I love me some posies!

Today has been a busy day already and it is just barely passed noon... well in a matter of speaking, ha ha!


Today a dear friend of ours is having a yard sale.  Well really her friends are hosting it for her so that it won't be too painful.  You see our dear Miss "R" recently moved out of her home of over 50 years into a lovely two bedroom apartment in a retirement community.  She is truly an amazing Christian lady!  While living in this home she lovingly raised her family and buried two husbands.  Her home has been a haven of respite as missionaries traveled through our region.  And she is an artist... painter in oils and water colour, seamstress, writer, stained glass artist, needlework, baker and the list goes on.  To this day she makes cards to send out to our missionary ladies!!    Today I bought two pieces of art by Miss "R".

Now we all know I just can't leave things alone.

So I made a change or two to the frame.

I love how the colors really pop now!

In time I plan to do a little trim this picture down a smidge to be this size....

Can you see this with a somewhat chunky brushed nickel frame?

Or maybe chunk antique white frame?

I love it that we are able to own artwork that has meaning to our family!

Epic Room makeover Giveaway! voting open!!!

The link has now gone LIVE for voting... click on the link and vote for us, entry #78 (Peggy)! 
 THANK YOU!!




(This post had to be redone as I accidentally crashed it... don't ask how because even I'm not sure!!)

Okay so I finally took the plunge!  I have been hemming and hawing over whether I should do this or not but decided... NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED!  So I am officially entering our addition for the

As some of you know we moved from Alaska to Indiana just over a year ago.  We  down sized from a two story cedar sided 1850 square foot home with an incredible view of Mt. McKinley visible from our house length covered porch sitting on 10 acres to a 1250 square foot one story home situated on less than 1/2 an acre surrounded by an organic farm (which we love 'cause they have sheep that bound through the pasture in spring!)  Yep you read that correctly 1850 to 1250 square feet!  And we still have the same number of people in our family... FIVE plus a HUGE dog!


So we decided to have an addition added.  You know the story... we didn't want to try and sell our tiny but relatively cute home due to the housing market or should I say lack of selling market!  
So lets build!  We get to make all the choices ourselves, etc, etc, etc.
That was back in December... fast forward 5 months and we are still in the building process due to unforeseen weather issues!
However we are getting close to the end as it is all inside work....

AND I am NOW drawing a blank!

Once the old patio door is removed this will become the opening between the dining room and family room.


  

The sliding patio door was installed Friday... 

Double windows will be installed next week in the opening to the left.

Door to powder room on the left and BIG door to guest/craft/music room on the right.


Did I mention there are updates being made daily? 
And decisions to be made daily? 
And our projected finish date is late May?
I will be possibly updating daily depending on the progress that is made...
(Update: Next week... new windows, plumbing, and possibly electrical!)


HOWEVER DO I DECORATE IT ON A NON-EXISTENT BUDGET?!?
(I'LL EXPLAIN IN A MINUTE...)
I mean I know how to decorate on a budget 
but
MY BRAIN IS FRIED!!
my craftiness is at a all time low...


PLEASE, PLEASE HELP!
I think Mandi has some great ideas and I would be honored to have her assitance!  Okay lets get real here... it would be more like me tagging along cause as I said my brain is fried!


Did I also mention our youngest starts junior high in the fall, our eldest will graduate next year and is toying with joining the USMC instead of going to college first, and our middle son is asking us to take on some leadership positions in the band boosters?  
Oh and my husband is contemplating retiring off active duty next year as well!


And here is the KICKER.... we lost our decorating budget!!!
 
How you ask?


Well this was our first year living in Indiana and we discovered a wicked thing called county taxes!  Who knew that they were NOT taken out with the STATE TAXES.  
Yep the amount was staggering to say the least!  
(if you really want to know the amount feel free to e-mail me)
But it took ALL the money I had saved up to decorate with plus part of our final payment on the addition.
  
Can you see why I am feeling a bit over whelmed?  


Yep I am calling out all the stops and begging for votes!  
In case I didn't mention it the addition will be used as the family room... you know an area to watch movies, play video games.
plus a room off it to do crafts, use as a music practice room (cause we have a marimba player and a soon to be alto saxophonist) and to use as a guest room since ALL our family lives a minimum of 600 miles away!!!


 We would be of so grateful if you found it in your heart to vote for us!!
Thank you!!

P.S.  I almost forgot to add that we have some really cool stuff that can be used to decorate with such as this 1920's steamer trunk which we found at a yard sale a number of years ago

And this hutch that has been in the family since the Civil War.

Thank you for stopping by!!
I REALLY, REally, really appreciate it!


AND WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOUR VOTE!

Spring????

How does the saying go "April showers bring May flowers?"  If that is the case our May ought to be filled with flowers!  Recently our days have been looking a lot like this....

and this 

 

and this

Now don't get me wrong... it makes for a dramatic picture with a sky of swirling clouds in a beautiful shade of gun metal grey and the birds chirping their happy little songs in the background.  In fact I love having the windows open a smidge to clear out the winter funk of three young men (yeah I guess it is time to admit they are young men...not "boys" any more! but I am still holding holding out on the youngest at soon to be 12!) and one big, sometimes stinky dog!  However these same weather conditions do nothing for our building project or gardening for that matter.  And don't get me on the plight of the poor farmers.  I mean seriously these folks were able to have over half of the corn crop in by this time last year and they haven't gotten a single seed in the ground this year.  Which means reduced yield this fall!  I truly feel bad for the farmers, not just here but every where!  We grip and groan about the rising cost of food in the stores but do you see any farmers getting rich?  NOpe, not even CLOSE!  In fact some are even slowly losing money due to the high cost of fuel and equipment maintenance and for others its not even close to a slow lose.  Sorry about the rant... I love farmers and I really do feel for their plight!  

Okay now where was I?  Oh yeah the weather... which was really part of me explaining why I haven't posted much of anything in FOREVER.  See with the building project I haven't been doing any crafting or much of anything worthy of posting.  My time has been preoccupied with sorting papers, drawing and redrawing floor plans, looking at plumbing and lighting fixtures, sorting more papers and cleaning.  Yeah tons of exciting stuff..... Oh we have also been dealing with all the initial orthodontist appointments, final podiatrist appointments, junior high scheduling, high school scheduling, track practice, children's play practice at church, youth band practice, mission trip training sessions, high school play practice (tech crew),  and a muddy backyard which is now off limits due to open fence.  Did I mention we have a BIG dog?  She loves her backyard but is now relegated to a tree in the front instead of the porch as she tried and almost successfully removed a support post on the front porch.  It now leans to the left just a smidge... As I said not a lot of exciting stuff.  Just normal, every day hum drum stuff that I am oh so grateful for!  It all tells me that my "boys" are thriving and healthy and enjoying life.  That they are growing in the Lord and are developing deeper friendships.  They are stretching and finding their limits, sometimes even moving beyond them.  They are growing up and I am trying my hardest to step back a bit and enjoy it with them!  

Did I mention we are ALL super excited about the prospect of the family room?  NO work today due to weather but the new sliding patio door plus all the windows and interior doors are to be delivered today!! Yippee!

The openings for the powder room and craft/music/guest room.

(finished room size: powder room 5'x5', guest room 10'2x11')

The family room looking into the dining room.  The door be removed and widened a bit to become the opening into the main portion of the house.

(finished family room size 15'7"x14')

(and now I wondering if we should have gone 15'7"x15 on the family room and 10'x10' on the guest/craft/music room???? oh no! what did i do?  breath deep it'll be ok!)

The family room.  The double windows will go in the opening on the left.  The opening on the right is actually where the new patio doors will be installed.  Right now it has a full sheet of particle board laying across the opening.  As you can see we still have a little bit of moisture on the "floor" from the last storm which hit before they could get the space completely enclosed.

As you can see "we" are making progress.  Who am I kidding?  They are making progress!  We are praying it will be done, completed, fine, esta bien? Si.  Thank you!

Spring Break!!

SPRING BREAK!!!

Most of which was spent at home sleeping in, watching movies, and generally being LAZY!  but we did take Chris was able to get a day off mid week and we went to the 

We had a wonderful time!

I can't even begin to post all the pictures which were taken.  Sean took possession of the camera on the drive and lets just say almost 400 pictures later when the battery died (oops I knew I forgot to do something the day before!) he handed it back. 

The only one of Chris and I...

And our eldest being silly...

Yep the humor of boys!  

Gives a whole new perspective to Pickin' and Grinnin', huh?

I have to admit I love it when we can catch Ian being silly as he can come across as such a serious young man.  And I see Sean managed to capture a single picture of Evan, in motion!  But then that is pretty much his nature state right now... constant motion especially when he gets to just be a kid with his older brothers.  

More spectacular displays!

And lunch!  Yep Chris figured if we drove all that way we may as well stop in at a Famous Dave's.

 we followed this truck from the museum for a ways and then finally passed it... about 30 minutes after we got to the restaurant they drove in!

We refrained from going to my favorite store which was only 20 minutes away because Famous Dave and my stomach were NOT agreeing on this trip.  However the trip home was uneventful THANKFULLY!

All in all we had a wonderful Spring Break from school.  Now we are just waiting for the school year to end.  The boys are very excited for different reasons.  Evan will start junior high next year.  Sean will be a sophomore and marching band practice starts back up in June.  And Ian will only have one year of school left and is already looking towards graduation in a year.  And for me... well they are ALL reasons that I would love to turn back the hands of time!

walls and rain and Easter and...

I can't believe the month is almost over!  I know you are probably sick and tired of hearing about how I can hardly believe so much time has passed.  But that seems to be our life recently, as in the past 5 years, ha ha!!  Not that I mind but it sure does make childhood go by far too quickly for my tastes.

Now lets see where are we... that's right we have an addition being built!  Two days ago we were here... a roof but no walls.

Can you tell we've had a "little bit" of rain recently?  And it is supposed to start raining again today and continue for the remainder of the week.  The grass sure is nice and green!  So far we have had 1 dry day for every 4 days of  of thunderstorms and tornadoes.  Thankfully we have been protected and have had no damage!  

I will have an update of more pictures to this post in a few hours but don't want to disturb the builders whilst they are furiously working to beat the next storm system. :)

Inside much has been going on as well.  I have a new chalk "board"!

It is the chalkboard contact paper available at Michael's, 18"x 6' but I only used 5 feet I think.  

We love it for keeping track of all the projects going on plus our "needs" lists!

And we had an absolutely wonderful Easter!!  It was a very quiet day as there was no Sunday school or evening services,  just the morning service spent in worship of our risen Lord and Savior!  

Yes I have to admit we did the annual hide the Easter baskets for the boys.  It is getting hard as they are all old enough that we really have to truly ingenious in the hiding places.

Later in the afternoon we had lovely dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, pistachio salad with the "fruit" flavored miniature marshmallows, peas, and buttermilk biscuits.  

My silly boys hiding their faces as we were setting the table.  Ah yes there is no table cloth as we have misplaced them!  Seriously all of my table cloths have gone missing as we prepared for the addition.  And no one knows where they might be.  

This makes me a bit sad as I have some lovely old linens that I love to use for special occasions such as Easter and birthdays and Mother's Day!

And we have absolutely NO IDEA what has become of them!

Our festive center piece.

Kumquats ($.50 reduced for quick sale) and artificial ranunculus which were on sale as well.

Both part of my Easter "basket" which is the tall glass vase seen on the hutch in the previous picture.  

A lovely buy at Goodwill for $1.99 (and half off to boot!)

We have a new addition to our home!

Okay so did that get you wondering???  No there are no more children on the horizon (that we know about!!) or any new animals... but an addition nevertheless.  Yep our humble abode is going to be getting bigger!  (from 1250 to 1650 square feet, woo hoo!!)  We are so insanely excited... okay I don't know how excited the boys are but Chris and I are definitely over-the-top excited.  This means when family comes to visit they will have a room to stay in, a bath close by and we will have a family room.  This also means I have been busy drawing plans, drawing and redrawing room plans, deciding on flooring (still undecided but NO carpet!), figuring out furnishings and lighting.  Let's not forget paint, window placement, lighting placement... do we paint?  do we do a board and batten treatment? (please oh please say yes)  Do I paint the kitchen cabinets to make the area seem brighter?  Do I remove cabinet doors?  OH the decisions.  And my wonderful husband... well he gave me a kiss and said "whatever you want, honey!"  WHATEVER I WANT!?!?  I don't know what I want...  :)  He really is such a sweetheart about the whole thing and has incredible taste!  In fact this the same man who convinced me to paint the kitchen in Alaska tomato red!  and ya know what? He was so RIGHT!  It looked incredibly awesome and is my all-time favorite kitchen.  So since this house has lower than normal ceilings in much of the house plus a somewhat low vaulted ceiling reminiscent of a cottage we are going to try and decorate as such.  Just as long as there is not a lot of fru fru stuff.. cause ya know I'm not a fru fru girl.  Give me antiques I can use daily, thick butcher blocks, leather sofas, and a distressed dining room table I am one happy girl.  No there is no peeling paint in our house because he who I love dearly feels the need to paint it but he is fine with a scarred well used dining/kitchen table.  AND he has been so patient with all the CLUTTER (something he loathes!) as I try to downsize.   So here are just a few pictures to show you the progress...

Oh by the way, they just started the actual construction on Thursday as the weather did not cooperate all winter long!

The crawlspace dug and blocked in.  My climbing rose bush in the jack-o-lantern bucket and the location of our old patio.

The temporary new location of my old patio.

And in other news... We just completed the AWANA Grand Prix!  What a great turnout and the kids seemed to have such a great time.  They were supportive of each other no matter the outcome of the races.  I won't be including any pictures of the kids as I do NOT have the express permission of the other parents to post pictures of their children but here are some of the cars, to include a few "novelty" cars.

Don't you love the monarch butterfly caterpillar car and the ladybug car?

And the mustache car?  Trust me it really does look like one when you look at it straight on!  Absolutely hilarious!

(our youngest the day prior to getting his braces)

(and his car for which he won 2nd place for best race car design.. it really does look like an Indy car in real life! It was his first year to race!)  A great time was had by all!!  I am so glad we were able to help out this year.  Not only were the kids so much fun to watch but so were the parents (I'm tellin' ya some of the parents were more into it than the kids! lol)

Oh if I haven't said it before, I am saying it NOW.  Any and all ideas for flooring, paint, wall treatments, etc will be gratefully accepted, links will be more than welcome as well!   

Hope you have a great week!  We will as we get to sleep in.  ITS SPRING BREAK!!  Woo hoo!