Happy Birthday Michael and Joseph

The twins just turned 15!

How this can be, I'm not sure.

They were just destructive toddlers a few days ago.

Homemade biscuits and gravy was what they requested for dinner.

The birthday boys

My Irish triplets.

Is there such a thing?

Irish twins are kiddos born less then 12 months apart so twins and a sibling born less then a year apart are Irish triplets...right?

Or maybe, it should just be referred to as insanity.

Because that, it definitely was.

Our Lily Pad

Levi and Hannah

Please ignore the grossness of this room.

We are getting ready to tear it all apart.

I swear.

The head honcho and Matthew (who has food on his face)

If you look reeeeaaaal hard at the Ficus tree in the background, you can see the pink price tag from Goodwill still on it.

I should probably take that off, huh?

Lily Pad, Joshua and Matthew

Michael and Hannah Banana

My 15 year old twins.

That sounds weird to say that.

They are talking about getting their driver's permits.

Heaven help us all.

Please excuse the bum ugly wrapping paper on their presents.

I found it at Goodwill for $1.

Happy Birthday Twinerds!

Spook 1994-2010

Corey and I had been married six months when we got our first pets.

Two girl kitties whom we named Shorty and Spook.

One day, I spied them doing "the tango" and though that it was weird. But, I knew they were both female so I really didn't give it any more thought.

When we took them to the vet to have them spayed, and the vet called Spook a "he". I corrected him. And then he laughed at me.

15 years later and Corey still occasionally referred to Spook as "she".

I wonder if it gave the cat a complex.

He was an all black, very long haired kitty with personality.

Someone once told me that he must be Jamaican because his fur balls looked like dreadlocks.

Every year we would have to deal with his enormous fur balls.

One year, instead of taking him in to the vet to have him shaved, I decided to do it myself.

I turned on the clippers, which made a loud buzzing noise, looked down to where Spook had just been, but he was gone.

We didn't see him for several days. He was no dummy.

He would purr at you for scratching him under the chin and then turn around and scratch you.

I think we traumatized him by having all these kids.

He was never a mouser. We once showed him a dead mouse and he ran away from it.

It was a common sight to look out the front window and see raccoons eating from his food dish as he sat several feet away, calmly watching.

We sometime called him a lazy old man.

He was a very social cat and he loved all the attention he would get at Halloween.

He was the perfect accessory to my witch costume.

Most cats would hide on Halloween, but not Spook.

He would sit on the front porch and greet all the trick-or-treaters.

He lived a good life.

He live a long life.

We will miss him.

Spook aka Spookers July 4, 1994-February 27, 2010


Here is a picture of Spookers this last Halloween, laying down on "Neal the Meal"

He loved Halloween, almost as much as me.

Internet Romance

Yes, I know...

I'm married.

And this will probably create some kind of scandal, but...

I fell in love.

Over the Internet.

I know that I shouldn't even be looking at the ads on Craigslist.

To do, with the intent of a pick up, would be cheating on my obligations here at home.

But, nevertheless, I was looking...

And then it happened.

The way "Paul" had himself marketed was not to his favor.

The ad should have read:

Tall, dark and handsome. A little beat up around the edges due to life in general, but still a lot of life left in me. Hardworking, great character, well built, and totally hot.

But, just from a photograph, and very few words, there was a physical attraction for me.

So, I decided to meet "Paul", in person and see if there was a spark...some chemistry.

He had lived with a woman for years and years and years...but she didn't want him anymore.

I traveled out to his house and imagine my surprise, he was so much better looking in person. His photo online really didn't do him any favors.

The best thing about him?

He had an identical twin.

It was love at first sight.

So, I brought them home to meet my family.

Here they are with Corey.

I'd like to introduce...

Paul Bunyan Bedposts I and II.

And no, sorry, I don't share.

But you know how it is with any romance...

After awhile you find some things that you want to change.

Make better.

Fix.

So, with a little cut...

A little paste...

A little paint...

A little distressing...

Add cheap candles from Wally's World...

Aren't they heavenly?

I am living proof...

Internet romances really can work...

P.S. Have you seen the big candle holders like this at Pottry Barn? $149 each. Ouch! My total cost for this project? $15...total.

Lots of great parties to link too-check them out here.

Playin' Dress Up

Hannah loves to dress up.

She is almost always wearing a princess dress.

She is as sweet as can be.

Thankfully, this is not a look that Levi tries to pull off everyday.

Except for the yellow and green hair...

That we wouldn't mind.

I'm just not sure that Buzz Lightyear would agree.

Go Ducks!

We are headed out to Lily's appointment...

I'm confident that everything is fine but it would be nice to have that confirmed.

Happy thoughts....

Repurposed Candle holders

I've been in the market for some plant hangers.

I needed them to hang up a couple of cute lil' lanterns that came from my BFF, Goodwill.

The ones I liked were $10 each.

I need two of them, so we are talking 20 smackerals.

20 bucks to hang up $4 worth of Goodwill lanterns?

I think not.

Just when I thought that this story was not going to have a happy ending...

I found two of these wooden candle holders at GW for $1.99 each.

I dismantled them.

We filled in the holes with putty and painted over them.

I picked up the really cheap metal plant hangers at Home Depot for $2.97 each.

And...

ta-dah!

For a total cost of $10 for both!

And I still had my spindles left over.

Side view...

Ya know when I said that I picked these candle holders up so I could make hangers out of them?

Well...

I lied!

Liar, liar, pants on fire...

I really just wanted an excuse to bring home more spindley thingies.

Just don't tell Corey I said that.

But, here are my spindles.

In all their distressed glory.

I think I'm in love...

Look here for the parties that I link to-lots of inspiration!

Happy Birthday Timothy!

Happy 14th B-day Timothy!

I now have three 14 year old boys.

But for only two weeks.

Then the twins turn 15.

My food bill is shaking in terror.

Happy Birthday to my most laid-back, easy-going, heart-of-gold kid.

We love you Slim Tim!

Keep on going till you get it right

Or, until it doesn't bug you anymore...

I bought this vase at Goodwill (big shocker, huh?).

I totally wasn't digging the gold but I liked the shape.

The first paint job covered up the gold with Oil Rubbed Bronze.

It made the vase look like it was wearing prison stripes.

Since it was sitting by the front door it would kind of lend to the atmosphere.

Ya know, when kiddos try to escape out the front door and we yell "Prison Break!"

Oh...

You don't do that?

Then, forget I said anything.

I tried to soften up the white by painting it heirloom white, which is a fancy name for cream.

It made the vase look like a buoy.

Every time I looked at it, I swear I could hear seagulls and bells in the distance.

So, it was painted again.

This time the gold turned Oil Rubbed Bronze was turned into Espresso.

Do you fall asleep in class or are you following me?

I think it is much better.

If it reminds you of anything else...

Please keep that to yourself...

Swimmers, Medals and Trophies, Oh my!

Joseph's goal going in to State was that he finish higher than he was seeded.

In the 50 free, he finished 11th and he was seeded 12th. No PR, but he was happy and it was a fun race to watch.

In the 100 free, he didn't really have a great swim and even though he was seeded 9th, he finished 12th. He was not thrilled.

I kept reminding him that he is only a freshman. He just expects a whole lot of himself.

The relays were what ended up surprising everyone.

Our medley relay, early in the season, was just not up to par. The problem was that we didn't have a strong backstroker. Our breast, fly and free legs were excellent but you can only make up so much ground when your first swimmer, the backstroker, comes in last.

At the tail end of the season, the coach made a hard decision. He took out the backstroker, who is a seasoned senior and replaced him with Joseph. He then brought in a different freshman to swim Joseph's free leg. The senior was very bummed.

This was done in hopes that we would be able to make district finals.

They ended up making state...barely. They were seeded dead last.

At the prelims, on Friday they surprised everyone by coming in 6th and making the finals.

At finals, they ended up being fifth overall.

Not too shabby for a team that wasn't even supposed to make district finals.

As for the free relay, they were seeded 6th at State. At finals, they all totally ripped up the pool, each leg putting up a PR. Joe barely out touched another team to snag 3rd place. They swam so fast that they broke our high school 200 free relay record.

After the relay was finished, Joe had a swimmer from the relay team that placed 4th come up to him. He wanted to know how Joe was able to beat him. It sure did make Joseph feel good.

The most unexpected thing was, our school only had four male swimmers make it to state. But those athletes did so well that their boys team ended up taking 4th place overall and get to bring a really nice trophy back to their school.

It was amazing!

Joseph is still on cloud 9.

He's already talking about next year...

Swimming Districts

Both Michael and Joseph swam for their high school team this winter.

The much anticipated district meet was last weekend.

This was the first time that the twins were requested to shave in preparation for a swim.

I eagerly signed up to do the honors.

But, I waxed their legs instead of shaving them.

Waaaahaaaahaaaaa!!!!

Oops, sorry for the evil laugh, it was just so much fun.

I asked them if they needed a stick to bite on but wanting to look tough they declined.

Joseph insisted that it didn't really hurt that bad.

I know better.

Michael gripped the counter as I ripped off each strip.

Michael is a much more hairy individual then his twin.

Each strip resembled a piece of Sasquatch pelt after it came off.

It was actually kinda gross.

I'm just sayin...

After the waxing, they got shaved.

We went over their legs again and then arms, backs and chests.

Whew...

That took awhile.

The twins are just average sized freshman.

Unfortunately, the taller you are and the more mature you are, the faster you can go.

Joseph insisted on swimming the 50 free and the 100 free, which are the most highly contested events. He was also in two relays.

We knew that he would have a better chance of making the state playoffs in different categories but he didn't listen to us loves the sprints.

He swam on Friday and made the district finals.

He was the only Freshman to make the finals in the 50 and 100 free. Both of his relay teams also came back for finals.

Here he is getting ready to swim in the finals.

Michael swam the 200 free and the 100 free.

He made the district finals for the 200 free. He was the only freshman to do so.

He qualified for the consolation finals in the 100 free.

Here he is getting ready to swim in the finals.

Michael placed 10th place at districts in the 100 free.

In the 200 free, he swam against three juniors and two seniors in the finals.

And he still came in 4th!

Here he is accepting his ribbon for his 10th place finish in the 200 free.

Hopefully he'll grow before next year.

Joseph, the only freshman in his events, placed 5th in the 50 free and 4th in the 100 free.

Here he is accepting his medal for his 100 free finish.

Joe is 5'8" tall and he still looks like a total shrimp standing next to all those older kids.

The relay teams came in fourth for the medley relay and third for the 200 free relay.

In each event, only the district champion is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. We have four districts in our state, so that is four automatic spots. Eight more swimmers are chosen, all according to times swam at districts.

So, if you come from a really fast district, most of the top finishing swimmers will qualify.

But, we didn't know how our district compared to the other districts.

Now, we just had to wait until state wide results were posted on Sunday to see if they had qualified for state.

Here is his relay team.

Sunday night, we got "the call"

Michael didn't time out high enough to make state but he doesn't swim year round like most of the other swimmers.

However, Joseph made state...in both his events...and both his relays made it.

He is the only Freshman to make state in the 50 free. There is only one other freshman in the 100 free.

This is going to be crazy.

He left on Thursday.

He is super pumped.

I'm headed up Friday morning to watch the prelims.

He is going to have to swim faster then he ever has.

Fingers crossed...

"New" Lamp for Liz

Liz's birthday is coming up and we bought her a new comforter set (sshhhhh...) for her bed.

JC Penny's had the cutest lamp displayed along with the bedding set, but it was on sale for $50 for the table version. Ouch! That is more then her entire bed set cost.

No can do.

I can, however, make one myself, using colors that were more suited for her room.

Here is a pix of the lamps from JC Penny's.

I marched my lil ol self over to Goodwill and picked up a lampshade for $4 and a pretty white tablecloth for $3.

If I had more patience, I could have waited it out and only bought items that were half off. I was chompin' at the bit to get this done, so I paid full price at Goodwill.

I just realized how cheap that makes me sound, complaining about paying retail at Goodwill. Ha!

I then went over to Michael's Crafts and bought a white feather boa (used a coupon) and ended up spending $5.

I went home, ripped the fabric off the lampshade and replaced it with fabric from the tablecloth.

I had a lamp from a previous trip to Goodwill ($5) and Corey painted it Canyon Black.

Total cost $17.

Not too shabby.

But don't tell Liz...it's a surprise!

More seizures

Two more seizures in the last 24 hours.

The doctor has ordered a EEG, scheduled for next Wednesday.

I'm still confident that these are just febrile seizures, but because she has had so many now, we need to be sure.

Here's hoping that Wednesday's tests will give us some answers...

Jewerly Organization

All finished with my jewelry center!

You may remember this earring organizer-

I needed a way to hang up all my other earrings so,

I picked up a couple of plate hangers...

Painted a couple of frames from GW with Canyon Black.

Stapled window screen to the back of one.

Plastic mesh screen waaaay easier to deal with then the metal kind.

I can now easily take my frame down and take my earring backs off and on.

For the remaining kind of earrings, I stapled 3/8" grosgrain ribbon in strips.

I added a couple ribbons going down and then hand stitched them to the ones going across for stability.

I heat sealed all my ribbon ends with my wood burning tool.

All nice and tidy!

I finished off the back of both kinds of frames by hot gluing 3/8" grosgrain ribbon along the edges.

I still needed something to help organize my necklaces and I came across the perfect thing at GW for $2.

Here is a close up of the beautiful spindly looking thing that I painted black to match. I think it was a towel bar but I'm not sure.

Soooo much easier to deal with them this way instead of a jumbled pile at the bottom of one of my dresser drawers.

Love being organized!

Here is the version that I did for Liz's room.

The double plate holder was a GW purchase and so were the frames.

Everything was painted Canyon Black to make it all look "put together".