Our Own Fun House

Before we purchased our current house, we knew there would be some changes we wanted to make pretty quickly.  Quickly has turned into over five months, but better late than never.  

The house was in great shape and was move-in ready.  However, as is the case with most home purchases, our style is not their style.  Take the hall bathroom.  This is the one the guests use, and Rose and William share.  It's nice and light, but something odd happens when you walk into this bathroom.

Here is a picture of the bathroom from the hall.  This was taken almost a year ago when we were first looking at the house.  So what you will see, was NOT our bathroom at the time. 

Exhibit A:  A seemingly innocent, albeit dated, bathroom.

Exhibit B:  You walk in and WHOA!  My eyes are going buggy and I'm suddenly dizzy.

I kid you not.  This is the reaction from EVERYONE that has ever walked into this bathroom.

Exhibit C:  From here, it looks ok again.  It's just those stripes on the left when you walk in that make your eyes go wonky.

So we call this bathroom, the fun house room.  The stripes are a royal blue and from straight on in a small sample (as I'm sure the previous home owner saw), it looks nice - mid-90's nice when burgundy, forest green and navy blue reigned supreme in home decor.  However, once they got this puppy on the wall, something went awry, which is too bad for us, the current homeowners.

SO, I go to work.  Having stripped wallpaper before, I know the horrors in store.  I thought I'd try painting over it this time.  WELL, two coats of oil-based primer later, my walls look like this:

You can see on the left where I have put on a second coat as opposed to the right, with one coat.

I can't get rid of those **** stripes!  

I don't know if I should call it quits and try to strip it off or paint it and hope the stripes disappear.  At this point, I still don't have a color picked out.  Either white or a pale gray.

I have made this bathroom unusable, so I'd better decide quick!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

...you know the rest.  At least there were a few brief moments of sunshine this morning before the ever-present, white haze covered it all with a blanket of depression.

When the kids are in school, I am in school.

My bags of crap, ready for preschool

 
It wasn't all bad.  The kids came home relatively happy. despite tears last night.  If we made it through today, we can make it through anything.  However tomorrow brings another round of horrors...more on at later.

New Year With Us

We had a lovely couple of days free of expectations, errands, school, work, etc.  We filled our days with yummy dinners, learning new songs, ice cream, puzzles, our annual movie, plenty of Netflix movies, and lots and lots of little home repair projects. 

 For the first time since we moved into our home five months ago, I have been able to take care of some much needed chores.  A week after we moved in, I started a second job, so I was working 6 days a week, and never home.  Though I'm only down to one job, I'm still not home very much.  This past week. to just be home, has been awesome.

New Year's Eve ice cream and the puzzle I am addicted to

Making homemade chicken soup in one of my favorite corners in our home.  

I spend a lot of time here.  

I learned a new song yesterday: "Fare Thee Well", sung by Oscar Isaac and Marcus Mumford. Fantastic song.

I spend a good portion of the morning putting away our Christmas tree and decorations.  It took a bit of work, but I got our front room put back together.  The Christmas stuff is great, but I LOVE how clutter-free the house feels when it's all put away.

Watching an old classic on Netflix, the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie.

And one last tidbit from Rose, because she is still the same crazy girl.  She has insisted for days now, that we call her Wormy, not Rose.  I wonder about that girl.

I'm Back! See Ya 2014

Why am I back?  I guess I kind of missed blogging and how it actually made me accountable in a way.  And honestly, our life has changed A LOT in the past couple of years and I want to document that.  Hopefully friends and family will find their way back.  If not, oh well.

This being my first blog in well over a year (almost two), I wanted to post some highlights and call it good.  So here it is:

Susan's 2014 Highlights (not in any particular order)

• We bought another house.  We actually like this one.
• As is the tradition with our last three moves, we moved in the pouring rain.   
• I quit a job I liked (at the library)
• I started a job I don't like (preschool teacher)
• The two jobs overlapped for three insane months
• Rose started Kindergarten, which has changed my life
• I had surgery, which went well except for a bad recovery - all of which I fear has come "undone"
• I caught the bird flu and missed Easter entirely
• I got to sit just feet from the stage of a life-changing rock concert - The Black Keys
• We bought a pet - a blue parakeet named "Cheerio".  He is adored and revered in our house.

So as you can see, some changes.  I have big plans for 2015.  Rock on!

Working and What-not

While there are blizzards in the east and tornadoes in the south, there hasn't been much of anything here in our neck of the U.S.  Which scares me about what our summer is going to be like?!

A little over two months ago, I got a job.  It's a part-time position at the library.  I work at a nearby branch of the county system.  When I went looking for a job, I needed something that wasn't retail (hello holidays), food-related (no thank you), and only part-time with hours that would work around our family schedule.  So the library is perfect for all of those things.  I'm discovering it is highly desirable part-time work, so I was very fortunate to get a position.

So why now?  Well, seven years of graduate school took its toll on our finances.  So now it's pay-back time!  In order to not live in a rented townhouse forever, we want to do all that we can to quickly shed student debt and save for a family home (one we like, hopefully).  If I think about how old we are to be dealing with this, it makes me cry - seriously.  But that's the price you pay, and you pay it up front.

Between Ryan's job, my job, school, housework, errands, activities, church, church callings, church activities, etc., it takes a bit of planning to accomplish anything.  So that's how I spend my days - planning.  I'm planning menus, paying bills, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.  I enjoy having the time to do these things, as I know many moms working full-time don't have this luxury.  More on that later.  Lots of plans in store!        

Just about a week ago, my sweet mother-in-law flew home after a week-long visit.  It was a mixed bag of a visit - between work, sickness, household chores, necessary clothes shopping, and a few outings, we stayed busy.  I'm sure she was glad to get back to a quiet household after our craziness here.

However, the day she left, Rose came down with a cold.  Can I just say, Rose and cold medicine do not agree?  This past week, she has been hell-bent on destroying the house and harassing everyone in the process.  It has been a week for the records.  It was like the cold medicine turned her into the crazy (this is a nice word for what I really want to call her) toddler she used to be, except without the physical limitations of a one-year-old body.  In short, there was running across the kitchen counter with an open gallon of milk, climbing to the top closet shelf to pull every board game off creating one giant pile of plastic game pieces, cards, and dice.  There was dumping every bucket of toys out in the basement and then spreading it everywhere into a fine mixture of chaos (all in minutes).  T.P-ing the basement with snot-covered toilet paper, refusing to wear any clothes (and I mean ANY clothes), eating half a bag of marshmallows after pulling them off the top shelf of the pantry, along with several other items.  Painting her own fingernails, all of them with multiple colors.  Getting into everyone's stuff - stuff she usually left alone.  ETC.  You see what I mean.  And then there was the screaming, hollering, and crying (mostly by Rose, but some by me).

Anyhoo - she's on the mend, without the help of anymore devil-juice (cold medicine).

Today has been filled with the typical Monday stuff - cleaning, laundry, more cleaning, planning menus, cooking, baking, etc.  Oh, and some fort-making by Rose.  I'm loving the sunshine: living room in the morning, kitchen in the afternoon.            

The Storage Room Part 1

This is very embarrassing, but I promised my sister that I was going to do this: pictures of my storage room as of this morning.  This room stores all of our tools, bikes, holiday stuff, extra clothes, camping stuff, food storage, craft/sewing stuff, outdoor toys, deep freezer, moving boxes, folding chairs and tables - basically all that used to be stored in our garage and attic of our old house (and anything I can't find a good place for in the rest of the house).  

To be fair, I haven't spent any time cleaning or organizing this room in a couple of months.  Our Christmas stuff is still piled up to be put away properly.  

Now why am I baring my unorganized soul here?  Well, this room makes me stressed out and even thinking about it makes me want to cry, and not in a good way.  I'm overwhelmed by it.  But I think that by getting it cleaned and orderly, I may be inspired to renew some projects.  So this blog will make me accountable for its progress.  It's already better since I took these pictures.  But here they are:

My work corner - the first thing you see when you come in the room 

Turning slightly to the right, my craft/office/sewing shelf, 

a corner of moving boxes and the camping shelf.

A little further to the right, the toy storage shelves, bins of I don't know what, and the last shelf has photos book, electronic/computer stuff, and files.

Turning all the way to the right, the back wall is lined with holiday boxes and extra clothes.  

Then the bikes, wagon, camping cots, etc.

And back to where we started - the door and deep freezer, covered in stuff.  

You can see the basement through the door.

So there you go.  I have a lot of work to do.  Seeing as how my mother-in-law is coming tomorrow, I may not be able to spend much more time in there for a little while, but I'll post my progress.  And, I don't plan on spending much if any money on this.  I'm not trying to turn this into a storage room from "Real Simple" magazine or anything - I don't plan on spending hundreds of dollars on color-coordinated boxes and fancy shelves.  This will be quite the challenge.

Better than nothing

This past week, I drove to Illinois to spend some time with my friends.  It reminded me how much I miss them and how much I miss our weekly chats.  I have found that reading/writing a blog post does one of a couple of things for me: 

-keeps me updated with friends/family that I don't see often

-inspires me to improve my life/home/self

-makes me feel guilty for one reason or another

-helps others reconnect with my family

I have not blogged lately because:

-I have been doing a crappy job keeping up with friends/family lately

-I feel that if I don't have something great to share, I don't share anything at all

-I'm lazy

-I'm too busy

Is it possible to be busy and lazy at the same time?  I think so, because I am.

A few pics from our trip to TX for New Year

Remember that funk I said I was in, months ago?  Well I'm still in it, but I am determined to get out.  I don't have a plan yet, but I'm going to start somewhere.  I'll let you know how it goes!  Something is better than nothing.

A little of everything

As this year winds up, we're just hunkering down and letting it wind.  I think in the past two weeks, I may have spent a total of two evenings at home (tonight being the 2nd).  Our lives have gone a little haywire lately and once I can get this ward Christmas party done with, I may finally be able to breath without a dark cloud hanging over my head.  I hope someone will enjoy this party because I certainly won't be!  

William has been home all week with a fever and will be home at least one more day.  Thankfully, Ryan will take the next two days off so I can finally finish our Christmas shopping kid/sick kid-free.  Rose is too observant to take shopping nowadays.  And about Christmas shopping, I'm breaking all of my Christmas gift giving rules this year.  I am not putting a single bow on any of the presents (they'll be lucky to get those stick-on gift tags), none of them are handmade, and there are several cheap plastic things purchased at Wal-Mart.  Nothing blog-worthy, for sure.

In the meantime, I'm listening to Christmas music with a vengeance, hoping it will drag us into the Christmas spirit.  We still have a few more days, so things could turn around.    

I think the two best Christmas presents of all will be having the Christmas party over, and if my neighbors would go a day without cooking a big pot of what smells like curried-onions.  The BEST present, I tell you.

Gotta love those 3M removable hooks

Fell asleep listing to Christmas music on the radio - I love the tassel between the toes. 

Happy

We had a lovely Thanksgiving day.  Hard to believe it was already a week ago; how the days fly by.  My parents were up for a visit.  It was fun to have more people to celebrate with.  While waiting for TJ (what William named our turkey) to cook, people played games, made butter, battled with lightsabers, etc.  Overall, a lovely day.  I think the only thing that could have made it perfect would have been a nap.  Maybe next year.

She's Four and She's Alive!!

Rose celebrated her fourth birthday a few weeks back.  Frankly, I'm amazed she made it.  This girl has been trying to kill herself since she could walk (I'm not talking suicide here people - just crazy baby antics).  She must have her own personal team of angels working around the clock.  But here she is, in all her 4-year-old glory: 

And if you know Rose, you understand this face.

Rose wanted a Doodle Bear for her birthday, which I found out AFTER I had already bought something else.  So I ended up returning her original gift, and we went out and bought this one on her birthday.  In this picture, Rose is pretending to be a Doodle Bear.  BYW, her bear's name came with the name "Rose".  Perfect.

Blowing out the candles after our root bear and pizza party.  We're cupcake people around here; and if you have seen any of my cakes, you know why.

Rose's birthday fell on Monday this year, so we had to do a family outing another day.  So the following Saturday, we went to the Butterfly House, which is right around the corner from our house.  We've been there a couple of times this past year, so while the kids liked it - it wasn't anything super new to them.

As much as I hate roaches, this exhibit really fascinates me.  It's just so gross; the pumpkins with roaches coming out the eyes and mouth was a nice touch.

Don't they look excited to be there?! 

"I'm wonderful. I'm perfect!" - Rose

Halloween

Happy Halloween!!

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight 

(minus the black boots - they're hard to walk in long-distance)

Red Riding Hood

Ballerina (costume variation 3)

Trick or Treat!!

Pickle Creek

Last weekend was our church's General Conference.  On Sunday, we decided to go for a drive and listen to conference on our satellite radio in our car on BYU radio.  It worked out really well - it forced us to pay attention.  So we drove to a state park about an hour and a half away.  When we got there, we finished listening while we had a picnic lunch in the back of the car.  

Then for the two hour break, we went on a hike.  Our family loves to go on hikes and we do them quite often.  We try to find ones Rose can do too.  This one was about a mile each way alongside a creek.  It was awesomely beautiful, but involved quite a bit of climbing over rocks.  I'm sure if we went back now, the leaves would be even more incredible.  Rose did great there, but Ryan and I carried her back.  

We passed quite a few people on our way.  We got either smiles or strange looks as they went by.  I'm sure they thought we looked like novice hikers, seeing as how my girls were both wearing dresses (their choice entirely).  I'm sure people were thinking, "Oh how sweet, they have no idea what they're doing".  

But we're tougher than we look, dresses or not...we even had an encounter with a snake on the path! Pickle Creek is no match for us.

Some nice people hiking with their two dogs took this one for use.  William's got his game face on and I look pregnant, which I'm not.  I had about 3 layers on and 20 pounds worth of everyone's crap in my coat pockets.  I'm the designated pack mule for these events.

Then on the way home, we listened to the last conference session.  Perfect.  We'll be doing this again in April, and maybe in pants.  

Cozy

Just trying to make out home a little cozier as the fall weather sets in.  It's about time to buy some hot chocolate, make some pumpkin bread and make a fire (better find some firewood first...). 

I may, may, pull out my sewing machine tomorrow for the first time in almost a year.  I don't know what's wrong with me - I finally have the space to make a sewing corner and I haven't.  I've been dreaming of this for years, but now that I have the room, I haven't done a single thing with it.  I'm in a funk, for sure.

My little friend - I  have way too many silly pictures of her, but she begs me to take them, what is a girl supposed to do?