It is almost finished...

I swear it will be awhile before I feel the need to do any home improvements for this place after all of this…

 

Well, we each survived our adventures in the world. I got most of the house done, and I’m just finishing up the last bits… it looks so good! Nice and bright and cheerful! Just the way we needed it to be. No more blah beige.

 

I’ll post pictures when the walls are complete. But in the mean time, I am raising a pretty handy little helper. My son is obsessed with the tools. And now, I’m having to deal with all of this one step at a time. I need to work on our room tonight, I probably will between letting the paint dry on our walls.

 

In other news – my father in law has declared that our children are spoiled brats. WOW… the man doesn’t even spend any real time with them and they are brats. Hee hee hee…. This used to piss me off, but now I find it almost comical. I’m also proud of my husband for just sticking to his guns on our parenting style. Maybe he does have some redeeming qualities after all.

Paint the fence, Megan-san

Up and Down, Side to Side… Yes Master Miyagi…

My arms hurt! I’ve been painting and nailing and fixing most of the day. Oy! I just kept hearing that whole Karate Kid quote running and running through my head!

Tori and Ian are in Kansas City with the In-laws tonight. Daddy should be there, and I hope he’s kept his promises to me. I just wish things would calm down in my relationship with my in-laws. I hope it does at some point.

So to deal with the current crisis at hand. I can’t understand the silence, nor the ability to just do what I want it’s like, whoa. Now what do I do with myself? I spend most of the day hanging with my mom. I loved it. We didn’t do much, but we never get time to just hang. It’s always the kids wanting attention, and it was nice to just be.

Anyways – all for now!

Oh Mommy - I'll never do that again...

Or so my little girl says…

 

I’m not so entitled to believe her – not because she is untrustworthy, but because she’s three years old and let’s face it – she’s never going to remember this promise. Let’s say right now, I’m thinking this punishment is more or less a self-punishing one.

 

This evening, for dessert, We had Chocolate Cutie-Pies. Well, Tori and Ian wanted one more, but there was only enough for Tom to take to work, so I told her no. She needed to eat more supper type things than dessert type things anyways. I’m busy cleaning up the mess in the kitchen that is left over from painting, and I look up, no box. Huh? I could have swore I put those up.

 

I looked down the hall just in time to see Ian toddling down the hallway with a bitten open Cutie-pie package. Oh great. So next came Tori, and I know she knew that she was in for it, because the little sneak tried to hide the open pie package behind her back. Naturally this didn’t work. Not because I am just that awesome of a mom – because I was that much of a stinker as a kid. Hey – it takes one to know one, I’ll admit it!

 

So I asked her where the box was – and they’d ate them all! So after a swat on the bottom, they are now sitting in chairs with no TV or music to keep them occupied, waiting for Bathe time… which is in 5 more minutes.

 

I think I was cursed – not because my kids are that misbehaving, but because they are just that smart. They are smart enough that it takes immense boredom to get through their heads about don’t do this. Ian is not enjoying this, but because he’s such a stinker, We are having to do something with his attitude. We’ll get there… It doesn’t help his big sister drags him into things she knows is wrong!

 

Rejoice!

For the time has almost come…

 

I’ve almost conquered the kitchen painting! Granted, I still have to clean, but I will just deal. I’m looking around for plain glass containers. I added some neat tiny spiral noodles to a clear jar I bought awhile back. I think it will add some awesome interest to the counters, and my children won’t be attacking this fragile jar wanting a cookie. Yes. My brilliant mind added cookies to it awhile back. Never. Again.

 

So at this point it’s just me waiting for the counters to dry (I cleaned them prior to start painting). Today, Jamie posted a picture of her little scooter figuring out the crawling bit and ‘inspecting’ her curtains. It is so cute! But it also brought to mind that my children are from that stage, and frankly, I’m still playing taps for curtain rods they pull a Tarzan stunt on. I know, it makes me sound like a bad mommy, but you know… They get into things faster than I can think of them.

 

For instance – this morning, I’m sitting in my chair flipping through a ‘wish book’ (for those of you who don’t know – a catalog that I don’t have the money to buy out of, but I can still drool!) and I look up for a bit watching Tori and Ian playing. Tori just about flipped over the swing set, with Ian in it! Oy! So we had to have a discussion about swing sets and pushing. And next summer we were going to upgrade their swing set anyway. I think I’ll set it in concrete. Of course, mind you – the entire time the swing set takes off the ground, Ian thinks he’s getting this great ride and even manages to swing his arm around like a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. I guess it’s a good thing the kid has no fear.

It's a good kind of tired....

Or so this story goes…

 

So today I have been fervently working on painting the kitchen area of my home. This is to allow for more time to be spent cooking at my house while I’m finishing the living area portion of the house with my friends.

 

I feel accomplished and relieved to look at the 75% of my kitchen that is complete and know I did a terrific job painting despite the exhaustion it has caused me. *le sigh*  I’d call it a night but I really want to finish this last bit or at least prep it for the morning.

 

I have three posters coming in at Wal*Mart photography. These will be framed and hung up to help display some thoughts about how family should be in my opinion and how I will raise my children. Each is a photo, with a quote on it:

 

Quote one:

            Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao-Tzu

 

Quote two:

            When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.  ~Joyce Brothers

 

Quote Three:

            There is no cure for laziness but a large family helps.  ~Herbert Prochnov

 

I also have this fourth quote that I must have both in-laws and my family all croweded into a picture with my children smack dab in the middle:

            The family - that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.  ~Dodie Smith

 

My mother fervently declares that this isn’t a suitable quote to hang on my wall. But me, and my extra quirky sense of humor disagree. I think it is both fitting and realistic for my family. Because I believe that no matter how good the intentions are, or how careful you’ll be… any teeneager (which dear god – they are ONLY 9 years short of!) would feel that a family that is as close knit as mine would resemble an octopus…. I know I felt that way from time to time.

 

In this small town there are the little news reels that the news of what your child has done will always beat them home. There will be no shortage of this when my children are growing up. They may hate me for it, but I’d rather be real and face the truth of my children’s behavior and work with it now, than wait until it’s too late to do anything about it.

 

I also hope that that quote will make them chuckle and remember some fondness of me – at least when they turn on my like spitting cobras with their hoods spread. I know that’s what it is going to be like… I just feel it in my bones.

I am so nesting now...

So do you ever wonder why we women and mothers have this irresistible urge to … nest?

 

I’m not talking your pregnancy nesting, either. I’m talking the taking a house and making it a home nesting. Today and yesterday, despite my fever, nausea, and just weakness… I was determined to do something yesterday that I felt was productive towards my own goal of a home I could feel proud of.

 

So I started the painting process for my kitchen. I’ve taken Tuesday and Wednesday off for the purpose of painting, but it dawned on me yesterday that if I waited until then, I wouldn’t be able to bake when the kiddos were in KC with daddy. Yep… that won’t do. So we’re going to do this TODAY.

 

I only got a little 5 foot wall done. But after it was dried I put everything back up with the command strips so no more holes! Except for my wire star, but that’s a different story. I am just enjoying the new color… it’s a soft minty green. Just right for a kitchen in my opinion. I’ll post pictures when I am finished. I’m just trying to do it in the little amount of time the weekend gives me. And then I get to have fun on Wednesday and enjoy my girlfriends. *squee* I’ve so never  felt so free for a bit.

 

I will note to my readers – YES I will miss my husband and my kids terribly. But I’ve spent almost 5 years now without any kind of break to myself, and I have to trust that they will take care of the kids (Tori, Ian, and Pops are going to KC to spend time with my IN-Laws). I have faith in them, but also in someone higher, God. I just have to have the faith that everything will be ok, and my kids and husband will return home with all limbs, digits and sanity intact.

 

 

 

As a Mom – do you ever wonder if you will discover that lost city of Atlantis beneath your couch? I’ve just cleaned under my couch (albeit – it’s been two weeks) and the things that were under there have taken over my entire living room floor! I’m sitting here wondering how two small children and one large child would fit all of this beneath a sectional? I mean really?!

 

I’ve also taken a break from the vinegar, just to see what other things accomplish. You know what I’ve learned? My ‘Bleach’ cleaner, doesn’t do nearly as through a job as the vinegar, and if I’m not super careful, will ruin my shirts and pants…. OMG. I’ve also noticed since we’ve taken a break, my ant population has INCREASED. I used to spray down the floor with Vinegar and clean that way, everything was vinegared. Apparently, it has some affect on insects, so double plus!

 

I’m just exhausted and we’re going to continue on this bombardment of my house. It may have won a battle or two – But I WILL win the war!

 

Megan