We have had a crazy couple of months with trips, birthdays, and finishing up projects. My Grandfather's health has gotten worse with his cancer spreading into his bones he is weak and tired. We enjoyed seeing him even if it was one heck of a crazy week with busted sewage lines and 12 hour road trips. We didn't get to do any hiking in the mountains because it was just too hot in the desert and we were needed at the house to tell the workers what was happening and where to dig and such. Cousins came not to visit but to chip in and help out wherever it was needed and I cannot tell you all how happy I am to be a part of a family that gets along and is as BIG as Texas!!

My Father's side of the family met up in Oklahoma to visit as we do every year on fathers day. We enjoyed the rest. we got to swim and watch the rain fall on the lake and we enjoyed getting to see my grandmother on that side even if it was only for a couple hours. So my children got to see both sets of Great Grandparents that are alive I say that was a pretty successful summer.

As for birthdays Jacob's was spent in the car on the way back from one of our trips. When we arrived home we made home made donuts and a week later celebrated with his Aunt by making a Tardis cake (they are BIG Dr. Who fans). Josiah had a pool party at a friends house with pizza and Dinosaurs!!! I will eventually get pictures of these up to show you all.

Isabelle had a grand time of her birthday we had a surprise Texas downpour and we had to transport the cake in to the house under a towel and an umbrella what a site we were!!.  after cake and ice cream we all piled in the cars and went shopping!! what a time the girls had wandering through the book store and then target trying on shoes. Much like a giant dress up party!!

The main project I have been working on is organizing Isabelle's room so that it is easier to clean and in order to do that I have had to prime and paint some old IKEA shelves from our living room and strengthen them up a little. So here is Izzy's room before and you will just have to wait to see the reveal!

    All of you must know by now how much I HATE my bathroom! its disgusting, smelly and tacky!!
Even my husband knows how much I detest that room, and he tries to help by cleaning up after the boys.(He's such a sweet heart). So one day I was complaining about that space in our house and he suggested if I hate it so much do something about it. And off I went to search for ideas on pinterest! well I searched and searched and didn't really see anything I adored or really wanted to live with and kinda gave up for the day. later on in the month I was looking at the boys board to see what else I needed to do in their space to make it more organized and decorate a little more and BAM this popped up on my page and I fell in LOVE!!

ogtstore.com

dancoxpr.com

The wheels were turning in my head and I started scouring stores for pressed tin ceiling tiles... did you know those things are pretty pricy? Well the cheapest I could find them was an antique store called Alternative Furnishings at $20 a piece and that was still way over my head. so I started looking at Homedepot and Lowes at their plastic knock offs and they were the same prices I got pretty bummed about this and started looking for other ideas and finally found paintable wallpapers they intrigued me so I looked at all the different ones to choose from and procrastinated because I would have to have it ordered into the store they don't' carry it otherwise. I go distracted by costumes for ballet and baby gifts for friends having cute little chunky balls of love (yes I have baby fever). I was in Joanne's and while waiting for my number to be called I wandered the aisles around the cutting table that I had never been on and what do ya know they carry paintable wallpaper and they had a ceiling tile printed one (raised foam areas to make it textured) I was all excited and looked pretty stupid for a few min. I could not believe my luck then reality set in and I was suddenly hit with the thought "how much is this going to cost me?" so I looked... it was only $25 for a roll of like 300' I only needed a 4x6 area so I was good to go then I remembered I had a 50% off coupon that I could not use that day because the fabric was already on sale so I was like SCORE!!!! (again I probably looked like a drunken idiot I was so excited I couldn't focus on the fabric I needed cut or anything else.
A week later up it went on my walls with the help from my 7 year old!!

It was sooo simple I filled the tub with 3" of water stuck the precut strips in till it was all wet, pulled it out and let it drip off then had my helper line up the bottom while I lined up the top. Seriously that simple we used our pampered chef  pie crust roller to roll out the air bubbles and a towel to dab off the extra glue and water. then we just had to wait for it to dry.

I came back after an emergency trip out of town to visit a sick family member and decided to start painting with the paints I had laying around from the rest of the house that way it all tied in together No More Random Room Themes!!!!(inside joke here sorry if you don't get it).

I painted a few in one color and then a few more in another color making sure there were not two squares in the same vertical rows the same color. as they filled in and I was waiting for some to dry I went over the other dry ones with the same pampered chef pie crust roller rolled in a thin layer of gold or silver acrylic craft paint.

some of the squares I did not paint before going over it with the roller so only the raised areas got color and the lower areas remained white. 

My hubby replaced the faucet in the bathtub and the handles and that all works with no leaks now so no one will burn themselves with the dripping boiling hot water when they are showering.

I still need to get trim and quarter round for the edges and add a few more touches to the whole bathroom like a NEW trash can I am thinking silver or some sort of metal look. and I need to get the little silver tray back on the counter with a candle on it to help with the boy smell!!! then I will be completely happy with this room.

More projects and more chaos!

    I have come to the conclusion that as stressful as home remodeling and repairs are for most people it is how I relax. If I am stressed beyond belief all I have to do it put my headphones on turn on some music and paint! It is calming and makes me feel better! So in the stress of scheduling Isaac's latest surgery ,to scope his throat and possibly remove scar tissues on his vocal chords to clear his airway some, and the chaos that is getting approval for therapy from insurance and a dr.s office that just won't do thing when they say they will (causing us to be denied). I decided to unclutter our laundry room that has been used more like a garage. I was simply going to go through and organize so my husband could put up some sturdy shelves and well a thought popped into my head! Since I have everything out and the walls are clear why not paint since the yucky primer had been up for at least 3 years waiting for just the right color to come along. I had spied a pretty shade of green when going through our paint supply collected from free uncle and friends moving, so green it would be and wow it is gorgeous Nate and I both love the color in there with the raw wood.

Bathroom

The bathroom is the room I hate the most. I need to find  smaller mirror that I LOVE! or frame this one to make it look smaller! I also need to find metal ceiling tiles and mount the m on the wall where the towels are hanging. We found a medicine cabinet that mounts between the studs in the wall so its recessed and it will go to the left of the sink next to the light switch and the cabinet over the toilet will just go away! I will probably add a shelf and put apothecary jars on it with the Q-tips and cotton balls and some soaps and I need to get some tarnished silver things to decorate in here as well. Eventually I will find a smaller sink base that looks like furniture and will remove this yucky counter and replace the sink.

Boy's Room

The boys room is pretty much completed with the exception of the wooden chair rail 

and finishing the paint on the lower walls and building Jacob's desk because the rolling green cart does not work.

Isabelle's room

Izzy's room is pretty much complete we do need to get her new curtains and properly hang them. 

We are also working on a piece of furniture that will take the place of the toy box and house all her dress up clothes and kitchen toys. This will be a huge reveal close to summertime.

Maybe she will choose to clean her room before then!

hallway and laundry room

My hallway is well going to get repainted this summer!

I still love this color but not for where I am going with my house. I want calming colors throughout and I want to take down some of the pictures and simplify.

The laundry room well it is pretty much a garage it catches everything that does not have a place because we don't have a storage shed. A storage shed is much needed for all the tools and parts it would be so useful and helpful. our goal was to build one large enough that it could be used to store the motorcycle out of the weather and be a shop where we could work on small projects on a tool bench. we got concrete footers placed and a floor installed and even built walls then winter hit and we had no roof and now the plywood on the floor is ruined even though we covered and protected with paint and tarps. so now we rip it apart and start over.

                                                    I have dreams and plans for this room I DO!

On to the master bedroom

So this is my very messy room 

we have laundry piling up because everyone had been sick and we were playing catch up and well that is not my normal linens those got thrown up on so I pulled out my afghan my grandmother made as a wedding gift. My husbands desk is patiently waiting for an update since that is a hutch from another desk we owned once upon a time and he really needs something more sturdy. We have bought the wood but things just keep coming up and the job just hasn't been done. Oh the tool bags stacked on top of tool boxes well those are also waiting on a storage shed to be built. Don't you just LOVE my make shift closet it was an ikea garage organizer that we scored on clearance and we did need a place to hang our clothing. one day this will look more organized I have to get rid of the things I never wear because they are worn out or just too big for me now. This room is pretty much completed minus the trim that needs to be replaced on one wall and baseboards on all 4 walls. I will settle on a theme one day and it won't look so wonky in here someday!

Kitchen.

  This is my kitchen. It is the room we are currently working on. We have been painting the cabinets which use to be the color of the floor. We painted the walls this lovely sea green color (it use to be yellow). We ripped up the linoleum and laid the laminate and it looks and feels so much better. I need to sand down the table and finish staining and sealing it and recover the chairs. The shelf over the peacock feathers will be coming down and I will be looking for pretty china to hang on that wall. We are making shelves to put over the freezer for my serving dishes and fresh herbs from the garden to be stored on.

Living room

  So this is our living room currently in all its glory it is now serving as a bedroom for some house guests and there are a couple that are sick as you can see in the above picture (I LOVE water proof pads and mop buckets). The changes that WILL take place in here will be the window ac unit will come out this spring time and I am praying that the door that leads to a 5 foot drop! Yes you read that correctly! will be taken out and walled in as soon as we have 1) time, 2) energy, 3) supplies. it might not happen this year but at least we have a plan. I also plan on add ing a few more book shelves and framing them together and trimming them out to look like built ins all along the wall. I want to take down all the pictures and rehang them in a cute way like I have pinned so many times on pinterest! EVENTUALLY I WILL GET THERE! This room use to be a piano/music studio about 5 years ago. I dream of taking out those french doors and putting them on a barn style slide/rail system it would be sooo much nicer I could use the space inside the room so much better and we would actually be able to close the doors without moving furniture..

Entryway and School Room

         Welcome to our home. This is our entry way where the hoard of children strip off coats, shoes and dump their school bags. This is also where everything that needs to leave the house gets piled up till I am sick of tripping over it and take it where it belongs. THIS IS US IN REAL LIFE! not a fairy tale everything is in a perfect spot and nothing cluttered! I don't think this space will ever be clean, orderly, or organised.
      I WILL eventually paint the white paneled area a bright color but just have not had a color jump out at me that I can't live without. I WILL eventually get pictures in the frames on our family tree and I WILL be adding more frames of all sizes and shapes I like the little metal ones that look like lace or have designs embossed/pressed into them and I will add some with sparkles!

                         

 This is our school/craft area where as you can see gets used alot. I have a couple ballet costumes being worked on on the table in the middle that gets its leaves folded down and pushed up to the windows when I am not working on it. It is used for our big family gatherings as a second table ( we usually need 3 this size for everyone). Nate and I built the shelves under the white counter because I needed a place for all the curriculum and arts and craft supplies It has served me very well and I think it is the best thing we have added to this house so far! The wooden desk/counter in the first picture was built by my father-in-law when this house was used as a Montessori it had several computers there for children to do music theory on. we took out the support bar and added the little white night stand and it has been nice to keep the children divided so everyone has plenty of elbow room to do their school work. The pile of fabric under the piano is curtains for my nieces which I am working on redecorating their bedrooms (like I didn't have enough projects what can I say I LOVE to decorate). The box next to the piano is well more clutter that is waiting for a garage sale.

Home Tour Intro!

   Ok so we have been living in a construction zone for nearly 10 years now and things have not always been easy and it certainly is not easy now with house guests making that total # of humans living here 14. Lets just say I know understand the show 19 and counting a little better! I have been purging STUFF for over a year now. A little here and there as we go down our list of repairs that makes me box up things and then unpack them a few months later. last year I believe we got rid of at least 10 giant trash bags of stuff either by donating it or passing it on to others that could use it. We are focusing on living simpler and not just hoarding stuff that we will never use. Well last year I stumbled on this woman's blog and got inspired. I also read her post Motivated and Conviction they really helped me to be able to focus on what was important and NOT get overwhelmed, BUT this post really got me! So since I promised a picture tour of my home and did not feel like staging or cleaning every square inch I am just going to put it all out here for you guys. We are not slobs but we are definitely NOT clean freaks and with 11 children in the house we cannot possibly keep up with the little messes that are constantly renewing themselves. I will be posting room by room pictures and tell you a little about where that room came from and how we plan to change it.

The New Neuro!

OK WELL THEN!

   After the shock wore off I am now able to talk to people. I can honestly say I adore the new Dr. he quite possibly saved my sons life. The old Dr whom had caused quite a bit of chaos in our lives first with playing musical chairs on meds that had horrid side effect and totally contradicted what all Isaac's other Drs were trying to work on I find out that the emergency med that was prescribed was well a deadly dose not even close so acceptable for Isaac's size it was literally 3x the amount he needed and could have killed him. we will be picking up the new appropriate dose of the same med but instead of using it for emergency only we will be giving it to him every time he has a tonic-clonic (grand-mal) instead of medicating him daily for an anomaly that happens once a month to every other month. Sounds logical to me since we just want to stop them when they do happen since its just a misfire of the electrons in the brain. As for these other things like passing out or staring into space the Dr thinks that there is a possibility that his heart surgery has come undone in some way or there is something else wrong that is causing his blood pressure to drop drastically depriving his brain of oxygen. so Isaac will have another EEG and another 24 hour heart monitor to see if this is the problem. Heart conditions do run in both sides of the family so this is not out of the question, in fact we have been dealing with the same symptoms in my grandmother for at least the last year.  Prayers would be appreciated as we do these tests that God would show us the problem so we know how to deal with it.

Chaos!

   Sooo we have been busy! We currently have 11 children living in our home on top of our new roof getting put on and the skylights getting ripped out, and did I mention I got tired of the linoleum in the kitchen, well I ripped that stuff out after my kids made it into a ramp with duplo blocks for their hotwheels and I tripped over it in the middle of the night going to the bathroom! I have actually gotten a few thing accomplished during all this. I have been going through the kids clothing and passing on what my kids just don't ever wear and things they have outgrown. I have purged some decorating things that I just am not in love with anymore and am tired of dusting. I also finished painting the kitchen and then realized the other night that behind the microwave is still yellow and behind the fridge is um well its never been painted guess we have just been too lazy to move that appliance in 10 years.
  So needless to say when we lay flooring this weekend we will be moving that sucker and painting back there. My sweet husband has started putting the shelves up over the freezer for my frequently used jars and serving platters as well as installing a hot water heater after ours went out and installed the water filtration unit that has been sitting around for(kinda embarrassed about this one) 3 years! I know we had a very good excuse called Isaac but that should have been our motivation to get it installed faster. So I started writing this post today to let you all know I am taking pictures around the house to give you all a photo tour of our house and all the work I have been telling you all about over the past year. It will take time since I have to move the luggage and ballet costumes that are cluttering about from our house guests (more on the 11 children when I can) and make sure you can see all the lovely changes that we have done.  I promise you will see said pictures this week it will not be another week or month from now!

Happy New Year

Ok Here we GO...

   A new year and some new commitments. First I am and have been in the process of uncluttering our lives.
we have streamlined out electronics by getting down to an iphone each instead of an electronic organizer(old smart phone) and a cell phone to call and text. It also streamlined some of our bills and we did it on a budget by looking for used phones from people that were upgrading.

 I have gone through everyone's clothing and stored away what the little one could grow into and am giving away or consigning the other stuff. I still need to make a list of the kids clothing Needs like jeans with no holes and a proper coat for one of them and another needs new socks and so forth.

 We super cleaned the bedrooms by moving furniture and dusted and vacuumed. then we sorted the toys and removed the ones they no longer wanted or needed.

 We are now having the roof replaced and ripping out the skylights that have leaked and molded and YUCK I am going to miss the sunlight but not the mess and the sickness the mold causes. We will all be healthier for it! I still need to finish painting the kitchen cabinets that needed the face lift and finish the walls that were left unpainted so the insurance inspector could see where there was damage from the leaky roof.

 So as soon as those major things are completed we will finish what we started with the flooring and replace the now ripped up linoleum with some snack together laminate stuff. We will also finish building shelving over the deep freeze and install the water filter for the whole house so we can stop lugging water home in those giant bottles.

As far as Isaac and all his medical stuff is going we are attempting to get in with a couple new neurologists because his current Dr is just not working with us and I honestly get the feeling that he doesn't want us as patients. We have been doing an electrical acupuncture treatment that is similar to the NAET therapy for all of Isaac's food allergies and some outdoor allergies as well and he seems to be making good progress. He is not as sensitive to many of the foods that would cause his tummy to bloat and be rock hard or would just give him diarrhea. Right now our biggest problem is with gluten so please continue praying as we stumble through this mess and try to get the seizures and growth problems under control.
He has speech and Occupational therapy twice a week and he is loving it and learning soooo much he now speaks whole sentences (somewhat understandable) and he recognizes most letters and can count to 20. colors he is not so good at but we are working on that one.

 I have personally decided to commit to P90X again doing workouts at least 3 times a week to stay lean and tone up a little more. Over the last year I lost 6 inches in my waist and went from a size 14/16 down to an 8/10 just by cutting out most gluten and fake sugars. I have been eating more raw foods and really only eating meat with dinner. Oh and making sure I stay hydrated by drinking AT LEAST a GALLON of water a day.

  So here's to a new year full of opportunity.