BFF

This weekend we went to my little sister’s high school graduation. Sadly, we missed all opportunities to take photos with her. I’m pretty sure everyone else in Delphi snagged a photo with her though.

Instead, Regan helped me get hundreds of pictures of our family dog. He’s been with the family just about as long as Arielle. We got him in the summer of ‘91 and this summer Mason will be celebrating his 17th birthday.

We had a family friend who used to say, “If Mason could talk, he’d stutter.” I always thought that was the perfect description for him. He never slowed down- and he still has trouble taking it easy. He only has a small percentage of his teeth left. His hips are failing, and so are his eyes, hearing and memory, but he still bounds up the stairs on his good days and is a constant companion.

Priced to Sell

It’s rare that I find anything at yardsales. I used to go with lofty expectations, but after sifting through countless bins containing half used bottles of shampoo for $0.25 or packages of plastic Hawaiian leis those expectations have been lowered.

However, my mom seems to have a knack for finding just the right thing at yardsales- sturdy pieces of furniture that are transformed with a coat of paint (or sometimes they are perfect as is). Her luck rubbed off on my over Mothers’ Day weekend when she came to visit. We happened to walk by our neighbor’s house and saw a vintage tin toy car, an ornate black-framed mirror and a simple wooden chair, perfectly weathered. I talked myself out of a few things, but snapped up the $3.00 chair (priced the same as 12 half-empty shampoo bottles for those wishing to compare prices).

Now it sits in our dining room waiting for me to sand down the splatters of white paint that speckle it in addition to changing the seat cushion.

Fancy, eh?

List Making at its Best

I’m a born list maker. Whenever I clean out notepads from work I have to-do lists and household budgets interspersed with granting requirements for certain organizations and half developed curriculum. However, it always seems like my goals are loftier than my abilities or my drive. Pretty much the only things that get knocked off my lists are the low-hanging fruits like house cleaning and bill paying. The projects I have in mind never quite see the light.

I know part of this is due to the fact that being at work usually drains me of inspiration because…well, it’s work–good or bad.

Even though I don’t have a true summer vacation coming up, I do have summer to look forward to. Longer and warmer days of which to take advantage. If I can knock off 33.3% of this list I should be happy- that’s 33.3% more than what I’ve been up to lately.

Replace seat on yardsale chair
Recover wingback with this fabric from Anna Maria Horner’s drawing room collection
Finish knitting Agnes from Rowan’s Vintage Style
Make laptop bag (so I can stop carrying Regan’s backpack that is covered in Jack’s hair)
Learn to make a proper dress, skirt, and shirt (I’m infamous for taking short cuts and not following patterns)
Make curtains for the kitchen with Amy Butler’s Nigella fabric

No more dirty diapers

Goodbye loaves of bread turned mushy by the rain. Goodbye dirty diapers that are disintegrating into nothingness. Goodbye chunks of garbage that float into our yard. I bid farewell to all of these things.

Sadly our neighbor’s home has been foreclosed upon, but happily that means that we are able to stop dreaming about cleaning their yard and can do something about it. Yes, I realize it’s still technically illegal since we don’t own it, but no one is there to complain about us trespassing. Plus, Regan has become the hero of the block. All the old ladies (and men) commend him for his care of their yard, dandelion removal included.

However, we got greedy after our neighbor’s move. We thought, sure life in the backyard is immensely better without garbage and a lunatic child from next door…. but, wouldn’t it be even better if we didn’t have to look at any of our neighbor’s yards, no matter how well kept they might be? Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to chain up Jack so he doesn’t jump the fence. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could roll out of bed and let Jack out in the morning without putting pants on? We decided, yes. Yes, it would be.

And so I present our new privacy fence.

Isn’t it lovely? And private?

Check out what we had before.

Cake. Yes, Cake.

I have realized my complete inability to resist a tempting cake recipe.

Maybe it’s because winter/soup season is over and I’m forced to find other recipes to try in order to occupy myself in the kitchen. Or maybe it’s because they are just so very lovely.

This recipe is based on Ysolda’s delicious Gingerbread cupcakes with lemon yogurt icing.

These days – instead of exploring the endless possibility of vegetables I have discovered the limitless capabilities of sugar. I live in the land of baked goods.