Ok…so short and sweet..Monkey was THRILLED when I picked her up today! Our creative endeavor won her the “Best Pirate” outfit of the class! :):) She was one very happy little girl…now I know you all are dying to see what on earth she looked like so we hit the back yard and had a quick little photo shoot…check out the photos tab at the top and be patient on loading…It will look like it is done loading but if you start clicking on the pictures right away it takes you to a new window for each one instead of the slide show with the comments…I am using Google Analytics to track the traffic to my little home here on the web and their new code is causing sites to slow down…just look at the bottom in your info bar on your browser…it will say it is still transferring info to google!! ugggghhh…They say they are working on fixing it and if I have to I’ll find a way to delete it but for now I’ll just live with it…sorry for the inconvenience guys!!! Off to scrap!!
Pirate update!
AAARGGG!!!
Not in frustration my friends but as in pirates!! I guess that garners an explination. So I pick monkey up from school yesterday and all is well. Every month they have a calender that tells you what the theme is each day. Like every Monday is Book day, each child brings in a book. Simple enough but some how we didn’t get the July one… so we I’ve been checking the one they post on the door everyday when I pick her up to see what the next day is. Well yesterday I check it and low and behold…it is Dress up like a Pirate day!! First of all wooohoooo! Monkey LOVES Pirates…Captain Jack to be more specific, but anyway she was super excited…well..we have toys but no pirate clothes..so I call mom (who is on her way to WalMart) And see if she’ll check and see if they have anything…how well do you think that went…umm…didn’t…Miss thing in the back seat yelling “I wanna go shopping for my pirate clothes!” Soooo…we headed home to wait for mom to pick us up and off to WalMart we went. Now mind you, it is the end of the day and my brain isn’t on…Captain Jack is done and gone, Spiderman is the happenin man now! Not a pirate theme in sight…the best they had was a huge sword! Well that isn’t CLOTHES!! Sooo we got creative! We walked by a display that had some pjs for adults…Tank Tops and shorts that have you know who on them! “Mommy Captain Jack!” Well they are for adults not little soon to be 4 year olds! But we managed to find one in an xs 1, the shorts have a draw string so we can make them fit and the tank top isn’t toooo huge so safety pins works right! So…that is the base..a bright blue, black, white and pink base no less…so girlie pirate we will be! We hit the little girls section to find something to work as the “jacket” and found the cutest little white like peasants/pirate top…yes I know that doesn’t sound like much…but take a pair of scissors and snip it down the center and poof…you got a girlie pirate jacket! Ok..so we couldn’t find a suitable hat..but hello…Captain Jack wears a bandanna!! So off we go in search of the perfect one and boy did we luck out!! There on that little shelf sat a black and white scull and cross bones bandanna! So we scoop that up and headed to the fabric section after trying everything from shoe laces to sequined belts as the “Sash”! And of course girlie yet again…pink satin it is!! While we were there of course we had to find something like little baubles or bead for her hair! “Captain jack had beads mommy!!!” And just in case you are wondering, no we aren’t getting all this from the top of our heads! We hit the toy section and found a Captain Jack toy and walked around WalMart toting the little thing as a reference!! ok…so Fabric section of course leads to crafts and beads! After several back and forths we all decide on the bead to use and then my mother and her insanly crazy brain thought…boots!! How to make boots!! Well I just recently got Monkey the Cutest little pink shoes from sketchers see 
And of course she wants to wear these (this request we didn’t mind ) so mom hits the felt!! Yes I said felt! We really got two pieces of brown felt, one for each leg and folded the top down and pinned it around her leg! (Short term for pictures kind of solution :)) So we now have shirt, shorts, “jacket”, “sash”, bandanna, shoes, boots, hair decorations (not that i have any idea how I’m gonna do braids in her ultra fine just barely long hair!!), Oh but wait! What about the little wrist thing?? You say what wrist thing (I’m telling you the little action figure made sure we didn’t forget ANYTHING!) This one..see..He only had it on his Right hand, that black thing…
So of course ribbons!! We, well truth be told mom, found this really soft fringy type trim that little miss just loved! So…that it is…So to the check out we go to see how much this makeshift pirate costume is gonna set me back And not bad…26 total…could have been worse! We head home, a lot later than we had planned ate dinner and then proceeded to cutting, tying, and otherwise pulling together all our pieces to create a Fancy Dancey Pirate Princess! And did it work?? YEP and you wanna talk about adorable!!! Proof is in the pudding…pictures will be up this evening! So you just have to come back and see her!!! For now, Aaarrgggg Maties…
Decorating, never thought it would mean this much to me!!
Ok…so I grew up a tomboy…loved dirt, hated lace. So one might think Decorating (even after this many years) would make it to my “Despised things” list. Au contraire mes amie (hehe…bet ya didn’t know my little brain actually knows some french, I should after 4 years of the foreign language classes I took!) Anyway, my first inclination that I MIGHT enjoy decorating was my brief stint at it in our first house in St. Albans…And I do mean brief. We bought, painted, refinished floors, redid kitchen, bedrooms, yadda yadda yadda in about 5 months…then uprooted and moved to NC! Well what a wonderous time I had picking out paint, fabrics and rugs. Arranging a room to please the eye. Clean and polish till my room resembled that of a piece of art behind a piece of glass displayed on a wall with a single dedicated picture light glowing softly. Ok, so that is what I hoped my short burst of decorating turned out to be…wasn’t there long enough to see if anyone else agreed with my perception
Onto NC. We spent the first hmmm…two years living in one household which became fondly entitled The Zoo Crew. This consisted of my mother, father, my husband, little miss monkey and I, and various sundry pets. Two houses into one, pictures still in boxes, nick knacks still sleeping soundly in the crawl space wondering when they’d see the light of sun again. Don’t get me wrong we were perfectly comfortable…but you know…a house…you just want to put your mark on it…but we weren’t sure who was going to stay where or what the future held so the ugly blue paint stayed, the boring white trim and cold marble fireplace glared on. Enough of that! The decorating bug is back!
We have finally figured out where the future was going and have even made some pretty bold steps in that direction if I may say so! So the fun stuff (yes I called it fun) is back…ok..so part fun..and a lot of work…the rainbow of paint chips, the choices to be made in lighting fixtures, the agonizing do we paint the trim red or brown…and before you go aack…it is a gorgeous red and brown…Pictures will come if I take the time to take them! With the paint chosen and bought (all 40 gallons of it) the painting festivities began…All this in preparation of moving my grandmother (a.k.a The Decorating Bug) and aunt down here with us…Well hard work or not it was just the spur we needed to get out of just living each day by day to making a home and a life! Little touches like grandpa’s pipe collection nestled quite properly upon the bottom shelf of an antique little table. Or the wide mouthed picture of Monkey gracing my mother’s hallway showing an unbelievably close resemblance to my wide mouthed baby picture sitting quietly (ha joke I know) beside the star of the show. Those are just a few of the tiny touches that have erupted from boring tired old boxes since The Decorating Bug (a.k.a mawmaw) has hit NC. And through all the trials, work and bleary eyes I love it. My mother’s house is now the home I can remember when I was younger…Now just in a new and amazing town! Ready and waiting to create more amazing memories.
Now that mom’s house is a home sweet home…The Decorating Bug has come my direction! Last night I got home to a list of stuff to do three miles long, not enough time, and one single phone call put all that on hold. MawMaw was coming to eat with us and was bringing her tin collection, now could someone please come pick her up! Now you know very well she wasn’t just coming for food…it is in her blood…she wanted to make my house pretty Sooo even though I knew I needed to work on some other things I didn’t…Instead we sat through dinner chatting and I spent the rest of my evening climbing up and down a little foot stool arranged and rearranged tins, baskets, and crocks at the direction of the very talented Decorating Bug And I can tell you…this tomboy sat in my little desk chair this morning sitting there looking at the bugs handy work atop my kitchen cabinets and almost cried, not for the beauty left but I could see the love that was being imprinted upon a little house that would one day become a home.
Now can you believe it…I’m declaring it for the world to hear…I do hope that one day the Decorating bug can rub some of that genius off on this little dreamer But for the time being I will continue to be the legs, hands and energy needed for such an amazing little lady to work her magic.
