Hopes, Dreams and lots of tears

It had been a while.  I have been busy getting things ready for a graduation party.  We have a senior this year.  A is going to graduate high school next week.  I keep asking myself, "How can this be?"  It was just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital all soft and pink and smelling so sweet like babies do.  Then in what seemed like a blink we were putting him on the school bus for his first day of kindergarten, teaching him to drive, his first job, prom and now this.  It all went by so fast.  

I managed to get A's senior letter written.  I do hope a few tears won't hurt my computer.  I think, no I know this is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  Where do you begin to express to your child the love that you have for them.  That is so personal.  So intimate.  So deep down in your heart that you can't even grasp ahold of it long enough to get it on paper.  Ok enough.  I am terribly emotional when it comes to my boys.  Can you tell?  I'll get through it all. I've done it before.   Graduation, college, sending him off into the world.  I am sure there will be more tears along the way but like these they will be happy tears.  Filled with so much love and joy.  I am proud of you A for all that you have accomplished and all the accomplishments that lie ahead.  I am honored to be your mom.   

Congratulations to A and the Class of 2009!

I'm in the mood for a little sparkle

Lately I have been in the mood for a little sparkle.  So today I tried my hand at a new craft, bead weaving.  I have been making jewelry for a little over a year and have dabbled in a lot of different kinds but never had I tried bead weaving until the little flower bracelet I made yesterday.  Today this little pile of beads ...

.....became this sparkly little bracelet.  It is much prettier in person,  I think it will look great with a black t-shirt and jeans for a night out.

I also played around with a little wire wrapping and made this....

Now I just need some place to wear them.  

A little bling, a little spring

This past weekend I took a beading class at my favorite bead shop, Bead Bayou.  I learned to make these little flower beads.  They were so much easier than I had thought and so cute.  I may have to make up some of these for gifts.  They make you feel a little bit of spring.  

They started out looking like those little green beads but with a little thread and some weaving they turn into those pretty little flower beads.
See won't those be cute with my wardrobe for spring and summer.  

It's beginning to look a bit like spring around here!

This is our backyard

My little spot in the world.  A few years ago we needed to replace our deck.  My dad designed this one for us but it was a bit more than we wanted to spend at the time. Every time I talked to Dad he would ask if we were building the deck?  We finally decided to take the plunge and boy am I glad we did.  I love it out there.  Since it was such a beautiful day here in Atlanta and I have been itching for spring I gave the deck a good scrub down.  Added the cushion and pillows to my porch swing (Dad built the swing as sort of a porch warming gift).  A table runner and some candles and lots and lots of flowers.  I put white impatients in the flower boxes under the bench seating on each corner.  White bicopa in the hanging baskets and in my garden lots of pretty colored flowers.  We usually plant veggies in there but never have much luck with anything but tomatoes so this year I decided if I can't grow something to eat then I might as well grow something pretty to look at.  So from here on out all of my posts will be coming to you live from my porch swing in my little paradise.  

I've been tagged

I am not good at these things but tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com tagged me so here goes.

Things I am Looking Forward To:

1. Middle son's high school graduation
2. Spring
3. Sitting on my porch swing getting lost in a good book.  (Any suggestions?)
4. Hanging out with my family
5. Filling my planter boxes with beautiful flowers

5 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Went to Wally World
2. Did some grocery shopping
3. Hugged my boys
4. Indulged my passion and bought more beads
5. Made fried chicken and mashed potatoes with my youngest

5 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Learn how to use my camera (and actually remember)
2. Sing (apparently I can't but I do anyway)
3. Play guitar
4. Take amazing pictures
5. Do just one thing really really well

5 Shows I Watch:

1. House Hunters
2. Scrubs (with the boys)
3. I don't really watch tv
4. 
   
5. 
   

and finally: 5 People I Tag

Deana's Sew Crafty!

Living My Life, Outside the...

Mabel's House

Our Suburban Cottage

Rue's peanut butter and jel...

A little bling

Since the boys are on spring break this week and it has been cold in Atl. we have not done much.  A has been working and actually cleaned his room for me.  I find it interesting how it has been cold for the last 6 months yet he put 5 pairs of swim trunks in the wash.  Hum....   S is pretty much a homebody anyway so he has been busy playing football with his friends, shooting hoops in the driveway or playing his guitar.  Gotta love those two, the just don't require much.  They are pretty happy just doing their own thing. That leaves time for me so I am still working on painting the trim.  Almost done with the main parts of the house.  Of course, the little corner that had a nice crack in the baseboard which is what possessed me to start this project is still not caulked or painted.  Today I am touching up wall paint and hopefully getting all of the framed family photos off the floor in the living room and on the wall in the upstairs hallway.  Then I can move furniture and get to that annoying little crack in the baseboard.  I did manage a trip to the bead store earlier in the week.  Beads seem to be my main downfall these days.  I just can't resist all of the pretty sparkly beady beauty. I bought a ton and have been making some new bling for spring, if it ever gets here. (a little sidenote - if I quit buying beads I may be able to afford the island for the kitchen - naw beads are so much more fun!) Ok, back to the painting, but I will leave you with these ... 

Drooling

I have been doing a little online dreaming lately.  Drooling over this little beauty.  Actually I have been drooling over it for several years but it is just a little too much for my pocketbook. Hubs and I have been married for almost 24 years and have lived in 4 homes in 4 different cities and 3 different states.  Not one of them has had a kitchen with an island or a big front porch but that is for another post.  The kitchen in this house is big enough that it could actually hold one of these beauties.  Maybe someday.  

For now it is the beginning of spring break.  Kids are home for the next ten days.  Ten whole long days.  We don't have any wonderful adventures planned this year.  Just hanging around the house doing nothing.  I hope the weather is good so we are not stuck inside the whole time.   Have a great week and I will see you when the boys go back to school.  Maybe it will look like spring when I get back.  

(edited - I forgot to mention I want it in distressed black finish. They didn't have a picture of that one.)

Waterlogged

I could really use some of this.  No not the pot of gold, although that would be nice.  A rainbow because that would mean some sunshine.  It has been raining here for days and I am feeling a bit water logged.  Next week the kids are home for spring break and they are predicting freezing temps.  I live in the south!  What is going on with this weather?  

I have still not been able to get out and get my deck cleaned off so I can enjoy it.  All of the new pillows are still sitting in my living room just waiting to take their place.  In the mean time I have started paint all of the trim on the main level.  It still has the original paint from the builder 7 years ago and is looking pretty shabby.  I am making my way around the first floor repainting all of the trim, doors and door casings.  Things are looking so much fresher. Hopefully it will stop raining and I can get back to some other things on my project list. 

 

Some Metallic Lovin

The other day I had mentioned using some Metallic Rub Ons that I had bought in a Rubber Stamping store years ago.  I had never seen them anywhere since.  Lisa at Living My Life, Outside the Box asked me about them.  There wasn't much info on the packaging so I Googled Metallic Rub Ons and there they were.  Ritz Camera Online carries them.  Look at all of the colors there are  to choose from and the best part, they are CHEAP!!!  (insert happy dance here).  They came in the mail in less than a week. You can use these little babies on everything.  I think they were originally for decorating greeting cards but I used them on this cross and this mirror .  Wouldn't they look cute on some little decorative easter eggs or anywhere you need a little shimmer.   You know what I will be doing tomorrow.  Playing with these of course.

Just stuff

I am still here.  It has been a slow week but I am feeling a bit refreshed.  I had my prayer group on Monday which always gets my week off to a good start.  We have the best discussions.  

It was cold and rainy here today so I finished putting my mistreated Flylady "Control Journal" together.  I had one before but most of the stuff was so outdated, the notebook itself was huge and didn't look nice sitting on my counter.  I was in Office Depot the other day and you know how we girls love our office supplies.  There was this pretty little notebook with matching dividers just calling my name.  So what is a girl to do.  I bought it of course.  The first thing I did was make a new emergency contact list for the front, school info sheet, printed some more of my budget worksheets and started the task of updating my address book.  I didn't do any of this from scratch just copied and updated what I already had. I have been collecting address and phone numbers that are written on little snippets of paper all over the house as well as all of those business cards and half done address lists that seem to be all over.  I had them all in one place and have been wanting to start this for a long time but thought it would take too long so it kept getting moved to the bottom of the list.  I sat down the other day and it only took me an hour to update and compile everything on to my computer's address book and print off the list.  Now I have a it neatly tucked into my control journal.  It has been so handy this week while trying to sort threw and update other things in my home plus I was able to toss a ton of stray papers in the process.  

Oh the pretty little cross pictured at the top was one my mom gave me a couple of years ago.  I painted it and used the metallic rub ons to highlight the design.  I just love the way it turned out.  I liked it so much I did this mirror the same way.  

I have also been sorting threw pictures to make a photo gallery in our upstairs hall.  I have a ton of black frames with white mats that were hanging in the stairwell to our basement.  I love that gallery but it is time for something new.  The photos were getting old and every time someone would shut the basement door all of the pictures would go askew.  Drives me nuts. Today they all came down and are getting new prints and a new home.  I'll post pics hopefully next week.  In the mean time I guess I should get out the spackle and get cracking on all of the holes in the wall.  

Pillows, pillows and more pillows

I have been on a pillow making streak this weekend.  Nothing fancy as I am not one for a lot of fringe and fluff, besides I was trying to use only supplies I had on hand and it drives me crazy trying to sew the stuff on.  Here are the pillows I have done.   The ones to the left are from scraps leftover from my bed coverlet.  They will go on the loveseat in my bedroom.  The two maroon ones in the center will go on the sofa in the living room and the lime green and brown along with the large cushion are all for my back porch swing.  I did put little coordinating covered buttons on the two patchwork ones.  I still have to stuff those.  The others were all recovered pillows I already had.   I made them all envelope style so I may look for some sort of buttons or something to add to them later.  I am open to suggestions.  I can't wait for the pollen to stop so we can get that back porch cleaned up and put back in working order after the long winter.  I so miss my quiet little place to read. 

Front Entry Project

I have had a great week knocking off the projects one by one.  Remember this find from TJ Maxx last week?

After a little black paint I think it fits in my decor a bit better.  The little table ended up by the front door.  I have also been printing and framing some of my favorite pictures.  I found a couple of matching frames and mats in my stash and printed a couple of black and whites of the boys at my favorite measuring spot at Grandma and Grandpa's.  I take their picture in the same spot every summer.  These were about 5 or 6 years apart.  I love to see how much they have changed.  

The mirror got a good dose of black paint as well and some of the silver Rub N Buff to highlight the design.  Not sure where that will end up but I love the way it turned out.  

Ok so I need to get back to the projects and get this place in shape before the weekend.  

Have a great one.  It is finally SPRING!

A Little Sneak Preview

I am just working on a little fluffing for my favorite space.  If the weather holds out maybe I can share next week.   

Feathering My Nest

I have been so busy around here fluffing and feathering lately.  Must be the spring fever or maybe it is all of the projects you all have posted on your blogs.  So inspiring.  Anyway, the first project came to me in the middle of the night.  Do you have those sort of revelations?  I had made these valances for my bedroom several years back but the window just needed something more.  The other night it dawned on me that I had a bunch of the solid fabric I had used for the dust ruffle just sitting in my craft room.  So here is my first "mistreatment"  Now it is not a true mistreatment as I didn't use my glue gun on any part and I sew so I couldn't bring myself to glue or puddle the bottoms.  The bottom got a nice sewn hem but the top is totally mistreated.  I just folded it over and clipped it in behind the valance.  The little tie backs were made with some scraps from the bedspread and the buttons holding them back were some I had played with that I found in my button jar.  Apparently when I was messing with pillow ideas I covered 2 buttons with some little dragonflies from the scraps of fabric I had used for a throw pillow.  Perfect for holding the tiebacks closed.  I used a safety pin to hold them on, no sewing.  See I am getting there with the whole "mistreating".  The room could still use some work, like new pillows for the loveseat which are on the list (more scraps) but I think it looks a little more pulled together now with the new curtain panels and the best part, it didn't cost me a cent.  

Remember the living room window?  Here it is now with some great little panels I found at the Penney's Home Store on the clearance.  Can't beat the price and they will look fine until I figure out what I am doing with the chair and sofa upholstery.  

I am truly having so much fun.  A little fluff here and a little fluff there.  Before you know it the whole place will make me smile. 

Painting and Venting

I hit the motherload on Thursday.  I stopped by TJ Maxx and found two cute tables and two cute mirrors.  They have been sitting in my entry all weekend so everytime I walked by I would look at them and ponder.  Today I finally decided to dive right in.  I painted one of the mirrors and am working on one of the tables.  I will post before and afters soon.

I have noticed that painting is great therapy.  Now I live in a house full of men.  3 to be exact. 49, 18 and 15.  There are times when this can be a bit much for a girl.  Today is one of those days.  Nothing works better than a good ol project to let it all out. Painting and venting all afternoon.  I'm feeling better already.  

Tidbits of Wisdom

A friend once explained this little tidbit of wisdom to me and it has stuck with me ever since. 

 Women gather, Men hunt

Women nest and nurture, Men protect

(If you know the saying I am trying to think of here please feel free to post it in a comment.)

Anyway, that is what I have been doing lately.  You ladies are all so encouraging with your blogs.  I find myself sitting going through blog after blog just soaking up the wonderful inspiration.  I have found myself moving and arranging things in almost every room.  I don't know about you but I just smile when I walk into those rooms.  Isn't that a great feeling.  

Yesterday my aunt and I had a girls day.  Nothing special, just some lunch and a little browsing.  Of course, we stopped in at the local TJ Maxx and I was delighted to find some real treasures.  Well ok, they are treasures to me.  I have big plans for these little beauties.  I will be working hard on them this weekend and hopefully post before and after snaps soon.  

So that is what I have been doing.  Gathering and nesting.

Have a great weekend!

Juli

Happy Birthday little girl

Happy Birthday Dawson!

Pantry Redo

I am getting a whole lot of nothing done today.   Well it seems that way anyhow.  I am getting things done but they are here and there sort of like they were last week only this time a bit more intentional.  I got the little labels for my pantry finished and most of them are in.  I was trying to be thrifty and use what I had.  Ran out of ribbon.  Isn't that how it always seems to work.  Now to try to find the same ribbon or one that will coordinate.  Above (since I can't quite get the hang of putting the pictures where I want them) is a peek inside. For some reason the builder made the pantry door swing in.  This is most annoying as the back of the door is valuable real estate but what's a girl to do.  I have some great wire racks that line the wall behind the door to use for one of a kind items.  The one in the wee corner behind the door is used for extras like - the extra bottle of ketchup or the extra jar of peanut butter.  Handy but out of the way.   

I also arranged the linen closet in the master bath.  Part of my ADD problem last week.  That also has some nice white bins with little chalk board labels.  It looks so much better now and I can actually find things in there. 

So what is the next project girls?  I have a whole house here to get in order before A graduates from high school in May.  I guess I could check with the Flylady to see what room we are working on this week.  

Mom Brain

I have had such adult ADD or maybe a case of mom brain today.  I was trying to clean things up around here a bit.  You know the drill, laundry, dishwasher, put stuff away, etc.  I would find myself working on one thing then all of a sudden I was organizing a drawer in another room.  Every time I went to put something away I would start cleaning out that space.  Needless to say I got a whole lot of random things done all over the house but nothing you can really put your finger on.  Do you ever have those days?  Today among other things I was working on my pantry labels, which I hope to have finished and hung tomorrow so I can post pictures. I did finally get the living room done enough that I can share some pics with you.  For some before pics go here 

Well here it is......

 

my formal living room.  I wanted more of a comfy room to curl up and read a book rather than a lat-ti-da living room.  We tend to be pretty casual around here.  Now keep in mind I was using pretty much what I had so there are a few things that still need to be tweeked a bit.  For instance, the denim sofa.  It is from our formal living room in Florida, as is the white silk chair.  They are both about 12 years old and while they have held up amazingly well they both are in need of a reupholster.  Not in the budget at the moment so I'll have to make due.  I need to find something to go above the sofa, just not sure what.  I did paint the end table and the glass front cabinet.  They were both a finished pine color.  Great for Florida, not so much for Georgia.  Here is a closer look at the end table.

I love the black distressed look.  The lamp needs to be changed or painted or something (open for suggestions here).  The picture frame is one I did back in Florida but still one of my favorites.  It was a TJ Maxx clearance find.  Peach with a whitewash over it.  Now I am not a peach kind of girl but I thought the frame was pretty so I bought it and did what any crafty girl would do. I painted it. Then I  added silver leafing, a little antiquing, a little magic.  Wa-la, a frame that I love.  

The only new purchase for the room was this rug.  It does have some blue in it (doesn't show in the picture very well) so the sofa doesn't look quite so out of place.  When I first brought it home we still had builder beige walls.  It looked so dark but my neighbor told me to keep it and I am so glad I did.  With the new soft gold color on the walls it pulls the gold out in the rug and really looks good.  

Well this shot looks a little blah.  I still have to work on some sort of window treatment and would love any ideas you have for that as well.  

Here is the ceiling we painted.  Yep, it is a high one and with such funny angles.  My head still kinks to one side after painting that thing.  

As you can see the living and dining rooms are a work in progress but they are certainly a whole lot warmer and more inviting than they were a month ago.  

Project and More Projects

Sorry things have been so quiet this week at My Life... but truly the projects are in full swing. I finished painting the living room, ceiling and all. That was quite a job. Hubs came to my rescue and did a lot of the really high parts. Anyway, it is done and I am on to other things. I will post some pictures when I get a little more done. For now I am working on some cute little labels for my pantry make over. I totally snagged the idea from Thrifty Decor Chick. She made the cutest little chalkboard labels for her pantry. So I have been outside enjoying the beautiful 67 degrees we are having here and honing my spray painting skills. As soon as Hubs gets home and tells me where he hid the drill I should be in business. Hopefully I can share some pics with you later today. For now here is a before pic.  

Finally a New Living Room

This is what has been going on at my house.  Sunday while it was raining and snowy hubs and I painted the living room.  We moved all of the furniture into the family room, as you can see. This room has a funny ceiling which had to be painted as well.  We spent a better part of the day getting the first coat on.  We used the left overs from the dining room.  I decided it was way too dark, so this morning it was off to the paint store for more paint.  I had them lighten it up a lot.  Today I got a good coat on the walls but need hubs to do the ceiling for me.  As I am painting the last wall I decided I needed to move the ladder out of the way.  You guessed it.  I neglected to see the little pot of paint I had been using to cut in.  It looked like one of those slow motion videos all the way down to the nice hardwood floor.  It only took me an hour to get the mess cleaned up.  I did have a drop cloth down but only under the part I was painting not on the whole floor.  I am so thankful for my wood floors.  Can you imagine the mess I would have had with carpet.  Well, lets not even think about that.  I can't wait to share the finished room with you.  I still have to look for some fabric for drapes and I have a feeling hubs won't get to the ceiling for a couple of days but stay tuned.  I should be back soon with the finished results.  I'm also working on my pantry.  I organized and purged all day Saturday.  It looks so nice.  Now I just need to make some cute labels for all of the baskets.  That is another project I will share with you soon.  

The Home Front

Ok Lisa, here is a picture of the front door and most of the house.  As you can see our house sits way up on a hill so taking a good picture of the front is almost impossible, not to mention anything I put on the front door has to have some impact or you will never see it from the street.  I chose the dark red flowers to pull in the color from the cushion on my front porch bench.  It is starting to get a bit faded.  I imagine one more season and it will have to go but I think the front looks nice for now.  Hopefully in spring I can plant some red flowers out front as well.  

Front Door Project

Today I took a little break from the dining room and did a little project for the front door.  A friend had given me this metal basket 2 years ago but it was white and very shabby chic which is not quite my style.  Don't get me wrong I love the look it just doesn't go with anything in my house and is terribly hard to pull off when living in a house full of men.  So what did I do you ask?  Well I painted it of course with some leftover house paint.  Used some more of the copper metallic rub on stuff to highlight the raised design and then headed to Hobby Lobby for some flowers.  This is what I came up with.  It makes the front door look a little less bare and a bit more inviting.  

While I was out I stopped by TJ Maxx and found these on clearance for $3 each.  

I love the little wooden stars and figure I can take a can of spray paint to most of the elements since they are all pretty good sized.  Has anyone painted this stuff before?  Any suggestions?  There are several wicker balls and then some big round ball thingies.  Those should be easy to paint but I am not sure about the rest.  Hum.  Well I figure if it doesn't work then I will be ready for Christmas next year with my red bowl filler.  

Here it is...

Well here it is....

my new dining room.  I still have a bit to do but you can get the general idea.  It started out looking like this.

Although it is hard to tell from the picture, the walls and ceiling got a nice new coat of paint in Sherwin Williams' Stonebrier.  Some pretty gold silk drapes on sale at Pottery Barn to adorn the window and a rug.  I painted the china cabinet and side table.  I plan to paint the table and chairs black as well then change out the chair fabric to

 a pretty gold with black flecks.  I am still painting the knobs for the china cabinet.  With 11 knobs at $5 each, well I chose to spend the money on drapes instead so I only used 2 decorative knobs on the glass doors.  The other 9 are the original wooden knobs painted black.  I still need a picture or two in the wall but for now it just makes me smile when I go in there. It is amazing how some paint and a rug can really pull a room together. 

(below are close ups of the knobs and my china.  I love those dragonflies.)

So my new challenge, what to do with the cute white pedestal I found yesterday at that consignment shop.  Any ideas?

Consignment Shop Vase and little flower pots

So it has been a few days.  The weekend went by fast but was very productive.  In between driving S (my youngest) back and forth to church all weekend  and reading a ton of new blogs, with some great decorating ideas, I managed to finish painting my china cabinet.  I put the last bit of clear coat on this afternoon and  will post pictures  once I get the room back together.  I still have to paint the table and 8 chairs, not to mention recover the chairs but that will have to be for another day.  In the mean time here are some mismatched flower pots that I collected from around the house.  I gave them a nice coat of black paint. I did a little distressing with either sand paper or metallic rub on stuff.  The metallic rub on I picked up about 10 years ago at a little rubber stamp shop.  I used them on a couple of birthday cards then they got tossed in the drawer.  I came across them again about a year ago and have been using them on all sorts of projects.  You just rub some on your finger then lightly go over the area you want highlighted.  I used silver on the pot on the left and copper on the pot on the right.  What a difference.  It really brings out the detail. I finished them all off with  some clear coat and there you have it, flower pots that all go together.  I just love what a little black paint will do for things.   
I also stopped by a little consignment shop on my way home from prayer group today and picked up this vase for a steal.  I had been drooling over this little beauty in the Southern Living at Home catalog for months now but couldn't quite bring myself to spend that much so when I walked into the consignment shop today and there it was, well I knew it would be going home with me.  Then I saw the price...Oh Happy Day!