Can't stop thinking

This is my beautiful daughter's bedroom. She picked the decor, believe me I totally wanted shabby chic. But like her personality I let her choose something unique and fun.  So the room is Spring Azalea by Benjamin Moore.  I have always wanted to do a border around the room at chair rail height of a zebra stripe, similar to that of the bed pattern.  I also want to do a box cornice on the two windows in a zebra fabric. But now I am thinking that this might be too much and I should do the cornice in the zebra fabric and then just a plain white chair rail around the room.  This is my dilemma.  If I do the chair rail that would be SO easy because if I do the painting of zebra stripes I have to find (which I have looked) for a zebra stencil of some sort or make one myself. This is my quandary, for this moment.

My yard is blooming

The yard is blooming and I love it.  We looked at our house during the summer so it was in full bloom.  All the trees had their leaves and flowers were there (at least what little bit that is in the yard) and I could not see our future neighbors.  Then we closed in October and all the leaves fell. I could see our neighbor, their barking dog and lots, I mean LOTS of leaves on the ground.  That's okay. As you know we cut down trees a few weeks ago and we are planning.  The Japanese Maple is my favorite. It stands in front of our house and the kids love to climb in it.

The other flowers are just bushes in our yard.  I think this weekend we will make a nice circle around our lightpost and plant some lovely flowers to brighten it up over there.  I have an awesome Hydrangea (my favorite) that I am dying to plant somewhere.  I love planning.

Besides loving my new skirt, which I wore today, I ended up doing some more "therapy" this time I did buy for my children and hubby (oh and a little nightgown for myself :) ).  I am not usually shopping all the time but the new season has me wanting new things for everyone.  To start off my "reasoning" for my purchase I must go back a few weeks.  You see, my dearest husband is a laundry whore.  He loves to do laundry.  He used to do all of our laundry and back in the day our nanny used to do the kids and hubby did ours.  When we moved and lost our dear Julie I did the kids and he did ours.  I cannot recall him ever ruining anything (the set up) however about a month ago a noticed some jeans for my daughter were missing.  I thought he was just not washing them since he selectively washes clothes these days ( you know just his and then 1 or 2 items from everyone else so he can say he did the laundry).  In any case when I asked him about the pants he says, "Boy it took you a long time to notice they were missing." and then showed me the pants that he washed with something that was very pink.  RUINED. I was devastated as they are the best jeans around and I got them last season for my best girl.  I said, okay I'll try to fix them.  So last week I ventured to Michaels and looked for some patches, sequins and embellishments to fix her pants.  I came home with visions in my mind. But this time really saw the damage on the pants, my handiwork would not work in the pattern of the magenta colored ink.  

Next step was heading down to the basement and working on the stain in the same manner I did when my lovely daughter left crayons in her pocket and they went through the washer and dryer - BTW if you ever need to know I know how to get crayon out of jeans.  Two days and nights of stain stuff on the jeans and one washing and VIOLA no stain! Yeah me.  But now I have this really cool stuff I want to work with.

Today, I found some really cool t-shirts and shorts and capris to embellish.  In the past I have spent lots of money to have stuff like this so I am very excited.  Stay tuned for these lovelies.

Retail Therapy

Who doesn't like it?  I absolutely love it.  More often than not I am shopping for my kids.  Today I went to pay my Bloomies bill and in the same shopping center are lots of my favorite stores.  First I went to the Gap as I had some gift cards and coupons (love that I am able to save money at the same time - or is it being able to spend more justifying that an item was essentially free and you would have bought the same dollar amount anyway?)  I think that sounds good.  So I shopped with a few basic ideas in mind and came out very happy.  I got what I wanted and I even got many items on sale (woo hoo!).  Form my lovely lady blogging friends I am seeing a totally different sense of style that I like and I incorporated that into my shopping.  I got a couple of skirts (2 that are about knee length and 1 that goes to my ankles and flows so nicely) and then a couple of white shirts.  I love white.  I always have.  I used to love dressing my son in a white shirt and those cute Gap overalls.  To this day I will dress my daughter in a white shirt with black leggings or yoga pants.  I think it is a crisp look and contrasts so nicely.  I even got myself a nice little 3/4 sleeve cardigan.  Luckily I had my silver strappy sandals on that it looked so nice right there in the old dressing room!  All this and the sizes were smaller, so picking out nice things, good bargains and smaller size. WOO HOO!  I will have to post pictures of my finds later on.

Shopping is always a good mood lifter and I wasn't even feeling down.  On that note I am going to hit the hay.  Have a good night.

Beautiful Sunday

My in laws have a beautiful home on a gorgeous lake in Northwestern Connecticut. We took a lovely ride up there today for a visit.  Too bad I didn't get to do any antiquing, maybe next time. This was our lovely view from the patio and the entrance facing the road.

This is a wonderful place that we all gather at many times during the year, especially during the summer.  I truly look forward to taking more pictures here this year and adding it to my blog.

Have a wonderful night.  Next time I will add pictures form the inside.

Saturdays mean Baseball

Most people who have children know that the weekend is full of their activities. I am no exception to the rule.  My daughter has dance in the am and my son has a game sometime on a Saturday.  This Saturday he had a postponed opening day ceremony, which we did not attend at 8 am.My very good friend Beth said they were not going and her husband and mine are buds so he convince my dearest that it was not worth it, maybe when they are older.  A bit annoyed but when I was laying in bed yesterday I though, "geez I really don't want to go to the park after fighting with the men in my house to go to something that I would have to leave to go to dance."  So I passed.  No biggie.

Later on in the day we had team pictures and then a 3:15 game.  As you can see, my daughter really enjoyed watching her brother play.  They both actually had sleep overs the night before and as you know how they go - both went to sleep at 11:30-ish and woke up at 6:30-ish.  Atleast I know that my good friend was feeling the pain as well considering we swapped kids (she actually had it worse because her older boy had 5 friends over for a birthday and her 2 year old stayed up with the 5 year olds- no wonder she is on an overnight with her husband!)  My little girl was so wiped out but she recovered well - usually she does not.

The family then went home after the game, the kiddies had some dinner and mommy took them for Ice Cream.  After that we came home and had family movie night (dad went out and bought pizza for the parents).  We watched Bedtime Stories.  Very nice.  Who needs to go out on Saturday when you can enjoy a nice movie at home with your children? After it ended my son said, "thanks for getting the movie mom." That was so sweet.  Now it was bedtime and I was exhausted. Me and the kids piled into to bed to cuddle.  They are so sweet when they are sleeping. 

And I forgot to mention, it was SO HOT here we actually used our Air Conditioner.  We never have since we bought our house in October and put it in then as well.  We are headed for another hot day today.  Stay cool my friends.

I love Spring because...

of pedicures!! Me and my favorite girl got our Pedicures today.  We sat and talked about her sleep over and dance class and why we love to get manicures and pedicures.  I love the quality girl time. Don't get me wrong I get my pedicures all year long but during the warm weather months I actually get to see my little tootsies freshly polished.  Have lovely Spring Day!

Feeling Good

Today I feel really good about my job.  I went on a field trip with my students to a duck pond and restaurant.  It was business as usual, normal activities for a field trip.  BUT when I went to the restaurant, I am sitting there and I see one of my former students.  I am a speech therapist for children with Autism.  Some students I have had were high functioning and some not so much.  I stopped having this student about a year and a half ago.  I was so happy to see him today.  See that he is able to work in a restaurant, have the independence and even recognize me.  He was so happy to see me. He looked at me at first, then realized who I was and then told me how he has to tell his mom he saw me.  It made me feel so AWESOME.  Like all those months and years we worked together meant something.  He did succeed and at some point I helped him get there.  It was exactly how I feel about my own children and their accomplishments.  That is the reason I am at my job.  These kids may or may not have great accomplishments but when they get it I love seeing that ah-ha moment - like it just clicks.  That is my reward and that makes me feel great.  I will have to keep this in mind for those days that it isn't good as a reminder that there are good days.

Daisys

My daughter is in Daisies and she enjoys it very much.  So we have a co-op group where we each take turns running a meeting.  My theme is Respect Yourself and Others.  Nice that I just found out this theme yesterday. So I call a friend who is a dentist and today he informed me he cannot do it this week.  That's okay.  I decided we will do something in honor of Earth Day.  Respect the Earth will be our theme.  So I was going to have the girls make bird feeders. One problem, at this time I am unable to find enough pine cones, maybe tomorrow on my field trip to a Duck Pond I will be able to find some.

But my other idea, and I think the girls will like it, is to make button flowers. I did them with my students today in honor of Earth Day, recycling and reusing.  The kids loved it. They picked out their buttons and color of their pipe cleaners - what joy they had telling me they were bringing it home to mommy.  They sort of reminded me of the beaded flowers my grandma used to have all over her house, I know I got the creativity bug from her. I have to dig those out and display them somewhere in the house....  I also recall when we were moving my husband's grandma out of her home and she had the same beaded flowers - must have been something in that generation.

I am very excited to share these button flowers with the girls, they will love it and it is so easy.  I will have to share pictures when we are done.

For my share of Earth Day, I bought myself these cute collapsible baskets/bags.  They have them here http://www.surlatable.com/product/housewares/picnic+%26+totes/reisenthel%26%23174-+collapsible+european+market+tote+.do?search=basic&keyword=reisenthal&sortby=ourPicks&page=1  I got them at Christmas Tree Shops. I am so excited to use them.

Until then have a great evening.

Good Day

So, after a long 10 days home I went back to work yesterday. What a challenge to get out of the house, more for the kids than myself (as usual).  So up at six it was to make coffee, lunch and snacks.  Not so bad.  Even went to work and aside from not having milk for my oatmeal it started off nicely.  The students weren't so bad considering they had been home for so long.

I got back an observation that was done and it was awesome. You know, I do lots of really nice, excellent activities and crafts for my kids and husband and I know they are good, and I know they enjoy them but with work it's different.  When you do something good your or rather my superiors let me know. It was awesome to hear my supervisor tell me I did an awesome job and then read that my Principal felt the same.  It was very nice.  I know, we know that our family appreciates our efforts to provide a wonderful life full of experiences but they don't tell you the way a boss would.  It is very nice to be appreciated.

And another good day, today I finally got back my grade for my thesis.  Something that I have been working on since last September and turned in 6 weeks ago.  I got the grade back today an it was an A.  I am over the moon. This is kind of funny in an ironic sort of way. Way back when I was going to school I was more motivated by the job I had I did not really care about the grades I got.  I was more interested in going out, making money and just being young that I didn't think about my life later on.  Fast forward......15 years later, married, 2 kids, house and back in school.  When did this happen?

I'll tell you when this happened.  I had children.  I wanted be home with them, my dad wanted me to be home with them and I stayed home with them.  I stopped working in a family business to be with my kids.  A year and some odd months later I was bored and my kids needed to be in preschool.  I did not want to go back to my old work so I made a major career change.  I went to work in a preschool.  Perfect situation. My kids went at a super discounted rate and I got experience in school - God Bless that school for giving me a shot.  From there is just snowballed and I got another job in an all inclusive special education school as a speech therapist.  I loved it and then I moved onto where I am today.  During this process I had to continue education for licensing and took some courses. I met some amazing professors, learned some amazing things and found my calling, so to speak.  I love my job and the kids I work with.  Is it easy?  Hell no, is it worth all the hard work, yes.  I am in a happy place.  So aside from the class I am taking now, I have one more to take and then I am finished with my Masters Degree.  And I did it on my own, at my own pace, when I was ready.  

Being ready is for another day.  But this job allows me to work at a camp that I went to as a child doing a super fun, crafty activity.  I love using my creativity to make things.  I love to cook and while I don't cook in my program I know the kids are bringing home really cool projects that don't look like some packaged craft.  It is something I have thought about and worked hard to make "cool." So, while my life has changed in 15 years it is worth it and I know that even though it is not always said, I am appreciated.  To all those moms out there, you are appreciated. 

Work is never done...

So after being out today I decided that I really wanted to move the slate stepping stones leading from the street to leading to our driveway.  Not permanently but temporarily until I got the idea as to how much I needed and how I wanted it to look.  So I started to remove the stones and relaid them the way I wanted to.  My husband was very reluctant but somehow I sweet talked him into digging them out and moving them. Most were easy but some were semi-buried in grass.  This is not the final product but the idea of how I want it to be.  I do want to remove those bushes as well.  I like the thought of doing it myself as it gives me creative outlet even though now and again I like to see what others have to say.  There is also this awesome yard on Rate My Space that I would love to duplicate in out yard along with a wedding's destination we attended many years ago in the Napa Valley.  I do look forward to making it look good and be mine.

So long trees

First let me start by saying that this is the first time we have owned a house.  We have owned apartments but never a house.  Way different ball game than we are used to.  When something happened we always called upon our awesome handyman, Mooch.  So, when we purchased this house it came with all the little things we had/have no idea about.  Namely big trees, big scary trees.  5 years ago I probably would have never been concerned with a tree falling on my house but it happened to dear friends of ours so with every windy night I have been in a panic that the tree just off my son's room would fall and crush my son.

Yesterday we removed said tree and 6 others.  Now I am not a tree killer or hater but I really did dislike the trees that posed a threat to my family and home (plus I got rid of some really large, ugly juniper bushes that were at the end of my driveway).  It is unbelievable how the trees gone make such a difference in how our house looks, and the sunshine what a bonus.  The shady trees were all but covering up our property thus allowing us to have a moss lawn rather than a grass lawn.  I have a beautiful view of the street, no dead falling branches in the yard and sunlight in my whole backyard.  Absolutely gorgeous, I can't wait for the men to come back and stump grind so my husband can get some grass growing.

I am also amazed at how these guys cut down these trees.  One guy climbs all the way up the tree with ropes, spike boots and a chainsaw and meticulously cuts away the branches and has them tied so as to lower down the ones that may pose a threat to the home.  On word, Unbelievable.  I am so happy I can't believe it.  This was my BIG project for the Spring.   As you can see from my pictures that the huge dead tree in the front of my yard and those ugly juniper bushes are now gone the house looks awesome.  Today my father came to pick up my daughter to go get bagels and he drove right past the house!  See what a difference it makes.  It's the little things, well this was a big thing that makes a girl happy.

Spring Day

Today I have decided to finally sit down and write a blog. Some may think I am crazy and some may think nothing of it, but really do I care?  No, I am doing this for my own pleasure and because I want to. 

It is day seven of being home with my children.  I love my kids but after hearing fighting between the two of them for 3 hours and it only be 10:30 am I am done, stick a fork in me. Thankfully my son, who is 7, had a birthday party to attend.  Then I just had to entertain my Princess (5 year old going on 15).  All she wants is to have a sleep over at a friend's house (mind you the friend is actually one of my son's friends but my Princess loves the older girls). Hopefully this evening she will finally have her sleepover.

I am really ready to go back to work.  I did spend my time at home with my children and I love it but I like to work, at least where I work now.  That being said, I do enjoy our time off but by the end of vacation week I am ready to go back.  However, my attempts at creativity this week did not pan out and I really yearn to do something to fulfill my creative desire. I wanted to go to the artsy village close by, paint a zebra stripe in the Princess' room, decorate my newly purchased home, bake pillow cookies and so much more.  All that I have accomplished is hiring a tree removal service to, well remove trees and raked/bagged leaves that have been here forever - thank you sellers of my home.  I really look forward to those trees being gone.  Tomorrow when they are gone I will post the before and after pictures.  Now I sit here with my children watching movies and eating popcorn (why couldn't the week be filled with more of these moments?).  Maybe I don't want to go back to work so fast....