Thank Goodness for Block Parties

It provided this little boy with hours (literally) of entertainment.

Funkyman Junk Sale Scores

(a la Lucy Schuller)

I got about a dozen of these vintage little cardboard house ornaments.

Plus lots of old jello molds.

Yet again, the sale did not disappoint. It was so fun looking at all the neat old things. I could've come away with more, only my wallet stopped me.

New Grouping

Yet again, I felt the urge to change up my living room wall. I hung the painting I did earlier this year, some other pictures I already had...

...and this new print of the Kirtland Temple in a new Ikea frame. I love this picture. It was a gift from a friend and everytime I see it, it reminds me how much I love architecture, old buildings, and the Church to which I belong. (It's a recent photo that has been made to look old. It really does look like it was taken back in the 1800's!)

Four Pieces Down the Hatch

I couldn't help myself last night. The whipped cream + sour cream combination, plus the devil's food and raspberries. It couldn't be helped. So good.

+++++++

I am organizing my house this week. I know we won't move until next Spring, but I have an itch to dejunk and simplify before this baby comes in a couple months. Is it crazy to have a yard sale months before you move? Please tell me I'm not insane.

+++++++

Have a great week. I'll be back when I have this house in ship shape.

Pushover

noun: A tired, energy-stripped mother who lets her kids run around the yard in their diapers, after they'd already been tucked into bed, and lets them eat peanut butter cookies in their diapers.

Fencepost Living

One of my favorite college instructors was an avid runner. She shared her endurance training method with me once and I've never forgotten it: just run to the next fencepost or powerline. She meant if you are out of steam and you set your sights on the next marker ahead, then run until you get there, you will, by and by, finish your run and build endurance in the process. Right now I feel like I'm living for the next "fencepost," which happens to be a trip out West to visit family (two weeks away!). I know if I just take it day by day, I will make it. I'm just starting to come out of a rut where I feel like everyday is a struggle (if one of my kids breaks one more glass, I'm going to go crazy, etc.) I am learning I need tiny fenceposts too, like excursions and talking to friends, to keep me going. I feel the equilibrium coming back after this little epiphany. I think we're going to make it through the Summer. At least until the next fencepost, for sure.

Vintage-Inspired Packaging

All just listed in the shop, priced to sell.

Hope you find something you love.

This Babe

I'm at 29 weeks now and this little babe inside has been making himself known: kicking, moving, requiring ultrasounds. I love having ultrasounds, so I don't mind that he needs this special attention. Yesterday the diagnosis on his condition is that he will almost definitely only have one functioning kidney throughout his life. And that kidney will most likely need surgery (though a minor one) after birth. Phew. I was actually relieved to know that this is all we're dealing with, and that it's a relatively easy problem to fix. I couldn't stop looking at the ultrasound pictures of his face: the lips, those cheeks, the little chin, that sleeping baby face. I felt like I was looking at pictures of Miles, they looked so alike to me. Only a few more months and I'll get to kiss those cheeks and see just who this baby really looks like. For now, I'm content on letting him kick around and grow, baby, grow, in his comfortable water home.

Diaper

Now you see it.

Now you don't.

The Draw of the Waves

Or was it the draw of the chocolate scotcheroos? Maybe both. Lake Erie felt warmer today than I remember her. That muggy, dense, hot July air felt like a blanket of fleece on this already warm body. Finn swam in basic frog stroke, and Lucy predictably stayed at the point where water touched her nose and a strong wave could knock her over (her mom's concerned calls inland didn't phase her).

Celebrating America with Breakfast

Blessing the food (this was the only picture I got of the tables...to make a long story short: I ended up picking flowers at the church, plus using foliage from my yard, for the centerpieces because I didn't give myself enough time to cut wildflowers in a nearby field). I made little red, white and blue pendants with bamboo skewers, hot glue and fabric, which you can barely see in the centerpieces.

Miles doing an eat-and-run shot.

You can't really see in this shot either, but we had this to eat:

• McDonald's sausage biscuits
• McDonald's fruit and yogurt parfaits
• Assorted quick breads
• Fruit salads
• Chocolate milk
• 1% milk
• Orange juice

It was so fun ordering the beverages through the school district. They gave me the "school special" of 25 cents a carton of milk, which is what they charged me when I ordered them for my wedding reception. I love the utility of those little cartons! And, when we were pricing out the yogurt parfaits, we figured it would cost as much to make them ourselves as it would be to purchase them from McDonald's, so we opted to buy from them. It was so nice to go through the drive-through and have them bring out neatly-boxed and bagged parfaits and biscuits without me spending any time over a hot stove!

Have a grand Fourth!