Stormy Weather

 
just took this pic from my back yard. It's like 3:30 in the afternoon and I have all the lights on. It is DARK!

Home Again

 
 

 
 
 
 

 

Well, I was home again from church yesterday. Chucky woke up coughing so hard, she couldn't breath. It's like a tickle in her throat that just seems to torture her. So I set up her breathing treatment stuff from the old asthma/pneumonia days and she seemed to improve quite a bit. Nicely tucked into Mommy's bed, she watched cartoons for awhile and then felt well enough to get up and play. She is also finally eating again. I made homemade pizza on Saturday, which she ate almost a whole slice of. That was the first whole thing she had eaten in a week. It's a relief to see her doing better.

With free time on my hands, I ended up having a pretty great mosaic day. I spent most of the day on the shell mirror, which was my first time working extensively with shells. I still have quite a bit of finishing work to do on this, but I think the overall effect is pretty great. It is insanely hard to photograph a mirror, but this was good practice. I also put the finishing touches on the cigar box and the folding table. I had just the right china for these silver platters with a little left over for a hand mirror I'll be doing soon. Lastly, I re-grouted this mailbox, which was one of my first projects, and my lack of grouting skills was annoying to me. I also spent some time researching on Etsty dot com and would be thrilled to hear from anyone who has experience if you are able to actually make any money there since Ebay is not a great venue for handcrafted items.

We capped off our busy day with a "home date." This is a great cheap way to have a date...put the kids to bed, pop some frozen grocery store appetizers in the oven and watch a good movie.

I fell asleep quickly and dreamed I hugged the President. I imagine he could use a hug.

MemoryWare

 

The weird and wonderful stuff I got today

 
 
 
 
Yeah, there is some crazy stuff in today's finds. Like the lady in bed novelty ashtray...who doesn't need one of those? And that self portrait of me in the bullseye mirror...I think it's some artistic statement about how my stuff dwarfs me...

yeah, whatever.

Paint the town red, Butterfly style

 

That's right, I am on a roll, and yesterday I continued my house makeover. I started with removing the faux fence on the front of the house(ok, actually, I am a random processor and did this particular project half way through the kitchen paint job). Anyway, the annoying thing about this faux fence was that it was totally wasted space. Only about 22 inches wide, you couldn't sit out there and so the kids would often park their bikes there instead. Now, you can actually sit in the rocker and soak up some morning sunshine or watch the kids playing out front. I'll need to touch up the columns, but I should be able to finish that today.

Next, if you have ever wondered just how far a gallon of paint can go, let me tell you it will easily do a front door, shutters, screen door, back door, outdoor table, swing, coat rack and oh yeah, your small galley kitchen. Leaving enough for...6 or eight other small projects. This is McCloskeys outdoor acryllic latex, one coat, primer and paint all in one, in the redwood color. You can use this paint to paint literally anything, including your faded vinyl siding. I paid 16 dollars for a gallon at Walmart. I am a fan!!!

I also attacked the back door and screen door, which let's be honest, is less a screen door and more innumerable layers of old paint (which I'll be vacuuming up soon.)  
 

Finally, I gave formerly orange kitchen the red treatment as well. When we moved in, we only expected to be here for a year. So why not paint the kitchen an outrageous shade of orange? But since we'll be here for at least another year, it just made sense to use a quart of paint to make the colors more cohesive through the house. Don't you love how I was able to just photoshop those dirty dishes out of the pictures? Ok, not really... 
 

 
 

Not only am I random processor, I am a bulk processor. Which means that I like to do all the similar projects together. That's because I don't transition well. And I don't like to be interrupted. My friend H says it's because everyone fits on the autistic spectrum. And my friend Shari says it was a problem that developed from my kindergarten teacher. Whatever it is, I hope that I soon get the bug to mop and vacuum all my floors. Because let's face it...I was painting, not cleaning.

Before

 

(when we moved in over a year ago)

After

 
 
 
 
This makes me very, very happy.

Nasty Virus

I had Charleigh-Brown-Eyed-Girl at the doctor yesterday as her fever kept spiking higher (103) despite dosing her with Tylenol and Nyquil. And her cough sounds NASTY. Fearing pneumonia, I was able to get her into a local doctor's office. After a flu swab and a chest x-ray, it was decided to be a virus. We're hoping to help her kick it before her birthday. I'm actually pretty relieved since pneumonia would have had us back on the asthma meds.

I almost forgot the Ukraine, duh.

54

A first for Easter Sunday

 
 
 
Never in my life have I missed church on Easter Sunday (at least that I can remember.) Actually trying to remember brought up some funny memories of that little, dark Methodist church, where my parents were married, and in my memories of attending, the man up front wore a funny robe and invited the children up front for some kind of talk. My other vague memories of that little white church in Blooming Valley (that is a real place) are of my Sunday School teacher, Elsie Baker writing my name in cursive, and my grandma still having dark brown hair. And my brother pulled a booger out of his nose during church and asked my mother what to do with it. And I learned the song,

"Why worry, when you can pray?
Trust Jesus, He'll be your stay
Don't be a doubting Thomas,
Rest fully on his promise
Why worry, worry, worry, worry,
When you can pray?"

We switched to another church when I was five years old, so those are some early, silent-movie, kind of memories.

But today, I was home with a very sick little girl who is running a high temp. It was a strange feeling being at home while all the people I have known over the years, in churches across the country, were gathered to worship. And I was at home, glazing a ham. Deviling eggs. Making pineapple upside-down cake. Eating candy. In my pajamas, not fine, new duds.

There really is a first time for everything, isn't there? And don't worry...that's grape juice in the kid's glasses....

 

Only in America

Can you just trade this: 
 




























For this:
 

Our sale was a raging success. The day was a perfect 72 degrees, clear, but windy. My friends chipped in some great stuff, making it second only to that sale with Mary...remember that one, my friend? We are sunburned and weary, but my garage looks almost like a normal person's...that is, it did, until I went out yesterday and got some fun new junk!

It's Garage Sale Day!

I might be getting too old for this. But now you know it is officially spring when I hold my first sale.

Go forth and prosper.

Right into the Danger Zone

 

Folding Table

 
 
I haven't finished polishing this up, but I'm so thrilled with the results, I had to show off this great folding table. I would have done it a little differently if I had to do it again, but that is the great part of learning!