I Stood In the Driveway

and looked at this run down old house of ours and decided that it really needed some sort of pick me up. Something to distract from the run down part. I knew that it had to be fairly cheap as we're on a very tight budget these days what with a car that seems it will die soon, a baby on the way, etc. Any residual money is being funneled away at present. We've done quite a bit on the inside these past nine years, but have mostly ignored the outside. Quite literally ignored it. I just refuse to see it. Anyway... As I stood there looking at the house it hit me. Window boxes. It was like a shining beam of light in the parting clouds. I've tossed around the idea of window boxes in the past, but it was always part of a grander scheme. This time it was purely a solution. A simple way to show the house some love. Nothing else required. Wow. Nine years it took me to come to that. Wow.

Photo links: L to R Volpaia Tuscany window box, flowery window box in Bavaria, O'Neills pub in Boher Ireland, maintaining the window boxes in Venice

I Am the Queen

of the car fixers. Seriously. Tonight, for the second time I can recall, I rescued *B* as he wrestled with a cracked radiator hose or something equally car'ish. He had been out working on the car for a couple of hours and after I got all of the littles into bed I went out to observe. He was near cussing. He had cuts on his hands. He was not happy. See, the new hose would not slide over the valve or whatever. It just wouldn't. I suggested trimming out the inside wall a bit and give the thing a little head start. Not the magic solution that I had hoped. He decided to try from underneath the car. With him out of the way I was able to work my magic. I took hold of that hose and after a couple of trys... yes. I got the hose on. Where was I two hours ago? And my hands cleaned up very nicely. Thank you very much. I'm going to cross no.7 off the list. Do something for someone that they can't do themselves. [the truth is, there is probably a very good possibility that in this case as well as the last, which I don't really remember... but there was an extremely long belt involved. And lots of pulleys. I do remember that I saved the day. Maybe the only reason I am queen of the car fixers is that my hands aren't quite as big as his. And I didn't put on gloves and could get a better grip. With minimal slippage. That's all I've got. But really, I think the truth is that I am the queen.]

2.for.Tuesday

Last night for FHE we went to the "rock climbing park" to observe the growth of recently discovered pollywogs. We were there on a play date with various kindergarten boys last week and they were enthralled. We decided to go back tonight to check their progress. Last week we saw eggs/spawn + various sizes of "tadapoles" as *A* calls them. Tonight there was no spawn to be found, but we did see a couple of XL guys with little leg sprouts. We're hoping to get back there to see even more with legs next week.

one: The Magnifying Glass. A really great blog about things like frog spawn, butterflies, and animal skulls. Among other things.

two: An Index Card Summer. I have had this one in my files for a long time. I may have even shared it last year with all of my good intentions. But I mean it. We will do this. I'm going to be realistic and say that we will do one card a week. One of our days will be journal day. That should be doable. Right? So far we have art day [where we'll paint/put together horses] and now journal day [where we'll do our index card journal pages]. I'm thinking 4x6 because they're more manageable for small hands and they will go nicely into a 2 up album or something similar.

If I tell you that up next week is the scripture bag tutorial do you think I'll have it ready in time?

Once A Year

there is a designated girls weekend. Also known as Fathers and Sons. Usually I have big plans. Bigger plans than I could ever accomplish. This year it came incognito. I was taken unaware. It was never announced over the pulpit. This year I've gone to bed at 12:00+ the last three nights. Two of the nights are completely my fault, but for last night I am blaming Primerica. As you can probably imagine, I am exhausted. But I won't admit it. I'm in complete denial. I keep thinking, "I should be accomplishing something great tonight. It's my night. Probably the last that will be mine. So, this is how it is going so far:

Zip over to pick up dinner at Cafe Rio [shredded chicken burrito enchilada style with a side of guacamole anyone?]. Usually I save half for lunch the next day, but wow... the girl is a great eater. She was exhausted and I knew if I played my cards right we would have an early bedtime. So after dinner we hopped in the shower. Had a few bedtime stories and she fell asleep during I am a child of God [7:00 p.m]. Since then I have been trying to figure out how to customize the new page tabs that are right under my blog header. It's not going so well and I'm not sure I'll leave them there. I gave up and decided to upload the photos on my camera so I could share a few things before I forget. I've also been eating pretzel M&Ms. They're pretty good, but they don't seem to register. I would sit down with a small bowl of a designated amount if I were you. Here's my list of possibles:

1. watch New Moon and eat a bowl of ice cream
2. finish the scripture bag that was supposed to be for *A*s birthday since he keeps asking about it.
3. cut squares for the levi quilt that is coming due very quickly. very quickly.
4. start the doll the I plan to make for *E* for her birthday [thought I have decided that as much as I want to cut into the extremely cute fabrics I've got at the ready for this project [It will have various fabrics on random parts of her body much like this rabbit, I will not begin until I've finished with the scripture bags. I won't.
5. cave in and order the baby journal/book It's done. I when I went to the site to grab the link and decided to just go for it [of course, I would start with the last thing on the list. It's so typical of me]. I keep telling myself that I could put together a similar kit myself, but that would be making things harder than they need to be since it just isn't flowing right now and it needs to be. putting together a baby book is on the list. nothing seems to be flowing right now. I seem to have entered the last stages of the cerebral/placental shift.

Or... I could just turn in early. my pregnant body is calling out for just that. It would be a first for Fathers and Sons weekend.

*A* lost his first tooth on Tuesday and again with the flakey toothfairy. Seriously, is my brain so addled that I can't remember the significant first lost tooth ever of this adorable little man? Yes, apparently it is. When he showed me the tooth in the morning, "Mom, look. But no money." he said [our toothfairy doesn't take the teeth... she knows that the kids have much more fun inspecting them regularly than she would stressing about how to keepsake them]. I began internally kicking myself repeatedly and told him what a bummer it is to have a flakey toothfairy. The second night I followed them down to bed and stuck a dollar with my toothbrush so I would be sure to get it taken care of. All was forgiven. The morning after the third night I watched him get up out of bed and cracked up when I saw him take his tooth out from under his pillow. He looked at me with a sheepish smile and shrugged his shoulders. I said, "it was worth a try wasn't it?" He was really hoping he could re-use that tooth for a second visit.

So, that settles it. Don't ever hire our toothfairy.

2.for.Tuesday

I had chosen to let this weekly post go by the wayside for various reasons, but was recently informed that it was fun and needed to be reinstated. So, here you go... Once again I have big plans for the summer. They usually flop, but I'm trying to be optimistic. I'm hoping that with this new little coming the plans will give some semblance of order and motivation and attention to the boys. They are getting too big for their britches and seem to get lost in the moving and shaking of everyday life already. I can only imagine this + a new baby. They will be far too independent. Which isn't necessarily a good thing. So, one day a week we will have an organized art activity. It came to me while browsing. I saw this and knew that we had to do it. I think they'll love it. one: Cardboard stampede. I actually saw the project at MerMag. She's got her little boy working on their own little herd. I think this photo of her son working away is adorable. He looks so intent and sweet and quiet. I've already started cutting horse pieces [using Ann's template]. Oh please, oh please, oh please let this work. Please.

two: Quilts. I found the most amazing quilt blog with loads of beautiful quilts and brilliant make it quick ideas. Like this one she did at Sew Momma Sew. Brilliant. I keep trying to tell myself that I'm not a quilter. I am a piecer. I can honestly say that I love piecing quilts. I love it. But I hate quilting them. And, sad but true, tying a quilt just doesn't do it for me. They need to be quilted in an organized fashion. The crazy stitch so common with long arm quilting doesn't do much for me either. I might have to get over that little bit of awkwardness. If I'm going to be a quilter, that is.

It Must Be Ribbon Week

because seriously, pin another one on me. Last night I finished my 2007 family book. Whew! I keep doing this little victory dance. I've been working on it for... oh, I'd say three years. Good grief. Here's a little peek for you.

2007 by Bruce Mandi BOOK INFO

Now, where did I put that ribbon?

I Was Reminded of This

little incident today when Tollipop wrote about her similar experience. I realized that I didn't have this story down anywhere and will surely forget it if I don't. Here you go: Just last week *I* lost what is probably his last [or very close to it] baby tooth. He put it under his pillow and I told the man not to let me forget. Because I do. I forget. Well, I forget and the man forgot. *I* woke up in the morning to his tooth and nothing more. He was pretty cool about it, but he did mention that the toothfairy forgot to come again. I told him, "wow... we sure have a flakey toothfairy don't we." It's the second time it's happened. Last time, after the toothfairy forgot, he lost the tooth and that was that. This time I vowed not to let it happen again, so I put money under his pillow while he was at school even though his tooth wasn't there. That night when he found the money he confronted me with, "Mom, you're the toothfairy, aren't you." Hmm...

Today I Get a Prize

for finishing the Book of Mormon. In 33 days. It was on the list this year. Good job me!