...FawnDear...

Ain’t that a Kick in the Pants

2011-10-04T15:55:00.001-07:00

I received a lovely email a little over a week ago about wanting to feature one of my previous de-hoarding posts. I felt honored, of course. So many thanks to Cassity from Remodelholics. Amazing sight for gleaning DIY ideas.

She kindly featured my ~~Nightmare~~ Sweet Dreams Room!

It really got me to thinking about how much I’ve accomplished over the past year. The post is nearly a year old (hence the beautiful autumn leaves outside). It was such a breakthrough in my recovery.

And one year later…

It’s even better.

I guess I should prove it by posting pictures right?

Alas, my camera battery is dead and I really wanted to give a shout out to Cassity.

But until all the pending pictures come out, please rest assured that my bedroom has been clutter-free every day since the original post. That means…

Are you sitting down Mom???

FawnDear made her bed every day for nearly a whole year!

I know… Incredible right.

Probably made my bed more in the past year than in the previous Forty(cough)ish previous years put together.

See I’m not hopeless.

And as for the kick in the pants.

Sadly the recovering hoarding has been in a bit of a rut lately. Other than painting the trim on the outside of the home (which is only 2 hours away from completion), things have drastically slowed down. Well, 2 painting hours away once the rain stops.

I’m trying to figure out how to motive myself to finish. I’m so close to being done. Only three rooms left, including one you can’t even walk through.

On the bright side – I haven’t slid back. Just stuck in a rut. But shout out’s like Cassidy’s help remind me of where I’ve been, where I’m at, and where I’m going. I’ll get there. One lousy garbage bag at a time.

Tootles,

FawnDear

Slow and Slightly Unsteady

2011-09-26T10:38:00.001-07:00

One Year ago, plus eleven days, I began the biggest transformation my home has ever experienced. Dehoarding doesn’t happen in just an hour like on TV. It takes a while. My mentor, Mrs. Passion, warned that it would take 6-9 months. I’m at the year mark and still not done. I blame it on life. Six kids and a crazy schedule tends to shoot the best laid plans out of the water. You know the whole two steps forward, one back.

However, I am still progressing – in the right direction as well. I’ve been itching to show you progress, but I’m such a fruity-tootie perfectionist that I want to wait until everything’s done. Then you’ll get the WOW effect to the oomph degree. Now I’m kicking myself, because makeovers don’t happen in one post. Unlike ‘Hoarding, Buried Alive’ on TV, the work to declutter can take weeks, and sometimes months, and in my case I’m now in it a whole year. One of my biggest lessons: Procrastination equals Pain… and anxiety. Neither of which is fun to deal with. In the past I’d bury them with more projects and stuff. Now I’m confronting them head on. I still don’t like pain. But getting through it is finally worth more than letting it fester.

Case in Point: Never, and I mean never let your house scream at you for a paint job like this.

Twelve years ago we paid an arm and a leg to have a professional paint it. Within 5 years we noticed the paint bubbling, and three years ago we really knew it needed to be done. But the unbloggable happened and stuff like painting the home retreats to the back of your mind. When we started the whole transformation process a year ago we knew that our first outside order of business was to paint the home. This summer we realized that if we didn’t tackle the project now we would be forking over thousands to replace the siding as well.

So began the most painful home improvement project we’ve tackled to date. Believe it or not twice as stressful as retiling the kitchen floor. What we thought would take a week has turned into four weeks of nightmarish adventure. Add in the fact that we’ve never attempted a project to this magnitude which played into the tension as well. We helped a friend paint her home and it only took 6 1/2 hours from start to finish. Yes, a lot of people showed up to help. It gave us a false sense of confidence that it would be easy-peasy.

We pressure washed our home for nearly three days trying to knock off all the chipped paint and not tear up the siding. The results were disappointing.

Sure we got a lot of paint off but there was still too much chipped paint hanging on by a thread waiting to be scrapped.

Some of the siding didn’t survive and had to be replaced. In replacing some of the siding we also discovered shortcuts taken by the original builders where they had cut corners, not laid down the vapor-barrier in full which led to rotten wood underneath the trim and siding near the bottom. So some lower trim had to be totally ripped off. Our efforts to save money by doing the job ourselves ended up costing us as much as paying someone else to do it. But only because we had to replace damaged sections caused by our procrastination. The only redeeming note of comfort is that I don’t think a professional would have fixed the damage, just covered it up.

Abner, my boy, was my rock. He and his friend Chet put in hours daily for nearly two weeks scrapping the paint down to this.

Our favorite tool of choice was an angle grinder with a steel wool bristle brush. The paint sander attachments made for chipping off paint didn’t last nearly as long. So we were thrilled with the recommendation of the steel wool attachment.

Another hard lessons to learn was don’t buy cheap tools. We burnt through the motors on two angle grinders and even a paint sprayer before we bit the bullet and bought the proper equipment.

Poor Abner had to also deal with the nasty heights. Our home sits on a hill which makes two stories nearly three on the backside. Thankfully we’ve the best friends in the world who loaned us scaffolding and ladders, ropes and harnesses. Friends are the best. So glad I’m not a recluse.

Triple glad I’ve got a son willing to help.

Then there was another couple of days spent caulking every corner, window, door, and siding seam.

Since we were down to bare wood on two sides of our home it only made sense to prime before we painted.

We were blessed with some more wonderful help our first day of priming. Our church was wrapping up a community service project for Northwest Day of Service and many members stopped by after the community project to give us a hand with our adventure. It’s amazing how many hands can make quick work of taping up and priming.

And another lessons learned was…

Teenagers all will volunteer for any work if they get to be on a roof. I had to pray like crazy that no one would get hurt. I think I drove a couple people bonkers with my worry. Sorry Prince Erik.

Here’s my manly men priming the back side of our home, while dancing on boards in the effort of trying to give me a heart attack. I am not a fun person to be around when I’m worried. Yet they survived me.

And as for the what our home looks like now…

Well, it’s painted…

mostly, except for the trim…

however… it’s raining…

but we beat the rain. Our home is safe and protected and we learned some valuable lessons.

* If you want something done right – do it yourself or find someone you really trust to do the job correctly.

* Plan on it costing more than you thought.

* Don’t skimp on tools.

* Plan on it taking three times as long as you thought it would.

* You’ll also be amazed at how many wonderful people there are that are angels on earth. To the S.V.’s of the earth and especially to Abner’s friend Chet and his family. They are the best sort of friends one can every hope for.

*Abner learned he wants to get a great education to land a great job, earn some big bucks to pay someone else to do the work so that he will never have to ever do something like this again. That’s my boy – he’s a dreamer like me after all.

There, now you know the before and during part. I’m praying the liquid sunshine lets up so that I can show you the after pictures by Wednesday or Thursday. Until then I’ve got to tackle the housework and laundry that’s been piling up while I was distracted outside.

Tootles,

FawnDear

CRAZY!

2011-08-04T17:27:00.001-07:00

Since my last post…

I’ve had Surgery in Two Hands

Helped run a Family Reunion in one State

Helped run another Family Reunion in another State

Certified as a Ropes Course Instructor – don’’t know how my body managed that one.

Attended a Week of Girls Camp – no one told me lack of sleep came with the event.

Made over 300 rope bracelets. (More about that later)

Improved my belly flopping technique.

Been a Ma on a Pioneer Handcart Trek – Always was last into camp, but had the biggest smile on my face the whole time.

Dusted off my mad harmonica skills too.

Sewed three pioneer dresses, two aprons, three bonnets, and one pair of bloomers.

Held Two separate Garage Sales and the garage is still bursting with stuff.

Church Calling Duties too numerous to list.

Learned a new talent: Whip Cracking – I know, crazy. Can snap that cracker three different ways. – Comes in handy when trying to impress pioneer youth, and keeping kids in line.

Had my new (anniversary gift) camera Stolen. Stupid Seattle.

Found it on Craigslist.

Cops did nothing so we lost it for good. Stupid Seattle.

Husband took pity or got tired of me moaning about it and bought me a new one.

Sent kids off to Especially for Youth for a week.

Sent husband and boys off White Water Rafting for another week.

Continue to work on my dehoarding & the interior of my home.

Lost 27 lbs.

Found 23 lbs. (Sigh).

I should take up yo-yo’s. I’d probably be really good at it.

It’s been my craziest summer ever… and… I’m almost back.

with pictures.

Missed you all.

Tootles,

FawnDear

Someone, Please Pinch Me!

2011-03-10T07:59:00.001-08:00

Prepared to be Wowed! FawnDear finally completed another milestone in my De-hoarding. The Dining room is DONE!!! Happy Dance. I know it seems like forever since I’ve last shared a completed room in my recovery from hoarding. Honestly it’s because our family has stretched out to be working on 4-5 rooms at the same time. But we are progressing.

Because it’s taken just that long, let me remind you of the abysmal state of the dining room last November.

Every surface so cluttered you could barely see the table from the front room.

So sit back and relax, this is a long, picture heavy post.

Remember how I de-cluttered in time for Thanksgiving. Switched the wall that the China Cabinet went on… with reservations. Ms. Passion told me to trust her and I did. Now I’m so glad that I listened. Are you ready???

From that to this…

And yes, it is the same house. It’s amazing what a lot of hard work can do. I know blue might not be most people’s first choice of color, but it’s mine. I need the calm it brings.

Many thanks to my big boys for wielding the poles of paint rollers. Painting cathedral ceilings are not fun.

So the Tall Wall went from this mayhem of mess…

To this…

Say it with me, ‘Ahhhhhh. So refreshing, Yes?’ Ms. Passion helped me find my voice and style. It’s been there all along. I love antique linens and the color blue. The wall however we painted a Mt. Rainier Grey (True Value), but it looks blue all the same.

The large framed doily was made by my talented Mom. It had been sitting in a drawer because I was too afraid of my kids damaging it. But I’ve pulled out the best linen’s. I’m going to live in my Dream home today and not wait for a someday home that may never happen. In the Movie ‘Knight and Day’ the comment is made about Someday being the code word for Never. That struck a nerve with me. So I’m redefining my Dreams. My Someday is Today.

In deciding on an arrangement of plates, Ms. Passion and myself tried out several different configurations on the floor.

Then, when we finally settled on the one we liked the best we laid it out on the back side of some old wrapping paper I had stashed away in my closet.

You mark where the plates are positioned by outlining them on the paper. Then tape the paper to your wall, adjust the height if necessary. Then without removing the paper, add your nails, or whatever means you decided to use, to hang your art. Then once they are all in place, slowly tear away the paper. Ms. Passion and my neighbor Ethel kindly helped with this part.

It’s the easiest way, I believe to hang a collage, and make sure you get the positioning you want, right the first time.

I wanted more doily art but until my mom sends me more (hint, hint), or better yet until she comes to visit and can teach me how to do them, I settled for filling a couple of my frames with $1 store doilies. I took a frame and lined it with blue material from a thrift store T-shirt dress that I found that matched (nearly exactly) my accent wall. I folded the material over the cardboard that came with the frame and taped it onto the back side. On the large doily display I actually laid the material on a piece of cardboard that had been treated with a spray adhesive. Trying to insure that the weight of the crochet wouldn’t cause the knit material to sag. It turned out beautiful.

I used an acid-free glue stick in a couple of places on the back of the doilies to have them stick better to the knit material background. I also tried to do something a bit different and cut the $1 store crocheted find in pieces. Yes, I hacked up a doily. So one doily was used in two different frames.

And the all the coordinating dishes I’ve found over the past few months (super cheap) at the Thrift store or the local antique mall. It required a lot of patience and multiple trips.

My favorite one, the top platter, I did get on EBay. I love that it’s of Washington Crossing the Delaware. And another plate pays homage to my pioneer heritage. Go Wagon Train!

I love my new Stitch and Dish Wall.

“Each decision we make becomes a stitch in the pattern of our life.” ~My Mom

Okay, onto another dreadful before view. Here’s another Clutter War Zone before photo.

And here’s the after.

This wall run’s the length of my dining room/family room and is a much darker blue. ‘Blue Dusk’ from True Value, is the name of this paint. It isn’t too overwhelming because the huge China Cabinet helps break up the color nicely. You’ll have to wait to see what it amazingly does to my front room.

Notice how my huge sagging rectangle table is gone. We replaced it with a Thrift Store treasure. Ms. Passion found me this solid wood, Diamond-In-The-Rough, oval table, with two inserts, last October for just $43. But it needed a lot of help. Stripping the stain and varnish, then sanding, and re-staining to match the dining room chairs and finally applying nearly 6 coats of varnish. Yes, my kids are that tough on tables.

We decided that the new oval shape would help simplify the room. Not only is it simple and beautiful, but it’s shape actually gives us more room in which to move around. And we didn’t lose any seating.

Once again T-rev and Abner were major Elbow-Grease contributors.

Sanding the little crevices are not too much fun. Special thanks to my little Dremel tool for getting all the nooks and crannies for me.

I also went the extra step and recovered the Dining room tables chairs. Good-bye brown.

Hello Beautiful.

Love it.

We also, took down the bronze colored ceiling fan and replaced it with a craigslist find. I nearly jumped for joy when I found this on Craigslist, as it matches (style- wise) a smaller one that I found for the entry way.

However the old brass didn’t really fit the new rooms color scheme. So, I taped up the candle sticks and pulled out the metal friendly Spray Paint.

I did spray a Primer on first, then followed that up with a couple coats of Silver.

Now it fit’s the room perfectly.

I also made my first ever woodworking project. I love doing FawnDear firsts. This first was attempting wood cornices to go over the windows.

The molding was a little tricky, so I must say thank you to whomever invented Wood Putty, sanding and a couple coats of good thick paint to hide my little flaws.

Oh, and another kudos to Prince Erik for mounting the heavy sucker’s on the wall. Thanks Stud for being such a Stud Finder. I ended up making a total of three box Cornices in total for the two rooms.

It took me a couple of months to find the curtain material. But I finally went with a Waverly Toile Print from JoAnn’s. Home Decorating Fabric can be a jaw dropper at times, but I made sure to only buy it after it reached the 50% off. I then scored with another 20% off total purchase coupon so ended up getting nearly 70% off regular price. The lining for the curtains was… can you guess??? Thrifted White flat sheets. The rods… cheapo Electrical Pipe from Home Depot hung on Closet Rod Holders. I punched grommets through the top of my curtain material and hung them on the pipe with shower curtain hooks. So they slide open and shut so easily. And you would never know about the unconventional assembly because it’s hidden up in the cornice.

The white cornice box was beautiful, but adding a stripe of my accent ‘Blue Dusk’ really made the molding stand out.

Not only am I decorating with colors I love but I’m adding more of me.

The yellow roses remind me of the wild yellow rose bush that flanked the small walkway to the farmhouse I grew up in.

And if you look closely… you might spy something magical.

My wee little friends have picked little play spots all over the room.

The wire bird cages I found super cheap at the local antique mall. I did spray them with an heirloom white to match.

And they provide even more play space for my pixie and wee feathered friends.

My whole starting point for this room lies with the china that my Grandmother gave me when I got married.

My fairies have their own personality. Some are more shy and only peak out at you if you’re very patient.

Others dance in the open, loving the spotlight of my mix & match china.

It feels so good to finally express me, in the decorating of my home. I know it might not be what is most current in the design world, but it’s calming,peaceful, magical and downright perfect for me. For the first time in my married life I finally feel like this is my home.

Surrounded with items reminding me of my contributing heritage…

As well as my love of Imagination.

There you have it. My new dining room. The bonus is our family has had dinner at this table every night for the past two weeks and ‘Glory Be’ we are keeping it this nice all the time. I’m not even tempted to bring clutter in this magical space. Thank you Ms. Passion. You are my Angel.

Bambi Makes a New Friend

2011-03-07T12:41:00.001-08:00

Guess who came to visit again??? Well, I guess I gave it away in the post title. But our orphaned deer friend stopped by our home and invited him/herself into our back yard.

Since I don’t the know gender of our little fawn I think I’ll just refer to him/her as Bambi.

Hope did offer little Bambi a little fresh grass but wisely he kept his distance a little bit from us today.

Please don’t call Animal Control on us, as we didn’t try to make contact this time, other than Hope’s first grass offering. Just mainly stood around the yard and quietly took pictures as our deer friend visited. He stayed for over an hour.

Even Hope’s bouncing around didn’t scare Bambi off.

I think he was too intrigued by his new friend.

I don’t imagine too many cats are dumb enough to let a deer get this close.

But Pumpkin the Ninja Cat isn’t the brightest cat.

Bambi appeared very curious, and I believe wanted to make a new acquaintance.

And so I watched for a good 20 minutes of nose touching, then bounding off; followed by sneaking back up on each other.

In nearly all corners of our yard.

Sometimes Bambi would be more interested in lunch.

And when Bambi lost interest and started eating our weeds again, Pumpkin would wait patiently.

And before you knew it Bambi would be curious again.

So Pumpkin gave Bambi a tour of our backyard.

He even took the little Prince/Princess under the trampoline.

And introduced him to even more native terrain. Yum, Fresh Spring Grass.

I think Bambi appreciated the kindness of our silly Pumpkin.

And, I think, Pumpkin appreciated the nuzzle in return.

So this post is dedicated to my little Arizona nieces who are just as enthralled with Bambi as I am.

Now I’m back to the de-hoarding – But Bambi’s visit was just the rejuvenation I needed to have a wonderful day. Guess what another room DONE! I promise to post pictures soon.

When Fawn meets fawn…

2011-02-26T17:10:00.001-08:00

Yesterday a familiar face wandered into our neighborhood. I’d seen him with his mom earlier last fall. But today Mommy Deer was nowhere to be found. I, of course, was worried for the little guy, especially when he let myself and my kids get this close.

He came no closer than four feet away and I was mesmerized.

He paused long enough to get a good look then off he went as graceful as could be.

Today the poor little darling came back. Alone. I now fear the his Mom is gone for good. Probably the victim of an accident with a car. I’ve seen way to many deer along the side of the road near our rural town.

I reluctantly let Lea take out some apples for the little fellow.

He gobbled them right up.

I know we can’t continue to give him treats or become too friendly with him. If he gets too used to us, then it will be so much easier for him to get hurt by the next car driving along. He’s just so small and my heart breaks that he’s alone.

So we’ll watch from our front window and wish him well.

And be grateful that he graced us with his presence.

Makeover Madness

2011-02-25T15:55:00.001-08:00

So Makeover Madness has officially taken over our Household – The De-Hoarding is still progressing although it has slowed considerably. I know I haven’t posted in ages because I wanted to show you a completed room. As we speak I’ve got 4 area’s of my home that are hugely different from their original form, yet they are not quite there. My Young and Gorgeous Counselor could sense my frustration with not having anything BIG so show (so to speak). So, she sent me back home to WOW you with all the little accomplishments I’ve made over the past couple of weeks.

FawnDear completed her first-ever from scratch Woodworking Project. I built some wooded, or maybe I should say composite based Cornices to hang over the windows in the front/dining rooms. Here they are with only one coat of paint.

I know lousy lighting, but yes that’s molding. Wow, I can’t believe I used Molding??? It involved a lot of kicking myself for not paying more attention in High School Math Class. I never did master the lessons on Angles, and Percentages. Fortunately, my husbands Big Boy Toy had a lot of the measurements already guesstimated for lumber Numbskulls like me. I never would have figured out the angle I needed was 31.62. Thank you saw company.

I’m totally digging trying out all the power tools.

Do guys intentionally say they will do the carpentry work because they are afraid that if we try it and like it – we might claim it?

Regardless, I measured and cut, and muffed up. Then measured cut, nailed, glued and screwed my creation together.

I did ask the Hubster to mount them on the wall for me. Of course they were mounted in studs and with some good Drywall anchors where no studs were to be found.

So Big Thanks to my Prince Erik for pitching in on this step.

I rewarded him for his handy weekend contributions by turning the tables on him. A couple of years ago he was 14-day-guy for me, so this year I surprised him with his very own 14 Days of Valentines.

Each simple card went along with a little gift. And although they might sound silly, it’s the thought that counts. Examples were on Day 1, I gave him an adjustable spice rack (he loves to cook) for our new kitchen. And the card mentioned thanks for the spice he brings to my life… Ahhhhh, am I adding too much ooey –gooey? Some gifts were dress socks, some nut packets or jerky. I think his favorite day was day 4 because it was 4 lbs. of Seafood. Oh, and he liked day 12 as well because I gave him 12… well something I can’t mention here. Anyway it really did feel great to do something nice for the guy.

Currently I’m furiously setting up my Dining room as the Curtain Sewing room. Can’t wait to hang some curtains after a few months of giving the Neighbors more of a show than what they were intending to see.

I also filled the home with mind numbing oil paint fumes as I slowly put some touches on part of our kitchen cabinets.

Here’s T-rev sucking it in for your viewing pleasure. So I’ve now let the cat out of the bag. Yes, we have repainted nearly every surface in our home.

I also finally framed my carefully selected artwork for the Front Room. After going to a framing store and nearly choking on their estimated price of $700 plus for frame, mat’s, glass etc. I went the cheaper route of finding a similar size frame at Goodwill for $25.

I had to paint it white, and I did end up paying the craft store to cut the matting for me. But then I put it together. The matting was around $80, only because I didn’t wait for a dang sale. But $105 compared with $700 is a great deal.

Here’s another peek, I haven’t really staged it yet, just hung the picture, and threw a couple or items on the mantle. Hopefully it will do until I can get around to the thoughtful decorations. The picture is by my favorite Artist Carl Bloch and is called Fra Hellebaek.

The two girls in the picture look almost exactly like my Lea and Hope. I knew the moment I saw it that it was the perfect picture for our front room. My husbands love of boating and ties to his Danish Roots are represented as well. Just wait until you see how perfectly it ties my entire Front room together. It gives me goose bumps that it fits so perfectly.

So Yes, the Home makeover is progressing. Even though it’s now progressing slowly.

Our family is also following our sixth anniversary tradition of Unplugging for the month of February. No T.V., no Computer or Internet (unless it’s homework). No blog browsing (I promise I’ll come visit soon), No Video gaming… More Madness.

The kids have adjusted as expected. First weeks a nightmare, then they start coming alive. Hope had a hard time because I’ve been plugging her in over the past few months to work on my De-Hoarding. So there were a few days of her ~~mauling~~ loving the cat and walking around moaning that she missed her electronics. But she’s bounced right out of that zombie phase – Thank Goodness. If I had it my way – I’d keep the blasted electronics turned off Forever! With the exception of Blogging, of course.

And Pumpkin our Ninja ~~Kitty~~ Cat, we’ll let’s just say, it’s been his worst month yet. With all the ~~smothering~~ loving from bored kids, he turned to the streets. Sadly, the street cats didn’t take to kindly to him and the poor thing came home a bloody, sad mess. Clearly his ninja skills have failed him. Several set’s of stitches, some oozing drain shunts, a $305 dollar vet bill, and one humiliating Cone-Of-Shame Latter…

Pumpkin’s a much humbler fellow, realizing that hugs from Hope are not that bad after all.

And if painting a kitchen, building cornices, dealing with six, I mean seven unplugged kids and a maimed cat are not enough, I’ve added another Makeover project to the List – ME!

My husband and I applied for a contest where our local fitness center was going to select eight teams or couples and give them 12 weeks of trainer’s, nutritional counseling, weekly incentives, and a whole lot of support to essentially shed some pounds and build some Fab Muscles at the same time. So four weeks ago Prince Erik and I were jumping for joy, more like jiggily bouncing, when we found out that we were one of the lucky teams that they selected.

Wa-hoo! A perfect opportunity to lose that nasty 65 pounds of emotional eating I gained dealing with the Unbloggable. And I’m doing it with past success information and even more help from my Young and Gorgeous counselor in dealing with the whole mental/emotional side of eating.

I’m thrilled for the opportunity to get something like 24 training sessions from a personal trainer – it’s something I couldn’t afford on my own. How blessed am I?

Of course they are judging on percentage of body weight lost and not lbs. lost. So I was the recipient of a fabulous Dunk Tank experience.

Sorry about the view. I guess it would be an understatement to mention that I’m pasty white, right?

Apparently getting tanked gives them a more accurate measurement of how much of your body is fat and how much is finely tuned muscle.

According to the tank – I’ve got 72 lbs. of blubber to lose before I’m at optimal healthy weight.

So there you have it. The FawnDear and Prince Erik Makeovers have just been added to our list of current projects.

So here’s the dreaded Before’s. Funny we must be married, or something, because our starting weight was an identical 227 lbs..

Can only get better right??? Well let’s hope so, because I KNOW you’re not tuning into my posts to see scary pictures like these posted every other day.

So week one came and went and guess which team lost the most? Before I answer, I need to clarify that I want all the teams in the competition to do stupendous! I want them all to hit their personal goals. I’m their biggest cheerleader. But, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be right up their with the best of them. The A-Team (as we are called) are on everyone’s hit list because we won week one. Between my husband and I, we lost a combined 21 lbs. It’s week one. We didn’t starve, but we did exercise 6 days a week, but never for more than an hour and we did count calories and keep them within our 1500-1800 calorie range. We followed the rules and it felt great. Our prize – Two haircuts, which we will use for our Fab makeover.

Week 2 – I lost another 3. Prince Erik hit a little wall and didn’t lose anything. But we are still on track. We came in forth the second week.

We are currently in the middle of week #3. This is my hardest week by far, but I haven’t given up. In addition to competing with the other teams – there’s a little competition between me and the Prince. Seeing who can outlast the other on planks (me) or weights (him). It’s awesome to have a built in support system.

So there you have it. The Month of February in a nutshell. I promise not to hold out on projects until they are all completed. It’s easier to just show a little at a time.

And the Monkey Threw a Greasy Wrench…

2011-01-25T20:41:00.001-08:00

My Doctor told me to slack off the Home Improvement yesterday. At least that’s what he said…

What I heard was that I have to wear these little pretties while working around the house.

Stupid Monkey and his wrench. Do you like the paint speckles I’ve contributed to the hideous bondage device? I might paint them lavender and sprinkle glitter all over them. Maybe even add a lace trim. Hummm… turn them into Fairy Godmother secret compartment gloves…you can never tell what I might add that will stick to all the Velcro... and my mind wanders… must be all the paint fumes.

So this whole de-hoarding, home improvement journey might take a little longer than originally planned. I’m not quitting, I just have to take the home improvements slower and make sure I back off if what-ever it is I’m doing aggravates the tingles.

The Stupid Monkey wrench… Possible Carpal-tunnel something nonsense. All I know is that my fingers are numb during the day, and often my wrists are in pain (the kind that can wake you up at un-heavenly hours), especially at night.

Last night after I spread the joyful news, that my hands might need to back off some of the intensity of our home redo, the boys stepped up big time. Their task was to prime something previously crusty and old in the kitchen. And I’m so itching to show you how amazing it’s looking already.

I’ll have to post the whole kitchen process when it’s finished. But it involved a lot of heave-ho and out-you-go, to stuff we never use. Lot’s of cleaning, sanding washing, priming, painting, etc. It’s like the kitchen vomited out of itself and into the dining room and family room. So I’m extra motivated to hurry and get the painting process done so that we can reclaim the rooms it overflowed into.

Here’s an ugly glimpse at the messy in-between phase. You know the phase where we pull everything out of the cabinets and you hear exclamations like…

‘Wow, I never knew food could grow that much hair,’ or…

‘It expired in 2006? Are you kidding me?’ No officer, I’m not trying to poison my family. The expired food was buried so far back in the cupboard there was no way possible for some starving child to find it.

‘And what does this contraption do?… Honey, which infomercial did you buy this hunk of junk from?’

‘Really, darling, over forty knives – Five of which were, exactly the same, for cutting bread.’ Apparently, I’m not the only hoarder in the family. Prince Erik hoards knives.

‘Are those shriveled raisins under the stove??? or…. No… don’t taste them… I really think they are dung from the attack of the R.O.U.S’s (monster rodents) that we fought off two years ago.’ Plenty of shudder’s emanated from all of us on the discovery of an old rodent’s nest under the stove.

‘I never knew the bottom of that cooking oil shelf was painted yellow?… oh, you say, it wasn’t… What? it’s really old layers of balsamic vinegar mixed with drops of every oil known to man.’ Quick open a can of elbow grease – see if that will help dilute the hazy layer of muck.

Am I making you sick yet? If so, don’t say anything, just congratulate me for not being in denial anymore, and more importantly, for doing something about it.

To be fair the bottom of this shelf was well above eye level and had I any idea of how nasty it had gotten I would have tackled it um, ~~Years~~ a long time ago.

Have you lost your appetite yet? Decided that this blog is too much of a biohazard of mental proportions to risk ever visiting again… Suddenly overwhelmed by the the urge to go clean a shelf… Well if one or more of these thoughts have crossed your brain – welcome to my MIND.

Stick around the Makeover is amazing. Want a little proof. Look at one of the project’s I redid last week.

From Blah Brown… to Beautiful Blue (Looks 100 times better in person.)

See how I did this by clicking Here. So monkey, take that wrench and do what you will, but beware, you’ll not slow me down.

Dust Doilies and Do Not’s.

2011-01-15T18:50:00.001-08:00

The Dust Bunnies are having a holiday around our house. It’s still snowing remodeling dust in a consistent manner. Nearly every day, I could probably pull up doilies and still have a decorative design left behind.

My lesson this week - When you try and cut corners it will come back to bite you in the who-ha! There are no short-cuts in quality home improvement. I’m learning this the hard way. So my advice to you is to read the instructions – Twice. Oh, and then follow them. Precisely!!! Don’t skip steps.

So I laid out this beautiful tile floor a week ago, and on Tuesday I grouted it. Wow it was looking nice. I sponge washed it off, just like they said, but I didn’t dry rub off the hazy glaze left on the tile right away, like they recommended. Big mistake. – Huge mistake. I did cover it with plastic and occasionally spray it with water (part of curing the grout), thinking I could wipe up the haze later. Last night I took off the plastic and was preparing to wipe the floor and then seal the grout. But the darn glaze wouldn’t come off. See the streaks?

So with some wonderful helpers, (Prince Erik, Grandma, T-rev, Abner and myself) we had to put in some really good elbow grease time. Maybe a combined 8 hours of scrubbing that tile hard enough to remove the glaze. I’m thinking if I ever had to get fingerprinted, they’d have a hard time seeing anything other than smooth. So FINALLY – Today, I was ready to seal the deal, or the grout.

It’s finally done and it only took us 16 days from start to finish. Probably 3 of those days were muscling up the mistakes. My wise bro-in-law pointed out that the good thing was that we aren’t likely to ever make the same mistakes again. Next time I’m removing the glaze – dry rub style right away. The other good thing is – I can actually see my arm muscles. Wa-ho! I’m going to be a buff dudette when this is all said and done. And sixteen days later I have a kitchen floor.

From This sliver-full, redneck, uneven, stained plywood floor (which we’ve seen for the last three years)…

To This (A real honest-to-goodness, professional looking) Kitchen Floor…

Makes every hammered thumb, chemical thin-set rash worth it. Oh yes, another rule I should have followed – wear gloves while mixing and spreading thin-set. It burns the skin. Another reason why I don’t have fingerprints anymore.

Right before the floor was sealed T-rev was walking across it with a jug of concentrated juice. I warned him not to spill it or it might stain the new floor.

‘I know mom, and if I stained the floor, you’d kill me,’ T-rev moaned.

‘Nope, because then I’d have to deal with blood stains.’ I replied.

He smiled and said, ‘Good one, mom.’

It was a tough week, the washing machine died and spewed it’s guts all over the laundry room floor. Abner kindly took this mountain of unpleasant smells to the Laundry-mat for me.

The furnace died too, on the day of the snowstorm. Maybe all the dust burnt out it’s igniter.

What is it with my appliances? Luckily, Prince Erik fixed the furnace, and we bought a reconditioned washer, with a warranty, from a little small-pop appliance store. It’s worked like a miracle for the last two days. In the past, two bumps in a road like that would have totally sent me to the fridge for some comfort food, or some escape-from-reality movie. But I’m doing so well at not letting the hiccups slow my progress. It feels good to power through. And the rewards, well, look at how huge of an accomplishment the kitchen floor is. Wowser! Things like this make the speed bumps insignificant.

The best part of the week was Pompa and Grandma came for a visit and didn’t whine about the construction mess. Oh, and Lea and Prince Erik both celebrated birthdays. So time marches on.

I am overwhelmed at how much harder this transformation process really is compared to what I thought it would be. It’s physically, and emotionally grueling. TV shows make it look like one hard week or two of work and snap a beautifully Done project. Today is my four month mark. Nine truck loads to the dump, and the truck is filling up with number ten as I type. The thrift store calls on a weekly basis to see if I’ve more to donate. It’s exhausting, but so rewarding! Never in a million years could I have realized just how hard it is to de-hoard. But I’m so determined to see this through. Even though I’ve still got mountains of clutter in maybe 5 more rooms, I know I’m past the half-way mark. That light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter every day.

So dust bunnies – enjoy the construction snow while it lasts because winter is almost over and I’m nearly ready to sweep you out of the house once and for all.

What was I thinking?

2011-01-10T07:17:00.001-08:00

Home Improvement Projects always seem easier than they really are. Case in point… My husband and I took an Excellent Tiling Class at Home Depot. So excellent in fact that we decided to tile something ourselves. Here is the ‘What was I thinking?’ part. So for our First-Ever-Tile-Project we decided to tackle… are you ready for it?… the Kitchen floor. 160 square feet of pure Madness. I guess we should be grateful that our first project wasn’t the Master Bathroom. Just sign me up for the Looney Bin Now!!! We have been constantly working on that dang floor for over a week. And aside from cleaning, grouting and sealing I thought I’d give you a sneak peak at our kitchen. I know I should wait until it’s done but I so relieved it turned out.

Here is some wild, short-haired creature laying the finishing touches at 2:20 A.M. Because that’s how long it took. Three stinking days to design, layout, cut, then thin-set in all those pieces of tile. And that doesn’t include the previous week of a day spent prying up the particle board floor, then another day spent scraping all the liquid nail/particle board remains off.

What a nightmare.

And you can’t begin to believe the dust layer that now covers my entire home. The dust bunnies are very happy, it’s like snow to them.

Oh and before I forget, it took yet another day to add some self-leveling floor muck to all the dib-bits we hacked out of it. Plus who makes a perfectly level floor anymore? – not our builder. Then tack on another day to lay down the hardy backer with more thin-set.

What’s the count up to. That’s right forgot to mention that while all this was going on, we were also working on other areas like hanging some refinished chandeliers. I seem to be refinishing everything. But it’s looking so good.

I also had to take a wee break right in the middle of tiling to take the three girls out for their Christmas Present that Santa gave them. Instead of typical presents from Santa they got tickets to Great Wolf Lodge.

It’s a pretty incredible indoor Water Park and Hotel. Here’s my darlings fashionably wearing their ~~so momma won’t be paranoid of drowning suits~~ life jackets .

How’s this for a Gi-normous fireplace? And this is a picture of just the bottom quarter of it.

And honestly no matter how upset I was at Santa for interrupting my floor project with such ill timed tickets – I have to secretly and profusely thank him because my muscles were howling from all the lifting, scraping, and mucking I’d been doing. The sort-of rest was just what I needed to come home a tackle the rest of the tiling. And that wild, short haired creature? Let’s just say I wanted spring so bad that I shed some fur. Some really heavy because it was so thick and long, and always-in-my-face-when-trying-to-do-home-improvement-work, hair.

Whew, no more pony-tail headaches. At least until it grows out again.

Sorry I got distracted. Here’s the sneak peak. Erik’s motorcycle turned into the chunk of rock you see on the right and my handwork is on the floor below it. See how the border design ties the two pieces together?

There’s still tons left to do besides the floor. Need to refinish the cabinets as well. They are starting to look their age. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take me another week and a half to finish the floor. Oh, and if you ever consider tackling a ‘What-was-I-thinking-project, don’t let me dissuade you, with my previous grumbling. It is SO worth it, just plan on it taking three times longer than you originally thought. Plus it’s a great work-out.

When you give a 5 Year Old a Hammer…

2010-12-29T17:57:00.001-08:00

When you willingly give a five-year-old a hammer you better be prepared for this.

Fortunately for us, this was a planned demolition. Yeah, the 3-year kitchen remodel is finally moving forward.

Yes, our remodel continues. I’m so wishing I had some more before and after pictures to show you, but the AFTER is not quite done, yet the demolition, and remodel continues to engulf even more rooms as the list of rooms almost done, but not quite continue to grow. Some how we are all surviving all the paint dust and paint fumes.

And in between all the chaos we did manage to find a little Christmas spirit.

See how high you can get on paint.

I never want to paint on a ladder that high again. Can you tell I’m nearly crying with fear as Abner does the Please-don’t-fall-on-me-MOM, happy dance.

Between the mad makeover mess we were able to throw in a one day family trip to the quaint town of Leavenworth, WA. Loved it.

We even took the obligatory family photo and true to form chopped off heads, arms and toes. You know our typical snapshot.

The miracle was that we even put the tree up and decorated it with only a week to go before Christmas.

Ate some yummy food and way, way to much sugar.

And dreamed, and worked and dreamed some more of when this extreme home makeover would be done.

I’ve got a lot of sewing, tiling and painting still ahead of me. And yes, the After rooms will knock your socks off. Who cares of Myth Busters busted that myth.

I’m loving being creative. Found two broken lamps for super cheap and put them together to make this little beauty for my future fairy desk. You are not going to believe how perfect it all turns out.

My kids are dreaming right along with me. See here’s Abner dreaming of being a grown-up.

Thank you for being patient while I continue to inhale down more paint fumes than can be healthy for anyone. I know I’ve been missing from blog land for so long, but I can see the light at the end of the remodel tunnel. It’s still a tiny pinprick, but it is growing brighter.

How Dedicated Am I?

2010-11-26T19:58:00.001-08:00

Since the Upstairs is Mostly Done, I had a huge task this week. Find a table to eat Thanksgiving on. I’ve got several tables in my home but they were piled high with stuff. I think it’s been 3 or so months since we squeezed all of our family around the same table for dinner. Pathetic right? Usually we clear off little corners for a kid in one room and another in the kitchen. A lot of us have been sitting on the floor or chowing down on dinner while standing.

I promise that there is a honking large table under that pile of clutter.

This is a Before/After Hoarding (Haven’t Painted and decorated Yet). That will hopefully happen over the next couple of weeks. The Dinning Room!

And on Thanksgiving morning…

It felt so good to sit around this table.

And I know it will feel even better when Ms. Passion helps me make over the room.

I’m amazed that I still want this transformation as heartily as I did on day 1 of my Self (Hoarding) Awareness. Now I’ve got proof of how badly I want this.

Proof about how dedicated I am at the De-Hoarding. Want to know what it is. I just listed my precious obsession on EBay.

My First Print, First Edition, Autographed Obsession. It’s not that I’m not still obsessed. (Just a wee bit). It’s that having a peaceful home is so much more important. Are you not proud of me? I am. The things I really love are my Family, not rare autographed books. However, I do hope they bring in a little $ to help pay for the Beautifying process of my Home. Wish me Luck.

Almost…

2010-11-21T11:12:00.001-08:00

No I haven’t quit blogging. I’ve just been consumed with the De-Hoarding. Consumed! It is the first thing that pop’s into my mind the second I wake up. At night, as my exhausted head hits the pillow, the countless thoughts of upcoming projects swirl around as a blizzard, numbing me to sleep. I’ve so many rooms that are Almost done. So close to being perfect, yet the little un-done details constantly nag my conscience, and have prevented me from showing the before and after rooms. Until now.

Since the little details won’t be looked at until the rest of the house is Almost Perfect. I’ll go ahead and show you my last three big projects.

The Master Bathroom. The Horror Before…

Even with a laundry basket in the room the kids would still drop their clothes and towels on the floor. Frustrating.

Every surface on counter and tub, cluttered with bottles of what-not’s, toys, cups, clothes. At least that is how it was a little over a month ago.

And Today…

Not only is it clean, but it’s beautiful.

The biggest time consumer was painting the trim and the cabinet’s.

They had to be painted with and oil based paint, which was smelly and takes ages to dry, but is so much more durable. New hinges & knobs too, because we couldn’t stand putting the old rusty stuff on our beautiful white doors.

Saved money with the curtains though.

Made the curtains with material from my old stash. Humm looks like the leftover duvet cover ($4.99) I thrifted to make this little darling.

I did have to get more drapery hardware, but that duvet cover went a long way.

Paint: $95 Hardware: $73 Curtain Supplies: $24 Total: $ 192

Now off to the girls room. Princess and Hope’s room was the cleanest bed room in the house before we started.

A bit stuffed, but not horrible.

But After:

A Perfectly Pink little girls room.

And I’m still in awe of the closet.

The girls let go over over 8 rubber totes and bags of clothes, bedding and toys.

Found two matching comforters at 75% off. They were ended up costing $7. 98 each.

And the darling bed skirt. I raided my sewing stash again.

Found two other bed skirts that I bought for possible girly dresses and did something different.

Couldn’t make the traditional bed skirt because the beds are taken apart bunk beds.

So I employed some Velcro and attached them that way.

The Curtain rods. An Electrical pipe, Wooden dowel, and ends from another shorter curtain rod.

The silly wooden dowel was what I spent the most on. $3.49.

First I screwed the finial into the end of a short piece of dowel then snuggly fit it into the pipe.

The curtains we found at a thrift store.

The vanity was gifted to the girls by a close friend.

And we were able to find some other thrift treasures to decorate with.

Best of all the girls are surrounded by their most favorite toys. The ones they liked above all the other’s that they let go of.

This room did contain my first opps. One of the paint colors we choose was a little too pink. So overwhelming and bright that it made the room look smaller. It nearly matched the pink ribbon on our curtain tops.

So we changed the color on the top half of the room and now it darn near perfect. I didn’t even grumble too much with painting the stripe in between the colors.

And NOW for my final upstairs room. We took this monstrosity that used to be the boys room.

A cave of darkness, damage, and even more clutter.

Poor Lea inherited the room from the boys in April, but nothing had been done to it to make anyone know it was a girls room.

The walls were riddled with holes, dings and dents from my O.D.D. son before we entered him into treatment.

The Doom Room Before…

It was a very sad room. But we poured a honking lot of love into it and today…

The picture doesn’t do the room justice. It’s much lighter in person.

Nightmare Room - No More.

2010-10-28T17:56:00.001-07:00

Done!

Well Mostly.

One of our favorite places for my husband and myself to visit is the Beautiful San Juan Islands in Washington. We keep talking about how much we’d love to retire there and soak in the beauty all around.

So the logical choice was to decorate our Master Bedroom as if we were on retreat at our favorite place.

Ms. Passion and I were nearly jumping out of our skins as we put some finishing touches on the room today. So without further ado…

The Nightmare (Hoarding) Room Before…

And After…

Are you shocked??? I’m still in awe that this is my home. Gone is the sheet covering the window, the blah beige, the overwhelming feeling of OVERWHELMINGNESS!

Another nightmare view…

to This…

Yes, I know some rules were broken… Where’s the dresser’s & typical Bedroom furniture? We instead put up a section of the bookshelves that used to be in the family room. This way we can save some of our favorite books, and have a room to go to get away from the house. A place to treasure some of our treasures, and remember some of our amazing adventures to the islands.

A place to read and relax, among other things.

And because I’m digging this so much here’s yet another view…

Simply Beautiful.

And while the room is mostly done, there are still some things that need touching up, like finishing the painting of the door trim.

I’m also keeping my eye out for some comfy chairs to replace the ones by the window.

Here’s the best part. We are surrounded with items we love. Things that mean something.

Whether it’s pictures we’ve taken while visiting our favorite place…

Or decorating with left-over material that I used to reupholster my husbands boat.   I had a lot of sewing homework. Never sewed a bed skirt or valance before. Tried to keep them tailored looking though.

We had to keep the cost to a bare minimum. But using the left over boat fabric made the room even more special for my Prince. He loved that boat. Someday we’ll get another one, but until then he can go relax in our room.

Not only did we tackle the Master Bedroom but we also nailed down the closet and Bathroom.

And the old (child-scribbled-on) dresser/wardrobe…

Well, my boys did a bang-up job of painting it.

It’s new place is in our closet.

The Before…

I counted 44 boxes of memorabilia, pictures, Christmas ornaments, baby clothes etc. 44 boxes.

From foor to ceiling.

Now for the after.

Notice the top shelf is totally empty. I’m still dumbfounded. Gone are around 6 bags of clothes.

Some Christmas ornaments remain. Not a lot.

The boxes of memorabilia have found a new temporary home. We plan on going through them when the house is done and scanning the pictures, tossing the extra’s. It will take a long time. So that will be future homework.
And the bathroom. Here’s a peek.   I’ll show you the before and after pic’s next time.

Ms. Passion is amazing and with every step we take I’m feeling more hopeful and more empowered that I’ll be able to finally conquer the clutter (hoarding) demon once and for all.

The cost. Although we kept it to a bare minimum and used as much as we could from around the house, the little details can still add up.
$124 for Paint (Much of it can be used in other rooms which will make the other room’s re-do a lot cheaper than this one.
$117 for hardware (new dresser knobs, towel racks, hinges, electrical pipe for hanging curtains, curtain grommets, etc.
$77 bedding and towels for bathroom.
$35 thrifted items for decorations and material for backing the curtain and valance & pillows (love thrifting sheets.)
$169 (I THINK) for totally replacing our broken French doors that lead into the bedroom. This was something that Prince Erik tackled on the side.
$69 for Pictures and Frames

Total: $591
It was more than we were planning on spending, a lot more. However, had we put the same room together with new furniture, well, the cost would have been in the thousands. We used the furniture we had and took as much as we could from my fabric stash. It was also our most distressed and neglected room (outside of the kitchen). And the cost covered Bedroom, Bathroom and Closet. So three area’s. The Bonus is that there is enough left over paint we can probably tackle the other upstairs bathroom for pennies.

So there you have it. I’m still unbelievably motivated to keep going full steam ahead. With the transformations we’ve seen so far, our home will be amazing when finished. Even though the work is incredibly hard and time consuming – it’s so worth it.

I have a feeling that I’m going to be spending a lot of quiet time in my room from now on.

As for the kids, they’re bouncing up and down, in anticipation of when their rooms will get transformed.

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Clone me, Please?

2010-10-22T23:49:00.001-07:00

Just wishing there was a magic wand where I could make duplicates of myself. A few extra me’s could tackle this home so much faster.

It’s been two weeks since we completed our family room. Whippee! It’s lasted and the kids have helped keep it in tip-top shape. Since then I’ve been putting every spare second into my bedroom. One of my worst rooms.

And as much as I’d like to show you it’s (nothing-short-of-miraculous) make-over – I’m not going to until it’s done. It’s amazing. Ms. Passion is a miracle worker. Cross your fingers and with a little luck maybe I can show you on Monday or Tuesday. But here are some hints.

First I threw open the window’s (pulled down the sheet). I could almost hear the neighbor’s silent cheers as the monstrosity came down – NEVER to be put up again.

I spent a day removing items to be sorted later. Donated 4 bags of fabric to the thrift pile and saved another 4 for maybe a future garage sale. Then I spent maybe 5 days painting. FIVE DAYS is insane, but so is trying to paint stripes. If Ms. Passion wants stripes elsewhere in the house I may mutiny. No I won’t give up - but I might whine. However after spending so much time I have to admit her technique looks amazing.

The kids are continuing to pitch in. Without them the whole room would have taken twice as long.

And since I can’t show you the completed room I thought I’d give you a glimpse into some material I’ve been assigned to do something crazy with.

The whole process has been liberating. In so many ways. My Young and Gorgeous Counselor summed it up like this by sharing this quote with me.

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

~Marianne Williamson

And guess what? The fear is shrinking and I’m starting to shine.

Crud, Sweat and Tears – Worth It?

2010-10-06T23:57:00.001-07:00

So a week and a half after Ms. Passion helped me start on room number one… The Family Room/Library/Music Room… well I’m proud to report that it is 99% done. Remember the beginning of our room?

It involved a lot of Crud removal, Some good old-fashioned elbow grease, and I’m proud to say I bawled like a baby nearly every day.

Saying good-bye to bad habits is painful, but worth it. Remember this wasn’t my worst room but a very packed room.

Out of this room went three bookcases full of books, a piano, 6 bags of trash, and probably another 10 boxes of thrift items.

And after that it looked a whole lot like this…

And this… with the couches taking up the majority of the center of the room.

Do ya like all the electronic cables hanging around?

Ms. Passion is a genius – I might add. Before she became a professional organizer she was a home stager. You know, someone who goes into homes and stages it for a quick sale. She knows her stuff. So not only was she helping me organize but she also is staging my home so that it is not only functional but beautiful. We spent around $55 on paint, electrical parts so my husband could rewire the entertainment center, and a art piece and lamp from the thrift store.

Ready for the reveal…

Introducing our ‘Family Room’!

We moved the entertainment center to a different wall. Then Ms Passion found a way to make some of my more treasured stuff and arrange it in a way to make my husband say, ‘Wow.’ at least 5 times when he finally saw the room put together. Wow is right.

The best part was she involved the whole family. Everyone had homework. From sanding…

To painting the trim white (which I’ve always wanted to do).

To rewiring…

Washing…

And a ton of dusting and cleaning and re-dusting, and re-cleaning. The whole process was messy.

But so rewarding…

I cheated early on, and tried to do some of the kids homework for them. Cause I could just envision the trim paint slapped all over the walls, etc. However Ms. Passion chewed me out good about that one and she was right. The kids need to invest part of themselves into making this room functional and beautiful. They are more likely to take care of items they worked so hard to make that way.

Ms. Passion even found some fabric in my stash that complimented the couches. So we turned that swatch into some curtains.

The only homework we have left? Well, we are going to repurpose some left-over small matching cubbies into a desk for this corner. And that’s going to allow us to pull the computer out of the dining room and put it here where the whole family can use it.

So that’s it – One room Done! Guess which room everyone wants to spend time in now? We all love it and can’t wait to see the magic Ms. Passion works on the rest of our home. And the rest of the house, – well it’s desperate for the same treatment.

So for those who want to follow along I thought I’d post the steps I’m going through to overcome this Hoarding Addiction as well as Ms. Passions lessons that she’s giving me.

* Step 1: First you have to ACKNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. Yes, I know I’m a hoarder and I’m SO ready to be in the recovery phase of that illness. Then HAVE A DESIRE TO MAKE A CHANGE and have the courage to realize that you need to ask others for help. Without the Acknowledgement or the Desire you are basically stuck on step one.

* Step 2: ENLIST THOSE WILLING TO HELP ~ family, friends, counselors, organizers, blog buddies, etc. Make sure they are committed, and will hold you accountable if you flub-up.

* Step 3: EVERY ROOM HAS A PURPOSE! If some item is in the room that doesn’t fit the room’s purpose it needs to leave. You wouldn’t cook your food in a bathroom, or do your laundry in the front room. Bring the Purpose back to your rooms. What is the Vision for your home? Both in looks, and how it makes you feel.

Clutter never feels good.

Ms. Passion helped us clear everything out of our family room except items that fit a basic vision for it’s purpose. A room where our family could view movies, play board games, study scriptures, and have fun.

All the extra stuff is temporarily being housed in my last room – the front room.

We are going to hit every room this way. One room at a time. Eliminate everything that doesn’t fit the room’s purpose. I suspect that the hardest part will be seeing all the left over stuff I’ve accumulated in a embarrassingly large mountain of a pile. That and after the last room is completed; knowing I will most likely have to part with that pile will be excruciatingly painful – but I suspect the beauty of having a home where everything has a place and is in it’s place. Well, I’m convinced that-soon-to-be place of peace and beauty will give me the courage to make those hard choices. I’m ready to keep going.

Quick Reminder…

From this…

To This.

And This…

To This.

It feels more Peaceful already.

Passion for Dreaming

2010-09-29T08:04:00.001-07:00

Well jiggle my wiggle, and rattle my bones. Or at least I feel rattled and jiggled to the core. In a good way. Why? My ~~Professional Organizer~~ Ms Passion came yesterday and emotionally (not physically) grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me up. In the process she awakened some powerful dreams. POWERFUL – I tell you.

The first room on her hit list. The family room.

I mean the Family Room/Music Room/Library…etc., etc., etc.

Here’s hoping no one ever yells fire.

Banana peels on stairs? It’s like asking for Murphy and his silly Law to move in.

I tried to prep for Ms. Passion’s coming by letting go of a lot of the easy stuff. Lot’s of junk, broken items, McDonald toys – blah, etc.

Reduced the whole drawer of toys to two small baskets.

Nearly 5 bags worth of trash. Believe it or not, I thrifted nearly 10 office size boxes of books. I was super proud of myself. Then Ms. Passion came over. And GUTTED THE WHOLE ROOM!

What?

Except for this monstrosity and the couches.

I’m hating on brown right now. It’s so not me. I’ve discovered my whole house is Blah Brown. And the entertainment center we bought only because it matched the colors of our Blah Brown bookshelves, which we bought because the store didn’t have enough of them in the first color we wanted. The only touch of me in the entire room that I love is…

My farm-girl scene toile curtains.

In the past I’ve purchased household furniture because it’s ‘in’ or because I think other people would like to see it. Matching furniture to the styles of my friends, not necessarily mine. I’m a huge people pleaser.

In gutting the room it freed me up to dream and DREAM BIG. My only limitation – No Money! Oh SNORK! I’m going to have to get creative to actually buy or refinish the furniture pieces I love. Yet, now I finally have a vision. Something to really wish, dream and plan for. And Ms. Passion is going to help me make Blah Brown more attractive until I can afford the real dream.

Who would have thought that purging one’s self from unloved clutter also freed up the imagination to dream? WOW! It really does.

Where did the room go. Since I’d already purged it – or so I thought. We moved part of it into the front room and other parts into the rooms they will go in during our future organization rounds.

I needed something to remind me of one of my favorite seasons so I pulled out some Halloween decoration.

Including potions from my Fairy Godmother Cabinet.

I rode so many different emotional waves yesterday. Sorrow, confusion, elation, the biggest wave of all, being hope. And Ms. Passion paid me the highest compliment possible.

She said that of all the Hoarders she’s worked with I’m the most ready and willing for the process of recovery to begin. Yeah Me!

I asked why I didn’t hate her yet. She promised that I would by the time we hit room number two – the Master bedroom/Craft room. Ugh, so dreading that room.

Can’t wait to show you the finished rooms. It will take awhile. Maybe months. But, I’m so excited for the transformation to begin. ‘Clean House’ eat your heart out.

Finding Balance

2010-09-24T13:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I took a break from purging my junk. Needed to fuel my talent for being creative – and I used up some junk in the process. I don’t want to get burnt out with the whole de-clutter process.

I decided to finish a challenge after all, but I did something totally different than what I was planning on doing before my ‘Aha-Hoarder’ moment last week. I decided to make an organizer to old the various odds and ends of a Nintendo DS we have. I keep one so that when I have to drag Hope with me to an appointment I can plug her in. Otherwise, she’d be bouncing all over the furniture and talking to everyone. We don’t play it much, but it makes appointments fun for her. I’ve been carrying it around in Ziploc bags in my purse forever. But, this got rid of some of my garbage clutter and helped me organize the games a bit better.

It almost matches my purse. Lucky me. And when not going to appointments, I can store it on the shelf next to books.

I posted a tutorial on how I made it HERE. Now, I’m thinking I could do several of these types of cases for various things my boys have. Would make great Christmas stocking stuffers on the cheap. I only have to be sure to be realistic about what I have time to do and it’s time frame. Otherwise this idea falls into my addicting clutter frame of mind. That’s the only thing that stinks about being creative.

I met with ‘Young and Gorgeous’ today! Of course she thinks I’m doing Fab and going in the right direction. The one concern that’s overwhelmed me with the whole gutting process is the thought of running around like crazy and monitoring the family to make sure they are complying with our simple dream lifestyle.

She Said, ‘Fawn, you have a husband right?

‘Yep.’

‘Well can’t he monitor too?’

‘Yes, I guess he could.’

‘And your kids have all agreed that they want this too – right?’

‘Dang, you are so right.’

She pointed out that I am not doing this alone. We are all doing it together and I shouldn’t put such a overwhelming heavy burden on my shoulders. We can all ~~Jillian Michaels~~ kindly monitor each other. Then, I’m not the only Bad Guy. Plus, having little Hope sweetly ask Prince Daddy to pick up his socks would sound way cuter from her than it would from mommy.

By the time I’m finished with this process, I will practically fly everywhere, my self-imposed burdens seem to lift a little every week. Love my counselor!

Now, I’ve just got to control this crazy creative brain of mine. It’s been dreaming of following the ‘Project Runway’ challenges when they are given each week. You know watch through the show until the challenge is given – turn off the TV, run to the thrift store to buy fabric and see if I can’t create something similar if not better than the contestants?) How crazy is that idea. Of course I’d try and rationalize the process by saying I was trying to create a wearable look for a member of my family that fit in the definition guidelines. But which of my girls is looking for a High Fashion /Couture Look to wear to Pre-school? Okay, I know Hope would love to wear a princess gown to the dump if she could. Anyway, that’s the inner ramblings I have to deal with from myself – on a daily basis. Good thing I’m not the only one that crazy creative. Commented about it to ‘Grosgrain’ and she loved the idea as well. Love Grosgrain’s creativity, wish I had as much time to sew.

Now I’ve got to go find something to chuck! Blah!!!

Step One – Enlist the Masses!

2010-09-23T09:52:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I finally had my first meeting with a Professional Organizer. I think she’s my new best Friend, yet she’s promised that she will be my worst enemy. Someone that I’ll want to call the cops and put a restraining order on. You know, the Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser Trainer) of Cleaning. So I think that puts her in the Frenemy category right? For privacy sake – let’s just call her Ms. Passion. Ms. Passion wants to make me mad, don’t know if she can do that, but she wants too.

So, Ms. Passion showed up on my porch yesterday and I was expecting her to take me to lunch and tell me about what I should expect through this whole de-hoarding process. Or at least that’s what she told me on the phone. Wrong! She’s deceived me already. Instead, she wanted a tour of my Hoarding Nest. And she got the full,normal, unprepared-for guests, treatment. Which is exactly what she wanted.

Of course, I kept trying to explain, rationalize, excuse my poor cleaning habits, and the general reasoning behind my huge mess, and un-made decisions. To her credit, she stopped me, and told me she wasn’t there to judge me, she was just there to understand so that she could devise a plan for retraining my brain.

Her first bit of homework, I did not expect. It was to…

1. Enlist the help of the ~~family~~ herd. I know the whole Hoarding/Cleanliness failure is my own and I thought I would learn the steps for treating myself and then, when my brain was okay, then I could teach it to my ~~mini me’s~~ kids. Wrong! They are to learn the process right along with me. Here’s the hardest part – I have to wear a new hat. So, as Ms. Passion is to me, I will have to become for my kids. I will have to do something I’ve NEVER been good at doing – Be Consistent. Let’s just say that the only thing I’m consistent about, is being inconsistent.

When Ms. Passion told me this I showed her my ugly face. The Scrunched up expression where you try and hold back the tears but realize that you’re failing. I failed and probably made Ms. Passion happy because I cried. Wow, this is going to be harder than I thought.

I’m a non-confrontational type of person and my kids know this. I’ve trained them, well, poorly. My big fat excuse - I have a special 14 year old that’s been diagnosed (Bi-polar, Depressed, Oppositional Defiant) messed up. Years ago his counselor told me chore charts would never work with him. Because, viewing the items he doesn’t accomplish will fuel his depression and spiral his manic side. And he can’t accomplish much without help. In a totally unreasonable way, I then took responsibility charts out of the mix for the rest of the kids. My stupid way of trying to treat them all fairly. They know he’s different and I know they understand the whole situation, yet still I slacked. I’m really good at slacking.

But, if I want real change, I can’t slack any more. And for Heaven’s Sake, I want Change!

Ms. Passion is going to help me one room at a time. Once the room is perfect, and she’s taught me how to keep it that way. I have to teach my kids how to keep it that way. I have to be their Happy Drill Sergeant until these new habits are engrained in their normal behavior.

Maybe I should get one of these?

This might not hurt to have as well.

And have stiff consequences for the kids when they muff up.

Here’s the rub! I have a consequence too. Ms. Passion Promises to stop by unannounced, when I least expect her to show up, AND if the room is in any way a mess – she walks out. She has guaranteed me that she will only come back One Time, after humble groveling. The second time, I’ll have to find another person to help me. Tough Love – I guess. Motivation, to finally take the steps I’ve been yearning to take since forever. I’m 100% sure I want this.

So Step 1: Enlist family and friends to help. DONE!

My sweet friend Ethel has also promised to back Ms. Passion up, chew me up and spit me out if she see’s me slipping. Had a sit down with the whole herd last night, explained the rules, consequences, and reasons for undertaking this adventure. I was expecting the typical whining I get when I ask for help. However, They shocked me with their willingness to be drilled. They want this dream home and have just been waiting for me to get with it. My girls are especially excited about not hearing the excuse that the house is too messy to invite friends over.

I have Hope! This WILL happen.

Finding Someday – Today!

2010-09-21T13:58:00.001-07:00

My mom told me that she was once helped clean out the home of a lady who had died. In the inventory of her house was untouched treasures that the woman had never really gotten to enjoy. Not gold or money, but treasured items of linen, tableware, etc., and other such items that the person was saving for her future dream home. Her ‘Someday’ home. Her ‘Someday’ never came.

I’ve found myself often in that position. Saving items for display until after I’m convinced the children have outgrown their accidents. How thick of a thought is that? My kids outgrowing accidents? ‘Snort.’ Not going to happen.

Then I woke up.

I want my Someday House – Today.

I may never have that specific dream home with a wrap around porch. But, I can make my home today every bit as much of a dream to live in. Enjoy every room, and create memories of love with my family.

As I’m now sifting through my piles and piles of crap. I’m trying to find and enjoy object for my ‘Someday’ house - Today. Trying desperately to save ONLY the things I need and love. I’m craving simplicity.

Here’s a small accomplishment. A typical view of my dining room hutch. It’s been cleaned off before. Hopefully the new tools my counselor and organizer give me will help me keep it clean.

You know it took me an entire day to clear this hummer. One whole day of nothing else getting done. But when I finished, there was a box of thrift items, two garbage bags, overflowing recycling, and two bags of shredded paper.

Even Hope was enthusiastic about helping me with the shredding process.

And when I was done not only were the surfaces cleared and simply decorated. But every drawer and cupboard was as well.

Including treasured linens that I intend to use now and not wait until I have that ‘Someday’ house. And if my kids have an accident? I’ll deal with it. It’s only stuff right?

I tried not to think too hard and follow my gut instincts. My first thought was to toss the magazines. When I sat down to really look at them I was flooded with the projects I wanted to keep them for, or the crafts my kids could do while cutting up their pages. But in the end I followed my first thoughts, and they became part of my thrift pile.

There’s many more boxes of them upstairs, I hope I can let go of them as readily.

And here’s my dining room hutch today. Notice how I tried to crop the clutter of the rest of the room out. It’s still not done. But, we had dinner on the dining room table last night, if that helps.

I didn’t want to stop with just shifting the stuff to other areas. I wanted it all to be free and clear.

I’ve four piles now. This thrift pile was picked up this morning by the donation truck. There is another in my front room that I’ve taken pictures of because my husband wants to EBay the items.

Then there is the dreaded, ‘I want this but don’t know where to store it.’ I’m saving that for the professionals to help me deal with.

Finally there is the last pile – Pure Garbage. Instead of showing you photos of trash bags every time I blog, I thought I’d keep a running total of them on my sidebar. I don’t want my blog to become specific to my addiction to Hoarding. I've six kids and a peculiar Prince of a Man, who’s my husband. They are my real treasures. And in treating my problems I’m freeing up more time, money, and will be a better wife and mother with hopefully less emotional strain. But it’s hard. Already I’m running out of the easy things to let go of.

Today, I opened a cabinet of empty photo albums. They’ve been there for almost 13 years. Untouched. I closed the cabinet. I’m going to let go of them but it’s painful. Instead, my husband and I have decided to start the slow process of scanning and saving the Master Bedroom closet full of huge boxes of memorabilia and photos - Save it onto the computer. Saving only the most precious. What’s crazy is that I used to be a Creative Memories Consultant preaching about saving those photos. But the creative process of decorating each and every page burnt me out and I haven’t touched a photo album for 13 years. Can’t do it. Need simple. Need something that won’t overwhelm me again. Scanning and organizing those photos, I can do.

I’m trying to live today as if it was the ‘Someday’ I’ve always dreamed about. Enjoy the treasures now, and not wait. And if I can’t enjoy them now, why hang onto them? Right? Or at least that’s what I’m trying to tell myself.

Throwing Open the Curtains

2010-09-17T20:10:00.001-07:00

I’ll do it again, someday, hopefully soon. My bedroom ~~sheet~~ curtains have been closed for years. An effort to not inflict eye damage and tongue waggling from my neighbors across the street. Now that I’ve come out of the hoarding closet with my blog I was briefly tempted to open them. But I didn’t. Too chicken still, but Soon. I promise.

Somehow the scenes in films of someone opening the curtains on sulking kermudgins is resonating with me today. I remember Rhett tossing back the drapes on a pouting Scarlett. And Mary (Secret Garden) letting her sickly cousin Colin see the light of day for the first time – ever. Anne did it too in Anne of Avonlea. Someone letting in the light of day on someone feeling sorry for themselves, hiding from the world for various reasons. I want to be that someone. I want to get up in the morning and throw open those curtains and inhale that light.

Today was frustrating as I kept getting distracted. But here’s the great news.

Yes, more trash is good news in my book. As is a slowly growing thrift pile.

But I can’t seem to keep my focus on one area. I start something somewhere, and then move something to put it away somewhere else. Yet then I see something that needs to be tidied in yet another place. I’ve always done this. Go around in circles, working my hind end off but not getting one big thing accomplished. Now, I’m making notes to ask my Young and Gorgeous Counselor how to retrain my brain to stay focused. Sometimes A.D.D. stinks. But now that I’m aware of it I can more easily recognize when it’s sidetracking me.

My other big concern is that I have a house load of stuff to learn and then I’ve got to teach these things to my kids. I’ll have to be diligent and not give up. I know some of my kids have issues too. You’d think with a laundry hamper in the bathroom they would have no problems dropping their dirty clothes and towels in it. Wrong.

I almost feel like putting a blinking neon sign with arrow pointing to the place to put the dirty clothes.

A few days ago I signed on to get Fly Lady emails. My inbox was then cluttered with email after email, testimonials, recommendations. It was so overwhelming and I was thinking, ‘Oh yeah, I need to start that and then that, etc.’ I ended up shutting down the service after 2 days of email clutter. Otherwise I’d be reading Fly Lady for at least 1/2 hour a day. I need to take baby steps but I need something concrete like the two bags of trash a day. Or following Kelly’s daily missions in the zone areas.

Needless to say, I did a lot today but the frustration level rose a notch too. My sweet Prince told me that I was doing great and he wanted me to take a break. So this evening I’m going to chill and do some more painting on my Never land Clock box. And maybe I’ll watch this with my girls.

And dream of throwing open the curtains on a clean de-cluttered room.

Outing a Hoarder

2010-09-16T16:11:00.001-07:00

I’ve been addicted to watching ‘Hoarding – Buried Alive’ on TLC. The last few shows have been very discouraging as I haven’t seen much progress made. It appears there are some people that can’t make the cognitive decisions necessary to overcome their circumstances. Or maybe they haven’t hit rock bottom. A definition for clutter that I think fits is,

‘Clutter is Postponed Decisions’.

Recently, I saw on the show the mom with 5 kids, who’s husband moved out. It took her 4 1/2 weeks to clear 1 room. The kids all but admitted that she just shifted stuff around. Once the camera’s are no longer there, I’m certain the stuff will creep back in. I’m all for hoping there’s a silver lining for these people’s problems. When you don’t see it, the show becomes depressing to watch.

Now, here’s the fun (sarcasm laid on heavy) part. I’m outing a hoarder. Almost called the show on her, but I felt sorry for her family so I didn’t. What the heck I’ll blog about her. I know for a fact that this lady has some anxiety disorder. She’s been recently (last April) diagnosed with A.D.D. and from watching the show I’m convinced that Hoarding is mostly a mental disorder. I love this lady dearly and I know there are few people as creative and caring. She has a hard time saying No to anyone and anything. She is so amazingly talented but can’t seem to finish anything that she starts. So many darling projects that get put on the back burner when something else equaling creative catches her eye. She’s a sentimental hoarder as well. Can’t seem to let go of her children’s treasures, even after they have. This is a person that can look at a piece of trash and save it because she has a fabulous idea of how to re-purpose the item.

This lady is…

ME.

Hello, my name is Fawn. And I’m a Hoarder.

Shocked? I am. It always rocks my world when my Conscience finally recognizes what I think my subconscious has known all along. When truth bears out and that light bulb goes off.

The Unbloggable turned me into a Zombie, and when I slowly woke up from that coma, I couldn’t seem to find my feet. That’s when Young and Gorgeous diagnosed me with A.D.D. And her saying what I had, well, it rocked my world. Because, I knew it was true. I felt the truth so deeply when she said it. I finally recognized it in all my hurdles. The frustrations with myself for so many little things that I thought I should be able to do, all rooted in A.D.D. I started getting help and I have to say I’m thrilled with the results so far. It feels as if I’m truly awake and living my life for the first time.

Yet, even as I’m feeling so much better, there was something gnawing in the back of my head. Couldn’t pinpoint it either. Somehow, every episode of ‘Hoarders resonated more deeply, until I finally recognized the truth. I was watching me. What? ‘But in your blog, FawnDear, you showed all these wonderful before and after makeovers.’ Isn’t it great how you can focus on the one beautiful thing you’re creating and crop out the clutter in the background and that surrounds it. I love that about blogs. But they hold a clue. Remember the before pictures, that’s the norm, the redo’s never last more than a couple of days. Remember my Craft Room – need any more proof? Another nail in the coffin was looking at all the posts where I talked about my issues with Clutter (31 to be exact – 32 after this one). My sis out-ed me on one asking if I was just moving stuff around. The answer is mixed – yes, and no. Yes, I really have gotten rid of too-many-to-count truckloads of stuff to the dump and thrift store. But I never addressed the emotional reasons for collecting it in the first place. I have to admit that I’m not nearly as bad as the people spotlighted on the show, but I’m nearly there.

I see something darling…

in a magazine like this…

made out of used dryer sheets…

Absolutely gorgeous. So I then start dreaming of darling gauzy fairy dresses for my girls and then this happens.

Or I see contest like this…

and all of the sudden I’m saving more trash.

These boxes are going into recycling directly after I post this.

I have an answer for everything weird you can find hidden around my house – like the shelf full of empty soda bottles.

Why they are for next year’s Mad Tea Party, of course.

I nearly gagged re-reading my last post. I was saving pictures and self-made pattern pieces from costumes more than 8 years old. I promptly threw those in the trash that evening.

I’m in love with Thrift shopping – it’s therapeutic for my creative genius. Yet it holds a firm grip on my problem. I’m not visiting another thrift store until I’ve conquered this illness. Now that I’ve finally recognized and owned my addiction, I’m pretty sure I CAN have a Happy Ending. I’m hanging onto Hope for a better tomorrow once again. By turning myself in I’m one step closer to solving the riddle of me. Closer than any of the people on Hoarders who are turned in by loved ones. I’m reaching out for professional help to more than one person. My young and gorgeous counselor is helping with the A.D.D. and teaching me how to retrain my brain to be more realistic about my dreams and craft projects. She’s helping me make lists.

And set goals. Being more realistic helps with letting go. If I haven’t hand tinted black and white photo’s for more than 9 years, why am I still hanging onto that box of supplies. If I want to do something but don’t have a due date for completing it will I be willing to let it go if not done by the due date?

And next week I’m meeting with a professional organizer trained to work with people like me. She doesn’t beat around the bush and has promised me that things would get a lot uglier (emotionally & around the home) before it gets better. Uglier than a garage that you can’t even walk through?

Or a master bedroom that now houses my craft room’s objects.

All four walls stacked with my postponed decisions.

And no you don’t need to call the health authorities on me. I’ve no dead cats hiding buried beneath the trash. These are of course my two worst rooms. The closet’s are not far behind. If you walked into my home and forgot that the porch looked like this.

Well, being in my front room, you wouldn’t know my shameful secret. It’s hidden out of site. And my youngest children’s room has remained this clean for four days. I know… shocking right.

Yes, I need help. Desperately! But I recognize that, and I’m now, finally, after 40 years of being the most unorganized person I know, well, I finally reaching out for Professional help. And NO, my friends reading this can not come help. This is something I have to do or it will just come back. This is what the Pro. Organizer is going to go through with me.

I’ve got the best reasons ever and have hopefully lined up the right people to help me solve the riddle of me. I HAVE to find the solution because there are six little mini-me’s that I’ve got to eventually send out in the world someday and I don’t want to send them off with my issues.

I’m not watching Hoarders anymore. Now that it’s personal it’s too depressing. And TLC doesn’t focus enough on the steps taken or thought process’s challenged for my liking. I am however re-watching Oprah’s two part series on Hoarding. They show you the hoarding but then go into some of the different steps you can follow to overcome it. Until I meet with the organizer I’m following a couple of those steps. Every day I’m taking out at least two large lawn and leaf size bags of trash and two bags of thrift stuff as well.

Here’s yesterday’s trash…

And the beginning of yet another thrift pile.

And today.

Thank heavens tomorrow is garbage day.

And the thrift pile, well I mean to add more to it tonight once the kiddo’s go to bed. But it is growing in size.

My goal is to not stop until ‘Everything has a Place and is in it’s Place,’ even if that means temporarily letting go of some dreams.

When it’s done, I’ll have more confidence, and energy to face an incredibly bright future. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and please don’t judge me because I have an illness. The point is I’m treating it and sharing this because I know there’s people like me out there who know what this is like.

The Madness Begins

2010-09-14T17:47:00.001-07:00

It’s that time of year, where mom goes crazy (in a happy way) with the sewing machine and attempts to visit different worlds through Family Theme Halloween costumes. The best part for me is the costume research. Watched and re-watched Lord of the Rings, Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean too many times to count. Here’s some past moments I’ve saved.

My Legolas costume and matching quiver, with pattern pieces lying around. In researching themes I save lot’s of film pictures, buy similar patterns (although I like making my own better), and take countless notes on details. Loved researching the Pirates of the Caribbean costumes as well.

In years past the kids have complained when I’ve assigned them certain parts to play. That is until they start getting compliments on how great they look. Then they embrace the theme, and proudly tell everyone who they were.

This year I decided to let them choose the theme. Kindof because I didn’t want to deal with the mumble grumble about the roles assigned them. I told them to take to heart, their seamstress and the two themes she would love to do. Apparently they have no hearts.

The two theme’s I wanted….

Peter Pan with it’s dashing Hook? I mean what boy wouldn’t mind looking like Jason Isaac's Hook.

And what girls doesn’t dream of being Wendy, or even Tinkerbell?

The other theme I really want to tackle (which would go great with our Mad Tea Party) is that of Alice in Wonderland. Tim Burton Style, of course.

Lea’s already got Alice’s hair. And can’t you just see T-rev and Evo-man as Dee and Dum? I certainly can, especially with pillow’s stuffed in their costumes.

I would be the Red Queen and Prince Erik would be the Knave of Hearts.

Abner would be fetching and act well the part of the Mad Hatter.

And Princess would be the perfect White Queen.

I’ve even found the White Queen’s shoes.

Hope wanted to be Mollymumkin the DorMouse. It would be the perfect theme.

So we had a family discussion and Abner added an additional theme to consider, which I humored because I believed it too outrageous to be chosen. Unfortunately the whole ~~blasted~~ family latched onto with enthusiasm. Even Prince Erik betrayed me and sided with Abner’s theme as he thought it would be the least time consuming for me.

And so trying to make the ~~minions~~ wee ones happy, even though it’s taken the whole fun out of my process of exploration. This year our family is going as character’s from…

Get this…

UGH!!!!

Power Puff Girls (for the girls)

And Rowdy Ruff Boys (for the boys)

And they specified that they wanted to be the original characters not the Japanese ones.

I’m trying not to gag. But heck, at least they’ll be happy, right?

Next year the Mommy Dictatorship is back in effect. In the meantime. I mean to whip these costumes out and IF there is time and Halloween $ left in the budget maybe I’ll secretly make some of my wish costumes on the sly. A girl can dream, can’t she? Shhhhhh, don’t tell Prince Erik, he’ll freak.

Hack and Whack

2010-09-11T19:21:00.001-07:00

The weapon of choice.

Evidence gathered from a crime scene.

Close up! ‘Waaaaah!’ cries Mom.

The perpetrator is caught and taken in for a mug shot.

Then whisked away to the cheapest hair cut place I could still find open. I guess I got what I paid for - a cheap cut.

Sadly, the stylist spoke very little English and even after I kindly held up my hands to Hope’s hair (three times) trying to show her how short I would prefer the hair cut (to hide the evidence of a crime). Well let’s just say I finally gave up trying to communicate and brought ~~the culprit~~ Hope home. And here’s the uneven mess the hairdresser left me with.

Are you kidding me?

How uneven can you get? So seeing that I had no extra money to go find someone to cut it right. Well let’s just say Hope had to pray hard I wouldn’t mess it up even more as I tried to fix the extra mess the hair dresser made. So, here’s my attempt at a fix.

And the front, which I must mention in my defense, is much fluffier when dry.

Dang, I miss her hair.

Snapped this picture the same day she whacked it all off. Well at least it will grow. Meanwhile the scissors are under lock and key along with the permanent markers. I think it turned out as okay as any inexperienced, untrained person could have cut it. And I have to say it matches her sassy personality quite well.

I think she chopped it off because big sis Princess recently got a shorter do. Princess has a nasty habit of chewing on her hair when concentrating. That and I could just see her gnawing on it at school so she got a cropped look too. But I’m missing both my girls hair.

The other hack and whack we attempted today was for a National Day of Service to commemorate the Anniversary of Sept. 11th. No we didn’t whack or hack anyone. We, along with thousand of others in our area participated in service projects all over the community. We ended up helping out weed a garden for a local non-profit organization Camp Korey. Sadly, I forgot the memory card to my camera. The whole family went and weeded for 4 hours. Let me say, the time flew by and I have to say pulling weeds is much more fun when there’s lot’s of people helping out.

The spirit of whacking was preserved long after we went back home. We decided to attempt to fight the jungle out back. We mowed down weeds taller than myself and have now started laying out plastic to kill them off so we can till up the ground next spring. I want my garden back.

Weed hacking I can handle. Let’s just hope the hair hacking has come to an end.

Hold On

2010-09-10T15:51:00.001-07:00

Wow, the last few weeks have flown by and it’s all I could do to hold on for the ride.

Hold on and kiss summer good-bye with all the sweetness we could find.

We ended up taking our girls to the State Fair. Boy’s weren’t too interested in going. The boys were smart. Other than introducing our girls to Cotton Candy and…

Finding a new Merry-Go-Round Friend…

Well, let’s just say it rained buckets while we were there and the cost of everything was unbelievable high. Took the magic out of the whole experience. The rain I can handle, the price gouging – no thank you.

On a more fun end of summer note was an overnight camping trip and ride on the ferry. Lea couldn’t resist feeding the gulls.

Always inspired by NieNie and her Back to School Feasts, we decided to have one of our own.

Wait, why is there a pole in the middle of the table?

It’s our theme for the year.

‘ Hold On.’

Because as our whole family knows – Life can sometimes be a whirlwind of everything. ‘Fun, Terror, Love, Frustration, Temptation, Friendship, Distraction, Family, etc.’ And while the whirlwind is swirling around you, sometimes as a breeze, and sometimes with the ferocity to rip out your soul; well, it’s important to ‘hold on’ to what’s really important. Love, Family, Goals, Dreams, and God.

We’ve been through a lot over the past year with our whole unbloggable and still ongoing saga. But I’ve so much more hope for the future because I’ve tried to ‘Hold On’.

And with our theme a favorite verse from one of my favorite books,

‘ And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree? And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

1 Nephi 15: 23-24.

And with the hope of a brighter tomorrow comes sweeter joy. In our family feast it was the sweet joy of Ice cream sundaes. They couldn’t wait for a picture.

I cut each of my children a tiny iron rod and soldered a jump ring onto the end. Some keep it on a necklace, other’s a backpack pull. Just a wee reminder to ‘Hold On.’

And with that I sadly sent my kids back to school. I’ll miss them. Wish we were in the position to Home school again.

And with that, I now torture you with the ubiquitous Back to School Pictures.

Princess couldn’t wait. Could you tell she’s ready to bolt off to the bus.

Evo-man & T-rev totally thrilled to be hanging with friends instead of Mom.

And Lea’s off to Middle School. No way is she that old.

Here she is, sporting all the freaking supplies that the teachers requested. Back to school registration and classroom supplies nearly broke the bank. Our compromise was no new school outfits. Oh well.

And they were off, except for Hope. I still get to hang onto my baby for one more year. She’s desperately lonely and I’m afraid Pumpkin might have to endure some more dress-up time in the very near future.

I’ve so much to do this fall, better get started.

Down with Trolls.

2010-08-28T23:04:00.001-07:00

Sadly the trolls are out there. Remember my enchanted gift to the park?

I was informed by some friends that they couldn’t find it when they visited the park, so I had to go check for myself.

‘Sigh’, they were right. Some trolls had come and carted off my fairy door just as I feared they would.

Dumb trolls.

Of course I’m thrilled it lasted so long. Three weeks feeding the imagination of children was something to be happy about.

So in order not to let the Trolls get the upper hand. I’ve used the random generator to choose three lucky winners from the participants at my Magical Second Start to the Right Adventure. I so wish I had something for all the participants because I loved visiting everyone.

Winner of my Fairy Dream door (on the left) is:

Surviving Grannies Guide to Happily Ever After

The Winner of my Cottage Kitchen Fairy Door is:

OLDE BAGGS ‘N STUFT SHIRTS

And finally my good-luck wood Ebony ‘Believe Necklace and Earring set goes to:

Witch Way

Congrats again ladies. Please be sure and send me your addresses to I can send a little enchantment your way.

So Take That Trolls. You can’t snuff out our imagination no matter how hard you try.

When Imagination goes Awry

2010-08-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

We just flew home from Neverland, ahhhh what an adventure. Many thanks to all the participants who joined me there. Almost done with me Neverland clock… can’t wait… hopefully this weekend it will contain the names of the lucky fairy door winners.

And next year, I’ll be visiting Neverland again because I can’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first release of J.M. Barrie’s first book ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’.

My mind is swirling with all the fun we are going to have next year. Who knows maybe my children will put on a clothesline theater production of the play.

So, as you know I’ve been blessed with abundant imagination, as have my children.

Fortunately I have the good sense to keep a foot in both the land of imagination and reality at the same time. My kids not so much. Which is where it’s up to me to make sure I don’t lose them to their flights of fancy.

Four-year old Hope has enjoyed the ride to Neverland, just as I did when I was her age. She presented me with this darling picture of Peter and Wendy that she drew. It’s magic.

However…

Princess warned me that Hope was standing in her window waiting for Peter to come and fly her to Neverland.

Gulp!!!

Her window is over two stories off the ground. Fortunately she didn’t attempt to fly without Peter and Pixie Dust. However, after I re-started my heart, I think the window may be barred, unless I’m in the room reading Bedtime stories.

Oh Heavens, that brought me back to reality fast. I know where she get’s her wonder from. It’s from me, this chick…

Me, as a wee one of course. See the deer-caught-in-headlights look… I’ve perfected it during my many daydreams. Remember how I told you my first memories of Peter Pan was listening to my Dad read me stories while sitting in a trailer home at my Grandparents farm. Well in my memory (imagination) and for years (okay until this year) I thought that trailer looked like this. Maybe my thoughts latched onto it because it has the nostalgic look about it.

Can you imagine my dismay when I found this picture.

No, not the dismay of seeing a photo of wee me in curlers but notice the trailer in the background. I didn’t recognize it at all. The blue and white shelter was so chased out of my memory, replace by a sliver ghost that wasn’t real. I had to immediately contact my parents to see if the silver ghost was a true memory at all. It wasn’t. The only trailer I lived in was the box shaped one in the picture. The Airstream trailer, sadly was a false memory at best. My Dad did confirm the stories under the window though. Whew! At least I’m not all bonkers.

Maybe the airstream is a future memory? Hummm. A Traveling Nursery?

Okay enough dwelling on my imaginative memory. I’ve got just a couple days left of summer before school starts and I’m going to work hard on helping my kids find their footing in both the land of reality and imagination.

Second Star to the Right Blog Adventure

2010-08-21T01:22:00.001-07:00

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning."
That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland. ~ J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

After Last Year’s Adventure, I just couldn’t wait for this day to arrive. Many magical thanks to all the enchanted participants (see them all on my sidebar) in this year’s adventure. Please visit them to discover many different paths to Neverland, Imagination, and Staying Young at Heart.

Now we’re off. First you have to Believe.

Painting by Margaret W.Tarrant (1888—1959).

‘The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.’ ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Sometimes it’s hard for grown-ups to believe. Yes, sometimes they forget how to follow their dreams.

Mrs. Darling: There are many different kinds of bravery. There's the bravery of thinking of others before one's self. Now, your father has never brandished a sword nor fired a pistol, thank heavens. But he has made many sacrifices for his family, and put away many dreams.
Michael: Where did he put them?
Mrs. Darling: He put them in a drawer. And sometimes, late at night, we take them out and admire them. But it gets harder and harder to close the drawer... He does. And that is why he is brave. ~From the 2003 Peter Pan Movie

Brave? Yes. Some dreams need to wait. Yet I wonder if Mr. Darling would have benefitted from bringing his family along as he followed some of those dreams. The grown-up Wendy remembered the joy of dreaming or she never would have allowed Jane to visit Neverland with Peter.

Illustrations by F.D. Bedford for J.M.Barrie’s 1911 Edition of Peter Pan

I’ve chosen long ago to join in and enjoy frequent visits to the land of imagination with my children. We even shared some of that joy with other’s when we installed a fairy door at a local park.

When seeing children dream you can’t help but want to join in. Somehow, watching them, rekindles the fire of imagination you held precious as a child.

And before you know it, your playing along, creating new dreams…

Taking the time to stop and admire the flowers in all their magical glory.

Or, gazing at the beauty of an evening sky…

And not only should you dream, but you should get up and do something about those dreams. Like exploring new places. When in doubt, let the Lost Boys be your guide, and explore frequently.

And Never, I say Never, pass up the opportunity to dip your toes in a cool stream on a warm day. Remember how blissful that was when you were younger? How refreshing?

When you’ve forgotten how to imagine, just follow the children’s example. Play dress-up.

I’ve been dreaming of the Nursery Window. Not the window’s in today’s nurseries (babies room), but the window’s in the Nurseries of Yester-year. The window that Wendy began her adventure from.

Nurseries held adventures, both in reading fanciful stories and acting them out. What would the story of Peter Pan be without it’s start in the Nursery. What about Bedtime Stories? Are they not the fuel of dreams at night?

Someday, I plan on having a magical nursery. A place where not only can my children and grandchildren dream, but I can too. I’m even working on pieces to add to my Nursery. Want a peek? It’s not finished but I’m enjoying the journey and couldn’t wait to share it with you.

Tis a simple clock box. That spoke to my imagination and begged to be something different. Something befitting an enchanted Nursery.

A box that wanted to be a dream itself. And that’s just what it’s turning into. My Neverland Dream.

Can you feel it’s magic.

I promise to show you how it turns out . It’s a slow dream, but I’m loving every second of it.

There are so many adventures I’d love to share. Some of these Neverland journey’s are not completed. I’m still working on them. Part of dreaming is being brave enough to try something new. So I completed another Fawndear First. Shockingly, I, with huge help from my editing-wise son Abner, made a little movie. Well music-video, that is, just over a minute long. It’s a wee little thing so take a peek and please forgive the camera lady, she didn’t do these sweet fairies justice.

There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality. Jonas Salk

And for all the wonderful Second Star Participants. I will be randomly selecting a couple of you to receive some of my Fairy Doors on the 28th.

Now, Don’t forget…

‘There is nothing like a dream to create the future.’ ~Victor Hugo

Sweet Dreams and Thank you for Visiting.

Tootles,

FawnDear

When Grown-Up’s Play Dress-Up

2010-08-15T09:50:00.001-07:00

Had my best day this summer. Want to know what I did?

Played Dress Up. How’s that for staying young at heart. But first I had to do a little work.

I needed something to dress-up in. So, I took a Spaghetti Strap dress I found at the local thrift store and I repurposed it.

Yes, the white embroidered flowers on black satin were gorgeous but it’s the back of the dress I fell in love with. However when playing dress-up with thousands of other grown-ups it needed some tweaking.

Don’t hate me but I made it Medieval. I really wanted to go in costume to this Renaissance Faire. I only had a few hours to transform it, so I won’t give you any close-ups. But I think the dress fit into the atmosphere of the faire perfectly. The embroider on the front of the dress I re-used as a headpiece.

I also repurposed some scarf's, dresses, tablecloths and odds and ends found in my sewing stash, to make my girls three fairy dresses.

Lea’s was my favorite.

The girls abandoned their wings after the first hour at the fair. That’s okay, cause good sport Dad was there to hold the extras.

And the cast of Characters we met were all delightful. Even if their outer appearance was a bit grim. This fellow offered to watch our children for us.

And when I asked, ‘Are you afraid?’, he was the one that replied.

‘ Why yes I am?’ he said. I told him he had good reason.

We even ran into my favorite Wizard Gandalf.

And pirates, faeries, hags and soldiers. They were all there, and all graciously stood in the heat to entertain a photo with my wee ones.

The shows were all entertaining. Hope’s favorite show was the one where I got called out of Robin Hood and Maid Marion’s audience to play the fearsome dragon in the play, ‘St. George and the Dragon’. Don’t I look scary?

And the Joust… Ouch!

My favorite was the Gypsy Horse Acrobats.

Pretty incredible stuff.

And while entertaining, even for Hope... There was yet one more thing she wanted to do before our Faire Day was over.

I think the part of the day they looked forward to the most was becoming a ‘Lady of the Court’ to her Royal Majesty.

So if you’ve never played Dress-Up as an adult. I think you should give it a try. This little video might entice you.

Second Star Adventure Give-Away

2010-08-12T20:34:00.001-07:00

My Creative Pixie dust has been flowing big time. And I’m having way too much fun with it. Good thing Prince Erik is out of town this week. It gives me a chance to clean up all the saw-dust that’s laying around.

I know I’ve been promising you details on the gifts that some of the lucky participants in my Second Star Adventure will receive. Well, although they are not finished, they are finished enough for me to show them to you.

For the Young and Young at Heart I have two Fairy Door’s.

And a Lucky Necklace.

The picture doesn’t do it justice. The necklace and earrings are made of ebony wood (the good luck wood) by a local artesian. I added a touch of my new-found love of my dremel tool and carved the Word ‘Believe’ along with the two stars. The indentations are filled with Pixie Dust and sealed with a varnish.

The doors were labors of love. I love them so much it will be hard to part with them.

The first is ‘The Fairy Dream’ Door. Approximately 7 1/2 inches high and 7 inches wide.

Don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but I used the dremel tool to make the stones surrounding the door stand away from the wall.

And the vines are yet another of my favorite tools – The Wood Burner.

And my favorite word.

The other Door is the the ‘Cottage Kitchen’ Door.

The quote above the door, ‘There is nothing like a Dream to create the Future,’ by Victor Hugo.

This is the door to my dream cottage.

See there’s even a visiting mouse hiding in the grass. And my mother’s favorite flower waiting to greet any new visitors.

Can you see how I’m going to have a hard time parting with these?

But I am. They will go to another Young at Heart Home. Just sharing my imagination.

Want to know how to get a chance to win one of these?

Well first you have to become a participant in my Second Star Adventure. Just click on the picture for more details.

I’ll announce the winner on the 28th of August. I’m giddy with excitement. Hope you can join the fun.

Pucker Up

2010-08-12T13:55:00.001-07:00

Thought this little tidbit was worth sharing. This Saturday marks the 65th Anniversary of V-Day – A National Day of Remembrance. This picture by Alfred Eisenstaedt forever immortalized the celebration of the day.

In July Congress approved a resolution to Commemorate this event on the Second Sunday of August (Wow, finally August has a holiday). Yet this year it will be on Saturday the 14th.

In addition to memorials and celebrations all over the U.S., there is one that I found fitting, one that I could vicariously participate in no matter where I might physically be located. In Times Square there will be a Kiss-In next to a 25 foot tall statue of the unidentified soldier and Nurse Edith Shain (who recently passed away).

So, Saturday, I’m going to passionately kiss my Prince, then smoother my children with more hugs and kisses so they don’t feel left out.

All the while, gratefully thinking of all the amazing men and women who have served our country so honorably and preserved our freedom.

So Share some Love and Celebrate! Help Keep the Spirit of ‘45 Alive.

Surrounded

2010-08-11T20:23:00.001-07:00

So last night I was awakened to brutal reality when I saw police officers, guns drawn, yelling and running around my backyard neighbor’s home. To be honest it’s not a neighbor I know well. Well they were able to apprehend their guy after a lot of yelling and a little scuffle. I was a little shocked as I stood 40 feet away from the activity in full view of what was going on. Power tool in hand, mouth probably hanging open in shock, but still as a statue. Don’t know if the statue would have moved any if guns had been blazing, but thankfully they remained silent.

UGH! I have problems letting my kids play outside. They are not allowed in the front yard without an adult or teenager present and now I’m thinking of imposing the same rules on the back yard.

What’s shocking is I live in the most peaceful, quiet, friendly town around. Makes me long for the country. But I’m sure they see this stuff there as well.

It broke my peaceful summer. So in order to reclaim it I’m posting pictures about the joyful things we’ve seen this last week.

Took my kids to the Beautiful Snoqualmie Falls. We intended to hike to the bottom and play in the river like in years past, but the trail was closed for upgrades. They figure it will take them three years to complete. Three years is way to long. Maybe they should assign the task to some wanna-be eagle scouts.

Maybe we’ll find an alternate path down, because I don’t think we can wait three years.

I also spied Mommy Deer and her Fawn. These deer visit daily a small residence in my town that is on a main road. Love seeing them. I saw the baby when it was less than a week old and I’ve been kicking myself for not having my camera with me ever since.

And to get us in the mood for our continuing Second Star Adventure, we just had to watch my favorite live-action Peter Pan Movie.

I nearly giggled with pleasure through the whole movie. Can’t tell you how long Peter Pan has been my friend. Just ask my mom.

And tonight, more magic happens. We are going to watch the Perseid meteor shower. So I’m off to find the sleeping bags so we can lay out, under the stars, on the lawn.

And while we are waiting for the sun to set I’ll just have to decide which book to read to the girls. I think I’ll follow this Lady’s advice.

Whew, finally finding a little peace again.

A Little Bit More Magic

2010-08-09T10:14:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to give you a sweet follow-up to my last post. My sweet friend took pictures of her children’s adventures with the Fairy Door and sent them to me. I’m posting them with her permission.

Finding something new and delightful at the park.

Leaving the wee folks a message.

And when they visit the next day the MAGIC HAPPENS! These expressions say it all, and might I add those precious dimples are so overwhelming me in a good way.

Pure Enchantment!

Reading their personalized message from the fairies.

I hope, Dear Readers, that you don’t feel like I’m tooting my own horn by sharing my Fairy Door adventure. In a world with so much pressure and negativity I just wanted to share something that brings me happiness. Kids are so often rushed from one lesson to another, or plugged into an electronic device so it’s often hard to find time to just be a kid and use their imagination. And as adults – When was the last time we found joy in little things? Paused to watch the clouds or study the butterfly’s wings. It’s different for everyone. But finding the little moments of joy are what makes life sweeter and keeps us from getting overwhelmed by the world around us.

Definitely think the discovery pictures qualifies for…

When I Grow Up???

2010-08-07T10:10:00.001-07:00

Well, the truth is, I never want to grow up. However I have a potential hobby lined up for when I retire. Who am I kidding, I can’t retire. But, in the far future, when I’m an empty nester I would love to work for the fairies, answering their mail. I had a sneak peak of what that future may look like.

So I’ve been keeping a close eye on the fairy door I installed at the park. It’s been getting lot’s of love. The Fairies ~~I INSANELY~~ sent out a little note to some of my local friends stating that if their wee ones left notes for the fairies that maybe, just maybe, they might respond today. You know a one week only gig. Then every night we stole back to the park and found treasure.

Where do they come up with these questions?

And the darling pictures had me grinning from ear to ear.

Even my girls left messages. Here’s Princess who worked especially hard to make a note that would be easy for the fairies to read.

Turns out I the fairies responded to all the darling queries left behind the door (Hope I found all the notes). I think the wee people let the midnight oil burn, as they got so involved in communing with the imaginations of children.

Then bright and early this morning Prince Erik with his trusty screw-driving strong arm (as the door had a couple of pulled out screws), accompanied me back to the park. Once again he made the little door sturdy. Thanks Big Guy.

Then I set about making some fairy home improvements, because inside this big girl body is a little girls imagination. Prince Erik waited patiently while I played. I cannot tell you whether or not he rolled his eyes while I babbled on though. Super Big Thanks Sweetie.

What fairy home is complete without a moss carpet. And look at the sweet treasure some little hand painted and left as a gift. The rock is a perfect resting place for the weary fairy stopping in to take a break. Then I sprinkled some Pixie Dust and inserted the fairies responses.

You can definitely tell that the fairies visited.

Hope the kids like it. I swear I had more fun than they did. And poor Prince Erik had to hear me go on and on about how I want to do this when I retire.

Now, it’s back to earth and laundry for me.

Christmas to a 4 yr. old

2010-08-05T08:22:00.001-07:00

Guest Post…Oh, I just love it when Prince Erik chimes in. Here’s a recent message he sent out to our families…

“T-rev has taken it on himself to provide the family with “freezing’ ice-cold water this summer. This is a real treat for the family on the hot summer days. Twice a day he replenishes our kitchen water cooler with blocks of ice keeping the family supplied with what I would have to agree is ‘perfect’ water.

Well, evidently his perfect water has not gone missed by Hope. She absolutely loves it, and when she is not outside cooling off in the kiddy pool, she will be in the kitchen cooling off with T-rev’s summer gift to the family.

She mentioned to us on Monday, as she was drinking some of T-rev’s water “Ummm, now that is Christmas in my tummy !”, then she proceed to get 7 other cups for the rest of the family so we could all share in the “Christmas in our tummy” experience.

What a cute reminder to me to enjoy the little things that we have and then to share it. I took my glass and felt the water tingle all the way down.

‘Ummm, Christmas in my tummy !’

Prince Erik

>>>>>>>>

Note: A couple of days ago I won a gift certificate to Baja Fresh (A local Mexican restaurant) that I took Evo-man to last night for a nice meal. I can’t say that the experience was ‘Christmas in my tummy’ but there was absolutely a party going on !”

When the weather gets hot…

2010-08-04T23:36:00.001-07:00

I’m on fire right now. Summer weather has actually only been around for 3 or 4 days. The heat I mean. This has been the coolest summer I can remember (WHICH I’M LOVING). Cloudy, cool mornings (PERFECT for yard work), and the high’s around the mid 70’s. Seriously, weather created just for me.

Today was a warmer day – Over 80 degree’s F. I know, I know you folks in AZ are cursing me right now. I think we’ve had around a weeks worth of days over 80 all summer long. Regardless, I’m loving the weather. In fact it’s been so hot I’ve done something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

Strip…

the paint off some old furniture. What kind of person do you think I am? I’ve been working on 3 different pieces -

A Clock box, and can I say the stripping varnish and stain is a pain. It’s future will hopefully be an enchanted dream box.

A heirloom rocker that’s been through generations of my family and all my kids and even spent a winter outside.

I pray I can save it, but it’s in pretty bad shape. I know certain pieces will have to be replaced, but the wood, for the most part is still okay.

And what of this? Let’s just say one of my favorite artist has inspired the future of this chair. Can you just imagine a whimsical Storybook Chair? I’m beyond excited.

I have such amazing dreams for each of these pieces. And the weather is perfect for working outside on such dreams as these.

Guess what? My sweet fairy door is a finalist… okay, to be honest all the entries are finalists. Let’s just say, there are some pretty creative ladies out there. Hop on by (by clicking on the button) and vote for your favorite.

And this weekend. I’ve a special surprise. I’ll be showing you the treasures I’ll be giving away for my Second Star to the Right Adventure. Almost put the finishing touches on them. Now to find where I put my pixie dust?

As you can tell my dreams are in full force, I’m sure my Prince wishes de-cluttering were closer to the top of my dream list. It will come… eventually. Until then I’m enjoying every step along the way.