Aloha Outfit

I found this gorgeous tropical flower print fabric in the remnant bin at Joann's a few weeks back. I finally got around to turning it into a skirt for Neely. It's adorable. What's even more adorable is the way she prances around when she's wearing it. She knows she's beautiful...even if she is always on the move and impossible to get a decent photo of.

Funky Shoes

I stumbled across this Graffiti Shoes Tutorial by Lil Blue Boo the other week, and I knew my Neely needed a pair. It took a little hunting to find a cheapish pair of Converse knock-offs, but once I did, it was ON! Actually, that's not true. It took me a few days to get started, and then they've sat on the kitchen counter since Monday, as I've gradually added doodles to them. And I opted to skip the puffy paint steps there at the end, as I didn't want to go buy some. Here's the finished product. I think they're pretty cute. Now, she just needs to grow into them.

Crashed Out

I probably should have put Neely in bed for her morning nap before this happened. Oops.

Plates are no longer for eating.

They're for decorating that random space in the living room where I hung my giant lemonade painting too low. For months, every time I've looked at that wall, I have thought, "I need to rehang that picture." Instead, I found an empty frame in the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby, collected a couple of mismatched plates from Tuesday Morning and T.J. Maxx, and voila! I no longer have to move the giant picture. And if you're wondering how I magically hung plates without the plate hangers showing, it's because I hot glued a safety pin to each of their backsides and hung that on a nail. And that's about as rebellious as I get, folks.

A little Tuesday morning ranting.

I have a story to tell that's a little off the beaten path for me. It's not about my kids. It's not about my house. It's about getting a random occurrence off my chest, I think, because it just made me upset.

Yesterday morning after dropping the kids off at school, I went to the post office. Not an unusual thing for me to do, but I usually use the post office on base. It was out of the way for where I planned to go next, so I instead went to the branch nearest the church, on Benton Road for anybody local.

I was a little leery of it. I've never been in this particular post office without having to wait a while, and the parking lot looked pretty full.

Once inside, my fears were assuaged. Only four or five people preceded me in line, and each of them held something small. No one with two cartons full of mail to send. Sweet, I'll be out of here in no time.

Just kidding.

Upon further inspection, I realized that both postal workers were assisting people with passport applications - one man and a family of four. The family must have given the impression that they were unsure of their answers, because their applications were being read aloud as they answered each question again orally. After about ten minutes of this, all but one of the folks waiting ahead of me got fed up and left.

Since it seemed that the man was nearly finished with his application, I figured waiting through him and one other person would be no big deal.

At this point, the people behind me start grumbling. After remarking about how fun it will be when they government takes over healthcare and receiving a few snickers in response, the man behind me grew bolder. Some of his comments were completely uncalled-for. For instance, when he said, "I hope they're planning on leaving the country with those passports!" I mean, I'm sure they are...for a vacation, hence the need for passports. It's not their fault it's taking forever.

Soon, the man was gone, and the worker who had been helping him begins calling for..."Anyone else who needs a passport?" Wait, what?! No takers. Phew!

"Anyone just dropping off packages?" A girl from the back of the line comes forward, and the disgruntled man behind me gets loud again. "This girl has packages!" (pointing at me) The worker addresses me, "You just have to drop off packages?" "Well, no, I need postage for them." And he's back to ignoring me.

He moves on. "Is anyone picking up a package or certified mail?" The man in front of me and another man from the back of the line step forward. There's more grumbling. Whatever, I'm next now.

The packages are retrieved and I hear, "Passports?" A woman brings her application to the counter and settles in. Seriously?

I leave.

The end.

Not really. What is with the passports? Is the post office no longer interested in selling postage? I hear these complaints on the news about how less people are using the postal service and they want to drop service on Saturday as a result, but maybe it's not entirely the consumer's fault? Maybe some of the problem lies in understaffed offices and disinterested employees.

This particular branch seemed to be picking and choosing which services they wanted to perform rather than meeting the customers' needs in a fair manner. What was the point of the line I stood in? These postal workers seemed not to care how many people walked out their doors and went someplace else. There was no remorse or apology for the amount of time we wasted standing in line. There was no explanation as to why some of us were being skipped over.

The part that confuses me most is the importance was being placed on passports. I mean, there were two employees in the office. Could there not have been a designated line for passports and one for everything else? Probably, but that would have made sense.

I can safely say that I will never return to that post office. I will drive out of my way to avoid it.

The end. (for real)

At the car wash

Workin' at the car wash, yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa...We spent the bulk of our Saturday cleaning our cars - inside and out. It was quite an undertaking. I did not take any photos of the embarrassing mess that we emptied from them. I do want to maintain a little dignity. I do, however, have an adorable picture of my boy washing his car.

He's moved from his Mama's boy phase to his I want to be just like Daddy phase. So sweet.

A Foggy Sunrise

I took this photo one morning last week, I can't even remember the day. I know that I'd spent the morning frantically trying to get the kids ready for school on time, and when I walked out the front door to take the dog out, this is what I saw. I couldn't not go get my camera...even if we were already a few minutes late. It was beautiful.

Busted.

Easter Pic

You know how I so proudly announced that I switched the auto-focus off on my camera on Saturday? Yeah, well, I forgot to turn it back ON to snap photos of our Easter celebration yesterday. Add the that the general cloudiness we had going on and the fact that the battery died in the midst of it all, and this is the only halfway decent photograph I got of my family on Easter. Please pretend they're standing closer together, that it's in focus, that everyone is smiling, and that my husband has on shoes. Arg!

We also took some video of the kids hunting eggs. Let's hope nothing's wrong with it!

Easter Weekend

I love Easter weekend. It's been beautiful outside, so we've spent as much time as possible communing with nature. We ate lunch on the patio. The kids dyed Easter eggs at their picnic table - which is wonderful, because I didn't have to worry about what kind of mess they were going to make of our shiny new carpet. Carpet in the dining room of a home where young kids live? Very bad idea.

John repainted our patio furniture. We'd considered replacing it this year, but decided on a gallon of paint and a new umbrella instead. Our big splurge may be a fire pit. Maybe. Hopefully. Then maybe we can be the ones to freak out our neighbors. (Every time our next-door neighbors light theirs up, you can see a reflection of fire in the garage windows across the street. I always feel obliged to check it out.)

I planted a big container and some hanging baskets. The pool for how quickly I can kill them may begin. And if you know ahead of time that dahlias, rosemary, and apple mint will murder one another, keep it to yourself. I think it's pretty.

I also discovered something wonderful about the one tree planted in our yard. It's a dogwood! It has one perfect bloom, just in time. I turned off the lazy switch on the camera, played around for a while, and got a pretty decent photograph of it.

I love beans!

Tonight was fajita night. The only thing on her plate Neely would touch? Refried beans. And when I say they were everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. All over her hands, face, arms, legs, bib, chair...the only thing she spared this time, miraculously, was her hair. Here's the picture.

And here's the song that it makes me think of...anyone who knew me in college is going to get a major nostalgia trip.

Bento, anyone?

I'm clicking around, looking for the end of the internet, and I discovered these adorable bento lunches! Go visit Lia at Bentolicious. Her bentos are so stinking cute! It makes me want to buy some bento boxes. Maybe cute fruit and veggie animals are the way to get the kids to eat healthier?...Nah...but it would be so fun!