Been a long time!

I guess it's been awhile since I last posted.  Spring Break to be exact. . . . And now it's Fall Break!  But things have been a little busy because well, life happens!  So what's new?  A new job (that has kept me super, duper, oober busy!). And now fall is in the air, my flowers are dying and my pool is cloudy and green.  (Insert sad face- for the flower and pool part only).  But Halloween is just around the corner, I've got the whole week off and we're that much closer to building our dream home!  

Speaking of said dream home, we've added another 5 acres to our lot, giving us a total of 11 acres!  This was such a blessing, and one we really weren't expecting.  The lady who owned it needed to sell it quickly and offered it to us first.  She priced it right, and while it will delay our building plans, we couldn't pass it up.  

The second tract of land came with a bonus, a HUGE insulated building with a concrete floor.  We've moved everything we're storing to it, including my husband's new toy- a tractor and bush hog.  

The Envelope is Empty!

Our little Spring Break trip really did a number on my budget.  I did a good job of only using cash, which really did cut back on my purchases, but I also ended the week with empty envelopes.  I'm not sure why I really care; I always end the week with empty envelopes!  

On a quick trip to TJ Maxx, I found the perfect bedding for Briley's room.  I honestly wasn't even looking for bedding, but this was so perfect I couldn't resist.  I had planned on having drapes made for her room for a splash of color but hadn't been able to put back enough money to buy the fabric and have them made.  So with all the color from the bed, I'm just going to do a simple roll-up roman shade now.  So close to having another room FINISHED!

Spring Break

Every spring I have a laundry list of things to do, and this year is no exception.  The only real difference is 1. my list is longer than it ever has been and 2. it really feels nothing like spring.  The latter obstacle really interferes with my number one priority:
1.  Work outside!
There is really so much to do outside, I don't even know where to begin.  Most things are out of my control (replace pool liner, fix boards on deck, finish the siding on the shed, put up the privacy fence), but some I can do with a little help from my husband.
2.  Organize recipes
I love to cook, and because I'm constantly collecting recipes, I need a way to manage them.  I'm sure there are some really cool apps that keep track of and organize them digitally, but I still like holding a recipe in my hand when I cook.
3.  Print pictures
I am so behind printing pictures from my camera.  About two months ago, my I Phone crashed and I lost over 500 pictures.  Lesson one, use I Cloud.  Lesson two, there's still nothing like a good ole camera.  I try to maintain photo albums for both of my children, so when we go on vacation, Briley gets a set of pictures printed for her photo album and Brady gets a set for his.
4.  Cook an unbelievable meal for my mother-in-law.

Every year for as long as I can remember, I've cooked my mother-in-law a birthday dinner.  It helps that her birthday always falls during or around my Spring Break, so I have the entire day to cook.  This year, I'm planning to cook some recipes I saw on Trisha Yearwood's cooking show.  They look so yummy!  She's on a gluten free diet, so everything except the shortbread should be fine.

Honey Glazed Ham

Strawberry Salad

Asparagus Bundles

Baked Mashed Potatoes

Skillet Almond Shortbread

There are really a million other things that could be on my list, but let's be honest, Spring Break is also about relaxing and enjoying some time off with my children.  Enjoy!

Pottery Barn OUTLET

Part of Briley's birthday present was a trip to the American Girl store, and since the closest one to Kentucky is in Atlanta, that meant a ROAD TRIP!  I soon learned that there is quite a bit to do in Atlanta and really should have extended our get-away from one night to two, especially when I started reading about the outlets!

Yes, every good trip should have a little something in it for the adults, and this one had a Pottery Barn Outlet!  What I didn't get was a picture of the outside, but what I did get were some pictures of the inside.

First of all, the store is HUGE!  Think warehouse style but with great displays set-up just like you see in the magazine and retail store.  There are multiples of most items, but some are damaged.  The piece of furniture below had a little ding on the left side and was marked down from like $800 to $449.  

Most items are are these tiered display shelves.  I have adored these pillows from the magazine since I first saw them.  They were still a little pricey, but much less than the retail store.  

My sweet birthday girl was as excited as I was to be at the PB Outlet!  

The back of the store was just furniture and rugs.  The piece double stacked in the back with all the drawers is actually a jewelry armoire.  It was GORGEOUS!  Regularly $649  Outlet price $499

This cute little bottle carrier caught my eye.  They had tons of this galvanized stuff.  I think it was $20 or $25.

And then there were the salad bowls.  These were so pretty and HEAVY.  I kept going back to them, picking them up, looking at them, putting them back.  I finally realized I'd be sick if I didn't just get one, so I did!  Store retail $49  Outlet price $29

This cute little media stand, I think it's the Pottery Barn Trivoli in Tuscan Chestnut, was on sale for $300.  Very cute and a great price!

The only other thing I bought was this large wire basket.  As soon as I saw it I thought it would look great on my kitchen island holding some cookbooks.  It was $80 marked down to $20.  Could-Not-Resist!

Homemade BBQ

My sweet Briley Kate celebrated her 8th birthday two weekends ago.  I (finally) talked her into waiting until warmer weather to have a friend party, so I wanted to make sure her family party was extra special FOR EVERYONE!  Part of making it extra special for her guests included some great food, if I do say so myself!
On the menu:
BBQ with homemade BBQ sauce
Baked Beans
Potato Salad
Italian Cream Cake

Making BBQ rather than buying it is so much more affordable and really quite simple.  This is how I fix mine:

Sam's Club sells a two-pack Boston Butt that's really good.  One is usually a little larger than the other and will completely fill-up a large oblong crockpot.  Here's how the cost savings breaks down.  The total price of the two Boston Butts was $23.47.  The larger one fed 18 adults and 3 children with a little leftover.  The smaller one, off the bone and shredded, filled an 11x13 casserole dish.  Two pounds of BBQ (enough to make 8 sandwiches) a local restaurant cost $20.  WOW!

18.19 lb @ $1.29 lb

If you've never used these, GO BUY SOME NOW!  They are the best!  How have I owned a crockpot for all these years and just now discovered them?

I mix up about 2 c of ketchup, 3/4 c of distilled white vinegar and 1 T of Liquid Smoke and pour it over the Boston Butt.  This gives it a great flavor!  After it cooks, I reserve a cup or so of the juice and pour some over the BBQ each time I reheat it.

Cook on low all day.  I'm really not sure that you can over cook this because it's sitting in so much juice, but it really should cook at least 8 or 9 hours.  It will literally fall apart when it's done.

More pillow love and the den update

Got my Pincushion pillows yesterday and they are so sweet!  Just waiting on the new rug and the den will complete (except for one more little valance)!

Rugs, Rugs, Rugs

My latest obsession has been RUGS!  When we first moved in, I thought I could live with the faux hardwood floors and had absolutely NO intention of spending money on rugs that I may or may not use in the new house.  But let's face it, I've got a long time to live in this little house and I'm getting so tired of using the Swiffer every day!
I happened on Overstock the other day and three hours later, I found the virtually perfect rug for my living room; I just hope it's perfect in person.  It had great reviews and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's delivered before Briley's birthday party this weekend.

Transitional Rug from Overstock.com

The rug in an 8x10 was a great price and the promotion was free shipping with an additional 10% off for new customers.  I'm hoping the texture and pile of the rug will work in our high traffic living room.  The material is called polypropylene, and I'm not exactly sure what that is, but I took a chance!  We shall see!

The very day after I ordered this rug, I came across RugsUSA.  Turns out they are having a huge sale with 50%-80% off most of their rugs.  Well, that was enough incentive for me to decide I also needed one in my den.

http://www.rugsusa.com/rugsusa/rugs/rugs-usa-nadra-trellis/navy/200MTVS49C-76096.html

I am in LOVE with this rug!  I hope it's not too dark or too busy for the small space.  Again, it was such a great price - 50% off and free shipping!  I got it in 5x8, which should be perfect for in front of the couch.  Since it's going in the kid's playroom/media room, I'm hoping it won't show all the stains that are bound to happen.  

I Heart Pillows

Have I ever mentioned that I love pillows?  I'm pretty sure I have.  That's really one of the only reasons I wish I could sew.  Lucky for me, we have a sewing and embroidery shop at my workplace (that I have not taken full advantage of).  I found some great fabric to go in the den/playroom and am having some pillow covers made as we speak.  I can't wait to get them back!

So the other day, two of my favorite things came together: pillows and Bowling Green Shop and Sale (SAS).  I've needed new couch pillows for awhile; the ones I have now are looking pretty crappy.  The only really good thing about them is they are great to lay your head on, which I try to do as often as I can.  My favorite place to shop, TJ Maxx, has had some great pillows as of late, but even there they are just a bit pricey (for my taste anyway).  It's hard for me to buy just one, especially when they are for my couch.  : - (  But when you find pillows for $5 a piece, it does the trick!  Check them out!

Drop Cloth Curtains

If you frequent blogland much, this won't be anything new to you.  I'm not really sure why I didn't do this sooner, especially since I spent about $60 on living room curtains that would have worked great for this project.  It's super simple and super affordable.  That's a combination you can't beat.

These are some of my favorites I found on the web.

Decor Allure

The Old White Cottage

The Old White Cottage

Lily Button Design

So here's the story:  I've been on the lookout for some curtain panels to hang in the playroom/den for awhile.  I originally thought the matchstick shades would do the trick, but the room was just missing something.  It was converted from a garage, so the window placement is a little funny.  There are three windows and all three start at the ceiling, so the 84' panels that are found everywhere won't work.  I didn't want a lot of $ in them, and even though I'm adding color to the room, I didn't really want it in the curtains.  

My first trip to Wal-Mart was a failure.  They had like a 9x20.  Um, a little big.  The color was good, but after getting it home I decided that cutting it in half and sewing having someone sew two sides was just a little too much work, so it went in the return pile.  The next night I went to Lowe's.  I finally located the size I needed and guess what?  SOLD OUT!  Seriously?  Did everyone in BG have the same idea as me?  But what was that?  Up on the VERY TOP SHELF. . . . Yep, a whole box of 6x9 cloth drop cloths!  I'll take two!  

After a good washing, lots of fabric softener, and a couple of hours of ironing, they were ready to hang.

I - AM - IN - LOVE!  

So here's the full length picture (yep, that's my camper you see in the window).  

The clip rings were on clearance at Lowe's for $5.  I had to buy three packs of 7 since the curtains are so wide.  They were silver, but a little bit of spray paint fixed that.  

Hope you love them as much as I do!

Feeling Inspired

I'm feeling inspired - maybe because of this wonderful wonderful new blog I've found (more about that in another post), maybe because I'm tired of all the tan, cream and gray in my house, maybe because I'm sooooooooo ready for Spring and the colors that it brings.  

After lots of debating, I've decided to infuse some blue, yellow and orange into the house.  These projects are really about repurposing some of the things in my house that are stuck in closets or hiding under a bed.  So, on a weeknight trip to Wal-Mart, I scored BIG  TIME!  I was immediately drawn to a Robin's Egg Blue color and couldn't believe that it was the ONE BLUE COLOR that they sold in a tester.  They also had a really pretty golden yellow and orange in a tester, so I picked up those too!

I was itching to paint something but really wanted to make sure the color was right before I took the plunge.  Who knew that a quick trip in TJ Maxx would give me just what I needed!  

Pillow, flower pot, and lanterns (in bag) from TJ.  Crate from Rock Garden.  Wooden hanging boxes from Decor Steals.

This pillow is gorgeous!  It has all the colors in it I'm looking to incorporate and has varying shades of blue.  I really must add another photo of the front and back.  Seriously in love.  

I was so excited to break out my blue paint that I didn't even take a before picture.  Luckily, I bought TWO lanterns.  These were a great size, looked fairly simple to paint, perfect design (LOVE the Xs) and were only $10 each!

Before on right - after on left.

This is the Glidden tester in Deepest Aqua.  I paid $2.94 for it at Wal-Mart.  It looks like there were some coupons floating around on the web back in August and you could get it for $.94, but that was then and this is now.  I still didn't think the price was bad considering it had a built-in brush which means NO CLEAN UP FOR ME!! (Score!)  Since I only plan on painting some frames and accessories, the built-in brush should work fine.  

Here's the finished product!  I love, love, love the lanterns and can't WAIT to see how they look on the mantle.  

Till next time!

JH

I Heart Pillows

I stopped by my favorite store, TJ Maxx, yesterday and crushed on some pillows.  I really need pillows for the couch, but really wanted a pillow for my bed.  Right there, on the end cap between the rugs and the comforters, was a rectangle ruffle pillow in just the shabby chic look that I love.  It adds just the feminine touch it needed!

 This is how the bed looked before.  

 The pin striped Ralph Lauren pillow found a new home in the den.

Picture Frame Project

I have been wanting to do this little project F-O-R-E-V-E-R-!!!  I mean, I've even had the stuff to do it F-O-R-E-V-E-R-!!!  Since Brady was sick Friday, I was at home Friday.  Since I was at home Friday, I got almost ALL of my "chores" done for the weekend leaving me some time today for my little project.  

These were the cutest picture frames I could find at Hobby Lobby.  They were about $8 each (yes, I got them 50% off).  The two rosettes also came from Hobby Lobby and I used my 40% off coupon on them making them about $1.25 each.  The wired burlap ribbon came from Trees and Trends.  Hobby Lobby was ALWAYS sold out, and Trees and Trends was actually cheaper.  

Nothing like a project with the ole' hot glue gun.

The most difficult part was deciding how long to cut the ribbon.  The bottom piece in the picture below is a tad longer than the width of the photo frame.  (Notice the ends are cut in.)  The top piece is what makes the bow, so it's actually easier to glue with the ends pointing out.  **After getting this put together, I actually decided it needed another piece of ribbon on the very back (you'll see this in the final picture.)  If you want yours to look the same, you'll need one additional piece cut a little longer than the bottom piece in the picture below.

Make the bow by glueing the two ends together and then 

glueing the center down to where the two ends meet.  

The bow gets glued onto the flat piece of ribbon and then the rosette.

 A little hot glue on the back of the ribbon secures it to the picture frame and finishes off the project.

                                                      A closer view of the ribbon. . .

               One of the frames found a home in the living room.  I found a picture of Briley and
                 Daryl at last year's Valentine's dance (which you can't see for the horrible glare).

                                            The other frame found a home in our bedroom.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've never been a big fan of Valentine's Day (or New Year's Eve).  Maybe it's because those are the only two holidays that you really needed to be with someone to celebrate, and even though Daryl and I have been together for 12 years, I still don't care for them.
But since Briley and Brady have come along, I do get into the spirit for them.  This year I decided that instead of buying yet another stuffed animal and a bag full of candy that we would just have a special dinner with a couple of special treats.
They were so surprised when they woke up to find the kitchen table decorated for our special Valentine's dinner.  The long stem rose was a present from the students in one of our agriculture classes, the cupcakes were from Riley's Bakery, and the mailboxes were from the Target dollar section and contained the kid's special treats.

Aren't those straws adorable?

Briley is all smiles before opening her mailbox.

Riley's tea cookies and money! 

My poor John Brady came home from school with a fever and had just gotten up from a long nap on the couch. 

He was less excited about the cookies and more excited about the money.  

Our special Valentine's Dinner - Hot and Ready Pizza!