One reason I find it hard get anything done...

... is because this cute little cat is always in my way, demanding love! :o)

Happy Valentine's Day

May yours be filled with everything sweet...

And may you be surrounded by those that love you dearly.

Be Our Guest...

I was thinking the other day about things that we have and haven't done with the house and it occurred to me that I haven't posted any real "after" pictures of the things we worked on.

Remember the guest bathroom upstairs? Pepto walls, brown tile, nasty vanity and plastic baseboards? Yeah. Well, without further ado, here's the after pictures!

Gatsby "using" the new toilet in the guest bath as a place to take a bath...
The wonderful, wonderful old tub. I LOVE it. It is so awesome to soak in because it is deep, you can lay back and rest your head and because it is cast iron, it holds the heat in very well. Now, if anyone out there has experience in putting up those shower curtain thingies that hang from the ceiling and walls let me know. Our ceilings are 10 ft and the position of the tub is different than most, so it poses a huge problem in the shower unit department.
Wainscoting and a towel rack - with my lovely centennial tea towel!
Gatsby on the green toilet - it is not as efficient as you might think...

Lil' Henri shows off the tile floor. Not the original wood (which we wanted but was in too rough of shape) or the hexagonal tiles (WAY too expensive for our budget), but it looks slightly older and you can walk on it without fear of getting tetanus or some other strange disease!

Yay! Sideways shots! Here's the sink.
And a very bad picture of the washstand from the flea market my mom/Grams bought for us to put up here. I really love it though. I considered stealing it from the bathroom and putting it somewhere else, but it really does best in here and dresses things up nicely.
I think it came out great!!!!

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's an.... Art Studio!

Yes! It's true! No more Humbling Room! I now have a fully functioning art studio (minus the correct size table and the free chalkboard that's in Millbrook, but we're getting there) that inspires me and feels like MY space! It is probably the best gift that I received in 2008.

My Dad and my husband spent many hours and worked very hard to bring me this studio before the close of 2008, and I could have been more pleased. I've gone around the house gathering up several thing here and there that I love, but have never really fit in their current room or spot and now they do!

I have ample work space with the counter tops, a good amount of storage (though a mixed media artist can NEVER have too much storage!), different work stations and I am surrounded by inspiration!

See the lovely view? It is on the second story so I feel like I am in a tree house looking down on everything in the neighborhood.

I believe that the only new things we bought for the studio were the counter tops and the storage bins. It is so nice to have everything in its own little box. SO much easier to find, too. I used to have to shove things out of the way or dig through boxes to find one tiny thing. Now they all have there spot.

The cabinets were the old kitchen cabinets and everything else was from somewhere around the house were it didn't fit. Even this chandelier. My Dad gave it to me about 5 or 6 years ago. It was out of an old office they had. It used to hang in the front room of my old house (the little house) and we brought it with us when we moved. It does for the room what icing does for a cake!

Oh, and let's not forget the animals. They love it too! They are allowed anywhere I am not currently working and the dogs even have their own bed up in the room too.

I love it! THANK YOU DADDY AND SAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Art You Glad?

As usual, things are as busy as they can be here at the house of many feet. We are really enjoying celebrating Christmas in the "new" house this year, and just in general. It's just a wonderful time!
We are also in the process of having the art studio floors refinished (YAY), which means one day I will actually be able to unpack the boxes of my supplies and create and teach again. I can't tell you how excited I am even though the floors are taking forever to dry due to the humidity and we are high on polyurethane. It is a blessing that the weather is warm for us because we can keep the windows and doors open to let the house air out and let the animals be out of doors.
I got a call yesterday about a possible commission as well - how cool is that?! (Yes, Mama, I know I am to do Aunt Shari's painting FIRST). And it doesn't even include an animal!
Here are progress pictures, because I know that's all you really want!
The Room Formerly Known as "The Humbling Room" :

The beautiful floors!

Sam helping to plan the layout of the studio under the careful supervision of Gatsby.
My fun project for reusing the glass jars our recycling program does not accept - Mint Mocha Drink Mix for presents! I made it myself!

The Big White Kitten Nod of Approval

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

My home (the little house) used to look more like this:


But now, it has descended into this:

Yes. Boxville. In every room in the house. This is how I am living now. We are moving Monday, so I won't be posting much, if at all until late next week. I am still working at the barn and construction is still on-going at the Foursquare. It has all become a huge juggling act.

Now, granted, we are only moving five blocks down and two blocks over, but still... it is not exactly "easy as pie." Some of us are making the best of this box forest, though!

Say a prayer for our twenty feet or wish us moving mercies!

Head 'em up! Move 'em out! RAWHIDE!

Random Thoughts...

I guess I haven't posted with previously noted fervor over the past two weeks due to illness and starting a new job. I've been either here or there, cleaning the kitchen or making dinner and the like. The new job is horseback riding lessons, which is fun and rewarding, but also a huge change in pace for me since I have been working from home for a while now. Plus, my brain is a little fried from doing so many lesson plans... I don't know how teachers and homeschoolers do it all!
Lesson plans for this week:

1. Private art lesson for rambunctious 7 year old that must include learning one of the elements of design while having fun
2. Private art lesson for calm, type A personality, artistically talented 4 year old that will include concepts and instructions that she can understand while having fun with art
3. Riding lesson for 5 y. o. boy on a horse that won't budge that must be safe, yet very fun
4. Riding lesson for 5 y. o. girl who's mother stands beside you the whole time and caused the last instructor to loose her job (oh, no, I'm not nervous at all...)
5. Riding lesson for 6 y. o. girl who's mother wants her to learn every possible element of horseback riding that will give her every advantage in the world before they move in one month
6. Hunt-Seat Riding lesson for teenage girl who has put me on this huge pedestal (I haven't ridden hunt-seat in about two years...). If I don't satisfy her English riding needs, the family may relocate to another barn, causing my barn to loose about 600.00 a month - no pressure!!!
7. Group Riding lesson for 3 girls, 11, 12 and 17 (the 17 y. o. has never ridden before - the other girls are way ahead!!!).
8. Riding lesson for girl I have never met and cannot pronounce her name
9. Overall curriculum for 5 day horse camp this summer that I will be running, to be presented to management ASAP
10. Whatever else might come up this week...

Please let me just say that of all these children I am currently teaching (except for 2 that I have not met yet), I truly have no complaints with them. They are all sweet and as obedient as children can be. I love kids and I love teaching. It's just coming up with all of these different plans, none of which have the same objectives or method of execution...

And also, we are still in the throws of negotiation with the little cottage house that we currently live in. It's beginning to get a little ridiculous, if you ask me. We are at the point were it is make or break and we have to consider that the house may not get another offer anytime soon at which we will have to rent it out - NOT at all what we want, but we can't keep paying two mortgages. Oh, and I was sick for about two weeks. I knew I was sick and probably needed some meds, but I had to go to work, which wore me out all the more. Plus, I felt it really was just a cold and my body needed to fight it off on my own. Had it not been for my dear, sweet husband buying Pride and Prejudice on DVD (the Colin Firth/ Jennifer Ehle edition) I may have not been inspired to move at all those two weeks and would have sunk into a bored stupor (we packed up all of our books for the move). Oh yeah, and we are renovating the Foursquare and packing up this house, too. Oh yeah, and I started up that business last summer...

But back to move exciting things like Pride and Prejudice, DVD.... It was great because if I did not want to watch all 6 hours of it (like the embarrassing mother scenes, Mr Collins painful proposal or bad Lydia) I could skip to my favorite ones, like Lizzy and Mr. Darcy's dance at Netherfield, Mr. Darcy's first proposal, Elizabeth first visits Pemberley, Lizzy plays Georgiana's piano at Pemberley, Mr. Darcy's renewal of his addresses, etc. etc. etc. I could even watch the same scene over and over and over again. If you like the book and DVD, this all needs no explanation. You know exactly how I feel...

And on sickness....I think my healing was largely due to "MeMe's Firecrackers." They are these crackers my MIL makes that have crushed red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper on them. It will clean out your sinuses in no time flat! Made me feel so much better. Also, I made myself some cheesy cauliflower soup. I had a meat aversion while sick (a food aversion in general) and this is, for the most part, a vegetarian soup. So yummy. Every time I eat it I feel like someone loves me... I guess it's a comfort soup of sorts.

Oh, and in further affirmation of my fried brain, I discovered this video. I made Sam watch it over and over last night. I was just cracking up and he sat there with a blank stare.

Anyway, you've probably already seen it, but it's funny.

All that to say, I'm caving on coming up with all of my own curriculum. Sam has to go to the local home improvement super store tonight and there is a book super store just a feet away. I buyin' some teachin' books so I can start learnin' some kids more better.

Sunday Sermon

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1


According to the Twenty-Two Feet Living Translation, it reads:

To everything there is...

Lil' HENRI?!

MUR.

At least, that's what the perturbed large, white cat in my house would say if he were me or my husband right now. The House of Many Feet has been plagued with a cold of sorts including stuffy ears, whiny voices, unbridled emotion, runny noses, swimmy heads and stomachs that can not be rendered peaceful.

In short, Sam and I are both sick. BUT someone has to run the house and we both have sad eyes, pouty lips and watch to watch OUR favorite movie on the couch (he wants action and shoot 'em up - bang bang! and I would prefer something with horses in it or kissing and captivating romantic speeches) and be served soup or McDonald's. We are out of toilet paper, we need some gatorade, shaving cream, milk and something for me to cook. Sigh. I also have to run to the banks, buy dog food, horse feed and various grooming tools for a very demanding mare that is shedding her winter coat.

In honor of home inspections being finished/over (and going rather well for an 86 year old home), household illness, my inability to make coherent comments on other blogs and type correctly I am taking the week off from blogging.

How do you people with kids do it? Murrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow!

Those of you who have seen the house or know a little about it are well aware of what I have called "the dog-washing machine."
My plans for this little cesspool that has sat in the deck of the Foursquare for two years (UNTOUCHED!) was to get rid of it as fast as possible (or make a business out of washing multiple dogs in it at a time - cats even). We were never brave enough to look under the lid to see what might be hiding under there, so horrible nightmares about it swam in our minds many a night.



Bottom line, we didn't want a jacuzzi tub. In my mind, it is just one more thing to take care of (I already have 2 cats, 2 dogs, 2 houses, 2 gardens, 1 horse and a husband), and I just didn't want another. Plus, we plan to have a few children, so this posed as a potential hazard. Yeah, it has a cover, but if you know anything about children you can turn your back for one second and.... they're off! Also, I wouldn't put it past my husband to put a certain white cat in there...


Anyway, after deciding we could probably not get 500.00 for the thing, or 200.00, or even "make-an-offer" for it, I got the go-ahead to post it on Freecycle (yay for Freecycle!) and get rid of it, provided the taker could haul it away on their own.
Well, I actaully got several offers and guess what....


It's GONE, baby, GONE!!!!!!!!! The Jacuzzi found a loving home on a farm in Crenshaw County were it can bubble and swirl like all Jacuzzis should be able to.

But now we have to decide what to do with the hole.

Any suggestions?

Animalia

It has been too long since I bored everyone with pet pictures. Here you go:

SHARING:

"Ma-muh! Lil' Henri's takin' up too much room!"

"Mmmmmm! I love these HUGE memory-foam beds!"

"Ah hayte sharin'! Stoopid cat."

"Ha ha! Move over, stinky dog! SUCKER!"

"Frickin' frackin' shmphcatgrr mrchmb... grrr."

"Shut-up! I'm trying to sleep over here!"