(More than) Fourinarow.net

I’m painting the upstairs bathroom.  Why?
Because if you marry a woman and give her children, she’ll need to make her home safe for them.
In order to make her home safe for them (in an older house), she’ll have to have Mario come and fix the plumbing.
When Mario comes to fix the plumbing (i.e. install a [...]

[Read more →]

About 1 a.m., Sam came down to my room, ran over to my side of the bed and told me he wanted to sleep with me.
“Do you need to go potty?” I asked.  “No!  I want to sleep in your bed!” he responded.
“Okay,” I told him, “but do you need to go potty first?”
“No.”
“Okay.  Get [...]

[Read more →]

A few weeks ago, Dan decided that Sunday was cleaning day.  He gave everyone a different list of chores and we all got busy.
One of my chores was to clean the refrigerator.  Not just clean it out – ridding ourselves of the icky science experiment-type stuff – but clean it, too.  I set to work, [...]

[Read more →]

Anyone with kids knows that children = dirt.  Every family operates differently, but since babyhood, each child in this family bathes or showers (with or without help) every night.  The only exceptions are if we have literally not left the house and it’s a weekend and it doesn’t matter as much what anyone looks like.
As [...]

[Read more →]

Have you ever known someone that just slightly intimidates you?  Not for any real reason – they aren’t older or wiser or smarter (probably) and they don’t really have anything to make you envious.  It’s just that they… well, intimidate you for some reason.  And, that slight intimidation festers and grows.  It creates self fulfilling [...]

[Read more →]

If you give a mom a yoga DVD, she’s going to need a place to use it.
Since she has four kids that are addicted to TV, she’ll have to use it in her bedroom.
While she’s using it in her bedroom, she’ll notice that the curtains hanging in her face are dirty.
But, having merely glued the [...]

[Read more →]

I absolutely love this flower.

I have these same flowers in my flower boxes in the front of our house. Impatiens, if I recall correctly. This flower was one of several that were leftover from the flat I had bought. The few leftovers were still in the flat, and had been languishing out on [...]

[Read more →]

The MUCH anticipated Uppercase Living Fall ‘09 Catalog is here!  And, it’s immediately viewable on my website.  Just got to http://fourinarow.uppercaseliving.net.  You won’t believe all of the new expressions, accessories and colors now available – including chalk walls and clocks!  There’s waaaayyy too much to mention here.AND (my favorite)…  The MyDesign Tool has been completely [...]

[Read more →]

I promised before and after pics of the fence, so here they are:
Before
After
It look great, doesn’t it?  I just hope it lasts a good long time, ’cause that is NOT a project I’m looking forward to tackling.  I’m sure the neighbors were happy, though, what with the free bush trimming they received as part of [...]

[Read more →]

This weekend in Chicagoland was amazingly beautiful.  Highs in the low 70’s, clear and sunny.  A small breeze.
So, what to do on such a wonderful weekend?
Stain the fence, that’s what.  A job I have dreaded since having the fence installed last October.
And, I was right to dread it.  What an awful, boring, painstaking job it [...]

[Read more →]