love, me

Ever since we bought our dining table last year, I've been waiting for the day til we fill up all the seats.  Finally, that day will arrive on Thursday.  I know it is crazy to go ahead and set the table, but I couldn't help it.  I'm too excited.  It's a mismatch of plates, glasses and decor, but I love it. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope you have a great one!

November

I got on the Internet to see if I could get inspired for what to cook for dinner and decided to pop in and say hi.  I haven't been a very good blogger these past few months.  I couldn't tell you why except that Pinterest, kids, painting, laundry, planting bulbs and other things have taken precedent. 

But I can tell you some things to catch up.

1. Noah is getting glasses.  He has wanted them for so many years and it turns out he really needs them.  He is near-sighted and the doctor said he could go another year but turns out, Noah has trouble seeing 3-D images.  Which led me to ask, "You couldn't see 3-D during all those times we went to a 3-D movie?"  Nope.  Mother of the year, here folks.  I felt so bad.  How many blurry movies was he going to sit through before he finally realized that it wasn't supposed to be blurry?  Who knows.  That kid.
2. Earthquake! We had an honest-to-goodness Earthquake (I can't type it without capitalizing it, it was that !!!) here in Oklahoma.  Walls shaking, rumbling...a very strange thing to go through.  This year has been one crazy year as far as Mother Nature has been concerned. 
3. Rhett didn't make his reading goal this past week and had to be a commoner on their fictional boat.  A commoner! He said he wished he could have been a servant instead.  I don't know how servants are better off than commoners but I felt bad nonetheless. 
4. My bedroom is painted and beautiful.  Well, not right now.  Right now there is laundry everywhere.  But when it is beautiful again I will take pictures. 
5. November is here.  Wow. 
6. All the bulbs are not planted yet.  I'm running out of time but it is such tedious work.
7. I finished 1984 by George Orwell for book club and it made me mad. I guess that was the point?
8. It is rainy outside.  Perfect fall weather. 

Til next time...

T(w)een Wolf vs. Vanishing Man

 It was a like a cheesy horror movie at our house last night.  We had the webs, the b-movie characters (thanks to Martha Stewart's Halloween magazine), and ghosts.  We even tried some spooky lighting but it didn't work. 

Without further ado, here's the Houston boys starring in their own 'picture' movie:

To Catch a Vanished Man

The Vanishing Man is creepy.  Can you see him? Only if he wraps his face in guaze.  Ooooo.  Wait, is he behind the tree?

 Now he's over here! Watch out T(w)een Wolf! He's right behind you!

Aw, but the baby-face wolf knows all about the Vanishing Man.  That man that hides behind his fedora thinks he has us all fooled but T(w)een sees through the man whose invisible.  Yes, Wolfie has been on his trail for weeks now. He has set a trap and has been waiting patiently for the man in guaze to appear. T(w)een Wolf looks and quickly runs to catch him! Now is his chance!

The wrapped-up man in glasses runs from the not-a-child-not-quite-a-teen wolf and falls right into the trap that was set for him! The Vanishing Man is brought down by his own web of deception and lies!  Aha ha ha ha!  What will happen to the well-dressed vanished man now? 

T(w)een Wolf doesn't know!  He never got that far in his plan!  He really didn't think he would ever catch the man no one can see!  He needs some candy to think straight.  And its almost getting dark.  He tells the Vanishing Man that he will be back and to stay right where he is.

The Vanishing Man laughs quietly.  He is not worried.  He has his ways of disappearing.  T(w)een Wolf doesn't know but VM likes his candy too.  In a flash, the Vanishing Man is up and gone, into the night, always wary of a wolf that is between the ages of 10 and 12.

The End?

T(w)een Wolf.....Rhett

 The Vanishing Man....Noah

    

Make-up and hair....Mom

Set design....Rhett

To Catch a Vanished Man Part 2: Coming soon

The T(w)een Wolf catches The Vanishing Man again! And this time he has a plan...and plenty of candy.  Bwa ha ha ha!

Inspiration to Creation: All about Flowers

Pinterest has become my new favorite place on the internet.  Its window shopping at its easiest.  Lots of inspiration there:

Inspiration: Nestofposies.com Felt Flower Wreath

Creation: Aimee's Felt Flower Wreath

My wreath looks like it was a lot easier than the one I was inspired by.  I actually did most of it in the car in the Laser Quest parking lot while waiting for Noah to finish up at a birthday party.  I wrapped a styrofoam wreath with 3 rolls of striped black and white ribbon (to make sure it was completely covered) and then cut felt squares into spirals.  I wrapped the spirals into flowers and stuck a silver ball-headed pin into the middle.  That is all.  When I got home, I did glue the ends of the ribbon down but the flowers without glue.  Easiest wreath ever.

Inspiration: Blue Sky Confections Paper Plate Wreath

Creation: Aimee's Paper Plate Wreath

Ok, so my paper plate wreath is not as cool as the other.  But this was a lot of work and my hands still smell like coffee.  Allow me to explain.  First, you take 50 cheap paper plates, soak them in coffee (hence the reason why my hands still smell like coffee), ball them up to wrinkle and lay flat to dry.  Then you cut them into spirals.  After this step, you burn the edges with a candle and I tried, but I kept setting the plate on fire.  (I had a dish of water near by) so I decided to skip that step.  Then I ran out of hot glue sticks, which you are supposed to use to glue the flowers onto the wreath.  So I decided to just wrap ribbon around the rest.  I glued pink pearls in the middle of some of the flowers.  I may make some tiny changes before hanging it up. Hers is a halloween wreath, mine will be for winter.  I'm happy with it and that's all that matters, right?  Although hers is really, really cool but I bet it took her days. Just saying...

In keeping with the flower theme, here is one more picture.  I finally, finally like how my fireplace looks.  I arranged the dried flowers and branches and love how it looks in the room.  (The black balls in the fireplace are for halloween.  Seth was a little concerned: "Why are there black balls in the fireplace?"  Hee)  Next week, I'll show you what I hung up on my blank wall. 

Have a great day!



I have a fractured tailbone.

How's that for an opening line?  I could have said, "Here's a story for you, sprinkled with irony" and then tell you how I fell, not from a horse, but because of my two dumb dogs.  And because of my two dogs making me fall, I have to give up horseback riding for awhile. 

It would be here I could spout out that line, "When life gives you lemons..." but honestly, sometimes I don't want to make lemonade.  You know? 

It hurt. And I was mad.  I was frustrated and just so unhappy that this happened to me last Thursday night.  When it happened, I immediately started crying and didn't stop for about an hour. 

But, four days later, I am trying to get over it.  It still hurts and will probably hurt for quite awhile.  I still haven't quite forgiven my dogs, even though they don't know that and I guess I know they didn't mean to amd all that and thank God it was me it happened to and not one of the boys. 

Where was I?  Oh yeah, getting over it.  Not quite there yet.  But I am trying.  I know I can't do some things (like paint my bedroom or plant my bulbs or aforementioned horseback riding) but I am finding other things to do.  Like making wreaths.  I made one already and am in the process of making another.  Catching up on reading books.  Browsing Pinterest.  Watching tv.  Decorating for fall. 

It would be here where I should say, "It could be worse." but how about I say, "Thank God it wasn't worse."

I'm going to go pick up my mess from making wreaths now.

hello old friends...

I love this picture.  It makes me laugh, true, with Noah's booty sticking out, but it also makes me proud.  He actually was aggressive and blocked the ball from the offense.  Way to go Noah!

I feel like October started with a bang and is busier than ever.  We still have two sports to play (well, Rhett does, but we all have to be there), and kids are having birthdays (it seems like October is a really busy month for birthday parties.  I wonder why), we are trying to make our backyard beautiful, and I'm trying to paint our bedroom.  Oh and halloween costumes! Yikes.

Project Bedroom is in the works.  I have got a paint color picked out but just can't find the time to paint! But I'm excited.  I can't wait to show you when its finished.  I can't wait til its finished.  Honest, I am not looking forward to painting again but I'm tired of looking at boring walls.

Project Daffodil is in the wings.  I have bought about 100 daffodil bulbs and plan on planting them in our backyard.  Seth has made a wonderful mulch bed by our back fence so all I need to do is wait a couple of weeks so its not so hot and get to work.  I wonder how long that will take me?

Project Halloween is waiting to be researched.  Noah wants to be The Vanishing Man.  I'm loving the idea and hope its as easy as I think it is to pull off.  I think Rhett wants to be Glowstick Man but he could change his mind still.

That's what I've been up to.  What about you?

it's all over but the sharing...

Please, Aimee, can you show us pictures from your birthday? Why, yes...yes, I can.

The cupcakes:

They had Cinnamon-Caramel Cream in the middle, iced with Chocolate Ganache, topped with Sugar Pearls to make them snazzy.  Pink candles because I try to add a little girly in my family's fun every once in awhile.  :)

My Beautiful Boys:

I forgot to mention that Rhett told me "Happy Birthday" at least a dozen times yesterday and, AND, Noah got up all by himself yesterday morning.  This is huge. It meant I didn't spend 10 minutes trying to drag him out of bed. 

My Sweet, Handsome Husband:

Seth got contacts a few weeks ago and is lovin' them.  What do you think? Do we look 17 years older from when we first started dating?  Maybe I really don't want an answer.  Hee. Hee.

The end:

blessings abound

Today I turned 34.  I've had a very nice day so far.  My husband has given me a small gift everyday this week from flowers to Empire State Building legos.  Ah, to be a mom of boys.  So sweet. 

My boys both said I don't look a day over 20 something, which I think is the best birthday gift they could ever give me.

It's cool and rainy and my friend took me to Panera to have coffee and a bagel.  And she didn't even know it was my birthday!

Facebook makes it seem like you get all these cards in the mail wishing you a happy birthday.  I think it is my favorite part about facebook.  I should probably wish people a happy birthday more often on fb.  Hmm...  Although I did get real birthday cards in the mail and that is even better.  I let Rhett and Noah open them for me because I really get a kick out of watching them try to open envelopes.  They just can't do it.  Hilarious.

I've already gotten several texts from family and friends.  Sweet!

I made cupcakes last night and I'm going to fill them with cinnamon-caramel cream and ice them with ganache later today.  This recipe is actually a cake and is the best cake ever.  I wanted to make cupcakes out of them to see if I could do it. 

Modern Family was new last night and Parks and Rec is new tonight.  So our many other shows.  I love Fall Premiere Week (which most of the time, always falls on the week of my birthday)!!

It's also my brother's bday and I love sharing that with him.  He may think that is terribly cheesy so I won't tell him.

Above all, I realize that the older I get, the more I realize that there is a lot of terrible, sad things that happen every day and that you should celebrate the good things.  Love your family and friends.  Be thankful for them.  Be present. 

Oh happy day!

ruby

This past weekend, one of my great-aunts passed away.  I haven't seen her in at least ten years but I was quite fond of her, mostly because of good memories from my childhood.

She lived in San Antonio and had a very neat house.  We visited it when Mom had to take Jana or both Jana and Krista to summer camp.  Her yard was full of wasps, that Krista and I had the surprise of finding out once while racing down a small hill.  We started running for fun, then both started running for real because our ankles were on fire! Wasps were stinging! I think Krista was braver than I was because I remember bawling and I don't think she did.  I don't know how our aunt fixed it, but I do remember that she was quite calm about it.

My favorite memory of my great-aunt was when she took me swimming at her neighborhood pool.  I thought it was quite amazing she lived walking distance to a pool and it was huge! She got in with me and challenged me to swim to her without taking a breath.  She was just a few feet away, so I smiled and jumped in.  After a few seconds, I realized that she was backing up slowly but I was determined not to take a breath.  On and on it went until finally, when I thought I couldn't take anymore, she stopped and I reached her hand.  She pulled me up and smiled.  I looked around and saw that I had just swam the width of the pool! From then on, I could do it because I had done it before. This past summer, I did the same thing with Noah.  He was so proud of himself when he realized what he had done. 

And I thought of her.

a former night owl confesses change

Before school started, I probably mentioned that I would have to start getting up earlier and didn't know how it would go. 

I have found that the first ten minutes are the worst.  That is when most people probably drink a cup of coffee, but since I don't drink coffee, I sit in a chair and read emails from my phone.  Rhett usually is on the couch, curled up in a blanket, because he didn't want to get up either.  Then we finally drag ourselves to the kitchen and I make breakfast (which usually is cereal or frozen waffles) and while he eats, I get his backpack, water bottle and snack ready.  Then I feed the dogs and catch up on the world while sitting outside (it was chilly this morning!) while they are eating.  By the time I go in, Seth and Rhett are ready to go. 

I have ten minutes usually to eat breakfast and read some more before getting Noah up.  I start at 7:30.  On a good day, he is up by 7:38.  I quickly make his breakfast, get his lunch and snack and water bottle ready then go get dressed in either work out clothes (because some days, I run with a friend.  I know! Me, run.) or regular clothes and make up.  Today I was happy because I got to wear jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt.  I am so happy to not be wearing shorts. 

We are out of the door by 8:07 because his bus comes around 8:15.  (Did I tell you?  They finally moved the bus stop closer to my house.  It is just around the corner now.  I feel very bad for the owners of the house where the bus stop is though because their poor lawn is getting trampled on by 40 kids every morning. Yes, 40 kids. Crazy.)

I either run right after or come home and do a few things before going to school to volunteer (Today, I pass out frozen yogurt to the 5th graders!) or running errands.  Yesterday, I cleaned and organized. 

I am telling you all of this boring stuff because I have a point and I am getting there.

After spending time cleaning out my dresser yesterday, I looked at the clock and it said 12 pm.  I couldn't believe it was just noon.  Surely, I thought, the clock is wrong.  I have done so much and it couldn't possibly be just noon.  But it was.  That is when I realized that getting up early is wonderful.  I feel so much more productive, even when I don't do that much.  I find that I go to bed earlier and I only hit my snooze button once, but still get up before it goes off again.

The second week of school, Seth looked at me after I had just gotten up and said, "You are still getting up early?" And I said of course! If Rhett has to do it every morning, how unfair is it for his mom to sleep in?  And how wrong. 

So there you go.  A former "not a morning person in the slightest" is liking the early morning wake-up call.  Who knew?

However, I still sleep in on Saturday. 

:)

Inspriration to Creation: Stenciled Tree Curtains

Inspiration: 

Last spring, I bought two books about the art of printing.  One book is titled Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils and Silk Screens.  One project that the author, Lena Corwin showed was stenciled "wallpaper."  She made tree stencils and then painted them on her wall to look like wallpaper. 

Creation:

I took that idea and made curtains for my living room.  Last winter, I took a few pictures of my two trees in the front of my house.  I traced the outline of those trees, took away the many, many small branches, and then made three stencils (two big, one small) out of the tracings. 

I bought 8 yards of a natural-looking fabric (basically a thicker muslin) and cut out two rectangles and got to work with two shades of blue:

Then I sewed the rectangles onto the bottom of the hemmed curtains.  It was by far the easiest curtain project I've ever done, minus the trouble I had with my sewing machine. (Thanks to my mom and Seth for the help in getting it fixed!)

Here they are, framing my heavier, shorter curtains in the living room:

I love how they turned out!  Now onto my next project... :)

visiting St. Louis, quick recap ahead

Labor Day weekend we went to St. Louis to visit our friends. I love St. Louis because they have such neat places tucked in the city. One such place is called The Magic House and it is a children's museum full of cool things:

I could see this hanging in my house. Couldn't you? 

When you walk in, there are all of these glass balloons on the ceiling.  It was such a neat image.

This 'music wheel' played a song by Bach.  Each chime played a different note and Rhett just held a metal stick to the chimes and we listened to classical music. 

They had a whole section devoted to our governement.  Here, Noah is in the Supreme Court. 

Don't they look like they would be really touch judges?  ;)

Another something I would like in my house:  a giant kaleidoscope.  The boys thought of Grandmom because she has a couple in her home (not this big!)

We also went to the zoo, went to a Cardinals game and rode a train in the woods (is cooler than it sounds) and went swimming but I didn't bring my camera to those things.  It was a nice little getaway. 

The rest of the week went by slowly because I kept forgetting what day it was.  'Its only Thursday?!?' I would think.  Saturday and Sunday were sports days for us, with Rhett beginning Fall Baseball.  He only plays double headers on Sunday and for only 5 weeks so it isn't so bad.  And Noah didn't complain at all. 

Of course, I felt reflective yesterday and made sure to enjoy my family.  I need to do it everyday but 9/11 is a good reminder that life is short. 

This week I have some projects planned.  I have already finished one which I'll show you tomorrow that I am excited about. 

I hope everyone has a great Monday!

august is over, on to september*

I wish I could say, "Happy Fall Y'all!" like I always see those painted signs say but alas, it is still stinkin' hot here. And I'm done with it.  I'm done with the heat, the heat index, the 7 day forecast saying more 100+ degree weather coming, ugh!!!

Really, I didn't come here to complain.  I did want to post because I haven't so here I am.  We are about to have a little 5-day vacation from school (They have Friday, Monday and Tuesday off) and the boys are so happy.  Just when you get into a routine...

Stopping myself from complaining. 

I think most of us are getting over the cold but Seth is just now getting it.  Poor guy.

I donated some clothes today at one of those red bins.  This red bin was in the parking lot of a daycare and of course, I parked right in the way of a parent dropping off their child.  She gave me the meanest look.  I was thinking, "But I'm doing a good deed!" It was punished though for sure.

Well, this is a bummer post.  So...

I leave you with another Flag Football picture.  Rhett had just gotten the ball and then ran it for a touchdown.  Woo!

Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!



From "On to September" by Dear Nora

'frog' in my throat croaks hi

Well, the cold that Rhett had....I got it.  So did Noah.  And while we are all on the road to getting over it, I will say that having a cold when it is still over 100 degrees outside makes life miserable to an uncomfortable level.  It doesn't even make sense.

Anyway, I'm about to go learn how to ride a horse.  Last week's lesson surprised me by how many things you really have to know.  It isn't just getting on and saying, "Go."  The horse I rode knew that I knew nothing and he was having none of it.  :)  So faking confindence is something I will have to work on.  (And Dad, I am sad that I didn't tell you about me wanting to ride a horse and also glad I didn't tell you all at the same time. heehee)

I hope everyone has a safe weekend.  Krista, offer to come to Tulsa is still on table (always is) if hurricane gets to much.  :)

inspriration to creation: Butterflies from Maps

I'm a big fan of butterflies, and also love to keep mementos from vacations, so when I saw this, I knew I must do something like it:

My Inspiration

image from Image Surgery.  This beautiful creation is made by Joseph Warren.



I had many maps and such to choose from, but I decided to make butterflies out of my vacation memorablia from New York, Washington D.C. and chose two things from Oklahoma that were special to me.

My Creation

1. Map of New York: It shows the Brooklyn Bridge Subway Station where my mom, sisters and I got off to go walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was pouring rain, however, so after Jana bought a $5 umbrella, we got back on the subway and went shopping intead.

2. The Star-Spangled Banner Flag from the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.  This was one of my favorite places that my family went to during our trip.  This flag was huge and protected and couldn't be photographed.  I had a flyer for the museum though and a small picture of the flag so I thought it would make an awesome butterfly.

3. The White House.  We took a tour on the day that Noah had an awful toothache.  We had planned on finding a dentist after the tour.  He was a trooper and didn't complain too badly.  It was around the green room, however, that my other son began to complain.  He needed to find a bathroom, NOW.  Umm, are there public restrooms in the White House? No.  Our tour went a little faster from that point on, much to Seth's dismay.

4. Ocktoberfest, October 2010, Tulsa, Ok.  We had just recently moved to Tulsa and missed our friends terribly.  We heard about this German festival and thought we'd invite our friends from Edmond to come and stay the night.  They did and we all had a pretty great time.  It was tiring, but all the kids got their faces painted and got to ride roller coasters and we got to see our friends.  Win for all!

5. Map of OKC area.  We lived in Edmond, OK for four years, longer than we had lived anywhere else since getting married.  We met some pretty awesome friends there and even though some have moved away, and we have moved, we have stayed close.  Edmond will always have a very special place in our hearts.

6. The Lion King, New York, Girls Trip.  This was my first Broadway show.  It was an amazing performance.  Afterward, we walked down to a diner to get something to eat and ended up walking past Lehmen Brothers.  There was a lot of commotion there-media, cameras, and such.  It was September 14, 2008 the evening before news broke that they had filed for bankruptsy. You know the rest of the story.

I used an 8x10 canvas that I already had and painted it red. This canvas had black and white patterned scrapbook paper glued onto it from another past project, but I decided I liked how it came through.  I mod-podged the canvas for texture, then antiqued it with black glaze.  For the butterflies, I just cut out a pattern and used it for all of the butterflies. Some turned out better than others.  I mod-podged the butterflies to make them less fragile, then folded them in half and glued the "body" onto the canvas.  I mod-podged the wings, front and back yet again to make them stiff.  Then I glued the top of the wings onto the canvas, with part of the wing still puffed out (I used the end of a paint brush between the butterfly and canvas to get the same amount of puff for each one). I glued the edges of the bottom wing and the "foot" too. 

This is also hanging in my bedroom.  I love this inspiration to creation project the most so far because it has so many stories attached to it.  I like the butterfly-migrate-travel connection too. 

Have a great day!!

nothing is sweeter than with you*

Good Monday to you! I'm happy today. 13 years! Yea us!  I made Seth a picture cd using a song that is my very favorite ever.  It is called Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and describes perfectly what I feel for my sweet husband.  The chorus goes:

Ahh. Home. Let me come home.

Home is wherever I'm with you.

Ahh. Home. Let me come home.

Home is where I'm alone with you.

I'm a lucky girl.  ♥

In other news....

This picture will tell you how our weekend was:

It was busy and went too fast as usual.  However, I will say that those 2 and a half hours we were outside on Saturday afternoon was pretty awful.  The boys did great at their flag football game and I think had a pretty good time.  But it was so so so hot and humid.  I drank down 2 bottles of water and a half a gatorade and I was just sitting!! We were so sweaty and wet and I hope to never relive that experience.  When I got in my car after that games, the thermometer said 116 degrees.  I know it wasn't that hot but it did feel like it at times.  Whew. 

I will say I did enjoy using my camera! It does great for capturing the action.  I was a little afraid for it cause it got so hot, but I would put it in a cooler bag for awhile and luckily it survived.

Here is Noah:

Don't you love his green mouthguard? :)

Rhett got to play quarterback some and was cool and collected.  (Well, maybe just collected):

He also caught a pass perfectly and scored a touchdown!

Sunday came and Rhett came down with a fever, so he is home with me today.  (Feeling better but you have to be fever free 24 hours before going back to school.  I think it would be fine, but I don't want someone else breaking that rule, so I won't either).  I hate that he is already missing a day of school though.  Seriously. I guess you can't help it.

The bus situtation was a little better on Friday but you know, everything has its positives.  I have met so many neighbors and have become friends with a few of them over this bus thing so you just never know.  :) Plus Noah actually rode his scooter to the bus stop this morning with a friend and her parents and that is big in itself! haha.

I hope everyone has a great day!

*I love you Seth! Thanks for everything you do.  Happy Anniversary.

13 years and he still surprises

My anniversary is Monday.  I'll have been married 13 years.  Woo!  Seth surprised me with a gift though a few weeks ago. 

Any guesses?

my rockin' pair of boots

I start horseback riding lessons today!!  Every Friday, I am going to learn how to ride and take care of a horse.  It may sound silly to some of you, but I am most excited.  I love horses, think they are beautiful animals and am looking forward to learning all there is to know.  I have a helmet and everything.  I'll let you know how it goes.  If it goes even a little better than the bus situation, then it will be a success. ha!

Speaking of busses, Rhett was on his for almost 2 hours yesterday afternoon.  Didn't get home til 5 pm.  Crazy!! 

Have a great weekend!!

PS- Happy Birthday Pop!!!

Rhett-5th grader; Noah-3rd grader

First day of school.

The bus situation is a little sticky right now and I'm hoping that this afternoon, the bus even comes to our neighborhood.  This whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth and I'm a little sad that all the kids had to witness the stressful situation. 

Here's a quick recap:  Bus stop routes were changed.  One stop in the neighborhood.  Several upset parents (I'm included in this.  I don't understand it because of several reasons I won't go into right now).  This morning, many cars lined the street where the bus was to make the stop.  Transportation director shows up, threatens to divert bus.  Noah and I leave, after Noah gets stressed out that parents and transportation direction are arguing. 

Here's the thing.  I am upset about the bus route change.  To a point.  I wish there were something we could do.  To a point.  But, and here is a big BUT, I'm out if it means my child gets to school late or he starts seeing a side of me that isn't pretty.  I feel for those parents that both work and rely on the bus.  I feel for the transportation director who has a job to do.  But nobody handled it well.  There were parents getting upset about it the bus not coming, parents getting upset that the transportation director was not seeing everyone's side, parents getting upset at other parents for not cooperating.  It was getting ugly and I'm not good at confrontation nor conflict.  So we left.  And now I'm left wondering what is going to happen.  Will it just blow over? Will it change? I don't know.  Right now I just hope that at 3:45 and 4:00, my kids' busses drop them off in our neighborhood. 

Sigh.  Here's hoping that the boys have a good day regardless.

'twas the day before school starts

 The snacks in the pantry are all tucked away, nicely, waiting to be put into backpacks the next day.

 The small chocolate candies are treats for lunchboxes, pb for Noah and caramel for Rhett.

The bags of school supplies are overflowing.  So many supplies every year...

One more day of summer.  I want to say that I think summer was just right this year.  It didn't seem to go too fast or too slow.  Just right.  I think the boys are ready to begin the year.  I think we are all ready for the cooler weather.  The start of school means it is coming...soon I hope. 

Here's to a big, fun year full of wonderful things to learn and do and be.  Tomorrow is my favorite post of the year--First Day of School pictures! It may too dark for Rhett to do it by the bricks this year but we'll try it anyway.  See you tomorrow!!

inspiration to creation: Red Fern Prints

I like to tear out pages from catalogs when I find something that I like. I either want to create something like it or hopefully buy it. I keep all these pages in a folder and go back to it when I am finally ready to do a project.  Last week, I needed ideas on what to do with one of our bedroom walls.  We had moved some things around and this one wall was completely empty.  What to do? 

I am not a patient person, so I chose something that I thought I could try to recreate.  I came across this page:

My Inspriration

from Ballard Designs (I could not find an image online, they must not sell these particular prints anymore, so I had to take a picture of the page.  These prints are made by artist Patrick Wright and were priced for around $570 for the set of three)

I had some 12x16 canvas paper, paint and brushes so I just made my own flower prints:

My Creation

It took several steps, and the lighting in my bedroom is terrible for pictures, but I hope you can get an idea of what I did.  They have been grey-washed (instead of white washed) and hopefully, when I repaint my bedroom, they'll go well with the color I have in mind.  I have a yellow and white comforter, red accents and hopefully will paint my bedroom a grey-brown.  They aren't perfect, but for now, I like them.  I only spent money on the frames (which wasn't that much), so if I go with something different later on, it won't be a big deal. 

Have a great day!