My Dad used to keep our “best” pieces of “art” growing up and either hang them on the fridge or would put them in these books/journals he kept. It always made me feel really accomplished when one of my creations was chosen. Like it had been selected for some exhibit somewhere. And it made me feel really confident in my skills as an “artist” so I kept doodling/drawing my entire life. I took art classes in high school and continued screwing around with various artistic endeavors even into adulthood.

Now, at some point along the way I realized my skills were limited. I would get ideas in my mind but they never turned out the way the looked in my head. In other words? The ideas were there, but not the talent. The creativity, but not the skill. Now, the drive still allowed me to make some cool things, and in school I had one or two things that actually did get put in student expos, but all-in-all? I was simply someone who liked to create but who wasn’t all that great at it.

BUT - the fact that I kept (and keep) going with it is something I owe to my Dad. And it’s something I swore I’d foster in my children as well.

I used to have a long empty wall in one of my apartments in college and I filled it floor to ceiling with LilZ’s artwork. Once we bought our house, my first mission was to actually frame some of it. And hang them in - what I call - the Art Hall. He currently has several pieces hanging there and they range from preschool to 5th Grade. 6th grade didn’t give us any art classes so nothing was created that year. This year, however, we had another art class and some of my favorite pieces have been done. Here are the two I matted yesterday.

I haven’t bought frames yet because I wait and do that when Hobby Lobby puts them on 50% off. But I’m looking forward to adding them to various empty walls around the house. I’m not going to put them in the Art Hall because I want to save room there for some of the other kid’s art someday. But, we have so much empty wall space, there will be plenty of choices. And I’ll hang them proudly knowing that my son is very talented. But that he also has his mother’s creative drive which means one thing: My walls will never be bare.

Well. NikkiZ’s room is painted and she is currently sleeping in her bed in the room. I’m so happy this is essentially over that I could just about cry. The rest of the house is still in disarray as it had kinda gotten chaotic over the last few weeks, but the furniture that belongs in her room is all there and in the right place. Nothing really on the walls yet and AndyZ’s side isn’t done (crib has to be reassembled and a new crib mattress needs to be purchased) but for all practical purposes? We’re done. The remaining tasks are minor.

Of course - I’ll wait and do the official Before/After photos when those minor tasks are completed - but for now: The current home of NikkiZ and future home of AndyZ. Pay Special Attention To The Curtains. I made them myself and crossed my first item off of my list of 101 things in 1001 days.

NikkiZ’s half of the room

AndyZ’s half of the room

THE CURTAINS. Amen.

We are heading out of town this weekend to visit my parents and my brother so MrZ is going to take this chance to start painting NikkiZ’s room. It was a horrible week the last time she had to be moved out of her room and I spent most of the seven days in tears due to frustration and lack of sleep. We thought that removing she and I from the house for at least two of the nights would make it less likely I need to be committed before this transition is done.

Many of you asked why we were bothering to paint her new room when we moved her in. I agree - at first glance the colors are awesome. However, MrZ let LilZ and I paint that room ourselves when we bought the house. LilZ was 10 at the time. 10-year-olds are not the best painters. Neither are klutzes with a shaking-hand issue (that would be me) so the paint job is far from perfect. There’s paint on the ceiling and the trim and the outlets. Also - a growing boy has resided in that room for three years now. Played several games of tackle with his friends and spilled several drinks. The walls are now beat up, filthy, and missing chunks of paint where things have crashed into them. Finally - there is the solar system I braved painting that turned out not so great because I AM NOT AN ARTIST. So - all of these things lead to the fact that the room needs a fresh coat of paint. And what better time to do it than before AndyZ gets here.

Also - There is going to be a LOT of stuff going on in that room with two kids different genders. I need a more neutral wall color just to keep myself from being over stimulated! I already get a headache in there will all of the pink AND the blue and green walls.

So…we’re painting. Or, MrZ is painting. But, since I can’t help with the actual painting (not that he would want me to) I am taking charge of moving all of the crap out of the room. AGAIN. What is up with all of the manual labor I’ve been doing? AM I INSANE? Yes. Yes I am.

Here are some pictures of this phase of the Great Room Switch of 2008.

LilZ is going to loving coming home to a changing table in his room

It was fun while it lasted, but it’s time to say “Goodbye”

Remind me not to teach astronomy any time soon

It’s a good thing we don’t entertain a lot of company. This is not the decor I usually go for in my living room.

We actually woke NikkiZ up this morning before MrZ went to work so that we could see if she stayed in the bed the whole night. (If you’ll recall, her first night out of the crib without the toddler frame had her waking up across the room with no blankets.) She did! And she didn’t even stir when we came in and started snapping pictures. In other words? She probably would have slept a big longer. Which is AWESOME.

She seems to love the bigger room and is excited about sharing it with AndyZ. She keeps setting stuff aside to “show him when he gets here in May.” She doesn’t understand where he is now, but she’ll tell you he’ll be here in May and that he’ll be, “really tiny and needs a baby carseat.” She can’t wait to show him her books and toys. Any bets on how long before that changes?

So - that is the Dora Bed that came in the set for $50. Here is another shot of it without her unconscous body.

And here is a picture of the table/stools and shelves/basket pieces that came with it.

I think we’ll definitely get our money’s worth out of these things. Even if she only uses the bed for a year, she’ll use the table and shelf for several. And the peaceful night sleep it gave us last night? Made the $50 even right there!

I was a busy little bee yesterday. First - I wanted to vacuum the whole house because MrZ had given me the all-clear to move LilZ’s stuff back into his room (the touch ups can be done later) and I knew dragging furniture around the house would stir up crap again, since I don’t ever move furniture to vacuum. And was I right - I found ninety million hair bows and rubberbands under various items of furniture moved yesterday. Then, I went to Wal-Mart (I know. But it’s easier than Home Depot.) to get a few things like switchplate covers (LilZ didn’t want his sister’s floral ones for some reason) and fan chains. When I got there - I stumbled upon a display I had looked for last week when we moved NikkiZ from her crib.

Before Christmas, Wal-Mart had these Dora furniture sets for $100. There was this toddler bed, with a table/stool set, and a shelf/basket set. I thought that was a decent price and logged it away in my memory. After Christmas, they dropped them to $75 but we didn’t need them yet. Well - last week when I was considering toddler beds and wondering if they had dropped the price anymore, I couldn’t find them. That’s because they were between crafts and hardware. Of course. And they were dropped to $50 yesterday. That’s the price of the bed alone! It was like serendipity because we knew the transfer back to her own bed from ours would be better if she had a Dora bed to move to. And then the shelving (which we need terribly) and the table were an added bonus. $50. We decided to go for it and I put together everything but the bed before picking up the big kids from school.

When LilZ got home, we started moving furniture. MrZ put together the toddler bed and last night and - for the first time in a week - we all slept where we’ll be sleeping the rest of our tenure in this house. With no kicking of faces! (From NikkiZ, MrZ stopped doing that years ago.)

We still have to paint NikkiZ’s “new” room - but we think we’ll give that about a month. First of all - we don’t have the money to buy paint now that we bought her a bed. Second of all - we’re hoping if we give it a month in the toddler bed, we can just move that bed to our room for the week we paint and we won’t have to share a bed with the most MOST RESTLESS SLEEPER ON THE PLANET.

So - the end is in site! Here are the pictures of LilZ’s new room.

The walls are a dark red - but this photo looks a bit orange. Ignore that.

This is the bookshelf we moved from our room because LilZ was losing shelving in the room switch. Can you imagine if he had to only use the small one with two shelves? He’s got a lot of books. And crap.