Tagged

So here is my first tag that I have done. Nicole, my darling flutey friend, tagged me the other day. Have you seen her kitchen??? It's darling cute!! Go check her out and give her a little love.

How to play this game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

Okay, here we go:
Three Joys:

1. My family and children of course! Love them all!
2. Playing the flute.
3. When I finish a improvement project in my home.

Three fears:

1. Something horrible happening to anybody in our family. I just don't even want to think about it.
2. We have a huge vine covered fence in our backyard. I am afraid to work on it. I don't want to put my hand in their and find something that I don't want to find. Or get bit.
3. Making mistakes.

Three Current Obsessions/Collections: Let's call this one goals like Nicole did.

1. Catch up on scrapbooking. This is a big goal! I have a big collection of supplies and photos.
2. Updating and decorating our house.
3. Flutey stuff. I would like to practice more. I have recently started teaching again and would really like to get more students. Oh, and I would really like at least a new head joint for my flute. :)

Three Random Facts About Me:

1. I rarely admit to anyone that I have a blog. Still can't get over the fact that my hubby teases me insistently about it. :)
2. I was an aunt before I was born. I am the youngest of six kids. My oldest sister first child is actually one month older than me. Our family was very spread out over the years. It's almost like two families actually. The first three close, a few years for another, then another 5 years and then 3 1/2 years me.
3. I have been very good at guessing what gender of baby we are going to have. On Sam, I decided that I would not find out but I knew he was a boy. As people questioned me, un-confident me found it was easier to agree with them that I didn't really know and started saying it could be a girl even though all along I knew he was a boy. Every so often, I would wonder "Girl?" and my mind would automatically answer "No! Boy silly! You know that!"

There you go. So now, I tag: Jessica, Dawn, Kaylin, Brianne and work friends Christy and/or MaryLyn.

Lookin' for my own personal decorating committee

***This is now my cheater post for Nester's challenge IDHTBPTBB - It Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful. Don't know who Nester is?? You should!! She is funny and down to earth. She's got great decorating ideas and all of them are budget and kid friendly. Anyway, I thought that this worked well into her theme as the mirror is always reflecting our l"lived-in" status of our home. My mother-in-law always says that it's not messy - it's lived in. Good words to live by! ***



I am queen of buying something and then not figuring out how to make it work and then returning it. Really, I am made fun of often. I can't seem to make my own decisions and I can't keep working with something to make it work. I am talented!

Here is some amazing photos of my new shelf. Really, I should be a professional photographer. Watch out Jason McGrew - I'm out to take your business. And Jessica, your photographer eye is nothing compared to mine. Hah! Really...

First lovely picture up - the view from my galley kitchen. I do like the shelf. but I think that I want different stuff on it. Cool, kitchen-y stuff. Where do you find that kind of stuff? Oh, and I really want to paint my table and chairs.


Second picture is from the front room. I hung the big mirror that used to be over the table . I didn't like the mirror over the table because it reflected my less than stellar kitchen. It's much better here because now it really reflects my kitchen mess much better.
Look in the mirror and you will see the dishes I just did on the counter and the junk pile in the corner. It also reflects the kid art shelf that is sooooo pretty.

Sammy's high chair is usually over by the mirror. I know, ain't pretty but so very practical so it's staying until he's not so messy and can be invited to sit at the table with that cool IKEA chair thingy. Yes, that's a technical term.

Finally, there are my make-shift curtains. I haven't had anything on this window since for over a year and we were really needing the privacy. We don't have a fence and the neighbor's window looks right into ours. So, I took a tension rod and some ring clips and hung some cute tea towels. It moves easily out of the way in the morning and it's nice because it still lets in light and lets me keep decorations on the window seal. I am sure that I could much better for curtains there but I am so stumped. Any suggestions??

Before and After:
So there you have it. My kitchen/front room. Do you like the shelf? Do you like the mirror?? Shelf and mirror?? Should I take it all down and move? Help me!

Satisfying day

Today has been one of those satisfying Saturdays that I always want to have but don't always get. Busy, but not to busy and nice and somewhat productive. Today we:

• Went yard selling with my Mom. We did pretty good too. I bribe the kids to do their work in the morning quickly by giving them a dollar to spend at yard sales. Mia got Ken and Barbie. She is so into Barbie's right now. She was thrilled to get a boy Barbie. Jake got a brand new Cranium Hullabaloo game and Sammy got a touch and feel kitty book. He has a thing for kitties. I got a nice big black shelf, a plate rack, fancy tin wall decoration thingy, two black bathroom mats for my soon (crossing my fingers!) black and white bathroom. Mom came home with a great decorative rooster that my dad loved.
• I put up the new shelf I bought when I went on a decorating super shopping spree with my sister Teryn and my niece-in-law Angie. I had to put in toggle bolts and it was my first time doing that. I did an awesome job! It's level, but maybe would be a bit better more to the left.
• I finally scrapped more wallpaper off in the kitchen. It's been how long? Oh yes, this long. That's a really, really long time ago. I think it's high time to finish. *groan and whine*
• Kids played and played and played some more with good friends.
• We enjoyed SEVERAL rounds of Cranium Hullabaloo.
• Made breakfast and dinner but got to eat out for lunch.
• Cleaned up said meals AND washed the dishes. I don't love doing dishes by hand but it is sort of relaxing as long as baby is happy. Sam happily splashed in the soapy water.
• Cleaned the house and vacuumed up then sent the kids to the shower.

It's so nice being at the end of a Saturday with happy, clean and well fed kids and a few projects finished. Now it's time to decide if I like the shelf in the kitchen.

Looky Loo

These binoculars have been the favorite toy in our family. I remember when Gram gave them to Jakey when he was about the Sam age as Sammy. He loved them and walked all around Gram's house looking out of them. Apparently he wasn't looking so good since he walked right straight into the refrigerator and gave himself a black eye. That didn't seem to bother Jake. He still played with them long after.

Sammy found these the other day and intently played with them for quite a while. I loved that he would squint before he got them to his face. Funny little, squinty-eyed, serious, chubby hands baby.

Stand off 2008

I was taking pictures of the kids playing tonight and found this one that was just too typical. Mia and her little friend in a stand off over whose turn it was to swing next. This event is all too common. I have to laugh because I am too exhausted from refereeing them all day.

JAKES POKEMON CARDS

POKEMON RULES! IF YOU HAVE POKEMON CARDS YOU DONOT WANT GIVE 'EM TO ME! LEAVE A COMMENT.

oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My thumbs are turning green

I am not one to garden. I hardly did anything with the tiny little bit of garden beds at our old house. There was no secondary water so it was sooooo expensive just to water our yard. I did a horrible job at it. We had a few perennials and a few petunias that never did well. There was a nice little area for a garden too. I just never really wanted to deal with it. Just seemed too expensive and overwhelming.

When we moved in last year, I had so much work going on inside. Sam was still so little and it was all rather overwhelming to me. I had no desire to get out and clean up the yard. So we spent the Summer watching to see what our yard did. It was fun to have surprises like when the Poppies bloomed, but really knew that the yard would need some cleaning up.

This year, I really wanted to clean up the front of our house and maybe add a plant or two. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. One side of the planting bed in front of our house had a huge overgrown Forsythia bush that was as tall was the second story of our house and the other side had a sad little mini rose bush that didn't amount to much last. In between, nothing but Bishop's Weed. I knew I could do a tiny, little bit of work.

For my birthday, my fabulous sister VaLynn gave me her consultation time and $20 worth of flowers. She suggested pulling out the Bishop's Weed and adding the perennials. "Naw," I thought. "There is no way I would pull out the only thing living in the front of the house. I don't have a green thumb!" We went on our way to the nursery and picked out $20 worth of flowers and I added another $25 myself. VaLynn said that she would help me place the flowers the next week. I took out the rose bush, trimmed down the Forsythia, found a huge rock buried in the garden but still, would not take the Bishop Weed out. Weeks passed and I amazingly kept the flowers alive in their little plastic pots, occasionally thinking about that Bishop's Weed.

Such a big job. I am so wimpy. I don't want to start it. I won't have any help. I don't want to do it all myself.

Lots of excuses. I am good at those! If you look up excuses in the dictionary, you will see a picture of me! Mind you, it's not that big of an area. I am just not a gardener.

Apparently, I was bit by the gardening bug because last Saturday, I spent the better part of the day tearing out the Bishop's Weed. I am sure that I didn't get it all and will probably battle it for a while but, I did it myself. I didn't have any help, unless you count Sammy throwing the dirt. I am wimpy and my hands are sore, but I made it through. I started it AND finished it! Yeah me! Even better, VaLynn showed up this morning and helped me plant the flowers and even though they are all soooo small it looks pretty good! I have a long way to go as far as acquiring more plants and flowers and shrubs, but it's a start and an amazing one for me!

I was so pleased with the front that I planted a few petunia's on the side of the rock patio. Amazing what a little cleaning up can do. So everyone give me an virtual pat on the back and hope that I don't kill all those flowers!

Speaking of cleaning up, the side of the house is badly in need. Ahh!!