Back to School

I'm running out of steam. Teachers have a way of going until they can't go any more when it's back to school time.
Drive by a school after hours during pre-planning week...how many cars do you see? Maybe I should do a research study on the relationship between the number of cars in the parking lot during pre-planning after hours compared to the school's test scores. My hypothesis is that the more cars after hours during pre-planning (teachers working to make classrooms perfect for open house/first day of school) would equate to higher test scores.
We have Open House tomorrow. Here's how my classroom looked tonight when I left at 7:00pm. There were still lots of cars when I left--maybe we'll have good test scores!
I'm so excited about moving that long shelf in the pic below next to the desks. Got the idea from another K classroom-thanks girls!

Moving that shelf gives a cleaner look as you come in the classroom looking toward the windows-more room for the "house" center too.


Wishing everyone a happy school year!

So, so, much

Granny Smith Apple green on the kitchen walls...I love it and I hate it...so, so much. I really can't decide-part of me likes the brightness. I think the curtains and accessories will tone it down. I've been wanting a bright green kitchen.

Does apple green go with Tobacco Road? Not sure...here's where the breakfast area meets the family room:

We know the cabinets will have to be painted if we stick with this color. It won't hurt my feelings...I've never loved our cabinets, but add that job to the to-do list around here.
It's 10:37pm...what is Hubby doing? He's painting more Tobacco Road in the family room.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

A Sneak Peak

Look what's coming...here's a sneak peak:
Granny Smith Apple green---oooooooooo! I can't wait!

floors, paint, and trim...oh my!

Floors, and paint, and trim...oh my! (say this statement like lions, and tigers, and bears...oh my for the full effect)
We've been out of our house since the last time I posted. The fumes from the floors were too much...so we've been at my parents' house, Hubby's parents' house, and my sister's house (just the kids at E's house) over the last several days.
So...it's 10:32pm at our house right now...and Hubby and I are at home while the kids are at E's house. What's going on here? Painting...of course (and some blogging too).
Hubby is painting one wall in our family room to test the color. It's a color that his parents painted their house. It's also the color their neighbors used. And...the color of a friend's house that Aunt T reminded me about, right Aunt T?
It's Duron's Tobacco Road...a pretty popular color if you google it. Just saw it at the Nesting Place.

I think the color is going to warm up our house with the new floors. What do you think?
Paint fumes added to floor fumes--good idea...right? OK...so Hubby got the one test wall painted...and now he's in the garage painting trim. Check it out...

Lights, paint brush...action! See our sofa in the pic to the left? That's right--still have furniture everywhere!
On a sorta sad note...look what I found in the floors tonight...A hair sealed right into the floor! Oh me...all that good wiping with my cheesecloth...and I left a hair! Hubby said 2 things...#1 "at least it wasn't a gray hair...it would have really shown up"--NICE and #2 "it will wear out eventually." Well...I won't tell where the mystery hair is located...maybe I'll be the only one to see it...daily!

*F*I*N*I*S*H*E*D* Floors

Yes, the floors really did get completed yesterday! Hubby did a great job!!!! The sanding and staining started on Friday, and the 3rd and final coat of urethane went down yesterday morning. The windows have been open since Friday for air to circulate for drying and to cut down on the smell. We were blessed with perfect weather for this project...not too hot...just right (with a slight breeze even). We came back home tonight after spending the night off on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Now we just live on them with "light traffic" (without our furniture back in place) for about two weeks while they completely dry. Here are some pics of the weekend (I should post pics of where all our furniture is residing in the meantime-garage, our bedroom, laundry room, kids' bedrooms, kids' bathroom):

The raw floors that Hubby installed back in January or February:

Hubby (with help from our son--he's the cord-holder of course) sanding the existing hardwoods in the dining room:

Hubby vacuuming to check the progress of sanding:

The helper with his ear protection and dust mask (the kids left the house right after this pic was taken--didn't want our girl breathing all that dust--she tends to get to coughing and such):

Hubby on the "last leg" of staining. The color we used is Cherry by Minwax. He was having lots of muscle cramping by now. We thought those "drips of stain" might be a problem...but Hubby got them worked out.

Flooring after being stained, 1st coat of urethane, and sanded--ready for next coat of urethane.

Here's a spider that tried to become a permanent part of our floors in the urethane--NO WAY!

This picture represents my job--wiping the floors with the cheesecloth to pick up dust/dirt before next coat of urethane.

Here are some pics of the finished product:

Nice, right?? Kudos to Hubby!!

After being gone from home for 3 nights, I asked the kids at bedtime tonight..."Doesn't it feel good to be in your own bed?" Our daughter said..."I just want to sleep ALL night and ALL day." I said that sounded good to me! Then our girl said, "But I don't want to miss ALL THE FUN!!" No...not all the fun...just maybe enough for Mama to sleep in a little!

Momma, Are we moving?

Hip-hip-hooray...the staining, sanding, working on the hardwood floors are in motion! Floors started going down in January...floors completed in July (hopefully...the last sand/top coat is due to go down in the morning). I (with some help from my mom) started cleaning out the house on Thursday packing up all the items in the rooms with hardwoods: hallway, kitchen, breakfast area, family room, dining room, entrance area, another hall, and vanity area of kids’ bathroom. Our son asked… “Momma, are we moving?”

We had a trip to Charleston planned for this weekend to visit friends, but postponed the trip due to the threat of rain. With all the outside activities we had planned, we decided that we'd try to go another weekend. While working on the floors, Hubby kept saying, "We should have gone to Charleston!"

Pictures of the floors to follow soon!

A Full Day of Fun

Yesterday we went with friends to a local amusement park for a full day of fun. We got there at 10:45 and left at 8:45.
Here's a pic of the crew:

Check out our girl in this Tweety Bird hat:
Here's our son driving his momma:

Hubby and me:

Here's our girl with her Daddy taking a break at a show. She likes some "Sweet Home Alabama!"

It was a full, fun day!

Around the House

We've changed some things around in the house...

Here are my new curtains in the kitchen/breakfast area. It took us FOREVER to find the rod with the finials that I wanted. I love the fabric, and like how they're lighter. You might remember the first one I made here. I'm sad because I may have made them too long. I measured from the ceiling to where I wanted them to hit at the bottom, but I forgot to account for the drop from where the rod is mounted on the sides. Hmmmmmmmmmmm....I'll be sooooooooooooooooooooo sad if I have to alter these curtains again. You might remember that I already altered them here. I was thinking that if I had something (like a corner hutch or some type of long picture there...then maybe they'd work as is. We'll see.

Here's the blue shelf that we hung in our son's room:

We hung 2 more oval mirrors in our daughter's room:

We also found this flip-flop hook thing at Ross for our girl's room.

It goes perfectly with the quilt that Nana and Papa made her:
We moved these one-year-old hand prints next to the kids silhouette picture in the hallway near their rooms:

*L*O*O*K* what we got from our neighbors!!! We are sooooooooooooooo excited--a piano!! However, do NOT look at the unfinished floors under the piano....sigh...one day they will be complete!

Pics of great buys

On my last post, I listed our shopping adventures from Friday. Here are some pics of the great buys.

From Goodwill:

The great distressed blue shelf for our son's room (I'll take another pic when we hang it) for $3.43:

The wire baskets for recycling center in our garage (the lady at the register said they're really catering baskets) for $2.62 each:

Oh...I also got a 4th of July decoration for our garage door for $2.62 (where do they get this pricing--why not just $2.50?):

Here are our girl's new sheets she picked out at TJMaxx (they look so cute in her room):

She didn't miss the fun!

Our kids always tell my sister that she's missing all the fun! Well...Friday "E" had the day off, so we had a day of fun with her. We ate lunch and did some good shopping--the kind that makes you tired with sore feet. The kids did pretty well considering! Here's a list of some fun finds from the day:

Good Will: I got the cutest, rustic-y shelf for our son's room--it's blue with a weathered finish...and also bought some wire baskets there to use for our recycling center in the garage. E got a painting and a small table.

TJMaxx: Everyone in our house got new sheets!

Cupcake Store: That's right...we drove by a store sign that said "Cupcakes." Who could pass up an opportunity to check out a cupcake store? Well...we all got a $2.50 cupcake--not as yummy as we were hoping. Here's our girl with her Oreo Cupcake--look...it has an Oreo on the bottom! Nobody ate their whole cupcake-that's definitely a measure of the quality!

Horse Store (I can't remember the name of the store, but it looked barn-y and fun--so we stopped to check it out): We didn't make any purchases in the horse store...but they had kittens for sale for $40 (seems high to me). Anyway, Hubby is allergic...so the kids know not to ask for one, but they liked talking/playing with them at the store.

Hooray--E didn't miss the fun!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall or is it Dog, Dog???

Mirror, Mirror on the wall or is it Dog, Dog??? Well...I think it's both. Our son picked out this new dog print for his room. It says "Be Cool" at the bottom:

We hung an antique mirror in our daughter's room. It was my sister's, but was under a bed at my parent's house. She won't even miss it, and it's for a good cause! We hung it down low so our girl can see her whole self:

They are quite the decorators, huh? Well...they both love their new additions to their rooms-none-the-less!

A Girl and 4 Boys

Today we went to visit my childhood friend, Shelly, and her crew. We had fun swimming and catching up!
Here's a pic of her 3 boys and our 2 kids-they're in age order from youngest to oldest. Shelly and I were pregnant with our youngest children at the same time (they're both 4), and we were also pregnant with my oldest and her middle son at the same time (they're both 6). She was pregnant with her oldest son during my wedding...so it's easy for me to remember how old he is-almost 10!

Here's our girl catching a ride after swimming. She held her own with all those boys!

Here's one of me and Shelly right after an afternoon of pooling it:

We'd have the best times together back in the day. She threatened to "spill some beans" about me to my kids today. I think she refrained because she knows I have some "beans to spill" on her too! I guess we've been friends almost 25 years now. Wow!! That's a lot of good times! Thanks for a fun day!