hairbrained schemes

skater boy

Okay, I know to stay true to my title from song theme, that should actually be Sk8r Boi, but I have a deep rooted hatred of all things spelled wrong just to be cool.

Gorgeous George tortures me with the "Westside Boyz" atv club he formed a couple of years ago. 

That is what I have to live with on a regular basis, my friends.  (and while wearing things like cut-offs no less, I'm a freakin' saint if you haven't already figured that out).

Now back to what this post is really about.

Now that the house is off the market (for today anyway) we (I) have decided to decorate the boys' rooms.

Jacob chose Star Wars which we are working on finding stuff for. 

We bought one of those nifty word wall vinyl quotey things from a friend and put it up under a shelf that houses all the "DON'T TOUCH UPON THREAT OF GREAT BODILY HARM THAT MEANS YOU LUCAS" Star Wars lego.

Coveted (mostly by me) at the moment:

And Lucas chose skateboarding/snowboarding/surfing (this child has decision making problems)

So in trying to stay within the budget that we've set for ourselves since February, I made this:

I made the picture part in PSE and the frame is a cupboard door that I spraypainted with aluminum (have you ever heard a British person say aluminum?  It's fun!  If you meet someone from there I highly suggest you try to trick them into saying it. I have a new friend from the UK and could listen to her talk all day long) and then roughed it up with sandpaper.

and this:

I was lucky enough to find a font that has all the skate brands and used a couple of background papers from my supertalented friend, Libby's, digital kits.

Naturally, nothing is up yet because I'm waiting to find him a new bed (and I'm an awesome procrastinator).

I will share photos when it all comes together. 

I'm thinking maybe September.

 

Footnotes.

  1. A few months ago I had to eat all the snide comments I had previously made about Crocs having become the proud owner of a very comfortable pair of black Mary Janes.

Important fact about Crocs coming up.

FACT: CROCS ARE NOT MADE FOR HIKING.  IF YOU ATTEMPT TO HIKE  DOWN ANYTHING GREATER THAN A 45 DEGREE ANGLE IN THESE SHOES YOU WILL SPEND AT LEAST A PORTION OF THAT JOURNEY ON YOUR BUM LOOKING AROUND FURTIVELY TO SEE IF ANYONE WITNESSED YOUR SHAME. I AM SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE.

2.  For me, going for a pedicure is like having someone in to clean your home or going to the dentist.  I can't go without doing clean up first. 

I need to look into wearing socks in the summer. 

They probably would look pretty fashionable with my crocs.

3. Don't wear flip flops anywhere near young boys wearing soccer cleats. 

I have learned this lesson again and again.

My big toe curses me (and Jacob) for not remembering this lesson.

I finally got around to taking some house pictures.  We are now firmly ensconced in the main living area and day by day we cease to see the things that need to be finished. 

Until someone comes over or I take pictures.

Then all the work yet to be done seems a little overwhelming.

Last night showed me how Long Island iced teas can be instrumental in making these things a little more easy to whelm.

And the day after Long Island iced teas makes it a little more easy for me to use words that I may or may not have made up, like whelm.

So here is the grand tour of things we have still to do:

Jake's room.

Left to do:  decorate/closet built ins 

Preferably in Pokemon type things.

Luke's Room:

Second verse, same as the first.

Our room:

Favourite part? 

The nightstand.

Early contemporary moving leftovers with a little country flair.

The view from our bedroom:

The ensuite (needs light and tile) or as Gorgeous George says, "Where the magic happens".

The living area from the "bridge"

Great room from the stairs

Great room from the foyer (we're thinking of rocking the fireplace, not sure if plywood is giving us the look we're after).

Kitchen/dining area.  Our kitchen is still not finished. 

Apparently when they say, "Yes we can schedule it for the end of May and it will take 2 - maybe 3 days, tops." what they really mean is, "Give us half our money, sucker, we will come when we feel like it, we won't return your calls because you can't make us and if we finish it in under two months you can consider yourself lucky, so suck it."

Who knew?

Great room from the kitchen/dining area.

My craftroom.  I am completely spoiled.

Eventually my carpenter will make me built ins to hide all the crap (scrapbooking goodness) in this room. 

I have a niggling feeling this will come after the theatre room. 

Just a hunch.

Gorgeous George's office. 

He is now a man with a view.

The back deck. 

We are on the one week countdown to be able to go on the lawn.

This, my friends, is a big deal when you have 2 little boys on summer holidays.

A BIG deal.

Critical Instruction

So Gorgeous George and I were have a discussion (yes, that is discussion, as in when your parents have an argument and you wail and ask them to stop fighting and they say but sweetie we weren't fighting we were DISCUSSING) the other day about the proper way to distress our wood floors.

And I learned something.

Apparently, if you are doing something that you have done 3 times before and feel quite comfortable... nay, well-schooled at said task and someone stands over you and points out how you could be doing it better, that is not criticism (I know! I was as surprised as you must be) but "instruction".

I learned something else.

I don't like instruction.

I wonder if there are counsellors out there who specialize in couples therapy for people who have been living in their basement when they finish the rest of their house.

It might be worth looking in to.

We are getting close to moving upstairs. 

The floors are stained and are anxiously awaiting their minimum of three coats of verathane (that have 12 hours between each coat, you do the math), appliances come Friday and the rest of our stuff comes out of storage on Monday. 

My wise friend, Michelle, pointed out that the crankiness that has descended upon this household  basement might have something to do with the added anxiousness (anxiety?) of being able to see the end of this.

She is a smart cookie.

Hopefully I'll have pictures to share soon.

And hopefully, they won't include mug shots of Jason or I.

I'm dying to get scrapbooking again. It's like coming off drugs.

Here are some layouts that are "retired" from the SS site.

A place for me to bake instant pudding...

I don't bake.

Right before we moved I was trying to use up all the stuff that had been sitting in our pantry for the last 3 years.

One night it was, "use up the instant pudding mix" night.

Lucas came into the kitchen, looked at me for a moment and then commented, "Mom!  This isn't like you...baking and stuff."

My poor children.

Maybe now that we have a large kitchen I will start baking.

It could happen.

Probably right after I garden in my new large yard.

Here are some pictures I took a few minutes ago. 

We are getting there.  Hopefully Jason won't collapse from exhaustion before it's finished.

Here's where we are living now.

The "lounging area":

The sleeping quarters (note: Canadian Tire was fresh out of Metallica flags, so we decided to go with the lesser used, but still as fancy black garbage bags for window coverings).

That picture depresses me a bit, so let's move on, shall we?

Our lovely new kitchen (countertops to come):

Front door/entryway:

Great room:

The man behind the magic:

 

Colour My World

Yes, ladies and gents....

we have COLOUR!

This weird kid kept trying to barge in on all my photos. 

I wonder if it had anything to do with the tub of gummi worms found in the trailer left over from camping last year.

Yum.

That is the wainscotting that GG and I fought over.

I won.

Doesn't it look fabulous?

You have outdone yourself Gorgeous George.

There will definitely be something other than hotdogs for YOUR dinner tonight.

That is the dining area on the wall across from the 2 windows are french doors onto the deck.

The kitchen (which will be linen with a american walnut rub through) area.

I have to have red in every home we've built/reno'd.

I think this is my favourite red yet.

The people who bought our old house (aka our new neighbours) recently told Jason that they painted over the "purple" wall. 

Ahem.

That was Arroyo Red (thank you very much).

Sheesh.

But I digress...

Other weird kid who kept following me around trying to show me drawings and stuff.

Again, probably all hopped up on stale gummi worms.

GG's office and potentially the main colour in the great room/hallways.

Agree?  Disagree?

I'm unsure.

Another view of GG's office.

Our interim home (Jennifer STOP LAUGHING).

Stilty McGuillicuddy and his magic paintbush of doom.

quote: "Maybe this year for halloween I'LL be the Jolly Green Giant and Joel can be Little Sprout". (I definitely sensed an eff-u sneer in his voice in this comment. Maybe the height went to his head).

Speaking of Joel and Jason (not my favourite layout, but that photo is a whole lotta funny).