reality vs. fantasy

Sometimes I have unrealistic expectations.

For instance, I envision that my kitchen looks like this...

(courtesy of HGTV)


when it really looks more like this.





And I think that my bedroom should more closely resemble this...



(also courtesy of HGTV)



when it actually looks like this hot mess...



(We won't actually discuss how many days the clothes were
transferred from the floor to the bed before they were finally folded.
After all, there's no need to judge.)



And oooooh how I would love for my living room to look like this


(courtesy of HGTV)

instead of the conglomeration of furniture, preschool toys, and stray dog hairs that it is.


But, you know what?

If I spent all my life making my house look like those pictures above, there wouldn't be any time for things like putting together this fabulous train track.

And I wouldn't get to see my redhead so happy.

I think I like reality better.

my dilemma

See this...?

...and this?

those are pictures of our beautiful (and enormous) back yard. Half an acre of lush lawn inside the city limits. The perfect yard for...

Also the perfect yard for a swimming pool, swingset, and baseball games with daddy. Perfectly perfect in every way.

Except one. One thing stands between me and my perfect yard.

These little pesty pestersons keep the redhead and me from playing outside. The minute I go outside, I look like this...

Well, I don't exactly look like an old wrinkly man with no shirt on, but you know what I mean. You think I'm kidding? Nope. It really is that bad. Its miserable. I have some bug spray, but it. does. not. work. Evidenced by the bajillion mosquitoes that still land on me even when I'm covered in repellent.

So, I pose to you a question. Does anyone know of anything (preferably natural/organic) that does work and won't harm the redhead's or my skin?

That way, I might be able to enjoy this...


again.

where there's smoke...

Around 5:45 this evening, I went for a quick run while Adam fed Wesley dinner. As soon as I walked in the door, I noticed that something smelled funny. It kind of smelled like plastic burning. I thought that maybe something had blown up in the microwave or something, but Adam is pretty proficient when it comes to reheating food and taking care of Wesley, so I really didn't know. I went in the kitchen to see what was melted, but nothing. Adam said, "Well, its kind of weird..." He then proceeded to tell me that while he was feeding Wesley, he heard the washing machine turn on. No biggie right? I do laundry all the time. He said it started getting louder and louder, so he eventually went to check on it. When he walked in the laundry room, he saw smoke coming from behind one of the buttons and then saw something flickering behind the button. He opened the washer to check on the laundry...Empty! That's right, I wasn't even doing laundry when the washer started running by itself! Okay, if I had ever seen a hint of paranormal activity around our house I might be completely freaked out, but since I don't really believe in ghosties, I chalk it up to an electrical malfunction. So, our washer is now unplugged and I'm afraid to plug it back in. I'm so glad one of us was home when this happened, otherwise Lucy might have gone up in flames! YIKES!

We're officially in the market for a new washer. Hey, George Dub-ya, good timing with that economic stimulus check! Siyonara Smoky, hello new washer!

Lucy's New Look

I love the name Lucy. It just so happens to be a family name...my mom's grandmother's to be exact. I think that Lucy would be such a cute little girl's name (especially paired with our last name - which I can't say for security reasons of course). Adam doesn't like the name Lucy though. So, since our daughter will never be named Lucy, I have just named our house Lucy. Sissy over at Painting Love names all of her things (appliances, trees, etc.). Thanks for the idea Sissy!

When we moved into Lucy, this was her look (This was the only pre-makeover look I could find).

There's Lijah sitting at the front door, which was black. Cute, but kind of boring. A generic black door. Boring.

We wanted to give Lucy some real curb appeal, so we got her a new door. Not just any door, but a door with a window. My big, strong, handyman of a husband put the new door in (I actually posted about this in the Wesley's "Cahs" post back in February. We definitely didn't want the door to be white (as they come standard), but we didn't want it black either and go back to boring, so we decided to spice things up a little bit.

Here is Lucy's new look.


Personally, I think she looks just dandy. I even told someone she looked "sexy". It gives her a little more umph. And take a look at that green grass. I have to give credit where credit is due to Adam for working so hard for our beautiful yard. When we moved in there was not a blade of grass to be found - all dirt. While I've got your attention, I will also share some interior pics with you. We've had the kitchen finished for a while now, but I haven't posted any pics of it. I'll spare you the other rooms - I'm not an interior decorator by any stretch of the imagination.

Before - this was the way it was when the house was for sale
(Don't they say the kitchen sells the house? Um yeah, We didn't buy it for the kitchen!)

After

I mean, its not super fancy, but for a few hundred dollars we repainted, replaced the cabinet pulls, put in new countertops, bought a new dishwasher, range and range hood, tiled the backsplash, replaced the faucet, and put in a new light fixture! I love my handyman! He's so brave to tackle home improvement projects (I'm so scared of that stuff) - and he does such a good job!

I'm sure he's got another project cooking in that crafty brain of his. But for now, that's all she wrote.