J Cooper Photography

1.  It doesn’t feel like Tuesday because I didn’t have my “mommy date” day with Ms. Middle today.  Little lover boy is SICK, SICK (again) with another ear infection (why was it again that we got tubes??)  He was so congested this morning he was throwing up.  That was a lovely thing to wake up to!  Hopefully the ear drops will do the trick so we don’t have to do oral antibiotics again.  Poor little dude.  When I came home from running A to soccer tonight my hubby handed me the little guy and said, “he is draining from every hole in his body”.  Wow. Lovely , eh?

2.  I so adore the blooming trees…and yet I hate them too.  Allergies, anyone?

3.  Yesterday I decided to re-do my mantel.  I am a mantel idiot.  I swear.  I used to think I was really good at decorating.  That was when I had a teeny tiny little 50s rancher and every vintage item I brought home from the thrift store looked adorable propped up on the mantel.  Now we have a big white monstrosity with a raised hearth and glowing white woodwork.  And everything I stick up there looks ridiculous.  My mom will attest to my ineptness at mantel decorating.  When we bought this house I was obsessed with putting tall glass canisters on the mantel.  I arranged the cannisters and brought them in the car to close on the house.  I just couldn’t WAIT to get them through the front door and onto my glorious new fireplace.

I’m no home stagger but this is what I came up with yesterday:

4.  Half way through redecorating my mantel I decided I needed to re-paint my living room (never mind that my fireplace is in my FAMILY room on the other side of the house).  I am suffering from severe spring ADHD.  There has always been one lone red wall in our living room.  I have always hated it.  So yesterday I finally decided to just do away with it.  And now it is gone.  Which makes me quite happy (in a superficial, non-lasting, house -loving kind of way).  Unfortunately, that simple mantel re-hab led to this disaster:

5.  Gonna keep going on this decorating theme.  I’ve had this crazy patchwork chair for about 7 years. {It is ALWAYS filled with a reader or movie watcher…it’s the favorite seat in the house}.

It came with a couch as part of a clearance set.  I was never really that fond of the chair.  At first I thought it was just plain ugly…but then it grew on me.  So it has always been a part of our family room or living room.  And I am SO tired of it.  I’m contemplating just going to Walmart and buying a bolt of burlapy khaki cotton duck (or something like that) and making a slip cover for it.  Except that I despise making slip covers.  Does anyone know a good source for a cute neutral French country slipcovered chair?  Or a sweet little old lady who loves to sew slip covers??

6.   I’ve made a decision about the baby’s quilt and I’m having something similar to THIS made.  Pretty fab huh??  The good news is that I can keep my denim rocker chair and denim crib skirt.  I’ve got the crib, dresser, and bookshelf ready to go.  I’d love to do something fun with vintage cars without going TOO FAR down the theme road.  {HA HA…get it…”theme road”…just caught that…pardon the pun!!  Any good ideas?

6.  Please try the sweet potato chips by Food Should Taste Good.  Heaven, I tell ya.

7.  A friend of mine just accepted her referral of the SWEETEST baby boy.  I am just rejoicing with her and drinking up her story.  Cause it’s gonna be our turn SOON!!!

8.  Is it wrong that my 5 year old is upstairs sleeping {one more night} with the donkey pinata we bought for her preschool Mexican fiesta before the other kids smash it to pieces tomorrow?  That’s normal behavior, right?

9.  Where do you shop for YOU?  I need suggestions.  And don’t tell me J. Crew cuz it ain’t in the budget

10.  Our heat pump has been out for over a month (which means no air conditioning and emergency heat only), some of our siding blew off while we were out of town, our sprinkler system isn’t working properly, and this weekend my washing machine broke.  So much for maintenance free living, huh?  Funny that the vinyl siding, new appliances, and fancy in ground sprinklers had my hubby salivating when we bought this house…yep…I’m still longing for my old fixer upper!  At least then I can expect everything to break and just run with it