Laundry Room Follow Up with a Head Cold

I've got a horrible head cold right now...it's a very winter appropriate cold, all I want to do is cuddle up, drink tea and eat soup. I actually took a nap for a couple of hours today after I came home from a morning sub job, I can't remember the last time I slept for a few hours during the day. I don't know if the rest helped my body heal much, but it felt good.Before I head off to bed to get more rest, I am finally getting around to explaining where I got the inspiration for the laundry room painting I did recently. I found a shop on etsy that sells vinyl wall decorations, the shop is called Byrdie Graphics. I get super inspired by their designs and start trying to think of rooms in our house that could use some sprucing up. As a matter of fact, I was just moments from buying the graphics that ended up inspiring my painting, but I decided I wanted something larger to fill the walls a bit more.

The process was pretty simple, I sketched the pictures onto the wall with pencil and then went over with paint. I think my years of drawing geometry diagrams on classroom whiteboards have improved my "eye-balling" skills.

I am still thinking about this laptop graphic, I think my laptop could use a bit of girly sprucing up!

Be back soon - hopefully more healthy!

Rainy Wednesday

Outside, it is raining sideways right now...yuck! I spent yesterday substituting for a middle school teacher that teaches a random mix of classes - Film, Music Appreciation, and Fitness. The last class of the day was the fitness class, the plans directed me to have the students walk around the track for the entire period...so walk we did, it may have been the first time I've ever been paid to exercise. It was nice and sunny, a good thing because I have been fighting a nasty head cold. If I'd had that sub job today I would have had a hard time convincing myself to follow the teacher's plan. Instead, I spent the first part of my morning in a science classroom - half day sub jobs are the best, it's short and sweet and I still get my day. The rain hadn't started yet when I first came home, so I mixed up some dormant spray for our trees...several of them are starting to bud out, below is one of our plum trees. I'm hoping that the spray had the chance to soak in and dry a bit before the rain began, otherwise the spraying was a waste...I also put another 15 primrose plants in our front beds - they were an early Valentine's Day gift from the husband. The color has been refreshing, even though the first round of flowers was my idea, the husband has appreciated how the flowers brighten things up, he wanted to add a bit more color to make it even more cheerful.We are going on a get-away trip to Hawaii in about a week, so I think our Valentine's Day celebration will be postponed until we are there. The s-son is with us for the upcoming three day weekend. Having a 12 year old boy around hardly makes for a romantic setting. I'm looking foward to the warmth, the beautiful colors, the delicious fruit, and being alone with the husband.!

Sunny Monday

So I never got around to doing a weekend post...some weekends are best spent "unplugged" I suppose.

My daffodils have beautifully bloomed, right on time to brighten my desk as I begin the week's work.

I'll be back soon!

Fresh Cut Flower Friday - Is Back!

It's been a long while since I've posted a Fresh Cut Flower Friday! This morning after my Zumba class I stopped into the market for a few things. They had daffodils on sale, 5 stems for $2, so I picked up two bunches. The majority of them - and the ones that are have already bloomed ended up on my breakfast table. A few that are half-way bloomed ended up on my bedside stand, and these three stems ended up on my desk. I don't usually do much work at my desk on the weekends, but they should be bloomed and ready for me to enjoy by Monday morning. I have another fun but full weekend ahead. A few outside chores if our beautiful weather holds up, a few indoor organizational type projects, and I'm even going out tomorrow night in Seattle. An old friend of the husband's will be in town, so I'm tagging along for a night out with the guys! I will have a short follow up post about my laundry room re-do to share...hope your weekend is getting off to a good start!

Laundry Room Re-Do

I mentioned on Monday that there was a some home improvement going on around here last weekend. It started with the purchase of a set of new laundry machines...something that has been on the list of "we need to get to that at some point" for some time now. I've never personally had brand new appliances before (not counting a microwave), so this was pretty exciting to me.

I knew I wanted front loaders for the energy savings. I also thought I wanted the pedastals that you can buy that raise the machines - you know, the ones with the drawer in them. I was also intially sucked in by those machines that come in fun trend colors - red, blue, purple, teal, grey.
But when it came down to it, the price of non-white machines and those drawer pedastals really just wasn't going to be worth it. I have plenty of storage in my laundry room with the cabinets, so extra drawers aren't really necessary.

But because I did want the machines to be raised up, the husband built a 12 inch tall box to put the machines on. He even tiled the front of it with slate.

Because the wood backspash around the countertop was removed when I painted, we both thought it was a good time to replace it with a new backsplash, also made of slate tiles. The wood wasn't holding up very well. This sink is where we rinse our mop and also where we bathe Bambino, the wood was being ruined from the water that was splashed on it pretty regularly.

I love my new machines, by the way, I can't wait to get them going. Our dryer runs on gas, and because we have a propane tank, a conversion kit has to be used for it, somthing that a technician from the propane company has to do.

In the picture above you can see the machines lifted on the box, that will be so nice on my back! The doors open in opposite directions, so moving clothing from one machine to the next will be smooth. There is still some caulking and touch ups to do it the room, but otherwise it is pretty much done.

Now the best part of this project for me was the painting I got to do on the walls. Because we decided to skip the colorful machines, I thought it would be nice instead to put some color on the walls.

I took these pictures when the paint was still a drying, so the red looks kind of blotchy, but you can still get the idea.

The walls had started off boring and white...by the time I was done the room was full of color. I love how it turned out, it is very cheerful! I'd show some before pictures, but honestly, they are just blank white walls in a bare room - not much to see! There are other projects going on around here, slowly but surely they will be finished. That's kind of how it goes, all in good time!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

I heard that old Phil saw his shadow so we are in for 6 more weeks of winter. With the kind of winter we've been having here - wet and mild with days of gorgeous sunshine mixed in - I can honestly say that I'm already mentally moving into spring. I suppose it really wouldn't matter much if temperatures dropped off a bit and we even had a bit of snow, this winter realy hasn't been too harsh.Today I spent the first half of the day substituting for an elementary music teacher. The closest thing I have to musical talent is a tiny little drop of rhythm, I can snap or clap to a beat. I'm really not qualified to be a music teacher. BUT, it was still a very fun day. The lesson plans were easy to follow, playing a few specific songs for each class so the students could vote on a few ideas about the songs, then taking requests from a list. The lesson time was followed by what was basically a junior karaokee/dance party. There was lots of singing along and shaking it going on all day. I have never had the chance to get my groove on as a teacher in a classroom before, it was fun! I loved being goofy and dancing with thirty 3rd graders...they are still young enough to forget to be self-conscious, today they made me feel that way too.

A peak at the weekend

It was a very full but very fun weekend. It seemed as though I was able to fit in a bit of everything. One of the bigger "bits" was a collaborative home improvement project with the husband. I will share more later (we aren't quite done yet), but for now the picture above is a little preview. Every now and then Mondays are a welcome return to routine for me, today is one of those Mondays, I hope your week is off to a great start!

PS - Welcome February, you are usually kind of a grey month here in WA, could you maybe spare a bit of sunshine for us?