TA-DA!!!!!

After corresponding and tweaking for over a week, my blog makeover is done! Isn’t it FABULOUS!?!?! Kris has exceeded my expectations in every way. This blog is like nothing she has done before, working with Blogger and more antique-y stylings but even still, she mastered it. She is truly gifted, as is OBVIOUS by the extreme contrast in old versus new. She has made my blog portray “me”-my style, interests, and loves-in the layout of the page. I hope it will be easier for all of you to navigate also, as now you can locate certain past posts at the click of a mouse. Recipes, craft ideas, book reviews and other fun stuff don’t have to be searched in Archives anymore! Thank you so much Kris-for your hard work, determination, and KINDNESS-offering this gift to me for no other reason than your kind spirit! This blog is GORGEOUS and just looking at it makes me HAPPY! Thank You Kris!

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Etcetera Etcetera Etcetera

I have been waiting to post again until my blog re-do was finished. So-now is the time to play catch up! It has been a whirlwind since we came back home from a lovely weekend in NY. My mom and I spent SIX HOURS yard-saling on Saturday. (Just goes to show you what happens to a girl suffering from YARD SALE withdrawal!) I am happy to report though, that BECAUSE of those six-hours, we drove back with a carload of treasures. Mostly clothes for winter. EVERYONE got some things, which were greatly needed. In fact, I just need a few dresses for Corynn and we will be set. I am hoping to sew a few jumpers for her by fall. The biggest treasure, though, we had to leave behind until my parents can bring it to us. It is a child-sized wooden hutch. Very sturdy and quaint-but VERY badly maintained. It had been written all over with markers and crayons (which brings me to the soapbox-WHY don’t people teach there kids to respect things?!?!?), the contact paper had been torn to shreds and it was home to a spider village. When I get it out here, the contact paper will be taken off entirely, Matt will add a new piece of wood to the front of the drawer (the corner had been broken off) and then a fresh coat of paint will make it BEAUTIFUL! It has so much potential-the drawer even has been sectioned off for silverware! I can’t wait to show you! I got it for $3.00!!! It will make a PERFECT addition to the playhouse Papa will make (someday) for our children. Grand plans!

I just finished making some zucchini relish. I started the process by food processing all the vegetables (with the food processor I just got at a rummage sale for $3.00, mind you) last night at about 9:00pm, much to Matt’s overwhelming joy. It seems like I am more motivated in the evening hours than in the day. I don’t know why the change but I haven’t been able to fall asleep until after midnight for DAYS now. I filled 5 pints, 3 half-pints, and one jelly jar (I don’t know what that size is called.) I have enough zucchini to do another batch-I just need to get some more red pepper. FUN!

Friday I am hosting a luncheon for a few ladies and their college-bound daughters. On the menu: Chicken Spiedie Salad, homemade breadsticks, soup (I am thinking something like a zuppa toscano reproduction) and with some cookies (or SOMETHING) for dessert. For refreshments homemade minted tea and water with lemon. It should be fun-and it will right about naptime-so Corynn can visit for a while, and then both children will rest while us ladies do what ladies do best: ‘girl talk’.

I recently got some used curriculum in the mail that I had bought off of a friend. Corynn looks through it daily and each day brings the inevitable question; “Will you teach me to read TODAY?!?!” (since I told her that was what the books were for.) It is so cute. I am going to be planning in the next few weeks to make some schooling scheduling. She is only three (well, not quite…) but homeschooling takes discipline. Discipline that I lack right now. If I set aside 30 minutes a day for ‘schooling’ not only will I be preparing myself for such a routine-but Corynn as well. Real, bonafide schooling will be a few years away but-we might as well start practicing!  Besides, that girl wants to READ! 

Well-that is all the grand stuff that is happening right now. I have lots of other goals for this week, but knowing they may not get done, I won’t bother writing them down. If I DO get them done, I will let you know! ;-) BTW-I will be sorting through my archived posts to organize them in their proper categories for easy finding but that is a BIG project that will have to be done on a bit by bit basis. Be patient with me, please!