Recently We've Been....

Just a swangin'...
Tinkering with computers
Catching up on SLEEP!

Does this count?

Is it just me or does nobody have time to post on their blogs anymore? I appreciate those who write daily and also those who have updated daily.

I, frankly, don't have a darn thing to write about.

So, for the meantime, while my brain is on "standby," just know that I'm a faithful reader yet and that my prayers are that I will soon have a good idea to blog about.

And, (I just thought of something to write besides the lame post above)...

We finally caught the mouse!

Traditional mouse traps are bunko. You've got to use the ones with ethanol and glue.

And, yes, Finn wanted to kiss the mouse.

Gross!

Don't Pass This Up!

What is it with rodents?

I just looked out my window to see a squirrel foraging in my front yard. But, that's not the grossest thing. Yesterday, as I was talking to my mother-in-law in my kitchen, a little field mouse came running out from under the fridge! Gross! I screamed like a 5-year-old on a rollercoaster. We put out two mousetraps last night and we still haven't caught the little bugger! I have to wear shoes now around the house, just in case little mousie decides to come out of nowhere like yesterday!

I've Been Tagged!



Karen, bless her blogging heart, tagged me and I'm it!



Move 'em all up, take off the first, add yours to the bottom.

1)Eve, 2) Melissa, 3) 4 B's In A Pod, 4) Life According to the PRP, 5) Life at the Chicken Coop.



I'm officially tagging:



The Fredin Family



Foxy Nuggets are Golden



Kate Taylor Chapman



J*A*M*S*





What were you doing ten years ago?

I had just turned 17 and I was going to CBC as a Running Start student with my best friends, Ashley and Michelle.



What were you doing one year ago?

I was training (read: running like mad) for the Sawtooth Relay and, unbeknownst to me, I was pregnant with Lucy. I'm so glad I'm not pregnant this Summer!

Five Snacks You Enjoy:

1. Yogurt-covered pretzels
2. Pitas and hummus
3. Chocolate scotcheroos (peanut butter Rice Krispy treats with a chocolate/butterscotch chip coating on top)
4. Carrots and peanut butter
5. Strawberry yogurt with GoLean Crunch! cereal



Five Songs You Know All The Words To:

1. any Indigo Girls song

2. most James Taylor songs
3. most early Joni Mitchell songs

4. most Yanni (just kidding)

5. most any Beatles song (but who doesn't?)

Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire:

1. Build my dream home in a remote location like Helena, Montana.

2. Send Finn and Lucy to Switzerland for a year.

3. Go to some fancy cooking school in Paris.

4. Shop at Yoke's.

5. Hire a personal trainer.

Five Bad Habits:

1. Tooting around my family.

2. Jumping to conclusions about people when I don't even know them.

3. "Spitting is a dirty habit..." "I know a worse one." Who knows what movie that's from?

4. Obsessing about my home design/decor.

5. Not making dinner sometimes.

Five Things You Like Doing:

1. Running in the morning.

2. Reading the scriptures sometime during the day.

3. Working with my husband.

4. Singing/playing guitar with my husband.

5. Trying new recipes.

Five Things You Would Never Wear Again:

1. Ankle biters

2. Biker shorts as school apparel

3. Clips in my hair to hold slicked-back, gelled hair.

4. Turtleneck sweaters.

5. Shoes with ankle straps (my calves are too stocky according to Stacey London)

Five Favorite Toys:

1. iPod

2. Kitchenaid stand mixer

3. Cell phone

4. Double jogging stroller

5. Digital camera

Just a little note before I slip into dreamland...

I am enjoying those last few minutes of alertness before my body drifts off into sleep. I enjoy the hour or so after both kids are in bed and I can be on my own schedule doing random things. I did manage to watch 2 full hours of TV before moving my toosh over to the computer.

That's a record for this gal!

Tonight, my adventure in Internet surfing was to find affordable dining room chairs. Yeah, I know, I wrote about this earlier (see post about chairs below). But, it's so much fun staying on a budget and trying to find the best deal for the coolest chair.

So far, Ikea is the winner on price, but I'm still not sure on the quality... In my surfing, I did read that Ikea wants to expand, building more stores in America this year.

Who knows, maybe one'll pop up in Southeastern Washington

(or Northern Ohio, for that matter)!

Cake for Breakfast
I couldn't help myself. I confess. This was my breakfast. 3 small slices. Do I run it off? No. I'm too busy doing other useless stuff like paying bills, cancelling my voter registration and kissing hurts.

Crying Over Spilled Milk

So last Friday I bought this train set that had been partially glued together. That was what I cried about when I got home and realized it was a waste of money. Well.....ta-da! All the pieces were actually there and we were able to make it into this little Martha Stewart-inspired playboard. Finn likes it, which is nice because it buys me some uninterupted me-time. I'm hungry!

Gimme a Chair, Please!
So I like this chair from Ikea (isn't it cute?) but I'm not sure as to it's durability. I need something that's going to last through at least 5 years of rough usage. Does anyone have any Ikea furniture and if so, how does it hold up under duress?

Birthday Presents
I love Mykalyn Nelson. She called me this morning at 8:08 to wish me Happy Birthday and see if she could come play with Finn and Lucy so I could get stuff done. What an angel! Doesn't she look like Finn's cousin? I really appreciate her and the many others who have wished me well today and have done nice things for me. Like Karen and Amelia and Mary, who made a delicious Indian lunch for me, and Travis, who is over the smoky stove cooking some bacon for a soup for me. I am truly blessed to have such sweet, sincere friends and family! Thanks everybody!

27

Birthday To-Do List:

1. Clean the funky gunk out of Lucy's smelly armpit.
2. Finish packing wall art.
3. Go on a walk.
4. Do laundry.
5. Think about my Uncle Craig whose birthday I share.
6. Think about Alicia, whose birthday is one day previous to mine.
7. Celebrate!

Nappy-D Mania

Aren't these funny?

Goonie Blues

Right now I'm crying and I have never written a post and cried, so this is a new experience for me. I'm crying because I just read an e-mail my mom sent to the family (she does this every Sunday and has done this for the past umpteen years). In it, she talked about how my brother Ben is getting married (which I knew) and for the reception in Pasco, the family would stay here at my house (the Chicken Coop) or at a hotel. Then, I realized I'm not going to be here when the family stays here. Boohoohooo, the tears started streaming! I am such a baby. I am so sad about leaving this house. I will miss my family, Travis' family and all of the memories we've made here. It was the first house we have lived in since we've been married and it holds so many experiences for me. I'll name a few and then be on with my sad feelings, hopefully. The month before we got married, Travis and his Grandpa Schuller (now passed away) worked long days, 6 days a week, gutting the inside of this house and redoing it to make it a home for us. I would bring food to them sometimes and when I came, Travis was usually underneath the house, along with the spiders and who knows what else, replumbing the pipes underneath the bathroom. He laid all the flooring, patched drywall and got rid of a huge mold infestation. That man can do anything! Everytime I draw the shower curtain open or closed on our custom-welded shower rod that Bob Schuller made for us, I am thankful for such a skillful and caring man. The other reason I'm sad about leaving is that we've lived 1.25 miles away from my parents for the past three years. I will miss our evening walks over to "Bam-bah's" house and eating meals together either here or there. I will miss Andrew and McKenzie dropping by at 10 PM, full of energy and teenage-boy enthusiasm when I'm ready to call it a day. I am crying thinking about Finn and Lucy not being able to see thier grandparents on a daily basis. I will miss the get-together's at the George's house on the river and visits from Robby and Sharyn when they want to give Finn the Harley Davidson pajamas they saw and just had to get him. I am sad about leaving Leslie and Ira and the many times we've spent together, eating, laughing, talking and listening to the strumming of guitars. I love watching Finn interact with his Grandma Gigi and how he lights up when he sees her red "vroom vroom" car. I'm sure our new house holds lots of opportunity for fun and laughter, but right now, I think I am going to miss this place. I don't have anything profound to tell myself, but I think it's all gonna turn out allright (to quote my loveable Grandma Bruneel).

"Out with the old, in with the new."

Holding My Horses
It's 7:59 AM, Saturday morning, and I'm sitting here, holding myself back from going out and yardsaling. I know there's tons of them today, even some just down the street, but NOPE, I say to myself: #1, you're moving and #2, yesterday you went yardsaling and came home with a train set that according to Travis, was worthless. (It does turn out that we were able to put the train set together and get it in working order. I'm so embarrassed about the purchase that I don't want to comment further). But, alas, my mind starts churning and I start thinking of all the great stuff I could be buying right now. Maybe the things I would buy would change my life and make me happier. And the thoughts escalate into visions of having a perfectly organized home, with lots of cool stuff on display. Then, reality hits and I see myself dragging bags of stuff home for Travis to say, "You wasted our money." So, no, I am holding myself back. I will not go yardsaling today. Boohoo!

Sink Bubbles


This is what Finn and I did this morning after I cleaned out my sink and got that stinky tuna smell out of my house. There's something about scooting the step stool up to the sink that fuels a 21-month-old's sense of freedom and curiosity.

P.S. Can anyone tell me how to make a collage of pictures on here? (Like 9 in box shape?) Does that make sense?

Tricky Trick

I got a housecleaning tip from a friend of mine. She has a teenage son and whenever she wants to really make sure his bathroom gets clean, she takes off the toilet seat (you only need a screwdriver to do it!) and cleans the whole thing, seat and underneath. Well, I tried it the other night and I felt like I had just cleaned out the wax in my ears. All that gunk gone and clean. I hope it doesn't gross you out to know that I put the toilet seat in the dishwasher to get it super clean.
Thanks to those who responded to my paint color dilemma question posted previously. I really appreciated the feedback. I think I'm gonna go with something silvery sage, we'll see. So, now I have another design question. I HATE THE WAY THESE COMPUTERS LOOK! Is it just me, or are 95% of electronics ugly? How do I spruce this wire-jarbled-techy-black mess into something I enjoy seeing? I know the folding table is not the prettiest. I think we need a new desk.

Any suggestions on camoflouging computers?

Choices
So I'm trying to find some affordable, sleek dining room chairs that won't break the bank. I found this one at Anthropologie (not in my budget, but I still liked it). Mr. Tarantula is convinced we don't need new ones, but I don't think the hodge podge of thrift store chairs scattered around the house count as dining chairs. Whenever we have guests over, we have to scoot the computer chairs and piano bench around the dining table. ENOUGH! It's time for a change, I say.
Okay, so now I have a dilemma. What color do I paint the master bedroom of our new house? This (above) is what it looks like right now, and (ahem) it has to go. The landlord said I could choose any color in the neutral range. Yikes. I'm not afraid of color on a wall, but I'm scared since I don't own the place.

What color would you paint the room (keep in mind the floors are wood)?

And The Winner Is...
Yay! I found a place for us to live in C-town! This charming little place will be my home for the next four years (right side). It has a great fenced-in back yard (which was a major selling point for me) and a sun room on the side for the kids to play in. It has three bedrooms (one will be Mr. Tarantula's office), and a small kitchen, but hey, at least the landlord will pay for some improvements that I want (like a new kitchen floor). So, I get the best of both worlds: an affordable place (albeit small) and some room to practice my interior design passion. The house is a stone's throw to the library, too, and is the only duplex on the street (the rest are single-family homes, not rented, but owned= nicer street). Anyways, I am so happy to know where I'll be transporting my little birdies to in two months. Blessings, blessings, blessings...
This is little Miss L. Tarantula (3 months old) and her friend, also Miss L., but Miss L. S (6 months). They were like two peas in a pod. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. S. for hosting me and Lucy. We took over their living room, partook of their fabulous dinners, and best of all, will probably get to live next door to each other at the duplex (see above). I think Heavenly Father has a way of showing us that we need each other and we can't always do it alone, like we sometimes think we can. I just love these two little angel-girls.
And, last, but not least, a classic picture of the Bruneel kids trying to get it together for some of Grandma's pictures. My mom has great brothers and sisters. This is outside the Stake Center next to the Idaho Falls Temple. My cousin, T. Papworth, got married there yesterday. I have to give props to Uncle Frank, who, out of the kindness of his heart, sat by Finn almost the entire way home and entertained him. I couldn't have done a better job. We are glad to be home, safe and sound, back at the chicken coop, for two more months of packing, cleaning, eating and playing, before we head back to the Land of Oz, to the Emerald City.

"Give me my roses while I'm alive."

-- Grandma Nugen, (7-6-1915 to 4-24-2007)