Wednesday, December 24, 2014

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



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Sunday, December 21, 2014

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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Tuesday, December 16, 2014

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!





Sunday, December 14, 2014

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?













Sunday, December 7, 2014

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.







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Monday, December 1, 2014

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.




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