I Have a Good Reason.......Honestly!

I know, I know! It's been almost a week since I last blabbed on here. For shame! I have good reasons, though. Gettin' ready for the In Laws who come down Saturday, continuing to work on the Bubs's bedroom, and here's the doozy........we just found out yesterday that we're being transferred. We're talking about a move from one coast to the other. I've been alternating between shock, grief and outright anger. Not to mention praying.....although begging might have been a more appropriate description a couple times.

In short, we don't want to leave but we don't have a choice. My family is devastated that we will be so far away. Travel is not easy for them because of health reasons, especially now that Mom will be undergoing radiation treatments. The swiftness of the move has also taken all of us by surprise. I'm talkin' about a matter of months, y'all. Oy!

Hubby and I haven't told the Bubs and we have no ideas about how or when to let him know. He's sooooo excited about going to "Poppi's school". Now, he'll only get a few months there before he's yanked cross-country to move to a very rural area away from everything familiar. My heart is already breaking for him.

We've been so incredibly blessed to stay in this area for so long. In my head I knew that it would come to an end eventually, but in my heart I was still holding out hope that we would somehow, someway be able to stay here. Unrealistic, but that's how I roll people.

I'll be posting more about the Bubs's room soon, but for now I'm gonna run. I don't want the Hubby to come home and find me, yet again, in a puddle of my own tears and snot.

Bloggin' on the Sly...

Shhhhhh! I'm sneaking on here while the Hubby's out getting me more paint rollers and I'm in between loads of laundry.....

Paint rollers? Yep, I'm paintin' up a storm in the Bubs's bedroom.....finally. I think it was Joanna who jokingly said that she could see me painting the room the day before the In Laws get here. She wasn't far off! Our houseguests will be here next Saturday afternoon. That's okay, though. I promised the Bubs that we would have his bedroom done before he starts school near the end of August and I guess this visit is the extra incentive I need to really make sure my tushy stays in gear to get it done.

Bubs said he wanted a blue on the walls. I went with a more grown up blue than he really wanted because I wanted it to "grow" with him. In other words, as much as I like to paint, I didn't want to be in there in a year's time doin' the whole thing over again. He and the Hubs both like the color and I'm happy with how it looks on the wall, too. It's relaxing. The Bubs is, however, miffed at me that he can't help me paint. He's helped me in the past, but his room is on the small side and his bed's on the huge side. There's no room to poot, much less two people painting. Long story slightly shorter...he ended up sitting in the hallway at one point with a snack and drink simply watching me paint. This was fine with me. That is until, between munching away on his snack he happily pointed out that I had missed a spot! Yeah, the Hubs thought that was funny when I told him later. It was funny........later.

Anyhoo, I'll leave y'all with a few "in progress" pics. Hopefully, I'll be able to take "hallelujah I'm done, now where's the Advil?" pics this evenin'.

Kindergarten Boot Camp and Cleaning Mania

The Bubs' Kindergarten Readiness program is turning out to be Kindergarten Readiness Boot Camp for me! It's a good thing, though. The Bubs and I are both getting our morning routine dashes downpat and I'm learning that doing things the night before saves my nerves the next morning. Um, and that if I'm a really organized little girly, I can squeeze in a quick jaunt to the Starbucks around the corner! Yay! Chai Tea Latte, here I come!

Ahem.

Sorry. The thought of Chai Tea Latte goodness just went right to my head..... I'm finding that the sooner homework is done, the better. I know. Big slap in the forehead while yellin', "Duh!". We've already had a few mornings where the Bubs did his homework the next morning. This seems to be a thing of the past, but we're all human around here so it may happen again.

On to other news in the Everyday Occasion household.

The In Laws will be down next Saturday for a week-long visit. Let the house-cleaning mania begin, people!! I've vaccuumed, dusted, Swiffered and generally cleaned my rotund boo-tay off....and have made a slight dent. I'm happy with that. After a long conversation with the Hubs, I'm not as worried about the house being spotless. I'm working to maintain that attitude and not let it freak me out like it normally does.

Yay, It's Monday! The Closer's On!

I LOVE watching the Closer. It's hands down one of my favorite TV shows ever. The new summer season started last week and has made Mondays worth lookin' forward to. The mix of characters from all walks of life and very different personalities fascinates me.....and since I'm a southern gal, I get a kick out of Brenda's down to earth, no-nonsense observations all with a drawled, "Thank you!"


The supporting cast is stellar and bring so much to the show. I like watching how they interact with one another.....stand-up guy Gabriel, Provenza and Flynn who always seem to be in trouble, the hot-headed Sanchez and the dry-witted, geeky Tao, along with the smart and beautiful Daniels.

The humor also keeps me coming back. I simply can't watch anything for any length of time that doesn't have a lick of humor to it. I know it's odd that I would say that about a show that centers around solving murders, but it's true. They even poke fun at the show itself. And any time they bring on the In-Laws, I know the hilarity is gonna roll! The casting people really found gems when they hired Frances Sternhagen and Barry Corbin to play Brenda's parents.

Well, anyway, you get the idea. I like the show and it's nice to be able to watch a truly entertaining mystery that I don't feel like I need to shower after watching it.

Having fun with art...

Well, I thought that since I wouldn't be able to get a pic of the big cabinet painting mock-up until Monday, I would post a few of my personal sketches that I have here at home. Before my teacher friend ever asked if I could paint her cabinets for her, I had been trying my hand at different underwater creatures in colored pencils and in watercolor pencils. Now remember these are rough sketches and not pristine final works of a professional artist! I just have fun seeing what I can do with different mediums. My favorite thing to work with right now are my watercolor pencils. I've never worked with them before and I've had fun learning how to use them over the last month or so. When I use the phrase "learning how to use them", that really means that I'm playing around until I find something I like as opposed to how they're supposed to be used in a traditional sense. What's art if you can't have fun with it?

This pic of a seahorse was one of my first attempts at using watercolor pencils....and of drawing a seahorse, for that matter. I remember being so tickled with how it turned out and having so much fun drawing again that I kept showing it to the Hubby every two seconds like a 3 year old kid! He dutifully told me that it "looked good" and shook his head in amusement when he thought I wasn't looking.

In preparation for my upcoming project, I've dusted off my brushes and acrylic paints. Now I have to fugure out which ones have completely dried out from old age and if I need any additional colors to go with an undersea pallete. Hmmmm....I wonder if Michael's is running a sale on acrylic paints?

"And in other news...."

Why is it that the A/C never seems to go on the fritz when it's cool outside or when there's loads of money in the savings account to dip into for repairs? *sigh* Y'all, we were soooo miserable last night trying to sleep in our own sweat. Thankfully, the Bubs was so incredibly sleepy that he fell almost instantly asleep last night and didn't, to my knowledge, wake up until around 7 this morning. The Hubs is used to sleeping in the heat, but I think he still didn't fall asleep as easily as he normally does. So, I was the only one pacing the kitchen floor at 1 a.m. this morning trying to figure out someway of staying cool that wouldn't keep Hubby awake. I ended up with a trusty wet washcloth. Sweet relief, sweet blessed relief!

And in other news....

I've been commisioned to paint a mural on the front of some large cabinet doors in a friend's classroom. One of the thematic units that her grade level will be covering is Australia. She loves ocean/beach things anyway, so she wants a mural of the Great Barrier Reef. Or, at least my interpretation of it. I drew a mock-up for her in, um, pencil and crayon (oh, yeah I am that classy people!) and she loved it. *whew!* I'll have to nab a pic of the drawing next week to share with y'all.....hey, it's been that kind of week. I'm excited to get started on it and I hope it turns out alright. I haven't done any painting on this scale in years and I had a tendency to ignore my high school art teacher completely. Kinda wish I had listened just a bit more on how to "construct" a larger scale painting. Although, I do remember that she once told me not to get so hung up on the details of the painting, but to keep my focus on the overall effect. Hmmmm, sounds like good advice for life in general, doesn't it?

Anyways, I'll share pics of the mural's progress with y'all over the next few weeks. (Please, please, oh please, God, don't let me mess it up!!)

My Guys....Perpetually in Motion

Yes, the followin' pics are blurry. I was fixin' to get aggravated over the fact that I had somehow ruined such a wonderful photo op.......and then, I stopped. I stopped because I realized that although they may not be perfect in a traditional sense, they perfectly captured the way my guys usually are ~ Perpetually in Motion.

Books, Volunteering, School and Dizziness

Fiction, Non-Fiction, Dr. Seuss to Doreen Cronin~ Dad's classroom has a bit of everything when it comes to children's literature. They're on tables, bookcases, desks, in baskets, color coded by genre.........well, they're everywhere and I love it! I'm a big fan of children's books and he's aquired many wonderful titles over the years. So many, in fact, that he's made his own library. As with any library, it needs to be constantly maintained in order to be usable. Since the Bubs is in his kindergarten readiness program four mornings a week, I asked if I could help Dad with anything to which he instantly asked if I could help him organize a couple of his book collections.

It took me a couple of morning's worth of work, but I got his read-aloud library physically organized with a content list ready to be printed out and put in a folder. This coming week, I move on to his International Baccalaureate book collection or his IB List as we call it. Believe it or not, I've enjoyed working in a classroom again. Even if the kids aren't there, yet, it's kinda cool to be back in a classroom environment listening to all the discussions between Dad and the other teachers about the upcoming school year. I didn't realize how much I missed it....

On a slightly different subject....with the Bubs starting school next month, I was planning to go back to school full-time for my degree in Elementary Ed. Now, I think I want to pursue a couple of on-line courses first just to get my feet wet and leave me time to volunteer at the Bubs's school a bit. Between all the changes going on with the Bubs going to school, upcoming changes with the Hubby's job (that's another post).......I'm quite dizzy!

Peace, Y'all!

~Anna

Two days in one post.......Multitasking?

Friday, July 4th

I don't know why, but I get the most satisfaction out of watching the Bubs struggle to stay awake at the end of a fun and busy day.......like he is right now as I'm typing this (don't worry, he's going to bed in a few minutes). We spent the day with family to celebrate the 4th of July. The Bubs splashed around in a little pool that his Poppi and Daddy set up for him and then came in to eat and play to his heart's content. By the end of our visit, he was laying all over his Dad and me while singing a lullaby in a soft voice. Precious!

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Sunday, July 6th

The boys are bowling on the Wii, so I thought I'd hop on here for a few minutes...I'm beginning to go through blogging withdrawals, it's been so long since I've been able to get on here and gab!

The Bubs has begun a new adventure since last week. His school, in an effort to ensure that incoming kindergarteners have a smooth transition into "real" school, have a kindergarten readiness program that runs in the mornings for 4 days a week. This is a total Godsend for us after that preschool fiasco a few months ago. We were all concerned that his less than stellar experiences there had discouraged him about starting school this fall. To see him enthused about school is awesome and such a relief! He's become especially attached to a little girl that sits next to him in class. So attached that we've already had to have the "it's nice that you like her, but kissing her isn't a good thing to do" talk. Our family is an affectionate one that freely gives out hugs and kisses so, for him, it was natural to love on her with a kiss on the cheek. At least he's making friends!

In celebration of this new chapter in the Bubs' (and our) lives, we're giving his bedroom a facelift. I've picked out paint in a nice shade of blue like he wanted and will, hopefully, be slappin' it on his walls sometime this week. I think the blue will go lovely with the comforter he picked out for his bed and the darker wood of his bed. I'm having a hard time deciding what and where to hang things on his walls, though. I'll do my usual room sketches that I always do before a room re-do and somehow figure out an arrangement that will work. Y'all have any ideas?

I'll be posting pics of the room's progress as I go.....and I hope the Hubby doesn't take any undignified pictures of me bending over to paint the trim! Of course, just because he takes them doesn't mean I have to post them!!