Sadie-tails

I have been begging. Pleading. Trying. For almost a YEAR. And this morning she let me. She ripped out only one side the first go round. Then when I got them both in I whisked her to the mirror, and the whole family exclaimed for a good five minutes. Daddy grabbed the camera...





Suddenly she wanted her monkey. Badly...



All better...

before the purge.

The amount of things sitting on my 2'x3' nightstand is unbelievable. How everything has not fallen off is a miracle unto itself. Before I clear most of the things off, I decided to document. Think of me what you will...
{we'll start with my lamp from Target. when the disc-thingies sway to reveal the bare lightbulb you get blinded. but it allows me read all of these...}

books

*A Mercy - Toni Morrison {current library read}
*The Best American Non-Required Reading 2008 {also current library read, good for reading in short spurts.}
*The Bostonians - Henry James {brought this back from my parents house in November. NOVEMBER. have not read it.}
*Same Kind of Different As Me - Hall and Moore {amazing book. I read it in December. DECEMBER. It has not made it's way down to our bookshelves.}
*Number the Stars - Lois Lowry {a Newberry Winner that was one of my favorites as a child. Reread it in December. umm, why is it still here?}
*The Message
*The ESV Bible {I'm starting to look a little holy, huh?}
*Seams to Me - Anna Maria Horner {love her fabrics. love the book. have yet to do any of the projects.}
*Simple Sewing - Lotta Jansdotter {got this for Christmas. also drool over it. also have done nothing from it.}
*Treasuring God in Our Traditions - Noel Piper {a fabulous book that helped me guide my children through Advent. it will also be great resource for Easter and other traditional holidays; including birthdays!}
*Honey for a Child's Heart - Gladys Hunt {a MUST HAVE for any parent, future parent, educator, or someone who just loves books.}
*Last Child in the Woods - Richard Louv {a startling research about the current disconnect between children and nature. i think my copy has been sitting there for two years.}
*The Tale of Despereaux - Kate Dicamillo
*Elizabeth Goudge's {one of my dearest authors} Eliots of Damerosehay Trilogy. My favorite literary family of all time. I have them in separate, hardback vintage copies courtesy of my mother. I love them.
*Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ - Jeanne Guyon {an amazing book my church's Neighborhood Fellowship Group started about a year ago.}
*The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler {yet another book read in December and begging to be shelved properly}
*Andy's baby book. I'm not really sure why currently housed there, but he was a very cute baby. And his mother was delightfully thorough in recording all kinds of milestones and Andy-isms. oh, let's have a look, shall we?

and if those teetering towers of books aren't enough, we move onto
miscellaneous. no really. Very miscellaneous.

*exactly ONE black leather Isotoner glove
*also ONE white sock with hearts encircling the ankle
*a pair of way cool earrings a friend brought me from Ethiopia
*a wooden bead necklace that Ella made
*a box of safety pins from my first consignment sale as a vendor {doesn't "vendor" sound so official?}
*a pad of paper from the Opryland Hotel
*a framed picture of Andy and me from our engagement photo shoot. it's one of my favorites ever.
*a framed picture of Ella during her first professional photo shoot as a three-month-old. chubby, bald and delicious.
*this picture
*and this one
*a couple of pens
*a journal
*another pair of earrings
*a baby monitor {because our sleepy-time noise machine is broken so we use the baby monitor to listen to Sadie's white noise machine. we are that addicted. and we do NOT need the monitor to hear Sadie when she's ready to get out of bed. I think our neighbors know when she wakes up}
*my cell phone {you know, just in case}
*Cetaphil moisturizing lotion {for the crackly winter}
*a guitar pick {not that I play the guitar.}
*a broken Sleeping Beauty Barbie necklace {like, for the actual Barbie. it's tiny. and I don't know why it's there.}
*half a roll of Lifesavers {I think Andy brought them home one day, and I had such an overwhelming excitement for a white one, he laid the roll there so I could have one. I don't remember when that was.}
*a recipe for Pumpkin Black Bean soup {seriously, why is it there? was this my bedtime story?}
*my handbook for an amazing marriage conference by this guy
*my "arsenal" {this is a pack of index cards with verses written exclusively about God's goodness. I used my parent's fatty Bible Concordance so I could get all the verses I could find. I've kept them by my bed for the last six years, and pull them out when I feel the especial need to tell Satan to get back where he came from}

Thus ends my list. Off to clean.

Wordless Wednesday

okay. so. I don't even know if these are the rules, but I'll play. I post a picture, and then you (my teaming throngs) get to write a caption. And don't worry, I won't be sad if no one plays. This is just a way for me to post this cause it makes me laugh.

sweet Ella on a blustery day

{This is a "wind ring" Ella made at preschool. She loves nothing more than to run her fastest as the colors stream behind. Not even four years old, her movements are graceful and fluid. Thoughtful, yet full of abandon. This is my daughter.}

Caldecott

Ahhh, books. It's a prevalent theme here, which is appropriate for it is a prevalent theme in my life! As a mother, I feel a particular responsibility (and overwhelming privilege) for introducing my children to a wide variety of literature. We have reached the perfect stage (in my mind) for Caldecott Medal books. Before they can read, I want their little minds to come alive through interesting and beautiful illustrations. And, I dare say, I am just as mesmerized as my children.

As we all know, I love the Nashville Public Library. I have my (super long) library PIN code memorized for when I request books. And for the past few months I've been working my way through the Caldecott Medal award and honor's list. I pick the ones that seem age-appropriate or are related to the current season (there are lots of great stories for the winter). I see which books the girls (or I) gravitate toward, and my hope is to one day own all the ones we absolutely love. In hardback. We have just a handful in our collection so far -either as gifts, or great deals online.

I am currently head over heels about Ox-Cart Man. In it, a nineteenth-century family grows and makes produce and goods all year that the man of the house puts in an ox-cart and takes to town in October. There, he sells everything (including the ox and cart), buys a few necessities, then walks home to start the year-long process over. I find it both inspiring and soothing. The book was published in 1979, which happens to be my birth year. I was thrilled to stumble upon a first-edition hardback (for less than $10 purchase and shipping)!

{this is the family making Maple syrup in the month of March}

I'm sure I'll write more about the others in our collection. And the ones we find ourselves borrowing again and again.

Ella is up from her nap, so we're off to adventure through 1954's winner, Madeline's Rescue!

here

Team O is still alive,


happy,


and crazy as ever,


I'm ready to be back.



{photos by Garett Buell}