The kids/public bathroom after I painted everything. Balin put up wainscoting and I used paint we had hanging around to create a totally different feel in the bathroom. I particularly like the molding Balin glued around the mirror that makes it look like a framed mirror. 
The living room after being painted. It's a little bright, but I think I like it. I'm trying to create a feeling of the outdoors indoors. I think it's getting close.
The latest thing that I'm into is Wall Words. Love them. I've got 4 on the walls and I've ordered 6 more. I find that they speak what I want our family to be about. They are a good reminder of what's important. Plus they look cool.
So last night I was so stinkin' tired that I just wanted to go to sleep. And then....I got on the internet. Ugh! First I started by looking at my favorite sights in Mexico - particularly a real estate site in Alamos with just the perfect house for me. It's only $180k and it's currently 75 degrees there. Perfect. Alamos is a previous silver town that has been deemed a magical city by the gov't of Mexico. It's in the hills with lush tropical flora/fauna and rivers abounding. The best part is that it's only 12 hours from our house. From Mexico I started thinking that spring/summer is just around the corner from us (though I woke up to a winter wonderland of snow this morning) and perhaps I should just focus on staying home for a while.
That led me to thinking about my outside bed and the hanging bed I want to create. I found lots of ideas on the web that were just perfect, now to create it. I actually have a box of beautiful linens with flowers and colors that are just waiting to be used, perfect for my outdoor bed. From the hanging bed site I was lured into a blog post by a woman who decorates beautifully and cheaply....and then my battery ran out. Thank goodness because I think that I could get lost in the blogosphere.
The reason I was so tired last night was because we had a busy day. Sophie spent the night Friday night, which was great, but also tiring. The kids wanted to sleep in the shop, which is wonderful, as it gave me some peace and quiet in the house. (I have a baby monitor on so I can hear EVERYTHING they say - though I couldn't hear them JUMPING off the sofa table!!!) I was painting the french doors that lead to the back white, which looks great, and I heard the kids still messing around. So about 8pm I went in and got them settled, laid down with them and promptly fell asleep myself. The next day we played in the morning and then picked up my mom, our lunch that my sister packed for us, got Jack from Aikido lessons, dropped off my mom at the car repair shop, and then headed out to the Highland Center for a nature class for the kids. (I had my sister's mini-van and I swear I felt like a bus driver - and btw, my sister really liked driving my car. There's a reason I have a VW and not a SUV or mini-van. My best years are still ahead of me.)
The Highland Center is this really cool, very eco building and center that promotes naturalistic education. My sister is taking a class there this weekend on non-violent communication, which she says has been so helpful. Meanwhile, I had signed the kids up for Nature Knee Highs, which is a naturalist program for 3-5 year olds. They loved it. They learned about bobcats and the Ponderosa Pine. Afterwards they ran around in the forest pretending they were bobcats. Love it. Plus I met a professor of Peace Studies from Prescott College, very interesting, if not intimidating, highly educated, man.
We headed home with a middle schooler and 3 preschoolers arguing and annoying one another - not to mention the driver. I honestly don't know how my sister does it, it would make me crazy having the teasing and annoying behavior going on. The behavior quickly changed as Jack wanted to come over and build a fire in our back yard. Sam was all over that. In the back we have some (a couple hundred) bricks and Sam had made his own version of the Great Wall in the back yard. So when Jack got there, he and Sam created a "safe" fire pit out of brick and made a fire. About that time Peter called and asked if he could come over and play badmitton with me. So I have a fire in the back yard in a home made fire pit supervised by a 12 and 5 year old, badmitton being competively played in the front yard and low and behold the contractor comes for our 2pm appointment right about this time. Not 10 minutes later my brother-in-law Tim comes over to play Peter in badmitton and sees the ensuing chaos. I think it made him a little nervous.
So I'm meeting with the contractor Steve Martin regarding building me my super-duper greenhouse/chicken coup (more on that in a minute) when Sam runs in wanting marshmallows. "Sure, here you go Sam." 10 minutes later Jack comes to ask for carrots and tin foil - wait, who's in charge of the fire??? Then it started to rain really hard. Tim appeared and took Perrin, Sophie and Peter to his house and supervised the extinguishing of the fire. Thank you Tim. Minutes later Sam and Jack walked back to Jack's house and it was quiet.
Back to my greenhouse. So I read some disappointing news in the CCR's: no poultry or fowl allowed. Hmmm....my plans distinctly call for chickens. AND Balin is game for chickens now, he's even kind of excited. I'm realizing that I'm not going to get feathered friends any time soon so we move onto plan B. Balin and I had an idea of putting up a greenhouse over my existing garden so that I could extend my growing both in the spring and fall. In talking to Steve, who has farmed 20 acres organically for 20 years, we started to brainstorm our options. What about putting up a permanent structure over the garden area that would be well ventilated and with shade cloth in the summer, could actually keep the garden area cooler. Oooooo, what an idea. So it's looking like I'm going to get a bid for a gothic style, double poly, 12x20' greenhouse with installation hopefully pending soon. Yes! I'm not giving up on my greenhouse/chicken coop, I think that will come in the next phase, but it will require ammending the CCR's and getting a permit as it's a poured concrete foundation and a very permanent building. So...that's where we're at there. Balin is excited as deep, deep down inside he's a farmer.
Best go and get dressed and love on my children. Anna's having them over for lunch today and I'm going to take myself out for lunch. All by myself.
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