Thursday Thinking

Things I'm thinking about today:

1) Tree houses. Our visit to Katy's house got me thinking about building a tree house here. After checking out the backyard, there are only two places it could go and not touch a power or phone line. Hrm. Not ideal, but I'm just dreaming... right?

2) Bed Frame Bench. Along the lines of building again, I'm wanting to make a bed frame bench to go on my back deck. Mom and Dad were kind enough to lend me their four piece outdoor seating arrangement for showing the house, but they will need it back when the weather turns nice. Especially because Dad built a new deck! They have an old frame with a cracked foot that will work out perfectly for me!

3) Bedroom Switcharoo. It's high time Austin had his own room. Part of us wanting to move was about each of our boys having some personal space (doesn't really happen in a shared 10x 10 room) so we are putting the younger boys together and I'm hoping to redo GA's room into something like these:

4) Gardens. If I'm staying, I'm going to put in all those things I've been waiting for our permanent house to put in:

Climbing roses out back

A line of Berries so I can stop picking on the side of the road

Hostas, hostas and more hostas. Did I mention the shade?

Azaleas. They are the only thing that will flower in all that shade as well.

Magic on Monte Sano

Hosting a party for 35 isn't for the faint of heart, but when Katy invited such a large group out for the day, none of us wanted to be left out! We started off the day meeting at Monte Sano's Club pool for a group swim.

What a view!

Homeschool "special" Olympics Table Basketball Team

G is enjoying his new goggles.

Diving board adventures.

Well, maybe not DIVING per se...

As if getting us all together for this wasn't enough fun, Katy invited us all back to her place to let the kids play and snack.

These chairs just begged to have a picture made. Have they got a great view of what?

Back yard = Kid paradise!

Their pressure gun shot out towels and sawdust. Fun!

My favorite part of the back yard: Tree house!

This tree house was high on charm with vine covered hand rails...

and sea shell garlands.

Karen mentioned how she would LOVE to spend the night up there and Katy's daughter said, "Oh, it's been done!"Not to be out done the inside of their house was just as charming and kid friendly.

Skeleton man had an accident. Can someone give him a... hand?

My jokes aren't funny, but Carson laughs anyway. <3

Katy's baby had a painting accident that resulted in foot prints that no one wanted to clean up. CUTE!

There were adolescent chicks to pet.

I was told this beauty will lay pastel eggs one day.

I loved so many things at Katy's house. Even her salt and pepper mushrooms.

As the day turned hot(ter) the chairs moved in the shade of the trees.

And so did the kids.

It was a great day of visiting and playing and not heading back to school. Many thanks to our hosts!

Four Seasons

I have missed having four seasons. I mean here in the deep south we do have three seasons (cool, warm and hotter than the dickens), but I missed having four real and solid seasons to go through.  This year I got my wish.

Our Spring was cooler than usual and lasted until May. Usually in May we are all dying of heat stroke and swimming every evening. Not this year. It was cool and rainy. Camp-outs and warm weather activities had to wait. We prepared to sell our house. All the preparations were ready by the end of April. Well, almost all.

Summer came with all it's usual fury to the Southland. Temperatures soaring into triple digits with humidity nearing the same. The rain stayed through most of the season so there was plenty of goodies to be had at the local markets. Lou searched for an above ground pool to fit our existing deck. It took all summer to find and get in and set up.

Autumn this year was quieter than usual. The rains tapered off and the colors were muted. The leaves didn't turn as quickly or as prettiely as they sometimes do. Fall this year was more brown and less red. We started school with little excitement. There was a house to be sold and a move to be ready for; we were finally on the market. Several showings later, we were still hopeful.

Winter this year has been strangely white. Snow after snow has fallen, until the local schools have added Saturday school days to the schedule to make up for all the days off. I have loved it. The quiet that comes with being snowed in is in stark contrast to the business of the rest of my year. The house didn't sell and we didn't move. Instead we waited out the quiet.

And still we wait. Spring has been teasing us the past two weeks with warm temperatures and sunshine. I feel ready for the new beginning in a way one only can after a real winter. The house finally showed again this weekend after weeks of nothing. No offer came. Big decisions loom ahead and change is in the air.

Filing

I'm not sure it's quite common knowledge, but I have inherited quite the temper. I used to think it was a throw back from my Great-Grandpa on my Mom's side, who was quite the eccentric and used to do things like make a hospital break through a screen window with a butter knife or drive his tractor on the roads when they took his drivers license. He made an easy scape goat for most anything odd in my personality. In the past few years, I have tried to file away observations of my Dad's family since I grew up over 500 miles away from them. I have noticed a thread of similarity in the Beadle clan. In this case, a propensity for throwing things and being very grumpy when interrupted from tasks. Case in point:

Sad isn't it? All I needed was a sleeve for a CD. I knew some had been put in the filing cabinet, but I dread touching that thing. You see the drawers were meant strictly for hanging files. Any attempt to cram tons of crap in the bottoms of them results in said bottoms sagging and catching so that all the drawers open at once and none is accessible. Factor in a morning rush and voila spectacular temper tantrum.  When the bottom most drawer snuck out with the rest and smashed my toe, I threw the drawer in my hand on the floor and kicked the darn thing. My toe didn't thank me.

So today I spent hours going through the rats' nest of absolute junk in the drawers; warrenties from items we haven't owned in 8 years, the instructions for my toaster (I got that one I think) and electric bills from 2000. I also found the quirky; ACT scores and grades from college for both DH and me (found out that my psych prof gave me a D instead of the A I earned. Having died two weeks after exams and 15 years ago, I'm pretty sure it's a mute point.), some pictures of tombstones and a copy of Home Maintenance for Dummies.  At the request of my sweety, I made two bags of trash. The first was, well, just trash and the second was items to be shredded. I can not believe how many things before 2006 had my SSN on them! Yikes!

I labeled files for taxes from all 13 years we've been married (why do we have all those?), our current housing contract, the boys' school samples and records, insurance information and auto loans.

So after many hours of working on it, the dumb thing still looks like this:

Turns out those drawers were broken before I got a hold of them. Not as broken, mind you, but enough to make me feel slightly less pathetic. The flimsy bottoms were cracked and the corners were falling apart. So for now I'm filing that job away. Things to do Saturday: Guerrilla Glue the Drawers Together! I'm also planning to see if I can get my DH to let me burn the other bag or maybe rip it to shreds in a violent fit of temper. Sounds like so much more fun.... HA!

Thrifty Finds

Have you ever walked into a store and found the perfect item just waiting for you? Today was my lucky day. Not only did I find my new favorite shirt, but I found it on SALE for $2 at a thrift store. Score! It is just perfect for this weather and I can't wait to wear it!

It was menswear that had been miss shelved, but it fits like the perfect 80s ballet shirt.

LOVE!

My second purchase was athletic wear. I have been wanting a sweatsuit that was not as slouchy as good ol' Hanes, but not velvet or sequined. Surprise - they are hard to find. Today I found one like this by Reebok.

Yes. It is bubblegum pink. Not my usual style, but it fits well, is super comfortable and the pink might be fun for spring. At $6 for the set I couldn't resist.

My third find of the day was an Old Navy V-neck fleece. Those darn things sell out within a couple weeks in my size every year. Well today I got this one for $2. HA!

Anne Taylor would be shocked that her khaki pants went for $3.

I scored a like new black pencil skirt from NY and Co for $1.50. My old one was stretch cotton and had been through 15 years and three pregnancies with me. It was time to upgrade...

And one of these too.

I then I lost my mind and bought some of these...

They look SO cute on (thanks to the Bella Dahl label), but the color kind of scares me. I found four tops that matched in my closet so I think there is a chance I'll really like them. Hey, all the cool people are wearing them right? Right?

The real challenge comes when I get home. My closet is your standard double bi-fold door sized and I do not have a chest of drawers. The room I have with my closet organizer is the room I have. NO MORE. (I do admit to having a Space-bag in the attic with clothes one size smaller/larger as needed.) So when all this came in, I pulled out just as many items to go back out and I'm not sure what to do with them yet. For now I'll just enjoy my honeymoon with my new stuff.