Shut yer mouth we are INSIDE a tree!!! 

INSIDE A TREE Y'ALL!! 

This is like, a very big deal. 

S

Chuck's birthday came at a time when the dining room was in the living room and the rest of the house was in boxes in the dining room. So, we did the best we could. I said before, fabric makes a world of difference. Also, so do giant Jackson Pollock type art canvases. 

A tip: Cram everything you got into one corner of the 

house and it will look like a lot and is festive. 

No, no, no, not really. He knows as long as we have little ones, we'll be celebrating his birthday the same way we celebrate theirs. Maybe with a less mystery but with all the Chinese food and cookie cake a man (and his wife) could ask for. 

It seems that 3 candle's been used, 1 or 3 times. 

So this comforter, oh this comforter. Chuck calls her "big heavy." And it's a perfect name for her. 

I got the comforter set at a catalog return store (NO, I ain't above it!) for FIFTEEN DOLLARS. Are you above a FIFTEEN DOLLAR, TWO-HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLAR QUEEN SIZE COMFORTER PLUS SHAMS AND DUST RUFFLE? Naw. I didn't think so. 

Blue Boy and Pinkie were my Grandmother's. She wrote my name on the back so that when she went on home, everyone would know who they belonged to. 

This is silly, but I have a story to tell about everything in this room. The side table to the right was something my mother made. She was a skilled woodworker at one point. For realz. 

The side table to the left, was something I got at an Alabama City Flea Market. It was the slummy-est of the slum type of flea market and I loved every piece of it. I got the table for FOUR DOLLARS. I bought it not knowing if it would fit into my front seat only, Honda Civic Del Sol, but I knew I'd cram it in there no matter what it took. And I did.

Yes, I know there is an ugly conglomeration of things propped up against my beautiful, gifted by my Aunt JoAnn, chest of drawers, but it was a small place. We did the best we could. And how about that painting of the family? Ohhhh, the benefits of being related to a painter (huffs of fingernails and rubs them on chest like I actually did something to deserve portraits of my family). Speaking of which...Craig. I hate to mention it, but Bo, poor thing, she's been looking at this painting and asking, "Where am I?"

Fabric makes a HUGE difference. In a room, at a party, anywhere! Fabric is key.

Even though these prints weren't exactly gypsy, I thought hanging them together without frames looked totally gypsy-ish. Thanks Mom and Craig for always asking me before you let things go. 

You can count on me to hoard it up and put it to good use.

e.g. The drafting table! The table once belonged to Charley's Granddiddy. Prior to that it belonged to Leo, Craig's Dad. Now it's been passed down to the youngest artist in the family. 

Charley has, and continues to, use it well.

I blogged about the chair long ago. I found two of them at a thrift store in real ugly state. I painstakingly taped all the wood that wasn't concealed under ugly gray pads, and spray painted the metal. I pulled off the tape and pads to reveal the most beautiful natural wood ever. And for some reason, I let one of the chairs go when we moved to Alaska. :(  I regret that decision.

And it doesn't get anymore gypsy than this original painting that Craig was going to PAINT OVER until I guilted him into giving it to me. 

I love, love, love this painting. He painted it from an actual scene down in New Orleans. 

Ok so this HUGE buffet is missing and knob and has an obvious scrape down it's entire length because Charley continuously RAKED her chair along it (when it was in another room) 

but it's ok because...

#1 Who really cares?

#2 It's very functional and holds all of her art supplies.

#3 It's a gypsy room! Anything goes! 

And when I say anything goes, I also mean this dresser that was shabby chic'd to death. 

(I bought it that way, and NO I didn't feel like changin' it.)

Charley found the pictures of the gypsy children (they really seem like legit paintings of gypsy children) and painted the frames a beautiful maroon. I was so proud. 

Charley has always been an animal girl. When she was little she was ALL about animals. She'd straight read non-fiction animals books all the time. She's perfected every every wild cat roar. 

I'm serious. She'll make you jump with her wild cat calls. I bought this coyote face for her at a yard sale in Virginia and somewhere along our way she talked me into a thrift store mink. I don't like him because he's gross and his feet keep falling off but she loves him. I suspect the old footless thing will be with us for a long time. 

Charley is a child with many interests. (Did you see the Ivan Kolaff picture hanging on her mirror and the boxing gloves under the buffet?) It was hard for her to say goodbye to Virginia and all the friends she made there, but I left feeling confident she'd make her way just fine in a new place. She's a confident, charismatic, kind, loving, talented, interesting, hilarious, precious child. To know her, is to love her.   

So, since our Virginia house was a rental I didn't get to paint in Bo's nursery, but despite that, I think I made it as cozy as possible. I didn't love this house, but it's where we took Bo home after we left the hospital. We made a lot of precious memories in this house. I thought I'd take some pictures before I packed it all away. 

Like I say, in an ideal world, there'd by some sort of mural above her bed. And I never felt that hanging things above her bed was safe. I couldn't think of one thing to stick up there that would allow be to sleep through the night without worry. The clouds are one of my favorite projects ever. I took used bottles (water, shampoo, etc...) and glued the stuffing from old pillows to them with spray adhesive. I had fuzz glued to my fingers for days, but it was worth it. 

The moon is a favorite of mine too. I went to Staples (an hour away...why is EVERYTHING always an hour away??) and gave them a USB with a moon photo. They enlarged it and printed one of those black and white engineering copies for me. It was cheap. Like under $5.00 cheap. 

I had one of those round side table tops lying around (that come with the cheap screw on legs) and I decoupaged the print onto the wood.

I love how it turned out. 

These sweet curtains were made by the girls' Granny for Charley's nursery. They are holding up well.

Lots of hours were spent in this secondhand rocking chair. I love rocking my baby. 

This elephant side table is one of my best thrift store finds ever. I was painted with muted blues and pinks and I spray painted it white. I LOVE it. 

We read A LOT of books. A lot. 

I do a lot of things wrong as a mother but reading is one of those things I do right. 

I feel good about that. 

I made the tassel-y garland for Bo's first birthday.

I found the buffet at an antique store. It's the perfect height for a changing table.

The birds above the window and rocker was a Charley/Mama project. 

It's amazing what all you can do with a stick.

Despite the lack of paint and clouds on the ceiling, I loved the warmth of the room in all it's homemade simplicity. 

I'll cherish the sweet memories of rocking my baby here.  

After years and years of prayer and longing, we are leaving Virginia.

Chuck's employer would like for him to come to Fort Collins, Colorado to start a new job that we think will suit him well. And we love the idea of Colorado. So, here we go again! 

By the time we were finished packing the entire room as filled with boxes 

And cleaning out the pantry meant SOUP for the girls. YUCK

(Charley got to play too on another day.)

At the time, we still had a month or so left in Virginia and we were required to have a full fall season filled with all the normal sorts of things despite the mess all of the stress that comes with moving and buying a house sight unseen.

To be clear, I am not a homeschooler. I could not ever be a homeschooler in the traditional sense. I do however look for opportunities for my kids to have a good time with other kids and learn stuff. Just before we moved, I was introduced to a homeschool group that met weekly in a classroom and playground setting. Bo loves that stuff so in the midst of moving chaos, we joined in.