Hilton anyone?

My great friend (shout out to Nicole!) told me about the lagoon at the Hilton hotel...right next to Waikiki beach and best of all- FREE parking nearby. I told another friend about it, so last week we took our kids there and hung out ALL DAY.

IT WAS WONDERFUL! They tossed the football, paddled all around the mini island in the lagoon, paddled on their boogie boards, ate lunch, swam and expended all their energy!
We saw wedding photographers, summer school children, tourists, & honeymooners.


Tossing the football...

Sawyer (took over an hour) -caught a little fish...

Looking at the little fish...

Paddle Board...

Wedding couple taking pics...

Side of Hilton building...relaxing while watching the kids.

I loved that I could pack up and be home in 20 minutes after playing "tourist" myself.

I am blessed- I know it. I just tend to forget it.

Card.

Because I had cleaned my craft room/garage, I felt motivated to make a card.
Clean table = clear mind I suppose.

I needed some baby cards so I used one of my older favorite sets called Brides and Babies.
The decorative paper is SU paper. I love the green, yellow combo.
I taped the decorative paper to white card stock and added white satin ribbon and a small green button for some added "Oomf." That is a word -right?

I stamped the image with Black Staz On and then punched it out with my round Marvy punch. I used my aqua painters again, and colored it in using the Barely Banana, Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue and So Saffron ink pads. I also sponged around the circles with the Saffron ink.
The words were stamped in Certainly Celery ink and then punched out with another SU punch. I adhered the words and circle using my favorite pop dots from SU as well.

Sweet card makes me think of sweet babies!

"Photo Study" by ?

I was unloading pictures onto my computer, and saw tons of them that I know I didn't take. Hum, someone got ahold of my camera

while I was out in the garage

cleaning...


and took alot of pictures of my old coffee table,

with Sharpie marks,



and a toy gun.

Wow, even using the macro setting!

Now, I don't think it was my daughter, and my other son was outside, who could the culprit be?!

Wait, that blue shirt...

and those toes...

Ah-ha! -a self portrait!



Thought so.

The Neglected Rooms..just keeping it real

I'd been so busy deep cleaning the boys room, that I'd been avoiding my own bedroom.
I knew it would take tons of energy and time to deep clean it, and I was overwhelmed and unmotivated to get in and just do it. It was Gross with a capital "G".
See - proof!...
Just don't stare too long. (Our room will be tiled next.) Ignore gross carpet too, please.

I didn't want to wake up on Father's Day looking at it, and I knew my patient hubby wasn't too happy digging through laundry baskets to find his work clothes.Finally on Saturday, bright and early, I decided to claim back my bedroom, and make it into a peaceful relaxed space, and as Nike says "just do it".
I began by taking off my bedding and washing it in my Tide with Downy softener.
(No, I'm not paid to endorse this company , I just LOVE the smell!) I removed my curtain panels so they could be washed as well. Behind the curtains -Oh. boy! They were so dirty and disgusting, that I had to tackle them next. I know -YUCK!

I got out a bucket of Lemon Lysol water and scrubbed them down. It took 3 1/2 hours to clean my windows!! 3 1/2 hours people! But the breeze coming through afterwards-was divine!


Hallelujah!

I dusted the walls, yep, the dressers, and end tables. I even cleaned my ceiling fan!
I vacuumed, remade the bed, and rehung the curtains.
At 3pm, I was finally finished! Talk about satisfaction!



It smelled wonderful! Yum-Downy dryer lavender/vanilla sheets are the best!!
I didn't feel exhausted -I felt motivated!

I went onto to our bathroom... (warning- feel free to cover your eyes!)
I knew the windows and screens needed deep cleaning in there as well. So again I got new lemon Lysol water and took 1 1/2hrs to clean the windows and screens.

I scrubbed all the other surfaces, washed the bath mat, then added fresh scented towels, a new bar of soap, and a full bottle of shampoo. ( Goodbye 3/4 empty one!)
I was so happy! There's something about clean spaces that destresses me, and clears my mind and motivates me to want to craft and stamp!
Check it out!!
However, I couldn't go and make anything because I'd been throwing things into the garage over the last couple of weeks. There was a mountain of unwanted , future Craigslist items and there wasn't any room to craft. Can find the level? the sewing machine? the crooked picture?

How about the containers of Lego's? The pumpkin? the folding tables?


Monday morning -I went out at 9am and decided to play my own version of "Clean House Hawaii Edition". I set my timer for 30 minutes and took everything out onto the driveway -EVERYTHING!
I swept the cement floor, then vacuumed, and mopped it-because as you know, I love that Lemon Lysol smell!
Next, I sorted all my stuff into trash, sell, and/or donate piles. I kept asking myself "Do I need this?", "Have I used this recently?", and "Has it served it's purpose?".
I kept a mental picture in the back of my mind of what I wanted my space to look like.
By Tuesday afternoon-one and half days later...my craft space was finished!
I can see! I can stamp!
I can walk without tripping on something!


I'm all ready for stamp class!


It was tons of work and took extra effort-but having the chaos gone , totally de-stresses me.
I have the motivation and energy now to craft.
How 'bout you? Is there a mountain of laundry? Piles of paper? Rooms full of toys? that are weighing you down?
Go ahead and tackle it! Get rid of that stress and donate, sell or trash all those unworn, broken or unused items. Feel the stress roll off your back, then sit back enjoy your hard work-and of course, feel free to Craft!

The visitor!

I'm so trying to catch up on all the laundry. I've washed my slipcovers in the living room and washed the blankets in the closet...I still have the normal day to day laundry and it doesn't seem to diminish at all!
Tonight when I went by the laundry sink I saw this very large visitor.




See the drain cover? Yeah -it's as big as that!
I'm hoping this guy is eating lots of mosquito's for me...(He ran away to quick for me to kill him.) I'll have to be very careful in there now! Or it's God's way of letting me not do anymore laundry tonight!

Not so great idea #2

Yep, I'm on a roll! My living room rug was dirty-spots here and there,etc... I wanted the whole rug thoroughly washed , so I pulled it outside and sprayed it down with the hose,then scrubbed it with carpet cleaner. I left it all day in the driveway to dry out...then it rained. I left it out again all day.Hum still wet. I'm thinking there's a reason why its not good to soak a big rug with water.Hopefully I'll get the rug in by this weekend-baring any rain.
Score card 0 for 2.
(thought it might dry faster if I put it on a craft table...Nope.

My not so great idea...

My 12 yr old son was raking the front yard and my van was in the way...I told him he could move it back...(thinking he had driven a go cart or something before)

I sat beside him, in the driveway, and told him where the brake was, and how to put it in reverse, etc...He started the car, put his foot on the brake, and promptly put it in drive. BAM!


We lurched forward into small tree-munching the left side of the front bumper-oops!

Thankfully lights are OK. Uh oh..now to tell my hubby. Poor kid-he'll be freaked for awhile.
Yeah-that's my not so great idea.

Tan,blue and tile takeover...

Thank you for your patience!!!
Alright, drum roll please....It's time to show the boy's bedroom "redo"....But first! Here is another before shot...two beds, rattan floor mat to cover the cement floor, and a very full, messy closet...didn't even get a picture of it..


Now for the "redo" ...
First, I had to pull everything into my room, Lily's room and the hallway. Believe me it was messy, crowded and stressful! So much stuff was unused and unwanted ...I had to have a yard sale!
Mr. B. went to work on tiling the floor, while I organized and deleted things...




Closet tiled!

Next up-painting the walls Benjamin Moore's "Powell Bluff". I love the color because it goes very well with their furniture and its a warm neutral. Later that very same day...-time to grout ...

Even the closet got painted!

While the grout was drying inside, the baseboards were being stripped, re-stained, & resealed outside.

Levi was assigned the task of cleaning his windows and screens... look how clear they are now! (Where's Sawyer?)

Time to put the little guy to work! He painted all the letters for their room, in royal blue for me...

He wasn't too messy, and he wasn't too slow-he did just right!

and now without further ado-the whole room...

Open that door!

The whole room, we think, feels MUCH larger and there is way more floor space ...

Letters on the wall... courtesy of Sawyer's painting skills...

Dresser polished, and drawers all cleaned out and organized!


Close up of the dresser, old truck, and a John Potter painting...

Levi's desk -all ready for 7Th grade homework in the fall! A junior higher -wow! Lots of science, history, adventure and gun books. 60's rocket, Brian's old red radio, old globe, military models, lacrosse trophy, Lego airplanes, and an old, stuffed dog I bought in Florence Oregon.

Space for a bulletin board, and their school backpacks next year.

Now for all the details...We went on a "Walmart & Ross" shopping spree for a few new items...

I purchased 4 new, striped panels for the window, that block the sun beautifully, so worth $46!.... and I hung up the rooster "Boys" sign (that used to hang on the door of my husbands childhood fort)...


I bought a new 5 X 7 shag rug for the tile floor -perfect for playing on! or for little toes in the morning...

I wanted new art work for the walls, but my husband suggested using the paintings we had stored, under our bed....

We had purchased paintings from Montana artist John Potter, 9 years ago when we lived in Big Timber, Montana and I was afraid of it looking too "Western" in the room, so I was thinking of selling them. But because of the colors in the art, the quality and the more sophisticated theme, it, complimented Levi's interests, and saved us some moo-la, I used them.

Plus made my hubby happy.

(This painting is hanging on the wall to the left of Levi's desk)

I hung up my husband's checkerboard he had made in high school, and painted out the red stars, that were previously hanging in the room, with royal blue paint.

I took everything in Levi's desk and off of the wood shelves and reorganized, rearranged , and downsized the clutter...

I purchased a $5 lamp at the thrift store, took the shade off and placed it onto my existing lamp-which I spray painted black.

I had purchased these Ikea metal boxes at the thrift store a while back, and decided to use them to store Levi's "keepsakes" (...like his sling shot, empty bullet casings, shells, etc...)
and to keep them out of reach of his younger "destructo -man",brother.

Lastly, I bought each boy- khaki, 100% cotton sheets, and a tan, soft, slightly textured, decorative pillow for their bed.

Here is the closet...I know- the doors still have to be added this weekend, but the majority of the miscellaneous clutter that was inside, is gone! I had to take a picture! If you'd seen it before in person, you'd be saying "Wow!"

Once again

Before...

And after....

All done!

Well, almost-my room (to be tiled) is next! Argh! the closets! the horror!

Time for sleep!

Thanks and enjoy!