End of Summer Fun

Ahhhh, the end of summer!  It is SEPTEMBER already!  So crazy.  Here's a quick update on what we filled our last weeks of summer with. 

Going to the dentist.  I hate dentists, I have horrible experiences every time I go, so I was nervous for them.  Fortunately it looks like they'll have their dad's teeth (ie, no cavities) so it went well and they got new light up toothbrushes.  They thought it was fun!

On a whim the other day I decided the kids should share a room.  I was SO SICK of picking up toys from the living room, and they won't play down in the basement because our sick cat keeps pooping on the floor down there.  So, Otis's room turned into the bedroom, and Ingrid's room turned into the play room.  So far it has been okay.  We have to time the bedtimes strategically so one falls asleep before the other goes in, but we're learning.  Tonight Ingrid went to bed first and Otis fell asleep in our room.  I'll go in and plop him in his bed later.  Whatever works...

 We also took a trip to a local petting farm last weekend.  This place is SO COOL!  Tons of pens of animals you can go in and touch and feed.  They got to milk a real cow, pet baby ducklings, feed chickens, and pet kittens.  I wanted to take all the kittens home, they were so adorable!  And bunnies, too!  I think we maybe need a bunny at some point.

 Yesterday we went to the Beer Garden.  It was a beautiful day and it just seemed like the perfect day to eat a pretzel and have a liter of beer, right?  This place is awesome, there's a playground right there, so we could sit and drink beer and let the kids play.  They have live music most afternoons.  Tons of kids were running around.  Definitely a good place to hang out on a sunny afternoon.

 And lastly, today I had my last show of the summer.  This was the last Maker Market of the season, I also had done July's.  This was definitely my favorite show!  The vibe at these things is just so mellow, I know a lot of the other vendors from other shows, so it's just hanging out and selling stuff while drinking iced coffee and sweating in the sun.  Today's show was my first on using my NEW SIGN!!  In July I sat next to a lady that does the most amazing calligraphy cards, Filthy Freehand.  I loved her style and knew I wanted to come up with a unique logo so I had her do it.  She came up with the coolest ones to choose from, but ultimately I went with this one (I love it!)

 I went right out and had a sign made, it looked so cool hanging up!!  I hope it lasts for other shows.  I'm not sure how many uses it's supposed to get...I also got this cool red suitcase from my neighbor who sells vintage on Etsy.  It worked so well to hold blankets, bibs, and my new price list.  I have a vintage paint by number and then I printed out my prices on a piece of kraft paper and used washi tape.  Love how that turned out, too! 

Kids start school on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I am excited for that!  Ingrid will be all day, Otis will be three mornings a week.  I plan on using that time well, I'm hoping I can get all my errands and sewing done in that time so I don't have to ignore Brendan at night anymore!  This summer has been super fun, but SO BUSY.  I'm ready for a new schedule.

Red Clogs and Green Beans

First of all, I got my new clogs!  They are adorable and I feel oh so fashionable in them, which is nice, because the other night we went out and I hadn't showered and was feeling GROSS, but I slipped these bad boys on and suddenly felt feminine and gorgeous.

Tonight Ingrid and I picked green beans from the garden.  I had just thrown some seeds in a row at the beginning of the summer and they just blew up!  So we got about a bazillion plants growing and tonight we picked them.  We got a lot.  Ingrid just kept eating them like candy!  Good for her.  (Honestly I hate green beans unless there's a lot of butter and salt on them.)

One last thing--our kitchen is looking so much better now!  I painted the cabinets white yesterday.  It was a sweaty job and it took four coats of paint on each door, but dammit, I did it!  I love it.  I'm hoping to paint the walls gray and get new floors and a new sink.  Then one room in our house will be done!  And I can focus on another room!

Daily Life in February

We are stuck in winter.  I'm getting SO CRABBY in the afternoons, I feel bad.  I try to control it but even I can hear myself sounding like a complete bitch to Ingrid and can't stop myself.  I want to run outside without a coat on, or go for a long walk to the park or go to the lake.  But it's cold, it snows, it's windy, it's wet.  We try to go for a walk around the block, but after a few  houses I am already sick of hearing Ingrid complain about being cold.  Sigh.

 

So, we huddle inside.  We play with toys.  We paint.  We make play dough.  We play on the iPad far too often.  We get squirrely and I yell. 

 And then I get a drink.  At five o'clock.  OF COURSE. 

Somewhere in there if we're lucky, we take naps.  Otis has started to cuddle with a stuffed animal at his naps, which I love.  It's usually Mickey or a teddy bear.  It's adorable. 

 

 And sometimes I actually get around to doing something.  I painted Ingrid's room last weekend!  No more green stripes!  It's a nice muted gray color, and the stripes still show through but it's not nearly as horrible as the green was.  I will have better pictures when it's "done."

 

I also cleaned the basement and tried moving stuff around so it seemed like a place we'd want to use.  It's okay, but I just don't feel like hanging out in a basement.  An unfinished basement that is COLD right now, even sitting right in front a space heater.  I used Ingrid's broken dresser as a TV cabinet, it turned out okay, I think!

 The only thing getting me through this month is the fact that March means it's almost spring.  Like in a few weeks we can hopefully go outside with smaller jackets on.  But it's supposed to snow 6 inches tonight so I don't know...I'm hanging onto that hope.

 

House Tour

Have you ever seen the blog Life Made Lovely?  They have a great section of house tours that are so cool, just pictures of the rooms, showing little snippets into the lives of the owners.  I love seeing things like their collections of vintage things, or family pictures, or cool color combos.  One house had some vintage furniture that didn't match but it just worked.  Anyway, as I was going around my house today I was imagining what my pictures would look like.  And then I started laughing because I've been sick the past week and the kids were sick before that, so our house is a bit of a mess.  I did clean a little this morning, but still there are just piles of shit in every room.  Papers that need to go somewhere, pictures the kids have colored, old cds that found their way out into the dining room somehow.  Things just laying on any available surface...

So here is my house tour, complete with piles of shit.

All the meds from all the sickness going around!

I'm telling you, piles of junk.

Primrose from the store today.  Needed some fresh color!

Naughty horse in the corner.

Best Christmas present ever.  I love this doll house!

New artwork for our bedroom from tastesorangey on etsy. (they aren't crooked, I just had a strange angle.)

This is what I mean--picture hangers, earbuds, candles, boxes from our new phones, lotion, and a bottle of Vicodin.  There has to be a better place for this shit than on our dresser!

I can't wait until Ingrid can read these books!

Ingrid's broken dresser.  I hate this thing.

Ugliest sconces ever.

New artwork from Uncle Pat.

 And there it is.  The Liddle Family House Tour!  The more I see these pictures the more I hate the colors in our house.  I am totally fine with our room and the dining room, but every other room in our house is getting a paint job this year!! 

Pinterest and My Make Believe Mud Room.

I know some people don't like Pinterest because it makes them feel inadequate, but I am a realist.  I know I will  not do the ten million crafts I have pinned for the kids, I know I will probably not make half the recipes I see on there.  I know for sure I will never get a slide staircase, even though I would LOVE one!  But I love to sit and waste my time after the kids go to bed and daydream about what we can do with our house.  Since it's our house and we can do whatever we want!

 

Lately I have been daydreaming about putting on a tiny addition to the side of our house, where the side door is.  I would love to someday add just enough space to have a little mud-room/laundry room combo.  It would free up some more space down in the basement, and give us a space to put our coats and shoes, which really pile up quickly...

 

Tonight I found these two pins that made me really want to do this!  The first is the exact idea I had--a small addition, just large enough for some storage of coats, mittens, boots.  A little bench.  Also a washer and dryer in there somewhere, too, so I don't have to go to the basement.  How cute is this?  It really doesn't look that huge, either, which is great.  We don't have a ton of space between houses, but we'd have enough for this.

 And this one shows the absolute cuteness I could bring to a muddy room with good fabric choices!  And flooring.  And maybe some cool vintage things scattered about on little shelves.  My mind is filling with ideas!  Now we just have to see how do-able something like this would even be...

Shows, Trees and Cookies: Our Traditions

Last weekend was full of Christmasy things.  Saturday I had a show at the local Waldorf school.  It was a HUGE difference from my country club show a couple weeks ago!  The people were all pretty much hippies and actually buying for other people, not gaudy baubles for themselves.  I did really well and had so much fun, I will definitely be doing it again next year!

The day was so fun in part because I was with my friend Melanie.  She has helped at shows before, and I love to spend the day, sans kids, with her!  She is a great salesperson and always helps so much!  Another thing that made it fun was the music that was playing on the stage behind us.  A couple ren-faire looking guys were playing strange Turkish instruments and there was a belly dancer.  Again, completely different than my experience at the country club, lol! 

Sunday Brendan went out and got our Christmas tree.  I was upstairs napping with the kids, and I heard some commotion but didn't think too much about it.  When I came downstairs, there it was, our wet and cold tree!  After letting it dry, we started decorating.  The kids were in heaven, they just thought it was so cool to hang the ornaments!

 I had to laugh because the tree looks like it's about to burst through our ceiling.  It was a bit taller than Brendan had expected, so he had to cut off the top and now it looks jammed in there.  There are also some nice streaks on the ceiling from the branches scraping!  It wouldn't be a real tree without a little bit of sawing and cutting to make it fit in the room, right?

 After the tree was trimmed, we sat down (at our new dining room table found at the thrifts!!) to decorate our cookies.  This year I went the easy route and bought a bag of sugar cookie mix and a can of frosting.  Usually I do things from scratch but after seeing how well they turned out, I think I am going to be a mix cookie gal from now on!  I let the kids have two cookies at a time, gave them a hunk of frosting and a knife, and then we had sprinkles and colored icing to finish them off.  Otis just wanted to eat everything, and Ingrid was very meticulous with her sprinkles. 

 And now we have a couple more exciting weeks ahead!  My mom comes in on Thursday for Otis' birthday, which we will have a party for on Saturday.  Then next week we are headed off to a resort an hour up north.  They were having a "Santa Special" where all their suites were super cheap, and they have an indoor water park, too!  So we get to put the kids in bunk beds in a separate room and enjoy the fireplace after having fun at the waterpark.  I think this will also turn into another holiday tradition for us!