So bad I had to share: LAUNDRY ROOM

 I am going to post this to shame the children. The laundry room is always the worst. I don't know why I even have lockers for the kids which is exactly why I am going to just take them away. The lockers aren't big enough to hold all their junk and it's hard to access them. My master remodel plan included new and bigger lockers in a better location but now I just don't know if I will bother. Anyway, this is clearly the before shot. The curtains under the counter had just been put there to block the bins of kid papers and laundry baskets. They were supposed to inspire me to clean up the place and at least get rid of the rug, so it worked. Nice to have a crafty friend who sews!

 More before shots. I had been keeping all the painting supplies right there to trip over. Months of messes. The drawers under the washer and dryer held the shoes which was handy but again, how often did the kids put the shoes there themselves?? Only when I bribed them with ice cream.

Now you can see part of the lockers which I had to tuck back in this weird nook that should hold an extra fridge. I also still had up all the cards from the previous year. While we love to look at them, there comes a point when we have to file them away.

 Here are some sort of after shots. I painted the cabinets of course and am still debating wall color. I thought about the green in the fabric there but my crafty friend suggested the blue. I lost some steam so it's still yellow for now. I think I may just let the kids throw their backpacks on this empty counter because that's what they do anyway and better here than in the kitchen.

The new washer/dryer are here now (these are old ones) and I didn't get the drawers because I couldn't reach the shelves without the stool with the appliances so tall. I would go take updated photos but they won't show up on my computer for like a month and I want to post this now before I forget again. We have the lockers for now but I moved the rest of their junk to other closets or their rooms or threw it out. I no longer have anger issues when I see this room and I hope to get the motivation to replace the yellow soon. I am hoping by doing some of these smaller projects myself that I will no longer feel the need to completely rip them out and start over when we do the kitchen. I don't love this room but it's better. Keeping my eye on the prize here: kitchen. The faster I bring that estimate down, the sooner it will happen. I think it will help that Sean is working like crazy these days. Night 10 currently happening.

Library project, done!

I think I spent more time trying to upload and find these photos than I did painting the library. Here are the before shots I took a few weeks ago. I just had randomly filled the shelves when we moved in and didn't even have enough junk and had to put my ugly stuff out, like paperback books and random photos that Sean had brought home from his army office last fall. 

Every project starts the same, with that first fast coat of primer that means no turning back now. That first brush stroke is always a little nerve wracking. I do recommend that you ask for them to tint your primer if you are putting on a dark paint. It also gave me the chance to squint my eyes and consider whether I wanted to do a shade of gray instead of black. I decided no once again because this house already has so many shades of gray and trying to coordinate them all is a nightmare. So dramatic black it is. White was just not the look I was going for in here. Obviously it's what will happen in the kitchen. Oh, the dark kitchen with just one window...

Oh the shelves... 19 to be exact but thanks to Linda's sander that part went fast. I also brought in the sonos player for some 90s guilty pleasure songs.

Oh, the other before shot. I would like credit for covering my furniture with sheets. I decided that getting black paint on the couch would cancel out any money I saved by doing this project myself. I still can't believe how fast it went. I must have been delirious that week. I know there was at least one late night because I had a lot of touch ups to do the next day when the lighting was better.

My other somewhat brilliant plan was to paint the shelves in the garage. Prime, paint, paint, 6 coats per shelf. Went shockingly fast. Of course, the fumes may have factored in there.

Halfway through painting the trim around the windows. It was in fairly poor shape, really dried out from the sun hitting it hard. Now to replace the broken blind...

Primed. 

Here was my dilemma: how to paint between the windows... all white, all black or stick with the scheme used elsewhere in the room? And the blind? I got rid of it. Actually, I still have it in the garage...

First coat of black. I am really dragging this out because it took me hours and hours to somehow trick my laptop into acknowledging that I had downloaded new photos, so now you will see every single one. Relive the pain with me. Notice the oak crown molding. Shudder.

 I bribed Anna and Megan into helping me paint the small edges on the French doors. Then Sean later helped scrape the paint off the glass. It was all such a pain, but again, cheaper than new doors. We can do hard things.

My infamous painting pants. These are the ones that the kids insist I change out of before I leave the house. It gets annoying though, with all those trips to/from school. I hate wasting time changing 6 times a day!! Even Emily is aware that this would be embarrassing for her to be seen with.

 Ah, the staging stage. Put the Nell Hill pottery in place, then my favorite photos and artwork, then the books.... not just sorted by color but also by the color of the titles. How's that for OCD, Stephanie??

 View from the foyer. Eventually I want to move the current dining table, which is technically a game table, in here to use as a big desk. Move the couch to the basement or kid hang out. First I need to find and buy the ultimate huge dining room table though, to later move to the hearth room after the kitchen remodel. Yes, it's a 19 stage plan. Sean is beginning to understand the process now.

 Let the record show that I planned to bring my painter guy back to do the crown molding, but in the end I started drinking coffee with a lot of flavored creamer. Next thing I knew I was putting four coats on that fancy molding with little teeth or whatever you call them. A painter's nightmare, that's what it is.

 Other angle with the closet door shut. That is where I moved all the ugly books and the games. Nice and organized and easy for the kids to use but when I don't want to, I don't have to see it.

 The big wall. Managed to get a lot of random clutter out of storage to display here. And I finally moved in for real... I am using some of the cupboards down below to hide the ugly photo albums and all the outdated technology that we are afraid to get rid of.

 I thought I would change the wall color but in the end it was fine and I was tired. Another day...

 I haven't painted the actual windows yet... wasn't sure if I should go white which seems the obvious choice or black which I am seeing in houses I love in magazines. Either way it's going to be a huge pain to accomplish so I will pretend that I am debating for years...

Finally putting up all the photos I had stashed away. Sean had a bunch from his army office but I managed to work all those in too. So glad to have this room done and I carried that momentum into doing the laundry room. Yes, it is done! In like two days. Again, thank you black magic: coffee. I knew I saved that level for a reason. Once I finally gave up on the old washer, I decided I could not allow delivery men into my laundry room until I cleaned it out and cleaned it up. I'll post that once I figure out the photos. New washer and dryer come tomorrow, oh the excitement!

April random times

 Emily would never miss an opportunity for a selfie. Or to at least have me take a photo of her.

 Park time. She does sleep away most of her quiet mornings at home before school but somedays I find time to take her to the park briefly so I can feel that we had some bonding time.

 More soccer. She likes to kick the ball in, about the only time she kicks it.

 I guess we did use the hot tub in the last month... not much use these days, kids no longer think it is special. Looking forward to the Taylors coming so we can get them all in the pool!

 Showing Grandma and Grandpa how she can float now.

 Patrick's class mass a few weeks ago. He sang in the choir in their cute uniforms.

 Anna was the server for mass that day so checked two boxes at once for me. Once again, she did not catch anything on fire besides the candle. Success.

 Here is the typical Emily morning after her siblings have gone to school and left the house quiet.

 Took the grandparents to Abilene for a famous chicken dinner at the Brookfield Hotel. Or maybe the Brookview Hotel.

 Waiting for the family style meal, which to me means 50% of the kids won't like it.

 It was very good fried chicken though. I think they all ate that.

 The side dishes were not as popular or to be frank, all that healthy. This is good country cooking. Pickles were the only green vegetables, served along side the canned peaches. Cottage cheese, some sort of coleslaw (light on the cabbage), creamed corn, mashed potatoes and white gravy. I can eat a meal like this every 5 years.

 Loving the chicken outside too.

 Then we went to the Greyhound Hall of Fame Museum. Unfortunately they did not get to pet the real greyhounds, they were napping. But an interesting (and free!) stop. Then we also stopped at the Eisenhower center, mostly the gift shop, no time for the real museum but we did see a movie there. Our education for the day.

 Came home and had carrot cake for Grandma's birthday. It was so good, from 4 Cakes but I ended up eating too much of it since the kids refuse any cake with a vegetable, and thus I may never be able to eat it again.

 Emily also had her dance photos that weekend, so we took some for Grandma when we got home from that. A busy weekend but we fit it all in. Sean was working of course which meant he also didn't go to his company meeting.

 Group shot before bedtime.

Police line up per Grandma's request to show height.

 Anna loving that a friend brought her puppy to school pick up. If only they stayed this little and cute I might be tempted.

 Anna on flag duty. Took them many times to get it folded right, good thing I didn't try to get video.

 Donuts after the K-State auction and Megan's junior high dance. Just what they needed before bed, more sugar.

 Patrick and Vince with their coach Serg before the tournament game.

 Lots of running. Patrick mostly plays defense and his coach said he has the best hustle. He really seems to care a LOT about this finally. He is a much better sport this year and he also puts all his effort into this.

 Some sort of action shot.

Team photo after the tournament. Patrick is upset because he didn't score any goals but as I mentioned, he mostly plays defense. They lost two games, tied one and won the last one which is why the other boys are happy. Patrick also realized then that they did not win the tournament and thus no medals. The bracket was a variety of ages, the older teams beat them and then they beat the younger team.

I am having trouble getting all my photos from my phone to the laptop so I can't upload them and finish some other posts. Between messing with iCloud and trying to put all photos on that and trying to sync my phone to the laptop, I am not loving apple today. I may just have too many photos and this is bogging it down... Someday soon I will get the library post completed and surprise, I also have the laundry room done. Thank you coffee!

Easter good times

 This sums up Patrick and Emily. She is happy with what she got in the hunt, he is disappointed. I told them not to take too many eggs since there were many younger children there at the club. Also, our neighbors had invited us to go with them as guests since we quit a few years ago, so I felt weird being there anyway. It was fun getting to know our neighbors better though as they also had their children and grandchildren with them and I recognized their daughter-in-law from Mount Pleasant, a good friend of Lesley's from high school.

Aditi has very sweet girls and very sweet in-laws! And I so need a haircut. My stylist moved to KC, sob. Searching for new one.

 Easter morning basket hunt. Sean hid them after his shift and I had no idea where they were. Patrick couldn't find his for a long time so it was not Easter good times. When the girls helped him find it, that did not help. But Anna was all smiles. You will notice the pathetic haul this year. Sorry, it's not Christmas, just candy and an iTunes card (Lego and My Little Pony for Patrick and Emily).

 They at least look happy here. Happy that mass is over.

 An Easter miracle! They did a puzzle together and no one cried.

 The real eggs. Sean hid them and then I was afraid that the ones we didn't find until later would be spoiled but then I was told that they don't spoil that fast. Oh well, not many eat them anyway so it's okay that some were trashed.

 Another Easter miracle. Kids doing dishes together!

 Ready for the hunt in the afternoon after Sean woke up.

 First in a series...

 Easter egg hunt smack down in progress...

 Anna for the win. Patrick did not handle this well.

 But it takes very little to please Emily.

 Even Megan participated. We do fill the eggs with coins and she loves money.

 He's awake! Another working holiday.

 Patrick had better luck in the front yard. I think we made Anna stay away for a while to limit fighting.

 Such a sweetie!

 Such a sweetie?