School Already?

Benny Bear starts school today.

 Hard to believe 5 years have passed so fast!

Seems just yesterday, Jaysa was 11 days overdue...

and we were eating lunch after her doctor's visit,

when she felt (finally!) her first contraction. 

And after a long day, and an even longer night,

we were all so happy to see him! 

 And hold him...

 

 Especially Dee...

 

  
Just a month later, he was a troll doll for St. Pat's Day

He found Grampy's antics funny.

 

Started nursery school...

 had exciting adventures with mom and dad

and helped me cook...

He became a superhero...

...and a fireman...

and big brother extraordinaire!

So really, all that's left is to get an
education and tackle the rest of the world.

 Right after breakfast this morning...

Hope first day of school goes well.

Thanks for dropping by!


P.S. For all you other grannies out there
who resisted getting a smart phone as long
as I did...shame on us! It is so wonderful
to get pictures as soon as life happens.

Talking Tables

One simple question here girls.

Yeah, I know the men won't like this so

I'm just talking to you women!

Have you seen this table on the

Restoration Hardware website?

Yes...I am in love!!!

I texted these pictures to the middle daughter happily

expressing all the love I was feeling for this table.

I mean, I wouldn't possibly pay that much for it, but

I can dream it might go on a drastic sale someday, right?
 

 Her only response:

"What's Bill think of it?" 

Well, I hadn't run it by him because men are

completely irrational about wood staying wood...

 So, I ventured on the wild side and asked!

You don't want to hear his response,

but I can tell you it started with "OMG..."

(and not in a good way)

I have a table that's kind of the same style, but a little

shorter. I think I'm going to try to make it look like this
while I'm waiting for the big "someday" sale.
After all, Wild Bill did express that any nutcase
could do a... "*&%#@!" ...paint job like that.
And, to hear him talk, I'm well qualified!

Wondering what you ladies think of the look?

 Thanks for dropping by!

Buy Pairs, Not Singles

A while back, I read on someone's blog a tip

on decorating that has stayed with me...

Don't buy a decoration smaller than a baseball

I have a huge problem with loving the "littles"

so I really took that tip to heart.

Now, I have a decorating tip I'd like to share.

I've learned this the hard way!

Don't buy smaller decorations in singles,

always buy them in a pair if it's available

 About a year ago, I bought this little round

picture. I loved it, but never hung it up because

it was too small for most areas or just seemed

dumb by itself.

There were several different birds to choose from

so I could have bought a pair, but chose not to.

Yesterday while down in McKenny, I found a sister

for my little bird picture at a consignment shop.

 Now, I've finally got a place to hang them

since there are two...

 They seem to go well with my tub full of faux

flowers and a bird's nest or two...

 I'm sticking with faux flowers these days.

 With the heat in Texas during August, it's

hard to keep real ones alive.

Thanks for dropping by!

Partying here:

Mrs. Olson's Share Your Cup...

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/08/share-your-cup-thursday-160.html


Karen's Up On The Hill
http://www.karensuponthehill.com/something-to-talk-about-link-party-30/

Making The Baskets Roll

 Last post, I bravely showed you the mess

I have in my office nook.

I decided to replace the ugly plastic tubs

under the desk in the corner with my

favorite large baskets from Target. 

Trouble is, the stuff  I keep under the desk

area tends to be heavy, mostly books and

projects waiting for some attention.

I didn't want the heavy baskets to scratch

up the wood floors.

My plan was to use cheap wood to build a

rolling platform for three baskets. The baskets

measure 15x18 each. I wanted the platforms

to be the same size as the basket bottoms.

 

The cheapest wood was plywood. The best

sized one I could find was 24x48 for $16.95

at Home Depot. It was 3/4 inch thick.

The friendly man in the wood department cut

it down to an 18 inch length and 45 inch width.

Then he cut the width into three, 15 inch pieces.

No charge for the cutting.

 I also bought 12 small rollers that turn

 around 360 degrees. Each roller was $2.65

Yeah...if you're keeping track, my cheap

platforms were starting to get out of hand!

With a package of flathead wood screws  (each

wheel takes four screws) the final talley was

about $63 to make the three platforms.

 That really hurt!

 The good thing is the wheels are always re-usable.

I may stain the platforms at a later date.

For now, I'm using them the way they are. 

I have an office to clean out, remember?

I do have a few scraps of plywood left over that I

plan to use for another project. The bad news is I

have 3 more baskets that could use platforms too.

Thanks for dropping by! 

 

At the party here:

Dwellings

 http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2015/08/welcome-to-amaze-me-monday-we-finally.html

What I'm Working On

I like to tackle a few projects at a time.

 This is what I'm working on this week.
All these projects are waiting to be waxed.

Old Laundry Basket

 I used a variety of colors to add some age to

this basket I bought at a garage sale for $2.

 When I got tired of dabbing each color on, I

poured a little of each into a plastic jar and made a

slurry of a gray-brown sludge and dabbed that on.

 I used ASCP in French Gray and Vintage Market

and Design's Burlap and Taupe. 

Vintage Market and Design's paint is something

I started using lately, and I must say I like their

paint better than the other brands of chalk-type

paint. It's thinner and is really easy to distress.

This is another current project, two old wood

frames bought for $5 each. I used VMD's paint in

the color "Cotton" and distressed with a damp
green dish scraper.

The frames are going to become hand towel

holders in the master bathroom. 

I bought these two horses heads for $15 at a

thrift shop and plan to paint them. I was going

to put a backing board in the middle of the

frames and hang the horse heads in there to

hold a hand towel...

But my plan went astray when it turned out

the horses don't fit in the middle square.

Back to the drawing board on that one!

I planned to paint this frame white, but first

I slapped a little ASCP French Gray on it to 

show through when I distressed it.

 Well, I started really liking the aged

vintage look it took on.

I pushed some Miss Mustard Seed's dark

wax into the corners with a clean rag and used

her clear wax to take some back off.  

So that's the mess I'm dealing with right

now, along with cleaning out my little office

nook to make it into a hobby room.

YIKES!!!

I was so jealous of all the wonderful

rooms I saw on the blog party

Where Bloggers Create

over at My Desert Cottage, I knew it was

time to start fixin' up my room now to make

it by next year for her annual blog party.

The link is below if you missed the party.

Thanks for dropping by!

http://www.mydesertcottage.com/2015/07/welcome-to-where-bloggers-create-2105.html

Let's all join the party here:
From My Front Porch To Yours
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/2015/07/treasure-hunt-thursday-215-highlights.html

Elizabeth and Company

http://www.elizabethandcovintage.com/2015/07/be-inspired-features-and-link-party-171.html

LaurieAnna's Shopping

LaurieAnna's shop in Canton Texas has

these interesting papers, along with a whole

new room of ribbon, papers and such.

I bought three of these large ones, which could

be laminated and used as place mats.

 I plan to put them in old frames and hang them

on the wall, especially this one with a chalkboard

background.

The shop is featuring their new paper room on their

blog right now.

You can see the new room at the link below.

 

Thanks for dropping by!

 

 

http://laurieannas.blogspot.com/2015/07/paper-paper-paper.html

I'll be here this week:

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2015/07/amaze-me-monday-120.html

 

Choosing Sunflowers...Nailed It!

I bought some sunflowers recently and learned

a lesson.

 I picked a bunch that looked like they hadn't

opened all the way yet. I had to reach into
the very center of the floral display to reach
them...on my tiptoes!

 I mistakenly thought sunflowers, like rose buds,

would open later...yeah, go ahead, you can laugh at me!

 Turns out you should buy them wide open to

get fresh ones. This bouquet faded fast!

At least the colors were very pretty.


Thanks for dropping by!

 

Two Great Store Experiences

We made a trip to an Apple Store the other day.
Our town has a franchise ATT store, Best Buy,
and other stores that sell Apple products, but we
drove 40 miles down to a large mall in Frisco

Texas because Wild Bill believes they have the

latest and greatest in models of Apple products.
Turns out they do!

The Apple Store's sales staff was highly trained

 and knowlegable and seemed happy to let us look

over their products, hold them, and play with them.

After spending 25 minutes with us explaining
the benefits of each product, the sales associate
even recommended we go upstairs to an ATT
"corporate" store to buy our IPAD Mini 3 as he
 felt the ATT corporate store would be able to give
us a better analysis of all the plans ATT offers.
This, in fact, did save us a lot of money on our
monthly phone service!


The Apple Store's staff doesn't work on commission,
they just want you to buy Apple products. I even
offered to buy the IPAD Mini 3 from them, but they
felt we would get a better deal buying the IPAD
Mini 3 and "connectivity" at the same time at ATT.


We also found that going to a corporate store
instead of our local franchise ATT store made all
the difference in the world. Once again, seemed
the staff was just so much better trained.


Our salesclerk quickly ran through the best options
 with us and put Wild Bill's phone on a "Go-Phone"
 option instead of doing away with it as we had
planned. He pays 10 cents a minute by pre-paying
a minimum of $25 -- no more monthly service fee!
He seldom uses his cell phone, and doesn't text,
so this was his best option. When he needs more
minutes, he buys another $25's worth.


I just want to give a shout out to these two stores.
We are so use to bad customer service these days
that finding two stores with a sales staff this
good was a shock, as well as a pleasure.


No money, no products...no nothing...was paid or
given to me for this endorsement.
I'm just one satisfied customer saying:


"Well done ATT and the Apple Store"


Thanks for dropping by!

 

 

The Lost Trees

Here's what happens to the beautiful trees
in our area when a long-term drought is
followed by buckets and buckets of rain.

The trees start dying from the inside due
to lack of water. Then the heavy rains make
the trees so heavy, they just fall over.

Luckily this tree went over backwards and
not onto the street in front of it. 

 Sad to see them go, but new ones will
take their place...
Life Goes On


Thanks for dropping by!

Posts To Inspire Your July 4th Decorating

I was stumped this year for ideas to decorate so
I looked up some old ideas from previous

years to get inspired.
Apparently I was focused on the kitchen
and chalkboards last year...

  I'm really going to have to learn to write
something on the chalkboards besides 
Happy 4th!


I used that same snappy phrase for 2013 too:

  Back in 2012, I was all about the chickens
and flags...

That was before we hung the TV over the mantle.
I think I want my mantle back for decorating!

These pictures made me realize I'm not
much of a July 4th decorator, so I checked
out some blogs for ideas.


Over at Let's Add Sprinkles blog, Katie
showed how to make bunting with a table
runner from the thrift store:

(Let's Add Sprinkles)



At Karen's Up On The Hill, I learned I can do
more with those Dollar Store flags than stick
them in flower pots (duh)

(Karen's Up On The Hill)

Karen used a little flag and some iron-on to make
a knock-off Potterybarn pillow...
 And if that wasn't cute enough, she replaced
pictures in frames with the little flags too!

HEY... I CAN DO THAT!!!


Hurry over to Karen's and Katie's blogs to
get the full details:


http://www.karensuponthehill.com


http://katietreasures.blogspot.com

Thanks for dropping by!

Joining:

The Dedicated House's Anything Blue Friday

http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2015/07/anything-blue-friday-week-89.html