I have decided to make this site a bit more of a journal for myself. Not sure if I had a direction a few months ago when I first started writing here, but if I did I now have a new one. That is, if the direction I don't remember having was not to journal. I wonder if that makes sense? Also, I am going to try to improve my writing.
Yesterday I was looking in my old email sent stuff. I don't have any pics saved from before this year (well, before my new camera.) I know I had a ton, but really nothing is saved. I knew that I had sent many to family from that old email and realized I could download the attachments to my pc. I was able to recover a bunch, though I know some are lost for good. Bummer, but what are you going to do? As I was checking out my sent box, I ran across some emails that had been sent between a guy I used to date and myself. I was way impressed with my writing. I missed that. I was witty and unexpected. It was great! We had written little nerdy poems back and forth to each other and I was impressed by my lyrical ability. I decided to write a little poem to my love Tim. It went like this:
It is raining outside,
What great weather!
But I would enjoy it more
If only we were together.
He thought it was cute. It was small and I remembered writing much longer little diddies. This is all what contributed to my desire to write more, and better. What also added to this is that while I was walking for my health this morning, (hoping to turn that into a habit, but we will see) I had this dialogue going in my head. I was basically commenting on the things I saw and the things I was feeling as I went. I had a desire to write it all out and put it all down. So much goes on inside my head, that if I could get a little of it out, maybe I could concentrate more and sleep better. Hoping it all works out!
5.19.2010
4.07.2010
One of last weeks projects...
Well, we have different materials available to us, so we used what we had. We have been trying not to drink soda, but get bored with just milk or plain water. This is led us to drink a lot of Crystal Light. We get the packages that contain the 2-quart mixes so we can just make a pitcher and have it available anytime (and not spend a ton of money on bottled water.) A few months ago they changed the container that the mixes come in. They are much more attractive and the way they make the outside label now makes it easy to remove (it just slips right off.) I have been saving them as we use them for organizing craft things (I love the look of uniform containers.) Well, turns out they also make an excellent rice shaker!
It's pretty easy to make. If you want the rainbow rice effect that I did, you will need food coloring and sandwich bags in addition to the rice. Get a baggy for each color. Divide out your rice into the baggies. Put in a few drops of color into the baggies and mix up the rice and color. Then, lay out some wax paper, pour the rice out and let it dry. And there you go! I used brown rice so my colors turned out darker than what I think they would look like if I used white rice. I only had red, blue, yellow and green food coloring so I mixed colors to get purple and orange. I also go pink by putting only a few drops of red in and then putting a lot of red into the red baggie. Purple turned out almost black so I think if I did it again I would put in less blue. Orange pretty much came from equal parts red and yellow, but all of these can be tweaked as you go if you start on the conservative end of the color spectrum. Also, even if at first it seems like one or two drops won't go very far, the color spreads out really well so you don't really need that much. I think if I do this again I will use less rice, too.
After the rice is dry, put it in the container and seal off with packaging tape. The boys love it!
I think that covers all the projects I did that day that I posted about the projects. It was a good day I think...
3.30.2010
Boys bedroom color story
No, not that kind of color story. I mean the actual story of the different colors that have been painted in this room.
Notice how there is green underneath that red? Weird huh? When we first bought this house, all of the walls were painted the color of cement. I kid you not, it was this blue gray color that really looked just like cement. This room was big brothers, who at the time was an only. What we were going for in his nursery was a mod green elephant theme from Target. It was so cute! I did my due diligence and put all of the items for the full set on my baby registry, but I only got about two things from the set *sad face*, a plush elephant and a cute little blanket. A friend also got me a blanket that was the same color of green with an elephant on it, that wasn't part of the set but still matched. Anyway. We painted the walls green. Not that green that you see, but a really cool green that I can't describe. Mostly because I can't remember it exactly, I just know it wasn't that green. Then we put two stripes around the room of two different widths and colors, one white and one brown. It would have gone perfectly with the set. Anyway. A year later we were trying to sell the house, so we painted every wall a neutral color. The same neutral color btw. Sand White was the name, don't remember the brand. Our Realtor really liked it, said it would allow prospective buyers to picture themselves living there as opposed to forcing our personality on them. Well, the house didn't sell after six months of listing it with the Realtor, so we decided to try to sell it on our own. We ended up doing a lease option thing. Our renters were going to buy the house so we told them they could paint if they wanted. The lady warned us ahead of time that she liked wallpaper. I should have known...
I don't have that much of a problem with wallpaper or wallpaper borders. It's just that the Americana theme is a little too country for me. Not of a fan of that. Now most of the wallpaper found here at Farrow and Ball is my kind of wallpaper. Anyway. I love the look of lots of molding so that's what I will be replacing the borders with.
Now, the rest of this story is pure speculation. I think that at first they painted this room green (at least the bottom portion was green) and had a jungle themed wallpaper border (based on jungle themed drapes I found.) Our renters also have two boys, but while they were living here they had a baby girl. I think in true spoil the youngest/only girl fashion they decided to move the boys into the other bedroom and make the boys room the girls room. The reason this constitutes spoiling is that, in my opinion, the other room is better. That is the my boys room is better than the other bedroom. The window is bigger and since it faces east, a lot more light comes in. It is also bigger. Anyway. The bedroom was then painted red on the bottom with a very light pink on top, separated by a girlie flowers and butterflies wallpaper border. I did not take pictures of it before it was taken down, but I found it pretty easily here at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Did I mention it had ladybugs on it? It's cute. FOR A GIRL. Anyway. It's gone now.
A few months ago Glidden had a promo going where if you signed up online and sent in a label from a can of paint you have used, they would send you a free sample size can of paint in your choice of color from them. I signed up and received a lovely shade of dark/navy blue. That light pink color will be gone shortly!
Notice how there is green underneath that red? Weird huh? When we first bought this house, all of the walls were painted the color of cement. I kid you not, it was this blue gray color that really looked just like cement. This room was big brothers, who at the time was an only. What we were going for in his nursery was a mod green elephant theme from Target. It was so cute! I did my due diligence and put all of the items for the full set on my baby registry, but I only got about two things from the set *sad face*, a plush elephant and a cute little blanket. A friend also got me a blanket that was the same color of green with an elephant on it, that wasn't part of the set but still matched. Anyway. We painted the walls green. Not that green that you see, but a really cool green that I can't describe. Mostly because I can't remember it exactly, I just know it wasn't that green. Then we put two stripes around the room of two different widths and colors, one white and one brown. It would have gone perfectly with the set. Anyway. A year later we were trying to sell the house, so we painted every wall a neutral color. The same neutral color btw. Sand White was the name, don't remember the brand. Our Realtor really liked it, said it would allow prospective buyers to picture themselves living there as opposed to forcing our personality on them. Well, the house didn't sell after six months of listing it with the Realtor, so we decided to try to sell it on our own. We ended up doing a lease option thing. Our renters were going to buy the house so we told them they could paint if they wanted. The lady warned us ahead of time that she liked wallpaper. I should have known...
I don't have that much of a problem with wallpaper or wallpaper borders. It's just that the Americana theme is a little too country for me. Not of a fan of that. Now most of the wallpaper found here at Farrow and Ball is my kind of wallpaper. Anyway. I love the look of lots of molding so that's what I will be replacing the borders with.
Now, the rest of this story is pure speculation. I think that at first they painted this room green (at least the bottom portion was green) and had a jungle themed wallpaper border (based on jungle themed drapes I found.) Our renters also have two boys, but while they were living here they had a baby girl. I think in true spoil the youngest/only girl fashion they decided to move the boys into the other bedroom and make the boys room the girls room. The reason this constitutes spoiling is that, in my opinion, the other room is better. That is the my boys room is better than the other bedroom. The window is bigger and since it faces east, a lot more light comes in. It is also bigger. Anyway. The bedroom was then painted red on the bottom with a very light pink on top, separated by a girlie flowers and butterflies wallpaper border. I did not take pictures of it before it was taken down, but I found it pretty easily here at Bed Bath and Beyond.
A few months ago Glidden had a promo going where if you signed up online and sent in a label from a can of paint you have used, they would send you a free sample size can of paint in your choice of color from them. I signed up and received a lovely shade of dark/navy blue. That light pink color will be gone shortly!
Bedroom work
I have two boys. I have no girls whatsoever. I am the only female in the house. I have two boys.
So, basically, in case you didn't catch that first part, I have two children and they are both boys and I have no girl children. Their bedroom, however, likes to think that I have girls, and nothing but girls. AND that my girl children are girlie girls that like butterflies and flowers and the color pink. Now, there are folks out there who are raising their children in a gender neutral environment. That is great. I mean really, I complete support parents raising their children just as they see fit. Fine by me. But, I am not one of those gender neutral parents. I think that each sex has been given certain traits and characteristics that are unique to that sex. I celebrate that in fact. I love that women are in general more caring and gentle and that men are manly and tough and have big muscles to lift heavy things and can think in a way that is more detached from that gentle, caring mindset. Men and women balance each other. Of course, this is not to say that one cannot have traits of the other. Actually, this past Christmas I got a sander and Tim got bakeware. I have some heavy duty projects in mind and he is quite creative and at home in the kitchen. No biggie.
Another issue I see however, is a little more difficult to correct or get around, and that is the ability to function in society. As a parent, I think my whole purpose is to prepare my child to function on their own, as adults in society. They need to be able to hold down a job, interact with others, and take care of themselves, among other things. I think that holding down a job and interacting with others are two areas that might be hampered by not understanding gender roles in society. These roles have changed throughout history, particularly over the past century, but understanding those roles is essential. Well, we sure have gotten off topic, now haven't we?
As I was saying, back there. You know, in the beginning. Okay, you may have forgotten since I diluted this entry with otherness. I was talking about my boys' girlie bedroom. Flowers and butterflies, remember now? So, I need to fix this. I was going to leave the wallpaper border, which was the main offender, until I was able to buy some chair rail molding to replace it. However, I guess big brother REALLY didn't like the girlie-ness of it all, and decided to let out some manly rage by beginning the demolition of the wallpaper. Don't worry it wasn't really a raging destruction, but he got the project started during quiet time last week.
As you can see, there was still the issue of the actual paper part being stuck to the wall. As you can also see, I have a bottle there that is ready to do the job of removal. It might say "Fabric Refresher" (or something like that) but it is really just a bottle of water mixed with some liquid fabric softener. And folks, if you have never removed wallpaper before, that plus a scraper is all you need. Just make sure you remove the plasticy part with the images first, otherwise the paper won't absorb the water you are spraying. It's like that front part is water resistant or something... (I've got my Captain Obvious hat on right now...) The steps are-
1. Remove the plastic front part with the image on it.
2. Mix some liquid fabric softener and water in a spray bottle.
3. Spray left over paper back part really well. Soak it!
4. Scrape away!
Now, if you soak it really well, I mean really soak it, you can pull most of one wall off in one go. There will be some leftover paper but usually only in small pieces that you can easily remove by hand or scrape off. And here is where we are now.
Notice how I moved all the furniture around? Yeah, it was a fun process, and now the boys room is a mess again...
So, basically, in case you didn't catch that first part, I have two children and they are both boys and I have no girl children. Their bedroom, however, likes to think that I have girls, and nothing but girls. AND that my girl children are girlie girls that like butterflies and flowers and the color pink. Now, there are folks out there who are raising their children in a gender neutral environment. That is great. I mean really, I complete support parents raising their children just as they see fit. Fine by me. But, I am not one of those gender neutral parents. I think that each sex has been given certain traits and characteristics that are unique to that sex. I celebrate that in fact. I love that women are in general more caring and gentle and that men are manly and tough and have big muscles to lift heavy things and can think in a way that is more detached from that gentle, caring mindset. Men and women balance each other. Of course, this is not to say that one cannot have traits of the other. Actually, this past Christmas I got a sander and Tim got bakeware. I have some heavy duty projects in mind and he is quite creative and at home in the kitchen. No biggie.
Another issue I see however, is a little more difficult to correct or get around, and that is the ability to function in society. As a parent, I think my whole purpose is to prepare my child to function on their own, as adults in society. They need to be able to hold down a job, interact with others, and take care of themselves, among other things. I think that holding down a job and interacting with others are two areas that might be hampered by not understanding gender roles in society. These roles have changed throughout history, particularly over the past century, but understanding those roles is essential. Well, we sure have gotten off topic, now haven't we?
As I was saying, back there. You know, in the beginning. Okay, you may have forgotten since I diluted this entry with otherness. I was talking about my boys' girlie bedroom. Flowers and butterflies, remember now? So, I need to fix this. I was going to leave the wallpaper border, which was the main offender, until I was able to buy some chair rail molding to replace it. However, I guess big brother REALLY didn't like the girlie-ness of it all, and decided to let out some manly rage by beginning the demolition of the wallpaper. Don't worry it wasn't really a raging destruction, but he got the project started during quiet time last week.
As you can see, there was still the issue of the actual paper part being stuck to the wall. As you can also see, I have a bottle there that is ready to do the job of removal. It might say "Fabric Refresher" (or something like that) but it is really just a bottle of water mixed with some liquid fabric softener. And folks, if you have never removed wallpaper before, that plus a scraper is all you need. Just make sure you remove the plasticy part with the images first, otherwise the paper won't absorb the water you are spraying. It's like that front part is water resistant or something... (I've got my Captain Obvious hat on right now...) The steps are-
1. Remove the plastic front part with the image on it.
2. Mix some liquid fabric softener and water in a spray bottle.
3. Spray left over paper back part really well. Soak it!
4. Scrape away!
Now, if you soak it really well, I mean really soak it, you can pull most of one wall off in one go. There will be some leftover paper but usually only in small pieces that you can easily remove by hand or scrape off. And here is where we are now.
Notice how I moved all the furniture around? Yeah, it was a fun process, and now the boys room is a mess again...
Toys!
I completed a couple of things today, so far. I am going to split them into separate posts because they are separate topics. See how smart I am? Haha, okay so the first project of the day had to do with toys! I bet you didn't even know that I was going to refer to toys in this post at all. Woo, we're off to a good start.
The problem has been that the boys would get all of their toys out at once. ALL OF THEM! In their room, not in a play room, in which the purpose is to have all the toys out, but their bedroom. Their small bedroom. It would happen about five minutes after I cleaned their room each week. I could not walk on the floor and it would take me approximately one whole hour to clean it up again. Now, one hour may not seem like much time. But, when that hour is spent cleaning nothing but toys in one room when I could be baking cookies (as if I did that when I wasn't wasting an hour cleaning toys) or cleaning other parts of the house, it really gets my goat (did anyone else just giggle?) My husband's idea was to get rid of all of their toys except 3-5. I wasn't a big fan of completely getting rid of them because I felt it would limit the boys creativity. Now, here are the extra, non-important details that were inevitable.
About 1 1/2 years ago I was sitting in the Dr.'s office waiting to be called in for one of my prenatal checkups (I was preggers with Mr. E.) I would occasionally read an article or two from one of the mags in the waiting area. On this particular occasion, I read from a parenting mag, and I came upon an interesting thought. A pediatric doc said that limiting a child to playing with one toy at a time also limits their creativity. This makes sense to me. I think about playing with blocks, but not being able to play with a barbie as the person living in your block house. Get it? I may have just confused you but essentially being able to include multiple toys in play opens doors for creating new things, situations or stories. End non-important details.
Hubs pointed out that back in the day most kids only had one toy they could play with and they got on just fine. This is true, and it got me to thinking about how much innovation came from those people who as kids were only allowed one toy. This solidified in my mind that limiting the toys the boys had available to them would actually encourage creativity. (I actually said "force them to be creative" but Hubby pointed out that that approach was very Stalinistic, so now we have "encourage" hehehe.) Anywho. I figured that when you have limited resources, you kind of go into creative overdrive. I mean, you pretty much have to, because, well, you have no other options.
The solution I thought of, that would satisfy both hubs desire to cut down on toys and my desire not to get rid of them all was to store away all the extra toys and keep out only a few. This is not a new idea by any means. We were actually kind of doing this already (half their toys are in the basement, with a box in the garage ready to be donated.) However, I decided to come up with a few rules to help this system be more effective.
1. Izzy can keep out three toys at one time. Mr. E can keep out one. The amount may vary as they get older.
2. Accessories are included with the toy of choice. For example, if he chooses to keep out his Iron Man action figure, all the extra parts (it came with removable arms, etc) are counted with that specific toy, not as separate toys.
3. Like items are counted as one toy. For example, if he chooses blocks he can play with all the blocks.
4. Toys that came with other toys, but can be played with separately, are counted as one toy. I.E., the boys have a truck that the blocks can connect to and build upon. However, it is a truck separate from the blocks so it will count as a toy on its own, not included with the blocks.
5.I have also bagged up some items that can go together but didn't come together. Like cars and some small toys. I figured it wouldn't be too bad if he had a few cars out instead of just one. Each bag counts as one toy.
I put all of the toys in the box and let big brother take out three items. He almost only chose one toy, but after I explained again that it would be a few weeks before he could get another toy to play with, he decided to pick the full three. We will see how things go. I thought I would let him switch toys every other week, keeping on schedule with the hubs paydays (so I don't forget) but I am thinking I want it to be a little longer than that. Maybe once a month?
The problem has been that the boys would get all of their toys out at once. ALL OF THEM! In their room, not in a play room, in which the purpose is to have all the toys out, but their bedroom. Their small bedroom. It would happen about five minutes after I cleaned their room each week. I could not walk on the floor and it would take me approximately one whole hour to clean it up again. Now, one hour may not seem like much time. But, when that hour is spent cleaning nothing but toys in one room when I could be baking cookies (as if I did that when I wasn't wasting an hour cleaning toys) or cleaning other parts of the house, it really gets my goat (did anyone else just giggle?) My husband's idea was to get rid of all of their toys except 3-5. I wasn't a big fan of completely getting rid of them because I felt it would limit the boys creativity. Now, here are the extra, non-important details that were inevitable.
About 1 1/2 years ago I was sitting in the Dr.'s office waiting to be called in for one of my prenatal checkups (I was preggers with Mr. E.) I would occasionally read an article or two from one of the mags in the waiting area. On this particular occasion, I read from a parenting mag, and I came upon an interesting thought. A pediatric doc said that limiting a child to playing with one toy at a time also limits their creativity. This makes sense to me. I think about playing with blocks, but not being able to play with a barbie as the person living in your block house. Get it? I may have just confused you but essentially being able to include multiple toys in play opens doors for creating new things, situations or stories. End non-important details.
Hubs pointed out that back in the day most kids only had one toy they could play with and they got on just fine. This is true, and it got me to thinking about how much innovation came from those people who as kids were only allowed one toy. This solidified in my mind that limiting the toys the boys had available to them would actually encourage creativity. (I actually said "force them to be creative" but Hubby pointed out that that approach was very Stalinistic, so now we have "encourage" hehehe.) Anywho. I figured that when you have limited resources, you kind of go into creative overdrive. I mean, you pretty much have to, because, well, you have no other options.
The solution I thought of, that would satisfy both hubs desire to cut down on toys and my desire not to get rid of them all was to store away all the extra toys and keep out only a few. This is not a new idea by any means. We were actually kind of doing this already (half their toys are in the basement, with a box in the garage ready to be donated.) However, I decided to come up with a few rules to help this system be more effective.
1. Izzy can keep out three toys at one time. Mr. E can keep out one. The amount may vary as they get older.
2. Accessories are included with the toy of choice. For example, if he chooses to keep out his Iron Man action figure, all the extra parts (it came with removable arms, etc) are counted with that specific toy, not as separate toys.
3. Like items are counted as one toy. For example, if he chooses blocks he can play with all the blocks.
4. Toys that came with other toys, but can be played with separately, are counted as one toy. I.E., the boys have a truck that the blocks can connect to and build upon. However, it is a truck separate from the blocks so it will count as a toy on its own, not included with the blocks.
5.I have also bagged up some items that can go together but didn't come together. Like cars and some small toys. I figured it wouldn't be too bad if he had a few cars out instead of just one. Each bag counts as one toy.
I put all of the toys in the box and let big brother take out three items. He almost only chose one toy, but after I explained again that it would be a few weeks before he could get another toy to play with, he decided to pick the full three. We will see how things go. I thought I would let him switch toys every other week, keeping on schedule with the hubs paydays (so I don't forget) but I am thinking I want it to be a little longer than that. Maybe once a month?
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