Back by popular demand (or Karen's demand) here is home improvement day 3. I wasn't going to post these pictures of our living room because I haven't done anything with it in a few years, but we were just having a discussion about cheap painters and I wanted to show a picture of what I was talking about. A few years ago, our neighbor recommended a painter to do all of the common areas in our house, along with our living room, loft, kitchen and dining room. We have 18 foot ceilings in our living room and he charged us $600 for the whole job. It was something to watch because he was standing on a telescoping ladder that was perched up against the wall as he painted the top, flawlessly, without even taping off or touching the crown moulding. I can tell you, this guy has skills. He has done a lot of work for us since and we have been happy to recommend him to others. So, if you are interested in moving to Houston (Ramona) I'll be sure to give you his number. :) (BTW, I don't know why all of my pictures have a yellowish tint to them.)
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January 2009
Home Improvement Week - Day 3
This is our kitchen. It is screaming for granite counter tops and stainless appliances. Unfortunately, it is going to be awhile before that happens. I am holding out for the Electrolux cooktop because I can't think of many things more awesome than the ability to boil water in 90 seconds. And I would love to change a few things so that I could put in a built-in refrigerator. A girl can dream, can't she?
So we had a pretty good weekend. The boys enjoyed their extra day off and I couldn't really complain. Two of them managed to get invited to go out with friends and Jared hung around the house with me. I was relieved because Joe wanted me to help him build a Lego ship, and while I enjoy helping him out, I was not prepared to spend 4 hours searching through a bucket of Legos looking for missing pieces. However, I was the only person to think that his play date meant a reprieve for me. When I went to pick him up, the first thing he asked was if I finished the ship. For some reason, he assumed that even though he was not home, I was going to work on it anyway. I don't know where he got that idea.
Today, I made it back to the gym for the second time this year. Last week, I went and I was so out of shape that I could barely walk or move my arms for 4 days (not even exaggerating here). I decided to take it a little easier today so that I can actually try to get back at least one more time this week. And because the use of my extremities is helpful.
I guess that's it for now. I wish I had a more exciting story to tell. In the event you are bored and looking for something more entertaining, I was browsing through my archives looking for a post about when I first joined the gym and I came across this entry. I would like to say those were good times but really, I do not wish to ever endure the punishment of another personal trainer ever again. At least I lived to tell about it. Off to catch up on blogs now. Have a good one!
Home Improvement Week - Day 2
Well, I missed my second post yesterday because, believe it or not, we were working on another project... our play room. I love when Lance wants to do home improvement projects because then I can't get blamed for the money we spend. That's not to say we won't argue about it... but in my heart I know I'm right. (Besides the fact I AM always right). In any case, it's coming along. We just bought two small storage cabinets and a t.v. Nothing too exciting and not even close to my master plan for that room. But it's an improvement. The biggest project is finding some place to put everything. I need to get rid of some toys, too... which can't be done until the boys are all at school.
Today's post is not really all that exciting. I haven't done much with these rooms, but I figured since it is home improvement week, and they have been improved at some point, I would share them anyway. First is our dining room. I love formal dining rooms and we use ours a lot (meaning every time I cook which isn't necessarily a lot, but you get the idea). When we built our house, we had all of the downstairs walkways and the kitchen tiled and the living room, study and dining room carpeted. Unfortunately, our dog (refer to last post about cutting poo from his rear end) had a habit of peeing in the dining room so we needed to replace the carpet. The logical solution was to put in ceramic tile but matching it to our other tile was a bit of a challenge. We decided to buy this marble trim tile which ties the two rooms together perfectly. If I had my choice, we would take out all of the white tile in the house and have it match the darker, but that is way down the road. Anyway, we set the tile on a diamond pattern inside of the border and a square outside. It looks beautiful. We loved it so much, we did our living room, as well. (I'll share those pictures tomorrow). We also had the room painted a darker shade, when we painted the rest of our house. The only thing I would like to do with this room is buy darker furniture. Other than that, I love it!
The next set of pictures are from my scrapbook room. Lance gets mad at me when I call it that and declares that it is a study (which is more true now than it used to be since I don't scrapbook much anymore). The photos don't really do justice to the room because there is so much to see. It is the only cluttered area in the house because I have tons of projects I have made for Paper Crafts and other magazines and I hate to hide them all away. I also have a lot of neat swap projects and handmade cards that I have received from my awesome Classic Scrapper friends, which are probably my favorite things. The only real "improvement" to this room in the last year is my Imac. If you are ever on the fence about getting a new computer, I highly recommend Macs. They are so simple and awesome and I love the large screen. A few years ago, Lance put in the wood floors which made a huge difference. But this room desperately needs furniture. It was a fight between the study and game room. Obviously the game room won, but I do have big plans for this room, one day.
Well, I guess it's time to get Jared to school so I can finish cleaning up and the DirecTV vans just pulled up. No major plans for the weekend... just a lot of t.v. catching up. I have a few projects to work on around the house and I am hoping to scrapbook a little. The boys have a 3 day weekend and Lance is working (of course). I'll post some more pictures tomorrow. Until then... have a great weekend!
Home Improvement Week - Day 1
At long last... it's time for home improvement week (insert cheers here). We have lived in our house for 7 years and I can honestly say, I love our house as much today as when we bought it. Of course, I have a list of about 30 projects I would like to complete and a massive lack of funds so we just do what we can when a good deal comes our way. I am also very lucky to be married to a part time handyman. Lance is a lot more inclined to take on a project if he can do it himself because it saves a LOT of money. And he does a pretty good job. I may have to endure some swearing and it might take a little longer but it is always worth it in the end.
One of our biggest undertakings this year was iron balusters. Since we built our house, I have always regretted not putting them in. We had the white pickets, which are VERY common in Texas. And while they look pretty with the white trim and crown moulding, I never really loved them. So in May, poor Lance had to cut out and replace 205 balusters with the iron. It was a huge project and very time consuming but it was completely worth the effort. He did an awesome job and it has completely changed the look of our house.
The pictures below are from our front entrance. Another one of my favorite additions was the light fixture we purchased at Sam's Club for $99 a few years ago. It was probably my best purchase EVER. It looks so pretty and you would think it cost a lot more. I also love the sign above the door which I purchased a few months ago in Canton. I have been wanting to post a picture of it but I had to wait until after Christmas because I bought one for Karen, too. Isn't it cute?
The next 2 pictures look from the foyer out to the living room. and I have another favorite sign beneath the catwalk. I also got that in Canton. Isn't it perfect?
Last but not least, I am posting some pictures of Lance cutting out the old balusters and what they looked like before we put in the iron. Big difference, huh? This view is from the living room towards the front door. We have a catwalk that goes from one side of the house to the other. The iron also goes around the loft above the study (which can be seen in the first photo) and to the left on the photo below, above the living room.
Well, I guess that's it for today. I have to get the kids in bed and catch up on some of my t.v. programming. We are getting DirecTV on Friday and our DVR is full of programs that need to be watched. I am SO happy that all of the shows are coming back on, but I don't know how we are going to keep up with American Idol and Lost getting ready to start again. I am sure we'll manage, though. :) I'll be back tomorrow with more pictures.
Do They Make Seat Belts for Desks?
So I was feeling kind of bad because I have spent the last week posting pictures of Joseph & Jared and I didn't want Jordan to feel left out. I am sure he would love to know that I am putting this on the Internet for all the world to see (or the 6 people who read this thing). But it only seemed fair. Then again, he can't be too mad because he did pose for me.
Every once in awhile he will get into character and wear a costume with the boys but most of the time he can't be bothered. I guess he is 9 years old now. But I still love that, at 9 years old, he is very much a kid. In my opinion, kids today grow up way too fast and I am in no hurry for that. I love that my boys enjoy to playing outside, riding bikes and climbing trees. In fact, there are days I have to beg them to play a video game because they are constantly looking for something to do. I know some kids who are forced outside just to get fresh air because all they do is play video games. I can't being to imagine having that problem.
On another note, Friday was report card day and Jordan came home with slightly lower grades than the last time. He is always in such a hurry to finish his work that he doesn't take time to double check his answers and his handwriting is atrocious. While he is predisposed to the bad handwriting gene, compliments of his parents, he can do better. Anyway, that was not the worst of it... his teacher wrote on his report card that "Jordan is having a hard time staying seated. At least once per day, he falls out of his chair." I am not sure if that comment is supposed to horrify me or make me laugh. But I can see how that would be a distraction to the class. I wonder if it would be in bad form to send him to school with a bungee cord so his teacher can strap him to his chair? In any case, this quarter, Jordan will be focusing on better handwriting (which I think will equal better grades) and not falling out of his chair. No one ever told me that school was going to be so challenging!
I guess that's it for now. I just took my game room photos and I am going to work on formatting them so I can share. Home Improvement week starts tomorrow so be there or be square. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
If You Wear It, They Will Come
I was doing so well with my daily blogging and somehow I fell off the wagon and missed the last 2 days. I guess there are worse wagons to fall off of so it's not all that bad. But I did have high aspirations for making it through the entire week.
So, as my last installment of costume week, I have these pictures of Joseph & Jared dressed as a fireman and Power Ranger. This day was particularly funny because while they were in getting dressed up, my neighbor from across the street (who is a volunteer fireman) showed up in front of our house with his fire truck. It was a Saturday afternoon and he needed to pick up something from his house, and figuring that there were kids out playing, he decided to bring the truck along with a few of his firefighter friends. When they arrived, I looked out the window and told Jared to finish getting dressed so he could see what was outside. You can only imagine how excited he was to see a fire truck. And the firefighters were so sweet... as the neighborhood kids came over to look at it, they took the kids around and showed them the different part of the trucks.
This isn't the first time the kids got to see a fire truck, though. When we first found out Brandon was a fireman, he offered to bring his truck out for Joseph's birthday to surprise the kids. It was by far my favorite of the boys' birthday parties. We had a big moonwalk in our front yard and dozens of kids playing in the cul-de-sac. If ever my neighbor hated us, that would be the icing on the cake. It was a really fun party (and nearly impossible to top). On the subject of birthdays, Joe will be 7 in 3 weeks. yikes! This was his 4th birthday party, here.
So in other news, we got some new furniture for our game room yesterday. It has been empty for the last 6 months since we moved the kids play room back over to the loft. We also got a new pub table/chairs and a t.v. It is going to look great when everything gets finished up. And it will be nice to have a place to watch family movies together. We watch them downstairs right now and the kids undoubtedly fall asleep every time so I have to carry them up the stairs. That isn't fun at all. When I finish cleaning up in there, I will post some pictures for my next series of blog posts, called "Home Improvement Week." Karen noticed our stairs in a previous post and I can't believe I never shared a picture of them. So I will post pictures of all of our home improvement projects that we have undertaken this past year. That should be exciting, don't you think? ha!
Well, here's the plan for today. I did not make the pot roast on Thursday so I will make it today. But I appreciate the faith you all have in me. :) Jordan has baseball practice at noon (because baseball never ends) and then we will be testing out the new t.v. and couch tonight. I think I am also going to hit the gym for the first time this year. I am 10 days late but that's not too bad, considering I haven't been since August. I have to start some time. Right?
Have a great weekend and I'll try to get back tomorrow with my first home improvement post.
Pilgrims & Indians
This year, Jared had his last Thanksgiving lunch at his preschool. The boys have been attending this school for the last 6 years so I am feeling a little nostalgic about the whole thing. While I will miss the school, I certainly won't miss writing the check every month. But they do this big lunch every year where everyone is assigned a dish to bring and all of the kids can invite their family members to attend. It is something like 500 people who go and it's a really neat event. Of course, the kids also make their art projects, including the appropriate attire. In this case, Jared was an indian.
At Joe's school, the first grade class also had a lunch (just cafeteria food that is supposed to resemble turkey) and they put on a program prior to the lunch. Joe was one of the "5 little pilgrims" and he got to ride in the Mayflower for one of the songs. It was incredibly cute and he had a lot of fun. After his program, I checked him out of school and took him to have lunch with me and Jared since Jordan was on a field trip and Lance was working. This is a picture of Joe & Jared with their friends Dylan and Ryan in their Thanksgiving attire.
On the subject of their friends, here's something weird... Jared and Dylan are in the same class. Joseph & Ryan are in the same class. And Jordan and Brianna (Ryan & Dylan's big sister) are in the same class. I can't imagine what the odds of that are. It's interesting because they all have very similar personalities and they all get along really well. Jared and Dylan have quickly become best friends and play together almost every day. I really need to get a birth order book because I find this stuff fascinating.
So today, I went to lunch with my friends, Molly & Laura to celebrate the first day of having everyone back to school. I also went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries. I should know better than to run in just to buy a few things. There is no such thing. $237 later, I got a LOT of groceries and even a few new things to try out. And I have to give a shout out to the iPhone (which quite frankly is the BEST invention EVER). I thought I might try to make a pot roast in the crock pot because my friend Larry made one a few days ago and that sounded really good. Of course, I have no idea how to do that, so while standing in the middle of the meat department in Wal-Mart, I looked up a recipe so I could get all of the ingredients because you know I am not going back any time soon. However, the pot roast will have to wait until tomorrow because tonight is Texas Roadhouse night. On Wednesday's, kids eat free. And being that we have 3 kids, we definitely get our moneys worth. Not to mention, we get one of the best steaks in town. I can assure you that will do nothing for my diet. So, once again, I will try tomorrow.
Well, I am off to pick up the little guys from school and then I need to find a home for all of my new groceries. I'll be back tomorrow with yet another installment of costume week. Have a good one!
My Little Aviators
I guess costume week wouldn't be complete without a couple of pilots. A few weeks ago, Lance gave Joe & Jared some of his old leather wallets. They were very excited about them and decided that they needed to have "driver's licenses" to put in the window pocket, just like daddy. Of course, I was nominated to make said driver's licenses. After I finished doing my magic in Photoshop, the boys decided to dress up as pilots and they needed id badges to put around their necks, just like daddy. So, I took their pictures and made their i.d.'s just as requested. For some reason, I never took the post i.d. picture of them together. But you get the idea. Lance's mom bought these hats for the boys a few years ago for Christmas. Surprisingly, they have never been as interested in the pilot gear as they have some of the other costumes, but the hats do come out on occasion. I am not sure if they will follow in Lance's footsteps one day, but they sure do make cute pilots. Kind of reminds me of the first time I saw Lance in his uniform. I thought he was pretty cute, too.
So last night, I managed to scrape together all of the ingredients to make a meat loaf. I also made mashed potatoes and broccoli. Not the most creative of meals but Lance was impressed (and surprised) when he came home from work. I have never been much the June Cleaver sort (shocking, I know) and I am pretty sure I have never surprised with with a home cooked meal when he got home from a trip. Usually, he calls me on the way and I request a trip through the Taco Bell drive thru. So that makes two meals for this week. One more and I will have successfully completed my first week of cooking. I wish my diet/exercise plan was going so well. Today was so cold and rainy, I just couldn't do it. But I have high hopes for tomorrow. Sunshine tends to cheer me up and I definitely think I need some cheer to get me motivated to drive to the gym.
Well, that's it for now. I have to run to the store to see what I can round up for dinner tonight and to buy bread for lunches tomorrow. Did I mention how happy I am that school is back in? Today was the first day back. I had to drag myself out of bed this morning to help get the kids ready to go but it was worth it for some quiet time. Tomorrow, Jared goes back and I will really be happy. He has been out for 3 weeks and he definitely needs some routine back in his life.
No more stalling... I'm going now. Have a good one!
Santa and His Reindeer
So it is day 2 of "Costume Week" and while this is not a complete costume, I had to share it. A few weeks ago, I go outside to check on the boys to see what they are doing. Jared informs me that he is Rudolph and he is pulling Santa in his sleigh (or wagon). I have never felt better about the $1.99 I invested in those reindeer antlers because they got a lot of use over the holidays.
So, today is the last day of Christmas vacation. It is cold outside, which seems appropriate, and the boys are all watching Indiana Jones. I am not sure if I can convince them to watch the entire trilogy but that would be a good way to keep them occupied (and will allow me to get some work done around the house).
And funny story about dinner last night. Remember how I said I needed to go to the store to pick up something to cook and I really wished I could just go to Chili's take out? Well, Lance must have been reading my mind (or my blog) because he offered to pick up Chili's for us. It probably had to do with me pouting because I wanted to get new furniture for our office and while I knew we shouldn't get it, I was still a little disappointed. While not having to cook dinner didn't make me feel completely better, it did help a little bit. The only problem is, I still don't have anything to cook tonight and I don't think my pouting is going to help me this time around. I really want to wait until tomorrow when the kids are back in school tomorrow because grocery shopping with 3 kids is more unpleasant than starving for one more night.
I have also been scrapbooking a little bit and I just got the Classic Scrappers site up and running again. I am far too busy to keep the pace I used to where scrapbooking is concerned, but I do love looking at my friends' layouts and I am hoping it will keep us all motivated to do more. On that note I am going to go sit by the fire and watch a little bit of Indiana Jones myself because it is freezing in my house. I know my friends who live in the snow don't feel too sorry for me right now but what can I say? I'm a sissy when it comes to the cold. Have a good week and I'll be back tomorrow with another installment of "costume week".
Costume Week
As you may have gathered from previous posts, Joseph & Jared love their costumes. Not a day goes by when they are not dressed up as some sort of tv or movie character. And there is no rhyme or reason to their choices. I keep a drawer filled with costumes in their play room and I am always anxious to see who they are going to be next.
So, while I was diligently working on more photos today, I came across this picture of them back in July, dressed as a builder, and a fireman, with "kitty" in matching attire. I started to think that maybe this would be a good topic for the week. So I present to you "costume week". I am pretty sure I can find 6 more pictures of them in costume for your viewing pleasure.
Other than that, it's just another day in paradise. The weather is nice and Lance actually has a day off so he took the boys to the park. I was going to clean up the mess from this morning (which always seems to be worse when Lance is home) but that seemed like such a waste of my quiet time so I sat here and worked on pictures instead. I am hopeful that I will be done by Friday (since my New Year's deadline already passed).
Well, I guess I need to figure out what is for dinner which probably means a trip to the store. I wonder if I can pick up Chili's take out and call it my own. Unfortunately, I don't think that will fool anyone. Hope you had a great weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with more of costume week.