Freebie.

Free mirror from Grandma Mary + white spray paint , chalkboard spray paint, glaze (all on hand) =

I hope Mom likes it.

Adjusting to the new school year

Mary started pre-k on Monday! I am so excited for her. She's going daily from 8:30 to 12:30. It has been a crazy week here. I was looking forward to not breaking up fights for 4 hours a day. Now I just have to listen to "where's Mary?" all morning. Hmm. Yesterday Ellie picked up the toy phone and said "Hello, Mary Elizabeth? You come home now, Mary Elizabeth?" I thought she'd like having more time with me, but I was wrong.

Please note she's looking at her reflection in the deck door. She's also growing her bangs out....again. I hope it sticks this time. The last time they got into her eyes, and she refused to pull them out of the way. I cut them because it drove me crazy.

I'm working on my August to do list. I have the last little bit of wall decoration/art almost done for the dining room. I've touched up the paint. John is going to put the doorknob back on for me this weekend. I've painted the living room and hallway bathroom windows. I have NOT lost 10 pounds. Ugh. I've worked on Mom's mirror, and can finish it up with a coat of wipe on poly this weekend.

I'm thinking about knitting something. It has been many, many months since I actually knit. Longies season is just around the corner too. I was hoping Ellie would be nearly potty trained by now, but she isn't. And her legs must have grown 3 inches this summer because the last pairs of longies I made late last winter are now capris on her.

Maybe I'll go to bed early tonight to avoid picking up the toys.

It's Buddy!

Turns out a stray cat doesn't stay wild too long when he gets three meals a day. We've named him Buddy. He's super sweet, but also a dork. The first time I thought I saw him hunting, it turned out he was killing some weeds. There's a patch of grass by the front porch that's hard to get with the mower. He attacks that too.

Today we went out and fed him mid ice cream sandwich. He tolerates the girls pretty well, but does better being petted by them if his head is in the food bowl.

I actually got something done!

I've had this small project in mind forever. We had a row of black and white photos of Mary in our hallway. There were 5 of them. I took them the month we moved in.

Mary Elizabeth 17 months old

Mary Elizabeth 4.5 years old

I took the two physical photos and held them up as I was taking the old one out of the frame. I couldn''t even believe that the two are the same person. We thought Mary was so big when I took that old picture. And of course now I think she was just a baby back then and is so big now. I can't imagine what she (and Ellie) will look like in two more years when I get around to replacing them again.

Eleanor Ruth 23 months old

I love this picture of Ellie even though her face is obscured. I didn't hang it in the hallway though. I used this one instead.


What sweeties.

What a great weekend

We got so much done this weekend. Saturday morning I got my oil changed, then took some stuff to drop off at Goodwill. I shopped there and two other thrift stores for white dishes for my hutch. I found a few things. John got to mow the yard, then we watched our nephew Lucas for 3 hours. After the girls went to bed, I hung the door in the dining room and painted it. Whew! I almost couldn't get it hung, but I didn't give up. I wanted to be really careful with my screwdriver and not scratch the freshly painted hinges. I was supposed to wait 3 days before touching them, but I didn't have that kind of patience. After painting the door, I was still not happy with it. I decided it needed one more coat of paint. Ugh.

Today we got up, folded and put away three HUGE baskets of clean laundry. Cleaned the master bedroom and bathroom. Hung the old dining room mirror over John's dresser since I'd used the one that used to be there in the dining room. Then John said "want to lower the TV today and hang up my guitars?" Of course I said YES! But what I'd heard was "want to lower the TV today AND hide the cords and then hang my guitars?" So John goes and gets tools, takes the TV off the wall, lowers the mounting bracket and said "tada!" Well, not really. Then I said, "um, honey, the cords?" and then he cussed. But then, he hid them for me. We'd already purchased some junction boxes that we were going to run them through, and some cover plates with big holes for many cables. Well, the dang screw holes on the plates didn't match the junction boxes. My fault. I'd bought them six weeks ago. Ugh. So, plan B. John got a huge drill bit and just drilled two (well, three, but this story is already long enough) holes in the wall. It all ended up working fine, and despite some glaring, we didn't even fight!

THEN despite me deciding Ellie didn't need a nap, we kept going. My goodness. It was sort of another mix up. Last Tuesday or so, John said he'd trim out the living room window for me soon, but that he needed a few days off from woodworking. I think he said "Give me until Sunday." When he hadn't started by 2:30pm, I figured he wasn't going to do it. I reminded him what he said and even though he had no memory of saying it, he got right to work. He worked from 3pm until 8pm and got it done! He even took a break to cook steaks on the grill for us. What a man! Seriously. He's such a hard worker.

After I got Ellie to sleep, I gave the dining room door a (hopefully) final coat of paint. And while I was doing it, I figured out what I am going to do on the little space of wall in that corner. Woot! Just need to find time to do it.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be filling the holes in the living room and bathroom window trim (just painting the old trim white in the bathroom), priming and painting them.

And that is the play by play of our weekend.

If you made it this far, here are my two sweet babies!


They were picking and eating little wild strawberries in the yard. I was taking pics to print and hang in our hallway. We have a set there of just Mary. Poor Ellie. I think we have maybe 10 printed pics of her in the house.

august to do list

There's nothing like starting a to do list on the 5th of the month!

Dining room
--touch up paint
--finish door
--keep decorating


Windows
--paint window/frame in living room
--paint window/frame in hallway bathroom

Clean house from top to bottom for Ellie's b-day party (9/4). Not because the guests care, but because I care. And I've neglected the house for the last month.

Clean out craft closet. Currently, when I open the door, things fall out. Need to have it clean enough that I can have the door off for a week while painting that door.

Clean out coat/shoe closet. That door will also be off for a week or so while we (what we? I'm the painter!) paint it.

Convince John he's ready to put in new baseboards and door trim into the entryway and living room starting the weekend after Ellie's b-day party.

Make over a mirror for Mom. I got this ugly/vintage mirror for free. Mom's going to do a wall of mirrors with white frames (she's caught the painting bug! I am so proud of her.) so I offered to fix this one up and give it to her.

Lose the 10 pounds I've gained back by 8/29 which is my 34th b-day. Ugh. So frustrated at myself.

I actually need to have most of this done by August 27th as we already have plans that weekend. I hope I can do it all!

There's a crazy storm outside.

I hope our new turkeys are okay! There were 3 mothers and 7 babies this morning. Then this evening there were at least 6 adults. I couldn't even count them all.


"That raccoon, Mommy?" Um. No. But good guess. We saw a lot of raccoons out that window this summer when the mulberry tree had berries. I told Ellie they were turkeys, mommies and babies. Then all day I heard "Where baby turkey, Mommy?" We scared them up tonight when we were feeding Ariel and checking the garden. Turkeys are some HUGE birds to see flying. Ellie was scared of them and clutched to me.

I'm still plugging away at the dining room. I'm hoping to get the door hung this weekend and then get a final coat of paint on it.


I'd been hoarding, er, SAVING these white plates for months. I kept adding to them when I went to thrift stores, yard sales, etc. The huge platter is a family heirloom. I felt a little funny about hanging it on the wall (I worry it will fall and break), but I wasn't getting any joy from keeping it in a box wrapped in bubble wrap. Besides my $4 ironstone platter (rectangular one on the upper left), I don't think I paid more than a dollar for any of them. I know that 4 of them cost 12.5 cents each (taped together, 2 for 50 cents at Goodwill, then marked down 50%). I love my wall of plates! I might add to it or I might not.

I'm still working on the hutch. I want to fill it with all white stuff. The stuff that is in there is all stuff I had around the house. I'm going to try to hit a couple thrift stores this weekend to see what I can find for it.

Hmmm, the DVR has been searching for a signal for 20 minutes. This isn't looking good for TV time tonight. Maybe I should just go to bed.

I should have ironed!

Ironing these drop cloth curtains is so difficult. I think I ironed 1.5 of them and then gave up. The right one would hang much better if I ironed it. I also need someone who can take better pics than I can.


Still need to get the other 2 chairs from the basement. And then hang things on the walls. Last night I tried the furniture in about 10 different arrangements, but the old one is the only way things will work.

I cannot believe what a transformation this is! Makes me want to start on the next room.....right after I sleep for a month.