Saturday project.

I think I've got it.

Don't make a plan. Just wing it.

If you're in the mood to do something .. go for it.

This has been on my list for a while and we got it done yesterday!

I was trying to get Tia to go on a photo shooting jaunt with me,

but she wasn't buying the idea. Hmph!

Will try the sales pitch again today and see what happens.

So, off to other things.

I'm cheap. I love to reuse things and remake things. Sometimes out of necessity,

and other times because it is just so much fun. Repurposing has forever been my life ..

long before it was anything trendy or fashionable.

Last Mother's Day the kids made me flower pots that were chalkboard painted.

When Blayde bought the paint, he really bought paint.

The extra has been sitting in the closet downstairs, just waiting to be put to use.

First I took a chalkboard off the wall. It was rather difficult to write on. I had picked it up at a yard sale a long time ago and repainted the frame from a nasty orange to an antiqued red. Yesterday I took some sanding blocks to it and smoothed out the chalkboard finish. Then I started painting. Three coats of chalkboard paint on it .... 

as well as Tia's closet doors. (Hubby is probably going to have a comment at this point!) Her closet has a total of four doors in 2 sections separated by a space of wall for an outlet. They aren't anything small, but they were nice and smooth.

If you're going to try this, I highly recommend spending the money on the brand of paint that I used. Rolls on nicely and dries incredibly fast.

 

After everything was dry ... up they went.

Will see what happens when we clean these up.

I have no clue if they'll be just as brilliant looking the next chalking session.

The rails on these doors are a bit tweaked. Tweens, teens, frustration, impatience and closet doors don't all work together very well sometimes. They're on tho' ... with a little help from Fred. And let me tell you something. My youngest daughter has screw drivers that live in her room. Just for days like this when something needs a little tweaking. She wields them with quite a hand. I'm impressed. 

I hope I don't live to regret this.

Next we need to get some paint for the walls ... pink.

This way she gets her touch of black and I flat refuse to paint a wall black.

Out of the question. Not going to happen.

Then we get to be creative in the bedding department.

Cheap. Good quality. Probably sewn because I'm not buying comforters.

Pink and black polka dots? Pink and black stripes?

Gonna be fun!

For my husband ...

whose feet are sweating.

 The chickens are loving the warmer weather and lack of wind.

Makes me want to run out and put candles on the cake!

Peace.

Beauty.

At 6:29 a.m. on a Saturday morning ....

snow is falling ... lot's of it!
The kind that made a fallen tree continue it's final descent to the ground.
I really had a nightmare last night that it was raining.
When my eyes popped open this morning I had to run and check.
Thankfully, my subconscious had confused the forms of matter.

Today I'm off to a Skills Lab (I really don't remember what it is called.) at work for about 4 hours. This is my mantra. "We are so fortunate to have this opportunity to increase our learning and skills ... especially on a Saturday morning." I missed it last year. I happened to be enjoying a bridal breakfast in Minnesota that same morning with some very special people. Today, I'm going to don the Smurf blues and be thankful.

My bills are paid.  (Refer to above "thankful".)  I haven't sorted the last week's mail yet, but we'll just pretend it doesn't exist. Delusion, denial and delirium are working very well for me at the moment. And to be perfectly honest, my little cheatbook of online bill paying serves me very well. It makes life so much simpler .. as long as you don't happen to forget things like the internet bill. Then it might get a wee bit challenging.

Enjoy your Saturday! The boots and the broom are calling my name.

I wish I was a journaling kind of person

I have often tried, and just as many times I have failed, to start the journal. Record what it is that I am going through in my life so someday later I can look back at it. Perhaps to learn from it. Perhaps to celebrate that it no longer exists. Perhaps to be thankful that I survived it.

Yesterday I was cleaning paper in a different corner of my world and came across something that was written in late July of 2008.

I love reading Real Simple magazine. Maybe I enjoy it so much because the simple life is what I crave. The article in front of me is: What are the top three things on your lifelong to-do list? What would I put on my list today? After reading other folks' lists, I had to sit and ponder a bit. Then I had to look back at where I've been and where I am today. When I go home in the next several days, I'll be able to sit on my porch, look at the green, breathe the cool clean air, enjoy the quiet and be thankful. So much of life is about dreams and hopes. Dreams of "someday" and of "other places". Some days carry us through very stressful times of life. Hope for our children. Hope that what we have taught them will remain with them. Hope that God will remain the center of their being. Hope that they remain humble. Hope that after the children are grown and gone, there will be a quiet time to sit side by side with the love of my life. We can putter at our own hobbies. At peace with each other and ourselves. So, what would I put on my list? What would I want to do? Someday I want to walk the moors of Ireland with my husband. I want to watch the fog swirl and feel the moss on my feet. I want to finish my children's Christmas stockings. Someday when I'm no longer here, I hope they can feel the love in every stitch. Lastly, I want quiet moments. Quiet moments are the life blood of my soul. They settle, calm, rejuvenate. They make me whole so I can love, teach and enjoy all the beautiful people in my life.

We have beautiful freshly fallen snow today. The world yesterday was that flat light sort of day where you really can't tell if the small road in front of you is plowed or not. I took the camera and had few moments of quiet rejuvenation while marveling at the beauty of it all.

I'll call it a day.

• 9 hours of work done and dinner made (second evening in a row!)
• chickens fed, watered and non frozen eggs picked (Had to throw away 6 eggs the other day that were all frozen.)
• lasagne for dinner tomorrow night is in the refrigerator
• basket of fire starters filled
• nap taken
• check book caught up
• car plugged in for the nite

Missed walking a mile tonite and it is now rather late to be getting blood pumping.

Kids go back to school tomorrow morning after another 4 day weekend. That means that I must must must must hear the alarm in the morning. My brain is wired in a wierd sort of way. It knows when it can sleep in (that means until 7 a.m. if you're thinking I've really got it good over here) and it is pretty good about knowing when it can't. This morning it could ... and did. Tomorrow it can't. Period.

Have a great Wednesday! Our forecast is calling for either flurries or light snow throughout the rest of the week with highs of low 30's by the weekend. It is going to be just grand!

That was fun!

Sometime between last Tuesday night and Saturday late afternoon ... the wind blew in Anchorage. I decided that was okay.

Anna's first drive to the "big city". She did awesome!

While all our children can now legally drive ... 2 of them with an adult in the car ...

it might be a while before I dare let the youngest behind the wheel.

We never even made it to the mall. Kohl's was good enough for all of us.

Anna made a haul ... and I'll save my purchases for an entire post about why women/mothers feel like they can't spend money ... and feel guilty when they do.

Then off to see the ice sculptures.

Look at these charmers!

Awesome creations! It was a tad on the chilly side. So chilly that you start wondering if your pants are falling off because your butt has gone numb. That kind of cold.

Have a hard time hitting the button on the camera because you're not sure you have fingers anymore!

Then out to eat at Red Robin. Do you ever throw money into these machines? We use to. It was the fun thing to do before you left Denny's. Jari has spent many quarters in those things. I tried my hand at it with no luck ...

Tia won her prize ... we had wonderful greasy, juicy burgers ...

and laughed our noggins off.

Meanwhile, back in Palmer, the wind has stopped blowing. The thermometer said -18 this morning when I brought Anna to work, but the wind is silent. The house is silent. Even my Christmas tree is safe!

AnnMarie ... I'll have to find another way to come have coffee with you!

Enough is enough.

NORTHEAST WIND 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 55 MPH DECREASING TO 10 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIND CHILLS 15 BELOW TO 30 BELOW IN THE MORNING.

.TONIGHT...CLEAR. LOWS 10 BELOW TO 20 BELOW. NORTHEAST WIND TO 15 MPH WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 30 MPH.

.SUNDAY...SUNNY. HIGHS 5 BELOW TO 10 BELOW. NORTHEAST WIND TO
15 MPH WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 30 MPH.

.SUNDAY NIGHT...CLEAR. LOWS 20 BELOW TO 30 BELOW. LIGHT WINDS.
 
 
By the time the light winds hit on Sunday night, I really won't care if it is 30 below. We haven't seen much of anything below zero this winter. Not that I'm a fan of freezing my lungs everytime I take a breath outside, but this wind has sent me over the edge. Seriously.
 
I'm hanging on by my fingernails ... and those are nearly chewed to the quick. Maybe I've developed a bad attitude about the whole thing. Maybe? Yes, I have. We've had nearly 6 weeks of hurricane winds this winter and I'm ready to be done with it.
 
Tuesday evening when I brought Jari to the airport, Anchorage was absolutely beautiful!! Frost laden trees, snow everywhere ... no wind. I'm heading there this afternoon. Just so I can walk outside and not be blown nearly to Nome.