Things that make my heart...

 Skip a beat.  I love this little boy.  I love that he doesn't care that he is in his dress socks, shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  I love that he is comfortable running around in the front yard over and over again until he thinks I have the perfect picture of him.

He melts my heart.  There is just something about little boys.  Well, maybe just my little boy.  But, if you are a Mom of a boy, you get it.

Contract Completed

As you all know, I took a painting contract with my friend Laurie in December.  It was the hardest, most grueling couple of days ever.  We worked under extreme conditions... no overhead lighting and only two days to paint 5200 square feet.

We got the spraying done and then had to get out for the flooring guys to come in.  Can you believe they whined when they got 11 days to lay the flooring?  Sissies!

The problem is that without adequate lighting and lots of paint fumes, we were unable to be completely consistent on 2/3 rds of the building.  And... there was a lot of damage to walls by the contractors (flooring, electrical, plumbing and air conditioning) which created a lot of fixes and touch up.  With the paint tones, a simple touch up would not work.  We had to roll the entire wall.

So yesterday we decided to just get it finished.  At one point we were tired and wanted to hang it up to be home early, but stuck it out.  What a huge relief to have that part finished.

I am proud of what we did together.  It was daunting, but the dollar signs were dazzling. A lot of motivation to do it.  We/I learned a lot about painting large spaces.  How else do you learn besides doing.  Most people apprentice with a painter, we jump in, take a contract and work our tails off to make it right.

We also have gotten to do the decorating and that part has been a blast.  Takes way more time than painting, but it lets my creative side come out and see the sun for a bit.

The picture above is the hallway the patients take to the check out desk.  We wanted them to know they were appreciated.  It turned out classy.  I love vinyl.  I was asked why would I want a mirror on the wall as they leave the dentist' chair.

Simple!

There is nothing worse than walking around with chalky stuff on your lips and you don't know it.  This way you can check as you leave.

Thanks Laurie for being a hard worker.  I couldn't/wouldn't have done it without you .

Ahhh... Simple joys

 This is just a paper hat I picked up on a field trip to the Capitol with Miss Boo, not wanting the Dude to feel left out.

 You would have thought I gave him a million dollars.  That hat did not come off his head until bed time.

Miss Boo is always up for adding to a picture.  You can't tell, but she is running to get in this picture.  See below.

 Yep... there it is!  What kid doesn't learn that and have to add it to every picture possible?

 Do you ever wish you could go back to when life was simpler and a hat, albeit a paper one, was all it took to make your day "Awesome"?

There is great joy in children.  I am very grateful for this little guy that finds such happiness in the littlest of things.

Four letter words

I am so proud.

As I was helping the Dude study for his spelling test today, I realized that all his words are four letters.

FLIP
SLIT
FLOP

You get the point.  He is such a little smartie.  It took a while for his confidence to kick in.  He would always say that he couldn't read, but he was reading all the time different things.  It was pretty exciting the day he realized that he WAS reading.

So proud of him.

He wore out his tennis shoes I got him last year for school.  So I got him some Crocs that are really durable.  I got Miss Boo some pink ones a while back and they don't wear out. Love... love these shoes.

And they are blue... how can you go wrong?

Miss Boo is writing her first novel.  She is hard at work every day.  Had to bring out the laptop so she could write faster.  After three hours she only had one paragraph.  Could you imagine if she was writing it by hand?

It has been an interesting process watching her write her book.  As she is writing it, she is planning on having it in a library, owning a book store and having her children read it. She totally cracks me up.  She is still writing the prologue, so this book is definitely going to be a long one.

I am fascinated by how her mind works.  It is always racing and thinking.  She is definitely our "artist" kid.  So creative.

Lots and lots of Oops

Last weekend was one of those counter productive ones.

 I brought up flour from the basement because I was worried that the flour was going bad in the bucket.

 With good reason... the lid popped off while I was coming up the stairs.
Bounced and then rolled spilling flinging its contents all over the place

 The Dude was quick to help.

 Well, he mostly wanted to blow into the vacuum hose.  Not sure why, but he thought it was fun.

 Miss Boo grabbed a broom, well, something resembling one.

We are both so tired.  We kept dropping things.

Making more work.  Hence, making us more tired.

And dare I say grumpy.

Mr. Finn took over cleaning up the flour and let me get out of the house.  My mood didn't lend to it being a pleasant clean up.

Later, he let me make up for it when he dropped three cans of Dr. Pepper on the floor.
That was a mess!
I am still cleaning it up.  As far up as the upper edge of the window and into the foyer.
It was nuts.

Upcycle

This is one of my new favorite words.  I have always been a bit of and "upcycler".  Some might have termed me as a bit of a hoarder.

Just a wee bit.

I get it from my grandmothers.  One was a true hoarder of rubber bands, plastic bags, etc.  My other is so thrifty and can stretch a dollar a country mile.

I inherited their genes that got activated during the depression.

It is an obsession for me to save things that I "might" be able to use later.  Since I was a kid I have been doing that.

Now, thanks to all those DIY blogs, I have more ideas than I know what to do with.
 Here are a couple of upcycles from boxes that I put together for Valentines.

 This box was hideous.  Seriously, who picks the colors and what not that goes on chocolate candy boxes.  I could see this in bright spring colors.  And, of course, not gold ric rac.

 I have fallen in love with ric rac.  Found a great deal on Pick Your Plum.
She has a new deal every day and sometimes it is something I will use.  40 yards of 4 different colors of ric rac.  So many uses.

 This was a card box.

 Perfect for one dozen chocolate covered strawberries.

Oh my!

Our little angel... seven years old... second grade.

SUSPENDED!

Yes, that is suspended from school.

At seven years old.

That's my little angel.

Third write up in a month.  All for anger issues.  This time she kicked a ball hard into a boy... well, you know where.  She didn't get suspended for that, it was running away and hiding while a teacher was trying to talk to her.

We have our work cut out with one.  So bright and creative, but so angry too.

Makes you really stop and think about things.  We are trying to be calmer around the house with the expectation from the children to be the same.

And lots of prayers.