Murphy's Law continues-

Although I'm still smiling...through occasionally clenched teeth!

Be back later in the week.

Have a good day.

Sorry, I know it's against blog law to be without a photo but nothing goes with today's sentiments. I can only think of the song, "Isn't it Ironic" by Alanis.

Packed but playful

I love Saturdays.

A day in review:

Charley and I went to a friend's swap where we scored a bunch of great stuff, including a few pairs of shoes. Love the plum.

On to the coffee shop for a little more time together before taking her to audition for "Footloose" and writing her note for the bulletin board.

The saying is from the tv show, "How I met your Mother."

Then Jon and I went to a birthday party with Reese where we watched them try Dance Dance Revolution.

And in-between it all we headed into the city to take some fun photos of a beautiful family.

And today I am working in the house since I willingly neglected all of those duties for the past two days.

How was your weekend?

The old excuse

When my instructor asks where my homework is, I can honestly say that my dog ate it.

And while we're at it, she ate the ottoman too.

She was going crazy trying to get her Spongebob Squarepants ball out from under the ottoman, which is where I stashed the box of assignments that I have to finish.

So in this case, the old excuse really is true.

What I'm thinking Wednes...Thursday!

From time to time I hear someone say, "I have no creativity skills whatsoever." or "I could never think up something like that." There may even be some of you thinking that right now.

Well, when I hear that I always respond by saying that the creativity they seek is right there just waiting for them to tap into it. I guess you just have to give the ideas swirling around in your head a try and not worry about the outcome. And being creative is not just about paper, glue or thread. It can be the way you handle social situations or raise families, for example.

It all sounds a bit Yoda-ish but it's true. I think everyone has the ability to develop a skill (in this case creativity) and when you try and continue to keep at it, your new skill becomes a habit, and boom -consider yourself creative!

So I'll leave you with this quote and you can be on your way to unleash those ideas.

Have a good day!

You can "click" on the picture to enlarge.

Shelf life - vintage finds

A while ago I mentioned that I was going to clear the bookshelves and look for some new accessories to put up on them. I am always tweaking the shelves, keeping in line with the seasons, rotating items I have stored away or just finding something a little more interesting to display. You know, just a little sumpin' sumpin' to grab your attention - don't you love out of the ordinary stuff like that?

So I went to my favorite antique mall to look for such an item
and came upon a vintage bingo cage. I scooped it up without hesitating.

Its $3.00 price tag only sweetened the deal.

There are seriously good prices at this place, I'm telling ya.

So now it sits on the shelf and no one can resist giving it a whirl

and randomly yelling out a number

just for the fun of it.

What's new on your shelf?

linking to Apron Thrift Girl

Gotta fight for your rights - a story

Trae and Blair enjoying their lunch alfresco.

The other day someone said to me that they couldn't see me getting mad.

Well, I do. And I have plenty of times. Mainly they are just irritations and I hate to yell but I do occasionally, on too many occasions I am sure.
But no, I haven't really, really been mad in a long time - the kind of mad where I wanted to hit someone. That kind of mad.

I have never hit anyone by the way.
The closest I got was throwing a snowball at the face of a neighbor girl when she came up to sled down my driveway.

And now the rest of the story...

We lived out in the country on the side of a hill overlooking a valley. Having the longest hill to use for sledding invited everyone to come up especially when it was icy. You could really get in a nice run under those conditions. It was like our personal bobsled course.

After I put on all of my snow gear, I excitedly went outside because this girl was sledding in my yard after all. I had a silver aluminum saucer that was super fast and I was ready to go.

When I got out there she said I wasn't invited to sled with her. I was so surprised I couldn't even fathom the thought of not being invited to play, especially on my own property.

So I told her to get off of my land, then. She yelled, "No!" and tried to intimidate me with a stern look. She could have knocked me out in one punch too. I told her again that if she was going to sled in my yard and driveway, then I could too. Seemed fair to me.

She, again, said no and this time pushed me out of the way. I was really mad at the injustice of that moment so all I could think of doing was pack a big icy snowball and chuck it at her. So I did and it was a perfect aim, hitting her smack dab in the middle of the forehead. The snowball broke apart and chunks of snow landed in her eyebrows and eyelashes. I was really surprised at myself and then had an "Uh oh!" moment.

She couldn't decide if she was going to let go of the sled and send her brother down the icy slope off our hillside or kill me.

She chose to kill me. I chose to run.
Do you know it's really hard to run in 2 feet of snow??

Meanwhile, her little brother went sailing down the hill and crashed into a bank.

So I was panting and trying to high step it. I could see my breath as I began to breathe hard. I kept looking back to see if she was coming and kept slipping on the ice underneath the layer of snow. She was gaining on me and I knew for sure I was going to get beat up. Her brother finally made it back up the hill dragging the sled behind him. She yelled at him to go back and get their dad.
I wondered why she was asking that. Did she need help hiding my body??

Just then I heard my brother's voice yell from a window of our house. I was saved, I thought and stopped running. I was so happy for being the youngest.
Brett, being 6 years older than me, could handle my tormentor so he came outside and marched to where we were.

With a commanding stance and a challenging voice, he said, "Oh yeah? Go ahead and get your dad. I'll go get my mom...and she can yell louder than anyone!"

They quickly left and we felt triumphant in defending our rights and strangely proud of my mother's ability to yell.

Typical

For Mother's Day this year my husband and kids actually planned ahead and had a surprise gift waiting for me. Let's just say they may have a history of forgotten dates but I'm not keeping track or anything...

Besides the three m&m cookie mix jars my youngest kids made me at our neighborhood Mennonite Bible Study class and the adorable trinkets and cards they made at church, Jon purchased all of the make-up, brushes, facial cleansers, creams, lip balms and nail polish I have been wanting. He had it all packaged up with ribbons inside a pretty bag. After I happily used some of it, I put it back in their boxes and bags and placed it in my room where I could organize it later.

After Jon went to check in on a sleeping Trae-man, I heard him say, "Oh no" and I knew that my barely used make-up had suddenly become very used. Seeing my new foundation all over the new-er, freshly laundered comforter nearly made me cry. Well, at least he didn't have time to get into all the other things. I am still working on stain removal. And, I have been thinking of changing the comforter for Spring/Summer anyway.

Yep, back to reality.

How was your day?