Sweet Memories

Is there anything specific that evokes a wonderful memory or memories for you?

For me, its a cheap flour sifter.

When I was a little girl, for the first 4.5 glorious years of my life, I was the only child, the only niece, and the only grandchild. On all sides of the family. Holla!

My parents worked, so I spent a lot of time being cared for by my gramma (my mom's mama) and my auntie (my mom's sista), who still lived at home at the time.

I have such wonderful memories of the time I spent at my gramma's house and it makes me sad to think that perhaps, now that my papa is gone, she may move out of the house.

But I digress.

I spent a lot of time baking with her. One of my jobs was to sift the flour.  A very important job, you know.

Another important task that she taught me early on was how to iron. She had me ironing tablecloths, napkins, handkerchiefs (her pretty embroidered flowery ones and my papa's plain white ones), and sheets. Come to think of it, I am not sure if my gramma was anal retentive or trying to keep me busy.

Their house was always a place that brought me instant comfort.  I loved spending the night there.  I loved all the attention that was bestowed on me. Me me me (that's right, baby).  I am so appreciative of that time I got to spend.  And I am so grateful that my kids got to meet their great-grandparents (Aidan, especially, establishing a  special bond with my papa) and that both my grandmas are around for them to this day.

I hope that someday, my kids look back and have some fond memories, too. Not just memories of electronic crap. You know?

DIY Curtains

I was so excited to make curtains for my kitchen. It took me forever and a day to pick out the "perfect" fabric, and I finally found it...Blossom, by Vicki Payne for Free Spirit. I got it from my local fabric shop that sells fun and funky stuff, Drawstring Studio. 

I love laying the fabric out and the sound of cutting it, as scared as I am of effing up.

I chose to sew it because there's just something about a perfect seam versus using hem tape.  It just looks professional and real.

I love the smell of my sewing machine when its loudly humming away.  I love when I get something right.

I do not, however, love when I screw up.  That hem tape would have come in handy.  Despite using a worksheet from a book on how to measure for curtains, they were the wrong length.  Crap crap crap.  Thankfully, we can fix the issue by moving down the rod.  And at the end, I can always yank out the bottom 4" hem and make it a bit smaller.

Mindless Musings

I am thinking of buying a pair of TOMS.  My frugal side won't buy them because they are over $15 and I don't know what the quality of them is like, I don't know how they fit, and I don't know how comfy they are.

Insight?

I found these at Target today. They were comfy! What? Come again?!! Of course, they were not in my size. Sigh. I need to find $50 worth of crap to buy online because I refuse to pay shipping. Hrm.

My 7 year old daughter has an obsession with lifting up the skirts and peeking down/into the shirts of mannequins, checking to see if they are wearing panties or bras. They never are. She wonders why.

Speaking of mannequins...what's up with Forever 21? Is there a method to their orgazational madness? Because, crud, I just want to go in and find a small, white button down shirt. Why can't they all be in one place? WHY? Why must they have 5 different locations? Perhaps, if it was better organized, then they could afford to have more sales associates at the register, instead of 1 and a long line. Because that's annoying. Or is that only my F21? 

And did you know that F21 has a 90210 tank top?!! Fo reals.

via

I love me some old skool 90210.

While I am on the subject of TV, tell me I am not the only Teen Mom 2 addict? Why am I drawn in to that garbage? That's the only 'reality' show I watch.  And man...  its trash.  Like, when will Jenelle "get" it? And why do Jo's parents allow him to talk to Kailyn like he does? Make that boy have some respect for the human kind! For women! Shiz...for his baby mama! Step up!

Peace.

Can I get a heck yeah?

I won! I am a winner! Winner winner, chicken dinner, baby!!!!
Recently, April at Funky Vintage Lovely was giving away a $25 giftcard for Bonhomie Jewelry. And you're looking at the winner! I am pretty sure I want the 'sweetheart charm', but I need to look at all her stuff again.  Because I like a lot of the custom charm necklaces.  Decisions, decisions!!!!  I am also pretty certain I want a necklace from Funky Vintage Lovely.  I just need to decide -- a flower (grey mum? turquoise peony?) or a LaLaLovely necklace. Hrm.....




Today I had my style consult with, ahem, my stylist. Ok. So she's not mine. But she was mine for 90 minutes.  And I will certainly use her again!  She was won-der-ful. And very, very insightful.  With my permission, she purged the pieces that needed to go. And then she put together some outfits for me, honing in on spring/summer tops and how to layer them for this weather and also pieces I wasn't sure what to do with.  I now feel more confident about my wardrobe and I also feel like its much more versatile. I am so happy I did this!!!  Now I just need to replace a few things...nothing too pricey, thankfully.  Just some capris mostly and a pair of khakis.  And of course, there's the yearly replacement of the white tees and some of the ribbed tanks. Its all good.

Five Senses Monday

Sadie at {simply delicious} did a Five Senses post today and I decided that I am copying her using her as inspiration for today's post.

SMELLING

Hot, yummy, warm, hazelnut coffee. And pumpkin spice scented candle. Both an attempt to make me feel warm.

SEEING

A messy, messy house. The kids are on Spring Break and the house looks like a disaster lived in. Plus there is displaced stuff all over the foyer and our room while hubs finishes the closet.

HEARING

My kids playing. Getting along? Say it is not so. Happy noises.  My dog, pacing, because its the dinner hour.

TASTING

Coffee (decaf). A dark, french roast. Yum. With a nice blend of half and half and some chemically enhanced hazelnut creamer.

FEELING

Happy. We had a good day. First day of Spring Break - we hit the public museum. 

And then Whole Foods for lunch and some grocery shopping. We all had fun. 

Yet...

Overwhelmed. Yesterday's discovery of mold and some underlying water issue is stressing me out.

And...

Excited. Tomorrow we're taking the kids to an indoor waterpark for the day. AND I am escaping for a few hours by myself in the afternoon because I have my wardrobe consultation!

By the way...check out Sadie's Blog. She's creative, inspiring, and girl can get it done! She did an awesome Anthro inspired bedroom on her own! And her babygirl is super adorable. 

Thoughts?

I am a natural blonde. Natural in the sense that when I was younger, my hair was a gorgeous shade of blonde. 

 {don't be jealous. you know you lurve the prairie style outfit, the orange shag... all of it.  70's man. 70's.}

And then somewhere, around age 18-20, it started turning an ugly dishwater color and I had to chemically enhance it to keep it looking its natural blonde.

I've swayed off course a few times.

I've been a light-auburnish

I've been caramel-y

A deeper shade of brown

and even darker...

And now I am blonde. And I've been blonde for awhile.

{i miss my long hair}

{my friends are fabulous}

I am thinking of going dark again. A bit of a change before my hair grows a tad longer. 

Thoughts?  Opinions?

The one where things don't go as planned

I have a closet that I have hated for years. And years. And well, since we moved into this house.  Its a closet that is in my bedroom, but that also shares a door on the backside with the foyer, which makes it the coat closet (wth?).  I will post before and after pics on when its done. Because the hubs is currently making it fabulous.

But in the meantime, earlier today as I was removing everything from said closet, he commented on a suspicious crack in it and I commented on the bubbled paint that was opposite it, in our room, that's been that way for about a year now.  He handed me a crowbar and away I went.  The paint came off -several colors of it - in big sheets.  Exposing this.

That's actually black.  Nice, huh?
Now, I am pretty sure that the walls were not that peachy-beige color when we moved in. So I can't be certain how long its been like that. But I would think we would have noticed it when we painted the room, right?
The good thing is that the wall was not wet. The mold was not wet.  But it smelled.  And dang, I have a headache.
The bad thing? We have no idea where the water is coming from. An ice dam last year? Soffits? Do we need to tear off the plaster and lathe? I hope not. If its fixable from the outside, can I just bleach what's been exposed and then can we seal the wall?  I have no idea, but right now, I am cursing my 1920's house.

Say what?

Date Night. 

Use your imagination for a caption on this one.

Flirting.

My son is 9. NINE.  And I witnessed him flirting. FLIRTING! This morning, my daughter's 6 year old friend came down to breakfast and as she sat down, Aidan said, "hey there, shorty.", complete with a Joey {friends} chin lift and how YOU doin' eye squint.

Pity.

Rolling in some self-pity here. And I need to get my ass up out of it and do something about it. Yeah - I got some nice comments about me not needing spanx and being able to wear leggings and whatnot. But here's the thing: I am skinny fat. And I seriously do not feel good about myself right now and need to stop feeling bad and start feeling good. I came across these photos last week while looking for a specific photo:

 

 San Antonio '05

Austin '05

 {i look kinda weird b/c i am leaning back}

Austin '07

Those capris don't fit right now. Sigh.

That was fall 2005, people. 2005. That was 2 years after having TWINS and 3.5 years after having my first baby.  I thought that perhaps I was blessed with good genes. I was on the move all the time, but not exercising excessively and just eating normally.  And crap, when I started running, I had to eat more because I was losing too much weight.

And now? I wallow in self pity. Because now I am skinny fat.  I would not expose my tummy. My tummy dun-lop over my jeans without those spanx (is that called muffin top?)  No abs. Sigh.

What happened? I got sick last winter/spring. Bronchitis. Then pneumonia. Then epstein-barr.  I stopped working out with that string of illness. And then I don't know. I just don't know.  Did the Lexapro make me gain? Was the Wellbutrin helping keeping it off? What I do know is that I know I have to be healthy and do something about it. Because if I allow myself to wallow in pity, I will do something stupid and fall back into former bad habits. Because if you've ever had a bad habit, you know that bad habits die hard.

For over 10 years I had an eating disorder. And the diaticians, the psycologists...they all told me what I needed to hear. That I would slowly kill myself if I didn't knock it off. But did that stop me? Nope. Because it took me, making up my mind, that enough was enough and I would do it.

And you know what? Those desires to just fall back into those habits. To have control over that part of my life again? Its so easy just to do it. But I won't. I won't take the easy way out.  I am getting my ass up and am going to get that body back, hot damn!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

On this sunny, chilly Thursday,  I'm linking up with Sydney of The Daybook who, each week, hosts Awkward and Awesome Thursday.  If you haven't checked out The Daybook yet, take a gander on over.  Sydney is funny, too cute, and has serious fashion sense (best wardrobe I've ever seen on a student, yo.)

 

Awkward:

*My obsession with watching the trainwreck that is Teen Mom 2.

*Walking around the store yesterday, not realizing that my spanx were causing my pants to slide down and I was inadvertantly exposing said spanx to the store as I was bending over. Woot.

*My hair that is overdue for a trim/style/color.

Awesome:

*Conferences with the teachers when they tell you that your kids rock the hizzy

*Getting emailed love notes from your kids, signed with tons of 'xoxoxox'

*Smitten Kitchen's chocolate stout cake recipe. OH YUM.

Spring has sprung!

Well, temporarily, at least.  I'm trying to stay positive.  And I think this little girl is so cute, inside and out.

And just for kicks, these 2 are pretty cute, as well...

 {a very rare moment these days}

{my newly minted 9 year old and one of his b-day gifts. he loves non-fiction. and weather}

Giveaway!

No, not me. But I want to promote a friend's business (and I promise this is my last post of the night).  And its not because she's a friend. Its because she has awesome taste in fabric and makes some cute, hip clothing for little humans.

Alyson from Eisley Rae is hosting a giveaway for a $20 gift certificate to her shop!! Any item of your choosing for your little lady or lad! How awesome is that?

 

Alyson has made my little lady some cute stuff

like these ruffle pants

{and she's so cool that she sent me scraps so I could applique a shirt or two to match}

and this peasant top

I've had custom clothes made for my wee ones before and often times, unfortunately, quality is compromised. But not with Eisley Rae. She does a professional job and she uses high quality materials.

So go on over to Eisley Rae and check her giveaway out, yo.  It'll be worth your time...I promise.

The one where I hold myself accountable...

I have been forever perusing blogs, bookmarking all these super cool things to do to my home.  Have I done them? Ummmm... no.
Tomorrow through Friday I am putting myself on a crackdown, and I am posting this to hold myself accountable.  I *will* get the following 3 things done:
*dining room chairs re-upholstered
*curtains made for the kitchen
*throw pillows made for our bed

If I finish these things, then I can move onto 3 other things I have marked:
*mustard cardi embellishment/refashion
*black shirt refashion, inspired by Anthropologie shirt I tried on, but was too cheap to buy, so I took photos of it, instead. 
 *flower necklaces
*Easter skirt for my girlie, from 4 super cool navy/white/green fabrics I got.

And then, when I finish that, I will treat myself with:
some fabric I want to coordinate w/ the pillows I just made for the LR, to cover 2 more pillows
and
these cool kicks. I saw them at Kohl's today. They're Lauren Conrad and pretty comfy and make my legs look cute.

 

Ten on Tuesday

10 Things I Don't Understand
{i don't mean to offend anyone. please feel free to comment/clarify}

1- Why the lotion pump doesn't get the bottom 1/4+ of the bottle
2- Why people still use yahoo and hotmail for a free email service (gmail, peeps...GMAIL!)
3- Cameltoe. It seriously cannot be comfy, can it?
4- Why Forever 21 must play the blasted music so seriously earsplitting loud.
5- Why McDonalds calls a big mac wrapped up in a tortilla a "snack" wrap. That is not a snack. I am no idiot nor am I a sumo wrestler.
6- Why my dog smells like a frito at times.
7- Why it is not acceptable for Mormons to drink coffee or hot tea...but hot chocolate and soda are ok?
8- VPLs. Unless you are under 10, its just not cool.  You don't even have to wear floss-like panties to get rid of them.
9- Hummers (the big-ass fug vehicles that drive around the city).  You need one why?
10-Certain family members. 'Nuff said.

The Adventure Project

Today is World Water Day.

via

Two fabulous people are participating in the Adventure Project. Please go check it out. All they are asking for is for 10 readers to donate $20. That's do-able, right? Right.

Why?  According to The Adventure Project...

Our goal is to raise $10,000 USD in one day. We know that’s epic. And this campaign has never been done before. But if we succeed, we will help bring clean water to 300 additional people each month. That’s 3,600 people per year!

One third of all handpumps installed in the last twenty years in developing countries are now broken. And 4,000 children die every day because of lack of clean drinking water. We feel that’s unacceptable. So we’re thinking differently.

Instead of drilling more wells, we’re using our charitable gifts for something revolutionary – to train and employ handpump mechanics. The mechanics earn an income, bringing themselves out of poverty, and they save lives – turning water back on for thousands of people each year.

So go visit April, at Funky Vintage Lovely   or Robyn, at Ticklebugs Photography. 

(Robyn's passionate about water, yo. Last year, she donated some business profits to 2 different water charities: charity:water and 20 liters.

A Tint of Green: A Fun Family Weekend

As previously mentioned, we took a little trip to Chicago for the weekend to enjoy some R&R and take in the St. Paddy's Day parade that the city puts on every year.  We love us some green river.

Friday was sunny and mild. Sunday? Similar. Saturday? Blustery, whipping winds.  Ahhh...the midwest.  We were freezing! But so is life.

 

{My chilly Taitertots getting a closer view of the green river}

{En-route to the parade....Mama, daddy and the Taitertots overlooking the Chicago River and downtown}

 

{"Car's got a lotta pickup"...please tell me I am not old and that everyone remembers this movie} 

After the parade, Elliott felt sick. Hrm. Could it have been the chocolate sunflower seeds daddy let him have at 9am? The chips? Or the hot chocolate? Or ingested swimming pool water? Who knows.  I took the twinadoes back to the hotel while Hubs and Aidan went to Mr. Beef...winner of The Travel Channel's Food Wars.

 
{Aidan with Mr. Beef }

When they returned, I took my girlie for some American Girl shopping!  We had Lanie's hair did, ears pierced, and got her some new threads.
 
Girlie was a trooper...she didn't complain a wink while I made her go through the sales racks at Anthro and peruse Nordstrom Rack, too.  

Our final evening, we were so tired from the fresh air and couldn't decide on dinner, so we just hoofed it to Heaven on 7th. A place all of us like. Who doesn't like anything to do with New Orleans? 

{If you haven't taken note, they have various hot sauces on the table. And my kids can read. So yeah...they certainly got a kick out of that. Ha ha. HA.}

{two of my loves}

We did a lot of fun stuff.  It was fun to hang with the fam for the weekend and get away from home life.

Awesome tutorial!

I came across this tutorial posted on Tatertots and Jello (by the way, isn't that a funky name for a blog? I like it).  She had a guest poster, Valerie from The Crafters File Box, post a tute on how to change an everyday handbag into a stylin' camera bag! Fo reals!

This is totally something I could do.  And want to do.  I have a giant sling bag for my camera, but its not something I like carting around everywhere. Because its giant. And well, its not exactly stylin'.  If I want to bring my camera along somewhere with one extra lens (or not) and chuck my glasses and wallet and keys inside, this would totally be my answer!  Especially since, let's face it, the bags that are targeted to ladies are pretty damn pricey, if I do say so myself.  Sure, you want to invest in a bag, since your camera gear is worth it, but I am frugal when it comes to certain things and it is really hard for me to jusitfy spending $170-$300 on a bag that I may deem out of style a year from now. That's just how I roll.

Check it out - how Valerie transformed this cute TJ Maxx purse into a stylin' camera bag!!  You know you want to!

Spade Swag?

Linda over at Rose a la Mode is giving away (as in free. FREE people. FREEEEE!) a Kate Spade bag. Its pretty fab. And I wouldn't mind winning it, if I do say so myself.  Its perfect for spring.  So go check it out, yo.

While you're at it, browse Linda's blog.  She's got some good fashion sense.  Kind of the perfect blend of casual-hip-trendy-chic-classic.  And she wears cool shoes that I dream of wearing, but can't, because I am chasing kids mostly when I have shoes on. Or there's snow.  Oh, and she's super cute, too.

Hit The Road, Jack...

That's right! We're packing our bags and leaving town! 

Ahhhhhh

source

Oh wait.  That's my imagination taking over again. Drat. 

In real life, it'll look something more like this...

source

because we're headed to The Windy City....

source

to once again, take in the sounds and sights of St. Paddy's Day!!!!

I mean, who can resist a river so lush and green?

Not these kids!

Last year, it rained. We hiked it all the way down to the parade route in the cold, freezing rain, commenting on the half-naked, tight as tight can be, green and gold lamé frocks we saw on crazy folk.   Only to turn around and leave because the kids were so cold at that point that they couldn't handle it.
Lesson learned:
1) winter coats (no raincoats)
2) snowpants if necessary
3) hats and warm mittens
4) winter boots (no rainboots)
5) take a taxi there and walk back. no kids should have to walk that far in the cold, only to sit outside in the cold even longer!

We're looking forward to our weekend getaway.  Friday involves some IKEA, Saturday is the parade, and Sunday is the Museum of Science and Industry.  Sometime in there, they're excited to hit American Girl and Lego.  And of course, swimming their little hearts out in the hotel pool.  Mama can't wait to get her mouth on a slice of Pizano's deep dish (heaven!) and the kids and daddy are super excited to try and Italian Beef from Mr. Beef (the winner from Food Wars on the Travel Channel)

Au revoir!