Around the house

Thanks to everyone who asked about George’s school transition.  Sadly, George’s drop-off day 2 went about as well as drop-off day 1.  He screams like I’m forcing him to walk the plank.  Pretty soon I’m going to have to get tough with him.  I mean, come on kid; it’s three hours of playtime twice a week.  That’s it.  Mommy needs a break.  You’ll be fine.  I’ll be back before lunch.  Geezo.

So, to take my mind off of real life for a little while, I thought I’d share some incredibly insignificant changes I’ve made around the house.  There is nothing quite like the little things to make you happy and feel a little more sane.  And in a house of sobbing preschoolers, sanity is a welcome change.

New sofa pillows from Target:

Target is the greatest place on earth, isn’t it?  These pictures reminds me how filthy our sofa has gotten since we bought it pre-dogs and pre-children.  It used to be white or at least off-white rather than the lovely shade of dirt it seems to have morphed into over the years.  Looking at the first picture also makes me wonder if I should paint the mirror frame over the sofa as well.  The gold looks dated to me.  Maybe a shiny black to match the sofa legs?  Or white to match the trim and baseboards?  I’m telling you, serious dilemmas here at the Homiller house.

This gorgeous fall weather (lows in the 50s, highs in the 70s, sunny and blue, BLUE skies) inspired me to buy some fall-ish flowers:

The basil isn’t exactly a fall plant, but I needed a bunch for some recent recipes and buying a plant at the greenhouse is much cheaper than buying a prewashed handful at the grocery store.  Go figure.

Organizing the kids’ school papers:

Where the magic happens - my computer desk.  I keep some of my old college philosophy books in the corner, just so I can pretend I'm still an academic.

I needed to get through the first week before I decided exactly how I wanted to keep school-related things straight.  But so far I like this system—three upright folders for each child.  We have kept every daily and weekly schedule on the children since they started daycare at 10-weeks-old and I hope to keep up that system at least through Kindergarten.  We’ll see!

Martha and I have become besties since this last weekend:

I’m sure I’m way late to the party on this one, but Martha Stewart has a line of organizing/planning tools at Staples that are incredible.  Some of the bigger organizers (inboxes, desk organizers, etc.) were a little over my budget; but I loved the round label tags.

And this great see-through pocket organizer that adheres to your cabinet or wall.

A perfect size for those take-out menus that we rarely use, but still keep around just in case.

Finally, you are looking at my next big project:

I cannot wait to paint this beautiful but gloomy brick fireplace white.  When we moved into our house, our entire den was wood paneled with lovely but very dark knotty pine.  Several years ago, we hired someone to paint the walls a cheery sky blue and the trim pure white.  At the time, I remember thinking we should have asked them to paint the fireplace as well; but I wasn’t quite ready for so much change all at once.  And now, I am finally ready.  I think a white fireplace will really brighten up this room (which faces northwest and even with the new paint color still suffers the fate as one of the darkest rooms in the house).  This will be my biggest DIY project to date, so wish me luck!

And with that, I will sign off.  If you don’t hear from me in a while it is because I am knee-deep in white paint or shrieking sons.  Or more likely, both.

Happy Thursday, everyone!