kids

I haven't posted much about what the kids have been up to lately - but they are keeping me busy as usual!  Last week was the school Book Fair that we always go to since the prices and selection are great.  Loch is such an avid reader we have to stock up when prices are good, he likes fiction that we can always get at the library too but he also likes to have a lot of non fiction reference type books that he reads and refers to all the time so I never mind spending money on those.  Finn is just beginning to learn to read, so this is the first book fair where he got to select books to read himself instead of me or Loch reading to him.  They always have a great selection of the beginning level readers.

We didn't purchase these, since my kids are pretty keenly aware of this stuff already living in a military family (their uncle is also boots on the ground in Iraq and has flown missions in Afghanistan), but I thought it a worthy comparison to what types of material kids read in other parts of the country... can you tell we live in a 90% military town LOL?!

What saddens me is that save for about 5 families the book fair was a ghost town.  Considering how large his school is, there were a few kids in there that happened to be in the after school care program, browsing, but where were all the parents and families interested in reading and their kids?  It is so important to us that hubby even fanagled his way home early from work so we can all go together.  It would be so sad to see events like this disappear due to lack of participation.  The kids sure seem to want to be there, but where are the parents?

Right after the book fair we had to hustle to Loch's classroom to get him dressed for his school program. The 2nd Graders did a program about Egypt, which is what they have been learning about.  

Loch is 2nd row down, all the way to the left.  Check out the "mummy" behind him LOL - poor kid was messing with that toilet paper the whole program, trying to see and/or breathe!  Apparently the other kids got to help with his costume :)

I asked him what the "lightbulbs" were on their heads, and he replied they are snakeheads, like cobras... really?!  LOL, they did make their own costumes though, so bravo!

Loch is the "narrator"...listen carefully, he's fast!

A sign of the times:  Finn kept calling the mummies "zombies"!  Zombies sure are everywhere these days.

The photo below shows what I have resorted to at home to keep them occupied while I ransack their room, redecorating.  Yep, I got my kids owl poop to dig through LOL!

In all seriousness, this is pretty cool and right up their alley as far as science goes.  It is a "synthetic owl pellet" in a little package containing the skeleton of a starling, which is something that would normally be found in an owl pellet.  They dig through it all, pulling out the tiny bones, and glue together the skeleton of the little bird.  They got as far as retrieving all the bones, the rest will wait until daddy can help them this weekend.  (Little boys and super glue tubes don't mix well unsupervised!)

Finn above, checking out the bones.  Below is the owl "pellet".

For the furry kids, last night was bath night!  Poor Sprocket the Outback Jack looks like a drowned rat, although she loves it.

Marley doesn't care for it much but she puts up with it since she's "the good dog".

I finished the jammie pants for Loch.  Notice the lack of jammie shirt?  Yeah, I'm done with those LOL. From now on, jammie pants for everyone and we'll just use white tshirts or something, those sewn ones are a pain, I'm definitely not ready for v-necks, although with a few more mitered quilt bindings' worth of experience, I may be ready to try the v-neck again someday.  Poor Loch, I went to the fabric store to look for something he'd like, namely chess pieces or math equations - of course there was none of that, so I ended up with dinosaurs.   "Dinos?  Really, Mom?"!  But he is my kind and patient one, happy with whatever he gets, I wish some of that would rub off on Finnegan.

With that miscellaneous update, I now have to do a speed clean of my floors and bathroom and get outside!  With temps scheduled to hit 66 today and 80 tomorrow, I need to put everything indoors on hold and get out in the garden, there's still so many prep chores to be done.  Sunday looks to be cold and rainy so that will be our kitchen painting day hopefully.

Living "Small" - Update #2

Whew... I just finished catching up on everyone's blogs I missed the past few days, y'all are busy!  Busy here as well, here's the update on what got accomplished the past week:

that's me, still painting!

I am trying to do a really "good" job, painting all the trim and everything, now if that darned housing market turns (yeah, right...) we'll be ready!


This past week I actually made a few purchases for myself and the house, but first I sold stuff on Craigslist, storage bins from the kids' room - sold for $275... in one hour!

Some of you may remember that I don't wear jewelry, at all, so imagine how surprised I was that I actually liked this ring I saw in an antique/junk store!  I'm sure it's not valuable but I just happen to like it, and after talking them down to $9, I bought it!  Since I am now sewing, I just wanted something pretty to look at while pushing and cutting fabric - sounds loony, I know, but hey - it makes me smile :)

I decided to wear the ring over to another antique (mostly junk LOL) store and lookie what I found!  The  "50's Ford pickup truck" of sewing machines!  I was starting to think the ring was my shopping good luck charm.

Had to have it!

I talked them down from $98 to $65, didn't even care if it worked!  Once again, it just makes me happy to look at it!  I liked it so much in fact, that I created a little "inspiration corner" next to my desk where I can look at it and get inspired retro-style to make things!  It is sitting on the cart that I made the panels for to store all my fabric.  Upon further research, it appears to be a 1961-1964 made machine, how "mod" - I'm loving that since mid century "stuff" is my favorite.

Hubby got home from work, laughed at it, then proceeded to sew on it - it works!  Now he's pretty excited to get it all cleaned and shined up, just like that old pickup truck that he's always wanted...
- it may be my favorite thing ever!


Speaking of Mid-Century Modern, although it is my favorite design period I have rarely been able to obtain any of it due the high price of reproductions and complete unavailability and cost of the actual thing, until now....


Found at the Salvation Army the other day...  (I was wearing the ring again!)

I almost passed it by, since there was an ugly blanket draped over it with old china stacked on it, I think that's the reason it was still there, nobody had noticed it!  It needs a bit of cleaning and strengthening on the bottom, but has solid wood drawers and is just plain "me".... $60

Again, it makes me deliriously happy to look at it!  I'm done with having anything in my house that I don't absolutely love... life's too short to store stupid $hit!  (hey, that may be my new motto!)

Still wearing the ring, I headed to another antique store, where I found this train case - 

Ever since I was little I have loved these, they just seemed to always exude romance and adventure!  This one was in beautiful shape, a Samsonite covered in leather from the 60's, and the latches and key work.  I put it in my sewing/craft hallway and it now is perfect for holding my patterns...

$12

I can already see that my "someday" dream sewing room will definitely be a Holly Golightly inspired space, full of retro funky finds that inspire me and make me happy, it's my space after all!

About the "end of the hallway" - hubby built these shelves in to an otherwise unusable area of the hallway years ago.  The space is only about 6-7 inches deep so I couldn't even keep a standard bookshelf or side table there.  Now I am able to store my machines, (yikes I'm up to 3 working machines now thanks to hubby working on them!), magazines, crafting books and a basket that holds my library books.  It's also perfect for displaying a few photographs or other "favorite things".  Just sayin', there's space everywhere if you just look!

I took the day off reorganizing yesterday to sew my first paper pattern!  I know I'm psycho, who quilts before they learn how to sew?  I was SCARED!  Looked like rocket science to me.  I did it, but the v-neck on the jammies was horrible and they are a bit big, Finn looks like a tree stump in them but he is overjoyed that I made them in the fabric he got to pick out himself.  Go ahead and have a laugh at my expense :)

someone give that kid a haircut!

 (a job for the intern...)

I am almost finished putting the kids' room back together so that will be my next update, I didn't want to overwhelm you with all these photos.

One really good thing happened this week, I cleared a path to the kitchen to cook last night!

Standard freezer busting stir-fry, look at all of last summer's stuff in there - have to make room in there, spring is coming fast.

This Week's Purchases:  -$146  (furniture, accessories)
Last Week's Purchases:  -$196  (paint, painting supplies)
Sold via Craigslist:        +$275  (sold kids' IKEA storage bins)


*net spent on house refreshing to date:  $67.00

I think the ring is definitely going on my finger whenever I go shopping for bargains!

I'm still here!

Don't give up on me yet!  I've been so busy the past few days, it seems like the list of things I want/need to get done before spring descends upon my garden is never ending, anyone know of a place where I can get an intern for FREE?!  Ok, I'll cross that one off my list as un-doable.


I'm still painting every day... good news is that the whole house is painted except the nightmare kitchen job, bad news is that there is stuff everywhere, I've been working for days now on tossing things and rearranging, I hope to have photos of a finished room or two and an update tomorrow.


We stayed home all weekend, me working on the kids' room and hubby brewing two batches of homebrew.  When we finally ventured out yesterday, I was almost knocked flat by the display our local trees are putting on now, the dogwoods and pear trees are blooming, along with several of the older cherry trees.  I should have been overjoyed but instead felt this urgency to get home and get all these indoor projects done!

Front of the school

I almost forgot I needed to repot my seedlings!  I was doing this until late Saturday evening - notice how the tomatoes on the right are in danger if I don't get my butt in gear?!

Every year, the concept of "72 cell tray" doesn't seem to register with me.  I happily sow all the cells and feel confident in my large supply of peat pots, plastic containers and other vessels for repotting...DUH!  Halfway through the process I had to run to the base exchange for more pots!  It's always an emergency, I don't guess there is ever a time when I will remember how quickly the real estate needed morphs from one tray to the repotting of 4-5!  I did have plenty of pots last year, however many were for the Master Gardener Plant Sale, meaning I don't get my pots back - note to self!

Emergency!

They are finally repotted deeper and into larger pots, and are safely back under the lights.

It's becoming more and more difficult keeping pizza boy (hubby) away from my little basil plants!

We went out to eat one evening since I had no energy left by dinnertime, and I just had to post the kids' meals - I love it when restaurants make decent kid's meals!

Spotted this week at the kitchen table....

He's 8 going on 40!

I'm supposed to be framing photos for the wall today and rehanging stuff on the wall... instead I got out my sewing machine and am making the kids pajamas!  I was at a good stopping point with the house paint and really needed a day to "connect" with my new hobby!  This is the first time I have ever used a paper pattern so I'm kind of stressing out over it and I'm sure I'll be up all night doing it.  Hopefully the upside is getting that "first time" out of the way so I'll be a bit more confident next time!

Out "walking the estate"...

I'm exhausted, and feel so overwhelmed..... so I went antique shopping today LOL.  Didn't buy anything except a little leather train case for $8 to use in my sewing area, but I really had NO business leaving this house today, there's so much to be done around here.

In lieu of anything truly productive going on, I'll just show you some photos I took this morning while "walking the estate"... doesn't that sound so much better than "picking up dog poop"?

I let my colder weather seedlings sit outside a spell, below are the artichokes.

Here's my broccoli seedlings, pathetic and leggy as they are... although I can tell that the "Piricicaba" broccoli are much larger and healthier looking than the "Purple Sprouting" broccoli.  Need to make a note of that for next year.

Yay!  The Forsythia bloomed - this is the first thing in the yard to bloom every year.

Below, the grass ( I use that term loosely) is turning green!  

I neglected to put in an order of garlic last fall, so I only planted what's below that I had from last year's harvest, but they are doing well.

Below, Iris is peeking up - I'm glad now that I got those perennials hacked back a few weeks ago.

PEAS!  (look closely)

I have no idea what this is, I'm not a bulb gal - I just had a bunch and let the kids dig them in a couple of years ago, I can tell you it's really short!

Parsley!

Random

And what's this?  Did Charlie Sheen get an endorsement deal?  LOL  "Where Winners Eat"!

ah, no... flip the bag over and it's a photo of Michael Phelps :)

Forecast tonight - cold, windy and storms all night and tomorrow... looks like I'll be working inside!

Living Small - Update #1

I am currently drowning in paint and it feels like we are just moving in!  All the stuff has been pushed out of the living room into the bedroom, then vice versa - we could barely walk in here this past weekend.  Things are moving a little more slowly than I would like, but I do have other things to tend to, like children... 

Oh, paint is expensive!  This isn't even all I will need.

5 gal "Ultra Pure White" satin:  $115

2 gal "Sterling" satin paint+primer in one:  $32 each

misc supplies:  $17

Total this week:  $196

Luckily, I don't need to tape off when I cut in (yeah, I'm that good LOL) so that saves a bunch of money.  I did make a big wasteful mistake, however.  I planned on painting the entire house Ultra Pure White to open up the space and have 2 accent walls in the pale gray.  After painting the entire living room white I then painted the accent wall and fell so completely in love with the way it showed off the white trim that I had to repaint the whole thing!  I'm still doing all the ceilings in white to raise them visually, so all is not lost, I will still need the 5 gal, I just hadn't planned on buying it all at one time.  I found I just couldn't go without color - even though my version of color isn't really a color at all - my favorite color is gray and any shade of it ranging from pale to a stormy blue-gray.  The blue is out though, I really needed BRIGHT!

Below:  "before" colors:  I liked them, but needed brighter

In the photo above, the Nordic blue on the walls really looks light to begin with, and I thought so for years, until I put the Sterling Gray up - below you can tell the difference on the ceiling!  It really gives the impression that the ceiling is further above you than it is (our ceilings are 9 ft).

below, the living room is finished, but not re-assembled yet

Party Foul!

I'm not sure who, but either Marley or Sprocket threw their ball into the paint!  They thought paintball was the next new sport, I guess.

The bedroom was painted too, but everything is still in massive disarray.  I spackled & patched every single nail hole everywhere and now I hesitate to commit to new placement of artwork and photgraphs, I think I'll wait until I get a huge "whole house pile" of wall decor, then redistribute it into different places and throw things out that I don't absolutely love anymore.  That's the best way to stick to budget I've found, just not buy anything decor-wise until you've had the chance to try out the old stuff in new places!

So... I'm a couple steps closer to finding my sewing nook, just like this gal...  okay, maybe I don't resemble her all that much.  

 Remember, that's what started all this nonsense, I need a place to channel my inner domestic diva!