September Tidbits

While Brent was out of town, I planned to take the girls to Young Eagles which meant I'd have to drag Sydney along as well. We have to leave early or the line gets really long and it wasn't until we were on our way that we found out it was canceled due to weather. We were already in the car and it was a rainy day so we decided to go to IHOP. With all of these options, all the girls chose to get the Jr cupcake pancake combo.

They were pretty happy about it and didn't mind missing Young Eagles too much.

Especially Sydney who isn't old enough to participate yet.

Gita decided to eat her pancake like a pizza. You'd think it would be messier but she made it work!

To help Liesel with her fidgeting and knuckle cracking, I brought my practice locks to church and she's learning to pick them.

Brent bought these mini cupcakes for Sunday dessert and while everyone else was engrossed in discussion she just quietly ate one after another. I think she was midway through her third one before anyone else noticed.

When there's a school fundraiser at Portillo's and Ireland yells, "HEY! They took our parking spot for our shame meal!" maybe you've been eating at Portillo's too much. 

My cornflower blue pedicure gave me all the vibes now that summer is over and I can breathe again!

Brent and I went to a lovely wedding reception and joked the mat stands for Brent Wuehler Hero. That's his Superman stance.

I had a dream I went to Finland. I arrived in a train depot and when I took the elevator to street level, I was told I was now in Denmark. Because it was a last-minute decision to go, I didn't have an international cell plan so I could see I was getting tons of text messages. Somehow I knew it was people who though I was missing (mostly my dad) but I couldn't read the messages or respond to them. I found a place to sleep for the night with some really nice people but then they all stripped and said in Denmark everyone sleeps naked. Brent had come to ensure I was safe and he immediately stripped and jumped into bed with a couple and it was clear I was supposed to strip and jump in bed with the other couple. Seeing him spooning other people naked is the last thing I remember before waking up. 

Gita's Christmas wish list cracks me up- especially #8 Anything dog related.

Tell me your husband joined TikTok without telling me your husband joined TikTok.

I'm trying to work with Ireland in making her speech to her sisters (particularly Sydney) more kind. I'd asked Sydney to put on pajamas and about 20 min later she came back, having done so. 

Ireland: What took you so long?

Me: Ireland, how can you make that question sound nicer?

Ireland: Does putting on pajamas really take you that long?
Me: Nope, try again.

Ireland: *jazz hands* Yaaay, you're in pajamas!

Sometimes Brent and I wear matching shirts.

 Another one inspired from a TikTok video. The original just ends on the dog but Gita's face is as joyful so I had to capture that too.

While out on a walk, a squirrel crossed my path, looked at me, and charged me. He ran off at the last second when I screamed bloody murder. All I could get out was, "No, NO, NOOOOO!" He was going to mess me up with his little claws- you could see it in his beady eyes. Brent thinks it's a friend of the squirrel that ran across the wet concrete. Like, there's a squirrel mafia out there.

Sydney adores The Friend magazine- she never wants to throw them away so I bought some blush colored magazine holders. She labeled them "I Love The Friend" and I thought it was so cute.

Gita was reading this during scripture study when I stopper her and said, "OK, what is Christ doing in these verses?" thinking it was obvious they are blessing and passing the sacrament. I had to laugh when Gita offered, "Getting them to mingle?"

This positivity board was at a Starbucks. Can you spot my contribution?

Another date night, another walk, a spectacular sunset. I wish I could go back to haggard, exhausted Danika with babies and toddlers feeling like life was over. I'd tell her she's doing great and not to worry, it gets better!

The girls were a bit nervous when we switched dentists but after one visit they are a-ok with this new place!

Brent and I saw Free Guy and it was the most funny, uplifting movie I've seen in ages. Just what we needed after so much negativity and bad news in the world.

Me: Gita can you splash some water on your face? You are covered in dirt.

Gita: *dead serious* You should expect that every day.

Powder Room Refresh

With the kids back in school and Brent in California for the Labor Day weekend, I was really ready to take on a project (or two) and decided to paint the office and powder room. An update on the office will have to come later because I'm waiting on a couple of orders but I'm happy to say the powder room is complete! 

This isn't a total renovation because someday I would really like to take the tile off of the wall. Between the stone floor, stone sink and marbled tile, I feel like it's just a bit too much but as I researched what it would take to remove the tile I quickly realized it would be too labor intensive to take on. Broken tile can create shards like glass so this is one project we will have to save up for a professional to take care of. 

Before:

 After:

First job was the ceiling. I've painted so many ceilings in this house! But light bounces off a ceiling and illuminates the entire room. In a bathroom, the white ceiling also make the space feel more clean and sanitary. The powder room used to feel cave-like and now the high ceilings feel much more light and airy. As always, I went with Benjamin Moore's Super White.

There was no towel ring when we bought the house so I put one on this wall because I was nervous about drilling into tile. Over time that ripped right out so I spackled and well, didn't get back to it for a while. I finally dedicated the time to properly sand that spot down and make it look as nice as I could. Previous owners had left a HUGE mirror on that back wall which was odd because no one thinks to do a 180* to use a mirror. I took that down and repaired the wall where it hung. Still not sure what I'm going to do with it- that sucker is big and heavy. I couldn't paint the walls a stark white so I decided to coordinated with the nearby kitchen and paint them Benjamin Moore's Cedar Key. Bonus- I was able to touch up the kitchen paint when I was done!

So many of the things that bugged me about this bathroom had to do with this wall. The tile is just too much and needed to be tamped down a bit. That meant learning to drill into it. Turns out that just entails getting a special drill bit so the tile doesn't crack. Not really a big deal. I had to be careful about my bit size or the sinkers were too small. I installed a mirror (round to cover up more tile and over the sink where it should have been), a towel ring and a couple of shelves for storage since there is a pedestal sink. I also installed a toilet paper holder. Previous owners left a free standing holder with space for two more rolls of toilet paper in the bottom. That thing just always looked dusty and gross. There used to be a large copper looking garbage container that ended up looking sloppy so I replaced that with a slim, black one that just covers the toilet pipes.

 The vanity light was a saga. I really wanted to paint it black because the antiqued brown looked old and dirty. While her sisters were invited to go swimming at a country club, Ireland stayed behind to help me. With the electricity cut off so we wouldn't hurt ourselves, it was incredibly dark. After removing it from the wall I decided I couldn't paint it like I thought I'd be able to but then we couldn't get it screwed back on. We ended up taping the stupid thing to the wall because our arms were shaking so badly. Ireland was cheerful as I grumpily drove to get us lunch and we took another look once we were fed and rested a bit. This time I figured out how to remove the wiring so I could paint it and that's what we did. I cleaned out the lamps (filthy, completely filthy) and let the paint dry. It was evening by the time we reinstalled it so the powder room was super dark and I couldn't tell a yellow wire apart from a white wire. When we flipped the breaker, a horrible buzzing sound told us to flip it right off again. Finally I was able to get it right and reinstalled but the paint job was all scratched up by then. I don't think you can notice and it still looks better than what was there before. I have to give kudos to Ireland for sticking by my side during dusty, frustrating work. 

The newly cleaned lamps and white ceiling add major wattage to this small space. I'd taken the floor vent cover off and decided before I put it back I'd vacuum it out since it looked pretty dirty. Ugh!!! I don't know if the toilet once overflowed or what but the smell that came out of that vent as I vacuumed was unmistakably feces. With rubber gloves I used Clorox wipes to sanitize inside the vent as far as I could reach. The powder room always felt a little gross to me, even when I'd just deep cleaned it and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. 

I had fun with the little items on the shelf. The Get Naked sign and his and hers figures crossing their legs came from Etsy. The faux orchids and succulent were from Home Depot and the fresh hand towels were from Bed Bath & Beyond (with a coupon, of course!) The powder room now feels clean and functional! I'm not embarrassed to have guests use it and one person even emerged stating, "That's a really nice bathroom!" Mission accomplished.

The Office

I'm pretty sure when we eventually move from this home, I will have changed the paint color in every, single room. The office was no exception as the orange and olive green combination cast a depressing, drab light over what is supposed to be a productive work space. With Brent headed out to visit family in California for a long weekend, I had my chance and man alive, did I grab it. 

Before:

After:

We still have no idea where the stain on the ceiling came from- it seemed to appear out of nowhere. Yet again I ended up painting a ceiling. We had budgeted for the paint, but I took a risk in replacing the blinds as well. The blinds on the left window were broken- the string inside had been cut somehow. The other two were old and would never raise quite right so they were always crooked and sad-looking. I splurged on cordless, blackout, cellular shades but mixed up measurements and the middle window shades were too short. However- they were the exact same size as our bedroom windows upstairs. So then I ordered more shades for those 3 windows and well, I spent a pretty penny. It was so worth it though! We love the shades both in the office and the bedroom.

Before:

After:

The colors for the walls changed from hideous orange and despair green to Benjamin Moore's Decorator's White (which I've used throughout most of the house) and New York State of Mind. I'm in love with that blue color- it's so beautiful!!! We moved the bookshelf to the basement which immediately decluttered the space. It ended up being a catch-all space with all the shelves and I'm really glad it's gone. Eventually we will put a murphy bed against this wall so the office can double as a guest room when needed.

Before:

After:

Oddly enough, I never noticed the crown molding much when the orange color theoretically should have made it stand out more. However, with clean white walls and a fresh coat of glossy paint on the molding, it's one of the first things my eye is drawn to when I walk in the room.

Before:

After:

The vent cover has been a bit of a saga- the one I ordered came in wrong, then the right one came in but the dimensions were wrong (the website stated it was 32" long when it was only 30" leaving a huge gap), so now I've ordered yet another one that hopefully will work. Aside from the murphy bed, I'd like to have a transom above the French doors. We desperately need new cabinets and desk as it sits way too low and the cabinets are falling apart. I'd also like to get radiant flooring. See why I couldn't completely finish the office? I have big dreams for this space. Eventually, it's going to be amazing and getting the color right was a big step in that direction. Brent loved it too.

Playing Hooky with Liesel

Warning: Photo overload!

When I sat down with the family calendar and the latest updates on Liesel's 8th grade DC trip, I realized she would miss going to Shen Yun which I was planning to take her to on her birthday in 2020 and was rescheduled due to Covid-19. She also was going to miss our return trip to the MOSI Marvel exhibit. While she shrugged off Shen Yun, she started to tear up about the Marvel exhibit. We spent the entire summer watching the movies in chronological order and she'd really been looking forward to going back. Brent checked the calendar and the only tickets left were on school days. We rarely pull our kids out of school. Now and again we have a dental or pediatric checkup but other than that, we want them to know how important it is to gain an education. However, Liesel rarely cries. With her standing there in front of me with big tears welling up I figured a trip to a museum is considered educational and since it's the beginning of the school year she couldn't be missing too much just yet. We decided to go.

Before we even got to Chicago, I made a detour to Schaumburg and we stopped at the Amazon Fresh there. I've always wanted to try one and Liesel was the perfect accomplice. She's so tech savvy and they have the nifty carts that connect to your Amazon account and scan the items in the cart. It's so cool. Not only that, but the cart has a little screen that tells you what's on sale as you walk up and down the aisles. I just wanted a little milk to go with the Crumbl cookies I was buying next but the smallest size we could find was a quart. Liesel just rolled with it and we enjoyed cold milk and warm cookies for breakfast.

We were some of the earliest visitors to the exhibit so we were able to spend some extra time and soak it all in a bit more. We took A LOT of photos!

Check out those pirate boots! Captain America definitely tightened up his look over the years.

I mean, he's not wrong!

 This was a tribute to Stan Lee and showed all the different roles he's played in the MCU over the years.

We didn't realize that the window behind this guy has different characters coming in and out. There was Silver Surfer, Spiderman, Captain Marvel, Iron Man and the Hulk but Liesel wanted a picture with Thor in the background. We FINALLY got it after waiting what felt like 15 minutes trying to capture him!

I had missed this display about the costuming in Black Panther and how they drew inspiration from African tribes.

Wakanda Forever!

As we watched the movies, we had a hard time with Spiderman since those movies weren't available on Disney+. Brent joined us to watch Spiderman: Far From Home which was fun.

I noticed Spiderman's fingers are getting more and more faded- I wonder what people are doing with them!

By and large the costumes reveal what petite people the actors are but Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury costume clearly showed he is a big presence in real life as well as on screen.

This was my favorite tidbit of the day. That the Avengers came about because of a missed deadline. I love that so much! 

The modern Captain America suit is much better than those initial comics!

That shiny shield!

 

The first time around I completely missed a second shield right next to that display, high up.

How different US presidents have been portrayed in the Marvel Comics:

In general I always think it's great to give artists some leeway when it comes to creativity!

This was another little area where we spent some more time. One display showed how different people inked pages differently and how distinctive they looked. The Marvel Method gave the illustrators a little more creative control on how to make each cell.

Another little tidbit- the Hulk actually has a very gentle side to him.

Here he is depicted with wildlife- who knew?

The original comics show how Iron Man's suit clicked into place. I'm amazed at how advanced the suit is depicted in the movies.

Here's a close up of a cell showing how they'd adjust the dialogue inside the conversation bubble.

Also, Iron Man was an alcoholic! Some of the comics dealt with that struggle within him. Notice how the original helmet...

...is so well recreated for the movie.

This made me laugh.

Liesel was chastised a bit for this photo because she took her mask off. It was getting busier and more crowded.

On to my favorite section! I love Loki- someone who can be both good and bad. He's a much more interesting villain because of that duplicity.

This is concept art made just for this exhibit if Jane Foster took over as Thor. I'm all for that!

I'd never noticed the cross-stitching on the inside of the leather strap at the end of the hammer. Something the average fan would never even see! 

Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.

Again, the costume told a little bit about the actress. That's a teeny tiny waist up there but the bust was crumpling a little bit as she has a beautifully hourglass figure! Black Widow was one of the last movies we watched so this one was really special. A great movie for girls.

Headed to the other half of the exhibit.

I don't think I even noticed the Thor flying through the air last time!

Liesel has some ideas for future story lines!

Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamotto.

Liesel opening a portal...

...then falling through one.

Because Captain Marvel was so early in our movie marathon, I'm a little fuzzy on the details. 

I need to re-watch that one.

All the girls fell in love with Groot and enjoyed watching him grow up. The teenage Groot is so funny with all his attitude. Liesel can relate:

Zoe Saldana? Tiny- like Liesel's size (and Liesel is petite!). Chris Pratt? Big guy.

I love that for the most part, there was enough in the original comics to inspire the movie but with Guardians of the Galaxy it was actually the writers of the movie who fleshed out the characters and made them such a big part of the MCU. 

Throughout the exhibit space there were benches to sit on. I didn't really pick up on the fact they had a little plaque on the end and each bench represented an infinity stone!

Cool way to exit an exhibit!

I couldn't turn down the photo booth where you could become part of a Marvel comic! Liesel's teeth turned out blue for some reason- maybe that has something to do with her superpowers?

Liesel definitely got her fill at the exhibit and won't feel like she's missing out when Ireland goes while she's in DC. 

By the time we finished, there was just no way we were going to make it back before the end of school. I'd always noticed a path that goes under Lakeshore Drive and I had a sneaking suspicion it led to the beach on the other side. I asked Liesel if she wanted to check it out and she was game. Turns out it is a very clean, beautifully maintained path (with the cleanest, most organized homeless person living in the tunnel) and it did indeed lead to the beach. 

Liesel said this was the best day ever.

We soaked up the sun for a bit, watching the waves crashing along the break wall.

This is unusual for us, we never pull our kids out of school.

But just this once, I'm glad we did.