Little bit of everything

I got a really cool catalogue today. It is from www.vandykes.com and I found the kitchen cabinet handles I really really want. But until I get the cabinets and new countertops in (which is a ways down the road) I won't know if it will look right. They are the pale green depression glass style. I love green depression glass and suddenly I realize that will be some of the stuff I use in decorating the house. I have always been drawn to it and now I can see it having a place in my new house. I have decided on the new colors in the kitchen will be pale yellow and light mossy green with the white floorboards and doortrim. I'm all excited. Poor kitchen is going from Coca-Cola to depression glass. I hope it can handle the transformation.



This town has the cutest little library. I checked out one of my favorite books, Comte de Monte Cristo. It was interesting to find out that the version I have always read is a censored water down version. This time I'm apparently reading the full blown version. It has been a while since I have read it so it will be interesting to see what differences I notice. Like I don't remember any lesbians in it.

I called my MIL about borrowing her treadmill. She is going to see if my SIL is actually using it and if she isn't I'll get it. I hope so because I really need to figure out a way to exercise some.

I'm a woman obsessed with decorating. If only I had the money to get it all done at one time.

I was looking at houses with someone today and I realized what a real deal I got on this house. She is hoping to pay between $85 to $100 a square foot. The little cute house next door is $65 a square foot. This house was $47 a square foot. And when we had the additional 500 square feet upstairs, it will be an even better deal. I do love a good bargain.

The only sad thing is that I'm betting that none of my BYB friends will ever see it, except in pictures. It is weird to realize that the people who I share so much of my life won't see where I live it. I'm too far off the beaten track for them, no one drifts into this area and a GTG in this house isn't possible because it isn't that big of a house. One or two might make a trip this way but realistically that is it. I know the house isn't what many people would want. I see this from people at work, many of them like the new house approach. I can see the beauty in those houses but it isn't me or my family. I love that my kids will grow up knowing about skeleton keys and old fashion architecture and creaking floor boards. But mostly they will grow up knowing the peace of a house that has been through many episodes of life.

And final thought of the night, when did Hugh Laurie get so sexy?

Kitchen - a work in progress

So here is the kitchen before we started any work. Notice the lovely vintage Coke border and pantry door. See the bold red paint.











This is the kids stripping paint. Below the red was some lovely bright colonial blue paint. And underneath that was the paneling. The paneling isn't bad but the new cabinets I will be putting in are wood so I think it will be too much wood. So the plan is that the paneling will be painted a light yellow and the currently black trim will be a sage green.





And this is with the borders removed. That felt good. There are a few spots where the paper stuck to the wall but I will get those removed during this week. No more wallpaper in the kitchen very soon.

Pics of the home

One of the things I want to do is to document the changes we make in the house as projects are done. So one step is to show what it looks like right now, with us living in it but before we start changing things.

So I took pics of the house today.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYsXDlm1as2EM

You will see we still have boxes to unpack and the master bedroom is pretty damn boring. And yes there is a sheet hanging over the curtains, to block out the sunlight so J can sleep during the day. I feel like I have to excuse everything, like the table cloth on the dining room table is the temp one I use on laundry day (today).

Saturday morning

Ah the second weekend in a row I have woke up to hear rain. I love it. I love rain, more than I can ever say. I know it drives some people batty after awhile but I have never tired of it. Rain has a magical quality to it. The sound of it is refreshing. I can't help but see the replenishment of my world around me. I can almost hear the trees and grass sigh in contentment.

My BIL asked that we watch his daughter last night. She is basically a good kid, very spoiled and slightly opinionated but overall not a bad kid. The only problem is that he has her every other weekend. He has full custody of her, wtih the pyscho ex-wife periodically taking her and the in-laws taking her most of the ex-wife's time. But he wants to have every Friday off to spend the night with his girlfriend. So most of the time she spends his Friday nights with grandparents. I know what is like to crave adult only time. But all of J's siblings have spent a lot of energy getting people to watch their kids so they can continue to go out partying like they were still teens. We are the only ones who full time parent all of the time. I see so many parents who do this. What gets me is when we want to have a set of grandparents to watch the kids so we can get an occasional date, the grandparents are too tired from all of the others or already taken. Our kids get the least amount of grandparent time because we take our roles as parents as a full time responsibility. When J's sister had her second kid, it was really hard on them because her oldest kid went to his dad's every other weekend and she wanted someone to take the girl so they could have their every other weekend free. Now with the third kid, she has come to see that short of divorcing this guy, she has to parent at least 2 kids all the time. What a concept.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't resent that I parent all the time. This is the way it should be. And I wouldn't want it any other way. I just can't believe all the part time parenting I see. I know a lot of single parents who still full time parent. Their kids go away for the weekend with the other parent, but they are still invested. There are still the kids' events and just the heartstrings that are there. That is full time parenting. I do enjoy the occasional adult time too but in a few years, I will have it all the time. It is there, waiting for me and I will get there anyway.

Ok enough venting. Oh and Mere, here I am updating my blog regularly and you aren't even paying attention. Shame shame on you.

Who knows

Last night I let T spend the night with the boys across the street. I have talked to the mom a few different times and nothing sent up red flags.

T came home and J noticed that he smelled like pot. Well T wasn't the one doing it, he has a very rigid attitude about drugs. The only person he saw smoking was a grandfather who came by for awhile. I figure the mom probably did some after she sent the boys down for the night. I'm torn about this issue. I know a lot of people don't think pot is a big deal but I would rather that she hadn't done it on a night when there was a guest in the house. I hate that T was around it enough to come smelling like it. And I hate that this casts doubts about what I can let the kids do with those kids because of this. And J is very very rigid about this stuff.

I have been sick all day and it really bothers me that J never even bothered to ask me how I was doing when he left for school. Gee, makes me feel important.

Bizarre dreams

All my life I have had periodic dreams where I'm in someone else's life. No, I don't think I have experiences like the show Medium. Most of mine are just slices of ordinary lives, just not my own. The dreams are extremely detailed and stay with me longer than regular dreams.

Last night's was not a slice of an ordinary life but brought to me the knowledge that this is just an active imagination because if last night's dream really happened, it would be major headlines, at least for a few days. It is weird to realize that these dreams are just imagination pieces because they have always felt so real to me. This one felt so real. I knew the history about the people without seeing it. I was so heavily invested in what happened in this one that I'm actually sick today and planning on going back to bed to get some real rest. It is funny but I didn't get names in this one but usually I have names for everyone, including my name.

The history behind this dream was that my friends had been on some reality show. I don't know the whole premise behind it but it was a matchmaking one. At the end there had been this really beautiful woman, a drop dead gorgeous man (Nick), a dumpy woman and a dork guy. Well the show had been edited so that the beautiful people looked like they were going to hook up. But in truth Nick had fallen in love with the dumpy woman. So the show had their big shocker when he announced he was asking dumpy woman to marry him. Beautiful woman marries dork in a double ceremony but their marriage isn't as good and it was obvious.

The dream takes place a year later. I'm a friend and I'm going over to Nick's and his wife's house to help get ready for an anniversary party. She was nervous because they are getting a little media attention because she has just had a baby and I had said I would help her with all the details. I get there and chaos is all around. Beautiful woman had come over to help and actually went and drowned the baby, put him back in his bed still dripping wet and then tried to drown the mom. I arrive before the police, paramedics and all. I'm trying to help the mom out of the tub who is in shock and hyperthermia, I can see that the baby is dead and Nick is trying to kill beautiful woman who thinks this is her ticket to getting Nick like she should have all along.

I helped with everything until everyone is gone but Nick who is in such a state he can't ever get up to go to the hospital to be with his wife. He is blaming himself, that he shouldn't gone along with the show producers to make it look like he liked the pretty woman. I'm trying to console him but the grief is huge for both of us. Even now, typing this, the sight of the baby is making me sick all over again.

Like I said earlier, obviously this did not happen because the media would be nuts on it. But it was such a realistic dream that I can't shake it. I don't feel like I rested and I need to go back to sleep but honestly I'm scared because sometimes these dreams continue.


Just call me nuts.

Just another day .... or not

I found out yesterday that one of my new employees (B has been with me for about two months) has a teenage daughter with leukemia. Her daughter has had it for a couple of years and was in remission but then has had a relapse. In two months of talking about our kids, she has never mentioned this and I totally respect that she has chosen to keep this to herself. She moved awy from her family because her husband wanted to come to Texas. She is having a hard time learning the work but I admire her for her ability to come to work everyday and try.

Not that anyone cares and I'm sure you haven't noticed, but the Dallas Mavs choked in the championship games. They started off good but blew it bad. Too bad, I always like it when a Texas team wins any championship even if I can't stand the sport.

We were doing some video goodbyes for someone who is leaving the company. After seeing myself on the computer, I realized I must lose weight. I guess I need to find an affordable treadmill to put in my bedroom. With J's schedule, it is the only way I can see getting a way to exercise.

J got the chance to be a hero last night. The twins had a field trip and I didn't find out until last night that they were to wear bathing suits under their clothes for some water play while at the zoo. I thought I could find their bathing suits at home but after we got home, I found I was wrong. I didn't want to drive 30 miles round trip to Wally World so I told them they would have to make do with shorts (plus KB said that her two piece was inappropriate at their church day care). Well J called on his home from school and said he would stop and take care of it. They were so thrilled when they woke up this morning to find new bathing suits. With as much as he is gone these days, he doesn't get many chances to be a hero.

Yeah Yeah I know

I'm a bad blogger. No big surprise. This month's excuse is that I had to go to a temporary laptop and lost my links. Like I couldn't figure it out but that was the convenient excuse.

I'm still in love with my new house. It is so comfortable. I'm so content being in the house. So far so good, we are doing a much better job keeping the house kept clean. I think the difference is that I really care so much more.

This is such a cute little town. Tonight after work I took K&C to the library. It comes with the little old librarian who recognized our address and of course knew everyone who has lived in the house. Too funny.

Skip the damn dog is still a problem. He dug his way out of the backyard one night. He got his harness hung on the bottom of the fence and he spent the night fighting the fence. I think the fence won since Skip had a huge chunk of meat missing out of his side. It was too wide and deep to stitch back. He did a good job of keeping it clean and with antibotics and some wound sealant, we were able to nurse back to health. So what does he do once he feels all better? He digs his way out again. I guess we are going to have to try an electric fence, which I can't stand the thought of.

Did I say I love this house?