Monday, May 31, 2010

Made for Monday & Happy Memorial Day!

It's been a nice, busy weekend here at our home. Friday night was my oldest nephew's high school graduation. We ended up not getting to go though, because we were told they were gonna postpone it until Saturday because of rain. Turns out, they ended up having it on Friday night after all and because my nephew lives about an hour away from us, we didn't find out till it was too late to go. So were were bummed about that. We did get to spend some time with him on Thursday night so that was good.

On Saturday, we drove down to North Carolina and checked out some flea markets and produce stands. I didn't find any treasures to bring home with me from the flea markets but we did score some beautiful and delicious tomatoes and other things from the produce stands! Then we went to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem to watch their weekly race. They had a hot air balloon that they launched as the national anthem was playing and they draped a huge American flag over the side of the balloon's basket as they floated away. It was awesome. Unfortunately, the rest of the evening didn't go as well as we would have liked it to since our favorite driver didn't win, but our most unfavorite driver did! Oh well, you can't win them all and it was good to spend some family time together. Here's some pics I took while we were at the race. There's one of the balloon, one of my son and my Mom, and one of our favorite driver's car.







Now on to Made for Monday. I am doing an Americana Swap over on Prim Pals Forum. We have to make something from fabric, something from wood, and something of our choice. I decided to make some star bowl fillers. I have two of them done so far. Here's what they look like:



I really hope my swap partner likes them! I've had a lot of fun making them. I already have my wooden piece done too, so now all I have to do is figure out the "my choice" item. I have a few things in mind, but I'm running out of time to finish everything!

A wonderful friend of mine at work gave me this awesome milk can! She said she's had it forever and it's just been sitting in her storage shed forever. She did some spring cleaning of her shed and was looking to get rid of it. She asked me if I wanted and it and I said heck yeah!!! It has a few rust spots on it and needs to be cleaned up a bit, but I thought it was awesome! It's super heavy too! I'm thinking of painting it black and then decorating it to match my kitchen. I love it!



Last but not least, I'd like to take a moment to remember and thank all our veterans and active duty service men and women for all they do to make our country the wonderful place it is to live in. Freedom is definitely not free and my heart and prayers go out to all of you and your families for your sacrifices! Both of my brothers and my Dad are all veterans and I couldn't be prouder of their service to our country. I also have two uncles who served in the military as well. Without these brave souls, we wouldn't have the freedoms we all take for granted today. So thank a soldier today!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Tasty Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a great Tuesday. Hubby was off work today so he worked on building my Mom one of the little outhouse toilet paper holders. He does such great work on his woodworking projects! After I got off work, I ran by the house, picked him up and we went grocery shopping. Uggghh! How come you spend $100 and between the two of you, be able to carry the bags in the house from the car in one trip and still have at least one free hand to unlock the front door with??!! It's crazy! But anyway, after we put the groceries away, we went for our evening walk. We live in a subdivision where there are hills so it's a good walking work out for us. We take Sophie with us and she is so cute. She does really well on a leash and I love to watch her explore everywhere! There is another yorkie doggie that lives down the road from us and he and Sophie have become fast friends! Of course, he is in a fenced in yard so I guess Sophie feels safe "playing" with him since he can't get to her thru the fence! Our evening walks are a spring, summer, and fall tradition for us and we really enjoy them. Of course, now that I am sitting down on the couch, I'm finished for the evening! Good thing I didn't have a lot planned to do this evening! I'm tired!

Now on to Tasty Tuesday. Today I am not going to share a food recipe with you. Instead I'm going to share a recipe for my favorite drink ~ Iced Vanilla Coffee. I tell ya, I am so addicted to Mickey D's vanilla iced coffee that it ain't even funny! And at over $2 a pop for a large one, those can get really expensive really fast! So I started playing around and have come up with my own version. I use Torani brand syrup for my flavoring. These are great flavored syrups and they come in sugar free varieties that taste just as good as the regular ones. Here's my recipe:



Vanilla Iced Coffee

2% cold milk
strong brewed coffee
Torani vanilla flavored syrup
ice

Fill cup with ice. Fill cup about 1/3 of the way with milk. Add a splash of syrup. Finish filling cup with coffee. Stir well.


That's it!! How easy is that??? You can tweak the amounts of milk, syrup, and coffee you use to get the taste you want, but I generally follow this recipe and it works for me. I buy the Torani syrups at Wal Mart in the coffee aisle. They run about $4 a bottle, but it makes a lot of iced coffee! You can also order the syrups on line. They have lots of flavors to choose from so the varieties of iced coffee you can make are endless! I usually drink hot coffee first thing in the morning and I will make a few extra cups when I brew my morning coffee. Then once it's cooled down, you can refrigerate the leftovers and always have some on hand for your iced coffees. I know that this recipe has saved me a bundle of money, cause when you are as addicted as I am, it can really strain the ole budget!

Well, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for stopping by to visit with me! I hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Monday, May 24, 2010

I Made it Monday!!

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great Monday. Mine was good. I thought I'd share a couple of things I've made over the past week or so with you. They aren't makeovers like I usually share on Mondays, just some little projects I whipped up. I found these cute little house shaped frames at the Dollar Tree a while back and at the time, I didn't have a clue what I was gonna do with them. They were already painted the colors you see in the photo so I didn't have to do anything special to them to get them to look prim and country. I decided a couple of "house" themed stitcheries would look cute in them so that's what I did! It's hard to tell in the red one, but I stitched two yellow stars ~ one in the top right hand corner and the other in the bottom left hand corner.



I am pleased with how they turned out!

I've been seeing a lot of prim sunflowers out there in blogland so I decided to give them a try. I ended up making two different sizes and used different fabrics for the petals. I experimented with staining them with a coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla mixture. I also varied the middle of the flowers ~ I painted them all black with craft paint and then on one or two of them I dabbed a bit of yellow paint on top of the black. Not really sure which way I like them better. I'm leaning towards just black. I decided to use one as a make do in a wooden candlestick that I bought a while back at the flea market. I got two of them for a dollar, I believe it was, and I decided to paint one of them black. Then I bought a dowel rod at Wal Mart and had hubby cut it down to size for me. I glued it into the candlestick and added some moss to fill it out a bit. Then I attached my flower to the dowel rod and added a homespun bow in green as it's leaves. I like the way this turned out. The others I haven't done anything to yet. I may leave them as bowl fillers or if I can talk hubby into building me a small crate like box, I may end up doing some kind of an arrangement in it with them.

Here's a pic of the sunflower make do:


And here's pic of all the ones I've made so far:


Well, that's about it for me today. I'm tired and ready to get into my jammies and watch some mindless t.v. before bedtime. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by to visit me!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Sunday, May 23, 2010

And the winner is. . .

Good Sunday morning all! Thanks to everyone who left me a comment on my 100th post! I appreciate everyone's input and kind comments about my blog. I had 20 people comment and I asked "the kid" to pick a number between 1 and 20. He chose 17. That means the lucky winner is. . . LINDA @ PARKER'S PARADISE!!!!!!

Congrats to Linda! Please e-mail me with your addy and I will get your stitchery right out to you!

Most days I really dread going to the mailbox because it seems like all I ever get is bills, bills and more bills! So yesterday, when I saw the mail lady run, I hesitated about going out to pick up the mail. But we all know there's no avoiding it so I just sucked it up and went out to the mailbox. There was only one envelope in there so I thought to myself, well at least I only got one bill today! Imagine my surprise when I noticed it had a Canadian return address! Now I know I don't owe any bills to anyone in Canada (at least not to my knowledge!) so I tore that sucker open and it was the cutest card from Holli at Where the Rooster Crows!! I was tickled to death!! I had such a trying time last week and the week before and Holli sent me this card just to say she was thinking of me and to keep my head up high! Wasn't that sweet?? Thank you so much Holli! You really made my day! I have put it up on my refrigerator so I can see it every time I walk into the kitchen. It has made me smile every time!! Here's a pic of it:



I tell ya, just about everyone I've "met" here in blogland is so caring and wonderful. I just thank God every day that I started this blog and for all the wonderfully awesome friends I've been blessed with since then.

I got a lot done yesterday around the house. I cleaned out my refrigerator which was long overdue. If I didn't know better, I would swear we were conducting science experiments with some of the stuff that was shoved to the back of the shelves. EEEWWW!! Needless to say, it was long overdue for a good cleaning! Now, even though it's practically empty, it looks soooo much better! I'm gonna keep it that way too. My kitchen floor is another issue I've been dealing with, practically since we moved into this house two years ago. It's the ugliest floor, supposed to be white with some kind of pinkish flowers on it. I don't know who picked out the colors for things in this house, but Lordy, Lordy what were they thinking??? The cabinets are an off white color, the counters are a greenish color and the floor white and pink! We eventually plan on changing the floor to a vinyl or laminate wood look but that is still far in the future. The walls are white right now but I have paint chips taped on one wall in a terra cotta color, trying to decide if that's what I want to do. I'm not sure what we are gonna do with the cabinets yet and the counters are another problem. See how overwhelming this all is??

Anyway, I digress. The floor has always looked nasty to me. Not really white, but more of an off white color and I know it's dirt because the floor is not the same color all over. But no matter how hard I scrubbed it on my hands and knees, I could not ever get it to look clean and white. So yesterday, it was like a light bulb went on over my head and I decided to do some research on floor strippers on line. I found a product sold at Lowe's that is made specifically for vinyl or linoleum floors. When hubby got home from work, off we went to pick some up. Let me just tell ya, it worked like a charm!! My kitchen floor is now white! I am so excited! Now, I still hate the color of the floor and the design and it will still be changed out in the future when the finances are better, but at least now it isn't dirty looking anymore! Woohoo! I was like a kid at Christmas! I told hubby that I bet it had never been stripped since the house was built in 1993. And after 17 years of build up, well, let's just say EEEWWWW again!!! You can bet your bottom dollar that it won't be 17 more years before it gets stripped again!

Well, I just heard the dryer kick off so I guess I'd better run and finish up the laundry. I've already cleaned the bathroom this morning and have two loads of laundry done so I'm well on my way! I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Saturday, May 22, 2010

My 100th post!!!

Happy Saturday to everyone! Well, I can't believe it, but yes, this is my 100th post! When I started blogging in December 2009, I didn't have a clue how addictive this would become! Nor did I have any idea that I would "meet" some really incredible, kind, and talented people! Y'all are awesome! So, in celebration of my 100th post, and as a token of my appreciation to all the wonderful new friends I've made, I am offering one of my "kindness matters" stitcheries to one lucky commenter on this post only. All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what you like best about my blog and you're in the running! I will choose a winner tomorrow. Here's what the stitchery looks like:



Y'all have been so kind to me over these last six months of blogging so I really think this stitchery is an appropriate way to say a big ole THANK YOU!!! I love you all!!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Friday, May 21, 2010

Fast Food Friday!

Good Friday morning to everyone! Today, I am sharing a simple yummy recipe for an ice cream dessert. It uses two of my favorite ingredients: Klondike Ice Cream Bars and Jello! I hope you enjoy it!




Green Klondike Salad

2 small boxes or 1 large box of lime flavored Jello
3 cups hot water
8 oz whipped topping
4 Klondike Bars ~ original flavored ~ chopped into bite sized pieces

Dissolve jello in hot water. Cool and place in refrigerator until syrupy. Beat with mixer. Mix whipped topping and chopped Klondikes together. Add to beaten jello and whip all together. Pour into 13" dish or platter and chill.


My Mom has several health issues that impact her way of life and she hasn't been able to work since March of 2008. She has applied and been denied for disability three times since then. She retained a lawyer about this time last year to help her try to get approved. I have watched her become more and more depressed because she can't get anyone to help her and her quality of life continues to decline. She called me at work yesterday crying like crazy. Scared me to death because I thought something had happened to one of my brothers or to her. Her lawyer had called her and told her she is approved for disability and will receive back pay from March 2008 until now!! I started crying, too! God is good and we are so thankful that He does not forget us when we are struggling.

I am so glad it's Friday, although I have a busy weekend ahead of me. Mom and my brother will be here on Thursday for my nephew's graduation so I have a LOT of cleaning to get done this weekend! The good news is, I am feeling much better and more energized than I was at the beginning of the week. So I am gonna crank up my stereo tomorrow and get moving!

Well, I've got to get out the door and head to work. I hope y'all have a fantastic Friday!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Thankful Thursday!

"A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself."


Hi everyone! First off, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who left me a comment on my last post. This has not been an easy time for me and I have felt like I am so alone. Thanks to all your comments, I now know that's not at all true! I know everyone has down days, but sometimes it seems like everything comes at you all at once and it can be quite overwhelming.

I would also like to say thanks to some awesome on-line friends who made me laugh so hard last night!! Karen, Debbie, TJ, Holli, and Melissa ~ you guys are awesome and I had so much fun chatting with you all. Thank you so much, you truly don't know what you did for me last night! Yes, I still have most of the same problems I posted about before and I know that they won't be fixed overnight, but now they don't seem so daunting and I know that I can handle them. Laughter really is the best medicine sometimes!

I have been doing a little bit of crafting this week. I bought some picture frames from the Dollar Tree that look like houses and have done some small stitcheries to put in them. I haven't taken any pictures of them yet, but I will and I will share them with you next week. I've also tried my hand at making some prim sunflowers and they have turned out o.k. if I do say so myself! I will share those with y'all next week as well. Hopefully, I will be back on track next week with my posting. I've really missed it! I have been trying to stay caught up on my blog reading but haven't really felt much like posting.

My nephew graduates from high school next Friday. That's so hard for me to believe! I used to babysit him when he was just a tiny tot, and now he's all grown up! Time really does fly. My brother (his dad) and my Mom are coming in from Oklahoma for his graduation. I am so excited to see them again. They were just here last month but I really miss them, especially my Mom. I guess we are never too old to want our Mommas are we?

Well, that's gonna do it for me today. I hope everyone has a great Thursday! And remember to cherish your friends, sometimes friendship is the only thing that can save us!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Sunday, May 16, 2010

It is what it is. . .

Hi all. It's been a while since I've posted. Life has just kicked my butt these past few weeks. I have not felt the least bit creative, work is driving me crazy, my house is a mess and I have absolutely no energy or desire to clean it, our finances are in the toilet right now, and I'm extremely grouchy, sad, overwhelmed, and fighting with the hubby and the kid and whoever else dares to speak to me! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME????? Does anyone else ever feel like this or am I really just going insane? I surely hope this feeling doesn't linger. I don't like it!

The kid went to his first prom last night. Since his accident in March, he hasn't been able to drive since we only have one vehicle that he could drive and I can't afford to put him on the insurance. So I was driving him to his date's house where they were going to be picked up by some of their friends, and we got into a huge argument. My heart is broken because I feel like I ruined his special night by fighting with him. I didn't even get to take any pics of him with his date due to the fighting. What the heck is wrong with me?? I feel like the world's worst mom. Sometimes I think I should have never had the opportunity to be a mom because I have not done a very good job so far at it. Bless his heart, his deadbeat dad left me when I was pregnant with him and has never been a part of his life, has never once in 17 years sent a birthday card, Christmas gift, or even called him just to talk. He's only seen his dad one time in his life and he was only a month old then so, of course, he doesn't remember anything about him. So between not having a dad and having a screwed up mom, it's a wonder he's turned out as good as he has. I did take a couple of pics of him here at the house before we starting fighting. Here's my favorite:



The hubby and I are fussing over some financial issues right now and that is driving me crazy too. Sometimes I just get so tired of struggling with everything! Oh well, it is what it is and I guess this too shall pass.

Well, that's it for now. I'm sorry to be such a downer but sometimes you just gotta get stuff off your chest. I'm going to try to do a little crafting today if I can force myself to get up off this couch! Maybe it will help me feel better.

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Sunday, May 9, 2010

We have a winner!

I would like to thank everyone who entered my latest giveaway. I appreciate you all for following me and for listening to me ramble on, most of the time about nothing important at all! I had 51 entries for this giveaway and I used Random.org to pick the winner. Random chose number 33 which turned out to be:

Kimberly from Country At Heart

Congratulations Kimberly! I've left you a note over on your blog. Shoot me an e-mail with your mailing information and your goodies will be on their way to you soon!



"A child will hold his mother's hand for but a little while, but he will hold her heart forever. . ."

Happy Mother's Day!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Today's the last day to sign up for my giveaway!

Boy, what a lllloooonnnnggg week I've had! Busy, busy, busy! I haven't has a minute to blog at all this week and I think I am having withdrawals!!! I did have a minute to throw together a few small craft things this week, but I haven't had a minute to take pics of them yet so I will be sharing them with y'all this coming week.

I just wanted to take a minute and remind everybody that my 200+ followers giveaway ends today. I will be drawing a winner in the morning and will announce it then. Here's what's up for grabs, in case you've forgotten:



If you haven't signed up to enter, please be sure to scroll down to the original post to do so. Don't sign up on this post because it won't count!

We have a cabinet/shelf thingy in our bathroom that hangs behind the bathroom door. It was just ugly wood when we moved here so I had hubby take it down and I painted it black. That helped it a lot, but I still wasn't happy with it because there were no doors or anything covering it and since we don't have a medicine cabinet in there, we used it to store all our toiletries and stuff like that. With it being behind the door, it's not something you see if you just walk into the bathroom, but when you shut the door, there it is, jumping right out at you! So, I was thinking of buying a tension rod and hanging a homespun curtain over it when hubby spied some lattice shutters at a flea market one weekend and the wheels started turning in his head! He picked up four of these shutters which consisted of two pieces hinged together. Low and behold, they were the perfect size for our bathroom cabinet and the best part is, he only paid $4 for all of them!! I took the homespun material that I was going to use for the curtains and just stapled them in a crunched up style to the back of the doors. Hubby hung them for me and voila, a finished medicine cabinet at last!!!



And here's one showing one of the doors open:



Well, that's it for me today. I've got to get busy getting some stuff done here around the house, then I'm off to one of my favorite flea markets to do some treasure hunting! Hope everyone has a great day!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Makeover Monday!

Hi everybody. I'm actually posting this late on Sunday evening because this week is gonna be a pretty hectic one for me and I'm not sure when I'll be able to log back on this week.

I bought a set of three of those round stackable boxes that the Dollar Tree has in their gift wrap section. I had to get two different colors because they didn't have three of the same color in the sizes I wanted, but it's o.k. because I planned on covering them up anyway so it didn't really matter! I found this awesome fabric at Wal Mart in the scrap bin! How cool is that! My kitchen is slowly being transformed into roosters and chickens, so this is just perfect. Here's the before pic showing the boxes and my fabric:



And a close up of the fabric. I just love this print!



I just cut the fabric to fit the boxes and used Modge Podge to adhere it. I overlapped the top and Modge Podged it down into the boxes. I didn't take a pic of this (sorry) but all I did was cut the overhanging fabric into strips so that it would lay flat on the inside of my box. I trimmed the fabric around the bottom of the boxes leaving just a tiny bit which I glued down on the bottom to make it look more finished around the edges. I then painted each lid black. When it was dry, I just tied a piece of jute around each lid to give it a finishing touch. And this is the finished product:



This is how they look stacked:



This was so easy and fun to do! And it only cost under $5 for the boxes and the fabric. I already had the Modge Podge and the jute. I'm definitely gonna make more of these. It only took me about half an hour to cover the boxes and paint the lids. The best part is, I have enough fabric left over that I'm gonna try to make a holder for my plastic shopping bags. I know it's not environmentally correct to not take reusable grocery bags, but I do reuse those plastic bags as trash bags for my car and in my bathroom trash can. Plus, they are good to take on vacation with you to put dirty clothes in to bring home.

I wanted to share a picture of my very first iris! It finally bloomed today! Hubby and I planted these last year and of course, they didn't bloom until this year. I am so excited and there are many more that are getting ready to bloom! I just love these exotic looking flowers:


My friend and cousin, Mary, from over at Mary's Must Haves came by for a quick visit yesterday. She is a flea market queen! That girl can find the best bargains ever! I had been keeping my eye out of some of the old fashioned jello molds and she hit the mother lode yesterday! So she snapped them up for me and dropped them by! Thanks girlfriend, you are the best!! Here's what she found for me:



After I get them cleaned up, I am gonna hang them on a small ladder that hubby has hung for me in the kitchen. They are gonna look good and of course I'll share a picture once we get them hung.

Hubby and I went on our famous "Sunday Drive" today and ended up over in West Virginia. Boy, I tell ya, we only went about 30 miles from home, but it was on some of the curviest roads ever!! And some of the places we saw that people were actually living in were so pitiful looking! It really makes you appreciate what you have! I love our weekly drives because it gives us a chance to spend some quality time together, just the two of us. We laugh, talk and just enjoy each other's company so much! I am so blessed to have this man to enjoy life with!

Well, that's enough rambling for now. I've gotta get off here and get my behind in bed! Six a.m. comes early in the morning! I hope everyone has a great week!

Until next time. . .

Hugs,