Are you ready for this one?

Wow, are you all in for a treat today!

This is going to be a very long post about many things. Hope you are ready!

First off is the biggest news of all: Anjali is going to school! This is extremely exciting for her! She has adjusted really well to the new school schedule and is excited every day to go to school. She has made some friends already, and usually comes home with enough stories to satisfy me. I enjoy hearing about all her adventures, and almost wish I could enjoy going to school again for the first time!

Here she is waiting for the bus.

She was so excited to get on the bus, the bus driver had to tell her to turn around so I could take her picture!

Next up, is one of my favourite things to eat in the fall or winter: borscht soup.

This particular recipe I tried was delicious, if a bit tedious.

Next, I would like to show you the guest bedroom. We haven't really done too much to this room yet besides clean up the junk and set up a homey little space for any guests to sleep for the night. It has already been used several times!

A dressing table I set up in the room. This was my old furniture and comforter from my growing up years.

Plain and simple does the trick!

Here is the "guest" washroom. Actually it is the kids' washroom. We didn't paint this room, but I like the colour. We installed the huge cabinet above the toilet. I love having the storage space.

Finally, the big reveal of the master closet.

First, Robin painted the closet with some leftover yellow paint that we had.

We bought an Ikea cubby unit (on the left) to put all sorts of folded clothes, and we can even add bins for hidden storage. There is plenty of space above for linens. Behind the cubby is an access point for one of the attics, which we won't really need to get to, but if we do, it'll be fairly easy to move the cubby out of the way.

To the right, we bought a tall, skinny storage unit for the middle, then Robin hung the clothes rails on either side and built the cubbies on top for additional storage.

Plenty of room on top for extra storage and bins.

Again, another look at the Ikea cubby. Well worth it.

And my newest pet project, the laundry room.

Here are some before pics.

Not too bad, but I was envisioning something more...

Progress:

I taped lines on the wall to create a striped look. Theresa came one morning to help me paint.

The lines did not come out as clean and crisp as I would have liked, but I am a bit of a perfectionist that way.

Robin looked at it and liked it. And the truth is that I like it too. You can't see the fuzziness in these pics at all.

Overall, I am happy with the end result.

We are going to be installing wall-to-wall cabinets on top of the washer and dryer, which is why we didn't paint the whole way around.

This was a great experiment. The laundry room was a great place to try out something new. And I think I will smile everytime I go in there now. :)