Day #1 growing stuff

Today I decided to try some fun things with food. I saw these ideas on Pinterest.  The first one is green onions.  I don't know if you can tell, but in the jar on the left I cut one of them off right above the top of the jar.  According to the directions, these things will grow right back.  If you keep hacking them off, they will keep on growing back.  So cool if it works.

This is the bottom of celery.  It's supposed to grow roots and then I can plant it in dirt.  Oh goody!  I never have to buy celery or green onions again, right?

Here were go with sweet potatoes.  They will get roots and little sprouts out the top.  I remove the sprouts and put them in soil.  Then I guess they grow into potatoes...we'll see.

I also planted some things in my garden today: Iceberg lettuce, Romaine, Red lettuce, Spinach, Brussel Sprouts, and a few other things I can't remember right now. Oh, I also dug up some of our dandelions and put them in my garden. They are supposed to be really good for ya and I wanted to "save" some of them before Darryl kills them.

I've been going over Kitchen magazines and looking at things online to try to make some decisions about our new design. I never realized how difficult this would be.

I made black bean soup today. It was really good.

GBC RAVE

Here are some fun pics of the boys at a dance at GBC.  Yeah, I'd say they enjoyed college.

 

Breathe in the familiar shock of confusion and chaos

Ok, I admit the bedlam and chaos is getting on my nerves. I try to ignore it, but it's pretty hard to ignore the mess and clutter that has spilled over into every room in the house. Yesterday we emptied out Darryl's office  (the room that was piled high with furniture from 3 rooms), got the carpeting ripped up and took molding off, spackled, sanded, and finally painted.  It was a long day and both Darryl's and my back were hurting.  Here are some random shots from around the house.  This is what I see every where I go.  If you know me at all, you know I don't live like this b/c it disrupts my senses.  (I didn't bother taking pics of the kitchen or family room)

4th bedroom

Foyer

living room

paint supplies in dining room

Kyle's room

Ryan's room

It has even affected my bathroom!

this is one side of our bedroom

this is the other side that Sean just finished

looking down from upstairs

Well, I got the room (which will be Darryl's office) all painted yesterday, except for the trim and doors.  Today Sean is coming to finish putting floors in our hallway and this final bedroom.  We are hoping that by tomorrow we can start digging through all the furniture and try to put some rooms back together.

Today's blog post title comes from this song:

Ethan's party

I met Ethan today.  He is such a cutey.  I just love him. It was so nice to be able to hold him and give him a bottle and sing to him.  It was such a blessing.

2 down, 2 to go

Sean got the boys' bedrooms done.  On Monday he starts our bedroom.  Can't wait!! 

Kyle's room

Ryan's room

sunny morning project

I got all the stuff planted that I bought yesterday except for the different kinds of lettuce.  You want to know how many plants this is?  A LOT!!  hehe... so, after I got done planting I ran over to Lowe's and got 5 bags of mulch.  I have to say, my back was hurting pretty bad by the time I got them home and out of my car.  But I managed to get them all spread by noon (my goal).  Yay!!  Now at least one section of our yard looks nice.  

floors, flowers, and fun...

Kyle's room got a hard wood floor today, Ryan gets his tomorrow. I've been crazy busy trying to get painting done...trying to get everything done! Let's see, stiff neck, sore back, throbbing feet, mad rush against time. Pretty soon the first 3 bedrooms will be done. It's so exciting.

Here is the color I did my bedroom.  Can't wait to see how it looks when it's all put back together.  Today I took time to eat lunch in the woods where Darryl took the trees down. Then I pulled weeds, then I went to some furniture stores and bought a fabulous coffee table ON SALE!!  I got it in the clearance room b/c it had some scratches.  But I got a great deal on it.

It was so nice out today, and my first chance to be outside in a while.

I painted a lot of the floor molding in the garage b/c I ran out of room in the house...

I also snuck by the nursery and bought some flowers and lettuce and herbs...hehe, I will plant them tomorrow.

let there be white

I never realized what a puky color our ceiling was. Today I painted it white (got a stiff neck), and it's going to look so good when the walls and trim are done. After the painting is done the floor will be put in, and then we can begin putting the rooms back together. That's going to be nice, to get rid of the clutter and mess. Stay tuned to see what color it will be.

work day

Today was work day at church. This is what I did. I painted the big front door. Seriously, this took me like 3 hours... haha. Unbelievable. Looks cool though, huh? After painting I did some office work. I think I need to take another picture of the whole front of the church next time, not just the door. I also think I'm going to start painting again....you know, painting- as in canvas.

upstairs reno in progress

Darryl got the hallway carpet ripped up and I got it all painted. We discovered that our floor and walls are crooked. The guy putting the new floor in will have to deal with it. Going through the process of trying to empty out 3 rooms all at once has been pretty tricky. We have stuff piled up EVERYWHERE, including in our Jacuzzi! I'm glad it won't be like this for long because it is making me crazy to step over clutter!! After a couple of the rooms get done, we can empty out the 4th room at the other end of the hallway. That is where all the boys' bedroom furniture is stacked up. So, next week I am painting our bedroom and that is going to be a pretty huge job. I'm guessing it will take me 3 full days.
our bedroom after we starting moving the furniture, and before the carpet was removed. I forgot to take a "before" picture, so this will suffice as a midway picture.
master bath disaster. I'm glad I don't use that bathroom. hehe

Ethan is 1

Ethan just had his first birthday last week. Don't you love the skull and crossbones design on his hoodie? :/

it gets worse before it gets better

So, today our "decorating consultant" came over with our cabinet maker and I learned that I don't have a knack for decorating. haha... oh well. It's a good thing we have someone helping us. We have decided to go all the way with the kitchen, knock out walls, move things around and totally transform that space. It's going to be completely changed, and I'm very excited about how it's gonna come out. We are also going to rip up the carpet in the family room and replace it with tile. All of this won't be done until fall, after the boys go back to college. Should be done by Thanksgiving or Christmas!!

I ended up painting Ryan's room 2 different color greens. I like how it turned out and I think once the furniture goes back in it'll look really cool. Today I painted Kyle's room. This is actually blue, although it's kinda hard to tell. It actually looks good.We got a lot of wind and our poor little pool broke. :( Another project that needs fixing.
Darryl is in the process of digging out another drainage ditch and also running electric to the deck. Feel bad that he had to tear up the patio, and plus our badminton court mostly got washed away from the rain...and we need to also put up a stone retaining wall to try to hold the deck up. Would hate to see that fall! Darryl got the carpet ripped up from the upstairs hallway so it will be ready for me to paint tomorrow. After taking the carpet off of one of the steps we are afraid we will have to have the entire stairway replaced. We're pretty sure they were damaged after the fire and then just covered up. This is going to be one heck of a renovation. You know how it goes, one thing leads to another. We will have to get rid of furniture, appliances, light fixtures, fan...and who knows what else, and that is hard for me to do, but I guess it is time to move on and make some major changes. It will probably be frustrating for me to get all this done, because I absolutely cannot stand clutter and disorganization, and I will have to put up with it till fall, but I am determined to get through it with my emotions in tact. We have so much to do!

formally yours,

It's official...they're all grow'd up now. Here's handsome Kyle with very pretty Hilary at the Grace Bible College formal. It's Kyle's first formal ever.

A whole gang of them went over in a LIMO.A very stylish Ryan went solo this year and he had a great time.Nope, this is not a gflove the outfit? shoes?