You said what?

"Hey Mom I'm getting high!"

Little Buddy yells to me from the other room as he is climbing the ladder I left out from painting.

Badger Boy to D-"You used to play basketball?"

"Did you play for the NFL?"

Guess we need to brush up on our sports knowledge.

Me: "Wash your ears"

LB: "I can't!!" sounding a little worried

Me: "Why not?"

LB: "I don't know if I should use soap or shampoo!"

We gave the washing machine box to the kids to play in.

While they were playing spaceship in it I hear one of them fart very loudly.

Then I hear laughter and LB says: "You know astronauts fart too"

Me: "It's almost 8 get ready for bed."

LB: "Is that am or pm"

No Child left on their behind

Our public schools got the most wonderful idea this year,

"Hey lets see if we can give parents more work to do...maybe give kindergartners pedometers and have their parents keep track of their daily steps...that's not enough, hmmm lets charge them $7 if their 5 year old loses the pedometer."

"It's April and those suckers have been keeping track of those dreadful step counters, let's give them another fun activity"

"Hmmm let's offer the kids "A Grand Prize" if they walk to school"

"Yeah, then those slob parents will have to get off their butts and walk their 5 year old to school"

Just for the record Little Buddy and I walked and Badger Boy rode his bike. It isn't a bad walk, all of about 15 blocks. I've walked it many times in the 6 years we have lived here and the kids have been in that school. The kids walk or ride their bikes to and from school once they are old enough.

The problem I see is that the children (and parents) I saw walking are the same parents I see every other day doing the same thing. Did I see any of the heavier kids walking? No, I did not. What are we teaching the kids if walking to school 1 day out of the school year earns you a prize? I guess it wasn't worth it to most of them whose parents were dropping them off. The school did set up a walking route for those who rode the bus to earn the prize. It consisted of walking around the school, 4 blocks!

The school has all but taken away recess. My 5th grader gets 1 recess a day and PE a couple times a week. In jr. high they have PE for 1 semester, the other is spent vegging out? So you know what I say "Practice what you preach" if the school wants children to be more active then they should offer more times during the 8 hour day to do so. Healthy lifestyles should be a journey not a destination.

Its amazing what can be accomplished in a day

The weather was beautiful yesterday so we tackled the huge project of removing the vine and brush that had swallowed up our fence and flower bed. I forgot to take a "before" shot but here's a "during" shot. About 25 feet of the fence, the tree and the flower bed was totally overgrown. The vine/bush was like one messy carpet, which made it tough to remove. It took us over 4 hours to pull out all of the vines and we even had the kids helping.

After the viney mess was removed we tilled up the area. We still need to fill the boxes, lay landscape fabric and rocks between the boxes, and install landscape timber. We will also have plenty of work ahead when we start planting. I also did a little work in the shade gardens. I added a few columbine, day lily, and bleeding hearts.

Garden plans

I have been very busy working in the shade garden, digging up and transplanting all the hostas from the front yard. I was able to take what was 7 very large hostas and divide then into over 45 smaller plants. My husband and I also spent one day hauling away all the yard debris and edging the sidewalks.

This weekend Bryan will be putting in 4 raised vegetable gardens. The kids are very excited to help and harvest. My strange children love garden fresh veggies, I'm not sure where they got that from.

We plan to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, sunflowers, corn, and the kids will have their own strawberry patch. I am extremely allergic to strawberry plants, so they will be responsible for taking care of that garden. I will also have some marigolds, cosmos, and lavender added in for color.

I had fun playing with Better Homes and Gardens' garden planning software. Although it only allows you to add a few garden structures and a handful of flowers are listed it is fun to play with.

Garden Path- extended

My daughter, The Boss, and I finished up the garden path before I left for the conference, which was wonderful. I still need to get more rocks to edge the path with but for now it is finished.

Seriously who breaks their arm sanding a door?

Yep you read that right, sanding this door ended with a trip to the Urgent Care Center and a pretty red splint.

(I had plans to paint this door to match the rest of the trim)

This weekend was beautiful so I decided to do some of the dirty work outside. I sanded this door that we picked up at the Antique Salvage and began sawing the trim for the front entryway.(the grain is so pretty that I am rethinking the paint and I may stain it to match the stairs)

I left the door propped up against the railing which turns out to be a really stupid decision. As I was cutting the trim a gust of wind blew the door over and it landed on my arm. It hurt like the dickens but after a little ice and ibuprofen I finished cutting and installing the trim.

(here is the trim work, this will continue up the stairs)

It really only hurt a little but it did bruise and swell up. I figured it wasn't to serious if I was able to use my hand. The next morning I couldn't move my wrist and my fingers were tingly so I made a trip to the Urgent Care. Sure enough I had cracked the bone in my forearm. I have a pretty splint that I get to wear for 10 days and hopefully I will be all better.

I am leaving for a weekend photography conference and luckily I can still hold my camera, so after a little relaxation and fun I should be back to working on the entryway next week.

I blinked

Everyone tells you to enjoy your children because in a blink of an eye they will be grown.

Well I blinked.

My oldest child, my baby, the tiny little girl who made me a mom is SEVENTEEN! How did it happen? Where did the years go? From the time she was born and we were told she would never walk, that she would endure many surgeries and struggles she has thrown life a curve ball. She is AMAZING...amazingly beautiful, amazingly smart, an amazing cook, and some times an amazing pain in the butt! We love her for everything she is.

Progress in the shade garden

I had already put in the path, but it was difficult to walk on the rocks so yesterday I decided to add the stepping stones and smaller pea gravel. It looks much better and for only $35 it makes a huge improvement to the shade garden. Now I am just waiting to see the rest of the plants come up so that I can begin filling in the bare spots.

I am also using a little child labor to get the fence painted.

Thursday Thoughts

The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? ~Psalms 27:1

My husband and I have been wrestling with a few major decisions for ourselves, our family, and our business. We have had our discussions, I have prayed for the knowledge to understand, and somehow I had not been able to find the peace I was looking for. After Bible study this week I had lunch with one of the ladies and what she told me has somehow soothed my mind and allowed me to see what needs to be done.

I told her of my fears of others thinking I was giving up or thinking of me as a failure. About how much stress I was feeling because even though it was not my intention the business was coming before my family. How dealing with some difficult people had ruined my passion for photography.

She told me, before everything else bring this to God. Allow him to be in control. To not allow my pride and worries of what everyone may think rule my decisions, to only look at how God looks at me. I left her house feeling so many emotions, but above all there was a PEACE that everything would be fine.

Darn you Jerusalem Star

These may look like cute little flowers but they have been nothing but a thorn in my gardening side for the 5 years we have lived here. They are biennials that reseed themselves. To remove them you have to dig up the grass like foliage including all the bulbs. Some of these bulbs are the size of an onion, but most are pea size and smaller. I have spent the afternoon cleaning them out of my shade garden and will work on the other garden this weekend. Here is a large patch in my shade garden. Each one of these bunches has a large bulb and 10-20 smaller bulbs that need to be removed.

It is actually pretty easy to dig them up, most of the bulbs are clumped together and very close to the surface. Some do require a little digging, usually 8-10 inches deep to remove the bulbs.

I read that to keep the star of Jerusalem from becoming invasive in your garden, clip the seed heads from the plant before they ripen. This has not worked so far, but hopefully once I get them thinned out they will be easier to control.

I have to say that they are very beautiful when they all bloom, which I allow in one large area of the yard. After they are done blooming we just mow them off. Here is my niece Miss AllieCat a couple years ago in the large patch of Jerusalem Star.

Garden Shed

Here we have the most uninteresting corner of my yard. You can see all the neighbors houses, the alley, and our ugly fences. We will be installing privacy fence, hopefully this summer. I would also like to include a cute little garden shed in this corner. Big enough to house our push mower and gardening tools. My only requests are for it to have a covered front porch, windows on each side and a big old door, other than that I am open to what ever my husband can put together.

I was able to pull together some inspiration images for him to go off of...

Tendonitis

After almost a week of living with the pain and swelling in his wrist I finally talked Bryan into going to urgent care. The doctor diagnosed him with tendonitis and he is now wearing a splint. Treatment is fortunately very inexpensive, ice, ibuprofen, and rest. Hopefully after 7-10 days he will be back to normal. The more I have read the more it sounds like it was using the sawsall that did the damage.

Sometimes the tendons become inflamed for a variety of reasons, and the action of pulling the muscle becomes irritating. If the normal smooth gliding motion of your tendon is impaired, the tendon will become inflamed and movement will become painful. This is called tendonitis, and literally means inflammation of the tendon. Performing repetitive finger and wrist motions or using vibrating equipment also heightens your risk of developing tendonitis in that area.

Finally finished with the Fireplace

I am so happy to be done with this project. It has taken almost 3 years from start to finish. I am waiting for a day with a little more available light to get some good shots, but here she is. Still a little naked until I can find the right accessories to dress her up, but she is beautiful.

Can you see the hutch on the left of the first image and peeking out on the right of the second image? That's right I painted that with a gorgeous robin's egg blue color. I still need to distress and add the glaze but she is already stunning.

My current project is scrapping the popcorn texture from the ceiling in the entryway. I will then give it a new skim coat of plaster and a coat of white paint. It really is a simple process but oh so messy. After that we can install the yet to be purchased light fixture. We still have not come to an agreement on which style we will be getting.

My dear hubby has been nursing an injured arm all week so he hasn't been able to help out on any projects. At first we thought he strained it while cutting out all the shrubs and the tree on Sunday. As the week progressed it became more swollen and he is not able to make a fist or grasp objects with it. I have tried to get him to go to the dr. but he keeps holding out. We'll see how the weekend goes, but if he can play the Xbox I'm almost certain it isn't broken!

Stocking the antique store

I moved into my booth at the antique store on 17th and I received a phone call yesterday that I really needed to bring in more items. It seems I sold a ton of things over the weekend! I wasn't quite ready to bring in more items, since I had only been to two auctions (one was a complete bust) and hadn't made it to any of the goodwills. I rushed around yesterday finishing up a few projects and priced enough items to take today.

This old bakers rack is definitely not an antique, but with a little bit of sheet music pulled from an antique hymnal it will look great on display.

This cute little plant stand was from an auction. It got a coat of white spray paint, then dry brushed blue, with a little distressing and wax it looks much better than before. Which reminds me to make sure to take those before shots.
I've seen these all over the web and I finally found a set of croquet mallets so that I could make one. It turned out to be a bigger project than originally thought. We broke off a drill bit and 2 screws before we were finished.

I'll try to take a picture of the booth today when I am out restocking.

Spring cleaning

The first day of spring was the perfect day for cleaning out the flower beds, which turned into removing the bushes and tree from the front yard.

After a little bit of this...

Some of this...
Lots of this...
Even more of this....

The front yard went from this...

To this...

We still need to pull out the stumps but that will wait until we can borrow a truck. I can't wait to redo the front garden.

While raking out the gardens we uncovered these!!

Nothing says SPRING more than new crocus popping up!