104 Days Until Christmas

Nope - not going to do 100 gifts in 100 days until Christmas.  However, this is a happy little reminder that I need to finish the basement to find my craft room because I have some awesome ideas for little boys.

In disappointing news today - I found a Serger on Craig's List for $75.00 last night.  What a steal - even used they still usually run over $200.  Unfortunately I was not the first one to call today.  Come on - it was a Sunday who calls before 11:00 am?  Oh well, not meant to be I guess.  I'll keep looking.  I am kicking myself for not buying one on an auction a long time ago.  You just don't find them for a bargain very often.

In really awesome news today - after church and lunch we went out to one of the landscape stores in town.  They still had fruit trees - hooray.  Better yet they all go on sale this week.  Hubby has already promised to stay a little late that morning to watch the boys while I go get in line for some apple, cherry and pear trees.  Better yet - mom and dad said I could pick some out as my birthday gift!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  For those of you who may not know during our awful Iowa summer we lost all of our fruit trees.  Well, the pollinating cherry is still standing but he doesn't produce fruit.  So, you have no idea how excited I am!  Now, I just hope I get some before they are all gone.

To top off the day I started painting the basement!  After, I used a clorox/water solution to brush down the one corner with mold and what looked like barnacle growth (yuck - not sure what that was).  And I had to chase out all the spiders.  Then some primer/sealer on the area where the concrete hadn't been painted (behind the old wall studs).  But then - whoo hoo - I love to paint!  Makes it so clean and fresh.  Since I am painting the basement, with windows that don't really open, I decided to splurge on my paint and get the low odor type.  That was a smart move.  I am so in love with the blue paint I selected.  Normally I stay away from blue since I find it a color that I can easily get the wrong shade/saturation.  But this is lovely!  The pictures don't do it justice.

The other color for the opposite wall is a pretty cream.  I discovered what an amazing job of color selection I did on that tonight.  I already had a cream on the walls on the other half of the room.  It was some leftover paint that I mixed myself of an awful tan and white (and maybe yellow).  But I used it all up and couldn't remember my paint mix ratio so figured I'd just get new cream paint.  Where the two come together I cannot tell the difference.  Really - I can't see where the old and new come together at all.  I didn't even try to match.  Bizarre.  But really great because I don't think I would have had enough to do all the walls over and the ceiling.

Not a great picture I know - but can you see the paint change?  And no, that bit off to the left is just from the lighting.

The only downside to painting the basement walls is the concrete block eats up so much paint and you have to go over it with a brush to get all the little holes, cracks and crevices.  On the other side the paneling needs to have a brush utilized in all the "seam" areas.  So, it takes longer but it will look nice when finished and will be all sealed up.

Now some news from the boys.  This week Clark has discovered how much fun building with Lincoln Logs could be.  Good thing we have his dad's old Lincoln Logs to play with - over 30 years old and still lots of play left!  I had to show and then help him build his first houses but he has branched out from there.  Tonight with some help from daddy (but really not that much - daddy pretty much kept Hurricane Grant at bay) Clark built a Grand Hotel!  Really he designed this two story marvel all on his own.

It even had a grand lobby!

After the tornado blew through (Clark did it himself - not Grant).

Grant loves anything he can crawl through - under your arm or leg, whatever.  So, we have lots of tents built throughout the week.  The new favorite location is between the dining table and couch.

I love that this castle gate is guarded by the ferocious feline.  Ha - sleepy feline more like!

This Old House

OK - granted I have lived in homes older than this one; however, never have I run into so many messed up, just completely WRONG ways of building a home!  That rant out of my system I am very thankful for our home.  We are blessed to be able to enjoy country life on our little 3 acres.  As we have slowly worked on the house my detest of a ranch style home has lessened as we have made the inside of the home take on a more country shabby chic style.  When you fill a home with the people and things you love it becomes the best home ever.

Recently this home reminds me of a book I remember loving as a child. (Maybe a state of chaos has always been dear to me?)  Anyway, "The Ernie and Bert Book" seems to describe the state of our home quite well.

Little story even shorter - Ernie gives Bert a pot for a hat but when Bert asks why all Ernie does is bring him objects full of items that don't belong.  So, Ernie broke the piggy bank so the money is in the cookie jar and the cookies are in another container, etc - and it just gets sillier.

Until the end is lots of chaos and lots of mess.  But Bert learns why he is wearing a pot for a hat.

So, back to my home -- where's the stuff from the office in the basement family room - where's the stuff from the family room, in my craft room - where's the craft room stuff (buried in the craft room) and some in the garage and some upstairs.  Where are the boys' crafts and toys - scattered throughout the upper portion of the house.

WHY?  The flood back in August.  We decided to tear out a the wall/closet between the office and the family room and make it one large, long room.  It will be used as library, family room, toy/child craft room and office.  It will be wonderful when done.  I even put together a scale blueprint for it.  The paint is sitting here just waiting to go on the walls.  So all that was left was actually cleaning everything out and tearing out the wall.  Here is what that looked like:

Clark is ready to START!  Pounding hammer in hand.

Grant is going to join in the fun!

No fears - after these shots were taken the boys were sent back upstairs so as not to inhale any dust or mold.

A call was made to grandpa to figure out how I should deal with the light switch that was put in.  Hopefully it is an easy fix - but as my dad and I have found out while fixing other wiring problems in this house it is rarely simple.  Yes, I am a woman who enjoys electrical wiring - but I usually need my dad's input before starting a project.

This is why the wall had to come out.  Even though we only had between a 1/2" to an 1" of water on the floor it soaked up into the wall and the mold was quite horrible!

YUCK!

Alan tearing out the studs.

I am all for re-utilizing materials but really these studs that were either from the old house that was originally here OR a barn were horrible.  Some were not complete (they were missing large chunks), some were disturbingly dirty (still caked soil on them), and some were of course put in crooked.  We have found many crooked studs in the course of tearing apart walls in this house.  I suggested they didn't own a level but Alan is right they didn't need a level to tell them these were crooked - eyeballing it should have worked!

No more wall!

Also, it will soon be good-bye old color scheme!  This was back in my happy post-it note phase.  Hey, it was a cheery place to work.  However, we will be going with cheery colors in a more grown-up color pallet that will work well for kids and adults.  All based off this piece of scrapbooking paper I found.

The colors aren't as nice in the photo as they are when you see it.  Basically blue, green and cream with red, and yellow accents.

Hopefully we will get this finished so that I can move to the organizing stage. Time is ticking since I want to do crafting/sewing for Christmas gifts this year - this means the basement needs to be finished and organized very SOON!  

First Day of Preschool

Time flies - especially when raising little ones.  Today was Clark's first official day of Preschool!  On Tuesday we took him to his Open House but that didn't count since we stayed with him the whole time.  He has two wonderful teachers and I hope he will have a lot of fun.  That said - mommy and Grant missed him.  Just not the same without Clark around.

Since it has been so nice this week we have also spent a lot of time outside in the afternoons.  Grant likes pushing the lawnmower around.  Clark and Grant both like picking up rocks and walking with mommy to the end of the lane to get the mail.

I should add the cats like to help get the mail as well.

While playing indoors the boys' favorite new game is "robot."  Pretty much whoever is in the laundry hamper is the robot.  Grant will put it on himself and walk around just laughing.  But he can't get it off himself so when he starts to pout Clark will pull it off him and put it on his head.  Then Grant likes to "tickle, tickle" the Clarkbot.

We are certainly loving the fall weather!  Leaving the windows open and allowing cool, refreshing air in at night (and during the day).  Today we also traded out all of Grant's 12 month clothes for the 18 month clothes.  Found some fall clothes - which is good since we have needed some long sleeve shirts.  However, Clark was already switching into 2T clothes at this same age so not as many as I thought.  Oh well!

Labor Day Weekend

On our way through Wisconsin we couldn't resist stopping by this "ear of corn."  Rather ingenious of this Pioneer Seed Dealer.  Friday we took the scenic route up to our friends house.  Leigh and Dave live near Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  We crossed the Mississippi at Dubuque and took scenic highways from there.  It was great!  The DVD players wouldn't work so we did the whole trip the old fashioned way.  There were times the kids were a bit restless but overall they did very well (considering it was a 7+ hour drive).

It turned out to be very cold up North.  Of course, I remembered long sleeves, jackets and pants for everyone but myself.  Brr!

On Saturday we headed to the Twin Cities to visit the Minnesota State Fair.  Unfortunately we arrived much too late (10:30 am) and the lines of cars to get in were horrendous.  We later learned that the fair set an all time one day attendance record.  We changed our minds and decided to visit Mall of America instead.  We had promised Clark a trip to the LEGO store.  Strike 2 -- the store was closed for rebuilding and won't open  until later this year.  Seemed we couldn't win.  We did visit their temporary store which still seemed pretty awesome to Clark.  We also went over to IKEA which Clark found exciting once we landed in the children's section.

On our way back to Leigh and Dave's we visited a Veteran's Memorial in Cadott, WI.  Clark enjoyed the tank and Grant just enjoyed being out of the car.

Finally able to play outside!  Loved the slide and swing set in the back yard while food was on the grill.

Grant loved the slide!

 Clark took over camera duty!

Sunday we arrived at the Minnesota Fair VERY early in the morning.  Here are the boys ready to head out to the fairgrounds.

Grant was a big fan of the cows!

Clark was a fan of the goats

and the cream puffs

and the tractors!

Daddy tried the corn dog pizza.  Yes, that's a corn dog on a pizza.

We also went over to the Christmas Growers display to check out some fun ideas for the Christmas tree shop this year.  Only two months until wreath and tree sales. Yikes!

It actually worked out better to visit the fair on Sunday since it meant we could spend the day with good friends Beth and Jamie.  Beth was great at showing us all the good spots to hit.  We also were able to see the dahlia show and all the Romer wins!  Congratulations!  Jim, Judy, Jamie and Beth had some fabulous dahlias and won big!  Still our favorite part was hanging out with good friends at the fair! 

After the fair it was to the hotel to unwind and relax.

Boys were loving eating in!

On Monday back to IKEA to pick some furniture before the trip home.  

And of course a stop at Cabella's to view the fish and animals.  Boys could have spent the day there.

That was our weekend.  Lots of fun!  We may have to make it an annual vacation.

Two Words - Chocolate Pudding

Mmmmm - Chocolate Pudding (also great for tray painting).