What If...

this is hanging on the shower curtain rod:


and my creative brain won't turn off, which makes my hand itch for a paint brush:


and then put it in its rightful place:

There! Isn't that much better? That shelf was uber-boring and now...well I think it speaks for itself.

Here is also one more tulip ditty because, well it is my blog, and cause I like to share. ;)

Paint Much?

Well, lately I have been. I found a novel medium: watercolor crayons.

The kids and I have been experimenting with them for a few days now. I actually would not recommend these for kids, because you do have to be pretty precise with the actual "painting" part. Otherwise everything turns brown. Here are a few of the quickies I did to pass our summer seclusion this week so far. ( I apologize in advance for the really dim lighting. That was the brightest natural light I could find. Our windows are ''special" with extra tint on the outside.)





Not bad for only a couple of hours each. This last one also has been outlined and drawn with charcoal. I was going for a modern looking stained glass effect. Could be awful cute in some girls rooms don't you think?

**Update** The water color crayons are Faber-Castell and they are good for older kids. My 5 and 7 year old with a little practice have been able to make some paintings without the browning effect.

Watch Out for Wiles.

Scully, tagged me for with this little gem of a meme. Here's the rules...no cheating. ;)

1. Grab the nearest book. If you are currently reading something, that'll be fine too.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your Blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet I know that is what you were thinking!
6. Tag 5 people.

I am, to my embarrassment, currently in a good book reading drought, not by lack of options, but lack of enthusiasm for my sweltering car that takes me to the library. But what I did have near turned out to be quite fitting. I taught the lesson this month in the parenting class so it was still sitting out by my computer as I realized I should go back and reread the first three chapters but that is a whole other post in itself. Our book is:

The Power of Positive Parenting, by Dr. Glenn Latham, pg 123, sentences 5-8:

"It is important to keep in mind that the kind of calm, objective responding illustrated here (and elsewhere) between father and a son must be the same between a father and a daughter. We know for a fact that girls can typically get their way and out of trouble and responsibility much easier than boys. Crying, being coy, and making verbal promises that are honey-sweet are all well known devices daughters can use to get their way and to escape the unplaeasant consequences of their behavior. Fathers, particularly, must gaurd against caving in to such wiles."

The girly part of me wants to deny such claims! But really Dads and all men, wiles happen.

I will also leave the tagging open to whomever would like to have a go at it. Enjoy!

Summer Fun

This summer all bets are off! The kids and I are taking a muchly needed break from school and all other such things. We have been experiencing burn out, not just the kids, but me too! I think that we have been pushing a little hard in efforts for next summer's crazy adventures with graduation, moving, and settling in a new location. So between a smidgen of belated spring cleaning and reorganization around our house to spruce up our home, we have been hanging out the laundry for that oh-so-summer-fresh scent that I dream of all winter long.

Hmmmmmm.

Anyway the kids decided to surprise me one afternoon with taking down the laundry from our Ikea pop-up, foldable laundry thingies that I had brought in earlier but hadn't managed to get to yet. They made up a new game, that would rival the three amigos. Behold the Cactus Kids.


"Watch out! Were thorny, Mom!" As they poked each other and folded/mangled our crunchy dry clothes. At least I got a fluff cycle. Just didn't know it would come from the kids.
Here's Jelly Bean coming to wrangle in the fun.