Back to Basics

Heading into my third week of fall semester classes, I have decided to go from four classes down to three. I thought by taking an American Politics class this would not only enhance my minimal knowledge of the subject, but in the mean time I would obtain 3 credit hours towards my degree. I knew during the first night of class that the instructor was absolutely not for me. The workload for the 16 week class was unbelieveable and I just didn't feel a connection with the instructor. I am certain I could have muttled through and handled all four classes, but honestly, it would all be at Kaiden's expense. Although I wan't to enhance my life through education, I will never take on so much that I feel as if I am placing Kaiden on the backburner. Between being a SAHM and accomplishing all of the tasks of laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, taking Kaiden to speech therapy 3x's weekly, spending time with my three girls, and homework, I sometimes have to remind myself that I am only one person. I don't handle stress well (I have a very low tolerance) so this decision works out for all of us....just ask my hubby! ;)
Now there is the topic of home renovations......sigh. It's all coming along sloooooowly, but there are only 24 hours in a day. My poor husband works all day, comes home, and then works in the house several hours each night. I think he is getting a little burned out on all of it since we (I mean he) has devoted a lot of time on the house over the past 6 months. I do what I can, but he says I am the decorator. The change to the entryway into the kitchen is complete and the drywall is complete, so now we are getting ready to paint. The countertops should be in within a week or so and I am going to paint my kitchen cabinets a cream color and glaze them with a chocolate brown. Progress is being made and I have to remind myself of that daily when I wake up in the morning and proceed to wipe the 1/4" of dust off of all my furniture. My husband thinks I am crazy for doing it, but it drives me crazy for things to be out of place and so dusty/dirty! Next project is our den! We are pulling all of the 1969 paneling down, making sure there is good insulation in the walls, drywalling, and putting wood laminate flooring throughout the whole house with the exception of the laundry room and bathrooms. Just maybe this will all be complete by Christmas, but Thanksgiving would be better!!! I don't plan on pushing the subject with my hubby though!
I feel like I am back to basics in my life. In the past I truly enjoyed working on my home. I have always enjoyed going to thrift stores, yard sales, and discovering those great little finds that with a little TLC blossom into a great pieces for your home. Thanks to Barbie at Moments Memories Milestones and the transformation of her little black chair, it has truly inspired me. I love her new furniture finds and it has inspired me to take on projects (smaller ones right now)and get back to the basics of who I am, and to do what I truly enjoy! I love making our house more than just our house. We may not have the biggest or grandest home in the world but with a little creativity I can take what we have and create a home. Thanks Barbie!



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Here I Go Again..................

Here I go again. Today is the first day of the fall semester and it's going to be a new experience. In the past couple of years I typically took only one or two classes and during the adoption process I didn't take classes at all. Now I am taking four! Many people say that hind sight is 20/20 and boy is that the truth. I'm certain that it would have been easier to attend college right out of high school when life was more carefree with less worries. Don't get me wrong, I know that young college students work and study very hard to obtain their degree, but the challenge seems to multiply as a person ages. I know as a 40 uhhhhmmmm...something that I maybe tend to overthink, analyze, and worry about things that I typically wouldn't have given a second thought to 20 years ago. On the other hand, at times, I feel I have an advantage to younger students. I have more life experience and knowledge that has greatly assisted me in several of my courses. I have come to accept that maybe these classes pose a great challenge for myself, but if I had attended college right after high school I probably wouldn't have met my best friend, become the mother of three beautiful daughters and a unbelieveably handsome little boy from the People's Republic of China. I couldn't imagine those experiences not being part of my life. Although a challenge, I am at peace with the fact that this is all in God's devine plan.

I Miss You Brenda......................

Brenda Leigh McVean 7-31-1972 to 08-20-2007

You were such a pillar of strength for your girls and you fought the toughest battle that a woman could ever fight. I love and miss you so much Brenda.

Happy 17th Birthday!

Wow, it's hard to believe that Shanna and Lindsay are 17 and entering into their final year of high school. We celebrated their birthday on August 14 instead of August 16 because Shanna had plans to travel to Washington D.C. for the weekend. We went out to eat at Applebee's and their main birthday gift was new cell phones. I'm always reminded that they are my birthday gift since their birthday is a day prior to mine with the exception that my date of birth is a mere 23 years and 364 days prior. Ahhhhhhhh, another year older. I really don't feel any different, but maybe a year wiser.





Can you believe they are twins??? Nothing alike at all!!!

Time on my hands.......

What would you do if you had some extra time on your hands? I am currently on a 3 week break prior to my full-time schedule of fall classes, which begin on August 21. My husband and I decided to do a little work (I use the term "little" very loosely) in our kitchen. We thought this would be no big deal. We thought that we would just rip out the old cabinets and replace the cabinets with new (used) ones, paint and glaze them, and replace the flooring, right? Oh my goodness we were sooooooo wrong!
Let me start by saying, if you ever plan on doing a remodeling job in any room in your home be prepared for the unexpected. As we were doing a little demo we decided to move the front entryway that leads into the kitchen. This would allow us to have more space to place a large pantry in our kitchen. This grand idea lead into ripping a wall down, rewiring, replacing drywall, and a lovely thick layer of dust covering every possible inch of your home. Oh ya, I almost forgot that there is a 5 to 6 week wait for our new countertops.....eeeeeeek!
Honestly, I'm not really complaining. I actually feel very blessed that we can update our home and I know we will truly enjoy all the fruits of our labor(well eventually), but sometimes it can be a real pain in the you know what. We have always taken great pride in doing our own home improvements and I am looking forward to seeing the end result even if it is a few months down the road! Stay tuned for the end results!

My old Coca-Cola Kitchen

Cute, but tired of the Coca-Cola theme

No more sink.....yuck!

What a mess!

Don't look at the dust on my ceiling fan. Oh, I knew you would look...ha, ha, ha Who needs a darn wall anyway!

Only 7 More Days

I can't believe that in only 7 more days the Olympics start! The travel channel dedicated a whole week of programming about the People's Republic of China. Every evening I made it a point to sit down and further educate myself about China and its history and traditions. Viewing the footage of Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and the Great Wall of China brought back wonderful memories of our trip in May 2007. Oh how I would love to go back and visit! The travel channel also aired several shows highlighting China's cuisine. I've tried to make several Chinese dishes, but let's just say that it wasn't too appetizing! I think I will stick to Chinese take-out from now on. I wanted to share a couple of photos of the Beijing Olympic countdown clock in Tiananmen square. I mean how many people have the same picture of the Olympic countdown clock during the same day, hour, minute and second?

Lazy Posting Days........................

Wow, it's been quite some time since I last posted! We recently took a trip to visit my parents in Illinois, and it was Kaiden's first time meeting them. Kaiden isn't shy at all, so there wasn't a problem with him getting to know his grandma and grandpa. Frank and the girls were hoping to go out fishing at least one day, but with the flooding, it was pretty much impossible. However,during our visit we went to the local zoo, went the the movies to watch Kung Fu Panda, shopping, and we also visited the John Deere museum. Kaiden has a John Deere hat and he would sleep with it on if we let him, so we just had to take him to the museum in Moline, Illinois. We have been to the museum before, but Kaiden didn't seem to thrilled with the large tractors at all! It's funny because we will go to Lowe's to pick up something for the house, and he will get excited every time we walk in and he sees the John Deere lawn mower display. We tried to purchase Kaiden a new John Deere hat and he wouldn't have any part of it! He said he only wanted his green hat. Kids are too funny!
We hit all of the local restaraunts that were my favs growing up; Whitey's Ice Cream, Harris Pizza, Happy Joe's Pizza. Mmmmmmmm, I better stop because it's making me hungry! We also stopped at Maggie Moo's and may I suggest if you have one in your local area, you need to try the red velvet cake ice cream...Yummmmmy! All in all it was a really nice visit. It's going to be some time before we make it back there again since I will be taking a full load of classes until I complete my degree.
It seems like home improvements never end. We are putting the finishing touches on our main bathroom and then we are moving onto another project. Our family room is very dated (1969) and we will be removing the wood paneling and putting up drywall and then laying wood laminate flooring throughout the house. Hopefully we can call it quits after that one. Frank would like to continue his education to receive his Master's degree in hospital managment so we will have to put all projects on hold for at least a couple of years. It's hard to believe that after Shanna and Lindsay graduate in 2009, there will be 5 of us in college next fall! eeeeeeek
Have a great week everybody! Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things and start posting on a regular basis.