It's been a while.

I haven't posted anything new lately. I wish I had a really good excuse but I don't. Frankly, I spend most of my days trying to figure out fun things for the girls to get out of the house and do. A lot of times we forgo braving the 90 degree weather to stay in and have fun in the playroom. Thankfully, the community pool opens full time this weekend and the girls think swimming is the bee's knees. Sarah is even brave enough to leave the shallow end and float around with only her arm swimmies on. I can lounge comfortably on the side of the pool without having to be within arms length the entire time. Stay tuned for more exciting news from the Rhodes's household.

The trials of painting

Let me begin by saying that I am terrible choosing paint colors. It's not that there are not colors out there that I think are beautiful, but I have a hard time picking colors that coordinate and flow well throughout the house. I spent two or three entire days painting my living room before Christmas. This past weekend and into the early part of this week, I spent more time painting. I repainted the entire living room because the color I chose for the entryway looked horrible against the colors in the living room. I finally decided on a color for the Kitchen after five or six tries. I painted the hallway upstairs the same color as the entryway and Mark and I painted one red accent wall in the media room. Needless to say, I am sick of painting. I have learned a valuable lesson from all of this though. I prefer color to white walls but I am not a bright color person. Mostly I just like to stick to neutrals.

This is a shot of the walls I painted before Christmas. After painting the entryway, they looked too grayish greenish for my liking.


I went with a Chocolate Brown (Eddie Bauer's Bittersweet)on the big wall and used the entryway color on the side walls. I left the upper part of the side walls beige.

The blah color in the kitchen from before Christmas

I really wanted to find a yellow for the kitchen that would flow well with the living room and match the cabinets and table. After trying out a variety of crazy yellows, I decided on Martha Stewart's Apple basket which I just love.
P.S. Aren't those roses on the table beautiful? They were Mark's gift to me for Mother's day.


So, finally, I am completely satisfied with all the colors I have chosen for downstairs. Now I can hangs some pictures and start decorating.

The Houston Zoo

We decided to get season passes to the zoo a few weeks ago. We'll see how that pans out with the Houston heat. We had a great time though and the weather was perfect. This was Sarah's first trip where she was old enough to know what was going on. She was very excited to see all the animals. The carousel and petting zoo were the highlights of our trip. Fighting the massive amounts of field trippers was the worst part of the trip.

Going Green!

So I have been thinking a lot about the environment and the economy. It is kind of hard not to with how crazy the world is becoming. I worry about my children and what kind of life they have to look forward to. I am no tree hugger and have failed miserably at recycling, but I am finding that there are ways being provided that make living green much easier. I have decided to switch over to reusable shopping bags.


I recently watched a slide show that showed how dangerous plastic bags were for the environment.I honestly had no idea how many foreign countries and US cities had banned the use of plastic bags! Well, it inspired me to try a little harder especially since I do plenty of grocery shopping and dispose of plenty of those little plastic bags. If any of you have any other suggestions on going green for me, I would love to hear them.

Did You Know...

These little gems save you $38 a year per bulb and you only have to replace them once every 5 years. AMAZING! I bought a few of these 8 packs at Sam's for $10 and they are great. They are equivalent to a 60 watt bulb and give off plenty of light. Also, there is no delay when you turn them on. I think they are well worth it. Do I sound like a commercial or what?

Swing! Swing! Swing!

A few months ago, I was desperately searching for a playset for the kids. I happened across one on Craigslist for $40. What a deal! I contacted the guy and went to see it. When he met me and the girls, he said that we could just have the set for free since he was looking for a good home for it with kids that would enjoy it. Even better deal! We transported it in pieces and it has been resting in our back yard for quite some time now. Today, Mark got it all put together. We have been playing outside all day. We love our swingset.










Oh and I checked on my tomatoes today and look what I found...

Ahhh Music!

I never went to a concert when I was growing up. It could have been because I was into Guns and Roses and other choice heavy metal bands in my younger years and those were concerts I was forbidden to go to. It could have been because I was so busy and cheap in high school and throughout college. Well, I am making up for all of that now. In the last 3 months I have been to three real concerts. So you may be wondering what events a concert virgin such as myself chose to attend. I got free tickets to see none other than.....
These guys are great in concert. I mean, who doesn't like Rascal flatts. I knew most of their songs and I totally sang along the whole time.
Mark presented me with tickets on Valentine's day to see.....

Really! With a voice like Dierks's, it doesn't matter what he sings, it is gonna sound good. He was very entertaining too.
Finally, Mark's brother score suite tickets through his company to see....

The Boss!! The concert was great eventhough Bruce was a bit before my time but sitting in a suite in the Toyota center spoiled me forever. I could get used to being served all I can eat and drink during a concert. It's the only way to go really.