Well, who has time to catch up on blogs? This is where we are. We had Christmas. It was nice. Rushed in the new year. I liked that too! Currently? Well, I guess we have just been the proverbial chickens, running around without heads. Does that sound gross? Well it doesn't matter because it sums up what we have been going through. The house is painted. That may not sound like such a big deal to you, but for me, it is glory hallelujah, praise the Lord I'm free at last, and all that. I was eating and sleeping paint. That is not the case any longer. Most of the projects are done and I almost have laundry caught up again...after 2 months. Not bad, I guess. Sigh. I do have some pictures of the house, but before I show them, this is a snapshot of what we have been doing the past 2 months. Here goes:
We read for the 3rd Advent candle at church, 5 of us speaking while the younger two entertained the congregation by trying to snuff out candles 1 and 2.
Titus became the first Svoboda child to finally figure out that you can indeed cut your own hair...and your jeans and mommy's bed pillows. Little Dutch boy, right? Donna, if you are reading this, do you remember when Dolly did the Dutch Boy look to you???
Sledding. This is the midwest. It's winter. Need I say more?
The hill is a couple doors down from mom and dad and yes, it goes right onto the lake. In one word...fun! That's all there is to it.
I had a lot of work to do, and when I say a lot, I mean a LOT! Paint, paint and more paint. I couldn't have done it with out you grande iced vanilla latte, non fat with whipped. For the record, since the work has stopped, so has the love affair with Starbucks. She is now only a dream once in a while visited. Sniff. Sniff sniff.
Next we have my trusty ol' painting pants that have stuck with me through 3 houses so far. Well, technically only 2 1/2 since we only did work in the basement of our first build. Shall I retire these? I don't know. Trends these days may make these a hot item on ebay!!! Any lookers?
Last, but certainly not least was celebrating mom's birthday. Ruthie met mom, Micah, Kitty and me at Panera on mom's birthday. Somehow Kitty got in the picture instead of Micah. Not sure why...or how.
Ok, so now for some of the house pictures. The bedroom ones I took after all the kids went to bed, so they aren't all that good because I was in a hurry so as not to wake them all, but you get the idea. Now remember, when you think of the "before" picture, just picture a plywood floor and drywall walls...everywhere.
This is right at the top of the stairs, as you can see. It is a nice entryway table but the entryway couldn't hold it. I think it goes perfectly...
This, of course, is the girl's room. I have since put some painted flowers and the girls' names on the walls next to their beds, but I will post that later. This room is one of my favorite.
At the end of the upstairs hallway used to be the bonus room and we divided it into 2 bedrooms. This is the one to the right, Elijah's room. This is the view of Elijah's room from the doorway and behind the Indonesian flag is an opening to a tunnel that comes out in the other boy's room.
This is the rest of Elijah's room, a little nook of sorts with a door to another "hideout" room that is right behind the dresser. This is one of my favorite rooms.
This is the far end of Levi and Titus' room. This is the window that looks out the front of the house, and it is Titus' side. Levi got first pick on where his bed would go. There you see the entrance to the tunnel to Elijah's room. It is carpeted so they don't gather all sorts of dust while going back and forth.
This is Levi's side, obviously, and it is closest to the hallway as you can see. The closet door is to the right and inside that closet is the third and final "hideout" area that is what used to be attic space. This is one of my favorite rooms.
Our room was the last bedroom to be painted and I will have to say, I love it! We have cream and brown faux fur zebra print bedding and the red, cream and brown curtains were the perfect addition. I may only be saying that because we have had absolutely zero privacy in the Master bedroom for over 2 months. I would have been crazy about Barney bedsheets on the windows, and I HATE Barney! This is one of my favorite rooms.
This is the best picture I have of our bathroom. It is one of the few works in progress, but it is leaps and bounds different than before, and the water doesn't even smell like rotten eggs...anymore. Two months of that nearly did me in.
For a few pictures of the downstairs, I will start in the entryway. This is it.
This is also it, but the color is terrible.
This is Tim's office, the first room to the right when you walk in. It will be a work in progress until we can find all the appropriate furniture and all, but it's functional.
This is the other side of that room. The piano is going to go here as soon as it gets here but I think that is low on the priority scale.
This is the family room, the room immediately to the left when you walk in the house. I wanted a warm cozy feel to the room and really love the dark brown on the walls. It is more of a dark chocolate while I would have preferred more of a milk chocolate, but apparently men do not care how difficult it is to commit to a shade of brown to match the curtains and for pete's sake just pick one already...this is what we got. This room is also a work in progress with the beams on the ceiling needing to be covered and the fireplace needing a surround. It will be a stacked stone surround that goes floor to ceiling. As I recall, it was months after moving into our last house before we had a fireplace surround. They are highly overrated anyways. Yes, I'm just saying that. No, I do not mean it.
If you notice, I haven't been able to commit on a sheer color yet. Details like that can drive me crazy. Are they important? No. But still, they can drive me nuts.
We are in desperate want for a new couch. This one has been chewed up by a dog, kids (I think) and perhaps some vermin while in storage, but since we cannot afford a different couch, I will remain in denial about that last one. Grunt. I still have some tweaking to do on decorations and all, but it's becoming quite homey.
This is a look into the breakfast area from the family room. The main project to do in here, and in the rest of this house, is to paint all the doors. Spring. I plan to do them in the spring.
Here is the powder room on the main floor. We did remove the vanity that was there and replaced it with a white pedestal sink, but it isn't hooked up yet. In actuality, the sink was from one of dad's jobs and it looks more like a glorified bird bath and I don't care for its small size, but until we have money to buy...well anything...it stays. I love this color. It is one of my favorite colors in the house.
This is the kid's bathroom and I had a lot of fun painting it. I wanted to do the whole bathroom green but in the end, thought it a bit overwhelming...this stripe thingy was a great compromise...well that is, until Tim brought up that it's done in Packer's colors. We are Bears loyalists..I promise.
We have things to do, yes, but we are tired. Right now we are going to rest in knowing that our requirements for the bank have all been met and now we can dictate what gets done and when. As I get the house cleaned up and organized and on some sort of schedule, I will take more pictures of the downstairs and let you see them. Guess what? It is next to impossible to get the house clean AND remember to take a picture of it all before it goes to pot once again. That's pathetic but true. Sort of. Until then, I hope you enjoyed the walk through our house. Stop in and see us next time you are around! We love having company.
