Tagged? OH NO!

First let me say I am sorry we have been busy and haven't updated this blog. We are all happy, healthy, and having fun I just have been so busy with everything I can't seem to find much time to use the computer. I promise to try harder to share what we are doing with everyone.

I have two reasons for blogging today. The first one is I turned on my computer the other day to send my mom pictures of a problem I am having with some kitchen updating plans I have. When I went into my email to send her pictures I saw several emails from family. (BIG WAVES AND HELLO GOING OUT TO... Granny Peacock, Uncle Gravy, Aunt Lona, Mum Mum, Poppy, and all other relatives and friends who don't live close enough to see us all the time). I haven't read my emails yet but I know just glancing at the email addresses that you all must be wondering how and what the children are doing! Zee is cutting a tooth and spent most of the last 2 days screaming, fussing, and crying in discomfort. Because of her pain I was very busy holding her and trying to comfort her. Today she is happier so I figured before the fussing starts I will drop a quick note on my blog instead of reading and trying to write back to everyone one at a time.

The second reason for this post is because I noticed my google blog reader was working (I have dial up so this feature hardly ever works). I put my cursor over the the homeschooling fun label and a cute picture of Heather's two boys appeared! She said you have to post the 6th picture in your picture folder to share and then tag 6 more people. Below that I see she wrote "3.) Amber (Maybe she will get back to blogging :))"

My first thought was I REALLY NEED TO GET BACK TO BLOGGING! It looks like people are wondering about us (silly me never thought anyone would ever notice if I give up computer time). So that is the second reason for this post.



NOW the UGLY Truth!
I am wondering WHY did I have to be tagged for my 6th picture???? WHy not 106th picture?

Or 2o6

Or 256

Or even 3o6

Why 6th?????

Here is the funny very embarrassing story behind my 6Th picture. I am planning on doing some work on my kitchen. It is very old and very yucky looking. I have been planning out what I can do with the very limited money in our home improvement budget. I decided that waiting until I have money for new cupboards, appliances, walls, counters, floors and such will take forever!!! My hubby has given me a home remodeling budget of a bit over $15 a week. I think he said it is $70 something a month. I am very thankful I can have $70 (I thought at first it was $35 a month). I don't want to save it all for 30+ years to be able to remodel our kitchen. Our house was built in the 1800's and I know every penny I save for a bigger home remodel project will get sucked up by needed repairs (old houses break a lot). My very old house likes to steal my money being saved for big projects by falling apart and needing lots of frequent repairs. I finally got the idea of trying to do some little projects that I can afford just to make my home a tiny bit better looking. I decided starting in the kitchen would be a good idea. I spend so much time in my kitchen doing school with the children, making meals, washing dishes, folding clothes, and such. I REALLY want to make that area look a bit nicer. My kitchen cupboards are NOT nice! I thought painting them would really change the kitchen without costing me a ton of money. I want to paint the cupboards all white. My plans seemed to be moving in a good direction until I realized I have UGLY, AWFUL, ODD, And rather LARGE hinges on my ugly, old, dingy looking cupboards. I asked my hubby to get a price on hinges for my cupboards (he works at Lowe's). I was thinking that replacing the hinges would be cheap. I was sure he was going to tell me $10-20 to replace our old hinges. I figured it would set me back a week with my painting idea but still doable. Imagine my surprise when he said they cost over $2. I counted up my cupboards and realized that I have over 20 cupboard doors. I then thought that I would need 2 for each cupboard and would cost me over $100!!!!!! I was CRUSHED!!!!! (I now know it is a bit over $2 a pair and will cost me about $65 to replace all of them but I didn't know this back then) I called my mom (she was vacationing in Florida) and bothered her with my hinge problem. She thought my hinges could be painted and left on my cupboards or I could take off my doors and have shelves in the place of top cupboards in my kitchen to save money and move ahead with my kitchen updating. I tried to explain how my hinges are odd, ugly, bent over the front of my cupboard doors, and will not work. I then explained how my cupboards are not something that can be left open. The open shelf look will not work with the dishes I own. I told my mom all about my over stuffed cupboards. I told her how my dishes are not the kind you see looking nice on shelves in kitchen magazines. I have cheap not so nice dishes AND plastic sippy cups and such. PLUS I have electrical cords and metal tube venting running on the inside of my cupboards (joys of owning a house built before electricity was invented). She couldn't picture my hinges, cupboard doors, and what it looked like inside my cupboards so I did something that seemed right to do....... I snapped some pictures of my kitchen and not just of my kitchen, my kitchen PROBLEMS and closeups of the ugly spots!!! You know, the things you don't like to look at and parts you hope company never notices. The things you only would share with your husband or your mother!!!! I never thought much about doing this. It seemed like the perfect way to show my mom what I am talking about. If she was home and not away on vacation I would have asked her to drive up to check out what I was talking about. I know you all know the rest of this story! YUP! ONLY ME! I see Heather's note about me posting my 6th picture and sure enough it is one of my kitchen!!!! It isn't even one of my dark, dirty looking, old cupboard doors. NOPE! It is one of the inside! The cramped looking cupboard with all my dishes AND an electrical wire running on the inside!!!!!! MY first thought is OH NO!!!!! I have a friend who once told me about letting my slip show (sharing ugly things you don't want others to know). I think this situation is definitely something that would fall under her showing your slip kind of thinking. I then thought well I haven't used my computer much in months. I haven't blogged or read any bloggs in so long maybe I can just walk away and pretend I didn't see this. I then called my mom I convinced myself that my mother was the one to blame for all of this! After all, if I didn't take the pictures to show her I would have not been in this situation! This is all her fault for going on vacation. LOL! I asked her if I should pretend not to see or wait a day until I took more pictures and my mom (being so much like me) said what I knew I needed to do. YUP! Show the UGLY picture. She said to ask if anyone has any ideas on how to do a cheap redo of my ugly kitchen.


SOOOO knowing I am showing my slip. Sharing with the world one of the very ugly spots of my house. If you are the kind of person who wonders what is behind doors when you go visiting here you go. This it is my 6th picture.
Anyone have any ideas on a nice fix for this ugly cupboard with too many dishes piled up inside it? Yes that is electrical wire running along the top and a round junction box behind the stack of plates. The nice dishes on the top shelf Rob's parents gave me and I love them and I am very embarrassed now that I see I don't have them stacked very nice! I need a step stool to reach the top shelf so sometimes it gets a bit mixed up.

Even worse than that is my 5th picture. It has the number 6 because I deleted the first picture I took because it was blurry.Yes that is my collection of toddler cups, the lid to my dish on the second shelf should be on top of the dish not on the side. It looks like I have an empty yogurt cup knocked over behind the plastic tea cups. The yogurt cup and soda cozy should not be way up on on that third shelf! The green/white line running along the top and down the left is an electrical wire! The metal on top is the vent for over my stove.

Picture above is of my odd ugly strange hinges. they are copper but when I shine them up to be very bright they look silly on the dark doors. For that reason I leave them with a tarnished look.

Seriously! Does anyone have any cheap creative ideas on how to fix my very ugly problems????? I would love some advice!!!!!

If you are wondering if I didn't take my pictures of my kitchen what would have been the 6th picture here it is. It is a pair of socks I was knitting. If you are wondering the socks are now finished but I don't think I have a picture of them done.

Below are some wonderful 6th pictures I found in my picture folder that made me smile.


I can't pass this on the tag because I am so far behind in the blog world I have no idea who has and hasn't been tagged. Anyone brave (like me) and want to share a uncomfortable sixth picture of something not so pretty? I HOPE if anyone sees the pictures of my ugly kitchen they have some advice on how to fix my problems so I never have something like this happen again!

The great news about this is I am now determined to have this picture to get lost in old pages of this blog I know I will be blogging a lot adding lots of pictures of my very cute children over the next few days! I will even go without sleep if needed!

Heather if you read this I want you to know I still think of you as a very good friend! Unless you bumped into my Mom on her vacation, I know you have no idea I had ugly pictures on my computer!

If anyone still reads this sad forgotten blog please forgive the bad writing. Zee is now sleeping in my arms as I am trying to think and type.