ingenius

this kitchen is under construction. sort of. meaning my brain is reconstructing this kitchen while my wallet fights it. we have some big plans on the honey do list, but i have other projects to complete, like painting the foyer, bedroom and hallway before the kitchen even gets touched.

paper towels are like gold in our house. we love them, use them and abuse them to no end. we get the good kind, because you can use them repeatedly. what i hate is the paper towel holders. they are an eyesore, and typically placed where it's highly visible, yet not reachable for little hands. i tried mounting a holder in a cabinet to no avail. the roll was either too thick to store inside a cabinet, or it was just too high up.

enter hubsters genius brain and a late night trial and error, and here's what he came up with.

did you spot it?

underneath that super akward, and attractive green, island is mounted a super sleuth paper towel holder.

a whole blog post about a paper towel holder? really? i know......we all have our vices...dont we :)
and any suggestions about the super awkward green island is welcome. i'm thinking black beadboard, with black counters. but....that's a whole other post

after

after a long 8 days my stitches came out. yipee!my babysitter came this morning (thanks mom) and I took off to the doctor. it was the first time i had been alone in the car in nearly two weeks. i turned the radio off, and silenced my phone. i enjoyed the silence for about 10 minutes, and then i got bored. i'm so lame!
i was minutes late, but the nurse took me right in. i told her i had posted a picture on my blog and had my faithful blog readers count the stitches. she asked how many you all had guessed and i told her 14. she said, well that's a little low because i've already done 14 and i'm not done yet....gulp. she also said, "it's really quite big". yeah, thanks......i get that a lot.
the biopsy came back normal and i can resume some physical activities, but not full until 2-3 more weeks when the internal stitches have dissolved. sigh....
again for you voyeurs.....
look at that my hair is growing back in too! yay!

the tempest is raging

i have several things going on in my life that i do not share publicly, or even privately for that matter. matters that press on my heart and my soul. things that cause me heartache, pain and a sense of helplessness. i know it surprises many of you that i keep things to myself, but i do.
(i also know you wish i would keep more to myself....yeah,that's not going to happen.)
during my recent studies i read this talk by robert d hales.
i am like the prophet elijah who fled to the caves during the most tumultuous times to hide from my sorrows and pains. i am frequently admonished likewise to "go and return unto thy way".
i must take comfort and know that though the storm blow all around that i have a peace that can calm my troubled heart and a love that can ease my pain

more trouble

i remember my sister putting her kitchen chairs up on the table so that the kids wouldn't use them to get in trouble. i also remember laughing that she had to do this.
well laugh away cause that's exactly what i have to do every time i am doing something out of seeing distance of this littlest trouble maker







oh and no comments on the messy kitchen. i mean i can only do one thing at a time :)

spring, ye tempt me

late winter in virginia brings warm days and then snow followed by warm days with cold winds followed by warm days. it's a crazy cycle, and we are smack dab in the middle of this cycle.

last week we had 70 degree weather with no wind....perfect for......hiding in the nasty garbage can?







or spraying yourself or your little sister with the hose....



...or climbing a tree



springtime we love thee

lazy shoes

I love baby e, but he is among the laziest children alive. honestly. it's ok, we work with it for now.
one of his things that he is particularly lazy about is shoes. he wears ugg's in the middle of summer and rain boots to the store, and even church shoes out while playing. why, you ask. cause he can just slide them on.

now this is totally my fault. i do the same thing. unless i'm working out i'm a "slide on shoe" kinda gal. j doesn't know how to tie his shoes cause he's stubborn and he can just slide his shoes on.
last year, despite my better judgement, i bought crocs. i hate crocs! i understand they are comfortable, but they are not very attractive or really that practical (they may be plastic, but wearing them in the rain is not recommended). not only did i buy crocs, but i bought orange and red. basically the brightest colors they have. e loves the crocs, cause you see he's lazy.

i must confess, i am lazy too cause it's 30 degrees outside and i don't fight against him wearing crocs. i just tell him to put socks on. so at our house the last words every day out of my mouth are e - crocs and socks.

now....how to break him of putting his clothes on over his pajama's. seriously....he is that lazy.

more adventures in childrearing

i was on the phone with a friend the other day when sarah came downstairs and dumped a cup or two of flour on the floor by my feet. after i quickly said can i call you back in a minute and gave a sigh i walked up to the kitchen to find the remains of my 5 pound bag of white wheat.



look how conveniently the flour matches my floor



she had creatively dumped it in a gallon jug then carefully poured it down the vent in the kitchen. if i haven't mentioned it before i love my oreck. it is super hermedically sealed but the hand vac, which i had to use to clean the vent, is not. it was sucking up flour at one end and exhausting it out the other. entertaining to outside observers i am sure. all i could do was remove sarah and take pictures. the picture below reminds me to, as my mother would say, choose my battles.

the joy of children

there's a 3 year gap between elijah and sarah. it's what we call "recovery time". elijah was a complete loon! seriously! he's my absolute sweetheart now, but phew...there were days.
anyway, i digress. the 3 year gap was designed to gear me up for the next one, sarah. she is definitely living up to her brothers' standards of terror.

the power of the pen...or marker

this is why silence is never a good thing...




2 boys+1 box of markers-1 Mom = Trouble