Anything you can do, I can do better...

Today, we spent the day in Benton county visiting with family, eating way too much, and spending a little cherished time in an old dusty barn. An old dusty barn that I love. Turns out a group of new farmers, who now own my papa's old land are going to tear her down. Apparently they don't realize how many fond memories I have of this old barn. But alas, progress must be made...

One specific memory that came to my mind today was from when I was a little girl and would hang out with my papa in the barn while he worked on the equipment. There was a old rusty whistle that always hung on an old rusty nail on one of the support poles... I'm sure I blew that whistle as loud as I could over and over again. He never complained or told me to stop once. He would just make a funny face at me and send me giggling on to my next adventure. He would also sing with me. There is only one song I remember singing together. And by singing, I mean screaming... over and over and louder and louder... It went something like this:

Me: Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.
Papa: No, you can't.
Me; Yes, I can.
Papa: No, you can't.
Me: Yes, I can.
Papa: No, you caaaan't...
Me: YES I CAN, YES I CAN, YES I CAAAANNNN!!!

Such good good memories. I miss him so much. I've never met a kinder, sweeter man than my papa.

Here's a couple of pics from our day.







~ still missing you lots and lots Papa...

Boston Turns Two.

Happy Birthday Bubs!

Ottoman Redesigned.

Today I tackled my first upholstery project. I still have two wingbacks sitting in my garage waiting for their makeover, but today I decided to start off with something a little simpler, my ottoman. Not that it was bad to begin with, it just won't match my new couch whenever it finally decides to get on a truck and make it's way to me... thank you furniture slow row. So.... today my ottoman went from this:

To this:

It's pretty safe to say that I LOVE it and can't wait to get my new black couch.... if it ever comes.

Summer Projects.

Hobby: A hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation, often in one's spare time...

Spare time.. haha!

So, I've picked up a few things to keep myself busy this summer.

1. Moving. For the 7th time in 5 years. Yay! No more moving for at LEAST 5 years... and honestly, I may just die in our home. Who knows.

2. Salsa Garden. Ya'll know I could literally live on chips and salsa, and apparently, so could Boston. So, for Mother's day, we started a salsa garden, a baby watermelon patch, and a strawberry plant. Here's the progress so far...

Baby Watermelons


Salsa Garden

And here they are now... Can't believe they are living!

3. Make some reupholstering magic with some $25.00 wingback chairs. Here's a picture of the chairs that I just purchased yesterday... they are UGLY!

Before:

Hopefully, by the time I'm done they'll be something cute like these. Wish me luck!

Have a good long weekend everyone!

Someone to Believe in You...

Maybe it's just me, but I love to know that someone believes in me, in my abilities, and in my talents. Somewhere in time, while we grow in to adults and face the ups and downs of real life, we can lose site of who we are. And maybe not who we are, but who we are becoming. And not even necessarily a goal or a dream, but just that feeling of self worth and esteem in yourself.

I tend to lose mine on the 53rd round of cleaning up all the junk we collectively destroy our home with on a daily basis, or wiping Bos' running nose for the 465th time in one day. Not that I'm complaining... I wouldn't have it any other way. ( ok, maybe a housekeeper would be nice...) I'm just saying that sometimes it just wears you out and you start thinking that your life has becoming a never ending cycle of laundry. Surely, I have something more to offer the world than a clean bathroom or fresh linens on a bed. Right?

( I'll pause for a minute while J picks himself up off the floor. Cleaning and organization are not my talents. )

Anyways, this post is not all about me... well, it kinda of is, but mostly I just wanted to brag on J for a minute.

J is one person who believes in me. One person, who sees the real me. The ugly me. The sometimes grouchy me. The "lived with this somewhat annoying person for 5 years" me, and by annoying person, I mean myself.

The other day, he brought home a magazine article about a successful author and told me to read it. I'm telling you, I almost cried. Not because I think I'll make the New York Times Bestseller list someday, I'm not really sure that I even want to write a book, but for the simple fact that he thought of me and believed that it could be me. It was a small gesture that spoke volumes. He probably didn't even know how effective it was.

And did I mention the 5 foot Baby Grand in my tiny little living room? Just another small, or big I guess, way that he has shown that he sees me, knows what I love and is in a small way, pushing me towards my dreams.

I've always been a big dreamer... always fantasizing about how great it will be when and if my dreams come true. But I'm starting to see things a little differently now. Life is not a destination. It's a daily journey to be the best person that you can be. Whether it's writing a funny book to make people laugh at you, or sitting at a baby grand piano and singing to your husband and toddler. Life is not about who you become, it's about who you are becoming.

And I'm lucky to have a great cheerleader in my corner. I can only hope that I can support his dreams as much as he does mine.

Here's to living our best life, everyday.

Ah Summer, How I've Missed You...

Bos' 1st Fruit Drink from the igloo!

Not too much going on around here lately. We're just LOVING the sunshine and warmer temps. Oh my goodness... it's so gorgeous out there! Today Bos and I took advantage and went over to Columbian Park to burn some energy. I was hoping the zoo would be open too, but turns out, it's closed until April 26th. I did, however, hear the cutest little wolf howls coming from in there... I'm excited, but really it doesn't take much for me.

Then we took lunch over to Purdue to see Jess and can I just say, I never want to go over there while students are in town again? Wow! To.
Many. People. Seeing all those perky little teenagers walking around, working towards that big corporate job reminded me how much I love my job and my hours. I'm perfectly lucky.

Along with the warmer temps comes the need for new summer clothes. All of my clothes are at least 4 years old and most are too big at this point. So this leaves me with about 2 options for summer wear, one being a white pair of shorts... not really working since I spend most of the day dodging dirty little hands while wearing them. So, if anyone knows of a good place to buy cute summer digs that don't cost, oh $75.00 for a cotton tee (really JCrew?? really?), please send ideas my way. I'm not afraid of spending a little more for quality above Old Navy, but I'd rather buy a few things instead of one single tank top on clearance for 50 Bucks. Thank you very much. And I'd also like to say a special thank you to Dave Ramsey for warping me so bad that I can't spend money on clothes anymore because my conscience won't let me... it's a sickness really.

I suppose I should go pick up the house before I head over the grocery and the gym tonight. It's Body Combat night... and I must say, it is a great way to release some stored up aggression. Sure wish I had a buddy to go to the gym with me!

So until next time, we'll be soaking up the sunshine, enjoying the weather, and gearing up for a summer full of fun.... and Sangria.

RPM - My Personal Hell

Wowza! Just got home from RPM and I'm telling you, every time I leave that class, I feel like I'm going to puke. I've never really been an athlete, but honestly, I feel worse after that class, than how I felt after running 13.1 miles in the mini. Craziness! And then I think to myself, "why did you eat that ice cream last night, fattie?" Totally not worth it!

Anyways, thanks for listening to my pity plea, as I'm sure Jess is tired of hearing it by now.

So, from now on, if you're feeling like you need to do a little penance for your own personal wrongdoing, please consider an RPM class.

Thank you, and Good Day! ;)