Morning Ritual

I had to be in training on Monday and Tuesday and they made us do an exercise about rituals. They told us to write, in detail, about our morning ritual. At the point that I wrote this I was bored out of my mind and had to amuse myself somehow so I kind of turned sarcastic. Shocking I know...

Meredith's Morning Ritual

6:00 am- Phone alarm wakes me up and I immediately turn it off. I allow myself about 10 seconds to stare at the ceiling and thing, "ugh, why me"? Then I get up.

6:01 am- Walk into the bathroom. Stare at my hair and think- good enough. (I shower at night). Or if my hair has turned into a rat's nest I might break out the curling iron to fix my natural curls.

6:03 am- Put on my makeup- and by makeup I mean blush and mascara. I also put on deodorant and perfume.

As you can see Leia is kinda a freak about food

6:10 am- Take puppies downstairs. Put on their collars and leashes- which they don't wear inside because I hate the jiggling noise of their name tags. Take puppies outside to pee. Bring dogs inside and make them sit and wait for their breakfast- they are trained not to eat until we tell them to.

6:20 am- Put lunch- leftovers- in lunch box along with frozen thingy. Put Brita water in my camelbac water bottle.

Leia has the "special" bowl- food is her weakness

6:25 am- Prepare dog food- 2 cups of Purina One chicken and rice for each dog. Put water on their food to make it yummy.

6:30 am- Allow the dogs to eat. Prepare cereal for breakfast, usually little kid stuff like Lucky Charms, while tripping over my dogs eating from their bowls. I really need to buy them a non-slip mat.

6:35 am- Walk, with my cereal, upstairs. Eat breakfast while perusing the Internet- emails, my favorite blogs, facebook, etc- in the extra bedroom.

6:50 am- Make sure the dogs go back in the bedroom. Brush my teeth and put on my shoes. Kiss my husband goodbye- because he is still asleep! Grr! Take cereal bowl to kitchen and put in dishwasher.

7:00 am- Get everything together and leave.

7:40 am- Arrive at work and think- when will I stop feeling the need to arrive everywhere freakishly early??

Am I 25??

No, I think I may be an old lady hidden in a young body. Stranger still, is the fact that I have been an old lady since I was even younger than I am now. I go to bed early, I enjoy being suzy homemaker, I grew up watching old movies, and I relish in crafts.

My grandmother taught me to cross stitch years ago. I learned to crotchet and knit in college. I will almost always do a craft at work just so I can join in with the kids. Coloring? Huge stress relief when they have been off the wall! I am fidgety and I care for crafts because they gives my hands something to do.

Cross stitching was my first love though. I have been doing it since elementary school. Freshman year of college I did my biggest project to date. It took me about a year to finish- mostly because I didn't have lots of time to work on it. My mom even got it professionally framed for me.

Of course if you look very close they messed it up...

You have to make "lines" called back stitching to make definition- for example all of the bird house roofs. Well when they framed it, as you can see, they loosened all the lines somehow and now my birdhouses look crazy. Now I have figured out not to make those lines so long but do little bitty stitches instead- I guess sometimes you learn through mistakes.

When husband and I first visited New Hampshire- where he is from- I made him this project because it reminded me of the beautiful fall scenery. Although it also could easily be mistaken for our gorgeous North Carolina mountains.

And when I get really bored I do little projects like this one:

The thing with cross stitch is that I always buy nice neat little packages. In the kits you already have your needle, thread, fabric, instructions-everything you need! There is not a lot of room for creativity.

So I have now taught myself a new old lady craft. Embroidery. I am very excited about this craft for several reasons. It allows you to have almost limitless creativity. You can make your own patterns, choose your own colors, even choose what types of stitches to use. Plus embroidery has that fun, kitchy, vintage feel to it unlike cross stitch which usually feels, well, "country chic" on a good day.

I love vintage stuff and how it looks eclectic and unique all the time. So this week I started my first project. I also proceeded to go insane because I adored it so much. I have already bought myself a new sewing box, thread, material, and patterns to make more projects but here is my first attempt!

You know you like my sewing box!

He is ready for his close up

You know this owl is awesome. Just admit it. I know it isn't perfect- considering it was my first attempt- but I think I did fairly well! You can use colored thread but I like the simplicity of "blackwork" as they call it. I now have a whole plan of creating about five different sized blackwork projects, frame them in their wooden hoops, and then hang them in the downstairs bathroom. I will spare you individual pictures but I know I will update when I have them hanging in the bathroom.

You and I

Yesterday was a not so great day at work. One of my kids punched my favorite teacher and another kid tried to pop the back of my bra. My patience ran out and I lost my therapeutic self. It was also my first day back this week because I was in training on Monday and Tuesday. Today I am hoping to start my day off right. I am going to reread a poem they gave us in training. I hope today it will help me remember to be there for the kids- no matter what.

YOU AND I

By: Elaine Popovich

I am a resident. You reside.

I am admitted. You move on.

I have behavior problems. You are rude.

I am non-compliant. You don’t like being told what to do.

When I ask you out to dinner, it is an outing. When you ask someone, it is a date.

I don’t know how many people have read the progress notes people have written about me. I don’t even know what’s in there. You didn’t speak to you best friend for a month after she read your diary.

I made mistakes during my check-writing program. Someday I might get a bank account. You forgot to record some withdrawals from your account. The bank called to remind you.

I wanted to talk with a nice looking person behind us at the grocery store. I was told that it is inappropriate to talk to strangers. You met your spouse in the produce department. He couldn’t find the bean sprouts.

I celebrated my birthday yesterday with five other resident and two staff members. I hope my family sends a card. Your family threw you a surprise party.

My case manager sends a report every month to my guardian. It says everything I did wrong and some things I did right. You are still mad at your sister for calling your mom after you got a speeding ticket.

I am on a special diet because I am five pounds over my ideal weight. Your doctor gave up telling you.

I am learning leisure skills. Your shirt says you are a couch potato.

After I do my budget program tonight I might get to go to McDonalds if I have enough money. You were glad the new French restaurant took your charge card.

My case manager, psychologist, physical therapist, nutritionist, and house staff set goals for me for next year. You haven’t decided what you want out of life.  

Someday, I will be discharged…maybe. You will move onward and upward.

Secret Obsession

On Sunday I was sitting in my living room watching my husband play with some of his best friends.

But I was getting bored considering I can't play an instrument (much to my Minister of Music dad's dismay) and since my TV is right behind the red chair- I couldn't watch TV either. I get figitity when I have nothing to do so I figured blogging is the next best thing.

On Saturday we went to see Harry Potter. It was a bittersweet experience because I love this series but this movie meant the end. First off my husband annoyed the ticket lady until she gave me special Harry Potter 3D glasses:

Harry Potter- or - John Lennon??

Apparently they gave these out on opening night and only had a few left. Sometimes it is good for your husband to be loud and silly! The movie was amazing. When I first started seeing the movies I made the mistake of re-reading the books the day before I saw the movie. I quickly realized that is a bad idea because you watch the movie annoyed the whole time because they have to leave so much out.

Well I have not read this last book- The Deathly Hollow- since it came out. Plus I went a little crazy and read it in a day so I doubt my brain even retains the book. I love her books. My copies are all over the place- some are in Texas and some are here. I really would like to get a new set of books

 all wrapped up and pretty like this. I have read and re-read most of the Harry Potter collection. When they first came out I made fun of people for reading these books. I thought it was childish- even though I was only like 12 when they started coming out.

Then I was bored (this is a theme) at my grandparent's house and I started reading my cousin's copy of the first book. Since then I have been a fan. Many of the books I read in a day because I literally could not put them down. The story just sucks you in and you are hooked till the end.

Now every member of my family has read the whole series. One of us would buy the book and then my parents, or my brother would fight over who got to read it next. This is actually the first Harry Potter movie that I have not seen with my mom.

My brother tried to convince my dad to see the movie when they were in Atlanta. My dad promptly reported that my mom told him she would "take off his head" if he saw it without her. So I guess we are all Harry Potter freaks. (Don't worry about my brother though he came along with us to see the movie.)

I would like to report that this whole new trend of Twilight does NOT compare. I actually tried to give it a chance and the books are just not as good. I never could get into it- it was so mushy and lovey dovey. Not my cup of tea.

I would say I am off to start reading the series again- but I don't have the first book to start!

My Bad...

My brother went to Atlanta this weekend to see my dad and have some fun. I was in charge of taking care of my brother's dog on Friday night and Saturday morning. He has an Akita named Miya who is about 4 years old. She is not a very needy dog so she is quite easy to take care of.

Well, remember when I was talking about making my yummy pie? I had just finished making my Oreo crust at around 3:00 when my brother called me to say he was leaving Atlanta. It was at that moment that I realized I had completely forgotten to take care of his dog in oh- about 17 hours. I am a horrible puppy aunt.

Luckily my brother only lives like five miles away from me. I went flying over to his house and, remarkably, she had not even had an accident! I then proceeded to apologize profusely to her- yes I realize she is a dog- and I believe she forgave me. That or she really didn't care because she could finally pee.

I blame the heat for making my memory melt out of my ears.

Blog Changes

I have not been happy with the layout or the title of my blog for quite awhile. Originally I thought I would write more about the social work side of my life. Honestly, I try not to do that to often because I really have to think about how to word things to protect confidentiality.

So this afternoon I spent a while- OK maybe three hours- finding templates and jazzing up the look of the blog. Then my husband commented that he doesn't like the name of my blog. I have to agree.

He came up with a new name- Sweet Raisins. I am going to have to explain this one. Last year my husband and I went on a road trip with a bunch of friends. I got the nickname sour grapes- not exactly the best nickname but I get it. I am a sarcastic person and I tend to tell it like it is. Anyway the boys named me sour grapes because of this tendency to not always be- what's the word- nice?

Usually it comes off as a joke- which I think this blog shows. My husband said call the blog sweet raisins or- the opposite of sour grapes because usually my silly stories and rants end up being funny even though, really, they are a form of complaining.

I thought it was a clever turn of words- so I figured a change would be fun. Of course, now my website URL is messed up and I have no idea how to fix that! Any clever computer people out there that know how to fix this??

*Update- nevermind! Google is the answer to all my questions. Really, what did we do before google search??

Weekend

My weekends are usually busy. I feel like I have to save up all my errands until the weekend and then I have a laundry list of to-dos. I like to finish my list by Saturday because the only day my husband and I have off together is Sunday.

Yesterday I cleaned the house, did laundry, went grocery shopping, put together an end table, and bought a lamp for the extra bedroom. I also put together spaghetti sauce for dinner. It is approximately a hundred million degrees outside (OK really it is a 107 with the heat index). I feel like my skin is melting when I go outside. No bueno.

All day long my Kitchen Aid mixer sang to me: "Food, glorious food! Hot sausage and mustard! While we're in the mood- cold jelly and custard!" I hope other people loved Oliver as much as I do or I may have just sounded crazy. But I digress...

Anyway I wanted to make a yummy treat, but considering I was sweating in my kitchen with ONLY my crock pot on I figured turning on the oven might kill me. As usual, I consulted my favorite blogger- the Pioneer Woman and I found my answer. Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. Oh yea you heard me. Delicious and- more importantly- served cold.

Plus I only had to turn on the oven for about ten minutes to cook the crust! It came out very very yummy also. I highly recommend you go to her blog to find the recipe- I figure I shouldn't steal it to post!

Work, Work, and More Work

At this point I have been working at my job for about a month. So far I have enjoyed it although it is not perfect. I like being in the classroom, but it is hard to play the role of "therapist" when you have to basically act as a teacher. Of course, when acting as a teacher one must have some form of authority and that sometimes ruins the therapeutic relationship with these kids.

When I interviewed for this position they told me that within six months they would move me into one of the main therapist positions. I think HR has some policy about how quickly employees can switch positions. Basically the only title change is going from Mental Health Clinician I (which I am now) to a Mental Health Clinician II. The "II" position is the lead therapist. They are not in the classroom, they have their own office, and they get to have individual, group, and family sessions. It is very important to me to meet this goal for my career.

Right now we have two full time therapists and a part time therapist. In August, one of our therapist is being moved to another program and she is trying to advocate that I get her position. It is possible that I will still have to wait that six months- in which case she would have to work both sites till I could move to a therapist role.

I know I am so fortunate to have a job. I also know I have always been very lucky when it comes to jobs. I am almost always hired when I interview. Is is wrong to hope I can find a loophole and become even more blessed to be moved into a therapist position early?

I want to be able to play the role of therapist and I feel like I am chomping at the bit to move into that job. I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I also want the agency to know what my goals are. I know the therapist is talking to the "powers to be" about me but I don't know if I should broach the subject also. I swear being a grown up and figuring out the world is way to difficult sometimes.

Home

My version of home and your version of home may be different. I frequently like to joke that I am homeless. In my short lifetime I have lived in six states and I have actually changed addresses about fifteen times. I lived in three states before I got into preschool. I kind of hate moving at this point although I have it down to an art form.

The first state that I actually remember living in is Mississippi. A part of me still considers that home because I have some great memories there. Basically, it is cemented in my mind as my real childhood. My elementary school was almost like a private school in the amount of interesting and fun things we got to do. Seriously there has never been a better field day then what that school used to do- I could go off on a tangent about that but I will refrain. (Side note- do kids even have field days anymore?)

I also made my first best friend there. She had big brothers that were my big brother's best friends so this family was amazing to me. They were the kind of home where you didn't have to knock to come in- you were just part of the family.

This is approximately the last day of my life that I could wear a bikini. I also like my missing teeth. When my parents decided to move us to North Carolina it was pretty traumatic. We were leaving a small town to go to a HUGE city- at least that is what it felt like.

I also proceeded to break my leg on my friend's trampoline the day before we moved- and when I say I broke it I really mean my best friend's brother landed on it. I think he felt bad about that for awhile, but it was really our fault. I distinctly remember knowing that too many people were already on the trampoline, but when you are young you don't really care about that.  It also just so happened that our home in North Carolina was the first two-story house we ever lived in- I planned that, I desperately wanted to bump down the stairs on my butt for a whole summer.

I moved to North Carolina with a large blue cask on my foot and the country accent from- well you know. Luckily, I moved in the summer so the only people I had to meet were the church community where my dad was now the Minister of Music. Ahh- that sounds easy.

Not so much, I was basically ridiculed for the entire summer because I sounded like "a hick". This still amuses me. I sounded like a hick to North Carolinians- ironic. Remember that friend of mine who is still my best friend:

Yeah she was one of the worst ones! I'm glad we grew out of that.  

By the time the school year rolled around I had taught myself not to sound like that anymore. Now I highly doubt that you would know I spent my childhood in Mississippi.

I also claim Georgia. I was born there and it is the only state that has been a consistent part of my life. My extended family has always lived there, so I have spent every Christmas and parts of the summer in Georgia. Georgia is home because it is very intertwined with my family history and memories from every age of my life. It is the only place I can say that about.

North Carolina is now where I call home. I have lived here the longest and obviously most of my memories are here. I still say I am homeless though because my parents are in Texas. For some reason it is hard for me to relate to North Carolina as home when my parents are no longer here. I am slowly getting better about this since our recent move and the feeling of stability that comes with a married partnership.

Hopefully at some point in my life I will have that "settled" feeling. I always feel like I am on the go and ready to prepare for the next move. At least I finally know that for the next two years or more we will stay put! It's a start.

Summer Treats

I have, I believe, the largest sweet tooth known to man. I could live off desserts pretty much year round. During the summer though I crave light, fluffy, or cold treats. Recently I have been on an ice cream fix. I got a Cuisinart ice cream maker for the wedding because my mom's friends threw me a bridesmaids luncheon with ice cream sundaes.

My mom has had one of these little machines for years and she has perfected one of the recipes that was in her instruction manual. The original recipe was not in my manual but she gave me the perfected recipe- which is even better! Originally the ice cream was an orange creamsicle flavor. The orange flavor was never strong enough so my mom created a lime flavor instead. It is just the right amount of sweet and tangy. It is a little bit like sherbet and a little like a creamsicle.

Lime Creamsicle Sherbet:

1 1/2 cup concentrate of frozen lime juice (I get the Bacardi Margarita mix in the frozen section)
3 T. sugar
3 cups half n' half
2 t. vanilla

Mix it all together, throw in the machine, 20-30 minutes later you have heaven in a cup!

Growing up my family made homemade vanilla ice cream all the time. We had a very old 80's time machine of an ice cream maker. It wasn't a hand crank machine but it was close! I have not perfected a classic vanilla/chocolate ice cream in this machine yet. My one complaint is that you no longer have to use rock salt in this machine. My favorite part of homemade ice cream was those few bites that had the salty flavor from the rock salt. Nothing better! I wonder if I can made ice cream and just throw in some salt?

This week my mother in law and grandmother in law came to see our new place. I got out of cooking dinner because husband offered to get Chinese but I couldn't just sit back completely so I decided to make a dessert. My mother in law does not like chocolate and husband is picky also so it took me a long time to choose something to make. My mom finally came up with a good plan (she is very handy!).

Strawberry Trifle:

one angel food cake
small container of Cool Whip
large box of vanilla pudding (prepare and set aside)
strawberries (slice, add sugar and set aside to get juicy)

Layer cake, pudding, and strawberries in your trifle bowl. Usually makes about 3 layers. Top with cool whip. Garnish with one pretty strawberry and place strawberry slices around the edge. (I ran out of slices!)

This dessert is great for summer. Amazing light and fluffy because of the angel food cake. It is also easy to throw together because it is only semi-homemade. I even bought the angel food cake from the grocery store. Plus this dessert could feed a small army- I still have left overs!

I admit I am loving us having our own place. I love our place, I love having people over, and I love cooking for others. I have one last machine to break in- the amazing Kitchen Aid mixer. I really need to do some soul searching on what deliciousness should come out of that first! I am thinking something that will come out to be amazing, sweet, and yummy but, sadly, make me jiggly. It's a rule that things that make you jiggly are the best.  I am willing to sacrifice my figure for yumminess, at least until the next diet : )



Horses!

Today was one of those days that made me want to work in a day treatment setting. I admit it is not because I love working with kids- it is because in my interview they told me the center goes to therapeutic horse back riding. Today was my first day going to the farm.

This place is pretty amazing because they are a non-profit that specializes in helping special needs children. What an awesome place. Sadly, at least for me, we didn't ride but instead the kids helped build a bridge for the horses and some Adirondack chairs.

Well I wasn't going to take that sitting down! I came to see a horse and I was determined to see a horse! So I may or may not have snuck around the property : )

The farm is beautiful- with classic red barns. I am one of those weird people that just loves a barn- smell and all. This place was just a little piece of perfection.

This was literally the ONLY horse in the barn. He was enormous and gorgeous. I blame the fact that the barn stalls were not full on my decision to sneak around the property. Especially when they said there is a baby!

Of course when I found the baby I realized she is really just a miniature horse. She was adorable though and came right up to say hello. Behind her are some more of the horses they use to ride with the kids. I don't know their names yet but I hope I will learn- and get to ride them!

I want to take this one home!

Demon eyes!

Ignoring me!

I once again was transported to childhood when I wanted to learn how to ride a horse so bad. Although somehow I am still at the point where that hobby is way to expensive. I will just have to live vicariously through this farm. Job perk!

Coffee

This morning I had coffee from my new Keurig coffee machine. I am slowly making the rounds to use all the wedding kitchen appliances. Coffee is one of those magical morning treats. It smells heavenly and it's a warm little cup of deliciousness.

I do not drink coffee every morning and I have a hard time deciding if I should make coffee a habit or not. Once it's a habit then I have to buy things like- half n' half. I don't know if I can make such a commitment.

One of my very first jobs was working for Starbucks. I worked with my one of my best friends who is still a big part of my life

Ain't she purty?? Starbucks was one of those fun jobs. I got to meet people who were nothing like me and I loved it. It may or may not have introduced me to boys with tattoos. Maybe that explains my attraction to the hubby! I never stopped loving that coffee smell. I was also severely addicted to coffee because it is free when you are working. I literally used to make sample cups of just whip cream and caramel sauce. Not gonna lie I would still eat that- yum!

Anyway now when my pretty friend has gone to the dark side and works for Caribou coffee and my Keurig came with a Caribou coffee pod. Yesterday she made me promise to have the coffee this morning and so I indulged and made a steaming cup of yumminess this morning.

I then proceeded to feel like I was tweaking all morning. I know eventually you get used to the caffeine but I felt like a crack head all morning- surely this can't be a good thing to indulge in everyday.

Bathroom Renovation!

Is it just me or do you notice the kinds of names people come up with for paint? It is very difficult to choose a paint color from an entire rainbow of oddly named selections. I knew I wanted a green and my choice became very easy when food became involved. My paint color is called guacamole- obviously it was meant to be! It took me longer to paint that little bathroom than I thought it would.

 and I may or may not have had a few accidents with a roller

I think the ceiling is to close to the walls- and I am to lazy to use painter's tape.

Another thing we have discovered about our new place is that we are located next to an abandoned golf course. The course has quite a lot of vegetation built up around it but you can still walk on the golf cart trails. Our dogs have always known how to walk off leash so they love this area because they can just be free.

She is secretly freaking out because she knows it's walking time

Now the door is open and General is watching my husband talk. He really thinks he knows English. I tried to take pictures of the trails but, as usual, I didn't think to charge my camera first so this is all I got!

Our German Shepard is up front and my husband's best friend's dog is the other dog. Her name is Sasha and she is a Doberman Pincher. My dog never ventures that far ahead- she does not like being far away from people. Today is such a humid day that our dogs did not make it for very long. They started laying down every few yards so we figured it was time to come back.

I wanted to take pictures to show that the golf course has ponds and there are even some areas where you can still see parking spots. We were hoping we would find an abandoned club house but no such luck. That would have been a fun adventure though!

My husband has determined that this golf course makes the townhome the best place ever! It is like watching a child frolic around.

Update on Social Work Life

I am waiting for paint to dry in my bathroom for a second coat and I figured I would update on my work life.

Two days after I started actually working in my classroom one of my co-worker's husband fell off the roof and was injured. Since then this teacher has been on leave to make sure he is OK. I have quickly learned that she is the teacher that the kids see as the disciplinarian and they listen to her best.

Anytime there is a change with these kids they don't handle it well. So you can imagine how the last eight days have been! Can we say baptism by fire? The kids are naturally anxious and restless unless you keep them occupied at all times. They have just been all over the place.

We have had several physical fights (one I had to break up myself!) I have found out that one of the girls in the class lives with her boyfriend- who just so happens to also be in our class. They are only 16 and nearly 18 respectively. We found out this week she is 7 weeks pregnant- shocking I know. Isn't it great when parents don't care what their teenagers do?

All the girls are "bi-sexual". Now don't get me wrong I am pro LGBT issues but I think these girls just think it's cool to be gay. They date literally everyone in the class in circles. You can quickly assume that- yes- those physical fights are due to that.

The kids say the most inappropriate stuff ever. I can't even express how many curse words and weird questions I have been asked. Basically they have no boundaries. So far I think I have handled this very well. Honestly most the time all I can do is laugh. 

I hope I can help them...I think the good thing about the third teacher being out is that the kids have been forced to get to know me quickly. I think they like me and slowly they will learn to trust me. Maybe in the long run that is all the need for changes.

Moving Time!

I am back to reality- or Internet access- however you look at it.

I must admit that I did not remember to take pictures of us actually moving. Just imagine a bunch of junk and you get the picture. Instead I am going to take you on a grand tour of our new town home.

Walk in the front door and you see:

 Our beautiful Ikea bookcase. This thing is amazing storage. Sunday night the husband decided to stay up till about 5 am to build my Ikea furniture. He is very helpful!

Look to the left and it's our grand living room- with husband playing video games...typical. You can also see the rest of our Ikea stuff- the coffee table and TV stand. Let's keep walking:

 Behind the Ikea bookcase is the "dining room"- I put together these Ikea chairs on my own! I now have a whole area of Coca-Cola stuff and my great grandmother's adorable 50s table!

 Past the dining room is the kitchen. I have not used the Kitchen Aid mixer yet but isn't it just beautiful next to my stove! I need to start baking. I am obviously cooking right now since my big crock pot is out on the oven. Chicken and potatoes yum yum!

 And now we are turning. The curtains go outside to some storage and a little patio. The three doors are a pantry, laundry room, and my half bath. The half bath is my project for this weekend.

This is the best picture I could get of the half bath. It is pink- that's right pink. Every other room in this house is either a tan color or the red kitchen. How this pink bathroom came to being I will never know but I vow to get rid of this grossness this weekend. I am thinking a green....

Now let us backtrack to the stairs:

Amusing story of the week. There is a huge mirror in our staircase that you can kind of see in this picture. Our stair case also turns- you can kind of see the turn. My dog- as previously mentioned- is a little special. She is also pretty much never on stairs. When we brought them over she kept attempting to follow me up the stairs and when she reached the mirror she would just bark at herself. She literally could not figure out how to turn until I physically pushed her the other way. Special...

Anyway at the top of the stairs you can turn right into our room

and our bathroom and closet

Basically if I kept backing up you would be in my closet...I figured you would not be entertained by out closet.

If you turn left at the top of the stairs you go into the extra bedroom

and the extra full bath

Obviously a lot of work needs to be done upstairs. I need things like...lamps. I don't know how I have made it to age 25 with no lamps. We also need some extra bedside tables and I guess I would look like a grown up if the extra bed had a head board.

But the pink bathroom must come first...it's against my religion to have a pink room.