Conversation with Judah

Judah, what is your favorite thing in the whole world?



Errr...



Aaaahhhh...




Drivin' da truck with Dada...



Tellin' stories to Grammy...




And visitin' people's houses that we haven't seen in SOOOO long!

Jamie, Nine Months Old

At nine months old, I am a mover and a shaker like no other Forshey before me!!
















But then again...



I have a lot more to keep up with!



And now and then I have my quiet moments of contemplation...

A Story For Grammy...

... composed especially for you by Judah. Enjoy!

Hey, Grandad!

Judah is bringing his toolset with him, so he can help you "fix da tractor," which, according to him, "has a flat wheel...see, iss not round, like dis, is jis flat like dat"

His solution...

"Take da wheel off and turn it around!"

The Living Room is Finished!

Before we get to the "After" part, you should go back and watch the video on this post so you can get the "Before" firmly in your mind first.

The first part of the project was a quest to give the walls a little character-- some texture and depth. I used wallboard joint compound to give a faux plaster finish. I simply troweled it on about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, right over the original wallboard, leaving plenty of texture. The kids helped me out with this, since I didn't need it smooth or uniform. They had a blast!

You see two colors of plaster here because the darker bit is still wet... You can tell I went section by section-- doing about half a wall each day. It goes really fast, but I have three kids, so a half hour was about all I could put into it at a time.





After all the plaster was up, the tough part was figuring out a color and glaze that gave the effect I was looking for. It took nearly a month, at least $50 in samples, numerous trips to Lowes, hours of research and an emergency Skype session with my sister to figure out how to get the look I wanted. In this picture you can see some of the failed attempts. You can also see the Field Flaxflower Blue that I ultimately settled on going up around the edges. It's really bright.




See? REALLY bright. It was at this point that I started to panic a little and doubt the decision I had made. That's some briiiight blue, baby.



After the base coat was on, I started working on the topcoat. I had intended to use a tinted glaze, but it just wasn't working. I finally realized that the problem was the sheen, not the color. I'd been trying to recreate a milk paint, or whitewash look, but the glaze has the sheen of at least a satin paint, if not semi-gloss. Totally wrong for whitewash. I finally figured out that I could take plain white flat paint and water it down significantly, apply first with a roller and then backwash over it with a wet sponge.

After I lived with one half-wall done in the whitewash for a week or so, I decided it was a little too much contrast, so I changed to a not-quite-white. It's a white that's juuust to the blue-grey side. KWIM? A "bluewash", if you will. Perfection!

Also, Jamie decided to "help"-- resulting in my first ever Poison Control Hotline call. They were very nice. I suspect I may be using their services again.




And then this week, thanks to the wonderful people at St Paul's VBS program, who kept my children safe, fed and happy all morning for five days in a row, I finished the bluewash!

Here's the finished product! See all the interesting shadows and the almost-3D effect of the bluewash? Isn't it cool??? :D








The whole room now has this ethereal, summery, wide-open spaces feel to it. I love it. Now I just need to get some furniture in there...

I am thirty-two years old. Thirty- two. But apparently my SKIN hasn't gotten this memo. Despite my advanced age maturity, my skin insists on reacting to every. single. skincare regime change like a sixteen year old girl...

"What? What? Whathe..? CLEARASIL?? WHY are you ruining my LIFE??!! Arrrggglllluggllgg!! Noooooo! I hate you!!! preciousssssssssssssssss....*croak*"

And then I have to endure the next five days of, "Mama, why do you have so many boo-boos on your face??" and "Wow, honey, that's a really big one..." It's enough to ruin even the most secure self-image, which I frankly don't have.

Honestly, if I have to endure this all the way through MENOPAUSE, I'm just going to throw a serious temper tantrum. Do you people even KNOW how bad an acne cyst riiiight in the crease of your nose HURTS???

Seriously.

What I did with the Bricks

Those of you who follow me on Facebook may remember my post last weekend about getting a load of free brick? Well, here are some pics of what we did with them!










They are really nice, old-fashioned, hand-made (I think) bricks. Truly lovely! They were once a section of College Park roadways and I like to think they are enjoying their Second Life in our yards!

Now that the veggies are planted in those raised beds, I'll have to take new pics and post them. Can you see how much trimming up we've done on the trees in the front? Isn't it looking NICE???

Here's the original video I took of the house the first time we saw it. I'm posting it now because I'm about to post some pics of our recent projects around the house and I need y'all to have a frame of reference :) Enjoy!

It's official

I know some of you have already heard about Jamie's adventurous last few days, but I thought I ought to document it here as well.

Yesterday we got our a/c replaced with a more powerful and efficient model. This is only important because it sets the background. Since there were maintenance guys slambanging all around the garage, Jamie napped in the MBR, on the other side of the house. Napped in the peapod on Mama and Daddy's bed. Just like Judah used to. And Violet. And Lillian. And Noah. And Joey. And Naomi. That peapod is, as I've mentioned before, amazing. A life-saver.

Except.

Except that as soon as I put Jamie in, zipped it up and walked out the door, he immediately began climbing UP THE SIDE of it, sending it sliding right off the bed and nearly onto the floor. But for the Grace of God and Mama's quick reflexes, he would have gotten a nasty bump, but you see, I'd already had an inkling of what might be in store for me and was watching from the door-crack. I caught the other side of the peapod frame, inches before he hit the floor.

And then because I simply couldn't believe that after five other children and a four year history of peaceful sleep and no accidents, our beloved travel-sleep system could be made obsolete, I rearranged it on the bed and stuck him back in. Before I even made it back out the door, the little monkey was up the side and off the bed again!

Then I set it on the floor. And AGAIN, he climbs up the side-- although not fully flipping it this time. It's a little more stable on a hard surface. And he did eventually fall asleep in it, but not before attempting to turn the thing completely over (and nearly succeeding) from every possible angle. I really don't think I'd be comfortable having him sleep overnight in it.

I should further point out that even Lillian, admittedly the most precocious out of the above list, never even tried to flip it. She did manage to unzip it a couple times, but we quickly outsmarted her with some twisty-ties.

So this makes it official, after a week in Jamie's life that included such adventures as eating a thumbtack and pulling a bucket of paint over onto himself and then eating it (resulting in my first ever call to the Poison Control Hotline), I can say with confidence that this will be the child that sends me right. over. the. edge.

You might as well bring on the straitjacket.

Book Review: Here, Home, Hope

Every so often I sign up to do a book review for One2One Network. It's a great way to try out a new book-- maybe from a genre I don't usually read-- and it makes me feel important to review an actual book, by an actual author on my blog. I've found a few winners, too, which just makes my day.

Unfortunately this one wasn't one of those winners. I really hate giving bad reviews. Matter of fact I'd much rather simply not read or write about books I dislike. But, when you receive a free, advance copy with the understanding that you will write a review expressing your honest, uncensored views... well, what can you do?

So the truth is, I really disliked this book. Sad but true. I found the main character, Kelly, to be self-absorbed, uninspiring and a rather sad example of middle-aged frustrated maternal angst.

In addition to the lack of inspiration in the main character, the plot jumps around from vignette to vignette in a confusing and seemingly pointless manner. There's a crippling lack of a strong story line and quite frankly, I had a hard time reading past chapter nine, at the end of which Kelly adds to her "Things to Change List", a trite item number 8-- "Remember All My Blessings"

Gag.

There's no point in remembering "Blessings" if you have no connection at all to the the Author of those Blessings.

Third Child

Remember this truck, Gramma Sandy?



He has a lot to keep up with, I know, but still, he's only eight months old! Do moms get some kind of back-up for the ones that walk at nine months???

Not Sleepy.

Jamie, Eight Months Old

It's a little hard to get pictures of me these days...



Now that I'm....






CRAWLING!











About the only time I'm ever even remotely still is when I'm half asleep.