Fun stuff and a list

It seems like we have so much to share...first of all I wanted to make everyone jealous by showcasing the totally fabulous wallpaper we have had. I've spent MANY hours scraping at this stuff and I am happy to finally see it gone. The thing that makes me so angry and want to scream "cool" part about this whole thing? When the house was built the original owners knew they wanted to wall paper so the builder was instructed to LEAVE THE TEXTURE OFF (!) the walls. So, now that I've stripped it we are left with plain sheet rock underneath. Oh, dear. And there's wallpaper everywhere! In the kitchen and bathroom, but also the master suite and one bedroom (the last two I will save for later). Now we need to re-texture the wall and paint -- lots of work but it will be SUCH an improvement when we are finished! Even though it may sound like I am complaining I really do LOVE home improvement projects - the hard work is always worth it!

Here are some before shots...I'm always so excited to start a project that I forget to take pictures so these were taken most of the way through the removal.

[the accent wall in the bathroom]

[a small piece of what you would see if you were
in the kitchen/dining room. But wait! There's more...]

[feast your eyes on this! In the dining room this is coupled with the wallpaper
above for a sweet border - a la the bathroom you saw above. Don't be jealous.]

So, yeah that's been fun. The dining room was the first one I tried to tackle and it was HORRIBLE. Like scraping wet, glued on toilet paper to the wall. There were so many small pieces, nothing came off in big chunks. I really had to work. Imagine my dismay when I knew the bathroom would have to be done as well. Thank goodness that one came off in huge pieces! I was so thankful! If you've never tried wallpaper removal, you must. Actually, no. Don't do it. Ever.

On to more fun things...

An evening at the park! Keith rode the bike with Cameron on the back in his little seat and towed me on the longboard to the nearby park. I was scared to try doing this but it was fun!

[my kid really does love me, I swear!]

[water is crucial]

[squishy faces!]

Oh, and I saved the best for last :) This is a list we made the first week we moved to Cali. It's all the things we wanted to accomplish before we left. If you ask me, I think we did a pretty good job at getting most of it done. Some things on there we've done before (like Knott's Berry Farm and Raging Waters) but not while we were living there. And as you can see, some things we didn't plan on and had to write in :) It was on the side of our fridge for 4 years so it took some abuse but I think you'll be able to read it. Check it out! It's a cute little list that I'm glad we made.