More inexpensive art

2011 Audubon calandar from Whole Earth Provision clearance table: $3.00

6 frames from Aaron Bros ($6.99/each):$42.00



Inexpensive art for mantle. I'm happy.

fresh oregano.

The oregano from last year had gone wild. The long freeze last winter didn't kill it. Once warm weather hit, it grew everywhere. I had to take a shovel & clippers to it and cut it back by 2/3. I needed to clear my stepping stones and make some room for some more herbs. I bundled up some of the cut oregano, hung it up to dry in the garage and forgot about it.

Friday night I needed oregano for the meal I was making but was out. Luckily I remembered the drying herbs in the garage. I had fresh dried oregano for free!



I've grown herbs in our garden for years but this was my first time to dry them. I wonder what took me so long. The rosemary, basil, parsley and thyme are growing quickly and soon I'll be able to replenish my spice cabinet with more free herbs. I can't wait!

the new cook

A has been expanding her cooking repertoire lately. The practice is showing. She's becoming quite the cook.

She's been helping with dinner a bit. She's working on mastering garlic bread, although she needs to figure out the difference between a shake and a sprinkle of garlic salt.

Today she said she wanted an omelet. I wasn't up to making one so she asked if she could do it herself. She googled directions and made a salami & cheese omelet.



It's a little well done but it certainly looks like an omelet and it tasted pretty darn good.

more room updates

I have been annoyed by the mismatching frames that DH kept putting on the mantel after I took them down. Not that I need everything matchy-matchy but the frames really did not go together at all.

I knew I needed to do something with the pictures to satisfy us both.

My inspiration came from the Young House Love blog. They filled their hallway with white frames. We've had a large white framed picture of the kids over the piano for years. I decided to add to it, but I needed to do it on a budget. First I culled through framed photos that have been in a box since we sold our last house. I printed some pictures from the photo session we did back in November. I got 5 pictures from Costco for less than $4.00. I made a trip to the dollar store to fill in frames and got a bottle of spray paint from Lowe's.







I used the foil to make impressions of the hangers on the back of the frames. I used the nail for the large photo as my starting off point. It worked great with the frames above and to the right of the big one. Of course, one of my dollar store frames completely broke. (I know, that's what I get for shopping for frames at the dollar store!) That threw the whole left side placement off. I winged it and it turned out okay. I keep looking at it thinking I need to move a few of them, but then the wall will look like swiss cheese.

A few hours and $15.00 later, I have a gallery of family photos over our piano.



I've got two more projects planned. Some day I will be done with this room makeover.

To the person in the black jeep

with license plate number bw1 z828, I would like to you know that I was in the right and you were in the wrong. Was it necessary to honk your horn at me for at least 10 seconds, shoot me the finger and then zoom ahead of me and proceed down Northaven Road at 18 miles per hour??

I was in the straight or turn right lane. You were in the left turn only lane. I realize that the signs were put up fairly recently, but it has been a good 6 weeks. I realize that you have probably spent your whole life of approximate 18 years going straight from that lane. However the rules have changed now and you need start reading the signs.

I should have sped around you and gone 10 miles per hour like J suggested. I decided to play nice. Maybe you will next time! I hope so.

Last Day of School!!!

Another year of school is done.

A got a great report card and the science and technology awards. She's headed to 6th grade, middle school, skirts instead of jumpers, a whole new world.

J also had a great report card and he got the creative writing award. He's headed into 3rd grade. He won't have as many changes as A but it will be a new adventure for him too.

B is finished with preschool. He's very excited to be going into kindergarten. He was disappointed that he didn't start the day after preschool ended. He wasn't prepared to wait all summer to be a "big kid".

We have a busy June coming up, full of camps. July bring the cousins home from Kazakhstan and a trip to Indy & the lake. August will be relaxing & getting ready for school to start on the 17th. 81 days of summer to go!

Field Day

It is the last week of school. Kids are doing absolutely nothing all week long. The 5th graders are watching a lot of movies & socializing. The little kids have theme week, pajama day, movie day, cleaning day, snack day, etc.

Yesterday was field day. Since I am room mom for J's class I had to get 5 volunteers to help out. Since B is out of school, one of us had to stay home with him. Of course DH got the field day duty. Then A's class needed volunteers. DH was already going to be there from 8-10, so I signed him up for the 10-12 shift too! Lucky him.

He did take some pictures with his phone. Looks like they had a lot of fun.

ballet recital

Last Saturday, A had her ballet recital. She and her friends were in 4 numbers this year. Two for the regular ballet & tap classes, another tap class needed extra dancers so they filled in and they were included in the finale with all the teachers and "big" students. Her friend's mom said we were finally getting our money's worth at the recital with all the time they spent on stage. Too true!

I took some pictures during the dress rehearsal since they always come out too blurry when the lights are down low. Even these weren't great.

wasp?

Our cocoon has been in the jar sitting on the window ledge for a while. This morning I heard a noise and checked it out.

Instead of a moth, there was a wasp. I'm supposing that the wasp ate the caterpillar and came out instead.



Strange

garden 2011 update

The garden is growing well.



The tomatoes are getting big. I built a trellis around the swc.


Here are the grape/roma (I forget what I bought)


And the other kind (again I forget what I bought)


Frankie climbed up into the fort to check out the neighborhood while I was out weeding & photographing. He's such a funny dog.

Room makeover update

I finally finished my curtains today. I added the panel to the bottom but the sides have been hanging open for the past few weeks. I whipstitched them closed today.



Not I need to figure out what to do over the mantel. I like the big blank space but DH isn't going for it.

bathroom words

B has been enthralled with bathroom words lately. Every time I hear him use one, I remind him that it is a bathroom word and only to be used in the bathroom.

Well, he's taken me seriously and pushing the limits.

He goes to the bathroom and sings at the top of his voice the word "Poop" to the tune of the song "Dynamite".

He stands at the doorway of the bathroom. He touches his foot outside the door and stops singing. He pulls his foot back and starts singing again. He repeats this over and over waiting for me to react.

I'm not reacting. Instead I'm praying for this phase to end very soon.

When you are the mother of boys . . .

your husband asks you questions like, "Do you think J should wear a cup for baseball?"

I am one of 5 girls. I do not know anything about athletic cups. However, I would hate for my child to have future fertility issues because I was too squeamish to figure out athletic cups.

I turned to google and the first site I found was the "NuttyBuddy".

That's when I informed DH that cup buying definitely fell under the guidelines of father duty not mother duty.

I'm done.

duct tape

J came home from school today and he wanted to make a duct tape wallet. I really wasn't in the mood to make a wallet at all. Normally, I'd just say do it yourself or wait until I feel like it. I know, what a great attitude for a mother. Today I decided that I probably say 'NO' way too often, so I sucked it up and said 'YES'.

Aside from the first step of creating a base sheet of duct tape, it wasn't that hard. We both had a hard time with our fingertips sticking to the tape. In trying to get it off, we'd forget and put another finger down in an attempt to pull it off the other hand. Rinse & repeat. It was comical. I didn't curse, I was proud.

In the end, it took about 20 minutes of tearing tape, cutting tape & sticking tape and we were done.







J's a happy camper. Sometimes it is nice saying 'YES'.

Sunday afternoon at the ballpark

S#2 came into town on Saturday. She's here for a few days for junior ring ceremony for the oldest niece. Ten of us headed out to the ballpark on Sunday afternoon to watch the Rangers. We had great seats, 5th row on the 3rd base line.


I learned to keep score


A did the wave




A line drive foul ball came right at us. Niece M jumped out of her seat in time, but it ricocheted off the chair and hit S#5 in the arm.




The ball girl gave J a ball at the end of the game.


It was 'Run the Bases Sunday' at the ball park. We waited in an incredibly long line (4 levels up the ramp long line!) so the boys could run. And that was the Jr. Rangers priority line. There was another ramp full of people who weren't Jr. Rangers.




It was a fun afternoon at the ballpark but we were all exhausted at the end of the weekend. I have a feeling it is going to be a long week.

Public Service Annoucement: When we sat in our seats, I reminded my kids that they needed to be alert. Line drive foul balls can be dangerous, a girl I graduated high school with lost her life last fall, Wendy Wismer Whitehead. We were lucky that M was paying attention and was able to get out of the way of the ball.

Slumber party

A asked for a slumber party for her birthday this year. I was hoping for something a little simpler, maybe 2 friends for a fancy dinner out. Luckily, there are only 5 girls so it isn't too bad. I'm hope they get some sleep tonight. DH & the boys headed out for their own sleep over at MIL's house.

She had specific ideas about this party. Absolutely no theme. No plans. Except for maybe a game.

We came up with I-SPY scavenger hunt. She found a bunch of trinkets. We took pictures of them like a I-SPY card. I hid everything and the girls had to find the items on their cards.







It was a fine game. Next time I would have more items per girl, maybe 10 instead of 5, and I would definitely make them harder to find. I didn't want to frustrate them but it was too easy.

Since the game, they have eaten, talked about boys, played Just Dance 2, talked about boys, eaten more, talked about boys, colored, talked about boys, played foos ball, talked about boys and finally settled down to watch a movie.





I noticed the boy thing creeping in at girl scout meetings this year. I didn't realize how big a subject it was until tonight. I guess this is just a part of the territory with turning 11? Gosh I hope it is a short phase.

First T-ball game

Today was the first t-ball game of the season. T-ball is extremely amusing to watch, especially this first game when the kids are still figuring out what they are suppose to do.

B went out swinging for the bleachers. In his second at-bat he hit a line drive into the outfield. He was very happy. His fielding was so-so, but what can you expect from a 5 year old in a t-ball game.

tomato success

So far I would declare my self-watering container tomatoes a success.

Look at what I have growing already!



If this one tomato ripens, it will exceed the crop from last year.

I can tell as the temps get higher, the tomatoes are using more water. It is taking longer to fill the reservoir then it did even a week ago.

Now I just have to figure out how to trellis the plants so they don't grow into a massive jungle of tomatoes back there.

Celebrations on Sunday

Sunday was Mother's Day. DH & kids made me breakfast in bed and the kids made me presents.

Sunday was also the day before A's 11th birthday. MIL invited us all over for a combined Mother's Day/birthday celebration. We had a smorgasbord of food and my mom brought a mocha cake (yum!)





After celebrating, we went home and I took an hour & half nap. That was lovely!

Baseball parade

Soccer wraps up this weekend. J has one last game. One sport over and another one begins. Time for the 2011 baseball parade.

DH & J skipped this year to go to the Rangers/Yankees game. I took A & B to enjoy the festivities.

obligatory standing with the plastic flag shot


A, doing what she always does, reading


Near meltdown when I said no to the splash grounds this year


Walking in the parade


Despite the lack of water play, B had a great time.