Old boots

What do you do with old, holey, worn out boots?

Plant 'em!

Just one pair in the picture was actually used as a planter but the way my girls go through shoes it's only a matter of time before I'll have another set.

My mom sends me these Spring signs. I think she thinks she's being ironic.  The irony isn't that I have a house full of Spring signs, it's that she named me Spring when I was born in August.

But I like the signs or plaques or whathaveyous. I almost bought one at the store but I said no to myself and got these flowers instead.

And in the natural course of things it's snowing here in the Pacific Northwest.  I hope my flowers survive.  I'd bring them in but I bet one of my dogs already Christened it. *ew face*

It is so too an art form!

We put in an offer on a house over a week ago but we have yet to hear from the owners.  The house is a short sale with recourse, which means that the current owners are wiling to pay the difference between what the house sells for and what they owe on it.  This is a different situation from a house without recourse, which means that the sellers do not have to pay the difference and the bank eats the cost*.

A normal without recourse short sale could take months for an approval. However we were hoping for a little faster turn around time.

Okay, a week and a half is still better than the six months some people have to wait for an answer but I never said I was patient.  I've been on pins and needles ever since the offer went in.

I have to know before I exploooooooode.

Anyway, as I wait - impatiently - I took some pictures of my one major design consideration. Most of the, er, 'art' in our house is homemade.  Usually things the kids made or something Shawn drew in grade school that I had framed.

He's artistic.  I'm not.

It's not fair.

We have a gigantic Jackson Pollack-y painting done by my oldest and that's sometimes difficult to find a placement for. But it works great over a couch so it's not something we have to really think hard about**.

And then we have Diana.  Every house we look at and consider we ask ourselves, "Where will we put Diana?"  If we can't find a good spot for her then the house is immediately crossed off the list no matter how good it is otherwise.

This is Diana.

Hi there!

Pardon the picture, I live in the Pacific Northwest and cloudy is our default setting.

Yes, it's Legos.  I have this thing about Wonder Woman and Shawn has this thing about Legos. It works for us. :) He started this project in June of '09 while he was still traveling from Seattle to Dallas.  When he came home on the weekends he would either leave it at the hotel or with friends.

Close up detail of the lasso.

Close up it's like a Seurat. All dots and abstract-y until you stand back to get the full picture.  The baby loves it. She stares at it a lot. 

The funny thing is, my husband is partially colorblind. He wrote the program that showed him what color Legos to use (because he is awesome like that) but he didn't even realize that he used bright pink until I told him.  I thought it was deliberate because it looks great. 

What is that blob?

This is a close up of the tiara.  It looks nothing like a star until you stand back and then:

Pardon the mess. I have little kids.

It's HUGE. Nearly four feet by four feet with about 4700 Lego bricks. It's backed with MDF but the frame is made out of Lego plates. He's known by name at both Lego stores in Frisco and Bellevue.  Though it's cheaper to order the bricks from places like Bricklink.

Did I mention my husband is awesome?

He is.

He gave it to me at Christmas. We were celebrating in Seattle and also doing a bit of house hunting in preparation for our move up.


It's dang heavy. It takes two people to hang it up.  Three would be even better.

When we moved into this house we tried hanging it over the fireplace where there were already two heavy duty screws in place.

The wire snapped.

I'm not gonna lie, I felt my heart seize up for a moment as I watched her fall.

It's a testament to how well Shawn made it because only one corner broke and he was able to fix it within a few weeks. And it only took one trip to the emergency room, too.

Note: Dremel tools are better than Xacto knives when trimming glued on ABS. Your still intact fingers will thank you in the end. Just thought you should know.

So, that's my one major house consideration.  If the house doesn't have a good place for Diana, then I don't want it.

As far as we know this is the only Wonder Woman Lego mosaic in existence.

Because my husband is awesome like that.

Linking up to Show Me What You Got Tuesdays and at Allie Makes. For fun.

(If someone could tell me how to make the button a clicky link that would be swell. I am tech stupid.)


* But don't quote me on that.

** At the moment it's hanging in the entryway/kitchen/stairwell.  This is an odd house.