The Legacy Lady

Fun Freebie Link

If you like this album from the June/July issue of Digital Scrapbooking, you will want to check out this post on Digiscrap101...

Time with Friends....

It is fun to spend time with friends who you remember from way back when... My husband has been friends with John since long before we were married.  In fact, when I met John for the first time and my husband and I weren't really dating yet my husband introduced me to John and John told me, "You and I will never be good friends because all my friends meet girls like you and get married." 

He was right because a short time later Troy and I were engaged and then we dragged John to a New Year's Eve dance with us where he met Michelle and that week they got engaged.  Troy and I were married in February and John and Michelle married in March.  Now here we all are, over sixteen years later, happily married with families of our own.

 It was great spending the last few days just catching up, reminiscing and laughing... We know we are all older but we still feel young - our kids had a great time playing together and it was just a great time all around.  Yesterday was John's birthday so Michelle and I made him a giant cookies and cream ice cream cake (you can find directions on how to make ice cream cake here)....  Now if you decide to make ice cream cake, be careful - it can be addictive - or that's what i have heard from others I taught how to do it...

Today they left for a family reunion and now thing will be back to normal for a day (crazy catch up on lots of projects) before tomorrow's Independence Day - I am looking forward to some fun, fireworks and just relaxing with my dh and kids. 

Hope you and yours have a fabulous 4th as well.

Lazy Days of Summer

It finally feels like summer around here - after all the remodeling we had some dear friends come into town and we have just had a great time relaxing and enjoying our time with them. 

Today we took the boat out for the first time it was great fun...with so many people my friend and I stayed on the beach for most of the day while the guys took a few of the kids out on the lake.  It was so relaxing sitting and chatting and watching the kids play along the beach.

The youngest just finished his first round of swim lessons and has so much more confidence...

The twins had a great time searching for pebbles to skip across the water...

Another interesting thing happened, we had several visitors from the bird family to our little beach site (I think it definitely had something to do with my birdwatching Crumpler bag) - I have more photos but this one was a magpie - something I have never photographed before... the texture is from Nicole V...

I will post more photos later... right now sleep is high on the priority list - after two wild tube rides I am beginning to realize just how old I am getting...a day at the lake takes a lot of energy!

Laundry...Laundry

I wonder if one could consider home remodeling a form of hybrid scrapbooking...ok that is a stretch - but seriously as dirty as my hands and nails are from all this work it reminds me of my traditional stamping and scrapbooking days...

So I promised a final reveal - the bathroom will have to wait a few days - we lack grout for the countertop and a new light fixture... but here is the progress so far...

Before -

After

We took out the closet enclosure around the appliances which opened up the room and made it so much nicer. There is finally room to hang the broom and mop and the new floor is really nice.

I have learned a few things this remodel -

1. Having a functional and attractive laundry room really does make laundry easier and somewhat fun to do. (yes ladies you can tell your husbands that I said so - not like that holds any weight - lol).
2. I still love the Madera yellow Suprema paint from Dunn & Edwards...
3. Shower curtains make a much better closet enclosure than wooden bi-fold doors (prettier too) although now I need to sew a base to the curtain so it will be long enough...
4. I can install a toilet all by myself - now THAT I am pretty proud about - although don't ask me to install your toilet - just knowing I can do it is totally enough - I don't need/want to do it again! :)
5. Installing flooring is an acquired skill - after a closet and this laundry room and bath I am feeling more confident in my abilities but would love to source it out if I ever find myself looking at a project like this again.

So that's it for now - and I am good to hang up my hammer for a few weeks and just enjoy what we have done before I take on any more home improvement! :)

 

16 more days...

Mallard ducks are interesting.  16 days or so until the big day and Martha has progressed to the point where she will eat and drink in front of us without being afraid... 

That said, she still is very wild and goes out every evening to find food somewhere.  So I don't think we will ever tame her (not that we want to) and I think that we will have to be very careful in the next few weeks - she is getting more and more stressed with the hot weather and waiting - I can only imagine what is like to sit on a nest for so many hours each day. OK -enough of the duck musing... I'm off to the neighborhood pool with the kids..

Who couldn't...

Who couldn't love this face???

Awakening Possibilities...

I came across this video on TED - it is a great message worth passing along...

My favorite quote from the presentation?

"The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound...he depends for his power on the ability to make other people powerful..."

That to me is leadership in a nutshell...

Looking for A Sign?

I was driving home from dropping a friend at the airport this morning, enjoying the silence and pondering a few things that have been on my mind lately when I pull up to a stoplight and see this -

luckily I had my G9 handy to capture it - let's zoom in, shall we?

Now I am not one to look for signs or to put much faith in a simple sign I see on the back of a car - but it got me to thinking... and when I thought about that simple phrase, "Expect a Miracle" on the back window of that jeep this morning it was literally as if all the stress in my heart just left my body with a huge sigh of relief. 

I was reminded that God is in charge - which in the middle of my stress and worry it was so easy to forget. 

As I thought about the phrase and then thought of who would put that on their car for random strangers to read, I thought to myself, "Wow, am I that kind of person?  Do I put out messages and energy that encourage others?"  I almost wanted to follow the car and find out who they were just to chat and ask why - but I needed to turn right to go home.

So to summarize - in a simple sign I not only remembered who is in charge of all things on this planet - but also that I need to be better about sharing simple encouragement to random strangers.  Who could be offended with the phrase, "Expect a miracle?" 

So now I pass it along to you -

Max and Miss Martha

The cat went to the groomers yesterday and came home especially perturbed with the duck.  He spent the rest of the day watching the duck - seriously, intently.  He didn't leave his post until it got dark.

The funny thing is the duck can see him too - and she watches him and eyes him, challenging him through the window - I am surprised the cat hasn't attacked the glass.  He got especially upset when I went outside to get a picture of the duck panting.  The duck tried to drink water from the dish we set out and it was almost empty so I refilled the water...

After I refilled the water my daughter came out to tell me that Max was doing this weird sound that was in between growling and meowing.  She had forgotten to firmly shut the front door and as I turned I found Max on the front porch...we put him back inside where he immediately jumped back to his post...

I guess life is hard for a cat when your owner is taking care of the enemy (or dinner).  I think Martha is enjoying it - and although this doesn't quite capture the duck pant I think you will get the idea... Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Random Updates...

This was Miss Martha early this morning...20 more days until we see ducklings (hopefully).  She has been quite the trooper - sitting in the shade for most of the day and when the sun changes in the afternoon she pants away (have you ever seen a duck pant?)  We try to shade her with an umbrella but most of the time they blow away and scare her more than they help...

It has been interesting to say the least.  I love when I drive into our circle that she sticks her head up like the periscope on a submarine to see what is coming her way - it is a funny way to be welcomed home.

The kids are on their second week of swim lessons - I will take photos and post sometime next week just for the grandmas!

Funny thing happened yesterday.  I took a load of remodeling trash (torn out drywall, 2x4's, trim, etc.) to the dump with my three year old son.  After we unloaded everything we were driving back to the main road and we saw a lot of construction and heavy equipment. Last month when we visited Troy's parent's farm the kids rode with Grandpa on his backhoe all over the farm and had quite a fun time. So as we are driving past all of this construction my son says, "Mom, keep an eye out for my grandpa because he has a tractor and we might see him." 

I just giggled because he has no idea of time and space - he just associates Grandpa with where the tractors are...cute!

I had some fun this morning making this in CS2/Image Ready...I took the photos in the sports setting with my DSLR and then layered them in Photoshop and edited in Image Ready to create this animated gif - fun!