Something old something new

Today I was super bored and couldn't STAND the thought of cleaning so decided to take a creative brake from the routine. I had bounced around in blogland earlier this week and was inspired by this refashioned shirt. So I pulled out a few shirts from the junk I had to take to Goodwill and made this beauty.

I cut up a white shirt that I bought on clearance a few years ago that had 3 Christmas trees on the front for the base shirt and then cut the petals out of a longsleeve blue shirt that somehow got bleached out in the wash. I made sure to stitch petals over the Christmas trees and used some purple thread to give it a little punch. I think it turned out pretty good and should be a fun addition to my somewhat boring wardrobe. Throw on a black sweater and now it's an outfit!

p.s. - I took 126 pictures to try and get a good one to post and you can see how many good ones that I got. Maybe I need that point and shoot that has the screen on the front of the camera!

The Basement Redo

Moving on to the month of September...

Jason was gone on a 10 day cross country trip with his students, so my mom flew up to keep me company for a few days. She graciously agreed to my plan to turn her into slave labor, and so, we began a basement transformation. This is the before - the walls were a lemony yellow and it never felt very warm and cozy. I was really looking for a warm and cozy look and feel, since this room feels like an ice box for half of the year. The transformations were mostly through paint, a few new things hung up on the wall that I have been saving for the last year for just this time, and a few new pillows on the couch.

Indulge me a moment to complain. This house is old. I think it was built in '57 or somewhere around there and there is a list a mile long of some of the things we would like to work on when we get the $ chance. Replacing this window is one of them. This poor tiny little thing is the only window in this room of the basement. Since it is probably original to the house, it doesn't work very good. It is super drafty and Jason decided to cover it with masking tape to keep the draft to a minimal. The man just can't stand inefficiency.

On that note, here is our fireplace. Deciding that masking tape probably wouldn't cut it, Jason decided on packing tape around opening of the fire grate. I guess it looks a little bit prettier than masking tape, don't you think? I have to admit that this fireplace is SUPER drafty. The really lovely part about this fix up is the noise that the tape makes when it is windy. Have you ever blown on a blade of grass between your thumbs? The noise of the tape is similar, except in a much lower pitch, which sounds something like a bodily function. We make sure and explain this to anyone who might be house sitting. Now that it is currently getting cold, I am considering robbing a bank so that we can afford a wood burning insert. A what? you AZ people may be asking yourselves, a little wood burning stove that fits into the fireplace. It would be so wonderful, sigh...

And now onto the fun! I picked a warm brown. Yes, you heard me, a brown. I SWORE to myself that I would never put the color brown in my house. I thought the color brown lacked imagination, but I love how it makes this room feel. I also repainted the UGLY blue fireplace. I'm pretty sure it hadn't seen a fresh coat of paint since 1983. Goodbye blue, RIP.

This dresser is one of my favorite finds ever. A Craigslist score. I love the vintage style and the color. And there is our tiny drafty window. And a set of speakers in the ceiling that go to nowhere. But I love me that dresser and I am proud that I have been able to keep that plant alive for almost 2 years. Yes, I am really growing in my skills as a housewife.

Here is the wall opposite the fireplace. The day bed is from IKEA and can pull out into either a queen or a king size bed and the drawers are wonderful for storage. A friend gave me this OLD door from her turn of the century house. It has been several colors since coming into my possession. This is where our multitude of guests sleep - hence, the 'bed and breakfast' sign.

A few new things for this wall. I sewed a few new pillows for the couch.

Kellan refused to move from the table until he saw me trying to take this picture and then he refused to move from the floor.

My ode to Nester

On a small side note, this is a picture my aunt painted of Mirielle that I think is amazing. I set it on top of the piano and it is the perfect thing to match my blue piano.

Ta Da!

Summer Camping

Okay, I've totally given up on trying to catch up blogging this summer. But before I moved on I did want to share a few pictures of our first ever family camping trip. We traveled an hour and a half north east of here to a beautiful lake in Idaho. It was a lovely campground, the weather was perfect and we all had a blast!
I think we should do lots more camping. Jason was in his element and I mostly got to sit around and relax and watch him doing stuff like this:

We went for a walk down this trail and as you can see I had my pants rolled up. As we were walking back a gigantic grasshopper jumped up the bottom of my pants. Panic would not adequately describe what I was feeling. I tried to shake him out, but this only encouraged him to jump in the only direction he was facing which was up. I managed to stop him as he got to about my knee, but then I was faced with a decision. If he wasn't going to go down, then how would I get him out of my pants? I considered many things, one of which was to try and take my pants off while holding onto the grasshopper through my jeans, but I didn't enough guts to drop my pants on a path and not enough skill to wriggle out of them while holding him. So it seemed that the only option was to smash him and kill him while he was in my pants. After that, I managed to shake him out of my pants and then had to think about the grasshopper guts that I got to wear in my pants for the next 2 days. Lovely. That was the worst of our trip though, so overall, not too much to complain about!

Beautiful lake Pond Orielle

Maizy enjoying the water for the first time.

End of School

Mirielle ended up having a week of school to make up due to all of the snow during January. Here is a picture from her first and last day of school.

In the beginning - a vistit from my parents

Good grief, I am so far behind in blogging. This summer has been insane and I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and even think through the last 2 months.

Lets start at the beginning.

Early June brought a trip from my parents. 10 long days of fun!

A picnic lunch down at the river.

A classic Dad pose.


Taken on a different day, but looks about like the same pose to me!







The boys guarding the purses


Dad's spot in the car when they come to visit.

Dad helped me put in a flower garden around our patio that I have been dreaming about for over the last year. I love having a lovely little spot to sit outside. Every time I look at the patio, I hear Mirielle's little Cinderella book saying, "Dreams do come true!" I know, I'm a little dramatic. Thanks Dad!

Little Man and a side note

There is a new little man around town. My dear friend Stacey gave birth to this beautiful boy just over a month ago. She willingly agreed to let me snap a few photos of him, which is a good thing because I would have found a way to get some pictures of him, even if I had to bust their door down. And that might have damaged my camera. I have been waiting a long time to get some pictures of a newborn!

Look at these folds - I could just melt! And he isn't even my kid!!

It is so fun having a friend with a newborn - I kinda get to play aunt. The day of his birth was so emotional for me. I think I finally figured out why.

First, we have never been somewhere long enough for me to go through the whole entire pregnancy process with a friend. From finding out that she was pregnant to getting the text that he had arrived in the world, I was along for the ride. It was just emotional being able to feel connected in that way.

Second, it somehow dredged up feelings of sadness and disappointment that I would never be the mom of a newborn again. After feeling like both Mirielle and Kellan just about tried to kill me before they were even born and then having a c-section with Kellan and a hard recovery, we decided to stop. Thinking that we were going to be overseas for years, my intention (I was still working on Jas) was to adopt. I really wanted one of these for my own. Break my heart alreay!!I never really thought that Kellan would be my last - just the last one to come out of my body.

Now that we are back in the States, it seems like the possibility of adopting is mostly an impossibility. Sniff, sniff....

Jason was working from home that day and the poor guy kept watching me pace the halls and crying my eyes out. He just didn't get it. I guess you would have to be a mom to get it.

Oh, the fun she had on the last day of her life

It is funny how every once in a while I think in blog titles. "Oh, the fun she had on the last day of her life." That is what I was thinking after I walked into the kitchen and discovered empty bottles of paint and blue footprints all over the floor. Not to mention a rainbow of colors all over the cabinets, countertops and screen door.

She decided to take a box that we had outside and turn it into a paint pit where she could slip and slide the afternoon away. I was not a happy camper when I found her. I told her she had to stay outside until I calmed down. Then, in an attempt to teach her a lesson, I made her scrub the paint away, including all of the paint she got on the patio. Unfortunately, Kellan saw her with the scrub brush, got jealous and then getting the paint off of the cement turned into a fun game. I was hoping to make the consequence as labor intensive and as horrible as possible. Sometimes I just don't know about this girl.

Let's have a good laugh

Bike Man is on a ride right now and the kids are watching a movie, so I thought I would take this opportunity to post some pictures of my new haircut. I normally would not post so many pictures of myself here, or anywhere for that matter, but I though that we could all use a good laugh!

I'm so lucky, I think I got 2 haircuts for the price of 1 - one haircut on each side of my head! Here is the evidence: I'm feeling a little lopsided! One side long and flat, the other side short and round. I know my hair lays totally different on the two sides, but still!

I am my mother!

I just like this picture because it makes me look like I have an incredibly skinny neck, either that or an incredibly gigantic head!

Can you see it? One side is longer than the other. This is after I trimmed it twice.

The good news is that after I fix it, it appears somewhat even. SO I'm not sure if the girl cut it like this on purpose because the picture I showed her of the haircut I wanted had one side tucked behind the ear. Jen Pyle would you like to weigh in on this? The bad news is that I have to tuck it behind my ear or I look pretty funny!

The after I fix it in the morning shots:

Man, do I have a lazy eye or what!!

I actually like the cut. Or most of it. It is shorter in the front than and longer in the back which makes me feel like a total dork. The style right now is still longer in the front, right? Which brings me to a discussion I had with my dad on the phone as I was driving back from the haircut...

Dad: What are you doing?

Me: I just got my haircut

Dad: You didn't get it cut the same as when you were in AZ did you?

Me: Like what? Shorter in the back and longer in the front?

Dad: Yeah

Me: Dad, that's the style

Dad: Oh

Me: What, you didn't like my hair?!

Dad: (silence)

And then later that night, Jason tried to approach the subject as tactfully as he could

Jas: So, do you like your new haircut?

Me: I think I'm going to have to get used to it

Jas: Did you like it better when it was longer?

Me: I think so, how about you?

Jas: Yeah, me too

Now that I'm getting used to it, I really would just like it an inch longer on the short side. We'll have to see what happens next!!