A tender heart

I packed a care package for the Marine yesterday. It was sitting on the kitchen table last night, box still open.

Blonde rascal wrote a note for his brother and put it in the box. Then he went off to his room and came back with an armful of Hot Wheels. He put the cars in the box and I asked him if the cars were for his brother. (His brother would totally understand that gesture because anyone who knows blonde rascal, knows that he has 9 million Hot Wheels and loves EACH individual one. It would be a significant symbol of love to be given one of his cars!)

However blonde rascal said that no they were not for his brother, they were for the Afghan children.

Big tears streamed down my face, my heart bursting. He gets it. How proud that made me.

At bedtime we prayed for each child in Afghanistan that the Marine will be giving blonde rascal's cherished Hot Wheels to. Prayed that they would not have fear and that they would know that there is a God that loves them.

I probably should go check blonde rascal's Christmas list now...there might be a plea for more Hot Wheels!

The Chair

I finally finished the chair.

There it is before, my little lavender Craigslist chair & ottoman number, in what I have claimed as my little reading nook.
I simply cut the fabric according to what section it was going on, pinned it all together right side down. Took it off, sewed it up, then turned it right side out and slipped it on. The sewing was a little difficult because of the curves...but it is a shabby slipcover, so wonky seams are part of its charm. Right?
There is someone always jumping into my shots...If it is not that one, then it is this one....
Not to mention a hazard to my feet while snapping pictures because of this...


You'll notice the big black hutch thing from the before picture is gone. That is the rest of the story. Hubs thought the hutch took up too much room. I was not offended by this because, first of all, it itself was an affordable Craigslist find from a few years ago that I bought for our old house, not some expensive piece I had pined over for years. Second of all, that meant I would have to scrounge around and find something new to put there. It's a good thing that rearranging furniture is my most favorite thing to do. Hubs never has much of an opinion about decorating (mainly because he knows things get moved around so often) so when he does, I know it is a valid point.

The one and only thing to do was to head off to my most favorite spot in our new little town. A ginormous junk store. It is ha-uge and crammed full of crap juntiques and treasures.

This is only one level. It goes on and on. See the hole in the ceiling. It's a classy place. I kind of itch and wheeze when I leave but it sure is fun to prowl around.

I spied the perfect piece....
See it under all the "treasures"?

It had no mirror and no knobs, but after a little cleaning it was a real beauty!


When we bought the house there was a little opening of spindles in that wall. Spindles scream 80's, yes? So we made the spindles go away.

Here is the before, when the previous owners still lived here...
...and now....

p.s. Today is our anniversary! 14 years of wedded bliss to my favorite person!

p.p.s. Happy Veteran's Day! To all veterans and current military...a great big hug and a thank you!!

p.p.p.s Go find lots more ideas and inspiration on DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land!

Oh. My. Gosh.

We are having company over tonight. Late last night I made these to serve for dessert.

I believe it would be in your best interest to make some. Today. Do not hesitate, do it now.

For the love of all things sacred, it is apple pie in your hands people.

What are you doing still sitting there reading this?? Go! Go peel and chop some apples. Round up all the butter in the fridge. Apples cancel out the naughtiness of butter, you knew that right?

And don't dawdle on Meg's blog, it is totally delightful yes, make the bars first and then go peruse her blog....with apple pie in your hand.

Oink.

Eau du Toilette

It sounds so (did I spell it wrong?) sophisticated when spoken in French conjuring up images of a lovely perfume.

As opposed to here in West Texas where it would be, and especially in our case this week, "EWWWWWW... the toilet?"

At our house the past couple of months there has been this random waft of sewer odors on one end of the house. There was no rhyme or reason to when we would smell it, so we imagined it to be a vent pipe clogged up or something.

We are having family here for Thanksgiving so I wanted to rectify the random poo smell problem.

I called the plumber this past week and he crawled under the house, lucky man, only to find that the pipe to the master bath toilet had come loose.

Sewage under our house. Sewage that in a perfect world goes to the septic tank. That explains a lot, yes? I was mortified on so many levels. He said that the kitchen sink was tied in to all of that, so there was also food decomposing on top of the ewww the toliet!

He repaired that and the sewage smell is gone. Thank you Jesus.

In other news, thank you for all the prayers and kind wishes for our American Soldiers. After I posted that, we have not gotten any more phone calls reporting attack. Instead the Marine has told us interesting stuff. Like how it is so hot that he sat the instant mac-n-cheese, that I sent him, on the hood of his crane and within 10 minutes it was cooked. He also said that the Iraqi people are appreciative of the soldiers being there. And how the soldiers interact with the Iraqi children. That makes me feel good. He is being moved to Afghanistan in a few days...and that does not make me feel so good. More prayers.

Last weekend I experienced one of the best days of my life.

This.........got covered up.
I will not think of that pool again for 4 or 5 months, when with much regret we uncover it again! Covering it was a major pain in our bottoms. It took all dadgum day as you can tell by the night sky in the after picture. Think trampoline like material being stretched over a body of water, with much of it sinking while trying to hook the springs down. Nightmare I tell you. Good thing we bought the house with the pool already there, because I hate to think HOW upset I would be if I had spent 30K or whatever it cost, on nothing more than a thorn in my side.

So, Thanksgiving at our house. The countdown begins. The honey do list is getting longer every day. Hubs loves that. My list is kinda worrisome. For starters I must recover my lovely lavender Craigslist chair & ottoman in my little reading corner.
I am terribly intimidated by this project. Wish me luck as I am starting on it today.

Mommas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be....Soldiers

There is our Marine on the right, live from Iraq! It makes us so happy to see that boy with his cute smirk on his face. The fully loaded automatic weapon he is holding is a little disturbing... but I am glad he has it.

I wish he was here. Here loafing around on our couch. Overdrawing his account. Skipping his cell phone payments. Generally driving us crazy. All of that seems like such a better option now.

His unit has been attacked twice in the past week. He called last week after fighting for like 12 hours. He admitted to hubs that was scared for his life during those 12 hours. There were no fatalities, but some of the guys had to be flown out. They wear all that protective gear thank goodness. The marine told us that he does have cuts and bruises from the shrapnel.

He called hubs yesterday to tell us they had been under attack again. He said he now has trouble sleeping....flashbacks.

On the days we get those calls I turn into a big fragile emotional blob of jello. It is almost too much information to handle. The days between the calls I am able to stay strong and pray. I know the only humanly possible thing I can do is pray.

One side of me wants to call the president and scream at him to send our soldiers home. That part of the world has been fighting since the start of time, and I don't believe anything we do will stop that.

But, alas I am not in charge. (Thank goodness, huh?) Our Intelligence Agencies are privy to more information than we could even be able to imagine or handle. I have to trust their judgement.

Our son voluntarily joined The Marines and when he did, he swore to obey the orders given to him. He is doing his job and I am so proud of him for that.
Today as we all go about our mundane daily activities...grocery shopping, homework, Starbucks, watching TV, blow drying our hair, blog surfing (not that I do that), eating dinner with our family...and do it all in peace without fear of attack, think of our soldiers who could be fighting for their lives at this very minute across the globe. Pray for the safety of those brave men and women.

And for crying out loud when you come across a member of the military...pat them on the back and thank them.

The quilty shack is no place for a 9 year old boy

Edited to add: Some words have been highlighted like they are a link, and they are, a link to games or stuff for sale. I didn't do this and it does not show up on the Html so I can't remove them...hmmmm has my blog been attacked? Don't click on them!)

The feature about this house that sold me was not the porches, cozy interior, the damn pool or the pretty surroundings. No sir, the quilty shack was the clincher for me. Yup, the outbuilding that the previous owner was using as her hair salon had quilty shack written all over it. It was what made me sign on the ''x".

I have not had time to sew at all since we moved and it was a disaster of epic proportions.

The Marine's best friend from high school got married last weekend. We have known this kid since The Marine was in 8th grade. I spent many years yanking him around by the ear, smacking the back of his head, feeding him... you know just like he was one of mine.

He married his high school sweetheart whom we have also known for years. So I decided these two deserved a quilt as a wedding gift.

In preparation for this I had to get the quilty shack in working order.

I chose a Saturday a few weeks ago and set about organizing the chaos.

My 9 year old shadow decided to "help" me. While I was trying to organize, he was bringing stuff in that he thought would be fun to have in the quilty shack.

For instance, his gumball machine...which he decided to take apart....

The remote control fart machine...Which let's be honest, no sewing room would be complete without one.


The cat...
Cars...

And of course what every boy leaves behind......a muddy floor!!

In the cabinet in the little bathroom he deposited Oreos and Cracker Jacks.......the child goes no where without snacks.

Despite all my "help" I managed to get the shack organized at least enough to sew in.

And I happily unearthed a completed quilt top that only needed quilting and binding. Ahhh a quick wedding gift!


So the wedding was Saturday evening, at the bride's house, outside. Don't let me forget to mention we had a cold snap Saturday...and it was 44 degrees at the time of the outdoor wedding.The poor sweet bride said she was numb.

So was I. Sitting in that metal chair in 44 degree weather. I pondered during the ceremony if it would be rude to go unwrap and snuggle up with my wedding gift?

Thou shalt not covet.

But you will.

A few weekends ago MIL and I went to visit hub's aunt and uncle in Weatherford.
We had a grand time, as we always do.

Dear sweet talented Aunt Gay, who I have mentioned before is my quilting muse, gave me the most wonderful quilt she made for our new house. And I should mention it is perfectly charming. And I completely adore it. And no you can't have it. (By the way, hubs still holds his Aunt Gay responsible for strong arming him into buying me what he considered a ridiculously expensive sewing machine. Man I love that woman....and my Pfaff)
You're kinda coveting right now aren't you?

I think I have read somewhere that it is ok to covet...handmade quilts.

It's shaping up to be a great weekend.

Hi. It's me again. A month since my last post? That is terrible. So much to say, so little time.

I'll be brief.....12 million things on the list today. Including touring the original jail on our little town square. Riveting.

For Mother's Day I was so generously and kindly given a gift certificate for a spa day at the local spa. For a small town, we have a really nice, upscale, state of the art spa. Weird huh?

Anyway the day finally rolled around where a day at the spa fit into my schedule. Yesterday. I was so excited.

It started with a facial. Glory be. I believe that is what Heaven will be like. Streets of gold sound nice and everything, but seriously facials are where it's at.

Then on to a short stay in a sauna. With a bottle of water, that slipped out of my greasy hands (the facial included a hand and foot treatment) and made it look like I peed on the floor of the sauna.

Next up the massage. She first used some sort of belt sander like massager that was just out of this world. She said my shoulders were a mess of knots. Welcome to the last 6 months of my life lady. She had hot stones and hammers and all kinds of nonsense going on with those shoulders.

I was a limp noodle after that.

She left me at the end of the massage to go fill a deep claw foot tub with hot water and sea salts for me, to soak out the toxins she had just massaged out. She returns to retrieve me...with a big pina colada in her hand just for me. Oh mama.

I get out of the tub and go to get dressed, as it is now time for my mani/pedi. While I am getting dressed my phone rings and it is the school nurse telling me blonde rascal threw up. Nice. That is not appropriate talk for spa day.

Hubs was out of town, so I reschedule my mani/pedi (darn I have to go back) and take my pina colada breath self to the school to pick up my son. Classy.

B.R. was a reflux baby and so now he has a hypersensitive gag reflex. He was fine. He told me he had the hiccups and that made him throw up. You know the school does not care why, they just want the potential germs out of the building! I totally agree with that, so blonde rascal had a few extra hours of afternoon fun together.

Last night we went to the high school football game. B.R.'s school is t-i-n-y.... 6 man football. I had never seen 6-man. Wow, that is some crazy football. It is funny how 60 degrees in football stands feels like 40. I had a little blanket and was still cold! I am going to have to make an orange and black quilt for football games.

Hubs decided that he needed to get on a healthy eating plan. During the start up of our new business and moving....we have been eating like crap. Which let's be honest make you then feel like crap. He did some research and came across Jay Robb's diet. It nothing difficult, just healthy eating and eliminating processed food.

Hello? That is what we all should be doing. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon with him. This plan starts with a 3 day fruit flush. Sounds fun huh? Flushes out the toxins and food addictions/potential food allergies etc.. so they say. Day one is protein shakes every 2 hours and then veggies and protein for dinner. By the 2nd protein shake I was about to puke. Yuck. I stuck with it though and made it to day 2 and 3 where you eat fruit every 2 hours until dinner. I love fruit. Love it. But dadgum I was sick of fruit and SOO hungry.

Hubs lost 7 lbs after the 3 day fruit binge. I lost 2. Go figure.

Monday started just the healthy eating plan. Let me tell you how good we feel. Wow, who knew eating right would do that? It is remarkable. It is basically (all fresh) fruits, veggies and protein, with some natural fats thrown in.

I weighed this morning and had lost 5 lbs. this week. I have thankfully never had to diet, but could loose 15 lbs. if I wanted to be at my pre-pregnancy weight. Suppose I could do that by simply eating healthy! Duh.

The cool apart about this healthy eating lifestyle plan is that for one hour, on one day out of the week you can eat whatever the heck you want.

We have chosen Saturday nights as our free hour.

Do you know where we are going tonight? A wedding reception in the big city. Do you know that it is going to be down right embarrassing how much I consume in one hour tonight? I am going to be hunkered down over a plate for one hour shoveling food into my mouth. At least that is the "carrot on a string" that has been leading me all week. The sad part is that I am sure my stomach has shrunk and I will be full after 10 bites.

I will however, and this is a promise, be having cake. The brides cake, the grooms cake and whoever elses cake I can find.

I am going to make a complete spectacle of myself. Blonde rascal is entertained by this. He envisions his mom pushing people out of the way for food. It could happen.

Yep, it's shaping up to be a good weekend around here. How about you?

Things

#1. Blonde rascal, while getting ready for bed the other night, asked when we were going to clean the house. I said "huh?" while looking around his bathroom which was clean, well relatively for the most part clean. He said "You know put all the papers, stuff and boxes away".
Hmmmm...good question.

#2. Took the Missy to the vet yesterday for shots. She was NOT impressed and they had to muzzle the little beast. She weighed in at 16 lbs. Ummmm.... miniature dachschunds technically max out at 10lbs. She is a healthy, solid little booger with lots of hair. Additionally she does run all the live long day (when she is not in someones lap) and we all know muscle weighs more than fat. She is just fluffy in my opinion.

#3. I firmly explained to hubs last weekend that my new work schedule at the office would be Monday and Wednesday. No questions asked. I indeed did work my scheduled days this week. Plus Thursday and Today. Appartently he misunderstood me. This schedule explains #1.

#4. I ordered an Ab Lounge Rocket something or other on Amazon today. (I AM "working" today, just in between blogging and ordering things on Amazon.) Since blonde rascal is 9 years old now, I have decided it is time for the baby bulge pouch thing to go away. I am thinking that after my runs in the mornings I can hobble over to the Ab Rocket and knock out a few crunches. That is the plan anyway. Supposidly the Ab Rocket massages your back while you are crunching. Sounds fab, I'll let you know how that works.

#5. I made Snickerdoodles yesterday to send to the marine. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the box to get there and if the cookies are anything more than crumbs at that point.
Snickerdoodles. Yum. (Explains the need for #4, being pregnant 9 years ago is kind of a lame crutch at this point, no?)

#6. The marine says that Iraq is hell. 130 degrees. He asked us to send him some Under Armour boxers. Apparently your drawers get a little sweaty in that kind of heat. I went to Amazon to order the boxers (see I was on Amazon for a good reason...the comfort and well being of our soldiers) and lordhavemercy Under Armour boxers are like $15 A PAIR. For those of you who know me as the frugal shopper, this was a painful purchase! But at this point I would do whatever the boy wants. So that was my legitimate reason for being on Amazon this morning....and we all know how ridiculously fun it is to browse on Amazon.

#7. I love how Fall is in the air. It is still in the 90's during the day, but the mornings on my porch....oh joy I can feel it coming. I am cold weather girl so I am anxiously awaiting those crisp days! (You too Mary?) I bought my favorite Yankee Candle this week....Pumpkin Spice. It is dreamy.

#8. I am just dying to start up my sewing again and put my quilty shack to good use. The poor cute little shack that looks exactly like it did when I moved all my sewing stuff into it, what 5 months ago? It is still a deplorable mess of boxes and stuff stashed and chaos. So sad. (See #3....work schmerk.)

#9. It is a long weekend! Yay! I WON'T be working this coming Monday. No sir! Thank you Labor Day!

The Creek Bed

In wandering around our property, blonde rascal discovered a little run off creek bed. He has since claimed it the ultimate boy space.

He took me to see it Monday after school. He was so proud of himself because he had chopped down a wayward branch with a little saw.
As we walked to the creek bed, the 3 amigos of course tagged along.

Bianca will follow blonde rascal to the ends of the earth. That is what she does...she is as loyal as the day is long.


Missy, on the other hand, while being somewhat loyal......came along mainly out of concern that Bianca will get more attention than she will.

Not to mention she is always looking for someplace new to get dirty.
The 3rd amigo, A.J., who thinks she is a dog, naturally joined in on the adventure.
Blonde rascal was investigating, he found some sort of wild gourd that he split open.

He claimed he felt kinda like Surviorman, we love that show at our house.

There were rocks to be moved...
...in order to build car garages of course!
There was even some kissing going on in the creek bed....
We had to watch out for these......ouch!


A.J. was in a constant state of adorable kitten pounce readiness...
Blonde rascal played with his trucks......he was in heaven.

I sat there and soaked it all in. It was a beautiful afternoon, rather relaxing in that little creek bed. Blonde rascal chatted away happily. Telling me which of his cars would work the best in the dirt and slopes. How he wanted to put some r/c all terrain vehicles on his Christmas list, to drive in the creek bed. Perhaps we could build a fort down there where he could store his bb gun and a lantern and snacks. Campfires and tents were discussed.

It was time to start dinner and homework so he parked his cars in a hollowed out tree.
We headed back to the house, blonde rascal still chatting away and I felt supremely content. At that moment there is nowhere else in the whole world I would have rather been, than in that dried up creek bed with my favorite 9 year old.