they've spent the better part of four hours modifying nerf guns. making them shoot faster and farther... everything but child safe. 

and rather than nerd or ten-year-old boy, they prefer the word enthusiast. 

uh, yeah right. 

my fingers are feeling kind of numb and plastic-y so i decided to use my hand today while i can. it's only going to get worse in the next few days when they inevitably peel. gross. 

so. 

curtains!

beautiful white curtains that are the appropriate length. i quite enjoy staring at them, but that's normal with every change i make. it's come so far and it looks so much better. each little step makes me happy. makes this place feel like our home instead of a rental suite in someone else's house. (though even landlord was ashamed to claim it before, it was so dated and ugly.) 

the to do list is getting shorter! the biggest things now are furniture projects - building out the tv stand, repainting the kitchen table, maybe painting that blue side table you see on the right there. all things that require warmer weather so i can work outside. oh, and kitchen shelves! i have everything ready to go, just need the weather to cooperate. i would really like to get them up this week, but it's not promising. 

oh warm spring days, wherefore art thou? 

for comparison, this is what our house looked like just after we moved in.

thoughts.

lots of them. all jumbled up.

we've been running almost non-stop since we got home thursday night. youth group and church and church and youth small group... they manage to keep us quite busy on the weekends!

last night i mustered all my domestic brilliance and grabbed a piping hot pizza pan with my bare hand. i now have five severely burned fingers.

hurray!

my plans to hem the new curtains and prime the boards that will someday become kitchen shelves took a slight detour today. mostly to the couch where i could read and limit the use of my left hand.

i started reading the order of the phoenix. loving it.

we met our newest baby friend, all of 23 hours old. he is quite handsome and so so tiny. can't wait to hang out with him more.

amy t is visiting next weekend! we've spent all of three hours together since our wedding (almost three years ago. crazy.) so i'm pumped to have days to catch up. to hear about her globe trotting adventures and the little bit of life she's had on the east coast in the last few years. it will be almost like the days when we shared a tiny college dorm room and shared nearly every moment of each others lives.

the drive

the drive home is some of the best and some of the worst. 

it usually means we're tired and it always means going back to real life, but it's also a chance to reminisce and relive the holiday and pick our favorites. st. patty's day, the dinosaurs, dutch blitz, shopping... in the end we just agree that all of it was good. very good. 

(except maybe the snow. especially since we officially rang in spring on wednesday. ahem.) 

and it always means another chance to see the mountains. once upon a time, it was a dream to see the mountains just once in our lives... in the last year we've driven though eight times. it never, ever gets old. 

the badlands and the hoodoos

it was wind-ay. 

The name "Hoodoo" comes from the word "voodoo" and was given to these geological formations by the Europeans. In the Blackfoot and Cree traditions, however, the Hoodoos are believed to be petrified giants who come alive at night to hurl rocks at intruders. (www.traveldrumheller.com)

quite possibly the ends of the earth

also known as drumheller, alberta. 

also known as we went to visit the dinosaurs.

for dad

we went to the big mall. (i thought the mall around the corner that we usually visit was big. but no. i was mistaken.)

and the big mall had a bass pro shop. complete with fish tanks and a pond and every wild canadian creature you could imagine. moose? wolves? reindeer? polar bears? every kind of deer found in north america? got 'em all. 

the drive

a - it snowed the morning we left. of course. forget dreams of spring in mid-march.

b - canmore. just outside banff. beautiful mountains views. 

c - it was gloomy. so gloomy we didn't see the mountains until we were nearly out. but they were still amazing. 

d - the chateau at 3-mile-gap. one of my favourite places along the way. 

in other news

i painted. more. again. omgwillthiseverend?

i'm 1/3 through the goblet of fire. i have to finish before we get to calgary so i can read lou's copy of the order of the phoenix. it's the only book we don't own and i'm gonna need it.

i packed. because then i know what not to wear for the next two days. and i don't have to find time to pack tomorrow (because i'll be lazy, i think) or friday (because i'll be busy, i know).

my love for chronic taco has overcome my love for sushi q. it took two years, but tacos are firmly in the lead.

i am so excited for holidays i could do a jig. lou and good food and dutch blitz and shopping and dinosaurs. saturday needs to be here now.

i read prisoner of azkaban today. 

all of it. 

it was fantastic. 

signed, sealed, painted

i stayed true to the goal to finish thursday. painted the last coat of white on the doors while talking to little sister in the morning then cleaned up and moved everything back in. 

i. love. it. 

i told landlord it "feels all cave-y and nice" - he told me not to take a job writing real estate listings. but really, with low ceilings and poor lighting in a tiny room it is like a cave. but i like the idea of sleeping in a cave so it works for me. 

i was going to paint the dresser until i saw it against the clean walls. now it stays as is. it looks charming and stately in an antique way instead of a sad, beat up, dump rescue. matt is happy. he never wanted to paint it the first place.

the nook - left to my closet, straight ahead to the living room, and right to matt's closet/the storage room. 

for comparison - the room before. real life mess and all. 

my current obsession.

two bite brownies with whip cream and strawberries.

i told you so

blue-grey indeed. 

first coat is lovely. will do the second tomorrow and then start painting the trim white. might have this whole project wrapped up and room back together by thursday. i sincerely hope.