IT'S FINISHED!!!

So here is the finished room--minus some prints of comic book art we're going to hang. Still on the fence as to whether to add Spiderman and Ironman on one of the other walls. . .

Why Are There Only SIX Guys On My Wall?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!??!
Now, I know it's hard to see, because it's just a pencil sketch at this point and you have no frame of reference to judge size, but trust me when I say this thing covers about 25 square feet of wall space. And he wants to know why there's only 6 guys. What do you have to do to impress kids these days???

Hamsters and Heat--I Don't Recommend It

We used to have a hamster.
Well at least now you know where this is headed so take a moment to prepare yourself emotionally.
Her name was Penny and in the beginning she was a lovely little pet. Didn't bite, stayed in her cage (unlike other creatures that reside in my home), only smelled when her cage needed cleaning.
Then she got fat.
For some reason, gaining enough weight to cause a hamster to get stuck inside their crawling tubes also makes them incredibly grumpy. Who knew??!! So then Penny started to bite and the kids lost interest in her. Go figure--who wants to play with something that is going to draw blood??
So one day a few months ago and I put her inside her exercise ball to roll around on the kitchen floor while I was cleaning the cage. Liz comes and, sees her and wants to take her outside. No,not a good idea--it's pretty warm out. Please, please, please, pleeeease, you get the point. My nerves are shot--Fine, take her, just make sure you keep her in the shade. ("Famous last words" sort of applies here)
So I finish cleaning the cage and go outside to tell the kids to bring her inside, and the kids are nowhere to be found, but poor Penny is sitting in the direct sunlight in the yard. She's not looking so good.

Now would probably be a good time to mention that my thermometer read 98 at the time.

I take Penny in and dump her out--she's not moving and she's pretty hot to the touch, so I start dousing her with cool water and after a few minutes she starts convulsing--at least she's moving, right?? She stops seizing and I take a medicine dropper and start giving her drops of water which she eagerly drinks. Then she flips over onto her paws on my hand, sits there for a moment, looks at me, then tries to bite me!! You have GOT to be kidding me!! I just nursed this hamster back from grip of death and she has the nerve to bite me! Unbelievable!

So here I am thinking "disaster averted--lesson learned--PHEW!" but alas, it was not to be. . .
When Chris was putting the kids to bed that night he checked on her and apparently the stress of heat stroke was just too much for the little thing.

Then we had to tell the kids.

It didn't go well. Sam, in his four year old wisdom kept trying to say, "Why did the girls have to take Penny outside??!!" I kept casually clutching him to my chest to muffle his words.
Then the inevitable happened--Emma asks, "Did Penny die because we took her outside??"
(Yes, of course she did.) Chris and I hesitate for half a second and then reply (emphatically and simultaneously I may add)--"NO ABSOLUTELY NOT! IT DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT!" Nothing really obvious there or anything. . .
So I'm sure somewhere in Liz's summer writing journal there's an entry about how her hamster coincidentally died on the very same day she took her outside to dry roast, uhh, I mean play in the summer sun. . . .

Sam's Room--In Progress

Sam has been in the "baby room" in our house. Sam is 4. It was time for a change, and he requested a comic book superhero room (a decision I'm sure The Husband had nothing to do with). So with high hopes and a plan of work I set out to create the most awesome superhero room a four year old boy could hope for. And this is what it looks like so far:



So here are the answers to the questions I know are on your mind:

1. Yes, everything is hand painted.
2. Because we couldn't find superhero wallpaper border.
3. No, I DO NOT want the link to the site you found which sells superhero wallpaper border.
4. Estimating about 40 hours when all is said and done (I *hope*).
5. No, I would prefer not to come and do the same thing in a room in your home.
6. Yes, one of the dogs now has blue paint down the side of him.
7. Yes, I've had to retouch things a few times. Turns out saying, "Don't touch that--it's wet" means absolutely nothing to a four year old boy.
8. For those of you who were familiar with the old room-- 2 coats of primer (3 over the murals themselves) and two coats of paint.
9. Yes, we WILL be moving before the time comes to repaint this room.
10. Yes, I know I made a mistake.
11. No, I don't plan to fix it by repainting the entire wall, but thanks for the suggestion, Chris. Oh, and bonus points to anyone who noticed the mistake before reading this.

So I will post again as I get more done--I'm planning a mural with at least 6 characters, maybe more if someone buys me liquor or if Sam starts being really nice to me. . .
Oh--and if anyone out there likes to paint and has a steady hand, well you know what Bob Barker says. . .