all it took was a TV

A big TV at that.

Cameron hasn't slept in his room for 2 yrs. He has a big ole captains bed that I spent a decent amount of money on. He slept on it for about a year and then one day he decided he didn't like it anymore. No idea why. And then we moved to DC so Hannah thought it would be cute to have him sleep with her.

So what ended up happening is Cameron's room became the catch all. If we had no room for it or if it was in our way it went into Cam's room. In DC I didn't care cause his room was pretty small. Here he has a decent size room so it seemed like such a waste. So I decided to make it into a room for the kids to play games and watch movies.

So I was a patient girl and kept my eyes on some sale sites and got a awesome fold out futon and a TV stand for real cheap! Poor Troy brought us a HUGE TV all the way from Illinois. I am fairly certain he and Jason came close to hernias dragging it up our stairs. Only to find out it didn't work. So after a few months of pouting I decided to give up our bedroom TV. A very ugly habit of mine to say the least. I adore watching TV while lounging on my bed. But it is a waste of time. And I can wile away many o' hours doing it.

So yesterday we decided to work on the room. Once again allot of furniture just shoved in with random piles of clothes and toys everywhere. We broke down his captains bed only to discover the dresser portion under his bed was perfect to hold the TV. Of course! And it allowed the dresser part to stay in the room. Extra drawers always awesome. Thankfully I had bought the TV stand very cheap. So I will just sell it for very cheap.

And yes there are no drawer pulls on the dresser. Cameron took them off and threw them away. Sigh. No idea why.

I would prefer to have Better Homes and Gardens to swoop in and set up the next shots. But once again I am determined to show you reality. Once the TV was set up Cameron decided he had the best. Room. EVER!!!! He reclaimed his room el pronto. And Jason and I had lost our steam. Never one to start and finish a project in the same day/week. Accept me for who I am!! ;)

The futon is now his bed. He is happy as can be about it. The 'curtains' courtesy of Hannah. The sun sets directly in that window. Makes for watching the TV in the evening difficult. That was her instant fix. Until I get curtains.

And now this is what my room looks like. The piles of clothes and toys and Cameron's art that still need sorting through. Slowly but surely. I'll share after BHG comes in and fixes it!



Flashback Friday 6/1

So I was going to do my usual digging through folders and showing off random pictures from random years but I never made it past this next set of pictures. Taken June 1st 2004. Cameron is 4 months old. And obviously his big sister Hannah is the best thing EVER! My heart just skipped about 10 beats.

We are in Illinois for our summer visit. For most of our families this was their first time meeting Cameron. These pictures were taken in Jason's Grandparents house.

Embrace the Camera 5/31

I can't think of a better way to embrace the camera! Baby chewing. And Axton here is quite delicious!!! He belongs to my neighbor Yanna. She has been here a few months but I just recently befriended her. She didn't have a choice I stalked her ;) Like I do.

Flashback Friday 5/25

This weekend in May of 2005 we headed to Illinois for our usual summer visit. The weekend we arrived we had a nice little cookout with Jason's family. And then I forced everyone to stand close together for pictures. It's my job. It's what is expected of me.

The heathens. From left to right. Jonathan, Grace, Hannah, Cameron, Joshua, Josie and Justin.

 The adults. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Marvin. Grandma Ann and Grandpa Marvin. Paul and Jason's Mom, Lana.

Jason's family. 

Troy and his then wife Jamie with their hooligans.

And then the next day I got to see me niece Maddie!

May 20th 2006 Hannah was in a play, Robin Hood, on Charleston AFB. A traveling Group that worked with the Youth Center. Hannah LOVES being in plays!



On this very day in 2008 my Brenda Lou Who was in Charleston visiting us!! We spent the day at the Isle of Palms!

May 22nd 2010. My time is running out in Charleston. I am soaking up as much time as I can with friends.

Me, Ali, Raquel and Naomi. At a restaurant that I cannot remember the name. I do remember being in downtown Charleston and I remember the Pear cheesecake with salted caramel.

I do hope to organize my much older pictures and get to scanning. So I can show off itty bitty Hannah and Josie. Till then you will have to make do with the 8 years of digital I have :D

Embrace the Camera 5/24

Addiction thy name is Triple Mocha Cappuccino Blast from Dunkin' Donuts.  

And you guys thought it would be another picture of me with one of my kiddos. Pssht! Boring!!!

For those who know me know I am normally obsessed with my Chai Frappucinos from Starbucks. My loyal BFF for the past almost 8 years!! I am cheating! But how can something so wrong feel so so so right. I am already craving another one!

This next series of pictures was set up by Cameron. I was only gonna take a quick shot but he told me which ones to take and then promptly announced 'OK I done.' and left.

I could label it the 'What was I thinking?" series. Cameron LOVES Nutella. It is 90% of his diet. And he does enjoy nibbling on pretzels. So I was showing him how to dip pretzels into Nutella. He refused. For awhile. One thing with Cameron's sensory issues is he doesn't like getting food on his lips. Which is why he eats such a dry diet. So having a glob of Nutella come towards his lips not hidden between two slices of dry bread made him very nervous. But he watched me and noticed I never got any on my lips. His first couple of pretzels he would dip and then look at it then hand it to me. Then he finally got brave enough to pop it in his mouth. YUM!!! Insert 'What was I thinking!?!?!' He LOVES it!!! Somehow I have only managed to up his Nutella intake. I was only trying to get him past something that made him nervous. As a result I may of doubled our Nutella bill!



Crafting Truth

 Maybe one day I will grow up into one of those reliable crafting blogs. Just not today. I decided to show you some truths. Below you will see the wood I bought for my string art project. Ridiculously HUGE pieces of wood. Jason is having fun making fun of me. What the deuce was I thinking!?!? But I spent the money already so I am determined. One day last week I spray painted it my pretty new blue and then brought it in the next day after it dried. And there it sits. Right next to a canvas that I messed up ten ways from Sunday but I will revive the darling! I am just so frustrated with it she shall sit and wait for my attention.

So the truth is in my house projects sit and wait. ALLOT. Some of them for significant amounts of time Some of them I will start and then get bored and go work on something else. It has taken me days and weeks to finish something so simple because I am quite the crafty butterfly.

                         

   

I do have a very important project on the crafting block. A friend of mine offered to pay me to make one of my magazine frames!! I have been chopping away at my magazines. Alas the letter B is quite elusive but I think I have enough now to get started!

And then of course this project of sorting and ROYGBVing my Grandmother's yarn. I bought this shelf to put it on then after I brought out the bags of yarn I pretty much figure it out that it way too small.

And this sexy project. Folding laundry. Ugh!

I didn't want you to come here and only see my piles of stuff. So something pretty. A Choose Joy canvas in my bedroom. I see it every morning when I wake up!

So I might not ever give you a reliable crafting blog but I promise to do my best to take you on as many crafting adventures as I can. Cause I do love it so. It is very much a part of who I am.



Flashback Friday

Thanks to digital cameras all our photos have a digital time stamp. Which works perfect for what I would like to do on Fridays. A flashback on what was happening in our lives this past week in the years past.

So with it decided I went and looked into my files and came across this in May of 2005. Mother's Day as a matter of fact. Look how little she was!!! 9 year old Josie B.

My 2nd Mother's Day with all 3. We were living in Montgomery AL at this time. After our mini photo shoot we went home and the kids played in a little pool and with a slip and slide!

May 17th 2006. We have moved to Charleston SC by now! And we have just started venturing into what has so far become his life obsession. Drawing. Just the other day I said 'Cameron you are using up to much paper.' to which he replied 'But Mom I need to draw!'

Little 2 yr old boy. By now we knew you were 'different'. Special. The word Autism was being batted around for sure but we were still so new to the game.

May 13th 2007.  Jason has been home from Iraq for about 3 weeks at this point. Poor Josie B has broken glasses that always slid to the front of her nose. We would call her Grandma cause she would have to tilt her head up or she would tilt it down and look at us over her rims.

May 16th 2008. We are at the Charleston Children's Museum with Cameron class. I of course am a hoot!

Wow I really do think I am going to have allot of fun with Fridays!! If I get into a groove with scanning photos I may even be able to take us back even farther!!!