I'm Baaaack!!!

Honestly, I did not plan on painting my bathroom today. I really didn't. It just happened.
What I did plan on was replacing the bathroom light. Our home was built in 1979... need I say more? We have changed just about everything on or in this house since we bought it 9 years ago, but we have left the bathrooms pretty much the way they came to us. I have all sorts of grand plans and huge remodel ideas that will one day come to pass. But, I fear that that "one day" is still several years off, especially with the current state of the economy. :(
As I was wandering aimlessly the other day, when I was in town, I found this light fixture. It caught my eye as being pretty so I looked again and saw that it was called Camille. Well, that did it, now I had to buy it (and I so wanted to get rid of the hideous "hollywood" lighting that was in there!)
So this morning I woke up and decided to change out the light fixture. No big deal... I've installed every light fixture in our house... it will take a half hour...an hour max.
I get everything set up, all the tools I'll need, turn off the power and take down the old ugly light fixture.(good riddance!) I realized as soon as it came down that our bathroom was one of the only rooms WE never painted. I think the whole house had been painted right before we bought it in an effort to spruce it up, in a generic flat off-white. For some reason, unknown even to me now, I left the bathroom walls alone. I painted the cupboards and the closet doors, but left the walls. Anyways...(long story....whew!) I saw that the wall under the horribly dated light fixture was a different color than the rest of the wall, and the new fixture would not hide the old, old paint. Thus, the need to repaint.
No problem, it is still only about 8 am, so I skip out to the shed, grab the half gallon left over from painting the hall (for the 3rd time!) and decide that my bathroom will now be Buckthorn (who picks these paint names anyway?) instead of off-white. By noon I have a nice new light and pretty clean walls. Happy day.












As to the title of this post... I have apparently snapped out of my funk (if you can call it that) and am now ready to take on the world. Or at least a dozen projects around the house. I have been less than excited or motivated to take on any projects, big or small for about the last year. It might be because I completely burned myself out on our garage conversion (which took a whole year of my life!) Don't get me wrong, I have been doing stuff, but I wasn't excited about it or really in the mood. (We still don't even have a counter-top in the pantry. We have beautiful glossy cupboards and trim and molding and a nice floor, but I have just been uninspired to go pick out a counter-top.)
But now...NOW... I am ready. I'm not sure if it is because of the spring weather or being cooped up for weeks staring at all the problems and imperfections that fill my life, but I am fired up and in a fixin' mood.
On a whim I decided to repaint the grout on the kitchen counters. (once again... our house was built in 1979!!!) and I have hated that dark brown grout for 9 years. I would love to take a sledge hammer to the whole kitchen (and I will...one day) but for now I will be content to have white grout. I ran out of paint so I am waiting for more and I'll post pictures when I finish.
I finally found the counter-top I want, now I just need to order and have it installed. I am planning on sanding and staining our patio furniture and making new cushions. I've got the pool in almost summer shape (hasn't stopped the boys, they already swam 4 times last week) At this rate I might build up enough steam to finally get to Tadhg's room. We promised him that once we finished the conversion that his room would be next, and he has waited kind-of patiently. I'll keep you posted.

This has been a very busy week. I have hardly been at home at all!
Monday necessitated a trip to town to restock the cupboards. After spring break and the boys being home all the time...eating... we were out of everything. I suppose I could have gone on Saturday, but much preferred to go alone. It is faster and much more peaceful.
Honestly, Tuesday was a blur... I went with Brock on a field trip to Fresno State. We visited the planetarium and then saw a very cute play, The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck, put on by the drama department. When it was over I came home and crashed... I was so tired!
Wednesday I headed back to the Family History Library. It has been weeks since I have gone. I was able to make a little progress and found a death certificate for my Great Grandpa Morton.
Thursday was the Honor Roll assembly. Mr. Caden received his 3rd Gold Honor Roll(meaning a perfect 4.0) He must not be embarrassed by me hollering and screaming, "That's my boy!" when his name is called and he walks across the stage, because shortly after he got to school he called to remind me what time the assembly started. So sweet.



Friday, I worked in first grade and then made a quick trip out to Raymond to see Caden run in his first cross country race. The paper that came home said that the 4-8 grades would start running at 11. I left class a little early and got to Raymond about 15 minutes after (I never remember just how long it takes to get to Raymond!) I walk up and see all the runners milling around. I finally find Caden and learn that they had already run! and eaten lunch! The whole meet was over and I had missed it! I saw several other parents there that had also arrived by 11 but had missed the race too. We all commiserated that on missing the big event, and we joked about those great pictures we wouldn't have of the race. Mr. Weimer, the track/cross country coach said Caden has the best attitude and is a happy runner. He's excited about his next race at Wasuma.

*I actually wrote this on Sunday night, but due to computer problems...(again!) I wasn't able to publish it until today, Tuesday and then the heading my blog gave it was Monday... so it's all messed up, but, oh well.

I have been meaning to write on my blog for days and days and days now... but obviously, haven't. (so why, on the day I DO decide to, are my fingers refusing to work? I can't type anything right tonight!)

I am currently waiting for my Caden to get home. He (lucky duck!) was invited to spend the last 5 days with his best friend at Disneyland! I miss my sweet Cuckoo boy! Cathie has been very good about keeping me informed. I have gotten at least 6 texts (most with a picture!) a day to let me know he is well and happy.

This last week was spring break for our boys... which means that I have been able to sleep in and not HAVE to go many places, but it also means that there are boys around 24/7... and that means lots of messes (and more work for me!) I'm not sure if I like spring break, or christmas break or any other break for that matter if it means MORE cleaning! You know it has gotten pretty bad when the missionaries show up at the door on a Sunday afternoon and Curtis won't even let them in the house! He made them stand outside for 5 minutes while we all dashed around like crazy putting things away. Embarrassing! It will take me at least 2 days to get this place back to where it needs to be.(honestly, it is fighting a losing battle to even try to keep up with the housework when they are making 3 messes for every one I clean up.)
Will I like getting up tomorrow at the crack of dawn to get those boys off to school... uhmmm, nope, not really, but I will like to have a few hours of peace and quiet... and it is amazing how clean the house stays when no one is around!

So, this last week. We went to Gramma and Pop-pop's for Easter. I decided to hard-boil some eggs to color and hunt and then turn into deviled eggs or egg salad sandwiches later. So before we headed over I put some on the stove. I had a vague memory about someone telling me a trick to hard-boiling eggs... adding something to the water, so they would peel easier and the yolk wouldn't turn greenish or something. Of course I couldn't remember what it was, and being the NON-cook that I am I thought I'd better check that "recipe" for boiling eggs one more time. I went online (and never did find the trick I was looking for) but found a recipe and put the eggs on to boil. I swear I even checked them by spinning them to see if they were really done (another online tip) but when we went to color them I discovered that they were only soft boiled. I went online again looking for a recipe for how to fix hard-boiled eggs that didn't quite get hard boiled the first time and found....nothing. At about this point I realized (once again) that I am hopelessly inept when it comes to kitchen-y domestic things. I had to laugh with my uncle Dale that it is a sad, sorry state of affairs when you need to look up a recipe to boil eggs in the first place... but then to screw that up and expect to find a recipe to fix it, too! We colored and hunted, but did NOT eat any eggs. Ahhh well, better luck next time.









It was really nice to get to visit with (most of) the family at Easter. We had a nice dinner and played cards. My cousin Rachel brought her daughter Ava with her and when we arrived little Ava, who is 3 had been anxiously waiting for my boys to get there so she'd have someone to play with.
(*You know, there are just some days when your kids are so well behaved and kind and sweet that you just have to smile and think that everything is right in the world. THIS was one of those days.)
Caden and Brock jumped out of the car and "met" Ava on the doorstep (they'd never seen each other before that day). For the rest of the day they were at her beck and call. They pushed her on the tire swing, helped her up when she fell... Brock got her a new band-aid and played nurse when her old band-aid fell off. They gave her all the best eggs during the hunt and shared all their candy with her even after her mom "cut her off" (Rachel: please stop giving her candy!). It just melted my heart to see how sweet and patient and kind they were to her. What wonderful boys. Made this momma proud.

I have been talking to my mom and she was telling me about all the fun projects she's been working on... a fun scrappy quilt, shopping bags and more, cuter shopping bags and I just felt that itch to sew too. She asked me if I had any projects that were started that I could finish (silly question!) and I cam across some patriotic quilt blocks that I had from when I was in her quilt group that had been gathering dust. Me and my bright ideas! I thought, "I'll just pull these out, dust them off, and make a quilt for the chili cook-off auction to raise money for scout camp. I should know by now, (but apparently fail to remember!) that with me nothing is ever simple or easy or quick. So on Monday I start making a quilt, thinking that with 8 blocks already done I am well on my way. HA! I also fail to remember that with me...small is never an option. So I need more blocks and make 4 more, then I need NEED a really cool way to set them apart, so I do stars and bars for the sashing, which needs another border to finish it off... oh, and I just have to finish the binding by hand...
This is where I just shake my head and wonder what the heck is wrong with me!!! I am the one who 1. decided at the last minute to make a quilt 2. decided that it needs to be done in time for the cook-off on Saturday 3. keep making it more and more elaborate... and then wonder why I get cranky and tired and stressed when the days are slipping by and the deadline approaches and I still have more to do!
Needless to say, it did get done and I was quite pleased with the final product. So after spending a week of my life on it... I just gave it away. (story of my life!)

Spring surprises...

I walked out the front door today, (something I don't do too frequently, now that I think on it!) for some fresh air and the last little bit of sunshine. Curtis was wanting to put the hammock up, Tadhg was practicing some skateboard tricks, Brock was in charge of watering the plants in pots... I was wandering, aimlessly. Maybe my critical eye is a huge fault. (Ahhh! See you all think so too!) First, I noticed the weeds swept into the flowerbed right next to the front porch. Then I noticed that the pool was looking way less than inviting. I sat at the table out by the pool and thought how this HAD to be the year that I sand and re-stain it. The pots were overgrown with weeds and looking very sorry... then *BOOM* I see it. (Don't get me completely wrong... I have been admiring the daffodils and the blossoms on the trees and reveling in the beautiful spring weather for weeks, so not ALL is gloom and work.)
In one of my scraggly, sorry looking pots I spotted an orange freesia. A few years back I planted lots of bulbs and such, but I'm fairly certain that I kill most everything during the summer months and am much less than certain if anything will come back the next spring. This lone freesia must have some will to survive. I'd like to say I raced right over, but I didn't, it was more the granny shuffle *ha, ha*. But I had to see if it smelled as good as I remembered. Boy did it! I love the way freesia smell! Hidden behind it amongst the dead twigs and scraggly remains of last summers flowers was a yellow freesia that must have bloomed last week. All of it's scent was gone... but seeing it sparked a thought and I turned around to see if any of the freesia that I had planted in the ground (a dangerous thing to do around here!) had made it also. To my incredible delight I found a whole patch of happy, sweet smelling freesia blooming right under Brock's window. There were so many blooms that I got a biggish vase, filled it with water, grabbed a pair of scissors and went back outside to make myself a bouquet. I didn't even cut all of the blooming freesia! I left a few there to look happy and noticed that there were several more stalks that were just waiting for next week to make their grand entrance. What a happy spring surprise! That will show me not to use my own front door!
Now I have a vase full of sunny golden flowers sitting squarely on my desk, just waiting to cheer me up tomorrow with their beauty and fragrance. Can I just say...Spring-time is the best time around here. IF it could be like this all year, I'd think I lived in heaven.