happy Mother's day!

My husband doesn't like to buy dead things, but humors me on occasion. Pretty pink flowers in my pretty pink room.

art art art

I absolutely love the artist Brian Kershishnik.  I still remember encountering his painting of the nativity in April of 2007 at an exhibit at the BYU museum of art.  They have since acquired the original for their permanent collection and it is exquisite!  Matthew and I talked about getting our own print, but we spent years trying to decide which size would be best.  This past year for our anniversary we finally bit the bullet and then a few months later we also bought a print called "Climbing Mother."  I kind of wish we'd gotten the next size up for the Nativity, but oh well!  We finally just had them both framed and I think they look quite nice in our living room -- the colors fit right in with the rest of my favorite things.  

All Wright Weekend (their pun, not mine)

I had to give a talk in church yesterday giving an update on Ella's mission.  It went well.  Everyone said they liked it.  I just told the story about the Gomez family and another one that she sent me last week -- both about getting to know people, seeing them as God sees them, etc.  I then added a bit from Pres. Holland's talk at the last conference that was really great.  Then I had to teach Sunday School.  It wasn't my week.  I team teach and it was her week, but then she texted me late Saturday night saying she was sick so I had to prepare a lesson Sunday morning.  It was about modern day prophets so we played a game where I presented a challenge they might have and then they had to look through the topics of the Conference talks in the May Ensign and find a talk that would answer or solve their problem.  Then I had been asked to present in Relief Society about how I make studying the Book of Mormon interesting day by day.  Hmm.  Not my forte necessarily, but I do try and I have tried lots of different things over the years so that was okay.  I was really tired by the end of church, though.  And I had just started my period so that is always a day when I just want to sit around. 

I was also tired because Matthew and I had gone up to Chicago on Saturday to tour some Frank Lloyd Wright houses.  It was so fun!  But a super long day.  We saw 8 houses in 8 hours and most of that time was waiting in line out on the sidewalk.  We got to know some interesting people, though.  I guess most people that are interested in those kinds of things are pretty mellow and interesting.  We were talking about how there were more women than men, but still a lot of men, but they weren't the type who liked watching football, for example.  Also, we were probably some of the youngest people there.  We met two different couples who had come all the way from Canada to be there!  I thought we were going out of our way!  The houses were great -- all serene and sparse.  Lots of gray or mossy green velvet couches and Japanese-y walls.  The waiting was painful, but I guess we might want to go again sometime.  I took some pictures of the outsides of the houses, but we bought a book that includes some pictures of the interiors.

Yesterday was Charles' seminary graduation, but he absolutely refused to go!  I looked at him for a while, but couldn't really imagine picking him up and putting him in the car myself, so I eventually just let it go.  All week long we were planning on going and we were invited to the Thayn's for dinner so I changed the time so that we could leave soon enough to make it to Peoria.  He was going on and on about how we were making it so that he couldn't finish homework, etc.  but then when we got home he asked if he could go to Ellen's!  No, you cannot.  I thought you had so much to do!  He didn't do any homework as far as I know, but did manage to get in some online Chess games, so that made it worth it.  I kept telling him that it would be nice to honor him for making it through 4 years of seminary!  But he didn't care.  We'll see if we get him to his High School graduation or not.

Not much going on.  Mondays are my day to write to Ella, I have class, I walked with Clare this morning, I'm watching the baby today, I planted about 15 flowers in the front, I need to vacuum and clean the bathroom, did a few loads of laundry since I wasn't here all weekend, I guess that's it.

order envy

It seems like every year at this time magazines are brimming with advice on how to be more organized (yes, this means that I have succumbed to subscribing to those  again, which is not helping my cluttering ways (woes?)), but I can't help but get all excited as they regurgitate the same information over and over -- use baskets! transform a closet into an office! label everything! hide everything! get rid of everything!  I can do that!  Except that I can never find baskets that fit in those spaces, and I don't have a closet to transform, wouldn't that be awesome?  And I seem to have a labeling disability since I've had two dozen matching spice jars waiting for me to fill them and label them for at least two years -- I even found a template for stickers to apply to their lids, but haven't managed to buy the right paper at an office supply store.  And I'd love to hide everything, but that takes us back to the extra closet issue, and I'd really love to get rid of everything, but as nice as that sounds it isn't completely reasonable since we acquired those things for a reason and use at least some of them occasionally (14 pairs of baby legs, mmmm).  Sigh!  


I did, however, tackle one very troublesome spot.  More than a spot really -- my whole bedroom!  I like my room to be serene, a place to get away from the chaos and bedlam, so I've painted it a calming color and try to keep it tidy, but recently we added yet another human being to the mix and sadly, there wasn't really anywhere to stuff him and his paraphernalia (cloth diapers, muslin blankets, baby legs!) besides our room.  Last spring I went through a brief period of obsession about dressers, but quickly realized that we didn't really have room for a dresser, and not only that, someone was going to leave within a year and then we wouldn't really need the extra furniture.  I won't go into the details of who might be leaving the nest, it's really just too sad to mention (or even contemplate for that matter).  So, knowing in the back of my mind that we would really only have to get through one year I decided to just use baskets for the baby's clothes, diapers, burp rags, blankets, shoes, wipes, toys (whew!  babies have a lot of c?!#) -- without remembering that although those things may be tiny and adorable, they still take up quite a bit of space and after a few weeks my bedroom was anything but tranquil and serene -- it looked a lot like a baby store had thrown up in there!  What to do?  My lovely next door neighbor is expecting a baby and she bought some storage with baskets from Ikea and is using the top for a changing table -- Hallelujah! I could practically feel the breeze from the angels flying above my head!  It was exactly the thing for my conundrum and can be used in other parts of the house later.

She has one big shelf with eight openings, but I bought the two with four so that it can be more flexible later.  They hold everything and I have never had a changing table before!  I have always changed my babies' diapers on the floor, but I have gotten way too old for that kind of nonsense -- I can barely get all the way up by myself let alone while holding someone -- so that is an added luxury.  I have dreamed up so many different ways of using it in the future I just might have to get some more.

I guess "they" were right -- putting everything in baskets!  and hiding everything!  really does work.  Now if I can just find big enough baskets for the children.  I've already labelled them.

it's tough getting stuff out of the garbage, but someone has to do it

I mentioned that I did something to my back a few weeks ago, and part of it was moving furniture around.  Said furniture was a couch and a love seat that I found in my neighbor's garbage pile.  I knew that I didn't really have a place for them, but after wracking my brain wondering who else might need them, and the imminent threat of a rain storm, I came upon the brilliant idea of squeezing them into my already more than amply supplied home.

::If you saw this this lovely upholstery wouldn't you just jump at the chance, too?

::here is a photo of our "library" before -- a room in which we also watch shows together on our computer (I love netflix!).  It is a little bit much squeezing two adults, two teenagers, and three littles on one loveseat and one chair.  I decided to move this loveseat up to the landing, but it stuck out too much so this came back down and the new one went up.

::the new arrangement in what I now call the "face off" room.  We can intertwine our legs across the aisle and the computer and t.v. now face off for our attention.  I went to Ikea and got white slipcovers for the new couch and loveseat and they fit almost perfectly!  The best $49 I ever spent.

::here is the landing before, but I have always wanted a window seat or something more comfy on which to sit and enjoy the western sunlight.

::not a fantastic photo, but you get the idea.  Matthew and Ella both think the space is too small to accommodate upholstered furniture of any sort, but Mittens definitely approves and spends most of her day here now.  This slipcover was only $11!

::one casualty at the moment is our dining room which is suffering a glut of chairs -- mostly because of the Christmas trees which displaced two chairs from the hallway and one from the living room, but then since the chess table landed there from the landing and the little rocking chair came from the library, we're starting to look a little scary.  I am not a hoarder!!!  

In the meantime Matthew is dying to know what else we can slip a white cover on.  I'll think of something.

jinxed

I ordered this slipcover from Target to go on this free and somewhat tattered love seat and received it last week.  It feels so much fresher and matches better with the chair that I already had jerry-rigged (I just looked up that word and it was originally jury-rigged, but so many people said it wrong that jerry-rigged is now in the dictionary, isn't that fascinating?) an Ikea cover for, except that -- it seems to be jinxed.  I put it on last week and on Sunday Phin spilled red punch on it, then exactly 15 seconds after I put it back on after cleaning it on Monday he bled on it.  That is its own story in which Charles dropped one of my favorite plates, failed to sweep up all of the tiny pieces with one such piece wriggling its way into Phin's little foot.  Well, he had neglected to cry about it so I didn't know he was gushing blood when I set him on the couch so instead of being suitably sympathetic toward his injury I was kind of just rolling my eyes and laughing at the timing of it all.  Back it goes in the wash, but on the way to the laundry room I decided to grab my water bottle and accidentally knocked a glass of water off the counter in the process.  Since there was blood on the cover and cold water on the floor I did what any efficiency minded housewife would do and decided to wipe up the spilt water with the bloody cloth and kill two birds with one stone, as it were.  What I didn't realize was that there was dried up green food coloring on the floor, from when Ella made cookies last week, which had now been reconstituted to its former glory and proceeded to fulfill the measure of its creation by coloring my brand spanking new gleaming white slipcover green.  Deep breath.  I scrubbed out the blood and the food coloring on Tuesday and decided to wait a few hours to replace the cover again.  I teach my class tonight and we watch videos in the library (the fancy term we use for our "office" and where the lovely love seat resides) so I put the cover back on this morning, left the room and came back to hear, "I'm wet," from the wee one.  What???  He really has not been wetting his pants (he has been doing the other and yesterday the "other" involved smearing "that" and peppermint foot lotion all over my room, down the back stairs, a stop in the kitchen to try to clean it up himself with a hand towel, more smearing through the dining room and up the front stairs before I noticed what was happening -- never in all of my days...!  This occurrence was due, I am sure, in large part to the fact that I blogged about him being potty trained - jinx!) and it was really so, so, so ironic that when he did decide to ignore his body's promptings that it would be on the freshly cleaned, and only moments before replaced, slipcover.   Some of you may be thinking that I deserve it for trying to have a white slipcover in my house, but I have had the one on the chair for about a year and have only had to throw it in the wash about three times.  It is now hanging on the line outside, but I am a little hesitant to tempt the fates further with this.  I suppose I will persevere.  Personally I think the last fiasco was bound to happen because he was wearing his own item that is jinxed: the Thomas the Tank underwear.  It never lasts more than a couple of hours for one reason or another.  You can never beat a double jinx.


Do you own anything that is just bad news?

counting down

We got out our Christmas decorations last night finally.  Everyone in my house that is over 12 years old is being rather scrooge-y about it all in my opinion.  They think that since we are leaving we should pretend that Christmas isn't happening.  We are not leaving until after Christmas people!  It was frustrating because lights weren't working, trees were tilting, and people were yelling (that couldn't have possibly been the sweet mommy spreading holiday cheer...).  We are definitely paring down this season, but it is still nice to have some of it up.  I got an advent calendar from Garnet Hill on clearance last year (I am so very grateful for wonderful sales ~~ they make me happy).  I found a very nice idea on another blog of putting in scriptures leading up to the birth of Christ on Christmas day so I am eager to fill mine up.  Like I always say, better three days late than never!

emergency 911

For years and years I have admired sumptuous window treatments in magazines and at people's homes, but I never wanted to spend the money in a rental (because who knew what size windows you'd have later and lasting 20+ years is a must) and then when we bought this house I was faced with a "design dilemma" as they say.

You see how the one window is directly above a radiator, which I have now concluded is sufficiently far away and not hot enough to be a fire hazard, and the other window is pushed up to the corner so I still can't decide if I should put one or two panels on that one or not. You can see in the picture below that we have had lace panels that came with the house that fit inside the windows, but 1. they are not lavish and flowy, and 2. they are cream. I don't like cream. My whole house is cream. I don't look good in that color and it makes me uneasy.

I finally took them down because I had had enough, and didn't mind the spare look, but now with winter that seems cold and also it gets dark too early and I don't want peepers peeping in my window (one of my personal favorite pastimes on late winter afternoons before people draw their drapes). About two years ago I had bought some long, inexpensive, lace panels at Ikea intending to chop them up for the basement (I also bought these blue velvet drapes to put over closets in the basement, which I realize now would be mortifying for them being so fancy and all), but then last week on a whim decided to try them in my windows upstairs and I loved how it looked!

Isn't that white light filtering through the window dreamy? It improves the whole room. The problem was that I had already chopped up some of the panels so I only had two left. I quickly went to the Ikea website and much to my chagrin I saw that they no long carried that curtain! My heart sank. I then checked ebay where people were already inconsiderately gouging prices. I looked around some more and saw that other stores were selling similar items for $70 a panel. I googled the name of the curtain and through some back door discovered that they still had some in stock at the Ikea in Bolingbrook. This called for action! I very spontaneously decided I had to drive the two hours, worrying the whole time that they wouldn't really be there, but they were and aren't you all glad? I think they look splendid and I have 12 panels to spare. Whew.

I also had a sugar-free candy emergency and discovered that if you spend enough at the Russell Stover website, you can get free shipping. It was a trying week to be sure.

last night some velcro changed my life

My name is Mary and I have plaster walls. It has been an insufferable burden for the last six years to not really be able to affix anything to them. Initially after moving in I excitedly pounded some nails in the hallway to hang up a large mirror that I like to have near my front door, but the subsequent crack up to the ceiling considerably dampened my hammering eagerness. Nevertheless, I pressed forward to adorn other rooms. I tried to ignore the sound of crumbling plaster behind the wall, more cracks, and larger than life nail holes, but eventually I was cowed. The daunting plaster had won and my bare walls stood as testament to their victory. I thought that the story ended there, but oh no, dear readers! A few weeks ago my savvy sister-in-law Stacie told me about the latest in wall hanging coolness ~~ velcro fasteners! There is a sticky side for the frame (or ANYTHING in the world that you want to put on your wall ~~ she even has an artistically aged baking pan stuck on her kitchen wall which would've been wretchedly complicated to attach any other way) with velcro on the other side and then another identical strip. The two strips then hold on tightly to each other (Ooh, I never can say goodbye... don't wanna let you go) and voila! Things are actually on. your. wall. It is true. And it has changed my life.

Here is a project I have been planning for years. I won't lie to you, I was scared. I was scared of putting things in the wrong places and my wall being riddled with punctures (I certainly wasn't going to actually plan ahead and plot out where to put things, that would not be honoring my true authentic self). But the velcro set me free and I just stuck things on there without any rhyme or reason ~~ grab a frame and thwack! on the wall and so on and so on. If I don't like it tomorrow I can just pull it off and no one (not even the cursed plaster) will be the wiser. Bliss, elation, and complete rapture!

Love Seat

And we cannot forget the darling little love seat that was the best price of all -- free!  Complete with colorful afghan and that ever-present black cat.

"New" table

Here it is -- the table that changed my life.  I moved one of the chairs so that the fancy legs could be seen.  What do you think?  Do you think it matches my house?  And me?  

And also a picture of some cool old butterflies I found at a garage sale, and the temple picture that made me question my ability to make basic decisions.

The Amazing Sale

Last Friday I thought I was spontaneously stopping by an estate sale.  I had never been to one before and I had a little time between the post office and whatever was next on my list (Facebook?  No, surely something more important, although now it seems to have slipped my mind).  There were a lot of cars on the cramped street so I had to pull over and let all the cars that had gotten there after me pass by and then I finally found a lonely little spot way down at the end of the street.  I always feel personally affronted by such circumstances, "How rude.  Don't they realize that I have to carry a big baby all that way?  They don't have big babies.  They are selfish.  Oh wait, I am trying to lose weight.  What a great opportunity."  So instead of changing my mind, I lugged my big baby down the street, around to the back of the house and in through the garage.  The scene was typical of any other garage sale: an old fuchsia sofa (I need a new couch, but my walls are red, cringe!), random gardening tools, some broken chairs -- no portent of anything noteworthy.  I wondered if this was the sale in its entirety, but then saw that there were people inside the house.  I sidestepped my way unsuspectingly through the narrow back door and found myself in a veritable Aladdin's Cave!  (Angels singing -- Aaah, Aaah).  Everywhere I turned another treasure caught my eye.  In the butler's pantry were tiny Limoges saucers for .50¢, the kitchen held heaps of trays and bowls overflowing with kitchen ware.  The dining room had sets of china and old Japanese framed prints.  The living room had beautiful furniture -- lacquer hutches and a mahogany secretary.  I found myself wanting to transport the contents of the house lock, stock, and barrel to my own.  But I resisted and merely crept around looking and pondering.  There was part of me that felt like a plunderer, rummaging through another woman's things while she is powerless to do anything about it.  And the thought coming quickly behind  that you really cannot take it with you.  You spend your life scrambling around  and really in the end, very little of it matters.  Those impressions kept my hands loot free for a while (or was it that big baby?) and I felt somewhat somber as I looked at the scraps of her earthly life:  She was a mother -- three boys and one girl; her husband was a prominent doctor in the area; she was catholic; she loved dishes, crystal, and silverware; she was a quilter, a gardener, a reader, a cook, a traveller, a homemaker.  She had made a lovely home and I felt a comforting spirit there.  I turned, and there on a table in a back room were my dishes that I use every day!  I smiled and thought, "We are kindred spirits.  No wonder I like every single solitary item in this house."  This discovery changed my tune as I began to think that she wouldn't mind, with her newly acquired perspective from the other side, if her things went to another house with someone who would enjoy them.  I thought about my own eventual demise and the inevitable letting go.  It will be fine.  With that I picked up a lovely set of cake plates -- each with its own flower pattern, grabbed the little saucers I had seen earlier which would be ideal for sushi dipping, and then went to stand in line.  I made my purchases then stopped back by the dining room.  Hmmm.  What a table!  It matches my hutches perfectly.  And those chairs.  I don't like the way that lady is eying those.  In fact, I am pretty sure that those belong in my house.  I picked up the phone and told M that I was going to buy a new dining set.  "We already have a table."  "I know, but we this one is perfect!"  We went the next day to pick it up and everything was discounted, in fact by the time we left everything was 75% off.  Here is what we ended up with: dining room table with three leaves and six chairs (same brand as my free hutches), loveseat (exactly the same shape as the one I have wanted online that cost $3500 and I was considering saving up for, given to me free because I bought the table), a black afghan with bright flowers (exactly like the one in "Stranger Than Fiction" that I admired so much that I checked out "Crocheting for Dummies" from the library because it had the pattern and I was going to try to make it myself even though I don't know how to crochet), the game "Acquire" (Matthew's favorite game ever and no longer sold in stores and one which I need never play since I am obviously expert at acquisition), my set of dishes -- I now have 18 dinner plates, time for a party! (she had them marked $100, but then gave them to me free when I told her they matched ones I already have), a hammock (I have wanted one for five years and have scoured clearance aisles and garage sale in vain.  I didn't want to pay too much and it ended up that I didn't), a Christmas tree skirt (with pom poms on the edge), a cake slicer (my mom has the one that I grew up with and that was her mother's.  I have looked for one like it at antique stores and thrift shops for years and there it was sitting patiently with its yellow handle that matches my kitchen), and various other plates, bowls, etc.  I think that is all of it.

The first question is should I ever set foot inside another estate sale?  There would not be room enough to receive another haul like this last one, but surely nowhere else would I be able to find so many of just the right things.  I have been having dreams about the sale almost every night (it really had an effect on my subconscious) and woke up quite disappointed on Monday that I couldn't go find one somewhere.  And what did they do with the things that didn't sell (hands wringing, did I need something else)?

And the next question is, what does this all mean, if anything?  It was incredible to me that so many things that I have been searching for were right there at that one house.  I really am not looking for that many things, but I am learning to be patient and just wait for them to find me.  What if I hadn't gone?  Would the Earth have stopped spinning?  Was I meant to go there?  Was it a coincidence?  Or was it a blessing, a tender mercy if you will?  And if so, why?  Things aren't that important, and certainly me having things isn't that important.  And there are plenty of more deserving people in the world who seem to have it pretty rough.  This is a question I ask myself often about amazing little occurrences that happen in my life and I really don't know the answer.  What I do know is that I want to give credit where credit is due.  I know that God loves me and I am sure that I am supposed to "pay it forward" somehow since I have been smiled upon.   I am grateful for what I assume was a unique experience.

Aah, Nursery

I have never been able to decorate a nursery for my baby. When I had babies 1 and 2 we lived at Wymount Terrace. Need I say more? Okay, I will. Cinderblock walls and absolutely no money! Number 3 was born in Japan and settled onto the floor with us. Later, thanks to generous friends she moved to a crib in the room with the other two. Babies 4 and 5 have only lived here in Illinois (technically #4 was born in Utah and we were homeless) in our 3 bedroom house. We now have 4 bedrooms, but still not too roomy for seven people and certainly no neglected space waiting to be filled with pastel baby yumminess. My friend posted pictures of her nursery and I just had to share because I cannot STAND how darling it is. The paint color is the exact color of my bedroom and I am loving it with the green accents.