Rescue an ugly wood floor

Our house has wood floors throughout but it is a mixture of hard oak and soft wood. The dining room also has an area that had been patched and ran in the opposite direction. I knew it was not going to be a candidate for refinishing, but did not know what to do with it.

I decided to dive right in and give it a coat of gray porch/floor paint. Once that was done I knew it needed something more.

It took a few days to tape it off and paint since I had to leave an area for traffic between the stairs, front room, and kitchen.

 After painting the white squares it needed something, else since some of the lines did not match up perfectly (gotta love old houses). I added the small 2 inch black squares and distressed everything. A couple coats of polyurethane will keep it from "distressing" anymore. Now to finish up the beadboard and trim.

Porch love

Although our porch is in desperate need of a facelift, including new support beams, I decided to liven it up a little.  Thought this might take away from the ugliness that is the rotting wood trim that needs to be completely replaced.

I love our porch.  It is were I sit to get away from all the noise my family makes.  I sit out here during thunderstorms and to read books.

 I received the Hoosier cabinet from one of the dealers at the antique store in return for cleaning up his booth. The upper part of the cabinet is in great condition, needs to be refinished but it has great glass doors.  The bottom not so much. The back legs are not attached very well and it has sat outside in the elements ruining the wood veneer.

 I started repainting the trim on the house, lower level only so far.  I decided that it needs to have the traditional Victorian feel with more that one trim color.  I think the green and raspberry colors compliment each other nicely.



Added some for hostas to this little section of shade garden.

Yes we're still alive

10 long months have passed since I posted updates.  We have had many many changes in almost a year.

The Boss turned 18, moved out (to live with her dad), and graduated from high school.

Miss Brainy placed top 5 in the state for her science fair project and will be going to Boston next February for Nationals.  She is also ranked #13 in her class (of over 200 students), earned her academic letter as well as a letter in speech, and she was chosen for All-River Cities Conference Academic Team.

Miss Chatterbox performed in 2 plays with the community theatre children's program.  She is also playing the part of Jasmine in the summer production of Aladdin Jr.

Badger Boy has been trying his hardest in middle school and  his grades have improved dramatically. He just came home last week from church camp.

Little Buddy has started reading chapter books and loves everything math and legos.  He has been going to Awanas each week and has finally came out of his shell to make friends. He spent 3 days in the hospital right after Christmas with bronchitis.

The three youngest kids all got glasses!! $$OUCH$$

Our foster son moved out in November leaving a very large hole in our hearts.

I returned to school to get my EMT license back and got 3 part-time jobs. Recently I lost sight in my right eye (which lasted for almost 3 weeks).  We still do not have any answers from the dr.'s.

Bryan and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary.

First day of school (for 3 monsters)

We now have a 1st grader, a 6th grader, and an 8th grader. Tomorrow the older kids start and we will have a senior and 2 juniors. The summer went by way too fast. Miss Brainy spent all of June in college classes, went on a trip to St. Loius, to Mahoney State park and the Ozarks with her boyfriend's family. The Boss, Chatterbox, and Badgerboy went on vacation in Colorado with their paternal Aunts and Uncles. With theatre, swim lessons, trips to the pool everyday, jobs, and friends taking up most of their free time it seems like we did not have time to do anything as a family.

My baby's not a baby anymore

My baby turns 6 today.

It feels like just last week that he was this sweet tiny baby.

My only blue eyed blonde.

Loved to be cuddled and still does.

Didn't sleep through the night until he was 3 yr. old.

Always a happy guy.

Rarely cried and still doesn't shed a tear even if he gets hurt.

Battled all sorts of lung problems this first year, a couple hospital stays and ER visits.

Found out he is allergic to Peanuts right before this picture was taken (18 months)

Luckily we have had no serious reactions since.

Very shy and quiet.

Potty trained by 2 1/2.

Loved anything Lightning McQueen and Hotwheels.

Started preschool.

Learned his ABC's.

Took gymnastic/tumbling classes.

Loves Legos!

Started preschool and speech therapy.

Played t-ball and soccer.

Started kindergarten.

Made so many new friends (and had his first crush).

Overcame his fear of heights.

Started going to AWANAS.

Can read.

Loves math.

Still loves legos.

Obsessed with the XBox.

Loves to shop and buy new shoes.

Swam in the ocean for the first time.

Passed his swim test.

Wanted to see both Cars 2 and Transformers.

Still holds my hand. Gives me hugs and kisses.

"New" Furniture for the bedroom

As well as spending hours painting the bedroom and working on the drywall I have spent a couple hours getting our old furniture ready. I still need to add the hardware but so far I love the way they turned out.

Happy Birthday to my other half

I love a man who argues when needed, loves unconditionally, and thinks of others before himself. He is a wonderful father, step-dad, dude, and husband.

Blue...Green...

If I am given a choice my favorite always lands in this area. Whether it be turquoise or robins egg blue, teal or aqua I simply love it. I have at least one item in every room of my house this color. Both my husband and Little Buddy are blue/green color blind though. My husband is in denial but we have had arguments over whether something is blue or green. Little Buddy's is much more obvious, he calls most blue/green/gray colors dark and when given the color blind test he was unable to see any shapes or numbers.

My birthday present this year is this beautiful Coach purse. Love everything about it!

When we are finally out of the minivan stage I will have one of these!

Here is a link to an online color blind test.

http://www.colour-blindness.com/colour-blindness-tests/ishihara-colour-test-plates/

When Little Buddy took this test it showed he was Red/Green color blind.

Girls Room

The girl's room will be done in Navy and Raspberry. This will work great since The Boss asked for blue and Chatterbox loves loves loves pink. I will be trying to make it more of a teen room, staying away from anything too babyish. I will be painting their bed frames navy blue, their side table raspberry and their dresser may get a fun treatment if all turns out the way I hope.I will be keeping the furniture and accessories to the minimum since these two have MAJOR problems with keeping it picked up. I will be adding storage under their beds and they will have a ton (for a victorian) of closet space.

The progress in these rooms would be much quicker if the previous owners would have fixed things correctly instead of putting a patch over things just to sell the house. When we moved in we did not know that the girl's room (what will be our room) would leak, but as we have started fixing this room we now know that they knew this. Not only did they not disclose this at the time of the sale, they also tried to cover it up. The chimney runs up the wall in this bedroom and we found out about 6 months after we moved in that the flashing on the roof around the chimney was loose and the rain would run down the chimney and rotted out the ceiling and drywall. We have since removed the chimney at the roof level, cover the hole, and roofed over it so that it would no longer leak. Their fix was to add another layer of drywall over this rotted area and call it good. Seriously who does this?!! We live in a small town were our children go to school together and my daughter and their children are all in children's theater. As much as I would like to call them out on it, 6 years has gone by and I should probably just let it go.

Who loves Harry Potter?

My girls does!

Miss Brainy and a couple friends waiting in line from 6 am-12 am for the opening night of Deathly Hollows part 2. They had their table and chairs, games, and all the books to keep them busy. She skipped school to get in line for Deathly Hollows part 1, sitting in the freezing cold and this time she skipped vacation with her aunts and uncles to sit out in the hot humid sun.
The Boss, ChatterBox, and Badger Boy are gone to Colorado with their aunts and uncles (on their dad's side).

Bedroom Makeover

Let me show the pretty first...

My girls are off on vacation with their aunts and uncles so I am diving into another makeover project. This one involves moving our room into their previous little girls room. We have pulled up carpet, replaced some of the floor boards, and started to remove wallpaper. Today I will tackle sanding the floors and painting them, they will get a coat of white paint with cream stripes. Next up is adding trim, replacing drywall, painting, painting, and more painting.

Future layout of what will be the "master" bedroom.
Here is their room before:

They had royal blue carpet and lovely wallpaper (that was horribly done). We had already moved their closet door over and split the closet that is in the other bedroom. Previous owners left a closet door, that lead into a very small crawl space, with no closet to speak of.

Little Buddy's perspective

Ten Things Children with Food Allergies Want You to Know
©2011 Gina Clowes

1. I long to be included.

I would like to look, act and eat like everyone else. I’d like to buy my lunch and sit wherever I want. I know I can’t, but I’m happy when someone cares enough to provide a safe potato chip, cookie, or Popsicle® for me. It’s nice when I can have something similar to what the other kids are eating and I love it when I can eat the same thing as everyone else. Whenever it’s possible, please think to include me!

2. I’m scared I could die from my food allergies.

I’ve heard my parents and teachers mention “life-threatening” food allergies and I remember having some reactions where I felt very sick and really scared. I saw how frightened my parents were too. Sometimes, I could use a little reassurance that I will be okay.

3. I feel like I’m the only one sometimes.

If you have a support group or know another way for me to meet other children who have food allergies, I would really like that. It would be nice to know that I’m not the only kid who has food allergies. Having another friend with food allergies in my classroom or to eat with me at lunch would help me too.

4. I get confused when grown-ups offer me food.

I know I’m supposed to be polite and listen to grown-ups, but my parents have told me I should only take food from them. When you offer food to me (especially candy), I’d like to take it but I’m unsure and don’t know what I should do.

5. If grown-ups kiss me, right after they’ve eaten something I’m allergic to, I’ll get itchy spots.

If your dog licks me, I’ll get itchy spots too. I don’t feel quite brave enough or know how to tell you this, but I’m hoping you will remember; if you’ve just eaten something that I’m allergic to and then kiss me, I may get hives. So please don’t kiss me right after you’ve eaten that particular food.

6. I’m embarrassed when people fuss over what I’m eating.

I know I have to eat my own safe food, but it’s easier for me when I’m not singled out. Sometimes, I feel very embarrassed when grown-ups ask me a lot of questions. More than anything, I just want to fit in.

7. I hear all adult conversations about my food allergies.

My ears perk up when I hear grown-ups mention my name or my food allergies. Please don’t pity me or act terrified because that will cause me to feel frightened. Food allergies are just one part of me. Instead, let me overhear you list all the wonderful things about me!

8. Sometimes I’m sad about having food allergies.

It’s hard to be the only kid in the class not having a birthday cupcake and having to eat something different from my box of “safe treats.” What makes it worse is knowing this will happen a lot throughout the year because there are 20 or more other birthdays in my class. I know it’s not the end of the world, but from my perspective, it’s pretty tough at times.

9. I’m watching you! You may think that I’m too little to notice, but I know when you forget my epinephrine auto-injector and return home to get it.

I watch you every time, when you’re reading the list of ingredients on my bag of candy. You are my role model and I’m learning how to manage my food allergies from you!

10. I will do about as well as you do.

My parents and other grown-ups “can-do” attitude will help me cope with the challenges of living with allergies and ensure that food allergies don’t stop me from being everything I was meant to be!

borrowed from: http://thisanaphylacticlife.blogspot.com who adapted it from: Adapted from the eBook Ten Things Children with Food Allergies Want You to Know.

Happy 13th Birthday ChatterBox

How can it be that I now have 4 teenagers in the house?! Oh the hormones that rage here everyday!

I know these cakes are all over blogland, but I wanted to try one out. It was the perfect little cake for our family and it matches Chatterbox's bright, colorful personality perfectly.

Antique Booth

The antique booth has been going great! Lots of items in and lots of items out. I have spent quite a few days at auctions and garage sales making some great finds and a few days spent painting up some new pieces. I have decided on a name for this "business", Past Present. I love the idea of bringing the items of the past back to life and I really love presents!

Here's a cute little side table I picked up at a garage sale and gave a fresh coat of white paint. I just took it in today.
I now have two booths. One is the things that I love and would keep in my house if I had the room. It is mostly shabby chic with a few primitives thrown in.

I have most of my porcelain and milk glass in this booth. I also like to pick up pieces of silver and anything white to go in this booth.The other is everything else. I do love a few of these pieces but for the most part these are items that I don't care to hold on to.

Take me out to ballgame

For Father's day we decided to take Bryan to KC to see the Cubs play. All the kids were able to go except Miss Brainy who now has a real job. This was the first major league baseball game for all the kids. The weather was beautiful, but the game wasn't quite so great. Cubs ended up losing 3-6, but we had a great time.

Afterwards we stopped to pick up some fireworks and then headed to my mom's to see the flooding. It is unbelievable to see the flooding first hand. To see roads that we normally drive on to get to their house completely under water. So many houses and farms completely under water with the water still rising.

On the way home we ran into a big thunderstorm and had to pull over under a gas station to get away from the hail. Doesn't seem fair that some are dealing with devastating floods while others in the same state are suffering from a drought.

Lots of yardwork to be done

I finally got the truckload of mulch for the flowerbeds and the new playground area. I will take a few days to get all of this spread out but it will be so worth it.

The playground that once sat here...
Is being relocated to the area behind the garage. I spent the day tearing apart the old swingset, which was held together with nails, and moving the sand/mulch to the new area. We will be redoing the swingset, using screws and new braces. I will also be adding a small patio and fire pit to this area.

The gardens and containers are doing wonderful, with all the cool weather and rain I haven't had to do much watering. I'm not very good at remembering to water all of them so they may begin to suffer as the hot months settle in.

I spent an afternoon/evening cleaning out this flower bed, removing the vines that had taken over the wall and trees.

Working in the antique store has allowed me to grab up some pretty cool containers for the garden. One of my favorites is the old chicken water/feeder.

The raised beds look awesome. After coming home from vacation to find them invaded by weeds we have cleaned them out and are finally getting some fruits from our labor. The strawberries are suppose to be the kids' responsibilities (I'm allergic) but it looks like I might need to remind them to pick them.

The tomato plants have really grown, just a couple inches shorter than the sunflowers, they aren't giving any ripe fruit quite yet but they are about 4 feet tall. We have had some onions, jalapenos, and wax peppers on the grill already.

I noticed about 10 cherry tomatoes just turning this morning.