House Projects Update

I feel a little bad about that title, because it almost implies that I have been doing all of these great projects, when I haven't, but I have managed to finish a couple, or at the very least, pay someone who knew how to do it much better than I, to finish them.  So here's the latest:

First, we finally managed to get the front porch painted.  Last year (yeah, I know), we added some architectural interest to the front by getting a guy to put up some molding and arches.  The understanding was that we needed to get it painted right away, because the wood was only primed, and a whole winter wasn't going to be good for it.  Well, you already knew that wasn't going to happen, didn't ya. 

This summer we noticed it was looking pretty rough, but after a gallon of Kilz (that stuff can work miracles!) and some really good mildew-resistant paint (seriously, it cost over $35!) the porch looks great.

I painted the mailbox too, because it looked awful next to the glowing porch.  You'll just have to trust me when I tell you that it looks way, way better.

We also finally got our backsplash in the kitchen finished.  We had started the project in May, but because of some bad timing, and needing to change labourers mid-stream (is that a mixed metaphor?) it wasn't totally finished until September.  But it turned out absolutely beautiful, if I do say so myself. 

I think the tile is fantastic.  I love how it stands out, but still goes with the granite, so it doesn't compete.

Most of this summer we spent working on the backyard, putting in a walled garden (no, it doesn't have anything in it, because we didn't finish until it was almost Halloween, but come next Spring, we are going to be ready to go!!), as well as marble rock surrounding the garden, and all around the back. 

Putting the rock in was Jeff's idea ,so that he wouldn't have to use the edger when he mows.  Jeff absolutely hates mowing the lawn, and will do almost anything to make the job less of a bear.  I can sympathize with trying to make a job take less time and work, and it really ended up looking pretty cool, if you ask me.

Ok, last thing: I just wanted to post a picture of the finished guest room, with a lamp and artwork, and actually looking like someone would want to stay there.  :o) 

'Cause remember, we love visitors! (again with the "hint, hint")   :o)

My Awesome Friend

I have a friend, who, as the title might suggest, is awesome.  No, let me take that back.

She is. . . AWESOME!!!

I met her when we were living in the USU married housing trailer court, which was also awesome, by the way.  She was a "young" married girl (which really just meant younger than me), but we totally clicked.  We had had babies about the same time, and so we walked together every day to lose the baby weight, and it worked pretty darn great.

When we moved from Utah to North Carolina I was way sad to not have her around to hang out with everyday, but we've kept in touch with the occasional phone call and email, etc.  You know how it goes. 

Well, this "young mother," who was just starting out when I knew her, is now a mother of four (3 boys and a girl), two of whom have special needs.  Casey, her second son, is autistic, and her fourth child, Abby, has down syndrome.

My friend is not only awesome, but she has this AWESOME blog, mostly just about her life, but also about being a mom with special needs kids, and how hard it can be, but also how (get ready for it) awesome it is as well.

She wrote a really fantastic post a little while ago, defending the decision to go ahead with a pregnancy with a child who has down syndrome which I loved and wanted to post right away.  However, unlike her, I am not awesome, and I haven't blogged in a while, but I thought that I would (finally!) post the link now.

But first, I wanted to post a link to pix of her completely beautiful daughter:

http://www.mostlytruestuff.com/2011/11/abby-fix.html

Ok, here's the post I was talking about:

http://www.mostlytruestuff.com/2011/10/my-angry-down-syndrome-awareness-post.html

And the follow-up post, that you should read too, because it's...(wait for it)...awesome!!!

http://www.mostlytruestuff.com/2011/10/thanks-for-sharing.html

Brothers from Another Mother

Well, not really, but it makes more sense than "Twins!  ...Kinda, Sort of."  We've recently discovered that Ben and Jarom look almost exactly like each other at the same age.  Jarom says that Ben is his twin, "we were just born at different times."

We have all our family pictures on the computer as our screen saver, sort of a continuous slide-show, but we didn't have a digital camera the first few years we had kids (Yes, I am that old) so we never get to see baby pictures of Jarom all the time like we do Ben, or even Kelcey.

The other day Jarom got out some photo albums from when he was little, and while he was looking at them Ben came over and started to say, "Benny, Benny!" over and over, while he was pointing to the pictures.  We tried to explain that they were pictures of Jarom, not him, but the more we looked at them, we realized, yeah, they do look like pictures of Ben! 

I am in serious trouble, if I can barely tell my kids apart in pictures now.  When I'm a grandma I'm going to be hopeless.  I'll be that old lady that keeps saying, "Now, this is a picture of your daddy.  Oh wait, nope, that's Uncle Ben.  Ok, this is a picture of your daddy.  Whoops, wrong again."  My poor grand kids!

So, here's a couple of examples.  See if you can tell who's who.  :o)