Pure Madness

I have been:
1. Dying for my builder (whom I adore) to finish up the house, like yesterday. Not until the end of September I'm being told.
2. Cleaning up a vicious cycle of sheet rock dust, saw dust, sanding dust, tile man dust, and the regular dust. All over the house! I told my builder if he witnessed me losing "it" sometime soon, not to be alarmed.
3. Moving into the one space I asked nicely (read: told immediately) to finish, which was my new studio, so I could move in. It would make life a little nicer upstairs on the main floor. He did. And I'm 75 % moved in. 90% of new items from IKEA are bought for organization of the new studio. Zero are put together yet.
4. Learning 1st grade homework sucks for me and Big Girl. She spent 30 minutes (I'm not kidding) redrawing a star (which was part of a math pattern) that was not perfect enough (for her) to turn in. Many tears were shed. I kept trying to tell her its the concept that's important, not how the star is drawn. She got the concept, it was the star she was not accepting. Can we say OCD?
5. Cleaning out the basement for a last minute yard sale this past weekend. Because I don't have enough to do.
6. Trying to entertainment Little Man (and keep out of trouble) until he goes back to school. Next Week.
7. Working on getting CPA's birthday present framed in time. Birthday is Tuesday. Picked up framed picture Friday. Check.
8. Asked to get TV hung back up before Thursday.... Stupid ESPN thursday night games. It's his birthday week. And because of that, I will beg my sweet electrician to squeeze finishing that before Thursday.
9. Trying to remember how fabulously calm my life will be, when this house returns to normal.

Back to School

I love the first week of school. Everyone loves going to bed early to get up early for school. Big Girl is thrilled one of her best friends (my friend's daughter) is in her class this year. However, all the sunshine and rainbows stop during week two, when the novelty of the new monogrammed backpack and lunch box has worn off already. Little Man's 4K doesn't start until AFTER labor day. I do love the time alone with him. He is just too sweet, I could eat him up. Although, I did catch him wandering around the house with the work crew today... looking for trouble to get into.

My new studio digs are almost done. The house is almost done really. The painter just got here this week, so we asked him to finish up my studio first before anything else. I've GOT to get my stuff out of my current office, the dining room and what is creeping into the living room. The work crew was literally hanging crown molding around me and one of my customers in the dining room this morning....

The kids are headed to the farm this weekend with the in-laws. CPA and I are doing some painting. The painter is painting all the trim, moldings, ceiling, doors inside and out. We opted to save a little bit by painting the walls. We are down to nickles and dimes here people, and if painting the walls means I get to spend that money getting the whole house sanded and stained espresso the way I want... this chick is painting. I'm also tackling the kitchen cabinets. I consider myself a jack of all trades.... so I'm pretty excited to take this on. I'll be sure to take before and after shots. By the way, did I mention CPA and I do AND do not work well together on team projects. This should be a ball....

Let the mayhem begin...

My Big (Little) Girl

School starts Wednesday for Big Girl. First Grade. Sniff. Sniff. She's getting older, which means I'm getting older. She started Kindergarten last year at a wonderful public, neighborhood elementary school.




I was a little nervous, only because we've spent the last 5 years at our private, church preschool. Very sheltered, and very much a controlled environment. Controlled, meaning, I got to handpick her teacher and pair her with her playmates. I knew the director well, all the teachers, all the parents, am friends with most of them from town. All that halted when we entered the elementary school with 800+ students. So, did any sense of cute (age appropriate) attire.

After the first day of public kindergarten, gone were the days of wearing anything smocked to school. No Ragsland. No Kelly's Kids. Not because she couldn't wear them, Big Girl wasn't having any of it when her new friends were wearing jeans. Every.Day. AND anything that sparkled. Bleh. I wasn't giving into that much crap. I settled for two pairs of jeans with cute tops. She also agreed to wear the Ragsland embroidered pants. Shoes were a whole other issue. Nike running shoes, bleh. Every. Day. Nike's just don't go with skirts or a-line dresses. More Bleh.


So, this year.... I almost cried with delight when we went to Stride Right and Big Girl bypassed all the crap running shoes for these....

I have been buying these Keds for her since she was 18 months old!!!! I love them! They are sweet, white shoes that go with everything! And she WANTED them! Let's just pray that some little girl in her class with pink, sparkly Sketchers doesn't tell her that her shoes are ugly....