The Curtain Saga

I have some curtains, well, I did have some curtains. They are now sitting in the trash waiting for the garbage man.

I bought the curtains when we moved into our house. They were one of the first things that I purchased. I bought them from Wal-Mart and they were just run of the mill, white cotton curtains.

They inevitably got dirty and I washed them. And they shrunk.

So I sewed a panel of fabric to the bottom and tied a strip of fabric around the tabs at the top.

And they got dirty again, and I washed them again.

Did I mention that the fabric that I sewed to the curtains was bright red? Yup. And it turned my curtains bright pink.

But, it doesn't end there.

I had put the curtains on the floor of my laundry room. By laundry room I mean cluttered, unfinished basement where my front load washer and dryer wait anxiously for a real laundry room.

Anyway, I had unintentionally put a load of laundry on top of the disappointing curtains. When I scooped up the laundry, I also grabbed the curtains. and turned everything in that load of laundry pink also.

When I do stuff like this I wonder when I'll become a real adult and stop making ridiculous mistakes. Like when I'll out grow running into the counter with my hip. I haven't changed size and the counter certainly hasn't.

Katie

Anxiously Awaiting...

I know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting an awesome post from me today.

Let me tell you up front that that is not going to happen.

I'm tired and my house is a mess. I don't think that it all of a sudden became messy, I think it was a disaster before I left. Why? I have no idea. I'm usually a pretty tidy person, but it's like it all falls apart at the same time.

Anyway, I have at least three projects that I want to get done this week and the only thing I need is a large dose of motivation. Which means that only half of one project will get done.

I also need to clean the bathrooms. I HATE cleaning bathrooms. I guess Bryce hates it more than I do because I'm the one that almost always ends up doing it.

Hopefully I will have a one-of-a-kind, hilarious, she-should-try-out-for-last-comic-standing, why-isn't-she-in-a-magazine-yet? post, hopefully,

Katie

Summer Lovin'

Don't you just love Grease? It's such a cult classic. Most quotable line: A hickey from Kinicky is like a Hallmark card. How can you go wrong?

Anywho, here are some things that I'm lovin' about summer. In no particular order, mainly because I'm too lazy to put the pictures in no particular order.

The sand box

The garden, not the weed part though.
The heat, finally, it's hot this year.

I know, the picture is sideways, complain to blogger. Anyway, the other day we had a tub full of water that had been sitting out in the sun all day, so I convinced all the girls it would be fun to take a bath outside.

I know they're slightly inappropriate, OK, highly inappropriate, but I just love a good bum picture.

The grill

Estate/garage sales. I bought this for $5. It's pretty complete, made in Germany, on purpose, and I'm assuming it's at least 60 years old. Fortunately, it's the perfect Barbie size.

Fresh flowers. I had a picture somewhere but it got lost out in cyber land. Along with a picture of flip flops. I'm sure you're all devastated.

FYI, I will be gone the rest of this week up to girl's camp. Why, you ask. Because I'm a sucker and not pregnant so I'm an obvious candidate. I expect to come home sleep deprived and dirty, and hoping that my girls never grow up to be teenagers. Wish me luck.

Katie

Complain to Blogger

I was going to do a project post, but Blogger is being stupid. That's a bad word at our house. Obviously, I can't do a project post without some pictures, so I'll try again later. In the mean time, I'm going garage selling. Check back later, if you want to, that is.

All about...

Meg.

It was Meg's birthday, she turned 1! And the project, as you see, has a 'Meg' type theme.

So for the project, I found an apothecary jar for $10 at Target. Don't tell my dad that I shop there. Anyway, you can find an apothecary jar practically anywhere. Then I found a frog. A frog is what people used to use at the bottom of vases to hold flowers. They're almost impossible to find, so if you see one, snatch it up. I bought mine for $2, at an estate sale, of course. I also picked up some old skeleton keys at yet another estate sale. I don't even think I was charged for them. The I printed off a cute little picture of Meg on regular paper and glued it to some card stock, and there you go. My plan is to rotate the picture inside with some recent pictures of each of the girls. That will happen when the other girls start being as cute and as nice as Meg.

Katie

P.S. Meg is walking, a little bit like Frankenstein, but fun nonetheless.

I was going to...

do this really great post about all the things that I love about summer, complete with pictures, etc. However, my camera battery failed and now I have to charge it, and I have no idea how long that will take, and my girls are playing Barbies and there's no telling how long the good will will last so I thought I had better just hurry and post for the day, and while I'm at it, look into seeing if there's something telling about a person who continues to use run-on sentences and if I should see someone about it.

For a couple of weeks I've been accumulating words. You know the words that you have to type before you can leave a message on another person's blog to make sure your computer isn't encrypted or something like that. Except, they're not actually words, obviously. So here's a post using said words:

While driving home from Costco a couple of weeks ago, I was feeling a little docaless. All of the pavercin I had been taking wasn't helping. This is all besides the chamene, obviously. I was almost home when a remblec-of-a-cop flashed me over.

What?! I was only going four over the speed limit. I was feeling grarse, and let's be honest, a little nocatem.

Anyway, we had a little talk. He looked to be a little doloofi, don't tell him I said that. It so happens that my stickers on my plates were three months over due. Opalty, I tried not to blame Bryce. He took my information with him to his car and I was just chalizin, waiting for him to come back. As was his syciv duty, he let me off the hook....after I claimed innocence, and assured him it would be taken care of proace.

Needless, to the say, this small little corkyp made me more aware of taking care of things in a pache manner.

Fecoinal,

Katie

The Marriage Ref

Have you seen the show? I think it's an amusing, valid idea. I thought Bryce and I should give it a try. The key to success is people weighing in with their comments. I don't know how we'll decide who wins, it will probably be Bryce, he usually wins at everything. Maybe I'll have my mom decide, I'm sure she'll be unbiased even though I'm her favorite.

The Topic: the mattress

Katie: I firmly believe that I should have exactly half of the top side of the mattress. It's not my fault that Bryce has broader shoulders. I should not be penalized for my size. I'm an equal partner in the marriage, I should have an equal part of the sleeping arrangements.

Bryce Here. My wife, being a social work major in college, should know that equality does not boil down to a 50/50 split. My wife would agree that people who make more money should have to pay more in taxes. Why is that, one may ask? She would give you a discussion on disposable income and how less affluent people are required to spend more money on the necessities of life. While this blog post is not a discuss on our current tax system, I find the similarities between the financial needs of any individual and sleeping needs of an individual to be closely aligned.

My wife is a slight women. I am not a slight man. My wife's needs are different than my needs. Am I expected to live on the same amount of food as my wife, so we can keep it a 50/50 split? Should I have the same amount of fabric for clothing as my wife? It would be like a 7:1 ratio. While I am sure it is nice for an individual to be able to eat a 5 course meal, I would think that providing food for the hunger would be more important.

In addition, while I am sure it is nice to sleep every night in excess comfort, I would think people just getting a good nights sleep would be more important. I will admit, that I often joke with my wife that my half of the bed is the top half and hers is the bottom half, but that joke has not made one difference to her staunch determination that she should get 50 percent of the mattress. My brothers and sisters, let us rise up against the beast, who would repress us in food and sleep. Let us fight for what is true and right. Let our voices be heard that equality of sleep is not a generic 50/50 split, but a study of basic human needs. While I know that my wife does not listen to me, she will be swayed by public opinion. I know she is your friend, daughter or sister, but fairness and equality should not be based on one's relations. Thank you for your support. Please know that you, by posting your support, can make a difference.

Katie: Why in the world I thought it would be 'fun' to engage in a public debate with one, Bryce Bell, is beyond me.

New tactic: I should get more of the mattress because I use the mattress, in general, more often. It's like the parable of the talents. Did the one man who had one talent receive more talents when he failed to use the one talent he had? No he did not. Does the man who has half of the mattress get more mattress when he fails to use the one half he does have often? No he does not. Taxes come and go, but God, and the Bible for that matter, are unchanging.

Bryce: Heresy. While some individuals may think that sleeping is a talent, I would contend that it is not. Sleep is an essential part of a healthy life. One Katie Bell, has admitted that she gets more sleep than her husband. Knowing that said husband gets less sleep, wouldn't it be more important that his sleep be better, more restful. Just because he is only blessed with three talents of sleeping time and not five talents of sleeping time, doesn't mean he should not get a good nights sleep. While Katie may try to mix doctrine with philosophy, I remain firm in trying to achieve equality. Thank you.

Katie: Do not be lulled into a false sense of security by Bryce's use of large words that I had to help him spell.

Bryce: That is just a cheap attack and she is trying to lose sight of the topic. I am tired because I don't get as much sleep and it isn't as good, so I will be going to bed at 9 pm, just so I can function at work tomorrow. All I want to do is provide for my family.

Katie: Blah, blah, blah. Please do not interrupt me again. Bryce was just trying to bully me out of my turn to refute, just like he tries to bully me out of my share of the mattress. Back to the food analogy...Bryce eating more food does not infringe on my right for food. His right to more mattress would infringe on my right to an equal share in the mattress. And isn't this what the whole debate is about, my rights, as a stay-at-home-mom, and a woman of this country? Let us stand together for the rights and the amount of mattress that are ours.

Thank you.

Side note: After the typing of this post, the debate continued in earnest for about 17.5 more minutes.

Trial Run

We'll see how this goes....

Project #1 -

I made this a couple of weeks ago, and this is how I did it.

I went into the garage to grab some bead board. You probably have extra bead board laying around in your garage if you also cut your pieces the wrong way to put around the counter and now have loads left.

Next, I got Bryce to cut it to size.

Then, I thought I would make a frame. So I went to Home Depot and realized that was a ridiculous idea so then I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a pre-made frame for 50% off.

After that I glued on the spools that I bought at a church rummage sale (a whole shoe box for $.25). One of the spools didn't stay glued so I put it back on, crooked of course. I'm telling myself that it's o.k. because now you can tell it's homemade instead of store bought.

Of course it needed to be painted, so I spray painted it. I went through two cans and it still wasn't covering. So I decided I wanted a more beachy look anyway and gave up. I also spray painted some of the frames so there were only three different colors of frames.

My family room is blue and white, so the enamel dish with the old postcard on it makes complete sense in view of the entire room.

The first picture doesn't have anything to do with the post unless you count that it's my blog and I can do whatever I want and that Meg turns one today(!) and I thought I would favor you all with another picture of my haircut and I still have a hard time with run on sentences.

"Family" when talking about the quilts means husband and wife.

Happy weekend,

Katie

The Roots

Thanks for all the tender, heart-warming comments...I'm now rejuvenated, and let's face it, a little full of myself.

Some of you may wonder where all of my creative genius comes from. Let me tell you, T.V. Yup, no shame, no shame.

Here's my list:

American Idol: However, I will not be watching it next year. Despite what the judges think, gone are the days of Chris Daughtery and Adam Lambert and it's only going to go down hill from here. I am glad that Lee won, I have an affinity for people who used to work in paint stores, it's like we're kindred spirits.

So You Think You Can Dance: I mainly just watch American Idol, waiting for the time that SYTYCD comes on again.

Glee: Best Show Ever. That show just makes me happy and I will probably delve into a slight with drawl this summer, I'll probably have to paint something to make myself feel better.....

Life Unexpected: This show is completely predictable. But sometimes I just want a girl-from-foster-care-finds-her-parents-and-all-are-happily-reunited-and-life-is-wonderful-after-every-episode show. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Losing it with Jillian Michaels: This is the best of Biggest Loser. It has: obese people with some sort of tragedy about why they ate themselves to 300 pounds, yelling and screaming from Jillian, lots of crying, lots of weight loss, and the big reveal at the end of the show, all in one hour. Perfect.

Last Comic Standing: This one speaks for itself.

Arthur: We watch a lot of PBS over here and if I had to pick a show to watch over and over and over again, this would be it.

Castle and Bones: I don't watch these shows regularly, but if I get a chance, I watch them on the Internet. Bones has an especially witty dialogue.

Announcement:

Friday will be project post day.

And, for the quilt give-away: I will be giving away three different quilts over three consecutive weeks, if you win, you can pick which one you want out of 5 or 6. You can enter all three times, but not if you've already won once. I'm still debating about whether it will be one entry per family or not....anyway, it probably won't be till the end of the summer, so keep a look out.

For the record: I was never going to stop posting, but it's always nice to have a little assurance once in a while, don't comment if you don't want to.....carry on.

Katie

Declaration!

My blog is lame.

It started out so strong: ideas were flowing, people were commenting....now, nothing.

The reason?

My creative talents are being utilized in other parts of my life: reinventing my house, figuring out new ways to discipline Adeline for touching Meg, figuring out what type of rodent I just saw in my flower bed and what I'm going to do about, trying to keep the morning glory weed under control, keeping my garden alive, finishing up quilts so I can host a Quilt-Tying Party and then do a quilt-give -away post (let's just say I have about seven homeless quilts) going to countless baby showers (not that I'm complaining) and the other tasks that are part of every day life.

So, some ideas I've had to help myself out.

Do a rotation. For instance Monday could be a project post, Wednesday could be a family update/Adeline potty story post and Friday could be a soap box post.

That's actually the only idea I've had.

Pu-lease let me know what you think, if any of you are actually still reading,

Katie

Money, Money, Money

Plans to make money come naturally to children as does picking boogers and crying.

Growing up, we were no exception. I think I was probably coerced in to participating, knowing my demure personality and my sibling's personalities. I think it boasts a certain confidence thinking that you have something that someone else will want.

We did:

• Garage sales.


• Selling snow cones to the construction workers for 10 cents.


• Day camp for the kids in the neighborhood.


• Selling garden produce to the neighbors.


• Painting pictures and selling them in front of our house.


• Etc.

Elizabeth is taking advantage of the fair weather and will be hosting an 'estate' sale featuring gently used, run-of-the-mill, pre-washed, 1 inch, gray, insignificant rocks. So, if you are in the area (we don't ship) please stop by to view the selection. All proceeds are going to a pet dog that we will never let Elizabeth have.

I'll post next week, we're going camping this weekend. Hopefully I will have a fun story to share that does not include: falling in the port-a-potty, bears, drownings, lost children, or a flat tire.

Till Monday,

Katie