The cleaning, purging and sneezing update....

Hello readers!
I just can't believe the avalanche I started when all I wanted was a few carpet squares glued down to the garage floor.

I have to say that Scott has really stuck in there with me and I know myself well enough to know, that if it weren't for his help, we would never have gotten this far. Thank you Honey!

I'm afraid I won't share, or can't share pictures of The Studio yet, but soon, very soon....
Let me just tell you how this went, see if you can follow this:
After Scott admitted he liked the carpet squares, he said "let's move my train board from the garage to the computer room".
Now the computer room is the "man room" cause it also holds his Xbox, chess sets and trains.
The computer, printer, scanner, etc were moved into the dining area, where one would have a chine cabinet, only we don't have fine china!
The desk that was in the bay window (which I always hated A bay window should be open if it doesn't have a window seat) has been moved to McKenna's room to hold her computer and TV.
The coffee table that was holding her computer and TV was moved out to the studio under my new bench which creates another shelf.
(For those of you familiar with the "Give A Mouse A Cookie" books, this may sound a little familiar!)
Now what happened yesterday, was totally not planned. Well, it was planned, but was suppose to take place later down the list of things to do - like AFTER my studio was done.

Right here is where I would post a "before" picture of McKenna's bedroom, but I didn't think to do that. Just imagine everything she owns, plus about 4 bags of trash, a box full of books and another box full of stuffed animals all over her floor and surfaces in her bedroom. Yesterday, she and I cleaned and cleaned....and cleaned! AND just when we were about done, I said......"Let's move the bed"! Yep, I rearranged her bedroom. Could I move one more piece of furniture in this house!!!!????
Here are the results though....we'll pick up a Littlest Pet Shop bedspread this week :0)
The next few days are filled with fun things to do with friends and family. I hope to spend every free moment finishing the studio. It is my goal to actually work in there before I get back to work in August.
Goodwill would take all my blank cassette tapes; teacher friends are taking my school stuff and I just can't find anyone to take the broken electronics (a TV, a VCR and a computer monitor). If anyone can help, I'd be ever so grateful.

Love to all!!!!!!
Melle

Summer Projects

With summer break finally here, one of my many goals this summer was to somehow clean out the garage so it looked more like a "studio" than a garage.....
Well that project is underway.....surely I have taken on more than I can ever do....but here's to trying!
I warn you, the following photos are not very pretty, but I post the "before" only to make sure I'll post the "after"!

The first objective was to redefine my space from Scott's space. We tore down these old wooden shelves and this entire wall will be "the man wall".....

These tools will get moved to Scott's wall and we plan to put a new counter top and shelf just for me in this space.
This is what my scrapbook table looks like right now......I know, it is a bit discouraging.


Thursday we plan to put some carpet squares down for the scrapbook area, finish the counter top and put up the shelves.....so by Friday, okay maybe Sunday.....I'll have everything put away!

The frustrating thing about cleaning out the garage, is what to do with all the STUFF I've collected. For example, I have boxes of cassette tapes! Some are blank for recording, some have music and others are children's books on tape. I also have a large box full of greeting cards from loved ones. What do I do with all this stuff? Any ideas?

Before we tore the garage apart, I did get to manage a few cards.
I'll keep you posted,
Love,
Melle

Back from Italy!

Okay, not really....our vacation wasn't to Italy, but we did stay at a VERY nice resort called Portofino Bay at Universal. It was beautiful and the customer service was outstanding. It was a pretty penny to stay there, at least for our mac & cheese budget, but so worth it when it came to visiting the parks. Your room key is basically a "fast pass". Walked right past those long lines and got right on to whatever we wanted to ride - sweet!

I guess I really took a "vacation" from everything 'cause this is basically the only picture I took!
I know, I regret it some, but I just didn't want to have to lug anything around with us. That part was nice.

So, now back to reality.....wait, I'm a teacher....we are on Summer Vacation!
My list of things to do:
see my friends
scrapbook
clean
scrapbook
see my friends some more
scrapbook
perge stuff we don't need
scrapbook
paint Andrea's room
scrapbook
Scott and I tackle the garage and really turn it into a "studio"
scrapbook
and scrapbook some more
see my friends
and meet Tim Holtz this summer

Love to all!
Melle

Yippee!

It's summer and we are heading down for our "vacation" a day early :0)
I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a little while, but when we get back from Universal this week, I'll have photos to share, so stay tuned.....
Best wishes,
Melle

Don't blink or you might miss it!

What are the words to that song?
"If I could save time in a bottle...."
Here, take a look as these pictures and I'll show you what I mean:

This photo was taken on Andrea's first day of 5th grade and this was McKenna on the first day of PreK-3.....one blink of an eye, and now we are celebrating Andrea's 8th grade graduation and McKenna's 1st grade ceremonies tonight. Man-o-man, really the time has passed so quickly.



This was taken this morning of McKenna with her amazing teacher, MS. Chubon, after their 1st grade awards.


This was taken tonight as McKenna handed Andrea her flowers.


And this last photo was of the whole crew. I just love Andrea's dress (Mine, left over from Christmas.)


What I really wanted to document before I went to bed tonight and before I forgot is where each girl wanted to go to after graduation to celebrate. (We all did meet before the ceremony at Olive Garden at 3:30.) Andrea asked if we could go to the bookstore! What? Three years ago, when we started on this middle school ride, she never would have gone to a bookstore by choice. And then, I love it, as we walk out with 2 books, she says, "I wonder which one I'll read first?" OMG, you can't imagine what a turn around this is. I'm smiling from ear to ear with pride and she even let me hug her in public.
McKenna chose to go to Wal-Mart so she could pick any Littlest Pet Shop toy.
It's like Heidi Swapp said on her blog, I love this "time and season" that we are in. It's just a little bitter-sweet for me tonight as I realize how fast it is all passing by.

While I have your attention and I'm still winding down and can't sleep, may I share with you two of my favorite links. (Thank you Kristy for first introducing me to PS22!)
Have you heard these kids (and music teacher) from Public School 22? Truly an inspiration.
Click here for the first one and then here for the most recent addition.
Let me know what you think!

Love to all!
Melle

Yippee!

I just got into the Tim Holtz class I wanted!
Not sure who Tim Holtz is???
Well, just click on the link to his blog over in the right hand column and check it out. :)
Melle

Take the good with the bad....

Or should that be "take the bad with the good"? Anyway......
The GOOD news is, the house is completely vacuumed, all bed linens are freshly laundered and McKenna's hair is squeaky clean.....
Have you guessed it? I hope not, 'cause if you have that means you may have had the same experience. Yep, McKenna was sent home from school on Thursday with head lice.
OMG! I know :(
Initially, it hasn't been too horrible.
Scott took the day off; he wash for two days; he took bedspreads to the laundry mat;I vacuumed and washed some more.
However, we did have to cancel McKenna attending a slumber party this weekend - that was very heartbreaking.
Now, what concerns me is the fear that they can still come back! OMG, if there is still one egg somewhere (damn things are minuscule in size) then in 10 days we could be dealing with more. AARRGH.
Interestingly, I find it frustrating because I can't lay blame anywhere. Every student in her classroom and the room next to hers (they share aftercare together) checked out fine. I was reminded that she could of gotten them from cushions from a restaurant or the movie theater. I will never look at those movie theater seats the same way again.

It is a blessing that McKenna has short, fine and straight hair. Can you imagine if Andrea got them? I can't! We would have to cut it for sure. So we continue to be very careful and vigelent.

On a brighter note. Scott feels all he needs is one of those mini-notebook laptops. So we found one at Best Buy for $249 and I now have his old laptop. Man-o-man how liberating! Digital scrapbooking, here I come! Right now, I'm also busy putting together not one, but two digital slideshows for two teachers at school for their end of the year program. Of course, I really don't mind doing it. After the art show, everything seems easy from here. Nine more student days!
I can't wait to get together with friends again.
Love to all,
Melle