Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Party Time!


Home at Last!

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting a party for all the fabulous people who helped us build our house. In a time when everyone is rushing around from here to there, I am absolutely amazed that these people gave so much of their time - some from daylight to dark every Saturday and on Sunday afternoons, too - to help us. I will be forever grateful to them! This weekend we showed our love & appreciation by doing what we Southerners do best - we fed them!


My smokin' hubby





 
Ribeyes - YUM!






 Peanut Butter pie

You can tell I'm still new at this blogging thing - once the party got started, I was so busy visiting and stuffing my face making sure things were running smoothly, that I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the food and our guests. Sorry!  I do have one more to share with you, though . . . . . our elephant in the room.



This is what happens when you act ugly 
while playing dress-up!


Sunday, January 24, 2010

Bedroom Bloopers

Oh. My. Goodness. Who would have ever thought that decorating my little sweetie's room could come with so much drama?!

Let me start by saying that this is the first house that I've lived in that had sheetrock - and oh, how I have longed for sheetrock over the years! But my dreams didn't look like this!




Nor did I have dreamy visions of this...



...on my freshly painted bookshelf!! I knew there were studs in that wall, but WHERE???  The top picture is my attempt at finding a stud. The bottom shows what happened when my hubby stepped in with a hammer. It was bad. I mean really bad. He nailed that bad boy to the wall, stepped back and said (in a voice that clearly conveyed the fact that he was soooo tired of me & my bookshelf spectacle), "Now do you think it's going to stay up there?"  So I gave it a little tug . . . . . . .and the doggone back came off the shelf!!!!! You nailed it up there real well, sweetie - but now my shelf's falling apart! At this point hubby was completely disgusted - he left me with it.

And then I cried, because this project was not supposed to be so stressful. Then I put my big girl panties on and figured out a way to make it work. . . . after I staple-gunned the back onto the shelf. =)

Wanna know how I finally found a stud? I found an outlet, which is obviously attached to a stud. But on which side? Ummmm, there's a nail pop! Nails pop out of . . . . Studs! So I measured from the corner to the nail pop to figure out where the stud is at. I attached an L-bracket to the top of the shelf, then to the wall. And it was DONE.

 

A strategically placed jar of sand covers the bracket right up. I haven't touched up the paint on the shelf yet, but maybe I'll get around to it someday. And if I don't, who cares? It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!!!! (Thanks, Nester , for those words of wisdom!)

But that's not the end of the story - no, there's more! See that cute picture hanging to the right of the jar? As I was stepping into a chair to nail it up, the leg broke off of the chair!!!! I screamed, I hollered, I rolled on the floor moaning in pain - I was thoroughly dramatic, but it HURT!!!! And I had a big purple bruise the next day to show for my efforts. Just keeping it real, folks!

Hope you enjoyed my bloopers! I think it's nice to see that decorating (and baby raising - heck, life in general) isn't just the pretty blog-worthy stuff. The trials, though, give me a greater appreciation for all the goodness that God brings to my life! Thanks for stopping by!









 


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Trash to Treasure Decorating

I have been so excited about decorating my little girl's room! My son, who is six, doesn't really want Momma monkeying around in his room - he wants to decorate it with things like Transformers and rocks. So I'm soooo enjoying having free reign in my four-year-old daughter's room.  We recently built our house, so I started with a clean slate - and no money for decorating! We've been living here for about four months now, and I've been collecting pieces here and there along the way. I've finally put everything together, and I'm loving what I've accomplished in there!




Her bed was a freebie which was transformed with a little sanding and some paint. Here's a before shot of the bed. Wasn't she a beauty?!



 After living here for a little while, it became apparent that she absolutely had to have a bookcase. A few coats of paint - the green is left over from my laundry room - made an old one new again.




I picked up the lamp for a few bucks at my favorite thrift store, but something had to be done about the shade - it just looked cruddy! I planned on covering it with white burlap, but painting is so much more fun! So I broke out my kids' paint brush painting supplies and went to town painting that baby with my 33 cent craft paint. And it took the entire bottle!! Craft paint usually goes a long way, but apparently not when you're painting thick fabric. So for about $4, I have a cute lamp to add to the mix.

I found a fabulous plate at a yard sale to hang between her closets, and the cute painting above her bed came from a local thrift store for just pennies.



Her window (mis)treatment was inspired by Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors.

 
Hubby's MawMaw gave me the old hanger, and I pinned and clipped some fabric to it that I've had for several years. I love how it turned out, but I'm not optimistic about its future. I can see one of the young'uns snatching it down, but if that happens, we'll just figure out something else.

I've had so much fun putting this all together to share with you. Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be following this up with a Bloopers post, as soon as I can get it together!


 I'm joining in a few parties. Thanks to all the hosts for letting us share our goodies!








 
 



Friday, January 8, 2010

It's good to be from Alabama!! 
Thirteen National Championships!!!




Roll Tide Roll!!!