A couple of small projects

I hope everyone is having a good week! Other than the clouds and rain, it has been a good one for us here! I have had a chance to do some little crafts, which has been fun! :) I was at Walmart earlier this week and found a frame big enough~ but not TOO big~ for this little craft I have been wanting to do...






It was so easy! I just painted it white, added some scrapbook paper and glued the starfish to the glass! I saw this craft idea on a blog recently~ I was positive it was on The Delightful Home, but couldn't find it there...So if this is your idea, please let me know so I can credit you with it! :) I'm sorry there is the reflection of the room in the glass! It actually looks much prettier in person, but in the picture, you can't see the aqua paper very well...






Here is another picture of the starfish frame...I am not happy with the light pink color of our master bathroom. I like how it is a rather neutral color, but would like to have aqua accents in there, but as you can see, they don't go so well with the pink wall! I am thinking of doing some kind of oatmeal like color (like Cherry @ Cherry's Jubilee is using) because 1.) it's a neutral color; 2.) i think it would work with the "beach cottage" theme I want to do in this small room; and 3.) I could easily swap out one accent color and use something different! :) As a rule, I paint more vibrant colors, but I need something peaceful like for this room! What do you think of an oatmeal like color? We have chair rail with wainscotting on the lower half of the wall with a white cabinet, and white fixtures...let me know what you think!




I recovered the lamp shade on this lamp today, too. I bought the lamp base from Marshall's last year, but it came with a different shade. It was a cute one, but when I repainted the living room green, it no longer matched! So I took this white shade I already had and covered it with this fabric from JoAnn's ...I am in love with this fabric~ I would have bought more, but they didn't have any more of it!





This isn't it's final spot in the room; it was late and so I will figure out a better place for it tomorrow! :) But of course I can't guarantee that THAT will be it's final spot either, because I love to change things around! :)

I hope you have a great Friday! Have a blessed night!

Summer's here!

And we are SO glad that it is! Now we can settle into our summer routine, and enjoy! Although, this week the kiddos are in day camp at our church (they call it day camp, but it's really VBS) and then this Saturday we leave for 5 days for a little cabin on the beach...

So I'm using this week while they are at "camp" to get things done around the house. Last week was so crazy with all of the end of the year things at school! :)




I got this idea from Jen at Tatertots and Jello, on her post from May 29th. (I still haven't figured out how to link to a specific post on a blog w/o my husband's help!) She took a small platter and created a one of a kind welcome sign with some chalkboard paint! SO...the next time I was at the Goodwill, I almost squealed with excitement when I found a similar little platter! I wish I would have remembered to snap a picture of it BEFORE I started painting, but it was just a slightly scratched silver platter...Since the outer edge of my platter wasn't in good condition, I hand painted it white after spraying the inside with chalkboard paint. It was easy, which I love! The hardest part was drilling the hole in the top to loop the ribbon through~ eventually I ended up finishing that by hammering a nail through it to make the hole! (It worked!)






Do you remember this chalkboard project? Well, now that the new one is on the front door, I moved this older one into the kitchen. Now when the kids say, "What's for dinner?" for the 10,000th time that afternoon, I can simply point to this sign. This is my newest idea, to be filed under the subject of "Ways not to go insane raising children". Just joking...barely! ;)





I realized that now that it wasn't summer anymore, it was time for a new word in the frames on my mantle! I decided to do the word "cottage", basically for lack of another inspiring "summer" word~ but also because I truly do love that word and all it conveys! :)




Oh, and I know that gold frame doesn't look quite right up there. I took it from where it was originally and popped it up there for now. I think it would look good if I found the right thing to put in front of it, to fill some of that empty space. It just looks a little strange, but I'm working on it (i.e. thinking on it)...


So, how are you enjoying your summer so far? Do you have any fun trips planned, or maybe you're doing a "stay-cation", where you do things closer to home but sleep in your own house? Now THAT is my kind of vacation! You might already know this, but I am a major homebody! I love my own house, my own bed, my own shower~ you get the idea!

Well, I hope you have had a great Monday! :)

Blessings,

A new kitten!

Do you see that cute, adorable little striped kitten at the top of "pile" of kittens sleeping with their mama? (Her sweet little face is resting on top of her brothers and sisters...) Well, she is "our" kitten! She will be coming home to us in August, and we are so excited around here as we try to wait patiently!

The special thing about this is that the mama cat, named Fiona, was our cat Max's mama, too! Fiona is a very sweet cat, and her kittens are always very sweet as well, and very tolerant of children, which is important. :) It has been about eight months since we lost Max's sister Lillie, and although she could never be replaced, I think Max really does need a friend. You see, he is of the opinion that cats are to be friends, but the neighbor cats do not wish to be friendly to him, which makes for one sad cat! SO, he needs a friend, and we need another cat to love~ so it's just perfect!

I will let you know when she comes home, but I just had to share this with you now!

Tagged!

Odette from A View From Above and Amy from Bubbles Blog have tagged me to list six unimportant things that make me happy! Oh, I was so much hoping to "get" this one! Thank you much, Odette and Amy! :)

The rules are:

1. to mention the person who nominated you
2. to list 6 unimportant things that make you happy
3. to then tag 6 blogs, state the rules and then notify them with a comment on their blog, SO...

Six unimportant things that make me happy are~

1. General Hospital! Oh yes, it's true! I love this show, and have been following it for a very long time! I don't watch it every day, but whenever I can I do! It is my "guiltless" pleasure! :)

2. Ghirardelli chocolate chips... A handful of these after lunch is my favorite dessert! Strange, I know...

3. Yummy smelling body wash and lotions

4. That first cup of coffee in the morning~ I don't think I could wake up without it! (Or the second cup!)

5. paint~ I love to paint my house! I love mixing it up, and changing the colors...often!
(It drives my family bonkers, though!)

6. Decorating~ I so much enjoy working on our house and making it a home! :)

So now... Memoirs from a Southern Domestic Goddess; Frills, Fluff and Trucks; Tidbits from Liz; The Pleasures of Homemaking; The Delightful Home; and Montee is a Palmettogirl~ you've been tagged!

Okay, now a confession, or perhaps the better word would be apology, I have been so terrible with awards and tags (passing them on) since, well, almost since the beginning. But this time (different from the last time I said it of course!) I am going to do better, turn over a new leaf, and this starts now!


I hope you all have a great night! Half way through to the weekend now! :)

A trip to the zoo

Who's, who's, who's in the zoo,
Who's, who's, who's in the zoo?
Who's, who's, who's in the zoo?
Who's in the zoo to visit?

Monkeys swing from tree to tree;
sheep and lions grazing free.
Tall giraffes,
a sight to see!
All in the zoo to visit!

This is the song a first grader taught me on the bus ride to the zoo this morning, sung to the tune of "Skip to my Lou". I think it's a cute little song! (I have it stuck in my head now, too!) I got the chance to go with Gracie's class, as well as all the other first grade classes, to Woodland Park Zoo...




Here's my group looking at the hippo resting in the water...We managed to see quite a lot! The kangaroos, a bear, giraffes, lions, elephants, zebras, a leopard, monkeys~ you name it, and if it was in "Australia", "Asia", or "Africa", we probably saw it! It was a lot of fun!




They were fascinated with this~ we watched many, many pennies go around and down this- what is this called?- well, this "thingamajig"! We also had to flatten some pennies into flat zoo coins, which they were really excited about. First graders are such a blast! If I ever taught school, that would be my class I think! :)

Okay, now, lastly~ what in the world is the meaning of this?




Rose was taking out a load of laundry tonight and guess who hopped on in the dryer?
He did NOT have any immediate plans to come out either. Maybe he felt cold? Don't worry~ I got him out! :) Not everything our cat does makes sense to me...

Well, I am going to close for now, and am off to visit your blogs! I know most of you are out for the summer...I hope it has been fun so far for you all! :) I just know this summer is going to be great!
Have a blessed night,

Friday...

...was a crazy day! After getting the kids on the bus, I rushed to their school for a special awards assembly.

As soon as my son saw me, he was pretty sure he was one of the kids getting an award, as it was a 5th grade assembly. He received two for academic excellence. I am so proud of him! One of them was for Outstanding Attendance, which means he received a bowling pass for the entire summer! We will be bowling this summer for sure! :)




After the assembly I ran a couple of errands, and just had to get one of these...I think it's called "java chip frappacino"...okay, how am I going to avoid getting one of these at least every week? Yum...




Then the girls went swimming while Junior played on the computer...I just thought this picture was cute of them with their neighbor friend. This is their idea of playing in the pool. A while later, the boys got in and it was CRAZY!




Here's David putting in the last of the two big windows in our living room. I helped him whenever I could, while making dinner. Would you believe this was the first time I'd ever barbequed? Yep, it's true!




Finally we all sat down to eat at seven at night! Now to me, there is no other meal better than my husband's barbequed hamburgers. But the amazing thing was mine tasted good, too! Or maybe it was because we were all so hungry and tired! :)

The weekend went so fast, and now it's back to another crazy week. This is our last one left of school, and then it will be summer for us! Are you all ready for summer? This girl sure is! :) Have a good night!
Blessings,

Max

It's Max's birthday month!





Thank you Max,
for being a friend...




And for reminding us to stop and enjoy the moment...





You are there every day,





Giving us a reason to smile.





You remind us to never take ourselves too seriously...




And I'm not sure how you do it, but whenever we feel a little down, you have a way of cheering us up!




Yes, it's true Max~ we are so blessed that you are our cat!
We love you!

Love,
Your family :)

Two years ago my friend told me that her friend's cat had had a litter of kittens...
We chose two, Max and Lillie. Sadly, Lillie disappeared last fall, but we still think of her often and miss her very much. It would be her birthday, too...

P.S. I just wanted to clarify that in the sixth picture, I caught Max in a yawn. I didn't want you to think he was growling at me! :) And I thought I looked funny when I yawned...

In my garden...

You will find I still have much to do! Thank goodness it's June...there's still time to get things done!





I finally cut back my baby daffodils, and planted some white petunias in the old washing machine...





And added some petunias to the pot of geraniums as well...








I love the contrast of these two green leafy perennials...and the fact that they grow so nicely and are really low maintenance!








I couldn't believe it this morning when I looked at my little clematis plant! It had bloomed when I wasn't looking! I am actually really surprised at this because this is my third year trying to grow clematis, and this particular plant looked quite sad last year.

Another picture just because I'm so darn proud! Proud you see, because this is growing despite that I have so much to learn about gardening. And pleased that this plant just may be content to grow here...I still need to add more bags of mulch to the front and side gardens. I am wondering now why I didn't have it brought in inside a truck. It probably would have been cheaper in the long run!
Isn't it amazing how many bags it takes to fill even the smallest garden?

SO...how has your week been going? I hope it has been a good one for you so far! The only other question is...who's ready for the weekend?!

Blessings, :)

I thought my blogging days were over!

I am not exaggerating here folks~ I truly did! EVERYTHING was going wrong, and just when I'd think it couldn't get any worse, it did! I wrote a post last Sunday evening, and when I hit the publish post button, it told me it had published. The problem was that when I went to my blog page, not only was that post not there, but neither were the other three most recent posts...I spent so many hours trying to figure out the problem! On Saturday, when I went to my blog, everything was gone! Somehow~ and this part we don't get~ it had been transferred to Wordpress! But my sister saved the day by switching me from publishing under a domain name to just using blogspot.com! (Thank you SO much, Christine!) Immediately, everything was back to normal! I was so happy, I could have cried! There is nothing more horrible for a blogger than to "lose" her voice! Well, maybe there are worse things, but this ranks rather high on the list anyway! There is just one problem left...if you type in "nesttokeep.com", it still takes you to the strange Wordpress blog site. Which means that if you have me listed on your blog roll, that will take you to the wrong spot, and if you are following the blog, it will not update you...I just wanted to give you all the heads up on this, that the only way you can get here is by going to "nesttokeep.blogspot.com/"...I think the second worst thing besides losing my blog, would be to lose you fantastic readers who actually take the time to stop by! :)

Anyhow, SO much has been going on this past week~ all good except this blogging situation~ but it would make WAY too long of a post to show you everything tonight! I did want to show you the idea my neighbor came up with for me to get good tomatoes this year...I was bemoaning my lack of sunshine, hence lack of tomatoes, and she suggested I put it in a wagon or something and pull the wagon where the sun is during the day...






A little red wheelbarrow works just fine...I drilled some holes in the bottom for drainage, and added what I thought was the appropriate amount of rocks...





But my husband got such a kick of this picture, and asked if that was all of the rocks I put into the wagon...he said it would take many, many more to get the effect I am looking for, but I am not redoing it, so oh well! :) I am such a beginning gardener, it is not even funny! The things I don't know about it could fill many books...





Yet I still ended up with what I wanted~ my tomato planted in a pot resting inside a wheelbarrow...Now if I would only remember to move it around wherever the sun is shining during the day as I'd planned! Oh, and I need to buy one of those wire things to support it in case the thing actually decides to grow! :)

I hope you all had a great weekend! Have a blessed night! :)