After

They finished the front of the house yesterday.  Almost.  But it's done enough that I thought I'd post a picture.

Here's the BEFORE.  White.  Black shutters.  Orange brick.  Red door.  Like I said previously, I had never thought of changing it until we had this opportunity.  But once we decided to do something different, I was so excited.  Something I've learned about myself lately (and I'll be writing more on this soon) is that I really like change.  I kind of thrive on it.  I like the planning and the options.  I like creating a picture in my mind, and then changing it.  And then changing it again.  It drives my husband nuts. 

Anyway, here's the after!  In all honestly, it took me a day to get excited about it.  When I walked outside for my first look at the (mostly) finished product, I was pretty shocked.  It looks so different.  At least to me.  Which is what I wanted.  Only, when I first saw it I wondered if I'd made a mistake.  But this morning, walking out to the bus stop, I looked again and thought, "I like it."  And this afternoon, coming around the corner after running errands (with two sick kids - friends in the area, don't go to Costco or the Burnsville Super Target for a few days.  Sorry!), I thought, "I love it!"  Of course, we're not out of the woods yet.  Now I need to decide what to do with my glaringly white garage doors.  On my previously white house, they looked perfectly fine.  But now...?  

So, opinions welcome.  Leave them or paint them dark brown? 

It's funny to think about the fact that after months of planning and waiting, it's pretty much done.  And in a year, or even a month, it will be "normal" and I won't think about it anymore.  Oh, but don't get me wrong.  I'll be thinking about something.  There's always something!

I couldn't think of anything to write on my blog, so I stole this from someone else's

One of my favorite blogs, Rants from Mommyland, posted this awhile back:

They borrowed it from a blog I have never heard of, called The Badger Hut.  Rumor has it that the Badger also has a twitter feed filled with these first world problems, if you're interested in reading more. 

I have never claimed to be the smartest crayon in the box, so it took me some time to figure out what the title, First World Problems, meant.  So, in case you're as smart as I am, here's my explanation: our lame first world issues as opposed to very real and usually life-threatening third world problems.  But as I dealt with my own "first world problem" yesterday, I found myself thinking about this crying Dawson, and it helped to put things into perspective.

They started to put the wrong siding on my house.  FWP because: we are getting new siding for free through State Farm.  Not to mention the fact that I. HAVE. A. HOUSE. on which to put that new siding.  So, while yesterday I was in a tizzy about having this dumpster in my driveway for two more weeks, today I'm thankful that I got to come from the cold bus stop into my warm house to a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

A Recent Conversation

On Saturday I had a Norwex table at the grand opening of an adorable little store in Farmington, MN.  One of the other vendors came up to me and said I looked familiar.  Here is that conversation:

Jenny: Excuse me.  You look really familiar to me.
Me:  I do?
Jenny: Yes.  Were you ever a teacher?
Me: Yes.
Jenny: In Lakeville?
Me: Yes.
Jenny: At Kenwood?
Me: Yes!  That was a long time ago!  I can't place you because you're all grown up.
Jenny:  I was Jenny H----.  Ms. Ryman!  You taught English.
Me: I must have had you early on if I was still Ms. Ryman.
Jenny: Yup.  I think the year I had you was your first year teaching.
Me:  Ok, I'm no math teacher, but I taught for six years and I've been out of teaching for seven.  If my addition is correct, you were in my class thirteen years ago.

That made me feel old.  She's 27 now.  Married, hoping to have a family in the near future.  As we talked, I started to remember her from my 8th grade class all those years ago.  But Jenny and I went on to talk about where she went to college, having kids and the fact that we both had a crush on Mr. Minske, the young social studies teacher down the hall from me.  She said she remembered Independent Reading, where students would bring in a book and spend the hour laying under tables and in the isles between desks reading while I graded their daily journals.

It was fun to catch up with her.  As a teacher, I loved seeing that one of my students had grown into a smart, well-spoken, confident adult.  She told me she now loves to read.  I told her I'm going to take some credit for that.  

Inverse Proportion

Below is a graph of my kids eating habits:

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to make a graph, but I believe this gets my point across.  In other words (or words, rather than lines), the more time spent on a meal, the less likely it is that my children will eat it. 

Siding

I'm waiting for the siding guys to get here.  One guy showed up yesterday, took some siding off the side of the garage, and then left.  I'm hoping for a little more progress today.

We had no intention of changing the way our house looked.  It's white with black shutters.  I've always liked it, to be honest.  But then we found out we have hail damage, and our roof was in bad shape.  Thanks to State Farm, everything is covered.  If we were getting new siding, then why not change it.  Right?

I had a designer woman come out to help me with colors.  We have orange-ish brick that I wanted to make sure looked nice with whatever color we chose.  I told her I had always liked it white, but wanted to know what my options were as far as something new.  Her response was rather untactful, "You've liked it white?  White is sooo BORING!"  

I was in a flurry of colors and color combinations and holding little paint chips up to the brick to see how it looked.  This is the kind of thing I can get really into.  I like change.  I like decorating.  But now that the time has come to actually start the work, I'm nervous.  What if it doesn't look the way I've imagined it looking?

Our roof was done a few weeks ago.  We had had a black roof, but the new one has a little more depth to it.  There's a tiny bit of orange, grey and some charcoal.  They laid it like shakes, and it looks beautiful.  Who knew I could get so excited about a roof!  So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will be just as pleasantly surprised with the new siding. 

"Before"

 

I've already taken the lower shutters off and painted them.  And you can get a sneak peek at the new color if you look above the downstairs windown.  You'll know if I like the new look when I post (or don't post) a picture of the "after."

A Letter to my Son

Dear Max,
I wanted to take a minute to address the sock problem.  Please take note of the lists below.

Places your socks go after wearing them:
the hamper.

Places your socks do not go after wearing them:
the family room
under the piano
in the toy box
the tupperware cupboard
the stairs
the backyard
the frontyard
the car
the comfy chair
your bed
the garage
anyplace that is not your hamper

I would appreciate your getting a handle on this sock issue at your most earliest convenience.
Love,
Mom