The BEFORE pictures, kitchen

Demo on the kitchen started June 23rd. Here are the plans and "before" pictures (but after we took all the stuff out of the rooms, so they look way neater than they ever did in real life.)

The plan for the kitchen involves taking down the walls between the kitchen and breakfast nook, widening the entryways from both sides, and adding an island.

Breakfast nook:

Kitchen:

Only the dishwasher is staying; all other appliances will be replaced. Floor will be oak to match what exists in most of the rest of the house. Countertops will be quartz. Beige tile backsplash with pops of accent tiles. Cabinets going all the way to the ceiling, in natural maple, Shaker style.

Halloween

Yesterday, while at work, I realized we didn't have any pumpkins, which means we hadn't carved anything. Husband couldn't pick one up because he was going to the Cavs' game, and I was working later than normal. I called home, asked the 8 year old if he wanted to carve one, and he said "Yes" (of course). Note: The only reason I asked was because I was envisioning the day of Halloween and him realizing we didn't have one. Parenting is all about choosing the lesser of two evils.

So, I ran into a grocery store on my way home (at 7:00), picked out a pumpkin in about 45 seconds, paid, walked as quickly as I could to my car carrying a 20 lb item, got home at 7:30, called the boy in to put out newspapers, and we carved. He was in bed only a little late. It all worked, and no one cared that it was the night before. I'm sure it was expensive as pumpkins go. We didn't traipse out to a farm and choose the one that spoke to us. And I kept my sanity. Good enough parenting.

Simplifying life

I realized something recently. I've spent the past almost 20 years accumulating things to make a comfortable and interesting home for my family. In particular, the quantity of child-related items increased probably exponentially every year since Greyson was born. However, in the last two or so years, I've been getting rid of things. Apparently, around 2009 was the apex of number of material possessions in my life. And I'm being brutal. Like those warehouse clearance ads on TV, "Everything must go!"

I bring this up because recent events have spurred this cleansing process on substantially. I keep track of our budget and finances with an online service (mint.com in case anyone is interested), and I see where we could cut costs. We have some specific improvements we want to do to the house, so any extra money saved gets us closer to those, of course. In fact, every time I go into the basement and feel the 20 degree change in temperature, I start looking for money in the sofa to get us closer to the gas fireplace insert down there! Anyway, one thing we want to cut is the newspaper delivery. Dan mentioned to Greyson that we are switching to just weekend delivery, and Greyson said, "But Dad, I read the comics every day. And I'm following the Dimora trial!" Now, I'M not even following that trial (short, short version - corruption and racketeering within the city government, or something). And I certainly don't want him to! So, we'll be saving $22 every month or so AND we get the bonus of not having to debrief our 11 year old.

The other recent even that occurred was a nasty sewer smell in the unfinished side of our basement. Really, it was nauseating and hit you straight on when you opened that door. I poured water down the drain, as I learned I was supposed to, and then poured some more down when that didn't seem to help, and after about 2 weeks the smell diminished. However, there was still a smell down there, and I called a plumber to come and take a look. When he said he could come on Wednesday morning, the day I "work from home", I stopped what I was doing and cleared out a pathway so he could get to the drain and other pertinent areas easily. WELL, I found the source of the rest of the smell. Not one but TWO dead mice. Right by all our stuff that was piled up in and next to bins. GAHHHH! So, I got a trash bag and some bleach and went to town while trying not to gag and/or go into convulsions from the disgustingness. And the first thing on my list to do when the semester ends is, once again, go through the basement and attic and really clear out everything we don't absolutely need. My mom may have to make sure she is nowhere near here, because it pains her to watch me throw out things that maybe will be used at some point. Granted, I do give a lot of things away, but let me tell you, if I think a mouse has even breathed on an item, it is going straight to the trash. Honestly, it's very freeing.

Finally, a third way that I am simplifying things for myself (in the long run - it actually makes more work for me right now) is by encouraging Greyson's interest in cooking. Yesterday he (with my help) made Asian lettuce wraps. And they were GOOD. Unfortunately, I was so thrilled (and hungry) that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. If I can get him to start dinner before I get home, things could seriously calm down around here. And maybe I won't have to hit the wine and chocolate quite so hard while keeping an eye out for nasty rodents. I can dream...

Facebook killed my blog

I knew it had been a while since I posted, but I didn't realize my last post was BEFORE THANKSGIVING! And, I have composed probably 30 posts in my head between then and now. But, thanks to Facebook, I've been able to put my mini-thoughts (and some pictures) into a public venue that 1) reaches many more people than my blog ever will, and 2) only takes about 30 seconds to accomplish. I fear this whole sitting down and spending time on something that isn't directly family or work related is no longer an option for me. So, I'm going to try to just post once a month and see how that goes.

And, since I am actually on a deadline for something else but decided to take a short break and eat lunch at my desk while perusing the web and then decided I had to finally post, I'm going to summarize what has been going on since the Mohawk of 2011 in mostly pictures.

There's been a lot of this:

And this:

 International Women's Air & Space Museum - in CLEVELAND!

At the dentist's office. He asked me to take this.

And a bit of this:

As much of this as we could get:

We're very proud of this:

All-school geography bee finalist! 

He did forget to wear his official t-shirt, but luckily that wasn't necessary.

And most recently, this happened*:

*Who said my baby could turn seven?? By the way, it was a weekend birthday extravaganza, consisting of taking cookies to school on Friday, going to The Melting Pot for dinner that evening, a birthday party at Young Chef's Academy where he and eight friends & relatives got to learn how to make frosting and decorate their own cakes, and then brunch on Sunday at Fire, Food and Drink (seriously - check out their weekend brunch menu - it is amazing). I don't think we can afford for him to turn eight.

So, that's two months in a picture-nutshell. Hope you feel satisfied. Or something. Whatever, I have to go check into what's happening on Facebook now.

He finally earned his mohawk

In case you don't use Facebook and haven't already seen this notice, and especially if you'll be seeing my older child soon and want to be prepared, here are warning pictures:

This stood up to gale-force winds on Sunday, but we haven't been able to replicate the height or stamina since then. Still working on technique and especially on not needing Mom's help! Today was the first day his classmates saw it, so I have to wait to hear what happened. He can actually thank his teacher in particular for us finally giving the go-ahead, because she also thought it was a good idea. Personally, I'm just loving that his hair is out of his face and it doesn't take him 15 minutes to wash and rinse anymore!

Fall doings

This is the first year I had to miss Halloween. I teach a class on Monday evenings, and it takes practically an act of God (or your chosen deity) to cancel a class, so I figured claiming all my kids' Reese's cups wasn't sufficient. Apparently, the usual fun was had and I still got some chocolate when I got home, so all was well. Dan very kindly emailed me the following pics to keep me me in the loop:

In case you can't tell, this is Wolverine and an IRS audit agent. We're still not sure which is scarier. Responses on Facebook were mixed, although I think the tax man had a small lead.

The one on the left is Reece's design with my elbow grease. The one on the right was Dan's and Greyson's creation, which I think turned out really well, especially considering neither one had ever tackled that intricate a design.

In other news, the kids had Tuesday off for election day (their schools are voting places, so this makes things easier all around), so I took the day to work from home and it was BEAUTIFUL. At least 68 degrees and sunny, so we biked to the library and then played at a playground near us that happens to have a tree that Reece can now climb. The boys even sat outside and read after we got back (and Reece ate his lunch). I think we were all refreshed after our mini-break.

Rain and sickness

Isn't there a phrase that involves wine and roses? Well, we have the opposite of that going on around here. It's like our entire beings and world are droopy around here.Thank goodness for the beautiful leaf colors and random short views of the sun, or we might all start reading Sylvia Plath and watching The Shining.

We've beaten the all-time record of precipitation in one year, and the year isn't even over yet. And, both boys were home, sick, yesterday, with separate ailments. Greyson has recovered, I think, but Reece was diagnosed this morning with pneumonia, and this evening we discovered that his antibiotic is causing diarrhea. Luckily, he's quite the trooper and not feeling too horrible overall except for the incessant coughing. While we were at the health clinic, I had them give me my flu shot so that at least one of us has a chance of staying well.

The light in my life is my new iPad. I had put off buying one (through work) because I felt I couldn't truly justify its NEED vs. want. Then, one of my colleagues said there are good note-taking apps where you can type or write (using a stylus) and search and organize your notes. SOLD! My desk is a continual mess of legal pads, and I can never find the notes I want when I need them. I've had the program for over a week, and it's paid for itself ($4.99). However, I do think the iPad is too expensive for nearly all uses, especially since it still doesn't play nice with Flash Player nor is it able to fully use Office programs like Word and Excel. But, since I am using it mostly for work, it's worth it for me right now. My next step is to figure out ways to integrate it into teaching and research, and then I'll be fully convinced it was a good decision.

Finally getting my act together

Along with not having a battery recharger for my camera, Blogspot has been giving me grief through my work computer, so I've been thwarted in posting even the little bit I have to say. But I think I have it worked out now, or at least for the moment.

We've just been moving through our days, which seem to be going by very quickly (September - was that you?). I have purposely not scheduled very many regular events on the weekends so we can take advantage of important activities that come up, like birthday parties and beer tastings (you be the judge of who goes to which of those), and to just relax. Reece has T-ball on Saturday mornings, but they've only met for half the scheduled weeks so far due to all the rain we've had. And Sunday school has started, so our Sunday mornings are busy. Otherwise, we're just hanging out and doing what needs to be done, as can be seen from the following pictures.

Running errands and trying on cool hats

(I think he was a 1920's gangster in his former life.)

Trying not to get carsick on the trip to or from the cousins' house.

 Eating in front of the TV when dad is working late.

 Reading in bed to whomever will listen.

Thanks, blog!

At last, all the time I spend posting here is paying off beyond just being able to look back and see what we did a year ago. Very good friends of ours from Dan's army days found us using this blog! They called us last weekend and we got to really catch up and say, for the millionth time, that we HAVE to get together in person some day soon. Unfortunately, that is less likely to happen soon, since they live in Oklahoma and have more children than we do (which just means that if we're finding it difficult to make that kind of trip, they are in triplicate). Ooh, wait, I'm thinking up a road trip for next summer! I'm sure driving all that way, just the two boys and I, will go very smoothly. Heh.

Back to school, the half-assed edition

Before we get to that thing that started yesterday, I would just like to say that I think last summer lasted longer because I posted a picture and/or blogged nearly every day. I think I'm going to have to go back to that, even though it's more work for me and is going to require me to really find my camera battery recharger rather than halfheartedly picking things up to look under them now and then. Because this summer went too fast. And I'm usually beyond ready for the kids to go back when it's time, but this year we could have used a little more time. Maybe we'll hit the water park this weekend just to pretend.

OK, so school, and (not coincidentally) my job, started back this week. And in contrast to last year when both boys started new schools the same week I started a new job, it was quite calm around here. Reece was a little clingy at the bus stop, but Greyson didn't even want me to go to the bus stop with him. I didn't even get around to taking a picture until the second day. We've hired yet another new babysitter for after school (only two days a week this time), but we're already very happy with her. Of course, our expectations have been lowered a bit from "Mary Poppins" to "makes the kids do their work without scarring them emotionally and doesn't quit suddenly". Reece is now going to aftercare three days a week, which he's thrilled about because they have snacks. I told him today his sweet tooth is as big as his head, but since he didn't know what a sweet tooth was, I ended up doing much explaining and the joke was lost along the way.

New 1st grader with a new backpack, on the second day of school

 

The other big news is that the boys now each have their own room! Greyson has what was known as the Browns room (and still has the same decor - a benefit of having boys!), and Reece's is being called the Indians room thanks to the pictures that were already in there and a little help from Pottery Barn Kids. It was beyond time for Greyson, although Reece told me tonight in a pitiful voice, "I'm just not ready to have my own room." And then he promptly fell asleep. Their room is now the office/computer room/spare bedroom, and when it's finally organized enough that you can see the floor, I'll post pictures. Besides better sleeping, another benefit is that I found my PhD diploma when we uncovered the top of one of the desks. I now have it framed and just have to have it hung in my office so I can finally feel like I belong there.