I forgot that 6 year olds make the best models

I wanted to go play with the new camera today since it was a 70 degree beautiful day!  A good friend was coming over and I suggested we take her sweet little girl out for pictures...
I had forgotten how fun 6 year olds are... and how they would really rather do other things than smile for you...

she was way more interested in rocks and sticks than me taking her picture...

She was very good at telling her mother how to pose...

the 2nd place we went she told us " this isn't cute, it's yucky"....that didn't stop her from playing with more sticks and rocks and in the dirt...

Then, she got bored with me...

We're a really classy family...

Jennifer sent me a link to the next painting class she wanted to go to... I tried it at home today.  alone.  and given the crookedness of my chandelier, I obviously could have used the class....

I have found a couple of new cooking blogs that I am enjoying and one of the recipes I saw was for copy cat Chick fil a chicken.  I hate frying food but decided this would make me Kellie's hero.  So, we had chicken strips for dinner...

 

The verdict... "it's good and it looks like Chick fil'a but doesn't really taste like it"... I said "are you sure, it taste a little like it to me"... but the expert stuck with her origianl opinion...upon me looking a little disapointed, she assured me again that "it really is good..."

So, yes it was good.  No it wasn't quite chick fil'a...don't think I will make it again... here is the link to the recipe if you want to try it yourself...

Of course I was serving this up during a heated domino game... they took thier plate and went right back to the game...
You know, this isn't your grandmother's house where frying chicken was a routine thing and there was always a good domino game going on...

I expect my people to fall at my feet in thanks if I fry chicken...

I'll have to time it better next time I guess...

The best part of dinner was the new recipe I tried for honey mustard sauce...

Dear Babe's Chicken House:
I have done it!  I have replicated your honey mustard sauce.  I will no longer bug your waitresses to see if anyone knows the recipe...
Ha Ha,
Cara

Honey Mustard Sauce

1/4 cup Mayonaise
3 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
3 tbsp milk ( I used more)

Mix all ingredients well.  Adding milk till desired consistancy.

I think Babe's has a little chopped jalapeno in theirs but I didn't have any to add...



Well, now that the dishes are all done I do believe I hear the end of the domino game...

Only in a house where there is serious game playing do you hear the loving words of a father to his daughter
"I think I just beat the cr*p outta you..."

Nice. 

A weekend of nothingness

These two besties wanted me to take them out for some picture taking since they weren't with me last weekend...

Last night, they didn't seem to want their picture taken...

Silly girls...

They were a little sad today when I told them we weren't going out to take pictures...
It's cold and VERY VERY windy... The cold air blowing in the dog door was enough to make me want to stay in.  I assured them they wouldn't have good hair if we took pictures outside today...

Elvis believed me and decided to stay in and prevent a bad hair day...

Ellie didn't listen...look at that wind blown hair...

It never fails...

I didn't have school yesterday. 

Because the girls are in a different district from where I work, they did have school.  Kellie was very very mad about this... so much so that she tried to talk me into letting her stay home... she wanted to spend the day with Jennifer and I...
she kept telling me she was going to be "sick"...
Well, she did get sick.  She wished up a sore throat... or maybe she caught it when she was checking out a dumpster while we were taking pictures...

But of course she wasn't sick on Monday when I was off, but on Tuesday when I needed to work and Mike is out of town!  He seems to always be out of town when I need him to take a kid to the Dr....
And even though she is old enough to stay home alone when needed,  I stayed with her... I had to take her to the Dr. and she felt really bad so I hated to leave her home alone...

I enjoyed napping with her this morning and then she rested while did a lot of needed chores...

I did three jobs that I had been asking Mike to do for a month, in less than an hour...

He has spent more than an hour making excuses for why he hasn't done them yet...

I was all ready to tell him he needs to be careful because I really can do everything without him...

Until...I found a dead bird in the back yard...

I could do it ...I could take care of disposing of the bird if I had to...

but, when he has to move the bowl I put over it and scoop up the dead bird, he'll know I really do need him after all...
and I already have a plan if he makes excuses and doesn't do it in a timely manner...
I have a friend who had to pull a dead deer out from under a house...if she can do that she could surely take care of a dead bird don't you think?

Katie and I finished painting some things for her room after school...

and a new little something for the bathroom...

She has a lame dog effect

Jennifer came to visit for the weekend....

When she came to visit at Thanksgiving, her dog Daisy missed the bed when

she tried to jump up and before the weekend was over there were pain med's and talk of a possible doggy MRI...

Saturday morning we got up and Elvis wouldn't use one his back legs...

We don't know what he did but he wouldn't put weight on it, kept it pointed out behind him and it hurt bad enough he couldn't enjoy barking at the animals on t.v. or jumping up on the couch to sleep in his favorite spot....

I'm not sure what Jennifer did to him but she has warned Ellie, the little dog, that when she comes back in a couple of weeks it should be her turn to be the lame dog....

Today we went out so I could play with my new camera.

 I am loving it...

I have a lot left to learn...

and the most important thing with be how to edit out those wrinkles!





Rocking Chair

When I think of my grandfather, I picture him sitting in his wooden rocking chair in the living room of his house.  He was very tall and filled up that rocker completely.  My little grandmother had a comfy rocker next to it...I feel warm and cozy when I think about that living room. 
Maybe because the space heater was always on...or the lack of air conditioning running...
But still, I loved it there.  (minus the sweating)

When my granddad died no one else wanted the rocker so I took it.  I couldn't imagine just giving it away...
It wasn't pretty, just dark wood except on the arms where his hands had worn the finish off...

I've rocked two babies in it...

Recently, it's been in the basement until I wanted a chair for my bedroom.  I put it in there but just didn't like it.
I decided to paint it black and see if that helped...

I felt really guilty when I started painting, covering up those worn areas that were from many a day of Granddaddy rocking in it...but while I was painting I started think about him...

He loved to tinker around the house.  He had a little work shop full of old tools and thought he could build anything...

He cut up two of my grandmother's brooms to make a rail up the porch steps when he decided they needed one...she was mad and it wasn't exactly professional looking....he painted it an odd color of green.

He decided to build a little room on the back of the house... I'm not sure it would have been up to code...
and he painted it the same odd green...

He built a wagon with tires off of an old lawn mower to put the trash on or other heavy things to move them around...and again, green....

He decided his old car needed to be painted...he used a can of a paint and a brush... guess what color he chose?

So, as I painted over those arms of that chair I realized he wouldn't mind a bit me painting it, but it he might like it better if it was green...

Wonder if that's where I get the need to make random stuff out of old junk???

Of course, tonight I couldn't find a picture of him in the rocker without digging...so, all you get is that after pictures...

I do like it better painted....

Too many lights?

I had 2 antique, frosted glass windows out of a church that sweet friends gave me. We decided to try to make a head board out of them.  They are a little wider than the bed and of course, look cuter at night...

Katie likes the way it turned out... twinkle lights all year long...

and

this is in the entry way... see above the arch?  That was one of my favorite Christmas gifts.  Jennifer made it for me....  The quality of this picture shows why I needed that class on my new camera...

that gave me the idea for cheap decorations for the Sunday school room.... I made 4 of these with different verses to hang...



What weekend?

Ever since the little bathroom project I have been on a project roll. 
I have quite a few that have been on my list for a while and a few that the kids add when I'm not really looking for more to do....

Saturday is a blur of project starting, trips to Low's, Walmart, Low's, Hobby Lobby, and so on... you get the picture.  I can't possibly plan correctly for the projects... That would take away the joy of changing clothes and going back out for the one item that I need 10 times.

Here's the weekend rundown:

• rearranged Katie's room and made her clean it
• painted and put new knobs on her dresser
• moved pictures in her room
• finally got Mike to put her vanity together that she got for a Christmas gift
• assured him that even if 2 screws fell out, it was still a functional vanity and that I would find a way to fix the screw issue if he could not
• recovered the perfectly lovely stool that came with the vanity
• spent 6 hours reminding Kellie she was not finished cleaning her room ( which could have been done in 30 minutes if she had tried)
• homemade lasagna
• Church and decorating in the 9th grade classroom I teach in... the girls were a little jealous of the 6th grade room so I had to perk ours up a little
• took Katie's headboard out of her room and recovered it for Kellie's room
• started painting a rocking chair ( I say started because 1 coat of primer and 2 of paint and it still isn't finished
• scraped paint and worked on two antique windows that may end up being Katie's headboard
• played with the Cricut and cut out some vinyl words for the girls walls
• 80 8 loads of laundry
• 2 hour class on my camera (yay)

And all this on very little sleep.  I gave the bulldog a dose of Benadryl for his itchy paws and that lead to snoring like I've never heard before!! 

Maybe tomorrow I can show a few pictures of some of the projects!

I've spent too much time in the bathroom

As our break from school was coming to an end, I impulsively started a project in the bathroom. 

I had dreams of a lot of spare time this week and spending time with the stack of magazines I have accumulated... but, we seemed to stay very busy and I squeezed this project in rather than do some of the little projects I had planned...

I did  little faux finish project on the potty room which was stark white before and also on a small wall near the shower...

I also made a cute bullatin board out of a frame I got for my birthday...

copied this from Jennifer and I love it...

I have a couple of other projects I wanted to get done, maybe next weekend...

Back to school tomorrow... But if for some reason I forget to go, blame it on the poly glaze in a small space with no ventilation...