Kim's Cottage

Public Service Announcement

2009-02-26T18:39:00.005-06:00

I was checking on the automated backup of my blogs today and thought of y'all. I wondered how many of you all out there back up your blogs.

So....how many of y'all out there back up your blogs?

I think it's an important thing to do. One of those "insurance" type things that you hope you never need. Kind of like the smoke detectors in your house. The airbags in your car. The surge protector on your computer. You get the idea.

I use blogbackuponline.com for my blogs. (No, I'm not a paid actor; this is a real unpaid customer testimonial)It's free and easy and was recommended to me by a rather techno-savvy friend. That's why I use it. I'm sure there are several others out there that are equally as good. I just haven't had a need to research any further.

It gives me peace of mind to know that if something awful should happen, I could restore my blog, never lose a word, never have to go back and re-upload a single picture. That kind of thing helps me sleep at night.

How about you? Have you taken care of your blog?

**END Public Service Announcement.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reading.**

The House Smells Like A Rose Garden...

2009-02-25T02:11:00.001-06:00

...thanks to Beverly.

I'm trying to use up my Yankee candles so I can make some totally cool ribbon holders like hers.

So far, this is a pretty sweet (smelling) little project. Thanks Beverly!

My First New Dishtowels EVAH!

2009-02-24T13:28:00.006-06:00

The other day I went to Ross to look for a picture frame. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did spy a little packet of kitchen towels lying haphazardly on a shelf. There were five in the packet, wrapped up in a green satin ribbon.

When I saw that they were pink and white, I snatched them up right away. I do not know if $5.99 is a good deal for 5 dishtowels or not. You see, I have never in my life purchased dishtowels. Never.

The dishtowels I have were handed down to me; they belonged to my great aunts. They are vintage, with cross-stitching and embroidery designs. I love them because they are vintage, have that family sentiment, and have that softness that comes from decades of washings. But they don't go with my decor at all.

So when I saw the pink and white ones at Ross, well, the price really didn't matter. But go ahead, feel free to tell me what a steal I got on them anyway. Lie to me if you have to. That's ok. It'll make me feel all the better. :-)

When I got home, it was all I could do to take a moment to take that picture. Then I unwrapped them, careful to save the ribbon. Hey, it's perfectly good ribbon. Cute, too, with its polka-dots and all. I'm sure I'll have a use for it someday.

Well, when I pulled all the towels out, boy, was I surprised. Pleasantly surprised. They're all different, yet coordinating.

One even has bunnies woven into the design. How totally cool is that?! Does this mean they're really supposed to be Easter towels? It made me think of Amy, of course. (you'll probably need to enlarge that photo to see the bunnies)

Then I notice they each have a loop in one corner on the back. Wow. Another swell surprise! Is that normal? Do all dish towels come with a loop nowadays?

It actually took me a few minutes to figure out what the loop was for. Well, I'm still not 100% sure I've got it right.

I know. I can't believe it either. Here we are in the 21st century...and I'm standing there in my kitchen, totally dumbfounded by a loop on the back of a towel. Color me humbled.

Isn't it funny? In this day and age, with all the techno-gadgetry out there...and Kim gets all excited over pink and white dishtowels with bunnies and loops. What can I say? I'm a simple woman.

Back to Work and Ebay v.s. Etsy

2009-02-23T06:47:00.006-06:00

(Click to enlarge)

Yesterday I browsed some of the ebay discussion forums. I was looking for some insight on the Auctiva issue. According to the other ebayers, the problem was with Mozilla/Firefox browsers and Auctiva. Those using Internet Explorer were supposedly able to get into their Auctiva accounts with no problems.

I attempted to get in to Auctiva on my Mac and still encountered the warnings, even under IE. I did not attempt it on my PC...just in case. (Even with all the firewalls and virus protectors and whatnot, I still trust my Mac to ward off viruses more than my PC.)

This morning I tried Auctiva again, and it seems to be working fine, even under Firefox. So I put together an auction real quick. I've got it scheduled to post this evening. Better two days late than never, right?

It's a re-run of the first Rose Coupon Organizer I did, this time all decked out with pink ribbons and bow instead of white. I'm beginning to wonder if these particular rose graphics are wearing out their welcome. I've done several organizers with them now. But, you know, since I have to pay for the graphics, I want to get as much use out of them as I can. And people do still seem to buy them. So I guess they can't be too tired of them...yet. Right?

In any case, I'm feeling the urge to purchase more graphics again soon. I've had some requests for designs using reds, so I'm thinking of going in that direction.

On a side note, the ebay fees are killing me. Etsy is looking better and better to me all the time. I'm just hesitant about the lack of exposure at Etsy. I'm afraid there won't be as much traffic. Another concern is I notice things seem to sell ALOT cheaper there and the shipping rates are unreasonable. They don't cover the true cost of shipping. How are sellers making any profit?

Any thoughts from you Etsy'ers out there?

Ok, enough rambling for this morning. Got to get busy; I've got a whole day's work ahead of me.

Happy Monday Everybody!

Auctiva Attack Alert?

2009-02-22T05:55:00.006-06:00

I use Auctiva to create my ebay auctions. It's a lot cheaper and I'm able to insert bunches of photos without added cost. I like that feature ~ being able to give the buyer several more views of what they're bidding on.

Last night I went to the Auctiva website to start some new listings. But this warning came up instead:

I have seen this warning before for other sites while surfing the web. I've never seen it on one of my regular, trusted sites. Usually I just leave the site immediately. But this is Auctiva, one of my regulars. They're my ebay proxy and have my PayPal information, etc. I'm a little alarmed.

I clicked on the "Why was this site blocked?" link and got this screen:

(click to enlarge)

Last night when I got that screen and clicked on the auctiva link, it told me the site had infected 3 computers, I believe. This morning when I clicked on the same thing, it was up to 90.

I'm thinking I'll hold off on posting any ebay stuff for a few days. I'll keep checking back to see if Auctiva has their site straightened out. Hopefully they'll take care of it soon.

If not, I'm not sure what I'll do. I don't know if there are other free services out there like Auctiva or not. Hopefully I won't have to go searching to find out.

Pink Saturday - Sweet Stress Reliever

2009-02-21T01:01:00.001-06:00

Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world's perfect food.
Michael Levine, nutrition researcher, as quoted in The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars

Pink + Chocolate + Saturday. Oooooh, it doesn't get much better than that!

I purchased this graphics set from Daisie Company. I made this little emergency chocolate kit for a friend who's battling breast cancer. I shipped it off to her yesterday. Hope it'll lift her spirits when she opens the package to find all the sweet treats inside.

I also made one for Blondie for Valentine's Day.

And larger, gallon-size cans for my mother and stepmother for Valentine's Day.

Every woman should have a secret emergency stash of chocolate somewhere, don't you think?

Of course, a woman's stash should be all wrapped up in pretty pinkness, right?

I hope your Saturday is full of Pinks and lots of sweetness.

Don't forget to check out all the other Pink Saturday participants over a Beverly's.

What Is It They Say About A Bird in the Hand?

2009-02-20T03:15:00.000-06:00

We have a family of cardinals that make our backyard their home. We really enjoy having them here, even more so in winter. Their bright colors are so striking against the drab, bare branches of the trees. They always have a cheerful sound to share.

Recently one of the males found himself in our garage and unable to get out. Bless his little heart, he kept banging against one of the windows, trying desperately to fly free. He knocked himself silly and was panting.

John Dear picked him up and took him outside. He held the little fellow for a while so I could take pictures.

Mr. Cardinal was quite calm, other than his panting from his previous adventures of trying to slam through a window. He let John pet him without so much as a squeak.

Then apparently Mr. Cardinal came back to his senses. His instincts must've kicked in because he suddenly turned around and grabbed a chunk of hubby's thumb in its beak.

John yelped in pain and let go.

Mr. Cardinal did not.

We're all still friends though. The family of cardinals still lives in our backyard. We're trying to be more careful about keeping the back door on the garage closed.

Whole Chicken in the CrockPot

2009-02-19T10:10:00.015-06:00

I love my CrockPot. I don't know about you, but I simply a~d~o~r~e that thing. It's so nice to have it slaving away all day while I am off doing my own thing. During football season, it's truly a godsend. We get home late in the evening from practice or an out-of-town game, walk in to an aroma-filled house and a dinner that's ready & waiting for us. Oh yes. Love my Crock.

Back in November we received a turkey from hubby's work and I decided I wanted to give it a try in the Crock Pot. I found a really good recipe with easy-to-follow instructions here. I altered that recipe slightly but found it worked beautifully just the same.

Since then, I've done several birds in the Crock. I've probably been doing about one every other week since November. Yep, that's how much we enjoy this recipe! For the most part I do them all the same way, but with slight variations. Here is my basic recipe for doing a whole chicken in the crockpot.

Ingredients:

Whole chicken (I prefer mine without the neck & whatnot, but that's up to you)
A small amount of olive oil (maybe 1/8 cup?)
2 Tbs. butter or margarine, cubed
1 small apple
1 slice onion (sorry, forgot to include it in the photo)
Mrs. Dash (whatever is your favorite blend. Ours is Garlic & Herb)

I took a closer shot of the label on my chicken because I wanted you to see how economical this meal is. I always buy the largest hen my grocery store has, and it's never yet been 6lbs. I always spend less than $6. This chicken feeds my family of 4 for dinner and lunch the next day.

Rinse off your chicken well, just like you do with a turkey. Pat it dry inside and out, just like you do with a turkey.

You want to core your apple. Slice it also. It is stuffed inside your chicken along with the cubed butter. The reason you want these sliced & cubed is because it can be a pretty tight fit. The type of apple does not matter as far as I know. Use whatever you like. If all your apple slices will not fit, take those left over slices and eat them. Go ahead. They're good for you. :-)

Using a basting brush, spread olive oil all over your chicken. Then sprinkle with the Mrs. Dash.

Flip her over and do the same thing on the other side. If you enlarge the above photo and look closely, you can see the green apple barely peeking out of her backside.

Place her in the crockpot. I've done them right side up and upside down. It does not matter. The whole chicken comes out equally juicy no matter what position you put her.

Place your onion slices on top. Set the crockpot to HIGH.

I leave my crockpot on HIGH for 2 hours. Then I switch it to Low for another 6 hours. If you work outside the home, perhaps you could put it on high in the morning while you're getting ready for work. Then switch it to Low right before you walk out the door. Maybe? In any case, mine cooks a total of 8 hours. (If you looked at that Turkey CrockPot link earlier, you noticed she cooked hers for 5 hours on HIGH the whole time). Both ways seem to work fine.

On this particular day I added 4 cups of water because I wanted additional broth for cooking the veggies and stuffing for the meal. I have also done this when I've known I'd be making chicken noodle soup out of the leftovers and wanted that extra broth. But let me tell you, you do NOT need to add any water at all. Your chicken will make LOTS of juicey broth all by herself. Only add water if you are wanting broth for another purpose.

This was Sportster's plate, all dished up and ready to go. The corn, green beans and stuffing had all been cooked using that extra broth I mentioned before. No additional flavoring or seasoning was needed; they were scrumptious just as they were.
The crockpot makes it so easy. I just went into the kitchen a half hour before mealtime, scooped out a bunch of the broth with a ladle and used it to fix the veggies and stuffing. And *bam* a delicious home-cooked meal for my hubby to come home to....with plenty of left-overs for his lunch the next day. (Actually, truth be told, this time around there was even enough left over to feed his partner lunch as well)

Here are some variations I've done with this recipe and have had success with them all:

Don't use an apple at all
Put the onion inside instead of on top (this is when I don't use an apple)
Use a Red Delicious apple instead of Granny Smith
Use minced onion instead of a real fresh one
Sprinkle the top of the chicken with minced garlic

One thing you need to know about this recipe: If you're looking for a beautifully browned, perfectly proportioned chicken for display in the center of your dining room table, this recipe is NOT for you. If that's what you need, then you should probably follow the instructions on that link about cooking on HIGH for 5 hours and then transferring to an oven for browning.

You'll notice I did not post any such pictures. There's a reason. I have not yet been able to get my chicken out of my crockpot in one piece. It all falls right off the bone. Which is a good thing. That's actually what I want, for the meat to be that done.

ALL the meat is incredibly juicy, even the white meat. I no longer have kiddos turning up their noses to dry white meat. And it all falls apart so easily, making the job of separating the meat for future soups or burritos or whatever SUPER easy.

What Do You Think of the New Look?

2009-02-17T17:07:00.006-06:00

As you can see, I've been a busy little beaver here in Blogland. I think things are coming along nicely, don't you?

I got the left sidebar added...and managed not to lose the whole kit-n-kaboodle in the process. Yes, Virginia, there IS a God! I've still got to make up new graphics for the sidebars and move some stuff around. I want to add more gadgets too. But, all in all, I am pleased with the progress.

Please do tell me ~honestly~ what you think. Does it look ok on your end? Are things lining up fairly well? Graphics are easy enough to see? I'm not sure yet what to do about the fonts. I enlarged them to make them easier to read, but I'm not sure I like it. What do you think? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

In the spirit of my at-least-one-picture-per-post rule, I've decided to throw a picture in here of the latest coupon organizer I made...which is much nicer to look at than a picture of me here slaving away on my blog. This coupon organizer was a special request from a previous customer. I hope she likes it.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

(You know, every time I make one of these blue-themed organizers, I can't stop thinking of Cindy. They look to me like her kind of colors.)

Oh, by the way. It is SOOOO beautiful here today! I can't believe it. 70 degrees! I took Chrissy for a walk this afternoon and was burning up! It's freezing in this house, so I'm wearing Long Johns, a sweatshirt and a sweater coat over that. I thought I was going to DIE when I got outside! LOL As soon as we got back, I opened up some windows to let that gorgeous spring-like air thaw out the house. Gee, can't believe it's February still.

Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Pictures for Kelly

2009-02-13T05:41:00.000-06:00

I was trying to get caught up on my blog visits when I came across Kelly's post over at Rose Vine Cottage Two. She posted pictures of an antique bedframe she recently purchased. I kid you not, I gasped outloud and surely would have fallen out of my chair if it didn't have arms on it.

Kelly, these pictures are for you, to show you the detail of my bed so you can see. It's just like yours! (In my brain I'm screaming that because I'm really very excited to have finally found another one like mine)

My mother bought this wrought iron bed for me when I was a little girl. My earliest memory of it is when I was in Kindergarten. I'm 38 now...so I believe this bed has been with our family for about 33 years.

I used the footboard as a bar to practice my gymnastic swings, flipping over the footboard or balancing myself above it as if I were on the uneven bars. Such a silly girl, I was.

I recall being afraid of the detail work. It looked like two very stern eyes looking at me, with an almost gargoyle look to it. Why couldn't I have been a happy-go-lucky kid who saw the design as a beautiful butterfly or something?

My mother says when she first bought the bed, it was rusted badly. She spent a great deal of time cleaning it up and then painted it a creamy white. It's been repainted a few more times over the years. You can see some of the spots where the paint has chipped off. I don't mind a bit.

This is the most UNflattering picture you'll see. LOL I had to raise the skirt to show you. Even the joint where the pieces meet match yours.

I've looked at other wrought iron beds over the years. But none hold a candle to this one. It has many MANY years of memories for me. Like I said in my comments on your blog Kelly, I won't let my bed go 'til they put me in a pine box.

I hope yours becomes a favorite in your family too, to be passed down and cherished through the generations.

Help Me, Please?

2009-02-12T14:36:00.006-06:00

Remember, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

About 30 years ago my mother made these wonderful pillows for my bed. (Of course, that was about 10 years before I was born. At least, that's my story.)

I've pulled the pillows out of my hope chest and decided to display them on the guest bed. Which just happened to be my bed growing up. I thought it was rather fitting that the pillows return to their original place of display.

They all show some signs of their age, particularly around the middle. And they each could use a bit of a makeover. (gee, are we still talking about pillows here?)

I actually don't mind the general discoloration of the Aida cloth. I figure it just goes with the general ~~older than dirt~~ vintage thing.

But the "K" has a stain that is quite pronounced. It doesn't say "vintage", it says "splat". And I really need to figure out a way to clean it.

So I'm asking for advice. If these were your sentimental childhood pillows, how would you clean them? Or would you?

No, I don't have any clue what the 30 year old stain is.

No, these are not slipcovers over pillows. These are actually sewn on, so any cleaning has to be able to involve the whole pillow getting wet.

They are in excellent physical condition. Really, as good as the day they were made. No wear on the fabric or ribbons or lace at all. Just the discoloration of the Aida cloth. That's it.

Is there a way to clean the spot, but without it looking too clean, if you know what I mean?

Do you think they'd hold up to going through the wash?

Is bleach too harsh on something so old?

What about OxyClean?

Any ideas?

Please?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thank you!

What Recession?

2009-02-11T20:04:00.004-06:00

As you probably know, I am the Wilton method cake decorating instructor at my local Hobby Lobby. Last week I started up the February round of classes. This month I have more students enrolled than I've ever had before.

After class, I always walk over to the Wilton aisle of the store to assist the students with any purchases they may need to make. Many times in previous months I have had no students at all go to the Wilton aisle to make purchases. They've just left the store immediately after class, often opting instead to go to other stores where they know they can purchase the products cheaper. I always feel badly when they do that, but I there's nothing I can do about it. I can't force them to buy Wilton products or to do it at Hobby Lobby.

Anyway, back to this month's class. Last week after class I walked with the students as usual over to the Wilton aisle. I was surprised to find that ALL of my students shopped for Wilton products that evening. And I was even more shocked at the amount of products they purchased. I did some quick mental math while helping one lady, and I figured she was purchasing about $200 worth of Wilton products. Other students were filling up their carts as well. I was really pleasantly surprised. And thought to myself "What recession?"

The other day I went back to the store to turn in my February paperwork to the store manager. (Mucho importante, as this is how I get paid.) I mentioned to him about how much the students purchased. He told me they are finding that sales are actually increasing now as the economy is taking a downturn. He told me people are making more things themselves instead of purchasing ready-made products. And he said they are finding a trend among women to do more "nesting", which is resulting in Hobby Lobby seeing an increase in sales.

I thought that was interesting. And encouraging. After all, we've lost Linens N Things and Goody's here in our town just in the last couple of months. Two perfectly good stores, gone forever. I sure don't want to lose Hobby Lobby. With all the doom and gloom we are bombarded with these days, it is nice to hear that somebody is doing ok.

We don't have a Micheal's here in my town. I would imagine the same would be true for them too, since they're so similar to Hobby Lobby. I sure hope so. I hope both craft stores are able to weather this storm...for the sake of all us nesting women folk. :-)

Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater

2009-02-10T15:01:00.002-06:00

Yep, that's me. I'm cheating today on my own newly self-imposed one-blog-post-with-atleast-one-picture-a-day goal.

I have a post in mind for today. But we've got a storm rolling in. Big time. Tornadoes and all. The lights are flickering; we've already lost satellite.

When these things happen, I shut down my computers and unplug them. Yes, I've got surge protectors, but I don't trust them completely. I can't afford to replace my computers, much less what's on them. So when Mother Nature gets jiggy, my babies get unplugged.

So this is my post for today. To tell you there is no post today. LOL

How's THAT for cheating?! ;-)

See ya' when the sun comes back out!

Preparing for the Worst

2009-02-09T05:18:00.003-06:00

In anticipation of everything falling plumb apart when I go to switch my blog template, I've been spending some extra time making sure I've got everything I want to save saved into a separate document. Like the links of everyone I visit. You know, all those Linky Loves I've got in the sidebar.

From what I hear, those probably won't be transferred over automatically. So I'm going through and copying & pasting everyone's URL into a Word document. Figuring I can copy & paste everything back here into Blogger once I've made the change. Ugh. What a time burner!

On the upside, it's good because it's forcing me to update the links. On the downside, it's a real pain.

Am I making this harder than it has to be? Am I being overly cautious? I don't know. I've never re-done my blog like this before. All I know is I've heard horror stories about it from others.

In the meantime, I did manage to get another coupon organizer posted to ebay HERE.

Pretty doggone cute, if you ask me.

This came out a lot cuter than I thought it would. I'm actually liking the whole daisy & tea party theme that's going on with it. And the blue/yellow combination is nice & cheery.

Hope everyone has a Marvelous Monday!

Under Construction

2009-02-08T08:29:00.001-06:00

I have been wanting to make some changes to my blog for quite some time now. I've been wishing I would have set it up as 3 column in the first place. And I haven't been thrilled with my graphics. I want to have the same graphics for my ebay and website and this blog. I finally broke down and purchased the graphics from InMyCedarChest that she'd used to make my ebay template a long time ago.

So I've decided I'm ready to take the plunge. I am going to attempt to re-do my blog. *Attempt* being the operative word, naturally.

I'm not exactly sure when I'll get around to it. Hopefully within the next week or so.

Fair warning. If you come by and see things all a-jumble, you'll know why. It's just Kim, doing her tinkering around thing again.

Oh, and here's a little preview...

Pink Saturday - Roses and Bows

2009-02-07T02:46:00.000-06:00

It's Pink Saturday again! Woo Hoo! Thank you so much, Beverly, for hosting Pink Saturday for us again.

I love LOVE LOVE Pink Saturdays. Even when I don't have a post up, I still enjoy going around and visiting everyone else, seeing all your lovely pinkies.

Today I thought I'd share my latest creations.

This is a Coupon Organizer. I purchased the graphics, then put them together into my own design.

I had purchased this ribbon a while back. It is what I used to trim out the Christmas stocking for Chrissy. I had some left and just knew I had to add it to this box.

This is the matching Recipe Box that I made.

I've been pleasantly surprised at the response I've gotten so far to the boxes I've made. I've already received requests for custom orders.

I'm ooh'ing and ahh'ing over these. And, as much as I need them to sell, I'm really kinda hoping they don't. LOL

But seriously, I'm hoping and praying the demand keeps up. Not just because of the income factor..but because I really have a LOT of fun making these.

My shameless plug for the day: You can find these & the other tin boxes I've got for sale HERE.

Now let's head on over to Beverly's to see who else is participating today.

And have a WONDERFUL Pink Saturday!

All "Boxed" Up

2009-02-06T19:11:00.016-06:00

I haven't taken the time to post in a few weeks. And I really should have. I've been a busy little beaver. I should have been sharing with you all along. It is one of the things I have decided to work harder on: keeping my blog updated. It's just too easy to get behind and let life get in the way and...well, no more excuses. Right?

It all started a few weeks ago when I came across a template for a coupon organizer. I absolutely fell in love with it and really wanted an excuse to make one. So I whipped one up for my stepmother's birthday and shipped it off to her.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

I put a note inside, asking her to give me feedback on how it worked out for her. Because I wanted to make one for myself too. She did give me feedback. She LOVED it.

Then I got the idea to make one and try my hand at selling it on eBay. I tweaked the design a bit and added a bit more embellishment. To give you an idea, here's the one I made for my stepmother:

And here's the first one that went on eBay:

I didn't have the right size box, though. So I had to do some changing of the graphics to make a template that would fit the larger sized box I was able to find. That was a challenge. Still, I think it came out nicely.

Then I made a Recipe Box and listed it on ebay.

Again, larger sized box. Had to alter the graphics. My first tiny taste of "graphic design".

Then I got brave. Or stupid. Not real sure which yet. LOL

I decided to make up my own graphic design into my own template.

And I came up with this:

I purchased the graphics themselves from Daisie Company, then put them together to make the templates for everything here.

It was very time-consuming, especially since I have no idea how to do graphic designs. But well worth it. She went for a pretty penny on eBay.

I did have a hard time shipping her off, though. A part of me really wanted to keep her here in my kitchen, in all her glorious shabby rosey-ness.

Pink Saturday - Planning Ahead

2009-01-10T02:14:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet The Sound, Pink Saturday is upon us again!

Puleeze tell me I'm not the only one who does this...

I refrain rather religiously from buying Christmas decorations in the months leading up to the holiday...knowing I can get the same things for a song if I hold out until December 26.

Anyone else do that?

I even begin to purchase next year's Christmas presents at the after-Christmas sales. (The problem with this money-saving strategy is that I sometimes forget I've purchased something for someone and end up buying them another gift at some point during the year.)

Tell me I'm not alone! Tell me you too start preparing for Christmas a year in advance!

I've noticed the past few years that our living room Victorian tree has been looking more and more bare. This year it was really quite embarrassing, looking rather pathetic. Too many empty green branches. Over the years most of our ornaments have broken at one point or another. When I was packing away the decorations this year, I noticed we were down to just 8 glass Victorian-style ornaments of the original 40 given to me by my mother-in-law.

Which brings me to the after-Christmas sales this year and my quest to liven up my tree next year.

I admit it. I have purchased more ornaments the past few weeks than I ever have in the past. More than I care to ever let my husband know about.

Glass ones. Plastic ones. Styrofoam ones. Of all different sizes and colors. Most of them I have plans to perk up and transform into perfect pinkiness.

On the upside, I've made all these purchases at deep discounts. Some 60% off, more at 75% off

and my personal fave: All the pink goodies you've seen here were 80% off + my 15% employee discount at Hobby Lobby.

So when hubby finds my new Christmas stash, I'll just bat my eyelashes and give him my usual line:

"But honey! See how much money I saved you?"

Now tell me, what kind of after-Christmas goodies have you found? And what projects do you have dancing around in your head for Christmas 2009?

Christmas On A Budget - Part 2

2009-01-09T22:03:00.001-06:00

WHOOPS! While doing my Pink Saturday post, I found this post from last month that was never published. It was sitting there as a Draft. Ugh.

So here it is...almost a month late:

The biggest, most overwhelming part of our handcrafted Christmas are the Rice Bags.

I started out with 19 on my List for all the ladies in the family.

But my List has quickly expanded and now we're up to 29.

I'm making each of these with 4 separate compartments in each bag. That helps keep the rice from sliding to one spot in the bag.

Each compartment has 1 cup of rice in it.

I started out using herbal teas to add fragrance to the rice.

Apple cinnamon, lemon, chamomile, orange teas.

But I soon found the teas did not provide enough fragrance, as the bags just smelled like cooked rice when they came out of the microwave. Not good.

So then I switched to fragrance oils which worked much better. "Warm Sugar Cookies" -- ooooh so yummy smelling!

Afterthought: Now that the Holiday is over and all the rice bags have been given away, I cannot tell you how popular these gifts were. I continue to receive Thank You's over and over again for them. People tell me how soothing the bags are on their aches and pains. And with it being winter, several people tell me they heat their bags up and sleep with them or lay them over their feet in bed.

These ended up being very good gifts to give-- for their practicality and for being budget-friendly.

Good-bye Santa, Hello Frosty

2008-12-28T20:24:00.003-06:00

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and are ready to ring in the New Year!

I usually leave the Christmas decorations up through New Year's weekend, but this year I was antsy to move on. So the Christmas garb has been packed up and hauled back up to the attic.

Here's a peek at the mantle now with a winter wonderland theme...

The "snow" is a lace tablecloth with a strand of clear icicle lights underneath...plugged into a timer of course so I don't have to mess with turning them on and off (because I'm lazy like that LOL)

Our wonderful neighbor gave this frosted glass snowman to us last Christmas.

I think this Santa and Mrs. Clause dancing by the tree are too cute. It's vintage, passed down through my family. There is a music box underneath that is supposed to make the happy couple twirl, but it no longer works.

This little trio in the horsedrawn sleigh were also passed down through the family but I have no idea how old they are.

I did have more figurines on the mantle and intertwined some snowflake ribbon. But then I took them off. I decided I liked the simpler look better. Seemed a bit more calm and serene, the look I was going for.

I'm not normally fond of angel children (makes me think of children dying, always seemed a bit morbid to me). I only have a few such figurines in my home -- the ones handed down to me by my grandparents. I do think these two kissing are very cute. I just wish they weren't winged. I know, I've got to get over that hangup.

Christmas On A Budget - Part 3

2008-12-16T06:24:00.000-06:00

I took a break from the mounds of rice I've been immersed in to move on to some other gifts. These are for JD's work Christmas party this week so I had to get them done. (and I'm pleased to announced they are done ahead of time, no last minute rushing. Woo Hoo for me!)

There's not really a Christmas gift exchange at JD's work. In fact, last year the only people who gave gifts besides us was the Chief and Assistant Chief. With there being 24 people to give to, we have to keep costs pretty low. Last year we spent an average of $2.50 per person. This year I was able to top that at...drumroll please... 20.8 cents a person. Can I get another Woo Hoo for me?!

With that in mind, I have to give you this disclaimer: These are meant to be very small tokens, gag gifts. Not real gifts. Not anything fancy by any means. K?

I purchased one box of ornaments at Wal-Mart. It is the box of 24 for $5.00. They were the gold "shatterproof" (aka plastic) ones. That $5.00 was my only expense for these gifts.

I removed the hanger hooks from them and painted them with Kilz primer. Here they are with one coat of primer. You can see that I used clothespins to hold them by the knobs at the top while I painted them. Didn't work so well.

Then I had the brilliant idea of putting them on skewers (putting the skewer through that hole in the top). I held each one up and spray painted it white. Then I stood them up in styrofoam to dry.

(JD retrieved 5 of these styrofoam strips for me from a garbage bin at a construction site the week before last. "Why do you want them", he'd asked me. "I don't know, just get them for me. Never turn away perfectly good styrofoam. It'll come in handy some day", had been my answer. And here we are.)

Next I put a unique saying on each ornament. Some I painted; most I just used black Sharpie marker. The sayings are all suited to each person's interest or personality and they're all tongue-in-cheek. I'm not going to post them all, but here's the Chief's:

See the black ribbon the ornament is hanging from? Well, last year after Christmas I had purchased some crystal ornaments on clearance. The problem was the ornaments hung from black ribbon, which would never go with my decor. So I removed the ribbons and replaced them with more appropriate colored ones. Here is one next to Chief's ornament on the Teacup Tree:

When I took those black ribbons off the crystal ornaments, well, you know where we're going with this. I saved them. Never turn away perfectly good ribbon. Of any color. It'll come in handy some day. And here we are....again.

I pulled out some craft/lunch bags I had left over from my daycare art supplies and -viola!- instant wrapping. Here they are, all dressed up and ready to go to the party.

Moral of the story? I found a way to make 24 gifts for just $5.00. (One last Woo Hoo for me, please? LOL) If I'd used pretty pastels, glitter, lace, rosettes or pearls, they could have been oh-so-sweet. As it is, they suit their purpose perfectly. And they suit my budget even better.

It's Called Christmas With a Capital "C"

2008-12-14T05:49:00.000-06:00

Let's jazz it up a bit for our weekend music...

Marriage....It's All About Compromise

2008-12-13T07:24:00.003-06:00

I wanted to make a new pillow for Chrissy. It needed to be pink and lacey and froo-frooey, just as any 8 month old baby girl would want.

Unfortunately, JD happened to be with me the day I went to the fabric store.

So Chrissy ended up with pink camo instead.

Just look at my poor baby girl.

She's devastated by such a turn of events, can't you tell?

Please check out all the other Pink Saturday participants over at Beverly's.

And have a Perfectly Pink Saturday!

Silent Night

2008-12-11T07:49:00.000-06:00

by Straight No Chaser

a spellbinding a capalla...

Christmas On A Budget - Part 1

2008-12-10T19:08:00.007-06:00

We are having a "homemade" Christmas this year. We are not buying any gifts for our families, friends, or coworkers; all their gifts are being made by JD and me. This is unusual for us.

No, let's face it. This is a first.

While I've been known to make a few gifts for a few people -usually only the children or women- this is the first completely handcrafted Christmas. JD and I have challenged ourselves to look around our own home for creative uses for items we already have. We've been quite thrifty. We have purchased only very small amounts of necessary components for our otherwise-completely homemade gifts.

This is the gift we are making for each of the men...6 in all. Our fathers, brothers,and wonderful neighbor.

It is a Washer Game. It is a variant of horseshoes.

We used materials we already had on hand. The wood which JD used to assemble it. The paint which I used on the board and the washers. The carpet is a remnant left over from our daycare. And I sewed the bags for the washers with fabric I already had. Even the "cord" for the drawstring bags are shoelaces taken from JD's old tennis shoes.

The only item we had to go out and buy for these gifts were the washers. $13.49 (including tax) for 40 of them at Lowe's.

$13.49 for six gifts. Can't beat that.

Washers is a fun game, perfectly suited for family gatherings and parties. (When our neighbor saw one we'd made, he marveled over it and commented on how perfect it would be for his annual family reunion. So guess what he's getting for Christmas? :-) It can be played indoors or out, by young children all the way up to the young at heart.

In the days to follow (or weeks, depending on how far behind schedule I get), I will be finishing up more and more homemade gifts. I can't wait to share them all with you!

In the meantime, wishing you a very merry (and non-bank-breaking) Christmas season!

Carpenters Christmas Medley

2008-12-08T22:00:00.001-06:00

I'm in the mood for a little Christmas music, how 'bout you?

The Teacup Tree

2008-11-30T12:31:00.004-06:00

Being the good hubby that he is, the other day JD pulled some of our Christmas trees down from the attic. At one point he came down with a brand new one, still sealed in the box. I'd completely forgotten I bought it on clearance after Christmas last year. It is white (my first white one) and pre-lit with lights (a first there too).

I was delighted when he handed me the box. I set to work right away, putting it up in the dining room.

The problem is that I don't have ornaments, garland or even a star for it. At least, not the kind I want to put on it. And I'm short on time this holiday season, so I cannot dive into making the decorations I'd like to make for it.

I've been gathering little odds and ends from around the house to put on it. But then I had an idea. Since it sits in the dining room, why not hang some teacups on it? I gathered up a few of my favorite ones and -VOILA!-

My Teacup Tree

The Garage Sale Jackpot

2008-11-22T19:26:00.003-06:00

In some parts of the country, they're called Yard Sales. At least, that's what they were called when we lived in California. I hear they're called Tag Sales in other places. Around here, they're usually called Garage Sales, though they seldom occur in people's garages.

Our neighbor had one and I think I got the deal of the century.

I bought all these white dishes from her. I have no clue what I'll do with them or where I'll store them. For now, they're on the baker's rack in the kitchen until they can find a more permanent home. (Excuse the clutter on the wall. That's the Inspiration Wall for Kim's Someday Dream Kitchen)

There are five different types of dishes in the whole set.

These are my favorite. I wish there were more. They're from Mikasa's French Countryside collection. According to their website, one dinner plate alone costs $16.99.

Most of the dishes are Regency by Johnson Brothers. When I searched online, I found that nowadays they are made in China. But my set says it was made in Staffordshire, England. Perhaps they're vintage? (Well, I guess they can't be too vintage, since they also say on the bottom that they are "dishwasher and microwave safe.") At cyberattic.com, the dinner plate made in England is $18.00. Isn't this square cereal bowl interesting?

There are also several pieces of International Tableworks' Lattice Collection. According to Replacements.com, the dinner plate costs $15.99.

There are two little stoneware bowls that I cannot read the stamps on the bottoms, so I have no idea what kind they are. And there are several Corelle bowls, which are now Sportster and WildMan's cereal bowls.

In all, there are a total of 89 pieces. And you'll never guess how much I paid for them all.

$3.00

Yep, that's right. Three dollars for the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

It doesn't matter that I have no real "need" for them. Or that I have no proper place to store them. Or display them. Or that it's just 89 more things to have to dust and keep clean.

No, it doesn't matter.

Because I hit The Garage Sale Jackpot.

Happy Veterans Day!

2008-11-11T09:13:00.008-06:00

To all those who have dedicated their lives to serving this great nation, I give you my sincerest, most heart-felt APPRECIATION.

Happy Veterans Day!

photo courtesy of Old Sgt's Backgrounds
click on image to enlarge to see all the details

Pink Saturday - Think Pink

2008-10-25T03:35:00.001-05:00

We all know that.

But it lasts much longer than just October. Public awareness, education, research, early detection, treatment and a CURE are year-round projects.

Here we are on the last Pink Saturday of the month. I'd like to share a couple of ways I found to continue to support this cause as we head into the Holidays.

Have you heard the news? Linens-N-Things is going out of business. Closing all of its stores nationwide by the end of this year. They have already begun the close-out pricing in their stores.

Linens-N-Things has been a consistent supporter of breast cancer awareness. Each year they set up Pink Departments, selling everything pink you can imagine for your kitchen and bath. LNT and their venders donate part of the proceeds to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

This might be a good time to head on in to your local Linens-N-Things, get some good deals, pick up some Pink items they may still have left...and support a company who proved itself to be a supporter of women.

The other day I was in Wal-Mart and spied some special wrapping paper. It was in the Christmas section with their Christmas wrapping paper. The soft pink colors first caught my eye (I'm always on the hunt for shabby pink or Victorian Christmas paper). Then I saw the Pink Ribbon.

Notice their Ribbon is upside down? You can read why here.

The Gift wrap is for Friends For An Early Breast Cancer Test.

There are a couple of different patterns available. This is the one I bought.

I do not believe these are available online, at least I haven't been able to find them there. Only in the Wal-Mart store. They were $4 a roll.

As we bring October to a close, let's all continue to

And now head on over to Beverly's to see all the other ladies participating in today's Pink Saturday.

Furniture Detective

2008-10-24T12:43:00.007-05:00

This bench used to sit in my Great Aunt's entryhall. After she passed away, my sister stored it -along with many other things she thought I might like to have someday- in her gi-normous storage shed. Several years later, when we had moved back to Oklahoma, my sister cleaned out her shed and gave me several things that had belonged to our grandparents and great aunts. Including this bench.

I know nothing of the bench's history. Just that I adore it. Simply because it brings back fond memories of visiting Aunt Agnes and Uncle Clinton. The first thing I would see as I walked in their door. And the fabric pattern is so sweet.

I decided I wanted to know more about this dainty little piece of furniture that has held its own unassuming place in our family. I wanted to know exactly what kind of bench it is because it's like nothing I've ever seen. And I wanted to find out how old it is.

On the bottom of the bench is a well-worn sticker. I could make out the town and state it was made in, as well as part of the name of the company. After some online searching, I discovered it was made by Crocker Chair Company.

Crocker Chair Company was started in 1865 and went out of business in 1932 due to the Great Depression. This helped to narrow down its age. Somewhat.

I found Crocker Chair Company's 1924-1925 catalog online. I scoured each page, but never found my little bench.

After a bit more online searching, I came across an expert on such matters, Fred Taylor, the Furniture Detective. Yesterday I sent him an email, asking for his assistance with the type and age of my bench. I included all three photos.

This morning I got his email response. What a friendly, helpful man he is. He gave me even more information than I'd asked. This was his response:

Kim - Your seat is a birds eye maple vanity bench that belonged to a Depression era bedroom set. It was probably made in the late 1920s to around 1932 when the company closed. The five layer molded plywood construction is more typical of the Depression era than earlier. Its almost Art Deco.

Thanks for writing.

Fred Taylor

I am so pleased! I now know it is a vanity bench. And was made somewhere around 1926-1932.

Now I just wish I knew what happened to the rest of the bedroom set.

Sharing the Linky Love

2008-10-22T02:09:00.002-05:00

A blogging friend introduced me to a couple of blogs recently.

I've fallen in love with both of them.

They're silly, mindless kind of blogs. Nothing serious. Just fun.

They make me smile.

Cake Wrecks
When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong.

Faces In Places
A photographic collection of faces found in everyday places.

Now I suppose if I wanted to get all deep and philosophical, I would say that those blogs make me ponder.

How each person views life from a different perspective.

How we should all stop and think of the many ways our appearances or actions can come across to others.

How all people should learn to respect each other's perspectives.

But I don't. I just smile. And I hope you do too.

My First Award!

2008-10-21T02:04:00.001-05:00

Annabelle at 1938 Elm Street gave me my very first blog award! Boy, do I feel special! Thank you very much, Annabelle.

The rules that go along with the award are to answer the following questions with one word answers...then pass it on to 7 other bloggers.

1. Where is your cell phone? Here

2. Where is your significant other? Work

3. Your hair color? Brown

4. Your mother? Donna

5. Your father? Dale

6. Your favorite thing? Love

7. Your dream last night? Blondie

8. Your dream/goal? Happiness

9. The room you're in? Office

10. Your hobby? Lots

11. Your fear? Snakes

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here

13. Where were you last night? Here

14. What you're not? Thin

15. One of your wish list items? Money

16. Where you grew up? Haven't

17. The last thing you did? Phonecall

18. What are you wearing? Jeans

19. Your tv? Off

20. Your pet? Chrissy

21. Your computer? Mac/PC

22. Your mood? Tired

23. Missing someone? Always

24. Your car? Totaled

25. Something you're not wearing? Jewelry

26. Favorite store? Lowe's

27. Your summer? Long

28. Love someone? Forever

29. Your favorite color? Blue

30. When was the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? Daily

These are the Lucky 7 I'm passing this award on to. I found each through Beverly's Pink Saturday party and, like mine, each of their blogs is fairly new. What a neat way for us newbies to get to know each other. :-)

Liz at The Quilted Cowgirl

Robyn at Scrapbooks and Journals

Molly at Fleur de Bee

Leslie at Junkgirl Studio

Heidi Jo at Swirls of Creativity

Victoria at Auction Girl Vintage

Denise at The Vintage Journal

Porches On Parade

2008-10-19T21:11:00.002-05:00

Melissa over at The Inspired Room is hosting Porches On Parade today.

(Yes, I know I'm a bit early. Figured I better give myself time to figure out how to use the Mr. Linky thing)

This is a fun way for each of us to share some of the porches we've seen all decked out for Autumn or Halloween. Join me for a little stroll. No car needed, save your gas. These are all within walking distance.

Now I do have to warn you. We live in a university town. In fact, our home is just outside the campus. And Homecoming week just wound up yesterday. There's still a lot of remnants of that nonstop-party-fest around. You have NO IDEA how many discarded beer cans we'll have to dodge to get these photos.

First, let's stroll by some of the sororities. It won't take long to get there; they're just a couple blocks away.

(as always, you can click on the photos to enlarge)

Let's start out at the one right by our house.
Just a stone's throw away. Literally.

Can we sneak a closer peek?

I've always liked their side entrance. It reminds me of the French Quarter.

Let's walk on down the street just a spell. There's lots more for you to see.

This is quite a majestic looking building.
Next time I should try to get a full shot for you.

Let's take a closer look at all those flowers.

And oh my. Lavender? What an interesting choice of color for an Autumn wreath.

Now come around the corner with me. There's another sorority adjacent to this one.

Oops! Watch your step there. Those Budweisers can be a real doozy.

Wow! Look at this display in the courtyard in front of this sorority.

Aww, look at who's peeking out at us.

Let's walk around the block. There's another one I want you to see.

I've toured this one during the Christmas Parade of Homes. It's very nice inside.

Whoa. Looks like their cornstalk's got a bit of a hangover.

Well, at least their other one doesn't look too tipsy.

There's another sorority all dressed up across the street. Let's go take a look!

Dontcha just love those doors?!

Let's take a closer look at their Homecoming display...

How sweet! The House Mom even dressed up the back entrance for the students!

Now let's head back over to our neighborhood and look at some regular homes.

I've always thought this house looks like it would be a lot of fun on the inside, with all the different levels. It looks like it was designed perfectly to fit the hillside.

Look at the fall colors in the flowerbed out front.

Let's zoom in on the front porch, shall we?

Oh, can we sidetrack for just a moment? A few houses down, there's a house I just HAVE to share with you.

How absolutely dreamy COTTAGEY is this?

And what is that I see? Could it be?

An over-the-garage-arbor-trellis-thingy like I've always wanted!

Let's walk over to another way cool house in the neighborhood.

With the finished attic and basement, this house has four full stories of living space. It's incredible inside. Trust me.

Not too much in the way of Autumn decor.
But the porch is still nice to look at, don't you think?

Ok, let's start heading on back toward our place.

This stop is at our neighbor's home, just a few doors down from us.

Someday when my house grows up, it wants to be this house.
Stepping inside is like stepping right into a magazine.

These are our friends so we can walk right up to the front porch.
She always has something cute written on her chalkboard.

Let's see what it says. Ahh, yes. A Homecoming message, of course.

Now let's go visit our next door neighbor.

She just had a Homecoming party this weekend, so her porch is still all decked out.

What a nice neighbor she is. She even led us around back to see the garden wagon she set up beside her back patio for the party.

And now, here we are. Right back where we started.

The front porch of Yours Truly.

This is what it looks like at night.

Thank you for walkin' around the 'hood with me today. Hope you enjoyed your visit.

Don't forget to go check out all the other Porches On Parade.

Oh, and one more thing before you go.

For my orally-conscious friends, a reminder from the folks down the street from us...

Surprises All Around

2008-10-19T17:51:00.003-05:00

I've mentioned before that JD stays at our trailer during his work week. Our travel trailer is parked out at the lake in Mayberry (the town he works in).

This past week was especially long. He worked his normal days. Then he had four days of training in another town that's still closer to Mayberry than our town so he stayed out there those days too. And now he's back on shift again.

It's Fall Break here. The boys were out of school Thursday and Friday. We decided to surprise Daddy with a little impromptu camping trip.

We drove out to the trailer Thursday evening. We arrived just before he got "home" from training. He was surprised (and pleased) to find us there waiting for him.

It was a chilly evening so I made us all some soup and Cindy's yummy Red Lobster Biscuits. (This is the 3rd time we've made those since she first posted the recipe. If you haven't tried them yet, you GOTTA do it! They're out of this world!)

That evening, as we sat up on the hill overlooking the lake, watching the sun set, we got a little surprise of our own.

Pink Saturday - The Bathroom Edition

2008-10-18T02:44:00.002-05:00

Welcome to my second Pink Saturday, graciously hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound. There are a lot of participants and it does take a while to get to everyone. Oh, how it is worth it, though. Thank you all so much who visited and commented during my inaugural Pink Saturday last week. I'm meeting so many lovely, talented ladies. It truly has been a great joy for me.

I've harped quite a bit on my bathrooms this week. Personally, I'm ready to move on to other subjects. But since you've spent so much time in this little room with me the past few days, I thought this might be a good place for us to end the week.

For those who've been following my bathroom progress, you may have noticed it used to have a Seashells By The Seashore kind of theme before. That is long gone.

Now it's all coming up roses. Here are a few of the things that surround the sink table that I built .

I bought this framed rose print on eBay.

I think I bought this trio at Hobby Lobby. I originally thought they'd be good to hang washcloths on. But it turns out they're not real sturdy. I think they'd look sweet with a pearl necklace or a heart shaped sachet or something hanging from the hooks. What do you think?

Two things every room of a house should have: a clock and a box of tissues. I inherited this clock when my great aunt passed away. Someday I'll have to show you what it looked like when I first got it. It's come a long way, baby!

I purchased this little cart on eBay when I built the sink table. I wanted something pretty to store our "essentials" under the sink, close to the toilet. It has just the tiniest little pink bow. What I really love about it is the eyelet. I'm a sucker for eyelet.

Yet another eBay find. This adorable set of towels came from a mother/daughter pair of sellers. Sure wish I could remember who they were. I'd love to buy more from them.

There's a lot more I could share. But I decided to keep it simple today with just a few pictures because I really do feel like I'm beating this poor bath horse.

Thank you for stopping by. Now please, come on out of the commode. Let's head on over to Beverly's so we can see all the other pink goodies our friends are sharing today.

Bathroom Blunders

2008-10-17T02:25:00.006-05:00

Every Spring Break hubby takes our kiddos back to California to visit his family. I always stayed behind because I had to work in our daycare. The first year I found myself devastatingly lonely and depressed. After that first year, I decided to throw myself into a big project during each Spring Break to keep my thoughts and hands busy.

I never tell JD what my Spring Break project is going to be. I like the challenge of getting it finished before they return. And I love seeing their surprised faces when they discover what I conjured up. Bless his heart, JD handles it quite well, considering he never knows if he'll come home to a house that's still standing or not.

One year I built the picket fence bench that sits on our front porch. The next year I built the front porch railing. Another year I built the arbor. And this particular year, 2006, I tackled the bathroom walls and ceiling.

When we bought our home, there was wallpaper in the bathroom. I actually liked the pastel colors in the paper. But the brush stroke design was a bit too abstract for my liking. Besides, it was coming up along some of the seams (which I've found happens a lot in bathrooms)

I set to removing it. Initially, this went quite well. Until I got down to the nitty gritty. And found the previous owners had caulked the edges in place along the tile edge. Caulked both on top of and underneath the wallpaper.

I should not have been surprised. After all, we'd already found many things in the house that they'd caulked for all eternity before. Like outlets.

I spent entirely too much precious time ridding the poor walls of the gooey mess. Then finally was ready to start adding my own touches to the room.

I wanted to paint stripes on the walls. Pink, green and a creamy off-white. As I recall, the green stripes were to be 8 inches wide. The white was 3 inches wide and the pink was 1 inch wide. Or something like that. I primed and painted the walls the off-white. Then I went around with my handy dandy ruler and marked off the stripes for the pink and green.

I worked my way around the whole bathroom, penciling in the stripes. To my utter amazement, when I got to the end, the measurements worked out exactly right. Lady Luck was smiling down on me.

I taped off the lines on one wall. I painted the green stripes.

I painted the pink stripes.

I removed the tape. And that's when I realized.

Lady Luck wasn't just smiling on me. She was laughing at me. Hysterically.

When I pulled off the tape, the paint came with it.

In sheets.

This was not a good day in Kim's World.

I was running out of time. I only had a few days left of Spring Break and I hadn't even started on the ceiling yet. There was no time to start over.

I gave up and painted it all a minty green.

(In hindsight, Lady Luck was right. This look is better)

Next I started on the ceiling.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of bead board. We did Blondie's room and bathroom walls with bead board paneling. I decided then that I don't like that stuff. I like the real thing. Her bathroom ceiling was done with the real thing. And I wanted to do the same here.

Our 1941 home has no drywall. It's all plaster. Nailing or screwing anything to plaster is a feat in itself. But when you're working on a ceiling, with gravity working against you, it's next to impossible.

Therefore, there are no nails or screws in the following photos.

Introducing my little friend....

And up went the new ceiling. One board at a time.

This took several days to complete. Because I had to wait for the glue behind each board to dry before I could add the next one.

I had to brace each board while it dried too. Mind you, this is the only bathroom on the main floor of our home. And I was running a daycare during this time. The kiddos were so good about snaking their way through the maze of braces each time they used the bathroom.

Here is all the bead board up and primed.

And here it is painted. (Believe it or not, the ceiling is a shade lighter than the walls. Lesson learned: Always go two shades lighter.)

Eventually, I got around to adding crown molding. Except that it's not really crown molding. That doggone budget thing wouldn't allow me to use anything but a very plain Jane crown molding. So I opted to use casing instead. Has a lot more moves n' grooves to it, but without the fancy schmancy price of real crown.

I've been sharing with you some pretty old pictures all week. Come back tomorrow for Pink Saturday and get a glimpse of what this room looks like nowadays. :-)

The "Other" Sink Project

2008-10-16T03:18:00.003-05:00

We always closed our daycare for one week between Christmas and New Year's. While most families are spending precious holiday time together then, JD and I always spent it tackling a project we could not otherwise get done with the daycare open.

2005 was no different. We spent that week on the second sink project.

Again, having an in-home daycare made our situation a bit unique. We were always challenged with finding ways to blend our desires (okay, okay. MY desires) with the requirements of State licensing.

In this case, we were required to provide a new, clean paper or cloth towel for each time the children dried their hands. A single towel hanging on a simple rack would not suffice. We needed to have a space for all those towels. Twelve daycare children + umpteen handwashings each per day = yeah, do the math. Up until this point, we had used a little table for the mountain of towels. Since I knew I wanted a larger countertop, I had to design it with plenty of space for those towels in mind.

We also had the design challenge of working around a wall heater. We've never used it; I have no idea if it even works. But cosmetically speaking it's in pristine shape. I saw no reason to yank it out and cost myself more wall repairs.

The rusted wall brackets the sink hung on were a different matter altogether, though. They had to go.

My beloved JD removed the sink and instantly encountered a plumbing problem which would plague us through the whole process. Thus you'll see a bucket under the plumbing in many of the following photos.

(In that picture you can also see my last design challenge. There is a laundry chute in the wall right next to the toilet. I had to make sure the table wouldn't interfere with the operation of the door of the chute...lest my children would NEVER get their dirty clothes into the hamper.)

Once we got the brackets off, we found the tiles underneath were in bad shape.

During the Great Falling Wall of Tile Debacle of '07, I learned that used, broken tile can be resurrected in miraculous ways. Sadly, I hadn't had the opportunity to learn this little home-improvement-altering lesson back in '05. So I erroneously thought these broken tiles were beyond salvage and threw them away. Shame on me.

With a design in mind and the brackets out of the way, I began construction. Much like the basement sink and vanity had been constructed.

This time, though, I used left-over baseboard for the apron around the frame. I turned it upside down so the pretty, fluted side was on the bottom.

The birch top goes on, just like the previous bathroom. Being fat could be construed as a good thing when acting as a counterweight in a situation such as this. Not to mention it demonstrates how strong the structure is.

There's a whole lotta sandin' goin' on.

Remember that pretty sink I bought the year before at Favorite Store? She makes her reappearance here, in a dry-run to make sure she fits.

Yes, I used an artist's brush. To get into all those little crevices in the detail work of the legs.

Just like on the previous sink, I stain the birch wood top.

A couple of coats of stain later, the character is starting to come alive, dontcha think?

It's time for the first coat of sealer.

While that's drying, let's crawl underneath and take a closer look at the construction method used, shall we?

In that photo up there, you can see how I had to add a block of wood to extend the length of each table leg. The ones they had a Favorite Store simply weren't tall enough and custom ordering them was out of the budget. I had done the same thing with the sink (but not the vanity) in the basement.

Well, hello there, my little Wild Man.

Here you can see that I used new, modern tiles to replace the ones that were broken.
And you can see how much they do not match.

I really regret that. I wish I'd known back then what I learned in '07 about saving tiles.

Oh, look at how the light reflects off the surface!

It's now New Year's Eve and the moment of truth....will she still fit?

My favorite plumber is back again.

(You may have noticed by now that there is no back leg on the right side. Yes, my poor decrepit table is 3-legged. This is due to aforementioned laundry-chute-opening-dilemma. But have no fear! You'll see later why no one has ever noticed the table is appendagely-challenged.)

Truth be told, we spent more on the faucet than we did on everything else combined. How sad is that?

Here it is with the white trim added around the wooden top.

And this is the skirt I made for it. Actually, it is 5 separate skirts. One for each side and three narrow ones for the front.

This is why I made 3 for the front. To make it easier to open and close. During daycare hours, I left the skirt open under the sink so the kiddos could use the potty chair (they actually used it as a step stool, not a potty. What can I say? LOL)Then after hours we'd slide the potty back under and close up the skirt. Outta sight, outta mind!

And now you see why no one ever questions if there's a 4th leg back there. The skirt appears to hide it. ;-)

The skirt is reversible. This is its alter ego, for fall and Christmas.

Everything In Its Own Time

2008-10-15T02:55:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I shared the remodel of our basement bathroom. Today we move upstairs to our main bathroom.

I will get to the sink project. I promise. But first I feel like I've got to show you what lead up to it. So that it all comes together in the right order and you can understand where we were versus where we are today in this never-ending construction zone we like to call Home.

First things first. About a year or so prior, I was at my very favorite store in town (Lowe's). Out front they had many things that were marked down on clearance. I spied a sink basin that I really liked. It was marked down 75% off because it had a chip underneath in the back. Where no one would ever see it.

I talked to one of the associates and he marked it down another $10 for me. I couldn't get to the register fast enough with my new treasure for my someday bath remodel.

I brought it home, snapped some photos, and took it up to the attic to store it away. (never mind that nasty old carpet. It's long since gone) Keep that sink in mind. It shall come back into play very soon here.

Now we move to February, 2005. This is what we started with in the bathroom.

Priority One was to re-do the flooring. It was original to the house and yukky. I knew I would eventually be building another sink table like the one in the basement. And I knew that once I built it, I would not be able to pull up the old or lay down new flooring. The flooring had to be the starting point.

Again, I consulted with the pro's. The recommendation was to not pull up the linoleum if we could avoid it because of that nasty old asbestos thing. Since the floor was solid and smooth, it was recommended to go over it with new flooring.

In my dream cottage, I would have real hardwood floors in my bathroom. But that wasn't possible here, as they would be too thick. They would go over the lip of the pink tile 'baseboard' going all the way around the bathroom. No way was I going to mess with my beautiful pink tile.

I happened to find a remnant of padded sheet vinyl at Favorite Store. From my estimations the remnant should just oh-so-barely fit the bathroom. If I held my breath just right.

JD removed the toilet and I set to creating a template of the bathroom floor.

Thankfully Kitty didn't come join me until after I got all the template pieces put together.

Then I sprawled out across the kitchen floor, cutting the vinyl flooring to match my new template.

That first big piece went in like a charm.

I was left having to piece together sections of the remnant to fit under the vanity. Harder than it sounds, when you have to match up seams and patterns, and only have a small remnant to begin with.

I think it came out looking pretty good, though. By the way, I did not build this vanity. It is original to the house and will be staying. Painting it and installing a new birch top to match the sink counter top are still on my Self To Do list.

A celebratory smooch for a good days' work.

Here's the bathroom put back together again at the end of the day.

Remnant vinyl sheet: $20
Template Kit: $12
Adhesive Tape: $6

Not a bad Saturday project for just $38, eh?

Next up, the sink project.

Tomorrow. ;-)

An Underground Remodel

2008-10-14T09:45:00.002-05:00

Angela over at Cottage Magpie is remodeling her guest bathroom. Bless her heart. I feel her pain. And excitement. And anticipation. And the oozing of the bank account. Yep, I know it well.

Miss Angela, as you requested, here is the first of the bathroom remodels I did. (You are one brave woman to want to walk down this memory lane with me.)

This was back in 2003. Sadly, I did not take any "before" pictures. Actually, it's probably for the best. Ya'll would run for the hills if you saw what the bathroom started out as. It made Angela's guest bathroom look like a spa retreat. I kid you not.

It is in the basement. It is situated between Blondie's bedroom and the laundry room. It was a "man's room", without a doubt. No woman would ever want to step foot in there. The entry was off the laundry room. The bathroom held just a rusty old toilet and one of the tiniest little wall-hung sinks you've ever seen in your life. Bare open ceiling, exposing the floor joists of the floor above. Since it is a basement, there were bare exposed pipes throughout. And of course the concrete floor. The walls were simple 1/4 inch paneling. Trust me, it was gross.

We set into demo mode. We tore out all the walls, except the one separating the bathroom from the laundry room. Even that one went down to the studs, though. JD, his dad, a friend of ours and I did the demo and re-framing together.

We reconfigured the layout so the doorway to the bathroom was now in Blondie's bedroom. We also gave her a closet.

This is with the new studs. The room is already doubled in size at this point. See how eensy that sink was?

This is a view showing the new studs in place for a cabinet to go next to the washing machine. Basically, on the top half of the cabinet, the back section opens into the bathroom as a linen closet. The front half opens to the laundry room as a separate cabinet. I know, it doesn't make sense. It's hard to explain. (And in full disclosure, that cabinet still is not finished out to this day.) The French door you see on the right is the entry to Blondie's bedroom.

Another shot, further along in the process. Again, bathroom cabinet opening on the left, bedroom French door opening on the right.

Not that it really matters, but here's a in-construction shot of her bedroom doors in case anybody cares.

This is the closet we built in for her. Yes, Blondie was into purple.

We originally wanted to install a shower. But after consulting with professionals, we decided against it. They told us it would require forging through a perfectly sound foundation. Not real appealing to us. They also said it would mean trying to tie new plumbing into 60 year old plumbing and it would probably end up costing us a whole new sewer line...under that perfectly sound foundation. We saw major dollar signs and opted to take their advice. No shower.

So where the shower was originally slated to go, I decided to give Blondie a vanity instead. At this point I took the project over. This is where the "cute" factor comes in to play. Or at least as cute as you can get in a basement.

The beginning stages of the vanity. I built it right onto the wall.

JD peaks in at me through the cabinet opening while I work.

The top of the vanity is in place. It is birch. The first two legs of the sink stand are in place too.

Support cleats and another leg go up.

The sink stand is framed and the matching birch top is in place.

I don't have pics of the next phase. I cut out the sink opening. Stained the counter tops. Applied sealer. Again. And Again.

And I made two mirrors.

It ended up looking like this.

You'll notice we kept the original toilet. That again was at the recommendation of the plumbing guys. Something about the opening to the toilet matches the opening to the sewer line...but today's toilets wouldn't fit so we'd have had to re-do the sewer. I don't know. Plumbing's not my long suit. All I know is it was in the same vein as why we didn't install a shower. Money Money Money and not wanting to tear up a perfectly good foundation.

You'll also notice the floor is still concrete. I simply painted it a steel gray. Again, this was because of the whole basement factor. Being that it is below grade, we live in an old part of town where the infrastructure is old, the city water sometimes backs up into our basements. Knowing that this will happen (because it already has a few times) we didn't want to go to the expense of putting down new flooring, just to have it ruined in a few years by the city's water.

Wanna see what I call "Creative Concealment"?

Again, basement. Lots of pipes running through it. The ceiling is already low (only 7 feet high). Lowering it even further to hide the pipes would make my 6'2" hubby feel claustrophobic.

So I painted all the pipes the same color as the ceiling. Then I spent just shy of a small fortune on violet colored wisteria swags from Home Interiors. These criss-cross the ceiling, covering the pipes.

There are still some spots where the pipes show (this pic is over the toilet). But hey? I did the best I could with what I had to work with.

As for the mirrors, people always ask about them. The sides are table legs that match the legs of the vanity and sink stand. Here is a close up shot from my Pink Saturday post.

I cut the table legs in half lengthwise so the flat side could go against the wall. I cut them by hand, just using a circular saw. A hand-held circular saw. Holding the round table leg in one hand and the saw in the other. DUMB-O! Children, do not try this at home. It's a miracle I didn't lose a finger or two. I'll never do that again. Next time I'll use a table saw and keep my fingers to myself.

The mirrors each have a shelf below and a shelf up top. I wanted to give Blondie little "niches" to put her make-up, knick-knacks, or whatever.

So there you have it. My first bathroom vanity/sink project.

If you're interested, I'll post the second one tomorrow.

You've Inspired Me

2008-10-12T16:36:00.003-05:00

Lately we've been seeing a lot of creative transformations of pumpkins from run-of-the-mill orange into fantastic works of art.

We've seen Tina's white painted ones at Cherry Hill Cottage. Dontcha just love how she personalized them? And who'da ever thought of painting pumpkins? Too clever!

Then Donna at An Enchanted Cottage flew with that idea by adding family photos. How fun! I swear one day I will be copying her.

The fabric ones. Oh, those adorable fabric ones. I looked and looked, but for the life of me, I cannot remember who posted those. My boys would especially love those, I know. They'd become flying projectiles throughout my house in no time. If someone remembers who posted pictures of their fabric pumpkins, please do comment so I can add their link. (If I recall, they had them piled up on their couch in at least one of the pictures?)

And then the drop-dead gorgeous pumpkins Amy at Bunny Rose Cottage shared with us. It's been weeks and I'm still cleaning the drool out of my keyboard.

You all inspired me. To step out of the orange box. I thought to myself "Self, you can do this." And set off to transform a pumpkin I did.

I got a cheapo Styrofoam pumpkin ($3.47 at Wally World). Of course, all they had were orange, true to form.

Then I gave myself a bit of a challenge. To make this gourd look a bit more "me", BUT only using what I already had on hand. Which, dagnabit, meant no trips to the craft store looking for just the right embellishment.

I armed myself with an arsenal of scrap fabrics, ribbons, and roses. I pulled out my ~~weapon of mass 3rd degree burns~~ glue gun, commandeered the dining room table, and ~~got all artsy fartsy~~ let the creative juices flow.

I forgot to take "During Production" pictures. So you get "After but still amongst the wreckage" instead.

Yes, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them. But then you can see every blessed little flaw. So, do me a favor. Don't click.

The fabric is a little puckered here and there. It was hard to get it to lay down evenly over the pumpkin shape. But I'm ok with that. After all, it's just a pumpkin. Not a wedding dress. Right?

I think I'd like to do more of them. Maybe add some lace. Strands of beaded pearls. Different ribbons. Maybe get better at it.

But it'll have to wait. Til the burns heal.

This is how I originally had it staged. This is on my sewing machine in the dining room. I decided it was surrounded by too many roses. Looked a bit too Springey, considering it's Fall and all.

I won't tell how you many times I re-staged this thing. Because it's embarrassing.

I ended up going a bit simpler. Tucked a few roses inside the base of the cake stand and put just a few beside the pumpkin. And called it good for the day.

As soon as the wind changes, I'll probably be moving it around somewhere else in the house. Re-staging once again.

Am I the only one who does that? Moves things around. Mixes and matches. Can't decide what looks quite right where. Is it just me?

And am I the only one who puts things in odd places around the house? Like the sewing machine in the dining room. (and would you believe I've got two of them in the kitchen? And yet another by the front door.) Somebody please tell me that I'm not alone in this.

My First Pink Saturday!

2008-10-11T02:41:00.003-05:00

Women are like tea bags.
We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

That quote stood out to me as I prepared today's Pink Saturday post. Not because I am going to share photos of dainty teacups. Or picturesque teapots. Heck, not even a tea bag.

It spoke to me because I think I'm feeling a bit like a tea bag these days. No, I'm not in hot water, per se. But Blondie's situation continues to deteriorate. As a result, there's a lot of things permeating through my life that make me pretty darned uncomfortable. Hot under the collar, in fact. A whole lot o' baggage. Makes me question my own strength. How long I can steep in this before I begin to turn sour.

(See where I'm going with this whole 'tea bag' thing?)

Because she means so much to me, I have decided to dedicate my first Pink Saturday to Blondie. She won't ever know it; she doesn't even know this blog exists. And that's ok. Honoring her anyway does my heart good.

Here are a few ~~bags~~ pinkies Blondie left behind when she moved out...

This is her computer case. Hot pink of course.
Because she's a teenager and hot pink totally rules!

Blondie loves Vera Bradley.
She has several purses, wallets, even a watch.

This is a bag Blondie made in her Family & Consumer Sciences class last year.
(Back in my day, it was called Home Ec).
It's just the neatest thing; the pictures don't do it justice.
It's very roomy and has giant pockets on the outside.

There are also lots of pockets inside.
And look at the cute coordinating stripe she used in there.

This is a little sign she made.
It is still stuck to the mirror in her bathroom.
Right where she left it.

By the way, did you notice? The pink Breast Cancer awareness ribbon on each photo? That is a special little doo-dad they've got this month over at Picnik. They have a few other Pink goodies up this month too. So if you're into online photo editing, maybe you'd want to check them out.

There ya' go. My first Pink Saturday post is in the bag! Now let's head on over to Beverly's to check out all the others who are participating.

Excuses, Excuses

2008-10-03T17:58:00.004-05:00

One of the things I enjoyed about having my own in-home daycare was being home with our own children while earning a living. I will always be grateful for having that opportunity.

On the other side of the coin, one of the things that I resented about my in-home daycare was being tied to my house. All day long. Every single day. Without exception. I could not call in sick when I or my children were ill. I could not take them to the doctor. When they got older and were in school, I could not be involved in school activities. I could not attend awards ceremonies or classroom parties.

When we closed our daycare last year, the thing I looked forward to most of all was being able to be involved in our kiddos' school. I've been to their parties and assemblies. I've chaperoned field trips. I've volunteered in their classrooms and at school functions.

And I've become involved in PTA.

VERY involved.

Perhaps TOO involved.

This year, among many other things, I volunteered to put together the Student Directory for PTA. This is a booklet of all the students whose parents agreed to have their contact information listed. It is a valuable tool to contact students and their parents. Great for scheduling play dates or sending out birthday invitations.

It took a great deal of time organizing and typing up all the information (I started on it back on Labor Day weekend while we were camping). Making the (600) two-sided 4-page copies found me standing at the copier in the school library for 6 hours on Tuesday. (oh, my aching back!) Then another 2 1/2 hours folding, stapling and sorting the booklets on Wednesday. Thank goodness for the four helpers I had that day. I can only imagine how long it would have taken me if I didn't have their help.

Now, I knew the Student Directory was a big job when I took it on. I knew that going in. I guess I just underestimated it. And I was not expecting to have to copy them all. In the past the school district's Printing Department has done that for us. That option was not available to us this year, so the job ended up being much more time consuming than ever before. Not to mention that our school's population doubled this year due to re-districting.

Still, I got them out a full month ahead of previous years' timing (my 1 day at the copier v.s. 3 weeks at the Printers), so I do feel good about it. I don't mean to complain. I'm just a bit overwhelmed, I suppose.

Getting those directories out, coupled with other PTA and Citywide PTA meetings that happen to fall on this week, and teaching my cake decorating classes at night....well, it all put me much too far behind on my own work. That is why I've been missing in action around the blogosphere this week.

I had hoped to participate in my first Pink Saturday this week. I took all the pictures for it. But, you know how it is. Editing them all to get them ready to post is time-consuming as well. Next weekend. I'm really looking forward to jumping in with both feet next Saturday.

In any case, I hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing weekend.

And now I'm off to catch up on my favorite pink blogs.

It's Fall, Y'all!

2008-09-28T14:39:00.004-05:00

So many of you have been sharing the touches of Autumn around your homes, I figured it was high time I joined in with a few pictures of my own. (as always, you can click on each picture to enlarge)

Usually I put out my Fall decorations the beginning of September, then change over to Halloween the first of October. But since I was so tardy in decorating this month, I decided to combine the two this time around.

Autumn and Halloween decorations don't go with my decorating style at all. But many of the decorations I have were given to me by dear friends or loved ones, so they mean a lot to me.

The three lighter ceramic pumpkins I picked up at an antique mall a few years back. I thought they would go well with the medium sized one my granddad had painted. Until I got them home and realized they don't match at all.

My granddad's hobby was to paint ceramics. I have several of them in my home. Most of them do not go with my style, but I cherish them all because they came from his heart. They are the only things I inherited from my beloved granddad; I will never let them go.

The darker, medium pumpkin here is one of those things. It's been broken a few times over the years. Each time I shed a little tear and then set to tediously gluing it back together.

The ghost standing centerstage on my mantel came from one of my great aunts after she passed away. I believe my granddad painted it and gave it to her, as he gave his creations as gifts to family members often. It has a hole in the back to slip a little lightbulb inside, but I've never added one.

On the mirror shelf above the mantel are a Frankenstein birdhouse on the left and jack-o-lantern birdhouse on the right. They were made for me by a dear friend who was also our next door neighbor in our old house.

This scarecrow leaning against a tree is another ceramic hand-me-down. I don't think my granddad painted this one, as the painting style is not his. But still I keep it because it was handed down to me by loved ones who are no longer with us. It has holes in the scarecrow's eyes, owl's eyes, the tree stump's eyes, and the jack-o-lantern's eyes. There is a red light inside which make all the eyes glow.

The shadow box in the living room wall is decked out for spookiness as well. (Forgive the flash. It's really hard to get a picture without the flash reflecting off the mirrors inside)
I love LOVE my shadowbox and change its motif often.

Another view, as seen from the hallway.

The terrifying trio and creepy tree were given to me by my mother.
I believe she said she got them at Hobby Lobby.

I think this little guy is just adorable. My mother painted him many years ago and he always gets top billing on our coffee table (which isn't a coffee table at all. It's an antique hope chest passed down from my grandparents).

I like the softer, more muted colors. And the way she did a rubbed effect in the creases and crevices, giving this cute little spook a more "shabby" look.

Who wouldn't fall in love with those droopy eyes?

What's in a K- anyway?

2008-09-27T20:42:00.005-05:00

Many years ago I worked at a high school in Southern California. My boss was an Assistant Principal at the time. His name is Mike and he is now the Principal of the District's newest high school. We worked very well together. Mike treated me like no other boss I've ever had. I had never known a supervisor to treat people with such respect and downright appreciation the way Mike did.

I only had the pleasure of working under Mike for about 2 years, as our family ended up moving to Oklahoma. During the time I worked for him, I can count on one hand the number of days Mike did not give me a gift of some sort. Yes, that's right. He gave me presents. Every. Single. Day.

Most times they were quite simple. A piece of candy waiting for me in my desk drawer when I arrived to work. Some days they were quite thoughtful. At the time I collected birdhouses. I ultimately had over 200 in my collection. Mike was the largest single contributor to this collection (besides myself, of course). For Secretary's Day I arrived to work to find the most exquisite bouquet of red roses I have ever seen in my life waiting for me on my desk.

Now, before people start talking, it needs to be known. Mike's wife was the driving force behind the gifts. She has a natural gift for learning a little about someone and then finding the perfect gift for them. Like the matching mommy/son "Puppy Love" sweatshirt and onesie they gave to me when Sportster was born.

It also should be known that my husband worked at the school as well as a Campus Security Officer. And that when I was out on maternity leave, Mike was just as generous with my temporary replacement. It's just the kind of man he is. Very generous, a believer in maintaining good office morale, and very appreciative of a job well done.

I gained two everlasting things from my time with Mike. First was my understanding of how vital it is to treat one's employees or subordinates with respect. To make them feel valued. The impact a simple "Thank you" can have.

The other thing I took away from that experience is my signature "K-". You see, when Mike would write notes to me, he would sign them "M-".

Please schedule a 10:00 meeting for me with Mr. Smith.
Thanks,
M-

That sort of thing.

After a while, I began mine to him as "M-" and later signing "K-".

M-
Your meeting has been scheduled.

K-

And it stuck. I began signing all my notes, emails and informal correspondences as "K-". I no longer sign anything with my full name unless it's a legal document.

Mike's wife's name also starts with an "M". When I would send thank you cards to them for their generous gifts, I addressed them to "M & M". Still to this day, when we exchange Christmas cards or other letters of greeting, they are "M & M".

Now when you see me sign my comments, you know the story behind my signature "K-". You'll know that it is not me being flippant or short or trying to be "cute". It is me being me. Nothing more, nothing less.

Last December JD and I were shopping the quaint town square stores of Mayberry. In one store we came across some monogrammed note cards which took my breath away. They had soft pink roses and lace on them. Unfortunately, they were out of "K" note cards. They had "B's", which I suppose should have sufficed for our last name. But I really wanted the K because everyone I write notes or letters to knows I sign them K-.

I told JD that was the only thing I wanted for Christmas. Those note cards. He searched and finally found them in another store here in our town. He snatched them up for me.

The cards are in a little portfolio box. It's hard to show in the photos, but the lace is beautifully embossed. The monogram is also embossed in a shiny metallic shade of pink.

The note cards are die cut around the lace.

Even the back of the note card is covered in softly muted roses.

They are from Carol's Rose Garden.

I love these cards. They are very ME.

Happy Furr-riday!

2008-09-26T16:27:00.002-05:00

The weekend is upon us once again. And I, for one, am embracing this one. Even more than usual.

JD will come home from his work week early tomorrow morning. His living in Mayberry while he's working is hard enough on me as it is. I always miss him terribly. But with a week like this one's been...well, I'm just really ready to have my man home again.

Sportster is doing better, but still having headaches off and on. I've decided to wait and see how he does this weekend. If the headaches continue, I am going to take him back to the doctor for a follow-up visit on Monday, just to make sure he's on the right path to healing.

We haven't heard from Blondie since Wednesday when she popped in to pick up her BoomBox. I went to the bank to remove myself from her bank accounts yesterday. Found out her accounts have been depleted. The guy she's living with quit college and got fired from his job this week. She weighs heavy on my mind these days.

I suppose at some point I will pick up where she left off on the couches. They are half old n' worn and half new n' beautiful now. I need to finish them up so they can be presentable once again.

Thank you for your kind comments yesterday. I really do enjoy reading all your blogs. You all have such beautiful, inspiring creations to share. It does my heart good to see that life is still rosey.

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend. And remember to hug the ones you love.

Where Have I Been?

2008-09-25T10:50:00.004-05:00

Since my last post on Sept. 17, we've had some not-so-good, life-altering events occur in our family that have kept me from being here like I should.

First, last Thursday night (Sept. 18) Blondie moved out. We've been going through some rough patches with her the last couple of months as she's made some poor choices. Try as we might to get her back on track, she decided she'd rather follow a different path than the one she's envisioned all her life. She's out there now without a car or job or phone or computer or money or insurance or anything. But she's a young adult and invincible so we have no choice but to let her make her own ~~mistakes~~ life choices. As a parent, it's an incredibly hard pill to swallow, watching your child go into self-destruct mode. Lest I fall apart again right here right now, I'd best leave it at that...

Then on Saturday (Sept. 20), I was taking Sportster to his football game with Wild Man in tow. We got into a pretty bad fender bender. Well, the third vehicle involved has a fender bender. The car I pulled in front of is totaled, as is my car.

Sportster was riding in the front passenger seat and received a direct hit.

I blacked out at the point of impact. When I came to, I found Sportster lifeless, leaning in toward me, with his head tilted back between our two seats. He was unconscious for a few minutes.

He has a concussion. But not just your ordinary concussion. His is also accompanied by memory loss. This makes it more severe, much more prone to more concussions, and much more likely that subsequent concussions will result in greater memory loss, brain damage, retardation or even becoming a vegetable. Yeah, serious stuff.

We have pulled him from football. He is still technically on the team and will be there on the sidelines with his team during home games. But he will not play. No game is worth his brain. Five years of football, and this is how it ends.

His physical activities at school are limited as well. He continues to have recurring headaches; he can not participate in physical activities until those headaches subside. This is a hardship for him. After all, there is a reason I've dubbed him "Sportster". He's having a hard time with the new reality that he cannot participate in PE or recess activities right now. Bless his little heart.

They tell us he must go 6 months - 1 year with no more concussions in order for his health risks to go back down to that of a normal post-concussion patient. He will be under our watchful eye and reduced activities for a long time to come.

Ironically, the only outward sign that he stopped a speeding car with his head is a laceration over his right eye. Next Tuesday is Picture Day at school. With that shiner on his eye, we'll have a forever reminder of this not-so-wonderful time in our lives.

We are extremely thankful, though. It could have been much much worse.

Wild Man was seated behind me in the back seat. He did not black out,so he remembers everything. He saw the airbags deploy. He saw the smoke from the airbags. He saw the rearview mirror fly through the air, hit Sportster's door, ricochet back through the air to bounce off his own door in the backseat and come to a rest at his feet. He remembers it all. He was initially shaken up at the scene, particularly when he saw the emergency personnel trying to extract Sportster from the car and then watched as they worked over Sportster. But he's one tough cookie and is doing very well, with no signs of emotional trauma.

As for me, well, I'm black and blue and red from the seatbelt. I've got a laceration on my arm which I think is from the steering wheel's airbag cover. Headaches, dizziness. But nothing which I can't handle. This is the worst of my boo-boo's on my belly:

Mostly, I'm dealing with a lot of guilt. The accident was my fault. I am the type of person who's very hard on themselves anyway. But when you throw injuring my own child into the mix...well, it'll take me a very long time to forgive myself for this one. Not sure the day will ever come.

In any case, there you have it. That's where I've been the last week.

They say bad things happen in 3's. The roof should be caving in at any moment.

September 17, 1787

2008-09-17T13:15:00.004-05:00

221 years ago today, 39 brave men signed and ratified the Constitution of the United States of America, forever changing the course of this great nation.

In 2004, the law was passed marking September 17 as an official American federal observance day.

Happy Constitution and Citizenship Day

Sneak Peek

2008-09-12T21:49:00.008-05:00

Over Labor Day weekend, Blondie stayed home while the rest of us went camping. The plan was for her to work on reupholstering our living room couches.

Bless her heart, she came down with a bug that weekend. And since it's a little difficult to be creative while hovering over the toilet...well, you can imagine where the couches ranked on her list of priorities.

But now she's started on them! oooowooohoooo! (that was a squeal) I'm so excited!

Here's a sneak peek:

Hard to make out exactly what that is, isn't it? I know. Such a tease, I am.

There are 4 different fabrics in that picture. Yes, four. On one seat cushion. (Just trust me on this. It's gonna be awesome)

You see, I've decided I want something a bit different. A bit eclectic.

I'm bored with having the same pattern throughout the entire couch. I've tried the all-over slipcovers too. But I found "slip" to be the operative word there. I quickly tired of having to straighten them, tighten them, pluck, push and pull on them every time someone stood up.

Blondie is making new covers for each seat cushion. Each cover is reversible. We can get a whole new look by simply flipping the seat cushion over. Pretty swell, eh?

Ok, I must confess. The whole get-2-looks-out-of-1 thing wasn't some brilliant brainchild of mine. Rather, it was born out of necessity.

I wanted to use one of the patterns for the seat cushions but Blondie insisted on the other. After a ~~estrogen-infused~~ highly-spirited debate, we took it to JD for a tie-breaker. We each plead our case for our favorite fabric. He voted for hers (hmph. What do men know anyway?)

My couches, my living room. I should win, right? WRONGO! After all, Blondie is investing the time into this and just happens to be the interior design major, so....we compromised. My pick on one side and hers on the other. (Somehow I have a sneaky suspicion every time I leave the house, I'm going to come home to find them flipped to her side up)

The back cushions are getting a total make-over...not just new covers, but cut up and reshaped and completely re-worked.

To give you an idea of where we're going with this, here's some of the inspiration pieces we're working from (from Victorian Trading Co)

Perhaps the best part of this whole project? (Ok, besides the fact that I've ~~pawned off the hard work~~ enlisted the help of my wonderful daughter) This isn't costing us a dime. Most of the fabrics were given to me by my mother. We're incorporating the slippity slipcovers we already have. And the other goodies (that I'm still holding out on showing you just yet) are things I've collected over the years.

Oh, I can hardly contain myself. I can't wait to show you the before (aka "why we're doing this"), during and after pictures.

Soon. I'm hopeful. Very soon.

I Wanna! Wednesday

2008-09-10T10:33:00.003-05:00

My "I Wanna's" aren't always things I want to buy or build. Sometimes they're things I wanna do.

Today I wanna climb up into the attic. I wanna search for the huge boxes labeled "Fall Decorations". I wanna lug them to the middle of the attic floor, sit down and go through them. As I sort through them, I want to reminisce about seasons gone by. I wanna select a few things to bring back down to decorate our home for the upcoming season. I wanna stage a new Fall arrangement in the shadowbox. I wanna store away my summer porch decorations. I wanna deck the porch with pumpkins and gourds and cornstalks. Faux fall foliage, burnt orange ribbons, and hay bales.

But, alas, it's a busy busy week. Studying, football, PTA, PGR, parades. And I've finally got students enrolled again in my cake decorating classes so those take up my evenings too.

I hope to get my Autumn decorating done this weekend. I sure wanna!

Snakes and Snails and ...

2008-09-03T10:48:00.003-05:00

Frogs?

Yep, that's what my little boys are made of.

Look what decided to join Sportster and WildMan for an end-of-summer dip in the pool the other day.

JD and I made jokes about what was on the menu for dinner that night.

For some reason the boys didn't like our culinary ideas too much.

I can't imagine why.

Happy Labor Day!

2008-09-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

(Click to enlarge)

Image courtesy of Old Sgt's Backgrounds

All I Can Say Is...

2008-08-29T08:45:00.002-05:00

Wow, what a week it's been.

The boys and I are joining JD out at the lake this weekend. We're looking forward to some relaxation and fun family time. This will be Chrissy's first camping trip. That ought to be interesting.

Blondie isn't much into camping so she's staying behind. She plans to work on reupholstering the cushions on our couches while we're gone. I'm hoping to have some photos of that transformation to post very soon. Wait'll you see what we have planned for the couches! I'm so excited -- they're gonna be so "me" finally. (which totally gives away the surprise. Anyone who knows "me" knows that means pinks, mauves, and roses galore)

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend, all!

See ya' next Tuesday...or Wednesday...or whenever we decide to rejoin civilization again.

I Wanna! Wednesday

2008-08-27T18:37:00.002-05:00

I just love the look of window arbors. Some people call them window trellises. Whatever you want to call them, I love 'em.

This one is from GM Design. Isn't it so homey looking?! Talk about bringing the garden right up to your window!

Some people don't like to have any kind of greenery up against the house. My father-in-law included. He'd have nothing short of a conniption if I intentionally grew any sort of vine or bush right up against the house. But I think these arbors look adorable even with nothing growing on them.

This one is from Walpole Woodworkers. Crazy expensive (as in $329 just for the brackets. The lathing adds up to about as much too).

Nope, not going out to order one of those today. But it sure is fun to dream.

Here is another example from Walpole. See how they've incorporated the lattice trellis leading up to the arbor?

When we first moved into this neighborhood six years ago, JD and I would walk through the maze of streets, gazing at all the old homes. We just couldn't get enough, how each one was unique and oozing charm in its own special way.

One house had an arbor over the garage. It was wood, painted white. And I thought "Ooh, I want one of those some day!" I went by the house to take a picture for you all. But, to my disappointment, the owners are in the process of covering the house with vinyl siding and the arbor has been taken down. So sad.

I did come across another one the other day, though. Well, virtually, anyway. Lisa, over at Warm Heart Cozy Home posted a picture of her garage with the arbor above. Do go over and take a look. It's absolutely a~d~o~r~a~b~l~e! And she came up with a clever solution to add greenery, taboot.

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

2008-08-25T19:43:00.007-05:00

We are your typical fur-lovin' family. We've always had a dog or cat or two...or three...or four.

We lived on Tulip Court in California. Thus began the "flower" theme for our four-legged friends. There's been Dandilion and Lily and Pansy, just to name a few.

Now we live on Orchard Lane, thus the horticultural theme continues with our black cat, Mulch.

Pansy was our last Golden Retriever. After 13 faithful years with us, she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge March 2007. The kiddos begged us to get another dog almost right way. But my husband and I were hesitant. We didn't want another dog just for the sake of having a dog. We wanted to make sure our new friend would be a good fit for our family. And we knew we wanted to "downsize".

A few weeks ago we came across this adorable little pooch. She was born March 25. She is registered AKC Shih-Tzu, but the breeder wasn't able to sell her because she had an umbilical hernia. She was a furbaby in need of a rescue.

It was love at first sight.

Meet Chrysanthemum.

(Above photo was taken by the breeder. I'm afraid there's nothing red like that in my house. LOL)

We call her Chrissy.

She is a total lap dog. Which is exactly what I needed...a friend to curl up at my feet and keep my tootsies warm while I work on my computer all day.

I've fallen head over heels for My Prissy Chrissy.

I Wanna! Wednesday

2008-07-30T00:33:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my first installment of I Wanna! Wednesday.

This is what I want today:

Yes, I want a window box. No wimpy one will do. It needs to be large, substantial. With large wall brackets underneath. And cottagey white, of course.

This one is from Walpole Woodworkers. Isn't it adorable? I'm lovin' the detail of the brackets.

But at $389, it's about $300 outside of my budget.

I've been thinking of making one myself for a long time now. We have plenty of wood in our workshop, even for the trim. I am sure I could make the box itself for no cost. The expense would come in purchasing the brackets and the inner liner. But I'd still be way under $389.

I always thought this would make a good winter project for me. Something I could go down in the basement and work on when it's blistery cold outside. Then in the Spring it would be ready to mount, ready for flowers, ready to brighten up the front of our home. Maybe I'll finally get around to it this winter. Maybe.

This is another one from Walpole. It is similar to the one I'd like to make, but I want beefier brackets like the ones pictured above.

I like this style because it seems to emulate the trim work on the columns of our house. When I built our arbor, I used the similar trim design to match the columns. And I think I'd do the same with the window box.

It will need to be quite long to reach the span of the large window on the front of our home.

Wouldn't it be so perfect there?

I think it would really add some curb appeal, don't you?

Yeppers, I think I've talked myself into another winter project.

I'm Back and Ready to Ramble

2008-07-26T10:06:00.005-05:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life decided to up and smack me upside the head.

I followed through with my plan to get one set of shutters painted each morning before the blazing heat set in.

I'm not going to post pictures of all of them. Because that would bore you to tears. But here's the set on the left window of our front porch.

I still have two windows left to do. The small one of my office and the one up in the attic. The office one requires clearing away of bushes because I cannot get the ladder close enough to it with them in the way. The attic one requires the use of my mondo ladder. I love that thing, but it sure is a pain to lug around and set up. The heat and humidity are at scorching levels now, even in the morning. It is so hot that the paint globs right on my brush. So I've decided to wait on those last two sets of shutters until the weather cools off a bit.

In the meantime, I'm beginning my next project: Re-wiring and re-doing the ceiling in the Button Room. A "Button Room?" you ask? Yes, the Button Room.

But that's another story for another day.

Shutterbug

2008-07-17T14:15:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago we repaired the windowsill under the large window on the front of the house. JD and his dad did it, actually. This is the window in our boys' bedroom.

The two side windows had never opened since we've lived in the house. So JD took this opportunity to fix them as well. Now all three of these windows open. Can't wait 'til it cools off in the Fall so we can open them up and let the fresh air flow through.

My job was to repaint the shutters, as they had become weathered and faded over the years. The paint color I'm using is very close to the original, although it does come out a bit more on the blue side than I wanted.

To give you a comparison, the newly painted shutters are on the left here. The ones on the right I haven't yet painted.

See what I mean about the new paint being more blue?

Anyway, I'm now in the process of repainting all the shutters on the house. With the temperature being so dadblamed hot, I've decided to tackle just one set each day. I'm doing one window each morning before I start work.

This morning I painted the shutters on one of the living room windows. The one on the right-hand side of our porch. These are in really good shape; the porch has protected them from the elements. But I'm painting them anyway, since I've inadvertently found myself in this new color scheme.

Here is a close-up of one of today's shutters in progress. The plank on the right side is the new color.

And here's today's final product.

(Never mind the black camera and wire hanging from the ceiling.
Smile. You're on video surveillance.)

This is an old neighborhood, with even older residents. Some of them have lived here since the neighborhood first developed back in the 40's.

One good ol' guy in particular was good friends with the original owners of this house, Mr. and Mrs. Webster. During a block party a few years ago, he told me the original shutters on the house looked totally different than they do today. Mr. Webster was the head of the science department at our local University that is just blocks away. He had the original shutters made with a cut-out of a science beaker on each one. I thought that was interesting. I wish I could have seen them or obtain pictures of them. I'd seriously consider reproducing them if I knew exactly what they'd looked like.

In The Beginning...

2008-07-15T10:13:00.017-05:00

It was a beautiful Spring day. The sun shone brightly and the air smelled of the renewal of life that comes in May. The year was 2002.

JD and I were driving down one of the main streets in town when an "Open House" sign caught my eye. The arrow on it pointed up a residential street. On a whim, we followed that arrow.

It lead us to an amazing house. We pulled up along the curb across the street. And gaped at what lay before us.

"We could never afford this house", JD noted.

"Let's go look anyway, just for the heck of it", I chided.

We nervously walked up to the expansive porch, feeling out of our element. Feeling like paupers gawking at the crown jewels.

We stepped inside. And our lives changed forever.

As soon as we walked over the threshold, we were standing in the living room.

It was so perfect. The soft colors. The white trim. Oh, all that trim! The fireplace. The built in bookcase next to the fireplace. The lighted shadowbox built into the wall. The closet door with shelves built right into the door. The chandelier. The room screamed "Kim!". I caught my breath.

Next we moved to the dining room.

While I could see this room had undergone some awkward updating, its original charm shone through loud and clear. Someone had built open shelving, floor to ceiling, on one wall. A grow-light and shelf for plants had been added to another wall. The room was wall-papered up top and had sheet paneling down below. But it also had the original hutch with drawers built into one of the walls. And the original swinging door to the kitchen. Ooh la la!

Through the swinging door we went, into the kitchen.

It was a bit of an odd layout, being L-shaped. But it was large, 14x19, and certainly had potential. I peeked into the walk-in butler's pantry. Ooh, who wouldn't love to have a butler's pantry?!

Then we walked through the mudroom and out to the back yard.

I wished it had more than just a back stoop. I saw visions of yet another covered porch or perhaps a deck with an arbor. There was definite potential.

I leaned in to JD. I told him in the firmest voice I could whisper "I want this house." He agreed he really liked it to, but reiterated that we could not afford it. Never mind that we had no idea what the asking price was. We just knew it would be more than we could handle.

Still, we went back inside. Toured the rest of the house. And fell in love all over again.

The house had everything I wanted. Absolutely everything. The charm that comes with age. The cottage appeal. The covered porch. The basement to escape those Oklahoma tornadoes. Three inter-connected bedrooms, perfect for our daycare. A side entrance to those bedrooms, perfect for clients to come and go without having to traipse through our "personal residence" anymore. An attic large enough for future expansion. Superb quality of construction -- you know, the ol' "they don't make things they way they used to". Large mature trees.

Everything was perfect. I could not have asked for more.

Then came the shocker. The house was within our price range.

And thus I began the process of making the house of my dreams a reality.

Old Blogger, New Blog

2008-07-15T09:44:00.004-05:00

Howdy all!

My name is Kim. I am not new to blogging, but decided to create an alter identity for my softer, gentler side.

There will be lots of pictures, lots of projects. And I hope you'll join in with your comments. I have a zillion how-to, what-do-you-think, which-looks-best questions. I greatly appreciate your feedback.

Join me in my quest for a cottage life.