Pictures later

i've been working.

praying for a haiti. feeling guilty that we are on our way out the door to the cheesecake factory and i know others are suffering.

hand is stilll hurting, i didn't wear my hand cast to work. i should have.

hoping your week has ended well. have a good weekend.

hugs.

Copycat Golfcart Idea from Casey

We own the Fisher Price Golf Set. It's fun and my boy's love it. But it was not manufactured very well, and I'm not exactly sure how it made it past the test groups because of a major flaw with its frame. The golf clubs won't stay in. (see below.) Umm, hello, I'm not sure anyone would buy a golf cart that didn't exactly hold golf clubs!!!
After a few days of owning this toy and some irritated little golfers, I just put some masking tape around the bottom and for the most part the golf clubs would stay in, but eventually after wear and tear and too many little golfing excursions the tape came off. But my friend Casey, came up with a way to keep those little clubs in, Velcro! Genius.

So this morning I got out my Velcro, adhered it to the tips of the clubs and the bottom of the cart and wha-la every thing works as it should.

The Velcro wasn't staying as well as it should (see below) so I got out my handy-dandy hot glue gun and hot glued all of the respective pieces together. So now this gimmick should really work even when the golf clubs are tugged out of there home.

It's the little things that make a rainy day still feel like an accomplished day.

And that my friends, was my "efficient" task for today.

ha.

snip, snip, snip

(thanks for all your well wishes about my hand! we are moving slowly, but i'm sure it's on the mend.)

and just for memory's sake...

bogie had his first real haircut last week. he did really well, especially since the liitle boy ahead of him was screaming, and hitting. yikes. every-body! my boy's just stared wide-eyed. but they were both champs when they got in the chairs, well in bogie's case; the jeep.

do you get your kids haircut at a salon? or do you do it yourself?

cheers!

A Little Restricted

Two fingers majorly sprained.
X-rays taken, no completely broken bones.
Thank goodness. The doctor said one wrong move with too much pressure and the bones would surely snap, so now all I'm all bandaged up for ten days. The splint itself is pretty neat, it's hardened fiberglass (the white part) the nurse told me its basically a half cast, and boy was she right, I could knock somebody out with this thing and it goes half way down my forearm. The doctor came in afterward, she didn't want me to drive home by myself, I told her, "I'm a mom, I'm used to driving with one hand." She laughed and let me go.
I slept with this splint on and my hand feels drastically better than it has in 3 weeks. (Monkey pulled me down in a parking lot (we were a beautiful sight) and then I tried catching afalling pot the other night, which was the deal breaker.

If I'm missing from blogging, at least you know why.

New Look, for now

So I almost drove myself nuts trying to re-do this here lil blog. In keeping with my "efficiency" I was trying to save myself some mula, little did I know I was about to lose some of my sanity.
First I thought I deleted everything, then I tried to import a background but couldn't erase my old one. So I spent way to much time trying to figure that out.
Then I thought I deleted everything.
Then my banner was too small, then it was too big.
Then I thought I deleted everything.
Then I couldn't find my sidebar.
Then I knew I hadn't deleted anything, I just had to find it under all of these backgrounds I was trying to download.
Anyhow, here it is, for now.


Hope your day is a great one.

Carrots and Circles

The boys were invited to go horseback riding by some of Mr. Dunbar's co-workers this weekend. They had a great time feeding the horses carrots and riding around in circles. Monkey had no fear of getting up on the horse and going for a spin. Bogie however, was his cautious self. (The horse Molly was also a little unsure of Bogie, as she had never seen a human so small before, it was an interesting dynamic.)

Here's Checkers coming in for some treats (carrots.)

Here's Monkey holding his hand out flat. Doing good.
And now do you see anything wrong with this picture?
This is Molly. She's never seen a kid before.






And of course, where do all boys end up? In the dirt!
See Juanita, I didn't put you in any pictures. Thanks for the fun morning.

This year

As I prepared myself for this year, lots of words came to mind.
Grace, kindness, patience, effort, exert, hope.

But none of them seemed to speak to my heart and mind together. The word "efficient" kept coming up and I kept pushing it back. It seemed so structured, so regimented. But as I was making my bed this morning I thought, no, that is my word. It's not glamorous. It's not whimsical. But it's me and it will ebb into all areas of my life.

This year I choose to be...
Efficient in preparing myself for the day(dressed and ready for whatever is planned or not.)
Efficient in planning adventures and small life lessons for my boys. (making beds and forts on the agenda this year.)
Efficient in opening my heart for all that God has for me this year (and loving those He has put on my heart.)
Efficient in keeping the home that He has supplied me with and any changes that come about for the Dunbar's this year.
Efficient in being the wife, friend, and daughter that I am supposed to be.
Efficient in spending my time wisely and speaking less and listening more. (YIKES communicating efficiently is going to be hard.)

I already feel challenged and at the same time refreshed.

Twenty ten is going to be a different year than 2009.

I can already tell.

More life words of the year can be found here, and here, and here, and here.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, 2010!!

The Dunbar's started off the new year snuggled on the couch watching the Rose Parade.

It was a wonderful beginning to a brand new season.

We hope you have a blessed and prosperous year.

Close Out of 09

I don't know about you but I am ready for this year to be over.

Yup. '09 was not my favorite year of any.

So I am looking forward to 2010.

I think I'll pronounce it "twenty-ten."

I like the way that sounds. Already have my Resolutions and Goals swirling around in my head, haven't exactly narrowed my "word" for the year yet, but that should be decided upon soon. Mr. Dunbar and I will have our annual Goal Setting meeting soon, probably this weekend. Some years this meeting has been fun, some years this meeting has turned into disaster, but all years it put's us back on the same page. Which is kind of important in a marriage. I like that, being on the same page with the same goals as Mr. Dunbar. I'm thinking we may even include Monkey in a few of the goals we have for him. Perhaps one or two, he's turning into such a big boy. I don't really like it, but such is life, one day he will be a man leading his own family. sigh...

Will you set out and write some goals or resolutions? With your husband? Your family?
Maybe I'll even write them out in a new way this year instead of my typical list format. If I was creative I'd make a "rap song" out of them. Ha. Not really, just checking to see if you were still reading. Perhaps I'll put them on these and then put them in a glass hurricane or a cloche or something. Who knows. I'll keep you posted.

They had a pig

Two of them actually.
Down south we went today, well south to us, to visit some of Mr. Dunbar's cousins' family home. I've been to this home a few times but have never gotten the experience we had today. Auntie Ri set up her home for us to enjoy all the aspects of her animals.

This is Guido, one of the pot belly pigs.

Bogie is checking out the bunnies. Didn't get a picture of them though.

But I got a picture of the rats!! What was I thinking??? I hate rodents. They have a fort for the boys to play with.

All eight of us Dunbar's. Do you see my hooligans? Everyone is watching Wonder Pet Zim do tricks off the diving board.

"Yeah, that's MY dog." Cousin Liam is almost 7 months old.
We took a hike out behind their home.
And managed to make it back.