Chalkboard walls for days..

As with every room in this house, Storm's chosen room started off a lovely beige.

Hers just happens to also have a very crappy set of patio doors leading off of it to a very crappy sunroom..

But since we get to do what we like in this house, Storm also gets what she wants..which includes a huge chalkboard wall and teal walls!

And if you look closely, but um, not so closely you see the massive mess in the hallway, you'll notice her new door as well :)

But most importantly, after the chalkboard paint cured, someone gets to unleash her artistic creative side all she likes!

A spot to sit!

The game room slash laundry room has gone through extreme changes since we moved in.

It started off with a bunch of miscellaneous cupboards, built by the infamous Grandpa Frankenstein no doubt, a terrible paint job, a bunch of junk left behind by the previous owners including two dryers and a terrible washing machine.

Cue a shopping trip for new machines and a whole lot of destruction.

Hunter got recruited to help take down the old cupboards and completely gut the room. Even that much made a huge difference in the look.

Next up: a lot of taping and painting.  Thankfully the kids were just as anxious as me to paint this room!

It was all starting to come together.  We couldn't resist testing what the moulding was going to look like up even.

I have to say it was turning out exactly how I seen in my mind.

A trip to IKEA for a couch and some poster frames, a wall organizer full of shelves for laundry supplies and a TV stand, as well as another stop for the most important part of the renovation..at least according to the boys..a new TV!

There's still work to be done in there, but for now the outside world is calling me! There's a whole deck and sunroom still to rip down as well as a house to paint!

The verdict is...

I think I like it.

Sure it's still rocking the blue roof, but the test area of red and black is making me feel motivated to get the rest of the house painted now!

Leave her alone for just a day...

There's so much work to organize and I've zero time, so I arranged for mom to help me out and be my general contractor.

Today she had the electrician here to get the power off outside and a few other fixes like ceiling fans up.

And the bathroom outlets sorted out.

We may have holes, but we no longer have a weird plug above the mirror!

She also can't sit still, so everything is cleaned!

The mess from Grandpa Frankenstein's tool area

The flowers have been moved

Even the sunroom got cleaned!

But the biggest thing was the deck!

Oh yes! It's started to come down!

We may not live in the ghetto forever after all!!

Festivals and one first job..

This year at work we had the asparagus festival three Sundays in a row.

It is always a ton of fun and we didn't have any rain any of the days!

This year Hunter was old enough to work his first real job and receive an actual pay cheque!

Here he is with his coworkers of the day.

Everyone loved him and both his bosses thought he did an excellent job. His kitchen boss told me I had a really great kid.

Storm helped out her friends and ran a lemonade stand and made some money on her own too.

This year I was a floater and basically just checked on everyone and helped out everywhere.

Which left me time to take a spin in the asparagus buggy just for fun with Storm.

I do love my job so much!

Finally his turn

Sometimes things around here take time.

Okay. They always take time.

But the recent water in the basement thing that made me wanna quit being the adult kind of pushed the next project to the forefront.

Legs on Hunter's boxspring.

I only bought the legs about two months ago. It just got put off.

We bought a new bedspread for him which included a bed skirt, so I stapled that onto the box spring permanently. I hate when they slide around.

Sort of feels like a real bed now!

It needs a headboard. And we need area rugs and paint.

But at least if we have water again, we don't have a soaked mattress like in Blade's room!

Saying goodbye

Aw, they grow up so fast!

Tonight we said goodbye to the little school that we love so much.  The teachers decided that we were probably the longest running family, starting there when Clayton was in Grade 3 and we first moved here 12 years ago.

And now the littlest one is leaving, and heading off to the Middle School in September.

We shall miss it so much!

Well, it's better

The thing about being a working single mother is that sometimes things just don't get their fair share of attention. Especially if said mother works a LOT of hours.

We were starting to become "that" neighbor...

The one with quack grass so high you might as well start mowing it instead of weeding it out.

Let it be said I dislike flower beds. Unfortunately the former owner must have had time on their hands and a yen for flowers .. or at least a potential spot to put flowers.

Thankfully I've got kids. While Storm made supper, the boys and I tackled the lawn and a bit of the front lawn.

Hunter's first time with the mower. He did a decent job. He also tackled the weed whipper while I tackled those horrible flower beds.

It doesn't look fabulous but it looks better at least.

I say we brick it all over ....

Champion!

Today was Hunter's lacrosse tournament in town and...

They won gold!!!

One happy kid.

Dr Who?

I'll admit I've never watched an episode, but when Storm wanted to paint her door like a TARDIS, I just said okay.

I didn't really know what it looked like, so I had her download a picture off the internet that we could use to make a pattern on graph paper.

Then I had her sand her door down and paint me a base coat of white and then a coat of blue.

A few days of no door on her bedroom was enough for me and I decided to get it done while they were gone for the weekend.

Most of the lines painted on. I only said a few bad words, as the tape insisted on pulling up all the layers of paint, down to the wood in a few spots.

Gingerly painting on a few more lines...


I tried to make my own stencil for the writing but that was a big fail. The paint pens I bought were also useless.

I decided to quit for the night and maybe hunt up some lettering at Michaels instead. Turns out they had nothing suitable but I did end up finding white transfer paper, so I used that to trace out my original lettering.

I also found a printout of the sign online for the blue square, so I just glued it on.

Then, late one night after work, I sprayed it with a couple layers of poly and hung it up.

I think it looks pretty amazing!!

Storm loves it. Every night she goes into her TARDIS and goes to bed!

Laundry room update.

Last night, I finally got the rest of the molding I had cut, up and caulked.

Today, I touched up all the paint and then took on the challenge of building the tv stand finally.

I almost taught Storm a few new words, but in the end I got it together.

Thank goodness for kids who are old enough to hold things and use a level and make a two adult job possible with just us.

It's coming along. I can almost see it.

I've a few more pieces of molding to cut and put up. The floor needs to be repainted. I do not like the porch paint that the guy at the store told me to use at all. The window needs one more piece still. I've got to decide on a bookshelf or something for the laundry area.

And of course, furniture and a tv. And all the other little details...like a ceiling and insulation ...

Curse you Grandpa Frankenstein! Curse you!!

It took most of the afternoon, but I'm calling it 1-0 for me against that monstrosity of a tool storage area.

The man loved his screws. I lost count how many deck screws held up that tool bench. There was even that one massively long one! Gah.

What a mishmash of wood too. I hope he didn't build much else in this house...

Well, it's almost a win for me. There is one screw left that I just can not get out. But we cleaned out the pieces, swept up the mess and it's almost ready for organizing.

But not today. I. Am. Done.

Side Art

The laundry room is making progress.

I got brave and set up my new saw and cut moulding and painted on Saturday after a long day of cleaning the backyard. Sunday night I had Storm help me hold things level and we put up the pieces that were ready.

She was wandering around with a sanding block and some end scrap pieces. I thought she was just amusing herself sanding ..

And she was...

I should gave known she was crafting!

She made herself the cutest little trophy stand with some fandom trophies to go with.

I love that she uses her creativity so much!

Now you see them, now you don't!

My friend and I kicked butt this weekend in the disaster of a back yard!

Two trips to the dump, so much crap out from under the deck, all the old leftover paint from the last owners, and this.....

No longer looks remotely like that hot mess!

The backyard was so squished with all those huge spruce trees, it was super annoying to park back there. Like a fifty point turn to get dad's big truck backed in. No fun.

And, I need all the space I can get for a real garage and lawn.

So two girls with lots of ambition, enthusiasm and optimism bought some hand saws and went to work!

Partly done! We can see across the back alley! Not that I really enjoy the view, nor the openness of it all but I'm so glad to see those trees gone!

The first load of branches. We made a quick trip to the farm to dump them off. So glad to see some gone.

Oh, but look! There's more.....

Those trees made an obscene amount of branches.

The next load we got a little smarter and piled much higher. And then picture me up there jumping on spruce boughs like they were my own little trampoline to flatten them down, and then add even more to the truck.

Thankfully I didn't manage to kill or maim myself either!

Oh but look at that lovely view!

There's still leaves and debris to be raked up and bagged, but it's an amazing difference.

I'm ready to rip the rest of the stuff down now too!

Exciting actual tangible change is a lovely thing.

Best Sunday surprise ever

I was putting some tools back in the furnace room and as I glanced back to shut off the light and close the door, something caught the corner of my eye.

My MOM has been saving this art of my dad's for me and I had actually totally forgot about it.

This picture always hung somewhere in our trailer and was a huge part of my childhood.

Of course, it's not actually pretty, and I don't want it on my living room wall but I couldn't think of a better place for it then hanging on paneling in my basement surrounded by tools.

It's like, hello Dad!!

Almost brought a misty tear to my eye. Thanks Mom!!