Lofty Ideas

My boys share a room and have since John was 3 1/2. He has no recollection of ever being alone. Henry on the other hand does remember; albeit vaguely.

I am a bit selfish and do not want to give up the other two rooms in our house quite yet in order to give them their own room. One is Rocky's office (man cave) and the other is our guest bedroom/sewing room/Wii room/and no where else to store it room. It's the last room in our house that needs to be painted and decorated. It's pretty beat up and I'm looking forward to after 10 years rolling up my sleeves and making it a nice girly cove. In other words - neither one of us wants to sacrifice our space (and for me soon to be space once our basement is boy caved).

But back to the boys room.

Neither child has blatantly asked for his own room but I know it's coming.

Henry is a tween (how did that happen?!) and fairly tidy.

John is John and a creative messy marvin.

Thankfully the space they share is generous for an old home and houses them quite comfortably. Their closets are a bit tight because they are built into the dormers but we make do. We will certainly have to get creative the bigger they get (i.e. the bigger their clothes get).

Rocky and I had discussed the idea of buying lofts with desks underneath to give them more of their own space and a place to do their homework. Then we hit the internet. Then we realized that it would have to wait. To buy two, have assembled (because we don't have enough common sense to do it from scratch ourselves), and then painted we were looking at a hefty bill. So much for that idea.

Or so we thought.

I have a love hate relationship with Facebook.

Stay with me. This bunny trail has a happy ending.

I like to see what people are doing and lurk on and off.

I hate it when I get sucked in and truly waste time or when someone expects me to know what is happening in their life because the posted it on FB.

I LOVE it when I see a post by a friend who is selling her son's loft beds.

CHEAP.

And she lives just a few blocks away.

Did I mention son's loft beds. As in she was selling two-matching-beds.

Doin' the happy dance.

I heart Facebook.

So we hopped in our pick-em-up truck and headed down the street. We brought home two loft beds and my friend's husband and oldest son. They helped reassemble (since they had been there done that) and wha-la! Loft bed times two.

 

Being the procrastinator that I am I knew that if I did not paint these loft beds immediately either my children would be:

1. permanently moved to the soon to be girly room sharing a queen bed until Henry went off to college OR
2. never painted and always be the light honey color and never match our dark furniture and drive me to drinking because they did not match

So.

I got over my procrastinator self.

I ignored all the laundry, housework, grocery shopping (as opposed to just kinda ignoring it all in a regular week) and got my ready to prime and paint self to the Benjamin Moore store and stocked up.

I was armed and dangerous. Not to mention a little afraid of heights.

One primed and ready to paint.

John's turf

Henry's turf

 

Did you notice the desks? Henry's is a clean slate. John's is already loaded.

 

To say the boys are happy is an understatement.

 

I have this lofty idea that this will give us a few more years until one of us has to sacrifice our cave/cove.

 

One can always hope!

Possibilities

I am always amazed at how much mulch we need and how bad my back aches every spring.

Our yard is not that large but we have quite a lot areas that are "landscaped". I put quotes around landscaped because there is so much we need and want to do. After 7 years in this house we have only done what we needed to to the outside. Our focus (and for those of you who have been following this blog for a while will know) has been the inside of our home ... ok ... well, with the exception of fencing in the backyard and widening our driveway (you get the point).

We have been so busy that we only were able to get the front mulched (4 scoops!) and half the back (6 scoops!) done before we ran out of weekends with free time.

As you can see, it takes little time for the weeds to take over.

And as you can see ... one of our little helpers was not too pleased with his call to action.

Both preferred watching to pulling weeds, laying newspaper, and throwing mulch.

Actually that's not entirely true. Henry would have loved to throw mulch ... and he did until we realized that most of his 'load' was landing in the grass ;-)

While Rocky was off getting mulch, I contemplated our next project.

I had already dug up these irises that were crowding my lavender bush ...

and intended to move them to here

that is until Rocky and I realized that our roots run deep.
Wire grass roots that is.
Rocky spent the good part of a bit  tilling this section for me the other day and we still could not get all the roots.
So I began to dig ... and rake ... and hit rocks ... and pull roots ... and dig some more.

I'm not discouraged though. See those herbs ... I'm dreaming of pesto frozen for the winter and fresh tomatoes with feta and basil during the summer.

And while I was waiting for Rocky to move the truck to finish the mulching ... I decided to see how hard it was to disassemble a side patio that is no longer of use (never was). I want to use the slate stones for, you guessed it, more landscaping.

Ahhh ... so mulch to do and so little time.

Oh the possibilities!

Fresh

This post is for my dear bloggy friends who are still snowed in. Spring is coming soon. I promise.

Today was one of those beautiful teaser Virginia days.

The temps reached 70 degrees.

But we know that although it was utterly gorgeous - the temperatures will dip back into winter before it warms up and stays that way. That's just how Virginia is.

We took full advantage of today.

We pulled weeds.

I took artsy pictures of our lavender bush.

I got to wear my red gardening shoes.

It's been a loooong time since I donned these shoes. This was the first year that I was able to help Rocky and know that they kiddos were safe in the front yard with us. I could actually toss mulch without worrying who was headed toward the street.

Today the boys helped demolish weeds and lay mulch ... for about 5 minutes. Then climbing the cherry tree was more appealing.

Two pick up truck loads and the front yard looks and smells divine.

Now to tackle the backyard ... that will be more like four pick up truck loads.

I hope I will be able to move tomorrow ;-)

What says fresh in your neck of the woods right now?

The State Of Affairs

As if Hurricane Adrienne was not enough for one room to withstand 



Tornado Some of a Kind hit.

This my dear friends is the state of my sewing room.

It all began with good intentions you see. I started with the boys room - rearranged their furniture - had some book shelves made to fit into their dormer windows (remember we have a crafty furniture maker friend) - moved their toys in their room - then gave them my two bookshelves from my sewing room (what you see unloaded on my sewing table was the contents of said bookshelves) - brought their old (smaller) bookshelf down to my sewing room - then I had to make room for my books in the sitting room since my "new" bookshelf would not accommodate all my fabric and my collection of craft books that are gathering dust books. Then I had (really - I had to) move the love seat from the sitting room into the sewing room so I could then move Rocky's grandparents drop leaf table that is so precious to us but darn if it gets in the way into the sitting room so we can get a fish tank. Oh - and so that I could move the half wide secretary from the foyer to where the drop leaf table was so that I can make room for the piano that is now still in the sewing room acting more as a tv stand than a piano.

You still with me?

Don't worry. I'm worn out too.

Never mind that each time Rocky moves a piece of furniture he swears that he will not move it (or any other again), or that I have been sick for a week now and still do not seem to be getting over it, or that John just got over pink eye and an ear infection, and that I now have pink eye in both eyes, and while rearranging and stirring up tons of dust and seeing too many things scurry away that my (very expensive and worst purchase I ever made) vacuum has stopped working - again.

Life is good.

Really.

Even if I can't wear mascara for a week ~shudders~.

So. I will gladly take any suggestions you might have regarding vacuum cleaners. The weather systems keep changing around here and I need something reliable to clean up the mess!

Hurricane Adrienne Hits Home In Virginia

What?

Hurricane season is over?

Hmmm ... not here in Virginia.

Adrienne is still going strong.

Haven't heard of that storm?

Category 4.

Just take a look at the destruction she caused (and this is only one place where her high winds and yarn poured down):

1. Hot tea from the morning ... still there when this areal photo was taken at 4:42 PM.
2. New gizmo gadget thingy that makes pom poms.
3. What's left of a skein of yarn. It's not  a toilet paper holder (really people - she's not that bad).
4. Just a small pile of the ends that were woven in for a hat for Henry ... there were more. Lots more.
5. The pattern for a scarf that was been a WIP for at least a year (the yarn was on the toilet paper holder cardboard tube)
6. A weapon. For real. Have you ever held a size P crochet hook? It could take anyone out and that has hooks on either end (she's a professional).
7. Hook/needle bag that fell prey and was missing in action due to Hurricane Adrienne. Located due to surveillance photo.
8. A coaster that obviously wasn't used for no. 1.
9. A big fat yarn needle that saw way to much action (see no. 4) and could not be stored properly (see no. 7).
10. Another gizmo gadget thingy that made no. 4 so much more bearable.
11. A Halloween silly band.
12. Another weapon stored improperly (again see no. 7). Sadly it is barely functional because the blades are so dull.
13. A bag that is housing a scarf (see no. 5) that is a quarter of the way done.

Sadly we cannot share any other photos of the devastation she has caused due to the sensitive nature of the unsavory material (laundry, dishes, finger prints, dusty window sills and abandoned sewing/crochet projects ~shudders~). Thank goodness we have these pictures of before the hurricane to preserve what was once a place of tranquility.

Stay tuned as we will continue to update you on this freak of nature.

Wordless Wednesday - Warmth

Tis The Season

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And since we've no place to go

Let It Snow!

 

 

 

Let It Snow!

 

 

 

 Let It Snow!

 

Cracking Up

A few years back - four to be exact - I purchased some hand made pottery from a friend. She makes beautiful things. At one time she lived in Italy and this is when she was designing away (read - before children). She was having a major sale (like 60% off) retail price to clear out some inventory. I just had just had John and was having a bit of the I'm housebound and postpreggo body feeling ... in other words - I needed some retail therapy. Nothing like a bit of shopping to lift the spirits!

I bought two of these vases.

They've been treated just like my furniture; moved from room to room until I settled on where I liked them best. That place ended up being in our foyer on either side of a card table. Rocky insisted that they boys were going to end up breaking them - I scoffed at him. Well, turns out that he was partially right. A large turkey did have a run in with one of them only it was a not of the human race and was frozen.

I was unloading groceries and setting those that needed to go in the basement by the door and then as fate would have it - the turkey decided to shift its weight while my hands were full and crash bang boom down went my vase.

I just stood there in shock.

It is just a thing but it's thing that I was quite fond of. Sooooo ... I decided to do my best to salvage it.

It's a shotty job for sure but at least I still have my vase.

So if that wasn't heart wrenching enough ....

I'm doing dishes and BAM. My adorable fat chef that greets me at the sink every morning and has been a faithful soap dispenser for longer that I know lands in the sink.

SNAP goes the top.

As you can see the part that the dispenser screws on to is what broke off - securely in the pump so there is no hope of superglue unless I never want to refill my chef again.

I have looked high and low to try to find something like this little fella but with no luck. So until I happen to find my next sink companion he will stand guard (and I hope I don't knock him over again!).

The moral of the story: forget domesticity - it will leave you cracking up.

Happiness Is

Sunshine on a crisp day

Leaf piles

 

Beautiful colors

Making progress by a cozy fire

Rocky cooking dinner



 

The smell of garlic cooking

What's making you happy?

Wondering

How long it will take Rocky to stack this pile (and the two other dump truck loads that are on their way).

How many wheelbarrow trips Rocky will make to fill this this winter.

How many more beautiful days like this we have left until we start to deplete that woodpile.

What are you wondering?

enGULFed

We returned on Father's Day from a week and a half stint in Fl. Three days on Amelia Island for Rocky's work (tough life I know ~ har har) and a week on the (still) beautiful gulf coast. I have lots of pics to share and a funny story but they will have to wait ... our dining room looks like this again and the playroom is in a similar state as well (the office is being transitioned into there). Basically our house is a train wreck; our old office is being turned into my laundry room (yipee!).

So while I'm topsy turvy over here I hope you enjoy these pics of the beautiful gulf coast - I hope it stays that way.

Amelia Island

Setting foot on the gulf coast

 What's engulfing you right now?