Start of Summer

It's going to be a busy, busy summer. I'm going to stay busy and not let the days fade away with regrets of unfinished projects. I have one I can cross off my list. Although-  it did take the sacrificing of an entire morning/afternoon. Mostly what took so long was my printer, which needed new ink, head cleaning, etc.   And yes, I got distracted by looking at "Stars without Makeup" and ended up watching a few things on Funny or Die while waiting for my printer to fix itself. Also, add to that the fact that 2 little people totally destroyed the house around me, because I was too busy to monitor them.

Here it is- I made a task chart for the girls. I decided to call it "tasks" instead of "chores" or "jobs"- it just sounded friendlier. I remembered seeing one in one of the Martha Stewart publications a while back and looked it up.  I found this one (she has many versions, of course) and remembered I had magnet sheets that I had purchased many years ago when Hazel was in Preschool. (This is my usual M.O. buy things, plan projects, never do them.)

The actual process was very easy in Pages on my iMac. (Surely, there is something similar in the PC realm.) I simply made shapes, filled in colors, pictures, or text. And, yes, I did copy the color scheme from Martha, she does have a good eye for color. The task board was printed on a separate sheet from the tasks. The tasks are on their own magnets and can be changed each day.  When the girls are finished they move the task to the "tasks completed" list.  I was pleased with how it turned out and it sticks beautifully to my blackboard/magnet door in the kitchen. The girls are so inspired they ran off and did two tasks and are working on their third.  We'll see how long that lasts. Maybe I should make one for the husband too?

GIft of Summer

Elephant Ear, originally uploaded by bossamama.

This weekend found us in the yard actually gardening. It has been insufferably hot this summer and we rarely went out there. As a result our yard had become completely overgrown. It's going to take a few weeks to get it all back in shape. In the meantime, I found this pot with this lovely plant growing in it, hiding in the brush. I had something to do with it, but not much. Last year, I found the tiniest elephant ear growing wild in the yard. I didn't want it to grow where it was (can you imagine- I have elephant ears as weeds?) so, I put it in this pot and forgot about it. It was such a nice surprise to find it had gotten so big! I decided to bring it indoors to see how it does. I have recently added houseplants to the house and the cats have graciously left them alone. For such a garden freak, I had an embarrassing lack of plants inside the house. That is remedied now! I did have a fear that first night, that something (snake?) might crawl out of the pot and surprise us. Thankfully, that did not happen.

Sneak Peek

CIMG7885, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Been gone for quite a while again. This is the way of things, ebb and flow. I'm hoping to change the format here and have a little more interaction going. Need to work on my Flickr page as well and get it better linked, going to have to go ahead and pay for the darn thing. Been taking many, many pictures. This has been another tumultuous summer, but looking forward to an active, productive fall. Redecorating for me helps cleanse my cluttered mind. Have done quite a bit in the house... here is a preview.

Le Grand Disaster

Le Grand Disaster, originally uploaded by bossamama.

The cat loves it when rooms are a mess. This has since been cleaned up, but is in danger of happening again. Two girls, one room, a thousand books and toys, it's inevitable.

Refurbished Glider

Refurbished Glider, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Did this over the weekend. Have had this glider since Hazel was born. It was looking worn out. I decided to recover, not completely done- the footstool is just pinned on the bottom. I was trying to find something neutral, but modern. Mark promptly said it looked like the back of playing cards- but what else did I expect from him? Does it look less baby like? Less leftover furniture-ish? Another view.

Teevee machine cover

Teevee machine cover, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Yesterday-- made this to cover the metal shelf. Had a previous cover, was old, faded, torn, useless. This one has handy Velcro around top, easy access to Teevee machines! Remote works through fabric, yay! Clean and simple lines, need that in this clutter fest.

Welcome to my blog

Fuzzy Squirrel Bank, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Hello, if you've traversed here from Facebook. I've been doing this for about a year. I mostly post pictures, music, video clips, things that I find interesting. It is a public site, so I don't get too terribly personal. It's a fun place to talk about interesting things. You can peruse through lots of old entries, while I get back on the blogging horse. Come back and visit, and leave notes if you like!

Corrie

Jar Mania

Candy Jar!

How can I take time to write about jars? I love a good jar. It is one of the simple things in life that makes me very happy. I guess that might be odd. When I see an empty jar, I thrill with the ideas of what I can jam into it. I love to see lots of little things gathered together in a kaleidoscope fashion. I like to see things, not put them in covered boxes and hide them away. So many things are pretty to look at- soap, candy, buttons and who can resist a jar full of googly eyes?

Bathroom Jars

Craft Room Jars

I save jars from spaghetti sauce, jelly, whatever looks interesting. I have a cabinet in my kitchen devoted to empty jars. Now that the girls are getting older I don't have to worry so much about having so much glass around. Although I am awfully clumsy and do break things occasionally. But I've cleaned up so many broken things, it doesn't scare me much anymore. Just sweep it up! Today as I was browsing Anna Marie Horner's blog I discovered her passion for jars as well and a link to a jar mecca that I previously did not know of. Now, it's just a matter of figuring out where else I can jam some jars into my house!

Pantry Jars

What I did on the first day of school

My favorite corner with baby dolls.

More collections encased in cabinet.

This might be where it gets out of hand.

But we love books, and paper dolls, and...

Vintage valentines and cute vintage animal ceramics.

This was Mark's grandmother's shoe holder, now it holds tiny animals.

And I just discovered, you can click on the pictures to see the details, if you are so inclined.

Yesterday was Hazel's first day of second grade. I was up and at 'em by 6:30 a.m. Then after dropping her off and going to a school program, I arrived back at home alarmingly full of energy. I don't know why. I have had the entire summer to get stuff done. Instead, we were determined to have the laziest summer ever. I had so much energy and the day seemed to stretch out endlessly before me before school let out. I think I was trying to distract myself from feeling sad. Without any plan- I went into the girl's room and rearranged things, hung pictures that have been sitting around for two years and cleaned under the beds! I also semi-rearranged the closet (this is much more taxing than one burst of energy can tackle.) I was pleased with my accomplishments by the end. Where was Lilah? She is so cool, she just hung out with me and gave me her 2 year old opinion occasionally.

I fear that I have passed on my pack rat ways to my children. Well, actually I know I have, no unknown fear here. It might be because of the jam packed arrangements of stuff I have in their room. This room is not big, but I have managed to cram collection after collection in there. I think it may be too much. But it sure is lots of eye candy. The girls seem to like it, and I do too. I guess that's what matters. I have no idea what I am going to do with all this stuff when the girls decide to decorate on their own. I pray that they won't want to plaster the walls with some flavor of the month tween star or big purple unicorns. So far we have stayed away from all that. We are pure little baby girl right now! And sadly, these pictures are only of one wall of the room, there are three more. But, I swear, not as crammed! They have to have beds to sleep in for goodness sake.

True Confession

The big mess, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Lest you think I have a really neat house, this is what it looks like for real. That last picture was an extreme close-up. This is all the laundry from last night unfolded and exploded all over the living room and the lunch dishes still on the table at 5 pm. Now it will be a mad dash to get it all back in order before Mark gets home. Don't want him to think I spent all day on the computer!

Take a peek

Birdie S & P, originally uploaded by bossamama.

You know, I still think like a merchandiser. Even though it's been a million years since I did windows at a Hallmark store and a Linens 'n Things (Hello, this is Linens 'n Things, we have lots of nice things at lots of nice prices!- they made us say that when answering the phone.) the merchandising bug stayed with me. (As well as all my best friends that I met at both of those work places!) I have certain areas of my home where I have things on display as if it was a store. Nobody ever touches these things, they just sit there and collect multiple layers of dust. But occasionally, I'll remember to look at them and think- oh, yeah, I have some neat things! Here's a few...

My favorite birdie S & P shakers from Missouri, a very old mixing bowl and wisk from my Nana, a Swiss trivet from Alex and Kendra, a 1944 edition of "The Joy of Cooking" from my Grandma Betty, a hand painted wood Hawaii S & P shaker from the Ritzie's, and a rubber pea-pod dog squeeze toy that I could not resist from the lean days in college. Oh, and the blue book is called "The Way to a Man's Heart- Your Gas Range Cookbook" from a trip to Kansas. It's a real hoot, I'll have to scan it in separately soon, along with a few recipes.

Ye Olde Malle Shoppe

I loved these little containers, they had sweet little ceramic spoons inside. I can't buy things like this anymore. I have too many trinkets and my house is quite size restricted.
I love these aprons and the colors. It's the prints and the edging that get me. I would want to wear these all the time and that just might look silly.

Went to Anthropologie for an injection of inspiration the other day. Is it sad that I am inspired by a company's well thought out retail plan? I realize that there are people who sit around in a room and try to decide how to appeal to a certain population who will fall for this concept and spend lots of money. I don't actually spend money at Anthropologie- so I guess I'm not being completely hoodwinked. But boy, if I did have money, I would spend it there for sure! They pick out the most amazing fabrics and designs for their clothes. I am totally enchanted by their whole vintage/world market style, I'd really like to live in the store itself. The creative displays are a reason enough for me to check out the store. Once there was a huge pile of mattresses loaded with all their latest bed coverings- a la Princess and the Pea. Another time there were hundreds of bars of Ivory soap nailed to the wall in the shape of a wave. Unfortunately, there were no exciting displays this time, as they were getting ready to start new ones. There was even a note on the door apologizing- they obviously know some people come to see them. I was so excited last year that I got to buy my maid of honor dress for Lora's wedding there- the only time I paid full price! Otherwise I limit myself to trinkets that have been marked down. I bought nothing the other day- couldn't find anything in my $5 limit- but I did take some pictures. I was having a good time in the store- you might say I was in sort of a reverie. Until I was rushed back to reality when I heard a giant splash of ice and drink and turned to see my daughters with shocked looks on their faces. Thank goodness nothing got hit with sticky Coke and the sales clerk was very nice about it. I was trying to find ideas for my house. I'm really tired of my red dining room. It's been almost 8 years and it's starting to wear on me. Stay tuned, we'll see if I actually do anything about it.

The Day After

Tablecloth, originally uploaded by bossamama.

The girls were supposed to let me sleep in. I guess they did by an hour. Finally rambled out of bed then was surprised by the ring of the doorbell. We all forgot about the life insurance nurse arriving to give an exam. Embarrassing pajama/bird's nest hair door-answering ensued. Of course I had also boycotted kitchen cleaning yesterday and the house was a bit of a mess.

Last night went out to eat very late. Decided to make it a tradition the last day of school to take the children out to dinner embarrassingly late- 9pm to be exact. We closed the restaurant down along with another family with a young child- embarrassment erased (we left before they did!) Out in the parking lot had an interesting experience. H. was dutifully waiting near the car-standing very still while I loaded up Little L. It took a while so I told H. to go around to the other side of the car with Daddy so the lady who was parked right next to us could back out. I motioned for the lady that it was clear. She then rolled down her window and yelled at me with a very mean voice "Maybe you should keep an eye on your kid!" Apparently the irate lady had had a bad date- I had heard her walking to her car and turning to her date sarcastically saying "Thanks for the great dinner!" Gee whiz.

Yesterday had the sewing bug still, made this tablecloth and a toss pillow cover from fabric I've had for years. I've simply been throwing the unsewn fabric on the table as a cloth. Which was okay except it had to be folded to fit and it was all frayed at the edges from multiple washings. Now maybe I'll go around and hem up all the raw edges in the house!

Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Looking at the window I noticed the shadows . I've been obsessed with silhouettes for a while now. They have mystery and familiarity at once. I have had grand plans to create some to decorate the house. It's so sunny and bright in the morning. Mickey decided to check it out too. How do you like my un-hemmed curtains made from bed sheets? I should hem them.