Almost Paradise

Hi.  I'm still here. I know it's been a while, but it's been a rough summer!  Blogging has clearly not been a top priority.  Trying to keep the kids from killing each other, on the other hand, has taken its rightful spot in the front and center of our life these days.  We're ALL anxious for school to start.  Only two more weeks.  Two more weeks.  Hahaha. 

When we last left off, we had finally found our way back home after all our travels.  One of our {or more accurately MY} first obsessions in our new town was this little piece of paradise selling Hawaiian shaved ice not too far from our house.  Everyone likes the place fine enough, but my love for the half Haupia, half Wild Cherry Big Kahuna combo with ice cream and snow cap surpasses all their interest by a mile.  Point of fact -- I am known by the workers.  My signature flavor combo is a dead giveaway -- even when I send Scott in my stead.  I may or may not have gone every single day for an entire week when we first moved here to get my hit of shaved ice.  And yes, I am a little embarrassed by that.  What can I say?  I have an addictive personality.  Hahaha.  

Ethan is the only other person in the family who regularly craves the goodness as well.  Haha.

It only took a little over a week to get this puppy all the way filled out.  

As for what else we've been up to, well, we've done a whole lot and nothing -- all at the same time.  If that even makes sense.  Here is a bullet-pointed list of the last month's highlights:

• Ethan has worked on some projects.

Inspired by the new Disney series "Liv and Maddie."

Ethan {hearts} putting together IKEA furniture.  This is not sarcasm.  He put together all the stools for the kitchen as well as helped Scott put together 2 dressers and a bed frame.

• We've had a nail polish incident on the upstairs carpet.

Jane decided to paint her nails and Alex's nails in a lovely combo of pink and green a couple of weeks ago.  She also left all the bottles out on the floor of Grace's room with the tops off.  That pink all around Alex's mouth up there is nail polish.  Not lipstick.  Good thing we didn't spend thousands of dollars replacing the carpet before we moved in!

• I have become an expert painter.  

As in I have already painted 7 rooms since we've been in our new house and I've even gone to extra lengths in order to compare and contrast different brands and types of paint to discover the absolute best product.  Consider the following my own Consumer Reports report.  

Hands down best paint.  Recommended by the pros who painted our house before we sold it a couple of moves ago.  Porter Paints "Silken Touch" line in a Flat sheen.  It's a paint and primer in one, goes on like a dream, covers in JUST ONE COAT on all but the deepest and darkest of reds, and dries to a velvety smooth finish.  And there is apparently Teflon or Teflon-like technology in this line that makes it extremely easy to clean.  AND it is comparably one of the cheapest brands.  I think it was around 36 bucks for a gallon.  I used the Porter Paint {in Antique Bone} to make over the family room, laundry room, TV/Toy room {the formerly deep and dark red room}, the main floor bathroom, and our bedroom.

Ethan's room pre-painting.  These are all the color choices he was sampling.  In the end he thankfully chose the color I most wanted and was pushing for the hardest.

"Ocean View" by Behr.  Thank you to the Nefs for inspiring us with the choice!  Hahaha.

The end result.  I have to say that I really love this color.  It is a lot darker than I would normally be predisposed to like, but it's really a very soothing and calming color in person.  I snapped this pic with my phone, so it doesn't quite do it justice, but suffice it to say that I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  What I wasn't so happy about?  The actual paint I tested out this time!!!  I decided to test out Behr's Premium Plus Ultra {a paint and primer in one} in a Eggshell sheen for this room's experiment.  At 31 dollars a gallon, it was definitely the cheapest option and it rolled on fairly well, but in the end I had to do 2 coats to cover completely, had MASSIVE issues with seeing the cut in lines on top and bottom, the paint smell took FOREVER to go away {like seriously at least an entire week}, and the finished sheen looked a lot shinier to me than an eggshell.  It looked more like a satin or almost even a semi-gloss.  I've used the Premium Plus a TON but never the Ultra, so I don't know if these issues are just due to it being the paint and primer in one or if they've maybe switched up formulas or what.  It was a very aggravating Saturday that was spent painting this room.  Boo.

Next bedroom painted?  Sophie and Jane's in a custom color of pink.  I like to call it "Frosted Pink Cupcake" or "Cotton Candy."  {The color is a bit lighter than this in person.}  For this room's experiment I used Sherwin Williams "Emerald" line of paint in a Matte finish.  Sherwin Williams is supposedly one of the "Pro's"  "favorites."  At 60 or 70 bucks a gallon, it comes with a pretty hefty price tag.  Luckily, I was able to take advantage of a 40% off sale and picked up a couple of gallons to paint their room.  I have to say that this was a crappy paint to work with as well.  It was harder to roll on than I was expecting and did NOT cover well at ALL.  It was very quickly apparent that 2 coats would be a necessity.  Booooo.  Once the two coats were finished, though, the final appearance looked very nice and velvety smooth.  The SMELL, however, was horrible.  It was like a disgusting version of a peppermint and it took a couple days to completely disperse.  

• We've gotten the crucials unpacked.

 All of the main living areas are pretty much unpacked.  There are still a TON of boxes left in the basement, but we can clearly live without them for the next little bit.  I've decided I won't really be able to get everything finished up and organized until the kids are back in school.  

• The kids have gotten good use out of their scooters.

Something about this scene outside our neighborhood pool really tickled my fancy.  The 3 older ones have really been loving to scoot all around.  

• We've met lots of neighbors.  

This neighborhood is TEEMING with children.  Since we've never lived in a place where there are a lot kids, it's been a bit crazy for us.  It's been nice for my kids to meet some others their age before school actually starts.

• Pancakes have become the go-to meal for all of the children.  Odd, right?

Grace likes to arrange 3 stacked together, then cut into fourths with a huge pat of butter on top and syrup dripping down the sides.  She got the idea off the picture on the Krusteaz bag of pancake mix.  This week I'm making the push to get rid of that stuff and go back to making our own from scratch in the blender.  Recipe will be forthcoming at some point.

• We've celebrated another birthday.  

Happy Birthday to Scott!!!

Poor Scott celebrated {or rather didn't celebrate} his birthday this past Friday on the 9th.  It was a TRULY lame and pathetic day and nothing special was done at all for our favorite 36 year old.  I decided to remedy things the next day when I saw this Key Lime Pie at Costco and brought it home to party.  Consequently, the very first of Scott's birthdays that I celebrated with him was over a key lime pie in 2001.  I wanted to dig out the picture for a flashback on Friday, but I have no idea where pictures are at this point.  They're probably still in boxes.  Boo.   

• And we have another birthday boy on the horizon!

Snuggle Puppy will be 2 tomorrow!!!  He is a precious little lamb and I'm so glad he came to our family.  

And that is that.  I'm sure more has happened, but it's either not blog-worthy or I simply can't remember it.  Like I said, it's been a rough summer.  I'd like to blame it solely on the move, but if I read back over LAST summer's blog posts, I was still experiencing many of the same issues.  I think the bottom line is that none of us do very well without the structure and routine that the school year brings.  All in all, we'll be glad when it starts up again.  Only two more weeks...  Hahahaha.