A November Saturday

My 3 early risers.  Parker Bear was still hibernating.

The Bear has emerged from his cave

 Football with Daddy

 

Absolute perfection

Boys' bedrooms - Spiderman room and Baseball room

A couple of months ago Landon and Parker agreed that they wanted to switch rooms.  Parker wanted the larger room and Landon likes the window, of all things, in Parker's old room.  I told them that as long as they were in agreement about the switch that it was fine with me but that they had to get their rooms clean enough to actually do it.  

Well, they got them clean and I got bitten by a crazy redecorating bug.  I figured as long as furniture was being moved that now was as good a time as any to do some painting.  I promised each child, even the ones not switching rooms, that they would all get "new" rooms but that they would have to be patient and give me a whole month per room to get things finished.

I got Landon's finished so quickly that I moved right on to Parker's room and both rooms were moved and redecorated within 3 weeks!  Phew!  Now I need a little breather...

Here are the Before and After pictures-

Oops!  I only had a 35mm lens available for the Before pics so you can barely see any of the room.

Landon's new room before:

 

Landon's new room after:

He went back and forth about between wanting racecars and Spiderman.  I got him to settle on Spiderman since we already had the large sticker.  None of the Spiderman elements in the room are permanent so in a year or two if he gets bored with it then it's easy to switch.  Even the cityscape is just a couple of foam boards I had cut with an exacto knife and stuck on with double sided tape.  My total money spent on this project was less than $100 = $24 (sheets) + $30 (1 gal of paint) + $18 (letters for his name) + $15 (painting supplies).

Parker's new room before:

 

Parker's new room after:

Parker wanted a "baseball room with just a touch of football".  $60 (paint) + $24 (curtains) + $22 (rug) + $7 (red dry-erase board) + $9 (hooks) + $17 (sports pillows) + $18 (red spray paint for bookcase) = $157 total.  Everything else I already had on hand like the shelves, curtain rod and all of his furniture.  Not too shabby.  Two rooms redecorated for $250!

I'm really proud of how they both turned out and it makes me immensely happy that both boys are in love with their new rooms!

IHF My Story in Photos - I Heart My Country

I love where I live. 

This room.  The color of these four walls soothes and calms my spirit.

This house.  It's just enough room for us.  Not too big.  Not too small.  We each have our space for privacy but we're not so far apart that it takes long to find one another.

This neighborhood.  From my front porch I get to know our neighbors and their children and they know us and our children.

This town. The activity and buzz of Atlanta is only a short drive from us but you'd never know that when you have to pass 5 horse farms, 3 goat pastures, 2 cow pastures and a yard full of roosters to get home.

This beautiful southern state. The weather. The mountains. The beach.  The history. The people.  The culture.
We have it all here.

This country.  Here I have the right to: 

• Choose my religion 
• Freedom of Expression
• Trial by jury
• Choose our President and Representatives, etc., etc.

And the opportunities and potential and privileges afforded to me simply because I am a citizen of these United States is not something I will ever take for granted.  (Especially after reading a post like this.)

                                      

Before & After - Anna's room

I can check one thing off my To-Do list!

I may have mentioned a time or two that I've been switching the kids' rooms around and painting and such. Well, I'm finally done with Anna's room.  All that I need to get for it is a rug, a clock and a new light fixture.  

Here's what the room looked like 4 weeks ago.  Cameron and Parker shared this room.  It's a very long room over the garage, technically the Bonus Room, but it has it's own full bathroom and large walk-in closet.  All the things an only girl in the family will need for privacy.

 

 

 

 Here's what the room looks like now after many, many days of 

painting and sewing and cleaning and hanging things.

(It's not quite this pink; I hit contrast on the pictures but it's a little lighter than this in real life.)

 

 

 Eventually I will paint this back wall the same shade of pink but I ran out of steam.  I will do that when I'm done decorating the boys' rooms.  So use your sanctified imagination and think pink.

Here's my didn't-feel-like-taking-the-time-to-read-any-instructions slipcover for her chair.  Trust me, even this wonky slipcover is an ENORMOUS improvement over the nasty stained chair underneath.

And here is the sweet, busy, beautiful girl that made all that work worth it.

 Hopefully, in the next 2 weeks I'll have more Before & After pics to show you of the boys' rooms.

Benar-benar kacau!

If my English to Indonesian translation is correct, then that means, "What a mess!"  

This has been my view, more or less, for the last few weeks on end.

My shoulders are on fire!  I have made approximately 8 trips to either Home Depot or Lowe's in the last 3 weeks.   I don't want to know (and neither does Brian) how much money I have spent on paint, painter's tape, roller covers and primer.   I have painted the office a silver-grey and turned it into Parker's room.  I moved Cameron into Anna's old room.  Then I painted it the UGLIEST shade of olive green.   Then I painted over the ugliest olive green with primer and painted it a pretty khaki/tan color.   I moved Anna into the boys' old room and painted it Pink Breeze.  And now, because I'm a crazy person, I am measuring and taping and painting stripes of green, brown, Timeless Rose and the same tan from Cameron's room.  

Ongepotchket!  That's what this is!

(In Yiddish that means: Messed up, slapped together without form, excessively and unesthetically decorated.) 

 Not that fabric, just the whole room in general!  That fabric is GOR-geous!!!

Right now her room looks like le rose camp d'entraînement du cirque caniche (or in English: a pink circus poodle training camp!)

I am trying to take it one thing at a time but I really just want it to be Hecho! (DONE!)

I'm going now.  Going to go take a shower and to scrape my arms, legs and hands with my fingernails ... again... to get this paint off my skin.

Ouch.

Noticed

 Blustery winds today are making the clouds look as if they are on a direct path toward our house rather than floating miles above the earth.  A milk jug took a jog down the street earlier followed later by its recycling bin that must have been hollering, "Wait for me!"   Here in the hills you can see the weather approaching and changing in a different way than you might in a dissimilar topography.  It appears closer to the observer, like you could reach up and be swept away with it.

I love this place.  Have I mentioned it before?  What a blessed woman I am.  I hope that this is the only childhood home my little ones will know.  Twenty years from now, I'd like to hear them asking me on the phone, "How is the neighborhood?  Are Mr. and Mrs. Clay doing well?  What about the Haases?"  

Every now and then I get a little restless and find myself daydreaming about living in a condo downtown, riding the bus to the store, walking to a local restaurant for lunch.   

But most of the time, I love my peaceful suburb.  There are so many days like this.  Days full of laundry and cleaning, homework and playtime, everyone is healthy and happy.  So many days like this that I take for granted.  They go unnoticed.

But not today.  Today is.