Back to life..... :)

Just look at the yummy that my mom made me at 10pm when I arrived

in AZ last Monday!!

 It was some chicken, tortilla, poblano something with a side

of mushroom zucchini something and I'll tell you, I ate that

like I had just returned from being on that show Naked and Afraid!

Only I was neither of those things. (thank goodness!!)

Just super hungryyyy!!!

My week in AZ was crazy busy. Visiting friends and family and helping my

sis one day pack up her house.

Holy craziness moving to another country!!

She had to separate everything in her house into what was

going into storage, what was air shipment and what was sea shipment.

UGH!!

It made my move to California look like nothing!!

I would not want to be in her shoes.

No wait. 

I would like to be in her shoes, because that would mean she

would be taking me with her. Sob!!!!

Then came the ride home.

It's about a 7 1/2 hr drive, so to pass the time we

made videos and sent them to Rio who was driving just ahead of us.

Wallace was sooo not amused. 

It helped pass the time until I got home to this guy:)

He stayed back to take care of houses and animals.

Uh huh riiiiight. Let's be honest here, he couldn't

leave his beloved ocean!

But you know what??

I came home to a spotless house, (he even mopped the floors!)

a clean car, and my favorite treats on the counter!!

He said he knew I'd be tired and worn out and wouldn't want to come

home to a dirty house and car.

AWWWWWW!!!!

I'm just gonna say...

 whoever ends up with this adorable guy is

one lucky lady!!!

The written word... :)

I love love love getting letters and cards in the mail.

It's the greatest thing that sadly not very many people do anymore:(

But my mama... ??

She writes the BESTEST cards and letters and I save them all!!

It's not just her gorgeous handwriting that I love, it's HOW she 

writes. She ends sentences with eh? and no? 

and writes words like-

"I would be glad to give birth to you again..."

"I will pray to the Lord Jesus for you as long as I live..."

"...there are many beautiful memories to bring to mind, and

that tell us that everything is worth our ups and downs."

Well I decided I wanted to pull out some of those letters and 

display them.

I bought this frame from Hobby Lobby and the rest of the stuff I had.

This is literally like a 3rd grader craft.

Kinda matches my math skills!!

Anyway, I stapled some string across the back then spent more

time than necessary cutting little pieces of tape to put on 

these tiny (adorable!) clothes pins:)

And voila! 

Easy as it gets people! I added some pieces of gold tissue paper for funzies:)

I praise my sis in law for teaching my sweet nieces

the art of a thank you!! I keep theirs too:)

Oh! and in my craft hoard I came across this lonely

shadow box. I used some paper that I already had,

and filled it with 2 shells that my hubby found on a

surf trip to Morro Bay:)

Then I looked around this little place for a home for these frames...

and whaddya know?

I found one:)

Rio painted that whale and turtle for me before we moved here,

and that frame with the green card in it came from my sweet 

friend Marni:)

I'm heading to AZ to spend some time with my precious Mama, and say a heartbreaking goodbye

to my sister who's moving to Australia:( :( :(

Look who's begging me to smuggle him in my bag... :)

Blissfully ordinary.... :)

aedriel.com

Isn't that the truth??

I sure wish I had something fabulous to show and tell today

but...

I don't. My life is currently blissfully ordinary

and let me tell you- I love it:)

I still get excited to get into my little old black car and

go to the grocery store.

I think it's hilarious how the guy bagging my groceries puts my

chocolate on top because I SWEAR he knows I'm going to

eat one of them in the car!!!

 You all KNOW I had an internal fight with myself

over these!! I just wanted them in my fridge purely for cute factor!!

I've been drinking my iced water out of this adorable jar I ordered from

 The Mason Bar Co.  

That is until I left it at my hair salon in Santa Barbara last week:(

And then my sister informed me of the deathly (I'm kidding) affects of

drinking ice....

So until I can get my cute jar back, I'm drinking room temp (blah) water out

of an ugly purple plastic bottle:(

Boo hoo.

I have to giggle with happiness when I think how my little

family is all here together...

and that it takes all of us to put together a chandelier.

Hee hee hee!!

Look at those views! I can't wait to show you some pics of 

our Ventura project next week!

Countertops go down Wednesday...

tenterhooks!!!

My 9 year old little bully still has the worst manners ever.

I just can't break him of his begging!!

Course it doesn't help that I think it's adorable,

I mean look at that focus!!!

We just can't talk about ordinary without

 mentioning the ironing...right??

I'll be honest, I love to iron.

I'm actually ironing my dish towels in this pic.

I know! I know! But they just fold better!!

And has anyone been watching the Flowers in the Attic series

on Lifetime?? I read all those books back in the day.

It's a freakishly weird story that I can't even believe has now sucked me

in to watching all the movies!!

So there ya go. That's what's going on these days in the

blissfully ordinary house of Tuesdays with Dorie:)

And me sooo happy:)

Sister sister.... :)

These are my sisters:)

We are the last three in a family of 6 kids.

I'm the oldest of us, then 16 months later came my sister Marlene (on the left)

then almost 2 1/2 years later baby Michele arrived:)

We were called "the girls" by everyone.

My mom dressed us alike and we shared a Hollie Hobbie bedroom most of our

childhood:)

When I told Marlene I wanted to write this post, I told her how I wanted to start it out with 

a quote about sisters. But I just couldn't find a good one!!! 

So she wrote me this-

"we just get each other.  We know what each other is thinking just by a look.  We laugh hysterically at each others jokes!  People mistake us for each other.  We have exactly the same mannerisms.  We are sisters."  

This here is my favorite picture of us of all time.

I don't even remember what was so funny?

But when I look at this pic, I can HEAR us laughing.

Really really LOUD.

When we get together, we have no inside voices.

If you know us...am I right???

When I broke the news that we were moving to California, I think my sisters

at first didn't believe me. I mean, we've lived all our lives within a short drive of each other.

And now I'm about a7 hour drive away:(

Well......

 recently Marlene shared some amazing news with us.

Her sweet hubby Bob got a job....

In AUSTRALIA!!

Uh huh. How's THAT for one upping??!!??

I can't even think how long that flight will be....

Soo, she's selling her incredible home that her and her hubby put so much

love into because they thought they'd never move.

The Lord had other plans:)

And by love I mean an ENTIRE remodel.

This was the kitchen before...

Are you kidding me?? LOOK at this kitchen!!!

MANY an amazing meal has been cooked here by Bob.

Consider yourself one of the lucky ones if you've had the privilege to

eat his cooking!!

It's THAT good:)

This is the family room before.

I love that they kept the fireplace original:)

That ceiling....!!!!

And I'll have you know, my sister MADE all the gorgeous curtains in her house!!

Here's the living room before.

It's HUGE!! and has big doors and windows that take in the 

view of the back yard:)

That couch...!!

They don't have a Little Bully that would love to shed and goob all over it:)

This is the Master bedroom. It also has doors to the back yard and covered patio:)

Oh! and behind that door is a gym complete with that cushy floor and mirrors

so you can see your hotness after your daily sweatness:)

The Master bath.

The trough sink...

The makeup vanity....

Perfect:)

But my favorite part of this house??

These two:)

They are off on an adventure of a lifetime that is going to cost

 us an arm and a leg to come visit!!

I don't care what it takes though...

I'm comin!!

Prepare my room!!

This stunning home can be yours. It's located in the highly desirable area

of North Central Phoenix.

And my realtor sister Michele is just the person to contact to buy this fab place!

I can't say enough about the quality and beauty in this house!!

More info on Michele's website HERE