Nest to Keep

Happy Sunday!

2010-10-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His love for those who fear Him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

I hope you all had a blessed Sunday!

Winner of the Giveaway!!!!

2010-09-28T17:19:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Jeni, from At Home In Georgia,

for leaving the winning comment #26!!!

Jeni said...

I have not been by to see you in a long time...sure looks like I came by at a good time...a giveaway. Gooseberry Patch books are one of my favorite things.

September 19, 2010 7:50 PM

(post note. this is southern belle helping my sister out, who sadly, has no internet connection.)

{in spirit}

Giveaway at Nest to Keep

2010-09-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hi there, you all! I have not been such a frequent blogger lately here at Nest to Keep, have I?

I do have something for you, though! Do you remember how quite a while back, I mentioned having a giveaway? I wanted to have a "Kitchen" themed giveaway, to celebrate (almost) finishing the kitchen!

So tonight begins the giveaway! And here are the items you can enter to win:

A Gooseberry Patch bookazine

and their Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook. I have the bookazine, and it is wonderful! I have made so many recipes from it, and they are so good! Here are a couple of pages from it~

Also up for grabs is this white metal colander~

and this:

which has these inside:

(I just hung the giveaway ones up for the picture, where mine usually are, for you to see them! But now they are back down, safely tucked away!)

Also, I wanted to give some of these cute faux eggs. They are the most authentic looking ones I have ever found! Four of these are part of the giveaway. They are already bubble-wrapped, but here are what mine look like so you know what they look like:

(The wrapped eggs.)

Here are two little things I added to the giveaway. I couldn't help but add the little salt and pepper shakers, because they look just like the vintage ones I have in my kitchen:

(The new ones)

(My old ones)

See what I mean? They really do look alike! :)

And how about a few pieces of vintage silverware? I was going to tie them up with twine, all pretty like...but I couldn't find my twine!

(* I somehow forgot to add the silverware in my post last night. I remembered at the last minute that they were part of the giveaway, so they aren't pictured in the picture at the bottom of this post!)

SO...to enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment! You absolutely do not have to have a blog to enter! Just please be sure to leave an email address where I can contact you if you win! :)

Now IF you would like more chances to win, you can:

Become a follower of this blog for one extra entry
and/or
Post about this on your blog for yet another entry!

This giveaway will run until Monday, September 24, at 11:59 PST.

Now if you want to join in on another giveaway, head on over to Beautiful Nest, where my sister and I are hosting an "Autumn" giveaway, also starting tonight! :)

Well, thank you so much for stopping by! And have a good night! :)

Blessings,

A giveaway!

2010-08-31T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hi you all! I know, it has been WAY too long since I posted! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last of summer. :)

I can't believe it's already the first day of school tomorrow for my kids! Where did the summer go? It just flew!

I will be back to post again this week, but wanted to share something with you tonight:

Some of you might know that my sister and I started a blog together this summer. Well, we are having our first giveaway over at Beautiful Nest, and it runs until next Monday! Be sure to check it out, if you would like! :)

I hope you have a great night!

BLESSINGS,

Kitchen floor reveal

2010-07-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hi you all! I hope you are had a fantastic weekend!

Now it's been a while, but do you remember how I painted our kitchen vinyl floor in May? And I told you I would show you pictures, as soon as we put the molding in?
Uh, well, I am running a little late here!

But better late than never, right? ;)

Well now, a promise is a promise, so...

...here is a shot of most of the kitchen floor, facing toward the living room.

And another...

Now this is the thing...I posted on my floor in it's entirety on Beautiful Nest, the blog my sister and I started, and explained the process from the beginning. There are many more pictures! So instead of completely replicating it here, I thought I would just direct you to our other blog! If you are interested in seeing more pictures of the floor, make sure you head on over there and check it out! Just click here! :)

Thank you for visiting! And have a wonderful night!

Blessings to you,

Italian soda meets vanilla ice cream

2010-07-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

There are countless things about summer that I love...the kids splashing in the pool, our family vacation, the longer evenings, pitchers of iced tea at the ready...I could go on and on...So in the spirit of enjoying summer, some evenings this week our family has been having fun making Italian sodas for dessert.

It is addicting, let me tell you! There were three really disappointed kids the couple of nights we didn't do it! :)

One night, I had two requests for coconut flavored Italian sodas. I didn't think it would taste good, but I was wrong!

I sampled a bit of one, and was amazed. Not only was it very, very good, it gave me an idea!

Did you know that if you add crushed pineapple and ice cream to a normal Italian soda, the result is absolute perfection? I didn't either! ;)

So, do you want to make one? Okay then, here is how you do it:

"Island Delight" Italian Soda

Fill a glass 3/4 full of ice (I used crushed, because I think it works better, but that is optional!)

For the standard sized glass, measure in about 3 Tbsp. of syrup flavoring (usually found in the coffee/tea aisle at the grocery store) on top of the ice.

Next add 2-3 Tbsp. of half and half, and then two regular spoonfuls of crushed pineapple. Pour Sprite (or seltzer water) over it, leaving a little room at the top for...vanilla iced cream! Yes, add a large spoonful or two of it to the very top, and there you have it!

I hope you all had a fantastic week! Tomorrow our little chickadees will be off to spend a week with their Nana and Papa. Every year, David and I celebrate our anniversary by going away for a few days...then for the last part of the week, I am home while he goes to work. What will I do with all this time alone, you ask? Well, the list is being made of all I hope to accomplish! We'll see what gets done!

I hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Blessings,

Dressing up the kitchen a little

2010-07-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

But don't let this fool you! I am still plugging away at parts of the kitchen I thought would be finished weeks ago! I was planning on taking a break before starting on the island, but changed my mind on that. I could really use the extra working space in our kitchen!

It has been a really long time since we started this main phase of our kitchen overhaul, fifteen months ago! And I am feeling it. The need to be done with it is strong, at least until we do the wood flooring. (Hopefully next spring.)

But... aren't these little pot holders so sweet? I found them at a sweet little fabric store, and couldn't resist!

They aren't old, but they look like they could be!
Now, promise you won't laugh, but they were my Mother's Day gift to myself this year! (Does anyone else do this?) I have been waiting to hang them up because, well~ another slightly embarrassing admission~ here I am, repainting the color of the bead board in the backs of the upper cabinets.

The previous color

(although bright and cheerful)
didn't match the greenish gray I painted the floor, see below:

The color clash was driving me crazy! If you know me, you know color is a very, very serious matter indeed. It cannot be just any green, you see. It has to be the right shade of green. So despite the magnetic repulsion I am developing toward paint brushes, I did the only thing to be done, and began painting them the same mellow green used on our floor. I went back and forth on this color, because what looks perfect on our floor sometimes looked a little too blue inside the cabinets.

But then I remember that perhaps this is a choice that doesn't need to be taken quite so seriously! When we put down wood flooring, I can change the color simply enough if I want! It will only be on the back of three cabinets, and on our island. I also covered over that same first green the was on the half walls in the dining room and part of the kitchen. It is a really pretty white now, and I think it is going to fit just right.

Now regarding the island (are you getting tired of these updates?) it is getting closer to me showing it to you! I am putting bead board on the sides, and need to paint it, but am waiting for it to cool down! It has been hot this week, at least for our little corner of the world! Hardly any homes have air conditioning here, because it is so rarely hot! SO, when it is...you bring out all the fans you own to keep cool! :)

I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend!

Blessings to you,

A Beautiful Nest

2010-07-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to tell you this: my sister Christine and I have launched a new blog, A Beautiful Nest. Although we each have our own blogs (and intend to keep them) we felt it would be so fun to do one together! We have countless ideas and plans for this blog, and hope you will join us on this new adventure!

If you would like to visit A Beautiful Nest, just click on the button at the top of this post! And if you have the time, please let us know what you think of it so far! :)

As always, blessings to you all!

Back from summer vacation...

2010-07-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

...And getting back into the swing of things here at home. It was such a wonderful vacation!

We had fun, seeing the sights...

Kicking back, relaxing...

Eating good food...

And even enjoying a little crafting and coffee...

Now it's back to the daily grind, but that's okay~

We have wonderful memories and pictures to remind us, should we forget...

I hope you all had a truly blessed Fourth of July! I love this holiday, and always get a little lump in my throat when I hear the old, patriotic songs! I love this country, and am so proud and thankful to be an American!

I hope you are enjoying the summer as well, and staying cool! :)

Blessings,

Working on our island...

2010-06-22T21:32:00.001-07:00

...And now we're one step closer.

You may remember my "island dreaming" a few posts back...Well, we finally bought the solid oak butcher block and I can't wait to cut it to the exact dimensions and install it on our island! (Well actually, although I am not shy of power tools, this is something I'm happy to leave to my husband. I'm too afraid of making a wrong cut!)

Now when I say island, you are probably picturing a cabinet of some sort, smack dab in the middle of the room. Well, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we had to get a little creative! We are in the midst of something that I think is going to be just right for our kitchen!

Here is an up close shot of the butcher block...I just love the wood! It was a darker shade than I had first thought, and I don't want to stain it any darker, SO...I am just going to oil it to seal the wood.

Well, I just wanted to give you a little update on this! I hope you all are having a wonderful week, and enjoying the summer! Thank you so much for stopping by! :)

Blessings,

A lamp makeover

2010-06-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hi you all! I hope you are having a wonderful week! :)

I just wanted to show you a little something I finished...yes, I actually finished something! ;)

A few months ago, I bought two sweet gray lamp shades, but didn't have the right lamp bases to go with them. I knew I wanted a buffet lamp style, but all the ones I was seeing were so expensive! Then I saw this, and for only ten dollars, I could afford two of them! My plan was to spray paint the lamp bases white, to match our bedroom decor.

The only problem was, when I pulled it out of the package, I realized it was not one solid piece. I had never tried painting a lamp in screw-on sections before, but I was curious to see if it would work, so I started with just one of them...

Here it is put together~ it's not an ugly color or anything, it just wouldn't work in our room or with the gray shade I had for it...

I pulled most of the cord out of the end piece, and taped up the cord between the three sections (everything I didn't want painted!) and primed and painted it. I let it dry overnight... And it worked! Here it is now:

As for the shade that went with it, it was not in my color scheme either, and too dark of fabric to recover, so I am reconstructing it...

(I have something in mind...we'll see how it comes out!) And now that I know you can indeed spray paint a lamp like this, it's on to the next one...

Have a blessed night! :)

There she goes...

2010-06-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

Our oldest daughter loves to run errands. And by this, I do mean run, as she is only eleven and can't yet drive! ;) But as one of my closest friends lives right next door, she often runs cookies over, or maybe a few things I picked up for my friend at the store. (We shop for each other often!)

This year, our daughter discovered a love for running, and that she had a gift for it as well. At her elementary school, they have running day twice weekly, for about 15 minutes after lunch~ the kids run as many laps as they want, and receive dots on their hand for each lap. The teachers then record their laps, and this year our daughter ran 43 miles, most of the laps run during just the last trimester! (She totaled well over 200 laps!)

And because our school received a Nike grant this year, she won a free pair of running shoes as the top 5th grade female runner. She was very excited! :) She wanted to put them on right afterward!

And now she isn't dreading the transition to middle school as much anymore. They have a track team, and she is considering joining. But I see that whether she does it in middle school or chooses to wait until high school, running (and finding she is good at it!) has been such a confidence booster for her!

Because when you are eleven and growing up~ or even an adult for that matter~ it is important to have something you are good at, that you love doing! Don't you think? :)

Island dreaming

2010-06-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about islands since we started the main phase of our kitchen redo last spring. Now by this I don't mean tropical islands, although there have been times during this process that I have certainly dreamed of that kind, too! But how I love kitchen islands!

Above is my favorite island of all time~ the white wood with a shelf underneath, and it's charming old wood top. I love the contrast of the island and the metal pots and such on the shelf. (Sigh.)

The thing that is so amazing about this island in particular is that it was originally an old workbench. As in a garage. But no one would ever, in a million years, guess that by looking at it!

Or take this island, with it's unique shelves on the end for spices and cookbooks...and again, the butcher block paired with the white...so heavenly!

Of course, I could not leave out this vintage-table-turned-island~ and just look at those wonderful baskets for storing cooking odds and ends!

Another beautiful piece, with plenty of storage space!

Now I know this island is very different from the others, but it has been one of my "kitchen inspiration" pictures for a while now. I love the bead board on the side, with the thick molding on bottom. I think a truly cottage island must have bead board!

Now the real question remains: what is a girl to do if she longs for a cottage island, but the kitchen can't accommodate one?

I figured out how to solve this problem without rearranging the floor plan, which we could not afford...sometimes you just have to do the next best thing. Such as, create an island that technically isn't one, and put it somewhere other than the middle of the room. If it still affords the extra work space and ambiance that a traditional island would (and I think it will) than it will be a next best alternative...at least I hope so!

Stay tuned for more on this! I have this project in the works! :)

Have a blessed night,

Thrift store finds

2010-05-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

First, I hope you are all having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! :)

AND I wanted to tell you, in answer to my little guessing game in the previous post, that I painted our kitchen floor! It was A LOT of work! I am loving the results, though, and will show you the whole floor as soon as we get the molding up! (I'm crossing my fingers that we'll get this done next weekend!)

But I also wanted to share something with you~

I was at the thrift store when I spotted these sweet cups and saucers. This is the pattern of dishes that I grew up with, and they bring back good memories! I swept these up, and also bought three matching dinner plates. The cashier pointed out that two of the plates each had a chip on them, but I assured him it didn't matter. This wasn't about perfection, it was about nostalgia.

Do you have memories of the dishes your mom used when you were growing up? Do they bring back warm memories~ maybe of a fun family supper, or the bowl of chicken noodle soup your mom made for you when you were sick?

These dishes do that for me~ I feel happy just looking at them. And that reminds me to be thankful for a good childhood, which truly is a precious gift.

(Thanks Mom and Dad.)

A little preview...

2010-05-25T21:18:00.001-07:00

...of what I have been doing for the past couple of weeks.

I knew this would be a doozy of a project, but let's just say that when all is said and done, it will have taken about three times longer than expected! (This seems all too often true with home improvement projects!) And the truth is, I'm still not finished! Friday morning should be the day I wrap this project up~ not one second too soon!

Can you guess what this is I'm doing? ;)

A French cookbook

2010-05-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Have any of you seen the movie "Julie and Julia"? It has been out on DVD for a while, and my husband and I finally rented it last month. We so enjoyed it! I especially loved the scenes of the movie that focused on Julia Child~ my favorite part was when she first saw her cookbook, bound and published.

I thought it would be a fun book to have~ there is so much I don't know about cooking and who knows more about cooking, specifically French cooking~ than Julia Child? My husband gave it to me for my birthday last month, and the first thing I looked for was how to make pastry dough for turnovers.

I am going to use this recipe for fruit turnovers. I have used the puff pastry shells you can buy at the grocery store, but I want to do it from scratch! And how fun it will be to learn to make a pie crust out of this book!

I just love the illustrations in this book! So sweet and vintage!

I must admit to being more excited about the making the desserts than the entrees! Which would you try out first?

Another collection addiction

2010-05-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

It all started with a beautiful old butter knife!

I found it a couple of years ago in a large bag of utensils given to me by my mother-in-law, that had belonged to her mother...Only one piece was old, but I caught the bug! I am completely smitten with antique silverware! (They are my latest obsession!)

I was so excited to find some more pieces last week to add to my growing collection! The owner of the little shop had a couple of containers of these, and I had so much fun going through them and picking out my favorites!

Now I found the ones above on the cheap~ all except the butter knife! (Some are older than others...) I have learned one of the secrets is to be patient when looking. I consider myself quite lucky indeed to find even two things at a time! (Unless you happen on a store where the owner is a collector herself!) And I have to admit, I love searching through random and mismatched utensils here and there and discovering something wonderfully timeworn! And the price is often a matter of pennies!

I love the way they look in this sweet vase I found at The Weed Patch, one of my favorite shops!

I was wrapping something with this twine, and noticed how good the color of it looked with the things next to it~ the red of the flowers, the white vase and aged silverware.

(I am going to have to find ways to introduce this color to our kitchen!)

Well, I hope that you had a fantastic Monday! I had better sign off now before it is Tuesday! :)

Have a good night!

The best M&M cookie recipe ever

2010-05-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

I finally found it! Well, actually, I have had this recipe for over a year, but it was technically for Chocolate Chip Cookies. And it is a great recipe for that, too. But what I discovered is that it also makes the best dough for M&M cookies as well.

My son LOVES this kind of cookie~ it's his favorite!~ but whenever I made them, I never had good results. So I didn't make them very often. It just wasn't good for my "baker's self-esteem". (Smile.)

I saw this recipe in it's original form at Twice Remembered, and modified it to suit my son's M&M craving, but you can simply add chocolate chips and chopped walnuts to the dough instead if you like! It works equally wonderfully for either!

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
About one cup of M&M's

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugars together. Beat in one egg at a time, then the vanilla extract. Dissolve baking soda in the two teaspoons hot water and add to the batter along with salt. Stir in flour. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, and flatten a bit. Press M&M's gently onto the top of each unbaked cookie. I usually only put 9 onto a baking sheet, because they get pretty big!
Bake for 9-11 minutes, until they are lightly browned. (Mine are just right after about 11 minutes! :)

Enjoy! :)

I hope you are all having a fantastic week!

Many Blessings,

Gooseberry Patch

2010-04-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while I was at Lowe's spending my life's savings~ no, just joking, it only feels like that sometimes when I go there!~ I spotted this magazine:

I'd never heard of Gooseberry Patch before, until last December when Robin from The Robin's Nest recommended it. I bought their Christmas magazine and loved it! The recipes were amazing and easy to follow. {So when I saw this, of course I had to part with more of my life's savings and purchase it as well!}

I don't buy a lot of cookbooks, but have found that some of the best recipes come in those little baking/cooking magazines at the cashier's stand in the grocery store! And since last Christmas, I am sold on anything Gooseberry Patch!

This is just the ticket for my menu planning~ we have grown quite tired of the same old meals. I have already tried two recipes in this magazine, and they were both a big hit!

And here is something that might interest you: I actually bought two copies of this magazine! We are wrapping up our year long kitchen renovation, and I am in the mood to celebrate! So keep your eyes peeled for another giveaway in a couple of weeks, and here is a little hint~ the Gooseberry Patch magazine is one of the gifts that will be included! :)

Okay, and speaking of gifts...

I was so touched to receive a package in the mail from a blogger friend, Kelli from Lovely Vintage Cottage Life. And not only is she one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet, she is also so talented!

Look at that sweet towel with that darling pom-pom fringe!

The fabric she used is so perfectly vintage looking!

My youngest daughter was as excited as me about these gifts, and we immediately scurried about to find places for each thing...we had such fun! So thank you Kelli, for such an unexpected treat!

Well, that's all for now! I hope you all are having a great week, and that you have a peaceful night! :)

Blessings,

Memo board with a twist

2010-04-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I saw a wonderful idea for creating a memo board out of an old window that Cottage Charm and Family Inspiration showed by linking up to The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday. Now if you followed that confusing sentence...On her blog, she showed the old window she'd used as the frame for her memo board, and then I thought of the old windows in my garage...

I didn't have one exactly like hers~ hers was one with a sash in the middle~ but I did find this:

I've had this for years, since finding it at a garage sale, but hadn't done anything with it. (With the exception of putting it in the garage.)

Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration to get you going! :) I removed the "window" part of it, and set that aside for another project. I found that the other part made a perfect "window" frame for my memo board. Now, the blogger I was inspired by used bead board on the top with an amazing free hand drawing, and burlap covered with chicken wire on the bottom. I did mine a little different...

It needed a coat of paint first. Then I used smooth, thin birch plywood found at Lowe's (about 1/4 inch thick) and painted the top half with chalkboard paint, then covered the lower half with white linen (a personal favorite!). I covered the bottom part with chicken wire and nailed it to the "frame", and added the decorative trim to the middle. (I found that Jo-Ann's Fabrics has quite a nice selection of trim, but the prices were more expensive...I couldn't say no, however, to the scalloped pattern!)

I have it here on the vanity I am painting. The top is done, but I still need to finish the rest! But does that stop me from decorating on it? :) (No way!) I will put sweet glass knobs on it when I am finished!

This is the same part of the room I showed you a while back when I posted on completing my board and batten project. Now the corner is happily decorated, and I am hanging up the curtains tomorrow. (I love the ones I found, and even more, I love the price I paid for them! Oh, how I love IKEA!)

Well, that is all for me tonight! Thank you for coming by for a visit! I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! :)

Blessings,

And the winner is...

2010-04-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a great weekend! :)

I was a little nervous about doing a giveaway, but it has been SO much fun! I am already thinking up new ideas for future giveaways!
And thank you to all who entered! :)

I printed and cut out all the names of those who entered, putting them"in the hat", er, the basket. My daughter's Easter basket, to be specific!

My daughter mixed up the names a little, and then drew one.

And the winner is~ Alexis Anderson of Confessions of a Shopaholic .
Congratulations Alexis!

Here is the picture again of the book she won:

Well, thanks again to everybody, and I hope you all have a great night, and a wonderful Tuesday! :)

Blessings,

Forever young

2010-04-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, my mother-in-law and I went to lunch at a cute little tea place near her home. It was lovely, and we had such a fun time. BUT there was just one little blemish on the afternoon:

The owner was cleaning up a nearby table. Looked at my MIL, and then at me, saying conversationally, "Last day of spring break."

She thought I was a kid.

And if I'm lucky, she at least thought I was in high school. If.

My mother-in-law told her that I wasn't on spring break, that I had three children of my own.

Then I felt very compelled to add that I would be turning 35 this month.

I tried not to be too disturbed by her shock at this statement.

The very nice lady told me to enjoy looking so young.

(I told her I would like to invent a different kind of wrinkle cream.)

The thing is, I was almost serious. Okay, I don't want wrinkles or gray hair yet, but I would settle for not looking like my almost teenage son's sister. Do you know if I were as young as some think I am, I have calculated it out: I would have had to have had my son when I was four. Yes, four. And not only is this physically impossible, it is depressing.

Now if this were just a once in a blue moon sort of happening, it probably wouldn't faze me. But unfortunately, it has been the story of my life...

When I had just turned 16, I was on a church bus heading to a youth group retreat. I got chewed out by a kid who thought I was ten years old, trying to go to a high school retreat.

My friends were very offended on my part, one of them telling him that at least I didn't look like I was 35. (Like he did.)

Well, now that I am 35, or almost, I figured I haven't aged that quickly~ if I was ten almost 20 years ago, and now am 16, that's only six years in the past 19. It is clear I am going nowhere fast. At this rate, when my son's voice changes and he is taller than me, they won't think I am his sister, they'll think I'm his girlfriend. And that, my friends, is something that is guaranteed to depress not only me, but my son. I'll be lucky if he wants to go anywhere with me ever again.

Do I sound a little bit bitter? I'm really not. I will admit, it is all a little amusing. And yes, I would rather look younger than older. And yes, I am sure I will love it someday.

But sometimes it would just be so nice
to at least look like I was in college.

Off my soapbox now,

My first ever giveaway!

2010-04-06T21:01:00.000-07:00

Guess what came in the mail on Monday afternoon?

After reading a post about this book on {The Cottage Nest}, I knew I needed to put this book on my birthday wish list, but my husband bought me it for an Easter gift!

And I decided it looked like such a wonderful, inspiring book that I wanted to share it not only with you on this post, but with you in a giveaway, too! I have not done a giveaway before, so this is long, long overdue...

I have already looked at some of the book since it arrived and let me tell you, it is deliciously good!

For those of us who struggle to pinpoint our exact decorating style, this is the perfect book! Like Jen at {The Cottage Nest}, I found my style is really and truly Vintage Casual, even though I am sometimes drawn to things outside that spectrum...

And in the first picture describing this style, I found something I already own and love, although mine is a replication...

I can tell this book will be not only helpful, but a lot of fun to read! (I know these pictures don't do it justice. I never realized how hard it was to take a picture of a picture before blogging!)

For a chance to win your very own copy of this book, please leave a comment below. For two chances to win, blog about this giveaway and then let me know in a second comment that you did so! You absolutely don't have to have a blog to enter, but please do make sure to leave an email so I can let you know if you win! The deadline for entering is midnight on Sunday, PST!

I hope you are all having a great week!

Many Blessings,

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

~Wishing you and yours a wonderfully blessed Easter!

The perfect rug

2010-03-31T23:39:00.000-07:00

(Better Homes and Gardens)

I have been thinking about area rugs lately...

(Country Living)

We have one that, although I would not say it is entirely "me", is just the right rug for our living room floor during the cold, wet winter months. It is the softest, thickest type rug (wooly like a sheep) and my husband especially loves it, as he is more of a carpet person. (It was hard to convince him to rip out the carpet and replace it with laminate flooring a few years back.) So this rug makes him happy. :)

I am of the opinion, however, that it is ~~nice~~ essential to have a winter rug and a summer rug...well, maybe not essential. And then of course there is the everlasting question of where to store the 8x10 "winter rug"...But a girl can dream, can't she? :)

(Country Living)

And so in the spring, I start thinking about a nice summer rug for our floor...

(All You)

My personal favorite is sisal...

(Overstock)

But I have been looking at seagrass, and it definitely has its merits. I love how on the sisal and the seagrass, you can choose your favorite color of binding too!

(Overstock)

And then there is jute, which is also nice...

(Overstock)

BUT...I still must say, I think sisal is the best fit for our little cottage...

(Better Homes and Gardens)

(Better Homes and Gardens)

(Better Homes and Gardens)

Then again, there's also the idea of no rug at all during the warmer months. This would be especially workable if you have hardwoods. Which I don't. (Yet.) But, in my dreams I do, and they look lovely with or without a rug. (wink.)

(Country Living)

(Better Homes and Gardens)

But now as far as my favorite inspiration picture in all that I have seen while looking for inspiration...

(Better Homes and Gardens)

Be still my heart~ there truly are no words...I have been looking for an antique daybed ever so long, but now that is a completely different story...

Blessings to you all,

I know, it's been a while!

2010-03-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

What I have been up to...

In the living room...

For the past four weeks...and now the cutting, nailing, puttying, sanding, priming and painting is all done, everything except the window sills and trim around the windows. Whew! I thought I'd never ever finish this project! I will finish the sills tomorrow and give it a good cleaning and it will be so nice to have that room back together again!

I will be showing you a full room shot of this room! (Really and truly!) We are putting our "behemoth" grand piano on Craigslist tomorrow and will soon replace it with an upright and I am doing some redecorating, so it might be a couple of weeks until I'm ready to show you the whole thing! :)

To do this project, I followed a tutorial given by It's the little things that make a house a home . It was fun to take a break from working on our kitchen~ by February, I thought if I so much as looked at another piece of beaded board, I would scream! So this was a welcome diversion! But now I am actually happy to start putting up the beaded board in the dining room this week! ;)

I am sorry if it seems like I fell off the face of the earth lately! I will be visiting your blogs and catching up on what you have been up to lately this week! I have missed reading your blogs! :)

I hope you are all doing well, and enjoying the first bit of spring! :)

Many blessings,

I love...

2010-03-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

The color green...

Soothing, peaceful, blends with everything green.

Green is so... adaptable~ put a few different shades of green together and somehow, instead of clashing, they actually complement each other!

I just love the way the color green looks against white, too...

And I have been thinking that a white kitchen with green accents, minus any other color, would be very lovely, don't you think? Yes, I know I said I was going to use aqua instead of green with red in our kitchen...but it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind (or so I have been told).

And I have been contemplating this, for it would be very easy to do. Painting the half wall above the chair rail/beaded board wouldn't be much of a strain, and it would give the room the clean, crisp white canvas to add touches of green...and don't get me wrong, it would be pretty...

But then I think of my beloved red, and think no, I must have a spot of it here and there. This kitchen likes the vintage look red adds to it.

So I guess this leaves me right back where I started, with a white kitchen with a lot of green and some red accents.

Do you ever go back and forth like this when you are redoing or working on a room in your home?

Spring in the sink

2010-02-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I sure hope your week has been good so far! :) Now I know it's still winter, and technically will be for more than a month. But I am SO ready for spring! So when I saw these flowers at Lowe's, of course I had to buy some to plant in the old Maytag washer by my front porch. Here they are in my kitchen sink, getting a little water until I plant them! (Which will happen as soon as we get more than two consecutive seconds of sunshine! ;)

The other day I noticed that the daffodils I planted last spring in the washer were coming up, and am so glad! Spring is truly on it's way! I will show you a picture of these flowers again when I plant them!

I hope you have a good night! :)

Blessings,

The Kitchen Shutter

2010-02-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I often have to look at something for a while before I know what to do with it. So even though I hung up the other shutter last week, I had to think about it for a bit. The one thing I'd decided to do was to hang aprons on it, so I had added clear glass knobs to the two holes already in the bottom (and on the top part, too).

So that part was easy, but I decided it needed another knob on bottom. But now what? I wasn't sure I wanted plates on it like on the other one, but maybe a picture...

...hung a wee bit off center...oops! You might remember this little framed seed packet from last spring. I had a few others that I had framed several years ago, but removed them to reframe them to group with this one, but lost them! (Typical.) I am really wishing I could find them about now, because it would be just perfect it there were just two others on the shutter. SO...right now it looks like this~

But not for long, because I think I have a good idea for the rest! BUT I wanted to show you what I had so far, so you'd know I wasn't a complete slacker! ;)

Now as far as Valentine's Day decorations, I must admit I have been a pretty big slacker, BUT I always have to mix up the mantel, you know it's true! Yes, you guessed it, it's THE FRAMES again~ enter Twilight Zone music...

Are you running from the computer, screaming yet? I hope not, because you know after Valentine's Day is said and done, I am going to have to change the word again. And you will probably have to suffer through another picture. Again. And did you know I have already changed the frames three times since Christmas? It's a sickness, I tell you, a real sickness. :)

Well, here's hoping you are all doing well, and have a wonderful night! :)

P.S. These are two moulding pictures for Jen at The Candlelit Cottage...can you believe I don't know how to attach something to an email?

Jen, I hope these up-close pictures help! :)

New arrival!

2010-02-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

I am so excited~ My sister Christine at Southern Belle Dreaming
and her husband have just been blessed with the arrival
of their fourth son! He was born in the wee hours of Friday morning, and is absolutely beautiful! We got to visit them in the hospital, and I got the chance to hold him the entire time we visited! :) He.Is.Such.A.Sweetie.

Both mama and baby are doing well! I am going to leave the rest for her to tell you all the details, but wanted to let you all know that all is well and why her blog has been a little bit quiet... :)

Finish it Friday

2010-02-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

The pantry doors turned chalkboards~

Last night we hung up the finished pantry doors, and today I put on the knobs! Yea! Do you remember me showing you this picture that was the inspiration for this whole project?

Well, as much as I would love a walk in pantry like this, sometimes you have to take what you have and work with it! (I do wish this weren't so often the case though! :)

SO, here is my mimicking of the picture above (however poor! :)~

Please ignore the unfinished crown moulding and green "frog" tape (painter's tape); this kitchen is still in progress! :)

Here is a close up of the top cupboard to the pantry...

This is a better view of the doors as a whole. Unfortunately it is also a better (or worse!) picture of just how much of a work in progress this kitchen still really is! Yep, I am still painting the outer cabinet frames here! :) So I might as well tell you, we put our microwave and little kitchen CD player in the cabinet to save on counter space, and my husband wired an outlet for them. I also like having these out of sight, as neither add to the vintage feel I'm trying to accomplish here! :) Oh, and you can also see our unsightly stove that is soon going to be replaced by the 1940's stove we're fixing up...

I am adding things to the cabinet to the left of the chalkboard doors a little at a time. A lot of our kitchen decor and such was packed away when we started really working on the kitchen, and so I am still playing around with the look of it...I will show it to you again when I get it just right! :)

I hope you all have a fun weekend! :)

P.S. I will have that picture of what I did with the other shutter on my next post!

A decorated shutter

2010-02-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week and are ready for the weekend! :)

Do you remember the two shutters I was painting a few weeks ago? Well, I finished painting them before we went on vacation, and was originally going to put both of them in the kitchen with a picture or something in between, but it just didn't look right, so...I put one in the dining room...

Oh but now that I am looking at these, the shutter is looking a little crooked, but thankfully that is easy to fix! (tomorrow)

This was fun to do~ there were already four holes for screws in each shutter, and I have a lot of glass knobs on hand. :) I thought it would be fun to have an extra place to hang up cute things! To hang up the plates on the shutter was easy peasy (lemon squeezy)! All I had to do was use a plate hanger and slip a ribbon around the top (I added a dot of hot glue to close the ribbon to the plate hanger for extra security, but that's just me!) and tied the ribbon around one of the shutter rungs! :) Oh, and I know that the word on the little chalkboard plaque looks like it says "cat", but I wrote "eat", for lack of anything inspired! :)

Tomorrow I will show you what I am doing with the other shutter...AND I will have one of those finished projects for you to see~ remember those chalkboard pantry doors I wanted to do? ;)

Well, that's all for me for now...Have a blessed night!

P.S. I forgot to mention that the little chalkboard plaque was an idea I copied from Jen at Tatertots and Jello. All you need is a metal-ish plaque (which should be easy to find at a thrift store) and paint! Just spray or brush chalkboard paint onto the center, and use your favorite color on the edges! :)

Okay...

2010-02-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

...We were in the Capital of FUN all last week, and before we even got on the plane, I already knew of one place I just HAD to see! The Magic Kingdom? No. Sea World or Hollywood Studios? No, no...

How about Home Goods?

Well, actually there were two places I wanted to go to, the other one being Hobby Lobby, but it was too far away, about an hour and a half's drive...but someday I am going there too! :) We don't have either of these stores in the Seattle area. :( Sniff, sniff...But Home Goods was a lot like Marshall's, only bigger and minus the clothes and shoes, which I never look at there anyway. I found a few cute things...

Like these sweet heart shaped Chantal pieces, just perfect for Valentine's Day...It would be fun to use these to make cakes, and put the smaller heart on top of the larger one. I think it would look cute, and just may have to try this out! :)

I also found this set of four dishtowels, and loved the patterns! :)

(I also found an adorable little cake stand that wouldn't fit in our luggage...but maybe it will be at Marshall's?)

So let's add this up:

Small heart~ 1.99
Larger heart~ 5.99
Dishtowel set~ 6.99

Now, these might not be the cheapest prices in the world, but considering what I could have spent at Disney World for a single tee shirt, I think I got more bang for my buck by shopping at Home Goods instead! :) And I guess this is kind of weird, but given the choice, I am always more likely to buy something for our house than an item of clothing to wear! How about you? Do you tend to gravitate towards the clothing aisle or the home things?

Oh, I didn't want to forget to show you this, and couldn't remember if I have mentioned this magazine before:

But this is their latest edition, and it is so good! The prevailing style can tend to be a little more modern than I am, but it is true to it's word and is definitely a magazine for hands on people! I love it's decorate on the cheap ideas, and lack of constant advertisements! :) Just thought I'd share...

Well, I hope this finds you all doing well, and that you have a great night! :)

Back home from Orlando!

2010-01-31T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hi y'all! There~ I have always wanted to say it and since I spent a just week in the South~ Florida counts as the South, right?~ I felt now would be as good an opportunity as any! :) I'm SO jealous of all of you who claim the South as home sweet home, drink authentic sweet tea, and have that fabulous accent! :)

But we're back, safe and sound! I have to say, y'all~ yes, I'm milking this for all it's worth~ as I am a true homebody, I am glad to be back home, cleaning our little house, and getting things ready for a normal week around here! :)

The day we flew to Orlando was Gracie's eighth birthday~ our trip wasn't actually for her birthday, it is just how it worked out with our schedule. We were worried how she would feel about spending her birthday in an untraditional way, but she LOVED it! :) She opened a couple of small gifts on the plane, and the rest the next evening when we truly celebrated her birthday, since it was so late when we arrived in Florida...

The first day there we went to Hollywood Studios, and had a blast! The best part of the day was the show we watched called "Lights, Motors, Action!" They showed how they film the stunts performed on action movies, and we saw all sorts of amazing stunts, like cars driving on two wheels, such as in the above picture. :)

If you look closely, you can see a separate bit of fire to the right of the picture~ this is someone on fire for real! It was all part of the little espionage scenario they were acting out, and the actor was not in any real danger due to the special clothing he was wearing. It was all so amazing!

Watching Mickey sign their autograph books...

And Pluto, too...

At the front of the Magic Kingdom...unfortunately, the sun was in their eyes for this picture. :(

And though yesterday it was time to come back home, we brought some new friends with us...

Not to mention countless memories of a wonderful vacation together...

Well, I hope you had a fantastic weekend, and that you have a great Monday! :)

BLESSINGS,

Guess where!

2010-01-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

Can you guess...

where we are?

Visiting a happy place...

The happiest place on earth, I'm told...

Where the sun is out, and it's rarely cold...

Did you guess? ;)

Yep, if you guessed Orlando, Florida, then you are right on! A big huge thank you goes to David's parents for giving us a week of their time share at this beautiful place! :) So we are having fun here in the sun until Saturday!

I just had to share this, because it's so darn exciting! Hope you don't mind! :) AND I hope you are having a wonderful week so far!

Have a great night, :)

* Images courtesy of Google.

A burlap wreath

2010-01-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

Burlap meets velvet...

I first saw the idea of a burlap wreath on Jen's blog at The Candlelit Cottage, who saw this on another blog. I am not sure of which one it was, so if this is your idea, please let me know so I can credit you with this idea! :)

I must admit I always love the wonderful things I see you all doing with burlap and they always look SO cute...the weird thing is though when I would go to the fabric store and look at the burlap, it just didn't seem like "me"...

But when I saw Jen's wreath, I knew I had to try it! It was one of the sweetest wreaths I've seen...

I originally chose velvet ribbon for the bow, but it made too small a bow, so I copied Jen (again) and made one out of some fabric I had on hand. But I had to tie the wreath up and hang it with something, and so the velvet ribbon it was after all! I love the difference of textures...

Now I am looking forward to making another one with a different color of burlap...and it is ever so simple! All you need is a wire coat hanger, burlap and ribbon! I "opened" the hanger and fed the burlap onto the hanger in folds. It was easy, but it did take me some time, and it took about two yards of burlap. Whether this is normal, I don't know! I just went with the flow! I adjusted the burlap folds how I liked them, and reconnected the two ends of the hanger...

Well, that is all for me for now! :) You all have a good night! :)

Blessings,

Finish it Friday...on Sunday!

2010-01-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

Yep, I know what day it is! Here it is, the first day of this weekly post theme, and I am already late! Let's just hope it doesn't become a habit...sMiLe! :)

Are you all having a good weekend! It is the best part of the week, don't you think? :)

Okay, remember the shutters I wanted to tackle this week? Well, I mostly finished them...

This is about what both sides looked like. I painted the first side of each and they looked much better...

It was mostly finished except for a little touch up, and I decided to get creative. That was a mistake. So now I am painting over my "creativity" and then can finish the other side. But hey, they are out of the garage and half finished...so I am counting it as a 75% success...I will show you them when I put them up on the wall! :)

And I do also want to show you this:

On a recent visit to IKEA, I saw these sweet little vases~

And at only 79 cents a piece, I just couldn't resist buying them! ;) Michael's Crafts had these faux red flowers~

And now they are up on our kitchen window sill~

Every time I look at them, they make me smile! And do you see that the trim around the window is finally up and painted? It was so nice to finish this and it makes the window look so much better!

I decided to use the same trim around the window ( I think the technical term for it is "ply cap") that I used for the bottom of the upper cabinets~ you can see it is the same in the picture above. I used the miter box for this instead of the table saw, and it worked just fine! :)

So you can see, it is all coming along, slowly but surely! I haven't put things how I want them in the upper cabinets yet, or hung the little panels that go with the valance, but will soon!

We hung the curtains up a little higher than we normally would have, thinking it would be nice to see as much out of the window as possible, but I think they are too high up. Any thoughts on this?

Well, I sure hope you all are doing well, and have a good night! :)

Playing with colors

2010-01-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

How are you all doing? I sure hope you are having a good week! :)

I have been playing with color in my kitchen, as you know trying to decide between aqua and green I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone for your thoughts on which color would be the best choice. :)

I paid a visit to Benjamin Moore paints and they color matched my aqua bowls, and I was surprised at how dark the color was. They added some white tint to it, but it is still WAY too bold a color for me! It's a beautiful color, but just not the right shade...

I also bought a pint of a color I liked called "spectra blue" that is aqua, but much lighter.

I tried it on a section of the bead board in one of our cabinets, and don't really like the way it looks...

But now I have an idea that I am going to give a try... Instead of a color like green or aqua on the walls and inside the cabinets, I am going to paint a much more neutral color, such as oatmeal. I like this color a lot, yet just haven't found the right place for it in our home. Maybe it's meant for the kitchen! Then I could just add a lot of red and aqua accents, but switch it out easily the aqua gets old. And then I can use the green! ;) It would be simple also to remove all the color if I wanted a fresh completely neutral look! :) And you never know, maybe the walls WILL end up one of the paler shades of aqua on the paint strips...

Oh, and while we are talking about red and aqua, look what cute Valentine's tissue paper I found at Michael's! All of their Valentine's gifting supplies are in red, aqua and white! :)

And just one more picture here, because it fits in nicely with kitchen talk...

Country Living

Aren't these so cute? And wouldn't they make washing dishes fun?

Well now, thank you for listening to my ramblings! Have a great Friday! :)

blessings,

Finish it already!

2010-01-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

We have a two car garage, although in truth, it would be a darn tight squeeze to fit both of our vehicles into that space...On one side of the garage, my husband parks his car in the winter. On the other side we have our kid's "outdoor stuff" bins and their bikes...and "my" furniture and little odds and ends. You know, the things you rescue from a thrift store or buy at a garage sale to fix up, that never quite get fixed up...please tell me someone out there knows what I'm talking about!

So I promised my husband that I would not start on the wide plank flooring for our kitchen and dining room until I cleared out that space. SO, because a deal is a deal, and I'm not one to break a promise, I am going to start working on this.

Then I thought about the rooms in our home that are so close to being finished (at least for now) but just need that little last couple of things done. Things like curtains or one last paint coat on the moulding, etc.

So I'm starting (and am going to finish!) a new weekly blog post. Every week I will show you what I am going to work on, and then I am going to show you the "after" on "Finish It Friday!"

One thing at a time, I am going to tie up all these loose ends and organize this life!

So here's what I am working on now:

1.) You may remember how I painted my aluminum garden window this past fall...well, now I am painting our ugly slider. It will be at least until this spring/summer until we replace it with French doors, but I needed to do something about it in the meantime...

2.) I am finally pulling out those old shutters and finishing them!

3.) And putting some of this~

on these pantry doors~

and hoping they look a little like this~

when they are done!

NOW...I will at least have one of these completed by Friday to show you. :)

What do you think?

Red and green OR red and aqua?

2010-01-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, here I am with my kitchen almost *done...and here I also am second guessing myself. Again. So that is where I hope you might have an opinion that would help me make a decision! (And finish the project, which my family would really REALLY appreciate! :)

SO, here's the deal:

I originally intended to do a red and aqua color combination in our kitchen when I redid it...I was going to keep the yellow walls in the dining room and on the one wall that goes between our kitchen and dining room. I have covered the walls in the kitchen with bead board that I then painted white, and the lower half of the walls will have bead board in the dining room, and on that one long wall that connects the two rooms.

BUT, as I was working and things were coming along, I realized the yellow was not going to work in the kitchen, especially not on the bead board inside the upper cabinets. This is where, instead of aqua, I chose a pretty minty green...

I can't explain it, but it was the right color. So the color scheme changed to red and green with a lot of white, minus the yellow. I painted the half walls the same green, and have been second guessing myself ever since...

Do you like this color combination~

Or this better?

Do you think the cabinets would look better with this green on the bead board~

Or with a nice light aqua instead?

You see, green is always pretty...

It seems to adapt well to almost almost any color or decor you add to it.

But when I put my aqua bowls on the counter next to the cherries sugar canister, well, I really started to doubt my color choice. See how the colors pop!

However, there is one thing I do know for sure...at least I think I do! ;)

I have had a great deal of this red and white checked fabric for a couple of years now and am going to use it to make long panels for our kitchen slider (soon to be French doors) and our dining room window...

Well, that is all for me tonight! I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far!

Signed,
The Desperate Decorator,

*Anything and everything is still subject to change, and is anything ever really "done" at my house? Uh, no. Mostly because I keep changing things...

Movies

2010-01-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

One of my husband and my favorite things to do on the weekend is watch movies we put on Netflix...and boy do I love Netflix! No late fees, no returning the movie to the store, just a quick jot to the mailbox...but I digress...so anyway, it's fun and it's cheap entertainment, and it's our form of zoning out! And in life, you really REALLY need to escape the "real world" from time to time, and whether it's in the pages of a great book or in a movie, I think it can be truly therapeutic!

SO...we got to see this~

And I have to say I really enjoyed it. Have any of you seen this, especially those of you who live in the U.K.? It is a British T.V. film about a girl named Amanda who loves Jane Austen's book, Pride and Prejudice. One evening, she discovers Elizabeth Bennet (the main character in the book) in her bathroom, and eventually a door that leads into Elizabeth's world. So she gets the chance to essentially live in the story of Pride and Prejudice and meet all the characters...it has some things in it that I really wished they had left out~ it would have been even better without them~ but even despite those things and a few other things that seem a bit contrived, it inspired me to read Pride and Prejudice. I always thought it would be dull, but it is such a great book so far!

And so now we are putting this is our queue at Netflix~

For though it's true we saw this before, I suddenly feel the need to see it once again! And this was a good movie as well, and as I remember, a completely clean film, which is always refreshing! I can recommend this one highly!

So what movies have you seen lately that you loved? And what is your favorite~ comedy, drama, classic, suspense...?

I hope your week is going well! :)

Getting things back to normal...

2010-01-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you, too! Tomorrow we all go back to our normal routine, with kids at school and my husband at work...it is hard to let the vacation go! It feels SO good to be blogging again, though! I kept telling myself I wanted to have something "fun" to share before I blogged, and not just drop in to give you an update concerning my husband's health, not wanting to bore you or anything, but I recently realized it was really and truly quite rude of me NOT to give you an update much sooner...please forgive me?

The reason we were so worried was because the doctor found my husband's blood pressure to be REALLY high, and they ran an EKG on him and it came back abnormal, showing that his heart was enlarged, which means that it has to work harder than it should to pump blood. This should not be the case for someone who exercises regularly. So they scheduled a stress test, which includes an ultrasound and another EKG. They also put him on medicine for the blood pressure. The thing that was so worrisome is that having consistently high blood pressure can cause heart and kidney problems...So I was VERY worried, as you know.

I was SHOCKED when the stress test came back NORMAL~ shocked with happiness and relief beyond anything I've ever known! His blood pressure was also in the range his doctor was hoping for. The blood tests showed good things too~ his kidneys are in perfect shape. ALL of this shows that the medicine is working. I was disappointed when he checked it this week and it was higher, but he reminded me that it IS so much lower now than it was.

SO, thank you all very much for your prayers and thoughts~ they meant so much to me! :) And thank you again for listening!

BUT...I cannot leave you without showing you something pretty, so I wanted to show you this...

I have been looking for certain curtains online EVERYWHERE that I had seen on another blog, and couldn't find them, until I checked at the Country Curtains website.

I love these in the gold fabric, although they also come in other colors. I love the way they puddle on the floor...just delicious!

But they have many, many more curtains to choose from...

And what I love is that they have their curtains in an assortment of colors...

For example, the red is really pretty, but what if you want them in black?

They not only have them in black, they have a coordinating valance to go with them!

sigh...

I love how they have every style you could imagine, too. These are just some of the ones that caught my eye! :)

Well, that's all for now! I hope you have a great Monday! :)

Blessings,

P.S. I can't get the font to be smaller at the end here! Arg! Sorry for how it looks!

Calling all prayers!

2009-12-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't think I have ever done this before, but I guess there is a first time for everything...I wanted to ask for your prayers regarding a health issue that has come up with my husband. It could be more serious that we thought, and I am frantic, to say the least. I can't really go into it too much right now, but if you have a moment, I would greatly appreciate your prayers!

I am neither a calm nor patient person, and worrying is what I do "best". It has been hard for me to rest in God's peace, though I know He would rather I accept His peace that be worried! I want to accept it, I really do, it's just I can't seem to stop being me and asking Him, "BUT wait Lord, what if?"

And then I make the mistake of getting on the Web and doing a little research on this particular health issue and end up feeling even worse than I did before! I am really beginning to believe that ignorance truly is bliss...

I just do not like uncertainty at all!

I will keep you as updated as possible for sure, and thank you again for listening. :)
I already feel a little better...

Blessings,

Celebrating Advent...

2009-12-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

This third candle we light this Sunday is the Shepherd's candle.

"And there were some shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'

~Luke 2: 8-12

Can you even imagine? You're just doing your job, it's just another day~ I mean night~ and all of sudden, out of nowhere, there is an angel from God telling YOU that the Messiah has come and where to find him! I would have been terrified too if I'd been them, but amazed that out of every one in the world He could have chosen, God had blessed me with such a gift~ to be one of the first of those to meet Jesus! I love this story of the Shepherd's because it reminds me that God doesn't care what we do for a living, how much money we have in the bank, or if we are "someone" in the eyes of this world...He desires a relationship with each of us. We are valuable to Him. Valuable enough for Him to take on flesh and identify with us and share in our humanity. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around this, it's so wonderful!

Come Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel's Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious Kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
Amen.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that this post finds you doing well! :)

BLESSINGS,

Rearranging in the living room...

2009-12-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

I have been cleaning and preparing our living room for the Christmas tree we will be getting on Saturday, which meant the need for a little rearrangement of the living room...You may remember me talking about our fireplace and how it drives me CRAZY because the hearth is not symmetrical! We have plans to remedy this~ removing some of the brick on the "wider" side~ but in this old house, the list is long, and who knows when this will take place!

BUT...I needed to move a little table from it's normal place and thought this might be a good spot for it, nestled up in the "extra" space to the right of the hearth...

And I think it just may stay here for a while. It evens out the space and makes it look a little more, well, symmetrical! It also adds a bit of well appreciated lamp light to that side of the room! :)

Okay, I do realize I still have my "thankful" arrangement up there on the mantel, but you see I have just finally decided what to replace it with for Christmas...that coming soon! :)

I sure hope this week has been a good one for you all! AND best of all, tomorrow's Friday! :)

BLESSINGS,

The second candle of Advent

2009-12-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Bethlehem candle~

Well, I meant to post at least once before it was time to light the second candle, but here it is Sunday already!

I found the wreath I made last year, but couldn't resist adding a little twine bow to the center candle. I love twine...it kind of looks silly here, but in "real life" it looks much better. You'll just have to trust me on this one, though...this is definitely not the best picture...

AND it is really hard to find a "cute" place to take a picture in this kitchen-not-quite-finished! SO with my disclaimers aside, let's light the Bethlehem candle...actually, we'll let my son light it! (With my supervision, of course!)

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times...
He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
And he will be their peace."

~ Micah 5:2,4-5

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
the hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

Now we'll enjoy the beauty of the lit candles...oh, and here's a picture of Gracie's Advent candle holder that she sanded and decorated in Sunday school this morning, and is very proud of! It looks so pretty all lit up! :)

Did you have a good week? I hope so! Christmas time can be so crazy, huh? Already I can feel things speeding up! Christmas is coming, ready or not, in just 19 days! (And a mere 18 if you're on the East Coast right now! :)

Hoping you have a wonderful night,

The first candle

2009-11-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

Last year my family started a tradition...I made a Advent wreath (using the wooden wreath form my son had made) which has four candles~ one for each week of Advent. Each Sunday, we lit the candle for that week. This year we are keeping this new tradition. And this year, it was my oldest daughter who finished a wreath form for us, that she made at church.

This week I will dig out the wreath I made last year and put it together in time for next week's candle...so for now we have a "makeshift candle"...

Today we celebrate the first candle of Advent by lighting the first candle. This is the Prophecy candle, which represents the promise of a Messiah foretold by God's prophets.

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
~ Isaiah 9: 6

Of the Father's love begotten

"Of the Father's love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the Source, the Ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been, And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven, adore Him; Angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him, And extol our God and King;
Let no tongue on earth be silent, Every voice in concert ring,
Evermore and evermore!

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant and high thanksgiving And unwearied praises be:
Honor, glory, and dominion, And eternal victory,
Evermore and evermore!"

Amen.

~ Written by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-413)

BLESSINGS,

A Thanksgiving Day note

2009-11-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends! :)

Many Blessings,

A "new" frame

2009-11-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

I found this frame a few months ago, either at a garage sale or a thrift store~ I can't remember which! It isn't really new, of course...

I saw it had potential, despite it's gaudy "gold" plastic! It had character that would be clear to see IF only for a coat of white paint! :)

I just finally got around to painting it...I replaced the bird picture with a letter. The letter "u", actually. This frame helps complete the word I framed for the mantel this Thanksgiving...

Of course, silly me, I forgot to get a close up shot of the frame I redid! Can you see it in the above picture?

I am often just barely on time, especially with holiday decorating. Is anyone else like this? Here I am showing you this on the tail end of Thanksgiving, and I know there are some of you who already have a good start on Christmas! And all I can say is, you amaze me! :)

I hope to post again before Thanksgiving, but just in case it doesn't happen, let me wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy your time with the ones you love, and have a beautiful day! :)

Blessings,

Out of this world cinnamon rolls!

2009-11-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I love cinnamon rolls...the smell of them baking in the oven is almost just as good as eating them. Part of the problem with making these, however, is that I normally would have to get up at four in the morning to serve these for a Saturday breakfast, because of all the rising they require...BUT I have discovered a way around this, and thought I would share this idea and recipe with you! :) It is a simple matter of combining two recipes to make a better one, which I do often! :) This recipe allows me to make the rolls the night before. I let the prepared rolls rise 20 minutes in the morning before I put them in the oven...it makes SUCH a difference!

Basic Sweet Dough

3/4 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 packages active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
3 eggs, room temperature
5 and 1/2 to 6 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Place milk, sugar, salt and butter in small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture, eggs, and 5 cups flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 2 minutes.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down and shape as desired for rolls or coffee cakes.

Cinnamon Swirl Rounds

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 recipe Basic Sweet Dough

Caramel Glaze

1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place brown sugar, sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon, and walnuts in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Roll dough to 10x24 inch rectangle. Spread sugar-cinnamon mixture evenly on dough. Roll dough tightly from long side to form 24-inch roll, pinching seams together. Cut into 24 slices, 1 inch each.

Place 12 rolls each in two greased 13x9x2 inch baking pans. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, 45 to 60 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 350 degrees F (or 177 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately. Spoon Caramel Glaze over warm rolls.

To make Caramel Glaze, place evaporated milk and brown sugar in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to boil, stirring constantly.

Place mixture, powdered sugar, and vanilla in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 4 and beat until creamy, about 2 minutes.

Now, my secret is... when you have made the dough and you let it rise until it is about doubled, follow the instructions until you have formed the rolls and placed them in the pans. At this point, cover them with oiled waxed paper, then with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator 2-24 hours (or overnight). To bake, let stand for 20 minutes at room temperature. Uncover and puncture any surface bubbles with a greased wooden toothpick.

Bake as directed above. :)

Now, what goes better with a cinnamon roll in the morning than a great cup of coffee?

I found a new kind of coffee that I LOVE! It is made by Millstone, and it is their holiday "Peppermint" coffee. It smells and tastes amazing! It has me wondering how it would taste if I added chocolate and whip cream...would it make a good Peppermint Mocha? I'm thinking it would! :)

Well, that's all for now! I hope you have a good night and a great Friday!

Blessings,

A thrifted wool sweater...

2009-11-16T20:42:00.000-08:00

...gets a new lease on life as a tote!

This project was easy peasy, and so fun to make! As I was sewing it up, I began to think it needed a little something extra though...something like~

~a rosette with a button in the middle! I had never made one of these before, and I don't think I have mastered the art yet. My first impression of mine was that it looked more like a cinnamon roll than a rosette, but it grew on me! I do like the brown linen with the red wool, though! :)

If you would like to make your own tote, you will find the tutorial for it here, at The Shabby Nest. And if you are thinking you would like to learn to make a rosette, I found a great tutorial for it here.

I hope you are having a great week so far, and that you have a good night! :)

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...

2009-11-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

...or developed a dreaded disease, or been traveling in a remote land somewhere in the world with no internet access!

I have just been trying to finish our kitchen here and there, between busy school days, more sickness in our house, and that never ending attempt to finish the laundry! But all is well! I don't think I have ever, ever gone over three weeks without blogging before! :) I have missed it, and have missed visiting all of your blogs! I am trying to catch up on everything you have been doing! :)

I have finished one project that was interesting, to say the least. We decided to put off replacing our garden window for the time being (until next year or the next) but I didn't care for the dark aluminum frame...

My husband half jokingly suggested I paint it. Well, there are few things I won't try painting, but it took me a bit of time to decide if I could do it, then how I would go about it. I hadn't seen any how-to in my "how to paint anything" edition of BHG. But let's just say, I had a bee in my bonnet...

So I started with just the bottom of the window, figuring if it went south, at least the whole thing would not look awful. Plus, that would be the easiest surface to paint.

See the bottom surface and surrounding area is primed twice and painted. All went well...So I taped the window up, and went to town~ again, priming it all twice and painting it until it looked finished! :) Here is what it looks like now:

And a peek at the kitchen...

And you can see one of the upper cabinets in this picture. I am not finished adding all the trim, but it gives you an idea of what I am doing with them. I put all the bead board on the insides and outsides of all the cabinets, and am painting the inside of the cabinets this green color. :)

Again, I'm still putting up moulding, but do you see the corbels underneath the cabinets? What do you think of them? I still have mixed feelings about these particular corbels...I got this idea from Angie, over at The Happy Homebody, who just added these to her kitchen this summer. Hers are a different style, but it's the same idea!

Okay, and one more thing...do you remember me telling you about my sweater project? If so, you also probably remember this picture:

Come on back tomorrow to see what I turned this into! :)

Well, here's hoping that your weekend was wonderful and you're all rested up and ready for another week! :) Have a good night!

Many blessings,

Decorating dilemma

2009-10-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

If someone were to ask you what your decorating style was, what would you say? And would you be able to summarize it in one style alone?

If you can, I truly envy you! I am beginning to think I have some sort of multiple decorator personality disorder, and it is not pretty! I can't seem to define what I like when I decorate. Shabby Chic? (Yes.) French Country? (Absolutely.) Vintage or Retro? (Both.) Cottage? (Definitely!) Do you see what I mean? And this isn't all either. When it comes to colors, I am SO conflicted lately! If you know me, you know I LOVE to paint! Painting furniture is fine, but painting walls is one of my favorite things to do! I love changing a room around, and this has been the primary way I have introduced color to a room for years now. So I see a room like this~

(Disclaimer: I have posted this picture before!)

~And my heart skips a beat for the love of color! But there is also something very attractive about this picture~

And this~

(LOVING this refrigerator!)

~See the beautiful simplicity? The fresh, clean feel of the room? Lately I'm thinking neutrals aren't so bad...

And a dash of rustic farmhouse wouldn't be so bad either~

And I will admit that there is something appealing about these pictures~

~Although I'm more into red than pink, isn't that pink refrigerator so cute? :)

I started this kitchen project with one idea of how it would look, and now it seems I am going in a totally different direction, loving the simpler, neutral look. So now I find I am trying to combine this~

~With some of this~

~And hoping that when it all finally comes together, it will be just right. :) Although if truth be told, I think our kitchen will end up more neutral with bits of color here and there...

(* All photos from Better Homes and Gardens and Country Living.)

Oh, and on the matter of IKEA, and the recent trip there: IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! My main thought when my sister and I left was how soon we could go back! :) I did buy curtains for our living room, but the color isn't going to work so it's back to IKEA...do I mind? Not a bit, although it will be nice to find the right curtains! I also found a couple of other things, including a duvet cover with matching pillow cases, and I will show you those soon! :)

I will be around to visit you all soon! I hope you are having a good week! :)

BLESSINGS,

And off we go...

2009-10-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

I am so excited because tomorrow morning my sister is coming over, and we have a fun day planned! Our first stop will, of course, have to be Starbucks! We will need the caffeine when we get here...

The last time I went to IKEA is almost nine years ago! It is only about an hour or so away, but for some reason seems so far away that I haven't gone back! But tomorrow I'm going to change that! I'm hoping to find curtains for my living room windows, so cross your fingers for me! :)

I hope you had a good Tuesday! :)

Blessings,

Five things

2009-10-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

DID you know that just ten weeks stand between us and Christmas Day? Gulp. Yes, it was a shock to me to when I was reminded of this. I only have TEN weeks to: finish decorating for Halloween, undo that and decorate for Thanksgiving, and prepare for Christmas?! Yowzy! Now, add this to the fact that we have a major revamping going in on in our kitchen right now, and all of the other projects I have planned, and well, I have been really stressed!

But, I am not nearly as much now, because I joined "The Five Things a Week Challenge" at The Shabby Chic Cottage. The deal? Every week, I will post on my sidebar the five things I plan on completing, and at the end of the week, I will show you what I have done! I will cross off the things on the list as I complete them. This takes a major edge off the stress because there's a plan!

I have finished one thing so far, and am working on two others right now...all are house or decorating projects save one, one of which is a FuN project I have had in the works, an idea from a fellow blogger, that involves turning this sweater~

~into something else entirely! Can you guess what? :) I finished this wrought iron fruit stand I found at a local antique store:

It was in desperate need of a new coat of paint, and I am much happier with it now! :)

SO, do you have a list? One with just a few things on it, or maybe one like mine, with so many things on it you could do five things every week for the rest of your life and still not catch up? If you want to join in on the fun, just make a list on your sidebar, and link up to The Shabby Chic Cottage. She has such a wonderful blog, and it is one of my favorite places to visit! Make sure to check it out! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday, and have a great night! :)

A new blog design and some crafts

2009-10-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I hope you are having a wonderful week! :) I am so excited over here because anytime your blog gets a new look, it's a good day! It is a lot like getting a new hair cut that you love! It has been a year since I went bright aqua and red, and I just wanted something SIMPLE this time. Neutral. Clean and straight-lined. What do you think? If you too have been thinking of giving your blog a little lift, I would highly recommend Michelle at Shabby Creations. She even has dozens of amazing pre-made designs! I ordered my package last night and she installed it tonight! (WOW!) Now she is making new little category buttons for my blog, so if you are seeing aqua boxes around my current buttons, that will be updated soon! :) Okay, I promise I'm done talking about my new blog design, but I wanted to say "thank you!" to Michelle, and let you know about her work! :)

I was inspired by The Happy Homebody to make a framed pear picture that I just think is SO cute! She also did an adorable framed pumpkin too, and if you click on her blog name, it will show you the directions. (I just used her pumpkin instructions to copy her framed pear idea.)

The idea is to cut the pear (or pumpkin) in half, and so I started cutting and it went well for a while until I hit something hard and rather unyielding! I thought it was metal of some sort, but look what they put inside of this pear, most likely to make it more sturdy and such... But good grief! It turned out fine~ I just burrowed around it and yanked it out...

And in the end it all turned out fine! But I must admit, sometimes I truly do wonder how it is that I can take a simple project and turn it into something so difficult! :) I was so nervous before cutting the pear, you would have thought I was about to perform brain surgery! I was afraid I'd mess it up, and I only had one of these large green pears!

Okay, now are you already tired of my crafting "soap opera"? I hope not because I have one more craft to share! :) If you have been reading this blog for a while, you probably know I'm kind of addicted to framing letters. And every fall, it gets bad, really bad! It's kind of an obsession...so when I saw these frames at JoAnn's for one dollar a piece~ yes, one dollar I tell you! ~

I snatched some up and bought them! I was inspired yet again, this time by Wendy over at The Shabby Nest , with one of her lovely fall displays with white pottery on white shelves, with the letters "e-e-k" spelled out. SO, of course I had to "spell" eek too because it was just so darn cute!

I just used simple white cardstock for the paper and stuck pn these cute sticky letters I found at Michael's.

And have any of you been in the paper section at Michael's lately? I haven't seen such a variety of cute paper there in a while! I never can seem to find what I am looking for, but my sister and I were there yesterday and we both found a lot of cute colors and patterns! We were so happy! :)

Well, it is LATE here and I'm falling asleep at the computer so I'd better close for now! I hope you are all doing well! :) We're almost to the weekend! :)

Blessings,

Pumpkins!

2009-10-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

There is a little nursery near me that I love. It is not the biggest or the fanciest, but it is such a lovely place to spend a little time. I was driving by it this week and noticed their sign said they had white pumpkins. Yea! I was so excited! Rose went with me and we had a fun time there.
I was bummed when I realized I didn't have my camera with me, because they had such a gorgeous display of pumpkins there. They had French pumpkins, white pumpkins, "blue" pumpkins (that looked a pretty pale green to me), and they sold tall, tall cornstalks as well.

As part of my little "fall porch preview", here are the pumpkins we chose...

I didn't know before that these bright, almost red, orange pumpkins were called "French" pumpkins, but now I do! :) I'm sure most of you already knew that! I'm still working on the front porch, and hope to have pictures of that soon. :)

They also were selling cut dahlias, just a dollar a stem, and they were amazing! I am NOT a good floral designer, so they were very simply cut and placed in a vase, but the flowers don't seem to mind and have cheered up our little kitchen! This picture does not do these flowers justice at all...

(please tell me you will try to ignore the ugly blue painter's tape!)

The nursery also had various pots of kale planted with pansies and violas, and they were so pretty together that Rose and I picked out some to plant...

...Which we did later that day, in pots I already had at home. I don't know about that smaller one, I think that plant is looking a little sad, maybe it should join the others in the biggest one...Have I mentioned before how much I DON'T know about gardening? It would fill many books, I am sure! :)

Okay and I'm excited about this so I must show you these BEFORE I decide what to do with them...more milk glass!

It is hard to see in the picture, but one is bigger than the other two, and they are in perfect condition. I found them at my favorite little "hole in the wall" thrift store, for three dollars each, which really isn't bad at all considering! :)

So, I hope your week is going well, and that you have a good night! :)

Blessings,

Starbucks pumpkin scones

2009-09-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's fall and I am in the kitchen baking! I had to go to two different stores before finding canned pumpkin (something about a shortage in our area) but it was worth it! Now I can bake everything pumpkin!

Last year I "discovered" pumpkin scones at Starbucks and it was love at first bite. Okay, maybe not love, but they ARE good! I decided to do a search for a pumpkin scone recipe, and found the actual Starbucks recipe on Recipezaar. I posted the recipe last fall, but it is such a yummy one, I'm doing it again! So if you have a hankering for a pumpkin scone and you have a little time, why not make your very own? Here's how:

Ingredients:

Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg

Powdered sugar glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk

Spiced glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Directions

To make the scones, preheat oven to 425 degrees F., or 218 Celsius. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.

Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 14-16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

To make the glaze:

Mix the powdered sugar and milk (and spices if making the spiced glaze) together until smooth. When scones are cool, use a brush to paint glaze over the top of each scone.

Eat and enjoy! :)

I hope you all had a good weekend and a good Monday as well! I will be back ASAP with another pumpkin treat recipe...

Thursday Thoughts

2009-09-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

~ Romans 8: 38-39

I love this verse. When I read it, I feel tremendous peace. I am reminded of what I believe is most important: that God loves me, and that will never change. His love for me is unshakable.

A little raw honesty here~ I have been feeling like a failure lately. No monumental reason really. Just a lot of little things adding up until I truly feel like I need a tee-shirt that says, "I suck." I asked my friend if she needed anything from Costco when I went, and somehow left without her list. (I still can't find it.) I didn't have my cell phone with me, so I couldn't call her. I got the wrong book for my son on the Scholastic Book Club order form. I missed the boat entirely, and still haven't called my best friend back since she called last week. (Hi, Amy!) And worst of all, haven't read my Bible in days...

I struggle to keep up with my family, but feel tremendous guilt that, in the process, I seem to fail in the daughter, friend, and sister categories. I am working so hard to be a good wife and mother, but for every thing I do right, there are 100 things I should also be doing. Can you say "F for failure"? That essentially has been my montage all week. Not a very good thing to be saying to oneself, eh?

And so I thank God. For a friend who loves me even though I forget her grocery list. For a son who loves me despite the fact that sometimes I get mixed up. For children and a husband who really don't expect me to be perfect, just want me to be there. And to God I say thanks for reminding me that nothing could change His love for me! You just can't beat that!

Maybe instead of saying "F for failure" I should say "L for loved"...

So many magazines...

2009-09-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

...So little time!

I have mentioned before that I have an addiction to magazines...I just can't get enough! And now, I am discovering more and more of their corresponding websites, chock full of ideas and beautiful pictures to gaze at!

And in particular, I am loving the Country Living website. Have you visited it?

I love to pour over the beautiful pictures, filing away all of the fantastic ideas into my memory...

And think how fun it is to spend a little time looking at all the ways people have put a little beautiful into their lives and homes,

I always leave with a fresh perspective and new ideas. Such as...this chalkboard pantry door. I love this idea! I have seen it on a blog a while back, I am almost positive it was on The Candlelit Cottage, and thought it was wonderful! I think it is such a fun way to add a little character, as well as a place to write reminders and lists.

So, if you had to pick just one magazine to read, which would it be?

A garage sale basket....

2009-09-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

Gets a new look...

I spray painted it white, of course, and tied the same ribbon on it, because I liked the color. It is inspiring me to paint my master bathroom, where this basket will feel right at home! A nice oatmeal color, I think, should do the trick, with a matching linen sink skirt...

It's always amazing to me how often a simple thing can be the inspiration for an entire room! :) It will be at least a few weeks until I can get to it, but I am planning it all out...

Loving roosters again...

2009-09-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Does this ever happen to you?

You like something~ a certain color or decorating style~ and then you think you have "grown" out of it. So you give most all of those things away, thinking you're done with it~ only to discover to your surprise a few years later that you like it again... Well, this isn't the first time this has happened to me, and I am sure it won't be the last, which is why I am becoming much more discerning about what I give away and what I pack away "for the time being". :)

I found these cute rooster wall hangings at a garage sale over Labor Day weekend...I was just going to buy the one below (to be frugal) but she told me to take the other one as well, which I was happy to do! Total cost: just two dollars!

I also found this sweet milk glass bowl/vase thing at another garage sale the same weekend. ( I am not exactly sure what it's intended for, but I know what I am going to use it for!) For just one dollar, I walked away with something precious! :)

(In the background, you can see the beaded board I have put in so far, although it's not painted yet and I haven't put in the trim at the bottom!) I also found a cute wire basket with a bow at the first garage sale, but want to spray paint it before I show you it! :) Pretty soon, my spray painting days will be over for a few months due to the cooler weather, and I still have SO many things to spray paint, including the drawers to my vintage stove that we are restoring...

I wanted also to apologize for not coming around and saying hello for the last week or two~ the last couple of weeks have been unusually busy. I am hoping things will be calmer this week, so I can find out how you all are doing now! :) I hope you are all having a good new week! :)

Have a good night,

A letter to the President

2009-09-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Dear President Obama,

There are many reasons I could write to you today, for there are a great many concerns I have regarding your policies and plans for our country. I could discuss the many promises you made, especially during your campaign for the presidency~ promises that you promptly broke. I could bring up the monumental debt you and Congress are dragging us into with your stimulus and spending bills. You are mortgaging our children and grandchildren's futures, mortgaging our country's future. The majority of Americans have said an emphatic "NO!" to your health care "reform", and many of us have written and called our representatives and senators saying that we do not want a "public option". But still you press on, not heeding what those you work for are telling you. I know this may come as a complete surprise to you, Mr. President, but you work for us, and it bothers me greatly how both you and Congress seem to think you know better than us what we want and need, not listening to a word we say.

I could discuss any of these points at great length with you, but I am exceedingly alarmed at what I found on the Department of Education website this past week. Not only will you be delivering a speech to our children, which I almost could have tolerated it if it stayed on track and did not become political, but these page long guidelines for what to have them do and think about regarding the speech is simply too much. I am really glad to see that the White House removed the idea of having children write letters to themselves, asking what "they could do to help" you, but what is left is not all that much better, to tell you the truth. I think this time would be much better spent on literacy and math, and think it's rather ridiculous to expect those as young as pre-Kindergarten to spend a day breaking down a Presidential speech and analyzing its meaning.

I firmly believe this is politicizing the classrooms and it is not acceptable. I am drawing my line in the sand. To you and all of government, I say, stay away from my kids!

Sincerely,

A concerned American mother

A new school year

2009-09-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and we are ready and set! Our son is heading off to middle school and so our days will start about 45 minutes earlier now. For now I am walking him and his friend to the bus stop, because it's way down the next street...he rather wishes I wouldn't though! :) I'll be honest~ it really isn't that I want to walk to the bus stop at 7:30 (I'd rather not) but have you heard that recent story of that girl who was kidnapped at age 11 and what has happened to her these past 18 years? Oh, I am SO going to walk him tomorrow, and the next day. And the next...until I feel comfortable with it, which with any luck, will be just in time for college, LOL! No, I am joking about that last part...I have told him it could be a week, a month, a year...Anyway...

Here is a little home improvement update: In the picture you can see our new counters, just a little! I am really happy with them, and they make the kitchen look SO much better! I am putting up beaded board everywhere in our kitchen and dining room, and it is going to take a while because I am still learning as I go. I love the feeling of serious girl-power I get every time I use that table saw, or maybe it's just adrenaline from the sheer terror of what could happen... I don't know, but it makes me feel like I can do anything...as long as I am really careful and don't cut off any fingers! :) I bought Benjamin Moore paint for our cabinets, because it is very durable, unlike what we used before. I bought it in a satin sheen, which is similar to a semi-gloss in other paint brands, and first tried it out on the shelves I am painting for our closet. I noticed it showed all of my brush strokes and was really unhappy with the way it looked. I know it's a high quality paint, but I was ready to throw it under the bus, so to speak. I thought I'd try out their eggshell and see if it was easier to work with, because usually the flatter the sheen, the more forgiving it is! I love it, but not necessarily for my cabinets. They said the satin would hold up better for cabinetry, and I think they're right. They told me to add this conditioning stuff to it so that it would help hide the brush strokes, so we'll see tomorrow what happens. Have any of you used Benjamin Moore paint and what do you think of it? Just curious...I got this new "Shortcut" paint brush at BM that I love~ it has a much smaller handle for holding it, and I think it will be wonderful for painting those tight spaces in my cabinets, without the handle getting in the way.

I also have been sorting through our bath towels, and realized I wasn't going to be able to put off purchasing new ones for our hall bath any longer! But I have a secret weapon, and it's called Marshall's! They have great prices on towels there, and I found this set with two hand towels, wash cloths, and bath towels for 20 dollars, which is a pretty good deal. Two of those sets will do for now, and my family will be much happier! :) If you need towels right now, this is a good place to go! :)

When I get a little further with our kitchen I will be sure to show you more "progress pictures"...I want to get a lot of the beaded board done before I show you the counters so you can see more progress and less ugliness! :)

I hope you are having a great week! :) Have a blessed night, you all!

Got milk?

2009-08-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

Look what was on our porch when got home from swim lessons?

We were so excited, it was like Christmas! Our very first milk order had arrived! Let's see what is inside..

Milk, eggs, Tully's coffee (yum), half and half...hum, but where is the Yami yogurt I ordered? Oh, Gracie already pulled it out and is opening a carton! Orange and lime yogurt that they say tastes SO good...Okay, this is fun, just like the good old days that I wasn't around to remember, but now can experience for myself...a metal milk box is now on my porch, and I just have to smile because it seems so "vintage-y"! Now if only they'd put their milk inside those cute glass jars...

You know it's love...

2009-08-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

When he buys you work gloves! I'm actually serious about this! (I realize it sounds terrible, but I'll explain...)

We were at Home Depot and I saw these cute pink work gloves. I had been wanting some for a while, because his are too big for my hands, but sometimes these gloves really come in handy when you are fixing up an old house! :) I mentioned to him that the next time he was going to buy me flowers, that he could get me some gloves instead because that would be such a great gift! He thought I was joking, but realized I was serious. So now I have these gloves and I can't wait until I have a need to use them. Which in this house, won't be long! :)

Okay, so I think I changed my mind about the wide paneling for our kitchen walls and cupboards...I put up some of it on the side of a cabinet to see what I thought, and my first thought was that I didn't like it at all! So then I pulled out some beaded board and tried that on a different cabinet, and really like it! I definitely don't like the wider stuff on the cabinets. To me it says "rustic cabin", which is fine if that is the desired look, but I am aiming for a "sweet cottage" look...

Here is the first cabinet I did. It looks awful, doesn't it? The reason for this is that this is where we had to saw off the other cabinet before we could take down the half wall. You can see in part where the wall used to be. (The hole in the ceiling is where the range hood vented out into the attic. We pulled that old range hood out, and wired in a simple ceiling fan, so we are just "mudding" with joint compound around that hole for the vent.) When we removed the other cabinet, it badly scarred this one, but it didn't matter because we knew we were putting wainscotting over it. I used a chisel and a belt sander to make it a flat surface again, and then we were good to go! (Oh, and in the background you can see a very untidy cabinet over a little work desk...that is the little computer area my husband put in a year ago, and he is making doors for the cabinet. Which is going to be really nice, because it will hide any disorganization in above the desk!)

So anyway, I measured the cabinet, then measured the piece of paneling...

Used "the square" for a straight-edge and drew my little line. It is a bit off, but because I am adding crown moulding to the top of the cabinet, it can be off by a little...

I lined it up with the blade on the table saw...

And got a nice good look at that big mean blade...and frankly, I told David I couldn't work up the nerve to cut the board myself! I could imagine losing a finger...or two, or a whole hand or something...so he made me a "cross-cut sled", which makes making cross-cuts on wood SO much easier, and much safer too!

I was still nervous the first time I used the table saw, even with this handy thing, but after I tried it, I couldn't wait to do more! Imagine me, just a girl, actually using a power saw! Yea! :)

David cut the boards for this cabinet and I put them together and nailed them up. I just really don't like the look of it, though...we didn't even cut the last board for it...

So the next day when David had finished making the sled jig for me, I gave it a try using beaded board this time...

And really liked this look better! What do you think? Whichever we choose will be from floor to ceiling and on the sides and backs of the cabinets, and we will also cover the bottom half of the dining room walls...

One last thing about this whole learning to use a power saw thing..."Ripping" ~ when you make vertical cuts~ is so much more scary and challenging than "cross cutting"! The third time I did it, I was too timid and failed to push the board all the way through the blade and it shot out from the saw toward me! It didn't hurt, it just really freaked me out! It ruined the wood piece, and really shook me up! But the thing is, I want to learn how to do this too much to just decide it's too scary, so I recut the wood and this time, made fewer mistakes! :) Thankfully, my husband is coaching me through this, and stays right by me when I "rip", wheras I can do it on my own when I make cross-cuts! So just say a little prayer that I'll keep all my fingers here! :0) But the truth is, if you have been wanting beaded board, it is completely do-able! If I can do it, anyone can! And putting it up isn't hard at all! It's actually a lot of fun! :)

Someone else had fun this weekend learning how to use the jigsaw, and David had fun showing him the ropes! :)

Well, I sure hope you had a good Monday! I will be by soon to say hello to you all! :) Have a good night, :)

Crazy for canisters

2009-08-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Old-fashioned canisters...

I was powerless against these! I found them in my favorite little shop in the town David and I went to for our anniversary, and I decided I had to buy them. I really needed more canisters. Like I need more fabric. Or buttons. Or ribbon. Or colorful spatulas. (I'm sure you get my drift here. I really don't need more canisters! :)

But you can have fun and get creative with them...I saw an idea, I think on the Better Homes and Gardens website, and thought it was cute. They had a few glass jars with flour and sugar and whatnot, and a couple had china cups in them for measuring, SO cute! :)

I was disappointed that mine didn't look as nice as it did on BHG. Why is that anyway? If I can find their picture again, I will be sure to show you it, because it really was such a great picture! :)

So how have you been and how have you been enjoying these last days of summer? Here, it has been warm this week, and we have been drinking sweet tea like there's no tomorrow! I thought I would share the little recipe for it, but it's really simple, so you might recognize it! My mom grew up in the South and this is the tea she always made when I was growing up, only she put more sugar in hers. :) It's simple, but oh-so-good!

Simple Southern Sweet Tea

six Lipton tea bags
*2-3/4 one-fourth cups white sugar

After you put your kettle on to boil the water, put the tea bags and sugar in the pitcher. I need to explain the measurement I gave for the sugar...we experimented with the sugar and found it tasted best a little more than 5/8 c. and not quite 3/4. So we just fill the 1/4 measuring cup 2-3/4 times...you might find it's too sweet or not sweet enough, depending on your taste! :)

Pour boiling water over sugar and tea bags and stir a little.

Let stand overnight or several hours, then add cold water to top. Serve over crushed ice, with a slice of lemon if you like! Enjoy! :)

One last thing:

David took the kids to swim lessons for me this morning, and he was walking with them towards the pool...

Gracie: Daddy, would you rather have a cavity or a Barbie tatoo?

Hearing about this later, I laughed and asked him, "So what did you choose?"

He said he never got to answer, but given the choice, he'd choose the cavity. (Smart guy!) :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday! The weekend is the very best part of the week, don't you think?

More kitchen progress pictures

2009-08-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

I really hope I'm not boring you all with all this kitchen stuff! I have some more progress pictures, but first, I wanted to say a great big thank you to everyone for your sweet comments regarding my rather pitiful "Down" post! It actually ended up being a really nice two days, even though my husband was at work and the kids were still away! It was quiet, but I got a lot done...And now they are home, and it feels "right" again! :) So all's well that ends well, you know?!

Now about the kitchen, I also wanted to say thanks for your advice on the whole beaded board versus wide paneling issue...I really appreciate you taking to time to comment on this! It helped a lot! :) I think~ although this is always subject to change!~ that we are going to go for the wide paneling! :)

I don't know how most people redo a room, but for us, this kitchen/dining room makeover technically started before last summer...we have done things in these rooms every year, as we had the time and money. This year though, we get to finish most of it up! Here is some of what we have been working on...

Two years ago, my (really kind-hearted) dad helped me tackle a most unpleasant project and we took off all the "popcorn" from the kitchen and dining room ceilings. We then repaired the ceiling and retextured. It made an ENORMOUS difference! (This process gave me the courage to do the living room and hallways by myself last fall.)

My husband finished "mudding" the skylight he had framed in the previous fall, and we textured it at the same time we did the ceilings...It all looked so much better. Last spring we replaced the outdated ceiling light fixture with this chandelier, which is very special to me because it came from a dear friend as a birthday surprise! :)

Now our kitchen also bestowed this monstrous ceiling fixture upon us...

It took up practically the entire kitchen, spreading its terrible florescent light throughout the kitchen...not good! So one afternoon late last summer, when I had had enough of it, I got to work...

The wood frame was nailed into the drywall, and had to be pried off.

So when my husband came home from work, it looked like this:

David disconnected the florescent lights and pulled them down...

He put up 2x4s to make a frame for the drywall...

And rewired for recessed lighting, then we put up the drywall.

This is how it looks now, and it is almost ready to be textured and primed/painted. (There is a little story behind the wired "hole" for a light right in the center of the drywall we added; I will have to share that a different day...)

David put in these recessed lights, which give a nice warm light. I am so much more happier with them than what was there before! I can't wait until I look up at the ceiling at don't see joint compound patches, though! :)

I will try to blog on something fun and pretty before doing another post like this, so you don't get too bored! This kitchen has been taking a lot of my time, so I haven't been crafting as much as I like, although I did get to do some while on vacation! :) I will have to show you those things soon! :) I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, and that your week is off to a great start! :)

BLESSINGS,