little altars

New York Minute

2012-02-08T14:31:00.013-06:00

A couple of months ago, I read that Martha Stewart was going to be cancelled. My heart dropped. I don't watch her like I used to, but Martha has been the benchmark for all things homemakery for me. I still have some of the first issues of her magazine. They were given to me by my best friend from high school, who died shortly after and represent a shared love of cooking and decorating between us. Martha helped me plan parties and my daughter's wedding.

tissue flowers inspired by Martha

I've made baby shoes for Helena from her patterns. She taught me how to felt, how to make icing and I copied my collection of milk glass from her. I even went to her trial (maybe I shouldn't admit that. I'm starting to sound a little crazy). ANYWAY, all that to say, I really wanted to see her show live. Every year when we would go to NY, I would try to walk by the studio, my crafting mecca. It seemed like I was either not in town while they were in production or couldn't get ticket on the days they were. I saw my chances slipping away.

At the trial, March 2004

The day I saw the news, I vowed to apply for tickets every week until I got some. Well, I got lucky on the first try! Plans were quickly made to go the NY. Kenny wanted to go, too (to NY not Martha). He offered to go the the show with me, but I didn't have a ticket for him. Long story short, he stood in line for 2 hours to get a standby ticket and was the only standby to get in. Meant to be, huh? Isn't he the best guy in the world?? We got on the front row and one of the crew saw me taking pics so grabbed my camera, GASP!, but then started taking pictures all over the set for me! THEN, as if things couldn't get better, they passed out tastes of what they were cooking AND gave out gifts. We both got a microplane and a wedge of parmesan cheese. Oh happy day!!!!

That was all on the first morning, before noon. We had lunch at one of Tom Colicchio's restaurants and then went to Mood fabric, where they buy fabric for Project Runway. In a Project Runway side note, I am now one degree from Tim Gunn. My friend, Jamie (she's really the daughter of my friend Sheila, but I borrowed her apt in NY for a trip and she was in some of my classes all those years ago at Snow Hts. so that makes us friends, too), works for the producer of Godspell on Broadway. One of the PR challenges was to make costumes for Godspell!!!! That means only one person stands between me and probably becoming BFF with Tim. That, along with my shopping at Mood last week and petting the Mood dog, Swatch, made me feel like I know them. When you watch PR this Thurs, look at the dossiers the designers are holding. Jamie did those. Yep.

Anyway, back to the trip. Jamie also got us some great tickets for How to Succeed in Business..., which was great. I now have a crush on Nick Jonas. We went to 2 flea markets, did some shopping, ate way too much and, best of all, had a great time just being together.

Pinned It, Did It: Cleanin' and Cookin' and Craftin'

2012-01-21T09:49:00.018-06:00

In this episode of Pinned It, Did It, I tried some cleaning things I have posted, some crock pot meals I've seen and a couple of crafts.

Let's start with cleaning. I love to clean my house. Really. There is nothing so satisfying as a fresh smelling, clutter free house. As I've mentioned before, behind closet doors lies the ugly underbelly of a hoarder's house, but nothing makes me happier than a completely, front to back, clean house. I have been very excited about the different cleaning things I've seen on Pinterest. It combines my need to clean with the pleasure of saving some cash. The first thing I tried was the tub cleaner.

It worked ok, but I'm not too fond on the vibrant blue that it turns everything. You've really got to wipe to get it out from between the tiles. It did an ok job in the tub, but I think I'm going to try the bleach cleaner I recently saw when this runs out. The smell was a turn off. I like the smell of vinegar and have always used vinegar and water to clean my glass. Mixed with the Dawn, though, it had a wonky smell that didn't scream "I just cleaned this bathroom!". We all know that when you work hard to clean a bathroom, you want the world to know it.

Speaking of smells, I also tried the Febreze knockoff. I was much happier with this. Using vodka as an odor remover may not sound cost effective, but I already had some on hand (long story about a train wreck and a truck hauling liquor) and I don't drink it so I thought I might as well us it for this. I also had some eucalyptus oil for the fragrance. It's not cheap either, but I already had that, too, and you only need a few drops. That made this FREE. Yea! I liked the smell and it did a great job taking out the stinky dog smell left by an incontinent boxer on a (red wool!) rug.

Next up, crock pot meals. A friend was not feeling well and I wanted to do a dinner for her. Since I wasn't sure what day she would need it most and I only had a small window in which to cook, I decided to do a frozen crock pot meal. Heck, while I'm at it, do 2 or 3. And why not do some for myself? In the end, I froze 7 meals for her and 3 for us. Great decision. It took care of a whole week of food for us and gave her the option of cooking a fresh meal whenever she needed it. I'll definitely do this again.

some of the crock pot ingredients

I had seen this pinned several months ago and decided I needed one when an opportunity to go the New York popped up. I don't like hats because it's hard to find one to fit my not so petite noggin. You know how I feel about felt flowers and I already had a sweater felted and ready to go. I cut it free hand and and stitched it by hand.

When I finished, I liked it ok, but something was missing.

all orange flowers...yawn

I added a few gray felt flowers and liked it a lot better. You can see it in action when I post the pics from NY.

Next, the sweater bag. I wanted a new bag for the trip, too. Still had tons of sweaters left, so I made the bag with one. I was a little worried about it being substantial enough to carry all my stuff, so I lined it with a t-shirt. Look familiar? I made a pocket using the neckline so I wouldn't have to hem it and attached it to the lining.

It worked great for the trip. I really like the way it turned out and am thinking about making some more.

The Latest Wedding

2012-01-21T09:48:00.005-06:00

I haven't done a wedding since September because I was worried about the baby coming. The last bridal I did (at the end of Oct) was with the understanding that if the baby came early, I'd have to find someone else to fill in. I was soooo stressed because this bride was flying in from Wisconsin. We obviously made it and she was a beautiful bride.

I know this bride from high school, my second time thru (as my kids like to say). I worked at a high school and because of my job, I was required to work pretty closely with the kids. For a couple of years, I had to be a part of a group that can only be described as a spirit/cheer type group. Anyway, they had to go to all the games and lead the crowd with cheers and chants. This bride was a part of the group and one of my favorites. One of those kids that you knew would be just fine when she grew up. She is a lovely person with a sweet, gracious spirit. Her wedding was small but packed a punch. I loved the cake, I loved the table settings and I loved candy table. I've done wedding that I know cost thousands more that didn't have the impact this one did. Just like the bride; small, elegant and beautiful.

one of the table settings

another

nothing stuffy about this group

The Bride and Groom

Pinned It, Did It

2012-01-21T08:16:00.005-06:00

I've been pinning for going on a year now and my obsession hasn't waned. Pinterest to me is the drug I need to feed my crafting, cooking, gardening cravings and I can do it without paying for magazine subscriptions (although I still have to have Martha Stewart and Bon Appetit in my hands). Add to that the ability to comment on things and discuss them with friends and virtual friends makes it crack for me. In the beginning I wildly pinned whatever caught my eye (I'll probably not add a small waterpark in my backyard). Now I'm much more conscious of whether or not I need it on a board. I also check the link to be sure I can actually see the tute, read the blog or whatever.

I've posted some of the things I've done in other entries. I've done lots of bows and stuff for Helena. I've gotten ideas for cards and announcements, decorated a nursery using ideas gleaned from there and hosted birthday parties and showers based on stuff I've seen there. I even did a Pinterest party. My favorite thing is to get inspiration and for photography. Sometimes when I feel like I can't shoot another picture, I take a look at others' work and it gets me excited again.

Meg and the kids

I've decided to now post on things I've tried and whether or not they were successful and if I'd do it again. Since I'm not good at following directions, I'll probably add a few modifications to the original tute. Sometimes that works for me and sometimes it's a bust. Hopefully you fellow crafters in blogland can give me some pointers, too, on where I went wrong or how to do it better.

I'm planning a trip to NYC (more on that later) and I needed something to cover my ears. I hate hats because I kinda have a melon head and I have a hard time finding one to fit. When I saw this on Pinterest, I had to have it. It combines my need for ear warmers with my current love of felted wool and fabric flowers.

I had an old sweater of Meg's that I had used for some flowers for Helena that was already felted. I liked the color and there was enough there to make the band.

I cut out the band the approximate size I thought I needed and cut out the flowers free hand. For each flower I cut out several wavy circles in various sizes and stacked them up. I stitched them on, pulling really tightly so they would pucker. I added an old button and whip stitched a hem on both sides. I cut and hand finished a button hole (it looked awful, but no one will see it).

I didn't like the solid orange look, it was kinda boring, so I added some gray. I liked it a lot better.

I like how it turned out and I'm excited to have a reason to wear it!

11 Days at Mamie's

2012-01-18T17:30:00.003-06:00

Helena made her first trip to Ft. Worth almost 2 weeks ago. The initial plan was for us to go down there. Because of work we were only going to be there about 36 hours, so they decided to take the plunge and make the drive. Meg and the kids had planned on staying a couple of extra days and Eddie would drive home Sunday. Because of full flights and Eddie being on call Friday-Sunday of the next weekend, they stayed until last night. Helena was able to have lunch with me at school and meet lots of friends. We went to see the trains at the Dallas Children's Hospital, splay with lots of friends, went to the Stock Show and generally had a blast.

As I've mentioned here before, I'm kind of a pack rat. I HATE to throw things away because of sentimentality or just because I might need it again. This is a Fisher Price zoo that belonged to B when he was about Reid's age. I still had all the animals, people and cars. I pulled it out this week and Reid loved it.

Nellie and Mamie being silly

Enjoying our traditional Stock Show corn dog

petting the goats

riding the train

out of gas

Two Months Old!

2012-01-15T18:12:00.004-06:00

It is hard to believe that two months have passed since I was writing blog posts about Baby Wingnut. We talked about how it would be difficult to call the new baby by its name once it was born since we'd called it Wingnut for so long. However, from the moment Helena was born, she's never been anything else (well, sort of...she's also Nell, Nellie Belly, sunshine, sugar doll, and Smellena). Without further ado, this is what our precious girl looks like at two whole months old.

She weighs 14.7 pounds now, which is pretty close to what her brother weighed at this age. She started smiling at around 5 weeks and now has it pretty much perfected. Although she's been cooing for a little while, Helena is just now beginning to talk a lot. Not all has been rainbows and unicorns however, the poor baby has been having quite a bit of trouble with diaper rash. Her problems began when she was about 3 weeks old and have waxed and waned since then. Anyone with a miracle cure is welcome to share it with us since right now she using up her $25 per week Triple Paste allowance. The Triple Paste has to been layered with a prescription diaper cream that is non-formulary and also costs about a million dollars. Basically it costs a ton of money to keep this little girl's bottom looking like someone forgot to change her all day (and that's when it is looking good). Helena isn't one to complain though...Perhaps she is rewarding her parents for their Herculean diapering efforts with her sleep. She's been sleeping in 5-6 hour stretches at night since she was about 4 weeks old. She will usually nap for at least 3 hours in the morning and afternoon. Her favorite time is at night when she loves to kick, laugh, smile and chat it up. While her brother is early to bed, early to rise, Helena lives for the night.

Reid is still loving having his baby sister around. He loves to baby talk to her and show her his toys. He also demands that someone go get Helena the moment that he wakes up. I am constantly impressed by how well he has handled the transition from only child to big brother. As you can see in the picture, Reid is wearing underwear now! His last day in diapers (except at night and nap) was the last day of 2011. I'm not proud or anything...

They've been here for about 10 days and we've been having all kinds of fun. Tomorrow we go to the Stock Show...pictures to follow!

FELT-A-PALOOZA!

2012-01-06T17:41:00.008-06:00

As I said in my previous post, having a grand daughter has led to complete crafting/sewing madness. I have been lovin' on all the felt flowers I've seen lately. No better canvas for these blooms that the sweet noggin' of Helena. I didn't limit myself to only felt or flowers, however. I was generous with my attention to all mediums...fabric, ribbon, felt, buttons, headbands and clips. This is only the beginning, folks. I have some linen, satin, vintage jewelry, and who knows what else to clip, tie, or stretch around that poor, I mean lucky, baby's head. Let the fun begin!

Ric Rac Rosebud clips

Knit Flower and Rag Flower headbands

Felt Hydrangea headband

Yellow Felt Flower headband with Button

Pink Knit Flower headband

Red Felt Flower with Rhinestone Button and Yellow/White Mum headbands

Clips

The babies are on their way over now. Reid's first trip up since his birthday and Nellie-girl's first road trip ever. They are gonna need dental work from all the sweet loving coming their way. Expect to see more pics soon!

For My New Tater Tot

2012-01-05T20:39:00.011-06:00

I mentioned one time that when I get interested (obsessed) in something, it's like my dog trying to get a tater tot that's rolled under the stove. Totally focused, snout shoved under the stove, scratching at the floor focused. Sweet Little Nell has done that for me in terms of baby girl fluff. My heart pounds when I think of all the goodies there are to make for her. I barely get back from shopping for one project when I feel COMPELLED to go get another one started. I have had to buy bins to corral all the crafting/sewing paraphernalia. I even got a serger (thanks, Teri!!!!!). My head is spinning with possiblilites.

Thank goodness for Pinterest, which has not only fueled this frenzy, but raised the bar on the cute factor exponentially while cutting down on the "coming up with cute ideas" time. Without further ado, I present.....

SHOES

Helena's first Mary Janes, done in a black mock suede-ish fabric

silk ballet slippers with rag roses made from the silk tablecloth that was on the cake table at Meg and Eddie's wedding

DRESS MADE FROM REPURPOSED SWEATER AND TIGHTS WITH MATCHING HEAD And FOOT ADORNMENT

I made this dress and bloomer set from a cashmere sweater that Meg didn't want. I used directions I saw on Pinterest and bought a small dress at Thrift Town to use as a pattern. I thought it needed tights, so I used another pattern for those and then made a headband and foot things to match. They aren't really sandals, but I don't know what else to call them, so foot adornments will work for now.

Here's a picture of the little Chunk of Love wearing the ensemble

Next post...Feltapalooza!

New Year, New Me

2011-12-31T09:27:00.007-06:00

Ha! Not really! I hate New Year's resolutions. I think it's because I hate anyone telling me what to do, even if it's me. I have to sneak my resolutions in as "goals" and try not to act like I really want to achieve them THAT much. Just suggestions. This year's suggestions for myself:

For the house

revamp back flower bed and try to wrestle purple coneflowers and daisies into submission
move hydrangeas and use the bed they are now in as a small kitchen garden
make that garden and TAKE CARE OF IT
bring the chickens back! After a series of events, including a chicken murder, I've been without my girls for a year. I'm ready for eggs again.
redo kitchen
redo back bathroom
build a murphy bed

Obviously a majority of the above will not actually be done by me, just envisioned and then supervised by me.

For me

more consistent time with God
start walking again (I used to be pretty good about this, but...)
cook more
less TV
work more in my yard
get a serger so I can sew more efficiently (this will take some help for others (: )

Kenny and I have decided that together, our plan will be to tighten our budget. With retirement now becoming pinpoint light at the end of a loooong tunnel, we want to be sure we can live on what we will be getting. The first thing we've done is to cut out expenses that may be a little frivolous. First to go was hundreds of TV channels.

Nobody loves HGTV, BRAVO and the Food network like I do, but are they necessary? We shall see. Cutting out the bundle that had the channels, internet and a home phone line has saved us $260 (we paid for my parents' Dish, too) We had to get internet service ($43) and bought a Roku box so that we could watch movies and TV series from Netflix and Hulu+ (at a cost of $15), so our total savings was $202/month, substantial. So is my pain. Doing this, though, will also help with my "watch less TV" suggestion to myself.

The next thing to go was the daily newspaper. I love the newspaper and have read it almost everyday since I was a teenager. We've had a newspaper delivered to our house for over 30 years, so this was a tough one. They offered an IPad version though, for $20 a year if you had a subscription. Because we still pay for my brother's subscription and I didn't want to cancel that one, we were able to work it out so that I was able to get the reduced rate and cancel the one delivered to our house. Savings: $220/year (about $18/month).

Coming up later will the be reduction of cell phone costs. I've GOT TO HAVE my data and unlimited texts, so those are out of the question, but in a few months, Meg's contract will be out and she can switch over to a plan with Eddie, so that will reduce it some. We put her on our plan when Eddie was deployed, it just made sense, so I don't want to break the contract.

Since I gave up my channels, Kenny has vowed to give up his memberships to all those wineries' wine of the month clubs. We shall see about that one :)

What do you think? Any more ideas I can use to save some cash and make my golden years more comfortable financially?

It would't be a post without pictures. Here are some from Christmas.

After the Christmas Eve Service with Great Grandparents

The cookies were for who?

Christmas Eve in their jammies (and Reid still trying to wolf down all the cookies before Santa gets to them)

Helena with her Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls from Mamie

Sitting on his tiger

Announcements, Christmas Cards and a One Month Old

2011-12-18T21:07:00.010-06:00

Let's just start with the good stuff, sweet Helena's one month pics.

During the time I was in San Antonio, helping with the babies, we were also busy doing other things. My daughter has strict announcement and card standards. They all have to be custom made and they have to be different. So when it's time to do them, we don't monkey around. We kinda have a friendly competition over who comes up with the best idea. I could SO throw it, because I do all the photography, editing and designing for both of us. I think I won the Christmas card category this year, but she had the overall win with the announcement design. It took 3 days of shooting to get just the right shot and HOURS of searching for just the right font. And let's don't even talk about the color of the font. Pink, but not too pink and not too purple. Did I say she had strict standards?

Here they are....

Her Christmas card front

Her card back

My card front

My card back

But best of all, her announcement.

Front

Back

To fully understand the I Spy, here is the key.

The envelope is glassine. I found vintage cancelled stamps on Craigslist and we added a vintage looking forever stamp.

Weekend at Mamie's

2011-12-16T13:09:00.010-06:00

throwing leaves at Mamie's

For the first time EVER, Reid left the watchful eye of his mommy and came to Mamie's house alone. We had our sweet Sack o' Sugar for 4 days! After Kenny did his rotation helping out with the new baby in San Antonio the Wed. after Thanksgiving, he brought Reid back with him. We had a ball doing all the things that grandparents are supposed to do, but I had to take care of business, too.

Thursday, I took take him to the dentist. Meg really liked the dentist they found here, so instead of looking for a new one, her plan was to bring him back here for his ck ups. Lucky for us, they didn't have any appts. before the baby. He did a great job (I'm not going to let a little screaming and kicking cloud my opinion) and his prize was an "out to eat" and going to the fire station to see Papaw. The next day, Papaw kept him while I went to work. Papaw got the pleasure of taking Reid for his haircut, a job nobody wants. He does a full on Linda Blair when that cape gets on him and it takes 2 people to get it done. Not only that, they can't use scissors. Too much thrashing about! Clippers with a #5 guard buzzed around as fast as possible.

I'm sure you think that we were duped into doing all the cruddy stuff that mom didn't want to be subjected to, and maybe you're right, but we take what we can get! To be able to wake up to "Hey, Mamie!" every morning is worth a dozen trips to the dentist. Hearing "Mamie, cuddle Reid" when he climbs in bed with me after I get him makes even the worst haircut experience seem like nothing at all.

more interested in the hot chocolate than the incredibly realistic tree

After all the bad stuff was taken care of, we picked up J from school and the fun began. We put up the tree and decorated Friday night, dancin' to Christmas carols and drinking hot chocolate. Saturday we went to the Children's Parade in Dallas. thanks to our sweet Aunt Genny. So. Much. Fun!!!! Just cold enough to wear winter stuff and make it feel like Christmas.

does it get any more precious? nope.

When the parade was done, we made the trek back to San Antonio. Megan had a Cookie Exchange planned and we had to help decorate. The boys started a gingerbread house, but sadly, some sort of candy monster devoured most of the decor.

about to start the futile process. should've just poured the candy in their mouths and been done with it!

meg's table for the cookie exchange. isn't it pretty?

Lots of great food and plenty of chattin' it up. A great end to a perfect weekend!

She's Here!

2011-11-18T21:10:00.007-06:00

Last week we were waiting impatiently thru a few false alarms for our sweet baby to get here. Today our precious Helena Blythe is a week old. Last week I didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. Today I can't imagine it any other way.

After the last post, nothing happened until around 10:00. Around 11:30, we headed to the hospital. She got checked in at 12, had an epidural at 2:30 and the baby made her appearance at 5 am, 11-11-11.

Nell (her nickname), is the sweetest little bunny you have ever seen. 7 lbs, 10 oz, 18.5 inches of deliciousness. Dark hark, dark eyes and a quiet disposition, she is a dream. Reid was an easy baby. He nursed well and napped great, but this baby has set the bar even higher. Other than a few squeaks when she's hungry or needs to burp, we rarely hear a peep. In the week she's been home, she's never worked up to a cry. She only gets up once or twice at night (the first 2 home she slept all night) and sleeps thru all the toddler noise during the day. When she is awake, she just looks around, searching for her mommy's voice. Oh, and that new baby smell.....ummmm.

nibbling fingers with great-grandma, Memaw

The great part about not knowing what we were having is the excitement of shopping. The day after she got home I headed to the mall. I picked up a few things and then we ordered a ton online. Bow making will soon commence. Both times she's gone out for checkups, I've made a quick bow or headband to match the outfit she wore. SO. MUCH. FUN.

Reid is doing better than I expected. He doesn't think she's as great as I do, but he tolerates her and even kisses her now and then. He has even offered a truck to share a couple of times.

Sneaking a taste of Nell's birthday cake.

Even when it comes home sleeping all night the first 2 nights, having a new baby around is exhausting. And even though I'm not even having to get up to do a baby shift, I'm not getting much sleep. Up till about 11 or 12 at night and up around 6-7 in the morning. My alarm is a 2 year old yelling "Mamie, you wanna eat some brefkast?!" If I get in there early, I can convince him that we can't get out of bed until the sun comes up and he'll go to sleep. If he doesn't, I get a truck driven over me while I doze. I can't come to San Antonio without a laundry list of things to do, including the laundry, and this time is no different. I needed to finish 3 more smaller mobiles for the baby's room, finish drapes in the den, do the birth announcement and take tons of pictures. The biggest job was going thru ALL of Reid's clothes from his ENTIRE life. Instead of storing clothes that she may or may not need again, Meg decided to sell them to fund clothing for Helena. So we have been washing and sorting more clothes than you can imagine. Huge online garage sale coming to a blog near you.

So, in a nutshell...

Mommy and Daddy: doing good. Daddy better than Mommy but she's getting there. You hear people talk about how awful it is when your milk supply isn't enough, but Meg has the opposite problem...over supply. I can tell you, it's a lots worse on a mom that not making enough. You can supplement a baby until you have enough, but you can't make it go away if you have too much. Awful. Can I say it again? AWFUL. I had never heard of it before Reid was born. It really did a number on his digestion and let's don't talk about how it made Meg feel. When her problem was finally diagnosed by Dr. Internet (the lactation people didn't believe her) on day 4, she had to pump for relief. They said 4 days after postpartum, the milk might be in and not to expect more than 4 oz. She got around 20 oz. Yeah, pick your jaw off the floor. She could have fed quintuplets. The same thing is happening this time. You can't take anything so she is treating it a homeopathic way. Cabbage leaves plastered to her breast. The house smells of coleslaw and she looks like a walking salad bar. Let's add in a UTI and mastitis. It's been a party for her.

Big Brother: Making the adjustment well. He doesn't know what to do with her so he stands there and wiggles his fingers and giggles. As a side note, he has started potty training with me. We even wore underpants instead of a diaper to the grocery store. I don't expect it to continue after I leave, mom doesn't have enough time yet, but at least he's getting the idea.

Mamie: Over the moon.

Still No Baby!

2011-11-10T20:51:00.023-06:00

I really thought I'd have written several posts about the new baby by this date, but instead I've done NONE. This kid thinks it's an elephant, pulling an 11 month gestation. In reality, it's not even officially late yet, not due till the 13th. We have a few days left, but we were basing our due date on Reid's pregnancy. Reid is a very compliant child, even then. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for this kid! Meg texted Wednesday morning and said she was having contractions, threat level yellow. I made all the phone calls, got all excited and then she texted a few hours later and said they had stopped. Boo. Thursday morning, around 4 a.m. I get the real call. Come on down! We jumped out of bed, dolled ourselves up and waited for Memaw to come. We left the house at 5 and pulled into San Antone at 9:20. Great travel time, especially since we stopped twice. You really can't drive thru West without stopping for sausage rolls, you just can't. The other was the result of too much Diet Coke. When we got thru with all the kissing and hugging, Meg said that her contractions has stopped a little bit before. Oh, well.

I've been waiting to do a nursery reveal because I meant to do it with the baby. As I was told by one of Meg's friends today (thanks Jenn), no one will care about the nursery if I'm posting about the baby. Good point. The first few shots are from the nursery in WA. The plan was to go gender neutral and use it with all the kids. Yeah, right. The bed and bookshelf are the same, as is the dresser. The dresser was used as a changing table then, but not now.

We used none of the fabrics from the previous nursery. This time we used 3 prints and a red solid. The print has a vintage children's theme on 2 of them and dots on the 3rd. We redid 2 chairs, made a bed skirt, drapes and a book sling.

This is the chair that I reupholstered last week. Behind it is a book sling I made for the wall.

This is the changing table/old pediatrician scale I got at a flea market. Above is a mobile I made with a vintage book. I plan on adding a few more things, but I haven't finished them yet. The hamper is something I found in Canton years ago and recovered with one of the prints.

We repainted this armoire that I got from a friend (If you only loaned it to me, Phyllis, I'm sorry) and we painted white. I made the wreath with vintage book pages. I made the rosettes, dipped them in wax and hot glued them on to the frame I made from foam core. It took hours. My son called me later asking me if I knew that the word "pussy" was very visible on several leaves I had made from the pages. Apparently the story was about a gray kitty. Who knew you had to be careful when using vintage school books?

I made this wall hanging for the previous nursery but it fit the theme so we used it again. The 2nd on is the one I made on my Pinterest day.

Memaw picked up this chair at a resale shop and we redid it so I would have a place to sleep. It has a twin bed in it. I love the way it turned out, but wish I had added more color. I did the piping with one of the prints but it doesn't really show. I'm gonna have to add some pillows.

A close up of the bed skirt. It's really just 3 pieces of fabric that's gathered up and bound with a bias tape that I made. It's attached with velco to the mattress frame so I can lengthen or shorten it as needed.

This "M" is from the top of their wedding cake.

I promise, the next time I post, it will be about a NEW BABY!

Waiting...

2011-11-06T17:04:00.005-06:00

We are at the point in Meg's pregnancy that when I do anything I think to myself, "by the time I ____, she could call and we'll be on our way." Well, I've finished a lot of things! I wanted everything done by Reid's birthday and we managed that, thankfully. Everything after that has been gravy. Here is some of the "gravy" I've gotten done.

I finished reupholstering this chair. I bought it at a flea market last year and my neighbor made a slipcover for it to match my nursery. It matches the lines for the chair in Wingnut's room, so I recovered in in the same fabrics.

This is the before. I have after shots later.

I started this chair that was mine when I was a little girl. I recovered it for Meg when she was about 2.

Back cushion was lost the the attic black hole. I'll need to make another.

And made the kids the first (of many) matching Thanksgiving shirts.

I cleaned out the fridge, I washed the car and I packed it with all the essentials. Diet coke, camera bag, sheets and blankets, snacks. I went shopping for a hospital outfit in case it's a girl. We have plenty of boy things, some still with tags, so if Wingnut is a boy, he's fine. I know I bought girl stuff last time, too, but nothing really special for hospital pictures. It's just a gown, and probably the only thing that makes it special is the ridiculously high price I paid for it, but I felt better. I bought a stocking in case things get crazy and I don't have a chance to get one before we hang ours for Christmas. The plan is to decorate the first week in Dec. and that's CLOSE.

I also did 7 shoots and finished the editing on all but one, the one I am currently avoiding by blogging.

So now I'm all caught up and can just enjoy all the baby loving that is coming my way!

Happy Halloweeeeen

2011-11-01T17:25:00.004-05:00

Thought I'd give you a costume update since the chicken costume didn't work out so well. We went with a literary theme, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, one of his favorite books when he was a little guy (he prefers books with a little more substance now). This costume he loved. He even refused to take off the hat and jacket at the party they attended.

Speaking of the party, it was a costume party and Meg and Eddie needed costumes, too. Eddie was on call and was going to go as a surgeon and wear his scrubs. I thought that was a boring idea (insert foreshadowing music here). Meg was going to make herself into a bag of jelly beans. Kenny remembered that he had seen the pumpkin costumes that I had made years ago and was able to dig them up pretty fast. Yet another benefit of being a pack rat. We were even able to find pictures of us in them.

The first time they were worn when I was pregnant with Meg. I hope everyone noticed that we also seem to have matching haircuts. Hmmm, I don't remember that being the look I was going for.

Meg was in middle school here. Such a cutie! Frownie McFrownerson is next to her.

And here are Meg, who didn't even need her pumpkin stuffed, and Eddie in the same costumes.

Oh, and the concern about being on call and in a costume? Maybe he wasn't so far off the mark after all.

Dr. Jack O. Lantern

Happy Birthday, Reid!

2011-10-31T11:27:00.013-05:00

We made it! With 2 weeks left before Baby Wingnut is officially due and a few days before the Doc thinks it will come, we managed to pull off the birthday party. Meg felt sure she would make it, but brought everything she would need if the baby came here (or any place between here and San Antonio).

Last year's party morphed into something just a little this side of over-the-top. This year she wanted something geared more towards what Reid would enjoy, inviting only a few 2 year old boys. The "venue" was a little boy's dream. The Fire Station. And not just any fire station, but Papawfiretruck's fire station. No getting stuck in the community room for these guys, we set the whole thing up in the app room near the trucks. Tons of fun was had by all. I don't know if I've ever been to a toddler party where not one kid cried. Reid got enough trucks/trains to fill every dirty little hand and there was lots of room to drive them around.

Meg made the cake at home and brought everything here to decorate. There was a vintage fire truck on top, but it didn't stay there long.

We had soft pretzels, cinnamon popcorn, and fudge lollipopsicles. I liked the look of the metal scaffolding so I used it and just covered a couple of boards with fabric.

Meg found some cute fire truck water bottles and I made fire truck shirts for favors.

I even went a little crazy at the last minute (like midnight the night before) and made one for myself.

We thought about ice cream, but we didn't think that the boys would sit long enough to eat it. Instead, I used a recipe I found on Pinterest for fudgesicles and altered it a little. Instead of using popsicle molds, I use shallow condiment cups and 1/2 a straw for the stick. I think they turned out great and the kids loved them.

Here is picture of all the guys. The two boys on the left are brothers and I worked with their mom during the Best Year Ever. The boy top right is my neighbors' little guy. He comes to my house, knocks on the door (even if I'm outside with him) , trots in to the pantry and signs "more, please". He knows what Mamie expects! The cutie on the bottom is the grandson of one of my besties and the son of of one of Meg's besties from HS. The birthday boy and the greatest husband/dad/Papawfiretruck in the world are front, center. Good looking group, huh?

If we can make it thru Halloween, and it's looking good that we will, we will be ready for the baby. Everything is finished for the nursery and everything is done here. If I can be a little selfish, I would like to be able to get the facial I have scheduled for Saturday. I've waited a long time for it and I'd like to look nice for my new grand daughter/son.

Don't know if I'll ever have time to do this again, but here is 24 months of my sweet baby. I love you, Reiderbug!

It went over 2 mins. and 40 seconds, but I tried!

(The song is by Sara Groves. The album this song if from could be the soundtrack to Reid's first month of life. We got it as a gift...thanks Beth!...and listened to it all the time. I LOVE it. Great baby music that adults can enjoy.)

Pickles and Trains

2011-10-17T20:17:00.008-05:00

This weekend the kids came up so Reid could go to Family Day at the Union Pacific Railroad with Uncle Steve. For a little guy who LOVES trains, this is about as close to heaven as he's gonna get and not be in the presence of Jesus. And there were free hot dogs and ice cream. Perfect recipe for a perfect day and a colossal melt down. He did very well, though. Only melted down once when we left the model train display after sitting there for over half an hour watching them go round and round and.....

After the visit with all things train, we hurried home to get ready for a shower. This one was for the brother of the friend I had the shower for in July. He and his wife live in NYC and were only going to be down for a few days so we decided to do a coed shower That way they could get together with friends while we could bring goodies for the baby. Because they live in NY, and we didn't want them to have to pay to get the gifts home, she registered for a lot at online sources. We encouraged guests to purchase the gifts online, have them shipped to their house and bring a picture of their gift to the shower.

The parents to be

The mom-to-be isn't from the great state of Texas and since we were having men at the shower, we went with a Texas BBQ theme to let Jess enjoy the taste of Texas and the men have meat. We started with salsa, black eyed pea dip with Fritos, jalapeno poppers and spinach artichoke dip. For the meal we had ribs, Sunbeam bread, pulled pork (not really Texan but delicious), watermelon, pinto beans, iced tea and pies; pecan, apple, sweet potato and chocolate cream. Can't have pie without ice cream and it can't be a Texas theme without Blue Bell. Instead of a dessert bar we had a pickle bar. Lots. Of. Pickles.

I got most of my pickle recipes via Pinterest so I'll link them back there, but know that I NEVER follow recipes exactly. I either don't have, or do not have enough of the particular ingredient, I don't like the particular ingredient or I just forget to put it in. Sometimes this can lead to complete recipe failure but there are occasional pleasant surprises. That means that although I loved how mine turned out, the linked recipes might not be the exact same.

I didn't want to waterbath anything, which meant I needed to start early enough to give them time to develop flavor but not go bad. My plan was for a dozen or so different pickles. I started 2 weeks before with sauerkraut, Vietnamese Diakon and Carrots, pickled mushrooms and pickled weenies. The only bust was the sauerkraut. It smelled wonderful but after about 10 days had a healthy head of hair growing on it that just screamed "botulism" to me. The diakon and carrots were yummy. I didn't put the peppers in the mushrooms but they turned out great, too. I don't like peppers anyway.

The reason the weenies seem to be different colors is because they are. I used 2 different brands.

I couldn't find a pickled weenie recipe on Pinterest (imagine that) but I found one online and tweaked it to my liking.

Arlenie's Weenies

3 pkgs. of weenies

6 large cloves of garlic

some dill sprigs, a couple for each jar

a little mustard seed (I don't like a lot)

1/8th of a tsp of red pepper flakes (I'm guessing, do as much as you want)

2 pints of rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar

Sterilize your quart jars and lids. I'm sure there are enough preservatives in cheap weenies to counteract any potential problems, but it's better safe than sorry. Put half your garlic and dill sprigs in each jar along with the pepper and mustard seed. While bringing your vinegar to a boil, cut your weenies in half or quarters and stuff into jars. Pour hot vinegar into jars (if there's not enough, top it off with more vinegar). They should be stored in the fridge and let them set for about a week, if you can, to develop the flavors. I ate a whole pint jar myself.

The next day, I made the pickled green beans, okra, cauliflower with carrots, turnips and red onions. I made the green beans, okra and cauliflower using the okra recipe but without the sugar for any of them. For the onions I slice a couple of red onions really thin, packed them in sterilized jars and covered them in a brine of seasoned rice wine vinegar and a little salt and sugar. Again, leave all of these in the fridge after they cool.

My last batch of pickles were the cucumbers. I made refrigerator dill and bread and butter. They turned out better than I had hoped. I finished off a jar of the b&b myself, too. To round out to an even dozen, my mom brought her pickled peppers and pickled jalapenos over.

We had a great time, only marred by a serious grill fire before the guests arrived that required a quick trip to the store for more ribs. My sweet husband was out of town so I enlisted a friend of my son's to help with the grilling. He was the grill master of his fraternity, according to my son. Apparently the new NBA XBox360 game that they were playing proved to be a little too mesmerizing. I've never seen bones cremated to dust before.

Sunday I did some maternity shots of Meg. I won't be seeing her again for two weeks and I was afraid we might not get any if we waited, being that she's less than 4 weeks away. Doesn't she look great? What do you think, boy or girl?

2011-10-09T14:11:00.007-05:00

playing in the rain

The kids didn't have to go to school Friday or Monday, so I was able to take some time off to fly down and spend one last "one grandchild" weekend with Meg and Reid. Eddie had to be out of town and I didn't want her to be alone (5 weeks left!!!). We also needed to finish up the nursery and I wanted to play.

We finished up everything except a couple of mobiles that are still left to make. I didn't get the idea until after we finished the room, so now we are back to not completely finished. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish them this week so she can pick them up next week and then we will be finished (for reals).

I needed Reid to try on the baby chick costume that I had been laboring over for the past few weeks. I got the idea from Martha Stewart, who I'm sure would be a personal friend of mine if she knew me. I even graciously attended her trial in New York to lend my support, and only a true friend would do that. But I digress...The costume was to look like this:

I drove around trying to find the right shirts to layer so I could stuff batting in between them. I got the red felt for the comb, made a white beanie and got the gloves for the feet. Two pairs, in case I messed up. I also bought 2 white boas and then had to go back twice to get another because I didn't have enough and Michael's had run out. I HAND STITCHED all 24 feet of white feathers to the body and stuffed it. He was going to be adorable!

But wait, take a look at the kid in the picture. Does she kinda look scared? Maybe like she's been crying? I didn't notice it until later. Martha can be a little intimidating.This is what Reid looked like in his:

This is as far as we got. (The gray square is to preserve his modesty and an aura of intrigue for future bridal prospects. It may or may not be drawn to scale.) He took one look and the billowy pile of feathers and shuddered. We asked if he would put it on and he said "no". Then we tried the Diet Coke bribe, "no", the candy, "no", and the Thomas video, "no". Finally, brute force (8 month pregnant mama) was called in, but was also soundly defeated. We stopped, acknowledging defeat. When he sensed surrender, he trotted his naked booty over to the candy, picked it up, popped it in his mouth and smiled. I love that kid! The room looked like a fox had gotten into the hen house. Feathers everywhere. We are now on plan B for the costume. More to come.

Today, we decided to play hooky from church and go out for brunch. It was rainy and I wanted breakfast tacos. The first place we went to was closed so we headed out looking for another place. Place #2 looked open, lots of cars parked, but wasn't open yet, either. Drenched by now, we finally found a diner.

We were so hungry when we got there our normal sense of concern was not stirred by the half dozen 5-gallon buckets that were arranged to catch (unsuccessfully) water dripping from the leaking ceiling. Or the steady stream of water coming out of the lights. Or that Reid's booster seat had to be wiped dry because of the rain that had blown through the window. There was also the odd mix of Rihanna and vintage Johnny Cash music and a strange, eclectic mix in patronage from church skipping crowd to the under I35 homeless.

We ordered and it was delicious. The breakfast taco was all I could ask for. I even commented that the salsa was really good and tasted homemade. I was curious why they brought me such a large bowl for one taco. I took the spoon out for Reid to use since they didn't bring one for him and just used my fork to scoop. After I finished eating, the waitress came over and silently picked up my bowl of salsa and took it over to the table across the room. WAIT! My fork, which had been in my mouth, had been in there! DOUBLE WAIT! The man that had been at the table across from us had eaten breakfast tacos, too, and had a very similar bowl for his salsa!!!!

The bathroom measured up to the standard already set. The door didn't lock or even shut all the way and the stall door didn't have a latch or flush (I learned too late). It did have reading material, though. A current copy of the Star. Based on the food and the bathroom, this place could be on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Lesson learned. Never skip church for brunch. Even if it is for breakfast tacos.

Pinterest Day at the Cloud House

2011-10-02T21:12:00.012-05:00

If you know me, you know that for the past 5 months Pinterest has been my go-to for ideas (some might say obsession, but they can just stop judging). I see something delicious. PIN IT! Something great for the house. PIN IT! Something for the baby. PIN IT! The problem is that I've pinned more than I can ever do in my limited spare time. I decided to combine my love of Pinterest, parties, food and making things into one big ball of fun. I had to clean my house to host said party, so I got a clean house out of it to boot. Win-win.

I invited several friends over and asked them to bring a recipe they had pinned but hadn't made yet or a craft they had pinned but hadn't done. It was an interesting mix of friends whose only common thread was knowing me. I work with Priscilla and share grandma stories with her. I used to work with Mycah and she is one of my original travel buddies and is now my Dancing with the Stars buddy. Our mutual goal is to score some tickets to see a taping, so if anyone out there can help us, please email me. She is sure Mark Ballas would marry her if he could meet her. I used to go to church with Kat and also went to the same camera club. You all know Lori. Current travel buddy, grandma to one of the cutest little boys in the world, and mother of a past girlfriend of my son. Here is what we came up with. Links to the Pinterest page can be reached by clicking on the blue words.

We started with a white wine sangria. It got 5 thumbs up.

Priscilla and Kat testing the sangria.

For crafts, we did a couple of DIY canvas prints like this and this.

Mycah working on her print.

Mycah did a canvas with a print I had printed on tissue and she glued to a stretched canvas using Mod Podge (that we made, too). It was a little thin, but worked fine for her project. She used pictures that she took on a recent trip to Paris.

Thumbs up for this one. It looked great.

I did 2 different types of canvases. One was of a subway art type of print that I did using a song that I (try to) sing to Reid, otherwise known as my Little Sack o' Sugar. (As a side note, this song is by Elizabeth Mitchell. She does beautiful songs for children that parents can enjoy over and over without wanting to poke themselves in the ears. Give her a listen). I had it printed poster size and glued it on a canvas with the Mod Podge. It was a little more difficult because the poster had been rolled and was a little unwieldy but all in all, a success.

Subway art for the nursery, not quite dry

Next were the invites that Lori and I did for the baby shower I'm giving with a friend for Lori's son and his wife. Definitely a thumbs up. We added an information card about registry and mailed them in a glassine envelope.

LOVE!

The other canvases were made of prints that I had done some time ago. They were done on heavy art paper and that coupled with the too thin Mod Podge made for some less that wonderful results. The prints bubbled a little and dried with wrinkles on one. Good thing that the subject of the photos was so adorable.

Probably the cutest kid in the world. Notice the wrinkle over his right eye on the top pic? The bottom bubbles dried out flat.

Had to go neutral thumb on this one.

I made a Feta dip and Kat made some bread sticks and Pricilla made a black bean/corn dip (recipe to follow).

Kat's bread sticks

My feta dip

P's black bean dip

We had a great time and plan on doing another Pinterest day for Christmas decorations and/or gifts. If Meg has a girl, you can also count on a Pinterest day for girly accessories! Start your pinning now!!!!

Sherry's Black Bean and Corn Salad

1 can of black beans

1 can of corn

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 package of grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 purple onion, finely chopped

Small green bell pepper, finely chopped

Chopped cilantro to taste

Sweeten to taste with Splenda

salt to taste

Guest Contributor

2011-09-14T11:35:00.007-05:00

Now that the house is done, I've decided to mix it up a bit with the posts. Soon enough, there will be a new baby in the picture and I'm sure that you will all insist on regular updates on my new Sack of Sugar. I better take advantage of the lull in Cloud Family excitement and allow a budding documentary maker a place to showcase his talents.

Julian has been in a few posts, both incidentally and as part of the post. He and his family are a part of our heart family. You know, the folks that may not have been born into your family, but you choose to add because they are just so wonderful. I "interned" as a granny with him and his older brother and refined my grandmothering skills on them, with pretty good results. He is hysterically funny, completely charming and incredibly smart (remember, I am an unbiased non-family member and completely objective). He also happens to be profoundly deaf and a Type 1 diabetic. He handles both with aplomb and his parents have done an incredible job teaching and modeling that he doesn't have disabilities, only differences. He has bilateral cochlear implants (the first at 4 and the other about a year later) and wears an insulin pump. He is oral for the most part, but uses an interpreter at school, where he is in 3rd grade, and in noisy environments. He also signs when he wants to ask me for something and he doesn't want his mom to hear. :)

The video is one he did about his bicycle. He doesn't like to be videotaped but enjoys making these short documentaries about what interests him. There is another about his "herman" crabs that I'll post later. If you don't mind, please post a comment here about what you think. He would really get a kick out of it. Thanks and enjoy the show.

Kitchen Impossible: The Season Finale

2011-09-07T20:17:00.018-05:00

I can't believe it took me as long to post about the kitchen as it did to actually do the kitchen. In my defense, I did post pictures along the way here, here and here. I've had a lot going on with school being out, moving the kids, vacations, workshops, school STARTING again, and on and on. Enough excuses. Here we go with the final recap of all that is kitchen renovation!

As we said in the beginning, it wasn't a bad kitchen, just a not good one. The fridge kinda stuck out in the middle of the room. The counters were very old, as were some of the appliances (probably original to the 1960 house). The floor was vinyl and the paint on the cabinets was yucky. The tile screamed Home Depot. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We have echoes of Home Depot around our house, too. It's just not what Meg wanted, and really, isn't that all that matters? Especially for your firstborn and source of your grandchildren? She wanted chef grade appliances, hard wood floors and concrete countertops. On a very limited budget. Surely that's not too much to ask from your parents.

Once we had the house, she told me what she wanted, picked out the appliances and I started planning. I came up with a plan to incorporate what she wanted using the skill sets her dad and I already possessed.

During the 3 month process, the Cloud family single handedly...

gutted the kitchen down to concrete floors, studs and cabinet boxes
added several feet of counter top space and a wall to enclose the fridge
added a wine fridge
put in a double oven
rerouted the water and gas
put in a 6 burner cooktop
added a large vent hood
put in a pot filler above the cooktop
put in a farm style sink and new faucets
added glass front cabinets
made and installed concrete countertops
put in an appliance garage (the door is still not finished)
added shelves for the microwave and other stuff
painted walls, cabinet boxes and doors
put in hardwood floors
tiled the backsplash

Here is a pic of some of the work we did.

You may be asking yourself, "Did she wear the same shirt every time or was it just an unfortunate coincidence that she had the same shirt in every picture?" Well, I'll tell you. Not only did I wear the same shirt throughout the whole renovation, I never washed it, either. We usually worked right up until we left and I didn't want to pack a shirt with paint/water/sweat on it, so I left it there. I also didn't want to ruin a dozen different shirts. Too bad (or maybe not) that we don't have smellavision. Truth be told, I didn't think to take a pic of it before. I have 2 of the same shirt from my football interpreting days so I took a picture of a clean one once I realized I was going to be in the same shirt for the duration.

Raider Pride..before and after.

Here is the after picture of the kitchen. Honestly, it doesn't do it justice. It's a lot roomier than it looks. The picture also doesn't show how much love was put into it. You can't see the hard work, the tears, the pride. You can't hear the laughter, the mumbled obscenities (not by ME) and the arguing that went on or smell of the countless tacos consumed during this 3 month process.

Thanks for your interest in our endeavor. The encouragement and compliments were sometimes the only thing that kept us making the 4-5 hour drive down and back every other weekend with a pregnant momma and a "helpful" 18 month old. It was truly a labor of love. My kids know that we love them, but it is so gratifying to have the opportunity to show them our love in a tangible way. For those few who would like a play by play of the kitchen's phoenix-like rise from the dust, take a peek at this short slideshow. Please excuse the occasional tow-headed toddler, excessive diet coke cans and wine bottles.

Kitchen redo

2011-09-05T10:30:00.010-05:00

I know, I know, you were expecting THE kitchen. Well, I got a little sidetracked along the way. When the fam moved out, they took most of the toys with them, since we had acquired all of Reid's age appropriate toys while he lived with us. The last time they came down, I had picked up a Thomas the Tank Engine train table off of Craig's List for him to play with here. I am a softy, though, and let them take it back. I was back to square one in the toy department. Meg had mentioned that he was taking some interest in Legos, so I started another search, this time for a Lego table. This was on a Tuesday and they were coming in on Friday. I found one on the far side of Lewisville and when Kenny got home that night, we made the drive over thru that wonderful Grapevine construction. He loves that boy!

I am not the indulgent person I appear to be. My kids rarely got new toys if it wasn't their birthday or Christmas because I can't stand a lot of kid clutter in the form of purchased fun. I am not, however, above taking advantage of another's weakness in that area. This woman must have been in the business of buying her kids's love, judging from her garage. I have never seen so many toys! I can't imagine what her house looked like. I'm sure she helped keep Fisher-Price and Little Tykes solvent. There was only a small trail to follow. I asked if she was having a garage sale and she sighed, "Someday..". Hmmm, maybe I could help her out. I dug around and saw a kitchen in great shape (all her things looked well cared for, or maybe the kids didn't have enough time to play with them all). I made her an offer and came out with the kitchen, the table and a chair, and a couple of bags full of pots, pans and dishes. Hooty hooo! One minor problem that we were able to overcome, shoving that kitchen into the backseat of the car. Didn't think it was going to happen but faced with the prospect of another 45 minute drive back out there we were able to summon the strength.

There was some pink "wallpaper" on the kitchen so I needed to do a quick renovation to make it a little more boy friendly. Before any of you start on me about any stereotype, that's sexist, blah, blah, please note the obvious; I bought a kitchen for my grandson. He has been cooking with me since he could stand on a chair. I don't want him to have a pink kitchen because I didn't like the pink '90's wallpaper look and I didn't want him to NOT play with it when he becomes older because it looked like something a girl with bad taste would play with. And I like to redecorate, even if it is only a preformed, plastic kitchen.

cooking with his Mamie

I headed out the next day after work to find contact paper and plastic food. I struck out on both. What I ended up with was 2 packages of notecards and double stick tape. I liked the design on the cards so I cut them down, matched them up and taped them to the "walls". I made up some modge podge and did a finish on it. The clock had some faded flowery stuff on it, too. I remembered having some old cd labels and was able to pull them out, find a clock template online and photoshop it to fit the label. Viola', a clock face.

As I said, no plastic food, so I made some of my own using felt I had ordered. You are probably wondering how I happen to have everything I need for these projects (cd labels, felt, etc). I have a dirty little secret. Not only do I hoard furniture in my attic, I hoard craft stuff any where I can cram it. If you've been here, you know my house is always clean and clutter free. Here it the evidence of the ugly underbelly of my obsessions.

there is another one full of fabric. I know, scary.

Enough of the dark side.

I made felt food, finished the kitchen and it was all done when Reiderbug got here. He loved it. Cooked, washed dishes and fed Babbo all day. It was well worth the effort and, no, I am not letting him take it home. This time.

He'll get the Lego table next time they come. I don't want to be overindulgent!

Family Room

2011-08-14T20:42:00.013-05:00

I can't believe summer is already over! And, oops, I haven't posted anything about our renovation since the beginning. Everything up until now has been about the decorating and not much about the actual work we did. These are two of the rooms in which we did some work. New floors, added wall, new paneling, and paint. Let's take a looksee.

This is the family room when we first saw the house.

Here is the "after" picture. New floor, new paint and new furniture.

The bookshelves were built by Kenny from reclaimed barn wood years ago for B's room. After we moved to Ft. Worth, we used them for garage storage. They were promoted back to the inside of the house when Meg needed shelves for the family room. The chair was the one I recovered here. The coffee table is an old cobbler's bench we picked up at a garage sale. The family we got it from will be featured on American Pickers this fall. That means that this is something they didn't want. Oh well, we did!

This is the room from the other end. We added the wall and put a small office there for Meg. I used an old typing desk that we had in the attic and other metal odds and ends. An old locker basket was hung on its side to make a shelf, old film tins to make a magnetic board and a couple of chip displays to hang pictures and notes.

The eating area at the corner of the family room and kitchen was repaneled and repainted. We got the table at Pottery Barn Outlet and repaired it, the bench was one we had at the house and the chairs were gathered from various sources. They left the curtains so I washed and refitted them.

Before:

After:

And here's a look from the other end.

The next post about the house will be the last. The piece de resistance. THE KITCHEN!

Baby Shower

2011-08-01T20:34:00.024-05:00

In the few days between my workshop in Austin and our trip to Vegas, I got to help throw the baby shower that I hijacked. The mommy-to-be, aside from now being a friend of mine, is the older sister of my son's high school girlfriend. I've mentioned this family before, here and here, because despite the fact they have not dated in 6 years, our families still are. I vacation with her mom and I also shot the guest of honor's engagement pics and her beautiful wedding in CA.

When I found out she was going to have a baby, I asked if I could help. Lucky for me, another mutual friend was planning it. I'm gonna say up front that I'm a little "controlling" about parties. I have a vision and it's hard to let go of the details and entrust them to others. Rosanne was more than gracious about letting me be bossy. We are good enough friends, and she is insecure enough about her creative skills (which she shouldn't be), that she will allow me to say "umm, do you mind if I do that, you may not do it the way I have planned." She is a perfectionist, too, and knows me, so all was good. It was a fabulously fun shower thanks to Rosanne, Hanna, Adrienne, Meg and Pinterest.
We wanted a literary theme and decided Eric Carle would fit the bill. Bright, but not cheesy and not gender specific. We made all the invitations by hand, glueing each piece of tissue on each of the 45 invitations.

work station

I've done lots of showers, but I didn't want to use any things I'd used before. That's where Pinterest comes in. I got all my ideas from them. In a nutshell..

In place of cards, guests were encouraged to bring a book and use the book plate we enclosed in the invitation. (Thanks, Emily, for the inspiration!) I designed it using a short image of the fruit and repeated it a million times (maybe a little exaggerated). I then added the caterpillar image and words.

I used the same print on card stock and we made food boats. I also made bookmarks for thank-you gifts with the print.

This is the table set for the shower.

The banner in the front is made from pages from The Grouchy Ladybug. I made the runner on the the table using fabric that I thought looked like grass. The "curtains" are circles that were die-cut and sewn together.

Caterpillar sandwiches

iced donut holes with mini m&ms

baked mac and cheese bites

Strawberries with cheesecake filling and topped with graham cracker crumbs

fried chicken and waffles with maple syrup

rice krispie pops

veggies

strawberry ginger ale in mason jars

It was a great turnout. Lots of people in my not so big house! Worth it though, we had a ball.

Here is a shot of the mom-to-be. Thanks, Alison, for letting me be a part of the fun!

The Other House

2011-07-25T10:33:00.012-05:00

I know it seems that all I've been doing is working on Meg's house, but there is another house I've been designing and building all by myself.

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be something Reid would like. Who wouldn't want a playhouse inside with the AC running? ESPECIALLY in San Antonio.

Unfortunately, this one cost about $75 and shipping was $45 (from South Africa). This is a house I could do myself, and much more in line with the budget tht Reiderbug needs to be comfortable. A Highland Park house on a Ft. Worth budget. It needed to look less girly, too, and I wanted it to have the same look as our house.

Instead of buying a large tablecloth or piecing together lots of fabric, I went to the Salvation Army Family Store and picked up a queen size flat sheet. I wanted king, but the budget conscious can't be picky. It turned out to be the right size anyway. My house has a gray front door and red shutters, so I went to the men's racks and picked out an XL shirt in each of the colors. Because it was half off white tag day, I was able to get 2 of the items at half price, making my total expenditure for the house $9. SO much better than $75. We all know that it's not the materials that drive up the cost, but the labor. Lucky for Reid he had cheap labor.

2 XL men's shirts and a queen size flat sheet from the Salvation Army.

I didn't want to take my sewing machine, so instead I did it all low tech. I had a lot of bonding tape and Wonder Under heat bonding stuff, so I used that for hemming and attaching pieces. What little needed to be stitched was done by hand. I measured the low tech way, too, by eyeballing it. I made a template for the shutters so they would be the same size.

cutting the door and shutters and measuring the walls

I pressed the sheet and centered it where I wanted it. The great thing about using a sheet was that all the edges were finished, so I didn't have to. I used the iron on hem tape to finish the edges around the door and windows and I used the Wonder Under to attach the windows on the door and the shutters. Instead of a whole flower box, I made flowers with some leftover felt I had and just stitched them on. I didn't cut the corners to fit because I wanted it to be able to fit on a different table if it needed to. I just did a loose running stitch to fit it, but would be easy to take out. The door knob was a big button off one of Meg's dresses. I promised her that when she gets back to her pre-pregnancy size, I'll buy another button and she can have that one back.

corner pinned for running stitch to fit it to the table

kinda blurry, sorry.

The results were exactly what I wanted. A cute little house for Reid to play in that looked a little like Mamie's.

before we got the gray door with windows

As a post script, I want to say that he never spent a minute in it, unless you count the time before it was made and we were just measuring. The dog, however, loved it. Maybe the next baby will be a little more appreciative.

3 Wins and a Fail

2011-07-07T22:51:00.014-05:00

Part of my job as the designer, contractor, job site foreman, and quality control manager was also to assemble rooms of furniture at the best price (that being as close to free as possible) with the most punch. Every room needed something, some more that others. I painted some furniture, repurposed some, and other things I had to upholster.

The couch and the love seat were done by my neighbor, but since she was busy with those, I was called upon to take care of the others. 3 worked out great, but one was a total fail.

Let's start with the loser. We found this great retro chair that was going to be Eddie's office chair. Great lines, kinda funky. Got it for a good price in Canton. "Can you recover it?" I was asked. "Sure, how hard can it be?" I answered. I've reupholstered before. I've done couches, cushions, slip covers for chairs, and headboards. No problemo. But wait...the funky lines we were so attracted to...yeah, also made it the devil. First off, all the little bars were covered in rust so I had to scrub. each. one. Then I stripped the vinyl off and covered the piping with the new vinyl. The seat was a breeze, but that armrest, that's another story. It was all curvy, bendy, and needed much more mental math than I was capable of doing. I kept trying to figure out a way to make it work, but after too many cuts, ran out of fabric. Who wanted that stupid old chair anyway? Turns out it didn't even fit under the desk so it would have been a waste of time to finish it. I'm the winner!!!

There will be no after picture.

Meg has a huge chair and a half that she got from a friend when she got married. It also has a huge ottoman with it. The ottoman didn't fit in the design plans and she needed a bench in her bedroom. We took the leftover curtains from the dining room in the Washington house (one set went on the bedroom windows) and covered the ottoman with it. I made piping with the hems and even made corner pleats. Ta-daa, bench for the end of the bed. It's not the best job in the world, but with free fabric and an already owned piece of furniture, I think we got the most bang for the buck on this one.

B had this great armless chair that Memaw had given him for his house. It was the first piece of furniture she bought when she got to the US. Lots of sentimental value, but his dog didn't know that and took couple of corners off. He let his sister use the chair and we recovered it. The old white vinyl is still under the fabric. I couldn't bear to take it off. The fabric was expensive, but it was a birthday gift, so didn't cost her anything. I did the whole chair without sewing a stitch. This baby was done completely by staple gun and upholstery tacks. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

And the fourth piece of furniture? It's that little foot stool in front of the chair. She already had it and I had enough fabric left (barely) to cover it. I didn't want any of the fabric to go to waste. All in all, a pretty good deal. All the "new" furniture she used cost her nothing. The only thing that cost her money was the stupid office chair. She bought it and the vinyl, along with the WD 40 and sandpaper and ended up not using it at all. Anyone want to buy a vintage, midcentury office chair, all cleaned and ready to cover?

Design on a Dime: The Living Room

2011-07-02T20:37:00.019-05:00

Since their new house is a mid-century, Meg has a large formal area in the front of the house, which was popular at the time. It's great because the are connected by a double pocket doorway to the family room, letting them have a huge open area for entertaining. They are using the dining area as an office for Eddie, so the doors can be closed when he needs to study. The living room has huge picture windows and Reid loves to sit in there and watch the cars go by. None of her previous houses had 2 living areas and 2 dining areas (their first house had living, dining, and kitchen all in ONE area smaller than her living room in this house) so we were starting from scratch here.

This is the card catalog that Emily redid for me. By "me", I mean Meg. She did a wonderful job and I kinda wish I had kept it. :) Check out her website at Refreshingly Chic and take a look at all the great things she does.

The couch and love seat were freebies. They were uuuuugly! A friend of my mom's didn't want them and gifted them to her. Picture a circa 1980 blueish Southwestern pattern. Nothing she wanted, but like me, she can't turn down a freebie. When it didn't fit in her house, I told her that maybe Meg could use it, since her house was big but her budget was small. Meg looked past the ugly fabric and saw the furniture's good lines. We headed to the fabric warehouses on Harry Hines and spent the day digging through fabric. She found some she loved and it was only $15/yd. Our most fabulous neighbor, Tanya, recovered it and she ended up with a beautiful living room set. On the same fabric hunt, we found what she wanted for the drapes and I made those. The coffee table used to be my kitchen table from about 15 years ago. When they got married, we painted it black and they used it for a table until they moved here. Kenny cut it down and made it the coffee table. That's called upcycling, right?

We found this lamp at Canton. Isn't it great? Both end tables were flea market finds or hand me downs. The half moon one that is closest in the top picture was from me and painted black. The other one on the far side of the love seat was B's that I picked up years ago and it was already painted black and white.

I bought this mantel in Jonesborough, TN 17 years ago on a trip to Washington, DC. I thought it was wonderful so we tied it to the top of our rented van (we were on a road trip) and carted that thing across the eastern United States. Except for a few years it lived at a friend's house as a headboard, it's had Christmas stockings on it almost every year since.

I matted and framed the pictures of the JFK assassination that are hanging above the love seat. They were Life magazines that were given to me by one of the ladies I delivered Meals on Wheels to for a couple of years. (side note - she also gave me all the summer phlox I have at my house and that has now been shared at Meg's new house.) They were in a huge lard tin along with other magazines and newspapers, some from as far back as the '30's. I couldn't bear to tear them up so I framed the whole magazine. I absolutely love them! They were published when her house was brand new which makes it even more special. I wonder what thoughts and emotions were going through that house during that time? It's evidence that pack ratting...I mean saving things...is worthwhile. In this situation, Meg benefitted from the hoarding of 2 women over the course of almost 80 years.

Breakdown of the room cost:

couch and love seat - free from Memaw

fabric - 35 yds @ $18 - $630

reupholstering by Tanya the Great- $200

tables - free from me

refinishing of card catalog - bartered for photography

drapes - fabric 5 yds at $25/yd - $125

labor on drapes - free

vintage framed prints - free

lamp - $40

Total cost for new living room - $995.00

Not bad, huh? Other than Reid's room, I felt like we got the most bang for the buck here. I wasn't expecting much in the beginning since they didn't have much furniture to start with and even less money with which to work. Her vision and my hoarding lead to a great room. I wouldn't mind having it myself.

Design on a Dime: Reid's Room

2011-07-01T22:14:00.015-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting about the house and the sorta end result of all of our work. Although the bedrooms didn't need any work, all were or will be, redone. Instead of putting Reid in the nursery, Meg decided to go ahead and make a big boy room for him so he wouldn't have to transition twice.

He loves anything with wheels so she wanted to do a room with a car theme without it being too "theme-y". Something that he can grow with if he decides he doesn't like cars anymore. And she didn't want to spend much money. Lucky for her, we had enough stuff in the attic and garage to fit the bill. What we didn't have, we found at garage sales or outlets.

Reid's bed belonged to Bon Bon. He wasn't using it since he's living with us, so we moved it down there. We turned the bed around and used the headboard as a footboard and went to the junkyard for hubcaps to use as the headboard.

I had a couple of quilts that we were able to use as bedspreads and I made the pillow shams from old work shirts that I got at a used clothing store.

The curtains were made from a duvet I found on the clearance rack at Pottery Barn Outlet.

I took some photos at a classic car show and used them to make a grouping of metallic prints. The doodads (yum, remember those snack crackers called doodads? I wonder if they still make them) on the shelves are antique car thingys that we bought from a family who will be on American Pickers this fall. They had a great garage sale in our neighborhood.

The rug is a mat for a garage floor and the seat back came from B's room.

We also found some old maps at the garage sale. We didn't know what we wanted to do with them, but really liked them so thought we would figure it out later. Meg decided what we needed to do was wallpaper with them, how hard can that be?

The great thing about the maps is that we found one with Texas, and one with the state in which Reid was born, Washington. We also had one with Philadelphia, New York, and upstate New York on it, all places his parents went to college and two others with Ft. Worth, where Reid lived with us, and San Antonio, where he lives now. I really love how it turned out.

For storage, I bought a tool chest to use as a dresser.

I wanted metallic looking letters for his room, so I bought cardboard letters from Joann and spray painted them with metallic spray paint.

We were pleased with the result and Reid loves his new room. When people come to visit, he will lead them back to show his room. He spends hours back there, looking at books and playing with his trucks.

Sea World: A World of Misadventure

2011-07-01T08:30:00.009-05:00

I took a quick trip to San Antonio earlier this week. It had been over 2 weeks since I'd seen my sweet Sack 'o Sugar, except on Skype, and I was feeling a little hypoReidcemic. Kenny had to work, so I enlisted the help of my 9 year old "grandma internship" buddy. He was more than happy to make the trip with me.

We started the trip with a stop at Sonic for provisions (diet cokes) and made a quick stop in Waco for Orange Chicken at Panda Express (his choice, not mine!) Our goal was to make it to see the bats fly out at the Congress St. Bridge in Austin. We, along with Flat Stanley, made it in plenty of time.

The next day we headed to Sea World. Sea World is $60/person ($59.99 but I'm not fooled, it's $60). $50 for kids. That's a lot of money, and when you add $15 for parking and not being able to bring in your own food, it makes the fun to dollar standard tough to meet. I am nothing if not cheap and resourceful. We considered season passes since I figured we might go back again, but what if Reiderbug didn't like it? It could be a bust. After research, we found that Meg could get in free one time a year for being active military (Go Army!), Reid would be free anyway since he was under 2. I called to ask if they had a "disability" discount and they did! Seems like being deaf makes them want to let you in for 1/2 price AND they let one other person with the said disabled person get in for half price, too. If you have ever met my little partner in crime, you would know that there is nothing disabled about him. Don't waste your time feeling sorry for him. I feel certain that if there isn't already one by then, he will be the first Deaf president. Or he will have a cult. That's how charming he is.

But I digress. Maybe SW thinks that "disabled" can only access half the fun and thus discounts them. If that were the case, every parent of a 2 yr old should also have to only pay half, because judging from the crowd there, very few parents of toddlers were getting their full allotment of fun. Regardless, thank you Sea World for making it possible for us to get in without breaking the bank. In addition, since Peanut also has Type I diabetes, we were able to take in all the food necessary for him. (Please insert foreshadowing music track here).

We got there right before the gates open and wait in line. You know, the line where everyone who wants to get there early does but can't get in so is waiting. And waiting. In the Texas heat. On concrete. Babies and toddlers begin to scream and arch their backs and parents try to rub them down with SPF 50. If this is fun, they want no part of what is coming next.

We finally get in and head to the dolphins. Finally some fun. We stand there and look at them. The boys LOVE it...for 10 mins. Then it's time to move on. I test Peanut, who is at a good number (140ish I think), and Meg feeds Reid. We go to the aquarium and see the fish, which is in a nice, cool building, so that's fine. Things go down hill after that. Reid decides hats are not for him and throws it on the ground and then throws himself down for good measure. When we finally get him pulled back together, we head for the Bay of Play. Sounds fun, right? Forgetting of course, that Reid does not like water splashed in his face. It's a splash park. Hmmm. Well, Peanut might enjoy it and the giant kid sized habitrail they have constructed over the Bay. Oh, wait. We forgot the waterproof wrap we need to wrap the site he has on his leg for his insulin pump. uggggghhhh. We walk BACK to the park entrance, find First Aid and score some from them and then hike back to the Bay of Play. He takes off his "ears", making him unable to hear anything, including nuclear attack, and heads off the to play area. I really didn't want to let him go, but I didn't want him to feel like he couldn't do what other kids get to do. So after a lecture about where to find me (standing in the middle of the splash pool so I could be easily spotted from all areas) he took off. Apparently you are supposed to wear shoes on the habitrail (which makes NO sense because it's in the water), and folks were blowing whistles at him to get him to stop and get shoes. He had a great time climbing, sans shoes, and finally realized what they wanted later. This place was too baby for him, anyway, so off we go to the lazy river.

soooo tired!

Reid has still not reached the full fun potential of this place, making it impossible for us to reach it ourselves. We were hoping that lunch and the lazy river would do the trick. Peanut didn't want to wait, but I made him test again, anyway. He was a 29!!!! He seemed fine! I promise you (and his parents)!!! He was walking and talking and wanting to swim. Unlike most adults, who at 29 would be unconscious. He took a look and said "wow, that's the 2nd lowest I've ever been! I was almost knocked out." I started shoving food in him and making a call to his mom to help me with my plan of action. We got him pulled up and trotted off the the water 45 minutes later. Reid said "no, thank you" to the life jacket. I decided I'd had enough of his fun resistance, held that screaming baby down and put it on him. It took me and Peanut to accomplish this, but we did it. He continued to scream and people started looking at me. Meg had gone to change so I got in the river with a SCREAMING baby and a completely deaf 9 year old, who may or may not pass out on me, and continued my quest for fun. After a couple of minutes, Reid looked around and found out he was having a good time and started laughing. Stinker. Meg joined us and we had a delightful time. The rest of the day was much better. We went to the wave pool area, which also had a kid activity pool. Both places not suitable for a kid who doesn't want water in his face, so he sat in the beachy part, splashing carefully with his mom. This was when Peanut discovered the very best part of the Sea World water park, the place that made the $59.99 tickets all worthwhile. Basketball hoops in the water. wow. I sat there forever watching him shoot baskets, over and over. We stopped every 30-45 mins to test (79, EAT kid!, 49 OMG eat more!, 112 eat anyway, your numbers will fall), but he had a blast. We finally had to leave, though, because of some jerk.

The 3rd or 4th time back in the kid pool after testing, there was a man, about 275 lbs, height/weight NOT proportionate, straggly hair and a green life jacket (it's the kiddie pool!). There are 3 goals set up above the pool that have a ramp like thing under the net to roll the balls back down. There is a net across the bottom where the kids can put there arms in to get the ball but not climb up. There are about 6 kids and an adult across the bottom, shoulder to shoulder, mine being one of the smallest. He held his own the first few times we went, rebounding more than the others and sharing the ball with the girls and the smaller kids if he had already taken a shot. But Big Man, he wasn't letting anyone get the ball. He was sticking his hairy arms in, grabbing the ball from the little kids. He would then feed the ball to his kids who where standing back some or take a shot himself! Really! Then Peanut got hit in the face with the ball because Big Man crowded him out so much he couldn't lift his arms. Big Man looked at me and said, "He shouldn't stand so close. That's why I wear this life jacket, so when the kids elbow me, it doesn't hurt. hehe". Moron. I got Peanut's attention, signed "let's blow this joint, he's an idiot" (conceptually, of course) and left.

He really wanted to go back to shoot more baskets, but we convinced him that the Shamu Show was the real reason that you came to Sea World. We had to walk all the way to the other side of the park. As we made our way across the (Sea) world, Megan made the observation that everyone under 4 looked drunk in their strollers. The parents didn't look much better! When we got there, the place was full, but we made our way to the splash zone and found seats. We were a little worried about Reid and his splash aversion, but we had to do it for Peanut. When all the Shamus came out, mouths were hanging open. Reid was clapping and clapping and saying "whale, whale!" They absolutely loved it. When the inevitable splash came, Meg tried to cover Reid's face. He jerked down the towel and looked at her like she was crazy and that he loved being splashed in the face, where did she get the idea he didn't?

We ended the day with a trip to the Main Mast to pick up some souvenirs. Peanut found a life size Shamu and Reid got a sea turtle. What's a trip to an amusement park without that? Earlier in the day, when Reid was throwing fits about everything, Peanut's numbers were all over the map and her 4 1/2 months pregnant self was about to have a meltdown, she said "didn't we have fun here when we were kids? or was it like this?" I told her to look around, did anyone look like they were having a rip-roaring blast? No one is having that much fun in the sweltering heat, paying $8 for a hotdog and soggy fries and throwing fits. But you sift out the bad part and only remember the good. When we finally found our car and were all buckled in, Reid was all smiles, talking about the whales, dolphins, and his new turtle. Peanut buckled in Shamu and said, "This was the best day of my life." Meg and I looked at each other and smiled.

In a Pickle

2011-06-23T14:18:00.010-05:00

This week was my first real week of summer. The first week out of school was spent packing and last minute shopping for the move. The next week was spent in San Antonio finishing the house. I came back and 36 hrs. later left for NYC. Lots of fun and what I look forward to the entire last semester of school, but still not "summer". This week was the first chance I had to catch up on some photo editing. I finished up a wedding, worked on baby shower invitations that have to be just right, did some shopping and just enjoyed doing what I wanted. In the past couple of days, I had a serendipitous food happening. I was given a ton of fresh tomatoes, and then green beans and okra. Not a ton, just a handful. I had planned on cooking them the ol' fashioned way, but then... Mycah gave me some canning jars. I took this as a sign to make pickles.

I looove pickles and will eat any kind. Every time I taste a new pickle and like it, I try to recreate it. You know that pepper relish you get at Blue Mesa? I can copy it. Chow-chow at Cracker Barrel? Made it. Pickled weenies? Yep. Not tootin' my own horn because pickles aren't that hard, it's just hard to get enough of the ingredients to make them. Who wants to buy a bushel of okra? And then all that water bathing so you don't get botulism plus you have to store all those jars of provisions for the winter! That's why I haven't made pickles or canned salsa in a while. With only 2 of us here, we didn't need that much food. When the kids were here this past year, I didn't have the time or space.

Today I got up and I had a craving for pickled okra. I decided to only make 1 jar. Then I remembered the green beans and the great ones I had in Canton. I pulled out a couple of old cookbooks to compare recipes, took what I liked out of each and got to pickling. I had dill in my herb bed, although the swallowtail caterpillars had eaten most of it, and some garlic. There were some peppers in the bag I was given, so I added those, too. I mixed up the vinegar, water and salt and let it come to a boil while I washed everything. I didn't have enough to quite fill the jars, so I added onions to the green beans and carrots to the okra. Because I didn't make so much that it had to keep for months, I left off the water bath.

In 10 days (or a month, depending on which recipe you follow), I will have some deeelicious pickles. I doubt I will wait that long.

Memaw Takes Manhattan

2011-06-23T12:03:00.010-05:00

Time for the yearly NYC trip review! This year we only had 10, down from the 13 last year, but had visitors in and out, so it was a full house. We also had 4 mother/daughter sets. My friends Janet and Shari came with us. I worked with Shari until she retired and then worked with Janet, who took her place. We've done NY together before and it's great to go with someone who "gets it" the same way as you. Lori came again this year and her daughter, Hanna, was flying back from her job teaching in Spain and made a pit stop with us. I have also been to NY with Hanna before, when she was a Jr in high school and dating my son. Our family came up to move Meg back to school and brought her along. One of my all time favorite trips to the city. Cindi and Cass came again this year. I almost can't do NY without them! The best mother/daughter duo was my mom and me. I convinced her to join us at the last minute and I'm so glad I did. We pounded the pavement for 5 days, eating everything we could and cramming in 4 shows, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, The Hi Line Park (which was GREAT), hot dogs, Middle Eastern, tapas, soul food, Japanese food, Italian food, Chinese food, tarts, chocolate and pizza.

I use my iphone to do a lot of pictures of the baby. I never really thought about how handy it would be to document my time with my mom. Everyone thinks about how fast babies grow and you don't want to miss anything cute that they do, but I don't think I've ever really thought in terms of how quickly time passes. And, at 78, how every trip, everyday, might be the last time I'll have my mom the way I remember her. So even though I didn't plan it that way, this trip was for her to enjoy the city, and for me to savor her.

The trip became kinda like a "where's Waldo", but with Memaw.

She was a hoot taking in all the sites. We walked and rode the subway the whole time. Never had to grab a cab, a first time for me!

The girls getting a pedi

Brooklyn Botanical Garden Japanese Pond

The Hi Line Park was recently opened and built on old elevated tracks that hadn't been used in years. As dirt and seeds were deposited on the tracks, things began to grow. Noticing the potential of added real estate for people to enjoy, the area was reclaimed, spruced up and replanted. I've tried to get by and see it the last few years, but this was the first time it fit into my plans. So worth it! I can't even tell you what a lovely place it was, perched above the busy streets all abloom and people relaxing and milling around. Loved it!

This is a before picture taken of a billboard near the park.

Here it is now.

Wouldn't you love to live here overlooking the park?

It was a great trip. We even made it out coming and going on stand-by. I can't wait for next year! Wonder who'll be coming?

The Last Days

2011-06-13T20:46:00.013-05:00

I was going to wrap up the house project with one big post about the final reveal. That's not going to happen. It would be waaaay too long and I kinda feel like if I don't keep it short, I won't keep your interest. I think, instead, that I will reveal each room one blog at a time. That way I won't have to finish working on all the pictures at once and you won't have to wait until August to see them. It would be HGTV type overload anyway.

In place of that, I'll tell you what we did last week to get moved. I went down a week ago Saturday with a load of stuff, leaving Meg here because she was sick. I antiqued all the way down and had a really nice time. I was able to pick up some chairs and stuff for the house. I then stopped in San Marcos and took a quick trip thru the Pottery Barn Outlet. If I weren't married and PBO was a man, I would marry him. It was phenomenal. Meg needed one more chair so I got one for $9.99. It was originally $100! Had a little scratch in it, but the plan was to paint it anyway. I also found a duvet cover on the clearance rack for $29 (originally $69) that was the right color for Reid's room, so I bought it, took it apart and made curtains with it. They had a lamp that was originally $150 and I got it for $19.99 for Eddie's desk. Wouldn't you marry someone that great?

chairs before. first and last from antique mall, 3rd found on my trip down and 2nd from PBO

chairs after. I KNOW, greatness!

I spent the first night alone, setting off the alarms when I got there and pretty much scaring the woollies out of myself the whole night. Big empty houses are no fun to be in alone. I kept hearing faint music, like some strange musical ghost, but it could have been the AC. Whatever, I was glad the next afternoon when everyone got there.

It was a week of early mornings, late nights and lots of work. I don't think I got to bed before midnight all week, sometimes up till 1 or later and always up by 7. We only went out to eat one time, the rest just making sandwiches or Meg ran to Sonic. To make this less wordy, I'll just list everything we accomplished in that week.

caulked, primed and painted 10 picture frames
primed and painted cabinet doors
painted letters for Reid's room
upholstered 5 pieces of furniture (4 of them successfully)
hung picture frame paneling
caulked about a thousand nail holes in new cabinets, base boards and paneling
painted over everything that had the above caulking
redid a corner of taping, bedding and texturing
played chase
made drapes for 3 rooms
played in the sprinklers
painted 4 chairs and and armoire
moved and unpacked furniture (when the movers finally got there 2 days late)
made pillows
gave bubble baths
wallpapered a wall
cut mats and hung pictures
made an office corner for Meg with vintage wire stuff (harder than it sounds)
read Little Blue Truck at least 30 times
decorated the house in time for Eddie to get home

This doesn't even include all the stuff Kenny had to do the couple of days he was there.

frames before

the true meaning of picture frame paneling. Meg's glorious idea.

On the last day, the pay off. As sad as leaving Reid was, there was a positive side. I graciously gave up my responsible granny role and became the Mamie I wanted to be. They put him down for a nap, but he wasn't really sleepy and was fussing about it, so I went in and got him up, something that would have never happened during the year before. Then I popped open a Diet Coke ( I only let him sip the bubbles, ok?, don't hate on me), and pulled out the Cheetos and ketchup. Nothing makes a bad day better than DC, Cheetos and a tomatoey condiment. We sat at the table sharing a moment with each other (and Babo, his bunny).

check out those fine motor skills

It's been a great year for which I will be eternally thankful. I'm gonna be fine. This is the way it's supposed to be. At his own house, with his Daddy and Mommy and me spoiling him rotten!

the family reunited in front of their new house

Emptying Nest

2011-06-04T07:47:00.011-05:00

My last morning with him.

Exactly one year ago, we were doing the same thing. Packing up cars, mapping our our course and moving Meg and Reid. Last year it was with excitement, this year with tears. I won the grandma golden ticket when, by the grace of God, they moved in with us for a year. I got to have baby fun 24-7, with his mommy here to make big decisions and change diapers. On top of that, Bon Bon (as he has been christened by his nephew) also moved back home with his sweet puppy, Ollie. If you have been to our house, you know it's small and old, close to 90 years old. That means that small closets and bathrooms and bedrooms that connect are the norm. We packed 3 households into 1500 sq. ft. (I'm in the bathroom now because it's the only place I can type and not wake people). Meg and B sleep on couches in the living room and family room, which used to be his bedroom, and all 4 adults have their clothes in one walk-in closet. When people heard about our fortune, we got a lot of "glad it's you and not me". We are glad it's us, too. I can say it was one of the best years in my life.

In predicting how I would feel at the end of the year, I thought I would be ready for the house to be mine again. I didn't know how much I had missed hearing baby gibberish from the next room as he slowly wakes up. I thought that digging thru all the clothes in the closet, and the fact that my all white hanger, color coded clothes hanging system was ruined, would make me crazy. I didn't know how fun it would be to mix and match our stuff and get feedback BEFORE I left the house (like "you can't wear that, you look like a teacher").

one side of our closet...yikes!

I thought that reuniting adult brother and sister after 8 years apart would be...tense. Instead, they found common adult ground and developed a relationship on a different level. Mainly making fun of me. I thought that a 24 y.o. single guy would be a little put out that his bedroom was also the family room and the place we kept all the toys, that the TV was only on when the baby was asleep would be irritating. Instead, Uncle Bon Bon is Reid's favorite person here and watching them play brings such joy to my heart.

Reading with Bon Bon

I worried that he would be afraid of the dogs or they would be too rough with him. Instead, "Ollie" was his first word.

He got to spend precious time with his great grandparents. I can't tell you how many times my mom has said, in her sweet accent, "we so lucky, Megan, we so lucky!"

I thought the crowd with dogs and kids and old folks could be too much, but I was wrong. It was just right. And he met his best friend, Crash, who lives next door. Together they learned about the greatness of trash trucks, graham crackers and swings.

Reid and Crash swingin' in the back yard

Reid won't remember living here, but his living here has changed our lives. I am less stressed about keeping a spotless house. I watch less TV.

Cooking with Mamie

With Papaw on vacation

I think B will be a better father someday because of the time he spent with his nephew. He is cautious without being overprotective. He understands the hurt cry versus the frustrated cry. He plays chase and hide and seek the way a toddler does.

We got to be a part of most of his firsts. When he first crawled,

his first trick or treat,

first tooth, first step, first word, first birthday, first egg hunt, everything that is usually shared by parents to grandparents is now a part of our life story, too.

Tomorrow we start moving towards typical grandparenthood. I get to stay there a week to help set up and decorate. Then Eddie comes home and I have to let them begin their lives as a family of almost 4 in their new house. Let the tears begin!

Almost Done

2011-05-31T20:52:00.002-05:00

Last weekend brought us almost to the end of our renovation. Everything works and is in place. We just have to hook up the drain and have a couple of cabinet doors made. The weekend was made more exciting because the whole family came, including both dogs, and Reid getting a tummy bug and puking everywhere.

sick baby

the fam working

Meg painting

Reid helping Mamie with the doors

Yea! Floors are finished!!!

Saturday I waxed and buffed the counters put all the cabinet doors back on. Sunday I did the taping and bedding of the new walls and textured them. While Meg painted them, I cut and put in the baseboards. I have severe spatial/math-y issues and mitering the corners REALLY challenged me. I mean really really. The big saw gave me the woolies, too. Hard to interpret without my fingers!

The beautiful faucet and pot filler.

Saturday is the official move day. She and I will take their cars down, junking along the way. Kenny will be come down the next day with the rest of the Texas stuff. We should be able to finish the painting, plumbing and baseboards by Monday. Kenny will come back but I'm not leaving until later. The Seattle movers come on the 8th and we should have the house set up for Eddie's return on the11th or 12th. Kenny will come back on the 11th to welcome Eddie home. After that *sob* I think I'll have to come home...alone.

What Else Have I Been Doing?

2011-05-25T21:32:00.001-05:00

You might think that work and renovating a house more than 4 hours away would keep my life pretty busy. Not too busy to do a few shoots. This is what I've been up to in that part of my life.

This is the adorable daughter of a friend.
Reid, Parker and Jonathan in another attempt at buddy pictures. This time in their golf attire at Putt-Putt. This is the best shot we got. Anyone surprised? I actually have a shot of a golf ball coming right at me.
Friends's 6 month old, Travis, in his 6 month old shot.
Bluebonnets!
Cousins shot.
My friend, Jennie, and her newborn, Hagen. Isn't that the sweetest picture?
I did lots and lots of Senior pictures this year. It's always fun to see their personalities come out after a little while in front of the camera. Their nervousness fades away and they show me the real them.
The next couple are of my nephew, Tyler. I can't believe he is already graduating.
While I did Tyler's, I also did Reid's 18 month. I love the "cowboy cousins" shot of them walking away.

Just a wedding left to do and a couple of days of school and I'm free to start my alternate lifestyle. The one of the carefree, traveling, kept woman. I can see the light!

My New Pintrest

2011-05-18T20:48:00.002-05:00

One (of only a few, I'm sure) things that my daughter finds less than endearing about me is my tendency to focus my full attention (some may say obsess) on things. In some instances it works to her benefit, like photography or renovating kitchens, but I feel like there are other times when she rolls her eyes at me.

My newest ~~obsession~~ fascination is a website called Pintrest. It encompasses everything that I love: organizing, surfing the web, DIY, food, events and borrowing others' ideas, all in a convenient, one stop shop. It's like a virtual bulletin board. When you see something online that you like, you "pin" it to your board. And you can have a board for each interest, so your things don't get muddled. Who hasn't seen something online and thought to themselves "oooooh, I need/want/don't want to forget this!", and then forget where you saw it? Me, too! Or maybe you just don't have time to read it all at that particular time. This site will absolutely solve those problems! Just hit "pin it" and you'll have it saved to whatever board you select. Even better, you can look at the boards of others and see what they are (p)interested in and if their tastes are similar to yours, follow them. All the pins are credited, so you can go back to the original site if you want to buy something or find instructions for making it.

Although now all of you will know that the majority of the ideas for which I would generally be credited for are, uh, borrowed, I feel it would be wrong not to share my newfound favorite website. Take a look and if you join up, follow me and I'll follow you! I feel sure you'll be sucked in, too, and become a "Pin-worm" like me. (Making up names, especially this one, is another thing Meg rolls here eyes about). Let me know what you think.

www.pinterest.com

Kitchen Crashers

2011-05-16T22:25:00.002-05:00

This weekend we went down minus Meg and the baby and plus Bon Bon (as he is affectionately referred to by his nephew). Because of work, we didn't leave until almost 9:00 Friday night. That made for a very late night (early morning, really). The agenda for the weekend had us laying hardwood flooring in the family room, eating area and kitchen. I was also going to grout the tile, caulk the sink and counters, fill all nail holes in the paneling, paint and seal the concrete. Interspersed with all this were 3 trips to Lowe's, one to Home Depot and trips to HEB, The Bun N Barrel (see them on Food Network May 30!), and Sonic.

Here Is B working on the floor.

the guys checking out the work

Here is an (almost) after picture taken from the far end of the family room, looking toward the eating area. The fridge will be put back into the kitchen when the wall is finished.

Don't know if it's a good thing, but my size means I get all the tight space jobs.

grouting the backsplash

painting the wine fridge cabinet

caulking the sink

the sink

the wine fridge

what's done now

We got a lot done, yea(!), but not enough to keep us from going back again next weekend. We are also taking a load of furniture and stuff down. Not really moving in, just taking the stuff down that she has here. The Seattle house stuff doesn't come until June.

Many of you have inquired about my renovation attire. My daughter calls it pre-pubescent chic. I call it comfy. Anyway, my Raider Pride outfit gives me comfort with a distinctive flair at an affordable price, and don't forget durability! I leave it in San Antonio and I don't plan on washing it until the job is complete. I'm hoping that by the end of the job, my clothing will be able to at least stand on it's own, and maybe actually help with the work. The people at Lowe's now know me, but pretend not to, by my never changing uniform.

Spice Up My Kitchen

2011-05-07T12:00:00.001-05:00

We made our bi-monthly trip to SA last weekend and things are on the upswing! Kenny went down the week before and got a LOT of work done. It was all the tedious, hard stuff that we can't help do. He was able to move and build in the new double oven. As a side note, this oven is also a convection oven and can also proof bread. That's a fancy way to say that it can make your bread rise faster. If you know what I'm talking about then you know how exciting this is and if you don't know know, well, trust me, it's great! Another thing that is incredibly awesome is the touch screen. No buttons or dials at all, just a touch sensitive flat screen, like an iPhone, so you can turn it on with your nose! Try turning on the oven with your hands full or with a baby in you arms and you'll understand why Meg was so happy about this crazy feature. A nose touch function is not something that you look for when you are buying an oven, but a fun bonus.

Back to the kitchen progress. Kenny also ran a water line to the range top for a pot filler and ran a gas line to the range top ( the previous was electric). He put the finishing touches on the concrete counters reinforced the cabinets. He tore out the old Sheetrock from behind the counters and replaced it, too.

When we got there, Meg and I couldn't do much because he hadn't gotten the countertops in yet, so we made ourselves useful by making numerous runs to Lowe's. When he got the counters, sink and range top in, we started tiling. It about killed me. I've tiled floors before but tiling vertically, under cabinets, is much more difficult. I had to lift up those sheets of tile over my head and then shift them around after they were stuck in the mastic or crawl under the cabinets into the corners. My weenie arms felt it for days! It looks so good, though. While we were tiling, he began the new wall behind and beside the fridge.

Doesn't it look great? We call it "cottage industrial". We added about 36 inches of counter length on the right side so that we could put in a wine fridge under it and build in a microwave above it.

I also started shifting gears from responsible Mamie to indulgent Mamie, since they will be moving soon and I won't have to follow rules anymore. I feel like I was cheated in that area. Because I saw him all the time, I couldn't just show up with toys and goodies. Also, more toys meant more clutter in MY house, not his. I did some extra makeup work while I was there. I bought him a fire truck and a swing set and we put those together, too. I think the remedial work will bring me up to speed in the spoiling department.

My New Baby

2011-05-03T20:48:00.002-05:00

It's spring and babies abound. Aside from the new baby news of the grand baby kind ( I love you Wingnut!), I also want to announce another new member of my family, Wang Wang. I was told of her due date at my birthday party and waited anxiously as she made her way from China. I chose the name, Wang Wang, because of the meaning, "bright and clear" (or that's what I read, anyway) and she certainly is that! After 5 agonizing weeks, she showed up while I was at work. Thank goodness Meg was home to make her feel welcome. I hurried home and took her in my arms, where she belonged. I was amazed by the familial resemblance with her siblings, all three shiny white with appealing curved corners. They communicated seamlessly, with the older ones sharing data, pictures, and friends' contact info.

Here is a picture of my new baby!

I wanted her to have a cozy, safe place to sleep, so I made a special bed for her.

You can see she loves it!

She is absolutely wonderful and I am having so much fun getting to know her. As a matter of fact, this post was written entirely on Wang Wang. "So what", you may think. Well, for starters, you cant just blog on iPad. I won't bore or embarrass you with all the technical mumbo jumbo of why it can't, mainly because I don't know, but it can't. That meant research and downloading apps and all kinds of fun. With this app, Blogsy, I can drag and drop pictures, and video. I think I'll drag one in now.

Pretty cute, huh? He also sings a pretty jazzy "Mamie" song.

So here goes my completely on the iPad post. The video looks kinda weird from here so here's hoping it posts ok. If not, more research!

kitchen Impossible 3

2011-04-27T10:10:00.012-05:00

We are about to leave for San Antonio again and I realized I hadn't updated from the last visit. The muscles aches faded and so has my memory! Maybe I can pull most of the details up.

Meg and I left Friday to get things started. Kenny had to work and didn't come until Saturday and left Sunday. That only gave him a few hours to knock out the list. It was a quick trip but we did a LOT in those hours.

nice and green, but dangerous.

My main goal was to clean off the fence (above) of all the growth that was overtaking about 4 feet into the yard. The initial plan was to trim it back so it would still be green but hide the stockade fence on the other side of the chain link. Why didn't someone take down one of the fences? There was about 6 inches between the 2 it was sooooo hard getting it cut down. We considered taking the fence down, but it would have required too much additional work and we would have to take down some trees. Turns out that most of the "shrubs" on the fence were thorny somethings, so I took everything out except the honeysuckle. Hopefully it will grow back quickly and cover the fence.

yikes! thorn free but pretty ugly now! back to front view.

front to back view.

It took 3 days to clear it all off the fence. I was a scratched up, sore mess.

We also got all the cabinet doors and drawers painted. It was windy outside so we had to paint in the garage. Our sprayer didn't work and I ended up brushing all 40 something doors/drawers in that very hot, unventilated garage.

We took down the paneling in the eating area of the kitchen last time and this time we replaced it and painted it. Hopefully trim will be up soon.

Kenny brought down the countertops that he had poured to be sure they fit before he poured the rest. These are 2 inch slabs of concrete so it was like he was moving a sidewalk onto the cabinets...by himself. What a man!He also prepped the floors with tar paper and put down the subfloors for the hardwood that is coming later.

All this done in about 20 hours.

Next up, countertops, tiles and plumbing.

Eggstravaganza!

2011-04-23T16:22:00.008-05:00

When B was in maybe 4th or 5th grade, he said that he missed having Easter egg hunts. Because Meg was already too old (we thought) for hunts, we had stopped doing them. It made me sad that I had cheated him out of some childhood experiences. That's when we started having hunts for the older crowd. At first it was just for older kids with candy and things like earrings, lip gloss and stuff like that in eggs. Then it became an egg hunt on steroids.

Today was the annual Cloud Easter Eggstravaganza. Around 40 people of all ages with their eye on the prize(egg). In addition to candy, we've had bath beads, movie tickets, lottery tickets, gift cards, nail clippers, jewelry, makeup, confetti eggs, pictures of Rick Curtis, and, of course, MONEY.

looks like Tanya was the lucky winner of the Rick pic this year.

We started small, but it has increased throughout the years and so has the fun. For the past 2 years we've had a $100 egg in addition to several $20's, 10's, 5's and loads of 1's. Other folks bring eggs filled with change, too, so the purse gets quite big. The hunt encompasses 5 houses; the front and back yards of 3 houses and the front of 2 yards. It takes about 30-45 mins. for 2 people (Kenny and me) to hide the eggs and about 30-45 mins to find them all ( Well, really about a year. I found a $5 egg from last year in my flower bed a few weeks ago). Craziness! If you come, you hunt, and this hunt isn't for the faint of heart. Lots of running and pushing and strategizing.

The hunt begins.

Afterwards, everyone sits around and checks out their loot, then accuses the winner of the $100 of cheating.

This is Michael. He found the $100 last year, too. Folks were not too happy. (I don't know why the heck this is underline-ing now. I can't get it to stop!)

This was the first year in a looooong time that we've have enough little ones to have a separate hunt, but this year we did. They didn't get as excited as we did, but then again, they didn't have money eggs, just candy that they couldn't eat.

We had a great time and I'm glad that we are still making memories for our kids. Now we are even making them for their kids.

Sweat Equity

2011-03-28T20:38:00.007-05:00

This past weekend's trip was all about carting the appliances down and measuring for the appliances and counter tops. Meg had ordered some things online and we picked up some other things from an appliance showroom. She loves to cook so the plan was the kitchen of her dreams, within budget and reality of course. She picked up a six burner range top and double convection oven that were displays so were discounted, woo hooo!! She also got a new sink and faucet, a wine fridge and a pot filler from O.com (a great place to find stuff for the kitchen). We knew that we would have to refit the cabinets to accommodate the new stuff, so she just picked what she wanted and we were going to make it fit. Sorry Kenny.

If the Clouds had a coat of arms, the motto on it would be "Oh, we can do that. How hard can it be?" Kenny will be laying hard wood floors on over 500 sq. ft., by himself, redoing cabinets and making concrete countertops. They do this stuff on HGTV all the time, how hard can it be? He has even done hard wood floors before, so it's that much easier. We will also build a pergola and fashion a smart looking wainscoting for the eating area. I will also be making drapes and upholster some furniture. Again, how hard can it be? I've done all this before, just not all at one time.

The new hood. Not as wide as the opening so we will be tiling all the way up.

The range top. Isn't it wonderful!!! I can't wait to cook on it. It fit perfectly so it's now teacher's pet.

The wine fridge. This was an addition so we have to move the big fridge over and add counter top and cabinets above the wine fridge and a wall around the fridge.

The double oven REALLY doesn't fit so there will be some major redo there. We have to run water over to the cooktop for the pot filler and we have to get gas over there, too, since the cooktop they had was electric.

This is the eating area of the kitchen. It had painted paneling (not the pretty kind) so we took it down this weekend. We took out the vinyl earlier.

Every time we go down there, things get worse, so things should start looking up soon, right? Our plan is to go back down in a couple of weeks to try to put in the concrete countertops and start painting.

The back yard is my baby. These are the figs that are growing in the back yard. Jealous? I can't wait till they're ready!

I still have a lot of pruning to do in the backyard. The shrubs are still out of control on one side of the yard. I need to take them out and put in others. Makes sense, huh?

Kitchen Impossible Part 2

2011-03-28T20:35:00.003-05:00

For some reason, the last post wouldn't let all of the text load, so I moved the rest of the story here.

I also did a lot of yard work. It was not as impressive as the kitchen to look at but since the previous owners weren't yard people, the landscaping left a little to be desired and the soil was like concrete. This is the pile of brush I cut down with my tender little hands. It looks a lot smaller than it felt, i mean, was.

This area was completely filled with shrubs and brush.

The next weekend, Meg and I went down without Kenny to clean up grout dust from the tile removal, paint cabinet boxes, ceiling and walls and do some more planting.

All this fun is done without furniture, tv, internet (!) and sleeping on air mattresses and eating outside (we brought patio furniture down the first trip).

Kenny and I went down later a couple of weeks later to deliver appliances, plant even MORE flowers and measure for tile and counter tops. Stay tuned for the next installment.

Kitchen Impossible

2011-03-25T14:18:00.038-05:00

This is what the Kitchen looked like before we started work.

Here are some before pics of the inside of the house. Before the ceiling was repainted, the kitchen repainted, all appliances torn out, counter tops removed, cabinet doors removed, cabinet boxes repainted, wall was added, tile backsplash ripped out and floor taken out. It wasn't a bad kitchen. We are hoping that it looks at least as good when we finish our magic. Our magic includes extensive HGTV viewing and lots and lots of perusing home improvement magazines at Home Depot while Kenny looks at tools. I also spend lots of Sunday afternoons going to open houses and checking out everyone's house renovations. My peepers are always peeped for every new piece of kitchen jewelry out there. We've also redone a couple of bathrooms and a utility room ourselves. All the mixed together with a burning desire to fix things up, whether it be your life, a relationship or a kitchen, makes this a dream come true for me. Let the fun begin!

After a weekend of INTENSE physical labor and lots of tacos, this is what was left.

Reid giving some plumbing advice.

It can only get better from here.

House Hunters

2011-03-25T13:19:00.008-05:00

The "one"

I'm taking you on a journey, friends. You will be accompanying me on our quest for a house. Not really our quest, 'cause we are more than happy in our little house. This is a search for a place for Meg and Eddie to finally put down roots. Hurray that these roots will be in Texas. Hopefully our next grandbaby will be born a Texan (please don't hold that against Reid, it isn't his fault).

Our plan was to take one weekend to find the perfect house. Parameters being at least 3 bedrooms, good schools and safe neighborhood. Pretty loose parameters! Fixer upper was high on the list, too, since they wanted to do some work to build some equity and put their personality in it. We did a lot of homework before the big weekend. Lots of internet time on Realtor.com, checking our schools and lots of virtual walks around neighborhoods.

We called a realtor and told him what we needed. The perfect house in one weekend. All work would be no fun so we booked a room in a fancy shmancy resort and made the best of it. We did 11 houses in 2 days, in the rain and with a 15 month old. Good times!

These are pictures of some of the houses. Others were so bad we didn't even take pictures.

God was faithful, though. Our realtor (who was a last minute find because our first guy would NOT return our phone calls) had just gotten a house the day before and it wasn't even on MLS yet. Not even a sign in the yard. We walked in and knew it was the one. All redone except for the family room and kitchen. The yard was huge but not very pretty. Lots of potential to add value and their personality. We made an offer the next day.

Next up, Kitchen Impossible. A young mother and a deployed dad try to build equity in their home by redoing a kitchen/family room themselves. By "themselves", they mean a family project where even the great grandparents get involved. Stay tuned for more fun!

Birthday Trip

2011-03-25T11:50:00.008-05:00

I started this post the week before the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I just couldn't post it then. Now that I know my family is safe, I thought I'd finish it up and post, so here you go.

It took nearly 3 months for anything to happen in my life to warrant a blog post. Interesting in MY eyes, no need to tell me if you find nothing in my life interesting. I would think, though, that celebrating 50 years of life is work taking note of, if not completely interesting.

My sweet husband is now a half a century old, 5 decades, middle aged. How old does that sound? I’m glad it’s him and not me! Lucky I married an older man so he could enter this ahead and school me on the ways of old age.

To honor this event, we planned 2 parties, one for his family and one for friends. That would be too many folks to have all at once, especially at my house. The family one was supposed to be a dessert party at my house. Although he heard us talking about it, he pretended he didn’t know, never really asking what we were talking about. I was excited because all of his brothers and their families and his dad were going to be able to come. The Wednesday before the party, he got a phone call that the brother of the wife of his brother #3 (Kenny is brother #4), had died. Brother #2 called to let him know. Kenny told #2 that he didn’t remember wife of #3 having a brother and neither did #2. #2 also said the funeral was Friday night at 6. Hmmm, Kenny thought, a strange time for a funeral. “HA!” he crowed. “I’m on to you! You’re planning a surprise party for me! There is no brother of wife of #3 and no Friday night funeral!” Because his brothers and dad didn’t want to spoil the party (in case it was a surprise), no one mentioned not being able to come to our house Friday. Long story short, there was a death (sadly), there was a funeral that we attended and there was no family party for Kenny. I promised him we would reschedule for a later time.

Fast forward to Sunday, the REAL surprise. Eddie flew in early, saying he needed to be here for a meeting in San Antonio and for the house closing. B was able to get off work and all the gang was able to meet for a surprise party at Joe T. Garcia’s. BUT…one of the friends forgot about it and scheduled to work with Kenny on a computer project at the SAME TIME. When Kenny called to tell me about the work, I quickly hung up and called Q. We did a lot of strategizing and came up with a plan. We (the fam and friends) went to Joe T’s and Q brought Kenny there, on the guise of meeting us for dinner.

Was he surprised! It was great! The weather was beautiful the patio was perfect and the food was great. What better way to honor a man whom I consider the best husband in the world than with his family, his closest friends and his favorite food. There is one better way. A surprise trip to Sonoma to tour wineries!

I wanted to surprise Kenny with a great gift for his birthday since it was a big one. The first surprise was the birthday party. A week later, we left on a Friday morning to fly standby to California. I thought I had it planned really well. I thought that since traffic is bad in SF and it's a popular tourist spot, it would be smarter to land in Sacramento. I listed us on the flight and rented a car.

Turns out my plans weren't so good. Overbooked by Thursday, we did the switcheroo with flights and car rentals and flew into SF. It looked great until...everyone (except Kenny) got sick. The baby was puny Thursday morning. Throwing up and some poopie issues. Then late Thursday night Meg started the puking part while I took on the other part. yea. Plugging on, we were up at 4:30 AM to get ready for the flight. Eddie rode with us to the airport to bring the car home. As we were driving I noticed that he had emptied out my school book bag. He said he was getting queasy but would let us know if we needed to pull over. He didn't quite make it. It sounded like someone turned on a faucet in the back seat. We did pull over, threw away the book bag and let Eddie finish his purge at a gas station. When we got to the airport, we didn't even hug him goodbye. We trotted off, leaving him at the curb, puking his guts up.

That was the worst of it for us, although I didn't get to eat all I wanted since I was a little cautious. San Francisco and Sonoma were beautiful and the wineries were so much fun. It was a great birthday trip for Kenny and a very relaxing time for both of us.

Sonoma countryside

What We Know Now

2011-03-17T09:48:00.008-05:00

Great news! For the first time in almost a week, my mom was able to get through to Japan. Everyone is safe and at home. They did not have electricity until yesterday. My aunt Reiko, who we hadn't heard from, was also able to return home yesterday. Because they are on the coast and had suffered often from typhoon damage, they had rebuilt their house so that the living areas were above the garage. Even though there was flooding, their living areas were not under water. Not so for my cousin, Migumi, her house is still flooded.

My aunt Keiko, since they finally have electricity, is now able to get some heat from her kotatsu, which is a small heater mounted under the short table where they eat. It is covered with a thick blanket "tablecloth" in the winter and you sit with your feet under it, the cloth over your lap to stay warm. There is no water, so her son has been standing in line, up to four hours, to get water for them.

Not my fam, just a picture of a kotatsu. My aunt's house looks very similar to this, though.

They are about 7o miles north the actual Fukushima Reactor site. Thank goodness for Google Maps! Hopefully it won't get to the point where they have to evacuate again. Thank you all for your prayers for their safety. Please continue to pray that they are able to get food and water. We are so blessed that we lost no one in this tragedy, but I think that maybe we are the minority. I am sure that my family in Japan has lost a friend, a family member or a neighbor in the devastation. I can't imagine the heartache of living through such a tragedy.

Waves of Concern

2011-03-14T19:36:00.013-05:00

My mom with her older sister on the beach near where the tsunami hit. Mom is on the right.

Mom with both sisters in Matsushima. Mom is the one with the stylish 70's 'do.

I thought this would be a good way to let you know a little about what is going on with my family in Japan.

As most of you know, my mom is from Japan, arriving in Texas as a new mom on Christmas Day, 1959. She and my dad have always lived within 15 miles of the first place they lived here and have been in the same house for about 49 years. She speaks Japanese with a Texas accent. She is the person from whom Megan and I get our "spunk".

The rest of her family are all in Japan. Some in Tokyo, some near Sendai. Her family in Tokyo are cousins with whom she lived for the first 5 years of her life. Her mom died within a couple of months of her birth from TB and her father sent her and her older sister to live with his sister and her family in Tokyo. Her father remarried twice. The first time, his bride and new baby died. The second time to the woman I knew as my grandmother and who brought back 2 girls from Tokyo to raise as her daughters. She also had 3 other children, 2 sons and a daughter. This also incredibly spunky woman died last month at the age of 95.

Mom's older sister, Kieko, lives in Shiogama, 10 miles north of Sendai and less than 60 miles from the nuclear reactor that is exploding. Her younger sister, Reiko, lives in Matsushima, 6 miles farther north. Both are on the coast.

This is the enlargement of the small black box above.

My mom talked to her sister Thursday night, my mom's birthday. She had heard there had been some earthquakes and tsunami warnings but my aunt said that there was nothing to it (they are pretty used to those things). Friday morning was a different story. Despite repeated attempts, we couldn't contact anyone until about 3:30 in that afternoon. She was finally able to get my cousin (who lives with his mother, as every unmarried Japanese man should). They both talked to mom and told her they were all ok. She said the earthquake was so strong that she couldn't even walk, she had to crawl around the house. There was some structural damage and the windows were broken, but no tsunami. As a matter of fact, because she had no electricity, she didn't even know about the tsunami. My mom had more information about it by watching the Japanese network than my aunt and cousin did. Later she was able to talk to some friends who lived closer to Sendai. They were able to evacuate and were safe, but their business was under water. She was also able to contact the "Tokyo Cousins" and they were fine, too.

Mom has not been able to contact any family again since Friday afternoon. No news at all from her younger sister in Matsushima and the rest of that family (husband, children, grandchildren). We know that the city is flooded. My mom is convinced that she is "up in the mountains" with her in-laws. I hope so, since one of the many rescues I watched was of a man floating 9 miles in the ocean on the roof of his house and he was from Matsushima. I heard that google had a database of names at evacuation sites. I was so excited to have something productive to do, something to help my mom ease her mind. When I pulled up the images of the names, they were, of course, written in Japanese. I felt so defeated. I guess I didn't think that one through, did I? My mom looked thru hundreds of photos, trying to identify the cities where the photos were taken. She found several surrounding cities, but none of Matsushima.

So now we wait. When the earthquake happened in Haiti, even though I recognized the tragedy, it wasn't too difficult to go on with my life. I didn't identify with the people. This is different for me. The faces I see are my mom's and aunts', uncles' and cousins'. The language I hear behind the dubbing is the background music of my childhood, my mom and her friends gossiping and discussing life. The places I see on the news are places I've been with my family. I can't do anything but watch and pray. It's snowing there tonight and my aunt and cousin are in a house with broken windows and inconsistent electricity. Her family, aside from her son, is unaccounted for. My heart is breaking for her, for my mom and for the whole country.

I can see God's hand, though. My sweet 80 year old aunt, recently widowed, was completely spared. Her small traditional Japanese house damaged by the earthquake, but still standing and dry. She was saved from the panic and knowledge of the tsunami because there was no electricity. The fact that my mom was able to speak to her the day of the earthquake is also a blessing. My mom sent her Christmas gift late this year, not getting it out until January. In that care package of goodies were my aunt's favorite treats, a taste developed while working at the Army base in the 50's...Spam and Vienna sausages. I feel sure my frugal, pack rat aunt squirreled away these goodies, too precious to eat all at once. What a blessing now when they don't know where they will get their food. Hopefully there will be more blessings to come.

Japanese women aren't normally regarded as tough. I know for a fact that they are. My mom and her sister made it despite losing their mother at a young age and then leaving the only "mother" they knew to join a dad they hadn't seen very often and his new wife. They made it through World War II when food was hard to find, watching neighbors suffer from malnutrition. Fire bombs fell and when the sirens blew, they evacuated to icy caves. They walked to farms, trading candles for vegetables. My aunt cared for a husband for years after he sustained a brain injury in an accident. My mom came to a country, with a new baby and not much else. They are tough, I just wish they didn't have to be now.

Spring Fever

2011-02-24T15:11:00.007-06:00

Friends, friends, friends! I have spring fever in the worst way. There was too, too much snow for me to handle and now all I want to do is work in the yard and wear cute dresses. Working in the yard is out, though, because my grand dog, Ollie, is a maniac and will not let anything grow back there. Now I'm on the hunt for cute, springy dresses that are cool (as in not hot) without showing too much under arm and hiding any signs of overindulgence.

That brings me to this. I know it's small. I tried to cut and paste a big picture, but it wouldn't let me. It's from Lillypulitzer.com. Go to dresses and look for this. Isn't it great??? I know I can make this dress, but do you think i would have any luck stenciling or painting it? Do any of my talented friends think they can do this or know someone who can?

Help me....please!

Wrap it Up With A Bow

2010-12-24T10:46:00.009-06:00

I thought I'd do a highlights of 2010 for my family like all the magazines, newspapers and the Today Show. Mine will not include births (none this year), deaths (thankfully, none of those either) or divorces. It did include some relocations, jobs changes and house updates, though. This is also a good time to mini-blog about all the things I meant to blog about. Saved me time writing it and you time reading it.

Here we go!

If you don't know that Meg and the baby moved back to Texas then you probably don't know me. Greatest thing ever! To add to the fun, B moved home, too, along with his dog, Ollie. It's made for a year of crazy baby lovin' and just plain good times. It's sort of like the last lunar eclipse. I didn't think it would happen during my life time or be as good as I thought it would be. No, my house is not as clean as it once was but now I see that the clean house was a sign of an old lady heading down the path of eccentric. So we've had a lot of dog hair and spit up on the floors along with the occasional delicate aroma of gently used diapers, but there is also lots laughing and playing and seeing life thru a baby's eyes.

This is so much better than a clean house! The downside of this is that soon, everyone will have to resume their real lives and leave us here alone again. It's gonna be like "it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved before". It's better to have had your grown kids and grandbaby live with you and move out, leaving you lonely and heartbroken, than to have never had it at all.

I redid my den, a bedroom, the living room and the dining room this year. I posted pics of the living room but not the others. Click on the highlighted words to see some before pics. I made new curtains, got a new table and reupholstered some chairs that I picked up in Canton. We also painted.

We made several trips this year, the biggest being the move from Seattle to Ft. Worth. The whole fam went and it was great. I also posted about the mind numbing cruise across the Atlantic . I went to NYC 2 times, once with the Loop + some and once for a quick Christmas window trip.

Work is soooo much better this year. We all have good years and bad, but this year could make any year pale because my sweet friend Traci works with me now. I love, love, love her. We've been friends for more that 20 yrs and have worked together for about half of those. This year was like coming home.

B is almost finished with grad school and is working and interning, so he isn't home much. Meg can spend 30 days in Cuba every 2 months, so that's been nice for her and it gives us a chance to pre-miss them in preparation for their move to San Antonio.

That's our year in a nutshell. Wishing love and blessings to all my friends for the coming year. I am so grateful for God's mercy and blessing in my life and the lives of my family. Happy New Year to all!

Happy First Graniversary!

2010-11-18T14:22:00.018-06:00

I can't believe that it has been a year since the phone call that turned my world upside down and made me re-prioritize everything I thought was important. God is so good. He allowed me to spend that first precious month with Reid, made it possible for the baby and his mommy to travel to Texas every month or so and at 6 months old (HALLELUJAH!) made it possible for them to move down here and live with us for a year. I was able to celebrate his first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and birthday with him. I was also able to take a wonderful road trip with him and the rest of my family. So many memories already made!

Our initial plans for the birthday party were something simple. A one year old doesn't need a big bash, right? Then Meg began making plans, starting with a custom invitation. We chose a dog theme and she taught herself to twill to make them. I helped design them and we started to work. From there it began to snowball and, inevitably, the beast was released and we had full on party-planning mayhem. Apparently the party frenzy gene is passed on thru the maternal DNA because Meg was just as out of control as I. The invitations led to coordinating plates, napkins, banners, balloons, for which we bought a helium tank (didn't want to run out!), tablecloth, customized candy bar wrappers, cupcakes, food (did you know you can coordinate the food??? well, you can), drinks, his outfit, bib and party hat, and even the curtains. We borrowed a vintage high chair in the coordinating color, too. We even made reidfetti, confetti with his pictures on it. Just to ease your mind about over indulgence, his gift from us was a used chair I picked up at a flea market for 12 bucks and had recovered for free and an activity box that we bought a month before similar to the one that he liked so much at the hospital. I just hid it a few days before the party, hoping he would forget it and wrapped in up on his birthday. I know when enough is enough.

Here is a little taste of the day.

The front of the house.

The table, banner and curtains.

The uber cute vintage highchair we borrowed from Crash and the bib and party hat I made.

cupcakes and rice krispies

puppy dog cupcakes

candy bars

more candy

Dublin Dr. Pepper, dog bone shaped sandwiches and "Puppy Chow"

The other angle with M&M's and mini corn dogs.

The birthday boy and his puppy dog outfit.

Not to apologize, I feel no need to, but to explain any perceived excess, this was not only to celebrate Reiderbug's first birthday, but to celebrate my first Graniversary. This was to celebrate the best year in my life. There will be other birthdays and, hopefully many more grandbabies celebrating their first birthdays. There will not, however, be another first birthday of the child that made me a grandmother. That in itself deserves a celebration because becoming a Mamie made me a better person. A more laid back person who can enjoy crawling around the house playing chase without (hardly) caring that the floor I'm crawling across is covered with dog hair and toys. A more patient person who can wait for a little one to feed himself JUST THE RIGHT pea while squishing the less than desirable ones with an index finger, instead of cleaning the kitchen. A much more thankful person who recognizes the swiftness in which time passes and is grateful to have the chance to be in the presence of precious innocence and to have the honor of being a part of that child's life.

...Grandparenting is the ice cream sundae without the calories, the shop-till-you-drop extravaganza without the credit card bills. In other words, pleasure without responsibility.

And yet, cuddling with the third generation fills you with precisely that: a sense of duty, a recognition of accountability. The sweet scent of their sweat, their outstretched arms, the lips puckered for a wet kiss, the soft melody of their childish voices -- all these infuse me with energy and determination. There's a clarity of purpose that arrives with your children's children. The world, and your place in it, becomes more meaningful.

Ah, so this is the reward for all the heartaches of childrearing.

An old friend says my face changes when I speak of my grandchildren. It softens, it opens, it turns welcoming and vulnerable.

I don't doubt it. It's a reflection of my brimming heart. In their presence I feel suddenly and inexplicably beautiful.

The excerpt above was written by Ana Veciana-Suarez. She articulated what I know in my head and feel and my heart and bones, so deep that I couldn't find the words. I'm so glad she did.

The "Crossing"

2010-10-26T10:57:00.013-05:00

So, I finally have time to update my "What I did this Summer" post. This was the part of the trip I was soooo excited about, my trip aboard the Queen Mary 2. In retrospect, I should have expected something off my normal radar when researching. The posts on discussions boards chastised people for referring to it as a cruise; it is a "crossing". And not on a ship, oh no indeed, it is an "ocean liner". Well, I'm not above a little pretension now and then myself, so I didn't take it too seriously. As for formal dinners, what's the problem with dressing up? My warning bell should have been ringing like crazy...who likes to dress formally and use terminology like that? Old Farts.

One of my very favorite things to do in the world is to people watch (others may call it stalking, but I noticed you didn't object when I posted the pics of Jessica Simpson, so don't judge). As we were herded into the terminal like cattle in sports coats and cardigans, I tried to pick out interesting folks to watch. I had read that the QM2 was a favorite of those choosing an alternative lifestyle. I was also hoping for some rich folks with whom I could shmooze. What I did not expect, though, were Amish. Yes, Amish. Remember my fascination with all things religious? The Hassidic Jews I stalked? I immediately transatlantically texted all who would be interested (Meg, Julie and Byron) to let them know of my find. What a coup! Not just one or two, either, but a whole family. And they have big families! *Full disclosure here: they could have been Mennonites. I really can't tell without closer examination/interrogation and that would have been rude.

THEN, as they took our picture before we boarded the ship, I noticed a family of 6. Oldest being a teen girl and youngest being of undetermined age because of incongruent size/clothing style/shoe choice. The whole clan was dressed alike in sailor outfits. My people watching just got soooo interesting.

I am going to acknowledge what you are already thinking. "If that's the most exciting thing she has to say so far, could this trip have been a bust?" No, it was not. It was a once in a lifetime experience. As my friend Amy so tactfully put it after returning from a sweltering summer trip to Disneyworld with a preschooler and a 1st grader, once in a lifetime meaning "this is only gonna happen once." I will say that the food was beyond description, I absolutely loved it. It was so good, in fact, that on the first night we had dinner in the main dining room and then had dinner again at a smaller, reservation only restaurant. The spa was perfect. I spent time there everyday enjoying the 3 different types of saunas and the hydrotherapy pool.
It was a beautiful, huge "ocean liner" and we spent a lot of time exploring it.

BUT...when I booked this crossing, I thought I'd be lying on my balcony, soaking up the rays. I thought I'd be taking fun cooking classes and dance lessons. I thought I'd be standing on the deck with the love of my life, looking oh-so-beautiful in our formal wear, watching the sunset. Those pictures they post on their website are not 100% accurate. The waves were up to 18 ft. So high that they were splashing onto our balcony! It was so cold all of my "cruise wear" was not wearable (I guess I should have focused on "crossing wear"), around 45 degrees at night. And it was so windy that the beautiful teak lounge chairs I was supposed to be lounging on with a book and a nice glass of wine were tied down to the deck. I kid you not. On the first day, the sun was shining but it was so cold, the few folks that were lying out were covered with towels and shoes were blowing across the deck. NOT exaggerating friends! Anyway, we were inside eating, as we did every couple of hours, and I asked the waiter if this was typical weather. "Oh, no," he says (and I breathe a sigh of relief), "the last crossing it rained the entire time. You should take advantage of this beautiful day!"

Me taking advantage of the beautiful day. Brrrrr!

Lucky for us they have all the classes, right? The posts from past passengers said there weren't enough days to do all that was offered. Well, these folks must have spent most of their time napping because I saw exactly one show in the planetarium and fell asleep, watched 1/2 of one lecture on bugs and fell asleep and went to one High Tea and left early because an old geezer (not Kenny, he was playing golf) sat with me. There were lectures on bug dung (REALLY), more planetarium shows, scarf tying classes, lectures on ocean liners and various other boring, sleep inducing options. I did not take advantage of these options.

The most entertaining parts of the trip were not listed on their website or in their brochures as far as I was concerned. CSI played several times a day on the tv. It was great. There was a glass elevator that was on the outside of the ship that entertained me for hours. It was usually empty because it was so hard to get to. I was able to read by the pool, but the pool was enclosed, so the effect was really like sitting in a laundry mat because of the humidity and chlorine smell. The seas were so rough the water was splashing out of the pool, anyway. There was a fabulous library at the front of the ship so I could sit and read and look out at the fog, which was a lot like looking at a gray wall right outside the window. Of course, there was food to be had at all times.

Another great thing about this trip was the demographic. I was the young, hot chick and Kenny was the young stud. I didn't feel the need to suck in at the pool. You know you're in trouble when there is an old man lying by the indoor pool, black socks and SAS loafers on but no shirt, hooked up to his oxygen. I guess if I ever get to that point, I'm not gonna want to go out gracefully in my recliner at home, either.

We had a great time being still and quiet, which I rarely am. We had the pleasure of meeting some very interesting and fun couples at our table at dinner. I tracked the Amish (Mennonite) and the Family of Six. I scoured the photos that were for sale from the various Balls and dinners, hoping to find shots of them. The Amish were not up but I was lucky enough one day to see them purchasing pics of non-Amish family members. The Family of Six continued to dress in coordinating/matching homemade outfits. We got to meet and they were a sweet, friendly family with very well behaved children. I was entertained beyond belief by watching the ballroom dancing. Not by professionals, but by all the old people that REALLY know how to dance. To top it off, I got to eat some wonderful food, beautifully prepared and as much as I wanted. All in all, a once in a lifetime experience.

Amish at Dinner

Last Day and Finally Warm

Dining Room

Family of Six. The girls are 17 and 14, the boys are 6 and 9. Mom is in the middle.

The Statue of Liberty at dawn as we arrived in NYC.

Canton Rules

2010-10-02T19:05:00.010-05:00

Earlier this year I began redecorating several rooms in my house. I haven't posted pictures yet 'cause I wasn't finished. I am finally finished with the living room and today I got one step closer to finishing the dining room. I found the table I wanted.

I didn't want anything fancy, I just wanted something more narrow and longer. I don't like dragging out the leaves (leafs? do you pluralize it the same way??) for the table I have now when we have guests and I didn't like how huge it felt when they were all in. I also wanted some cute mismatched chairs to go with it. Cheap was important, not name brand, not quality, not heirloom...cheap. I don't want to be upset when kids color outside the lines on it, when people don't use a coaster or when I have to stand on it to change lightbulbs. I just want cute and durable (and cheap).

Kenny and I went to Canton today and I found what I wanted. By what I wanted, I mean the price was right and it was verrrrry, verrrry close to what I wanted. Kenny will have to fill and sand some areas, paint the legs black and shorten it by an inch, but those are minor details.

We also found 3 CHEAP chairs that need to be restained and upholstered.

I bought some things for the baby's room, so I'm a little closer to nursery perfection. To round out the shopping fun I found a pedestal cake plate,

a RED dial wall phone. I love this! I'm wondering what I'll do when they say "Press 1 for..."

a hat box, several postcards for another project I am doing, a hanging basket of swedish ivy, a first communion certificate from 1932 for Anna Krause, a sack of straws for the baby, a sack full of RED bakelite silverware,

a surprise for someone at school who I don't even work with anymore but it was too perfect, lots of Christmas wrapping paper and wooden type in the letters "c" and "l". I had to buy those because I bought letters at a flea market in NY that spell out c-l-o-u-d and one of the dogs ate the C and the L. We had a choice of being the "oud" family or to perpetually ask the question "do u?" Neither worked for me so I had to find another C and L.

Of course, there is also a giant bag of kettle corn.

Now, for the Canton rules.

Friends, someone needs to be honest and I feel like this is a good place for it. Unless scooters are REALLY necessary for you to get around, meaning you use one in your everyday life or a medical professional has advised you against over exertion, STAY OFF THE DANG SCOOTERS!!! Are you CRAZY? Nothing says old fart like planting your bottom on a motorized vehicle because you don't want to WALK while you shop! Did you know that some of these vehicles have trays so you can EAT while you try not to exert enough energy to burn calories? Do you not understand that's why you don't have the energy to walk? And $50 a day...why would you blow that kind of money when you could have free, fun exercise? Walking is good for you. If maintaining your current weight is so important that you don't want to chance burning the calories and loosing the weight, then you could at least buy food with the money and use the rest for why you are there. FUN JUNK.

Forget the health issues, if you don't care, I don't care. For goodness sakes, though, stop driving around the Arbors, clogging up the walkways and parallel parking your scooters with your friends so no one can get into a booth. You mean to tell me that all 5 of you who came together have a physical impairment that renders you unable to walk long distances? And do you have to hook your scooters together like some sort of weird, lazy conga line? Self respect people, self respect.

Whew, that rant was exhausting. Obviously, I'm not fussing at you, just the inconsiderate folks who think they are entitled to a lazy day at the flea market, piddling around while making it impossible for the people who are actually walking around to shop. Can I have a witness???? Amen!

I'll end on a lighter note. Here are some pics of the finished living room. Click the highlighed words above the see the before. This is the table I bought at a garage sale and stained black.

Couch that the neighbors across the street were going to give to Goodwill and the neighbor next door reupholstered for me. There is another flea market table at the end of the couch.
Kenny added the shelves on the left to match the ones on the right and I added muslin ruffles that I dyed black to the Roman shades that were up before. We picked up the front door at an auction. It an old classroom door. It still has the room number on the outside.

New room, new outlook on life!

Summer Stuff

2010-09-08T20:07:00.013-05:00

Since summer is officially over, I am officially thru with all summer shoots. Here are some samples of the fun.

This is a girls' weekend picture of sisters and their mom. I love this family and am so glad they include me in so much of their fun.

This is my little buddy's 10 month picture.

This was a Father's Day shoot for Granddad. Cuteness!

Don't think there are words to describe how sweet this baby is. She was PRECIOUS!

I was lucky enough to be able to shoot this friend's belly for an anniversary gift for her husband and then...

for a couples shoot a little bit before the baby came...

and at the hospital when he was just minutes old and then...

the sweet baby boy at 2 weeks.

This couple wanted all their pictures done before the ceremony. It gave me the neat opportunity to capture this wonderful moment when the groom saw his bride for the first time.

Fun times! You can't tell it's 107 degrees out, can you?

I LOVE how this shows the true feelings that both kids had about having their pictures made.

I've known the groom since he was 5. As a matter of fact, he was supposed to marry my daughter. I don't think he did too bad with this bride, though, since Meg was off the market!

My Trip Across the Pond

2010-07-26T17:19:00.010-05:00

View of our hotel across the Thames

This Trip was the trip I'd been waiting for. The trip about US. The family trip was phenomenal, no complaints and the Loop trip was every bit as awesome. But, this Trip was about doing what we wanted to do and total indulgence. Maybe my hopes were set a little too high (or just unrealistic, as I will note with an asterisk as we go along), but I always look for the silver lining. Even when things were maybe not what we expected, we had a wonderful time and enjoyed every minute of being together and of not making our own bed.

We started with a few days in London. I want to forewarn any Anglophiles out there that you are about to be offended so maybe should stop reading now while we are still friends. I knew we would only be in London a few days, so I tried to limit the things on our to-do list*. If you know me, have traveled with me or have read any previous posts, you know how this turned out. We arrived at 8:30 in the morning, their time (our time was about 2:30 am), and hit the ground running. We took the subway because it was sooo much cheaper than a cab or the train and got off across the Thames from our hotel, just under Big Ben. I have been to a lot of big cities, but let me tell you, I was not prepared for that crowd! Dragging 2 suitcases thru the throngs of STUPID TOURISTS just about did me in! Shoving and pushing and stinking.... Anyway, we dropped our bags off and headed out. I wanted to go to a flea market and again, CROWDS. The pushers and shovers and stinkers apparently headed that way, too. Completely overwhelming. What made it worse...incredible heatwave. Good thing I packed my London Fog trench coat*, huh? We were able to pick up some great ethnic food there and hoped it was a sign of good things to eat while we were in town*.

(As a side note, please remember that thru these crushing crowds, and they were everywhere, and the heatwave, they were doing LOTS of construction on entire subway stations. That meant getting out and trying to find bus routes* but eventually walking about 5 miles total. Also, buses and subways are not air conditioned).

Portobello Market

After beating the crowds and walking forever to find a subway station open, then missing our stop by 2 stations and going back, we headed to Harrod's. Can't go to London without seeing Harrod's, right*? Cue pushing, shoving throngs of people to move into Harrod's. It was like Walmart on tax free weekend!

Eating the only thing we could afford at Harrod's.

Finally made it back to our hotel and crashed around 10 with plans to get up at 9:30 to see the changing of the guard at 11:30*. We got up at 1:00pm. oops. Instead we got a day pass for a double decker bus, boarded with a bunch of pushing, shoving tourists (and actually throwing an elbow at a snotty Italian teenager who tried to push me out of the way) and saw the city.

We saw lots of old stuff, ate lots of fried stuff and pretty much had our fill of London in about as much time as was allotted.

Outside our window

Look familiar? The Templar Church from the DaVinci Code

We were able to squeeze in Stonehenge and Westchester on our transport to the QM2. It cooled off quite a bit and I was as awestruck with Stonehenge as I was under impressed with London. Stonehenge was even kind enough to make in necessary to wear my London Fog trench coat.

The trip took a turn when we got on the ship. More on that later.