I'm home today with . . . you guessed it . . . a sick kid!! The Jones family cannot go 4 weeks without catching something. To be honest, though, Brenden only has a bad cold. I could have (should have?) sent him to school, but I could just relate to how badly he was feeling. So I let him rest today. Oh well. I remember the stress I used to feel when I worked full time and someone got sick. I feel blessed to be able to stay home with my children and not worry about juggling all the balls.

I've been working on the slipcover a little bit every day. I have never been so determined to learn how to do something. So far, it seems like it is working. Most of it has been easy, but the arms are a little tricky where they join with the wings. I'm sewing the test slipcover out of cheap muslin and if it works I will cut it apart and use the pieces as a pattern. (And did I mention I bought the wing chair for $20). I found this girl's online journal about her slipcover project if you're interested. It is quite impressive. I'll keep you posted on mine. This picture also shows the paint colors we chose for the wall that I torture myself over every single day. I love the red, but not sure about if it works in this room and if the taupe color below works at all. I don't really care for the chair rail either, but DH would KILL me if I ripped it off. I also took down the gold silk curtains in favor of a cream chenille scroll curtain. Much more my style. I am going to submit pix of the room to Creative Home magazine to try to get a room re-do. Fat chance, but you never know!


We had a nice little snow storm Sunday, with no ice. The kids got another snow day on Monday (their 7th I believe). We made snow men on Sunday, and Monday morning the temps were high enough to start melting snowmen. All throughout the neighborhood, there are headless snowmen! The picture with Grandma is from last year b/c BJ was at the neighbor's house. They built an ice fort that you can actually go into. The school had a snowman contest, and one kids made a 10-foot Elvis snowman! Gotta see that one.

I really blew it the other day. We had a computer guy over to fix out computer problems, and DH told me to backup the photos that were on the hard drive b/c the guy was going to wipe everything out. Soooooo, I put all the pix on the external hard drive. For some reason, I thougt that was good enough and I would put them on cds later. Of course, even though the external hard drive is a few years old, it decided to go bad a week after I did this. Sooooo, I lost a lot of my pictures. Now I have to see if I can find someone to save my files (without charging me a year's salary). I knew better.

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."

~Proverbs 17:22

Big Icy Snow Storm

We had a big, icy storm last week, and it has made for some great sledding. Usually the kids can only make it past the end of the house. But with the ice, they get more speed and they can sled past the house, through the entire backyard, and if they don't put on the breaks, they will go down another hill and into the creek! We have all had a blast. Even Terry and I have been sledding. We finally have temps in the 40s today, so this will be our last day of sledding. I'm a little sick of walking on ice and falling on my butt, so it is ok with me if it melts.

My beautiful friend Kristy flew to Virginia this week to visit, and it was so nice to see her. It's a great thing to see a friend you've known for years! It makes me think of this quote from Shakespeare: "Thy friendship makes us fresh." Thanks for stopping by to see us!

One More Project for the List ~ & Walmart Find of the Week

We thought we were going to get no snow this winter when we were having 70 degree days in January, but February has come through for us. It has been snowing off and on all day and night, with more to come. We could get sleet too, but fingers are crossed for a bunch of snow.

I'm so excited . . . I found these remnants the other day for 25cents each, and they are cut into big squares ready to sew into pillow covers. They were the samples for special order fabric. This picture shows my favorites, but there are more! I just need to go to the fabric store to get some fabric for the backs of the pillows.

These hanging baskets are my Wal-mart find of the week. They are pretty cute for $12.00. Not something I needed to buy in winter, but I couldn't help myself!

Look What I Found

I was dropping off some donation items at the local thrift store this week, and when I went in to get my receipt, I spotted this gem off in the distance. I love the marble top. With a few French General bottles, it looks just right in my master bath. It will look even better when DH paints the room (yes, that is painter's tape in the background). I have picked out an herb green.

Life is Beautiful

This is what I woke up to this morning. It is only about 2 inches but it sure does make everything look beautiful, doesn't it? Snow makes me so happy. Especially since the temps have been very low lately (6 degrees when we take the kids to the bus stop, 16 when I went to the grocery store, and some pretty darn cold wind!). If it is going to be that cold, then we might as well have snow too. We had a forecast of snow, but all the kids said was "yeah, right." So when I woke up and looked out the window, it was still a nice surprise. It is a wonderful day! (Especially for Brenden the procrastinator who didn't get his homework done last night).

I'm going to try blogging since I miss my friends and family and can't possibly call you every time I think about something I want to tell you (that darn time change!).

Love

Heather