Paint: My Friend and Foe

I've been doing a lot of painting lately. I guess that comes from moving into a house that had been lived in by two other families, so it has its share of scuffs and dings. For me, there is nothing like clean walls to make a house feel fresh, so I have been walking around with my touch up paint every day. I am usually pretty rigorous about wiping handprints off walls, teaching my kids not to touch the walls, and routinely using touch up paint. Everyone who toured my Cabot house when it was on the market thought we had just repainted all the walls and couldn't believe that we had three kids and had lived in it for 5 1/2 years. It's all about how to camouflage, people! LOL!

The good thing about living in a preowned home is that I am not as paranoid about messing up anything. You know how it is when you have a brand new house (or car); you don't want a single ding, dent, nail hole, or blemish to "ruin" your perfect canvas. Remember the days when you parked your new car in the back field of the Walmart parking lot, so no one would ding your doors? When I lived in two previous new construction houses, it felt a lot like that. I was scared to nail anything at the wrong height and end up with an extra hole. I didn't want to use paint in case it wasn't perfect.

However, in this house, I feel the freedom to try anything. If the wall is already dirty and scuffed, nothing I can do is going to make it worse! I have actually hammered quite freely and realized that a little spackle and more touch up paint will blend right in.

During this process, I have had some good and bad days with paint. First, let's discuss the bad: chameleon paint. How can paint look good in one house, and then the EXACT color look horrible in another house? It doesn't make any sense. I had Arden's green paint from her Cabot bedroom duplicated in two gallons for her new room here. The paint was the exact formula, brand, etc. as before, but now it looked like Aqua Fresh toothpaste on the walls (or neon mint chocolate chip ice cream) instead of "fresh, delicate green." Trust me, subtle shabby chic decor did not look good mixed with neon green! Stuart and I couldn't figure out what went wrong; I had to stop the painter after just one wall and tell him I was getting different paint. Then, I spent the next two days looking at every green paint swatch in Behr, Benjamin Moore, Ralph Lauren, and Sherwin Williams. We got brave and just started applying the paint in sections to Arden's new bedroom, so pretty soon she had a green rainbow painted around the room. After the Aqua Fresh color was already on, we didn't care what else we did to the walls! However, we weren't having any luck. Literally, every green color we bought would look great in one type of light but turn colors in different lighting. Some greens become yellow, some turned into blue tint, some were too gray. It was a nightmare. I even went "pink" for awhile, but that was a challenge since I didn't want a room that looked like bubble gum. Finally, Stuart found the perfect green -- which wasn't even called green (the name is "mellowed ivory"). It's another chameleon paint that turns into green once applied! Now, Arden's room is finally painted and looks just like I dreamed it would (see picture above). However, we are out $150 for green paint in eight various shades!

The good side of my painting experiences has been getting a good match on the existing color and doing touch up painting. Since I was left cans of original builder's paint from Sherwin Williams with the formula on the cans, I easily was able to get more matched from the same store location (which still had the builder's formula in the computer). This has allowed me to paint "corner to corner" on only the worst walls and not paint the entire room, and you can't tell. Plus, the paint has been so close, I can actually "dry brush" the paint on corners of walls, above baseboards, etc. to cover scuffs without painting the whole wall, and you can't see the paint lines. To do this successfully, test a small area first. Plus, it helps if the following items are done:
1. have extremely closely matching paint of a good quality
2. use a good quality paint brush to eliminate brush marks
3. use a dry brush with very, very little paint to "dry brush" over light scuff areas
4. it works best with FLAT paint with no sheen

I have now painted all the lower walls in three bathrooms, kitchen, and the foyer, plus I have painted all the baseboards with semi-gloss in those same areas. It's been rewarding to see the walls freshen up before my eyes! Maybe all the new paint will help camouflage the dust I haven't been cleaning . . .

Decorating Sneak Peeks

Here are a few projects that I've been up to in the new house. Here are some sneak peeks of the upstairs bonus room and upstairs boys' bedroom. Also, a sneak peak of my favorite new purchase -- Arden's chandelier for her bedroom. See the double mirror trick? Got the idea from Nester at Nesting Place.

On her way to womanhood . . .

Arden is definitely understanding her role as a woman . . . she's got bad hair days, sorts (umm. . .eats?) the laundry, and shows off her finest holiday attire!

A Bump in the Road

It began like a normal phone conversation, then my mother said, "I found a lump in my breast, and I had a biopsy done this week." My head immediately began spinning. This sounded all too familiar. "It's cancer," she ended shakily.

It is almost exactly two years after my dear father died of cancer. I can't even believe how surreal this all feels. I remember the diagnosis of my dad's cancer around Christmas in 2004. I had left Hudson who was only four months old with Stuart's mom in order to rush to San Antonio for my father's emergency neurosurgery which confirmed the diagnosis. Life has never been the same since.

My mom has a consult with the surgeon on Tuesday to discuss what to do, treatment options, etc. We won't know the stage or aggression of the cancer until lymph nodes are investigated. Please pray for wisdom and peace during this time of uncertainty.

I feel like my family has barely gotten over my father's death, and it is overwhelming to have to face cancer again so soon. The journey is still too raw, and I can still remember the bad parts of his final days all too clearly. I don't want to allow my mind to go down the road of the "what if's," and I'm trying to think positively.

My mother's mother (my maternal grandmother) died from breast cancer while in her forties, so my mother has always been vigilent about mammograms and preventative care. Now that my own mother has been diagnosed, there is possiblity that breast cancer in my family is due to a hereditary gene mutation. We are hoping that my mother will be able to get the genetic testing done this next week to see if she has the BRCA1/BRCA2 gene in order to help her decide whether she should elect more radical treatment as a prophylactic option due to her family history. If her genetic test comes back postive, then my sister and I will have to decide if we want to pursue genetic testing (which would then be covered by my insurance) to see if we also have the gene (I think there would be around a 50% chance I would have it, if my mother tests positive), and then we would have to make some decisions on prophylactic treatment options if we are found to be carriers. From what I've been reading, women who are shown to carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have up to an 80% chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime.

God is in control. I believe He is the same today with this news as He was yesterday. As a friend reminded me today, God was in control of my recent move which takes me further away from my mother at this time. He orchestrated the events so obviously to bring us to Bentonville, and He knew she would be diagnosed with cancer at this time. There can't be any regrets if we trust that God is in control. So, please pray for us as we navigate this bump in the road. Please pray that the cancer is in early stages and will respond well to treatment. Pray for wisdom as my mother has to decide what course of treatment she desires, and pray that the genetic testing does not show that she carries the breast cancer gene.

We trust in Him.

Arden is ONE!

So full of spunk . . . she's got a red-haired personality! She's in the 98th percentile in height and almost 32 inches tall! She has decided to boycott baby food this week in favor of feeding herself finger foods, and she is off formula and on whole milk. She's cuddly, silly, and a little joker already. She loves to play peek-a-boo and is walking about 12-15 steps in a row now. She is cutting her 10th tooth, and it's not been fun! Arden hates bows and dresses (so much for my girly girl!). She rips the bows out as soon as they are in place, and the dresses get in the way when she's crawling which makes her mad. We're thinking she's got some tomboy genes in her! Where has the year gone? Happy belated birthday, baby girl! You have blessed us beyond measure already.

Quick Update -- We moved!

We arrived on Monday night . . . very late. We stayed in Stuart's rental house which was furnished for the first two nights. The movers unloaded all day on Tuesday, and we haven't found any significant damage to anything so far. We were pleased with our movers and felt they worked hard and did a good job.

The move has been the hardest one physically that I've had yet. It is so much more work to move with three kids (vs. just one child the last time we moved). With a 12 month old, it is hard to get much unpacking done since she is underfoot and clingy a lot. I'm used to furiously unpacking and seeing some semblance of order in a few days, but not so this time. We had a huge semi-truck of belongings delivered, and we are still trying to locate missing boxes in the mass of clutter in the garage.

Nothing is decorated yet or even completely unpacked, and it is driving me crazy, as clutter makes me stressed out. I can't relax yet or feel at home until I have everything in its place. It is making me edgy, so please pray for patience as we get through the next few weeks of unpacking.

The house has its pros and cons. We like the layout and the floor plan. The neighborhood has seemed quiet so far, and the boys enjoyed playing on the neighborhood playground yesterday when it actually got all the way up to 70 degrees! That was a nice treat after a lot of cold weather.

I'm adjusting to living in a pre-owned home after being spoiled by having lived in brand new construction in my previous two houses. It's not perfect, and the previous owners had a different definition of "clean" than I do, so I've gone through about six Mr. Clean Magic Erasers so far! I have a handyman coming over this week to begin to work on my "punch list" of projects for the house which involve minor repairs and some painting and woodworking projects (the old owners had a dog that ate woodwork).

We attended church this morning at Grace Point and just love it. The people we've met are very nice and friendly. The kids are adjusting well so far, and Owen begins his new school tomorrow. Please pray for an easy transition for him.

I'll update again soon . . . with pictures!

Crazy Days!

My great idea of Christmas shopping without any kids last week came to a screeching halt when the local schools closed for TWO DAYS due to a mild ice storm! It was quite crazy because on the second day, all the streets were clear and dry. Everyone I know was frustrated that school was still out. I finally went shopping with Arden on Friday morning, and Stuart is still wrapping up buying kids' gifts today (yes, three days before Christmas!).

On top of that, Arden has now gotten another bad cold with yucky nose and crankiness. She has also had a really bad diaper rash for almost two weeks now, so I am taking her to the pediatrician today to get that checked. The boys have never had one that wouldn't clear up, and hers is pretty bad. From what I've read, it might have turned into a yeast rash that needs medical treatment. I hope we can get her feeling better before we travel for Christmas on December 24.

We closed on the Cabot house today and are in the midst of taking everything off the walls and doing touch-up painting, etc. It will be a crazy remaining six days to get everything loaded up, but we are excited that the end is near!

Keep us in your prayers, and please pray that Arden gets better and no one else gets sick this week!

P.S. I must make sure I dress Arden in more pink because she has been mistaken for a boy three different times this week when I've had her out!