Things I Love

Here are a few things from the past week that I love  . . .

1.)  Vintage finds . . . 

Some wooden spools of thread from my Grandma . . . Inspiration!

Check out that price on the spool on the left.  15 cent.  Love the colors :)

2.)  Finding little pieces of paper around the house with notes on them . . .

 

This made me laugh.  Adrianna must have been pretty upset with Ava to write this! 

3.)  The bare patches under the swings in the back yard.

  I smile every time I look out of my kitchen window and see dirt where grass once was under those swings.  I think about those little feet that made those bare patches and I find this is one of my favorite things about my yard!

3.)  Yoda watching over our house . . .

He sands guard over the back yard.  Placed just so he can watch over the swing set.  "Watch over the kids, I will."  May the force be with you!

4.)  Family time . . .

A rare moment :)

5.)  Visiting with my Grandma . . .

And my Mom :)

6.)  January bike rides . . .

We had a beautiful weekend so we spent some time outside.  

7.)  Trips to the library . . .

It's one of our favorite places to go!

8.)  Sister time . . .

They really do love each other!

9.)  Books and crochet . . .

10.)  Having breakfast with my family . . .

Priceless.  Even if I did have to get up at the crack of dawn in order to fit in breakfast at Biscuitville with my family before school.  It was totally worth it.

My favorite quote of the week came from Ava.  She had a friend over this weekend and we were sitting down to eat dinner.  Someone mentioned how quite and peaceful it was at the time.   Ava said “It’s peaceful because it’s home.”  So true my deep little thinker.  So true.

Natalie

Weekend pictures

Weekend pics . . .

Trips to the library . . . a couple of them :)

 

This is what we do at the library :)  Place star stickers in the center of our forehead and lounge around . . .

 Saturday lunch with Mom.  Love this picture :)

I can't believe how fast my girls are growing up!

 Visit with my Grandma.  Not sure why Grandma looks like she doesn't have any teeth.  I can assure you that she does!

She enjoyed getting her picture taken with the girls.  They love to visit her and take her flowers and homemade cards.

 Silly shopping moments.  Check out the new "modelquins" at Old Navy.

 Let's ride!

 It was a pretty day on Saturday.  I still can't believe this is January!  We rode around the neighborhood and stayed outside for a long time.  It felt so good to be outside in the sun and not have to be bundled up. 

Letting some energy loose!

It was a sunny day today and I really wanted to get out of the house.  We decided a to ride down the road to the tennis courts and playground.  Obviously I wasn't going to play tennis so I took a book to catch up on some reading.  The courts were full so the kids played on the playground while Aaron and I froze.  After about 30 minutes Aaron and the girls gave up on the courts and to my delight we went home!

I did try to get a few photos at the park.  This dude never wants his picture taken!

My silly girl!

 Natalie

A doughnut truck, hot chocolate, and embroidery . . .

I saw this on my way to work this morning.  I snapped a pic (at the stop light!) and sent it to Aaron :)

My rear is still hurting.  I'm still using ice but it makes my whole body cold when I ice it.  Another trip to the chiropractor today helped!

I had some time after lunch before my appointment so I went to my two favorite places.  Hobby Lobby and Barnes & Noble.  I want to make a few sets of cloth napkins to use at home so I went in search of some fun material to make them out of.  I wasn't feeling very inspired as I was shopping.  Not that HL doesn't have some really cute fabric because they do.  It's just that I really want to paint my kitchen and Aaron and I have yet to decide on a color and I want my napkins to coordinate.  I did get some red gingham . . . since the red from my cabinet is growing on me I thought it would make some cute napkins.

Then I went into B&N to kill some time before my chiropractic appointment this afternoon.  I really wanted a good coffee or something so I stood in line forever at the Starbuck's in B&N and ordered a Skinny Salted Caramel Mocha.  I love salted dark chocolate or salted caramel.  There is a candy store in the mountains we like to visit that makes and sells gourmet chocolate.  They have a chocolate covered caramel candy with sea salt that it swoon worthy.  Using deductive reasoning and common sense, I decided that this was the drink for me.  I.  Was.  Wrong.

It.

Was.

Disgusting.

I don't know if the girl who made it just really messed it up or what but I couldn't drink it.  As a matter of fact, I gagged.  Never again will I step out of my caramel latte comfort zone and try anything different at Starbucks.  I poured my $4.55 down the drain.

I was really disappointed about missing out on a fancy drink so after my chiropractic appointment I went home and made some real hot chocolate.  You know with milk, Hersey's Cocoa powder, sugar, salt and vanilla.  It was wonderful and much cheaper.

 So I sat down (on a hard chair and with some ice) with my hot chocolate and computer to catch up on some blogs I like to read.  Then my hiney starting hurting so I got up and finished up some things I started for my craft room that still does not exist. 

I stitched this dress makers form using a Sublime Stitching pattern and framed it in a metal hoop that was my Grandma's . . .

and this cameo which is also in a metal hoop from Grandma's . . .

and I embroidered embroidery in this wooden hoop (not vintage) . . .

All to eventually hang on a wall in my craft room . . . sometime . . .

A few weeks ago I found a pillow case that Ava and I had started a long time ago and never finished.  She had almost finished one of the birds :)  I finished up the other bird then made a second pillow case for Adrianna.

Here are the two finished pillow cases.

Just for fun, here are some pretty vintage spools of thread that belonged to my Grandmother.

Aren't thy pretty!  Coats and Clark 15 cent.

*all embroidery patterns are from Sublime Stitching

Natalie

Weekend pics

 My weekend in pictures . . .

My to do list for Friday. . . I wrote my list out Thursday night then stared at it for the longest time Friday morning.  I know I was tired and in pain from my fall but I could not figure out what that last thing on my list said.  Did I even write that?  Nope.  That last piece of scribble is a note that Aaron tacked onto my list.  It took me forever to figure out what it says.  In case you are wondering it says "Borrowed $4".

No pics from the Chiropractor!  It was lunch time when we were finished there.  I gave the girls some choices for lunch.  I was wanting Chick-fil-A or lunch at the Co-op.  Adrianna's friend was on board for the Co-op but Adrianna didn't think she would like it.  Wendy's won.  We could all agree on that. After lunch the girls wanted to go to the park for a few minutes.  It was a pretty day so I thought that was a stellar idea :)

They had so much fun running around and letting loose some energy.  Although I really don't know where that energy came from.  I used all mine up the day before skating then getting to bed late.  Hmmm . . .

 

These trees thought it was a pretty day as well.   They are a little confused. . . 

I needed a few things from the Co-op so after I pried the girls from the slides and swings it was our next stop.

Look at all those beautiful veggies!!

There is always a basket of fruit for the kids at the Co-op.  

The girls helped themselves to an apple.

 

I picked up some bee pollen while I was there.  We all have crazy seasonal allergies around here.  The "seasonal" allergies Adrianna and I suffer form seem to be all year round.  So I've been using local honey as a sweetener in stead of sugar in my hot tea.  Instead of coffee, I have been drinking a lot of hot tea lately.  If you know me you know that I LOVE coffee.  The no coffee thing hasn't been all that hard and I do have a cup every once in a while.  Anyway, my point was that I have been adding a teaspoon or so of local honey to my tea every day (sometimes more than once a day!) and it seems to have really helped.  I also love a piece of toast with butter and honey as a snack.  I may eat that a little too often . . . Anyway, I read on one of my favorite blogs about the benefits of bee pollen so I thought I'd pick some up.  Here is the blog post about the bee pollen.

I've been putting it on my oatmeal in the mornings . . .

After shopping we met my friend at the book store to trade kids.  She had Ava and I took one of her kids back home with me.  The local used book store, 5th  Street Books, was having their monthly .25 cent sale.  Yes, I said $.25, 25 cent, one quarter, how ever you want to say it.  Their everyday book price is $.99.  You think you can't beat that price then they have a 25 cent sale!  Paperback and hardback.  There are shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books at his place.  If you are a book lover, this is the place for you.  You can't really go in there looking for anything specific.  I mean you can but you may not find it.  But if you love to read, that really doesn't matter, you'll find something that catches your eye. 

I came home with these and a few others that Ava picked out . . .  I have already read the one on the bottom, Wideacre by Phillipa Gregory, but I really liked it and for a quarter, why not?  I also have not read any of the Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich books but I want to.  I know the movie based on the first book is coming out soon so I need to read it.  The only Janet Evanovich book that they had was Fearless Fourteen.  I have a lot of catching up to do to get there but what the heck, it was $.25.

I had ordered a set of embroidery patterns from Sublime Stitching and some Thread Heaven.  It's a wax that you pull your thread through before stitching.  Makes such a big difference!  The thread moves so smoothly through the fabric :)

I finished up several pieces of embroidery this weekend.  I'll post pictures another time . . .

Saturday was a Tom's kind of day . . . I love my Tom's!  They are so comfortable.

My Mom gave me a massage on Saturday.  I so needed it!  My back was hurting before I fell but after I fell I really needed it.  I went over to her house without the kids for once.  I knew I wouldn't be able to relax with them there.  I felt so much better after my massage!  Thanks, Mom :)

I believe the long weekend was getting to the kids . . .

Mustaches and goatees are the thing to draw on your face when you are a bored kid at my house.  My kids know how to make me smile!

See, even in her sleep this one makes me smile!

Natalie