Monday in my "ewe"niverse— alone in Barberville

I was completely alone yesterday for about 2 hours and it was lovely— even though I was cleaning. Everyone had left the Lake and I just had to vacuum and mop the cabin and lock up before driving to Deland to have dinner with my in-laws and the rest of the family for my niece's birthday (Happy birthday Jessica!). We were so busy with the kids all week at the Lake. It was a constant, "I got a splinter, he won't let me use that float, it's my turn, I don't want sun screen, I wanna go in, I need to change, I need a towel, come get this fish off the hook, I need a drink, I'm ready for lunch, gimme a hotdog, what's for dessert, I don't wanna go to bed, bla, bla, bla." Constant. Constant. Constant. We (us moms—Kelley, Shona and I) never really got a chance to sit and relax for more than 5 minutes at a time. And now that the kids are a little older, they stay up later, so the "want/need" cycle never ends. Don't get me wrong, it was a great vacation! We had fun and all, but it was a different kind of fun. Now, I understand how my mom felt when we would go on vacation growing up. It's exhausting! But fun, really fun.

So on my quiet drive to Deland I passed this outdoor Lawn Ornament shop and I've always wanted to go in and look around, but never could because I had the kids with me. This time though, I stopped and snooped around with my iPhone camera. Yard Ornaments are expensive! I couldn't afford anything but had fun thinking about where I would put some of them! My all time favorite was the sheep. It's white, but I would paint it black, of course, and feature it under my stairs in the living room. Sound crazy? To you maybe. 


Look, Martha likes black sheep too! Check out her new ones here.

Thanks for stopping by for another peek into my "ewe"niverse! 

Monday in my "ewe"niverse"— the Lake

Hi there! Happy Monday! Well, it's finally here. Time for our vacation at the Lake. Can't wait to get there and relax with my friends. We miss you Amy! Hope everyone has a great week!

Hope you'll check back next week for more of Monday in my "ewe"niverse.

Max and Birdie's Morning Walk

Every morning Max and Birdie follow me around quietly watching to see when I put my shoes on. Once they see the shoes come out of the closet, that's it—they know its "walk time"and the barking begins.

Max has walked without a leash for years. He knows the routes like the back of his paw. He sits at every stop sign and waits for my "ok" to cross and turns around to make sure I'm following him. He never barks at other dogs. He just struts along knowing he's free and they are trapped behind their fences or worse, leashed by their owners. His only weakness is cats, but he's more scared of them than they are of him. When he was a puppy a cat clawed him in the face and left one stuck on his snout. Ouch! He's detested them ever since. I can't blame him really. I'm not a cat fan either. (Sorry cat lovers.)

Birdie is my live wire. Since she was a stray, she has no problem prancing off by herself and half the time we have to go looking for her. Stinker! So I've always had her on a leash. But I got smart and started leashing her to Max instead. Genius! It works out great.

So, Max is in charge and I've been reduced to pooper-scooper. But I'm ok with that.

Monday in my "ewe"niverse— The boys' bedroom.

This is the doorway to the bedroom my sons share. Funny, you'd think this would be the messiest room in the house— two boys sharing a room. But guess what? It's the neatest! Yes, after eleven months of paint-staking attic renovations (by my brother-in-law) and one home equity loan later, our boys prefer sleeping in the guest room downstairs. But I digress. The wooden arch was carved from a tree branch in my brother-in-law's backyard. Double pocket doors slide closed for privacy when they're older.

Whether the boys sleep up there or not, this is one of my favorite rooms in the house. We had to utilize every inch of space so we wouldn't have to change the roof line of our house. The book Making Room was my bible and a source of "ewe"nique ideas for how to make the most of our small space.
Some hi-lights:
  • Matching closets on each side of the room with rolling doors that hold hanging clothes and shoes.
  • Rolling boxes inside the closets house costumes, games and toys. The boys also like to use their
closets as secret play spaces.
  • 20"x20"shirt stripe carpet tiles from FLOR.com bring out the boy in the room.
  • Built-in dresser drawers on each side of the room hold the rest of their clothes and their favorite Lego drawer opens out 3 feet and has a sliding table top for easy lego construction and breakdown.
  • Each trundle bed rolls out to full/queen size or half-way in for couch mode. When more room is needed for playing, the beds roll all the way into the wall.
Almost makes me with I was a kid again!

Tune in next Monday for another peek into my "ewe"niverse!

English Tudor Prints Now Available in My Shop!

Hi everybody! I just put my English Tudor mixed media painting in my Shop for the world to see...and hopefully purchase prints! I really had fun with this painting and I'd love to paint your home too! Email me if you are interested in getting a "ewe"nique mixed media reproduction of your own home.


And thanks, as always for checking in on my blog!

My first try using Beeswax.

Finally, something new from my studio! I've been wanting to try working with beeswax and today's assignment (from Creative Bootcamp) was to try something new. Change things up a little. So, here it is. I used tissue paper, masking tape, a page from an old book and oil pastels. It was fun! I think I'll be trying this technique again for sure!

Creative Bootcamp— "Fly"

Driving home from the lake today, we passed by this old PAN AM plane at an executive airport. The perfect shot for Saturday's Creative Bootcamp word prompt "Fly" (never mind that I'm two days late with it).

Creative Boot Camp— "Fluid"

I'm taking Maegan Beishline's photography e-course, "Creative Bootcamp" and Friday's random word prompt was "fluid". These random words are meant to inspire us to take pictures or create art depicting their meaning. Well, rather than taking a picture of running water in the sink or my coffee mug, I searched through my coffers and found these great shots of my 9 year old nephew, Sammy, doing flips off the dock at the Lake Memorial weekend. If that's not fluid movement, I don't know what is. He did one after the other. Running down the dock at break neck speed and hurdling off a mini-trampoline. The other cousins tried to do the same but paled in comparison. The boy should be a gymnast. He has absolutely no fear! I guess I didn't either at that age.

Summer Entertainment— The Egg Chair.

I remember watching Sleepless in Seattle when it came out in 1993 and thinking Jonah had the coolest chair I'd ever seen. I've wanted one of those chairs ever since.  A couple of years ago, I found an imitation from IKEA. Only downer is that it's kid-size. Oh well, the boys love it. It's a source of hours of spinning entertainment... or at least until they get dizzy.

If you're interested in splurging on the real deal, it's made by inmod. A little pricey, but sooo cool. Who wouldn't want an egg chair?

Monday in my ewe-niverse.

It's Monday (night...actually approaching early Tuesday) and I've decided to start a weekly post this summer that gives my adoring fans (namely Mom and Mrs. Legg) a little peek inside my ewe-niverse (that's "universe"). My universe is quite small. I generally stay within a 5 mile perimeter of my home, at least during the week. Only visiting the usual haunts: Publix, Super Target (practically in my backyard), the YMCA and school, of course. I've finally discovered in my forties that I'm a home body and I'm ok with that. So I'll be sharing my favorite spaces here where I'm most comfortable. But to start the ball rolling, I thought I'd share with you my neighbor (Mr. Keith's) dreamy backyard pool. The kids love going next door to swim whenever they can. And so do I, but I try and curtail our visits, so as not to be too much of a pool mooch. I just adore this backyard escape. It's so private with its lush tropical landscape. I feel like I'm in another world completely. You'd never know our house is just over the fence. And I don't even get mad when bamboo shoots sprout up in our yard. They grow like weeds. Who cares! I've got a neighbor with an amazing pool! How lucky am I! Oh how I wish we had room for a pool in our teensy-tiny backyard. Jackson asks almost daily, "Mommy can we sell our tramporine and git a pool wike Mr. Keif's?" (He's not good with his "L's" yet.) No honey, but maybe one day we can cut a little door in our fence so we can sneak on over to Mr. Keith's pool more often.

Tune in next Monday for another look into my ewe-niverse!