Charisa Darling

Sick Vance on Friday. Worked on getting grass to grow on Saturday. Trip to the mall with mom and aunt on Saturday. Found big deals. Dinner with the 'rents that night. Kids found a random sunflower growing in the yard. Still can't believe that one. Vaughn fell down the stairs on our deck. She's okay, scrape on nose, chin, and knee. Picture day for her on Tuesday. Think they'll be healed by then. Went to get ice cream. Pool on Sunday. Weather was great. Vaughn took a nap, Justin went to hit golf balls. Vance and I hit golf balls in the backyard and he got stung by a bee. First time for him. Dinner, baths, and Emmy's. Apparently, we need to start watching Modern Family and Mad Men and see Temple Grandin and You Don't Know Jack. Vaughn and I will be going to buy more paint today. Think I've decided on a color scheme for the girl's Birthday Banners. Last piece of the puzzle before I can officially start to sell them again. Excited about that. Selling them, that is. Not about taking Vaughn with me to get paint.

That was our weekend. How was yours?

(Won't it be sad when the little things become not-so exciting?)

It was a very meditated move for him. He thought about it a lot before deciding that yesterday would be the day.

(While cafeteria food kind of gives me the creeps, it was SO nice to not make his lunch yesterday!)

Here's what he chose: Turkey and cheese sandwich, cinnamon apples, salad, and water to drink. He didn't like the apples, so didn't eat much of those and he forgot to put salad dressing on his salad so I can't imagine he ate a lot of that. He was pretty hungry when he got home from school.

I asked him this morning if he'd like to buy or bring and after hearing the menu for today he opted for bringing. Good choice, Mr. Vance. Pizza burrito sounds pretty horrible.

In other news, Vaughn wants to be a mermaid.

More on that later. Gotta get those kids ready for the day!

One year ago Vaughn had her toenails painted for the very first time.

Pink, of course.

What were you doing one year ago?

It's not the first time I've passed these while on the road to Wisconsin.

They're wind turbine wings.

(I'm not sure if that's what they're really called.)

I love seeing them. I don't know why.

Here's a story that I found. (For those less internet savvy, click on the previous sentence. It's called a link.) I'm pretty sure that's where they are going.

When I was younger I remember passing a truck on the highway hauling a Big Boy statue on it's side. I took a picture and I know I still have it somewhere in a box.

When we still lived in Wisconsin I remember passing Obama's motorcade while he was there campaigning. I was going the opposite way on the highway and remember seeing everyone stopped and kinda in disbelief that they didn't stop us as well.

What have you passed while on the road? Anything exciting?

That's it folks, I'm outta here for the weekend.

I'm heading out for a weekend full of questionable behavior with girlfriends from our old stomping grounds.

Not sure if I'm Thelma or Louise. I'll have to get back to you on that one. I'll be Tweeting along the way, so keep up if you'd like!

Here's a little something for you to look at over the weekend. Have a good one!

Quick, cute story: Vance gave me a quarter (it's really a nickel) this morning to put in my pocket in case I get lonely or scared along the way.

The lines of summer school always blur with when the first day of the "real" school year begins. I thought Vaughn's first day was last week, but I was wrong. It was yesterday. There's no real point to all this, I just like to have a picture of their first day to compare with the last day.

So, here you go. This is Vaughn, having summer school under her belt and ready for her first school year.

If you ask her what her name is she'll tell you, "I don't know" half the time and the other time she'll tell you, "Vaughnie Bell".

(That's not really her middle name.)

It's Wednesday, picture day for Vance at his school, and I believe we'll be having some form of noodles for dinner. "Noodes" the kids call them for short, which I think is funny. The weather is cooler and I'm getting excited for fall. I almost picked up a Halloween table runner at PBK but resisted. My sister and I used FaceTime on our phones for the first time yesterday and it was cool. The kids especially loved seeing each other.

Make it a great day!

It was hot outside yesterday, but not as crazy hot as it's been the last several days.

Vance had a half day of school, a big shout out to the school's email reminder because I totally forgot that it was indeed a half day, so they found the only shady spot in the yard to do some skateboarding.

Well, actually to practice some boarding moves. According to Vance, skateboarding is easier on the grass because the board doesn't wobble as much.

I don't argue with him. I'm all in for grass skateboarding. Smart kid, that Vance. Since I'm not chasing kids on skateboards I could take pictures.

Happy Thursday! Here's to not forgetting to pick the kids up at school!

Nice to see that the garden has a sense of humor.

Silly tomatoes.

Remember this light fixture from our powder room?

Vaughn's transformation into a Princess still has us scratching our heads.

What else has me scratching my head? The 4 minute conversation yesterday with our neighbor who knows about 5 words of English. We didn't get too far.

Right now in my kitchen I have about 3.5 dozen chocolate chip cookies cooling on the counter next to 2.5 dozen tomatoes slowly over ripening. There's also a few cucumbers, a few zucchini's, a bunch of overripe bananas, and some sad looking citrus fruit. If a stranger, or a foreign neighbor, walked in now they'd wonder what the H is going on in that corner of the kitchen.

Currently, I'm covered with little speckles of gesso. I'm thinking it's time to try selling birthday banners again. Not sure if I'll go the Etsy route or just try shameless self-promoting through Facebook.

That's what I'm up to. What are you up to?

UPDATE: My shipment just arrived at the door, 12:11 PM. I placed my order yesterday morning at 7:58 AM.

I can shop in my pj's and take my time to read the labels. I can run to the linen closet to see if we need toilet paper so I don't over buy. They guarantee that you'll have the items in two days. I placed my order yesterday morning and it's already out for delivery today. Shipping was free and because it was my first order I saved 15% on my entire order. Most of my items were on sale and one item even offered a $1.00 ecoupon, (online coupon).

Better yet, I know I saved money because I wasn't tempted with all the extras that I normally pick-up while I'm at Target. And I didn't waste my precious "free" time at Target while both kids were at school.

All I need now is for grocery stores to do the same and I'll be set.

The best part of the weekend.