Free time projects!

A few weeks ago Tyler and Damon went to a Jazz game. That left me with a good 8 hours to do whatever I wanted. I spent way too much time telling myself it was ok not to clean or work while they were gone. Then I had to decide what I wanted to do. After all of that I spent quite a bit of time on the computer and I made 2 trips to the craft store (after I decided what I was going to do.) This is what I worked on.

This chair was resting peacefully at D.I. with an $8 price tag. I walked past it more than once before I talked myself into considering it. I was afraid to touch it. I found cereal under the cushion. It scared me a little. I brought it home anyway. I painted the legs, bought a button kit and used left over fabric from something else to make the black button. After I sewed and stapled all of the fabric into place I attached cute black piping over all of the unfinished edges. And, it's comfortable which is the best part.

While I had the black paint out I decided to refresh this photo screen. It has been stored away since we moved into our house 4 years ago. I have always liked it, but I just couldn't find a place for it. After a few minor adjustments it fit right in next to my new chair. It was also lots of fun to go through all of my pictures and decide which ones I wanted to use in each of the 15 openings (that may be what took the most time of all.)

Remeber this post about these little wooden accents? This is one of the projects I had in mind for them. They were such an inexpensive and simple change that made a big difference.

The boys got home completely exhausted and went straight to bed. It was fun to have some time to myself, but I was so glad when they got home. I went straight to bed myself.

A Happy Birthday!

What a fun day I had!
It all started when two cute somebodies made me breakfast.

We spent some time the park. Then we went to the pet store to look at the cute baby animals.

We played hot/cold and I found a little something from my littlie in the air vent. Sneeky! He was very excited for me to see that he got me some lotion, which he picked himself. He told Tyler he wanted to get it because he knows, "Mom has really dry skin." Awesome! He doesn't miss a thing.
Then the same two somebodies made me dinner. It was so yummy. Steak (on the grill) and potatoes (twice baked). Garlic bread, salad, and snow crab legs. Mmmmmm!

Happy Birthday to my sister Lori today!

Happy Day!

St. Patrick's Day!

The day that means my birthday is in exactly 1 week.

The day Damon woke up to a little something from the toothfairy. (She visited us for the first time the night before.)

Corned beef and cabbage and Irish Soda Bread for dinner (I like to put green food coloring in the buttermilk.)

The day I finally got to run outside. (It was so nice, and everyone knew it. There were kids all over on bikes, people walking their dogs, the smell of BBQ....)

The day before I hear it is going to snow again soon. :(

Glad I got to enjoy it!

Spring?

What's your first clue that spring is on its way? I think I usually smell it first. That happened a few weeks ago. I got excited, and then it snowed this weekend.

These furry little guys helped though. It may be freezing outside, but new, cute little birdies mean spring is just around the corner.

2nd Generation Needle Nerves

This is the guy that I thought was going to start crying when his mom wanted to do a little finger prick for a blood sugar level test.

This is also the guy that told me he had to fight the urge to punch the nurse who had to give him a tetanus shot.

Now here he is donating blood. All grown up.

Damon was the one making jokes and acting silly to mask the fact that he was uncomfortable. I assured him he had to be 17 and 110 lbs. to donate. But I also had to let him know that the food table was for people willing to bleed for the cause. He didn't meet any of the criteria.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

When Damon was asked at school what his favorite book was he said anything Dr. Seuss. But even so, when he came home from school speaking in rhyme I knew something must have triggered the silly talk. Dr. Seuss's B-day, of course. Yep, on this day in 1904 "Dr. Seuss" was born and aren't we all glad.

But now about some yummy cookies and a loud game.

Damon had the treat for Family Home Evening and picked "cookies with white chocolate in them." So I made a couple of batches of these yummy cookies. We finished up, played a game, and tucked Damon into bed. I sent Tyler out the door to a study group and I realized I had some free time on my hands. I put in the last batch of cookies and ended up singing my heart out on Rock Band. I couldn't do just one song so I picked another. After I felt like I had wasted enough time I decided to turn off the XBOX and find something more productive to do.

That is when I heard a buzzing from upstairs. "The cookies!" I raced to the kitchen to find these in the oven. Opps! I can't believe I was so distracted.

While I am on the Rock Band subject I thought I should post a couple of pictures from a few weeks ago.

I love that Ellie's ears are plugged. It makes me laugh so much. This is why I needed the practice while I was alone.

Happy, Happy Snail Mail Day!

I think virtual communication is awesome, but don't you just love a "Happy Snail Mail Day?" I had one a couple of days ago. Let me start by saying that our old house had a cute little mail box on the front porch, and I anticipated the little squeek that signaled the mail had arrived everyday. When we moved into our new house I had to say goodbye to a cute box on the porch and hello to a community mail box on top of the hill above our house. Needless to say I don't get the mail everyday, especially when it is cold.

So you can imagine my surprise when a cute little postman arrived at my front door with the days mail in tow. I should tell you that there are only two spots for packages at our mailbox so if someone doesn't empty their package after a few day the mail carrier brings the mail to your house so you don't have to wait for the other person (this has only happened twice).

Hand delivered mail already signals a good mail day for me, but it doesn't end there. We only had 2 pieces of "junk mail" and 1 bill. Again a good mail day. But wait, I'm not done.

This book arrived. I ordered it a few days before and have been anxiously awaiting it's arrival.

Cassie's phone, which she has been calling us about everyday around 2:00, finally came (It took forever.) We didn't mind hearing from her, but we know she has been antsy for a replacement to the phone she lost, and I am sure Ramona will be happy to get hers back, too.

We also received a cute card and pictures from the Martins.

And, a little something from Ryan in Guatemala. You may notice my letter is in Spanish which equals a little extra work for me, but more exciting I think.

Is it silly that this was so fun for me I am actually blogging about it?

I hope you all have a Happy Snail Mail Day, too once in awhile.

P.S. Today is Ryan's birthday. I hope he has a happy one.

Love List #3!

Like last year and the year before this is a list of a few of the things that make me happy right now.

I love these little animals I have scattered around the house. I think they are all so cute. However, I think all of them might scare me or gross me out if they were real. Weird! The turtle is the newest addition to our house, isn't he cute? I love him!

These little wooden accents are so cool. I have a couple of projects in mind for them. I'll post them when I am done.

I love homemade fabric flowers. They are so fun to make and there are so many different techniques for making them.

I love ribbon. I think it makes almost everything better.

I can't believe I have had 3 of these lists without putting our piano on one. It was a pretty big expense for us when we were first married, but it is definitely one of the things in our house that I really love.

Hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day. We sure did!

We can kind of laugh now,

But we haven't gotten the bills yet.

So that's a kidney stone, huh?

A couple weeks ago Tyler was in the E.R. passing a kidney stone. It was one crazy morning. At one point the P.A. asked Tyler how he was doing and through clenched teeth, and what sounded like his last breath, he murmered, "I want to die!" As soon as the stone passed he was back to his old self. We were laughing and sending texts while he finished his I.V. We also got to listen in on the prisoner in the room next to us, who seemed to be on vacation. When Damon got home from school and heard the story he felt like he missed out on a fun time.