Pop Culture

Just getting back into the groove of life after a fun three day weekend at my sister's...enjoying all pop culture had to offer...

THURSDAY
*Flew to Seattle with Greg & Quinny (saint of a Grandma came and stayed with the older kids)

* Went to see New Moon at midnight on Thursday. Seriously. Can't believe I'm admitting this publicly. We were only two of oh about 2,000 people at one theater to see this...craziness and a little disappointing! Didn't get to sleep until 3:00 that night! Sat in the theater for an hour and a half BEFORE the movie started...consumed WAY too many calories courtesy the concession stand...listened to a prepubescent boy whisper "yummalicious" behind me when Jacob took his shirt off. Totally disturbing...

FRIDAY

*Obligatory visit to Target.

*Went to a nice seafood restaurant on the water with Greg, Nicole and Ian....no kids! Sooo nice. Had the best lobster fettuccine ever!

*Caught up on all of our missed t.v. shows with sissy...best person to watch them with!

SATURDAY

*Helped decorate sissy's house for Christmas. So lovely..enjoyed the lit tree and cozy fireplace!

*Drove to Everett for the So You Think You Can Dance show...so very fun! Will NEVER buy floor seats again - sat behind big fat head hat guy. He blocked the center of the stage for me the first half and kindly switched seats with his girl so he could block the center of the stage for Nicole the second half. We are equal opportunity sisters you know. The show was great though. We didn't realize that it was the last stop on the tour so they mixed it up a lot and did all sorts of silly stuff. Very worth it even if we did have to drive home an hour and a half in the pouring rain very late at night!

SUNDAY

*IKEA! Record shopping at IKEA...we were limited on time so it was a quick hour of shopping time. Just enough time to walk through and drool over all the new stuff! And I was limited to what I could bring home on the plane..no van to fill!

*Flew home to a lovely clean home courtesy the saint of a Grandma mentioned above...happy and clean kids to boot! Way to go Grandma!

So now you all know, I've exposed myself...YES, I read those books and YES, I watch those shows and I even read People magazine! Terrible I know...

Child's Play

So you know our house is on the market. Not normally a time to indulge in your creative design impulses. Well, I just can't live like that. Like any day now someone is going to come along and buy our house. It drives me crazy. And with how it's going we could be here for quite some time.

I've decided to just enjoy my home. I won't do anything crazy...no fuchsia walls (like I'd ever do that one), no faux painting of the cabinets....(never do that either just in case you were wondering)...

However,

I was recently inspired by this
I initially saw this photo on this gal's blog...and tucked it away for some future stair project. The other night I was looking through this book and stumbled upon this photo again.

TA DA! My mind was illuminated! I had the perfect stairs for this project right here right now! Not in some imagined future house - but here !

So I went out and made do with the number stencils I found at my local grocery store. Not quite as cute as the ones pictured above but all right. Picked up some charcoal grey acrylic paint and went to work. I will probably need to coat the stair riser with some poly at some point or these little numbers will scratch right off....
These are the stairs off of or living/dining room that lead up to our attic bedroom. We have always used this room as a guest bedroom so it is rarely seen or appreciated. We always have the door leading up to them closed partly because the door blocks our hallway while open and partly because we have little ones that were always wanting to climb them.

So I think we need one of these...The door that is...I'd take one of those kitchens too but I don't think we are to that place yet!

My husband agrees too (which is always the hard part) but now I need to find one for less than the one I saw at Lowe's. Any suggestions?

A door with windows would let in so much natural light (there is a window at the top of these stairs) and it would make our tiny house feel a wee bit bigger as well. Always a plus when you are trying to sell!

P.S. I just have to add....when we bought this house these stairs were painted (with the rest of the house) in a not so lovely faux way. With very dark paint I might add. I had to paint them oh...five times in order for the very dark faux paint job to be hidden forever. Well, two of the paint jobs were because the very heavy floor sander gauged it's way back down the stairs and when we couldn't get our Queen box spring up the stairs and had to rip apart the freshly painted door frame to push and cry and pray it up the stairs. Yes, those go down in the annals of home renovating hell.

Tips anyone? I am attempting a crazy quilt and I'm sure there is some great technique for piecing together wonky pieces of fabric. I don't know it. It is like putting a puzzle together and I'm not quite savy enough for this to be easy.

There are so many things floating around in my head that I have wanted to blog about but it is like creating right now...I am itching to create but I can't decide what to and can't make myself do it. Thanks Aminta for suggesting I participate in one of those question/answer games! It gets me back to blogging!

1. Where is your cell phone? Amazingly it is right next to me and charged! Ask my sister and she will tell you it is never charged and often lost.

2. Your hair? Recently cut in an easy short do - I will probably never go long again.

3. Your Father is: supportive, loving, talented, Godly...

4. Your favorite food? Anything creamy and cheesy...

5. Your dream from last night? Not sure but I swear I was awakened by Addison screaming from her crib "I want fries, I want fries!"

6. Your favorite drink? Sweet, sweet iced tea or coffee heavily doused with cream and sweetner

7. Your dream/goal? Hmmm...family dream? To have a close and loving family who loves and follows Jesus all their days. Personal dream? To be able to use some of this God given creative passion for some purpose! Open a store?

8. What room are you in? The basement/kid zone/office

9. What is your hobby? Reading decorating mags! I try my hand at all sorts of crafty things but do not excel at any of them. Love reading, thrifting, repurposing old junk!

10. What is your fear? Something terrible happening to someone I love. Went through it once already and realized you can survive but don't want to have to realize that ever again.

11. Where do you want to be in six years? I would love to still be at home with the kids and have found something creative that I could do to bring in some moola.

12. Where were you last night? At home, in a very clean house listening to Christmas music and watching my kids dance around the living room to it. Enjoying a very yummy dinner that my honey helped me make...lovely.

13. Something you are not. Not the life of the party. Not particularly outgoing or loud. But I think a pretty nice friend to have regardless.

14. Muffins. Eh, take em or leave em. Usually leave them. Unless they are double chocolate chip - I might reconsider those.

15. Wish list items. A new house, a new house and yeah, a new house

16. Where did you grow up? Fairbanks, Alaska and a four year stint in Salem, Oregon.

17. Last thing you did: Literally the last thing I did? Told Addison "No screaming!" Before that? On the phone with anyone who would commiserate with me on the house thing. (We had a showing yesterday...the couple loved the house! Great! They walked out and our neighbor across the street had a car full of people out front with the bass booming. Apparently they were hanging out all over the porch. Total turn off and deal breaker for this couple. Really? This never happens! Terrible timing!)

18. What are you wearing? Skinny jeans (to wear with my cool new boots) - I'm trying people...not naturally stylish here...grey top and green cardigan sweater.

19. T.V.? Turned off if the kids did it after they were done watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

20. Your pets? Hudson, a two year old Wheaten terrier. Very cute, very sweet, serious runaway.

21. Your friends?
Lovely
22. Your life?
So very good, so very blessed
23. Your mood?
Peaceful
24. Missing someone?
My friend Michelle
25. Your vehicle?
Honda Odyssey - Minivans rock!
26. Something you are not wearing?
Shoes, earrings
27. Your favorite store?
Hurd Mercantile
28. Your favorite color? Red but not to wear. To wear - turquoise

29. When was the last time you laughed? In disbelief at the sucky timing of our neighbors yesterday (see #17)
30. When was the last time you cried?
Maybe a little this weekend, feeling sorry for myself.
31. Your best friend?
My Mom and my sissy
32. One place you go over and over?
Starbucks, sad to say.
33. One person that emails me regularly: No one really.

34. Favorite place to eat: Picabu Bistro - Fire Pasta. Only thing I have ever ordered there. I am committed, addicted. Chelle is moving right up the hill from here...lucky girl.

So I guess the deal is to tag a few other gals...I pick Amy, Nicole and Laura...have fun!