Antique Store Finds

I love going to Antique stores and finding just the right something that I never knew I needed but can't live without! Steph and I went over to our local Antique store a few weekends ago, I had been wanting to go for weeks but hadn't made it over there, and I found several new treasures!

I've decided to collect mismatched silver (thanks Steph for the great idea!) so here is the beginning of my collection, needs a little polishing though!


Then I found this cool tin, I've always love containers! And I've been wanting something to put the dog food in, this is perfect and fits perfectly by the dog bowl, it is very rusty but love how it looks. And I must be rubbing off on husband, I thought for sure he would wonder what the heck I saw in that, but he actually liked it!


And the an old suitcase, these are good for storing craft supplies in, and it was brown and red and matched my scrap room, so I had to have it, right?

And my best find of the day was an old headboard, I've been looking for headboards for both the kids beds and saw some possibilities in this one. The best part is the lady said it was priced to high (I didn't think so, and I'm so not good at bartering with them!) so she took $10 off!

So after a little sanding and a few coats of paint and some more sanding, Meg got a new headboard for her bed.

I love how it turned out and the little table that I picked up in Sutter Creek in December that was still waiting for a little make over looks perfect with it.

Love the babies tucked into her bed!

Spring Break

It is officially Spring!!! Yeah . . . we made it!!!! I love spring, the longer days, warmer weather, although I'm still waiting for the warmer part!

I'm very happy because spring means that my favorite mustard weeds are popping up everywhere.
And I'm even more excited because my 2 cute nieces are coming this weekend and I'm really hoping that the weather will be somewhat cooperative so that we can go take a few pictures like we did 2 years ago. Crossing my fingers as the forecast is looking very wet.

The kids have been off of school all of last week and this week. I'm sure I've said it before, but I really do like this modified schedule. It seems like it is just about the time that the kids have had about enough and I'm at my wits end with getting everyone up and going in the morning and homework in the afternoon, that break time comes. Two weeks of no routine is nice, I usually take a few days off to break it up a bit for the kids and to not have to burden any one person with them for 2 weeks!!! Today and tomorrow are 2 of those days, I love days with no agenda.

We have been getting a few projects done around here which also makes me very happy! I brought this phone home from Mom's house last October or November. it's been sitting in the living room since then waiting for me to decide on it's new home.

I finally decided on the small wall next to the entertainment unit in the family room. Well, I decided on it awhile ago, but I had to have Daryl actually hang it, it's HEAVY and I don't need if falling out of the wall, which is probably what would have happened IF I had hung it up!!! This phone belonged to Mama & Popi, and I so remember Popi holding me up to it as a kid and turning the handle to make it ring. It was still hanging in Mama's house when we lived there. but we didn't take it down when we left.


It ended up at Mom's house and she was {gasp} thinking of selling it!!!! Well, I couldn't let that happen, so I brought it home, along with the desk and the high chair that were also Mama's. Greg was also parting with his old typewriter, so it came along for the ride too! I love antique furniture and old, dirty, grimy stuff!


And I already had this cradle that also belonged to Mama. (Don't laugh at the funky looking pillows! The patchwork one I made with my Grandma Topps and the green one in the back was Mama's, I used it to sleep on when I would spend the night with her).

ok, well enough about all my old stuff! Gotta go run to Safeway for some cheap tortilla's and then get some dinner started, no excuse for not making dinner when I've been home all day, LOL!!!!

Hello Weekend!

I'm happy to report that the end of the week has made an improvement over the middle of the week! And I'm happy that it's Friday and that the weekend should be sunny and warm! I love spring and the sun and that it gets warm during the day and cool at night. It could be spring all year round in my book.

While it was so beautiful out yesterday afternoon I worked on my little photo canvas project. You see, I've been trying to figure out what the heck to do on this huge wall ~

something that won't cost me a small fortune. I finally decided on a square of 9 photos, 3 across and 3 down (think Brady Bunch opening scene). So I had the picture you can see sitting on the staircase printed 20 x 30 and put it in a frame, remember I thought this wall was huge. Well, by the time you put a frame around a 20 x 30 print, it's pretty much huge when you want to put 9 of them on the wall. So, project went on hold until I could figure out a plan B.

Then I saw this idea, on a coupon web-site of all places, and can't believe that I didn't think of this before, taking a canvas, painting the edges and the putting a photo on top. Perfect!! I'd have canvas prints all over my house if they were not so darned expensive! Canvases were on sale last week at Michael's for 40% off + there was another coupon that could actually be stacked with the sale for an addition 40% off. So for about $1.50 a canvas I figured this would be the time to do this little project. Plus it's spring and I need a change around here! So I uploaded 5 pictures that I knew I wanted to use to Costco and wanted to get started.


After a little painting and some spray adhesive . . . this is the finished product . . . I'm loving it!



Need to do 4 more, but I not sure that I have the pictures I want to use, I want them all to be pretty recent so I may be looking for an occasion to get the perfect ones I want to use. The best part is that this whole project probably will cost about $75.00, which is a lot less than I figured I was going to have to spend if I was framing them all.

Now to convince my husband that they must be hung this weekend!

I'm gearing up to do Ali's Week in the Life Project next week. Ali, and a lot of other people, including my sis, spent this week documenting their everyday life through photos and words. I was going to do it this week also but Monday came and I just didn't feel quiet together enough to pull it off and decided it didn't matter that I didn't do it the same week as everyone else, in fact, I could spend the week looking at the way so many of my favorite people are documenting their weeks and get some ideas for myself next week. So I'm gearing up and excited to get started.

Off to go relax a bit before bed . . . and to try to put behind me all of the work stuff that keeps bringing me down, just when I thought my work situation couldn't get worse, it did, but I'm going to work hard to not let it consume my weekend . . . it's just not worth it.

Sleeping in + Nowhere to go + Cleaning & Organizing = Great Long Weekend

I LOVE to be home . . . I love to go out and about too, but I love to not have anything to do and be home. This weekend we did just that, I only left the house 1 time since Bunko Friday night. We have eaten every meal at home, watched movies and the Olympics and I've spent the last 2 days in my Scrapbook Room, re-organizing! I love to organize and re-organize and re-organize some more. I've been itching to get in here and it all started by my bringing home the electric 3 hole punch from work so that I could punch all of the kids work and get it into their binders, I was a bit behind with Meghan, like I needed to put 2 years of pre-school into binders. So I did something that I thought I would never do . . . I threw away her middle year! Yep, in the trash, although I have until tomorrow morning to change my mind. So I'm currently all caught up with my paperwork, it's been driving me nuts looking at the piles, it feels so good to have it all put away. I put all of the kids work chronically into binders, that way I have something to do with it when it comes home and I know where to go if I need something out of it for the scrapbooks. Trevor probably has about 10 of them now!

So once I completed the hole punching, which goes so much quicker with the electric puncher by the way, I started opening up drawers and figuring out how things could be better grouped together. I opened one drawer that I totally forgot was full of patterned 12 x 12 paper. It was not with all of the rest of my paper so I forgot about it, so from there I started moving things around and organizing paper by color and/or by company.

My biggest obstacle are cards and memorabilia. I wish I could throw cards away, but I just can't. I'm still trying to find a space and system for this kinds of stuff, but now that I've got some space cleared out (I threw away 2 large bags of garbage!) I'm going to figure out a system that will work so that I can keep everything organized and able to find stuff when I need it!

So it's now 6:00 on Monday night, back to work tomorrow. The only other big thing on my list for this weekend was to tackle the ironing pile . . . let's see if can get it done after dinner . . .

And because I like pictures with my post, how many of you remember these?

Do you remember Roller Haven? It has since changed names to Paradise Skate. Meghan went to her first skating birthday party. I was cracking up though, I'm pretty sure that these are the exact skates that were around 30 some odd years ago. Pretty gross if you think about it!!!!


And I'm happy to say that I can FINALLY check the ironing off the to-do list. Needless to say I think it was a very productive weekend, and I think I'm ready to start the week. Boy do I wish every weekend was a 3 day weekend!

Where did I leave off?

It's been awhile! Things have been a bit crazy around here the last few weeks, in a good way. Daryl didn't go to work on that Wednesday two weeks ago, which was good because the painting was not finished! But just as he was wrapping up the last bit of touch up Thursday evening he got the call that all of the paperwork was complete and he could start on Friday! Good timing if you ask me!!! The bathroom/retreat area turned out awesome, I love it. Still need to do a bit of "accessorizing" but I'm looking for some specific things that I will probably be looking for for awhile, but meanwhile it's looking good!

Here is a before as you walk into the bathroom ~


This now contains most of the stuff that was on the floor, you can barely see the pile of stuff on the floor in the top photo.and the little desk we found - now if we can find a smaller couch or chair and get the treadmill fixed, it will be just about done!

We also celebrated our 18th Wedding Anniversary, seriously, I can't be old enough to be married for 18 years? Can I???? Well, looking at the then and now, I guess I have aged just a little bit!!!

Trev took this one, should have switched it over to auto mode for him to avoid the blurriness, but hey, this is my life, we stopped painting long enough to go have dinner and snap a quick picture!

With Daryl working I had to make a few changes to my work schedule and Mimi & Grampie are helping out a lot, it's a crazy schedule and I had to put it all on the calendar in order to keep straight where I need to be and who is doing what each day! Luckily I got this new toy for an anniversay gift! It's been very very fun!!!! And yes, I've been playing on this instead blogging!!! Addicting is all I can say. I'm amazed at what this phone can do, it's like having a computer and the internet at your fingertips, 24/7!


I'm sure there is lots I'm forgetting, but it's now 9:00 on Sunday evening and time for me to head to bed, with my new schedule I have to be at work by 7:00 tomorrow morning, so early to bed for me!

Holiday Weekend

I love 3 day weekends, and I especially love when we can get projects done, like finishing painting the bathroom and retreat area of our bedroom! It's been on the "to-do" list since we moved in, just about the last of things to be painted, just the laundry room and kids bathroom left and we will be 100% painted over here, time to start over now, right? Just kidding, my husband will not go for that.

We had a busy weekend so the painting didn't start until today . . . so Daryl has 1 day to finish up because on Wednesday, he goes to work!!!! Yep, you read it right, he got a job last week and starts on Wednesday. Actually he got 2 job offers last week, when it rains it pours! Both of the jobs had pros and cons and in the end it was a pretty easy decision since one of the jobs hours were 3:00 pm - midnight. Neither of us really want to go back to the crazy off hours, and I think that those would be worse than graveyards, so we opted for the one that pays less and is further from home, but we both feel good about that decision and trying to keep us all on the same schedule, he would just miss to much with the kids working those hours. Needless to say, we are feeling very blessed over here this week, and Daryl is very excited to get to work. Me, while I'm obviously very happy he will be working and gearing up for the crazy schedule of how I will be getting everyone where they need to be everyday. I have been totally spoiled the last few months because Daryl has been getting the kids up and out, lunches made, dropped off, picked up, cooking dinner, cleaning up . . . I've been living the easy life, well, it will be ending on Wednesday!

We made a trip to IKEA on Saturday, needed to get another set of the expedit shelving that I love so much for our bedroom and we also found a little table/desk for up there too. Can't wait for it to all come together. I also bought some new accessories and towels in my favorite colors!

Yesterday we did a little bit of phone upgrading. Daryl has been promising me an iPhone once he got a job, well in celebration of a new job and our 18th anniversary tomorrow I got my iPhone and I LOVE it!!! So cool, so much you can do, LOVE having the internet with me at all times. How did I live without it? Trev also had a little accident with his phone on Friday and the face cracked, of course he isn't ready for an upgrade but another line on our plan was, so he lucked out, he was going to just get mine and he was less than thrilled with that idea! So he got a new cool phone and a hard carrying case so that there are no more little accidents while the phone in is the backpack, otherwise, he WILL be using my old phone. But he is most excited about the unlimited texting we also added to the plan. He has probably already texted me 50 times and we've been in the same house! Meghan is feeling left out and thinks she should also have a phone. uuummmm, no, sorry!!! So she is carrying around my old one and listening to the music on it. Daryl is just shaking his head at all the ring tones that have been going off all day, he doesn't get why we are so happy!!

Looking forward to a new week and finding our new normal and new routines. I'm sure it will take a bit of getting used to but I think we are all ready for this new chapter. Even though he was only out of work for 3 months, we knew it was coming 10 months prior, while that is great to know so far in advance, it also is hard to make decisions to do things knowing that you will be unemployed in a few months, so many little things were put on hold, feels good to get some stuff done!

Happy Labor Day, I'm going to go and try to find my bed, which is a bit buried at the moment!

Can I brag for a moment?

yep, it's my blog, so if you don't want to hear me brag on my kiddos for a minute, stop reading now!

Trevor came home last week with the results of his Pre-Algebra assessment test. He's always been a math whiz, but this is ALGEBRA, yes I know it's just pre-algebra, but still, I was a bit nervous, not to mention that it is his 1st period class. Well, I'm not going to worry quite as hard now, he got 40/45 on the test, the highest score in his class, most of the others were in the 20's.


I was talking to Meghan on the phone after school on Friday and she told me she got an award at school, and that she was the only one in the class to get this award. She didn't know what it said, so I tell her great job and I'll see it when I get home. I was half thinking she was making it up! I know, that's bad. But we had just been telling Trev how great he was doing the night before, so I thought maybe, just maybe she was a bit jealous and was making up the little award. Well, boy was I wrong! She had made a picture for her teacher the night before, colored it and then wrote some words on it that she knows how to spell. So she got a "You did a Super Job" award for doing "kid art". She was very proud of herself! And so are we!



Then today Trevor came home with this letter ~


Although I'm not exactly sure what this program is, Trevor says that it's like the GATE Program in elementary school. Needless to say, we are very proud of him for earning this!

In other news, Daryl had a productive weekend doing a little backyard project. It started by getting rid of the wasp nest ~

Then he did a little concrete painting, it looks much better than this in person, and it's not spotty looking, we were going for the "rustic" look!

And then we added a little more seating ~

and a new table, chairs & umbrella ~

I think he did a great job! Thanks honey, I LOVE it!

Dresses

It was a weekend of dress shopping, I haven't done that in a long time, probably since my sisters wedding, and I think that is coming up on 10 years this summer. I got to go with Step & Kaitlyn to pick out her Junior Prom dress. She asked a friend, who is a senior, in a very cute way, to go to the dance with her, and he said yes! We headed to Macy's first thing Saturday morning for the dress trying on marathon to begin, there were 14 in all, here are a few of the runners up ~

We all thought that this one was a big strange with the pockets! Don't usually see pockets in formal dresses. Meghan really liked this one! And the winner is, although she isn't looking very happy about it in this picture, I must have taken it while the tag in the back was cutting a slice out of her shoulder!

The color looks great on her and the dress fits her perfectly! Since Meghan didn't get to go shopping with us I told her I would look for an Easter dress for her, which, I didn't do! So I took her to Target today to find her a dress. We came home with an adorable white eyelet dress, I loved it and glad she bought into it. We found some really cute pink sandals, we settled on flat ones, she wanted heels, and two bottles of nail polish, pink & purple!!! She had the shoes on before we got home and then when we drove into the garage she wouldn't get out of the van until she put her dress on! Too funny.

And Daryl found the rest of my Easter stuff, just in time for Easter next week!!!


Getting ready to go eat dinner, made Taco Soup, yummy!

Spring around

The cleaning continued this morning! But I'm done now. I vacuumed and dusted my bedroom and closet, folded a couple loads of laundry, did one load of laundry, cleaned out the medicine cabinet, that stuff seems to expire while I'm sleeping or something, finished dusting the blinds and the rest of the house.

Getting ready to take my coupons and make a Target run, but here are a few pictures first ~


I don't know why I bought these, but they are just cute, and I found some reeeeaaaalllly old ones in this purple jar when I dug it out of my closet the other day, needless to say I threw them out before Meg saw them! As I was wondering what I was going to do with them, besides let the kids get a sugar high eating them all, there just happens to be "Fun Uses" ideas on the back, so I'll have to get a little creative.

And this is all of the Easter stuff I found, luckily Daryl thinks he knows where the rest of it is and will get it down for me tomorrow.


Can you see the little bird in this picture? I've noticed he's been hanging around our backyard for awhile now, think we better get some food for the bird feeder.



Have a Happy Satuday

Tomorrow is the 1st day of Spring

And I must have been getting ready for it's arrival today. I had absolutely NO plans of doing any cleaning today, but I guess all of the beautiful sunlight shinning in on my dusty blinds just got me started. After dusting the blinds in the kitchen and family room I brought in what I thought was all of my Easter stuff, but, I think I'm missing stuff, although I couldn't tell you what exactly. I think a trip up to the attic is going to happen this weekend. Since I felt like I was missing stuff I headed to the extra bedroom to rummage through my Partylite stuff, didn't find any of the Easter stuff, but I did get rid of a ton of paperwork and old catalogs. I haven't done much with Partylite in the last 2 years and usually going in and smelling the candles and looking at the product I get a little antsy and want to do a show, but today, nothing . . . I have absolutely no desire to sell candles anymore. I don't know why exactly. When I saw the 2009 catalog I was not impressed at all, hard to get excited to sell something your not in love with, which I used to be in love with more of the product than not. And I guess the other reasons are time and interest, my interests have changed and I'd rather spend my taking pictures or scrapping or playing in Photoshop. Plus with working almost full time the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is go out and do a show. Partylite was a great thing for me for many years, I started selling when Trev was a year old, so I guess I put in a good 10 + years. I loved selling when I was not working outside the home, because by the end of the day I was really ready to get out for a bit! So I happily threw out all my old catalogs and paperwork that I don't think I'll be needing. I will miss the discounted and free products, but I'm pretty sure I'll have candles to last me for another few years and really, how many accessories can one have? I already have a house full of all my favorite Partylite products.

Anyway, I then moved on to the dresser in the extra bedroom, it seems to be a collector of random stuff. In one of the drawers I found these ~


These were Mama's tap shoes, they are so tiny, a size 5! I don't know why I have them, but I think it was one of those things that were in the sauna when we moved into her house, also in this box was ~


This is the thermometer that was also in the sauna, aka: my big storage closet when we lived on Shaddick and before the remodel, hummm, I bet I have some before and after pictures of that ~


So there you go, the before, during and after of the sauna, I mean closet I had for about 10 years. I did have to do some creative storage and purging in order to have this bath tub, but I love love love how this bathroom turned out. This soaking tub was heaven, I have a nice tub now, but I still miss this one!

So I feel like I got a little head start on the spring cleaning, although it is just little things that I will notice, but that's ok, it makes me happy to have everything neat and orderly and in it's place.

I think I will stop typing now, this post ended up in places I had never even thought of!