A Thousand Little Wishes...

Look! I did it again!

This was my couch before I got crafty on Saturday....

And this is after!  I spent a an hour or two on Saturday making these throw pillows for the couch.  I've had the pillow forms for a long time, from IKEA. 

The stripey ones are made form a thirfted scarf.  The gray sweater was an old one of my husband's.

This one is my favorite.  I wanted at least one of the pillows to have something else on it and the house just sort of happened.  I love this kind of crafting, the kind with out any plan.  Wanna see an extra close up?

I knew you did.  If you've never cut up old sweaters and hats and sewn them back together as something else, I highly suggest doing it soon.  It's quite satisfying.

Color Week: Earth Tones

This is one of my favorite corners of my house.  The table was my great-grandmother's.  It's our nature table.  The boys like having a place to keep their finds.  I feel like it's full of earth tones.

This cute little thrifted owl full of feathers and a plate of  rocks they found on various hikes.

A couple of drawings and a painting from my grandmother and a picture of my great-grandmother. 

What looks like a tiny, tiny nest on a twig, that I found on a shelf in my grandfather's study. 

One of Lee's shirts.

My goofy boy. 

A cool old chair that I half-assed recovered.  I basically just wrapped, tucked and pinned it.  Sort of like a diaper.

Lee's djembe drum.

The treehouse that Lee built for the boys.

My boots.  They were a very nasty beige when I bought them, but the boot dealer dyed them for me.  I want some new ones.

A baby picture of my dad in Peru.

My Lulah B at the Greenbelt.

My mother's genuine hippie love beads.  I've had these in my jewelry box forever, but I'm too worried about breaking them to wear them. 

Four very dirty little feet after playing outside all day.

*Whew.  Color week was fun, but this posting every day business is exhausting.  I really enjoyed looking for photo worthy things for each day, though.

Color Week: Purple

This was definitely the most difficult day of the week for me.  I don't know why, because I like purple.  I'm actually wearing a purple cardigan right now.

My mascara.  I like cheap make-up.  And I like the mascara that curls my eyelashes for me. 

This is in my backyard.  It showed up on its own accord.  I think it *might* be trillium.  But again, I'm no gardener, so I really don't freaking know.

Some of Ben's art work from school.  A construction paper collage.  Our art teacher is pretty awesome.

A Mardi Gras bracelet.  My parents go to the Mardi Gras parades in Galveston most every year.

One of my vintage dresses that I don't freaking fit in anymore.  I bought this in high school at some antique store in New Orleans.  I love this dress.  It's from the 40's.  This is one of those ones I used to dress up in when we went out.  With a slip, of course.  Here's a close up of the top with the rhinestone button detail.  Why, oh why can't they make affordable clothing like this anymore? 

My mother's Stella McCartney perfume.  I don't really wear perfume, anymore.  In high school, however, I smelled like I worked in a freaking perfume store.

Max's art from school.  Chalk background with a construction paper butterfly on top, cut out by Max.  Notice the "patterin of shapes."  

One of my mother's several hand-made quilts.  Not by her, but by some little lady from some time long ago.  Someday they will be mine.

Color Week: Blue

Blue tea pot and little cups made by Lee's dad.  He's very talented.  We're lucky enough to have lots of his beautiful bowls and things.

The tiny little bike that Ben used to learn how to ride a two-wheeler.  Max is working on it now.  After Max gets it down, Ben wants to add pegs to make it a BMX bike.

This box was the first Christmas present Lee ever gave me.  He actually came to my parents house and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my family.  We had only been dating a little more than a year.  He must have been terrified.  It was pretty cute.

Some candy eggs I got as a little surprise for my grandmother.  She has a thing for robin's eggs.  These are filled with caramel.

A candle holder on our back porch.  I think I've had this since college.  The candle has melted in this Texas heat so many times that we can't get at the wick.  Maybe I'll get it a new one.

Some more tea pots from my collection.  The top one is another Hall and is the first one I bought.  The bottom one just says "Japan" on the bottom.

 
Some blue cowboy cowgirl boots I saw the other day while shopping on South Congress.  I've been wanting a new pair.  Nothing this fancy, though.  These were only $570.

Ben's Pine-wood Derby car from the one year he was a Boy Scout.  He was in first grade.  He loved it and I hated it.  I don't know if all the dens work like this, but at our school, it was a HUGE time commitment on the parents part.  Plus, I really did not enjoy the other kids in his den.  We felt like we go camping often enough and do outdoorsy things, that we did not need to make this a part of our lives.  Maybe it was just that I didn't want to spend an evening every other week with a bunch kids from my school.

This pendant was a gift from my aunt from a trip she took to Italy.  I've always wanted to go to Italy.  Maybe someday...

I love this old shirt.  Ben wore it for a few years and now Max wears it.  It's almost too small for him, though, which makes me a bit sad.  Lee's childhood best friend is a vintage clothing dealer and he gifts us with lots of his little boy finds.  Some are too crazy that the boys wouldn't wear, but they both loved this tee.

 
My baby's blue eyes.  His eyes are beautiful, but this picture isn't very great.  We were hoping the kids might have baby blues, too.  Sadly, my genes won out in every way.  

Color Week: Green

I really can't commit to one single favorite color.  I love color.  All of it.  But whenever some kid tries to make me choose one, I always say green.  I love green.  In all of its various hues.  It's cheery and fresh and earthy.

My favorite wrap skirt.  I made a bunch of these and bought fabric to make a bunch more, but got bored with them.  I still like wearing them, though, especially this one.

 

 Candy, Go Go boots, funny "pot" holder, and Elvis street sign- all shots from shops on South Congress the other day. 

  
This was my favorite bath toy when I was little.  There used to be a little Neptune-dude that would sit in the seahorse.  He had a white beard and a gold scepter or something and a pink dress on, that I suppose was really more like a robe.  I'm still trying to find him at my parents house.  I really want the complete set.  

This cute little patch of clover popped up in the pot of cactus we have on the front walk.

Max's picture of Larry the Leprechaun.  Every March, Larry plays many tricks on the kindergartners at our school.   He throws all the green markers on the floor, or switches up the backpacks and lunch boxes on the hooks, or moves things around in the classrooms.  This year, he even left a "golden chocolate coin and a REAL quarter for each kid."  Max is loving Larry the Leprechaun and all of his mischief.  He is constantly dreaming up traps to catch Larry.  He woke up this morning with plans for a new one, involving three strategically placed wads of bubble gum and shiny bits of green and gold paper.

This painting is by my grandmother.  My grandparents both got real into painting a long time ago.  They took some classes- probably from someone who idolized Bob Ross.  I have a few others, too.  Some sand dune scenes and one of a train coming at you down the tracks by my grandfather.  I love that I have little pieces of their history- their hobbies.  I'm not entirely sure who that girl is supposed to be.  The hair is too blonde to be my mother and too matronly to be my aunt.  I don't think my cousin or I were born yet when they were in this painting phase.   Maybe a a young version of my grandmother.  That meadow and trees looks like the back of my grandmother's yard.  Who knows?  I just like the colors.

Vintage costume bracelet.  This was a present from my high school best friend on my sixteenth birthday.  We loved to rock big chunky rhinestone bracelets like these when we went out.  Really, we just loved dressing up in old clothes and jewels.  

I wish I had been more mature about our relationship.  I loved her dearly and knew what her friendship was worth, but I still chose to screw it up.  I was desperately trying to undo some hurt I caused my boyfriend, but I hurt our friendship.  Because she's awesome, she forgave me and we had some fun times in college.  She was in my wedding, too.  But the last time we saw each other was weird.  Mostly because I felt like such a mom-dork as I sat there with her and her way-too-cool-for-me boyfriend.  I had a hard time relating to them, but I bet if it had just been Emily and me, it would have been fine.  That's one of my biggest regrets in life- screwing over Emily.

* Unrelated, I changed my banner picture, so hit refresh if you can't see it.  It's my favorite photo I've ever taken.  My babies, when they were still babies (Ben was 5 and Max was 2) dancing on the dunes at South Padre Island.

Color Week: Orange

 Clementines.  I love that they're called "Cuties."

 
My yarn.  I'm still trying to learn how to crochet.  At least I try every couple of weeks or so.   I think I just need to jump in and try another granny square.  These endless chains aren't very motivating.

My star lantern in the corner of the living room over the piano.  It was a gift from my mom. 

Seeds I've been meaning to plant for a few weeks.  I hope it's not too late now.  Gotta get on that.

Max's dinosaur.  I love kindergarten art.

My teeny tiny Buddha in the window of our breakfast nook.

Ben's Longhorn shrine above his bed.  He bleeds orange.

A sign for a band I found on a telephone pole on South Congress.  We are the Live Music Capital of the World.

We stopped in the Big Top Candy Shop this afternoon.  I'm sure you can understand why it's the boys' favorite.  They have some hilarious things.

A pretty rad chair outside of the Avenue Barber Shop on South Congress.  

*I got some other shots for Color Week this afternoon while we were enjoying our ice cream sodas and window shopping.  It was a pretty good day.  
 

  

 

Color Week: Red

Sorry there are so many pictures here.  I got a little carried away.  This is more fun than I thought it would be.  Today I was lazy and never left my house, but tomorrow I'm venturing downtown for some orange!

The letters above the window in the craft room.  Someday, I want to add some sort of a valance-y/ cafe curtain-ish thing under them.

Some pom-poms.  I do love pom-poms.

This was one of Lee's favorite toys.  He searched ebay high and low for this and was giddy and excited like a little kid when it arrived.

Some left-overs from Valentine's day.

A back-porch chandelier Lee made for me out of old bicycle parts and crystals from my grandmother.

My washer and dryer.  Not my favorite things in the house, but definitely well-used.

Vintage bottle from 1978.  Is that old enough to be vintage?

My pin cushion.  With the pins organized by color.  Dani should be proud.

A little mexican heart from this awesome store.  I've got little junk like this all around our breakfast nook.

My antique lamp on my very dusty antique vanity.  I love this lamp.  
Lee made this for me, too.  It was an anniversary present a few years ago.  He's made out of paperclips and a bead.  My man is pretty crafty.

    

 
  

I was a wrinkle spray junkie

*  Disclaimer:  I've been at home for two days with a fever and a killer headache- so, yes, I'm really writing about laundry.

We tend to wear a lot of t-shirts around here.  With the kids, that's a given. Being a teacher, I try to wear some more interesting and "professional" versions of t-shirts, but really... they're just t-shirts.  Long-sleeve, short-sleeve, cap-sleeve and all wrinkly.  It is a very rare day that I actually hang the t-shirts as soon as the drier beeps.  And an even rarer day that I bust out the iron for our laundry (ironing is for sewing!).  Most days, I'm just glad they're clean.  So all those clean, yet wrinkly t-shirts were either thrown back into the drier on the "wrinkle care" setting (extra energy) or sprayed to death with wrinkle spray (lots of chemicals). Obviously, neither of these options are particularly environmentally friendly and the source of many guilt ridden moments.

So imagine my delight when we were at Costco recently and I happened upon this bad boy.  Da dada da....

 

My new steamer. It takes wrinkly t-shirts from this....

To this.....

In a mere minute or less.  And all it uses is some water and a wee bit of energy.  

I know laundry is a rather mundane topic, but shit.  We all have to do it.  And this has made it a tad easier for me and a little better for the environment.

They only took me a year and half

Actually, the actual making of these curtains for our living room took about a month or so.  After I started them, they spent a lot of time laying around on the ironing board that I had set up in the living room.  This annoyed my husband to no end.  But I didn't mind much at all.  Which is why I let them sit there for so long.  What I did mind was ironing and pinning all those freaking hems.  These are very definitely imperfect, but they're fine.  I mentioned before how I bought the fabric for these about a year and a half ago.  Needless to say, I quickly realized I needed more than what I had.  Of course this print was not on the website anymore.  A friend of mine happened to be going to IKEA, so I had her look for me and thank goodness they still had it.  The weight of the fabric is a bit different, so I decided to use the newer fabric on either end.  It's noticeable, but I only think people who know about it ahead of time are really going to notice.  I did measure them before cutting, but then I just basically eyeballed the hem widths.  I hated all that ironing and such so much, that I wasn't about to make it take any longer by being all anal about it. And no one will ever know.  It's not as if anyone is ever going to come over to scrutinize my curtains. Here is a close-up of the print.  It's from IKEA.  I love all of their fabrics.

This picture is way too dark, but I'm amazed at how the room looks so much more spacious now that they're up.  I totally don't get it.  I'm glad they're done, though.  Now I'm moving on to to something for me! 

I don't love that it's fake...

 But I do love our Christmas tree.  It's colorful, interesting, and not perfect, full of treasures and memories and stories.  I love the mix of old ornaments from my childhood and the new hand-made ones by the kids.  I love my red beads that are as old as I am.  And it's all unbreakable. 

That pink ice-cream cone was always my favorite when I was little.  It's lost a lot of its glitter, but I still love it.  And my boys do, too.  That fat little boy is one of many hand-made satin ornaments my mother and I brought home from a trip to Singapore when I was 5 or 6.  I inherited a few when I went off to college and put up my first tree of my own.

 Now, the kid-made ones are my favorites- a golden, noodle ornament and a paper plate angel from when Ben was in pre-school.

My mom made me a few cross-stitch ornaments when I was little.  The sequin and pom-pom creation is by Max.

This little satin cat is also pretty old.  I'm thinking they're from the 50s or 60s, but I'll have to check on that.  There's a swan, too.  I love the gypsy look about her.

 To finish it off, the dinky little glittered star I made out of poster board for our very first Christmas tree as a family.  I can't ever imagine getting rid of it, because every time we put it up I think about when I made it.  We were so young, Ben was a baby, and we were running a Bed & Breakfast in a historic home downtown and living in the one-bedroom apartment upstairs.  It's our star.  For our tree.  And I love it all.