Our first fall weekend

10pm on a Sunday night. Except for the sound of Bravo TV the entire house is quiet. Two kids in bed and a husband out of the house. I wanted to take this opportunity to do a weekend recap. This was on of our best weekends in a long time.

Friday Ethan stayed after school to volunteer with ROTC to work and attend the Varisty football game. After I said yes I was freaking out a bit. I imagined his first school games I would be attending not him and "some friends". I knew it would embarrass him if I dragged Lorelei to the game so I said yes. Made him watch an anti-bullying episode on SVU and said a prayer. He's such a good boy. I know in my heart I can trust him but I have a hard time trusting others with my baby. He had a great time and was unharmed. Lol He also signed up for the PSAT's this week. Can you believe it? College bound. My baby boy.  3 more summers. That's all I have left with this boy. Cherishing every moment. 

While Ethan attending the game Nate & I wanted to spend some fun time with Lorelei. We decided on a ice cream for dinner and pizza for desert and the movie Cinderella on the couch. We headed off to Cold Stone where little miss enjoyed a sweet cream with marshmallows and Daddy enjoyed strawberry with strawberry, of course. Momma had a sugar free iced latte. Then we hit up Blaze. A new pizza joint near our house. They have personalized fire grilled build your own pizzas for $8.00. Lorelei built one on her own and got to pick up her own food. She felt so big. We had a no cellphone rule and it was nice to chat amongst ourselves. From there we went home, got on our pjs, and watched the new Cinderella. It was a great evening for both of our kids and us.

Saturday: Oh my Saturday was a full day!!!  In summary:

-7am Jacksonville Marine Corp 5K. I had a PR. I beat the marines. I felt good. I had no noise in my head. It felt amazing.

-8am made breakfast for my family that were awake. (Teens sleep in)

-9am cleaned Lorelei's room while Nate started mowing the grass. (Teens sleep in) She and Indid a great job. She had a positi attitude and we had no yelling. I talk to her about the importance of cleaning up before moving on and she's done a good job on maintaining so far. 

-10am Teen wakes up and he & I kill the green monster. Lorelei plays with neighbor kids. Nate finishes the yard. 

We did yard work until 1pmish. Knocked out the monster and trimmed the other trees and bushes in the front. We basically completed all the work we plan to do on Sunday.

-1pm..ish-I made turkey and spicy cheese sandwiches for my family. One of my favorite weekend meals. I cut the sandwiches in half just like my stepmom did. It seems like the only appropriate lunch to have after yard work on the weekend.

The rest of the afternoon I sat on the back porch, listen to music and read a book watch the dog play in the yard. Nate had some errands to run. Ethan & Lorelei played with DJ and Gabriel until dusk. One of my favorite sound is the sound of neighborhood kids playing in our yard. Nate threw a couple of pizzas into the oven and we offered dinner to some of our neighborhood kids.

After kids were fed and in for the night Nate night I went out to dinner. We had a nice dinner at PF Chang's and then met some friends at Suites for a promotional cocktail hour. It was the first official time I ever wore a booby shirt and boy were they out. Thank you gorilla tape!

Sunday: Three goals today. One: Football Two: Lorelei's play date Three: Cook ribs

One- completed. Thanks to European football we were able to enjoy football from the early-morning all the way until 9 o'clock at night. Actually it's still on right now but again I'm the only one awake and I choose not to watch it now. Jags lost. Nobody is surprised. Oh well.

Two: Play date. Lorelei how to set of twins from school come over and had a lovely play date for four hours. The girls were great and they all got along wonderfully. She really enjoyed having friends her own age over to play and them not be boys. This really helps me feel good about the decision we made to move her to a public school. Her social life was just as important to us as which school she attended.

Three: Ribs. Nailed it! All on my own. Also whipped up a dish of Cuban black beans and rice for my hunny. 

We decided to have dinner on the back porch and light a bonfire. This was probably the best part of the day. After a yummy dinner we played a game of family football in the backyard. It started off with Ethan and Nate just playing catch and that led to me trying to tackle Ethan. we decided to recruit Nate at the all-time QB while Ethan and I played a little tackle football. When I got tired Nate switched out and Ethan played versus Nate. I don't think any of us have laughed that hard in a long time. We were throwing each other around the yard. Tackling each other. Laughing with each other. All while Lorelei cheered us on with her pom-poms. To end the night Ethan played QB while Lorelei and I played against each other. The boys loved that. And helped a get her victory. 

This was an amazing first full weekend. It's everything that I've invested in this house to raise my family in. From the fire pits to the grill to the patio table to the patio to the sod in the dirt after all the thousands dollars this evening showed me that it was all worth it. And we are truly truly blessed to have the family that we do

Another one bites the dust

Another 2015 goal complete. 

The Green Monster

This green bush is ridiculous and getting bigger. I would have love to see what it looked like before it became one giant bush. After the Marine Corp 5K I came home pumped up and full of energy. This project was scheduled for Sunday but it was 8:30am and I was ready to go. Nate started on the grass so Ethan and I grabbed some clippers and got to work. Two clips into the project and Ethan got stung by 4 wasp. Bad start and freaked me out. Ethan was a champ and took the clippers and went to work. It took us about two hours to clip, cut, and remove the root balls. 

I think it looks so much better.  Now it's time to figure out what to fill it with.  The Sylvester palm tree perhaps? I'm going to lay some weed cloth before I plant anything because that stuff has worked like a champ in our fire pit area. I hate pulling weeds and have to do it constantly in the front yard.

Any ideas what to plan here?

Dissection of my family birth order

This blog post is generated from a recent post I put on Facebook about my desire to have had a middle child so he could not help with the chores that Ethan is too busy to do because of homework. A beefy 9 year old who could load a dishwasher and put a mower. We should have thought this 9 year age gap thing through a little more.

So my younger sister responded tagging one of my elder sisters as a middle child and I told her she wasn't a middle child and she replied back that out of the first four she was. Which I guess if you broke it down into parent order she's correct but what about habit order? It made me think about birth order psychology and how it breaks down to each of us.

The Achiever, the Peacemaker, and The Life of the Party

The Achiever- The Oldest

If you are a firstborn, you are probably a high achiever who seeks approval, dominates and is that perfectionist who uses up all of the oxygen in the room.  Because they have had so much control and attention from their first-time parents, they are over-responsible, reliable, well-behaved, careful and smaller versions of their own parents.

The Peacemaker aka The Middle Child

If you are a middle child, you are probably understanding, cooperative and flexible, yet competitive. You are concerned with fairness.  The personality trait that defines you as a middle child will be opposite of that of your eldest and youngest sibling. But those wonderful social skills that you have learned as the middle child -- negotiating and navigating within your family structure -- can prepare you for an entrepreneurial role on a large scene.

The Life of the Party aka The Baby

As the youngest child, you have more freedom than the other siblings and, in a sense, are more independent. As the youngest child, you also have a lot in common with your oldest sibling, as both of you have been made to feel special and entitled.  You've learned how to seduce the crowd with charm and likability.

And because I think this applies to our family The Lone Wolf..

If you're an only child, you grow up surrounded by adults, and therefore are more verbal and often more mature. This allows for gains in intelligence that exceed other birth order differences. Having spent so much time alone, you are resourceful, creative and confident in your independence.

So reading all of that how do my siblings and I fall into this.

So birth order wise this is how we fall:

1. Debra
2. Katherine
3. Sabrina
4. Charlyn
5. Christopher
6. Christina
7. Caroline

Now the weird thing is from my sister's response how she divides the birth order is different than me. I'm sure Katherine and maybe Debra's is different because they might include Tami. Caroline might include Liz.

So how do I divide them. This is me before researching the above. I'll let you know if I think the above is bullshit.

Debra is the oldest but she moved out sometime when I was in elementary school so most of my life my older sister figure would have been Katherine. Then in our immediate house that would make Charlyn and I the middle children, and Caroline the youngest. BUT then you put in that when Katherine graduated and joined the navy Caroline was still very young so then I would be her primary older sister and Charlyn would be in the middle. BUT 4 years later Charlyn and I were both out of the house and Caroline was raised as an only child.

If we are still dividing it by household that would put Debra at the top of Mom's, Christopher as the middle then Christina as the youngest.  Lucky for them Debra lingered for several years so I don't think the title shifted that much.  Weekends and holiday if we came then would Debra be the oldest, Katherine-Chris the middle, and then Christina the youngest? Still leaving Carolina as the Lone Wolf?

In one article I read it mentions that no child is raised by the same parent. Each parent is a different type of parent to each child. I couldn't agree with this more.

It also says that no two children take the same role. So can multiple children not be the middle child? Is that why in my way of thinking it through in our immediate house it shifted as the older children left?

So, how do I think the definitions apply to each of us?  Right off the bat I can cross out Christina as the baby? She was the work mule of the house and not treated like the typical baby.

Caroline- I could say she fits the category as The Life of the Party and The Lone Wolf. She was the baby but also separated from us because of the large age gap.

Debra and Katherine- I think both fall into the Achiever Role

Charlyn- I would say the Peacemaker is correct

Christopher and I would say are the wild cards. Again going back to the other article I read that says no two children are raised by the same parent this scenario messed up our birth order as middle children. Our mother favored us which put us more into a baby status. And again if the baby status was taken then maybe that pushed Charlyn and Christina into the Middle child role. Does that make sense? Crazy right???

What an awesome brain dump! That was fun. I would love to hear your guys thoughts. How do you categories everyone. Do you do it by parents grouping, house holding groupings, or all in one big line?

Add on...while I'm at it I will add my children.

I think they will fall into 2 categories at two different times. Ethan was the Lone Wolf, then became The Achiever.  Lorelei was The Life of the Party and will transition to the Lone Wolf.

Money pit

AKA Homeowners

Of course once you drop about $2,500 into optional items into your house something like this happens. 

Dead 85 ft pine tree equals $$$$

Glad that wasn't the money tree that died.

 

Update: It's down. Almost. The tree guy gave us a great quote. His main climber was going out of town for a few weeks and he asked if he could start today. They took off all the limbs today and the top. Tomorrow they finish cutting the bark 2 feet at a time and hauling it off. Bye Felicia!

Adding some color to Lorelei's bathroom

When picking out paint colors for the house I picked a very light gray color for Lorelei's Bathroom. I'm surprised nobody called me out on picking such a blah color for the bathroom but maybe my friends and family know there is a method for my madness.  I knew that I wanted to add color and décor to the vanity not the walls. This bathroom is not only Lorelei's bathroom but it's the number 1 guest bathroom. My goal was to make it girly and fun without making it too kid friendly. No Hello Kitty shower curtains and rugs in for us. We were lucky that the previous owner used builder upgrades throughout the house but I don't love all of the choices. For example, in Lorelei's bathroom we have an upgraded vanity but I can't stand the color. (Note: It's also the color of each of our vanities and kitchen cabinets!) 

 

 

I've read many blogs on how to paint cabinets but I was scared to death to start the process. Even if I didn't like the color at least the cabinets looks nice. Friday afternoon I bit the bullet. Picked up a can of primer, 2" Purdy brush, 4" foam roller, and SW Enamel Coral Reef paint.

 

Step 1: Remove the cabinet doors and drawer faces

 

Step 2: Give the doors and base a rough sanding. I hated this step and wish I would have asked Nate for his electric sander. I wanted to see some paint already!

 

Step 3: Prime. I picked a primer recommended from my local friendly Lowes employee. Primer is a pretty gross and sticky substance. I tried to work fast and not be perfect. I used the brush for the edges and the foam roller for the flat surfaces. Once it white I started to get pretty excited!

 

 

 

Step 4: Paint!!!  This was my favorite part. The SW Enamel paint is very thick and perfect for cabinets and furniture. I used the brush and foam times 2.  I made sure to wait for the recommended hours as directed on the can between coats.

 

Step 5: Wait.....72 hours for the paint to harden. This was the hardest part!!!!

Step 6: Put the doors and cabinet fronts back on. 

Hardware: glass knobs $12.98 for 10!!! Score!!!

Step 7...Admire your hard work!!!!

Cost:

SW Enamel Paint $35.

Purdy Brush: $12.

Primer: $15.

Foam Rollers: $6.

Hardware: $13.

Total: $81.

Weak

I hate the feeling I get from biting my tongue. I hate the fear I get from wanting to speaking my mind. From saying, "You hurt my feelings". Not being able to say that just makes me want to scream mean things at the person who hurt my feelings and others. Instead I bite my tongue. Instead I feel weak. I'll do what a good little girl is suppose to do. Smile on FaceBook. Can't wait to see all your pictures from your visits.

Painting update

They are finished until next week. Still to do: Laundry room- full, 2nd coat: kitchen & dining room. And touch ups through out.

Current situation:

Ross & Marshall find

While waiting on the painters I've been able to sneak to Ross & Marshalls for quick 45 minute trips. I feel trapped in the house so it's been nice. I thought I would share some of my goodies with you. 

First up at Ross were these 2 great 8x10 frames. I loved the distressed cream color and drooled over the burlap mat. I immediately remembered Ethan had a couple pictures taped to his mirror and thought these would be perfect. This is one of my favorite pics of Ethan & Nate when the Hack won the cup and we all got to go on the ice for a celebration. Nate scored the winning goal and it was a rare game his mom attended. It was a very special night. After the team pic the guys talked Ethan into sitting in the cup and posing for a pic. 

When I looked at putting both frames in his room I didn't like how matchy it felt. So my picture is still taped to the mirror. Hey I want a 8x10 anyhow! I am his Momma!

The second frame I've decided to use in my office. A couple months back I snagged this other frame from Marshalls and put our family picture in it. This is probably my all-time favorite family pictures so I really want it in a large canvas not in a small 5 x 7. I was thinking about printing two of my favorite nautical pictures and putting them in this these two frames instead of family pictures and hanging in my office. I love the different Materials them both these frames and I think they would look great next to each other on the wall.

Animal coat hooks I bought for Ethan's room. He already has his ROTC jackets hanging on the ram. He loved them!

For Lorelei's room from Ross I picked up this rug, big blue & white pillow and that pretty pink frame. She help me clean out the hall dresser this weekend and saw a couple pictures that she wanted in her room and I thought this frame was perfect. It's super girly. I had the 2 small blue pillow from her mermaid party and the pink pillow case from her pancake party. I love being able to repurpose items I have stuffed in closets.  I wanted to create a reading section for her now that she's in kindergarten and starting to learn words. I thought if I created a fun cozy environment it would encourage her to start looking at books on her own. I want to add white lights to her closet ceiling to create a pretty twinkle as she reads. I found her & Ethan reading in the spot last night. So it's working!  :) on the wall I want to add some of her artwork and white frames. 

Today at Marshall's I found this little "you are my sunshine" artwork for five dollars in the clearance section. My plan over Lorelei's bed was to create a fun gallery wall and I thought this would work well with some new canvases I got in last week. 

I also scored a Christmas present for my niece. $3.99 and its a heavy ceramic egg crate to hold earrings. Cow creamer and sugar holder for my Stepmom's birthday gift. Under $10 for both and a $1.50 gift bag. 2 shells for work which I can wear with my pencil skirts or slacks. For my master bathroom a toilet paper holder for next to the potty. Much better than the bag of tp.

I could've bought so much more but I had to hold myself back after all the paining expenses. I want to go back and snap some pictures of some Christmas gift ideas for my dear husband!

Painting update...

2 day project heading into a 4 day project. This week has been terrible on my crazy OCD personality. I've basically been hiding in my office while the rest of the house is upside down. I can almost see the finish line. Hang on Bre!

Sunday funday update!

I'm happy to say both projects are complete! I love a weekend where the deductions in your bank accounts are reflected around the home! 

I'll start with my project first. Ethan's desk/wall unit. I woke up made a cup of coffee in my yeti cup and hit up Lowes for the original stain. Both boards from yesterday looked good to go but I needed to finish the desk piece. $12 for the can and I was back in business. 

Well...I couldn't repeat my screw up from yesterday but I got it done. It doesn't look like the board I love so much but it was good enough and had enough poly to survive a teenage boy. 

Hanging the 3 brackets were easy. Started off with the one of the left measured off from there. Nate & I worked together with leveling & toggle bolts. We drilled the holes & secured the top 2 shelves while the desk was drying. 

Here's the finished product!

I'm so happy with it. I'm undecided between one more shelf midway on the right or a piece of art like this

To finish the project I have to paint a couple chips in his wall. Not from the project but from teenage boys wrestling in his room. Grrrr. Don't get me started. I also need to accessorize the shelves. I want to hang art work on the middle shelf to add layers and add a wire basket. Total desk cost was $200. More than I was expecting but I didn't include the cost of the bolts, screws, stain, spray paint (for the brackets). I do like it more than any desk I looked at for $200 so I'm okay with it. My main goal was to provide Ethan ample storage space and a quiet space for homework. His first week of high school already equated to 12 hours of homework so he's going to need this space. Check out that new computer too! Less than a $100 bucks because some friend gave it to Nate because it was "broken" and bought a replacement. My IT husband put in a new hard drive and something else and Ethan has a brand new all in one! Holla!!! 

Nate's project. While I was staining and spray painting the boys worked on the shed base. They ended up with 12 cinder blocks and 4 heavy duty pallets. It created a nice base for the shed and no weak points. Through the rain (thank you Hurricane Erika) they worked and started moving lawn equipment into the shed. 

Instead of bushes we've decided on a framed trellis and vines for the right so we don't have to stare at the cinder blocks. 

Along with trellis to complete this project  Nate has to run electricity down (easy peasy). Overall cost $320. 

Now the boys are sorting through the messy garage & Lorelei & I are babysitting this gorgeous yard bird!!! Happy weekend friends! 

Saturday progress

Holla! I can post from my phone! Thanks to a last minute upgrade from our regular season tickets seats to the Terrace Suites including all you can eat food  & drinks  we were a little slow going this morning. Today's goals including moving the shed to its permanent location & building Ethan's desk and wall unit. 

After I cooked a hearty breakfast Lorelei, Nate, & I headed to Lowes. Gosh I love that place! First we stopped by the patio department. Deep clearances going on for patio accesories. I grabbed 2 pillows & a ceramic planter for the back patio. $21 for all three!!!

I had my plans drawn out for the desk so we started with that. Dark stain, wood, brackets, & screws. Total bill was $221. I'll look at the receipt and calculate the exact project job later. I went home & started staining the top 2 shelves. We went with a stain that included a polyuathan in a walnut color. I hated it! The thing I like best about stain is its idiot proof unlike painting. This was a thick consistency and sticky. I painted one board & asked Nate to return it and pick up my old trusty. I stained both boards again and guess what? I liked the first one better! Check it out. 

So, Nate is going to buy another can and I'm going to paint the other shelves like the original. 

This is my inspiration picture & my drawing.

Meanwhile Nate & Ethan were working on relocating the shed. We were unsure how we were going to construct the frame. We decided to go with cinder blocks & pallets as the floor base. Due to the location of the shed & tidal waters we have to get it elevated. This is the current location. 

We tried just blocks first but it doesn't provide the supported needed for the entire floor. We are going to use pressure treated pallets on top of the blocks. Along the side I'm going to transfer some of the underbrush to hide the lower side of the shed. 

Side note: what are your thoughts on the fire pit? We thought we would move those rocks to the side of the house & out grass down instead. It's $450 worth of rocks so I don't want to waste it but I'm not sure if I love the gravel now. I love how green and large our backyard looks now. What do you think? Leave the gravel & add 4 adirondack chairs? Or switch it out for grass & 4 chairs?