Making It Ours

Making It Ours

I just realized that it’s been exactly one year since we got the keys to our house. I enjoy moments like this when I stop and realize how much we’ve done instead of lamenting over all the to-dos that haven’t been crossed off our list yet.*

The little girl that lived here before us was quite the artist.  I’ve painted over her artwork in several closets and just last week I finally painted over her permanent marker signature on the front of the house. I really don’t know why a 5 minute job took me so long to get to, especially since the previous owners left a can of touch-up paint in the garage. Maybe it’s just because I’m lazy or maybe in some weird sentimental way I felt bad destroying the evidence of another girl’s life here. Only a few days later I walked into our front room and found Cooper scribbling on our hardwood floor with a permanent marker. A large part of me was mad (mostly at myself for leaving a permanent marker within his reach), but a small part of me butted in with the thought that this place really is ours now. Right now it’s ours to mark up with memories. Over time those memories may be covered up (or sanded out) perhaps by us or someone else, but it’s the making that’s the important thing. **

 

One of our chief memory makers.

 

Our other chief memory maker.

 

*An article on why lamenting over unfinished to-do lists is actually a mark of a successful person from one of our favorite finance blogs.

**I am not sentimental enough to leave my son’s art on our living room floor forever though, so if anyone has tips on cleaning permanent marker before I have to turn to a belt sander, I’d love to hear them.

5 thoughts on “Making It Ours

  1. Cute picture of Ellen! Anytime my kids do something on our own furniture, I am much less stressed than if it’s on the rental property like walls. A few months ago they scribbled all over our deep freezer. It was with crayon, so it wiped off with some work, and I still made them “try” to clean it up, mostly to make sure they didn’t think it was okay to scribble anywhere they pleased. I have discovered the wonder of Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser (or its generic) which helped get pencil off their bedroom wall. I’m not sure if that would be good on your floors, though.

  2. I have had great success with a magic eraser on everything but my ikea kitchen table…it leaves weird mark on that, and my wall (we have nasty flat paint and NOTHING will clean the pencil off it, not even an eraser). But a magic eraser saved my job when my 4-H teen council got permanant marker all over the big oak table in the court house. As long as your floor has a finish on it I think you should be ok, but I would try it out in a dark corner or something firts…

  3. Hi Audrey! This is Jennifer (Cecil) Griffiths…Aubrey Redmond’s old roommate in Logan. Anyways, rubbing alcohol should work to get permanent marker off the floor! Good luck with getting it out. Your kids are adorable! 🙂

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