The Odd Couple

She'd dance the night away with Rocky if her big brother would let her . . .

Deep Thoughts by Benjamin James

Greg enjoyed nearly two weeks off over the holiday. We've gotten very accustomed to having him around . . . Monday morning Daddy left us, much to our dismay.

Me: Ben, today we begin Daddy Detox.

Ben: I think we're going to need some walkie-talkies and some chocolate.


Recently, hanging out in the kitchen with both kids, we had the following conversation:

Me: Ben, do you know who I love?

Ben: Um, who?

Me: Well, I love you & Cameron & Daddy. And Ellie! Oh, let's not forget Kate & Big Daddy, Coco & Dustin & Paige, Mimi & Papa, Aunt 'Lissa, Uncle Bread, Ca-Cay, Jacob & Matthew. I love Jesus & God, too. And I love Sadie and Tessie.

Ben: Well, I love you and Daddy and Cameron and Ellie . . . And Mommy?

Me: What Ben?

Ben: Cameron, well, she just loves herself.


This past week Ben whacked his precious friend Sam in the head. Sherry {Sam's mom} overhead the altercation, and walked into the room to find Ben kissing poor Sam and saying, "You know Sam, I wouldn't hit you if you didn't make me so mad."

A Clean Slate

2010 will be busy. But I think it might have a little more room in it for some of my big dreams than it's predecessor.

Design. So many ideas with a shoe-string budget. Soft linen window treatments for the living room and study. I'd love to go ahead and get a seagrass rug for the dining room. I adore my living room seagrass, and I also dig the price tag. The utility room is begging for a giant message board, complete with a lovely linen fabric and some nailhead trim. I want to repaint {well, for Leo to repaint} the exterior of our home. I want to change the front door & the doorbell hardware. Greg wants new interior door hardware, and I want to paint all the doors a soft dove-grey. Still need to find that fireplace screen. The kitchen deserves it's own post, so I'll save that for later . . . Big changes & little changes for this sweet house.

Personal goals . . . Read the Bible more. Pray more. Love harder. FOCUS. I really need to work on my patience with the little people who love to try it. Blog more. Take more photographs. Long walks with B & C. Cook from scratch. Write letters. Be on time. Make sweet tea, from scratch, with the help of the sunshine. Garden with my children.

There are things I don't want to do . . . Stress so much. Yell {I hate yelling}. I'm cancelling any magazine I take with four-letter words. This list should be my longest, so I'll have to keep working on it!

I love fresh starts. I'm a girl, so a happy ending holds sentimental value. But there's nothing like a clean slate, a new beginning, a blank piece of paper. 2010, here I come!

In the Spot Light!

Prince Charming really outdid me on Anniversary No. 9 this year.

Before I post any pictures, I'm going to get personal {sorry}. I love design. It's a big part of who I am. I know that when God planned me, knit me together, He knew I'd love beautiful things. And while I do, very much so, love beautiful things . . . I am so blessed to know that they are, in fact, just things. So please know, when I go on and on about paint or hardware or lovely little garden gems or anything French, it's just a great love of mine. The greatest love is Him. I also happen to be pretty sweet on the gift-giver mentioned above.

Okay, her long-awaited debut . . .

I loved this house the minute I walked in the front door. I loved the windows and the light. The living room has two-story ceilings. The previous {original} owner never put a chandelier in the room. It was boxed/wired, thankfully, so I seized my opportunity!

To Greg and Uncle Bread {Brett}, and of course Ms. Michele for the van transportation and Mr. David for the truck-loan, thank you for all your hard work. Benjamin wants to say thank you for bringing a twenty foot ladder to his home {he's alone in his gratitude}.

I love it. I think it's perfect. Rock on, Ms. Italian Wooden Chandelier, rock on with your bad self!

Catching my breath . . .

Whirlwind!! That describes Christmas around these parts! So do the words wonderful, cozy, family-filled. Three kiddos, three puppies, six very hungry happy grown-ups {myself included} made for a house bursting at the seams with JOY!!

I only took seventeen pictures. But I had a blast. Usually I'm behind the camera. This time I was in front of the kitchen sink so much, that when I found the break I craved, I jumped right in, camera happily forgotten!

Christmas Eve candlelight service, lasagna frozen through after an hour of cooking, a Christmas tree loaded with goodies, Santa's many fun surprises, stocking for the big kids, too. Most of all, the gift of forever in heaven with our Maker.

Coco, Dustin, Paigers, Kate & Big Daddy . . . Thanks for making the long trip South. It was the best Christmas ever!

Gerg Schmerg

Sorry Ladies, he's taken.

And he just became a lot more desirable.

He's officially an architect!!

Anybody need custom house plans?

Bonnie's Apple Walnut Salad

There is nothing like Bonnie's Apple Walnut Salad. It's perfection. And the red is so pretty on a holiday table. Super easy, super special . . .

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp flour

several red apples

walnuts

Combine flour & sugar, add egg, add vinegar, add buttermilk. Cook until thick, while stirring. Cool. Pour over diced apples and walnuts.

Darling Bonnie and her family are so very dear to me. They've been friends of my family for many years. Their son Stephen passed away yesterday. Please cover Bonnie & Red's family with your prayers.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Power Cookies

Power Cookies

2 c. brown sugar
2 c. white sugar
¾ cup butter
1 c. shortening
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
3 c. oats, uncooked
2 c. coconut
2 c. craisins
1 c. choc chips (I use more like 1-1/2 cups)
1 c. chopped nuts

Cream the brown sugar, white sugar, butter and shortening together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Combine four, salt and soda; beat into first mixture. Add remaining ingredients and knead into first mixture. Drop by heaping teaspoons, 2 inches apart, on greased baking sheet. Bake in 350 oven about 10 minutes or unit browned. Let cool about 1 minute before removing from cookie sheet.

If dough is cold I cook an extra couple of minutes . . .

*Can roll into logs, wrap, chill/freeze then slice and bake.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

There were lots of ducks, much to Ben & Cameron's delight, at the little Shadowbend Pond on Thanksgiving afternoon. Cameron was the only goose!

Another "After"

The stone is complete! I'm pleased as punch with how it turned out! The game plan is to lose the glass doors, and get a pretty fireplace screen. I'm currently drooling over the following . . . Another project I'll be working on is getting my youngest to sit on the sofa, not the coffee table.

Thankful

I am so thankful. All of this, every good thing, gifts from my Father. I am so thankful.
-James 1:17

Before and after . . . Almost!

Picture taken from MLS listing . . . As in, before we even moved in.

I knew the mantle would have to go as soon as I entered the room.

I took this picture during inspection. It doesn't really capture the early 90's feel of this glossy orange oak mantle and slightly peachy flesh-toned tile. The giant TV space to the left of the fireplace had more of the glossy orange wood above it. The cheery yellow paint clashed perfectly!

Still trying to figure out the best solution {not to mention least expensive} to the lovely glass doors with brass and oak trim. Take out the doors? Paint the brass? Remove the old mesh screens currently covered with dust?


Today the paint is dry! And not a moment too soon. About an hour after Leo {my fabulous painter} left Benjamin put his sweet little hand print right in the middle of the new satin finish on the bookcases.

Stone surround and hearth go in tomorrow morning. Construction dust is happy dust!

It's going to be pretty just in time for the holidays!
Stay tuned, more pictures soon.

House Notes Part Two

The hideous family room fireplace is GONE!!!! Wet paint today and tomorrow. Pictures by Monday, promise.

We're good. We're great! Survived short but miserable colds. Cameron survived another round of teething. We may even get out the play-room Christmas tree this weekend.

More soon . . .

In the mean time, here's my handy-man and his make-shift tool belt.

Aunt Coco can't believe he's already stuffing his undies!!! Aunt Coco doesn't have a boy!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween to all my favorites . . . Buzz Lightyear, Bumblebee, Ladybug, Dinosaur, Super Why and Woody. May you eat all your candy and not rot your teeth out!!

Just Ben

He's as fun as he is handsome. He's as fast as he is tall {current clothes sport a size 5/6 tag}. His growing feet continue to eat into my personal shoe budget.

This week at pre-school he learned the sweetest little song "God Our Father". Sung to the familiar tune of "Are You Sleeping", his version is a bit different than the original . . .

God our Fauder

God our Fauder

Once again

Once again

Thank you for our Blessings

Thank you for our Blessings.

Oh Man!

Oh Man!

Candid Cameron

Cameron-Girl and I had a little one-on-one time this a.m. After we dropped Ben off at pre-school we scooted over to East Shore to play. I could have stayed all morning, but it was too chilly to be out without a jacket . . . And since Cameron still doesn't sport much hair, I felt guilty lingering too long. And then of course there was the whole security guard issue, but I'll save that for another post.


The butterfly proved much easier to photograph, but wasn't as fun to chase!



Be still my Cameron. Be still my heart.

PS Eighteen month check-up . . . 21 whopping pounds {7th percentile}!

She is . . .

She is . . . captured by her brother's antics.

She is . . . SILLY!

She is . . . serious as a heart-attack. Committed to the task at hand.

She is . . . a quick study.

She is . . . feisty!

A firecracker.

Noise-maker.

Rump-shaker!

She's a million different things, all wrapped into one.

To think some day I'll get to be her friend.

She is . . . already mine.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

"Imitation is the sincerest flattery."

-C.C.Colton (1780 -1832)

I'm supposed to be original. I suppose I am much of the time. This time, however, I down-right copied a brilliant young woman, mother of three, who's blog I just love.

Have you guys stalked discovered this darling Darby? What about her sister Erica? Whether I want to find a good recipe or the perfect school-house pendant for my kitchen, one of these two savvy chics can be counted on to deliver!


I unabashedly admit to copying the fabulous kilim rug she put in her family room. It's easy-on-the-eye and the family room got cozy just in time for the cool temps! Wish I could copy her loosely-upholstered sofa and custom curtains. Just lack a little time and a lot of money!

Disclaimer!! Still need to sand the coffee table, wax it and paint the sweet baskets below. Need some umbrellas and a couple of walking sticks for the umbrella stand, but am waiting for the wee-ones to get out of the weaponry-stage!

Mr. Potato Head

House Notes

This sweet house is still a work-in-progress. This house and the people I share it with are among my greatest delights. I love the way sun shines in through the second floor windows. I love the view from my kitchen window. Love, love, love the sound of Ben and Cameron happily trotting down the stairs, one behind the other. We've been working hard in the yard, and it's starting to shape up. It's starting to come together. But we have a looooong ways to go . . .

We've had a couple of plumbing disasters. And a couple of weeks ago we noticed downstairs was seasonably warm. As in the A/C downstairs was cooling to an inside temp of 88. So last week we got a brand new air conditioner and furnace!! I can assure you, I'd much rather have some new furniture, a chandelier and of course there is the looming kitchen remodel that I can't stop thinking about. All in good time, right?

Here's one finished project. My parent's old headboard had some new life breathed into it by the adorable owner and artist of The Collection. I love the way it turned out.

Stay tuned for more . . . There's a sweet old rocking chair in my garage that's going to get a big face lift just in time for Cameron's big girl room. Or maybe I'll set a loftier goal and have it ready for Christmas. Think I'd better go get started . . .