The Numbers Game

10 - number of clocks in our house.

0 - number that are the same time.

2 - number of children that got in serious trouble yesterday for fighting.

2 - number of children no longer allowed to be in the same room together, look at each other, talk to each other, breath on each other.

4 - number of days punishment instituted.

1 - number of people sick of winter.

{actual number may be higher but person may be so involved they don't care how others are feeling}

1 - number of parents that will be gone for training in March.

3 - number of weeks that parent will be gone.

5 - number of people at home other parent is hopeful will survive the ordeal.

36 - number of presents female parent is hopeful male parent will come home with.

3 - number of times we've gone to look at baby chicks.

522 - number of times I've had to restrain myself from buying baby chicks yet.

1 - number of people that got lectured about not eating the healthy part of her cold lunch.

0 - number of people who don't feel the least bit of remorse for lecture.

2 - number of projects that I have refrained from revealing until their time of actual completion {unless of course I've talked to you on the phone, you've driven by my house, asked me right out, etc.}

783 - number of items we have run out of at our home since the last time I went grocery shopping.

1,965 - number of times I've lamented the ending of Downton Abbey.

5,342,786 - number of times I've wondered when the girls will stop crying about: putting lotion on, taking a bath, someone shutting the door on them, feeling like they're getting left behind, someone sitting at their spot on the couch, doing their chores, having to make their beds, putting away their laundry, someone not playing with them, having to go to the bathroom, someone tattling on them, what I made for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, etc.

5 - number of chickens that frequent our neighbor's yard.

1 - number of little boys on napping strike.

1 - number of four year old's who have not napped for two days in a row.

6 - number of people feeling the affects.

105 - number of family photos I tried to take on Sunday.

0 - number that turned out.

Katie

Sun Room Update

I have this constant internal debate about whether or not I should post pictures of the during of a project.  I have grand visions of this major reveal.  With all of you gasping in surprise that you had no idea I even had a sun room, let alone could work such magic with one.

The main problem is, I can’t keep a secret.  Not to save my life.

This one time my brother {when he was nine and I was ten} told me about this crush he had on this really cute girl that we went to church with.  In strictest confidence.

I told the girl all about it the next time I saw her.

Before

After

I was hesitant to paint it yellow, thinking it would be too much color for one room.  So I took advantage of my friendship with an interior designer and asked her opinion.  She said it would look fine.  Looks like she knows what she’s talking about because it turned out really nice.

I invited a friend over for lunch and we painted like crazy for 2 1/2 hours while our children ran around a bit like hoodlums.

I finished the trim the next day and a scraped the paint off the windows the day after that.

Here’s some bunting I made that no one around here is too impressed with.  I, for one, think that it makes it look like a room I’d want to hang out in.

Bryce started working on the idea that we have for the fourth wall.  So pretty soon, this room will be up and running.

Also, I’m in need of a free, new, clean mattress for the daybed, so if you know of one…..

 

And here’s Spencer.  He spends a lot of his day standing at the windows talking to the chickens.  I tried to catch him doing just that, but currently he is too concerned with having his picture taken to hold still.

Have a great weekend.

Katie

The Doors

We have four outside doors.

Did you know that?

Yup, four doors that lead outside.

Four different thresholds for dirty shoes, muddy boots and discarded sweaters.

Millions of opportunities to coax my dear children into remembering to shut the door behind them and at the same time to not shut the door on the person coming out after them.

That’s such a confusing concept.

Lots of fun.

I finally got the last three painted.

I found those wreaths on clearance at Joann Fabrics. 

It seems silly to put wreaths on three doors that the general public never see.

But I use them every day.

It’s nice to see something finished and put together before I go inside my questionably clean and rarely put together home.

Also, I’ve been working like crazy on the sun room and have made some progress so we all have that to look forward to.

Katie

How to Get Out of Making Dinner

*Warning: some of this content is not suitable for young children.

We have an old home.

Which had absolutely no insulation.

I mean, like none.

Bryce was on a quest to remedy that.

We have a basement.

We wanted to spray the ceiling with spray foam insulation.

And the duct work.

The duct work had old bat insulation wrapped around it.

It used to be a bright yellow.

Now it is dusty, crusty puke colored brown.

To spray the duct work, that stuff had to come down.

Bryce was conveniently 'away' or at work...whatever.

That left....

me.

I equipped myself with mask, sweater with hood, and work gloves.

I got to it.

Know what happened?

It rained rat poop.

Oh man, I wish I was kidding.

Three shriveled, emaciated rat carcasses.

An "occasional", i.e. every second like clock work scream.

And lots of walnut shells.

A huge pile of disgusting bat insulation which I refuse to have any more to do with.

I will nev-er be the same.

I called Bryce and told him he owed me dinner.

I said nothing less will be tolerated.

It was the least he could do.

I spent minutes telling him how gross that was

and how big he owed me

and how I shouldn't have to do stuff like that

and how he was in charge of cleaning the rest of that up

and how if I see another piece of evidence of rat it's going to get ugly

and how he doesn't know how good he has it

and how I'm going to use this as leverage for the rest of his life.

He came home and took me out to dinner.

Sun Room Wall

So, I want to have everything done for the sun room by May.

Which is completely possible.

I think.

Pretty sure.

If I never want to sleep again.

Anyway….

Lost of walls and ceilings in this old house had particle board somethingorother disgustingness nailed on to them.

This is one of the walls.

Bryce and I came up with a great scheme to cover it up.

But I was convinced something cool was underneath.

So I took it down.

And I found the original outside of the house.

With which I’m sure is one of the early colors of the house paint showing.

And where the original doors were.

And the old molding.

My current idea is to clean it off really, really, really, {while wearing some sort of mask} well.

(The house had a fire.  Nobody around here has been alive long enough to know when.  So there’s a lot of soot.)

And then seal it.

I like the originality of it.

But then I wonder if I should cover it up using this really cool idea that Bryce and I have.

So, I guess the question is:

What do you think?

I can’t go into details about ‘the really cool idea’ because it’s one of those things that sounds and looks really neat…

inside your head.

The coolness of it couldn’t be expressed in words, on a blog.

You’ll just have to trust me.

Anxiously awaiting…

Katie

Over You

Dear Ryan Bullus,

I don't know if you remember me, but we were in the same 4th grade class.

I was skinny, with awful bangs, and stringy blond hair, and I had no fashion sense whatsoever.

I flatter myself that a lot has changed.

But you....now you, had MC Hammer pants, a rat tail, a chipped front tooth, a mullet, and you wore your house key on a dirty shoelace around your neck.

You were so ca-ute.

Amy Yearsley and I would talk about you for hours.

Hoping and dreaming.

But you ended up liking my best friend.

And I cried and cried over my broken heart.

Today, I would like you to know that I have moved on.

I have found a nice person who wears jeans and t-shirts, has a clean haircut and has no serious dental problems.

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have worked out anyway.

Just know that I think of you from time to time and wonder how you are doing.

All the best,

Katie

This Is Just a Test

I know that some of these are repeats, but I’m playing around with a new program and wanted to try some things.

In un-related information, we went to look at baby chicks this morning.  I know, I can sense your enthusiasm.

My sisters are coming to visit for Spring Break and we thought about waiting till then to buy some chicks so they could help pick them out.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Also, thanks for all the kind comments about my last post, they increased my head size by 150%.

Katie

New Haircut

All in a Day’s Work

Looking for princes…

{buttons}

So, the picture that was the inspiration for this project I saw on Pinterest, however, I can no longer find it. I apologize I can't give the credit.

It was fun to come up with 'types' of buttons: preppy buttons, silly buttons, my buttons, your buttons, fancy buttons, german buttons, mediocre buttons, etc.

I printed out different fonts, about 9, in different sizes on one piece of paper.

Used this tutorial.

Then I cut them out.

Wrote on the bottom: Made in the USA and a No.

Next I used wire to attach the buttons to the new button card.

Found this frame downstairs that used to house a mirror that broke in the move.

Painted the plywood.

Brushed on wallpaper adhesive, that, for whatever reason I have a large tub of.

Let dry.

Hang.

This was a fun project because some of these buttons are my great grandma's that my mom gave me when I got married. This is a good way to showcase them without any long term commitments.

Katie

Getting my hair cut today!