Like Mother, Like Son

My new facebook profile picture!

Half of my family thinks I'm weird.

The other half, thinks I'm AWESOME!

It's... Tutorial Time!

Here's how I printed some canvases this weekend:

First I painted the canvas the color I wanted the background to be.

 I left if kind of streaky because I wanted it to look a little aged

Then I used a stencil and wrote my message in pencil (I was able to erase any mistakes without a problem)

 Last I painted over what I stenciled with acrylic craft paint (it took 2 coats)

I love it, and I had everything I needed on hand!

It was a fun way to spend a quiet Saturday.

P.S. The other 2 canvases are going to be gifts.

At least one will be a slightly different technique- pictures to come.

Never Look an Onion In the Eye

"Don't look at an onion it will make you cry!!!!"

My kids always yell this whenever they see me chopping onions, or whenever we even see a bag of onions at the store. Who knew a root veggie could have such an effect?!

I think perhaps we should get some of these:

But then I'd have to walk through the supermarket with 4 little goggled chicks trailing me, maybe not. :-)

Painting..

   I painted our second living room last week. It's painted to match the first so they flow into each other. I still love the color scheme, but I'm ready to move on to another color. I think next up is the dining room (terra cotta). Which I'm not looking forward to. There is a lot of patching to be done in that room. Marc says we should just rip it all out and put up new sheet rock. That would be fine if we would actually do that in a timely manner, we wont. I think I'm just going to patch and paint it. This time I'm waiting for my mom to have time to help. She's normally my painting buddy, but hasn't had a chance to help yet in this house. I'm happy for her willingness, painting solo is a sloooow process. I do really like my imperfect walls though, I feel like they even have character! While I was filling the tens of nail holes in the second living room I couldn't help but think about how each one of them probably held something special at one point. Photos and decorations that the previous mother thought were special enough to display! There's over a hundred years of memories in these walls, it's amazing to think about it like that. I love when I come across something that shows that kids grew up here, like a child's name etched into the bottom of a drawer in the living room! It makes it feel like a home and not just a house.
    Recently, the Lottery was really huge and I over heard a couple ladies talking about it at the store. They were contemplating what they were going to do with the money. As I drove home I couldn't help but think about the same thing. In the end I came to the conclusion that I love this house enough that I didn't want to spend any of it on building a new one and I didn't know what else I could do with the money. It even made me a little sad to think about hiring out all the work that needs to be done in it. I want to learn how to do things like tile, and grout, and sheet rock (okay maybe not sheet rock). I feel like its just another chapter in our story that will help to mold my family's memories. So I just didn't play. ;-)
   This week's painting project, since I'm putting off the dining room, is going to be our picket fence! One of my sister-in-laws is helping me plan the garden and I can't wait to get it going! Now if only the weather would cooperate!

Solving the Mystery

You know how when you're a third or forth child and you look through your family's photo albums and barely find any pictures of you?! I now know why. There's is literally not enough hours or enough arms for your mother to get the whole family ready in new Easter clothes, AND take pictures, AND make it to church on time. So she probably just settled for the new clothes and being to church on time. Please cut her some slack! And by the way I'm sure you looked really adorable all decked out!

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat- a- cake, darling and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard and there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look!  Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs.  Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby.  Babies don’t keep.

1958   Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

P.S. No, this is NOT an announcement!