I'm Winning... and Losing

I must admit, in the first several rounds of House vs. Us the House was winning handily. It was looking rather grim there for a while, but as of today I think I have finally taken the lead and am on my way to certain victory. Wa-Hoo!!! I got the very last of the boxes unpacked today, hauled the two sheets of drywall out to the shed (they'd been propped up in the living room for lack of a better place to keep them) and got most everything in that room dusted and cleaned the floors in there for the first time in I don't know how long. (I hadn't been able to GET to the floors for quite some time now.) The only thing that remains to be done at this point is to get both bathrooms cleaned and ours put back in order (remember our bedroom stuff had been shoved in there temporarily--I haven't recovered the bathroom yet), Katie's room cleaned up (it became the go-to place for all of the "what do I do with THIS?" stuff I came across while unpacking boxes), and the boys' closet sorted and put in order. Then I think I'm DONE! I'm hoping to accomplish all of that tomorrow. Time will tell!

One bit of excitement from around here is that James has the soda fountain sort of up and running! His full selection of syrups (Coca-Cola, Vanilla, Cherry, and Raspberry... I think that's right) will be arriving in a few days, but he bought the stuff to make some really terrific Strawberry Cream Sodas the other day! Wa-Hoo!!! The first several were a little weak (it takes a while for the tank to pressurize properly--and being fully chilled helps, too), but by yesterday everything was GREAT!

Step 1: Pour your syrup



Step 2: Add some fresh lime juice, if desired



Step 3: Grab the handle and give it a yank! But preferably a nice, quick little yank, since the carbonated water comes out really hard and fast. If I had taken this picture about half a second later, you would see what happens when you don't let go soon enough. ;-)



How fun is that?! My only real problem with the whole thing is how FAT we're all going to be! Ha! I mean, who has access to Sonic-like drinks at any time of the day or night and has the will power to refrain?! I've done pretty well so far... but what about when that raspberry syrup arrives???

Let's see... What else is going on around here. James took Sam to town with him today, so that left me with Katie and Joe. I adore my children... but they've been driving me crazy for the past week or two with their constant bickering about anything and everything. Seems they can't speak to each other at all unless they're being mean or ugly or nitpicky or whatever. Kate and Joe were at it again today and I kind of snapped. "Enough! I have had enough! You are not allowed to speak to each other again until I say so!!! If all you can do is argue and bicker, you will not speak to each other at all. For the rest of the day, you are an only child! And you, too!" (Not sure how that works, but...) "You have no brother; you have no sister. Don't go near each other's rooms, don't touch each other's stuff, and don't speak to each other. Just go be bored and lonely for the rest of the day!" It wasn't a premeditated plan, but it actually worked amazingly well. After two or three hours of no contact with one another, they were loosed from their only-childness and spent the rest of the evening playing together better than they have in weeks and weeks! They were tandum super heroes of some kind for most of the night...



The only other new of the day involves the vacuum cleaner. This is where the "Losing" part comes in. I hesitate to post about it because it also involves a confession. I've found, however, that public confessions sometimes work better than private ones and blogs come in very, very handy when one of them is in order. So here I go.

I think I broke the vacuum. I'm soooooo sorry, James!!! (No, I haven't told him yet--that's what this confession is all about. I'll update everybody tomorrow on his sweet, loving reaction to the news... thus the purpose of the public confession, of course.) I had it set out today and I tripped over the cord, as is customary when I walk past the vacuum (a little tradition of mine; one of those things that just always happens... you can count on it... it brings a sense of balance and security to my little world it's such a regular occurance), and it landed with a mighty crash flat on its back on the tile floor. This has happened numerous times before, of course, but this time when I plugged it in it wouldn't start up. The little light comes on, but when I flip the switch nothing happens. ~sigh~ My heart skipped a couple of beats when I discovered the unpleasant truth. I love that vacuum! It's and Oreck and has served us well through 6 and a half years (and numerous splats like this evening's) and it is sooooo nice and easy to use and sooooo much more effective than the several hunks-o-junk we had before investing in it. ~sniff~sniff~ It's entirely possible that it's simply lived out the fulness of it's days and died of natural causes. But the timing of its death invokes a healthy suspicion about that last little trip/wham occurance. I didn't mention it to James and surprisingly enough he never inquired as to why I was wallowing around under the table vacuuming the dining room rug one inch at a time with the little hand-held vac tonight after dinner. Now he knows. He'll be reading this within the hour. ~sigh~ I'm soooooooo sorry!!! My plan, Dear, is to call the Oreck store in town when they open at 10:00 sharp tomorrow morning (already looked it up) and ask how much they would charge us to take a look at the vac. I had counsel tonight from a good fiend of mine (not friend) that it would be cheaper to have it fixed than replaced. This is the same fiend, however, who upon learning of the Oreck's unfortunate demise and the possible cause of death (~trip~), said I should tell my husband, "The vacuum quit working, James! I didn't do anything any different than I always do, but it just won't work now!" True though the statement may be, it feels a wee bit deceptive to me. Can you imagine a minister of the gospel giving such advice??? SHAME ON YOU!!! (I know you're reading this!)

In other news, I got a phone call from Camp Director Dustin Hays this evening informing me that I failed to put the tuition prices on the camp applications. ?! How can that be possible?! But it's true. It's not THAT big of a deal because all of the applications were sent out with the Western Skies and with Camp fliers which DID have the tuition listed... but still! Would've been helpful to have it on the apps, you know?

A few minutes later I got a phone call from a friend (not fiend) asking me if it was necessary to send in a deposit with her Camp application this year, since it didn't specify so on the flier. ~sigh~ She failed to see the fine print at the bottom of the application where it DOES say to send $5 per camper along with your application... because I failed to put THAT information in the Western Skies and on the fliers! ~sigh~ What a loser I am. But then she informed me that Dustin is the one who told her to call and give me a hard time about it. I fully intended to call him and tell him what a slimeball he is, but I got caught up vacuuming the rug inch by inch and forgot about it. But it ended up better that way because after about an hour...

DUSTIN HAYS MADE A SPECIAL PHONE CALL SIMPLY TO APOLOGIZE TO ME!!!!! If that means nothing to you, it's because you are unfamiliar with the... unique relationship he and I have. This is almost as glorious as the day last year when he dropped a boulder on my son, forever indebting himself to me. Dustin Hays apologized to me! Felt bad for me and was compelled to have to make it right. Is that not the most wonderful thing you've ever heard??? I'm really glad he wasn't here to do it in person, because the version that played in my mind was probably far better. It involved poor, pitiful Brother Dustin being down on his knees, groveling a bit... even shedding a tear or two. HA! What a great night. I really think it was worth it to make the blunders on the fliers and applications for the joy of getting a real, live apology out of Dustin Hays. ~sigh~ God loves me. :-)

And that brings an end to our adventuresome day. I truly hope tomorrow is less exciting. And remember, James, most of the time I'm a really, really good wife and I break and lose things only a fraction as often as I used to. And keep in mind that I'm really and truly and deeply sorry about the vacuum. AND keep in mind that I didn't take Dus--I mean The Fiend's advice and deceive you into thinking I didn't slam the vac today... ;-)

So Bittersweet

So, due to this...the Colorado District Convention was postponed. We got snow here, but only about 3" or so. In Colorado, however, most of I-25 was supposedly encountering a severe blizzard. They were forcasting 10-12" in some places, white-out conditions in others, and "up to 4' snow drifts" in other places. Of course, in the end none of it turned out to be quite as severe as predicted and we probably could have gone ahead with Convention... But how can you KNOW?! Anyway, it was sad to have to postpone it... but not heartbreaking! I feel so non-spiritual (!!!), but I was actually a little bit relieved. If it would have been CANCELLED I would have been sorely disappointed, but since it's only POSTPONED I'm actually thankful that the timing worked out so well for us. We were able to enjoy a nice, pretty little snow and...

We finished something!!! TWO somethings, actually!!! ~sigh~ I'm so happy. I feel like we've crossed two great big hurdles and there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. As of this afternoon, the garage... Oh, wait... I mean the

DEN!!!!!!

--Is completed!!! Wa-Hoo!!!

So here are a few before and after shots. I had a terrible time decorating in here--it's sort of a hodge-podge of stuff... but it's what we had left after finishing the rest of the house! And it doesn't matter to me at all. I just love that it's FINISHED!!! :-)







And... (insert drumroll here, please)...

James now has his very own soda fountain!!!



That little black thing (above) is a fridge and "kegerator" or something like that. It will hold carbonated water so we can get syrups of all kinds and make our very own Italian sodas or cherry-limeades or vanilla cokes or... Oh, the possibilities are endless! :-) Is that not the coolest thing in the world?! I think it's great, personally, but more than anything I'm soooooo happy for James. He's always wanted to run a soda fountain, preferably as a business (ha!), and this is probably as close as he'll ever get. He already gets this cute little twinkle in his eye when he stands behind the bar--and we're not even fully set up to operate yet! I'm going to have to get him one of those soda jerk hats and take his picture. :-)

Here's the front view.



And as if finishing the den wasn't enough to make me happy... almost downright giddy, in fact... we managed to finish our bedroom today as well! Wa-Hoo!!! We're on a roll!

So there you have it. Pictures, at last! ~sigh~ Life is so grand. I'm just so glad to have two rooms finished and put together and nice and clean and enjoyable. Now if I can get control of the rest of the house (truly TRASHED, with lots more boxes of stuff to unpack and find a place for--mostly office/closet kind of things) I can LIVE, just LIVE here instead of WORK here. Well... I guess that's what I do... "work" here at home. You know what I mean, though! I will get to just do the regular wife/mom thing--cooking and cleaning and dishes and laundry and ironing and all that jazz. ~sigh~ That sounds so wonderful!

Nothing Much

I have become a very, very bad blogger. But it's for the best really since I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY. It seems like it's just the same thing: my house is trashed, I'm working hard, it will be done some day and I'll post pictures. Hasn't that been my story for weeks now? Nooooo... silly me. It's been a year. No, wait. It's been... 1 year, 1 month, and 12 days. That's how long we've been in this house. ~sigh~ Sometimes I think the end is in sight. Other times I laugh... a sort of disturbing maniacal laugh... realizing that the work on a house really never ends. If we all just lived in tents we wouldn't know the conveniences of living in houses and "making a comfortable home" and all that stuff and we'd be content and have a whole lot more time on our hands. ~sigh~

I've run out of steam for the night. It always seems to happen before I've completed all that I had intended to complete, then those things get shoved back to the next day's to-do list. But not this time--we're probably leaving in the morning for Colorado District Convention. The jury's still out on that. Southern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico are supposed to be getting slammed with serious snow storms tonight and tomorrow. Jon said it's pretty much over with in Denver, but there are still winter storm warnings in affect in Colorado Springs until 6:00 tomorrow morning and Pueblo (where Convention is to be held) until noon, or something like that. Coming from our direction (our family would be the only ones coming from the south) our biggest problem would be making it over Raton pass, which is expecting 10-15 inches of snowfall tonight and tomorrow morning. Could be interesting! Ha! Jon (District Overseer up there) is going to wait to see how things actually pan out (can't trust the weathermen, you know) and will decide in the morning whether to go ahead with Convention or postpone it. At which time I'll know whether or not to do a warp-speed packing job so we can hop in the car and get going! I thought about packing tonight... but I just can't make myself do it. I am sooooo wiped out and I just can't bear the thought of exerting any energy that might turn out to be in vain. The thought of packing, then possibly not going anywhere after all is just not worth it! So I'll wait until morning to find out where the day's energy allotment will be used. ;-)

You know, I'm sounding really pitiful tonight. I hate whiny blogs! I didn't realize I was whiny until I re-read some of this--now I know! I'll spare you all anymore. Again I'll say: pictures soon! Just keep in mind that "soon" is a very relative term. ;-)

A Quick and Jumbled Run-Down

Let's see... Sam was sick all night one night, then Joe was sick all day the next day. They both took the following night and day off from being sick, then Sam started throwing up again the morning after that. I had noticed that I hadn't seen or heard anything from Joe in 20 minutes or more so I went looking for him. I found him huddled up in the corner of a closet with no books, no toys, nuthin'. I asked what he was doing. "Oh, just sittin' here... It's a good place to not catch Sam's germs!" Ha! He figured he was next since that's how it had happened two days earlier. I made him come out of the closet and--you guessed it--within a few hours HE was sick again! Crazy! They were both fine the next day, then the day after that it was Katie's turn. She's been off and on since Saturday night, but hasn't tossed her cookies since early this morning. I hope that means it's all over with. This has been the weirdest thing! I'm very thankful that James and I have managed to avoid whatever it is that's been plaguing our household.

In between all of that excitement, big things are happening at our house! The carpet guy came on Thursday and laid half of the carpet (our room and Katie's closet), then came back on Saturday to do the den and boys' room. So now it is officially NOT a garage anymore! Wa-Hoo!!! James smashed two fingers pretty good while installing the baseboard trim and finally decided to figure out how to use that new nail gun of his. Talk about excited. "Who-o-o-o-o-oah!!! Bec, you gotta come see this! This is soooooooooo cool! I can't believe I haven't been using this thing all along!!!" He even went back and RE-nailed all of the trim he'd already nailed with the hammer. The nail gun is to him what the paint sprayer was to me. :-) Anyway, we finished up the trim, then hauled the couch and two chairs into the den and put them in place. That's all that's in there so far, but I already LOVE it! Mostly because it's such a nice, comfortable room with comfortable furniture and nice, cooshy, comfortable CARPET!!! Have I ever mentioned how much I hate tile? ;-) I love our new room. We drug a mattress into the boys' room and laid it on the floor--that's where they've been sleeping since Saturday. Their bunk bed will be here in about two weeks.

We had good services yesterday. James preached a really good message in the morning and my VLB service seemed to go well last night, too. It had occurred to me once we "finished" the den that in the end... it's just a house. Just walls, just carpet, just furniture. I'm so thankful for all of God's blessings and I don't ever want to take them for granted, but I don't ever want to set my heart on these THINGS, you know? So I did a lesson on "abundance." Everybody has an abundance of something in their life whether money or possessions or friends or worries or work or whatever--anything you have an oversufficient supply of is an abundance. Abundance is a good word... unless it's referring to an abundance of worldly things! Material things don't matter--I want to have an abundance of spiritual riches and lay up my treasures in heaven. If my newly completed house burned down tonight, it's just a house. We would recover and go on. I hope it doesn't (!), but in the end it's not really what's important anyway. I want to ever be thankful... but not materialistic!

ANYWAY... That's about it from here. I spent most of the day today cleaning up Katie's room (under the bed, dusting, sorting the dresser, getting the rest of the boys' stuff out, cleaning the floor, etc.) and it's now the only room in the house that's looking GREAT. Our room is coming along. We've got a HUGE and very cool log bed in there (that one James nabbed super cheap from Craigslist) and I have my very own little corner of the room with my very own chair and my very own little table/dresser and my very own lamp to read by. It's my spot. The kids are not NOT ALLOWED in our room and it's the place I can go to and just be alone when I need to. It's so grand!!!

Tomorrow is more of the same, except I'm going to try to throw school into the mix. We skipped it today. I HAD to get the house put back together a little bit before we start bringing boxes in from the office and unpacking them and trying to decide where everything goes. Anyway, we'll get as far as we can this week before we leave for Colorado Convention on Friday, then probably finish up next week. Busy, busy! But it's fun busy and I do feel so very, very blessed. Someday when things are starting to come together I'll post pictures. Not that anybody ever comes to the blogs anymore, you bunch of Facebook traitors!!! That's what I assume has happened to Blogville. Everybody seems to have forsaken it for Facebook and things are really not hoppin' here like they used to. There are some of us who can't do the Facebook thing and would be thrilled to know there's somebody still interested in the BLOGS, you know?! Bunch of ninnies. ;-) And, of course, I'm not speaking to the ones who have been faithful to the blogs... just the deserters. And I must confess, I haven't been just real faithful to blog myself--much less comment anywhere else. Two weeks! Just give me two more weeks to get my life under control and I'll be better! I think. ;-)

Enough rambling. Got to get the kids to bed and work on the Regional Paper. Ah, yes. That's the other thing I'm up to--it's that time again. Lots to do. Gotta run. Just wanted to touch base. Later!

12:35

That's what time it is. I just finished up with the day's manditory work load, crawled into my flannel Coca-Cola nightgown, and sat down. I am soooooo tired. The lack of sleep from last night didn't help matters. Sam was throwing up every hour or hour and a half between 11:00 last night and 7:00 this morning. The first three times soiled his pj's and bedding, so that meant three loads of laundry in the middle of the night besides getting him settled down and back in bed. When he lost his lunch for the last time (at about 7:00 this morning) Joe lost his for the first time. Oh, brother! Sam's been fine throughout the day and certainly hasn't acted sick. Joe, on the other hand, had to run to the bathroom numerous times this morning. He's been able to keep down some broth and Gatorade and got a good nap this afternoon, so I'm really hoping he'll be fine tomorrow. His neck is still stiff and achy. I did have him put a bag of frozen peas on his neck for a little while tonight. (Thanks for the advice!) No word yet on whether it helped or not. Joe isn't typically a fan of ANY method of recovery!

So, really... I'd like to know what's going on here. My brother has been enduring excruciating pain with a toothache for a week or two now. My boys come down sick last night and today. Then I hear from Mom that Dad's got a bum leg--in terrible pain and unable to walk at all there for a little while. I'm thankful that, at last report, Jon is doing some better though he would surely appreciate all the prayers he can get for complete recovery. Sam seems perfectly well and Joe is doing better, too. The Lord really touched Dad and relieved much of the pain tonight and he's able to get around okay on crutches. Still, he needs total healing. It just seems so strange for it all to happen at once! So please pray for my family. We apparently really need it right now!

In other news...

How dumb does a person have to be to spend 10 hours or so wallpapering a closet? However dumb it is, that's me. I have, however, benefitted from the experience in that I have resolved to pitch a royal fit the next time James sees wallpaper on sale and suggests buying some--I don't care HOW cheap it is. This closet cost us practically nothing, but who wants to spend all day wrestling with wallpaper for a closet??? Normal people don't wallpaper closets. I often wish I was one of them. A normal person, that is. Probably by next week I'll be really glad I'm not a normal person--when I walk into Katie's darling closet. But it'll be at least a week until then. For now I'm really wishing I was just normal. Paint would have been so much faster. Oh well, at least it's done. I intended to take a picture, but I was already sitting down when I realized it and I'm just not getting up to do it right now. Maybe in the morning.

James got lots done today, too, but don't ask me what. I was in the closet, so I don't really know. We got the border up in our bedroom, James hung the new ceiling fan (it doesn't even go "clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-whi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ir-clack-clack-thump-whi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ir" like the old one did!) and the other light... Uummm... he got the shelves up in the boys' closet and the second coat of poly on his soda bar... Hhmmm. I don't know, there's been a whole lot of accomplishment going on around here. Frankly, I'm gettin' good and tired of it! I want to NOT accomplish anything for a little while! But we've been under pressure, good, necessary pressure to get a long list of things completed because...

The carpet guys will be here in the morning!!! Wa-Hoo!!! I'm so excited! I want them here, I want them gone, and I want to MOVE IN to my new house! :-)

Well, I'm winding down, so I think I'm going to hit the hay. 'Nuther big day tomorrow! Hopefully it will be a fun, happy day. It's got to improve a whole lot once we can start clearing the STUFF out of the living room. That will make me oh, so happy. The mess is really starting to get to me. If I hadn't been locked in a closet all day I probably would have snapped because of it. I think the carpet is coming just in time! I'M SO THANKFUL.

Pictures soon. G'night!

Blog Therapy

It's the only reason an otherwise sane person would be blogging at 1:00 in the morning. When I'm swamped the most is when I seem to need the "release" of blogging the most. Dumb. Why is that? Why don't I feel like blogging when I'm bored and have nothing else to do? Wait... when's the last time that happened? Hmmm...

I won't lay out all of the details, but I will say that it's been a very full couple of days packed with lots of paint, wallpaper, polyurethane, paint speckled hair, filthy fingernails, hands that are dried out and cracked, beat up knees, one splinter firmly lodged underneath a fingernail, achy arms, and as of an hour or two ago a kid throwing up all over himself, his pj's, his pillow, his blanket, and the rug. Twice. ~sigh~ He seems to be resting soundly right now, so I'm hoping it's all over with for the night. Time will tell!

I do have one kid story to impart. Let me just start by saying KIDS ARE SO DUMB. Yesterday morning while I was wallpapering I suddenly heard the most terrible scream from outside where the kids were playing. It was one of those bad ones--the real thing. I made my way out of the house (no easy task in it's current condition) in time to see all three kids walking toward the porch of their own accord, no broken limbs and no blood, although Joe had a rope wrapped around and around him securing his arms to his sides. Upon seeing that they were all still alive, I became rather unhappy with them. I get on to them all the time for yelling and screaming and otherwise acting like a bunch of crazed Indians--it echoes all across the mountain and I keep telling them that the neighbors simply don't want to hear it. Well, this was mid-morning when all of the other kids are in school and the neighbors should be able to expect some peace and quiet. Nope. It was Joe who had been screaming bloody murder, I could tell by the tear drenched face. And the rope was a pretty good indicator, as well. When they got to the house I told them that I didn't want to hear it. "Just calm yourselves down, find a book and sit down somewhere and be quiet!" It only took a minute for me to reconsider. Since the scream and tears had been so impressive it seemed like I should at least find out what happened, so I asked Katie. I was still rather upset as she began, "Well... Joe had this idea... that Sam and I should tie him upside down from the swing set..." !!!!! Mad or not, when I heard just that much of the story I lost it. Just cracked up. That's all I needed to hear--I could just see the whole thing!!! HA! How could they be sooooooo dumb?!?!? Katie started giggling, too, and Joe (with tears still coming) started laughing with us. Sam declared that he was the one who accidentally let go of the rope. I told them all that it was a STUPID, STUPID, STUPID thing to do and how Joe could have been very seriously injured, but I had to repeat the lecture later once I had regained my composure because the first time around it came through my own tears and laughter!

By the way, pray for Joe! About an hour after the incident I noticed him walking around the house with his head down, chin near his chest. His neck is real sore and sometimes even his back hurts a little--and his head hurts. (Imagine that! From what I can gather, he was probably two and a half feet off the ground--with his arms tied to his sides, mind you--when he was...released.) Anything that jars him at all (even just riding in the car and going over a bump) seems to hurt his head. It's not severe, but it's definitely bothering him. He's NOT the one throwing up, just so you know--that was Sam. Still, I wonder if perhaps he suffered a mild concussion. ??? I don't really know anything about them. I told the horse lady about it today and she wanted to know if it has helped! Ha! We were discussing Joe's absentmindedness and terrible short term memory last week and she asked if he'd ever hit his head real hard or anything. No... But now he has, so she wondered if perhaps it helped him out!

Joe wanted to ride today and practice his reining, but he didn't stay on too long. It was sad and not sad all at once. It meant that I got to finish the rest of his lesson for him! Wa-Hoo!!! I got to ride Daisy for a few minutes today and trot a bit. :-) Life is so grand. Though I do feel bad for Joe. I hate it that he's hurting... but I'm really hoping he's learned a lesson through this! ~sigh~ Bunch of idiot children!!!

That's about it. We've got one more day of breakneck speed work to be done, then on Thursday... THE CARPET COMES!!!!! Wa-Hoo!!!!!!!!! The beginning of the end! It's truly here! They're coming! I'm going to have carpet and be able to MOVE IN to all of the parts of my house that I'm NOT moved in to right now! Currenly my living room contains two couches, four wingback chairs, a rocker and a recliner, as well as a coffee table and piano. Half of the furniture belongs in other places in the house and it's just a wee bit cramped in here. My bedroom stuff is truly stuffed (!) into my bathroom, and as of today Katie's closet stuff is stacked, piled, and strewn all over her bed (all three kids are sleeping in the living room, on the floor and one couch--yes, somehow there's room for that in here!) and floor. Tomorrow things will get even worse, if it's possible, but once we get carpet in on Thursday it should very slowly begin a grand and glorious recovery of every room in the house, even the new ones. :-) If I can just hold on for a few more days in the chaos... I've been handling it amazingly well, I think. Usually chaos doesn't set well with me, but nobody's gotten hurt yet. Except for Joe, and I don't think it was related to the mess. ;-)

Decisions, Decisions

I hate them. Always have, always will. I wish you could live life entirely without them, just always knowing what to make for dinner, if you should buy those jeans or if the kid will grow out of them too soon, should you wear your favorite sweater today or save it for another time??? And my present dilemma: WHAT COLOR OF PAINT IS THE RIGHT COLOR OF PAINT?! That's always one of the very, very hardest decisions--one that I hate more passionately than all of the other decisions I hate to make. I've learned that I usually make a whole lot of bad decisions in this area before the right one ever comes to me, if it comes to me. That's why I tend to use the same colors over and over again. I finally found what I LIKED; why take a chance on screwing it up?! Well, I was ready to branch out and try something new in our bedroom. ~sigh~ I guess I'll never learn. But first...

It's been a good couple of days, all in all. This is what we woke up to yesterday. :-)

Purty, hu? We've still never gotten what I would consider a good snow (5 or 6 inches, at least), but I'm thankful for the little, tiny bits that we've had several times this winter. Some day I'll be able to celebrate them with puzzles and hot chocolate, but not until we finish working on this house. The kids were able to make the best of it, however! They finished school up before noon so they could spend the rest of the day in the snow. Katie and Sam decided that the trampoline was the best spot to go to work.



Sam built the large, muddy snowman at the edge of the yard and Katie transported her baby snowman over next to him. I'm having a hard time thinking it's cute right at this moment because when I see this picture all I really see is that little carrot nose. I pulled that nasty, dirty, dingy, soggy carrot out of a little boys' pocket while I was sorting clothes to wash a little while ago. Bleagh! Kids are so gross!

I spent the afternoon painting the ceiling in our bedroom, as well as the linen closet in there. (Green shelves in that closet--I love 'em!) James was good to occupy the kids, even taking over the next Pink Princess Cookbook project! Ha! White chocolate pretzel dragonflies. YUM. Wow, if I've ever had a weakness I think it's white chocolate covered pretzels. I could eat them by the pound! I never did get hungry enough to eat dinner last night, but I had plenty of pretzels--every time I walked by!



They look like dragonflies... right???



Meanwhile, I was in our bedroom painting one wall red. This is where the I-Hate-Making-Decisions thing comes in. I had it in my brain that I wanted one red splotchy wall in our room, using that same faux technique we do with the brown and cream. It looked gorgeous in my mind, but it's so tricky to get the same result to actually happen in real life! It's hard enough to pick a paint color that's not going to be disastrous once it's on your wall (they all look good on the little cards, you know), but it's 10 times harder to pick two colors, and get the desired effect on the wall with the new color the two of them create together.

As you can see, Plan A didn't work, so we tried every possible combination with every color of paint we had on hand, mixing some of them together to get new colors to mix with the first color. Crazy!!! This is what it looked like when we gave up and went to bed last night. I needed to sleep on it and start fresh in the morning! We ended up not going with any of these combos.
I picked the two that I hated the least and mixed them together to get a whole new combination. Here's a picture of it with our bedspread... on legs. ;-)

Please tell me the wall doesn't look pink!!!!! Purple in the boys' room, now pink in my room... I should be fired!!! Ha! Actually, the flash from the camera makes everything look a little bit brighter than it really is and I don't think it looks so mauvish in person. I keep telling myself that once we get moved in and have that wall covered up with some rustic decor I'm going to love it! :-)

James was pretty busy today as well. He was gone to town for the first half of the day, then came home with some more paint rollers for me... and a really great Lay-Z-Boy swivel recliner for $50! It's in great condition, it's just the right size (not too huge), and the colors will work just right in the den. Wa-Hoo! I was just praying yesterday for God to provide a couple of chairs for that room. Who wants to have a freshly remodeled den with no furniture?! Ha! James also found two green wingback chairs for $20 or $30 apiece (can't remember which) a couple of months ago, so now we have one in the living room and one to go in our bedroom. It's amazing to me that God takes such good care of us. He provides for all of our needs, then goes wa-a-a-a-a-ay beyond that and provides so many things that aren't necessities at all, just "extras," I call them. He's so good to us.

James brought home the supplies to make the shelves for the boys' closet. We struggled to get them hung straight, but we finally just called it good. :-) I got those stained (opted against paint in there) as well as the jail door and some of the trim that needed darkened. It's lookin' good out there!

So now it's Saturday night. My room is painted (all of the walls--I did that after I finally finished the red one), we had Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner (thanks again, James!), everybody has been bathed and the kids are sound asleep. I've got the laundry started, in hopes of being able to complete it between services tomorrow so I can do the ironing tomorrow night after church. That's usually Monday's job, but I've got wallpapering to do after school on Monday so I'm trying to get a step ahead if I can. In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to a day "off" (laundry isn't all that taxing) tomorrow and being able to wear nice, clean clothes and go to church and get my mind off of house stuff for a little while. I'm really ready for some good services!

The Beginning of the End???

It's an exciting feeling and a dreadful one. I'm afraid I'm not speaking about anything spiritual at the moment. No, I'm referring to our house. We've begun phase 1,082. At least, that's what it feels like. It seems all we ever do anymore is travel, come home, and work on the house. I enjoy all of those things... but I'm really growing weary of that last one! I want to be DONE with the house and find out how it must feel to come home and just LIVE in it instead of remodel it! ~sigh~ Some day.

For now, it's a wreck. We have officially trashed it again. That's got to be the worst part about remodeling. You have to trash every room in the house in order to make one of them purty. James is getting very near being finished out in the den, so that means we're getting near to having the carpet laid. I can't begin to express the glee that starts welling up within me at the very thought... I could almost squeal. And I am NOT the squealing kind. BUT... when we have the carpet laid in the den and boys' room we're also having it laid in our bedroom, which means we need to remodel that room as well. In order to do that it must be emptied out, unfortunately into every other room in the house. So we began working on that today. James ran out of steam before he got his computer and a few other things out, but we're getting there.

I had worked for a while earlier today on my plan to try to maintain my living/dining room in some sort of functional order instead of being totally overcome by bedroom stuff. It mostly involved moving a whole bunch of it into the bathroom. I never knew the blessing this big bathroom would be at a time such as this! ;-) This is what you see when you look in the door now.

And this is what the rest of the bathroom looks like. Ha! Crazy, hu?! I filled that great big bathtub all the way up to the brim with stuff, then put the box springs and mattress on top of it. I told James we could just sleep there on top of the tub! Ha! We've had the log bed frame propped against the wall ever since James bought it, awaiting the remodel before we actually put it together and use it. I was amazed that I was able to get all of it in the bathroom as well. It's awful to have to have so much junk in there, but it makes me happy that it's there instead of in the living room.
Ah, yes. The living room. It didn't exactly come through unscathed. I HATE it when it's junked up like this! We are just out of room to put stuff!!! Tomorrow I'm going to have to clean out some cabinets or something and find places to put all of that junk that is stacked and piled hither and yon. It's already driving me batty. That white table on the right along with those two blue bins are the current Regional Office. HA! James is going to set his computer up there until we can get everything finished. It should be a great help, really. His need for privacy and my need for my house back is going to increase the urgency of the house/office remodel considerably. :-)

So the good news is, the next project is underway! I will be quite busy painting and wallpapering again for the next several days... or more, I fear. I'm sooooo tired of doing this, but I'm sooooo ready for everything to be completed! I feel like I'm on the very last lap of the triathlon I was elected for in 5th grade. You know you're getting close, but you... just... can't... go... on! Ha! I'm wearing thin, that's for sure. ~sigh~ I'll be so happy when all of this is over with.

I can't very well end on that note, however, much less those terrible pictures of everything we still have to do. So here are a few of things that have already been accomplished, though most of them still need some tweeking. (Need to darken the stain on the trim and things like that.)

First of all, this is the door James built for the boys' room. Isn't it cool?! I love it!

This is the inside of it--and you can see the border we found to separate the wallpaper from the faux painting.

And this is the inside of the boys' closet. We had enough of that Wanted Poster border left-over from the last house to do the back wall of their "jail" closet.

In Andrews their whole room was like a jail--plank walls and the Wanted Poster border and even jail bars in the windows. It never occurred to us until an inspector mentioned it when we were moving out, but the bars in the window aren't exactly the safest thing. I mean, if there was a fire or something, we've "jailed" our boys in their room with no hope of escape! Ha! So we're forgoing the bars in the windows this time and decided to just make the closet the jail instead. Joe & Sam are already pretty excited about it and keep asking if they can go to the garage to play in their new jail. :-)

Ah, yes. Need to stain that door, too. So many things to be done, I tell ya'! OH. And the other terrible news... we just found out tonight that it could be 3 or 4 weeks until the guys can get up here to lay the carpet!!! Can you imagine?! I'm hoping and even praying that it won't be that long. I sooooo want to just get moved in! Moved in to the den and the boys' room and moved back in to my bedroom and moved OUT of everywhere else in the house where things that don't belong are stuffed! ~sigh~ I need a real strong shot of patience about now, I guess. Hope I get it before I snap and somebody gets hurt! Ha!

Much Better, Thank You!

I was able to go back to sleep after my wee-hour-of-the-morning blog and sleep until nearly 9:00, I think. Spent the morning cleaning house and getting things back in order after our trip, scarfed down some lunch and made it to horse lessons at 1:00. Daisy was there again, so it was another fun lesson with a great horse and lots of trotting. By the time we got home at 2:30 I was sooooo tired! So I sent the kids out to play and I was able to grab a wonderful, glorious hour of sweet sleep. ~Aaaahhhhh~ I felt worlds better when I woke up. :-) Fixed a smothered steaks for dinner (the only thing that could have made them better is if they would have been deer or elk instead of beef--oh, how I miss that!) and did evening school with the kids. :-)

Thanks for the prayers and advice on the stuffy nose thing. But... I'm pretty sure I couldn't make myself sniff salt water--or anything, for that matter! Ha! The very thought of it gives me the willies!!! And I'm happy to say that it doesn't appear as if I'm in need of any home remedies (greatly relieved, as well as happy once I learned of sniffing salt, Kasey!) anymore. I have been breathing clearly and easily all day long. Praise the Lord!

Anyway, about our trip...

We left Friday morning so we'd have time to stop in Carrizozo at the o-o-o-o-old soda fountain that James so loves stopping at. We got ice cream cones for the kids and milkshakes for us--and James ordered a cherry-limeade for the road. James LOVES soda fountains. :-) We were surprised by the cars that were parked all over the roads in town (there's not just a whole lot to Carrizozo--about 1,000 people, I think) until Roy (of Roy's Soda Fountain) explained that they're filming a movie with Denzel Washington there and it was their first day of filming. They've been building sets since December, I guess. We drove around to see what we could see, but it wasn't much. (I wouldn't know Denzel Washington if I bumped into him, I just recognize the name!) From what we could see of the sets, it appears to be a very depressing movie. Ha! Dark and glum--and tons of "extras" standing on a street corner in black and brown, dirty, smudgy clothes. Oh well, it was exciting for a few moments!

We had enough time to get to the motel and rest a bit before service that night. The theme of our Convention was "Come & Dine" and it was just sooooo good! The worship is always such a blessing when we get with our Spanish people. Brother Tanny preached that first night. The kids always love to hear him. They remembered last year's message when he preached about the three little pigs. He always leaves an impression! Ha!

On Saturday we had all of our boosts and a messages by Brother Soto, Brother Banuelos, and James. The Lord really blessed through the Word and it seemed that everyone was refreshed and receiving good things from the Lord. It was such a good Convention!

Here are a few pictures. This is a picture of (some!) of the Hatch group leading in worship.

As always, there is lots of food and lots of fellowship to be enjoyed when we go to Alamogordo! Those people just love to take care of you and are always so happy to provide a delicious meal to however many people attend the Convention. There are just a handful of members there, but they always feed the whole gang and have plenty of left-overs for later... although Brother Tanny isn't allowed to call them "left-overs" because it sounds bad. So he told us to come and enjoy "the food that was left." Ha! He and Sister Coyazo are quite the pair!

Brother Hector, Brother Olivarez, and Brother Banuelos. Oh, and there's Tayde back there, too!

I only got a picture of the last few people going through the line to greet the Coyazos (District Overseer). I always love Brother Tanny's cowboy garb. He's so cute! ;-)

Here's a picture of Erika and Amie. (Is that spelled right, Tayde???) She is a beautiful baby. Of course, Sam Kaufman said, "Wow, that sure is a neat lookin' baby!" I CRACKED UP!!! I've heard people call babies beautiful or pretty or gorgeous or precious (if necessary! Ha!)... but only SAM would say it's a NEAT LOOKING BABY! Ha!!!


And here he is... practicing. ;-) And this is the closest thing I got to a belly shot of Tammy. Ha!

Here he is again, embarassed at being caught digging in his wife's purse. Gotta love it!
HA! And for our last... Tammy was wanting a new profile picture for her blog, so she asked if I'd take a picture of her and Sam. GOOD GRIEF!!! It's easier to get three small children to sit still, behave, and pose for a picture than it is Sam Kaufman! I ended up with 11 pictures total and Tammy wasn't thrilled with any of them. I just kept clicking as fast as my camera would get ready for the next shot. These are just a few in the series...

It was great. :-)

We had a good time playing games with Sam & Tammy and even managed to squeeze one in after Convention on Saturday, before they headed back to Texas. Tammy was sure to gripe (and rightly so) at James a whole lot for scheduling the Convention on Daylight Savings weekend. Sam & Tammy are the only ones who have to travel back to Texas, so they lose an hour going home anyway, but because of this weekend they lost TWO hours going home!

After they left we loaded the kids up and went over to the Coyazo's house and visited until a little after 10:00, I think. ~sigh~ We just have the most wonderful people in the whole world out here! We SO enjoyed our time with them. They are such wonderful, sincere, funny people and we're so blessed to be "members one of another" with such people!

We got up on Sunday morning and leisurely got ready for church, packed up our stuff, loaded the van, and drove on over. We were surprised to see so many cars there so early (15 minutes or so before church) and were concerned that perhaps service started at 9:30 instead of 10:00 or something like that. We opened the door and saw Brother Tanny standing behind the pulpit, just smiling. Everybody was seated and just sort of turned and grinned at us as we walked in. Finally, Brother Tanny said, "Did you forget about the time change?" !!!!!!!!! Can you believe it?!

JAMES RICHARD HORNE FORGOT ABOUT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME AND WENT TO CHURCH AN HOUR LATE!!! Ha! Is that not the greatest thing you've ever heard?!?!? I was terribly embarrassed and apologized profusely... but the other half of me was so pleased that JAMES had forgotten about it. (It's not surprising at all that I forgot, but James?!)It was doubly great since there had been so much banter between him and Tammy about them losing TWO hours. In the end, we just decided to not observe it at all--now, if THAT won't make Tammy mad...! Ha! I was sure to slug James and say, "Why do you think I married you?!" He's just not good for much anymore, I tell ya'. He used to be sooooo on top of it. Never made silly mistakes or lost or forgot anything... I think it's all of the wonderful Smith influence he's had in his life for the past 9 years. He'll deny it 'til his dying day, but it's rubbed off on him just a bit. Wa-Hoo!!! Life is grand!

We were sorry to have missed Sunday School (!), but thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful message by Sister Coyazo. She is always such a blessing. I want to be like her in so many ways!

After service Brother Tanny insisted on taking us to the Golden Corral, as always. It's Joe's very favorite thing about going to Alamogordo! Ha! We had another nice visit with them before heading over to Hatch. We had a good service with them that night as well and were blessed by the wonderful spirit of prayer they have there. Afterwards we were able to go see Hector & Erika's house (it's looking great!), then go visit with the Banueloses for a while. It was great fun, as always. I just love those people! And, of course, Sister Banuelos fed us yet more good food. I love the kinship that we feel with all of the people out here. There is such a... I don't know how to describe it. When you walk into a Convention you just feel so... comfortable with everybody! So... at home. It's like you are walking into a room full of your very own family and it's just so good to see and be with ALL of them. You can't even pick any favorites (not that you should!) because everybody just loves EVERYBODY so much! It's wonderful.

We stayed at the marvellous Village Plaza Hotel in Hatch (Ha! -- Such great memories we've had at that place over the years!), then drove home yesterday. And that just about sums up our trip! It was a great one. God is so good to us and I always feel so very, very blessed when we get together with His people to rejoice and draw nearer to Him and to one another. There's just nothing to compare! I'm already looking forward to the next Convention. Just two and a half weeks away! :-)