Some of our DIY Home Renovations

The work at our house is amazing. I'm saving the pictures of the work being done by the pro's for later.  This post is about our personal DIY efforts.

We started with finishing the trim work in the girls room. This was the last step in their redo's. Having the carpet replaced (added in Ky's) made a huge difference! Doug did the prep work and I painted.

 

We then moved on and painted the living room and hallway. The problem here is that now the fireplace looks dingy... guess I know what's next.

 

I desperately want to change out the doors.. but that is not in the budget this time around.

Maddie helped out by working on my bedroom painting while I worked on her bathroom. So thankful for her sweet worker spirit!

I've also worked on the laundry room. It was BAD. I looked to see if there was a before picture. Nope. It was that bad.  Here are my in progress pictures.

 

And then I decided to tackle Maddie's bathroom. The floors were being redone and I knew that while I wanted to renovate it, I couldn't afford to right now.. so I painted (am painting) the tile. It is incredibly stinky.

The before.

During.

The paint that I used previously for a tile project was a little different, so it took a while for me to get my groove. I should have started on the wall behind the toilet! Where the inconsistency didn't matter. ugh. Now I have to go back and sand paper the drip marks. But oh well, it looks soooo much better already!!

This is truly stinky stuff.

And here we are after the first few coats.

 I am in love.

I'm hoping that a new counter will just magically appear on Maddie's counter. If not, we will wait till the next round of renovations!

What a difference.

That's pretty much been my mantra these days I have been spending around 8 hours each Saturday and Sunday working on the house. It will be totally worth it. But in the meantime... I'm tired.

4:22am is a random time to get up, but that is my sweet spot

I get up early.

I used to think 6am was early. I still do, but now, 6am is sleeping in...

Nowadays I get up at 4:22am three or four days a week. Sometimes five days, but I do really try to sleep in at least one work morning a week! 

As with everything, there are seasons where I am more committed to early mornings than other times. But 4:22am seems to be a consistent time for me the last couple of years.

Why do I get up that early? Well, cause I work out early. By 5am I am either in the gym or on the road. I used to just get up and go, but with age comes a cup of coffee before heading out! 4:22am just sort of evolved. 

What is interesting is that even on the mornings that I am not working out, 4:22am is a routine wakeup time for me. It's the sweet spot I guess.  While others would consider the next 2 hours prime sleep time, these are prime morning hours for me.

UGH.

I really do like sleep. Which means I have to go to sleep early.

But, by getting up early, I have the opportunity to see and hear the world while most people are still asleep. The world is quiet at this time of the morning. I get a chance to meditate and process life before most everyone else is even up!

So for all you naysayers and poo poo-ers out there,  try it. Set your alarm for 4:22am, get up, have a cup of coffee and see what you can accomplish before the world wakes up. 

You might be surprised!

We Run For A Reason.. We run for the special 1%

Doug and I have joined TEAM KIDNEY
and are Running for Reason
in the Houston 1/2 Marathon.

You all know our reason.

Maddie.

Maddie's primary diagnoses are IgA Nephropathy, Thin Basement Membrane Disease, Asthma, and severe allergies. However she has a number of other chronic medical issues that greatly impact her life.

She is strong.

She is a fighter.

She is courageous.

She is also an anomaly to the medical field.

As one of her specialists commented at an appointment a few years ago, we can only hope that one day her symptoms and issues will all be brought together and it will have a diagnosis that doesn't bear her name.

So Doug and I RUN FOR A REASON. 

There are so few people that have the combined kidney diseases that Maddie has that very little research is being done on them. It's hard to get any press when only 1% of the population is affected. 

Sad. 

Very sad, but that is the reality when faced with rare diseases.

So we run for Maddie and others like her... 

the nameless other children and teens whose diseases will never get headlines and research dollars cause there just isn't enough of a them to bring attention to their plight.

We invite you to join us in our efforts.

Cause Maddie deserves a cure.

Your tax deductible donation goes to The National Kidney Foundation. 

Click here for the link.

We Run For A Reason.. We run for the special 1%

Doug and I have joined TEAM KIDNEY
and are Running for Reason
in the Houston 1/2 Marathon.

You all know our reason.

Maddie.

Maddie's primary diagnoses are IgA Nephropathy, Thin Basement Membrane Disease, Asthma, and severe allergies. However she has a number of other chronic medical issues that greatly impact her life.

She is strong.

She is a fighter.

She is courageous.

She is also an anomaly to the medical field.

As one of her specialists commented at an appointment a few years ago, we can only hope that one day her symptoms and issues will all be brought together and it will have a diagnosis that doesn't bear her name.

So Doug and I RUN FOR A REASON. 

There are so few people that have the combined kidney diseases that Maddie has that very little research is being done on them. It's hard to get any press when only 1% of the population is affected. 

Sad. 

Very sad, but that is the reality when faced with rare diseases.

So we run for Maddie and others like her... 

the nameless other children and teens whose diseases will never get headlines and research dollars cause there just isn't enough of a them to bring attention to their plight.

We invite you to join us in our efforts.

Cause Maddie deserves a cure.

Your tax deductible donation goes to The National Kidney Foundation. 

Click here for the link.

The Digital Native MYTH

There is a myth about kids and technology and it is called Digital Natives.

This myth says since students have been using digital devices since they were born, they know more about computers than parents and teachers.

THIS IS CRAP!!

This generation knows all about phones, apps and how to use snapchat. But they do not have BASIC technology and computer skills.

How can I make a blanket statement like this? EASY. I am living this world.

My personal children can create anything on an ipad or a phone. My seven year old has her own You Tube channel for the videos she makes.

But if you ask these "digital natives" to find a file outside of their "my documents" folder they flounder. Ask them to step it up and use a remote location like Google Drive or Dropbox, download it to a computer, edit the file, make a copy and rename the file and then load it back to original location you might as well be speaking a different language.

The cost of the touch technology is that today's students don't know how file directories work. They don't know the importance of a file name or location. If the file that they need isn't found when they touch the photo app icon, then they can't find it.

As a teacher who is desperately trying to get students to use technology in a purposeful way in my classroom, this is beyond frustrating.  With 150 students using Photoshop and working in the Google Classroom, I spend the majority of my day not teaching design skills or even advanced software specific skills, but simple skills like working a task bar, how to save to a specific location and even opening and sending emails!!

So what is my point to my rant?

Well, I think educators and parents have bought into the myth that we are out of touch and that we have to learn something new and fancy to be "cutting edge" and to "keep up!" This myth has caused considerable angst among teachers and has started lots of conversations about retiring because teachers feel overwhelmed by their perceived lack of digital knowledge.

The reality is very different. The reality is that students are distracted by the new and shiny and that being able to create a thousand funny pictures using snapchat is not a job skill!! We as educators and parents are challenged to ground our students and children in foundational skills, even when these skills seem outdated like addition, subtraction and "save as"!

Our Rallying Cry.. the reason we can renovate NOW!

Over labor day, instead of living it up by the pool, we moved out of our house into a rental down the street.

 

Why? Because instead of building a house, we decided a while back to just renovate the house and make it the home that we want and need. Our location is ideal and the house is great. It just wasn't OUR house... it was my parent's home.  That's one of those weird things that I never thought about until living in the house I grew up in as an adult and parent!

So, while the start of the school year is the absolute worst time of the year to start a home renovation, we are doing it. I really started back in the summer with the girls rooms and have been slowly building to the level of insanity we are at now.

But we are surviving. Primarily cause we are good at living in chaos. ;) But more than that, we are surviving because we have a plan and a rallying cry!

A what? 

A RALLYING CRY!!!

Doug brought home the book The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family by Patrick Lencioni

This book was the difference maker. I read it in one sitting and then ran out to staples and bought our white board!

Doug and I bounced ideas back a forth a couple of days and ended up with this as our family board.

It was a great experience and really got us on the same page so that we could move forward together. I often feel like while we are on the same path and absolutely on the same journey, we are often taking turns leading and following, rarely walking side by side.. hand in hand.  And maybe that is exactly what we are supposed to be doing within the the give and take of a relationship, but I truly enjoyed hashing out our family rallying cry with Doug!

With "Make the House Our OWN" as a rallying cry, it was easier to walk into the insanity of packing our entire house and moving us four houses down the street for 4-6 weeks. I want to see our plans and dreams fulfilled. And how do we know that we are on track? Well, the defining objectives are things that we want to accomplish along the way. 

The kid's rooms are done: CHECK! 
Because the moving out to renovate we used this as a chance to simplify and sort for a garage sale. So CHECK and CHECK!!

The only piece that we are struggling with right now is the Plan the Week objective. That will get better, but it is hard to plan the week and prep meals in the middle of the start of school and moving!

And since I am sure you are wondering, the Standard Objectives are things we want to do or continue no matter the goal or rallying cry. These are the things that we value as a family and don't want to neglect.

Tuesday morning the renovation started.

It's going to be very different. I'm not sure yet if that is good or bad...

but it will be OUR home.

So I guess mid October we will be looking for a new rallying cry. Hopefully this next one won't involve a move!

The Only Way to Get to Brilliance is through Mediocrity

It's an age old fight between teacher and student... 

To push through mediocrity to get to brilliance.

The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1987

As a fine arts teacher, I am probably more aware of this constant struggle than the typical teacher of core content. To be honest, while teaching Economics, I was not concerned with pushing my students to forge their own path and to become the next great economist.  My interest was getting the students to pass the mandated tests, get their credit and to graduate. While not a noble goal, it was a necessary one.

However, the fine arts require teachers to strive for the noble goals. 

Being a mediocre artist, musician, singer, dancer or performer isn't enough. Being mediocre won't get you a college scholarship, a first place or even a job in the chosen field. The world is full of mediocre artists that failed to fulfill their potential who are now using their skills and talents in other career paths. And thank goodness for that, cause without creative, collaborative, out-of-the-box thinkers in all careers, we would be IN TROUBLE!! But that's a post for a different day...

by Zhang Xiaogang

Anyway, over the last week or so, I have had a number of conversations with students about the type of art they love creating.  If you know any emerging artists 22 years of age and younger, you can guess what is said.. 

I have to force myself to not roll my eyes. 

And since it's a new school year I have a whole new crop of art students. In fact, I have double the number of art 2 students than I have ever had. My classes are maxed out and twice during the day I run concurrent advanced classes while also teaching art 2.

With over 50 students that have chosen art to be their path to graduation via the state "endorsement" track, I am daily fighting with my Art 2-4 students to push past mediocrity and find their own brilliance.

And that's not an easy task.

But I use myself as an example. I don't hide my mediocrity from my students. Here is what I have learned about myself. These lessons were not easy and I don't list them now flippantly!

1. I am a mediocre actress.

I was cast as Juliet in college.  It wasn't due to talent or passion.. I fit the dress. This was probably one of the hardest lessons to learn. I LOVE theatre. I have two degrees in theatre... but this has not made me a brilliant actress. 

What I am brilliant at in theatre is Managing. I am hands-down one of the best stage or house managers around.  I learned that my gifts could be used and honed in this part of the theatre.


2.  I am a mediocre artist.

I love the visual arts. The enduring memories of my childhood revolve around the world of commercial art. I love to dabble in all art forms. 

I can mimic the best painters. 
I can copy to coolest contemporary artists. 

But that does not make me a brilliant painter or artist.

I love printmaking. I'll even say that I am good at printmaking.. but not brilliant.

But I am brilliant at motivating people to work hard
 and to manage their fear.

Everyday I work with students and push them beyond their comfort zone to do bigger and better work than they thought possible.

It's a fight. Every. Single. Day.

Mediocrity doesn't want to be replaced with the unknown.

Mediocrity likes being in charge. 

Mediocrity strives for the status quo.

But the only way to get to Brilliance is through Mediocrity.

Mediocrity isn't a bad thing. In fact, I believe it is a good and healthy thing.. as long as that is not the destination. For when Mediocrity is achieved, Brilliance is possible.

So welcome to that place that comes after mediocrity... it's gonna be an interesting journey.