Finally

Finally have an appointment for Ella to be seen by someone who might know how to deal with her alopecia. After seeing our pediatrician on Thursday, they are going to send us to Iowa. I am just hoping we can figure out what is causing this and get a handle on it.

I brushed my teeth with deodorant

Or soap, or whatever leaked in our overnight travel bag which contained the toothbrushes. Yuck.

Day for me

I had the day off today but Jeff and the kids had school. You can imagine that rarely ever happens. I really had grand things planned...sleep, sleep, sleep. But alas, the kids had to get to school and that was my responsibility today. While sleep never did make it on my list of events today, I did get quite a bit done! Had my nails done, went tanning (looking forward to Hilton Head), ate lunch at school with Keeton, had a grown-up lunch with a friend, ran 2 miles, started dinner in the crock-pot,baked cookies for the kids after-school-snack, and now I'm even posting to my blog!! I have less than hour before I have to go get them from school, so I probably will just watch some tv and forgo the nap. It was odd not being at work today, but so nice not to feel rushed!

Extra day

President's Day afforded us a three day weekend and I feel like a lot got accomplished. Work has been insanely busy and this week won't be any different. So, this weekend I was able to get a few hours of work done which will help me out this week, Keeton had a sleepover (his first ever), had lunch with the family, and then today I had a one hour massage (heavenly and much needed), filed our taxes, and even made dinner (from scratch, mind you) and baked some chocolate chip cookies. I really think just one extra day a week would really make me a more sane person!

Three Things

What three things would you grab for keeps if you could only take three (let's say a house fire or whatever). It can't be people or pets and it has to be your belongings (not the kids' stuff). I would first take our laptop because that has more information/photos than a photo album anymore. Anyone remember those? Then I'd grab our safe because presumably, that's where the important things are. Really, I would. Finally, I think I'd take a little music box that is in Keeton's room. It's a cheap plastic thing that is a bit broken, purchased in a gas station someplace. It was my Papa's and I can remember so vividly him getting it out of his master closet when we'd visit, winding it up, and letting us watch the little boy and girl dance around and finally peck each other on the lips. Just holds great memories. You?

Getting crafty

We really haven't had to do too many room overhauls in the new house, though we did tackle the dining room about a month ago. After completing that transition I started looking for a sideboard but couldn't find one I liked. Then I came across a blog where someone stenciled the top of a chest and I really liked the combination of the modern pattern with the traditional piece of furniture. I bought a "craft sized" stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils (http://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/) in the Rabat pattern. There were so many to choose from I had a heard time deciding. I've never stenciled anything before so I watched the tutorials provided on their website and then braved myself today for the project. I didn't do anything special to prepare the old table we have had in the basement. I figured it was distressed enough to not need sanding, plus I wanted the dark finish to not be marred where the stencil wouldn't cover it. I'll admit I wasn't really sure how to place the stencil the first time...go to the edge and then have to fill in at the end or just put the pattern all the way to the end of the table? I went with the latter, but now I think I was supposed to fill in at the end. The only other snafu I encountered was realizing that I needed to wait for the paint to dry before placing the stencil again, since you have to overlap the stencil in order to continue the pattern. The website said you don't need to wait, which might be true on walls, but since wood doesn't absorb the paint, it is necessary to let the first print dry. Here's the during:

Here's the finished table. I still need to put a clear poly on top to protect it and then find some accessories, but for less than $30, I was able to turn a too-scratched-up-to-use table into a really unique sideboard!

I'm thinking that I'd like to use a wall-sized stencil from Cutting Edge to paint an accent wall in our master bedroom. A tad more intimidating, though!

Dance Pictures

Ella did a great job today and we are ready to head to her first competition in March!