tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37276328743912208692024-03-12T15:39:36.423-07:00around the compound...I ramble... I photograph... I share... i hope you enjoy the journeyMrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-35619704189763992202013-03-29T22:36:00.003-07:002013-03-29T22:36:44.282-07:00bennetts back to basics...it's been an incredibly busy last few months (which i feel like i say all the time on here)... among other things, we took a vacation with some dear friends, i had galbladder surgery, we had a three part family christmas, a new year's party, work got crazy stressful and i hated it, then it got better and i loved it, and i launched my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/RevitalizedDesigns" target="_blank">etsy shop</a>! as much as i'd like to say i'll be updating you about all of those things, i think it's better that i just move forward instead of trying to recap the last five months. today's post is a bit long and there aren't any pictures, but over the past few months i've had time to reflect and there are some big changes coming, i can feel it coming!<br />
<br />
not long after my dad passed away last May, i realized that there are so many things i/we take for granted just because they seem like 'normal' things to have... from big things like an affordable home, good jobs, amazing friends and family to the completely unnecessary things like a big-screen tv, laptops, and nice vehicles. we even have an abundance of food and clothing, and our relative health (minus a gallbladder issue i had last fall and jhubs' recent cold, we're pretty healthy people). while my dad was sick, my sister's family and we were blessed to be able to help out by taking meals over, running errands, doing a bit of work on their house to make it easier for dad and even help mom after he passed. at the time it was a no-brainer, you give what you can, help where you can, step up and do what it takes but, afterwards, i realized how incredibly blessed we are to have been able to do it and how thankful that i am that our parents raised us to be the kind of people that help other people.<br />
<br />
looking back on my childhood, i really didn't understand how hard my parents were working to keep a roof over our heads and food in the refrigerator. i think that part of the reason i never realized it was because my parents seemed to be the people that were always helping out other people instead of the ones getting the help. my parents started out their marriage in a very small, subsidized apartment with a seven year old daughter and within a couple of years they had me. they were making very little money but they were doing the best they could in the early 1980's. they still managed to make sure that my sister and i had food, clothes, a warm bed to sleep in and lots of love. i do remember times when we couldn't have a friend stay for dinner because there wasn't enough food to squeeze out another plateful but usually, if someone needed a meal, they were welcome at our table. because my dad could sew, he was constantly doing repairs, minor tailoring or adjustments for friends and family but always refused to be paid for his work with anything other than cookies or a hearty hand-shake. there would be times that, as a family, we would spend the weekend helping friends with home repairs, or volunteering for our church and by the end of the day be so exhausted that the thought of 'nothing sounds good so lets just go out for dinner' was on everyone's mind but because they couldn't afford it, it wasn't an option, we had to make do with whatever we pull together from the fridge and pantry, even if we were a few days past needing to get groceries. as hard as they worked for everything they had, the call to help those in need wasn't lost on them and i want to keep that as a focus for my family once we have children.<br />
<br />
don't get me wrong, we do help our friends and family when we can and we help with events at church but we've been lacking in the discipline to really do more with less, we're doing more with more in a sense. we've gotten too used to stopping on the way home for fast-food or buying whatever toys/gadgets/electronics we want, spending way too much time, money and energy on things that don't really matter because of our 'first world problems'. the way to get us back on track, i think, is my back-to-basics project.<br />
<br />
<br />
i read a blog post the other day about a family that does a debt-free month (at least i think that's what they called it) where they basically use up everything they have, de-clutter the house and reevaluate their budget to get themselves back on track and had a total lightbulb moment, the project. There are just a few basic steps:<br />
<br />
1.) inventory what we have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards/etc and use up as much of it without having to purchase more than the bare minimum.<br />
<br />
2.) pick one room/area a week and spend lots of time deep cleaning, organizing, purging and focusing on just that room<br />
<br />
3.) cut down our budget on everything and try to spend as little money as possible while, inversely, saving as much as possible to pay off that last bit of credit card debt and recharge our savings account plus start a discretionary fund for donating to those in need<br />
<br />
4.) reconnect with each other by doing things other than watching tv every night; make use of our extensive game collection, pool table, and tackle the projects on our to-do list that we have all of the supplies for but haven't had the time to do them<br />
<br />
that's it, really just getting ourselves back on track and trying to live a bit cleaner, happier, healthier. once we've changed the way we live, we'll be able to put our priorities back in order and focus on the bigger picture. if you want to join us on this wild ride, be sure to check back next saturday (april 6th) to see what we managed to get done. i think we're going to start in the kitchen!<br />
Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-80339151821565539922013-01-27T19:36:00.001-08:002013-02-01T17:34:26.032-08:00its a thrift shop sort of day...when my very favorite bloggers, John & Sherry Petersik of <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/" target="_blank">Young House Love</a>, offered up their <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/2013/01/our-completely-unofficial-macklemore-thrift-shop-challenge/" target="_blank">(Completely Unofficial) Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge</a> last Friday, i knew it was the perfect excuse to get back to blogging! if you somehow missed all of the attention macklemore is getting for 'thrift shop', here's the clean radio edit, (i'd still keep the kiddos out of the room though because the language is pretty easy to decipher)<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/56256943" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/56256943">THRIFT SHOP (PG Radio Edit Clean version) - MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS FEAT. WANZ</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/garrettgibbons">Garrett Wesley Gibbons</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />
my bestie brenza and i had gone on a thrifting binge earlier last week but had to cut our trip short so finishing up today was perfect timing for the challenge. we went to a local flea-market/garage-sale/antique-mall-esque store called <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hart-City-Supercenter/274727552597517?fref=ts" target="_blank">Hart City Supercenter</a> that we love to hit up for totally random items and some really good bargains. the whole store is set up in booths with different vendors renting each booth so i knew we'd have the most luck and the best variety of random things. to get started we knew we had to obey the completely unofficial challenge's three rules:<br />
<br />
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Step #1. Go to a thrift shop with – just as the chorus of the song says – “$20 in your pocket”<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and take a picture. </strong></strong><br />
<br />
so here's the $20 in my pocket, first rule, check!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4GcqgSZtpQQ/UQXfpxUdntI/AAAAAAAABW4/_lV2ga3KmAM/s1600/IMG_2507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4GcqgSZtpQQ/UQXfpxUdntI/AAAAAAAABW4/_lV2ga3KmAM/s320/IMG_2507.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Step #2. Spend that $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils.</strong><br />
<br />
I figured I'd start with what we didn't buy since the non-spoils are usually the best part of thrifting... brenza said this wedding gown wasn't exactly her style<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wo5TjwSY4T4/UQXfv2EEgLI/AAAAAAAABXc/KinVlCj8ASw/s1600/IMG_2501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wo5TjwSY4T4/UQXfv2EEgLI/AAAAAAAABXc/KinVlCj8ASw/s320/IMG_2501.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
we where hoping that jhubs would be excited about this vintage silk smoking jacket, but it was $110 so rule two, not-check<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-PFUOKFnwI/UQXfvzAL1dI/AAAAAAAABXg/uRiPf97Yu58/s1600/IMG_2500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-PFUOKFnwI/UQXfvzAL1dI/AAAAAAAABXg/uRiPf97Yu58/s320/IMG_2500.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
the fish in a dress should definitely have come home with us, but at $5 it was a little pricey for a gag-gift in a $20 challenge<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hS_TefeyuQA/UQXfwK5gp_I/AAAAAAAABXY/9WDGkKrQoYU/s1600/IMG_2502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hS_TefeyuQA/UQXfwK5gp_I/AAAAAAAABXY/9WDGkKrQoYU/s320/IMG_2502.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
we were LOVING this vintage Super 8 video camera for our good friend chris but since the marine corps is getting ready to send him to japan we figured he didn't need anything else to stick in his storage space :(<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wuEeNIuQ0GQ/UQXfxnRucEI/AAAAAAAABX8/wToB6ucg92k/s1600/IMG_2504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wuEeNIuQ0GQ/UQXfxnRucEI/AAAAAAAABX8/wToB6ucg92k/s320/IMG_2504.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
and these shoes were just plain hilarious, totally the wrong size for both of us<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QnA79vPfN7U/UQXfyHUVziI/AAAAAAAABYA/1Lt5ijckcqo/s1600/IMG_2505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QnA79vPfN7U/UQXfyHUVziI/AAAAAAAABYA/1Lt5ijckcqo/s320/IMG_2505.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
as for what we did buy, i of course had to get some vintage canning jars since i'm totally obsessed... this by far my favorite, its for Jumbo Peanut Butter and has an elephant on it! the 5 jars were $14<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VPDf8u9xK8/UQXmo7mCnGI/AAAAAAAABYs/sjsLJWZcGvs/s1600/IMG_3369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VPDf8u9xK8/UQXmo7mCnGI/AAAAAAAABYs/sjsLJWZcGvs/s320/IMG_3369.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SYs-M_81g3s/UQXmo9FKFEI/AAAAAAAABYw/3FdEDKHkoCM/s1600/IMG_3372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SYs-M_81g3s/UQXmo9FKFEI/AAAAAAAABYw/3FdEDKHkoCM/s320/IMG_3372.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
this awesome four-strand pearl necklace that we'll later use to wrap the stems of brenza's wedding bouquet and it was only $3<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g4a2wKSNXv4/UQXmpKTMphI/AAAAAAAABY8/gCHRRhcLuyM/s1600/IMG_3377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g4a2wKSNXv4/UQXmpKTMphI/AAAAAAAABY8/gCHRRhcLuyM/s320/IMG_3377.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
and brenza got 15 of these awesome (and much needed) drinking glasses for just $3 (our best find of the day!)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2I4whVIwTYE/UQXpP6VV1CI/AAAAAAAABZY/sc6bzeZXXG8/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2I4whVIwTYE/UQXpP6VV1CI/AAAAAAAABZY/sc6bzeZXXG8/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
after leaving Hart City, totally on a thrifting-high we went to one of our local Goodwill stores and, sadly, didn't find much of anything until we were ready to leave and spotted one, lone glass, that totally matched the others putting us $1 over our $20 budget but it did give brenza a matching set of 16 for only $4, totally worth it...<br />
<br />
to see what the other participators found, check out the linky party post <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/2013/02/the-macklemore-thrift-shop-challenge/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YoungHouseLove+%28Young+House+Love%29&utm_content=Google+Reader" target="_blank">here</a>. thanks John & Sherry for the awesome challenge, we'd love to do it again!!Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-54170516518809870562012-11-17T12:57:00.002-08:002013-01-27T19:39:41.758-08:00a quick christmas project...i have a problem... i like to buy my christmas gifts all year long and then, i forget about them... not all of them, mind you, i usually go though and figure out what i've got this time of year so i can make my black friday shopping list. every year though, there are a few things i realize i've missed, or i know i bought and i can't find, or a few things i find as i'm putting away my decorations. to hopefully combat that though, i've created this nifty list. so nifty, in fact, i'll let you <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/113628948/Christmas-Gift-Inventory-Sheet" target="_blank">download</a> the .pdf and print it for yourself!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cQO3WCd1zig/UKf3HRnosLI/AAAAAAAABWQ/Y0yqsw-Ilhc/s1600/Christmas+Gift+Inventory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cQO3WCd1zig/UKf3HRnosLI/AAAAAAAABWQ/Y0yqsw-Ilhc/s400/Christmas+Gift+Inventory.jpg" width="308" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>inventory sheet front</i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gsfssPJpOzU/UKf3JWmaqOI/AAAAAAAABWY/OMoVkxwpejw/s1600/Christmas+Gift+Inventory+-+back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gsfssPJpOzU/UKf3JWmaqOI/AAAAAAAABWY/OMoVkxwpejw/s400/Christmas+Gift+Inventory+-+back.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">inventory sheet back</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
the plan is to go through all of my gift storage and keep each person's haul listed together in each box... in fact, for my own personal sheet i added each person's name as a sort-of watermark on each box, super simple! </div>
Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-64454311231825368142012-09-17T18:13:00.000-07:002012-09-17T18:14:10.397-07:00farmhouse glam with a touch of urban funk...quick post just because i need to share.<br />
<br />
i took the homegoods stylescope quiz after the fine folks at <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/2012/09/fab-freebie-scoping-out-the-goods/" target="_blank">young house love</a> linked up to it and found out that my style is apparently 'farmhouse glam' with a touch of 'urban funk' which, surprisingly, sounds about right... it definitely gives me a good direction to head in while revamping our very beige living room. i'm so ready to start playing with more color in here. i feel like we started so well with our <a href="http://jvbennett.blogspot.com/2012/07/going-to-gallery.html" target="_blank">new gallery wall</a> (which yes, is still in progress but getting much closer to finished) but now i'm stuck trying to find ways to bring in lots of teal & turquoise and maybe even some orange for fall. i guess we'll see! in the mean time, head on over to the <a href="http://www.homegoods.com/stylescope/" target="_blank">homegoods stylescope</a> quiz and see what you are!Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-38195286561000384562012-07-28T19:50:00.001-07:002013-01-27T19:40:18.436-08:00take a seat...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">in an effort to keep making positive changes around the exterior of our house i mentioned </span><a href="http://jvbennett.blogspot.com/2012/07/sprucing-it-up.html" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">, i really wanted some chairs for our front porch. i've been lusting after these <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202996155/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=adirondack+chair&storeId=10051#.UBSeirQvuuI" target="_blank">adirondack chair kits</a> at Home Depot but they were around $50 the last time i was looking at them and, as much and i LOVE adirondack chairs and REALLY wanted them for our front porch, i couldn't stand paying that much per unfinished, some-assembly-required, chair. much to my amazement while i was buying flowers they were marked down to $23 each... less than $50 for TWO CHAIRS! oh, sorry for shouting :) </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktRUo0-LR4g/UBSdjfB4UuI/AAAAAAAABMA/Yoq8wXYnSe8/s1600/IMG_1840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktRUo0-LR4g/UBSdjfB4UuI/AAAAAAAABMA/Yoq8wXYnSe8/s400/IMG_1840.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
so, what's a girl to do? buy the chairs and rush home to assemble them of course! jhubs wasn't up to the perceived work since he's usually the point person for assembling everything so we waited until the next day when we got a pleasant surprise... can you tell that they look mostly assembled coming out of the box? that's right, the seat and back slats came already assembled!!!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F32i8aahHqg/UBSdjmcukpI/AAAAAAAABMI/tDpcbRDwR7A/s1600/IMG_1847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F32i8aahHqg/UBSdjmcukpI/AAAAAAAABMI/tDpcbRDwR7A/s400/IMG_1847.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
they're remarkably easy to finish. you attach the seat supports/front legs to one cross support and then put the seat assembly in...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pt0ZmWDjR8Q/UBSdnAh_4TI/AAAAAAAABMQ/XZdfvfoSuqQ/s1600/IMG_1841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pt0ZmWDjR8Q/UBSdnAh_4TI/AAAAAAAABMQ/XZdfvfoSuqQ/s400/IMG_1841.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
then attach the back side supports to the seat assembly<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xCe-km5euMA/UBSdnTVBAZI/AAAAAAAABMY/vkFej-93pBA/s1600/IMG_1844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xCe-km5euMA/UBSdnTVBAZI/AAAAAAAABMY/vkFej-93pBA/s400/IMG_1844.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
attach one cross/back support to the back side supports and screw down the back rest... then attach the arms<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jWQuIJysazk/UBSdnm5XqKI/AAAAAAAABMg/fDCJX-u7KXs/s1600/IMG_1846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jWQuIJysazk/UBSdnm5XqKI/AAAAAAAABMg/fDCJX-u7KXs/s400/IMG_1846.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
in about 20 minutes you can have one chair and in about 35 you get 2!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9KYKZZVug3U/UBSdoNWhfLI/AAAAAAAABMo/xL1sBAV13cA/s1600/IMG_1849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9KYKZZVug3U/UBSdoNWhfLI/AAAAAAAABMo/xL1sBAV13cA/s400/IMG_1849.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
it took more debate to pick out the stain since i wanted them to coordinate with our front deck but the redwood was the front-runner, it was more about picking between transparent stain and paint<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6y0kB92Zm0o/UBSdog0sMzI/AAAAAAAABMw/5CBc_tbYd68/s1600/IMG_1850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6y0kB92Zm0o/UBSdog0sMzI/AAAAAAAABMw/5CBc_tbYd68/s400/IMG_1850.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
stain was definitely the way to go though and they look great. we're going to give them one more coat before they hit the porch just to make sure they're good and sealed since they were completely unfinished and we plan to leave them out for most of the year. once they have the final coat i'll be sure to post.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G14QrCkJlMQ/UBSdoxVb93I/AAAAAAAABM4/DA-KHmAE32E/s1600/IMG_1851.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G14QrCkJlMQ/UBSdoxVb93I/AAAAAAAABM4/DA-KHmAE32E/s400/IMG_1851.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
on a side note, we love these chairs so much i went back and bought 4 more for our back patio. in case you were wondering, we bought the full gallon of stain (way more than necessary for this project) so that we can re-stain all of our outdoor furniture (two benches you can see on the patio in the initial <a href="http://jvbennett.blogspot.com/2012/07/sprucing-it-up.html" target="_blank">sprucing up post</a>) and the 8-person picnic table jhubs made for one of the first july 4th parties we had. more on that to come!Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-4211929773410532832012-07-23T13:17:00.000-07:002013-01-27T19:40:31.924-08:00going to the gallery...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
another project co-inspired by <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/04/its-done-and-we-heart-it/" target="_blank">YHL</a>, our friends that love custom personal art and of course <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> that i've been meaning to finish lately is to turn the long wall in our living room into a gallery wall that holds more than just photos. i love to take pictures of our friends and family and i love to be surrounded by photos old and new (which i mentioned a few posts back) but sometimes the best memories are held in mementos from the trip and those often get tossed in a box or drawer. in an effort to declutter and not hold onto every bit of paper or postcard purchased i've been working on ways to display those things. the gallery way is a great rotating display of these places and things.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
i started by purchasing prints from some of the artists i've been lusting after on etsy. from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/102559987/world-word-map-a-typographic-word-map-of" target="_blank">inkofme</a> i bought their teal & white world map made from the name of each country, from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioSRV" target="_blank">StudioSRV</a> a colorful doberman print looked just like my silly girl, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ParadaCreations" target="_blank">ParadaCreations</a> was gracious enough to make a custom i-heart-chicago print even though that city hadn't been added to her collection yet. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n4eP83pBqpg/UAr_VKVggsI/AAAAAAAABK8/WCGMWvsxM5E/s1600/IMG_2393.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n4eP83pBqpg/UAr_VKVggsI/AAAAAAAABK8/WCGMWvsxM5E/s400/IMG_2393.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nw48xABcNes/UAr_bm1vSyI/AAAAAAAABLQ/M909OJJ_xXk/s1600/IMG_2399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nw48xABcNes/UAr_bm1vSyI/AAAAAAAABLQ/M909OJJ_xXk/s400/IMG_2399.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQnYYy4_uuQ/UAr_YISDD7I/AAAAAAAABLE/MBYjYaFR0uU/s1600/IMG_2395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQnYYy4_uuQ/UAr_YISDD7I/AAAAAAAABLE/MBYjYaFR0uU/s400/IMG_2395.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
of course i've been getting some <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/" style="background-color: clear;" target="_blank">pinspiration</a> for things i wanted to DIY for months too, like the number print containing our important dates, a photo-strip of sorts i created from our new year's photo outtakes and i had postcards and a few odds and ends i wanted to include with some photos taken at our church's fall festival (which i still hadn't put in the frame before snapping this pic.) i had also purchased a vintage-looking travel poster while i was in A2, the poster from a band we went to see and then stumbled along this beautiful and bright windmill print from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauraamiss" target="_blank">Laura Amiss</a> to round out the collection.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pB5b2SV2iPQ/UAsKR06AbNI/AAAAAAAABL0/UoqsIAFhXfQ/s1600/IMG_2403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pB5b2SV2iPQ/UAsKR06AbNI/AAAAAAAABL0/UoqsIAFhXfQ/s400/IMG_2403.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
as for hanging all of the frames i first layed them out on some brown kraft paper to make an arrangement i liked, started by hanging the large vertical frame and moved my way left and right from there and using the LAR (looks about right) method to figure out where each nail should go. if you're nervous about that method you can definitely handle <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/04/its-done-and-we-heart-it/" target="_blank">YHL's method</a>. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SSphQnxTxBw/UAsBA5afm_I/AAAAAAAABLc/mVrZtRw-Q5I/s1600/12+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SSphQnxTxBw/UAsBA5afm_I/AAAAAAAABLc/mVrZtRw-Q5I/s400/12+-+1" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
its funny to me how the wall still looks so empty in photos even though the majority of the prints are 8x10s & 5x7s.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LBi5X8pAWTA/UAr_TNgqJSI/AAAAAAAABKs/f80nwKmxqLQ/s1600/IMG_2390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LBi5X8pAWTA/UAr_TNgqJSI/AAAAAAAABKs/f80nwKmxqLQ/s320/IMG_2390.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
i do have a few small frames to find things to fill that i found in the dollar bin at michaels, which will most likely get filled with the smaller momentos from our daily life like bottle caps and cigar bands. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L4LelOvvfCE/UAr_T6w7IAI/AAAAAAAABK0/IrLE4MKWe24/s1600/IMG_2392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L4LelOvvfCE/UAr_T6w7IAI/AAAAAAAABK0/IrLE4MKWe24/s320/IMG_2392.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
the jhubs has recently fallen back in like with smoking cigars on cool summer nights and the band artwork is a special bonus, i'm amazed at the work that goes into such a small detail. i'll be back with a project showing the main way we're displaying our growing collection of bands and other small reminders of big fun!</div>
Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-4042871933721095622012-07-21T12:11:00.000-07:002012-07-21T13:21:42.504-07:00sprucing it up...even though we had a few weeks of 90+ degree temps outside i've actually gotten out and spruced up our yard, partially inspired on all of the deck and yard work going on at <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/2012/07/joist-to-the-world/" target="_blank">Young House Love</a>, the way they've transformed their curb appeal over the last year has gotten me excited to make some changes here at home... do you remember when jhubs put in a <a href="http://jvbennett.blogspot.com/2009/05/most-memorable-anniversary.html" target="_blank">cute patio for me</a> on our anniversary? i don't think i ever posted the finished product so here's where we pretty much left it three years ago<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KQ0p4gtDHcw/UArMLfCO8cI/AAAAAAAABH4/UfPctlpkY2Y/s1600/img354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KQ0p4gtDHcw/UArMLfCO8cI/AAAAAAAABH4/UfPctlpkY2Y/s400/img354.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
then last year jhubs removed quite a bit of grass and put down mulch to give our yard a more finished look, and give me a place to plant flowers if i ever decided to... which would be now i guess, the yard is just starting to green back up after the days of 100 degree temps nearly killed it all. the bench is super shadowy in this photo but i'm really happy with how it's shaping up..</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0fyaRIiKdo/UArO_jgoRJI/AAAAAAAABI4/6MNkhMzCzu8/s1600/12+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D0fyaRIiKdo/UArO_jgoRJI/AAAAAAAABI4/6MNkhMzCzu8/s400/12+-+1" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
we bought five of these beauties, balloon flowers (also called Chinese moon flowers) which i love, they're supposed to come back every year, fill in and bloom for quite a long time.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e5JGrSAtRj0/UArwx__lDqI/AAAAAAAABJ4/0BOYjaid93c/s1600/IMG_2377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e5JGrSAtRj0/UArwx__lDqI/AAAAAAAABJ4/0BOYjaid93c/s400/IMG_2377.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OT1MyPbZweY/UArwy5j8_HI/AAAAAAAABKA/dvNwdIrkWFQ/s1600/IMG_2379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OT1MyPbZweY/UArwy5j8_HI/AAAAAAAABKA/dvNwdIrkWFQ/s400/IMG_2379.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
the mulched area continues along the side of the house and to the front walkway where i've also planted quite a bit and added new solar walkway lights (thanks for having them on sale Target!) and put out two begonias for some color out front. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8IQFwzYQaAY/UArw9IpPDbI/AAAAAAAABKU/7lM-SmvJGBM/s1600/IMG_2384.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8IQFwzYQaAY/UArw9IpPDbI/AAAAAAAABKU/7lM-SmvJGBM/s320/IMG_2384.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
all of the changes on this side of the house make me want to keep going and work on the look from the street but some of the big blank areas make me nervous... suggestions for that wall of white between the porch and the guest bedroom windows?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OJGmqYZhUlU/UArWS01GwuI/AAAAAAAABJo/noMINhBRGDA/s1600/12+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OJGmqYZhUlU/UArWS01GwuI/AAAAAAAABJo/noMINhBRGDA/s400/12+-+1" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-9048854631528042262012-07-18T22:48:00.001-07:002012-07-21T08:10:39.618-07:00Snappin and Shootin...... photos that is! it's been a busy and trying few months around here including busy times at work, my father's passing and a vacation or two but the one thing that held true (other than still having a great family and an amazing group of friends) is that i find a lot of stability in taking photos of our life and times. and yes, once i get caught up i'll share some photos of those times, i promise! my memory isn't great and taking photos helps me remember what we've done and brings back the emotions of the day, in reality the photos help the times last a bit longer... <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/" target="_blank">Shutterfly</a> is a big part of how i make sure the memories get out of my camera and off of my laptop so i can share them with everyone. i'm horribly addicted to photo books, prints, photo gifts and the like. i've talked before about how i make a calendar every year for my mom & grandma of the year's photos, and photographs are my favorite way to decorate my walls. my first experiece with Shutterfly was when my cousin's wife put together a photobook filled with my late grandmother's recipes, stories and pictures of the family cooking together. since then i've made several books for friends weddings, my niece's 6th grade graduation and my vacations. it's amazing how easy, fun and exciting creating the books has been and i recently got an email from them announcing something even more fun! <br />
the Shutterfly Long Live Summer photo contest has started and there's still time to enter! It started ten days ago but they have a different category for the contest every week and you can enter every single week. the remaining week's categories are :<br />
<br />
Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun<br />
Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities<br />
Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations<br />
<br />
and the best part? every single entry gets an instant prize!!! there will be a few weekly featured photos on their facebook fan page (which gets you a copy of the new Lonely Planet travel photography book and a $500 Shutterfly giftcard) and the grand prize is a trip to the Bahamas with a professional family photo shoot... how cool is that!<br />
<br />
so, what are you waiting for? go grab your camera or search through your memory cards to find a great photo you've taken of some fun at the beach or the pool or even the back yard sprinkler. upload your pic to their <a href="http://bit.ly/sweepS" target="_blank">facebook fan page</a> and give it a great caption, it's that easy!
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<div style="font-size: 11pt;">
<br /></div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">this is a post sponsored by Shutterfly and written by me!</span></i></div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-40992306380896105192012-04-12T13:46:00.000-07:002012-07-21T08:05:00.189-07:00it's so cool... and hot...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lfHhfW_pMcE/T4czE7439AI/AAAAAAAABGM/9KKNEO0_Bdw/s1600/IMG_1730.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lfHhfW_pMcE/T4czE7439AI/AAAAAAAABGM/9KKNEO0_Bdw/s320/IMG_1730.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
i'm normally not a fan of really techie upgrades, i generally think they're totally unnecessary and a waste of money because they can't be that much better than what we already have but, i tolerate them because jhubs is a geek and it makes him happy when i get excited about his kind of toys. but this time, i'm totally sold... it started last year before christmas when i stumbled across <a href="http://www.nest.com/" target="_blank">the nest</a> learning thermostat, i watched the videos on their website because it seemed like something he would love, that i would poke a bit of fun at, and then we'd laugh and move on. only this time, i was quickly sucked in by how cool it is which means that this "little joke" quickly stole my heart...<br />
<br />
i know what you're thinking: seriously? why would a thermostat need to learn (and how can it be that much better that i've fallen for it)? normally, you just adjust them as needed or, better yet, get a programmable thermostat and tell it what time you want it to adjust and what to adjust to right? except that most thermostats don't know about daylight savings time and <span style="background-color: white;">that jhubs gets up way before i do generally, my work schedule changes every week, we're sometimes gone for 10-12 hours at a time and, since we live in the midwest, the weather outside changes from warm to cold to rain to hot sometimes all in the same day so we generally come home to a house that's totally the wrong temperature. besides those fun facts, i'm pretty cheap when it comes to paying utility bills, so cheap in fact that i won't turn the heat up past 65 in the house during the winter unless we're having people over, and even then those people are wearing sweat shirts or fleece jackets because they know we don't crank the heat. (best.friends.ever).</span><br />
<br />
for me to stumble upon a thermostat that i don't have to program because it 'learns' what we're comfortable with just by the way we adjust it, we can check on the temp and adjust it from our phones or any computer, <i>there's an app for that</i>, and it saves energy with several cool features? SOLD! even better, from what i understand, it's from the creator of the iphone (the guy, not apple co.) so it's got very clean lines, it's user friendly, is super easy to install, came with everything we needed to install it, and it downloads its own software upgrades so that we don't have to buy a new one every two years which means that it's a techie toy that keeps on giving!<br />
<br />
have i over-explained it enough? i'm stupidly in love with a thermostat!! here's some install pics, it was super simple, you can check out the full how-to video on their <a href="http://www.nest.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br />
<br />
cut the power then remove the thermostat front (we did this step backwards):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L95hnKaysiw/T4czST8gxiI/AAAAAAAABGc/IoM7GmvfH0A/s1600/IMG_1704.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L95hnKaysiw/T4czST8gxiI/AAAAAAAABGc/IoM7GmvfH0A/s320/IMG_1704.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
label the wires with the provided stickers:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D6MvYm0R4iM/T4czQMztLRI/AAAAAAAABGU/_RMq4ShaR30/s1600/IMG_1703.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D6MvYm0R4iM/T4czQMztLRI/AAAAAAAABGU/_RMq4ShaR30/s320/IMG_1703.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K3r8NbnT12g/T4czUlIvR4I/AAAAAAAABGk/P-gkpdZe-Q0/s1600/IMG_1707.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K3r8NbnT12g/T4czUlIvR4I/AAAAAAAABGk/P-gkpdZe-Q0/s320/IMG_1707.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
disconnect the wires and remove the back plate:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZX5Dr91l7Qs/T4czXHKgsiI/AAAAAAAABGs/Cispgla4Mfk/s1600/IMG_1710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZX5Dr91l7Qs/T4czXHKgsiI/AAAAAAAABGs/Cispgla4Mfk/s320/IMG_1710.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
make sure the inspector is watching all steps:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nX_S-9b4ZuY/T4czaQIs-0I/AAAAAAAABG0/QZ91Ku28cDU/s1600/IMG_1712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nX_S-9b4ZuY/T4czaQIs-0I/AAAAAAAABG0/QZ91Ku28cDU/s320/IMG_1712.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
screw the back plate to the wall to cover old holes (we had a bunch, yikes), feed the wires through the new backplate:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DGxif3LyMdQ/T4czd75k3UI/AAAAAAAABG8/z83CZpoKCKY/s1600/IMG_1714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DGxif3LyMdQ/T4czd75k3UI/AAAAAAAABG8/z83CZpoKCKY/s320/IMG_1714.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
make sure everything is level (yep, built in level!) before securing to the wall and then hook up the wires:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_Z4druHnV4/T4czgle6bcI/AAAAAAAABHE/7ju-ZDaMvQE/s1600/IMG_1716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M_Z4druHnV4/T4czgle6bcI/AAAAAAAABHE/7ju-ZDaMvQE/s320/IMG_1716.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
turn the power back on and follow the on-screen instructions:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sC1rQ_D0jHk/T4czjm9XQAI/AAAAAAAABHM/Vj3rfxELclY/s1600/IMG_1722.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sC1rQ_D0jHk/T4czjm9XQAI/AAAAAAAABHM/Vj3rfxELclY/s320/IMG_1722.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
connect it to your home wifi and enter your zipcode, preferences, etc:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yqXbGeZkMG4/T4czm8cFo0I/AAAAAAAABHU/S9Dc2IiRPBY/s1600/IMG_1724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yqXbGeZkMG4/T4czm8cFo0I/AAAAAAAABHU/S9Dc2IiRPBY/s320/IMG_1724.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wrpri7A8EHA/T4czs1yI2sI/AAAAAAAABHk/SPVWuhcZL44/s1600/IMG_1728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wrpri7A8EHA/T4czs1yI2sI/AAAAAAAABHk/SPVWuhcZL44/s320/IMG_1728.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
then log-in to their site and set up your account so you can control it from anywhere:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gLnDOdOkwZk/T4c3D59b7vI/AAAAAAAABHs/5koyb1DS4xo/s1600/screenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gLnDOdOkwZk/T4c3D59b7vI/AAAAAAAABHs/5koyb1DS4xo/s320/screenshot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
during the account set-up process it detected the thermostat on our network, which made me a little giddy. easy technology that will save me money and playing with it just got the jhubs a little geeked out, i love it!! plus, when we patch and paint the walls in the living room that back plate can be painted to match or be removed for a super sleek, we just stuck it there, kind of look.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>btw, of course they didn't pay me to write this and i'm not getting (or expecting) any extra love from the nest people for loving their product, i'm sharing just to share! and yes, it's kind of pricey for this fairly simple upgrade so we did our research on the energy savings and made sure to check that our existing wiring was compatible for the thermostat before shelling out the cash., what can i say, i'm cheapskate that likes to shop!</i></span>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-26052891353219706912012-03-20T20:28:00.000-07:002012-03-20T20:39:40.172-07:00it's going to be a very sparkly day...a few years from now, after the lovely brenza finishes with college, (remember when we made art for her first apartment <a href="http://jvbennett.blogspot.com/2011/08/brendas-apartment.html">here</a>, you'll have to see what it looks like in her new place!) it's going to be a very sparkly day, a sparkly wedding day!!!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1SzWd4ffRA/T2k0NDZugpI/AAAAAAAABFo/H-WUx_mOwjs/s1600/photo+%252813%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1SzWd4ffRA/T2k0NDZugpI/AAAAAAAABFo/H-WUx_mOwjs/s320/photo+%252813%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> (not her real dress... just the one i made her try on one day because she had been loving it)</span></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
brenza loves bling and sparkles and all sorts of pretty girly things, so of course, her wedding day needs to be the epitomy of sparkles and girly and fun, without making jay throw up glitter that is! the plan for her wedding started way before she and jay got engaged. </div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dem6JT8qFtY/T2k0HfwFboI/AAAAAAAABFQ/MbtRywF-hXo/s1600/photo+(10).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dem6JT8qFtY/T2k0HfwFboI/AAAAAAAABFQ/MbtRywF-hXo/s1600/photo+(10).JPG" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
it actually started when i showed her some ideas my sis and i had for her upcoming wedding. ideas that we, of course, compiled on and from pinterest (how did we live without it?). you can see all of our wedding pins <a href="http://pinterest.com/haylisa/i-do/">here</a>. brenza fell in love with brooch bouquets and knew she'd need one. then we found crystal bouquets that would be great for the bridesmaids and, i'm pretty sure i may love them even more than she does and she's pretty pumped. we knew we'd need to DIY them after seeing several on etsy that were super pricey (gorgeous...but pricey). i read lots of tutorials but it basically came down to cutting lots of wire pieces an equal length, threading the bead/pearl/etc onto the middle of the wire and then twisting the wire ends together until it's tight. after cutting the first few wire strands individually i realized that it was going to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to cut each one to the same length and i needed a way to cut a bunch at once. with some thought and a bit of the hubs smarty pants self we did this:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-riASkkMCCXo/T2k0O9nCd_I/AAAAAAAABGA/-14stWeubjY/s1600/photo+%25289%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-riASkkMCCXo/T2k0O9nCd_I/AAAAAAAABGA/-14stWeubjY/s320/photo+%25289%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
we put two nails into a yardstick at my desired length (23.5") and then i wound the wire around the nails, starting the wire at the midway point and wrapping around one nail and then the other in a big oval until i ran out of wire. once i finished winding the wire off the spool i used tin snips to cut all of the wires at the halfway point separating my oval into two sections. this not only got my wire into equal lengths (roughly equal, close enough for our purpose) it made a nice bend in the middle of the wire to help center the stones & pearls. then i threaded the beads and did a couple of twists to secure them in the center of the wire before pulling out the big guns.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
many of the tutorials suggested putting a hook into the end of a drill and then holding the wire ends with pliers while making the bead twist (if that makes sense) but i decided that i'd much rather hold the soft round bead and decided to put the wire ends into the drill. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
as for the beads, i started first at the Hobbs and then to Michaels and, between the two stores, found a nice assortment at half off. i only picked up a couple of shapes since i didn't know exactly what would work best and these three packages were $4 total!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ffeMAx9bpEk/T2k0NjZBsuI/AAAAAAAABFw/i7a0e9ZNWfw/s1600/photo+%25287%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ffeMAx9bpEk/T2k0NjZBsuI/AAAAAAAABFw/i7a0e9ZNWfw/s320/photo+%25287%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
once we beaded several strands we realized that we wanted to get some pearls too but pearls aren't anywhere near as easy to find in abundance of size and color for a great price like the iridescent beads i found. being the bargain hunters brenza and i are, we had already been hitting the thrift stores & second hand shops for brooches and quickly realized that there are lots of old faux pearl necklaces out there and they're way less expensice than individual pearl beads. the 3 strand necklace and single strand choker i found at goodwill plus a cute pair of daisy earrings were only 7 bucks and they had a lot of pearls on them.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dOWLoVNdpag/T2k0L_M1PzI/AAAAAAAABFY/2Q9N4zDQEfU/s1600/photo+%252811%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dOWLoVNdpag/T2k0L_M1PzI/AAAAAAAABFY/2Q9N4zDQEfU/s320/photo+%252811%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
we should have enough pearls with those and a choker brenza found on clearance for $5 (which included a brooch too) that we can have a good mixture in each of the bouquets, if not a really good start. this bunch isn't perfect but it's pretty close and has 135 strands.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rHic6mVvXEk/T2k0MuDdmQI/AAAAAAAABFg/8UP_3FXgGhs/s1600/photo+%252812%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rHic6mVvXEk/T2k0MuDdmQI/AAAAAAAABFg/8UP_3FXgGhs/s320/photo+%252812%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
once we have the perfect mixture we'll wrap the base in ribbon and trim the wire ends so we don't end up getting poked on her big day! some of the larger beads and pearls will become filler for her bouquet and we'll make boutineers of some darker teardrop beads and maybe add a few flowers in for softness. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jQeWnooCzaU/T2k0OL9Hv0I/AAAAAAAABF4/Ws_Sf8jCEkM/s1600/photo+%25288%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jQeWnooCzaU/T2k0OL9Hv0I/AAAAAAAABF4/Ws_Sf8jCEkM/s320/photo+%25288%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
i'm so glad we have plenty of time to perfect these (and wire the 1000+ gems, pearls & beads), i'll keep you posted!</div>
</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-61971154089511044312012-02-25T12:25:00.001-08:002012-03-19T10:01:20.266-07:00eating this and not that... beef & beer<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>btw... in case you were wondering, and i'm sure you weren't, i'm not being sponsored by the lovely folks at </i>Eat This, Not That<i> i'm just trying, once again, to get back to eating less processed, more healthy and much more home made which, in turn, should save us some money, help us get back to loosing some lbs. and give us more energy for projects, yay projects!!</i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">my valentine's gift to us was a 3pk of 'eat this, not that' and two of them are 'cook this, not that'. the second edition of this amazing cookbook/tipbook has a recipe for 'beef & beer' that is currently in my crockpot and it's also what's for dinner tonight! first you brown your seasoned roast on the stove until it's nice and carmely brown and there are some crumbly bits on the bottom of the pan. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usGUMd2wmDU/T0k_-QDQ9rI/AAAAAAAABE4/rvPnSZ_mBT4/s1600/IMG_1610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-usGUMd2wmDU/T0k_-QDQ9rI/AAAAAAAABE4/rvPnSZ_mBT4/s320/IMG_1610.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">remove the roast from the pan and place it in the crockpot. add thinly sliced onions to the pan and let them caramelize before adding beef stock, beer, garlic and a couple of bay leaves getting all of the flavors to combine and those crumbly bits to add some extra flavor to the sauce. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1wEdyawJfV8/T0lAAtnD9_I/AAAAAAAABFA/jofVhGSNmq0/s1600/IMG_1616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1wEdyawJfV8/T0lAAtnD9_I/AAAAAAAABFA/jofVhGSNmq0/s320/IMG_1616.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">pour the sauce into the crockpot making sure to cover the meat. once it's all in the crockpot, cook it on low for about 8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JPzDM11ewSc/T0lAEKX9brI/AAAAAAAABFI/c9MjLUKTN9k/s1600/IMG_1617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JPzDM11ewSc/T0lAEKX9brI/AAAAAAAABFI/c9MjLUKTN9k/s320/IMG_1617.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><i><br />
</i><br />
at this point i have to apologize, after i got home from work, made noodles to go with the pot roast, thickened up the leftover juices into a nice gravy, got everything on the table and enjoyed this amazing roast with friends, i realized that i didn't take any photos of it... none, at all... oops!<br />
<br />
it was delicious, really, like amazing... the only leftovers were a few fatty meat bits that i gave to the dog and some gravy that i poured over her dry food, not a noodle or bit of meat or onion to speak of. most of the onion dissolved right into the sauce and meat so the picky boys didn't need to pick it all out and they never mentioned a bit about too much onion so i'd say it was a great success.Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-24675336885510965762012-01-01T18:47:00.000-08:002012-01-01T18:47:50.645-08:00a very crafty chrismas...i really wish i could have kept you updated on my christmas crafting but some of you lovely readers are my dear friends and family members and it could have ruined christmas!! well, maybe not ruined it, maybe just spoiled it. i'll be taking you through the things i made, mostly inspired by <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/">pinterest</a>, duh...<br />
<br />
i found several yarn wreaths popping up on pinterest and just knew i'd have to make some. the first i did took forever, seriously, like 4-5 hours of wrapping the wreath form... then i realized a couple of things. the first being that i didn't need to wrap the yarn super tight and try to do it all in one layer, especially since most of the online tutorials show two or three layers. the second thing i realized is that i should use a much thicker yarn to take up more space faster, it worked wonders!<br />
<br />
first up, an all white wreath for my grandma<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yDLPgXmynuY/TwDsdmJK-_I/AAAAAAAABDc/2Dv_Blu-5_M/s1600/IMG_1423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yDLPgXmynuY/TwDsdmJK-_I/AAAAAAAABDc/2Dv_Blu-5_M/s320/IMG_1423.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
soft white yarn wrapped around a straw wreath form, white poinsettia flowers and a few berry picks from the floral department<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bm4l0HMvWAM/TwDsfsHtxqI/AAAAAAAABDk/xtBZrr8RpHk/s1600/IMG_1424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bm4l0HMvWAM/TwDsfsHtxqI/AAAAAAAABDk/xtBZrr8RpHk/s320/IMG_1424.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
the next was a tan wreath for my sister<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rWsmIV1ds5o/TwDsiIF13yI/AAAAAAAABDs/1pbPfpvPzHE/s1600/IMG_1428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rWsmIV1ds5o/TwDsiIF13yI/AAAAAAAABDs/1pbPfpvPzHE/s320/IMG_1428.JPG" width="213" /></a></div> it's got burgundy felt flowers, a red berries pick and a few burgundy buds from a full stem of flowers that didn't get used, all topped off by a green bird (seester is bird obsessed!)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VZDcvmYj91I/TwDsl2VhL2I/AAAAAAAABD0/v5kMVDJEs3o/s1600/IMG_1429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VZDcvmYj91I/TwDsl2VhL2I/AAAAAAAABD0/v5kMVDJEs3o/s320/IMG_1429.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
the last is a grey wreath with white and burgundy poinsettias for my mother-in-law, i like it so much i may make one for myself!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4TkX8hErIJo/TwDsp-PHQfI/AAAAAAAABD8/5L_GdKnQem4/s1600/IMG_1431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4TkX8hErIJo/TwDsp-PHQfI/AAAAAAAABD8/5L_GdKnQem4/s320/IMG_1431.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CHq6U0HGFmc/TwDstgBp02I/AAAAAAAABEE/LtjceT2Vk7s/s1600/IMG_1432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CHq6U0HGFmc/TwDstgBp02I/AAAAAAAABEE/LtjceT2Vk7s/s320/IMG_1432.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
if you need a tutorial there's a good one <a href="http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2011/12/yarn-wrapped-holiday-wreath-tutorial.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LittleBirdieSecrets+%28Little+Birdie+Secrets%29">here</a>. tomorrow i'll show you another yarn craft adapted from pinterest!<br />
<br />
btw - my posts aren't sponsored by pinterest, i'm just a big fanMrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-45265321773174164282011-11-16T17:40:00.000-08:002011-11-16T17:44:13.329-08:00flower power...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FUHhUd67_oI/TsRle-ppxdI/AAAAAAAABDA/hzDr4Y9PXus/s1600/IMG_1293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FUHhUd67_oI/TsRle-ppxdI/AAAAAAAABDA/hzDr4Y9PXus/s400/IMG_1293.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div>after one craftastic sunday and a few days in between i'm nearly finished making paper flowers for that wedding which, i'm happy to announce is my sister's!!! we've changed the color palette since i last posted since she won't be using the paper flowers for her wedding next year but is actually planning on using them for her engagement dinner, engagement photos and then eventually as decoration in her house. super duper thanks to <a href="http://burrygirl.blogspot.com/">burrygirl</a> aka. michelle, and to my dad for lots of help during that craftastic sunday afternoon where lisa & i thought we might eventually go mad from all of the folding and gluing and repeating... i'm still working on the arrangement because we ended up with four coordinating cream & charcoal papers and a couple of velum papers and i want to get a nice arrangement but i love the way they're coming together. i think we've spent about $15 on paper, gems and wire so far and could still make a couple dozen or more flowers.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tCWKUvQ2gjU/TsRliogjzPI/AAAAAAAABDI/pkQbrX3QjXA/s1600/IMG_1297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tCWKUvQ2gjU/TsRliogjzPI/AAAAAAAABDI/pkQbrX3QjXA/s400/IMG_1297.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>i'll definitely update once they're arranged but i'm loving the way they turned out... if they weren't so complicated i'd probably make a wreath but by then i'd look like an old japanese woman (because it's origami...and it would take until i'm 80).</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-65288462106509071072011-10-09T21:33:00.000-07:002011-10-09T21:33:43.515-07:00lots of projects...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">there's been a lot going on around here this summer... i got a new camera and have forced this girlie to sit in my yard and take lots of photos. poor paige!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G8tcYK_-Dks/TpJqeoAMYGI/AAAAAAAABBQ/gyt3aWa6t6w/s1600/IMG_0618.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G8tcYK_-Dks/TpJqeoAMYGI/AAAAAAAABBQ/gyt3aWa6t6w/s320/IMG_0618.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">i also spent some quality time with my seester refinishing an awesome dresser turned buffet that we found at the salvation army for only $30 which is now red and... what is that above her buffet?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QTPk_mzjcr0/TpJqIEApLTI/AAAAAAAABBE/lVOFNuxKJyw/s1600/IMG_1209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QTPk_mzjcr0/TpJqIEApLTI/AAAAAAAABBE/lVOFNuxKJyw/s320/IMG_1209.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">these awesome <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/210776949/">pinterest</a> inspired scrabble blocks? yep, made those too, with some help from the jhubs for her birthday! ready for a quick tutorial, it's super easy. get a 4x4 post, cut into 1.5" thick blocks, stencil on the necessary letters with coordinating scrabble point values, add a coat of light oak stain and, voila!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0OYyGIupdzA/TpJqPpwhX8I/AAAAAAAABBI/wnB-iVKoqbQ/s1600/IMG_1213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0OYyGIupdzA/TpJqPpwhX8I/AAAAAAAABBI/wnB-iVKoqbQ/s320/IMG_1213.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCUfaF_ZIdQ/TpJqBR8wxyI/AAAAAAAABBA/mz4qrFsrGZc/s1600/IMG_0397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vCUfaF_ZIdQ/TpJqBR8wxyI/AAAAAAAABBA/mz4qrFsrGZc/s320/IMG_0397.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">they turned out so good in fact that my sister-in-law modified the original tutorial, used paint and a different stencil font, and gave them as a gift to one of her friends, they turned out amazing!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s84NTcF7L9w/TpJwtkingsI/AAAAAAAABBU/-4djk0m1_l8/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s84NTcF7L9w/TpJwtkingsI/AAAAAAAABBU/-4djk0m1_l8/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">i also started making origami flowers for an upcoming wedding and am really psyched about how they've turned out as well. following a tutorial i googled (origami paper flowers) they came together really easily thanks to some binder clips, glue & some other little clips i found</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W05jOTYrUJk/TpJpiObVNlI/AAAAAAAABAw/zaFBDwpPiTg/s1600/IMG_1218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W05jOTYrUJk/TpJpiObVNlI/AAAAAAAABAw/zaFBDwpPiTg/s320/IMG_1218.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">see, you make the petals individually and then wait for the glue to dry them closed (thanks to the binder clips, really, seriously, hardcore thanks!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p4gJC079OD4/TpJpabXES0I/AAAAAAAABAs/FjZT8MruNPU/s1600/IMG_1215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p4gJC079OD4/TpJpabXES0I/AAAAAAAABAs/FjZT8MruNPU/s320/IMG_1215.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3K6VZDvnXxE/TpJpqulAwXI/AAAAAAAABA0/whlNIiVtLDQ/s1600/IMG_1219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3K6VZDvnXxE/TpJpqulAwXI/AAAAAAAABA0/whlNIiVtLDQ/s320/IMG_1219.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">then you glue each of the petals to each other until you make a flower of either 5 or 6 petals and use either paper clips or some of these little clips (no idea where they came from but i'd guess walmart) to hold the sides of each petal to another petal.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9qUaGXTF6Ks/TpJp0WtX4PI/AAAAAAAABA4/z378H-uJoSk/s1600/IMG_1221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9qUaGXTF6Ks/TpJp0WtX4PI/AAAAAAAABA4/z378H-uJoSk/s320/IMG_1221.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KaQKv-I7O3s/TpJpQTFAzSI/AAAAAAAABAo/aizoUkiiFgc/s1600/IMG_1214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KaQKv-I7O3s/TpJpQTFAzSI/AAAAAAAABAo/aizoUkiiFgc/s320/IMG_1214.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
they turned out super cute and after i add buttons or some sort of sparkle to the centers and wired stems i'll show you the rest, i'm really excited about how cute they are!<br />
<br />
that's all for now, hopefully i'll have the update for you sooner rather than later!Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-42296521183989322632011-08-20T20:33:00.000-07:002011-08-20T20:33:23.875-07:00my sweet girlie's 12th birthday...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">my lovely niece's 12th birthday is in a few days and since she couldn't decide on a cake i was going to pick up an ice cream cake... and then i saw this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hostessblog.com/2011/08/vibrant-colorful-aloha-summer-birthday/"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gPE241dgvo4/TlBx8FFyiBI/AAAAAAAAA_I/yAQKdHTISBM/s320/Aloha_09.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">from the amazing blog <a href="http://www.hostessblog.com/2011/08/vibrant-colorful-aloha-summer-birthday/">Hostess With the Mostess</a>, and i knew i'd have to make her a colorblock cake. silly me asked her what colors she wanted (instead of just picking them) and we ended up with a more crazy and less elegant version of the beauty i was hoping for! she picked green, purple & blue and picked crazy zebra pattern flowers from michael's in those colors to go on top... i guess a zebra/purple/blue/green theme works for a tween, right?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">this cake was super duper easy... it's the first cake i've made with more than two layers that wasn't for a wedding but with the help of my trusty kitchen scale i could figure it out. i used two cake mixes and divided each of those in half before adding the food coloring, as far as mixing the color in, i ended up using three different methods jut because the first two i tried didn't work and, sadly, the best method by far didn't involve the kitchen aid (eep!) it was actually mixing it by hand with a wisk</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XPRMWx1mhFA/TlBuE88NYdI/AAAAAAAAA-4/-FiwAr7r_FI/s1600/IMG_0406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XPRMWx1mhFA/TlBuE88NYdI/AAAAAAAAA-4/-FiwAr7r_FI/s320/IMG_0406.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pm5U6yOV88w/TlBuNIVkd6I/AAAAAAAAA-8/iqtsvHQ2IoU/s1600/IMG_0411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pm5U6yOV88w/TlBuNIVkd6I/AAAAAAAAA-8/iqtsvHQ2IoU/s320/IMG_0411.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lv1SjIgXpXY/TlBuUsyiUiI/AAAAAAAAA_A/vzyIbNzycQk/s1600/IMG_0416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lv1SjIgXpXY/TlBuUsyiUiI/AAAAAAAAA_A/vzyIbNzycQk/s320/IMG_0416.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
mixing by hand with a knife (my usual method for small batch frosting) left coloring chunks in a swirly pattern, see the purple cake layer? and the kitchen aid left chunks of color in the bottom of the bowl as you can see as flecks in the green layer but once it was all frosted with my amazing (if i do say so myself) buttercream it looked great and i don't think that anyone noticed the uneven coloring so i probably would have been fine just using the mixer for all of them<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-apUEvidAnlM/TlBuXwAkQLI/AAAAAAAAA_E/60LprCO4lAk/s1600/IMG_0417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-apUEvidAnlM/TlBuXwAkQLI/AAAAAAAAA_E/60LprCO4lAk/s320/IMG_0417.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4taLsUJfv0Y/TlBr_zjxvzI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/hKsAMWMxO7c/s1600/IMG_0424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4taLsUJfv0Y/TlBr_zjxvzI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/hKsAMWMxO7c/s320/IMG_0424.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
she was super excited to have a surprise waiting inside her cake<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTW8ujKTeGw/TlBsHOzIe6I/AAAAAAAAA-U/SaCeJ5vsRds/s1600/IMG_0433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTW8ujKTeGw/TlBsHOzIe6I/AAAAAAAAA-U/SaCeJ5vsRds/s320/IMG_0433.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
and it looked pretty cool when lifted up from inside<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KV9GID9c5eE/TlBsM_GHZSI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/V-z_PRWSXzE/s1600/IMG_0434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KV9GID9c5eE/TlBsM_GHZSI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/V-z_PRWSXzE/s320/IMG_0434.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">other than a little smearing of the frosting i think it turned out better than i had expected and just made me realize that i need to work a little bit more on leveling my cakes because the blue layer wasn't quite level enough and it was pretty noticeable... although i'm not sure than anyone really cared all that much about it being a bit uneven because they were too busy eating it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">happy birthday sweets, i hope you like your cake!</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-22867151869058821342011-08-17T19:45:00.000-07:002012-03-20T20:30:19.144-07:00brenza's apartment...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cEYM0B0oja0/Tkxxmvq2quI/AAAAAAAAA9s/Q7Cki1FSu_s/s1600/IMG_0376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cEYM0B0oja0/Tkxxmvq2quI/AAAAAAAAA9s/Q7Cki1FSu_s/s400/IMG_0376.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
what to do when you move into your first apartment and have practically zero dollars to spend on artwork? you call your friend the designer and ask her what she can do for you... at least that's what the lovely brenza lou did (real name brenda but brenza lou just sounds better to my silly self), after seeing her super bare apartment i decided she needed some art, big art, and fast! we went through the mounds of photos on my laptop and she picked a few photos from the garden walk i took my grandmother last year. we printed them jumbo size and framed them (thank you sam's club for the value priced poster prints and michael's for the 50% off sale for the frames)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KPPL9FdrcTs/TkxxuS_DMKI/AAAAAAAAA94/Mb713t5WQtE/s1600/IMG_0385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KPPL9FdrcTs/TkxxuS_DMKI/AAAAAAAAA94/Mb713t5WQtE/s320/IMG_0385.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
for the one she liked the most we framed it extra large and added some metal artwork (hobby lobby 40% off!)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pgDqKe8O8cA/TkxyGUMWiQI/AAAAAAAAA98/YCB_2gjaQjI/s1600/IMG_0384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pgDqKe8O8cA/TkxyGUMWiQI/AAAAAAAAA98/YCB_2gjaQjI/s320/IMG_0384.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
the only problem was finding something to go over her tv... it was a big blank white wall with nothing going on. after finding some inspiration on blogs and of course <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/43466310/">pinterest</a> we came up with using tissue tubes (aka toilet paper & paper towels) cut into pieces, arranged into flower shapes (see the top pic, thats the close-up) and then grouped further.... after some spray paint, some additional hot glue and a few nails the first two sections are in place, we just need to finish the center but weren't sure how big so we made the side pieces first<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZSzQcR6i2s/TkxxoigjczI/AAAAAAAAA9w/N6Z6A6vO8uc/s1600/IMG_0378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZSzQcR6i2s/TkxxoigjczI/AAAAAAAAA9w/N6Z6A6vO8uc/s320/IMG_0378.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DGo_hh2IdxQ/TkyBRPRkuCI/AAAAAAAAA-A/lVL5SLGa2Ms/s1600/IMG_0380.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DGo_hh2IdxQ/TkyBRPRkuCI/AAAAAAAAA-A/lVL5SLGa2Ms/s320/IMG_0380.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J5dJQ-FyaP8/TkyBYX4mNNI/AAAAAAAAA-E/c5oaZJVjjDc/s1600/IMG_0382.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J5dJQ-FyaP8/TkyBYX4mNNI/AAAAAAAAA-E/c5oaZJVjjDc/s320/IMG_0382.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ug_Av2dXjLg/TkyBetAdvEI/AAAAAAAAA-I/RtYT3Sf51Gw/s1600/IMG_0388.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ug_Av2dXjLg/TkyBetAdvEI/AAAAAAAAA-I/RtYT3Sf51Gw/s320/IMG_0388.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
i'll keep you posted on the final project but here's what you get for now, are any of you working on new, pinterest or otherwise inspired art pieces?Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-85391129210362359542011-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:002011-08-14T14:45:56.574-07:00we're craftastic!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tj3aSXCePbo/Tkg8rUqnewI/AAAAAAAAA9o/YA4neOL61AU/s1600/IMG_0367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tj3aSXCePbo/Tkg8rUqnewI/AAAAAAAAA9o/YA4neOL61AU/s400/IMG_0367.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
my seester and i saw <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/35452471/">this</a> and <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/84827823/">this</a> over on pinterest and knew that a crayon wreath would be amazing for the girlies' teachers as a back-to-school or christmas gift. last week we decided that after church we'd make a final trip to the local pool and then we'd work on them... fast forward to today, it's rainy and cool (low to mid 70s) so we're not heading to the pool. after church, lunch and a quick snack run (we always need snacks for crafting...snacks and giant mcd's diet coke that is!)<br />
<br />
we started with two (two girlies = two teachers) chipboard/wood wreath forms that both got quick coats of red spray paint<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VG2-CnUNedM/Tkg31Xd05_I/AAAAAAAAA9I/npWT7CbsmxM/s1600/IMG_0344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VG2-CnUNedM/Tkg31Xd05_I/AAAAAAAAA9I/npWT7CbsmxM/s400/IMG_0344.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
then i had to figure out how to attach the ribbon hangers and make a bow at the top. after some trial and error i figured out that putting a large loop of ribbon on each wreath hanger and then tying a bow separately and threading the bow onto the closed ribbon loop would be the best solution and not have any seams showing<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--DgnmdnPzv8/Tkg45Y8y_SI/AAAAAAAAA9M/2q7tfVf_zmY/s1600/IMG_0347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--DgnmdnPzv8/Tkg45Y8y_SI/AAAAAAAAA9M/2q7tfVf_zmY/s320/IMG_0347.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pdCafJI6bw/Tkg47t1BicI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/R4m7Nr9YOjw/s1600/IMG_0350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pdCafJI6bw/Tkg47t1BicI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/R4m7Nr9YOjw/s320/IMG_0350.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">then we started gluing down the crayons next to each other to make the sunburst pattern... this is not a good method because things get very crooked very quickly</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4k7YF2pezwk/Tkg5NfUKgEI/AAAAAAAAA9U/lO-Hp15G2mU/s1600/IMG_0349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4k7YF2pezwk/Tkg5NfUKgEI/AAAAAAAAA9U/lO-Hp15G2mU/s400/IMG_0349.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
after jhubs so lovingly pointed out the problem (quote: 'that's super crooked and you're doing it wrong') he suggested a better method that had us place the crayons on the vertices first (picture a clock - not a digital one though) put the crayons at 12, 3, 6 & 9 first, followed by 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 & 10:30 and fill them in section by section by subdividing each section to fill in the spaces.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vTcdMXit4zU/Tkg5QDM7mAI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/4OZsddD6RhI/s1600/IMG_0351.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vTcdMXit4zU/Tkg5QDM7mAI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/4OZsddD6RhI/s400/IMG_0351.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">after figuring this out it, the whole process went very quickly, i'd say start to finish it took about 40 minutes per wreath but i didn't really time it. i hung one inside my back door for a few pictures and played with the bow placement</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RwL9QLcNgA4/Tkg7VXbKmMI/AAAAAAAAA9g/eGFfZTuJ6eY/s1600/IMG_0363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RwL9QLcNgA4/Tkg7VXbKmMI/AAAAAAAAA9g/eGFfZTuJ6eY/s400/IMG_0363.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><br />
sorry it's dark but i definitely like the bow a bit further down<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ebISCNQ6qWM/Tkg7S0eXdiI/AAAAAAAAA9c/TaV6--pqb34/s1600/IMG_0360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ebISCNQ6qWM/Tkg7S0eXdiI/AAAAAAAAA9c/TaV6--pqb34/s400/IMG_0360.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">here's the cost breakdown, not sure that ya'll need it but i like to keep track and this is the best way for me to do it:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">wreath forms: $3.99 at michaels (not enough advanced planning to pick them up with coupons but we will next time!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">crayons: $1.20 for three 24 count packs of crayons at target (yay for $.40 crayons at back to school time!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">ribbon: $3.99 at michaels - 25% off coupon</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">total: less than $10!! which is way less than some flowers or something else and it lasts ways longer, plus i love the way it turned out and i really hope their teachers do!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-78590790415069040352011-08-06T19:30:00.000-07:002011-08-06T19:30:27.760-07:00the goings on this month<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">first things first, sorry, i'm a lazy blogger, i do have a really good excuse though! i's been soooo busy, really i promise... we planted a garden in early june... a really ridiculously big garden. it's about 60'x8' but 1/2 of that depth is our grape vines so they're definitely a lot lower maintenance. this is the garden the day jhubs and his minions finished it (thanks minions, you're amazing!), and was taken almost exactly two months ago</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_sni5K_gZVw/Tj3tN30KPTI/AAAAAAAAA8o/x6a7SRRcr4U/s1600/start+-+june+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_sni5K_gZVw/Tj3tN30KPTI/AAAAAAAAA8o/x6a7SRRcr4U/s320/start+-+june+2011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">and here it is a week ago... which looks bare compared to what i wandered out to find tonight because we had a major watering last night, lots of sun today followed by a downpour tonight and it's getting a bit out of hand. see those pumpkin vines in the way back growing out into the yard?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P-_zrKxLFIo/Tj3tSLyCZjI/AAAAAAAAA8s/OjjcC4WViHI/s1600/1037426818911_ORIG.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P-_zrKxLFIo/Tj3tSLyCZjI/AAAAAAAAA8s/OjjcC4WViHI/s320/1037426818911_ORIG.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gEHoDeiU-7M/Tj3svlqZVkI/AAAAAAAAA8g/K3mV-xPWJWI/s1600/present%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">these pumpkin vines are taking over in a big big way... last week when i took this picture the 6 or so pumpkins that i could see were about the size of a golf ball and now, a week later, they're baseball sized and there's lots more golf ball sized ones too. so much for having so much room in our garden we might not know what to do with all the space!</div><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eIve6Bi-Qqc/Tj3tT0SYDuI/AAAAAAAAA8w/eWpZHDLNUpo/s1600/37426818902_ORIG.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eIve6Bi-Qqc/Tj3tT0SYDuI/AAAAAAAAA8w/eWpZHDLNUpo/s320/37426818902_ORIG.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">other than pumpkins we've got basil that i've dried several bunches of</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qJHIC4pXfC4/Tj3skaFL8NI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/E6TEVmf6I18/s1600/IMG_0313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qJHIC4pXfC4/Tj3skaFL8NI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/E6TEVmf6I18/s320/IMG_0313.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
pickles that ive canned 5 quarts of already and that was from only one great day of harvesting<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqseHwUv-G8/Tj3sogohajI/AAAAAAAAA8U/JEw456inzpA/s1600/IMG_0315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqseHwUv-G8/Tj3sogohajI/AAAAAAAAA8U/JEw456inzpA/s320/IMG_0315.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
4 english cukes, some hungarian peppers (hot and regular) that are just starting to mature, a small green pepper that i picked too early, a couple watermelons that we thought were ready but as it turns out were picked too early as well (at least we're learning!) and loads of tomatoes that better not ripen all together or i'm gonna have sauce coming out my ears!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CpYQ_z6a-EA/Tj3ss-g28PI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/GQZBqyhSh0g/s1600/IMG_0318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CpYQ_z6a-EA/Tj3ss-g28PI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/GQZBqyhSh0g/s320/IMG_0318.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
along with all of our gardening the jhubs surprised me with a lovely early birthday present and i feel completely spoiled (thanks babe!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gEHoDeiU-7M/Tj3svlqZVkI/AAAAAAAAA8g/K3mV-xPWJWI/s1600/present%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gEHoDeiU-7M/Tj3svlqZVkI/AAAAAAAAA8g/K3mV-xPWJWI/s320/present%2521.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">i also got to head to the pool with my seester, nieces and mom on a couple of days and have helped teach the PH (youngest niece) how to swim without her lifejacket, she's also gotten up the courage to jump off of the 1 meter spring board and platform and go down the waterslide... that's a big deal for the girl that wouldn't go into the 6' deep end of the pool a few weeks ago</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3xxkgo3PJ4/Tj3suyPQDJI/AAAAAAAAA8c/PksgxeNw_m0/s1600/ph+swim+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3xxkgo3PJ4/Tj3suyPQDJI/AAAAAAAAA8c/PksgxeNw_m0/s320/ph+swim+1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
oh, and i went to my 10 year high school reunion and got to wear this great dress<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kczcla0xNsA/Tj30ZL_L63I/AAAAAAAAA88/7k_lHhM-Zm0/s1600/reunion+dress.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kczcla0xNsA/Tj30ZL_L63I/AAAAAAAAA88/7k_lHhM-Zm0/s400/reunion+dress.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br />
and these super adorable shoes!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2WHrLikwJfU/Tj3svxBZVUI/AAAAAAAAA8k/E_9mrZAI4os/s1600/shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2WHrLikwJfU/Tj3svxBZVUI/AAAAAAAAA8k/E_9mrZAI4os/s1600/shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2WHrLikwJfU/Tj3svxBZVUI/AAAAAAAAA8k/E_9mrZAI4os/s1600/shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2WHrLikwJfU/Tj3svxBZVUI/AAAAAAAAA8k/E_9mrZAI4os/s400/shoes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">oh! and work has been super busy and i'm working around 40 hours a week, every week, which doesn't seem like a lot but my position is supposed to be for around 25 hours a week so working the extra hours and doing everything else has been tiring. the worst part is that everyone else has been working lots of extra hours... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">well, maybe not the worst part because keeping up morale is a big part of my manager's job and she does this by throwing quickly planned employee appreciation days (as in, pick someone working today that might not be feeling appreciated or maybe just a bit overworked and throw them a 'you're appreciated and super awesome and we love you please don't not come to work tomorrow' party). the best part about these parties is that we get cake, or cookies, or something equally smile-inducing... usually our awesome boss gets the cake but one particular day i decided to get one kind of for our awesome boss and kind of for everyone. i wanted to put "you're appreciated" but when i said that to the lovely bakery worker at Wal-Mart she said it might not fit, i asked her if "you're awesome" would fit and she asked me to spell 'awesome'... i should have spelled both words, serious cake fail</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LDT_MZP-_Fg/Tj30Yyv-AuI/AAAAAAAAA84/r4VTJw6AHtg/s1600/cake+fail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LDT_MZP-_Fg/Tj30Yyv-AuI/AAAAAAAAA84/r4VTJw6AHtg/s320/cake+fail.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">on the upside though, it earned lots of smiles and laughter and boosted morale right on up... so much that for a lovely lady's last day, our awesome boss decided to purposely misspell her cake as kind of a running joke</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VC38IWRbRBY/Tj30Yudv88I/AAAAAAAAA80/TEU_029iejA/s1600/cake+fail+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VC38IWRbRBY/Tj30Yudv88I/AAAAAAAAA80/TEU_029iejA/s320/cake+fail+2.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
oh lordy, they totally did misspell it and it was awesome...<br />
<br />
we also had VBS last week at church but that's a different post for a different day, it was 5 of the most tiring and rewarding days and i wouldn't have traded it for the world :)<br />
<br />
g'nite!Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-45457786419662017562011-07-01T16:38:00.000-07:002011-07-01T16:52:55.150-07:00lisa's bathroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">over a year ago my seester decided that she wanted to re-do her bathroom, wanted to give it an updated spring-y color scheme and start the process for giving her whole house a good freshening up. it started with these towels from target and a supercute penguin trashcan. based on these towels i removed what was left of the wallpaper border, painted the bottom half of the walls that great turquoise color, got a couple of cute rugs, a lime green toothbrush holder and replaced the broken mini-blinds with light and airy white curtains, super easy makeover, right? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfgTcnBa_oU/Tg5RVYH2qLI/AAAAAAAAA7w/N5yCxJA1uGI/s1600/img484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfgTcnBa_oU/Tg5RVYH2qLI/AAAAAAAAA7w/N5yCxJA1uGI/s400/img484.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>easy it was, until she mentioned that she wanted some new, better storage. dun dun duh.... (enter creepy graveyard music here). there was plenty of room for a fun cabinet and the wheeled plastic drawer bins just weren't cutting it. there was a lot of searching, lots of custom plans designed and, it seemed, lots more cost than she planned. any idea why someone would think it perfectly okay to charge $500 for a simple wood box that we have to put together ourselves and then change the color of (yes, we could have left the super-expensive one white but that's just plain silly since it would almost immediately get dusty or yellowed from excess moisture and three girls all sharing a bathroom)? me neither.<br />
<br />
thanks to our habitat re-store, lisa didn't have to fork over anywhere near that amount of cash, this beauty was available for only $65!!!! it's actual wood, was in great condition, and just ugly enough that it had been waiting several months to come to the right place so the original $90 asking price was marked down. the only downside was that we really wanted some baskets and the current door layout wasn't working... what's a girl to do?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5U5wKk5mJ8/Tg5QZ4TJftI/AAAAAAAAA7o/XkqtvodhUEA/s1600/IMAG0115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5U5wKk5mJ8/Tg5QZ4TJftI/AAAAAAAAA7o/XkqtvodhUEA/s400/IMAG0115.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>duh! flip it over and remove a door leaving the shelves available for baskets! maybe that part was obvious to ya'll but it took me a few extra minutes to figure it out, i originally was planning on filling and re-drilling the holes so that the handles could be a single glass knob in the center of the door, guess which option was cheaper and easier! after that it was time to sand, prime and paint the cabinet. <br />
<br />
as you can see in the next photo the cabinet got some nice additions along with a good coat of primer. first, a top made from spare mdf and some feet made from 4x4 blocks that we had in the scrap pile made it look a whole lot less like a kitchen cabinet and a whole lot more like an actual piece of furniture.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vz1Bjrscsg4/Tg5Qatpr5rI/AAAAAAAAA7s/yYMLFroZVms/s1600/IMAGE_007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vz1Bjrscsg4/Tg5Qatpr5rI/AAAAAAAAA7s/yYMLFroZVms/s400/IMAGE_007.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>i primed the interior white and the outside grey, i had most of the primer and the sandpaper already so this part was pretty close to free... fyi, i thought painting bright pink over grey would be much easier than over white because i had issues with the white bleeding through the pink on the doors, turns out, it was equally as difficult but with 3 coats it turned out the same color and i'd just suggest using whatever primer u have around.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Vq3YeNtoaw/Tg5QYbnGUxI/AAAAAAAAA7g/8UOgqQwgCNU/s1600/IMAG0062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Vq3YeNtoaw/Tg5QYbnGUxI/AAAAAAAAA7g/8UOgqQwgCNU/s400/IMAG0062.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">i put the shelves back in that came with the cabinet (i did pick up new shelf supports though because the previous ones were super gross) using the baskets we purchased at pier1 as a guide for spacing (they were a perfect fit by very happy coincidence) and it was looking good </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">i replaced the doors and was amazed at how different it looked but then immediately started to worry that it was a little too pink (not that lisa would think it was, she could have an entirely pink room and still want more pink).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wYvEKIEleq0/Tg5QY9X5NdI/AAAAAAAAA7k/wXvGQaGZETo/s1600/IMAG0064.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wYvEKIEleq0/Tg5QY9X5NdI/AAAAAAAAA7k/wXvGQaGZETo/s400/IMAG0064.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">once we had it in the room with the antique trays lisa bought it was perfect.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2LsnyrLOyck/Tg5RZDU83NI/AAAAAAAAA70/tpzE_3lx65c/s1600/imagejpeg_2_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2LsnyrLOyck/Tg5RZDU83NI/AAAAAAAAA70/tpzE_3lx65c/s400/imagejpeg_2_4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">now all we have left to do in there is get some art for the wall above the cabinet and maybe replace some light fixtures... (and maybe a better photo, that's what i get for forgetting a camera) i hope you like it!</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-61343389142416735122011-06-19T19:41:00.000-07:002011-08-07T17:11:08.427-07:00a father's day to remember!we had two very special events planned today for father's day. as always, we planned a cookout to enjoy time with my dad & grandpa but then quickly found out that our church was having a father' day cookout planned at a neighborhood park and that everyone, family & church family alike were invited, encouraged even to come and bring the whole family. we quickly put the kabosh on a cookout at home and made plans to be there instead. i made the mistake of getting distracted by the friends and family and forgot to take pictures but it was really fun and the food was great! somehow the hubs was still drafted to cook but he got to enjoy the day too, especially since we weren't gone all night long and he got to come home and relax on the sofa.<br />
<br />
the second big event for today (that actually happened first) was that my beautiful niece casi got baptized today!! we don't believe in baptizing children, like some churches do, because we believe that dedicating your life to Jesus is a personal choice, not one that can be made for you. we believe that it's something that takes quite a bit of thought, prayer and discussion before the decision can be made and it's not a decision to be taken lightly. i realize that you lovely readers may not believe the same things we do but that's what being free to believe what we believe is all about! casi was given the choice as to who she'd like to baptize her and when and she chose today, father's day, and one of her teachers from church, the lovely annette. casi met annette two years ago during vbs, really began to bond with/learn from/rely on her last year during vbs and continued during our midweek classes over the last several months. annette has really taught casi a lot about herself, how to act more like a young lady, what is and is not appropriate behavior and how to deal with the drama that several of her classmates seem to bring, in short, she's amazing!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oPmd-zWHAPw/Tf6y4W9fWnI/AAAAAAAAA7c/KD4dOTs45aU/s640/edit.jpg" width="425" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0DnCyPk5tF4/Tf6xsATcX3I/AAAAAAAAA7E/4aRfs4k4_nk/s320/IMG_4155.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-16EOiKOI1CE/Tf6xxlzldfI/AAAAAAAAA7I/dBXkGNj5oZw/s1600/IMG_4160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-16EOiKOI1CE/Tf6xxlzldfI/AAAAAAAAA7I/dBXkGNj5oZw/s320/IMG_4160.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zsXzL3pwVd4/Tf6x2XV10QI/AAAAAAAAA7M/h8fhBfikFV8/s1600/IMG_4161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zsXzL3pwVd4/Tf6x2XV10QI/AAAAAAAAA7M/h8fhBfikFV8/s320/IMG_4161.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3eQMIlcPoI/Tf6x7wHLFaI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/zrL3oUoiVN4/s1600/IMG_4163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3eQMIlcPoI/Tf6x7wHLFaI/AAAAAAAAA7Q/zrL3oUoiVN4/s320/IMG_4163.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WM6P-IJfBDw/Tf6yGMPZNSI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/-NXg2NxtyNU/s400/IMG_4166.JPG" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GQZ4iXQOVoQ/Tf6yAsh1iPI/AAAAAAAAA7U/vVhBn2f00SU/s400/IMG_4165.JPG" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-91760153912200823472011-06-16T12:00:00.000-07:002011-06-16T12:00:00.492-07:00fiona's homecoming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
a little over a year ago i did this <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><a href="http://jvbennett.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-new-niece.html">post</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"> to tell you about my lovely niece fiona and the amazing journey that my sister and brother-in-law were on to adopt her from Uganda. and even though I failed to post an update on fiona's room after i finished it you can finally see the pictures now! </span><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">this is the first thing you see when you enter her room, arching branches with an owl to watch over her as she sleeps!</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tyPZGBULSWM/Tfl1WkXPckI/AAAAAAAAA64/5iw5BFMDiHE/s400/IMG_1531.JPG" width="300" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><strike><br />
</strike></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">to the left is her dresser with some photos of the first trip sara & dave made to uganda, an adorable owl print from target and a mirror, apparently it's a pretty big deal to have a mirror in the house in uganda because she loves looking at herself</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><strike><br />
</strike></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><strike><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kdZ-IchxrwA/Tfl1W39TYTI/AAAAAAAAA68/rn138gphzVs/s400/img016.jpg" width="300" /></strike></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">to the right of the headboard is the only window in the room, fiona's name is on the wall above her toybox and, at some point, will be a beautifully framed picture of some sort. the butterflies are from target and they were beyond easy, they're plastic forms that clip onto the attached pushpins, you just stick them in the wall and rotate the butterfly whichever direction you want!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lPTShO16PTo/Tfl1UhF2WmI/AAAAAAAAA6w/Q2wurUD-iqk/s400/IMG_1296.JPG" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">the butterflies continue around the corner and over her desk which holds more photos, a lamp and a few stuffed animals that tyler won in a claw game</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ouBqy7cN_xQ/Tfl1VfOem7I/AAAAAAAAA60/2RG5To4PNsE/s400/IMG_1530.JPG" width="300" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">the photos on her dresser, as i mentioned, are from sara & dave's first trip to uganda which, as i talked about in my first post, we were hoping would be their only trip to uganda. you can read the full story <a href="http://brodzinskisadoption.blogspot.com/">here</a> but i'll post a short refresher for you. after several weeks in uganda they learned that they weren't going to be getting a court date for quite some time and because of some trouble with the lawyer they hired there it might take even longer so they returned home, sad that they couldn't bring their daughter back and frustrated. several months later sara & rachelle returned (without dave & mark) because they finally had a court date thanks to corrections in their paperwork by their new lawyer (also named sarah). after making a huge amount of progress with their court dates, both sara & rachelle were granted full adoptions of their daughters. unfortunately though, before they could celebrate too much, the american embassy denied their paperwork for visas, basically saying they didn't believe that the girls were orphans and that sara & rachelle must have paid off the judge or somebody to bring the girls home. because of their immense faith sara & rachelle again returned home without their girls, put their faith in God and prayed that soon the embassy would grant their visas. after several months we finally received the news that their visas has been granted and that sara & mark would be returning to uganda to finally bring their daughters home. the first step was to get plans together for an airport greeting followed by a small welcome party at the brodzinski's house when they got home. wednesday, may 25th, we piled into two vehilces and set out for chicago. tyler and i practiced the self-photoing in the backseat while papa bruce (my father-in-law) drove.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V0d0fAG5HJ0/TflvHOZtE6I/AAAAAAAAA58/TU8LrJiR0IM/s400/IMG_3512.JPG" width="400" /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div> the closer and closer we got to chicago tyler kept asking about the sears tower. i told him how it was renamed the willis tower and talked about how soon we'd be able to see it. at first i was surprised that it wasn't on the horizon but figured we just weren't in the right spot. then, almost magically, the clouds started to part and we saw that it was much closer than we though, just heavily veiled in fog!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g1NA0s_JfCI/TflvKGEnjJI/AAAAAAAAA6A/sWLD6AYlnuk/s1600/IMG_3523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g1NA0s_JfCI/TflvKGEnjJI/AAAAAAAAA6A/sWLD6AYlnuk/s400/IMG_3523.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
we made it to the airport and quickly found their flight on the big board... see the post for amsterdam at 1:22pm? do you also see that the time on the clock is 1:40pm? ugh... this is why i dislike waiting at the airport, as it turns out, their flight never showed 'arrived' on the board, it just kept moving up the line until it disappeared.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sRbhyIxQzfQ/TflvPZXaJEI/AAAAAAAAA6E/WtGt4yGKIas/s1600/IMG_3536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sRbhyIxQzfQ/TflvPZXaJEI/AAAAAAAAA6E/WtGt4yGKIas/s400/IMG_3536.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">so we waited... and tyler played with the welcome home sign he made</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-koFeVwvtNu4/TflvVUGb0eI/AAAAAAAAA6I/Tn-U0Ywl3G0/s1600/IMG_3552.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-koFeVwvtNu4/TflvVUGb0eI/AAAAAAAAA6I/Tn-U0Ywl3G0/s400/IMG_3552.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DUO6tth_5LQ/TflvboMRw2I/AAAAAAAAA6M/G1fetS0Gre0/s1600/IMG_3555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DUO6tth_5LQ/TflvboMRw2I/AAAAAAAAA6M/G1fetS0Gre0/s400/IMG_3555.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
and after a couple of hours (seriously) we got a call from Mark's cell phone asking where we were because they had exited the gate (not the gate we were waiting at after being directed by airport staff) so we ran to the other gate and there they were!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HieCAoBcdwM/Tflvhfm8ABI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/SPMteh84G20/s1600/IMG_3570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HieCAoBcdwM/Tflvhfm8ABI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/SPMteh84G20/s400/IMG_3570.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
slightly dazed and definitely very tired but both families were very happily reunited<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WDVcguOz4OA/TflvngLN9BI/AAAAAAAAA6U/uwWztynKaoE/s1600/IMG_3620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WDVcguOz4OA/TflvngLN9BI/AAAAAAAAA6U/uwWztynKaoE/s400/IMG_3620.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><br />
fiona was definitely tired and overwhelmed by all of the attention but<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7IfqAvCWiRg/TflvtUs9kqI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/P7KS9oawJJs/s1600/IMG_3633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7IfqAvCWiRg/TflvtUs9kqI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/P7KS9oawJJs/s400/IMG_3633.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
and she stayed close as we exited the airport as well<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OhRjgC6WPSs/TflvzUFwCkI/AAAAAAAAA6c/hySd-D55zdE/s1600/IMG_3661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OhRjgC6WPSs/TflvzUFwCkI/AAAAAAAAA6c/hySd-D55zdE/s400/IMG_3661.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">after arriving home we picked up lots and lots of fried chicken, had many more family members and dear friends join us and welcomed everyone home. fiona kept sneaking away to explore her room and several times focused on this photo, one of the large group of family and friends in uganda that had helped her survive over the last six years</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tLITGtHg-MI/Tflv5LYo8aI/AAAAAAAAA6g/oFzUzzyxMdE/s1600/IMG_3668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tLITGtHg-MI/Tflv5LYo8aI/AAAAAAAAA6g/oFzUzzyxMdE/s400/IMG_3668.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><br />
a few days later was a bittersweet sunday at church as the entire harris prairie family welcomed racheal and fiona home we also said goodbye to the grahams who left for seattle that afternoon. thankfully we got some pictures of everyone together one last time before they left.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-up3Wsfq_6Cc/Tflv-kFDzbI/AAAAAAAAA6k/h66Lnlwag0E/s1600/IMG_3809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-up3Wsfq_6Cc/Tflv-kFDzbI/AAAAAAAAA6k/h66Lnlwag0E/s400/IMG_3809.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
we were so glad to have dr. larry williams, our senior minister join in some of the photos<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rwe7MRflLTw/TflwEGj3JtI/AAAAAAAAA6o/X8M_P44em1c/s1600/IMG_3819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rwe7MRflLTw/TflwEGj3JtI/AAAAAAAAA6o/X8M_P44em1c/s400/IMG_3819.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><br />
within a week or so fiona had pretty much adapted to the family and church family and attention and was surprised by some neighbors with lots of hand-me-downs, including this bike which, thanks to tyler's training wheels and an old helmet, she was ready to ride!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1b2EC1JTzE/TflwMYiyO1I/AAAAAAAAA6s/RAqe-_NtaOE/s1600/IMG_3960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1b2EC1JTzE/TflwMYiyO1I/AAAAAAAAA6s/RAqe-_NtaOE/s640/IMG_3960.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br />
i could post for days and days all of the pictures we've taken of this newest member of our family but, i suppose, it would just like any other family welcoming a new child. we're just so thankful to be able to say 'welcome home fiona!'Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-12784135398451215712011-06-15T22:05:00.000-07:002011-06-15T21:01:51.517-07:00paige's milk & cookies party<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>to help catch up on posts i missed i knew i should mention my lovely niece Paige's 6th birthday party. during the initial planning stages we were hoping to have a dual party with my other niece fiona but, unfortunately there was quite the delay in her visa paperwork and it took several months longer to get her home than originally planned. i'll tell you more on that later but for those that don't already know, she's home and fitting in quite nicely!<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>lisa, my sister, and i had been planning a milk & cookies themed birthday for several months and during the initial stages the only thing i knew was that we were going to have it in the fellowship hall at our church and that i wanted a smaller version of this oreo cake to be the centerpiece. i'd seen it on an episode of martha and fallen in love (how could you not!) </div><div><br />
</div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618620301739714626" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XoopqzKPSyE/TflZZUz-aEI/AAAAAAAAA54/wQlId5aVLmk/s320/kevin%2Bsharkey%2Boreo%2Bcake.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 256px;" /><br />
<div>we also knew that we wanted several kinds of cookies and most of them would be homemade since we are ridiculously obsessed bakers when it comes to holidays, birthdays, because-you-need-baked-goods-days. then i stumbled upon this <a href="http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2011/04/v-and-co-cooks-cake-cookies-with.html">post</a> from V and Co. (love the blog!) with these lovely cakemix cookies. </div><div><br />
</div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618618252010012386" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5gDS7I2azm0/TflXiA-VPuI/AAAAAAAAA5g/_-ho7OwSTUU/s320/cookies%2B3.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
<div>i instantly knew i had a theme and would have to work the oreos back in somehow. our fellowship hall was already decorated in lots of fun colors so all we had to do was set up some tables, balloons, trays of cookies, some smaller pre-bottled milks and call it a day.... easy as pie, er, um, cookies! easy that is, until my sister realized that a milk and cookies birthday with a stacked oreo cake meant that there wouldn't be any actual cake at the party. i had known this all along but apparently she had not processed the thought. we then brainstormed and debated (fancy word for argued) and brainstormed and came up with:</div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br />
</u></span></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ADSl1LPONs8/TflXi82ivUI/AAAAAAAAA5o/0wzs9BcRLI0/s1600/IMG_0557.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618618268083469634" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ADSl1LPONs8/TflXi82ivUI/AAAAAAAAA5o/0wzs9BcRLI0/s320/IMG_0557.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>oreo cupcakes! chocolate mini cupcakes for the kiddos, one giant cupcake with her birthday candle (thanks to a large starbucks sized muffin pan my mom uses to make homemade giant muffins) and no worries about a cake-less birthday. we stuck mini oreos in the oreo buttercream and voila! the other centerpieces we discussed were cookie bouquets coming out of glass milk bottles. unfortunately at the moment i don't have the full photos to show you (i'm really bad at remembering to put a memory card in my camera so i hijacked my sister's but then forgot to download the pics before giving the card back, oops) but here you can see the cookies on a stick post-decorating.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6P0PcP2u3ic/TflXh6UIvNI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/x_a6jAcSw1o/s1600/2011-05-05%2B23.52.24.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618618250222419154" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6P0PcP2u3ic/TflXh6UIvNI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/x_a6jAcSw1o/s320/2011-05-05%2B23.52.24.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>i didn't search around a lot for a method to do these although i probably should have, i used my favorite sugar cookie recipe, laid the cookie sticks onto a baking sheet and laid the cookies on top of them as i cut them out. i barely squished the cookie around the stick because i wanted the cookies to stay fairly flat for decorating and only had a couple fall off but they fell off straight out of the oven so i re-used the stick to make more, super easy. I made royal icing according the recipe that came with my wilton meringue powder and went to town. it really was that easy. we found glass milk bottles, filled them most of the way with rice and stuck the sticks in. </div><div><br />
</div><div>the only decorations we purchased were balloons and colorful tableware. i'll probably update this more later with the photos of how everything turned out and the custom game we made for less than $10 but for now that's all i have. it was a really good day even though we couldn't share it with fiona and we're really glad we planned it inside because half way through the party it downpoured!</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-43429849178969074822011-06-15T14:00:00.000-07:002011-06-15T14:55:13.166-07:00pinterestcan i just tell you how obsessed i've become with <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/">pinterest</a> and how it's taking up all of my time. it started a few weeks ago after one of my mangers mentioned how cool it was and that she was totally addicted and then, within a day or two i was reading my new favorite blog, <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/">Young House Love</a> (i'll probably have a post all about their brilliance later) Sherry was posting about mother's day and how her brilliant husband checked out her pinterest board to see what to get her for mother's day... i told you he was brilliant! i figured that if two people who's style i admire that much were totally in love with this new thing called 'pinning' that i had better try it out. <div><br /></div><div>long story short, my sister and i have been co-contributing to some of her boards so that we don't continuously re-pin each other's pins, and i'm really upset that there's no pinterest app for android at least there isn't one yet... my addiction to pinning and re-pinning is, well, it's almost getting out of hand... but i just can't stop myself, it's a beautiful thing! want to see <a href="http://pinterest.com/mrsbizzle/">my boards</a> or <a href="http://pinterest.com/haylisa/">my sisters</a>? i think you should... then join pinterest and start pinning things... then i can see your pins and share them</div><div><br /></div><div>but seriously, check out <a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/">Young House Love</a> and <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/">Pinterest</a> i hope you'll love them as much as i do!</div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-45907494960703161932011-06-14T19:59:00.000-07:002011-06-14T21:12:09.119-07:00its been too long..i spend so much time reading blogs that sometimes i forget that i'm neglecting my own blog. here i am, almost 6 months past my last post and there is so much i feel the need to say. over the next several days i'll be posting quite a few things (at least, that's the plan), lots of updates, lots of project photos and i'll be revealing a few changes along the way! i'm sure you'll notice the new layout but it feels a lot more like the direction my style has been changing over the last few months. i've changed positions at work and have begun to realize that, while i generally like having the things i use near me where i think i'll use them, it's really difficult to find things when people have put them where they think they'll use them the best and often results in a lot of clutter on the small surfaces we have available to use. did you follow me on that one? it basically boils down to me cleaning up after people all day long while trying to do my job. this is quickly translating to my home life because, as much as i once loved having multiples of things so that i could have just the right size and shape ready at hand, i'm realizing that i keep using the same things over and over again and the multiples are getting lost in the backs of really cluttered cabinets. i've begun to notice that all of the surfaces in my house are getting overly cluttered because i'm saving lots and lots of things 'just in case'. it's tiring to clean everything up because i keep putting things where i think i'll need them, my husband puts things where he thinks he'll need them and my dog puts things where she wants them and the cat moves things because they're not where he wants them... ugh! don't get me wrong, it's not like my house belongs on hoarders or anything, it's just that i'm realizing that it's too cluttered and i really feel accomplished when i've cleaned off the surfaces and everything looks more open. i'm on a mission to improve the clutter situation and, in the process, finish making my house into the home we've been wanting. <div><br /></div><div>the first step was to pair down and get rid of all of the duplicates or excesses that we're not using. the hubs was great at cleaning out all of his excess computer equipment, electronics and miscellaneous cables and cords and even went as far as to sell the dvd collection he'd been building over the years because we don't watch dvds, we netflix! we also decided to pair down our bills and expenses (the main reason we netflix) so we ditched the premium cable and only kept the basic cable because it was only about $7 more than no cable when paired with internet so we know that we'll have HD local channels and we get a few other miscellaneous channels just in case there's nothing else to watch. now it's my turn to pair things down and, instead of taking things to the pawn shop like the hubs did, i'll end up having a yard sale later in the summer. i can only hope that i'll make some decent money for all the work it'll be... especially since the hubs made about $1,000 and didn't have to sort and price things and then sit in the sun waiting for people to paw through lots and lots of our belongings!</div><div><br /></div><div>the next step was to finish the projects we've been working on around the house. you'll have to wait until later to see those projects but i promise they're worth coming back for! goodnight ya'll!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3727632874391220869.post-37523477273579633682011-01-14T11:50:00.001-08:002011-01-14T12:03:51.800-08:00apparantly i'm a dynamic architect...<div style="POSITION: relative; WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 200px; OVERFLOW: hidden"><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #8f4f0e; WIDTH: 69px; HEIGHT: 63px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 0px; LEFT: 0px" title=" Very Earthy"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #eb1717; WIDTH: 66px; HEIGHT: 63px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 0px; LEFT: 69px" title=" Very High Confidence"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #181818; WIDTH: 65px; HEIGHT: 63px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 0px; LEFT: 135px" title=" Very High Attention to Style"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #81eb17; WIDTH: 86px; HEIGHT: 48px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 63px; LEFT: 0px" title=" Very Aesthetic"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e317e3; WIDTH: 86px; HEIGHT: 45px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 111px; LEFT: 0px" title=" Slightly High Extroversion"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #7b16e0; WIDTH: 86px; HEIGHT: 44px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 156px; LEFT: 0px" title=" Slightly High Authoritarianism"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #15d115; WIDTH: 58px; HEIGHT: 55px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 63px; LEFT: 86px" title=" Slightly High Agency"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cfcf15; WIDTH: 56px; HEIGHT: 55px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 63px; LEFT: 144px" title=" Slightly High Femininity"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #1414c9; WIDTH: 64px; HEIGHT: 45px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 118px; LEFT: 86px" title=" Average Trust"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #13bdbd; WIDTH: 64px; HEIGHT: 37px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 163px; LEFT: 86px" title=" Average Spontenaiety"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #1265b8; WIDTH: 34px; HEIGHT: 65px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 118px; LEFT: 150px" title=" Average Masculinity"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #9c1056; WIDTH: 16px; HEIGHT: 65px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 118px; LEFT: 184px" title=" Slightly Low Empathy"></div><div style="POSITION: absolute; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #0f9653; WIDTH: 50px; HEIGHT: 18px; OVERFLOW: hidden; TOP: 182px; LEFT: 150px" title=" Low Openness"></div></div><div style="POSITION: relative; TEXT-ALIGN: center; WIDTH: 200px"><a href="http://www.personaldna.com/">Dynamic Architect</a></div><p></p><p>according to an online profile i'm a dynamic architect, what does that mean?</p><p></p><br /><em><strong>You are an Architect</strong><br /><br />Your preference for concrete, visually pleasing things, combined with your confidence and your respect for order make you an ARCHITECT.<br /><br />You are logical and detail-oriented, which allows you to get things done efficiently.<br /><br />You are quite sure of yourself, so that you tend to know the best ways of doing things.<br /><br />Your eye for aesthetic beauty and style indicates that you know a lot about design.<br /><br />Having a routine and sticking to it is important to you; you find comfort in tradition and familiarity.<br /><br />Self-reliance is something in which you take great pride—you are confident and down to earth.<br /><br />You have a basic faith in yourself in many areas of your life, allowing you to be self-assured when facing challenges.<br /><br />You have a strong sense of style and value your personal presentation - friends may even seek your style advice from time to time.<br /><br />Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.<br /><br /></em><em><strong>You are Dynamic<br /></strong><br />As someone who is DYNAMIC, you do not have a hard time meeting new people, and you have a bunch of close friends.<br /><br />You are not overly concerned with what others may think about you, which leaves you free to be thoroughly involved in the world around you.<br /><br />There are those who find being around people exhausting—but not you! Interacting with others, whether at a party or in conversation, gives you energy.<br /><br />You have a strong sense of what the world is like and how it should be.<br /><br />You have enormous respect for those who have earned their success, and have little patience for those who try to bend the rules or ride on the coattails of others' hard work.<br /><br />Believing in the importance of integrity and hard work doesn't stop you from believing that people will do the right thing—you know that people are good at heart.<br /><br />You sometimes have trouble understanding why others feel the way they do, but it doesn't stop you from having faith and trust in those around you.<br /><br />Part of what makes engaging with people so interesting for you is that you occasionally learn something new about yourself or about a problem you're having when discussing things with others.<br /><br />Your strong worldview leads you to believe that people shouldn't rely on their emotions so much when making decisions.<br /></em><br />well, there you have it in a very large nutshell... basically i'm stubborn and bossy and i already knew all that. but it is fun, feel free to click on the link and find out more about yourself!Mrs Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18284169307123663264noreply@blogger.com0