She Knits Shizknits

love thursday

this week i'm loving:

-crafty boys: Little Man made these 'shoes' from cardboard and string!

-getting the giggles

-practicing yoga with new teachers....always leads to learning something new

-lovely friends who will watch the small men on short notice

-springtime weather: it's been beautiful here for the last few days

-silver spray paint (I'm addicted! If it stays still for more than 2 minutes, I spray it silver!)

-having a perfectly cleared kitchen counter (it never lasts, but it's nice once in a while)

-finding a sweet note from Little Man under my pillow ("I love you, momma!")

What are you loving this week?

calling chester drawers...

You can find almost anything on Craigslist, including a 'chester drawer'....

Looks good, right? just don't send the guy any TEX messages, cuz he won't reply!

waffling and a POLL (come vote!)

In my DIY zeal, I've decided to repaint the entire downstairs of our house.!!!

:o

Yeah, that's about the same look that the Dearest gave me when I told him of my plans. But, being the Dearest, he willingly promised his help with the cutting in (my LEAST favorite part of painting) and furniture moving.

However this was before I started doing crazy stuff like this:

pretend you don't see all the crap laying around in my poorly staged photo

Poor Dearest...he does NOT like half-completed projects and his eye starts twitching every time he walks by this wall. Not to mention I think he's heartily sick of me asking him about which color he likes!

Currently, we have a yellow/tan color on the walls, but I think if I'm going to repaint, we need to go a whole new direction. The big hurdle is our sofas- as you can see, they are brown leather and they're not going away any time soon so whatever color I pick needs to complement the brown. (I would sooooo love to have white slipcovered sofas because they are easier to decorate around but these leather ones are 10 years old and still look brand new so they stay) 

Even though I LOVE LOVE LOVE strong colors (see the deep red wall in the photo? It's the wall that goes up our staircase...), I think I want to paint the walls a more neutral grey/blue and use accessories to bring in color. With that in mind, I painted all these swatches....my favorite three are the numbered ones.  #1 is Behr's "Light French Grey", #2 is Benjamin Moore's "Woodlawn Blue" but mixed in Behr paints, and #3 is Sherwin Williams "Reward".  What do you all think? Vote below!

And just for fun, here is a peek at Mr. Mean Owl, who I found at a thrift store for $5.....I might have to try some metallic paint on him because he gives me the heebie jeebies as is.

ETA: someone asked me if we were keeping the red wall...at this point, probably not! I just painted it about two years ago but I think we will need to repaint to the same color we pick for the living area...or maybe a slightly darker/lighter shade of that color. Also, all of our trim is white, as are the doors and window blinds. Here's another photo of the living room so you can see we have pale tile floors, too. (that carpet will probably go, and ignore the snake cage on the left side of the frame, that's gonna be moved! LOL)

hump-day ramblings

-yesterday afternoon I pulled into our driveway with a Funbus full of kiddos (7 to be exact!), and our garage door wouldn't open. DOH!  Lucky for me, I had a spare key or the neighbors would have been wondering why I was breaking into my own house with a gaggle of kids running around underfoot

-looks like this year's Xmas present from me to the Dearest  (and from the Dearest to me) is going to be a new set of garage door springs.  whoo.hoo.  *sigh* who knew springs were so expensive???

-the other day Monkey Boy came up to me and was doing that shifty-footed jig we call 'the potty dance'. When I asked if he needed to go potty, he said, "no momma, I just have an earworm and I'm dancing"!!

-we had a great Thanksgiving with the in-laws. I think the highlight of the day for the small men was their cousin giving them a couple of bags of old Bioncle parts. Or it could have been the ride home- they got to ride in Uncle Dan's new (old) motorhome....they were supoer excited to run up and down the aisle, bounce on the beds and use the toilet- all while moving on the freeway!

-the day after T'giving, I cooked a turkey breast so we could have our own leftovers. OMG so much easier than a whole turkey! And it turned out super juicy, too. We finished off the last of it last night and it was still really good...especially with the sweet potoato casserole that the Dearest made.

-one of my new favorite websites for deals...slickdeals...definitely check here before you spend $$ on Christmas presents! (and don't forget to use your ebates account if you're ordering online!)

-speaking of Christmas shopping...I found out the best time to hit Toys R Us is 8am on Monday. I walked in there looking to pick up some Legos (buy one, get one 50% off- great deal!), and I was literally the only customer in the store. It was so nice to go there, shop, and leave without getting a migraine!

-am I the only one who feels totally unprepared for December to start???? I can't believe it's already the 1st!

random friday

-we had friends over last night and they brought a HUGE, delicious red velvet cake. I am really trying not to go have a piece for breakfast....**

-since our friends were spending the night, they and the boys kept running back and forth between the boys' room and the guest bedroom. Finally it was quiet and I risked a peek into the guest room...where all four of the kids were snuggled together on the bed! LOL!!!! I wish I could have taken a photo but it was dark and I didn't want to risk waking them up!

-the kids didn't fall silent till 11pm last night. I'm not looking forward to 3pm this afternoon...I'm sure that's when some of them will get grumpy!

-with my yoga teacher training intensives complete, the whole weekend stretches before me, freeeeeeee.  And what will I be doing with my free time? An inversion/arm balances workshop at the studio, and trying out classes at another yoga studio I just discovered. I think I have an addiction! LOL

-just realized the other day that summer is nearly over, and the small men have only been to one summer camp. I was talking to some friends and their kids have done multiple camps over the past couple of months...I'm starting to feel like a slacker mom! We haven't done much this summer except go to the pool, beach, and library. I looked at some summer camps at the beginning of July, but they all seem so expensive, especially since we would be sending two kids. Plus it seemed like none of the small mens' friends were going so I was hesitant to send them. Oh well, I did sign them up for a diving camp but it might be full and they haven't called me back yet....we'll see if that goes through!

-I bought a new shampoo for the kiddos and now they smell so different when I kiss the tops of their heads...

**I lost the cake for breakfast battle...just cut myself a piece and am eating it along with my coffee...! Oh well, that's one of the advantages of being a grown up, right? Cake for breakfast and no one to tell you that you can't have it! LOL

two recent photos

A nasty summer cold has me in its grip, so I'm just gonna throw a couple of photos up and hope they make for a post!

Monkey Boy loves makeup and here he has given himself 'extra dark brows'....


Little Man was playing at a friend's house and banged his head on a brick fireplace surround. At first I thought it was just a bump, but then realized he was bleeding. Oops! Luckily, it's a small cut that stopped bleeding after only a few minutes so no stitches were needed (at least in my professional mom-opinion). Here he's wearing his 'ice-hat' on the way home....

hump-day ramblings

-"your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself" -- this is SO the truth

-why does my printer ink cost more than my printer? $30 for new cartridges?! Are they made out of platinum or what?!

-the Funbus is STILL clean inside and it's been a week since I had it detailed

-finally bought myself another pair of the pants I love so much (on sale and with Old Navy cash so they were only $10)

-where is summer?! Sick of June gloom!

-why do we assume if someone doesn't like us, it's our fault? It could just be that person is an arse-hole! LOL!

-finally got all of the invites for Little Man's party done up...now to mail them out

-LM has his "Famous American" presentation today. He's dressed up like Thomas Edison!

-sometimes you just need to close your eyes and take a deep breath to deal with it

-I need to empty the trash can under my desk

-brown rice syrup...interesting

-coffee and chatting with friends is always a pick-me-up

-got some butterflies in my stomach about a new project

-karma is REAL

-some people just need to smile once in a while

-unexpected laughter is the best!

-I forgot how nice it is to snuggle on the sofa and watch a movie with the Dearest

-we're thinking of canceling our DirecTV for a month and using only Hulu.com and streaming movies for our TV watching. My only issue is that the small men really enjoy their morning cartoons....still trying to decide.

-I need to clean off my desk

-Monkey Boy needs a haircut BAD

-need to photograph and post my Amanda sweater, which has been done for two months!

-need to finish at least one of the four unfinished knitting projects I have laying around

-just moved my recipe sheets from a too-small binder to a much bigger one...why did I wait so long?! It's so much easier to find what I"m looking for!

-thank goodness for playdates

-sometimes, you just have to wonder....

-crazy busy weekend coming up

-Little Man likes his 'stylish' new sneakers

-what's the deal with the crazy grey hairs all of the sudden?

ok...now it's your turn!