'Round the Yard

Scarlett was wearing her pretty pink dress as we were stomping around outside and making chalk art, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots.

I guess it's what you would call a "Kodak moment".

A butterfly right next to a Minecraft zombie.  She's a girl of many interests.

This is her move.  She loves to practice the robot.

These are our beautiful pink flowers that grow like a vine up the side of the house.  I really love them, but it kind of cracks me up because our neighbors think of them as a weed that grow everywhere and are hard to get rid of.

Yup, that's a Dalek and the Doctor.

I hope to always have children's art in our home.  Maybe I can convince Robert to space out our kids appropriately so that when the youngest is leaving the nest, our oldest is having a baby.  Yes, that'll do.

Instagram, Mostly

Hi everybody!  /hihi

I talked about satiating an instagram lust here, and often post instagrammy type pictures, such as here.

Well, recently I got on instagram using our Kindle.  It's really quite exciting for me.  I love this resource for tracking memories, and I can just imagine at the end of the year, it will be a wonderful way to look back on the year, and ooh and ahh, and "Oh, I almost forgot about that..." at all the pictures.  Here are a few of the pictures taken over the past several weeks, in case you're interested.  (And if you're not interested, I recommend Ashley Ann for something interesting.)

This is a little bit of the work that's being done on the craft room. 

This guy is a robot I made for my nephew some time back.  He's been loved  enough that he needs some stitches.  I get to play doctor.

Installed a doggy door this week.  It started out very "girl power", ended...well, DUST...just, DUST.  But hey, it's in, and it is gloriously helpful.

The weather is nice here!  The girls and I started putting the old trampoline together.  Looking back, I see now that I probably should have put the camera down and disciplined the gladiators (or at least acquired some popcorn or something....)

I can take pictures, too, mom.

That's probably just about the best ones. If you would like to follow me I am...you guessed it, figmilkshakes.

Photo Dump

I wish I could hop on the instagram trend, but I don't currently have one of those cellular telephone devices.  You know what I do have?  A blog.  A blog and a few friends that are suckers love me enough to check it.  ;)

So, here's a little photo dump to get in on the fun.  I edited these pictures with picmonkey.com, and I'm totally converted.  User friendly, all the amenities you could need - oh, and they're hilarious.  When I made a mistake, a pop-up would say, "Ex-squeeze me?"  And when you save your photos you have a choice between the Bonds: Roger (low quality), Pierce (medium quality), Sean (high quality).  It just brings a smile to my face, and that is always much appreciated. 

Little Bit O' Progress

So, some of you have asked if I'm making progress on the craft room. 

Of course, those of you who haven't actually voiced your curiosity, are undoubtedly on the edge of your seats.   :D

So, here's a little picture of some of the progress being made.

I was excited to find the thread organizer at a thrift store for half of what Wal-Mart was asking.  Plus, I picked up those great jars for $3 each. The filing box is another great find for $12 at an antique store.  I really geeked out about that, and still get weird looks from people every time I get overly enthusiastic about a box.

Unfortunately the drawers will have to stay that way for a while.  It will be a bit of an investment to paint them and buy new hardware.  I don't mind - it will give me something to look forward to.

This little painting is what Maggie created here.

I probably just need a little more thread to fill in my organizer.  I'm sure it'll fill in as I go.  Any suggestions on other things that might fit nicely on those little wooden rod dealies?

All right, I'm going to go get back to it.  You lovely folks out in that thar cyber world have a good 'un!

"I Believe"

So, I'm told I'm not much for sharing.  Truth is, being transparent sort of ***exaggerated air quotes*** """Freaks me out."""  So when bloggers were getting together for a link party to talk about what they believe, I did not jump to join.  But, as I time went on, I kept thinking about it, and kept noticing the beauty all around, making me really assess this - so I wrote it anyway.

And here is my version of what:

I "Believe"

And let me just say as a side note...I'm a little sheepish mine is so long when Audrey's is so short and graceful - saying what she wants to say without overstaying her welcome.  But here it is anyway.)

• I believe jumping on a big trampoline with children is the best calorie burner.
• I believe in keeping some twinkling lights up all year round.
• I believe in dollar store flip flops, pink scrubs, and towels straight from the dryer
• I believe in tipping the waitress, even if she's mean.
• I believe it was a mistake to forgo small town candy shops, drive-in movie theaters, and toy jacks.
• I believe in drawing with pen around freckles to make them look like faces.
• I believe in telling nighttime stories for Peter Pan, (but not so much in leaving cookies for Santa).
• I believe in a long day of thrift store shopping.  Oh my, do I believe in a long day of thrift store shopping.
• I believe someone who is hard to love is in need of that love all the more.
• I believe in colorful felt, my husband's potato soup, and displaying your soap in a pretty dish.
• I believe in learning some big words like, onomatopoeia, and antidisestablishmentarianism just to have them at your disposal if you need to sound smart. (In fact, I just blurt them out whether they pertain to the conversation or not...people are so impressed they just walk away silently because they know they can't compete with my intellect.)
• I believe in humor
• I believe in displaying grandma's crocheted afghan even if it doesn't fit your interior design.
• I believe in occasionally crying for someone you've never met.
• I believe in the wisdom of most cliches, like, "Actions speak louder than words", and, "Home is where the heart is."
• I believe that dishes are some mystical evil and when you clean one, two grow back in its place.
• I believe the best compliment I receive is when people tell me my girls look like me.
• I believe in the unbelievable truth that one man could, (and did) die for the sins of the world.

Amen?

Amen.

Delightful Day

Hello all.

We had a delightful day yesterday.

It rained lightly all day, and the atmosphere was just too nice for working - so I took a break from organizing the craft room, tried out a new pumpkin spice latte recipe (Holly, you must come over and have these with me, dah-ling.), and Maggie and I sat down to create some art for eventually putting in the craft room (she used this flower for her inspiration).

 

I'll keep you guys posted on what we created!

Tell Us About School

"Fig Milkshakes" New Layout!

The reviews for "Fig Milkshakes" blog are in, and the people are raving! :

Mom hails, "It's very nice dear."  !!!

Friends reporting, "Yeah, I checked your blog last week." !!!

Husband applauds, "I think it's your most time consuming hobby to date."  !!!

And now there's even more reason to keep up with "Fig Milkshakes" as author unveils new layout complete with side menu bar!
<----------------------- (See it?)


Don't miss this unique opportunity to click on the buttons!!!


You'll be amazed and delighted when the button is clicked to find a neatly organized list of web logs corresponding to the label on the button!!!


You want more you say?!?!  You won't be disappointed!!!  You can then choose which web log you would like to go to.  Simply click on the title of the log you would like to read, and the wonders of technology will reveal yet another page to take you to your destination where you can read about such things as how to eat cereal around your neck and how to make banners out of insects!!!


Try it now!  It won't disappoint, or your money back. 
 
(Guarantee void in Kentucky, Tennessee, and any other state housing any resident that has lost a finger or toe.)

10 on 10: Part Deux

Hi Guys!

Once again, I'm joining the link part over at  bit of sunshine for the 10 on 10 project.  The project is simple: Take 10 pictures, on the 10th of the month, with the purpose of finding beauty in what is otherwise an ordinary day. 

Emphasis on "ordinary day" here, okay?  I mean some days we could be taking a walk, or doing a craft, or some other semi-photo worthy thing, but today was a day I sort of woke up...looked around, and just said, "nope".  So we spent a good portion of the day playing Mario, building legos, watched a delightfully cheesy 1970s movie, and had a lovely sizeable nap in the middle of the day.  So, with the laziness of the day, I felt I was reaching a little bit trying to get some good pictures, I mostly just snapped pictures around the house.  Here they are!

The wee one helped me out and snuck this one in...that's my shoe, but not my foot.

Oh, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Where would we be without thee?

We played a game with the Lite Bright.  It was dark in the master bedroom, so we just took it around to see what things looked like with lit circles all over them.  Lite Bright on the bed...Lite Bright on the dog..Lite Bright on your armpit...I'm really glad I was doing 10 on 10 this day, otherwise this may have been something I would have easily let slip through my memory.

Maggie says, "Mom, it's not a weed if it has flowers."  (She says this, by the way, like she is the master of all knowledge and I have long to achieve her level of wisdom...)  

But, I'm inclined to agree about the weeds.  (Of course, all my plants die, so what do I know anyway?)

10 on 10

I recently read about this project called "10 on 10" , and thought it'd be a lark (and also a cheap and easy stab at getting more traffic on the blog...).  You can read more about it in the link provided, but the idea is simple.  The gist of it is to take 10 pictures out of 10 hours of the day (yes, on the 10th of the month), specifically targeting the fun and beautiful things. 

Well, I spent the whole day doing this; but when I went back to the website to join the link party, the party had been CLOSED and I felt like this:

And yet I still felt consolation in knowing that I could still force you guys could still see them. 

It was a fun day.  Some of these images happened quite naturally as I was going about my day, and others I spotted before my hour was over, and thought to myself, 'I'll come back to that when my hour is up' - so, not so natural. 

I think some of them are obviously beautiful, and others I just enjoyed the way the light came in or they speak to me personally, and you might not particularly find them beautiful.  Suffice it to say, I had a hard time picking JUST 10, and ended the day feeling very grateful that things didn't get ugly while I was "finding beauty".

Do you see him?

And finally...the REASON projects like this exist.  Because as all this was going on...THIS was going on:

And this...

But those are KID-made messes, right?  They're almost whimsical messes with all their bright colors and fun toys taking you back to your carefree childhood.  Did you see through my rouse of showing you my messes without ACTUALLY showing you my messes?  Well, here you go, you bloodthirsty troll!

Oh yes.

Phillipians 4:8