kidding around

For this week’s Corners of My Home(and it has been awhile, I know!), an image of my front door.

I absolutely love when the weather is warm to leave my front door open. I enjoy hearing the sounds of the neighborhood, the wind, the traffic, my kids saying hi to people walking by and the occasional squirrel fight. This is one thing I really missed when we moved from California…

But now, the weather has become quite cold (we HAD to turn our furnace on last night!) and we have our big heavy door blockng our view of the world. It makes me sad. I do love Fall, but I also know what is around the corner. Winter is my least favorite time of year and the longest in this part of the world.

Leaves are falling, the temperature is falling, snow WAS falling this morning, and I even find myself falling into bed earlier! Oh well, time to make the best of it. Perhaps I need to find a place to live that is perpetual Fall!

Who needs a TV when you have a whole shelf of books to enjoy?!

I change my house around- A LOT. Not necessarily rooms turning into other rooms, but the couch is in one spot and then moved the next week. I really don’t know what I would do if I had a huge house with lots of money to buy furniture. I probably would be utterly discontent and anxious all of the time.

Since I don’t always (never) have money to buy new furniture I shift things, make pillows or get rid of stuff. I like it that way and thankfully my family doesn’t mind. I had o laugh, last night Simon was pleading with me to move his room around. I told him to wait until another day and he begged that I let him do the moving- uh oh, I sense some competition.

Anyway, after doing some cleaning and re-arranging I thought I would pay my local thrift store a visit. I went in with one mission and that was to find a solid bookshelf costing no more than $20. Well, after shaking off some temptations and ready to leave emptyhanded, I found this great piece. I know you can not see it all in this shot, so try it here. I LOVE it. It holds lots of books and has many little cubicles that we can organize into library, school library, and our own collection. I got it for $25 and had no problem going over my limit.

I like hanging out on my couch (soon to have new pillows!) and watching my bird, reading the book titles and just plain daydream. Like my furniture, this shelf changes regularly and it is much more stimulating than watching a talking box with stupid fluff coming out of it.

Over the past few weeks, we have finessed our kitchen. My husband finally attached the base boards, I painted the cupboards, added a curtain and just some basic work.

We decided that our house would really benefit (this may be a bit of a rationalization) if we added a professional kitchen work table…and I am happy to report that it’s super handy! I love my work surfaces to be clean and uncluttered and I would often get annoyed if there were cell phones, wallets and change on my counters (not insinuating anyone here!). Anyway, this space is great- our kitchen is really the center of our home’s floor plan so it’s a great space for all to enjoy.

I love this perspective coming from our stairs. Here is even a better look…

I haven’t posted in “Corners of my Home” for some time now and thought I should keep up with my membership. We have been busy finessing our kitchen and I have become quite pleased with the results. Our kitchen is really the center of our home…physically speaking. So I have really wanted it to reflect us, since we spend so much time in this place.

When we bought our house 4 years ago, it was the exact opposite of my style. The exterior was pink and blue for one thing. The owner then took that color scheme and splashed it all over the house. Oh- except the chartreuse bedroom with ladybug wallpaper- not cute, believe me.

Anyway, we knew we should jump at the chance of purchasing a place and looked past the “outhouse wallpaper” and “Winnie the Pooh” border in the dining room. Needless to say, we put a lot of sweat equity in this place and I can say honestly I am proud. For the 6 weeks before we moved in, Nathan and I worked our tails off to get this place tolerable.

Please do not think I am a design snob, I totally appreciated that the woman that lived here beforehand loved this place. Maybe a litte too much, along with her liquid nails and plexiglass!

So the change in this photo is that I painted the insides of the doors cream. Two years ago, I painted really ugly cabinents this green color and it was an improvement. I totally resisted the “Home Depot” kitchen look and was happy they painted so well. But the green got to be too much. Oh- and the window frame got a fresh coat of paint. So much better!

Have a nice weekend. I will be travelling to Iowa alone this weekend to visit my mom and Grandma. It will be a tough visit, but I am anxious to see my mom.

The above image is this week’s entry to Corners of my Home on Flickr.

As many of you know, we have a new puppy. We lost our Beatrice earlier in the summer to a car hitting her…anyway, I have such a “bittersweetness” watching Ollie adapt to his new home.

The image below is an entry I did of Bea some time ago for Corners and found it so sweet to see our new pup following her lead. I love both of these images.

With the end of the school year just hours away, Ellie has been bringing home all sorts of artwork. I love this self-portrait she made a couple weeks ago. For 3 days in a row she had to wear her hair down with a red bow. Now I see why!

She was especially proud of the fact that she drew a nose and not an upside down “7″ like her friends. That’s the benefit of having a Poppy for an art teacher!

I love this spot in the kids’ playroom. I try to rotate their work fairly often. And of course I have the challenge; like most parents, with what to do with all the work!

Yesterday we went to the library. I love the library…I mean, I just love it and get all “butterfly feeling” when I enter the doors and greet the security guard. To me the excitement is contagious and the kids get all crazy. Often we end up leaving with 50 or so books. Sometimes more…We read each book to the point that I know when it’s time to go back when the kids are begging for new books!

Anyway, here is a shot of our bookcase ready and waiting for lots of reading and browsing. I made sure to pick up some books for the summer months- I hope to have somewhat of a schedule and hope to share them with you all. I’m not sure how much crafting will be done, but you can be sure there will be a lot reading and kid crafting…

Here is a shot of Ellie reading her picks. I actually selected some chapter books for her since she still is in school, but she was pleased with the 5 “Little House on the Prairie” books (The Little House series for 7+ year olds). Anyway, she has already finished her first one…man, she is fast!

Simon is obsessed with the Ed Emberely DVD. He has been drawing non-stop. Fortunately we have some books of his as well, so Si has been able to bring his drawing with him! I love it when my kids get really interested in something very particular.

Thanks to our fantastic library we are all fed very well! So sorry crabby librarian who snarled at me and my 57 books, we are ready and hungry.

Thursday morning…7:38am…and I am counting the weeks until summer vacation.

No longer will we have to dash to get dressed, dash to eat breakfast, rush off to brush teeth, scurry to put on shoes, and jump in the car!

Although I really don’t mind routine, I also appreciate a break and look forward to slightly less chaos in the morning. I’d like to remind my kids that I really am not a drill Sergeant, but a mom that likes to pretend she is relaxed!

Check out more “Corners” in Flickr.