Green Things

Ahh...a day at home (mostly!).  Ethan had his first day back to school, and Clay spent the night with Gigi last night.  Mary Claire was home with me.  By 9am, she was a little fidgety and wanted to call a friend.  She had company and they played well till 2:30!  I made use of my time-there was so much to do, and I'm not done.
I did lots of laundry, put most of it away (except for upstairs).  I cleaned my desk, checked to see if all my bills were paid.  And, I realized I'd never gotten a mobile phone bill, and it was due today!  I didn't know exactly how much it'd be, but I didn't want it late.  I paid a few more dollars that it was the past two months (online), and called it good.  I don't want to pay a hefty late fee-that's wasted money!
Then, I finished cleaning the back of my room, put away the wrapping paper (so I'm slow), and worked on some monogramming for a friend.  There were two blankets, both so precious!  I'm super happy with them.  I'd say I'm slowly getting better.. (or it's those amazing new fonts and appliques that I've gotten!)

isn't it just scrumptious? : )  And it turned out so much bigger than I thought it'd be!

Then, I cleaned up that machine, and traded it out for my sewing machine.  I had been looking at Ches' poor office chair pad.  It's pathetic really.  I guess I've just been too busy to do anything about it, but with the clean workspace, and all the blinds open, the sun, no one to (currently) care for..I just decided to recover his chair cushion!
To the amateur (like me, ha!), it might seem like a small task, but it took a really long time.  I kept having to make changes, round the corners, make the hanging ties (4!), to get it just right.  I'm really pleased with it now, but I do it in love.  Ches is so good to me, and he deserves a decent chair.  Here are the afters:
(notice the lack of befores?  Embarrassing.)

I'm sure you don't know, but our theme is pale turquoise/chocolate giraffe-mine is the same print.  Our office drapes are the chocolate with turq. dots (the opposite).  Will we ever be back in the office?

So, after all the sewing (and then more cleaning!), I organized my magazines, and vow not to renew any subscriptions for at least 6 months, or until I've read all the bagged ones I haven't even opened.  It's sad.  And I love reading, love decor, love new recipes, and love those little questionnaires that tell me what to improve on, ha-but really-I'm so behind.  Maybe that's why I still have tons of lime green?  I'm working on that. : 
(I found my Pottery Barn furniture guide and fabric samples under a stack of magazines!)

So, then when I found out Natalie had piano at 3, I ran her home, then we went out (to spend Mary Claire's tooth fairy money!).  I'm soo glad the tooth fairy remembered to come on the first night-sometimes she's super-forgetful, or her wings are broken, or her wand is being repaired.  We don't have the best tooth fairy.  Anyway, she came through, and we shopped.
Mary Claire also learned the value of a coupon today!  She had five dollars to spend, and the little "Dress Designer" kit that she wanted (a glorified notebook with heads and shadow bodies, 6 tiny markers, and some dress ideas) was $6.99.  Since we had the coupon (always!), it was 40% off, and she left with change to spare. : )  Yay, coupons!


Then we got some groceries, dropped off some pants to be hemmed (the girls in our family seem to have short legs..), and came home to start dinner.  We had yummy chicken enchiladas and black beans (love them!), and Ches said I should make them more often!  Except that the kids don't eat them so well, and I just don't believe in making them a separate dinner.  How will they ever learn to expand their palate?  I mean, I don't make weird foods.  They are normal (chicken, cheese, tortillas-not liver or cow tongue by golly!).  We are going to have to make snack less cool.  We usually have a dessert for bedtime snack (or ice cream, go-gurt, cereal, crackers, popcorn, etc.).  Maybe if we switched back to fruits and veggies, they'd eat dinner better.  (maybe?)


We also started another game of Monopoly-it's in season around here!  Even Ethan wanted to play, bought property, won money at Free Parking, and paid some rent (sad face).  His whole goal was to have green money (twenties), and own green property, and he finally got the chance.  He bought North Carolina, and was ecstatic!  Sometimes just being with kids is enough to make you appreciate the tiny things! : )


I put away all of the Christmas tree ornaments (most have their own boxes = time consuming), and Ches took down the tree.  I wasn't looking forward to the job, but I'm so thankful it's done.  I love January for it's cleaning and cleanliness.  I love a clean slate and fresh emptiness.  Now, to put away the kids' trees, and all the other red and green stuff!


What are you cleaning?