My favorite children in the ENTIRE world playing on what is LITERALLY the biggest pile of dirt that has ever sat in my driveway...

... on what is SINCERELY the most beautiful day that we have seen all year only to be followed by another AMAZING day tomorrow.

Anyone enjoy Thursday night TV as much as I do? Anyone think that Rob Lowe and Alec Baldwin are currently contributing more to society now than they ever have before? Yaaaaa.

Issue one! (speaking of TV... did anyone else's parents make them watch the McLaughlin Group every Saturday evening for their entire childhood? No? Yaaaaaa.) So, we have a big pile of dirt in our driveway. Fourteen cubic yards of dirt, if you want to be specific AND believe the man that dropped said dirt in my driveway this morning. We have a gaping pit in the back corner of our yard that needs to be filled with something other than children who have slipped and fallen and stray soccer balls that the children were chasing. That's where all the dirt comes in.

Issue two! It was nice out today. In the 60s. It was sort of snowing on Monday during Jane's first soccer game and now, 3 days later, my children are playing in a ginormous pile of dirt in sun dresses and without shoes. Gotta love Utah.

Issue three! It's the first day since last year that has been reasonably warm and Charlie has already decided that shirts and shoes are optional. I find this to be equal parts amusing and adorable, although I'm not sure why. When I was growing up, there was a family that lived behind and kiddie corner to us. They had almost all boys and their boys never seemed to wear shirts in this summer. Even as a youth, it bothered me. Enough to remember how much I disliked it all these years later. But for some reason, it's forgivable on Charlie.

Issue four! Can you say bath time?

Best Mail Ever

Late Friday night, Brent and I finished watching our Netflix movie and since I'm notorious for leaving them around the house for days, or worse, driving around with them in my car with the intention of dropping them off at the post office for days, Brent took matters into his own hands and took the dvd out to the mailbox. He came back in with the most amusing surprise.

Before he gave it to me, he told me that he had found the best mail ever for me in our mailbox. I love getting mail and the idea of receiving the best mail ever was intriguing to me. I was curious to know what it was. He said that he wasn't sure he wanted to give it to me because he was a afraid that I would actually open it. Then I was dying to know what it was. I think I ended up having to beg him to show me. And then he did.

I know that this can be a little hard to read, so allow me to clarify.

This is a letter from an inmate at the Salt Lake County Jail.

It is addressed to someone named Mizz Stringham.

It was sent to my old address and then forwarded to us around the corner.

Said inmate had taken painstaking efforts to decorate the envelope so as to make it as appealing as possible.

It worked. It was an appealing envelope.

I sat and held for a while contemplating whether or not I should open it. Brent told me not to because it would be pornographic, but I held it up to the light and it was just a letter that I couldn't read - even while holding it up to the light.

I started to romanticize some sort of story about the inmate and Mizz Stringham. How the idea of her was the only thing that kept him going from day to day in the joint. That she had given him reason to become a changed man. He had found his purpose in life through her and he would love her forever for giving him a chance when the world wouldn't. When he was finally released, the two of them would have each other and start a white trash life together somewhere. In my head, it was so very romantic, and somewhat lacking in teeth.

I had called my mom and my sister to tell them about it and along the way, someone mentioned that it was more likely some sort of con artist trying to sucker money out of a lonely woman. That wasn't romantic at all.

In the end, I couldn't do it. I couldn't open it. I have no idea if it will ever get back to our inmate, but I couldn't let him live his life in the Salt Lake County Jail thinking that Mizz Stringham had received his letter and was pining over him somewhere in Sandy. So I sent it back. But I'll have the memory forever. The memory of the best mail ever.

Slow and Steady

I haven't lifted a finger to work on hair clips since last fall.

Literally.

I haven't even cleaned up my desk.

It's be trashed for several months now.

But when the Bijou Market had open applications for their show this spring, I couldn't pass it up. It's a show down in Provo and although I've hadn't ever felt up to trucking all my shtuff down there for a show I'm making an exception. Bijou Market has a fantastic reputation and I'm very excited to have been selected as a vendor. So the dry spell is over. I've been trying to work with my felt for just a couple hours each night after my kidlets are sleeping so as to prevent my regular nervous breakdown the week of the show.

Here are a couple pictures of what I've been working on so far....

These are cute little hydrangea-y flowers. Aren't they cute? They're cute, right? If not, tell me now because they aren't particularly easy to put together. They look better when they are all packaged up and out from under the painful glare of my desk lighting.

See? Mo betta.

I'm also a big fan of these poppy-type-deals. I love grouping them together for headbands and clips.

Like so.

I'll probably feel compelled to keep you all posted on my hair clip making progress, so you've got that to look forward to for the next month. And I've got many, many evenings of felt stitching in front of trashy TV to look forward to.

A project.

We've been living in our house for almost 3 years now. Weird. As such, I've decided that it's probably about time I get around to decorating my front room. I originally threw some stuff in there and slapped some paint on the walls, but it never really worked well. Lately, my formal living room has been functioning as a temporary storage room as I hock my old wares on KSL.

All these years, I've been biding my time, waiting and planning for the day that I finally had the time, energy and money to make my living room into something worth looking at. I've been spending an awful lot of time thinking about my new project and, all the while, doing very little. But I've got inspiration and an empty room, which can be the makings for a jolly good time, if you ask me.

Here are some of the photos that I'm drooling over.

I love the botanicals. I'm kinda obsessed with them right now. I've got my own set, waiting for a sofa to hover over.

I love the colors. All my inspiration is this blue-green color and gold. Don't try to convince me otherwise, it will be an excercise in futility.

And another blue green room that I'd like to move into.

This is the color that I painted. It's called Palladian Blue from Benjamin Moore and it's made all my wildest dreams come true. It also matches Jane's eyes.

That flower thing is a good story. We went to buy some dressers for my mom from someone in Provo. Her grandfather died and she was selling his old furnishings. I saw the flower thing and told her that I thought it was cool. She was appalled.

"That thing! I've always hated that thing. If you want it, take it with you."

So I did. It used to be silver and gold, but a nice, thick coat of white paint can work wonders on the world and now, I loves it. It'll look better when it isn't trying to decorate the entire room single handedly.

This is the couch I want, only I think I'll upholster it in a pewter color. Thus far, it's just a figment of my imagination. Maybe the power of positive thinking will cause it to materialize in my living room.

I bought these chairs off of KSL the other day. $25 for the pair. Can't beat that. Well, you could. I mean, free would beat that, but I won't dwell on that point.

Leslie helped me sew the pillow shams that will look better when they are filled with pillows and the the chairs have been reupholstered and painted like so...

Leslie's already found me the fabric...

So there you have it. This is what I spend my time thinking about. This is what often takes priority over filling my childrens' basic needs. I hope it's all worth it in the end.