Tags
(and this is the very tip of the iceberg! as much as I’ve had a hard time letting go of summer this year…this makes me very, very happy)
30 Tuesday Sep 2008
Posted On Maine Life
inTags
(and this is the very tip of the iceberg! as much as I’ve had a hard time letting go of summer this year…this makes me very, very happy)
29 Monday Sep 2008
Posted On Maine Life
inAfter warnings of 50 mph winds, the gales reached about…zero. Thank You Jesus! Other than a good soaking, everything was A-OK.
In other news, after I decided to be a Much Better Blogger this week, my little rascally Jack worked some kind of operation on our computer rendering the mouse and keyboard useless. So here I am at mom and dads, typing out what I can. And I bought my camera and downloader cord, but of course it isn’t working, so all of my grand plans of pumping out posts with pictures whilst the kids are snoozing come to a big fat zero. I try, I try!
I do, however, have a couple of pictures from earlier in the week that dear Deb sent. Let me tell you how the G’s came to the rescue! Erick had to be gone overnight on Thursday at an Apple Conference (at the Hilton Garden Inn, in which he was served, amongst other things, a full lobster and clam dinner; and in which he said he was severely under dressed). Those Mac people-they do things up right! Anyhow, I was not looking forward to 2 days and a night without my hubby. So enter the G family! We spent a lovely Thursday afternoon at Manson Park. Although I had only been to the middle of this bridge before, we decided to cross it all the way and follow this lovely little trail! It was such a nice surprise. 🙂
After our walk, we went back to the G’s and feasted on lasanga, then…had a sleepover. I haven’t had a slumber party since high school! After the kids were down and out, us girls talked until the very wee hours of the morning. Not something moms do for fun much, ya know. 🙂 But it was grand, and in the morning, which turned out to be very fall-like and crisp, we set the kids out to play and bundled under blankets on the deck, sipping our coffee. MmmHmm. Much better Thursday and Friday than I had anticipated.
One more thing-my parents are in New Mexico for an undetermined amount of time, keeping vigil by one of my sweet grandmothers who is getting a little closer to heaven every day. Prayers would be appreciated!
Time to close up shop and read some of your blogs. The boys are miraculously napping; that doesn’t happen very often anymore. So off a reading I go!
28 Sunday Sep 2008
Posted On Maine Life
inTags
Ugh, I’ve been so bad. I had a blog post for every day last week; you can see how well that worked out! I hope to be a better blogger this week-I sure have enough fodder.
In the meantime, we are trying to get as many things accomplished as possible at the house today that require electricity because Hurricane Kyle is making himself known. Actually, I think things are looking up, and hopefully the wind won’t be as bad as they predicted. (Can we keep our power, please?) I did look like a drowned rat after a mad dash to the car with a load of groceries this afternoon. The rain is sure in plentiful supply!
Onwards and upwards! Time to get laundry finished and dishes washed. Have a great Sunday. 🙂
23 Tuesday Sep 2008
Realized I hadn’t posted a picture of our chalkboard “after” yet. It has been a rousing success…I love it! And I’m hoping that the announcement in the middle will get my dear husbands attention tomorrow morning *hint hint!*
Also realized that I didn’t tell you how I put this together. I purchased Rust-Oleum magnetic primer and chalkboard paint at either Home Depot or Lowes-I can’t remember which. Those two blur together in my head. It was probably about 30 bucks for the 2 cans, but I’ll be able to do many projects with both. Well worth the money. You can also get the chalkboard tinted in a few other colors-I just preferred black.
And if you want to go the make-your-own way, I’ve done that too. It’s just for the chalkboard paint though, and is posted here.
23 Tuesday Sep 2008
Posted On Family, On Great Adventures, On Maine Life
inWe enjoyed Sunday to the fullest extent; after church we packed a picnic and headed to Lakeside Orchard in Manchester.
Take a look at them apples!
The apples were so plentiful that branches were sagging, and sometimes even broken, with the weight.
(Apple pickers)
$26 worth of fruit later (that’s ALOT of apples!) we visited the apple store and had the best slice of pumpkin bread and walnut brownie this side of Heaven. WOW. Then we zoomed on over to the woods where Ry, Jack and I went with the homeschoolers last week. Such a wonderful suprise for Daddy and Papa and Nonnie!
Woods, River, Waterfalls, and Meadows. Rock Throwing, and even a bit of studying (yep, that’s Erick actually reading his textbook on our walk. The fun never ends for him.)
After our hike, we stopped at The Wicked Bean in Hallowell for a spectacular cup of coffee, then hit up Home Depot for a gallon of my Mountain Air. Twas a day to remember!
Ok, well, Jack is standing on the kitchen table using a paint roller, trying to paint the wall. Think he’s trying to give me a hint? Time to get this day going!
22 Monday Sep 2008
After 2 very unfortunate paint choices this weekend (despite your excellent advice! I’m just so anxious to get this done!) I have finally set my mind to…Mountain Air. Big Guffaw! I’m such a goon, huh? Fortunately, I purchased 2 gallons of paint from W-Mart but was able to return them after an all-around “Shield My Eyes!” at this household when I painted a swatch on the wall.
So anyway, we are going back to light and beachy (now that fall is upon us, of course). My poor husband has to put up with quite a bit.
I have to tell you, though, that my eyes are set on a certain high-ceilinged bungalow in the future, and if we are able to obtain it, I think Restoration Hardware will play a big role (thanks, Carrie!) Here’s a sampling…
And if I am able, someday, to get my hands on these, I would own them in any house. I would own them right now, if we weren’t on this dratted Walmart budget. They are Dash and Albert Rugs (and the price isn’t outrageous either. Just crazy for a teacher’s budget right now).
They would look great with my Mountain Air…maybe if I can get my Etsy shop a movin’ again I can set some moola aside. Good news is that I’m pretty sure I’ve found a printing source for my next creative venture. And I mention this because the more I write it down, the more I’ll be motivated to get it done. ‘Cause I’m really quite excited about it.
Anywho, I have a wonderful last-day-of-summer to blog about, but I have to wait until Erick comes home with the compuer to download the pictures. Here’s to the first day of FALL!
19 Friday Sep 2008
Where have I been since my Monday post?
Staring googley-eyed at paint chips. You don’t have to tell me-I know this is ridiculous, on so many levels. Have you ever seen that True Value commercial wherein the lady of the house has a panicked look on her face while contemplating multiple paint chips on her walls, and then she ends up at the store with desperation written all over her face and crazy hair to boot? That’s me. I wish to goodness that someone would just take me by the hand and say “Do this, dear. Just paint with this color.” And that would be that, and I would be happy.
So, nix to the Mountain Air, because Erick is slowly moving me over to the “richer colors” party. I actually went and purchased a gallon of delphinium blue (no samples available), but it was too dark for me so it shall end up in the boy’s bedroom. Paint samples are hard to come by (although I have quite a few) because Lowe’s is an inconvenient hour away, and Benjamin Moore doesn’t carry the samples that I want, and I don’t have the 6 bucks a piece to shell out if I was to order them online.
It’s just color, already! Drat! Why does this have to be so difficult?
Moving on…
We did do a few other things than contemplate color this week. Hopped on over to Augusta on Monday with some homeschoolers to visit a Bug Exposition at the Museum. Had a grand time checking out beetles, then running amok in the Capital building. But my favorite part was when we visited this wonderful woodsy area in the middle of Hallowell that ended up giving our, oh, collection of 20 kids or so endless amounts of fun. Gorgeous river, waterfalls, stone bridges; completely unexpected and beautiful! And the kids hiked up their jeans and waded and splashed for a long, long time. Better than being stuck in a classroom, you think? 🙂
Time to pay bills and clean house! Have a wonderful weekend!
15 Monday Sep 2008
Posted On Family, On Funny Kids, On Great Adventures, On Maine Life
inTags
Belfast, Belfast Harbor Inn, Damariscotta, dancing kids, Fort Knox, Maine Life, Penobscot Narrows Bridge, Red's, weekend escape, Winterport, Wiscassett
We did it. We actually had a family weekend…no house, no work, no class! Just us! And it was wonderful.
We left Saturday morning around 10:30 and meandered our way down Route 1. Browsed a bit in Winterport at some shops and then hit up the Penobscot Narrows Bridge to check out the observation tower, and then traipse through Fort Knox. Ry was not a fan of the tower, or the elevator to the top, to be exact. So we didn’t stay long; but the views were stunning!
(Long Way Down!)
Bucksport (Pardon the Glare)
At the fort…
We really needed a flashlight inside. Too dark to run amok, but Ry kept encouraging himself by saying “I’m not afraid of the dark! I’m happy of the dark!” I had the flash on for this picture.
We were at the water throwing rocks; believe me when I say that this was a LONG hike back up. In the heat. But momma toughed it out anyway.
Next stop was the Belfast Harbor Inn, where we took the boys for their first dip in a big swimming pool. As you can tell, they weren’t exactly hip to the whole thing; they are more wade-up-to-my-knees-in-the-ocean kinda kids!
Dinner that night in Belfast, then some more rock throwing time…
It was hilarious-on the way back from downtown Belfast, we pulled onto Route 1 and couldn’t believe who we were behind. It was Papa and Nonnie! After 10 unsuccessful minutes of honking our horn and flashing our lights and waving our hands, Erick found a break and passed them…it was a happy reunion! Turns out they couldn’t stay away from the coast either. 🙂
….
Sunday morning we woke up to drizzly weather, but decided to head south anyway. We had a coffee break in Damariscotta, then stood in line at Red’s for hot dogs. It was rainy, so the line was short. Well worth the wait to feed 4 on $6!
We skeedaddled home after Reds to visit Papa and Nonnies, and had a wonderful breakfast/supper of pumpkin waffles and bacon.
On the way to our house, the boys were still pretty happy with the whole weekend, and had enough energy to get their groove on for a bit. I think the salt air did as much good for them as it did for me!
12 Friday Sep 2008
I think Mountain Air by Behr is what I have decided on. Mom had some in a gallon left over from painting their living room ceiling, so I gave it a shot alongside some other samples I picked up.
Obviously that picture is going to differ from monitor to monitor, but it is a light blue without, as far as I can tell, a hint of green, which is funny, because on my monitor that sample looks green! It’ll go well in our kitchen (black countertops, silver appliances, white cabinets). I’m not completely decided on the color scheme for our living room, but the blue will be a good neutral so I can switch things up as I desire!
I was gung-ho to paint our bedroom yesterday; moved everything on to the bed, was completely prepared…and I could NOT open the paint. It was in a plastic gallon, and when it was mixed at the store, it leaked some, completely sealing the top shut. I worked on it for a good half hour, and then Erick even had a little trouble opening it when he got home. So that’ll have to be for another day! We did work on the boy’s playroom some-started scraping wallpaper. The kids were good helpers. 🙂 They have a relatively small bedroom, so getting their playroom ready is priority so we don’t have to trip over mounds of toys whenever we put them to bed.
Well, our plan for this weekend is to beg and plead our way into a hotel on the coast for a tiny amount of money on Saturday night. No luck so far, but there are a plethora out there. Quality family time, here we come!
11 Thursday Sep 2008
Posted On Great Adventures, On Maine Life, On Showin' Some Love
inTags
Alewives, beautiful day, Damariscotta, Maine, Newcastle, Nobleboro, paint, traveling, Wiscassett
Well, mom decided how we should make our living a few days ago, and then we delved deeper into the details yesterday on a wonderful “running errands” day that quickly turned into a “head to the coast day” instead. 🙂 She suggested we buy a Big Red Truck and act as tour guides around this great state, whisking tourists around to all the great antique stores and flea markets. Oh, but then after yesterday…why stop there? You like fabric? We’ve certainly hit the majority of the fabric stores between the state lines! You like scenery? Check! Or furniture stores, or gift shops, or art galleries…you get the idea. Ack. Talk about a dream job. We can take you places, people!
Anyway, yesterday I did manage to cross off one “must” on my list-I purchased some paint samples to try out on our walls…samples all the way this time! I’ve learned my lesson well! Other than that, we zoomed down to Wiscassett and Damariscotta and Newcastle. And skipped from place to place, trying to soak it all in before picking up dad from school at 3:00. Amazing what all you can do in a day here. My camera battery was dying but I managed to sneak a couple of pictures in; the day was gorgeous.
I love this little house-it’s older than the hills and I think it used to be a book shop or antique store, according to an old black and white we saw at Sproul’s Furniture.
And speaking of Sproul’s…it’s my dream furniture shop. Absolutely gorgeous, relaxed, casual, unique, coastal, unpretensious, formal…anything you want. Really. If only I was loaded, my house would have been furnished yetserday. AMAZING.
We waited in line at Red’s in Wis for their famous hot dogs (THE BEST in Maine) but had to give up after awhile to stick to our schedule. We ended up splitting a pesto/cheddar/pepper panini at Treats and took a couple of Nutella filled muffins for the road. Nutella filled muffins. Brilliant!
Also stopped at Alewives in Nobleboro, the must-stop fabric shop that makes me want to take out a loan just for fabric. (I’m giving away all my tour secrets, aren’t I?!) 😉 Seriously, I could buy fabric just to have it sit in my house and look pretty. It makes me that happy.
Ok, enough rambling…I have to accomplish loads today. Paint samples, here I come! Wish me light blue, non-green luck!