Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Two Bathrooms
After being in Christina Francisco's lovely home on vacation, I have been inspired to try harder at home decorating. My current room that I am working on is our bedroom. This has been especially hard, mostly because our bedroom is huge (15 by 20), and is used for two very different things: half is our bedroom, and the other half is David's office. So far, I'm not having much success. If anybody has any brilliant ideas, let me know!
However, I have had two exciting successes: two bathrooms.
This is our downstairs bathroom. It started white when we moved in, I painted it brown with darker brown sponging, and then 3 years later David and I painted it blue. The blue was starting to worry me, until I remembered that I could put things on the walls! David installed a new lighting fixture, and I went to work trying to figure out ways to fill up the walls. The first thing I did was these three fabric-covered panels. I love fabric, and I'll try anything to be able to decorate with it. I love the way these turned out, and they come with an added bonus: in a room with no carpet, they absorb a ton of sound!
My next idea was to use plates from Pier 1's clearance section to decorate the tall wall behind the toilet. After a few different attempts to affix them to the wall and a few broken plates, we finally got it right. I love the look, although David's not totally sold on it. The wall that you can't see I stenciled very lightly with this cool wallpaper-looking stencil (you'll see more of that in the next bathroom!)
I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and it's fun to have a sort of funky bathroom in the midst of my cream-and-white downstairs.
Moving on, we come to the upstairs bathroom, used by the kids. It also was white when we moved in (noticing a theme yet? why don't builders do something more interesting?). The upstairs loft that this bathroom comes out of is light green with a dark green accent wall. I used the same dark green paint, took the plunge, and painted a small room a dark color (something I'd always heard was a no-no.) I really liked it, but it stayed boring green for about 4 1/2 years--until Deb was here last week. She and I used the same wallpaper stencil in light green on the biggest wall. Then, I made her help me take pictures of the kids in the woods. It was not a very pleasant experience, between crying when I tried to get them to sit still and eating leaves and dirt, but I was able to get 2 shots of the kids having fun, and Deb got a few of me holding crying Laura. I used a cool website to turn them into old-looking black and white photographs, used cream cardstock to mat them, and put them in some super-cheap Bed, Bath, and Beyond frames I've had lying around forever. It turned out way better than I even dared to hope! I finished off with a trip to Sam's for sage green towels for the girls (who had been using baby towels), and it's done!
I love being in there now. It doesn't feel like it only belongs to kids, though they do have toys in the bathtub and a fish toothbrush holder. I love having pictures of us on the wall. And the kids think it's really funny. "Look Mom, that's me!"
I'm hoping that with a lot of thought, I can somehow turn our master into a place that I love also!
P.S.--That second bathroom doubles as our guest bath, and we'd love to have you come visit!
However, I have had two exciting successes: two bathrooms.
This is our downstairs bathroom. It started white when we moved in, I painted it brown with darker brown sponging, and then 3 years later David and I painted it blue. The blue was starting to worry me, until I remembered that I could put things on the walls! David installed a new lighting fixture, and I went to work trying to figure out ways to fill up the walls. The first thing I did was these three fabric-covered panels. I love fabric, and I'll try anything to be able to decorate with it. I love the way these turned out, and they come with an added bonus: in a room with no carpet, they absorb a ton of sound!
My next idea was to use plates from Pier 1's clearance section to decorate the tall wall behind the toilet. After a few different attempts to affix them to the wall and a few broken plates, we finally got it right. I love the look, although David's not totally sold on it. The wall that you can't see I stenciled very lightly with this cool wallpaper-looking stencil (you'll see more of that in the next bathroom!)
I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and it's fun to have a sort of funky bathroom in the midst of my cream-and-white downstairs.
Moving on, we come to the upstairs bathroom, used by the kids. It also was white when we moved in (noticing a theme yet? why don't builders do something more interesting?). The upstairs loft that this bathroom comes out of is light green with a dark green accent wall. I used the same dark green paint, took the plunge, and painted a small room a dark color (something I'd always heard was a no-no.) I really liked it, but it stayed boring green for about 4 1/2 years--until Deb was here last week. She and I used the same wallpaper stencil in light green on the biggest wall. Then, I made her help me take pictures of the kids in the woods. It was not a very pleasant experience, between crying when I tried to get them to sit still and eating leaves and dirt, but I was able to get 2 shots of the kids having fun, and Deb got a few of me holding crying Laura. I used a cool website to turn them into old-looking black and white photographs, used cream cardstock to mat them, and put them in some super-cheap Bed, Bath, and Beyond frames I've had lying around forever. It turned out way better than I even dared to hope! I finished off with a trip to Sam's for sage green towels for the girls (who had been using baby towels), and it's done!
I love being in there now. It doesn't feel like it only belongs to kids, though they do have toys in the bathtub and a fish toothbrush holder. I love having pictures of us on the wall. And the kids think it's really funny. "Look Mom, that's me!"
I'm hoping that with a lot of thought, I can somehow turn our master into a place that I love also!
P.S.--That second bathroom doubles as our guest bath, and we'd love to have you come visit!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Making Grandma Earn Her Keep...
Grandma Talcott came to visit us this week. She somehow knew to come right when we would need her the most. All 3 of the kids have been sick this week, and she has been helping wipe noses, comfort kids, and even stay home from church and Bible study when they were too sick to go. It has been a huge help! She leaves tomorrow, so I decided to send her home nice and exhausted, ready for a vacation from vacation: today we made and canned 34 quarts of applesauce. Here are the very first fruits of our labor:
Here's Carver, turning the crank (look familiar? Thanks for the loan, Heather!)
Here's Grandma, filling jars:
Oh, and we decided to throw a little pumpkin canning in at the end, just for fun! The pumpkin I had picked was so huge and unwieldy that I ended up cutting it with a saw from the garage. The kids helped scoop out the seeds:
Oh, and we decided to throw a little pumpkin canning in at the end, just for fun! The pumpkin I had picked was so huge and unwieldy that I ended up cutting it with a saw from the garage. The kids helped scoop out the seeds:
And, just because there are no pictures of Laura yet, here she is!
An exhausting but successful day! We will be eating yummy homemade applesauce all winter!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Cinnamon Rolls
Last Tuesday was a drizzly, dreary fall day. I love those kinds of days. It means I can stay inside, read books to the kids, make cookies or treats, and wear cozy fall sweaters. So our treat this dreary day was cinnamon rolls. Carver and Ellie did a great job helping, and an even better job eating!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Applesauce!
With all the apples from out apple-picking trip, we made applesauce. I went over to a friend's house for the day, and we made about 45 quarts of applesauce. Heather had a hand-strainer that we used to make the applesauce. It would've been much more work, but between our 3 older boys, we very rarely had to turn the crank! Here is Carver, taking his turn, while his friend Nathan helps (in all fairness, Heather's two boys did the majority of the hard work!):
While we had two bushels from an orchard, we did have about 1 1/2 bushels that Heather had gotten from a friend's house, and they were organic to the core (ha ha...)! We cut out a ton of bad spots and worm holes, but they sure are interesting looking:
Here's Carver, stirring cinnamon into the big vat of applesauce (Heather's two oldest, Jonathan and Nathan, in the background):
And here are the kids, playing a game together. From left to right: Nathan (5), Josiah (3--adopted from Ethiopia), Ellie, Carver.
And little Laura found something to climb on!
You'll notice that often the girls don't have pants on. Wierd, I know. Usually, I just get to some point in the afternoon, and I'm tired of putting pants back on after diaper changes and potty trips, usually sometime around 3 PM. So that's one way of telling what time of day the pictures are taken :)
The applesauce stats:
2 orchard bushels--1 1/2 Jonathan, 1/2 bushel Cortland
1 1/2 home-grown bushels--random assortment of varieties
We bagged 47 quart-size Ziploc bags for freezing at the end of the day.
Time spent? Who knows, between cooking, cleaning, diaper changing, feeding kids, monitoring fights, and generally trying to keep 7 kids out of the kitchen...somewhere around all day.
Verdict: Totally worth it!
While we had two bushels from an orchard, we did have about 1 1/2 bushels that Heather had gotten from a friend's house, and they were organic to the core (ha ha...)! We cut out a ton of bad spots and worm holes, but they sure are interesting looking:
Here's Carver, stirring cinnamon into the big vat of applesauce (Heather's two oldest, Jonathan and Nathan, in the background):
And here are the kids, playing a game together. From left to right: Nathan (5), Josiah (3--adopted from Ethiopia), Ellie, Carver.
And little Laura found something to climb on!
You'll notice that often the girls don't have pants on. Wierd, I know. Usually, I just get to some point in the afternoon, and I'm tired of putting pants back on after diaper changes and potty trips, usually sometime around 3 PM. So that's one way of telling what time of day the pictures are taken :)
The applesauce stats:
2 orchard bushels--1 1/2 Jonathan, 1/2 bushel Cortland
1 1/2 home-grown bushels--random assortment of varieties
We bagged 47 quart-size Ziploc bags for freezing at the end of the day.
Time spent? Who knows, between cooking, cleaning, diaper changing, feeding kids, monitoring fights, and generally trying to keep 7 kids out of the kitchen...somewhere around all day.
Verdict: Totally worth it!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Adventures With Rock, Part 2
Yesterday we spent finished up our rock project. David and 4 other guys spent the afternoon digging 8 inch wide borders around our largest planer and filling them with gravel. It looks amazing! We're also hoping that it will keep out some of the weeds, but I won't be able to report on that until next spring...
Carver enjoyed watching the guys work, and he was happy to work alongside them for most of the afternoon. Here he is, all sweaty, getting a drink:
Carver and the guys working:
Dinner afterward was hamburgers, homemade applesauce (don't worry, that's another post soon!), and chips.
Carver enjoyed watching the guys work, and he was happy to work alongside them for most of the afternoon. Here he is, all sweaty, getting a drink:
Carver and the guys working:
Dinner afterward was hamburgers, homemade applesauce (don't worry, that's another post soon!), and chips.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Encouraging My Husband
Emily, long ago, put up a great post about encouraging her husband. She asked several other people to throw out their ideas, and I never responded. Sorry, Emily! A month later, I'm going to finally get to it!
While I do have some ideas, I will be the first to admit that I fail many days at encouraging David. It is very easy for me to get wrapped up in my own little world, my own stresses as a Mom, and forget that he has stresses too! That said, here are my ideas, and maybe I will put his needs above my own tonight when he gets home and actually do them!
1. A long time ago, I asked him if it was more helpful to him to arrive home to a orderly house and no dinner or dinner and a cluttered house. His response was that he would rather help with dinner prep than come home to a pig-sty (although I have no idea what he was referring to; my home is never a pig-sty:) There are a few days when I can actually accomplish both, but most days, it's one or the other.
Also, I have read in several great books that you should reserve some of your energy for the end of the day. When Dad walks through the door at the end of the day, try to greet him with happy kids and a smile, instead of, "Here are your kids, I'm doing to go be alone for a while." Admittedly, I do not have great ideas of how to accomplish this. By 5 o'clock, I'm toast, the kids are covered in dirt, sand, and popsicle juice, and the before-dinner whining has just begun. (Ellie is our current master of this--I'm really praying that Laura will not pick up the habit.) Whether Dad comes home to happiness or crankiness really sets the tone for the whole evening.
2. Cook meat occasionally.
OK, this might just apply to me. Having a lot of vegetarian tendencies and recipes, it's fun to see the look on his face when he hears that tacos with shredded beef or beef stroganoff are for dinner instead of the usual risotto with tomatoes and zucchini or rice with steamed veggies.
3. Thank him for working hard and stick to the budget he's given me. Telling him at the end of the month that we are x-number of dollars over budget this month is really discouraging for him. He works hard for the money that he brings to us, and when I don't stretch that to make the budget, it sends him 2 messages:
1--What he makes isn't good enough. I'm telling him that my desires for fancy things mean that he should be working harder to please me. There are so many Bible verses that apply to this, I can't even begin to list them.
2--That while he works hard for the money, I'm not willing to work hard to conserve it. What kind of a helpmeet am I at that point?
On the positive side of that, if I can tell him at the end of the month that we' are under budget and able to put that extra into savings, he's thrilled!
4. Refuse to nag him for the ways that he spends his free time. This one is especially hard for me. David works hard with our church, and I especially need to be thankful that he is willing to give his time to God. In addition, he has several hobbies that mean that he might not spend an occasional Saturday afternoon with us. I need to remember that he needs time to decompress, and be thankful for all the time that he does spend with us when he could be persuing other interests! In all fairness, I also need to remember all the weekend afternoons where he has said, "Go take a nap, go read a book, go get a haircut, go get a manicure..." It is so miserly of me to begrudge him a weekend afternoon!
So, those are my ideas. I'm sure as soon as I put this post up, I'll think of other things to say, but here are the ones that I'm consistenly convicted of!
While I do have some ideas, I will be the first to admit that I fail many days at encouraging David. It is very easy for me to get wrapped up in my own little world, my own stresses as a Mom, and forget that he has stresses too! That said, here are my ideas, and maybe I will put his needs above my own tonight when he gets home and actually do them!
1. A long time ago, I asked him if it was more helpful to him to arrive home to a orderly house and no dinner or dinner and a cluttered house. His response was that he would rather help with dinner prep than come home to a pig-sty (although I have no idea what he was referring to; my home is never a pig-sty:) There are a few days when I can actually accomplish both, but most days, it's one or the other.
Also, I have read in several great books that you should reserve some of your energy for the end of the day. When Dad walks through the door at the end of the day, try to greet him with happy kids and a smile, instead of, "Here are your kids, I'm doing to go be alone for a while." Admittedly, I do not have great ideas of how to accomplish this. By 5 o'clock, I'm toast, the kids are covered in dirt, sand, and popsicle juice, and the before-dinner whining has just begun. (Ellie is our current master of this--I'm really praying that Laura will not pick up the habit.) Whether Dad comes home to happiness or crankiness really sets the tone for the whole evening.
2. Cook meat occasionally.
OK, this might just apply to me. Having a lot of vegetarian tendencies and recipes, it's fun to see the look on his face when he hears that tacos with shredded beef or beef stroganoff are for dinner instead of the usual risotto with tomatoes and zucchini or rice with steamed veggies.
3. Thank him for working hard and stick to the budget he's given me. Telling him at the end of the month that we are x-number of dollars over budget this month is really discouraging for him. He works hard for the money that he brings to us, and when I don't stretch that to make the budget, it sends him 2 messages:
1--What he makes isn't good enough. I'm telling him that my desires for fancy things mean that he should be working harder to please me. There are so many Bible verses that apply to this, I can't even begin to list them.
2--That while he works hard for the money, I'm not willing to work hard to conserve it. What kind of a helpmeet am I at that point?
On the positive side of that, if I can tell him at the end of the month that we' are under budget and able to put that extra into savings, he's thrilled!
4. Refuse to nag him for the ways that he spends his free time. This one is especially hard for me. David works hard with our church, and I especially need to be thankful that he is willing to give his time to God. In addition, he has several hobbies that mean that he might not spend an occasional Saturday afternoon with us. I need to remember that he needs time to decompress, and be thankful for all the time that he does spend with us when he could be persuing other interests! In all fairness, I also need to remember all the weekend afternoons where he has said, "Go take a nap, go read a book, go get a haircut, go get a manicure..." It is so miserly of me to begrudge him a weekend afternoon!
So, those are my ideas. I'm sure as soon as I put this post up, I'll think of other things to say, but here are the ones that I'm consistenly convicted of!
Favorite Household Items...
Bethany put up a great post about favorite household products, and asked a few of us to do likewise. It's been fun to see what other people have said they like!
1. My second favorite life-saving tool is my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I am completely in love with it. My MIL bought it for me a few years ago, and I have used it once or twice a day since then. After watching me make bread in it, my mom also bought one. I love it because it does knead bread, so I can be nursing a baby, reading to a toddler, and making homemade bread at the same time! It really reminds me that I cannot whine about not having servants like the Proverbs 31 woman had. I have a KitchenAid.
2. Like Emily, I love my set of Wusthof knives. They were a wedding present to us, and I have been so grateful to my Aunt Sally for getting them for us! They have turned me completely into a knife snob! It's so much easier to do quick meal prep with a nice knife that's been sharpened by my amazing husband.
3. Like Bethany, I also really like my Cuisinart Blender/Food Processor. It's cool to have both things in one tool. I used to have a cheapo blender, and having a nice one really makes a big difference. My most recent experiments were hummus with roasted garlic and pesto. The kids liked neither. I've also seen in the instruction manual that it will shave ice for me. Bailey's over shaved ice, here we come!
4. My favorite cleaning tool is my set of Swiffer stuff. I have both the broom and the WetJet, and I love them. The swiffers themselves are great for dusting, and I just love being able to throw it away when I'm done dusting, sweeping, or mopping. My other cleaning favorite is Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. I first bought one when Carver was a baby and had smeared my mascara all over our cream-colored curtains. I went to Wal Mart and bought kid-locks for my makeup drawer and the Magic Eraser. It got it all out. Totally impressive. My most recent use has been scuffs on the baseboards and grime on the stair handrail. (Of course, as I google it to find a link, I come across several websites warning against dangerous chemicals.)
5. But, over all, my favorite household helper is my 5-year old! While he's starting to understand that some jobs are not cool for guys to do, he's generally very good natured about folding and putting away laundry, cutting veggies for dinner and apples for pie, putting away clean dishes, swiffing the floors and dusting, making his bed, vacuuming, and swiping down bathroom surfaces with a Clorox wipe. My pastor's wife was right, training them early really does pay off! Yay for kids!
1. My second favorite life-saving tool is my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I am completely in love with it. My MIL bought it for me a few years ago, and I have used it once or twice a day since then. After watching me make bread in it, my mom also bought one. I love it because it does knead bread, so I can be nursing a baby, reading to a toddler, and making homemade bread at the same time! It really reminds me that I cannot whine about not having servants like the Proverbs 31 woman had. I have a KitchenAid.
2. Like Emily, I love my set of Wusthof knives. They were a wedding present to us, and I have been so grateful to my Aunt Sally for getting them for us! They have turned me completely into a knife snob! It's so much easier to do quick meal prep with a nice knife that's been sharpened by my amazing husband.
3. Like Bethany, I also really like my Cuisinart Blender/Food Processor. It's cool to have both things in one tool. I used to have a cheapo blender, and having a nice one really makes a big difference. My most recent experiments were hummus with roasted garlic and pesto. The kids liked neither. I've also seen in the instruction manual that it will shave ice for me. Bailey's over shaved ice, here we come!
4. My favorite cleaning tool is my set of Swiffer stuff. I have both the broom and the WetJet, and I love them. The swiffers themselves are great for dusting, and I just love being able to throw it away when I'm done dusting, sweeping, or mopping. My other cleaning favorite is Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. I first bought one when Carver was a baby and had smeared my mascara all over our cream-colored curtains. I went to Wal Mart and bought kid-locks for my makeup drawer and the Magic Eraser. It got it all out. Totally impressive. My most recent use has been scuffs on the baseboards and grime on the stair handrail. (Of course, as I google it to find a link, I come across several websites warning against dangerous chemicals.)
5. But, over all, my favorite household helper is my 5-year old! While he's starting to understand that some jobs are not cool for guys to do, he's generally very good natured about folding and putting away laundry, cutting veggies for dinner and apples for pie, putting away clean dishes, swiffing the floors and dusting, making his bed, vacuuming, and swiping down bathroom surfaces with a Clorox wipe. My pastor's wife was right, training them early really does pay off! Yay for kids!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Adventures with Rock, Part 1
We have decided to make rock borders around the plant beds at the bottom part of our yard. I had this brilliant idea when an e-mail went around our church list offering 1-2 tons of free gravel. This project will not only look nice, but it will hopefully make our weed problem a little more manageable. My kind and loving husband graciously agreed to this project. So, we borrowed a friend's truck, and started hauling rock. It took two full truck fulls to get it all into the back yard, and after 6 hours of shoveling said rock, I realized that this project was a little bigger than I had anticipated. My kind husband knew this the whole time, but never said "I told you so..."
Now that we know how much labor this is going to take, we are going to have a work party here next Saturday to dig trenches for the rock and distribute it around to the proper parts of the yard. You're all invited, and there will be hamburgers and a bonfire as a reward!
Now that we know how much labor this is going to take, we are going to have a work party here next Saturday to dig trenches for the rock and distribute it around to the proper parts of the yard. You're all invited, and there will be hamburgers and a bonfire as a reward!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Carver's new room!
Carver has graduated to his own room! All three kids were in one room, but David has now been kicked out of his office, and Carver gets his own space. It's a little sparce at the moment, but more decorating will happen in the future (maybe a long time in the future, at the rate I'm going...). His games and puzzles and books are in there, as well as any toys he doesn't want his younger sisters destroying. He and Ellie were able to go in there today and shut the door to bar Laura's entry. They did puzzles together, without fighting, for an hour and a half! This is an awesome new development for me, and the kids really enjoyed it.
In other news, Laura is 14 months today! It seems like the time is flying by...
Still no words, other than 'mama' and 'dada' and something that resembles 'more please.' But she's walking around a lot, and her newest trick is climbing. I have caught her repeatedly on top of the kitchen table, having climbed out of her high chair and onto the table. She seems to have some appreciation for the height, because she's always smack dab in the middle of the table, crying for me to come get her.
In other news, Laura is 14 months today! It seems like the time is flying by...
Still no words, other than 'mama' and 'dada' and something that resembles 'more please.' But she's walking around a lot, and her newest trick is climbing. I have caught her repeatedly on top of the kitchen table, having climbed out of her high chair and onto the table. She seems to have some appreciation for the height, because she's always smack dab in the middle of the table, crying for me to come get her.
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