Going On A Trip!

Helloooo Fellow Bloggers!!

Sorry! I have been a bit busy these last few weeks. I was in tax crunch H-E- (well you get the point). I am supposed to manage the books for my husband's landscape construction business..but whoops! time gets away from me (could be the blogging!) and I have to do in a few weeks time what I should be doing all year long.

Besides the oh-so-fun tax stuff - I have been getting ready to take my daughter to Washington, D.C. tomorrow! She is attending a Jr. National Young Leader's Conference. Our flight is at 6:20 a.m which means we have to leave around 4 to get to the airport. Yikes!

I basically have to hand my daughter over for 6 days and meet up with her again at the airport on the day we fly home. She will be staying in a dorm with other girls. She is ELEVEN (nearly 12), people! what was I thinking?! But I am dragging my Mother with us, so her and I will hit the historic sights and do our own tour.

But of course the weeks leading up to this time off for the "Woman of the House" means alot of preparation for "the boys" that will be left home alone! That's right, my boys are 9, 4 and 37! So I have been busy not only packing for myself, helping the daughter along with her suitcase (including a sleeping bag for an overnighter in a museum!) but laying out sets of clothing for my husband and two sons. You know men can't dress themselves, or use the washing machine either or cook anything other than Top Ramen noodle soup & scrambled eggs!

As I sat there admist my empty suitcase, miserably looking at my mound of unsuitable CALIFORNIA clothing to be headed into what they said was 12 degrees in D.C. last week - tieing up loose ends of school needs (juiceboxes for school party & independent study forms) trying to decipher the crumpled up, washed & dried receipts for our taxes - scrounging through the loose sock bin in search of enough pairs of socks to last "the boys" through the maids (i.e. ME) time off - it really hit me that I will have 6 days off of not doing ANYTHING for ANYONE but ME! YIPEE!! :)

So I will be enjoying this next week - whether the sun is shining or not in D.C. and will hopefully have pictures to post for you then!

The Cows Came Home...

Here I am... without a thing in the world to post about. I haven't been out antiquing, refinishing, rearranging or any other "ing". As I browse around from blog to blog, oohing and aahing over the latest vignettes, tablescapes and flea market finds, all filled with such inspiration and here I am drawing a blank.

So until I can get out of this blogger's block...this is the best I can come up with....COWS. yep. cows.

We raise cattle and most days, I am oblivious to them as they just seem to become part of the landscape.

(whoops! How did those get in here?)

Other days I am most annoyed for they usually find an opening in the fencing to come eat our apple trees.

And alot of the time - I am REALLY mad for the wandering calf who causes his Mama to MOO all night long calling for him.

But I really don't pay any attention to them at all...

I mean, sure they are CUTE when they are little....

but I don't spend my free time thinking about them...

I mean just because we live on a ranch....

Doesn't make me a "COWgirl" or anything....

So nope, I never give them a second thought....

Or glance....

Just keeping my thoughts strictly on making my home as cozy as can be...

So until I can get past this mental block, forgive me the pictures of the bovine group. ;)

Have a great weekend!

ROAD TRIP

Did you miss me? We went on a little road trip a few weeks ago. Didn't want to announce it allover the internet before hand that I was leaving my house for a few days but we took the kids to DISNEYLAND!

We left our little town and headed out for the 5 hour drive south.

(Grandma got the lucky job of entertaining the four year old on the way!)


(the older two had 3 days worth of Independent Study to complete & movies to keep them entertained - which do you think they did more of?)

All month long we had been having 70-80 degree weather..only to arrive in Southern CA with storms looming on the forecast! The first day it was beautiful weather...

And then it wasn't so beautiful....

(I'll bet the most purchased "souvenir" that week from Disneyland was their ponchos!!)

But we made the most of our trip. It definitely made the park less crowded! And we even got to go on rides continuously without leaving our seats! What's a little water from Splash Mountain when you are getting poured on anyway right?

(Do you see the small patch of blue in front of my husband? that's the four year old! ha! )

And a little "Goofiness" from Goofy's Kitchen where we got to breakfast with many characters...

With the kids being older - we got to go on more of the main attractions, like Indiana Jones, Star Tours & crazy "California SCREAMING" rollercoaster over at the California Grand Adventure park. And SCREAM I did! While the kids begged for more, I would have to pop wads of peppermint gum in my mouth to counteract my queasy stomach. When the husband and I were off doing the "wild" rides with the older two kids, Grandma would take the youngest to the more tame side of the parks. After a while, "It's a Small World" was about all I could handle! When did I get old?

So while I only posted a few pictures ( I took 158!) to save me frustration of my antiquated dial up internet system (it takes me days to upload pictures!!!), this was the first time of many visits at Disneyland that we didn't want to leave the Magical Kingdom. We truly had a wonderful time, bad weather and all! :)

Motherhood Moment

Can I brag for a moment...? This sweet, young girl is my 11 year old daughter. Today she is dressed up for GREEK Day at school. We had to sew up this costume and make a Greek food dish (we made Greek Almond Tea Cakes) to bring in. She also had to make a Greek mask and will be acting out a small skit with a few other classmates.

They will be doing Greek Olympics today - good luck with everyone dressed like this!

We had to set the alarm a little early today to manage the hairdo! Hard to see but the updo portion is braided and coiled into a loose bun.

The costume was simple enough to make but a bit more challenging when you have a houseful of sick patients and are stuffed up yourself! Yes, we have been hit with some virus that keeps circulating around the house.



But the bragging part of this post is not about the outfit but the special little girl wearing it. Not only is she smart, earning all A+'s, but her inner beauty just makes her shine (my husband and I like to "argue" on who she resembles most!) Her caring heart & compassion has given her many friendships (this little girl will draw a bath, lay out my pj's & make me a cup of tea just because she wants to pamper me - oh, I am welling up now!) and her quiet confidence & composure has allowed her to challenge herself and face any fears (she will be attending a Jr.Nat'l Young Leaders Conf. in Wash.D.C.) We feel truly blessed with our special girl.

So please indulge me...I am having a Proud Motherhood Moment! :)

I've been bad...

I have a confession to make....(gulp)..... I've Strayed!!..

I reposted pictures over at RMS. I feel like a traitor to Blogland! But hear me out... For over a year I had password trouble - no matter how many ways I had tried - I could not get access to my rooms. But now - for some reason, I was suddenly receiving emails of new comments on my spaces. It had been nearly a year since any comments had been emailed to me. When I went over to check them out, I was aghast at how outdated my rooms were! Even laughing at how "naked" they looked without all my current homey touches.

~Before~

(haa! Oh go ahead - you can laugh too, I won't hear you!)

So after a little playing around - got my password reinstated and I figured I would just update my rooms and be on my way, right? Welllllll, it took me two days to upload pictures (you remember my internet issues from before..) Then while on RMS, I noticed the whole style layout is completely different and now you can't use exclaimation points!!!!! (I mean really? that's supposed to stop the fighting?) But by then it was too late - I was in too deep.... there I was checking every 10 minutes to see if I had a new comment or a better rating. I am ashamed to admit I got SUCKED IN AGAIN!!

(before adding green checked trim to the curtains, raising the curtain rods or buying the red armchair & sisal rug - phew!)

~After~

I figured I had grown up enough to not care what anyone thought, to not be disappointed when I started to receive negative comments. I was beyond that, right? I mean, I decorate for myself & my family, not for some faceless person with a name of "9678011" right?...right?

~Before~

(before I even glazed my cabinets or added extra trim to them -see if you notice!)

~After~

Wrong! As much as I tried convincing myself that nobody elses opinion matters - it still hurts to hear (read) someone saying to "declutter" (did I title my room "Minimalist"..?? No!)...sigh... when will I ever learn? And don't even get me started on those ratings! To think someone hates your room so much that they would give you the lowest possible score so that you couldn't possibly rate even a "Good" room? To not even find one redeemable quality in your decorating?

~Before~

(no window benches & before my rooster plant died!)

~After~

Do those faceless people know the time & effort and hours of shopping (ok, that part was fun!) and the arranging & rearranging of furniture? The wrestling with my sewing machine? The dust & toxic fumes I inhaled while refinishing furniture? The arguments my husband and I had over building those window benches?.. But not everyone is bad on RMS. There were a few well wishers with some real compliments - but why do the bad remarks always erase those good ones?

~Before~

(before refinishing table & chairs or building window bench or even curtains!)

~After~

I think its perhaps I gained so much more acceptance from fellow bloggers that I thought RMS would somehow be different this time around....but some things never change...including the same kitchen posted on the main page under "Most Viewed". Come on people!

~Before~
(Look!.. No piano, screen or wingbacks!)

~After~

So while my rooms are still posted on RMS, (what are you crazy? it took me TWO DAYS to upload all those photos!?) I vow never to stray again...I found the comfort & reassurance I was looking for right here in BLOGLAND.

There are some good things that came out of RMS - I got to meet some of you there :)....and I never would have taken so many "BEFORE" pictures to laugh over now.

Now if you'll excuse me,...I am off to declutter my rooms....... Just Kidding! ;)

**P.S. - All of your comments mean the world to me! I know this subject hits a nerve and I really appreciate all of you taking the time to comment & boost my spirits! I will be by to visit with all of you & see those lovely blogs & pictures that are calling to me.... after I sew my daughter's Greek costume & make a food dish for school! ....sigh....can't wait for summer...remind me I said that when I start complaining then. :)

Giving The Husband A Hint....

Do you think this is a subtle hint that Valentine's Day is coming? I know it's a bit early but I wanted to give my husband plenty of time to notice. Remember ~ he's a bit oblivious of his surroundings...but he's a good guy!


(this cherub was reg $49.99 - I paid $14.99 @ Jo-ann's After Holiday sale)


(I updated my "faux" flowers a bit for some "Luuuvvv" colors. Don't you just adore those little sparkly hearts!?.. & the candles smell sooo good!)


Sorry not too much to post.. started way too many "Spring Cleaning" projects all at once that now I am a bit overwhelmed!! Also the kids have been keeping me busy with their school projects ...speaking of kids, looky what I found as I was loading my pictures into the computer just now....







That's from the 4 year old. Sneaky little guy figured out how to turn on my new camera & take a picture faster than I did! Give him some time and I bet his pictures will turn out better than mine too. Have a great weekend! :) ~ P.S. - Bo at Blinks n Winks nicknamed my little guy "Cherub" I think that's so appropriate - not only because he loves to run around in his underwear with his little cherub belly hanging out but he does bring love & joy to all of us around him! Thanks Bo!~