It's Summer!

Summer break is here. 

Bill asked me the other day if our home improvements are drawing to a close. 

I believe that they are. 
In the 4.5 years I have been blogging, we've touched almost every surface in this house. 

 
 There are a few things that still need to be done. 

The game room needs to be finished.
We still need to scrape the popcorn from the ceiling and paint it. 
I may be in over my head with the painting of this ceiling. 
There is water damage from a roof leak and from the air conditioner.  
Water damaged ceilings are a beast to redo. 

I'll scrape the popcorn but may call the painter to patch and paint.
There are also a few decorative things in the works.

Our six year old nightstands are not in good shape. 
Bill's nightstand has plywood that is bubbling from his water glass even though he used a coaster.
The stain is chipping off of mine even though I don't set a water glass on mine.
 

We're not sure what we will do but were disappointed in the quality of this furniture. 
I may rearrange some furniture or build something. 

The ceiling in my room is scraped but not painted. 

The doors downstairs have never been repainted. 
It's tedious work. 

 I have a couple of closets that could use a remodel.

The kitchen cabinets could use a touch up. 
I'd like to create some built-ins in the living room.
I need to paint the railing upstairs so that it matches the downstairs. 

  
It's been over two years so it is time. 

Do you think it's enough?
I like to have a project every week or so to keep me busy. 
We are headed to Charleston at the end of June. 
It's been on my travel bucket list and I can't wait.
Other than that I plan to prepare for the next school year, rest, read, and catch up on blogging. 
Of course, I will float in my stock tank pool! 
Bill will help me set it up next Saturday.

That is it for now! 
Have a blessed day. 
Katie
My heart goes out to those affected by the flooding in Texas. 

Let Me Be Clear

A few weeks ago Hometalk featured our shutters on their Friday evening Facebook page. 

This is the third time it has happened. It is fun and it brings in a little traffic. 

When I wrote up the Hometalk post, I made the statement that our house was builder basic. 

Someone took issue with it in a comment. 

The person said that I needed a "reality check". 

Here is the reality. 

I understand that I am very blessed. 

I understand that my home is beautiful.

It was an affordable housing option back in 1993. 

Texas houses were a bargain.

We have three children and they were fortunate enough to each have their own bedroom. 

I understand that at this point in time our home doesn't look like a builder grade home. 

It was a builder basic home. 

That was my statement.

The finish out on this larger home wasn't extravagant. 
It was middle or bottom of the line. 

Paint washed off of the walls. 

The carpet was a low quality. 

The windows are terrible. The wind whips through them like crazy.

Wolf spiders could waltz right in under the old front door because there was a huge gap. 

The light fixtures were the least expensive on the market at the time. 

But, we are DIY-ers and we have DIY-ed or hired out all of the upgrades to this home. 

Is it builder grade now? 

No.

It isn't because we changed it. 

This is what I don't understand about social media and the internet. 

Why does someone feel the need to be unkind? 

This is my blog - my experience - my opinion. 

Blogging takes a lot of work and sometimes I'm just weary of it. 

(It's May but summer is coming)

Bloggers come up with an idea, we execute the idea, we take pictures and edit and finally we write and edit the blog post. 
Then we promote our blog post on platforms like Hometalk.

It takes a lot of work. 

The old adage comes to mind. 

If you can't think of anything nice to say - don't say anything at all! 

That's all for now. 

I think I need a latte. 

Katie

Slipcovering a Leather Chair

I think I have sensory issues. 

My favorite chair in the gameroom is leather. 

 I don't care for sitting on leather. 

 It's cold in the winter and sticky in the summer.

 Bill and I are addicted to a new show on NetFlix and we can't wait to turn it on each evening.

I had to go to great lengths to cover my chair with a blanket. 

The blanket was rumpled and slipped and slid all over the place interrupting our T.V. time.

I spent a great deal of time adjusting and shifting the blanket only to have it slip off again. 

The sloppy look of a blanket falling all over the place wasn't working for me. 

  I decided to make a slipcover. 

I thought about making it out of a blanket but in the end, I decided to make it out of drop cloths. 

There are plenty of tutorials for making slipcovers on the internet. 

I placed the fabric on the chair inside out, pinned, cut, and sewed. 

It isn't difficult with some sewing skills. 

The rounded arms were the most difficult part of this project. 

 Careful pinning and sewing is key. 

The tighter the fit the better the slipcover will look.

Bill came home and caught me. 

He wondered why I was shabby-ing up his mancave. 

I asked him if he wanted me to sit with him in the evenings for T.V. time. 

He does. 

I don't think of it as shabby-ing up the room.

 It softens up the room a little. 

It will be a good spot to do some blogging this summer. 

It is so much more comfortable than the leather.

This room has a weird window. 

The curtain is hung at an appropriate height but it is too far above the window. 

I plan to augment the window with molding to make it more proportionate.

We have been watching Doc Martin and we are in love with this show. 

You have to give it a try. 

Thanks for stopping in my friends. 

Katie 

Linking with,
Savvy Southern Style
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia  
A Stroll Through Life

Purging Files/ Preschool Art

I'm purging my files as I work on my Pinterest lesson plan system. I'm pretty excited about this because it means I won't need to concentrate as much during lesson planning.  

I can write lesson plans from home, pull my board up in my phone and know what crafts we are doing for the week.

I'm tossing anything that looks like it is from 1996. 

Art is a huge part of our program. 

There is so much content that can be discussed during that individual or small group time at the table. 

 Fine motor skills employed combined with the act of creating is valuable for learning. 

As a child creates, a plethora of activity is taking place in the brain. 

That has to be good for brain development.

There is "play" involved as the child manipulates mediums. 

There is cognition as the child observes color, line, and order. 

 

Some of these samples were created by me but we allow our students to create their own work. 

We guide where eyes or legs go but we don't make the art for our children. 

They are doing it all themselves which makes it perfectly imperfect. 

 

I didn't realized that you all would get a dose of early learning philosophy this morning.

 I love my job.

That's it for now. 

Katie 

Spring Crafts

I have a brilliant idea.

Each year, I feel that we have to reinvent the wheel a little concerning our crafts for our classrooms.

We had a new team member this year.

I think she felt a little lost at times because she didn't have assess to our files and to our craft samples.

I created a board on Pinterest.

I will have each of our crafts pinned chronologically through the year.

That way we can take a quick peak while we are lesson planning.

It's a good idea if I say so myself.

I'm finished patting myself on the back.

Here are some of our spring crafts for the Pinterest board.

They had so much fun making these.

Have a good afternoon.

Katie

Some Birthday Hydrangeas

I adore hydrangeas.

I can't tell you how many times I've picked them up at the grocery store only to have them wilt like crazy the next day. 

 

I have dreams of big dried hydrangea blooms that last for months on end. 

It never failed. No matter what I tried they would wilt and I would weep.

Last week my team got me a gorgeous bouquet of hydrangeas for my birthday. 

I was so afraid they would wilt. 

I'd read a post about how to keep them from wilting by Courtney on The French Country Cottage blog. 

Courtney suggested alum.

Alum is a compound made up of aluminum and potassium. 

 You can find it on the baking aisle at the grocery store. 

Why is it in the baking aisle? 

 It is used in baking powder and for pickling.

Adding this compound to the vase is supposed to prevent wilting. 

I was completely skeptical. I believed it worked for Courtney but I really didn't think it would work for me. 

One if them had already started wilting. 

You know what? 

It worked! The alum reversed the wilted bloom. 

The other blooms didn't begin to wilt.

I'm thrilled. 

They have looked amazing for a week. 

Now that I know this trick, I will start buying hydrangeas again.

Have a great day.

Katie 

Linking with,

Thoughts of Home Thursday 

Between Naps on the Porch