You Know It's Love

I have been happily committed for years to my home colors. Blues, greens, natural wood tones. Years working within the same palette left me a little tired of the combinations. My living room furniture had strayed into a more neutral natural linen floral print years ago, but I kept that out of character color confined to that one room. The new house has no formal rooms (yeah! was tired of using the formal living room for folding laundry) so there was juggling of furniture when we moved in. It made the most sense to put the living room furniture in the great room with the dining room furniture and put the older blue/green den furniture in the basement (for the kids to finish destroying it). So this other color palette began taking hold in my life recently.

I went to the fabric store innocently enough on Saturday. Walking the aisles. Enjoying the quiet and brainstorming a beach quilt for G's new room by himself. I turned a corner and there it was. Once I saw it I could not tear my eyes away. And I should have walked away. Run away. But I walked over to see it more closely. To touch it. And there was no turning back. It was floral and pink and pretty but masculine enough with the chocolaty brown background that D might be ok with it too. But I was there for G's quilt so I ripped myself away. But even roaming the aisles thinking of beaches my thoughts kept straying back to the delicious new find. And I went to look again and then I saw the coordinating fabrics. And they were all beautiful. And you know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when a new adventure begins and you can't wait for it to start. Yeah, just like that I was completely head over heels. I am being a good mommy and am working on G's quilt first, but my fabric is in a bag in my room calling my name. So when I get tired of sketching whales, seals, octopus, and a tidal pool of creatures for a picture quilt I can go into my room and lay out all my pretty pinks, greens, and browns and dream of a few weeks from now when I get to make them into something beautiful.

Here are the fabrics:

first love

the coordinates

love and hugs and why didn't I tell G I would just buy him a quilt?

B

Busy

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. Busy with baseball and boys and hanging pictures and landscaping and life. Would love to post today with some pictures, but my computer was stricken with a near fatal hard drive error and thus I am not sure my pictures can be saved. I could upload pics except for the fact that this apple computer does not have a place to stick my memory card. I would have to plug in a cord which I am not sure where the cord could possibly be since that last time I plugged in a cord to upload pictures I was a couple years younger and in another state. So.....that's where I am. Having one of those days.

Quick kid update

E: surviving school. liking baseball. doing well when challenged with the "I don't think you can do it" attitude( makes me feel like a winner of a parent to tell him he can't do things, but it works for him). growing out of playing with the little kids which makes me wonder about summer; I cannot play catch with him all day every day all summer long. loves having mom or dad all to himself-- attention starved or attention addict: there is a thin line between the two.

G: loving school. liking baseball. having fun with friends. ready to try some day camps this summer. new food love is sushi-- not that we are surprised by this. ready to leave the room with M and helping me design a quilt for his new room. He and I each drew our ideas for his quilt and when he showed me his beach I couldn't figure out what all the circles were. He drew a rock beach; that is what spending a few formative years in the Pacific NW does for you-- when you picture a beach you picture rocks, logs and water that is too cold to do more than wade for a few minutes. We are going with a sand beach and animals of the pacific nw in the water around the edges of the quilt. We'll see what it actually turns out to be.

M: happy at school. content at home alone, but when the big kids are here he is rough trying to compete for attention all the time. trying to direct that into helping me more to get good attention. regressed on potty training again so he is spending lots of time in his room; perhaps a bribe of new underwear would help. Perhaps he should just take a minute and use the bathroom-- have tried to explain it but he is not listening.

Will post again as soon as I get the hang of working this different computer or when I get my real computer back.

love and hugs, B

Getting It Together....Maybe

We arrived at the dentist early....one month early. I have issues about being punctual, but even I consider this over the top.

Went on a date. Bought a car. D totaled his car 3 weeks ago. He is fine. The car--not so good. D shopped for a couple of weeks driving everything from overpriced 2 seat sports cars, to big family station wagon to snooty sedan to reasonable hybrid. Leasing crossed our mind since we still own both houses, but we hope not to own 2 houses forever and when the lease ends you have nothing to show for the money you tossed away for 2-3 years. Shopping for a car us usually not a fun experience, but unexpectedly having to figure out a new car is awful. We neded up going on a date without the kids to sign paperwork and pick it up. We went with the sensible family sedan hybrid. At idle it is so quiet you can't even hear it; D has walked away and left it running. If you thought a DVD was entertaining for the kids then you have to try GPS. If you set the voice to talk you through directions then the kids just wait for the talking and giggle uncontrollably.
Families have dealt with hectic schedules for a long time. We have been fortunate up until now because E was not into any after school activity or sport. I guess it's time to pay up and add some hectic to our lives. D is traveling a bit more right now, baseball practice for G and E 2 nights a week plus Saturday games and I joined a neighborhood group to put together a web site. E is really enjoying baseball so it is good to see him finally joining in. I just need to get organized to attack practice days when after school to bedtime is blown to bits.

The weather is warming up. Time to plant. YEAH! I have to get all the plants out of my garage before a "plant hoarders" show starts and they make me their first case.

Why were the walls of my bathrooms painted with sidewalk chalk? Every time a drop of water hits it leaves a mark. Already planning a painting day for next fall.
love and hugs, B

What a Difference Landscaping Makes

We have been in the new house for a couple of months but it hadn't been landscaped. I like doing yardwork and wanted a hand in what shrubs and trees were being put in and where so we held off and chose our own landscaper. Once the plan was finalized we had to wait (and wait) to get HOA approval and then work went very quickly. Here is how it looked for 2 months; a time when I was asked at least once a day when we would get landscaping-- yes, it looked like it was still under construction.

And then there were bushes! Camellia, Indian Hawthorne, Nellie Stevens holly, princess spirea, magnolia, and chinese fringe bush.

After the irrigation lines were laid our landscaper gave us a weekend to add some good topsoil on top of the clay (hoping to get the sod in and help it stay healthy). 16 cubic yards of topsoil.

Then the sod went in. Instant grass makes such a difference. Our yard went from desert wasteland to home in a day.

love and hugs, B