In my last post, I mentioned a 3 Doors Down video called Kryptonite. Here it is for your entertainment:

Last year after my aunt passed away, my brother and I rescued box after box of old photos from her house. We’ve had a fun time looking through them and a couple of weeks ago he gave me a few of myself he came across in his portion of the stash of photos. This one is my favorites of the pile. It was taken at my grandma’s house, and the door behind me is my aunt’s bedroom. The sticker behind my head says “Church: The Sunday Night Place.” I must have been around 7 or 8.

Now, I must confess I have no memory of this costume. I think it must have been Halloween, but though I have fond memories of most of my costumes as a child, this one slips my mind. I’m naming this one after the popular 3 Doors Down song (Kryptonite) that has the line “if I go crazy will you still call me superman?” (Love that video, by the way.)

Oh my goodness, has it really been a week since I last posted anything? Time sure gets away from me these days. I do have several posts in mind to write, just haven’t sat down to do them. I’ll try and be a little more faithful in posting. I’ve got a post planned about keeping an eye out for spam text messages and erroneous charges on your cell phone bill. Then I’ve also got a fun “looking back” post planned as well.

We had a nice long weekend for 4th of July. On Friday, we went to Enid to spend the day with Brad’s family, including cutie patootie Miss Rachel Nicole. We had a nice visit and really great food.

On Thursday of last week, Brad had a minor surgical procedure done to remove a cyst from inside his neck. He seems to be healing well, but we are keeping a close watch on his incision to prevent infection.

This weekend also saw the return of Ashley back into our midst. She was at church camp last week and reports that she had “an absolute blast”. She did kayaking, nature hikes, mountain man lessons, ate a carpenter ant which she says tastes like a lemon drop, and almost beat a boy for the skeet shooting championship. We’re glad to have her back.

I don’t know about all of you, but getting up to head back to work was a bit more difficult this morning thanks to that long lazy weekend we just had. But it’s back into the swing of things and after a cup of coffee, I’m feeling back to normal.

Check back in the next day or so for the posts I mentioned earlier. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  

We went and visited our new niece, Rachel, over the weekend. Oh is she a doll. It was a pleasure to hold her, and a pleasure to hand her back and leave her with her mommy and daddy to stay up nights with her. Seriously though, they are just thrilled, as we all are. She seems like a really sweet little lady and a generally good baby so far. 

Ashley goes to church camp tomorrow. She packed yesterday. We are all a bit surprised that she waited that long. Normally she packs at least 4 days before an event, sometimes a week or more before. She’ll be there until Sunday evening. There are only about 7 kids going, all girls except for 1 boy. She’s planning on going horseback riding, canoeing and I think doing archery. I know she’ll have a great time.

Work is going well. We’ve slowed down quite a bit, which is very common in the summer months for the industry I’m. I’m still adjusting and trying to manage my time wisely. Managing my time at home isn’t going so well, but Brad and the girls are chipping in where necessary. 

We all have medical appointments of some kind coming up. Brad is going in for a small surgical procedure this Thursday, Sarah has an eye appointment next week and then us three girls have dental appointments in August. We will all be checked out and healthy by the time school starts hopefully.

We all had that stomach virus (although Brad only had a brief touch of it) that has been going around. Sarah started it, then Ashley got it and finally me. It was rough but thankfully we all made it through without too much trouble. I hope you are all able to avoid it, as it feels just like the flu. Yucky.

My reading list isn’t very long this summer because I don’t seem to be finishing anything. I have been catching up on my magazine stack, which thankfully was whittled down to a very small pile by decluttering. I have three books checked out from the library - one about simplicity and the other two about handmade journals - to get through this week. And the Lord knows how many unfinished and unstarted books I have right there on my own shelves. 

My de-cluttering is going slow, and often I feel like I’m taking one step forward and two steps back, but reorganizing the laundry room last week felt really good. I’ve gotten back into reading FlyLady’s emails, on my iPhone and am planning to do some cleaning this evening, even if it’s minor hotspots. 

Blogreading is slowly, but surely, coming back into my routines. I’m able to read, or at least skim through my favorites a few times a week now, which is nice. I’ve missed finding out what’s going on with all of my bloggy friends. 

That’s just a bit of what’s going on in my world. What’s going on in yours?

Brad’s sister, Nicole, had her first baby yesterday. I know you all love babies! If you’d like to meet Miss Rachel, take a look over at Brad’s blog here and here. But be warned - she’s a cutie patootie!

You know you’re a mom if you’ve ever received text messages on your cell phone at work that go something like this:

Ashley: Can I keep a pet worm?
Me: It’s going to die if you keep it.
Ashley: But Herman is my friend. Can I keep it if I take care of it?
Me: He can live outside and you can visit him whenever you want.
Ashley: Aw, darn.
Ashley: Herman is on his own now.

I love jars! I even collect old canning jars, although not on a grand scale. For a long time, I’ve loved how things look when you decant them into another container, preferably a pretty one. Alison, over at Brocante Home has inspired me many times to try and find ways to make things look nicer by decanting them.

Lately, I’ve sort of fallen off the bandwagon, due to time constraints and sheer laziness. But then last night, as I was catching up on some blog reading, I came across one of my favorite blogs and there was a post all about jars and containers. Deb, over at Homespun Living (the woman is a homemaking genius if you ask me) was talking about redoing a cabinet in her bathroom. She mentioned putting some items in pretty jars and shared about a wonderful source for jars and containers.

If you haven’t ever visited Homespun Living, you will love it! Deb’s blog is filled with homemaking tips, recipes, and utter loveliness. The source she mentioned is American Science & Surplus. They sell jars and containers meant for scientific purposes but some of them are really cool and would be beautiful filled with household products.

Everything from kitchen spices to laundry soap looks prettier in nice jars. Some items aren’t practical to put into a jar or a bottle, but many things are. Make sure you label your jars, or you could end up putting a cup of baking soda into your peach cobbler instead of sugar (don’t ask how I know this)! For more ideas on decanting, you can also check out Martha Stewart, HGTV.com and many other blogs and sites.

See what happens when you swallow your gum?

Some of my long-time reading friends will remember that at one time I used to do a little feature I like to call Five Friday Favorites. This is where I show you five “new” things that are favorites of mine. I’ve sort of been in a blogging slump lately, as you can probably tell by the lack of posts. I’m hoping to change that and get my creative surge back. I’ve been slowly (very slowly) trying to gain control of the clutter in my house. I had a major triumph today when I took a HUGE stack of magazines to my co-worker. It was very difficult, and even now as they are sitting in a box here by her desk, I’m struggling to take them back and say “sorry, these are mine”. Silly, very silly, I know, especially when I haven’t looked at them in months, and years even. But anyway, let’s get on to the Five Friday Favorites. Hope you enjoy it!

1. Smashbox Photo Finish Primer - I bought a small sample of this wonderful product at Sephora a few weeks ago. A tiny bit goes a long way and helps your foundation go on smooth and stay on better. I love this stuff and wish I’d tried it a long time ago.

2. Snyder’s of Hanover Butter Snaps - I LOVE these things! This is my go-to snack at work. The slight buttery flavor gives these little pretzels a wonderful old-fashioned taste. The shape is a perfect bite!

3. Adidas Travao Thongs (Flip Flops) - I tried these flip-flops on at Famous Footwear last Saturday when we were there buying shoes for Brad. Talk about comfortable! The insole is “visco-elastic rebound foam, contours to your foot like a custom mold.” No more feeling the concrete right through your flip-flops. I went back and bought them last night.

4. This Is Ivy League - This is a wonderful band I read about earlier this week. I went to YouTube to watch one of their videos and instantly liked them enough to buy both of their albums on iTunes. If you love the mellow sounds of Simon and Garfunkle with a little British flair thrown in for good measure, then you will love This Is Ivy League.

5. Fridays!! I love my new job, but I still LOVE Fridays. It’s the eve of the weekend and oh so wonderful!

What favorite things have you discovered, or remembered, that you just can’t wait to tell someone about?

Remember the little nursery rhyme: “Rain, rain go away, come again some other day.”

Please tell me it’s some other day, so that I’ll need to buy these adorable Rose Wellingtons from Victorian Trading Co.! These are so pretty they just make you want to go splashing in big mud puddles don’t they?

But if I got the pretty Wellies, I’d, of course, have to have a lovely English umbrella to go with them. This one is from the famous James Smith & Sons in London.

Let it RAIN!!