• BIG news,  Bug,  house stuff!,  shopping,  the sticks,  Thriftstore Thursday

    I have news!

    Holly in the sunlight

    I have a living room now! Well, I did before but now it’s rearranged and looking nice! I’m sure it will keep getting rearranged too because I LOVE rearranging. Also, my mom and I have been thrift-store shopping which necessitated some furniture rearranging to accommodate the new thrifted white chair and a telephone table that belonged to my Great Grandmother.

    We’re thinking we might make thrift-store shopping a weekly event. We enjoyed it that much. Maybe I can write “Thrift Store Thursday” posts or something lofty like that. We’ll see. It’s not that I need to be shopping that much but maybe I can sell some vintage items here and there to make the hobby pay for itself. Who knows.

    fishing book

    This fishing guide book is a hoot.

    illustrated fishing guide

    The illustrations inside are priceless! I know a few fishermen who might like this.

    dining room

    In bigger news, I HAVE A DINING ROOM!! It’s so nice. I don’t even care about eating there, I just like the way it looks. The rug is soooo much nicer than what is underneath it. My poor old dilapidated mobile home looks fancy now.

    I have a dining room!

    dining room before also

    Here it is before and during assembly.

    dining room before

    snoopervising

    We had quite the IKEA furniture assembling party over the weekend. We being me, myself and I, with Bug hopping in and out and my mom lending a hand here and there. I actually ended up only buying the craft table and the dining room table. I ix-nayed the chairs, thanks to all your wonderful comments and just bought a bunch of small stuff instead. Lamps, a rug, curtain material, dishes, silverware, an easel for Bug to paint on… stuff like that.

    Ikea was a crazy madhouse and I got intimidated by the shelving unit that required six different pieces coming together from the warehouse. I’m going to hold out on desk chairs and sofas for some crazy wonderful thrift store deal. I don’t really neeeed them (I have existing wooden chairs that suffice) and it’s fun to have something to treasure hunt for.

    sewing new curtains new curtains

    You can’t really see my new curtain fabric. You’d think I could take a better picture now that I have a fancy dancy camera but I’m struggling with getting it lit just right since the fabric is so sheer. I’ll keep trying to get better shots though because they look really really good in real life. They make me smile.

    You know what else makes me smile? My kid discovering ice for the first time.

    finger skating

    It got really cold here the other night and water actually froze, something that NEVER happens at the beach.

    frozen

    We woke up to a crunchy white wonderland. It’s not snow but it’s still fun!

    crunchy grass

    Siberian Monkey

  • 15 minute posts,  Bug,  easy on the words,  Family Matters,  heavy on photos,  I forgot to tell you this earlier,  Moody Blues,  Super Dad,  Tis the Season

    Some shots from Christmas past

    I started this post ages ago and now it seems old and moldy. I’m tempted not to even post it but I figure if I put this much effort into it, I might as well finish it.

    Christmas Eve traffic

    I’m one of those commuters now. I took this shot on our way to Toby’s on Christmas Eve. Holiday traffic is the pits. Good thing when you’re driving west, there’s usually a sunset to watch while you sit.

    Deb

    Bug spent Christmas Eve with Toby having spaghetti dinner. I spent Christmas Eve with my friend Deb down the street. She and her husband Eric always take care of me. They didn’t even mind me crashing their intimate evening. I love them.

    I chopped off her head!

    While Deb cooked up something gluten free (and no she didn’t mind that I chopped off her head when I took this photo), her husband Erik played guitar and I tried to sing a few Mazzy Star songs. Tried being the key word. I love to sing but sometimes the melodies elude me.

    singing with Deb's husband, Erik

    Nothing like Mazzy to kick the holiday blues!

    merry christmas! elf

    The next morning I was up bright and early and shivering on my old porch waiting to be let in. I somehow lost my key during the move and don’t feel it’s proper to ask for another one. I didn’t want to miss the early morning present opening so shiver away I did! Who knew they’d sleep in until NINE! My kid never sleeps past six when she’s with me. It must be all that late night Harry Potter watching.

    Yes, Toby lets her watch Harry Potter much to my chagrin. I was so steamed about it when it first happened but apparently she loves it. They both do. I don’t even know which movie it is, it’s not the first one. I bought it on sale years ago and then left it behind when I moved out. Now it’s the only “kid” movie Toby owns and they watch it religiously every time Bug spends the night. I’ve since made a point to leave behind a few other movies but I guess it’s their thing they like to do together now so I’m not going to mess with that.

    Anyway when they finally rolled out of bed, they let me in and the present opening commenced!

    PINK stuff!

    Woo hoo! Pink stuff for the pink obsessed kid! Thank you, Grandma—who doesn’t even celebrate Christmas but somehow populated half of our tree with festively wrapped presents. Gotta love my mom!

    skooter girl somebody needs a bath

    And lots of other fun stuff. This kid is not deprived.

    watching the Nutcracker

    Some Nutcracker viewing…I can’t wait until Bug gets to see this in real life. Toby says he’s going to take her next year. I really hope he keeps his word on that.

    Toby and Bug

    me and Bug

    And of course lots of hugs.

    hotel room pose

    Then we were off to the bible conference I attend with my family every year. Which is really just a great excuse to stay in a really nice hotel! Just kidding. It’s more than the hotel of course. But the hotel part is really fun.

    kickin' it

    pillow head

    me and my girl

    us

    boof!

    pillow fight

    jump!

    Especially the pillow fighting and bed jumping part!