From My Heart

POTD: Day 12 {That Face}

My golden girl in all her golden glory.  I love this child.  My baby.  I watched her chubby baby cheeks disappear.  The gap-tooth grin is gone.  Her legs are one mile long.  She's growing up so very fast.  I just want to press the PAUSE button once in awhile so I don't miss one little nuance. 

Bathing Beauty?

Ummm, not so much...

But you cannot deny we had a total blast.  TOTAL BLAST.  With the goofy pics to prove it!

"Live the life you love.  Love the life you live."  -Bob Marley

A Water Logged Pink Saturday Part Cinq

Let's start w/ THE PINK:

Remember that old door I drug home for $5?  Well, here ya go!  Instant headboard!  Miss M and puppydog.  You simply cannot get cuter than this.  They are suffering from sheer exhaustion.  All that swimming!!!

We've spent every day since Wednesday in the pool.

We started @ Great Wolf Lodge Resort for a belated birthday celebration for our baby girl who is double digits now.

It was fun taking four kids to the waterpark.  I always imagined myself with four kids.

Well, these four kids were wonderful.  We had a total blast.  It was like VEGAS for kids.

Clearly I did not take my Canon Rebel w/ me...  But I wasn't going for good photography.  Just capturing the memories before my little birds fly away from the nest.

Pink Saturday Part Quatre

Well, there are all kinds of pink and Miss Meg went to the far end of the spectrum with her new paint color.

The ceiling has a great pitch.  She planned to use this shade on all four walls, but I think it will be overwhelming, so we're trying to talk her into just two walls, but she's 10 now and has a mind of her own.

On a lighter note (literally!) here are some wonderful things in my shop up for auction right now.

 

This vintage old German pin cushion with the fabulous lace and millinery flowers and that velvet lace in the palest shade of pink.  Yummy goodness.

These porcelain roses are so delicate I may just have to keep them around for a bit.  My favorite junking find of all from last weekend.

And I adore this sweet chintz rose jewelry box.  I will have this in the store by early next week.

Happy Pink Saturday ladies.  GET PINK!   Just click on the link for a whole show of PINK!  Thanks Beverly. 

In A Certain Light

I can see you sitting there.  Your face all lit up.  That mischevious look in your eye that you passed down to my sister and my daughter.  You were a troublemaker.  In the best kind of way.  You loved me best.  I know that is a fact.  When I walked in a room your eyes changed and the corners of your mouth went up.  You didn't put up with any monkey business.  That's for sure.  You'd always say, "Horsefeathers," if I tried to sell you a bid of goods.  I didn't get a way with much.  You put my hair in rollers.  Made me cinnamon toast for breakfast.  And goulash for dinner using that Franco American Spaghetti out of the can and a pound of ground beef.  I can remember the pot you cooked it in.  Aluminum and heavy with the real wood handle painted black.  You signed all of my cards: All My Love, All My Life, GaGa.  You let me dress the dog up in baby clothes and drag that poor dog around the neighborhood in my doll carriage.  You yelled at me when I twirled the cord to that ugly beige wall telephone in the kitchen.  When my conversation reached your fifteen minute limit you suddenly expected an important call and I had to get off.  You bought us Atari so we could play pong like the rest of the kids in America.  You kept me well-dressed and my Mother before me.  No child of the Depression was going to let her loved ones walk around in rags.  We were dressed to the nines.  You worked through my Mother's childhood.  You were a career woman before it was cool.  You gave up your career to stay home with me so I didn't have to go to daycare while Mom worked and Daddy was away in the War.  You taught me to read and write at the age of four.  You took me to church and taught me Jesus Loves Me.  You took me on roadtrips and let me by that basket of candy everytime we stopped at a Stuckey's.  You didn't order a dinner plate when we dined out because my eyes were bigger than my stomache.  You just ate what I didn't.  You built a strong sense of family in me.  You spoke of your loved ones with tender affection.  Aunt Kate and Uncle Tug and your sister, Thelma.  Your Daddy who was an old man by the time you came along.  You loved them all.  I felt like I knew them too even though they were long gone by the time I arrived on planet Earth.  You taught me a love of gardening.  When I see purple orchids or a peony bush in full bloom I mentally fall down on my knees and weep.  It transports me back.  I'm your little shadow and you go about your day with me trailing behind you.  We do laundry and hang it on the line to dry.  We weed and we water.  We got to the market.  We make dinner.  We sit on the front porch.  A lot.  At the time that about drove me batty, but I'd give an arm and a leg to sit with you on the porch while you wondered who the guy in the green truck was that dared park in front of your house on a public street.  We tried to simmer you down.  It was a public street.  He can park anywhere he wants.  You were a feisty ole thing with your bright red lipstick.  I can still remember how the point wore down as you liberally applied it.  I loved you then.  And I love you now.  It wasn't perfect, but it never is.  Looking back one has a tendency to see through rose colored glasses...  But please know this: you were the best Grandmother.  I respected you.  And I loved you.  And I appreciated you.  I know that's all you truly wanted back.  And I miss you.  Especially today.  On your birthday.  Today the light was just right and I thought back and thanked God above for you.  Helen Henrietta.  My grandmother.  My Gaga.  Happy Birthday.

Dad's Day Was Delightful

(photo by meggie age: 10 years 10 days in low light conditions!)

Mr. Dexter Doolittle got a new fence on Father's Day!

Behold the fence!  Needs paints, but it's gorgeous!  Pickets done in one day by Mr. Fix It and his trusty sidekick, Mr. Fix It Jr.  Such a team.  Meg and I cut & drilled a few holes ourselves!

And another view.  Most of the time there are horses grazing out in the back pasture.  This is my view from the kitchen window.

Father's Day was celebrated on the back porch over a grilled steak dinner.  I used 100 tealights from IKEA and created an outdoor fairyland.  The lightning bugs were much more magical though.  Hard to outdo God's little creations!  We dined on top sirloin, red potatoes done on the grill girl scout style followed by cherry pie.  Zach is our resident dessert chef.  At 12 he does it better than any of us and seems to enjoy it more too.  So Z created a cherry pie for his Dad.  We then gatherered around THE FIRE PIT to roast marshmallows long after the sun went down.  We all retired late knowing we had a full day in front of us.  Volleyball camp has started for Sister Golden Hair and Project Hardwood Floors commenced @ 0800 hours.  Report to follow.

Hope everyone had a fine, fine Father's Day.  We surely did.

Sister Golden Hair

My beautiful, vivacious baby girl turned 10 today.  I kept watching her out of the corner of my eye trying to pick up any discernable difference.  I kept flashing back to a tiny baby who arrived here direct from God.  All pink and pretty and blue-eyed and blonde.  I have dark-headed babies and they come early.  Not this one.  She was fashionably 3 weeks late taking me into the 42 week of pregnancy.  I recall a tiny pug-nosed two year-old with an afro of gold curls begging to be "pickled up".  I remember a five year-old trudging off to kindergarten with a pink backpack on her back bigger than she was.  And I remember the eight year old who discovered a singer named Jesse McCartney.  She thought he was sooo cute.  Well, this new 10 year old is so over Jesse.  Sorry Jesse.  Youth is a fickle thing.  She's also so over Hannah Montana, but "respects her musical ability".  She is still tiny.  She still sports that mane of hair.  She is still my baby.  And time is stealing her away.  I realize that is the main idea.  The goal.  Roots and wings.  And I think we're accomplishing that and then some, but standing back and just observing...  My baby.  My little girl.  She is really growing up.  Developing her own opinions.  Strong ones.  She is independent.  Delightful.  Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn.  And such a gift to this world.  When she sleeps I slip into her room to turn off the light and I sing under my breath.  SEE THE STARS.  LOOK HOW THEY SHINE FOR YOU.   AND EVERYTHING YOU DO.  THEY WERE ALL YELLOW.

Happy Birthday Meggie.

You are loved.

Ode To Geri

 

This is my sister and her cute husband.

Geri is all things color-coordinated.  She has mad decorating skills, could be on the fashion dept. of any trendy magazine, tells me she will "call me right back" which I know is code for "talk to you in a few days", has the best eyebrows in the universe, has recently started shopping @ the Goodwill (I knew she'd come to the dark side eventually---it's in her blood!), knows her way around a kitchen, drives too fast like she who shall remain nameless, shares my history from day one, loves her family, loves God, loves me. 

I can't remember the exact moment.  It was many years ago.  Some bad decisions were made and things didn't go well and the family was in a contentious knot and I just kept thinking how very much I loved and adored my little sister.  It was in that moment that I realized I had learned what unconditional love meant. 

That is what Geri is to me.

Unconditional Love.

Good Memories Indeed

Mother's Day is always a little bittersweet.

I have to visit my Mother here.

On the brighter side...  It was an absolutely beautiful day here today.  Blue skies for as far as the eye could see.  So many people came out to the cemetery to pay their respects.

I came to visit my Mom.  JUDY!

Judy, Judy, Judy.  Or as her Mom called her Judy Pie!  She hated that...

She left this earth way too early.  And she lives on in my daughter's dimples and my son's old soul and in my quick wit and in my sister's loyalty.  She was all Texan.  She loved a good deal.  She was thrift store shopping when thrift store shopping wasn't cool.  She was a collector like someone else I know.  She drank enough diet coke in her lifetime to fill a small ocean.  She didn't have a patient bone in her body.  She drove to fast.  And she cursed like a sailor.  And I miss her so much my bones ache.  I would love to call her up and make her laugh so hard she started cackling like a chicken.  I don't have anyone to tell about my my inability to cool off naturally.  She can't tell me why the heck I'm so hot!  I sure would love to have one more of our marathon shopping trips that always included lunch and a stop somewhere for dessert.  I'd love to stay up late watching hours of "I Love Lucy" reruns.  Just one more time.  Another trip down memory lane so she could show me where she use to hang out, where her first job was and where she met my Dad.  She was loud and brash at times.  And humble and kind and insecure.  Loving and thoughtful and sometimes thoughtless.  She was human.  And she had the biggest heart.  And I'd give the world to hug her.  And never let go.  I know she left this Earth knowing I loved her with every ounce of my being.  Every ounce...

I miss you Mom.  Every day.  Every hour.  Every minute.

Remembering my Mother is always the first thing I want to do every Mother's Day.  This is my 5th without her.  And I'm doing so much better.  I really enjoyed my day with my family.  We did all of my favorite things: antique shop, go to the garden store, LAUGH, and eat.  I'm usually the one behind the camera (and I prefer it that way...), but we got a few shots of today.

It's all about the laughter.

The Big Scanner, The Little Dog, The Huge Remodel and Three Layouts

I own a large format scanner.  I do.  It took up so much room.  I put it in a closet.  I needed it when I was scanning two page 12x12's for design teams and publishing my work.  Now I do a bit here and there, but mainly just for me. 

A few layouts from last month:

The fabric is from a dancing mermaid!

Trying my hand at white space.  I tend to be a "more is better than less" kind of chick!

Titled: "That smile is killer Z!".  My son has the best smile.  He smiles like me.  We have the same mouth.  We smile like it's our first day on the weather channel!  Cheesy! 

And finally.

A totally fabulous day at the zoo.  Spur of the moment.  Spontaneous.  Just me and my boy.  I don't know how his body contains his huge heart.  Totally true.  Again, w/ the cheese, but the truth.

We're knee deep in our do-it-yourself kitched remodel.  Still debating the sink situation.  Picked a floor.  Cancelled the order.  Decided to go with our original idea and ordered the tile for that.  Beadboard is cut and primed.  Now to find the perfect shade of white.  New knobs arrived and have been installed. :SIGH:

And one real cute chihuahua makes me smile every day.  Our Dexie!  He's wearing his vest!  That's the only piece of clothing he owns, but he wears it proudly!