Inspired to paint...again!!?!?

So there are some new home happenings around our household that I haven't really shared, yet.  I've been holding out on your guys!!!

J/k.  I've just been really busy ;)

The first thing in the new and bold department it painting.  Yes, painting.  My favorite.  Although we will probably hire it out because a) we've found painters who work at a very good rate and b)  I don't want to hurt ourselves painting on vaulted ceiling staircases.  That's just a bad idea.     

In terms of color, want to warm up the entryway and upstairs hallway.  It feels kind of cold to me.  Here is a recent picture of the space decked out for fall.

Then I was on Pintrest, my new addiction, and I saw this picture:

I fell in love with the warmer color and I knew I wanted to do something similar.  But knew It had to match the connecting rooms and their paint colors.  And then I came across Toasted Wheat while playing online at Behr Paint.com.  And then I put this color board together to make sure it would all work.

Looking at it like this, I didn't realize how earthy our house colors where.  But they really are.  They aren't to scale or in the order they appear in the house, but I wanted to show how the back color, Toasted Wheat, would connect all the rooms seamlessly.  I'll have to buy a paint tester and try it out.  That's always the key.

In addition to painting, Charlie and I have also been researching couches for the redone bonus roombly:

After a failed purchase (a great deal on a couch that wouldn't fit up the stairs of the bonus room) we decided that we would have to assemble a couch up there.  The requirements are...

• It has to be around $600 or under.  Yeah, we're cheap.
• It has to be able to be converted into at least a double bed
• It has to be comfortable and kid friendly
• It has to fit the space.

The goal is to use this room as a play area for future kids/hang out.  Charlie's old office TV from back in the day will eventually go up there when there is a sweet sale on a better one.  But I digress... enter Ikea's Manstad...

I have been eyeing it for a few months now.  It's pretty much the perfect couch for the space.  And, as luck would have it, it's currently on sale at Ikea because we are part of the Ikea "Family".  Saving us about $100.  We are going to look at it tomorrow and see if we like it..and then rent a truck and buy the sucker.  And assemble it.  Joy.

Remember my red rug from the "old" living room along with the throw pillows?  They will be perfect up there.  Because they are just sitting in storage.  I'm thinking I might also put that red Ikea print up on the staircase right when you walk up... we'll see :)

So that's pretty much it around here....

Murder Mystery Party

We hosted our Murder Mystery Party this past weekend. 

It was...killer. 

For real, though.  It was really fun, and everyone really got into their characters.  The name of the party was Totally Tubular 80s Murder Mystery Bash.  I love the 80s.  Who doesn't love the 80s?

I played Polly Pingmold, a selfish, Rubik's cube obsessed, wannabe 80s prom queen who was never popular in high school, but thanks to my $50,000 lawsuit against Bo Pontana, an arrogant, stuttering quarterback, I'm not-so happily married, but very, very rich.  Charlie was my husband, Ivan Pingmold, CEO of a Ghostcatching business with a flatulence problem.  (He even found a fart app for his phone.  Awesome.)  Here we are in all our 80s glory....(yes I crimped my hair!)

Here I am playing with my Rubik's cube in the kitchen while I finished cooking...it was actually the murder weapon!

The entire gang looked totally tubular...

The most fun part of the evening was the murder.  Other parties I've been to the murder already happened and the guest's job is to figure out who the killer was throughout the night.  For this party it happens during the evening.  Bo Pontana (Ben) was *killed*.  I hid face paint under the sink, as instructed to do so in the host manual, and during the night, the murderers clues and information instruct him/her to go "die"...which he did.  Very well. 


Ben and Erika...who later on that evening told us they are expecting.  YAY!  Better save this pic for the kids ;)

 If you remember from this post, I was trying to think of decor on the cheap-o for the event.  I ended up going to the Dollar Store and the Goodwill and the table looked like this in the end...

 

Here's what I ended up getting for the party:  Ring Pops, Candy Bracelets, Pop Rocks, Fun Straws, Records as Chargers, Fun, sparkly centerpieces, Confetti, Streamers, Ugly, 80s red dress, Prom tiara $1
Charlie's 80s rocker wig ($2 at Walmart after Halloween Sale).  I spent just around $20 for everything.


Everyone got ring pops and pop rocks as favors...and way cool straws!

If you want to host your own party...you can find them here.  Gag me with a spoon!

Lawn update

The lawn is the bane of my existence.  And it embarrasses me.   Daily.  It's a sore spot for us, but we are working on it... slowly but surely.  And FYI, growing grass in the south is difficult.  Especially growing grass that looks halfway decent.  Southern lawns were meant to be filled with weeds, I think. 

We got out lawn powerseeded for the first time this fall.  And no, we didn't do it.  We hired a company.  Good thing, too because we would have done it all wrong.  We didn't realize the scope of the problem.  The worst of it was that we had to kill a bunch of Dallisgrass before we could begin the process.  It's an perennial weed that overpowers laws, and grows tall, fast, and ugly.  Really ugly.

So, now that you've had your southern grass lesson... I'll show you the pictures of our lawn after the power-seeding.  We had to "strip" it down really short and then the company came through and ripped it up further to bury the seeds.  You can just lay the seed down on top (overseeding), but on slopey areas, it doesn't hold up as well, plus covering the lawn with straw to keep the seeds protected introduces new weeds/seed into your lawn.  The downside is that it makes your lawn look worse than when you started.

 

See what I mean about looking worse?  And then, miracle of all miracles...

Grass sprouted a few days ago...  real live GRASS.

Not perfect...but it's a start :)

Here's how it went down around here...

We are so happy.  So very happy.

Halloween festivities in pictures...and a few words ;)

Charlie and his pumpkin!

We had a pumpkin carving party at a friends' house last night...it was great fun :) 

Our pumpkin.  Charlie designed and carved him...



I was busy with my friend Erika working on these..they were so good!

Let the carving begin!

Now there's a good lookin' crew!

I held on to all the rings for the carving festivities..lol!



Brittany and Seven were excited about Barbie and Star Wars pumpkins...respectively. 

  

The whole gang!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!

P.S.  Our grand total of trick or treaters was 32.  Chocolate is leftover.  This is dangerous territory, people.  Dangerous territory!

Faith

These past couple of weeks have been really eye-opening for me spiritually and and physically.  And I'm not even the one who is dealing with the real pain of loss. I haven't really been blogging for lots lately because I've felt un-inspired, and I feel like God has been quitely working on my heart.  So I let him work, and I was still.  For once ;)

A student at my school lost his father tragically last month.  When I found out, I just held his classroom name tag and cried.  For him.  For his family.  For the reasons as to why it happend.  I adore this child, and everything about him.  He's 12 and his life will never be the same. 

Then, a few weeks later, a student I taught last year died of a brain tumor.  He was in remission when I had him, and the tumors came back agressively, and he passed quickly.  He wasn't in pain when he passed, and he was able to say goodbye to his family.

I come no where near to being even close to slightly feeling the pain and loss that these families have suffered.  I can only pray for them.  But my heart is shaken, and a child's suffering is always magnified by thousands.  It is unjustifiable by earthly standards.

But by God's standards, cancer has lost because he is at peace and with Him.  I was blessed to know this little boy.  He was one of the most confident, strong people I've ever taught.  A quiet warrior.  And I will never forget him.  And I have faith he is with God.

This is my favorite song our church sings.  It's message resonates with me daily. 

Biltmore Estate

The Biltmore

Well, I don't think you were left saying "Wow, they really could have Built More"...  It was SO HUGE.  Beyond huge.  Enormously massive.  240 rooms.  The largest private residence in the United States.  It was like orchestrating a massive production every day just to run it for the Vanderbilt family.  It was very interesting to see the inside and hear the history of this home.  I was glad in the end that we got the audio guide becuase I learned a lot from it....and I actually knew what I was seeing.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so here are some pictures I found online to give you an idea of what I saw.  But trust me, it doesn't even scratch the surface.  Among my favorite rooms were....


George Vanderbilt's personal library, complete with a chess set and chess table owned by Napoleon



The wife's bedroom and dressign chamber... it was every girl's dream!



Dining hall...which is speratre from the "breakfast room" mind you.  I loved the three giant, roaring fireplaces!

But my favorite part of all were the views,  Spectacular!  Especially during fall!  The rest are all pictures I took.


Porch that you can walk on during the tour...dont' mind my headsets!

 Charlie and I also walked around the grounds, which are, literally, 100x the size of Central Park in New York.  The drive UP to the Biltmore alone is 2 miles long.  The grounds are complete with stables, a water fall, a bass lake, an archery area, and it's own golf course.  Not to mention miles of landscaped forest/gardens.

One of the many amazing gardends with beautiful mums



Charlie the bridge near where we stopped to have a picnic lunch



Beautiful lake

We loved the Biltmore, and we hope to go back one day.  There were tons of thigns we missed even though we were there all day.  Afterwards we went shopping :D :D :D, which was more like browsing, and then we went out to dinner at a famous restaurant in the area.  We came home by 9 pm so dead tired, but it was worth it. :)

Log cabin eye candy

My MIL was in town for the past couple of days, enjoying time with us and visiting to look at a home in the south.  It would be her and Chuck's winter home where they would spend part of the year...not to mention a great gathering place for the family.  She fell in love with a home online, but she wanted to see it in person.  Charlie and I took a visit last week to see what we thought, and really loved it, Charlie visited inside with the realtor, and we took a look again on Wednesday with her.  There are so many things we love about it... so I thought I would share it here.  It's not official, and no offers have been made, but it is a real contender.  Yay for sore markets, no?


Here is the inside...please excuse the exessive narration. I'm kind of an excessive talker ;) I hope I don't make you sick with moving the camera too fast!


It's got the log cabin-ey feel that they love so much, and it has such potential for family gatherings.