Picnik closing....

I don't know about you but this came as a shock to me... as of April 19, 2012 Picnik will be closing.  There are so many that will be affected as this is their primary photo editing program.  So I am putting a request out there to all my blogging friends.  What do you use for your photo editing?  If you currently use Picnik what will you be switching over to when the time comes?

Here is a copy of the e-mail I received.... 

Official Announcement: Picnik is closing 

Since joining Google in 2010, we have been creating editing magic in Google products while continuing to keep Picnik awesome. But now we get to focus on even awesomer things. Picnik will be closing on April 19, 2012.
Your photos liberated
Amazing photos are created in Picnik, so we have launched a new feature, Picnik Takeout, that easily downloads your photos to your desktop in convenient zip files. You may also elect to copy your photos toGoogle+ where you can store and share your creations. You may request your photos at any time and use this handy tool as many times as you like until our closing date of April 19, 2012. Learn more.
Premium Refunds
To our primo Picnik Premium members, we'll begin processing a full refund of your current membership fee within a week of this announcement. By "in full" we mean the whole darn thing. Yep, this means even if you are on your very last day of an annual membership, we will refund you the entire $24.95. Just because we want to say thanks.
Now the Good News - Free Premium for ALL!
To express our gratitude for your support over the past 5 years, Picnik Premium is free for everyone! Use Picnik in all of its premium glory, for free, from now until our actual closing day. Touch-up, Textures, Advanced, and more are all free for you to use!
We have been incredibly proud of building a product that is used and beloved by so many of you. We continue to be amazed and humbled by the photos you create and we are immensely grateful for all of your support, creativity, and passion.
We are excited by the photo-editing fun we have already brought to Google products, like Google+, where you can find many of your favorite Picnik effects in Creative Kit. We encourage you to visit Google+ andgive it a whirl.
Please visit the Help Hub for more information on our wind down, and check the Picnik blog for updated information on our April closure.
It's been awesome,
Team Picnik

Chalkboard wall

As many of you know I bit the bullet and made a commitment to get all the rooms in our house finished prior to graduation this spring.  For a while I was so overwhelmed with the size of our new home, then it was the construction of the addition, and finally the camel that broke the straws back straw that broke the camel's back was years of emotional baggage.  Let's just leave it at I have a godly husband who is such a blessing.  Which brings me back to the kitchen and decorating... after some late night discussions I realized that I've been far too concerned about trying to do things the way I thought other's thought I ought to be doing things... Are you still with me?  Good because I'm not to sure I'm with me.. ha ha! :)  That being said inspiration has struck or rather God opened my eyes to the potential.  And do you know what I discovered??? My husband really likes my ideas!!!!  plus he has some great ones of his own!!!

Wow, where was I going with this??? Oh yeah the chalkboard wall... years and years ago we had lunch at the cutest little restaurant in Estes Park... in the middle of winter... and we were the only customers.  Just Chris and me.  And all of their tables had chalkboard tops and they had a chalkboard wall.  Well I've wanted one EVERY since... (by the way, the meal was delicious, the waiter hilarious, and the company incredible! now if only we could remember the name of the cafe!!)

So without any further adieu.... the new chalkboard wall!

The details:

chalkboard paint: Lowe's several years ago for another project

*edited 7/27/2012: this is probably one of my most economical projects to date as the quart can of chalkboard paint has now been used to paint TWO chalkboard walls as well as DOZENS of vinyl labels for containers plus a minimum of 36 tags for baskets & gift cards.

basket: first one I ever wove

bag: fabric leftover from a project... turned inside out

garlic: from this past summer's CSA

clock: brought back many moons ago from Chris' deployment to Riyadh

plant, bucket and rod: Ikea last year w/ a gift card

So as you can see we are using, reusing, and repurposing what we already have.  It is so much fun seeing a room come together and knowing that my family loves it as well!  

Hope you have a great weekend!  Stop back by to see how things are progressing... :)  

'til later!

I'm linking to:

                   

A "Picture Perfect Room" challenge... Room 1: before

Am I the only one who can hardly believe it is almost the middle of January already?  How did that happen?  And where did the weekend go?  Oh yes, I spent it reading!  It was a reserve weekend which I jokingly refer to as Wednesday.  You see my husband is an active duty reservist.  I know, who knew there was such a thing, right?  Well he has been on active duty in the reserves for the past 7 years.  What does this have to do with his reserve weekend being a Wednesday?  Well, you see when he has a reserve weekend he works a 12 day "week".  And when Monday rolls around we know there are only 4 more days before he has a normal 2 day weekend.  So Sat/Sun/Mon is our "Wednesday" aka middle of the "week".  And typically not a lot gets done over the reserve weekend!  Henceforth my weekend of reading. and laundry but that's a given.

Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors is going to be doing a "Picture Perfect Room" challenge.  And knowing that I really want to have ALL the rooms in our house completed prior to graduation I decided now is the time to start.  The first room up.... our KITCHEN! which will lead into the DINING ROOM then the LIVING ROOM and FAMILY ROOM.  As you all have seen we have a fairly open floor plan so each of these rooms can be seen from pretty much each room.  Okay the kitchen can't be seen from the living room but it always spills over into the dining room which CAN be seen from the living room.

Today was supposed to be the first day.... a very productive day!  A day for scrubbing, cleaning, applying wallpaper to the kitchen cabinet door inserts, rearranging cabinets, sorting jars, etc.  Lets just say its not happening quite like that...  Do you see this lovely digit?  

What you can't see is the swelling.  Lets just leave it at it was one of those truly weird freakish accidents and the crazy thing is I was by myself when it happened, no one else to blame.  ha ha! Thankfully my whole hand wasn't injured, it doesn't appear to be broken, and I am starting to gain a bit of movement back.  Who knows maybe I will be able to tackle some of the kitchen work after all.  So today I am at least making my list of projects and am starting to do a bit of the organizing.  

I will leave you with a "before" picture and the plans for what all I am we are doing.  

No cost changes:

-Add bead board wallpaper (bought on clearance plus military discount using a giftcard at Lowe's a year ago) to door inserts
-possibly paint "island"
-clear off countertops
-organize jars and contents.  switch more items into jars.  possibly spray paint all lids to match.
-label everything using label maker, Silhouette, and label paper punch
-paint entire wall next to refrigerator with chalkboard paint.
-reuse chalkboard contact paper on refrigerator and to make tags
The BIG splurge:
-changing out non venting stove hood for a vented stove hood.  ideally either one of these from Ikea

Currently we have a non-venting fan over our stove.  Yeah not the greatest idea or invention known to mankind.

Currently done:

-changed pendant light out over sink for one we fell in love with at Lowe's which was on clearance last January for $5.  I LOVE it!!!  It fits right in with my love for Scandinavian design/decor (which I have absolutely none of until now.)

Do you see my pine cone trees I made?  On top of the kitchen cabinets?  I absolutely love them and plan on making a few move over the year.  The idea is to have groupings of 3 above the cabinets over the holidays.  

I hope you are having a good start to a great week!  Now I am off to get a little work done (or do a little more reading...)  Toodles!

Happy New Year! and thank you...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know you are thinking, wow is she ever late!!  Well I figure better late than never, right? :)  I have to admit the last few months weeks have been spent in some pretty deep soul searching.  

Okay to be up front and above board this is going to be one of those truly "heavy" posts.... You see something happened back in May that rocked my world but I didn't find out until the end of June.  


In all honesty, its something that ate away at me for months.  It affected all relationships in my life....my husband, children, my Lord and the world in general.  


...it all started with a letter... in June... to my Mom... from the US Army saying her portion of my dad's retirement check per the divorce settlement was stopped because.... my Dad had died... in MAY!!  All paperwork listed him as having no next of kin.  Yeah that would be me.... I was the NO NEXT of KIN and it hurt me to the CORE!!!  This was the man who cut all ties with me when we moved to Alaska in 2005.  I was crushed but instead of reaching out, I built walls.  High, thick walls surrounding my heart to keep it from breaking apart completely... walls that ended up closing me off from my husband, my children, the world, and my Lord.  This was the man who lied to me by saying he had sold his house and was moving and would call me with his new phone number the following week after I gave him our new address, phone numbers, etc... it never happened.  The cell number I called was disconnected a few weeks later, his house was foreclosed on, and there was NO forwarding address.  In fact 6 years later the Department of US Army still thought he was at the old address.  His bank still had the address for the old house.  It was as if he had vanished.... until he showed up at a hospital emergency room and died a week later.  It was only then that any records show he had moved into a condo owned by the "kid" who had been "renting" his basement apartment for all those years prior to the foreclosure.  The "kid" who told the hospital there was an estranged daughter but they hadn't heard from her in years. LIAR!!  It was HIS phone my dad had called me from that last time I talked to him back in November of 2005.  The hurt ran deep but, you know what?  I'm healing.  FINALLY... It took a notification in December, yes December you did read that correctly, to my Mom saying they needed more info as there might be back retirement/disability pay owed due to Dad's time in Vietnam.  I finally sat down and cried sobbed my heart out... my dad was gone and was never coming back.  There was no longer any chance of reconciliation, no opportunity to say that I loved him regardless....., bygone hurts were forgiven, and that no matter what he was still my Dad and I LOVE him!  But I was finally able to face things head on with the help of my Lord and the walls came crumbling down. Do I still have moments?  Yes but there are far more reasons for me to move forward... a husband that loves me dearly, children who are truly a blessing from God, and a host of friends who are dear to my heart.  


So I am moving on with life.  Does this mean I will post more regularly?  Not necessarily. ha ha! (insert big cheesy grin)  It does me that the projects are being worked on again, plans are being made, and life is moving forward... with me as a willing participant, not grudgingly.  Our eldest graduates in May and heads off to college in the fall... a new chapter to be EMBRACED.  This house is our HOME, not just a temporary residence.  COOKING is a personal experience to be shared again.  FINANCIAL responsibility is proactive. CREATIVITY allows me to breath.  PRAYER gives strength. READING THE WORD brings  sustenance to a starving soul. LEARNING stretches in more ways than I can even begin to acknowledge.  


So please continue along with me on this journey.  And yes I really do plan to work much harder on this blog.... the first steps will be finding a mentor, stepping out of my comfort zone instead of retreating, and looking for accountability.  Any takers? Ha ha!


And last but definitely, most definitely NOT least I want to say:

THANK YOU!

for being plugging along with me, through thick or thin, rain, shine, storms and absence!  But mostly through absence!!  I really do appreciate it!

Hedgy the hedgehog plushie.

(please forgive the poor quality photo I just couldn't wait to show you my new "friend"!!)

While pulling out the Christmas ornaments this year I discovered something... my hedgehog is missing.  You see I have been enamored with hedgehogs ever since I was a little girl and we were stationed in what was then West Germany.  So one year at the Kris Kringle Mart my mom bought me a sweet handcarved hedgehog.  He was all of 2 inches long.  A number of years ago Chris went on a TDY where he had a layover of sorts in Germany.  During the time Chris was in Germany he was able to visit some dear friends of ours and do a little sightseeing.  On one of his trips he found a stuffed hedgehog which promptly made its way into his suitcase.  Each year my dear friend comes out and enjoys the holidays with us.  Well this year I can't find him....  But while visiting a friend's blog I discovered she had made this porcupine.

Once again Kirstin had come to my rescue without even realizing it.  One thing led to another and before you know it I was making plans to myself a hedgehog.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without my dear sweet friend under the tree or in the tree or next to the nativity! You see my dear little Hedgy has always had a penchance for travel.  So this afternoon I grabbed the sewing machine, zigzagged the yarn onto an old felted black sweater, and stuffed him with filling from an old pillow.  Its crazy as even the thread is from my super duper yard sale sewing notions find.  Oh I did buy the yarn but I had a 40% off coupon at JoAnn's.  I have to admit the lighting isn't all that great horrible as it already dark out but I just could not wait to show you my new friend!

Once again thank you Kirstin at kojodesigns for inspiring me!

LInking up to:

Merry swap show and tell

I want to thank Carrie and Monica for hosting this year's Merry Sister Swap.  Debbie was my partner and I must say Carrie & Monica did a wonderful job matching us up!  In fact I really wish Debbie and I lived closer together because we would have such a fun time crafting together.  She is such a dear, sweet lady!

I forgot to take a picture of the goodies I sent Debbie but here is what she sent me:

After I took the picture I realized a few items were missing such as the delicious hot cocoa mix, the most adorable card, and the inspirational book.  Don't you just love the notepads and crocheted flowers Debbie made!  I love making notebooks/pads and am always tickled to get new ideas!

It was truly a pleasure being able to participate in the swap and I am so blessed with the new friend I have now made!!  Thank you so very much, Debbie and I look forward to many, many years of friendship!

I WON!! BIG Time!

Okay I know I've been missing for a while but well by now you know thats how it goes with me.  Its usually a case of feast or famine.  But right now I want to give some folks a seriously big THANK YOU!  You see I won a giveaway recently.... and when I say it was big, well ya'll I am talking super duper BIG!  I mean we are talking I seriously squealed/yelled out "NO WAY!! Seriously?"  okay so I didn't exactly squeal but when I am super duper excited I do get a bit squeaky when I yell out "NO WAY!"  Don't ask.... and Mr. Lurker (yes I know who you are!!) do NOT give the guys a hard time about this.  (yeah I know you go on your mom's account and read my blog, ha ha! Didn't think I knew, did you? hee hee!)


So I want to thank the folks at Calphalon and Lauren from Laurens Latest!  You see I won the Calphalon 3-in-1 immersion hand blender and the new Bronze Edition 3 qt Non-stick saute pan in this giveaway.  To say I am in love is an understatement!  Now I am asking for utensils so that this lovely saute pan does not get scratched.  It is simply stunning in its performance and beauty!  And you know me, I LOVE to cook (ok maybe you don't realize that but I DO, I just don't photograph it or even talk about it too much!)!!  

Once again I would like to thank the folks at Calphalon and Lauren very much!!  And I was shocked at the turnaround!  Never and I never have a won a giveaway where I had the product in hand in such a quick time.  I mean it was under a week from the time I submitted my info to Lauren to the time Calphalon had it on my doorstep!  (it may be silly but I saved the box so the saute pan can be wrapped up and put under the tree for Christmas because as far as I'm concerned this is one of my Christmas presents!!)