Getting Settled In...Still

This month has flown by! It must have gone by somewhere in the whirl of cardboard boxes and freshly painted walls. I really thought I would be further along in the settling-in process that I am. This has been on of my rougher unpacking episodes. I think it had something to do with doing some remodeling right at the beginning, plus starting to paint right away, plus the unbelievable disorganized mess of our boxes in the garage..ha

Slowly, but surely I'm getting there though. Thank goodness!

I still have a very long punch list of things we want to do to this house though. I thought I'd share them with you...in no particular order:

paint the master bedroom walls
paint the kids' bedrooms
paint The Princess' bedroom furniture
paint some of Mr. B's bedroom furniture
paint the hall bathroom walls
paint the hall bathroom vanity
paint the kitchen walls
paint the kitchen cabinets
paint the hall light fixtures
paint the *new* hutch for the kitchen
sand/stain/paint our dining table and chairs

OK, I'm not done, but I'm going to stop there because the list is making me even more tired. But you get the idea, right?

Don't worry, I've already taken the *before* shots and I'm taking the *afters* along the way!

We've already:

painted the front, aka:reading room, walls
painted the learning room
built custom shelves for the learning room
painted the hallway walls
created a custom headboard

I can't wait to start sharing some of these projects! Even though they are a lot of work we are enjoying it because it's our house. It's just not fun to do things to a rent house~at least not for me~so I haven't really enjoyed decorating much at all in the past 3 years. But I'm having fun again!

Oh~and we are back online as of yesterday! Whoo hoo!!

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning. But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom. Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming. It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility. And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year. So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important. How do I do this? Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom. Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...

Arkansas' Crimson Clover

One of my favorite things about Spring is the crimson clover that grows along the highways and interstates here in Arkansas. I say Arkansas because this is where I first grew to love it. We actually saw some in Mississippi on our way here and I saw it in our town in Alabama for the first time this year. But it spreads like that, each year it grows and looks even more beautiful. I'm not sure who decided to plant it in the medians of the interstates , but it was genius! It seeds itself and just comes back more lush the next year. I always want to take pictures, but of course it's almost always in the median of a very busy interstate~which is a little dangerous for photography. However, the other day I found the perfect patch of it on the side of a not-too-busy highway, so Vince obliged me and pulled over:) Isn't it beautiful? I just had to share it with you...

my blessed life

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