My Labor of Love

Hello blogging world!  I’ve decided to rejoin you (for the time being).  Do I have an excuse for being absent the past 6 months (6, really 6? Eeeek!)?  Not really…other than it was summer and we were busy playing, swimming, and enjoying all that summer has to offer, and for the past 3 months my excuse has been my labor of love—well, that and just the fact that I was already so behind in blogging that it felt overwhelming to try to catch up.  And so let me catch you up on some of the fun things we’ve done (all, some, or none of which may be blogged about in the future):

• Audrey graduated from Kindergarten and lost her first two teeth
• Matt competed in 3 Sprint Triathlons and I did a Mini Triathlon
• The kids took swimming lessons again, and Audrey made leaps and bounds this summer with swimming
• My folks came to visit…and one day we hiked out to the Lighthouse in Palo Duro Canyon.
• We went on a mini family vacation to Colorado Springs, and visited to the North Pole Amusement Park.
• Audrey started 1st grade (with long hair!) and played soccer again
• We celebrated Judah’s 4th Birthday
• It was a “Toy Story” themed Halloween for us with Audrey dressed up as Jesse and Judah as Woody.
• Matt and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary on December 23rd and to commemorate we took a special trip to Seattle and Vancouver (wrapped up neatly in a pre-planned business trip for Matt!)

But in honor of my first post since my absence, I give you “My Labor of Love”.  I had been brewing up a plan over the summer to redo Audrey’s room.  She basically had the same decor from her nursery, a pinkish/purplish bedspread, and yellow curtains; and if you know Audrey, you know that is NOT her at all.  Tossing aside her requests for a Star Wars themed room, I suggested we do a “blue” room.  Her favorite color is blue, and I figured I could girlie it up a tad to make it suitable for her and yet still have it be an awesome room in her opinion.  And so it was on…I decided to look for bedding first, and found an awesome deal (80% off) on a quilt and pillow sham that Audrey agreed she liked.  It ended up being a sea foamy/turquoise and navy color scheme, but in my mind: girlie, and in Audrey’s mind: way better than pink and yellow.  We decided I’d paint all the walls, and then on the largest wall of her room I’d do something special, like stripes or squares--to which Matt told me I was absolutely out of my mind—but I thought, “It’ll be fun!”  And so Labor Day weekend, we bought the paint, and the night of Labor Day I started painting.  I foolishly thought I could have it all done in 2 weeks; one week for painting the solid colored walls, and one week to measure, tape off, and paint the squares on the big wall.  One thing I forgot to account for: painting and an OCD perfectionist personality DO NOT MIX!And 3 months later I’m nearly finished—granted, I worked hard the first two weeks (of which, after the first week I remembered I HATED painting), and then decided it wasn’t worth putting everything aside to finish the project in a timely manner.  I kinda wish I had documented the process as I went along, but alas, the finished (or almost finished) pictures will have to suffice.The West facing wall (with her big window) is a dark turquoise color and the North wall (where her bed is) is a light turquoise. The East wall (closet and door to the room) is navy.And the blasted square wall (South).  A grid of 18 inch squares with an inch in between, 9 going across and 6 down for a grand total of 54 squares.  5 colors—the light and dark turquoise and navy from the solid walls, plus yellow and lime green (both accents from the bedspread).  Matt was right, I was crazy, and WENT crazy doing this wall!  You can see in the above picture on the left side where I haven’t finished touching up in between the squares (little white blotches).This is a close up of in between the squares.  I taped off the grid with painter’s tape (my nemesis) and read on the internet to press down on it with the back of a spoon to keep the paint from bleeding under it.  Well, it kept the paint from bleeding, but it also pulled off the existing paint, meaning I have to go back—with a TINY artist’s brush—to touch it up.  Oh, the JOY!!A close up of what it looks like after I’ve touched up: I bought the curtains, and GiGi, Matt’s grandmother, the Jedi-Seamstress, made the valance. Another project of the room, actually the first I did, was this huge French memo board.  My crafty sis-in-law, April, gave me the idea to put smaller squares together to make a large memo board where Audrey could display all her artwork.  Awesome idea, huh?  It took me a long time to do each square and then fasten them together, but it was well worth it (even the ever-present burns on the tips of my fingers from the hot glue gun)!  And I’m a total expert at making French Memo Boards now, so if you need help, you know who to call. Audrey is eagerly anticipating the day she can actually start putting her artwork on it, but I told her she had to leave it clear for a while so I can admire my handiwork—hahahahaha, the evil mother!

And there you have it: My Labor of Love!  I know this is a super duper long post, but nothing like starting off fresh with a BANG!