Tolentreasures

Hang on for the synopsis of a week...another crazy one of course, that is all that we have around here these days. Last Wednesday was spent preparing to leave on the mission trip to Appalachia.  As with all trip preparations in my life, everything seems to go wrong the day before I leave causing me to make such rash statements as "This is it, I am not going on another mission trip, there is too much to do around here, this time I really mean it and yes, I know I say this every time but I mean it THIS IS IT!!!"  And then I go again.  Back to last Wednesday, somewhere along the line I took a post it note and jotted down everything that happened so that I would not forget.  It is in my purse, my purse is in my car, I was too tired to carry it in the house last night.  I think that might be where my blood pressure medicine is also, I just realized this morning that I have not found that since I arrived home.  Add that to the list for today, I think I might need it.   But again, b

I did not want to put the mess at the top of this post because I didn't want to scare anyone away with that little thumbnail coming up on other blogs, so I am starting with these little ornaments that were finished during last night's insomnia.  Insomnia brought on by too much to do before I leave on a short trip this week AND a cup of coffee that smelled so good at 9:00 on a nice, cool deck.  Why didn't I just sniff it?  I really didn't need to drink it also. And this little mouse was a prototype for more.  I have them all cut-out, one more cup of coffee this evening and I would have them all done tomorrow...NOT! And then this.  Wasn't this place supposed to start improving once we got it?   The demolition is creating more of an eyesore than I would have ever anticipated.  But good news!  The siding is in and as soon as this porch is rebuilt and a couple of windows replaced, we are ready to go! I am leaving tomorrow for a mission trip to the Appalachia area

Disclaimer:  If you notice, we are doing this is Mamaw's really messy basement because it does make a mess, not that Mamaw didn't already have quite the mess before I started. Today, I will be showing you how to make these lovely pictures, my Mommy and Daddy are going to be so excited when I bring them home. Supplies needed: Paper Acrylic paints A Mamaw that is not afraid of a little mess (or a big mess, obviously) First, you gather your supplies and one of Mamaw's old shirts and find Mamaw's messy basecoating/varnishing table in the basement. Then you start to place puddles of paint all over your paper.  It helps if Mamaw is close by, some of those lids can be a real bugger to get off. Keep putting paint on, even after Mamaw says that is enough for this one, because the real fun starts when it squeezes out and goes everywhere.  Just beg a little in a cute little voice and Mamaw's usually cave. Sometimes you have to shake the paint really hard to get a nice big

This is the start of the border in Baby Wyatt's nursery.  Trying to figure out a way to incorporate some wildlife in has been rolling around in my mind for quite some time.  This is the first coat of the silhouettes that I am going to place around room.    There is a lot more work to be done on this.  But we have a good start anyway. The caption on picture #1 of Mom-to-be Dianna is, "Dad, don't take my picture with this shirt on, I look like a tank!"  With only two months left to go, she is scrounging for oversized t-shirts. And just to justify all those family members, myself included, that have harassed poor Dianna about the Pictionary games and her lack of artistic skills, she did not just pose for these pics, she actually worked a lot of the evening painting...yes PAINTING!  Dianna held a paintbrush and I think she actually liked it!! And of course, me painting away. And Aunt Jenn, who did work, but at this point looks as though she was supervising Di

Monday evening was spent painting with some friends.  What a nice evening and what a relaxing break for me.  I made chili (important evidence in the story).  Dear hubby didn't realize that I still knew that the kitchen was for anything more than making coffee and washing out paintbrushes.  Those were some of his first comments.  They were fun, they were harmless.  After we went to bed, that is where the threat came in.  I settled in.  That is what we will call it.  After the threat, I realized that we rarely go to bed at the same time.  Our internal clocks are a bit different.  For instance, it is 4:42 right now and he is sleeping away and will  be for another two hours...I go to bed at 10:00 or so.  Anyway, back to the threat.  I "settle" in, turn out the light and "settle" some more, when dear hubby gets up WITH his pillow and walks around to my side of the bed and looks at me, with a meanie face and says...and I quote, "You have played with that alarm cl

A friend of mine told me that I have a lot of poop posts and I guess that she is right.  If I had used the word poop as a tag word in my posts, I wonder how many would come up.  Last Thursday was ANOTHER poop issue in our life.  The commode which had been running somewhat slow at the shop, stopped up altogether.  Mind you, the only good part of this timing is that it was not 100 degrees or 0 degrees.  It was a nice sunny, breezy day and if you had to look at the bright side, the weather was perfect for this activity! " That, my friends was the only up side to this fiasco.  Well, the weather and the fact that dear hubby took responsibility for this big "oops" and remained somewhat good humored throughout what could have been quite the marriage testing event.  You see that stack of stones there?  Well those and the little boys that put them there were the culprit.  We have clean-out pipes on the sewer lines and the cap had come off on one years ago.  The yard at the sho

It snuck up on me.  Oh, I knew that he was on his way, the evidence was there! But I am ashamed to say that there has been so much going on around here that the time just crept up on me.  Baby Wyatt John should be making his arrival in less than two months!  TWO MONTHS!!!  Where did that time go?  I guess it probably seems like a lot longer to Dianna than it does to the rest of us. So, I have to get busy!  There are things to paint, things to knit, things to sew.  So much to do yet for the next little blessed addition to our family. This week I will paint the room, well the decorative end of it anyway.  Travis has all the paint on the walls.  These are the colors of the room, these are the fabrics we are using. I need to get busy!  Hopefully Baby Wyatt does not take after his cousin Kendall and arrive a month early!

Or otherwise known as Why I Don't Have New Carpet. This is our fireplace. Nice rug in front of the fireplace? This is what it is covering. And this. Oh, and this.... You see, these are what happens when my husband builds his fires. Not nice little Indian Fires, but great big crackling, spitting, sparking White Man Fires.  The first Thanksgiving that we were married was the worst.  House all clean, it was to be the first blending of the families.  Just as I finished cleaning, (no small task in a house this size) I smelled smoke and ran downstairs to find at least 15 smoking places in the carpet.  Not a happy, fuzzy Thanksgiving memory, only to be topped the next year when I burnt the gravy, my mother put it down the garbage disposal and it came back up in the bathroom shower, but we'll leave that story for another time.  The only reason that I mention it is because every time I tell the fire story, dear hubby says, "Well how about the year the gravy came up in the shower