The After

I do everything on full-speed ahead, so I have no before pictures of the girls' rooms before I tackled them. The first 3 weeks of June were spent getting the rooms cleaned out, furniture moved around, walls and ceilings painted and re-wallpapering the vanity areas. I would love to show you a "before" so you could fully appreciate the improvement. These rooms aren't really "WOW" in the decorating department but they are "OH MY GOsh!" in the improvement and cleaned up department. Plus, I now have a Craft Room which cleared up lots of space in the pantry and closets around the house. Click on the photos below to enlarge them.

Cameron was in the larger of the two rooms and her furniture was moved to the back smaller bedroom. So here is her new room and vanity.







Jordan's bedroom furniture went with her to Phoenix. So the front, larger room has become a craft room for me with a bed in it for Jordan for her visits home.









And the best part is, I have identified the things I use most often...so if I need to send one of the idiots, I mean family members, up to get something for me, they should be able to find it quickly.

I blinked and it's time to get out the red, white & blue again...

I went to Roundtop last weekend with a friend and every booth was decorated with red, white and blue. Baseballs and croquet balls were thrown in for color...so I grabbed some of Chuck's baseballs and added them to my display. By the time he notices, it will be time to take all this down and he'll never know.

Robot Songs.....yes, I said "Robot Songs"

My sister's sons both attend Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Mark is majoring in Theater Arts and Jack is minoring in it. Both were involved in the summer reperatory theater and the plays were this past week.

I've said it before, and I will say it again....I am not very good at "plays"......meaning I cannot sit still and cannot usually understand all the deep meaning behind the dialogue. I find my mind wandering and looking at my watch. But both of these plays were really good and I was able to stay focused.

Their summer repertory theater is in a very small arena where the actors are right there...within feet of the audience....the stage is bordered by the seats. The actors played mulitiple parts and the set is very simple and limited to what they can bring in and off of the stage quickly for the next scene. So I had to sit still and behave, which in turn helped me to stay focused.

"Robot Songs" is a play written by one of Sam Houston's own, Scott McCarrey. Scott is going on to do graduate work at NYU and I would venture to say he will be a very famous playwright one day. I believe you can take a mediocre actor and teach them techniques and skills to make them more talented....throw in some work equity and a little luck and they can become famous. But a playwright? Where does that talent come from? I am pretty sure it's from the man above. The dialogue in this play was incredible and I kept thinking that this college kid wrote this. He wrote all of it. And it had a beginning, a middle, and an ending......and so much more. That kind of talent is rare.

I am very proud of both of my nephews and it is apparent that theater is their passion. Jack is the quieter, more intense of the two.......Mark, the funny one, the improvisor. Both are very talented and certainly have the ability to memorize lines and lines and lines of dialogue. I just wish I could remember what I came into a room to do.

Thanks guys for the entertainment.

Eating out before the play....



Cameron and Michael....her very good friend.



Will, being his "Will self"....knowing I am taking his picture, he gets busy with his phone.



Jack...



Mark (my nephew - the robot in the play), Scott (the playwright) and Tony (who played the lead role)

Today in a "round about way".....

When my kids were in elementary school and still read the Sunday Funny Paper, we would all laugh at Family Circus. Not laugh because it was funny but because it was so nerdy/corny/stupid. Remember when the mom would send Billy out to tell the dad something and rather than take the straight path to the dad....there would be dotted lines in the pattern of several 8's as Billy would get so side-tracked? Well, if you could look down on me today, you would see about 100 "8's" .......Call it adult ADD but at the end of the day, the jobs get done....and Billy always made it to the dad.

Since going back to work for the school district in 2004, I have started the tradition of having a summer project in June. These projects are too time consuming to do in a weekend or on a weeknight......and usually involve a big mess and at least 2 weeks to get to the finish line. Cleaning out the pantry, painting the walls in there and re-lining the shelves......Summer Project 2005 for example. Painting Will's room, hanging shelves and wallpapering one whole wall with old National Geographic Magazine maps....Summer Project 2006 for another example.

This summer, I am working on the girls' rooms upstairs. I switched their rooms and am turning the bigger of the 2 rooms into a craft/sewing/bedroom for Jordan. Since Jordan has moved to Phoenix with her bedroom furniture and Cameron is a resident of A&M/College Station for at least the next 3 years, it was time. I am finally getting a craft room at the age of 50. I am in lock-down mode until I finish. Today I am painting the top of a table and chest with oil-based black paint. Just getting up there to put the first coat this morning was at least 20 "8's." And while waiting for the first coat to dry, there were at least another 20.




Here are some of the dots I took........

1. Make 3 phone calls to VBS volunteers...caught 2 of them at home and had to tell our life stories to one another. No, I don't know these people. Luckily left the third one a voicemail.

2. Check my email. Check my blog. Read some blogs.

3. Stop and watch a little of Kathy Lee on the Today show. uhhhhh.....no chemisty with her co-host.... and it's not the co-host's fault.

4. Load the dishes. Start to wipe counters but CVS called that my prescription was ready.

5. Get my shoes on and run up to CVS to pick up a prescription. (antibiotic for the tooth that I just had a root canal and crown put on....now gum is abscessed and I am taking more antibiotics which has given me the free gift of you-know-what down you-know-where!)

6. Walk up and down every aisle of CVS 3 times before picking up my prescription.

7. Bought several items, one of which is a new brush for my blush.

8. Came home and started putting my new make-up away and decided the make-up drawer needed to be cleaned out.

9. Washed out all make-up brushes and drawer. Needed a better container for the make-up drawer so I went to dresser drawer and dumped jewelry into drawer so I could use that container. Stopped and looked around house for another container to put jewelry in but then...

10. Remembered I bought chocolate-covered pretzels at CVS....went into kitchen to grab the bag. Ate those on the way back upstairs.

11. Painted second coat of black on table top.

12. While still up there, got out the Goo-Gone and worked on the back of Cameron's bedroom door.....tape, taPE, TAPE! Oh, she pulled down the posters but left the tape. No problem.....for her. (I wuv you Cammie Sue)

13. Started Goo-Goning everything.....got into the girls' bathtub and Goo-Goned some old glue from a Shampoo/Soap dispenser that was taken down several years ago. Stopped to get a razor blade....now in this closet with all of my stuff. Razor blades in container with scissors and exacto knives..."things that cut."



14. Went back to the shower and while razor blading the glue off, I noticed how the soap scum was coming off, too. Little white powder flying everywhere....or maybe it was the top layer of the tiles. Anway....razor bladed soap scum for awhile.

15. Turned shower on to rinse off all residue......shower head was pointing towards the outside of the tub.....flooded a small area.




16. Got out towels to soak up flood. Saw that lower cabinets and trim had something spilled all over them. Coca-Cola? Ice Tea? Wiped that up then came downstairs to make me some tea....cause the spill made me think of tea and I realized I was thirsty.

17. Came in here to check my email. Checked some blogs. And whew! Here I am.

18. Thinking about that ice tea......oh, yeah,.....never got in there to make it.

19. But wait, I forgot to tell you about my new favorite thing.....the Scotch Easy Erasing Pad! Wet one of these babies and you'll be wiping every door, door frame, tile, dog and husband in the house. Scuff marks B GONE.




And 20. Ready to post this entry when I realized that you needed a few pics to really put you there. I am including a picture of my craftroom/sewing room with a bed for Jordan....which I am not going to show yet. I will put finished photos on here soon, I hope.

So there, 20 "8's" and one more thing. This is the black paint I have used on my kitchen desk, my kitchen fireplace mantel, my screendoor, and now my craft table and chest. Oil based and messy but cheap and good.

Black & White and Too Cute for Words

I met my friend, Karen Lee, for lunch in Old Town Spring on Friday. We ate at Wunsche's Cafe and enjoyed a little bit of vegetables with our bowl of butter. She never meets me without bearing gifts. She has yet to figure out that her long enduring friendship is the best gift she could give me. However, this gift was for my 50th birthday and it is black & white and probably one of the cutest things in my house....so I am so appreciative and proud of it. It is a magnet board, but I am hanging it over the stovetop for now. It's made of metal and I think it will hold up to the steam (haha, like I cook!).Oh, my gosh......you know you want one, too.

Thank you Karen for your friendship and your incredible generosity. I love you.

Will Climbs Out of Crib to Score His Grandfather's Cash

When the kids were little and we would visit Chuck's parents, the "babies" would sleep in a portable crib in their grandparent's bedroom. One Christmas while visiting, we would find things in the crib with Will in the morning. So Chuck set up the video camera and we found out how these items got into the crib. If you have a spare 3:02 minutes, watch this video. At about 48 seconds, Will turns on the light, has already grabbed the cane on the back of the door, climbs out of the crib, goes exploring and climbs back into the crib with his PopPop's wallet. Is it just me, or do you think this is funny? And maybe a little scary.....

Happy Father's Day, 2008

William Pierce Hackney - Chuck, Daddy


William Douglas Langley - Bill, Daddy, G'Daddy

Billy Pierce Hackney - Bill, Daddy, PopPop


To the fathers in my life.....whether in the next room, 500 miles away or with our Heavenly Father...you have all been the best daddies. I pray my daughters find a man like you...and that my son becomes a man like you.

For M'Lopez

One of the kindergarten teachers I work with sent me a sweet email today...full of compliments about my hair, how I'm so hot!, my husband is adorable, blah, blah....she was just buttering me up so I would mention her on my blog. What she doesn't know is that I would gladly mention her without all the compliments. She really did say I was hot....you can read her exact words below in red! I AM hot......Chuck has the air set on 78' and I can't seem to get cool. Anyway...

M'Lopez joined our team around the 3rd or 4th week of school last year.....due to overcrowding we had to hire a 9th teacher. She was a wonderful asset to an already great team. I recognized her the day I saw her waiting in the receptionist's area for her interview. Her son, Andy and my son, Will are the same age and although we never ran in the same circles, I think we volunteered with each other a time or two. She's wise and witty and I wish I had known her better all these years. It's like I wasted alot of time not laughing with her.

Here's her email........click on it to enlarge it, unless you have microvision.




And as soon as I figure out how much to charge her for being listed in my "happies"....I will put her name there and send her an invoice.

PS: M'Lopez.....you really are one of my happies. I think I will list you and there will be no charge.

Sweeter than sugar.....

Last night, while watching tv, Maggie jumped up into Chuck's lap. This is a rare event...so I grabbed the camera. She looked like a kid with her legs all sprawled out. Apparently she'd played hard yesterday and couldn't stay awake for Design Star.

Haircut

I spent the last several months growing my hair out. Really, just not cutting it short....as hair grows without your help. My hair was basically all one length and just at my shoulders. So it wasn't long to some people's standards but it was longer than I had had it in a couple of decades. The last month, I even had enough for a small pony tail. And for the first time in my adult life, I had no bangs. Yesterday, I cut it off.....and even got a few bangs.

I'm not even sure why I was growing it out, except it just seemed like something to do. But this morning when I blow-dried this shorter hair.......it was sooo nice to be finished before I started sweating profusely. Amen.

Here are a few pictures but what you can't see is that it is very layered and choppy. My hairdresser Van used the thinning scissors and razors on it! Talk about living risky.

Front view....


Side view....


Back view...


And a blurry one.......which of course, is a poor girl's "air brushing." I'm not sure why I was on the phone here.....but obviously it was very important to get that picture right then! I would love to blame my brain activity on old age...but as anyone who has known me for a long time will attest to, I have always been like this.
Multi-tasking on high speed. Now known as ADHD.