gettin crafty

I'm dying here people.

I have so many design ideas for our house, I'm about to burst! I have a clear vision of what needs to happen in each room, I'm anxious to translate it to real life.

What's stopping me, you ask?

The pool man. Sherwin-Williams (yes, we bought so much stuff we have a contractor's account!). Oh, and that pesky credit card that's almost paid off. Don't forget that note we pay for that big white thing I drive everywhere with the stickers all over the back. (You know, the ones that say NSU and NCHS and Cane River Crushers and NSU E-Lab... the ones I swore I'd never put on my vehicle? Yeah, those.) Fundraisers and tuition and groceries. I guess it's just called life.

It'll come in time, I know. I'm just being impatient. (Just waiting on Uncle Sam... thank you home buyers credit!!)

In the meantime, I have been getting a little crafty. Black craft paint here, white spray paint there... a project with Nolan, a scrapbook with Claire. And I'm keeping my sanity thanks to my newly converted Armoire du Crafts! Yeah, I know...

What formerly held our large, bulky, non-flat screen TV now has a back and shelves and STUFF. Craft stuff! It's not organized how I'd like to be {YET} but I know where everything is and it's at the ready when I need it. That, my friends, is half the battle. So yes, I'm posting about my craft cabinet. I love it, and this blog is all about me anyway, right? Right! :)

why go slow?

when you can go fast?

Claire & Nolan played in their opening season tournament this past weekend. Claire started in her first fast pitch game ever. She's "playing up" which means that while she should be with the other 7 & 8 year olds playing coach-pitch, she's playing with 9, 10 & 11 year olds. She did amazingly well! She had 3 strike outs (and only one walk) her very first inning. I was beaming (and crying). Not too bad for this little 8-year-old, I'd say.

Nolan was stellar at 2nd base! Always at the ready and giving his all, baseball comes pretty easily to Nolan. It probably helps since he's been at the ballpark since he's been in the womb. That is literal, people!

Looking very tough

Claire's Cane River Crushers placed 3rd in last weekend's travel tourney. Are these some mean looking ladies or what?

Side note: When I was in college, I distinctly remember sitting next to my girlfriend at a basketball game. She and I were both faithful fans, if not actual athletes ourselves. (We left that to our other 2 roomies.) Anyway - the football coach and his family (which consisted of a gorgeous wife and 4 precious children) were at the game. "I could totally see myself married to a coach", my friend said. "Not me," was my reply. "I can't handle all sports, all the time. Give me an athletic guy, but I need someone a little artsy". Oh how funny life is! I actually laugh out loud now when I think of that conversation that took place over 14 years ago. (Wow, I'm old!). If you know Kelly, "artsy" is not a word that would remotely describe him. But I love my life. All sports. All the time. Who would want it any other way?

I'd rather be in...

Who wouldn't, I mean, really! This is Paris we're talking about. If you haven't kept up with us lately, then you wouldn't know that Claire has really taken to Paris and all thing Parisian, french or french-inspired. To most of you, this is not new information, but I must say, that it's no passing fancy. The girl is smitten. In fact, her love of the Francois is so great, that it has spilled over into the rest of the family (kind of like Nolan's Star Wars obsession of late, or the Thomas the Tank Engine craze from 2005-2008). Needless to say, the Tower Eiffel (as they say in Paris) is a dominate feature in her new room.

The snow globe is of Paris and the book is 'Baedecker's Paris' (a travel guide). She also has several textbooks and dictionaries, from which she is teaching herself french.


I have actually counted the towers in her room, and right now we're at 11. That is counting only the ones out in the open. It does not count the one on her school binder, the ones she painted on pottery this summer or the one printed on tin which was purchased in Paris at the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur by a friend. (I wish I could pronounce that with a proper accent!)

And of course, could we do a black & white, Parisian-inspired room without a bit of red? No, Monsieur! The curtains have chandeliers on them, which are so very fun!

And to think, that this is what it looked like, not so very long ago...

overheard

claire: nolan, do you know what "matchy-matchy" means?

nolan: huh? what? um... yeah.

claire: oh really. what does it mean?

nolan: oh, wait. i don't know.

claire: well, you know how there are different patterns in my room, like some are black and white and some have a little grey? well, they're all similar but they aren't EXACTLY the same. if they were ALL the same it would be too "matchy-matchy". get it?

nolan: ok.

mom: (smiling to herself in the other room) that's my girl!

those crazy people

... you know, the ones whose kids do a million things and they're never home and their meals are eaten in the car and laundry gets done very seldom?

Yeah, that's us.

If you haven't guessed by now, it's baseball season in the Spann Fam. Kelly's schedule is waaaay more lax now that he's coaching high school, but the kids' schedules seem to make up for it! Claire is playing on 2 teams (that's the really psycho-parent part), Nolan is keeping up with karate & baseball and both are in a play at church.

My anxiety level has been slowly increasing since baseball & softball tryouts, but how that they're practicing, I'm in full blown panic mode. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit (I've been known to do that). We'll survive, we always do. We may just consume more french-fries and lunchables than the recommended daily allowance.

As long as they brush their teeth at some point we're good, right?