My week went by so fast.

We've been busy around here. Seriously. (gutting a bathroom. ack!)

I can't say that Jeff has been all too thrilled with my insistence of gutting the kid's bathroom, but he's been a good sport and continues to plug along. It has given us both insight to the next (if there is a next) project, that we will not be doing it ourselves. Jeff is great with tools, but I think it's just a lot of work when you don't exactly know (i mean, REALLY know) what you're doing. He's certainly handy! The thought of gutting the master bathroom is daunting, to say the very least. ::sigh:: Old homes can sure come with aches and pains. lol

Next week my family will be gone. The littler girls will head to camp and the rest of the crew will be going to Dayton to spend some time with Jeff's Mom. They'll be going to King's Island and having fun without me. (truth be told, i am looking forward to it, but only because i get to play with beads by myself ... endless amounts of time just working with beads ... ahhhh the thought makes me giddy).

So, look for a LOT of great things next week, and don't be surprised if you see some new things too. I'm glad so many of you liked the hand-felted wool earrings... they flew right off the shelves and orders are now being worked on for more. They're coming! They're coming! :) Necklaces too.

Change of topic...

Here's a glance at a photo I found an old memory card the other day (back when 128mb was really big!) and it had some wonderful photos that I forgot that I even had.

We had just brought Nadine home from the hospital... Nathaniel was five, getting ready to begin Kindergarten in a couple months. Nadine was born on July 23rd, so her birthday is just around the corner. It just makes me realize how small they all were at one time and how I miss their faces. I don't miss babies...I miss the faces of my babies. They were so sweet.

Our boy (now 12) is usually a great big brother, I'm sure he'll be even better as the years go by, because our children are so close in age. He was so proud this day. You can see it on his face. He's just so sweet. Tomorrow he returns from 4H camp and I sure hope he had a great time. I always loved camp.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back next week with some lovely things. Stay tuned...

A little family time...

Normally Jeff is the chef in our house, although I am able to do some cooking... I just don't find it relaxing. To the contrary, I find it stressful and upsetting, so several years ago Jeff took over in the cooking department. I can't tell you how nice it has been too, because I no longer stress out over meal time (but trying to figure out what to make is a whole beast in and of itself... ugh! the drama). Often, I wish mealtime were like school uniforms, in that you make the same thing every single day because you have to, the only problem with this is that it would be extremely boring. lol But still, just imagine how nice it would be to have a months menu in front of you and then to have all the ingredients to make all those meals...right in your pantry. How easy would that be!? I know. Awesome, right?

Yesterday we did a bit of family cooking and had a great time making a wonderful family meal. We had meat loaf (something we never make).... so I snapped some photos (of course).

fresh green beans are my absolute favorite. i could eat just these for dinner. of course, you have to add some butter and almonds to make the experience really perfect.

like this. yum.

Nicole getting the dessert started... monkey bread. we've never made it. thought it would be fun to try. yes yes, i realize we don't have a "real" bundt pan, well, i said i'd never made this before. lol so we improvised and used an empty glass salt shaker as the hole. :) lol

 

favorite things in my kitchen. my little corner of light and my fiestaware collection. i love all the color. my BFF carie bought me the set of pink bowls while we were at an antique shop. i love them most.

one stick of butter added to mashed potatoes. that's okay right? lol i never said this was a low-cal meal.

my wonderful Scentsy Dandy plug-in. notice the red candle wax on the on/off button? yeah. never try removing the plug-in with hot wax melted in the top. you can only cause a big mess. i've tried. three times. and you can see what happens? wax all over the place. i'm not smart.

monkey bread ready to be baked. doesn't this look wonderful? nic did a great job.

my flowers from three weekends ago. can't believe they're still so pretty. i love simple table arrangements. and i really love my green fiesta pitcher. i snagged this at the pottery barn where they sell the 2nds of fiestaware. this little cutie cost me $11.99. sa-weeet! love love.

we started our collection a few years back when Dillard's ran a sale ($25.99 a place setting with a free soup bowl included). i wish i'd purchased more at the time, but buying 8 place settings was more than i could handle... but i'm glad we got them. now, we buy a lot of the pieces from the 2nds store. you can't even tell. the flaws are usually on the bottoms of the pieces. :)

it was delightful.

and this was even better. the nice thing about it was how we could all "pick at it", pulling pieces off with our forks. we all just sat around the table munching on it. it was simply scrumptious...or "tasty" as Nicole says.

today we're lounging. i love it.

hey, jeff and i watched Up In The Air (George Clooney movie) and i have to say that it was wonderful, except the ending. ugh. had i known it would turn out like that, i think i would have not watched it. ::sigh:: i'm a feel-good-movie kinda girl. what's so wrong with things turning out RIGHT in the end anyway? life can be troublesome enough without having to watch it play out in front of you. maybe that's why i love my vampires and nonsensical characters... but hey, You've Got Mail turned out right in the end and it's a real movie about real people... see? like that. all movies need to be like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and turn out lovingly in the end. because i said so.

oh and i won't be seeing the new Robert Pattinson movie either. he dies in the end. what's up with that?

i hope your weekend is going swell (do people still say swell?)

it's cozy here. i love everything about it.

going to make myself some coffee. it brings comfort. love that.

xoxo

laurie

Snow Day Saturday

We took the girls sledding today (Nathaniel was at the neighbor's house).
It was fun, but that's probably because I wasn't sledding. I was taking pictures.
Hey! I am not a sledder. Is that even a word?

Deanie was so cute pulling her sled up the hill. She never got tired.

Me sans make-up. It's too cold for such things.

Nicole and Daddy sledding. Notice Nicoles thrilled face as she goes down the hill.

You need a closer view? lol Is that not hilarious? She's my child who has yet to learn to ride a bike.
Most think I'm crazy for not 'making' her learn, but um, this is the same girl who loves the Merry-go-Round,

but won't get on a scooter to save her life. She always plays it safe and ya know, that's okay.

Nicole and Nadine (aka: Colie and Dean) making snow angels.

She was the only one who would hold still for me. lol

Others were eating snow.

And licking it.

Sisters sledding.

More sledding.

A nice tooshie.

Telling them what to do and what not to do, explaining things you know? Others not listening.

Cold faces.

Finally! She would hold still for a photo! :)

And another one!

It was a great day. I hope yours was too.

xoxo.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

From our family to yours.... Happy Thanksgiving.

View your card. :)

Happy Sunday.

Natalie. :) She's so pretty.


I love this face.

Update. Book Signing. More things in the store.

So hubby was "mad" at me for about ten minutes. :) (you gotta love a man who is so unwomanly-like (yes. a word.) and gets on with life after a minor explosion from the wife)

We headed to pick up the book that I didn't want to go looking for because I thought I wouldn't find it because I'm not good with directions because who wants to get lost on a rainy day in Lexington? Yeah. Not me! :) So we get to the woman's house and guess what? She forgot to put it on her porch. lol! I didn't laugh at the time because I do believe hubby wasn't all too thrilled but the woman did actually tell him in her last email...that Jeff didn't catch at the bottom of the email (in tiny ten point font). Har har. So we'll go back over the weekend I guess or I could go pick it up myself because I know where it is now! :) (see how I worked that out? lol)

Then we went to get the book, Echo in the Bone. I'm thrilled! Can't wait. Moon and Missy and I will be grabbing some lunch at their Bistro (which is awesome!) and then we'll listen to Ms.Gabaldon read some of the book and ask questions, I am tooo excited. :) I'll keep you posted and hopefully Moon will bring her camera so she can get a picture of us all with the author. Yay us!

In a little while I'll be back with some new things in my store. :) I think you'll like them, until then... have a great day!

I am not good with directions.

I get lost just about everywhere I go. Seriously. It's not on purpose, obviously, but it's a known fact among my family members that I get lost easily. Once, while trying to visit my folks with our four children, who were very young at the time, ended up going the wrong way on 275 heading into Cincinnati and took an extra hour and a half to get home. I was very upset. Who wouldn't be? Another time I called Jeff, frantic because I couldn't find the Jump House place where Nicole was invited to a friends birthday. We were late, not terribly late, but that was only because I gave myself an hour to get there and it was about twenty minutes away. See? I knew that I would most likely get lost. Because it happens a lot. I do have strong points, but getting from point A to point B without stress isn't one of them. However, if it's in Versailles, then I can find it. Isn't that the reason why we live in a small town? Yes. Yes it is.

So this morning Jeff wants me to go pick up the wedding book that he left at a wedding and the people finally found it, a month later. I'm heading into Lexington to purchase (Echo in the Bone so I can be in line to have it signed by Diana Gabaldon--hello!) so he thought it would be a good idea to have me "run" over and pick up this book. Um? That's a joke right? So I ask where it is (as if I would know) and he gets out his computer to pull up mapquest and write down the directions. Okay. Sure. You do that. All the while in the back of mind I'm thinking this is SO not a good idea. He should know this. Doesn't he know me by now? After seventeen years of being together, doesn't he know that I am lousy with directions? Yes. He knows. I guess he's trying to teach me something? We have a new car, maybe he thinks that it will suddenly give me super navigational powers and point me in the right direction? Yeah. I don't think so.

As he's telling me and showing me how to get to this never-been-to location I begin to panic. I told him I don't know that area of town at all. It wasn't so much the getting there that bothered me, but the getting BACK--without crying. This is what happens. I get very upset and flustered and then I just break down. This is pretty much how I operate on all levels, by the way. Generally an easy-going gal, but throw a few wrenches and sticks in my spokes and I'm done. So here he is throwing a hole TREE at me and I feel the pain. I told him that I didn't think I could do this. "Yes you can!" he tells me confidently. I'm glad someone is so confident cuz it sure ain't this ol' girl. Then he gets angry after I begin to shake my head at him, reaffirming the fact that I indeed have NO confidence in my ability to get me to this place just to pick up a book that was mine (in the first place) that he lost.

So I begin to yell about it. (while he says nothing but stomps around a lot, moving things and shoving this way and that way--kinda comical) I tell him that I'm in NO mood to feel badly about myself today, that I'm so stupid that I can't get around a town that I've lived in for more than nine years. Nope. Not today. I can feel badly about myself on another day. Today is rainy and blechy (that's a word) and I decided that if this day has to be this bad, then I can't add to it by getting lost in it. Get me? You with me? I mean, why spoil a perfectly nasty rainy-bad-weather day by getting LOST in it!? Yeah. Not gonna happen. So he says I'm not stupid and there's no reason for me to react this way etc etc blah blah blah. I remind him of all the other times (and places) that I got lost in and didn't make it to. Most recently the car dealership that was really right in front of my face (so-to-speak) and I still couldn't find it. And what does he say to that?

He says..."it was right in front of your face!"

Exactly my point, my dear.

I don't know what it is, this reason for not having good navigational skills. I've often thought of buying myself one of those talking boxes that tell you where to go. Moon has one. It's name is Jill. Jill can be quite helpful and I do think I need a Jill for myself.

So, I'm not going to pick up this book. As soon as he comes back, he's going to come and get me and we'll go into town together. :) See? See how easy that was? Couldn't he have just said, "honey, I love you. But I don't know if you can get there so let's just go together and then have lunch afterwards?"

See? Now that would have been lovely. Maybe there's still time for him to say that? I'll keep you posted. :)

My List. Dancing with the Stars. Patrick Swayze.

You've heard it before.

My list.

Yeah. Don't we all have a list? I know you do, but you might not talk about it, maybe you just dream about it (like me). And there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing. There are lots of things on my list that might never happen. I may never get to Italy. We might never take that trip to New York to see Broadway plays. We may never open a restaurant where Jeff can do the food and I can bake cupcakes. It might not happen that I live on the beach somewhere. I probably won't be able to redo my kitchen, or bathroom, or family room ... or or or. But, sometimes, just sometimes there are things on my list that do come true and that's where you have to find the joy... in the little things (even if the little things aren't really all that little).

One of the things on my list for many years has been to take a vacation with my family. We didn't need to go anywhere crazy-special like a Greek Isle cruise or a trip around the world. lol Nah, we don't need all that (although maybe I should add it to my list? lol). In a couple weeks my little family will be heading off to South Carolina for some fun in the Sun. We're so excited! So, the question is? Do I keep this one on my list or cross it off and if it happens again then GREAT! (yeah I guess I'll keep it on my list) Life is good.

I've been watching Dancing With The Stars because my Mother got me hooked on it. :) It's awesome. Tonight they had the cast of The Lion King (on Broadway) on the show. How amazing it was to watch, gave me goosebumps. Really. Did it you?

Who couldn't love Melissa and Mark (I was a big fan of Teenage Witch--duh!) but I think my favorite of the night was Kelly Osborn. I adored Kelly. What a beauty. A little like Drew Barrymore with that teenage angst thing going on and after a few years of having a more "adult-like" brain, they end up being stand-up gals. Awesome. I thought Kelly did a superb job and I think she's my favorite (and Melissa Joan Hart--you gotta have two!). Don't get me started on Macy Gray. Yikes. I was glad to see her go. She just didn't seem to care about the dance, at least that's how it appeared to me. She seemed to just muddle her way through with her arms flying about, not knowing where they should land. Yuck. lol I didn't care for it. So, she needs to stick to singing.

And who couldn't have grabbed a tissue when they did the tribute series to Patrick Swayze. How wonderful was that?! I loved it. Natalie asked why I was crying. ::sigh:: And I said that the man who did that dance passed away last week. She wanted to know why that was so important. I tried to explain it. I just told her that he was a big part of my youth, having seen Dirty Dancing, Point Break and Roadhouse countless times since my teen years. Who couldn't love Patrick Swayze? She didn't see why that was so special I guess. She turns to me and says, "you're going to miss him?" No, it wasn't so much that necessarily, I guess it was just the thought of time passing and my list and wanting to cross things off my list with the time I have left. Does that make sense, I ask her? "I guess so. You're not that old Mom." And in that moment I realized that my first-born daughter is growing up into a wise ol' gal.

One of the things on my list was to get married and have a family of my own. I'm so glad I can cross those off my list.

What's on your list?

Keep Calm {and have a cupcake}

Phew. What a day (already) I've had. I had an appointment at 9a and then when I went to walk out the door, leaving plenty of time to stop by MacDonald's for a coffee and make a bank stop for a deposit, I couldn't find my keys.

Anywhere.

I remember specifically putting them in my little bowl on my work table along with my earrings and wedding ring, I never work with them on. Claustrophobia. ANYWAY, I couldn't find my keys. Turned the table upside-down looking for them and it dawned on me that Jeff went to the store late last night and might have used them. Called Jeff. No he doesn't have keys he says. I rant. I rave. I cry. I hang up {on him}. I'm frustrated. I call back. He picks up. He says he doesn't have them, look around the house. I hang up. I look around the house. Nothing. No where. The keys have vanished. (where's a cupcake when you need one, I ask you!!?)

By the way... I do not lose things.

Ever.

I put them back where I found them. I will even go so far as to make a NOTE of where I put them in case I forget, you know, cause that's a good idea and all. No such luck this time.

I call back. No keys. DO YOU HAVE THEM? I scream yell ask? No. I do not have your keys, he says politely. How he stays calm in matters like these I do not know.

I begin to look around the house. The clock is ticking and ticking fast. No coffee. No bank stop.

No keys.

I notice the kitchen counter, still covered with freshly made lunch bags yet our kids have gone to school. THE KIDS FORGOT THEIR LUNCHES!!! ::sigh:: more panicking. I go to the dining room. There are HOMEWORK papers all over it. No backpacks. Ugh.

The morning is going to pot.

I call back. YOU forgot to put the homework in the backpacks and the kids are without their lunches. ::sigh:: He says...

I'll be home in twenty minutes.

I wait. I cancel my appointment. ::sigh:: I iron a shirt. I continue to look for the missing keys. I pack up the lunches and put them in the car. I decide I might as well take a quick shower. I get ready. (it's now 8:40a)

Jeff brings me his set of keys to my car. I'm too late for my appointment but my day is now very behind. ::more sighing:: He says he thinks he saw one of the kids with the keys and maybe they know where they are? I locked the car and someone needed to get their backpacks, which is why they needed my keys. I'll ask them when I pick them up from school.

I run to the elementary school to give lunches and forgotten homework papers to teachers. I run to the middle school to do the same.

It's now 9:25a and I decide to go get my coffee because now I really needed it. No. I needed two, but I settled for one.

I've had some time to calm down now. lol It's all rather humorous actually, but the keys are still missing and since my car is less than three weeks old, I'd say that this is not a good sign of things to come. lol They're 50 bucks to replace too! Yikes. Wish me luck for the rest of my day cause it looks like this...

Vac the car. Put seat covers on car so kids don't ruin it on the ride to Cinci. Pick the girls up from elementary school. Pick Nathaniel up from middle school. Take Natalie to her ortho appointment. Grab a snack for the kids to eat so they're not starving until dinner. Head to Cincinnati. Jeff will come later in the day. Phew. What a day it's going to be!!! lol

I hope my Mom made cupcakes.

Happy Birthday Babe!

My husband of fifteen years turned forty-one today. He doesn't look it but I have to say that he has aged beautifully. The few gray hairs that he has when he grows facial hair, the several that are on the sides of his head (and when I say "several" I do mean "SEVERAL". like three. seriously. three. it's so not fair since yours truly is covered in them.)

It has been a great week, this week where he turns forty-one, leaving that middle-aged number "forty" behind him forever. He has good news to still share (Monday!) and it has made our new path a little more straight and a little less bumpy. Forty-one is a good number.

I remember when I met Jeff for the first time. He was a youth pastor and I was a camp counselor at our Bible Camp. I was young and silly and stupid. He was funny and nice and cute. I never knew then that he would be the one. I'm a pretty lucky gal I tell ya, to have this man all to myself. He's super hilarious, makes almost every day a wet-your-pants and spit-coke-from-your-nose kind of a day, yet he is so romantic. Who knew he loved candles so much? :) He's the best and I hope he has a great day.

We don't get to go out tonight as he has a wedding to perform (he does weddings, did you know?), but we will probably go out tomorrow night. Today however, we'll run around town and buy the girls some new tennis shoes, let Nicole spend some of her birthday money (because she ended up NOT liking the gift we bought her ::sigh:: that SHE picked out and said she HAD to get! ::again sigh::). We are going to watch Harry Potter Two (Chamber of Secrets) because Natalie has never seen it. Gasp! We rented that new Hannah Montana movie and will probably watch that while Jeff is at his wedding. I will make cupcakes that are not as good as my Mother's for his birthday. We'll enjoy our day and hope that it doesn't rain. It's a good day.

Honey, you're my favorite person ever and I adore you madly.

oh, this and that...

What a weekend we have ahead. I hope it will be fun. :)
Natalie wants to have a friend spend the night, Nathaniel's
been invited to a birthday/sleepover and Nicole wants to go to the Art Box and paint a cup and a plate. So, it's going to be busy. One thing I'm going to do this weekend; I will make cupcakes. The girls have been asking me. :)

So, remember yesterday's post about Nadine going over to Jeanne's house and wanting a tour of the inside? lol Well, I found out last night that Nadine and her tiny sidekick, Ellie (who is four), went to our other neighbor's house and asked the same thing. However, they walked out with two baby dolls! lol The kind Mrs. H. gave each of them one of her baby dolls. They were thrilled! They also got to take some "elephant ears" from her garden in the back. :) lol Now, for those of you who are wondering what kind of parent(s) allows their children to run around, knocking on doors and going inside without supervision, well let me put your minds to rest. While this was going on, I was vac'ing my car and sweeping my porch, moving things around in the garage and both of these neighbors are dear friends. Not to mention our street is SO small, that if they're talking on their porch, we can hear them on ours. Yeah. It's that small. My parents are always saying that we should never move. :) We probably never will despite my desire to have a new home (oh well), but our street and its neighbors are so kind, that we know this is a wonderful place to live out our life.

Speaking of neighbors...last night I get an email from Ms.Em (our street's budding photographer), asking for a stick of butter. Um? It was 9:30 at night. lol Crazy girl. She was baking at 9:30p. lol I don't know what she was making but it better not have been cupcakes cuz she didn't offer me any! lol Cracks me up!

I will eventually post Time Traveler but it won't be today. My tags still are not here and they should have arrived on Wednesday. I saw some packages on my porch, got overly excited and then realized that they were not my tags. ::sigh:: See? our mail is horrible. My tracking said that they would arrive on WEDNESDAY. Argh. I'll post it as soon as my tags arrive. :)

Have a wonderful weekend. :)