Mid-May Madness

Hello, Friends!

While I am happy to report that May 2011 is not half so crazy as May 2010, it is holding it's own.  Last year, our elementary school was closed after the last day of school, so we had all kinds of sentimental memorial stuff going on, plus 5th grade graduation and middle school orientation and a long list of assorted other events.  But this year, we do have Endeavor's track meets and a few other upcoming end-of-school activities.  Good times.

Check out Endeavor after her last track meet:

I'm pretty proud of Endeavor.  For the life of me, I cannot remember how we convinced her to run cross-country and track this year.  She wasn't too sure about it, to begin with.  Practices are tough.  But Endeavor stuck with it, and she's seen some major improvement in her running times.  She's also found that she feels less stressed about school on the days that she runs.  I'm just happy she's found something she enjoys doing for exercise that she'll be able to do anywhere, anytime.

And here we have Justone at the district art exhibition.  His art teacher selected some of his work for display.

April Recap

This is by no means an exhaustive recap of the month of April.  Just a look at some of the fun we've had.  And, um, that doesn't mean the things that weren't photographed weren't fun, right?  Right.

My sister came to visit for Easter weekend.  Looking for someplace fun to take her that wasn't too far away, we took a chance and went to an Earth Day festival downtown.  A good time was had by all.  Probably because just about every booth at the festival was handing out freebies.  What's more green then FREE?

Bionic Man and Justone were fascinated by the hybrid vehicles.  Unfortunately, those weren't free.

Face painting, on the other hand, was free.

Monday

Hello, Friends!

I have been curiously absent from the blog lately, have you noticed?  My reasons are really not earth shattering, but I do have reasons:

• I started attending early-morning fitness boot camp.  It starts at 5:15 A.M., M/W/F, and I have to leave my house by 5:05 sharp if I want to arrive early enough to keep from getting singled out by one of the instructors to do push-ups in front of everyone.  I am absolutely not the kind of gal who feels the need to put on make-up or even run a brush through my hair anytime before 8 A.M., especially if I'm going to be sweating.  (There is a lot of sweating going on at boot camp.)  However, I really don't like to sweat when wearing glasses, and my eyes just can't handle waking up and immediately getting contact lenses jabbed into them.  So, my alarm is getting set for 4:35 A.M. three days a week.  It's killing me, I tell you.
• So, since I'm getting up super early, I'm trying to make a dedicated effort to go to bed as soon as I get my kids in bed.  Some nights that works better than others.  But it's killing my blogging time!  You know that quiet two hours between kids' bedtime and grown up bedtime?  That's perfect for writing. That time is gone to me, now.  With the wind.
• My sewing machine is giving me palpitations.  Seriously, I have nearly said several naughty words about it in the last week.  My curtain project has been totally derailed.  It caused me to have such a tearful, dramatic outburst on Saturday that my husband was almost moved to hand over the checkbook so I could go get a new machine one.  I was sorely tempted to sob a couple more times to seal the deal, but in the back of my mind I had a sneaking suspicion that PMS might be more to blame than the actual machine.....so I agreed to call a repair shop, first.  After all, it is a vintage machine, and that's so on trend.  I've never been so on trend before in my life.
• I've been on two field trips in the last two weeks, track meets began, it's teacher appreciation week, and we had the Pinewood Derby.  Need I say more?

Oh, also....I started another round of the Game On Challenge.  Considering how many push-ups and squats I've been doing for the last few weeks, I should be seeing some serious results, this time around.  Shouldn't I?  If I don't, that vintage sewing machine might get thrown out a second-story window.  I'm just saying.

Spring Decor: Burlap and Birdies Wreath

I made a spring wreath today for my front door.  Want to see?

It was pretty easy, once I worked out a few details.  These were the basic supplies:

1 large styrofoam wreath form

Burlap 

Fabric Quarters

Lost and Found

Lost: simple, thick wedding/anniversary band.  Given to me on our 10th wedding anniversary by the Bionic Man.  It is tungsten, which means it is shiny, almost black, and extremely cool.  Tungsten is the strongest metal known to man, which means it doesn't scratch.  Perfect anniversary gift.  Discovered it was missing at a rest stop in Franklin, Tennessee.  Don't remember taking it off.  (I never take it off!)  I'm distraught.  Praying I will find it in my luggage.

Found:  the sweater I didn't think I had packed.  In the luggage.  There is hope for the ring, isn't there?

Lost:  the horrible chest cold I had when we left on our spring break vacation.  It is almost completely gone, poof!

Found:  the cure for the common cold!  The medicinal properties of lying on a beach have not been sufficiently studied.  I tell you, all it took was a day lying in the warm sun on a Florida beach for me to feel like a new woman.  Stuffy nose and cough, gone.  {snaps fingers}  Like that!  Next time I get sick, I'm ditching the Mucinex and going to the beach, instead.

The Great Sort

There is a semi-annual ritual at our house each spring and each fall which I refer to as The Great Sort.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it?  A little like Hogwarts?  Unfortunately, there are no banquets or sorting hats involved, which might be nice.  The assistance of a sorting hat would be appreciated, and goodness knows I'm pro-banquet.  Note that I didn't say that, unlike Hogwarts, no witches or warlocks are involved in The Great Sort, because (also, unfortunately) I'm usually a witch by the time The Great Sort is over.  Frankly, there is really nothing great about the semi-annual Great Sort.

Spring Inside My House

*Still experiencing technical difficulties with my camera.  

If my pictures all look like beaded board paneling, it's not just you....or your screen.  Sorry!  

(Good way to see how beaded board would look in my house, though.  Hmmm....)

I spent Saturday morning getting my house ready for spring.  And I spent Saturday night cleaning up the mess that I made!  It is sooooo nice to have a clean kitchen floor.  We were long overdue for mopping.

I tried something new, this year, on the mantel.

Other years, I have had an Easter tree there, like this one.  (This year I moved the tree to our our kitchen bar.)

 I have a lot of fun switching out my mantel decorations for different seasons and holidays.  Remember this?

Well, now it looks like this:

*Again, I apologize for the poor picture quality!  Maybe a new camera is in store for my upcoming birthday?  

Bionic Man, are you out there?  Are you reading this?  

For spring, I rearranged my apothecary jar collection around a vintage window.  


The window came from our first home, which I now refer to lovingly as our "Connecticut Cottage." (With a name like that, you'd think I spent weekdays at my Park Avenue penthouse, wouldn't you?)  Our first home needed lots of updates and renovations.  This sweet window was being used as the top half of a corner built-in hutch that had to be removed during the remodel.  The hutch was darling, so the Bionic Man disassembled it carefully.  We could never find another place to put it in the house.  I had our movers box it up and ship it halfway across the U.S. when we moved to our current home.  It's been waiting out in the garage for me to decide what to do with it, ever since.


Well, on Saturday I finally decided:  it should go on my mantel!  Only problem was, it was too tall to sit with the arch on top, as I originally intended.  But that's okay, because I kind of like things to be a little quirky and imperfect.  Besides, the door handle provided the perfect spot for hanging a spring wreath.

The vintage window is painted kind of a muted mustard color, which--I admit--really isn't one of my favorite colors.  I've always intended to paint it white, but obviously I've never got around to that.  When I realized that it actually complimented the colors of eggs in this wreath, I decided sometimes procrastination really pays.  Add that to the fact that I still haven't finished my Marathon Painting Project, so the wall is still Gacky Sage, and you have a room that happens to totally coordinate with this wreath.  Wow!  (Thank you Christmas Tree Shops, for selling this egg wreath last year!)

One of the fun things about my spring mantel is that nothing I put on it is new.  Like the window and wreath, I was able to repurpose decorative items I already had.  With the exception of the moss in the tall apothecary jar:  I bought a bag of that at Home Depot to put on some of my potted plants, and then decide to throw some in a jar.  Very organic, eh?  Not to mention very cheap.

There are a couple of things I like to incorporate every time I decorate the mantel.  This little Willow Tree figurine is one of them.  The balloon the child holds has the word "hope" written inside.  I love that.  See, I used it in my winter mantel, too:

One of the reasons I like apothecary jars is that they give me so many fun options.  The same jars can be used in different ways, filled with a variety of objects.  This spring, I've filled them with nests and eggs.  (And moss.  Can't forget that moss!)  Apothecary jars have to be the most versatile decorative elements since......um......since I don't know what. ( If you want to learn how to get your own collection without spending a mint at Pottery Barn, go here.)  It is sooooo simple to just replace the fillers for one holiday/season with fillers for another holiday/season.  You don't need to spend money on those fillers, either.  I used marshmallows for Valentine's Day.  Spools of thread, old buttons, rocks, seashells, little collections.....find a unifying theme (or not) and toss them all in your jars.  

I really like the way the birch bark candle looked with everything else.  And my little woodland critter.  My mantle looks just the way spring looks outside my window, right now: lots of brown, lots of texture, and just a few muted colors.  


I carried this brown and green and natural yellow theme over to the bookshelves next to the mantle.  

I really like this picture frame.  Found it on sale at the Christmas Tree Shop right before St. Patrick's day.  I think those twigs around it are the bomb.  The organic, textural, spring-is-coming bomb.

I love to pull out this little sign every Spring.  I'm looking forward to spending time in my garden, again.

My children are back in school now, after a fun-filled and relaxing spring vacation, which we spent at home.  I've got a few big projects to work on this week.....I may--just maybe, keep your fingers crossed--be able to surprise the Bionic Man again with some painting!  Wish me luck!

I'm linking this post to:

Mantel Party @ Nesting Place