The I Love You Book
I love you more than a love bug.
I love you more than a hug.
I love you more than a hook.
I love you more than a book.
And the only thing I love is You.
The End.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
love poem
I am shuffling from room to room, tidying and sorting through papers. How do we end up with so many papers?? Probably because the kids are constantly doodling, and Ella is always writing notes. I stumbled across this sweet little poem she penned around Valentines day on a small stack of post-its and wanted to record it before I inevitably toss it out. :p Too many papers!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
announcing the winner!
We visit Trader Joe's every Monday without fail and oftentimes the kids pick up the coloring sheets they have at the checkout counter. Sometimes they color them, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they color them and the artwork sits by our front door, forgotten each time we're on our way until they have expired from the coloring contest. Just after the new year, Simon colored his coloring sheet with a big Happy New Year robot on it and I actually remembered to turn it in! Rather, Bryan took Simon to drop it off since he really liked the way it turned out. I must admit, his coloring is rather impressive these days for having just turned 5. He stays within the lines and picks some pretty great color combinations (even though I have suspicions he has some slight color blindness with particular shades of green and red.)
Last Thursday, I got a phone call that Simon won the coloring contest for his age group! He was pretty pumped. I retrieved his prize from Trader Joe's today and he got a big bag filled up with some pretty awesome snacks...some of his favorites like fruit leathers and granola bars and some treats that we never splurge on...lemonade juice boxes, milk chocolate wafers, cheddar puffs, and oatmeal chocolate cookie packets. The crazy thing about it though is that they had his age wrong and he won for the 7 year old category! He totally kicked some 7-year-old butt!
I would post a scan of his winning artwork, but it's proudly hanging in the window at the Brentwood Trader Joe's. Feel free to stop in for a showing. :)
Last Thursday, I got a phone call that Simon won the coloring contest for his age group! He was pretty pumped. I retrieved his prize from Trader Joe's today and he got a big bag filled up with some pretty awesome snacks...some of his favorites like fruit leathers and granola bars and some treats that we never splurge on...lemonade juice boxes, milk chocolate wafers, cheddar puffs, and oatmeal chocolate cookie packets. The crazy thing about it though is that they had his age wrong and he won for the 7 year old category! He totally kicked some 7-year-old butt!
I would post a scan of his winning artwork, but it's proudly hanging in the window at the Brentwood Trader Joe's. Feel free to stop in for a showing. :)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
what's old is new
If you know me, or have visited my house, you know I love aged things: music, art, housewares, linens, whatever. I much prefer the character and story that vintage items innately possess, and really appreciate finding beauty in things that most people want to discard or "upgrade." I've tried my hand at selling some things on Etsy, and had some success with what little I listed, but found I just can't keep up with maintaining my shop and dealing with mailing them out efficiently. But it hasn't stopped me from adding to my "inventory!"
I have had my eye out for THE perfect stereo console for years. I wanted one with simple, clean lines that was on the more petite side. Most consoles are really wide and we just don't have the wall space available. A couple of years ago, I fell in love with the German brand, Grundig, style consoles, but when I saw the price tag of a restored, working model, I knew that it was something way out of our reach.
And then it happened.......the craigslist clouds parted and a ray of light shone through! Late one night, I happened to be meandering through craigslist, doing my regular searches looking for something of interest, window shopping I suppose, and there it was. A Grundig stereo console. Beautiful, clean lines, rare in form, very well preserved. It was not producing sound, though it powered up. Either way, I was all aflutter!
I was able to get the price down to a very manageable amount (with some help from a friend who piped in to buy another item the guy was selling to sweeten the deal) because I knew it would take some money to restore the thing. Now it's sitting patiently in our hallway, waiting for TLC. I can't wait to spin my first record on it!!!! Ugh...the suspense is killing me.
I'm super excited to tell the kids to "Keep their hands off the Hi-Fi." Won't that sound so funny?
So, in all my excitement, I've been mulling over the idea of renting out an antique booth. It would add to our income and be way easier to manage than an etsy site for me. I could just price things and leave them there to be discovered! I think it would be a really great creative outlet and exciting to see things sell.
Here's a little number that will make it to the booth once I get my hands on one.
She's a little champagne colored Kroeler chair from the 1960s sometime. I would love to keep her around, but we have too many chairs than floor space. She'll look great in an antique mall! I'm on the waiting list of the closest one to our house...I'll keep you posted!
I have had my eye out for THE perfect stereo console for years. I wanted one with simple, clean lines that was on the more petite side. Most consoles are really wide and we just don't have the wall space available. A couple of years ago, I fell in love with the German brand, Grundig, style consoles, but when I saw the price tag of a restored, working model, I knew that it was something way out of our reach.
And then it happened.......the craigslist clouds parted and a ray of light shone through! Late one night, I happened to be meandering through craigslist, doing my regular searches looking for something of interest, window shopping I suppose, and there it was. A Grundig stereo console. Beautiful, clean lines, rare in form, very well preserved. It was not producing sound, though it powered up. Either way, I was all aflutter!
I was able to get the price down to a very manageable amount (with some help from a friend who piped in to buy another item the guy was selling to sweeten the deal) because I knew it would take some money to restore the thing. Now it's sitting patiently in our hallway, waiting for TLC. I can't wait to spin my first record on it!!!! Ugh...the suspense is killing me.
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| Isn't she lovely? Sleek and graceful! |
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| The details! Ack! They give me goosebumps! |
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| Patiently waiting, cozied up next to Grandma's old wall clock. |
So, in all my excitement, I've been mulling over the idea of renting out an antique booth. It would add to our income and be way easier to manage than an etsy site for me. I could just price things and leave them there to be discovered! I think it would be a really great creative outlet and exciting to see things sell.
Here's a little number that will make it to the booth once I get my hands on one.
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| I just love anything tufted, don't you? |
dressing herself
Josie is very independent. She much prefers doing things on her own, I suppose that's part of being two now. It's so funny to see the clothes she puts on. We have to keep the folded laundry out of reach because she pulls things out, one by one, strips herself down, and tries to wear all the new stuff one on top of the other. Here's the progression the other day:
The funniest thing about this outfit is that the bottom half is actually another shirt. She's wearing three shirts folks. She much prefers that particular shirt on the bottom half of her body.
And shoes...oh how she loves shoes. She's always wearing somebody else's shoes around the house, and even with a 50-50 shot, she always puts her own boots on the wrong feet.
Josie is such an entertainer at this stage!
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| Rocking the outfit |
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| Ok, there's something wrong here... |
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| Must. Get. Out! |
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| Enough with the camera, already! HELP! |
The funniest thing about this outfit is that the bottom half is actually another shirt. She's wearing three shirts folks. She much prefers that particular shirt on the bottom half of her body.
And shoes...oh how she loves shoes. She's always wearing somebody else's shoes around the house, and even with a 50-50 shot, she always puts her own boots on the wrong feet.
Josie is such an entertainer at this stage!
finally a family day
I'm not sure what to pin it on, but between travels and special occasions, visitors, or a to-do lists, we haven't had a bona fide family day in a good while. Having stayed out late visiting some friends last night, we started things right today by sleeping in till after 9 (most of us, at least.) Simon didn't change out of his pajamas all day long, and even after a bath at the end of the day, he put his original pjs right back on (along with the same underwear, ew.) I had lots of ideas about tasks I wanted to accomplish, but, it ended up just being better to mosey around the house with little direction. I think we all needed that.
One errand Ella and I did run, was a trip to Lowes and the grocery store. I was on the hunt for some "Super Washing Soda" in order to make our own laundry detergent. I have been determined to undertake this task in an effort to pinch a few pennies this year. The recipe I found for homemade laundry detergent yields 576 loads for $6! (On a side note, I LOVE pinterest for this type of resource.) For inquiring minds, making your own laundry detergent is so insanely easy. It's crazy to think how much money we could have been saving all this time! Well, no use crying over it...here's to the future!
After the errand, and lunch, we tackled making Valentines for Simon's class. Ella and I made hers last week so it was a breeze knocking Simon's out. I had loads of fun doing it (and Simon did all the gluing, some of the drawing, and writing his name.) Again, thanks to pinterest for the grand idea! It was a HOOT! (You'll get the pun once you see the image of the finished Valentines. :)
Simon's Valentines had to be candy-free, so we used pencils as a favor. Ella put Tootsie Pops on her Valentines. This was a really fun thing to do together.
We topped off the afternoon by tidying up the girls' room, purging old toys, books, papers and straightening the bookshelf. Josie has officially moved out of the crib and into the big girl bed which meant lots of rearranging! WOO to the HOO! (Is that another owl pun?) Now there is lots of room to play once more and Ella loves being in her room again. It's a relief to me, because she used to spend tons of time in there reading, playing, imagining, creating...since the crib has been in the way, she's avoided her room like the plague, even preferring to sleep in our room or Simon's room on the floor. Those issues are all resolved now and bedtime is getting much more streamlined.
Family day was a success today...it achieved relaxation, togetherness, leisure, and even a bit of honey-do accomplishments. I'm breathing a happy sigh....
One errand Ella and I did run, was a trip to Lowes and the grocery store. I was on the hunt for some "Super Washing Soda" in order to make our own laundry detergent. I have been determined to undertake this task in an effort to pinch a few pennies this year. The recipe I found for homemade laundry detergent yields 576 loads for $6! (On a side note, I LOVE pinterest for this type of resource.) For inquiring minds, making your own laundry detergent is so insanely easy. It's crazy to think how much money we could have been saving all this time! Well, no use crying over it...here's to the future!
After the errand, and lunch, we tackled making Valentines for Simon's class. Ella and I made hers last week so it was a breeze knocking Simon's out. I had loads of fun doing it (and Simon did all the gluing, some of the drawing, and writing his name.) Again, thanks to pinterest for the grand idea! It was a HOOT! (You'll get the pun once you see the image of the finished Valentines. :)
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| Witty captions include: "I'll OWL-ways be your friend!", "You are a WISE guy!" and "You're a HOOT!" |
Simon's Valentines had to be candy-free, so we used pencils as a favor. Ella put Tootsie Pops on her Valentines. This was a really fun thing to do together.
We topped off the afternoon by tidying up the girls' room, purging old toys, books, papers and straightening the bookshelf. Josie has officially moved out of the crib and into the big girl bed which meant lots of rearranging! WOO to the HOO! (Is that another owl pun?) Now there is lots of room to play once more and Ella loves being in her room again. It's a relief to me, because she used to spend tons of time in there reading, playing, imagining, creating...since the crib has been in the way, she's avoided her room like the plague, even preferring to sleep in our room or Simon's room on the floor. Those issues are all resolved now and bedtime is getting much more streamlined.
Family day was a success today...it achieved relaxation, togetherness, leisure, and even a bit of honey-do accomplishments. I'm breathing a happy sigh....
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