That Darn Good Weather

Bobo and I are sitting in our 'classroom' right now doing school work. I had to pause to blow my nose and the following conversation happened:

Bobo: "Are your allergies bothering you?"

Me: "Yes."

Bobo: "Because this room is dusty?"

Me: "No, it's the weather."

Bobo: "You're allergic to good weather?"

Me: "Yes, Bobo, I'm allergic to good weather."

=)

Bridget

Striking Gold on Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's Day Husband and I got to have a little weekend getaway. Hubs had a company party in The City on Saturday night so we left the crazies with the rents in Chicken Town and booked a hotel.

We stayed at The Colcord in the heart of downtown and within walking distance to our party. But we didn't have a weekend of leisure in our sights. No sir-ee. We had plans. Lots of them.

And they started with getting to the hotel as close to check-in time as possible and taking a nap.

Not kidding. But that was because we knew that Sunday was gonna be busy and we needed to be rested up. And because I love naps.

And the whole loving naps thing isn't something I grew into upon becoming an adult or mother. Nope. The story goes that when I was little I would actually ask if I could take a nap. I was brilliant even then.

But back on point. I was on the hunt for some transition tops. You know, the kind that can work layered in winter and alone in spring. But I had a few guidelines they must pass. Like: not form fitting. They could skim the body but not hug it. Also: nicer than t-shirts. Must be able to dress down with jeans and up with slacks. And finally: must be cheap.

I started out at Banana Republic. Love that store. I always head for the sale rack first. Cute stuff, but none cheap enough or exactly what I was looking for.

Then I headed to Ann Taylor. When we lived in Montgomery, TX the mall had an Ann Taylor Loft which was much less expensive. But my only options on this day was good ole Ann Taylor. I was not expecting much.

But surprise-surprise! I hit the jackpot! Not only did they have a HUGE clearance rack (the only thing I even looked at) but EVERYTHING in the store was an extra 30% off! I didn't realize this till I was at checkout because I assumed that they surely wouldn't take an extra 30% off their clearance stuff. You know what assuming does, right? Well, nothing really in this instance other than delaying my sheer excitement when I realized I was going to be practically stealing these tops!

I tried on 13 different tops and settled on five. I'm only showing you the three that were the biggest steal because it takes a long time to put photos on the blog and I'm lazy.
This top is so cute. It's a creamy white with slightly pink undertones.

And I got 30% off the $29.88!!!

If you don't trust me and want to see the tag for yourself you can click on the picture to make it bigger. What I'm trying to show you is that the top layer of this shirt is 100% silk. I love silk. Especially on my curtains, but also on my body. I'm loving all the ruffles this year. And the length of the sleeve is perfection. I have long limbs so this is something I have to be aware of.

Why in the world would a gray top that could possibly look like a sweatshirt with ruffles be $155? That Ann Taylor is either full of herself or... ...it's 100% cashmere!!!!!! If it wasn't dry clean only I would likely wear it everyday. No, this doesn't actually meet the guidelines I established earlier. But you should know that I am usually cold ALL. DAY. LONG. And therefore, tend to cover up with a lovely fleece pullover. I thought this beautiful creamy sweater would look much nicer than the pullover when I'm wearing all my cute tops. And I was right, btw. Don't you just love the rhinestone clasp? Another steal. I practically floated out of the store on a cloud.

I haven't struck gold like this in a couple of years. It felt good.

Bridget

Oh, To Be 31 Again

Oh, to be 31 again!
That seems so long ago!
Before all those grey hairs
And wrinkles started to show!

Oh, to be 31 again!
How that was a fun time!
My spouse was still aroused
Since I was in my prime!

Oh, to be 31 again!
It seems so much has changed!
Yes, every time I come home,
My house is rearranged!

Oh, to be 31 again!
Young and full of energy!
When I could sing and dance
And not have to ice down my knee!

Oh, to be 31 again!
Now I feel so old!
I didn't think I really was
But that is what I'm told!

Oh, to be 31 again!
My kids were younger, too!
Now every time I blink
They've grown an inch or two!

Oh, to be 31 again!
I wrote this poem to say!
Don't let Bridget off the hook;
She turns 31 today!

R.C.

Blue Moon

Here's the picture I took of the Blue Moon. No, it's not actually blue. Here's where you can find out why it's called a Blue Moon and here's where I make my plea for a telephoto lens. If I had one I would have been able to take a much closer picture of the beauty that was this moon.

However, I still really like this picture. And my camera. And my lens that came with it. I'm not complaining. It's just that I made a plea for my camera on this here blog and got it so why not try the same approach with the lens? =)

Bridget

B.I.D.I.A.

Ten years ago we lived in Danville, KY and had only one child. I decided to try my hand at selling Mary Kay cosmetics. It didn't quite take but I did learn one thing that has stuck with me since.

I went to a MK conference with other MK Consultants in a nearby city. The speakers were great and very motivating. Unfortunately, the motivation didn't make it home with me. However, one speaker talked about B.I.D.I.A. and I have never forgotten it. It stands for:

BUT I DID IT ANYWAY

Here's the premise. As we go throughout our day we come upon things we NEED to do to accomplish our goals yet we don't FEEL like doing them.

B.I.D.I.A.

I didn't feel like sitting down and reading with my kindergartner - BIDIA

I didn't want to clean my bathrooms today - BIDIA

I was tired and didn't want to walk on the treadmill - BIDIA

The list of ways to apply B.I.D.I.A. are infinite. Like the one my husband just suggested:

I was tired and didn't want to "spend time" with my husband - BIDIA

The thing is I always feel so much better after making myself do the thing I think I don't really want to do. And by doing those things that are fine on a to do list but in reality we always put off
we actually might find that in a month or two or three we've accomplished the things we've been trying to accomplish for years.

Like losing weight, or getting in shape, or organizing our house, or strengthening our relationships.

So this is the Babione6 year of B.I.D.I.A.

I even framed it and hung it in our bedroom. We can't miss it there. And I'm sure now Husband is going to remind me of it ALOT. =)

Bridget

My Jewelry Display

I have had an idea for displaying my jewelry for awhile. I saw it in a magazine and it burned on my brain. You just cover an inexpensive bulletin board in fabric and then use pearl tipped straight pins to hang your jewelry on it.

I've been waiting to purchase another bulletin board. However, when I was finding places for all the new Christmas presents I saw the brown bulletin board chilling behind my bedroom door and decided enough waiting. Time to use what I have. So this is how things started out: My pitifull broken jewelry box. It hardly held half my stuff. The rest was hanging on my robe hook in my closet and in boxes on the highest shelf. I never remembered what I had and hardly wore any of it.

Hopefully this new system will get me wearing more of my stuff.

I know the fabric makes it hard to see the jewelry, but trust me, it's there. I've almost filled the whole thing and its a big board! I also hung my silver polishing cloth on there and since this is just a half bath I'm not worried about too much moisture hurting my stuff. Basically, all we do is brush our teeth and do our business in there.

It does bug me a bit that the fabric is sideways and rather busy. I have some blue silk that I might change it out for. But until then, I'm really enjoying having all my jewelry at my fingertips.

Bridget

I didn't hang up all my jewelry. I have a few valuable and family pieces that are staying safely put away.

Fabulousness and Struggles

We just finished a weekend full of Christmas'. Great-Grandparents, Grandparents, extended family. It was wonderful. It was a whirl of activities. It was exhausting.

And now we're home for a few days to regroup and then do it all again.

Really, this post is just to share one fabulous piece of information and a struggle. First the fabulousness:

Remember this post? Or this one? Or this one? Or what about this one? Well, you will if you've been reading for awhile bc I wrote those back in the summer and fall of 2008! Yes, folks...2008! I have been wanting this camera for a LONG time. And I GOT IT!!!!

Hubs asked his parents, my parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and his nana to all go in together with him to buy it for me!!! I basically haven't put it down since Sunday morning when I opened it.

When he asked me what I wanted for Christmas I told him I either wanted the camera or money to save toward the camera and that was it! And he delivered!

I've already taken over 300 pictures. I'll post some soon.

Now, for the struggle:

Folks, we had to take two cars with us this weekend just to get all the stuff home! Seriously!?!

Now I have no place to store it and we still have two more Christmas' to do! Ugh. (in a good way) I was at Walmart last night buying groceries and storage bins and ran into a friend and we were talking about how we couldn't afford to store all the new toys the kids get. =)

Anwho...small struggle I know-just the one I'm in right now.

Merry Christmas!
Bridget

Life, Not Light

So, I took this picture last week when the kids were outside playing. That's Bobo on the right and Studly on the left. It was in the 50s and we (the adults) found it funny that Bobo had on long pants, a long sleeved shirt, a jacket, and earmuffs while Studly had on shorts and a t-shirt. For kicks I ran outside and snapped this pic: Then yesterday I read a post on Milt's blog and I thought of this picture. You see, Bobo and Studly are standing in the exact same temperature. It's not 40* for Bobo and 60* for Studly. It's 50* for both, yet their differing opinions are revealed in their choice of clothing. But this doesn't stop them from playing together and accepting one another.

Oh, for the Body of Christ to stop gathering together with and accepting only those that share their same opinions (like if Studly would only play with kids who also wore shorts and t-shirts in 50* weather) and to start accepting and gathering together with those who have the life of Christ no matter our differing opinions for that is the only biblical grounds we are given for accepting our brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Milt puts this so much more eloquently and fills in all my gaps. Please take the time to read his post. Once you do you will totally get the title of this post. =) And I'm sure it will stir your spirit like it stirred mine.

Bridget

Ask and You Shall Receive

Or in this case, just casually mention it on your blog, and you shall receive.

In this post I mentioned how I had purchased some new ornaments for my tree and my only regret was not purchasing two boxes of them.

To my surprise another box of them showed up in my mailbox yesterday!! And they are the exact ones! Here they are on my tree. Thank you so much, Mema! Now they really stand out like I wanted them too!

In other news, Bobo spent his first night in his own room last night! He was so excited that he had trouble getting to sleep. It's not finished yet, but he's all moved in.

Don't worry, grandparents, the computer isn't hooked up to the internet and even though it's in his room he still has to ask permission to get on it. It's for their typing and game playing and because we really have no other place for it.

And of course, true to form, Princess heard the camera from the other side of the house and had to get in the picture.

He keeps saying things like "This is my first lunch with my own room" and "I love doing my school work in my own room".

I'm so happy for him.

Bridget

The Christmas Sounds of Babione6

Last week MIL, myself, Bobo, and Bear went to the high school's winter musical. They did White Christmas.

My history with White Christmas is special. You see, For three years in a row I traveled with a competition cheer squad to Nashville, TN at Christmas for our cheer nationals. Everything was held in the Opryland Hotel.

Everything.

Our rooms were there and the competition was in their ball rooms. It was actually a brilliant plan bc the cheerleaders, coaches, and families never had to fight traffic or parking, and during down times we could hang out in our rooms instead of in hallways or foyers.

But you didn't really need to know that.

Anywho, the Opryland Hotel has one channel on their t.v.'s that loops White Christmas during...well...Christmas. I honestly don't think I had ever seen White Christmas straight through from start to finish. I'm pretty sure I had seen the whole thing just in bits and pieces here and there.

I'll be honest, I was disappointed with the high school's production. But it did make me want to find the movie to watch at home. So Husband rented it for me the next day and we all sat down to watch it together.

I was so excited when the kids loved it! We watched it again before returning it and before the kids knew that Hubs had taken it back they asked to watch it again. They sing the songs and talk about the scenes and regularly remind us of their favorite parts. Bobo is loving 'What Do You Do With a General?' and I've heard Popeye singing 'I Wish I was Back in the Army'.

It's been fun to see the kids embrace an older movie. I guess it just shows that White Christmas really is a classic that stands the test of time.

What are your favorite Christmas movies? What Christmas cd's are you listening to? Are there any great songs we all need to hit itunes for? Please share.

Bridget

I know it's not actually Christmas time yet...

But I've already got my Christmas decorations up!!

My entryway: I've used blue as my main Christmas decor color for five Christmases now and I still love it!

I bought this grapevine wreath at Hobby Lobby on my Dallas trip. It was 50% off. Originally $5 I got it for $2.50 but even at $5 it's definitely worth the money. Then I just spray painted it blue. I was planning on adding a bow and other fun stuff but after I got it painted I liked it plain.

This is the decor on my coffee table. The glass vase was a gift for my 30th birthday and it's from Pottery Barn! I filled the bottom with crushed sea shells (from the Walmarts) and then put small sparkly ornaments in it. I actually leave the sea shells in it all the time and just change out what I put on top. Before the ornaments it had fake flowers in it. The big black rock is a lava rock some friends brought back for us from a volcano they stopped at on their way to Wyoming. And even Better Homes and Gardens thinks blue is a great Christmas color!

I actually love that blue is a popular Christmas color this year because I've been able to use magazines as decor. They match so nicely!

I also love using Snowmen because they can stay out all winter. Multitasking decor. That's what I'm talking about!

I didn't do much in the dining room this year. This nativity was the only thing. Not only is it beautiful but it uses all my colors! Brilliant!

I made our stockings last year. I am silly about things looking cohesive. They don't have to match perfectly... I just prefer them to make sense. Having a mostly blue tree and other decorations and then bright red stockings wasn't working for me. These need to be ironed really badly but my iron is very dirty and I don't have any iron cleaner so that is having to wait for another day.

My Mema got us these precious stocking holders. Love them!

I've put a bow on top of our tree for as long as I can remember. This year I did buy new ribbon and made a new bow. The background color is the same as our kitchen color and then it has sparkly accents that match the accent wall in our living room. Can't beat that!

This is one of my favorite ornaments. An angel surrounding Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus with it's wings. BEAUTIFUL!

Nana made this ornament for us. She has given us many ornaments over the years but this one she made herself. I'm pretty sure most everyone got one from her the year she made these. I'm so glad I have this memory. That's one of my favorite parts of decorating my tree. My MIL and my grandmothers get us ornaments every year. Decorating our tree is taking a walk down memory lane.

This is another fave. Santa kneeling at Jesus' feet.

I also bought these big snowflakes at Hobby Lobby in Dallas. They came in a package of six and I'm only wishing now that I would have gotten two packages.

Our tree in all it's glory!

Husband bought a screen saver DVD a few years back for us to take to a Christmas party for a white elephant gift. We liked the idea so much that we stole the gift and no one stole it from us. Now, since we don't have a fireplace we just put in our screen saver DVD, choose fireplace, and voila! It's almost like the real thing!

Thanks for humoring me while I show you and talk about all my Christmas decor. Now that I have other people posting on the blog I can't seem to stop myself from talking about decorating.

But don't worry...on Friday I plan on doing a homeschooling update and showing you some of our projects we've been up to. I'll give you a decorating break.

Bridget

To see other people's Christmas decor check out the Nester's Christmas Home Tour.

Bombardment

Hello all you Babione6 blog readers!

So very sorry for not holding up my end of the bargain and posting on Tuesday. We also let you down and didn't get Bobo's mystery post up on Monday. SO SO VERY SORRY.

We know how important your dose of Babione6 is. Hope you made it through ok. (that was sarcasm, fyi)

So to make things right here's our plan:

Bobo is getting his hair cut right now. As soon as he gets home he will post his mystery. Say...by 1:00. Then I will get on the ball and take the pictures I need to take and my post will be up at say...4:00. Then-yes there's more-Hubs will put his normal Wednesday post up at say...7:00.

Is that a deal? Ok, so you might be a little hesitant to make a deal with me again after I let you down last time but trust me. We won't do you wrong this time.

Also, make sure you come back at 7:00 CST because Hubs has a really cool, important post that you won't want to miss!!! It's a big announcement and NO I'M NOT PREGNANT!

Yes, that's my blog teaser. =)

Bridget

A Tale of Two Tables

Like the title, honey?

Hubs loves alliteration.

So here is my tale: Over a year ago I took a trip with two friends to Dallas. Can you guess where we went? Nope. We didn't go there. We went to Ikea. Hello!?!

If you were reading this blog around that time you probably read this post and possibly this post and then maybe this post where I finaly showed you my coffee table. Suffice it to say (what does that mean really?) that the coffee table bought on that Dallas trip was everything my heart desired. Unfortunately, it wasn't everything my children couldn't destroy. Four busy, active kids had finally rendered that coffee table inactive.

Enter table 1.



This bueat came from a family friend that had it hanging out in his garage. The positive points are: it is solid wood, the drawers pull out on both sides (STORAGE!), and it has the simple clean lines I like with just a bit of detail. The negatives points: U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi! You UGLY!!! Luckily, I can work with ugly.

Enter table 2:


Removing some unnecessary items and all those drawer pulls (what was that?) and then adding some TLC in the form of sanding, priming, and painting along with fewer new drawer pulls and voila! A brand new table.

I chose to paint it the same color as my kitchen walls. I was tired of painting all my furniture white and I love it. It is a fun shot of color smack dab in the middle of my living room. And since we have our computer hooked up to our tv, the keyboard and mouse vanish so nicely into one of the drawers. Brilliant!

Isn't she lovely?

Bridget

Don't forget to check out the solution to The Case of the Missing Cobra directly below this post.

Pillow Talk

This past Saturday I went to Dallas with "Quotesy". We went to Ikea, Red Lobster, Joann's, Starbucks, Hobby Lobby, the gas station, and McDonalds. It was wonderful.

The reason for our trip was two-fold. 1. I needed some pillows. Not the sleeping kind. The decorating kind. You see, last spring my MIL and I also took a day trip to Dallas and went to Ikea. MIL was purchasing new furniture for her bedroom and I got to tag along.

While at Ikea I saw some 20" down pillow inserts for $6.99. To those of you unaware, down pillow inserts at a fabric/home decor store run around $18 a piece. And I needed four. Plus, the two fabric/home decor stores in Lawton don't even carry down pillow inserts. Just fiberfill ones.

Suffice it to say I was thrilled. However, I wasn't at a place to purchase them yet. So I've been waiting for these pillows for months now. MONTHS. But thanks to husbands junior high football announcing check I had a little extra cash on hand. And husband was willing to hold down the fort for the day while I got out and about without kids in tow. It was a beautiful day.

Introducing my new pillows:

I found the blue fabric at Joann's in Dallas on clearance for $4.50 a yard. Not only is it the perfect color, but it is an outdoor fabric and therefore able to withstand the abuse from four children. Brilliant.

I am so pleased. You can see the before here. Sad little pillows.

I also snagged a new light fixture for over the dining room table. The first one I had was also from Ikea so really I just got a new cover and not a whole new fixture. It is much more sleek and simple. Love it.

The before:

The after:
The light cover was $13.00! You just can't beat that.

Reason #2: "Quotesy" had never been to Ikea and both mamas needed a day away. Loads of fun was had by all.

Bridget

Bobo is now a weekly contributor to Babione 6. He will be posting every Monday. Don't miss his first post! It's right below this one.

You Probably Thought I was Exaggerating.

Since I posted pictures of my entry, living and dining rooms some changes have been made. I was serious, people.

Here's what happened: about a month ago, hubs and I took the two little ones to Wichita Falls while the two big ones were at a birthday party. While there we visited the lovely little store Hancocks and I found the fabric for my living room drapes. They are the perfect colors AND they were on clearance. People: I got upholstery fabric that is usually $19.99 a yard for $2.30 a yard!!! Crazy!

So anyway, once I had them sewn and hanging I knew I didn't like them with my old dining room curtains. I love my dining room curtains, but they are cotton quilting fabric that is usually $6.oo a yard and the look of them next to my new curtains was cheap. Maybe it was all in my head, but frankly, I have to live in my head so I wanted to do something about it.

When we went back to WF for the Sesame Street Live show husband graciously let me run into Hancocks again to see if they had any of the fabric left. Well, of course they didn't. Not when its on clearance for pennies.

So I figured my head was just gonna have to be unhappy for awhile.

Then, my SIL* helped me out by moving into a new house on Saturday and having her first baby on the very next Wednesday. While she was in the hospital I left my kids with my mom and went to help my MIL* and FIL* unpack my SIL's house. Because of all the dirty laundry and gazillion other things that needed to be done, MIL and I decided to take the dirty laundry to the laundromat to wash it faster.

*sister-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law

This has a point, I promise.

When we pulled up to the laundromat what did we see just a few stores down in the same shopping center? I'm sure you guessed it. Hancocks. And a big beautiful one at that. After getting the clothes into the washing machines we headed that way. And I'm sure you guessed it again, They had my fabric!!! EXCEPT: it wasn't $2.30 a yard. It was marked down to $8.50 a yard. Still a good deal but I needed 7 yards to cover both my dining and kitchen windows. 60 bucks people.

Not chump change in my world. If I spend 60 bucks on unnecessary fabric it means I DON'T spend 60 bucks on necessary things. Nope, I couldn't do it. I did, however, find some fabulous sheer fabric 1/2 off to cover my lampshades with. And my dear, sweet MIL bought it for me. Check it out.
The before:

The after:

The full monty:

Fabulous, right! I'm so pleased. And of course, in true Bridget fashion, when I'm done with these colors, the ribbon and fabric come off and my plain white lampshades are back. Yeehaw!!

So, on with my story. When I got home from my weekend away, I told hubs about finding the fabric. He then told me that while I was gone, he received his check from the school for announcing the junior high football games. And then my perfect, wonderful, handsome, funny, smart, precious husband told me to call his mother, who happened to still be at his sister's house, and ask her to go get my fabric. I couldn't be more in love.

Yesterday morning my MIL delivered my fabric to me and I sure did have those new curtains sewn and hung by the end of the day! And they look wonderful!
The before here

and the after:

Other changes were made as well. I used my handy dandy photo editing software to put pink numbers where changes were made. (Don't forget that you can click on the pitures to enlarge them.)

No. 1: New curtains.

No. 2: new fabric covering the chain for the light fixture.

No. 3: new flowers on the table

No. 4: moved china cabinet

No. 5: rearranged top of china cabinet

No. 6: new paint on walls

No. 7: replaced the decorative paper in my brown frames

I'll talk about no. 6 in a sec. First, my mom had the art teacher at her school draw these pictures of my children for us for Christmas two years ago. I love them. Sometimes I go temporarily insane and put something else in these frames, but luckily it is only temporary.

I'm one of those people that loves symmetry and balance so I love having these pictures on either side of my china cabinet. And putting the cabinet back on this wall makes the dining room feel bigger. I seriously can't remember why I didn't like it this way the first time. Must be more of that temporary insanity.

Honestly, I didn't need to put this picture in here, but oh well. I still love my tile floors.

Now about no. 6. when I originally painted my kitchen blue I told husband that it wasn't quite right and that I planned on tweaking it a bit. I lived with it for quite a few months, but this past Sunday I just got the fire in my belly to paint something. My kitchen is small and can easily be painted in a day so I got to it.

As you can see it is only slightly different. A little lighter and a little greener. (The new paint is the paint around the edges.) Now it's perfect.

And I mixed my own paint. After you amass all the paint that I have you can do that quite easily. I just bought a gallon of white satin paint and mixed in very small amounts of a color I had out in my garage. I love the way it looks after just a few swirls.

And as more proof of my sickness, Sunday was the fifth time I've painted my whole kitchen in the two years we've lived here.

I put this picture in here because I was able to take this picture without a flash and using the natural light from my window. I wanted you to get a better idea of the true color of my walls. It's light and icy and wonderful and NOT the color you see in the other pictures!!!

I've actually been making more changes in other rooms but this has gotten very long and I really need to do something else, like vaccuum my floor and brush my teeth.

Bridget