Yumm-O

Henry is finally ready for baby food. Unfortunately his bowels don't love the carrots as much as he loves eating them.

Confessions of an unkempt housewife

Our bedroom truly feels like the family dump. Any miscellaneous stuff usually makes its way there. Of course today's collection includes laundry, Kirk's guitar and amp, my crafting/decorating supplies, gift wrap, Wii guitars, boxes of clothing, stationary supplies, and more clothes. Its drabness has put it next on my decorating list.

Exhibit A...displays said room after an hour of picking up and folding. You'd never realize from the looks of this room that I love an organized space. Earlier in the week I felt like moving stuff around from our entry closet to a hall closet so our coats and shoes would be easily accessible and our games could be unpacked.

Exhibit B...see, I can be orderly. Order definitely takes time. Or maybe I just take a lot of time getting things organized. I get lulled into complacency living in a mess and then bam! I have to do something about it, now! Thank goodness for those jolts of clarity!

Front Row Seats

Hooray for the fourth of July! I love singing patriotic songs at church. I wish we could sing them ALL year! We barbecued with some friends. It's inevitable that Christy will end up holding Henry. That's fine by me, we're happy to hand him over! On a serious note, Bruce adores Christy. Even to the point of shrugging me off at times. I'll admit it hurt my feelings at one point. This particular interaction was followed only a few days after Bruce only wanted daddy to play with him, get him a drink, etc. Now that I've had time to think about it I'm okay with it. I should be glad that there are people in my children's lives who are kind, generous, and loving. Of course I want those types of interactions for them. Talking with Kirk helped me recognize another point. Henry does the same thing to a certain degree. He is all smiles for me if Kirk is holding him and vice versa. It's not extreme by any means, he's smiley to us as we're holding him but I see the correlation. I can take it. I get em forever!

A college campus adjacent to where we live puts on a great fireworks show. We made it home just in time to see em. It was nice sharing that little moment together.

And Kirk, why are you stringing a bunch of firecrackers together??


So the moral of the story is that one mortar lighting up the sky is better than two mortars lighting up the sky and one lighting up your neighbors house.

What's Been Going On

Kirk and I have both noticed the increased togetherness we've felt as a family lately. A blessing of our current situation I guess.

Bruce is fighting naps, but once napping will sleep for 3 hours. Crazy kid! He is understanding more about the world around us. Things he often says..."I'm so proud" "Poor Henry" We often talk about using the potty, but we're waiting for him to want to. Today we had the following conversation after I heard him toot.
Me: Do you need to go poop?
B whispers: Yes
Me: Do you want to use the potty?
B: No then he runs behind the couch to do his duty, even coming to grab two of his cars and then returns to his hideout

Henry is a light to our family. He has his trying moments, mostly related to sleeping, but he's generally such a happy baby. I don't know why it drives me nuts, but when Kirk comes home and picks up Henry he usually has to present Henry to me who 99% of the time smiles and fawns over me. Henry is just starting on rice and oatmeal cereal. He's just not into it, but we're still trying it every day. He rolls over with ease and would chew on his brother's cars or our electronics (phone, remote control, etc) if he could.

I stay busy. Taking the boys to the park or zoo during the week, spray painting items to decorate with (my new hobby), getting all the good deals, and playing computer games with Kirk. Did I mention I like to read? We have a fantastic group of libraries in town. We go to story time each week and we're always checking out books. I've discovered that the Young Adult section has some really great fiction. We are still trying to sell our house in Kansas City.

So the moral of the story is that some brands of spray paint are better than others.

Good Old Blocks

I love these blocks. They are great for learning colors. They can be stacked into a tall, tall tower, a race track or even Radiator Springs.

Tonight, Tonight

Tada!

I started a bunch of projects, foolishly, and have finally finished them. I am so grateful that Kirk has encouraged this outlet for my creativity. It's been an investment in several cans of spray paint, fabric, and hours spent in the local craft stores. But I feel so happy cheering up my home and having a hobby that I enjoy.The two large frames that I bought at a garage sale for $2 really confounded me. I finally decided to paint them black and the inside canvas I was inspired by this. We just put them up and I'm iffy. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to that space being occupied.

Instead of leaves I wanted to paint these (just a solid color, no eye or wing details etc), but Kirk vetoed it. I'll sit on it...whoo knows, maybe the owls will have a comeback.

Next is the 3 framed flowers. These were fun to do since they don't have to be perfect. The tutorial was well done though I'd advise being especially careful not to burn yourself with the hot glue.And my practical kitchen addition. I thought if I was accountable to a posted list that I would plan out meals a bit better. At a meeting a few weeks ago, the topic was friendship and the speaker mentioned how she loved the color yellow because it was so cheerful and uplifting. I am definitely a product of my environment. If it's overcast I'm depressed. If the house is tidy I'm energetic. Anyway, since we spend a lot of time in the kitchen I thought I'd add some yellow where I could. Here's where I got the frame idea. Wish I had a dry erase marker on hand so I could make it look complete, but you get the idea.

Framed Flowers

This
needs something, anything! I got these at the thrift store (I paid $4 for all three)

and am currently doing this. Black paint to come after they're dry.


It will hopefully look like that!

Making Progress

I'm still stewing about these frames though I did see this and immediately thought it would work, bunny and all. Just kidding. Maybe a flower silhouette....

From Trash to Treasure

So not really what I'd call trash, but definitely not my style. Lately I've been getting lost in a myriad of decorating blogs that take thrift store/garage sale finds and paint, glue, sand, cut, etc to make functional, awesome decor. I'm definitely all about decorating inexpensively. I do have difficulty coming up with ideas and color schemes so that's where these blogs come in handy. One example of my inspiration for this project.

About this first find. I purchased these matching frames at a garage sale for $1 each. Even if I totally destroy them in the process I won't be too upset. What I really liked about them is they are really solid, good quality, heavy wood and the frame has some great details.

The inside has to go, but to be what I'm not sure. Ideas I've thought of include painting the canvas a solid color and find a large, long something to glue on...or covering it with fabric to make it appear painted. I'd like to paint the frames and do a glaze over the detail. I'm thinking about hanging these in the living room over the couch, but I'm not totally sold on it.

Also, remember the brain-wracking over curtains for my living room, kitchen, and sliding glass door. The crimson/rusty curtains? And then a month later we find out that Kirk is laid off and we would probably move. Anyway, I kept the solid panels for the large window hoping to be able to use them in the future. So I have those, maybe I'll be able to put them up over the vertical blinds, maybe not.

At this point I'm unsure of what to do with these frames. Maybe they need to be put away until some inspiration comes. Thoughts?