Expectations of Designers and Home Decor

Thank you HGTV for showing us how to have perfectly designed homes on a budget, a renovation done in a weekend and how homes should be staged. Even though Bob Villa and Norm Abram (This Old House) showed us remodeling decades ago, it was Paige Davis who made us stay in on Saturday nights to watch Trading Spaces. I wonder what she's doing now....

I'm A Gardening Cheat!

Are you behind in your gardening this year?

Every year my answer is "Yes!"  Usually, the process went something like this:

Week in Review - Ups & Downs

So how are you all doing? Working on projects while tackling real life? I hear you sista! I want to share a few personal things that keeps our life here hectic, crazy and cute!

First, a serious medical situation that I hope will save you from tons of pain if you should ever experience it. Kidney stones. Yup, I recently had one so LISTEN UP -

Best & Fast Sting Cure! (with update!)

I MUST share this with you all,  especially since we're in summer and high time for bites & stings.  The other day I got stung, not a bee but a round black insect. I have no idea what it was but it was a sting, not a bite and it did not look like a bee with wings.

Good Year Blimp Landing!

We had a surprise visit from the GoodYear Blimp recently! I'm sure many of you
have seen it in person at sporting events. I have only seen it on tv, so this
was another once in a lifetime event!

If you've seen it in person, you probably didn't see it like this - with little
else around, few people and it only 200ft away! And remember, this is special
event #2 in one day! (The other was the Osprey Nest.)

Quite a nose-dive coming in for landing!

Osprey Bird & Nest

This is way off topic, but so worthy of posting. There is an Osprey nest nearby and I was fortunate to get these photos. I have never seen an Osprey bird or its incredibly huge nest and I may never again!

A once in a lifetime event!

Osprey nests typically are found on telephone poles and other elevated places.

Healthy Blueberry Waffle Recipe!

I don't normally post recipes and told myself I would not stray too far from children's decor ideas; however, I HAD to share this recipe with you! In our quest for a healthier lifestyle, including organics, I've stopped buying pre-made waffle and pancake mixes. The natural and organic ones are expensive and it's something we can certainly make from scratch at home.

(sorry there's only one, but we had devoured them all before I got the camera!)

Healthy, Fluffy & Crispy!

Good-bye April Showers

Well, I don't know about all of you, but I'm very done with April! It has been a non-stop roller coaster which I'm hoping has come to an end. Not a fun ride. This past week especially sums up the whole month. Like this picture - disappointment in the snow and beauty in the bird.

From the devastation and sadness of the tornadoes to the joy and stunning beauty of the royal wedding. This parallels the highs and lows of my week and month with frustration of selling our house to resolution(!) and feeling like a queen while I enjoyed a spa day yesterday, thanks to my awesome hub!

Decor Blog Therapy

Over the past 36 hours we've been consumed by house selling hell. So today I'm just focusing on things that I like, that are pretty, that make me happy. I've missed looking at all the great blogs out there! And I'm really behind in comment follow-up, so sorry, will catch up soon!

I love the style of our old house

The past weekend was full of 5 Minutes For Mom's Ultimate Blog Party getting to know you's, hopping, following & tweeting. Such fun making the connections - I'm still recovering from the twitter party that left me with computer-eyes!

Mom's Day Out

Middle-aged Mom in Mini-Van Rocks to Music!

I have been couped up for the past week, really few weeks (months?).
I haven't had a day to myself to get out of the house and do whatever
I wanted or needed to do. Yes, I'd get out for grocery shopping,
but that's work to me. And I'd have a kid with me.
 Or I'd stay home and write but again, with kid.

So today I said to hubby, "I'm going out shopping for house decorations.
It's time to take down the Christmas wreath."

It's a sunny day and I'm heading out. I feel some freedom as I pull out
of our neighborhood. After a few miles, I'm ecstatic that I'm free!
It hits! Like when you're a kid and it's the last day of school....freedom!

I turn on the radio and ...

The Pricing of Children's Performances

I just looked up information on a children's performance group. This group has a tv show and I thought it would be fun to go see it on stage. Actually, in the past few years I've inquired on a few performances: Barney, Bob the Builder and now Imagination Movers.

You can certainly call me cheap, because I often am, but I'm astonished at the prices to go to these performances! The going rate on these tickets in my area is $60. I checked other locations and the lowest I found was $50 for the nose-bleed section. For that reason, we have never taken the kids to the stage to see Barney or George.

Versatile Blogger Award

Ok,  I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this logic.....

    I take a day off    =    I get an award

  I don't check my blog for a day    =    I receive an awesome award

                                                                                 

I don't even  turn my computer on    =    I am nominated for an award 

So are you thinking what I'm thinking..... that maybe I should be away from the computer a bit more? Hmmm...  I could not do it all the time but maybe, just maybe, stepping away occassionally is a good thing!

It's Fine To Have A Messy Basement!

I was just checking in on some of my favorite blogs as an escape from Facebook fussiness. Connecting this blog to my FB fan page isn't just a click or two! If anyone has any advice for getting me out of the muck, I'm all ears..... in the meantime, we go into the 'Finer Things' of basement muck....

(my messy basement)

How Do You Decorate The Entire House?



It has been 6 months since we moved into our new-to-us house. I look around and my high hopes for having freshly painted walls in every room are being quickly replaced by reality. Before we moved in, I had a plan to paint the most hideous room:

Negotiating Means Talking, Right?

I love the style of this house.



I am going nuts. NUTS. I am in negotiations with a potential buyer for our old house and waiting...WAITING... for the response.

Winter Weight Off - Week 2

                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                     

     (  what the glorious ice storm has left us.... a beautiful tree )

              

I'm  at week 2 of the 5 Minutes For Mom weekly "Winter Weight Off."

Do I feel like I've made progress or have I thrown in the towel?

Sunday Visits

At first I wasn't going to write today, I was just going to bop around around these blog hops. I have a super cold, plus it's cold outside and I just want to crawl back into bed! But then I realized blog hopping on Sunday  to meet new friends is similar to the pre-blog days of the after church meet & greet.

Breaking The Blogging Rules

I am a new blogger. I'm older and maybe I should know, but as with anything new, you jump on the band-wagon too fast and end up doing things just for "the quick gain" and without integrity.

There is a strong need to gain followers in the blogging industry. This, I believe, is necessitated by the companies we seek to get advertising from. They need statistics to validate their dollars, which is certainly understandable.

So my mistake was posting comments with the "I'm following you, therefore you should follow me back" idea.  I jumped on that wagon for the past few days and while I gained followers I also compromised my integrity. I should not gain from insisting that another blogger follow me.

All the while I was writing those posts and feeling the twinge of compromise, I also read a few posts about this very subject. And thought, "yes, what am I doing?" In my gut it felt wrong, but I wanted the numbers.

By happenstance, I heard Dave Ramsey (the debt-free guru) on the radio talking about integrity.  He said the one commonality of all multi-millionaires was integrity. It wasn't that they were born into money or had better luck than their neighbors, it was that they conducted themselves with the utmost integrity so people wanted and enjoyed working with them.



I want this to. I want my blog to be successful, but I want it to be because other bloggers (and maybe ad companies) WANT to work with me. Have I skipped steps to get ahead in the past? Sure. And I probably will here and there in the future if in the right context. But Dave Ramsey's, as well as other blogger's, words have been a swift reminder to stay true to thyself and maybe abundance will come. More importantly, I want to go to my grave knowing I exuded integrity throughout my life. It's a goal to strive for.

My Hairrible Obsession

I was going to post something more regular for Tackle It Tuesday - a cleaning project or a home re-do. But

the in past few days, I've been obsessed with something more personal and hoping some of you can relate! 

Instead of showing you a completed project or a "how to," I'm going to give you all a friendly reminder.


Dare I admit it?

I have spent the past 3 days fussing with home hair color. Don't get me wrong, for some it works well. For others, like me, it just doesn't work. First try I ended with:

THIS COLOR.

Then I tried another brand in a higher blonde and ended up with:

THIS COLOR.

My husband apptly called it the Golden Retriever color!

And thinking I was almost getting there to the blonde I've always been and just needed to go a bit lighter,

I tried once more. Seriously, who was I kidding? I really thought I COULD get it right!

Enter the bleach blonde:

THIS COLOR.

Seriously. Shocking.

Help.

I know I'm not the only woman to ever try home hair coloring and end up with a disaster. I brought it upon myself and I will deal with it. With humor!

So in my new quest of Tackling My Hair, I'm heading out to a salon and I'd love some

COLOR  LOVE  COMMENTS

of your hair disasters!

Thanks Ladies!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My boys were busy yesterday! After cutting & coloring these for Daddy, they taped them above our bed "so Daddy will see them when he gets home."

From our 6 year old:

From our 4 year old:



Kindergarten class project:



And both boys wanted to give me flowers! Carson, 6, picked out the pink roses and Porter, 4, picked out the longer-lasting orange flowers!