Out With the Ugly, In With the Pretty!

In my effort to get myself together for the beginning of our new school year, I dutifully decided I needed to clean our carpet. Have you ever had new carpet? If you have, you probably remember how wonderful it felt under your feet. And, I always make the sweeping proclamation, "By order of the Queen, there shall be no eating or drinking in the royal family room!" But, what do you do when the King decides to eat his nightly bowl of cereal in said family room? Or, he makes popcorn for everyone watching the movie while the Queen is at Walmart? Anyway, I was an IDIOT for choosing light colored carpet when we built this house. Anyway, as I tried to clean it, I became progressively depressed. It is truly disgusting. Do you see those dark places that look like shadows? They're NOT! They are stains. When we built the house, we chose the carpet at a local carpet store that is now out of business. Unfortunately, we have no idea what kind of carpet it is...or the maker. So, we don't know if there's even a warranty.

These are pictures of our family room. The lighter patches by the wall, that has been hidden under the couch, are what the carpet is SUPPOSED to look like..
Here is a picture of our school room. That large dark patch is where every one's feet go as we sit at the computer. Ugh!! The light spot in the corner is what the carpet is SUPPOSED to look like. What was I thinking!!??

It was with great trepidation that we decided to recarpet the family and school room. I chose a darker color of carpet. I ordered it 3 weeks ago, hoping against hope that it would be here before school started. Naturally, it wasn't. So, after many painstaking hours of cleaning, planning, organizing, and moving stuff around, I had to completely undo everything I had done and moved everything out of the school room, as well as the family room. Well, the carpet was installed on Friday, and it is lovely. It only took them about 2 hours...it took me 2 days to put everything back where it belongs...but it was worth it.

I got it on sale at Lowe's and then signed up for a credit card for an extra 10% off. I would have loved to have done the stairs too, but the budget wouldn't allow it right now. It's a light, slivery blue. It looks darker in the school room because there's not as much light...just one window. The family room has lots of light, so the carpet looks lighter. So, we're going to try to go at least one week without eating in either room... wish me luck!

Slipping Away

With every ounce of my being...I am trying to resist the passing of each day as summer slowly slips by. In less than 2 weeks school will be upon us and then we just put our heads down and press forward. Oh, it's sort of fun and exciting for about 2 weeks...but then the reality that we have "educational obligations" that must get done every day. When my kids complain about doing school, I've been known to tell them that I will go to jail if they don't do their school! Who will make their dinner and do their laundry then!? So, because they care for my well being, they reluctantly get their work done. Oh...for just a few more weeks of reading, and naps, and picking blueberries, and hitting tennis balls, and riding the go-cart, and making s'mores... and...just doing a lot of nothing.

Anyway, I've included some videos for Granddad and Bebs.