Go Bucks!

Note from Mrs. Fields

Yesterday I emailed Georgia's teacher and volunteered myself as a helper in or out of the classroom. I also told her how much Georgia loves school and that I know she can be a challenge. Here is her response to that part of my note:

Georgia is delightful! I just have to keep her from "helping" too much. Ha, Ha! She was working on another child's paper the other day and when I called her on it she said, "well, he had them all wrong!" She was right but I had to remind her that it was my job to "help" him. It was very funny! She is a smart little ball of enthusiasm! I am enjoying her. PS She hates to "get in trouble" but can always tell me exactly what she did and what she could do differently. A great combination!

I feel good that Mrs. Fields sees Georgia as enthusiastic, because I think that is exactly what she is. The flip side of that, of course, is overbearing and annoying, which she can be, as well. But Mrs. Fields seems to see the positive of that, which is great for Georgia.

Also, Georgia is officially a ballerina! We ran over to the studio last night and signed her up for classes starting this Thursday night. The stuido is in Blue Ash so Brian will be able to meet us over there after work sometimes. She is so so so excited! We bought the official leotard and shoes last night. When she tried the leotard on in the dressing room, she said, "well, it feels good but I need to try it out." Then she did a few "moves" to make sure the leotard fit properly.

Brian started school on Monday and is pretty excited about it. He has to his other class tonight. We both think this will give him an edge when he looks for jobs in the future.

Madsen Cargo Bikes

Madsen is choosing a weekly winner of one of their bikes from anyone who helps them spread the word about their product via blog, Twitter, website, etc. Having posted this banner on my blog, I am entered to win!

Interested? Check out this link: http://www.madsencycles.com/contest/

Today's Makeover

A few weeks ago, Brian and I picked up an armchair and ottoman at a yard sale. We knew we needed more living room seating - all we had was a couch - and from the road, the set looked great. And for $20, it is a fantastic find, even though we are pretty sure it is from a set of outdoor furniture.

Of the pair, the footstool has seen better days.

Fabric + Staples = a Fabulous (to me, at least!) New Look!!!

I finally cut into the Denyse Schmidt home dec. fabric that I bought months ago and I love the results. I am going to take a look at the chair to see if I can work some staple gun magic there.

Happy Weekending!!

Week 1 of Kindergarten: Completed!

Georgia had a great first week of kindergarten. Her favorite part of school so far is gym class and she is looking forward to taking 1 book from the school library next week.

Have a great weekend!

TV stand: Before & After

It's official: we have a KINDERGARTENER!!

Today was the first day of kindergarten! It has shaped up to be a very happy and exciting morning for all of us. We are at home and will pick G up in about 30 minutes from now. I will update the blog later with details about her day! Can you see her practically bursting with excitement?

The very famous Mrs. Fields!!

G in her classroom

"After"

Brian worked very hard last night to mount these shelves in the kitchen. The exterior wall was very, very hard. I love how it looks and it will be even better once we've painted the entire kitchen.

How we feel today

"Before" photos

Along with the ongoing project of the basement stairs, we've been working on a couple of projects this weekend so I thought we would share some "before" photos.

Not surprisingly, the kitchen cabinets are not the highest quality. Shortly after moving in, we noticed one set of uppers was falling apart. We decided to take them down and hang open shelving. Imagine our surprise that upon taking them down (with Uncle Matt's help) the previous owners had not painted the wall prior to haning the obviously new cabinets. It appears that the stove and vent were once in that spot and that wall has been patched. Although we found no less than 30 cans of paint in the basement, none of them matched the paint in the kitchen. So, we've had to figure out what to do in order to make that wall presentable. We are going to paint this square of the kitchen wall (a temporary fix until we are ready to repaint the whole room) and hang 3 shelves.I suppose the up-side to having an extra set of kitchen cabinets in our basement is that we can experiment with those to see what we can do with the cabinets. We both prefer the look of painted cabinets so we will be able to test out products and processes until we figure out what will work for these cabinets.

Recently we found this large, square end table on the street. We know it isn't pretty (yet!) but is super-sturdy and a really nice size. All in all, it is a pretty fab dumpster diving find! We are converting it into a TV stand by removing the drawer to add a shelf for the components. Brian has already rolled/brushed on 2 coats of paint and it should be finished by the weekend.

Stay tuned for the "after" photos...

Hot fun in the summertime

Last week, Aunt Kathy was in town for a visit and did not have a car so on Thursday we took her to Columbus and went to the zoo for the day. Afterward we met up with Uncle Danny. It was hot but fun.

Yesterday/Saturday we decided to celebrate Georgia's first day of elementary school by going to Young's Dairy, one of our favorite haunts when we lived in Dayton. We had not been there since we moved in January. It was as enjoyable as we remembered. Take a look at this slideshow for some moments from the afternoon.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9773107@N06/sets/72157621934230737/

Sunday in the Spraypark with Georgia

We to a break from home improvements to go to the spraypark.

So so so SO hot!

But G had a great time so it was worth it.

Home Improvements

We've had a busy day of home improvements! We finally got rid of the caramel-colored paint (also known as "baby poop brown") in the dining room and replaced it with a pale blue.

Here are some highlights:

Brian: "I love to work! Painting rules!"

That is a direct quote. Almost.

A few "before" snapshots of the dining room...

Georgia kept herself busy with some arts and crafts.

Georgia was very excited to help paint the walls. She actually did a really good job.
(All the while wearing the skimpiest "dress" in her closet! That one has definitely moved from the "dress" to "shirt" category!)

Voila! Here is our new and most definitely improved dining room/office. There is still some work to do (new handles for the cabinet doors, adding shelving to the open space in the built-ins, hanging artwork and draperies/curtains, choosing a rug, and installing a new light fixture) but it already feels fresher.

No big updates in the living room, although I did touch up the fireplace with the same paint that is on the walls. I had to cover that faux finish! We do not do faux!

The little blue cabinet in the fireplace is the one I snagged from a guy at the Goodwill. He debated and walked away, violating Goodwill Rule #1: You snooze...you lose!!

The cabinet will likely get a coat of paint down the road and may just end up in another spot within the house.

In the kitchen, we added a chalkboard wall to an awkward space with little use. Eventually we hope to frame it out with some simple mitered planks of wood. We cannot write/draw on this board until Tuesday, which will be a real challenge for Georgia! Patience is not a virtue that she possesses. (I wonder where she gets that??)

Up next: we have some less-than-exciting work on the basement staircase. Last weekend, Brian pried up 2 layers of old, ill-fitting vinyl tiles to find a nailed-down layer of thick board. He is looking forward to using his new toy, a crowbar, to try to rid the stairs of that board so we can see what we have to work with.

We also found a great sturdy square side table that we plan to convert to a television stand. Brian is going to freshen it up with some paint and replace the drawer with a shelf that will hold the cable box and DVD player.

Red 4, Cubs 0

Not a good night for the Cubbies but Georgia had a great time with her family at the game.

Here is a photo slideshow of Georgia's view of the game.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9773107@N06/sets/72157621834363593/show/

Congratulations to Karen and Tony!!

***This post is overdue but I'd hoped to add photos and I cannot seem to locate the USB cord for the camera. ***

Two weekends ago we traveled to a cottage at the Oglebay Resort in WV to attend and celebrate the wedding of Tante and Tony. It was a wonderful event. Georgia served as the flower girl and seemed to take her role quite seriously. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing. Brian played a round of golf and took Georgia to both the outdoor and indoor pools.

On the way home when asked what her favorite part of the weekend was, Georgia answered, quickly and without hesitation, "The wedding."

We are glad that our lives have settled down so that we were able to be a part of this important event. Thanks to Karen and Tony for graciously welcoming us to spend part of their special week with them.

In the house!

We closed on the house today! Everything went very smoothly and we were done within 45 minutes. After closing, Brian and I went over to the house to take a look and decide what projects we should focus on. We cleaned a bit - a not so fun but ongoing "project" - then came back to my parents' house get G so she could come over and check it out. On the way, we stopped to buy paint for G's room - very pink! - and the dining + living rooms - a creamy tan that should lighten up the room and make it a little fresher than the current butterscotch walls do.

We managed to put the first coat of paint on G's walls. It looks cute. I am looking forward to seeing it in the daylight tomorrow. Tante/Karen is coming over to help us paint, clean, etc. on Thursday, so that should be fun. Brian and I managed to get all of the living room and most of the dining room taped off so we can get busy with the rollers as soon as possible!

We will take some photos and post those soon!

Company Picnic

Last weekend we went to Brian's company picnic at King's Island. We'd gone in 2007 and Georgia had little interest in most of the rides. This year was different. She loved it! Her favorite was the Scrambler, which we rode 4 times! Here are a few photos that we took before the camera batteries gave out.

Sprayground

We went to the sprayground earlier this week - Monday (with Brian) and Wednesday. Tons of fun!

Hissing Cockroaches and Butterflies

Today we went to a bookstore for a presentation featuring live bugs - hissing cockroaches from Madagascar. Lovely. Georgia enjoyed it, as she loved any kind of animal. Later, we went to the conservatory's annual butterfly exhibit. This year they are featuring butterflies from India. Brian and Georgia both took many photos. Enjoy the slideshow!



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9773107@N06/sets/72157618597823733/show/with/3557885212/

House Inspection: Complete

All in all, our home inspection went well. No signs of radon or termites. Any issues found are manageable. We do hope the sellers will be willing to remove what the inspector determined to be an unsafe roof over the patio - we don't want it so we were happy to hear that he felt it should probably be removed. We are excited to get in and start making it our house.