mommo

Thank you Universe!

Do you ever want something and start thinking about it and then it just drops in your lap?  My hubby and I were just talking about this and then it happened!  Ever since I finished Club Little House and caught The Fever, I have been looking for a dollhouse.  I have been trolling Craig's list in hopes of finding one but the few that do come on are usually priced extremely high or snapped up or just weird.  So on one of these trolls I found a posting for that beauty up there. Only she was offering it for free!  She wanted it to have a good home and get some TLC and not end up in the dump (can you imagine?!).  So I promised to take good care of it so she said come and get it! And do you know that she lived practically around the corner from me?  How weird is that? I figured she would live in some far away suburb but no, just less than a half a mile away!  Here is the inside- isn't it just so magical? I want to shrink down and get inside! Look at this cute wallpaper There was even some furniture.  The kids about popped out of their skins and played with it last night while I dusted off each tiny shingle.  I can't wait to do some fixing up to my new dream house and get all of my Club Little House treaures in it.  It could use a new coat of paint but I love that yellow so it will probably be another coat of that. 

So thank you to the Universe and thank you to Pamela!!

Dog!!!

  Meet our new baby! Well he isn't technically a baby- he is 15 months old.  We have been looking at dogs for months.  I swear it has been torture for the kids (and me!), to go to adoption days and then leave empty handed again.   I kept telling them, when we find the right dog, it won't matter- you will be so happy this will all be worth it.  And boy was I right.  I wasn't really sure I needed a dog.  But then we met Dusty.  Dusty Thunderbolt (Ithink you can guess who named him).  I feel like he has been with us forever and it has only been a week and a half.  Isn't he so handsome, with his fringey arms and those big brown eyes?  And he looks like he has a tiny mustache.  He is a mutt- probably part cocker spaniel, part corgi and maybe some golden retriever.  We were joking that with all the new hybrid dogs in style, all the laborddodles and schnoodles, that he needed a breed of his own so we call him a golden corker.  He was a rescue dog from a great local no kill shelter.  We went to meet him and put in an application along with atleast three other families that we know about that day.  And he got to come home with us! When he gets out into the backyard he just runs laps and laps, bounding around like a little fox.  Maybe his name should have been Flash!  He does take an occasional break atop the pile of mulch to survey his kingdom and get his fringey arms as filthy as possible.  At night after the kids go to bed and we sit down on the couch, he snuggles in and just sleeps and sighs and you can tell he knows he is home.  There is something so incredible about having someone in the house who is always happy to see me.  Who always wants to snuggle and has the happiest face all of the time.  Lucky us!!  I was right- he was worth the wait!

A little recap...

So I pretty much abandoned the blog thing while summer wound down.  I just wanted to soak up as much fun kid time as I could while they were home.  Having the little one start kindergarten this year got me pretty introspective.  Thinking about how far we have come, in those young child years.  Feeling like I had to say goodbye to a time in my life that was so amazingly wonderful.  Not to say that things won't continue to be wonderful- it just seems that having babies and young children at home with you most of the time, it was such a departure from the life I had before kids.  I just want things to keep that slower closer pace as they get older and move on, out into their little individual pieces of the world.  So in a way I do feel like I am saying goodbye to a time in my life that I know I won't return to and it made me a little sentimental.  So for this year, I am happy that atleast she is in half day (though 2 and a half hours is not half of any day) and we get our afternoon time together a few times a week when I don't have to work. 

So here is a small recap in photos of a few of the things we did.

Our favorite local asian grocery store had their Hawaiian festival.  The shave ice lady knows us because we are her biggest fans. We also got to hang out at our favorite local neighborhood parade.  It is so small town and wonderful.  Here is the super cool hula hoop lady.  They also have a marching band of all 40 and ups.  60 year old lady cheerleaders. So great! All of the parade people throw candy to all the kids. It is a bit ridiculous but I had to laugh because my son brought his baseball glove to catch the candy this year.  Last year my girl was pelted in the head with a sour ball. Not good.

Here is a very cool moth that hatched on our garage door. Isn't he beautiful? We spent lots and lots of time on the garden.  These pictures are from July- you should see it now- all big dahlias and everything is so lush.  I would take a picture but it is too wet! &&%#!!#$% rain! This is one of my favorite flower buds

Oh  and lots of pie. Lots and lots of pie. On my girl's first day of school, I picked her up on the first day and we had a lunch date and then I took her to the bakery to choose something- this is what she chose. Almost too cute to eat!

There is a school in town that has an enormous chimney and it the fall, thousands and thousands of swifts fly around it in the evening, spiraling and spiraling until the sun goes down and then they all stay inside for the night.  It is something to behold- all those tiny birds moving together.

So there you have it.  I have more fun things to share this week.  And one really fun great thing in particular!

Fun new world

I signed up for Club Little House  knowing that I would enjoy it but undersetimating how much I would enjoy it.  I have been perusing craigs list for my own doll house, checking out books at the library on things to make for your dollhouse, and making these little goodies for other people's dollhouses.  You can see the packaged goodies above.  They have been shipped and received by Amy and she will repack and ship them off to the other club members.  There are two or three groups so I figured it was o.k. to post since it won't really spoil the suprise since there are two groups.  I wanted to do a japanese/craft inspired theme.  I found the sweetest little unfinished wood cabinets at Michaels so I painted them all different colors.  Some I painted cherry blossoms on and some I lined with beautiful origami paper. 

I then took three of my Japanese craft books, scanned in the front and back covers, and shrunk them and printed them out.  Then I cut them along with tiny peices of balsa wood for the insides and stuck them all together. They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Here they are inside a cabinet

I also found the little bowls at Michaels and I painted them and put two little (purchased) spools of thread in them.  The last bit I did was to make tissue paper mached japanese lanterns. They were hard to photograph but here is one-

I paper mached over wooden balls, put the copper wire through to hang it with and put embroidery floss for the tassel. Pretty time consuming but I had to make twelve sets of everything.  I had so much fun making these and cannot tell you how excited I am to get my box of goodies.  I can't wait to see what people came up with.  The only problem is I didn't make a set of these for myself yet.  The kids got into it too, painting their own little cabinets.  I think it is something we will all enjoy.

I am not usually

whiny about the heat. I like summer. I like heat. I like the windows open all night and sleeping with no blankets. But last night. Last night was stagnant and so muggy. We had thunderstorms and the night was long and sticky and thick. I may not have noticed so much if I had not been up most of the night with a sick little girl. Two nights ago she kept filling her mouth up with pool water and I kept saying, you have to stop that because if you swallow all that pool water its diarhea and vomiting for you. Sometimes you have to learn things on your own I guess. Sure enough there has been much vomiting. So she and I fitfully slept in my bed with regular trips to try and puke. She never ended up throwing up again after too late but she was gun shy and wanted to hang out in the bathroom a bit too much. I know you mom's out there can hear me but if anyone out there has heard enough- sorry!

So that little guy up there belongs to my sister in law and her family. They recently adopted him and he came to visit us over the fourth. We are dog crazy around here right now and are fixing to get a dog ourselves this winter. I feel half crazy for even considering it but I think we are all pretty ready for a dog.  We spend a lot of time on petfinder.com these days.

This dress was whiped up in minutes for the fourth. It is that great stuff you can get at Joanns that is pre smocked at the top. I liked the little fray at the end so I didn't even hem it. She loves it and it was certainly festive attire for the block party.

  Lastly, here is a little something I whipped up for a celebration send off for a co wroker. It is a little cake topper to celebrate their wedding which is happening tonight in California. It is just their faces on paper that I painted and glued paper to for her dress, and little pearls for her boobs. I have made these before- just a little something for fun for a chuckle.

Have a great weekend!

So hot!!!

Actually it is only pretty hot but tomorrow will be soooo hot. I think it is the perfect time to go and see Ratatouille.  Swimming in the morning, lbrary in the afternoon and a movie in the evening. I had my sweet boy pick a number between one and ten for the magazines and he picked 7 which is Heidi!  I actually asked my little girl first and she picked "20". I think I should be spending some time on the basics with her before she satrts kindergarten next year.  I am actually very happy to be sending the magazines to Heidi because she is waiting for her two beautiful children to finally come from China and Vietnam.  Hopefully these magazines will give her lots of ideas to make beautiful things for her babies while she waits for them to arrive.(heidi- I will need your address!) Check out those yummy fourth of July pies. They were a hit! Peach blueberry- my favorite combination.

I have been participating in a fun swap called "Special Swap" for the last few months.  Lynne is our sweet swap Mom and there are always fun goodies in these packages. She and I set up a little impromptu swap and look at my goodies! The theme was a trip to the lake. This bowl is so perfect with my hydrangeas.  She had a memory about going to a lake on vacation and buying penny candy at the store which was so fun because I had the same memory of our trips to Orcas Island back when I was little. My Dad would scuba dive for abalone and sea cucmbers and then we would barbecue them on the beach and have bonfires. My sister and I had matching red knit sweaters from my Granny and I can still remember wearing them there. And I remember being able to buy a whole lot of candy for just a quarter. Good memories.  I love the rock candy pops she sent- they look so pretty I am sure I won't eat them. Now to keep them safe from the kids... The yarn and fabrics are such great summer colors too. Thanks Lynne!

But what are you going to eat?

I actually could eat all of these by myself. I so love summer fruit. I am heading out for more berries tomorrow because fourth of july=pie.   And the neighbor is barbecuing a turkey! A 24 lb. turkey! And they are going to share it with all of us. And did I mention they are doing it overe coals and not on a gas barbecue? So good.

Here is something else so good: I found these at a rummage sale and bought them for next to nothing. I already have them though so if you want them, leave a comment and I will give them away.  If lots of people want them, I will draw a name. If only one person wants them, they will get them. They are full of fun ideas and out of print.

It is past time for bed so until next time...

Happy Birthday indeed!

Yum! Banana Whip Cream Cake! My favorite. O.K.- one of my favorites but one of my favorite favorites. I am 38 today. My Dad asked if I felt older. Nope. I am not one of those women (I almost said "girls" because thats how I feel but 38 and girl didn't sound right...) who gets hung up on a number.  I took the day off from the utter craziness that work has become and settled into spending the day with my favorite people.  We woke up -me and the kids (Dad had to work) ate a yummy breakfast and hit the movies. Regal Cinemas has a Free Family Film Festival and every tuesday and wednesday of the summer you can see free movies. (go to www.regalcinemas.com for the details). We saw one called "Everyone's Hero" Very sweet- some of the voices were a bit wooden but it was sort of touching none the less. Then we hit lunch with my Mom, Sis and nephew who has a birthday on friday. After that I decided that because it was my birthday the kids got treats so off to Target we went. My son ended up with a NY Yankees baseball hat and my daughter got a new bathing suit. We got it home and tried it on and it is going back because I feel very strongly that 5 year olds need not wear Brazillian cut bikinis. Yowza. It is a particularly cute behind on that girl, but not for everyone to see. It didn't look so skimpy on the hanger...  The whole baseball thing with my son is great. He loves to play it, he loves to collect baseball cards- he loves it all. And he is starting to do that thing where he can remember who plays for who- all those details from the back of the baseball cards but yet has trouble remembering where he puts his library books or that his shoes go in the shoe cupboard when he takes them off. Male brains.  After a TON of rain this weekend and pretty cold dreary days, it hit 85 degrees which was a perfectly beautiful day to have your birthday on.  Naturally we had to hang out at the pool. I told myself when we got there that I would no longer be wading carefuly in- painfully adapting to the coldness of the water one tiny bit at a time. Nope- I am 38 now and I would be jumping in. So I did and it really was better. We have had some crazy years of a general heaviness and I really am feeling ready to shake some of that off and find that girl who used to live in this body. The less tentative girl . the happy go lucky girl. We capped it all off with a concert in the park.  I love these sort of neighborhood affairs where , 2 minutes after you sit down some kid you know runs up and says, "I am not having fun because I had a bloody nose". Which of course is only partly true. He did have a bloody nose but he was having fun. We saw so many kids and friends from school and the neighborhood. Just nice to feel so connected to a place. It was folk music and the guitarist also played some sort of drum, the clarinet and a flute. I have never heard a flute played like that. He seriously rocked that flute and had the whole crowd in awe. And that was before any of us realized he was blind. Amazing.

So a great birthday. Easy & fun and spent with the people who really matter.

Ahhhh & Phew

Ahhhhh I had a little time to myself to day and Phew! it was in the nick of time. I was in need of some serious regenerating.  I dropped the kids off at the most amazing art camp and came home. I needed to clean the house. NEEDED. Not just because it was messy and annoying but I needed to have that time to ground myself. The first thing I did was to go walk around the yard and cut flowers to bring inside. I used to always have cut flowers in the house but things have gotten so busy that its just one more thing I have been neglecting. The little vase above is from Crate and Barrel and I am so in love with it. It is about the size of an orange and it is smooth and pretty and has a tiny hole in the top. The little flowers are some of my favorites from outside. I love all the tiny.

Here is a corner of the dining room. I love that little owl plaque- I got it as a gift but it came from radishes and roses. The vase I bought from a studio sale here in town. It looks like big yummy marshmallow. It was handmade by a local artist. This vase i recently bought at a going out of business sale for a whole $5.  I love it and it is going to be the perfect Dahlia vase. I planted a lot of Dahlia's this year so I have high hopes for lots of bouquets. Here is a big yummy bouquet of roses. I have some really nice bushes outside. I love this vase too. Oh- and that sweet little bit of the green china pot is from an estate sale. Another $5 find. It is sort of a weird size so I don't know what it was used for but it is really pretty.

It feels really good to have a clean house and lots of flowers. And now it's going to feel good to go jump in the pool so I am outta here!

My kind of Father's Day

We moved into this house three years ago and did a ton of work renovating and improving things here and there and the only here and there that didn't get touched was our bedroom.  Its a great room- nice windows, two closets. But it was depressing because it really was pretty much turn of the century dorm room in design.  The woodwork was old and dry and not pretty so I spent Memorial Day weekend painting all the upstairs woodwork which was not a fun job. I am happy with the outcome but that is not a job I want to do again.  Then a couple of weekend, after much consideration, we chose this color for the walls. I don't know if it comes across in the photo, but it is lovely. Sort of sophisticated turquoise. I love Benjamin Moore paint. Sadly thats where it stood until last friday. I had a whole morning to myself so I cranked out the final touches so that my Hubby could home to a suprise new budoir for Father's Day.  I love the clean white duvet and I am so in love with the pillow. I made it from some favorite fabrics I had and I think it just makes the room- to have that little hit of dark and pretty but not too pretty. Someone gave us that dresser so I painted it for him, added some gorgeous Anthropologie knobs and now it is for him to put all of his "stuff" in. Books and papers, that sort of stuff.  Then I printed out two 8x10's of the kids and hung them up. We have been so bad about having photos around the house and these two are especially lovely so I he and I both love them. New curtain rods and curtains and thats it. Oh- except the orchids which are his favorite. So ,what I am saying is, how great for him to hve all this finished for Father's Day, but I am loving it too. Ahhhhh, an adult room!

I also got a nice suprise this week. I worked out a trade with Jennifer from Textile Fetish and I got this amazing bag!

It is so well sewn and the fabrics are all so great! She does the cutest stuff so you really should go check her out! Her girl's sets are unbelievable.