Little Pumpkin Witch

Lucy was a Pumpkin Witch for Halloween, whatever that is! Basically we decided it's a good witch with an orange skirt. She got some special treats, and got to see many relatives! Not quite ready for trick-or-treating this year... I'd rather take her when she can actually say "Trick or Treat!" and "Thank You".

She was a good sport about wearing the hat most of the afternoon - which we "trained" her to do by putting it on her head throughout the past week and getting her used to it. She even wore tights for the first time!


Wouldn't you know it - there was actually a beautiful pink sky with a rainbow this evening - what an oddity for Halloween - but the sun was setting as it was raining, and this is what I saw from my grandparents' front porch. If you look closely, you can see it's actually a double rainbow:

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Trick-or-Treat

Today Lucy was playing around after breakfast and I figured I'd put her in the black bodysuit (long-sleeved onesie) that she is going to wear under her costume later, and change her out of her PJ's. What could it hurt? Well let me give you some background information...

Lucy stopped spitting up quite a few months ago. It used to be her "thing" but then one day she decided she was over it, and ever since then it's extremely rare. Unless of course you decide to stick a xylophone wand down your throat when your mom turns away for a split second.

I turn around to see part of Lucy's breakfast running down the front of her clothes. So, I guess don't put your kids in any part of their costume until the last possible moment. Now I'm washing it and don't want to put it in the dryer, so I'll hang it up and hope it's dry by this afternoon! Happy Halloween!

Watching Over Us

Autumn of Life

Trying to enjoy the "peak" of the fall colors, on a glorious sunny day, we went to Hager Park again with Lucy to take some photos, while she got to explore some new aspects of nature.

We also met an old woman wandering around picking up colored leaves... she had lived in Hawaii and Alaska most of her life, but was born here. She seemed to have quite an interesting life behind her, but was making the most of the present as well. She celebrated her 60th anniversary with her husband earlier this month and told us a little bit about her family. We'll probably never meet her again, but we were both glad we stopped to talk. Ron and I both enjoy talking to strangers and just getting a glimpse of their lives and personality, like reading the back cover of a book. Most people you meet are extremely friendly and you never know what connections you will find with them. Of course I wouldn't recommend children talking to strangers! But we figured a little old lady picking up leaves was probably safe ;)

Paint Blob Tradition

Today my mom and Lucy and I ran some errands, but first we stopped by my Grandma and Grandpa Hiddema's house - Lucy's great-grandparents - so that Lucy could make her artistic contribution to the Halloween slider mural. Every year since forever my grandma turns her slider into a watercolor canvas for her grandchildren... and this year a great-grandchild! Lucy didn't initially understand what we were making her do - a paintbrush thrust into her hand (a first) and my mom, grandma, and me giving her instructions for what to do with it! With a little guidance she figured it out, and got to work creating a pretty pumpkin.

Some of my younger cousins still add their artwork to the slider, although I have kind of grown out of it. I have to say, many of them are incredible artists and it makes me wonder if at least a tiny bit of that can be attributed to how much Grandma encouraged us to draw and paint when we were at her house (which was quite often). It was just something we always did there, and she loved to display our work where everyone could see it.

My grandparents have always gone above-and-beyond when it comes to celebrating holidays in a way that makes it especially fun for kids... especially the 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I can really appreciate that now more than ever, as I get to still "participate" in all the traditions and watch our own child become enveloped in them as well.

Home Work

I may be done painting the great room. Last night I did the last of the high "peaks" and I think it covered well enough to not have to do any more touch-ups. I still have the paint out because there are areas of the wall that, after being repaired, will need some paint, but for the most part this messy and tedious job is finished! We still have to install the cabinetry for the island and counter(s) but Ron is working all day today, so we might be putting work on hold a bit. Tonight we can puts at a couple little things and clean up some more. We took some tools and the cast-iron sink out of here and it really is getting a lot better. I just can't wait to post some finished "before and after" photos... but it's not ready for that yet.

Oh and we can use the sink in the kitchen like normal people... so the dish situation is under control, and consequently our bathroom is cleaner now too (and the coffee maker is on the kitchen counter where it belongs!).

What Happens When We Buy A House

This is a photo of the kitchen area after everything was torn out... more later.

Amusing Myself

I know this looks mean, but sometimes Lucy just has to play along with my weird ideas. She grabbed Ron's sweatshirt... so I figured this was what she wanted me to do. She didn't cry one bit.

Soapy Mohawk

Baby Steps

Last night was a late one. After my bath I hung out in the living room while Ron continued to work on the sink and faucet. He got it all hooked up and it works beautifully, but there is a drain "branch" that will be hooked up to the dishwasher in the future... so when water drains in the sink, having this open pipe creates a vacuum that pulls small amounts of water out. So that's not good. So, we can use the sink... just not the drain. He should be able to find a plug for it today. We went to bed around 12:30 (which is extremely late for us). It doesn't seem like much got done on the kitchen last night, but we were both working so hard! As long as we get a little bit done every day, eventually these projects will get finished.

Paint Day

Well I am taking a break from painting. It seems like I have been working on this great room and hallway all day long, off and on (basically during Lucy's two naps, and then after we put her to bed). I was just up on a ledge that is only topped off by drywall... so I had to pretend I was on a balance beam and stand only where the joists were (as indicated by where the board was nailed down), while trying to do a neat paint job! Mission: accomplished... but I definitely do not want to have to go back up there. I also painted some other really high spots by using an extension ladder. I feel that an extension ladder does not belong in a living room, however I am grateful that our living room has such high ceilings! For some areas I didn't want to go up the ladder any higher, I used the a paintbrush taped to a giant stir stick. But before I could really paint I had to use a dusting wand to knock down some dead spiders/webs (which of course fell on my head). So I am taking a break. I'm so grossed out right now, I am going to have to take a nice bath before I go to bed tonight.

Kitchen Update

We'd lost our connection for a while since we didn't 'register' with yahoo yada yada yada... I didn't realize all that was necessary to keep the connection, since it was activated a few weeks ago, and then went away unexpectedly. Oh well, we're back on again.

The kitchen was torn apart last weekend and most of the cabinets are installed - all but the island. The counter over by the sink is attached, but sadly our endcap was missing/damaged and a new one needed to be ordered. It will arrive in a few days. I am not too bothered but it was definitely disappointing to discover that when they brought it in and put it in place. Our counters are the "splurge" of the kitchen and finding a defect sent me into a tailspin. It will be easy to repair though... and otherwise they look beautiful!

Also the hole for the sink was cut and the sink put in place (just to check) - that will all be attached and plumbed up tonight so we will get to use the kitchen sink and stop doing dishes in the bathroom! We also set our new faucet in place to see how it will look and we couldn't be happier with it. Not only will we have a SINK to use, but a fairly sweet-looking one at that.

The great room paint color is a light warm tan color... but only after a couple misses on the right hue. First it was too light (lighter than the original off-white). Then it was too pink - which the swatch didn't appear to be at Menards. The third time was the charm, and the nice girl spent an hour adjusting my 5-gallon bucket of paint to the new, correct color. Not always possible to do, either, so I was very glad that it turned out right and I didn't have to start over with a new bucket - which you may or may not know, 5 gallons of mixed paint isn't cheap (all the adjustments were free).

The room is a disaster still, but it shouldn't be for too much longer. Old drawers, small appliances, old cast-iron sink, an extension ladder, and countless tools etc. are all kind of strewn about - so we have a designated "clean" area for Lucy to play in, as well as her playroom. I'm looking forward to the day where she can freely again. I'll post pics soon.

Spinning

We went to Hagar Park again last night... I love how close our home is to such a nice park! We went late, so Lucy was already tired, but we wanted to burn through some time before putting her to bed. We went around 6:15 PM and managed to beat the storm. We went to the "old" playground part, and just sort of hung out casually. Lucy rode on the merry-go-round with Ron. I even took some photos of a couple of really beautiful girls who were hanging out on the swings smoking. A couple turned out pretty well, but I wish they would've looked less "posed"... they were happy to oblige though. Just goes to show you how talented Bill Wadman is with his portrait project. I wanted to practice on people I've never met before... and the weird thing is, older kids and teens are more conscious of the camera than a baby or toddler. So, I think it's actually more challenging to take their picture and have it look "natural" or capture their personality. Teenagers tend to put on an act when there is a camera pointed at them. Nothing remarkable came out, but this is just a nice "basic" portrait of one of the girls.


Anyway, this photo of Lucy turned out neat, with me on the merry-go-round with them - it made the background streak across. I should've thought of this a long time ago! Anyway, she was sleepy and the light was poor, but we might have to try something like this later...


Ron was playing around with the camera a little bit too... and came up with this very cool image:


It shouldn't be too difficult to figure out what it is, if you think about where we were. Another really cool effect that could be used when taking pictures of kids (as long as they're old enough to be safe!). However, it looks neat as is.

Cats and Dogs

Taken looking out the window last night

Cabinets

Our cabinets are in! Ron looked it up using the order number before they even sent us a notice... that way we were able to schedule delivery for tomorrow afternoon instead of having to wait. We still have some prep work to do, but we're hoping to start installing new cabinets/counters on Sunday. They are delivering them between noon and 6:00 Saturday - and can't narrow the time frame down at all... blah. I'm not going to complain though, because we're going to have a new kitchen soon!

Clutter For Sale

Since moving in a few truckloads of stuff into our new home, I have felt the need to eliminate anything that we don't use regularly, or don't need to save for very important personal reasons. There are things that 'might' come in handy one day, or aren't necessarily useless, but still it is better to get rid of them any way we can... to free up space, improve our feng shui, and maybe make someone else happy in the process. At our last house I collected a bunch of coffee bean bags (the kind used to ship to-be-roasted beans from other countries). They had some pretty decorative logos, etc. on them, and I hung some up on the walls of our breezeway. We no longer have a breezeway (a.k.a. "room to build up huge amounts of clutter"... at least in our case), and I listed them on CraigsList... within less than a day I got a call and the lady is coming to get them tonight... and she's "so excited"! So am I, because now I don't have to figure out where to store them, and I get $20.. and she can use them to make throw pillows for her window seat.

It's like having a garage sale without having a garage sale... just list it, it's free (for most cities) and easy and efficient. We also have our old range hood listed, and easily got rid of the old dishwasher (free). I am very anti-clutter right now, especially with a little one who wants to destroy everything she touches. Craig didn't pay me anything to say this either... I was just having an I Love CraigsList moment that I wanted to share.

Welcome Tooth #3

Today I noticed a new tooth has popped through - one on top (her right front tooth)... I looked and didn't see any others, but she fights me a lot when I try to stick my finger in her mouth, so I don't push the issue. They're coming in, slowly but surely.

Yuck

I just went to the downstairs bathroom (which we haven't done anything with yet, except give Killian a bath), to vacuum some spiders...

I am not your typical freaked-out-by-spiders kind of gal, but I literally had goosebumps on my arms as I reached up with the extension to get the ones by the ceiling... 3 of which would not fit into the vacuum attachment - they just batted it away with one of their giant legs and sauntered away, laughing. Meanwhile I was ditching the vacuum cleaner, trying to shake off the heebie jeebies, and heading back upstairs. I've done enough, I'll let Ron tackle the big ones when he gets home tonight!

'Tis the Season... Already?

Our neighbors across the street have their Christmas lights up.

What Do You Think?

Here's one of many articles discussing the April 2 ceremony in Poland, marking the 2nd anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death. The images were just shown on the Today Show so I Google'd it. Pretty interesting. I know sometimes people can be skeptical about images, such as ones in smoke, fire, potato chips, etc. Especially in this digital era - things can be doctored up afterward and made to look like just about anything. The photographer claims he had no idea what he had until he took his camera home and his family pointed it out. I'm not as skeptical, and I tend to believe in strange things like this - even if people think I'm weird. Miracles have been happening for forever, but when they're caught on film people don't want to think it's real... unless they see it "live" with their own two eyes. Of course I wouldn't bet my life on the notion that the Pope made an appearance in a bonfire, but I'm not so quick to dismiss it either. I'm not crazy, I just either find it to be an amazing coincidence, or someone with too much time on their hands to edit photographs.