Re-doing the bathroom

This was our powder bathroom. Pretty wild wallpaper. Without the aid of the camera's flash, the room is actually quite dark. I did not like it. So a few weeks ago while the owner was here he asked what I thought about the bathroom and commented that he did not care for it.

I sure hope he meant it -- because as soon as he said that I knew that the wall paper would be gone SOON~! I spent the week stripping the wallpaper -- (I should say right now, that I am not a huge fan of wallpaper -- it seems that it is so easily dated and very hard to update and refresh without major work. )

Underneath the wallpaper were lots of holes in the wall and this lovely paint color -- apparently this color must have been a favorite!

And here it is now!!!! We went with the same plain khaki color and swapped out the 80's polished brass light fixtures. (One funny thing -- when I got back from Sherwin Williams, Madelyn asked me if I got the paint. I said, yes and then she said, "did you get purple?" I laughed and said no -- she cried and asked what color I got? I said Khaki -- and she replied, "Khaki is so BORING!" But she likes it now, she has told me it is her favorite bathroom now!)
I am still looking for more wall art and a few more accessories, but this is so much better to work with!

WE FOUND A HOUSE!!!!!!!

I will post several times about our trip, but the highlight of it all is that we found a house. We are still working through the paperwork and are waiting for it to be all official!!!!!!! We looked at so many houses and we would walk through as quickly as possible snapping photos so that later we could look and compare -- so sorry if they are blurry . . . but it gives you the idea! Somehow I missed pictures of the family room and more of the back yard -- oh well --

Fresh Flowers

I have never been one to want flowers. Although I think they are beautiful, I can always think of something else that would be more worthwhile to spend my money on. Following our recent miscarriage we received a few flower arrangements and potted flowers from family and friends. They were all so beautiful -- there were gerber daisies, roses, lilies, hydrangeas, irisis, and a bunch of names I don't know. And do you know . . . they actually did cheer me up. It is hard to feel sad with beautiful flowers around. After those flowers were gone (or planted in my yard), Trent brought home flowers following a big recruiting dinner. It was a beautiful arrangement. The flowers all lasted so long and then suddenly it was 2 days ago and I realized that the last of the flowers needed to be thrown away and I was so sad not to have fresh flowers that I went and bought myself these roses. (I found them at HEB -- one dozen for 7.99 -- can't beat that price!!!!) And I must say they are beautiful. They have made everyone's day!

And the best part is that while we had all these beautiful flowers, we were also showing our home and we got a lease contract on it last night. I am sure the roses sealed the deal yesterday. So I am looking at my $7.99 as an investment, for sure!!!!

The "Obligatory" in front of the house after church in your Sunday clothes when Grandpa is in town pictures

When we are around Trent's parents (and we do love being around them) there are certainly some phrases we hear from his Dad each time.

". . . just stand in front of the fireplace for a picture."

"Could we get a picture in front of the house before everyone changes clothes?"

"Let me get a picture of that."

So here they are, in front of the house.

Of mice and men

It has been fairly entertaining lately listening to my nieghbor's mice woes. They have had 4 (yes, four!) mice caught in traps. Eeeeewwwwww! It was nice knowing as she spoke that our mice woes were in the past. . . or so we thought.

Trent's parents are in town. We have had a fun, long day. Trent and I were both watching TV and on our computers and they were dozing, but pretending not to be. They finally decided to call it a night. They said goodnight and headed up the stairs to our guest room. Not 3 minutes passed and they were both back downstairs.

Nana said, "I think there is a mouse in our room! We can hear it scratching." We all ran upstairs and we could all hear it. We weren't sure if it was behind the bed, in the nightstand or in the wall. After placing towels over all the appropriate doorways, we ventured to look and quickly realized that the mouse was in the wall. Trent banged loudly on the wall (I asked him what good that was gonna do and I got the "you're not helping" look).

Trent headed up into the attic for a closer look. He yelled down to ask if we could still hear it. We could. But all the yelling back and forth woke Julianne up. She asked what was going on. I told her we could hear a mouse, but it was not a big deal and she should go back to sleep.

A few moments later, Julianne called out "Mom" again. I ran in there quickly (so she would not wake everyone). Julianne was sitting up, wide eyed and said, "Mom, you can use Serafina if you need to and she handed me her stuffed plush webkinz cat (whose name is Serafina, (named for the cat in the Barbie movie "The Princess and the Pauper"). She was serious!

We read out loud to our children each night. For several years we have been working our way through the Little house Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We are currently in book 7, "Little Town on the Prairie" In one of the most recent chapters, the Ingalls family is plagued by mice so severely, that the mice are eating the family's hair during the night. They are so grateful when another local homesteader's cat has a litter of kittens and they are able to get one. The chapter title is, "The necessary cat."

Apparently, Serafina, is our necessary cat. We took her up in the attic (where I got yet another "you're not helping" look). She did not find it. We came out of the attic and Julianne set Serafina guard in their room so that if in the middle of the night, the mouse found a way in, Serafina would get it. She told Nana that she could cuddle with Serafina so she wouldn't be scared. Nana replied that if the mouse got in her room, she was coming to Julianne's bed to sleep with her.

Meanwhile, we are brainstorming ways to get the mouse out, and I am blogging about it. (every time Trent hears the typing, I get another "You're not helping" look. So I guess I better stop. Hopefully we all sleep well.

(scratch, scratch)

(squeek)

(scratch, scratch)

Hard water

Having lived in our new home only a few months, I was surprised to find evidence of hard water everywhere. The inside rim of the washing machine was building up scale. The soap in the dishwasher was not dissolving and I always felt like I had soap scum on my skin following a shower. So we bought a water softener and I love it. I love how the water feels in the shower, the washing machine is sparkling, the dishes are cleaner, the clothes are cleaner . . . it really is amazing. (and amazingly expensive). . . so here's to hoping it is worth it!

The Master Bedroom

Well, here are some pictures of the master bedroom. I just bought that picture above the bed from my friend DeAnn (some of you may recognize it). It used to be in her dining room. I think it looks great with the comforter and everything. What do you think?
The next picture is of the sitting room in the master bedroom. The chairs face an armoir with a TV in it. The last picture is taken standing in the sitting room looking into the bedroom.

Ways to drive your husband wild

Just say at 9:00 p.m. on a Friday night, "I thought we could hang up the mirror in the hallway and the map in the office tonight?"
So we started with the mirror. We opened all the packaging and find out the the hardware needed to hang the mirror is not included with it. No problem because I have bought several "heavy art" hanging kits. These kits include heavy duty wire and screws and anchors and more! But the mirror explicitly states that it should not be hung by wires but that it should be hung onto anchored screws with the d-rings already mounted on the back. No problem because I have bought many styles of anchors - plastic ones, molly bolts and toggle bolts. But which to use??? So we pull out the scale and weigh ourselves and then weigh ourselves holding the mirror (scary huh?) The mirror weighs 35 pounds. So we decide to go with the plastic anchors (that claim they can handle up to 50 pounds). We measure and measure and measure and measure because this is a one time thing -- And then in go the the plastic anchors and one takes . . . and one does not bite into the sheetrock. Hmmmmmm . . .
Well on second thought maybe we did want it 1 inch higher. So now we start again with the molly bolts. These are more heavy duty than the plastic anchors and we get them both in and we hang the mirror, but . . . the head of the screw is just not very big and although the D-ring is setting on it . . . it just doesn't seem like it would take too much for the d-ring to be knocked off the screw head. Hmmmmmm. . .
So Trent says, let's just unscrew the screw and add a washer, so that it creates a lip that the d-ring just cannot slip over. So we do one and then while doing the other the molly bolt strips and the screw won't come out or go back in for that matter (so much for heavy duty right?) and now the molly bolt is stuck in the wall. And for those of you who may not know, you do not pull out a molly bolt that has been expanded because it will leave a seriously big hole in your wall and may even crack the sheetrock if . . .say you use the back of a hammer to pull it out . . . which is what i did upstairs while hanging something else and Trent is still patching it. So we got the hacksaw and sawed the head of the screw off and pushed the molly bolt into the wall (may it rest in peace). And now it is midnight and there are four holes in the wall and no mirror! So I start looking online and found this cool site Kevin Kelly Cool Tools and he describes these anchors and we decide we better call it a night on the mirror and move onto the map. Ten minutes later the map (with wires and nails and a studfinder) is hung (although it is an inch offcenter of the piano). So we move the piano an inch and it is now perfectly centered. And it is 1:30 a.m. and we are done! Hooray! (well done until tomorrow).
I went to home depot, bought cool new toggle bolt screws and hooks to go on the screws so the mirror can hang a little lower and 10 minutes later the mirror was hung. See, honey? wasn't that easy? and don't they look awesome???

A Tale of Two Ovens

I absolutely love having two ovens. The top oven is a convection oven and it is so cool. It has a temperature probe that plugs into it and I can see what the temperature is of whatever I am cooking. I can think of endless ways that this will make my life easier. . . for example.

Now that our church meets at 2:00 until 5:00. I can make sure dinner is completely ready when we come home. Three weeks ago I put a lasagna in the top oven and garlic bread in the bottom oven. I was sitting in church during Sacrament meeting thinking about how good dinner was going to be when I realized that I forgot to turn on either oven!

Yesterday, I did a little better. I put a whole chicken to roast (with the temperature probe) in the top oven and rolls in the bottom oven. And this time I realized I forgot to turn the oven on while driving to church! I dropped Trent and the girls off and raced back home (with Adam asleep in the car). I quickly set the oven temp and the probe temp (that way when the meat is done it shuts off the oven so you don't overcook it). I set the lower oven to come on at 5:00 so the rolls would just be finishing when we arrived home and then raced back to church. I was sort surprised when we got home that I could only smell the rolls, not the chicken, but then I looked a little closer and found that I had set the oven temperature for 177 and the probe temperature for 350. It is a little hard to cook a whole chicken to 350 degrees when the oven is only 177 degrees. I quickly changed the oven to 350 degrees and the probe to 177 and just 45 minutes later it was done!

Ovens are just like computers. Only as smart as the user!

Madelyn's room

Madelyn's room is decorated! By decorated, I mean everything that I currently have to put up in her room (shelves, pictures, etc. . .) is put up. That doesn't mean that I shouldn't do more, just that the things I have are done!

Too many kids???

There are too many kids in this tub.
There are too many elbows to scrub.
I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine.
There are too many kids in this tub.
--Shel Silverstein

(L to R -- Zach, Adam, Julianne, Madelyn, Hailey, and Catherine -- Zach and Hailey are cousins)

Television Connections 101

Now, if colleges and universities really wanted to help us all, they would offer this class. It took an hour and a half, but we are pleased to annouce that our TV, DVD, VCR, and satelite are all connected and functioning properly. We are even getting the local channels in HDTV, (which of course means just another couple of wires). We are too cheap to get all of it HDTV but maybe someday. It is really nice. Here's how the room looks

Dreaming

I am feeling like my life is a dream... things are familiar but then they are not . . . some things make sense. . . some do not. I guess that is what happens when you move. It's like most things are really still the same except for they are different in some way. I keep thinking that I will wake up and be back in my old life, but I have to keep remembering that this is my life.

I know that I am way to busy when my kids start doing crazy things. Here's a sampling. . .

1. Madelyn cut her hair (of all my kids giving themselves a hair cut -- her's takes the cake. ) She had her hair in one of those fountain like ponytails on top of her head and put the scissors under the hair in the ponytail and snipped. The thing is I could tell she cut it, and I found the scissors, but there was no hair anywhere. I had Julianne and catherine looking for it everywhere, we never found it until at bathtime when I realized that the cut hair was still held in the ponytail. That was one huge clump of hair that came out with the rubber band.
2. The kids smeared handsoap over much of the upstairs
3. The kids tried climbing through the laundry pass through
4. When they had a friend over they put nearly all the clothes in the entire house down the laundry shoot.

And if Madelyn's hair did not already look crazy enough, she then fell on the driveway and skinned her lip, nose and forehead.

Madelyn talks more and more everyday -- her funny thing today was she called downstairs . . .
"Jamie, Adam is awake!!!"

To garage sale or not to garage sale

Busy, Busy day. Trent was in Dallas overnight (yes, on Valentine's day:(). I got up this morning and got Julianne to school and then came home. I was determined to get some packing done. The problem I ran into is that each closet is already so full of boxes that it is hard to know where to start packing. So, I cleared out the piano room downstairs and started moving all the packed boxes down there. It was a lot of up and down the stairs! Currently the room is about half full. It makes a huge difference. I can actually see some starting points. Meanwhile the kids were busy playing and playing. As I was carrying stuff downstairs, I came across this big pot of mine and thought I would boil the 2 frozen chickens in the freezer at the same time, rather than transfer them to the new house. So I started that and after about 3 hours I turned it off and let it cool. When I went to debone them, they were not fully cooked, so I had to turn it on again. During this time, Deann called and wanted to see if I wanted to do a garage sale. I really have pared down lately and did not think I had a lot of stuff, but I agreed to do one with her hoping that that would motivate me to go through things quicker. At 2:30, my neighbor came over because she had a showing at her house. That was nice, because then I could go get Julianne without loading up all the kids. Andrea and I were chatting and I mentioned that Deann and I were doing a gargage sale. She wanted to see all the things Deann was selling but didn't have a car to go over. She called Deann to set up a time and Deann said she needed to return some movies to me anyway and so she came over and picked up Andrea. We also swapped kids for playing. When I went to pick up Julianne and take Andrea home, Andrea had bought everything Deann was selling! So no garage sale. In many ways I am relieved. Andrea was then locked out of her house and so she came over and we all had dinner and got the kids bathed and ready for bed. Madelyn did not have a nap so she fell asleep early and so did Adam. Julianne and Catherine were really good and read on their beds. All in all it was a good day. The kids were great!

Shorthand

I have baked 200 cookies and made the frosting to top it for a primary activity.

Madelyn said -- "I hate the gym" today. It was really funny. She has not been much of a talker and then suddenly she is stating her opinion.

Catherine played with disney paper dolls for several hours today and watched Cinderella III for the fourth or fifth time.

Julianne -- is almost finished reading her first real book all by herself. Junie B Jones and the mushy gushy valentine. My favorite part about listening to her read are the words she comes up with in place of the real one. She always gets the first and last letter correct but all the ones in the middle are up for grabs! For example today she substituted bathroom for bottom -- but then again I remember seeing that when reading it really is only the first and last letter we notice and mostly match the middle part with words we know will work and make sense in context . . . so that is exactly what she is doing.

Adam -- likes his tummy now for playing. He wants it all . . . in his mouth.

Trent is working long hours and is stressed. Our home is almost finished. We close in 18 days. Moving, Busy season, recruiting, deadlines . . . it is taking a toll on him.

I am resolving to start packing more.

Going to try to use like a journal

I really want to use this more like a journal -- keeping track of all sorts of things like movies and books and other interesting info. . . So here goes.

Today, I went to the gym. I attended the 8:30 cardio class. Some days I tolerate the class, other days I enjoy it. Today the routine was quite boring. . . Then I took the Odyssey into get the hatch roof light checked and the coolant. My mom picked me up and we went to the Incredible Pizza Company. Today is their 1 year anniversary and so the buffet was free and everyone there got a 10 dollar gift card to the arcade/game area. They have go-Karts, bowling, putt putt, a kiddie area and more. I had not been there and was actually quite impressed. Trent and I had tried to take the kids there a while ago on a Saturday. It was packed and we never went in. The whole area outside was filled with rough looking teenagers just loitering around. We even commented that it seemed like a not very famliy friendly place. Several weeks later, I noticed they took out a full page ad in the paper where they announced new rules to maintain the family atmosphere. Everyone would now have to purchase food to enter and they had to adhere to a dress code. Apparently it worked! It was filled with families today and I am sure we will be back. Catherine really liked the bowling. It was with little balls that she could do. She even got a strike! Madelyn was funny, she wanted to ride on all the rides, but as soon as they started moving she was done.

After eating pizza and playing, we went and checked out a consignment furniture store at Richmond and Chimney Rock. They had all sorts of interesting pieces -- some I liked, some I laughed at. Then I called my friend, Christy Richards. She had brought a scrapbook to Enrichment last night that she was donating for auction at her daughter's school. It was incredible. . . a lot of the pages were sewn together with decorative stitches. I was amazed. She did it on her embroidery machine. I called my mom and told her all about it. My mom wanted to see it. So we went to Christy's home and looked at it. I think I am gonna have to try it out! She also told us about a cool die cut machine thing called a cricut. I have not seen it before, but it cuts out letters and things for you. It retails for 299 dollars, but she said she has seen it at hobby lobby for 200. Maybe my Mom will buy it! She also told me about club scrap. It is pretty cool too. It is a monthly mailout to you with all the supplies you could imagine along a theme. Each month is different.

We picked up the car and raced to get Julianne from school. She had a blue day! Yeah! We came home and our friends met us at the park in our neighborhood. It was a nice day! We had fun helping the girls learn to jumprope. After the disney movie Jump in, everyone wants to double dutch. We practiced turning and me, Deann, Jennifer and Andrea all attempted to jump into double dutch. We all failed. The girls stuck to single rope. Maybe next time.

We came home and while making dinner watched Cinderella III. The girls had watched it with Trent the night before, but I had not seen. It was quite good! Trent is working furiously trying to get things in place so he can take some time off for our move. I got an email from our super today saying that the carpet would be in tomorrow. Things are really progressing and we are so excited! Well, Adam was the first asleep and although it is only 9:18 p.m. is already awake. I better go help him out. Maybe I'll get to read tonight -- my current book is The Prize winner of Defiance Ohio. It is good.

Books

I took the kids to the library today. I checked out Artemis Fowl, Hoot, and books 3 and 4 in the Chronicles of Narnia Series. I seem to really enjoy Young Adult literature. I find them easy to read and though they deal with serious issues and deep emotional themes, they are not going to drag me into a depression like much of the more mainstream literature does. I read for lots of reasons but to get depressed is not one of them! I also checked out the Charlie Bone series on CD -- I started reading the first one some time ago and despite the fact that it seems like a Harry Potter knock off enjoyed it. With my kids we are still reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. We are on book 5, By the shores of Silver Lake. I think they are great!

I am working on updating all the photo frames in the house. Wow is that ever a project! Well, my newborn is calling for food and unfortunately I can't type and feed him.