Ruby Willow::May

Golden Leaf Necklace

"Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always
something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf."
~Albert Schweitzer

Romantic, elegant, airy, feminine.

The Golden Leaf Necklace is listed here in my etsy shop.

Graffiti

On the way to school this morning we had to wait for a train...

Noah:  Mom, why is there all that spray paint on the sides of the train cars?

Jeana:  (Lengthy response about gangs and tagging, including a brief history of the mafia.)

Noah:  Oh.  I thought the station masters just painted that stuff to entertain us while we wait for the train to back up and go forward one hundred times.

They're so FLUFFY!!!!

Remember when I rearranged my living room and I mentioned that I wanted to make some new throw pillow covers?  Well, I did it!  Here's how my couch looked at the time of the mini-makeover:

And here's how it looks now with the new pillows!

I used the same fabric that I use for the Ruffle Scarves and I love, love, love how they turned out.  Lots of texture and softness to sink into on the couch.  It was a quick project and I'm happy to have that item crossed  off of my list.  Still on the hunt for a new lampshade!

And it was made in Haiti

I found exactly what I want to hang up above the board and batten in our laundry room. 

Rhino Bust from Anthropologie

You may think I'm joking but I am 100% serious.  I love it.  I love that it's made with book pages. I love how unexpected and quirky it is.  I love that it's handmade and re-purposed.  I love that my boys will love it.  Am I crazy?  Someone else please tell me that you love this rhino, too!

Happy Mutha's Day! Aw Yeeeah.

Laundry Room Part 3

I've been able to cross a few items off of my laundry room wish list!  Wanna see how it's looking today?

First, notice the empty laundry baskets.  That's because on Thursday I got completely caught up on laundry.  It. Was. Epic.   I'm hoping to convince my handsome Mr. Linhart to build me some hipper laundry basket shelves so I can make them face the other way and widen the walkway a bit.

You may have also noticed that I added label holders to the coat hooks.  

I am a label holder lover.

Now the coat hooks can double as old school library card catalogs.

The thrift store mirror spray painted white and hung above the board and batten.

It looks kind of blah up there so maybe I'll paint it a brighter color.  

It needs some accessory friends, too, but I don't know what, yet. I don't want it 

to look too much like a mantle. I'm sure it will come together over time.

I got so tired of the boring white boarded up door.

So I painted the board light blue and bright green with leftover 

paint from some of our rooms.  And then I cut out little paper flags

and glued them to some skinny ribbon.  It looks summery and happy although

I think it's needs something else, too.  And I still want to add some molding 

to make a frame around the board.
Oh, and see the new doorknob? $5 at the Re-Store.

Longer shelves!  I love how they look and function.

The open shelving works great for this area--everything within reach.

And the baskets are fantastic for concealing all the stuff I need but

but don't really want to see.  Laundry room success!

Are you  liking it?  Any ideas for the mirror area or the board art?  

Second Grade Journal Entries

I love going through Noah's schoolwork when he brings it home. Here are couple of recent journal entries that made me smile. I also love his total boy penmanship.

I would like to live as Laura [Ingalls Wilder]  did.  I love fresh meat.
I want to try venison.  I like a good song once in a while.  
I get to be so close to my family.

This week I learned a lot new things about the emigrants.
This week I accomplished my calculadder.  
This week I encouraged Ransom by saying he was
a great hulahooper.

Water Wings

Thank you, dear friends!  Your prayers, comments, emails, and phone calls made me feel like I had water wings (AKA arm floaties) and could simply relax into my day.  I was able to get all the laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away.  I also cleaned the rest of the house, went grocery shopping and even got to work on a little bit of decorating!   Toby seems to be feeling better, too.  Now I see that it was God's mercy to me in making us stay home.  With a clean and organized home I am able to focus on my family and the events coming up and not feel so cluttered up and overwhelmed.  I also heard from several people who are available to help with the church restroom painting tomorrow.  What a blessing!

So thank you to each one of you who prayed for me and encouraged me.  You truly did buoy me up.  I'm so glad I can call on you for "flotation assistance" like this.  And thanks be to God who provides for me before I even think to ask him for help.

Head Above Water

Guys, I'm treading water here.  May is the worst month for our family. It's packed full with end of school year activities and deadlines.  I'm trying to take over some of Geary's normal household responsibilities so he can have more time for grading and sleeping.  But I'm also still working on the church restroom.  Our bedroom has an enormous pile of clean clothes for me to fold and put away which makes me utterly baffled at the enormous pile of dirty clothes to wash.  How can we have two enormous piles?  And now Miles and Toby have been sick.  Toby might have an ear infection so I'm working on getting him in to see a doctor today.  I am feeling a wee bit overwhelmed.  I don't mean to complain, but I guess I needed to vent and wave a little flag to say, "I need some flotation assistance!"  Will you buoy me up with your prayers and some encouragement that this month will indeed end?  Thank you, friends!