Two Months

We have now been in Bentonville (NW Arkansas) for two whole months! I suddenly realized this week that it is starting to feel like home now. I know my way around the area, for the most part (but I still stay in Bentonville/Rogers), and I actually know about ten people in my neighborhood. I took the kids to the neighborhood playground on Wednesday after school since it was almost 70 degrees, and four other moms with their kids showed up. I had actually met all of them, and we had such a fun little "playdate" for about an hour! It was so nice to feel that I know some neighbors.

We love the church we've been visiting, and we plan to join; however, we are still trying to find the right small group that can meet Arden's needs. The church doesn't provide childcare for small groups, and the church is set up without any Sunday school hour on Sundays. So, small groups are the only way we will meet other couples and make friends! However, it's been hard to do with Arden. She is very mobile now (walking and climbing well), so it's hard to take her to someone's house and let her roam while the adults try to do a study. The older kids all go upstairs and entertain themselves in a bonus room, but it's not working with the one year old! After a difficult last visit, we had to tear Arden off the staircase (which wasn't gated) and carry her kicking and screaming out of the group early. We spent the entire time chasing her around the leader's home and getting her off the stairs. We are back to square one now, and we are going to see if there is a group with more kids her age, so that maybe the leader's house is more childproofed, or we will see if any groups rotate adults to watch the younger kids etc. We aren't in a position where we can hire a sitter at our house on a weekly basis, and we'd like to get more involved in this church. Please pray we can find the right fit.

I've done a few house projects this week, after I began to feel better after having a respiratory infection for 8 days. I sewed a table runner for the dining room to match my new drapes, and I painted the stairwell and a wall of the dining room. I just love how a coat of fresh paint makes everything feel new again!

Hudson's preschool just added a weekly music class and a weekly Spanish class to his time there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so he is ecstatic! Please continue to pray for him, as he is still having some "night terrors" and sleeping issues. We don't know if it's just due to the move and stress, or what is causing it. He never remembers it in the morning, and he seems happy the rest of the time. It's confusing and frustrating.

I've also had a good week of "bargain shopping" on Craigslist,Ebay,and at a nearby thrift store. Here's a short list of my spoils:
1. Fisher Price Loving Family Doll House $6
2. Carson McCullers novel .75 cents
3. Bandolino leather pumps $8
4. L.L. Bean polartec fleece jacket (like new!) $8
5. Subtraction Flashcards for Owen $1
6. Brown leather bar stools, 2 for $90 (reg. $150 each)
7. Merrell youth shoes for Owen (like new) $16 (reg. $55)

Everything was like new! If you haven't tried looking at your local Salvation Army or Goodwill Stores, now is the time to start! Items change daily, and another person's junk might be your treasure. Ebay and Craigslist are always places I check first for any item I might buy. Sometimes it takes awhile, but I usually see something worth checking out. I routinely buy all of my kids' shoes used. Ebay is the best place for this since I am looking for very specific brands and sizes. Owen loves Merrell shoes, and they wear really well. This is the second pair that I've found on Ebay for around $15-16 (including shipping). Can't beat that! I have no problem with buying used, especially in this economy.

Have a great weekend!

Fun with Science

Hudson is doing the federal, preschool HIPPY program which gives parents home instruction sheets to do with your child throughout the school year. HIPPY teaches kindergarten readiness skills. Hudson LOVES doing his "HIPPY homework," as we call it. In fact, I can even use it as a bribe and say,"We're not going to do your HIPPY homework unless you ___________." It usually works.

A few weeks ago there was a great activity that Hudson just loved. If you don't do HIPPY(many of my Cabot friends do), then here are the directions. You will be teaching your child cause-effect and prediction skills. Find one shiny penny and 4 dark pennies. Show your child the different pennies and discuss the differences of how one is bright and shiny, and the others have gotten dirty. You can also discuss how the value of a penny is one cent and throw a little math in there, too.

In four different bowls, place the following ingredients: water, salt (dry), vinegar, and then vinegar mixed with salt in the final bowl. Let your child feel and smell each bowl (Hudson was grossed out by the vinegar smell). Discuss which solution/mixture your child predicts will best clean the dirty pennies (Hudson picked water).

Then put a dirty penny in each solution and let your child "wash" the penny. Do water, then dry salt, then vinegar alone. None of those will do anything. Finally, put the penny in the vinegar/salt mixture, and you will be able to watch the penny get shiny and copper colored again. It happens almost immediately, and it's really cool! Hudson said, "Wow!" Then, he wanted to clean a whole bunch of Daddy's dirty pennies!

It's cheap and easy to do, and your preschooler will have a lot of fun.

What's in your bag?

Here's a fun game for you; I saw this on another blog and decided to play too. How much does your purse really tell about you?? Here are the rules:

1. Post a picture of whatever bag you are carrying as of late. No, you cannot go up to your closet and pull out that cute little purse you used back before you had kids. I want to know what you carried today or the last time you left the house. No cheating!
2. I want to know how much it costs =). And this is not to judge. It is for entertainment purposes only. So, spill it. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I'd love to hear it.
3. Tag some friends. And link back to this post so people know why you're showing everyone your bag.

Okay, I'll go first. My purse is a brown Coach signature bag. I only own 3 purses, and I am pretty utilitarian. I usually change bags once per year (warm season/cold season). I go with a lighter straw bag or something more "summery" when it gets time to bring out the sandals and shorts. Other than that, I don't worry about matching, and I usually opt for the brown or black purses which are pretty neutral. However, I favor Coach. I like the classic style and durability.

Inside my purse is the Coach checkbook wallet, my phone, lipstick, keys, emery board, pen, wooden clothespin (?), faculty parking pass, OB, and a Swiss Army knife. Seriously, I get a lot of use out of it, especially the mini-scissors whenever I have a stray thread hanging off my outfit.

Don't judge me by the brand, people!! I am still a bargain-shopping woman, and I got this purse on Ebay! It was "gently used," and I paid $65 for it. If that sounds like a lot to you, then you should price Coach purses at Dillard's, and it was a bargain (that's what I told Stuart). It should last me a couple of years, at which time I'll get on Ebay again and bid on another one.

I think the purse and contents describe me well: classic, "champagne taste on a cheap budget," not a lot of extras, practical, organized, likes to match (note the wallet and purse are both Coach), smart. Okay, maybe it doesn't illustrate that last one!

Be brave--show us your bag!

The Dreaded Exam

Yep . . . it's time for my annual gynecology exam! Got to love it! This is the first time I've had to change doctors' offices in 13 years! I used the same practice in Little Rock (Cornerstone Clinic for Women) for a long time, and they delivered all three of my kids. So, it feels a bit uncomfortable to change doctors.

Tomorrow I meet Dr. Amy Sarver here in Bentonville. How did I find her, you ask? From TLC's "17 Kids and Counting" show about the Dugger family! Yes, I watch that show, and no, I don't want 18 kids. I still find it amazing how they work out the logistics of such a large family, though. Anyway, on the tv special where Michelle Dugger delivers their 18th child, the female OBGYN was interviewed, and I thought, "Hey, she looks nice. If the Duggers trust her, then she must be okay!" (I know, crazy logic, as Stuart would say.) I knew we were moving to this area, so I jotted down her name during the commercial break and filed it away.

So, tomorrow I'm off to meet the Dugger's doctor. It's almost like going to a celebrity doctor (Arkansas version)! And no, I'm not going to have any more children and get my own reality tv show!

Catching Up

I've been very busy lately with my job at the college starting back up again a few weeks ago, plus continuing to unpack and organize. We finally got the garage pretty well unpacked, and we are hoping to be able to park both cars in there by this weekend! We've lost random things in the move, and since we have now unpacked every single box, I don't know where they went! Maybe the people who bought our Cabot home are enjoying our spice rack, toilet plunger, 6 ft ladder, and push broom (assuming they were left behind somehow)!

I'm getting my old kids' clothes ready to sell in the NW Arkansas Rhea Lana sale that is taking place in two weeks. So, in the middle of my unpacking, I now have piles of old clothes in the guestroom that need to be tagged and entered into the computer. I usually always sell/buy at the great Rhea Lana consignment sale in Little Rock, so I was thrilled beyond measure to find out that there is a sale here too. I am hoping to buy most of Arden's summer wardrobe there. I just love consignment sales. It is so satisfying to clear out my old stuff, find bargins, and feel like I'm helping the economy and environment by recycling all at the same time!

Stuart's job is keeping him very busy, but he loves it. We are adjusting to him coming home later at night and not being able to eat dinner together very often. It's different than it was in Cabot, but we knew it would be more responsibility here (ie: he actually has an "assistant" now -- LOL).

We are enjoying Grace Point Church and plan to go through the membership classes in March to officially join. I just registered for a women's Bible study over Esther by Beth Moore, so I am hoping that will give me a way to meet more people. I've also met some great ladies in my neighborhood who invited us over for a playdate during the snow days, and then the kids went sledding. As you can tell by the pictures, we got quite a bit of ice during our recent ice storm, and the kids enjoyed being out of school for 4 days! Our neighborhood has a women's Bunco group, so I'm going to attend that next week to try to meet some more people.

On a side note -- Gymboree is having an amazing in-store sale here over President's Day. I went yesterday and walked out with lots of winter items to put back for Arden for next year (bought in larger sizes), and I averaged $4.69 per item! We're talking pants, sweaters, and dresses that retailed at $28-35! They have several racks where everything is $4.99 or under! What a deal! You might want to check out your local Gymboree and see what they have.

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.