Archive for the ‘life in the little white house’ Category

what a difference color can make

Monday, May 21st, 2012

i have been in a cleansing and purging mood lately.  the need to streamline my life a bit.  definitely my surroundings.  i have visited the little clothing accepting bins in various parking lots several times in the past month offering bags.  sorting and sorting again.  we don’t have tons of things in our little white house.  we’re not big shoppers.  but what i do is hang on to everything.  clothes from high school needed to go.  ayden’s old tee-shirts and size 8 shorts were cluttering his closet. i am also bad at half assing things around our house.  completing projects until they are “good enough”.

we have been in our home for three years next month.  the first thing i did when we moved in was paint every room.  i love color.  i love mixing them up.  our home is small.  1200ish square feet i think.  i painted our living room three different colors.  at the same time.  it wasn’t bad.  it is still three colors.  but i definitely chose the wrong colors.  i’ve said before that we get very little natural light in our house.  the gigantical white oak trees in the yard block most of it.  so the super cool copper color on the walls of the room we spend most of our time was doing nothing but making it darker.  plus, they were the walls that i half finished.  and i think that was because i knew they were not right.  deep down i didn’t want to put anymore effort into them because they didn’t make me happy.

so….this past Friday, Ayden had a field trip from 6 in the morning until 10:30 at night.  hours with no interruptions.  no excuses to not complete the job at hand.  painted over the copper a light grey with a slight blue tint.  completely.  even repainted the baseboards.  it is amazing the difference.  it is so much brighter.  feels cleaner.  happier.

before

after!

i even planned ahead before hanging this little group of frames this time.

 next project will be the awful green counter tops and laminate flooring in the kitchen…

 

mr. wilson and i went and got all married on a tuesday afternoon…

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

but not before a good ol’ testing.  first let me start by clearing something up.  mr. wilson is in fact mr. williams.  wilson started as a joke early in our relationship when i accidentally introduced eric by the wrong name and then took it upon myself to make it his blog alias (and probably will continue to do so!)  i realized i had definitely confused some of my far away family when we started receiving mail for the “wilsons”.  so there you go. williams. williams. williams:)  now onto that test that i mentioned…

so the saturday night before the wedding, the three of us were snuggled up in the living room catching up on parks and recreation when our power suddenly went out.  weird but not alarming.  that stuff happens.  until we looked outside and each of our neighbors Christmas lights were twinkling as usual.  after assuring mr. wilson that i had indeed paid the power bill:), he went out to the garage to check the breaker box.  ”babe, get your phone. something is on fire.” he called.  ”shut up” i responded.  it took only a second to realize that he was serious.  the garage smelled horrible with a burning electrical smell.  there was no visible fire but for all we knew wires could have been a blaze inside the walls.  not sure if that is really possible.  we are not the handiest people around.  so a few minutes after a fumbling call to 911 two fire trucks arrived.  let me apologize again to all our neighbors for the rude awakening late that night.  after explaining to the firemen what was going on they determined that our main breaker had blown.  they kept telling us that this was a good thing.  that it behaved the way it was intended.  if we had gone to bed and the power hadn’t gone out to alarm us…well, i don’t want to think about it.  long story a little less long, we were without power and would be until we could get it inspected, have an electrician fix the problem, have it inspected again, and finally have the power company turn the power back on.  thank goodness for ayden’s wonderful grandparents, my surrogate parents, brad and elaine for letting us invade their home late that night and for the next 3 days.  i seriously would have lost my marbles without them!

the damage.  damn lucky to only have to replace the panel and breakers.

now onto the fun stuff.  so who says you can’t meet a good man in a bar?  that’s exactly where i met mr. wilson.  a few years ago, on one of the rare nights that i ventured out, i went to visit a dear friend of mine who was tending bar.  as i sat in the corner (being as anti-social as possible) nursing my beer i spied the most handsome guy across the room.  turned out it was his dad’s bar.  also turned out that he had a girlfriend. ugh.  we were introduced.  i was bummed.  and although he had no idea, i knew that it was meant to be.  not that day.  not three months from then.  but one day.

that “one day” came close to a year later.  both single, we met up with mutual friends on halloween.  and from that night, just like i knew…it was meant to be.

we had talked for the last year about getting married.  i tried to talk him into the court house.  while neither of us wanted a big to-do, i knew he wanted something a little more than that.  once we decided we wanted to do it before Christmas, it just kind of dawned on us that the perfect location was basically in out backyard.  we went to visit our friends at Song Hill Reserve and booked the date that day.  on a rainy tuesday afternoon, with no power in our home, i got to marry the man of my dreams.  in front of our parents, with ayden right beside us, we had passed our test.  beyond happy that my mutt family is now official.

just wanted to include a few pictures that my wonderful friend kina was kind enough to snap for us.  i am an incredibly uncooperative subject.  anyone who knows me, knows how uncomfortable i am in front of the camera.  so she really had her work cut out for her.

 

ayden is a huge fan of the group hug. this was definitely the best one yet.

 

 

 

Christmas tree gettin’

Saturday, December 3rd, 2011

while we’ve always had live trees, Christmas tree farms are a new thing for us.  last year we were able to make a big family trip out of it when we went with my dear goodnights to a farm a bit above Bristol.  i say a bit, but i swear by the time we navigated the miles of curvy mountain roads i felt like i was 5 hours away from home.  so this year, since they have moved and left us…sniff sniff…we decided to keep it domestic.  i started looking for the closest farm (due to lack of motivation on my part) and happened upon the sweetest, cheesiest, little country tree farm.  i’m not sure how i never knew it existed.

when we arrived, we asked a skinny Santa looking man (i wanted to take a photo of him but i am always too shy to ask strangers) what the protocol was.  he promptly handed me a hand saw and said “find-ja one an’ cut it down”.  i handed the saw to ayden.  we’ve always gotten a traditional frasier fur.  but the only frasier furs they had were already cut.  ”we” wanted to cut ours dang it.  they had several different varieties growing.  the one we chose was a Carolina Sapphire.  it reminded me of a tree you would find in an enchanted forest or something.  our “hippie tree” i call it.

 

the tree!

ayden still deciding if he was up to the task.

ayden started the cutting, though we all knew mr. wilson would have to finish it.

success!

not sure where or what the dancing trees were.

ta-da!

happy 11th year to Ayden…this means i’m getting old

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

a post dedicated to my little love.  partly to embarrass him, partly because it gave me an excuse to go through his baby albums and get all girly teary eyed.  11 years ago, as a scared nineteen year old, God gave me Ayden.  because of him, i have become brave and patient and discovered that i could love someone far beyond the limits i thought were set on my heart.  i am so so proud of the little man he is becoming.

Ayden over the last 11 years…mostly pre-digital and roughly scanned mind you…but still darn cute…

more ayden…just because i can

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

ayden and i ventured out to FENCE the other day.  middle of the day.  but the temps were still pretty mild.  he is getting better and being photographed.  dare i say, even enjoying it a little.  i don’t quite realize how much he is growing up until i see him through my lens.  weird… and a little heartbreaking.

i take this picture of him a lot. i think i just love how big his eyes look at this angle.

i love taking pictures of people's feet. i dunno why. A's red chucks are pretty dang awesome though.

see. he's grown. it's crazy. this weekend he stood next to his aunt nicholle and was only a few inches shorter than her.

his penguin walk...from batman.

the many faces of ayden...

i omitted the ones of him falling. he got his grace from his mama.

life in the little white house…this is the love i get

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

i call it the guest room, Mr. Wilson calls it the office, and Ayden…well he calls it the nerd cave.  This room houses the video games and apparently when they are in play the women in the house, ie me, are not allowed in without the password…

nice. think i’ll make my own sign for the fridge.

life in the little white house :: Ayden’s new hat

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Ayden is leaving for Savannah for a few days after school today…i miss him already.  but he is oh so excited.  after many months of deployment, his dad is arriving back in the states.  he has been practicing holding his breath for that first big hug that would surely knock it out of him.  and this trip brings us to his new hat…

while it is not quite warm enough here for swimming yet, in Savannah, Ayden will enjoy temps in the high 80s.  we figured a new bathing suit would be in order for his trip.  so we took a trip to Target.  now, my son is a bit of a plain jane when it comes to appearances.  don’t get me wrong, he is the most handsome and kind-hearted child i’ve ever known but when it comes to clothes, hair, etc…he is perfectly content blending in with the norm.  growing up, i was the opposite…while painfully shy, i liked to quietly push peoples boundaries with my numerous dye jobs and handmade (not quality) outfits.  Ayden will take no part in such nonsense…and i have to support that.

So while we were in Target, Ayden spied a shelf of easily 20 different hats.  i told him to go try some on.  he went on to try on every last hat until he found the one he loved.  i was just so tickled to see him get excited about a hat!  it is a little out of his comfort zone.  but he is adorable in it and he knows it.

i am going to miss him so much this week but i am so excited for him and his dad…and who knows, maybe he’ll come back with an ear pierced or something;)

life in the little white house :: a random Sunday

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

random…but beautiful and spring-like during the last few days of winter.  i made a resolution on new years that i would photograph my family more.  display current photos on the wall to compliment Ayden’s k-4 and 1st grade school pictures (he is 10 now).  but my family is not exactly cooperative when i point the camera at them.  i don’t blame them.  i am waaaaay better suited behind the camera myself.  so i had to rethink my approach…

i get so tickled and feel crazy lucky every day to have my two guys.  i don’t want to forget what Ayden is like at 10 or Mr. Wilson’s goofy antics if heaven forbid he ever stops constantly making me laugh.  i want to capture them, us, our simple days together now…and tomorrow.  to me, my mutt of a family is perfect.  i think i should be sharing them a little more with you.  so, a random Sunday…

 

Ayden getting ready for church. complaining about having to be “business casual”.

a day does not go by without the living room floor being completely covered in legos…not his bedroom floor.

play clothes on…a race to the trampoline.  i was nearly laughing too hard to hold the camera.  Ayden won…

didn’t take long for the neighborhood boys to gather. and so a nerf gun-capture the flag game ensued.

little tennis in the evening.  (we are making an effort to be more active as a family)  the poor state of the court was the least of our worries.  we are not an athletically gifted bunch.

just made me smile.