Monday, May 11, 2009

what we've been up to

I'm not being a very good blogger...I know. I used to post regularly...I used to participate in stuff (Monday Meme, Thematic Photographic, etc) and I have just fallen off the wagon. Facebook is partly to blame, I think. I spend a lot of time reading and catching up with old friends. I never knew I had over 400 friends, lol! And I can likely tell you how I know them, how long, and where I met them. Some of the friends on there are really Scott's friends, but he doesn't want a facebook account, so he lives vicariously through mine.

But we've been working on our house. Scott's got the mower working (surprising, since it had been stored and unused since Augusta, 4 years ago!), and has mowed our field of weeds...the Bermuda sod they laid is riddled with weeds, bleh! Two new houses were just finished up the street, and they have the most beautiful sod laid out...can't understand why we got "lumpy and bumpy" and they got smooth and pretty....oh well.

I tore out the grass at the mailbox and made a flower box. Scott discovered it was not easy to mow around the box, and since the box post is painted black (in accordance with our HOA rules) weed whacking around it would damage the post. I think I put out a pretty nice box. I planted 2 clematis to creep up the post (one on each side) and some raspberry twist dianthus (miniature carnations) on the opposite sides. I planted petunias (dark purple, light purple/pink and fuschia pink) and several white Impatiens. I'm quite happy with it.

We also started painting the interior. Took a lot of time to do the trim work, and several coats of paint total. We took this:


(with our new dining room table and chairs)

and made it this:


color is bordeaux or borscht (borscht is Sherwin Williams' name for it)

And these:




now look like this:



(okay, I THOUGHT I photographed the breakfast area, but I guess I did not!)

I am really happy with both rooms.
We were going to carry the yellow into the kitchen, but decided it might be too overwhelming. I think we're going with a sage green in the kitchen, instead. Scotty has picked a Caribbean blue for his room, and Hannah chose a color called Mystical, which is a pretty purple. Our bedroom will likely be a dark sage green with a muted butternut for the bathroom. The kids' bathroom will probably be green as well.

We're still thinking about the stairs and upstairs halls. The stairwell has a 20 foot ceiling...no easy feat to paint and trim that.

Had a Mother's Day Luncheon at Lexington Baptist Church with my preschooler...


A yummy meal of strawberry salad with a raspberry vinaigrette and feta cheese...a "two bite" brownie, and a breadstick for me...chicken nuggets, chips and a brownie for my boy!


Scotty's self portrait - taken while the camera was on my lap!

We have beautiful birds at our feeder. Took us a LONG time to identify one of them, but we discovered that we have:


Painted Buntings - beautiful deep blue heads, crimson red breast, yellow green backs.


House finches - the one on the left is a female...the one on the right (peeking around the feeder side) is a male - he's got a red head.


I'm not sure what this one is, but it is pretty as well. And we have Bluebirds...lots and LOTS of bluebirds. They are SO amazing to see. I believe we've also seen either an Indigo Bunting or a Blue Grosbeak which are such an intense shade of blue!!!

Here is a timer-set portrait of the kids and I on Mother's Day. It was 7:30 a.m. and we were heading out the door to church. Yes...early. I have an orchestra rehearsal at 8:00 a.m. before the 9:00 a.m. service. We spend our entire morning at church or Sunday School...and I absolutely adore it!! Anyway - self-timed because Scott was not here.


Not to shabby for that early in the morning, huh?

I think that's up to date...can't remember if I ever told you that I saw Avalon, with two friends from Augusta coming out to see the show with me, as well as a new friend here in my neighborhood. Don't know if I posted Easter pictures...will try to check my archives!!!

6 comments:

Ali said...

Your house is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the colors. We'll be in Irmo for three days next week...do you think it would be possible to see you guys??? E-mail me (or I'll e-mail you...) Also...I love your hair!

Kim said...

Wow! You've got a lot of painting done. What a busy bee!
I'm so jealous that you have painted buntings! I'm MORE jealous that you got a picture of one. LOL! Thanks for updating us...I was having Mac Blog withdrawals.

Rachelle Jones said...

the house looks gorgeous!! Excellent job.

and you and those kids look cute too

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

I love the colors you chose, Linda. Good job. Thanks for sharing.

saintseester said...

I love, love, love that dining room color! And, let me know if you figure out how to paint the stairwell. I have the same problem, and I really need to figure it out!

By the way, I found another free font site with some really cool work:

http://www.larabiefonts.com/fonts.html

Marine Wife said...

Love the paint jobs! And great photo of you and the kids!