The things we do...

I just drove around our block 4 times, windows down, music blaring. Times one and two, a neighbor waved and smiled. The third time, the man started walking toward the street and number 4, well- glaring, hands on hips, ready to report me for suspicious behavior.

You see, after running errands, I had 55 minutes before needing to leave again. And those chickies needed some sleep- trick or treating tonight!

So I let them fall asleep and pulled into the cool shade of a big tree in our driveway. And of course, I had to climb out the window of the car or risk the music turning off.

My neighbors think a crazy lady moved in, I'm sure!

All for this...

books

are you a book lover? 

i am. and now that mia and hen are pretty good sleepers (KNOCK ON WOOD, SALT OVER SHOULDER, all the other things to keep things this way) i'm actually getting to read again!!

i really missed that part of babyhood- but loved almost all the other parts of it- and i'm glad to have some time to pick up books.  

our town built a new library last year. it is just so great.  modern, light flooding through.  many more offerings. 

isn't the whole concept of borrowing books just incredible?? i can take a big pile of wonderful kids books for my littles to look at and to read to them at bedtime.  for free! and borrowing movies and music and books for me.  my bag is so heavy when i walk out.  it's just the best. 

imagine my bursting heart the other day when after loading up the dishwasher, i wandered into the living room to find Henley with a pile of little golden books i had put into the book basket in the living room. half the time these books are just dumped onto the floor but she was paging through, carefully examining the pictures.  love.  

and THEN. we went upstairs to look for mia and discovered her in the playroom surrounded by books as well.  flipping through a sesame street book.  she was surprised to see me at first, but then handed me a few. 

    "book?" she said and plopped herself into my lap. 

ahhh. my heart was full.  happy to see my girls enjoying the beautiful pictures and stories they've heard us read to them.  

a little off the subject, but i am planning to open an etsy shop soon.  too many "treasures" and vintage paraphernalia.  must find new homes for it.  i plan to list these little golden books.  aren't they precious!  how many LGBs does someone need, though? sharing the love.   

project lately: painted lace kids table

hi!

we recently acquired a hand-me-down white table and i made it my own.  paint.  that's what i do.

not a step by step tutorial with pics, because frankly, this project was a let's do this, ok, hmm, let's do this... and use what we have.  and i was lazy.  what's new.

i wanted a chevron table but thought if i didn't get it perfect, i would go bonkers looking at it everyday.  and i might put this little lady in the playroom when it starts to get yucky.  but i definitely DIDN'T want to keep a white table in the kitchen for the chicks to eat on.  especially nutella waffles.  gross. this disguises messes much better. 

basically i:
*  used painter's tape to tape a rectangle off the top,leaving a space around the edge. i wanted to have a matching leg/top border.  press hard on that painters tape so paint doesn't seep under.
*  painted the legs and the edge of the table top (space 1) a coral color i had in the paint cabinet.  it's persimmon red by martha stewart.
*  using that tape, make your lace rectangle (space 3). i used rolls of some vintage lace about 3 inches wide.  i was searching for a regular, rectangle shaped piece of lace, which would have been easier, but couldn't find any.  i used spray adhesive to fill in this whole space, using 5 strips of lace.  you can see the strips in the finished piece.  it annoyed me at first, but oh, well. in the paint cabinet was a can of spray paint, i think the color was called champagne canyon.  just some krylon left over from a project... i sprayed it all over that space, taking care to stay inside the tape.
* let it dry overnight.
* this is where it's confusing to explain. i pulled the tape off.  then i used new tape to cover the edge of the lace and also cover the coral border.  i covered space 1 and space 3 with tape and it created space 2. (whoa, i don't think that makes sense AT ALL?!?!?)  it's just basically exactly where the tape was before- but you need to put down tape to keep your lines straight and keep your colors separate.  i painted that a tan acrylic paint i had.  

anyway.  voila.  funky new look, and somewhat neutral color palette. better than it was. 
and horrible instructions.  sorry.  i'm writing this after a 5 hour playdate with a 4 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old and 1 year old.  fun but, you know. 

  ugh.  next on the list, chair update.  those are looking pretty darn grubby!