Kick Butt

As in, the last week of school plus the end of stitching plus birthday parties plus t-ball plus softball.

Also, my friends who came this week and transformed my house into a home.

You can expect pictures soon.  Very soon.  And a story.  (I love a good story!  Do you?)

An initial installment...

When you see the rest of the pictures you may pee your pants.  Depends are recommended.

Keys to My Heart

It is time.

I now know how to add videos onto our blog.  You guys are in trouble.

Actually, today you are in for a treat, especially if you are a grandparent, and especially especially if you are a grandparent of Christian and Michaela.  Here is a video of the two of them playing the piano (separately) at their Spring Recital, which happened to be on Mother's Day this year.  What a delightful gift for me!  I hope you enjoy it, too.

Spring Piano Recital 2010 from Christina Walker on Vimeo.

I am so proud of Christian for playing his piece.  He chose not to participate in the winter recital; his nerves got the better of him.  It was a big deal for him to walk up there, sit on that bench, and play.  He did it without music in front of him, as well!

And Michaela.  I don't have words.  My heart feels so full when I listen to her on the piano.  She loves to play, and I love to hear her, so our arrangement works really well.  I think she did such a beautiful job.  When she plays Amazing Grace, I think,"It is, isn't it?"

I'm glad to share this moment with you all.  There will be more to come...like Eliana in her musical debut.  I know you can't wait!

CAMPOUT!

There were s'mores.

There was a tent (sort of).

There was a sleeping bag (and a blanket, plus fuzzy slippers).

There was also a movie...there are perks to inside campouts.

Attack of the Killer...

fuzz.

That's right, people.  I was unloading the dishwasher and all of a sudden something was coming at me, swinging wildly under my arm, and then toward my waist.  I tried to get away from it, and I might have screaled (something between a scream and a squeal) as I dodged the thing that was obviously threatening my life.  I couldn't go far because the dishwasher was open there beside me.  I began to feel trapped.  I fought hard, though, and I was finally able to free myself from the tangly, leechy clutches of this monstrous creature. 

I was sure it was a roach.  You know about my relationship with the devil-bugs, don't you? 

Imagine my relief when I saw that I was trying to escape the mad grip of a giant fuzzwad from my sweater!

And don't you think I felt silly, not one bit.  The roaches are a force to be reckoned with.  Even if it's in my head.

I Like It!

I have made some purchases lately that I have been very happy with. 

Would you rather read,"I have made some purchases lately with which I have been very happy"? 

I'm a nerd.  Are you?

I want to tell you about these things, since I feel that it is my responsibility as a blogger to inform others when I come upon something wonderful.  Useful.  Practical and delightful.

These are in no particular order...only however I came across them while I was taking the camera around the house.

I have wanted a set of measuring cups with handles that are not attached but all one piece for a long time.  I mean that the handle is not glued or screwed on, but it is made from the same metal as the cup part.  (A measuring cup with a separate handle would be strange, indeed.)

I know that plastic measuring cups are made this way, but I was trying to avoid the plastic ones.  My metal measuring cup set has lost at least one handle, and I saw these seamless cups somewhere along the way and fell for them.  I found mine at Target, but I know you can get something like it on Amazon as well.  Mine are pretty heavyweight, which I like, and they are shiny.  I like that, too!

Next is my new SwifferVac.  While my Dyson is nothing short of the bomb, I don't like to suck up crumbs in the dining room and kitchen with it.  (I'm weird.  You already knew that?  Okay.)  I have a friend who has one of the lovely Swiffer machines and would marry it if she could.  Well, I finally bought one, and we might have to fight over who would walk down the aisle with this marvel.

You attach a Swiffer dusting cloth (although I am going to try to use something reusable soon, so that we are not generating so much trash) to the bottom, just like a regular Swiffer duster, but then, THEN you also turn the vacuum on and it sucks up the big stuff while picking up the smaller stuff like dust or hair with the cloth.  I love it!  I can sweep and do the dustpan thing all at once.  My kids can use it, and they are excited about it...hello!  It's loud and sucks things up.  What's not to love?  This has been great around here.  I highly recommend it.

Um, this is a no-brainer...

M&M's + dark chocolate = empty bag.  They're yummy.

I don't always go through the dollar section at Target, because I totally waste money on stuff there, and Michaela always wants one of everything (which would leave me spending $330 and I haven't even made it into the store proper).  Every now and then I will try to move through it quickly, though, and recently I found a couple of fun things.  First, this little bin.

Michaela's affinity for orange is contagious.  It is quite a cheerful color!  This bin was $2, and it could be used for a million different things.  Right now I have bars in it.  We are a bar-eating family, if nothing else.  You could put dish towels in it, or bread, or belts, or sports gear.  It is so cute and very handy.  I really like this little bin!

And finally, there was this cutie.  It was also $2 in the Target dollar section, but the colors were irresistable. 

You had me at stripes!  I don't know when exactly we'll use it, but a small cooler seems like a practical thing to have around.

Is there anything that you are so happy that you bought this spring?  Share your wealth of knowledge and funness!