Life as we go it

There are so many creative projects that I need to start on and/or finish these days. Here's a photo list of a few of the current projects I'm working on, or need to begin! I'm working on creating a collage wall above our computer desk. Normally I would have attempted to make all of these items myself (paint old frames white, have Matt make the shelf, find a mirror at a thrift store and repaint the frame, etc), but I found everything in this photo at Hobby Lobby! And it was all 40% off, so it ended up being pretty inexpensive. I still have to put a photo of Liam in the photo frame and tack some cool things to the fabric bulletin board. I look forward to changing the saying on the little chalkboard :)

"I woke up this morning, smiled at the rising sun"

This is a giant metal fork. Our local Fresh Meals On Wheels program has asked local artists to decorate a fork that will be displayed throughout Sheboygan during the month of May. Then in June they will be  on display at the Christopher Farm & Gardens during a June-A-Palooza event which will raise money in support of Fresh Meals On Wheels. My options for decorating this thing are endless....how am I going to make up my mind? Should I put a giant meatball on top? Should I make it frilly and flowery? Ideas are welcome!

Here's the binder of information that we found in a closet. How cool that this has stayed with the house over the years!

Here's the abstract, dating back to 1837.

A loan dating back to 1921.

A plat map dated 1921.

Home mortgage dating back to 1891.

Expensive decorating bill for the year 1930.

Old landscape renderings.

Here it is, framed and ready to be shipped to Illinois.

Best of luck to Jessie and Jarrod with their event :)

This past weekend Matt got beef jerky in his Easter basket.

Liam got oranges, raisins, goldfish crackers, a book and a puzzle in his basket.

What did I get in my basket? A wonderful gift that the Easter bunny (myself) ordered off of Etsy :)

A beautiful crocheted LOVE banner!

Handmade with care.

One of my friends in Florida, Rhonda, sent Liam an adorable crocheted owl hat when he was born. Her sister, Jess, made it. Jess crochets the cutest hats, ear warmers, cowls and banners.

The other day I was checking out her Etsy page, called My Charming Colors, and I saw this awesome Love banner. Usually it takes me a bit to decide on and purchase anything that has to do with home decor. But when I saw this (the Easter bunny just knew that) I just had to have it!

Here's a link to Jess' Etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mycharmingcolors . I also added a link to her blog, My Little Mustache, on the right sidebar of my blog.

I hung it in between two of our kitchen windows.

The colors in the banner match my homemade curtains perfectly!

And FINALLY the weather was nice enough outside today, I moved Liam's pack n play out onto the deck for a while. And I took him for three walks in his stroller. He enjoyed watching the squirrels, listening to the birds chirp and feeling the sunshine on his cute little cheeks.

My handsome little boy

It's been a little while since I've written. Life has been busy. And I had the flu. And we were out of town this past weekend. Okay...enough excuses!

We celebrated Easter this weekend. We went to my mom's house on Saturday morning. We spent the day and evening with my mom and my brothers & their families. My mom made a delicious lunch. Then all of the girls went to Hobby Lobby while the guys watched basketball on TV. The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt outside. I can't remember the last time we had an Easter egg hunt in the snow! Then we had pizza for dinner and the kids decorated Easter eggs.

Sunday morning we all went to church and stopped at the cemetery afterwards to visit my dad's grave site. My mom made a fantastic brunch and the kids played together. It was so, so nice to hang out with my family. And it was awesome to see Liam (now as a big 1 year old) playing with his cousins!

On Sunday afternoon we went to Matt's mom and dad's house. We spent time with his grandma, parents, aunt, uncle and cousins. Liam is the only baby/kid in Matt's family right now, so he always ends up being the center of attention! We ate another fantastic meal and then headed home.

Here are a few photos from our stay at my mom's house this weekend:

The shirt says it all

Liam and his cousin Rylan watching eggs being hidden

Liam playing with his cousins, Bella and Caroline

Looking for eggs

He found one!

Cousin photo

Easter morning -- Bella trying her first Peep

Easter morning -- Liam checking out his basket

My nephew, Rylan

Liam in his shirt and tie, ready for church

My handsome little guy

Paint chips, paint chips, and more paint chips....


This giant basket of paint chips is the culmination of a) painting every interior room in our home over the last three years and b) never being able to make up my dang mind as to what colors to use.

Thank you to the paint departments at Sherwin Williams, Home Depot, Menards and Fleet Farm for supplying me with a lifetime supply of color samples.

And today you helped keep Liam busy for over an hour!

Liam loves playing with these little pieces of color! He inspects each and every color. Then he looks at the size of each chip. He throws them around. Stacks them. Chews on them. Takes them out of the basket and puts them back in.


He even tries to taste some of them.

It's funny to see his expression when he realizes that 'Glazed Pecan' really just tastes like dirty paper.

I love his chubby little foot in this photo :)

And after he demolished the basket of paint chips, he moved on to the next thing...

Pulling every single piece of paper out of our paper-recycling-bag.

Little stinker!

Have a nice weekend everyone.

I rarely watch TV during the day. Occasionally I'll watch fifteen minutes of Sesame Street or Clifford the Big Red Dog with Liam. And sometimes I'll catch a bit of something on MSNBC or E! while Liam is napping.

I'm more of a music girl during the day. I'll play iTunes or Pandora or the music channels through our cable. Or I'll pop some vinyl onto our record player. Liam and I like to dance around the house a lot.

Night time is a different story.

By the time we get Liam to bed, usually around 8 pm, it's already dark outside and we're so wiped out from the day. The TV and couch just call our names...."Erin...Matt...you know you just want to plop your butts down instead of exercise or read books."

This is what our TV schedule looks like during the week:

Sunday - The Walking Dead
Monday - The Bachelor and Castle
Tuesday - usually something on the Food Network or E!
Wednesday - American Idol
Thursday - Scandal
Friday - (I record Fashion Police and watch it while nursing Liam sometime the following week)
Saturday - we often rent a movie on Saturday nights

It's creepy, but we're obsessed with The Walking Dead...

...and we LOVE Scandal on Thursday nights! How hot is this photo?

I'm not proud that we watch TV pretty much every night. But I guess because we really only watch ONE show per night, that's not too bad, right?

The shows that we do watch we LOVE. I would not be wasting my time on something I didn't think was worth it.

But in an attempt to 1) do something other than watch TV after Liam is asleep 2)  start crossing things of my DIY/craft list and 3) make more time for romance during the week (ooh la la), I've declared Tuesday evenings in the Bremser house as "No TV Tuesdays."

No TV Tuesdays.

Oh my gosh, we are going to get SO much done!

Starting tomorrow night I'm going to help Matt rearrange/clean/organize his man cave in the basement. There is plenty of shop-vaccing, tool organizing and cabinet installing to be done.

Now if only we have the energy, and the discipline to stay away from the couch and TV :)

We'll see how it goes...