Moving Forward With A Clean Slate

Hello lovely readers! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and hopefully were able to enjoy an extended weekend.

We had a wonderful day! Grandma and Grandpa came over, we feasted on good food, played cards, and watched a movie. What a blessing!

 

 

Friday was a nice, relaxing day. No crazy Black Friday shopping for me! Nope! This girl stayed in her p.j.'s. All. Day. Long. Hubster did his job of putting the Christmas tree up and putting on all the lights. I spent most of the day removing all the pumpkins and signs of Fall....which left THIS.....

 

 

 

 

....a clean, neutral slate to welcome Christmas décor with! Hurray!!

 

Yesterday the kids were still off from school, so we had an extra bonus day at home. I spent a good bit of time trimming the tree. I also pulled a couple Christmas things out for the kitchen. It's a process for me. So things will start to take shape over the next few days.

 

I have a busy week ahead. Hubster's birthday is on Thursday. Then I will be preparing to celebrate our oldest son's (16th!) birthday with family this weekend. So that will include some cooking, cleaning, and shopping. I hope to get some Christmas spirit tossed about the house too. Because, as you can see, except for the tree, it's pretty boring in here right now. But it's good to have a clean slate to start with.

 

I'm excited to share this season with you! I have post ideas swirling around in my head.....kind of like visions of sugarplums. Hopefully next week I'll be sharing Christmas décor with you. I have a couple posts I want to share about Christmases when I was growing up. And I still haven't told you about the adventure that Hubster and I went on last week! I can't wait to share THAT story! Let's just say it involves the playroom.

 

So I hope you will choose to come hang out with me this Christmas season as we prepare to celebrate the greatest Gift given to this world!

 





A Playroom Update

Good Monday morning everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

Ours was....I'm tired of saying "busy," so I'm going to say "full."

It actually started on Friday when Hubster took a day off from work to help me....you won't even believe it....PAINT THE PLAYROOM!!!!  Hooray!!

We worked hard on Friday. Hubster continued to work like a dog on Saturday while I went and watched our daughter run in her cross country meet.

Sunday morning we had our normal church activities. After church we celebrated this guy's Gotcha Day. It's been fourteen years! FOURTEEN! I can still remember the excitement mixed with panic when they first placed him in my arms in that Kolkata hotel room and I became his Mom. He has come such a long way since then. And my, how the time flies!

(He loved that Dad picked him up a crown at Burger King. He wore it until he went to bed last night.)

 

 

So back to the playroom.....

 

I thought I would give you a little update about what was accomplished over the weekend.

 

 



 

 

First, we had to finish cleaning the room out a little bit. Then we got to the painting (SW Sea Salt. You can read my process in choosing this color HERE and HERE.)

As you can see, we also took a big step (for us) and painted the doors "black."  The color is actually a very, very deep brown, Fired Earth by Valspar.

 

 

It took a little convincing for Hubster to see the vision, but we're both really happy with how they turned out. There are three doors....our front entry door (which hardly gets used), a bedroom door, and this coat closet door. On Friday, we also went out to Lowe's and purchased a new door for the closet. The original door didn't match the others, plus it had been painted over a couple times and wasn't in the greatest shape.

 

Here are the before and after photos.....

 

 

On Saturday, Hubster finished painting the trim, cleaned the carpet, and put together the IKEA Kallax shelves that I purchased back in June. I told you he worked like a dog!

 

 

I can't wait to fill up these cubbies and make them look pretty.

 

I found this wall art at Hobby Lobby a while back at 50% off. I thought the cheerful colors would be perfect for this room. Plus, the kids love maps so it's perfect.



 

 

 

Obviously, we still have some projects head of us. I'm thinking about what kind of window treatments I would like. And in the meantime, we are seriously considering replacing the windows in this room. There is a crack in one that has been there since we moved in (eleven years ago this month!) So hopefully we will get that taken care of before the weather gets too cold as it does cause a bit of a draft in the room.

 

Plus, I'm still in negotiations with Hubster about a new couch and chair, so we'll see. The ones we currently have are still pretty sturdy. They were handed down form my in-laws, but we've had them going on twenty years and between three kids and a dog, they have seen better days. And I'm a little over the country blue plaid, you know what I mean? 

 

So there's still a list of things to do before we can call this room "DONE," but I finally feel like we've made some progress.



Four Things For Friday 9.12.14

Happy Friday!!

Here are some things that have been rolling around in my mind over the last few days......

1.) Cross Country.

My daughter is running on her middle school cross country team this year. This is a whole new world for us in so many ways.

I am NOT athletic in any way....just ask my family. However I do love sports. My dream was always to be a mom. And I always thought I would be the mom who was at all her kid's sporting events, cheering them on. Obviously, God had different plans and our family was created through the adoption of kids with special needs. I've learned to cheer them on in other, [much more important] areas.

But THIS YEAR my daughter is running and we have been thrown knee-deep into the world of school sports. And I find that my mind is in a constant whirl of thoughts related to cross country and it's effects on our family.

* When is the next meet? * Is the uniform clean? * Is it going to rain? * What time will dear daughter be home? * Does she have homework? * Will the course be wheelchair-friendly? Will Hubster be able to leave work in time to be at a meet? What am I going to make for dinner and when will we eat it? Etc., etc.

We are having a good time and I LOVE going to the meets, but I just had no idea how much it would consume my mind.


2.) Yesterday I was at Target and found all these goodies!

Burlap, and banners, and chalkboard tags....OH MY!! You KNOW how much I like chalkboards, right?  I already have ideas floating around in my head for some of these items. But I also like having things like this in my "stash" to pull out whenever I'm feeling a creative whim.


3.) Last week I entered the 21st century and got my first smart phone. Yep, I was just a little behind. (No offense to those family members who like their un-smart phones.)


4.) Not that I didn't know this before, but God sure knows what He's doing. The whole four seasons idea is a good one. We are such fickle and discontented people. When it's cold, we can't wait for hot. When it's hot, we long for cold. But God is so good to us. Just when we think we can't handle any more heat, He sends Fall our way....His gift to us.

"My children, you are so silly, but I love you anyways. Here you go!"

I'm looking forward to a little sweatshirt weather this weekend. Remind me in the middle of Winter how much I wanted cooler temperatures, okay?

I hope you have a great weekend!

September Chalkboard Calendar Update



Hey Everybody! I hope you all had a great Labor Day Weekend! Did the weekend fly by, or was it just me? Our weekend was full of family get togethers, church, and just hanging around home (recuperating from our first week of school, I think.)

 

I found some time on September 1st to get the monthly calendar up on the chalkboard.

 

 

 

 

That meant erasing our Summer List. It was bittersweet....looking back at all the fun memories we made but knowing that it's time to move on to something new.

 

We did pretty well with our list this year.

 



 

 

 

But now September is upon us. The month is filling up already with cross country meets, our annual "camp" weekend with Hubster's family, a Fall church picnic, hopefully painting the playroom (PLEASE can we get the playroom painted already?!?), and I'm sure more than I can remember at the moment.

 

 

 

 

It's that time of year when we get back into a routine, yet there's a lot of NEW too. How about you? Are you holding on to the last fragments of Summer or you moving full speed ahead to whatever is in store for you?

 



 

 

 

 

Four Things For Friday 8.22.14

Happy Friday!

 

It's that time again! Time to share a few things that have been on my mind or are going on around here.

 

1.  It's back to school time. Our kids return to school next Tuesday. School schedulers know what they are doing when they make Summer Break the length that it is. Summer is a wonderful time to take it easy, do fun things as a family, and just unwind. But there comes a time every year when we are all just ready for a return to the routine of the school year. I think we actually reached that point a couple weeks ago. Even my child who likes school the least said she is ready to go back.

 

And Mom is ready too. I like the being able to sleep a little later and not have such a set routine, but having the kids home in the Summer puts limits on what I am able to accomplish creatively around the house. I crave a creative outlet. As much as I hate getting up at 5:15 every morning, I'm looking forward to projects ahead.....like working on the playroom, decorating for Fall, and...<gasp>....Christmas!

 



 

 

 

 

2.  Our oldest will be starting high school this year. YIKES! I can't believed we've reached this point as parents. I attended Freshment orientation with him this week and I know he is going to do great. (More on this guy next week!) But it just reminds me that graduation and college are just around the corner and every moment is precious. I hope that he will embrace his high school experience and make lots of good memories.

 



3.  This Fall our family is venturing into an unknown area for us...school sports. Our daughter is running cross country this year. Practices began about three weeks ago and so I have been driving her to practice every day either to the school or a local running trail, sometimes heading home, and sometimes sitting in the van through the entire practice for the sake of less driving time. We've also attended a cross country picnic, taken her to a team party to make matching tie dye t-shirts, and we went as a family to a  community event where all the Fall sports teams were introduced.

Phewwww!

I had no idea! And school  hasn't even started yet! Tomorrow is their first meet. We are excited to see how that goes.

 

 

4.  And speaking of the playroom....

It's still waiting to be painted. I referred a while back to an architectural detail that we need to address. It's not a big deal, but where the walls and ceiling meet it is curved. It's hard to explain and I thought about taking a photo to show you, but I don't really think you'd be able to see it well. Anyways. Hubster and I have to come up with a plan on how we will handle that. When we painted the room before, we just used an off-white color so we could paint the walls and the ceiling all the same and it wasn't an issue. But since we will be using Sherwin Williams' Sea Salt this time around, it will need to be addressed. I think we will probably just tape off a ceiling line, but I'm considering the possibility of molding too, so we'll see.


I hope you all have a great weekend! Enjoy what's left of this beautiful Summer we've had!

A Road Trip To IKEA And A Playroom Update

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you had a great weekend.

On Saturday, I got to do something I had been looking forward to for a while. I headed off on a road trip to IKEA with all my favorite girls. It was a Ladies Day, Road Trip, IKEA-Shopping Extravaganza!! Our traveling party included me, my daughter, Sal (an IKEA first-timer), my niece, and my Mom.

We woke up to rain on Saturday morning. BUMMER. But we didn't let that dampen our spirits. Oh no....we forged on!

(See that sky? That's what is was like. All. Day.)

 





It's been a long time since I had been to IKEA on a Saturday. It was BUS-Y!

Since the closest store is two hours away, I always try to think ahead, make a plan, and use the trip wisely, so to speak, since I don't know when I'll be back again.

As you know, I've been thinking a lot about our "playroom" and have been gathering inspiration.

So I picked up some Kallax shelving.

And I also picked up this rug. I think it will add a fun bit of color to the room. It was a good deal too. It's over 4x6 ft. and with my IKEA Family card I got it for 14.99! Rugs can be expensive, so I was a happy camper.

I got a few small things too.

 

 

I bought a couple more of these sea grass placemats. I have two already, but I wanted to be able to do a whole table setting using them.

 

The black and white striped plate caught my attention.

 

Those little metal planters are only .99. I had one, but was wanting another....for symmetry. I have a thing about symmetry. Ha!

 

I love the cork hot pads. They're great in the kitchen, obviously, but I find myself using them to raise objects up in different vignettes I do. So sometimes I run out of them in the kitchen!

 

And lastly, I thought this black and white geometrical print pillow was really cute. Another good deal at only 5.99.

 

It was a good day. We girls always have so much fun together....lots of talking and laughing. I love them all so much and it was great to spend the day with them.

 

So now I have a little start on the playroom. I want to paint and I figure I probably shouldn't put the shelves together until after the painting is done. Less to move, 'ya know? But our calendar is looking pretty full over the next few weeks, so I have no idea when that will get done. All in good time, I guess.

 

 

 

 



Weekend Treasures: Family And Finds

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

On Friday, we spent the afternoon picnic-ing with Hubster's family. It was a GORGEOUS day filled with family, fun, and laughter. Throw in good food, corn hole, volleyball, and celebrating a birthday and it was a perfect day!

In the evening we headed to a band concert and fireworks with my parents. This is something we have done for years....since before we had kids....and it is always fun. We didn't go last year because of bad weather, sickness, and work schedules so we were happy to get back to our tradition (although we missed Sal and her family!) I love patriotic music and again, the weather was perfect, and the fireworks were spectacular!

 

I got a chance on Saturday to sneak out and do a little treasure hunting. I went to my favorite Goodwill Store. Okay, it is the only Goodwill I go to, but I often find great stuff.

I found this sweet jar. I don't think it is old, but I just loved the shape. Can you see the oak leaf and acorn motif around the handles? So pretty.

 

 

 

 

I also found this cute little ironstone creamer.

 

 



And this sweet little thing.

 

 

I challenged Hubster to see if he knew what it was. "No, it's not for sprinkling cheese on your pasta!"

 

But you all know what it is, right? A little vase with a "frog" top? I don't think he believed me....so he Googled it. He was convinced that FROG must stand for something. Silly guy.

 

Then there were these pretty transferware teacups. They are English and their manor house and carriage design reminded me of Downton Abbey.

 

You might remember that I have a thing for teacups....and Goodwill.

 

 

 

 

 

I also found an ironstone tureen and a platter, but I didn't get good  pictures of them. It was definitely a good treasure-hunting day! Since I like changing things around a lot, I love when I can find pretty things I like at a good price.

 

Have you found any good treasures lately?





Easter Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We enjoyed ours immensely!

Fortunately, Hubster had the day off on Good Friday. That afternoon, we celebrated Easter with his family so that his sister who lives out of state and her family could be with us. We enjoyed a good meal and then headed outside for the annual Easter egg hunt for the kids.

I must say that the weather this weekend was just gorgeous. It was so nice to be outside in the sunshine and not have to be all bundled up. After this winter, I was just thanking the Lord all weekend for such glorious weather.

The kids love the egg hunt. It's been tradition at Nana and Grandpa's house since they were very little. All the grandkids are growing up though, and so the egg hunt's years are numbered I'm afraid to say.

Our Saturday began with Easter baskets at home. Yes, on Saturday. This has become our tradition over the years. It really began because honestly, we were usually so busy on Easter Sunday that we didn't really have time for baskets. It has worked out well though because now our Easter is more focused on Jesus instead of the Easter Bunny.

 

We never made a huge deal about the Easter Bunny when the kids were little (most of that kind of stuff entered their lives via school.) One of the first years we did baskets on Saturday, they were so excited about the Easter Bunny coming to our house. but we told them he wouldn't come unless they took a bath. So they all got in the tub and while Hubster was giving baths, I hid the baskets. For a couple years after that they thought that the Easter Bunny only came while they were in the tub. Worked out great for us! Ha!

Now they know it's just Mom and Dad hiding the baskets and so they huddle in one bedroom while we hide them and then come out and search. We don't have many great hiding spots in our house, so the search is very short. But it's tradition.

 

 

(I'm such a bad blogger. For the rest of the weekend the camera was pretty much forgotten about.)

 

The remainder of Saturday was spent getting the house ready for our guests for Easter dinner the next day. My sweet Hubster even went out and bought some flowers to plant outside by the door to welcome everyone. 

 

Easter Sunday started early for us. At our church, the youth plan the early service (formerly known as the Sunrise Service). Since two of our kiddos were involved in that this year, they had to be at church especially early. Hubster drove over with the kids while I came a little later to do a few last minute things at home.

 

The kids and our Youth Director did a great job. It always feels so right to start out the day joyously celebrating that Jesus is risen.

 

That service is followed by Easter Breakfast....scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, fruit, juice, and this year, a French Toast casserole....YUM!

 

Next came our main service. The choir sang in this service and my parents, long-time choir members, recruited our middle guy to sing in the choir for Easter. How sweet it was to see his face buried in his music trying his hardest to follow along. I also had to privilege to be part of the worship team this morning. It's always wonderful to be able to lead people to worship Jesus, but it was even more so on the day when we celebrate the Resurrection.

 

After church, we headed home for lunch. (Don't know how we had any room for lunch, but we managed. Ha!) What a fun time we had around the table. We always do. Mom, Sal, and I had all contributed to the meal and everything was delicious. Here's our menu in case you missed it.

 

We finally relaxed after lunch by all sitting around and watching Frozen. Yes, all eleven of us! Those of us who had seen it a time or two or more sang along. Fun times!

 

Shortly after that the party broke up. Hubster and I cleaned up, put the kids to bed, and collapsed in front of the TV to watch the Amazing Race. 

 

Our weekend was full. But these are the times when I look back and realize how full our life is....kids, family, church, home, friends.....and even more important things like love, hope, and the Giver of it all.

 

I hope your Easter weekend was blessed as well!

 

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Before I go, I want to tell you about a great giveaway that Sal is having over at Drinking From My Saucer. She's talking about Spring and mason jars today and has a set of green Heritage Ball jars to give away. So if your house is still needing a little Spring in it, head on over and you could win a set of those beautiful green jars!

 

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A Table For Easter

 

I'll be hosting my family for Easter dinner this year. When I'm having company, I always like to do a "dress rehearsal" of my table. I pick out my tablecloth, dishes, napkins, serving pieces, and put together a centerpiece. I like having it all figured out ahead of time so I'm not pulling things together at the last minute. Much less stress that way.

So here's what I came up with for Easter this year.

 

 

C'mon over and take a closer look!

 

 



I had a hard time deciding on dishes. It was between our original Pfaltzgraff Garden Party or the new Asiatic Pheasant. The Garden Party dishes are very Spring-like with their tulips and violets, but in the end the new dishes won out.

 

 

I made cloth napkins out of this bright yellow fabric that I found in fat quarters at WalMart. Making my own was much less expensive that buying cloth napkins and I hadn't found any I like anyway. The fat quarters were almost the perfect size (18x21 in.) and I just had to cut off a little to make them square. I'm so glad I went this route. If I had bought fabric off the bolt, there would've been a lot more measuring and cutting....and the cost was about the same.

 

Since I don't have a sewing machine, I decided to fringe the edges instead of hemming them. I learned this from my mom. When we got married, she made cloth napkins to go under the centerpieces on all the tables at our reception. Mom helped me fringe the Easter napkins too. It's very easy to do, but fringing twelve napkins wound up being more time consuming than I thought it would be. Thanks Mom!

 

 

 

 

For the centerpiece, I used all my latest ironstone finds and filled them with pretty purple and yellow Violas. I love how it looks.

 

 

 

 

I also used a couple small metal planters that I found in The Spot at Target. I filled them with Easter basket grass and some yummy chocolate eggs for [hopefully] AFTER dinner.

 

 

 

 

So there's how our Easter table will be set. Our menu is set as well!

 

 

Ham

 

Sal's Killer Hash Brown Potatoes

 

Cinnamon Applesauce Jello Salad

 

Green Peas

 

Easter Eggs

(hard-boiled)

 

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

 

and

 

Chocolate Éclair Dessert

 



 

 

 

So now that the plans are made for our Easter Dinner, it's time to clean the house a bit!

 

Are you hosting an Easter Dinner at your house? What are your plans?

 

 

 



 







Four Things For Friday 2.7.14

Happy Friday, Everyone!

It's time another edition of Four Things....Friday style!

1.) This morning when we woke up the temperature was -1 and the wind chill was -14. No snow day. No two hour delay. Nothing. I think this winter is making us hardier. We don't need no stinkin' snow day!! Ha!

2.) I'm excited for the start of the Olympics. How about you? Winter is my favorite. The kids have been looking forward to it too. I'm only disappointed that so much is shown on the cable channels these days. We only have basic cable.....bummer. And with it being half-way across the world, most of it that is on the network is on long after the kids are in bed. But we will see what we can tune in over the weekend. Go Team USA!

3.) I'm looking forward to sharing a little project with you that I've been working on for the last couple days. Next week. Tune in!

4.) And finally.....tomorrow we will be celebrating the 11th Gotcha Day of this guy....

Eleven years! Yikes!

I knew he was "ours" from the moment I saw his picture. But I didn't fall in love with him until I heard his sweet giggle in person for the first time.



He's come such a long way in those eleven years and he's becoming such a wonderful young man! His intelligence, sense of humor, and positive outlook on life never cease to amaze me.

I am proud and humbled that he has been entrusted to our care.





Have a great weekend everybody!

Weekend Wrap-up And The February Chalkboard Calendar

Welcome to a new week....and a new month!

How was your weekend? Ours was busy and flew by way too fast!

Saturday, I attempted to conquer Mount Laundry. Between the suitcase of laundry I brought home from Florida and everybody else's clothes that I didn't get washed while I was gone, I feel like I'm still trying to catch up.

And then there's the dishes. Maybe it's because the kids have been home so much lately, but the loading and unloading of the dishwasher has seemed like a neverending cycle.

I did manage to get our February calendar done on the chalkboard though. And on time, no less.

Yesterday we had all our usual church activities. And in the afternoon we celebrated my sweet niece's 16th birthday. We're not hugely into the Super Bowl, but I did watch a little bit before turning over to Downton Abbey.

So that's pretty much my weekend in a nutshell. Were you able to accomplish any projects at your house? Or are you just trying to keep your head above water right now like me? (Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.)  :D

I hope you will continue to join me this week on the blog. It's beginning to look a little Valentine-y around here. Just sayin'.

Have a great day everyone!