so far...

summer has been good so far! not amazingly peaceful by any means, but certainly not the whine-fest i had been dreading. we gave into the pool membership pressure (you have to go about 17 times to make it a 'good deal' money wise), so we've been to the WG pool a lot. we've done a few things on the summer to-do list with moderate to high degrees of success. we've had VBS this week, tons of therapy (speech & occupational) for julia, lots of dinners with friends... and i was worried we would get bored!

here are a few pictures of summer so far...

the mermaid tails... not nearly as cute as these on etsy, but sufficient for an afternoon with scissors & fabric glue.
they are reversible so there is no fighting over who gets the pink one & who gets the blue... smart mommy, yes?
we bought this table for $200 on craigslist.... yes, it's huge & i'm SO excited to be done with refinishing it soon! it could probably seat 20 with all the leaves in (and people who don't mind being cozy with each other), which is a big change from our little 4-6 seater with the awkward legs that are always in the way. more pictures of the table to come... whenever i finish it.

since we have a huge table now, i had to get a bigger rug! found this 8 x 10 plain outdoor rug at Target for $60... great price, right? so it's boring... and i'm going to paint on it. i'm a little nervous, but i've read 100 tutorials online- how hard could it be?!

see that faint pattern? i think it's called a Greek Key pattern. anyway, i'm planning to color that part in dark blue- similar to the color on our dining room walls. actually, not just similar- i'm going to use the same paint since i have almost 1 gallon leftover. pictures of this project to come as well... hopefully successful pictures, not sad 'look at the rug i ruined' pictures. : )

i've also been busily cooking recipes i get from Pinterest! this one is originally from this website. it calls for tomatoes, but our friends that ate with us have a child with a tomato allergy & i left them out. it was great without them, but i bet they add a lot of flavor!

yes, that's a whole chicken in the background. i've never done it before, and i have no idea why- so easy (and inexpensive) to buy a wholechicken & stuff it with garlic & herbs & season it! less questionable sodium content than a rotisserie chicken, too.

we've also been hitting some garage sales! julia (and matt, of course) scored big with all the Cars characters for $5- she loves lining them all up and then taking a few select cars to bed with her.
i hit it particularly big with an estate sale find of 8 older mason jars for $1-$2 each! even the large ones- all but 1 with the original glass fitted lid. and some ironstone, some glass plates, and a funky old shelf that i'm going to repaint & put in our family room. pictures of that project later!
this was less fun... i was blending up some slow roasted tomatoes for a soup & i exploded them all over my kitchen. this picture doesn't do it justice- it was in every crevice of the window trim, and our tiered fruit/veggie basket was completely covered. and i scalded my hand. huge bummer, but the soup turned out really well!
last but certainly not least- my free adirondack chairs! i found these beauties (yes, there are 2 of them) while out running on sunday morning! they fold up nicely, are very sturdy and are such a unique style- i LOVE them! i had 2 offers to buy them from me, but i'm just not parting with them, ladies. now, if you want to rummage in my basement for random decor & furniture items to buy... well, that's a whole other story. and probably another 'home goods swap party' in the near future!

lest you think my life is all sunshine and roses... here's what i see most often:
and i quote, "mommy, take a picture of my face because i am not happy and i think it's because you hurt my feelings."

happy summer, friends.

Summer 2011

i know every blogger in the nation has posted their summer 'to-do list' which they made in a beautiful & creative way...

i did not do that.

i have a perfectionist streak- it only comes out on specific projects.

making window (mis)treatments?

not perfectionist.

i'm quite happy to follow The Nester & hot glue and/or tack my fabric right onto the wall with no hem, no liner, and certainly no weights to give it that perfect drape.

i'm doing good if i iron the fabric before getting it on the wall! it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful- that's a direct Nester quote, but i'm in 100% agreement.

same thing with pillows- i glue gunned about 10 pillow covers,

and i'm quite happy with them.

but something about a printed or written project brings out the perfectionist in me.

i want it to look a certain way & i know if i work hard enough it will be just exactly what i want.

this can cause excessive procrastination, headaches, crankiness, and (most often) incomplete projects.

so i pushed through on this one- just typed it out & stuck it on the wall.

here is our list for the summer!

seems ambitious? you haven't met caroline.

we already made the mermaid tails this morning, and she's onto the next project.

i, however, am quite tired and would like to sit down!

pictures of the mermaid tails coming as soon as i catch my breath.

so, a few months probably... : )

a few disclaimers:

1. yes, we copied much of this from other lists and/or Pinterest boards. so what?!

2. yes, caroline chose each thing on this list. i would suggest something & she would tell me if it was 'list-worthy' or not. obviously she did not say 'no' to many options- hence the 3 page list.

3. yes, we are doing other activities this summer- handwriting camp (i know, right?), therapies for julia, VBS, swim lessons, dance camp, travel. we'll make it work somehow.

4. yes, we will hunt for fairies. she was adamant about this one. i'm not sure if we will pretend we see them, or if we will find doll house people & call them fairies- that's still up in the air!

5. yes, many of these things are parties. apparently i have a mini-Martha Stewart on my hands, and she plans to be the hostess of WG this summer! i don't mind- i'm enjoying party planning as of late, and these sound like fun. if you want an invitation, you'll have to speak to my boss! : )

Easter... a few months late

yes, i know it's June & Easter was in April. whatever- it's my blog & i want to put Easter pictures on it!

we didn't go for traditional Easter baskets this year- i made library tote bags for the girls & got pillow pets for them. seems like they liked them...

the chocolate bunny was disgusting- caroline didn't even eat much of it.

getting dressed! julia loved the slip and didn't want the dress on.

grandma outdid herself with lovely heirloom dresses for the girls- you can see why i panicked as they ran around the yard in them! these dresses are literally priceless.

thank you, grandma! we love them!

i promise

julia's a gangster

i will blog again. it's not lack of things to write about... it's just priorities. sometimes you just have to focus on the bigger picture, you know? it's also laziness... it's much easier to read other people's blogs and play on Pinterest than to fix my pictures & write something worth reading.

in the meantime, go read this. i know someone famous! : )

i'll come back soon. really.