Here’s where I’m at with week one.

My bedroom:

Hallway:

Bathroom:

Deck (technically outside):

Celia’s Room:

Boys’ Room:

I’ll admit that it’s a good feeling to have stamped this house with my taste…but what will I obsess over now that I’ve completed the rooms? Oh, yeah. The front porch. Wait until you see what I plan to paint there.

The party went exceptionally well. If I can get away with one party a year for the rest of their birthday partyin’ days, I will do it, because that was way too easy. And lord knows I’m not capable of doing anything that requires organization.

My epic spider battle last night went something like this: I called Chad in Seattle to see if he’d come home to kill it. No, he wouldn’t. My conversation with him was cut short due to my involuntary yelps, screeches, and general cursing every time the spider moved. Convinced that if I left the living room to get some spray (or a flamethrower) capable of killing the thing, I would return to find it missing. Not an option. After 20 minutes of surveying the room for appropriate spider-killing gear I settled on a nearby flip-flop to launch at the wall.

More time passed as I tried to determine a safe spider-killing distance. Being too close to the wall put me at great risk of being eaten by the spider. Too far, and my attempt to destroy it would likely result in the spider escaping safely to an undisclosed location where it would formulate its new plan of attack. I had to choose wisely. Finally I did it. I stepped up to the wall, about four feet between me and the spider. Fighting goosebumps, I waited for it stop moving around. But it must have sensed the impending doom because it took off running. I had to act fast.

I threw the shoe, and I could not believe what happened next. The spider jumped off of the wall at my airborne shoe. Like some sort of slow-motion action scene from a movie. Seriously. The only thing missing was a fiery explosion. It latched itself to the flip-flop and I watched, frozen, as the shoe then bounced off the wall and landed back at my feet. And the spider? Unscathed, hunting for toes to devour. In a daze I finished the job. I grabbed the non-spider-contaminated flip-flop and mashed the fucker.

I had won the midnight spider battle…but did I really? I spent the next several hours squealing every time my hair brushed my neck, spasmodically flailing my limbs with each sensation I felt on my skin, and too queasy to sleep. So thank you, big.giant.icky.huge.disgusting.terrifying.spider for ruining my night. The end.

If you’ve seen layouts from me before, you’ll recognize that journaling is noticeably absent from most pages I do. Yet, surprisingly, I journaled on nearly every page above. By focusing on the photos and keeping the extras to a minimum I found that the words just came to me a bit easier. I’m still very guarded in my approach – it’s hard for me to express my feelings on a page knowing they’ll be there for all of time – but I’m excited to have had a little breakthrough, if you will. As I make more progress with this album I will continue to share. Thanks for stopping by!