Utility Room

I finished painting the utility room.  I didn't do a perfect job but I'm pleased with it.  Phillip put up new shelves and I reorganized and decluttered.  It still looks pretty cluttered but it is a utility room, after all.

New Car

We down-sized from our mini-van to a 2011 Mercury Mariner. It runs when I turn the key. It goes forward in D and backwards in R.  It stops when I put on the brakes. It has a/c and a heater that work.  It tells the outside temperature.  It's automatic.  I think I can park it. It does lots of other things I don't understand and don't really care about.  Those are the things that are important to me. 

Awkward Family Photos

All six of our children were here for Hannah's graduation party so naturally, we wanted a picture of them together.  Everybody got all situated and I took the pictures.  It didn't occur to me that since in getting situated, several people were crouching and leaning and standing on tiptoe, they expected me not to take full length pictures.  I have never claimed to be a photographer.  Jennifer took the second, much better, picture.  Anyway, these are 6 of my favorite people.

I Can Open My Oven Door

Without using a screwdriver!  Hannah already baked cupcakes in the new oven.  We're excited.

Today's Experiment

I don't bake biscuits very often and when I do, I usually use baking mix.  Since I try to be frugal, I sometimes make my own.  Today I was pondering whether I could make it with whole wheat flour.  It didn't take long to find a recipe so I mixed it up and baked an experimental batch of biscuits.  Phillip isn't here right now so I don't have the real expert's opinion, but I liked them.  Hannah said they were good, but I'm not sure she really meant it.  She's learned to be wary of my cooking experiments.  I hope Phillip likes them because it makes quite a bit of baking mix so we'll be using it for a while.

Poison

We were at Lowe's the other day and Phillip saw a flower he loved.  We bought it and he planted it in an old iron pot.  The plant is a foxglove, which is pretty but we found out it is poisonous.  We drug the iron pot to a far corner of the yard where it's surrounded by bushes and hard to get to, and warned the kids not to bother it.  Lilly took all of this very seriously. This week she brought over a sign she had made for me to put beside the plant. (Lilly is in kindergarten, by the way.)

The sign reads:  Poayzin flawwr
                           It will cill you
                           It cills you BI a tuch

Consider yourselves forwarned!

Changes

Hannah's birthday tulips are blooming.

We moved our tree faces over here.  These are some of my favorite things.  I missed them.

Mark and Bobby helped Phillip get this stone bench from his mom's house set up over here.  It looks nice in the shade of the oak trees.

Our garden is growing.  Phillip has build one more raised bed this size and 4 smaller ones but nothing is planted in those yet.  After we get past this cold snap he'll get those going.

Mama's irises are blooming.  She loved them.  They are so pretty and smell so sweet.

Lucy spent the afternoon with me.  This is a huge change because she normally doesn't let her mom out of her sight.  She played happily and we had a really good time together.  This is my favorite change of all!