Window shopping

Miss J is sick and was home from school today. After she told me "Momma, I only feel kind of better when you sit next to me" that sealed it. I was on the couch with her for most of the day. Thank goodness for my favorite new toy - a Dell Mini9. Nothing like spending some time browsing Target.com for some decorating ideas.

I'm wondering how these panels would look on my patio door and large kitchen window. I need something there, especially in the winter.

Or there's the valance option. No draft stopping power with that tiny amount of fabric though.

I'm thinking this bookcase could be a perfect spot for all of my used bookshop finds. What I save on books, I could spend on this (or as Ben would point out, I could just pass on the $1 sale books. Boys are so silly.)

This is just lovely. No idea where I'd put it, but I'm sure it would look great where ever it landed.

And if I had room for it, I would love to have this in my foyer. Just enough storage in those two drawers and plenty of space on top for a cute basket for keys and sunglasses and some framed photos.

Inexpensive decorating

I love quotes. I have a book where I write them down and they're on scraps of paper all over my office. So of course, when I see a scrapbook pattern paper full of quotes I have to check it out. My latest find is "Sweet Spring" from Fancy Pants Designs. It has one of my favorite quotes from Winnie the Pooh.

"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think, but the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you."

Awwwwwww!!!! I love that part about being braver than we believe. Such a great thing to keep in mind as we face the day.

So, what to do with this fabulous find? Well, I found these black 4x4 frames at Target last year in the dollar section and they were still sitting in my office waiting for the perfect thing to be tucked in to them. So, I cut the quotes out, matted them on a black papered paper and there you go, some sweet thoughts for less than $1.50 each.

And here they are in their new spot between the garage door and the laundry room :)

Road Trip

After a couple of hours of playing the "I don't know, what do you want to do?" game on Saturday morning, we threw some stuff together and headed out on a mini road trip. I'm so glad that we got out of the house and our little trip started to get us thinking about taking Miss J on a real road trip this summer. She was so amazed by the hills that we saw this weekend so we're thinking that we need to take her to see some mountains.

On our way back, we were behind these two road crew trucks that were spreading sand on the road. Since winter is long gone, and the area is very hilly and the roads are very curvy and kind of steep, I'm assuming it's to help with traction. If anyone knows, speak up. I tried google but couldn't find anything other than sanding for snow and ice.

Can you guess what these are the result of? Yep, this is what happens when we ask Miss J to take a picture of us. She was very busy stomping on acorn shells and obviously didn't have time for us. We had pulled over at one of those roadside scenic points and she had the best time there. Two days later, she's still talking about it. I love that no matter how eleborate the main plan for the day is, her favorite part always ends up being some little, simple thing.

Oh how I love the internet

Because without it, you'd never get to see such lovely creations as those featured on http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. I happen to personally know a lovely cake decorator and I'm positive that if she has not seen this site already, it will become her new favorite.

For those of you that enjoy house hunting, wander on over to http://www.lovelylisting.com/. I dare you to spend some time there without cracking up. Seriously, what is up with people?

Springalicious

Finally it seems like spring is actually here :) After so many months of cold and rain, I'm itching for the day when I can open up all the windows and finally feel warm.

Since it's still to early in the year for my garden to look like much of anything, I dug out some pictures from a couple of years ago to remind myself how wonderful growing season is. Feel free to hang out with me for a bit and enjoy my virtual relaxing afternoon . . .

Welcome to the patio, where anything that will hold dirt is fair game for planting.

Sunny flowers and a warm breeze. Life is good.

My favorite kind of bunny, one that doesn't eat my plants down to nubs.

Thanks for visiting! Come back anytime :)

Everything looks better with a touch up

Thanks to several years of living in our house, our woodwork looks rather beat up. Pulling out the cherry stain marker I bought when we first moved in, Miss J and I went to work. She was in charge of pointing out the scratches and I covered them up. If you haven't used one of these stain markers, they are super easy and only cost $4 or $5. I usually scribble it over the scratch from several different directions to hit all the exposed wood and then I wipe over the area with a paper towel to remove the extra stain. Such a fast, easy fix that makes you woodwork look new.

Yes honey, you can play duster

Shhhhhh, don't tell her it's work ;)


Hands down, this is the best purchase I've made over the last month. It's a Pledge duster gizmo and Miss J is in love with it. She gets it out on her own and goes to work. Dusting every surface within her reach. She even does the insides of vases and the front of our tv cabinets. All on her own! Without me asking! Now if I could just get her to believe that mopping is fun too . . .

Time for another blog

Since Ben is healing and life is becoming less about the transplant and doctor appointments it's time for a new blog. This one is totally for me though. Just everyday life things along with some decorating projects I'm planning. Probably some scrapbooking too :)