in march...

we wear green to celebrate today, and to avoid being pinched.

(and because green is awesome!) 

and we set traps in hopes of catching the little creature who tells the secret to his treasures.

(notice the fake gold lures)

but he's a tricky one, that little swindler.

and this punk will certainly be eating green mint chocolate chip  ice cream cake to celebrate his birthday.

happy birthday, jess!

(that's my big brother)

and, since we're almost a quarter of the way through the year, today is also a great day to...

take down my christmas cards.

sheesh!

i"m looking forward to summer...

although i'm not sure why because this is the sort of thing that happens to me in the summer.

big girl says...

devan : mom, that fing in my body isn't working!

me : what thing?

devan : that fing that makes me grow bigger.  (insert big fat pout)

she doesn't even know how big she is.  i wish that "fing" would stop working so well.

adventures in thrifting 3 : art and frames

i like weird little pieces of art, which is fortunate for me because that's what you tend to find in terms of art when you're thrifting.

this little original painting is one of my favorite pieces, and it was a freebie, as in i found it slipped between the pages of an old book i thrifted.  that was a pleasant surprise.  i love the simple color blocking, and the tones are just right.

here's a funny little water color and ink cafe' scene that hangs with two other little architectural pieces (below) in my half bath.  i really need to have it re-matted.

an original wood block press of notre dame.

i didn't find this one of the spanish steps.  i stole it from my mom.  thanks, mom.

these are my other two favorites.  i wanted something paint-by-numbers (yes, i know.  totally trendy, but there's a reason these are trendy.  cuz' they're awesome) but not the typical seascape or landscape.  something else.  i wasn't sure what, and i wanted it to go well in my family room, which has greens and oranges.  whoa, is that just what i found!  it's not often that you can be that particular when you're thrifting, but i lucked out in this one.  

i just had to keep my eyes open.

aren't they sweeeet?  i actually like the color of the frames, but they are so so cheap and the paintings need to be matted or mounted properly.  the thing that cracks me up is that whoever painted these must have been really anxious to get them up on the wall.  they put them under the glass while the paint was still a tidge wet!  that's something i would do.  i'm too impatient to pay close attention to the finishing details.

a print of san francisco.

some funny little gilded birdy plaques.

this one wasn't thrifted either.  it was my grandma's.  some sort of mixed media screen printed/painted thing.  this is missy, one of her siamese cats.  any one of them, since they were all named missy.

i'm waiting to find the perfect oil painting to put in this frame.

patience, my dear.  patience.

these were brass and i sprayed them to match the mirror i put in nik's room.  they're kind of fun.

i have quite a few other art pieces and frames, but i grow weary of this post.

proud motherhood moment:

successfully remembering and teaching to my children 

the lyrics to this song:

"great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,

mutilated monkey feet,

chopped up baby parakeet,

french fried eyeballs rolling up and down the street.

gee, i forgot my spoon.

but i have a straw!!"

the straw part is new to me, but totally logical.

don't even pretend you don't know this song.

7 months, yo

do you know how much i love this face?

i know you do.

this is her new trick face she likes to pull.

and this is her little smirk she throws around

like nobody's business.

time is flying by too fast with this little one.

a picture (hanging) post

do you know the easiest way to hang a wall of pictures?

i do.

believe me, i've tried them all.

you need a roll of butcher's paper, or art paper.

measure the length of the wall you want to fancy up 

and cut your paper to that length.

i had to tape two long pieces together to get the right height.

then just start laying out all of your frames.  play around with it.  take pictures of different arrangements and them decide.

after you have the layout more or less to your liking

outline each frame with marker, pencil, lipstick, whatever.

get someone cute to check on your progress.

as you take the pictures off the paper write which pictures go in each box.

now hang the paper on the wall and start nailing hangers right over the paper.  told you it was easy.

i switched a couple of frames and added one as i went along, because i'm indecisive like that.  i also left room to add/switch  frames as time goes on, because... i'm indecisive like that.

once you're satisfied tear the paper down.  you might need to take the pictures down to get all the paper off, but don't take them down all at once or you might forget where they're supposed to go.

i'll show you more pics when i actually have stuff in all the frames, and when my curtains aren't just folds of fabric slung over a rod.

and what do you think of my "new" white piano?  it was my birthday gift from the man.  i love love love it.

happy picture hanging.

favorite quote of the day

guy 1 : I wonder if there's life on other planets.

guy 2 : what do you care?  you don't even have a life on this planet.

HA!

from Muppets from Outer Space

love

in honor of this the national day of LOVE you really

need to listen to this.

every person needs to know this.  i hope you do.

now, these are my valentines today.

have a fabulous valentines day!

squinkie squabble

do your little girls play with squinkies?

mine do, unfortunately.

today whitney thought it would be fun 

to dump her approximately 3 million bean-sized bouncy squinkies

all over the floor of the big wide hallway.

sadly, for her, she failed to remember that location is key 

when engaging yourself in criminal activities such as these.

the dump occurred not two steps from both me and the vacuum, 

which seems to permanently reside in my hallway for just such occasions.

just as the last squinkie came to rest my daughter and i locked eyes.

quick as a wink the vacuum was in my hand, motor running,

and we understood each other COMPLETELY.

with my lips stretched into a sinister grin the race was on.

i have never seen such a frantic look in the eyes of a young person.

i also have never, ever seen my daughter clean a 50 square-foot section faster then she did today.

"well, now we all know how fast you can clean. "

is all she heard as she whisked her rescued treasures upstairs to a safer playground.