They say a picture is worth a thousand words, let’s see.
The towns that surround us were hit much harder than we were. Please keep the people of Central New York in your prayers. We have more rain in the forecast.
Archives for June 2013
It All Happened the First Week of Summer
One week of summer break down and I’m in love with life, even though it has rained nearly every single day. Despite the great deluges and mini-floods rushing down the street, the sun peaked out a time or two and believe me, as soon as the clouds parted, we ran for the door.
Chlorine dunked kids slathered in sunscreen smell good.
They do, for real, and I’ll take wet towels over wet boots and snowpants any day.
Sure kids have paraded in and out of the house all week, but I don’t even care if they leave the door open. I’m not worried about my precious heat escaping. So, come and go at will. No worries.
I didn’t bat an eye when I came home from getting my allergy shots the other day and my husband told me that girls opened my daughter’s window and proceeded to roll Squinkies down the kitchen roof. I mean, bowling Squinkies in the rain almost sounds fun. Sure I fear it may turn into children rolling down the roof in the rain, but those are tomorrow’s worries. Today, I will revel in the fact that they entertained themselves.
Little things become magical in summer.
One little boy at the pool mistook FringeMan for a professional wrestler. Even when FringeMan assured the child he was not the wrestler, the kid looked suspicious and kept probing.
I know FringeMan’s got the moves. He totally could have put on a show for this kid.
But, here’s what I need to know. Who moved the 4th of July to next week?
Is it nearly July? Already??
Maybe I’ve just been sniffing too many paint fumes, but time is rushing by faster than the water is rushing down my street. Someone tell it to slow down.
I actually heard a mommy utter the words school supplies the other day. I wanted to choke her. We haven’t even bought beach towels yet.
I did buy a proper animal print shower cap though. I know some of you are wondering if I’m still wearing a plastic bag on my head. No, I’ve upgraded, but I must be honest. The bag fit better. Whose head is that small? By the time I tuck my hair under, it look like I’m wearing a child’s swim cap. But, it’s Cheetah print, you know? So that makes me a young eight-two.
Speaking of shower caps and the nice man who works at our all purpose gas station / mini market and gives my husband extra bags for my head…
Last night I had a migraine. After a few hours with my head stuck under a pillow, I emerged the winner, a hungry winner who wanted to make popcorn. When my husband saw me rifling through the cabinets and counting corn kernels, he offered to fetch me a new bag. Only our super-station didn’t have popcorn.
What? No corn kernals or proper shower caps?? And you call yourself a respectable shop? I think not.
I’ll give it to the nice guy at the gas station though, he’s quick on his feet. He actually sent my husband over to the little theater in town to pick me up a bag of movie-theater popcorn.
Movie-theater popcorn is my love language.
Thank you FringeMan. You spoke pop-corn to my stomach and love to my heart.
……….that’s what I wrote last night.
……….this morning……….
I woke to a flood, raging rivers swirling around my house. We should be living on dry ground my friends, but no more.
A river runs through my basement (sounds like a movie or a song or something).
Our town is built in a giant valley with houses going up the mountains on either side. We live on one of the streets carved out near the top of the mountain, but the people on the bottom. It’s not good, not good at all.
It’s also still raining.
There are entire parts of town under water. People are canoeing down the streets.
Please pray the rain stops.
I know the sun will come out tomorrow, or maybe the next, but in the meantime, we’re flooding.
Summer Reading List – 2013
I love summer, because I feel like it’s ok to be lazy. Maybe this is just more of my twisted thinking, but when school lets out, I suddenly go on holiday in my mind.
Life is becomes all about easy meals and soaking up sunshine. It’s right and good to sit by the pool and chat with neighbors or catch up on your reading.
Everyone is nicer in the summer.
Have you noticed that or is it just my town? In cold places, it seems like everyone’s heart freezes a bit in the winter, but then spring comes and the hearts begin to thaw. By summer, it’s big smiles and trips to the ice-cream stand. I love it!
I don’t even think people who live in perpetual sunshine understand how good they have it.
All that to say, I’m working on my summer reading list. There are a few books that I’ve been meaning to read for a while now and so I begin today (provided my library has one of these books).
My Summer Reading List
Where’d You Go, Bernadette: A Novel
MINIMALIST PARENTING: Enjoy Modern Family Life More by Doing Less
The Paris Wife: A Novel
Theirs Is the Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
Savvy Chic: The Art of More for Less
Uglies (The Uglies)
Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris
Uglies is a YA book my son read for school this year. Ever since, he’s been telling me that I should read it. I guess it made a impact on him. It’s a must read for me.
Now, what I really want to know is what’s on your summer reading list?
Are there books I should add to my list??
Or, have you read any of the books on my list and hated them??? At your suggest I may skip one or more.
I’d love to know what you think.
This post contains affiliate links.
WIWW – My Husband likes My Ugliest Outfit
I’ve skipped WIWW twice, but this week I remembered to take pictures, almost every day. If you’re new around here, I attempt to participate in What I Wore Wednesday each week, not because I’m delusional and think I’m a fashionista, but for simple motivation. It embarrasses me into getting dresses and looking decent every day.
Not really, but some days, that’s absolute truth.
Other days, especially “work” days at home, scrubbing toilets and doing laundry, I wear lame outfits like this one.
Cropped Yoga Pants: Walmart, Thrifted Shirt: Goodwill, Long-Sleeved T-shirt: Hand-me-Down, Flip-flops – Walmart
Here’s the kicker. Every single time I wear these cropped yoga pants and this thrifted men’s shirt, my husband tells me I look cute. Every. Time.
I think I may be the luckiest woman on earth. Here I come Goodwill, because this washed out, soft shirt is the comfiest thing I own.
My mom totally surprised me with this outfit – the entire thing, even the flip-flops. I love it!
The other day I pulled up to the house with a car full of kids and one of them spotted the package waiting at my front door. As soon as the truck stopped, they all went running out to see who it was for. Some of these kids don’t even technically live in my house and they still went running for the package. Sheesh!
The greatest thing happened though, it was addressed to me and the contents were actually for me. Yippee!
Thank you mom. I love, love, LOVE this outfit! It’s cool and comfy.
She even bought a necklace. I love these multi-strand necklaces and it’s great colors. I know I can wear it with other outfits too.
I believe she bought the whole outfit from Kohl’s. Correct me if I’m wrong mom.
Shorts: Hand-me-Down, Shirt: GAP (years ago)
I think I’m going to trash these shorts. They’re a size too big and they fall down all day long. They really aren’t worth the effort it takes to keep them up.
Skirt & Top: Walmart, Necklace: Charming Charlies, Shoes: K-Mart
This is my super-comfy maxi skirt. I need to branch out and force some t-shirts to “go” with this skirt, so I can wear it more.
Skirt & Shirt: Old Navy, Shoes: Famous Footware (last year in Georgia)
I know this picture looks like I’m watching the pigeons to make sure they don’t poop on my head. What can I say? Sometimes there’s truth in pictures.
Skirt & T-Shirt: Old Navy, Flip-Flops: Walmart
This is another super-comfy outfit. I’ve about given up on shorts for summer. They don’t fit me correctly and they aren’t flattering. Skirts and dresses are so much easier. I don’t like to mess around with clothes in the morning. I just want to get dressed and go.
That’s what I wore this week. I think the warm weather is finally here to stay and I am glad. Very, very glad.
Now it’s your turn. What are you wearing this summer?
DIY Bathroom Renovation – Before & After
Since we’re all friends here, I’m going to ask you to show me a little grace. This post needs grace and maybe a teeny bit of imagination.
I’ve not claimed to be a style, DIY, or home blog. Not at all. I’m just living my little life in my tiny part of this world and sharing it with you – the good, bad, and ugly.
I’ve showed you a whole lot of ugly in my life, so these photos will be mostly good, but they’re lousy photos. This is where the real grace comes in.
There’s no natural light in my bathroom and me and my point-and-shoot camera can’t seem to get good pictures, so work with me please.
I painted my bathroom and I’m kinda in love with it.
On a whim, I loaded my kids in the car and went to Lowe’s. Now, this isn’t an advertisement for Lowe’s and they aren’t paying me for this post, but I’m pretty much in love with Valspar paint. It’s more the colors than the actual paint, but the paint isn’t so bad either.
For each season, they put out a new line of colors and they sell samples. I have 5 gallons of ugly baby mint green to prove I make bad decisions when all I have is a one inch paint chip to help me make color choices.
I very much appreciate seeing the mixed colors in a clear container. I can make good (possibly crazy) choices when I see the colors mixed.
If you have a small bathroom, go bold with color. I read that once and it has always stuck in my mind.
Since our bathroom is about 90% done (we still need trim), I decided to show it off.
Our bathroom has been a very difficult renovation. It was 1/2 the size (and it’s still small!) when we bought the house. We had to rip the entire floor, ceiling, and three walls completely out.
When I say “we”, I mostly mean my husband. I help and I clean up, but he does most of the actual work.
The plumbing has been our biggest nightmare.
That’s my animal print shower cap, because I’m like a feisty eight-two year-old woman. Now, we’re besties. You’ve seen it all folks. I don’t show just anyone my shower cap.
The clock is for fun. I wanted to add a few green accents and I truly love these kind of clocks.
My daughter and I went shopping for a green bathmat, but then we saw this beauty and we couldn’t resist.
I mean, how fun is an owl bathmat?
We even bought a hand towel to match. The coloring looks off, but it’s the same green that’s in the bathmat.
This next photo isn’t a true before and after, because I don’t have any photos of the real “Before”. This before is after it was renovated. We just made it useful and I always figured I would decorate it and add my personal touches at some point in the future.
It’s amazing the amount of personality a paint color can add to a room.
You can see, we don’t have a ton of storage. I have no linen closet anywhere outside of this room either. This is an old house and in the olden days, closets were not a necessity.
When we were working on the house, we picked up a book shelf at a yard sale and it ended up in the bathroom. It’s not the ideal storage, but we need a place to keep our toiletries, so this works. I would love to make doors for it one day, but hey, no one ever has to ask for a towel. They know right where to get one.
I plucked the metal baskets from a pile of garbage on the side of the road. I thought they were a pretty good find.
Paint: Vlaspar in Tropical Oasis
Mat & Hand Towel: Walmart
Shower Curtain: Goodwill
Clock: Walmart
Do you like the bold color choice or does it look like a giant, over-ripe blueberry?
Do you gravitate towards bright colors or a more soothing, natural color palette?
I’m linking this to Savvy Southern Style – Y’ALL.
Now, you know I am neither southern or savvy, but let’s just pretend, kay?
because parenting takes creativity, we’ve got Butt Roots
Last night I was lamenting photo-less weekend. “Now I won’t have a Hello Monday post for tomorrow.”
My son, the one who used the word auspicious in conversation just moments earlier said, “Have a Mom Monday instead.”
Now that’s not a bad idea, but it would require my children to do something funny, because let’s face it, the only mom moments you want to hear about involve laughter, or at least a snicker. My kids just aren’t that humorous any more. They grew up and now I live with little alien beings, who of course know it all and use three syllable words in conversations.
No fun!
“Why do you need us to do something funny?” My son asked. “We don’t do funny things.”
“Yes you do.” Pipes in my husband.
“Like what?”
“How about the butt roots?”
The butt roots were a family favorite. Seriously. They were a stroke of creative parenting genius on my part, right up there with Santa Claus seeing if you’re being naughty or nice.
“Oh, ya.” Said FringeBoy. “I actually thought about those other day.”
The story of butt roots goes something like this…
It was during our lazy, washed out Saturday that I may have altered the course of my son’s future. I wish I could say it was through a word of my own wisdom, a portion of Scripture, or a great piece of advice I’d clung to since childhood.
Unfortunately, I cannot.
It was rather through a rash outpouring of words so ridiculous I thought surely not even an eight year-old could mistake my fable for truth. Concerned as any responsible mother would be, I chided my cross-eyed children for being “couch potatoes”.
“What’s a couch potato?
Such a simple question…
The mere fact that a scrambled half-witted response flew from lips without reserve frightens me. The waters are so murky in the depths of my mind.
“A couch potato is someone who sits around watching TV for so long that roots start to grow from his bottom and they wrap themselves around the couch. The only cure is surgery.”
A more stupid explanation I doubt exists; however, my son epitomizes gullible.
His concern over “butt roots” (as we now refer to them) increased throughout the day. He became fearful reading would have the same planting effect.
Like a good mother I assured him butt roots were linked to excessive visual stimulation (for example, watching too much television).
I’m still amazed by how little TV he’s watched since. If only my twisted brain could have conjured such nonsense years earlier.
My only fear is a call from his teacher asking me to explain butt roots. Surely I’ll have to come up with a more scientific answer than I gave my son.
Years later, the fear of butt roots is still firmly planted in my son’s mind. He thought about them the other day when he and few of his friends were all sitting on the couch playing Minecraft.
Mom’s have a tough job. Sometimes we have to be creative, even if that means putting the fear of butt roots into our kids.
Now tell me, what is your most creative parenting trick?
DIY Marshmallow Shooter
I’m still coming to terms with the fact that I have a teen and tween.
News Flash: They aren’t babies anymore.
I get it. I get it.
What was fun for twelve years is now boring. They are stretching me. Causing me to be creative in a different way. I’m actually pretty good with a room full of five year old’s. I can cut and paste with the best of them, but things are different now.
They are also slightly more violent.
Wars, not international (of course!), are kinda fun for them. Water balloons, shaving cream, marshmallow shooters…whatever. They’d be just as happy with eggs, mud, or tar and feathers. As long as they can nail their friends with something messy, they all seem to be happy.
Even the big kids.
Party hats and goody bags are so yesterday. Today we declare war.
DIY Marshmallow Shooters
The marshmallow shooters may have even been a bigger hit than the shaving cream wars of last summer.
After we made forty, I said to my husband, “Gee, I’m handing out blow guns and bags of ammunition as party favors. I could make a parent or two mad.”
You think?
As it turns out, we must live in a town where shooting each other with mini-marshmallows is perfectly acceptable. Thank my lucky stars. I didn’t make anyone mad.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Sticks of PVC
- T-Connectors
- End Caps
For each marshmallow shooter, you will need one 2 inch piece, one 12 inch piece, one t-connector, one 5 inch piece and one end cap. Don’t skip the end cap or else it won’t work.
Follow the dimensions above and glue each part together with PVC cement.
We used a special pair of clippers to cut the PVC. My husband had them from when he redid the plumbing in our house. You can also use an electric saw or an old-fashioned hand saw.
You can pressure fit the pieces together, but they will come apart. Adding PVC cement only takes a second and is worth the effort.
Place the marshmallow into the mouth piece and give a big blow.
Just be careful your kids don’t put a toothpick in the marshmallow and blow those. Believe me, they’ll think of it eventually, because a dart gun sounds even cooler than a marshmallow shooter.
Have fun!
Disclaimer: This is all in the name of fun. I do not condone violence and I’m not teaching my kids it’s ok to shoot each other. They know the difference between real guns and marshmallow shooters. I hope you teach your kids the difference too. Then end.