Monday, October 24, 2011

Lulu's Poem

Our Lulu had to write
a poem for her class.
She is in 4th grade.
She is the one that does not
like to be the center of
attention.
She is a bit more shy
than Ria or
SweetCheeks.
Our thinker...and reader...
and now
Our Poet.
I am sharing it here
because I think she did
such a great job on it.

THE SHOES

In my dark, dark closet,
Is where I found my shoe
They happened to be by my dress
Not only one - but two.
How did they get there?
It's really hard to say.
It could have been my lazy cat
Who lives by the stinky bay.

The shoes are very dirty,
Who knows what's down in there,
I've see two slimy, smelly things
With little bits of pointy hair.

It looked like they had two fins,
And even a little tail.
My annoying sister picked them up
and said, "Let's put them in the mail".

"Why would we do that, you little stinker?
I asked her once or twice,
She said, "I was just teasng you"
Which wasn't very nice.

I saw my cat walk by,
 He put them in his mouth.
He ran away from me up the street,
and towards my house-to the South.

I chased him through the house,
Up the stairs into my room,
He ran and hid in the closet,
So I whacked him with the broom.

And that is when I saw it!
The smelly things stuffed inside my shoe,
But there is just one more thing.
I saw my little sister hiding in there too!
And she had HER dirty, stinky hands,
Stuck inside my shoe!
©Alana Lauren 10/22/11

I think this is a wonderful poem.
It is the first one she has ever written.
and I think we have a budding poet
in the family.
your photo name

Sunday, October 23, 2011

An Update On Cindy And Ralph

I have a
REALLY BUSY DAY
lined up.
REALLY BUSY!
I will share it with you later
this week.

However...
For those of you that have
been following along and
praying for Ralph
and Cindy..
I have a short update.

You can read the original post
Ralph came through the surgery fine.
It appears that it went well.
However, he has a long,
long road ahead of him.
Rehabilitation and recovery
will take a long time.

It is a daunting task for the
most able bodied...and he already
went through a similar experience
a few years back
so...
He knows what he is facing.

Please pray for him to not
only recover physically but to
keep faith...to keep heart...
to not get discouraged...
to not feel that he
"less" than he was.

Keep Cindy close to heart, too,
because we all know that it
is the spouses that suffer
right along with the
recoverer...
and that she stays strong...

And that she doesn't bean him
with a rolling pin if he gets
too grumpy.
(Hey you didn't think this
whole post was gonna be
serious, did you?;>)

And, if he wants a little company
I have a "scolder" here that
I would be glad to send
down for a visit....
just sayin.....

How close is the bus stop to your house?

your photo name

Saturday, October 22, 2011

No Longer An Annie Sloan Paint Virgin- Darling Desk Project

Remember that big pile
I showed you that was in the garage?
and this?
Well, when we peeled away the
layers we found several things,
but one of the
BEST THINGS
we found is...
TA-DAH
A desk..
A child sized desk...
It was kind of a greenish/tan color.
This is without flash- a truer color
And a chair to pair.
We'll pair the chair.
The chair was in the air.
And full of despair.
(Feeling a bit Dr.Suessish here)
Don't mind the leaves that blew
in as we were in our
discovery mode.
We swept them all up before
we started.
(and before MyHero could get home
and whine about it)

My daughter wanted to try this
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
so she joined me in
THE GARAGE-
(hey-take your sunglasses off the top of
your head-there's no sun beating down here)
(You do remember the garage,
don't you? The one that does
NOT BELONG TO ME)
MyHero has claimed it as
his own personal space....
Seriously?!
Anyway- we washed everything
down with Crud Cutter..
(gotta love a name like
Crud Cutter-
I mean why don't they call
it Crap Cutter? Just askin')

Then we broke out
Annie Sloans 
white chalk paint
that we got from
Robyn Story Designs.
She has a beautiful blog if you
want to go take a peek...
AND she sells
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.
It did take three coats to
get good coverage.
But look how sweet it is....
Then we waxed that little sucker
with AS Clear Wax.
The wax brush is amazing..

the best one I have ever used.
And then we
 distressed it a bit.
Just a bit-it is for the girl's room-
and Mom likes a clean look.
(shhhhhh-they don't know it yet)
And..the chair turned out pretty cute.

They're pretty cute together.
I think maybe they should get married.
And have a baby bunny...
Look how sweet....
I am making a new seat cushion
for it...pink toile with a pleated edge.
I will be back with pictures
when it is
IN PLACE.

Promise!
Now...wait till you see what
ELSE was lurking under
those covers!
Another post for another day....
your photo name

Friday, October 21, 2011

Today's The Day! Pray For Ralph & Cindy!

The other day I wrote
about my dear, sweet
blogging friend,
Cindy,
from Whimsical Musings.
Her hubby, Ralph,
already an amputee,
retrained himself to
do his job.
And, doing that job,
he was severely
injured and has
lost the use of his
other arm.
You can read the story
Today, is the day of his
surgery.
Please take just a moment
to send a prayer
skyward.
Pray that the surgeon's
hands will be guided
by
The Divine Surgeon
so that
Ralph can be restored
to health...
Pray that soon he 
will be able to hug
his beautiful wife
once again.

Thanks....
We would all do the same
for you!
Amen

And...tomorrow...if you are
VERY GOOD
I will show you my first
chalk paint project.
Yes.I.Will.
your photo name

Thursday, October 20, 2011

I"ve Not Been Sitting On My Butt

Just in case you THINK I
haven't been doing anything
and have been neglecting
you...
I will tell you this~
Here is how my day went....

I pour my piping hot coffee
and head outside.
I have been trying to read
these two magazines
for a month now.
I get ready to sit in my chair..
(which you can see never got
sat in-look at the leaves in it)
and then my
daughter and BabyE arrive.

We decide to drive to
beautiful Door County..
Sister Bay, WI
to be exact.

There is a Swedish Restaurant there
called
(go figure)
Their claim to fame,
besides their good food,
is that they have a grass roof
that hosts a family of goats.


They stand there eating contentedly
whilst all around us people
are photographing them.
Once we sit down,
Mimi orders something that
comes with lingonberries.
She loves them...
Me?  Not so much...

BabyE gives it a try.

Hmmm..He LOVES it..
and licks it off...
but declines eating the
toast it is attached to...
It's okay..we just keep
loading on the lingonberries
and save on toast cost!;>)

Afterwards we head to
the Swedish bakery
 Mimi used to work at
 when she was in high school.
It is now part of the
(a lovely family place to get away)
There are a couple of customers
in line waiting for bakery.
Ohhhh..
Pumpkin Sugar Cookies!
BabyE eats the icing and,
once again,
declines the main attraction.
We decide we will head home...
It's been a long day.
We retrace our steps to the car..
but wait...
WHERE is BabyE?

He is BEHIND the porch rail.
He does NOT want to leave
the bakery.

C'mon we tell him...
There is a
TREAT IN THE CAR!
Here he comes!
Sorry for the blurry photo..
when he heard treat he
started running.

Guess what the treat was?
He gets to ride home with me!
Bwhahahahaha~

(Well, that and I might have
slipped him a cookie when
Mom wasn't watching!;>)
Shhhhhhh...
your photo name

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Picking Up A Pumpkin

Is there anything cuter
in the world
than kids
let loose in a
Pumpkin Patch
to pick out a
pumpkin?

Two daughters
and husbands and kids,
converged on
a pumpkin patch
close to Milwaukee.

It was a wonderful,
warm day.
The sun shone down
on field
and children as they
all set out to find
the perfect pumpkin.

Sweet Cheeks found hers
right away.
Ria has one too!
What about BabyE?
He's looking.....
SweetCheeks tells Ria
that BabyE has found
a pumpkin.
Uh-oh!  Toooo heavy!
Cousin Lulu comes to his rescue...
But wait a second..
What about one for you?
Ahhh..Perfect!
You have all picked a pumpkin...
And BabyE has
picked something else..
Yuck....remember those
finger-in-the-nose days?
Some people still do it.
I see them sitting in their cars
at the stop sign...
I call it
Digging For Gold.
Sorry No Photo

And at the end of a day
of
Pumpkin Picking
there is no better way
to end it
than in the arms of one's
Mama...Mama Mimi.
I can't wait to meet the new
little pumpkin growing
in her tummy!
If he's born on Halloween
maybe we'll call him
Jack!  Jack O'Lantern..
We're partially Irish and
 the name? Welllll....
It has an Irish ring to it!
Whaddayathink?
your photo name

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Halloween From My Files

Earlier this Fall
I pulled out my
ORANGE
3 ring binder
and showed you some
Fall decorating ideas.
You can see those here.
Today I am going to
show you a couple
of ideas I have clipped
and held onto
thinking I would use
them.

I love this image.
Do you know what it is?
It's a windowbox!
How cool is that!?!
And then we have a party pumpkin!
(Reminds me of the days
MyHero used to wear a
lampshade on his head-
You know.....before becoming
a pastor);>)
Except MyHero had more teeth...
still does~
And you have to have a
buffet of pumpkins
for a party, right?
And, of course,
there has to be
Halloween treats!
What would Halloween be
without treats?
Don't you love this stacked
trio?
Gives a whole new meaning
to the word
"stacked"
doesn't it?
(You young bloggers won't get
that at all~!;>)

And every party needs
some spooktacular invitations.
You can buy these at

But the best part of
Halloween is your family
and all the days you will
share with them, isn't it?
I love
Mary Englebreit's
take on it!
So...go...now..
Create some beautiful
memories for your own family.
You'll be glad you did!
your photo name