Friday, May 29, 2009

Just Lick It

I was wrestling and tickling Breanna on the couch. I love to tickle her tummy. She gets so giggly! In the process, her little toe nail scratched my leg a little bit. It was not a major gash by any means, just a tiny little surface scratch--you know the kind that just leaves a little white mark on the surface. My first response was just a quick, "Ouch." Nothing major. Breanna was prompt to rescue me.
"Just lick it, Mom." I wasn't sure what she was talking about, so I inquired.
"What are you talking about, B?"
"You know, Mom. Where my toe scratched you, it left a white mark on your leg. All you need to do to make it go away is lick it," and then she proceeded to demonstrate by licking her finger and wiping it on my leg. Yum. She then again explained that the lick it technique does not work on red scratches...just the white ones. It's like magic. Who knew?

Monday, May 25, 2009

It's Finished!

Okay, well the first phase is done. We are remodeling our mudroom because I hated it, and because I started pounded holes in the wall before my amazing hubby could change his mind (again!) on which home project to start first. So demolition is done. Yeah! Now clean up begins and then reassembly. Sort of. We don't want to take out the old windows until we have the new windows. Thankfully, we have been getting a lot of rain lately. That makes for green grass, beautiful flowers, and soggy floors if we take the windows out. Soon. Patience, grasshopper. I am really trying...

Monday, May 18, 2009

In Town Hunting

My son LOVES hunting. He gets to go bird hunting with Grandad, and we hear about it for days. He talks about elk hunting all the time, too. And deer hunting...

Although we live in the middle of our small town, the area used to be full of orchards, and is still somewhat rural in feel. Occasionally, we get bears that knock our trash over. (Yes, I know they are bears because I called the police when my neighbors dog was barking incessantly at 2 o'clock in the morning. When the police arrived, they found the dog had treed a bear.) We sometimes have raccoons and often skunks. Much to the chagrin of my neighbors that have vegetable gardens, we also have deer. A couple days ago, 2 such deer were walking down the middle of our road. The kids and I happened to be out in the front yard. Aidan shushed Bre and I and quickly ran in the house.
"Surely, he is not afraid," I thought. I knew better. In the meantime, the deer started to walk down the road. Out comes Aidan from the house with his plastic Batman sword.
"What are you doing?!" I ask. It took everything I had to not roll on the ground laughing at his response.
"I'm deer hunting," like it is completely natural and common occurrence to deer hunt with a plastic, toy sword.
"What are you going to do with your sword?" With a questioning look as if I am the crazy one, he replied,
"I can hit it really hard!" as he raised his sword in the air and demonstrated his "really hard" hitting technique. Fortunately for the deer they had already run down the road out of sight. We did have to go for a walk and look for them, but we never saw those particular deer again...on that day. But I am sure that Aidan is still on the look out for them, and when that happens, they better hope he doesn't have his sword with him.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Faux Pics

Most people know that I work part-time as a faux painter assistant. Often, I try to describe some of the really cool effects that we do, but it can be hard to imagine what they really look like. Finally, I took some pictures of the last house that we did, and I will share them here with you. The pictures don't do the finishes justice, but they did turn out really amazing...if I do say so myself. Enjoy!

This 1st picture is the chocolate brown venetian plaster in the entry way. It has a slight metallic bronze finish, but it is very hard to see in the picture. It has a super glossy, very smooth finish--even though it looks textured and rough. This is one of my absolute favorites!


This alcove in the ceiling is a metallic bronze finish. It looks like a big piece of bent metal, but it is done with paint. Very cool!




This is the hallway from the garage to the great room. It has a very warm tuscan texture and finish. There are 3 niches with a darker bronze finish and granite "countertop" pieces. This same finish is also in the kitchen.




This is the great room and stairway. It has a warm, golden venetian plaster...and yes it goes clear up to the ceiling and, yes, those ceilings are probably 20 feet tall. Needless to say, I have gotten much better about dealing with heights.



This is a closer up picture of the great room wall. The light fixtures are gorgeous, as well as all the built in shelves. Again, the venetian plaster is a super smooth, shiny finish. It feels like glass to the touch and has crushed marble in it. Very pretty!



This is the venetian plaster in the dining room. It is the same golden color as the great room (as they are connected), but it has a different metallic gold glaze on top of it. It turned out gorgeously!




This is the ceiling in the dining room. It has an inset ceiling. It is a little hard to see in this picture, but it is a soft, almost cloud-like faux finish. Very elegant and subtle. Tina (my boss) is the one who painted this one.



This niche is in the dining room. It has the gold venetian plaster.



This ivory venetian plaster niche is next to the steam shower. The walls are a bronze metallic finish that is SUPER cool! This is the first time we have done this metallic finish and I absolutely LOVE it!


This inset is above the bathtub. It is the metallic finish in the center, then framed by the ivory venetian plaster, then surrounded by the bronze finish again. I loved how this turned out, too.



This is a close up of the metallic bronze finish. Again, it does not do it justice, but it is gorgeous and very warm feeling.



This is the view as one soaks in the bathtub. The columns (done by Tina) are venetian plaster, but they look like they are solid marble. There will eventually be a t.v. in the middle of the tile.





This is a different view of the ceiling above the bathtub. It's a little further back so you can see the arches above the bathtub.



That is the end of my little bragging session. I hope you enjoyed it! Call me if you would like to do these or other finishes in your house!:)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Ketchup

Of late I have been a bit lax about blogging and adding pictures, so everyone can see how big Breanna and Aidan are getting. So I am going to play a little bit of catch up in this blog (Get it? ketchup...the title of this entry. Ha ha).

For Christmas Aidan and Breanna got a new fort/swingset from the grandparents. They love to have picnics at the table. I was able to snap a few shots of them enjoying their lunch. Of course, they spied Mommy spying on them. I just love how well they play together...when they aren't fighting!

No, Breanna does not have pink eye. For her 4th birthday, Breanna got make up. Boy, was she excited! This girl is all girl. In this picture she is having fun applying LOTS of eye shadow. Fortunately, the colors are light...



Aidan and Breanna attend the AWANA program at our local church. Every year at the end of the year, they have the AWANA Grand Prix. Aidan's first year, he and Daddy made Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars. He won 2nd place for design. I don't think he crossed the finish line. Last year, Daddy procrastinated a little bit and we made a fun car, but it didn't place at all. This year was Bre's first year, so she got to make a car, too! She was so excited. The picture below is the kids watching Daddy paint their cars. There are 2 divisions: TNT (older kids) and Adults and/or Sparks & Cubbies (younger kids). Obviously, we all know who really does the work on the little kids' cars...hence the adult category. Breanna placed 3rd for design this year with her pink fairy car. I think it crossed the line once. We are going to focus more on speed next year, and maybe we can all cross the finish line, at least...hopefully. Nevertheless, it was good fun for all!












It seems like yesterday--literally--that Aidan was headed off to his first day of kindergarten. Now he has less than 2 weeks left. One of the events that always seems to mark the end of the school year is Games Day. Aidan and his class walked to the nearby park and happily participated in Games Day this year. I was able to follow and take a few pictures of the giggles and grins that were so easy on this warm spring day. By the way, that scooter that Aidan is sitting on and pushing himself with plungers is indeed a toilet seat. They assured us that they were not used prior to this day...




Another event that marks the end of the school year is the AWANA Award Ceremony. Like I said previously, both kids attended this year. Breanna got her book 1 award...and a coupon for free Cold Stone ice cream. She and Mommy already used it, but don't tell Daddy. Aidan didn't finish his book this year, but we'll get caught up next year. He still had a lot of fun and enjoyed bringing his friend, Gavin, with him the 2nd half of the year.




This is Aidan at his point in the award ceremony. He cracks me up because whenever he does anything like this, he "stands at attention" just like a Marine. He's so handsome...

With that, I will sign off for now. Enjoy the pictures. I do actually have some writing in progress for this blog, but it is *obviously* not finished yet. It may be a few days before it gets done. I actually have to write a paper for my karate class to get my orange belt in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Friday, May 8, 2009

My Marine



I love living in a small town. I really do. Last weekend was the yearly parade for spring time. As usual, we went to go watch. As usual, there were marching bands, the queen and her court, the senior citizen king and queen, floats, and the color guard. My son is a fanatic of anything remotely having to do with the Marines, Army, or military in general. Something only has to be camouflage to be completely awesome in Aidan's mind. Perhaps because I grew up in a military household, I feel strongly that we need to salute the flag for the entire time that it is in front of us until it has passed. I know that freedom isn't free. The least we can do is salute the flag of our country. My kids darn well better get their behinds up, too. I seriously get choked up every time. I get a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes every time the flag goes by. When the Army trucks and the Marine humvee drive by with soldiers in uniform sitting in it, I always try to look in their eyes and tell them, "Thank you!" I'm getting forklempt just writing about it 2 weeks later. I know it's not a lot, but I just want to express my thanks at least a little bit and in a small way to those that do protect and serve our country.




What does all that have to do with MY marine? It's simple. We all know that Brad was not in the Marines. However, I would honestly be surprised if Aidan does not become a Marine when he grows up. He loves to play good guys and bad guys and little army men. Anything camouflage is "Marine" to Aidan. Grandpa and Great-Grandpa were Marines. He and grandpa play Marines. He just loves it. So a few weeks ago I was playing with my camera and, as usual, Aidan was a more than willing subject...with his sword and his Marine salute. Make sure you look at the pictures in order...no, we don't salute Hitler in our house. I am still working with the timing on my camera. You'll see what I'm talking about below.



After this picture was taken, Brad did explain to Aidan that one's hand is supposed to go down after a salute...