Ooo, getting fancy here now aren't we?!

Well this here blog is all fancied up with its very own address, oooh lala!  I had been using www.couplemorehours.blogspot.com but NOW it's just www.couplemorehours.com. I now own the domain name CoupleMoreHours. 

Pretty nifty, 'eh?  You may want to change your bookmarks to my new address. You will be redirected here if you still use the blogspot address but it may be easier to just remember www.couplemorehours.com. 

Yay!  Carry on, carry on.

Story time: storms and teddy bears

It's story time again courtesy of two 7-year-olds and their fantastic imaginations! I loooooove reading the things the girls come up with and it pleases me to no end that they've got the writing bug. They love to write stories and little notes and to draw. {I've shared their stories here and here and here.} Both of them write in journals every day at school. Lydia brings her journal home at the end of each month; Arlene's is at school until the end of the year. I can't wait to see Arlene's - I'm sure it will be a treasure trove of cuteness. 

Lydia's March journal had all sorts of neat entries. She writes about things we've done, such as when we went to the aquarium, when we went camping, or a game we played at home. It's super cute. I mean seriously, I can't get enough of her writings. 

This particular one cracked me up but also made me feel a little bad:

{Click on it to see it bigger}

It says: "Thunderstorms make me skard. They make me skard because litning hits it make a lound noise. My mom is also skard of thunderstorms. She dos't like them because she is ufrad litning is going to hit us. Do you like thunderstorms?"

Ha! And, oh no! There was a particularly bad thunderstorm that hit our area in March. I am indeed scared of storms but I try to hide my fear from the girls. Obviously I'm not succeeding. I think it's hilarious that she said I was afraid of lightning, because really I'm afraid whenever it storms that a tornado will sweep us away. Isn't her illustration funny? I kind of don't get it. There's an arrow that says "this way" so maybe that's supposed to mean the lightning should skip us and go away?  Teehee.

Not only have the girls been journaling about what's been going on with their lives, they've also been writing stories. Arlene brought home this story recently:

(Click on it to see it bigger}

It says: "Once apone a time I saw teddy dancing and singing in my room. I was shokte abot teddy dancing and sining Exceptie I code handle it so we had a dance pattry and I sang sogns. Mom side it is time to go to bed and so we did. The end of the story."

She says, "I could handle it" - ha HAAA!! That cracked me up. Haaaa! Arlene has written a few stories now about stuffed animals coming to life. And she does seem pretty OK with the fact that they come to life and sing and dance. So hilarious!  {I posted a video in March of her reading a story she wrote about a live monkey - link here!}

Lucky girl

Lydia found a four-leaf clover on the playground last week! What a lucky girl!  I laminated it for her and now it's a bookmark - as you can see from the pic above it got a little wonky in the laminator but at least now it's encased in plastic! 

Etsy Favorites Wednesday

Why hello there! How are you doing today? My week has been okay ... nothing really to be too chatty about. The usual's going on, keeping up with the kids, going to work, watching baseball, working on crafty projects at home. La la la. 

Here's this week's Etsy Favorites Wednesday list, which doesn't really have a theme or anything, just stuff I've been eyeing on Etsy and a few things I just purchased. Oh, and as a reminder, the invitation is always open for you to create your very own Etsy Faves list! All you have to do is pick out five things you like on Etsy, send me the links and why you like those items, and waaala your very own Etsy Faves list. My friend Amber curated last week's list, did you see it? If you'd like to contribute a list, leave a comment letting me know {be sure I have your email address so I can reply to you} or contact me {see the "connect" box up there in the upper right ----> }

Striped cupcake box - wouldn't you just die if you got a box like this filled with cupcakes?! I would die from the cuteness and the deliciousness inside. 

Hello sign - I want to hang this in my entryway. 

Pinwheel quilt pattern - This looks kinda easy - maybe I should buy it. I've been gabbing about wanting to get into making quilts forEVAH. I need to just get an easy pattern and start sewing.

Doily screen-printed tea towels - love these.

Whipper Slapper - my crafter friend Abby makes these and I bought one for my Arlene because that girl just loves slap bracelets and she's particularly fond of Abby's monster creatures too.

Owl hair clip - and lest you thought I forgot my Lydia, I assure you I did not. I just bought her this cute wee owl hair clip. Girl loves hair clips and owls!

Fun!  What are you eyeing on Etsy these days? 

Our weekend zoomed by, as weekends usually do. Wish all weekends were three day weekends but then we would probably get used to that and those would feel like they flew by too. Alas, it's Monday. Already.  This weekend darling husband and I went on a movie date, yay! But we saw a movie I didn't care for: The Cabin in the Woods. Husband loved it. I didn't. But I got to eat movie theater popcorn so that's not so bad. On Saturday the girls and I went to visit my cousin's new baby. Such a sweetie, we all love him lots. Then we went to see a movie, two movies in one weekend for me (and more popcorn!) We saw The Lorax. On Sunday we bought an elliptical, go fitness! My arms are sore today.

I've got a bunch of projects in progress right now.

I'm making something with a pile of doilies.

I washed and ironed this stash of fabric and will be making quilted placemats!

I am going to be making something out of pink fuzzy fabric. This photo didn't capture the fuzziness of this fabric. It's swirly fuzzies. Very soft! 

I will share details when I finish the projects!

I post a lot of photos on Instagram and a couple of them to Facebook too but I wanted a place to store them all for the sake of memories, so I'm periodically going to be putting together a collage and posting it here from time to time, ok? Okay then. Are you on Instragram? I'm "couplemorehours" there. 

(click on the image for the big version!)

How was your weekend? Did yours fly by? What did you do?

Wee little houses for me

Back in March, I had featured a grouping of my favorite artists on Etsy in an Etsy Favorites Wednesday list. I had remarked that I was a big fan of the shop called The Little Red Door. 

Lovely little clay houses! After seeing my blog post, the amazing artist behind The Little Red Door, Toni, contacted me and asked if I'd like to do a trade. Oh my goodness I was so excited!  

We traded two of my dolls for six of her little houses. 

I absolutely adore them. Look how cute they are in my printer's tray!

She made little houses with our initials on them ... 

 ... and two little houses with stars on them.

I think they're just lovely. Go check out The Little Red Door and start your own collection!

The butterfly whisperer

Lydia loves cats and dogs and bugs and butterflies. We got her a butterfly kit: the kit came with a mesh cage and caterpillars. The caterpillars came out of their cocoons this week and Lydia was thrilled. After admiring them for a few days inside we set them free in our yard.

It was a windy day when we released the butterflies so they were quickly blown away. But Lydia did capture a few. She has a knack for being able to pick up butterflies from the ground. She just scoops them up and they stay in her hand. Skeptical sister is observing {she wants nothing to do with bugs or anything with crawly legs!}

Then she puts them right back on the ground and off they fly!

What a sweetheart.

Etsy Favorites Wednesday

This week's Etsy Favorites Wednesday was compiled by my good friend Amber. Enjoy!

Did you know that April is National Card and Letter Writing Month? Now you do.

I love getting and sending mail. I used to walk to the mailbox every day every summer, hoping I had mail (this was back when you couldn't make long-distance phone calls before 7 p.m. unless you wanted to use your entire allowance). I have awesome memories of taping a quarter to a letter, putting it in the mailbox and the mailman actually taking it. I have sad memories of waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting on letters that never came.

How awesome would your day be if you got one of these cuties in the mail?

Blank mini card set 

Tree cards 

Owl thank you cards

Robot note cards

Crochet star cards

Singer hallway table

This past weekend we went to a local antique fair and found just what we were looking for! That rarely happens! We wanted to find a bench or a table to put in our hallway foyer, under our steps by the front door. 

Look what we found - an old Singer sewing machine that had been turned into a table years ago! 

And for only $25! 

The table top is wood and is warped and chipped with age - love!

I put my terrarium planter and some other little trinkets, toys, photos and display items on it.

Close up - my terrarium {can it be called a terrarium even if it's not enclosed?} has moss that we pillaged from the forest when we went camping at the beginning of this month and some plants that I bought. There are also some wee little houses and mushrooms. 

I just love the table so much - it fits absolutely PERFECT in the space and is just my style.

We also got these HUUUUGE stars that were made out of tobacco sticks from a tobacco farm. We got both for $15! Steal!  I'm not sure where I want to hang them. I was thinking about hanging them on the large wall in our foyer, but I'm worried that might be star overload. I have our solid barnwood star that hangs over our door ...

The wall beside the star (to the left in this photo) is very large and very blank. 

You can kind of see it more in this picture. 

Would it be too much - too much "star" all in that one corner? Or would it make a cool statement? I'm just not sure. I'm also not sure if we'd even be able to hang them on that wall - we'd need to perch up high high HIGH on a ladder to do it and I don't know if we can.

If I don't put the stars in the foyer I may split them up and put one in our bedroom and one in the hallway leading to our bedroom. But I kinda wanted to keep them together. You know, the whole Two Stars bit I have going on! What do you think?

Sweet new bikes

The girls got new bikes over the weekend, and as Arlene keeps saying, "our bikes are SWEET!" 

They are very excited about their new rides.

Look at that grin - kid knows she's cool! 

Her bike is sassy just like she is and we're totally OK with that. 

Lydia's bike is sweet, just like her! She has a basket for toting around her stuffed animals and those streamers on her handle bars are pretty darn cool too!

Friday the thirteenth

It's Friday the 13th. This year, we will have three Friday the 13ths. The first one was in January. The next one is in July. OOooweeewwwooooooo!

And did you know that July is really an odd month this year - there are five of every day?  Weeeird. {Incidentally, I know I had read an article about the oddity of this July awhile back but when I tried to find it via google I came up with a whole slew of end-of-days 2012 stuff. Oookaythen, google, not helpful!}

Are you fearful of this day?  I'm not. I don't think 13 is all that unlucky for me. At least it hasn't been in the past. Great, I probably just jinxed myself for today.

Jason Vorhees and his mommy approve of this year's three Friday the 13ths!

Gosh darnit cute kids!

So the schools do this tricky thing to parents now-a-days! They do SPRING school photos. The kicker? You don't have to pay for the photos before they are taken, like you have to when they take fall photos. You wait to pay until after you see the photos. And this is bad this year because ... LOOK AT THESE CUTE KIDS!!!

Gosh darnit CUTE KIDS!!!  The photo packages are EXPENSIVE!!  To purchase all five sheets of photos for each kid, which of course I want ALL FIVE because they are super cute and they have their names on them and their school year and there's a sheet of laminated photos too! GAAAAH!  It's $44 for each kid. Pretty darn sure I'll be spending almost $100 on school portraits. AGAIN! Because I already bought and framed their fall photos!  

Trickery. Just plain trickery. I told the girls that next year they shouldn't look so darn cute because then I wouldn't want to buy the photos. They told me that's just not possible.

EFW - spring flowers

Our spring {here in southwest Ohio} has been just downright AWESOME. Things bloomed way early, the grass is green, the skies are cloudless and blue and the temps are just right. {It's actually been a wee bit chilly these past few days, but we'll take what we can get!} I haven't planted any flowers yet because I'm too nervous to put them in the ground this early, but I've got a plan in place for when I'm confident the weather will turn warm and stay warm for sure. In the meantime, I've been bringing out my cheery spring decor and have been spying some things on Etsy that I want to buy or try to make myself. 

Felt wreath - that huge cluster of felt flowers is sooo pretty. I think it would be super duper pretty to make a wreath ALL of out felt flowers, all different colors. 

Wall vases - I've seen many different variations of this concept lately and I want to try it out. I have the idea of putting small vases above our headboard and to put a single flower in each vase. I love this particular vase though, too, with its wire holder and wood base. 

Paper flowers - love the bright and cheery colors!

Crocheted daisy bracelet - how cute is this?!

Fused glass nightlight - I have a particular fondness for fused glass, especially fused glass flowers.

What are you liking on Etsy these days?

Do you want to curate an Etsy Favorites Wednesday list?

Sure you do! It's super easy. Send me an email (see the 'connect' box in the upper right for my address), pick out five things on Etsy you like, tell me why you like them and give me the Etsy link. I post the Etsy Favorites lists every Wednesday. 

Pinterest picks

My "Projects to DIY" file on Pinterest is overflowing with ideas. If I only had the time! The TIME to get to everything!  Here's a few projects I've been dying to try:

Quilted placemats - I am seriously FOR SERIOUS going to get started on making some quilted placemats. The pin (linked above) has a great tutorial. 

To-do lists - how simple and why have I not thought of this before?!  It seems like each morning before the bus comes I am constantly asking the girls the same sets of questions. Maybe if they had a visual reminder like this they'd be more apt to just get things done, instead of the constant hollering, did you brush your teeth? Arlene do you have your glasses on?! did you put your dirty undies in the laundry basket?! I bet I could find the supplies for this project at the dollar store, don't you think?

Nail string art - I love the look of this - I want to try it with a star shape!

Peace sign crochet motif! My daughter Arlene would love this.

What are you pinning on Pinterest these days? Do you have any projects you're itching to do?