Projects a-Plenty!

Where did Amy go all this week? No blogging? No cute first-day-of-school pictures and stories?

Well, rest assured I have been here. I have been running my little tail off. My little/big Mitchell had a birthday last week, and that means that this week he got BAPTISED! If nothing else smacks you in the face to make you feel old, this would be it. We invited all of the family and some other close friends that don't get to see us all the time to come over afterwards for a little food and chatter. You know, a get-together.

So I have been properly motivated to get my house in good shape. It's such a sick and twisted thing, but I love having people over, most especially for the excuse to get the place REALLY looking nice. Not regular clean, but things I've been procrastinating forever. (For those of you who have nicer homes than mine, even when mine is at its very best, I'm sorry. This is as good as it gets.) It exhausts me, but for some reason I love it at the same time. So I'm going to use this post to show-off the nifty little things I've been busy with around here, and the next post will be all about Mitch's special day.

First off I took these three 8x10's of the boys - that I KNEW I had lying around but had never found a home for - and bought 3 cheapo frames and hung this nice little formation in the family room. I love it.

Next I took this shelf that I bought, oh, at Christmastime and finally stained it and hung it in the hall right where we come in/out of the house all the time. It's got little hooks for backpacks and purses and the shelf for keys and whatever. I stole the full length mirror out of my bedroom and hung it on its side just above. Now I can do my lipstick and check the hair on the way out the door! It's so handy and looks great in this spot that used to be empty and filthy....

...which leads me to my NEXT project. You know how home builders always use that evil flat paint? The kind that shouldn't really even be called paint? I would call it "dirt-magnetic wall powder." Why does this stuff even exist - it has no purpose except to make me mad? Anyway, yah, our house came covered in this crap from top to bottom. And that means that 4 years later, our house is now covered in fingerprints, filthy smudges, and toy scratches from about the 4 ft. point on down. I cannot clean them off without rubbing a hole in the wall. So there were some key places that have yet to receive the wonderful gift of semi-gloss. Long story short? I PAINTED! Not a new color, just a new kind of paint. First I cleaned (Cinderella-style with a rag and bucket on my hands and knees) all the baseboards, then I painted the entryway, the entire hallway, and 3 archways that lead to the hall. And let me tell ya how wonderful it felt to roll over and cover up all those smudges and scrapes. I'm sure no one else would notice since the color did not change, but ohhhhhh my walls are so beautiful, clean, and shiny now!!! Just gives me warm fuzzies. Here is the evidence, though the pictures did not turn out to show as much detail as I wanted. Trust me, it was embarrassing.

BEFORE PAINT - this corner was GREY and torn to shreds

AFTER - sooo much better!

And I finally got this letter "R" hung up. It was sitting on the counter in a box for many moons. Silly, but it was the finishing touch to our awesome 6-generation photos.

Last, and having nothing to do with the baptism, I helped my sis-in-law make a different letter R for her daughter. (Gotta get my hands on pink stuff ONCE in a while to stave off the crazies...) Mostly she made it while I sat by and gave too many opinionated opinions. But it costs us maybe a total of 2-3 bucks. Cute huh?