A Little Sleep Deprived

Are any of the rest of you feeling a little sleep deprived this week? With Phelps and his amazing record-breaking moments, how could we not be missing a few zzzzz's as we stay up to watch the Olympics? To help recuperate from the week, and mostly to celebrate a friend's belated birthday, I'm heading north to the big city for a "girls day out" with Joani and Janelle. It will be the perfect time to relax and catch-up. Plus, it will be good to re-energize just in time for Track & Field to start!

Dear Hubby? Won't you puleeez text me with the latest Phelps results while I'm gone? Yes, an Olympics addict I am.

08-08-08

Finally, it's here...Let the Games begin!

Pushing Daisies

I have a confession to make. I've given into two things recently for which I am normally diametrically opposed: 1) Theme Rooms and 2) Craft Projects.

While I am all for having a few "like" items in a room, decorating with a single, obvious theme is not my style (For those of you who like that sort of thing, I mean no offense. I've seen a number of very cute and tasteful theme-oriented rooms. My bias is focused on my own home). This phobia may stem from the fact that as I was growing up, ceramic frogs were everywhere in our house (was that really popular in the 70s/80s?). My view has also been influenced by the strawberry items that adorned the clothing store my mom owned. Whatever the cause, themes are something I've always avoided. Until now.

We recently converted our guestroom into a guest/playroom. Along with this change came the need to redecorate. I wanted something fun for our Little Miss and yet not too over-the-top so as to annoy our guests when they are visiting.

Mistake #1: As I was pondering the plan, I had the atypical urge to complete a craft project. I'm going to blame my friend Joani for this one. She's often doing amazing crafts. Since I can't sew beautiful quilts like her (I'm lucky to sew on a button), I decided I'd try a collage of sorts.

Mistake #2: I made the trip to a local craft store. After I recovered from the culture shock of entering into that abyss, I found just what I was looking for: colorful paper with a variety of complementary designs ("fabric"), a glue stick ("thread"), and a daisy-shaped paper punch ("pattern"). While it was simple to construct, my own husband and mother didn't believe me when I told them I'd made it (not too surprising considering they both know me well).

This picture alone didn't constitute the theme room. I fear I may have crossed the boundary when I ordered this from Potterybarn Kids (Mistake #3). It was in the same colors of the room AND had a daisy to boot so I couldn't resist (For those of you who look closely, yes, I could have made this too. As I told you however, the craftiness was fleeting).

I think our Little Miss is going to enjoy this new room. To all our future house guests, please accept my apologies in advance if the decor leaves you dreaming of pushing daisies.

Hard at Work

Here's proof, we are working hard on the yard! OK, so the "we" in that is fairly one-sided but hey, someone has to babysit right? Don't feel too bad for Mr. Wagner. As you can see, my manly man has been having fun renting and running various sorts of mechanical thingy-ma-bobbers to get the job done (only, he'd cringe at my use of the term "thingy-ma-bobber". He tells me that this is actually called a "trencher"). Now you can see why he's the mechanical engineer in the family.

Back In The Saddle Again

The Little Miss was back in the saddle again this weekend, this time with much more enthusiasm. She seemed to like my English saddle better than the Western one we'd borrowed the last time. A girl after my own heart! Maybe she will be a Hunter/Jumper after all? We walked over a few cavalettis (i.e., poles on the ground). We'll save the jumps until next year (ha, ha).In addition to riding Lucky, we had a fun weekend with my dad and stepmom visiting. As always, the Little Miss couldn't get enough of her "Papa". She forgets about her own parents when he's around (this could come in handy when we are all together in HI for a family vacation this winter).

Speaking of being back in the saddle again, Mr. Wagner will be doing the same tomorrow. His style of saddle however comes in the form of a "driver's seat" and a "yellow school bus". He's taking the high school group from church to their retreat on the southern part of the coast. While most people would be intimidated by the task, he's looking forward to it. It's been far too long since he's gotten to be the infamous Bus Driver for a youth group. How does he handle it you ask? It's all about the ear plugs.

Simple Ways to Save

With gas prices hovering around $4.25/gallon in our area and the price of food and most other essentials rising at seemingly-out-of-control rates, our family has been trying to find more and more ways to save a few dollars wherever we can.

A few money-saving ideas that we've been incorporating lately:

• Carpooling most days that both Mr. Wagner and I work, and on other days...


• Mr. Wagner has been trying to ride his bike to work a couple times/week, combining the commute with exercise.


• Eliminating "extended" cable several months ago. No more FoodNetwork, HGTV or TLC for me and no more History Channel for Hubby. It was a sad state around here at first but we've since adjusted well (though our movie rental fees have now increased which may be enough to justify a Netflix subscription soon).


• Buying fewer organic items. This has been the most difficult change for me. I'm still convinced organic is a healthy lifestyle choice and will continue to purchase the most highly recommended items to buy organic whenver possible.


• Decreasing my Dutch Bros. drive-by habit (speaking of "healthy"). I'm more of a green tea drinker now. There are still times at work that I crave coffee (and need the caffeine boost) so for the most part, I'm trying to stick to the free slime brewed at the office (with the addition of lots of flavored coffee-mate, it's not too bad).


• Clipping more coupons and checking out Personal Finance and Simple Living ideas at sites like this.

These are just a few small steps that we've been taking. We could certainly do much more to be better stewards of His resources. In a way, I don't mind that gas prices are leading us to make choices that are better for our environment and I like thinking of ways to be more resourceful. I'm interested in knowing what others are doing as well.

How is today's economy affecting the way that your family spends money? Are you driving less? Traveling less? Eating out less? What, if anything, are you and your family doing to save more?

Photo courtesy of www.freefoto.com

Holiday BBQ Fun

Happy 4th of July (a day late) from the West Coast Wagners! Like the decorations and beautiful flowers we had outside our house for the holiday?
OK, so I'm fibbing. First clue, those flowers are alive. In truth, we celebrated the holiday at a BBQ that Seth & Anna Marie Sanders hosted. As you can see, Anna Marie did a terrific job decorating for the day and the Sander's yard looked amazing with all the colorful flowers.

Our Little Miss had fun playing with "Grandma Cara Lynn" and "Papa Virgil". Cara Lynn watches our girl on Thursdays and since the Little Miss has them wrapped around her finger, she pretty much adores them (as do her parents).

Cara Lynn made several fabulous pies and a beautiful berry tart for the event. The Little Miss enjoyed partaking in dessert off of both her parent's plates and then...

She knew she could get more sweets from Grandma Cara Lynn. Tucker (pretty much the world's-coolest-dog), had the same idea. As you can see, the Little Miss thought she should have first priority.

Good news for Tucker, Grandma Cara Lynn played fair and made sure to toss him a bite or two as well. They sure were two cute little beggars!