Harrington House

Red, White, & BOOM!

Did all y'all have a fun Fourth??  We had such a great little weekend celebrating one of my all-time favorite holidays!  I love the Fourth for so many reasons...it's the birthday of our blessed country (and I am verrrry patriotic), it's in the height of summer (my favorite season), and we got engaged seven years ago over the Fourth!

The above picture is of us enjoying the fireworks at our downtown Fourth Festival.  As you can see, I forgot my camera!!  Isn't that terrible when you do that?  It killed me!

Amelia, of course, LOVED all the action.  She is quite the social butterfly, hopping onto everybody else's blankets and walking up to just any ol' body.  There are no strangers to that little girl!  Needless to say, Mike was busy chasing after her until the fireworks started, and then she sat completely still.  It was precious seeing her little face just staring in awe at the fireworks while she sat in her daddy's lap.  (And me with no camera....)  Jack Jack slept through the whole show.  I pressed his little head against my arm so that it covered one ear and put my hand to the other side so the booming wouldn't be too loud for him.  Bless his sweet heart!

One of my favorite things....Carson, our friends' son, commented on each and every firework that went off, which had us all laughing.  At one point, he hollared, "Mrs. Katie, this firework is for you.  It's perfect for you!"  ISN'T THAT TOO SWEET FOR WORDS??  I just loved it!  (And, just so you know, that firecracker was pink...so he was right, it was perfect for me.  Haha!)

On Sunday, we tried to get some good pictures of the kids, but it's so hard to keep Little Miss You-Know-Who still...especially when there are flags to wave about!  Oh well, it was another wonderful Fourth!

Happy Fourth, Y'all!

In the spirit of praise and thanksgiving

for having been blessed to be born in this country, I pray

God bless America!

Consider My Heart Melted

Work in Progress...Times a Million

As I mentioned, one of the projects I'm working on is trying to change up the living room a little.  The old wall cabinet you see on the left is likely to be painted, I just haven't fully decided on the color yet.  Red?  Brown?  Green?  On the living room windows are the curtains I moved from the dining room.  I'm trying to incorporate that gorgeous red in them into the room.  

This is the other side of the room.  (I can't believe I'm showing it in this state.)  It's a verrrrry small room, so the furniture arrangement is pretty much impossible to change.  I've already taken everything off the walls and everything out of there except the furniture so that I can start from scratch with new ideas.

I'm also trying to finish up sewing today for Jack's room and Amelia's room.  I hit a major mental block with Amelia's window treatments, but now I'm getting excited again!  This is one of my inspiration pics.  I found it in a magazine and took a picture of it with my phone.  (I'm sure everyone else in the waiting room who saw me taking pictures of magazine pages thought I had gone over the deep end.  Haha!)  This looks really similar to the treatments in the nursery.  

This is part of my inspiration for Jack Jack's nursery...a vintage block and Daddy's old baseballs.  I injecting some green in the room along with the existing blue and white, and I'm using the red from the baseball stitches as a tiny accent color.  

The other day, I stopped into Goodwill.  I got an armful of goodies, with the most I paid for a single item being $5.  Yea!

The bateau-shaped basket is getting painted and going into the master bath next to the shower with towels in it.  The flat round basket will also get painted, and I'll probably use it for serving food maybe (?) like breads when we have company.  I got another basket but forgot to take its picture.

I got a mess of cookbooks and a couple Martha books and a Victoria book.  I could read cookbooks all the live long day, from recipe to recipe and cover to cover.  Do y'all do that?  I already have one of these books, but I thought it would be great for a Christmas gift or even a wedding shower gift in a basket full of some other goodies.

I found some more apothecary jars for one of the bathrooms.  I think the little squadgy one would look nice with a candle in it, but I've never done that.  Maybe I'll get adventurous and try it.

I thought the cathedral-like pattern on this piece was pretty, but I don't know what this is supposed to be used for or what I'm going to use it for.  Hmmm...

I was soooo excited about this glass ice bucket!  It came with the hammered metal claw-foot tongs.  I love how chunky and heavy it is.  

So, I have my hand in all these projects.  I'm trying to work on them in between calls to poison control and warding off a case of mastitis.  

Well Laid Plans

I had the best plans in my head to head out with the kids fairly early this morning and accomplish some shopping and errands that I'd been postponing.  I managed to get us all up, showered, hair fixed (big deal around here these days), dressed, and in the truck with sippies, binkies, diapers, snacks, burp bloths, and the kitchen sink.

(INSERT HUGE, HEAVING SIGH.)

(And cackles from all you seasoned mothers who know that such an event is near impossible with a two-year-old and a two-month old by yourself.)

What in the hee haw was I thinking?

My first planned stop of the morning was at a children's consignment shop.  I unload the kids and strap them into the stroller.  I cruise up to the door.

My stroller wouldn't fit through the door of the shop.  And my sling for Jack was at home.  Yippee.  I somehow delude myself into thinking I can wrangle Amelia through the aisles whilst sifting through clothing with my left hand and holding Jack Jack in the right. Hahahaha!  Silly momma.  (Did I mention I forgot Amelia's shoes at home, so she is barefoot.  Oh yeah, that adds to the scene.)

As I try to peel through the racks at lightning speed, I manage to snag a few items.  Then Amelia spots the toys for sale. All attempts made by me to remove her from the toys were futile.  Apparently, someone had left some superglue on one of the tricycles because she was not moving from her perch.  There I was trying not to cause a scene, getting down on her level and whispering the details of the punishment that surely awaited her should she decide not to start minding me.  I might as well have been trying to spit nickles.

And then, at some point during this whole rigamarole, they pooped.  Both of them.  They both pooped.  Seriously?  Had they concocted that in the backseat on the drive over???

So I finally just gave it up...I put back my three items, hoisted Amelia on my hip with no shortage of screaming and clawing mind you, with Jack in my other arm (and a brown paper sack over my head so I wouldn't be identified by all the other good mothers with the well-behaved children) and got back in the truck.

  

I sure hope this doesn't jeopardize my chances for the Mother of the Year title.

New Dress for the Dining Room

My dining room is one of my favorite rooms in my home, but lately I have been wanting to rework it.  It all started with a trip to one of my favorite antique shops (doesn't it always?).  A few weeks ago, I saw a beautiful buffet that was just begging to come home with me.  I told him to hush up and try not to look so gorgeous because I'd be coming back for him soon.  So last week, I went and hauled him home with me!  Yea!

 Do you love him like I do?  

I love the finish and the bow front drawers, but I mostly love that it is substantial enough to sit with my dining room table, which is tall and chunky.  Most other buffets and sideboards always looked so pitiful next to the table.

Those silver candlesticks are a pair that I found at a local thrift shop.  I found them on two separate trips, months apart!   How 'bout that?  It was just meant to be that they were mine, I reckon.  :o)

Like I said, I have been wanting to revamp this room for a while, and well, maybe it's just because it is summertime...but I felt like it was needing some bright greens!  I'm so glad I went with it, because I am loving the browns and the bright green together.  I found the berry garlands at Michael's, and this set of cloth napkins at the same antique shop.  I put them on a brown transferware platter that my sister Kelly Jo gave me for my birthday, along with a set of old monogrammed silver forks and spoons I had.  There is also an old wooden-handled wine key that I hunted for forever and an eternity that I put on the tray, too.  

I was digging through all my black and whites for some to put on the buffet, and Mike said I should use this one.  He called it a conversation piece.  Haha!

Don't you wonder who this woman was?  That's certainly quite the pose.  (Well, lookie there...conversation has started...)

A little collection of china butterpats... 

There is tons of storage in this piece.  All y'all antiquers know what that means... ;o)

I also changed up the curtains in the dining room.  I moved the ones I had in here to the living room (more on that later), and put the living room ones in here.

I also finally hung up a little dish on the wall with some of my other brown transferware platters.  (Come to think of it...I got the little birdie dish at that same antique store!  Haha!)

Hard-Working Man

Like I mentioned a few days ago, Mike has taken a new job.  We are so fortunate that his new office is exactly 5 miles from our driveway!  Now, that just doesn't happen around Atlanta.  

It's a brand new office, and it's actually pretty for an office.  I like the glass French doors that lead into his actual office room, and the molding and trim is nice.  His furniture isn't here yet, so he is using a folding table and one of my kitchen chairs.  It's funny to see him working in a big room with practically nothing right now.  I do like the look of my black chairs in there...but they won't be staying!  ;o)

Looking in from the main door... (that piece of baseboard has since been painted...was it as glaring to you as it was to me?)...

The little kitchenette... 

Here's the bathroom... 

I'll refrain from showing it in detail.  You cannot imagine the unmentionable horrors that were waiting for me in there!  It was about enough to send me running for the hills!!  This being a brand-new office, I'm not exactly sure who left the mess...blech!  When I went in to clean it, I felt like I should be wearing a haz-mat suit...but I settled for some elbow-length heavy-duty gloves and a whole mess of bleach!   (All of those cleaning supplies were tossed immediately after I was done...just to put your mind at rest...if your mind is anything like mine...)

Now, even though I was there to clean, I had to take a couple time-outs to take pictures of my favorite subjects.

Amelia helped, too, with the cleaning.  She loves to suck things up with the sweeper, and she would grab a rag and start wiping things down...just like Momma!  ;o)  It's so precious when she "cleans!"

Jack spent a good bit of time in Daddy's new office.  I think he was mulling over furniture layouts...

Well, hi there, Jack-Jack!

There's my happy baby!

Amelia loves to run the controls on his chair...vibrations, music, and combinations of both...it's just too much to resist...

I guess "Little Mommy" just wants to make sure her brother is taken good care of...

She can hardly keep her hands off of him.  

OH, and then, my break was over, and I had to get back to work on the windows.  Amelia grabbed her rag and got back to work, too   ;o) 

Fun, Fun in the Summer Sun

Strawberry Fields...Forever

Remember how I said I have started trying to lose some of my baby weight??  Well, I've been trying to eat more salads.  I found the recipe for this salad at allrecipes.com submitted by newcook89.  It's called "Strawberry Fields."  Not only is it pretty to look at, it is sooo good!  I'm going to put some grilled chicken in it today.  Mmmm!  Well done, newcook89!

And I'm still walking every day...while pushing these two wild things...

I'm walking with my friend Rachel and her two boys, Carson and Parker, and she read somewhere that pushing a stroller helps you burn 15-20% more calories!  Since we are pushing double strollers, I like to think it's at least 20%.  ;o)

Okay, and remember how I also said I was not going too crazy with all this baby weight loss??  Well, after a six-mile walk the other evening with Mike, we hit up Dairy Queen.

I got an Arctic Rush, and Mike got a brown derby...a sweet, sweet, beautiful brown derby....

...but he let me eat the chocolate curl on top... 

It's a wonder he didn't pull back a bloody nub of an arm.  Haha!

I really do want to reiterate that I'm not going crazy about the weight loss.  I don't care too much about what the scale says or the size label on my clothes...I just care about the fact that I feel good, you know?  I know when I'm comfortable and happy and that's what matters to me.  So, just in case I talk about it frequently on my blog in the upcoming months (year maybe?), just know that I'm only interested in getting back to a healthy weight.  And getting to the point where I'm not about to pass out after going up one flight of stairs.  

Yesterday evening, we went with Mike to his new office so that I could clean it.  We are so blessed with Mike's new job.  For the past year, I have prayed and prayed about his work.  It had gotten to a point where he had lost some of his passion and was just not happy.  It is so hard to see your husband get to a point where he doesn't enjoy his work anymore.  So for almost a whole year, I prayed and prayed that God would lay out a path for us (well, for Mike) that would be better for him and our little family.  Especially in this time with economic troubles, it was a scary time for job changes.  With the faith that He would take care of us, we both kept praying and praying and praying and praying and praying (get the point?) for not only new opportunities but also for clarity and assurance.  Because of our faith in Him, we had peace.  We "considered the lillies" alot during the past six months.  We all know that God answers prayers in ways that we don't expect and may not understand at the time.  This time was no different.  We know He has plans for us (just like he does for every single person).  We have been blessed.  Mike took a new job...one that he is excited and passionate about and has a lot of promise.  And our little family now has a special, personal testimony of God's faithful provision.     

"Be afflicted for nothing;  but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ."   -Phillipians 4:6-7

The above picture is a happy picture!  Amelia loves the rain, and as we were parked (no, she was not sitting there while we were driving down the road!), it started to pour.  She was telling us all about it raining outside!  It was a big story production with hand motions as you can see.  :o)

And then she found my Bath & Body room spray bottle that I keep in the truck, and I reckon she thinks it's hairspray...

Just a reminder that she sees everything we do!  I gotta watch myself!  :o)

I Fought the Law...and The Law Won

It was bound to happen.  The other night, an officer of the law pulled me over for the tint on my windows.  Remember that glorious tint that I had decided was made exclusively for modest breastfeeding mothers???  He informed me that in the good state of Georgia, tint has to be 32% or above on their handheld tint checker thing.  Do you know what my windows were???  1%.  ONE!  

Luckily, he did not hand me a razor blade and offer me the ultimatum of "ticket or strip it" right there on the side of the road.  He let me go on home.  :o)

So Mike busied himself this afternoon, stripping the tint off the two front side windows.  

Speaking of wheels, Jack and Amelia got a new set, too...

I ended up getting the one I saw at Babies 'R Us.  I so badly wanted one of these , but it just isn't it my budget these days.  But I'm glad we finally got a double stroller so I wouldn't have to wait for Mike to walk with me, each of us pushing a single.

 

I've been walking every day to lose some of this baby weight.  Y'all, I'll just be real honest here....I have 39 pounds to go.  Phew!  The day of delivery I was 210 pounds (which is where I was with Amelia, too).  Both pregnancies I've had about a 70-pound weight gain!  Right now, I'm at 174.  I'm not going crazy with diet and exercise because I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize my milk supply (or my overall health, of course), so I'll get there one of these days!

And in the meantime, I'll be enjoying the reason I gained all that weight to begin with!  ;o)