WICKED

If I could listen to only two albums for the rest of my life, I may be tempted to choose any Glee Soundtrack and the Original Broadway Production of Wicked starring Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel.

While YouTubing videos of seeds sprouting this evening, I stumbled across a video about gravitropism with "Defying Gravity" playing in the background.

This reminded me how much I love Wicked. Then it reminded me how I got to see it on Broadway in NYC last Christmas with these two ladies. (I think....not be racist, but all Elphabas look the same to me.)

Then it reminded me how GREAT my husband is for getting me those tickets for Christmas. Thinking about it makes me feel all sentimental.

It's funny how one song can conjure up so much emotion. Also funny how PMS can do the same thing. Or maybe a combination of the two? TMI?

Oh, by the way, I'M AN AUNT NOW.

Meet Hunter. Apologies for the poor quality of photo, but isn't he beautiful???? We haven't met yet, but I'm certain to be his favorite aunt (sorry, Emily!)

Coming soon (possibly): Pictures of TONS of around the house projects. Many of them done by my wonderful aforementioned husband. I did a spell on him while he was sleeping to make him obsessed with home renovation. (I'm a witch.)

Blog dump

Frankly, I'm surprised I even remembered my login information to this blog. Poor thing, so neglected.

As of 15 minutes ago, I am having serious home decor motivation/lack of inspiration. First, let me dump some projects on you that I've actually done since I started teaching (surprising that I would even find time, but when I get the urge to craft, everything takes a back seat.)

I found this little beaut while stopping by the parents house one evening. My mom had it in a pile meant for trash, so I took it! I'd been wanting to recover a lamp shade for a while now (lamp shades are so expensive...Even the ones at Wal-Mart are over $15.00...)

So as soon as I got home, I ripped that old crumbly fabric off and made it into this:

Presto Bingo - perfect addition to our superiorly boring entry-way. It's still a work in progress.

Kennedy & I also spent some time one weekend re-painting a guest bedroom in anticipation for company this Thanksgiving. 

Here's a before:

It had become a catch-all for junk. My sewing machine was in there, along with a twin bed and a pile of unfolded (clean) laundry. Shame on us. It was so easy to shut the door and never look at it.

I have an in-progress photo, but it isn't entirely complete yet...Maybe I can talk myself into continuing blogging if I have something I need to update soon...

This is post-paint, but pre-re-install the baseboards. We also inherited a nice queen-sized bed from Emily & Patrick that will come in handy with the aforementioned company. Can't wait to share the final after photos!

Finally, I'll share some things from my Science Lab!

Here's a picture frame I painted so I could "frame" out my objective for the day...

You can see the finished product hanging over my board in this picture, if you look very closely....

And I might as well share the other view of my room, pre-first day of school. Now the tables are all crooked from kids pushing them around. And my table labels are all ripped off and in a landfill by now. Middle schoolers are messy.

The new dilemma is what the heck to do with our dining room. We bought a craigslist dining table that is now just not working for me. Still no dining room chairs. Plus there are many limitations to the room. HELP ME!

Bad Blogger

So I'm teaching now, which can explain my absence. Kennedy & I have been getting some things done around the house but it's in between my lesson planning & napping, so I usually forget to take photos. Or forget to upload photos. I'm hoping after this week (and I've said this every week so far) to get a handle on my "school business" so I will have a little more free time on the weekends.

For now, I'll just daydream about the photos on this blog:

http://themeadowbrookblog.blogspot.com

100!!!!

I thought my one-hundredth post would be more climactic than this...whoops.

Last Friday morning, Kennedy & I bombed our house for fleas. Then when we got home that afternoon, we spent 6-7 hours cleaning EVERYTHING. (Just an FYI, fleas are gone for now...)

Except I lied to myself because I didn't really clean everything. I cleaned the main rooms where we hang out (Kitchen, Living Room, Bedroom), and piled all our crap in all the other rooms (read: office.)

I'm swimming in junk mail and folders and books and loose change as I type this. I am proud of us though, because those other rooms have stayed fairly clean. Wanna know how I did it?

When I'm in the bedroom and I'm tempted to leave my laundry on the floor, I hear a little voice saying "Why can't you just put those away?"

When I'm in the kitchen and I'm tempted to leave dirty dishes on the counter or in the sink, the voice tells me, "Let's try to keep this kitchen clean, ok?"

When I'm in the living room and I want to leave all my craft supplies all over the coffee table, the voice is all "The dogs are going to get into that if you leave it out."

Where is this voice coming from all of a sudden? My husband's mouth.

Poor Kennedy is stuck with a messy wife.

Also, on a different topic, I'm pretty sure my contact lens prescription is 3 years old.

The People Under the Stairs

Luckily, I didn't find anyone under our stairs. It wouldn't have been completely shocking, though. It was literally brimming over with STUFF. It became a catch-all for stuff we hadn't found a place for yet.

Does anyone know where I can find artwork to hang in my house? Oh, every piece of art ever created is in the closet under my stairs? Awesome!

So then, ALL BY MYSELF, I hung some shelves in there.

Yes, I did that. Alone. Me. And they're perfectly level.

But it didn't end there. No, my friends, then something amazing happened. 

I organized all our DVDs into leather boxes for those shelves, and separated them by genre.

Jealous?

Then I waited about 2 months before I did anything else. And slowly but surely, things began piling up.

Yesterday, after reading other people's blogs about organizing stuff, I got an itch to finish what I'd started.

Behold! Floor space!

I organized my gift wrapping supplies, and reserved the top shelf for games. Anyone wanna come play Scrabble? I know where to find it! Or perhaps we could have Mancala Hour (name that movie and you get a kiss attack from Elvis.)

It's sad, but I'm in love with this closet now. I think I'll leave the door open all the time so I can take in the organization.

Stay tuned for throw pillow day!