Pure randomness.

I'm still quite sicky. Over the worst of it, but still in bed feeling sucker punched. I am literally saying fervent prayers that my little bambinos sleeping in the other room are spared this illness. It's been miserable. So while I am hanging out in bed, I've got my computer, iPhone, and TV. So here's what I came up with:

I have a MAJOR laundry issue. It's a real problem. Part of the problem? Too many laundry baskets. Thanks to a friend's advice, I am implementing ONE basket for the whole family. One stop. Pre-sorted.  Save my sanity. Will it work? It had better! I'll keep you posted:

I headed off to church last Sunday in the rain. (My hair is so long. Ha! I'm getting a trim next week to keep me from getting too shaggy. It happens fast, believe me!) I am sporting accessories from Creairtive. Senja is one of the sweetest and most genuine blogging friends I've made. I am so lucky to have a few great blogging friends like that in my arsenal. They lift me up. Visit her blog HERE. Her Etsy shop is on vacation, but stop by again soon. It's well worth it.

And in other news, Maya has a new bike helmet. She's playing it safe. I'm thinking about making her wear it all the time (that's how crazy she is). Maya's shirt says, "It's nice to be nice." How sweet is that?

Off to watch some American Idol. Fun Fact: Did you know that I got real TV again for the first time in 3 years, just LAST WEEK? That's right! I've been using Apple TV exclusively until a few days ago. Finn doesn't know what to do when a commercial comes on. He thinks the show is over. HA!

Down and Out

I have a stomach bug for the second time in a month. That seems a little extreme, if you ask me. I used to be able to years without getting the stomach flu. So this is entirely uncalled for. I'm just hoping I don't spread it around the house again. Off to wallow in self pitty, and beg my husband to stay home as long as possible (which is only tonight, and then a little bit tomorrow). Not cool, universe. Not cool.

Sunny Days

It rained all last week. I adored it. But the kids? Not so much. The sun is out and shining. Please excuse us while we run around outside with buckets on our heads...

Corners of my house: Mystery Solved, and a case of "I'm Right!"

I keep a fairly clean kitchen. Sure it has its days, but for the most part we're on top of it. But all last weekend I kept avoiding my kitchen. There was a rather questionable odor coming from my sink, and I was not keen to come in contact with it. I begged and pleaded, and Wes agreed to do the dishes and clean the sink. Afterward, I breathed in the sweet relief. A clean sink. Aaaahhh...AAAAAGGGGGHHHH! Nope. Stench was still there.

I emailed a friend for advice, and commenced bleach cleaning the immediate area. We tossed out sponges, oranges, my favorite paper towel holder with the rubber bottom, sterilized the panini maker (bet you didn't think that was possible...but it is), disassembled the sink pipes, ground up lemons in the disposal, took inventory of the kitchen sill (orchid, floating orange blossoms from our tree that Wes had brought in the day before, kitchen spray, candles—nothing to get worked up over). We sniffed like drug dogs to get to the bottom of the offender. Wes proclaimed that the paper towel holder was the culprit. I agreed. We went to bed. Problem solved.

End of story? I don't think so. I woke up early. The clean scent of bleach had worn off in the night, and I could smell the stench from the hallway. I thought I might faint. Had something died in our wall? I was convinced this was it, until I remembered something Wes said before bed, after we thought the funk was defunct: "This is the first time I can smell the orange blossoms!" The orange blossoms. I stuck my suspicious nose in the little glass bowl of floating blossoms. Aaaahhh...AAAAAGGGGGHHHH! IT WAS THE ORANGE BLOSSOMS! I quickly threw them out, outside. It was immediately better. Who knew they could smell so amazing on the tree, their sweet scent floating along on the spring breeze, but then turn to putrification in my kitchen? Wes woke up and breathed a sigh of relief at the fresh kitchen.

"Glad we threw out that paper towel holder!"

"It was the orange blossoms."

"No it wasn't. Those smelled amazing."

"It was the orange blossoms."

"No it wasn't."

"It was the orange blossoms. I assure you."

Walking away down the hall, "No it wasn't!"

You guys, It was the orange blossoms.

We have a winner!

Congrats to Mindie! You'll be sporting the lovely yellow number this spring. Shabby Apple will be contacting you about your dress shortly!

Free poster download in honor of Japan

PayPal is really chapping my hide. They've continued to contact/threaten us about the poster design, and discourage all sales, even though we've refunded all donations, and are no longer offering the poster. I've just deleted all original posts altogether.

But that's not going to stop me from trying to do something nice! Because I can't bear to take the poster away entirely, I am offering it as a free download. No one is making any profits. No one is making or accepting any donations. Just a poster in honor of those across an ocean who are suffering. So download and print one out (resized to a convenient 8.5x11 print).   

*Previously purchased posters for the $7 cost will still be honored.

Shame on you, PayPal.

Click HERE to download your FREE poster.

This design was inspired by the talented singer/songwriter, Mindy Gledhill. To view the beautiful song which influenced this idea, watch her new music video, Whole Wide World:

If you aren't familiar with Mindy, you can find her HERE.

A Spring Giveaway with Shabby Apple! CLOSED

We have a winner! Congrats to Mindie! You'll be sporting the lovely yellow number this spring. Shabby Apple will be contacting you about your dress.

It's a surprisingly cold and rainy day here in Southern California. But I have something that's going to bring a little sunshine to everyone's day! One of my favorite online stops to dress shop is Shabby Apple. They offer women's dresses and little girl dresses that are so irresistible, it makes it hard to make up your mind! So we've helped you out in that department. Shabby Apple is giving away their sunny Happy Talk dress to one lucky reader! Just in time for spring:

 

Plus, if you find something else on their site you just can't live without, you can get 10% with the code: lyndsayandthejohnsons10off

Giveaway entry rules to win this cheery little number:

• For ONE entry, leave me a comment with your name and email address, so I can contact the winner.

• For a SECOND entry, "like" Shabby Apple on Facebook by clicking HERE. Then leave a comment letting me know.

• For a THIRD entry, become a follower on this blog. Then leave a comment letting me know.

• For a FOURTH entry, visit Shabby Apple and check out their collections. Then leave me a comment about which other dress you especially love.

Giveaway ends this Friday, March 25 at midnight PST. Good luck and thanks for playing along!!
Giveaway open to U.S. Residents only.

Wordless Wednesday

Itty Bitty Living Space Part 1: The Kids' Room

We live in very tight quarters here in SoCal. 1200 square feet to be exact. Three smallish bedrooms, 1.5 itsy bitsy baths, and 2 closets I can barely squeeze myself into on a good day. When we moved here over a year ago, we viewed our charming, albeit cozy, rental home as temporary. And until a few weeks ago we'd been house hunting for a new rental. That is until we realized that everything in our price range was either a lateral move, or a downgrade (gasp). So the new motto? "Make it work!" That's what everyone in our area is doing. No one is sitting around in sprawling 2500 sq. ft. homes wondering what to do with all the space, unless they are making the big bucks. So once we established that mindset, we were in a much better place mentally and emotionally about things.

Making an already organized and jam-packed-to-the-hilt home feel a little more roomy was quite the challenge. And I am sorry to report I didn't take any "before" photos, mostly because we moved furniture around so much over the past year that it was making my head spin. But we finally settled on a plan, thanks to hours spent "making it work" on a scale model I built in Illustrator:

 

We even have a backup plan, in case we are still in this house when a third little Johnson decides they are ready to join our brood (don't make me commit to that). We can all fit! Close, but comfortably. I thought I'd start with the kids' room. Want to see how it turned out? Click the image below, or "read more" to see the whole post:

 

Be Your Original Best

Have you checked out the site Be Your Original Best yet? It's a site dedicated to promoting a "copycat free" artistic industry & creative community. And Shelly (author of this important blog) invited me to answer a few questions today. If you are interested in the interview, you can find it HERE.

On a similar note, I posted about protecting your online photographs recently on The Blog Guidebook. And thought I'd repost the information verbatim on this blog: (click "Read More," below, to view the full post) 

I had an interesting question in response to our post about Blogging for Posterity (or "blournaling"):

Question: About full resolution photos, those might be great for putting in a blurb book (which I'd love to do) but I've had some of my photos taken and others take credit for them on their own blogs. I now reduce the size and resolution. Is there a way around this?

Answer: There are a few ways to protect yourself from this growing problem without reducing your image size and resolution. The quickest and easiest is to remove the "link" from your photo. You may not know it, but as soon as you upload a photo to your blog, it inserts an automatic link so that when clicked, the photo will enlarge in a new window. That means someone can grab your photo and post it without credit (or even worse, use it as their own)! Here's how you remove that link in Blogger (there are probably similar ways to do this in other blogging platforms).

Poster Freebies

 

As I've been working on my shop, I've felt like I want to give offer a few things for free, rather than sell them. So am offering these prints as free, 8.5x11" downloads! Great for your child's room, nursery, preschool, church, or home. Just click the links below to download and print your copies: 

My Life is at Home
Love is Spoken Here
Live What You Love
I Am a Daughter of God
I Am a Child of God
I Am a Child of God (pastel)

*Feel free to spread the love. Personal use only, please!

Miss Maya turns 2!

No way, you say? It's true. Our Maya is 2! Watch her dancing to a little Jonsi with hair still wet from her bath. She's got her mini Panavision shirt on so that she can let people know that "My Daddy makes movies." She's such a doll!! And a sassafrass.

(Turn up the sound so you can hear where she hits the beat with her hips right on cue.)

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

 

Sprig & Sprocket

I realize I've been out of commission lately. My house is a disaster zone as we're making some changes (photos to come). And I've been so busy that I can barely see straight. I even forgot all about the changes I made to my design shop. So I thought now might be a good time to share. I've moved to Zazzle, since they can handle the printing & shipping (which saves me some steps). So check out the new site, HERE, with a few new designs, and more to come! (Not looking for something spiritual or "feel-goody?" The alphabet and numbers posters are available, as well.)

Of course there will still be the same prints I've had in my Etsy shop, I just need to post them. And the new name? Think of it as Maya and Finn, respectively.

I think this speaks for itself: