Another blonde moment brought to you by yours truly..

Had to share it so you could all hear the air that is hissing out of my ear.. ;)
We have a leaky spigot in the back of the house. It is a house water spigot, awesome for when the girls want to swim in their little swimming pool. Clear, untainted water is better than brown secondary water. When I say brown, I mean just that, brown, really..
But that spigot leaks, into the house, into my craft room to be more specific. I think it has to do with the plumbing behind the wall... changing a leaky seat valve.. I change those numerous times a day.
I hate changing the real kind, attached to pipes.
So to find an alternate water source, I decided that the spigot from the front of the house would be better.
One problem: the hose isn't long enough.
To get clean water to the pool, I needed a longer hose.
I talked to Merrill one day while we were out.
"Can we stop at Home Deaf-o?" (we call it Deaf-o because we rarely get help there, no matter how loud we or the children cry..)
He asked me what crazy project I had in mind and I told him there was no project, just that a longer hose was needed for the activity of swimming in clean water.
"Well, you can most certainly go and buy a longer hose if that's what you want, BUT.. you could also connect the TWO we already have to make ONE LONG hose."
Wow! Who would have thought.. hoses? Connecting?!
Not me. :)
And that there is why I married the guy.
He's quite a thinker!
I need to change my hair color. ;)

Project mode..

The debate as to the size of our family has come to an end.
At the risk of my dear husband either going bald (he's already gray enough for both of us), working more hours to escape the massive amounts of estrogen being emitted into our home's atmosphere, and in efforts to earn enough money for the future purchasing of feminene hygeine products, training bras, then padded bras (as genetics has proven..), and three weddings with BIG poofy dresses, we are told, not to mention the fatherly worry and stress he endures through the gestational period..
I have folded.
I will wait for the millenium. :)
With the end of this debate came the dismantling of the nursery.
Merrill about died when I announced the coming activity of re-painting the nursery.
He thought it had been striped in the mauve-y tones that matched the crib bedding so perfectly for only a few months. (?!)
It's been almost 2 years.
If I am supposed to be "done" having babies, I can't see the paint everyday, that was meant just for "baby Peyton", who is not a baby anymore. I type this as she throws away garbage from her "after nap snack".. she cleans up after herself. Her favorite thing to do is to help me unload the dishwasher, put away the silverware! She has a favorite book that she brings to us to read to her multiple times throughout the day. (Merrill reminds me to take pics to post and document the cuteness of it all..)
She has been ready for a "big girl" bed for a couple of months now. We tend to put them in one as soon as they manage stairs. Life is much more pleasant that way. The other two have slept so much better once the transition was made.
So, I am painting.
My craft room re-do still has a few little touches left to it, but her room is calling to me.
Friday, I packed away the nursery things.. an afghan that I made while I was pregnant with Lynn watching endless episodes of M*A*S*H while my hands worked.. the quilt that has been on the twin bed for when the older two made their transition.. the musical carousel Jaclyn got me for Christmas the year I had Lynn.. cross-stitches, Noah's Ark EVERYTHING.. sigh..
A couple of months ago, the changing table came down.
I was teary during that task, so I thought I would fare much worse when Friday came.
I didn't do too bad.
Two moments, that's it.
One- taking the crib quilt, that mom and I made when I was pregnant with Lynn, before we even knew she was a she.. packing it away, for the first time in seven years got my eyes foggy.
Two- I think was more out of frustration than anything else. I was dismantling the crib, which has never been taken apart.. Peyton was so excited! She kept running around, giggling, patting my back and hugging me repeatedly, but despite her happiness and excitement, I couldn't get the side rails to release their grip from the brackets for the life of me!
Merrill called at the height of my frustration..
"It won't come apart.. like I am not supposed to be taking this apart.." I said.
"Oh... yes. It is most definitely supposed to come apart. I will help when I get home if it hasn't come apart yet." He reassured.
The emotion helped me get the side rails off. :)
The make-over continues.. the first coat of paint dries.
Can't wait to post pics..
We have quite the busy week ahead of us!
And surprisingly, I am okay with it all..
We are happy, after all.

Ello!

I am in household project mode..
Again..
Peyton will soon have a "big girl" room.
Cribs are for the birds when it comes to children this age in our house.
While I am waiting for paint to dry, thought I could get one in!
I do have a post a-brewin' as far as digi scrappin', resources and fun stuff.. I have had a few e-mails with questions. :)
I used a template on this one from Chrissy W. at Elemental Scraps.
I also used a kit by the same artist..
The rest of the makings are from things I have collected, already.. because it is so totally addicting!! ;)

A remeberance..

Okay, more than one.. that's how I roll. ;)
Ashley had a remembrance when I told her to go and get her pajamas on.
"Mom! I remember that I used to have TWO nightgowns!! (As opposed to the one Hannah Montana nightgown she now owns..) One was purple with princesses and the other was blue with princesses.. I miss them! They were so beautiful and gorgeous.. I wish that when I growed, my beautiful and favorite clothes would grow too so I could always wear them!"
Oh, I would love it if they would shrink accordingly as well.. :)
Another remembrance, came to me as I watched a dear friend's daughter enter the waters of baptism this evening..
A flood of memories.. myself in white, hair braided, my dad standing on my toes to keep them from popping up.
What a wonderful memory!
I am so thankful..

Sweet 16..

I do love digi scrapping, but I think this little late-night crop has more to do with the feeling of fullness that remains after a late-night visit to Village Inn and the strawberry crepes that were introduced to the inside of stomach.
Yum.
(The crepes were delicious too! ;D)

It's Official..

Or little Kitty is really 16!
I can hardly believe it.. I remember her being in diapers, taking her to kindergarten, calming her down during lightning storms, and drawing Pooh Bear on her cast.. and who could forget the cruise with it's crap-tastic chocoholic buffet?! ;)
And now she's growing up..
Happy Birthday Kitty, Spanky, Kells, Kell-Bell!!!!Love ya!

Homesick..

Have you ever felt homesick for something?
I am feeling that way lately..
While I am surely living in the "now", trying to not look too much into the future, but planning for it, and not dwelling in the past, I still get homesick for different times in my life.
Sometimes it's the newness of our relationship. While I still get butterflies anticipating Merrill's arrival home from work everyday, I still miss the excitement, the newness.
I will get homesick for each one of the girls at a different age, while I love them wholly and completely where they are now, loving everything they do and say.. I miss the firsts.
Right now, I am homesick for pregnant life..
It's amazing what can spur such feelings.
It ebbs and flows, but the other night it came on like a flash flood.
I was up, with the "pre-monthly fun stuff", my personal woe of insomnia, and I heard Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" on a TV show.. gush! The memories flooded in. It's a song I heard so many times in the end of my pregnancy with Peyton, being up in the middle of the night with contractions, watching late night TV info-mercials.. Time Life music specials..
Wow.
Music has always had a power, a presence in my life, but it has hit me hard on this one.
I love it all.
I miss it all.