Design Musings: Round 2

Thanks everyone for your input!  Here's some follow-up on other suggestions I received.

Several people on Facebook suggested a collage of family photos. I saw this idea in Good Housekeeping and decided I could tie family pics in with my theme by using pictures we took at our favorite beaches:

Several said they didn't think I needed to worry about tying the pictures to my theme, but I think it would look randomly placed otherwise.  Call me OCD.

In context (because that's how I roll):  Pretend there isn't a darker circle around it.


Others suggested a mirror. I found this 38x68 one at Kirkland's for $100. Is that a good price for a big mirror? Seems like ones that size are usually several hundred, but I really don't know...


Come to think of it, that mirror has just the right proportions...

Hey, a gal can dream, can't she?  :)

Design Musings: What do you think?

Long story short: 18 months ago we repainted, recarpeted, and added a pair of comfy chairs to our living room.  Here are the basics of the room:

I'm happy with the feel of the room, except for this view:



When anyone walks in the front door, they don't see all my lovely, accessorized built-ins or pretty blue wall.  They see beige foyer, beige wall, beige carpet, and brown chairs with no decor or accessories.  Besides fantasies of end tables, console tables, lamps, and greenery (preferably silk, since I can't even keep spider plants alive), I really, REALLY want to get some art on that wall to break up The Bland Band.

I've been told that if you're going to hang art behind multiple pieces of furniture (such as my pair of chairs), you need one item that extends, at a minimum, to the midpoint of both furniture pieces to unify them instead of a collage of smaller things.  So I need something at least 48 inches wide.

(Quick furniture arranging note:  I'd put the chairs on the blue wall, which I don't think needs art, and put the sofa on the white wall where I'd have more options for what to hang behind it, but if we do that, the chairs have to be practically in the middle of the room to allow for rocking/reclining.  We've toyed with a variety of furniture arrangements, but this really is the only arrangement that makes any kind of sense to us with built-ins, windows, traffic flow, etc.)

So back to the task at hand.  I would love to introduce this piece to the room:



Unfortunately, the largest print sold by the artist is 29"W x 17"H.  $45 plus framing, which always ends up with a doozy price tag.  Plus, I don't think adding 10 inches of matte all around to achieve the necessary dimensions will look right.  Back to the drawing board.

Last summer I was at a street fair in Mount Vernon, WA and I saw this piece:

The print is available in a size 42"W x 20"H, which once framed is PERFECT.  I think the blue in the sky might tie into my blue wall enough to forgive the greener blue of the water.  I'm willing to overlook that part since this bridge is one of our favorite spots in Washington, and it isn't far from where Nathan grew up.  The only reason I do not have this piece hanging in my home right now:  $420 just for the print.  Framed I think it was $725.  Or maybe $825.  That's an "ouch" no matter how you slice it.

And so I've been mulling, musing and wishing for a more budget-friendly solution for that wall.  The other day I saw this idea in an old Better Homes & Gardens magazine.  I don't know if you can read the caption at the bottom.  It says "Sylvie created her own artwork by attaching a cotton shower curtain to a batting-covered board..."  :


Now THAT I can afford.  So this morning I went online and perused shower curtains to see what I could find that would fit my lighthouse/nautical theme without looking like a shower curtain stapled to a board.  I have two possibilities, and here's where I want your input.  Mainly:

• Is this a good idea or a terrible one? (and I need you to be honest please)
• Does it look too much like a shower curtain?
• Does it fit the rest of the room?

Option #1:

An attempt to view it in the proposed context (I don't have software that lets me cut out the chairs and paste them over the other image, so use your imagination).  I tried to get the approximate scale, too.

One more time with the general room sense so you don't have to scroll:

Option 2:

Unfortunately, the online image is not complete, so I don't really know what's on the left side of the curtain. I don't really care about the seagulls, so I'd probably make this one with a shorter height to focus more on the lighthouse, water, and sky. Or maybe I'd just prop it on the floor behind the chairs so you mostly see the bluer parts and the whole thing doesn't tower over the nearby door frame.  Hmm...

Here it is in context: (wouldn't it be nice if the image were flipped so the water tied in the blue wall and light from the window to the right?)

Okay, so what do you think?

Infanticipation

So in case you didn't know yet (I think I've covered most forums for such an announcement), we are yet again in a state of what my brother so appropriately calls "infanticipation."  

We had the ultrasound today and are somewhat dazed (but happy) to announce #3 is... decidedly a BOY.

[None of the Y-chromosomes in this house are shy about their manhood.]

Nashito #3 is scheduled to debut February 4, but true to tradition, he is measuring big, so *hopefully* we'll get to meet him sooner.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not my legs.

Becoming Childlike

Over the past week, David has given me daily reports on which classmates did not get a "superstar" stamp for good behavior.  He often mentions two boys who apparently tease the other kids a lot.  When he first mentioned their behavior, I wanted to make sure he did not follow suit, and so encouraged him to be a good example to them by not teasing the other kids, and to still be nice to them even if they were not nice to him.

Tonight while he was saying his bedtime prayer, without any prompting for me, he prayed for those boys by name, and specifically asked Heavenly Father to help [Boy A] not tease and [Boy B] to not hit other kids so they could get superstar stamps.  I was completely blown away.  His prayers are usually pretty predictable, so it was not only remarkable to have a new subject, but one of such maturity.  Matthew 5:44-45 came to mind:

"44 But I say unto you, ^aLove your ^benemies, ^cbless them that ^dcurse you, do ^egood to them that ^fhate you, and ^gpray for them which despitefully use you, and ^hpersecute you;

  45 That ye ^amay be the ^bchildren of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth ^crain on the just and on the unjust."

How often do we pray for our enemies?  And when we do, how often is our prayer on their behalf instead of our own (i.e. please make him stop bullying me)?  I feel humbled by his compassion.

Afterwards he helped me get Daniel in bed (who was having a bit of a rough time) by bringing up a couple special toys, giving him kisses and hugs and comforting words.  (Daniel went right down after that).

I then got to enjoy an animated conversation with him about school.  We haven't gotten much feedback about it, in spite of all his talking.  We'd ask him how school was and he'd reply "Good."  "What did you talk about today?" was met with a shrug.  Tonight I asked him, "Do you like school?" (smiled and nodded with a twinkle in his eye) and perhaps by inspiration followed up with, "What is your favorite part?"  Those were magic words that opened a floodgate of feedback.  He was so excited to tell me about their routine and especially the playgrounds.  He described in great detail the number and shapes of slides, the climbing wall, and other apparati at his disposal.  He described how he wanted to try something and [Girl A] didn't think it was a good idea, but he thought he could do it and tried anyway, and how he fell when he landed.  He talked about how he and a few other kids buried toys in the sand on Friday and how they worked together today to dig them up, but couldn't find all of them ("The Team that Never Gave Up!") and how they found other things and what everyone's opinion was as to what those things were.  He was so enthusiastic, and I loved hearing him share that with me.

Overall, it was a very sweet, tender bedtime experience, and I'm so thankful for it.  I sure love my boys!

Kindergarten Musings

David's first full week of Kindergarten has led to some interesting observations on effects of school restraints.

THIRST

Before: David's always been a thirsty kid.  I wasn't sure which of my kids was anomalous after I had Daniel, since he only drinks a fraction of what David does.  When our niece got diagnosed with Type-I diabetes and my mother-in-law said her constant thirst was the symptom that alerted her to the problem, I panicked.  David is always thirsty.  So last summer I had my sister-in-law check David's blood while she was doing her daughter's, just to be sure.  I was relieved to find out he's "normal" as far as diabetes goes; I guess he's just exceptionally thirsty.  

Now: The first couple days when I picked him up from school, he'd beg and berate me for a drink.  How dare I not have one ready the moment he stepped in the car!  I've decided that it's simply a result of not being free to get a drink as often as he would at home.  I've also decided it is to everyone's benefit to have a water bottle on hand for him so he can slake his thirst and not keep complaining about how thirsty he is all the way home.

ENERGY

Before:  My mom used to say she's never seen such a busy child.  I can't tell you how many times a day I tell David he needs to keep his feet on the floor.  He's usually climbing up or jumping off something, or just running around the house in circles.

Now:  Raise that to the n-th power.  I was convinced I needed to go out and find a 4-foot hamster wheel to install in his bedroom after his first day of school.  He was almost literally bouncing off the walls.  Can we get two recesses, please?

TALKING

Before:  David didn't really start talking until he was three.  He's been fairly chatty since then, and Nathan and I joked that he was making up for lost jabber.  He's not the kind of kid you can tune out though.  He wants direct responses to his chatter and follows up with periodic pop quizzes to make sure you've been listening.

Now:  Non.Stop.  Energizer Bunny of conversation.  Chatterbox.  All of the above.  Once again, he can't vocalize as much as he normally would, so he makes up for lost opportunities once he gets home.  I commented on this to Nathan, how David doesn't seem to really have anything particular to say, yet he keeps on talking about anything and everything.  Nathan shrugged and said "that's okay," but after about two hours of D's breathless chatter, he turned to me (David still talking in the background) and said, "You're right; he just doesn't stop!"

Summer in Review

We are still binky-less!  Hurrah!  There were a couple times on our trip where I thought "this would be so much easier if I could just plug him up," but he never asked and I never wavered.  Whew!

Speaking of our trip, here is our summer in photo summary:

My Dad came up for 4th of July weekend (Mom was in Utah), and the boys had a "ball" playing baseball with him.

We also did sparklers and driveway fireworks, which the boys LOVED:

We went to the beach that Monday.  The boys loved playing in the waves and digging in the sand:

Then we drove by Dinosaur mini-golf and decided to have a round.  Daniel liked to smack his ball where-ever from the starting point, then pick it up and place it right next to the hole for an easy putt in.  He did NOT want to do this last hole, because he realized he would not get his ball back!

We went to Utah for a Nash family reunion.  My mom picked us up from the airport and we enjoyed spending the weekend with her and my sister DeeAnn's family down in Nephi.  We then joined up with the Other Nashes in Provo Sunday night.  Here's Nathan with his sisters:

We visited Thanksgiving Point in Lehi and enjoyed a mini zoo, pony rides, dinosaur museum, and a 3-D IMAX film about some oceanic dinosaur whose name I cannot remember, then went and had ice cream before heading back to our hotel.

We took family pictures with all of Nathan's family (sans Jeff, who unfortunately had an urgent work matter he needed to attend to last minute).  This is one Nathan took from the "sideline".  We'll post others when we get them.

A highlight of the Nash reunion for the boys was when we made and launched rockets.  They carried those things around for DAYS.

We learned to play a fun game called Bang!, and I confess it often led me to conflicting emotions.  You're supposed to take other players out, and I never wanted to pick on anyone.

The boys got to see all 5 of their living great grandparents on this trip.  I always think this is so remarkable, because I never knew any of my great grandparents.

Here's Four Generations of Nashes.  I wonder which of my boys will be the one to carry on the look-alike trend.  Unfortunately, we got a picture with Grandpa Nash but not Grandma (sorry!).  I was not in charge of this--don't blame me!

We stayed overnight with my Grandma Rabiger before flying up to Seattle for the next leg of our trip:

Many thanks to my Aunt Deanne for having us over for a Pioneer Day cookout and Aunt Joyce for taking us to the Salt Lake airport!  My brother Sean picked us up from the Seattle airport (the Other Nashes were still driving en route) and we enjoyed an evening with his family.  Then Nathan's Grandma and Grandpa Merrill picked us up from Sean's and took us up to Anacortes.

While we were up there, Nathan went hiking with his dad.

And discovered that his 16-year-old hiking boots are not as sturdy as he supposed they still were...

We got home late Tuesday night and David started his first day of Kindergarten on Thursday.  Here are the obligatory pictures of starting school:

I asked David to take off his sunglasses for the next one...

Okay, now take them all the way off, put your arms down, and give me a nice smile...

What a ham!  Let's try again...

Still a little dorky, but considering what it took to get THAT, I'm satisfied.  When I showed Nathan, he laughed and said it reminded him of this Calvin and Hobbes strip:

Anyway, then we took David to his first day, and the teacher invited Daniel to join them on the mat while I filled out some paperwork:

His first day was just a day of assessments with only a small part of the class.  They read a story and toured the school while "looking for a raccoon" (part of the story, I guess).  David came up to one of the signs for the tour and read it out loud, taking his teacher quite by surprise.  I guess only a couple kids in the class can read yet.  Wait until she discovers his mad math and puzzle skills...

Oh yes, in case you didn't get our announcement yet... we're expecting #3 on February 4th!

What Do Stay-at-Home Moms DO?

I saw this on Facebook, and thought it summed things up pretty well.  It is slightly truncated.  See the full article here (might also help with larger print).

(They're playing cards, in case you can't see)

So to all my SAHM friends... Rock on.  Carry on.  

...Canasta, anyone?  :P

Binky's Last Stand?

Daniel will be three in a month, and he still sleeps with a binky.  I know, I know...  

Weaning David off the binky actually ended up being pretty easy.  He had 5 of them, and when he started chewing holes in them I'd throw them away, telling him each time that when he chewed through all of them we wouldn't buy any more.  The last binky got chewed and tossed.  When he asked for it that night, we said nope, you chewed through them all; they're all gone.  And that was that.  He pretty much shrugged, rolled over, and went to sleep, never to mention them again.  He may not have even been two yet, but I really don't recall.

Daniel has not been so easy.  When the binky chewing started, I tried the same tactic.  Except I didn't have five to go through.  Two, maybe three.  I made him use that final binky until it was utterly ragged, but I could tell he just wasn't ready to give it up, and decided standing on principle wasn't worth him choking on a piece of chewed off binky in his sleep.  So I broke down and bought another set.  Figures that the kind of binky he likes is only sold in pairs.  We told him earnestly that when those were done, that was it.  No more binky.  And we reminded him of it after the first one bit the dust, and as the cracks have been getting bigger in THE FINAL binky.

Well, he did it today.  As I was putting him down for his nap, he chewed a hole in that thing, then took it out of his mouth and stuck his finger in the hole to investigate, making it even larger.  "Mom, it's broken," he told me.  I asked, "Do you want me to throw it away?"  Grunt in the affirmative.  "Okay, but this is the last binky.  There are no more after this.  Are you sure you want me to throw it away?"  Again yes.  And he laid there in his bed, binky-less, looking somewhat forlorn while I shut the door and went to do the deed.

I suppose I should be doing a victory dance.  I might be, if we weren't about to go on a trip.  Because although Daniel only has that binky for naps and bedtime at home, it becomes an extension of his tongue on trips, practically coming out only for meals, and even then sometimes those get sacrificed to binky time.

Meanwhile Daniel called to me from his bed and asked me to sit in the rocking chair.  I suppose that's seeking compensatory comfort in the binky's absence.  I sweetly declined, gave him a hug and kiss, and encouraged him to go to sleep, not wanting to start an expectation of me hanging out in his room for the duration of his nap.  Several minutes later, I could hear him playing with cars, and several minutes after that he was banging to get out of his room.  Now he's wailing pathetically.

Generally speaking he still naps willingly, and for a couple hours to boot; I'm NOT ready to give that up.  So I guess we'll see if I stick to the "buy no more" resolution this time.  Something tells me I might find myself in the "desperate for a binky" aisle at Target in a few days.  *sigh*