I'm alive

I'm alive and here and in a much better place mentally. All the stuff surrounding the healthcare bill was not healthy for me and I needed to not be on the computer. Seriously.

I am, a very opinionated pre-existing condition because of all my medical stuff, right in the middle of the debate and I am not able to emotionally remove myself from it. I take it personally because, well, it IS personal to me. It is my very life and well being and I, as well as 32 million other Americans, needed this bill to pass. I'm not going to say much else about that here because this blog is my happy place and all that crap rhetoric is like quicksand for my mental state. If you want to read my thoughts on that - check out my other blog. I'm going to unload a bunch over there later this week regarding health care. But not here. This blog is for my kids, my craft stuff and my attempts at cheaply decorating our money pit continually renovated home. In other words, only things that lift my spirit and make me smile are allowed.

So on that note - I'm back and I'll be uploading some pics later of some projects I've been working on. AND I've made progress with the dining room issue. More to come on that too.

Today it is supposed to be 74 degrees. The sun is out and, for a change, the wind is not gusting up to 50 miles per hour. I'm going to be outside with the kids today. :) That is a great thing. Springtime - it's very nice to have you back - I've missed you.

It only took a snowstorm

to kill the pollen and give a day without terrible allergies. Although I am loving the fact that my nose isn't running and I'm not sneezing - I am missing the pretty weather. It's gray and cold and has been snowing on and off since 8 o'clock this morning. And today is the first day of Spring - how'd you like that? Ah well, it is supposed to be 70 again on Monday so I can suffer through these couple of days to get there.

*Warning* This post is all.over.the.place. Ok - proceed at your own risk. You've been formally warned.

We went camping at Beaver's Bend and had a good time. The kids really enjoyed it and Mark and I did too - for different reasons. He got to go fish every day,several times a day.

And when he went he almost always took the boys.

Because he took the boys, I got to hang out at the cabin with Piper. A good part of that time she was napping so I got some ME alone time - just to hang out, smell the pine trees, watch the birds, enjoy nature and read. It was really nice.










I've been doing quite a bit of re-doing and crafting and whatnot. I've tackled so many little projects I"m not sure what to talk about first. I'll probably put them in seperate posts just to organize them a bit better. So I'll just talk about the re-vamping of the house. I am on a white kick. I am loving white right now - everything about it - it's so clean and inviting, and to me, calming. I've been adding white into our living room over the past couple of weeks and I'm liking how it's coming. I covered some red pillows in khaki slip covers and covered a pillow in drop cloth. Then I hung some thrift store frames I spray painted white on the wall and added a little vingette of items that came from Goodwill. Have I mentioned I heart spray paint? Well, I do. I lurve it. It is my BFF. I've got a large mirror I found at a junk store for $5 down in the basement taped off and drying right now from a coat of rubbed oil bronze spray paint I put on it earlier. That is going above our sofa. When I get it all done I'll do a "reveal" post. ;)

I also spray painted some heavy, wood candle sticks white. This is the "before" shot.

"After" I like how the paint didn't cover them completely. I really like the bit of brown showing through in some places.

While I was at it I took the cover to our fireplace out and gave it a good coat of white spraypaint too. Our fireplace does not have a flue. I know - odd right? Well, it doesn't - so we have this HUGE board that has been made to fit the exact opening to the hearth and it stays in place to keep the cold air out. Anyway, I have been thinking I want to paint that fireplace for about 6 months now. The issue is that our living room faces East and South and because of lots of trees in our front yard, the room is very dark. The dark red fireplace combined with all the dark woodwork makes our living room feel like a cave. I was thinking that if I painted the fireplace it would give the living room a POP of color  rather than feel like it is a sucking, black hole of death   because that DARK fireplace is just sucking all the light out of the room. SO I painted the wood cover to the fireplace. I like it. It has already lightened that area up and given the little bit of light we have in there a place to bounce off. Reveal shot on this area to come as well. It's better but not done yet. I'm thinking of doing a lime-wash paint treatment on the brick of the fireplace - anyone ever heard of that?

Still trying to figure out a good color for the dining room. Now I'm even leaning toward doing something in a cream or creamy-green shade. The husband has talked me out of painting the trim in the dining room because it would just be too.much.work. So I have to work with what I've got....which is stained red-oak trim - it is almost a Cinnamon color stain. Very hard to get a good lot of colors to work against. Greens do look good, as do yellows - I have enough yellow in my house though. Possibly a green...maybe a green-gray or a creamy-green - something chameleon-like that will change as the light in the room changes. I'm also thinking of cream slipcovers for the dining room chairs. Am I insane wanting a variation of white when I have small children? Probably. But thats what I'm feeling right now.

Ok, so off to fold some laundry and check on the pulled pork I have in the crockpot. It smells wonderful and my tummy is growling. Happy first day of Spring everyone! 

Ok - so upcoming posts will be on chalkboards. I am a madwoman right now for chalkboard paint. I've got some serious projects in the works on that. If the weather really does turn nice next week maybe I'll be able to finish them!

Giveaway!!!

Real quick before I go to bed - I had to post about a Fun Giveaway over at Finesse Your Nest!

Kendall is celebrating 200 followers by giving away a book each day this week!!! Head over to her blog and check it out!!!!

We are supposed to have really pretty weather tomorrow so I am thinking about doing some painting/crafting! If I am able to I'll get some things posted on here...but no promises I still have a sick little baby girl (viral throat infection = yuckies) so it may or may not happen. But here's hoping!!! Oh and I also re-vamped our bedroom and lightened it up for Spring/Summer. I just need to change the lamp shades from dark red to a crisp white and I'll feel better about how it's looking. Maybe I'll post some pictures of that if I get time too!

edited - to fix the typos. Good lord you can tell I was sleepy when I typed all that!

All sorts of Good Things

It's been a few days!
First of several Good Things - my husband got our heater working again! HOORAH! It took 2 different trips to OKC and 3 different blower motors but he finally did it. He is awesome like that - I think I'll keep him!

Second Good Thing - I got a job writing for a website online! YAAA!!! It is challenging for me but also very cool.

Third Good Thing - Alec tried out for a part in the school musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and got a part! We don't know which part but he got one! YAAAA!!! Go Alec!

Fourth Good Thing - I have been a crafting/re-doing fool! I'm also linking up to 3 different parties - Kendall over at Finesse Your Nest for Shop Your House Sunday, Kimm at Reinvented for Trash to Treasure Tuesday, and with Maryann over at Domestically Speaking for her Power of Paint party! I'm having another MRI tomorrow for the Meningiomas ( I talk about that over here, here, and here ) and that means that I have had a TON of nervous energy to burn. That equals me being almost manic and getting a bunch of projects finished! So WOOT for me on that account! So hold on to your hats ladies - there are LOTS of pictures in this post.

First off are the Shop Your House items:

 

This old sewing machine used to sit in the middle of my looooong living room wall where the console table sits now. It is beyond thunderdome heavy so when we rearranged the living room the husband did not want to move it far - much less down the stairs into the basement. So we tried it at the side of the sofa - where we needed a table anyway - and it worked!

 This is the console table we moved down and now it is sitting just about where 

the sewing machine was - this needed to be here. It is holding several items I "shopped" for in my house. The little glass doodads and the clock on the left side were scavenged from other areas as was the skinny buffet lamp!

 Close up shots of the items! That bamboo wood frame also came from the Salvation Army. It was 50 cents.

Now on to Trash to Treasure and the Power of Paint!

First off are the mirrors!
A couple of weeks back I had posted a picture of a large round mirror I had found in my basement on another Shop Your House Sunday with Kendall. Well - I had a vision and it included LOTS of mirrors surrounding that large one on my dining room walls. I finally got it finished! 

 

This is the left side of the large window.

This is the right side.

This is a shot of the room. 

It is a work in progress! I still need to re-cover those chairs cushions but that is a future project!

I only spent a total of $12 on all of those mirrors - other than the large round one on the left as I already had that one. 

First - I taped the mirrors off. As you can see they were all sorts of types and colors!

 

Then I spray painted them Satin Nickel.

Then I went over them with a mixture of black craft paint and glazing medium, wiped them down and Voila! New, old mirrors! All came from thrift stores, Goodwill and the Salvation Army! Gotta love spray paint and glaze!!!

And a closer look at the other side too.

Excuse the finger prints on the mirror - my 3 yr old had been "helping". ;) 

Now the next project was my very looooong living room wall. I had NOT been happy with it since we moved in 5 yrs ago but I could not figure out what to do with it. I went on a rearranging kick and then it came to me - I'll showcase some of our family photos on that wall. 

Before

I know, a very 'tired' sofa and part of the blah wall behind it

Then I added a slipcover - BETTER - but not there yet. 

So I rearranged....

After

 All the photos are in Sepia (except the one large photo of Piper and I right after she was born) and everything is in a shade of dark brown frame.

  

These frames also came from thift stores, the Salvation Army and Goodwill and only cost me $8 total. I painted some of them dark brown and glazed with black and others I left as they were.

  

The husband thought I was crazy at first - hanging empty frames on the wall and then putting framed pictures inside those frames....but now he likes it. I dig the architectural element of it.

Trying to get the entire wall here...see it is still a bowling alley of a room but I think this helps break it up a bit and give it interest. I still need to get another basket for under the console table...or possibly an old suitcase to hold throws and pillows...still working on that one. 

  

And this is the After picture, with a cameo by Max, of where the sofa ended up. The picture frame wall is to the right. Still a work in progress here too. I need something large over the sofa...so I was thinking maybe 3 large photos of the kids, blown up and framed out in 11X14 frames???? Possibly???? I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for looking! I know it was long but I told you - I've been burning off nervous energy!!!

Quandries and Give-Aways!

What's a girl to do? I have several painting projects that I would like to get underway but they all require me to be able to spray paint them and that requires that I be outside to do it. It is only in the 30's here and that, according to the can, is too cold to effectively use said spray paint. *hmph* I checked the weather and it says that we won't have temps in the 50's until Saturday and 50's, according to the paint can, is the coolest it can be for the paint to adhere correctly. *sigh*

So here is what I have planned to work on this week if the weather holds:

Painting

First, the table/magazine stand that I found during my shopping the house expedition. I am going to get it cleaned up, put a coat of Almond Satin spray paint over it, sand it and rough it up a bit, and then go over it with a dark brown glaze to age it. Hopefully it will turn out well. I'll post pictures either way.


Second, I have these 2 small mirrors that are currently an ugly cross between brass and gold. I'm going to spray paint them a silver Nickel and then go over them with the dark brown glaze too. I'm actually going for more of a "champagne" finish on these. But since I can't find a champagne finish spray paint I thought I'd try the brown glaze of the top of silver and just see how it turns out. I'll post pics of those too when they are done.

Thrift Storing

Tomorrow I'm taking Max into Norman to go to Mother's Day Out and that means that Miss Pip and I get to go cruise the thrift stores. WOOT! Nothing gets me more excited than a good thrift store outing! I'm searching for old mirrors but who knows what else I'll find. Maybe some cool fabric, baskets, or a nice old piece of furniture? What I love about thrift stores is the possibilities they hold. I like finding something that has been discarded and giving it a purpose again; a new lease on life; a second chance. That speaks to me.

The Husband is Out of Town 

And you know what that means; it is time to rearrange the furniture! HA! Poor guy - he never knows what he will find whenever he has to go away for his job for a few days. *giggle* I usually do things like this when he leaves. It gives me more time to move everything back to where it was if it looks terrible tweak what I've done! I took pictures today of what I'm dealing with in my living room and I'll post them IF the furniture arrangement scheme works out. The problem is that my living room is it's real long and skinny - a rectangley bowling alley shape and it makes me crazy because I can never seem to get the furniture placement *right*.

In the Mean Time

My son, Alec, who is 12 came home from school today in a funk. When I finally got him to tell me what was going on it turns out that a "friend" of his made a joke about me at recess. I have Bell's Palsy and I talk about that over here at my personal blog. I hate that I have this but there isn't anything I can do about it that I haven't already done or am currently doing. It just *is* right now. But his little buddy thought it would be cute to turn it into a joke and that hurt Alec and embarrassed him terribly. He was/is really angry. I'm not sure what to do without making the situation worse - but I guess I just want to ask - why do 12 year olds have to be so nasty? I can take it but why does that little asshat have to do that to my son??? Oh how I dislike middle school aged children...(other than my own, of course.)

And now...the Good Stuff aka a Give - Away!!!

I'm going to link up to a cool blog called Drab to Fab that is having a fabulous give-away! Go here to read all about it, and enter to win 3 different things! YA for fun give-aways!

Feed Good Fridays

I'm going to designate Friday as the day I'm going to post about things that make me happy. Hopefully the list will be a fairly long one - but if not always, then that is OK too.


Lots of Mommy Braggin Going On

Max is potty training. Yes, indeedy, he is. AND whatsmore he is having SUCCESS at it. He filled in all the squares on Thursday on his success chart and started on Friday - yesterday. He got his SuperWhy potty prize. Today he has filled in all the squares for today and has earned his next potty prize - an Art Easel. He is going into the bathroom on his own when the timer goes off, getting undressed, and using the potty and then coming to get me to show me. I'm so proud of him.

Max also slept in his bed ALL NIGHT last night; no trips to mom and dads bed. When he got up this morning, at 7am, he came in and got in bed with me and said 2 things. The first was, "Mama - I slept in my bed all night!!!" I said, "I KNOW! I'm so PROUD of you!" And the next thing he said was, "MAMA I DIDN'T PEE IN MY DIAPER!" I said, "I KNOW! OMGOSH! You are SO AWESOME! OK, let's go potty!!!" And we did. And he didn't put up a fight. And it was most awesome.

Pip is sitting up all the time now. She doesn't topple much unless she is trying to reach something or her brother knocks her over.

She isn't crawling yet but she is on the verge. LOTS of up on the knees rocking and sometimes, accidentally, inching forward. So anytime really.

Also she does this tongue thing which is just hysterical to me. When she is concentrating or working hard at something she sticks her tongue STRAIGHT out. Remember how Michael Jordan would have his tongue sticking out when he'd make a slam dunk? Yep - just like that.


Alec is awesome. He is having attitude at times but really not so very much. For a 12 year old in the midst of puberty he is not much trouble.

He is a VERY good person and a wonderful, loving soul. He always has been. I don't have words for how much I love that young man. And he *is* a young man now. He is damn near as tall as me. His feet are a size larger than mine now (and I'm a women's 7 1/2) and his voice cracks pretty often these days.

I swear to God just the other day he was 3.
Just the other day...

All stuff about Me

I had Acupuncture a couple of days ago, I talk about that over here, and since then I have felt great.


The sounds of Loreena McKennitt waft through my home again. I have missed her sorely. I also have some Nag Champa burning. I have a white candle lit. The sun is shining. I am beginning to feel like mySelf again. That in itself is a Wonderful Thing.

Here's where I go all Crafty on you

I have managed to do a few crafty things this past week. Here are some pictures - they are not big deals but it gives me a creative outlet and makes me happy.

First I made some Jute twine balls *snicker* (I know, mentally I'm 12) Anywho - I got the idea from Kendall at Finesse your Nest and these are how mine turned out.

They are just Styrofoam balls wrapped in Jute Twine and hot glue. Really easy to do (took me like 10 minutes total) and cheap (!) and, I think, very cute.

I also wrapped a cool shaped, empty, clean olive oil bottle with Jute twine and filled up some old bottles (that were in our basement when we moved in and I wouldn't part with them) with wine bottle corks. I keep all the corks from the wine we drink, and have for 6 years now, and I put them in these old bottles. I like how it turned out.

The Jute twine balls *snicker* turned out so cute that I decided to attempt some others. I made wrapped one tennis ball in Raffia.

And another tennis ball wrapped in plain white rope.

I didn't have enough rope but I wrapped it until I ran out. I will finish this when I get some more because I LOVE how it turned out. I am digging the texture of it.

So that's it for today. My first Feel Good Friday. What kinds of things do you guys Feel Good about today????