whatever

we got it all pulled together just in time.

we are having a wonderful W O N D E R F U L time.

i am full of coffee and cinnamon rolls right now.

yum.

have a fabulous weekend!!!

you know i am.  :)

 

 

friday.

today is....100 miles.

today is....craft weekend.

today is....FUN!!!

 
the weather this week has been amazing.
all the windows are open.



my yard has exactly 9 tulips.
:)
annie asked me yestrday if they were poisonous.  ha ha ha
i guess i have never told her about tulips.



good morning....time for the school bus.



last night i was home for one hour to unload my car and load it back up for craft weekend.
while loading...the sky turned.

my left view and my right view....a storm came in right over our house.
it got dark really fast.
we had the kind of big rain with sunshine and huge fat raindrops.
love that kind.



on my way to pick up sean we pulled over to admire the rainbow.
we could see the whole thing.

and we sang the double rainbow song.....what does it meeeean?!!

i am off to RUN mile 97, 98, 99 and 100.
then going to craft weekend.
kimberlee and i have been woeking hard to get the house looking beeeeautiful.
lots and lots to do.
but it has been such a good time!!
kerry even brought us choclate coconut cupcakes yesterday....we may have eaten all 6.  

CRAFT WEEKEND is my favorite. 

 

phil.

while i was on a run on sunday afternoon my girls found a turtle in our yard!

they named him Phil.


sean, talby and annie came up with a great plan to keep it in the area that we think is a trough for horses?
but honestly....what do we know?
i have seen Charolette's Web...the original....and that is about the extent of my knowledge of farm life. 

but the trough had probably a year or two of leaves in it and the week of rain made it a perfect turtle world! 
it's very wet and muddy. 

turtles are amazing little creatures.
so much detail on their entire body.


just look at that face!
he is an art project waiting to be made!
the lines and the colors....oh i love turtles.

sidenote:  one time when i was annie's age i had a box turtle i found and i went to the pool and asked my dad to watch my turtle in the laundry room while i was gone.  when i got home he told me it had escaped.
i believed him until just recently when i remembered that story and relaized i had been tricked.  turtles can't escape a laundry room!!  REAL nice dad!  


why would God put orange on the bottom of turtle shell?
it's so interesting!
there is probably some reason.....there always is.



then on monday i found another turtle in the middle of the road.
i pulled over and jumped out and put it in a big pot i had in the trunk, took it home and put it in with phil.
:)
they can be buddies.

this photo is called Ode to Spring.   or maybe it should be called Ode to Allergies.     HA HA HAAAA.


craig mowed the yard on saturday.
it took all the time it takes to play all the avett brothers songs we have.
ha!

and last night i laid in bed at midnight with the windows open and i heard four things.
1. craig breathing
2. frogs
3. cows....or should i say COW...just one...MOOOOOO.  pause.   MOOOOO.  pause.   MOOOOOO...  repeat.
4. owls

i like this place.

my running....
i am at 86 miles.
i have 4 days left.
totally going to make it!!
a w e s o m e.
i would have LAUGHED IN YOUR FACE if you had told me last year i would be running 6 miles in march.
but i did it on sunday by myself with no one to make me finish but myself.
and Lance Armstrong came over my Nike+ thing on my iPod congratulating me.
i know it's just a recording but still it feels pretty sweet.

ok...WINNER for the elissa Hudson prints?! *********************************

Oh soooo many choices....it's gotta be, the Busy as a BEE print!

Posted by: Monica Williams | March 27, 2012 at 06:37 AM

******************************************************

send me your information Monica and i will hook you up with elissa!

aren't giveaways so much fun?!

don't forget to enter these:  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

enter to win a starbucks $100 gift card HERE.

enter to win a $100 gift crad to walmart from IHOP over HERE.

enter to win a $100 visa gift card from Hostess HERE.

thanks.
happy wednesday.

 

it's going to be a busy week....

several of you asked for the names of the paint i used on the chairs.
it's Color Place paint...walmarts cheapest.
Vintage Scotch Yellow, Fresh Raspberry Splash, Shimmering Summer Pool and Luminous Valentine Rose.

i am glad those chairs are done.

the giant rusty table is a challenge....but i like challenges. :)
it truly is GIANT.


more swag is coming in from craft weekend sponsors....

 
                                                                                                               i love everything from Piggy & Dirt.
  

                                        
                                                                                                                  hello loveliness from knitty bitties.

more fabric arrived and is waiting to be loved on.


this pile is from Charolette's (my local shop)                                          this pile is from HawthorneThreads.com


i especially loooove this pattern. 

 
i found some more goodies to spray paint and fix up at the Etc. Shop today.
isn't this cute....in a granny chic kind of way.

i think it needs a bright yellow frame....


have you heard of elissa hudson?


 
she has an amazing etsy shop with PAGES of really sweet illustrated prints.

you can get some of her prints personalized too!


 
i love the black background on this!
be brilliant.
YES!!!

 
this one is my favorite.
just the right amount of swirliness....and beautiful colors.

elissa is giving away TWO prints to one reader.
because she is awesome.

go to her shop and tell me which is YOUR favorite in the comments section.

AND if you LIKE her facebook page you can have a second entry.

so...let's hear it.
which one is your favorite? 

 

dude....

WORLD WATER DAY.
we rocked it.
seriously.....YOU ARE SO AWESOME.
The Adventure Project raised over $27,000!!!
in ONE DAY!
that is amazing.
the Prem Rawat Foundation matched our donations and gave $25,000!


111 mechanics will be supported from that effort.
SO AWESOME.

thank you.

the winner of the swag giveaway is............JAMIE J.

That was easy :)
$25 more towards training another mechanic!
Posted by: Jamie J | March 22, 2012 at 01:22 PM

.............................................................................................................................

email me Jamie J and i will ship your prize goodies to you. :)

 

ok moving on....

it has rained EVERYDAY of spring break.
ALL DAY.
and i was not prepared for that.
there is MUD everywhere.
we have practically ruined every pair of shoes we own....in four days.

 
what do farmers do with their dogs???
do you bathe a farm dog?  or just let it go?  
do country folk just not have indoor dogs?


 
these are things i need to learn.

craig stayed home today and we had a family day.
i wasn't convinced it was going to be any fun with all the crankiness that was going on before we left.
and the weather....it was ominous......AGAIN.


 
first stop....home depot.
isn't it always?


 
and our plans for mini golf were messed up from the cold so we went to the movies...last minute decison.


i took the girls to the Lorax....they'd already seen it.
and craig took the three oldest to the Hunger Games...i think they bought the last four tickets.
our theater was showing it in almost every theater every half hour!
kinda wish i'd gotten to see it.
but the Lorax was good.
:)
made me remember that i don't want to live with regrets.
i want to make a difference.
my kids watch me so closely to see if i will cry...i only got misty eyed this time...annie called me out. 

then we hit the bookstore.

my stack i browsed through.


 
sean spent some of his gift cards he had.
annie read as many Piggie & Elephant books as she could.
and i wished for a few more hours and a starbucks and silence....but we moved on.


chilis for dinner.
perfect place with the ball games starting.
it was interesting to observe that all of my children are old enough now (suddenly) to order their meal, have conversations the whole meal....without crying or fighting....and laugh together...it was pretty cool.

i think i like them!
 
we drove home and FINALLY the sun was shining.
i said "wow...i had no idea how bad i needed that sun?! it feels so good!"

scott left for basketball practice and i told the kids to play outside till it was dark.


 


she wanted to show me how fast she could ride.
last week she said "i think i was going 120 miles an hour!!!"

 
i stepped out on the main road to see the sun set....i took this for Pam.
she loved the sunsets on her kansas farm.
miss you pammie.


annie had come out to see the sun set too and then i told her she could go on ahead as fast as she could.
she did.


 
i stopped to take this picture and as soon as i snapped it i heard a crash in the house.
the kind that you wait for what comes next....

while arranging her bedroom lauren dropped the glass top to her dresser and it broke everywhere.
she cut her arm and was bleeding a lot.
oh my.
 
craig pulled up in the driveway 2 minutes later and took her to the ER....13 stitches....ouch.
she is fine.
she is making cookies right now as i type this.
but still....OUCH.
(you are welcome for not including pictures)

there is never a dull moment in a big family.
ever.


i think i am ready for bed.....it's been a really full day.

i will go to sleep smiling about World Water Day.
i love how God uses blogs to bring us together for a greater purpose...HIS purpose.
it really is SO COOL.
all of us from all over the world working together to help others.

in the words of the Lorax....
"Unless someone like you
cares a whole awful lot, 
nothing is going to get better.
It's not."

sleep well.

and thanks again.

 

world water day

so it's here.
today is World Water Day.

most of us reading this....we take our water for granted.
we can turn on the tap anytime we want.
we can use a drinking fountain just about anywhere.
we can bathe whenever we feel like it...in CLEAN water.
we can jump in a gigantic swimming pool or soak in a hot tub to relax.
we give our dogs big bowls of clean water...we make sure they are never out.

we don't have to worry about our babies getting sick or dying from the water we have to serve them.

we don't have to walk for hours EVERY DAY to get dirty water in buckets for our family.

we can help those that do have to do that.



and we HAVE.

we have built many wells through water4christmas and charitywater.org from your donations.

today we are rasing money to support the well mechanics that are desperately needed to keep the wells working.


 
for World Water Day, The Adventure Project is setting a goal to enable 186 people to become well mechanics.
if successful they could serve 930,000 people with CLEAN WATER.



it is a briliant plan.
to teach....to be effective....to bring solutions to a problem.
we can help.


but how about i throw in a little incentive?

i have a giveaway today for those that donate to The Adventure Project.


 
20 items of Craft Weekend SWAG.
:)

let's explore it a little closer.....

 









 1. whatever....the shop                2. twirling betty
 3. out of eden soaps                     4. the pleated poppy
 5. artsyville                                 6. joyshope handmade
 7. crescendoh                              8. jeanne oliver designs
 9. jones design company             10. CM handmade   
11. studio calico                          12. ike & co.
13. Lisa Leonard                          14. DecoArt
15. Elizabeth St.                          16. rags to stitches boutique
17. crystal b                                18. daisys & dots
19. pretty lil packages                 20. Just Lovely Things

WOW.
this is all for you!!!!


to enter this giveaway all you need to do is donate to The Adventure Project!




 


GO CRAZY....tweet it, facebook it, blog it!

GIVE BIG.....every dollar counts!

PRAY for the mechanics that will be trained because of your donation!

BE AWESOME....our huge goal is to raise $25,000 today together!!

come over to my page and donate....CLICK HERE.

one entry for every $5 you give.

:)

let's make a BIG difference on World Water Day!!!