JustJessie

Raving Rabbids!

This is Grayson's favorite Wii game right now:

Can you tell?

Mon Petit Artiste

It seems we have a new artist in the family.  Grant has always loved to draw, color, and paint.  Lately some of his scribbles have taken on different forms.  He can draw circles, squares, and triangles, as well as a couple of letters and numbers.   His drawings of people have tended to be circles which end up covered in lots and lots of dots for eyes and two or three mouths.  Over the last couple of days, they have started to look like this:

That is Jeff on the left and me on the right.  Do you see the beard on Jeff?  He said the lines are our "skins".  I am SO impressed by this, and not just because I'm his mom.  Two year olds are not supposed to draw like this.  When I was in school to become a teacher, our textbooks said to expect most kids entering kindergarten to draw a head with legs and arms coming straight out of it and eyes and mouths in the wrong places. 

Oh yes, my baby's got talent.  This is the other picture he made for me yesterday.  He was alone in the playroom drawing pictures (I thought) with markers.  When he told me to come look, this is what I found:

That would be an entire bottle of Elmer's glue with a glue stick in the middle for good measure.  Ha!  He was very proud of himself.

Overalls and Tonka Trucks

I just finished this painting today.  It's the first in a series of "Scenes of a Southern Childhood" I'm working on for a sidewalk sale in August.  I am kind of worried I missed the registration for the sale, but I hope not!  If so, there's always next time I guess.

Our Thinking Chair

 One thing I love about my town is the never-ending supply of yard sales on the weekends.  Sure our thrift stores carry garbage, and our antique stores sometimes suck, but by golly our yard sales are awesome.  I went last Saturday and got my entire trunk full of stuff for $38 (I spent $18 and my mom spent $20).  One of the things I was most excited about was the Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair.  I wanted one for Grayson when he was smaller, but I could never bring myself to spend the money.  When I came across one at a yard sale for $5, you better believe I bought it!  Sure it was pink and funky and had "Sophie" embroidered on it, but that was just a slipcover.  The insides are what cost so much.  I came home and immediately got on ebay looking for a deal on a slipcover.  I found a red one for just $17!  So the whole shebang cost me about $30 including shipping.  Woohoo! 

And now, since our slipcover is red, and since we also bought a Blue's Clues doll at the same yard sale, Grant now pretends to be Steve, sitting in his "thinking chair" think, think, think.  He LOVES his chair, and I love that I don't have to feel guilty about what I paid for it!

Soft Rock Infomercials

As I was drying Grant off after his bath, I could hear Grayson singing in the next room...

"Somewhere out there, someone's saying a prayer..."  then, "I swear, by the moon and the stars in the sky..." 

His voice sounded so pretty, I didn't want to interrupt him, so I came very quietly around the corner into his room.  I needn't have bothered with stealth.  About the time I walked in, this is what I saw:  sitting on his bed, wrapped in his towel, head thrown back, eyes squinted shut, "HERE AND NO-O-OW, I PROMISE TO LOVE FAITHFULLEEEEE!"  Then without ever opening his eyes, "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE WITHOU-OU-OUT YOOOOU, AFTER I BEEN LOVIN' YOU SOO LOOONG?"

It was awesome!  He was soo into it.  I had a really hard time not laughing, but I didn't want to hurt his little feelings.

I'm thinking he saw one of those infomercials one Saturday morning at the grandparents house, what do you think?

She Builds, part 2

Remember when I was telling you about how we need a new computer desk?  I mostly finished it today!  I am so excited, because now I can tell you about how I made it!  First of all, here's a picture of it (the skirt underneath is NOT finished, it's just draped for now):

Those awesome legs are porch supports that I got at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, and my brother cut to length for me.  Then I put plywood on for the top, which looked cheap and terrible.  I went to Lowes and they have these handy dandy premade table tops in exactly the dimensions I used... SCORE!  I came home today and attached my new table top on top of the plywood, and while I painted it, I thought and thought about how I would cover the ugly plywood edge.  I decided I would go and look at the fabric store for some tassle-ish stuff, and this is what I found:

I love it.  The skirt is going to be made of two curtains I found at an outlet for $5 each.  I think I made something I'll be proud to have in the house.

My Little Secret

Did you know I use this:

and this:

 

to do this:

Because if I don't, my images are always too big.  I never fail to fill up the whole sheet or canvas with the head and shoulders of the subject when I sketch it freehand.  So, I cheat.  I don't think it's much of a cheat, it just helps me get the lay of the land, so that no one comes out looking like ET.

Wordless Wednesday number... ?

She Builds

Jeff got a new computer for his birthday in May, which made us a two desktop family.  Our computer desk is only large enough for one, so we have his on the kitchen table.  Besides looking tacky, it's just not comfortable.  I started looking around, and long story short, to get what I want in my price range, I was gonna have to build it myself.  It's almost finished, only lacking one more trip to the salvage store for a peice of countertop or something to cover the ugly plywood I started out with.  BUT ANYWAY, this post is actually about something else.  I used the leftover wood from that project and some readymade legs to make a more suitable table for my and the kids' paints and supplies.

I had been using one of those round accent tables, and I just cringed everytime anyone touched it, waiting for a crash.  Then there was the fact that most of my stuff didn't fit on it or under it, so it was sticking out from under the tablecloth. 

Now our art nook looks all arty and nookity, and it makes me very happy when I see it.

Campin' Out

I don't know what has gotten into the weather around here, but it has been unseasonably cool.  By cool I mean in the mid to upper eighties most days, which is really odd for this time of year in Alabama.  We decided to take advantage of it this weekend and camped out in our backyard with the boys.  They were so excited!

It was sort of a last minute decision, so we didn't plan for a campfire or anything.  We just went out in the evening and watched the boys play, then let them have a bedtime snack in the tent.

They LOVED sleeping out; it was Grant's first time.  He got a little spooked when we turned off the lantern, and wanted to snuggle up tight.  He woke me up about four times during the night to say, "I scayerd.  Hode me tighter!"  He never asked to go inside, though.  No one went in until the boys woke with the sun at 5:30!