He & Me: Day One . . .

 

   

He and Me . . .

Photo by Sue Richardson

Today he is taking me on a getaway.  He will sit by me on the plane and there will be no one else between us needing entertainment or more pretzels or to go to the bathroom for the thirteenth time. He will make me laugh.  And he will let me sleep on his shoulder and try hard not to think about missing one Ollie boy. He will carry my bags and open my doors.  In other words, he will treat me like he does all of the time.

When I suggested he should take me on an anniversary trip and that I thought it should involve visiting my baby brother, he agreed.  No exotic locale, no fancy hotel.  Just he and me going to see family we love. 

He and me.  We’re really, really good together.

PS. I may post random pictures from our trip with little or no commentary.  Join me next Tuesday for regular posts.

I’m Cheap, It’s True . . .

Like the smooth on the peanut butter, or the ice cream before the first spoon interrupts its topmost layer, here sits my new blush, unblemished by brush or hand, uncracked by me dropping it on the floor.

If you looked in my makeup stash you would notice something very quickly.  I don’t own fancy eye shadows or moisturizers.  I don’t have THE eyeliner or mascara. I’ve never had a makeup professional tell me what colors would look good on me. I’ve never once been the beneficiary of a “free gift” from Clinique or Lancome. Because I am cheap and I buy all of my makeup at the grocery store. 

It’s not that I don’t want to own nice makeup.  I do!  In fact, the older I get, the more I think I need to visit the makeup counter at Nordrstom or some other overly priced department type store, because I’ve got wrinkles and lines and places where good makeup might actually help.

But I’ve worn makeup for twenty-four years, and during that time, Maybeline, CoverGirl, L’Oreal and Neutrogena have been just fine for me. They don’t make me break out.  They don’t cost a lot.  And I think my makeup looks decent enough.

Then again, six years ago I thought I was doing great with round brushing my hair and then someone introduced me to the flat iron and it changed my life forever..

Do I need to try expensive makeup?  I’m asking you, dear readers.  What has been your experience?  What is the number one tool in your makeup arsenal and where did you get it?  Are you loyal to a fancy makeup brand or are you cheap like me?

Weigh in so I can start planning my Christmas list, which may or may not include expensive makeup.

Of Weekends, Windows and Wells . . .

This weekend was a blur.  Here’s a quick list of what I can remember:

• My mom and I made a last minute night-run to IKEA where I adopted another homeless Ektorp Sofa for which my basement and my children’s bums are thankful.
• I spent precious hours {nine in total, I think} with my college bestie.  We fulfilled our roles as therapists to each other for which our husband’s wallets and our sanities are thankful.
• I consumed far too many homemade cinnamon rolls and Costco pumpkin pie for which my stomach and thighs are thankful.
• I entered my master bath and found my infant son consuming toothpaste straight from the tube and bar soap straight from the shower. His clean teeth and gums are thankful.
• I heard a prophet of God speak.  He reminded me to clean my windows so I can see others as they really are instead of making incorrect judgements.  My heart and spirit are thankful.
• I started planning for this week’s anniversary getaway, wherein the husband and I will leave our children for five whole days with their Grammy, The Queen.  And on that one, thankful doesn’t even cover it.

So, as you can see, my weekend left me tired but extremely happy.  I have lots to be grateful for and lots more to do this week.  I hope your weekend was wonderful, your windows are clean and your well is also full.  Happy Monday!

Wow. Just Wow.

Yesterday was an emotional one.  So emotional that my sweet Momma had to direct me to my calendar for a minute where I realized  I’m an emotional wreck for a reason!  Hallelujah, I’m not losing my mind.

It was also emotional because so many of you let me know that you understand the way I’m feeling, and have had similar feelings.  Thank you for your kind and comforting words. It was reconfirmed to me through comments and emails that I have many friends in the amazing women that YOU are.

By far the most emotional moment yesterday was when I  stepped out on my front porch and found this waiting for me:

Remember those lifelong friends I mentioned needing to thank yesterday?  Yeah.  They’re like that – feeling my sorrow and then doing something about it.

Kirsten, I adore all six feet and three four inches of you completely.  You may be tall, but it’s the size of your heart that blows me away.  Thank you for changing what started out as a difficult day into one I will never forget.  Your heartfelt letter and gift to me was of one of the most genuine acts of kindness I have ever been the recipient of and made me feel so completely loved – by both you and God.

Now I feel like shouting it: Go out and do something nice for someone today!

Ps.  The new figurine is going in MY room, not Hannie’s, to always remind that I have AMAZING friends.

Awkwardness Revisited . . .

{Me, circa Eighth Grade 1986}

Last night I attended Back To School Night at the Middle School.  Upon entering the building, I was given my son’s schedule and told to go to each of his classes for a nine minute presentation with a three minute passing period between classes.

I fumbled nervously with the map of the school while trying to locate the first class.  I passed by other parents in the halls, sometimes bumping elbows, sometimes offering a quick smile at a maybe familiar face, sometimes just pressing my back up against the lockers, waiting for the mayhem to settle.

I went to each class, picking a neutral seat somewhere towards the middle and took notes on the presentations. Some parents came in couples.  Others were by themselves like me but came right in and found friends from their neighborhood or child’s soccer team.  They conversed happily with each other and I felt very much alone.

I finished up the night, came home, plopped myself on the couch and thought about how awkward the night was for me.  I felt like a Middle Schooler all over again.  Lonely, insecure, friendless, lost – all those feelings resurfacing and playing tricks on my adult brain.

It was weird.

And then the Hubby and I had a conversation about my current lack of intimate friends. He suffers from the same problem but acknowledged that for a guy, and especially a guy who works with and talks to other adults all day, it is different. I am mostly here at the house with my Ollie boy who loves his naps but I long for the close friendships that used to fill my days with lunch dates, phone calls and outings to the park.

We committed, as a couple, to host more social engagements at our house. And by more, I mean at least one, since currently we are socially stagnant.

And I went to bed committed to write letters to some of my lifelong friends just to tell them how much I appreciate them for always being there and for loving me even when I was awkward.  Oh wait . . . I still am.

PS. It has to be said that I am completely fine just being with my man – he is the best company ever – but a girl needs girlfriends, right?

PPS. You love my Eighth Grade hair, don’t you?  Lots of gel and a fierce perm.  Classic Eighties. And I’m totally rocking the Outback Red.  Does anyone remember Outback Red?

A New Room For Seventy-eight Dollars . . .

{The chair pre-peacock paint with a marbleized pleather cover.}

Here’s are the key steps that allowed me to make Hannie B. a new room for very little moolah:

1. Decide to use the coral colored drapes.  Showed them to my girl and asked her if she liked them.  She replied that she wanted a room with turquoise and brown.  I countered that she could have all three colors in one room.  She died and went to heaven. Then I took $40 – the biggest cost in the room – and bought curtain rods at Home Depot.  The Hubby lovingly hung them with me as his boss.

{Getting ready to paint.}

2.  Paint existing furniture.  Lots and lots of it. The bed used to be mahogany and resided in our guest room for many years.  It got primed and two coats of Duron’s Shell White.  The desk – one of the big financial splurges – was $20 at a garage sale.  It was periwinkle blue, which wasn’t too offensive, but didn’t work for the room.  Primed it and gave it two coats of Shell White also. The desk chair, mirror above the dresser and small frame on the shelf all soaked in their new peacock color at $2.94 from Home Depot. The chair also got new fabric on the seat, which cost $4 with a coupon at JoAnns Crafts.

3.  Find one amazing pillow in the PERFECT COLOR. Believe me, this one was a steal!  I have combed the stores for anything in this coral color and it is not very popular right now.  So when I happened upon the pillow at TJ Maxx for $10, I snatched it up!  Hannie took one look at the ample ruffles and just sighed with contentment.

{Pictures I had just lying around . . . seriously.}

4. Shop the house. The rest of the room was pulled together with items I had lying around already.  The mini chandie used to hang pink in Hannie’s old room.  It got two coats of hammered bronze spray paint to spiff it up.  The gorgeous turquoise/coral bowl was an Anthropologie gift from my friend Jennie.  It’s perfect for this room. The bird print was in the basement bath, but loves its new home. Lamps, bedding and decorating doo-dads from around the house fill in empty spaces. A few sheets of tissue paper whipped into those flower pom poms I can’t seem to get enough of and done!

5.  Check with client to see if project meets expectations.  Hannie B. loves her new room.  It is sophisticated, something she can grow into, and it makes her feel like a big girl.  She’s being extra clean and tidy, taking care of all the new surfaces and spaces. She loves to be in her room, which is a new thing.

6. Plan for the rest of the project. There are still a few finishing touches left.  The upholstered chair will get a linen slipcover.  I’m framing a picture of my girl and me taken by Sue Richardson.  Hannie wants some kind of memo/cork board for the one blank wall you don’t see in any of the pictures. I feel the need for some peacock feathers in there somewhere. And the bed is lacking some kind of statement covering.  Patience.  Many of those thing WILL cost money, so I’ve got to work on them one at a time.

Lessons learned:  There will be hiccups, like a broken figurine and chair.  Fix what can be fixed or move past them.  Also, it doesn’t take a lot of money to make-over a room.  Minus the curtain rods this room was only thirty-five smackaroos.  I’m happy.  My girl’s happy.  The end.

Hannie B’s Room Reveal

I know what you’re thinking:  “Finally, that girl who’s all talk is going to show us something!”  It’s true.  I’m ready to show off some spaces even if they are not quite finished.  They’re as finished as they are going to be for now.

The jumping off point for Hannie B’s new room was a set of coral colored toile drapes that I’ve had for almost ten years.  My mom and aunt made them and they are gorgeous.  They’ve been carefully folded in a basement closet since shortly after we moved here.  I’ve been waiting for the right place to use them again, and Hannie’s room fit the bill!  I’ll let the rest of the pictures do the talking.  Then tomorrow I’ll take you through some of the step by steps that got us to this point. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them in tomorrow’s post. Enjoy!

Sometimes Being A Mom Is . . .

Ollie & Me looking at sheep.  Photo by Sue Richardson

The part of this picture you aren’t seeing is me standing in sheep poop.  The part of this picture you aren’t smelling is that fresh farm smell, also vaguely reminiscent of sheep poop.  And cow poop.  And chicken poop.  But my boy wanted to see the sheep.  So I stepped in the poop.  In the past week I’ve also:

• Stepped in vomit in the middle of the night on my way to the bathroom to wipe more vomit off RedDog’s mouth and sit with him while he barfed {his favorite vomit word ever}.
• Wiped a runny green baby nose with my bare hand because I had nothing else to use and it was about to go in his mouth.
• Used my same bare hands to wipe diaper rash cream on parts of a bum that don’t see the sun.
• Changed more poopy diapers than I’d care to on a baby who thinks he’s Houdini and spends the whole changing trying to escape.  Poop may or may not have gotten on my hands.
• Stuck my hand into my almost-a-teenagers mouth each night to turn his orthodontic expander “a click”. Teenagers have nasty breath at the end of the day.
• Squeezed a zit on the nose of said almost-a-teenager.
• Picked dry, puss encrusted skin off my daughter’s constantly infected earring hole.
• Caught chewed up food from a kid’s mouth in mid air to prevent it from hitting the floor.

The conclusion I’ve come to is that being a mom is gross.  We do gross things.  It’s weird too, because we do gross things without giving it a second thought.  Because we love our kids.

If you’d read the list above to me as a teenager, I would have excused myself to dry heave in the corner.  But now, I know I wouldn’t change it for the world.  It’s part of who I am.  Except for the poop on the hands part.  That will always be wrong, wrong, wrong.

PS.  I have been chronically washing my hands this week also, just in case you were disturbed by bums and mouths being in the same post.

Writer’s Block, Fall Edition . . .

Photo by Chris Carlson

I’m having a case of writer’s block today.  Thought I’d write about how I found the beautiful upholstered chair in Hannie’s new room with one of the legs snapped clean off – but that’s a total downer.  Thought of writing about how Ollie’s been sick and feverish for three days, but then the school called to tell me Hannie was feverish, so I had to go get her. Thought about doing a reveal, but the truth is every room is just shy of being done enough to be photographed.

So, instead of blogging about any of the above, I thought I’d spew out ten random facts about myself unknown to the general blog readership.  Here goes:

10. I like my butter at room temperature.  There is nothing so frustrating to me as scraping cold butter onto a piece of toast, tearing the delicious bread to shreds. Ours sits in a little dish on the counter covered by a glass dome.

9.  Touching raw meat kicks my gag reflex into gear.  I used to wear plastic gloves to touch it.  Now while preparing it for a meal I pretty much have to chant to myself, “This is not raw flesh, this is not raw flesh.”  I’d be a vegetarian if the meat didn’t taste so darn good!

8.  I am a bathaholic.  As soon as it turns cool enough outside {like in three weeks} I’ll start taking a bath every night.  I am like the frog who got boiled in the pot, I start out with my water just a little warm and then turn it to scalding while filling up. I end up with horribly dry skin, but I can’t help myself.  There is something about laying in hot water that relaxes my soul.

7.  I am a sucker for books.  I will ignore my whole universe if I’m reading a good one.  Because of this, I force myself to do most of my reading at night so I don’t neglect my family.  Instead, I neglect my sleep and always regret it in the morning.

6. I hate spiders and cats, in that order.  Spiders freak me out in a major way.  The Hubby is the designated spider killer in our house and has been known to find me screaming for him while sitting on the toilet because I’ve spotted one across the bathroom.  It sounds silly, but my fear is real.  Cats – well, I’m seriously allergic, and for this reason they seek me out, rub up against my legs and purr, which pretty much gives me the willies. But not as bad as spiders.

5. The following list of junk makes me really happy:  cheese Doritoes, peanut M & Ms, anything containing caramel, old fashioned donuts and Dr. Pepper.  Fortunately, we never have any of these things in our house.  Unfortunately, I have been known to occasionaly give in to temptation, buy them and immediately consume them when the opportunity arises.

4.  In the winter I wear thick, fluffy socks to bed.  My feet are always cold.  Meanwhile, my Hubby is sweating and shedding layers next to me.

3. I am downright decent at the following winter sports: downhill skiing, ice skating & snow sculpting {okay, not a sport, but I am good at it}. It is for this reason, plus hot chocolate, fires in the fireplace, Christmas cookies and school getting cancelled, that I pretty much heart Winter in a close tie with Fall for the seasons.

2. I am “The Pleaser” in my family.  Maybe it’s a middle child thing.  Maybe it’s an only daughter {until age 35} thing.  I just feel better when everyone is happy, getting along and things are smooth.  I hate it when people are disappointed, and especially disappointed in me.

1. When I was a kid I had crushes on two people: Donny Osmond and Bo Duke {aka: John Schneider}.  In future posts I will detail how I met one of these two in person and how my older brother has teased me publicly about the other for years.

Have a great weekend!  I’m off to take care of sick kids.  Awesome.

Collateral Damage . . .

When I was in high school I received a special gift from someone dear to me.  It was a delicate Lladro figurine of a girl in an all white dress with intricate raised detailing at the bottom.  The girl, her hands clasped behind her back, her head tilted to the side, a look of peace on her face, represented {to me} purity, virtue and wholesomeness.  She stood on my desk as a reminder of what I could be.

She has traveled with me from home to home all this time. About four years ago I unwrapped her and put her in Hannie B.’s room to give her the same beautiful reminder I’d had.

Yesterday the figurine became collateral damage when the shelf it stood on, newly installed, fell right off the wall, its contents crashing noisily to the ground.  As I rummaged through the mess, this is what I found {minus fifty tiny shards I vacuumed up}:

I’ll admit, I was upset.  Nothing else on the shelf broke.  Only the one thing of any remote emotional significance to me.  I picked up the pieces, realizing immediately that the damage was irreparable, and set them gently on the bed. Then I reinforced the shelf, rehung it and replaced the items that had fallen from it – minus the figurine.

In life, there is collateral damage.  We are merely fragile human figurines. Events come and go – some softly, others, like a shelf crashing to the ground. Sometimes we fall.  Often we are able to get back up,  slightly bruised, but unbroken.  Other times we are shattered and the damages seem irreparable, the emotional toll too great and the possibility of being whole again obsolete.

But I know that there is hope.  And I know that we are not alone.  We have family, friends and most importantly, a Savior, who shares our grief, our sorrows and our burdens. 

He is the Great Rebuilder.  He can make us whole.  He alone can put pieces together that seem beyond help. And that is what I cling to when I am nothing but a broken girl in a white dress.

Thoughts on Royalty . . .

Today is my mom’s birthday.  She is in Colorado celebrating it with my Dad, my baby brother and his family, and possibly her older sister.  Selfishly, I wish she were here because I want to shower her with love and affection.  Plus, I hate missing a party!

In lieu of gifts, cards, flowers and sweets, Mom, I’m sending you this heart-felt message across the vast and tangled web of the world:

I love you more with each passing year.  As I continue on my journey of motherhood with its ups and downs, I become acutely aware of the love of a mother – of your love for me.  It is a love so intense and real, knit together with ties that cannot  be severed, a love so strong that it can cause the greatest of joys and the sharpest of pain.

Only now that I am raising four children of my own can I truly appreciate the work you have done and continue to do in my life.  It is no small sacrifice and I am aware and in awe of you.

Thank you for loving me.  For taking care of me.  For serving me and my little family. For giving me the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For being my cheerleader. For making me laugh.  For making me food.  For doing my laundry all those years. For giving me a huge portion of my creative spirit. For giving me a true and constant friend and listening ear. For introducing me to Jane Austen and Edward Cullen and Hercule Peroit.  For, well, for everything.

I love you, Mom.  I hope you have a marvelous birthday in the Mile High City.  Let’s do lunch at Clyde’s when you get home – you, me and that little Ollie who adores you, but not nearly as much as I do.

A New Favorite . . .

I’m in the middle of project madness.  As in I finish one project and then start the next a few minutes later.  It’s good though – the Hubby cannot live with the ‘unfinished nature’ of our life much longer. And my friend Scharman is coming next week, so there’s extra motivation!

In my efforts to do, do, do, I have discovered something wonderful.  It’s Behr’s sample sized paint pots at the Home Depot.  For only $2.94 I was able to have this GORGEOUS peacock blue custom mixed in a tiny little {maybe 1 1/2 to 2 cups} tub.  It was enough to cover a mirror and chair for Hannie B.’s new room. 

Even better still, this is that new paint & primer in one and it covers beautifully! No longer do I have to spend $10 on a quart of paint in a random color for a small project!  This will be my go to from here on out!

Happy me.  Happy projects.

Hannie B.’s room is looking awesome.  A reveal is in the works.  Now I must go paint the big piece this pot of paint is sitting on. 

ps.  Home Depot and Behr paints did not pay me to promote their product.  I’m just passing on a really good thing from me to you because I love you lots!

How To Be Cool . . .

First off, it’s important to let you know that I don’t have much advice on how to be cool.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that right about now my 7th grader would like to convince you just how uncool I am. 

I mean, I won’t let him have a cell phone like all his other 12 year-old friends. And I won’t buy him a $200 i-Touch. Instead he has to earn the money himself if he wants one.  And I’ve already told you about the “no sleepovers” rule.  So, yeah, I pretty much rank near the bottom in the coolness department when it comes to moms.

But, I was willing to help Big C. out with his request to “coolify” his class binders with funny covers.  We had a great time searching for pictures with google searches like “math geek” and “beaker from Muppets” for his math and science binders.

We both agree that it is a definite tie for coolest binder between Jack Black belting it all out for chorus or R2-D2 in a sombrero for Spanish. 

Yeah, I’m cool like that.

Gifts for Sisters . . .

Each fall my mom and her sisters get together for a retreat.  They change locations and hosts, but always have a blast, sing loudly, take pictures of their feet, visit thrift stores & garage sales and always exchange inexpensive handmade gifts with one another.  Doesn’t that sound dreamy?  Sisters, fun and gifts are three of my favorite things!

Last week my mom and I hit the craft stores in search of supplies. We spent an hour tearing apart perfectly good, entirely new silk flowers.  Armed with glue guns, feathers, felt and pins, we made gorgeous lapel pins for her sisters – our inspiration was a pin my mom found at Ann Taylor Loft for $18!

Our base flowers of choice were deep purple and vintage colored roses.  Some pins got perfectly faded ranunculus centers, others got feathers and gems {for the more dramatic sisters – you know who you are}.

It was so fun to sit and laugh and craft with my momma.  She is a talented lady.  With the leftover ranunculus petals sitting on the table amidst the craft carnage, she pulled together this little pin for me:

I told you, she’s talented!  I hope you’re having a great time at the retreat mom.  And sisters of the world, just a reminder that you totally rock!

Thoughts On Befores And Afters . . .

Last night I was thinking about the whole before and after process.  It’s probably an understatement to say I’m a big fan. 

For me, there is something about seeing potential in an item thers might pass off as worthless or unusable.  It sparks a little desire in me to see the best in something, to admit that almost everything has  a little good in it {I did say almost, because there are some things that are just done}.

I also enjoy the transformation process.  Putting hard work into a B&A increases my appreciation for the finished project exponentially.  I find that when my children help me with projects they gladly accept ownership of the finished result and are proud of their hard work.

Before and afters also appeal to the cheapskate in me.  Why buy a brand new piece of furniture when I can find a less expensive, existing piece that is most likely better made and just needs a little love, sandpaper and paint to turn it from cinder bin to Cinderella?

When I truly get to the core of why befores and afters are my thing, it’s because I know that I am just one big before and after in progress.  I am constantly trying to take the outdated, useless and undesirable in me and make it better, more usable and more likeable.  And I just keep hoping that in the end, the Great Appraiser of us all will see the value in my finished product.

And now, after waxing ultra philosophical, I have a fantastic before and after for you today courtesy of a very talented friend I gained courtesy of my mom, The Queen.  Lee is a photographer, wife, mom to three gorgeous {can I say that?} boys and has taste and style oozing out of her pores.  She recently decided her small U-shaped kitchen needed un update on a budget.  Here is the before, taken on a day she was cleaning out the cupboards:

And here, with the addition of open shelving, a new retro fridge and some fantastic vintage accessories, is the absolutely awesome after:

What I love about this B&A:

• The light!  This kitchen just begs for a dish-doer standing in front of that window with all that natural light. And even though the window treatment in the before was darling, this window is very happy with no cover at all!
• The fact that Lee pared her cupboard contents down to the very bare essentials, which happen to also be the most visually pleasing essentials.
• The fridge.  I can’t get enough of it.  I want to have her email me a picture of the inside, I love it that much.
• The fresh color palette.  Greens, blues, whites . . . ahh.
• The modern, sparse design mixed with vintage elements.  I’ve seen close up photos, and Lee hasn’t missed a thing, from vintage light fixtures and an old fan and thermostat gauge.  If you’d like to see more pictures of Lee’s kitchen remodel and read her post on it, visit her blog here. While you’re there you can ogle over her beautiful photography.

Thanks Lee, for sharing your kitchen with me.  It’s simply dreamy.

There are going to be lots of befores and afters in the next few weeks as I reveal the fifteen bazillion projects we’ve been working on around here.  Hope you’ll stick around!

A Mini Makeover . . .

Remember my pitiful laundry “hallway”? At one time the walls were white.  Then they were yellow.  Now they are Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage, which is a color for the permanent record books.  I’ve posted about my hallway before here.

I am constantly trying to figure out ways to make this sliver of real estate more usable and more attractive, since it is actually the most used non-room in our house. 

Recently it went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

 

Not a huge change, I know, but a change that got all the paper work off of my fridge with the addition of ducting sheet metal cut to fit the area above the coat hooks.  The air conditioning warehouse I got my sheet metal from even folded the ends so I wouldn’t cut myself. The entire wall of sheet metal was only $25 – a steal of a deal for a family magnet board!

The bottom of the wall got a board and batten treatment for a fresh look. A few of you asked what board and batten is.  Our version of this classic molding treatment {which we’ve also applied to the basement walls} involved cutting one and half inch pre-primed boards to size and using a nail gun to attach them to the wall at measured intervals.  Caulk was applied to all seams and a generous coat of white semi-gloss paint covered both wall and boards to make them look like one complete unit.

Here are my ‘battens’ before painting:

And here they are after:

 

Notice I also painted the quarter round molding {which was brown before} at the base of the floor to give my wimpy floorboards some added heft.  In a few weeks when I show you the new basement, I’ll explain how we were able to do this treatment without removing a single baseboard.

I am in love with the look of board and batten.  But I must warn, it is a multi-step process and not for the impatient!  Measure, cut, level, nail, wood filler, sand, caulk, paint, paint, paint – it has taken me weeks to finish it up.  The effect is worth it!

Stay tuned  - tomorrow I have a wonderful before and after that a friend is going to let me share with you.  It is divine!

PS.  Both the Hubby and I want to paint the door leading out to the garage.  What say you?  We’re thinking about grey.

Rendered Obsolete . . .

 

Yesterday I told Hannie B. we would make Snickerdoodles together.  She waited patiently while the Hubby and I tackled the sanding of two very large pieces of furniture to ready them for painting.  It took longer than I anticipated.  Her patience quickly turned to impatience.  When I finished sanding, I came in to make cookies and Hannie B. was standing in the kitchen in front of two perfectly executed trays of cookies ready to go into the oven.  She’d done it all without me.  And suddenly I felt the gravity of the advancing age of my children. Like I had been made obsolete. And the special gift of cookies made by mom was no longer so special.  But, it has to be said, Hannie’s cookies were delish!

Now the house is empty except for Ollie boy and me.  We’re on our way out the door to take a nice, ‘vigorous’ walk.  Then I’ll get laundry done without interruption and finish up another painting project without fighting in the background.  It will be good.

Still, I already miss those other three lugs.  They are fantastic people and I enjoy there company. And I think it has to be said  that one of the biggest reasons I hate it when my kids go back to school is because I feel like they need me less and less. 

And this momma likes to feel needed. 

Gotta go – I have a diaper to change!  Happy Back To School!