School Room Buffet

My Aunt Rosemary had a piece of furniture

on her front porch.

It was used to hold stacked wood and keep

it dry.

I've been trying to think of a way to

replace our big book shelf in the school room/family

room.  The shelf holds all our books

and games we play most.

BUT it also gets very dusty and also becomes

the catch all.  I am getting

tired of the clutter.

I thought of moving the games upstairs 

on a shelf and then moving the rest of the books

onto the shelf on the other side of the school room.

I just needed some place to put the copier.

This is where the buffet comes into action.

I could put the copier on that!

Aunt Rosemary said we could move it down here.

So many things in my home remind me of her.

For years, people would give her pieces of furniture

or other things they were passing on.

Rosie also loved to pick at her dump.

Our first waffle iron she found for us at her dump.

We used it for years and were SO sad when

it finally stopped working right.

I have not found one since that I liked as much

as that one.

This will be another reminder of my sweet, fun Aunt.

Tonya, my sister has been talking and talking

about her new "love" of chalk paint!

She paints a whole ton more than I do so I knew she

would definately be one to trust.

(click on "Tonya" and she has a post about using

chalk paint.  On the end of her post, she links to a tutorial

on using chalk paint and waxes.  It was very helpful.)

So I ordered my first can of chalk paint and wax

to finish the piece.

Oh what fun!
I loved working with the paint.

You don't have to strip the old off and can just paint

on the wood without preparing it first!

I especially liked working with the wax to finish it.

No polyerthane!  I loved it and am so happy how it turned

out.  Now the process of moving all the books,

games and added "junk" is not near as fun!

But I know I'll be so happy with a more tidy room.

What? Three for Lunch?

It seemed so strange.

I grabbed three plates and made three

peanut butter and jellies.

I got three glasses of water.

Cut up the apple into thirds.

Grabbed three handfuls of cherries.

Just the simple process of making

the lunches for three boys seemed,

well, odd!

Usually lunch time makes the kitchen

a hoppin' spot in the house.

The stove is going, frig is being raided and

there are many LOUD voices!

Today was so quiet as the three home

were outside all morning.

I put together their plates and set them

outside and called to

them that lunch was ready.

It seemed an exciting thing to have their

lunch made and set outside for them.

Usually they "fend for themselves". 

This term is used often, it means when I'm not preparing a meal

for them.  

Oh, the simple pleasures of a peaceful morning and lunch

outside.

Oops, just while I wrote that, the door flew open with

a shirtless boy yelling on the top of his lungs.

It WAS peaceful for 10 minutes.

Nineteen Years

Last week was our 19th Anniversary!

Most times I still feel like that young college student,

twitterpated with that handsome, tall dude.

(Although, my body is beginning to tell me I'm not quite

so young!)

We have come to the point in our lives that we

can leave the boys over night.

For many years, that wasn't the case.

It seemed we always had a baby or young boys that

we couldn't leave.

Those were the days of babysistters,

creative dates or bringing the baby

with us.

The year we moved to PA, we were looking

at homes to buy, job interviewing

and celebrating our Anniversary all in one day.

We also had Timothy with us as he was a baby.

Memories are some of the things that keep

our marriage fun.

Often we'll just sit and chat about our early days

of marriage and the memories we've made.

Life was so new and exciting together!

This past weekend we had to drive Brendan

back out to camp.  The camp director asked

if he could come work again on this week as they

were low on staff workers.

Knowing the camp was "near" Lake Erie

(or we drive by it on our way) and knowing how

much I love swimming in lakes, my fella planned

our Anniversary getaway on the lake.

What fun!  Camping on the lake!  We both enjoy

camping.  Friday morning we left here early.

My fella found the back roads to camp.  It seemed to be in the

middle of no where!  but still fun!

We dropped Brendan off at camp and headed

to our camp site.

We had a rather large site.  Perfect for a family of 10

but the family only had two this time.

The tent was set up, coffee perked on the camp stove

and bathing suits gathered.

After our coffee was gone, we walked to the lake.

The water was choppy like the waves of the ocean

but the water was clean and fresh.

We swam some and headed back to our site.

Yatzee and Rummy were the games of the night by

lantern light.

The next morning was cloudy but warm.

After breakfast we grabbed our towels, suits and the rafts.

On the way to the camp ground the day before, 

we stopped and picked

up a few supplies.

I wanted to find an inner tube.  The store was sold out.

I saw swimming rafts for a dollar and grabbed two.

Childhood memories of hours of fun on the lake

with some rafts quickly flooded my mind.

What fun to make some more memories.

We walked to the lake and blew up our rafts.

Soon we were floating on the water,

side by side talking and laughing

together.

I'd jump off my raft, swim around feeling

like a dolphin and

get back on.

Soon we realized we had drifted way out.

The tiny blue spot on shore that was our beach bag

vanished from sight.

Jet ski drivers began to get their skis

on the water and were zipping by us,  creating waves for us to

float over. 

Soon it was time to be over.

Oh, how I dreaded that.

This, to me, is TOTAL enjoyment!  So peaceful,

so refreshing, so many memories!

We headed our rafts to land,  I gathered some

pretty rocks from the shore and we

packed up our things.

What a fun camping trip!

We plan to go back next year for our twentieth

but for longer stay and with the site filled

with 10 rowdy Philbricks!