Ramblings...

Hi you all! Hopefully this has been a good week for you so far! It's Wednesday, so it's all downhill from here, right? :) I don't know why, but today was one of those really good days, the kind you thank God for. Of course, I know I should thank Him for EVERY day, but some days it's just a little easier than others, you know? :) I had a fun half hour conversation with my neighbor friends after our kids rode away on the school bus...came home and set to work. If we are going to accomplish all we need to in this old house this spring, I know I am going to have to focus. I don't know what was different between yesterday and today, but I got a lot of things done and had a great day at the same time...

Do you want to know one of my deepest, darkest secrets? Seriously, this IS embarrassing! But it's all about being real, right? This is the keeping it real truth: I still haven't put away all of my Christmas, V-day, and Easter decorations! Yes, it's true! They are all in a heap in a kitchen cupboard, waiting to be put away in the holiday boxes. Now this might not be so bad, but this particular cupboard doesn't have its doors on. I had taken them off, intending to repaint them, but then we decided to take the wall down, so hence, no need to paint cupboards that are only going to come off! So, there they are~ a conglomeration of holiday stuff. Now they have gone from point A to point B...they are in my son's room half packed away into boxes that we keep in his closet. So now the cupboard is empty, but his room is a mess. At least it's a start...

I painted our closet/craft area shelving...organized...worked on the to-paint pile...and the to-hang-up pile (pictures and plates, etc.)...gardened with my friend from across the street...loads of laundry...you get the drift!




This is what Max thinks of all my running around like a mad woman...he gives me a look of total boredom!

But do you want to see the cornice? It is finally up and painted! :)




I was having some trouble with my camera and couldn't get the picture I wanted to capture. With the flash, it was overexposed; without it is too dark! But here is my humble offering...




Maybe I'll be able to get a better picture of it another day...




I have been moving things around on our mantel a little, and framed some cute bird paper...




Notice the lampshades do not match the plates...I need to recover them...This is a painting that my friend Bonnie made. I just love her whimsical art...





I am sorry this post is so choppy! When I get tired, I tend to kind of ramble and become rather random! :) But I just especially wanted to show you the cornice, so you know I actually can finish projects, LOL! :) I will be back around by Friday for sure! Have a great night! :)

A wonderful weekend!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and that maybe, you even got a little sunshine where you are! :)




My husband and I had such a fun time during our stay at the Bed and Breakfast this past Friday night! Isn't it such a cute house?















They put a hot tub in their gazebo...when you get out you wrap yourself in the nice robes that are provided for you, and when you come to your bedroom door, guess what's waiting for you? Warm cookies and cold milk in a cute little basket!


In the morning, they bring coffee, tea, or cocoa~ whichever you say you like~ in a basket with a yummy "pre- breakfast"! Then you get to eat an amazing breakfast with all the other guests downstairs. The owner made a delicious meal for us!




I just love her sweet kitchen! LOVE all of the red in it! Her kitchen really inspired me the last time I was there...




On Friday we spent about an hour in this one antique shop, mostly just looking at all the old books that were there. It was so fun! I found a little poetry school book from 1906, and bought it...




...and they also sold vintage seed packets. I bought one and framed it...




I have four other old seed packets in a different frame, but I don't care for the frame they are in. I think I'll split them up into other frames and group them instead...




Anyway, I hope this was a great Monday for you! :) I will be catching up on all you have been up to in the next few days! Have a blessed night!

Yesterday...

...I turned 34 years old. I went to breakfast with my friend Amy and then we shopped at my one of my favorite "haunts", Country Village, full of quaint, very charming little shops! I found some "already quilted" material at Keepsake Fabrics...

...I am so excited about this! I will use a matching fabric and put them together for a little runner for the girls' dresser...



...I enjoyed these birthday flowers. (I know, tulips again!) The funny thing is this was my gift to myself! I treat myself to a little something every birthday...

My family and I went to The Olive Garden for dinner and then came home to eat cake...



And when I opened my husband's card, I found out that he is taking the day off tomorrow and we are going to a favorite Bed and Breakfast, Katy's Inn for a night away! He took me there for my 30th and I have since wanted to return! I AM SO EXCITED! SO...tomorrow I will be a true woman of leisure. (Ha!) The kids think this is great because it means they get to stay with their grandparents overnight! :)

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! It's the best part of the week, don't you think? :) Have a blessed night! :)

A busy weekend

What a good weekend it has been! My sweet husband and I have been able to wrap up some projects and start new ones! He finished building and sanding the cornice and I love it! It looks even better than I thought it would. Here is a little sneak peak at it. I was having trouble getting the whole thing in a picture...




This is the middle of it...we added a little decorative wood piece to it. My husband sanded and wood puttied until the wood was smooth, so when I finish painting, we shouldn't be able to see the knots. The good thing is if we can, we can just sand and putty a bit more until it's just right. It saved ten dollars to get the less expensive wood, and it just took more work to make it smooth...he says it was worth it! :) I primed the cornice, and will finish painting it this week. I will definitely show a picture of it when it's up in our room! :)




I found this chair at a thrift store a while back, and loved it. I have given it a new coat of white paint, but the seat needs help! It is covered with ugly green Christmas fabric right now. I am going to cover it with some cute pink fabric I found and want to make a pink tulle skirt for it, too! This chair is for my youngest daughter, who has been waiting very patiently for me to finish it, while she uses a spare chair at her desk! :)

And speaking of Gracie, here she is giving her doll "Baby" a bath. Baby has had many baths this weekend...



...and is feeling very clean, I'm sure! :) (Do you see those cupboards? They are one of the projects I have up my sleeve. They really really need to be repainted!)



One last thing...you might recognize this fabric from when I found it last summer. I ended up using the polka dot kind for an apron. I especially love the yellow fabric, and am excited because I think it will look perfect in my kitchen as curtains! I have some pretty ones in there now that I found on discount and they are pretty, but am not sure they will work with the ones I want to make for the other windows nearby. But this fabric just may work well! I love the happy, vintage look to it! What do you think?

Did you all have a good weekend? Did it go as fast for you as it did for us? :) I hope you all had a fantastic one, and that you have a good Monday, too! Have a blessed night! :)

Fabulous Finds Friday and a new blog!

Happy Friday! :) I hope your weekend is off to a good start! We had pizza tonight while watching The Prince of Egypt. That is such a great movie! :) I forgot how much I loved it!

Well now, today~or rather, tonight~ being Friday, I was determined to post! I have missed the last two Fridays, but not this time! I have to say that, hands down, one of the most fabulous finds of all are fresh flowers! I treated myself to some red tulips yesterday~ tulips are one of my favorites! :)




And I found a new body wash! It is wonderful! And I just love getting the quality of Bath and Body Works, for example, without the cost of it! Caress is always affordable. :) This is one of their new scents, Evenly Gorgeous, with burnt brown sugar and Karite Butter...have you tried it?




Okay, and while we are on the topic of body products...have you ever heard of Boots? It is a company that started in the U.K., but Target has sold their line of products for a couple of years. They have the most wonderful body butters you could imagine! This one is my favorite! :)



At ten dollars, it is a little more expensive for me to buy all of the time, but I alternate between it and the cheaper lotions to assuage any guilt! :)


I didn't want to close without sharing with you something I am very excited about! My sister has started a blog, and she just wrote her very first post today! Ever since discovering how fun it was to have this blog, I have been trying to talk my sister into having her own! (Aren't I terrible?) But now she does, and it is so darn cute! If you have the hankering to stop on by, just head over to Southern Belle Dreaming! :) You'll be charmed, I'm sure! :)

Well, that is it for me tonight! I am looking forward to watching the Thomas Jefferson documentary we rented...it is really interesting. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend, no matter what you do! :)
Blessings~

Nesting...

Happy Wednesday! :) Today was a really nice day, and it only helped that the weather even cooperated with this concept of SPRING...we had some sunshine today, which was SO nice! :) I needed to run some errands, one of which was going to Target, so of course I looked at the dollar section. (I know, totally predictable I am!)




These were there the last time I looked, but this time I bought them. I thought this would be a fun little gift for my neighbor friends...




I also finished this topiary today. It needed some more ivy, but now it's all done. I think. I saw this neat idea for on Manuela's blog, The Pleasures of Homemaking. She used a simple Styrofoam ball and hot-glued moss onto it. I tried it and it worked! I used some grapevine branches and wound them together to make the "stem" to stick into the Styrofoam/moss ball and then stuck the stem/moss ball into a pot with moss. Then all I had to do was wind some ivy garland around the "stem", and after that I used my husband's wire cutter/plyer things to cut ivy leaves off of the garland to hot glue them to the moss ball. I found that when I wound the whole garland itself around the ball as I had done with the stem thing, it looked wrong. But when I glued one or two of the leaves at a time, it looked much better. But that's just my take on it! :)




I also wanted to show you this lamp because...the lamp base has been on our garage shelves since last spring, and I finally decided what to do with it! I found it at a garage sale, but really only wanted the lamp shade that came with it (a different shade than shown). But I took both for three dollars and now I'm really happy I did! I sprayed it white, and paired it with a different white lamp shade I found for a dollar. I did something new with the shade, because normally I just used those self-adhesive shades you can find at craft stores...to do this I used that spray-adhesive that all you bloggers out there use, and it turned out too! I learned a few tricks along the way that will make it easier next time, but I am still happy! :0) But I loved the fabric so much that I had to...




...make this pillow to match it! :) I can't believe I had this cute fabric buried in my stash and hadn't used it yet! I love shopping without even leaving the house!

Right now, my sweet husband is in the garage working on making something called a "miter sled" that will allow him to make more exact 45 degree angled cuts...Now why is this so exciting? Because then he can finish the cornice for our bedroom window! YEA! I will be sure to show you it as soon as it's painted and up! :) Still working on the closet/craft room. It was halted in progress with all the sickness around here, but I am finishing it up, too! I will post pictures on it ASAP! :)

I hope you all are having a great week! :) I will not be negligent and not post a Friday's Finds post this week~ promise! :) Have a blessed night!

Happy Easter!

Crown Him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon His throne;
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own:
Awake my soul, and sing
Of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King
Throughout eternity.

Crown Him the Lord of love;
Behold His hands and side,
Rich wounds, yet visible above,
In beauty glorified:
No angel in the sky
Can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends His burning eye
At mysteries so bright...

~Written by Matthew Bridges, 1851

Thank You, Jesus, for your amazing sacrifice at the cross...


************************************************

I am putting this in a separate little section, because I didn't want to take away from the emphasis on the true meaning of Easter...but I still did want to show you a few things I have been up to...

I put another bunny in a different pot, and tied a ribbon around it. I ended up keeping the black toile ribbon around the other bunny on a stick from the last post...




I put some plates on the wall, but still am not sure it's exactly right. I'll probably pull them down and add a couple smaller ones in with the rest...




These aren't real eggs...Just for fun, I put some speckled eggs I bought at Michaels into a egg carton, an idea I copied from something I saw at Pier One...




I also finished tweaking with this topiary I found at JoAnns. The little wood box was originally a dark green, which wasn't ugly, but didn't go at all with my dining room. I sanded it until the wood was smooth and then sprayed it white...
the picture of it is not the best, I was having trouble getting a good one of it!


Anyway... I sure hope you had a wonderful, blessed Easter Sunday, and that you have a great Monday, too! :)

SO glad to be back!

After a LONG and exhausting week, it is really wonderful to have things back to normal around here, and to blog again! :) Without saying so much about it that it bores you half to death, I will keep it as simple as possible...my husband was literally sick the whole week! I have never seen him that sick for that long~ it was just a virus, nothing serious, but he was very miserable! I fluctuated between feeling badly for him and feeling sorry for myself! (That is the whole truth and nothing but the truth!) For those of you who are single parents or have a spouse who is in the military/travels a lot~ I take off my hat to you! It is NOT as easy as it might seem to do everything yourself! :)

But anyhow...my sweetheart is feeling much, MUCH better now!



And look what he brought home today to say "thank you" for taking care of him! Isn't that thoughtful?! At first I thought these were lilies, but they are actually French tulips. I never even knew there were such a thing as French tulips, but now I do. Wow, he's not only thoughtful, he's even expanding my horizons! I know one more thing than I did yesterday! :)

Today the kids and I met my parents for lunch at IHOP. The kids were so excited to eat there, you would have thought I was taking them to Disney World. For them, IHOP means breakfast...sugary pancakes and hot chocolate. I kind of relax on the healthy, nutritious routine when we eat out and let 'em choose their favorites! The kids were on a true sugar high, but they went straightaway to Nona and Grandpa's house from the restaurant, so I am thinking I lucked out this time...uh, sorry Mom and Dad. I hope you both still have both your hearing and your sanity left! :)

So what's a girl to do with a little extra time on her hands in a shopping center with no kids in tow? Well...either head home or shop! So I went into Marshall's to peek at their home decor stuff...




I found this darling yellow plate for just $2.99 and it looks very contented here on the hoosier, don't you think? I also bought two blue and one pink of these polka-dotted plates for the girls' room. I have a thing for plates, and have decided they belong in every room! It is just not as fun to have them stored away in a cabinet! :)




I started collecting this above pattern last spring when it arrived at Marshall's, but haven't seen this pattern in quite a while there. This will be just perfect for cake! :) And since it was also just three bucks, I couldn't pass it up!



A quick trip into Michaels and here was this sweet moss bunny waiting for me, on sale for $2.39! He insisted I buy him and bring him home with me, so I did of course!






And yes, I completely succumbed to peer pressure and bought two of these darling moss bunnies on a stick! I stuck it inside my plant of ivy and tied a bow around it. But then I tried a different bow...




Which one do you like better? I can't decide...




This bunny might look real, but don't take a bite just yet! He just looks real. I removed the ribbon he came with and used the same pink and brown ribbon on him, too.




I tried placing a candle holder upside down over him as a make-do cloche, but I am not so sure it's working...




...Saw this idea on The Happy Homebody's blog, and had to copy her with the moss and eggs in an apothecary jar!






More moss and eggs, can't have enough of those! :)




And birds, too, of course! I just love these sweet little salt and pepper shakers! I have had them for quite a while now, so you have probably seen them before! :)


So here are some of my Easter decorations, and I have other decorating to show you soon! I hope you are all well, and having a wonderful week! :)






P.S. I haven't had it with YOU, I just thought this would be a funny way to end this little post! :)