I love my kitchen. Honestly - it's big, has TONS of storage, lots of light, counter space, gigantic walk-in pantry...what's not to love? There are always things I would change, though, and checking out some of the Kitchen Design remodel pictures at this Kitchen Remodeling firm in Michigan is leaving me with total kitchen envy! We have a huge family, and I can't even imagine how AWESOME it would be to have those commercial size refrigerators, a 6-burner stove, multiple dishwashers, etc. Not to mention the amazing architectural details! I really like those faucet thingies above the stove for filling pots. Wouldn't that be a nice addition to any kitchen?

One thing the Enginerd and Wife hardly ever do is spend time together away from the kids. With five kids, we lead fairly busy lives, and trust me - nobody wants to babysit five kids! So, most of our relaxing/recharging time is spent away from the children, but away from each other as well, since one of us always has to stay home with them!

That's why I'm SO EXCITED that we're leaving town for a night, all by ourselves! The Man is heading out of town for some training one day this week, and I'm going with him! We're only going to have a few hours together, but long enough to have a nice dinner somewhere (Melting Pot, I'm thinking?) and then we'll spend the night together in a hotel room ALONE. He's going to be in training all the next day, which will give me some time to relax and watch TV and then go shopping somewhere in a new place, all by myself.

Doesn't that sound heavenly? Twenty-four hours where I'm not wiping noses or bottoms! (Uh, except my own?)

I'm so lucky to be married to a handy guy. I mean, this is a fellow who can cut a huge hole in the back of the garage and install a second garage door so that it looks like it came with the house. A guy who can dream up, design, and construct an outdoor kitchen with running hot and cold water. He's a little handy.

My ex husband, bless his heart, is not quite as handy. He's one of those guys who knows just enough to be dangerous. I'll never forget the time he decided to install GFI switches in our bathrooms. This is a code requirement nowadays, but it wasn't in the early 80s, when the home we lived in was built. The switches worked - I guess? I mean, the outlets seemed to work just fine and they powered my hair dryer just peachy - but whenever we'd trip the GFI, the beer fridge in the garage would lose power and the porch light would magically turn on. Now that's some interesting home improvement, there!

I can imagine the folks at Home Depot hear stories like this all the time. It's tricky to wire older homes, and I don't think it's something that the average Joe should attempt, unless they know what they're doing! I was checking out a site called DoItYourself.com and found a bazillion articles and tutorials designed for the less handy. If this site had been available about a decade ago (back when we were on Compuserve - hehe!) I can imagine we would have had a lot fewer home improvement mishaps. It's a lot easier to tackle a project when you have some idea where you're going with it! After all, knowledge is power! Check it out.

I love how obsessive these people are, with their THIRTY paint chips on the wall! Hehe! I hope they ended up with a color they really love. I have pretty good luck with picking out paint colors, it seems like. Which is a good thing, since I seem to lack whatever gene makes it possible to visualize a wall color by taping a 2 x 3 square of color onto it.

I've become obsessed lately with stalking folks on Flickr who post pictures of their living rooms. I just love seeing how people live, and what makes a house a home, since it seems to be so different for all of us. Isn't this a darling little sitting area? I love the twinkling lights. So homey.

I was going through some old photos from 2003, when we first moved into this house - trying to find an old baby picture of lil Pablo, who is now four years old. I found some DARLING pictures of him, but what I really noticed in the pictures was how awesome our family room looked!! The babies were just brand spankin' new then, and our house was as well. We had our family room all decked out with rustico furniture, with iron candleholders and masks and stuff on the walls, and a chiminea in the corner, and a trunk with a Mexican blanket draped over it, and a tall, narrow chest of drawers made out of that knotty pine, with the rusty iron drawer pulls. I know I'm making it sound like something straight out of a Phoenix dental office, but no. It was all SO pretty.

We still have most of that, but it looks completely different, considering we had to remove the chiminea and the drawer tower, so the kids wouldn't pull them over on top of their heads. We replaced those items with a giant Little Tikes playhouse, a plastic table and chairs, and approximately eighty thousand toys. It's just not quite the same effect.

I've been obsessed with restoring some order to our home since I saw those pictures, too. The kids are almost old enough that we can start bringing back in some of our more fragile items. (I think?) I really love elegant metal wall hangings and I've been looking for something pretty for one wall. We have a big spot next to our big window that has NOTHING on it. I keep thinking I'll hang up a collage of pictures of our kids in that spot, but maybe not. I really love some of this divine wall decor, and I absolutely love this piece, with the curly-Qs. So pretty.

I'm thinking about taking some of that theme of decorating into our master bedroom as well. If you saw my new comforter a few posts back, you may have noticed the metal candle sconces I have above our bed. I want more stuff like that! It's funny how decorating your home with stuff you didn't buy at Wal-Mart just makes you feel like a grown up! I definitely don't want to wish away these childhood years, but I sure am looking forward to having pretty, fragile stuff sitting around again one day!

After I posted the pictures of the custom changing table Paul constructed for our playroom, I thought it might be fun to show off something else he made for the kids. We have an autistic son who spent a whole lot of time in speech and occupational therapy before he started going to preschool every day, and we made it a priority to come up with convenient ways for him to get the therapy he needed right inside our home.

Paul built these swings for the kids to use when the occupational therapist came over every week. She thought they were completely kickass, and complimented us over and over again. Paul built a header across the playroom ceiling, and it is super strong. He grabbed onto it and swung around, to show me just how strong it was, and it held him up without budging a bit. He constructed two different styles of swings - one long and rectangular, and one round, and he hung them from rope and these metal swively things. Check 'em out:



The kids took to those swings like fish to water. Even when they weren't actively swinging from them, they would sit on the swings and play or read - perfect for helping them gain some balance and strength.





Sadly, we had to take the swings down a few months ago. We have four toddlers and two swings, and they can't seem to figure out how to share them. They just fight and bicker and scream, because everyone wants to be on them at one time. I sure miss having them around! Maybe I should hook them up while the bigger kids are at preschool, so the little kids could use them. Pretty cool looking, aren't they?

Labels: autism, occupational therapy, swings

Remember being a kid and hearing all about video phones, the wave of the future? Didn't you think we'd all have video phones by now? I'm kind of surprised that we don't. Maybe it's not really such a novel idea anymore, since almost everybody has webcams and broadband and instant messengers - particularly the sort of people who would be all over such gadgetry as a video phone. And heck, who even has a landline anymore? Everybody just uses their cell phones! I think broadband phone service is sort of bringing people back to the good ol' landline, though. I'm always surprised when we tell someone about VoIP and they have no idea what we're talking about. If you're one of those folks, let me school you up on the NEW wave of the future! VoIP uses your regular old telephone, except instead of plugging into the wall, it plugs into a router and uses your broadband internet connection - cable or DSL - to make phone calls. With most VoIP services, local and long distance calls are basically "free" - you just pay a monthly flat rate, which is a fraction of what you would pay to the phone company.

I was just checking out this VoIP site, Packet 8, and comparing the prices between plans. Check this out:

Freedom Unlimited now offers unlimited local and long distance calling in the US,Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain and United Kingdom, plus unlimited in-network calling to other Packet8 subscribers worldwide.

Such a deal! They also have, guess what... you CAN get a Video Phone! It's not the clunky old tv attached to a phone, like we used to see in those 80s movies, either. Oooh and Ahhh over this sleek, compact design:

Besides using it to call grandma, you can access it remotely to check up on your house. Great way to see what the dog is really doing while you're at work, huh? I kind of want one of these! I know the enginerd in this house would love it. I could get one for him and one for his dad, and they could flip each other off without leaving the sofa!

After I posted about wanting to fabricate a headboard to match our purty new comforter set, I started thinking about something else my enginerd hubby Paul made for me a couple of years ago that was made from similar materials.

Right around the time that Pablo and Mallory were a year and a half old or so, and just before Nikki and Lexi were born, I started mentioning to Paul how nice it would be if we could get a wall-mounted changing table for the kids' playroom, and get rid of the changing table we had in there, so we could free up some valuable floor space for PLAYING. I saw them at Costco - the very same ones you see in restrooms at stores and restaurants. Paul was certain he could MAKE one for me that I'd like even better, though, and he did. It cost practically nothing to make, too - he had all the lumber on hand, and the chains. He did have to go out and buy the piano hinge, the clasp, and the batting, and I had to buy about $7 worth of fabric at Wal-Mart. It came out super nice, though, and matches our jungle-themed playroom SO well:



Honestly, we get more compliments on that thing! Every mom who visits just freaks out and wants one just like it!

Last night, I was chatting with my parents about Kayley's dad - he's currently on vacation in Europe with his girlfriend, touring all kinds of beautiful places. My dad mentioned that there was so much to see, you could spend your life traveling. My mom said she had no desire to go anywhere that required more than an hour or two of driving to get there. Ha! She is terrified of flying, and hates road trips, so she's kind of a homebody. I guess my dad is too, since they never go anywhere!

I'm not sure if I have the traveling bug, since we never go anywhere. I've been to Mexico many times, and a handful of other states, mostly visiting friends, never to sight-see. Now that we have a. a houseful of children and b. no money, it kind of makes the idea of vacationing seem a little...far fetched.

Still, I'd love to take a weekend and go somewhere with my husband without our children! Even a little trip to Estes Park or something would be fantastic, I think. I keep checking out sites like Goin2Travel, where their slogan is, Find Your Perfect Vacation! So far, I've yet to find a vacation rental anywhere remotely close to where I want to go, but that may be because I'm looking pretty close to home. I have a feeling it's a pretty brand new site, but the pictures they have of their available accommodations look nice.

Hey, does anyone want to volunteer to babysit a pair of 2 1/2-year-olds and a pair of 4-year-olds so we can go somewhere for the weekend??