On the Bookshelf

What I just finished:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.... loved it


What I'm reading now:
How Sweet It Is by Alice J. Wisler

My Life. In Pictures. Session 2

It's that time again! I had such a great time with our first My Life. In Pictures Challenge, I couldn't wait to do it again. It was amazing to see all of the great pictures that were submitted. I wanted to get this done a little sooner, but as you might have read a few posts back, we bought a house and moved! This had delayed things a bit but I am ready to go with Challenge #2!

Get your cameras ready and spread the word to your friends.... It's Picture Time!

The purpose of this photo challenge project is to encourage you to pick up your camera and start capturing details of your life. This project should also serve as a way to look at what others are finding to shoot and will hopefully keep you inspired to look for more moments in your life you wouldn't always think to capture with your camera.

Our first My Life. In Pictures. challenge will start on August 3rd- 7th. The assignments will be:

Monday- Summer Fun

Tuesday- A Favorite

Wednesday- Out and About (anywhere but home)

Thursday- Something You Are Proud Of

Friday- Something (or someone) in Black & White ** See below for suggestions on some free editing software if you don't currently have one you use

Remember you can be as simple or creative as you would like.

The point is... have fun!

You can interpret these "assignments" any way that works with you!

I want you to have fun and enjoy looking at Your Life. In Pictures.

Here are a few details, but please feel free to email me with any more questions you might have!

* How does the challenge work?

I will post the challenge "assignments" for the week and you pick up your camera to capture a photo that meets the assignment. Post the picture on your blog (or Flikr) . You are welcome to write a story with your photo or just include the photo if you would like. There will be a Mr. Linky for you to to fill out with your name and the URL from that assignment's post. (Mr. Linky is a link hosting program for websites. It allows blogs to host all of the links to participants in the challenge. Your job is to sign the Mr. Linky each day you participate so we can all view your post and photo. )

* Who can participate?

Everyone! You can be a beginner or a professional. It will be interesting to see all the different styles of photography.

* Do I have to have a blog to participate?

No. You can use your Flickr account and post a link to a picture from your account. Remember- you can get a Flickr account for free!

* Do I have to participate every day of the week?

No. You can participate all 5 days or just one. It is up to you.

* Does my photo have to be edited?

No, but you are welcome to edit it if you like. If you are interested in some free editing sites, check out Picasa or Picnik. They are lots of fun to play around with your photos, and did I mention FREE?

* Can I link to your blog?

Yes, yes, and yes. If you are participating in My Life. In Pictures. please help us spread the word. The more people who know about this and participate, the more photos we will have to inspire us and the more fun it will be for all of us! You can place the button in your side bar or post it in your blog. Share the love!

* What next?

You are encouraged to use the Mr. Linky and visit the blogs of all the participants and see Their Life- In Pictures!

A visit to the Gardens

Today I took the daycare tots to the Lauritzen Gardens. It was a beautiful day, not too sunny, not too hot. We enjoyed the flowers, water structures, wildlife sounds and sights, train exhibit, and more.

A whole lot of stealin' goin' on

Enjoy this video that I stole off of Ashley's blog who stole it off of Tracey's blog. It was from the Belgium Central Train Station. Unaware passengers were in for quite the show when Julie Andrew's "Do Re Me" started playing at 8am. That's when the fun began- 200 dancers started pouring in to put on a show!

I showed it to my hubby and he even thought it was funny. He loves it when I make him watch or read things from the blogs I read- wink wink.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Today I got super excited about a Back to School Swap I heard about on Lesson Plans by Beth. This swap is for kids ages 2-15 and is sponsored by the Little People Swap website. As a former teacher I get a little giddy with school supplies. I love love love the school supply aisle. Our Target store has already began to set up the displays and of course I had to walk around and look and all of the things they are bringing in.

I can't wait to see who we are paired up with and go shopping for our "swap" stuff. I also hope that B will be excited with what he gets in the mail!

You have until the 31st to sign up if you would like to play along with your kids!

A little something...

Something I want:

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner.

She is one of my favorite authors. I always enjoy reading her novels.

Something I need:

New glasses.

I really need to get my appointment made and get in there! I keep putting it off.

Something I'm looking forward to:

Family trip to Adventureland.

This will be B's first trip to an adventure theme park. He is so excited to ride the rides. One of my favorites growing up was the Raging River.

Something I am going to do tomorrow:

Go to book club.

This time we read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Loved it!

Something I am going to do next week:

Take B to Vacation Bible School.

Our church does a great job putting this on for kids in the community. It is open to all kids from PK- 6th grade. I was so impressed at what a great job the leaders did last year!

Something I am going to do next month:

Welcome my friends back into my home. Oh Yeah, baby. Project Runway is BACK.

Whoot! Whoot! Aug 20th people. Lifetime not Bravo. LA not NYC. Change I can handle, I just want my show back! I don't watch much tv at all but this is one show that my hubby and I both like to get all comfy in bed and pick our favorites, who will be in, and who ... will... be .... out. So excited to see Heidi, Nina, Tim, and Michael. Love 'em!

Something I wish I could do:

Skills. I wish I had some mad sewing skills. There are so many cute things out there I wish I could make. I wish I had the talent to just sit down and make a gazillion cutie crafty things. I got a sewing maching a few years ago and don't know how to work it!



Okay, your turn! Leave a comment if you are going to play along too!

New Digs

Okay, so I have been MIA for awhile. I don't think I was missed very much in blog-land however. Where have I been you don't ask? We bought our first home and closed on June 2nd so we have been busy little bees. It is smaller than we thought we would make an offer on and also in a different area of town that we pictured ourselves. We love it however. It has been so much fun and we really love our new neighborhood. It is such a welcome change to not live on such a busy street with so much traffic. So, blog readers.... I would like to introduce you to our little ol' home.



*We are planning on painting the shutters to give the front a little more "pop" Also, we will be getting some landscaping for this front side to add a little height and dimension.



The house was in great shape... lots of new or updated things. The paint was very nice through out the house, just needed a few colors changed to suit our taste. Dad was giving B a lesson in painting when B wanted to help with painting his new room blue. It was a much better fit than the light lavender.







And now ...the home tour. I will be doing a series of posts where I show you the house as it was when we walked through it before the previous owner had moved her stuff out. Following those pictures, I will show you what we have done since trying to get ourselves settled in. Notice the word try.... it's a ton of work!!!



THE BASEMENT: PREVIOUS OWNER



The door you see on couch behind my grandma is a storage closet located under the front steps. The door on the right of this picture is our playroom.

Playroom entrance again

Standing in playroom doorway, looking back. Now the door on the right is the closet I had mentioned. The door on the left my mom is opening is the entrance to laundry room, bathroom, and Matt's room.

View from bottom of stairs when you enter basement.

BASEMENT: OUR WAY!!!!

Entertainment center is in the same spot, playroom door is closed on right. Still need some something on wall behind entertainment center.... can't get the nails to go into this wall so need to figure this out.

Storage door under front steps in closed.

Looking back into room from playroom doorway.

Doorway to laundry room, bathroom, Matt's room on left. The steps are just past the bookshelf.

Bookshelf in previous picture. Door to laundry etc.

View from bottom of stairs. Playhouse that the kids love to play in.

BEDROOM: PREVIOUS OWNER

We loved the color choice in this bedroom with the two colors on the walls.

BEDROOM: OUR WAY!!!

Doorway looks across the hall into B's room. Need something bigger for this wall. Maybe some frames??

Clifford the dog was really wanting to help me with the pictures. Still have some space to fill in this room on the walls. I don't have a shot of our headboard that I purchased for $1 at a garage sale this summer. Matt and I painted it and it turned out great. I'll show that next time.

LIVING ROOM: PREVIOUS OWNER

Um, yeah. about that. The furniture / furnishings was beautiful, quality, etc.... just a little much.

Little ol' gram peekin in the closet.

Knock, Knock- whose that knocking at my front door?

LIVING ROOM- OUR WAY!!!

We don't have any blinds yet for this room so we are still using the under layer of the ones that previous owner left. They serve their purpose now, but we can't wait to get a different color. Foxi says hi in this picture too.

I sold our old entertainment center and bigger tv when we moved. We are planning on purchasing the ever so popular flat screen to hang here and free up a little more room.

Living room opens into the kitchen area. Hallway where Clifford is takes you to bedrooms and bath. Can I just say how happy we were to not have the green anymore on the wall?

UPSTAIRS BATH: PREVIOUS OWNER

Mauve. When is the last time you said that word?

UPSTAIRS BATH: OUR WAY!!

We had some green left from the last house and I wanted to keep my shower curtain and use a bird theme. I love how the colors turned out in the bath. There is a ton of storage and the wainscoting looks great. We also love the cupboards.

B'S ROOM: PREVIOUS OWNER

Lavender walls, but he was excited because there was a candle in there. He had a really hard time understanding that when we moved there and that was him room, he would have all of his stuff and all of her stuff would be gone.

B'S ROOM: OUR WAY!!!

In our old house we had done the wooley paint system on B's walls. I loved how that looked but for something different we used washed denim blue for his walls at the new house. He room is always one of my favorites. It is decorated with old sports items, including pictures of Matt and his brother as little boys, Matt's grandpa while young and in sports, and my grandpa while young on his basketball team.

We didn't think there was going to be room for the train table in the new room, but it fit with plenty to spare. I am looking for a rug to put under it now.

This concludes our tour. Thank you for taking a look around. Stay tuned for the backyard, kitchen, playroom, laundry, downstairs bath, and Matt's room.

This post is dedicated to: Hollie, Laura, Krista, and Kim.

This has also been an example of get your fake house ready.