Trying out a post via my cellphone! what a fun option that i have been missing out on!!

A visit to the Carl Sandburg Home

First off let me start by saying-the Girl Scout motto always be prepared should still be followed when planning activities with Lana, b/c you never know where you might end up. Having been to the Carl Sandburg home before I knew that you didn't really have to "hike" so I didn't do an all out search and rescue for my tennis shoes when I couldn't find them. Instead I wore my oh so cute and comfy wedge crocs-Lana wears wedges and high shoes everywhere we go, so I knew I would be fine. Well, Lana wore tennis shoes!!! And the main entrance/path was closed-so we hiked to the top of the MOUNTAIN with all our babes and one in a stroller!!! But I survived, without any really damage. You see I am super clutzy and me and the mountain paths disagree anyway-so when you add those shoes to it-it could have been BAAAAD!! Anyway-it was fun-the kids were great-and of course the goats were tooo :)

Come on in ya'll. . .

If you are like me, it seems that some room in the house always gets neglected. Often its more than one room-just depends on how life is going. At our house it tends to be the back of the house, because I have gotten to the point that I can run around and get the entire house clean and just dump everything somewhere and close the doors. So this week I worked on our guest room, which led me to work on the entire house-but I digress. I moved things around, added window treatments and tried a few different things in different spots. See what you think!! View from the door

Love these boxes-a steal at Burkes while back!

This is one of the few rooms we haven't replaced windows in-so ignore the yucky metal ones!! I repurposed this desk I've had since I was a teenager-thinking of painting it-and paired it with this chair. Got the vase @ an auction and moved it from someplace else.

Window mistreaments a la the nester-just got fabric and upholstery tacks!

I have a rocker/chair "thing"-I love them. This is the rocker Russell and his brother were rocked in-and that is one of my favorite quilts :)

I refinished this bed all by myself about 3 years ago-It was black/brown and gross! Mom picked it up at an auction for me for a great deal and look how it turned out!!!

@ the foot of the bed-thought this looked cute-but need to work on cute stuff to put on it!
Gotta love some antique linens. Most of what I have are either my family or Russells and I love that.
Improvising in a pinch-think I'm going to switch the fabric for a quilt-See the lamp-cobalt blue glass my fave!!! It is a handblown lamp from FENTON. It was a family run company in the US for about 100 years b/f they sold it and moved the factory to Japan a few years ago. I have a thing for colored glass to-old, fenton, new, etc. This is one of four Fenton lamps I have, need I remind you that most were gifts-my mom is a FENTON dealer :) How convenient!!
And guess what-this is the dresser that I refinished 4 years ago and never replaced the mirror-stay tuned-working on that project tomorrow!!! See that lamp-it's fenton as well, but very special b/c they made 500 of them and broke the mold-they are all handpainted, numbered, and signed-it was a college graduation gift from my Mom.

Doesn't that make you want to come curl up in the bed here? Come on, we love guests, and the house is clean-hurry quick-because it usually doesn't last long!!

Chances are . . . .

-The entire house may not get clean today.
-If you see Isaac he may or may not be fully dressed.
-Somewhere our cat is hiding in wait to begin being chased by Isaac again
-Some projects may never get finished.
-I may never be ready for summer to end
-I won't put on shoes today-don't tell The Fly Lady!!!
-My firefighter will come home for lunch-and expect food
-I will waste way too much time on the computer today
-if you here sighs, its because all I'm doing is shifting piles-it gets old
-my whole house may never be clean at once
-if Isaac gets quiet its because he is on a kitten search

Check out other Chances are... posts here

Give Away

Check out an Island Life for a really cool SureFit futon cover give-away :)

Give it a shot

Playing around with signatures-it may be a while before I pick one to stick with, but it is fun to play!

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for Tamara and Jay Jones, their daughters Meredith and Emily, and 30 or more dogs that they raise.Tuesday while they were out of town delivering a dog there house caught on fire. They basically lost everything. As they search for answers, and strive to keep their faith during this tragedy, please lift them up in prayer. Tamara and Jay live in Green Creek, the fire department there worked very hard to help save what they could and find the puppies that were inside.

IKEA

I have lurked around on IKEA's website for years. I've never bought anything, just dreamed. A lot of the items they show in their online catalog are only available in the store and the closest IKEA had been in ATLANTA. I've been begging my DH to take me to Charlotte for some time now and he felt so inclined to do so yesterday for our Anniversary. I mean what better way to celebrate 7 years together then to have him trudge around behind me all day while I salivated over all the cool stuff???

I have to say, if you haven't gone-go. But go with a list of things you could use and a budget-otherwise it could be overwhelming and harmful to your bank account!!! IKEA is like the Disney company has taken over Peir 1, put it on steriods, and added their Disney touch to-it's a playland for grown ups who love to shop, decorate, and find good deals. We were greated at the door, given a map and instructions and got on our way. There are 3 sections-a showroom of sorts where room after room is setup using all the products. Everything is labeled and tagged. You keep track of what you want using the list, pencil, and measuring tape they provide you. After you finish upstairs you can stop in the restaurant and eat, visit the family room and feed the babies, go check on the little one's that you dropped off in the really cool playroom, or head down stairs! Downstairs you will go through household departments one by one. Here you can find things on your list and extras. I got a fun vase for 79 cents and a set of wooden spoons for 59 cents, while Russell got some new knifes. AFter you venture through kitchen, linens, bathroom, frames and pictures, candles, decorations, etc. you end up in the warehouse. Here you use your list of furniture pieces that is labeled with locations to pull your boxes. As you exit the warehouse you conveniently stop by the As IS section, and check out the good deals before using the self-check out and heading on your way! I got things for 59 Cents, cool things. You could truly decorate, furnish, redecorate, or remodel your entire house at this store-thus the overwhelming!! I didn't buy much, b/c I didn't want to buy too haphazardly and wanted to wait and have more of a plan. I bought several small things for myself and a few fun things for my classroom. The children's section was amazing!!!

So if you've never been, or maybe never even heard of IKEA, you must check out their website and plan a trip!!!

T-shirts

Isaac and I enjoyed some special time together on July 4th! We had a fun day doing a lot of different things-one was tie-dying t-shirts!! Isaac had a blast helping me fold them and squirting the dye on in different patterns. He ended up making 3 different ones and then one for me and Russell. I was a little worried about the messiness of this activity, but it wasn't bad at all! We let the shirts soak overnight, washed them in one load in the washer the next day and wore them on vacation :)-Sorry no pictures of me in my shirt b/c I'm always taking them!!!

This picture is bad, but just wanted to show off the boys shirts! Isaac's in this pic is the bullseye fold and Russell's is the spiral

Scratch That

I started the summer with a mental to-do list of all the things I wanted to do/accomplish during my time off. During my first years as a teacher before I was also a mommy, I remember those days being endless, stretching on forever. But these days it seems summer is an unending race to fit things in and I am so weary of that! I enjoy the opportunities to be with friends, travel, help @ church, lunch, be crafty, explore with Isaac, etc. but I have come to find this year that I just enjoy being. Being at home to just play and be together has been so much better than trying to fight going anywhere. Maybe it's the age, or maybe it's me, but Isaac can play for hours with me or without me-usually it's a mix of both. We pretend, we read, sometimes we cook, we craft, snuggle-and we're still making memories. And for me they will be better than ones that involve hot cars, temper tantrums, and long lines.
I'm not one that likes to just be @ home, I tend to like to go and do. But if we keep "going and doing" and never slow down, where have we really gotten?
For now I'm content to spend the next month enjoying my boys fishing, turtling, and playing escapades and to squeeze in a little snuggling, fun-loving together time in between :)

Overall Fun

Make a Smilebox photobook

Vacation Slideshow

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The one that didn't get away!!!

6 lbs

21 inches long

Largemouth Bass

Caught by Isaac

My boys have really been enjoying some fishing this summer! At least several times a week they have been going together or with friends to local ponds. Right at the first of June Isaac started the summer by catching his first bass, a small one, but one that will be eaten very soon! He was thrilled! Several days later I got a panicked phone call from my DH and was thinking the worse, only to be fussed at for not checking my text messages!! The above fish pics were sent and I hadn't seen the message.

Let me just say that my Isaac takes after me, and gets excited about lots of stuff-but boy this took the prize. My DH has never caught anything this big!! Isaac caught the monster on a "critter crawl" bait on his new "Zebco" fishing pole. He makes his own casts and reeled the monster in himself.

And he hasn't stopped talking about it since! Mrs. Fishy is currently residing at the taxidermist in Lake Bowen. When she arrives home on driftwood-I promise to post more pictures, or maybe you could come visit our newest member of the family!