Whew!  We are just busy!  But it is good.  I am really enjoying the sunny, albeit rather windy, spring and feel like we dodged the bitingly cold winter bullet this year.  It is so comforting to have the grass greening up and the leaves back on the trees where they belong. There is something about this time of year that makes me restless!  Spring fever, as it were.  My friend moved a couple of weeks ago (sob, sob) and it made me want to move, too!  We have halfheartedly looked around for a bigger house, but my husband relentlessly reminds me that we are reaching the peak of our full capacity -- steadily chug, chug, chugging up that first steep hill of the roller coaster, almost there to that breathless pause of no return, looking down the empty track at nothing for the sheer drop off. Then the mechanism releases and we are off, with our hearts in our throats, letting them off one by one until Matthew and I finally, out of breath, finish the ride alone.  It's all downhill from here, right?  I'm not ready for this!  So we probably don't need a bigger house, I just like to dream about it sometimes.  We might go look at one tonight (rubbing hands together in anticipation...).  I also have been plotting to just switch some rooms around to stave off my itch for change.  I'll keep you posted about that.

Last week Charles turned sixteen!  Everyone is surprised he wasn't that old already.  He does look mature for his age, but rest assured, I am fairly certain he isn't acting older than he is.  I asked him what he wanted for his birthday since I couldn't think of anything, and he replied, "I'm content."  Amazing.  He is funny all the time and keeps us laughing.  Last week we had a kind of humorous incident.  I made the all-time best snicker doodles ever!  They were baked to absolute perfection and I ate too many.  Well, the next morning Lucy failed to see a glass in front of the microwave before she opened it and said glass crashed to the floor.  Almost simultaneously in another part of the kitchen the cookies also crashed to the floor.  Matthew put the cookies back in their container because they were just too good to throw away and then cleaned up the glass.  We felt it would be safest to put a note on the cookies explaining that the possibility, however remote, of glass being on them was there.  It said, "Be careful!  There may be small pieces of glass on the cookies.  Look before you eat."  When Charles came home from school he thought that we were just trying to keep him from eating the cookies and was horrified to learn that there really could be glass on them.  He yelled, "I should throw them away for everyone's sake!  Are you trying to kill us?  There is no way I am eating any."  I tried to assure him that if I really thought there was glass, I would have discarded them.  He was disgusted.  The next morning on the box of cereal was this note from him, "Be careful of poisonous fruit that looks like raisins in the cereal."  Ha, ha!  On Saturday I took part in the Great Cloth Diaper Change -- where people all over the world changed a diaper all in the same moment.  It was mostly to bring awareness to cloth diapering and to the fact that in every minute in the U.S. 60,000 disposable diapers are thrown away -- every minute!!!  Well, Charles thought that was THE most absurd thing he had ever heard of in all his days.  Yesterday, at our family meeting as we went over the calendar for the week he very straight faced-ly added that he was getting together with 100 other guys on Saturday at 2:00 to simultaneously pee in a urinal.  Matthew was confused to say the least, but I knew right away that I was being mocked!!!  So Happy Birthday, insolent one!  Love you!

one thing leads to another

I just spent $25 on the ugliest can of paint ever and it was, not surprisingly, very unsatisfying.  You may wonder why I would buy a color that I dislike intensely, to put it mildly -- it is because I can't afford to gut my kitchen.  Our favorite zen statement from Matthew's Japanese mentor while he was working on his PhD is: Everything is interconnected.  Ponder that for a moment and you will soon see how true that is.  My bathroom for instance:  the wallpaper bears a striking resemblance to wedding wrapping paper and I have had friends comment that they cannot believe that I haven't ripped it off the wall, but if I tore it down then one might notice that the wall is crumbling behind the toilet where there was a small leak; that the floor tile is slightly discolored; that there is dark wood stained cabinets and vanity, but a white wood medicine cabinet, corner shelf, and trim; that the sink and counter are cream marble, but the toilet and bathtub are white porcelain... need I go on?  Can you believe I can stand it?  But I have to and the wallpaper distracts one from the surrounding discord -- ooh, shiny!  See why I can't do something as simple as remove wallpaper?  It would just start a domino effect.  


My kitchen is kind of in the same boat.  At some point in its 92 years of life someone decided it would be great to modernize it -- fun!  This must have happened in the late 60's or 70's and we had some great wallpaper which my mother thought was very cheery, but put me in mind of Gilman's short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, and was taken down in an attempt to prevent madness.  The other elements were not quite so disposable so because of the permanence and abundance of the harvest gold tile, the harvest gold sink, etc. we have chosen to live with the dented cupboards and the rippling countertops because how could one go to the trouble and expense of replacing those and yet leave the tile and that FLOOR!  It has its own amazing qualities and while I don't know if it will ever really be stylish, it does generally look pretty clean which is no small feat around here.  The wood trim around the kitchen and down the back stairs is all painted to match the tile and it is so nicked up and not cleanable -- it probably hasn't been painted for 50 years -- that something needed to be done.  I couldn't decide whether to go with a color I like and let the tile stand out more; try to "do away" with the tile entirely, taking the risk that the plaster wall behind it might completely fall apart, and as long as we're doing that just do everything else that needs to be done, or simply buy the most awful color in the whole store, Earthy Ecru to be exact (and here I thought my kitchen was yellow -- very dirty yellow, I guess).  I bit the bullet and made the hard choice of the $25 can of paint instead of the $50,000 kitchen redo.  Yesterday afternoon I painted away, the whole time thinking how I didn't like the color and I hate painting anyway and it is no fun to be painting something a color you won't even think looks better and how I am such a horrible painter!  I have paint everywhere: my hands covered, in my hair, my painting clothes are a visual history of every painting project I've ever done, it is all over the floor... why do I even try to make improvements?  I've had friends ask me to help them paint and I have to laugh because they must not know what I'm really like.  Usually I'll try to do something innocuous like put up tape, but I can even bungle that by not doing it completely flush with the edge which creates its own mess.  


Well, look at that.  It does look better.  Much more serene without all of those peeling off places and wood showing through.  I suppose I will keep going.


I did paint my back door blue last week.  I like blue doors.  

It looks more blue in reality and hey you can see my beautiful floor.  Do you think it will come back in style?  Was it ever haute couture?  I doubt it.  My friend's daughter used to not like coming to our house because she thought our kitchen floor was haunted.  Yes, it's bad.

last night some velcro changed my life

My name is Mary and I have plaster walls. It has been an insufferable burden for the last six years to not really be able to affix anything to them. Initially after moving in I excitedly pounded some nails in the hallway to hang up a large mirror that I like to have near my front door, but the subsequent crack up to the ceiling considerably dampened my hammering eagerness. Nevertheless, I pressed forward to adorn other rooms. I tried to ignore the sound of crumbling plaster behind the wall, more cracks, and larger than life nail holes, but eventually I was cowed. The daunting plaster had won and my bare walls stood as testament to their victory. I thought that the story ended there, but oh no, dear readers! A few weeks ago my savvy sister-in-law Stacie told me about the latest in wall hanging coolness ~~ velcro fasteners! There is a sticky side for the frame (or ANYTHING in the world that you want to put on your wall ~~ she even has an artistically aged baking pan stuck on her kitchen wall which would've been wretchedly complicated to attach any other way) with velcro on the other side and then another identical strip. The two strips then hold on tightly to each other (Ooh, I never can say goodbye... don't wanna let you go) and voila! Things are actually on. your. wall. It is true. And it has changed my life.

Here is a project I have been planning for years. I won't lie to you, I was scared. I was scared of putting things in the wrong places and my wall being riddled with punctures (I certainly wasn't going to actually plan ahead and plot out where to put things, that would not be honoring my true authentic self). But the velcro set me free and I just stuck things on there without any rhyme or reason ~~ grab a frame and thwack! on the wall and so on and so on. If I don't like it tomorrow I can just pull it off and no one (not even the cursed plaster) will be the wiser. Bliss, elation, and complete rapture!

Paint Chips

Our house needs painting. Ugh. Yes, I do live in the Money Pit, thank you very much for asking. We are not going to paint it this year, but we decided to paint the garage and since I have wanted it to match the house I have had to decide what color I wanted the house. I have long been considering going with a different color than white, but with our very overbearing, as it were, red roof, our options are a bit more limited. Plus I would like to choose something that would add rather than detract from our historical neighborhood. Mostly, I don't want to be the house that causes passerby to shake their heads and mutter, "Oh dear. How unfortunate." At first, I wanted to be bold with a pale gray or light, light, blue (oh, that doesn't count as bold?), but after doing one coat of light blue on the garage (not very pretty-making, actually quite taste-missing) it looks like white is the color our house wants to be. Forever.

Next we finally decided to paint the shelves in Charlie's room. They easily win the prize for being the ugliest thing in our house (now that the basement bathroom is finished) and were the thing that I was going to fix first when we moved in six years ago. So to pick a color ~~ the utter and complete agony of it all! I cannot believe how I can turn something that should be a fun activity into something so stress inducing. I take it all into my gut and work and rework how it will look and what will be best. I don't like to paint so I have to do it right the first time. Who knows when I will get up the gumption to fix a mistake? So there is quite a lot of pressure there. Once again I think I should go for something strong. Black, or a deep green, steel gray perhaps... and once again we went with white and it looks fabulous. I like white. I will just accept it.

Pictures late-ah!

Ofurohhh

Here is one of the tub.

The Reluctant Plumber

Well, here it is. The moment we have all been waiting for ~~ the new bathroom is finally finished! Hip, hip, hooray! We thought that it would never really happen, but here it is a mere 10 months after we started our project and we are the proud owners of 2 full baths. I know it is a little lavish with 7 people in the house, but that is just the kind of extravagant people we are. There were times when we had to practically beg our plumber to come and let us pay him money, but he was nice and just happens to be a victim of what we affectionately call the Bloomington work ethic.

Before:

After:

A little bit of an improvement I suppose.

It isn't quite finished (like a door for under the sink) and we still haven't had a soak in our ofuro, but we are looking forward to it. Can you tell that the tub is 36 inches deep from the pictures? I might have to take another shot sometime. And can you see the little black beaded accent tile that was the most expensive tile in the room? It might as well have been pearls. The little sconces by the sink are from a local old house salvage store and are the same age as our house. My favorite parts are the floor and the black toilet seat. Now I just have to find a shower curtain and you know what? There are a lot of very unappealing choices out there. I have to ask, as I have more than once in my life, why do so many people make so many ugly things when there is so much beauty all around? I did find the perfect shower curtain yesterday at the Urban Outfitters website, but then when I went to buy it a few hours later it was out of stock. It figures. Perfection just ain't my thang.

Cleaning

I had decided that we would deep clean one room of the house every week this summer, but amazingly enough, that did not happen.  We halfheartedly dragged some dust cloths around the living room.  The kitchen really needed some attention.  I recently found a full serving of macaroni and cheese in the utensil drawer (okay not a full serving).  Sometimes I think it is just the kids, but even without them the dust bunnies multiply under the beds and the spiders congregate in the corners.  Sometimes thorough cleaning just needs to happen. 

I started a new Bradley class last night so that is always the impetus for a brisk sweep through the house which is nice because otherwise one becomes used to seeing the same things lying round.  The mail by the door, I'll get to that later.  Baby toys strewn from room to room, they'll just get brought out again (especially since he doesn't really play, he transports).  Dust on the mantle and lamp tables, what is the point of dusting?  Trash on the floor -- wait a minute!  Why are there wrappers on the floor?  Erg.  I am always finding garbage around my house ~~ from used tissues on the counters to empty cereal boxes in the pantry to toilet paper rolls left forlornly in their spot on the wall.  I know!  Let's throw our garbage in the garbage can!  What a great idea!  I have placed some strategically throughout the house so at any given moment one can be found merely steps away.  I even found one like this for a great price at a garage sale this summer:

What do you think? I think it is quite nice, and dare I say, fancy? Doesn't it just scream functionality? And you don't even have to be bothered to use your hands, just give a little nudge with your toe and it opens in all of its glory. Let's try it.

I should go clean the rest of my house. Ouch! What did I just step on?

Retail Therapy

I have been attempting the coupon thing again because I really would like to find a way to spend less money on groceries.  Last week was coupon Nirvana because Kmart had double coupons up to $2 (which can then be $4!) so I girded up my loins and decided to try it.  I looked to see what was on sale and what matched up with my big coupons.  There was also a limit of 10 coupons per customer so I had to be even more careful.  I took Ella with me on the first trip so that she could pick out some makeup that was a deal and also go through the line.  We gathered up our loot (imagine painstakingly wandering around the store, matching up coupons with the correct item) and finally went to a checkout aisle that was empty.  Of course, the minute she started ringing up my items, all the other checkers left their stations and before too long we had a long queue behind us.  Then Ella didn't want to go through the line so I asked if I could do two separate transactions.  Then the coupons wouldn't scan so she had to type each one in by hand.  Then something wouldn't go through and she had to call a manager over.  I peeked back at the people in line who were shaking their heads and muttering and I broke into a cold sweat.  Finally it was over.  Ella looked at me and said,  "Mom, that was so stressful!"  I know, you really have to work to save that much money!  I went six more times throughout the week (complete with mistakes and arguing with customer service) so now our pantry, laundry supplies, shampoo and conditioner cupboard, etc. are all overflowing.  And I also feel more comfortable using coupons so it was good practice.

Yesterday I had to go to the store and pick out a vanity and lights for our new bathroom and  I had to go alone!  Nothing is more difficult for me.  I like the clean lines of modern, the organic curves of art deco, the sweetness of cottage style ~ then throw in the price factor ~ this one isn't as nice, but it is cheaper, and this one is on clearance!  I am a pushover for red tags.   So I did come back with three different light fixtures, but did manage to only buy one vanity.  I have bought and returned several faucets and if I hadn't ordered the bathtub and sink online (and the bathtub wasn't BUILT into the room) they probably would've been traded in by now as well.  It is simply too much pressure to choose items that will be so permanent.  And I also need to keep in mind that other people will probably live here someday so not to go too crazy (oops, too late, my tub is slightly over the top).

We have still been frequent garage sale attendees.  Last Friday there was a whole neighborhood sale so we piled in  the van then had a nice stroll in the sunshine, weighing down the stroller with treasures.  We found some bowling shoes for Charlie, an entire wardrobe for Lulu, and multiple frames for .50¢ a piece.  I have definitely become an enthusiast.

Between the coupons, the garage sales, and losing a storage room (the future bathroom) it is now time, once again, to return to decluttering.  The circle of life.

Unrequited Love

I love my house.  It is a Prairie style Sears catalog house.   When we first moved here I would think how lucky I was every time I walked up my front staircase, feeling like a princess with my hand on the banister.  Our house isn't that amazing, but it is the first one we've bought and comes after a long line of rentals, so in comparison it is pretty nice.  It has some lovely details:  glowing wood floors, two stairways, lots of windows, etc.  I am finding, however, that, as with other inanimate objects, my feelings are not returned and it does not love me back.  I am beginning to wonder if it, in fact, hates me.  Last night it rained.  I had been longing for rain all day as I looked at my limp basil and forlorn hydrangeas.  Was I going to have to break out the hose?  Around 6:00 my wishes came true and it poured and hailed, with the wind gusting for about 20 minutes.  Okay, a little overeffusive, but thank you for watering my garden.  We had about 2 hours to recover and then started the thunder and the lightning.  My girls were a little nervous, but I put them to bed and then went to get the laundry and almost died as I slipped and slid by the back door.  There was water pouring in through a window.  Great.  M got a towel while I took the laundry upstairs.  I walked in my room only to see a patch of wetness spreading across my ceiling.  Wonderful.  Couldn't it just rain without providing the accompanying stress of our entire house falling down around our ears?  Besides, we have other problems at the moment.  Our basement has a 3 foot deep hole and construction debris throughout, our kitchen cupboards are all coming unhinged, and our doorknobs are not functioning correctly.  Recently the little latch doohickey  wouldn't come out so the bathroom door wouldn't shut.  With the help of a friend, I took out the whole thing and got the spring inside replaced.  When I put the doorknob back on, I think it was too tight so in the last few weeks the threads have been stripped and smaller people were having trouble opening the door.  Finally I took the whole thing off again  since I didn't want anyone getting stuck in there and we have been using a stool to assist with privacy.  Well, this morning our handy fix it guy put the latch-y thing-y back on, but without a doorknob, and I waltzed in there without noticing and swung the door shut behind me.  As soon as I heard the telltale click, my heart sank ~ the tragedy I was hoping to avoid had claimed me as its victim!  I looked around and saw that there was nothing that could help me open the door.  I knew it was useless to call out since no one was around to hear and I hadn't brought my phone in with me.  I was grateful that the baby was in the room instead of out in the hall alone (I actually do occasionally get to go to the bathroom by myself, but not very often).  I tried not to worry about all of the things I should be doing, and instead made plans to enjoy the unexpected downtime brought about by my sudden imprisonment.  Fortunately I had a pile of the "Church News" to read and happily planned some church history stops for our summer trip.  Also, the bathroom is equipped with a few toys so that kept the boy busy for about 30 seconds, after which he wanted to play with the toilet bowl brush (yuck!), tried to get the cleaning supplies, emptied the hair "pretties" drawer, and climbed all over mommy.  After a while I cleaned the bath tub and the blinds and was gearing up for some more scouring when I spied the handy fix it guy down on the driveway.  "Yoo-hoo!"  He looked around in bewilderment.  "Up here!  I'm stuck in the bathroom."  We were in there for an hour, but I had feared that it would be much longer.  I would say the worst part was that it happened at 11:00 a.m. and I was starving!  Needless to say, it is becoming clear that there is no love lost between me and my house and I am considering trying to give it the slip.

"New" table

Here it is -- the table that changed my life.  I moved one of the chairs so that the fancy legs could be seen.  What do you think?  Do you think it matches my house?  And me?  

And also a picture of some cool old butterflies I found at a garage sale, and the temple picture that made me question my ability to make basic decisions.

Who's That Guy?

Two out of five children surveyed are taller than me now! When did that happen? It is a very strange feeling to be telling them off by looking up at them. They might even wise up and realize that they're bigger than me -- oh no! Just a few years ago when I still had two at home and two in elementary school I thought this day would never come, I would always be a young mom, but what a difference five years makes. The strangest thing of all is Charles. He has changed so much just in a few months and I can hardly keep up with it. We were having piano lessons a few days ago and I looked down at his hands and they have changed so much. He used to have little chubby baby hands, and now they are big with long fingers. The most disconcerting thing is his voice. One day all the kids sounded the same with their little kids voices and now I am always wondering who is in my house! It happens almost every day! I will be upstairs and hear some MAN talking downstairs and think, "Who in the world could that be?" And he also has a deep hearty laugh. It will just take some time for me to adjust. Or I could just jump a foot every time he talks. Whichever.

The kids are back to school again. We had such a nice, unexpected January break last week with three snow days and then MLK day yesterday. Since it was so cold we really did just stay inside and enjoy each other's company. We played games, watched movies, and talked a lot. I had just gone to the library so we had "Into the Woods." My friend had just mentioned it in her blog so I saw it there and thought my kids would like it. I saw it originally at the Sundance outdoor theater with Neil Hughes of all people, but I didn't really remember it. It is so well done and when it was through I asked them what they thought the moral was -- "Be careful what you wish for" they all chorused! We are having a little of that as we go through a basement overhaul. Our life was fine and now it is in complete upheaval. Everything costs more and is far more disruptive than you ever think it will be. I suppose with computers now I think that if I want a change in the house all it will take is a click of the mouse, but no, no, no. It will be nice someday. I hope.

Yesterday driving to the store we were listening to the "Writer's Almanac" with Garrison Keillor and he quoted an author saying, "The key to happiness is being happy already." I thought to myself that that was quite nice, but Charles went off on a tangent about how people try to sound so deep and said with his favorite British accent, "The key to being hungry is to be hungry already and I am so smart." So there you go. A philosophy which you can apply to anything at all. The key to sleeping..., the key to love..., the key to organization..., the key to beauty... I hope that you all use this gift wisely.

Indiscriminate thoughts...

Hurrah, our new washing machine was delivered this morning! It is very shiny and sparkly and I cannot wait to use it. I have been pondering which items in my house I want to wash first. I guess it should be my workout clothes which I am still wearing hours later. I ran on the treadmill this morning and it is never easy to get myself going. I think I have been running for so long and then I look, what four minutes? And I have burned 25 calories? That must be about one cheerio! I guess I'll keep going. I try to see how long I can go without looking at the time, don't look, don't look! Oh, I have to look, 25 more seconds have passed... Buying things always leads to needing (okay, not needing, thinking you need) more things because I really need a fan and a flat screen t.v. down there to help pass the time. Not going to happen.

Our library was waiving everyone's fines during September so I thought I had better hightail it over there since the summertime was bad in that department. Five people checking out piles of books on a regular basis -- there were bound to be some casualties. I went yesterday and I checked out "1776" and sat down in the afternoon to read while I nursed. Oh, that must be why I haven't been reading much!!! That baby reached behind him with his chubby little fingers waving back and forth to scrunch, grab, rip, snatch, yank, bend, etc. I think I should get large print and lay it on the couch next to me, hmmm. I am reading that particular book for our book club this month. By default, I am the leader of our little band so I decided I should try to drum up some more members by making a little sign (which is really too grand a word for what it is) for a bulletin board in the church hallway. Now this sheet of paper is not fancy, it is plain white with black lettering. I did, however, use two different fonts and I managed to pick out books through the month of May. This is an unprecedented show of forethought on my part as well as follow through with actually getting the piece of paper to church. I felt a lot like Elder Uchtdorf. He said that his wife is a wonderful cook and always finds something wrong with the meals she prepares, but since he doesn't cook much he is very proud of anything that he can concoct. I am so mediocre at so many things that I can be terribly proud of even the smallest of accomplishments.

We have an alley behind our house. It is very narrow, but everyone uses it to go out to the street. Sometimes people have to cooperate and pull in someone's driveway to let someone pass, etc. I had pulled out and saw a car coming so I turned into another driveway. It was awkward and I accidentally hit the horn. I hoped my neighbor wouldn't think I was mad at her and she didn't look over as she passed. I pulled back out and then saw that she had a backpack on the roof of her car. I started honking over and over, but she didn't stop. Then I saw it fall off, so I honked again and then jumped out of my car, picked up the pack, and then started to run down the alley yelling and waving it in the air. She never acknowledged me, but must have thought I was psycho for repeatedly honking at her. I then looked over and my neighbor's father who had just arrived from Hungary that morning was staring at me. It figures that I would have witnesses, crazy american! Not twenty minutes later I saw a car pass me on another street that had a pair of shoes on the top of their car. I started honking again, but then just stopped because I have learned that such things are useless and simply lead to misunderstandings regarding ones mental health.

"For behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery"

I do like to possess things, but oftentimes things are a burden. Everything in my house is breaking. There is something new every day. Charles went around the house and took some pictures of some broken things for me, but this is not even the half of it. One day recently the cat jumped off of a sill and broke a bowl of flowers that I had there. When I went into the kitchen to get the broom, I noticed that the stove clock was not working. Upon further inspection, nothing along that whole wall was working -- garbage disposal, dishwasher, lights, etc. I went and did whatever one does with the breaker switch, to no avail. The next day the electrician came and said that our hot water doohickey attached to our sink was shorting everything out. So we did what we usually do and decided we could live without it. But there are some things that you kind of have to fix. We replaced the rain gutters this summer because pieces of them were literally falling off of the roof. Every day there is a new cupboard in the kitchen hanging forlornly by its hinges and door knobs often detach themselves from the doors. The garage door has a long piece of rubber dangling down from it (that has been so long that there are now spider webs wafting in the breeze) and can only close with someone holding it down for the duration. Our back screen door won't close all the way,not just a little, but about 45º. Matthew's car has been on its last leg for a few years and don't even get me started on my phone which is dropped on a regular basis. A few days ago our beloved rice cooker gave up the ghost. RIP. But yesterday, yesterday! Oh, I don't know if I can even talk about it. My washing machine protested mightily when I put in the third load of the day and finally just refused to do one more thing. I stared at it with consternation. I am obsessed with laundry. I do it every day. I do not like having any dirty linen in the house. It is already starting to pile up and it has only been a few hours. I cloth diaper a baby! I have five kids!! Some of them require more than one outfit a day!!! I made an emergency call to our appliance guy and he is coming today. I don't know what he will say and am wondering if I need to scour Consumer Reports for the next best thing. It is kind of elderly and it may just be its time. Oh, oh, the dishwasher is running unnaturally loudly this morning...