This and That

We have been so incredibly busy around here. As you know, we have a lot of projects going on. On Sunday, a friend of ours came and helped us hang drywall in the kitchen on the wall where we installed the french doors and windows. Yay! We have walls!!!!!! It's amazing how much brighter it is already, not having to look at the ugly insulation and studs. The guys aren't finished with skimcoating, but they may work on that this weekend. I had always had in mind to paint the kitchen another shade of green, but I'm just loving how light and airy it feels now and I think a cooler, more restful color may be in order. I've picked out a few shades of a cool bluish greenish grayish color. The actual color changes with the time of day, it seems. I think it will like nice with our creamy kitchen/dining furniture and (soon to be creamy white) cabinets.

On Friday, I worked on Lindsay and Zoe's room, repairing the walls and painting their trim a really shiny white. On Saturday, we painted the room a very fresh green. It's called 'Asparagus'. It looks so nice and works really well with their vibrant quilt that I bought at the flea market a few months back. The girls were at the zoo with the grandparents when we painted it and I had enough time to move the bed back in, a white distressed side table, a cute little lam, a basket of books, and a quaint ladderback chair for the corner. The girls were very surprised and excited to come home to a fresh clean new room! We still need to do one more coat of green in there and a little more trim painting (I'm leaving the doors to Jeff!) but it looks great for now.

I think I forgot to post that a couple of weeks ago, we gave Sydney back her bedroom. I was worried that with school starting back (Lindsay starts kindergarten) that they would not get the sleep they needed all sleeping in the same bed. It takes them forever to go to sleep so I decided to give Sydney another chance with her bedroom. For two weeks now, she's kept her room clean and made her bed daily. I hope it lasts!

The girls no longer keep their toys in their bedroom. I did some major simplifying, getting rid of another load of toys, and then what was left, I brought into the sunroom. They are all organized into nice baskets and it has really worked out well! No toys are allowed to stay in their bedroom(of course they can play with toys in there, but they have to bring them back to the "playroom" when they are finished.) The sunroom/playroom/computer room has a nice big comfy rug on the floor for them to play with their toys as well. I've been amazed at much easier it has been for them to keep their toys put away. There is nothing in here for them to shove their toys under...everything is visible. It's not nearly as warm in here since we took out the skylights last year and we have some bamboo shades that we *still* need to install- so that will help, too. Also, there is a big comfy chair in the corner where I LOVE to sit and read. There is a big basket of children's books to the side of the chair for when the girls want to snuggle up and read as well. It's nice to sit there and read while watching the girls play on the rug or the computer. Just a few weeks ago, our sunroom was just a dumping ground for all the project supplies we were using.

There is so much more work yet to do, both inside and outside the house. Today, I spent an hour outside digging up our overgrowth of irises and tigerlilies. I did a lot in that hour, but barely scratched the surface. My dream is turn this acre into something really beautiful and to make the land productive. I've pulled out my herb and vegetable books and think I'll study up a bit on what I might want to plant in the future. There is so much potential here and SOMEDAY, it will meet that potential, but I know it's going to take a lot of hard work.

Today I need to work on plastering the hallway. It's halfway finished. When it's finished, it can be painted and glazed...FINALLY!