now i'll tell you everything

What interesting questions ya'al asked yesterday! I'll do my best to give you the answers!

Here I am waving to everyone and modeling the bruises on my knees! Lovely! My 4 year old took this picture--I thought it was kind of cute. But where are the cushions on my couch? Read on and find out....


*Nester and Frillsfluffsandtrucks wanted to see pictures of the furniture I spent 10 years saving for. That's kind of a question, right?........

This is my chair. I got it from Norwalk. Don't you love it's crocodile leather.......that's really just embossed vinyl! They'd never put this material on anything but the seat of a dining room chair before, and were a little leery of using it on a whole piece. I promised them it would turn out fabulous... and I think it did. I just looooove it. It wipes down like a dream, matches with everything, and choosing vinyl over leather saved me almost $600. Nester, I know you like to name your furniture--can you name her for me?
I had a really nice Ethan Allen sofa before, but it was the only piece of upholstered furniture in my living room and took quite a beating. Custom denim slipcovers gave it a few more years of use. But after 120 hard months of being sun baked, vomited on, it's cushions ripped off and turned into forts, and graffitti-ed with chocolate milk stains-- it had had it! When my mom passed away, she left me money and made me promise to buy a new couch (!) with some of it. I ordered our current one from Room and Board. I love all their clean-lined, texture-over-pattern, traditional/modern mixed furniture. It's covered in some super soft micro-chenille that feels just like my favorite sweater. I often lay down on this sofa just to rub my cheek against it. Oh--and it has down-filled cushions that feel soooo good to nap on. Thus far it has stayed out of the sun, not hosted any children with the stomach flu, and scrubbed up pretty nicely after getting hit with sippy cups full of kiddie coffee (chocolate milk). Hopefully it will make it 10 years too!

This is what it looks like all done up for its picture:

But, honestly, this is how it looks most days

I can name this one Nester---it's "Jumpy" for sure!

The story of my furniture.....that could have been a post all in itself, huh?!

*Kat asked about my homeschooling philosophies and curriculum and learning styles and zzzzzzz...... Unless you're a homeschooler, I'm sure it's not that exciting! But Kat, I'm going to direct you to this post, which should answer most of your questions. My boys will be attending public school for the first time this year--just to give them something to compare their homeschool experience to, and also to give me time to figure out how to fit being a full-time student into my schedule of being a full-time mom. I am hating having to give up being a homeschooler for a time, because I enjoy it with all my heart---but it was a decision made after a lot of prayer---so I know they'll be alright. We'll take stock of how we're doing next year and how we want to proceed from there. If the boys want to be homeschooled again, I'll find a way to make it happen.

*Elena asked how I always find such perfect music to put up on my blog. Aaaaaah! Thanks Elena! Most bloggers are annoyed by music (so says every 'survey' I've seen taken on that subject), but I personally LOVE blog music. I like to see if it fits with the post or if its just a random favorite song. It's the way I've discovered a lot of new tunes I wouldn't have heard any other way. Sadly, Playlist is HORRIBLE for trying to search out songs. They want you to spell E-V-E-R-Y word correctly. Like when I was searching for Kylie Minogue's song, I typed in "Out of my Head". No matches. It had to be "Outta My Head" to get anything. SO, yes--it might be pathetic, but I know and searched out specifically all of these songs on my playlist. In fact, my freaky elephant brain memorizes the words to EVERY song I hear more than once. I would totally win a million bucks on a show like "Don't Forget the Lyrics" (is that even still on?). I thought you would enjoy Oklahoma today because it DOESN'T match anything about this post. But I do love to dance around my house to it, including jumping up in the air and clicking my heels together. Yes--I can actually do that. I'm such a dancin' broadway star.....in the privacy of my own home :)!

*The Queen asked if I have any hidden talents. Yes!-- I can put my entire fist in my mouth. I'm hoping I can do something useful with it one day. Maybe get out of a speeding ticket or get to jump to first in the line at Wal*Mart on every 4th Tuesday?..... I don't think anyone has watched me do that"party trick" since college! Maybe I'll take a picture of myself doing it one day......that would be an interesting thing to throw out there in cyberspace!

Is anyone still reading? Are you all bored to death? Because it feels like I have been typing for FOREVER and saying nothing! :) Here let me do this:

Tune in tomorrow for the second half of the questions to be answered! (I am LOVING milking this thing for all it is worth anyhow!).

LOVE TO YOU ALL!---except weird guy googling "women who can stick their entire fist in their mouth"---I have no love whatsoever for you!!!