Wallpaper Ya'll!

The wallpaper is up!  It was a lot of work - not putting it up, I paid someone to do that.  It was a lot of work getting the wallpaper here and ready.  I ordered my paper from Anthropologie, they have some very yummy wall paper!   When the Wallpaper Professional Extraordinaire  opened the first three rolls she found a printing mistake.  At this point I was getting a little freaked because it had taken me forever (in my mind) to pick the paper and I couldn't imagine finding another I loved as much.  Also, I was just being dramatic. The paper had been cut into lots and lots of strips. I needed to return the messed up rolls to  Anthropologie.  I thought this whole process was going to be a total pain in the ass but it turns out Anthro is the BEST. The cute girl at the counter took the giant box of cut up wallpaper and set it on the counter behind her, the smile never leaving her face. And then before I could get very far into  my very long and overly detailed story she ask if  I would like them to overnight three new rolls or refund my money.  WOW!  I had the new rolls sent to my wallpaper gal, she inspected them, and hung them. They are perfect.  I am so pleased to present my new (old bathroom) and my gorgeous wallpaper!  And it only took two rolls so I took back the third and did what any self repeating woman would do - I bought myself a new sweater!







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Long Time No Blog...

I can't believe I haven't blogged since August.  I would like to believe that anyway, but I have been flighty in the past so it's probably no big surprise.  I'm back now so I'll pick up where I left off.

School is still sucking for my 6th grader but the good news is she is the next kid on the waiting list for a really great school.  It's a private school that I really believe is a great fit for her.  I have always been a huge supporter of the public school system - but as things stand I can't wait to get out of it.  60 kids in one class, 40 in honors science, it's just to many.  Her smallest class is honors English and she has 33, which is still to crowded.  Over 600 6th graders crammed into a historic Elementary building is over the top.  They are the only grade in the building but I'm pretty sure back a million years ago when it was built it was meant for more like 200 kids.  So now we wait for a spot to open.  That means somebody needs to move, or get divorced or get kicked out - something!  I am to afraid of the karma that my wishing any of these things on a family might bring so I am hoping and praying some family gets a great promotion that they can't pass up and have to move away for - and then my child gets their spot!   As far as the public school crisis goes... if anyone out there thinks that Rick P would be a good choice for president please email and I can give a long list of reasons why he would SUCK at it.  I am living in his state, and he has done nothing for our public schools.  Plus he's just a complete clown.  I feel pretty certain that the four people who actually read this blog are way to smart to vote for that nutcase!

THE HOUSE:
We have been in the throws of remodeling our 90+ year old home for the last 9 weeks and it's been a mix of greatness and hell.  I love that the popcorn ceilings are gone and that everything has been repainted - I HATE the dust that it created.  I love that the old original bathroom has been remodeled and is beautiful but I can't believe how much crack I've had to see everytime I peaked in to see the workers progress.  I can't imagine for the life of me why men don't care that their crack shows.  One of the workers was so in love with my dog and I caught him sitting indian style criss cross applesauce on the floor petting Pablo about a million times.  Which is really sweet that he liked the dog but every time I walked up on that scene I had to see his crack and think about the fact that he should be rubbing grout on the shower walls not rubbing my dog! Tomorrow the final phase of the bathroom will be finished, a lady will be here hanging wall paper and then I will post before and after pictures!  You may be thinking "wallpaper?" but this is not your grandmothers wall paper - it's a really large print and groovy and beautiful.  I kept the original floors in the bathroom which are these very small tiles that all these houses have in them.  Some of them are chipped and a few are missing but I refused to change the floor.  I updated everything else, subway tiles a third of the way up the walls, the tub torn out and tiled into a big shower, new sink and toilet, and tomorrow wallpaper - but the sweet old original floors remain. I think between the floors and the wallpaper I nailed it. I did have them preserve the floor under the shower where the rest of the tiled floor is so if someday someone else owns this house and they want to put in a claw foot tub they can rip out my shower, and under they will find the old tiles protected by wood and some kind of rubber stuff.

I've fallen behind on reading a few blogs that I really enjoy so I'm going to catch up and see whats been going on in their lives and leave comments and show them some love.

I'll leave you with a picture of the dog loving worker - cutting tiles with no crack showing. Your welcome.

Have a great day!

6th Grade Is Killing Me

Sixth grade is killing me and I'm 41.  My sweet girl started 6th grade this week and it is one of the hardest things I've gone through as a parent.  The school is full of 6th graders, twice as many kids as she had in her whole elementary.  It's a shock to the system.  Her classes are full of kids she doesn't know, the cafeteria is a sea of faces, laughing and talking and hanging out, and she is floating without a life preserver.

 I know she will be okay, and I know that a billion kids have gone before her and survived.  But they weren't my child.

I so clearly remember taking her to kindergarten.  As we walked down the hall she held my hand tight, and as we walked into the room she held even tighter.  Those tiny little fingers gripping with all their might. As we walked down the sidewalk to the 6th grade center I was rattling on about how much fun it was going to be and how great it would be to make new friends, and then I felt her.  She reached out and took my hand, holding on tight, those fingers, now longer, griping with all their might.  And in that moment, my heart ached in a way I hadn't known before - like all the other times in her life I could somehow protect her from the really crappy parts of growing up, but not this time.

I want her to make a really great friend, to feel comfortable, to laugh a lot, and to remember 6th grade as a great time in her life.  I want everyone I know to pray that this is what will happen, and if you don't pray then light a candle, or send it out to the universe, just do something, because seeing big sad tears roll down her face is killing me.  

Gas is Great, Gas is Good...

I had my teeth cleaned today. My dentist gives gas for this, if you want it. I do. I used to have dental anxiety (from a kooky dentist I had as a kid) but 12 years ago I hit the dentist jackpot. He eases all my anxiety with his kind bedside manner... and gas - I actually don't mind going anymore. My husband thinks it's weird that I always use the gas. BUT, he's never tried it! He's chicken to ask for it. He won't admit that part but I know it's true. He says he doesn't need it and that they would think he was some kind of drug head for asking for it. I know he's wrong. It's one of the last frontiers of "legal highs". Seriously, look how happy I am, and I'm in a dental chair!

A Painted House

The paint is finished!  We are still waiting on the new wood windows that will go in upstairs.  It seems like there is always something more to do on an old home.  I'm not complaining, all we wanted when were buying was an old house, it's just that there is a lot of upkeep.  Now that the house is painted it's time to move onto the next project and I'm lazy.  I'm not to proud to say it - I'm lazy.  Maybe if I had a really great eye for design it would be different, but every idea takes me for ever to steal come up with.
As I said before, I got the paint idea from a feed on Flicker, Daily Bungalow. Again, one of those ideas I didn't come up with my self.

Shirts Of My Father

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My dad (the 76yr old and the one w/o the mohawk) gives me tea-shirts. About every other month. I think he gets them in the mail, or maybe he buys them at gas stations - I've never asked. They always have something to do with eagles, freedom, gun rights, those sorts of things. They're obviously not my style but that doesn't stop him. I've decided to do a series of photographs of the shirts titled:  Shirts Of My Father

More Disney

My Brother in law is the one who looks like he's in a coma...