I heart Natasha Wescoat

A few samples of Natasha Wescoat's work, from her website:









Purty! I want some!


~RCH~

The paper bag princesses

Please forgive the bad scan, but despite the three crisp dollar bills we fed the booth at the mall, the original wasn't that good either.

Still. There's no denying our collective cuteness. ;-)

The three of us went shopping a few days ago. The stated purpose of our trip to the lovely Cache Valley was to follow up with my eye doctor -- apparently my "contact fatigue" is easing, and the crater in my left cornea is filling back in -- but I had birthday money from the in-laws burning a hole in my pocket so after the check up and a quick lunch, we hit the stores.

I want to look nice again; I want new clothes. I want pants that fit me well (ha, ha) and shirts without stains and I want to expand my Sunday wardrobe beyond the single black skirt that I currently own.

I'm so desperate for these things, in fact, that I was willing to take a 2- and 3-year-old shopping all by myself during what is generally their naptime (made more sense than driving an hour home and then coming back -- a bird in hand is worth two if by sea, as they say). About the experience, let me just say: Wheeeeee! It's one thing to take tired toddlers grocery shopping, because at least you can stick them in the fancy firetruck cart and let them pretend to drive. It's another thing entirely to take them with you as you browse through closely spaced racks looking for your size ("Don't pull that off the hanger! Stop touching that! Don't hide in the clothes!") or into the dressing room with you ("Don't you dare open that door, I'm half naked!").

Two discount stores and one mall later, I came away with only one purchase: A pair of $5 yoga pants on clearance. Hmmph. I had found an adorable wrap dress at the mall and would gladly have spent my entire wad on it -- but I took it from what I thought was a return rack, when really it was on hold for another customer. They made me give it back. It was the last of its kind. :-(

I kept thinking how nice it would be to have my sisters there with me -- both to help me shop and to corral the crazies -- but although we're much closer to them than we used to be, it's still too much to ask any of them with their very busy lives.

Oh well. We've got some family parties coming up in the next little while, so I'll be heading down to the Metropolis soon and we can try this shopping thing again. Until then, I guess I'll just keep wearing this paper bag....


~RCH~

A few random thoughts

First of all, the baby is adorable and we eat out entirely too much lately. She's standing in front of me right now, wearing only a onesie, with a small piece of paper and pen poised in her hand waiting on my reply.

"You want some pancakes?" she asks me. I tell her sure, and she marks a scribble in the corner of her paper.

"You want some sausage with that?" (The way she says sausage -- shashaj -- just melts my heart.) I tell her yes and she writes that down, too.

"Okay. I'll bring you a Diet Coat," she says, and saunters off.

In other news, I've been thinking some more about how I'd like to decorate this house. I browsed Art.com last night until 1AM and built these galleries (which are in no way comprehensive; there was a LOT to wade through and I would have kept going if we didn't have 9AM church). This tree is probably my favorite so far -- it's nice and oversized (42.25 x 38.25 inches) and I love the vibrant colors and simple subject -- but I don't know if it would really go in my living room and I wouldn't know where else to put it.

Today I've been looking at Wonderful Graffiti for word art. Here are a few quotes I've considered for the playroom:

• Let me play in the sunshine; let me sing for joy; let me grow in the light; let me splash in the rain and remember the days of childhood forever.


• Bless This Mess


• A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
  [My own children are neither curly haired nor dimpled, sadly, but I still like the sentiment!]


• ...And they all lived happily ever after....

For those of you with more decorating imagination than I have and who know me well, does this give you any idea of my taste and where I ought to be headed? Please help me brainstorm some more!


~RCH~

Decorating dilemmas

Apparently the bare walls in this house are driving DH crazy. I had no idea he had such an aversion to blank space, but there you have it.... He brought me down to the clinic yesterday to see the newly painted Winnie the Pooh mural in the children's exam room -- which is completely adorable -- and then immediately began the hard sell (with the muralist still right there) on how we should get our family room walls done, and we should decide RIGHT NOW and get it painted ASAP. Ack!

I haven't let him hang any pictures downstairs yet because I feel like I need some space and time to breathe and figure things out. Now that we're settled in a house for the long haul, I want to make well thought out decorating decisions. I want this to be a space I'll love, rather than one that's been quickly cobbled together just for the sake of having it sort of together. I feel like everything has happened so quickly already and without much input from me -- the purchase of the house, the selection of living room furniture, the organization of certain storage rooms and closets that I would have done much differently -- that I just want to pull the reins back and regain some small amount of control. I want to have my say.

Isn't it supposed to be my job to provide "the woman's touch" to our home? Who knew I had such an opinionated husband when it came to decorating?

Pleh.

Anyway. So now I'm thinking about murals and interior design and about my vision for this house. I don't really have one. I do think a mural would work better for the girls' room or the play room than the family room -- but maybe that's just because I lack imagination, and the only mural I've seen so far is the kids' room at the clinic. Who knows.

I Googled "playroom design" just now and haven't come across anything that really strikes me (though I did learn this helpful tidbit from About.com: "Murals are a great way to bring life into the playroom. The mural should be fun and not depict war or death"). One dim, undeveloped thought I've had is that it would be fun to paint one wall with chalkboard paint so the girls would have a nice big space to express themselves. (But would that simply invite messy disaster, with chalk forever on their clothes and hands and all over the place?) I've thought of maybe removing the closet doors and using it as a little cozy nook instead of a closet.... Though then I'm stuck without storage space. I don't really know what I want. I can't picture the fabulous end result yet.

I don't mind taking the time to figure it out, but apparently DH does. (Insert eye roll here, lol.)

Anybody want to help me brainstorm?


~RCH~

A rare compliment

The toddler is all about compliments lately:

"Mom," she'll say, "I like your shirt."

"Mom, that's a really nice watch."

"You have a pretty favorite color of eyes."

"I like your purse, Mom."

And on and on. She's very sweet. Problem is, she hasn't quite developed a sense of propriety yet (but hey, she's only 3). This morning as we walked into church, she tugged on my sleeve and said, "Mom, I really like your boobs."

I laughed and told her thank you, but that maybe it would be more polite to focus on other things, especially at church....


~RCH~