I have wanted a new front door for a while now. One of those really pretty doors with glass to let some more light in. UNTIL....I saw how much doors cost. I saw one at Lowe's for, gasp, $5000. Now, I know there are other ways to get a nice door for less money. I'll looked on craigslist and have even seen some at garage sales. But unless you know the exact measurements when you stumble upon those great deals, its useless.
I decided to just paint the door and maybe that would suffice until I get a new one. For $13 in paint, and one of the last days in the 60s of the year, I did it.
While I was at it, the back door bothered me b/c I often have a dog with dirty paws, or kids with dirty hands leaving dirt makes on the light beige door. Sooooo.
In case you're wondering how to paint a front door, I just wiped my down. Because it was already painted plus I was using black, I didn't prime the door. If you were going with another color you would possibly consider doing this. I used a semi-gloss and I'm quite happy with it. I didn't want it too shiny. My door is one of those builder-grade metal doors. It took two coats. I bought a roller, but quickly realized that I preferred the brush to the roller. I bought a new brush for this project. I think it was called rooster, the brand. I quite liked this brush. I am by no means a professional, so if you are considering painting your door, by all means talk to the people at your favorite paint place. My happens to be Hoover, but I used Lowe's paint on this project b/c I had a gift card. Both doors, and both coats took about 2 hours total to do. I have some leftover paint and I'm going to do the garage door when it warms up.
Every year I am running around town trying to find paper that matches the photo Christmas card I pick out and then because we send out 50 Christmas cards, I have to buy 3 packs of the stuff. So I'm gonna go along with everyone else "going green" and use that saying to say "I don't want to spend $15 in paper for these letters when hey, you can just read it on my blog for free and I can include pictures!" See, its a win win situation.
Where to start? This year has been a year of ups and down to say the least. I'll give a brief synopsis so you don't get too bored here. I had to have my gallbladder removed, which resulted in a hospital stay 10 days post op due to staph and strep infection of the incision cite. In the middle of those 10 days, we went to Destin. Had I not been so sick, it would have been an awesome time, and the kids had a blast.
One of our best friends got married in Kansas City this year and since I had only been out of the hospital for a little over a week, there was no way we were gonna make it, or would we.....Insert Public Service Announcement for Kansas City, Missouri. I had no idea that place would be so much fun. If you are ever looking for a little getaway, southwest flys there and we got our tickets for 4th of July weekend for like $60 each. We stayed at the Rapheal hotel which was so awesome. I'm not even sure awesome describes it. It was built in the 20s and was originally an apartment complex. It has been restored, but they did so without losing its original qualities. Such a treat and different than staying at your generic Marriot. This place had character. And it was located in America's oldest shopping center called The Country Club Plaza. Lots of upscale shopping without even getting in your car. We walked everywhere. This is hands down mine and Rick's favorite vacation next to our honeymoon.
Jacob turned 5 in September. Some of his highlights were graduating from preschool, learning how to swim, got a wii for his birthday and now is semi-addicted to it, grew a love/obsession with football and God, was in his first Christmas program at church (don't think he liked this very much), he loves to ride his 3 wheeler (we're working on the bike thing). Jacob is a perfectionist and because he didn't ride his bike perfectly the first time he hasn't been much interested in it since. He went to his first NFL game with daddy, and only missed one MTSU home game. Oh and the biggie was starting kindergarten, which I can now talk about without crying. Even though I get less hugs than I used to, he's still my baby boy in many ways. Still likes to be cuddled first thing in the morning and when I go to his school to help out, he melts when he sees me- which makes me GUSH. We plan on putting him in his first sport this fall which will be football.
My baby princess sweet Maggie turned 3 in September. She had a big year too. She is now potty trained and doesn't even wear a pull up to bed anymore. Which means this is the first time in 5 years that a diaper was not apart of my daily routine!! She graduated from her crib to her big girl bed. This upset Rick more than it did me. She loves her room and usually sleeps with 10 stuffed animals. NOT KIDDING. She attempted to learn how to swim too, but possibly will be fully skilled in this next summer. She got her first hair cut, first (and hopefully last) bout of pneumonia, flew a kite for the first time, first canoe ride on the Hiwassee, graduated to a booster car seat so she can be more like her big brother, and started dance classes this fall. She is like a little show dog when you ask her to do first, second, and third position. She loves helping mommy in the kitchen. One thing that hasn't changed is her attachment to her blankie and thumb! Since Jacob is now in school, I discovered how I have never really had much alone time with Maggie. So its like she gets to experience being an only child for 5 days a week from 8-3. She is mommy's buddy. And this one will cuddle with you all day and night long. LOVE THAT.
I am no longer in grad school. I absolutely loved it and it came quite natural to me, but staying home with two little ones made this so difficult. One thing was gonna lose attention, kids or the school work. I only have one opportunity to stay home with my kids before they go to school, so this was a no brainer for me. Once Maggie starts kindergarten I will return to grad school, then I'll have lots more time during the day to devote to my studies without feeling like I'm neglecting my children. I still work part time for MTSU training foster parents. This has been very sporadic this year so I became a Pampered Chef consultant. Well, I also happen to love the product so this is a way for me to earn products. If you need anything from PC you can visit my website https://www.pamperedchef.biz/jennifertrew.
Maggie and I had a chance to go to Baltimore with my parents to visit some family up there. It was awesome to have that one on one time with Maggie, there were lots of great conversations in the car with my mom and dad- in fact, I don't remember the radio ever being on unless it was a baby einstien cd to get Ms Maggie to snooze. We had a wonderful time spending quality time with relatives who we don't get to see often, and now planning on vacationing together next summer.
Rick has had a big change this year. He left Fifth Third after 6 years with the bank. He had an opportunity to help start up a title business so he is now with Keystone Title. The title business is where his mortgage career started so its familiar territory for him. Although 5/3 was a great learning experience for him, it was time to move on. His stress level was reduced drastically which has allowed him to be able to enjoy the family more. We love having the new Rick that doesn't have to take the stinkin blackberry everywhere.
We put together a slideshow of some pictures from this year. We hope you enjoy it. The song is called Ordinary Miracle by Sarah McLachlan and we feel like it really speaks to our life right now. Every day that we get to wake up and be a family to enjoy the ups and downs of life, and get to experience two children growing into people is, in our book, an ordinary miracle. We hope you stop to enjoy the ordinary miracles in your life this Holiday Season.
With Love, The Trews Rick, Jennifer, Jacob, and Maggie
Our kitchen is very sterile looking with while cabinets, cream counter tops, and white tile floors. Of course if we had unlimited amounts of money at our disposal, we'd LOVE to have granite countertops. But since we're a one income family, we gotta make do with what we have. But that don't mean I can't make that pretty.
I got the idea from Rick's cousin's wife, while on a visit to Baltimore. She completed the project on her counters. I couldn't believe it was paint. I loved our counters at our old house. It was formica, but the kind that looked like granite. At this point in our life, the formica that looks like granite is better than what we had. I bought a a Giani Countertop kit in Baltimore and within a few weeks, the kids were on fall break and went to mamaw and papaws. So began one of two projects.
Before
So first, you have to tape everything off.
Then you have to paint a base coat that is black. I did this coat before bed, then in the morning started stamping on the colors with a sponge. You have to let the first coat dry for 8 hours before stamping on the colors.
This step took longer than I expected. None of the project was really hard, just time consuming. If you were considering this project, know that your kitchen will be out of commission for a few days.
You have 3 colors that come with your kit. There are different kits. One if sandstone for a lighter color, one if chocolate, I got the bombay black since that's what the old house had and I loved it. You stamp each section of the counters with all 3 colors and this is fun part. If there is a color that you like more, you stamp more of that on. You are using a sponge that comes with the kit to apply. I highly recommend the gloves that they suggest. I got so excited and went right to stamping. When I was done my hands were black. The paint came off after washing profusely, but my nails were painted black. I felt a little goth. I had to scrape the paint off my nails. I also had to use nail polish remover.
When you get all the colors on, I think that had to sit overnight too before putting on the topcoat. So in the morning I put on the first top coat. This is what seals the paint and also gives you that shine that granite has. You put 2 top coats on and you have to wait 4 hours between each coat. Then you have to let it dry for 72 hours before putting small appliances back on. Luckily we were heading to Cleveland for a few days so the morning after we got back I was able to put everything back where it went.
I went ahead and put those little felt thingies on the bottom of the coffee maker, canisters, etc so that they wouldn't scratch the surface. I am a little more cautious with my counters now, but so far so good. I don't clean them with clorox all the time like I use to. I'm afraid the chemicals would be too harsh, although Melissa says that she uses cloroz spray on her counters and they look fine. She also did hers a year ago so I figured that is a pretty good time to see how durable they are.
I'm extremely pleased with how this project turned out. I am now in love with my kitchen, where I used to not be. I have noticed that I keep it clean more often because I love the way the counters look now. Funny how doing one thing can totally change the look of something.
My favorite blog to follow is the nester's blog. She was an interior design drop out, now mom who blogs about making your nest a more beautiful nest. But she stresses all the time, in fact, the name of her blog is "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." She's my kind of girl. She's very honest about her ability to not be perfect.
Well, she and some of her blogger friends got together for this 31 Days series. Check it out. They are blogging one a particular topic every day the month of October. I have really enjoyed reading them. You gotta go see the different topics. My favorite has been 31 days to live more simply and 31 days to a better photo.
This year's birthdays for Maggie and Jacob turned out to be quite memorable. I guess God was shining down on them. Jacob's favorite thing right now is football, and more specifically, MTSU football (I have no idea how that happened). We are a football- watching family and have been taking the kids to MTSU games since Maggie was 1. This year, the opening game was on 9/2/10, Jacob's 5th birthday. They had game day t- shirts made, and of course Jacob was sporting his.
I contacted someone in the marketing department at MTSU the day of the game about getting his name on the jumbotron but they said it was too late being game day. The guy said what he could do is send the cheerleaders up to the stands where we are sitting to wish him a happy birthday. He gave me is cell number and asked me to text him where we were sitting and he would let me know when the cheerleaders would be heading our way.
Our church was also tailgating before the game so we got there early so we could hang out with all our friends. They had bounce houses which is one of Jacob's other favorite things to do. Plus they were giving out nerds on a rope (his favorite candy). So he totally must have thought this was the best day of his life. Earlier that day I took football cupcakes to his class and they sang him happy birthday. Jacob is very sensitive and sometimes gets overcome with emotion. When I hugged him at school, I think he really wanted to cry. He was so happy.
We then went to the Hiwassee river the next day to go camping and spend time with Rick's family. On Saturday we had a little party for Maggie and Jacob and got to spend time with cousins, aunts and uncles. This is a picture of all the cousins and friends who were there at the party
Then, on Maggie's birthday, Chick Fil A (my new favorite restaurant) was having Princess Day. Little girls could come dressed in all their princess gear and have a carriage ride, meet Miss Tennessee, Mary Kay consultants were there to put blush and lip gloss on the girls, AND their meal was free!!
So in my last post I talked about my ability to delay the completion of projects. I went to a seminar by Dr Kevin Leman at my church last night. He's the author of a lot of books but the one he talked about last night is the Birth Order Book. Its a fabulous book that talks about how the order in which you were born in your family affects the way you live your life. It also helps you to see how your spouse's birth order affects your marriage, as well as give you insight on how to parent your children the best you can within their birth order.
Figuring out your birth order is not as easy as it seems. For instance, in your family if there is more than 5 years distance between siblings, according to Leman's theory, that starts a new "family". For instance, I am the baby of my family, however, there is 6 years between me and my older sister. To add another aspect, there are also no other children after me. (my parents stopped when they got their perfect child ;-) So according to Leman's theory, I am the baby of the family, but I also have qualities of an only child (which he calls super first borns) This totally made sense to me after reading his book.
For instance, I got away with murder in my family b/c I was the baby. I have some of the quirks of the baby such as acting impulsively sometimes, and having a lack of order in some things. However, b/c of my only child aspect, I have qualities like, perfectionism, feeling like my ideas are always the best ones (that's because they are), but anyway, and being able to go after something and fully execute. I'm also very structured in my life, and a list maker.
Some of you who know me well are like, did she say perfectionism? No way she has that quality. (look at all my unfinished projects or the projects i never start)That's because I get frozen with my perfectionistic attitude that tells me it has to be perfect or I'm not doing it.
The goal for me has to be to allow these two birth orders to merge peacefully. So once my baby self gets me into a project, let my only child self complete the project despite the fact that it will not be perfect. Its never gonna be perfect so stop shooting for it. That makes me feel better. Gonna go finish getting the wallpaper down in the bathroom now.
I admit it. I am a blogaholic. Oh no, not that I blog all the time, just that I read others' blogs all the time. I get some really good ideas from them and one thing I've noticed on some of the blogs is how they document some projects that they have going. I love projects. I love planning projects, researching the best way to do the project, looking at others demonstrations of how they did their project. Now, when it comes to DOING the project, eh, not so much. Or even worse, I start the project and, I'm sure you've never done this before, but lose my motivation or steam in the middle and then I have an unfinished project for almost a year, like the stairway to the bonus room. UGH.
I currently have a (few) projects going on. I am in the middle of stripping wallpaper in the kids' bathroom. Well, I have the wallpaper off, but now I need to do the unfun getting the glue part off. YUK. Then we've decided to do beadboard on the bottom and I'm going to go with a shade of a light limeish green. I want their bathroom to be fun.
Here are other projects that need to get underway, or completed: Stairway needs to be painted Hallway needs to be painted Need to get pictures printed for frames Need to order uppercase living for our bedroom Jacob's room is about to be changed from hunting/moose lodge to football
Ok, that's overwhelming me now. No more than that. My reason for blogging about this is maybe this will help motivate me to start and more importantly complete these projects.
So, the next time you see me, ask me how my projects are going!
I got out some home videos today of when Maggie was born through 6 months. I have a few observations that stemmed from watching these videos. 1) I need to purchase a device that stops time. I can’t believe that was 3 years ago. I also would like this machine to make it possible to go back in time so I can cuddle and kiss a 3 month old Maggie and 2 yr old Jacob. They were so precious then. Not that they aren’t now, they just are capable of smarting off now and they weren’t then. 2) I don’t think I gave/give myself more credit for the job I have done with them. I am constantly feeling guilty trying to balance time spent with them during the day, but also getting house stuff done that seems to be never ending. From the videos, I was doing a good job. A really good job. I don’t know why I beat myself up like I do. I’m constantly telling myself I should do more with them. I think I do more than I allow myself to believe. I believe my mom told me this is called “Mother Guilt. “ 3) I could have 5 more babies. Oh my gracious, I LOVE babies. Whether or not I have anymore, I’m perfectly content with my two now, but Lord have mercy, I so miss having a baby. Hands down my favorite part of motherhood is taking care of those precious angels when they need you so much. I love the smell of them, their sounds, their itty bitty hands and feet. MMMMM. 4) I love my husband. I think he’s a better dad then I give him credit for. I think one of the qualities I liked in him when we were dating was that he could be like a kid and that has paid off as he was singing all the Wiggles songs while playing play doh with Jacob. I somehow managed to catch quite a few really sentimental moments on video and I love that he holds those moments as closely to his heart as I do. I need to do a better job seeing those things and not looking for the times he’s not playing with them. The 5th and final thing I observed is that oh my goodness I need to relax more. Someone give that lady a chill pill. I think this goes back into that “mother guilt” thing my mom once told me about. How when a woman becomes a mother, something changes in her DNA that she can’t help. She will always worry did her child eat enough that day, did they eat too much, did they have a bowel movement, are they happy, am I disciplining them adequately, are they going to grow up to be productive citizens and make this world a better place, Will they ever know how much they are loved, Will I ever stop worrying about them when they are not in my presence, what would I do to someone if I thought they might harm my child. So on second thought, there probably isn’t a chill pill for moms. Because I believe that is one of the mysteries that God made in mothers. He knew that we would stand up to a grizzly bear if it meant protecting our child. Sure we may come out of that battle with some wounds, but it would be worth it. So I guess in a way, that low level of anxiety that is always present is our battle wound for becoming a mom. One that I wear proudly.
Well, my last post revealed all the things I hoped to accomplish this summer. Most of those plans were thwarted by a bum gall bladder that had to be removed right around the beginning of June. Our vacation was also, coincidentally, scheduled for that same time. We were supposed to go to Baltimore to see my cousin get married but I wasn't feeling good following the surgery. I knew something was up b/c I'm usually very quick to recover from things. I was up and about after 2 c sections once we came home from the hospital. This was different though.
I hated that Rick was scheduled off and since we weren't going on vacation he would ultimately go back to work if we weren't going on vacation. And I just didn't have the heart to let him go back, so I thought I was well enough to go to the beach for a few days. We headed down to Destin, extremely spur of the moment. Woke up Monday and said, hey I feel good today. Wanna go to the beach? 10 hours later we were pulling up to our condo. The first couple of days went ok and we had a great time. The kids loved the beach even more than last year. They both made friends and at one point, Rick and I were sitting there alone on the beach while they were both off playing with their new friends. This was quite a contrast from last year when the kids were hanging on us for dear life.
By Wednesday night, I started feeling bad. Thursday morning I was not moving around like I was the previous days and was having pain at the incision cite. When I woke up Friday morning it was clear that I had strep throat. When I tried to drink anything if felt like crushed up razor blades going down my throat. I didn’t eat or drink much of anything for a few days. I was throwing up, fever, chills, and my incision (which had gone from uncomfortable to extremely painful) was now draining an unidentifiable liquid. I knew something was attacking my body. We were paid up until Saturday so I just thought, if I can just make it one more day. I was so dehydrated on Saturday that I forced myself to drink 3 bottles of water on the way back and I never went to the bathroom. I’m not a nurse or doctor, by my guess is my body was taking in every single ounce of water I gave it. On Sunday when I woke up, the liquid that was oozing from my incision was now a yellow greenish color. Again, I’m not a doctor, but that can’t be good. I called the on call Dr, which happened to by my surgeon and he told me to head straight to the ER. They did all kinds of tests to find out that I had strep throat, and a staph and strep infection in my incision. They were also testing me for MRSA, but that was negative. I had to be admitted to the hospital so they could get the infection to stop spreading. I had a rash on my stomach that had spread in the 2 hours I was at the ER.
I tell you, I’m not saying that I want to go back to the hospital any time soon, but it was nice to be able to just heal with no one to take care of. Instead people were there to take care of me?? Wow, that was nice. In a really weird way, it was nicer than going to the beach. I got to watch what I wanted, napped when I wanted, they brought me food. Uh, yeah, this is the kind of vacation moms need every once in a while. But do we really need a staph infection to get it?
I thought it I would recover by the next day since I had IV fluids and antibiotics, but no such luck. I didn’t feel remotely better until Tuesday evening. By Wednesday I was feeling more like my normal self and talked to the dr into letting me go home that night. It was nice to be back in my own room and to be around my babies. All this to say, I couldn’t get into any water until the incision closed, which turned out to be mid July. This means I missed out on a month’s worth of swimming. I was bummed about that. That’s all I can blog for today. I will post the rest of the summer’s activities another day.
I haven't blogged since January, and I just feel terrible about that. Let's just say life here has been, well, busy. I've wanted to add posts but I was so frustrated how behind I was and that's why I continued to not blog. How stupid is that? So I'm attempting to rectify the situation.
So yesterday was the last day of Maggie's preschool and I have to say it was more emotional than I thought it would be. Like ridiculously emotional. My eyes were probably puffy yesterday from crying. She just loves Trinity. She talks about her friends and teachers all week, as I know its the highlight of her week. They must be doing something right there.
Its also the last week of Jacob's preschool and then he'll be going to kindergarten in August. Can we just stop for a minute a think about that. I brought him home from the hospital 4 1/2 yrs ago. How is it possible to be sending him to school so quickly? Who's idea was it anyway to send children to school at only 5 years old? I think the Germans invented kindergarten. They also invented the Holocaust so somebody tell me again why we do this? I KNOW I'm not the only parent who has thought, there's no way my child is ready for this. And folks, for the record, I know they have to go to school, and the benefits, yada yada yada. I am just telling my feelings about how hard it is to know that the days where I take both my kids to the park for lunch, they are almost over. How did that happen? I never even took Jacob to the Wilderness Station for the bug club thing that I said I would. We did spend lots of time at the Discovery Center though. I guess no matter what you did and did not do, you always feel like you could have done more. I so appreciate the almost 3 years I have been home with Jacob.
I know Jacob will love school. He loves structured learning settings and oddly enough he would rather do homework than play games. This kid gets this from neither his mother, nor his father, I can assure you of this!
I guess I will appreciate my days with my children this summer like I've never done before. I will cling to every memory we make this summer. Upcoming events this summer: a family vacation to Baltimore to see my cousin get married, take the kids to their first major league baseball game, a trip to the beach, and hopefully getting to meet lots of family who don't know Rick or the kids. We are also anticipating a visit from Uncle Bob, Aunt Mimi, cousins Mabry and McClain. Backyard camp outs, swimming every day, running through the sprinklers, evening golf cart rides, and lots and lots of popsicables.
I feel bad for winter. If you have logged on to facebook in the past week, you will see that apparently, no one likes cold weather. Except my husband, he's weird. I can't get the man to put his shorts away in even 20 degree weather. He finds it invigorating.
I do always look forward to spring, and the blooms and warm weather it brings, but to make Winter not feel so bad, here are the things I love about winter.
1) I love the candle scents that we light in the winter, like bonfire, ginger vanilla, mulled cider, gingerbread. 2) I do love snow and how it makes everything, even ugly stuff, look so beautiful. It also makes things quiet in Tennessee, b/c us Tennesseans are afraid of the stuff apparently. 3) I love how the cold weather makes us be more home bodies. I tend to busy myself too much and need something like 15 degrees to give me a reason to just stay in and come up with fun stuff to do. The kids played with play doh for almost a whole hour today. 4)I love when the fire place is going, although I think we need to get a carbon monoxide detector. Every time we have the fireplace on, I get really sleepy and want to curl up in front of the fireplace like a dog. 5) I love to see berries on trees 6) I love to see cardinals coming around so much. 7) Slipper socks. Need I say more? 8) Winter clothes seem to be in fashion a lot longer than those trendy summer and spring clothes. 9) Its also easier to cover up “stuff” in winter clothes. 10)lots and lots of cuddling
