Proof I read too many crafty blogs

It's a peeps bunting! Why? Well, for next Easter I guess.

Also, the dining room's days are numbered. I see myself tripping, falling, and accidentally ripping the paneling down sometime in the next two weeks!!!!! First I need to pack up all the china in the hutch and the junk in the other little cabinet. Then move out all the furniture, etc. Then it's demo time! There are no words to describe how excited I am about it. I can just see our Christmas tree in there this year with my new walls :). I stand in the doorway to that room every day while wearing Ellie and waiting for her to go to sleep. I imagine it with the walls painted, new white trim, new windows, curtains, and some of the junk I've been hording as accessories. Woot! So freaking excited!!

Fifty cents

Most people probably wouldn't pay fifty cents for a tiny, dirty mirror with a fake gold? brass? frame. In what year was that cool? It was neither brassy nor golden. It was sort of a dull, brown plastic trying to be something better.

I didn't even take a before picture. I had it in the basement forever. I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Until last week.


Now I need to find a place to hang it. I made the chalkboard on the back side of the mirror, so I could always turn it back around if I wanted a mirror instead.

I have another "thingy" that I got for 50 cents at a rummage sale. I'm working on it. Working on an awful fake woody-plastic frame too.

I'm knitting socks. Blah. Not liking them at all. I'm 4 inches into them, but not even inspired to work on them.

We're also gearing up for some major home renovation! I am so excited.

Dear Mom

Besides the fact that my lamp shade is too short or the harp is too tall, why must you hate my five dollar consignment lamp? I think it looks nice.

P.S. Sweet Eleanor Ruth took the bottom knob off there. She's working on getting the top one removed.

I am a sucker

for little girls crying at the pet store because they want to bring a bunny home.

Mary's named him Ariel. 

A very tall TV fairy and a new pet!

I don't even have a before pic of the old TV set up. Just imagine a HUGE thing that held a HUGE TV. You know, like half the people in America have. It was massive. Not too tall, but wide. And heavy. John nearly killed himself getting it out of here. When we had to go down two steps with it in the garage, I thought for sure we'd drop it and smash it (we had it up on a cart with wheels). But it made it to the garage. Now we just need to figure out what to do with it.

BUT!!! We got the new TV installed!!


John held up a piece of cardboard the size of the TV, and I told him it looked great! But then when we got the actual TV up, it was about 4-5 inches higher than we thought it would be. And don't mind the intercom, it will get taken out and the hole patched. Someday. And then we can paint! Woot! I love painting! We need a "new" lamp too. I got one Saturday at a consignment store. It's brass. Mom gave me another "oh" when I told her it was exactly what I wanted. I got it home, and it was too tall. I took it half apart last night. There's one section at the top I can remove. Once we (and by we, I mean John and his hacksaw. And then some epoxy.) do that and reassemble it, I can paint it. I think I already have a shade that will work.

Our other project for the week has been our new cat! Well, I hope he's ours. He can stay, and we'll feed him. I hope he does. I also hope he's a hunter. We have an awful mole problem in our yard. Maybe he'll also kill the mice before they get into the house.

(No idea what Ellie is doing there.) He's scared of us, but is doing better after being fed for 3 or 4 days. I was able to stand out on the deck and talk to him while he ate today.

Both kids are sick. I feel like I am so behind on life that I'll never catch up. I don't have any upcoming projects. Except maybe actually fold last week's laundry that's all thrown around in our bedroom.

Fill in the blank

Today I went to a Mother's Day brunch at Mary's school. Each of the kids (with the help of the teacher) had written a little something about their mother. The teacher read them out loud. Before she started Mary's, she said it was her favorite. I knew I was in trouble.

"My Mommy has brown hair and blue eyes. She is 33 years old. The best food that she cooks is hot dogs. For fun my Mommy likes to make my Daddy happy. I love my Mommy because she loves me."

And there you have it.

Mini Vacation

We are home from our Chicago trip. It went so well. I wanted to write this long blog post about every little detail, but I'm just too worn out. Thursday we drove up there, Friday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and then a get together for out of town guests who would be attending John's brother's wedding. Saturday we got up, went to the playground for a couple hours, then out to lunch with a bunch of people. Saturday night was the wedding. We stayed until some crazy hour....10:30pm Central I think.....so 11:30pm Eastern....so 4 hours after bedtime. Mary wanted to stay and DANCE!!! so we let her of course. Sunday we drove home. Mary, Miss I DON'T NAP, took two naps in the car.

As crazy as it was, we had fun. It was a great family trip. It made me look forward to family trips yet to come. The girls did so well. They put up with the long hours, the long, boring meals where grown ups sat an visited, and the long, long car drive home. They were troopers. I am proud of them.

And now....pictures!

Lincoln Park Zoo. It was so beautiful. There were many, many mass plantings of tulips and daffodils. The trees were blooming. And in the background, we could see the city skyline.


The girls taking a break. We decided not to take the stroller to Chicago this year. It worked out fine. Ellie hates being confined anyway. They walked or we carried them. Other people at the zoo probably felt sorry for us. One lady actually saw us switch kids....I had to quit carrying Mary. She's just too big. The lady asked "When is someone going to carry you?"


My sweet princesses! That's right, I'm dressing them the same until they are too big to stop me. They even had matching shoes.


My hottie and me! John looked so handsome. It had been almost 6 years since John had worn a suit.


The girls and their cousin Sophia killing time before the reception.


I love this picture.


When in doubt, give the kids a glass of ice. Free entertainment!


Dance, Mary, Dance! She told me yesterday that she wanted to go back to the wedding and dance more. She also told me that at her wedding, it's going to be all dancing! No ceremony, no dinner. Just dancing! I can hardly wait.

What a great trip. What wonderful memories we made. I have a wonderful family. I am so very blessed.