Who cares?

They do. The Care Bears, of course! My girls have developed something of a Care Bear addiction. I've continued to indulge them, as it keeps them happy on our garage sale expeditions, giving them something to look for. Every time they spot a box of stuffed animals, they go pawing through it, hoping to find yet another Care Bear. Apparently lots of people stopped caring about their Care Bears, because we manage to bring home several new ones every week. I only let them buy the ones that are $1 or less. We've left behind many an overpriced Care Bear for someone with deeper pockets (and fewer cares) than me.
Alas, my girls must have inherited the collecting gene from me. Besides buying too many chairs, I also buy too many Pyrex bowls. If only that were all of them...

Anticipation...........

For those who don't remember their youth, water fresh out of the hose is cold. We filled up the pool early this morning to give it a chance to warm up a bit. This crew showed up to supervise and offer constructive criticism. I see government jobs in their futures.
Reward! The little pool there we call our "redneck hot tub". Being much smaller, the water gets very nice and warm.
The big pool was still pretty chilly, but then, these kids would break through ice to go swimming if I let them.
How much fun can a bunch of kids get out of a $20 blow up pool? A lot! Top it off with a bunch of cheapo Flav-Or-Ice popsicles, and it don't get much better. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday afternoon.
Well, somebody has to supervise. It's printed right on the side of the pool- "use only under adult supervision". Guess I'll just have to tough it out all summer.

I have a problem.

I like to buy furniture. Garage sales, auctions, estate sales, even the occasional piece that's been abandoned next to the Thursday trash heap. I made my children help me drag a great rocking chair (only $5) a quarter mile back to our van at a recent neighborhood sale. I have several beat up old chairs with beautiful lines in the basement, patiently waiting to be re-upholstered. Matt has put his foot down, and won't let me buy any more chairs until I at least fix up the ones I already bought.

These chairs were actually a planned purchase, rather than a spur-of-the-moment-can't-pass-it-by. I wanted some chrome-framed chairs to match my beautiful new (old) kitchen table (bought used on craigslist, of course), and found these two at a local antiques barn for $12 each. I was tempted to keep their original turquoise vinyl, albeit very faded and worn, but then the dog took a big bite out of one and forced my hand. Here is re-upholstery in action!
And here is our finished product. Nothing says "understated" like chrome and cherry red vinyl. So retro-cool. And take a look at the baby's high chair. I bought it at an auction for $1! Can you believe no one else wanted it? Matt just about had a fit when I shot my bidding number up in the air. Anyways, it's all chrome with a stainless steel tray- they don't make 'em like that anymore. When I bought it, it had old, ripped, dirty, green and orange vinyl upholstery. I guess no one else at the auction that day has my kind of vision, because look at it now in all its red glory! Yup, the exact same stuff I covered the chairs with.

I remember a few years back, a neighbor down the street put a lovely old wood framed easy chair out at the curb. It was the type that's all solid wood, with removable cushions; an easy job for a talent like me to make new cushions. I looked at it out there all week, trying to decide if I should drag it home by cover of darkness. I decided not to bother, even though we needed furniture for our family room, because I didn't have anything else at the time to match it. The garbage men eventually came and hauled it away. The very next week, the same neighbor threw out the matching sofa!!!! I've never gotten over it.

38 pounds

That's a lot of strawberries. The work took all afternoon, long after the children stopped thinking it was fun. They were all excited to start processing the fruit into jam- "Don't start without me Mommy!" "Call me when it's time to start!"
I reminded them how much they're going to enjoy this lovely home made jam and all the frozen berries come winter. How they will think back and remember how much labor went into chopping all this fruit, how nice it was working together, how much fun we had out in the fields picking all those strawberries with our friends. Then I told them to quit complaining and chop faster.
A lot of work indeed. 26 jars so far, plus about 5 gallon bags all chopped and prepped in the freezer. I think we'll go picking again tomorrow; when they're gone, they're gone till next year.

Summer is here!

Strawberries: $77.00

Labor to pick them: Free

Livin' the good life: priceless

As you can see, it is, indeed, strawberry season. And as you can also see, we have a pack of very prolific pickers. We love berries. All kinds. After the strawberries are done, the raspberries come in, closely followed by cherries and blueberries. Then come the stone fruits like peaches and nectarines, more raspberries, and finally apples (and yes I know cherries and apples and such are not berries). Beautiful vegetables will start coming soon, too. It's a foodie's paradise, yes it is.

Ugh, it must be genetic

When Elena was around 2 years old, she came to me one day and asked for a drink.  As often is the case, I was busy with something else at that precise moment, and told her I would be happy to get her a drink in a few moments.  She, not wanting to wait, decided to take the matter into her own hands.  She went into the kitchen, got a glass off the counter, brought it up to the bathroom, and proceeded to quench her thirst with water she scooped out of the toilet.  My older children watched this whole process unfold, and only called it to my attention after she was done drinking.  

So just today, I caught sight of my little Renee coming out of the bathroom with her drinking cup in her hand.  Elena claimed Renee was drinking toilet water, a fact which Renee proceeded to deny.  At least they both used glasses; I mean, slurping right out of the bowl would be unseemly.

Like my new antique kitchen table?  The dog ate the old one up so badly it was unusable.  We took it apart to use for firewood.  This one is metal, so she should have a harder time eating it.  

Raaaawwwrrrr!!!!

Today, we went to the zoo.  To see the wild animals, the unusual creatures that we don't get a chance to see anywhere else.  So of course I had children shouting, "Look!  I see a squirrel!"  "Look, Mommy, a chipmunk!!!!"

A lovely group of wild animals huddled together.  Oh, and those are  some penguins in the background, too.

This guy was 500 pounds of don't get any closer.  We also saw elephants getting a bath, and exotic piles of poop of extraordinary size.  

And this is Renee last week.  I'd been meaning to post some of these shots for a while, but as usual, we've been busy.  This my ideal of the perfect summer day.  I hit some garage sales early in the morning, then came home and sat in my plastic chair in the driveway to drink coffee, soak up some sun,  and watch my children narrowly avoid crashing their bikes into the neighbor's cars.  (all those years of standing out in the cul-de-sac shouting "Hey kids, try not to crash in to our neighbor's Lexus again!" has finally paid off, as the neighbors now mostly park in their own driveways instead of the center of the cul-de-sac)  Perfection.  I have such simple dreams.