Hobbies

Speaking of hobbies, one of mine is reading, & I've had my nose in 1984 during the five free moments I've enjoyed the past few weeks.  Have you read 1984?  Wow, just wow, Mr. Orwell.  You know you're good when your surname becomes an adjective.  Between college football, 1984, & my kids, time with the blog has fallen by the wayside.  I need a secretary, really.  There's so much in my head, but so little time to sit & type it out.

Anyway, the dearth of blogs in no way correlates to the goings on with us.  The week after I was released from the hospital, an ordeal you can read about here if you're behind on your blog reading, I was told to stay home & rest & relax.  You can imagine how relaxed I was when Trey came home with this & announced he planned to change the oil in his truck:

I know, I know.  The best part is that the book was written by a woman (or a man named Deanna).  Henry & I spent a pleasant Saturday afternoon indoors watching the Aggies almost get the best of tan man Saban & the Tide while Trey spent roughly seven hours outside attempting to change his oil.  Reagan kept Trey company for much of the time, happily arranging & rearranging the sockets in his tool box.  The oil change was completed on Sunday afternoon after the four of us stopped at Auto Zone on the way home from church.  One of my favorite things to do on Sunday afternoons in August is hang out in the Auto Zone parking lot with my two young kids, one of whom has a tendency to scream (sometimes for no apparent reason), while Trey searches for replacements for the things he broke &/or lost while attempting to do something the kind folks at Goodyear will do for under $30 (& as an added bonus, they don't drip oil in our garage . . . or take two days to change the oil).  Deep breaths, deep breaths . . . sooner or later, Trey's hobbies seem to have ill effects on my blood pressure.  Thankfully, it's usually extremely low so I can afford for it to skyrocket every now & then.   

As I mentioned in a previous post, when I decided to host Jessica's baby shower, it was the kick in the pants I needed to spend a lot of money get some things done around the house I'd been putting off.  The first & perhaps biggest change was the painting of the master bath & kitchen.  

Here's a before shot of the kitchen: 

And a before shot of the master bath:

When I first saw the kitchen walls, I thought I could live with them (I always knew the master bath had to be painted.  That aqua was just blah, not me, & the faux finish . . . I wish you could see the face I am making).  After living in the house over a year, & standing & waiting for countless cups of coffee to be dispensed by my Keurig (pictured above in front of the red mess that was formerly my kitchen walls), I decided the red had to go.  I like neutral walls; it's just who I am, & I can't get away from it.  I am not opposed to pops of color via rugs, etc., but the red walls just started to overwhelm me; I didn't realize how oppressive they were until I was rid of them.  You can read about the momentous turn of events that resulted in my new walls here.  

Here is the finished product (that's my Keurig on the far counter, to the left).  It's now a much more pleasant place to wait for coffee to drip.  If it were ever super quiet in my house, which it is not, I think you might could hear the walls sighing in relief:

And the master bath . . . aqua be gone!

Naturally, with new color on the walls, I gave myself full permission to have a heyday in Target.  I'm in Target a lot, & it's always a fete of self-control to leave without a new rug.  

New bathmats (complete w/ my socked feet):

Some matching decorative towels I placed in a basket on the tub, along with some candles, to give the two guests we have a year the impression that someone actually sits in the tub & relaxes by candlelight every now & then.  Someone who perhaps might need a washcloth that just happens to coordinate with the bathmats:

And the final touch, these distressed wood & iron wall sconces from Hobby Lobby:

They hang on opposite walls & are identical (b/c I am anal & cannot sleep in a house that lacks decorative symmetry): 

I was just getting warmed up.  I spent the better part of one Saturday hauling Henry around town with me.  Our first stop that day was Lowe's, where I purchased curtain rods for Reagan & Henry's rooms.  I knew that while they appeared nonchalant, deep down inside my children were both aghast that I had yet to hang curtains in their rooms.  

The finished product in Reagan's room:  

Her curtains looked so nice I thought it would be a great time to see her bed through to its final conversion . . . & so the toddler bed became a full bed:

But wait, I thought, I have no coordinating bedding for this full bed . . . what a quandary.  I didn't want to get rid of anything in Reagan's room, because I still like all of it (& because there should be a limit on what you spend to decorate the room of someone who's still 50/50 on urinating in the toilet).  So, I took to the Internet & looked for bedding that would coordinate with everything already in her room - - the rug, the lamp, the wall decor, etc. 

What I discovered is perhaps my greatest online shopping victory, ever.  I went to the usual - Target, Pottery Barn Kids, etc.  Nothing struck me.  On a whim, I looked at the bedding at Pottery Barn Teen, & I found a duvet cover & shams that could not be more perfect had I stitched them myself (in some alternate universe where I could sew).  Not only was it all on sale, it shipped free because they were having some "all bedding ships free" promo.  I consider myself a wise consumer, however I admit I am easily lured by free shipping from Pottery Barn because their shipping charges are OUTRAGEOUS.

Here are some shots of Reagan's bedding.  Don't be thrown by the 'dorm' label; we do think Reagan's intelligent, however we're mainly looking ahead to a Mother's Day Out program in the near future: 

And, because I know you care, here's my find on the newly converted bed:

   

She is pleased:

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I bought this mirror, pictured below,  to add to the montage above her bed.  She threw a few Hello Kitty dolls on the bed for good measure:

So remember my heydey in Target?  In addition to the goodies for the master bath, I bought this rug for Henry's room:

This is the little quilt that adorns his bed.  I actually took this picture to text it to Jessica, who lives in Dallas, home of many Pottery Barn Kids locales.  I decided to buy the window panels that match Henry's quilt, but wasn't about to pay to have them shipped to me.  Some days I feel my whole life is about skirting Pottery Barn shipping charges.

Jessica arrived for her shower, window panels in tow.  Unfortunately, if you recall, I was so sick at the time of the shower I could not have cared less about a panel-less window.  

I did place the bag with the panels on the ground near the curtain rod so as to give the shower guests an idea of what might one day come to fruition in Henry's room:

According to the PBK website, this is what the finished product will resemble:

As summer gives way to fall, which is signified by the official changing of the fake fruit in our house . . . 

. . . Reagan & Henry are actively involved in their hobbies.  

Lying around:

Sleeping:

Reagan continues to develop her photography skills.  This is an abstract set of her Pink Coupe she's been working on when she can get her hands on my iPhone:

It's always fun to get in bed at night & scroll through my photos to see what she's been up to; obviously she's been in a transportation mood lately:

They both continue to excel at being awesome.

So that's us lately.  I hope you're enjoying Kirk & football & the cool(ish) temps as much as I am.  I know it's cooled off a smidge because it's now possible for me to buy groceries & unload them & my kids from the car without needing to change my shirt.  Lovely, I know.  October looms, & it looks to be a memorable one.  Yes, yes, I will turn thirty-three next month, however I will also become an aunt (unless Jessica way overshoots her due date of the 22nd, making the conclusion of this blog post much less dramatic).    

AZ