Lucille

I thought I would show you a corner of Ren's room. If you'll remember, we're almost finished redecorating it. This shows you her new wall color. We got rid of the Chocolate Mousse and opted for a shade or purple, Ren's favorite color. I can't remember off-hand the exact color, but it's from Lowe's. You can't see it in the picture but her ceiling is also a very, very light shade of the color.

This dress form was one of the first things we purchased to go in her room after we finished building the house. Ren's older cousin/childhood idol had one and you know how that goes. I think I found this one at Home Goods, but as it's been almost five years ago, I can't remember.

I have heard that, especially in Canada, dress forms are nicknamed "Judy". Ren calls hers "Lucille". Can you take a wild guess as to one of her favorite old television series? Here's a hint...if she had a male dress form she would call him Desi.


As you can see, Lucille's main job, other than occupying the the corner between the third and fourth window (yes, that fourth window, the very one), is chief necklace holder. Doesn't she look like she's ready for Mardi Gras?

Linking up to

The Polka Dot Closet's Dress Form Ball.

He's a One-Toilet Boy

I have a somewhat roomy home. Not fancy, mind you, but roomy. Fancy is currently unattainable, and will remain unattainable for approximately the next 13 years. By the way, sparkling clean is in the same boat as fancy.

Some rooms are, of course, way worse than others. Our laundry room on the main floor is horrific! Just off the kitchen, it is the first room you come to upon entering our house from the garage and has become a catch-all for, well, all of anything and everything that doesn’t have a proper place.

Our home contains four bathrooms and two half baths. These two half baths are located in the downstairs laundry room and an upstairs room that was designed to be a second laundry room but is currently known as Upper Level Junk Central. The four full baths are split - two upstairs and two down.

Trust me, having lived in a one bath home prior to building our current residence, I realize how lucky I am to have multiple facilities. For me, it is one of the best things about our place.

I’ve noticed over the course of the last couple months that John-Heath, no matter where he is in the house, always goes to the same place to do his business. This magical place is the laundry room on the main floor. If he’s in his room, he bypasses the one right outside his door and heads to the LR. If he’s upstairs, he heads downstairs to the LR. He has even been inside my bathroom talking to me and left to go to the LR.

When I recently asked him why he would not use the room beside his bedroom he said he was scared of it because of the noises that go “whoooooo”. I think he thinks it’s haunted.

I have not yet inquired as to his reasons for considering four of the other baths off limits, as well, but if the same reason applies and he is correct in his thinking, this is truly frightening - for it can mean only one thing. My laundry room is more than horrific; it is so ghastly even ghosts are afraid to dwell within it.

Of Mice and Me

Well, friends, it appears I - like Spongebob's lovable but clueless sidekick Patrick - have been living underneath a rock for some time. That is the only explanation I can come up with for not having known about these cute little mice silhouettes before now. Over the past couple days I have seen 126 many blogs feature this neat way to decorate for Halloween. It seems Martha Stewart has them for sale and for about $10 you can purchase a package of 12 silhouettes in various sizes with adhesive foam dots. I took the cheap way out and made my own, using a little Scotch tape to hold them in place.

You can go here and find a template of Martha’s mice. First, I cut out the mice from the template, traced them onto a black poster board and used the first set of poster board mice to spawn a whole army of them. Then I decided the poster board rodents were too stiff and their tales wouldn't lay flat so I retraced and cut them out of plain construction paper. This worked out better.

Of course, if you are not into tracing and don’t mind wasting ink I guess you could just print the template page over and over. The only down side to the online template is that their feet are just kind of rounded and all their individual toes aren’t shown. On the up side that just means less stress on those fine motor skills.

Anyway, my little boy thinks they're pretty neat and I tend to agree.

This post is now a participant in The Silhouette Party and might I say my little mice look so very plain now. But just you wait 'til next year. ;>)

Our Fall Fireplace

Tonight I finally gave our den mantle a much needed seasonal sprucing up. Usually when doing this I always try to shop at home first, but that wasn't to be this time. It had been a while since I had bought any new fall decorative pieces so I thought, "What the heck! I'll go shopping." Now, I kinda feel just a little buyer's remorse. However, with the exception of the two candle holders and candles, I got everything on sale.

A before picture. Yikes! Even though I don't like tons of knick-knacks setting around this is too much of another extreme.

The iron candle holders and candles were purchased at Home Goods. I love that store but they rarely run good sales. The pheasant was a Hobby Lobby find. I wanted two but this was the last one.

The pumpkin-perching owl and stick pumpkin were both bought at Hobby Lobby. All the garland was bought at Michael's.

FALL letters made by yours truly. I know. My talent amazes even me. ;>)

P.S. This post is a participant in Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Between Naps on the Porch. If you want tons of ideas for all things "homey" be sure to check it out.

P.S.S. Okay, before any and all English teachers correct me on my spelling, let me point out that mantle is considered a variation of the word mantel. Yes, most people spell it "tel", but I just can't. Please forgive. :>)

Wordless Wednesday - Window With a View

A hot, stormy day

A stormy evening.

Mini-Moment...John-Heath is really getting into Shark Week. He thinks the sharks (especially those Great White ones) are awesome. But he's somewhat conflicted, too. He feels for the seals. In fact tonight, while I had gone to pick up Ren from football, he told John they needed to pray for the seals. When John failed to produce an appropriate prayer the boss took over. This was his entreaty.

Dear Lord,

Please protect the seals.

Don't let the sharks eat the seals.

Please love the seals.

Amen.

Wordless Wednesdays

So I have noticed the concept of Wordless Wednesdays being used on many of my favorite blogs and thought I would join in the fun - Wordless Wednesdays: being where a simple picture or two convey a story without the use of any/many words. Yeah, I'm sure you have already observed that this post isn't playing by the rules. I guess a more correct name for this one should be something like "The One In Which I Explain Wordless Wednesdays". Sounds like the title to a Friends episode, doesn't it?

Here goes. Enjoy!

Morning

Evening

How You Would Know a Little Boy Lives in My House

A most tiny selection from a much larger collection of fire trucks, dump trucks, and caps.



A classic sign that you have a little boy living in your house. Actually, this pair is not in such rough shape as compared to some others hanging in the closet. Why, these are like new!



The legs beneath those jeans - rusty knees, bruises, and bug bites. I swear this kid gets a daily bath.


And, of course, the gifts of nature that are brought into the house on a near daily basis.

Aren't little boys neat?

Mom's Day Loot

A pancake breakfast compliments of my daughter. She does have a sweet side that peeks its head out every once in a while. She made pancakes for everyone and brought our plates to the bedroom and waited for us to wake up. And then waited some more. Still we slept. Finally, she woke us up and said, "Hey! Can ya'll come on and eat? It's getting cold." She was right. They were cold by then, but still delicious.

John-Heath provided many little gifts, too, including his own version of breakfast in bed which was a Nutri-grain bar stapled to a sweet little poem (see below). He later asked if he could eat it. He was hungry.

Flowers from my children and husband which liven up the kitchen.

Flowers from my niece which liven up my bathroom.

A Paula Dean skillet (Heeyy, yaaa'll) from my sister. I think she feels bad that the cookware set she bought me for Christmas didn't quite pan out (pardon the pun).

Aren't special days fun?

This is the poem that was attached to my gift from John-Heath.

Breakfast in Bed

Since it is your day,

I have something to say:

Don't lift your head.

Have breakfast in bed!

Just take a look.

You don't have to cook!

I don't like to brag

But it's breakfast in a bag!

Our Fine Feathered Friends

A killdeer guarding her nest.

One day three years ago while mowing the yard I happened upon a two birds, Killdeer (pronounced Kill-dee). They had made a nest, which was really not much more than a slight depression in the earth, on a somewhat rocky slope in our yard for its eggs. The eggs were almost perfectly camouflaged among the pieces of gravel. In fact, the only reason I even suspected eggs were nearby was by watching the actions of the mother bird.

At first, I thought the bird was injured by the way it hobbled around dragging its broken-looking wing. However, it would only do this whenever I would come close. Then, after I passed, back to the same spot in the yard would it return. Eventually, when my mowing was imminently approaching its special spot the bird stayed put and put on a very impressive show, spreading its wings offensively. Finally, I spotted the eggs. I left a bit of grass around them so that I would be reminded of their location during future mowings.

John-Heath examining the eggs. Not picking them up was almost more temptation than his little hands could handle.

These little friends have returned each year (the first two laying eggs in almost the exact same location). So for about 6-7 weeks during mowing season while the eggs incubate, hatch and grow I am privileged to a weekly show by the mommy and daddy birds. Another perk of mowing during this time of year.

P.S. My own little baby bird has temporarily left our nest and is spending the night at his Ma-Ma and Pa Gene's.