Madsen Kiddos: new house

My Dream Linen 80's house

Today I got my restoration Hardware catalog. 300 pages of linen covered bliss. and some very oddly scaled ceiling lights but they weren't linen so who cares about them.

In all seriousness I want a linen couch. This one. Or rather I did when I saw it at the outlet for really cheap but not so much now that it would cost me more than 3,000.00 dollars. Who doesn't need a fancy couch for their house. The best part? This one is comfortable and- covered with linen. Linen. The new luxury fabric.

The other day I was thinking- How could I make my whole home a sort of "Linen" color.
Restoration Hardware came to my rescue. Now I can have a couch, pillows, coffee table, chairs, drapes and furniture all the color of linen. Those Cart Tables really have sort of a linen color to them. So trendy right now and in just the right color! Or I could just get one covered In Linen. I am so excited that my outside table can be linen colored and my chairs and my dining table and all the chairs around it could be linen.

I was hoping to find some peculiar looking chairs- like an egg chair just like one I saw in a museum- only in Linen instead of another fabric. They have one with Burlap on the back. What a wild ride that would be. Linen+Burlap= the best ever.

people are always saying that architectural elements are good for a house. So I thought my 80s house could use a few columns here and there. I could put my kids on top of them for time out. No more wandering out of time out now! Or I could put a stone sphere on them. The best part? Both the color of linen.

Then for the table I might branch out to an almost duck cloth color. Although I could never do those plants- hello green was not in my color scheme! One thing I never realized before was that Antlers are close to the color of linen! So I thought about getting together all my hunting trophies and crafting them into a massive light fixture of death. Hopefully I'm good at cleaning things- right? But then I realized that Restoration Hardware had that Linen lighting Covered! I won't even need to bust out my linen lamp shades.

Or Will I?

Murder: Sunday Thoughts

Does anyone else feel like a house is a black hole? I like doing home improvement projects but really sometimes it's too much. I got discouraged this weekend when Rose came over to help me with one of my flower beds and there were termites in it (it is over 30 feet from the house but I'm terrified here). So we bought lots of bug killer. I forgot to get one of those massive tanks to mix the poison in. and then it rained all day...
Tomorrow is bug Armageddon at my house. I bought rose plants online and there is no way some stupid ants are going to eat them all.

Lights!

We are putting up holiday lights and I couldn't be more excited. Check out our CANDY CANES! I love all white lights on a house and candy canes. I've already broken two of the stakes though. Do they sell replacement stakes? Danielle keeps reminding me they are broken. Thanks for the reminder Danielle. One of the instances where a stake broke was me taking the kids on a walk in the double stroller. It gets cold but you can bundle them up and Danielle likes going on a ride in the exciting new stroller. I hope that will last a long time. After the snow storm our cute little trees on the steps fell down. One of them fell into the snow. You see that odd white spot on the tree? If you can't see it well enough in the whole house picture you probably need a closer view. I guess the snow froze into a great cube. Most of the snow is gone but now we have lots of ice.

Still to do?

put up lights on the top part of house
surround the post with lights
put lights on the tree with the ornaments
put lights on the wreaths in the window
put out christmas welcome mat
but 10,000 lighted deer lawn ornaments for our front lawn.
buy that fantastic blow up santa Danielle asks for every time we see it at the store.

Happy Christmas

My mom was always good at getting us Hallmark Ornaments. I like Hallmark ornaments- so I felt guilty when I admitted to my sister that I also really liked glass ball ornaments. So now I have both. Since Danielle steals the Hallmark ornaments and breaks them they aren't on the tree yet this year. (although two of them got broken before I made the decision not to put it up.)
I tried to make the tree match the room this year- and our "grown up room" has orange and green and a little pink. It is still a work in progress though- for example there are no pictures in the stocking holders I got SUPER cheap at the pottery barn outlet. Happiness is a silver photo holding stocking holder for really cheap at the pottery barn outlet.
Happiness is also having a bunch of pink Christmas Tree ornaments- I am still open to receiving more, since we only have enough to cover one part of the tree. I have a really happy orange storage ottoman in this room-currently it is the home of the my little pony collection. The room is still in development so wait until I finish painting and decorating and post about it. Actually probably wait a long time- nothing is as fast these days.

Snow

Well I have decided it is time to join the countless ranks of parents who don't claim to have a college baby. Danielle went to bed at seven o'clock on Thursday. Why put her to bed so early? Because I can... Mark and Danielle have teamed up their not insignificant child might to make sure John and I never get to sleep. What happened to Danielle going to bed at midnight and sleeping until noon? This morning I was up at six with baby Mark and heard Danielle playing in her room. She doesn't come out of her room until around eight in the morning so she still has some sense of decency.
Mark on the other hand likes to stay up all night. I was a little premature in claiming that he was the only non-sick member of our family. Now he has his first baby cold. He likes to cuddle even more.
It is cold here- this morning the snow started to melt and I took a picture of our wonderful trees. Trees which I loved when we looked at the house. For around two thousand dollars we will be able to take off all the dead parts of the tree and avoid having any more massive branches fall off these beautiful trees on our house.

It is terrifying to have large pieces of tree fall on your house, in case you were wondering. the whole thing makes me want to buy myself a new pair of shoes.

Maybe I need two, one inspired by each child.

the Nursery

We are still working on getting all the things on the wall in the Nursery. I meant to do it the day before the baby was born but I felt really sick all day so the wall clings aren't up. And the frames for the photos actually didn't get here until after Mark did.

John did most of the work in the nursery. I still can't believe I have a nursery- am I even old enough for that? We replaced the closet with this organizer from Rubbermaid, which we got at Lowes. I really like it- John painted the closet and room to match an Amy Butler print that will be in the bedding I made. Right now Kayleen Perry is quilting the baby quilt that I made. She does really nice machine quilting work. The tree wall vinyl is available at the GAP and the number wall art is from Land of Nod. Mark installed the ceiling light and fan which I love.

What you can't see is the dresser that we stole from our bedroom. We are using it as a changing table and also using a bookcase. I decided that I would make all the baby stuff so he doesn't have very many blankets. Turns out it is easier to make stuff for other people, but I did make the large minky blanket on the glider, and all the blankets in the closet. A while ago I found the quilt and A mat (which is actually a bath mat) at the pottery barn- the quilt was less than 20 dollars. I bought it even though it was for a boy thinking it would be a good present for someone who was having a baby- it was a good idea since two short years later I am the one having the baby. The crib bedding isn't exactly what I would want, but it is made. All of Mark's clothes until he is size 12 months are hung up in the closet. Turns out it really is much more fun to buy clothing for girl babies.

My First House

I am finally posting an exterior photo of the house we got. Everyone will still have to wait to see the yellow bathroom which I think is really the highlight of the house. Who doesn't want a vintage yellow fiberglass tub with a matching sink and toilet?
I really liked it and also a split level house with a bigger yard. We decided to get this one because I guess most people don't like split level houses. I was so scared and nervous to actually buy a house and I still can't believe that we bought a house. You can see the nicely mowed lawn. I mowed the lawn Monday and I am really proud of myself. You see I saw that I needed to clean the kitchen floor so I did what any sane mother would do- went outside to mow the lawn in the hopes that I would be able to tell someone about being 39 weeks pregnant and mowing my lawn. Now the two readers of my blog know. Mowing the lawn will not make you go into labor. Neither will planting bulbs. Or trimming the shrubs. But it will ensure that you walk inside happy that you didn't clean the kitchen floor first since you just trudged in some grass.
I used a bag this time- mulching lawn mower my eye. Which brings me to the next thing- do you see the entryway?

ENTRYWAY: BEFORE- I need ideas. I want to replace the side windows that are painted (off white even though the rest of the house is white) with wooden side panels and different glass. We are also thinking about a new front door but we have a screen that you can see in this photo. I like screen doors but I have a hard time opening the one we have.
I think some of the things in our entryway are hideous- the bushes are overgrown (they have been significantly trimmed back for this photo) and the walkway is super narrow. Not even normal sized- non pregnant people really make it. I guess only parts of it are hideous. This photo features John's ripstick and the tie out I put Austin on the other day. You might also notice that we have a fence in our driveway. Lots of work to do if anyone wants to come I still haven't torn out the bushes yet because I feel like maybe I should wait until we have a fence in and fixing the front is a remote possibility. I've been looking at front yards and getting ideas- it is exciting to think about putting in a walkway myself. I'm going to probably wait until after the baby which might mean I will wait until next spring- but hopefully I will be putting in the new steps sometime in October.

Now if only I can get those boxes in my basement unpacked...

New house New Friends

So I decided that I might need to find some new friends. Not that I'm unwilling to drive two to four hours to visit people I already know since I have to go that far anyway to find a place to shop, but some people seem to think it is too far.
Finding friends is an intensely painful experience. It's like a job interview except you never have the promise of getting paid. I hate getting to know people and then realizing they don't really like you. Which is why I like hanging out with people for specific reasons- like "these are Andy and Nadell, we all like to play games." I guess most of our friends like to play games. I thought of an ongoing potential friend interview process that I should start instituting. With a series of questionnaire that can be filled out online- maybe in the comment section of my blog- I can screen people for their interests and figure out if we should try to schedule something.
My other least favorite thing is scheduling something with other people. Calling someone to schedule a hang out is almost as bad as ordering pizza.

First 10 questions.
1. Do you like playing games? Describe.
2. Describe your political feelings. What do the words "right wing nut job" mean to you? What about "liberali"?
3. Are you sarcastic?
4. What does the word "worldliness" mean to you. Essay answers are accepted.
5. How religious do you think you are? Why?
6. Describe how a two year old child should act.
7. Do you have any food/pet allergies?
8. What do you like to eat when hanging out with other people?
9. How do you feel about Wal Mart?
10. How late is too late for starting a hang out on a weekend? Weekday?

These questions are important. It is difficult finding couple friends because you have to like both of them and even more difficult when children are involved because then you have to like their kids and your kids have to like their kids.
Sometimes I almost understand people who don't seem to hang out with anyone.
Except then there is no one to play board games with, and Danielle probably shouldn't see some of the movies I want to see.

Imagination

"Imaginative play is a precursor of conceptual thought – in which possibilities are explored upon the inner 'stage' of a child's imagination." – Erik Erikson

I guess Danielle is at the age where imaginary play is important. Several articles I read and also Parenting magazine tell me that it is good to pretend. It even made it into the what to expect the toddler years book so I guess it is normal. All that reading has made it easier for me to tolerate the constant stream of noise that is associated with imaginary play. Danielle seems capable of speaking about 95 percent of the time that she is awake. You just have to know if she is talking to you or talking for one of the my little ponies or lizard. Sometimes she asks us to leave her alone so she can go play. She yells "don't come" and then goes into the basement with her tea set. A few days ago she decided that she wanted to be a princess and wear her bug pajama pants all day.

Not one to stifle creativity, especially when the process involves less work for me, I let her wear those bug pants for two days straight. Maybe she will let me replace them with bug dress- people don't like toddlers who are wearing bug pants.

Thinking about imaginary play makes me realize that I still do this important developmental skill. I regularly try to have imaginary play. Just the other day I imagined that my house was really clean and organized. John likes the idea of having pink walls in my imaginary play, and we have a tiled back splash in our kitchen with granite counter tops and hardwood floors. For three hours I tried to imagine it. The house still didn't get clean though so I clearly need to work on the imagining more. I'm not sure but I think I wasn't pregnant in my imagining- would you be pregnant for imaginary play? I hope not. Danielle was coloring quietly at her table and I was rocking in my green chair that I love. Can you covet something you already own?

Now if only I could get Danielle to let me have a chance with that great hat.

Death of a Lowes Customer

Well we tried to buy a fence from Lowes the other day. Earlier we had tried to order it but were told to come back between 6pm and 5pm. So we came in at 4:45 and Bob told us to go outside and look at what they had to special order. I guess there was a book out there. After looking I couldn't find the book so we picked something they had in stock. We went back in and Mr. Bob was gone. Then we went to the customer service desk. They said they could find someone to help us order the fence. The employee they found looked suspiciously wet. Maybe he had also been looking for fences in the 90 degree weather outside. He said he couldn't help us because the general something manager had to order the fence since it was in stock.
So at 6:00 we left and went out to dinner. I have always been loyal to Lowes over Homedepot but I think people here are determined to change my mind. Last time I tried to buy a dryer at lowes we waited for 40 minutes to not be helped.
The next day we ordered an in stock fence from Home Depot. They are delivering it this weekend. And they have candy in their store so Danielle wasn't crying. The employee walked with us to show us what he had of the fences and they took our 10% off coupon. It took less than one hour. For 59 dollars they are delivering it to our house.
and he walked outside himself. in the rain. and didn't get mad when Danielle tried to steal the rocks from his display. Why do some stores make it hard to be loyal to them? I've noticed since moving here that people regularly don't want to wait on you. the economy here isn't very good so you think they would try to help you- but we've had surveyors not show up after trying to get things done. That's Pennsylvania I guess.

Before. Well, before it is done

Here are some pictures of our dining room/future office. We decided to copy Mark and Sara because we liked their Ikea built in desks so much. Mark helped. But what should I do with the light? It is too low right now and John always hits his head on it (when there isn't furniture obstructing the way.) Diane said it would look cool if we painted it a different color. I think she recommended black. Do you have any advice? Do you hate it or love it? There is no in between after all.
Stay tuned for the next few steps. sadly, the fantastic window coverings with tassles had already been taken down when we took this photo. Luckily they are still in the front room so I might be able to capture a picture before I have to burn them.
Or if you like them maybe you could win them in a bloggy giveaway. They are green silk drapes after all, and they could fit over a very large window. Much larger than the ones in our front room, as a matter of fact.

The Box

When we moved here someone told us it would be shocking to get out of the box of Provo. I was baffled since we hadn't told them where we came from. Plus I think they were from Idaho. I only think of this now because of the boxes all over my house. We are moving this weekend, if I don't quit before then. Of course then maybe I will have something to post- pictures of our new place and the projects Danielle and I come up with.
Some people say that moving is really hard on children. So far for Danielle it is mostly about blankets and the new wire bin that she carries with her everywhere. When my aunt Sara came to visit and help pack up boxes Danielle just yelled at her for thinking about packaging up her room. So we avoided her room and toys would mysteriously disappear if she ever visited friends.
The other day though she saw me packing up an unopened pony present. I bought it on clearance at Target and am planning to save it for some holiday later on. She ordered "open" but I told her we were saving it for the new house. She asked "new house" (which didn't really sound like new house) and I explained that we were moving to a new house and we had to put everything we wanted to keep in boxes.
Two minutes later the box with the ponies was full of all her favorite toys and all her blankets. Then with her.
I fished the blankets out since she would need those for sleeping and loaded the box full.
So Danielle has a new favorite hobby- it is called hiding in the box. She likes to hide balls and toys and food and wipes and even herself in the box. Saying that moving is hard on kids might also mean that kids are hard on moving- you can't hide things in the box anymore if it is taped up. And Danielle wants to tape the boxes and help label them but I can't say that she is really helpful. She is one of the best work destroyers I know.
Maybe I only say that because we don't have any mommy sized boxes though.