Little Writer

Dallin loves to make up stories and books. He is always "writing" a book. Recently I came across a website called Storybird. You can use art already there and write a story to go along with the pictures. Dallin asks to do it all the time. We recently figured out how to incorporate one of his favorite car games, Back And Forth Story, into Storybird writing. Dallin selected a group of artwork and started the story. (Of course, this time I did all the typing for him. Usually he does his own typing and the sentences are very short and hard to decipher.) When he finished the first page, we could make it Russ's turn and he would get on his computer at work and write the next page. We did this a few times till Dallin was ready to finish up the story. Dallin thought it was a blast and I had to read it to him over and over again. You can read it here.

I've Started Finally

My Christmas shopping, that is.  I've started looking for online deals to get some of my shopping out of the way. I've got some good deals too, mostly clothes. This year we have decided to use the idea I am sure many of you have seen on Pinterest. Dallin is getting something he wants, something he needs, something to wear, and something to read. That is it from Mom and Dad besides PJs to wear on Christmas Eve. Santa always brings one or two things and stocking stuffers. I already got the "something to wear" from some great online clearance deals. They are summer clothes, obviously,  but he is all set for winter anyway. I also got a great deal on a lunch box since school purchases are all done. That is the "something he needs" since next year is kindergarten and if he goes it will full day. The last thing I got was the "something to read." I got the book The Lightning Thief. Has anyone read it? I was hoping since he loves listening to Fablehaven, he might like it too.  It's the toy gifts that always get me. I never know what to get. Any suggestions? What are you all getting for your kids?

Bouncing Bubble

Sorry my voice is so loud and screechy. :)
VIDEO0004 from Nicole Richins on Vimeo.

We Have Doors!

Remember what our cupboards looked like last week?

We decided it was time to go out and buy one of these.

We are now the proud owners of a drill. Because the doors to the cabinets are over 50 years old, probably not the best quality, and have been painted numerous times, they are warped. They don't lay flat or fit well on the cupboards. We ended up having to make them work using the handy dandy drill. Here is the end result.

Luckily you can't see too close. If you are looking at them as a whole, they don't look too bad. Just don't look too closely. :) Russ kept reminding me they are just temporary until we get new cabinets. I reminded him that 15 years is usually not considered "temporary."  Seems a little more long term to me, but that's ok. They really aren't that bad. They are just old and have seen better days. Either way, I think it is definitely less jump-in-your-face than the blue was. I have learned that I definitely did not marry a DIYer. He does not like it even a little bit. (But that is OK by me)

Let's Go Tomcats! Let's Go!

First football game of the season. We decided it would be fun family activity. Dallin could hardly wait. He wanted to go the moment he woke up this morning. He made sure we all had our Thiel College shirts all ready to wear. He even "dressed up" as a Tomcat. He did it all on his own. Once I saw the state of my eyeliner, I informed him I would be buying him his own for future Tomcat costumes. :)

He's got his Tomcat face on.

Dallin and Mom ready for the walk up to the college.

It was a close game. We lost, 16-13 to Juniata. Still, it was a good game and we almost made it at the very end there. I hear that this was not a normal game. Let's just say that Thiel's football record isn't the best. I don't believe they won a game last year. Yes, this was still a loss, but it was a close loss. Either way, we enjoyed it. Dallin loved getting to yell and cheer. I was surprised he got so into it. I was extra surprised Dallin made it the whole game with only needing to walk around a couple of time. As a matter of fact, he is unhappy that he has to wait 2 more weeks for another home game.

The football Russ helped Dallin to catch. He was pretty excited.

I will say, it was a hot and muggy day. Since Thiel doesn't have game lights, the games are at 1:30 in the afternoon. I didn't think about sunblock. Both Russ and I are a bit burnt, but Dallin seems fine. As I am writing this Dallin is in his room getting his PJs on, yelling "Let's go Tomcats! Let's go!" Russ is glad to have a football buddy.

Sad State Of Affairs

After 8 years of marriage, and almost as many in grad school. We were finally able to buy a home. We were so excited. I had major plans on what we could do to update our 1950 ranch. Then reality hit.  It started with our very blue kitchen. My mom came to visit and we decided to start with the country blue cabinets. Here is the before:

Here is the after:

Yup, it's not great. We had to paint and paint the yellow (I think six coats. Words of advice, three coats of primer over country blue) and after all that work my friends still asked me if they were a green color. Yup, blue and yellow make green. :) Also, for whatever reason, the hardware doesn't want to line up right anymore. Maybe it was mad about the spray paint???

So, three weeks later this is where we are at.

This leads me to the many other issues I would like to tackle one day but don't know when or how. Anyone good at removing many layers of pink carpet from a bathroom floor by any chance??? Or a carpeted kitchen? How about the water spouts that come up from a hole in our kitchen floor? I guess it is handy if you want to fill up a large bucket. I currently use it as a hook. Very vintage, right???

 

Now on to the room I would really like to makeover for my little boy, Dallin. He loves living in a house. Last week, out of the blue, he told me he hated having to live in an apartment. Then he told our neighbor how he use to "live in a very, very, very, very small apartment, now I have a HUGE house." (just to clarify,  1,100 sq ft is not huge but it feels that way to him.)

So here it goes. That is what Dallin's room usually looks like (this is embarrassing):

In case it was not completely obvious, Dallin loved stuffed animal. What in the world do I do with all of them? And yes, those awesome sheets are the same sheets my mom took to college with her. Totally vintage, right? (as long as you don't look at the holes) Our big problem is all his toys need to fit here:

Hmm....anyone else figure out kid toy storage? You could be rich. Also, what do you think of the awesome roller shaded? They grace most of our house. We did choose to remove the dingy lace curtains that were over the awesome roller shades.

One last picture:

 

Not much to see. Oh, other than the awesome pink carpet.  Ask Dallin how much he likes that. He keeps asking me to rip it out. There is hardwood underneath. And the head board is not attached. It was from craigslist and my attempted to make it look less like a prison cell.

It's a boring, messy blank slate. While it is a vast improvement over the apartment bedroom that was more storage than a place for Dallin to play, it still needs some serious help.

Dallin wanted to share what he wants to do in his room. He got a little shy after we started. And I guess there was some confusion on wallpaper and paint. it is because I keep mentioning how much wallpaper we have to remove in this house.

Dallin's Room from Nicole Richins on Vimeo.

So many possibilities, but no direction on where to start. 

My Dilemma

So I have a dilemma. Apparently, since I such a diligent blogger :), I have hit my limit of photos I can upload without paying. I am not sure what to do now.

 -I can pay $30 a year to have more space. Not my first choice.

 -I might be able to use something like Photobucket and then embed my photos. That would add a lot of steps, but it might work.

 -I could quite blogging all together. That is temping, but then I would feel like I should be journaling or scrapbooking.

 -I could start a new blog all together. That would require a new email address, which would mean either managing two or having to change everything to the new address.

 Any thoughts? I am not sure. What would you do if you were me?