so long, farewell

bye bye ugly deck

summer school

I was driving by the elementary school a few weeks ago and noticed that they were selling old desks. For three dollars. So I turned that minivan around and bought me two. I felt like I should have paid more for them. And super bonus, I didn't even notice until we got home that I got one right sided and one left sided desk! {Cuddles is a lefty.}




And now that we are a month into summer school, I have realized that all those times I thought about doing homeschool I was only kidding myself...

Accessorizin'

It's been a while since I felt like I actually checked something off of my list, so I spent some time getting this window in the kitchen mistreated. I think I need to actually get back up there and lower the bottom down just a tad. But at least I finally have one window clothed. Only 15 naked windows to go...

And check out these fabulous finds I rounded up this morning at garage sales. It was my first time garage sailing in, well, several years actually. I don't remember how much I spent all together, but the most expensive items were the side tables for fifteen. Here they are staged in our sparkling clean and super organized garage...

I guess its hard to see the glass cake stand that was two bucks. It's down there in the back

And the other day I stopped by Michaels and found these on clearance:

Wait. It gets better! I also stopped at the DI and scored the following items for a grand total of twenty smackeroos: {meaning everything in the following 2 pictures} I know! And seriously, this made me feel so much better about missing the after-Easter deals. I almost want to eat it.Almost done. Just thought I'd throw in this teaser photo of something that's cooking up in the laundry room. {remember the fabric that was too pink and flowery for the master bedroom? well, that's what laundry rooms are for, eh?}

A Transformation

We were waffling back and forth about whether to get a tramp, but when the rock wall guy said he would dig the hole for free, that pretty much sealed the deal.
But then we ended up doing the rest by hand after the backordered trampoline took so long to arrive. The Professor dreamed up the enclosure so we wouldn't have to fork out 700 bucks for the ones they sell. And rocks seem to be my lot in life. . . Look down! Look down! . . .I found myself humming that to myself recently as I wielded my pickaxe. Do you think the kids will ever fully appreciate what we went through? Yeah, probably not.

We still have to put up the net, but you get the idea.

These pictures were taken through Easy's bedroom window. I'm wondering how long it will take before she attempts to jump down from her room. . .

Bugging Me

I really thought that the age of door-to-door sales was a thing of the past. I could think of one time that a salesman {actually woman, but whatever} came to my door. That was about ten years ago.

And I'm the kind of person who has caller ID for a reason: so I don't have to answer the phone and get sales pitches.

I don't know if it's the neighborhood that we live in or if everyone has caller ID now and no longer answer their phones so they are resorting to door knocking, but we have had *so* many salesmen at the door lately I can't even keep track of them. And I seriously want to stop answering the door! Is it really that much more effective than sending out flyers? Because it's way more annoying.

And this actually happened:
{knock knock knock}
door opens
"Hello, ma'am. I am just going around selling these 'No Soliciting' signs. They are five dollars each."
"No thanks."
door shuts.
And I don't know whether to laugh or pity him.

Open for Business

So The Professor’s lil sis got hitched this weekend. Which meant we had one grandpa, two sisters plus two kids, one cousin with accompanying husband and two cute boys, and one aunt staying with us. And the good news is that we never even ran out of hot water! We had a blast. But I don’t think I realized how tired I was until after everyone left and I crashed and took a nap two days in a row. I *never* take naps. It was great, and I think I finally got my house/life put back together in time for my mom to fly in tonite …Easy could hardly wait until the wedding so that she could wear this dress. She designed her hairdo herself; I simply followed my instructions...

Also Works as a pillow