My Biscuits are Burning!

Don't you hate when th is happens...especially when you were checking your email at the time?

Where Do They Come Up With These Things?

While playing in the big toy car outside... Drew:"Libby, sit right here." Libby: "Ok, Drew!" Drew: "Turn on the radio... now we go to Old McDonald's."

Just wait until they get their driver's licenses in MANY years!

I'm In Mourning

Yes, that's right. I should be wearing black today, however, I usually wear black every day anyway. But today is an especially sad day since it was my last Monday of my summer vacation. I start work 1 week from today and am not happy about it. Especially because my friend and co-worker, Leslie, and I found out that we have to move out of our office and don't have a location yet. So, once again as soon as we find a nice place to work, we get up rooted. It really is not fun moving every year.

Usually by this time, I am begging for that day to come since the kids and I are at our wits' ends with one another. But not this year. I'm felling empty today in particular. I think it is really because we were so busy all summer long and this week we really have nothing to do. I wanted to stay in bed in my PJ's all day. Fortunately, 2 little ones weren't in for that plan. But I must say that we did stay in PJ's until 3:00. I loved it!

Another reason I'm feeling down is because we didn't get to do half of what I wanted to do at home this summer. My list was:

1. start their baby scrapbooks- not even close
2. work on scissor skills (basic readiness and beginning snipping/cutting)- did this maybe once
3. fully potty trained except during naps/bedtime as their preschool requires- still having accidents daily
4. start working out with a brand new pilates set I got- still in the box
5. keep house a little cleaner and save monthly house cleaning fee- not even close
6. save money by avoiding eating out and cooking more- tonight we went to Chick-fil-a AND Dairy Queen

Now, don't think for a minute that I want to turn into some perfect 1950's housewife or anything. But it does get discouraging not completing even 1 item on your 10-week-long to-do list. That being said, I have done a lot of other things- like re-decorate the living room completely, recover an arm chair all.by.myself.with.no.sewing, get hooked on a ton of new blogs, and so on.  So, I guess I shouldn't feel so bad today. Maybe it's just the weather- gray and rainy. Yeah, that's what it is. Let's hope there are sunny skies tomorrow on my last Tuesday of the summer. ;)

There Are No Such Thing as Coincidences

Last week, I took a last-minute trip down to Louisiana to help Nana (my mom) move into her new adorable townhouse. In case you didn't know, she went through a divorce recently after being with her husband, Paul, for 22 years. It was really tough for her. What made it worse was living in their house while it sat on the market for 22 months. As I type this, I just realized the 22's there. Ha!

Speaking of coincidence, which I really don't believe in, I need to share the story of that house. When mom was a dental hygienist years ago, she worked with a woman named Sylvia and became good friends with her and her husband, Gary. Gary happened to have the same birthday as my brother, Scott, who died in a car accident in November of 1991. For Scott's last birthday that year, we had a pool party at another couple's house and Scott and Gary shared a birthday cake. On November 12, the day of Scott's accident, my mom was going to visit Gary in the hospital after he had some sort of surgery/procedure. That's when she found out about Scott.

A few days later, Gary, a retired police detective, saw the car Scott was driving and told my mom that he should do an accident reconstruction to prove that Scott wasn't speeding. The road he was on (Lonesome Rd. or as we called it "Hotsy Totsy Rd.") was a center of controversy in Mandeville since it had not been paved. It was a shortcut between 2 major highways and was in terrible shape with potholes, washboard bumps, and a high and dangerous set of railroad tracks to cross. Everyone assumed he had been speeding when he hit the only standing tree in about 50 yards on the side of the road. But when Gary saw the car and how it was only damaged on its roof as it turned on its side and wrapped around that tree, he knew speed had not been a factor- it was the sub-standard road instead. Other people had been killed on this same road and the parish was to pave the road, but never did for whatever reason. After the reconstruction and forensic evidence, the parish gave my parents a settlement, which was the only way my mom was able to build her home in Abita Springs.

Fast forward almost 19 years to early July, 2010 when Mom was becoming doubtful that her house would ever sell. She went with her agent to look at some townhomes nearby and my Mom fell in love with a particular one. She had met the homeowner, a young woman expecting her first baby via a long road of IVF like me. There were crosses and fleur-de-lis's all over, which looked like my mom's house, too. After talking a little while with her and her mother, she realized that this girl was the niece of Gary! When they left, they heard from that couple's agent that they wanted a single family home with a large pantry, big kitchen, and shed workshop for her husband. This is exactly what my mom had at her house. So, they told their realtor to check out my mom's and she was ready to put an offer in on the townhouse as soon as she got one on her house. They didn't hear anything back and when mom's realtor asked the other realtor again, he said that the house on Choctaw Dr. was too expensive for them. Then they realized that they were looking at another house, not Mom's, in the same subdivision. Mom's realtor pointed this out and he asked to bring them to see Mom's that evening. About 45 minutes after the appointment time, Mom drove home and the young girl she had met ran up to her with tears in her eyes telling her it was the perfect home for them and that they were putting in an offer for full asking price that night! So, they literally traded houses. Wait... did I tell you what the date was?? Yep, it was July 5th, Scott and Gary's birthday!  And to top that off, the girl's husband's name was Andrew Scott. Ok, are you ready... Scott's middle name is Andrew!  No, I am not kidding!!

Wouldn't you know that during this process, Mom fell off a step-ladder and broke her foot badly. She couldn't bear weight on it for quite some time and wondered how on earth she was going to move in early August. The other couple was so sweet and told her that they would take care of her. When they got a moving truck and moved their stuff to her house, they took loads of Mom's stuff back to their house. What a lifesaver!

I wanted to go down there so badly to help, but wondered how I could with 2 young ones and not much of a budget. I checked online and found ridiculously cheap fares through AirTran for $99 each way with only 3 days notice! I didn't let this big of a deal pass me by and bought a ticket right away. I couldn't believe it, especially since the fares down there are normally $300 or so, especially out of Dulles, the airport closest to our house. Darrell was able to shift some things around at work and was able to take off minimal time to watch the kids. Brenda, their sitter, also pitched in to help. I went down to Louisiana and my brother, Tim, Mom, and I painted, unpacked, shopped for TV's and other household stuff, hung pictures, moved furniture, and had a really fun time together. It was great and Mom was so happy to have the help.

Most people would say that all of this was one big coincidence. But I have come to believe that there are no such thing as coincidences. I honestly feel that God has a part in these things and that this entire journey with Gary spanning almost 19 years was part of His plan, even if it meant there was tragedy along the way. It may be really difficult for others to believe that God took Scott and caused mom get a divorce, but if you have faith, you believe that everything that happens is part of His plan...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil?
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

Dinner on the Fly

Tonight I made meatloaf for us, but actually I should call them meat "muffins" since I made them in my jumbo muffin pan. It saved me about 30 minutes of cooking time, plus aren't they cute?

I've Been Summoned

For the first time in my life, I have jury duty. I am told to bring a book or 2 since I may be sitting and waiting most of the day. Well, at least I will actually get to read more than 1 chapter before being summoned for potty, snack, toy repair, or conflict resolution at home!

Whatta Ya Think So Far?

Seriously?

We stopped at McDonald's for dinner and on our table was a sign saying how they donate a portion of Happy Meal sales to charities. I thought...how nice of them...until I read this fine print!

Recovering... part 1

It took us a few hours to rip a lot of the fabric off and to remove about 1000 staples of only 1 chair. But I am excited about my new fabric! And an added bonus... it was on sale for 60% off when I went to Joann to pick it up. So they gave me the discount and credited me $75! More to follow... we have to go to Home Depot for a new elec. Staple gun and more spray paint for my thrift store cabinet.

New (or Old) Finds

I didn't realize that there was a thrift store nearby that supported Christian ministries locally until yesterday, so we just had to go there to check it out. After nap, we rushed over and I found some pretty neat things.

These books were only 50 cents each! I love old books to decorate spaces, but also to see the stories that they tell about the time they were published. I feel like I hit the jackpot because they had copyright dates of 1909, 1915, and 1930. How cool! To my surprise, the book German Plays of the Nineteenth Century (copyright 1930) was filled with not only plays in German, but also doodling and notes by the reader/s. I took some photos of them:

This one says: Kleist = expressionist, not a realist - creating own world - dramas of salvation - world redeemed thru women's love! Kleist's downfall - belief in state & vocation; faith in supreme power of knowledge, faith in redeeming power of love.

This one has special meaning to me since it had a piece of folded paper inside with notes about consonant sounds that we use in speech-language pathology. Pretty cool!

And this little book with its bright, cheerful cover (even if torn), looks like a fun one for Libby to read in a few years. It has a copyright date of 1915:

I got this little goody for $15 and can't wait to paint it and add some of my little finds, like my brown transferware that's on its way:

I also got this cute little plate for $2. I am going to hang it in our bedroom next to my new Home Goods $40 mirror over my dresser we had in Drew's room (he got a new blue one).  I saw it on eBay for $20, so I think I got a great deal! Plus it's so cute.

Now for the NEW things I've found lately, mostly thanks to my very fashionable and adorable friend, Tiffany and her blog.

First is Lonny Magazine. Cool stuff!

Second is Garden and Gun magazine. I had heard about it earlier this summer from my brother-in-law and cannot wait for my 1st issue to arrive in the mail!

Third and fourth are 2 blogs that I absolutely love. You'll have to take a look and find out for yourself why!

Harrington House (by Katie) -  see, I love it already b/c of her precious name ;) Isn't she cute, too?

And The Nester-- you'll see why I am going to re-upholster chairs myself and am heading to fabric stores this week:

So, what new (or old) things have you found lately?

In God We Trust!

I'm happy to announce that our family is now 1 cent richer this afternoon thanks to Drew! Yes, that's right, the infamous penny has resurfaced and we are glad he is okay. I won't go into the messy details, but the penny was thrown away in the garbage. Is that a crime or something- to throw away money? I'm guessing not since I seem to do it every time I walk into Target. ;)

Gettin' That Itch Again...

Every so often (well, almost daily), I tell Darrell that a certain itch is coming on and he immediately gets a bit worried. He knows that this itch isn't that I want another baby or to move to another house, or anything like that. My itch is the crafty kind, which many other mommas and ladies I know get like I do.

During the summer when I am off of work from teaching is when that itch is so unbearable that it needs some Benadryl cream FAST. I am so the kind of person that looks at my house and even though every visitor here gives it such nice compliments, I want to drastically change something about it!

I am also the kind of person that likes to do my research to not only make things beautiful, but also either handmade or handcrafted by me and on the cheap, too. I hunt down bargains at thrift stores, ebay, sometimes auctions, and yard sales.

It all started in June when I decided that for once and for all, I was going to re-upholster 2 swivel rockers that my dear friend, Shannon, had in her house and was about to put on the curb. Naturally, I jumped at the chance and grabbed them from her for a steal. I love that they are SO comfortable and they got both Shannon and I through many days and nights of nursing and feeding/consoling babies! I really like the fabric that is on them since it is floral and toile-ish, but I think they need an update for a new life.

I have researched this online and from friends' suggestions for months now. Everyone has quoted $500 for each chair PLUS the cost of fabric. I know this may be feasible for some people, but not for me. They are really nice Flexsteel chairs with a strong frame, so it's worth recovering them, but at that price, I just can't do it. Sooo... I've decided to do it myself! Yup, that's right. I figure that if they come out that bad that I'll just cover them with a loose slipcover for a more Shabby Chic look, right? ;)

Luckily, my friend Crafty Spice, is very crafty herself, although, she can make furniture, too! I'm not at all that skilled. But I ran into her at a party and we talked it up and she said to go for it. I love her even that much more now!

I searched for fabric for DAYS online and in stores. Okay, so this is the hardest decision EVER. But I have decided that I want to stay in the blue color scheme to avoid repainting the entire room and changing out accessories. Darrell was all for this decision since he is often the painter in our house! I thought I would go for a neutral look to change out my pillows and accessories when I felt itchy again, but that's not me at all. I love prints, patterns, TOILE, and color. Plus, with 2 kids, white, off-white, or even light yellow is not feasible at all. Plus I am not venturing into making my own slipcovers for these. That requires sewing... oh, and knowledge of it, too.

So, I finally found some fabric for a great deal at JoAnn and it's officially on order. It's Waverly's Paddock Shawl Porcelain. I got it for 40% off (on sale) plus did you know that Teachers automatically get a 15% discount at JoAnn? Well, I actually had a Teacher coupon sent to me after enrolling for 20% off. So, I got it for super cheap. Bummer is that I had to pay like $16 for shipping since it's special order. But after looking at my local fabric shop, G Street Fabrics, I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed. I need to be on the lookout for more fabric shops.

I was able to find a bunch of tips by watching some videos from diyupholsterysupply.com They run a little slowly, but I got the basic idea. I got my power staple gun from Sears (again, Darrell was happy with this purchase and will most likely want to use it more than me) and ordered some other supplies from that website with the videos. So, I'm just waiting for the fabric for the real magic to begin!

Anyone out there ever done this before without sewing? If so, I need your tips! ;)

The chairs now in my front Sitting/Fru-Fru Room:

The fabric:

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, it was my birthday on Monday and I feel like it went on for days since I was treated to so many nice things! On Sunday, we went outlet shopping as I noted in my previous "penny-fiasco" post. On my actual birthday, I was surrounded with singing, cards, beautiful roses, and even a brand new iPod since mine is one of the original ones that came out several years ago. It'll be nice to have double the memory now (8GB) to load up more songs.

For my birthday, I had originally wanted us to drive into Georgetown to visit Georgetown Cupcake, which is the site of the TLC show DC Cupcake. But, I have heard that it is just crazy busy since the show began recently. I called that morning and at 10AM was told that the line was around the block already. It was a little cloudy out and looked to be threatening rain. So, we ditched those plans b/c I felt like it would be a disaster of an experience driving 30 minutes there, finding a place to park, waiting in line, etc.

Instead, we went shopping at Home Goods, one of my FAVORITE stores. I got some great things there to go in my new and improved family room, which I will leave you in suspense for a few days longer. That's because it's not completely finished yet and I want to wait to take photos. I ran into a precious little consignment shop that I hadn't know about and found some cute things in there. But Libby and Drew were literally like bulls in a china shop, so they had to wait with Daddy in the car. That meant driving over to the 7-11 across the parking lot for a slurpee (or a "Snoopy" as they called it). So, I only had about 10 minutes in there which wasn't nearly enough. Can't wait to head back there to see what treasures I can find.

The kids got to pick out my birthday cake and after Darrell vetoed the "Bob the Builder" cake from Baskin-Robbins, they decided to go to our brand new Dairy Queen by our favorite grocery store, Harris Teeter. Let's just say I am so glad they did. They picked out the watermelon cake we saw there on a previous visit and it was delish. It was an ice cream cake made of just soft serve vanilla & chocolate ice cream layers. In between was a cookie crumble with frozen fudge sauce that they dip the cones in. YUM! It was a great birthday to say the least! ;)

This, Too, Shall Pass!

Yesterday (Sunday), we went to the outlet mall for shopping. I bought a few gadgets at Williams-Sonoma, including a strawberry huller, hand-held strawberry slicer, and a grill pan for $48 total. They have some good deals there! The problem is that I love kitchen gadgets and they have a giant store full of them. My cabinets are filled with mini choppers, cupcake decorating set, an apple-peeler-corer-slicer, and the like. So, why not add to the mix? We eat strawberries just about every day, so I figured these were a good purchase.

A little later, we ventured over to the Gymboree Outlet. There weren't too many great deals, but as I was browsing, I heard Drew gag, cough a little, and then scream right behind me in the stroller. I whipped around and he looked so nervous and couldn't talk at first. I stroked him to calm him down and asked what happened. I couldn't understand him at first, but heard, "Get it out... penny all gone!" Darrell then told me- he swallowed a penny!

Drew recently got a Mickey Mouse piggy bank when we went shopping at the beach. Since then he loves collecting loose change and adding it to his bank. He found this said penny on the floor and Darrell put it on his stroller tray as they discussed putting it in his bank at home. Apparently, Drew thought he was the bank himself ;) Poor Darrell was really upset and felt so guilty. But we had given Drew money and small things before lately and he doesn't usually put things in his mouth anymore- hasn't in quite a while. But you can never be too safe, I guess.

I called my mom and my dad and they both said to page the pediatrician. I just prayed they wouldn't have to pump his stomach or anything. :( But a call back later, the pediatrician told me not to worry and to watch his poop for the next 24-48 hours to see if it passes. As long as there's no bleeding or vomiting, there's no need to call. And if it doesn't pass in that time frame, they would want to x-ray him to track it down.

Five minutes later, he was back to his old self and told us he wouldn't do THAT again. It scared him, too. We went over to Friday's for a quick dinner and he ate and acted up as he normally does when overstimulated and tired. ;) We had a nice time and the kids loved that the servers embarrassed me by bringing out a birthday dessert complete with a loud song by about 10 of them where they even announced my name and age! So, yes, I'm 37 today and can't believe it myself. But I need to tell Darrell to watch out since he turns 40 this year- payback is coming his way for that one!