Ugly Little Baby

 

Untitled

 

Neither Here nor There

I haven't been able to pull together any thoughts to post here...I suppose that is because we are in one of those funny spots in life when things are on the verge of changing...just three more days of school...augh!

Summer will be fun and different. I need to sit down and decide which of the four million camps, classes and sports would be a good fit for the kids this year. And thank goodness for the pool. I know money doesn't buy happiness, but 200 bucks buys something very much like it.

I have about five ideas for mosaic projects, 3 home projects I want to sew and eleven-teen other ideas for the Etsy store. That has taken up a lot of my time...probably because every time I click on it, I must obsessively check to see how many people "heart me." (that means they like my junk.) This extremely addicting. And it wastes a lot of time.

My parents will be here in just a week and I am alternating between Christmas-like-anticipation and full-on nervous breakdown. Obviously, my parents will be looking at my baseboards to check their cleanliness and will be disappointed with me as a daughter if under the kitchen sink is all crazy-like. I want to steam clean the carpets, wash all the windows, bleach the shower stalls, organize the garage, and have everything in apple-pie order before they come. And sadly, I don't really want to.

But seriously, folks, it is raining. I forget that the Ozarks draw you out with a lovely spring and then it rains for the entire month of May. My yard is a soupy, green jungle.

Wildlife. Oh yeah...it's a veritable wild kingdom here. I have replaced a fallen mourning dove fledgling TWICE to it's flimsy nest. I now know that mourning doves make truly lousy nests. I read that you can often see their eggs through the twigs in the bottom and that they hatch out about six sets of young per year. They've got a real Trailer Trash kinda thing going on.

We are also entertaining ants. I hate them and I squash them and spray them and otherwise wrench the life from their little bodies whenever I see them...which is often. But a full scale assault is coming as soon as the rain lets up. For now, I am allowing two spiders to work a couple of the corners in the kitchen and living room. Normally, the spiders would be dispatched post-haste, but when I noticed the ant body-count under their webs, I realized they are on my side.


Also in the living things category, our neighbor's puppy wandered into the street the other day just as a storm was brewing up. They were not home, so we babysat Tiny for a few hours, which I will not lie...really left me a baby yen. The fact that this little guy is the size of a grapefruit, slept on my lap for an hour, awakened with a case of hiccups, and did not pee in my house...well, he had me wrapped around his little itty bitty wittle paws.

140. I stepped on the scale today and that is the number that assaulted my eyeballs. I am like FOR REAL giving up home-made ice-cream, chocolate chip cookies, that second burger and for darn certain that second beer...you know, just that stuff I ate last night. There is a reason the words "fat" and "happy" go together so well.

I think I have poison ivy in my belly button and my nose. I'm not kidding.

Also, sometime during this weekend, we helped a friend move, Robb did a wedding, we did a premarital counseling session with another couple, we continued to shop for a mini-van, I "taught" the kid's at Vintage, Charleigh got a tent, we all swam in the pool yesterday, I made one of my decoupage suit-cases, I cut Robb and Charleigh's hair, we had a BBQ with our small group, and I hit a really fantastic estate sale. But not in that order.

I give up

....we are shopping for a *choke*gasp*gag* MINIVAN. I'm being sucked into the abyss...next thing you know I'll be wearing pants that go up to my armpits and reverting to my high-school hair-do.

I'm still holding out hope for a red one at least.

i gotta have u

Old Time Roses

 

Matthew Mcconaughey's Got Nothing on my Husband

I was in the grocery store when I saw a magazine headline about Matthew Mcconaughey's gushing over being a dad. I squinted at the pic on the cover thinking, That doesn't look like Penelope Cruz...isn't that who he's "with"?

Nope, it was some other chica I'd never heard of. And I honestly thought...
so what? Any moron can knock somebody up. That doesn't make you a DAD.

So yesterday, I looked out the window where splashing and screaming ensued. Robb had just mowed the lawn and was -he thought- sufficiently warm enough to brave the nearly iced-over pool with the kids.

Now THAT is a dad. A man who is sufficiently confident of his character to attempt to make just one woman on earth happy. And not necessarily the pretties or best woman, but the one he chooses to bind himself to no matter what. A man who gets up every day and tries to make a dent in the world for good. A man who is strong enough, and brave enough, and good enough to be the center of the universe for four people who trust him with their whole hearts. A man who provides them with safety and love and joy and HOME to the best of his ability, not always because he wants to, but because it is the thing God has asked him to do.

Matthew Mcconaughey is a wimp and a poser. My husband is the sexiest man on earth.

 
 
 
 

"I want a really BIG haircut, Mom."

 
 
I didn't know he would grow up so fast....

Ladybug

 

Click this link

....and then tell me how much money I could make selling Starbucks (aka Slutbucks) lingerie to under-sexed, uptight Christians.

The Joy of Creating

 
 
 
 

So the photo's no MCP

(that's my photographer friend Matthew)

but you get the idea that today was a great thrifting day.
Which includes but isn't limited to...
A signed silver choker
rare restaurant ware
a fire king mug
and of course, the crazy polyester quilt top!

I'll be working tomorrow!

 
 

Stop Right Now!

And pray that Daisy passes her driving test.

Stop and Smell 'em

 
 
Charleigh declared that my beautiful tea-roses smell like "really new makeup." Pretty astute.

I'm a big faux bricker

 
It's just fun to say.

I like to take a quart of paint and a 6 inch mini roller and work a little magic.

The Maiden Voyage

 
 
 
 
No, it's not that warm. And what you don't hear is the gasp as their little bodies flop into the water...which reads about 58 degrees.

Bedroom Redoux

 
 
 
 




For the last few months, my bedroom has been a place of dispair. Conjecture all you want, but I will confess that much of that had to do with my dog's incontinence. I am ashamed to admit it, but those little leaky spots under her didn't ripen well when the first wave of humid weather struck. I knew all along that it was nasty under there, but like all large problems in my life, my first reaction was to ignore and deny it as long as humanly possible. Then came the bargaining...trying to talk hubby into buying new floor for this rental house. Depression was there from before. Ditto on anger. I moved on to contemplating just calling my landlord and confessing and begging for ...new flooring. And then I had a brillian idea. I told my husband my brilliant idea and he said, "Yeah, I suggested that back when you were bargaining for new floor." So we replaced just the padding. No more stinky and awful. No more dispair. And since we had to move all the furniture anyway, it was great to be able to freshen up the decor, making my bedroom one of the happiest placest on earth.

Oh yeah, I said it!

Walter C. Norvall

 

Score for the week... this painting! I found out the artist is a well known regional artist in Missouri. He was born in 1896 and died in the 1940s making this painting at least 80 years old. Does anyone else out there know about the artist? I might sell it, but I must admit, I like it a lot and might just keep it!

Did You Know...

You can climb the rock wall at Lewis and Clark (a sporting good's store) for free during certain times? We stopped in just to look last night and got a chance to climb. I was wearing a skirt, othewise there would bee an awkward picture of me scaling this wall!