Fireplace Makeover!

Last week I spent a day painting the accent panels on my fireplace...(they used to be white.)  I Love the result! It has changed the look of it and made it really stand out in our family room. (The pictures don't do it justice, the difference in the shades is more pronounced in real life...but this will give you an idea.)

Here is the funny thing. I had the idea of trying one shade darker than our wall color...(which FYI is Duron paint...Plantation Beige.) As I've shared with you in previous posts, I'm totally hooked on Nester's blog. A few weeks ago, she was raving about a Duron paint color, Tobacco Road. I decided that while I was in the Duron store I'd pick up a quart of it too....just to try. Well guess what? The paint color that is one shade darker than Plantation Beige is Tobacco Road! Can you believe it???? I'm telling you...it was meant to be!

I added my $8 birdcage and voilla.....what do you think???

Quick & Easy Spring Cake

For those of you who know me well, this post will come as a shock. I am posting about food! I do NOT like cooking, so this may very well be my one and only post about food.

This cake turned out so cute, that I just had to share it with you.

My girl, Veruka,  baked it Friday for my Mom's Bday. My Mom was spending her Birthday night here, so that she could take Veruka to her Baton Competition bright and early the next morning. The cake is a lemon cake with lemon frosting. I thought it be nice and light and refreshing for Spring. We frosted the cake Friday and I had every intention of piping around the edges and decorating it Sat, but we ended up getting home way to late to do any of that. I had some fresh flowers here, so I clipped off a couple and put them all over the cake. The end result was really pretty! It only took me about 2 minutes to put the flowers on it. That's my kind of cake decorating!

Signs of Spring

Spring has finally come to the East Coast!

Beautiful flowers......

Trees in bloom.......

Son cutting the grass.....

I love Springtime!

Answers to your Questions

1.  Is that your kids in the picture on top of your blog?

Yes

2.  How old are they?  When was it taken?

It was taken 7 years ago this month.  

They were 7, 5, & 1.

3.  Is that where you live?

No.  If you know me, you'd know that I am definitely not a 'dirt road' kind of girl.

4.  Where was it taken?

The picture is from when we lived in Seattle, WA.

This was a place about an hour north of Seattle called the Skagit Valley.  They have whole farms of tulips there and actually have a Tulip Festival each April.  It was beautiful.

My Girl

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking.  Last week was tough.  How do you walk your 14 year old daughter through the death of a friend?  Thinking, praying, talking & crying....and doing it all again.   I think we are all drained.  Sitting there at that funeral, my heart ached for that family.  My heart still aches for my friend Suzie & her kids.   I just want to scoop up my kids and run away somewhere safe, where it's just the 5 of us.  Of course, that isn't possible.  As I move through the days, I am cherishing the time spent with my family. These sudden losses have changed my perspective on life. I realize that their are no guarantees. I am making the most of each day.  I was looking back through my blog and realized that there aren't a lot of posts about My Girl. So, this is for her.

First, let me say she is an AWESOME daughter. I couldn't ask for anyone better. She is sweet, kind, loving, honest, loyal, and friendly. She has a beautiful smile and soulful eyes. She has so many good qualities, it is hard to list them all. She has a huge heart and will stand by her friends until the end. She LOVES little kids. She loves to babysit and has served every week in our Church's PreSchool Sunday School program for the past 5 years. She is involved with our Church's youth group. She loves to read.  She loves sushi!!  She loves fishing with her Dad.  She LOVES all kinds of animals....except snakes! (She especially loves our dog, and lets her sleep with her every night.) She loves to cook. (I don't know where she gets that from...definitely not me!)  Messy bedrooms don't scare her.  :)    She is very determined when it comes to achieving her goals. Once she sets her mind on something, she WILL accomplish it. She is not afraid of failure. She is not afraid to put herself out there.


She loves twirling baton. She's been doing it for 6 years. She and I just spend the last 2 weekends at competitions. (Yesterday we left at 6:30AM and got home at 10PM!) It was fun to hang out with her. Today I spend the day with my son at his travel baseball game while she and Grandma went back for Day 2 of the competition. She placed well both weekends...last weekend she came in 1st in her division!! This weekend she came in 2nd. She told me that the reason she likes to twirl is because it makes her unique. There aren't a lot of people who twirl.

She's been involved in both her Middle School and High School's SGA.  Last year she ran for and was elected, President of her SGA.  Her proudest accomplishment was getting the school to allow gum chewing for 8th graders only.

This year she is in 9th grade and in High School.   She tried out for and made the JV Cheerleading squads for both Football and Basketball. She was named Co-Captain for the JV Cheerleading squad for Basketball. In the Spring she decided to try out for the school's Softball team, even though she hadn't played Softball since 4th grade and she made the JV team.


She has balanced all of her extra curricular activities with her school work and has managed to keep her grades up all year. She's had all A's and a couple of B's. We LOVE her VERY MUCH, and are VERY PROUD of her!

This is a meal that she cooked for all of us! Just for fun....can you imagine?

Here she is with her trophies from last weekend's baton competition!

Thanks for being my daughter. I love you very much! Love, Mom

Please Pray

Please pray for the families of Emily Burke and Rudolfo Calderon.  They were local teens who were both killed Saturday night in a car accident. Emily's older brother, a 12th grader, was driving and he and another passenger, Alyson Hird...Emily's best friend,  were taken to Shock Trauma. The older brother's name is Paul Burke. Please pray for him.  What a terrible burden to have to carry through the rest of his life.

'My Girl' played softball with Emily at LHS.  She is very sad and is struggling with this.  She's had to deal with a lot of death this year.  Please say a quick prayer for her too.

Thank you guys.

Kath

April Fools Day and Decorating Projects

Happy Belated April Fools Day!!! Did any of you pull a prank on your hubby or kids?? We always try to pull a prank on the kids. We've done it all over the years......short sheeted their beds, toilet papered their rooms, etc. My all time favorite April Fools Day prank was a couple of years ago. We'd had an unusually cold Winter. So, in the morning of April 1, when I went to wake up the kids, I told them the "Good News" ----- that it had frosted (is that a word?) overnight and because the roads were still icy in some parts, they had a one hour delayed opening. They all bought it, each one of them had a smile on their face as they snuggled back under their covers, only to hear, "April Fools!"

This year, I knew I was going to do something with their food. They are getting so old and wise though, that I had to set them up first. My Hubby has been away this week, so the set up was this, "Hey, Dad called and guess what? He said he's coming home today instead of Friday." Of course, they all were like, "Yea, sure ---ha ha, April Fools." (In a sarcastic tone of voice.) I pulled the set up as they were all sitting down to eat dinner----one of their favorites when Dad is away, Velveeta Shell Mac-N-Cheese. We said a quick prayer, and they were still commenting about how lame my April Fools Joke was, as they ate their first bite. Little did they know, but I had "seasoned" their Mac-N-Cheese with dill pickle juice, horse radish sauce, and a little bit of Tabasco sauce. I "got" all 3 kids! Mission Accomplished. (I also had made a "good" batch of Mac-N-Cheese and had that ready to go, stashed away in the oven. That way they didn't have to wait to eat.) I already have my prank in mind for next year, but I can't share it here because my people read this. You'll have to wait until then, to find out what it is.

So, I told you that I'm totally addicted to the whole blog thing right? Well, my friend Nester has some really great decorating ideas on her blog using things that you already have, or things that don't cost an arm and a leg, if you know what I mean. I love to make things, but I just can never think of the ideas. I am a total copy cat. These past few days, I've been on a little roll here. (See what happens when the Hubby is away?)

First, Nester had posted over at Blissfully Domestic, about using your candles. She had an awesome display that she changed out for each season. That got me thinking. I have a really nice candle, potpourri display that I use at Christmas time. I use it as my centerpiece on my Dining Room table. Usually, after Christmas I pack it away, and put my dried flower arrangement back on the table. Well, I've also been watching Oprah when Nate is on, and he has told me that fake plants and flowers are a big NO NO. (We'll save that discussion for a future post.) So this year, I haven't put my fake flower arrangement back, but wasn't sure what I should do.


Look at what I came up with. (Of course Nester was totally my inspiration.)

Here is my Christmas centerpiece:

Here is how I changed it up for Spring:

The beauty of it all is that I ALREADY had most of this stuff. The only things I bought were the cute little birdy and a couple of the candles. I had everything else!

Looking at Nester's post, I can easily see how I can change it up for Summer and Fall too. I'll remove the river rocks and bird and add starfish and shells (that I ALREADY have) for Summer. In the Fall, I'll maybe add some rust colored candles, some leaves, and some small gourds. (Again, I ALREADY have all of that stuff, except the gourds!)

I just have to tell you about today. I went down to the Mission store to drop off some things to donate. I decided to park and go in. I NEVER do this. I guess in the past I've always had a little toddler or kid with me, and it definitely isn't a good place for small kids.....too many things to touch and break, if you know what I mean. So, I went inside and the place is packed with all kinds of things. They had tons of dishes. Nester had done a post on her own blog about decorating with plates. We've been looking for something new for our dining room wall. I got 8 plates and platters, most of which are china made in England and Italy, for $48!!!! I also got this adorable bird house for another $8! I am so excited about my score! Keep checking back, and I'll show you what I am going to do with them.




Just a little note, all of those types of stores are not filled with bargains. Be warned! Earlier in the week, I stopped in an Antique store and everything was so expensive, I might as well have been at Pottery Barn. I didn't buy anything at that store.



The real find of the day happened after I had paid and was walking out the door. I happened to glance down and noticed behind the door was a stash of old washboards! I got the perfect one for my laundry room. It is real too! (Did you know that on real wash boards, the rough part was actually made of glass? I didn't! On the back of this one, you can see dried soap from the original owner!) Thank God for washers and dryers...I can't imagine having to do laundry on one of those. Check out where I hung it.