Tuesday, November 23, 2010

happy thanksgiving!




Hey, everyone! We're heading out to Door County again for a little turkey and family time. The laptop will not be making the trip ;) Hope you all have a wonderfully wonderful holiday weekend. See you soon.


Happy Thanksgiving!



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

displaying the children's art



Our kids - all four of them (boy included) - have an ongoing love affair with paper. They write. They draw. They cut. Paper has been an intimate part of my everyday life since SweetP was just starting to scribble. And it looks like it's here to stay. The negative side of this paper-oriented subculture is that there are constantly little bits and growing piles scattered all over the house. Try as I might to harness it all, the paper wins every time. The positive side is that I will have plenty of momentos from our children's younger years to cherish when they fly the nest.

Many of my favorite drawings get displayed for a time on the refrigerator and then carefully put away in my special 3-ring binder. Others that are some of the children's favorite get stored in simple, white paper-sized boxes from IKEA. When the boxes get too full, we start to get rid of a few things, always holding on to those that are the most prized (no one is allowed to toss drawings, paintings, cards, poems, etc. without Mama's okay, though). Sometimes I rescue a discarded lovely and put it in my folder instead of letting them pitch it.

The refrigerator has been fine here, but it's not really positioned in a place where the artwork is showcased. And, honestly, creations x four = a very packed fridge front. Sometimes the papers get to me a bit when all I want to get is the milk and, instead, I'm bombarded with watercolored tulips. So, I've been thinking up some way of displaying the children's art in the kitchen eating area. We eat all of our meals there, and the space has been needing something more personal anyway.



I tossed around a few thoughts, and felt very original and creative when I decided to go with clipboards on the wall. However, then I looked through Ashley Ann's archives to get a good look at her boys' bunkbeds and saw the walls in their room. Not so original of me after all. Guess it's more like forgetfulness.


But, I'm glad that at least my subconscious remembered the clipboard idea. And I'm glad I wanted to see her boys' beds because now I can give her props. I was apparently inspired by her clipboards. I added sticky felt pads to the back so my wall wouldn't get all scratched up by clipboards swinging to and fro as they are wont to do when in a high-traffic area like our eating nook.


I was bothered by the "Office Depot" insignia (did I spell that correctly?) on the clip part of the boards. It just somehow seemed dorky to me to leave them that way. I wandered through Office Depot looking for a suitable way to mask the words, and even asked an employee about label options. Tip: if you're going to cover up "Office Depot" on any of your Office Depot merchandise because you don't care for the way it looks and you're asking a sales person for assistance with that project, choose your wording very carefully. Who knew Office Depot peeps had such an allegiance to their logo? I did not mean to offend. Honest.

I came up empty-handed at the OD, but I went home and punched out some textured scrapbook paper. Maybe I could just hang a tag over the clip and the words would be hidden (?).


Or not. The tag thingy hung over too far. Words still clearly visible. Now, this is not a do or die part of the project. Really - I could have just left them as is. Ashley Ann did, and she certainly doesn't do much in the way of dorky decor. Her house is Inspiration Central. She also seems really cool to hang around with, which I like. Anyway, I could've left things well enough alone. But, I figured if there was an easy way to personalize them a bit, why not?


Back to the scrap supplies. Punched out six holes, used six scrap stickers and good ol' Elmers Glue.


I think I like 'em!


Not sure about the string. I had it on at first, but then I took it off. All together, that many bows looked a little too crafty/handmade to work with the rest of the kitchen. {maybe}


Here they are sans string and all in place :)






So, there's that! Thanks to hubby for the leveling and nailing to get them into a nice arrangement. Now, off to work some more. It's a painting day :)




Monday, November 8, 2010

November Begins



We have some house-related things in the works, we really do, and progress posts are coming soon. Before we get to those, though, we have a few more "family" posts to share.

This afternoon, I just wanted to post a few photos from our first week of November. Nothing earth-shattering. Just Monday through Friday of our week. It's been fun trying to capture more photos of our everyday. Moments that aren't usually the ones I'd think to document. I may be starting to sound like a (sappy) broken record, but you know the time invested in these everyday things makes this house *home* far more than the chairs we're painting ever could. Our days have been blessed far beyond what we could ask for, and the physical and mental rest from house projects has been very good for us. We're gearing back up, don't worry. We know we can't take too long off from this house business, but the time off has been sweet.

Here's a little everyday...















Have a great Monday night!



Friday, November 5, 2010

Punkin's Daddy Date (age 6)



I know. No home improvement.




Again.




But, these were just too sweet to keep to myself :)



They just left in Sam's car (a big treat for the kids) about half an hour ago.





So fun.






Tuesday, November 2, 2010

randomness



Hey, guys :)

I'm out of practice these days with writing blog posts, I guess. I sat down in front of my computer and just stared at it. I typed a few post titles, deleted them, tried again. Hmm. Is this blogger's block? So, I just decided to bring you up to speed on some serious randomness instead and type whatever pops into my head.

First up, sorry it's been so crazy long since I've posted! Our modem went kaput about a month ago and, when Sam returned from Best Buy with a brand new one, we couldn't get my laptop working with it for some reason. For two weeks Sam putzed around with it, trying to get the thing going, but it just wouldn't go online with the new modem. Now, I should tell you my laptop was a sorry little thing. S-L-O-W and more than slightly annoying at times. So, Sam wasn't really too sad when he decided that it was time to just get a new laptop for me. By the time we bought one and I (who am technologically challenged - I just learned how to text about 2 months ago - what a goober) finally learned how to use the thing, several weeks had gone by. No posts. Sorry, guys. The time actually flew, and I'm surprised it's been as long as it has. But, here I am. Posting :)



And here's my new computer. I'm writing this post on it, and I'm planning for photos. However, I don't know how to add photos on this computer just yet. So, I have to wait until tonight when Sam can show me. Then I'll add the photos.

It's much faster. Thank you, Sam :)



Did you know I was a soccer mom for the first time ever this fall? Yup. And, also for the first time ever, I was introduced to someone as "Jacci, the coach's wife".



And did you know I now have a six year old daughter?





Or that you can sew little circles of scrapbook paper into a super-happy garland? You just feed them through, one after the other and a few stitches in between make the thread chain. So cute.



The party was two weeks ago, and I still have the garlands up.



Did you know that you can prime over just a section of a wall and then roll over the whole thing with paint and the primed part won't show lighter? And that the primer will successfully cover over the crayon that necessitated such a use of your Saturday afternoon in the first place?

Did you know that if you sit down to type a blog post in the middle of the day, your children will assume that means they don't have to start their Latin and they can just bunk their math work?

Excuse me for a moment...

Okay, a few more.

Did you know that bathrooms almost never, really almost never, clean themselves. I know! So weird.

Or that homes do not renovate themselves as you go about living life? As one very sensitive commenter noted when he/she submitted the following uplifting sentiment: "Do you actually ever do any home improvements any more?"

Sigh.

But on that note, did you know that you can make a home feel more homey by loving people in it? Even if the hallway trim is still not painted.

Even if one entire room is still overtaken by the round saw.

Even if the one project you chose to work on last month flopped and left you with this to stare at for weeks.





And your dining room chairs have been replaced by these for the past month.





It can still feel more homey. There can still be contentment and joy. A happy home doesn't have to be a picture perfect home.

Good thing :)




She's Alive!



I'm here. I'm well. We're all well. And now, after several weeks without internet connectivity, we're online! :) I have a post in the hopper. I just need to figure out how to download photos on my new 'puter. Thanks for staying with me!