A bit of redecorating

 Relaxation and reading area.  I put my fox painting on the wall, and gave her the fox amigurumi I made last year, which it isn't able to be seen, but he is hugging 'A Wrinkle in Time' and protecting it for our next reading session.  I knit the rug on the floor a year or so ago, and it has been through the washing machine numerous times.  It's nice to put your feet on when reading.

Roger the tiger is guarding.
Cookie Rabbit is in the clothes hanger organizer, along with another vibrant pink lion that was a Valentine toy but I don't think ever kept a name.  She has her red ibis (flamingo, it gets called often) that I made up in her bed as a pillow.

A new rug under her desk, star shaped string lights above her bed so she can 'sleep under the stars', and she is actually using the hanger organizer I bought for her closet area - so it was a good investment.  She spent her allowance today on a scented candle and saved allowance on a dragon shaped water fountain.

This is her memory box, which has lots of rocks she has found or gotten from shops or geology kits, and snail shells and shells from the lakes, a suncatcher from Grandma, a tag she wore for Veteran's Day with my father's name on it and a few other things in there. 

We didn't get to go to the park today, it started raining.  We did get the present for the bday party next week and then did all this instead.  Esme begged for kielbasa and peppers, which I made.  We have to wrap the gift and then in a bit our guest is due to arrive for the sleepover!

collections and album bits

This is the glasstop display box I gave Esme for her geology and shell collection.  The collection was sitting on a shelf by my sewing box and it is much more enjoyable this way!  I put the shell she got from her grandparents (Grandpa Harvey and Grandma Gale) in there it had been out of sight in a jewelry box.  Then, she asked me why we didn't have any photographs of them up on our memory board.  She couldn't remember what everyone looked like!  It was near bedtime so of course she got deeply philosophical about this.  She also wanted to see more pictures of Grandma Irene and Grandpa Henry.

I printed out a batch of photos and put a few up on the board, and a set into her little album here on the display box.  The album already had a lot of pictures from when she was a little baby, but it was put away in a drawer.  It now has more recent pictures as well from our Kentucky Lake heritage center trip and her third grade photo the other day.  She can have it out and page through it.

The memory board in the kitchen is a little crowded now, but it's good!  I think she will like it.

I think I need to get a big album and start putting all of the other photos in it.  They are laying in sleeves in a drawer and I'm not even sure what is there.  It would be a good project for this fall.

Anymore sausage flavored dog food in this pan?

Gave away these kittens today at the flea market.  They went together to a good home.  I thought I had lost my ring and couldn't find it anywhere.  Then when I got home it was in a soap dish from earlier that morning after Esme's bus stop I had washed my hair.  I felt silly - but glad it wasn't lost!

Corn!

Mark says: 'Our produce has produced.'  We have some tomatoes to pick out there, too - but first to blanch and bag all of this and put it in the freezer!  Snoopy (shown below) and the black kitten Tink would not stop coming into the garden with us.  At one point Tink had put his head inside the bottom of my pants leg and was sitting there purring because he felt like he was getting attention by being that close to me.  Silly... I kept telling him he was a black caterpillar corn worm and we really had to do something about those before they eat the crop!

Esme with one of the first tomatoes from the garden

Esme with Snoopy puppy, one of Nova's - and a bluetick coonhound mini-me!

Different kinds of beans in the garden - Provider green beans on the left, straight and round - the White climbers I was trying out again from the odd seed that showed up last year, purple Shackamaxon and the Rattlesnake beans with tiny purple stripes, which makes it so easy to tell the difference!

Mark did a major floor cleaning in the kitchen and hall yesterday, and all of the laundry.  I followed suit today with a major cleaning in Esme's room... it needed it badly.  She had rocks and sticks stashed in toy boxes, one toybox had a hole in the bottom of it that water had gotten into.. some boards that had water and mold on them underneath...stashed candy in plastic bags inside toys and empty boxes scattered around, paper, school hats and cards and it wasn't really possible to walk in there without falling over anything.  I made her help me organize after the worst of it was done - spray down her dollhouses which were full of dust and grime, empty and spray out her garbage can, collect up and throw out anything food (except a few recent things from sleepover bag which went on her dresser), gather jewelry, her purse (she couldn't find it last week and so couldn't buy anything), teaset stuff, play food, my little ponies, playmobil people, stuffed animals  etc etc etc... It ended up looking, smelling and being SO much nicer in there you could almost believe it was new!  We moved her dresser and changing table, got a dress-up station set up and took out some things she had outgrown, as well.

The knit net I had made for her stuffed animals came in very very handy.  When bedtime rolled around she went and picked out exactly who she wanted to bring for sleepover ;)

We also went to the fast food and park in McKenzie with Grandma - and she ran a lot of energy off.  Even with taking five kitchen bags of junk/paper etc out of her room she was on excellent behavior all day.  In fact, I think she appreciates her room a bit again.. heard her in there playing cars on the floor and she has her Dreamlight again to use at night because it had slipped behind her bookcase and she didn't know where it was.

Neon pillows should be sewn while wearing sunglasses

Finally, another day off, and I am getting to the next step.  This requires tacking little stitches into the interior rounds to keep the pillow straight and centered while I begin the reducing rounds around the outside of the pillow, essentially crocheting the rest of the project with the 'removable insert' inside.  If it ever needed to be washed, it could be - with some careful snipping of about eight little tack stitches.  This one is going to turn out just a smidge smaller than the other two that are on our bed - but that is okay, since it is for Esme's room and she is smaller, right?  There were some quilting rags that were in a bag waiting for a project and they went inside it with the stuffing to give it some heft and keep the corners filled.

Not much else, reading, scrapbooking some fabric pattern and other decorating and art ideas... reading the Fifth Elephant, drinking coffee, folding laundry and scratching a puppy behind the ears every once in a while.  I'd like to add another skirt onto my wish list for crafting.. and a pair of pajama pants although I've been telling myself that one for a year and haven't made another pair, yet (but, three skirts - so that is something).  Esme will be at home in an hour, so, I'm glad I've made some progress today besides sleeping in and lounging over some frozen waffles and maple syrup.  The winter cold has made lounging quite desirable, especially with feet tucked underneath knitted blankets.

Esme and her new pillow

after which she spent many minutes stacking them all up on the bed and claiming they were hamburgers or pancakes and we needed to have dinner.

New book holders for childrens room decor out of product boxes from the store

 These boxes once held a kind of tool at my store and were left empty on the shelf.  I picked them up and was impressed by how sturdy and clean feeling they were .. they deserved a second life before they would eventually go to rubbish...  I could see Esme's lighter weight magazines and books going in them on the shelf instead of stacked as she has been want to do.  And, she loves to paint like I do.  I started to paint the blue one myself and she came in from playing outside and volunteered for the second one, with suggestions for decor on the blue one.  She decided to leave the bottom of the sides on her pink box white so they look like clouds in the sky.  That was intentional.

I'll see what she paints on hers for decoration tomorrow... it was late and I put her to bed while the pink layer dries.  We also got a large display board that she has drawn stick figures on, but I hope she will use for writing her sight words on and/or make a landscape in to use as a backdrop screen in her room.  One of my days off next week I'll ask her about it.

Note:
Last night I told Esme I still want to be a scientist when I grow up... she did the 'wait what?' look at me and started to argue I was grown up tall already I couldn't grow up anymore.. so we talked about grown ups might still learn things they want to do after they grow up tall... and she told me I needed to go learn in my books, and she would learn too and be a scientist rockstar astronaut cowboy who goes bounce on the moon with a guitar. Ok, then. Let's shoot for that.

 

All finished with hers with no help from me.  

She is really growing up :)

She is comparing the design pictures and realizing hers is different now, I have four - this has six.  

Me: Yes... but they are both awesome. 

 Esme:  They are!  They match!

We did a little homeschool before I went to work today.  I made her a checklist for what she did on the box and she read the words and checked them off.  Then we made a grocery map of our store and she helped me make a list of things she wanted, we looked at the map to find out where they were in the store and marked numbers on the map and the list so we knew which item was where.

Her list: bananas, strawberries, apples, oranges, juice, chicken soup.  Most of that is in the produce section!

Handmade art by Mom for Esme's room

I still get my paintbrush out once in a while -although not for anything as elaborate as I used to make.  Here is a pirate painting for Esme's room and also some animals I painted on her new closet doors.

Pirate dreams painting - details asked for Esme are the scene on the left with the treasure island and the dreaming pirate, and the stars, and a 'whale' which I made an attempt at by the sunset/sunrise.

Once the closet was in place in her room the doors looked a little plain.  So, I grabbed a paintbrush and freehanded some animals onto it - I had intended two giraffes facing each other and instead made a tiger in pants and shoes, and a giraffe with a coat on :) 

We already have some dresses hung up on hangers inside and I am trying to get her to keep her boots and shoes in here at the bottom - socks and loose thins in the shelf above.  She has taken the dresses on hangers out and played with them saying it is dress up time - is this too small - is this just right?  Try this on, won't you?  I need to get more hangers - and looking at her clothes I know that August is just a little ways off.. I will need to get sewing if she is going to have something in decent condition for school every day. 

I just haven't had a lot of time for sewing since that last coat.. and even that took me weeks from cutout to finish.  Note to self:  Need pants too, have one pair cut out but they are summer length - and now that she requires nearly a full two yards for a pair of pants, they have gotten more expensive - not as much as jeans, though... still have to think if we might have her try on some jeans to see how they fit, and compare the investment now that she has grown so much.

 Esme with her horse pretending the pirate ship is a castle and she is a 'knight girl with the armor'

This is where the painting is in her room, by her sleeping light on the shelf. 

bits of a Monday off

We had a good night's sleep last night - Esme was in her room with the lamp on, and she stayed there (as far as we know) all night and was still asleep in her bed at 7:30 am. We went to the store this morning to get Grandma milk and bread and a few other things. Esme had talked to me last night about wanting a DreamLites unicorn she saw on TV - but I told her I couldn't find that at the store, but we would look. They didn't have it but we found a bear in the toy section that has a light-up belly - and she said that would work.

I have worked on the winter quilt a bit more, and cleaned up the linen shelves in the bathroom and our bedroom area. With Esme's linens in the black rolly cart in her room now, there is more room in ours - and a LOT to sort through in general. Because of all the moves and changes my sewing area is a wreck, but that happens on a regular basis, so it will be something to sort out later.

I am about to go see if I can coax her down for fish sticks. She is watching cartoons with Grandma after delivering the milk and bread. I am hoping for a better mood for the rest of today, but we will see. I work at ten tomorrow.

//Alarm clock// I bought Esme an Elgin analog alarm clock as part of the order with the chair and bookcase. I put it in her room last night and she saw it immediately, and took it to her bedside table. I told her how it worked and that I would set it for 8 am and it would beep. If you push the button on top the nightlight comes on so you can read the time. She had a grand time with that, but I think she altered the time as well playing with it. She was already up and in the bathtub when it finally went off this morning at 8:30 bathroom-clock time. She pushed the snooze button and turned it off for four minutes. Then it came back on and out she comes from the bath again. I reminded her to turn the alarm 'off' on the back of it - and she did. But, she came and told me that specifically that she pushed the button and it went off, but the 'brown bears and zombies' made it beep again, and by turning it 'off' they couldn't make that happen again. *roll eyes*

Stage 3 of Esme's room.. big changes

We still need some hooks on the walls, her dry erase board, maybe another lamp, to decide if we will bring in another desk and also to hang her decorations from the ceiling. Her bed, dressers, a nightstand table and her nightlights went in today. She will sleep there tonight - and I have tomorrow off in case it is a sleepless night. She has been in a very bad mood all day today, ever since she spilled her cereal early in the morning (upstairs, not in the room) and she has had a few accidents today, as well. I've been 'getting on her case' about the latter and she is not happy at all that 'Mama is mean.' etc.. Grandma and Daddy have both had talks with her, which helps because usually I am the 'bad guy' or it feels like it, and lately she has been playing that one up big saying she doesn't like me, and wants to live elsewhere. That is one of the reasons I'm working to get her own space - she spends a lot of time lately 'being mad at you', and I wanted to be able to say 'go to your room and do that.' haha.. well, you might know what I mean. She needs her own space, to be hers - and to go close her door and do her own thing. But, also, that is new for her in a way - she isn't sure what to think about it herself.



She took a nap in here earlier after being mad at ME because Grandma was busy at her house.


Grandma did come to see her new room, as she had promised.


'Now all the kids can find me', she said.
Mama made this.

I also started making her big winter quilt today. I am down to making the bound edges and then do the inner quilting and wash it. I know part of her upset today was the anxiety of the big changes, and also some days it's that I do projects while still playing with her - and it splits my attention... but it is better than not giving her my attention at all - or being gone. And it gets things done.

Stage 2 of Esme's room is looking good

Hung several of the shelves we had painted the other day. Today, Mark and I closed up some unused closet space in this room with a sheet of panelling. We can't finish it out to be a closet at this time. I plan to get a sheet of dry-erase board and edge it in wooden trim. It will look like it was meant to be this way (and cover up a small hole in the wall) I am filtering her items from her current space down here, trying to get some sort of organization idea going on.. yes that may be a lost cause! Grandma also gave us a blue trunk today, which I cleaned up and put most of Esme's loose toys into, except the 'special' ones, which are in the cardboard bookcase I made by her table. She also said we could have a small metal desk in the office which we are thinking to put in the back corner (shown later) to put Esme's laptop on and serve her for years to come as a place to do schoolwork and other things.


Mark says: It will never be this organized again, ever...
I don't expect it to, but we can start out with things 'fitting' somewhere...



Loose bits and a 'ticket box' Esme and I made. It has a window cut out on the other side and she was pretending to sell tickets to movies inside it. She helped me paint it with the same paint for the shelves and another little bottle of bluegreen. The pink vinyl rocker chair is new, and this was the box ;) Esme has asked for me to make her a big blanket to have on the chair as well... we'll see about that later. Her bed and dresser and some peg hooks are planned to go in the other back corner... I have another poster ordered for her wall and thoughts of things we could paint as well.



My garden was waiting for me... yellow tomatoes, eggplant, lima beans, peppers and I brought in the brown sorghum to hang in the storage room.

Stage two involves watermelon pink....

Esme helping me paint shelves


'I am a boy doing hard work.', she said.
She stated this after I put the hat on her to keep the paint out of her hair.

Well I said it was red - but it is more like a watermelon pink. And, by some odd circumstance, so is the chair that Esme picked out to be her reading chair online. It as if she planned that.. Mark said. We gave her the chair early anyway - as the room is coming together so nicely. She put her disco ball light down there today, too - she can make the whole room dark just by turning off the light, and it does look really cool.

She has also asked if we can build a pirate ship next. That would be good. I told her I would take it under consideration but that the room is going to take a long time! Ha.

Esme's room - stage one

Plan 2 - updated

We are thinking about an old office desk for on the left, and she can do her computer 'work' there. That is what she calls it... her video games, Garry's Mod and Minecraft and kids learning games. We are also planning a 4 x 8 sheet of dry erase board on the right side wall and a bulletin board to hang up her drawings on. The right side of the drawing nearest the front will be a 'library' area with a rocker chair, a bookcase and buckets to throw her loose toys into. I have already displaced the rack and shelves on the left wall with a to-stud shelf system and will probably push the purple table back under there and some other small container shelving to put her art supplies in.


The room is clean and ready to lay some furniture out - then work on making it 'homey'. I don't plan to move her bed and dresser down here for at least another week or so... and some of the new furniture we will keep as surprises for her birthday in a few months.


I am already moving her toys down here. The changing table is being repurposed as a place to hold games and blocks and other 'larger' toys. She has not asked for TV once tonight - she has read books and is being 'busy' with all of her things.


Find the giraffe... at least that is what she said!
On another warm 'off' day I will paint the shelving a 'country red' good grade paint I have found on the mistints and then we can load her books onto them. There is a country red theme bird on a branch drawing I made years ago that I have hung up on her 'library wall' side (not pictured). I will be on the lookout for an area rug for here or to make something for in front of her bed and in the reading area. We have opted to not do a full carpet because of our many dogs and the fact it would probably lead to an expensive disaster sooner than we would like...

Green harvest and Esme room diagram

Small harvest
okra, pimento peppers, banana peppers, yellow tomatoes, basil, black eyed peas, lima beans

This drought has been so hard on everything - some of my new seedlings are still burning up with morning and night waterings... I am still getting some harvest but once in a while it feels like it will all just dry up and the garden will be done.. and then I tell myself that no - there are a lot of things still doing little bits, and to be happy with the little bits. Also, something is eating my corn. Something with tiny teeth. *Sigh* well I was taking a chance planting a second round... oh well.


A little burr grass that was in the garden

I am laying out the design for Esme's room - taking it a bit seriously Mark thinks ;) He joked asking if he needed to get out of the way before I ran him over with the construction equipment *ha*. I took measurements and the 'new' room is actually about 11x14 - much larger than I had originally thought. And the measurements of her main items bed, dresser, shelving unit, table will take up much smaller of the floor space. But - that will add more space to spread out toys and add a few more shelving units and a larger chair for her to sit in. I'm looking at a 'video rocker' style because she has liked these at the local library.


diagram before I knew the room was bigger


Esme had Grandma call Daddy today after she took some jar lids up and tell him that she 'forgot to go to work today' and he needed to know that. We still don't know what that was about...it might have to do with the time - as she usually calls Grandma to go visit at about the same time she asked to call Daddy instead to tell him that she was already there?

Esme's larger room plan

I talked with Mark last night about the new larger room we would like to move Esme into. I gave her an idea about what was happening, too - and she liked the idea a lot. It still needs a lot of work, that is why she is not in there now, plus - I didn't want her that far away before - downstairs and close to the kitchen and bathroom by herself all night. Now that she can communicate a little better - and seems to NEED more space and a place to 'get away from it all' this is something we will work for.

The new room is about twice as big - but not three steps away from Mom and Dad. Both are good for her. It has no windows, but that might help her sleep ;) without the tent. And she can use her flashlights and some of her toys to greater effect.

We talked about hanging things from the ceilings - hearts of all colors etc. I also told her there would be a shelf for her books - and she said she would 'read and read and read'. I made a note to myself not to forget some sort of soft chair or beanbag for her to do all that reading in.

For furniture she has her bed and plastic dresser - and we will have to give her some new shelving units as the ones upstairs are built onto the wall. Her changing table could probably go down there as some extra shelving as well.

For renovations we just have to insulate the floor a little better, plug up a few problem areas on the walls (an unfinished electrical box and a doorway that leads to a closet that has electrical panel access in it. Mark and I talked about making a removeable chalk or corkboard panel there for her drawings and then we could still take it down and get into that panel if we needed to.

At one point last night I had been 'done' in the room for a little while and came down and the light was on under the door. Esme was in there - leaning against the ladder with a paintbrush in hand. I asked her what she was up to - and she said she was not Esme, the Esme girl had gone to school. She was a man here to fix the walls and she was mad at me for interrupting her. Now we should get to work - both of us! *ha*