three things my husband did not know when he married me

1. I am a (novice) trash picker. Her are a few of the things I have picked from neighbors trash over the past few years.

Two metal chairs that I sanded and spray painted teal

This armed dining chair that just needed to be re-glued. One of these days I will paint it.

This bench was a bit more work (thank you dad!) The wood was all rotten, so my dad replaced and stained the wood for us.

This changing table just needed the top board replaced. It acted at a shelf in the boys closet for awhile and now is actually used for it's intended purpose.

And my most recent find- this night stand. I had originally planned to sand and paint it, maybe even decoupage the top, but I think I like the distressed look, so for now I will leave it as is.

2. I love containers, especially glass and metal and have a hard time resisting bringing them all home with me :)

3. I love to rearrange furniture- here are just a few of the changes to one room over the past 2.5 years.

As Schoolroom
Those shelves and table are in the living/dining room now, along with the the chalk board in the next picture (which I am considering moving again).

Playroom (before the TV was moved out there) with a different table- this table seems to move back and forth between the garage and living room quite frequently.

And finally it's current state, as the boy's bedroom. (Hopefully those flowers will be going very soon!)
What are your "three things" ?

she wore it!

About a month ago Regan picked out this fabric and the pattern for this dress at Joann's. She said she wanted to make the dress herself.
We started out working together on it, but then she decided that machine sewing is not as creative as hand sewing, so I could sew it for her, since she's too creative to machine sew :) Anyway, I finished it Tuesday night and took these pictures, and can you believe it, the very next day she wore it- and in public too! Could this be progress?

apron #3

I finished this before our trip but did not have a chance to post the pictures.
Now me and my girls have matching aprons :)

happy birdie!

My sister's birthday was last week and I used Geninne's free embroidery pattern to stitch up this little birdie dishtowel for her. I absolutely LOVE Geninne's artwork- you should check out her blog :)

the golden egg

Every year Grammy puts together a MAJOR Easter Egg hunt for all the grand kids. Now that some of the kids are getting older, they get the job of hiding the eggs for the younger ones to find. The eggs are filled with candy, stickers, bouncy balls and other little trinkets, but one egg is special- the Golden Egg. It is the most highly coveted egg because it contain 5 golden dollars!

The hunt is on!

Tallulah's first egg.

Crossing the "bridge" over the back yard "moat"- a kickback from all the snow they received this winter.

And look who found the golden egg!
Hope you all had a wonderful resurrection day!

ack!

The kids and I are staying at my parents house in MD this week. Regan went to church with my parents this morning, but the rest of the kids and I stayed home because I think Micah has Strep Throat.
Anyway, the kids were playing downstairs in the basement and I was eating breakfast and checking email when Tallulah came up and told me she found a really lizard in the basement. She then produced a green rubber lizard, you know, the kind you get out of those little toy/candy machines at the grocery store.
A few minutes later Max calls up the stairs and says there is something long and skinny that looks like a snake and it is moving. I, of course, ignored him (he did not sound alarmed and I was certain he was playing along with Tallulah) and kept eating and emailing. Next think you know Micah is down the stairs saying "mom, you better come quick, its going away." Now they'd caught my attention. I walked over to the stairs and...
"Ack! That's I snake!"
(I took these with my zoom lens, careful not to get too close!) I totally freaked out, there was a snake in the basement- slithering around on the floor where just a few hours before my children were sleeping! I tried calling my parents, but they were already at church and did not answer their phone. I called Phil, who of course could not really help me since he is 200 miles away and finally after typing "There is a snake in my basement" into google decided to call animal control. They were here in less then 20 minutes and the guys just picked the snake up and carried it out the door! Turns out it was just a garter snake, harmless... but still a little freaky IN your house!

in one corner...

there is a major, 4 person wrestling match going on (complete with blaring VBS music playing and kids screaming).

In the other corner, this.
Amazing!