Day 8. Good Food!

My sweet husband always treats us to lunch on Sunday afternoon after church. This is where we went today. Great, little casual pizza place, and the food was absolutely yummy!

I've read in some of the 365 project articles, that when one approaches such a project, one should ALWAYS have their camera with them. Just get used to LIVING with it strapped to you. Well, as a busy mom of 3, you can imagine that's not always the most convenient thing in the world! So, when I thought of taking a picture of these colorful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling at Bellacino's, of course, I did NOT have my handy-dandy camera exactly at my side. No, it was actually resting peacefully on the top of my entertainment center at home! Never fear! My husband saved the day. He loaned me his iphone, and for this purpose, it did just fine. :) It may not be the best quality photo, but you get the idea. AND... I have now completed Day 8 of my project... a week and a day! Not too shabby. 1 week down; 51(ish) to go!!!

Day 7. First From Reserve.

OK, OK, I did not take this photo today. I've already explained that I'm making up the rules as I go along, and weekends are going to be tough. I figure if I'm still posting a photo every day, it counts... at least, relatively speaking. Don't judge me too harshly. I took this one yesterday, so it's not like I dug into my digital archives from the year 2003. I took a few yesterday, in fact, because I was feeling moved to do so. I didn't want them to go to waste, so I saved them in a file called "reserve."

Now... the story behind the photo... We all know how young ones come up with some interesting ensemble choices for themselves. This was one such example. My youngest came out of his room, all ready for school, in swishy pants and cowboy boots. Maybe this isn't an issue for some. And maybe several of you don't even have the faintest idea why anyone in your household would even possess a pair of cowboy boots. Well, every male in this house owns a pair, I'll have you know. And they wear them proudly.

You see, my husband grew up in a rural, little town of southern Illinois. In this part of the good ol' USA, it is hardly uncommon to see boys/men wearing all sorts of "cowboy, farming, hunting, and/or even mining gear." From cowboy boots, to overalls, to embroidered John Deere emblems on their "best weekend hats," you'll find it all. I grew up as a city girl, myself. Sure, I have plenty of country roots if you trace it back on my dad's side of the family, so I'm not unfamiliar; but my upbringing was city all the way, and that's where I met my husband... smack dab in the midst of city living (he had moved here to go to school). So, you can imagine the first time I saw him... 6 foot, 4 inch frame from the ground up, beginning with worn-in, dirty-brown, western-style boots, and topped of with his black, felt cowboy hat (with a whole lot of jeans and flannel button-down shirt in between). I wasn't quite sure what to think! Needless to say, he didn't exactly fit in. My curiosity soon grew into admiration. This guy didn't care WHERE he was. That didn't change WHO he was, and he couldn't care less what anyone else thought of that fact. I found that confidence endearing about him, and later ridiculously attractive. :) And so the love story began.

Here we are, many years later. That cowboy hat doesn't see the light of day very much anymore, but the boots make an appearance now and then... and the principle remains. The very qualities in my husband that make him the man he is today, are exactly what his boys admire so much! And it's in every boy to want to grow up to be like his daddy. I think, in the minds of my little guys, every time they pull on their cherished cowboy boots, they're taking one step closer to being exactly the kind of man they want to be someday... and I can't imagine any man I'd rather they mold themselves after, than their father.

HOWEVER, I do happen to be their mother, and it's my job to do all that I can to encourage them to wear those boots with a nice pair of lengthy jeans as opposed to swishy sweatpants! :)

Day 6. Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

I took this outside the front window of my home this morning. My children were getting ready for school, and it was early, so still fairly dark outside. I was still in my jammies, so to spare my neighbors from the "Laura in the morning" view, I decided to see what I could do from inside. This was the best one I got. The reflection of my neighbor's porch lights across the street caught my eye, and I just thought it was pretty. We were SUPPOSED to be covered in snow by this morning, and my kids were HIGHLY disappointed not to get the day off school, so it was nice to find something positive come from the situation. :)

Day 5. My Couch???

I'm already obviously lacking in creativity. It will be nice when the weather is more forgiving for outdoor photos. I'm a little concerned that I'm feeling so unmotivated, only on day 5!!! Ugh. Oh well. It is what it is. This photo probably tells more about me than one might assume if only given a slight glance:

My favorite color is red. Well, duh.

You might notice to the left of the photo, that there are still no baseboards around the entire main living area of my home. That is an indication that we are a BUSY family, and our floor project that began before Thanksgiving is yet to be finished. Soon enough, though. Side note: the kitchen cabinets in the background are painted black, a project I began AND completed last summer. This is proof that the home improvement projects DO get finished around here... all in due time.

Also to the left, is the corner of an end table between the loveseat and couch. You might see dirt that has accumulated underneath that table, and that is because when I'm cleaning the floors, I seem to never remember the floor beneath that obnoxious, tiny table.

The refrigerator in the background is elegantly decorated in kid art... obviously, we have kids! :) And the opposite wall holds a dry erase calendar/bulletin board... this is my attempt to stay organized with all of our "stuff." Right now, there is a paper tacked to it, stating the date of the kids' spring school pictures. We'll see if it works! Last year, I forgot. :( Both children were decked out in what we call "comfy clothes" for the day. I don't really want to talk about it.

The pillows on the couch are an attempt at my creativity! I was quite proud of the coordinating pillows I purchased on a FANTASTIC clearance sale at Target less than a year ago. They were a beautiful neutral color, with gold, sequined circles, which tied in wonderfully with the circles on my area rug (it was cuter than it sounds, trust me). They were NOT very kid friendly, though, and in the course of only a few months, we were finding tiny, shiny sequins all over our family room. I bought this fabric to replace the circles. With a little time, an iron, and a LOT of stitch-witchery (because a seamstress I am NOT), voila! ...brand new pillows.

And that's a MUCH longer story for Day 5 than what the photo is really worth. Good day!

Day 4. Ellie's Home!

Our puppy had to leave for a couple nights to make a visit to the vet to be spayed. We got her back today, and she is so happy to be home! :) Here's her little tummy, all stitched up. Can you believe I'm supposed to keep her from jumping or running for a week? It's going to be a LONG week.

And here's our sweet Ellie. :) Doesn't she just have the cutest, little face EVER?!

And here she is, happy to see her big sister. Yes, Mandy is 11 pounds, but three years older, so technically, that makes her the older sister! :) Ellie may be bigger, but trust me, she is ALL puppy!

This is Mandy... just because. She's a little jealous that her little sister came along, so much prettier than she is... but she's learning to deal! Haha!!! (P.S. don't ever tell my older son I said that, because Mandy is totally HIS dog, and he would be quite offended!)

Day 3. My Redhead.

I suppose this is pretty self explanatory. Love him. :)

Day 2. Haircuts.

You will probably soon notice that I do lots of things in threes. I don't think I always do it on purpose, but I live my life this way. Moe, Larry, Curly. Winkin', Blinkin', Nod. Alvin, Simon, Theodore. . :) Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego (yes, I looked that up to make sure I spelled it correctly!) Good things come in threes!... as did my children. This afternoon, I took them to get haircuts, and there's nothing cuter than the back of a little boy's head after a fresh haircut.... especially those cute, little EARS!