Thursday, July 24, 2008

At last.....it FEELS like HOME!




Finally......this house is beginning to feel like HOME! When we moved in three summers ago, the whole house was painted the lovely off-white color that maintenance uses. I found out the name of it is Pearly Gates no less. Now isn't that fitting for a Bible college campus! LOL! Even though maint. allows you to pick colors, there was such a hurry for us to move in that they were only able to get two rooms painted in color....our bedroom, which is sage green,and Lauren's room....pink. That Fall, I was extremely busy with school. I moved from bouts of quesiness with my pregnancy with Caleb right into my Junior Piano Recital. That spring, I was still taking quite a few classes, and I also had Caleb in April. Then in the late Summer, I got sick with CHF. Ever since it was a struggle jsut to get my weekly cleaning done. Actually, I even had to have help with that as well. Needless to say, I NEVER got the closets really organized OR any of the rooms painted.


Well, this summer, I was determined it was going to change! I must really pause a minute to give God a little praise for the way I've been feeling lately...I feel really great! Around the same time that Chris sent my to Fl., my Dr. gradually began increasing the one heart med. I was on. As a result, I've been feeling gradually better ever since. It is sort of like waking up from a deep sleep. I have so many things I want to get done and now I can! Anyway,


we knew we were to get new carpet sometime this summer. It finally arrived about a month ago. When I moved all the furniture back, I REALLY organized the closets. Before the carpet was laid, I tried to get everything painted the way I wanted it. Now.....I can truly say....this feels like home. It looks the way I want it too.....minus some curtains. I know what I want, but I'm waiting on a sale at Hancock Fabrics first. I found out Home Decor. material is NOT cheap!


Here are a couple pics of the living room before.....











about midway through....painting done, but carpet and new furniture not arrived yet! Wasn't that look beautiful??? Sort of like Christmas in July :)




Finally....the finished product......




The pics above and below show the red the way it really looks. I'm surprised how many different shades I got all on the same day at the same time.





















Sorry the dining room picture turned out so dark. I might have to try to get some better ones later. It was a really bright day....I though they would turn out great. :(
The dining room color wasn't such a drastic change. When I see the walls I think of "warm vanilla". I'm not sure if that tells you what color they are, but that's what I call it! I needed the dining room to have color, but also coordinate with the living room since they are joined in a way. I've been really happy with the results.















Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A very happy 4th............

We spent the weekend with my parents in McDonald PA.


Friday morning.....the kids waiting to leave for Grandmas.

Saturday morning my Dad fixed his famous pancake breakfast. Yes. You read right....my Dad enjoys cooking. His specialty is fixing pancakes. One time I asked if he could tell me what the ingredients were. To which he replied "Oh, it's just plain old pancake mix. You just add water......oh, and also some eggs, oil, baking soda(or powder...can't remember which), vanilla, corn meal, sometimes I throw in apple juice.....yeah...you get the picture. Just plain ole' mix! LOL! Anyway, not only are they VERY light and fluffy, and terrible delicious, but he also can make almost any shape the kids ask for. This time Michael got a tiger.



Lauren got Pumpkin (a cat)



Caleb really enjoyed playing with the cat, Melody. This cat is so old and lazy. Caleb got a necklace out of the toybox and draped it over the cat repeatedly. The cat put up with all the fuss quite well. She's just too old and lazy to get up and move!




Saturday evening we drove over to an old Presbyterian church. Not only is it in a pretty location, but it is very old (177?) and the surrounding grounds are well maintained. There's an old cemetary off to the side, so we enjoyed looking through that. Lauren had a lot of fun looking at the old tombstones and then informing us which American Girl was "living" during that era.














We topped the evening off with a stop for soft ice cream.












They had unique seating for kids!










Yumm.....it WAS delicious. Thanks Mom and Dad for the yummy treats!!























They even serve a special treat to dogs.