money well spent

The circa 1980 stove in my kitchen was probably a low-to-mid-grade model in its day. Thirty years later it's still functional, but leaves a bit to be desired. Today I spent possibly the best $30 ever on new drip pans, greatly improving not only the look but also my morale.

Behold, the old drip pans:

In my defense, the drip pans weren't always this dirty. They have been on a slow but steady decline over the past year or so as I became busier and the stains more difficult to remove--even with heavy-duty cleaning products and lots of elbow grease. Once I got the brilliant idea to simply replace them I quit cleaning them altogether. Smart, eh?

One less scary thing around the house.

February: illustrated Cliff Notes edition

The month is passing quickly, and although I don't have much time to write--and won't have much time for two more weeks (until the musical is over)--I wanted to post a few photos for documentation purposes.

Moosey: Cutest dog created by the hand of God. We love her and can't imagine our family without her. Sarah, unbeknownst to me, snapped this photo of her and I was delighted to find it on my camera.

One tradition we enjoy during costuming season is keeping a stash of treats to share with the kids at the high school. My friend Teri and I especially like Circus Peanuts (you either love 'em or hate 'em). She found an on-line source and presented me with a 5 pound basketful! To make things even better, they're individually wrapped, which makes for better hygiene when sharing with a cast of 50.

My sewing area, which is really an extension of my family room, is a crazy mess at present. I've been just throwing larger scraps on the floor to be gathered and sorted later. Moosey has taken a liking to burrowing in the glittery scraps to chew on her Nylabone.

And speaking of messes, my house is getting so dirty I'm about to lose my mind! A few weeks ago I set the can of Pledge on the piano to remind me to take a moment to dust it. You can see how well that plan worked.

I could not let the month go by without paying tribute to this man, Jerry Hendrix (a member of my stake), who kindly spent four hours at our house replacing some sort of valve attached to our furnace/boiler that regulates the flow of hot water. Now, after a few months of hasty, tepid showers, I can finally enjoy longer, very hot showers! Thanks, Jerry. You're my hero.

Yes, it's another picture of Moosey. This time to document that, despite the hectic schedule around here, we took time to give her a much-needed brushing and bath. She doesn't like the process too well, but endures it patiently.

One of the best things happening around here is Mark's project: painting John's room. I have always been the chief painter in the family, but because we promised a room re-do for John's birthday last month and I have since been sucked into the costuming vortex, Mark has taken on the project single-handedly. I think he is secretly enjoying the project, though he did comment the other day, "You've always done the taping, haven't you. . . ." I could get used to just selecting the paint color and never having to actually paint again! I'll give a full before-during-after post next month sometime.

Mark, once again my hero.

Last, but not least, I just couldn't resist sharing the zombie pose my mother insisted on striking in her hospital bed. It just doesn't quite convey the frail mother image I was going for, but I love that she can keep her sense of humor in the face of adversity!

In cataloging my recent photos, I realized that I haven't been taking many SPs of late. I'll try to remember to take a few this week, along with the costumes. We start dress rehearsals on Tuesday, and although it's a long, tiring haul, it's rewarding to finally see our efforts on the kids and under the lights. Wish me luck as I round the home stretch!

tidying, tidying, here we go!

Inspired by Charlotte's and Emily's recent posts about cleaning, I decided to finish a little tidying of my own yesterday. Even though I had other projects (a.k.a. sewing) that were begging for my time and attention, I decided that a little while spent putting my scrapbook area in order would go a long way in sustaining my sanity.

While I am grateful to have a dedicated work space, it is in an open part of the house and seems to be a magnet for all things that clutter. This photo was taken after the initial phase of cleanup I began last week (in other words, it started out way worse than this would actually indicate):

My desk was littered with everything from uncut school photos and the recent school lunch calendar to unwrapped Christmas gifts and unread mail.

After just an hour or two, voila!

And here's the New and Improved desk. Note the thrift-store mug Charlotte and I found last summer that inspired the name of my blog.

And for those who have been anxiously awaiting a "final" photo of Sarah's room, I confess I almost forgot to post it. Since I'm not really completely finished (and won't be until I make the curtains, matching pillows, etc.) I was going to wait. Judging by the vast amount of projects currently clogging my sewing queue, however, it looks like it's going to be a while until said projects reach completion. So for now:

Restoring order really does restore my sanity.

Ta-Dum!

Look how far we've come in one week! I guess it's not the final "Ta-Dum," because I don't have the furniture, bedding, etc. in yet. But considering where we were with the leopard print floor last week at this time, I feel quite accomplished.

As a reminder, here is a close-up of what the entire floor looked like last Friday night:


This is Mark working in the closet last week. Note the hideously dirty bucket of water, which incidentally had already been emptied five times previously.

This is what the floor looks like tonight, after mopping one last time. Whew! Now we're ready to move the furniture back in tomorrow, and evict Sarah from the girls' room and the dining room. Her stuff seems to have migrated everywhere.

Here's hoping for a productive and long Saturday!

What happened to the first half of October?

So what's up with it already being October 18th?

Here are a few October highlights I don't want to miss documenting:

• My mother's 82nd birthday on October 5th. For a beautiful tribute to her, see this post on Michelle's blog. Her birthday fell on Conference weekend so we got to spend a good deal of it together doing one of our favorite things! We also went shopping together on Friday and Mom bought a darling pair of black boots and a cute outfit at Ann Taylor Loft. What 82-year-old do you know who has a cuter wardrobe than you do? For Sunday's birthday dinner I made a good Rachel Ray pasta recipe with talapia (a good substitute for halibut, which I can't afford), and mom made this delicious caramel bundt cake. It has a burnt sugar syrup (made with cream) in the cake itself, which is also drizzled as a glaze onto the warm cake, and also folded into the whipped cream you serve in a dollop on top of each slice. I ask, what 82-year-old wears cute black boots and makes her own homemade birthday cake!

We honestly didn't plan on matching that day, it just happened.

• John had his first high school choir concert on October 9th and wore a tuxedo for the first time. He's a handsome one, that John--all 6' 2" of him! We love his choir and piano teachers, pictured with us. John sings Bass II and seems to really enjoy choir. I think he's finding that boys in choir make a lot of friends who are girls, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

• On the evening of the 10th, while I painted in her room, Sarah went with her friend Hailey to the school Sock Hop. It was sort of a last-minute decision to go and luckily I just happened to have a cute poodle skirt hanging in John's closet. She loves this one because the poodle on it looks like my dad's dog, Tyrone.

• That same weekend, my mom made two chocolate pies for Mark to take to work for his co-workers. Thankfully he brought some home, as this is my most favorite food in the entire world, for real. Can you blame me?

• On the 15th Sarah had track and field day at school. John happened to have early release that day, so he came with me to meet Sarah for lunch. It's a good thing he came, since I had to park far away and haul not only lunch but chairs. Sarah is the closest thing to an athlete we have in our family!

• And finally, Mark pulled up Sarah's carpet last night, only to find that the floor looks like leopard print. Yes, leopard print. The carpet pad was one of those composite foam-o'-many colors kind, and it had black, yes BLACK specs in it that stuck in tar-like spots all over the hardwood. As I write this, Mark is on his hands and knees scraping and washing the floor. Thankfully, it's coming up, but has put a bit of a crimp in our project.

Whew! Here's hoping the last half of October lasts a little longer than the first half did.

paint progression

Although Sarah's room still looks a bit like a Bronco zone (for those non-Colorado readers, the Denver Broncos' team colors are orange and blue), we are making progress. The carpet isn't up yet but the walls, ceiling, doors, and most of the trim are painted--hooray! And yes, Serin, the ceiling really is orange, too. That stupid hole in the wall above the shelf used to have a hideous metal light fixture attached to it. What idiot thought it would be a good idea to have a light fixture 18" from the ceiling? I've got to find an electrical plate with which to cover the hole (or perhaps a cute piece of art to lean on the shelf).

My dad built me this shelf that I brought from our former house. It has been hanging from our garage rafters for over four years and I am so happy to finally give it a place inside. I got a little teary-eyed when I read this forgotten inscription on the back:

My dad always signs his finished work on the back in a black Sharpie marker. Finding this one made me want to record the one on the bottom of my solid hard-rock maple butcher block that he made me almost 23 years ago, the first Christmas I was married:

I will always love those little forgotten love notes from my dad. Mark had to saw off about 7" from the end of the shelf to make it fit in the room. I made him pose for this manly shot with a power tool--he's my man!

The next step is to pull up the carpet, but having had a headache in some form or other for the past several days, I just wasn't up to tackling it myself this afternoon. Mark said he would take it on tomorrow.

And I just couldn't let my favorite painting shoes go undocumented. They're an old, old pair of Dansko clogs that are SO comfortable and have seen me through more projects that I can count--cross-country projects in fact, ranging from Colorado to Pennsylvania to South Carolina!

Hopefully by next week at this time Sarah will be once again sleeping in her own room and I can start putting the house back to normal. It's always amazing to me when I paint a room in the house how it seems to throw everything into chaos. I'm ready for the chaos to end.

progress report

Having been two weeks to the day since cleaning out Sarah's room, I finally bought the supplies and started painting today! Nothing feels quite so good as rolling fresh paint onto battered walls. I'm a little taken aback by the color--it's very bright and very orange--but I'm trusting Susan on this one (and humoring Sarah, as well).

It will improve the look greatly once I pull up the teal carpet and take down the blue painter's tape. It looks sort of like a Denver Bronco fan's room at present. Sarah was able to fulfil a life-long dream of helping to paint. I let her put a second coat on the baseboard heater vent.

I think she now realizes that painting, as I have repeatedly tried to warn her, is not quite as much fun as it looks.

I was hoping to only have to buy one gallon of paint, but it looks like I may need a second. Mark still needs to roll the ceiling and I think the walls will need a second coat. *sigh* Maybe by this weekend we can get the trundle bed from my mom's house and start putting her room back together.

I had to laugh because when John came home from school today to the smell of fresh paint he said, 'Oh--I love this smell! It smells like home." Huh. I didn't think I painted that much, but I'm glad it's a comfort smell for him.