Mistreating the walls...and windows...and furniture!

Well, my sister Amy bought me a gorgeous print a couple weeks ago. I'd been pining for it, as it is to be the inspiration for my living room makeover. The darling gal set me afloat. How wonderful it is to have interior design-y people in the family. Today I had a scheduled consultation with her, to pick out paint colors, curtains, and a color for my furniture. Yes, I plan to sail into uncharted territory and recover my sofa and love seat by myself. Of course, it does help that my husband builds furniture for a living.

Where was I? Ah, yes. We picked "Spring Glow" for the walls, "Garden Sprout" for the accent, and a bright reddish orange "Paprika" for the furniture color. Curtains are also "spring glow" with yellow sheers behind them. This. Makes. Me. Happy. COLOR. My phrase for the room is "Simply Cheerful." Not too far-fetched a dream, eh?

I did just redo my living room (in fact, ALL the rooms) when I was pregnant, but that was more of a nesting thing, in my defense. And it was springtime. So I thought that dark, deep, intense shades would be great. You know sophisticated or something. It turns out that deep and dark, although gorgeous, is rather depressing to me during the cold wintry months when I 'm stuck in a small house with four small children.

Neither of my sisters have ever designed a room that didn't turn out stunning, so I have total confidence in them. Me? Well, I'm crafty and all, but I just don't know how to put colors together. Hence my signature "squiggly eye" handmade cards.

I love Nester's philosophy. It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Why get your panties in a bunch, when something might look just as phenomenal with a quick color coat? I'm hoping that my couches look fabulous, but I'm not gonna sweat it if there are some crinkles or wrinkles. I'll just pretend that I intended it to look that way. Just hoping for no stray nails poking out! I may sleep on them before I invite any of y'all over again. Unless you think it's worth the risk. You could always just sit on the floor. Did I mention that I'm going to save for a rug, too? Oh yeah, baby!

So, anyway, I am VERY excited! Especially because I found so many great deals. You know me, I'm all about saving money!-- you know, since I have none. :-)

In other news, my Dad and hubby headed to the Naturals game tonight. Fred caught a ball. It would have hit my Dad in the face. (Way to pay attention, Dad.) Fred is totally psyched! He wrote the game info on the ball and then announced that it's going "in the bathroom." Yeah, poor guy just gets a bathroom. Hey, I think it's a pretty great arrangement. I decorate the whole house, and he just worries about one measly bathroom. He can do whatever he wants to that room (within reason, I mean, come on!) There are football figures, Chicago Bears colors, old action heroes, and now a famous baseball. No wonder he spends so much time in there. ;-)

Now, must get to bed. I won't be able to paint again until the kids go to bed tomorrow night.

So tomorrow we will dance and sing and jump around in our new half-way painted living room. And the kids can help me make more plans. Maybe we'll play Twister again while we discuss it.

Fred's family

Time is just slipping through my fingers. I'll be out this week, so I won't be able to show you my Wednesday picture until next weekend. In fact, I may not get to post at all for awhile, due to an insane schedule approaching.

Part of today went to portrait time with Fred's siblings. They wanted to get a rare picture with all of them, and the spouses (only me, so far, and Kayla's fiance.)

I think they turned out well.

Here we are... 11 years this year. Can you believe it?

In this picture we have Cindy, Kayla and Eric, older sister Stacy in the middle, and younger brother Justin at the bottom, and me & Fred. Yes, Kayla and Cindy are twins.

I'll be doing the photography for Kayla and Eric's summer wedding, and I'm currently on a mission for a beautiful (and cheap!) dress. The colors are black, white, and red. I'm so dang picky about dresses. It needs to be below the knee. And I only like my shoulders revealed if it's warm outside and I stay outside. Otherwise I just get too cold. I also must wear heels with a dress. It's a given.

I like tube dresses and strappy things on other people, but I have yet to find a bra that will work for me with those kinds of things, and going bra-less really isn't an option right now. Hmmm...

a full day

Fred has been working 6 days a week for a couple of months now, so he decided to take off today! He let me sleep in, which was wonderful. I slept until 9:30! Holy Cow! I haven't done that since I was a teenager. Really.

We went to Old Navy and got a swimsuit on sale for I. It's super cute. I also found a little fisherman hat for baby BigO. Then we went to WMart over there, because ours in town apparently doesn't sell swim diapers anymore. We needed to find a backpack for Mr.T, too. We found a sturdy looking one that is fairly small. Best of all, it's Cars, so he adores it.

After shopping we headed to Aunt Kayla's apartment. Electric Avenue. It's a cute studio apartment. We're gonna havta keep our eyes open for some furniture for that girl. She sure is a sweetie. For those of you who don't know, Kayla and Cindy are Fred's 20-year old twin sisters.

Then on to Aunt Jules's house to visit O & S. That was fun, too!! I love taking pictures, and it's a special treat to get the little cousins together.

Anyway, we took too long doing everything, so we stopped at Braums on the way home to get food and get back in time to change for the Members' Swim at the aquatic center. They messed up our order, so they apologized and gave us a free burger and large fries. That's nice anyway. Mr. E was very excited to have a "hambugger." We don't go out to eat often.

At the pool, they did free ice-cream treats. Yummy, but messy!! Mr.T had chocolate footprints leading away from the table. :-)

Devil's Den

I had a great time yesterday going to PFChangs and shopping with my two younger sisters. We never seem to be able to get together anymore. Amy is still in college and Jules has an almost-2-year old and a baby girl due in three weeks. We all lead busy lives. Anyway, I'd never eaten at that restuarant before and it was really, really good, especially considering that I don't usually care for Chinese. After eating, we shopped around Promenade. Jules and Amy helped me choose some cute clothes to get with my remaining birthday money. Who am I kidding? They picked out the clothes and then told me what looked good. I'm no good at fashion. ;-)

Today was a fun day, too. This morning we left the house at 8:30 to go to Devil's Den. My folks came with us, which is always a nice treat for the kids. All of the kids did really well hiking. I and Mr. T enjoyed going through the caves with Noni, Poppy, and their daddy, but E was too nervous this time. He stayed with me and Baby O, looking for snake holes and salamanders. We did find one salamander and a small red frog. He was fascinated. Then we ate a picnic lunch and waded by the waterfall. Another incredible day in the beautiful outdoors. God painted and sculpted such a gorgeous world for us!! I could stay outside all day, I think.
We got home and I nursed the baby, and then we headed out to hubby's dad's chicken farm to frog-hunt and visit. IT was a short visit this time.
Fun day, but I'm tired. Seems like I have hardly been home. I enjoy going and doing fun things, but I sure get behind on the laundry and dishes! he, he, as if I care...