Category Archives: Uncategorizeda little good painting…
watercolor is so much more furniture-friendly than acrylic. i wiped off the paint in the craft room sara is right… she’s back….
let me set the scene. we host a small group bible study in our home each sunday night. halfway into making some cheese dip annie walks into the kitchen covered in yellow paint.
besides the tv also the rug, the ottoman, a chair, the ironing board,
it’s now 6:17. i take a moment to breathe. annie comes down clean in her jammies naughty naughty baby. Oh, you have no idea how I needed a good dose of perspective when you wrote this. But now I have received one, and I thank you. Holy moley. Oh dear!. I think I would have cried. Oh my! I think the toilet paper, or lack there-of, would have been the last straw for me, I would have lost it, big time. Way to go on keeping your cool! lol That’s what you get for hosting small group! (We’ve hosted for years, so I say that in perfect confidence and with no indicator that you should stop!) Imagine my surprise when after having two perfect angels (questionable at times…) that my third would be the exact opposite. He has a love of all-things-magic-marker and when he gets his hands on one – LOOK OUT. Shame on me for not keeping an eye on him better. At least for the most part the marker washes off, how about the paint? Ohhhhhhhhhhh no! Gotta love kids. Isn’t it amazing that Talby didn’t do much of the Naughty Baby things! Maybe it’s that your house is so big, that she could be anywhere doing anything! Oh my goodness wow, she sure keeps you on your toes, she should be an easy teenager. oh my – but then you see her sweet face in the first picture with tears in her eyes and you just melt. i just think she is going to take after her mommy in the creative department and she is starting early. Why is it that things like that happen always when company is coming over or already there?? You handled it well! oh. my. goodness! What a sweet little ray of sunshine …sharing her favorite color for all the world to see and enjoy! 😉 I just pray that it was tempra and not acrylic! LOL! Thanks for sharing! It truly is a funny little story and warrants a two page spread in the scrapbook! Meg – I think its the curse of the creative types. You just tend to have a lot of “stuff” laying around that just begs to be used in large quantities. Can you say Glitter glue? hee hee. bless your heart! Oh my GOD. It sounds like you stayed pretty calm, and I don’t know how you did it. I don’t even know what I would have done in that situation. Ha, laughing at the evening you had. I’ve totally been there. So funny to look back on! I’m finally over it. LOL! I can’t help it…. I love her! That look on her face is priceless. I would have loved a picture of Talby’s face when she came out of the craft room. And I thought I have a crazy time getting ready for bible study. I have YET to experience anything like that. I’m so glad you remembered to breathe! Oh my…that post had my smiling and laughing and gasping and wanting to BEG you for more pics of her handy work… Oh My! I was reading the post and scrolling down and when I got to the picture of the paint on the tv, I put my hand up to my mouth! YIKES! It has been so long since I had a little one that you forget how much trouble they can get into. She is adorable though:) Ha! I love that naughty baby. But of course that isn’t my craft room she painted yellow. i am relieved that e wasn’t there that day, yikes. it would have been worse. what a real life story that is! my youngest is the “artist” in the family and I am always finding little bits of his handiwork on furniture and walls…. bless your sweet, patient, patient heart. WOW, she really did have a fun time in yellow paint!!! I had to completely crack up at going to the neighbors house for toilet paper!!! Megan, I’m so sorry but I’m laughing my head off,see I don’t have kids!!!!! Wow! No one could have handled all that better than you – I’m sure! I’m taking pointers! Yes, I am a new mom, but I am still working on how to handle stressful situations like that! I do love how you write though – I feel like I’m right there with ya! Also, thanks sosososo much for your traveling advice! You are great! And the suggestions are on my list!! oh goodness! **thank you for all the love you gave me over my dirty house. ****************************************************
i loved this display of old cameras!
i came home with this scale.
this fan is now mine.
hi.
and i got this too.
i thought of ms. kristin when i saw this orange desk.
this was a wall at starbucks. after the antiques we tortured ourselves
she’s watching backyardigans at american eagle. Oh, yay, I love the new bathroom vanity! I’ll have to send you a pic (when I get one) of the vanity we did for the beach house. It was a buffet (not an antique though) before it was a vanity! wow, you got some great things. looks like some great shops. i am in need of some new antique shops to frequent. can’t wait to see where you put everything. OH WOW! I think my grandmother has the exact same piece of furniture as your future bathroom vanity. It’s part of her dining room set! She stores her table linens in the drawers. I’m making a mental note to take a good look at hers next time I go visit! (And if I can remember, I might even send you a picture or two!) Ok, Im so not a jelous person but I am JELOUS you have a gorgeous vanity for your bathroom that isnt really a bathroom vanity but WORKS!!! I have wanted to do that forever but my bathroom isnt big enough….anyhow, I love it!! Like I said before, your house might get messy but its so stinking gorgeous WHO CARES!!! Meg, Love the cameras…I have a nice little collection myself…totally jealous of the scales AND the fan! I am dying for yardsales here!!! Megan, love the vintage stuff. I also have a scale, I mainly use it at christmas time I put a wrapped gift on it. Hope you are having a great week-end. my husband is going to die when he sees this.
my constant never-ending laundry pile…
not my mess but i still see it.
this is my mess.
my craft room…ridiculous.
and my sink. i am a mess. I just wanted to say that I stumbled across your blog this morning and I have been reading every entry since you began. At first I was drawn to your journal because I love old homes, but then I met your children and love how you share them. I want to know how you get thirty some stinkin’ comments on a messy house! Like this is something new. Please. Love ya. Yeah, my most popular post probably ever was of the ugliest hallway in my house when it was littered with a dead giraffe, a bunch of blankets, toys, and the vacuum cleaner we were using to suck up the dead mouse. 🙂 I guess we can all relate to real life, eh? 🙂 Oh…thank goodness!! Honestly, your home is my dream home and ALWAYS looks like it is perfect and magazine ready. I always felt that the fun you all have still seemed to lend itself to incidental, photographable… stylish mess, if you will! I feel soooo much better now..is that pathetic or what??!! This post absolutely MAKES MY DAY! but I bet you have happy kids…and they are colorful and creative..I wish I could be more like that…I really do…to the left of me as I type this…is the dining room table with ketchup stains from last nights dinner and and syrup from the pancakes this morning…it is knawing on me to clean it up….but I’m so tired from menapausal lack of sleep…and I have had 3 cups of and still I need something stronger…latte anyone? Thank you soooo much for posting this, my house pretty much looks the same, I thought I was the only one… lol Thank you, thank you, thank you! And I thought it was just me with these issues! I’m ready to send my kiddos back to public school next year…and homeschooling is NOT the problem…it’s my cluttered HOUSE that’s the problem! LOL! It just seems never ending. Hey, but it does remind me of a wonderful quote that I once read: “ONE CANNOT BE CREATIVE AND TIDY AT THE SAME TIME!” Isn’t that sooooo true?! Thanks for posting! We all feel your pain! Meg–I can’t thank you enough for this post. So, I’m not the only one whose house looks like this 99.9% of the time? PHEW! Oh I love you for this post. It takes the shame out of my secret life! oh meg – i love how you show your real life. thanks. it makes me feel good. i should follow your lead and take a few “real” photos around here tomorrow. my laundry is caught up, but the kids’ room are awful and i thing we have a “famous footwear” store on our front porch. life is crazy and cleaning is the least fun part of it – so, don’t do it. there are more important things. do you know the expelling sigh of relief that just left me? i’m always a mess and its always refreshing to be reminded there are others out there too. Oh Meg, I feel your pain. I have a similar but smaller scale mess AND a dirt front yard. Usually the house is “presentable” for birthdays and planned gatherings only. Much to my dismay. Instead of cleaning, I usually head down to the studio at night and paint. Ya Gotta Have Priorities!!!!!!!! Your house does normally look beautiful on your blog, but I love these photos, too! It shows us that you’re human! I think we all have days when our homes are out of control. I’m currently experiencing about my 12th day straight of chaos in my house! Hee! Hee! Oh, thank you! hee hee hee. come on over to my house, girl…..I, unlike you, have only shot pictures of my “heaping piles of laundry” – not the rest of my house. I am not ready to put it out there to all my friends that I am really not what they think I am!! right on, for keeping it real! this is exactly why everyone just loves your blog!!! When you have five kids a house just wont be clean all the time if every..lol I have 5 kids too and I can tell you I KNOW!!!! You missed all the shoes that they take off and don’t put in the shoe rack by the door! Thank you for being real- I start feeling like I am a slob- but you are too (Insert sweet sisterly laughing) Oh Isn’t that the truth! One day when I was taking “pretty pics” for my post my husband said, “Why don’t you take a pic of the golden retriever hair rolling down the hallway, or the spill on the sofa, or all the laundry waiting to be folded! That’s why blog land is so fun I told him! It’s to ESCAPE for a bit! Hey megan, to bad I don’t live closer I clean house for a living and would love to help! have fun I’ll be thinking of you! i wouldn’t feel the slightest bit bad…everyone’s house looks like at one time or another, if not…they’re lying! Ah ha! you’re one of us, well the outward rooms look fine here , but beware of closets cupboards and my laundry craft storage area, its the lack of free time to organize as you go , sometimes , ok a lot of times you just have to toss and get onto something else more pressing , oh plus I hate laundry especially putting it away , I need more closet organizers . Thanks for keeping it real! oh honey I am so glad to see someone else leaving their suitcase a mess for more than a day! Their are always “decorative” laundry and dish piles around here! And I only have half the kids you do!! There is beauty in the mess – it’s called life! Happy Weekend! tee hee! totally love this,I am so tired of seeing perfectness in blogs. “get real” photos make us all feel so much better about our messy little lives~THANK YOU! happy weekend 🙂 Oh Meg! I feel your pain! Laundry is my arch nemisis! LOL! It’s never ending, and even when you are washing, drying and folding all day, all week, there is always MORE! You have one more kid than we do, thus what… another closet full of laundry? Don’t feel bad… Oh Thank you! I always tell my husband, “I think the laundry ferry will come today.” Somehow she skips over my house a lot though. And the dishes…who can keep up? Sometimes I do good until the dishwasher is full. Then they pile up. Then it becomes such a big job to actually unload AND reload and by that time there’s so many dishes that the dishwasher is full again and the cycle continues. You’re not alone and see how many “thank you’s” you received for showing us that? Believe me you are not alone that is exactly how my house looks right now. I’ll get to it this weekend at least I hope I do. Whew! I am not the only one. I don’t mind, well ok i do, but the part that bothers me the most is the constant dishes in the sink…….always……..I wish, sometimes that I was Jane Jetson….that robot housekeeper of hers kept things ship shape always……LOL I used to occasionally hit the laundry mat just so I could have all the clothes done at once. I would take my book and Sonic Dr Pepper, tons of quarters and just stay for the afternoon. Those who know me laughed because I have an absolute phobia of germs in public places but, hey sometimes you just have to deal!! yup…that looks about right… No I am not going to die – I’ve seen it and helped clean it. Good luck OH my gosh…I feel so much better…now. -thanks and we love you for it. looks like my house as i type this. oh well!
my mom and i treated the kids to IHOP.
talby pulled on my arm and whispered in my ear
scott was happy too.
lauren had just said something snotty…
sean ordered a cheeseburger and fries. and i ordered the plain old boring regular french toast. Wonderful! Adorable! kristin…i don’t want to oversell IHOP. i just like breakfast out not necessarily there. but it is very kid friendly. You always manage to catch your kids in perfect kid poses. Love that one of Lauren and the sideways glance! meg….I have not forgotten you! I have already started your swap goodies based on what I “know” about you through your blog…maybe if I tell you I will answer those questions tomorrow then I will actually do it… 🙂 We will see not won’t we? I love the pic of talby…she’s so darn beautiful! I LOVE french toast…there’s no shame in that! I order it almost every time I go out for breakfast (the like twice a year it happens). I love me some IHOP too. I always order French toast with a side of hash browns and bacon. Yummy. Great pictures — I too love a nice breakfast out, but can you believe we are so deprived and don’t have IHOP, but Denny’s is good too, my oldest child always orders chicken and fries for breakfast when we go , without fail. i haven’t been to an ihop since i was very young. i loved them. i might have to find one – your post made me hungry. i would have been like sean – i would order lunch food for breakfast. thanks for the memories. will you believe that i have never been to ihop? I love Scott’s face in the one with he and Lauren!
my niece playing in grandma’s yard.
they all like the natural history museum on the KU campus.
scott could hear as well as a bat.
our second annual picture on the jayhawk.
annie took this picture of maya’s feet.
That picture of the dog is hilarious! yes, i think annie is taking after mama. you can tell she is with you while you are taking your beautiful pictures. she is a natural. i love all the t-shirts in your pictures – we aren’t there yet but it gives me hope that warmer weather is on its way. Love the Annie pics….I am counting the days until I can give Moses a camera…I feel like that will be the closest I will ever get to knowing what is going on in that mind of his! while at my parents’ we went to the nature center.
i dont’ know how smart this was…
lauren caught a teenie little frog.
she’s has always been awesome at catching slimy things.
oh that’s nice. Holy cow, that was creepy. And that frog, what an amazing closeup of his MOUTH! Seeing the kids enjoying the outdoors again is so wonderful. It reminds me that we will need to reserve the Hesston College cabin again this summer and have a campout together – how many snakes do you think they will find this year? and hopefully the pond will have a little more water in it. Snakes and frogs and freaky birds—eeeew :)! I’m a little squeamish–but glad you’re a cool mom with brave kiddos! once again, beautiful pictures. and the snake pix – awesome. i love kids and nature such a wonderful mix. These women who have commented about yucky snakes never went on Audobon Campouts, did they? I will send the picture of you holding the snake and see if they really freak out!! I’m so jealous of your beautiful weather! I can’t imagine you miss Chicago too much with the milder temps earlier in the season way over in Kansas! :o) Great pics – looks like a fabulous day! We tried going for a bike ride today and turned around four houses down … windy and cold cold cold. Ugh. Why do we live here again??? Your picture of the close-up on the snake’s head with the out-of-focus face in the background is great. I really love it. HEEEBY JEEBIES! Wow. What a brave chic. Everytime I read or look at your blog it reminds me I need to LOOSEN up!!! I probably would never have allowed them to be over by the water doing that but WHY NOT? Who cares if they get a bit wet or dirty? Its spring break…not heading to church. Wow you are a great Mom I could never deal with the snake, frog maybe but they kinda give me the creeps as well, even though we have an african frog(which is really a fish as it is always under water), that is really mine because I feed and clean his stuff, of course , how did I get stuck with a frog?? LOVE your blog – your photo stories are so wonderful. I look forward to all of the color in them. Nice to see that smile on Lauren – I too am a critter lover. slimy or not. After all they are all God’s Creatures. eeewwwww! Now i totally have the heebie jeebies! Definitely what nightmares are made of for some of us! LOL! Sooo happy for Lauren though! haha! okay, that’s just creepy. and to think… you kiss those same lips good night. gross. |
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Brenis - Awww Megan!! 🙁 I know these kinds of days!
God bless you – you’ve got the patience of a saint!!
Just wanted to share one of my all time favorite cleaners – it’s absolutely amazing, and a definite must have for moms!!
It’s called Spot Shot – it’s made by the same company that makes WD-40. And you can find it at Target, or Home Depot, and i’m sure other places, but that’s where i seem to find it.
It can get out massive grease stains, kool aid stains, blood, you name it out of carpet and appholstry!!! Ask me how i know. LOL
Anyway, it might just work on your chair! It does wonders on my carpet!! Worth a shot!!
blessings, bren
Amy - I just found your blog – I love it!
traci - see she was still in painting mode. you can’t stop creativity!
Jennifer P. - I have been such a lazy, lazy blogger lately–but I LOVED all your posts I missed. My house is forever covered in laundry and dirty dishes too–so glad I’m not alone :). Poor Annie and poor you. At least it was a cheery yellow and not a dull gray. Nice to see everyone working with wipe-friendly watercolors. They really all do seem to have artistic souls. Maybe one day someone will pay a lot of money for that painted-on TV that the famous Annie Duerksen did.
Best to you :)!
mom - Perhaps this primed the pump for the craft room makeover!@
Lanny Stanard - Megan, I’m so glad to see that little one painting on paper!!!
Hugs, Lanny