Ten on Tuesday

1. We saw Star Wars on Opening Day.  Not a midnight showing because we're too old for that stuff, but we're still fans.  ;)

2. No spoilers, but I will say I'm way more on board with Reagan's nickname being Rea than I was before I saw Rey in The Force Awakens.  I thought "Ray" seemed kind of masculine.  But Rey is awesome.  I actually feel a little smug about being 9 months ahead of the trend I see coming.

3. I just looked at my last post and realized it's already been 2 months.  To follow-up on our movie-viewing, Inside Out is now on constant repeat in our house as well.  I DID cry a little the first time I watched it, so I appreciated the warning.

4. The Polar Express was also pretty popular this month. 

5. And Star Wars, of course.  We got all the first 6 on digital.  And we got Star Wars Rebels.  And Star Wars Droid Tales.  Droid Tales is hilarious.

6. Thanksgiving and Christmas were wonderful.  I hope everyone else enjoyed their holidays as much as I did.  We actually had a postponed Thanksgiving because the big family dinner was on Sunday, so Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Tyler and I painted 2 rooms in the house and installed shadowbox wainscoting in one of them.

7. Speaking of which, the premade shadowboxes are worth every. single. penny.  Even if I did have some sticker shock when I got to the register.

8. My parents are in town for Christmas, and the kids are loving it.  On Wednesday night, I announced that it was time for haircuts, and Mason started fussing about it until my dad said, pointing to his buzz cut, "I'll do it!  You want a haircut like mine?"  And Mason calmed right down and took him up on it.  Then Lincoln thought it looked cool and wanted a matching one, too.  Dad's offered to give me that haircut for years now, and he finally got 2 takers.  Tyler and I passed, and Reagan doesn't have much more hair to begin with.

9. Aside from general holiday festivities like cookie decorating and cookie eating, we've also been playing a lot of Splendor, if anyone is looking for a game recommendation.

10. On Christmas Eve we walked to the park because it was such a gorgeous day, and on Christmas Day, we got record rainfall resulting in flooding.  "Welcome to the South, where the weather is made up, and the Seasons don't matter."

Ten on Tuesday

1.  I have a really good excuse for missing last week.  A stomach virus hit our house last weekend, so I was hunkered down.  It came back Sunday night to hit another kid, too.  I'm the last one standing at this point.  Yes, I'm paranoid that I'm next.

2.  Despite Reagan starting to be pretty unhappy, Kim Greenfield still got some very cute family pictures a week ago.  You can see some of them here.

 
3.  Did everyone have a fun Halloween?  My boys decided that they wanted to be Mario and Luigi this year, so I decided they needed a Princess Peach as well.  We bought the boys' costumes, and for Princess Peach, I bought a pink dress on Amazon and followed this tutorial for the crown and pendant.  I think it's a win this year.  They're adorable.

4.  Any other Black List fans out there?  I just discovered it a few weeks ago, and I'm obsessed.  It reminds me a lot of Alias, another favorite.

5.  Home is on constant repeat in our house.  Both of the younger kids love it.  When she was sick last week, it was one of the few sure-fire ways to calm Reagan down for a few minutes.  I think we can all pretty much quote it.

6.  I admit that I'm excited Inside Out comes out today.  I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard good things, and I'm glad to get something else into regular rotation.

7.   You know I love a good printable, right?  I just got a few printed to put up in Reagan's room.

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(I changed the original color)

8.  Speaking of our house.  This is what it looked like when we bought it.  We've made a few changes so far, but we have bigger plans I'm hoping to make happen in the next year, including black shutters and awnings. 

 

 9.  I painted the boys' room the first month we lived here, and I STILL haven't finished the city wall.  But here it is.  Eventually there will be yellow windows.

 10.  And here is the only before and after pictures I've done.  We painted all the trim and the mantle and whitewashed the brick, and I love it.  Please ignore the off-center tv and cords.

Happy Tuesday, Friends!





    

    

Ten on Tuesday

1. No Ten-Pin Tuesday today, sorry.  But feel free to check out my latest pins.  :)

2. I haven't been particularly motivated to blog lately.  I imagine you've noticed.  I'm struggling with WHY I blog.  Am I primarily wanting to share ideas with others?  Or am I wanting to journal my crafty pursuits for myself?  Am I really wanting to develop a blog "following"?  I'm not sure.  I know I've declared several sweeping changes already this year, but I think there's another one coming.

3. I have been reading up a storm lately.  I finished both Legend by Marie Lu (on audiobook) and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers last Saturday.  I give both 5 stars.  Thoroughly enjoyed them both.

4. I've read several others as well.  If you're on goodreads, look me up!

5. I am STILL catching up on Project Life.  I am so close.  So, so close.  In fact, I'll commit to putting up at least my title page within the next 2 weeks.  I know, ambitious.

6. I'm loving my iPhone/iPad for editing pictures.  Right now I use Phonto, Snapseed, and PicFrame for almost all of my photo formatting needs.

7. I stayed home with my boys for three days last week since our babysitter had a daughter getting married on Saturday.  I could have gotten another sitter, but let's be honest, I didn't look that hard.  I love an excuse to spend more time with my babies.

8. I used the home-time to declare Potty Training a Go (I say again! We are GO for potty training!).  Potty training sucks.  I think Mason (the baby) will just have to stay in diapers for the rest of his life.

9. I need a new purse.  Again.  I got a cheap one at Target, and that became apparent when it started to fall apart.  So now I've got my eye on this one from Fossil (in metallic).  I've been coveting a Fossil purse for many years now, so that might need to be a Christmas-in-July present to myself.

10. I'm starting to feel the sewing bug again, so look for some sewing projects in the near future. 

Ten on Tuesday - April 17

1.  I'm well into Project Life now.  Playing catchup on 14 weeks is no joke, either.  I'll do another post to tell more about that and some of the lessons I've learned.


2.  One thing I've decided to work on to help with Project Life is to edit my photos on my phone rather than trying to edit them in PSE.  So I've been looking into some new iPhone and iPad apps for editing.  My new iPhone app I'm loving is Photogene2, and TouchRetouchHD on the iPad is like magic!

3.  I bit the bullet and ordered that purse I mentioned a few weeks ago.  I love/hate how big it is.  I love that I can carry my iPad with no problem, but hate that there's room for me to throw all kinds of other stuff into it as well.  So far I'm doing fairly well at taking things out in a timely fashion.  Though I did end up carrying Lincoln's alphaberry around for almost a week at one point.  And one day I walked out the door with his LeapPad as well.  Noticing a trend?

4.  I'm thinking about writing a Manifesto.  I guess they were all the rage this year instead of resolutions?  I decided not to do resolutions this year, so I didn't even notice.  But now I'm kind of liking the idea.  Did anyone write one?

5.  Looking for book or movie suggestions?  Check out the comments on this post over at I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar.  She asked for favorite books and movies and worst movies, and her readers delivered.

6.  Mason (7.5 months) is currently cutting teeth, so he wants to be gnawing on something At All Times.  I've never been a fan of the Gerber teething biscuits (WAY too messy), so I was excited to try this homemade recipe when I came across it on (where else?) Pinterest.  And it's awesome.  I recommend it.

7.  I kind of want to get my handwriting made into a font, but I want a cursive/script font, which tends to cost more.  Any suggestions?  I'm thinking something in the $30 range. 

8.  I saw this on Pinterest the other day (it doesn't have an original source to credit, so if you know it, please share!).  It's funny because it's true.  I've been saying this since Halloween.

(source)

9.  I'm adding a new motto to A Place for Everything, and Everything in Its Place.  The new motto is When in Doubt, Throw It Out.

10.  I tried that refrigerator oatmeal this morning, and I have to say it has potential.  But the banana peanut butter was not the greatest combo.  Maybe it was just the proportions.  Anyone tried any other refrigerator oatmeal recipes?