Monday, June 24, 2013

A Lesson In Patience... or What I Have Done While Waiting for My Bedroom To Be Finished so I Can Sleep in My Own Bed

First of all, 
you need to know that I am incredibly 
happy and pleased with the work our
contractor, Greg Gommels, has been doing.
I would recommend him to anyone needing 
just about anything done.
He is an expert and thorough and really listens.

I am just not patient.
I want to wake up in my bedroom on these 
lazy days (phhht...continue reading)  of summer
with a cup of heavily creamed coffee, a cookie, 
and the Today Show
with my computer on my lap,
my Ipad and my phone at my side
 with the lacy (and freshly washed) curtains 
wafting gently
in a soft summer breeze.
As you see, I have given a lot of thought to 
this scenario.

But...
as anyone who has done any work on 
their abode knows things just do not work
out as planned.

One week has turned into two and a half. 
Nearly three if you count the time we spent hauling stuff out
on the rooms on the Wednesday before.

Here is a picture of what you do with 18 years of 
STUFF...
 Half of it goes in Sorcha's room...

 The other half goes in Fionn's room!
 SO we are all camping out in the living room,
the RV, or the guest bedroom...
for almost 3 WEEKS...did I mention that?

So back to the refurbish...
Our house was built in 1895.
That explains a lot!
Plus the room is HUGE!
24x16
The walls went well.
 I HAVE WALLS!!!!
I am pretty excited by that!
A little history....
When Lee was a Senior he helped me tear out
the old plaster and horse hair and lath.
John insulated but we never got around
to sheet rock.

Here is a lovely patch of wallpaper we discovered in
my closet. Original?  Maybe!
There is nothing under it but the original plaster.
 
See how bad the walls were?  Gross.

The room is complicated with lots of angles.
So for 6 years I looked at the 
Christmas flocking (already removed in the picture above)
we stapled over 
the brown craft paper on the back
of the insulation.
Sparkly but not exactly walls.
So now you see why I am so excited!
WALLS!!!
We painted them a nice soft gray...the shade on the right.


The floor...well, that is another matter.
The original pine flooring was covered with
a shellac or lacquer and the planned 
ONE
day to sand it off turned into 
THREE and a HALF
plus 2 broken sanders!
YIKES!

Before....

 After!!!

Wow! What a difference!
Greg has to finish sanding the perimeter
and then 2 coats of sealer.
Maybe, just maybe, we can move our stuff back in on WEDNESDAY?  


So after summer school was over and my classroom
all set for the next session in August,
I went a little crazy with 
sorting
organizing
throwing
donating 
stuff.....

First I tackled the food storage 
area in the basement.
Our mini grocery store...
all organized by category and 
ALPHABETIZED!
(Told you I went a bit off the deep end)





 


Then I tackled the kitchen...
new shelf paper,
rearranged cupboards to make it easier
for Grandpa to access items,
and just a general purging...

Spices refilled, wiped down, and alphabetized again.




My favorite cupboard has this saying lettered on the door....
it also says "cookies are made with butter and love"
true



When we first began this adventure
John and I hauled down about dozens boxes of 
childhood memories for our 6 kids.
So we (finally) purchased six 50-gallon totes
and spent an entire night 
(one of two all nighters I have pulled this summer)
sorting the kids' precious memories!

And here they are...
disguised as a behind the couch table!


 Couldn't forget the bathroom!
I actually spent a little money on a new shower curtain,
a teal shower mat,
and some really adorable storage totes...
it is amazing how much a family can
accumulate in just 1 year in such a 
tiny little room!
(see last year's post on our bathroom adventure!)

 Cute!



 Yep, even the birds got a revamp...
I do believe they love their new window view!

Meanwhile, back in the living room...
I painted over an awful border I put up years ago...
yep, just painted right over it!
We do have some  crown molding that 
is "aging" in the shop what will eventually go over
the border area. Eventually.
In John's defense,
he did go out to the shop to cut the first piece,
however the table saw did not work.
Oh no!
 We also took down the curtains and 
bleached the sheers and replaced the 18 year old heavy green
curtains with light and airy mossy green ones that were
repurposed.  They really look nice!

Oh, yes!  I let my inner geek free and made a 
DOCTOR WHO
shelf in the living room!  WHOO HOO!
(bow ties are cool!)


Back in the kitchen...
more sorting...
more organizing...
more throwing....

 Don't  you love the little boxes from Target?
I picked them up last year not knowing what I needed
them for...mystery solved!

And FINALLY....
I made this adorable little reading corner!
 I have another scenario in my mind that my sweet husband
and I will each be absorbed for HOURS in our 
respective literature, snuggled up with heavily creamed coffee,
cookies, warm socks, soft lap blankets and the winter winds howling with us oblivious to the 
storm as we occasionally glance up from our books to smile 
at each other and whisper "I love you"
***sigh***
OK OK...I am content to have a place just to sit to take off my shoes....
But really, I couldn't have done it without John taking out 
the non-functioning corn/pellet stove.  Thanks, Sweetie!

Oh, yes, I also painted the inside of the closet as 
years ago with the stove blocking easy access,
I knocked over a gallon of colonial maple stain.
What.A.Mess!!!!
All cleaned up now...just fancy dresses and beach bags here!

                                     

Wonder how long that will last?

So please think happy thoughts for us that we will be back 
in our rooms on Wednesday.
Alright, maybe Thursday...no later than Friday.....












Rain Forest Animals 1 2013

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE teaching 
ENRICHMENT Summer School?
I really do!
This week for Rain Forest Animals 1
we learned about 
frogs
big beautiful butterflies
jaguars
alligators and their cousins
monkeys
and the rain forest they call home!

We were so lucky to have a couple of 
National Honor Society kids help out this week
and my sweet daughter, Sorcha, who is working off
the purchase of a ukulele ...
(this is the same kiddo at age 5 who asked Santa for an
accordion a few days before Christmas!)

Here is Trey working with the kiddos
on an -og and -y (long i) word family project.
(don't you LOVE the hats?)
 
This is Ashton creating a frog with the explorers.
Cute!
While the kiddos waited their turn at the stations,
they had free choice!



At my station we painted a frog with balloons!
Crazy but true...and a lot of fun!

We also practiced counting and printing numerals
to 100 by 10's...nice review!

I love these explorers!




Something new and fun this year...
an attendance chart!
Everyday the kids found their frog, added a sticker
and put it on the chart...nice housekeeping touch!

On Tuesday Sorcha led a table creating butterfly hats
and a symmetrical "scratch and draw" butterfly.


The kids and Ashton worked on a tissue paper 
and contact paper butterfly.

My station was (you guessed it)
symmetry and squish painting!
We also noticed how the colors blended together to 
make new colors in places...

We signed in everyday...
Tuesday's chart was yet another 
symmetrical butterfly.

If you had a chance to stop by our room,
here's some of the rain forest sights you might 
have spied...
Oh, my favorite...a rain forest vine right across our room!

There is a ton of great children's literature
with the rain forest theme!

Wednesday brought a bit of reading practice
with Trey...Step Into The Rain Forest.


Sorch introduced the layers of the rain forest
with a large watercolor painting project.
We learned the layers are
forest floor
understory
canopy
emergent layer.


The art table had tons of supplies for free exploration...




Love the jaguars the kids drew...

My station was creating this super adorable 
paper jaguar.




Book Time!


Finally, the day we were waiting for...
ALLIGATOR DAY!
Trey played a rain forest beginning sound game
and a game of SNAP...a math reasoning game.


Ashton helped to create these cute alligator necklaces.



And here is my station...
the kids created and painted these 
3 Dimensional Alligators





How long can your monkey chain go?


This is a puzzle the kids worked together to solve
(more than one way to solve it...LOVE IT!)

Here is another tough puzzle...

More sights from the rain forest...




EXPLORERS!


Oh, here is a group measuring project!
By Friday our big 'gator grew to 12 inches!

A 'gator wrangler!



Ashton got a head start on Friday's picture frames
as they are bit labor intensive...
THANKS! 
We did finish them on Friday with her help!



What a fast, fun, fantastic week!
We will see some of you for 
Rain Forest Animals 2
which begins the first full week in August
with 5 new animals!

WELCOME!

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