Tricia – Page 33 – House of Horne

May 24, 2007

Little Readers

This is a familiar sight at our house:

Two little rumply-haired boys in robes/jammies reading together on the couch early in the morning. It is one of their favorite things to do. It is also one of Mommy’s favorite things for them to do, because when engrossed like this, they are at peace with one another. No cross words, bickering over a toy, or whining to me about what evil the other has just done.

But there is also humor within this picture. Please note that both boys have a Magic TreeHouse book: this is a recently-discovered series in our family, and the children have been getting every book they can find out of both the city and school libraries. Which is understandable for Abigail and Jonathan, because, well, they can actually read. Words, that is. And Treehouse Books are definitely reader books. There are not a ton of pictures to help tell the story if you can’t figure out what the funny-looking symbols all over the page mean. Personally, I’d have a hard time enjoying these books if I was not a reader.

But Nicolas doesn’t agree with me. That precious boy of mine can’t read a single word, but he LOVES reading TreeHouse books. In fact, he tells me that he’s “read” eleven TreeHouse books now. Really. And he believes he has. Every time Jonathan picks up one, Nicolas chooses one for himself. Unless of course, as he tells me, he’s “already read that one”.

It’s so cute. He wants to be just like his big brother, and “read”. I, feeling sorry for him (thinking he cannot possibly be enjoying the process of patiently running his chubby finger underneath every. single. word. in. the. entire. book. – which is what he does in order to finish reading it, mind you) offer him countless picture books off our shelves, and he politely declines, saying he’d rather read his TreeHouse book.

Until this past weekend…when Jonathan began the first in another series of books which we own: the Hobbit. I wondered which TreeHouse book Nicolas might choose to read from while sitting next to his big brother. But the four-year-old calmly reached into the same grouping of books from which Jonathan had selected the Hobbit, and settled down comfortably with his own volume: none other than Fellowship of the Ring.

May 22, 2007

A Fully Operational Bathroom

Well, dear Readers, I hope I am not boring you with my minute by minute accounts of our work around here, but the progress that we have made on the house the last few days is so exciting. On Wednesday morning, in our third bathroom, none of the bathroom “appliances” worked. The toilet had died, the sink was out of commission due to a leak which was damaging the vanity cabinet, and the shower was as it was when we purchased the house, that is to say, minus knobs for turning on the water (but the previous owners did leave some handy dandy vice grips affixed to the stems),

and potentially installed incorrectly – we were awaiting the plumber’s test to see if there was a leak below the house, which was a devastating possibility. Despite our knowledge when we purchased it that the house had some need of TLC, the original inspection had not revealed that the shower might actually be unusable; if after testing, the plumbers discovered that it leaked under the house, all the tile would have to be torn out and redone, either a really major project, or a really major expense. So we awaited the verdict on the shower with some nervousness.

While we could certainly live with a nonworking bath for some time (after all, when we first moved in, we only had one working bathing place, and one working toilet), the combination of the mess in front of us along with the anticipation of actual overnight houseguests who were soon to arrive, spurred us on to want to fix the room up as best we could. As we told you on Wednesday, Jay tackled the toilet first.

After our plumbers gave us the glorious news late Thursday that actually the little shower was just fine, no leak, no problem, Jay set about to figure out how to attach knobs to the 1965 piping. Our plumber would have done it for $450, including parts, by replacing all the piping and valves in the wall (and leaving a nice hole in the wall to boot) but we were already paying them so much money for things we certainly had no business doing ourselves, that Jay wanted to try to do this job himself. He succeeded, with some unconventional methods, in getting everything working properly, so instead of the vice grips which had been left, we now have shiny chrome knobs. How fancy – well, compared to the vice grips.

Jay also installed a nifty extender to allow the shower head to be moved appropriately into various positions for people of differing heights. On Saturday, we all visited Lowes and found a pretty faucet to install in place of the nonworking and very corroded original one.

For about an hour, Jay sawed and fought with stubborn piping underneath the cabinet, and complained about rust particles in his eyes from time to time, but finally emerged triumphant: he had replaced the shut-off valves and hookups to the faucet underneath, and as the finishing touch to the sink, put in this lovely fixture.

I love the porcelain “hot” and “cold” knobs!

So on Saturday evening, for the first time since we moved in last September, Abigail was able to shower in her own little bathroom. She was so excited, especially because it felt “cozy” (read “it is very, very tiny, perhaps the tiniest shower ever built”), and because she could bring the showerhead down to a ridiculously low level, exactly even with her 8-year old height.

Now, because I am who I am, I feel the need to insert the disclaimor here that I don’t feel children need to enjoy a bathroom of their own, even if they are the only female sibling among three brothers. I have had conversations with many a person who insisted their children of different genders should not have to share a bathroom, and been admittedly horrified about such statements. It would appear that along with our general affluence that we seem to enjoy as a nation, we have somehow come to expect a number of things related to our and our children’s quality of living which are totally unnecessary. But that is really a topic for another blog, now isn’t it? And, perhaps you may think it’s all well and good for me to comment on not needing extra bathrooms for our children: after all, I am the mom whose daughter has that third bathroom!! But, I digress…..

When we set about looking for homes closer to school, a third bathroom, let alone one for Abigail per se, was not on our list of wishes – the idea never even crossed my mind. But this house ended up being the right price in the neighborhood we really liked…..and as you are learning, no one else wanted to deal with its host of “little” issues!! The split fourth bedroom and third bath it offered were appealing both for our daughter as she grows older and perhaps desirous of some more privacy than her three younger brothers are often wont to give her, and because we knew Abigail’s room would double as a guest room for any visitors, whom, we surmised, might enjoy the little bath off to themselves too. All in all, it has worked out beautifully, and we feel it is a huge and unexpected blessing.

Saturday night we were able to share that blessing with our very first real overnight house guests (not including some sweet little friends of Abigail’s who have been here for sleepovers). Here they are…come to stay at House of Horne: the famous Bloggys!!!

What fun we had visiting with them. They were of course perfect houseguests, and left the bathroom cleaner than they found it. Jamison is just that way, you know!! We were so delighted they could stay with us, and thankful for their visit which helped to prompt such a major fix-up of the little bathroom’s functioning parts. While we have aspirations of texturing over old wallpaper, and painting the room a much more appealing shade of something than what is currently on the walls (this brown glaze with beige trim was used in several places throughout the house – same as was in the entry originally), we are so glad to have a functional and usable bathroom. Hooray!!

May 21, 2007

Children’s Artwork in Home Decor

I see great articles in magazines about personalizing your home’s atmosphere – there are so many ways to do this, and make a beautiful home that is (to me) more appealing than the picture-perfect, professionally-decorated, periodical-worthy spreads we tend to drool over. Don’t get me wrong – I can use lots of help and advice with decorating my home, and sometimes wish my budget allowed for professional guidance, but, as a sweet and highly encouraging friend of mine says “Where is the fun in that?”

Anyway, I’ve seen various references to using children’s art as decor in the home, and know that using things our children have created certainly qualifies as personalizing our space. Most of us with children have more than a few masterpieces our progeny have put forth. Admittedly, I don’t want to frame and hang all of them, or even the majority of them, but I have for the first time, put one behind glass and displayed it in our home, and I like the result. I want to share it with you even though photos don’t really do the project justice, IMHO, and even though the walls around the display remain unpainted, etc, etc….

I needed a piece to fill the largest compartment in our living room built-ins (have I mentioned that I LOVE having built-ins in our new home? This is new territory for me) and I had no pieces tall enough to do justice to the space. My sis-in-law suggested hanging something – we talked about a tole tray as an idea – but my budget won’t allow for one of these right now, so I set about looking for something close to free, and happened on a painting of Abigail’s that I like, and an old frame from which I had removed the original picture, hoping to use it in a different setting. Last Thursday, with the children in tow, I popped over to our nearby Hobby Lobby for help. Within 15 minutes and for just $4 I had a custom mat cut to work with the unusually-sized artwork, and the non-standard-sized antique frame, and the entire piece put together and finished out with the proper hardware so that we brought home a ready-to-hang picture. It fits well in the space and helps to personalize the display in the built-ins too. Abigail is very pleased, to say the least. Here is the finished product:

And here is the view of the set of built-ins. Keep in mind that since they are recessed, it’s nigh unto impossible to take a photo which shows everything and still looks straight and balanced, but believe me when I tell you that the picture is nicely hung within its little section on the wall. We are enjoying this space so much, and love the feel it contributes to our living area.

May 16, 2007

Jay the Home Improvement Guy

Today we had some plumbers come to the house to start a job we had taken bids for back in the fall. They have their work cut out for them, replacing the copper gas lines under our pier and beam home with the more up-to-date variety. By way of aside, we will be without hot water for a couple days due to the need to shut off the gas during this operation. Well, about an hour after they arrived, we discovered a major leak under the sink in Abigail’s bathroom, which had unfortunately soaked the cabinet in which the plumbing was housed to the point of damaging it. Then in almost the same moment, the toilet in that same bath (and the only toilet in the house Jay has not replaced since we moved in) decided to give up the ghost. We joked to the poor plumbers that we suspected they might be quietly going around the house sabotaging things!

Well, anyway, as I write this, my manly man is replacing that dead toilet. Just lugging the heavy thing outside to dispose of it is a chore in and of itself. He hopes to finish installing the new toilet this evening, and at least begin work on the faucet which had also deteriorated to the point of needing replacement (hence the leak). Before we lived here, Jay had never learned to deal with plumbing issues or do a number of things that he has in these past seven months managed to get himself up to speed on. All of us around here are reaping the benefits of his hard work, and the house’s condition is improving, little by little.

Of course, it’s easy for me to say – after all, I’m the one doing the delicate typing while he splashes around in the toilet muck – but I feel such a sense of satisfaction every time we accomplish something which improves and beautifies our home. It is very hard work, but so rewarding. And I am very, very proud of my favorite home improvement guy.

May 15, 2007

A Fun Weekend

By way of checking in with our faithful readers, since I have not been much of a blogger lately – I want to say that I enjoyed such a nice Mother’s Day weekend. Jay tells me that Mother’s Day Weekend is a contradiction, but I like to think of the day stretching out over both Saturday and Sunday. He certainly helped to make it a lovely couple of days for me.

Saturday morning our entire family had a wonderful, if a bit wet and messy outing to Dirty Dawgs, where our faithful canine “enjoyed” a very thorough bath. If you have never been to Dirty Dawgz, I highly recommend it. It’s like a self-service car wash, only with dogs! Saves you the mess and hassle of having all your own products and tools for the job at home, if you don’t have a great place to bathe your doggie there. But it’s much cheaper than sending doggie to the groomer’s. I wish I had a picture of all of us to show you, but we did not bring the camera along. Suffice to say that Sid smells and looks much better than before we went!

Saturday afternoon, Jay made lunch, and fed everyone, including me, and then watched the three boys so Abigail and I could attend Aunt Jamison’s first baby shower. It was a great time, and such fun to help celebrate the impending arrival of Baby Isaac. I was so sorry to have forgotten my camera for this event as well, but Aunt J has some pictures up on her blog.

That evening, Jay again stayed home, saw to supper himself, and watched children so that I could take Abigail and Nicolas down to the Majestic Theater to enjoy Cousin Ellie’s first ballet recital, in which she danced the part of a butterfly. She performed beautifully, and finally, I brought my camera along to commemorate the occasion! Here is the aforementioned little butterfly, along with two of her admirers:

The official Mother’s Day began with a cute little redheaded boy peeking at me from the side of my bed, smiling sweetly and saying “Happy Mother’s Day” while handing me a card he made himself in school, and which he had been secretly hiding in high anticipation of the day on Sunday. It should be noted that this presentation was all the more cherished because the little boy, who is a very early riser, obediently waited until after 7am to appear in our bedroom!!

After church, all four children went to sleep and then I actually got to take a nap too. Those of you who know me well are aware that I seldom nap – when children are resting, I usually opt for working on things that are harder to accomplish with several little people to keep after. So this nap was a rare treat for me! How refreshing!

Sunday evening our whole family went out to Texas de Brazil and enjoyed a sumptuous feast to celebrate Mother’s Day – and Grammy and Grandy joined us for the fun! We don’t often eat out as a family and to visit such a nice restaurant with four little ones made us a tad nervous, but they all behaved so beautifully (so did Grammy and Grandy, I am happy to report!), and really relished the new experience. You can visit the entire album of photos from that evening, but I will leave you with this shot of all of us afterward standing by the “bath” as Josiah called it.

Thanks again to my sweet husband for helping me to enjoy such a full weekend of special activities. And, a Happy Belated Mother’s Day to my two wonderful Moms, and all the other Mommies reading this!

April 24, 2007

What Have We Been Up To?

Not much blogging going on lately…don’t know exactly why, but I haven’t felt in the mood, I guess. We’ve really enjoyed the comments and discussion under the Garage Gleanings entry…thanks, Everyone, for your thought-provoking notes.

By way of quick update, and in no particular order of importance, here is some of what has been going on around House of Horne:

* Abigail’s spring ballet recital

* Lots of unpacking and clearing of spaces (and yes, there is still much more to be done!)

* Soccer games

* Dinner and visiting with new neighbors

* A couple of very nasty colds

* Celebrations of my 35th birthday

* Praying for and grieving with this family over their heartbreak and loss

* Gearing up for the last month of school

* Fleas

* Covenant’s Spring Fling

* Coloring on the living room couches with permanent marker (only one guess as to who is responsible for this mess!)

* Poison Ivy

* School projects and presentations

April 10, 2007

Refurbished Chandelier

A big thank you to my mom and dad who, in November bequeathed to us a chandelier they took down when they moved into their new home; they already owned a cherished fixture which they wanted to hang in its place. I brought the chandelier back to Dallas and with the help of an incredibly cute little blonde, blueberry-eyed boy, removed the lights and covers, and prepared it for painting:

After Nicolas and I painted the chandelier a satin black, Jay found a little piece of molding at Home Depot, which we painted to match the fixture, and a couple of weeks ago he installed the whole thing in our dining room which used to look like this:

And here it is, now with the new light in place:

Admittedly, not much of a make-over has yet taken place in the dining room…but at least we have picked a paint color! It will be fun when the walls in here are red…I am really looking forward to decorating this room!

And, I was so thrilled to find out just how simple it is to paint a chandelier and give it a whole new look. When your chandelier just happens to be free, all you spend money on is the can of spray paint (and the optional molding). Quite a deal compared to some of the other projects we’re involved with around the House of Horne!

April 10, 2007

Trip to College Station

Over the weekend, we had the privilege of traveling to visit my brother Andrew and sis-in-law, Jamison in their new home in College Station. It is hard to believe that it’s been only three and a half years since our last trip to Uncle Andrew’s house in College Station…that seems like a lifetime ago to me, before Andrew was a “grown-up” working man, before there was an Aunt Jamison, or a baby TaterTot on the way!! But the older two children actually remember our Thanksgiving 2003 visit to Uncle Andrew’s college digs with great fondness.

Despite being the middle of April, the weather this time was actually colder than it was over that winter holiday, and we spent most all of our time indoors (except for one extremely fun walk that Jamison and I took in the sleet, huddled together under an umbrella! and yes, it really was fun!).

What a delight it was to see their new place, get an up close and personal look at what will soon be the new nursery, and enjoy their wonderful hospitality and Jamison’s delicious cooking. We loved worshiping with them at their church, which also happens to be the church Peter and I attended back when we were in college – how great to visit again. Here is a picture of all of us after church on Easter Sunday:

March 28, 2007

Hymns for a Kid’s Heart

Note: This post should have been done at the beginning of Lent, so forgive my tardiness. I will try and repeat this write-up again next year in order to give readers more notice.

But…if you are looking for a wonderful tool to use this season as you help your children and family prepare to celebrate Palm Sunday, Good Friday and the events leading up to and including Easter, specifically relating to the hymns which our churches often use for the celebration of the Passion of Christ, I highly recommend this:

It is one of a series of four books, all of which we own and love, which Joni Eareckson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth have collaborated on and which are designed to help introduce children to the richness of these hymns. The book presents twelve Passion hymns, and includes some of the history behind each song, wonderful accounts about the authors, and a devotional which aids children in gaining an understanding about each hymn, as well as written music for piano/guitar. A wonderful CD is included and features beautifully orchestrated versions of all the hymns featured, with children’s voices accompanying the two women’s. It is extremely pleasant listening, and we often play selections from these cd’s during the week to help our children prepare for Sunday worship using whatever hymns we might be singing that day.

March 26, 2007

Our New “Toy”

Exercise. What a lofty goal. And yet, our 30-something bodies have been admonishing us that we would do well to care more about them, and specifically, to offer them some more frequent physical activity. Perhaps this was most keenly noted during a recent park date with friends and their children. The kids begged the mommies to be “IT””, i.e. chase them like mad all around the playground. How could we resist our sweet children’s request? So of course we joined the game.

But sadly, I didn’t end up having quite as much fun as I’d anticipated. Because it was during this little game of chase that I discovered I run more slowly than my 8 year old daughter, you know, the girl who has “gross motor issues” and spent time in physical therapy as a youngster. Or at least, I run slower than she after about 30 second’s time, because I, unlike her, have ABSOLUTELY NO CARDIO-VASCULAR ENDURANCE!! She spends time every day running, running, running. I used to be like that. But now I’m just old and somewhat “fluffy”….and my pants are tighter than they should be!

So Jay and I put our heads together to try and find a good exercise option we both could use. And quickly decided that a gym membership probably wasn’t the answer, at least for now: it exceeded our budget, and was just too challenging to fit into our already-busy-enough-for-us lifestyle. Plus, if children were ill, my ability to work out would pretty much go away.

Jay’s lower-back spinal fusion and nerve disease rule out a bunch of other exercise options, like running or playing basketball, or even (and he was really bummed about this, folks) doing step aerobics. So we began considering the idea of a workout machine in our home….and with the input of his doctors concluded that an elliptical machine would provide both a low-impact as well as a pretty intense workout all in one package. I myself have really enjoyed working out on ellipticals in the past, so it seemed a great choice for both of us.

As we started researching ellipticals, we discovered they come in all shapes, sizes, and prices. There were plenty on the used market but at first we tried to buy a new one, since, we reasoned, mechanical issues could arise and with a preowned machine, we might not be getting a good value potentially (i.e. we could pay less up front, but wind up with a lemon which would be useless). We set ourselves a modest budget, and went shopping at the stores. And after trying quite a few ellipticals, we made the discovery that the only ones which fit Jay’s “funny” foot (*the one which is permanently sticking a bit out to the side after numerous surgeries and which makes standing on many of the workout machines just an impossibility for him) were way out of our price range on the new market. Way. Far. Out.

Since purchasing an elliptical on which Jay could exercise was a priority, we figured that perhaps we would do better to check the used market for a machine which is known for holding up well, that had seen little heavy use. Now that we had a good idea of which brands we wanted to stick with, and which machines would accommodate Jay’s foot well, we had what we needed to shop the used market. And almost immediately, a deal popped up for Jay’s top pick, the lowest end machine made by a company called Octane Fitness, who manufacture only elliptical machines, unlike many other makers of exercise equipment. The Octane machines are famous for great quality, and also very specifically for a very narrow and unique spacing between the feet that ensures your hips don’t have to shift laterally and tax the lower back. This was a wonderful feature given Jay’s lower back issues.

The Monday morning Craigslist posting for the Octane machine was asking a price around half of what the other USED postings listed this elliptical for. It took Jay only a few minutes to work a deal with the seller, and on Tuesday night, with the aid of a friend’s truck (thanks, DC!) and the help of my very wonderful (and very, very strong!) brother Peter, we set the machine up in our bedroom. Thank you, Peter! (editor’s note: the machine weighed 270 pounds!)

After getting the elliptical home, we had a nice surprise: we happily discovered that we had actually gotten a better deal than we’d even thought: the seller had advertised the machine he was selling as this model. What we purchased instead was this higher-end elliptical, with even more features and options for us to enjoy! All the additions to this model were electronic upgrades mostly related to heart rate during the workout: the ability to carefully monitor it with a wireless device, and several additional workouts designed to target the heart specifically. These will certainly be fun to try out.

Well, cheer us on as we embark on the long and challenging road to physical fitness…in a few months maybe we’ll post pictures of our less-fluffy and very buff selves (um, yeah, probably not) but for now I leave you with a photo of my favorite Elliptical Guy: