Friday's Feast(something new)

Appetizer
What is your favorite beverage?
Green tea, iced. I love this stuff!!

Soup
Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work.
My camera, $10, and lots of paint cards.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are?
I'd give myself a 10 but most times I'm not very vocal with my honesty. I keep my opinions, however honest they are, to myself.

Main Course
If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why?
I don't think that needs to be something left up to me. How would it feel to the people of that city to have someone who knows little to nothing about it to change the name to something else?

Dessert
What stresses you out? What calms you down?
Mark's job. His happiness is very important to me and when he is having a day where things aren't going well, or taking too long, or not going how he wants them to, it makes me nuts. Thankfully these episodes are usually very fleeting and sometimes phantoms so they don't cause a lasting problem. What makes me calm is being well rested and not hurried. I can do lots if I'm not rushed by external factors.

My husband Mark

There are two types of people--those who come into a room and say, 'Well, here I am!' and those who come in and say, 'Ah, there you are.' ~Frederick L. Collins

Mark is both of these types. He has a very strong presence but also acknowledges others for their presence. He is an awesome man. Smart, strong-willed, honorable, cunning, resourceful, compassionate, methodical, unafraid, hard-working, attentive to detail, obsessive, determined, energetic, understanding, trustworthy, organized in thought and action, sensitive, open, fearless, stubborn, creative, sensitive, honest, confident, loving, and powerful. And I love him for it all!

Set Backs and Changes...

We did a lot of running on Saturday, trying to find headboard materials for our make-over. The junk shop did have old windows but not the shape we needed. We also hit a Goodwill and a Salvation Army store. Mark found some great work pants and I managed to replace(and then some) the brown dishes I found on our Goodwill safari in Asheville last summer. In just a few short months we'd broken 3 of the 5 saucers I bought there. Now I have 4 replacements and 6 of a different style AND two cute mugs, all for $1.60! And yes, as a matter of fact, we did have brownies sprinkled with powdered sugar for breakfast.


(We like to use saucers for snacks, they are just the right size for peanut butter crackers, veggies with dip, or a piece of cake)


(I got the mugs for the girls since they have recently developed a love of coffee-we use Community New Orlean Style in decaf and I put cocoa powder in it too for extra antioxidants- we looooove it this way with our raw milk and a bit of sugar)

Anyway... back to the bedroom stuff. We looked at many headboards, doors, window frames, shelves, and other things that could be used as a headboard but just didn't see what we wanted this trip. Here is a picture of the bed wall, taken from the bathroom door. Ignore the mess, we are in the midst of decluttering as well as revamping plus we had to move much of my fabrics(those big blue totes and assorted baskets) and a living room bookshelf into our bedroom for Christmas activities. The girls and I were also sorting out clothes and other stuff to take to Goodwill later this week.


(Possibly a swag/canopy treatment in dark chocolate brown over the bed if we don't find window frames- The ones we saw were 4 panes each, almost a square, I'm wanting something with maybe 6 panes, 2x3 set with the narrow end on the horizontal. Paintings by my dad throughout the room{except for the kitty with confetti})


(From the bed wall looking back to the bathroom)


(My dresser under the window- there are at least 8 feet from the bathroom door to the end of the bed so we might put some rattan chairs there, or a blanket chest if we can find one we like for the right price)

We've also decided against the Ancestral paint color. It is absolutely beautiful but too purple to be the neutral we need. Now we're looking at a deep mushroomy brown but in the morning light it has a bit of olive drab to it so most likely it isn't "the one". I'm trying to avoid one that is too tan(we saw this in a friend's home and it was ghastly, not soothing at all), too chocolate milky, or two khaki or olive. Not an easy task. I may end up back at Lowe's for more chip cards.

Bedroom Makeover

A few posts ago I mentioned that we're working on the "adultification" of our bedroom. Yesterday we decided on a paint treatment and a possible headboard substitute. I'll have pictures of course, throughout the transformation, but for now I'll describe what we're going to do.

The wall color now is an off-white, kind of a yellowy white. Bland. Dirty. Who knows when the walls were last painted. For several years I've been trying out color chips in taupes, soft greens, beiges, coffees, and wheats. Nothing has been "the one" until now. What we have decided on is a color called Ancestral(from Lowe's). It is a grown-up version of lavender. Very soft with a bit of gray in it. Mark likes it so that helps, and it goes well with our new quilt(and the old ones).

The treatment is something I'm not yet set on. I want to randomly place large elongated diamond shapes in varying sizes and sponge them in a coffee a lait glaze so the Ancestral color still shows through. In my mind's eye this is a beautiful thing but in real life it might be hideous. I'll definitely be doing a test board.

Years ago, when we moved from Longview to Nacogdoches, the house we moved into had ghastly walls in the master bedroom. One wall, the focal wall, was navy blue wall paper with tiny floral dots. The other 3 walls were a dark peach(think inside of a pumpkin). It was all tied together with a southerwestern style border. Just awful!! So, I painted the walls a rich cream color, replaced the wall paper with one that looked like leather, in a reddish pink, and sponged small stars all over the paper in antique gold. I thought it turned out really nice.

As for the bed, we can't afford to buy a new one so we could either use the old head and footboards, not use one(just have the bed on a hollywood frame), or make a wall treatment that acts as a headboard. We have opted for the latter and are on our way to the antique/junk store to search for inspiration.

I saw a beautiful bedroom in a magazine where they'd used two old window frames hung on the wall behind the bed. The glass panes had been replaced by fabric covered wood, each pane in a different pattern but all in the same colorway. It was nicely done. This is what I have in mind but it will depend on what we find our our treasure hunt, maybe we'll come home with an old door or a metal bedstand, who knows. But I will keep you posted.

Turning 40...

Apparently is no big thing. I even had to buy my own gift, an earring and necklace set from Michelle at Bottle Cap Art Adventures. She doesn't have a photo of my custom designed set(I hope she did take pics though), so when I have charged batteries I will try to get a decent photo. Mine are a beautiful earthy blue-green with mother of pearl pieces, silver roses, and other assorted beads and shapes in them. There are antiqued silver spiral beads hanging from the earrings but not the necklace. They are big and dangly and make the coolest noise! I love them!! Thanks Michelle!

My mom and dad called to wish me a happy birthday and my brother's girlfriend sent a nice card. We had homeschool park day but nobody knew it was my birthday. Guess that's all, no dinner, no cake, no gifts from the kids, nothing from Mark(he did say Happy Birthday before he left for work though). After midnight it will be over. It is after 7:15 and Mark hasn't even left work yet, but he is bringing cat litter, dog food, and cheap pizzas. We have one of Ryan's friends spending the night and tomorrow we have to make a raw milk run. So, business as usual. Except tomorrow is my dad's birthday! Isn't that neat?

I had planned on growing my hair out to the middle of my back sometime before I turned 40. Didn't happen. So, this is my year to do that. Only it might take more than one year to get that long. Maybe by the time I'm 45. hahaha

I Am Halloween!!

(pass thru to the nurse station from the patient waiting area, before)


(desk area, before)


(front door, partition, and dry erase wall-not up yet-. the extreme right of this picture continues on the first picture where the door hinges are- same wall)


(new desk and curtains, the front door is just to the right of the texas flag picture next to the curtain)


(pass thru no longer. we printed some pics of the kids off the blog and they're on the shelves now)

Just some stuff...

Seen out the back door tonight...





Now to the stuff I meant...

1. I started my WW again this week. When we went to North Carolina at the end of summer I kind of got off my diet. Once back home it was just a hassle to keep up with my points(even online!) so I kind of stopped. Now I'm back with a fresh outlook! If I choose to micro-manage my "diet", it will drive me freaking nuts! If I choose to do nothing I won't lose weight and could very well eat myself heavier than I was to begin with. If I USE the online points thingie as a guideline and not fret over every little thing, I mean sometimes guestimate the points value of something, it won't kill me to be wrong a few times(off a point or two every so often). The tracker they have allows me to add foods, meals, and recipes to my "favorites" and I can drag/drop them to the meal slot so it counts it for me. No work. But, today I had a lean cuisine, a corndog thingie and some of that Norwegian Apple Cake I posted about a few days ago(it was VERY good, by the way). I counted that meal as 10 points. It may have been 9, it may have been as much as 14. Point is, I'm still within my points for the day even if I mis-counted. So there!!

2. Ryan got his cast cut off today!!!! He has to wear a brace for the next two weeks and slowly get his arm/hand used to moving around again.

3. Ryan is having an Adenoidectomy next Thursday!!!! YIKES!! His doctor said they are taking up about 2/3 of the space behind his nose(wherever they reside). I think, poor Ryan, he'll feel SOOO much better after they are out. He doesn't know what it means to breathe normally. We were hoping this would go away as he grew but it seems to have just gotten worse as have his allergies. Now we can get his braces on with no issues.

4. I'm dragging out and sorting my unfinished quilting projects. I have several. Now, I want to learn how to machine quilt. So, someone please tell me what a walking foot is or if I can use a darning foot(and what the heck do they look like?). Maybe I'll post a picture of the types of feet I do have for my machine and someone can kindly point out which one I should use. I used to LOVE to hand quilt. It was mindless, soothing, relaxing, rewarding but hard to do a big quilt since I don't use a frame. Now that I know how to crochet, I don't need to hand quilt but I'll still bind by hand, I love to do that! I still enjoy putting quilts together but I'd rather have them sooner than later.

5. I'm stalling making any sort of dinner. We may end up with scrambled eggs and possibly biscuits or maybe just eat them in corn tortillas. Yum!