February Photos

Well, I didn’t think I was going to make it.  I got sick today and there were a bunch of photos that I procrastinated on finding.  *sigh*  Some of these aren’t exactly what I would have chosen, but at the last minute and being sick on top of it, I just did what I could so I could finish.  LOL.  (See all the other entries here.)  SO here goes:

1. A tower
    
   I guess this qualifies…lol…
   
   
2. “Main Street”
   
   It’s on the sign… =)
   
   
3. Five
    
   
   
4. A dog or cat
   
   My snow cat…in memory of Jango.  :-( 
   
   
5. Two of a kind
   
   Salt & Pepper…a classic pair.
   
   
6. A clock
   
   No comment…it’s a clock…a giant one…not exactly the most photo worthy subject, but oh well. 
   
   
7. A game
    
   Princesses on the Wii…and the most annoying music in the world.  LOL.
   
   
8. Something sweet
   
   A chocolate candle…mmm…=)
   
   
9. B&W w/selective coloring
   
   Pretty classic, but I was short on ideas at this point.  =)
   
   
10. Your own reflection 
     
    Yep, that’s my reflection…right after I got ready for my hot valentine date.  ;-)
    
    
11. A mirror image
    
    on our dresser
    
    
12. Night image
     
    Would you believe, it snowed on our hot valentine date?
    
    
13. Something homemade
    
    The valentine that munchkin made for us…
    
    
14. Something pink
    
    And the cupcakes that Mawmaw made for us…feel the love. ;-)  Okay, so she made them for the grandkids, but they shared…lol…oh well.
    
    
15. Something romantic
    
    Dinner for two at the Outback… YEAH!  With a free bloomin onion…DOUBLE yeah!  Not so romantic for kissing later though.  LOL
    
    
16. A candid shot
     
    Sheesh, look at the circles under those eyes…a very tired munchkin playing her princess game.
    
    
17. A portrait 
      
    Wasn’t sure if this qualifies as a “portrait” or “candid” but I didn’t have one for here, so I’m using it. 
    
    
18. A symbol of love
    
    Well, technically, this is a symbol of “Love’s” but it works, right?
    
    
19. A landscape
    
    Here’s two…I couldn’t decide which one to use.
    
    
20. Chocolate
     
    Thin Mints…oh dear. 

The end.  My head is splitting and I’ve got terrible chills so I’m going to go curl up under a blanket for another few hours…I hate being sick.  ARGH.

K-man’s Room – Organized…

Here’s yet another one of my re-do projects as I challenged myself to do at the beginning of the month, after stumbling across this organizing challenge.  See more organized rooms here.

Before:                                               After: 

And then all his junk piled here and there…
And his closet “throw-up”….

 

all of which needed to be organized into his closet….

and TA-DA!

I just love it when a plan comes together.  =) 

To complete this challenge, I have to answer the following questions:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it? The hardest part of this project was collecting all the pieces and toys that needed to go in one place and then organizing them to fit. 

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order? I put all the most used toys in reach of the K-man so that he will be able to put them away when he’s done playing. 

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?  Started a giant yard sale pile to make a few extra dollars when the weather warms up.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?  Lots of baskets and the rubbermaid closet storage system…makes all the difference in the world. 

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?  Well, I’d love to win the organizational tools because I still have quite a bit of organizing left to do, but I’d say all in all, I’ve already won because this room is much more organized now.  =)

Also completed the Laundry room, Desk, & Medicine Cabinet projects.

YAY!  =)

Desk Clean-Up

Here’s another one of my re-do projects as I challenged myself to do at the beginning of the month, after stumbling across this organizing challenge.  See more spaces organized here.

Before:                                After:

First step in here was to clear the whole thing off and have the hubby set up the computer.  This is the kid’s computer area (although I occasionally set my laptop in the now cleared area to the side and make them share…lol) so it works out well, since I want the “public” computer to be under supervision…particularly when we have kids using it who happen to be able to use the internet and etc.

So after I cleared everything off, I sorted into what needed to stay in this area (kid’s art/school supplies are in the upper cabinets along with computer games, some dvds that never made it into the case that holds the dvd collection…this stash came in real handy when we first moved in and I needed something to entertain the kidlets and couldn’t find the box that had the dvd collection in it…lol) and what needed to go away (office stuff for the grownup office, junk that had got piled here for lack of better place to pile it, etc.).

Here’s a couple of photos inside the upper cabinets. 
 

Another project down.  I love getting to USE this area (for something besides a spot to pile things on…)

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it? The hardest part of the challenge was getting everything that truly NEEDED to be somewhere else, put where it belonged…and I partially overcame it, but there are still a few items that probably would work better somewhere else.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?  Making myself not just set things down on this desk simply because it’s handy. 

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space? Most of it was stuff we had to keep, but belonged somewhere else, so I just moved things to the room they belonged in to work on when I get to those rooms. 

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?  Small baskets to hold little things on the shelf.

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge? Well, I’d love to win the organizational tools because I still have quite a bit of organizing left to do, but I’d say all in all, I’ve already won because this space is totally usable now.  =)

PS…almost a week (or has it been more than a week?) of not posting, and ya got three in one night…LOL!  So be sure to scroll on down… ;-)  I was actually going to post more than this, but it’s late and I’ve got to bed.  *sigh*  Later!

Laundry Room Re-do

Here’s one of my re-do projects as I challenged myself to do at the beginning of the month, after stumbling across this organizing challenge.  See more organized rooms here.

Before:                                After:

First order of business was to catch up on the laundry…and that massive mess around the hamper went away.  After that, we removed everything, and patched the walls/cleaned/painted. (Huge thanks to the Mom-In-Law for the assistance with paint projects).  Brooms and mops went into the garage where they are going to be hung just outside the laundry room door for easy access.  I didn’t take photos of the inside of the cabinets, but I also re-organized those so that all the cleaning supplies were with like products, etc.  Rug moved to the entrance of laundry room from garage to catch dirt before coming in the house.  And junk collecting on top of dryer was put in proper homes, thrown away, or put up in the cabinet.  This room is much nicer now. 

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it? The hardest part of this project was cleaning and painting this room.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order? I put all the like cleaning supplies in the same place so I can find and put them away easier.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?  There wasn’t much stuff that needed to be purged out of here.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?  more baskets…baskets are my favorite.  *grin*

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge? Well, I’d love to win the organizational tools because I still have quite a bit of organizing left to do, but I’d say all in all, I’ve already won because this room is much more organized now.  =)

When?

Will. I. EVER. Learn?

So tonight I’m going through all the gajillion photos I’ve got from February and trying to sort out which ones go to what thing I was doing.  I just keep on overloading myself with projects.  I just don’t learn.  Seriously, I’m so busy I barely have time to take photos of what we’re up to, much less get them posted or heaven forbid, BLOG about it.  LOL.  And then I go do something silly like add a little more to my scrapbooking plate…lol…oh well. 

Speaking of being gluttons for punishment, remember that giant foyer paint job?  Well, we decided we didn’t like that color after all.  So we repainted it on Tuesday.  I’ll get pictures posted sometime…when I get to it.  Ha.  So…anyone need 2.5 gallons of leftover pastel green/gray paint?  We are insane. 

Well, while I’m working on all that other stuff, I just thought I’d update this project that I did a little more on…

Took this frame…
 
…painted it, added scrapbook paper (covered with contact paper since it’s on the side of the bathtub and there was no glass in the frame) and voila…a tray.

And now I’ve got to get back to those photos.  Later!

Computer Time

Yes, our kids are just as addicted to the computer screen as their parents.  LOL.  However, I want to know who decided that all kids shows and games should have annoying music? 

It’s a good thing the games on the computer occupy our kids attention for long periods of time WHILE being educational or else that music really WOULD drive me nuts!  LOL!

Here’s a layout of pics I took of the kids while they were playing/watching each other play the other day.

Credits: Template & Kit (The Prince) by Cara of Sweet Tomato Designs (and you can find all her designs at Polka Dot Plum).  Fonts: Times&TimesAgain, DaunPenh

Uhmmm…

I am soooo out of it right this minute, but I’ve been so slack in the blogging this week that I thought I’d just pop in really quick to say…um…I don’t really know what I thought I’d say when I got here…I’m drawing a blank suddenly.  *sigh*

Our entire main level is painted now…and all this week I’ve been busting my tail (and a few other random body parts…ow….I’m such a super klutz these days ---more than usual…that’s bad) on re-arranging, painting, finishing up unpacking some of the rooms, and I’m just whooped.  KC’s mom came up on Tuesday and helped me paint the dining room and the upstairs hallway, and stayed over till Wednesday and we did the laundry room and finished the trim in the dining room and put it all back together again…that was a JOB, let me tell ya!  No way could I have gotten all that done by myself.  And the rest of the time, I’ve been unpacking, cleaning (yes, unbelievably, there are still things to clean…lol), arranging stuff, and everything else. 

I’m losing track of days, they are all running together.  And losing track of dates and everything else.  While I’m complaining, something else is bugging me lately, everything I touch breaks at some point while I’m touching it….either it falls or I drop it or SOMETHING.  I don’t know what’s going on with that but I’m beginning to be afraid to touch anything.  I’m worse than a kid these days.  Ouch.  And listen to me, I’m whining like one, too.  LOL.  Sorry.  I’m going to bed now.  I do have pictures but my head is hurting and I don’t feel like uploading tonight.  *grin*  Later!

Snow-less Snow Day

So I took the Munchkin to school today at 7:45.  At 9:40, I got a phone call that due to winter weather, school was closing at…wait for it….9:40.  Oh yeah, thanks for the heads up.  So I immediately got up from my nap on the couch (shhh, don’t tell anyone) and took off for the school.  And as I did, I noticed that the temperatures were above freezing and it was barely raining.  What winter weather?  And then two hours later, the sun was shining and the temperatures were (still) above freezing.  Um…okay. 

But since it was a snow day, how bout some snowy layouts (photos from when we DID have snow…lol) from this new Snow Friends Kit by Simply Susan. 

I think you can click on the layouts below to see them larger. 

Credits for below layouts:
All papers/elements from Snow Friends available at Faith Sisters, Scrapbooks Gone Digital, & Pretty Scrappy.
Fonts: Times&Times Again, Pea Sadie, VT Portable Remington

And it’s really kinda getting late, so I’m gonna hop off here.  It was another day full of painting (after my nap) and I’m kinda bushed.  Later! =)

A New Leaf?

Well, I’ve been hesitant to talk about this for fear of jinxing it, but after she brought home a book her class made for her today, I couldn’t resist sharing. 

So we were a little worried that with the transfer to the new school, we would have more acting out (and possibly worse) because of all the changes.  I wasn’t so worried about her making friends because she will walk up and strike a conversation with anyone and everyone, and she didn’t appear to be worried about it until the last week at her old school, when suddenly she just KNEW that she wouldn’t like her new school and she wouldn’t make any friends and yada yada. 

Well, the first week of her new school, she had all good days, and she said she’d made ONE friend.  And it was evident in the way she talked, that she was reluctant to admit that it wasn’t nearly as bad as she wanted it to be.  In the second week, we had some mild battles about her lunches and what she wanted to be packed in her lunchbox versus what COULD be packed in her lunchbox, and I finally found something she would eat without complaint (1/2 a sandwich – ONLY bologna and mayo, NO cheese and NO mustard and ONLY a 1/2 of a sandwich plus baby carrots, yogurt, applesauce, or an apple).  She still had all good days though.  Third week and the trend continued, and she even got Queen Bee of the day one day, plus a AAA student medal (which now resides proudly on her backpack).  Fourth week and not a single bad day. 

Got the report card and her scores in math, reading, and science were great, and her behavior was perfect.  We were in seventh heaven, especially after the way the first part of the year went…I mean, I had a note almost every single day at her old school because she just wouldn’t follow the rules, so this is a wonderful switch, let me tell ya!  I love getting smileys instead of x’s across the smileys.  (lol)

And now we’re ending week five and today she came home with Queen Bee of the day award again.  And today, the class all drew pictures for Queen Bee and a statement of what they thought of her (Munchkin is _____) and signed their names on the back.  Quite possibly the most adorable thing ever.  She had a lot of “BFF”s (which I pointed out and she admitted that, “Yes, she does have lots of friends now.”) and then almost the last page….I laughed out loud.  A boy said she was “hot.”  Oh dear.  LOLOLOLOL!  Here are a couple…of course, I blanked out names and inserted anonymous references.  ;-)

1.2.

1. I really like how in every picture, they drew her wearing a skirt.  LOL.  Kids are so observant…and yet, she’s still “fun.”  You go, Munchkin!  =)
2. This girl can DRAW.  she put adorable little princess crowns on their heads.  Munchkin said that the first girl is Munchkin and the other girl is her friend (BFF, no less) from school who drew the picture.  One other thing to note is that they are exceedingly tall…and most of it is legs.  LOL!

3.4.

3. Munchkin is cool.  LOL…cute or what?
4. Munchkin is hot.  BWAHAHAHAHA.  She’s also bald, according to this little boy, but oh well, hot is hot, right?  I thought it was funny that all the boys used adjectives like cute, hot, sweet, etc, and 95% of the girls said she was BFF (which according to Munchkin means “be my friend forever” LOL) So funny!

Anyway, here’s hoping I didn’t just jinx this whole new leaf of hers.  If I had to guess at the cause of this turn around, I think there are several possibilities…

• Challenge – this school seems to do much more challenging activities during the school day and she has very, VERY little homework when she comes home, because they do all their work AT school.  I think this is a plus for both of us (lol).  Consequently, I think she’s too busy to get into trouble.
• Classmates – at her old school, she happened to get 4 of the kids from her preschool in her class.  Her preschool teacher winced when I told her which kids were in her class and suggested that I give serious consideration to moving her.  She didn’t say it in so many words, but knowing the kids from her class at preschool, they may not have been quite the positive influence she needed. 
• Change – I’m thinking maybe just being something new and a new teacher, maybe it was a fresh start for her and being the new kid and going in on her best behavior, maybe she realized how much nicer it is to get smiley faces than X’s.  LOL. 

Whatever the case, I like it and *knocking on wood while saying a prayer* I hope it continues.  LOL.  =)  And there it is.  An update on my girl…and while life in our house hasn’t changed all that much (at least not as dramatically as school), with the exception of a few things we’re still dealing with (normal issues with five year olds), things are rather peaceful.  LOL.  To quote one of those major fast food chains, I’m LOVIN’ it!

And now I’m off to SCRAP this joyous occasion…just in case I did jinx it, I’d like it to be documented in two places so that I will never ever forget.  LOL! 

Looks Can Be Deceiving…

Like this foyer for instance…
It looks like it was a fairly simple job to go from the “before” to the “after”

It also looks like the door was whiter in the “before” but actually, it wasn’t.  I used flash in the before photos because it was very “dark” in there before and in the after photos, I used natural light only. 

In the before photos, the chandelier looks brown…it’s actually almost black, which I discovered when we were up on the scaffolding and I decided to dust it while we were up there. 

It also doesn’t look like it would be that tall of a room…and you wouldn’t think that when you’re up on the top of the scaffolding, that it would be THAT high up…but yowza!  It was tall.  And that skinny little board didn’t feel very substantial.  Here’s some pictures of the process of getting rid of the old color (what we affectionately dubbed the “self-tanner disaster”).  Fake tan, meet high-hiding primer!

And yah, a full day later: high-hiding primer, meet neutral gray-green.  As a side-note, the close-up of the door and trim is not the gray-green, it’s the difference between the fresh white trim and the dingy (still needs to be repainted) front door.  And the picture just fit in that spot, so put it there even though it doesn’t go with the rest of these.  LOL
   
AHh…my mother took a picture of me on the scaffolding over the stairs.  She said it was me cleaning my ear.  I say looks can be deceiving.  I was….um….it was a balance issue…I was standing on a single skinny board and by tugging my ear, I was able to retain my balance…uh…yeah.  LOL!

Oh and it LOOKS like Snowball decided to help us.  Um…but then she saw us watching her and hurriedly ran back down the ladder.  LOL!

Oh and while I’m here, let me just go ahead and post one more before/after.   
There were all kinds of holes in this bathroom…I had to patch several times before I could paint.  And then I had to prime it twice to get rid of that awful teal/aqua/green whatever it was.  I am MUCH happier with it now!  It looks Mahhhhvelous!  And I really like how the cabinet turned out in black.  We also painted that mirror black (originally wood grain), which I found at a consignment shop for $9.  This bathroom was mirror-less when we got here.  LOL. 

Anyway, two more projects crossed off my to-do list.  (Except KC got home and said I hung the mirror too low.  I said, tough cookies, you want it moved, YOU get to do it.  LOL…except we were both nicer about it.  LOL!  But I’m serious about one part…I ain’t gonna move it.  If you’re tall and wanna see in the mirror, bend over.  Ya gotta bend over to wash your hands in the sink anyway, so just look in the mirror while you’re down there.  HAH.  LOL!)

Well, it’s time for the kids bath and bed, so catch’a later!  =)