Last year, at the end of the Christmas season, we tossed out our Christmas tree. I’d bought the pre-lit tree for $99 in 2002 or 2003. It lasted 4 or 5 years so I was happy. I wasn’t happy that the lights didn’t work for more than half of the season last year but the kids hardly noticed.

Brian and I went tree shopping on Saturday and I was shocked at the prices I saw. Wow! I couldn’t find one pre-lit tree that looked half decent for anywhere near what I’d paid for the last one. In the end, we got a very nice 7.5ft douglas fir, pre-lit. We paid more than I’d budgeted but it really is beautiful.

Since we mostly use our front door now because Brian tore off the side porch when he poured concrete this past summer, I was worried about putting the tree in its usual place in the foyer. I always liked the tree in front of the big picture window but that just didn’t seem like a good idea with people coming in and out there. So we moved it to the window in the living room. We had to throw out our old ugly couch to do that but those who have seen a picture of it knows that was no great loss. Good riddance!

So the tree is up and decorated. I’m not terribly happy with the cord for the lights showing but that outlet is controlled by a light switch on the wall so I’m still debating on whether I should plug it in elsewhere or not. If Kendyll keeps heading in the general direction of the outlet, I’ll have to move to the back outlet. Until then, I’ll leave it as is. That light switch just makes it really easy and since we’d always put the tree in the foyer we were never able to use it before.

Oh, and if Tammie is reading this, I’m ready for that piano. I think I’m going to make something special for supper this week in order to bribe the guys to carry it over.

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Nick is back to work on the apartment out back. That means that we’ll be able to re-do his room and shuffle people around a little. Maggie wants Nick’s room when he moves out. We’ll probably turn Maggie’s room into a spare bedroom for Jesse when he comes home to visit and leave Kendyll’s room as is in case I need to watch her while Nick works.

I’m thinking about getting a futon for the spare bedroom and I’m looking at platform beds for Boomer and Levi. The boys want their computers in their room but I think I’d rather move them to the basement, near their weight bench, so that they can make all the noise they want there and not bother their sleeping father.

I wonder, do other parents allow their kids to socialize in their bedrooms? I want the bedrooms to be places for clothes and dressing and sleep. My kids think their rooms are mini apartments where they sneak chips and pepsi and other snacks. Where in the world did they get this idea?

So, the question: if I rip out all the carpet upstairs, should I do hardwood floors, ceramic tile or more carpeting?

Ceramic tile is easiest for my stone mason husband but it’s also cold. Hardwood is great but the bedrooms are over top of my bedroom and we’ll probably hear every footstep. Carpeting will muffle the sound and be warmer but it’s so hard to keep clean with kids and dogs and it also harbors allergens that affect Levi.

So. Any ideas?

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I’m not much of a TV person. My kids watch movies and some favorite shows; Kendyll has Dora and Diego DVDs. I could probably get by with one small TV, though. Well, except during football season, that is.

This is Monday so that means football. And tonight the Steelers are playing. Okay, a scoreless game into the 4th quarter isn’t good. Still. I love watching. For this, I’d spring for a Bose home theater set up. Now wouldn’t that be great?

Actually, when all my kids are grown and gone, I want to convert my living room and family room into the ultimate entertainment center with a pool table, comfortable seating and everything. Should would be nice to have something else to do while waiting for Pittsburgh to get it together. I just don’t think the husband will go for it. Of course, I have a few years to work on him.

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I’ve sitting at my computer for two days and have barely touched the work I need to do. This morning I figured out why. My office was cluttered.

I hate when papers and “stuff” collect on my desk. I hate when I can barely see the surface of my desk or find a spot to sit my coffee mug. I’ve posted pictures of my desk and office before but only when it’s in that “comfortable” conditions. When it gets messy, I get edgy. I can’t work.

I’m not talking about pristine, spotless or bare bones. I have knickknacks and silly stuff all around me. I like my contemporary furniture feel more than a dark, stodgy style. But it’s the clutter that drives me crazy.

What kind of clutter, you may wonder? Well, things like the monthly bill from Nick’s Yamaha payment, two forms from school that I filled out as instructed but children did not deliver back to school, hair glue for someone’s mohawk, notecards from someone’s school report, several binkies, a pepsi bottle (I don’t drink pepsi), my DKNY purse, 3 bottles of nail polish, small jar of wrinkle cream, three pairs of shoes (on the floor), and a spoon.

I can track down the person responsible for each item except for the spoon.

Everything is picked up and ready to leave my office. Monitors are dusted, desk is wiped down, vacuum cleaner is waiting in the corner, ready to suck up the crap on the carpet. And I’m feeling much better now.

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Do you remember when you were younger and newly married? Do you remember trying to mesh two different styles into one home? Yeah, me too. And we’re going through that here.

Brit love leopard print. She has all kinds of things in leopard print. It doesn’t bother me; to each his own, you know? But it does seem to bother Nick. Brit was looking at really pretty animal print bedding and Nick told her to pick something else. She didn’t seem to want to budge on the choice but neither did he. This is going to be one interesting debate!

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I told you that Brit and I created a playroom in our living room for Kendyll. All the furniture from there is now in the family room. Kendyll has total control of the living room playroom.

After looking at these photos I realized that I never did get back to the built-in shelves in the fireplace to clean them up. We kind of jammed in books that had been on the bottom shelf where Kendyll’s computer tower is now. I meant to get back to that but it must have slipped my mind. That happens a lot these days….

I should note, also, that when my own kids were little (Boomer and Maggie were both in diapers when Brian finished the house) children were not allowed in the living room. And the kids were really good about that rule, too. It used to look so pretty back then. A funny thing happened, though. Over the years I realized that “pretty” was just wasted space. What good was it if no one enjoyed it? And so the kids began to sit on the loveseats when they had friends over or were talking on the phone. And then the dog started to hang out over there. Then we put a computer there for the kids to use where I could watch. And now, well, we really don’t need a “good” living room as much as Kendyll needs a play area where she can tear up the toys and have a place to put them when she’s done.

And so, this is what we did. How’s it look?

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Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.net posted a video tour of his office where he blogs. He asked for others to share their own Blogging Workspaces so I figured I ought to do that. The last time I posted a picture of my office I didn’t have my new computer so this is an update. I guess it still looks basically the same except that now I have 3 desktop computers instead of two. (Click for bigger)

I’ve never really talked about the equipment before so I’ll do that this time. The HP notebook with an Athlon XP-M processor isn’t always there, of course, but if I’m not traveling or blogging from my bedroom, I use it to run a local version of WordPress using xampp. The linux machine is my very old Gateway2000 P133 running Damn Small Linux. I mostly play with that, still trying to learn the ins and outs of linux. The 19″ CRT is hooked to my custom built AthlonXP machine running Windows98se. The 19″ LCD is connected to my newest machine, a Dell C521 with an Athlon™ 64 X2 and 2GB RAM.

What you can’t see from the picture is a fax machine that I don’t use much and an old laptop that my granddaughter, Kendyll, bangs on when she’s in my office. Also out of view is my Sephora box full of spare computer parts and my Victoria’s Secrets box with all my tools. (My sons still haven’t thought to look in there for a screw driver. I’m a genius.)

The desk and short file cabinet is from Ikea; behind the door is a tall cabinet that matches it. I have my Little Friends of Kelly “Marisa” dolls on shelves on the wall. I’m still trying to find a nice way to display my Stratton Compact Collection. The walls and ceiling are blue – brighter than you can see in the picture – to remind me of the sky over Hanalei Bay Beach on Kauai. The orange curtains just appealed to me and I love how they let the sun shine into the room in the morning. Natural lighting is always the best.

There are eight people who live in this house. I share my bedroom with a husband. This room, my office, is the only place that is all mine. It’s my sanctuary in a way.

And that’s it. It isn’t all clean and sleek like so many of the others that are posting at the ProBlogger.net site but it’s just the way I like it.

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Now that the kids are back in school, I’ve been taking some time to pretty-up the house. It’s hard to do with so many people always underfoot. In fact, sometimes it’s quite overwhelming, especially because there’s just so much to get done. That’s why I decided to pick a project and just do that one thing. I’ll bet you’re just dying to know which project I’m going to discuss first, aren’t you?

When we built our house I really wanted french doors in the back. I like them so much better than sliding doors. They’re expensive, though, and we were on a budget. That’s why I opted for the french doors with just one opening. The other is stationary. Between kids and dogs, the draperies on those doors have been destroyed, though, and I really wanted something that would withstand both my granddaughter and my dog. Something like Vinyl Vertical Blinds.

I found these really nice blinds at BlindsChalet.com and Brian agreed that they’d work out well since they have a side pull opening. Brian helped me measure and we decided to measure from where the old curtain rod had been mounted. (Mistake #1) I couldn’t decide on a color and was leaning toward the Savannah white but Brian thought that we should go with the wood look instead. Our house is trimmed out in oak so Brian thought that would look good. Honestly, I hesitated because I didn’t think it would be a perfect match but I relented and ordered the oak look vinyl. (Mistake #2)

Even though my blinds were a special size, they arrived within a week. I was impressed. There were no instructions in the box but the online instructions were very detailed so I just printed those off. Brian and Nick had no trouble installing the hardware in less than 15 minutes and I quickly attached the blinds. I loved them!

Oh, but remember those mistakes? Well, those were all my fault. I didn’t pay attention to the height of the valance when measuring so now, when open, the valance doesn’t come down quite far enough. You can see a little of the wall between the top of the door and the bottom of the valance. Live and learn.

And my choice of color? Why did I listen to my husband? I love the man and he’s a talented brick and stone mason, but his sense of color coordination has never been his strong suit. He’s the kind of guy who bought all beige reseptacle outlet covers and lightswitch plates to put on our white walls because “beige is neutral and goes with everything.” Seriously, he did that. And yet, knowing this, I still sought his advice and then took it! I’ll blame the high heat and humidity during that week for my temporary loss of reason.

Nevertheless, despite my poor measuring and my husband’s choice of color, I really do love these vertical blinds. They open and close with no effort. Kendyll has pulled on them and hidden behind them and they’ve stayed put. Someone even splashed some chocolate milk on them and they wiped clean easily.

In fact, my husband likes them so much (he thinks he chose a perfect color, by the way) that he wants me to order blinds for our picture window in the foyer. I wasn’t sure if we could special order vertical blinds to open in the middle instead of to one side so I called the company to inquire. The girl at BlindsChalet.com who helped me was so nice and did a little checking to discover that I could order my blinds with a center open. Wow! That’s going to be great! I’m so tired of long, heavy draperies there. I think I’m ready for the more sleek look of vertical blinds. Of course, these will be white.

So, what do you think? Aren’t they nice? Wouldn’t they be nicer if I’d ordered the white ones like I initially planned? And aren’t you anxious to see how nice the ones on my front picture window will look when I get those? Stay tuned!

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As Nick and Brit get closer and closer to completing their apartment out back, it becomes more apparent that we really do not need to keep both cribs and both changing tables. By the time they move into the apartment Kendyll’s crib will have been converted to a toddler bed. I certainly don’t need to keep a crib here, then.

I remember when we were furnishing Kendyll’s room two years ago, when Brit was pregnant. We fell in love with this beautiful oak Da Vinci baby furniture and loved the way the crib converted to a toddler bed. I’m so glad that Kendyll’s crib converts like that. It sure will save some money as they kids try to furnish that whole apartment.

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Way back when I met my husband, I remember pointing to a beautiful home and commenting how much I liked it. My husband, the brick mason, looked at the house and said simply, “It doesn’t fit on that lot.” I looked again and he was right. The house was beautiful but it didn’t sit well on the lot. From then on, I picked Brian’s brain about such things since it was obvious he had an eye for it. I guess that’s part of the reason he’s such a successful brick and stone mason.

When we built our own house, I left the outside to Brian, from the choice of brick, the style and the landscaping. The fact is, you really have to have an eye for that kind of stuff. I know what I like when I see it but when it comes to landscaping, I’m not very good at visualizing it first. I’d definitely put a beautiful house on the wrong lot!

Even so, Brian’s job is brick, not landscaping. Most new home construction have allowances for landscaping. That’s fine if you have a general contractor handling everything but if you’re acting as your own general contractor, you need a resource for finding the workers in your area. The fact is, Brian doesn’t have a reference for a landscape architecture firm so I’ve been shopping around online to find one. After pouring that concrete last month, we now have quite a bit of area in need of shrubbery. I also have a spot where I’d love a fast growing, medium height tree. It’s right in front of my bedroom window but every tree we’ve put there has died. And yet the sun beats down there in the afternoon. Apparently, we need professional advice for that spot

GardenScout.com is really nice because it lets you search by state and find every landscape architect that’s listed there so far. Right now, they have only 1,900 firms in the database but this site is growing. It’s been up and running for only a couple weeks. The really cool thing about the site is that firms can list their business for free! There’s no charge to be listed and GardenScout.com even includes a link back to the company’s website. Naturally, a link back to GardenScout.com is always appreciated.

This is such a great idea that I just know it’s going to really take off. If you have a business dealing with landscaping architecture or know someone who does, let them know about this directory. It’s a fantastic way to generate business. And be sure to bookmark the site for your own landscaping needs. I’m going to tell everyone I know about the site and keep checking back until someone in my area is listed. I really need to know why my trees in front of my bedroom window keep dying and what kind of tree will thrive there. So pass the site on to your friends! I need directory to populate!

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