my fake fireplace, a {favorite} banner and more knitting

hello, friends.  how was your day?

we spent the day recovering from our snow/leap/mommawantsabreak day off yesterday.  yeah!

and by recovering, i mean, just catching up on school work and the normal craziness that are the days of my life.  ;)

i think i told jack to sit down like 50 times{at least} and had to corral my six year old from distracting the rest of the crew probably about 36 times. 

by mid afternoon, three of the four were literally running circles around everything and screaming like indians.

for real.

my oldest was ripping apart an old wool sweater to use the yarn for new projects.  awesome mess, i tell ya. 

i think it's safe to say that they are a tad obsessed with this knitting hobby.

i wonder where they get their obsessiveness from? {whistles and looks around the room innocently}

anyway,  on saturday, when i rearranged a few things around my house, i took down all of our valentines day decorations.

i put out a few springy things and a few new thrift store finds.

well friends, it turns out i just missed my valentines banner too much.

seriously, it's not like it HAS to be just for valentines, right?

i dug it out of the closet, as fast as possible,where i had it lovingly folded and found it a new home.

i love it and it's never going away this time. :)

it was made by a super crafty, creative bloggy friend, alicia, and the first time my eyes met it in it's plaid/canvas/twine glory, i knew it had to be mine.

the only problem?  they were all sold out.

i frantically raced to my computer and emailed alicia and asked if she could possibly make any more.

i think you know what she said.  :)

here is my fake fireplace, with my favorite banner, and a few of my other favorites.

my cow oil painting.

glass bottles.

pine cones{LOVE the giant ones}

scrabble tiles

a vintage toy horse

and more toy cows.

i'm debating on whether to take the toy horse down.  what do you think?

say it with me, "awwwwww!"

another angle.

her close up.  isn't she beautiful?
my husband really likes her, too.  even better.

we love this mantel.
my husband spotted it at an antiques show a few years back and drug me over to see it.  actually, i went willingly.  :)
i was sooo hard to convince....yeah right.   an 1800's original mantel with original square head nails and yummy, chippy goodness.   no brainer for me.
we used to go for a weekend getaway every year to an early settlers colony and stay in a super cool restored B&B/hotel.
lots of shops, good food and a huge early american antiques show.  it was sooo fun!
we just couldn't part with this treasure, so here she resides.  :)

words to live by!

i think i'm gong to start a weekly post called 'knitting news'.
there is always so much knitting going on, it's hard to keep up!
here's madelyn, with her newest creation.
doesn't that look complicated?
madelyn is 11.  i feel soooooo behind in life!

well, i hope you enjoyed the tour.
although i love to decorate and have pretty things, i realize that they hold no eternal value.  it's just a really fun hobby of mine. :)
i hope your week is going swell!
i've just successfully completed my first blog post on the laptop.{pats self on back}  yay!
my eyes are burning and i can't see a thing!

much love to you all.

xo,
mary