Latest Tacky Figurine

When I showed this one to Paul he said, "I think this might be your best one yet." It's in the top five. I have a couple I like better. My coworkers occasionally check out my collection and I'm going to make a point to show this one off. It cost a dollar. I truly enjoy my cheap retro collection.

Kids and their Mother Day

I used my last personal business day today and it turned out to be a very good day. I went for a quick run before Paul went to work - it's good I did. If I would have waited until later in the day I wouldn't have been able to make it back home - it is so incredibly windy here.

Carly and I were going to do some shopping and go out for lunch. Carly wore her new flowery dress and black Mary Jane style crocs and we spent a little extra time styling her hair this morning and she looked great. Our first stop was JC Penney. Carly picked out two pairs of denim shorts and shirts for herself. She enjoyed trying them on in the dressing room. She also helped pick out some shorts for Ellen. We should be in good shape for summer clothes now.

We went downtown and brought my wedding ring into a shop to have it repaired. One of the prongs on my ring came off a couple weeks ago. I decided to have all four replaced since two needed work and another would need work soon. I figured it made more sense to do them all at once since I was bringing it in.

We then went to Goodwill in search of cheap 70s statues - no luck there. We walked down to the Salvation Army where I scored an excellent one which I will post after this. Carly was excited that we found one. She carried it to the counter and took the bag when we left. She insisted that we hold hands during all of the shopping - which was nice.

We had lunch at Sammy's Pizza. They reopened this week. They had a fire right before Easter and everyone in the area was concerned about them reopening. It's our family's favorite restaurant and it was nice to go back there. Carly had rigatoni which she said was "So good!" I had the pizza/salad lunch buffet - which was also "So good!"

We picked up a few groceries and stopped at Walgreens to get some hair clips for Carly. On the way home Carly said, "Do you know what day it is? It's kids and their mother day." We really did have a nice morning together. When we got home we called over to the Lamppa's to see if Ella would like to come over and play. She's been to our house a couple times, but never without her mom. She told Stacey to say yes, but only for one minute. The girls played in the park - picked lots of dandelions. They set up a million stuffed animals in the living room. We played croquet in the yard and they played with their dolls in the playhouse. We even went over to our new neighbor's place to check out the fireplace they just finished installing - very pretty. We had called Stacey about an hour into Ella's visit to let her know things were going just fine and since she didn't need to be home for anything we'd bring her back later in the afternoon unless she wanted to go back earlier. She was at our house about 3.5 hours - much longer than a minute. We brought her back when it looked like it would rain at any time - which it did. I hope that Ella will be a regular visitor at our house this summer. It's good for both of the girls and it gives Stacey a bit of a break. Her other daughter was napping while Ella was gone, so she just had her twins to take care of. When I got home from taking Ella back, Paul told me that Carly told him it was a day just for girls and moms.

Today was the kind of day that makes me anxious for summer. It's nice knowing we'll have a lot of days like that soon.

Before & After

Last weekend Carly wanted her hair in hot rollers. I said the only way I would do it is if she let me take her picture. She agreed. The Snow White dress was one of our better Halloween costumes - it's been worn many times over the years and I hope that Gracie will enjoy it when I pass it on to her. My goal is to get the cost per wearing down to a dime.

Late Mother's Day Post

There hasn't been too much newsworthy in our household lately, so I've been slow to update. I decided to take a picture of my Mother's Day presents from the girls. Carly made me a little tree and on each little heart hanging from a branch it gives a reason why she loves me. Carly doesn't expect much. She loves me because I give her drinks and tuck her in at night. Ellen made up an elaborate card that took a couple afternoons in school to make. I also got a gift card to the salon at JC Penneys that I'll use when school is out. Very nice gifts!

Later that day I went to Virginia to do some shopping. I only went to Herbergers and Target. My purpose was to pick up summer clothing and sandals for the girls.

Paul went fishing on the opener and they caught a few. He went out the next day and they got none. He's not sure if he'll get out tomorrow. It's supposed to be very windy.

I had the movie "27 Dresses" from Netflix and liked it. It was very predictable, but enjoyable. I really like the two main actors - James Marsden & Katherine Heigl. I'd recommend it.

Uppercase Living

I have been wanting to find something to put above my kitchen window for a few years now and just haven't found anything that would fit that space very well. At Easter time Nancy brought home an Uppercase Living catalog. She was going to a party in April, so I had her place an order for me. It arrived from UPS yesterday, so this was going to be a small weekend project.

Paul and I used the window frame as our guide and it does appear that the right hand side does go up a bit. The second picture that I took is crooked ( I can tell by looking at the bottom stripe on the curtain) so it makes it look more crooked than it really is. I'd probably put it a couple inches lower if I were going to do it again. I think it fits the space well and I think the price was very reasonable - total cost with tax and shipping was $25. I also like the red on the yellow wall. This took about 15 to 20 minutes to do.

I did try out my new self tanner from QVC - I'm very happy with it. The color looks like a real tan - not orange at all. I don't have any streaks. The mineral powders that you use on your face go well with it. I'm looking like I have a midsummer tan right now. You use the self tanner every few days, so it will easily last the entire summer.

Not much is going on here. It's Paul's turn to be sick. He said he was up a good share of the night with an upset stomach - I didn't hear him at all. He had a fever of 101 this morning and now it's in the 99s. He looks better than he did earlier today, so hopefully this is a short bug.

It's really windy and cool outside. It's supposed to be a nicer day tomorrow - I hope so. I'm ready for the upper 50s and lows 60s they are forecasting for this week.