My New Favorite Thing!

Raindrops on roses

and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles

and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages

tied up with string

These are a few of

my favorite things.

(especially when one opens one of those brown paper packages to find 

the most beautiful camera bag there ever, ever was)

Fancy Room

Over the last track out, Fancy and I undertook to makeover her bedroom.  You may be shocked to learn that the style she chose was "fancy."  And while that may seem to cover a broad spectrum of design elements, in Fancy's mind, fancy means French.  I believe she got this from Fancy Nancy*.  Again, French style could encompass a great deal, but for our 6-year-old client, French means black and pink and Eiffel Towers.  And Damask.  And fur.  And poodles.  And the word "Paris."  And birdcages. Yeah.  She has specific taste.

*I should clarify that although there are lots of fun style ideas to be plucked from the pages of Fancy Nancy, our own Fancy declared it would be too "little kid-ish" to design a room based on the book illustrations.  She wanted a fancy room with a grown-up feel, but that would still suit a girl.  Challenge extended.

I'll suffice it to say that this 3-week project, which has now extended to 5 weeks and counting, has proven to be an exercise in patience for me and has revealed much about Fancy's personality. There were smiles, tears, nail-biting decisions, ooh-la-las, stand-offs, walk-outs, the occasional "Mom, you were right," and even a single "well Fancy, YOU were right."  Today I even got a "thank you for making my room so fancy.  I love it!"  We still have a 7 foot tall Eiffel Tower wall decal to install, and we're searching for just the right chandelier to replace the ceiling fan that has been deemed too babyish (Rella can't wait to have it in her room, despite it being babyish).  I am lobbying for a black and white striped awning over the closet door; we're hoping my brother will come install crown molding before too long, and perhaps I'll find a small desk or occasional table as well.  But for now, the bulk of the work has been done and the results are dramatic.

Room detail - small accent shelves to hold fancy accessories and crystal-embellished chandelier wall decals

 Piles of throw pillows - the pink one with French cartoons was the inspiration piece for the room

We searched far and wide for lamps.  Well, we really just made multiple trips to Home Goods.  Home Goods tends to have a large selection of great lamps, stocked in pairs.  It turns out Fancy can't make swift decisions. She needs days (or weeks) to consider and mull things over.  So by the time she would decide on a pair, we would go back to find they had been sold.  This happened multiple times.  On our latest trip she decided she liked these pretty well and I scooped them up and brought them home.  The interior of the shade has Eiffel Towers and French words printed on it, so the images shine through when the lamp is turned on.  She is currently debating over switching the white ribbons for black ribbons.  She is 2 weeks into that decision.

Bird cage detail by her bedroom door - hung on a fancy drawer knob I had stashed away in my tool drawer for some reason.

Metal sculpture she earned today by finally coming to a decision on which Eiffel Tower wall decal to order.  Making that decision meant I could finally hang pictures on the wall.

  Night light

 Pictures on the wall today!  Woo-hoo! (See little Fancy Nancy perched on the shelf?)

 Picture detail - Sweet Fancy gazing up at a pink Eiffel Tower.  Thanks to Uncle Jordan for traveling to Paris to take the picture and for letting me doctor it up a little bit!

 Black faux fur throw rugs on either side of the bed

View of the recently hung picture collage from her mirror

Main impression of the room.  This was a battle she totally won.  I was pushing for the Damask curtains and a white comforter piled high with throw pillows.  She wanted Damask curtains and comforter (and chair and lampshades and sheets), but I thought it would bee too much.  She stood her ground and I stood my ground and the track out days went by.  I found a set of Damask sheets at TJ Maxx and picked them up, thinking it would be cute to have them peeking out from beneath the white comforter (which I had not found and she did not want).  I thought I was being all "mother knows best" and put the sheets on the bed so that when she came in and saw the overwhelming explosion of Damask she would back down and agree to a white comforter.  Um, she was right.  I loved it.  So we ordered a Damask comforter that night and another room detail was checked off the list.

Ooh-la-la ~ Fancy is fancy.

Charlottesville

This year for Presidents Day we took the kids on a field trip to Monticello, in Virginia, because we always do something historically educational for national holidays.  I realized as we were driving up the mountain to Jefferson's home that I had never been before, despite living in VA for 2/3 of my life and despite a childhood surrounded by so much Virginia history.  So, this was a field trip for me, too.  We loved it!  No photography allowed inside the house, which was a shame since A) I don't use flash, and B) the decor was not at all what I was expecting given my experience with Colonial Williamsburg decor, and C) Geof wants to copy TJ's dining room.  So many interesting things to see that revealed Jefferson's passions for learning, culture, exploration, gadgetry, etc.  Not to mention the controversial-to-a-modern-6-year-old hot pink bed spread on Jefferson's bed.

So, since I could not photograph the house during the tour, you will just have to scroll through pictures of my kids.  Like you are so surprised. :)  I'll make it informative by sprinkling in some Thomas Jefferson quotations.

It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately.

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.

Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.

I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies himself well for his calling, never fails of employment.

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.

My theory has always been, that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter, than the gloom of despair.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.

Power is not alluring to pure minds.

Taste cannot be controlled by law.

Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

Delay is preferable to error. 

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.

A Story With No Title

I was sifting through the kids' school papers and came across a fun little story that Hi-Hat wrote.  I decided it really should be in print.

Meet Bob.  Bob is a penguin.  He had some big spikey hair, a big mustache, and a beard.  He lived in a big Igloo in Penguinhood.  One day he decided to start a band!

He put an ad in the newspaper for people to join his band,  but no one replied! He could not find anybody to join his band! He was very frustrated.

He decided to go on a waddle around the city.  Suddenly he stopped!  There was a sign on the music igloo!  It said that the clerk's friends wanted to be in a band!

"Ahh," Bob said.  "Just what I have been looking for!" He went inside and all of the clerks friends were at the desk!


"Hello," Bob said.  "I need you to join my band!"

"Sure," they said.  "What should we call the band?" they asked.

"Bob's Band," Bob said.

They bought themselves a studio and practiced and practiced.  Then finally their first album came out!  Everyone liked it so much.  They bought all their albums, and Bob's band became rich and very famous!

THE END