A House on Oak St. (part 2)

Greetings! This summer has been a whirlwind! I counseled 4 summer camps and attended a conference, and tried to get some rest in between...

Of course, I promised some pictures of the house. I have some! I can show you the kitchen (current), the living room/entry area (from Christmas time), the dining room (current), and the laundry room (current). The bedrooms and bathrooms are not quite ready for a photo op (cleanliness, you see).



Here's the kitchen! We painted it yesterday (finally!), so these are "fresh off the press"!

This is the view of the "happy yellow" kitchen from the dining room. The whole time Mom and I were painting yesterday, we kept saying, "Happy yellow!" randomly. We are SO in love with this. Eventually, there will be brightly colored accents...the start of which you can see below:

If you look very closely, to the left of the pantry door there are colorful pictures from IKEA. There are also a couple colorful pictures to the right (you can only see the black of the frame in this picture). I also have brightly colored: measuring cups/spoons, juicer ("old fashioned"), towels, a few trinkets in the kitchen window, etc. 

 Now for some living room pictures. These are all from Christmas, so it looks a little different right now. I'll try to get a new set of pictures when I post pictures of the bedroom(s) and bathroom(s).

Facing from the entry way toward the Master bedroom (the door on the right!).

Facing from the dining room to the window in the living room.

At an angle from the dining room to see the window AND the door to the Master bedroom.

From the Master bedroom toward the entryway/"front door". We actually have two side doors...the front of our house (the part that faces the street) doesn't have a door. This door (above) is technically the "front door", as the other enters through the laundry room. It's not really a guest entrance. :)

Now for the dining room! It's also our music room...but it's multipurpose. We have a table we use as what I like to call a "command center". We put mail there, write memos on the whiteboard above the table about who owes who money, where we'll be when, etc. It's an info center, if you will.

View of the dining room from the kitchen.

This view is still from the kitchen, but it's at an angle, so you can see the "command center" table, and into the living room.

Here's the little bit of art we've got up right now. This is sentimental for me, because this poster was given to everyone in the band/colorguard when our band marched the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena (2005). It was my senior year...so, everything carried a little more nostalgic/sentimental weight than it might have otherwise. :) The theme that year was "Celebrate Family", which I happen to like. I also like the colors on the poster, so I put it up.

Laundry room! :)

I LOVE this color. I once saw a picture of a laundry room in a similar color on Pinterest, and I fell in love. I knew I had to paint my laundry room some version of turquoise/aqua when I bought a house. There are still a few spots where we need to finish the cut-in on the painting, but they're not obvious in the picture. :) Also, excuse the mess. It's MUCH better than it used to be, which is why I went ahead and shared it, but ideally there wouldn't be a pile of stuff on top of the washer and dryer. :)

So, there's an update on the house! I promise I will get better at the blogging thing. I've been overwhelmed with stuff, but I started eating Whole30 14 days ago, and I all of a sudden have more energy. I plan to keep eating as much of the Whole30 plan as I can, with a little wiggle room for treats and things occasionally. It's hard being a teacher and not being able to have a little pumpkin dessert now and again. 

Anyway, I have a few more blogs planned...I need to introduce you to my new kitten, Topanga! I also want to do a Whole30 follow-up blog. I've been keeping a food diary, and tracking myself with the timeline they have on their website to see how accurate my experience is. I also will post a new photo tour of my classroom. School starts on Tuesday, and it is ALMOST done. Whew! I have a couple hours of work to put in tomorrow before I'll feel 100% ready.

I hope to schedule my blogs a little more efficiently this year. I'm thinking maybe I'll pick 3 different days a week and post different types of blogs each day-cooking, teacher/classroom, home/miscellaneous. What do you think? I think it might help me be more accountable to post if I knew I was "supposed" to post on certain days, and also if there was a general topic at hand.

Let me know what you think, and keep your eyes open for a few upcoming blogs! I'll do my best to update sooner than I did this time! Almost 3 months is altogether TOO long! <3 p="">

Nail Polish

I don't often do my nails. More often than not, my nails only have polish on them if I've gotten a manicure for a friend's wedding or some other special event. One reason us that I am terrible at painting my right hand nails with my left hand.

Tonight, however, I decided to paint my nails. I had recently seen on pinterest a "hack" that uses elmer's glue. They suggest that you put glue on your finger around the nail. After that dries, you paint your nails as normal (or in my case, abnormal...ha!). After your nails dry, you peel the glue off your fingers, and any misplaced nail polish peels off with the glue.

It seemed easy enough, so I figured I'd try it. Here is my LEFT hand after glueing, painting, and peeling the glue:

In my opinion, not bad! I could actually use this strategy if my efforts always turned out this well...

After I finished my left hand, I was a bit concerned that I'd mess up my right hand. I was determined, however, to "prove myself wrong" after the results on my left hand.

Here is my RIGHT hand after glueing, painting, and peeling the glue:

Ok...not too bad. It's not as good as the left hand, but it's WAY better than any attempts without the glue!

Have you tried any makeup, hair, nail techniques or tips out that you've found on pinterest? I'd love to hear how it worked out for you!

A House on Oak St. (Part 1)

I posted these pictures on Facebook, but I totally forgot to post them here. (Sorry, Julie!)

We took possession on Sunday, November 30. That whole week, we cleaned and painted in the new house. My sister and I left the morning of Friday, December 5 for a Bible Quiz trip to Idaho. While we were gone, our mom had movers move our things from our apartment into the house. She also put up curtains in our bedrooms, which was pretty kind of her, especially considering the blinds were pretty mangled and didn't keep things very private. When we got home from a trip, we were able to go home to the new house.

I haven't had time to take any after pictures yet, but here are some before pictures:

Laundry room view 1

Laundry room view 2

Main bathroom view 1

Main bathroom view 2

Main bathroom view 3

Hallway leading to 2nd and 3rd bedroom

Office/Mom's room view 1

Office/Mom's room view 2

Tracy's room view 1

Tracy's room view 2

Tracy's room view 3

Tracy's room-this was underneath the comic wallpaper!

Living room view 1

Living room view 2

Entry way off living room

Dining room (from living room)

 Kitchen view 1 (from living room)

Kitchen view 2 (from dining room)

Kitchen view 3 (from dining room)

Pantry

Master bedroom view 1

Master bedroom view 2

Master bathroom view 1

Master bathroom view 2

Master bathroom/closet

Master closet

I plan to take more pictures once I get the house cleaned. With the craziness of the end of the school year, I let everything become a disaster. My poor mom and sister were a little overwhelmed, I think, and they did clean some, but I wasn't doing my part. That's not fair. So, now I'm going to clean the house since I have the time. Once I get it cleaned, I'll take "after" pictures of all the rooms. The living room and dining room still aren't painted the new colors, but they look much better with the furniture in them. :)

Happiness vs. Joy

So, I've been promising a blog update for months now. Here it is...finally.

I have been very busy the last few months. We had our school auction, which is a lot of work to put on (and I don't even have a big responsibility!). It was a wonderful event, and we raised about $33,000 for our school, which is an all time record for the auction.

Last year, I copied a friend's auction item from when I worked at SJA. She auctioned off a day with her for students, so I did the same. At the auction last year, it went for $375. I auctioned it again this year, and I was SO blown away when the bidding kept going up...and up...and up...and up! It stopped at $1700, which was astounding! I had told the auctioneer ahead of time that if the bidding got high enough, I would do 2 days to double the money. So, he asked if they'd both pay $1700, and they said yes. So I brought in $3400 for the school! Wow.

The end of the school year is always exhausting. Lots of things going on, preparing to say goodbye to students, and grades to complete. It's also the time of year my brain just starts to give out. So, I had a blur of a couple months.

Here we are. It's summer! I've turned in all the grades, I've cleaned my classroom (a little bit, anyway), and I've had a week of relaxing. I told myself today that my "Blah" week is over, and now I need to start getting into a routine of some sort, because I can't stay up until all hours and sleep late every day. I can't eat tons of junk and lounge on the couch or my bed watching netflix all day. I have to clean, and organize, and think ahead to next year. I have to do yard work and hopefully finish painting the last 2 rooms of my house. I have to fundraise for Bible Quiz. I have 4 camps to counsel and 1 conference to attend! In August, I have a friend's wedding to attend. Woah! Summer is going to fly by, and while I'd like to rest and relax, I also have a to do list a mile long, and reading to do, too.

Anyways, to the point of this blog. My coworker said to me last week, "You seem different lately." "Good different, or bad different," I asked.
"Good different. Happier or something."

I have been processing it since our conversation, and I can't find one real big reason for that change. A few things have changed over the last few months: my mom sent my dog to live with me, my mom moved in with us, I added some "pep" to my wardrobe, I was caught up on grading which took a ton of stress off at the end of the year, etc. I can't say why I have seemed happier lately. I guess it might just be joy showing, because I truly don't know what's different.

Whatever it is, I'd like to keep riding that train! It's been a good few months, and I expect the next couple of months to be pretty good, too. :)

Woah

So...I fell off the planet...metaphoircally, of course.

I will try to have a real blog entry soon, but please know I have not totally and completely forgotten about this. :)

"You'll Understand When..."

This phrase is used frequently, yet those who use it rarely realize the innate condescension within the phrase. It implies so much more than the words mean on their own. It also indicates a lack if personal relationship (or at least a very deep personal relationship) with the person to whom this phrase is said.

Let's look closely at a couple examples:

1. "You'll understand when you're older."
       First of all, if the condescension is not obvious to you-woo boy are you in for a treat!
The biggest issue with this one is the implication that someone who is young cannot understand something based solely on the fact that they are younger than you. False. Someone younger than you is just as capable of understanding the same things you understand.
       Even the Bible tells "young folk" not to allow those who are older to look down on them:
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

2. "You'll understand when you have kids."
     This one is not only condescending, but it touches on a topic that can be very sensitive for some. What if the person you say this to is longing to be a parent, but isn't yet? Maybe he or she is single, but longs to be married and start a family? Or maybe the person you say this to has made the decision not to be a parent?
     By saying, "You'll understand when you have kids," you assert your privilege over the other. It feels very much like you are trying to put them in their place, like they are beneath you and belong there. Our society hands privilege to those who fit within the realm of "normal"-those who fit into the societal conventions, such as, those who get married, have 2.5 kids, and have the white picket fence.
     Let's be honest-not everyone fits into that stereotype, nor would we want them to! Can you imagine THAT boring society? Just because someone doesn't have children doesn't mean they cannot grasp what it means to love someone unconditionally, or in ways that are hard to imagine or comprehend, or what it means to deal with children. As a teacher, I know that having kids is not a vital ingredient in being successful. It also doesn't mean there are things I absolutely don't understand.

These are the most common uses of the phrase, but it is used in many other scenarios. Basically, the use of the phrase is uncalled for and condescending. The assumption with this statement is thus: "I know better than you because..."

Life experience is valuable. I don't mean to negate any real life knowledge or understanding you (or someone you know) have gained. That is true and valid.

It absolutely DOES NOT allow you to treat others as less than you because they have different life experiences (or fewer life experiences). Think before you speak. Your words carry weight.

Treat others how you would like to be treated. Acknowledge that you may not have a full grasp of someone else's understanding. Don't make assumptions.