"These are a few of my Favorite Things..."

No, The Sound of Music itself can not be counted among one of my favorite things, though I have participated in a production of it (maybe two - why can't I remember??), which depending on the scene I was either Mother Abbess (we always joked about the type-casting in high school) or running off behind the scenery to the pit to play piano - guess we were a little short in the keyboard department.  In fact, when we nuns weren't hanging out in our "do-rags" and making jokes about fishnet stockings, we were calling it "The Sound of Mucus".  Thank goodness we were just a bunch of high school girls with no predilection to a religious vocation - a real Mother Abbess would think she had much worse than a whole gang of Marias on her hands.
But anyway, my last whimpering post is not in the mood or mindset that I'm looking to promote, whether on this blog or in my own life.  So, I'd like to offer this little clip-show of lovely things that have been going on behind the scenes, if only to remind myself just how blessed we've been between typing sessions.

Darnit!  Now that song is stuck in my head...

7 Quick Takes Friday: Aftermath of the Early Bird Drug

--- 1 ---

Somehow, it's always Friday when I just happen to wake up early.  I wonder, at the end of my blogging "career" just how many of these Quick Takes posts will end up mentioning how I'm usually a night owl and like to sleep in, but just happened to wake up early and stay up this morning.  And how many will end up mentioning that the neighbors are having a garage sale.  But yeah, they do host an inordinate number of garage sales each summer. 

--- 2 ---

Speaking of being up early on a Friday and the neighbors having a garage sale, I JUST bestowed the 25-cent Thomas the Tank Engine toy to my delighted little boy this past Tuesday.  Guess it only took 2 months...  And he was only momentarily delighted because it was his consolation prize - literally - as he was undergoing some skin testing to rule out a few additional food allergies.  At least they didn't have to do a blood test.  He's been enjoying it fully since then, so I have no regrets.

--- 3 ---

Did I mention I got up early today??  I'm always so excessively energetic when I do that.  I got a whole lot of gardening done this morning between 6 and 8 am, it's not even funny.  Too bad I didn't have an early bird morning two weeks ago when I came into possession of the plants that finally got put into the ground this morning.

--- 4 ---

After the productivity explosion came breakfast, and after breakfast, the sloth.  Oh yes, I was busy, but I wasn't getting anything important or Idunno, beneficial to my family accomplished.  I was fighting with Picasa trying to get my blog header in order.  Then, when that was finally a success, I had to revamp my color schemes because my label links disappeared into the new background.  But I do like it - feels a little less rough around the edges. 

--- 5 ---

I told myself I was going to write these Quick Takes as little breaks during my weekly checkbook balancing.  Hmm, maybe I should actually start that...

--- 6 ---

Only 2 Takes left - better get a Silver Lining in here somewhere.  Ah yes, the sale of Mom and Dad's cabin, now finally final.  The cabin on a river with shipping freighters going by, with the gazebo and a pontoon boat moored just offshore - the one place I've stayed that felt peaceful - like a real vacation, regardless of what else was going on.  (Not sure how much the distinct lack of cell phone reception plays into this - perhaps quite a bit.)  It's no longer in their possession, and thus no longer accessible to us for beautiful, quiet, lazy summer weekends away.  But here's the Silver Lining - no more worry over mortgages or maintenance or troublesome neighbors for my parents, and many many happy memories for our family, including first boat rides, babies in life preservers, bonfires, and a gleefully infamous mud-fight along the shore during our courtship (talk about twitterpation!)

--- 7 ---

Time for random adorableness, courtesy of our last (final, never happening again, waah!) trip to the cabin.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Trouble labeling... and concentrating. {p.h.f.r}

Had a heck of a time deciding which blurb to put under each heading.  Can't concentrate.  Must be the HEAT!

{pretty}

This is what I'm planning on making for Jelly Bean's 1-year old pictures.  Already got my fabric picked out - it's a beautiful watercolor-y rose print in magentas, pinks and yellows.  Still trying to decide on the contrasting fabric - pink, yellow or maybe both, and pink and yellow tulle.  So girly!  (Hopefully I won't drive her to refuse skirts and dresses later on - I have gone pretty crazy with all things girly in her life!)

If you just have to make one of your own (can't blame ya there!) the directions can be found at

Fleece Fun:  Little Fun and Frilly Jelly Roll Skirt

{happy}

Now how is that anything but delightful???
(Just ignore the bread machine running in the background.)

{funny}

 "Mama and Daddy kissing?"
My son's voice just came out of the blue.  He was pointing at our wedding portrait on the wall.
"In the church?" 
 "Yes, honey."

Where does he get this stuff?  Recently, my husband reported that he took the two rubber ducks from this years Easter baskets (his is green, Jelly Bean's is pink) and squished their bills together and exclaimed "Mama and Daddy!" 
(I just wanted to know if I was the pink one or the green one.)

Currently he's howling in a theft-induced time-out:  "Brown sugar please!!! Brown sugar Please!!!  Mama, BROWN SUGAR!  BROWN SUGAR!!!  ::pause::  How 'bout a cookie?"  What do you say to that?  The answer's obviously going to be "No" - especially when helping himself to brown sugar is what landed him in time out.  But it's really hard not to laugh!

{real}

Challenge of the day:  What to do with a head of cabbage.  AKA Why does my husband hate coleslaw?

Or maybe it was trying to figure out a good layout for our family room with 3 recliners, an armchair and a decrepit loveseat.  Kind of an awkward assortment.  Especially when the recliners are blue-multi velour-y fabric, brown leather and black leather.  The armchair and loveseat are green velour-y fabric - and (gasp) they MATCH!
Plenty of seating options, but none very desirable for post-kids'-bedtime/movie-watching snuggle time.  We're looking into a futon-y option to solve this, and the guests-sleeping-over problem.  Futon = color customizable!  (What technicolor option can we go with next - something orange, or purple perhaps?)

Something else very much on my mind lately:  Silver Lining posts.  I'm tempted to want to jump right into making it a link-up party, but maybe I should explore this on my own a while.  Also having trouble deciding if this should be a weekly thing, and if so, what day?  Silver Lining Saturday (or Sunday) has a nice ring to it, but what are the odds I'm going to be consistent with a weekend post?  Any thoughts or suggestions?  I'd love to hear them!

Now my easily distracted mind will go back to pondering cabbage options.