resembling a goober

I call my little perfectly beautiful but extremely stinkery littlest girl this nick name-

*Goober-esque*

It seems like its a sweeter more sophisticated way to call her a goober!

Isn't she the most beautiful little 4 year old Goober-ific thing?!

(so goober-esque)

*

your home, your story, tell it.

Does your home have a story? I don’t mean your house- I mean the things in your house? Do they tell your story? When looking through one of my favorite bloggers, the Nester I can see her story, the things she loves and the things that speak to her.

I have always felt like it was important to surround yourself with the things you love, the things that speak to you, tell your story or someone else’s. When looking through blogs this weekend I happened upon this one- Sara’s Art house and her home TELLS HER STORY. She gets it. Check it out, I bet you’ll feel like you know her after flipping through her blog for a few minutes. She’s obviously colorful, bright, outgoing, and kind. Doesn’t her house say that to you? Do you feel like you know her already?

I like for my house to feel comfortable, lived in, calm and kind. I think a home can have a kind feeling, don’t you? I find myself gravitating towards kind colors like blues, creams, whites and some red. Those are the colors that make me feel calm and trust me I NEED to feel calm! I want to go home to a house that has a comfy spot to sit, pillows to lean on, colors to greet me and glass shining and winking at me. Did I mention I LOVE glass? Me and glass go back a long way. I love you glass, snack sets, old jars, farm windows- need I go on?!

The things in my house almost all have a story; it might be my Grandma’s suitcase here or my dad’s old military trunk there. Maybe my Mom’s favorite book under my Grandma’s old hand mirror. My house is layered with story after story and surrounds me with my history, the things I love and the memories of those I love having them before me.

Make your house a home, have the things you love and LOVE the things you have!

frame those creative kids

These beautiful works of art are- Kid1 the war Turkey, Kid2 the glittery tree painting, Kid4 the scribbles of a two year old and Kid3 the leprechan near his gumball treehouse.

Do you love your kid’s art? Don’t you love it when kids start drawing? I was so excited when my kids drew their first things. The most memorable artist is Kid3, his first drawing was a porcupine and then a jelly fish. I loved these little drawings, they were so cute, we all patted him on the head and told him how cute he is and how cute these were so of course he drew thousands of them.

My kid’s art is something that I cherish, as they grew I have kept just about everything they have drawn and written. I framed some of them and hung them with my favorite painting so everyone can see their little drawings done so carefully and carelessly at the same time on construction paper. I can close my eyes and just see their little knees bent to reach the table coloring furiously away a stack of paper, so intently documenting their little innocent thoughts on paper for me to frame and look back on later….

I love frames, I love kid’s art and I love framing kid’s art.

What do you think?

Mother says MAKE YOUR BED!

BEFORE

(my Mom would be so ashamed!)

AFTER
(my Mom would be so proud!)

My Mother always said “if you make your bed, your room will look cleaner”.

I never believed her. I hated to make my bed.

I like to make a little nest in my bed. A pillow on either side of me, two under my head, one under my arm an extra sheet…. A cuddly thing here or there and my husband over the BIG HILL of pillows. I’m not a bed maker, until recently.

Recently in my old age I am coming around to my mother’s way of thinking. I’m starting to think that my room looks cleaner and neater and more put together with my bed made….? Could my Mother have been right all these years?

You tell me - was your Mother right too?!

the "10 minute makeover"

This is my little room BEFORE

This is my little room AFTER

I added shower curtains as curtains- believe it or not under that little bit of wood I just tucked the shower curtain in and then put the wood back up with the clips that were already there. No sewing, no glue, no nails- ten minutes to a prettier window and there you have it folks!

*MY TEN MINUTE MAKEOVER*

One of my very favorite decorating bloggers is the Nester, if you haven’t heard of her – WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? She’s amazing; her ideas are fresh and just what every home needs. She has coined the phrase “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful” and she is so right.

I am proud to say that I have looked at her entire blog one picture at a time studying her words and ideas and have used many of them in my house. She is a generous blogger who doesn’t mind sharing her ideas and answering emails.

For my ten minute makeover I was going to show my bedroom but It’s just not photo ready- I have not felt well this week so my bedroom is….well- let’s just say you won’t want to see it.

I am showing you the curtains in my breakfast/pantry/playroom. The curtains are made from shower curtains that I bought from Target earlier last week. I used them in my bedroom and then I had 3 more panels and I used them in my b/p/p room and I LOVE how it turned out.
check out my blog for more ideas and many thoughts about a crazy life!

the finished room

the small roll top desk I found on Craigslist (40 dollars) Kid4 really loves this spot!

the cute little retro kitchen, my mom gave to Kid4 We are in love with this whole set!

the whole room (view from the kitchen)

This room is a room that I love because my new pantry is in it and also this is where Kid4 spends a lot of time playing, cooking, drawing and pretending. It's nice because it's a room near me in the kitchen. I love how it turned out. It's suppose to be the breakfast room but I love it like this!

Let me go ahead and talk about the obvious-

*yes, I know the curtains are capris (I will fix them later maybe)

*I realize that the carpet is a little TOO much- It's what Ive got right now.

*the tiny roll top desk needs a coat of paint (one of these days when I'm bored- ha ha)

pretty practical pantry pride!

We used white shelves (free) we already had, paint (free), cheap wood (5 dollars), chicken wire (15 dollars), hinges (5 dollars) and good ol' fashioned hard work (mostly free).

This is the left side of the pantry

The right side.

The pantry is a very important thing to me. I love a pantry all stocked and ready with food for me to create with. I love to cook and I love eat. A useful pantry is a must have.
When BatGirl found this great house for me, I fell instantly in love with it and have never regretted this move not once. It’s the most beautiful house, greatest location, and I just plain love it.

As I got more settled into the house and unpacked I put my food and kitchen gadgets away here and there and was really trying not to notice that there was no pantry in this glorious house of mine. There was a BIG closet in the garage, near the kitchen that I thought I would put my cans into and also the popcorn maker, the food processor, etc. I went to town putting it all away and settling in but was never truly happy with traipsing out to the garage for that can of beans I needed for dinner.

I’m an ignorer….. I did what I do best, I ignored.

When I could no longer ignore the obvious and the struggles I was having daily in the kitchen going to the garage, and here and there for food and small appliances I got an idea.
I needed an antique armoire to use as a pantry. So Sunday I set out looking here, there and everywhere for the perfect armoire and much to my dismay, it was going to be a SMALL FORTUNE. So I declined the calls of the beautiful armoires that tried to suck me in as they winked at me I ran quickly to escape their beckoning.

On the way home Mr.B. and I brainstormed and decided to use what we already had plus a few extra things and do it our way- the crazy creative way.

Here are the pictures and what we did.

Pantry passion

I have been working like a madwoman on my new pantry.

We used….
Fabric from the shower curtains I used as curtains in my room
Paint we already had from the door
Staples and hot glue
Old white shelves
Cheap plywood
Chicken wire
Hinges

You are going to love it, I love it! I’ll show you the fabulousness tomorrow with lots of pictures.

a guilty confession

I saw a confessional at an antique store today and loved it. I would buy it if I could just to have- Im not sure why- I just think it would be a neat thing to have. That confessional caused me to think about motherhood.

The guilt’s of motherhood are tearing. Motherhood has always been what I wanted, strove for, my ultimate goal in life and here I stand worried at each decision and riddled in guilt for my children.

Is it normal to always feel such guilt over your own children? Some call it mother guilt; I don’t know what to call it.

I worry daily about the decisions I have made for my children. I brought my first baby boy into this world way too early in my life and I always said when he was young, “He didn’t ask to be brought into this world and I am going to do the best that I can, he deserves that”. I have tried and for the most part have probably done a pretty good job. So far none of my children have been in any serious trouble, as far as I know (crossing fingers).

The guilt comes from introducing them to and encouraging them to fall in love with others who would hurt them later. How can you know adults will hurt your child? How can you not encourage them to love lovely children, how can you know that those friendships will break their hearts later in life? Guilt comes moving them across the country away from familiar near family who didn’t love them like you thought they would. How can you know that family can be hurtful to your children? How can you know that setting strong boundaries can make your child feel isolated? Guilt comes from moving them again across the country away from friends who are part of them so deeply that they can’t even identify themselves as separate from these friends. How can you know that the HUGE school will be full of bad influences, how can you know that you should not send them there? How can you know about all the sin that goes on there? Guilt comes from pulling them from that hard school and protecting and teaching them at home but losing the social network they had, good or bad- it was socialization. How can you know if it’s right? How can you be sure that their math skills will be up to par when it comes time to graduate? How can you know it’s the right thing? Guilt comes from looking that little 4 year old in the eye and not wanting her to have the same hurts that your other children have had, but if you don’t fall you can’t learn how to get back up right? RIGHT?

Motherhood is a heartbreaking road to travel. I know it’s worth it. I know because I have had so many joys- more joys than sorrows on my journey thus far. My journey is hopefully far from over. I’m thankful to have this hard but rewarding road of motherhood. I was told a long long time ago that God never gives us more than we can handle and I have always felt honored to have these children, knowing that God must have thought so much of me as to give these gifts, knowing that I could handle them, the twists and turns of life and the tearing in my gut that IS motherhood.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

Ikea was maddening

IKEA was... well…

Busy
Crazy
Bustling
Confusing
Kids dropping
Overwhelming
Daddies tripping
Mommies yelling
Ear drum busting
Babies screaming
Concert ticket long lines
Won’t go back on a Saturday kind of place!

We managed to get a great deal on King sized sheets, a desk chair for Kid4’s new antique roll top desk (more on that later), 2 cheap skillets (for the kids to cook in) a plant for Kid4 that she named something ridiculous (more on that later too) and tiny little pretend silverware to add to Kid4’s kitchen collection.

We then ran screaming from the chaos that is IKEA, got into the quiet car for a moment of silence and then took the kids to the mall which was also crazy, etc. etc…. Mr.B. kept trying to reassure me that this day WAS indeed going to end eventually. Kid4 could NOT look away from the pattern on the mall floor so she skipped along square to square bumping into others, completely oblivious to the world around her….

When we left the mall we plugged the kids into one device or another I was furiously trying to get Kid4 hooked into a movie, and the big kids were listening to I-pods and there was finally silence….

We had a Valentine’s Day similar to the St. Valentine’s Day massacre….. or at least as loud!

Sieze the day

Guess where I'm going today?

go ahead guess....

ATLANTA

!Woo-Hoo!

yay me!

Is there anything better than Daddies and daughters?

The Father Daughter dance is a tradition in our house.

Mr. B. has been taking Kid2 to the father daughter dance every year since she was a little girl, when Kid4 was old enough she joined them.

Tonight they danced again ...

Abra cadabra...

Todays project - master bedroom curtains. I have a love hate realtionship with all curtains. I love the beautiful lush, long, thick curtains but I hate to pay for them so....

I DON'T!

I learned to make curtains from my Mom. When I first got married, Mr. B. was heading out to sea for 6 months and I was in my first house with no curtains, no nothing really. My Mom thought that he needed a "home" to look back and think about and she went to work sewing her hands bloody until I had the cutest little blue and white curtains and a whole house to match! I watched her cut and sew and iron and cut and sew some more and I was smitten by the love of creating your own anything out of nothing. I learned how to decorate and sew from my mom and I've never looked back.

Today when I was paroozing Target and the AMAZING sales they are having, these super cute shower curtains caught my eye... they were marked down from 19.49 to 4.87!!! So I bought 6 of them, repurposed my old curtains and added them in and VIOLA

I love them!

todays project

Remember the entry way woe's from the other day?

They are FAR from over.

The entry way is a two sided problem.

I am leaving the pictures where they are for now, I may turn them back and white (thanks for the idea Linda)... I may leave them color (thanks to me for the easy way out).... I may hang a kid here to hide it all!

For now, this is the other side so far... I'm adding a mirror, and who knows what else.

Happy Wednesday

Sweet and Sweaty Spelling bee at my house TONIGHT!

This evening the kids, Mr. B. and I were laughing at Kid1 for spelling something wrong earlier that day and I mentioned to the kids and our favorite house guest, The Shadow that Mr.B. was not the best speller… so he really should not be making fun of anyone else for mis-spelling anything.

When Mr. B. and I were dating he was in the Navy and we wrote lots of lovely letters back and forth to each other.

His first letters to me read like this-

“Dear Sweaty,
I’m sitting here in the bearthing thinking of you….. “

So lets break this letter down one word at a time. First, was he calling me sweaty like hot? I couldn't say, I didn’t know him all that well yet…

Second what is a “bearthing”? Honestly I wasn’t sure what he was saying but I felt as though it may be terribly inappropriate and I was fearful that my mom would read it…

Here’s what he was REALLY saying:

Dear Sweetie,
I am sitting here in the berthing thinking of you.

WHEW- not calling me sweaty or clammy or anything like that and the berthing is a place that Navy guys hang out in on a ship, whew- not dirty or inappropriate and he was totally dressed while writing it! We’re in the clear! It was just a sweat ... oops! sweet note.

The moral of this story is use a dictionary!
**Enjoy this picture of Mr.B. and I on our first "date"- it is an old picture so it's a little damaged.**

brush-a, brush-a, brush-a, YOUR teeth!

*Our day was very hygienic*
(no cavities-woo hoo)

the mind reels

Really upset about a medical condition eh?

Hernia Specialist?

Either way- is the word "hernia" really liscence plate worthy?

And.... did you see that Seinfeld with the liscence plate?

I'm going to make this REALLY easy for you!

sometimes those darn kids empty the dishwasher and leave half of the dishes on the counter claiming the following weak excuse.

"I don't know where it goes"

By labeling each cupboard and drawer with words and pictures it makes it much easier for me not to have to be a nag. I can easily say-

"look at the pictures in the cupboards and find it"

Believe it or not I don't even miss being a kitchen nag!

The laundry is a whole different story- don't worry I'm still a laundry nag!

J names and boring books

Just had to share the halarious moment I had with Kid3 this afternoon. Before I tell you this conversation I want to tell you that he IS in honors classes at school I SWEAR!

me- how's school going?

him- good, but I'm not doing very well in english.

me- why?

him- we're reading some book that is SO boring!

me- oh, Im sorry- a boring book is a bad deal. What book is it?

him- I don't know.... uhhh.... oh yeah Jacqueline and Hyde or something like that.

me- *laughing* I think it's Jeykll and Hyde.

him- oh yeah... your probably right.

haircut clarification

My mom laughed at kid4’s haircut and she’s right- it’s hilarious and as I look at this picture more and more of Kid4 I thought I might should clarify the SUPER SHORT bangs!

Not too long ago I had a talk with Kid4 about NOT cutting her own hair. I have been exceedingly nervous about her cutting her own hair because she does have access to scissors; in fact I have kid scissors at her level so that she can cut when she wants too. (not hair)

My mom told me a story about a little girl in her preschool cutting her friends long beautiful hair super short and I began to worry and fret about my kid cutting her own hair! Cutting her hair is totally something that Kid4 would do. I was hiding scissors at every turn and more and more nervous each day….

I gave her a BIG TALK about NOT cutting your own and how a person could only cut their own if they had gone to a special haircutting school. The haircutting school teaches each person to cut hair the right way, the pretty way… yada yada yada! You know what I mean. So as I was sitting there explaining this obvious fact to her I realized that her bangs were a little too long and I should probably

Ready? you'll never believe this

Give them a little trim myself.

She very innocently asked me this unfortunate question while I was holding the scissors in my unqualified hand.

“Mommy, did you go to haircutting school too?”

I was caught red handed!

I was stunned. I had not and I’m NOT a good liar. My Kid1 was standing watching the whole thing and I COULD NOT lie in front of the big kid who knew I had not gone to “haircutting school”…. What would I say…?

I put the scissors down and said to her “Oh your right, ummmmm, uhhhhhhh………
I was not going to cut your hair, ohhhhh…… uhhhhhh….. did you think mommy was going to cut your hair? No….. I was not; I did not go to haircutting school….. So nope not me!

Kid1 laughed….

Needless to say, I get them REALLY short so we don’t have to go that often

AND she hates, I mean HATES to have her haircut. It hurts her…. Poor girl!

So that’s the story of her super short bangs and also I LOVE THEM!

but I can totally see how my mom or anyone else could get a huge laugh from my kids hair! Speaking of my kids hair, go check out my friend Christy's blog about her little girls hair. It's so funny - that girl of hers is a super hair twister and just about the sweetest girl around!

mantle-tastic!

My mantle

Do you like it?

Pretend that our pictures are above the kids in oval frames.... thats the plan!

I love the way it turned out. I'll love it even more when it's done.

note- the paper matches the hutch.

Turns out that oval frames are a little harder to come by than I planned.

The kids love it because they didn't want goofy school pictures displayed so this was a great compromise. I love to have pictures of the kids everywhere but I do not like the norm, you know- 8X10 school pics hanging in oak frames here there and everywhere... lining your halls, haunting your staircase.... hither and yon....

you know what I mean!

I love silhouettes- I LOVE THEM!

AND

they are easy to make!

I'll make one for you if you want me too- just ask!

*now you see it, now you don't*

Thanks to Mr. B. we have an.....

Unsuspecting accent table? Maybe...

OR

a spot for a little hidden TV so when I need a minute or 60 to make dinner I can set up a movie for Kid4?....

GENIUS!

That Mr. B- if I can dream it, he can do it! I wanted a hidden TV in that little antique victrola phonograph and he made it happen. Isn't it the most beautiful thing ever??!! I love it!

decorating from dawn till dusk and loving every minute of it!

All weekend we have been decorating, painting, sawing, sanding and WORKING hard so that the main floor in the house, the place where we all spend most of our time can be “done”. (is it ever really “done”) Mr.B the kids and I have worked ourselves to the bone each one with their own project hoping to all come together in the end and have it finished and I am thrilled with the end result!

One of my favorite blogs is where I get a lot of my ideas and decorating help. I use the Nesters blog like a decorating thesaurus! If I like something one way I look through her blog to see if she has better ideas and trust me- SHE DOES! The Nester is a very talented decorator and all around good blogger.

When we moved into this house I worried about the TALL walls, I wondered if I would find the right things at the right price and thanks to the Nesters door on the wall idea I certainly did. I used her idea for hanging a door and just love the way it turned out. My door still needs a little something, but I’ll find the perfect little something and add it when I run across it.

My decorating philosophy is if I love it, I can make it work. I love old doors and windows, they have such charm. I love to repurpose an old something or other into something or other of mine to love and enjoy! I love to make the things I have work for me in any house. It can be a real challenge to decorate on a limited budget but it can be done.

I really hoped to find an old door lying around somewhere but it just wasn’t happening for me so I bought a new one for 19.00 from Lowes. I am in love with Robin’s egg blue; I painted Kid4’s kitchen robin’s egg blue last year and have never tired of the striking color. We had these old frames that I had collected from tag sales here and there and repurposed them for this project. The whole project cost me less than 30 dollars- it was a bargain and we’re thrilled with the result.

What do you think?

Tomorrow I am going to show you my hidden TV- I know your on the edge of your seat!

**I want to say a thank you to the Nester for being so gracious about me sharing her ideas. Thank you Nester, you inspire me to decorate with your fantastic creative ideas. Keep up the good work!**

haircuts, memories and old horror!

Three of the kids got haircuts Friday and oh my do they look cute!

Kid1 just NEEDED a haircut and this was the first time he got a style instead of just a boy cut… it was so exciting for him. I won’t lie it made me a little sad to see his feet reach the ground in that barber chair. I remember a time when they were little and their feet hung so far above the floor as they peered at themselves in the mirror wondering what the stranger with scissors would do. As little kids they must have wondered why THEY couldn’t cut their hair but a complete stranger could and WHY is it now okay to talk to a stranger with scissors?

Kid2 wanted a shorter haircut and although I was a little nervous, she has a good sense of style and takes good care of her hair, plus she looks cute in any style. As she sat there I couldn’t help but to remember back to the day that she wanted her hair cut too, just like her brothers went every so often she also wanted a turn. I took them all to a local barber. Kid1 got a bowl cut, so did Kid3 and when it became Kid2’s turn she hopped up in that big ol’ barber chair with her long blonde hair so proud to get her hair cut too- JUST like her brothers. I said to the barber to just give her a little trim because she wanted to be JUST like the boys and have her hair cut too. I turned to tend to Kid3, he was very small and when I turned back the barber was giving her a bowl cut too “Just like the boys”. It was then I realized he didn’t speak good English and all he heard was “just like the boys”….. this is what I tell myself anyway. I don’t know what he was thinking. As her little long blonde hair fell to the floor and she watched in horror I realized that very quickly I was going to have to lose the shocked face and try to make the best of this disaster, after all it’s just hair RIGHT?!

When she was finished I swooped her out of the chair, spun her around and told her that I LOVED her “ice skater” haircut! I told her how much fun we would have that evening going out shopping for new barrettes and headbands; I smiled a very painful smile and pretended to love it. She was not sure she believed me. Even the boys were in shock… they were confused why I was thrilled with such a horrible mistake. I was trying to act as cool as a cucumber and realized I had better call her Daddy before he walked in the door because his face would be covered in obvious horror- sometimes Daddy’s don’t fake ‘thrilled’ as well as Mommies!

So we spent the next few months ooo-ing and awww-ing over her ice skater haircut and trying to support her and not make her feel bad, heading off strangers asking about my “boys” and friends pointing out the obvious. It was a rough few months and she still remembers it. Friday as she sat so still and her feet reached the floor, she looked so grown up telling Holly what kind of style she wanted I thought back to that day - it seemed like forever ago and it was.

When Kid4 got up into that chair with her little feet dangling over the hairy floor I found myself a little nervous, my mouth a little dry and my words fewer as I asked for a “bob”. Kid4 was dreaming of shorter hair and I was sad. As her beautiful brown curly hair fell to the floor on Friday I held her hand and wondered how quickly her life will pass before me and how soon will it be before her feet touched the floor.

Time flies, hair grows but the love and memories of a mother remain true and vivid throughout the years.