No Rhinestones for us…and we are definitely the drugstore type of cowboy; not the real thing like Great Grandpa!

But momma insists we have a little of the old west for her sake, so these hats have to do; plus they keep the sun off real good for strawberry pickin’.

And pick we did!

Makes for alot of work, but oh.so.worth.it.

And whaddya think momma should do with the strawberry containers? She thinks they are just too cute to throw away! She says ideas are welcome!

After strawberry preparation and nice long naps, we made pizza.

But not your typical pizza…especially for cowboys. It kind of grossed us boys out at first, until we were talked into having a bite, and then we loved it. Informal recipe? Pesto, grilled chicken, mozzarella, and roasted red peppers. And oil the durn pizza pan-no spray can for this one. The oil made the crust super light and yummmmmy. Yeah. We were pretty surprised we liked it. But ya know what we liked better? Strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream for dessert! But since momma and daddy were wolfing it down in order to saunter to the community movie theater to see Prince Caspian, there wasn’t any time to take pictures of that delightful meal. So you’ll just have to imagine it.

Go pick ya some strawberries and make yerself a pizza. You won’t regret it, pardner.

Ok, so one picture. I’m working on a few things for the house, and this project has been pretty fun. I’ve searched antique markets from here to the coast, picked up old bottles, and painted the insides. The higher priced paint (red, turquoise, and darker green) leaves them fairly opaque…the cheap stuff leaves them pretty translucent. I’m gonna work with the cheaper stuff again, see what I can do. Although I do like the see through effect…just not the blotchiness.

I’m working on a painting, too…not completely satisfied with it yet. Will post someday.

In the meantime, Maine State Housing is sending an appraiser by next week to see if we have accomplished everything that they want us to accomplish. It’s probably in the small print somewhere (in that huge pile of paperwork that you sign at closing) but we just didn’t realize we were on such a tight deadline. Luckily Erick’s last day of work is today, so for the next few days we will be living/eating/breathing home stuff. It’s stressful, but good motivation, I guess. Gotta look on the bright side, ya know. But prayers that we could accomplish everything to their satisfaction, ON time, would be a great thing. One thing we know? If we could go back, we would SO NOT go with the state housing program. It really bites the big one.

Well, our day-before-Father’s-Day celebration went beautifully. Erick had a Master’s Program admittance test to take Saturday morning, so we met him at Target around 11:00am and struck out for the coast. The boys slept most of the way there which was a wonderful thing…(and Erick was pretty pleased with the way the test went, hurrah!)

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. It was a day full of that air you can hardly feel, although every once in a while it would warm up but a slight ocean breeze would come right behind it and send you back into bliss. And the beach roses were in full bloom. Oh my. They are faves of this family, and always make us think of Bar Harbor because they line the shore walk:

The kids were in their prime. They are SO happy near water…especially ocean water!

Nonnie and Jack in the water-we all had to dip our toes in. Cold at first-not too bad after that. Jack ended up soaked, but none the worse for wear because of it.

The guys spent a large majority of the day finding rocks to throw in the water…

while I spent that same time finding rocks to keep. I also made out well with some tiny seaglass…I have more than are in this particular photo. I really lucked out with some lavender (pretty hard to find) and blue (my fave, of course). And don’t you adore stripey rocks? I do!

We also went shopping a bit and of course ate some ice cream. You can’t walk a block without running into an ice cream shop in BH!

We took one family picture that turned out semi-alright ( most were pretty hilarious due to unhappy children that did NOT want to leave)…

We lingered until 6:00pm or so, then made our way home. Unfortunately the camera was with my parents…on the way home between the island and the mainland, a bagpipe player in full dress was standing on a rocky outcropping over the water and playing like there was no tomorrow. It was fantastic, and so photogenic! Arg! Just picture it, if you will. I assure you it was amazing.

Happy Father’s Day, all you Father’s out there! Since we had our fun yesterday, dad and Erick are at our house tending to housing issues while mom and I are with the boys who are taking a much needed nap. And I think I’ll do the same the minute I post! Have a great week ahead.

We had a late start Saturday. As in…well, a very late start. We only had 2-3 hours to work on the house because Erick had to attend graduation at his high school, and the rest of us didn’t want to make it a late night. We accomplished quite a bit, though! And we absolutely had the best help in the world, donned with safety glasses…

Ryan actually worked for 30 straight minutes helping Papa tear down the fake brick in the kitchen. My HEROS!!

In the meantime, Jack was the most excellent help of all, sleeping right through everything (for about 45 minutes. But hey, we’ll take what we can get!)

Mom and I peeled away more wallpaper, and Erick wrapped up the broken pipe business. I’m so impressed with his efforts. From complete beginner to master…we are now water-tight! Nothing comes without an oopsie though…he had forgotten about this break until it leaked all over the place. Notice how the former owners carpeted over carpet? And over fat shaggy carpet at that!

After E headed onto graduation, we finished up and headed to the lake (2 minutes away!) for a dinner of fish and chips and ice cream. Perfect end to a productive day…

We had such beautiful weather this weekend. Yesterday was lovely as well, and Grammie joined us at the house for a little more reno. I peeled away the remainder of the kitchen wallpaper, and mom and dad pulled up the carpet in the living room. On a complete side note, I have this pretty terrific garden plot in the backyard that is FULL of these plants. Does anyone have the slightest clue what they could be? It’s absolutely overgrown (no one has lived in the house for 2 years). I’d actually like to turn it into a veggie garden next year, but want to know if I should salvage this stuff…

Around 3:30 we went to a family member’s graduation party, then struck out for the G’s place. The kids were thrilled to see each other again, and Erick and I were grateful recepients of a king sized bed and washer and drier from their storage unit. Whoopie! Deb and I looked through magazines and dreamed big dreams while sitting on the deck in the Adirondack chairs. Bliss, I tell you.

The kids ended the day with a round of strawberry ice cream. Doesn’t get any better than that!

Have a happy week!

Augusta! Yarmouth! Freeport! Bath! And it all began with a coconut coffee and a cranberry orange muffin…(although the guy behind me at D&D ordered a cinammon coffee and a chocolate chip muffin, which sounded excellent as well!)

Mom, Debbie and I hit the road early and shopped and dreamed and gained inspiration at every turn. I picked up some vintage bottles at an antique store for a new art idea that I’m thoroughly excited about, and we also have some great new pillow ideas. Nothing like 3 creative heads bouncing ideas around together!

The weather was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. And we pretty much wrapped up the day with a shop I’ve blogged about before, but the amazing Gayle of Ornament allowed us to snap pictures to our hearts content. THIS is what I want my house to look like…classy and casual, beachy and romantic, mix of old and new. *OH* how I long for a white couch to sink into. (Crazy thought with my 2 little boys running around, right? Especially since I wrote about that grand ol’ sandpit we have in the backyard!) Prepare to feast your eyes…

LOVE these plates. Bought the birdie salt and pepper shakers.

Aren’t these hats amazing?

Ok, I’m ready to go back. If you want to go, you can find it at 11 Centre Street in Bath (Maine of Course!)

Thank you for letting us run amok, Gayle!

I’m convinced that some of the most picturesque views in Maine are seen traveling along I-95. It’s gorgeous! Only awful thing is that even if you have your camera on hand, by the time you stop to take the “picture” you want, you’d have to hike a 1/4 mile back to take said picture, just praying that a weary traveler wouldn’t plow you over. THUS…I’ve never stopped. Too much hassle, but such a shame.

Last night we spent the evening at the Home Depot clearing them out of their 70% sale stock, and were physically exhausted and verging on cranky when we checked out. The drive home made our spirits skyrocket. It was special-effects-movie-worthy. The time was around 7:15, and the sun was beginning to set. It had rained off and on during the day; those wonderful little showers that are here and gone, here and gone. Puffy, blue-grey clouds in between sunshiny blue…add the colorful sunset into that mix? Wow. Then add all of the spring greens to boot…I love spring. About as good as fall for color, with all of the shades of green intermingled with the purple and white and pink flowering trees. The sun’s rays were shooting out from behind clouds, and every once in awhile we’d drive into a pockets of very fine mist. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that drive-it’s seared into my memory. Ryan and Jack were on cloud 9 because they’d had the run of Home Depot (they CRAVE big, open spaces, even if they are inside). Happy kids, happy mom and dad. Great night.

Today mom and I dashed to Portland and spent about 10 minutes in every little shop we could fit in. It was a crazy whirlwind of running around, but it was another beautiful day in Maine. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this state?

Erick’s at “our” house now…so odd to say “our”. So odd that I feel like I just bought a house I’ve probably spent a grand total of 45 minutes in!! Thank you SO much for all of your well-wishes. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am about decorating, heehee. I’ll be posting pictures of the whole process. We are going to spend the 3 day weekend working like crazy-unfortunately without any plumbing because we have to get pipes fixed first. So that’s probably what we will start with. Good idea, you think?

G’night!

AND we have a house. Closing actually went great-they even had drinks and cookies for us! Very relaxed, despite the amount of money we forked over.

Skipped over to the Home Depot that is having a moving sale and bought tile for our bathroom floor and a pedestal sink for a verrrrry good price. Ended up at the Olive Garden to celebrate; it was the same restaurant we went to the day Erick proposed to me so long ago! Boy, prices sure have gone up since then.

Here’s a “Before” picture of the outside-snapped it on Mother’s Day. Take the Christmas Lights down (ha!), give it a good coat of paint (I’m thinking a couple shades of light gray with white trim and shutters)…trim the hedges, it’ll look right snappy, I think!

Good night, ya’ll, and thanks for prayin’ us through this thing!

Alright…now time for the good stuff.

Friday night we hooked up with The Romantic Family and had a super time, not leaving until after 10pm. After 10, you say? That’s right late for us! And we didn’t want to leave…coulda stayed all night! So, obviously, that was a great kickoff to the weekend.

Saturday we were up and about a bit late, but decided to head for Bath by way of Augusta (had to stop and dream at Lowe’s). The sun burst forth and warmed us right up-it was a Godsend of a day! I’m so drawn to Bath-it’s just full of fun things to do. And I rediscovered what is now in the top, oh, 2 of my favorite shops. It’s called Ornament, and I could have very well bought them out to decorate my house, had I the funds. The nice thing is that they are very classy, with high end furniture (of which we could never afford) but they also carry things that I can actually purchase on our little ol’ salary. Great mix to appeal to the masses. I took a picture of the front of the building, but it was quite sunny! Didn’t turn out all that well, but I’ll post it anyway. The other pictures are just here and there…

*Rock Stash*

Very “Maine”

Check out the fabric find, honey! YAY! (It’s gorgeous, by the way. Primed for the overhaul they are going to preform on the house once we are finally in a place of our own).

One happy family! The way life should be.

“Hey Mom! Guess what I spelled!” I hear from the backseat of the car on the ride home…

Which brings me to ask…anyone out there have good resources to refer when it comes to a 3 year old just itchin’ to read and write? I’m absolutely not on the ball, but obviously have to get in gear, because Ryan is So ready. I’d love recommendations if you have any.

Keep those house prayers a comin’! Just set a tentative time of 3:30 tomorrow to sign the papers, although nothing is official yet (a few missing pieces left to gather).

Hopefully I’ll have good news to report tomorrow!

I have a lovely weekend to blog about this afternoon, but before I get to that, we need some mighty prayer power goin’ on!

New closing date is set for tomorrow, but a couple of things have to fall into place first. Ack! Erick has already taken the day off of work, and I hope it’s not for naught. Paperwork needs to be sent to and fro; an appraiser needs to appraise, and the sellers need to confirm that they will very generously waive ridiculous late fees since this delay is not technically our fault.

So if you wouldn’t mind thinkin’ of and prayin’ for the Murray clan, we’d appreciate it very much! I’m ready to have this thing over and done with!

Let me share with you!

Delightful Thing #1?

I am sipping on an incredible iced coffee that I just threw together. Replete with whipped cream on top.

Delightful Thing #2?

The Carnival for Modern Home Dwelling has begun! Go here for the first installment, and prepare to be terrifically inspired. Thank you Sarah, for this fantastic idea!! We are in for a super week!

Delightful Thing #3?

Have you ever made a blog friend, only to be saddened that you couldn’t pop over for a face to face conversation because you lived too far away? That happens to me all. the. time. I’ve even made blog buddies here in Maine, but because of my lack of transportation (we are a one car family), getting together would be a mite difficult.

Well now. God decided to turn that trend on it’s head, because not only did He introduce the lovely Debbie into my life, but turns out she is just down the road a piece. A very minuscule piece. And she hails from Texas originally, so we were neighbors earlier on in life, too! And she has a newly formed website, which you will fall head over heels in love with, entitled The Romantic Mom. It’s chock full of super ideas and inspiration. She’s in the midst of writing a book, which I’m going to be the first to buy! We are getting together with her family very soon for a Tex-Mex feast. I’m thrilled. And you will be too, even if you won’t have the priveledge of meeting her face to face. Her site will draw you right in!

Well, nap time has begun! Time to get to work finishing my pillow covers so I can HOPEFULLY pop them up here for you to see very soon!