Motherly advise

I've decided to send out my motherly advise to you all, instead of just Becky. So, here is my new one. Having gone through all the life cycle except for the very elderly, I have some insight to share. This one is on housekeeping. I have been at all stages; single, newlywed, small children, teenagers, and empty nest. Through all of these stages I have struggled to always keep my house looking like Better Homes and Gardens--at least as clean. Now, not only am I empty nest, but one week out of each month I am alone. The only time my house is as clean as the magazines is during that one week when I am alone. Even then I can hardly sit down until 3:00 in the afternoon, just picking up after myself. So this is what I conclude.
1. You have to train every member of the family to clean up after themselves--like never leave the bedroom without making your bed, never take off a piece of clothing without hanging it up or putting it in a hamper, never use the last of the TP without replacing it, or eat anything without replacing all the ingredience to where they belong and cleaning up the mess afterwards, etc. (you get my idea). This training can never end not even when they reach 18 years old or return with their family to visit. This training is much harder than "just doing it yourself", but it will result in the look you desire for your home. If you are not willing to live like that then:
2. You don't own ANY STUFF. Or
3. you relax, throw away those blasted magazines, do the best you can, and enjoy life before it is over. Mom

Well, it was SUPPOSE to be a WOW

Hi everyone, surprise, I'm back! For a very long time I have been wanting and planning to paint my bedroom. So, when I came home from Becky's and I noticed on my calendar that I didn't have anything scheduled for a whole week, I decided to do a WOW (within one week) project. You young girls with three and four kids are doing them all the time. So, I should be able to simply paint my bedroom in one week, right? Well, it is a month (give or take a few days) later, and as soon as my throw rug comes I will be completely done. I was so energetic when I first started, that I decided I would move everything out, like I was moving, and throw out every bit of clutter. So this is what happened to my living room:


When everything was out, I noticed how bad the carpet was. So, I decided, what better time for a new carpet than now? That way I wouldn't have to worry about drips when painting. The problem was it took 3 weeks for a carpet to come in, so we were going to have to live with the house like this for a while. Meanwhile, Easter was coming in 3 weeks and 2 days, and we were having a house full for Easter. Oh, well, since we had to live like this (the hardest part was finding something when you needed it) I might as well paint and organize the closet too, change all the socket and light switch covers to white, paint the bathroom cabinets, get new drawer pulls, do another coat, and then another, and put up crown molding, and so on and so on, because everything new made something else look bad! Well, except for a new throw rug for the end of the bed here are my before and after pictures:

BATHROOM SINK AREA BEFORE:



AFTER:

ROY'S DRAWERS BEFORE:

AFTER:



MY DRAWERS BEFORE:

AFTER:

AROUND THE BED BEFORE:

AFTER:



BY THE WINDOW BEFORE

AFTER:

CROWN MOLDING:



THE CLOSET: (THE BEST PART OF ALL):

FINALLY BECKY--DOING THE BLOG TOOK ALMOST AS LONG AS DOING THE PROJECT :)

Zac's stay

On Labor Day we went to Ben and Angie's and had a great BBQ and fun time with them and Krystal and Scott and Kimberly. The next day we went to the boy's first day of school. I was so mad at myself for missing the girl's first day that I was determined to make it to Spokane for Jake and Luke's. I don't know why it is so fun for me to do that. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm not the one that has to stay :-). On the way to Spokane we had the bright idea to bring Zac home with us until the weekend. It has been so much fun! He feels better about not getting to go to school, and we get some one-on-one time with him. I want to do this with each one of my grandkids. Anyway, here are some of the fun things we have done so far. I didn't get pictures of our fun bike rides, or the secret park that we found, or washing Betty, or giving Sonny a bath, but I did get:

Playing at McDonalds with Jaden:

Riding the golf cart during our play date with Jaden Radke:

And helping grandpa mow the lawn:

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting him come! He has been such a good boy. May we keep him :-)

Eat your heart out Mathew West

View the original here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dva6-Yu3zkI