This afternoon, while I was eating my lunch, looking out the window, I was struck by how beautiful the scene was.  Then I opened the window, and heard birds singing to me.  I will miss the view of my neighbors house.  Do Dogwoods grow in Las Vegas?

Every spring I am overwhelmed by the beauty, 

 and the perfume.

I always say to myself that I must live in heaven.

I should take pictures. 

The trees bloom for so short.

I should capture them in photo.

So after school, we went on a walk down our street.

Naming flowers to each other.

flying helicopters,

smelling everything.

I was pleased by that my children love the flowers just as much as I do.

And I couldn't help but think, 

that God loves us, to give us such beauty

to make us cheerful.

He could've made all the birds sound like crows.

The fact that they sing joyfully to us, 

makes me know God loves to spoil us.

And hopefully, when the blooming time is over,

I will remember the flowers

and be patient for the next season,

and be thankful that I can remember them.

Old jars

I love old jars.  I use them as cups.  A few years ago, we were running low on cups and I was feeling like I didn't want to buy more, and I was emptying a spaghetti jar, and thought, 'well that looks like a cup'.  So I started saving them.  When my family came at Christmas, my mom saw what I was doing, and decided that I needed REAL cups, so she went out and bought 8.  There are 2 left.  They broke.  We drop cups a lot.  When you drop a jar that was made to withstand boiling, and transport across the country, that jar doesn't break.  I've only had one break, and it was when the kids put it full of water in the freezer.

 I use them to organize my art supplies, they're perfect for colored pencils, markers, paintbrushes, tubes of paint, I even put little office supplies in jars.  It's clear, so you can see what you're looking for.  

I store soup, salad dressing, smoothies, fruit toppings in them.  I love them for giving food away in.  Especially soup, I love to give soup, but it is a beast to transport.  But not if you put it in a few free jars!

I hope to collect enough Walmart brand salsa jars to create this:

Wouldn't that look beautiful over an outdoor farm table?

Don't tell Paul.  He doesn't want me to pack any jars in the move.  I might have to pack a few of those, without him knowing.  They're made to withstand transport!

Imagine Dragons

came to Nashville.  They even stayed with us.  They were so nice to my super eager children.  One showed Maggie how to write his name.  They anxiously watched as Maggie showed how high she could throw her pillow pet in the air.  It went on for hours.  I tried to distract her, but she LOVED them being around.  The band was so kind to their tiny little fans.  Truly impressive people.

Before we left the house I was feeling tired and wondering if I would be able to fully appreciate the music.  We got there, we chatted during the opener, who had a lovely voice.  But when the band took the stage, I got a little zing of energy.  I do love their music.  They are so good live.  

See that enormous drum?  That drum is so booming, your heart wants to stop its own rhythm and adopt what it's feeling.

When they played radioactive, it was more than I hoped for.  Let's leave it at that.  It was an excellent 3 minutes.  To be remembered for much longer.

Do you see the passion?  The music makes you feel very alive.

The crowd cheered so loud and relentlessly for the encore, it made me proud of Nashville.

Seriously, you should see them in a town near you.  You will be so pleased with your choice.

Before and After

Amazing, right.  I'm so pleased.

What it looks like when I'm sewing.  Putting those piano bench hinges in was a beast and I probably still don't have it perfect, but it's good enough.

One half of my fabric stash.  I got rid of 100 plus yards of fabric at a fabric free for all 2 weeks ago.  It was very lightening.  I loved it.

I screwed my thread thing into the back of the cupboard, drilled a hole for my cord, stuck up hooks for my scissors.

I used fancy shmancy wraping paper for the back of the shelf part.  Little silver birds among ferns. Ahhh.

A vintage file cabinet I got on etsy to hold my self-made patterns.  Plus little rotating quotes to help me work smart and hard.

Notice the hardware.  When I put the door pulls on, that's when Paul decided he really liked it.  I'm so glad I found them.  

The burlap boxes were actually boxes that Paul got containing medical supplies he had to bring to the Philippines, more on that later.  And the boxes were EXACTLY the sizes I needed.  The crafting gods smiled on me.  I contact papered the inside.  Sewed clear plastic to the burlap, then modge podged the burlap to the box faces, then hot glued the edges to the bottom and inside.  It took quite some time, but they cost me a total of $20 for all of them.  Yes.  Worth it.

Just in time too.  Next up, modestifty two wedding dresses.

I discovered something amazing

control top jeans.

I was going through some boxes of fabric someone had given me and came across a pair of black jeans.  I almost put them immediately into the Goodwill pile, but then decided to put them on.  Nice fabric, comfy feel, but.... really high waist - to the belly button.  Like the kind I was embarrassed about my mom wearing.  Why do older women insist on wearing super high really unflattering waisted pants?  The answer, I discovered, is because it smooths out the bubbles on your tummy.  The one that my shirt gets shelfed on, the one that bubbles out even more when I sit down.  The pants are like a built in girdle.  Wow.

I wore a girdle for a while after Boone was born.  I loved it, except when someone gave me a hug and they no doubt could feel the boning and ridges on my back.  That was embarassing.  Really, I just need the girdle from the waist down.

It was like angels singing, and I finally understand why older women are drawn to granny pants.

To avoid this.

Finding this pic almost made me throw up.

And in finding highwaisted pants pictures, I discovered that high waisted pants are coming back into fashion.  Hallelujah!  

I'll probably still be wearing my shirts to cover the high waist, because I have a hard time with fashion change.  I really like the old ways.  I rolled my pants for 1 year after everyone else stopped.  I was teased and so embarrassed, but still I couldn't bring myself to stop.   

Hopefully my bottom won't look like this:

saving money

Our grocery bill is atrocious.  Like, I'm so embarrassed if I had to share the amount, I would feel like a gluttonous pig and you would see the fat bulging over the waist of my pants.  It seems like there's a win win solution: stop eating.  While I was at the gym today, I was feeling like not eating anymore was a great and very possible idea.  Quite exciting.  I'll look like the girls in those ads I see on the back of the bathroom stall door, AND save money.

After I cooled down and showered, and picked up the kids in the Yplay, and got a few things at Kroger and deposited a check, I was really hungry.  How could I have been so satisfied an hour ago, and now feel so wild with hunger that I'm a tigress on the prowl?  This happens to me often.  I call is the post-work out phenomenon.  While working out I'm not hungry, even if I was before.  But after the workout and my blood has slowed, I get famished.

And today there was only one thing to satiate me.



McDonald's Angus Mushroom and Swiss.  It was worth every calorie (770).  I couldn't stop myself from making pleasure noises.  What satisfaction!

(For the record, I'm a Hardees girl, bacon thickburger is the best hamburger ever, but Hardees is 20 min. away from me.  2nd for the record: I ran 4 miles at an 8 minutes pace, so it was a real work out, yo.)

However, the $6.49 was not good for saving money.  Arggg!  Back to the saving-money drawing board.

Storm

It ruined my plans of YMCA and returning clothes.

We did get in the basement for a few minutes.

It was intense.  It's crazy to hear the sound of pebbles hitting your windows, hard and fast.  I was thankful for the basement.  The kids are gathering up the hail to put in the freezer.  Kids are great.  I'll be inspecting the windows  and van now.