Today was supposed to be a peaceful, spiritual day, watching my daughter get baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It didn't go exactly as planned. Yesterday, when I picked Trea up from school, she told me that it hurt when she peed, and she'd had to go to the restroom at school four times during the school day. Uh-oh. She's had three UTIs already this year. So, since it's 4 pm when I get home, and my doctor's office is 30 minutes away, I decide to wait until John gets home and take her to the urgent care clinic near our house. He gets home at 7. We go to urgent care, deal with an overly perky doctor who at first tries to convince me it's just irritation from her imperfect hygiene, and then writes a prescription when the test comes back positive. We get home at 10. Today, Trea was miserable. Wavering between wanting to be baptized and just wanting to go home. I talked her into it, mostly because my dad had come all the way from North Carolina to be here. The bishop, her dad, and both grandpas gave her a blessing right before her baptism. She went from being nearly in tears because of the pain to fine in less than 10 minutes. She was baptized, confirmed, and had a great rest of the day. I hope she has good memories of today. My mother-in-law commented that no one remembers their baptism anyway, but I remember mine - or at least parts of it. I just want her to be able to look back on today and, if she remembers anything, to remember a blessing healed her. And that her dad and grandpas were a part of that. Not too much to ask, right?

"The Project"

That's what we call it around here. The never-ending, almost-sorry-I-even-started-it, project. The one that took so long Trea once told me, "Mom, I hope you finish that before I'm all grown up."

Me too!

So, let me explain.

This is the space beneath our stairs:


Doesn't that just scream "playhouse" to you? I thought it did. We put the two play kitchens and the table and chairs in there. A good start, but. . . then I read the blog of my cousin's wife, Amy, and she had made the cutest felt cover for a card table, to make a playhouse. And I thought, it would be really cool to make a false front for the play space in our house.

So I made this:



The kids love it.

Close up of the rosebush:


Close up of a rose:


Close ups of vine flowers:





(Sorry they're a little blurry, photography is on my list of things to learn. . .you know, now that I'm not working on this.)

There are ladybugs on the vine too:



I thought about butterflies, but I decided to add those later. They will be used to strategically hide any rips/stains/tears (which are inevitable, may as well plan for it, right?)

Although I am embarrassed to admit this, I started this nearly two years ago. Memorial Day weekend, 2010. I made a lot of progress at first, and then I was sick, because I was pregnant with Mailaya. . .then I was nursing a newborn and chasing a toddler, which is NOT conducive to big projects that have to be laid out. . .and then my mom got sick and passed away shortly thereafter. I ripped out all the dandelions in my front yard while she was sick, but I didn't want to do anything that needed patience. After she died I just didn't have any desire to work on it for a while.

But, it's done now. The hanging isn't perfect - but I've got a plan to tweak it. I also saved the sheer brown curtains that were in the living room, because I thought they'd make good doors. There's velcro on the back of the castle, so I just need to add velcro to the "doors" and they'd be done.

John asked me at one point what I was going to do to the back - you know, the inside of the castle? Good grief, like it needs wallpaper???

(I might, if I find the right fabric. . .)

It was also John's idea to add the rainbow. I had a sketch that I showed him, and he (somewhat sarcastically) said,"Great, all it needs is a rainbow."

And I, without a trace of sarcasm, said, "You're RIGHT! It DOES need a rainbow!"

That cost him about $30 in felt, so he probably regrets it.

I have big plans for the inside too, but I'm taking a break from this project to do other things. I'll come back to it eventually. I always do.