Buttons Magee Weblog

neck pain

I bet you were wondering where I was today! David and I went out with some old friends last night from med-school and stayed up too late. We went to see Dark Knight, which was great. The chairs at the theatre we really uncomfortable and gave me a massive crick in my neck. I still have a bit of a neckache and headache from it. That is also the reason for no echo from me today...I just felt bad.

It looks really pretty outside today, so maybe I will drag the girls outside and try to get that swingset finally finished this afternoon. i hope you all have a wonderful day!

beginnings

This morning Olivia and I are going up to her school to enroll her in Kindergarten.  She is so excited that it was the first thing she talked about when she woke up.  I am surprised that my girl will be in elementary school.  Where did the time go?

You know what else I love? Last night Olivia left her purse at a restaurant and we had to go back for it. While in the car she was crying, worried that it would be gone when we returned. She just kept saying "my first library card! Not my first library card! I should have left it at home!" So nice to hear that the heartbreak was over the library card and not the Cinderella purse.

happiness in a canister

 

"Why do you still shoot with film?" people ask. Wanna know why? This picture is why. No digital camera could ever give me the feel of this photo. When I opened the package and found this picture I laughed out loud with giddiness. I mean, look at Olivia's relaxed stance and serious expression...a bit punk I'd say. Then pair it with little miss smiley over there and I am in heaven. This one. This one, my friends, will get enlarged and framed. Oh yes it will. Today will hopefully be the day I finish the girls' swingset. Yesterday it was just too rainy to be out there with the drill. Today, no excuses. So, after a bit of breakfast it's off to the back yard and bug spray to spend some quality time with my tools. Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

freedom from work

 

Let me just say that all of you who have a spouse home on the weekends are lucky ladies! David was home all weekend for a change and it was so so terrific. We sat and drank coffee together. We worked on the swingset together. We watched movies together. And none of it involved rushing off to work or being exhausted from staying up all night. Oh, it was so nice.  

Yesterday morning, we went to the farmers market to pick up some fruit and spices. I took so many pictures, especially with my new peel-apart film. Although it was really hot outside, it was fun to play with the cameras for a bit and let the kids run around.  

They even got to go on a pony ride...well, Olivia did and not very relaxed. Zoe tried to sit on the pony and then decided she would have none of that horse business.

Today I had big plans to finish the swinset, but it is now raining.  Maybe it will stop by the afternoon, I don't know.  I hope your Monday is a happy one, friends!

howdy all!

Hello to you on a Saturday! I just wanted to see if everyone was having a relaxing weekend. We are about to head out and sweat while assembling a swingset. I am actually looking forward to being outside in the sun for a while. Sun tea anyone?

Last night we had this big storm come through around 4am.  David was on call last night, so the girls both ended up in bed with me.  You can imagine where I woke up this morning.  Yes, on the couch.  I actually slept till 9am, and now feel kind of crappy.

Why so tired, you ask?  Well, the storm isn't the only thing to blame for my exhaustion.  Nor are my bed-hogging daughters.  It was the Bravo channel.  Seriously.  Every time I finish watching a show another equally addicting show follows.  So In the spirit of my topic of the week, I will be descussing a few Bravo shows that keep me up way too late.

The first, and a show that makes me laugh more than just about anything on tv is Kathy Griffin: my life on the d-list.  Everything that comes out of her mouth cracks me up.  Like how last night she said she wanted to make a senior kit for her mom with all those gadgets from tv, like the jitterbug phone which is so cool because it can't do anything, or life-alert, or the rascal scooter.  

Another show I get totally sucked into is Flipping Out, about a totally OCD guy who is in the occupation of flipping homes in LA.  Oh my gosh.  He is totally crazy!  He went into a client's home while she was out of town and rearranged all her furniture and threw out stuff without her knowledge.

Finally, the dumb show that kept me up till 2am, because I just had to find out what happened: Date my Ex with Jo and Slade from the real housewives of orange county.  This show is just the most completely bizarre dating show ever.  It isn't the dating that is so addicting to watch.  It's the interaction between Jo and her ex-fiance, Slade, who is putting up all of the bachelors at his house.  

So, there you have it.  A completely mindless collection of time-wasting that is totally addicting.  On that note, I will sign off for the weekend.  Have a great one everybody!

routine

Every morning here is pretty much the same. I wake up (more like yelled at to make breakfast), trudge in to start the coffee, peel two bananas, make two bowls of maple & brown sugar oatmeal, make my cup of coffee, then pad back to my studio and sit at the computer. The hardly ever changes. In fact, if something causes it to change it kind of throws off my whole day. I kind of think of myself as a blitz worker. I can spend hours messing around with something...like editing photos. Then, out of nowhere, I decide it is time to clean the house. Forty-five minutes later all dishes are done, all toys picked up, all floors swept, all beds made, and I feel better. This technique probably isn't for everyone, but it works for me, and it allows me to have more open time to work on my photography and play with the girls. I like thinking about how other people work. Do you do bits at a time? Do you work on one thing per day? How is you time managed?

...

and now, time for my topic of the day: random things in my home that make my day a little more pleasant.

My shower-curtain rod. It curves out, giving the elbows more room to move and preventing the curtain from sticking to me while I shower.

Solar oil: This stuff is a miracle worker. It consists of a bunch of random oils, and was created to be an oil for the fingernails to combat fungus and stuff. But it does so much more. We use it on all cuts and scrapes and they heal practically overnight. The girls think it is the magic booboo oil. It will clear up pimples, and can even be used as a quick moisturizer.

The bekvam stepstool from ikea. I love it. Unfortunately, you can't seem to buy it anymore, but I am sure there are many other cool stools out there. It lives in my kitchen and gets used about a million times a day. I like it because it won't tip over. It is just the right height for the girls to stand on. It can be used as a quick chair if needed, or even a desk for the girls. If you follow the links in this article by Apartment therapy, they do have another wooden stool from Target that is pretty cool too. And go here to read a funny post about the instructions Ikea puts in their products...hilarious.

I hope you all have a great Thursday. I am kind of shocked it is already Thursday. The best news is that David actually has this weekend off for once. We won't be doing much other than put together the girls' swingset that has just been sitting in a box outside, but it will be nice to have him home for a change.

shop news

Good morning all!  I wanted to tell you about the new series that just went up in my shop: home and away .  It's inspiration came from summers spent on vacations to beaches and time lazing around the house with nothing to do but relax.  There are ten photos- five away pictures and five home, all in 4x6.  If you see one you would rather have in a larger size I will be more than happy to do a custom order for you.  

My item I can't live without today is trays.  Yes, trays.  I have them all over the house, in just about every room.  Trays are such a great way to homogenize a bunch of stuff into one visual collection.  I have one sitting on my coffee table that contains a vase holding remotes, candle, matches, and a bowl of wooden acorns for the girls.  If the tray weren't there these things would look to diminutive and messy just sitting there. Conveniently, it call all be picked up together and moved if we are having pizza for dinner in the living room.  

There are trays elsewhere too... my studio has a tray that holds all my desk knick knacks so they feel more in order.  My night-stand is home to a tray that holds books, pens, barrettes, earrings, boxes, picture frames, and other small necessities.  

Another terrific use of trays is for the girls' projects.  Zoe likes to pour water, so i keep an old school tray on hand so the water stays contained instead of all over  the floor.  I think the trays help the girls keep their activity in a central location.

Here are some of my current favorites:

Cork tray $150- I have a bent wood tray similar to this that I love.

Fast food trays $3.50  So great for the kids and cannot break.  I like the lip that keeps liquids inside the tray.

bird tray $50 So cute.  I would want this out in my kitchen.  Check out this whole site...cute stuff.

lacquer tray $29  awsome price and I love the high edges.  All of CB2 trays are cool actually.

Have a great day everyone!

funkadelic

 

I was looking at Alicia's echo for yesterday, and thinking how glad I am that some people are having that peaceful summertime feeling.  Yes, I am still in a funk.  It's the mosquitos fault, I'm telling you.  Even with nine pounds of bug spray on they keep biting me right now.  That sort of makes the outside off limits for now, because I am allergic and the bites get huge for a week after.

Anyway, I don't want this to turn into the mega-complainy blog.  therefore, I am going to spend the rest of the week talking about little things around the house that make my life happier, easier, more comfortable, etc.  That way you read this and think "hey!  She might be a sourpuss right now, but at least she has some interesting information!"  

So, today I am going to discuss essential oils  and how much I love them.  See, I am not a huge perfume person.  Not only are many people in my life allergic to perfumes, but usually the fragrances do not suit my tastes.  Vanillas, orchids, rose, orange...blah blah blah.  Not for me.  I started using essential oil as perfume when I got some from Aveda for my birthday.  That is when I realized that the stuff lasts forever. 

then I started thinking about shampoo.  We just can't afford Aveda shampoo.  Suave $1 bottles are more  in our budget.  But almost all of the drug-store brands smell horrible.  If you want to torture me, make me sit next to or shampoo with any kind of herbal essences shampoo.  Yuck.  They smell awful.  Could someone tell me who gave companies the idea that women like to smell like fake green apple scent?  Gross.  

Well, now I just buy shampoo in unscented and add my own essential oil to the bottle.  Viola!  yummy smelling shampoo that David and I both like using.  My current favorite combo is Ylang Ylang with geranium.  I kind of like grapefruit mixed with this, but I can't afford all those oils at once.  The other thing I have noticed is that people don't seem to have the same kind of sneezing fits with oils that they have with perfume.  Interesting.

The other interesting fact is the scents that I choose naturally are the oils commonly used to treat depression, something I am known to battle regularly.  I did not know this before choosing my oils.  I highly suggest going to a health foods store and just seeing which oils appeal to you.  You might be surprised when you learn what aromatherapy benefits they have.  

Since I also make my own house cleaner I can use the oils in those as well!

stop and rest

 

This past weekend I spent hanging out with the kids. We laid low all weekend long.  It got up toward 100 degrees so we didn't spend much time outside.  David was on call so we three girls just watched movies and cleaned the house.  I finally got pictures hung in their bedroom and tons of toys taken out.  I am hoping the break from photos and projects gives me a revived sense of creativity this week.  

Speaking of photos, I wanted to announce the winner of last Friday's giveaway.  Comment #17 was chosen by the random number generator over at random.org.  That would be Ali, of domesticali.  Yay!  Ali, I am going  to be sending you an email with the particulars.  Thank to everyone who played along.  I did lots of the suggestions you offered: organizing, cleaning, movies, wine, books, outdoors...it all helped to some degree.  I still feel in a bit of a funk, but i think this is pretty typcial for me as soon as it gets this hot.  I can't stand to be really hot, so 100 degrees is a no-go for playing outside.  I will be happy when the temps are back around the eighties.