bye bye plain white walls...

I couldn't stand the paint any longer. With the addition of the boys, the walls are REALLY showing some wear and tear. The paint was that junky cheap builder's paint that is more like a primer for REAL paint. So...why not add another project onto this list. So far we have painted the family room (pictured above with the new paint), entry, dining room and guest bathroom. We just went with a soft brown (with a hint of green). It really helps the trim to pop and stand out.

And I just want to point out, I finally took down the Christmas wreath. How sad that it had been up for almost 6 months???

Here is the before of the dining room. I started taping all the trim and finally gave up. It is easier to go with out it and just be cautious cutting in.
A BIG thanks to Chuck for ALL of his hard work around here (he is such a GOOD MAN). I need to post some other pictures of all we have done. Like I said, painting is just ONE of the many projects we have had going on.

crazy full weekend

Every weekend, we have the discussion..."what are we going to do?" What will our weekend be full of? Chores? Fun? Church? Family time? There are some weekends we don't do much more than laze around and relax (which we probably need to more of that). And then there are weekends when we have SOOOOO much that we cram into it. Like this weekend.

To be honest, I can't even remember what we ended up doing Friday night and Saturday morning. Oh right...I broke my toe on Thursday night so I spent most of it hobbling around and trying to stay off of it. Oh, and I brought a family (who just had a baby) a meal on Friday (but that is besides the point).

After running some errands Saturday morning Chuck decided to work on his plan for his work bench. He had not unpacked the garage tools and work items for lack of a better place to unload them onto. We had a great space in our last house with a big work bench and cool peg board (HERE). He has been itching to make another one. He made a pretty good sketch of one and spent about 50 bucks and he and my dad came up with this work bench. Only needs the peg board to finish it off.I am often impressed with how things turn out when Chuck is involved. There isn't much he can't do well. They cranked this whole thing out (including running to the store for supplies) in less than 4 hours. Talk about ACTION !!! While they were working on the work bench, my mom and I organized the school room and got ready for the next school year.

Then we were out visiting a church in a nearby town on Saturday evening and noticed the big K had all their trees and shrubs for sale. 70% OFF. We have been meaning to get some more trees to provide privacy and shade and all it took was some hint of a bargain to get us going on that project. We picked up 5 trees and got them all in the ground on Sunday afternoon. That makes 11 trees we have planted since we got here.

If you look closely, you can see 3 trees along the neighbor's fence. 2 red maple and one flowering pear and the one closest to the deck is a holly (I wanted one that would stay green year round). These were some of the best looking ones from the clearence rack. It isn't really the best season to plant the trees, but they really needed to get out of the pots and into the ground.


These tress will need a little tender loving care and I am hoping with lots of tree hugging, they will make it. We did have to replace one of the trees that we planted in the front yard (and we paid full price for that one). We got so much rain right after we put it in and the ground had too many air pockets. So our fifth tree went out front.

So far, everything we have planted here has grown well. I have NEVER had flowers take off and spread so easily. They are just beautiful. And to be honest, I am not doing anything special to take care of them. Just watering them when I think of it. I try to weed the bed every few weeks and the rest is up to God to make them beautiful.

So our weekend turned out to have more purpose than we thought. We got a LOT done and worked hard. Now Chuck is back to work so he can rest up from all the labor he put in to make our home so special.

Bounus Room / School Room

I realized I never gave a tour of our home. We moved in in March and it has been a busy few months of getting settled and plugging away at school, but we have managed to unpack and organize our new place.

Most of the homes we looked at had a bonus room. And often it is above the garage. Sometimes they have closets and are used as a bedroom. Or maybe used as a TV room or game room. We are using ours as a school room / play room.

We have used these book cases to break up the long room to make areas or zones. Plus these book cases are wonderful to keep games and books out in the open where they are more likely to be used. I got 4 inexpensive book cases and they are lined up side by side and back to back. We don't have a Wii or another video style game (we may be the only family who doesn't) and our TV only has an antenna right now. But we play lots of games as a family and the kids read a lot.


The side of the book cases that face the school area, I used to hold coloring books, puzzles, manipulatives, craft books and other school books.To keep the kids books organized, I group them into categories (similar to how you would find them at the library) and then label the shelf with my favorite tool - the label maker.

Here is our school zone. We used desks for seat work. I like how they have cubbie inside the desk to store their junk. Keeps it looking tidy. As you enter the room, this is the area on the left.

Here is the view from the far end of the room. I love the slanted ceilings and the steps into the room. There is only one window on this far end.This is also from the far end of the room. My desk is tucked into a niche on the left (white swivel chair) and this is a reading area that the girls use all the time. We picked up bean bag chairs and these dish chairs instead of putting a couch up here.

You can click on the picture to enlarge it. I will have to give more tours of the place soon.

any ideas?

We close on our home tomorrow and I have been thinking about window treatments. I am looking for ideas on a few rooms. This is new construction and we get to start at the beginning with window treatments. Here is the family room. (click on the picture to enlarge it)Notice the trim above the windows. It doesn't lend itself to a topper and I think most widow treatments would take away from that beautiful trim. I was thinking roman shades. Any other ideas?


The other room that has me stumped is Tally's bedroom. She has a little sitting room off to the side that has the arched window. I don't have a picture that shows the traditional window but that is to the left of the arched window. I can put blinds up but that little arch will not be covered (which isn't the end of the world). I don't like those arched looking blinds. Not quite my style. Thoughts on treatments for this room? The two windows need to coordinate but not sure if they can match because they are different shaped windows.

Just looking for input on these windows. Any ideas?

Our new home

After much searching and 2 contracts not working out on 2 other homes...we have come to terms on a house. The day was full of countering back and forth with the seller, but also full of peace. Just last week we had narrowed down our choices to 2 different houses and we had a few hesitations about each of them. This final house was a perfect blend of the 2 plus some other extras. Praising God for His mercies and provisions. So if it is God's will, this will be our new home.
It seems to be just the right place for our family as it is now and whatever God allows it to be. =)

Trying not to get my hopes up

We got an official offer on our house, though it is not one that we can accept. It was so LOW. We have countered back and we are willing to stand firm at what we countered with. I am not even sure this family can afford the counter offer. Though on a positive note, they really LOVE the house. So, we are praying that if it is the right thing, they will come up with the extra funding. I will let you know if things progress. Praying that God's will is done.

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Just a quick update, the couple who put an offer on our house wasn't willing to budge off of the lowball, unrealistic offer that they made. So, we are back to trusting in the right buyer, at the right time, at the right price. Thanks for caring and all the prayers.

I am ready for nasty Fay to go away!!!

Who would have thought a tropical storm would be such a problem. I thought we were not even going to be hit with this storm, and then (dun dun dun....) Fay came a knockin' on Thursday. And she showed up with some attitude. We have had solid rain and wind for the past few days. More than I ever expected. We had prepared the best that we could have, but you never know how the storm will unfold. By now I feel like Fay has outstayed her welcome.









Even though we had drained the pool several inches, we ended our day yesterday bailing out a few more inches. We were being threatened with having the pool overflow and come into the house. We lost our power for a little bit yesterday and we were not able to pump out the water with out the electricity.

We have had 3 unexpected water issues in the house/garage/guesthouse. It is so hard to know how to handle these things with out Chuck around. I really feel unsure of what to do and how to handle it. I plan on getting a friend help me next week take care of what ever needs to be done.
















With all the wind and rain we had 4 trees fall. Not bad. We have already gotten one down and taken care of. Maybe the rest can be dealt with when Chuck comes home next week. There is also a LOT of debris in the yard. We spent several hours cleaning up branches and junk in the yard. Pine needles everywhere.

















I got a call this afternoon to let me know that someone wants to see the house. They are coming on Monday. So now I know that I have 2 days to clean this place up from Fay and get it show ready. I am thankful that someone didn't show up today to look at the place. It would NOT have shown well today. As always, it is such an encouragement to know that someone wants to come see the place. I was just feeling like no one would be looking at houses when a storm is around. It was just the encouragement that we needed.



Just a quick update on my dad and his surgery. He is recovering well and I want to thank you all for praying for him. It has been so hard to be far away when something like this takes place. Hopefully he will head home from the hospital sometime in the next few days. Then he will have months of a slow recovery.

found some before pics

I found some before pics of the house. The orange room is the master BR, the room with all the boxes is the school room and the one with the green wall paper is the laundry room. Notice in the kitchen the old counter tops, appliances and the knobs on the cupboards (not to mention the old floor in the kitchen). Big difference from house to home. =)

Come on in...and stay awhile

If you know me at all, you would see I love to have people into my home. Yep, got the hospitality gift. I love to see other peoples homes. I love to look at house pictures. I really should have gotten a degree in interior design. I love to watch home decorating shows. HGTV is one of my favs. I will often check out books of house plans out of the library (with no intention of building my own home). I have said before I am a visual person. The more pictures the better. And with every anticipation that our home here will hopefully be a memory, I wanted to capture it on my blog. I also wanted to invite you in (virtually that is) and stay awhile. Now...here are my disclaimers.

***My house doesn NOT always looks like this. For all you out there that think we live in a supper clean bubble, you are mistaken. In fact I have a messy kitchen as I sit here and blog this (I really should clean it up). And if any of you have had your house on the market to sell, you know that you have to have it show ready in just a few moments.

***Our house did NOT look like this when we bought it. (I can't find the before pics). We have redone just about everything in the last 7 months. Including painting, lighting, flooring...you get the idea. I thought this house had a neat country farm house feel and I love character. And I am thankful I was able to look beyond the quirks that it had to see the diamond in the rough.

Lastly, here is that house that you are joining us in praying that it will sell soon. I do appreciate all your prayer and support.