Back to School & Back To Real Progress

Yippee!  School is in!!!!

I ushered off my little brood onto that merry, bright-colored yellow transporter of freedom this morning.  After a hearty pancake breakfast, their rosy little cheeks were washed, their pearly little teeth were brushed, and their golden hair was combed.  They set about putting on their fabulous first day fashions and at last I waved them happily on their way.  With a big grin on my face, I called out to them to have a great day and I watched the bus roll down the road until it was out of sight...  You know, just to make sure it wasn't coming back... Until 3:45.

YAY!  A quiet house reigns once more!!!

Now it's just me and little man in this big old house all by ourselves.  Daddy is at work and the little man is a super kiddo!  He's just about 4, so he colors and he plays and he watches a little TV and he likes to just sit and watch what I'm doing.  I finally got him potty-trained this summer by putting my foot down and banning diapers from the house, so its smooth sailing from here, folks!  I am absolutely giddy at the thought of all I will be able to get done!  Can't you tell?!

Now, don't get me wrong.  I love each and every one of my little urchins sweethearts, but with a gaggle of 5 at home its nearly impossible to get anything accomplished during the day.  My house has now been cleaned and has stayed clean for 8 hours!  Its a miracle! Laundry has been done, dinner is in the crockpot, dishes are washed...  I tell ya, I feel downright DOMESTIC!  I get sooooooo much accomplished when they're at school!


Now, I wish I could say that as soon as I waved them all goodbye, that I immediately began working on the furniture that is now crowding the diva's room.  Here's a pic of my pretty girl, by the way (just so you know she really does exist)...

But alas, I did not.  While I love that my boys are in sports, the practices are a headache.  The football player had practice last night and we didn't get home until 9:00.  Dinner had to be made and eaten, clothes laid out, baths taken, and then trying to corral 5 and get them to bed is like herding cats.  The hubs has been in Minnesota for the last 4 days doing a job for a local client's vacation home (what a life, huh?), so I was on my own.  I think I finally got them all settled by 10:30, which in and of itself is a minor miracle considering I accomplished all of the above in an hour and a half.  In the midst of all of that, the football player informs me that the shirt he wants to wear for the first day is dirty (Lord forbid he wear a new shirt) and he would like me to wash it.  So I started a load at 10:30, then while waiting for it to dry got my 2nd wind for the day and started 2 more loads, did dishes, folded clothes, and did a general pick-up.  Don't you hate it when that happens?!  Plus, I was excited for their first day of school and I couldn't turn my mind off.  The hubs was on his way back from Minnesota and I was worried about him driving late, so that didn't help.  I think I finally closed my eyes around 2 am, only to check the clock at 3:30 to realize the hubs wasn't home yet, but he would be shortly.   Then I woke up at 4:30 when he crawled into bed.  Then we had a doozy of a thunderstorm that woke the entire house up at a little after 5.  By the time I got them all settled again, it was 5:30 and I snatched another half hour of half-sleep until the alarm went off at 6.  Grrrrrrr!  Can we say sleep deprived?!


So while I had the best intentions of getting my sawdust on this morning and keeping at it for the rest of the day until my little darlings walked back in the door, it didn't happen.  I waited for another wicked storm to blow through:

Auntie Em!  Auntie Em!  I can't find Toto!

After it had done its worst, which really wasn't that bad considering how bad it looked, I finally crawled into bed with the hubs and thanked the good Lord that little man was actually sleeping in.  By the time I got up again and re-woke back up (It literally takes me an hour to become even a remotely functional human being - Morning person, I ain't.), it was noon.  Yes, I just admitted on blogland that I slept until 11 am.  Slacker and proud of it, after that night!

After doing a few chores, which did not include making any beds or cleaning the bathrooms like I had planned, I did manage to sand the remaining varnish off the two end tables of my Dad's that I stripped late last week.  But that was as far as I got, before I decided to have even more slacker time by visiting with y'all before my little honeys come home.  Tomorrow I plan on priming and painting the 1st coat.  I still haven't decided if I'm going to go distressed white or black yet.  Hopefully, I'll have that figured out by tomorrow.  I'll have to ask the hubs for advice, unless anyone wants to chime in (if there's anyone even reading my boring posts because I never seem to accomplish anything lately).

Room Scheme:  School colors/University of Iowa colors which are the same.  Black, Gold, and White

Wall color:  Top half Hawkeye Gold; Bottom half Black

Furniture:  So far, all black (2 chest of drawers and 1 dresser)

Possibilities:  Old barn wood headboards for the twin beds that are white and distressed. Nightstands and one table they use for their XBOX and cable box stand possibly in distressed white to match the headboards.  

OR

Should I just paint the whole kit and caboodle black???  Headboards, table, and nightstands???

I just can't see it in my head.  I'm afraid it will be too much black in the room, if I go with all black.  But, I'm afraid if I go white then it won't look right with all the dressers and chest of drawers black.  Also, they've got dark wood trim which totally clashes with the black and gold that I'm probably going to end up painting white.  Decisions, decisions!  

Any and all ideas 

would be greatly appreciated!

Well, its almost time for the little buggers to get home and that's when the whirl-wind starts.  I'm sure they'll have all types of exciting news to tell me about their first day and I can't wait to hear their stories.  Dinner will be served and then its off to football practices again. Four nights this week (UGH!), before they switch to three nights.  Then tomorrow we get to do it all again!

Life is good.