Painting, painting & more painting

As Charlie has been busy going on one DET (detachment) after another, I've been keeping myself busy painting areas of the house. My first big project was the formal dining room, kitchen & breakfast nook. My second big project done most recently was the foyer, living room & entrances to all the bedrooms. Jim & Dotty, some friends of mine from home, offered last year to come & paint in the spring. Needless to say I was estatic when they actually did come up & slaved away with me. Here is the transformation in our home . . .

I thought tan would be easy, it took 4 different shades to finally decide on the right one.

Still more sampling . . .

And the end result . . .

I love having a red wall. I think everyone should have one. It's so cozy & inviting. Charlie loved the colors but more importantly loved that he didn't have to do the cutting in on the vaulted ceilings. He has more DET's & I have no more painting. What to do now?

Imagination

All you need is imagination and you can be anything you want . . .

A fireman

A pretty princess

Or a heart attack for Daddy!

"She's got Bette Davis eyes"

Almira strikes again

Anyone remember Almira from Looney Tunes? She was often seen dragging around a helpless little animal chanting "I will squeeze him & love him & call him George."

Meet our "George" . . .

Mama's pride

I love black and white pictures. I love they way the subject so simply shines through. I think more importantly though, I truly love my subjects.

Nine requisites

"There are nine requisites for contented living; health enough to make work a pleasure; wealth enough to support your needs; strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them; grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them; patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished; charity enough to see some good in your neighbor; love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others; faith enough to make real the thing of God; hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Friends

"My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privilages, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation."

Helen Keller

_________________________

She is a friend to my mind. She gathers me. The pieces I am, she gathers them and gives them back to me all in the right order.

Toni Morrison

I have the most unbelievable friends. Even as I type this I am searching for words to accurately describe the friendships I have been blessed with. I have been blessed with true friends. Not friends who will just tell you what you want to hear. Friends who will tell you when you are being prideful, stubborn, or just plain wrong. Friends who show up with brownies & flowers when your husband has to work late on your birthday (again!). Friends who insist on celebrating your birthday when you just want to let it slip by. Friends who will take your children when you are in the hospital having yet another baby. Friends who you can call for guidance & direction when you just don't know how to handle a situation with the children. Friends who will laugh with you, cry with you & most importantly pray with you. To all of you, thank you. Words can not adequatly express what you mean to me, (even if you did make me wear the stupid sombrero!). May I live up to being the friend to you as you have been to me.

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The big 3-oh!

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only true friends will take you out for the big "30", give you all the strawberry margarita's you would like, then & only then stick a big sombrero on your head & have a chorus of singers to sing Happy Birthday. Kelli, you get the hat next year! :)

I value . . .

"I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish
the friend who for me does not consult his calendar."

Before I had kids, I really liked this quote. I just re-read it & my very first thought was this could not have been said by a mom. I just had to laugh when I read "Robert Brault" under the quote. While it's sweet, it's definately not practical.

My little man

My sweet little boy, who is ALL boy. Nathan loves tractors, trucks, tools, bugs, rough playing & every other toy that goes along with an "all boy." He's fiercly devoted to his sisters & upon waking up always ask where they are. He's learning his ABC's & their sounds, can count to 13 and knows his colors fairly well. He's a silent learner who will observe & then all of a sudden begin counting or singing his abc's. Like his mommy he loves to eat, his favorites are peanut butter & jelly & "waterlemons" (watermelons). I love his his toddler phrases, "patecillars" (catepillars) & "my tissue is running" (my nose is running, I need a tissue). He will tell you he has an owie & if you ask where it is he'll say "me!" His favorite movie is Finding Nemo & like me he's pretty tired of Mary Poppins. He has these gorgeous long lashes & intense blue eyes that fill up with crocodile tears the second you tell him he needs to be corrected for an offense. He's my very compliant child, always wanting to either please or make us laugh. He adores his daddy but only mommy can fix it when he's hurt. Lord, please give me the wisdom I need to raise this beautiful little boy while his daddy is gone.

I'm alive!

It is true, I am still alive. Although with the way I felt last week it seemed pretty questionable as to whether or not I was going to make it. Charlie says that's the same flair for the dramatic our son seems to have inherited! :) Last week I was utterly worthless. Nothing was accomplished other than keeping the children alive. That & returning Mary Poppins. It was more than time for her to go. Thankfully Emma really seemed intrigued by who would get the next turn with the movie. All I knew was I had had enough of spoonfuls of anything. I actually had to go back to the doctor again on Saturday, I wasn't really getting that much better & we were on day 10. After coming home with a bag o' medicine I have finally started to feel among the living more than the dead. That probably had something to do though with the fact that Charlie was actually home this weekend as opposed to all the late nights he had last week. He did leave this morning for about 15 days but I'm feeling so much better that I think I can do this mommy business again.