new blog...

hi. this blog will still have all that is upon it, however, all future blog posts can now be found on
www.itisusat.blogspot.com

ps--my computer, the desktop one in particular truly truly hates me....

the newest member of our home...

This is my "new to me" stove! My friend Justin put it in (i tipped him $60). The old stove did not go to the ground, so he had to saw away at various parts to make it fit and...because it was so old, rewire the electric to accomodate the new stove plug (this takes a 220 outlet. a quick trip to home depot was made and it is not my normal home improvement store--that being locally owned jerry's--and the people in electronics were less than reassuring they knew their stuff). but i did manage to come home with the proper part.

so there it is! it shall one day be all black, since there is such a thing as appliance paint and after a chat with rosie (justin is the boyfriend of my very good work friend rosie) it is decided that all but one wall of my kitchen should be ranch red. but wait! there's MORE!

feast your eyes on this splendid invention!!! paint for countertop laminate! tinted to soft black this particular can of paint, i shall be painting my nasty peach tinged off white laminate BLACK! this will do until i can get nice new countertops. I'M SO EXCITED!! my loathing of my countertops runs deep...

this winter be prepared for more updates on my kitchen's gradual makeover. i still have yet to sand and restain the ever so lovely oak cabinets, she said her voice dripping with sarcasm.

the thoughts of redoing my kitchen have me much distracted at work so wishing i was home painting and sanding. :)

ps--a note about my friend justin...i have been extremely blessed having awesome guy friends who tolerate (and actually i think enjoy) my kids and their extreme need to be by the man when one's around. justin was no exception and was super cool about my kids lingering about him while he worked and izsak asking all sorts of questions... :)

Ah...a cat's love

This is an alive sparrow. It looks mostly like what was discovered in ryenn's room this morning, as ryenn moved the "dress up clothes" on her floor, discovering a dead brown bird (i believe it was a sparrow upon google image searching) amongst them.
So she comes to me "mom there's a dead bird on my floor". I go in and so there is...and neither of us has the nerve to deal with. Now...neither Ryenn nor myself are overly girlie in these matters (kill a spider? no problem!), but this particular token of love by one of her cats was a larger specimen then the ones previously found in our FRONT YARD.

Ryenn and I felt our best option was to wake up Izsak.

I'd like to say he looked like this, but he didn't. He was half asleep. And while I went in the backyard to find a small shovel...apparently he just meandered into ryenn's room and picked up the damn thing by the tail feathers...
This tidbit was unknown to me and as I came in the kitchen from the backyard and he came in the kitchen from the hall and was holding up this dead bird that suddenly looked much larger than on the floor and was severely grossing me out, i exclaimed "f*** izsak! you're not suppose to touch birds! i was getting the shovel!"
so i got a target bag, made girlie "omgosh ugh ick eeek oh gosh" exclamations as he put it in the bag i could barely hold i was so disturbed. i told him to wash his hands and i threw it away in the garbage outside. i came inside to find that my hero for the day had promptly gone back to bed for the last of his 15 mins before having to get up.

So, thank you one of our cats for your kittie love. and while its nice to know you love miss ryenn so, i'm going to be putting louder jingle bells on your collars....and thank you sir izsak for not even being close to flinching touching dead things.

Ryenn room update

So...i painted again this weekend and got most of ryenn's room painted. the wall with the door and closet remains ugly but i shall need more paint.So here is what i have done. got the little turquoise table today for only $15 at target which ironically was CHEAPER than buying the block shelves for the lamp and clock i originally intended to get. Eventually that naked spot will house white shelves that ryenn's knick knacks will live on (instead of the windowsill). but while i target, i forgot nails. :)

And here is a "wider" view of her bed with the new cool comforter and the on clearance wall decor i got at target a couple weeks ago thinking it'd go in her room...course there is the beatles....and the dorky poster of a dog and kitty but hey...she likes it and bought it herself last year!

so one day i'll finish, but in the next week i paint black the new to me (being only 10 yrs old as opposed to 39 yrs old) stove i was lovingly given by miss heather when she got a brand spankin' new one this year for her anniversary...and then replace the old one with the new to me! so excited since my oven of late has decided to not work properly....

ah...teenagers...

Apparently...even sleep deprived (from repeated sleep overs) teenagers need a nap every once in awhile...

And that's cool and all, but I am a little surprised at where and in what position this nap is taking place...

And if he finds out I posted this...I might not be the coolest mom around...but he's not checking up on ME and my postings. :)

my new love--antinquing...

so...my friend tamara has drawn me into the world of antiquing....tis true. and, as i always feel on that weekend, this last weekend was falling back timewise, and i was feeling lazy. saturday i stayed in bed til noon...and thought about cleaning. but really didn't want to. all i wanted to do was take a bath and go antiquing. so that's what i did! cause golly darn its what i felt like! izsak was with a friend so it was just ryenn and i. we went to coburg and checked out the shops.

i was there specifically for something for my bedroom walls. NOTHING ELSE. and trust me...NOTHING ELSE is soooo easy to want to buy...like all the fabulous costume jewelry that reminds me of my grandma zina and the jewelry i used to play with as a kid in her back bedroom where it smelled of lavendar...and now that $3 bracelett or pin is worth $20 or MORE. and i so wish i'd been interested when my grandmother passed away and my aunties said "what do you want?" and i chose a couple items of my grandfather's i didn't actually get...

anywho...what i WAS on the hunt for was a turn of the 20th century something to put on my now blank walls (the LOTR posters from married days finally came down)...my idea being inspired by this card (now framed i loved it so):

so on our fourth and last store, we each found a little something...i found this postcard. not quite the size i was hoping for but i think i might be on to something...a theme...

miss ryenn, well she found a gorgeous, delicate metal butterfly pin that cost her $20 (it was her money!). sorry for the poor quality of the pics! i'm using my phone...so bear with me. thank you.

i also found a perfect gift for izsak for christmas but on the very off chance he decides to check the blog out i won't say what....but ryenn and i think he'll love it.

also...the first weekend of december there is a HUGE costume jewelry event there in coburg at the grange...i just might have to check it out....

paint

First, i feel i should preference with the fact that i figured out i can email my pics as a txt message...so i don't actually go online with my phone. i told my very good friend rosie (who is a member of our tech support team at work this) and she thought it was "cute" i just figured out that such things are possible. anyways...now that i have figured it out i have stuff to share!

i have been busy! first i painted the walls in the kitchen, some of the kitchen, "ranch red". then i painted a wall plus, in ryenn's room white. the rest was suppose to be painted white this last weekend, but falling back makes me way lazy...so her room is still undone. next wknd for sure! :)

the finished wall in ryenn's room. we got those cool big sticker decals. those would be the butterflies. ryenn's new colors are brown and turquiose w/ some pink here and there...this is all ryenn's doing. her new color being brown...

and here you can see what nasty sad color it was before. some weird gray...we wanted to brighten her room and make it an upliftng place to be. so we got rid of the big loft bed a couple months ago and replaced it with the white bedframe and a new comforter...brown w/ turquoise and pink and orange...we'll get that next time when the room is complete..

this is the kitchen...there are the borders now "ranch red" as opposed to nasty purple flowered wallpaper border...i'm thinking a black stencil job at some point...

and that is the one wall done as well. i like is so much! a much cozier feel.

it has been quite the experience making the house MINE for the time being...before i had to compromise. what is my style when i DON'T have to compromise? so i'm finding it! my friend tamara has this great sense of style and i'm stealing it off her...artsy and antiquey...my bedroom will eventually be turn of the 20th century motif and the "tv" room will eventually be retro from art deco to early 1960s...i have a thing for old telephones i'm finding...tamara also turned me onto that antiques...and that is where the next post goes...

random

Dorky Dog Asleep

Halloween 2010

so....the kids were at their dad's for halloween...it ended up being a bit disappointing for them but we won't talk about that...miss ryenn was a roller derby gal...not sure why she's making this face. the kids were suppose to get video footage but forgot, so luckily grandma sherry got a couple shot w/ her phone.:)

izsak had a shirt that said "this is my zombie killing shirt" w/ blood splatter. it was perfect but really he looked just like himself...this is his last year trick or treating as far as i'm concerned. :) there they are with grandpa bob and nathan at their dad's.

and this was me! i decided last minute to be liz lemon from 30 Rock. While the kids were at their dad's i went out with tamara, then was invited very last minute to a halloween party by my friends carl and michelle...carl suggested an nbc tag, which i wore at the party. michelle got pics but i don't have copies yet. :) i had a great time unexpectedly halloween, so i was very sorry to hear my kids weren't so fortunate....next year we'll make it count!

miss ryenn

this is my girlie (its a picture from early summer). i lost her for a bit this last year. my beautiful, talented, fun girlie was a sad, low confidence, unsure girlie. and i missed her! i hated that life had made her feel sad and unloved. but i'm happy to say that she is back to normal ryenn these days! she once again thinks of herself as cute and smart and she's full of life and fun again. hurray for counseling and a normal, mostly predictable rountine. welcome back ryenn! i love you so!

BOOK UPDATE

Ok folks...got word today my book is officially going to be used Winter Term at LCC in a class regarding Veterans and Families!!!

Ah! :)

Woo Hoo! Go!

Ah. the kids enjoying the Barczak's quads/atvs....ryenn always seems so big to me but in that helmet and on that quad she looks tiny. they had such fun!

Camp Sherman-camping trip

More videos of silly kids and a big brother being a cool big brother! hurray for big brothers!

camp sherman was dusty but fun! saw tons of stars if not as many meteors as we were hoping.
on our last day we ventured to Sisters and had really good food at a local restaurant, went antiquing where izsak scored an old bb gun. then we had old timey pics taken. hope to scan those
in one of these days and share.

Harbor Vista--camping trip

Hi. So here is some video from our camping trip to Florence. Enjoy!

coming soon. hopefully tomorrow....

so btwn the end of work and a brow appointment tomorrow i hope to post VIDEOS galore! of august camping #1, then camping #2 and then of the kids on quads. its all going to be very exciting! stayed tuned (if for nothing else than the see miss ryenn w/ SHORT hair)....

Girls Night out w/ a Girlie

So...last Tuesday us gals went out and once a month (starting last month) Ryenn has joined us ladies. So here are pics taken by my gorgeous friend Heather, who wasn't feelin' that night to include herself, of Tamara and I and Ryenn. Some of the me and ryenn pics are w/ the "hipsomatic" (?) effect on the i-phone. We enjoyed cheese and chocolate fondue.

4th of July Part Deux

Here are the rest of the pictures. All mish-mashy, but enjoy nonetheless!

Miss B's legs

Miss Ryenn
Whatchyou lookin' at Belle?

Lily and Belle wet

Something was funny...

and dad says "huh"?

If you look real close you can see me and Hillary (don't judge whatever it is I'm doing w/ my hands...hmmm)

Miss B again

Gangsta Lil'

Oh hey! Alex chillin'

So there it be. All the pictures (well most) from my 4th of July w/ the fam. Thanks for the memories ♫

4th of July weekend part one

So...for the 4th of July weekend, my family managed to all be together for the first time in 9 years. Let's start with my kids cause, honestly, they're my favorite.

Here is Sir Izsak.

Here is Sir Izsak looking quite cool. I like this picture. I approve. :)
Beautiful Miss Ryenn, who in the shade, her hair looks really dark.
My dad being patriotic in his felt hat in 100 degree heat.
Dad smilin' pretty.
My handsome brother towering over his parents making them look hobbitish.
Ah. Miss Belle. All too willing to pose...it gets her more pics than everybody else... ;)
This pic is about meemoo. Poor meemoo. She looks sad even though she is so diligently and ferciously loved.
Pretty Miss B again
Miss Piper. This is the first of an oddly frequent number of "in the process of drinking" pics I took.

Miss Lily grabbing a spot
The girlies
Northrop girlies
Grandude serving his grand-girlies
Dad and sister Lindsey
Most of the gang

This is only one roll of film. That's right. FILM. And while I soo long for a fabulous digital camera (and I mean fabulous...thus the lack of one now cause fabulous costs hundreds of dollars) I do find that cropping film shots are great! No pixel issues whatsoever. :)

More to come! It was a whirlwind of a trip and it was awesome to see my siblings and visit with all of us together! The cousins all got along so awesomely! Truly a momentous occassion.