Some of my favorite things

Table-Painted

2010-07-05T13:18:00.014-05:00

Yesterday I decided to make a table out of some scrap wood my husband was getting ready to throw away. The wood has been sitting out in the barn for a couple of years just waiting for me to get motivated to make something out of it. Here is the table put together.

I have the first coat of black paint on, I think it is looking pretty darn good. Every time I look at this table I get happy. I love it! My kids are tired of me telling them how fabulous it is every time they walk by. I can't wait for it to be finished. Can't decide if I should leave it black. We have a Halloween party every year and black table with a great big pumpkin in the middle would look great!

Or maybe I should paint it a dark red to match my house. My house is gray with white trim, my doors and shutters are painted a dark red. I could leave it out on my patio all year and it would blend with the house. Plus the red would look really good at our 4th of July party.

This is my inspiration piece. Maybe I should crackle it and paint a coat of white over the top of the black. Decisions, Decisions!

Happy Fourth!!!

2010-07-04T19:32:00.013-05:00

Wow, where has the time gone? It has been over 1 year since I last blogged. Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! We did not have anything planned so we spent the afternoon building a table.

A couple of years ago we replaced the front porch. I knew that the post would be good for something, they have been gathering dust out in the barn for over 2 years.

I convinced Nick to help me. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea but went along with it. I measured, he cut.

Here are all the boards cut. We didn't have a plan. We just knew we needed so many boards for each length. When we found two that were pretty close, we went with that measurement. I would have like for the table to be a little longer, but wanted to use what we had and not spend any $$$$.

Next we screwed the side boards to the post. I think it looks great!! Jeff helped us put it together, the screws were a little hard to get through the wood.
And here it is with the top on.

Here is the after! Took us 3 hours from start to finish and I have $0 in it, just a bunch of old wood my husband wanted to throw away. Once the table is painted it is going to look FANTASTIC!!!< I'm thinking maybe I want to paint it black, that would look great at our Halloween party. Or maybe white and crackle it with black showing through.

When you care enough to send the very best!

2009-03-25T17:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday when Nick went back to school, the girls all got together and made a card and wrote him a song. It is so touching. I can't tell if they like him or hate him. Here it is.

Nick's Song

Nick is a retard he broke his freakin arm.
He was slippin and a slidin on freakin dirt bike and crashed into a barn.
YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!

GET WELL!....

And try not to do anything stupid!

But we all know that won't happen. K

hey Nickle butt, eye wuv yeww! D

But it will (do something stupid) Love Mental

You are the BIGGEST retard ever! Hope you get well! Luv U bunches! NOT! C

Memo Boards

2009-03-23T18:56:00.009-05:00

Have you seen the Memo Boards on all the blogs? They are cheap, easy and you can make one in less than 10 mins. Here is my first attempt.

I had a huge blank wall in my pantry. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to hang in there. I knew I did not want a big piece of art or a mirror. I was thinking about going to a thrift store and buying a neat old frame and painting it black and putting a cork board in the middle.

The other day I was reading Nester's Blog and came across her Easy Memo Board. I had everything on hand, except the ring hooks. I found them at Hobby Lobby for $5.99. Over all each board cost under $10.00 to make. When Hobby Lobby has their painter's canvas half off, I'm going back to get one more, maybe 2. I think 3 or 4 boards on the wall would look really nice.

Here's how I started.

First I started with painter's canvas, fabric, ring hooks, ribbon and staple gun.

Then lay your fabric on your canvas and staple to the back. Can't get any easier than that. at this point, you are 3/4 of the way done.

Next put a piece of ribbon through a ring hook and and staple to the back of the frame. You will want to put several hooks on. I stapled some across the top of the back. I also stapled a ribbon going across the board about half way and 3/4 of the way down. I slid my hooks on the ribbon and stapled going across the board. If you enlarge my first picture you might be able to see. (Sorry I don't have a photo of this).

Next find a big blank wall and hang it.

Vinyl Letters

2009-03-21T19:22:00.010-05:00

Ok, I'm back. My post belows talks about how I bought jars at Wal-Mart. I organized my pantry and wanted to label my jars. After walking around Hobby Lobby, trying to find something amazing to use, I decided to use what I had on hand. My Silhouette maker would be perfect. So, I came home empty handed.

Here you can see, plain old jar. Not very exciting.

Next I cut out my letters..... then apply to jar.

Wow! Look at that. Completely changes the jar.

GOSH DARN IT! Cereal is not in that jar, it has Powdered Sugar in it. Hold on, I will be back.

Hopefully everything is labeled correctly. Wouldn't it be something if they ate bird seed instead of cereal?

If you would like to learn more about the Silhouette maker....go to Youtube and do a search for Quickutz Silhouette. Here are couple of ones that I like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TAtsMLeStA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei68tyyj7EQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyOjnn1Qr10

Cleaning the Pantry

2009-03-21T15:19:00.006-05:00

Before

Those that follow my blog know that my youngest son, Nick, broke his arm. For those that don't know, Nick loves to stay home. Now that he is injured and has an excuse, there is no getting him out of the house. I'm about to go crazy, we have not left the house since Wednesday when he had his surgery. Yesterday I decided to clean out my pantry. I have been wanting to clean it out for the last month. Might as well do it while I'm stuck at home.
After

Oh, this is so much better, I can see everything we have.

Last week Wal-mart had their jars on clearance, I bought every single one they had. In the above picture I put cereal, powdered sugar, bird seed, anything that was in a bag, I'm now storing them in the jars.

I have been looking at different blogs and all the cool things they have done to their jars.
Thrifty Decor Chick labeled her jars.

She even painted rulers with chalkboard paint and labeled each section in the pantry. Too CUTE!!!

Kimm at Reinvented painted her jars with chalkboard paint and then labeled them with chalk. Love this idea also!

My Sweet Savannah labeled her jars also.

I have some ideas, I'll be back later to show you what I did. :)

Yard Visitors

2009-03-20T07:28:00.003-05:00

These were the visitors we had this morning. I looked out the bedroom window and there were 10 deer in the middle of Nick's RC track. By the time I ran and got my camera, some of them had left.(Don't they know they are to remain together and standing still until I take their photo?) The photo is not that great. Taking it through the screen blurred the pic. And then when I opended the window, the deer that were still there ran off.

Home from the Hospital!

2009-03-18T20:07:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone, we finally made it home from the hospital. Nick crashed his motorcycle last night and broke his arm where it attaches to the shoulder. They sent him home last night and wanted him to come back today for his surgery. Of course I had to take the camera. I don't know if the look on his face is from the pain or if it is because of the camera stuck in his face. Notice his half of a wave. Anyways, now that his arm is back in place he feels 100% better.
And this is how he has been since we walked in the door. All of his friends have been calling to see how he is doing. He must be feeling better, he has a grin.

The leprechauns made a visit

2009-03-17T06:47:00.009-05:00

Happy Saint Patricks Day! During the night the leprechauns made a visit to our house.

My mom was reading a blog the other day and the poster showed how the leprechauns stopped at their home and left a bunch of green candy. I did not see the post, so sorry if this was your idea. If so, let me know and I will give you credit. Anyways, I copied her idea. Here is what we did.

On each of my sons' bedside tables we left a bunch of green candy, oops, I mean the leprechauns left a bunch of green candy.
Then from their rooms they left a trail of gold coins leading into the bathroom (if you follow my blog, yes, they are using their new bathroom).
In the bathroom the leprechauns left a pile of gold coins on the bathroom sink. They must have been playing in the water because the sink and toilet both had green water.

Update- The boys just left for school, of course wearing green. Since they are both older, 14 and 12, I didn't know if they would get into the leprechaun thing. They did, huge hit. Nick even came downstairs and said the leprechauns messed his room up (Ummm for some reason I think the room was already a mess before the naughty leprechauns stopped by). And then when he couldn't find his jacket, you guessed it, the leprechauns must have hidden it. Mom in High Heels just left a comment about her blog. They are several hours ahead of us, she posted about the green food they had for Breakfast and lunch. Now I'm off to the store so we can have a green dinner.

Once upon a time there was a plain beige bathroom

2009-03-15T14:35:00.020-05:00

Thanks to Susan for hosting Metamorphosis Monday. Click the butterfly to the right and it will take you to Susan's site for a list of other great projects.

Before

This past week I have been very busy trying to take my sons' boring beige bathroom and turn it in to something they would love. Their rooms are upstairs and they share this bathroom. They hated it and would never use it, even in the middle of the night they would come downstairs, at 2 a.m., turn on all the lights and use the bathroom downstairs.

One day I was reading Nester's blog and she said something about, "it doesn't have to be perfect". Nester also had a post about how they fixed their kitchen up to sell the house and how she wished she had done it long ago so she could have enjoyed it. I decided I wasn't going to wait for a carpenter or someone to come do it for me, I was going to do it all by myself, it didn't have to be perfect. Thanks Nester!

This is what I started with, a boring beige bathroom

One week and $400.00 later, this is the after.

At first I was just going to paint the bathroom and buy some matching towels. Well, you know how one thing leads to another. One day while reading Karla's blog
It's the little things that make a house a home I came across this. (Hi Karla, hope you don't mind I stole your picture)
I knew this look would be perfect in the bathroom. Go check out her blog, she gives directions.

I called my friend, Cindy, told her to come over I had a project and this is how we spent the day. That is me in the photo.

By the end of the day, this is what we had accomplished. Is it perfect? No. Does it matter? No.

Next came the paint. I found several old looking sports pictures, I pulled the colors for the paint from those pictures. I love the red.

We started out with the cheap premade cabinets that you buy at Lowes or Home Depot. Even though this bathroom never was used, the cabinets looked pretty sad. I painted them black. So of course, they needed new handles and hinges. I can't believe what a difference the handles made, cost was around $30.00
Before
After

The nice new paint job on the cabinet made the big plain mirror look terrible. I bought trim, cut it to the length I needed and attached it to the mirror with Velcro. The trim for the mirror was $30-$40. The nice new trim around the mirror needed a new light, $100.00. I called the electrician to come hang it for me. He couldn't come until next week, so I did it myself. And Hey, it works!!
After
Before

Next came the accessories. I knew my kids would never fold towels neat and place them on towel bars, so I put up hooks. I think they were around $5- $6 each at Home Depot. I am loving these, I will probably put these hooks in all of my bathrooms.

To finish the bathroom I hung shelves, place hand towels in old locker baskets I got from our local grade school, added old tins that I bought years ago, placed soap and other bathroom items in jars that I found at Wal-Mart on clearance, added a light because that was one of the things you need in Nester's post on "Having a bathroom you love". And there you have it, hopefully a bathroom my kids will use. And I can not tell you how satisfying it is to be able to say that I did everything in there by myself (My friend, Cindy, did help me hang the boards).

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Keep scrolling down to read each day's progress and the "how to" on framing the mirror.

Wild Thing......I think I love you!

2009-03-15T08:29:00.007-05:00

This morning when I looked out my bedroom window this is what I saw. 19 turkey hens and 3 Toms. (Don't you just love my son's motocross track through the middle of our field?)

Surely this big guy in the middle will find at least one hen that thinks he is attractive.

Update.......The tom turkeys strutted their stuff for about 10 mins. and then left with nothing to show for it. Maybe next time guys!

Boys' Bathroom- Lights

2009-03-14T22:42:00.007-05:00

My husband worked late and the kids went roller skating. I have the house to myself on a Saturday night, what should I do? Well, of course, put up a new light.

I called the electrician but he won't be here until next week. I can't wait that long! So I decided to do it myself.

Here is the before, Yuck, Ugly, Bad!

This is much better. The light is centered. The angle of the picture makes it look off to the side, but I assure you, it is in the middle of the mirror.

Yes! It works!

Granna: if you have a light there, you are going to have to put your new light in its place. Otherwise you will need to patch sheetrock, and that's a lot more work than I want to do. If the location of your old light is in a bad spot, I would suggest hiring it done. They will need to move wires, patch sheetrock.

Boys' Bathroom- Frame the Mirror

2009-03-14T13:13:00.012-05:00

Today I framed the mirror. My mirror is 4' x 3' and I have less than $40.00 in this project.

Here's the before, Boring!

And here is the after. I can't believe the difference. Oops, sorry about the white boards to the left of the picture, I should have moved them.

And here is how you frame your mirror. It is so simple you will want to frame every mirror you own. I buy the little, fancy squares so I don't have to do a lot of angle cutting. By using the squares you can make a straight cut.

Here you can see I have all of my boards cut the length I need. Next place your vel-cro to the back. You don't need much, this stuff will stick FOREVER! I have it in my master bath and tried to pull it off a couple of months ago to take a picture. I didn't think I would ever get it pulled off.

Then just stick it up. How simple is that?

And you end up with this.

The only things I have left to do in here is hang the new light fixture above the mirror and find some boards for my shelves. Check back Monday. I'm going to try and post it on Metamorphosis Monday.

Boys' Bathroom- Hang Pictures

2009-03-13T17:28:00.004-05:00

Today I went to Hobby Lobby to get my frames. They had all of their frames and Mats 50% off. I can't believe the difference the frames make.
Check back tomorrow, I will be framing out my mirror.

Boys' Bathroom- Black cabinet

2009-03-12T17:35:00.005-05:00

Today I Painted the cabinets in the bathroom black. I bought new handles and hinges. I can't believe the before and after.
Before
After

Bathroom- Shopping Day

2009-03-11T17:26:00.009-05:00

This morning I dragged my mother to goodwill. She thought I was crazy for wanting to shop there. I told her about all the great finds everyone in blog land were finding. Well, I don't know where you all live, but our goodwill has nothing but junk, no make that TRASH!!! We were in and out in less than 5 minutes. Off to Wal-Mart we go, my home away from home. There I found this little lamp. Just what I was looking for. The lamp was $10.00 and the shade was $10.00
Next we went to Home Depot for black paint. Guess what I forgot to buy? Black Paint. I did find the rest of my hooks. I decided to hang these hooks instead of towel bars. My kids would never fold anything up neat. I thought with these hooks they could just throw their towels on these little hooks when they were not using them.
The picture does not do them justice. The towels hanging look much nicer in real life. Remember Nick picked out red towels? They blended with the wall, so I'm taking them back. I found these red and blue striped towels that I like much better.
I also bought this at Home Depot. It was around $100.00, sent me over my budget. Oh well, it will look much nicer than the Miss Piggy light (strip of lights, I think it is Nester who calls them that).

I was going to come home and paint the cabinets. Since I forgot to buy the black paint, looks like I'm making another trip to town tomorrow.

Boys' Bathroom Paint

2009-03-11T07:39:00.009-05:00

After
Before

The wall color is up. I decided to go with the red on the bottom and Latte on top. I really thought about going with white on the bottom, but having only boys, I was scared that it would always be dirty. Now that the color is done I'm going to live with it a couple of days and see if I fall in love with it or maybe I will end up hating it. This was a hard decision, everyone I asked had a different opinion. I took Julie's advice and asked the boys what they wanted. Nick said he want the bottom red and blue striped. NO THANK YOU!!! I am not cutting in around all of those boards. I have always said the only thing I can not do is accessorize, add "cutting in" to the that list.
This morning I am going to buy my trim for the mirror and look for a new light. I think Nester calls those strip of lights "Miss Piggy lights" (now that I type this, I'm not sure if it is Nester)it definitely has to go.

I have almost spent my $250 for this project and I still need a lamp. While I'm in town I might stop by goodwill and see if they have any I like. I think I want a black lamp so if I can find a nice shaped lamp I will just spray paint it.

I just went back and looked at this post. Sorry for the bad quality of the photos. The light is bright and the bathroom is small.

Boys' Bathroom Redo--Paint colors

2009-03-09T18:38:00.009-05:00

Today I started the bathroom redo. You can read about it at the bottom of this post. These are the colors I am putting in the room. Help me decide on the wall color. I will be painting the bathroom cabinets black.

These are the pictures.

These are the towels.
So far I only have one coat of paint on. The red you can still see white thru it. If I go with the red, it will be a very dark red. This color is a little off, so if I go with red, I will have it matched to the towels.
Red on bottom, Hopsack (dark Khaki) on top. Hopsack is the same color in my hallway.
Hopsack (dark Khaki) on top, Sawdust (Green) on bottom.
White on bottom, Latte (light Khaki) on top.

So which one do you like? Or do you like any of them. Maybe I should pick entirely different colors.

Boys' Bathroom Redo-- Day 1

2009-03-09T16:08:00.011-05:00

Today I started the bathroom redo. My friend, Cindy, came over to help me get started. Here are the before pictures.

The bathroom is UGLY, UGLY, UGLY. We have never done a thing to it. It is just a plain old builder's box. My kids never use it. Even in the middle of the night if they need to use the restroom, they come downstairs and use my bathroom or the guest bathroom. We have lived in this house for 20 years and I think that shower has been used about 5 times. I'm hoping when it gets finished they will start using it.
Here I am getting started. I made a trip to town this morning and bought all of my trim. I'm trying to do this entire bathroom on a budget of $250.00. My trim, nails, caulking and hooks to hang the towels on came to $89.84, minus $5.00 for the bags of candy my kids bought. So, trim came to $84.84.
Here I am nailing the boards on the wall, Cindy is running the camera. Right about now I'm wishing I had a nail gun. Look how straight those boards are. Who needs a man?
One wall down, 3 to go. I think it will look really nice once it gets a coat of paint.
Oh, the fun stuff, accessories. The boys each picked what color of towels they wanted. Zach's are blue, Nick's are red. The jars I found at Wal-mart on clearance. I have been looking at them for the last several months because I wanted them for my pantry. Today when I spotted "Clearance" I bought every single one. I thought they would be neat with bars of soap in them. The old looking pictures I had. I bought them last summer with the bathroom in mind. The old locker baskets came from our local grade school. The brackets I bought from Pottery Barn in 2003, I have never taken them out of the box, I think this will be the perfect time to use them.

Budget
Home Depot, trim $84.84
jars 2 @ $3.00 6.00
Towels 54.00
Pictures ( I already had)
Shelf Brackets ( I already had)

Total $144.84

I have $110.00 left. I still need to buy paint, new knobs, rug for the floor, lamp and trim for the mirror.

Check back tomorrow, I'm painting.

Now I'm going to go clean my kitchen. It started raining before I had all the boards cut so we moved the saw in on my kitchen cabinets. I can't stand looking at a dirty kitchen. This is SCARY!

2009-03-07T16:02:00.008-06:00

After a long break from blogging, I'm back. I had a busy week, I worked at the office everyday, had a sick kid and made a trip to the emergency room. Don't worry my son is ok. He hurt his hand riding his motorcycle. Actually he hurt his thumb. I hated going to the emergency room for a thumb, but Zach kept telling me it was broken. I told him there was nothing they could do for a broken thumb. But he insisted on going. He said, "Just watch, they are going to come in and tell you it is broken and it is a good thing that you brought me". I said, "They are going to come in, take a look at your thumb and tell you to "man up and stop being a baby". I know, I'm such a loving mother. So anyways, no broken thumb, but he did mess up his ligaments so I guess it was a good thing that we went.

Now the reason for my post. Last summer we ripped off our front porch and put on a new one. I insisted on saving these columns. Everyone thought I was crazy for keeping them. But I knew there was a perfect project just waiting. So for the last year these ( I have 4 of them) have been out in the barn just waiting for something to happen with them.

And today I found the perfect project.
I can just see this table in my backyard, it is going to look FABULOUS!!!!

Award and a fabulous blog

2009-02-26T07:05:00.007-06:00

Ashley from Domestic Divas Fancy has given me an award, the Sister Hood Award. I'm always amazed that people find my blog worthy of an award. So thank you Ashley.

If you are a scrapper or crafter, you will LOVE Ashley's blog, go check it out. Below are a few photos I stole from her site.
On her blog she features amazing scrapbook rooms every Saturday. Don't you just love the way these boxes look? I have those little round circles. Today I will probably spend most of the day labeling things.

Look at this jar she has next to her washing machine for when she finds change. Beside my washing machine is an ugly plastic container. This is so much cuter than what I have, and I probably have those same stickers somewhere in my craft room.

She offers inspiration to the crafters.

And she gives inspiration to the decorators.

And every once in a while, she has inspiration for the baker.

Go check out her blog, you will not be disappointed.

Cabbages and Roses

2009-02-25T17:50:00.005-06:00

Too bad I'm on a spending freeze. I found this website Cabbages and Roses

I think I could break the bank there.

Pantry Storage Ideas

2009-02-25T15:43:00.003-06:00

After reading all the blogs where they have cleaned out and organized their pantries, I have been bitten by the bug. I did a Internet search to see what kind of ideas I could come up with to make my pantry better. I found this picture at Paradise Closets. Nice, but my family eats other things than "blue". I think when they went grocery shopping they threw everything with a blue label in their cart.

This has to be about the neatest pantry I have seen. But seriously, who has the space to do this? And how much $$$$ did those jars come to? If this was my pantry, I think I would go in there everyday and just look at it.
I love this idea. A basket with all the ingredients you need for that night's meal. I don't have room for 7 baskets, but neat idea. And if I had 7 baskets, I would actually have to plan what I was going to fix that night. No more of hubby calling to tell me he will be home in 30 minutes and me running to the kitchen frantically trying to decide what to fix.

No matter how hard I try, my pantry will never be this organized.

Not wanting to spend $$$$$, I think maybe I should just go organize it. Maybe tomorrow I will post pics. Or maybe I should post Friday. I haven't posted a Declutter Friday picture in a long time. I'm off to start cleaning!

Nester's 10 ways to avoid a house you will love

2009-02-24T12:31:00.010-06:00

Yesterday, Nester blogged about not having a house that you love, here they are,

1. Worry that it's never good enough.

Big problem for me. The minute I get done with a project, I'm ready to move on to a new one. Next on the list, the boys' bathroom. Ok, Nester would agree that this bathroom is NOT good enough. It needs a major redo. I know you all jealous of the toilet in the shower! As soon as Dave, my carpenter, can make it here, this bathroom is going to be transformed. The projects on the list are, painting, bead board, crown molding, framing the mirror, mistreatments (shower curtain).

2. Put off doing anything because you don't know where to start.

This is me. My husband is not a handy man so Dave, my carpenter, has a list of things a mile long he needs to do when he gets here. The problem, I only get Dave about 2 times a year.

3. Aspire to have a home just like the ones you see in the magazines.

This one is me also. I can paint, buy the furniture, have the window treatments made, but I can not table scape. My downfall is accessories and hanging pictures. I can not accessorize if my life depended on it. Magazines have stylist and everything looks as if it was made for that spot. Sadly this will never be my home.

4. Tell yourself you don't deserve it.

This one is not a problem for me.

5. Assume you can't have anything pretty because you have kids and not much money.

I use to have trouble with this one. Finally I found that if you make them clean what ever they dirtied, they are usually better at taking their shoes off at the door, or being more careful. (This goes for the main floor only, for some reason they don't care what their rooms look like). This is another reason why I love Nester, she uses what she has and spends NO $$$$.

6. Study up on all of those rules that the real designers tell you not to break.

This one is also a problem for me. I have more books and magazines then I have room for. Trying to remember all the rules gets so confusing.

7. Sulk because you are a renter.

This one is not a problem for me.

8. Complain because your husband won't do anything in the house.

I wish my husband was a handy man, but he is not, and nothing is going to change that. That is why I have Dave.

9. Be afraid.

This one I do not have a problem with. My house is painted just about every color. My mother tells me I have a puke yellow dinning room and a diarrhea green family room. (Sorry, I know too much information). I don't care what she thinks, I love it. Diarrhea Green
Puke Yellow

Now be honest, are the colors that bad?

10....what am I forgetting?

Two Awards and Hair Bows

2009-02-20T07:13:00.006-06:00

Today I have received 2 awards. I am always amazed when someone gives me an award. There are so many really interesting blogs out there to read, and I always wonder why they gave the award to me. So Thank You Kimm and Tanielle for thinking of me.

The first award
Kimm at Reinvented has given me the Butterfly award. Go take a look at her blog, she is in the middle of a Master Bedroom makeover. I can't wait for her to finish.

Another award I received was the Sisterhood award from Tanielle from The Polka Dot Daisy. When I went to her blog to pick it up, I noticed she makes really nice hair bows. If I had a girl, I would be buying these bows, they are spectacular!
I hope she doesn't mind that I stole these photos from her blog, but I thought everyone should see these bows. Maybe it's a good thing I don't have girls, I would be broke!! If you would like to see all of her bows click here ----->Hair Bows Tanielle will do special orders, and work with you to create a perfect custom design.

Environmentally Friendly Lawn Mower

2009-02-15T09:48:00.005-06:00

Photo found at HGTV

click on picture to see the full picture

If you have gone "Green" and are trying to keep your carbon footprint low, this is the lawn mower for you. Plus you might have a great butt and legs by the end of summer!

It's the little things that matter!

2009-02-13T21:02:00.004-06:00

When my kids were in grade school I would find all kinds of things in their pockets. They would find an earring on the playground and bring it home for me to wear. Thanks, but no thanks. They would find hair barrettes, beads, plastic rings, stickers etc. You name it, they have stuffed it into to their pockets to bring home to me. So you can imagine my surprise when my oldest son, Zach, he must have been 2nd or 3rd grade at the time, was out digging in the dirt and found a rock. Yep, he stuck it in his pocket and brought it home to give to me.

He handed me the rock and I asked him what he wanted me to do with it. He said he was giving it to me because it was a heart.

I keep it in a little basket on top of my dresser. I pulled it out today and asked him if he remembered giving it to me. When Zach saw it, he couldn't believe I still had it after all of these years. He told me he remembered finding it, under which tree he found it and what he was doing when he found it. He didn't know I still had it.

I love my rock!!!

I have been tagged, What's in your bag?

2009-02-13T13:52:00.009-06:00

Ashley from Domestic Divas Fancy has tagged me. I am suppose to post a picture of my purse and tell you everything in it.
First I had to run out to the car to get it so I could take a picture. This is my Brighton Bag. I LOVE Brighton, I have two Brighton bags, one for summer, a straw bag, and one for winter, my black leather bag. Every now and then you might see me carrying my red Dooney, but 95% of the time I have my Brighton. The cost, $285.00. I did get it on sale. If you brought in an old purse you got 10 or 25% off, can't remember. We live in a shopping wasteland, so my mom and I drove to the Pinnacles in Arkansas. We went on a Sunday, my husband and son were off somewhere racing motocross that day. My mom and I decided to drive down while their sale was going on to see what they had. My youngest son, Nick, did not want to go. My mom paid him some outrageous price to go since I would not leave him home alone. When I say outrageous price, I'm talking like $50.00. So whatever discount we got on the purse, we paid to my son. I know, I'm a bad parent for bribing my kid, but hey it works! He rode all the way down there, sat in the store and let us shop without complaining. Well, he probably did complain once or twice, what kid wouldn't complain in a purse store, but overall, he was a pretty good sport about it.

This is what I have in it.
My wallet
a Brighton coin purse they sent me free in the mail for buying my Brighton purse ( I say free, but for $285.00 plus the bribe we paid my son, I'm sure I paid for it)
Notepad with pen (was in my Christmas stocking)
Checkbook
Daily planner
hairbrush with a pony tail holder wrapped around the handle
3 lip glosses(one of them a Buxom Lips from BE called Candi) Love this stuff
3 pens
paycheck stubs
subway card (Just got home from eating lunch with my mom, I did not put the card away, just threw it in the bottom of my purse
straw wrapper, I was too lazy to find a trash can so threw it in my purse along with my subway card.

Now I tag you! Tell us what is in your bag! Here are the rules.

Post a picture of whatever bag you are today - not last weekend when you and your hubby went out to that fabulous restaurant. No cheating!!!
____________________________________________________________________
2. Tell us how much it cost. This is a no-judgment zone -- there will be no ridiculing or eye rolling here. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I'd love to hear it.
____________________________________________________________________
3. Now tag some fellow bloggers and link back to this post so people know why you are posting pictures of your bag.

Easy Bookmark

2009-02-12T15:45:00.005-06:00

This is so easy, I can't believe I never thought of it. I found this easy to make bookmark in the Martha Stewart Living Magazine. If I need a bookmark, I usually use post-it notes or use the subscription card out of a magazine. Isn't this prettier than using the subscription card?
You only need decorative scissors and an envelope. Martha used a pretty paper sack, this was all that I had. If you recycle, this would be great to do with envelopes you receive in the mail. I know I always get pretty envelopes with birthday cards, Christmas, etc. instead of throwing away the envelope, make bookmarks.
Just cut the corners off, simple!

Out of this world Valentine

2009-02-12T07:41:00.004-06:00

I thought I would show you the Valentine box we made for my boys several years ago. It is on its last leg, we have used this box year after year. We have a bad habit of making things the night before we need them, and this is what we came up with. It was very simple to make. We used an oatmeal box wrapped with tissue paper that we cut to make to look like fringe, a funnel wrapped in foil for the top, and cardboard wrapped in foil for legs.
We used wire garland with stars, it is suppose to be smoke. The legs are cardboard, foil and stickers. We cut tissue paper in strips and then cut to look like fringe.
Instead of store bought cards, we made our own. The ones we handed out were similar to these but the space ship was red instead of blue. The inside reads, "Valentine, you are out of this world!" The stamps used were Close To My Heart.

Wild Life

2009-02-11T18:28:00.012-06:00

Since I'm showing you all of the wild animals that come to my yard, I thought I would show you my fox. This little guy and two of his brothers or sisters would come sleep in my flower bed every night last spring. We could stand on the deck and whistle and they would come running. We haven't seen them for several months, I hope they are doing ok.

Goble-Goble

2009-02-11T13:06:00.005-06:00

My blog is going to the birds. This is what I saw when I looked out my dinning room window this morning. We usually see 2 or 3 turkeys hanging around here everyday. But never this many. Today we had 23. These two guys, well, I think they are girls, were in the front yard. I'm surprised when I went out on the front porch they didn't run.
Sorry about the lamp reflection on the window. I was going to run outside and take their picture, but it was raining.

Bird Watching

2009-02-09T15:33:00.004-06:00

I promise, this will be the last picture of our eagle, unless I get a really cool one of him flying.

Yesterday, we went to see if we could find him again. Yep, we did, he was sitting in the same tree where I spotted him the other day. While watching him, a man stopped to talk. He said that there are several in the area. Wow, we have never had eagles in our area and now we have several.

Cream Cheese Tarts

2009-02-05T16:27:00.002-06:00

This is a repost, I thought with Valentine's Day coming, this would be the perfect time to make these. They are now my youngest son's favorite. In fact, I'm making them for him right now, and my mom is making 80 for the church dinner this weekend.

I found this recipe for Cream Cheese Tarts at Cheryl's Fascinating finds They are so good, easy to make and my kids loved them. I'm posting a picture that Cheryl used because by the time I got around to taking a picture of the ones I had made, they were gone. If you like them, go to Cheryl's blog and let her know how good they were and tell her how you found them. Even if you don't make them, go take a look around at her blog, she is very talented and her home has been in Romantic Country Magazine and is also Oct. Cottage of the Month.

Individual Cream Cheese Tarts
3 8oz pkgs cream cheese
5 eggs
1c. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Cream eggs w cream cheese one at a time, add sugar gradually, add vanilla. Spray cupcake liners with Pam Cooking Spray. Fill cupcake liner 2/3 full bake 30 min. @ 300
cool 5 min and mix the following ingredients. together and spoon into well of the cake
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla
Then add a dollop of pie filling, preserves etc. pop back in oven for 5 min then chill....Your family will love these!

Eagle?

2009-02-04T15:11:00.009-06:00

On the way to town the other day, I was looking out across a field. I saw a large bird with a white head. It was pretty far away, I couldn't really make it out. I was sure though that it was an eagle. That night I told my husband that I was sure I had seen an eagle that day. We never see eagles around here so he said it was probably just a big chicken hawk. Well, this morning on my way to town I brought my camera along. When I arrived to the place I had seen it, I slowed down, it wasn't there. I decided to go on to town but take back roads. When I was about 5 miles away, I decided I was not going to see it. Well, just as I decided it was gone, guess what I saw. I glanced across a field, across a pond and scanned the trees. I saw a big white dot in the trees. I made my lens zoom as far as possible and looked through the camera, and this is what I saw. What are the chances that I would be over 5 miles from where I originally saw it the first time and I see it again? I could have turned on any gravel road, but there it sat on the path I decided to take.
The picture is not great, but what do you think it is, an eagle or a chicken hawk?

Edit to say, I showed my husband the picture last night. He agrees, it is an eagle. I told him it was.

Polyvore

2009-02-03T18:05:00.001-06:00

Untitled - Polyvore.com

This site is addictive. I guess I should stop playing around and go fix dinner.

Polyvore

2009-02-03T12:16:00.009-06:00

Untitled - on Polyvore.com

Isn't this a neat site? You can type in what piece of furniture you are looking for, the color, what store you want to shop , etc. When you find what you want, just drag it over and put it on your board. When you are finished it will tell you where to find the piece and how much $$$$. You can do this for every room. Will save you time from running from store to store.

New Awards

2009-02-03T07:38:00.003-06:00

I received 3 awards this week.
The first 2 awards are from Debbie, her blog is Simply Cherished. This award translated from Portuguese means, "This blog contributes to and supports or believes in close friendships"
This award is a triple award and it is called the Sisterhood Award, it is also from Debbie. This award is for blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude! My 3rd award was given to me by
Catherine de the' Cups blog I am honor that these two ladies would think of me and I want to thank both Catherine and Debbie for passing them on to me. I follow and read both of these blogs daily.

The rules after receiving this blog are the following:

1. Put the award up on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.

3. Nominate at least seven other blogs. (This is not an easy task)

4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.

5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog

He saw his shadow!

2009-02-02T07:38:00.001-06:00

6 more weeks of winter.

Let the Game begin

2009-02-01T15:57:00.003-06:00

I found this on Two Peas Message board.

Ingredients:

The Field:
1 Pound of Guacamole
15 Oz. Queso Dip For The Steelers End Zone
15 Oz. Salsa For The Cardinals End Zone
2 Oz. Sour Cream for the Field Lines

The Players:
15 Vienna Sausages
Helmets - 3 Oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese

The Goal Posts:
1 Slim Jim for Each Goal Post
1 Oz. Monterey Jack Cheddar To Anchor (each)

The Stands:
58 Twinkies
1 Pound of Bacon
1 Bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos
1 Bag of Cheetos
1 Bag of Corn Tortilla Chips
1 Bag of Chex Mix

The Blimp:
20 Oz. Football-Shaped Summer Sausage (optional) (on second thought, no, this isn't optional. Go buy one.)

TOTAL CALORIES: 24,375
TOTAL GRAMS OF FAT: 1,285
TOTAL COST: $86.47
TOTAL DELICIOUSNESS: 1 Billion trillion, dude. One billion trillion.

Red Tulips

2009-02-01T07:36:00.006-06:00

This morning while looking for inspiration on the Internet, I came across all of these pictures. I noticed they all had something in common, Red Tulips. I want everything in this photo, the white vase, the coffee bin. (I don't even drink coffee) This pic. came from Country Living.
I love this dinning room. I'm going to use it as my inspiration picture if I ever redo my dinning room. Love the red and black. This picture came from Country Sampler.
Doesn't this remind you of the 4Th of July? I would love to have a couple of barber shop poles.
Can't go wrong with flowers in the bathroom.

We have our winners!!!

2009-01-29T13:50:00.018-06:00

We have our winners for the "Welcome" wall words. Screaming MeMe and Julie. Email me your addresses, and I will get the "Welcome" in the mail. My email is wcollier1201@yahoo.com Several people asked about how I made them. I have a silhouette maker. I bought it from QVC several years ago. I think you can also check out www.quickutz.com to buy them. I buy all of my blades, vinyl paper, shapes etc. from them. This little machine is GREAT!!! It cuts out anything on your computer. Just type out what you want in the font you want it in, and hit cut. In a few short seconds, you have your image.
The cool thing about the silhouette maker, they have a website and you can go on and buy images. Here is just a few samples of what they have.
Here is a box that I purchased. You can make it small or large. Just use the arrows and make it the size you want. Load your paper and.....
a few short seconds later you have a box all cut out.
Fold and you have a cute little box. We are making these for the church Valentine's Party. 1 down, 79 to go.Tie with a ribbon and you have a nice little parting gift or a little something to place on each plate.

If you are interested in seeing how this machines works, I found these videos at youtube---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TAtsMLeStA&feature=related this one shows how it works,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyOjnn1Qr10 this one makes a projects.

Giveaway

2009-01-27T13:18:00.007-06:00

During the night we got hit with ice. Today everyone is home, no school, no work, and we have nothing to do. So what better way to pass the time than to get out my silhouette maker and make "Wall Words".

Yesterday I posted my closet on the Metamorphosis Monday and just about every other comment mentioned the "His" and "Hers" on the doors. I wasn't even going to mention the "His" and "Her", I guess it was a good thing I did.

So today since I have nothing to do, and nothing to post about, I'm going to give 2 "Welcome" (like the one on my front door) to 2 different people.
They measure 14 1/2" x 2 3/4". All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what you like to do when the weather is bad and you can't get out of the house. I will draw 2 names on Thursday.

Closet--Met Monday

2009-01-25T10:34:00.020-06:00

Today is Metamorphosis Monday, check out Susan's Between Naps on the Porch for a list of participants. Click on the butterfly to the right.

Today I am going to show you my closet. Our floor plan had a small room next to the master. This room was tiny, 8 1/2 ' x 9'. When we were framing the house, we decided to do away with the room and just extend the Master Bedroom. My thinking was to make it a sitting area.

It never worked out that way. Over time it turned into an area to store things. If we didn't know what to do with something, we put it in that end of the room. Before long that area of the bedroom was a huge storage area. I hated going to the bedroom because that area of the room stressed me out with all the stuff.

Our walk in closet that we had was tiny. It was full and wouldn't hold another thing. One day (took me almost 20 years to think of this) I decided to go ahead and put the wall up and make what was suppose to be the tiny room my closet, my husband could keep the closet we already had for himself. Just think, for the last 20 years I could have had my own closet, instead I had a place to store exercise equipment, furniture we didn't know what to do with, stacks of paper, etc. If you can think of something, it was probably stored there.

In this picture you can see how small the bedroom would have been. But it is perfect size for my very own closet.
And here we have the finished room. I have shelves on all 4 walls. This side of the room is for hanging my shirts and jackets. I also put shelves down the middle to display my purses.

I still need to buy my drawers, I am going to put drawers up to just over waist high. The top I want open shelving with baskets. I hang all of my jeans, Capris on the bottom, on top I hang all outdoor jackets and coats.

This wall is for things that need folded. I have my sweaters, pjs, etc. on this wall. I still need to get my baskets for the top shelves. The bottom wire basket is for dirty clothes. I need to buy one more wire basket.

Other things we did besides putting up the wall; scraped the popcorn ceiling, new trim and crown molding, paint (Latte- Sherwin Williams), new carpet. I absolutely love going in there to get dressed. I have enough space to be able to go in and see everything I own. Nothing is bunched up together and getting wrinkled. And the best part, I don't have to share!!

And just so no one gets confused which closet is theirs, I added "His" and "Hers" to the doors.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my closet. I enjoyed showing it to you.

What is your design style?

2009-01-24T15:34:00.009-06:00

I took the Design Quiz at HGTV. You do have to be signed in to take it. It ask a question and then shows about 12 pictures. You click on the style that you like. At the end of the quiz it tells you what your style is and then gives you examples. If you have time, go check it out. I took the quiz a couple of times. I had trouble on some of the questions picking just one. I posted some of my answers.

My style is Romantic
Elegant yet relaxing. Luxurious fabrics, soft colors, fresh florals. Appeals to all the senses and sets a warm mood. My home has Romantic style.

On my second time taking the quiz, this is my style....

My style is Old World, New Way
Deep, rich and regal but muted for a time-worn effect. Finishes are distressed, woodwork is rough-hewn. A lived-in but luxurious old world.

Here are the questions.

1. I could get a great nights sleep here.

2. My dream kitchen would look most like this.

3. I could find the perfect spot in my home for this.

4. My refrigerator looks most like this.

5. I would love to come home to this.

6. I would accessorize using this.

7. Where I live looks most like this.

8. I can see myself unwinding here.

9. I would like to throw a dinner party here.

10. This is the stage of my life now. (This one I am not sure of. The choices they gave with kids, the kids were babies or college. My kids are young teenagers that want nothing to do with their parents. So I chose the couple by themselves.)

11. My desk looks more like this.

12. I approach home projects like this.

What is your design style?

Breakfast Recipe

2009-01-24T08:54:00.007-06:00

A couple of months ago My friend, Elizabeth, served these at her brunch. They disappeared as soon as she had them out of the oven. This morning I decided to give them a try. I did not have Monterey Jack so I substituted Cheddar.

Here's what is in them.

One package of sausage
1 cup ranch dressing
1 1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
pepper
package of pre-made mini Fillo shells (found in the freezer section next to the pie crust)

Brown your sausage, add dressing, cheese and pepper. Fill shells with mixture and bake at 350 for 5 min. or until cheese has melted. Serve warm. That is it, so simple. My husband loved these, my kids would not try them. They said it was too early to eat dressing.

The next time I make these, I will leave out some of the dressing and half the recipe. I had 15 shells but had enough of the mixture to make 30.

Awards

2009-01-23T05:18:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was a first for me. I received an award!!! This award is called the Nobelpris and it has to do with being a nice Mom to children, animals, anyone. It came from
Melissa Heart and Home. I am honored that she would think of me. When I started blogging a month and a half ago, Melissa was the first person to sign up as a follower. You know how excited you are when you get a follower? And now she is the first person to give me an award. And then when I checked my blog this morning, Connie fromMy Thoughts and Creations also gave me this award. Thank you to both of you! Be sure to check out their blogs.

Now for my second award. This award came from Susan at A Southern Daydreamer . It is called the Sisterhood Award. She gave this award to me because I have commented at least 10 times on here blog. I know how excited I get when I have a comment, so if I have time, I always try to leave a comment when I visit a blog. Thank you Susan for thinking of me. Please check out Susan's blog.

Welcome to my chicken coop!

2009-01-21T21:52:00.010-06:00

Tam at The Gypsy’s Corner is the hostess for “Three or More Thursday” and I’m joining in for the first time this week. (clicking on the logo on the right will take you to her site)

First I want to say, "I do not collect chickens". But for some reason, when I see a metal chicken, I can not pass the silly thing up.

This guy is the one that started it all. I found him 4 or 5 years ago at Silver Dollar City. When I saw him, I fell in love with him. I have him sitting out in the middle of my flower bed. The weather has really been hard on him. After all of these years, he has a big rusted spot on his chest and he is missing an eye. I'm not sure if the weather has done a number on him or if it is from my kids hitting him with a football. And yes, I think they do it on purpose. Seems I'm the only one around here that thinks he is out of this world.

At just over 2 feet tall, this guy sits on top of my pantry. He keeps a watchful eye making sure a fox doesn't raid the pantry. He does his job well.
And here is #3. Summertime he is sitting in my kitchen. He is pretty neat because a candle fits inside his chest. The light shines through the Crisscrosses and makes an unique pattern.

Well, that is it for now. I only have 3, and the plan is to not add to my collection. But like I stated above, when I find one, I just can't pass the silly things up. So please keep your fingers crossed another one doesn't cross my path. Because we all know why the chicken crossed the road. To come to my house!

Yeeee Hawwwww Cowboy

2009-01-21T06:08:00.004-06:00

This cowboy is one of my most favorite things that I own. It's one of those things that almost got away. I was in a home decorating/antique store about 8 or 9 years ago. The owner had just brought him to the store the day before. I was thinking of doing my youngest son's room in a western theme, and thought this would go perfect. I can't remember the price, I know he was under $100 but still more than what I wanted to pay.
I decided I would go home and think about it. My mom was shopping with me that day and she said, "If you want it, get it". So I bought him. And I'm so glad that I did.

Next morning my phone rings and it is the store owner wanting to know if I want to sell him. Apparently a lady had been in the store earlier the day before and saw the cowboy. She went home to think about it and decided the next morning that she wanted it. She called the store to have them hold it for her. Too late, it had been sold. I am so thankful I did not wait.

Look at that face, he sure has a big old grin. I bet he just finished working the cattle and now he is sitting by the campfire, drinking his coffee and listening to the coyotes howl.

I know absolutely nothing about this cowboy. He is large, 4 feet across and 3 1/2 feet from the top of his hat to his chin. I don't know the age or what it was used for. Maybe that is part of the appeal, in my head I can make up all kinds of stories about him. Was he an advertising sign for a western store? Maybe the first Marlboro Man? Or did someone just make him? I would love to know.

He is painted on a board and the colors used were brown, white and tan.

Look close, bullet holes. Well, maybe they are not bullet holes, but it sure makes for a good story.

If you know anything about him, his age, what he was used for, please let me know. Or if you have a good story to add to his repertoire, I'd like to hear that too.

Thank You

2009-01-20T06:34:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was Met. Monday and I want to thank everyone that stopped by and left a comment. I also want to thank Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) for hosting this. I had so much fun visiting all the sites and looking at the before and after pics. I'm glad I was able to be a part of it. If you missed out, it's not too late. Click on the butterfly to the right and it will take you to Susan's site. There you will find a list of the participants.

I can't believe how many comments I had. I was overwhelmed each time I checked in and found more comments had been left. It's funny how a little comment can make you so happy.

I would like to thank, (I'm sorry if I missed you)

Susan, Kathy, Janine Wahl, Denise, Mean Mom Productions, Stacey, Pat, Nina, Happy to Be, Char 72, Pammie Jo, Judy Bug, Susan(Between Naps on the Porch), Meadowsweet Days, Cynthia, LanaG, Betsy, Ceekay,Elaine, Redsoxmom, Diane, 6p00e554fd440d8834, KD, Sarah, Lynne(Lynns gifts from the heart), Melissa Miller, Mishebe, CC Catherine, Santamaker, Bo, Ashley, Screaming Meme, Cheryls Fasinating Finds, Momovthree, Mah, Kathysue, Ann, Katherinellen, Olive Rue,mbkatc 230, Nancy W, Lady Katherine, Kimm, Glenda, Deb, Lisa, Stacey.

Hall Make-over Before and After

2009-01-18T10:14:00.008-06:00

I have been working on my hall for the last couple of weeks. I'm glad to be able to post my before and after pictures today.
This is my after picture. We replaced our 1 tiny light with 2 new canned lights. We also added, bead board, trim, paint (walls- Hopsack, ceiling- Latte, bead board-white), crown molding, floor mat(I painted with left over wall paint) photos and accent pieces.

Down came the ugly popcorn ceiling. We replaced the Home Interior from the early 90's with snap shots I have taken over the years of my kids.

BEFORE

Here we have the before picture. As you can see we totally made over this room. .Click here to see all post from start to finish.

Nothing went untouched, from putting bead board on the walls and ceiling to a new mat on the floor.

The pictures added so much for little cost. I purchased the frames at Hobby Lobby for half price. I think at half off they were $8.00 for a 14" x 18" frame. The black and white pictures I had made at Wal-mart, they were $4.97 for a 8" x 10" picture. Each picture I have under $15.00.
Everything on this wall came from Hobby Lobby, also half priced, or I already had it. The things I already owned got a coat of black spray paint. The "C" for our last name was gold. It also got a coat of black paint. I love it now.

This is the new floor mat I made. I cut a piece of linoleum, bought at Home Depot for $20.00 for a 6' x8' square. I painted the back side with left over wall paint and as you can see, it matches my hall perfectly. I added a black border to tie in the black picture frames.

I hope you enjoyed my before and after pictures. Thanks for stopping by my blog and please leave a comment letting me know you were here.

Click on the butterfly to the right and it will take you to "Between Naps on the Porch" she is hosting Metamorphosis Monday and has a list of more before and after pictures

Tomorrow is Metamorphosis Monday

2009-01-18T06:45:00.002-06:00

Between Naps on the Porch is hosting Metamorphosis Monday starting tomorrow. Click on the butterfly to the right to learn more about it. To join you must post before and after pictures of any project you have been working on. I'm posting pictures of my new hall. I can't wait to see what everyone has been working on. I hope to get a lot of great ideas.

I'm working on my before and after post right now. I should have it up later tonight. I hope you can make it back to see my hall finished.

A day of shopping

2009-01-16T07:31:00.007-06:00

Yesterday I came home with a car load of goodies. My friend Cindy and I went to town to get things for my new hall. I wanted to do all black and white. It was so much fun shopping. And it was even better since Cindy was there to help me. When it comes to things like this, she is the person to take with you. She has a way with picking out and displaying things. We bought frames, mirrors, shelves, letters, finials etc.
All photos for the hall I had printed in black and white. Here's Cindy framing them.
I had things that were not black, so out came the spray paint. This is a little mirror I had that was framed in a wood frame, now it is black. I must say, I like it so much more black.
And of course I have to have some of these in the hall. I think I have them in every room. I don't have any in black, so the can of spray paint gave them a new paint job too. Nothing in this house was safe from the paint.

Check back Monday morning. I'm posting it on "Taking Naps on the Porch's" Metamorphosis Monday

Black Furniture

2009-01-15T13:02:00.006-06:00

Today my friend Cindy and I went shopping. I'm wanting to get black accents pieces for my hallway. We found a neat little store that had all kinds of things I NEED. This picture is in a little closet under the stairwell. I'm loving everything in this picture, the black dresser, the black mirror, the lamp, everything. I wanted to bring the mirror home with me, but I think it is a little too big. I'm also loving the brick walls. I so wish I had this little area somewhere in my home.

Floor Mat Part 2

2009-01-13T08:28:00.008-06:00

Yesterday I had all of my dark beige painted. I let it dry for several hours and now I'm painting the light beige. A couple of people wanted to know what kind of paint I use. This is the beauty of this project. I use my left over wall paint. This way the floor mat will match my walls perfectly. The dark beige is the "Hopsack" on the upper part of my wall. The light beige is "Latte" that is on my ceiling. Remember yesterday when I said to paint the first coat the same color as the square next to it? You can see in this picture I painted this square dark beige, when it drys, I'll paint the square light beige.
Here's a close up. A lot of work, but so worth it. If you have ever had to go back and touch up lines, you will not mind the extra work.
Here it is done, look how sharp my lines are. I'm even a little amazed at how crisp they turned out. Yesterday while I was painting the guy doing my hall told me another trick. If you take caulking and rub a little on the seam of the tape, it keeps the paint from bleeding underneath also.
Here it is done!!!! Well, I still have to put a couple coats of NON-YELLOWING polyurethane on it, but this is the way it will look. Like I said above, the dark beige is my wall color, the light beige is the ceiling color. I'm doing black and white pictures in my hall so I thought the black stripe and the black circles would tie in with the frames.
Here's another tip, to get your circles nice. This is an easy way to do it. Take painters tape and stick it to some paper and use a hole punch and punch out a circle. The tape has to be stuck to paper first or the punch tears it up. Then just peel the tape off and stick to your project.

If anyone decides to make a mat, please let me see pictures.

Floor Mat Part 1

2009-01-12T08:52:00.011-06:00

Yesterday I started on my new floor mat for the hall. I found a piece of linoleum at Home Depot. Doesn't matter what the front looks like, it can be ugly, you won't see it. I try to find something with lines or squares, I use that as my guide when cutting, and this stuff cuts super easy. The piece I found was a 6' x8' piece for $21.00. The first thing I did was cut it to the size I wanted. Now prime the back of the linoleum. Next I measured out my design. I can't draw, so I have to use shapes that I can measure.
Next I use painters tape and tape around the edges I'm going to paint.
Then I start painting. And this step is very important. For my first coat of paint, I paint it the color of the square that is next to it. This way if anything bleeds under the tape, you won't know it because it is the same color. After the first coat has dried I then paint the color I want the square to be. See how sharp my lines are? This is because my first coat of paint sealed the tape.
When the painted is good and dry, move on to the rest of the squares. This takes FOREVER!
Now all of my darker beige is done. At this point I have about 4 hours in this mat. I have to stop now because I used all of my painters tape. I will let this dry a day or so before I tape the squares next to it. Now I'm off to the store to get some more painters tape, I'll try to update later.

Hall Redo

2009-01-11T08:50:00.005-06:00

I hope you are not getting bored reading about my hall. The thing is, that is the only thing that has been going on in my life for the last week. It is coming to an end though, I think I'm going to show the finished project Monday the 19Th during Taking Naps on the front Porches' Metamorphosis Monday. Be sure and check back.

You can see here that we have crown molding. I love crown molding, before long, I want it in every room. We have one coat of Latte on the ceiling and one coat of Hopsack on the walls. After the nail holes are filled, we are painting and leaving it white.
This is our trim. Not really sure what it is called, it's too high to be a chair rail, so maybe a picture rail. The bead board is around 4' high so the trim is just slightly higher than 4'. If someone can fill me in, please do so.

Today everyone is motocross racing so I have no help. I think I'm going to start my new floor mat today. My mind is drawing a blank, not sure what pattern I want to do it.

Hall Redo

2009-01-10T05:44:00.007-06:00

The bead board is up! The entire look of the hall has changed. As you can see in the picture not only did we put it on the wall, but the ceiling also. A couple of weeks ago From House To Cozy Home posted her dinning room ceiling. She had bead board on the ceiling and I really liked it. Click on the link and go take a look at her blog. We added new lights and I had the ugly popcorn ceiling, so this was the perfect solution. I don't know why I waited so long to do this. I'm loving the bead board. I have so many plans for it now.

Excuse my paint sample, I started out painting a small patch. I got a little carried away and my small sample turned in to half the wall. The color on the wall is Hopsack from Sherwin Williams. I had a couple of colors I tried, and I think I'm going with this one. Another color I really liked was Latte also from Sherwin Williams. It wasn't dark enough. It is on the same card as the Hopsack, so I think the Latte will go on the ceiling. Also on the same card is Kilim Beige, I'm thinking about this color for the bead board. Still undecided, I'm really liking the lower bead board white. I will have to try a sample and live with it a couple of days.

In this picture we have the wall painted with Hopsack and the ceiling is painted with the Latte. The bead board is left white.

Next on the list of things to do, trim. Can't wait for this part

Declutter Friday

2009-01-09T05:50:00.005-06:00

Since I have started blogging, Declutter Friday is my favorite part of the week to blog. For one, an area in my house gets cleaned and organized, and two, I love looking at before and after pictures.

This week I had a little bit of trouble, I didn't have anything to clean out and organize. Sure I have areas that I keep the door closed when company comes, but for declutter Friday I wanted something small that would take me less than 15 min.

Being the "neat freak" and "everything in its place" kind of guy my husband is, I decided to ask him if he had something he wanted cleaned. Yep, he sure did, his top drawer of his night stand. And oh my, did it need cleaning.
You know how everyone has a junk drawer to throw their stuff they don't know what to do with? This is his junk drawer. When he comes home at night he throws his change, keys, receipts from the day, pens, phone numbers, you name it, it is in there.

You know we always have to get a pic. of the mess dumped out.Remember last week when I said I'm always buying black Sharpie pens because I can never find them? Look at the top right of the pic. I have another one to add to my collection.

15 mins. later he has a clean drawer. Most of it went into the trash. Amazing what we found. A charger to a flashlight he was getting ready to throw away, because he couldn't charge it. We also found $30.64 in change, 5 lighters for burning brush piles, a half a dozen chap sticks, 12-15 knives and the list goes on and on.

We have lights! Hallway Redo

2009-01-08T06:09:00.002-06:00

I guess I have been watching too much of Candice Olson of Divine Design on HGTV. The first thing she does on every show is add lighting. I couldn't do a hallway redo without adding the proper lighting. It looks amazing, I am so thrilled with the way it turned out.

Here is the before pic. As you can see, we had one tiny light. Now that we have new lights, the hallway is lit up like a Christmas tree. After seeing all the light we have, we must have been living in cave. Before when I would get something out of the hall closet, I couldn't see a thing. Now I can see everything, including the cobwebs. Yikes, maybe new lights weren't such a good thing.

Now I'm off to pick paint colors. Fun!

Floor Mat

2009-01-07T05:53:00.011-06:00

Hi Melissa, My runner is not painted onto the floor or a carpet. If you can believe it, I painted it on the back of an old piece of linoleum. It is very simple to do and looks great when finished. In the next couple of weeks I will be making a new one to go with my new hallway. Check back later and I will do a blog with the steps on making one.

As you can see in this picture, your linoleum doesn't have to be pretty. Just find an old scrap. I bought a piece at Big Lots for around $20.00, it was big enough to make several mats. I have a large 6' x 8' one in the living room. The nice thing about them is, they are indestructible. Living with boys, I need that. These things have held up to Motocross boots, football cleats and work boots. And believe me, my kids are like bulls in a china closet. When they get dirty, just take them outside, spray them down with cleaner, scrub with a magic eraser and then wash off with the garden hose. If the mats can stand up to my kids, they can stand up to anything.

I don't know why above I wrote that I would post the steps. It's really pretty simple, anyone could figure it out. First you cut it out the size you want. Next prime. Then if you are really creative and can draw, you paint whatever you want. Since I'm not creative and can't draw, I use painters tape and lay out a pattern. Last comes the polyurethane. If you want it to stay the original color, be sure to use the non-yellowing polyurethane. The one in the pic. is plain old polyurethane and over time it did yellow and got an aged look.(I like that look)

Hallway Redo

2009-01-06T08:30:00.007-06:00

Yesterday I was spending way too much time on blog land daydreaming about my new hallway. I had to tear myself away from reading when my phone started ringing. I answered it and heard the 5 words every girl starting a home project wants to hear, "I will be there tomorrow".

This is my new project, the hallway. My original plan was to scrape the popcorn ceiling. After spending time looking at others' home redo projects, my "scrape the ceiling" quickly grew to include new lights, bead board, painting and crown molding.

Here are my Before Pictures. Say "Goodbye" to the early 90's Home Interior. At the end of the project, that will not be returning.

A day ice skating

2009-01-05T09:22:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was the last day of Christmas vacation and I promised Nick we would go skating one day. Of course we waited until the last day when the temp. was 23 degrees with a windchill of 12 degrees. On the way up to the city, Nick asked if we were both going to skate with him. My husband says he has bad ankles and can't skate,(sounds like an excuse to me) I haven't skated in almost 30 years, so I wasn't really thrilled with skating. Not wanting him to skate by himself, I told him I would skate. Let's just say, I will never critique figure skating on t.v. again. It would be hard to say what the professionals are doing wrong when I never let go of the wall. Once the little kids came and were zooming all around me, I decided I was done.

We were cold, our ears hurt, what better way to warm up than to head across the street to Cheesecake Factory. Once inside and looking through the glass at all the cheesecake, we forgot all about being cold.

In case anyone cares, we had the SNICKERS BAR CHUNKS AND CHEESECAKE -Snickers Bar Baked right into Creamy Cheesecake and Topped with Fudge and Caramel. Mmmmmm so good.

Take a tour of my craft room

2009-01-04T07:23:00.007-06:00

With the New Year here, just about every message board or blog I visit, they are talking about getting organized. I love the look of everything organized, I just wish my stuff would stay that way. With today's post I thought I would let you look at my craft room and see how I organize some of my things. This is one area that does stay pretty organized. I don't think I'm considered a scrapbooker, I'm more of a collector of scrapbook materials. Seems I'm always buying and never making.

This is the area you see when you walk in my craft room. The curtain on the bottom cabinets hide my sewing machine. That is my big old dinosaur computer, I keep it because it has a lot of great fonts that our laptop does not have, and the Internet was way too slow on it. Just want to point out the big Longaberger basket on the counter, I love that thing. It is their "laundry" basket. I use it when I have parties, just fill it with ice and stick water bottles, cans of pop etc. down in it. It's so big it stores lots of drinks, it takes about two bags of ice to fill it. At the moment I'm using it to store items we are sending to the soldiers in Iraq. When I go shopping I pick up personal items such as razors, toothbrushes, playing cards, gum etc. I throw it in the basket and when it is full we will pick a solider to send it to. It's getting pretty full, we need to get another box together.

Across the top in the small cabinets is where I keep all of my albums.

I started buying these stackable drawers at Michael's, and wouldn't you know it, when I had about half of them bought, they quit selling them. Oh well, if I had more I would just have to buy more supplies to fill them up.
I store all of my ribbons in them. That is another thing I have too much of. I think I have them for every holiday. I have so much that I don't think I will ever run out, but sure enough I go to a craft store and find some I have to have.
Christmas Ribbon
Everyday Ribbon
Fall, 4Th of July and Easter Ribbon
This is how I store all of my 8 x 11 card stock. I have a notebook for each color. Inside I have page protectors and have each pattern in a protector. On the spine I have what color is in each notebook. As you can see, this notebook has all of my Red pattern card stock. When I was scrap booking and card making, I always bought in bulk. It never failed, I would start a project, run out of paper, go back to get more and they would be out of it. I would then run all over town trying to find one sheet of paper. Finally when I started a project I bought what I needed plus lots and lots of extra.

This area is where I store all of my stamps. My mom and aunt both sold Close to My Heart Stamps. I don't know how many stamps I have, I just know there are a lot.

Each drawer is labeled with what is in them. Some of the labels are Christmas, Fall, sports, flowers, animals, transportation etc.
And last is my Papered Chef that stores utensils, I use it for my pens and pencils. At one time when I was really into the crafts, this thing was full of markers. I just recently went through and cleaned out the room and the pens were one of the first things to go.

Finials

2009-01-03T07:05:00.007-06:00

Spring is in the air, at least at my house it is. This morning I was up bright and early putting away the rest of my Christmas decorations. One of the last things I had to take down were my Nutcrackers. I was kind of sad to see them down, but as soon as I spotted my collection of finials, the sadness was soon gone. I don't know how long I have been buying finials, but it seems I can never pass them up when I find one. I have never found one I didn't like. My collection has grown so much ,I think I have them in every room of the house. I don't even know how many I have.

Here's a collection of them above a cabinet in the living room. You know the saying, "Less is More", that does not apply here. I wish I had more!

Just look at the details on these What's there not to love?

Declutter Friday

2009-01-02T06:08:00.000-06:00

That time of the week again, Declutter Friday.

I'm back in the Kitchen this week, cleaning out the junk drawer. This week I spent about 30 min. Again, it was bad, I shouldn't be posting these pics.

Before
I had trouble getting the drawer open and shut. I never could find my calculator so every time I went to Wal-Mart, I bought another one. Now I have 3 that I know of.

Next I emptied out the drawer and piled everything on the counter. Nick walked in and his eyes lit up. He wanted to know if he could have what I didn't want. I told him the purpose of cleaning was to get rid of stuff, not move it to another room.
Oh look, there are my keys!

After
I can never find Black Sharpies, seems I'm always buying them. After cleaning, I now have 10. I also found an extra 50 pens, everyone walks off with them at the office, so next week, they will have a new home. Plus I found a hammer, 10 screwdrivers, 3 wire cutters, hooks, WD 40, and an extra pencil sharpener.

Now go declutter something!

HGTV Dream Home

2009-01-01T19:57:00.007-06:00

I'm sitting here drooling over the new HGTV Dream House. Is there such a thing as a house being too big? I know in the past most people can't afford the upkeep or the taxes and have to sell. One year's winners said they are quickly running through their winnings as they struggle to pay thousands a month for electricity, household help and other outsize bills for their outsize home. On top of that, they had to take out a loan to pay off a $672,000 tax bill on their winnings. Yikes!

But a person can still dream!

I love this year's Dream Home. The bathroom is to die for. When I redo my bath, I want it to look just like this year's home.
Sorry the pics. are so big. Click on them to see the entire picture.

Look at the detail, they think of everything when designing the house. Wouldn't you love to have Linda Woodrum's job. Have an unlimited budget and the best shops all over the country to shop from. I must say though, when she was on her shopping spree, I was seeing a lot of things I wanted that she did not buy. Even the closet is spectacular!

The guestroom is great too! I don't think guest would ever want to leave this room. I'm loving the touches of red with the black and white photos.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T11:51:00.002-06:00

What's your "Word" for 2009?

I saw this on another blog, they wanted to know what single word best sums up what you want 2009 to be for yourself. It could be anything, just one word to focus on. The key is to find something that has meaning to you.

I have been thinking and my word for 2009 is "Less".

I want
less debt
less clutter
less impulsive buying
less weight
less T.V.
less computer- that might be a hard one
less giving in to my kids
less eating out

So...what's YOUR word for 2009?

Nick

2008-12-31T17:08:00.011-06:00

Some of you are telling me that I post about Zach all the time but you never see anything on my blog about Nick. Today I have absolutely nothing to blog about so here's one about my son Nick.

I have tons of pictures of Zach because he is always getting his picture taken because of motocross, but Nick doesn't really have a sport. When I do get a pic. of him he just about always has on camo or his hunting clothes.

This pic. was taken at Fort Leavenworth. I think he was in 1st grade. We took him to the Army base to get his hair cut, he had to have a High N Tight.
He went through a phase where he had to wear camo EVERYDAY. And when I say everyday, I mean everyday, he did not wear civilian clothes for almost 2 years. Not just the clothes, but the boots, hat, everything. It did make getting dressed in the morning pretty easy, he knew exactly what he was wearing. He even wore them when it was over 100 degrees in the summer. I think he is the only kid I know that wanted to do his back to school shopping at the Army surplus store. And I know for sure he was the only kid that wore combat boots to Track N Field day, he didn't win any races that day. When he finally did wear regular clothes to school one day, his teacher told me she did not recognize him when he came in that morning.

Fast forward to today, and this is him now.These are the pictures I get of him. Look closely he is hidden in the trees. He begged me to take him to the Army surplus to buy a "Gilly" suit.(you can probably guess by now, he loves shopping at the Army surplus store). When we came home, we spent the entire day of him hiding in the trees and me trying to find him. I never could find him. I did manage to find the poison ivy though.

If you couldn't find him in the above picture here's a better one.

So you see this is why I don't post many pics. of him, if he isn't out hiding in the trees, he is out digging foxholes in the backyard, that is a "hole" other story.

New Year party favors

2008-12-29T07:37:00.011-06:00

Found this inexpensive and easy to make party favor at BHG site, everyone young and old will love it.
Instructions:

You will need
Paper towel tubes
wrapping paper
curling ribbon
tape
scissors
small treasures, candy, confetti

1. Make sure the paper towel tube is clean inside and out. Cut tubes to measure approximately 6 inches long; then cut each tube in half.

2. Cut a piece of wrapping paper that is 11 x 6 inches. Center pieces of tube side by side on paper, leaving a 1-inch space between the tubes. Wrap paper around tubes and secure with tape.

3. Tie one end of the paper with curling ribbon. Fill the tube through the open end with candy,bounce balls, coins just about anything that will fit. For New years it would be neat to fill with fun shaped, multi-colored confetti. (Might not be fun cleaning up). Tie the remaining end shut. Use scissors to curl the ends of the ribbon.

4. Have guests break tubes in half to find goodies inside.

Fortune Bubbles

Here's another favor I found on the BHG site.

What You Need:
See-through plastic ornaments (available at crafts stores)
Calligraphy pen or colored marker
8-1/2 x 11 sheets of art paper (amount needed will vary depending on how many fortunes you are making)
Scissors
Fortunes or inspirational quotes
Curling ribbon
Instructions:
1. Cut strips of paper 1-2 inches long (or as needed to fit in ornaments) and 8-1/2 inches wide.

2. Write a fortune or quote on each strip of paper.

3. Roll each fortune into a small scroll and tie with curling ribbon, leaving ends of ribbon long.

4. Place 1 fortune into each ornament. Allow excess curling ribbon to trail out of ornament.

5. Pile the bubbles in a basket or glass bowl.

6. Let each guest choose a bubble and read their fortune aloud to the group.

Frame a mirror

2008-12-27T08:06:00.009-06:00

Do you have a big ugly mirror that is just plain? Why not frame it? It is so simple. I found this tip on the Two Peas message board. It is pretty easy and changes the entire look of your bathroom. Sorry about the pics. it was a tight squeeze trying to stand back and get it all in.

Before, plain old ugly mirror

You can have your project done in less than a hour. I went to Home Depot and picked out some trim. I think the total cost was under $50.00. Be sure to take your measurements with you, you would hate to end up short. If you don't have a saw, they will cut it for you. Next I came home and painted.

Then add Velcro to both the mirror and the back of your trim (I kept both sides of the Velcro together, placed it on the back of the trim and then pressed it to the mirror). This has been on my mirror for almost 2 years and I had trouble getting it pulled apart to take these pics. Once up, it is stuck, it's not going anywhere.

After- Changes the entire look of the bathroom in less than an hour and for around $50.00. I bought corner pieces so I could do straight cuts on the end.

Declutter Friday

2008-12-26T07:14:00.012-06:00

Today is Declutter Friday!!!!

Today I'm in my closet. It's not really that bad, but it drove me crazy every time I went in there.

Before I wrapped our Christmas presents in the closet. I was so tired of going in there to get dressed and stepping over wrapping paper, scissors, tape, presents. I did spend over my 10 min. that I usually spend decluttering. I think this week it took me a little over 30 min. I had to take everything back to where it belonged, iron clothes, etc.
This area drove me CRAZY! I'm making Nick a denim quilt using all of our old jeans. I thought if I put them in my closet and looked at the pile everyday it would motivate me to get started on it. Nope! I went in there everyday, saw the pile and was depressed because I had a pile on my floor and knew I should be getting started on it and had done nothing with it.

After Everything is put away where it belongs, clothes ironed and hung up.
Pile gone, yesterday I cut out over 100 squares. I plan on cutting up at least 1 pair a day. I think I have about 10 pairs left, 10 days I should be done.
Shelves cleaned! Yeah, I have my closet back!

Cinnamon Blueberry Crumble

2008-12-25T18:51:00.003-06:00

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Every year we go to my mom's Christmas morning. She fixes a huge breakfast, french toast, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, eggs, bacon, really anything you can think of, she has. This year she also fixed something new. Everyone loved it, and I think it was easy to fix

Cinnamon Blueberry Crumble

9 Rhodes Anytime Cinnamon rolls
21 ounce can blueberry pie filling
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
cream cheese frosting (included with Anytime Cinnamon Rolls)

Arrange frozen rolls in 3 rows of 3 in a sprayed 9x13 inch baking pan. Spread blueberry pie filling evenly over and between rolls. Combine butter, flour, brown sugar and pecans and sprinkle over pie filling. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Drizzle with cream cheese frosting while still warm.

This would also be good using apple or cherry pie filling.

Thatched roofs

2008-12-24T07:51:00.005-06:00

Ever since I went to England and visited Anne Hathaway's cottage, I have wanted a thatched roof. There are more thatched roofs in the United Kingdom than in any other European country. The traditional material in most of England is wheat straw and can last for more than 45–50 years.
What a view. Can you imagine if this was your front lawn? I would never be inside. And I can picture Nick standing on the bridge with his fishing pole. Look at the detail they put in the straw at the peak of the roof. Now these homes have character.

Ice Skating

2008-12-22T07:50:00.011-06:00

When my youngest son sets his mind to doing something, he will not stop until he figures out a way to get it done. Recently he went on a field trip with the Middle School to an ice skating rink in Arkansas. He loved it and has been bugging us for the last month to take him back. The ice skating rink is over 2 hours away, so it really hasn't been at the top of our list of things to do. Nick got on the Internet and searched ice skating rinks and came across a site on how to make one. Yesterday Nick and his dad did just that. It was only about 10 degrees but Nick did not stop until his Ice Skating Rink was finished.
First they had to get their supplies.
Next they built a frame about 16'x 16'

Next comes the plastic.

Then the water.

And now we wait for it to freeze.

$150 give away

2008-12-21T14:32:00.005-06:00

Life as Lou (<---click here) is giving away $150 in scrap booking supplies. If you want to win, visit her sight and leave a message. For more chances to win, link her blog on your blog. Good luck!

Colors for 2009

2008-12-21T07:07:00.013-06:00

My kitchen is a pale yellow and I decided to maybe change the color. I'm one of those people that when I finally like a color, it is on the way out. I went to the Sherwin Williams site to see what upcoming color trends will be big in 2009. After seeing some of their picks, I probably will not catch on to this new trend until it is on the way out. This is what they said.

click here to see the Red/Orange I love reds, my living room is red. I'm just not that crazy about the shades they picked.

click here to see the Yellow/Green

click here to see the Neutrals The Umber I'm still undecided about. I can maybe see my hallway that color. Without natural light, it might be too dark.

Click here to see the Violet/blue

Bead Board

2008-12-20T07:08:00.004-06:00

The other day I was talking to my mom and she mentioned that she needed one more Christmas gift for me so I would be even with my SIL. I knew exactly what I wanted, a Home Depot gift certificate. There are several projects I want to do around the house, and one of them is to add bead board. Not sure where I want to put it. I have several place that it would look nice, bathroom, hallway, going up the stairs. I'm loving it in the above bedroom.
I LOVE this shelf. I don't know where these people live, but we have nothing like that in this area. We live in a shopping wasteland!

Declutter Friday

2008-12-19T05:21:00.002-06:00

Today is Friday! Declutter Friday!

This week I decluttered the cabinet that store all of my measuring cups, pitchers, water bottles, camera bags and anything else we don't know what to do with. I'm really ashamed at the way my before looks. I didn't realize it was that bad. Once I saw the picture, I can't believe the shape it was in.

Before
OMG! We need the "How clean is your House" people to come!

I had the boys' school papers from the first of the year that we did not need. We had thermos bottles from lunch boxes that are 10 years old, water bottles that never get used and things that have other homes but instead of getting put away, they get thrown up in the cabinet. So I got the trash can and started throwing.......until Jeff came in and insisted we needed the million water bottles, and Zach convinced me that he can not live without his Travis Pastrana thermos (I don't think it ever did get used).

Mental note, clean when everyone is gone.

After

I found things that I had forgotten we had. The candy striped bowl my mom gave me last year for the cheese ball, the green christmas pitcher with holly and the cup and saucer for milk and cookies for Santa that my Aunt Debi gave the boys. Good thing I cleaned, Christmas is just a week away.

We still have the million water bottles, everything else is pretty much gone. I timed myself, this week it took me 11 minutes.

Now go declutter something and leave a comment telling me what you decluttered.

Wrapping Gifts

2008-12-18T08:20:00.003-06:00

All of my gifts are bought and ready to be wrapped. I do the same thing every year, wait until the last minute to start wrapping. Usually I'm still wrapping on Christmas Eve after the boys have gone to bed. I sit on the floor with a pile of gifts all around me, wrapping paper and little pieces of ribbon are everywhere. I can't count how many times I lose the tape and the scissors. If I had a wrapping station like this one, I know I would wrap a present as soon as it was bought. I would never lose my scissors or my tape. And I'm sure the room would always be as clean as the one in the picture.

Trivia

2008-12-17T06:32:00.006-06:00

What movie cost 3.7 million dollars to make? It only brought in 3.3 million dollars during the first box office run and was considered a failure. If you know what movie this is, leave a comment.

It's a Wonderful Life, You're both right.

The Simple Life

2008-12-16T06:33:00.006-06:00

Sunday while driving to Columbia to attend Zach's State banquet, we drove through the Amish community. It's amazing how fast it is growing. Seems every time we take that route there will be a new house that has popped up.
Here they are on their way to church.

This is the little school house.

State Champ!

2008-12-15T07:40:00.012-06:00

Yesterday was the Missouri State Banquet. Zach won 1st place in the 250 Nov. class. They gave this picture to him. Someone took it of him at one of the races. He also received a #1 number plate, a 1st place plaque, 2 gift certificates to area motorcycle shops, graphics, a seat cover, and a coat that says State Champ with his name. You can't tell it from these pics. but he was excited about winning.

He won this hat too!
They gave out awards to 15th place.

Wall Words

2008-12-13T20:31:00.013-06:00

Above my back door.

Last year I bought the Silhouette Die Cutter, it is a machine that will cut anything that you type into your computer. When it came, I was a little intimidated by it, so I stuck it back in the box and never gave it another thought..........until this weekend. I saw a video on YouTube and the lady made it look so easy. So I pulled it out and have been going sticker crazy ever since. I'm always getting after the boys about putting stickers on EVERYTHING, so you can imagine what they are thinking when they see their mother putting stickers on all the doors and walls. They probably think I have lost my mind. Here's what I have done so far.

My Master Bedroom Closet
(click on the picture to enlarge)

BeforeAfter

The Front Door (sorry these are dark, I took them at night.
Before
After with the WELCOME

Declutter Friday

2008-12-12T06:21:00.003-06:00

I'm going to start decluttering this week. Several years ago I worked the Flylady program and my house was looking pretty good. Once you stop, seems the clutter just takes over. Starting today it's going to be Declutter Friday and I'm going to spend 10 min. decluttering. I'm BRAVE!!! I'm going to post before and after pics. Now go declutter something and leave a comment telling me what you decluttered.

This week I'm decluttering the closet in my Master Bathroom. I started with an easy project, it wasn't that bad. Took me less than 10 min., I just had to throw away a couple of things that were outdated or we don't need.

Before

after

Cream Cheese Tarts

2008-12-11T06:27:00.005-06:00

I found this recipe for Cream Cheese Tarts at Cheryl's Fascinating finds They are so good, easy to make and my kids loved them. I'm posting a picture that Cheryl used because by the time I got around to taking a picture of the ones I had made, they were gone. If you like them, go to Cheryl's blog and let her know how good they were and tell her how you found them. Even if you don't make them, go take a look around at her blog, she is very talented and her home has been in Romantic Country Magazine and is also Oct. Cottage of the Month.

Individual Cream Cheese Tarts
3 8oz pkgs cream cheese
5 eggs
1c. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Cream eggs w cream cheese one at a time, add sugar gradually, add vanilla. Spray cupcake liners with Pam Cooking Spray. Fill cupcake liner 2/3 full bake 30 min. @ 300
cool 5 min and mix the following ingredients. together and spoon into well of the cake
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla
Then add a dalap of pie filling, preserves etc. pop back in oven for 5 min then chill....Your family will love these!

Thanks Julie!!!!!

2008-12-10T14:42:00.003-06:00

After having computer problems at work and being on the phone for 3 hours with customer service that was located in India, you can probably imagine I was a little stressed. I get home and what was waiting for me? A package from my Aunt Julie. In it was lotion from Burt's Bees and a glass ornament for my Christmas tree. Thanks Julie! I love it.

Suzy Homemaker

2008-12-10T06:26:00.004-06:00

Yesterday when Zach came home from school he was carrying the pillow he made in Home Ec. He did a really nice job on the sewing. His grade was a 46 out of 50. When asked if he had fun making it, he said it was "alright". Only fitting the material has motorcycles on it.

If anyone has any sewing projects they need, I have the guy for you!
Now if he can learn to cook and clean, we are set!!

Painted Cabinets

2008-12-09T09:00:00.007-06:00

For the last several years I have been wanting to paint my kitchen cabinets. I love the look of painted cabinets. Found these pictures. I so wish I had the courage to paint my cabinets. I'm not afraid of color, my living room is RED, but I really have a problem with painting my cabinets. I keep thinking I'll be tired of it in a couple of years and wish I had my oak back.

I just noticed going back and looking at my pictures of inspiration, they all have an island, the same farm sink and pendant lights. I never noticed that until I posted the pics. together.

Organizing tip for magazines

2008-12-08T07:43:00.010-06:00

Have you ever found an article in a magazine that you wanted to save? So you keep the magazine and throw it in your stack of other magazines you are saving. Later when you want to read the article or try the recipe, you have no clue in which magazine it was in. You spend an hour flipping through the magazines in the stack and never can find what you are looking for.

Here's what I do and it works great. I know exactly where every article is.

I bought three ring notebooks and the plastic page protectors that let you slide pages down into them. I have several notebooks; home, recipes, holidays, garden, crafts and travel. I started with just one notebook, over the last several years, I have had to give each of my categories their own notebook.
If I find something I want to do to my kitchen, I rip out the article and place it in my home notebook. Find a decorating tip for Halloween, rip it out and place it in my "holiday" book, find someplace I would love to visit, rip it out and file it in my "Travel" notebook.

Here are floor plans I wanted to save, they are filed in my "home" notebook.

And these notebooks are my Garden and Holiday. As you can see in the pic. I found some outdoor fireplaces, they are filed in my "garden" book, and the fall centerpieces are filed in my "Holiday" notebook under fall.

Even the pockets in the back of the notebooks come in handy. In my "home" notebook, I keep a sample of my paint colors, fabric, receipts, etc. for each room. In my "garden" book I keep the little tabs that come in each of the potted flowers you buy. When I plant something and need to look at the instructions on watering or planting conditions, I know right where they are.

Now I don't have stacks of magazines. When a magazine comes in the mail, I sit down and read it, tear out what I want to save and get rid of the magazine.

Can I have your autograph?

2008-12-07T17:04:00.007-06:00

Last night, Zach, had a "first" ever moment. He races motocross and last night he raced at an arena cross in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Between the races he would go up in the stands and sit with his grandpa. While in the stands watching the other races, a little boy around the age of 10, came up with a piece of paper and pencil and asked if he could have his autograph. I think it caught Zach off guard, he had a look on his face like "do you have the right person". He signed it and off the boy went.

He did good the first races, a 1st and a 2nd in the Nov. and outlaw classes. Made it to the mains and was able to race that night. The arena is pretty big, holds several thousand people. So I think he was excited to be able to ride in front of so many people. The main races didn't go so well. He was taken out in both races. The last race all the spokes in his back wheel broke.

The pictures below are not at the Arena cross, they are just pic. of him practicing.

Holiday Decorating Tip

2008-12-06T08:44:00.008-06:00

Found this tip on the BHG site. I'm definitely making me a decorating toolbox. I'm so tired of not being able to find my wire cutters, having my Christmas hooks at the bottom of the storage box, and not being able to find spare Christmas lights and fuses. This will come in handy next Christmas!

Decorating Tool Kit
Putting together a holiday tool kit is a great time saver from year to year. Simply stock any toolbox (or shoe box) with the following: ornament hooks, wire cutters, nylon line, narrow ribbon or cording, scissors, florists' wire, twist ties, wire ties, and spare holiday light bulbs.

Place your holiday tool kit in a prominent location with other holiday decorations and next year you'll be ready to decorate with ease!

Decorating the outside

2008-12-06T07:27:00.008-06:00

I love this wreath!

This year I'm really getting a late start on decorating the outside of my house. For the past 20 years I have had my front porch decorated and my Christmas lights up and ready to turn on Thanksgiving night. Here it is Dec. 6th and I just took down my fall wreath. Today if it is not too cold, I'm heading outside to work on my porch, here are a few pictures from Better Homes and Gardens for some inspirations.

Peppermint pinwheel cookies

2008-12-06T05:19:00.012-06:00

The other day I was flipping through my new Southern Living Magazine and came across these cookies. I just had to make them, I knew they would be a big hit. Well, when I read the recipe and came across the "roll out" part, I should have just turned the page and never looked back. Half way through, I kept thinking how crazy I was for doing this and that I would never make them again.

Well gosh darn it, they did turn out cute and my kids loved them. No sooner would I have a pan out of the oven and iced, they were gone. The nice thing about this recipe is, you can make several batches, roll them up and stick them in the freezer. I made them on Thursday and pulled them out and baked on Friday. I only had to cut in slices and they were in the oven within a couple of minutes.

If I do make them again, I will probably just make the regular cake icing, powdered sugar, Crisco, milk, vanilla, salt, instead of the cream cheese icing. My kids liked the icing, but it was a little too soft and thin for my liking.

Peppermint Pinwheel cookies http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1860238

Frosting
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1860239

Nutcrackers

2008-12-05T11:10:00.003-06:00

The other night I was talking about my collection of nutcrackers. My husband over heard the word, "Nutcracker. He dropped his head back, let out a sigh and did a little eye roll. He said, "We don't have to go to that again this year, do we?"
"No", I said, "I'm talking about my collection of nutcrackers". "Good", he said and then proceeded to tell my son, Nick about the time I made him get dressed up and dragged him to see the ballet, "The Nutcracker". After listening to his version of the story, I'm guessing it wasn't a fond memory.

Some of my nutcrackers I have had for almost 20 years. Before I had kids, I bought 1 or 2 every year. Now when I find one, I go over in my head all the other things I should be spending my money on and always pass up buying it.

Here are a few that I really like.

My 3 wise men by Steinbach

I'm not sure who made this one, he is just
stamped Germany on the bottom

These are made by Susan Milford. She signs,
numbers and dates all of them.
I have several by her. I don't know if she
still makes them. I bought these in the 80's
and early 90's

Columbus

Hook

And of course, Santa

Maybe someday when my kids are grown and gone, I'll add to my collection.

Bah Humbug!

2008-12-04T13:12:00.001-06:00

This is my next project. I found this little guy at a craft show. He looks really simple to make, just a Christmas light, two washers and some wire. In the pictures he is made to stick in a plant, but I think he would be really cute made into a Christmas ornament.

Magic Reindeer Food

2008-12-04T07:11:00.001-06:00

Sprinkle on the lawn at night,
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
this will guide them to your home.
Must be sprinkled within 1 hour of bedtime!

When my kids were small I would make this bird seed and glitter mixture every year for them to feed Santa's reindeer. Everyone would ask for me to make it for their kids and I started making it and selling it at a local store. While going through my Christmas decorations I came across some that I had made up.

Here's what you need

White card stock cut 8" x7"
Christmas paper, I used Stamping Station cut 3 3/4" x 6 3/4"
red card stock 4" x 2 1/2"
brown card stock for reindeer
miniature Christmas lights, found mine at Hobby Lobby
red ball for nose
reindeer stamp, Stampassions 1-800-Art-stamp
bird seed
glitter
zip lock bags
poem

Digging your love

2008-12-03T06:13:00.001-06:00

This morning when I came into the kitchen, I found this card waiting on me. My husband does excavating for a living, so it is only fitting that my anniversary card would resemble his work. The other night he was sitting in his recliner holding a box of markers. I asked him what he was doing with them. He told me he found them out in the car. I had no idea he was making me a card. He's suprised this remained a secret, Nick found out and wanted to tell me. I can't believe Nick didn't spill the beans.

20 years!

2008-12-03T05:37:00.001-06:00

Today is my 20th wedding anniversary. Where has the time gone?
Doesn’t seem that long ago that we were cruising up and down Broadway every
Friday and Saturday night, listening to 80’s music. Looking back at the past 20 years, all I can think of is how happy we are. We have a great life all because of him. He is such a great guy, he can make anyone laugh and can make me smile just by saying “Smile” even when I try so hard not to. He is such a hard worker and everything he does he does with the family in mind. He spends his only day off hauling Zach around to motorcross races, sitting in a tree with Nick to deer hunt or doing something for me around the house. Between the two of us, I without a doubt got the better end of the deal. I’m truly one of the luckiest girls in the world.

What a deal!

2008-12-02T16:14:00.001-06:00

Look at the bargain I found today in Kansas City. I found these 3 trees, measuring 18", 15" and 12" for the low price of $15.00 for all 3. The berries are tiny jingle bells, so cute. Would have bought more but this was the last set. Wouldn't you know, I find a great bargain and they only have 1. My small collection of sheep look right at home.