Sunday Well Spent

'Twas the day before Monday, when all through the house,
Complaints came from everywhere (including the spouse).

Dad was sick of the whining, and I was losing my temper,
But I figured there was a solution just right for September.

So with Ed on his Hog, and I on my scooter,
We geared up the kids to go putz and pooter...

Then we motored and scootered till our derrieres were sore
And Eureka! It was working! It was curing the “bores”!

Rivers and Mountains, lake, pond and stream
Were just some of the highlights seen by the adventurous team

And we continued this trek ‘til our tanks all read empty
But it was worth it, in the end, to see smiles aplenty!

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head...

Which would be fine if you're Burt Bacharach circa 1969.
But it's a very bad thing if you're me, circa now and standing in the basement and the raindrops smell suspiciously of peepee.


Long story short: The upstairs toilet overflowed and the water went south in a BIG way. It was a nightmare. In such a situation it is almost impossible to decide what to do first: Sop up the gallons and gallons of water on the hardwood floor in the bathroom to try and save them from warping or rush downstairs and sop up all of the gallons and gallons of water threatening to ruin your BRAND NEW CARPETING?


Lucky for us we have quick thinkers 'round these parts! While I did my best to de-flood the bathroom, Ed was already downstairs trying to soak up the water that had cascaded through the drop ceiling. AND HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A CORONARY!! (That's forward progress my friends!)

Once the majority of the water was as soaked up as we could get it, I went to town with my Bissell "little green" and got almost every drop of water sucked up out of the carpet!

The only major damage was done to the drop ceiling tiles, and I'm sure matching those up will be nightmarish, but considering what COULD have happened had we not acted quickly, we're pretty fortunate.

PS: Allie, I'm pretty sure that tops a bit of spilled milk! LOLOLOL

Diana's Girly Room

Separating Dominick and Diana earlier this year was tough. They've shared a room for always, but Ed and I felt like it was time to give them their own breathing room. Dominick took over Christina's old room, and Diana kept the room they'd shared as their nursery.

The original room (as kind of shown in the photo) was done in blue & green with a barnyard border and themed room. The drapes from Pottery barn were a perfect match and we thought the room was gender neutral enough for a both Dom and Diana to enjoy. And they did, for 3 years.


BEFORE:


Trying to decide how to "girlify" the room for Diana was tricky. I was dreading repainting the room (which had been florescent pink when we acquired the house) and after weeks of looking at paint samples, my eyes simply glazed over. And, if I'm being truly honest with myself the thought of painting over that particular room gave me heart pangs. How do you paint over the last little thing you have left over from the "baby days"?

Luck, however, was with me! After scouring the Internet I came across an adorable wallpaper border that coordinated with the existing paint perfectly! My heart rejoiced: I would not have to paint over years of happy memories in the nursery. (And then Ed's wallet rejoiced: I would not have to spend his money at Benjamin Moore!)

After hanging the wallpaper, we moved in Brooke's old bedroom suite, bought some linens and TA DA: (There is still much to be hung on the walls, but we'll acquire all that along the way...)

AFTER:

And, of course, Lady Di loves her new digs: