Something Old, Something New...~or~ Sprucing Up a Boring View

We recently replaced our fence with a bigger and better fence.  And while I like the new fence, the view out the window by my cooktop is a little... well... uninteresting.  Not that old view of the neighbor's laundry room was better, but it didn't feel quite as claustrophobic.  So, I've been looking for ways to spruce things up a little.

Also, since it's spring, I've been trying to clean out cabinets, closets and drawers.  I've always been a bit of a keeper, but since the kids have come along...well...you just can't keep it all.  No matter how cute it is or how cute the kiddos were when they wore it.

 

Rainboots, for example.  The kiddos were oh so cute stomping around in the puddles with these things.  And what about my old yellow rainboots?  The ones I just had to have.  The ones Duke eventually gave in to and bought for me.  The ones that made me infamous in the old neighborhood.  How is a sentimentalist like me supposed to part with these things?  Tell me!

Well, some things just have to go...or do they?

Hmmm....  What if...

I can reuse them?  Look how cute!

Something old.  Something new.  Something reused.  A much better view.  (And of course the best part is I get to keep my old yellow boots!)

Wild Flower Power

All those May showers we got have yielded a bumper crop of wildflowers.  People who say Texas is ugly have never been here in the spring.  I'm sure there are other places in the country that have just as many wildflowers as we have, but I don't know...after the stark concret-blond that is winter in North Texas, well...I just think the wildflowers here are the best I've ever seen.  And this year they're better than usual. 

We had som pretty ferocious storms whip through our parts last Tuesday.  We were pretty much surrounded by tornadoes.  Fortunately, they skirted around to the north and south of us.  Of course, our sirens still went off, which meant the kids had yet another camp out in the coat closet.  And while that made for a short night and a grumpy start to Wedensday morning, we were rewarded for it all the minute we stepped outside.  The day was just gorgeous.  That big blue Texas sky hanging over head and all those pretty little flowers bending in the breeze...well it would have been criminal to spend it inside.  Jake, Delila and I rode our bikes up to school, but that just wasn't enough.  When we got back home, Lila and I decided to put on our gardening boots (things were still pretty muddy from the night before), and head out to have some fun in the flowers.

The bees had the same idea.  They particularly liked these pretty little purple ones, as did I.  Wish I could figure out what they are.  My attempts at identifying them have been unsuccessful.  It's making me a little crazy actually, so if you know what it is....

In the end, Delila decided they were all her favorites, so we cut the top off our water bottle and took a bunch home with us.  Please don't tell the wildflower police!