Closer.

I need to borrow some of Beki's mind-blowing energy+ability-to-get-stuff-done and just wrap this one up already.

The hem isn't done. 

And I can't decide what color pillow to make. 

And so it still isn't finished.  But it's reeaaallly close. Oh, and the thank-you prezzies that I promised aren't done yet either.  But they'll get done; please don't flame me for that.

So that's about it, other than the fact that I am disturbed by how excited I am about American Idol tonight.  I love me some David Cook.  We have never watched a whole season before, but it's fun.  Neil Diamond Night should make for some cringeworthy entertainment.  They each have to sing two songs.  Will Jason Castro sing Red, Red Wine? (I've read rumors that he chose September Morn and Forever in Blue Jeans.) What save-the-world-message songs will Archie turn into Muzak?  Will Brooke forget the lyrics again?  You know she'll do You don't Bring Me Flowers. I'm not sure what Syesha will do, but I don't really care.  She's got Broadway written all over her -- which is great -- she's just not a popstar.  Cookie, though... Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon?  Hello Again? I kind of hope he takes something really upbeat and makes it his own, like he did with Mariah's Always be my Baby...   I like that he keeps us guessing.  (Can he make Sweet Caroline edgy?)

Oh, and here's more of my cherry tree.  Because I can't be stopped.

Weekend in photos

Catching up this Monday morning.  It was a lovely weekend, with friends in town.

Sunsets off the deck...

More blooms on the cherry tree...

A handmade gift from the bestest of friends... (She is just starting her blog, now that she has a gazillion handbags and isn't sure what to do with them.  And she lives of the most fantastic 60 acres of northern Missouri farmland, with views that go for miles and don't even look real.  And she is as sweet as it comes.  Thank you again, Elizabeth!)

And new shoes.  One of three new pairs.  Further proof that I must get out more.  Bob Jones Shoes is quite possibly the best place to find good shoes at a serious discount. Like these dark red Born mary janes.  I think I paid $40.  Why am I only now discovering it??

And yes, I'm pretty sure my feet are that white.

Many things to do today... very exciting, too.  Laundry, sheets, going through Fidget's clothes...better get going.  Happy Monday.

Thanks, sweets.

Thanks for all the comments on my tulips and lemons post.  You guys are all so... nice.  Hitting 'publish' was kind of nerve-wrecking and I didn't want you all to think that I was making myself out to be some survivor, because, heck, we've all been through tough times.   But thanks.

Also, I want to thank you for pushing me along. On my to-do list.  See, I have talked about redoing the powder room for 4 years and it took posting it here and knowing I'd announced my project to the world to get it done. 

The walls are now a color called 'going gray', which cracks me up. The big mirror took 5 weeks to hang, but whatever.  Bathroom art is tricky, too.  I mean, it's a bathroom and people do their business in there.  I don't want to taint any fine art or anything... but I think I'm ready to stick a fork in this one.

Big improvement over this.  Good grief, that link is from January. I'm not breaking any speed records am, I? 

That's all I've got for you.  A girlfriend is in town for the weekend and I'm taking the day off to shop and lunch and enjoy her company.  And my cherry tree is finally blooming.  Brace yourself, you'll probably see lots of this one over the next week or so.  ;-)

Enjoy your weekend!  Kiss kiss!

Tulips and Lemons

This is the door to the church in Old Downtown that I pass every day.   Monday morning I had noticed the tulips had bloomed, all full and bright and flirty.  So yesterday I made sure to bring my trusty camera on the way to preschool, praying that the previous night's crazy storms hadn't beaten those pretty tulips to a pulp.   As you can see, they did just fine.   Better than fine, really.  The rain made everything dewy and lush.

Sometimes I think about the crazy storms in my life, when I wasn't sure if I would be happy again.  Mostly, the time I spent as a single mom after my divorce. Standing before a judge and wetting myself, scared, knowing someone else had control over my life with my daughter; shaking and burning up inside, alone, 1700 miles away from my family.  Dropping my grocery bag, sending the milk and eggs across my driveway -- and not knowing how I was going to feed my kid now since I had just used my last $6 until payday and the support checks didn't come.  Coming to terms that a full-time working single-mom didn't have time to date and I wasn't probably ever going to marry again.  Or have more kids.  Or anything. Hiding in my laundry room, crying, ashamed of my depression and not wanting my little girl to see mommy so sad.  It broke me down, those years. 

There are several years of my life I keep tucked safely away... pretty much the year leading up to my divorce to the day I was granted the Court's permission to move home to the Midwest with my daughter.  Almost 7 years, total.  And there are several details I don't ever want my daughter to read, so I can't post them here. 

But today?  Ten years later?   I am doing just fine, too.  Better than fine.  Life is sweet.  The tears are happy ones.  And I'm stronger and thankful and hell-bent on enjoying every minute.  Had I not married in haste the first time, I might not have ended up marrying the love of my life. 

(In fact, had Dwayne T. not asked me go to prom with him, thus preventing me from accepting Mr Pink's invitation 18 years ago, I might not be married now, either.  Because we might have ended up dating then... and breaking up...and not marrying later after we'd 'growed up' a bit.  Life has a funny way of working out.)  And if you could follow *that* despite the careless pronouns and conditional phrasing, wow.

I never thought I'd look back on my Past (complete with stacks of scary legal documentation) and think I'm a lucky gal.  But I am.  Today is that much sweeter for it.

========================================================

I didn't mean for this to be a lemonade from lemons kind of post, but it is.  Alison tagged for one over the weekend and lookee what happened.  I'm not good at tagging people for memes, but I like this one. I'm supposed to tag 6, but cut it short at 3.  So Rachel, Jade, & Lori, consider yourself tagged.  You're welcome.  ;)

* Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
* Link back to person who tagged you.
* Write about an incident in your life you first thought was really bad, but ended up being a blessing.
* Tag six ( I only did 3) random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
* Let each person you tagged know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

The party.

It was a small affair.  The birthday girl wore a special dress that we had picked out for her talent show.  It is pretty without being too juvenile or too old.  It's got straps, but the bodice is very modest and it looks lovely on her.  Plus there's a big pink bow in the front.  So it is, by default, gorgeous.

She had made the cupcakes on her own, piping little dots and coming up with the mini tiara decorations all by herself.  Have I told you how much she loves to plan parties???

Do you doubt me?  Here is the White Board that greeted her guests as they showed at the front door.  She propped it on a dining room chair so they could read it upon arrival.

And there was candy.  Yum.  And pretty.

The talent show (no fire, no balls, and no judges) was a lot of fun.  Since I have a pretty strict personal rule keeping me from showcasing face shots on the interweb, I can't show you most of them.  Plus, it was in our basement, so the lighting was pretty bad. 

However, you'll have to take me at my word when I say it was very entertaining.  Being the dork that I am, I exclaimed at this point, "Oh my gosh!  She's doing the caterpillar!"  (It's the WORM.  Silly mom.)

This last shot is of my sister, who is currently teaching a cheerleading class to 4-7 year olds on Monday nights.  She performed their pom-pom dance routine.  Head-pops, shimmies and all.  Spec-tacular.   

Yours truly wrestled the mic from the girls to sang "Crazy little thing called Love" and "Buttercup" on the American Idol PS2 game.  Randy and Paula loved me, but thought I was a little pitchy.  Simon thought I should keep my day job.  And that was on the 'easy judging' mode.  heh.  Maybe I should have done the CATERPILLAR instead.

It was a sleepover, so that meant a late night, High School Musical2 DVD, and early morning pancakes with warm homemade syrup and fresh cut strawberries... but I was too tired to whip out the camera.  So you'll have to just trust me on that one. 

So it was a good little party and the girls had fun.  And then it was over. 

*Quiet.*  Ahh.

Oh dear, it's random. And a TV.

I always blog on Mondays.  So here goes.  Even if it feels late.

I'm still juggling hundreds of birthday party photos, some work stuff, a few chores, plans for dinner, trying to fit in some time on my treadmill. I have felt behind all day and I'm not sure why. 

This is my new & improved living room space.  The sofa and chair came last week.    Please, do not lecture me on the impracticality of a white couch; I am in love. It's a slipcover and I can wash it, and I work from home so I can even do this during the day when everyone is gone.  I love the chair, too.  The print is wild and flowery but not girly.  It's also a slipcover, so don't be surprised if I make another cover for it when the season changes and flowers aren't right for the occasion...

Someday I will write about this room and how it has morphed over the last 4 years... because we are not people who just toss money around willy-nilly buying random stoves and furniture.  And I don't want to turn this into a guess what we bought kind of blog.  That's not me.  But this room was a huge vacant cavernous kind of place when we moved in.  And we've done a lot to it.  I love the light in here now.  It's starting to feel just right. 

The other slipcover?  Still almost done.  But we had a sleepover and a house guest and... well...  It was like 80 degrees and sunny and perfect yesterday and I didn't get much done but enjoy it.  :)  Also, I got some esty goodies in the mail from The Noticing Project.  I'm scouting for a new frame(s?) and the perfect place to show them off.  Thanks, Alicia & Heather!  I love them...   

And (good grief, will this post ever end?  Thank you for reading this far.), if any of you local gals are (or know someone who is) in need of an older model 46" HDTV, my husband has replaced his beloved black box with a skinnier model and listed the old one on craigslist.  I'm not sure who needs enormous tvs, either.  I'm just sayin'.  Anyway, it works FINE and we're still selling the thing.  I hope it's feelings aren't hurt, is all. 

Getting ready

Things are very busy today... I'm following the precise instructions left by my 12 year old this morning before she left for school and, so far, I'm behind.  She didn't allow time for blogging today but I'm sneaking some in anyway.  Because I'm the Mom, that's why.

It's cute pink overload at my house right now.

These little pink plastic glasses are adorable.  I'm so happy we have some left over!

On the menu?  Stuffed Crust Pizza, CANDY...

Devil's Food (plus pudding mix and mini chips) + cream cheese frosting cupcakes.  She made 'em.  They have tiaras.   But they are in the downstairs fridge and I'm too lazy to go get them now.  I'll get photos later...

And gift totes, of course.  With lip glosses, jelly bracelets and bath products (thank goodness for Target's $1 section!).

Ok, that's about all the time we have today.  I have some more streamers to put up.  We're T-minus-7 hours, people! 

whirlwind

 

I'm spinning today.  Between things that have to get done, and things I want to do.  Spring finally arriving and the plans that are inspired by seasonal changes (pansies!  mulch!  shaving my legs!)   Between a stove that needs to be broken in and a birthday bash for a 12 year old tomorrow night that still needs some loose ends tied up.  A slipcover.  A basement entertainment area that seems like it will never be finished.  Work that pays the bills.  Closets that need cleaning.  Catching up on correspondence.  Washing my hair. 

And then this morning I was flipping through flickr (see how good I am at procrastinating?) and saw Molly's photos.  Of her new old house. And then jumped over to her blog.  And, well.  That's some good reading.  So go pour yourself another cup and go read her post.  She's a lucky gal to be making such a move.  And we, dear friends, are lucky she sat down to tell us all about it.  Make sure you click the link on her sidebar, to read the long version.  You'll see. 

And thank you, Molly, for sharing so much of this special adventure with us.  xoxo

I'm going to try and right myself and walk a straight line to the weekend.  ;)

Meet Sophia

She showed up all punctual and shiny new.   She's got 5 fires a-burnin' and two ovens below. 

Sophia made her grand entrance yesterday. She completes a 2-year process of updating the appliances in our kitchen.  She's curvy and powerful and solid.  I didn't know what to do when I opened the oven door and she didn't wobble.  Not even a little.  She means business, this one.

Sophia and I are going to have lots of glorious adventures.  I'm going to make use of all the fancy schmancy cookbooks that I flip through each week.  We'll bake mouth-watering goodies and fry up pancakes on her griddle.   (I think she has magical powers.)

I just hope the grand dame is not above frozen pizza.  I'm a little afraid to ask.

I'm seeing light...

She's nearly finished.  (I am not sewing over my pins.  It's a slow process, pulling these babies out every couple inches or so, but so far I'm pleased...)

And some etsy goodies arrived in the mail the other day from Candace's shop.  Have you checked out her goodies?  Lots of sweet little vintage finds and crafts.  I picked up four of the prettiest (clean, perfect condition) vintage pillowcases and some handmade gift tags. 

These little bunnies are so cute, I'm going to have a hard time putting them on packages!  ;)  I never know what my plans are for pillowcases (sometimes they are just pretty to cut up), but I'm happy to have them, too.  These are so springy. 

On a completely unrelated note, we're getting a new stove today.  Now that I'm a grown-up, I find appliance deliveries very exciting.  And now you know you have that post coming.  Please try to contain your excitement.