Have you ever seen the movie, "The Ultimate Gift"? It is so good! We saw it a while back, and really enjoyed it. Without giving too much away, it is about a young man who has been brought up rich and is not only spoiled, but is a really unlikeable person. When his grandfather dies, he leaves him an inheritance, but only if he can pass all of the tests his grandfather has planned...it is a really well done movie! I was also happy to find that Sara Groves, one of my favorite musicians, had a song at the end. The song is an incredible one that I heard a few years back a difficult time in my life, and it really touched me. The words are amazing. For me, it reminds me that the healing I found in Christ when I became a Christian continues to work in me, in all the areas of my life. There have been a few "rock bottom" times that I can think of, and there was healing that followed...the evidence of God's grace. So this song comforts me when I am having a difficult time with this or that, because it points to those past difficult times~ reminding me that He was faithful then and He will continue to be...
If you haven't seen the movie "The Ultimate Gift", be sure to check it out! :) I hope you all had a good weekend! I didn't get to visit as many of you as I had hoped~ we're in phase two of this cold bug. Now my husband and oldest daughter are sick! We were just saying how lucky it was that Rose hadn't gotten sick...oh well! I will be by soon, I promise! :) Take care, and have a good night!
Happy Friday! I hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start! :)
I was on the hunt for a cute bunny or two, and happened upon these two, just waiting for me at a local antique store...
But the bunnies seemed a little expensive, so I compromised and bought one, the mama bunny. Well, I ended up going back and buying the baby too, because the mama just looked so lonesome! They look much more happy together! :) Oh well, sometimes "splurging" is all right! Right? :)
If you recognize the china plate, that is because you have seen this pattern before, paired with my little cloche. I have a few of the dinner sized ones, too... I put the bunnies underneath a large cloche (a splurge from last spring), but it still seemed like it needed a little something extra. SO... I placed a green egg inside for good measure. I know, what do bunnies have to do with eggs...well, ordinarily, nothing. But at Easter, it seems to work! :)
I moved this into the bathroom, and put the flower/vase I showed you last week to a different spot. I wanted something "Easter/Spring" in this room...
The best part of this little spring ensemble is that it was very quick and simple, and I already had everything but the bunnies on hand...
I hope everything is well with all of you! I will be by this weekend to see how you are all doing! Here's to a fantastic weekend! :)
Who is Daniel Hannan you may ask? Well, if truth be told, I didn't know either until this morning. I was listening to the radio, and happened to hear portions of a speech he made. He is English, a European Parliamentary member, who bravely and eloquently addressed Prime Minister Gordan Brown. It was one one the most amazing speeches I have heard lately! It was concise, it was daring, it wasthe truth! I was cheering him along as I listened! Later today I found it on the web, on YouTube, in its entirety. I wonder if we continue on this "road to socialism" as Glenn Beck says, how long it will be before we say this to our present government?
In a news interview, Daniel Hannan says the one thing we have going for us here in the US is that we have a Constitution, an article that begins, "We the People" whereas their own begins, "Her Majesty the Queen of Belgium". Think about that. We the people. I don't know about you, but this member of "We the people" is most certainly not going to go down without a fight! I have no intention of seeing our free, capitalist democracy turn into a socialist government. I find myself at a point where I do not understand people, I do not recognize our country. We do not "deserve" anything free besides the freedom God gave us. Our right to be free does not come from this or any other government! It comes from God who created all men equal. And HE ordained us with certain unalienable rights. And I will not give up this right.
I do not want free health care. I don't want help. I'm sorry, but I am rather worked up here, because I have had it! We need to remember that if we take anything from our government, we cannot expect it to be without a price. You cannot have celebrate Independence Day in a socialist country. What is our independence from, what does this day mean? What makes being an American citizen different? The American Revolutionary War was not fought so we could be "entitled" to handouts. The result of this war was a free country with a new Constitution. A Bill of Rights. Are we willing to so easily exchange those for this terrible idea of our government "taking care of us"? Do we trust our government~ any member of government~ that much? I do not.
What has happened to us? We are immigrants, or descendants of immigrants~ our ancestors were a strong, independent, courageous people who were willing to work hard as they settled in this country. I know I probably would not have been the bravest of them all, maybe my family would have stayed "back East" while many bravely hit the frontier trail West. I am so thankful for these gutsy, amazing Americans who paved the way for us. We have it so good, so much easier than they did. And yet I believe they were so much more thankful than we are. This defies common sense.
I was going to write about decorating, really! But I just got to thinking and the more I thought, the more I knew I had to take the chance and say what I am really thinking about today. It's not much and compared to those who have gone before us, it is little indeed. Thank you for letting me sound off! It felt good, liberating even, to speak so freely and honestly.
*Edited to add: My friend commented on my use of the word "democracy", referring to America. She was right~ we are NOT a democracy. We are a REPUBLIC. I stand corrected! :) I also wanted to give a link to a blog post, written by Montee is a Palmoetta Girl. It related to what I have discussed in this post, and is written in a clear and articulate way. :) Here it is: http://monteewellman.blogspot.com/2009/03/would-they-still-come.html
I found my color! It was a color I had tried before a couple of years ago, in our dining room, but I went for yellow instead. I'd given the quart of paint to my friend who loved it, so I thought I'd give it a try again...as soon as I removed the top of the can I KNEW it was the right color! So light and cheerful, so wonderfully lime-ish! It is very bright, but I think it works well with the adjoining aqua colored room, and is a "motivating" color, just perfect for a craft room.
This isn't the best picture in the world, that's for certain, but it gives you a little idea of what the color looks like, and what it looks like compared to the first green I tried. The color on the front sheet, farthest to the right is Fresh Pear and the color I first tried is the one in the back. I like the new color a lot more! :)
Have you ever painted a color you liked so much, your first thought was, "Where else can I put this?" That was my thought when I painted this on my walls! :) It almost made me wish I had it, or a shade darker of it, in my living room...ALMOST, but not quite. The color of mint green in the living room is very pretty, but I will admit it is an unusual enough color that it can be hard to match with other things!
So now all the paint rolling is done, with some touch up left. My husband is cutting the new shelves down to size and then I will paint them white. I will keep you posted as I work on this little craft room/computer area...
Now onto the subject of cookies, do you like oatmeal cookies? I think a cookie tastes even better if there is a little oatmeal inside...so this has become a well-loved recipe around here. My family is more partial to chocolate than raisins, so I usually just put in chocolate chips rather than the raisins, but no matter how you make these, they are DELICIOUS! :)
Oatmeal-Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar 3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2-1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats 1-1/2 cups raisins 1 package (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl as often as necessary. Add dry ingredients; beat until just combined. Add oats,raisins, and chocolate chips; beat just until combined. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto baking sheets, about 1-1/2 inches apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies have spread and are golden brown but still soft to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy! :)
I hope you are having a good week! I have had two sick children since Friday, but I think everyone will be back to school tomorrow! I don't know why, but this has been our year for colds! We have had so many of them since the fall, and usually if the kids get them, we do, too! Just another reason I'm ready for spring~ we all seem to stay much healthier! Have a blessed night and a wonderful Wednesday! :)
Hi you all! :) It is Friday again! I LOVE Fridays, because that means the weekend is here and...sleeping in a little, my husband making muffins (and coffee for one, as he doesn't drink it), and usually working on projects around the house. The muffin part is especially fun, because I am the primary baker here, so it's quite a treat when someone else bakes, even though it's true, I enjoy baking! :)
But here are a few things I want to show you... I just love this sweet little vase~ I found it at Target in their dollar section! :)
And oh, Glade candles! This is my favorite scent...
I saw a good idea on Cherry's Jubilee~ the stickers on the Glade candles peel off easily, so you can give them a fun little makeover...
So of course, I had to try it! I think I made the "tag" a bit too big...oh, well, I'm too tired to change it now! :)
And this candle is amazing! When you burn it, it smells just like you're baking! It seems to last quite a while, too~ especially considering its normal price is just under six dollars. You can find these at Michael's Crafts, and often their candles go on sale...Oh, and they are made here in the USA, so no lead wick worries! :) I think though, that this candle may need a mini-makeover too! Maybe tomorrow...for now I can just turn it around and you can't see the giant sticker!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Oh, and Happy Spring! We are officially past winter! I'm so happy about this! :)
Good thing I like it there! (Actually, when we first moved here, it felt like we practically lived there...) But I get most of my paint there, because I love their Valspar paint...although I wish it was still called American Traditions...what's wrong with American traditions? But I digress...
Do you remember when I bought some paint samples to try out for the walk-in-closet-turned-craft-area and chose the color Lettuce Alone? One of the reasons I liked it was that it was actually lighter than the others, and it also looked really lime-ish! Well, when I put it on the wall, it looked more split pea to me, and WAY too dark!
(It looks much darker in person.) SO...unfortunately it means I am going to be $25 dollars poorer, because I'm going to have to find a new lighter, lime-ish color for the walls. But, unless you think I'm complaining too much here, I do have a few other more exciting things to buy there...two of which are the finishing nails and smaller crown moulding for the cornice my husband is making! So it's not all bad! :) The other purchase is a small something I will show you tomorrow for my Friday favorites post! :) Aren't you glad tomorrow is Friday?! :) Have a blessed night!
Well, it's been a long time coming, but here is my humble offering of master bedroom pictures! :) I bet you thought I'd never get around to posting these, huh? Sometimes even I myself wondered...I actually was able to take pictures on Saturday, but when I went to post them on Sunday night, found that almost every one was overexposed. SO...I retook the pictures yesterday, and they look a little better. I must include a small disclaimer of sorts...I am calling this "part one" because is a room really ever *done*? :) We have finished the hard part: cleaning, priming, painting, removing an old baseboard heater, the old window, replacing two out of three doors, putting up new moulding, I painted the furniture... And now I have a clean, fresh slate to finish decorating.
You can see to the left of this dresser the last (very ugly) dark brown door we have to replace in our room, when it gets warmer...My husband is making a wood cornice for our window! I have been wanting one for a while now, and when I was visiting Rachel's blog, Made With Love and Glue, I saw thisbeautiful cornice her husband made for her. My husband was impressed with how nice it looked, and now we will have one in our room! Yea! As far as our room to-do list goes, we also still need to add the rest of the moulding (mitered picture frame moulding made into "squares" that go between the chair rail and the baseboard moulding...I don't know what the correct name for this is.) We are leaving the decision for what to do about the popcorn ceilings for sometime down the road, but will be adding a ceiling medallion around the chandelier. We still plan on putting a faux fireplace in the room, too, whenever time allows. And of course, we want to replace our old carpet, maybe next year...But it is so nice to have a room that feels done! :) I will be sure to show any and all future improvements! A fixer-upper is a real work in progress, and the work never really seems to end! :)
This wall needs some serious reworking. I haven't decided what to do, am still thinking on this...I was thinking of moving these pictures down above the chest of drawers, and maybe clustering a few small mirrors together...Any ideas on this wall?
I wanted floor length curtains, but the forced air heater we installed is on the wall, to close to the window for this, oh well...I made these curtains out of white velveteen fabric because I couldn't find anything I liked...
Again, sorry this all took so long! I hope it hasn't been too boring; I know I posted a lot of pictures! :) I hope you are all having a fantastic week so far! Have a blessed night! :)
It's that time again...funny that the last time I posted, it was also Friday! It has been a crazy week! I really thought I'd have posted my bedroom pictures by now for sure, but well, life kind of took over! But I decided to just focus on finishing the room by using all the extra time I had for that, even if it meant posting less this week...I have to iron one thing and vacuum, and then take pictures...I know, I know, it's true I've said it before. The difference is that we are "kid-less" until two tomorrow so it will get done! :)
But I do have a fun find to show you today! I have been looking for a glass dome for a while, and finally found one at one of my favorite little antique shops.
It wasn't until I got home that I realized that it can't really "hold" that much, but it had enough room for this little nest. I might put a little moss underneath it just for a little something extra...I put the dome on top of a saucer I found at a garage sale some time back. So I'm happy with it~ though it is a simple find, it makes me smile every time I look at it. I put it in my room, on our dresser. I love it! :)
Isn't it amazing how the most fabulous finds are sometimes the simplest things? Just a little something to put a smile on your face...it doesn't need to be expensive or elaborate or big.
I hope you have a beautiful weekend! Hopefully I'll be back this weekend with some pictures! Cross your fingers for me! :)
Yea, it's Friday! And so I have for you another "fabulous find"...
I love Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products! All the product come in three scents: Lavender, Lemon Verbena, and Geranium...they all smell out of this world, but my absolute favorite scent is Geranium! The picture above is of the Lemon Verbena dish soap~ add some to hot water and suddenly, doing dishes is fun! Actually, Mrs. Meyer's makes pretty much all cleaning fun. :) But then again, I like cleaning house. Yep, I'm kind of strange that way! :) I truly promise, though, that all of my "fabulous finds" will not be cleaning products! In fact, next week, it is going to be something more decorative than functional! :)
(Please excuse the out-of-focus picture!)
And yes, I'm at it again...choosing another paint color! For what room, you may be asking? This is VERY exciting for me because we are turning our walk-in closet partially into a little craft room. Since we moved here, it has had my husband's desk and file cabinet, etc. in it, and it still will, but with some rearranging, there will be room for me now! We are ripping out the old, icky shelving and replacing it. Above my work desk (a cute shabby chic table) will be my area. I am probably going to put up white peg board for craft items to hang from, and baskets and labeled photo boxes for storing items like buttons and ribbons. It will be fun to fix things up in there, even though the space will be small of course! It will still have a rod for hanging up a small amount of clothes items, but I am hoping to arrange it all in such a way that the room looks more craft room than closet! The color I am choosing to paint the room is called "Lettuce Alone" by Olympic. We'll see how it looks...
I haven't forgotten that I am going to show you the master bedroom pictures! I need to clean it first though before I take the final pictures! This should happen tomorrow but we'll see! I need to clean and iron and fluff and get everything just right! So stay tuned! :)
...Almost Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine turned out different than I had hoped because I came down with the flu. Not fun! So I wasn't able to be as productive as I'd planned. I am closer to finishing our room though, but it will be at least another day of working on it! I do have one picture of the room, as I know I promised you pictures!
This is one of the walls in our room, all decorated. I know it might seem strange to put plates on a bedroom wall, but I love them there! You can see the last door in our room to the left that is not replaced yet, but we'll be doing that soon now that it's almost spring. The lighter stained doors look so much better! :)
When we bought this house, most all of it had no baseboard moulding. I had forgotten how nice it makes a room look! :) It makes a HUGE difference! We had to rip out all the other moulding in the house, too, even what was around doors, because it was either ugly, falling apart, or both. I never knew how much time it took just to put up moulding...
Here are some bunnies I found at JoAnn's last Friday. Aren't they sweet? Their ears can move up or down, which I thought was cute. :) I couldn't resist them!
Well, it shouldn't be long now and I'll show you more pictures of our room. I'm a terrible perfectionist and so everything takes me forever to get it just right! But I promise I won't back out and will show you what I've been up to! :)
Until then, I hope you have a great week! Have a blessed night! :)
