obsession

My sister and I have a major problem. Coffee isn't the same unless it has this creamer in it. We know every place in our county who carries it and when we are at one of these places, we stock up.

routines

I meet with a great group of ladies every Tuesday morning for prayer. We are not allowed to pray for anything but us and our immediate family. At first, I felt sort of uncomfortable about that. But, now I understand that guideline so much better, 1. we hardly ever be totally selfish in our prayers, 2. it is not really selfish when we pray solely for our self (God wants to be included in our life even though He already knows our request) 3. it causes us to be humble and vulnerable when it is so much easier to present a request that is our neighbors request 4. cuts down on gossip through prayer requests (you know what I'm talking about) 5. the encouragement, support, and vulnerability you share with the ladies you pray with is great.
So after saying all that, my recurring request this year was that I could get my life under control. Blynn being in school really threw my routine off. It is amazing how busy life can get if you allow it. Todd and I have been very conscious of the fact that we are not going to get caught in the generation X rat race of having our children constantly enrolled in some sort of extra curricular activity, so that definitely helped when all we did this year extra (besides church and school) was soccer. But, life is still very busy, so most of this year I felt very inadequate and failing at my home management duties. So around March, I was really feeling like I was coming out of the disorganization fog. And one of the biggest things to this was to overly prepare the night before, not leaving anything for the morning that can be done the night before.
One is laying out Blynn's outfit. Oh, Blynn really got into this task and likes to include shoes, outside garments, scarfs, and accessories if she can. I think it is hilarious and so, one night, I decided to take a picture for you.


Now, my prayer group is done for the summer and Blynn is done with Kindergarten and my routine is out the window. Only to be figured out again in March 2012, so we can have 2 months of control, right before we get out for summer again. Throwing the new routine out the window again. I have a feeling this is the new normal for me.

Mother's Day

These are the two kids that made me a Mother:

These guys were so nice to me this morning. They both slept in til 7:30 and let's face it, they could have just gotten me that for Mother's Day and I would be happy. Then they got the gift that Todd wrapped with them and hid in Rusty's room to give to me (a hummingbird feeder). And asked if they could take me to Starbucks. They paid for their own chocolate milks and I paid for my coffee and we sat and had a nice morning date before church. I am in charge of honoring the mothers and fathers at church on their days and this year I was fresh out of clever categories and I had decided I was just going to do the boring regular categories like mom with the most kids in church or mom with the youngest baby, yawn. So, I decided to include these two in the decision process over our coffee date and they helped me decide on the following categories:

1. Mom wearing the most orange

2. Mom with the highest shoes

3. Mom with the most gray hair

Nice, and very clever.

Spring

Everything is looking so good around here. The fence just got painted so it looks really crisp. Unfortunately, it makes it more obvious how badly the house needs to be painted.

We have chicks!

6 of them.

and Blynn loves holding them.
Rusty likes the idea of holding them, but he does not like the idea of rough little chicken feet touching his hands.

You are also getting your first glimpse of Blynn's missing 2 bottom teeth.

She lost them within 12 hours of one another.

Her slight lisp has increased with those two teeth missing.

Cast Iron

I love this cookbook and this tv show. Every recipe I've tried in it has been fabulous and our style of meal. And, my kids spontaneously tell me mulitple times "thank you for cooking this meal" or "I really like that rice momma". The author of the book is a firm believer that vegetable lovers aren't created but made, which I couldn't agree with more. And she loves cooking in cast iron. I have always been afraid of it because of the law that you can't clean it with water or soap or the cast iron police will come and arrest you, but she explains all about taking care of it in her book and on her show. I got a 14" skillet for Christmas and I love it. Bonus: it also puts iron in your food.

She shows you how to revive an old yard sale or neglected pan with oil and salt. So that was the kids and my activity for tonight. I know, we have a lot of fun here.

And, look, it's like an ice skating rink. Free 8" cast iron pan courtesy of the barn.

I find all sorts of treasures out there.

Barn wood shelf

That shelf above the hooks is an old piece of wood, but not from a barn. It was from one of these trailers.



I saw that Ramone was painting them and replacing some of them. And I wanted to have one before it got painted. I'm pretty sure Ramone thinks I'm crazy for wanting to keep everything and not wanting a fresh coat of paint on it.




So here it is, with the gnarled side closest so everyone can see it.

We just added some L brackets from Home Depot to them, and voila. And by we, I mean Todd.

Some of the little things that make it great

Some of the things that are my favorite things about the breezeway:

painting the closet doors white and painting the hardware black. I wish all the hardware in my house was black.

bringing new life back to this gumball machine, painting the base (which my Grandpa made) black, and having my kids get gum from the same machine that I got gum from




I love these collections of paintings, my favorite is the bottom left one that I just got for free. I like them raw and not in a frame. I also love the 'M',

Which is really two old measuring sticks mounted in the shape of an 'M'.

This desk door....

and all of it's multiple coats of different colored, chipped paint

....use to be on this barn where that white door is.

Breezeway Wish List

Could I show you some things I'd like to put into this room if money was not an issue? Get ready!

I would love to put a round rug in the mudroom section of the room. I feel like it needs to be round.

Remember that I want this chair in the corner by the desk....

.....I would love for it to have an ikat pillow on it. I love ikat. I don't have any explanation for why.

But what about this... an ikat chair.

I would also love some sort of metal in here, either in a metal stool or chair.

And I feel like every room needs a clock like this.

I found them!

I have a feeling I don't need to label which one is the 'before' and which one is the 'after'.

I probably have 3 to 4 more posts in me just about this room.