what we wore wednesday

just a few pictures.
got the whole family in this time...

shorts, shirt & necklace: old navy
tank: wal-mart
flower: made by me
shoes: target

mck:

tank & capris: justice
cardigan: jcp
shoes: target

hubby: bachrach--head to toe
me: dress & shoes: macy's
jewelry: old navy

dress: jcp
shoes: dillards
bracelet: pandora

linking up with the pleated poppy.

storage closet re-do

well i'm back from my week of no internet and i have to say it was nice.
several times i was tempted to look at some of my favorite blogs--but i resisted and it turned out good. i focused on more important things & was glad i did. i will probably be taking a break from blogging every once in a while, because it really is a time waster if you're not careful.

but for now is a little before and after of the closet past the pantry.

one of the things i loved about this house when we looked at it was the enormous pantry.
then i noticed a little door inside the pantry and found it was even more storage!
although for me it was just an excuse to stuff more things inside.
needless to say, the closet had gotten so bad that i didn't even want to open the door and i thought my poor husband might have a stroke if he had to open the door!

as bad as it was, i didn't even intend to clean it out this particular day. i was merely looking for my spring/summer decor. but one thing led to another and before i knew it, i was knee-deep in reorganization!

BEFORE:

DURING:
AFTER:

much better, no?

i should have taken a picture of our garbage can as it was stuffed full. the back of my car was also stuffed to the top with things to take to goodwill. and i restored a measure of chris' health since he said, when he saw it that evening, that he thought he could feel his blood pressure actually go down a few points! ha!

i have so many other things i still need to organize. but one at a time, right? next i think it will be the scrapbook room.
stay tuned...

an experiment...

aren't tulips the prettiest things?

(that has nothing to do with this post--but i just can't do a post without a picture!)

i read on someone's blog about a sort of experiment they did with regard to spending a week without facebook. since i don't do facebook, i decided to do it with the internet in general.

i am challenging myself to spend the next week without accessing the 'net.
(with the exception of reading my email daily and using snapfish to organize my pictures.)
you know how much i love reading blogs--so this will definitely be a challenge.
but i have a very busy week where i'm really focusing on spiritual matters and goals so i think this is a good week to do this.

i will try to keep a little record of things i accomplish during this time and will share them with you next monday.

have a good week!

spring break 2011

i never posted our spring break pictures--so here we go...
we spent most of the week in waco visiting family.

we started off at mama dee's & pawpaw's. dee had gotten mckinlee a calligraphy set & that kept her busy for a long time. she got really good & is writing my name on the inside of all my books!!

we had yummy meals--here's just one of them.
grilled ribs, chicken & potatoes. mom & les made them and they were wonderful!

we also played on danielle's new computer--primarily photo booth.
this picture of me just made us hysterical!
this little program also kept mckinlee busy for a long time.

and of course sadie kept us busy too!

mom (and sadie) played the piano & we sang.
flipping through danielle's songbook we found eternal flame by the bangles & had to sing that one. brought back a lot of 1980's memories!

one afternoon danielle was busy inside so sadie & i went outside to play for a while.
she found this bowl of shells on the table and played with them forever.

e

oh my goodness. love that face.

and these chubby hands.

she just loved lining up those shells & putting them in the bowl

oh how i love this child!

then we took her to visit mama jeanne (my grandma)
where she had fun playing with balls...

watching mckinlee play the viola...

and moving these little chairs around!

she worked forever moving them from place to place.

then she'd turn around and do it all again--this went on forever!
(she wasn't mad in this picture...just very intent.)

then we took a few pictures with mama jeanne.
this one cracked us up of sadie patting down mj's hair!

here we are with mj & my sweet cousin, jolie

when we stayed with my mom we spent some time playing their wii.
here she & mck are having fun.

me trying to row a boat--harder than in sounds!

right before we left to come home, we went with danielle to get sadie's pictures taken.
mckinlee kept her occupied while we decided on pictures.
they turned out SO cute!

me on the drive home--first picture of me in the new car.
back to an suv and i love it!

just a few highlights from our spring break--as usual, i get too busy having fun and forget to take enough pictures!

a new phone, a few anniversary presents & a fun visit from nana

well, we finally caved & got mckinlee a phone.
(i personally think a phone for an 11 year is ludicrous--but i have to remind myself this is not 1984. i think she was probably one of the last of her friends to get one!)

here she is opening it on the day it arrived

the excitement builds

she chose a blue one that is really pretty and perfect for what she wants to do--text!
(i've asked her over & over why she needs a phone since she hates talking on the phone. the answer, of course, is to text.)

making one of her first calls

mck has been dying to give us what she got us as part of our anniversary gift.
she had already made us the cutest ceramic things from practically pikasso.
me--a ring holder and chris--a key, ring, change holder.

here are our pretty gifts and the card she made us--so cute!

she got me the little pandora bird charm that i love!

and chris got aftershave and lip balm--he loves burt's bees!

here's her gift before she opened it
(we give her gifts on our anniversary too!)

the vera bradley large hobo in watercolor--this is one of the new summer prints and she has been wanting this to carry all her books for the meeting.
she was excited to get it!

since my mom has been sick for months, she hasn't felt like traveling so she hasn't been able to visit us. she finally felt better, sort of--right, mom? and came to spend a few days with us.
she got to be here for mckinlee's orchestra concert.

these kids, who have only been playing since september, did fabulous!

family picture after the concert

mom & i had so much fun--but i hardly took any pictures at all :(
we shopped a lot & had some yummy meals. these were about the only pictures i took--of us eating lunch at cheesecake factory.
(just starting to love instagram on my iphone)

tomorrow will be a boatload of spring break pictures! stay tuned...