Keepin' busy

Now that Sofia's in school, me and the boys have found new ways to entertain ourselves.... Don't judge.

We're expanding our family!

We have a new honorary member of the family. You see, there's this cat. He just showed up one day, and refused to leave. I told the children in no-uncertain terms that we would NOT be feeding him. Filipe's very allergic to cats, so indoors is out, while the HOA does not allow for outdoor cats. So the cat would just have to leave.

Well, he didn't. We went for probably three weeks with no feeding. He subsisted on at least one bird and perhaps a bunch of lizards. When it became very obvious that he intended to stay, Filipe bought him some food. So how he's kind of our cat. I intended not to name him either, but the kids did that before I had the chance to put the kibosh on it. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce,

Catback!

You like the name? Sofia came up with it. She said that's his name because he's a cat, and he keeps coming back. So catback it is.

As a side note, if anyone locally is looking for a VERY friendly VERY tolerant cat (imagine the kids dumping mulch on his head, and he just looks around), let me know. We technically can't keep him, but I'm telling anyone who asks that he's not ours.

Little Drummer Boy

Thank you, craigslist. Now my intensely obsessed Ben can drum to his hearts content. And I can turn down the volume! I'm hoping that it will save my mixing bowls some wear-and-tear.

I believe in miracles!

So I finally bought a new camera. Nothing fancy, but lightyears better than what I had. One whose flash works (miracle!) So to get back in the groove, here's our day today:

We had our friend Kylie over for an all-day playdate, and found out it's her birthday! We picked up some cupcake mix & frosting from the store, invited some friends over for a little party.

Sofia had a great time playing dress up

And by the end of the day, had made a friend.

On the Move.....

I know it's been FOR-EVA since I've blogged, and to my two faithful readers who have noticed, my apologies. The short version is that we have been getting the house prepped to put on the market tomorrow. Yes, we are going to (try to) sell our house, in an effort to downsize our life a bit. Just a re-ordering of priorities. We had the photographer/videographer come over to our (miraculously clean) house for a photo session on Friday, and I'll be able to share the pics with you tomorrow, I think, when we go live. So until then....

For every action....

There is an equal and opposite reaction.

This afternoon I got the rare inspiration to get the kitchen cleaned up. Not spotless, mind you, as evidenced by the dishes in the sink, but I got all the counters wiped down, the dishwasher running, and even swept and mopped the floor.

Now before you start to feel jealous, or have the undeniable urge to title me Domestic Queen of the Universe, let me show you the equal and opposite reaction happening upstairs.

This is the symbiotic relationship we have.... I clean all day, the kids destroy all day. If it weren't for them destroying, I wouldn't have to clean. If I didn't clean, they would have no inspiration to destroy. The cleanest room is the most enticing. Punks.

Split personality ahead....

So I've decided to divide myself. Oh yes. This blog, Party of Five, is going to be reserved for my family-type postings. All of my crafty business (such as it is) will now be posted on the other side, Crafty Like a Fawn. You can catch my first crafty posting about my dresser re-do, over there right now.

 I'll have links to both sides, but feel free to check both out :) thanks, ya'll, and peace!

Grandbaby alert!

I've been getting complaints from a certain Grandmother that there is a lack of pictures on my children lately. So, so satisfy her-who-will-remain-nameless, here's some loveliness for you....

Sam:

Sofia on the run....

Sofia at her Children's Choir Christmas program:

A backseat photoshoot with the boys, Sam:

Ben:

Ben:

Sam:

Ben:

Just keeping it real, ya'll....

Almost too big for a ride on the Daddy Horse...

Game Night....

Ben contemplating his next move....

Sam's dealin'

Chistmas Eve dinner

In the Christmas PJs

Sam loves his Jelly Belly ball

The kids playing their new (to us!) V-Tech game from our friend Ivanir

Ben:

Sam:

Sissy Sue

Bathroom update

So this has been a long time in coming. When we first moved into this 1990 house, the kitchen had been updated nicely, but the bathrooms, not so much. The kids' bathroom was wallpapered in blue country floral, and the floor was dingy, yellowing sheet vinyl flooring.

The cabinets were that pink-toned light colored oak or something.....

I had already repainted the doors from that nasty contractor beige to a nice crisp white, and changed the door handles from brass ugliness to satin nickel.

We had also already replaced the toilet with a two-stage-flush water conservor (that we got free--yes, free!--from our water company. You never know what you'll find on your utilities' websites in the rebate section. We scored two really nice toilets. Love it!) but still had those rental-quality towel bars.

Oh, and the yellowed plexiglass under the light fixtures has cracked, so we just had a gaping hole there for a couple of years.

Yuck. The masterbath was also papered, a nice pink something-or-the-other, and when we (tried) to take it down, it was awful. They had not sized the wallpaper, and had put it up directly on the drywall. So that came off in chunks. Nice. I did not want to go through that with this one, so I researched painting over wallpaper. Not ideal, but best under the circumstances.

I ended up priming with an oil-based primer (didn't really like it, I hate cleaning with mineral spirits. It was also very thin to apply). I did this because if you use a water-based primer, it could at some point loosen the wallpaper underneath, and then you'll have peeling, painted wallpaper coming down on you in the shower. Not fun.

I then painted two coats of Oops! paint from Lowes. After I stood back and looked at it, I hated it. I had gone from 1990 floral blue to 1993 Florida peach. On the can, it had looked more brown, but no such luck on the walls. I tried to live with it, really I did. For several weeks. I couldn't take it any more. I didn't have any budget left for real paint, so off to the shed I went. I found a lovely gallon of partially used tan left over from another part of the house... not peach, this time! I painted the cabinets dark brown, and voila!

You can see that I also framed out the plate mirror.

A fun new shower curtain

And because I believe that every member of the family should contribute to household projects, Sofia did the tiling ......

Didn't she do a great job??

Linking to Transformation Thursday at Shabby Chic Cottage