Tests

I took another test today. It was an important test, of sorts. My GRE scores -- my great, great GRE scores, expired last month, and I had to retake the test to submit current scores with my PhD application. I did as much as I could to prepare. I actually taught for Kaplan Test Prep for more than a year since I last took the test, so I knew all the tools for different kinds of questions. I tried to review vocabulary, but I didn't keep up with it in the rush of end-of-semester assignments. I got a good score today, only thirty points lower than my old scores. My math was actually higher, my verbal unfortunately lower, and I think I did equally as well on the essays (but I won't get those scores until the printed results arrive). It's good enough to not be a problem in my application, probably high enough for a few professors to say, "Wow, she did really well," but even that won't be enough to get me in without many other merits in my application. Peabody (the ed school at Vanderbilt) gets around 600 applications to their PhD program and take 40.

It occurred to me as I was checking in today that I have taken a lot of tests -- you know, the kind you go to a Prometrics Center for (or, in the olden days, went to a local high school on a Saturday with your #2 pencils and graphing calculator). I took the PSAT and the SAT at least twice. I took the PRAXIS tests. I took a test for National Board Certification (which several people were there for today). And I've now taken the GRE three times. Plus I took all kinds of informal ACTs, GMATs, LSATs, and even verbal MCATs in order to teach them for Kaplan. I get standardized tests. So does Wes, who has taken many of these tests as well as three rounds of USMLE boards, tests that last hours and sometimes days and include hundreds of multiple choice questions with answers A-J.

I don't know if I'll get in to the PhD program, and I don't know if my test scores will make any difference. If nothing else, Wes and I should have kids who do great on standardized tests!

A real Tennessee Christmas

Wes and I hosted Christmas for the first time this year. My parents came up from Georgia -- or in this case, down from West Virginia, where they'd been visiting my grandparents. We had pretty warm weather the whole time they were here, which meant we could be out and even go to the park one day. We got our Christmas tree about two weeks ago, and my mom gave us some new ornaments and more crocheted snowflakes for my windows. I did a full Christmas meal -- turkey (breast), dressing, mashed sweet potatoes, Waldorf salad, and yeast rolls. Oliver got a little race car from my parents, like the one he pushed around at their house, plus a little pegboard with mallet (trouble...) and a puffy vest to wear to the park. We did the big meal on Christmas Eve since Wes worked Christmas day and my parents left around 1pm that day to head back south on their way to my brother and sister-in-law's place in Florida. It was nice staying home this holiday, though I am certainly more aware now of the work that goes into hosting. Having my parents here was only a warm-up, though, as we're expecting six of Wes's family members later this week over the New Year's!

House Tour, Day 7

And here, dear visitors, is the "guest suite." It's officially referred to as "above the garage" -- as in "I'm coming home around 5am, so I'll sleep above the garage." It's pretty funny when people who haven't seen it hear us say that. They're like -- "You make your husband sleep above the garage?" A staircase from the garage itself (which has its own washer/dryer -- old, but functional) leads up to a big open space with the bed, dresser, and kitchen table and sink area. We hope to eventually get proper linens for this bed and put up drapes. If we decide to invest some money up here, we really need to replace the carpet, which has an odd smell to it since the space is only temperature controlled when someone's staying up there, and paint the whole thing as it's currently about 5 different colors. There's a full bathroom with cute tiling but a horrible mirror, and a large walk-in closet, complete with drop-down ironing board. There's also two places to access eaves storage, should we need it. The couple who lived here before us evidently rented this place out, though it's not legally zoned for it, but Wes and I are happy to use it for visitors and a get-away for people (him) sleeping at odd hours or needing to do work without the din of the household.

House Tour, Day 6

Welcome to the boy's/s' room. I think we started calling it this (the apostrophe before the s for the moment) soon after we moved in. This is where Oliver where move to once he is deemed too big for the crib -- or someone else comes who needs it more, whichever comes first. The bunk beds and furniture all came from Wes's parents. Wes, in fact, slept in these bunk beds, which his father made, as a child. I love all the warm wood, but I do want to break it up with some color. I've picked out an earthy blue and sage green for the two comforters (after we get the second mattress, of course), and we'll eventually put a rug down to give it some life. Otherwise, though, it is decidedly a little boy's room. There's a picture of a boy and his dog above the fireplace, and Wes's collection of arrowheads and other random rocks are displayed on the rack above the desk. For now it's a guest room -- shortly to be inhabited by Wes's mother, who is coming to visit later this week.

Come fly with me

My dad joined the Air Force for one main reason -- to become a pilot. He grew up a farm boy amidst the corn fields on Ohio, and his escape -- quite literally -- was big blue sky up above them. He hasn't been an Air Force pilot for a few years now, but recently, he renewed his private pilot's license so he could go flying. There's a small airfield near his house in Georgia, and he can get small planes to take up family members or, on occasion, the ROTC cadets in his high school program.

Over Thanksgiving, I finally got a chance to go up. Oliver stayed at home to work out with Laura and play with mom and Reid while my older brother Jon and I went out to fly with my dad. It was cold but very clear, and the wind wasn't too bad. I've never been one to get nervous about flying -- probably in large part because of my dad -- and this was no different. As Jon said, this was one time my dad's OCD is a plus. He goes through the checklist carefully each time he flies and is very critical of the pilots involved in the plane crashes due to negligence in this area.

The take-off was easy, and pretty soon we were high above the trees, looking down on a spectacular view of surrounding farms, natural areas, neighborhoods, and even a peek at Atlanta's skyline in the distance. My dad left me fly for a bit, turning and inclining. I do love being up there, but I'd much prefer to leave the flying to him. He pulled his tricks -- inclining and then doing a steep descent, like on a roller coasters, and banking hard to the right or left. He's super vigilant while up there -- watching the smoke stacks to keep tabs on the wind gusts and checking his gauges and fuel levels. This is a tiny plane, and nothing is automatic.

It's fun to get to see people pursuing their passions, and this was no different. I've never seen my dad fly before. He so obviously loves it and enjoys being in his domain.

Thank giving, Week 2

This week will be a shorter entry, followed by a longer one later this week if there's time.

I am thankful for parents who give up their two weeks of vacation to drive to and fro in order to visit their children. For a mother who helps me learn how to cook a turkey, and a father who helps my husband put up bookshelves. For parents who love my child beyond words.

I am thankful for a new home in which to share their visit and a kitchen with two ovens.

I am thankful that, despite his first bloody nose and learning to scale the side tables to jump onto the couch, Oliver is in one piece.

I am thankful that my workshop proposal for the February Georgia Council for Teachers of English conference was accepted. My sister and I are presenting together, which means we also get to spend the weekend together.

I am thankful that my GRE is tomorrow, which means that by the end of the day tomorrow, my application for my PhD will be submitted.

And most of all, I am thankful for the backdate function on Blogger, allowing it look as though I posted this at the end of Week 2 instead of the first day of Week 3.

All I want for Christmas

Wes and I agreed this year not to do presents for Christmas. We've spent a lot of money on the house, cars, and my education, and that's plenty. Everyone in my family needs a year off from gift giving, so it seemed like an easy thing to do. Just no gifts.

But then I was in Target. And I occasionally get Oliver a new toy when I'm there. He really and truly doesn't have a ton of toys. He has plenty, for sure, but it's a reasonable number. I only get him something new if I really think it's different from what he already has and will really like it. Usually I'm tempted by toys that are way past his developmental stages. So when I was there last week, I bought a toy. And decided to wrap it up and put it under the tree. So Oliver has at least one gift for Christmas (which is one more than we gave him last year -- our reasoning for both years being that we spend tons of money on him all year, buying him things as he needs them).

The only gift on my "wish list" this year is a camcorder. Just one of the pocket camcorders that uses a USB drive or an SD card. Our camera, which is fantastic for pictures, doesn't have the capability to do video clips, and while I've finagled the web cam to do a few videos over the last fifteen months, there's so much more that would be fun to have. I feel like I forget so quickly what Oliver was like when he was a baby, and the video clips help me remember and see how much he's changed. And it's fun to share with friends and family who get to visit so rarely. I have my eye on a Kodak Zi8, but there are some other versions that are cheaper and probably sufficient. I doubt Wes will surprise me on Christmas morning -- we have a deal, after all -- but as someone who loves those kinds of surprises, there's a little piece of me hoping he will. And if not, we might make a decision to go get it together.

There are other things on my wish list for next year. I hope I get into my PhD program. I hope I feel more at home in my house. I hope Oliver starts talking. I hope Wes gets more time off. I hope I get to see my family more often. And most of all, I hope those that I know and love are blessed in their lives, too.

Thanks giving, Week 1

Yesterday was Wes's 31st birthday. It is amazing to me that Wes and I have been together for 9 1/2 years now. Nine years ago, Wes and I celebrated his 22nd birthday. We got dressed up, had a dance lesson, and went out to dinner. A few weeks later, he met my family at my oldest brother's wedding. And the rest, as they say, is history. Here we are -- married, in careers, parents. And happy. The last few months have been a challenge. I don't think we expected to miss Chicago as much as we do. I certainly didn't expect to feel the move as much as I did, having moved so much growing up. And though I have friends there, it's not so much the people that I miss -- I'm used to maintaining relationships long distance -- it's the place. It's the feeling I got being there. It's the memories we made there. Wes I got married while he was in medical school, but our marriage really took shape in Chicago. The people that knew us there only knew us as husband and wife. We had fun there. We became a married couple. We grew as individuals, but we grew into each other. We made and had a baby. We became "us."

Wes and I have a good marriage. It is unusual to some, I suppose. I think the best word to describe us is well-matched. Wes and I make sense together. It's not something that I can explain necessarily. It just is. We are better people together than we are alone.

I often hear friends who say of their husbands, "He's the best husband in the world." I don't know that I would ever say that about Wes, and I don't think he would ever say it about me. Not because I don't love him or think he's a great husband. I do. Very much so. He always supports me, he cares about what I think, and he tries to make me happy. But Wes isn't perfect, and he doesn't always know what I need from him has a husband. We're both learning as we go. This I do know: he is a great man, and he is my best friend. Perhaps Wes said it best when he told me that I am the best wife he's ever had. Not as romantic maybe, but true -- and truly sweet.

When Wes and I got married, we wrote our own wedding vows. I said in those vows that I didn't want a fairy tale but something real. And that is what we have. It's up and down, it's hard sometimes, and it's so very special.

So this week, I am thankful for Wes, my husband and my best friend.

“Count your blessings, name them one by one”

My dear friend Kim did a series of posts around Thanksgiving in which she wrote about all the good things going on in her life – husband, new baby, career, and more. It made me think about all the good things in my own life and inspired me to log them. But why stop at just one post – or a week's worth even? So my resolution for the next year, starting this week, is to do one blog post per week in which I give thanks for these things. Sometimes I'll write at length, sometimes I'll just list them. Sometimes it'll be big things, sometimes small. It gives me something to write about each week and puts me in a positive space. To be clear, I'm thankful for a lot of things each day and each week, but this is a chance to write about some of them – so if you're not on my life right away, don't think I don't love you – I'll get to everyone in time.

So close

It's a drizzly, dreary Sunday in Nashville, and I'm trying to get motivated to keep working on my take-home exam. It's the only thing between me and being officially done with classes for the semester. We technically have until Saturday to turn it in, but I told my professor I'd have it to him by 10am on Tuesday, since he preferred to get it in hard copy and is leaving town that afternoon. This give me some additional incentive to get moving. I'm probably halfway done, but still far enough from the finish line that it's just exhausting to think about. It's an analytical exam, in that the test asks us to learn about new topics and read a new article and then analyze them and connect them to existing learning. On the one hand, it's nice that I'm not just regurgitating what I learned all semester. On the other hand, this takes a lot longer, and I'm never quite sure if I'm giving the professor what he's looking for. I just want to do well and show some growth as a student.

Wes, Oliver, and I spent the morning (and some unseemly amount of money for what we bought) at Lowes. We got blinds for the front door, new locks for the front and back doors, a piece to fix the downstairs toilet (which has been out of commission for I don't know how long), a small Shop-Vac for the more industrial cleaning, and lumber for the proposed bookshelves in the front room (which we affectionately refer to as the library). And a 9-volt battery -- for the smoke detector in the garage, which was going off yesterday. We looked at lamps and rugs but decided to keep looking. It was a nice morning together. Oliver spent his time pushing the shopping cart by the lower rung, lamenting the fact that he isn't tall enough to reach the handle. He fell asleep on the way home, then ate lunch, and is now talking to himself in his crib rather than nap as I'd hoped he would.

The Christmas tree is in the corner, still naked as I spent yesterday either working on my exam or trying to keep Oliver from "helping" Wes too much. We're going to put mini white lights on the columns out front and decorate the tree, and that's about it for this year. I'm having some girlfriends over Monday night to make Christmas cookies, so I've got to finish my final early enough to get things cleaned up before they come over.

It's nice knowing that in a day or two I'll be pretty much done for the semester. My PhD application is not finished. I have a personal statement that just needs revised, and I need to resume studying for the GRE. I know studying won't significantly impact my score at this point, but I'll feel a lot more confident going in on the 28th if I take some practice tests, do some more problems, and keep reviewing vocabulary. The school seems to care a lot about these scores, which I find odd for a school of education, but I'm certainly happy to use it to my advantage if I'm able.

We have friends coming over on Saturday evening, family in town from the 22nd-25th, and the 30th to January 3rd. So we'll get some family time in between all that as well as during. I go back to work January 5th and to class January 13th, so I'll get a bit of a break. I'm hoping to have the house in great shape with some sort of plan to keep it that way before next semester starts. A semester in which I have the usual four classes, my job, plus a master's capstone project and news of my acceptance or denial to the PhD program. It's a big deal to me, for sure, but somehow I know that everything will be okay even if I don't get it in. I guess that tells me what's most important to me. The worst thing that could happen is that I don't get in and I stay home next year with Oliver. Not a bad gig.

That said, I'm back to my test. I'd hate for a first-semester incomplete to ruin my chances.

I think I love my dog

Lucy has had some problems recently. It all started several weeks ago when Lucy started scratching -- a lot. There was dog hair everywhere. Little chunks came out in my hand, and I couldn't vacuum enough to keep up with it all. I went away for a few days to visit my sister, and when I got back, she had chunks missing from her coat and sores where she'd been chewing herself. So I took her to the vet. They couldn't be sure (or find any evidence of it), but thought it was due to the bad fleas we've had this year with all the rain. So they put her on $120 of meds, and I spent the next 10 days crushing pills to mix with wet dog food (cheese did not work; she would chew it off and leave the pill). She stopped scratching and gnawing on her skin, but the steroids caused her to need to pee a lot and she had some accidents in the house.

So that went away. And then Oliver got a runny nose. And now I spend hours of my life trying to get the dog to stop licking Oliver's face to clear it of boogers. And then I saw just the most horrendous thing ever -- the dog humping (for lack of a better descriptor) my child. She's tried it half a dozen times now, and it's totally unnerving. It scares Oliver, too. I've only ever seen Lucy try to do this to one other dog (her cousin, Remington, and well, he started it). I don't know if it's related to the steroids, though they've been out of her system for a while now, or because Oliver is walking or what. Otherwise the two get along just fine. Ollie will play with Lucy -- handing her toys and patting her on the head -- and Lucy is patient and playful with him.

It's not uncommon, I guess, for a couple to have a dog and then have it supplanted a bit when they have a child. We're doing out best to make sure she's remembered and taken care of.

I ♥ Mom

It's hard to think ahead to what life will be like when Oliver gets to be older. Everyone tells you that you never stop being a mom, even after your kids don't need you in the same way they did when they were young. I was reminded of this today.

Wes left for a conference in Orlando yesterday morning, and he had been gone but hours before the house started making noises. I could hear something running, like water. I could hear noise from water pipes. I checked all the bathrooms, where the sound was louder, the washer/dryer, and even poked around in our very creepy basement. Nothing. We hadn't turned on anything in yard, so I didn't even look out there. I called Wes, who didn't answer, and then called my parents. My mom suggested I walk around the house, just check things out. I was four steps out the back door when I heard the water in the front yard. There is a spigot there I forgot about, and it was turned almost full on. I tromped through soggy grass, turned it off, and went inside. I called mom, told her what happened, and she suggested we turn the valve off from the inside and empty the pipes for the winter.

Then this morning, after class, I checked my phone. Two missed calls from my mom. I got worried and stepped outside to listen to them and call her back. She "just wanted to know if I was okay." Turns out she got an email from a friend about a scam going around -- criminals turning on people's water at night, then burglarizing their home or assaulting them when they come out to turn it off. So mom was worried.

So two things I learned: 1) if you hear the water running outside your house after dark, just let it run; and 2) moms never stop worrying.

Home for the holidays

I realized today that the entire month of November came and went without comment on either of my blogs. This owes primarily to the state of business we have had around our house with both of us in class. I spent a week or more of November pretty sick. Oliver, Lucy, and I did trek to Acworth, Georgia, to spend a full week with my parents and a few days with two of my siblings and their families. And now I'm in the final days of frenzy to finish my first semester of graduate school. I've been writing so many other words for other people, I haven't had many left for my blogs.

But I do have lots of pictures and stories to share, so those will come one final papers and projects get done. Wednesday is my last official class, though I have a colloquium on Thursday and a capstone meeting on Friday. And I get a take-home final on Monday that's not due until December 19, though I don't expect to spend that long on it. Wes leaves town tomorrow for a four-day retreat in Orland, so I'll be holding the house down as I finish up this week. Blessedly, he has next weekend off from work, which means we can spend those two days putting up some Christmas decorations and buying a Christmas tree without worrying too much about what other things need to get done.

Wes and I will be home for the Christmas holidays. My parents are coming into town for a few days right before and up to the day, and some of Wes's family is coming the following week for a few days. I have four weeks off from class and two weeks of from work, so even with the GRE to take and a personal statement to finish and reading ahead for next semester, there'll be plenty of time to hang out, play with Ollie, watch TV -- and blog.

Pumpkin Festival!

This morning, Oliver and I met my friend Erin and her son Luke (the tiger) at their house in Franklin and then drove over to the Pumpkin Festival. I'd seen an ad for the event in the Nashville Parent magazine, and since Erin and I still hadn't managed a moms'-and-boys' play date (owing to Oliver's several bouts of illness), she eagerly agreed to go with us. Her husband is out of town this weekend, and mine is working two overnight shifts (the FIFTH year Wes has worked the overnight on the wrong end of daylight's savings -- poor guy).

The festival was a lot bigger -- and busier -- than I'd expected. Franklin has an adorable historic downtown with little shops, boutiques, and restaurants, but today it was bustling with kids in cute costumes and parents trying to keep tabs on them in the throngs. There was a chili cook-off, a row of pumpkin- and woodcarvers with beautiful wares, a huge kids zone with bounce houses, games, and pony rides. Oliver and I were only there about 90 minutes, but it was fun and nice to get out in the cool but pleasant weather. We left when Oliver got fussy for lunch. We also got to meet one of Erin's friends, Lindsey, and her son Josh, who is just a little older than Oliver.

I've been very grateful to Erin for including me regularly in her social circle. Erin taught at the Webb School in Bell Buckle, just south of Nashville, with Jessie Brown, my college roommate. Jessie was kind enough to introduce us to each other when I got to Nashville. Erin earned her doctorate at Vanderbilt and still works there and is a really wonderful woman. She invited me to her book club, various events of hers and her friend's, and has made time to chat with me on campus or over email. I've also gotten to meet a lot of other women who work at Peabody through her.

Wes and I are not really Halloween people. Neither of us grew up in houses where it was "celebrated," and it's not a big deal to us. I don't know what we'll do when Oliver is big enough to want to participate in Halloween celebrations. For now, we enjoy the fall focus of the holiday. It's truly gorgeous right now with the changing leaves and cool temperatures.

House Tour, Day 5

This is the end of the house tour. There are two important rooms not featured here. The boy's (or one day, hopefully, boys') room -- where Ollie will go when he gets outsted from his crib --, which is still just empty furniture and boxes of photos, and the studio over the garage, which I should probably photograph since it'll be eons before we spend the money to do anything of substance up here.

Pictured here is the office nook, where I am presently sitting, in the dark, hoping no trick-or-treaters rings the doorbell (equals barking dog, does not equal sleeping baby). I often work downstairs on the couch with my laptop, but when I want a desk space, this is what I usually use. If we were to stay here truly long term, we would have this area built in with a desk, drawers, and a work station for the printer and so forth. It's not bad as it is, though. It's nice to have the wire insanity upstairs instead of down in the main living space where Oliver can play with the cords. It's also nice that the printer isn't permanently attached to the computer, since I often plug in my laptop to print straight from it.

Tea for two

Two recommendations for great white tea: 1) Bigelow White Tea with Tangerine, and 2) Tazo Berryblossom White (with hints of blueberry and white cranberry). I drink both with a little bit of honey. White tea has the smallest amount of caffeine of any tea and lots of other health benefits (antioxidants, etc.). As someone who has never enjoyed green tea, I'm happy to have found something else that's not a black tea and tastes so good!

House Tour, Day 4.5

This is at the top of the stairwell, just next to the upstairs bath. We managed to find a baby gate that blends with the rail upstairs. Oliver loves crawling around this part of the upstairs, especially the part that hangs out over the stairs. The floors upstairs are original heart-of-pine floors, and I really like them. They're rugged and more generous with moving furniture around since they're already scratched and marked.

House Tour, Day 4

The upstairs bathroom. Oliver had a bath there just tonight -- a bubble bath, in fact. He loves this tub, and I think the whole room is just adorable!

House Tour, Day 3.5

And is this Ollie's room. We painted it and tried curtains and then took them down. We've put up a few things on the wall, finally. The changing table will reattach to the crib when Ollie moves out and a new little person comes along, but for now it works well where it is. We might put a stuffed rocker/glider in, but I actually like my wood one. I'd like to replace the bench with a cute little bookcase for the board books, and we definitely want to put a rug down in this room. We don't even have to wait for the dog to die since she doesn't get upstairs much (we recently put permanent gates at the top and bottom of the stairs).

House Tour, Day 3

We have a ground-floor master in this house. It wasn't something we were looking for, and it's not ideal with little babies and having to run upstairs in the middle of the night, but it is a decent space. Wes and I have a king bed that just fits with a night table on the far wall. We got a dresser and nightstand from his parents that are a bit traditional for our tastes. Wes's mom, who is a whiz at refinishing furniture, tried her hand at the night table, but the stain was uncooperative. We're either going to live with them as they are for a while or possibly paint them and change the pulls to win a few years before possibly getting something new. Our plan right now is to have our master closet done to optimize space there and then get one big armoire for the bedroom for additional storage. Wes wants some kind of hope chest at the bottom of the bed, too, which we could use for out-of-season clothes or sweaters or extra linens. We also have a pretty painted table that has nowhere else to be and goes nicely in our bedroom. Unfortunately, it looks a bit out of place and serves no real function.

The paint in the bedroom needs retouched, but I'm perfectly happy with the color. The bathroom is nice, but it's no laid out well. There's virtually no storage and very limited space for two people to be at the sink at the same time. The tub is nice, though not used often, and we're fighting mold pretty hard in the shower stall.

And no, I'm not worried about my vacuum being alone at night. There's just nowhere else to put it!

Finding my way

I had a special moment in the car this afternoon coming home from my internship site. I had driven to the elementary school on the interstate, which was already becoming congested in the southbound lanes when I was driving north. Rain has a pretty noticeable impact on traffic here in Nashville; I shudder to think what happens if it snows or sleets. So when I headed home, I wanted to avoid the major thoroughfares. I knew where I was and the general direction of where I was trying to go. So I followed my instinct and the map in my head and made my way to Oliver's daycare probably faster than if I'd taken the interstate with even little traffic. I knew where the city should be at each point to be heading in the right direction, how the numbered roads worked and what the cross-streets are. I had this moment when I realized quite suddenly how close I was to my destination when I thought, "Hey, I know my way around."

House Tour, Day 2

The kitchen and half bath. The only thing we did in here was tone down the bright green paint they had on the walls. It doesn't photograph well, but the paint color is called "organic field." I bought four different paint samples and put them all on the wall and then ended up choosing something completely different. My big mistake was getting flat instead of semi-gloss, and now we have lots of sponge marks on the wall in the eat-in area. The high point of the kitchen that we added -- or was given to us -- is the table and bench made by Wes's late grandfather.

House Tour, Day 1

Inside the front door of house, to the left, is the living room. We hope, eventually, to make it into a library space. We're planning on putting built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplace with a gap for the windows. We haven't figured out the final plans for this, as the fireplace make supporting the shelves more challenging, but it's probably the next major project on our list. We got the desk from Wes's parents (who have been extremely generous in giving us furniture to use in the house). It's a beautiful piece, and I really like it. Unfortunately, it's too small for Wes -- something he forgot when we decided to get it from his parents. So we'll probably eventually replace that with something that fits him and is a little more contemporary, which seems to be more my style (though I like the odd, special classic or antique piece). The couch in the living room is more than four years old, and it's showing its use. I tried to steam clean it with some upholstery cleaner, and that helped some, but being the main piece of furniture (plus dog, plus baby) and being such light fabric is working against us. We did paint this room to match the hallways and upstairs. It was previously the color of the bedroom, which was a little too mottled for my taste next to the fireplace. The rocking chair and cute side table came from Wes's parents also. We tried out some variations of coffee tables in this room, but they all felt too crowded or out of place, so we're going with the more barren look for now. Hopefully we'll also add a rug when, well, the dog dies or something.

Inside the front door to the right is the sitting room or "parlor," as Wes prefers to call it. We have totally changed this room and, notably, spent the most room in here (not including the garage, which is "furnished" with two cars purchased in the last 6 months). We painted the room a color that I love. It's purpler during the sunny hours and more blue or periwinkle in darker hours. The chair was ours. The side tables are from Wes's parents. The bench has a storage area in it, which is being used for games, toys, and blankets. The couch we purchased, and I love my chaise lounge. I practically live there doing schoolwork. The couch, though still light, is a machine-washable slipcover, so we were a little less nervous about it. The large cabinet is actually a built-in television cabinet. The top opens on a hinge, and our 52" monstrosity is mounted on an articulating arm so it can pull all the way out if we want to angle it heavily for a group of people. There are two shelves that house or boxes and remotes. There's also two shelves on bottom for more storage, but they're empty. We still want to put a cushion and some pillows on the bench, get a good throw for throw (a Momma N. afghan, maybe?) for the couch, and put a rug down.

So those are the front rooms. Visit again tomorrow!