7.20.2012

what now? and a braindump

we must look like manic fools.

i sometimes dont notice it because, you know, i LIVE IT, but if i step back and look at the amount of projects we take on--on top of the both working 2 jobs, parenting, running, sewing, guitaring, etc--we might look like coke addicts with a dominant martha stewart gene or something.

off the top of my head i can count 5 major projects in progress at our house right now. the thought of that kind of gives me hives, but whatever, it will eventually give me the AWESOMES when they are all done.

we are speaking life and believing the best.

so this is going on this weekend in our back yard:

3 generations of dukes men under (and on) one roof

in other news:

-at the paint store (yes! we finally picked a kitchen color) two painter men accidentally tried to cut in front of me. the checkout lady was like, "this young lady is actually before yall." and painter #1 goes, "yeah, gary, let this lady go ahead, she's much prettier than you anyway." and i felt like the goddess of beauty shining my LOFT-bedecked light into their cold, mundane painterman worlds.

and painter #2 replies, "well, dirt is prettier than me."

soooooo here's where we are now, i guess:
but, you know...this feels good too.



-reminder: august va-voom sign ups are going on now and END with a harsh, ironclad, padlocked vengeance at noon EST on 7/31. the more people who join, the more prize money. bring a friend!

-jesus calling is the ONLY devotional book that i have ever gotten into or looked forward to reading. the cover art needs massive amounts of help and makes me embarrassed (jesus was NOT WHITE!) to take this out in public, but it's what's inside (and the author's story of how/why she wrote it) that is seriously amazing. this thing rocks my world and has me going, "HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?!" 50% of the time.


-i made the mistake of teaching judah to say, "shut it down, mommy" instead of "STOP SINGING!" in the car when my vocals are irritating him. it is adorable, hilarious and a little annoying now that he says this even if i am just lip-syncing a song.

-speaking of judah speaking...we need preschool to start back up. we were playing a game the other day and i asked him to tell me the name of the color gray. he has known that color since he was layla's age, as it is the color of spencer the train. this time, he proudly replied, "FUNILLA!" with no hesitation. backsliding.

-jesse turns 30 next thursday. i will follow in october. in an effort to make my brain go to that place and prepare for our looming dotage, i have already made myself approximately 77 years old in my mind. if i feel any pain throughout the day, i think, "well, yeah. it's all over. the arthritis is coming soon. just be glad you can still walk!"

file under "black or white thinking."

i am typically either planning my emergence onto the olympic stage in a brand new sport, "ladies and gentleman, this is astounding, keight dukes had never even attempted the uneven parallel bars, and here she is at age 30 taking the bronze (humility) in the event. what an athlete!" or am on the lookout for complete organ failure due to age. this is a fun way to live, i assure you. must find middle ground.

-did yall catch the fact that my bra post had a giveaway for a $100 VISA GIFTCARD? the giveaway is not for a bra...its for a sweet green century worth of visa bucks, yall. go to there.

-my german-dwelling best friend, marisa, is coming over tomorrow and i am beyond excited to see her for the first time in about 2 years.

-besides being my favorite apple-bottomed redhead, marisa is also the one who turned me on to this blog, and i am devouring it. girlfriend takes high-fashion or expensive and unrealistic looks and translates them into affordable and wearable looks (think: old navy, h&m, almost nothing over $30). her style is right on and i am LEARNING things.

i find myself constantly thinking, "OH!!! so, that's how you would do that in real life!"



-it's friday and i have a million wonderful things to do before diving into a people and project-filled weekend. isnt it cool that we get to live this life? (i possibly had coffee again today and the caffeine has gone straight to my brain's schmoopy-center and is making me a little sentimental...also, life is pretty cool.)

14 comments:

  1. Thank you for that blog! I think maybe I kind of knew how to do these things (a little?) and then I had kids and pppbpbbllltt. My brain asploded and I can barely figure out how to get out of my pajamas, much less look fashionable. She is a helper with tiny, enviable thighs.

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    1. i know. that is the only drawback of our helper. the size and color. everything works on her...but maybe not so much for whitey-ten-ten.

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    2. I know. I looked through a lot of her archives yesterday and really like her ideas, but had to shut it down when I got discouraged by a) my own lack of money (her SMALL BUDGET is $200 a month, wha??), and b) her small stature. She very naively says "Oh, stuff can work for anyone, no matter your size!" but honey. We with children and child-bearing guts know the truth. Otherwise, she seems sweet and honestly eager to help. I will get over myself and learn at the feet of a master.

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  2. Funny story I started following you (putupyourdukes) on instagram. I kind of laughed with the first slightly inappropriate tattoo "you" posted, but I couldn't figure out why you kept posting so many tattoos...

    all fixed now, albeit a little bit scary there for a bit.

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    1. i'm dying dying dying right now thinking that you thought that was me as i look through these pictures!!!! SO funny!

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  3. As a lurker i am coming out of the closet to say that apart from creeping on every post from the beginning til now(made working at work a hard thing to do!) Your harry potter quotes brought to real life make me happy, your kids are the cutest thing ever, and that website with the clothes into real life is seriously amazing but makes shopping the number one thing i want to be doing right now!!!

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    1. DOESNT IT!?!?! it makes you be like, "I CAN DO THIS! AND FOR CHEAP! MUSTGONOOOOOOOOW!" i think thats empowerment

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  4. Jesus Calling = GET OUT OF MY HEAD. (But don't really.) Creepily accurate so much of the time. One of the best gifts I ever received from my Grandma.

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  5. Oh and also: you better be keeping good organized track of the before-and-afters for all these house projects, because one of these days you're gonna need to post a full-on home tour, Apartment Therapy style. And include your master bedroom, because everyone in blogosphere is missing out on your fabulously perfect artwork.

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  6. jesus calling-YES!!!!!! was given to me after sully was born and WOW! Love the story behind it and LOVE the encouragement! agree about the cover too- wha?! love your new found fashion sense too, but if it helps, I've always thought you looked cute! love you guys! miss ya!

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  7. oh and... www.laniebethsinclair.com friend of mine who blogs about life, but particularly fashion. She's JUST as precious in real life. Check out her "what's a grateful girl?" section where she rocks those awesome shoes (while being almost 6 feet tall!) that I could never even think about wearing!!!... her love of jesus though, that's the part I love most!

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  8. *YOU* think you are feeling aches and pains and over-analyzing them due to your impending b-day? HELLLLOOO. I am convinced my hips hurt in the night (and not from any sort of action like you might want to speculate about) -- the hip bones and the entier pelvis are aging at double speed. Who told you Jesus wasn't white?!?!?!?

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  9. I was in stafford slimp's wedding with Jeannette (J, from everyday fashion)! Small small world. She is tall, tan, and even tinier in real life so that's majorly depressing but she is so nice you can't hate her!

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  10. simple request: get a video of that precious child of yours telling you to shut it down. k thanks ;)

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