The Green Challenge

Over the last months it has been difficult for me to find inspiration... birthdays are easy, but other than that, our days are busy and after/during a busy day I have not been stopping to SEE. Everyone in the Midwest is very aware of the DEADness of this time of year. OH how tired I am of the gray and the bare trees!

SO when Jody posted her green challenge last week, I was determined to join in... after all, as I was seeing the photos of green from Jody's world, I looked down at my lunch and saw that I had a beautiful green bowl right there on my plate! My first find!

Thank you, Jody, for the challenge. It has helped me to open my eyes to see this week and I even found some green in my own yard! Life is returning!!



The green bowl on my lunch plate and my mostly eaten bagel sandwich from last Friday. The bowl was holding a delicious mixture of salsa and ranch... which means I ate too many chips with lunch that day!



My birthday tulips from Miss Joanie! We enjoyed them up until the last petal dropped.



Miss C on the couch and behind her are pillows from my grandmother. They are extra special because they belonged to one grandma and then my other grandma covered them with the green quilting when John and I were first married. The green quilting is now falling apart too, but they are comfortable and special and I just can't seem to part with them. Both of my grandmas are gone now and when I snuggle with my pillows, they help me remember how extraordinary those 2 women were. (It's in the plan to recover them, but who knows when I'll have to time to do that?!)



Miss M's umbrella in the corner, leaning on my green walls. We've had a bit of rain this week.



Miss C's green bag. John's Aunt Bev made bags for all her great-nieces several Christmas' back. These are now extra special too, since Aunt Bev went home to be with Jesus last year.



Verse cards (made for me by Shelley) posted on my kitchen cupboard. I often read them while I'm washing up dishes. God's word is strength-giving and I need His strength and joy when I'm doing dishes! :) (Thanks, Shelley!!)



And last, but certainly not least, my strawberry plant from my sister Jayme survived the winter! What joy it gives my heart!! :)

Feel free to join in the green hunt!!

btw -- I used The CoffeeShop Blog's action called 'Butterscotch Vintage' on all these photos. I love playing with actions and Rita's actions are all free!

The Color Blue

Here is my answer to Jeny's blue challenge.
1. drinking glasses in the cabinet 2. the summer sky 3. the wite-out I just bought at Wal-Mart (I know that seems funny to stick in there) 4. a bachelor button from my garden 5. a blue vase full of black-eyed susans (cut by Madelyn) 6. my Holly Hobbie plate

I love blue. It was one of the colors in my wedding. In fact, the bachelor button was one of our flowers too. I haven't used it a lot in my decorating, but I have splashes of it in my kitchen.
It is a very calming color and I need it this week. I am busy planning the beginning of our school year. I'm very anxious to get back into it, but the girls are resisting. I think we lived too much like gypsies this summer. We've rarely kept a schedule, getting up whenever and staying in pjs well past breakfast. It's been nice, but I'm ready to return to a schedule. And I hope they find quickly that it can become a natural rhythm, as calming as the color blue.

Hard work and then Happiness

I've spent the day torturing my children....I made them clean their room. The closet and everything. They also dried and put away dishes this morning, and folded and put away laundry, and Madelyn had to do a math worksheet. Oh! the agony of hard work!!
And apparently, I also tortured the neighbor girl. She called twice and then came knocking on the front door with her mom. Madelyn still wasn't done and the mom said to me, "This is so hard for H." !! I wanted to laugh, but resisted. I think Madelyn and Chloe were having a much "harder" day.
Well, their room is now clean and all are happy. The neighbor is here and they are sweetly playing babies together. Oh! the hard life of little girls! (you hear all my sarcasm, don't you?)

So here was my true intention for this post: Responding to Jeny's red challenge! Much more fun than cleaning! I took pictures of things around my house throughout the last week. Red is one of my favorite colors, so I found myself taking images of some of my favorite things.


Our favorite new sandwich without a top piece of bread because we ran out. And yes, I did take a bite before I took this picture. It's hard to wait for something so delicious.My favorite shoes. A couple of years ago John snuck them out of my closet and to a shoe repair lady. Such a sweet gift.
A quilt made by my grandma. She made it for Madelyn's bed when she was two or three.
My favorite purse. It's a weird shape, which turns out to be perfect for carrying my fat wallet and the camera.
A pull toy we gave to Chloe on her 2nd birthday. And although she's 6, we won't be parting with it anytime soon. In fact, if she doesn't keep it, I will.
Something else from my grandma (red was one of her favorite colors too). She wore this often.
And our new "old" favorite game: Clue
"Miss Scarlet in the Dining Room with the wrench."
A couple things in our bedroom, both of them thanks to Jeny! (they were both gifts from her and Josh)
And yes, another favorite: strawberry shortcake. What a perfect way to end.

Yellow

I've accepted Jeny's yellow challenge. Here are a few yellow things I found in my home: Children's Books - some really great ones like Curious George and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Mrs. Pepperpot's Outing
Rubber duckies of all sizes. The giant one was given to Madelyn from my grandma when she was 3. She still loves it. And the wall behind the duckies is our schoolroom - yellow stripes. It's such a happy room.
A few yellow things in my kitchen, including the wall (though you can't tell in this pic).
Yellow pears and clock faces. The painting was a gift from Mom and I bought the clock faces off of ebay a few years back. I thought they had such charm. I gave new life to the bottom one by giving it a new clock.
And lastly, some school/office supplies. All must-haves. Notice the stubby yellow colored pencil. There's a lot of yellow in their art around here. (Mostly suns with happy faces shining down from the top right corner of the paper.)

Like this one:
And I hope you have a sunny day! Maybe searching for yellow in your home will help. I had so much fun with this. And a few shelves got a much needed dusting too. ;)
Jen, I can't wait for the next one!