Do you have favorite words?

As a kid I used to read the dictionary hoping to become a spelling bee champion. And then I was in one and purposely misspelled a word when I got nervous. I thought it would be better to intentionally misspell rather than actually misspell, somehow that would have been less embarrassing? A 5th grader's train of thought is my only defense.

So some of my favorites are: ameliorate, shenanigan, meander, hippopotamus, waft, ineffable, foliage, facetious, drift, fetching, dashing and awesomesauce.

I also like the way my kids say words which I don't correct because I enjoy hearing them so much and know they'll figure it out eventually. Like the way Blair says "Avopacado" for Avocado. I think it sounds better her way.

I don't know why I like my words- they are just fun to say. I mean, can you not say shenanigan and awesomesauce without smiling?? I can't.

Word up.

Shared space

I am taking a break from working on the boys' room today.

Having two boys share a room can be challenging in many ways. Besides the space challenge or when one doesn't want the other there, another challenge is trying to incorporate both of their "likes" which vary when you are six years apart. Reese is pretty specific on what he wants to display while Trae is just happy to be there and allowed on the top bunk from time to time.

Lately, Reese and Trae both like Bay Blade toys although I am not up to decorating a whole room with them. A bucket full on the dresser is good enough. It is fun to hear Trae ask Reese to battle with him, though.

So, I am taking down all of their things, setting them on the floor and choosing what is staying. While I am at it, I am tackling the closet which is another day of work.

Reese likes his pennants and vintage paint-by-numbers paintings (yay!) but is on the fence about his Little Wonder Books tin box. We'll see how it works out. All I know right now is that they have too many toys and clothes so we'll be taking a trip to the donation bin.

Lucky

While I was at girl's camp working from sun up to sun set and wishing for a little break from the humidity, (you should have seen my hair! If you're familiar with the "Friends" episode where Monica's hair keeps getting bigger and bigger in the humidity - it was like that.)

my older brother, Brett, was snorkeling from sun up to sun set in Maui.
He always was a lucky sucker.

Blooming success

It's safe to say that I don't have the greenest thumb in the world. Last year I considered myself lucky to have gotten a few roses out of the yard before the aphids went to town on them.

Just before I left for girl's camp, I had one lonely rose on the rosebush so I cut it, brought it in and gave it a little place of honor in the round glass beaker I bought at a yard sale. The rest of the shrub was not looking so well. Parts of it had died and I figured it was time to pull it up and start over.

When I returned from camp, I went to check out how overgrown the garden was (a lot) but then I noticed the rose bush finally had a growth spurt and there were even a few other floral surprises.

So today I get to enjoy flowers around the house for free.
It's going to be a good Monday.

Vintage beaker as a vase- $2.00, yard sale
milk glass compote to hold a bloom - .25 cents, thrift shop

Paint stick pendant light - complete, DIY

The light is finally finished.

While I was away at girl's camp, I was surprised to come home to my paint stick pendant light making the rounds on the Internet. Jason Loper's write-up over at Apartment Therapy kind of got it noticed. Big thanks to him! He sent me a nice e-mail to let me know so then I couldn't wait to get home and read it and then get back to the business of finishing this project.

But before I get to the final product, let me share some details. (You can reference the beginning process here.)

At first I had planned on using the existing light fixture and just give it a new coat of paint. But after looking it over, it wasn't in good enough shape. So we bought a pendant with a downrod but it was not the right length- too long with three extensions and too short with two.

Knowing we had to customize it, we also purchased connectors and a decorative chain. I wanted the downrod but also wanted to give it some sway just in case a ball is launched around the house and hits the light. A scenario like that is inevitable, especially with a bunch of kids.

Because we couldn't find the exact type of connectors we needed to connect the rod to the chain, we took apart the existing fixture and used those. It worked like a charm.

After piecing it all together and with Jon's trusty wiring job, we stood back to admire our handiwork.

Using the "decorative" end of the paint stick on the bottom of the shade gives it more detail, and we knew the light would look cool coming through. Because of their slightly rounded edges it also gives more of a finished look than the other end of the paint sticks would have given.

Now it's in place and we love it.

linking to Just a Girl

The Lettered Cottage

Fingerprints on the Fridge

House of Hepworths

The Girl Creative

Funky Junk Interiors

Somewhat Simple

Between naps on the porch

As you read this

I'll be out of the office and into the wilderness, enjoying some good old camping fun.

When I get back I'll start working on a project involving these pallets that I hauled home from the side of the road where they had a big free sign on them. They were stacked about 12 high and the grey ones that I wanted were, of course, down about 5 pallets. Let's just say I got a good workout that morning.

See you next week!

Home life

On the Saturday before Father's Day we always have a scavenger hunt for Jon but because of all the happenings over the weekend we decided to wait until next week. I'll be sure to tell you what we do because they are always fun and create lots of memories for us. So this weekend we were on the go - here's the recap.

Girl's camp is soon approaching so we spent the weekend in prep for that. On a whim, Jon and I threw together a garage sale on Saturday and Reese and Blair wanted a sno-cone stand, so we set that up which was a big hit. I see more of those in our future Saturdays. Note to self: buy more blue raspberry syrup.

Belen was asked to speak on Perseverance at one of her best friend's surprise birthday dinner, which she said, was a wonderful experience.

Charley had play practice for the stage show, "Footloose." She is really excited for it but bummed also because she was cast as an adult who opposes dancing. She wanted to be part of that 80's teen angst and dance! I can't say that I blame her...

After seeing creative cupcakes all over the place, I wanted to get in on the action and make cupcake hamburgers (which look more like sliders) for Father's Day. I stole the idea from Cupcakes take the cake and Bakerella. I baked all day. The Twin Kiss restaurant, which is a local burger, shakes and fries place, was so nice to give me the french fry baskets. The basket completes the meal, I mean, dessert, don't you think?



And then at the end of the day, I found a little reminder from Trae-man when I opened up the fridge. It gave me a huge smile and so I left them there for someone else to enjoy the same surprise.
It was a reminder that through all of the craziness of life and the work that goes into raising children -special moments like these give me pause to be thankful and provide a little more energy to do it all again tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day!

See you next week.