OPAM, part 1

i was supposed to post a before photo at the beginning of the month, but i didn't.

also, i'm not really done. i'm painting the rest of the room a super-pale yellow, but i do have the rest of the week to finish!

(thank you thank you, hannah and betsey)

Happy Memorial Day!

went yardsale-ing again saturday but it was a wash (literally. everyone was rained out). I did get an old book of Tennyson's poems though.

we saw Indianna Jones. my hopes were kinda dashed. but my 7 year old liked it.

sunday was a lazy day of book reading and Settlers playing. also mega-ginormous-fort building. connor insisted on a peaked roof and so PVC pipe was employed. 3 quilts and two sheets were used to cover the outside. it was taller than i am.
and perfect for sitting in and watching dad play xbox. fletcher is physically incapable of not posing.
had a huge breakfast with friends this morning, made by the men. we ladies did yoga at hannah's house while they made it. ahhhh.

then i took the boys hiking.
went to home depot to get some paint swatches. i'm painting my living room! (oh i hope i don't forget to take before and after photos...yikes)

i'm super super torn because there are the colors i want more (a tuscan red/orange and a pale pale yellow) in one brand, and then there are similar colors from another company that makes eco- and kid-friendly paints that don't stink. it's just that the red has more blue than i want and the yellow is a bit... dingy looking. Craig is afraid the red might end up looking a bit pink on the walls and that would be a major catastrophe.

sigh. this going green business is stressful. and hard. but i am totally perservering here.

for several years, every summer, we make smoothies every single day. then the weather gets cold again and we lose all desire for them, until the next year. this is how i started:

ice
yogurt
frozen fruit
a banana
a couple of tablespoons frozen apple juice concentrate
milk

we eventually realized that the juice concentrate wasn't necessary. the smoothie was sweet enough without it.

but i've been reading a couple of blogs, (namely em's) and there's been a "green smoothie" callenge recently (which i missed, and i'm not sure that i'm sad about it) which got me to thinking.

so i tried spinach in a smoothie the other day. not very much. hardly any, really.

no difference in taste.

so this morning i added a big ol' handful of the stuff - and i threw in a tablespoon of the juice concentrate, just in case. my blender can't hack this kind of blend unless there's liquid in there, so I added about a cup of orange juice (for breakfastyness).

it was actually too sweet. I may have to take out the concentrate and the yogurt next time.

so maybe i will actually end up going "green". It's all about the baby steps.

glorious garage sales

craig and i went garage-sale-ing for our date saturday. we had so much fun that craig insists we go every single weekend for the rest of our lives. (i think it's just because he got the awesomest deal) i totally fell in love with this wooden box, and the tin on top. i'll think of something to use them for. :)
craig informed me that this bed cover was the most hideous piece of fabric he had ever seen and that if i bought it he would vomit each time he walked into the house and saw it.

i told him i could probably make a bean bag out of it, and sell it, and he was just fine with that.
some hand-crocheted pieces. the square i'm thinking of cutting in half diagonally and putting over a skirt, front and back. the thin piano cover below i'm going to dye, and then back with some kind of wonderful fabric, and wear as a scarf.
but the best deal indeed was craig's. He got all this loot for $20. he threw away between 20 and 30 pens, but still had enough to cover the table. He even made a couple of gift bags for some artist buddies of his, and had tons and tons left over. the man was in heaven, he was so happy.

he felt bad for the seller, for a bit, thinking the guy must be kicking himself for letting it all go so cheap. but he got over it.

every once in awhile connor informs me that he will be dictating a story to me. it is at this time that i am expected to rush around as fast as i can to grab pencil and paper, and then i must tell him to "stop a minute" every few seconds so i can catch up.

the other day he told me he was writing a poem. except that I was going to actually do the writing, naturally.

I thought that my husband's recent picture went with it well:

Wild Things
by connor

At night is when the wild things wake up.
When you sleep is when they wake up.
But you don't see them you think them.
And you see them in your dream.
So next time why don't you start thinking
about the Wild Things before you go to bed?

connor was very proud of this poem. for some reason he thought he was very avant garde for not making it rhyme.

Cinnamon Rolls

these are WaySuperEasy!

2 1/4 c. bisquick
2/3 c. milk

(it's the same as the biscuit recipe on the bisquick)

roll it out into a rectangle
brush it with loads of butter
shake on some (lots!) of sugar and cinnamon

cut, put on a pan, and bake for 8-10 minutes on 450.

icing: lots of powdered sugar with a touch of water. mix. drizzle.

EAT! YAY!

One project down!  Nanette and I helped Hannah get ready for her Harbor Cruise (it was her graduation party) last night.

It was very very fun! I love love love experimenting with other people's hair. :)  I wish I could see my own hair well enough to do this stuff on myself! 

Here's the dress! It turned out really great! She said she got a lot 0f compliments on it. 

*my work here is done*

Happy Mother's Day

happy day to all of my mommy friends and loved ones. what a good job you all do. every day i am inspired by all of the fantastic women in my life. you guys rock.

thanks, Mom, for being my mom.

Thanks for being brave enough to keep me, even though you were on your own.
Thanks for making the decision to raise me in the church even though you didn't have a lot of support.
Thanks for being really easy to talk to, and for being a fantastic friend.
Thanks for showing me how to be creative, and for letting me watch you work for hours and hours so I could learn those skills.
Thanks for treating me, as a kid, like I was someone worth having an adult conversation with.
Thanks for never being horrified, even when I made a horrible decision.
Thanks for being an awesome grandma to my kids. They sure do love you.

I love you, too.

KEY LIME PIE

I got this recipe from kristen a. and i have no idea where she got it so if it's some kind of total copyright infringement then i'm, you know.

really sorry.

here it is:

1 container cool whip
1 can sweetened condensed milk.
whip
add juice of 10 key limes
pour into prepared crumb crust.
refrigerate.

how easy is that?! SO EASY! and, very very scrumptious.

So far this week: 9 miles walked. 90 more minutes exercised. yay, me!

Progress! Hannah's dress fabric is all cut out. I made her buy over 3 yards too much lining. I am lame.
I have all of the napkins cut out! My brand new rotary blade (thanks, Hannah) lasted until just before i finished. it's already not cutting properly in one spot.
i also did some avoidance:

this book has a lot of bad words in it.

HA! I found my camera. (it was not in the freezer)

i checked out a book from the library called Nature Crafts by Joy Williams. it has instructions for these little clay tiles. (they are about as big as the palm of my hand. i don't have small hands) they are made from self hardening clay, decoupage glue (I used Mod Podge) and bits of nature. The boys had a great time finding stuff to put on them, and they dry to touch in about a day - dry totally in 2-3 days. you can see connor's is beginning to lighten in places where it's dried and hardened.
can you guess what craig got from his buddies for his birthday? can you? the boys are in heaven. i find the wii-mote control a bit more frustrating than the gamecube controller, but MarioKart is MarioKart. It has to be loved.
here's hannah's dress. look how far i've gotten! fabric! (isnt' this pretty? hannah was torn between this and a deep burgundy. but only for a second) i made the muslin last week, and we had a fitting. all i can say is thank goodness we did because that sucker was more than 2 sizes too big! what was up with that? so much for measurements.
this blue and white is the fabric that chellie bought (from ralph lauren) (on freaking Rodeo Drive) (she could not even bring herself to tell me how much it cost on sale, WITH an employee discount from a friend) for her wedding napkins. i have not met chellie but she seems very nice. her husband works with my husband. i told her that her 84 wedding napkins would probably be done today, but here's the fabric. still on the bolt.

why?

because i am terrified to cut it.

terrified. (thanks, Dad, for understanding my pain).

I'm going to go now. And cut that fabric. Very, very, carefully.

edit: of course chellie's husband does not work with my husband, because then she would have no business planning a wedding. her fiance works with my husband.

i cannot find my camera.

this angers me.