Pig Logs and 'tater berries

Searching for the perfect chocolate cake.... success!

2012-02-10T22:00:00.009-05:00

These past couple of weeks have been filled with the search for the perfect chocolate cake and chocolate frosting with the approach of birthdays. You see my "baby", my first born will be turning 18 and I want to make an extra special cake. Lo and behold but what should appear in my e-mail one day but this article... Deep, Dark Chocolate Cookies, Cakes, & Favorite Recipes Recipe Roundup from The Kitchn. The rootbeer chocolate bundt cake was a big hit (sorry no pictures as they devoured it before I even got the camera out) but it just wasn't what I wanted. In fact what I really want is a slice of the most divine chocolate truffle cake from The French Street Bakery and Cafe, but alas they have gone out of business. Oh be still my breaking heart, as I never could get them to part with the recipe... even when I explained we were living in Alaska. (the poor girl was so confused when I called and asked about the recipe. she even told me all i had to do was call in a day before i came in so that they would have one made for me... she never did truly understand that we lived 4000 miles away at the time... hmm i wonder if that may have had something to do with it...)

Well the Vegan Chocolate Ginger Orange Cupcakes by Sarah Rae sounded delicious (and they are! and you should them with lime zest/juice...) but if you know me at all you know I just can't leave things alone. So here is my adaptation inspired by Sarah Rae's Vegan Chocolate Ginger Orange Cupcakes as I know my family does NOT like orange or ginger in their chocolate.

(the batter is even delicious!)

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

makes 24 standard cupcakes

3 cups all purpose flour (organic unbleached preferably)

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (the darker the better!)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups natural cane sugar
1 2/3 cups cold freshly brewed coffee (or water)
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange juice
4 tablespoons cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix all dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Add water, oil, vanilla, and orange juice. Stir to combine. Add vinegar and stir quickly to combine. It will be slightly foamy and lighter in color. Once the mix turns slightly darker again you know all the vinegar has been mixed in. Now pour it into muffin tins (or even two cake pans.) Bake for 15 minutes for standard sized cupcakes. Allow to sit in pan for 5 minutes, remove and place on wire rack until completely cool.

Frosting (non-vegan)

1 cup butter, softened (use vegan margarine for a vegan frosting)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon orange juice
4 tablespoon milk (or cold freshly brewed coffee) (use almond milk for a vegan frosting)
1/2 cup cocoa powder + 2 heaping tablespoons Ghirardelli chocolate mocha powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

Blend butter in a mixer until creamy, add in powdered sugar and mix to combine. Add remaining ingredients and mix until creamy consistency. You're ready to eat! Refrigerate any unused frosting for up to a week.

(one of the few remaining... its been dark all day and the lighting is horrible but I knew I had to hurry before all the cupcakes were gone!)

And the highest praise came from my son to be 18 year old... "Mom, whatever you do, DO NOT change anything about this frosting or these cupcakes!" So for his birthday it will be this cake with with a bit of the frosting lightened with whipping cream between the two layers of cake with fresh berries and chocolate leaves as a garnish.

linking to:

Oil rubbed bronze hardware-a makeover

2012-02-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

The sweet "Tuscan" kitchen has new hardware!!! Yes you read correctly Oil rubbed bronze!! I know, I know that is so last year but you know what I love it. When we first moved in I was not crazy about the cabinet handles so we changed them out... brass to nickel/chrome. Now don't get me wrong because I still ADORE chrome... always have, always will. Something about that shiny, silvery finish just leaves me all a twitter but hey a girl can broaden her horizons. Enter cast iron, wrought iron, and oil rubbed bronze. I don't something about them just scream old world and as we all know that is me... a touch of the "old world", a bit of "modern" and just a smidgeon of country, hmm make that "old world country." So this week on a whim I decided to drop into Hobby Lobby on a day when I had a splitting headache and could hardly see straight (yes it was mainly because I was in desperate need of a soda but hey it is just across the street so why not stop in, right?) Then what to my wandering eyes should appear... a sign for 50% off all drawer pulls and knobs. Were my eyes deceiving me? Were those really "wrought iron" cup drawer pulls?

So a few minutes later I walked out of the store with these beauties.

And these!

A few days later the chrome was transformed to this!

"Tuscan" kitchen progress

2012-01-27T11:46:00.001-05:00

As you all know I decided to take Donna up on her Picture Perfect Room Challenge. The kitchen is coming on smashingly! Have you ever noticed when you start a project it has a tendency to lead to more projects??? That is exactly what happened in the kitchen. I got the bead board wallpaper on the cabinets only to discover the drawers now look lacking.

So do you think the drawers need pulls? or should they be left as it?

I am thinking something along the lines of these... from Restoration Hardware

or either one of these from Lowe's

Gatehouse Oil-rubbed bronze

Gatehouse Satin Nickel

a close-up of the bead board wall paper

Yes it still needs to be painted but that will have to wait until it is warm enough to leave the windows open.

I still have a few things to hang such as these.....

They have all been in both our families for as long as we can remember and I always try to hang them in the kitchen or dining room.

Hmm, do you think someone wants some jello?! ha ha!

Maple glazed oven roasted carrots

2012-01-25T16:06:00.000-05:00

Well the weather has turned again.... Grey, fluctuating between snow, sleet, and ice but NO wind! Basically a peaceful winter day. In other words the perfect day for getting caught up on the self perpetuating laundry, oh yeah we have teenagers so maybe its not really self perpetuating, ha ha! And the perfect day for roasting vegetables.

From this to....

Maple glazed oven roasted carrots

and

And yes I am sharing recipes.... Trust me these are so EASY, in fact I didn't even follow a recipe but I did make notes so that I could pass it on to my mom... she LIKES recipes! I'm a throw it in, fly by the seat of my pants while hoping for the best kinda gal!! Yes there have been a few flops but not too often.

Maple glazed oven roasted carrots

2 lbs carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 to 2 TBSP olive oil

1/2 to 1 tsp coarse sea salt

3 or 4 sprigs fresh lemon thyme or 1 tsp dried lemon thyme

Preheat oven to 400F.

Place carrots in a large rimmed cookie sheet.

Drizzle with olive oil.

Sprinkle on seasonings and toss to coat.

Roast carrots for approximately 20 minutes. Stirring occasionally. (juicy carrots can take a bit longer)

2 TBSP maple syrup... preferably grade B

Transfer carrots from pan into bowl.

Drizzle maple syrup over carrots and toss to coat.

Return to pan.

Return to oven and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice in the process.

Serve hot or allow to cool for later use.

Servings: 4 to 6 (but I'm not really sure because I can't keep out of them!)

"Plain" roasted carrots

2 lbs of carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 to 2 TBSP olive oil

sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Bake at 400F for approximately 20 minutes depending on moisture content of carrots. Juicy carrots take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes longer.

I hope you enjoy!!

Now I'm off to fold some more laundry! Have a wonderful day!

The towel dilemma... hand towels converted to bath towels

2012-01-23T15:19:00.001-05:00

Well its a grey, blustery day today here in middle America which seemed like a perfect to get a bit of work done in the house. Vacuuming, laundry, searching down missing towels.... Does anyone else seem to have the same dilemma? You buy a certain number of towels and over time they disappear, only to have other towels you NEVER even purchased take the place of some of them? And then to top it off you discover you have more hand towels than you even knew? I am pretty sure I know WHO the culprits are and have come up with a viable solution but in the mean time we were running short on towels. Between weight lifting class, wrestling practice, swim practice, and the daily trip to the gym (hubby up at the base, not me...) I have come to realize a certain number of towels is required but simply do NOT want to spend the money to purchase said towels knowing full well that they will be sorely abused!! So my solution... turn hand towels and wash cloths into bath towels!! Yes all of those mismatched and long forsaken hand towels now have a new lease on life. (and trust me I have no earthly idea where we got some of these hand towels or wash cloths because they are colors that I have NEVER used!) (okay the plain brown one is one we bought... but the brown leopard print, umm NO IDEA, it just turned up one day!)

A small portion of our stash of hand towels and wash cloths

AND.....

(I have no idea what happened but the shadows today make it look like there are stains on the towels... yes our name is on one with permanent ink but that is it.)

A towel fit for wrestling practice, swim practice, the gym, track practice, and any place else teen boys venture! (like camping!)

Picnik closing....

2012-01-21T23:06:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you but this came as a shock to me... as of April 19, 2012 Picnik will be closing. There are so many that will be affected as this is their primary photo editing program. So I am putting a request out there to all my blogging friends. What do you use for your photo editing? If you currently use Picnik what will you be switching over to when the time comes?

Here is a copy of the e-mail I received....

Official Announcement: Picnik is closing

Since joining Google in 2010, we have been creating editing magic in Google products while continuing to keep Picnik awesome. But now we get to focus on even awesomer things. Picnik will be closing on April 19, 2012.
Your photos liberated
Amazing photos are created in Picnik, so we have launched a new feature, Picnik Takeout, that easily downloads your photos to your desktop in convenient zip files. You may also elect to copy your photos toGoogle+ where you can store and share your creations. You may request your photos at any time and use this handy tool as many times as you like until our closing date of April 19, 2012. Learn more.
Premium Refunds
To our primo Picnik Premium members, we'll begin processing a full refund of your current membership fee within a week of this announcement. By "in full" we mean the whole darn thing. Yep, this means even if you are on your very last day of an annual membership, we will refund you the entire $24.95. Just because we want to say thanks.
Now the Good News - Free Premium for ALL!
To express our gratitude for your support over the past 5 years, Picnik Premium is free for everyone! Use Picnik in all of its premium glory, for free, from now until our actual closing day. Touch-up, Textures, Advanced, and more are all free for you to use!
We have been incredibly proud of building a product that is used and beloved by so many of you. We continue to be amazed and humbled by the photos you create and we are immensely grateful for all of your support, creativity, and passion.
We are excited by the photo-editing fun we have already brought to Google products, like Google+, where you can find many of your favorite Picnik effects in Creative Kit. We encourage you to visit Google+ andgive it a whirl.
Please visit the Help Hub for more information on our wind down, and check the Picnik blog for updated information on our April closure.
It's been awesome,
Team Picnik

Chalkboard wall

2012-01-13T23:10:00.012-05:00

As many of you know I bit the bullet and made a commitment to get all the rooms in our house finished prior to graduation this spring. For a while I was so overwhelmed with the size of our new home, then it was the construction of the addition, and finally the ~~camel that broke the straws back~~ straw that broke the camel's back was years of emotional baggage. Let's just leave it at I have a godly husband who is such a blessing. Which brings me back to the kitchen and decorating... after some late night discussions I realized that I've been far too concerned about trying to do things the way I thought other's thought I ought to be doing things... Are you still with me? Good because I'm not to sure I'm with me.. ha ha! :) That being said inspiration has struck or rather God opened my eyes to the potential. And do you know what I discovered??? My husband really likes my ideas!!!! plus he has some great ones of his own!!!

Wow, where was I going with this??? Oh yeah the chalkboard wall... years and years ago we had lunch at the cutest little restaurant in Estes Park... in the middle of winter... and we were the only customers. Just Chris and me. And all of their tables had chalkboard tops and they had a chalkboard wall. Well I've wanted one EVERY since... (by the way, the meal was delicious, the waiter hilarious, and the company incredible! now if only we could remember the name of the cafe!!)

So without any further adieu.... the new chalkboard wall!

The details:

chalkboard paint: Lowe's several years ago for another project

basket: first one I ever wove

bag: fabric leftover from a project... turned inside out

garlic: from this past summer's CSA

clock: brought back many moons ago from Chris' deployment to Riyadh

plant, bucket and rod: Ikea last year w/ a gift card

So as you can see we are using, reusing, and repurposing what we already have. It is so much fun seeing a room come together and knowing that my family loves it as well!

Hope you have a great weekend! Stop back by to see how things are progressing... :)

'til later!

I'm linking to:

A "Picture Perfect Room" challenge... Room 1: before

2012-01-09T12:40:00.001-05:00

Am I the only one who can hardly believe it is almost the middle of January already? How did that happen? And where did the weekend go? Oh yes, I spent it reading! It was a reserve weekend which I jokingly refer to as Wednesday. You see my husband is an active duty reservist. I know, who knew there was such a thing, right? Well he has been on active duty in the reserves for the past 7 years. What does this have to do with his reserve weekend being a Wednesday? Well, you see when he has a reserve weekend he works a 12 day "week". And when Monday rolls around we know there are only 4 more days before he has a normal 2 day weekend. So Sat/Sun/Mon is our "Wednesday" aka middle of the "week". And typically not a lot gets done over the reserve weekend! Henceforth my weekend of reading. and laundry but that's a given.

Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors is going to be doing a "Picture Perfect Room" challenge. And knowing that I really want to have ALL the rooms in our house completed prior to graduation I decided now is the time to start. The first room up.... our KITCHEN! which will lead into the DINING ROOM then the LIVING ROOM and FAMILY ROOM. As you all have seen we have a fairly open floor plan so each of these rooms can be seen from pretty much each room. Okay the kitchen can't be seen from the living room but it always spills over into the dining room which CAN be seen from the living room.

Today was supposed to be the first day.... a very productive day! A day for scrubbing, cleaning, applying wallpaper to the kitchen cabinet door inserts, rearranging cabinets, sorting jars, etc. Lets just say its not happening quite like that... Do you see this lovely digit?

What you can't see is the swelling. Lets just leave it at it was one of those truly weird freakish accidents and the crazy thing is I was by myself when it happened, no one else to blame. ha ha! Thankfully my whole hand wasn't injured, it doesn't appear to be broken, and I am starting to gain a bit of movement back. ~~Who knows maybe I will be able to tackle some of the kitchen work after all.~~ So today I am at least making my list of projects and am starting to do a bit of the organizing.

I will leave you with a "before" picture and the plans for what all ~~I am~~ we are doing.

No cost changes:

-Add bead board wallpaper (bought on clearance plus military discount using a giftcard at Lowe's a year ago) to door inserts
-possibly paint "island"
-clear off countertops
-organize jars and contents. switch more items into jars. possibly spray paint all lids to match.
-label everything using label maker, Silhouette, and label paper punch
-paint entire wall next to refrigerator with chalkboard paint.
-reuse chalkboard contact paper on refrigerator and to make tags
The BIG splurge:
-changing out non venting stove hood for a vented stove hood. ideally either one of these from Ikea

Currently we have a non-venting fan over our stove. Yeah not the greatest idea or invention known to mankind.

Currently done:

-changed pendant light out over sink for one we fell in love with at Lowe's which was on clearance last January for $5. I LOVE it!!! It fits right in with my love for Scandinavian design/decor (which I have absolutely none of until now.)

Do you see my pine cone trees I made? On top of the kitchen cabinets? I absolutely love them and plan on making a few move over the year. The idea is to have groupings of 3 above the cabinets over the holidays.

I hope you are having a good start to a great week! Now I am off to get a little work done (or do a little more reading...) Toodles!

Happy New Year! and thank you...

2012-01-04T14:24:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know you are thinking, wow is she ever late!! Well I figure better late than never, right? :) I have to admit the last few ~~months~~ weeks have been spent in some ~~pretty~~ deep soul searching.

Okay to be up front and above board this is going to be one of those truly "heavy" posts.... You see something happened back in May that rocked my world but I didn't find out until the end of June.

In all honesty, its something that ate away at me for months. It affected all relationships in my life....my husband, children, my Lord and the world in general.

...it all started with a letter... in June... to my Mom... from the US Army saying her portion of my dad's retirement check per the divorce settlement was stopped because.... my Dad had died... in MAY!! All paperwork listed him as having no next of kin. Yeah that would be me.... I was the NO NEXT of KIN and it hurt me to the CORE!!! This was the man who cut all ties with me when we moved to Alaska in 2005. I was crushed but instead of reaching out, I built walls. High, thick walls surrounding my heart to keep it from breaking apart completely... walls that ended up closing me off from my husband, my children, the world, and my Lord. This was the man who lied to me by saying he had sold his house and was moving and would call me with his new phone number the following week after I gave him our new address, phone numbers, etc... it never happened. The cell number I called was disconnected a few weeks later, his house was foreclosed on, and there was NO forwarding address. In fact 6 years later the Department of US Army still thought he was at the old address. His bank still had the address for the old house. It was as if he had vanished.... until he showed up at a hospital emergency room and died a week later. It was only then that any records show he had moved into a condo owned by the "kid" who had been "renting" his basement apartment for all those years prior to the foreclosure. The "kid" who told the hospital there was an estranged daughter but they hadn't heard from her in years. LIAR!! It was HIS phone my dad had called me from that last time I talked to him back in November of 2005. The hurt ran deep but, you know what? I'm healing. FINALLY... It took a notification in December, yes December you did read that correctly, to my Mom saying they needed more info as there might be back retirement/disability pay owed due to Dad's time in Vietnam. I finally sat down and ~~cried~~ sobbed my heart out... my dad was gone and was never coming back. There was no longer any chance of reconciliation, no opportunity to say that I loved him regardless....., bygone hurts were forgiven, and that no matter what he was still my Dad and I LOVE him! But I was finally able to face things head on with the help of my Lord and the walls came crumbling down. Do I still have moments? Yes but there are far more reasons for me to move forward... a husband that loves me dearly, children who are truly a blessing from God, and a host of friends who are dear to my heart.

So I am moving on with life. Does this mean I will post more regularly? Not necessarily. ha ha! (insert big cheesy grin) It does me that the projects are being worked on again, plans are being made, and life is moving forward... with me as a willing participant, not grudgingly. Our eldest graduates in May and heads off to college in the fall... a new chapter to be EMBRACED. This house is our HOME, not just a temporary residence. COOKING is a personal experience to be shared again. FINANCIAL responsibility is proactive. CREATIVITY allows me to breath. PRAYER gives strength. READING THE WORD brings sustenance to a starving soul. LEARNING stretches in more ways than I can even begin to acknowledge.

So please continue along with me on this journey. And yes I really do plan to work much harder on this blog.... the first steps will be finding a mentor, stepping out of my comfort zone instead of retreating, and looking for accountability. Any takers? Ha ha!

And last but definitely, most definitely NOT least I want to say:

THANK YOU!

for being plugging along with me, through thick or thin, rain, shine, storms and absence! But mostly through absence!! I really do appreciate it!

Hedgy the hedgehog plushie.

2011-12-13T21:47:00.004-05:00

(please forgive the poor quality photo I just couldn't wait to show you my new "friend"!!)

While pulling out the Christmas ornaments this year I discovered something... my hedgehog is missing. You see I have been enamored with hedgehogs ever since I was a little girl and we were stationed in what was then West Germany. So one year at the Kris Kringle Mart my mom bought me a sweet handcarved hedgehog. He was all of 2 inches long. A number of years ago Chris went on a TDY where he had a layover of sorts in Germany. During the time Chris was in Germany he was able to visit some dear friends of ours and do a little sightseeing. On one of his trips he found a stuffed hedgehog which promptly made its way into his suitcase. Each year my dear friend comes out and enjoys the holidays with us. Well this year I can't find him.... But while visiting a friend's blog I discovered she had made this porcupine.

Once again Kirstin had come to my rescue without even realizing it. One thing led to another and before you know it I was making plans to myself a hedgehog. It just wouldn't be Christmas without my dear sweet friend under the tree or in the tree or next to the nativity! You see my dear little Hedgy has always had a penchance for travel. So this afternoon I grabbed the sewing machine, zigzagged the yarn onto an old felted black sweater, and stuffed him with filling from an old pillow. Its crazy as even the thread is from my super duper yard sale sewing notions find. Oh I did buy the yarn but I had a 40% off coupon at JoAnn's. I have to admit the lighting ~~isn't all that great~~ horrible as it already dark out but I just could not wait to show you my new friend!

Once again thank you Kirstin at kojodesigns for inspiring me!

LInking up to:

Merry swap show and tell

2011-12-13T14:39:00.000-05:00

I want to thank Carrie and Monica for hosting this year's Merry Sister Swap. Debbie was my partner and I must say Carrie & Monica did a wonderful job matching us up! In fact I really wish Debbie and I lived closer together because we would have such a fun time crafting together. She is such a dear, sweet lady!

I forgot to take a picture of the goodies I sent Debbie but here is what she sent me:

After I took the picture I realized a few items were missing such as the delicious hot cocoa mix, the most adorable card, and the inspirational book. Don't you just love the notepads and crocheted flowers Debbie made! I love making notebooks/pads and am always tickled to get new ideas!

It was truly a pleasure being able to participate in the swap and I am so blessed with the new friend I have now made!! Thank you so very much, Debbie and I look forward to many, many years of friendship!

I WON!! BIG Time!

2011-12-09T11:11:00.000-05:00

Okay I know I've been missing for a while but well by now you know thats how it goes with me. Its usually a case of feast or famine. But right now I want to give some folks a seriously big THANK YOU! You see I won a giveaway recently.... and when I say it was big, well ya'll I am talking super duper BIG! I mean we are talking I seriously squealed/yelled out "NO WAY!! Seriously?" okay so I didn't exactly squeal but when I am super duper excited I do get a bit squeaky when I yell out "NO WAY!" Don't ask.... and Mr. Lurker (yes I know who you are!!) do NOT give the guys a hard time about this. (yeah I know you go on your mom's account and read my blog, ha ha! Didn't think I knew, did you? hee hee!)

So I want to thank the folks at Calphalon and Lauren from Laurens Latest! You see I won the Calphalon 3-in-1 immersion hand blender and the new Bronze Edition 3 qt Non-stick saute pan in this giveaway. To say I am in love is an understatement! Now I am asking for utensils so that this lovely saute pan does not get scratched. It is simply stunning in its performance and beauty! And you know me, I LOVE to cook (ok maybe you don't realize that but I DO, I just don't photograph it or even talk about it too much!)!!

Once again I would like to thank the folks at Calphalon and Lauren very much!! And I was shocked at the turnaround! Never and I never have a won a giveaway where I had the product in hand in such a quick time. I mean it was under a week from the time I submitted my info to Lauren to the time Calphalon had it on my doorstep! (it may be silly but I saved the box so the saute pan can be wrapped up and put under the tree for Christmas because as far as I'm concerned this is one of my Christmas presents!!)

6th Annual Freshly Blended Holiday Ornament Swap

2011-12-07T22:45:00.001-05:00

This year I participated in the

Well the pieced Christmas tree ornaments are completed!

Do you remember when I showed them to you here?

I just had to show you a few of the completed ones!

Do you see the adorable Canary yellow rickrack with the metallic zigzag running through it? Well....

You know that I really like a bargain, right? We are all on the same page here, yes? Well last summer I found a cute little plastic 1950's basket/tray... for $.25 and..........it was filled with notions. 1950's to 1970's sewing notions!! seam binding, unopened packets of rickrack, buttons, zippers, needle threaders, snaps, etc. And in that sweet little basket was not one but TWO unopened packages of Canary Rick Rack.

(This is the actual label!)

Okay now that we have gone down that rabbit trail.... I really don't know the purpose but I just had to share. I mean its not every day you find unopened packages of 19 cent rickrack and its definitely not everyday you end up having a use for said rickrack. Yeppers, I was tickled pink! Still am for that matter. And do you know what? I still have a package of pink metallic rickrack! I am thinking my niece might enjoy a pieced Christmas tree with pink metallic rickrack because you know she is all about the bling. :)

Have a great day!

Linked up to:

Pieced Christmas tree ornaments

2011-11-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

In our effort to downsize and organize I discovered something... containers of this

(scraps won in a giveaway last year)

and this

(remnants from the same giveaway)

which was turned into these.

All that is left to do is add the trunk (ribbing off an old sweater), snowflake bead for the star (part of yard sale find) plus a hanger and they are done!

I LOVE repurposing!

(all components in this project were either remnants won in giveaways, part of "package deal" at a yard sale or a from an article of clothing that was no longer usable.)

Total cost: $.50 for the entire yard sale package deal which included many other usable items such a a bin of embroidery thread, needles, beads, and various other notions.

Hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!!

Happy Thanksgiving and a giveaway winner!

2011-11-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

I wanted to wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so very blessed to be able to spend the day with my loving husband and "man children"!

A simple meal enjoyed by all!

A mocha pie for dessert many hours later.

and my "new" holiday table cloth. Thank you very much Goodwill! I love a bargain!!

(wow it sure does need ironed...)

And do you see this young man? He just got accepted to IU Bloomington!!

(isn't it just wrong that the "boy" can grow a beard in a week?)

And now for the My Memories Suite giveaway winner...

Congratulations Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking

Please contact me and we will get you set up with your very own copy! I hope you enjoy it!

Once again Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't forget... MyMemories Suite giveaway ends Tuesday, Nov 22

2011-11-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

Hey there! I just wanted to remind everyone that the MyMemories Suite giveaway ends tomorrow at noon, EST. Stop by here to leave a comment for a chance to win your free copy of MyMemories Suite.

More craft posts later this week....

Mon Petit Ouiseau bleu (my little bluebird) ornament

2011-11-17T13:41:00.004-05:00

I have a confession to make... Remember how I always say I am not a girly girl? How my idea of sparkly is old mercury glass and chrome? Well there is a teeny tiny bit of girliness to me... I LOVE glitter! Especially Martha Stewart glitter! It makes me swoon. Yes you read that correctly, SWOON! But do I use it... nope! Not normally. It sits on a shelf it its teeny, tiny little canisters catching the light, sparkling until November. Yes, each and every November I bring out my minuscule canisters of Martha Stewart glitter when the conditions are just right. Its normally a cold, windy day where the sun shines brightly so that it will glisten and sparkle even more. And I make birds. Doves, bluebirds, birds from old Christmas cards, cardinals, jays, and birds from pretty papers that once lived their lives as shopping bags (thank you Starbucks and Panera for such attractive wrappings!) Out come the jars of clear glass beads to adorn birds made from old linen skirts, cast-off Carhartts, and sweaters long ago out grown.

So today I give the first in 2011's bird series. My little bluebird who hangs askew but makes my heart sing!

mon petit ouiseau bleu

Version deux of mon petit ouiseau bleu living outside our room.

And mon petit ouiseau bleu back lit.

My Memories Suite and a giveaway!... ended

2011-11-15T17:14:00.005-05:00

Recently I was contacted to try out some digital scrap booking software. Years ago I tried my hand at scrap booking... the old fashioned way. And do you know how many albums I completed? ZERO! Yes you read that correctly. So I have to admit I was a bit nervous at first. I mean I have all these papers and stamps and cutouts and letters and decorative thingies but could I make heads or tails of them. It was a case of: does this border look good with this background? Why is my handwriting always so wonky? Does that sound corny? Ah man... I just wrote down the wrong date! Yes sirree I was my worst enemy!!

Here is an example of what all you can do.

Well let me say I AM SOLD! I love this. Now all I need to do is have the first 10 or so years of our married life converted to digital and we will be in with Flynn! (so where exactly did that expression originate?) I love it as you can make scrapbook layouts, photo books, cards, and even videos! Do you know what I think is one of the best features??? Their customer support! I can not believe how quickly they responded to my questions or how thorough the responses were!

So now for the giveaway.... one of my readers will win their very own copy of My Memories Suite digital scrap booking software. (You do NOT have to be a follower on my blog to enter! I just want you to have the opportunity to win a wonderful product!!)

To enter to win:

1. Please visit www.MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then leave a comment telling me which one you chose.

For extra entries you may follow the MyMemories blog, their FB page and Twitter page.

2. MyMemories Blog
3. Like MyMemories Facebook page
4. Follow My Memories on Twitter

So there you have it, 4 chances to enter.... one for leaving a comment and the other three for following MyMemories blog, FB page and Twitter page.

The giveaway is open until Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 noon EST.

Also once the are 10,00 fans on the MyMemories FB page an iPad will be given away. All you have to do is LIKE their page to be eligible to win!

And for all of my readers who would like to purchase the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software I have a special Share the Memories code that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com
store - $20 value!)

Just click on this link for MyMemories Suite and copy and paste this code STMMMS41020

Garden dress form to craft room beauty

2011-11-09T11:54:00.000-05:00

Isn't she a beauty? I have to admit I LOVED her our first summer here. She looked so lovely wearing a dress of lavender clematis... and then IT occurred our second summer. She became a hideous blob, her fine lines and delicate shape overrun with in a tangled web of vines. And to be honesty my family did not appreciate her. In fact they found her to be rather creepy/freaky. Hmpph.. what's a girl supposed to do? I ripped her out! Yes you read that correctly!! We moved the clematis to a much more user friendly are and this lovely lady, well she had a little makeover. Last night.. while it was raining. But now...

Isn't she stunning?!

where she sits primly in the corner awaiting adornment.

Here is what has been going on the past several weeks. Lots of painting. The cabinets to the left of the desk were part of this find. You just heard about the desk and shelf just the other day.

I am so excited as this room is closer to completion. See I share this room.. at the moment it is with the musicians in our family but we haven't moved their things in yet. The next phase of the project is to finish sorting fabric, craft supplies, and packaging supplies. After that, its researching how to build a drop down table for sewing projects. If you have any ideas or have ever made one I would love your input!

yard sale desk makeover

2011-11-07T13:44:00.001-05:00

Do you remember when I mentioned all of the great yard sale finds here? Well later in the day we went back and bought this beauty. She was a bit rough looking as her top was bubbled, blistered and peeling (which was my bargaining chip as many people had passed her by for that very reason!!)

(I forgot to take a picture of her prior to chipping of all the veneer... I know bad blogger, bad! ha ha!!)

Well here is my lovely after a good cleaning with her new top and her handles all spiffied up.

(please disregard the colorful cabinets on the left... i think they are getting a little makeover as well)

We will see how well the paint on the handles hold up as I did a minimal clean on them and then it started to rain. I was getting a bit impatient so I rushed things a bit.... I can hardly wait to have the "spare" room completed!! Here's a sneak peak of a little something else for the room.... it was a shelf my father-in-law made over 20 years ago back when he was getting back into wood working after a 20 year hiatus. I am amazed at how far he has come in the past 20 years!!

(I don't know if I mentioned it before but this is a truly a minimal budget project. The only thing I've purchased new is the paint and it was with a voucher from some returned items. Everything else was to be under $10 for furniture pieces or something we already owned and repurposed.)

I hope you are having a wonderful autumn and are taking time to reflect on the season!

Linking to:

Thrifty Decor Chick

Wild/old fashioned cottage roses... handmade home

2011-11-01T18:11:00.007-04:00

(actual size)

Yes you see the fruit of my latest obsession.

Wild roses, cottage roses, and french knots!

Okay in all honesty it is nothing new. I have loved wild roses and old fashioned cottage roses for almost as long as I can remember and french knots were one of the first embroidery stitches I learned as a child. And to be able to craft them and see them lying about when they are out of season, well lets just say it makes me VERY happy. The one thing I almost forgot to mention is the fact that this fabulous little rose is made from none other then... a polyester shirt I found at a yard sale for... $.25, yes 25 cents! Not only did I save a dated blouse from the landfill but it was quite the savings as well. I love a bargain!

joining in at:

linking to:

Thrifty Decor Chick

Autumn... a time of changes

2011-10-28T14:58:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the absence... wow I really say that a lot don't I? Okay I'll have to be honest with you here. My blog takes a backseat to everything else in my life a LOT. In fact a number of things have taken a backseat to... to what you ask. Unproductive busyness to a degree but mostly day to day living, You see we have a number of things going on in our lives right now that are not ready to be revealed and a few things which are personal. You know things like gathering information, research, accounting, and well, stuff. I know so eloquent! ha ha. And yes there are a few possible major changes in our lives. Here's just a few.... our eldest graduates from high school in May/June, we are about to finish up Dave Ramsey's FPU, the on-going battle with clutter (we are starting to win!), the prospect of writing for a new e-zine with the possibility of a regular column, the reworking of this blog (to include a name change!), and last but not least.... the possibility of opening an etsy shop.

Below is a comment I left on a blog recently and it describes my "home" loves because my family falls far above all of these things.

"OKay I have to admit I love to be in the kitchen... not just cooking but creating and recreating! Funny since I avoided the kitchen like the plague growing up. See I have champagne tastes on a shasta budget (super cheap soda)! So I love to recreate all the exotic jams, jellies, spice mixes, sauces, cookies, candies, beverages, and breads that I can. I love the sights and smells of freshly ground spices and fresh herbs. But that is not all... I love canning jars, bale jars, and wood... old terra cotta, glass bottles converted into drinking glasses, homemade pasta, crocheted washcloths, embroidered flour sack towels... basically a handmade home! So I guess if I were to ever even consider writing an ebook it would be about those very things I LOVE... you know this may even be an inspiration for a new blog makeover!"

After much discussion with my husband and much prayer, this is exactly what I am going to do!! I will be working hard to document OUR handmade home! passing on ideas and projects of the things I enjoy...

but for now I am leaving you with some of my inspirations via Pinterest.

(no link on pinterest)

kitchenisms.com

injennieskitchen.com

harbourbreeze.blogspot.com

http://homeremediesrx.blogspot.com/2010/12/vignette-on-cheap.html

hartsdesire.wordpress.com

via pinmarklet

And I would like to welcome everyone who is visiting from

Phantom of the opera cake

2011-10-14T14:48:00.000-04:00

As much as I would like to include a picture of a slice of this cake, it just isn't possible. But I can describe it for you. Triple chocolate fudge cake with a peach/Portuguese marmalade filling, frosted with buttercream frosting and dusted with cocoa/mocha powder. Its the project we forgot to bake last night for Sean's English class.... hopefully he made it to the office to pick it up. I haven't gotten any panicked phone calls so I figure he got it turned in in time.

Enjoy your weekend! We will be spending our weekend watching high school football tonight and marching band regional competition on Saturday.

double chocolate peanut butter bliss

2011-10-12T19:57:00.001-04:00

Tonight for your viewing and snacking pleasure I bring you..... cake in a mug!

Not just any cake but delicious chocolately chocolate peanut butter bliss in a mug!!

I have to admit Marie's Two Minute Chocolate chip cake here was the inspiration. But I decided to change things up a bit and here is what you have.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss
Serves: A large single serving or just enough for two to share

1 large egg 3 packed TBS of soft light brown sugar
4 1/2 TBS plain flour
1 TBS cocoa powder (not the drinking powder)

1/4 tsp baking powder*2 tsp creamy peanut butter
1 tsp softened butter
3 to 4 TBS chocolate chips
1/4 tsp vanilla

(the peanut butter can be eliminated and butter substituted for a double chocolate cake)

Mix all ingredients together in a large mug. Place in the microwave. Cook on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, or just until the top centre of the cake is set. Allow to cool slightly. Serve warm with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a dollop of real whipped cream.

RiceSelect review and giveaway at Cooking for Seven

2011-10-12T17:40:00.001-04:00

I know I rarely ever post about anyone else's giveaway but I just couldn't resist this one. You see Erica Lea over at Cooking For Seven is one of the sweetest young ladies around. She has a heart for the Lord, her new husband, and her family.... and she is a wonderful cook and photographer. So why don't you stop on over at Cooking for Seven and check out her recipe for Vanilla rice pudding and for her giveaway! It closes out at midnight, October 12 central time.

Fire Roasted Chile peppers

2011-10-12T13:58:00.000-04:00

Nothing says fall (or summer for that matter) to me quite like the smell of fire roasted chile peppers! It takes me back to my days in Denver as a young adult... a gentle breeze, cloudless skies, the sun gleaming high in the sky and peppers roasting in big barrel roasters on street corners and in parking lots! How I love that tang in the air!!! So this spring when a friend offered me pepper plants I almost squealed with glee (i might have squeaked just a little ha ha!)... fast forward several months and this is what you see my friends.

Much neglected plants and the basket filled twice!

Today I roasted the peppers!

And they are truly sublime!

A couple of racks later....

I found it rather ironic that the only brown bag of size I could find was from Chipotle's mexican restaurant.

And here we have the mixed "bag" of peppers which will be smoked, seeded, and then dried to make chipotle powder.

(my mouth if watering already just thinking about the dishes we will have this winter!)

In a couple of hours

iron bed details

2011-10-10T17:04:00.000-04:00

estate sale metal bed

cross piece toppers at head and foot of bed

leaves circling the posts

I am loving this bed (even if I am dressed head to toe in protective gear while stripping it! ha ha!!)

yard sale treasures!

2011-10-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

Chris took Friday off to, well, spend some time together! He has been working really hard and there has been so much going on that he just felt it would be nice to have a 4 day weekend. Yes he is off today for Columbus day as well. Our morning started off watching the beautiful sunrise I showed here and cups of coffee from Starbucks after the boys had gone to school. After running a few errands and doing a few chores he agreed to go to a few yard sales with me... Well let me tell you I was in HEAVEN! I love the thrill of a good yard/estate/garage/tag sale!! The exchange of stories, hidden treasures, wondering whatever possessed them to even consider selling let alone buying things in the first place. Well you have got to see what I walked away with..... okay I will have to admit I spent FAR more than I would have ever considered in spending in the past but talk about some deals thrown in for free as well. So all in all it was a great find!

A beautiful trunk with tray, a full size cast metal bed original castors and railings, the beautiful picnic basket,

various old glass bottles (milk of magnesa, mrs butterworth, etc), 1950's refrigerator tray, pottery, and this gorgeous chair.

details on the lovely bed

viney leaves

and mushrooms.

I can hardly wait to start working on them. Yes the bed is going to be striped as well as the chair. Everything else will just get a good cleaning before we put them to use!

Fall mornings

2011-10-07T07:44:00.001-04:00

looking east

coffee with the hubby on his morning off

Keep it Simple plaque

2011-10-03T15:45:00.000-04:00

Keep it simple... its a phrase Chris uses at work a LOT! In fact he uses it so much that he asked me to make him a sign to put on his desk..... months ago. Honestly it was so long ago that my intentions were to make it for Father's Day. Well we know Father's Day came and went back in June so...... last week I KNEW I just had to make it. Why? I have no idea other than I knew it was long overdue and Chris has been oh so patient. So a humble scrape of wood underwent a change from this......

to this

Yes that is my crazy squiggly handwriting! (and the pencil marks have been erased) I had hoped to do a little more work on the sign by distressing it a bit but guess what? Its gone!!

Yep you guessed it! Chris was so excited about it that he took it to work before I considered it "finished!" LOL I guess that means he really likes it!

You are my sunshine!

2011-09-29T08:05:00.000-04:00

After seeing all the signs around with the words to "You are My Sunshine" I knew what I HAD to do... you see this is "our" song! When we were dating (I think it was when we were dating....) I was given a little top that played music. You would twirl the top and it would play you are my sunshine. I loved it! As time progressed my sweet young husband (he wasn't even 21 when we got married so I was teased mercilessly about robbing the cradle... you see I am a bit older. 5 years to be exact!) bought me more toys. Yes I loved them then and still do! One of our first valentines he bought me a stuffed cow that moos when squeeze it's tummy... and then while in Korea he bought me the elephant which trumpets and the warthog which well makes a noise which is "supposed" to be a warthoggy snorty snuffly sound... lets just say it is more of a sound which my boys love to imitate especially when they were younger. Somewhere along the line he found a paper music box the size of a deck of cards. When you open it up a bouquet of paper flowers pops up and it plays... you guessed it! "You are My Sunshine" So the other morning I got to thinking... what can I make my "sign" out of? Where will I put it? What colors should I use? Then it hit me! I have chalk markers! And a big mirror in the living room... so here is what I did

And do you know what??

HE LOVES IT!

I love the fact that I can change out the saying with the swipe of a rag

And...

IT WAS FREE!!

(yes we have begun the process of becoming debt free... thank you Dave Ramsey... hmm I think.... more on that at a later date, maybe.)

And do you know what else? I discovered I can write on the glass of artwork.

Autumn baking.... has begun!

2011-09-27T21:06:00.000-04:00

Wow I can NOT believe autumn is here already!! I mean I was sure it was summer just a week or so ago. Over the course of the last week our temperatures have begun a slow decline and there is a certain crispness to the air... yesterday the skies were a clear blue with puffy white clouds. Today... we woke to drizzle and gun grey skies. A perfect day for curling up with a good book and a cuppa. It was also the perfect day to start stocking the freezer with muffins for breakfast.

Blueberry

Chocolate Oatmeal

Yes these are the giant sized muffins. I've found that if I make normal sized muffins they are ALL gone in one sitting, even if I double the recipe. So I double the recipe add a few secret ingredients to make them even healthier (and more filling) which in turn leaves me one or two.

Yes the idea was to bake enough to freeze but since this is the beginning of the "baking" season I thought I would splurge and let the guys eat them all.

So by tomorrow morning after everyone has gone to school I'll start the process all over again... but this time these will go in the freezer, for those rushed mornings when no one wants cereal.

or for those leisurely mornings spent reading.

Hope you are enjoying the first days of fall!!

What a week!

2011-09-16T14:04:00.001-04:00

Wow I can hardly believe it is the middle of September already... I mean we just notifications of the first school quarter being halfway over. HOW could that happen?!?

As a few of you know my mother and step dad have been in town for the past week.... I really do wish they lived closer so that we could see them more often but have come to cherish the time we do have together. I had hoped to do a bit of baking/cooking/preserving/crafting/shopping together.

But we only managed....
the shopping... Several times in fact! It was wonderful to just wander the stores looking at things, gaining ideas, chatting away (uninterrupted), laughing.

.... evenings spent watching spectacular sunsets.

.....the parent's preview of the marching band show.

.....a trip to a conservatory where we enjoyed tropical plants on a grey day, ate super sweet vine ripened cherry tomatoes plucked fresh from the vine while wandering the children's gardens, tasted stevia (i love it, mom thinks its disgusting... ha ha)

..... and a few evenings of UNO, Phase 10, and Shang-hi.

Yes that is my momma and step dad!! Seriously doesn't she look great!?! I mean at 72 years old (in her case it is years young!!) she has so much energy. She is like the energizer bunny and a whirlwind rolled into one! I am so glad we had this past week together! And do you see that hair color? Yes, it is ALL natural... NEVER been touched Miss Clairol or any others. Seriously? How often does that happen?

Sadly our week came to an end as they decided to go home a day early... no there were no hard feelings or illness on their part. Its just that everything went a little crazy here. Yesterday evening Evan ~~broke~~ strained the growth plate in his foot. Yes you read that correctly. He was in the driveway smacking tennis balls against the garage door when he stepped wrong. His foot twisted under him and he crawled up to the house. Since we were going to be going back and forth between doctors all day long my folks decided to head out early. Oh we also had a cold front drop in which was starting to play havoc with my step dad's sinuses. Mom does NOT drive so they can NOT risk him getting sick on the way home. All in all I will miss them but I do understand! (Evan's foot was wrapped in a soft cast and is in a "boot" for the next 10 days... he may still be able to get in a few tennis matches after all!!)

Now I'm off to spend the rest of the afternoon making cookies and spending time at the podiatrist's office! ~~Sadly this means the end of the tennis season for said child~~.... he was so looking forward to the tennis match on Monday. His first EVER! Thankfully he should be healed by the time swim team practices start.... and may even get in a tennis match or two... Homemade cookies ALWAYS make a day better!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Customized magazine holders

2011-09-06T12:53:00.000-04:00

I enjoy reading as I am sure you can guess by the bookcases. But its not just any reading... I LOVE PAPER!! I enjoy crafting with it, I love the smell of it especially in the form of magazines and old books. There is just something about the smell of ink... Yes I have a bit of digital reading material but in all honesty... I prefer the feel of paper when I read. There is just something about it (even if it does mean I have to drag out my reading glasses or squint to make out the words, ha ha! and yes I squint more often than not!) So it should come as no surprise when I say I have a few magazines. A few are current reads but most of them are magazines which are no long in publication so I loathe the thought of getting rid of them. I shudder to admit this but... the top shelf of my closet and a small book case in our bathroom is filled with nothing but back issues of favorite magazines. Did I almost mention I collect individual articles as well? So how does a girl store them without having an unsightly mess? Magazine holders! And not just any but customized ones!! My first set came with a collection of used magazines from the thrift store, set #2 I made but they were thrown out with set #1 by the movers, and set #3 were these from Ikea (which I still use)

I have to admit I love them because I can leave them plain or give them a bit of personality. So with a bit of decoupage, scrap muslin, bits of velcro, and my sewing machine I covered them. The ones for the guest/craft room are being covered with sheets of scrapbook paper.

The middle one was laid out flat and I sewed my fabric on using a zigzag stitch. The other two were simply covered with a thin layer of decoupage "glue" and then the fabric laid over the top. After I made sure to smooth out all the wrinkles I went back over it with another coat of decoupage. What is not pictured are the dots of velcro adhered just inside the top "spine" and on the underside. These are to adhere strips of ribbon/fabric to coordinate with seasonal decor. For now we like the unadorned look.

I do have plans to make up my own from the old pattern but that will have to wait because.... MY MOM is coming to VISIT!! Its not often that I get to spend time with my folks as they live in Louisiana. This trip will be rather poignant as my dad passed away earlier this summer and I haven't seen my mom in a year. Thankfully Roland, my step-dad is a wonderful man and I am so glad to have him in my life, even if we don't see each other much.... well only as often as I see my mom since he is the one who drives her up to visit... she doesn't drive... hasn't for well over 40 years but that never kept her from stranded at home. God gave her two feet and walked if she needed to get some place, i can attest to that because i've walked many a mile with her. In fact at 72 she still walks about 3 miles a day just to stay in stay healthy! So this week I am getting ready for their visit and next week will be spent visiting, shopping, and crafting (she doesn't know this tidbit of information yet)!

The wall of bookcases

2011-08-31T11:38:00.001-04:00

YES! All the missing cords, chargers, and other camera paraphernalia was found!!

So without further adieu I give you the assembled bookcases....

Okay I have to admit there is one "flaw" that kinda bugs me. It is highly visible through the lens of a camera but is barely noticeable in person. Do you see it? Or am I the only one who notices it?

Yes, you see it, don't you? The seam in the backboard of the bookcases! But seriously it really is hardly noticeable in person!! Once everything is in place I am sure it will disappear (in fact I am the only one in my family who still remembers its there, ha ha!!). For the price of the bookcases I am VERY happy!!
It is starting to look exactly as I imagined.

As you can see we are still in the arranging stage and there are more books to be put on the shelves. And lets not forget the magazine subscriptions from years past..... Cooks Illustrated, Organic Gardening, and Martha Stewart Living, my old stand-bys from days gone by which still get used on a regular basis. Currently I am gathering the supplies to make customized magazine holders so they can be kept organized and neat.

And do you see the boxes in the upper right corner? Those are some of our board games! A few years ago Target had classic board games in wooden storage boxes on clearance after Christmas. We don't play them as often as we once did but during the winter they still get their far share of usage. I am hoping to see if my father-in-law will make me some more storage boxes which can be used for other games and treasures.

Camera craziness and a blogging hiatus

2011-08-25T10:19:00.000-04:00

You are not going to believe this but I finally have (or make that had!) a blogging schedule. Yep twice a week, the time is marked on my calendar, and all is ready to go. I've been taking pictures, crafting, cleaning, sewing, and organizing... Did I mention taking pictures? Well a bit ago we discovered the cord to the charger for my camera battery is missing. No problem, there is still a charge. Until my son goes to take a picture of the moon and what... its dead. What do you mean its dead? I ask. Apparently my camera had been left on. ugh.... okay no problem we have more cameras! Get out the old digital camera. Ah success! Gorgeous pictures of the evening sky and moon rising. Okay so lets download these bad boys...
We popped out the memory card and wait... seriously wait for it folks... the card DOES NOT fit any of our computers or printers. Yes it is obsolete! Okay lets grab the cord... NO it doesn't work either.

REPEAT PROCESS AGAIN!

Yes you read that correctly! We now have two obsolete cameras from which we cannot download pictures, one missing cord, one cord which does not fit any cameras, and one broken cord.

So until

1. we find the old battery charger and cord

b. we buy a new charger.

We will be without cameras. Yes I can take pictures with my camera but can't figure out how to load them. One other thing... we did find one camera with its cord but my computer has decided that that particular camera contains NO pictures.

So I am going back to my sewing and preserving and junk sorting filled days.

Maybe we will even have stuff to sell on eBay. Oh wait that means taking pictures!

ARgh!!!!!!!

(it might be a tiny bit frustrating but its okay as work is getting done here!!)

Hope you have a wonderful week and are enjoying the remaining summer days!

Inspiration for our wall of bookcases!

2011-08-17T13:26:00.001-04:00

I am so excited!! Have I ever mentioned that I work at a snail's pace and that I'm easily distracted? No? REally? Well, let's just say it takes me a while to get rooms decorated. I mean, we have only been in this house for 18 months and the addition has only been completed for something like 2 months. ha ha! Years ago my dear sweet husband used to "encourage" me by reminding me that "Rome wasn't built in a day!" Now, he just smiles at me! He is so understanding!!!

Well the bookcases came in today! bookcases? What bookcases? OH did I forget to mention that? See for the past 21 years we have lived with mis-matched bookcases in all sorts of shapes and sizes.... yard sale finds, gifts from my father-in-law, unassembled unfinished types. You get the picture. Well this time we took the plunge and bought 5, dare I say FIVE matching bookcases. They make my heart swoon... (I know who uses words like swoon any more??? apparently I do! words like swoon, beaucoup (pronounced boo-coo, yep nothing like a little bit of redneck french to spice things up.... and to make our boys and/or their friends roll their eyes!! ha ha!) Back to the book cases.... I would love to show you a picture of them assembled and staged in our living room aka "the library" but they are not assembled and I did a bad thing.... I mean really bad!! I lost the charging cable for the camera. It was one of those cases of me putting it somewhere other than where it belonged (the camera bag) but in a place that made so much more sense. Did I mention I get distracted easily? Which sometimes translates into I forget things... Yes you guessed it. I do NOT remember where I put the charger for the camera battery... and the battery is dead. Soooo...... for now a picture of one of the inspirations for the bookcase wall.

(photo courtesy of pinterest and HGTV)

(I know this is such a long drawn out process but it will be worth it in the end! I promise... really it will!)

So now I am off to start clearing the area and start assembling bookcases... did I mention there are 5 to assemble? If I start to look dazed and confused PLEASE remind me that this really was a good idea...

Okay?

Thanks!

A to Z of.....

2011-08-11T07:39:00.000-04:00

You know I've seen this done a bit recently and decided to "join" in so to speak.... especially since I've been so negligent of this blog. But summer is soon coming to an end so maybe things will change. :)

So here goes... the A to Z of me

A. age :: 46

B. bed size :: queen

C. chore you hate :: mopping the floors

D. dogs :: Lily

E. essential start to your day :: hmmm I do like a good cup of coffee but its not always essential.

F. favorite color :: orange, chocolate brown, aqua, but in pretty much all the colors under the rainbow (aside from garish colors like mustard yellow and avocado green!)

G. gold or silver :: silver

H. height :: five.feet.two

I. instruments you play :: piano (kinda)

J. job title :: mama, wife, friend, daughter

K. kids :: ian, sean, and evan (our three john's)

L. live :: indiana

M. maiden name :: monroe

N. nicknames :: peggs, honey

O. overnight hospital stays ::tonsils at 19, and then all three of my "babies"

P. pet peeve :: mean people, talking with food in your mouth

Q. quote :: "but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31"

R. righty or lefty :: right

S. siblings :: none

T. time you wake up :: 6 a.m. during the school year and whenever during the summer

U. university attended :: Metropolitan State College (Denver), Metropolitan Community College (Omaha) but I've never managed to get a degree even though I have enough credits....maybe in the near future.

V. vegetables you dislike: endive but I like a LOT of veggies!

W. what makes you run late :: my own self and sometimes a certain other who will remain nameless. :)

X. x-rays you’ve had :: multiple head x-rays due to bad sinuses, one arm and all the normal teeth x-rays.

Y. yummy food :: pizza, mexican, italian, etc... there is a reason for my "curvy" figure but I am starting to get pickier as I get older.

Z. zoo animal favorite :: monkeys, elephants, and most anything they will let you pet! I LOVE animals!

So there you go, a little peek into my quiet life!

Wrapping paper lined cabinet

2011-07-15T16:21:00.001-04:00

In this case pictures speak much louder than words so I give one of the "new" cabinets....

And a close up of the paper used to line.

It was purchased at Hobby Lobby during the after Christmas sale for 75% off.

Now to finish refilling the cabinets....

Linked to:

Lining the cabinets

2011-07-14T12:05:00.000-04:00

I have been asked for more info so I am going to give you a few sneak peaks.

I am thinking of lining the backs of my cabinets with this.

(don't you love pretty wrapping paper that was 75% off after Christmas at Hobby Lobby?!)

Aged reds with lots of pattern

Lots of white plates and serving ware

distressed edges

and more storage.

As you can see it is coming along at slow and steady pace. HOnestly I don't know about the steady but it is coming along. We have been taking time to enjoy summer activities such as swimming, demolition derby at the local fair, watching lightening bugs, and making popsicles!

Hope you are taking time to enjoy the summer!

I am getting a new kitchen!

2011-06-29T16:01:00.001-04:00

Yes, you read that correctly... I am getting a NEW kitchen!! But it will be over period of time, ha ha. For now all I am going to tell you is that walls have been repainted, shelves are being emptied, interiors painted and lined plus baskets and jars are being collected. And there might even be a new light fixture or two involved... (thats still in the discussion stage...) And the best thing about the "NEW" kitchen is the cost will be fairly minimal. Currently the only expense we are looking at is a gallon of paint, a single light fixture, a new countertop, and ... a NEW STOVE. My current one has issues such as burning the bottoms of muffins while leaving the tops underdone, warped interior, failing elements, and a quirky thermostat... just to name a few.

The new color is Ralph Lauren's Tomato as seen here.

Here is a progression of what our kitchen has looked like:

The previous owner's decor and paint scheme.

What used to be the current look pre-flooring.

I can hardly wait to show you what all I have up my sleeve but it will have to wait a bit longer as we have a few family obligations to attend to first!

But here are a few inspiration photos to give you a better idea of what "we" are planning.

via http://www.designsponge.com/2009/05/sneak-peek-lucy-allen-gillis.html

via http://www.designsponge.com/2010/03/sneak-peek-emersonmade-2.html

Have a Happy Independence Day

aka 4th of JULY!

Thank you for the thoughts and prayers!

2011-06-29T15:38:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to say thank you for ALL of your thoughts and prayers during this trying time. Things are going much better and we were able to have many questions that have lingered in our minds for years answered. Some good, some not so good but all brought peace of mind.

So once again thank you and know that your kind words meant more to me than I can ever express!!

Taking time away to regroup....

2011-06-21T12:57:00.000-04:00

Well friends I am afraid I am going to be gone for a while... right now my head and heart are just not in my blog or much of anything for that matter. Please keep me in prayer as I am going through a VERY difficult time right now. I received news yesterday that my dad died almost a month ago.... apparently there has been no known next of kin on all documents. In fact right now I am trying to track down death certificate, coroner, etc as I am the only next of kin since my parents divorced after I graduated from high school. Lets just say the whole thing reads like some weird mystery novel or soap opera. I will be back... in time. But for now, well life needs my full attention or at least what I can give. Thankfully I have a family who is pulling around me right now and I know the Lord will give me the strength to continue on.

Toodles....

Paint, paint, and more paint!

2011-06-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

Have I got some surprises up my sleeves for you! Well for my whole family in all honesty... our youngest is the only one who is completely in the know and he's keeping mum!

All I can say is...

PAINT

Paint

and

MORE PAINT

(Have you noticed how odd the word paint looks when you write it betimes?)

(okay if you haven't noticed I have a thing for archaic words... ha ha)

Yes we are talking multiple rooms, furniture, and accessories! Once done our eldest will have a "new" bedroom, the brand new half bath will be accessorized, and we will have a "new" kitchen. The cost is being kept at a minimum with paint, "found" accessories, and a few new items such as shelf brackets from Ikea. Yep we are planning a DAY trip to Ikea... hopefully tomorrow depending on how my sweet husband feels. Otherwise we will head down to Indy for a day of shopping instead...

Hope you have a great week!

Hopefully I'll be back later this week with updates but I won't make any promises as we have a birthday to celebrate!

An afternoon spent with FIVE 12 to 13 year old boys!

(we are praying for warm temperatures so they can spend the afternoon swimming!)

The Addition is DONE....

2011-06-07T21:57:00.001-04:00

... now the ~~work~~ FUN begins!

The Family room

A view of the pool and soon to be patio area

The other side of the family room.

The sweet powder room!

The guest/music/craft/exercise room.

The exercise/storage alcove in the "guest/craft" room.

Can you tell I am trying to stake my claim on this room?

Because one, possibly two other somebodies are trying to make it into their space as well!

One day this "alcove" might become a walk-in closet but for now it will hold the Bowflex and shelves for craft supplies.

Do you see that gorgeous door? Well we found out they go on sale on a regular basis... and we get a 10% military discount on top of it. So one by one the remainder of the doors in the house are going to be replaced with these arched beauties.

Now the ~~work~~ FUN begins.... and I already found the most incredible chair already!

Aegean Dreams... a desk makeover

2011-05-31T20:42:00.003-04:00

Do you the desk makeover I started last week? The one seen here.

Well here she is in all her new glory! And do you know what makes it so sweet? My husband wasn't too sure when I mentioned painting the desk this color. And now he LOVES it! He loves how it brings out the colors in the painting above it and how the hardware really coordinates with the frame.

And I didn't spend a DIME!!

The spray paint, the hardware, the desk paint... all items we already had from previous projects or thing which had been given to us.

(I just noticed a couple of spots where I got some paint over-spray which will be cleaned up SOON!)

Linky Parties:

Vintage Revivals: Look What I Found Fridays

My mediterranean inspired desk (edited to include final picture!)

2011-05-25T12:29:00.007-04:00

You know how we have this addition being built, right? Well now the re-decorating bug has bit me... plus the crafting bug. So I am going to start posting some of my "projects" since I can't get into the addition yet. OH yeah I haven't shared the latest in our series of adventures or should that be our mis-adventures. Remember the gorgeous flooring I was telling you about... well it came in early!! And our contractor picked it up. And I took a look at it later in the day and.... it was the WRONG flooring. So we called Lowe's and apparently the company (Pergo or possibly Lowe's) shipped out the WRONG flooring. So now we are waiting for it to come in which means it has to sit in the house for ANOTHER 48 hours once it arrives which means it will be NEXT week before the project is done. I am trying to stay calm... and have succeeded so far. But if I have to listen to the painter's music another hour I might scream.... its not loud or even bad but its not my taste. In fact I rarely play music because I like the sound of silence. I know crazy, huh?!? But what can I say, give the sound of the wind whistling or the birds chirping and I am one happy girl. Or for that matter the sound of the ocean breaking on the beach or rocks plus the sound of gulls screaming, the smell of brine, wild roses and wild beach plums... far better than any artificial fragrance known to mankind. The more you see of our home the more you will see what inspires me, God's creation, more specifically the ocean.

Do you see my lovely lady?

I got her at a friend's yard sale about 10 years ago and she got her at a yard sale about 20 years prior to that from 2 lovely sisters who were cleaning out the old family estate.

This little lady had been in their family for a good 40 to 50 years!

Time has not been kind to her or more accurately the movers have not been good to her.

So I knew it was time for a little updating...

Here she sits now waiting her new handles and a bit more polish on her dainty feet

(plus another coat of paint)
(edited: I forgot to mention I ran out of paint prior to getting the legs and interior done... so it will be off to pick up more paint either later tonight or tomorrow! Thanks Gail for catching that!)

See what I mean about my love of the sea and all its glory! Do you see the picture hanging above my desk? Well I bought it while in college from a little gallery owned by an acquaintance.

It's a coastal village in France.

My dream (the coastal village but necessarily in France.)

When I look at it I can hear the cry of the gulls, smell the savory brine of fish and warm coastal breezes, taste the salt on my lips, and almost feel the sun warming my skin.

But for now I am content to dream and to linger in the faint memories of my early childhood.

And now for the final reveal....

Isn't she the sweetest thing around?!

And do you know what's crazy???
I've been trying to convince my husband that she would look great painted like this for the past couple of years. (let's just say we agreed to disagree on the matter so I decided to bide my time....)
Now he LOVES this desk when before he merely liked her.
(and I see versions of her popping up all over the internet! Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought she would look adorable with a bit of a make-over!)

Linked to:

I was caught:

The Saga continues... (edited with photos)

2011-05-21T17:49:00.001-04:00

(~~For the time being I will be photo free... no this is not by choice! blogger and my computer are currently at odds. blogger refuses to acknowledge the newest downloads~~...)

I just now realized that I didn't tell you our "plans" for the weekend!! It was definitely an exciting morning!! Remember me saying we were getting new flooring in the kitchen and dining room since it will flow into the family room. Well this morning we emptied both rooms... and started taking our old "laminate" flooring up. Let's just say it was a day of discovery!! ha ha! First we discovered our laminate floor was not laminate but a really good linoleum. Yep you read that correctly! It had us fooled, the realtor fooled, and the previous owner fooled plus our contractor. Crazy!

Our discoveries:

1. linoleum not laminate

2. TONS of staples!!

3. wet subfloor and 4. mold 5. the "tiny" leak from the tub in the boys' bathroom was NOT tiny

6. the dishwasher leaks (A LOT)

7. the dishwasher is beyond repair

But the good news is:

1. the flooring is up and prepped for the new laminate

2. the mold is cleaned up

3. the subfloor is drying nicely

4. the plumber is making the leak a higher priority

5. we looked at new dishwashers

6. removed the island and kitchen looks HuGE

7. bought family room light

8. decided on paint color for family room

9. bought a new light for the boys' room

So as you can see it was a very productive day!!

Day 3 of Drywall work....

2011-05-18T16:15:00.000-04:00

I am so excited I can hardly stand myself!! Tomorrow will be the final skim coat plus texturizing of the ceiling which means Friday will be the sanding day (a day I plan to out and about!!) Do you see that wonderful opening? It makes it seem so much bigger in here! I love it. Now to decide if we paint it white or the same color as the dining room/kitchen. Any suggestions? We can have it painted the same color as the kitchen if we want. I just have to let our contractor know... but the guest/craft/music room will be WHITE! That way I can do all kinds of crazy stuff in there!!

(current configuration)

Proposed changes to dining room

and kitchen

I know the flooring looks great but we discovered we can't match it! And as you can tell it will run directly into the addition so we are putting in ALL new flooring.

The old flooring you ask?

Well it will be saved to put down in the boys' bedroom or make repairs to the bathrooms.

(I just haven't mentioned this to Chris yet... but I'm sure he will agree!)

Drywall!!! And a question or two

2011-05-17T13:11:00.000-04:00

Wow... have it ever been crazy around here lately what with all the end of the school year projects, activities, house projects, and the annual church rummage sale! I mean seriously has everyone been watching hoarders?!? Because with the amount of clothes that ended up at our sale I know someone (or a few) did some serious emptying of their closets. Think a standard size school gymnasium/basketball court
FILLED with stuff... yep you read that STUFF! And no I did not take any pictures (as she hangs her head in shame...) I think it would have been too overwhelming. I had a hard time keeping track of my water bottle and my soda, let alone add a camera to the mix. ha ha!

The renovation is coming along quite nicely. Today they are doing a little mudding and it looks like they will be ready to sand on Friday which means next MONDAY the new floors will be installed!!!! Which means no road trip to Zionsville for an awesome yard/antique sale but we will be getting NEW FLOORING!!! I am so excited! In fact there is every possibility their work will be done Memorial Day weekend. So Chris and I had better get a move on! We still have to decide on a ceiling light for the family room and area rugs plus furniture. Yes you did read that correct! Furniture... as in we have none to put in there. We do have the sofa, Chris' recliner, and the rocking chair in the living room plus a number of bookcases but that not all of it will be moved over! Oh I almost forgot about the steamer trunk and the hutch which will both be moved into the family room and craft room.

New opening between the dining room and family room.

The family room

The guest/craft/music room

For the time being this is where we will set-up the Bowflex. In a few years it might become a walk-in closet.

Now for the questions...

Question number 1: What do you think of a faux board and batten treatment with white paint? Too much white? Too much of a contrast between rooms?

Question number 2: Ceiling fixture in the family room... something that hangs down a little? ceiling hugging? Remember the ceiling is slightly lower than normal but higher than the bedrooms. I think we agreed a ceiling fax would be too low.

Question number 3: furniture suggestions? T.V. placement? It will be mounted on the wall but not sure where... Bookcases? yes? no? loveseat? We don't want to overwhelm the room but do want seating for movie watching and video game playing. The guys seem to prefer sitting on the floor to play video games as they like to be close to the T.V.

I do know that I want silver or brushed nickle in the ceiling fixture.

Thanks for all your suggestions!!

Stone raised bed garden (my mother's day present!)

2011-05-07T21:14:00.000-04:00

Do you see this incredibly sweet man?

Do you know what he is doing?

Have you figured it out?

He made me a stone raised bed garden in front of the swimming pool!

(okay I confess I asked him to make it but still didn't he do a great job!!)

And do you know what??? It didn't cost us a single thing!!

The whole bed is made from the remains of our old patio.

By the way... the addition sits on the spot of the old patio!

Thank you sweetie!

A BIG THANK YOU!

2011-05-04T11:28:00.000-04:00

I want to thank everyone who voted for us in the Epic Room Makeover Giveaway over at Vintage Revivals. No we did not make it to the next round but I hopefully I will glean some wonderful ideas due to it.

Now the big news.... do you see what I see?

WINDOWS!

All the windows are now in plus our lovely sliding glass door!

See our lovely view as well! Its an organic farm with sheep and cows and chickens and goats... all for our viewing pleasure. I love watching the new lambs and calves frolicking! They are so incredibly cute!

Don't you just love the view of the pool? Do you see the grass just outside the window? That area that runs over to the fence. Well come early summer it is going to be a deck! Last summer we traded our enclosed trailer for the labor to have it built this spring. Now we just need to purchase the materials...

And do you see all the lovely morning light we get? I can hardly wait for them to finish.... This weeks schedule looks like this... plumber to plumb itty bitty powder room. finish pulling the electric. finish roof overhang. start insulating (possibly finish?).

Yesterday, the drywall was ordered so maybe next week we will see some drywall going up.

Which reminds me... I wonder when we need to have the flooring??? We still need to order it and were told it will take a 7 days to come in. I guess we better get on that!

And do you see this area? Well it is in the spare room.

One day it will be a walk-in closet but for now....

it will contain shelving for craft storage and possibly the bowflex!

Sorry but there has been absolutely NO crafting going on right now.... I think my brain is on overload as we are attending all of the end of the school year functions. Plus our eldest has decided he does not want to go to college right out of high school. He wants to go into the military! The USMC to be exact... be still my beating heart! I am so proud of him and my prayer is that he will continue to allow God to lead him in all his decisions. We can only hold their hand for so long before we start having to let go and watch as they make their own decisions. Am I ready for this? NOT in the LEAST! But he is a young man and we cannot make his decisions concerning his future as an adult! He has always had a pretty level head and I am so proud of his willingness to try new things!

I love you and am so proud of you, Ian!!

my crazy boys!

(I still have no idea how he did this one!)

Don't you just love my cousin-children?

Trust me its a question they get all the time....

"You mean HE'S your brother? But you don't look anything alike!"

Yep meet fair skinned with freckles and straight red hair (coppery strawberry blonde) and mediterranean skin tone with deep brown eyes and curly brown/black hair, brothers... 5 years apart!

Enjoy your week and Cinco de Mayo tomorrow!

We will!!

Voting is now open!!

2011-05-01T13:56:00.001-04:00

Hey there all my lovely friends! The link is now up and live for the

Please stop by and vote! I am entry #78, Peggy. Thank you so very much! You have no idea how excited we are or how badly we would love to win!! I figure one way or the other we will come out winners as I've discovered some really wonderful new blogs along the way! Once again thank you of so very much!

I love me some posies!

2011-04-30T14:34:00.000-04:00

Today has been a busy day already and it is just barely passed noon... well in a matter of speaking, ha ha!

Today a dear friend of ours is having a yard sale. Well really her friends are hosting it for her so that it won't be too painful. You see our dear Miss "R" recently moved out of her home of over 50 years into a lovely two bedroom apartment in a retirement community. She is truly an amazing Christian lady! While living in this home she lovingly raised her family and buried two husbands. Her home has been a haven of respite as missionaries traveled through our region. And she is an artist... painter in oils and water colour, seamstress, writer, stained glass artist, needlework, baker and the list goes on. To this day she makes cards to send out to our missionary ladies!! Today I bought two pieces of art by Miss "R".

Now we all know I just can't leave things alone.

So I made a change or two to the frame.

I love how the colors really pop now!

In time I plan to do a little trim this picture down a smidge to be this size....

Can you see this with a somewhat chunky brushed nickel frame?

Or maybe chunk antique white frame?

I love it that we are able to own artwork that has meaning to our family!

Epic Room makeover Giveaway! voting open!!!

2011-04-28T14:22:00.012-04:00

The link has now gone LIVE for voting... click on the link and vote for us, entry #78 (Peggy)!
THANK YOU!!

(This post had to be redone as I accidentally crashed it... don't ask how because even I'm not sure!!)

Okay so I finally took the plunge! I have been hemming and hawing over whether I should do this or not but decided... NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED! So I am officially entering our addition for the

As some of you know we moved from Alaska to Indiana just over a year ago. We down sized from a two story cedar sided 1850 square foot home with an incredible view of Mt. McKinley visible from our house length covered porch sitting on 10 acres to a 1250 square foot one story home situated on less than 1/2 an acre surrounded by an organic farm (which we love 'cause they have sheep that bound through the pasture in spring!) Yep you read that correctly 1850 to 1250 square feet! And we still have the same number of people in our family... FIVE plus a HUGE dog!

So we decided to have an addition added. You know the story... we didn't want to try and sell our tiny but relatively cute home due to the housing market or should I say lack of selling market!
So lets build! We get to make all the choices ourselves, etc, etc, etc.
That was back in December... fast forward 5 months and we are still in the building process due to unforeseen weather issues!
However we are getting close to the end as it is all inside work....

AND I am NOW drawing a blank!

Once the old patio door is removed this will become the opening between the dining room and family room.

The sliding patio door was installed Friday...

Double windows will be installed next week in the opening to the left.

Door to powder room on the left and BIG door to guest/craft/music room on the right.

Did I mention there are updates being made daily?
And decisions to be made daily?
And our projected finish date is late May?
I will be possibly updating daily depending on the progress that is made...
(Update: Next week... new windows, plumbing, and possibly electrical!)

HOWEVER DO I DECORATE IT ON A NON-EXISTENT BUDGET?!?
(I'LL EXPLAIN IN A MINUTE...)
I mean I know how to decorate on a budget
but
MY BRAIN IS FRIED!!
my craftiness is at a all time low...

PLEASE, PLEASE HELP!
I think Mandi has some great ideas and I would be honored to have her assitance! Okay lets get real here... it would be more like me tagging along cause as I said my brain is fried!

Did I also mention our youngest starts junior high in the fall, our eldest will graduate next year and is toying with joining the USMC instead of going to college first, and our middle son is asking us to take on some leadership positions in the band boosters?
Oh and my husband is contemplating retiring off active duty next year as well!

And here is the KICKER.... we lost our decorating budget!!!

How you ask?

Well this was our first year living in Indiana and we discovered a wicked thing called county taxes! Who knew that they were NOT taken out with the STATE TAXES.
Yep the amount was staggering to say the least!
(if you really want to know the amount feel free to e-mail me)
But it took ALL the money I had saved up to decorate with plus part of our final payment on the addition.

Can you see why I am feeling a bit over whelmed?

Yep I am calling out all the stops and begging for votes!
In case I didn't mention it the addition will be used as the family room... you know an area to watch movies, play video games.
plus a room off it to do crafts, use as a music practice room (cause we have a marimba player and a soon to be alto saxophonist) and to use as a guest room since ALL our family lives a minimum of 600 miles away!!!

We would be of so grateful if you found it in your heart to vote for us!!
Thank you!!

P.S. I almost forgot to add that we have some really cool stuff that can be used to decorate with such as this 1920's steamer trunk which we found at a yard sale a number of years ago

And this hutch that has been in the family since the Civil War.

Thank you for stopping by!!
I REALLY, REally, really appreciate it!

AND WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOUR VOTE!

Spring????

2011-04-27T10:28:00.000-04:00

How does the saying go "April showers bring May flowers?" If that is the case our May ought to be filled with flowers! Recently our days have been looking a lot like this....

and this

Now don't get me wrong... it makes for a dramatic picture with a sky of swirling clouds in a beautiful shade of gun metal grey and the birds chirping their happy little songs in the background. In fact I love having the windows open a smidge to clear out the winter funk of three young men (yeah I guess it is time to admit they are young men...not "boys" any more! but I am still holding holding out on the youngest at soon to be 12!) and one big, sometimes stinky dog! However these same weather conditions do nothing for our building project or gardening for that matter. And don't get me on the plight of the poor farmers. I mean seriously these folks were able to have over half of the corn crop in by this time last year and they haven't gotten a single seed in the ground this year. Which means reduced yield this fall! I truly feel bad for the farmers, not just here but every where! We grip and groan about the rising cost of food in the stores but do you see any farmers getting rich? NOpe, not even CLOSE! In fact some are even slowly losing money due to the high cost of fuel and equipment maintenance and for others its not even close to a slow lose. Sorry about the rant... I love farmers and I really do feel for their plight!

Okay now where was I? Oh yeah the weather... which was really part of me explaining why I haven't posted much of anything in FOREVER. See with the building project I haven't been doing any crafting or much of anything worthy of posting. My time has been preoccupied with sorting papers, drawing and redrawing floor plans, looking at plumbing and lighting fixtures, sorting more papers and cleaning. Yeah tons of exciting stuff..... Oh we have also been dealing with all the initial orthodontist appointments, final podiatrist appointments, junior high scheduling, high school scheduling, track practice, children's play practice at church, youth band practice, mission trip training sessions, high school play practice (tech crew), and a muddy backyard which is now off limits due to open fence. Did I mention we have a BIG dog? She loves her backyard but is now relegated to a tree in the front instead of the porch as she tried and almost successfully removed a support post on the front porch. It now leans to the left just a smidge... As I said not a lot of exciting stuff. Just normal, every day hum drum stuff that I am oh so grateful for! It all tells me that my "boys" are thriving and healthy and enjoying life. That they are growing in the Lord and are developing deeper friendships. They are stretching and finding their limits, sometimes even moving beyond them. They are growing up and I am trying my hardest to step back a bit and enjoy it with them!

Did I mention we are ALL super excited about the prospect of the family room? NO work today due to weather but the new sliding patio door plus all the windows and interior doors are to be delivered today!! Yippee!

The openings for the powder room and craft/music/guest room.

(finished room size: powder room 5'x5', guest room 10'2x11')

The family room looking into the dining room. The door be removed and widened a bit to become the opening into the main portion of the house.

(finished family room size 15'7"x14')

(and now I wondering if we should have gone 15'7"x15 on the family room and 10'x10' on the guest/craft/music room???? oh no! what did i do? breath deep it'll be ok!)

The family room. The double windows will go in the opening on the left. The opening on the right is actually where the new patio doors will be installed. Right now it has a full sheet of particle board laying across the opening. As you can see we still have a little bit of moisture on the "floor" from the last storm which hit before they could get the space completely enclosed.

As you can see "we" are making progress. Who am I kidding? They are making progress! We are praying it will be done, completed, fine, esta bien? Si. Thank you!

Spring Break!!

2011-04-26T12:31:00.001-04:00

SPRING BREAK!!!

Most of which was spent at home sleeping in, watching movies, and generally being LAZY! but we did take Chris was able to get a day off mid week and we went to the

We had a wonderful time!

I can't even begin to post all the pictures which were taken. Sean took possession of the camera on the drive and lets just say almost 400 pictures later when the battery died (oops I knew I forgot to do something the day before!) he handed it back.

The only one of Chris and I...

And our eldest being silly...

Yep the humor of boys!

Gives a whole new perspective to Pickin' and Grinnin', huh?

I have to admit I love it when we can catch Ian being silly as he can come across as such a serious young man. And I see Sean managed to capture a single picture of Evan, in motion! But then that is pretty much his nature state right now... constant motion especially when he gets to just be a kid with his older brothers.

More spectacular displays!

And lunch! Yep Chris figured if we drove all that way we may as well stop in at a Famous Dave's.

we followed this truck from the museum for a ways and then finally passed it... about 30 minutes after we got to the restaurant they drove in!

We refrained from going to my favorite store which was only 20 minutes away because Famous Dave and my stomach were NOT agreeing on this trip. However the trip home was uneventful THANKFULLY!

All in all we had a wonderful Spring Break from school. Now we are just waiting for the school year to end. The boys are very excited for different reasons. Evan will start junior high next year. Sean will be a sophomore and marching band practice starts back up in June. And Ian will only have one year of school left and is already looking towards graduation in a year. And for me... well they are ALL reasons that I would love to turn back the hands of time!

walls and rain and Easter and...

2011-04-26T12:08:00.000-04:00

I can't believe the month is almost over! I know you are probably sick and tired of hearing about how I can hardly believe so much time has passed. But that seems to be our life recently, as in the past 5 years, ha ha!! Not that I mind but it sure does make childhood go by far too quickly for my tastes.

Now lets see where are we... that's right we have an addition being built! Two days ago we were here... a roof but no walls.

Can you tell we've had a "little bit" of rain recently? And it is supposed to start raining again today and continue for the remainder of the week. The grass sure is nice and green! So far we have had 1 dry day for every 4 days of of thunderstorms and tornadoes. Thankfully we have been protected and have had no damage!

I will have an update of more pictures to this post in a few hours but don't want to disturb the builders whilst they are furiously working to beat the next storm system. :)

Inside much has been going on as well. I have a new chalk "board"!

It is the chalkboard contact paper available at Michael's, 18"x 6' but I only used 5 feet I think.

We love it for keeping track of all the projects going on plus our "needs" lists!

And we had an absolutely wonderful Easter!! It was a very quiet day as there was no Sunday school or evening services, just the morning service spent in worship of our risen Lord and Savior!

Yes I have to admit we did the annual hide the Easter baskets for the boys. It is getting hard as they are all old enough that we really have to truly ingenious in the hiding places.

Later in the afternoon we had lovely dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, pistachio salad with the "fruit" flavored miniature marshmallows, peas, and buttermilk biscuits.

My silly boys hiding their faces as we were setting the table. Ah yes there is no table cloth as we have misplaced them! Seriously all of my table cloths have gone missing as we prepared for the addition. And no one knows where they might be.

This makes me a bit sad as I have some lovely old linens that I love to use for special occasions such as Easter and birthdays and Mother's Day!

And we have absolutely NO IDEA what has become of them!

Our festive center piece.

Kumquats ($.50 reduced for quick sale) and artificial ranunculus which were on sale as well.

Both part of my Easter "basket" which is the tall glass vase seen on the hutch in the previous picture.

A lovely buy at Goodwill for $1.99 (and half off to boot!)

We have a new addition to our home!

2011-04-03T16:06:00.002-04:00

Okay so did that get you wondering??? No there are no more children on the horizon (that we know about!!) or any new animals... but an addition nevertheless. Yep our humble abode is going to be getting bigger! (from 1250 to 1650 square feet, woo hoo!!) We are so insanely excited... okay I don't know how excited the boys are but Chris and I are definitely over-the-top excited. This means when family comes to visit they will have a room to stay in, a bath close by and we will have a family room. This also means I have been busy drawing plans, drawing and redrawing room plans, deciding on flooring (still undecided but NO carpet!), figuring out furnishings and lighting. Let's not forget paint, window placement, lighting placement... do we paint? do we do a board and batten treatment? (please oh please say yes) Do I paint the kitchen cabinets to make the area seem brighter? Do I remove cabinet doors? OH the decisions. And my wonderful husband... well he gave me a kiss and said "whatever you want, honey!" WHATEVER I WANT!?!? I don't know what I want... :) He really is such a sweetheart about the whole thing and has incredible taste! In fact this the same man who convinced me to paint the kitchen in Alaska tomato red! and ya know what? He was so RIGHT! It looked incredibly awesome and is my all-time favorite kitchen. So since this house has lower than normal ceilings in much of the house plus a somewhat low vaulted ceiling reminiscent of a cottage we are going to try and decorate as such. Just as long as there is not a lot of fru fru stuff.. cause ya know I'm not a fru fru girl. Give me antiques I can use daily, thick butcher blocks, leather sofas, and a distressed dining room table I am one happy girl. No there is no peeling paint in our house because he who I love dearly feels the need to paint it but he is fine with a scarred well used dining/kitchen table. AND he has been so patient with all the CLUTTER (something he loathes!) as I try to downsize. So here are just a few pictures to show you the progress...

Oh by the way, they just started the actual construction on Thursday as the weather did not cooperate all winter long!

The crawlspace dug and blocked in. My climbing rose bush in the jack-o-lantern bucket and the location of our old patio.

The temporary new location of my old patio.

And in other news... We just completed the AWANA Grand Prix! What a great turnout and the kids seemed to have such a great time. They were supportive of each other no matter the outcome of the races. I won't be including any pictures of the kids as I do NOT have the express permission of the other parents to post pictures of their children but here are some of the cars, to include a few "novelty" cars.

Don't you love the monarch butterfly caterpillar car and the ladybug car?

And the mustache car? Trust me it really does look like one when you look at it straight on! Absolutely hilarious!

(our youngest the day prior to getting his braces)

(and his car for which he won 2nd place for best race car design.. it really does look like an Indy car in real life! It was his first year to race!) A great time was had by all!! I am so glad we were able to help out this year. Not only were the kids so much fun to watch but so were the parents (I'm tellin' ya some of the parents were more into it than the kids! lol)

Oh if I haven't said it before, I am saying it NOW. Any and all ideas for flooring, paint, wall treatments, etc will be gratefully accepted, links will be more than welcome as well!

Hope you have a great week! We will as we get to sleep in. ITS SPRING BREAK!! Woo hoo!

thrift modern art

2011-03-14T16:15:00.007-04:00

This weekend was so productive! Saturday Sean and I spent much of the afternoon running errands and finishing up projects. We scored a MAJOR find! Our local Blockbuster is closing its doors (permanently closed as of today) and they were selling EVERYTHING in the store... Yep you read that, EVERYTHING! This included all displays and cabinets. So by Saturday evening we were the proud owners of 4 (FOUR) metal 24 inch wide double drawer cabinets which look like this.

(OKAY I NEED SOME SERIOUS HELP!! All of a sudden when I try to upload any photos taken after March 15th I can not get them to appear in the drop down window... any suggestions? I use a MacBook Pro and have NEVER had any issues with pictures loading before.)

(these bad boys are the height of our upright freeze!)

Are you ready for the cost? TWENTY DOLLARS! for all 4 of them... and one stack was even mounted on casters plus all the stuff inside. So for $20 we got 4 cabinets (one is currently stuck shut, possibly permanently), 4 heavy duty rolling casters, cardboard, about 50 peg board hangers, 4 4"x12" storage bins, cardboard, 6 L brackets, and some other stuff. )

Now on to our art project. We made these awesome wall sculptures using....

the inserts used to separate the layers of apples in a bushel box.

Just a number coats of metallic spray paint and a utility knife were all we needed to make these.

Linking to:

Our bedroom...

2011-03-11T17:50:00.002-05:00

Remember how I've been saying we have been clearing out the clutter... well here is our bedroom. It only took a year to get pictures up and we still need to put up more. Right now I am looking for frames... the finish doesn't matter because spray paint is my friend. Just as long as it has the right character.

Do you see the pictures? That is my mom and her twin when they were babies.

And there is another of them being held by their stoic German grandmother. And we can't forget dear hubby's grandma. The rest of the old family pictures are still in the closet awaiting their new frames.

The right side of the mirror also has my "pride and joy", ha ha! yep it is one of our old rusty garden rake heads. I have no idea where we came up with it but I can honestly say I love them ALL! Yes we have more than one and they are all put to good use. Finally a place to hang my necklaces where they won't get all tangled... yeah!!

And now for the other side of the room:

(I see we might want to hang pj bottoms somewhere else, oops!)

Do you see the picture above the bed? Here is a close-up...

(the lines in the upper left corner are a reflection of the ceiling fan blades)

I love this picture! And do you know what? Its one of those wall vinyl you can get at Target which incidentally remove your paint if you actually apply them to the wall. So this one is applied to the glass in a frame I found at goodwill for $3.99 but wait... it was half off! (total price $7 include vinyl because it was clearance but I used a gift card!)

Its on the back side of the glass which helps to mute the colors a bit so that they match the quilt.

And here we have my ever faithful companion, Lily! She is sure to follow me whenever a picture is to be taken. In fact you will normally find her tail somewhere along the edge of most pictures as a big black smudge. Silly girl!

We have talked about painting but it looks like it will stay on hold for a while. I think I like the creaminess of the wall especially during winter. Now to find a clearance puffy quilt/comforter to add another layer of plushness.... nothing to heavy just another layer for the snuggle factor. Or maybe some new pillows. What do you think?

Linking to:

New things and exciting things are in the works!!!

2011-03-09T14:31:00.001-05:00

Oh I can hardly wait to show you all what is in the works!

Do you remember this?

or this?

or even this?

Well the clutter-be-gone team has been hard at work! Pictures are being hung, clutter is being sorted and given the old heave ho and much is or has left the house!!! Thank you of so very much eBay and Goodwill! (the changes are really quite exciting! who knew a cleared floor could be so thrilling?!)

It might be dark and dreary outside but the inside of our home is starting to feel like HOME! I can't wait to show you all what all is in the plans and what some of our ideas are. But that will definitely be for another day and another post. Let me just say there is a lot of paint involved, dirt to be moved, holes to be dug, artwork being constructed and so so much more. It really is pretty exciting, in a somewhat overwhelming sort of way. ha ha! :)

Sorry NO updated pictures today... this is my 15 30 minute lunch break. Yes I am timing my computer time these days as I was disturbed with the number of HOURS I was spending on here and how incredibly depressed I was becoming. The destructive thoughts of envy, self deprecation, self defeat, and unworthiness had begun to creep their ugly heads into my head once again. But you know what? I am worthy but it is not through me but through Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour. He made me who I am and in Him will I rejoice!

REJOICE in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice!

Philippians 4:4 (KJV)

⁶Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

⁷The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Psalm 28:6-7 (KJV)

Keepin' busy with legos and feet!

2011-03-07T11:24:00.000-05:00

I keep putting off posting because well I just didn't feel there was anything blog worthy of posting... no projects completed, crafting transpired but then I realized Wow we have been really busy!! And I have good news the camera was found!! and the checkbook!!! and the corners of the dining room!!!!

You see our days have recently been filled with:

Recovering from foot surgery
(can you tell he was feeling no pain???)

the making of batches of applesauce to eat fresh

and frozen

The sorting of Legos

(this is approximately 1/20 of those sorted!)

While revisiting "old friends" by way of A&E's

"Pride and Prejudice!"

Yep the entire mini series!!

I know the guys were so "excited" but they stayed and watched the whole thing while helping sort Legos.

Did I mention there has been LOTS of cleaning going on as well?

As in I can see the corners of the dining room and the top of the island has been clear for

4 (yes FOUR) DAYS!

Now I am off to wash said Legos... yes they are disgusting and if I plan on selling them on eBay I just can't stand the idea of sending them off so DISGUSTING! I am going to place them in a zippered mesh bag and throw them in with the towels to wash. We shall see how they come out!

A lovely Valentines day!!

2011-02-15T12:07:00.001-05:00

I really wasn't planning on saying much on Valentine's day but decided why not... You see I am not a big fan of the "holiday"... it just seems so pointless... so commercialized! I guess maybe its because I see so many focus on sharing "the love" just one day out of the year. I want my family to know my love 24/7 365 days a year... do I always succeed? Not by my estimation! But my family and husband DO know I love them even when I am acting unlovely! and the other thing... how does it make all my single friends feel. That they are unlovable? lonely? alone? I pray such is not the case because singleness is most definitely not a case of being unloved! I guess I just feel more comfortable showing my love for both family and friends throughout the year. (okay off my soapbox!)

That aside my hubby still likes to get me a card or write a little note and present me with something special. Do you know what that dear man did? ~~He got me this~~: (picture removed at this time due to technical difficulties!)

Yes FRESH ASPARAGUS!

You see this is truly a gift of love as he detests the vegetable. In fact I am the only person in our family who likes it so I NEVER cook it!

Now I have a little asparagus love in my refrigerator awaiting a brief steam, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon!!

(ON a side note...) remember yesterday's comment about the missing battery and charger to the camera? Well today the camera is missing, bag and all! It can really make a person question their sanity. I guess we will go on a search this evening once the whole gang gets home. More than likely the youngest will know exactly where it is since I took it with us to take pictures at his school's science fair.

Where has the time gone....

2011-02-14T12:08:00.001-05:00

Okay I have to admit I have no pictures.... Could someone please tell me why I have no battery in my camera? And if they know where it is currently being charged as the charger is missing as well.... I really think we have little gnomes who run amuck through our house. Someone like this fellow who loves nothing more than to have a little laugh!

(courtesy of the Graphics Fairy)

Currently the winds are aloft, the sun is shining and the snow is MELTING! Oh Happy Day!!

This week ought to be a busy one for us as the eldest is having another birthday... how dare he!! Doesn't he know he is supposed to stay a little boy for much longer than he did??? Now we are looking at post secondary school plans, preparing for SAT's, finalizing next years class schedule... So in his honor we will be having PiZZA this week.

AND LOTS OF IT!

My does that boy ever LOVE pizza!!!

(I shudder to admit he is no longer a boy but definite a young man.... my poor breaking heart!)

So in his honor we will have pizza (as if we NEVER have pizza, right...)

And next week, next week is such an exciting week as we are making a trip to (insert drum roll here!)

Penzey's!

OH how I love their spices! And to think they have a store in Indiana.... and its not too far from my favorite bookstore, the Whole Foods Market, an incredible Goodwill store, as well as Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, and Pottery Barn. Can you say oh so happy birthday day? And guess what I get to spend the whole day with my best friend!!! Yep, my dear sweet hubby!! After 20 years of marriage he is STILL my best friend and that friendship and love just grows deeper each passing day!

(And to think I thought there would be no pictures!!! I just found the "missing" file of all my photos!! Yippee!!!!)

And just to let you know I am joining "megan" over at Beauty in the Attempt in her circle of friends... she is truly a lovely person and I so enjoyed meeting her in person last year....

“The Bold and the Beautiful-your blog reviewed”

2011-01-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

Okay so you are asking what is she talking about... Well I decided to go ahead and join a very unique blog hop. Gail @My Repurposed Life and MeganDVD @ Beauty in the Attempt are hosting “The Bold and the Beautiful-your blog reviewed”.

In all honesty I haven't been blogging on an even remotely regular basis because I hate my blog! When I started this blog it was primarily a means of keeping family and friends posted on our life in Alaska, to "showcase" the crafts I was working on, and maybe even through in a recipe or two. Well life happened at a shockingly rapid pace... and I wasn't prepared! Now the name bugs me, the layout just isn't working, and well... I don't know. I'm discouraged plain and simple. In all honesty I've been thinking of closing the blog down permanently but haven't been able to bring myself to do it. I want this blog to work but seem at a loss....

So please take a look around my blog, check out the layout, pages, buttons, sidebar and gadgets. I would love for you to gently critique my blog. I’m hoping you will leave me some positive feedback about my blog. It would be great if you could give me constructive criticism but be sure to tell me what you like about my blog (if anything) too! Do you like my pictures? Does my blog load quickly for you? How about the font? All tips and tidbits welcome!

You are welcome to join the party, it starts Thursday night and is open for a week.

Accountability

2011-01-13T11:28:00.000-05:00

My friends I am asking for your help... What I am about to show you will NOT get me on hoarders but things have slide a bit recently. All the "projects" I was going to accomplish over Christmas break and soon after school was back in session. Well, lets just say between colds, snow, and some really good fiction... umm yeah. No progress! In fact I would say there was a decided decline. What I'm about to show you are the living areas of our home. Okay, so all the areas of our home are the living areas but I won't show you the boys' rooms. Lets just say one is crammed full right now because of LARGE musical instruments... hmm maybe I will show you their room. It really helps to bring home a point or two. A.) We have too much stuff. B.) Organization has flown out the window. and C.) the addition will come in really HANDY due to said instruments!

The Living Room

The Kitchen

The Dining Room Corner

The Master Bedroom and Walk-in Closet

(see the small amount of clothes on the hanging bar to the left... yep that sums up about a 1/3 of my wardrobe... the rest of material/decorations/craft supplies.) The dining room table is where I "craft" because there are no extra rooms. I could made a craft room out of my closet but it would separate me from the family plus bring on a serious case of claustrophobia!!

Now for the accountability... I am going to ask you my dear friends to help me stay on track. Yep I want to have all of these areas cleaned up and organized. So that means working daily on an area, limit internet time, sort the craft supplies, and clear out the clutter. I am not sure how I am going to go about this but it must be done! So look for more posts... and please leave me a comment, drop me an e-mail, say something on FB, or text me if you know me personally!!! Yep, in other words nag me when you don't see anything new up.... I am working on a posting schedule but am not sure what it will be. Monday, Wednesday, Friday? Monday and Thursday? What do you think? Do you have any ideas for the closet organization? I am trying to avoid making any purchases (or keeping them to a bare minimum especially $ wise!) so I will be using what I have on hand which is a number of baskets, buckets, storage containers, and large tins.

Thank you for following along and please leave any suggestions you might have!!

Joy Swap Show and Tell

2010-12-17T07:54:00.004-05:00

Just a short note to tell you about the wonderful opportunity I had and the new friend I've made. For the second this year I decided to participate in the shoebox swap hosted by Monica and Carrie. This time they paired me up with a lovely young mother from Georgia, Shannon. It was amazing how the Lord used them to to "match" Shannon and I together as exchange partners. Who would have thought a young mother from Georgia and a "more seasoned" mother living in Indiana could have so much in common. As it turns out Shannon and I both share a history of being raised in military families and having spent much of our youth traveling. Our tastes are also very similar... :) This is just some of the contents of the wonderful box Shannon sent me... I confess I ate the Almond Roca before the picture was ever taken. (our eldest is in the middle of wrestling season so being the good mother that I am I decided to just remove the "temptation" from his sight! Don't worry I did share it with my husband and our middle son!! The youngest doesn't like nuts so he wasn't interested!)

That is Godiva chocolate in the green box (a guilty pleasure), a box of the coveted Constant Comment Decaf tea (I couldn't find it here and was down to my last bag when this showed up in the mail!!), a tea wallet filled with Stash Decaf Chocolate Hazelnut tea, an apple cinnamon crisp candle, a lovely notebook for taking notes (I've been needing a new one for church!), the Christmas issue of Southern Lady (never seen it before but I LOVE it now!!!) and

A lovely print for our master bathroom!

Thank you so very much, Shannon!

It was wonderful getting to know you and I so look forward to hearing from you more as time passes! Enjoy your Christmas as you are surrounded by family and enjoying your little ones!

Be sure to stop by and see who else participated!www.watibg.blogspot.com/2010/12/joy-swap-show-and-tell.html

Church Fire!

2010-12-15T14:36:00.000-05:00

We just got this news which is heartbreaking... The little church where we attend when we are working on our property in New York burned to the ground early this morning! Bible Baptist Church of Friendship, NY is a ray of hope in the hills of the southern tier of New York and I know this has come as quite a shock to their little congregation! I just wanted to ask everyone to please keep them in your prayers. Thankfully no lives were lost but this tiny community has to have been rocked to its core.

(courtesy of Wellsville (N.Y.) Daily Reporter)

Currently plans are in the works for an alternate location for this Sunday's service and Christmas eve's service!

Will they never cease to amaze me?

2010-12-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

You know our boys never cease to amaze me. From they athletic ability to their good natures to their ability to adapt to new situations. Our youngest has got the funniest sense of humor, our middle son loves music and always has a tune on his lips and at his finger tips, and our eldest is the athlete. Speaking of my eldest... I am so proud of him. Sunday after church (after we left the building and were on the way to the car) he pointed out that he thought I might not want to wear that outfit again. I was shocked, I mean it was one of my favorite sweaters and skirts. Okay, he was VERY kind about how he worded it and he was very discrete but still... Then he asked the dreaded question... "How many years have you had that skirt?" Ok, so maybe he had me there.. I mean 6 years isn't too long to be wearing the same skirt. So maybe it is a little faded and maybe has a few snags but still its presentable (or so I thought). I thought I had him when I said "ok, so how about we do something about it. We'll go shopping and YOU can help me pick out some new things." I thought I had him.... Then my dear sweet 16 year old son gets a sly look in his and says "Sure! Why not right now?" I was shocked! He had thrown down the gauntlet and who was I not to accept the challenge. So we got lunch to go and off we went. Just the three of us. Yep hubby joined in the fun while the younger two stayed in the car listening to music and playing games.

(Kohl's)

(imagine this in brown)

(Kohl's)

(imagine these in both brown and black but a LOT curvier!)

An HOUR later we walked out of the store with 4 blouses (one fitted white), 3 pair of dress pants, a black blazer and one sweater all of which was at least 50% off plus an additional 20% off and we had gift cards to help pay for it as well. I knew my son had good tastes but I was not prepared for this. I was stylish, hip, and I had actual "outfits". Not only that but they were picked out with other clothes I already own in mind. I mean I've seen him dress himself and he is a SNAZZY dresser! Where did he get those genes? I know it wasn't from me... or maybe that's it he has all my good dresser genes. I was wondering where they had disappeared to! NOW I know! In all honesty it was the best gift he could have given me! The willing gift of his time and his talent! I love that son of mine! He does a mother's heart good!!

christmas ornaments

2010-12-14T13:27:00.003-05:00

After a week of agonizing we finally got some of the ornaments to dry... No leaving them sitting out or putting them in front of the heat vent just was not working. So I got out the dehydrator, took out a few shelves, and popped these bad boys in. Several hours later they were dry! We ended up breaking one and the remaining five need a little more attention before we can deem them worthy but these two are lovely!

And get a look at those hooks... they make everything look wonderful! Thank you very much Walmart... never has $2 been better spent.

(psssst... i'm asking for some more of these hangers for christmas. if they are out i'll be happy for the beads to make my own! i already have the wire... you guys can even use the walmart gift card on the desk. hint, hint, honey!)

Time to go get into the glitter again. Now to come up with something that will really wow our eldest... he has very distinct tastes which I have yet to fully discern.

Sorry no photos and minimal posts at this time....

2010-12-11T14:41:00.000-05:00

First I want to say the computer issues have been resolved! It was really odd as we still have no idea why the battery on my computer died (it was plugged in.) But for some odd reason it just wasn't drawing electricity.
I am afraid I have no photos of our crafting projects to post... nada, zilch, zip! Have you ever had one of those brainstorms where you just know you have the perfect project? One where it is so simple nothing could possibly go wrong? Well that was my week. Project after project...incomplete, and everything that could go wrong went wrong. paint won't dry (4 days and its still damp), glue won't set, paint peeled off, paint ran, stickers aren't sticking, needle broke, needle got stuck in sewing machine, and the list goes on... But there is a bright spot in my week... my family! (okay so they still won't give me christmas ideas...) My silly, goofy, love to mess around when I take a picture groups of guys!

They have comforted me, encouraged me, and even think some of the hideous ornaments are lovely! As frustrated as I've been recently they are so supportive! Even when they might think their mom is a silly goose for getting so emotional over a silly ornament or notebook (and they never said a single word to me about it!)

Now this next week I am going to start over... more marshmallows to make (1st batch this season was spectacular!!!!), cookies to bake, etc. And projects, lots of projects! Once the paint and glue dries I will post pictures of my sad, sad ornaments. Until then I am going to enjoy my family and the time we have together no matter how limited our time!

APPLE.... I am seriously disappointed in you! (okay my computer is so weird... it is working now!)

2010-12-04T08:35:00.001-05:00

Okay I said it but I WILL say it again! I am so disappointed!!! I feel let down, not heartbroken but genuinely saddened. After two, mind you TWO, weeks my Apple MacBook Pro died. Yep you read that correctly! It just faded away! We think we know the problem but it will still have to be taken in for repair. I mean COME ON folks whose computer dies within TWO weeks of purchase! Especially if it has been babied. Nothing has been spilled, dropped, or even smudged on it! So now my computer is down... dead power supply. The cord lights but but she is not a responding.... So Apple, as much as I loved my computer I am really disappointed in you! (And now my computer is working.... we unplugged EVERY THING, blew out all the connections, plugged everything in, and left it sit for a few hours. It now works just fine! It was never left unplugged so the battery ought now to have died. Yep ODD! but its working!)

Photo courtesy of Apple...

(Yes my NEW pictures are on the NEW computer... oh and I am currently using my husband's new PC because the fan quit working on his and it had other SERIOUS issues! So he got a new computer... a cheap one which is still running.)

Christmas decorating

2010-12-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

Each year as soon as Thanksgiving Day has passed my family clamors for the Christmas decorations... and each year I am more than willing to comply! I love the lights, the smells, the sounds and most importantly I LOVE thinking back on the previous year. Bringing to remembrance how mightily God has blessed us and how we've grown, both spiritually and physically! Now I am not an extravagant decorator. If someone asked me what our "theme" was I would have to say nostalgia! Our tree is graced with plastic M&M stocking toppers from our first Christmas, salt dough ornaments, finely carved wooden snowflakes from my childhood in Germany, and plastic lighted cows (just to name a few of our decorations!) But do you know what is more important... it is graced with memories!

Our Christmas tree

Above the left book case, my Ballard inspired wreath and vintage accessories (gotta love yard sales!!)

Above the right bookcase, our faith full nativity! (If you noticed baby Jesus is missing that is because he is in the clock... yep we bring him out after everyone is in bed on Christmas eve to be "born"! and the wise men usually travel from "a far" but seemed to reach their destination quickly this year... I wonder...)

One of our scrappy garlands which grace many a place in our home.

My favorite twig wreath with its ever changing "center piece."

(The boys have asked me to make a bird to hang in the center, either a cardinal or a bluebird...)

And more importantly... my very own paperboy! He faithfully goes our and retrieve the newspaper every single morning, rain or shine, sleet or snow! My "baby"! Oh how he is growing up, far too quickly for my comfort! At least I still have one who has a silky soft check not yet covered in prickly scruff... :)

Now I am off to go decorate.... I have been blessed to spend much of this week with a lovely group of ladies at church as we decorate for the season ahead. They are so sweet and funny and wise. I just love regaled with the stories of their childhoods and early marriages!

Soon I will be back to making and baking... Last night I made up two loaves of wheat french bread and my family devoured one at dinner! I am so glad that I ground up extra wheat so that I can make more for the week ahead. Ah the smell of freshly baked bread! Is there a candle out for this?

Have a great week!

Button love.... completed

2010-11-22T08:32:00.012-05:00

Remember the gorgeous wreath from Ballard design? (~~OK so my new Macbook Pro and I are just getting acquainted and I can't seem to figure out some things consistently...so no picture, sorry!)~~

And here is my Ballard design inspired button wreath! Oh how I love this wreath!! Not only is it going to be a Christmas decoration but it will reside in our bedroom the remainder of the year. It will be a constant reminder of my grandma and my mom! Two ladies whom I love dearly! Mom, I sure wish we lived closer.

but wait let me show you how it started!

My husband absolutely loves this wreath as well! Yeah score a BIG one for thrifty inspirations!!!

Now the next big project is to make an "antique" mirror out of an old picture frame and "mirror" spray paint... I'll let you know how it turns out!

This week I am linking up to these wonderful link "parties" I hope you will stop by....

Button love...

2010-11-20T16:53:00.000-05:00

Do you ever see something that causes you to say..."I can make that!" Something that brings back memories of someone you loved? Well when I saw this wreath I knew I had to make it. It so reminded me of my Grandma Seng. You see before my Grandma died she gave me some of her buttons. Is there anything truly special about these buttons? To me there is... you see my grandma was a "saver!" Many of these buttons came off of clothing destined for the rag bin and who knows the origin of the others. Mixed in with Grandma's button is my own collection of buttons. Buttons cut off clothing, buttons found at yard sales, and buttons rattling around the bottom of boxes from auctions. Is my wreath complete? No, I didn't have enough buttons. ha ha! But once it is you will be some of the first to see it. Until then here is my inspiration!

Photo courtesy of Ballard Designs:

(I don't know what is going on but I can't add my link.... any suggestions?)