Dreamin' In Color, Livin' in Black & White...

But in our case, it's brown and white.

**disclaimer: in this post are pictures of our house. our house is a mess. I am in the middle of de-cluttering, which is taking me much longer than it should. so ignore the desk full of papers, the kitchen table full of crafts, etc.**

I should start off by saying that I LOVE where we live. We rent a 1300 sq ft, 2 bedroom townhome for a STEAL of a monthly rate. We have a large unfinished basement (that we are slowly making livable with carpet squares and a little play area), a good-sized deck, a fantastic kitchen, large bedrooms (think 12x16 and 15x18), a 1-car garage, and 2 1/2 bathrooms. So that's a little more bathroom than I like to clean, but that's all right. Even though there are things I could complain about, there is ALWAYS going to be something that we don't like about where we live, so for the most part, we are really blessed to have found such a wonderful place.

But we have the problem that nearly all renters face. OUR WALLS ARE WHITE. And not even a creamy white, or a glossy white. It is the whitest, flattest paint you will ever find. You can brush your elbow along the wall and it will leave a mark. Ick.

In our lease, it states that we must have permission from the landlord to paint. And while I think we could obtain that permission fairly easily, we then would most likely be responsible for painting it back before we move out. Considering my last three moves have occurred uncomfortably close to major life events (high school graduation, wedding, and a mere two days after baby #1 was born), I don't exactly have my rose-colored glasses on when it comes to the thought of moving, and I balk at the thought of having to prime and repaint everything during a week that will already be extremely hectic. So, for now, the walls stay white.

And our furniture? It's brown. All of it. Since we have been married we have bought a desk (brown), another smaller desk (brown), a buffet to hold our fine china that we really need to use more often (brown), a large living room rug (brown), and a couch (brown). Not to mention a bookcase I already owned (brown), our kitchen table that belonged to my parents before they outgrew it (brown), and an electric piano that we are borrowing from sister-in-law (espresso.) A lot of our furniture is actually TECHNICALLY "dark cherry", but really, it just kind of looks brown.

And while I LIKE brown furniture, I also like color. Bright colors. Which is something we are sorely lacking. I did make two blue pillows for our brown couch, and a little blue curtain for our bookshelf, but other than that, there is very little color in our living room.

view from the entryway

view from the stairs. check out the swinging, sleeping baby

I also don't really love the furniture placement, but I spent a couple hours trying to rearrange the other night and everything ended up back in the same places. I want our living room to be COZY and CHEERFUL, and I'm just not feelin' it. And this blank wall in the kitchen stares at me day after day, begging for me to decorate it.

But I'm really not good at decorating blank walls! So I've been perusing one of my newly-discovered blogs, Young House Love, for some inspiration. These people are SERIOUSLY amazing - a young couple who bought an old house in Richmond and fixed it up. And when I say fixed it up - holy cow. I have, quite honestly, NEVER seen a house transformation as incredible as this. Not even on HGTV. They did 95% of it themselves, and the coolest part is that they did it on a budget. And not a $10,000 a room budget, either. I am loving the long white shelves in their living room and in their office/playroom, and trying to convince Brian how fantastic they are. I think they would be great in our kitchen along that blank wall, with some colorful accessories on them. And IKEA even carries them online. But he is apprehensive of mounting long shelves, which I'm sure has NOTHING to do with our attempt to put up a similar (brown) shelf in our old apartment that pretty much completely flopped and ruined the drywall. If I knew how to do it, I would. But about the only tool I know how to use is a hammer.

So, any ideas on how to bring pops of color into our house? While the room looks brighter without the giant brown rug, we do need SOMETHING there... a little flood issue after we moved in kinda sorta left a giant orangey stain on the carpet... (and ruined our old couch, which is how we ended up with a nice, new, brown one - thanks, renters' insurance!) I am thinking more pillows on the couch (yellow!). I would like to do curtains in the kitchen, but every time I go to purchase some, I get a little scared, and never go through with it. I like the ease of the mini-blinds and don't know if I really want to mess with curtains.

We also need to do something about toy storage. I would like to have a "set place" for every toy. Right now they're all just shoved in our blue toy bin, which is overflowing and explodes on a daily basis, leaving the floor looking like this:

I do normally clothe my children.

I am also working on some stuff in the boys' room, since I can't ever do just one project at once. Theirs is coming along nicely, though. Ben's quilt has been started!

So much rambling. Sorry. It's just that this has been consuming my brain for days now. I need an interior decorator to come do it all for me, I think.

(And if you don't get the title's reference to an obscure country song, that's okay. I blame it on my dad.)

Summer is Ending...

There's something about the end of summer that makes me a little depressed. I am one of those people who is seriously affected by the weather, and I think it's the realization that the warm, sunny days are coming to an end and the dreary days of winter are arriving. It's hitting me especially hard this year, although I don't know why. I feel like in a way I have been jipped out of the last two summers - having a baby the last week of May two years in a row means that most of May is spent waddling around large and uncomfortable, and June is spent "recovering", resting, and getting to know the new little one in. It seems like July rolls around before I am ready to take on summer, and by then it is hot and humid and my desire to spend my days outdoors having picnics in the lawn and going on long hikes has waned. And while I absolutely wouldn't change a thing!, it doesn't make up for the fact that the beginning of next spring is now a long 8 months away.

The last couple weeks been absolutely gorgeous (when it hasn't been raining - who says Kansas doesn't get hurricanes? Thanks, Tropical Storm Hermine) - mid-80s or a little warmer. We have been trying to spend as much of it as possible outside, considering we don't have a backyard to play in. On Labor Day we went to Shawnee Mission park on a picnic (like 5000 other people!) and sat by the lake. It was BEAUTIFUL, and so nice just to relax as a little family. We have decided not to camp this fall, but we do want to go somewhere for a day to hike. We need another baby backpack, though. After researching all the options, I have been craving the Beco Butterfly II Aiden. It's an expensive craving, at a price of $139+tax. And as much as I would like to support a mom&pop babywearing shop, I am saving up my Swagbucks and survey points for Amazon gift cards so I can get it, since it will appease my bargain-hunting guilty conscience. The carrier holds up to 45 pounds, which is perfect for Nate (who is now 28 pounds!), and we have a smaller backpack that will hold Ben.

Brian's sister Nicole, her husband Simon, and their adorable baby girl Maureen came to visit a couple weeks ago all the way from Canada. Considering we hadn't seen them since OUR wedding (we couldn't go to theirs because it was in California the day before Nate's due date!), they were a sight for sore eyes. The kids spent a lot of time staring and poking at each other, but we got some cute shots of Maureen lovin' on Ben. We hope to go visit them sometime next year when the kids can appreciate each other a little more. We still have to get our passports, which by the way, cost an INSANE amount of money now! I think I spent $50 on mine when we went to World Youth Day in 2002? Now they are $140 for adults and $110 for kids, plus some other random fees - over $500 just for the 4 of us! And the U.S. has recently required ALL Canadian border-crossers to present a passport, so we can't get away with birth certificates anymore.

photos by Simon Noster

Love the look on Nate's face in the second picture. Ben appears less than interested.

At the park on Labor Day - my handsome guys (no, we didn't leave Ben in his carseat the whole time, I just don't have a good picture of him after we took him out) :)

P.S. Sorry about the GIANT Nate face in the header. I don't know how to get it any smaller! At least he's cute. ;)

Dirty Pools

Last night was "scrapbook night" here - I was SO excited to finally pull my stuff back out and work on it! Brian's sister Courtney came over for dinner, and we worked until 11:30! Unfortunately, Ben wasn't in the sleepiest of moods, and he needed a bit of attention, so I didn't get to start really working for a while. I didn't get a lot done, but since I had pulled everything out, I just left it on the table and went back to it during the day today when I had a spare moment. I was able to get several pages done during naptime today, but I still have a long way to go... that's what happens when you allow yourself to get 2 years behind, I suppose. I'm working on the boys' baby books, and once I get caught up with them I'm going to go back and (finally!) work on our wedding album.

So I am not the most organized scrapbooker around. :P

I also went out onto the deck for a few minutes into the sweltering heat this evening (the heat index is supposed to be 115 tomorrow!), and a little friend followed me...

The fascinated look on his face - he saw his baby pool that has been out for over 2 months. It's been sorely neglected, as we've been spending a lot of time inside, and unfortunately, the pool looked like this:

Notice that spot in the horrible looking orange sludge on the bottom of the pool that is bright blue? Yes, that's where he stuck his hands and rubbed them around. I couldn't get him in time. My yelling "Ew, Nathan, don't put your hands in there!" didn't deter him in the least! I have to keep reminding myself that he is a boy, and boys are hard-wired to find the most disgusting thing ever and be fascinated by it.

Tomorrow Daddy is off work, and we will ask him to clean out the pool.

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My Shred accountability log: I did Day 3 yesterday, and Day 4 tonight. Only one more day and I'll be 1/6 of the way done! :P

Day 2

I just finished Level 1, Day 2 of the Shred... and it's 11:45pm. I really should start earlier tomorrow! Last night I finished at 5 til midnight. Brian has been getting home from work after midnight, so I have been procrastinating.

I also made skirt #3 of my new "trademark skirt" tonight. It is very bright spring green - not neon, but close. All 3 of them are exactly the same, sooo comfortable, and excellent for the summer - very light and airy. So far I have a bright blue and a dark maroon-ish one, and now, green. I also want to make navy and black ones... and possibly a tan. I am totally addicted! I have been limiting myself to buying the fabric only when I have a coupon for JoAnns - but I usually have at least 1 a week, and they take competitors' coupons, too. I am going to fill my closet before the summer is over... although they would probably work for the winter with some leggings under them! Okay, maybe not the spring green. It's a little too bright. (I keep meaning to take pictures but forgetting... and pictures always turn out so much better in natural light, so it's a little late now. Hopefully I'll remember during naptime tomorrow!)

I also finished another craft project late last week. The fruit of my labor:

Felt "Very Hungry Caterpillar" pieces. Yes, we are obsessed with that theme around here! (That was the theme of Nate's birthday party as well.) But it is truly his favorite book. It is so cute to see the look on his face when we read it. There is a piece to act out every page of the book. To give you an idea of the size, the butterfly is about 7 inches across, and the apple is about an inch and a half high. I used felt glue, which I was very wary of at first, but it worked great! These pieces have already been toddler tested. :) And now I have a felt-board-scene-creating obsession. (I still haven't finished my felt farm in the basement, though! It is on my "crafting to-do" list.)

The 30 Day Shred

I have started and stopped an exercise routine more times than I can count - I think that means I'm fairly normal. The longest I can ever remember doing a workout as a ROUTINE was after Nate was born - I did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred for 12-13 days, and then got sick and stopped, then was too lazy to start back, and then found out I was pregnant again and completely quit. Since Ben has been born, I've done the workout 6 or so times, and a couple Walk Away the Pounds workouts, but nothing really consistent.

But now I am determined to make it through the 30 Day Shred IN 30 days, or as close to 30 days as possible. I won't beat myself up for skipping a day here or there, but I am going to try my best to keep up with it and complete it. I really, really want to do the Couch to 5k program in the fall (when it's not 100 degrees out!). I've always hated running, and have no idea why I ran track for 3 years in middle school! But this program looks doable, although challenging! I think it would be SO cool to be able to run 3 miles without stopping... or heck, even 1 mile! I would totally be satisfied with 1 mile. But I want to make it through the Shred first, and go from there.

When I attempted the Shred last summer, I noticed something after the first week or so - I had a lot more stamina. I actually WANTED to jog, for some strange reason. I didn't! But I had the urge to, and the thought of running didn't make me want to crawl back into bed with my laptop and a Snickers bar. One other huge benefit of the Shred was that I could touch my toes after doing it for a week. I have NEVER been able to touch my toes, for as long as I can remember. Even in elementary school when we did the physical fitness test in gym class, I always failed at the toe-touching part (there was a specific name for it, but I don't remember what it was.) But after doing the Shred for a little while, I could REACH! I remember standing in my mom's living room showing her how I could FINALLY, after all these years, touch my toes! She thought I was kind of nuts.

Why I'm rambling on my blog about all this: I NEED ACCOUNTABILITY. Isn't the first step towards achieving a goal putting it in writing? (Okay, so that didn't work really well with my New Years resolutions.) I'm planning to come back here often and update on my progress and post specific goals so I can see how far I've come. Even if no one else reads my updates, I will go back and read and relish in my success (or hang my head in shame at my failure. wait. think positive!)

Overall Goals:

1. Complete the 30 Day Shred.

2. Lose 40 pounds. (obviously the 40 pounds will take longer than 30 days. how unfortunate.)

Prize for Success:

Some new shirts that fit.

Punishment for Failure:

Continue to look 4 months pregnant.

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Today: Level 1, Day 1 of the Shred complete!