Monday Hang-Over

Good morning.
It's Monday and... yeah, it's Monday.
For the third day in a row now I feel like I have woken up with a hang-over, but sadly.... there was no drinking last night.
I say sadly, because if you are going to feel as though you have a hang-over,  it could have at least been a really awesome night, right?

A crazy busy, sweltering few days in Chicago, walking a hundred miles and getting just two tiny hours of sleep on the second night,
have really done.me.in. I'm still playing catch up.
And that really just means that I am way too old for that nonsense, BUT I'd do it again tomorrow in a heartbeat.

{little corner of my office}

On my list for today ::

little cleaning + straightening
swimming at a friend's house
Hobby Lobby trip
Garden Club tonight
a movie just for me off my Summer Movie list... Dirty Dancing? Jaws? Does anyone have any good Summer movie suggestions?
Favorite stand-bys? I'm not even looking for an amazing movie, just a fun one, really.

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Hope you all have a great Monday.
Come back here tomorrow for Coffee with me... See ya then!

Happy Monday + A Winner

Hey there.
It's Monday and the last day of Christmas vacation for us... back to school tomorrow.
How am I going to get up tomorrow morning?
Seriously. I think the kids will do fine but I am more worried about myself,  I have gotten so lazy over break.
It's a little ridiculous, uhhhh.... like- think high school + college days of sleeping in. Ooops.

Anyway--
Since it's Monday, my three nieces will be here today and the kids are super excited.
They are looking forward to movies, brownies, hide-and-go-seek  + lots of playing with their
American Girl dolls.
I have to say, we have had a really nice break but I am ready to get back to a normal routine.
I kinda need it, like a lot.

>>>>>>>>>>

OH!!
Charlotte picked the winner of the adorable fox mug from last week's give-away...
That's Heather from We Are The Holden's. Yay!
Look for an email from me today, Heather, and I will be sending a package your way this week!

Make sure you join me here for  Virtual Coffee tomorrow morning.
Have a great day and a happy Monday!

#5 and #6

Our Summer List is long but it is growing shorter by the day.

Last night the kids stayed up late, which has pretty much a constant theme so far this summer, 

and we cooked hot dogs outside over the fire and made S'mores.

S'mores was #5 marked off of our list.

One thing they have really been looking forward to is staying up late to catch lightning bugs.

Last night was the perfect night to do it, the weather was beautiful and we decided it was a 

good night to stay up extra late. Catching Lightning Bugs was #6.

They each got their own jar,  then we cut a small piece of paper for a lid, poked holes in it and

 fastened it on with a rubber band. They went to sleep with the jar of lightning bugs next to their beds.

I remember being up (what felt like) super late in the Summers when I was a kid, playing tag and catching lightning bugs with the neighbors in our Court. 

Ahhh....there really is nothing like the Summer, is there?

Summer is for breaking the rules a little, for ignoring schedules, for putting off work for fun. 

Oh, how I love Summer vacation.

What is one of your favorite memories of Summer as a kid?

Or tell me something on your Summer List that you hope to do this year, anything.

 I planned to get up this morning and edit all of my pictures from the Fair but instead I decided

 that the kids and I will clean off the front porch and they are begging

 to make a fort out there. I think I will skip picture editing for fort-building.

Happy Monday to you!

Linking up with Heather today...
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family traditions
making bunny cakes with granny
fancy dresses
unexpected gifts
coloring easter eggs
lots of time with family
easter egg hunts
playing with cousins
homemade peach pie
actually making it to early church easter morning
finding  hope in unexpected places
baby robin eggs
feeling thankful for my family

a lovely easter weekend indeed.
hope yours was filled with all the important things, too.
don't forget to join me here tomorrow morning for coffee.
i'd love to have ya.

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{lovely little spot}

lovely little projects.
started AND  finished.
that's a really good feeling.
because really? i start an awful lot of things...and yeah, well... i don't always finish them.
please ignore the big whole in the wall and all the nails.
old plaster walls = a hanging job for the boss and he says he will do it tonight.
so i just took an old frame, took the glass out, cut wire and busted out my staple gun to staple it to the back. i love the staple gun, now that's my kind of tool! hahaha.
i love my little fabric wrapped frames there, too. i have more and i plan to hang them all together on a wall...i just need to decide which wall.
you can see close-ups pf the fabric frames here.

* that is my sister and i holding with the easter bunny cake, i'm the little one.
my mom made that cake every year when we were little, we're going to make one this year with the kids, too. i love that cake!

* you can find the little abraham lincoln card and many more here. i love that blog, so many awesome free printables and packed with inspiration.

* the little vintage blue bird holding the umbrella i found here. love this blog too, i have printed off so many things there. love, love, love.

* and the mother theresa print is from heather herself. love that one!

i love this little spot in my dining room.
i spent a good part of the day cleaning, organizing and crafting away.
i also got the laundry folded and the downstairs floors swept.
it was a good day.
happy, happy monday to you!
join me here tomorrow morning for virtual coffee!

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Our Day:

The fighting started around 8:00 here this morning and I decided we absolutely could not spend the whole day in the house today. No way. By 8:45 they were asking for snacks. Ummm...if you need a snack that early then you woke up too early and therefore ate breakfast way too early. I'm just sayin'. A few hours at the mall was the best I could come up with on this nasty, dreary day so I packed up lunches and that's just what we did.

We got cookies from Mrs. Fields, sat and read some books in the book store, took photobooth pictures, threw pennies in the fountain, successfully avoided the pet store and played in the germ-infested play area. I'm telling ya, I was desperate today.
Often a few hours out in public is guaranteed to produce some complaints and here is mine for the day and then I'm done:
Have you ever noticed that the worst behaved kids in the play areas are the ones whose parents are on their phones or laptops the entire time?  I mean, the entire time....can't be bothered to even glance in the direction of their kids, let alone discipline them. That drives me absolutely crazy.

And that was our day.
The End. 

It's Monday. Happy  Bench Monday!  And yeah, it's really a chair, but they count too.

So I found out this morning that my alarm actually WORKS! It really does, it works. I was up early, took a walk and ran to the grocery store before 7:00 a.m. Imagine that!

Well, it's a start anyway.

Other highlights of my day included:

making homemade blueberry and chocolate chip muffins

having an old work friend over for lunch and to hang out with me and the kids

lots of cleaning, laundry and organizing

finding Charlotte's lost doctor kit, she was thrilled!

an evening walk with the kids and the dogs after supper, it was dark so they got to carry flashlights and loved that.

That was my Monday.

Busy week ahead with something going on every day!