Picking Paint!

This week our theme was supposed to be "farm" but in a way it's really turned into "paint"!

After 3 long years of being disatisfied with paint colors in the house- some the original, others I played with and never finished- I'm actually doing something about it. Painting the entire house.








Dining room in original color- that dark raspberry was on 3 walls and the mauve you see in the 2nd picture on one. Combined with the forest green counters it looked very, very outdated. I don't know how I managed to live in it so long, but I didn't attempt to start painting it until last winter.  Now, after painting several samples on the walls, I've found my color! It's Lightweight Beige by Behr.




The tablecloth is pushed back thanks to the room still being a work in progress and I have paint supplies sitting on it. But there's my new color!

I also had my husband paint the 2nd bedroom. Before it was gray-blue with construction trucks wallpaper border around the middle. The pictures on the border were cute, but the room didn't work for us. The room also appeared very dark. Now, take a look! The spring green is very nice. 

Yesterday I also worked on "finishing" painting the stairwell. I put finishing in quotes because I merely painted as high as I can reach with a ladder. My husband will have to finish the rest- I couldn't reach! Will post before and after pictures later after he finishes. :) Oh, the color there is Olympic's Crumb Cookie. In the picture below you can see my work on the living room.

 Most of the walls (as seen on the right of the picture) will be Behr's Honeysuckle White. The wall behind the sofa will be Valspar's Fresh Bread. Look how much warmer it is than that used to be (seen on the top of the picture).


 Oh, and I'm still working on choosing the color for the master bedroom. More will follow!

Desert River Nature Walk

 Poking at some footprints left by some animals on the pathway. The treeline you see in the back marks the river.


Most of the water is actually underground. To eyes used to rivers elsewhere it looks like a mere stream (when it's even flowing).

 Walking

down

for
a
firsthand look.

Enjoying an ancient cottonwood tree.

Wordless Wednesday: Puppy & Toddler Love

Purposeful Play at Grandma's House

 My son enjoys going to Grandad's and Grandma's and actually calls it "home".  Their house in the desert is a fun place to visit. There are things to explore you don't find anywhere other than in the desert. There are the cubbyholes and toy box filled with special toys, some new and some saved from when my sister and I were small.

Despite all these manifold delights I found he became fussy. He needed something that reminded him of home. He needed a routine. And he needed that routine to be somewhat consistent with what we did back home, adapted specially for Grandad and Grandma's. He was missing having his "work" available to choose from, his purposeful play activities.

It's amazing how easy it is to create a "purposeful play" shelf at Grandma's house. I used her built-in display case, the big shelf where she kept some of her silk flowers. It was at the perfect height for him.

From left to right: 

sock matching & folding activity in basket (last week's Slow & Steady Get Me Ready activity)

color matching using paint samples I picked up at Lowes

a set of Lauri lacing cards

 a counting activity using numerals and empty spools as counters

Melissa & Doug beads I picked up for $6 at a used store

number/dot puzzles (cut apart flash cards from the $1 bins at Target)

his Bible Truth Booklets (ie catechism)

and a southwest desert display since Grandma's & Grandad's house is in the southwest. He kept  the desert creatures matching cards, the book from our previous trip "I Howl I Growl"- and he also kept the tarantula!

It's a great puppet.