't take much to get us going, either.

The whole experience turned out to be more like a spa day than anything else. A valium was pulled out a tech's pocket (isn't it supposed to be in a sterile cup?) and taken out of its bubble package in my hand. Water bottles with the doctor's logo washed the pill down, while a hyacinth-leaf basket took all my possessions to be locked away "in the back".

It gets better: after some eye drops (in a recliner), they passed out freshly baked cookies. Then I had the flap cut: this is where they laid me down and positioned a laser over my eye. A suction cup came down and the laser inserted "friendly bubbles" into my cornea. "Friendly bubbles" was my doctor's term. He explained that "unfriendly bubbles" would be like bubbles in a bathtub. Oh, and Abba was playing in the background.

Once the "friendly bubbles" were there, they sat me in a massage chair. Not kidding - 15 minutes of a full-body massage while a nurse quietly read out the post-operative instructions. With the valium and the massage (and the cookie), I was feeling pretty good, although my vision hadn't changed at all.

Then came the real laser - 14 seconds on each eye. More Abba. We chatted about movie stars trying to sing in musicals: Pierce Brosnan, who freely admitted that he was not a singer in "Mamma Mia", and Russell Crowe, who was bragging about his singing voice in "Les Mis" (give me a break, Mr. Crowe). At this point, my vision went from majorly blurry (normal for me) to cloudy - but I could see across the room. Whoa.

And cloudy was where I stayed for about an hour before I went to take a nap. I made a few mistakes at this point:
  • Mistake #1: I cannot do everything normally when my eyesight is not normal
  • Mistake #2: I placed the eye shields over my eyes (thus obscuring my already-cloudy vision) before going downstairs
  • Mistake #3: I went down the stairs at my normal pace. 
And the result was?

A sprained ankle on one foot and a bruised ankle and heel on the other foot. Doug was upstairs: "Are you okay?"

Silly question. My response was sillier still: "Um, yes, um, in a minute maybe?" 

Doug, meanwhile, was being Husband of the Year, taking care of the kids, making bread (not kidding) and broccoli soup for dinner. Yum. Let me just state for the record (again) that he is awesome. And it kind of prolonged the whole “spa day” feel.

So I spent the day resting - which I was supposed to do because of eye surgery - but mostly I rested because I couldn't walk at all. I crawled a little. Pathetic. 

This morning I could actually walk (hooray!) a little. And at my follow-up appointment this morning, I was cleared for driving (my vision is 20/20!), reading and normal activities. If you call not walking normal, I guess. 

So, a success. And a failure.This is so typical of me. Here's me hoping that no one else out there is being a gimpy this week!

Monday, September 23, 2013

What's Bloomin'

My scattered seeds are coming through again! This time, a lovely yellow trumpet flower appeared.


And now I'm wondering what they are. This is one I would love to plant on purpose!

At any rate, we had a pretty decent weekend - we went hiking up in the canyon and Doug took apart his truck (again). Here are the boys looking cute on a rock:


Ah, brothers. Almost as good as sisters, right? I might be a bit biased on that count. Hope you all have a great week!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

IKEA Strikes Again!

It's getting to the point that most of my new stuff comes from IKEA.

And now, my hand-me-downs are coming from there, too. Not that I think this is necessarily a bad thing. Oh, no.

My dear sister saw on my blog that Malena-maloo is bugged that she doesn't have a chair in her room. And voila! - she offered one of her old ones to me. It's an air chair, with a soft fuzzy cover. I picked it up in California while I was there for the weekend.


It did take me a day or two to decide to put it together...Malena definitely kept it from being lost in my brain clutter. "Now? How about now?"



She has a chair now. And she loves it - she used it for homework yesterday. Sophia loves it, too. She used it for sitting and smiling as often as Malena let her.


And now the boys are bugged that they don't have a chair. Anyone else getting rid of a chair?

Just kidding.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

What a Week





And it's only Tuesday!

There are no new flowers blooming, although it has been rainy most days in the past week or so. The weeds are having a great time, and so are my allergies...but no new blooms.

This last weekend I was able to go to my nephew's wedding in Cali - weekend vacation! The wedding was very sweet. We did have a hard time keeping a straight face when the sealer (the man performing the ceremony) said, "There are few things that are much easier to do once you're married." Hmm. Yes, we all have gutter brains, it's true.

Photo: Here's a little sneak peek of the wedding a got to be a part of on Saturday. Aren't the colors beautiful?
From Kristen Andersen photography (my niece-in-law)...she
photographed the wedding. I love her pictures.
He actually had some good marital suggestions, though, along those lines: once you are married, it is easier to learn to be selfless, to sacrifice, to forgive, to create unity, and...something else. Those are the ones I remember.

For me, it was a weekend of hanging out with sisters. Even though a headache dimmed the fun, it was still enjoyable and I was reminded again and again how much I love my family. Awwww, I know.

Photo
Sisters...and a niece. Fun in a photo booth. I'm the one that is horizontal, always gotta be different.
So now I'm back with the kids, trying to get back in the groove. Hope ya'll had a great weekend, too - and have a better week, no matter how good/bad the weekend was!

Friday, September 13, 2013

More Surface Area

Hard to believe, but I despaired of having any horizontal surfaces when we first moved into this house. I remember vividly trying to put out Christmas stuff and not having anywhere to put anything!

Now there are shelves popping up everywhere...and now I despair of a house that constantly needs to be dusted.

Maybe I just like to complain. Naw.

We now have a shelf in our bedroom to hold the DVD player underneath the newly-mounted television. Yes, I knew that TV wasn't going to move out of our bedroom. Sigh. It is now probably a permanent fixture, but I'm living with it...and sometimes enjoying a show or two with my bedroom door closed, and sometimes even locked.

Not that a lock ever deterred my children, but it's the thought that counts here. And by the way, sorry about the quality of that picture. My children have helped themselves to the batteries, leaving my good camera "exhausted". Really, that's what it tells me. So camera phone is what we get.

Once again, IKEA came to my rescue with a curvy shelf that won't bonk our head (too much) while we're reading on the sofa. I've actually spent a little time reading on the sofa and haven't bonked my head yet (knock on the plywood that makes up our shelf).

Doug installed this baby in about 1/2 hour, with a little of my help. It mostly consisted of him being angry with me for accidentally dropping my side out of level, but I managed to escape shortly thereafter to let him curse the shelf and not his assistant. And voila!

A shelf, with hardly any energy expended on my part. A job well done, if I say so myself.

Monday, September 9, 2013

What's Bloomin'

Yes, I did miss the bloomin' post last week...but I was so busy putting together the before/after pictures, I just hoped you didn't mind having flower pictures for a week.

Besides, there wasn't anything new blooming, so it's not like you missed out.

This week, though, we have chrysanthemums popping up. 

In the front yard, a lovely orange

In the backyard, a rust-colored flower highlighted by the
yellow black-eyed susans in the background
Doesn't that mean that autumn is coming? Oh, I sure hope so...I am super-tired of days that are over 90 degrees. We have had over a month of them. I'm sure there are places that are worse (thinking of Tucson, Arizona, here), but I still like to complain in my blog. 

I also had this yellow flower that seems new to me. If you've seen it before here, just ignore it and be amused by that dark pink draping plant behind it. I've never seen anything like it - and really wish it had a name that I could look up. It's so unusual, and pretty besides.


Hope your weather is starting to cool off - and that you are liking it! 

Friday, September 6, 2013

Jack's First Day of Kindergarten

It has actually come and gone, that momentous day when Jack started school - it was last Tuesday. Sadly, I was too busy to blog it at the time, but I did take pictures...


He looks almost pained in this one. He is such a funny boy. Even though he has afternoon kindergarten, he was ready, with a backpack on, at 8 am. It took a couple of hours to convince him that kindergarten wasn't starting very soon, so he could take off the backpack.

Sophia was also very interested in starting school, so she chose one of Jack's other backpacks (this one was made by my sister for our long trip).


And then she was ready to go.


Jack was so excited, he didn't even want me to walk with him up to the school. Party on, little man.

And Sophie? She was happy to be alone with mama for a few hours. Everyone was happy for a rare few hours. Yay!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Two Years in Blog-Land

Usually I tend to fizzle out on projects...or the kids drag me away...or I decide something else sounds like way more fun. So it comes as a surprise that I am still writing this blog. After two whole years.

Let's take a look at where we've been...and where we are now. After all, aren't Before and After photos the best part of updating a house? They are for me! I'm also including a short to-do list for each area, so you can see where we heading - at least at the moment.

Are you ready? Are you buckled in? Got a few snacks? Then...let's go!

Front Yard

We're the corner house on a cul-de-sac, so everyone going down our street sees our house. So let's start here. The "before" here is also my masthead, so you've probably seen it:


The after doesn't look a whole lot different, except for a few plants (and no pumpkins, since it's August and not November). It's fascinating how different the light looks in different months, isn't it?


Still To Do:
  • Finish painting the front door (still no second coat on that redness!) and fix the window (it's single-paned at the moment) or replace it (my vote)
  • Add an wood arbor and stone half-wall around the porch area
  • Paint or replace siding - we're not too thrilled with the pale yellow
  • Finish landscaping. Next year I can even start trimming those roses in front!

Front Room

Now we're inside. Welcome! You don't need to take off your shoes, even though there are usually several lying about right by the door. And if spelling bothers you, you are welcome to correct our "family" blocks. They are always in disarray, but are usually at least on the shelf.


The house originally had a dark brown wall, as well as four full walls enclosing the room.


That wall limited our view, so we chopped it down. Doug wasn't thrilled with the brown, either, so we went with a soft green/gray. I also started adding curves on the wall. It's a lot brighter in there now. And we can see the view out the front window from the dining room table, which is a big plus.

Still To Do:
  • Finish curves on wall to add a graphic element to a very large wall
  • Finish trim on half wall and possibly add bookshelves along the wall (Doug and I are in discussions, since we have differing viewpoints here)
  • Finish reupholstering chairs ('nuf said)
  • Add art and possibly some greenery - once the kids stop tearing into indoor plants
  • Replace flooring (another point Doug and I disagree about)
  • Plank ceiling, add beams
  • Replace ceiling fan (no overhead lighting) and add ambient lighting instead

Dining Room

Next, come on into the dining room. It was pretty basic when we moved in, with Doug's stereo speakers making a dubious design statement...



Now we have a large sofa to chill on while someone else cooks (primarily me, unfortunately!). The black-and-white photos are arranged in a straight line to add to a sense of order. A girl can always try, right?


From that couch, you can see directly into the kitchen. Depending on the day, that may or may not be a good view. Regardless, you can talk to the cook...which in this house ends up being variations on: "What are you making, again? No, not that!"


Still To Do:
  • Replace flooring (for this room, Doug agrees - there is a chipped tile that no amount of TLC will make better)
  • Add curtains, take down the broken blinds
  • Replace french doors with a sliding glass door...we really want a screen to let in air

Kitchen

Luckily for us, the previous owners updated the entire kitchen. Commercial appliances, new cabinets, new tiling. Unluckily, they didn't actually finish the cabinetry or the tile. Close, though!

They did paint a red accent wall that is now painted the same green/gray as the rest of the front rooms.


We painted, added curtains, and took off the molding that was hanging in no-man's land over the sink.


We also ditched a cabinet in exchange for open shelving.



Still To Do:
  • Finish the tiling
  • Finish up the molding on top of the cabinets - there were a few that didn't have any to begin with
  • Add a backsplash - the painting is nicer than the plaster (and the patched holes), but not as functional as, say, tile
  • Get some bar stools for the counter area

Hallway

Let's head on down the hallway. It looked pretty blank to start with, even with the addition of my large-scale canvas from IKEA.

After a coat of paint and a few more pictures, it's a little more welcoming.


Still To Do:
  • Fix the doorbell...there is still a hole in the wall from whence the doorbell should ring out
  • Replace flooring: this goes along with the front room flooring agenda
  • Replace registers: they are getting old and bent out of shape

Under the Sea Room

This was the first room to receive a coat of paint. I think. It has been two years, after all - am I supposed to remember that far back? Sadly, there aren't any pictures of the room when we first moved in. It was a cute lime green. You'll have to take my word for it.


Today, though, there are fewer fish. There's also a lot more blue.



Still To Do:
  • Malena insists she needs something to sit on, like a poof or a beanbag
  • New carpeting
  • New quilt for Malena - this will introduce a badly-needed contrasting color (red, in case you're wondering)
  • Add closet doors

Sunshine Room

This room went from dark to sunny, although it didn't really bother me as it was when we bought the house. It was classic: dusty blue with chocolate brown. My parents would have loved it. I don't really have anything that matches that particular palette, though, leaving the room looking uncoordinated and awkward.


Some serious painting later, along with new bedding and curtains really brought the room into this decade. And added a lot more light.


A few crazy mirrors helped, too.


Still To Do:
  • Add ambient lighting
  • Add closet doors
  • Replace carpeting

Upstairs Bath

We have done nothing to the upstairs bath - other than add a shower curtain when we moved in. The to-do list, while not much longer than the other rooms, is much more pricey...which might be why we haven't tackled it, yet. Of course, the fact that it is functional also counts as a reason to not put it at the the top of the list.

Still To Do:
  • Replace vanity
  • Replace flooring
  • Add a closet door
  • Replace the room door to match the six panel doors upstairs
  • Replace tile surrounding tub
  • Replace tub (eventually - I can deal with a blue tub for the time being)

Serenity Room

Also known as the Master Bedroom, this room started out white, white, white. I don't think it had even been painted, but was still in its primed state, complete with unfinished patches. It was a little sparse in the furniture department, too.


Now it's a little more crowded. It's also painted and there's a headboard (which I'm still amazed I made all by myself). There's a missing finial on the curtain rod...it's underneath the bed. I think the bed will have to be moved to find it, so it's not happening anytime soon.


As you saw last week, we added a sofa and mounted our TV to the wall. Another issue that we discuss often - Doug loves the TV in our room. Me, not so much. Either way, we do need to hide the wires - if they weren't there, they'd be a lot easier to hide, don't you think?


Still To Do:
  • Hide TV wires
  • Add shelf for TV equipment (if it's going to be there, Netflix and DVDs are always a bonus)
  • Add side tables for the sofa
  • Organize the shelves...this may be a continual item on the list, of course
  • Replace carpeting
  • Add closet door
  • Redo the entire closet: it has an awkward shelving arrangement and almost no hanging space

Quiet Room

Now we're heading downstairs. These rooms were less finished than the ones upstairs, and a few still need drywall. The Quiet Room was at least complete when we moved in, although a sickly color of yellow. The walls were also trashed, tribute to other kids that had once lived in the room.

Mind you, I am not passing judgement. Kids are kids. Yellow, however...that's a different story.


The room is quite a bit brighter now.


It can also be super dark, thanks to the blackout curtains.


Still To Do:
  • Find matching bedding - it's hodgepodge right now
  • Replace the carpet
  • Add closet doors
  • Replace the room door to match the six panel doors upstairs
  • Finish hanging artwork...it's there, I just haven't gotten around to it...

Laundry Room/Craft Room

This room needs a lot of work...it's only partially finished. It is operable, though, which means it regularly fills up with stuff and is cleaned, starting that cycle all over again. Other than using it, we haven't done much of anything to the room itself.



Still To Do:
  • Add a ceiling
  • Add flooring
  • Paint
  • Add curtains
  • Add trim

Downstairs Bathroom

Okay, the laundry room is practically finished when compared to the downstairs bathroom. We did update the vanity - kind of. We replaced the broken vanity (it did have a working sink) with a functional vanity that our neighbors were throwing away.

Before...

And after. I guess it is an improvement.



Doug also added a door and did the framing, but then stopped. With the sink undone, so it's no longer functional. Bummer. At least the toilet still works...

Still To Do:
  • Add a shower
  • Drywall the room
  • Tile the shower and floor
  • Add lighting
  • Refinish or replace vanity - oak isn't my thing, really

Morning Room

Hah! I figured out a name for Bonnie's room downstairs. It gets the best morning light, while not being too hot when there's too much sun. Eventually, I'll have to decorate it accordingly. However, we have taken it from the same sickly yellow that covered the Quiet Room into a basic white. Maybe not much of an improvement, but at least we can easily repaint over the white.


The walls were also trashed in this room.


The stickers add a little life to the whiteness. This is probably the first room I've painted white in 6-7 years.

Still To-Do:
  • Add trim
  • Replace the room door to match the six panel doors upstairs
  • Replace carpet

Living Room

This room is completely unfinished. That is, until Doug framed and insulated it this summer. It's a little closer to being livable! Here it is with a little bit of framing and a few pieces of furniture:



And now, with fewer pieces of furniture, completely framed and insulated:


You're right: it looks worse now. But closer to the end goal.

Still To Do:
  • Add drywall
  • Paint
  • Add trim
  • Add lighting & covers for the can lights
  • Add flooring
  • Add more furniture, so we can lounge instead of stand around, looking at the walls.

Library

Ah, the library. This was originally painted a brown room with a red accent wall. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures when we first moved in (bad girl!), and it was soon repainted as the Garden Room with flowers and fairies.


It even looked pretty decent as a guest room.


Now it is Collin's room, waiting to be repainted.



 Still To Do:
  • Repaint (I'm thinking a nice gray with one or three red horizontal stripes)
  • Add closet doors
  • Replace room door with a six-panelled door like those upstairs
  • Replace carpet

Back Yard

And that wraps up the inside of the house. So let's head out to the backyard. It is, frankly, a mess. Still, it is better than just plain dirt and stickers, which is where we started. Before:


After, with a lot more plants:


North side of the house before:


And after. The plants are a little larger, but it still is pretty plain.


 Garden before:

And after. This is pretty much the same, yes? It depends on the season - once Doug plows it under in the fall, it will look neat and tidy until next spring.


The chicken coop before...

Yup, that's a little Jack doing a "Toyota" jump. See how close that little tree is to the right of the shed? And after...


The tree isn't so little anymore...and it's quite a bit farther. The chickens have a lot more space to roam, too.

The fruit trees are getting a little bigger - before:


And after:


And my flower beds are no longer empty. Before:


And after:


This is the same stretch of land from two different perspectives - I am sorry about that.

Still To Do:
  • Fencing - I probably have said enough about this topic
  • Arrange plantings instead of just throwing them in beds
  • Plan out what we're doing (majority of the yard)

And there you have it. Next we are planning on tackling a real fence (at last!) and finishing the basement. You know, little things. Hope you are having success and happiness in your home...we're certainly trying!