Life with The Doll

Once upon a time, I use to work on Wall Street.

Now I make clay food for my daughter's doll.

The sad part is the clay food looks more appetizing than the real stuff I serve.

Happy Easter!

The Logues

Easter Sunday 2016

Saint Joseph the Workman Cathedral 

(I'm assuming next year Martin will be as tall as me.)

Twelve Years of Wedded Bliss

First, you need to click on this link.

See that painting?

It was painted by Jeremy Matick; Brian's best friend for almost thirty years and the best man in our wedding twelve years ago today.  He's an up and coming artist (no lie). 

This beautiful piece of art was a gift painted by and brought to us by him on our wedding anniversary.

It now hangs in my living room where it looks perfect.

This photo doesn't do it justice.

It really is magnificent.  

No more birch trees.

In The Life of Helen

Using library books, toys, blocks, pillows, and a number of other things, Helen spent the morning building a city.  The amount of detail was incredible.  Each book was a house complete with residents who had their own stories.  For example, the bishop was the only person who knew where everyone lived.  Helen would have to ask the bishop for directions if a resident needed to locate someone in particular.  There was a bus line that ran through the downtown area.  There was even a wedding in the center with a large reception afterward.

She played with her city for over four hours.  No execration.  This, by far, was the greatest use of her imagination yet.  If I could have folded up her city and put it in her memory box, I would have.  It was that amazing.

She built this city on rock & roll.

Speaking of Helen, I was looking through some pictures and I came across this one:

She didn't choose the glamorous life.  The glamorous life chose her.

Spring Break: A Learning Experience

I am not a shopper.  Clothes (especially expensive ones) don't impress me.  So you can imagine my delight as I loaded up my three kids and drove 2.5 hours to the Mall of America so we could worship at the altar of consumerism.  Thankfully, my sister met us there.

In all seriousness, we had a great time!  My kids adore their Aunt.

We took Helen's doll, Sally to lunch at the American Girl Bistro.  Admittedly, I was nervous about the price of this place (including the whole American Girl Doll subculture).  I was picturing over priced tiny sandwiches without crust being served to us.  Surprisingly, it wasn't any more expensive than most other restaurants and the food was actually pretty good.  We all enjoyed it, even Martin!

Next we headed off to the aquarium.  When you have multiple kids with a nine year age span, it's important to find something all the kids will enjoy.  We had a great time there, too!  Feeding the stingrays was by far the favorite all around, even though Helen didn't like sticking her hand in the water.

I took Martin to the Nike store.  This was an eye-opening experience for him.  Brian & I both have talked to him (over & over) about when you're buying things like Nike, Adidas, or Under Armor, all you're paying for is the symbol.  The same can be said for women (Louis Vuitton, Coach, Burberry).  Generally speaking, there is really no difference between playing basketball in Nikes or playing basketball in Wal-Mart shoes.  Brand name shoes will not make anyone run faster, jump higher, or kick the ball harder.  People remember you for your skills, not your clothes.  Anyway, when we went into the store Martin looked at the price tags of some of this stuff and was completely disappointed.  $100 for a t-shirt?  He knows better.  He kept questioning,  why would Nike charge so much?  Because, Martin, people will pay $200 for a sweatshirt.  Why?  I have no idea. 

Poor kid.  I'm sure I'll pick him up a t-shirt at Kohl's when it's on clearance and I have a 30% off coupon.  Because that's how I roll.

Artsy for a Minute

My house is painted in darker neutral tones, which I love.  However, I was starting to feel the dark walls closing in on me.  With the weather, which is finally starting to warm up, and colds in and out of this house I have been spending a lot of time inside.  When I start to feel this way, I rearrange furniture or change the two picture I have hanging on my walls around.  I need variety.

I recently did a furniture renovation (you know, moved things around between floors and rooms) and took some pictures off the long wall in my sitting room.  I also moved some framed pictures off some shelves to hang on the walls down in our basement.  Things were sparse upstairs, which is fine with me because clutter makes me crazy.  I even had a few friends question if we were moving.

Three things you should know about me if you don't already:

     1.  I am cheap fugal.  

     2.  I don't know how to decorate anything.

     3.  Fashion doesn't impress me.

All that being said, I stared at this giant brown wall for days trying to decided what to do with it.  I'm not putting up a mirror.  I'm certainly not buying any expensive artwork.  I looked around at thrift stores and came up empty handed.  I don't get into decals.  Then my sister sent me a picture of a painting she found on pinterest and painted it herself for very inexpensive.  My brain started working and I thought Hey! I could do that!  

So I did:

Helen was snoring on the couch.

Birch Trees or Zebra Legs?

It's your call.

It's not exactly like what my sister painted because I changed a few things.  The yellow is a little brighter then I was hoping for, but I think with a few other yellow accents, it will work out fine.  It brightens up the place.  Plus, Brian had a hard time hanging these things and he said they weren't coming down.

What do you think?