laughed till i cried

thank you to all of my funny blogging friends. laughter is good. i laugh throughout the day but some of your posts and little one liners really make me laugh.

My favorites

Here are more of the pictures we took in about 15 minutes one afternoon before Chip had to run to a night meeting at project. A student took the pictures for us. She snapped about 200. She was so sweet to do it for only the price of a footlong subway dinner. She even allowed me to upload them to my computer and edit them myself. Thanks Esther for the memories. I just love them. I am trying to figure out where to put them at my house.

all but the electric

When we get an idea in our heads we usually get right on it. So, we are almost done with the closet/office. I love it. I feel like it is my spot. We just need a light and outlet put in. Hopefully that will get done soon. Chip needs assitance with that chore. We went with the same wall color are the den and hallway. I think it was a good choice.

IDIOT

I had strong coffee this morning AND 1 1/2 large glasses of Cane's sweet tea tonight. I sometimes can't sleep at night if I have strong coffee in the morning. So, I say all that to say, it is 11:40pm and I am not the least bit sleepy. Maybe I will read a book. Thanks Shana for the encouragement to read. I can't wait to get some of my books back from Chip's office...when I get my little nook finished.

Proud of myself

When we bought our house it had an OLD wall oven. We decided to take it out and just use a range. So, this left a huge hole that we were just using as storage. At some point I had the idea of putting up a chalk board as a door. So, when I was home for those 3 weeks I did it. It turned out even better than I imagined.


We are working on another project too. I had another idea. We are turning a random closet that is between the den and hallway into a little office nook. For the past 7 months Chip has been using it to store tools. Not acceptible. I decided that it would fit my desk quite well and still have two shelves for books and pictures. Today he took out the bottom 3 shelves, puttied and sanded. It should be done in a few days. I am so excited to have it finally be functional and cute. We will have to install a light and an outlet so that our printer will finally have a home. It has been up in a closet and pulled down when we need it...quite annoying. I will post a final.

Question: I have paint that is one shade lighter than the den and paint that is one shade darker. I don't know what to paint the closet. Do I go darker and therefore stand out or lighter or just the same as the den?

To sleep or not to sleep

Since we have been home, we have rested but are tired from battling bed/nap times. At the end of project Ella started climbing out of her pack-n-play. So, she spent a few nights on the air mattress with Streed. The first night home she climbed out of her crib. This was no big surprise. We were scared she would hurt herself so we took her crib mattress out and laid it on the floor. After much spanking and returning her to the room, she eventually fell asleep. We have tried to let them share a bed again. Today both nap and bedtime were an ordeal. Streed and Ella are great friends which means they would rather play and laugh than sleep. It is cute until it is 9:40pm and they are still awake. I ended up taking Ella to her room to sleep. Streed wanted to go too. I think Ella really wants to sleep in her own room. We have a twin frame and are planning on getting a mattress next week.
Nate too has been having sleeping issues. I don't know if it is the beginning of teething, transitioning back to his crib, congestion or hunger... So, in order to rule out as many possibilities as I can, I have put in a humidifier and started feeding him rice cereal. This didn't work last night. Maybe tonight.
I know what you are thinking. So he does look a little chubby in this picture. I can admit when I am wrong...sometimes.

no comparison

People (strangers) are constantly making comments about how chunky Nate is. I simply cannot agree. There is no doubt he is a big baby...and I am sure he is off the charts for his weight. But, you have to know where I am coming from. I mean, did you see my 2nd child?
Ella at almost 4 mts......

Nate at almost 5 mts

Motel Living 101

LAUNDRY: ok i am excited about washing clothes without having to pay $1.50/wash and who knows how much to dry. it all depends on what drier you choose.
funny story...
casey washed clothes the other day at the laundromat by our motel. it was taking the clothes forever to dry. ($0.25/8 minutes). After about an hour and the clothes still being soaking wet, jill asked, "did you put it in the one that said 'good', 'sux' or 'sux/good'?" it does make a difference. we were very thankful for those that chose vandelism to communicate the drier's efficiency. you can probably only laugh at this if you have lived there.



and in case you were wondering...

yes, this too was drawn on the wall.

A/C units: I am not a psycho blogger nor am I soliciting pity. I just hope to the dear Lord that I never have to stay there again! We have some other options for next year so I want to remember the joys of three summers at the Grove. For the past two summers I got to stay in the same room. This has been the scene outside my room...an ice bucket catching the drippings from the wall unit. I had to dump it throughout the day or there would be a river outside our room. And by the way, I did not come up with this idea. That would be the owners idea.


FACILITIES: Oh, and this is the space under my door due to a missing threshold. Amazingly enough nothing came in except some rain water. I did put a towel under the door the first night. After a few days you adjust.


These are just a few of the stories from my room. There are plenty of others. Next door to me they killed a snake in their baby's room. Next door to them the shower holds water so that you bathe with water up to your calves (this was my room the first year...and it was like that then). Next door to them the girls had to move out because they were being bitten by who knows what in their beds at night. I cannot think about it anymore. I am not even going to mention the other guests that stay here. Enough. I have broken my rule about long posts.

heading home

project ended yesterday and we are heading home tomorrow after a brief stop at chip's parents' house. home will be better but not great unless i am careful to guard my time. all being home does is give conveniences and a sense of cleanliness. chip's schedule is not much different at home. we have about a month before school starts. during this time he will have some meetings in baton rouge and have to travel some for support. maybe this month will allow for some good family time. i was sad leaving project yesterday because in my mind that marked the end of summer and i feel like we have had no family time and no down time. may we make use of the free parks in our area! at least my oven will work. is that a good thing? at least chip's grill works and he is excited to use it!

ringlets

just wanted to share a pic of ella's hair. it is curled so tightly that the curls have turned into heavy ringlets. when wet it is halfway down her back.