New Year, no resolutions.

   That's right, I have no resolutions for this year! Instead I am making decisions as I go and whatever may happen, happens. Of course I have things I want to accomplish this year, several in fact. But if I try and tell myself I only have this next year to do them I don't want to feel like a failure if they don't have a chance to happen. This year small goals will be set one at a time and worked towards at whatever pace I feel is the one to go. Such as projects or photo sessions.

      I did get one goal done this week that I was trying to accomplish for quite a while now. There has been a need for a space specifically for small projects, and all of the things that go with it. I am calling it my crafting room, and I am in love. The idea hit me one night and I got the "ants in pants" to get it done! We moved all of the kids furniture and toys to the gray bedroom, then all of the office and craft things went into the blue room. This whole week has been about getting this thing done, I needed a space for my Cameo to go as well.

  Here are some shots of room organized for right now. The black furniture is the desk my hubs and I made. We kind of took it apart and used pieces in different spots where I needed them. As well I am hoping to paint them a high gloss while in the spring. There is also a dream for some storage pieces I have been drooling over.

 That beauty over to the right is the Cameo. I am in complete and absolute love with it! I will be posting some projects soon that I have done. First we are going to get a head start on spring cleaning, especially since it is not winter weather whatsoever this year. What are some of your resolutions this year, or are you forgoing them too?

Long time no see....

I am so sorry I haven't posted in so long. There has been so much going on, including getting sick so much this month. That means laying around and not doing a thing. My sweet hubby dragged the twin size bed into the living room for me so I could watch movies and pass out whenever I needed to. I think sometimes our bodies have ways of telling us to just relax finally, and that's exactly what happened.

  I got my Christmas present a little early this year, and I am in love! It is the Silhouette Cameo die cutter, similar to a Cricut. Except this thing is so amazing, and I mean AMAZING! It uses any font on your computer you already have and I can custom create designs for it to cut out. If you don't want to design any they have a store straight from the software that you can buy shapes and creations from .50- .99 cents. Isn't that awesome? So I can stay home all day in my jammies and get everything I need to create whatever I want.

   You really should look it up and see all of the amazing things it can cut and do. Besides that keeping me completely busy making things, I have a ton of photography clients suddenly. Of course since Christmas is just a few days away things are stacking up to do. I hope all is well and you all have a great holiday season!

Bathroom update!

     I just realized I never did an update on the guest bathroom re-do. We still have just a smidge of things left, but it's presentable. There is a frame to be built for the bathroom mirror and I am going to get some handles for the cabinets/drawers. All of these updates will probably happen during Christmas break for the hubs and I. Here are some photos of the progress. 

Hope you enjoy!

Gobble Gobble!

     I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I got a big surprise last week when I found out my mom was going to be able to make it to our home for the holiday. Then on Thanksgiving an even bigger surprise that my dad was assigned to fly to our area and could spend the Friday after with us. So my thankful list was pretty long this year. Here it goes....

    I am Thankful for:

• My wonderful and loving husband who I can always count on, he is by far the sweetest person I have ever met.
• My wonderful mom and dad. They have given me so much in my life, I could never thank them enough for all the opportunities they have given me. Cannot wait to move near them in the coolest town ever!
• For all of my amazing friends and family who I can always chat their ear off when I am feeling stressed or ecstatic.
• For my beautiful home that I share with my hubs, two dogs, and my turtle. That I get to decorate, demolish, and paint to my wits end, and they still put up with me.
• And last but not least for the children that are out there waiting to come into our lives, and us for them. I am thankful for the day I will get to hear the news and the day we will meet them. No matter how it happens, just for when it does. 

     On Thanksgiving I cooked from the evening before and all morning until two in the afternoon. The evening before I made some green bean casserole and cinnamon rolls to take to my co-workers that had to work on Thanksgiving. As well my mom and I made our family famous fudge. Even if it didn't turn out just exactly right, we still laughed until we cried. It was a pretty fabulous day. And later that night some friends from work showed up and we all had a blast just sitting around and talking. It felt like a pinch myself kind of day, as if it were all a movie playing in front of me. This is what Thanksgiving is all about. I think people forget that sometimes. It is not about the money and shopping for the best deals. It is about having the ones who care about you and that you care about spending the day with you because they want to. And now here are the photos that I found a few moments to snap. 

My Thanksgiving Mantle

The table on Thanksgiving day. Gold & Red. 

YUM! The food!

And of course the Christmas tree. We always set it up either on Thanksgiving or a little before. 

Ohhhhhh Shiny...

    You know those awesome candles that are so beautiful and have glitter with those little beads all over them? Yes, those same candles that every time you go to look at the price you are hoping that once maybe they are only a dollar or on clearance. Just to be disappointed every time when they end up being 14.99.  Well thanks to pinterest I found a way around that hefty price tag with a little elbow grease.

   Instead of using candles on this project I used some ornaments. The perks of working in retail is getting to take home those awesome ornaments and such things. Well these ornaments from last year where a little TOO shiny for my liking and way more colorful than I wanted to use this year.

   Super cool, huh? These a pretty good size ornaments. In fact I saw similar ones at a department store and for six of them it was eighteen bucks?! I can't fathom covering a tree with them if I have to pay that much. This is where the experiment comes in. What you need:

Epsom Salt
Glitter of your choice
Mod Podge
Paintbrushes
Acrylic paints

 
     For this project I used some little diamond looking stones instead of glitter. Also I am going with a cream and gold theme this year for Christmas, so I used a metallic gold and silver paint for under colors. Though first to get my desired effect I had to paint over the ornaments with a matte color so the metallic would go on properly.

After we painted all of them I let them dry for about half an hour or until the paint was dry to the touch.

Then once they were dry I painted half gold and half silver. As well then we laid them to the side to dry. They dried stacked on a large plate since if a little color got on one another it wouldn't matter. Once dry I covered each one in Mod Podge with a paint brush. A small layer is all that is needed.  Then immediately rolled them each into the epsom salt mixed with the diamond stones. Then each one was set out to dry. This took about 45 minutes to completely dry.

     Then once dry I put hooks on them and tah-dah! Pretty awesome huh? So now on your next craft day you can try this out on anything you'd like to get that same effect on.

     I made something super delicious this weekend, and for the first time. I made pot roast, and it was oh so yummy! This was the very first time really making a big meal in the crock-pot. And it was very much on a whim. I think I owe it to Paula Deen's furniture I saw in the store earlier in the day that made me want it. Except I use Coconut Oil instead of butter.

   So I bought what I thought I needed, with some good help from a friend about the meat choice. Along with a second trip to the grocery store after I realized I needed some extra things. I can tell you one thing, my hubs was so excited to be eating a big ol meaty dinner. I used the recipe by The Pioneer Woman, she's pretty awesome and she is from Oklahoma. I have used her recipes for many different things and they never fail me.

  Here's the ingredients I used, they differ slightly from hers. Also because of what I have on hand and what I use on a daily basis.

     There is also carrots but they were frying and I decided to take a photo after the fact. Go me! I used some awesome poultry mix I have had for a few years. It is just dried rosemary, thyme, and basil. Then I used my favorite, coconut oil. It cooks so much better than anything I have ever used. And it is so good for you, especially me since I have an immune deficiency. I will do a post about all the good things it does soon.

  Anywho we also got a 3.5 lb bottom round roast from Sams Club. We love us some green bell peppers too, so we decided to add it in. As the pioneer woman did, we made mashed potatoes on the side instead of adding them in, which made it heavenly.

   So first I heated our skillet with two tbsp of coconut oil.  In which I seared the onions, carrots, and green peppers in.

    I didn't use her directions to sear the meat though. We weren't having it that night so We put it straight into the crock pot raw. Thank goodness I have the hubs around, because I don't like touching red meats very much. I don't know why, but I have a weird panic attack when I have to. It's just not for me, but he doesn't care either way. So he used some of the salt and paper and rubbed it into the meat.

    We added the broth after this, the whole little containers was right at 3 cups. Then we added in the poultry seasoning and mixed it around. Then on top of that was the veggies. We cooked it overnight since I don't like leaving appliances on when I am not home. I think all those episodes of Rescue 911 when I was little put the fear of electrical fires in me. (Does anyone else remember that show?).

   So the next morning my hubs took the crock out and onto a cookie sheet and into the fridge it went. When we got home from work we put the crock back into the pot and heated it one high for about and hour and half. Just enough for all the fat to be re-dissolved and for everything to come back to food safe temp. I made some mashed potatoes while we waited. The meat literally just fell apart with the fork. It was so delicious. I poured some of the wonderful juices on the potatoes and put a little A1 sauce on the meat.

   Forever I was intimidated by this meal, I don't know why. But I love it and it is gonna stick around for as long as I can turn a switch on and off. Have you ever made anything that intimidated you? Did it turn out better than you perceived?

Couch Surfing

     We went window shopping today, which is so hard for me. When I love something, I want it, need it, right then. I know how to be patient, I am not saying it is easy to do. So we traveled to our local furniture stores and had some looksies. There are a few things we are looking for, but first thing on the list is a new sofa, er, sectional. With the possibility of kiddo's soon, we need something family friendly and large!

   Also our current sofa is sinking in somehow, we have only had it for 4 1/2 years. I guess 300 only goes so far for quality? Well I have a TON of things I look for in a couch, and so does the hubs. Seat depth is the number one thing on my list. I have very long legs for my body, and I don't like hanging halfway off the couch. Also style is another big thing, I want it to look pretty but not tooooo fancy. Like you would be okay with sitting on it and the curling-up ability is high on the list. Can the WHOLE family fit mostly comfortably? Then of course the durability with children is a big one too. Can we easily get stains out, and will the frame hold up well. I know I am out of my stupid mind to want a cream couch. But what can I say? I love them, and always have. We can always set some rules about no food or drink unless it is movie night and everyone leans over the coffee table while sitting on an inch of space to eat color less, oil less food; i.e. popcorn. Well we found the one we want, way out of our price range we had our hearts set on. Yet if we want it to last for 10 years, we may have to spend a little extra to get what we really want. We also saw a leather one, but when I laid my eyes on this one, it was love at first sight. I kept going back just falling into it. The picture does it no justice, this sucker is huge and deep, and comfy. And my true love as far as couches go.

Paula Deen

   It is part of Paula Deen's new furniture line. I am pretty sure she got right into my brain and saw everything I loved and made this line. I know, it's silly, but that's how I feel! I LOVE LOVE LOVE everything in her line, as well as her cooking. We are hoping to get this for Christmas for our "family". This is not just for us, but for any children we are lucky enough to get chosen for. This will make it our home for everyone!

Of course!

    I never meant to go this long without posting anything, but so much has been going on in the past few weeks that I literally have had no time. We had to get ready for our home re-assessment. Got it done, and felt great about it afterwards. Then worked, and worked, and worked some more. After working a whole lot my poor hubby got very sick and we had doctor appointments as well. In between all of this we had Halloween to celebrate as well.

   I ended up being Rosie the Riveter. I have always been in love with the era she was modeled after. And I think this hit my personality straight on. I am independent, helpful, and strong. Who wouldn't want to be Rosie?

   Anywho, I should be getting back to straight blogging this weekend! I will update quite a bit of things . Thanks for reading!

Judgy Wudgy....

   Tomorrow we have our adoption re-assessment for our home study. This always throws me into a nervous reck even if the house is spotless. I know we need to have a home that looks lived in, but I don't always wanna show my "living" persay. Sometimes I am careless to where I set things, especially when I get my hot flashes. Those clothes go flying and I may not pick them up for a few hours. So when you have someone coming in that is going to be the one deciding if you have a home worthy of kids then everything matters. I think of it like as if you were to have a celebrity coming into your home, you want it to look as good as it can. Nothing out of it's place and not a thing that looks cluttered. As silly as this sounds right now, it is how it makes me feel.

  I understand that once we get any children that they are going to turn it upside down and every which way; with my hubs and I trailing behind putting it back together. Even if they don't look under the cabinets to see everything in a single file row, I still feel better knowing that it is. Just in case they get curious and want to know what I am storing in the home. So for now I am going to be in a tizzy and running like a mad woman through my home to make it presentable. Especially since we found out yesterday it was going to be tomorrow!

   Have you guys ever had anyone so important over that it throws you into a spiral of cleaning even the tiniest nook and cranny?

Ch-ch-ch-changin.....

   About three weeks ago I talked the hubs into something that I know he loves me for. To paint the 3 main living areas a beautiful light shade of gray and the ceilings white. And he totally agreed with me, which was fabulous for this girl who can't keep a room the same for more than 6 months. I did pretty well for the last two years with the green on the walls, but I couldn't keep up with the decor all the time and having to match it all to green. Sometimes I want things that don't always go with green, or I don't want the house to always look like Christmas since red is it's complimentary color.

Our dogs didn't seem to mind the change in furniture, they must be used to me moving things around. 

  So for a weekend our home looked like an episode of hoarders if you were to look in one room. We moved everything from the living room into the dining room first. Then while I started in the kitchen, the hubs began painting the ceilings white in the living room. So that eventually the last room we would paint together would be the dining room. Day one, we got the whole living room painted and kitchen. As well he got the whole living room ceiling painted. That was pretty awesome and then we totally passed the heck out.

  The next day we moved all the furniture back into the living room including the dining room set.Finally by midnight we were done with everything! And I must give some tips, spend the money on the good rollers. We got special ones for textured walls made by Purdy and it made all the difference. I never had to re-coat or go back over another spot again. Of course the paint helps too, we bought the Behr Premium Plus with paint and primer in one. As well we got it in Satin finish since it was in all of the main living areas of the house. It's going to have to stand up to us, the dogs, and in the future kids. I want it to stand strong!

I love love love just love the new color, did I mention I love it? All of the colors just pop from the decorations. I can literally use any colors in any room and everything kind of flows on together. Have you guys ever tackled a painting job in one weekend? Or are you patient and spread things out over a few extra days? Tell me!

Splish Splash!

    We're taking a bath!....okay, not literally. But this post is the first half to the wonderfulness that is our new hallway bathroom. This poor room has gone through many changes, and I think I have finally found the one it needs to stick to. First there was the red bathroom phase. I had dreamed of having a red bathroom since high school basically, not sure why. Maybe to stake my ground and show the world my bold self, or also because I saw it on TV once and fell in love with the idea. The room had about a year, and I got sick of it.

  Since I am so impatient, I forgot to get some great before shots. Pretend like this is the bathroom minus the whole green tape on the walls and no step-ladder. These are not my usual accessories to a room, promise.

 

  I am also notorious for browsing the mess-up paint aisles at any place that sells the stuff. You never know when someone else mess-up will be what you wanted! Well this was one of those glorious times, and it only costs me $5! The awesome color is called "splish-splash" by Color Place. It is sold at Wal-Mart, and I am so glad I dragged my hubs out so late at night to browse. The cashier made a comment of "what room are you going to paint with THAT color.....". He was pretty disgusted, but I was darn proud of it. Too bad he will never be a guest in my awesome guest bathroom. Missing out on something pretty cool I think.

  So first thing I needed to paint the bathroom our awesome aqua before anything else. It only took two hours, and I might add all by hand. The texture is all kinds of crazy, and roller just won't get the job done frankly.  I sectioned it off with the paint so it didn't feel like so much when I was actually doing the work.

I don't know why I thought a sideways photo was sufficient, but this is what I have. 

  We were going for a adult and kid friendly bathroom, if there is such a thing. I wanted it to feel like a place that anyone can be in, including messy kids. But at the same time feel like a small oasis and very welcoming. I have had a dream to do bead board on these walls for almost a year now, but when it came down to budget and skills, I was no where close to it. So onto Pinterest I went, and found the lovely bead board wallpaper.

   I read through every review on the stuff, and found the brand with the highest reviews and best price too. It came down to the Allen + Roth Bead Board Wallpaper at Lowes, for only $20. How could I pass this stuff up? I found out it would only take one roll to do the whole bathroom, and I would have plenty left over for anything in the house I could find to put wallpaper on. It is textured exactly like the real thing, but water resistant too. Which was the number one reason I went for the wallpaper, it needed to stand up the the water splashing out of the tub by small children.

  We measured up the wall where we would want the wallpaper to hit. There would be a chair rail to cover the section where wall met paper as well. I measured every nook and cranny, and drew diagrams out to know exactly what pieces we had to cut out. I did cut one piece out backwards, but we had plenty left to re-do the whole thing.

If you look close you can see the little bubbles everywhere. 

  A major problem we ran into though was the texture on our wall, we put up the wallpaper with out realizing just how much the texture would show through. Enter another trip to Lowe's here. Thankfully the paint department girls could get the jist of what I was trying to do, without having to do a whole ton of extra work. They recommended drywall sand paper and primer for textured wall paper. Thanks to the hubs he sanded down the bathroom walls and applied the primer for me all in just a few hours. The next day we were able to re-apply the paper no problem.

   This is what it looked like after all of the extra work, but it was well worth it. Also since we had to take down the wall paper and re-apply it we got some great wall-paper glue. It only costs about 5-6 dollars, but it is worth it. With any strips that were new we followed the directions on the wallpaper wrapper. It is very easy! I will update later this week on the second half of the process.

Mush smoother than before, still wet though. 

Just Hanging Around....litterally

    This is an update, on my chandelier project. Unfortunately it has taken me longer than I expected to get this baby under way. But I am on it! It's still taking a little extra time, it needs more lovin than normal.

   I took off the "candle wax" covers to the arms where the bulb goes first. Also I made sure to wrap the exposed electrical with some craft paper and tape it off with some painters tape to protect the area.Then I gave it a good rub down with paper towels and a damp towel. I found some little critters living in the crevices, so I sprayed them out with some air. After this I had to stop for the evening since I kept feeling creepy crawlies all over me. I couldn't shake the feeling, so I left it until the next day.

 
      I soon found out that the lovely piece is actually mostly made of wood to my surprise. It was covered in a lot of gold flake and paint, that came off with just a little water. I cleaned the whole thing down again and took it outside to start the whole remodel. I consulted with my friend and decided on an Oil Rubbed Bronze look. I had a can of the spray paint in my garage so I thought I would start with that. Word of warning, don't spray paint in Oklahoma. The wind decides to blow and every piece of dust and hair in the world follows wherever your paint goes. Needless to say it got frustrating, I am going to have to sand off some of the paint again and try all over. Woops!

   But in the midst of that debacle, I came up with what I thought was a pretty awesome solution to painting a chandelier. Since it is so wobbly, kind of like the weebles, I couldn't get it to stand up straight for the life of me. I decided first to let it lean on some paper and to paint each side, let it dry, and turn; repeat over again. This my friends does not work with Okie wind. So once I was fed up with the chandelier looking more like a dust ball than a light fixture, I literally had a light bulb go off. Congrats to you if you thought of this before me, but I feel pretty awesome still.

    We had a garage sale a while back, and couldn't figure out how to show off all the awesome clothes that everyone would die to have, right? Well I found a carabiner and some extra rope in the garage, and figured why not string it across the garage from the door tracks. The tracks are bolted into the ceiling, so it couldn't hurt them. So thanks to my hubby we strung it across the garage high enough to hang clothes on it and walk under too. This same contraption was laying around when I couldn't figure out how to properly paint this chandelier.

   Thank goodness, it's exactly what I needed! So I looped some other rope through the chain on the top and knotted the heck out of it so it wouldn't drop on my feet and shatter into several pieces. It was so-so-so much easier to paint. I could get at it from every angle. Now there are parts I am going to have to sand and patch, as with painting I found a couple of cracks that need to be repaired. It's all okay though since this is part of the project and the learning experience. There is much more planned for it right now, so much more. I feel it will be beautiful and so glad it will have new life!

I love these little flowers and leaves on it, I have GRAND ideas for them. 

  Have you guys ever had that "light bulb" moment and feel a little brilliant? What was it, and did it end up solving your problem at hand? Let me know! I want to hear your stories and read your comments.

Dining Room

    Here is another reason we chose our home, the dining room. We had just come from living in a condo, that the dining room was almost non-existent. As well we wanted something close to a formal dining room so we could play around with different styles in it. I've already painted the dining room table and buffet. There will a post coming soon for those.
 
   Things are not staying the same exactly in this room. Keep your eyes out for future posts!