New adventures for us

We are happily enjoying our new kayaks.

Here is Amy in "Moonlght."

And Sarah.



Matt in Moonlight and Theo in "Sunshine."

Marty was reluctant ot be the captain at first,

but is now quite adept and goes alone.

Details...

We took this photo about half way through installation.

Truly, that was the hardest part.

Maybe we made do with this lamp
a little too long.

Isn't this nicer?

The lamps and shades were my splurge.


Just a close-up of the pillows.


The gold one is pleated-


fun to make, even if time-consuming.


I'm especially pleased with it because these


cost around $30 to purchase.


My cost? $0.00, made with supplies I


already had in the sewing room.

A surprise for Matt

Matt and I have always believed it is important for the kids to have peaceful, comforting spaces to play in and especially for sleeping. Rooms where they can be themselves and feel safe; spaces that reflect their personalities and the things they like.

That means that we have fixed up/decorated their rooms first and then left ours out, either because of cost or just plain energy ( and the lack of it) related reasons.

When we left NC, we left a house that had two wonderful kids' bedrooms, and the other rooms were nicely decorated, too. We had our room painted and all the fabric had been purchased to decorate it, but for many reasons the "plan" was never executed. When we left, I felt a sense of failure about that. Not only did we not get to enjoy a nice room, but I had wasted resources and money on a project that never saw the light of day.

I promised myself that with this move, not only would I unpack every single box in the first 3 weeks (which I did accomplish), I would hang all the pictures and I would decorate and enjoy the house before we left.

Mostly, I wanted to create a bedroom that would express to Matt how much I appreciate his hard work that provides us with such a wonderfully blessed life. We have many opportunities and material riches that we certainly don't require but we do enjoy, all because of his hard work. I want him to know how much I love him, how happy I am to be here. I also hoped a peaceful bedroom would give him a place to rest from the weariness of work.

Matt doesn't travel much anymore (Hallelujah!!!) so when I knew he would be gone for 4 days last week, I decided to execute my new bedroom plan. This was the inspiration:

We haven't hung this window since Walnut St. in Creston (2003),

but I have always loved it.

Matt's favorite color is purple,

and when I saw this color palette at Lowes

I knew I had found what I was looking for.

I was thrilled to find the perfect print fabric at JoAnn's

(had a 40% off coupon for that)

and the solid was even on sale for $3/yard. Score!!

In the interest of full disclosure,

here is what I was starting with.

ummm...that's really ugly.

Note the lovely pink towel thumb-tacked up

at the window to keep out the morning sun.

I'm nothing if not creative, huh?

By Thursday night at 11 pm, I had only curtain done, and knew this wasn't going to happen before Matt arrived. We hid all the stuff in the kids' closets and went to bed.

Friday would be a big day. Little did we know we would lose electricity with

one curtain left to finish, and I ended up sewing the casing of that last panel by hand, but by golly, we got it done!

I'll tell you, I could never do all I do without the kids' fantastic help!!
Here is the after, that Matt saw when he got home:

Needless to say, he was surprised.

He said he thought maybe I was making some curtains

but never imagined all of the room would be re-done.

I am so thrilled at the way it turned out

and have been just hanging out in there

soaking in the peace.

Love you, Matter.

Crazy love in my sewing room

Downstairs we have 3 bedrooms, but Matt and I are the only ones who sleep down here.

The other 2 rooms are small, so 1 is Matt's office/ guest room, and the other is my sewing room.

Can you imagine what makes me love these closet doors?

I love them because behind them is this fantastic set-up:
fabric, bra sewing supplies, books and patterns.

The left side doors hide this super-dee-duper
gift wrap/ribbon center. All my wool yarn
is stored in the clear shoe boxes,
protected from moths and other evil wool eating creatures.
This makes me so happy!


Here is my work table, with my

regular machine on the right

and the serger on the left.

Miss Sarah's machine is on her work table to my left.

Further to the left is the ironing board.



Can you see the brightness above the serger?

That is a skylight that gives a

wonderful, natural light to work by.



The natural light and having all supplies out of sight

make this room a very pleasant place to work!

Sarah's new bike

This is the very cool, and very comfortable, paisley seat.
This is the very cool bike!
I even rode it and it was FUN!!


Here is Timothy after his recent grooming.
This looks like his "Glamor Shot."

Very thoughtful...

More 4th of July happiness

I had a great idea...

here it is after the girls helped roll them out.Here they are baked.

This is our yummy shish-ka-bob tray.

Good eatin' at the Deluhery ranch tonight.
Fireworks after 9pm if it doesn't rain.

Shop-Rite, where we spend stupid amounts of money

every week on groceries.

This is what I find so irritating about groceries:

1. They are expensive.

2. They disappear.

3. They are absolutely necessary.
4. They look so minor on the list.

It's when you feel so good about making a menu and actually getting to the grocery store,

and you "guesstimate" around $200, but it turns out to be $264.

That's after the Shop Rite discount card saves you $50.

ps. I know you can click on the picture and see

exactly what we eat.

No judging, alright?

Happy 4th of July!!

Amy, Sarah and their new friend, Amelia, baked and decorated these

patriotic cupcakes yesterday.

Very nice!!