the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the...pizza!?!

i wanted to show you a quick, fun little halloween
dinner thingy that i did last year
that Q has brought up every once in a while
since then
(forgive me if my sentencing is horrific
it's halloween!
& it is 1:43 am
& i just wanted to get this written
& up...
i can't even post it until 7 or so
but i wanted to at least type it out...
maybe i should have waited...
hello loopy loo!)

make your little web with shredded cheese...


& then invite little olive spider friends to hop on...
easy peasy on top of cheesy...


have a great, spooky, goofy, sweet, crazy-fun halloween...
:)

i saw this idea in a magazine last fall...
woman's day?
family fun?
better homes?
hmmmmm
one of those.....

first page...

i have a little row of these note books

in my closet
they are all the same type
different colors & styles
but the same
hard cover
three subject
pocket divider
elastic closure
spiral bound
& if target ever stops carrying them
i am screwed.
because i am i love with them...
(they don't have MINE :) on their website
dirty dogs
but they do have this one
pretty funny...)

when i was a sales rep
the secretary for the rep group
had a notebook
that she just wrote everything down in
& she never ripped a page out of it
so she could look back if she needed to
& i loved that...
so that's what i do too.
i write
quick grocery lists
ideas
great quotes
phone numbers
to do lists
books titles
my sermon sketches
funny things my kids say
use it for drawing paper for the kids in a pinch
& on & on...
it's a total archive of my days...
archive of a woman on a roller coaster
& pretty happy about it
(new blog title?)

each time i start one
i write just a few words on the first page
related to whatever is happening right then...
nothing too straight forward
(me? never!)
just maybe the feelings i'm having
or an encouragement...
this one
in the middle-ish end of october
is all about working on my
christmas classes
& stuff i'm making to sell at holiday sales...
relax.
enjoy.
live.
it's a good thing.

:)

ps
if you can't read it
& want to
you can click on the picture
& it will get bigger...
much bigger...

found on friday: measure by measure

i love a country estate sale
& this was a cute little one
about 20 miles south in pleasant hill...

& yes, i do have some plans for those rulers
stay tuned...

:)

ready for your close up, miss m...

when miss m was a baby
i put all of her clothes in shelves
on top of a desk
in her closet so that they were
at parent height...
now that she is three
& has fallen off countless tipsy things trying
to reach her own clothes
her mother finally got the memo:

dear mom,
put my shelves on the floor so i can reach them.
ps
duh.

never one to take a
redecorating/rearranging opportunity lightly
i had an idea in my head
& so tuesday miss m & i started working on her room
(read: i worked,
she had a tea party with her trillions of stuffed animals)

(red blobbie drawing on the closet door courtesy of miss m herself)

it was super fun :)
she is beyond girlie
so i just get to flower & butterfly & pink out as much as i want to...
i moved the shelves out of her closet
(side note: i hate dressers,
they are the bermuda triangle of furniture...
if my kids want one when they are older
they are totally welcome to get one
but until then
we are all about open shelving, baby)

so with the clothes outside of the closet
what on earth could go inside it?
(side note two:
our closets are HUGE
they are dreamy to me...
i have considered making one into
a craft room, except there are no windows
& you would be totally closed off from everyone...
wait is that a plus or a minus?)
storage?
don't be silly!

welcome to miss m's dress up closet o' fun...






i think she likes it...

:)

ps i just wanted to mention that pretty much everything
in this closet is that good old fashioned mix of
goodwill & garage sales & hand me downs...

& my best 'building an awesome dress up wardrobe' tip:
buy the weirdest stuff you see.
you will always be able to find
a tutu or a cowboy hat
but an m&m costume comes around only every once in a while
& you'll be so sad if you walk away from those
paisley fringed bell bottoms...

happy dress-up!
:)

found on friday...

my morning in pictures....
(& maybe word or two :)


found a treat...found a sale...
found a shop...




the actual finds...
& since she was wearing my favorite
vintage looking dress
i handed miss m the new-old suitcase
& asked her to walk around with it...
this picture was my favorite...
though if you look at it closely
it is a bit disturbing:
a little barefoot girl
walking down the middle of the street
carrying a suitcase...
what do you think?
call it cute?
or call the cops?

hope you're finding fun things on fridays
& everyday...

:)

missing

dear mom...
today i am missing you
like i do pretty much everyday
& have everyday for the past twelve years
(i know! it doesn't seem that long does it? or does it to you?
i always wonder about that...)
i miss all of the same things & sometimes new things pop into my head & i love that...
& sometimes brian will bring something up about you that i had forgotten & i love that, too.
i love that you guys knew each other...
(sure wish you had seen us get married, though, it was pretty great :)
lately though in addition to thinking about all of the things that i miss about you, i have been thinking about all of the things that you have missed...
oh my goodness, mom!
there are so many things you have missed...
i get dizzy even thinking about it...
but there are two things that stand out in my mind so huge that i'm just going to mention them here...

---------------
number one
---------------
(large in scale, small in emotional significance)
THE INTERNET
oh my goodness, mom
i can't believe you never got to see this thing
it is amazing
i wonder what sites you would have bookmarked
iheartredsweaters.com
cookiesfordinner.com
cutemomsover40talkabouttheircutedaughters.com
:)
i'm sure you would have an ipod
& you would do the cool nike+ thing that brian does
to track & chart all of your runs...
(you would be proud of him & his running...)

& i bet you would be on facebook
connecting with friends all over the place
from high school & college & mission trips...

it is just so odd to think that something
that pretty much everyone i know
(including your mother :)
uses every single day
is something you never even knew about...

---------------
number two
---------------
(small in scale, HUGE in emotional significance)
YOUR GRANDCHILDREN

oh my goodness, mom
you would just be so amazed...
so in love.
just thinking about the fact that you have never
held any of them is
a crime to me.
worse than a crime.

my kids are just great
so funny & always saying the funniest things & learning so much every day.
Q is always going at 100 miles an hour & flipping over things & climbing things
unless he's doing legos (excuse me, bionicles) or homework...
& miss m who is the mommy to every stuffed animal who ever came within her grasp...
she's so sweet, as long as you do things exactly the way she tells you to :)
they would charm you from the get go & oh, how they would love you!
so sad about what all three of you have missed.

& like i said
my kids are great
but mom
you would not believe kate's boys...
you just want to hug them,
kiss them, eat their toes
& stare at them for hours
all at the same time...
they are incredible!
the cutest faces...
just sweet as can be
with rosy cheeks & big smiles!
they look so much alike but they each have their own distinct personalities, of course...
crawling all around, exploring pulling themselves up on furniture
they are just amazing...
(& kate is doing such a great job...
she's awesome...
i know this comes as no surprise to you:)

so there are the two big things...
not really related to each other at all but things i think about sometimes as i'm thinking about you

i love you, mom.

missing you & what you've missed...
em

club Q...

this little picture
this is how i feel right now
this thursday afternoon at 3:12.
i just had an argument with Q...
there's nothing like an argument with
a 5 year old who thinks he is 15
to just make you want to crawl in a hole
or draw a big orange / across your sad pigtailed self...
arguing with a 5 year old is one thing
i mean really?
isn't it supposed to go:

mom: please don't do that
5 year old: okay

i thought so.
but then add in the whole
'thinks he's 15' area
& i'm ready to lay in a puddle,
a puddle of syrup or whatever is handy...
i'm not going to give details here
because if you have or have ever had a 5 year old
you know what i'm talking about
(at least i hope you do)
& if you haven't had a 5 year old then enjoy your life
cause it's gonna get ugly in a few years.
& if you have decided not to ever have a 5 year old
then i applaud you.
just for today, maybe,
but i do.
& i'm not ashamed to type it
(well, maybe a little)

& about this little rendering above
it is Q's way of telling us
'no girls allowed' in his clubhouse
('except you,mom'...some days...)
& don't you just love how
the girl in question is already sad?
like she was a sorry case even before she was /ed out...
why would anyone want her in their clubhouse anyway?
she's obviously very frowny,
very eyes & nose mixed togethery
very tight pigtailedy
very three leggedy
(that's the way i, his mother, try to see all of
the people he draws, anyway...
hmmm they all have an extra leg....)
very very unfit to be in a clubhouse...

& really that might just be exactly how i'm feeling right now
unfit to be in the clubhouse...

but wait
what's this?
that kid,
the one who was yelling
& wouldn't listen
or obey
or put one foot in front of the other to get to his room...
he's singing songs with words i can't quite make out
& making wild sound effect noises
& basically sounding like every metallica song ever written...
he's playing with his toys
(bionicles only, these days
'i only like bionicles now, mom.
it's the way God made me.
i'm just wild about bionicles')
& sounding like a 5 year old who thinks he's a 5 year old

hmmm
maybe the clubhouse is back open...

:)