Making a House a Home

Yep, I've been busy lately and neglecting my blog. First we had Christmas which was great. Then we went to my mom's in California and we all went to Disneyland with my sister in law and her family. Her oldest Daughter turns 21 in May so this was the last family vacation for a while - as she hopes to go on a mission. Their 2nd oldest daughter got married right before we moved home from England so this was also the first time we met her cute husband. We all had a great time.

I've also been busy with the house. My mom came back with us after our trip to California and she was busy helping me organize and all of that. I do NOT enjoy hanging pictures on my walls so the 2 of us tackled that together. It took us almost a week to have to nail more than one nail to get something hung correctly. We should have stopped there because our last bout at interior decorating was disastrous. As was said by a good friend when I told her the story "they shouldn't be called window TREATMENTS they should be window PUNISHMENTS". This is after I first installed one part of the rod and it was crooked - and then fixed it and installed it upside down. After the rod was hanging and even we lifted up the curtains to begin putting them on and wouldn't you know it - TOO SHORT! We won't mention that my mom was ironing the creases out of the sheers and panels while I was hanging the rod. All that work gone to waste as we folded them back up and put them in the little plastic sleeves they came in. Fortunately the store was able to exchange them and order me the correct length so in a few days I'll tackle that job again.

So, if I'm missing in action for a while longer you'll know I'm tangled up in sheers in my living room!

In Search of

The Perfect Table. That has been my most recent quest. Tables come in all shapes and sizes but most of them so far are either too tall, too small, too formal, too ugly, too big, too square, too oval, too long or my favorite - too expensive. I also have complaints about the finish, the wood, the pedestal, the table legs, the way the chair hits my shoulder blades. Being a mom has also ruined some of my choices. I have no desire for a built in lazy susan in the middle of my table that could only be used to fling food around the room. Do you think the person that designed that also thought about what would happen if you spilled milk on the table? Isn't it going to go right through the space between the table and the lazy susan? And then lets talk about grooves. They are not so groovy I have to say. I keep picturing myself trying to get frosting, crumbs, juice, who knows what out of the grooves in the table. And then there are the chairs. Is rattan really a good option with children? Doesn't that just seem like a crumb catcher? What happens when that same glass of milk that is headed for the lazy susan changes direction and heads right towards the rush seats? Oh, these also come in a fabric of my choice? Let me repeat the ages of my children 6, 9, and 11. Let's get serious here.

I have narrowed a few things down - this is a table for the kitchen. The breakfast nook is round - requiring a round table. To adequately seat our family without elbows, knees, or fingertips touching it needs to be a 60" table. I'm currently leaning towards this one:
But with this chair
Did I mention I'm sort of cheap though? UGH!!

If you're curious this is the space it will go into:

House Progress

This is the latest update on our house. They should be pouring the cement Wednesday or Thursday.