Like the liiiight of the suuuun!!

So if you follow my blog you know that I have been having a rather interesting lighting situation in my office. I was going to install a new light to replace the ceiling fan with the broken light, and then after I took it down I realized that I couldn't turn it off and on independently because the light and switch are tied in with the light and switch in the boys's room. My dad is an electrician as is my uncle, let me start off with that. I know very little about electrical stuff. I mean I can replace a plug or a switch, or a light fixture, and I've even been known to install a little wiring to move a light from one place to another like I did with the stairway light, but this three-way switch stuff is beyond me. The short version of what happened to remedy this situation is that I called my dad, sent him some photos, got some information, and then decided to wait until he came for a visit hopefully around Thanksgiving so that he can just fix it. That being said, I realized that with the changing seasons it is darker than usual in here and especially so if it is gloomy and overcast like it was this morning. Yes, I have task lighting, and yes there are lights on the machines, but that only goes so far. So, I reinstalled the switches that I had taken apart and set about making the executive decision to install the new light anyway since the boys aren't in their room most of the time anyway, and when they are they like it dark like a cave so for the meantime I  will decide when the switch is off or on since my light can only be controlled with the switch. mwahahahaha! So here are some pictures, because everyone loooves pictures.

  Here is my sad, lonely, lightless ceiling with a few wires sticking out of the box.

 I wished to install this rather attractive track lighting.

 

Here are a few "suggested tools" that the box said I'd need.

Marching to the beat of my own drum, I chose to use these. 

The baby took a nap, and my lovely daughter assisted me by picking up screws when I dropped them. No, no, look where I'm pointing, it's down there. LOL! This only took like... 30 minutes?

As you can see, I have LOTS of light now. I mean it's like a shoe store up in here! I might not even need task lighting anymore. Ok, I will still need task lighting because I'm sure to stand in the way of the lights, and because these bad boys are really bright, and because they sadly put off heat which I don't like. I installed the included bulbs from the box, but I will be making a return trip to the store very soon to get some overpriced but much desired cfls. The light isn't really totally installed yet as I still have to anchor the ends of the arms, but I want to make sure that I like the locations before I go drilling and hammering anchors into the ceiling which will require a drill, a hammer (maybe) and an allen wrench. I just want to be clear that there will be additional tools needed later even though the allen wrench I think is the only one listed on the box. Anyway, installation went so well that I was able to do another project simultaneously and by the time it was to a point where I was needed, I was finished with the light. Drum roll please....

Tada! I made this set of coasters while I installed the light. Ok, ok, I didn't, the machine did, but whatever. I finished them when I was through. Now don't be a hater. Don't be all "well aren't you skilled and crafty!?!?!?!". I admit that I am a little bit of both and that today was one of those awesome days where I got really cool things done. Not only that, but something that needed to be done, and something for myself. I am proud of myself and that's all that matters. Today I am a winner! ~Kellie~

Flu shots

I have a friend that made a facebook post about the flu vaccine, and I started replying but thought it got kinda long for a facebook reply, but plenty short for a quick blog post, so here goes. I'm sure that there are people out there who seriously benefit from the flu vaccines. They probably really save lives, but in my opinion that's more for the "young and elderly" and the "at risk for some other reason"people. I have never gotten the vaccine, nor have my kids, and we have never been seriously ill from the flu. OK, I admit that there are about two days out of the year where every person in this house is near deathly ill, (sometimes all at once for the win!) but people get sick sometimes even with a normal immune system and vaccinations. My theory is that there are many many strains of the flu and though you get vaccinated for the "most popular one that year", it does not mean that you won't get another milder strain or some mutant strain that results from the popular strain's determination to live and make people miserable. My dad got the flu shot one year many years ago and was the sickest with the flu he'd ever been, and he's one that never gets sick. My mom got the flu shot last year and she still had a touch of the flu. I'm not a medical technologist like my sister, (really, she's the head of the lab in my home town) so I don't know what makes a cold different from the flu, but in my lame attempts to figure it out I have concluded that both are just one of those things that we as humans must endure. Other animals can get the flu, I just wanna point that out. That's how we wound up with this big rabbit cage when I was a kid and.... just go with me here, it really happened. Anyway, every year our pediatrician asks if we want the vaccines and we always say no and he just says ok. I'm pretty sure he thought my explanation that first year was stupid so he just says ok so that he doesn't have to hear my ridiculous conspiracy theory on it, and that's basically what it is. I don't judge people who get the flu shot, that's their choice and it might be the best choice for them and I support that, I'm just saying that I don't get the flu shot because I have this ridiculous theory. ~Kellie~

Friend or Faux?

Let me start off by saying that I know a few people that I consider friends, and a larger number that I consider fauxs. You know the ones, you are forced or expected to be friends with them due to association and not because you really like them. I mean you might really like them, but the real connection just isn't there. I think that in reality, we only really have one or two real friends  and lots of close or not so close acquaintances. I think that a really real friend is someone that you'd drop what you were doing to help, even if it was really inconvenient, far away, and late at night. If you had to hop a plane at 3 a.m., you'd do that if they needed you. I can only honestly think of one person that I'd do that for and that's Henry. I have a few other friends that I'd probably do that for if it was an emergency. Be honest, and you know who you are, would you hop a plane at 3.a.m. for me  if it weren't an emergency? If I was just bent out of shape upset for something other than a death or serious injury, would you come to console me or just talk it out over the phone and wait until morning before another phone call to make absolutely sure that I needed you there? Anyway, after now seeming like a complete ass to several of my friends... I feel the need clarify something here.

*Real Friend... You'd drop everything at any time to be with them no matter what. They are like family without actually being blood related. Honestly I have some family that I'm not even this close to.
*Really Close Friend... You'd help them out anytime depending on what it was, and even then you'd be super likely to just help them out anyway.
*Friend... You'd help them out if it was mostly convenient unless it was an emergency in which case you'd help them out at any time.
*Close Acquaintance... You'd help them out if it was convenient. 
*Acquaintance... You're pretty sure that they have people who fit into one of the above categories so you're not really worried about them.
I'm going to add another category here, and that is...
*Virtual Friend... You care about them from afar, you're concerned about them because they are human (at least you're pretty sure they are), you miss talking to them online, but you may or may not really know this person. If something happened in their life, you probably send an e-card (which might be more than you'd do for that acquaintance above).

Anyway  all of this comes about because I was making a little get together list via facebook, the creator of seriously faux friends, and I noticed that someone that I had previously been "friends" with was no longer a "friend". Now I have my assumptions about this and I almost messaged said person and asked wth, but then I realized that they weren't really a friend at all so why did I care. If I had messaged them, it would have only been to say "I just wanted you to know that I know" and then I'd have probably gotten into some discussion with them and we may or may not have ended up being "friends" again. I have to admit that I was a tiny bit stunned for a split second and then I was over it. I've had to resist the urge to send the above message a lot lately, mostly because of Henry's job change, but whatever.  I have to admit that I have one really close friend that I routinely leave out of "guest lists" because I talk to her so much I just assume that she knows what I'm thinking and she'll just show up anyway. Bahaha, if you're reading this really close friend, I hope you're laughing too.

I suppose that's all of my rant for this morning. I think I'm going to go prune my "friends" list again as I'm still feeling the need to simplify. Before long I'll just be living in a hut in the jungle with only possessions that I can carry on my back or in a rickshaw pulled by my children. ~Kellie~

  

We have a (mostly) finished wall in the office!

It's been a long time coming, but we finally  have a mostly finished wall in the office. It's not really what we originally intended to put up there, but whatever. It was immediate, cheap, clean, mostly pre-finished, and as my neighbor says "Nothing is ever more permanent than that which is meant to be temporary", so I chose something that was pretty while I was at it. :)

Here's what we started with this morning. Now you can see why I just wanted to put something up there. I mean I was thrilled just to have a real wall, but as progress goes it was time to move along. I started out by removing the plastic from the wall, the ceiling strip that held  the plastic up, and then I got to work removing all those staples (why did I put in so many staples?!). I also had to get out a handy little specialty saw and trim some of the shims at the top of the wall.

After all that, here's what I had, a clean, fresh, wall-o-studs. I'm going to add here that I haaaate popcorn ceilings. You may or may not be able to see the little section that is nearly popcorn free, that happened when we put the wall up, but when I took the plastic down little bits of that crap went everywhere. It was all I could do to restrain myself from stripping it all down. I'm pretty sure that that will happen in another month or so or in the spring at the very latest. Baby steps, baby steps. On a side note, see that stupid ceiling fan? Yeah, it's going tomorrow. The light broke and I've hated it since I installed it due to said crappy light.

So here's the wall all covered in some lovely faux beadboard. Now I wouldn't usually go for such a thing, but in our tiny little office and given the fact that it's only on one wall, I think it's cute. Yes I know that there is a huge gap at the top and bottom, and yes I see the crack where the panels meet (yes this is paneling) and yes I also see the little nail holes. The crack between the panels actually looks way worse than it is due to the fact that only the front of the panel is white so you see the brown edge. Baby steps, I'm just glad there is something there other than plastic.In due time I will get some putty and fill those holes and some trim to finish it off.

All in all, I don't think it's too shabby. Tomorrow I will replace that stupid ceiling fan with my sweet track lighting, and maybe if I feel particularly motivated, I will sneak off and get some trim to cover that gap at the top because it's gonna drive me nuts, I just know it. I might even start to putty, I dunno. I'm pretty sure that no matter what color I eventually paint the rest of the office (maybe a nice light green?) I'll leave the "beadboard" white because I think it looks better in that color. On a random side note, I also got to use the air nailer today and if I install trim tomorrow I will get to use it again. :) Thinking more on it, I'll probably just wait to add the trim because I need to add trim all the way around the room and I'm just not ready to do that yet. Just try not to look at it if you visit. :) ~Kellie~

Too early starts

At 6:45 this morning I finally made it out of bed to deal with the baby who had been crying since 6:30 when his daddy came into our room to get dressed for work. I have to admit that it's always nice to see him first thing in the morning, even if he is about to leave me with the remainder of this post. :-p So I stumble to the baby's room and feed him, that always makes us happy. We get to snuggle for a few minutes and both wake up a little, then comes the diaper change which is now a trick sometimes as he has become fascinated with the light switch near the changing table. He hasn't managed to turn it on yet and I'm thankful for that, I don't think either of us would be prepared for the shock of it. By the time I get his diaper changed, his sister is creeping into the room. She's cute in the mornings though being a creature of habit, if her routine requirements are not met within a timely manner they become demands.
I make it to the kitchen and realize that the boys have left their door open and are presumably playing a video game with some loud obnoxious music that I'm sure their father would approve of, but it drives me nuts. I close the door and move on. I get the baby set up with some food, get the girl set up with her routine things: her shows, a cup of milk, and this morning, her favorite breakfast food, gummies. Don't judge me, it's still super early and the milk at least is healthy. She still won't eat cereal and the number of things that I view as suitable for early morning that she doesn't turn her nose up at is slim. Anyway, my salvation this morning is a hot cup of yesterday's coffee, some smooth Etta James, and this blog. I can hear the boys making noises that sound like fighting Tasmanian devils through the wall. I really must finish my side soon to offer more of a noise barrier. I'm pretty sure that K is in the living room singing into a microphone, it's sort of garbled so I'm not 100%. I have to go to the grocery store today with at least 1/2 the kids, and I'm hoping that it's just too early for the sun and that it's not really gloomy like rain outside.
I'm moving on to another Etta song and pondering what we're going to eat the remainder of this week. I really want to stay home and work all day since I lost part of yesterday being domestic with cleaning and laundry and such. I still haven't folded it, fail. I remember as a kid I was always an early riser, I mean like before daylight. I was almost always in bed before 8 because I was just plum tuckered out. When I say kid, I mean jr. high/high school age. I'm pretty sure it continued into my mid twenties. I really don't think this dislike of abrupt early morning starts began until I hit 30. I used to think that mornings like this were a myth. At least when I was an early rising kid I was up and quietly out of the house so that my parents could enjoy the morning in peace. I came back in at a suitable hour when my mom would make breakfast and then I was out again until lunch. Obviously these were my Saturday and summer hours as I did go to school despite the fact that we lived on a farm. Maybe that's the problem with my kids, we live in a subdivision, we have cable, there's more than one of them... huh, I've never really thought about that until now.
Since it's been about 20 minutes of Etta and hot coffee, I think I am now ready to face part of my day. I'm still not ready to get out of my pajamas and leave the cave, don't rush me, I'll get there, eventually. ~Kellie~

Shedding

There's alot I could say here, but I'm gonna keep it short-ish. I've been thinking for a while about things that make me happy and things that don't. Recently I've given these things more thought than usual. For starters, we decided to relocate our dog. We didn't "get rid of him", because that would imply things that were not true. We felt that we weren't doing the best we could for him. When we got him we had 3 kids and life was easier. As he grew up, much to our surprise he was super playful. We were totally expecting him to just lay on the couch like our previous dog, but that wasn't his nature. There was nothing in the world wrong with him, it really wasn't him, it was us, so we decided that rather than tell him "no play" all the time we'd find him a home preferably with another dog that he'd get along with and humans that had time to throw his drooly ball over and over and over. We found a great couple with a French Bulldog named Murphy. They brought Murphy with them when they came to see Bromley and they instantly hit it off. Murphy wasn't afraid of him and Bromley really got a kick out of another dog. His new human mom sends me text pics and updates to let me know that he's ok, and we are free to visit him if we want to. I miss that dog every day and I feel like I failed him, but in the end I know that he's happy with humans to play with him and a doggy friend to hang out with.
Another major change came with Henry's job. It's a long story and I don't want to get into it, but he decided that it was time for an employment change. He's really happy with his new job even though it's twice the drive that his last one was. I don't think the drive bothers him but I don't care for it. Aside from that I like the new job too. It's a job. People go there to work. That's all.
I've also been giving some thought to little things that bug me. Like all those groups and pages I somehow got into on facebook and all those newsletters that come via email. I've been an unliking, unsubscribing, no thank you kind of fool today. I have more to do tomorrow. I don't need to be tempted by things I don't have time for. Speaking of that, I have suckered, my mom has graciously volunteered to help me finish a ton of projects that I have hanging around the office. I intend to take them to a craft fair that I have yet to apply to and sell the crap out of them. I hope I come home with empty boxes and a wad of cash.
All of these things are kinda like spring cleaning except it's fall. I fire up the pumpkin candle, which has no wic anymore so I'm left putting chunks of it into my warmer thingies, and purge away. Most of this purging is nothing personal, just time to lighten the load. I have my real friends, and enough ideas and projects to keep me busy for a long time. I don't need any more of either. That's not being mean, it's just how I feel. Keep it real! ~Kellie~

Keeping up with the Jones' (part II I think)

I've struggled with something for a long time. I've said people were wrong about it and criticized them for their decision. If you're one of those people, I'm sorry, the light just came on and I realized some things. Here's my struggle, and some of you no doubt have the same one, why can't we have what they have. This is in reference to one specific point, and that is housing. I will break this down into categories. I am not naming names though some of you will undoubtedly be indirectly pointed out, you'll know who you are. Most of my female friends are SAHMs, which will come into play in this. Most of us make approximately the same amount of money unless otherwise noted (you'll see why).

Category One: Good location Close to the office, crappy house

Henry and I and some of our friends fit into this category. We chose proximity to the office over a super nice, well finished house. The plan was deliberate since we didn't want to live with someone else's high end choices that we didn't really care for. You know, you looove the house except that one thing that  you're not sure what they were thinking. We had great aspirations to update/upgrade things, and we still do, but life gets in the way and you end up dealing with things that you don't really like because you don't have time or money to fix it. When you see a friend's house that is all nicely finished, you think to yourself, "man, I wish WE had that". This friend might live in another town, which will bring me to the next category. My opinion: He's happy with the 12 minute (24 minutes/day) commute, She's gotta look at a house she doesn't love 18 hours/day, but they get to spend extra time together. This category is great if both of you need to get out and about alot. Everything is close. If you don't need to get out much (like me) it makes little difference except in the evenings when everyone is tired and hungry and homework has to be done and dinner made, then it's nice to have an extra set of hands.

Category Two: Farther from the office, great house

I have friends who fit into this category. They live in a town a little farther away from the office than us, the commute gets a little sloooow at times, but they have a really nice house. They don't have to fix anything, and everything is pretty and nice if not new. They chose a nice house over proximity. My opinion: She's happy with a great house 18 hours/day, his drive is sometimes crummy at 25+ minutes/day one way (waaay more time if the weather in inclimate because people here don't know how to drive in rain much less snow), and they spend a little less time together. This is one category that I have been highly critical of. Now that the light has come on, I'm thinking this might not be such a bad idea. You get more for your money house wise if you're farther from the office, but does that really make up for less time together? I guess it depends on how crummy the traffic is. I've also said that you save on mortgages, but you pay the difference in auto upkeep and gas, and then there's that pesky time thing again. Anyway, given my current situation, I think I'd seriously consider this category if I had it to do all over again.

Category Three: Far from the office, house you may or may not love, but you do/have other things

I have friends that fit into this category as well. They live really far away by my close commuting standards, the traffic is awful, he gets home super late sometimes, sometimes the kids don't really see him, they aren't totally in love with their house, but they have alot of land, or they go on great vacations, or they send their kids to private schools, or they have some other thing that they are willing to sacrifice for. My opinion: He hates the drive, She hates the house, they spend little time together, but they have something that makes up for it? I still don't get this group. I can't think of anything that is worth both of us being unhappy with things 5-7 days/week. There may be something super awesome about that location that I'm semi unaware of, but still I will never fall into this category. Don't be mad if you're one of my peeps who falls into this group. I love you but I haven't totally figured you out yet,

Category Four: Close to the office, great house, but...

This was the last category that I came to realize. I have friends who fit into this category and I've been beating my head into the wall trying to figure out how they do it. As I said earlier, we all make somewhere near the same salary, so how is it that they can afford this? I know some of my friends do a different mortgage length than us and that could explain it, but then it hit me, the people who fit into this category BOTH work. She may or may not stay home with the kids, but she had a part to full time job. Like a something that makes money job, not just changing diapers and such. My opinion: He loves the commute, She loves the house, they spend alot of time together, but she has to work. This might work because the kids are in school/daycare, or maybe they're just self sufficient, or maybe she works in the evenings or on weekends, or whatever. The down side to this is that if she works outside the home and has to do it on alternating schedules from him so that all of her paycheck isn't spent on daycare, their time together gets squashed.

My point to all this is that I realized I don't/can't have it all right now because my situation is different. In a few years, I will have the opportunity to be like the ladies in group four and I can fix my crappy house, but until then, I just have to suck it up and do the best I can with what I've got.

~Kellie~