Aboriginal dot painting...

We are studying Australia now and Little Man chose to do a dot style painting for his project this week. We are also making didgeridoos (pictures to come soon).

There isn't a name as of yet for this piece, I just know that there is a tree and a canoe on it...I'll have to ask him about it when he gets back from his bike ride.

We finally did it...

For years he's wanted me to paint his room, but he would not keep it remotely tidy or take care of things in there. He always put his feet on the walls, wiped things that he shouldn't on them (kids are gross!). Generally it was thrashed in there and constantly making him clean it, didn't mean he tried harder to keep it clean. So I just didn't want to spend all the time it would take to do it up for him to see him tear it up.

This year he'd asked a few times about it and I discussed with him the reasons why I hadn't painted it yet. He started to make an effort to keep it somewhat tidy and started to take care of his stuff. He was still hoping for a castle theme in there (like the walls painted to look like an inside brick castle wall!), but I did nix that idea and asked him instead to pick out a paint color that he would like and that we'd pick a border for it.

He picked out a couple of paint chips, then decided on the 'exact one'. I showed him a whole lot more of them; he wasn't to be budged off of 'the one' (as he called it). I purchased three paint testers (one of which was 'the one') and slapped them on the wall. Had him looked them over for the final choice and he picked 'the one' right out. It was meant to be...unfortunately, lol. It is called Sapphire Sparkle...it's quite the shade of blue, but it's nice on the wall. I was surprised that he didn't pick green as it's his favorite color. Though the intensities of greens he likes would have been a bit much on a wall.

He wanted a border of swords, but no company makes a border that just has different swords on it. So he decided on a martial arts theme, which is good since he's into that and he loves swords so he can get some display ones for the wall, plus the sword that he uses in Tae Kwon Do. He picked out a border that has different sillouetes of people doing different martial arts moves. There is only one company in the US that carries it; it was more than I wanted to pay, but dad agreed to it so... He has awards and his belts that he's earned that still have to be put on display on the wall. We found a cool decal that is of a man kicking at another man. He loved that.

He and I painted some real wood shelves that we had cut earlier that week. He helped me to locate the studs, mark, level and screw them in. The shelves look great. Little Man told Steve that they were all level too. Steve told him: 'Well, your mom has a killer eye for things like that', lol. They do look good though. They are now partially full of his stuff. They were five feet long so he has plenty of room to put his lego creations up when he's done playing.











He also got this border from his Karate instructor and so it had to go up on the wall. He put it behind his door since it was clear of hanging posters and such.

Painting and landscaping...

Here are some before and after pics.

You can see some of the old paint on the siding-the original color was that mauve. The doors and shutters were evergreen. Now the siding is blue; doors and shutters are navy blue. All trim is still cream.

The only plants that were in the beds already were some amaryllis, a hydrangea bush and hibiscus. I did move all the amaryllis to a different area by the hibiscus. They bloom red and white, have very large blooms and are so pretty.

We get a lot of shade at the front of this house, but harsh late afternoon sun...it was hard finding plants that would do okay. We decided on some Indian Hawthorne in white and pink, some coleus' for the corner that gets almost no sun, the hydrangea bush is there. We also planted some very pretty french Hostas. We have some boxwoods in a few of the corners as well.

We extended the flower bed around the front porch and the hibiscus bush. In it is herbs (lavender, basil, thyme, lemon balm, rosemary, mint-in the pot, chives and oregano) and a sweet olive tree. There are some flowers that I can't remember the name of right now. They are the red ones. We also have some white ones planted elsewhere. Those reds ones have really bloomed. I will have to trim them back a little so they don't choke out my herbs.... I just liked them and so I put them up front to spill out over the stones. They are doing just that, lol.

And from the looks of it, it seems we grow kittens as well...not anything new around here, lol!

A few pics for you Mom...

I hung our bedroom curtains last night...I have been looking for a set that I liked and we all know how difficult that can be. I found some and bought them last week with a rod set as well. I hate putting up those rods...this one was even more aggravating. You can't ever get those silly plastic drywall anchors in the wall, but luckily the screws were long enough that they were anchored into some wood or something in there because they were a pain to screw/drill in the last 3/4 of an inch!

The poor curtains need to hand a little while and relax some before I can really rearrange them...yeah I probably should have ironed them out a bit, but at 11 pm when one is finally through with the rod placement, one has a tendency to just want the stinking curtains up there and off the bed so she can go to bed herself!

So here they are along with the quilt I bought last year. Oh and Steve actually likes these! But then I have told him many times that florals and stripes are nice together (we had this same discussion when looking at couch fabrics earlier this year).

Oh and this watercolor painting is hanging above my bed. It was a wedding present from our Austrian exchange student-who is like a brother now, he's been over here so much. This was a view I enjoyed seeing when I visited him at his home for a month before I graduated high school. It was amazing there! I recently had it rematted and framed...I'm glad I did. I never really liked the old framing I had done on it...actually it was hideous! I wish I could get a better closeup of it...the detail is amazing.

Before and After...

Here is the laundry room before I painted the walls. I had already painted the ceiling.

And this is it after I painted. Steve doesn't like the green, but I do and I think it looks nice...of course, not everyone will like it.

Can we say BUSY?

I have been running around here like a chicken with my head cut off...I need to head to bed, but I haven't posted in a few and really needed to atleast say: "I'm alive here still (but barely!)." LOL!

Since I was so bored on Labor Day (bad thing for me to be), I decided that I was going to tackle the laundry room....kind of a scarey thing though. I've been wanting to paint it since the walls had been fixed (leaky air-conditioner and ants looking for water a couple of summers ago=nasty!). The walls were this purply-blueish color...then white spackle down half of the wall and ceiling from the repair job....just awful to look at. I'd picked up some of that 'Opps' paint that you can sometimes find at the local hardware giant. A greenish color and cream...well I got it painted and I like it. Steve doesn't though! LOL. If I left the painting up to him everything would be just plain white...and boring. I even put together a 'chair rail' of sorts with pegs for holding stuff. I'll add pics to this post this weekend.

Now I'm off to bed (and should have been already since I have our first soccer game tomorrow). Wish me luck...I have 13 boys to keep together!