Finding Krissi

Today marked the first day of our first annual summer purge. Pretty much everyday this month, give or take a birthday, holiday, and Sunday day, I'm going to purge an area of my home. Why? Well you may have heard me mention a time or two or a million that my kids are getting big. Big enough that I have a playroom full of toys, a garage full of bikes, and drawers full of clothes with zero purpose. Other than to take up needed space. Today we attacked the bookcase. I say start where it hurts than the rest will be easy. I hope. So with the my mind set to cut back, I dusted, moved, and purged books. All in all I think I purged about 50 books. I thought it would be hard but I soon realized that many of the reference books we have are no longer needed. Between Youtube, Google, SweetSearch4me, Online Data bases, and Online Libraries reference books are eating up valuable space. As I was tossing reference books, into the GoodWill pile, I was stunned that I was turning away fro...

It's January so that must mean it is time to paint. January is an awesome time of year to paint (insert sarcasm here). The most obvious reason is because it is so cold you can't do anything outside. Which means it is so cold outside that you can not open the windows to keep from getting high on paint fumes. It also means that the paint will take twice as long to dry. So why I get the inkling to paint every January is beyond me. I can tell you that new paint makes me happy. I know, it may have a little to do with the paint fumes but I think it has more to do with a fresh new coat of paint. Last January I painted my room a cool (and I mean this like, a cool color, not like, "Dude that was so cool!") gray. I really like the gray but all year I have felt like it needed something. Yes, some pictures on the wall and some furniture that wasn't early newly-wed but not so newly anymore would help. But it needed something MORE! This weekend it started to come toge...

It turns out that I'm kind of a during person. Meaning I don't really remember to do something before, I remember to do it during. Which is kind of anti climatic when I am showing you a home improvement project. Everyone knows half the fun of improving something is seeing the before and then the after. However, you just get the during. Mainly because I get so excited to start the project that I just skip the before. Then after all the destruction is done I start snapping away. Our latest project has been to refurbish the banister for the basement stairs. Our house is 23 years old and the banister is original to the house. It was an okay banister and it was in okay shape. It had been badly stained in the beginning and was a little wobbly other then that it was fine. However, I wanted to clean it up and take it up a notch. So I put the handy husband to work. Which meant he had to take the whole thing out and take it all apart. Which left our stair case looking like this for ab...

Any one who reads this blog knows that I have a very handy husband. Which I have to admit is, well, handy. (It is nice to know that at least I think I am funny, right?) There is one little draw back to my handy husband. He does not like to go to the hardware store alone. He insist on company, bored, incompetent company, is better in his book than no company. I have tried many a ways to squirm out of the hardware store. He continues to persist in the insistence that I go with him. I have no idea why. Below is a conversation that we have all the time. Brent: I need to pick up some bolts at the hardware store. Me: Okay, I will see you when you get back. Brent: You need to come with me. Me: (Knowing that I can resist but resistance is futile) Okay (said in such a way to let him know it is anything but okay) At the Hardware store: Me: (Leaning on the cart in the bolt aisle wondering why there is a whole entire aisle dedicated to bolts. Thinking I would hate to be the employee responsible fo...

Have you ever fell in love with a song? Every time it comes on the radio you turn up the volume and sing. You bee bop down the road with a great big smile on your face. Thinking this is the coolest song, I love this song! You listen to the song a million or so times and then one day you just stop. In fact you don't even think about it for a while. Then one day out of the blue it comes on the radio and you find your self with a big stupid grin on your face. Memories flood back to the time that you loved this song. Maybe you remember a car you had at the time a love or maybe just a great vacation. I love how music does that. How one minute your driving down the street, zoned out, bored, duh ta duh, the next second you are belting out a song and remembering something great. Currently I am reading a book called, "The Healing Home," by Suzi Chiazzari. Honestly it is a little hockey, a little over the top, a little crazy. You know all the things that I love. I don't th...

The red wall! Remember when I said I was going to paint a wall red? Remember when I said that the samples were currently taped to the wall? Well they are still there. After a few weeks of staring at the samples and trying to decide what I liked and what I wanted to do I realized that I don't like either one of them. Red is a tricky color. It is a hard color to paint and even a harder color to cover up. Which is what is making this decision so hard. I went over to Lowes and grabbed a handful of new red paint samples. We have always used Behr, Home Depots paint, but I can't find a red that I like so I am going to give Lowes Valspar a try. I have a few that are in the consideration stage. I think the biggest problem is that the wall is in the kitchen which is painted yellow. I''m thinking the yellow is going to have to go and I'm thinking GREEN! Brent is not making to much of fuss about that. However, he hasn't seen how dark I am thinking of going. In fact I might ...

The problem with home improvement projects once you finish one project your eye instantly goes to the next. One deep breath, one, “Wow that looks awesome,” and then you say, “However, I really need to figure out what to do with….” Luckily I am married to a man who does the same thing. He doesn’t really fret much with my constant list of home improvement projects. On the list right now is a much, desired red wall. I really want to paint one wall in my home, red, red, red. Currently, the wall is chosen and samples of red paint are taped on the wall as I figure out which one is going to be, “The Red!” Next on the list is our bedroom, which keeps getting bumped on the list. “Why,” may I ask, “Is it mom and dad’s room always ends up last on the list?” This time I am saving my pennies and I am going to do our room. One way or the other I am going to create a space that I can retreat to as the children around me grow bigger and consume more space and energy. While I am saving those pennies ...

When we emptied out the office, we filled 10 boxes to the brim and over with books.  We had outgrown our existing bookshelves and were starting to pile books on the floor.   We knew that the books had to find a new home and preferably new shelving. I have always had a dream of having a whole wall of books. I found having books fall to the ground every time Brent walked by assisted in Brent sharing my dream. We decided that our downstairs front room was going to be our best bet. However, up until recently we had used the room mainly for hiding the kids and their messes. By the way, this room has no windows (no natural light) so taking pictures was a lesson in frustration.  I have to apologize now for the less than perfect pics. Here is the wall we chose. Notice kid junk, boxes (housing books) and a fan that should have been put in storage 4 months ago. (Keeping it real people) The next two pics are a sample of how many shelves had to be painted.  Each one had to be primed and then given...

I said I would post pictures of the final product today.  Then I had a stressful day at work followed by my first car accident.  Not, the first that I have been in, but the first accident that I was the cause. While leaving work, thinking about the stressful events that had just happened, I backed out of my parking spot right, into another car. A true Homer Simpson "DRRR Moment." Just thinking about it makes me want to hit myself in the head.  But I have a headache so no hitting. Anyway, after getting home I had a big project to finish up before a PTA assembly tomorrow.  Have to love that after tomorrow my duties as PTA Reflection chick are done. YAY! All of these excuses add up to a long day. I'm sure no one is going to die if I don't post the pic tonight.  However, I'm starting to figure out that I say one thing on this blog and do something totally different. I'm thinking that is not a very good trend. So as not to become a complete liar, I am posting the p...

The kids went back to school today.  I went back to work today.  Amazingly, Brent is working for the railroad today.  All of this equals a very, very, quiet house. Except for the dog, she is lying on my feet right now, snoring, snoring, very loudly. Honestly, it kind of sucks. Not the snoring, the quiet house. I think I could have lived with one more week of vacation. I even considered home schooling, today. It was nice having everyone around. Oh well, the real world is not interested in my desire for more vacation time. I thought I would share a few more pictures on how I worked the color green into our office.  I love how the office has turned out.  It is so nice to have a clean, clutter free, room to work in. I will be posting the final pictures tomorrow.   This first pic is a picture of our reading chair, lamp, book shelf, and YES a green throw. Amazingly, in a room that had more then 15 boxes of books, there was no place to sit and read a book.   Now there is a big cozy chair, a c...

As I said before one of the biggest problems in our home office is cords. One of the most irritating set of cords was the USB cords. They were a dusty pile of cords that lived behind my computer. I was forever sifting through each and every USB until I found the needed one. With this in mind we came up with the following solution. Step one: Cute "green" box purchased at JoAnn's. It was originally 9.99, however the day I bought the cute "green" box it was on sale 40% off. Cute $5.00 box. Step Two: Drill a 1/2 inch whole in back of cute "green" box. Step Three: Placed inside, the cute "green" box, a USB hub. Which connected 7 USB's to our computer with 1 USB chord. We also used zip ties to keep the cords from becoming a tangled mess inside the box. USB cords, ipod, scanner, video camera, digital camera, palm pilot, cell phone. . . . . Step Four: Closed the lid to the box and enjoyed a clutter free, cord free, desk. While still having ...

We are done painting! Can you say YAY! So here is the big color reveal: The bottom half of the room is going to be this lovely color. It is called Root Beer. You know what was scary, when we opened the can that is exactly what it looked like Root Beer. I had that moment of ohh crap! What color did I choose? As I stated before, non-returnable paint. So we started painting and hoped for the best. Painting a straight line is tricky business. Especially if your husband happens to be a perfectionist. So we scoured the net and for the most part followed these instructions on the DIY site . Here is the final result Overall, I am pretty happy. We are getting everything put back together. I will be posting pictures in the next couple of days. Mostly the pictures will be of some of the projects we are doing to keep things neat. It is crazy how many cords (AHH, Sharla I just got your blog name House of Cords!!! HA) it takes to keep an office running. Not to mention all the chargers our lives...

I know that your just dying for an update on the office paint. Right? Hello, any one there? Okay, let me rephrase, "I'm just dying to tell you about my office paint." Better? Even though the possibilities that you have more important things to worry about, is high, umm very high. On to the update: Yesterday morning, after eating my Wheaties, I got to work on the cutting in work and here it is!! Drum Roll Please......... First of all let me state the following, "IT IS NOT WHITE!!" See the door is White, the color around the door, "NOT WHITE!" It is called "Cinnamon Cake," Not "WHITE" My good for nothing children keep saying, "Mom, why are you painting the walls white?" GRRRR!!! Anyway, I thought I would share my most favorite part of painting, the part that makes me giggle in glee, the part that makes me want to paint over and over. The very first stroke with the roller, the stroke that says here is the color you chose. Ya...

The colors have been chosen. The colors have been bought. The walls have been primed and tomorrow, my favorite part happens. The COLOR goes on the wall. So below is a pic of our color palette. Do you see it? It is there. YUP! A little taste of green. I'm very excited. But your looking and your thinking, "Hey there is four colors." "What in the world does she plan on doing with FOUR colors?" Actually, only three of the colors are going in the room. Desert Camel is on there because it is the color of most of our house. I had to make sure that I wasn't clashing. By the way, it has to be said, "I LOVE HOME DEPOT COLOR SMART!" I get to spend hours playing with colors at home. Looking at all my different options. The computer makes suggestions based on my colors I already have. It is AWESOME! I also, really like Home Depot paint. Brent and I have bought gallons and gallons of it. It is like jewelry to me. Pretty colors, pretty sheen, what else c...

Well after two days of working, our office now looks like this. Are you impressed. This just happens to be our desk. It is in the middle of the room for a reason, I promise. The paint color still remains in a state of debate. I'm all for trying the green. Brent just keeps giving me a look and saying, "I like the brown." "Well yes, I KNOW you like the brown, but what do you think of giving green a try?" "I like brown." I suppose that is the answer to my question. It just doesn't sound like an answer to me. Meanwhile, here is a picture of the results of my two days of work. Disappointed? It doesn't look like two days of work, does it? What if I say all the Christmas decorations are put up and, and, sorry that is all there is. I must be a slow worker. :) While I was working, Brent created this little contraption for me. Now, instead of all my ribbon being stuck in a box, it is hanging. Except, what do I do about the ribbon unwinding? I am fe...