A Blogger's Vow of 10

As the new year rolls in, I vow:

I will PIN less and

MAKE more.

I will READ the instructions

for my camera.

I will FINISH things

before starting ten new ones.

I will PAINT furniture

other colors than white.

I will LEARN to use

all the wax I have hoarded.

I will STOP buying furniture

for others who may not want it

(even tho it's a good buy)

I will spend MORE time at the gym

instead of claiming painting
to be the perfect all-around exercise.

I will TAKE sewing lessons or get

rid of that *&$$%g sewing machine.

I will re-do rooms

one at a time to AVOID chaos.

I will be KINDER to my spouse who

does not have my creative genius

does not share my love of junk

does not see a masterpiece before him

does not cope well with rickety chairs

does not...oops...

I will be KINDER to my spouse.

So help me God.

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year

Sharing this week at:
Wow us Wednesday...
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A Little Bit Of Christmas So Far

We had eight of our close family members
staying with us this past Thanksgiving.

Half of them were 5 and under,
which made things quite lively!

Livvie Lula liked reading the paper with
Grampy every morning...

Little Henry tried out some sweet potatoes...

Ben and Lily bonded quickly as usual. Only

10 months apart in age, these two look more

like brother and sister than cousins.

When they all left,
it seems to have left a hole in my heart
right where Christmas should be.

I'm trying to get interested,
but so far the ladder is still imprisoned
in the far corner of the garage.

I put some lights in a kitchen cabinet...

and added a string of lights to the mixer corner...

but I need the ladder to get up higher.

Sometimes small things can be
overwhelming.
I will need to rally soon...

 ...it's December 21st and I can't take
the Jack-O-Lanterns grinning at me
 much longer!

Happy Halloween
Merry Christmas!



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and here:

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My Favorite Christmas Ornament

Tidbits & Twine is having a give away

of this wonderful Balsam Hill ornament set!

And you have a chance to win too!

Tidbits & Twine is a blog that's always

full of easy-to-do decorating advice.

In addition she often shares pictures of

 her lovely guest room (pictured above) and one
of the prettiest dining rooms I've seen.

To enter the give away, she only asks that

you describe your favorite Christmas ornament.

That's an easy one for me...

My favorite ornament is a little eccentric,

but that makes me cherish it all the more!

Who wouldn't want a sparkly ice cream cone,

with a small bite out of it, hanging on their tree?

Oldest daughter Jennifer, who has just turned 41,

was a kindergartner when she presented me with

her wonderful "handmade" creation.

The next year, youngest daughter Jaimee

was only 20 months old when she took a bite

out of the dazzling ice cream cone...glue,

sparkles and all. You can see the bottom of
the cone is missing.

Every time I look at my ornament, I see the

proud eyes of that long-ago kindergartner

 and the toddler with sparkles stuck all

over her chin and mouth.

Here's the link to the give away post.

Good luck and 
thanks for dropping in!

http://tidbitsandtwine.com/gift-ornament-set-giveaway/



One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

In my last post, I was talking about how

houses turn into money pits. Here's just a
few of our issues.

We wanted to change our walkway to our

house because the one the builder put in

was a hazard. Big cement blocks with strips

of space between where nothing would live,

but on which anyone could trip.

We paid to have the blocks jack-hammered

up and carted away. It wasn't cheap.

A new curvy walkway replaced the blocks.

And looking at this picture makes me realize

the solar screens we added to block the sun's

rays match the shutters too much, so we

will need to paint the shutters a different

color at some point.

The walkway made the planting beds around

the house look shabby. We pulled out the worst

plants and added new ones with drip irrigation

to conserve water.

Then we added small river rock instead

of mulch.

The new plants, rock and walkway made

the door look shabby, so Wild Bill

refinished the door.

The new walkway and refinished door

make the cement inside the entryway look

a little sad, so now we're looking at a

non-slippery tile to cover it.

Doesn't it always seem to take much more

product than you expect a project to take?

I thought this was overkill when they delivered

two tons of river rock for our little beds.

But we had to go back and get almost

another ton before we finished the project.

There's a chandelier hanging way up top

the entry that shines through the window

in front of it -- real pretty...EXCEPT...

The birds fly into the entry and sit on the
chandelier up there and poop all night.

Which ends up in a pile on the cement right
in front of our door each morning. Lovely.


We're looking for a replacement light that
offers no place for a bird to sit, unless you
have a better idea.


Anyone out there ever have this problem?

Motivating Action

I'm convinced that houses become money pits

for the simple fact that one thing leads to another.

For example, we would love to replace our

wooden front door with a beautiful metal one.

We even spent hours picking one out...

But, if we added the metal door, we would also

need to upgrade our wall lanterns to bigger ones

that will match the new door. There are five
lanterns around the house.

So while we debated, our wooden door got

dried out and yucky.

This door looks so bad, all I can say is 

it was a loooong debate! 

 Well...we both wanted a metal one, but the price

was just too much.  Finally, Wild Bill taped

up the front door and sanded and stained it.

It's almost like a new door. We had the

tape, sandpaper and stain so the cost was

actually nothing except a few hours time.

What finally pushed him to get it done

you might ask? 

One day I causally mentioned that I

was thinking of painting the front door white.

That put him over the edge!

He's one of those dreaded "wood lovers" who

can't stand the idea of painting a good piece

of wood. Especially painting it white!

So, for all of you out there who also live

with procrastinators, you're welcome
for this tip because it really works!

Thanks for dropping by.

Join me here:

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2014/12/amaze-me-monday-88.html#more

That's A Crock

There's nothing I like better than a crock.

I use them to store my cooking utensils

and for decorating.

Three crocks sit on the rolling center cabinet

surrounding the pig.

I still have some Fall and Halloween décor up.

I plan to remove all of it tomorrow and start

decorating for Christmas.

But...here's a secret. One of my crocks is

actually an ugly cookie jar.

I got rid of the lid and just keep it turned around

so no one can see its ugly 1980's-style side.

And if cows and hearts come back into

style, I'm ready!

Thanks for dropping by.

Join me at:
http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2014/12/share-your-cup-thursday-129.html


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