Ideas

One thing always leads to another. My brain is so overwhelmed with the potential in this new house. Too bad I can't seem to make any of it happen. Tonight, I decided I am going to make spice racks out of old wine boxes. This led to a Google image search and here are some cool things I found.

Mamie Jane's website is so fascinating. I was worried at first because re-purposed, thrifted things usually turn out way too frilly or junky for me, but this woman does things right. Here is a wine box she re-purposed to showcase some clocks in:


What a great use for $4 Ikea spice racks. Found here:


Now this is a great idea. You have to scroll down a bit on her website to find the picture:


Blake did great at preschool. He gave me a play-by-play rundown. The teacher told me he had a hard time after riding bikes but otherwise loved it. When asked about it he said, "I cried for you because I wanted you and Reade." So sweet.

Ready

We are ready for Blake's official first day of preschool (without his mommy). I am super excited and so is he. His underwear is labeled so let the magic begin:

Bookcases

I got a sofa off of craigslist this weekend. I went for a more conservative (not orange, not old and stinky, and not vintage) choice so my husband wouldn't roll his eyes. I secretly still look on craigslist in case one comes up. I wish my house started looking like the pictures I have in my head, but my kids cry a lot so I don't foreshadow super decorating anytime soon. Oh, I have plans though. The next thing keeping my dopamine flowing is the hunt for a bookcase.

I want these:

The White Attic

Am offered these locally on craigslist (ahem, for $400):


Worth it, but can't afford it:


Bohemian bookcases just look so cool:

Found here.

Songs

Songs stuck in my head:

Why do I have crushes on them?:


A good love song to croon along with:


An oldie, but a goodie (I wish spin instructors used this one):

Random Things

Today I got the flu.  Reade is on the up and up.  Let's pray Blake sneaks out of this unscathed. 

Pics: Roast chicken for chicken soup, our fun patio lights, and an old photo from a beer garden in Redwood City (don't worry, Blake is only drinking H2O).

Preschool

Breakdown of the first day of school:

1) Blake had fallen asleep in the car on our way home from the grocery store so I left him in the car while I packed his stuff and changed his brother. Once en route to school, I looked back to check on Blake and realized he was wearing flip-flops so I had to turn around and get his light-up Spiderman shoes.

2) We finally arrive at school and Blake plays independently and is super happy.

3) The first mom I am talking with gets stung by some flying insect. The teacher takes her by the hand and leads her inside to get an ice pack. I was left there standing by myself and had to do that awkward half turn thing and start talking to a new mom.

4) Kids explore the classroom and Blake shows me all the cool things like: the giant bullfrog, the turtle, and the new books.

5) Time for parent circle while the kids go outside to eat a snack. Different, crazy parental personalities come out during the question and answer segment (the crying mom, the too-loud Nanny, the one who asks everything including why the sky is blue, etc.).

6) Kids come back in and Blake is the only child with artwork. I am a proud parent thinking Blake asked for crayons and paper and is the lead self-starter in the group. Come to find out, my kid was crying the whole time I was in parent circle time and the teacher's assistant had to keep telling him to draw lines so he wouldn't completely melt down. Hmm, not what I was envisioning!

7) Blake has fun riding cars/bikes/scooters around and then eats it on the pavement. That ended our first day at school.

Blake's thoughts on our way home: "Mommy, why is daddy home with a headache? (starts to cry) I don't want him to feel bad. I don't want you to separate with me and me be alone at school on Thursday. I want to go back to our old home. I don't like our new house. I just want to go home."

Oh, and I took pics:









P.S. Andrew came down with the flu and spent the wee hours bent over the toilet! Can't wait for Thursday.

Firsts

Two firsts happened this last week. We biked to the hardware store and then headed to the ice cream shop for Reade's first scoop of ice cream at a parlor:


On Friday, Blake visited the dentist for the first time. I asked him to smile and show me how he felt and this is what I got:

Intrigued

I came up with this idea the other night and I thought it was pretty creative. I enjoy following Palin's endeavors (following, not believing in) and I don't like Bachmann at all, but I am willing to watch this unfold.



My friend said this to me, "Shannon, This is not a reality show, this is real life." It would be just as fun as watching Kate & Pippa rule the roost.

Orange

I am dreaming of this for my living room. Andrew, you are very lucky I am nowhere near Oakland right now. That free thing is sitting on the curb just begging us to pick it up. It probably reeks of cat urine and is heavier than sin because it is a sofa bed, but I love it. I will have to do an orange couch dance to make one of those show up in our area:


I came across the Super Healthy Kids blog and want to make these carrot cubes:


I also have plans to make a poppy garden in the front yard. I have no idea what a poppy garden looks like in the winter, but I am willing to try it out. This picture makes me laugh because it is one of a series taken in front of funky trailers. Click here to see the trailer:

Parry Gripp

I am about six years late to this party. I was emailed a Parry Gripp video and had mixed feelings about what I saw. I watched a few more and thought everyone should have a good dose of silly animal videos:

Returned

Some last Point Reyes pictures from my cell phone. My phone is still trying to publish a blog post from yesterday so I thought I would sit down at our Mac and prove how Blogger apps for cell phones kind of stink.

Speaking of stinky, here are some photos of our stop at the Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes:


Just aging:


The men had a Jiffy Pop competition. I have to admit that Jinnah beat Andrew fair and square:


Saying goodbye to a great campsite and great adventure:


I have to report that I am not super satisfied with the color I chose for the house. It is too light, but it will have to do for now. It would be perfect if it was two shades darker. We sold our old couch so I am waiting to find the perfect couch (vintage with a bit of retro) for under $100 (good luck). Blake fell asleep in this chair while watching a video. Poor kid was exhausted and had nowhere to go but down. We really need a sofa:

Army Man

Blake has a new fascination with army guys.  He requested army guy videos on YouTube so I compromised with a few Google images.  For your information, a search for "army guy" will only produce a surprising amount of pornographic material.  So after exposing my son to 30 or so of those images I found that a simple search for "army" was good enough.

I still didn't do right.

He ran around other campsites playing Army Man and ended his battle in the RV.  He did a karate kick move in the hallway, fell into the shower, and almost took out his eye with the wooden spoon he called his gun.  Darn boys.

Dirty

We are dirty, stuffed, and happy.

Sigh

Ah, a break from the chaos.  I love RV weekends.  The weather is great and I am in the mood for hot dogs, pancakes, and Hawaiian chicken.

Color

This is the cleanest space in the whole house. Sad, but true. It was a relief to hand over the keys for the old house. Now, it is time to help this house get organized.


Step 1: Paint:


Mr. Rogue beer tap, please help me decided on the best color (don't worry, it won't be any of the colors you see):


The painters come this weekend to paint over the orange and brown. I hope it looks good when finished!

Touches

Furniture is in place, so now comes the fun part. I love adding the little touches that make a house a home. I found this sign at an antique store and it looks just like Andrew:


Ellen and I were garage sale-ing and saw this playhouse on the sidewalk with a "free" sign on it. I couldn't pass it up. There was the best, basic playhouse here when I first viewed the property. It broke my heart when it left with the previous tenants. This will have to do for now:


Blake is in a stage where he plays super hard and crashes super hard. We just can't keep him awake between the hours of 4-6pm. There is going to have to be a no-car-ride rule after 4pm just so he will go to bed before 10pm:

Meet Our Trees

Have I mentioned how much I love our new home? I never knew you could have this kind of relationship with a house. This is California living. This is making me okay with being smack dab in the middle of suburbia. We have five fruit trees around the house and it looks like I will need to take a trip to the library to learn how to properly care for them.

Our peach tree:


In need of some TLC:


One of the two apple trees:


Our pear tree:


Pears galore:


Our lemon tree:


The gardeners have pruned the life out of this tree. We are going to ask them to let it grow out a bit:


This house reminds me of one of my favorite children's books: