She's getting to be a big girl

We brought this little girl home almost 6 months ago. She is getting so big & I love her to death. 

I've been thinking about getting her a brother. My hesitation is that we go away for the weekend quite a bit. With one 8 lb dog it's easy. If we got another, it would make that more difficult I think. Any thoughts? Advice? 

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo

Lissa

Spring fever

This roller coaster ride of a spring has worn me slick.

8 inches of snow on Monday, 80 degrees on Thursday, then back to snow on Saturday. Mother Nature is a fickle bitch this spring.

My weeping cherry is trying to bloom. We just planted in last fall so I wasn't sure if it would. I'm hoping it gets the chance to show it's stuff this year!

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!" ~Mark Twain

xoxo

Lissa

A mama dilemma...

When your kids are little you think "I can't wait until they are independent and can do___ by themselves." or "It will be nice when I don't have to do___ this any more for them." But my reality is there are times when I miss that total dependence, a lot.

I've been struggling lately. Sad, blue whatever you want to call it, that's me. Not that unusual, throw some random hormones in there and a not so great week at work and that's a good recipe for a funk. But it's been a couple of weeks and here it lingers.

While I can't explain all of it, I'm going to blame the kids, ok just Court this time.

This face slays me. Smart & adorable. She started talking when she was 8 months old. Blew her grandmother away when we visited & at 14 months told her she "wanted a hamburger, like the boys".

Now she is a nurse, and a good one. She is a mommy with smart adorable little girls of her own. And in about 2 weeks she goes to basic training & tech school until July. And my heart aches for her. Don't misunderstand, I am more proud of my girl than you can imagine, but this will be the hardest thing she has ever done. Men & women with no attachments struggle & fail with this daunting task. Oh, she won't fail, you don't know my girl if you think that. Stubborn & resilient are two good words for her. But she has to be away from her babies for a long time, and that is going to be harder than she has allowed herself to believe.

I've been praying a lot. For Courtney- that she'll dig deep and make it through with flying colors. She's a crier like her mother & I can't imagine the drill instructors are big on that! For the girls- that we can help them not miss their mommy so much. For Ray- that he has the patience of Job, and can hold it all together. I'd hate to have to hurt him. And selfishly, for me- that I know where & when to butt in. Oh hell, when has that stopped me!

At the end of the summer when all is said & done, I'll laugh that I was this stressed out. But for now, send me some good thoughts and please send Courtney & her little crew some while your at it!

xoxo

Lissa

Meet me under the clock...

We had a great weekend get away this week. A wonderful friend had a birthday party and so we just decided to go all in. We played tourist in Kansas City, a city that I lived near for almost 15 years. This usually means you forget all the amazing things it has to offer.

Shopping played a big part in Saturday. It was storming away, so inside was the name of the game. World Market was on the agenda for sure. Left with wine, beer, water & a gift. I could wander for hours. Several more shopping stops & then lunch at Jack Stack Barbecue at the Freight House. I mean, come on. We were in Kansas City & playing the part, gotta have barbecue. And it was soooo good.

Since it was still raining cats & dogs we checked in to the hotel.

Crown Center has "The Link" which allows you to cross to Union Station without going outside so off we went.

Now, what I really what I had wanted to do while we were in KC was to see the Princess Diana exhibit housed there right now. But, this didn't work out for Danee this weekend so we will go back when time isn't an issue, and we can spend as much time as we want.

My 2nd reason for visiting was to take pictures of all the amazing architecture & renovation work of course.

But mostly of "the clocks". It was raining to hard so the lamppost clock was out of the question but....

There is this little beauty that is just amazing.

This is the piece of history that I came to see....

You stand in this massive room that used to be the North Waiting Room, and if you concentrate very hard you can feel the soldiers that came through during WWII, passing right under this clock. Half of all of our boys are said to have passed through here. Or hear the gunshots of the Kansas City Massacre. Or all the Harvey Girls who worked there.

I'm not even kidding.... I could feel them all.

I think we need to "play tourist" more often.

xoxo

Lissa

My fabulous recharge weekend....

I love this face. Yep this one. She is so much fun & when I'm having a rough week sometimes I just need to have her & her sisters to give me some perspective. This time it was just Gabi.

We had a great weekend.... an exhausting whirl wind one, but so great.

"Arts & crafts" are ALWAYS a major part of visits

We threw Frisbee for the neighbor dogs.

Adam came back from the store with a yummy snack. We built the first fire of the "spring" and good, sticky fun was had by all.

Hair cut time! Hair almost to your waist is too hard for a little girl to brush so we tried to make it easier on her.

MUCH BETTER

Movie time!

Although I look exhausted, it's all good. Really good.

xoxo

Lissa

Planning for Spring

Alright already! I NEED some Spring. I'm getting flat out cranky. I keep trying to talk myself into a better attitude. I mean really, when you put it in perspective, I'm being a real whiner & that's not a me that I really like. My life is good, I have a lot to be thankful for & I'm surly with a tendency toward downright bitchy. At least I know it right? Ok, maybe not.

So, I've decided to start planning for Spring.

We are doing herbs & some vegis again, but flowers are what I'm thinking about.

I'm planning on getting a couple little helpers next weekend and if it's warm enough, getting a couple of kid sized rakes and getting the lower yard cleaned up and bit. I'm going to just spread wild flower seeds down there and see what happens!

In some ways I love that we bought new construction. It's ours to make of it what we can, right? This works well when I have a clear vision. But landscaping scrambles my brains. Too many beautiful options, and those options are not inexpensive. Then you put the pressure of needing to know what plants can go where and it's a lot to plan!

So I've started with the "what do I like" game.....

Love these burning bushes. I think I'll put some on the side of my house. It's really empty over there and needs some great color. They will look amazing against the yellow of the house!

Speaking of yellow.... I LOVE forsythias. They scream SPRING IS FINALLY HERE! I planted one last year (it's still a lot smaller than this, but someday!) and I'm thrilled to report that, even after being completely buried under the snow, it is starting to bud.

I planted 1 hydrangea last year, and am planning to do 2 more this year in the front beds. These beautiful bushes remind me of my Gram. Here house is surrounded by hedges of this blue puff balls. They just make me happy.

What am I missing? Anything you think I should consider?

Sewing project

I used to sew quite a bit. I've quilted, made a few pieces of clothing, home decor, etc. Until a few months ago I even had a sewing machine, but it went ka-put and would have cost more to fix than to just fine a new one if I wanted to replace it. (I hate that!)

When I got my camera I wanted to pretty it up a bit, so I did a search of some etsy shops, and found several that I really liked. But they looked pretty simple to do myself and thought I'd give it a shot.

I have to admit, I am VERY out of sewing practice. I would love to blame a couple of my ooopies on the fact that I borrowed the sewing machine from Adam's mom. But I think most of the bad words I said were my own fault.

3 coordinating fabrics. 1 is for a pocket to put the lens cap in, but not done yet.

Strips cut out and ready to sew

The top fabric is gathered. I was pretty pleased that I remembered how to do this! The bottom fabric has a layer of batting .

Ribbon covers the gathering seam and adds a touch that I like.

Turned out pretty well!

xoxo

Lissa