Patio Remodle (part 3) and the Sleep OVER

The caulking finally dried, and we each took an side and begin brush painting the cinder block.  It took only one gallon. We thought it would be more.  Amazing how each step changes how the patio feels! The walls up on the East and West side are all up and gonna be a perfect accent!

Looking at these photos and the nasty fans on the ceiling just make me shudder.  They were so dirty, and just UGleeeeeeee!

Tony kept making me laugh. His motto: Measure ONCE, Cut twice.  But we laughed together thru each oops! Due to it being Spring Break, we had a small interruption with a sleep over in the backyard!

 We got a 6-8 man tent and had 2 of the boys friends stay the night! Siah and Issac A. When we were at Walmart, Jordan found these cool headlamps for $1 each. WINNER for sleep over! They could barely wait for darkness.  There were adventures in the tunnels (water pipes that go under the road behind our house and open up at the foot hills). They love being able to go thru them. The boys roamed the desert and park during the day, and the evening was trampoline laughter and trying to get my camera and their headlamps make funny things with the lights! HIlarious!

Banana Splits at 10pm, and the joy of being able to play on the DS Game things ALL night in the tent! At 2AM, I opened the window and said, they could stay up but the giggling and yelling had to be quieter! Siah was the loudest of them all! About 3AM, it got quiet, until 6AM.  They were on the trampoline, laughing all over again!

 More on the patio redo tomorrow! And the hilarity of boys and brushing their teeth so so good! 

Remodeling-the work behind it all! (part 2)

Woo Hoo! We began, with lovely weather! Tony took a few days  off from work, and we dove into the remodel of our catch all back patio. Tony prayed before that we would not get angry and it would be a fun experience!  We were gonna clean all the walls, the nasty cinder block and ceilings! Luckily, I have a way cool steamer!

McCulloch MC1375 Canister Steam System 

This thing is amazing, I steamed the cinderblock and it looked almost perfect. Attaching the extensions made cleaning the ceilings and walls so much easier! YEAH!  

Tony  then caulked with this special cement caulking.  Jordan loved this stuff, as it smelled like frosting! It took forever to dry, and I kept finding Jordan in the patio, sniffing the cinder blocks!  Goober! Anytime anyone would come over to check on our progress, Jordon would explain the yummy smell of the caulking. 

The east side and one section of the north wall was to be paneled.  We also did the west corner of the patio too. (We being Tony, but I watched and cheered). The nasty old aluminum screen doors came down too! 

The pool table with its cover became our work station. It quickly filled up with tools and such.  The new screen doors were so beautiful.  I thought if we only did that, the patio already looked 100% better! The old ones were broken and held together with duct tape. Jordan is behind Tony, probably sniffing the frosting scented caulk!   The time was going fast, but Tony was on a mission to get things done! We couldn't paint the cinder blocks yet due to the caulking taking so long to dry. The helper of the week was Whitley, so he got to measure and be part of the cutting for the paneling for the walls.  It was a great help for Tony!  I love how happy Whitley looks too! That smile and the beautiful new screen door are reason to celebrate!  Stay tuned for the next installment of the Remodeling the Patio!

   

Remodeling Back Patio (part 1)

Jordan age 3, looking out the windows of back patio

 When we first moved to our house. (May 2012) The Littles were little! lol. It was a play room.  Jordan spent a lot of time in time out away from the other kids.  They could ride their bikes and play Legos in the room.  The screens took a beating as the Littles would shove their hands against it.

First fellowship at our new house

We started having fellowships from church at the house and the big enclosed patio was a great place for the food.  Come winter, Tony and the boys put up thick plastic to keep heat in and the cold winds out. Many fellowships thru the cold happened in this back patio.

November fellowship brrrrrrrrrrr

 It was tight with everyone in there, but warm and full of laughter! Much fun was had.
In 2013, Mom hornswoggled Eric into putting lattice with a border on the outside of the patio.  The screens were being beat up pretty bad. This was to keep them safer.  He did a great job! Mom tried to incorporate an ocean them. Decorating this place was tough!

4th of July

We had a big 4th of July Blow out in 2014, and I think it is the best the place looked! Mom had filled it with plants and patriotic decorations.

left is shelves of storage invading the room-plastic up 

 Then it became our dining room/fellowship hall/storage/catch all patio.

notice broken ping pong table?

 Mom tried to cover all the storage with blankets, table cloths...but it didn't fool anyone. It was a disaster. Broken ping pong table and toys. Legos ruled the ground and ants invaded due to the dining room being out there too.

Not to be dissuaded, We even had ERic and Rachel's reception there. YIKES!

We had such high hopes of totally enclosing it, making it square footage to the house.  We had a few contractors come out and the price was so much more than we had budgeted.  So..................
PINTEREST! and a marvelous blog Old Things New by Patti!! (she actually wrote me an email after I thanked her for blog post)
This is her photo of her patio, using paint drop cloths that changed our sadness to an open air patio to happiness!

 Go and see her transformation! It is amazing, and we were able to follow it to our patio!
We cleaned EVERYthing out, but the pool table and the refrigerator! Mom took a photo and then went to work with her photoshop to show Tony what it could look like!

Photoshopped using different add on's from the internet!  We did wind up buying that actual table set, and the blinds that are on the windows.  The sheers become paint drop cloths and our fans are white!  

 And now the after!!!

 OUr first small fellowship! Tony also got a full sized pool table to go along with it!

 The "littles" playing pool with Dad at night in the back patio, with curtains closed!

 The other side of freshly painted and cleaned patio.  New walls up too. Stay tuned for during remodel photos!

This was today, it is stormy and very very windy! Tony and I spent lunch in the patio..NO dirt! just a lovely time!

Scrapping our life continues.

As the challenges continue at The Lily Pad, so does my daily scrapping pages.  I am determined to finish my May/Jun/July book!
Here is Day 13-StoryTelling.
We are not a family that does long good byes I dropped my parents at the airport, and then watched in the rear view mirror as they went away. I grabbed the camera and got them going in the door. I cried and cried. Having them here at at my home was such a great time. They were a huge help for the wedding and reception. I was so proud of them and think they are proud of me too. Living so far away is a pain when you want Mom to come over and show you how to do something. Sharing recipes with my Dad is way more fun in person. I know that California is their home as New Mexico is mine, but it doesn't stop me me from wishing . After they are gone, I think of all the photos I should have taken, more hugs I should have given them. Tears flow as I remember how much I am indeed loved. Mom and Dad, I love you so much and next time I might just take one more hug to go.

Day 14. Where I Stand-

Day 15- Repeated Elements

Why is Gabriel wearing a yellow flower in his ear? Because Sage Marie asked him too. Having them here for Eric’s wedding was a joy. Gabe and Sage Marie had a special connection.

Day 16-Using Paint as a Photo Mask

When I took these photos in May 2015, I knew I wanted to do a paint page, it has been ruminating in my head all this time...oh I adore this challenge.
my mom, whose hands hold so much and never seem to stop moving.

It has been a fun week of scrapping. The kids are all working or in school, so it is nice to sit and scrap a bit, clean, then oh yeah, then scoop up gallons of water, when the washer explodes.  Life at our house continues! 

~never lose your joy

smack in the middle of MOC'16

The Month of Challenges.  Yep, everyday for 31 days in January, the Lily Pad, a little place I go to help me create digital scrap pages!
Today is Day 12 and I am up to date! Here is a quick update of the 12 pages I have done: (and if you want to jump in and get the instructions, I have the title linked)
DAY 1- Blind Scrap (Inspiration Challenge)

DAY 2- Listers Gonna List (Journaling Challenge)

DAY 3- Text Spacing (Technique Challenge)

DAY 4- Photoless Layout (Style Challenge)

DAY 5- Embracing Imperfection (Photography Challenge)

DAY 6- “This is My Song” Image Challenge (Inspiration)

DAY 7- Filled Template (Template Challenge)

DAY 8- One Word (Journaling Challenge)

DAY 9- Scrap Therapy Challenge

DAY 10- Extraction with a Twist (Technique Challenge) I actually am the hostess for this, and you can see my goofy video on the site too!

DAY 11- Scraplift (Inspiration Challenge)

DAY 12- Embellished Template (Template Challenge)

I am having a blast scrapping memories and will be back to add some more next week!

~never lose your joy

Bullet Journaling My Way-Battle Plans

I make lists. All the time. Then I leave them at home.  When I had a smart phone, I would take pics of my lists.  That worked kinda, but I couldn't edit the photo...quite the conundrum. Then one of my Sistas in Scrap(Sarah) at the Lily Pad did a blog post on Bullet Journals.  I was hooked!
I am not one to print things out and then cut them out, so I am relying on my pens and doodle ability.  I don't have talent for art, but I do love words!
After watching the official Bullet Journal video here.  I knew this was for me, but I needed more tweaks and color! I discovered Bojo Berry and her videos.  She walks thru her whole book and then set up for 2016, and that helped me to get it better!
I can honestly say, after I watched her videos, I went directly to Amazon and ordered

Leuchtturm Medium Hardcover Dots Emerald by LEUCHTTURM1917 -

but it won't be here until FEBruary, so I went back and got a RED one...I think I will need two this year anyways!

I then was getting buyers freak! What if I didn't use it? So I picked up this old and oh so heavy notebook I already had to begin RIGHT now. It was heavy, oh my gosh, like a brick, but I am glad I started that day, because I became fastly addicted to the journal -Which I call my Battle Plans! I wasn't sure how the monthly list was going to work, but it did. I did a change up in my new book,and it helped.

I needed something to also help me track my fun job as a Pollywog over at the LIly Pad. I make many digital scrapbook pages for designers and have to upload them for advertising purposes on certain days.  Plus there is a major challenge going on there, and I needed a place to plan. 

I did an end of year goals, and totally wacked the page up...

Here is my first weekly page, and you can see I am not real confident in the journal yet. 

So after a couple weeks, I wanted to plan what to put in my beautiful red Battle Plan journal, so I made a page in the Tank (the old journal), I got some tabs from Walmart (way cheaper than ANY where else)

See the difference? Pure beauty in the new one, I love her!

Here are my tools for making it purty.  I got these awesome pencils as a birthday present with grown up coloring books, from a precious friend! The big ones are Prangs, and the then ones are Lyra's. They blend so nicely.  When I am going over my todo lists each night, I color, or sometimes, just feel the need to color.  That cool transformer case is actually my son's but he lost it for using it as a weapon at school. That is a whole diffferent post! I use Staedtler pens, because they dry instantly and I can leave the top off for 18 hours and no dry. 

Starting off with a legend or Key.  I called mine a key, because I keep forgetting the word legend.   I also included the pens I plan on using, but now that I am into working with them, I wouldn't do that again. But it looks cool here. 

 This is the Index, and one of the reasons I wanted this particular journal. The pages are prenumbered and I just fill out the Index. This is a huge help, and looks so professional to me.

The calendar was a blast to do...scary, and only one mistake, hence the flower covering the 31 of April!  the left side is just so I could familiarize myself with the page.  I need that to break down my lists.

 

I took this idea from BoJo Berry, having 3 columns for the monthly calendar.  All Day(for holidays, birthdays, or duh, something that goes on all day).  Then Daytime and Evening. This is a huge help, as the day really needs that for me. Color coding, is important too. Red:church, Orange: Kids, Purple: Finances and Green: the Lily pad.

My very first weekly log. I am waffling between the box or bullet (dot) for actions. I figure it is my book, so I can waffle.  HeLarryUS, my first big boo boo, 2016 was 206 and what? I had to smoosh the 1 in there and laugh!

I use my journal for sermon notes. I then can use it also in my prayer time, to remember the words that spoke to me, and apply to my life and praying for others. 

We watched the movie WAR room on New Years Eve at church and that inspired my Battle Plan Prayer pages for my family. I cut my family out of the Christmas card, and surrounded with scripture for them, and things that are on my heart for them in prayer.

I am here now, and still playing with my weekly log, I don't preplan them, I add them as todo lists and use my monthly calendar as the main planner.

There ya' go, hope you understand my ramblings!

~never lose your joy