A Post about Nothing...and Everything

We've spent a good portion of this week

Just enjoying the freedom of time

Nothing feels more right

Than having an evening to look at each other and say

"Hey watcha up to tonight"

Instead of

"Could you hook up the stove for me"

Or

"Show me how to hang those shades, so the neighbors and us

Aren't looking at each other strangely out of our kitchen windows

At 5:30 am.  Cause that's just awkward."

We've done lots of baking, yay, for homemade bread

And macadamia nut cookies.

And lots of babysitting.

Which is always fun, cause my kids are entertained

And I usually end up with more free time because everyone is busy

Running around the house like hooligans.

Yes, I'm the mom who everyone can blame for all the racket in the neighborhood

And the PJ wearing kids on bicycles at 3 in the afternoon.

We're quality entertainment some days.

There's just nothing like sugaring up someone else's kids.

One chocolate chip in the dough, and one in the mouth.  Repeat.

Well, hello, fine young ones.  And hello Princess H.  Welcome to our kingdom.

Can't forget the fun giveaway I WON over at simple thoughts

I was so crazy excited and had just the best time ever shopping at Crate and Barrel 

The giveaway was for Land of Nod, but being the kitchen crazed woman that I am

I spent it all at Crate and Barrel.

Sue me, but my kids don't know what they missed.

Anyway, I scored a couple of big glass canisters, a drain board,

And the coolest little canning jars.

Which, by the way, are super cheap and would make the greatest gifts

With a little bit of something inside and a sweet bow on top.

Thanks, Paige, you're a gem.

I also spent some time digging in my junk loot.

These hinges with such a fine patina, will have curtains hanging from them in my laundry.

The hinges are up, but the window trim isn't painted

And I'm not completely satisfied with my curtain either.

So a picture of the finished window will have to wait till another day.

Now is when I will expound on my junk loot.

You see, as much as I'd like to think I'm the girl with more class than all that

There is nothing, and I repeat, nothing.

That makes my blood pressure rise like some good old junk.

I love making something from nothing, spending nothing and getting a desired result.

This obsession goes way back.

It's in the genes, and I'm not kidding.

My grandpa is the father of all pack rats.

I've fond memories of digging around in his old barn 

Searching for lost treasure.

Some of the pieces of furniture and a mantel or so

Are actually pieces I schlepped home 

And made over.

While I don't consider myself to be a pack rat,

(although my husband may beg loudly to differ)

I can't seem to keep my hands off some good patina.

The only times he really minds

Are the times I'm sneaking over to the neighbors curb

At 10:30 at night to make off with an abandoned chair,

Or when he has to do a lot of grunt work to get my end result.

But all in all he's a good sport

And quite supports the financial benefits

Of the occasional free pile.

I'll be back later, with a little tutorial

And on boxwood wreath I worked on yesterday.

JO