The rest of the house.

The boys room, I like the contrast of the two colors, two walls are the blue color and two are the beige color.


We let the boys put their hand prints in their closet and left the closet the rooms original blue color. I also put the date we put their hand prints in their, so we can see how they grow :).

This is my bedroom, the color is a bit more green than it looks in the pic, I really like it. It's calming to me, I will probably go with some "beach" theme in here, not overboard, but just a little something so it looks like this color was intentional and not the $5 mistint paint, hehe.

The Laundry room and 1/2 bath, I wanted something bright for this area, it's strangely close to the same color as my bedroom, lol.
And here is L's room, she wanted tons of color so we compromised and made a bouncing ball theme, the circles travel up and down the walls around the room. She loves it, as do I.
We also let L do as she wished with her closet, she also added the date she painted her room too.
A better view of the "balls"

I didn't add a picture of the full bath because it's small and really hard to take a picture of, it's a sage green in there, it will look perfect with the shower curtain I made.

A few pictures.

I just realized that I only took pictures of two rooms, doh! So I guess tomorrow when I go pick up the Rug Doctor, I'll take some more pics :).

First up is the living room with the old paint on the right-side wall and my older sister on the right (though we are currently the same age, ha) and my "little" cousin, that is 6 inches taller than me, on the left. They are painting over the dirty, icky fireplace brick. The "brown" is really a purple color, but it's ok, it's better than before.




Now you can see the room with the walls painted "Ivory" and "cloves" I love. Love. The orange color, though it does have a tiny bit of brown in it that isn't showing up in the pics, it's more "pumpkin pie" than "orange" as it looks here.

Next is the kitchen, which we did nothing to, except make a big fat mess in :)



Here is my sister cleaning up after herself, which was hard to do with all those paint supplies and snacks around.
And the last view of the kitchen, the paint really is yellow, it doesn't fade to white, not sure why it looks like it does. And I'm pretty sure I'll be removing those sunflowers, just a bit too many flowers for my tastes.

I only added the kitchen pictures because I forgot to put them up on my post with all the house pics and it's the only other room I took pictures of, lol.

Oh and I found another picture of the living room, this view is from the other end with my back against the fireplace. I'm trying to show that the front door is now "redbrick" which is actually almost the exact "orange" of the fireplace wall, lol. I apparently can only pick a few random shades of certain colors as you'll see when I post more pics later. (We were going to get a new door right away, but after sanding it and painting it, we'll probably wait a bit, it looks pretty good now).

We are officialy homeowners :)

Last friday at 3:oo p.m., we got the call that the house was officially ours :). After dancing around for a minute, my sister and I jumped in her car and took off over there to get working on the paining. We planned on painting 6 rooms in the house in two-three days, yikes. (pictures to come soon). We arrive and the homeowner is still there packing and moving, sigh. But two rooms were empty so we decided to take those two over and maybe that would put a fire under his butt and get him moving, totally worked too ;).

He did say that we didn't put the dishwasher in the contract so he planned on taking it, but the contract did have a a/c unit in it and he didn't have one, it was a family members, so if we wanted to keep the dishwasher we needed to say never mind to the a/c unit. We happily agreed since we are lucky enough to get my sisters a/c until instead, ha. I didn't feel like arguing with him, I just wanted him out of my house. He then asked if we wanted to keep the carpet or if we planned on replacing it. I said that we will replace it eventually but not now and he said "okay, I guess it can stay" um, who are you? weirdo.

We painted and painted and painted our little hearts out and it is now complete. A few minor touch ups and a little finishing then I wont have to paint for quite awhile :). We already started moving too, though we don't plan on bringing the furniture over until Saturday when we have a uHaul and some helpers.

As you can imagine, I have a very busy week ahead of me, but I'll post some pictures as soon as I can. This week also starts the kids online school, which I need to finish choosing the curriculum for and I'm still working part-time from home, so we'll see how often I get on here :).

Shameless post :)

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me :)

I think this year I'll be getting the most spoiled for my birthday, lol. I get a new house, my mom and my sister will be coming up to help me paint (Sabra, you are more than welcome to join us ;) ) and I'm getting over the flu I've had the last couple of days, woot!

Less than a week until closing, let's hope the money transfers quickly so we can get the keys the next day and start painting and painting!!

Pictures!

The home inspection was yesterday so I took some pictures of the house :)

First is the living room, I didn't get a close up of the paint, but it's a pretty cool technique, looks like they used rags. I just don't like the colors or that they put it on every single wall! (also, the paint is really darker in person, so keep that in mind).



The sideways laundry room and half bath :)

The hallway leading to the other bathroom and the bedrooms, more paint, oh and you can see it a little closer on the left.

L's future room, I took pictures of all the walls but figured you got the gist of it here ;). Yes, it does cover the whole ceiling too.

Master bedroom, same paint texture technique as the living room, just in blues. (This paint is also darker in person). A pretty good sized room though, they have a lot of furniture in there so I just showed the one corner.
The boys bedroom, I'm thinking of leaving one wall this color and painting the other three, or maybe leaving the bottom half of the wall this color, not sure yet. Any ideas?

Remember that news I told you to stay tuned for?

Well, I can now say what it is.

We are under contract to purchase our first home!!! Woohooo :)

It is a 3 bd, 1.5 ba, 1200 sq ft house. Our closing date is August 9th and then I plan on painting several rooms, luckily my sister volunteered to come help, yay. The sellers love texture and color and pattern, not so much my favorite thing for walls.

One regret though, the smallest bedroom, the one L will take over, would be perfect for a baby, it has a Winne The Pooh mural painted on all the walls and ceiling, it looks fantastic, but not ideal for a 10, going on 16 year old girl ;). So we'll be covering it up. I'll be sure to take some pics first, because they really did a good job with it.

Happy dancin' at our house!

Wordless Wednesday, who says "baby" wearing is just for moms?

Not surprised.

I said suck, one time (well, now twice) and that was the only "bad" word, ha.

Go here to see how your blog rates.

Post formerly known as Wordless Wednesday.

When I went to bed last night, I decided to post a picture of LittleMan sleeping and it would be easy because it's Wordless Wednesday, I wouldn't have to think of anything to say. But as I sit here this morning, I want to talk :P

I have gained some weight lately, really sucks. My pants/shorts are all tight, I don't like how I look in the mirror, I feel fat. I'm not fat, but I'm squishy and I really hate being squishy, add a few (or 5) extra pounds and I'm not a happy girl.

I went to the Dr. yesterday, I have been having a few, or a lot, of health issues lately and finally decided to go in and get myself fixed up. They always weigh you when you go in, I guess they want to torture you a bit. So I have officially gained weight, it's not just in my head. Hopefully the new medicine I received will help me feel well enough to start running again. I know my butt and thighs hope so :)

And here is the picture I had planned on posting. It's one of LittleMan and his friends watching over him.



and, yes, he is sleeping with all those beady little eyes staring at him.

Run a go go, a no go.

I'm sure most of you noticed that I didn't meet my 100 mile goal, but I am not giving up. I haven't had time to really work out lately and my saggy butt is proof ;). I decided to start working out at home again, more of a stress relief than for toning, but something to get me back into a routine.

I discovered yoga today on someone else's blog (sorry, I can't remember who or I would link you) and decided to try it out yesterday. All of the lessons are free and they have new ones every day, amazing! It is a great stress reliever and a surprisingly good workout!! I plan on doing yoga several times a week, if not daily, from now on. I also hope to start running again soon, maybe when I'm back down to one job rather than two.

Oh and for some good news, I only have 7 workdays left with my second job :). I'm very excited to be home more and be off the phones, hehe. The job really isn't that bad, really, I just want to be home. So, July 7th will mark my days as a WAHM and not a WAHM/WOHM mom :) woot!

Cool!

Sitting on the couch the other day, I was sick and didn't do much other than that, and I heard a really loud noise. I looked out the back window and saw an airplane, really, really low to the ground and it was turning around, coming back our way. L came in and asked if she could take a pic, I said "sure, take a bunch in case some don't turn out." She did a pretty good job :)

And we all survived Stu being gone for four nights. Well, that's what I'm telling the authorities anyway, you haven't seen any photos of the kids recently have ya? ;) hahaha.

Unfit to be a single mom.

I don't know how those of you with dh's that travel a lot or those of you that are single moms do it. I have help and I am still exhausted! My husband is gone for 4 days and nights and I'm not looking forward to it :(.

I think I may have a brain meltdown before the week is over ;).

I'm hoping to take the kids to the "fun" park later this week, so I'll post some pictures of that soon. Pictures always make the blog more fun, lol.

Oh, and the exciting news I was going to share earlier was that we were going to buy a house but are waiting a few more months, so I still hope you stay tuned, it will just take a bit longer than planned ;)

Happy Anniversary!

Last friday, Stu and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Well, celebrated is the wrong word. He worked and then I worked so we only saw each other for about an hour that day, lol. But thats ok, thats why we went to Vegas in March :).

I love you, my silly...



sometimes hairy...



and always handsome...



husband. May we have many more wonderful years to share together.



p.s. I should have some really exciting news to share in the next week or so, stay tuned....

p.s.s. Just kidding, no new news yet. Just trying to get ya to stay tuned ;)

Almost Wordless Wednesday!

The ewww edition.



Our camera does not take really close up shots very well. I decided at this time that this is a good thing.



There are two spiders stuck in that pencil lid. TWO! ick.

New calling

I'm now the Assistant Cub Master. I will be a sucky one right off the bat though, lol. I will not be attending any pack meetings but I will help plan/prepare for them. So I guess I can't be too sucky ;) and yes, I will be keeping my Assistant Librarian calling too, because its a sunday only calling I guess they feel its ok to have two :). I don't mind too much though, its an easy gig and I can knit or do homework as the case may be.

A few photos just for you...(because I know how much more fun that makes the blog)





Pics of the kids at USU in the office where my sister and b-i-l work. They are wildlife biologists.

Littleman was not pleased to learn that he couldn't take his "new coat" home :P.

Ramble ramble, blah, blah. blah

Work is going well. I'm finally getting out of the boring stuff and into what I'll actually be doing. Yeah, it will be repetitious and could get boring, but talking to different people will be fun. Next week I'll be on the phones doing my real job :)

My house was so clean last week! But this week its a mess and I'm too tired to care. I am getting more and more busy as the days go on. Not sure that I enjoy that one too much.

I also got a new calling, I haven't been sustained yet so I can't announce what it is yet. Just one more thing to add to my long list of stuff to do. I guess thats part of life :)

And I interviewed for a 2nd job yesterday. This one will be working from home, which is nice with these gas prices we have to deal with now. Hopefully I get the job and can start working soon. It will take awhile to start making real money, but it can happen :)

I will be enrolling the kids in the public school online program. They will be at home still but will have a teacher they meet with weekly and the school district will make the lesson plans, which is what I need help with now. Plus they'll have all the state and federal testing, which will be nice to have if we do end up sending them back to public school. I have lots of paperwork to do for that and LittleMan has to get some immunizations, he doesn't know that yet though ;).

Stu likes his new job, much less stress, which makes me happy :). He posted about it on his blog if you want to learn more about it (shameless plug for my hunny's blog :) ). They may be hiring for at-home help fairly soon too, so I may go for that as well. We'll see, I think I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit ;)

I have begun looking at houses online and have fallen in love with a kitchen in a home thats just down the street from me. I may go through it in a week or so, if its still there then :).

Thats my long rambling and boring update for this week. Until next time.....

ETA: I walk about a mile a day, 1/2 to work and about 1/2 from work (I start walking while Stu comes to pick me up, I try to get farther from the office than the last time, but so far it hasn't happened, lol.) So my ticker is moving but not fast enough, I probably wont make the July 4th goal but thats ok. Its getting me moving again. If I start riding my bike home from work, I will make it for sure but for now I'll walk.

Look Mom!!

a dollar menu!

Said by M at Michaels craft store, in the dollar section. Think we go out for fast food too often? :)

First day of work.

Today is the day. I will be starting training at 3 pm. I'm a little nervous but mostly just tired, lol.

My in-laws will be watching the kids for 2 hours every day until I'm done with training and my schedule begins later, so dh can watch the kids. And one of my in-laws will be watching the kids at my house! So I have to go scrub every nook and cranny :P

I may not be blogging as much as I used to, we'll see how things work out. I may get into a great routine and be all organized, but I doubt it :). I still homeschool the kids, I still make as much of our food from scratch as I can, and I still love being online, tee hee. But I'm trying to substitute knitting for my online addiction because I can knit outside at the park or in the backyard or even in the kitchen while the kids play with playdough. I guess you'll just have to add me to your bloglines or googlenews or whatever the blog tracker sites are, that way you wont have to check back daily and see the same old post sitting there :)

A short update on the post below, about k-bull, they are apologizing, in person, this morning. I'm glad that they want to make Melinda feel better. I'm glad that the dj's are apologizing. I'm not sure that I'll listen to k-bull again for awhile, but this is a good step for them.

Have a great week!

Hypocrites suck!

A local radio station, one that I listen to regularly, boasts about their support of our Troops and their families. They have contests regularly for the families of deployed soldiers. I always thought it was wonderful that they did this because not many radio stations have contests for the families alone, its for anyone that wants to play.

I read a blog post yesterday, from Emily about a friend that "won" and how poorly she was treated. It really made me mad, how can a person treat another human being that way and go on to pretend that it never happened? I listened to KBULL quite a bit yesterday, while traveling to and from Logan, and several times they talked about supporting the troops and their families. Bologna!

Pass the message along and help show everyone KBULL's true side, that they are a bunch of liars that couldn't help one person out or even apologize for a simple mistake. Stupid.

Birthday Pics

Sorry for posting these so late, but life is.....crazy.

First up is the cake. Not too bad for a little sandwich baggie and "quick, make spidey's face so we can eat"



Next up is the "they are singing for me" picture.



Blowing out the candles.




And "eww, the smoke is stinky" lol.

Happy Birthday LittleMan!

My baby is 5 today, five! I can't tell you how old that makes me feel :P.

I will post a picture of him blowing out candles later tonight. He wants to make sure we sing "you growl like a tiger and you scratch like one too" rather than "you look like a monkey and you smell like one too" lol.

My LittleMan is definitely a mama's boy. He has a quick temper (the redhead temper stereotype is real for him, lol) but he has the cutest smile! And he is so smart and funny. I love his laugh and how proud he is to be a big boy.

"Mom, I want you to measure me to see how much I grew cause I'm 5 now. I'm 5!" Hehe, ok big guy, I will.

I love you, my LittleMan!

I don't want to ever talk, think, hear about

School vouchers ever again!

I have been working on this stupid paper for weeks, weeks! And if you know me at all, you know I'm a procrastinator. But this time I have tried really hard to work diligently on this stupid paper. I hate it, I hate everything about it. And no, I'm not done. When is it due? today!

I have 5 written pages done (need 12-18), the title page and abstract, summary,general info page, contents page and bibliography. I just need to finish the piece of crap paper! Gah!!

So my 12-18 page paper I was stressed about at the beginning of the paper? Its really 22-25 pages long and if I knew that at the beginning I probably would've had a heart attack :P.

Update!! I'm writing the conclusion page and then I'm done! Well, gotta review it and then I can send it off :)

Final update! I am done! and I'm about to send it off. So happy to be done.

Please let me pass so I don't have to write another 18 page paper, lol. Please :)

Its the little things....

As part of the interview process for my job, I was asked to take a personality test. This test consisted of true or false questions like "I get easily stressed in high pressure situations." or "I hate to sit for long periods of time." My favorite question was "I am easily amused."

I said "true" to the easily amused question and those of you that know me, I sit for long periods of time, daily.

What amuses me today? I'm currently sitting on my couch typing, online, on my computer! I know!! Technology is amazing. And I love. Love. My new wireless router :)

I'm officially.....

gainfully employed. I'm not going to say the name of the place but I will say that I'll be taking calls from people wanting to activate their American Express card. Jealous? Oh I bet!

I don't start until May 7th, so I can focus on finals and then get a little break before starting my job.

One step closer to purchasing a home! :)

He is growing up!

M is small for his age, but he is fast and smart and lots of fun :). He is also pretty determined and stubborn, which is a good thing most of the time.

On Saturday I decided to finally get new tubes for M's bike. He has been bugging me for a long time! When I came home from the store he said "I want you to take the training wheels off my bike too" I said "ok, sounds good." But I was a bit nervous because he hasn't really ridden his bike, even with the training wheels. But he is almost 7 (in August) and very coordinated, so lets give it a try.



sorry he is so far away, we took him to the Church parking lot to ride and this is all I got.

Now to get LittleMan riding so I can take them out while I run :)

Too late!

I was early to school last week, waiting for my fellow group members to show up so we could practice for our project. There are four people in my group and two were pretty late. "M" and I were chatting while we waited and we somehow got onto the subject of our parents age. I said that my mom was 52 and "M" looking very surprised said "I thought you were in your 40's!!! Not that you look like it, cause you don't. You look totally young. I just thought that you said you were in your 40's. But you really don't....."

Um...yeah, I'm 31. Thanks for that :P

I'll blame it on my allergies. My forehead trying to blow off my face from all the pressure has to be making me look older. Yeah, sounds good to me.

You know what time of year it is!

Thats right!



Rocket time! We had a ton of fun yesterday, launching rockets again. Littleman got the biggest workout, he had to run all the way across the field, his rocket almost went over the fence. But he is ok with that since his rocket went the highest ;)

Your attention please :)

I created another blog, one dedicated to my knitting (and other crafts). I have the link on the sidebar, here it is just in case http://queenmeadow.wordpress.com/

I will be adding my "old" knitting stuff from here over to there and then this one can stay more rambly and kid oriented ;)

100 miles in 3 months

I joined runagogo, a group of crafters (knitters, crochet, sewing, etc) trying to get out and get moving. I have been a slacker with my exercise lately and with the weather warming up, I thought that this would be a great time to start.

April 1st to July 4th will be the challenge to run, walk, bike, crawl ;), 100 miles. I plan on running but I'm sure there will be walking mixed in, hehe.

Feel free to join me or to yell at me if my mileage ticker, on the top of the page, doesn't move for several days, lol.

I get to join...

those of you that are cool bloggers and actually get hits on your blog from search engine searches.

My most recent, and maybe my fave.....

"boys farted in gym" um...?

or a little bizarre, but at least it isn't gross...

"meadows well stocked half marathon" I ran one that was but it wasn't mine ;)

and last but not least, the tame one.

"queenmeadow"

:)

Update on paper

The paper I blogged about a few days ago. I received the grade today, 9/10. My professor is incredibly picky, so frustratingly so that I'm pretty freaked out about writing the final paper (12-15 freaking pages long!!). But the grade is good on this paper so I guess if I can suck it up and take criticism from him, it wont be too bad.

He said my thesis statement wasn't enough to the point. Let me show you my final draft of the thesis statement.

"Without assistance, only those born into wealth will have the opportunity to receive the kind of education that gives them an advantage over those who would otherwise be stuck in a never-ending cycle of under privilege and societal discrimination, i.e.: discrimination from higher social classes."

He also said that I'm trying too hard. Um...yeah, I wonder why :P

I'm just happy that this is my final English class because I think my head is going to explode. As you all can tell, I'm not a good writer and this is really sucking.

Any smarty pants writers reading right now?

I'm writing a controversial research paper for my class this semester. My problem is that I tend to get wordy, I know! its shocking ;) My other problem is that I don't like controversy, lol. So I keep trying to soften the "blow" of my thesis statement.

I need to turn in a report that includes my thesis statement (and the bibliography, so its not the whole paper yet) but its so wordy and doesn't feel right yet.

Here it is...

In order to increase the success of all students, those that are less economically privileged that are unable to pay for private schools, school vouchers will provide the means necessary for parents to choose a school that they feel will benefit their child the most therefore increase the success rate of their child.


My paper is on School Vouchers and I had to choose a side so I went with the side for vouchers.

Help!!! fast too, please :) Its due in 4.5 hours, eek!

Fish heads, fish heads....

rolly polly fish heads, fish head fish heads, eat them up. Yum!

We had dinner at the In-Laws house last night. Mother-in-law asked Little Man if he liked fish, he said yes so she gave him some dried sardines to try. He looks at them and said "ooh, they have teeth!" and then put them in his mouth "Yum!" She gave him a bunch more and he happily munched on the little icky things.

Stu says "you didn't pull the heads off?" I said "I've never seen them before, I don't know how to eat them!" he said "I guess if he doesn't mind"

So yeah, I think I'll tell him that he can never complain about my cooking again, now that he has eaten whole, dried fish.

Jealous?

This food review is inspired by foodie, since she has been critiquing food a lot lately, thought she'd like something new to try.

Zion

I drove back down to southern Utah with my older sister. We wanted to go hike Zion on Saturday since the weather was beautiful and I don't remember ever going there. Pretty sad since I've lived in Utah most of my life :).


I love this place :)


I love the layering of the mountain and all the colors.


The "bathtub", just thought it was cool.


This tree was struck by lighting, see the stripe going down it? it twists all the way around the tree, down to the base.


This is my mom, she'll hate me for posting her picture but too bad ;). This is what happens when my dad decides to ditch us, we stand by the edge because he makes us hug the mountain while we hike. He is scared of heights and can't stand anyone by the edge, hehe.


We made it to the top!! It only took 3 hours!!! And I stupidly wore pants, not just pants but black pants! I recommend you wear shorts if you hike when its 85+ degrees.

Vacation

I have lots of pictures to show and I'll make small comments. We'll let the pictures tell about the trip :)

This is the jacuzzi tub in our room :)


This is the wonderful pillowtop mattress with the down comforter and down pillows. Heaven!




The shower and sink, notice the glass instead of plastic cups, lol.



Ok, moving on to Hoover Dam where Stu took the boys (I was sick and needed to stay close to the potty ;) )

The boys can't be in a picture without posing something like this...




And the Dam, wish I could've gone, maybe next year :)




We also saw KA from Cirque de Soleil (I'm sure I butchered the spelling but I'm too lazy to look it up). It was good but I recommend getting the program first, we were pretty lost as far as the story goes.

I had a great time and so did the kids. I'm pretty sure they didn't want to come home after all the fun they had with the aunt and uncle.

I have returned!

Last night we returned from warm and enjoyable, Las Vegas. I have lots of fun pictures to share but they must wait. I was sick all week, it was no fun, with a UTI and am about to go to the dr. I will try to post when I return but I am leaving town once again. I am going back down to Southern Utah to hang out with my sister and parents with no kids :). If I don't get a chance to post before I leave, I'll post on Monday for sure!

Yum!!

I made this yummalicious soup on Friday! I got the recipe from Frugalmom who got it, and modified it, from kerflop. I modified it slightly as well and it was divine! I had some for lunch on saturday and plan on finishing the rest off today for lunch.

Tangy Potato Soup
6 medium to large russet potatoes. Peel 4, leave the skin on 2, and dice into 3/4 inch pieces
2 cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 8 oz package cream cheese
2 tbsp dried minced onion
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp flour
1 cup cooked, crumbled bacon (I used the precooked kind I buy in a big bag at Costco, about 12 oz bacon cooked would yield a cup of bacon)

Put potatoes, chicken broth, cream cheese and onion in a big soup pot. Bring to a boil. Add milk which has been mixed with flour to dissolve lumps. Simmer until potatoes are tender (15-20 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Add bacon and serve.

*my changes, I had no dried minced onion so I used onion salt (out of onion powder too, oops) about 1 tablespoon. I also added about 2 teaspoons of course ground pepper. And I used 8 smallish potatoes because thats all I had. Then garnished with graded medium sharp cheese, delish!

Why Gmail, Why?

Dear Gmail,

I have been a loyal subscriber to your email services for a very long time. I have invited friends and family to use your service, I even dropped my hotmail email account to use you exclusively and this morning? You don't allow me to log on. Oh sad sad day.

I have emails to read! don't you understand?

*sigh*