TAKING A BREAK. . . AGAIN!!

Dear Friends:

So much has happened in the past month. . . our oldest daughter is now living in Texas finishing her Bachelor's of Nursing Degree with plans to continue on with her MBA. Our youngest is gearing up to finish the 9th grade - which is Junior High in our school district. She'll be starting High School in the fall. And boys, those pesky boys are now on her radar. They are calling her cell, texting her, walking her to classes, waiting at her locker. She's having fun. Me. . . I'm not sure I'm ready for all this with my baby girl. Where or where has time gone?

. . . and I am behind on about 5 million projects that I have on my "To-Do" list. So, I'm taking a break. I'll be back. . . someday. . . I think. When I began this blog it was for fun. Now it seems to be hanging over my head as another "To-Do!' - Take pictures, oh yeah, remember to take pictures of my before, not just after my projects are finished, etc., etc.!! Ever feel like that?

This is such an opportune time for me to bond with our youngest daughter and this past week has been amazing. She, being on the only child at home now, is opening up to me like never before. I don't want to be preoccupied with photographing things, thinking of needing to post again. And. . . I need to get my 5 millions things done.

I'll post when I can. Take photos of my projects (when I remember) and still try to check in with you all from time to time.

This weekend we are heading up to the cottage for some family of three bonding time. Oh heaven on earth if I do say so myself!

See you all soon,

Blessings. . . until next time,

I'M BACK - TEEN PARTY IDEAS!!

Our Daughter's Birthday Party (she's the sweetie on the right). . . and . . . All I can say is "thank God for antibiotics!!"

My sinuses have returned to normal and I'm back rolling again. . . :)

I wanted to share with you the idea I had for our youngest daughter's 15th birthday party. So many of you e-mailed and asked me the "details" of how we pulled this off so I just thought I'd post it for everyone.

I'm telling you. . . it was a huge, huge HIT!!!! I even had mothers telling me the following week what a great time their daughters had and what a neat idea it was. So my daughter thinks her mom is pretty cool right now. Neat huh?

We had an updated Scavenger Hunt party for the technical savvy kids of this generation. Long gone are the envelopes with the clues and the next hints, neighborhood door knocking or road rallies with this generation.

Oh no, this generation is a cell phone, texting generation. So that's what we used. We had two teams with 4 girls on each team. Each team used one cell phone, per team. Not a problem, all the girls had one. We just picked one to use.

This is what we did. My daughter picked her (and her friend's) favorite outdoor mall (you could pick an indoor one too, same difference). I obtained in advance a directory of the stores so I would know all the store names.

I then came up with clues to help the girls determine which store we were referring to. I'll give you a few examples later in this post.

The morning of the party, I texted these clues to my husband's and my phones. Hint: I'm not a fast texter so I got on-line with AT&T, our cell phone provider, got into our account and texted (typed) the clues this way. (Did you all know that you could do this? I just found it out by chance myself.) Since I'm a way faster typer than a texter, this was a breeze. This was our daughter's only concern. . . "Mom, Dad, you're soooo slow texting we'll be waiting forever for our next clues!" She's right. So I solved that little problem by doing it in advanced and on-line. Then all we did was hit forward on our already typed in clue to the team's cell phone.

Next issue, how could we be sure one group of girls would not just find a seat, figure out the clues, without running around the mall???? We needed proof. So, I purchased two disposal cameras. One for each team. A clue would be sent out and they would text back an answer. Either "No" would be texted back with an little cheat added help clue so they would have to brainstorm again, or the next clue if they had guessed correctly. But, they had to take a picture of the correct store on the camera, with 3 out of 4 girls in it. The 4th one would be taking the picture so 3 would have to be in the picture . . . with the store sign in the background. They rotated who took the pictures each time so we have photos of everyone.

My husband started at the bottom of the list of clues. I started at the top so they would not be running to the same stores at the same time. We had 15 clues in total.

The girls arrived at our house, we had pizza, pop, etc. Then I explained the rules. I had each girl write her name on a piece of paper, fold it and place it in a bowl. I didn't want any of "I want so and so on my team," "Can I be with. . .?" to make anyone feel slighted, ya know??? I had my husband draw one name at a time and divide them into two piles.

Two groups formed; passed out cameras; secured their cell numbers; assigned one group to me, one to hubs; gave them our cell numbers. My husband drove his group, I drove mine and away we went to the mall. We parked next to each other, got our groups to the entrance and sent them their first text at the exact same time. Fair is fair.

And away they went.

Hubs and I found a Starbucks and sent out clues.

This went seamlessly, effortlessly. It was so much fun for the girls. The first team done, of course won. We came back to our house for waffle bowl ice cream sundaes and cupcakes. Gift bags were passed out and our daughter opened her presents from her friends. I had gone to Bath & Body Works and got items for two sets of gift bags. The winner's bags had a little nicer items. I also dipped 5 pretzel rods each in white chocolate and sprinkles for their bags. I think these were gone before anyone left our house!!

I stopped at Walgreen's on the way home from the mall to drop off the cameras. I had the 1-hour photos developed and ordered a CD of each group of pictures. I have Roxio software (legal and available at Walmart) and copied a CD for each of the girls to take home in their gift bags.

______________________________________________________

Here's a sampling of our clues for you: bold font is the answer/store

If you're taking a test and you don't know an answer to a question you would: GUESS

A resident of Paris would be called a: Parisian

A space between some one's two front teeth is called a: GAP

You must be this age to legally have an alcoholic drink: Forever 21

This is where you would go to see your favorite Hollywood stars: MJR Movies

If you want to fly in an airplane, but don't fly first class . . . you fly: Coach

"Make that a double shot of espresso with extra whipped cream - grande size!" : Starbucks

You wouldn't eat using normal silverware here: P.F. Changs

Shhh!! You can't tell anyone: Victoria's Secret

This is so much fun for a teen birthday party. Our daughter and her friends are all 15 and thought this party rocked. It is soooo much better than a dreaded sleepover moms. Yes, they all went home at 11:00 pm. Heaven. I slept well ;)

If you have any questions, just e-mail me.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Blogging BREAK!!

I'm must take a little break here people!!

Just too much going on for me right now.

Our oldest is packing up and preparing to move to Texas on Saturday. I'm still recovering from the past week of having my garage sale (very successful by the way), our youngest turning 15 and having her birthday on Thursday, her teen party on Friday and the grandparent's birthday celebration with her on Saturday. My parents came down for the celebration from up-north and stayed until Monday morning.

And. . . as luck would have it. . . I'm sick, sick again with a sinus infection which has taken me to bed for the past two days. I don't think I ever completely got over the one I had last month. It just came back more evil than ever. I'm telling you this one has knocked me on my fanny. From head to toe I am aching. I did get into my doctor yesterday. . .so I have new meds, and, hopefully, will be able to have a proper send off for our oldest on Saturday AM.

So, for now, I'll be back when I can be back. . .

Blessings. . . until next time,

TOO BUSY TO POST MUCH THIS WEEK!!

Too much going on around here this week. . . .

Today I pick up our youngest from school for her hair appointment. A fresh cut and freshening up those highlights are on the agenda. Girls are EXPENSIVE!!

Thursday and Friday I am having a garage sale.

Thursday is also our youngest daughter's 15th birthday. I can't believe my baby is turning 15!!! My husband will be in New York on Thursday so our oldest daughter and I will be taking Janelle out for her birthday dinner (after cheer practice, of course!).

Friday is Janelle's birthday party. Eight girls total will be coming over, pizza, pop and then we will be going to the mall to do a "texting type" scavenger hunt. The girls will be broken into two different groups and we will give them "text" messages for clues. After they figure out the clue they will have to go to that store and take a picture with the disposable camera I will supply. After they text my hubby, or I, the correct answer, we will text the next clue to them. It's an update of the envelope for the clue I guess. The winner group will get a little nicer gift bag and the non-winner group will also get a gift bag. (We are still making up the game/rules/details). Then back to our home for cupcakes and ice cream sundaes in waffle bowls.

Saturday my parents will be driving down 2 1/2 hours from their home up north and my hub's parents will be coming over for dinner and celebrating Janelle's birthday AGAIN!!

Also, this will be the last time the grandparents will see our oldest daughter, Lindsay until Thanksgiving. Lindsay will be moving to Texas on the 23rd of this month to finish her degree!!

So, I'm probably not going to be on-line much this month. . . at. . . all!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

TEXAS HERE SHE COMES!!!

Thank you so much to those of you who left comments and e-mailed me regarding our daughter finishing her education in Austin, TX. All is pointing in that direction for our daughter. She's flying to Austin on Thursday to take care of of a few details and will return on Sunday. As of this date. . . the plans are to drive her car from Michigan to Texas with my husband/dad. . . on the 24th of May!!!

WOW!! It's an incredibly great opportunity for her. She'll be able to spend time with hubby/dad while he's installing a new system in Austin and finish her education. I will miss her terribly. So will our youngest daughter. I think I'll have to fly down every 4 - 6 weeks. . . just to check in on her and get my hugs.

We (daughter and I), are entering a new season of our lives; one chapter closes, another one opens with new and exciting opportunities for each.

. . .but why, may I ask. . . "does my heart hurt so???"

Blessings. . .until next time,

CALLING ALL YOU TEXANS!!

TEXAS?? ~ WHAT TO DO?

We live in Michigan. The economy stinks!! Our oldest has been trying to get into a nursing program here in our state and it. . . is . . .absolutely. . . impossible!! Then add to that ~ each college requires different pre-reqs. She has her associates degree (with excellent grades) and now wants her bachelor of nursing degree. We have so many unemployed in our state (from the car industry and related manufacturing) and the only area hiring is the medical field ~ so everyone wants to get into a nursing program!! So that's why I'm asking your advice. . . .

My hubby will be heading up a project soon in Austin, TX. The project will last around 2 years. He flies out on Monday am, and returns on Thursday nights. He normally just stays in a nice hotel while these projects are running. . . but we're thinking perhaps this time he should just get a corporate apartment. Our oldest can live with him, if she can get into a nursing program at a college near Austin. The amount of colleges with nursing programs is so much better than the amount we have in our state. The colleges near us have approximately 1,500 applicants for the nursing program and only 100 are accepted! Our oldest was shocked to do some on-line checking and find that some colleges near Austin, TX have over 700 enrolled in their nursing program!!! OVER 700!!

What do you from Texas, especially the Austin area, think are the best colleges for nursing degrees? I would appreciate any and all advice or information you could supply to us. Our oldest thinks this could be a great option and an opportunity. Several years ago when hubs put in a system in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we went with him and spent the entire summer in Texas. While hubs worked, the girls and I saw all the sights. We fell in love with the state. Our oldest especially loved Texas. She probably would not return to Michigan after acquiring her degree.

What do you all think? Could this work?

Anxiously waiting to hear from you. . .

Blessings. . . until next time,

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE. . .ABOUT TEN BUCKS!!

I love Cetaphil Facial Cleaner. I've used it for a long, long time. I just don't love the price. It's around $12 now. With myself and two daughters using this product it could get costly. I switched a few years ago to the Walmart/Equate brand equivalent. But the price of the Walmart brand just kept getting higher and higher too. The Equate brand originally was around $3.97, then $4.97, $5.97, etc.

One day, while I was walking the aisles of Family Dollar I came across their brand equivalent of Cetaphil. Just like Walmart/Equate it stated "Compare to Cetaphil Facial Cleanser." $2 the price was, $2 for the exact same size container! I was still unsure, so I just purchased one to try. I come home and compared it with Cetaphil and guess what? The ingredients are the exact same! Yup, word for word! I used it for a week and went back and bought the store out (hey, with three women using it 2 times daily, one does need to stock up and at this price, I can afford to!)

I can now take the extra cash saved and stock it away (um, not really in the stock market, under the mattress is probably safer these days!)

What is your frugal beauty find? Anything to share with Sher?

I'M IN LOVE!!

I'm sure you thought you would be seeing a picture of my husband, or my children. But "No!!" They don't help me :), but she does!

Instead here's a picture of my newest love. . . HAZEL!! Hazel actually helps me clean by vacuuming up messes! It's my iRobot Roomba. I know I'm very much dating myself, but somewhere wwwwaaaayyyyy back in my childhood memories there was a sitcom named Hazel. She was the maid. So, I thought it was appropriate to name my iRobot "Hazel."

She's wonderful. She's a robot and I programmed her to clean the floor every day at 9:00 AM. She vacuums carpet, tile and hardwood floors. I mean is this a miracle, or what? One day she does the Kitchen, Laundry Room and Powder Room. The next day she moves into the Great Room, Dining Room, Den and Master Bedroom.

Now, if I could just teach her to fetch my slippers. . . I'd have it maid, ur I mean made :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

NEEDING SOME FLORIDA SUNSHINE!!

I need the sunshine of Florida NOW!!

Do any of you remember that TV commercial from years ago. . . a little boy sitting at the kitchen table, snow visible out the window and telling his parents. . . "I need it bad!!" Remember? The commercial was for Florida. I think the kid must have been in Michigan! It's been a long. . .cold. . . and snowy winter here.

Well, I'm flying out on Saturday, the 14th, Valentine's Day, for Florida with our youngest daughter!! We're off to visit my parents for an entire week. Up here in the north some school districts have what we call "winter break." I think it's so we can visit someplace warm. I heard Florida had a cold streak last week, but my mom called me this morning (anxious for our visit) and to tell me it's warming up!

My hubby and I are planning on celebrating Valentine's Day on Friday the 13th (did you know that this Friday is Friday the 13th for those of you who worry about such stuff LOL). His gift to me is Florida!! Yeah!! He'll be working while I'm in Florida and our oldest is in college so it's just our youngest this trip with me.

We'll have some nice mother, daughter, granddaughter bonding time. And THAW!!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

VALENTINES DECOR!!!

Um, yeah, this is what we do in the Great North when we're snowed inside the house, it gets dark at 5:00pm, and we're bored!! WE DECORATE!!



I picked up some CHRISTmas lights after CHRISTmas for cheap, cheap, cheap. I think I paid 60 cents at Walmart-75% off. Red for Valentine's Day, Green for St. Patrick's Day and Red/White/Blue for Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. Hey, why not? I always say memories don't just always happen. . . sometimes you also need to MAKE them happen. Like magic!! My 21 year old has always told me I did a good job making her childhood a special one ~ and I'm keeping it up for our 14 year old as well.

I added red lights to the two topiaries on each end of the mantel and in between as well. I also have a tall glass vase on the side table to the right of the mantle, which I placed in a string of red glowing lights. It looks so warm and cozy in the evening. And no, they do not flash/blink red. They are a constant-on-lit-red ;) As I stated in my opening line of this post. . . it gets dark here at 5:00pm ~ so we have plenty of time to enjoy the soft glow each evening!

A little heart banner I found years ago secured to my Fleur de lis irons. I placed white rose hearts on top of the irons for now. A little garage sale find of a cherub vase holding red and white paper roses sits upon another urn/vase I inverted for additional height.

The sofa table. . . I always use this area to decorate for the individual holidays. A large rose heart wreath, a large red rose underneath the cloche, behind the rose wreath is a picture filled with rose buds, a little vintage looking (a Marshall's find) birdbath with little hearts inside. Rose petals scattered here and there and other misc. heart/Valentine's decorations I've acquired along the way.

I must say, however, my very personal favorite is the little angel/cherub wings displayed prominently upon the wreath holder. Precious, just precious.

Our youngest, the 14 1/2 year old, is just absolutely thrilled with all the decorations. So my mission is accomplished!

It's a nice little "something" after the removal of all the CHRISTmas decorations. Dontchathink???

Blessings. . . until next time,

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME. . . THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME!!

Ya-Hoo we're heading home today!!

I really didn't want to come up to the cottage this year after CHRISTmas. I just didn't feel up to it. I have so many things I wanted to finish at home and I'm. . . just. . .plain tired out after CHRISTmas. But hubs loves his cottage and wants to spend every second here he can. He has a highly stressful job, so if this little place is a piece of heaven for him, I'm right here with him.

But. . . he decided we should go home (Yeah!!) due to the storm a brewing later today. Yes, more snow!! We left for the cottage on Saturday afternoon. Yeah, it was fun at home Saturday morning trying to pack to leave too. Our power went out just as I was getting ready for the day. I packed, put on my make-up by candlelight, and my hair, oh, let's not even go there. Just think, no blow dryer, no curling irons, aauugghh!!

It was so foggy the last half of the drive to our cottage that I was scared to death!! I honestly think we could only see about 2 feet in front of our car at times. That is too dangerous for my liking. I was praying the entire time. We arrived at the cottage to find the guy we hire to plow our driveway DIDN'T - this time!! We called and got his voice mail and he came out the next morning with his snow truck/plow. Too late, we still had to truck in ALL our stuff from the street upon arrival because there was 3' of snow in our driveway. No way was our car going to plow through that stuff. The snowplow guy put us on the wrong list. The "plow when I get a call list" and not the "plow when we get 3" of snow list!" Hopefully, he made the correction!!! He did apologize, so that was nice.

It's very windy and cold right now so the kids don't want to go outside sledding, or skating ~ the usual things they do up here. So we went to see Marley and Me yesterday. Great movie, the ending stinks. That's all I'm going to say. It's a movie that you are laughing at until the last 10 minutes, then you're crying.

So, I'm off to pack up the cottage now and head home. Home. . . it's where I want to be.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Merry CHRISTmas & Happy New Year!!

Merry CHRISTmas dear friends!!

I hope everyone has a most wonderful, peaceful and Merry CHRISTmas with their friends and family.

My husband is not traveling this week, so we're enjoying some time together. We actually went to a movie this evening and saw "Four Christmases." I was somewhat disappointed. It's the kind of movie that I wish I had waited to see on DVD and not spend good money on at the theater. Do you know what I mean? Like OK, but not GREAT!

Our 14 year old has her last day of school tomorrow. Yeah, I know!! A lot of schools are out already. Their last day was Friday. Our district has "winter break" for a week in February so we have to go a few extra days just before Christmas. It's actually OK with me. I mean what are people really supposed to do with geeked up kids a few days before CHRISTmas anyways? But, the flip side is, what are people supposed to do with bored kids, in February, in Michigan, in the middle of winter????

I'm going to be taking a break from blogging probably through the holidays to enjoy the season with my family. I hope you enjoy your CHRISTmas and New Year too.

. . . and please remember during all the shopping, wrapping, running, decorating, baking, eating ~ to take time to remember why we celebrate CHRISTmas. The ULTIMATE gift we could ever receive. The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for sending us your son ~ to save your people ~ to make it possible for us to have eternal life through HIM. Thank you, thank you. Amen!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!!!

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE PAST HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY HELPFUL :)

Yes, I live in Michigan. The Lord "blessed" us again with a fresh, pure, blanket of the the white stuff. We had a huge dumping of snow on Friday morning (like 12" of the fluffy white stuff). EVERYTHING was shut down and cancelled. School, colleges, businesses, entertainment events. . . the ROADS!!

It's funny, after spending time in San Antonio (during the end of May) where it was hot and humid and hot and humid and over 100 degrees. . . I don't complain anymore. Personally, I'd rather have the snow and cold! Yes, seriously. Even our 14 1/2 year old is not complaining anymore about the snow and cold. She was actually wishing for snow when we were dying from the heat exhaustion while visiting San Antonio. Yes, Texas is a beautiful state. I actually "lived" in the Dallas/Fort Worth area one summer. It was hot, but dry. Big, big difference to us northerners anyways. That humidity can kick your fanny and leave you exhausted. I think it's just whatever we are accustomed to ~ whatever you've been raised in becomes your "norm."

I'm prepared. We have bread, milk and all the food we need. My Christmas presents are purchased and wrapped and are under the tree. Everything has been purchased for Christmas dinner and I'm just enjoying the "homeboundness" ~ is that even a word? Well, it is now!

I'm sure those in the southern states prepare for ungodly hot weather as we here in the north prepare for our snow. Get all your "stuff" done and out of the way. . . and just stay in the house.

Yeah, we'll be in here for a while. We are expecting another dumping of snow tomorrow night, Sunday. Of course, our 14 1/2 year old is hoping for another snow day. They are scheduled to attend classes through Tuesday, then off. We'll see.

Blessings. . . until next time,

I'M MULTI~TASKING PEOPLE!!!

I feel like one of Santa's elves!!

I've been busy in my basement workroom accomplishing many tasks at the same time. You know how we woman are so good at doing that anyways!

I have several orders for embroidered monogram hand towels that I am working to fill. . . along with many other things I need to get done! I bring my laptop down with me and use it for my embroidery programming. In between, I can check my e-mail and BLOGS ~ yeah~~~!! Thank goodness for wireless Internet connections.

My great little machine just goes by itself. I program it and let it go. While it's doing it's thing, I can do mine :)

Yeah, a have a large pile here to finish, don't I?

Here's a completed towel with the wash-a-way stabilizer on the front still (it keeps the towel fiber loops from getting caught in the needle while embroidering). Just need to mist with water and one down, 17 more to go!

I can wrap Christmas gifts while the towels are being embroidered; I just finished a bow for my new wreath that I hung on our Dining Room mirror and am finally getting a chance to clean up after the Great Room Drapery project. Yes, you know, those threads and fabric clippings that seem to just hang around until you sweep/vacuum them up. I'm also placing newspaper ads for our church Christmas services, etc., etc., etc.

Tomorrow, more towels to embroider; I'm stopping to take our oldest daughter to lunch and finishing up with the wrapping of my husband's Christmas presents. Must finish those first. He's flying back home tomorrow night and he can't see his gifts in our closet now, can he?

Next week I hope to start some holiday baking and freezing. What have you been doing?

Blessings. . . until next time,

ANOTHER "TALL" PROJECT COMPLETE

* Be careful. Someone from Bangalore, Karnataka ~ India, arrived from blogsearch.google.com and tried to do the exact same thing as last week. It was a bogus "Susan." They leave an open ended message, which requires clicking on to finish reading. This time they said look at these bedroom sets.

This one about did me in!! Drapery Treatments for the Great Room:

Goals. Sometimes they can almost kill ya!! My goal was to complete these drapery treatments prior to putting up our Christmas tree. The Christmas tree goes right into this corner. I waited until the conditions were right. Fabric selection took me a long time to find just the right fabric. Then, after finding just the right fabric. . . I had to wait until Joann's had it on sale. Then I had to find just the right trim, drapery rods, lining, etc. also on sale. . . because I'm cheap (or frugal is a better choice for a word perhaps :)

I measured and I rolled (oh yeah, did I mention that Joann's didn't have enough on the roll so I had to special order it? So instead of having them cut me two 4 1/2 yard sections I had it all delivered in one large, heavy, cumbersome 9 yard roll.) and I cut and I pinned and I serged and sewed and pressed and serged and sewed and I pressed some more. I mean. . that's a lot of fabric to work with people!! I finished these late, late last night and we hung them. We just wanted them done with! We dropped into bed at 3:00AM, but still made it to the 11:30 service at church this morning.

I am so thankful that hubby and I make a team. He's always ready to help me achieve whatever hair brained idea I cook up. Thankfully, he has one of those 26' Little Giant ladders that I special ordered him for his birthday (gee, bet he wishes sometimes I didn't) when we first moved into this house. It's a great ladder and he took responsibility for securing the curtain rods and climbing to the top. I did go up on the ladder to make a few adjustments, but I sure didn't look down.

The finished product, we all LOVE. Our daughter's compliments this morning were overwhelming. They love them too. My husband said he was going to watch the football game in there today for a change because he just loves being in the Great Room now (considering our crappy Lions team, I guess sitting in that room was the highlight of the game). It's much cozier than before. I have a schedule for things and I never did drapery to these windows because I knew we were going to change things around after the basement was finished. Like, Den furniture to the basement, some of the Great Room furniture to the Den and then ordering new Great Room furniture. So, here were are now. Schedule completed!

Goals, projects & schedules! I think I'm about done for the remainder of the year now. I think it may take the remainder of the year for my neck and back to return to normal after this project anyways. I'm going to decorate for Christmas, bake, entertain and enjoy the Christmas season for the remainder of the year.

Blessings. . .until next time,

5 in 1 PROJECTS KNOCKED-OUT!!

I've had a very productive week.

I love when I have a productive week :)

Project #1: I completed our bedroom drapery. Finally!! No I don't use a pattern ~ I make my own. I just get these visions in my head of what I'd like to have and go from there. I measure, draw it out and go. I'm a self-taught sewer. My mom never sewed, nor my grandmother or aunts. You can click on to enlarge if you wish. Please disregard our 14 year old cheerleader daughter's trampoline through the window. I took this picture at dusk before I dropped the blinds behind the drapes. That's not the moon, but my flash back in the window.

Project #2: My $15 garage sale find. Remember this?

Ta-Da!! I added wood putty to the cracks and chips, sanded down this piece painted it black, added the appliques and new glass knobs. I just found these adorable glass knob at The Home Depot. They were about $4 each. I noticed after loading this photo I need to adjust the light cord behind my desk.

Project #3: This was a leftover lampshade that I adored the shape of, but not the colors anymore. I saw on some one's blog (I'm sorry, I don't remember whose ~ please let me know if it was you and I'll give you a shout-out!) that they simply painted the shade with acrylic paints. Gee, why not give this a try I thought. I carefully painted the shade to avoid the trim. See my lovely, messy work table. Everyone needs a space. Mine is in the basement.

Project #4: Here's the finished product. I think it works well in here. I always say cheap is good, free is better. See the lamp the shade is on? This lamp was purchased for me when I was a small girl. Like in the 4th grade!! My parents went to an auction (I think it was the one and only auction they ever attended) and I tagged along. I fell in love with the lamp and my dad bid on it for me. It cost a whole $4!!! I dug this treasure out and rewired the lamp. It did not have a polarized plug and the cord wasn't in the best shape anyways. So, I replaced the "guts." I still love it today!

Project #5: This little silver plated clock I picked up while at a garage sale this fall for $1. It was tarnished and had an old dirty cross stitch picture on the other side. I removed the cross stitch and found this lovely black velvet. I had a wooden Fleur De Lis that I painted and hot glued on this velvet. The clock keeps time perfectly so this will work nicely on my newly painted desk.

Our bedroom is just about complete now. I have to add some accessories to our triple dresser (the wall you have not seen yet :) then I should be done with this room. The master bath is just about finished too. Just a few more items to complete. But, I'm taking a break to get into the Great Room first.

Next week, hopefully, I'll get the new drapes made for our Great Room!!! I'd like them done and up before the Christmas tree. If not, they will have to wait because the tree goes right in front of one window.

So, what have you all been up to this week?

Blessings. . . until next time,

Flu Shot Anyone???!!!

I feel terrible!!

Has this ever happened to any of you? I got my flu shot last Wednesday. Our oldest daughter got her flu shot just the Monday before me. We are both sick as dogs now!!! What's up? We feel like we now have a touch of the flu. We've always gotten our flu shots for at least 12 years and never had a problem or a reaction. Fever, aches, chills, headache. Not fun here. The last time I was this sick was about 19 years ago ~ so maybe I was due???

Great, I took our 14 year old into the doctor this past Monday for her flu shot too. If she gets sick ~ I'll feel terrible. My oldest and I didn't put two and two together until Monday night ~ like "Gee, Mom, maybe it's those flu shots!" Like BINGO, off went the light bulb in my brain.

Has this ever happened to any of you? Maybe we got a bad batch of the shots? Or maybe it's just a touch of something else. Anyways, I'm staying in bed today with my box of tissues, hot tea and resting, resting and resting some more. I cancelled my Physical Therapy for today as well. I NEVER do this, but I am today!

Blessings. . . until next time,

A Little French Inspired Addition

Remember these?

My mom had a pair exactly like these. Actually, I believe she still has them. She always liked them she said because she had a boy and a girl. They are supposedly, or so I have been told, the bust of Marie Antoinette's children. Marie Antoinette, however, was not a wildly popular French queen. Go figure.

I saw this pair at the thrift store. . . and thought. . . hmmm. . . my bedroom re-do has a touch of a French flair. These may go perfectly in there. But, I really didn't care for them in the state they were in when I found them. They were dated, yellowed and needed updating. They were 1/2 off though!! So ~ that got me thinking :) . I think I paid $6 for the pair. I sprayed them with Kilz primer (photo above is after I sprayed with primer), then painted the pair the same color as our bedroom walls and put a wash (paint and water) over them of the paint I used in our master bathroom.


Now, I like them!! I think they will work just fine in here ~ in front of the $3 French candelabra I found at a garage sale this summer.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Bedroom Project Started ~ Interrupted for Hospital Stay!!!

Well, my weekend started out with the very best of intentions!!

I had planned on knocking out the painting of our master bedroom. I finished the master bathroom's painting last week. . . so the next step was our attached bedroom. . . naturally!

Things were going along wonderfully. My hubby helped by taking down the recessed lights and the ceiling fan for me. I cleared off all the dressers, took down all the pictures and patched the holes in the walls.

So far, so good. I was on a roll applying that white ceiling paint, Then I had a "bright" (tongue-in-cheek) idea. If I had to paint the tallest part of this pan ceiling, and I couldn't reach it with the bed in the way (and it was too heavy to move), why not stand on the bed, which was covered with a plastic drop cloth and paint the ceiling with the roller on the extension pole? I stepped from the ladder to the bed and SLIPPED, and almost FELL and CAUGHT myself from falling into the headboard. I jerked and felt a little something snap in my back :)

Oh, I can just work it out I thought. I've done stupid things like this before. So I normally take some Naproxen or Motrin and just keep going. I did.

We finished the ceiling, and had plans for painting the walls on Sunday after church. We stopped, showered, got ready and my husband took me out for my birthday dinner, which is Wednesday the 8th. Hubby travels during the week so we celebrate occasions on the weekends. We traveled about an hour away to the St. Clair River to a very quaint little restaurant called the "St. Clair Inn." The view along the water with the Michigan fall/autumn colors was spectacular and the dinner was wonderful.

We came home, showered and went to bed. I got up (tried to get up I should say) got ready for church and went with my family. I could hardly get into the car my back was hurting so bad. Oh, I'll just work it out as I always do. Sit, stand, sing, greet, sit some more, stand some more. I thought I was going to D I E!!!

I came home from church and got out the heating pad, the ice and tried to lay down. Come on, I always work this out. I decided I needed to take a walk. I went around the block. Pain was shooting down my legs to my knees and I thought I was going to pass-out. Home I came and told hubby to take me to the hospital.

So, that's where I've been for two days. I had a MRI, which shows inflammation in the sacrolites(sp?), the last disc injured and perhaps some infection in this area too was told. So, the physical therapy doctor called for the spine doctor. The physical therapy doctor said I would need to stay for a few more days and take antibiotics intravenously to rid this infection. Oh man tomorrow is our oldest daughter's 21st birthday and Wednesday is mine. GREAT. I didn't want to stay. Thankfully, the spine doctor told me he would take more blood and run more tests and call me tomorrow if I needed to come back. GREAT, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!

So, now I'm home ~ resting in my lovely 1/2 painted bedroom. The ceiling looks great. The walls, not so good yet. After I heal, we'll tackle them. Hubby isn't traveling this week after all. I'm so dopey from all this medication sent home with me; i.e., muscle relaxers, pain medication that I'm rather loopy.

Note to self. . . don't stand on sliding plastic and expect a sure footing with arms extended overhead holding an extension painting pole and roller :)

I may be getting older, but not smarter. . . that's for sure!!

Blessings. . . until next time,