What I Like About Living in a 104 Year Old Apartment

by Ang

The doorknobs:

The fireplace:

The radiators:

It's full of charm & quirkiness!

Wanting Less

By Amy

My new motto........

(pillow from Etsy.com)

At this time last year I was insane

By Amy


I like to check back on my pictures to see what I was doing around this time last year......... Ok I guess that's not being completely honest. Truthfully, it's my turn to blog and I'm to lazy to upload any new pictures so basically this is a excuse to dig around for pictures that are already on my computer. Onward! Last year at this time I was having a cowboy party for my then 7 year old and 14 of his closest friends! That's when the insane part comes in. I planned for weeks but it was worth it. My husband donated his time and skills and made us a tee-pee! (that's not how you spell tee-pee is it? That can't be right.)

And a cactus with cut-outs for a toss game.

Goodie bags above the clothes line.





A jail for all the outlaws.

A real saddle and real hay. And boy did that make a mess!

But worth it!

The table for eating and crafts.

Plenty of grub!

I didn't take alot of pictures after everyone arrived. I was sort of busy. Here's two.

I did managed to get a few of the whole crowd. What a bunch of mean lookin' cowboys!

Ok boys, go crazy on me!

The party was super fun, the boys had a blast and I vowed to never do it again. Well, maybe. For this guy. In 2015.

Eight. And the Weather.

by Ang

Friday night my 8-year-old nephew came over and spent the night. We went to dinner at Panera (one of his favorite places), went to my work where he played at my desk and made photocopies of his hands on the copy machine, came home and watched a movie and PLAYED! It was fun. He has an infectious giggle that instantly makes me laugh.

Lounging around, watching a movie:

I keep a bin full of toys for M for when he comes over. For about 3 years, we've been playing a game that would be way to complicated to explain and even if I tried, it would make no sense except to me and him.

It involves a bulldozer:

A man:

Who sometimes holds a Stop sign:

And a tiger:

Usually there's a lion too, but we couldn't find him.

M ALWAYS wants to play this game and we usually do. Friday night was fun. To be eight again and laugh at everything and have an amazing imagination - I was so entertained.

On a completely unrelated note, this weekend has been BEAUTIFUL. I opened my French doors in my bedroom today...

I'm not feeling good today so it was nice to breathe some fresh air!

What I See

By Amy





This picture is not bad. At first glance I thought it was ok. Not wall worthy or anything but ok. Then I started picking. You know what I mean don't you? You start picking at your flaws. The first thing I noticed was my color. That oh so pasty, clown-white, it's winter -in -the -Midwest color. Then I saw the deep crease under my eye. See it? That's the end of a puffy blue bag. Sounds attractive right? Just wait! It gets worse! Want to see what I see?

Here's a run down:

**crows feet

**zits

**age spots

**fuzzy, wiry hair

**double chin and just plain ole chub

**laugh lines (although these I don't mind so much. It means I'm happy. Right?)

**Blue bags under my eyes

So that's what I see. And it doesn't matter what anyone else says or how many times your husband says your beautiful....that's what I see. And it's really sad isn't it? Why do women do this to themselves? I know I'm not the only one. I know I'm not the only one who when looking at a picture, zero's in on herself and either gasps in horror or breathes a sigh of relief that it's ok. It doesn't matter if everyone else is looking horrific (even better!) as long as you pass your own critical eye, you can rest easy. If you haven't noticed already, but men don't really care how they look. They barely glance at themselves in pictures and they roll there eyes when you insist on taking 14 just to get one that is acceptable to you. I wish I had that. That oblivion of not caring about another wrinkle or zit.

Now don't get me wrong....I KNOW this is really petty. And in the whole picture of life....it REALLY DOES NOT MATTER. Health, love and happiness far out-weigh my thoughts in this little post. But this is just what I am thinking about tonight. And I know it's because on Sunday we are getting our family pictures professionally taken. It will be the first time in five years. And probably the last time for five more years. And all I keep thinking is what if I hate all of them? What if I have to spend a bunch of money on pictures that I cringe to look at? I would love for the first time in my life to look at the proofs and regard how everyone else looks first. My baby (who is 8) has this adorable dimple when he smiles. Not to mention that he is still toothless in the front. And my almost-14-year-old is in that awkward stage where he doesn't really know if it's better to smile with his mouth open or shut. Even though both smiles are adorable to me. And my honey. I love how his eyes crinkle up when he smiles. And those freckles. I would kiss every one of them if I could.

So if I love the way they look (which I always do) it should be good enough. It WILL be good enough. Because it's not all about me.

There Once Was A Girl....

By Amy

......Who Had A Little Curl

Kansas City

By Amy

My hub and I just got back from a relaxing weekend away to Kansas City. Honestly it would have been really great to a beach somewhere. Or the mountains. Or hey, let's dream big, a cruise! But when funds are limited and you live in the middle of nowhere.....Kansas City it is! We had a couple of recommendations of where to go and what to do when we got there. One thing we did was tour the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. I'm not a huge museum person. But I really did like this one. Not to big, not to small. Some of my favorites......

This museum had TWO MONET'S!! A pleasant surprise!

There was a exhibit of famous photographs. I'm sure you have seen this one before.

I stared at this painting the most. The sheet just seems to pop out at you.

My husband really liked these pieces.

After the museum we went to lunch, did a little shopping and then went back to the hotel where hubby watched football and I watched the movie Australia. Which was long. But good. But long. (:

It was a great weekend. We relaxed and spent some uninterrupted time together. It was nice to get away. But it's nice to be back too.