ROBIEWANKENOBIE

boy have i been having fun. first off, my friend ne sparked my interest in this sidetracked home executives doohickey. now, i read the book whilst living with the 'rents, but it sounded stupid. as does this flylady crap. seriously. who has time for this?

but it turns out that the system is much like a budget. there is only so much time in a day right? and trying to do everydamnthing everydamn day can be exhausting. so, instead of having an income, you have a certain amount of hours. and you ferret that crap out to different tasks. cool. and budget in free time. cool. also, by having different days defined for different tasks...you don't end up going back and forth to the grocery store, or to do errands every day. you just wait until the appointed time.

simple stuff, i know. but i've spent my life trying to do everything in a mad rush. then i get overwhelmed. then i shut down and don't do anything at all. i'm finally getting relaxed about all sorts of things. knitting? doesn't have to be perfect. who knew? work? much better when i relax and plan everything out...AND take lunches, instead of going balls to the wall all the time.

in addition to all this fun stuff, we're also taking the time to really decorate the house. NOT all at once, by the way. When we moved in, I was in my first trimester, and chasing a toddler. I was completely unmotivated to do much more than paint one room. plus all that paint and pregnancy stuff. so, we slapped stuff up, and left it there. and it looked hodgepodgey. to the max.

for example, when we split the boys into their own rooms...the little guy got stuck with our room. now, we had planned on doing this whole indian theme, and had painted one of the walls this beautiful deep red, the other three were a burnt orange. not too kid friendly. so, we saw this thing in a magazine where you can make curtain rods from plumbing pipes for an industrial look. bonus? totally cheap. like this! then we got those drapery clip things.

so, off i went to get curtains. i found these awesome tablecloths on clearance. get this...four bucks a piece. and big enough for a twin bedspread, ta boot! it's back to school time, as well. which means that i got a metal storage shelving unit for cheap. so cool. because those bin systems? just don't work for us. we needed to be able to divide up the toys into different activities. this works like a charm. and we already have cloth bins, which match the curtains.

next i picked up a super cheap rug. matched everything perfectly. oh, and i picked up a stuffed animal meshy thing from ikea, which also works really well. the finishing touches? a lava lamp, natch. and a clock in the perfect colors with, get this, a school bus! for my little school bus fanatic.

i swear it looks like it came right out of a catalog. i find myself walking by just to gaze upon the wonder.

this weekend? the big guy's room. more storage. a diy desk (he's going to be in kindergarten, after all). and a new paint job. i'll admit it. i have gone to great lengths to avoid having to paint the room (which really needed it after the "sharpie incident"). time to bite the bullet.

i like coming home to this house. one that has been thought about. and i'll be sitting on my couch, enjoying my tea...finding that i'm just plain happy. i'm amazed at how things keep getting bigger and better, even though they aren't changing much at all. maybe it's just me. maybe i'm just appreciating things more.

room pictures on monday! woot!