Kindergarten Roundup

When Sarah has dress-up day at preschool (silly hair day, mismatched socks day) she is often resistant. "Silly isn't cute, Mom." So when told her she could dress up as a cowgirl for Kindergarten Roundup, I didn't expect her enthusiastic response.

"Cowgirls always go like this with their feet, Mom."

 

 

She has a giant class of . . . 13 kids! They are certain to be a tight-knit group by the time they get through their 13 years of school. Her teacher is one I knew when I was growing up and she is energetic and awesome. I love a small town! And now we can't wait for fall when Sarah can ride the bus with her sister and go to all-day Kindergarten. (After a nice long summer break, of course).

basement progress—main room

I'm not sure what to call this room. Main room? Big room? Craft room? Family room? Play room? Check. Everything room? In any case, this is the final room of the basement remodel tour.

As I have said with the previous spaces, I have a lot of decorating to do as time and funds permit—window treatments, rugs, artwork, etc. The basics are in place, however.

You might recognize some of my Craig's List finds throughout the basement (the chair, lamps, side tables, and coffee tables above, and my desk chairs.) The couch belonged to my Grandpa and I bought it in our family auction. The rest of the furniture is mostly IKEA and came with us from Utah.

This is my office/art area. As you can imagine, I have a lot of plans for this space. As you can also imagine, it doesn't usually look this clean. The great thing about giving virtual tours is I can stash stuff in the neighboring room for the photo shoot.

As for the original fireplace, I usually get one of two responses—either "I love the brick!", or "What are you going to do with the fireplace?" as if we just haven't gotten that far yet. Well, it stays. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a sleeker looking fireplace, but this wood fireplace serves as backup in case of a power outage, and that isn't unheard of around here. I think I will use artwork and accessories to work with it and make it feel like it belongs. Any ideas?

basement progress—media room and guest room

What was once a storage room (with no windows) . . .

. . . is now our media room (or Tom's man cave as we have also called it).

To make this room more useful, we opened it up by relocating the closet for the guest room next door, as highlighted in pink in the floor plan below:

The giant bedroom could afford to lose the space it took for the new closet, and it also helped us hide an exposed pipe in that room.

Since we still have a storage room in the other corner of the house, it was really cool to be able to carve out a usable space from this room.

We already had this cabinet from IKEA, so we recessed it in to the wall to showcase Tom's Nascar car collection. This is his room to display all of his sports memorabilia also. (Well, an approved, edited selection of memorabilia. Ha ha.)

In the other corner of the room (currently serving as storage for unpacked excessive memorabilia) we plan to install a kitchenette. It will have a sink, stove, microwave, and space for a small refrigerator. This space will be very helpful when we tear apart our kitchen upstairs!

The couches came with us from Utah, as well as the coffee table and media center (IKEA). The sconces are from Lowes.

This is the neighboring guest room:

You can just barely see the window in the the photo above and how we reframed all of the windows (and doors and base boards.)

This closet is waiting for doors to be painted also.

This furniture also came with us from Utah. The dresser and armour were purchased from Pier One about 10 years ago. The bed is Ethan Allen and was used in our Master until we recently upgraded to a King mattress. The quilt was purchased from Pottery Barn and the Eiffel Tower lamp from Target, both quite a few years ago. I am a fan of reusing what I have as much as possible! Oh, and yes, that is our cat Zoe who is quite good at making herself comfortable all over the house.

That leaves just one more room to show you—the large main/family room. I am still working on getting it cleaned up enough for photos, so stay tuned for pictures in the next day or two.

Tell us what you think so far! Of course I have lots of decorating to do . . .

basement progress—bathroom

I'm back this week with more photos of our basement progress.

It's hard to appreciate how far this bathroom has come without seeing the old one in person. But trust me—this is probably the room that saw the biggest improvement.

It is difficult to miss the hard-water corroded faucet and sink, formica counter top that wrapped oddly up the wall, the mirror that wasn't lined up above the sink, the vanity doors that wouldn't slide open without falling out of their track, the plastic tile shower surround, and the concrete shower floor and brick base.

Because now we have this:

The photo is labeled "in progress" because we have a couple of key things to finish: a floor to ceiling narrow cabinet that will go between the vanity and toilet (the current 2x4 wood support on the vanity will go away) and the tile backsplash that we will install after the cabinet is in place. And hanging the mirrors.

The sinks are Decolav and the faucets Glacier Bay, both from Home Depot (also both in stock items which is so much less expensive!). All the floor/shower tile and marble countertop tile is also from Home Depot. (Going with tile for the counter top was SO much less than getting a granite or marble slab). We bought the mirrors for $10 each from IKEA, and although they are a little bit narrower than ideal, they were much less than cutting custom mirrors. The light fixtures are from West Elm, and the baskets are from Target.

This is now by far the best shower in the house. It features dual shower heads (love)!

The tile is all my dad's handiwork. He also built the cabinets that I will show you once they are installed. (They are waiting for Yours Truly to apply 2 more coats of varnish.) We are so blessed to have someone with so much talent helping us doing most of the work on this remodel and otherwise probably wouldn't be able to have half as nice a result. Thanks one hundred times over, Dad!

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #6: Get rid of just-in-case items

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

If you have decided like I have that having an organized and peaceful house is imperative, you can join me on by tackling these little challenges. You can start anytime, and you can do any of the previous challenges at any time. If you do, I ask that you leave me a comment and let me know how it went. Let's encourage each other!

Challenge #6: Get rid of "just-in-case" items

In a nutshell, you should not be hanging on to items just in case something happens that is really completely in your control anyway. Sometimes we are afraid the worst will happen, and we almost encourage or allow that thing to happen because we plan for it, "just in case".

I have to admit I haven't completely figured out the "my way" part of this challenge yet (as in how this applies to me). I will have to give it some thought. But here are a few examples:

We have a snow shovel "just in case" it snows. A, this outcome is out of my control. B, we live in Montana so it is ridiculous to get rid of a snow shovel. Bad example.

Let's try another one. Keeping your fat clothes "just in case" you gain weight back is acknowledging that it could happen and giving yourself an out if it does. This outcome is within your control. Deny even the possibility and get rid of those clothes!

Not inviting company over for Sunday dinner "just in case" I don't get my house clean. It is much better to motivate myself for a positive result and invite them ahead of time! Wait. That doesn't apply to clutter, but you get the drift.

Do you have any just-in-case items to get rid of? All I can think of right now is a few "skinny clothes", and that is motivation for a positive result, so I'm not sure if that qualifies. A Feng Shui expert would probably tell me to get rid of them. Oh, and hanging on to my baby stuff just in case I accidentally get pregnant. Hey, it's happened before. Right after I got rid of a bunch of baby stuff, in fact. :)

Let me know if you have any more ideas. I'll see you back here next week to let you know if I had any success. Happy purging!

basement progress—Abby's room

Welcome to Abby's room! (Part 2 of our basement remodel tour)

We have some artwork to create and some things to hang on the wall, but for the most part, Abby's room is complete. (Try to ignore the blue tape in the upper right corner of the door. Of course you probably didn't even notice until I pointed it out.)

We used the desk and bed from our old guest room in Utah. Her shelves were in her old room. Her bedside pendants were from CB2 and I had purchased them ages ago after our dining room light fiasco. After finding out they were not hard wired, I stuck them in a closet to use eventually. I was so happy to use them in here! The throw pillows on her bed were purchased from Target and used to be on the couch in our family room. In fact, the only thing we bought brand new for her room was her cute Land of Nod duvet and shams and a mirror from IKEA. I love how we have a completely new room with things we mostly already had!

She will have closet doors—as soon as we get them painted. And we are going to put some magnet boards up above her desk for her to hang things on.

I wish I had a picture of the old light fixture, but it wasn't pretty. The new rooms are all fitted with multiple can lights on dimmers. It is so much nicer than one central dim light in the room.

As it goes with older homes, the floors in every room of the basement were cracked and heaved in the middle. As a result, carpet was about our only flooring option (except for the traffic areas where we laid cork). Abby's room features the same carpet we chose throughout... a very subtle green. Her floors were particularly uneven, which presented quite a challenge when trying to level the shelves below her window. Oh well, with the wide-angle lens warp, you can't see the uneven flaws anyway.

The trouble with not touching a house for 40 years is that some of it is actually back in style now. And I know at least a few of you are going to say "What??? Why did you change that?" But I'm pretty sure brown shag carpet and orange bedding didn't suit my 8-year old daughter's taste.

Her new room is a bit more grown up than her old one. (Sniff, sniff.) She also had absolutely no trepidation about sleeping in the basement, even before her room was nice and new.

What do you think? More to come!

basement progress—stairs and hall

If I waited until our basement was completely finished before snapping photos I may never get it done, so I decided to give you a glimpse of where it stands today. Here is the stairway and hall as it was before:

Beautiful, isn't it? I know some of you think it was a total crime to get rid of that wallpaper. (But hey, we had no choice. Those walls were gutted at one point.) And this is what it looks like today!:

This is a slightly different angle, of course. You can see the cork flooring we laid in the traffic areas and the carpet that we laid throughout the rest of the basement. We are happy with both.

The stack of doors are for closets and are waiting to be painted, as is the door you can see at the end of the hallway.

 

Here is a better look at the new stairs. (When I do my final after shots I need to do a better job of capturing the same angles!) I love how this turned out. We have a few more pieces of trim to install, and then I can finish caulking and painting this area. We also plan to put up a rail of some sort.

Under the stairs we added a little playhouse for the kids. It is a hit and a much better use of that space for us. (The air intake for the new forced air heating system runs through there, so we simply built a platform over it.)

 

In the photo above left you can see a bit more of the trim that needs to be finished.

We reused the bookcase (seen above in the first photo in this post) that was there, chopped off the top, painted it, and installed it in the back of their play house to store toys. It fit perfectly.

The girls love the little window and use it as their drive-thru window. Hey, take-out is hard to come by out here so we'll take what we can get! (Even plastic hamburgers.)

I put legos and other small toys here because it keeps them out of Eva's reach.

More coming soon!

Easter weekend

Our Easter weekend was filled with fun, and I got the cousin shot I was hoping for:

All 10 of the Clark cousins together. What a special time!

Here are a few more of my favorite memories from the weekend:

A much-needed girls night out.

A birthday girl and some rock-climbing wall action.

Amy's delicious pies.

Staying with Uncle Brad, Aunt Amy, and cousin Ollie (even if the babies didn't sleep.)

An amazing, gigantic Easter dinner with TWO kid's tables!

Hunting Easter eggs against the beautiful Montana mountains, and an absolutely gorgeous sunny day.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend too!

cousins

I'm loving this picture of my girls and all but 2 of their Clark cousins. It is a rare opportunity for them to all be together, especially since 3 of them moved to London last June.

Don't you just love the worn out knees?

Want to know something cool about these kids? There was 1 born every year for 7 years. On the 7th year 2 were born, and the pattern was broken. Then we skipped a year and had one more, and skipped another year and had one more. In all there are now 10 Clark grandkids. It is so fun to see them all lined up like this.

This weekend, as you read this, we have the opportunity to have all 10 of them together. I am so hoping to get a good picture of them all since such a picture doesn't exist. If I do, I'll be sure to share it.

Eight kids in one house means there are a lot of mouths to feed. Suddenly some of these kids are growing up and their appetites are growing with them. I was again thankful for my big, long dining room table.

And these:

English scones for our English cousins. (They have such an accent now. Its so cute!)

And cinnamon rolls. Always a crowd favorite.

Have a very happy Easter tomorrow!

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #5: Get rid of unwanted gifts

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

Happy Friday, my friends. Did you have fun getting rid of those unwanted gifts that you have kept in the back of your closet for way to long? Or worse, out on your coffee table even though it makes you cringe because it isn't really you? Did you take this opportunity to purge them? Or did your guilt get the best of you?

I added a few things to my donation pile. Here they are:

AS IF! I don't know who stops by to read my blog and I am NOT going to parade all my unwanted gifts here at the risk of offending someone. But in my quest to declutter and simplify my life, these things are decidely UNWANTED, and its time for them to go.

You know, it really is okay to display unwanted gifts for a short time. We aren't out to offend those we love who were so kind to think of us. But I'm sure those we love would not want us to be burdened with something we don't like forever. So after the grace period is over, let it go, baby. Let it go.

(Pst. If you want to tell me about your purging experiences, I promise I won't tell anyone. You can even sign your comment "anonymous" if you want.)

Check back next Friday for a new Feng Shui My Way challenge!

 

Let the farming begin

Spring farm work has begun with a frenzy, and our guys have started to spend long days outside to prep for spring seeding. There is anxiety and excitement in the air—almost like harvest time. This year we purchased a new (used) seeder that arrived in our yard yesterday:

This piece of machinery is a monstrosity and staring up at it gives me great respect for guys that have to figure out how to use this vitally important tool. If you thought buying a new car or a new computer was overwhelming . . .

Here is the old seeder that we traded in for the new one:

(The bit behind the tractor. The new one will be pulled by this tractor also.) I could not begin to tell you what is special about the new one, although I do know that it is bigger and they can cover more ground with fewer passes. I can also tell you that the guys were a bit giddy when it arrived!

It will be exciting to see a new season unfold. (We arrived on the farm last year in June, so we missed spring seeding.) Already the winter wheat (planted last fall) is starting to grow and carpet the ground with green. A sure sign of spring!

So let the spring farming begin!

 

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #5: Get rid of unwanted gifts (and contest results!)

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

I am aware that it is now Saturday. We had a busy couple of days with special cousin company (more on that later), and I spent too much time in the kitchen to get a post up. Better late than never, I suppose.

First off, I owe you some contest results! If you participated in the last challenge and cleaned out your basement or made a pile of things to donate, you will appreciate how much effort it takes. And if you are still working on it, good on you. Congratulations to our winner, Jolene! Here is her pile:

The best part of her entry was the e-mail she followed up with afterwards:

I took my stuff to the second hand store and thought it was only fair to report that I brought home a bunch of stuff too!!  haha!!
 
Check out these vintage nursing clogs - I love them!
 
later!

 

I laughed out loud because don't we all have that problem? But thanks for the full disclosure, Jolene, and your nursing clogs are super fun and unique. Your book will be in the mail soon!

 

And now for a new challenge:

Challenge #5: Get rid of unwanted gifts.

Depending on how heavy a conscience you have, this challenge should be pretty easy. Do you have any unwanted gifts or that you have

a) stuffed in a closet?

b) displayed with distaste or regret?

c) displayed only when the gift giver comes for a visit?

Now is the time to toss them out, along with the guilt that comes with them. The goal is to love everything in your home and to have nothing around that drains your positive energy. Go for it! (I won't tell if you don't tell.)

Have a great weekend!

 

How to make baby leg warmers

Last Christmas, my crafty sister-in-law Amy gave Eva little leg warmers she had made from women's knee socks. These things are the bee's knees, I tell you. So much better than tights, because you don't have to pull them down for diaper changes.

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to it, but after a quick little tutorial from Amy, I whipped up a few more pairs.

Here's how I did it:

1. Buy a pair of clearance women's knee socks. O.K., they don't have to be on clearance. But why not?

2. Cut the heel of the sock out and the toe of the sock off, keeping your cut lines perpendicular to the edges of the sock. (My cuts aren't perfectly straight here because I followed the lines of the stripes.)

3. Fold the foot portion of the sock in half on itself (right side out).

4. Slip the folded foot portion over the rest of the sock, lining up all of the raw edges, and pin.

5. Remove the outer platform of your sewing machine, then stretch the sock around the base to sew, leaving at least a 1/4" seam allowance. (The edges of the sock tend to curl, so pinning and leaving enough seam allowance is key.)

6. Flip the sewn cuff back over and—ta-da—you are ready to dress your baby!

Note: Stripes are difficult to line up because the knit stretches as you sew. Embrace the imperfections or pick a solid color.

7. Attempt to keep your model in one place long enough to take a picture and fail.

8. Squeeze those delectable chubby thighs.

 

Easiest project ever.

 

Eva is 10 months old!

Today Eva is 10 months old, so its time to document where she is at right now. I haven't kept a baby book or a scrapbook for Eva, so someday I will be very glad for the updates I've posted here. It is as much for me as it is for you. :)

What a happy girl! She loves to crawl and explore.

She pulls herself up to her knees on things, but she hasn't been brave enough to pull herself to her feet very much.

She had a blast playing with her cousin Oliver last week. She has started to be a little possessive, however, of toys Ollie was playing with and of her Grandma...

Bath time! Sorry, couldn't resist. I think Eva's baby chubs have her pretty close in weight to Ollie, who is 2 1/2 months older.

Special times with Great Grandpa. Grandpas are always good for having interesting things in pockets.

And Grandma is a pretty good substitute for Mom, but usually, this baby is still a big Momma's girl.

We unfortunately didn't quite make it through this month without a yucky cold and a run of antibiotics to heal up red ears. At least it has only been her second ear infection. She has been much luckier than her older sister's were in that regard.

Maybe due to her feeling better, this past week we have had some really good nights with several nights that qualified as sleeping through the night. I so love a good night's sleep!

Her hair is thickening up and still much darker than her sister's. Perhaps a little wavy, too. I just love her hair.

And no teeth yet!

Just lots of smiles, precious giggles and one sweet personality. We cherish every minute with her.

what we've been up to

Sorry I've been so absent lately. Here is what we've been up to:

1. This cold has been kicking my hiney. Eva, Sarah, and I finally got some antibiotics and we are slowly recovering. I've been taking it a little bit easy so it has definitely affected my productivity.

2. The basement is almost finished and I am so happy with it. We have moved back into the space and it is so nice to be using it. Here is what we have left:

a. Finish the trim around the stairway and caulk, spackle, and paint it. (The rest of the trim is all finished.)
b. Finish painting and hanging all the doors. (We don't have a functioning paint sprayer which would make this job go so much more quickly.)
c. Finish staining the bathroom cabinets that my dad built and install them.
d. Scrub the paint and perfa tape mud off the fireplace.
e. Caulk between the cork floor and the fire place and around the trim in the bathroom.
f. Install the backsplash in the bathroom after the cabinets are installed.
g. Get bids for a stair rail, order (or build) and install it.
h. Decorate!

So, as you can see we are almost finished. I promise to post pictures soon. It is hard to get everything straightened up enough for a photo shoot, but I just may have to quit waiting for these last few details to be finished and get something posted.

3. It is snowing today. REALLY snowing. Oh, April, you are famous for tempting us with spring and taunting us with winter. I still love you, April.

4. Basement progress has slowed a ton because the guys have gotten itchy to start spring farm work and have been spending their days outside—working on equipment, getting seed and fertilizer, and wishing the fields would dry up sooner than later so they can get to seeding.

5. We have nearly run out of water several times recently, so the guys have been working on our complicated water system to fix leaks and improve a few things. Its good to have water, you know.

6. We had a free plane ticket to use up before it expired, so Tom is in Texas having a redneck weekend (i.e. going to a Nascar race) and getting a few kicks in before the long season of hard work begins. Maybe he'll blog about his adventure. Maybe he won't. By the way, his peppers were delish and we've had them 3 times now. I know. He needs to update his blog.

7. Abby is in a Missoula Children's Theatre production this weekend—Treasure Island—and has been spending late nights this week at rehearsal. (She's a Villager.)

8. My sweet nephew Ollie turned one and he and his Mommy are visiting this week. I have some adorable pictures to post of him and his buddy Eva.

9. I am taking an e-course called Organize Your Paper Clutter by simplify101. I'm definitely learning some things and I'm hoping it will help me get on top of our huge backlog of paperwork. I think some of her other workshops look interesting also.

10. I'm obsessed with organizing lately, as evidenced by my last entry and my Feng Shui My Way challenge. We are still living in chaos of moving, and will be living in the chaos of remodeling for quite awhile, so it leaves me yearning for a clutterless household that runs smoothly and is easy to maintain. I have a lot of projects on my list that I'm sure you will be hearing about here on the blog.

11. I miss my housekeeper. (I know, wah wah. Can anyone say spoiled?) In Utah when I worked full time we had someone come every other week to clean and it was so wonderful not to spend our limited time together on the weekends cleaning. Cleaning bathrooms is my least favorite thing to do.

12. I've had a lot of design work come my way lately, which I've really appreciated. I'm hoping to eventually add a portfolio section to the this website. Now, if I could get just enough work (consistently) to pay for a housekeeper . . . (and if I could find someone who was willing to travel out here to the boonies . . .)

13. We earmarked our tax return this year to buy a swing set. Yeah! The nearest park is half-an-hour away, so I think the kids will really enjoy having one. Let the shopping begin!

14. Easter is coming and my sister-in-law and nieces are coming home from London! Tom's entire family will be together. I'm hoping to get a good photo of all the Clark cousins together since such a photo doesn't exist.

15. My brother is getting married and we just love our new auntie- and sister-in-law-to-be Annie.

16. My cousin is getting married on May 28. Then they will be our new neighbors on the farm! We are so excited!

There is so much to look forward to! Hopefully my blog will keep up with all the fun. Hopefully I can keep up with all the fun. All for now! Happy Friday.

 

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #4 Results: Clean out the basement (its a contest!)

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

Challenge #3: Clean out your basement storage areas.

So, how are you doing? Have you cleared out any clutter?

I should clarify: Your clutter doesn't have to all come from your basement. Not everyone has a basement, but most of us have clutter. And if you do have a basement, you don't have to clear the entire thing out during this challenge. The idea is to make PROGRESS IN GETTING ORGANIZED.

Remember, this is a contest!

You have until Friday, April 15 at 8 AM to send me picture of your pile of donation items and e-mail it to me at joellynclark at yahoo dot com. The biggest pile will receive a copy of either Pioneer Woman's new book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. or 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Life (Be sure to send your address with your e-mail!) Leave a comment on this post to tell me which book you would like to win or include it with your e-mail.

O.K., so now for my results.

Here is my pile all ready to load in the car to go to Goodwill. I have to wait until my next trip to Great Falls (without too many passengers) so I can take out my back row of seats and make room for it all.

Big pile, huh? Don't worry, I can't win this challenge. :) And to be fair, a lot of this stuff isn't really mine. There is quite a bit that belonged to my Grandpa and was here when we came. But it is still clutter and I can't even tell you how good it feels to get rid of things and free up space.

And this isn't my first load like this. It most definitely won't be my last. I still have more closets to clean out and this (my garage):

In case any of you have the illusion that I am a super organized person, here is a big dose of reality.

Someday when the weather is warm I will be tackling this space. It would be nice to be able to park in the garage. What a concept!

But since this started as a basement challenge, I thought I would show you that, too. Since our basement has been under construction, it has been through various stages of disarray. For a long time our storage room was packed to the gills with our basement furniture. Now since our flooring is in we have moved the furniture all back out and our storage room has become a work space for the last few projects.

Currently we are staining the cabinets for the bathroom in there. (Photos coming soon!) When we finally finish the last of the basement projects and convert this back into a storage room, I will be sure to post pictures of everything organized neatly on shelves and labeled. (Don't hold your breath.) But here's to progress, right?

 

P.S. I wanted to mention something about those donation items. Don't forget to write them off on your taxes! It really is worth it. They are a pain to itemize, so here is what I do. I lay everything out and snap photos. Nothing fancy—just snapshots of several items together laid out on the bed or floor. I keep a folder on my computer called "2011 Donations" and then we can refer back to that when when we are doing our taxes. Quicken makes it simple to itemize them. Works like a charm!

P.P.S. It is a coincidence that the contest deadline lines up with the tax deadline. If you haven't done your taxes yet, I will understand if your donation piles are a little smaller. But just think: next year you will have more deductions!

Feng Shui Friday

No Feng Shui Friday post today, I'm afraid. My family and I have all been feeling under the weather this week.

I'm sure you all don't mind having an extra week for the lastest challenge, do you?

By the way, I think I freaked a few people out with the idea of cleaning out their basement in one week. You don't have to clean out your basement in one week. Just get started by getting rid of a few things! This is a challenge to get rid of some clutter, and see who can create the biggest pile to donate. You will have a until a week from next Friday to send me your photos, so that gives you a total of 3 weeks to amass your donations. Good luck!

a trip to Utah

These new farm folk need their city fix once in awhile, so last weekend we trekked back to Salt Lake to visit old friends and do a little shopping. We had a fabulous time and loved seeing everyone. In our whirlwind to do as much as possible in a few short days, of course I didn't pull out my camera once. Camera phones work in a pinch, however. I did snap just a few photos using the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone:

Eva is happiest exploring the floor on her crawlers these days.

The girls and their buddies were so looking forward to swimming at the hotel. This time we decided to cheat on our favorite hotel (Little America) and stay at the Hyatt near the Gateway. Oops, their pool was outdoors. Oh well, the hot tub would do in a pinch!

These were our gracious hosts for two nights. We love our old neighbors and wish they could have come with us to Montana. Tyson is the cutest little two year old to ever have a conversation with.

Eva crashed in her high-chair at lunchtime. This was odd coming from a girl who doesn't fall asleep easily, but I guess we all partied hard. That and some yucky colds were acquired (and hopefully not passed on).

A stop on the way home supplied the opportunity to see my cousin and their sweet Aspen.

This and the next few photos were taken before our trip. But they were too cute to pass up including here.

 

I know, huh?

She doesn't suck her thumb like this very often, but I kind of wish she did. It's cute.

Mischievous and determined eyes cause me to predict a few personality traits shared with her sisters . . .

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #4 Clean out the basement (its a contest!)

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

Challenge #3: Clean out the basement

Need I say more?

O.K. I realize for many of us this is a huge chore. So let me break it down. Clutter is the biggest enemy of Feng Shui, and much of it congregates in the basement (or the garage, or a storage room, etc.) Storage is a necessary evil, yes. But this week, let's evaluate the items we are storing and decide whether or not we really need to keep them. This is the stuff that goes from storage room to storage room when you move. Wouldn't it feel good to let go of some extra weight?

Then, let's see who can create the biggest pile to donate! Take a picture of your pile and e-mail it to me at joellynclark at yahoo dot com. The biggest pile will receive a copy of either Pioneer Woman's new book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. or 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Life (Be sure to send your address with your e-mail!) Leave a comment on next Friday's results post to tell me which book you would like to win.

See you next Friday!