The one about nothing but flowers

This morning, while Wyatt played with his cousin Alex,

Adrian and I picked out

p r e t t y

spring flowers to plant.

Our backyard really needs some color

 

because

S

P

R

I

N

G

is coming!

Love~

Kacey

Adventures in thrifting

Behold, my new desk chair:

 

I had been searching for months (possibly even a year) for the perfect desk chair. My desk requires a petite little chair and every single chair I came across in my thrifting adventures was too small. Until I found this one.

I might have heard angels singing when I found it.

My new bookcase:

According to the guy at the shop, it’s actually a former pie safe, sans door. It has lots of character (always a requirement) and is the size and color I was searching for. Now some of my books (and saved issues of Country Living and Better Homes and Gardens) will have a proper home.

This happy girl:

will live here:

In case you’re wondering, that’s the view from our bathroom window. Fabulous, don’t you think? Some drawbacks to living in a new neighborhood: lots of houses close together and young trees that aren’t tall enough to cover anything. Although, if you look waaayyy in the back, beyond all the houses (to the left of the yellow-y house on the far right), you might be able to make the mountain.

It’s a pretty large window and I like to keep the shades up to let the light in. Now we’ll have something other than the rooftops gorgeous mountain view to look at!

Despite what it looks like lately, I really do have other interests in life besides thrifting. For example, taking care of my children and cleaning. Speaking of which, I think I hear the dishes calling my name…

Ta ta!

~Kacey

On human nature

6am - Get up.

6:15 - Get the boys up.

6:30 - Breakfast. COFFEE.

7:00: YAY! Kids and double stroller loaded up in car. Leave for my favorite rummage sale that I’ve been looking forward to since November.

(CAN’T WAIT!!! CAN’T WAIT!!! CAN’T WAIT!!!)

7:10: Park in church parking lot where rummage sale is being held. Watch lots of people walk by while waiting for my parents, who are meeting us.

7:15: Finally find my parents and go stand in very long line with lots of nice older people.

7:30: Merge with crowd and enter the sale. Leave boys with a willing Grandma (theirs, not some random grandma. Although there were many to choose from).

With Dad’s help, find a small bookshelf (woo hoo! another item to cross off list!) and a wrought-iron serving cart. $10 for both. Happy.

 

 

7:45: After feeling like a tiny fish swimming upstream, getting pushed around by the bigger, meaner fish

(plus not even getting close enough to actually see 99% of items)

determine that finding a bargain would entail abandoning my polite nature. Civility intact and wondering why I came in the first place, give up and politely fight my way out of the feeding frenzy sale.

Wonder to myself about the sanity of the other shoppers. Where did all those sweet, patient little old ladies from the line go?  

7:50: Find my parents and children outside. Load up purchases and leave as quickly as possible, breathing a sigh of relief.

Thinking from now on I’ll stick to the thrift stores and antiques malls.

Speaking of which, have I introduced you to my most recent purchases from the (newly-discovered) antiques mall?

Happy Friday! We’re off to the ZOO tomorrow…

White & Cream

It’s been said that having light colors with little children around

(rambunctious boys, at that) 

is a bit on the foolish side.

In fact, I believe my husband might have uttered those very words only a few days ago.

In defense of the colors I am drawn to

(speaking as the only {human} girl in a house full of boys)

the calmness and serenity the neutral palette provides couldn’t hurt.

To everyone who shared their thoughts with me yesterday on the boys sharing a room: Thank you! Your words have encouraged me.

Where The Wild Things Are

They’re in my house, of course.

Especially the older kid.

Some days he is the wildest thing of all.

The littlest wild thing

( W Y A T T )

provided his always reliable comic relief for me all day.

While the wildest thing of all

( A D R I A N )

was temporarily passing the time in his room for the 317th

time

( caged wild thing )

Wyatt and I read “Where the Wild Things Are”.

Thanks to the littlest wild thing, the afternoon was much

improved.

And then the wildest thing of all chased me around the

living room, calling,

 “I’m going to EAT YOU UP!”

*******************************************************

P.S. Now that Wyatt is two, we are nearing the end of his time in the crib. We are considering options for the boys and their rooms. Although they currently have their own rooms, I’ve always imagined them growing up sharing a room, enjoying late night giggles and talks.

Am I crazy to consider having them share a room when we have the space for them to have their own rooms?

$40 and a can of paint

I’d like to share with you a little before-and-after.

We found these guys back in November at my favorite rummage sale.

(How envious are you right now?)

We envisioned the possibilities and debated for awhile.

In the end, these beauties ended up coming home with us (along with several other finds).

For forty dollars.

I helped Danny sand a bit and my work was done. I think I invested about one whole hour in this project, including the sanding - plus a little assistance moving the pieces. Lucky me, because this is what I get to look at when we watch TV at night:

Pretty good for $40 and a can of paint.

As you’ll be able to see clearly

(aside from the dusty TV screen)

I haven’t quite figured out what I want on those shelves yet.

It’s a work in progress. Fortunately for me, that gives me a reason to go thrifting.

And I’ll use ANY excuse to do that.

Hope your Monday was full of possibilities!

My cheery happy chair

At the request of Tara, here are a few pictures of my new chair:

 

What do you think – granny chair or not?

Rainy day

Today it’s raining here in Phoenix.

We ventured out to the store this morning to pick up a few things. It was pouring. I wore ballet flats. My feet got soaked.

(who wears ballet flats when it’s pouring out?)

At the moment, it’s quiet time/nap time at our house.

I’m sitting peacefully at my computer, listening to the rain go ‘pitter-patter’ on the roof. It’s nice.

Our backyard is one large puddle. Sydney was not pleased when she discovered that this morning.

I think she’s over it now.

All over the place

That’s my brain.

I have visions of being organized and together. But the truth is, I’m sort of disorganized.

(sshhh, don’t tell)

Really, guys: just a moment ago I was trying to research craft ideas for little ones (I’m severely lacking in the creativity department - my poor kids) while simultaneously downloading pictures from my camera to my computer. Then I remembered that I still haven’t uploaded the pictures from Thanksgiving or Christmas (or Adrian’s birthday, for that matter) to Flickr to send out to everyone. So I opened another browser window and selected my pictures. Doing that reminded me that I needed to write a post for my blog.

I feel like the mouse in If You Give a Mouse A Cookie. That reminds me, the cookie jar is empty and I wanted to try making that new cookie recipe I saw on a blog…somewhere.

(See what I mean? My attention span is comparable to that of a gnat.)

Honestly, you should see my to-do list. It’s almost of novel length. I should definitely be applying my brain power (currently at about 30% capacity, given the mid-afternoon hour) to making a menu plan so my family can eat this week or calling the dentist to make that dreaded appointment for a cleaning. I should be making all those phone calls I can’t remember to make. Those of you I haven’t managed to call…please don’t blame me. It’s not my fault, really. My brain is defective.

Oh, but before I do all those other things, I need to fix one little issue with my computer…

Now you see why posts are few and far between.

I’m trying to implement ideas from Simple Mom to organize my life, one list at a time. You’ll know if it’s working by the frequency of my posts – ha!

(The boys earlier today with cousins Alex and Monique)

See that chair the kids are sitting on? It’s been referred to as the “granny chair” by certain friends and family who shall remain nameless. They think it belongs in the home of a little old lady, but all who tried it - humans and pets alike - agree it’s very comfortable.

I happen to think it fits just perfectly in my living room. It’s such a cheery happy chair (yes, I know those two words mean the same thing but I found that simply ‘cheery’ didn’t appropriately describe the chair and neither did ‘happy’ so ‘cheery happy’ it is).

I saw it in the window of a thrift store and felt compelled to bring it home with me. I told Danny I had to buy it because it spoke to me and he shared this with my brother-in-law Mike when they picked it up from the thrift store. Now Mike likes to ask me if it sings to me.

I think he’s just jealous it doesn’t speak to him.

4

(Adrian and me in 2007)

Today I’m pondering solutions to my daily battle of wills with four year-old Adrian.

I’m desperately seeking encouragement.

Where is the book that spells out exactly how to interact with a stubborn little child of 4?

P.S. I’m also pondering my chubby face in the above photo. As I was pregnant with Wyatt at that time, I do believe it’s safe to attribute the chubbiness to pregnancy (or an unflattering camera angle).

Unless I still look like that, in which case: please don’t tell me.