Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!


don't forget to count your blessings! (we have loads to be thankful for!)


Friday, November 14, 2008

I did it!

Bought a dollhouse that is!


This sweet little Late Victorian Charmer is Corona Concepts Orchid. This house will be for my 7 year old, as I want an inexpensive *starter home* for her (until I can determine if she will take care of it).

Inexpensive is exactly what this little cutie is! The list price is $39.95. I found it at Hobby Lobby for $29.99. Then I used my 40% off coupon which brought the price down to $17.99! Whoo Hoooo!!!

Nothing better than Christmas on the cheap! (actually this leaves me more money to invest in decorating. ;)

~Laurie Ann

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Ok, I am going to buy a dollhouse

very very soon...

I have found about 5 different styles that I am contemplating(not all for myself, but for my two younger daughters who also want to enter the wild and wonderful world of miniatures).

I am partial to Tudor style houses, The girls want victorian farmhouses (with lots of gingerbread trim).

I am planning to buy a kit for each of them as well as the one I want for myself. I will probably help the get theirs fixed up before starting on my own (as the farmhouse styles we are looking at are both considered good *starter* houses).

p.s. I will post pictures of what I am considering tomorrow as it is getting close to bed time and I have to be up with the chickens ;)

~Laurie Ann

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

One of these days..

I am going to

  1. actually get my house clean
  2. Get the Christmas gifts bought/made
  3. Finish reading all the library books I have checked out
  4. Get my family room/Kitchen/craft lair painted...
  5. finish a freaking craft project....

Of course I have no idea when that day will come *sigh*.

I need a vacation. (Which is hilarious as my *day job* takes me about an hour to an hour and a half (depending on if the temprature dips below freezing) )

~Laurie Ann

Monday, November 10, 2008

Oy, weekends aren't conducive to blogging...

Hubby Muffin works 12 hour swing shifts.
This equates to the following:
1 week 12 hour days (6a-6p)
1 week off
1 week 12 hour days
1 week off
1 week 12 hour nights(6p-6a)
1 week off
etc.
etc.
etc...

He is in the middle of 12 nights, and I have to keep a passel of red-heads out of the house, (or even more difficult, very,very, quiet) on Saturday and Sunday so he can sleep.

Once we get home from Gramma's (my mother) or Meemaw's (my grandmother) house, The high schooler immediately takes over one PC and the middle schooler makes a bee-line for the other PC (She has a paper due on Tuesday), so no time for blogging.

And, I'll be damned if I am going to get up at 5:30 on the weekends (which is when I get up during the school week) just to sit bleary-eyed infront of a monitor :P

Currently have the battery to my new digital camera charging, then I gotta finally figure out how to install it so I can upload some pics.

I never did buy paint, but Hobby Lobby sure loves me!

have fun~
Laurie

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Feeling Run Down

Blech...

Getting really tired of getting sick. Post-nasel drip is the pits.

Going to go buy paint for my living room tomorrow. Currently it is a mid-tone green called pine tree. I like it because it made the oak built-in bookcases look more like part of the room that the stark white the room was when we bought the house. I lived with the white for a year, and then painted it green (2005). I think I am going to find a slightly peachy-pink, as I have lots of pink and cream goodies I want to display in the room. Some day I will paint the book cases white, I know it (the finish on the oak is kinda yellowy ...ewww), but they are floor to ceiling on either side of a window, and I really don't have the time to commit to that kind of project right now (Ok I am really much to lazy to commit to it).

I will post pics of the room/ paint chips in the next couple of days.

I will probably be waiting to paint til I can breathe a bit better at any rate...

Gotta hit Hobby lobby tomorrow too... Busy busy day

~Laurie

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Living The Dream


Ah, but it was only a dream....

*Sigh*
I have been trying to get this house clean for months it seems, but I should remember this sound advice~

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing." --Phyllis Diller

Yesterday evening I spent 2 hours cleaning the top of my refrigerator, and the space above my microwave. (It is set in a little nook {not built in} above the stove and there is a storage shelf over it).

The problem was a potent mixture of grease (it is right over the stove), cat hair, and red Kool-Aid powder... I really truly hate Kool-Aid, you open a little packet of it and *Poof* a tiny invisible cloud of red dust billows out the top and settle lightly on everything in the kitchen. When I wipe down my cabinets it is like they are bleeding.... ICK!. Anyway, this mixture of Kool-Aid and grease was especially resistant to a simple wipe down. so I had to stand on a chair and scrub, scrub, scrub. The 409 fumes about knocked me out!!

I think I will limit my Kool-Aid purchases to lemonade only from here on out.

and don't forget:
The"Best way to get rid of kitchen odors: Eat out." --Phyllis Diller ;)

~Laurie

Monday, November 3, 2008

Taking the plunge!



Waaaaaahhhh!!

I know this is a lame post, but I always find blank pages so intimidating!

I have about 8 paper journals that I will not write in (though I love journaling <it's like free therapy!>) all because of the dreaded first entry (of the fear that I will screw it up).

Finally I had to train myself not to buy those pretty blank books, because how many does one busy woman need anyway.

Ok, I guess I will start off with an introduction: That picture up there is me (well me 2 years ago, and I don't look much different now).


I am a SAHM and have been for about 15 years now (I have held various part-time jobs during the last 15 years but Mommy is my most important job description). Last year was the first year that I did not have at least one redhead running around underfoot during the *schoolday*.
I guess if I were to say I collected anything it would be books (I have over 600 at this time). Yes books, and cat hair...... (we have two cats, a dog, a hamster and a chinchilla named Kiwi).
My interests are so varied it is difficult to list them all.. but here is an attempt...
  1. Reading - (I know, you never would have guessed...) I am known by name at the local branch of the public library..
  2. Sewing -Although I am way out of practice, (I made an Alice *in Wonderland* costume for my oldest daughter for Halloween this year, and I was ready to take a sledgammer to my machine by the time I was finally finished).
  3. Masks/Maskmaking- I do sort of collect masks, I have an affinity for them. I think because I have so many varied interests, and when I get involved in them I totally imerse myself in that interest It is like I am masquerading as a different person for a while.. I have made a few plaster/papier mache masks, but I would really like to learn to make venetian leather masks....(someday).
  4. Birds- I don't own any,as the cats or dog would make that difficult. I actually love peacocks, chickens, and guinea fowl best of all.
  5. Embroidery- It was the first handcraft I learned (at age 7)
  6. Baking- before I was a SAHM I worked as a baker in a resturaunt, and in a bakery before that. I hate to cook , but love to bake...
  7. The Great Outdoors- I was raised on a hobby farm on the outskirts of Louisville, and I had access to riding trails of the Jefferson County Forest just up the hill from our back yard. I spent many hours exploring the woods when I was young.
  8. Dolls/Dollhouses- This is a new interest, it started when I found a Jennie June doll kit (circa 1971) for $2.00 at my favorite flea market. This reminded me of the boudior doll my mother had wen I was little (which I coveted). I am working on her at the present.. The dollhouse interest is in part related, and in part due to the genre of book I am currently reading (Haunted Dollouses! eeek!).
  9. Flea markets- I have several I visit every week or two. I also love thrift stores. I m not as fond of yard sales, as I really hate driving all over the place for one small stop, I rather find block sales, or neighborhood sales ;)
  10. Varied other crafty stuff- I make most of my own jewelry, I play around with papier mache, I dabble in polymer clay, I attempt Origami , etc.,etc., etc.....

I leave off this first post with a quote:

"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm"!-- Colette


Now go find an adventure!
Laurie