Todays work

The second coat of primer and first coat of paint! I was dancing in the kitchen. I am so excited.

Dean working on the doors in the garage. He had to roll out a few places the sprayer messed up.

Our pile of materials. Oops! Please don't mind the pile of unfinished paintings. They will be done, one of these days.

I finally cleaned out all of our things from the old kitchen drawers and put them in their new drawers. Doesn't that pile of pots almost look like a little pot person? Maybe the paint is getting to me.

And last but not least here is a sample of the tiles we will be using for our new counter tops. They are marble and I think they are going to look so beautiful when all is said and done. We decided to use the Ralph Lauren color "Master Room" to paint the cab's. We had chosen the Ralph Lauren color "Crosby". "Crosby" looked great in the Home Depot, but when we got it home and I made up sample boards and test spots on the cab's, well let's just say the color looked a little like doo doo brown (sorry mom) but it looked like poop from a baby's diaper. Who comes up with the names for the color's anyway? The only thing I can think is all the paint naming people were sitting around a table and they were like, " What about this color? Oh, it looks like doo doo brown. We can't call it "Doo Doo Brown" we want people to buy this color remember! Oh yeah. How about "Crosby"? Where did you come up with that one? Well I have this little nephew named "Crosby" and I had to change his diaper the other day and , OK enough said! The color will officially be known from this day forward as "Crosby". All of this of conversation would take place with extremely thick English accents. Anyway I digress. We won't however be wasting this extremely expensive can of paint. Although "Crosby" looked terrible on the cab's it looks delightful on the wall. Sooooooooooooo we will use it on one wall as an accent wall.

Curiouser and Curiouser!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle dum have joined our curious bunch! All these darling little Alice in Wonderland dolls were made by my friends at Cordwood Cabin. They make all sorts of "Primitive" dolls. They are the kindest people and I am excited that I found them, on e-bay no less. You can purchase their handmade, one-of-a kind dolls on e-bay. If you have a few minutes check out their blog. You can get to it by using the link on my "links I like". These little guys will go on a shelf in Zoe and Aris' room when we add the addition. I have always loved this movie and someday I would like to read the book to the girls.

A song from Sloan

Happy little Aris

Prayers for Amy

Please remember my friend Amy and her family in your prayers. Today her little baby boy died of complications from a rare blood disorder. He was only a few months old.

Natural birth

I watched a really good documentary at Hill's house today, "The business of being born." It is worth watching. I have also been reading a book "Birth, The surprising history of how we are born." Both are very informative. Birth is such a personal thing for every single woman. Stop any mother on the street and ask them about the birth of their child and I grantee they can describe the whole experience with vivid remembrance down to the most minute detail. I know I can for all three of my girls. Why has the birthing process been portrayed as such a terrifying thing? I always wanted an epidural with all of my girls. After the birth of Aris, the epidural didn't take, I would never want one again. It was the most intense thing I have ever done. It wasn't scary. When I had Sloan I was so afraid, her birth was very rough. Zoe's birth was very peaceful. Aris' birth made me realize that I could do this on my own if we decide to have another child. What I mean by that statement is, no drugs, and defiantly a Douala or midwife, or both. A hospital would be in case of emergency. There are so many crazy facts in both the movie and book that sound like something strait out of a horror movie. People get all bent out of shape about how the government treats prisoners, take a look at the practice of "Twilight Sleep", something that Dr.'s deemed normal practice for many, many years. Don't get me wrong, it is horrible what happens in the prisons and I don't agree with the torture of anyone. It is just shocking what science gets away with sometimes because Dr.'s decide that it's best for the patient. Awful. Both the book and the movie are factual, neither try to sway you toward natural birth with a midwife over the care or a Dr. I will, however guess that most people will agree after watching the movie and reading the book, natural birth is well.....so...natural, and would be preferred.

Today's work

The finished first step. Dean sprayed on the primer. When you are using a darker color to paint something you always use a darker primer instead of a white primer. It's just easier to paint over.

Ah yes! Look at this mess!

Our makeshift kitchen.

Dean masking off the cab's to be primed.

Kind of looks like we are trying to camp in the kitchen, nope just remodeling.

Helping hands

This video is way too dark, but it was so cute to watch Zoe try to help her daddy sand.

You know you're a redneck if...............

You wash your dishes in the bathtub,

or the bathroom sink.

I know, there are tons of people in the world who wash dishes and laundry and family members in the bathtub and bathroom sink. Most of them have no idea what a redneck is. I just know if Jeff Foxworthy walked into my home this evening, he would have made this comment. By the way, I scrubbed the bathroom clean after I finished these dishes.

(The above comment is in no way meant to insult those of you are rednecks or despite having a fully functioning kitchen still choose to wash dishes in the bathroom.)

Lazy Susan

How I ever lived without one of these, I'll never know. That is all I have to say.

The cute little vintage dresses

Well here they are! My cute little vintage finds. They look so cute on Zoe. The green dress is the one I want to make a sash and a headband for.

I'll take some cabinets, but hold the beans and tennis balls

The pea trap for our new garbage disposal and "used but new to us dishwasher" will hook up to this pipe.

Dean had to re plumb the kitchen and redo the electric. The exposed spot in the wall is where he will be putting in a phone jax.

Here he is installing the cab's.

Redoing all the plumbing.

Let me tall you, he started the plumbing last night woke up and finished it around 2 in the afternoon today. Not only did he have to crawl around under our home to do this messy job, but he did it in the freezing cold weather and had to lay in a puddle of water while he did it. I wouldn't have the guts to do this. He is so amazing.

Installing the cab's.

Our new Lazy Susan.

We had to eat out again tonight. We ate at Straw Hat Pizza. Sloan loves the restaurant because they have tiny TVs at the tables and it is one of the few times she actually can watch TV during dinner. We are very strict about no TV when we are eating as a family. It's one of the few times during the day that we are all together. We take that time to talk about what happened during our day. Tonight was one of those perfect examples of why we don't change this rule. Sloan hardly said a word. It is a fun treat for her. We went to the hardware store and bought tiles for the counter top and picked out a color to paint the cab's. The paint color is a dark brownish green color. It will look really nice with the marble tiles on the counter and the slate on the floor and back splash. It also looks lovely with our living room paint and the slate in the kitchen will tie in with the slate in our bathroom. The walls will eventually be painted a deep grayish green or a deep cranberry red. We are truly blessed. All the cabinets were free. Dean was asked to demo a kitchen almost a year ago, and they offered the cabs to him. They are nice enough for our little home. With a coat of paint they will look brand new. All our appliances are taken from remodels also. People in Incline only want stainless steal in their kitchen remodels and are more than happy for you to take the new "old" appliances off their hands. It's a tax write off. This kitchen remodel will probably take the next few months to completely finish. I am so excited for this start.

My three darling girls

This morning my girls woke up and all three sat on the sofa. It was like a total Kodak moment. I couldn't help myself I just had to snap away.

Snowing and sketching

All of these photos were taken at around 9 this evening. I have always thought it was so strange, when it snows it looks so light outside. I know why but it still gets me every time. Dean is almost done with the plumbing for tonight. He has worked so hard. I swept and mopped the whole house, Dean was like why are you bothering, and I just said it would make me feel a little better about the whole mess we have going on here. I probably won't be able to work on art like I have been for the past few weeks. My work spot has been overtaken by all the misplaced things from the cupboards. I will still be working on art, just on a smaller scale. Hey good news! My spell check is working again! I am going to go back to past posts and fix all my spelling mistakes. Take care and have a good night.

An unpleasantly pleasant suprise

The kitchen is finally getting demolished.

Can you say yum? What in the heck were these doing under our cabinets?

Ahhh yes, and please don't forget the beans.


Thank goodness these were beans, but this was beyond foul. No wonder we keep getting sick, our old house is filled with filth you can't even see. The crazy thing is I can't even imagine how long this stuff has been under the cabinets. When the people were installing them did they gather around the kitchen and say, "Hey Bob, why don't we leave some goodies under the new cab's for someone to find in the future. What do you want to leave? I don't know......how bout these three tennis balls? That sounds good. Hey Bob wouldn't it be funny if we put some beans under there too? HaaHaaaaHaaaAHaa. Too funny Larry that would be such a hoot. I can see the puzzled looks on their faces now. Haaa HaHAaaAHa." OK, I know I digress but how absolutely bizarre is that? I can not even begin to explain the gross factor of the pipes we have been washing our dishes with and drinking water from. I could dry heav just thinking about it. Dean went to get new pipes and plumbing stuff from Home Depot. Guess we will be eating a little fast food tonight (no running water for the next few hours while Dean re plumbs the kitchen). I have to tell you I married a truly amazing Man. He worked all day and then came home and started in on this "little" project. I will keep you posted every day on the progress of our new digs. Despite the gross factor, it's always higher in old homes during remodels, I am super excited about this mess.

Vintage dresses for Zoe

When I picked up the girls from school today I didn't want to come straight home. So we went to two different thrift stores. The girls were so excited, go figure, and wanted to buy everything because it didn't cost very much. At Savers, I managed to leave with a very nice wooden magnet Thomas the Tank Train story board. Zoe loves it and it will be perfect to take to Church for a quiet toy or for her to play with it at home. At Goodwill I found three of the most adorable vintage dresses for Zoe, a gap skort to match a gap shirt I already have for Sloan (90 cents), and two little things for Aris. The dresses look amazing for as old as they are. No stains or fading. I am almost positive they are from the early 70's. She looks too cute in them. The little green one that I bought I plan on making a cute sash and a hair band to match the dress. The other two dresses will be perfect for the upcoming warm weather.
Tonight Abby and Sloan had so much fun. All I heard all night long were tons of giggles. They had a blast drawing their dream rooms and then singing and dancing. Tomorrow Sloan has a play date with Abby. Well Dean is home and I am going to visit with him for a little while. I will post some video and pictures of the cute thrift store finds tomorrow. Sleep well all.

Chloe Cupcake, take a bow!

Well folks here she is, the darling little "Chloe Cupcake". I am starting a rabbit for my friend Kim's granddaughter, Audrey. I was Kim's TA all last school year. Audrey is so adorable! She just turned one a few weeks ago. I gave the alligator illustration to the girls pediatrician when I took Sloan to the the Dr. this week. Dr. Kielty has had two children at the same time as me, and I always wanted to make something for her two boys, I thought this would be OK to give her. Dr. Kielty has always been so good to my girls, she has even come to one of the art shows I was in. She is a very caring physician.

This has been a good day, Sloan and I were able to spend a little special time together. She made a coment the other night that I never spend time with her anymore, it made me feel so guilty. It is hard to give everyone equal time. There are so many nights I go to sleep counting all the ways I failed my children, didn't give enough hugs, lost my temper at the end of the day and so on and so forth. Sometimes I wish there was a "How to" book that came with each child. I guess that is where prayer comes in. God knows my little one's and their needs better than I ever will hope to.

Speaking of little one's Aris just woke up so I need to go nurse her and hopefully Dean and I can get a good nights sleep.

Visit with Senator Harry Reid

Hamming it up at the Senator's office.

This is a perfect photo to get me motivated to exercise again. I am so out of shape.

Sloan with Molly Dillon. Molly is so amazing, she is always working so hard to help our kids. Thanks Molly.

On our way

I am heading to pick up Sloan from school in just a few minutes. She, along with a few other kids have the opportunity to meet and visit with Senator Harry Reid. We will be discussing why we think it's so important to continue lobbying Congress to fund different programs that are one step closer to finding a cure for diabetes. Without this important funding it will take that much longer to find a cure for all the millions who suffer from this life long disease. This will be her second time meeting with the senator. I am excited that she has the chance to see how so many different people are working toward goals to find a cure. It's also a good way for me to introduce concepts about government, and how it's important to get involved with your leaders if you want to be heard. She doesn't really fully understand the importance of these visits, but I think one day she will look back and be happy that she did this.

Hilary is watching my little ones, and I am so grateful to her. Thank goodness for dear friends. When I get back I promise, with a capitol P, to post some pictures. Hope everyone is having a lovely day and a fun week.

Big idea

I am working on a big idea that I had last night, for a children's book. It hit me as I was trying to fall asleep and then I couldn't sleep because all these ideas were running through my head. I am so tired and grumpy (with myself, not the kids) today. The kids are great, I am just frustrated for some reason. I can't seem to get as much done as I would like and then when it's time to sleep I feel to guilty to sleep because of all that I haven't finished during the day.........I know a little obsessive. I am hoping that when I get the double jogger I have been begging for, I will feel tired because I will be getting lots of exercise. I always sleep better when I have exercised during the day, plus I feel like I honestly have gained 30 more lbs. Very frustrated. Does anyone have some chocolate? OK I will quit my lame pity party and try to go take a nap. I promise to post some pictures of the little one's tonight. Also look for the finished Chloe cupcake tonight.

Sneek peek

It's a terrible scan, I know. However I worked a bit on this tonight and I am hoping to have it finished by tomorrow night. Aris needed lot's of TLC tonight, that is why it isn't finished yet. I have tons to talk about and a ton of photos to post....................tomorrow. I have decided to call this illustration "Chloe Cupcake". I will be sending it to my dear friend Chris and Trish's daughter Chloe.

Update

I have had several people ask about the materials I am using in my paper illustrations. I use scrapbook papers and embroidery thread. Sometimes I also use different scrapbook embellishments.

Lil' Miss Cupcake

Real quick like before I snuggle up to my sweetie for the night, here is a silly little idea for a possible future cupcake illustration. I hope to have my little cupcake girl posted by tomorrow.

Aris is doing so much better. She still sounds terrible, but was almost back to her smiley self today. I have a cute little video to upload of her tomorrow. Hope this finds everyone well and having a most wonderful week.

Good Friends

Here's what it looks like in the frame.
The frame measures 12 1/2"x 14 1/2".
The opening is 9 1/2 "x 7 1/2".
Scrap book paper and embroidery thread were used to create this.

The up close.

Here it is. This is my attempt at an illustration for a boy. I am not sure it's as successful as I wanted it to be. All of the rain drops and the stitching is done with embroidery floss. Please feel free to leave some feedback on this one.

Still fighting the bug

Well a big thank you to all who have been asking about my little Air Bear, and remembering her in your prayers. RSV (respiratory syncytal virus) is super contagious, usually produces cold like symptoms, and can turn into other things like pneumonia. It attacks your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs just like a cold. There are many kinds of RSV so your body does not become immune to it, and you can get it again and again throughout your life. In severe cases the patient can be hospitalized for respiratory distress. I got all this info off of web MD. Aris thankfully doesn't need to go to the hospital. The poor little thing however, looks and sounds terrible. She has been a very good little baby considering how yucky she is feeling, and has slept a ton over the past few days. I am hoping that all this extra sleep can help her to fight off this virus sooner.

Yesterday I scrubbed and washed and aired out the house. The weather has been so mild. I am looking forward to taking the girls to the park as soon as little Aris is feeling 100%. It feels good to have a freshly cleaned home and I even had a chance to work on my alligator illustration. It is almost finished. My friend Kirsten (Abby's Mom) came over last night. Abby and Sloan played on the computer and Kirsten watched the girls so Dean and I could go out for a little date. I feel guilty that we left a sick baby at home, and I tried to cancel but Kirsten refused. She said we needed to get out of the house. We were only gone for a little over three hours, can I tell you it was a much needed break. We had a lovely dinner, and then went to Barnes and Noble so Dean could use his Christmas gift certificate his brother Eric gave him. Aris slept most of the time we were gone and as soon as I got home she feel asleep for the night. Dean and I don't get to go out by ourselves very often so this was a very special treat.

Dean is working on the doors for his side job again. They look so good. He isn't using nails so the process is time consuming. Everything has to be glued and clamped. The result is quite lovely. I will post some photos tonight of our girls, Dean's project, and my alligator illustration. Thank you again for all the concern for my little Aris.

Everythings on hold

Little Aris has RSV and possibly strep throat. Needless to say I am putting everything on hold until she is better. I will write more tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day

This one is very interesting, you don't see many kids valentines with cigarettes anymore.

The heart and little girls hand move.

This little girls head pops up to reveal a long neck.

Her arms move up and down to rock the baby.

Her hand pops the lid off to reveal a little heart in the pan.

This little guy's head moves side way to steal a kiss.

His eyes move up and down along with his tail.

His eyes, guitar and puppy move on this one.

Her little suit case has a silky fabric pocket to put a coin or a piece of candy into.

His arm and eyes move up and down.

All the arms, legs and tail move on this little guy.

Neck and racquet move up and down.

I think if a little boy gave this one to my daughter I might be a little worried.

Hope everyone enjoys this special Valentine's Day. I thought I would share a few vintage Valentine's from my collection. I love the art on every single one of them. They sure don't make them like they used to. Hugs to all.