update

i loathe painting.  it's still not right.

i should have gone to disneyland.

while the cats away

i L.O.V.E. it when my boys go off together.  trampling in the wilderness.  chasing the big one.  sitting around a campfire telling remember when stories.  patting each other on the back.  eating soup that i made just for them.  makes me feel all warm inside.

it's their own male bonding time.
and over the years their male bonding time has given me plenty of opportunities too.
girlfriend time, sleeping in time, chick flick time, shopping time, and best of all...
daughter time.
why one time when they went hunting carrie and i left them a note on the kitchen table.
'gone to disneyland', it said.  'see you when we get back'.
now their latest hunting trip hasn't taken me to disneyland.
but that doesn't mean i'm sitting around whining and crying in my diet coke.

no sireee.  let the fun begin.
painting the kitchen.
because while i love the kitchen cabinet redo from last year,

i hate the way the cabinets look with the current color of my kitchen walls.
a nice, soft swiss coffee background is just what they need.

so thank you, my boys, for giving me a free weekend.
i hope you are enjoying your male bonding time.
and that pot of  soup.  it's filled with love. 

my new strategy

wear skin tight jeans...no breathing room.

should equate to no eating room.

because in 2 weeks my 2 skinny besties and i will be heading out to our annual

palm springs weekend.

i can't help that i'm the oldest.

but dang, do i have to be the fattest.

i'll let you know if my new strategy works.

for now, i'm in pain.

tight jean pain.

i think my ocd is showing

i can't stand it when the "header" end of my sheets is wrinkled.  

see that big wrinkle.  it's tragic.

so every week when i wash my sheets i end up ironing the header.

but i do it when it's on my bed.

makes me feel less neurotic.

you know as opposed to putting up the ironing board.

check it out!

my dining room side chairs (you know, the ones decked out with roosters and other farm animals) make-over made it over here!  and the story she tells about them...it's not my story.  but oh, so accurate.
thank you better ater.

can i just say sweet.

my panties are all bunched up

there is much in today's world i don't understand.  some of it i'm just fine with.  but some of these modern day behaviors have me either chuckling to myself or shaking my head.  sometimes i even seeth.

for instance.

initialism.

lol (always thought it was lots of love), omg (what's wrong with 'heck'?) bff (cute if you're 12), lmao (if it were only that easy to get rid of my 'a').

these are the chuckling, head shaking ones.

but then there are the 'other' ones.

wtf (really...) and fml (a sign that therapy is needed).

please america.  if you are under 20 go ahead.  initialize.

if you are anywhere in the adult world, articulate.

with decorum and respect please.

maybe then our rising generation will have something to rise to.

finishing touch

i finished the burlap pillows.

i'm liking the texture. 

and the best part of these little pillows...i didn't have to buy a thing.  i had looked for a pillow insert that was the size i wanted, about 8" X 16".  couldn't find that size anywhere. but all i needed to do was check my pillow stash.

there it was.  the average pillow.  16" X 16".  so i cut it in half.

oh how i love upcycling.

p.s.  no bathroom jokes allowed.

at last

finally...my chairs are reupholstered.  and i couldn't be happier with them.

here they are before.

during

and after

now i'm off to make some little burlap back pillows.  i think they could use the texture.

that and i love burlap.

why i love the internet

because i get a kazillion ideas.  and it gets my brain going.  and ideas flowing.  why sometimes it even gets my heart pumping.  i could peruse design and decor and crafting sites all day long.  and because of the many hours that i spend blog hopping i have seen some amazing stuff.  so amazing that i have done something i have never done before.  decorate for halloween.  ok, maybe not 'decorate'.  more like tablescape.
here's my dining room table decked out for halloween.

wish i could take credit for this spooktacular (yes, i amuse myself) idea.

but i can't.  it came from here.  check it out.  amazing.



he da man

 i fell in love with this face the very first time i saw it.  he (and his brother...i'll tell you about him later) had been on a plane for 24 hours.  his eyes couldn't have been bigger and the look of fear on his face couldn't have been more real.  he didn't know that he had a family waiting.  that he was loved beyond measure.  and that he was ours forever.  he had no idea that he was in for the adventure of a lifetime.  neither did we.

now he's all grown up.  almost.

 that's him playing the stand up bass with the cdo jazz band.  and he plays golf.  and he's in r.o.t.c.  he loves to fish.  he loves to hunt.  he plays a mean cornhole.  he's always happy.  he's very loved.

 you da man koll.