Mean!

So, needless to say, I am well aware of the fact that my blog has fallen by the wayside over the last several months. And I miss my blog...I miss the writing, the outlet for joys and frustrations, and the chance to record the comic strip moments that are our daily life right now.

I'm not sure why I've become so detached from it, though if I have to be honest, I know a lot of it has to do with my overwhelming frustrations with people (yes, I said people). This feeling of frustration has been brewing in me for the last several years, though it seems to have come to a sort of head lately. Do you know the song "Mean" by Taylor Swift? The chorus pretty much sums up what I want to say to the world right now. The chorus is essentially this, "Why you gotta be so mean?" I think letting the blog slip was just a way of cutting ties with other people and this cycle of meanness that I see everywhere I look.

I think I've had about all I can take of hard line attitudes that diminish other people's dignity. I'm tired of people using politics, religion, parenting, finances and other hot topics to berate each other. We all have opinions, and of course we think ours are the correct ones, but that doesn't mean we should stop being civil with each other.

Anyway, I will step down off my soap box now. And I'm going to do my best to get back in the habit of daily writing, because maybe I can be just one little light of joy and happiness shining in this grumpy old world!

More stripes!

I'm just way behind on updating this. It took me the better part of three weeks to complete this project, but I have our guest bath painted. While I was at it, I painted the pantry because it needed it. And I do mean that it NEEDED to be painted. The shelves were unprimed and unpainted MDF, which can be destroyed easily with just a little bit of water. I've been worried that a bottle would spill and we'd end up needing to rip out the shelves (which are very thoroughly nailed in). I also painted a small hallway area off the master bedroom. I did this to test out the color we choose for the great room. I didn't want to find out after we started the great room that we didn't really like the color (and I LOVE it, by the way).

I don't love the fixtures in the guest bath. I usually like very clean simple (though not necessarily contemporary) designs. The fixtures and hardware in the bathroom are just the opposite. Most of it I left alone, but we did splurge for new sconces. The old ones had vines wrapped around the glass globes and I absolutely detested them. At first I thought I would try to reuse them (because, after all, we reserve that bathroom for guests so we really don't look at them very often). However, after I took them down, I just couldn't bring myself to put them back up.

Here is the before (from the realtor's pictures, as I forgot to get a good shot before demolition):


And the after:

The stripes were a total pain in the you know what. The painting wasn't bad, but the taping off is time consuming (especially since I am totally OCD and spent an excessive amount of time making sure they were perfect). The dark stripes, by the way, are the same color as the kids bath and the light stripes are a light gray from the same color family.

I really like these colors -- they are much more "me" than the peachy beige that was here when we moved in. I can't wait to get the great room finished, which I started working on two days ago. It is going to take FOREVER because of the vaulted ceilings. I'm still working on patching and sanding off rough spots. Maybe by the end of the week I'll have all the prep work done and will actually be able to paint! My goal is to have the room painted by Thanksgiving (so that it is in good order when our holiday company arrives, but also so that I can put my Christmas decorations up).

So that's what the problem is...there is something wrong with his brain!

Yesterday was one of those parenting days (or, more accurately, evenings) that leave me in need of a good stiff drink at bedtime. Ross (why is it always Ross?) had a little incident. He's, obviously, been potty trained for a very long time. Lately we've been having accidents -- about every other week or so -- because he gets too busy to go potty and can't make it there in time (though luckily he can usually make it to the bathroom, so it is the bathroom floor bearing the brunt of this problem). He's also taken to not telling us about these accidents, because he doesn't want to get lectured (or yelled at, if I'm being totally honest). Sometimes he'll try to clean it up himself and sometimes he just goes on with life and pretends that his pants really aren't wet. Unfortunately, he's at an age where I don't hover over him every second of the day so sometimes he goes on playing in his room or in the basement playroom for quite a while before I catch on. Yeah...can we just all say "ewwwwwww" together. I am having an overwhelming urge to bleach every inch of my house RIGHT NOW.

Anyway...back to last night. We finished dinner rather late, so the kids only had about a 1/2 hour to play between the end of dinner and when we started cleaning up for bed. Most of that time I spent doing the dinner dishes. As I was getting Ross undressed, I noticed that he had poop on the FRONT of his underwear. Yeah...not a good sign! I continued to investigate (watching in horror as chunks of debris fell out on his bedroom carpet), only to realize that he had poop all up his backside. I asked him if he pooped his pants and his answer was, "Yeah, the last time I went potty, but don't worry, Mom, I cleaned it up." Sure, Ross, sure you did. Now, what was especially funny was the way he said it, as if he was telling me something nice and pleasant, just the same as if he were telling me that he put his shoes away and made his bed.

I marched him to the bathroom to put him in the shower and then realize that, yes indeed, he had made a huge mess in the bathroom and, yes indeed, he had attempted to clean it up. There was poop on what seemed like everything, especially the floor. So, while he was showering I took the time to really clean the bathroom, getting more ticked off with every passing second. I got him out the shower and laid into him with a lecture on his needing to tell his dad and I when he needed help. I asked him, "Why didn't you tell me you had an accident?" His dead serious response was this, "I don't know, Mom, there must be something wrong with my brain."

And that did it. You can't yell when you're laughing (on the inside anyway). How can you be mad at that? I vacillated all evening between feeling bad that he might think there is something wrong with his brain and utter amusement that he thought he could claim brain damage as a good excuse for making a massive mess.

Sigh...what am I going to do with him? And, as a side note, between the Ross messes and the fact that Lucy has taken to playing in the bathroom sink, I'm actually considering locking the bathroom door so that the kids have to ask for my help each time they go in so that I can monitor the situation better. That sounds like a punishment for me more so than for them, though...

Three!

I'm not exactly sure where the time has gone, but somehow my little baby turned three today. I feel like we are in a time warp...the last time I remember breathing properly was on the way to the hospital when we were having Reid. Since then life has spun out of control, the chaos gaining momentum with each child added. I wonder when I'll feel composed again?!

We kept it fairly simple this year. Since we don't really know anyone here yet, it was just a family event. I made her ice cream cone cupcakes (which were kind of gross because I under baked them). We also made cupcakes for her to take to school (surprisingly, the preschool allows homemade treats) and a few of the spares got thrown in the mix at home tonight.

She was very concerned that we were going to damage her cupcakes!

Daddy surprised her (and me) by bringing home a lovely bunch of roses as a birthday treat! They are some of the prettiest roses I've ever seen...good job, Daddy!

And, of course, we spent an indecent amount of time taking photos today (I took about 125 of her!). For whatever reason, I have a hard time getting photos that really capture her well. I think my issue is that she poses and I don't like posed smiles. I like catching them while they are talking or making faces or playing. She insists on standing straight up, looking at the camera and saying "cheese" with a phoney smile. I spent an excessive amount of time trying to get her to relax today.

So, here is one of my favorites:

But I love this one, perhaps because I know what she is really doing. Ross is standing right next to her coaching her on how to make a proper silly face and she is trying, with all her might, to please him. It was really quite comical!

Happy Birthday, to my sweet, pink loving, little girl!

I think the yard is trying to kill me.

I don't think we really comprehended just how much work this house was going to be when we bought it. The yard is a challenge, mostly because of the slope, which we were expecting. However, I was so worried about the slope that I didn't really take in the shear size of the yard. The lot is almost an acre, though part of the back is wooded. There is a TON of flower beds around the house. I think we probably have about 10 times as much square footage of flower beds here as we did at our last house.

Those flower beds have been sorely neglected for the last 3 years that the house has been sitting on the market. The shrubs are way overgrown. There are weeds -- big behemoth sized weeds -- everywhere. The plants are still mostly builder grade (though some spots look like they were done remarkably well) and some are half dead. And the sprinkler system needs a good tune-up. Ugghhh...

So, earlier this week I decided that I CAN NOT STAND the status of my front flower bed -- the one along the house that everyone has to pass by to enter our front door. It was pitiful and not a welcoming sight. So, I spent an enormous amount of time and energy pulling EVERYTHING out. While I was at it, I pulled the ugly/half dead plants from the bed by the street/property line.

This morning, Jeremy announced that he wants to paint our screen porch next weekend (which also involves re-sealing the wood beam supports and railing on the deck below the screen porch). It really does need it very badly. The screen is ripped and torn and the porch is just filthy (we have a lovely spider infestation here). We can't easily reach the outside of the porch for cleaning, so we've been waiting until we could tear it apart completely. But, in order to do all that, we need to hack down the massively overgrown holly bushes that are around the bottom deck. They are so overgrown that you can't see the yard from the porch.

So, I spent the majority of the afternoon working on the front beds and the bushes around the porch. (Question: What kind of idiot does her inside projects in the morning when it is cool and then heads outside at 2:00 when it is getting good and hot?) I worked until my hands turned into useless claws, my hand trimmers were so dull that they couldn't cut through a leaf and I was so hot that I was dizzy. Ugh...I am exhausted. Though, it is that good exhausted -- the kind that leaves you feeling satisfied at the end of the day because you know you accomplished a lot.

The fun part of all of this is the new landscaping I get to put in. I have a laundry list of things I NEED to have in my yard: forsythia, tea olives, guara, roses (I'm going to try the knockout variety, as I've read that anyone can grow them), tulips, peonies and a host of other things! I can't wait to get it done and see how much better it looks! And, I'm trying something new this time. On Monday, I'm going to take a soil sample to the extension office for a soil test. I've never bothered to do this before, but the very helpful lady at the local nursery advised strongly that I do so before I began any planting. I usually have pretty good luck with my gardening without going to such measures, however I thought I'd give it a try and do it "by the books" this time.

Another one bites the dust...

I knocked another room off the painting list this week. The kids bathroom was very high on the to-do list because the thin layer of flat paint on the walls was just not adequate protection for the walls. I mean, really, the bathroom walls (and ceilings) often end up sopping wet at bath time still (thanks mostly to Lucy, as the boys have mostly figured out that they should not do canon balls in the bathtub). Plus, I hated the color. The paint the builder used has a peachy undertone to it. And, well, I don't like peach (no offense intended if you do, but I don't like it in my own house).

Here is the before:

Here is the after:

The color we used is in the color family we'll be using for the rest of the common areas of the house. I don't think the picture shows the color well, but it is a blue/gray. We'll be doing a shade lighter of this color in the kitchen, great rooms and halls. I'll be throwing this darker color and one two shades lighter around in the guest bath, laundry and office. The intent was to have a color on the walls that just hovers between blue and gray, hopefully looking a bit different depending on the lighting and causing people to stop and ask "is that blue or gray?".

I love this house, but one of my major complaints is the inconsistent use of finishes. The upstairs bathroom and satin nickel faucets, cabinet knobs and door hardware (as the rest of the house does), as well as a satin nickel shower curtain rod. The towel bars and light fixture were black. The half bath has "venetian bronze" finishes (which, is not the same as oil rubbed bronze and is really hard to find...that story to come later). The light fixtures in the entry and dining room (now office) were an antiqued brass. The master and great rooms have some sort of bronze. Most of the other ceiling fans are a rusty red metallic color, except the basement which has nickel colored fans. See the issue? NOTHING matches around here. I'm doing my best to tidy it up, but I'm also trying to salvage as much as possible. So, I replaced the shower curtain rod int he upstairs bath, hoping it would clean things up a bit. I think it worked, mostly because the rod seemed like it should match the towel bar (same shape, right?). If I need to, I'll replace the cabinet pulls, but as of now I think they look okay.

I found an extremely cute print that I want to get for the bathroom, but it is a lot more than I usually would spend on a decor item. I love it...it is cheeky and a bit irreverent, just like me. I'm still dithering over it, which is fine because the shop is currently closed.

I put the finishing touches on this yesterday afternoon...last night I tore apart the guest bath and this morning I tore apart the coat closet. There is no rest for the wicked around here...at least not until all 3200 square feet of this monstrocity is painted!

Reid's Room!

Reid's room was a lot of work to paint, but I'm very happy with the way it turned out (and so is Reid). I'll start by saying that I totally copied this idea for The Yellow Cape Cod. Where would I be without the help of the blogging world?

Here is the room today:

And this was our starting point:

The biggest lesson I learned from this project is this: NEVER use navy paint again, no matter how cute it will look. The navy required 4 coats of paint. The red required SIX, yes 6, coats of paint to cover adequately. I'm cringing just thinking about someday having to sand down the ridges that the stripes make.

I'm totally in love with the prints over Reid's bed, which I purchased from bexpert on Etsy. The prints feature the nautical flags and their definitions and I used them to spell out Reid's name.

The room has been done for a while now...I've just been waiting to get those prints hung before posting pictures (in fact, I'm almost done with the next room...the kids bathroom). I want to add some more nautical touches, but I'm in no rush and am willing to wait until the right things come up!