Ahhhhhh.

That's what I felt like all weekend long. Jim and the girls went to Minnesota to visit his family, get messy at the lake and pet kitties on the farm, while Hudson and I hung out here. I would have posted my excitement for it last week, but I'm not in the habit of announcing to the entire WWW that I'm going to be home alone. It was lovely, and then they were back Sunday night so we still had a day together before the week began. You'd think I would have gotten so much done! I still have half a painting project to finish, there were bills to pay, Quicken to balance, laundry to do, blogs to catch up on, etc. Well, I ended up getting quite a bit done. Just not of that sort. You see, it was just so, so, so nice to have the house to myself. The only thing that would have made it better was Jim, who I missed the most at night, but I kept myself occupied doing all kinds of things I love the rest of the time. SO, back to what I accomplished. I may have gotten that stuff done if my muse hadn't shown up. What's my muse, you ask? Aloneness. Ah, I love to be alone. I can't thrive unless I get plenty of time alone. I love people of course, but, they exhaust me. I need time to recoup. When I get away and alone, my mind is free to wander, and I usually get inspired- this weekend I got inspired around my house, in a way I hadn't since we moved in. I thought the house was coming together nicely, but it lacked a personal, "our house" feeling. Little by little, it's taking shape. Plus, I wanted to make it look like it was officially summer, all over the house. I got TONS done this weekend with those little projects- waaay more than I'll show here. Decorating, reading and shopping. That's what I did this weekend. What's that? Oh, you want to see PICTURES? Oh, of course you do! (ha.)

Here's the fruits of our grocery trip Friday night. (Did I mention how much H loooves to have me all to himself?)Here's a lovely scarf I found at Target. I'd wanted a new one for my favorite purse (the summer purse) for a long time (wanted one all last summer and never got to it). It came with a brown leather strap tied around it , which was OK, but a colorful scarf is so much better. I LOVE the pattern and the colors, and it has a lavender that perfectly matches the lining. And it was on clearance for $3.50. How great?
Here's our new lunch bag, from the one spot at T. (Actually one of those $2.50 items...) It's big and wonderful for toting around our water bottles and sammies to the park. (SO much cuter than the plastic bags I had been sporting... I love the pattern!
I snagged some onion grass (fake, of course) to replace the pine cones in my favorite vase, (the pine cones were left over from Christmas....we moved. forgive me.) I also found a cute little round frame, and those oil and vinegar bottles were $3.74 at Linens N Things. Oh, and there's some sand in the rectangle vase. I love it. So summer-y.

Here's a new set of pictures in my living room....wouldn't they look great with butter-yellow paint behind them???? ...... They've got the summer-theme going on. I loooove to change things with the seasons, because they are so drastically different in SD, it's fun to move with them. I can arrange these frames in different ways with each season, and change out the pictures and mats too- so easy to do. Everything I needed for this project was half off at Hobby Lobby this week. Woo! When I got this stuff, I got mats etc for fall, Christmas, and "Normal Time" too. SO fun. Sorry this picture is blurry. I didn't notice until the upload. Like, the mat around the sunflower is orange- You get the idea. I love this print- .25 baby. (It's scrap booking paper). I didn't do Money Monday- will this decorating tip be a fill-in? Put anything behind glass- fun fabric from the store or a shirt at Goodwill, or even SB paper like this- and you have some interesting, cheap art, to change things up on your walls. Here's some more SB paper, I looove how it breaks things up on our picture wall going down the stairs.

Wait, I loved it so much I put it here, too.
I finally hung the kids' feet prints I made last fall.Oh, and I got some fun yellow mats for these. (For those who asked, these were done at the fair last summer in Rapid City. They were made by a man who trained with artists at Disney when he was young. All he does is have your child sit in a chair, he looks at them a couple of times, and CUTS these straight out of a piece of thin, black paper. Then they put it on a 5x 7 piece of card stock for you. All in about 5 minutes. Amazing. All free, too. I love them.I put this on my desk. I loooove fun colorful prints. I also love paisley... just do. This frame was $5 on clearance at Hobby Lobby (can you see the etched paisley pattern?). Oh, I love it. The paper, which is framed in my master bathroom now too, was again, .25. There's a hidden 6 8 and J & M in there. Do you see it? (Leftovers from a project below).

And I FINALLY have something on the walls of the girls' room. The place is still desperate for a trip to IKEA, but that's not happening until July. Until then, I'm loving how these turned out. Again, .25 paper, some stickers, mats for $1 (half off at HL) and 11 x 14 frames for $2.50 (half off too). I love them! Great thing? When I'd get home from hunting and gathering (shopping) I could throw my stuff wherever I wanted! I'd throw my purse on the bed, too, just because I could, and NO ONE would pick it apart or move it! So nice. Well, I missed them too, but, the break was wonderful.
Today, life is normal. The house is all summerized. We're ready to tackle a new week. The weather? Cold and rainy. Well, I had to do laundry anyway.