Another day at the New, Old house

January 3rd, 2012

2012-01-05T18:50:00.001-05:00

Carrick cleaning up/playing in the snow.

January 5th, 2012

2012-01-05T18:43:00.003-05:00

Back in the swing of exercising again. Started back at EA Sports 2 after stopping in June.

My butt is thanking me! ;)

January 4th, 2012

2012-01-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

In the Man Cave after Supper - video game / nap time.

January 1st

2012-01-01T20:27:00.001-05:00

At 5 O'Clock in Michigan with Mike & Heather watching the Steelers - Browns game on New Year's Day.

The Holidays and Crepes

2011-12-16T08:17:00.000-05:00


Cade and Cole before their acting debut.

So proud of these two.

They were the narrators for their 4th Grade Christmas performance. They did such a good job and were not the least bit nervous! Cade's name was "Charles" and Cole's name was "Alistair". Too funny! All of the students did a fantastic job --this included songs as well as speaking parts. Big undertaking for the new music teacher, Mrs. Obaker. Congratulations to all on a good job!

At our house, we cook a big breakfast every weekend day. Even while on vacation. One of our specialties is Crepes with Sweet Sour Cream filling. Since I've had some requests for the recipe, I thought I'd share it here:

Basic Crepes

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons of melted butter

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cook over medium heat in a skillet, turning over once.

Crepe Filling

3/4 cup sour cream

8 oz. cream cheese (or one tub of plain Phila. Cooking Cream Cheese)

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine sour cream and cream cheese in mixer, mix together until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla, sugars, and vanilla. Continue mixing until all ingredients have mixed until smooth on high -- approx. 5 minutes. Spoon into open crepes and fold over. Top with fresh berries or bananas.

Christmas is fast approaching! I only have a few more gifts to buy and most of them are wrapped. I still have to address Christmas cards. We are still getting over our flu bug from Thanksgiving -- slowly but surely. Still have a lingering cough.

My Second Quilt - Vintage I-Spy

2011-10-27T10:03:00.002-04:00

I just finished my second quilt! This one is called the Vintage I-Spy Quilt from Amy Smart. I also got all the printed blocks from her. The pattern was very easy to follow and an easy quilt to do.

The size is 40 x 40 and a perfect size for my new nephew that will be born in just over a month!

In addition to the printed squares, I used Ash Kona cotton for the solid squares and the backing. The red was also a Kona, but I am not sure exactly which one. The red and white is a new one from Moda -- Circa 1934 Davis in Red. As you can see it is a much brighter red in person. The blue is a Timeless Treasures fabric.

I quilted it by echoing the seam lines. Not too confident in my free-hand quilting ability yet, so I'll stick with this for now! Here's a closeup of the label I made by hand-stamping and hand-stitching.

Last week - maybe...

2011-10-11T20:52:00.001-04:00

This may be the last week for football. Hard to believe that the season is almost over already!

Other Sewing Projects

2011-09-23T10:17:00.000-04:00

I've been busy with some other sewing projects too besides the quilt I showed you yesterday. I made a new Halloween table runner for my kitchen table. I used this method and I can get it totally done in about and afternoon. I have done quite a few of these for gifts and they are so fun and easy to make!

Here's my new laptop case I made from DS fabric from JoAnn. I got the instructions from this book. It has a lot of cute ideas for sewing and the instructions are pretty easy to follow. It fits my laptop perfectly and has double batting to keep it safe. It was my first attempt at straight line machine quilting.

This one I am pretty proud of. I made the design myself, based on the laptop case. It was really out of necessity because it is hard to find a case for it since it was just released.

It's a case for my newest gadget that DH got me for my birthday. It's a Acer A100 tablet. I really didn't need a smartphone since I rarely use a cellphone, but I wanted the functionality of having an Android. This is the next best thing. I picked this one because of the size. It's 7". I didn't want the 10" version because that is almost the same size as my laptop!

So far I haven't tried to download too many apps. But one of my favorites is the GroceryIQ app. I can make out my grocery list at home and then take it with me to the store and check off things as I get them. So much easier! I usually forget to add things to my list as the week goes by, but with the app I can just add as I go along and you can even scan the item's UPC to add it to your list!

My First Quilt!

2011-09-22T14:00:00.000-04:00

I've been working on this for a while if you remember. After the kids went back to school, I made the push to finish it up. The quilt pattern is from Denyse Schmidt - A Hop, Skip, and a Jump. I had a lot of fun selecting all the patterns for this. I made it for my son, Cole. I think it reflects his colorful personality. He told me that it was the best thing anyone had ever done for him. Awww.

Here is the front of the quilt. It is fun to collect all those wonderful patterns and put them together!

I'm so glad that it turned out well and I am already working on my next one that is a gift for someone special. After that I have 3 more to make for my other 2 boys and one for me!

Here is the back of the quilt. I just used the same pattern to go the whole way across in a rainbow.
I machine quilted it in a random straight pattern.

Our Summer So Far

2011-08-03T15:12:00.003-04:00

Colonial Williamsburg - June 2011 - rolling hoops at the Powell House

We've been busy so far this summer! We took a trip in June to Colonial Williamsburg. The kids enjoyed it as much as I hoped (CW is my most favorite place in the whole world --I interned there when I was in college).

Colonial Williamsburg - June 2011 - flash mob with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
We even made history by singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! They were part of a flash mob in the Historic Area on June 21, 2011. You can see it here:
YouTube Video

Colonial Williamsburg - June 2011 - mixing clay for bricks at the Brickmakers

The kids enjoyed everything we did here and I think that we visited all of the sites, with the exception of only 1 or 2! They had maps to fill out of places they had visited and they got the idea to do them all. Overall it was a great trip and I hope to do it again with them sometime soon.

Pig Roast - July 2011

After our trip, it was time for the annual Pig Roast in Corry -- this being number 19. It was nice weather and good to see old friends!

Marco Island - Tiger Tail Beach - July 2011

Then two weeks ago we went to Marco Island, FL for a wedding. We stayed for a week in a very nice house. The kids loved to pool and spa. We spent time at the beach and swimming in the pool along with enjoying the local seafood!

Marco Island - Our House - July 2011

The wedding was beautiful on the beach by the Hilton (if you know the area). Very wonderful time!

Marco Island - Jenn and Dave Wedding - July 2011

And now that we had all those wonderful vacations, it's now Football time! Practice started last week. For it signals that summer is just about over. We have to eat either before or after practice (usually after since school is still out) so that takes up about 1/2 of my day it seems.

Last Day of School

2011-06-13T10:05:00.001-04:00

The last day of school for the 2010-2011 year. That one really flew by! My mom always told me that as soon as the kids start school, the years will fly by. They certainly do. Carrick will be 11 and starting 5th grade at the Middle School. Not looking forward to that drama and the awkward adolescent years. Cole and Cade will be entering 4th grade -- but we don't know if they will still be at the same school due to the state budget cuts.

Here's the photo I got when I told them they could do what they wanted. Interesting.

I am very proud of them, though. They all do very well in school and behave themselves for the most part. Let's just hope that I can survive the summer! We have a trip coming up as I said, and lots of nothing to do too.

Let me clean off the dust!

2011-06-09T10:06:00.000-04:00

I've been missing in action again! Where did the days go? Been busy now that the days are hot and lots to do outside. Lots of grass cutting and weed-wacking (it takes me about 3 1/2 hours to cut the grass since we have such a big yard).
Last weekend we started the Summer off right with the Memorial Day Parade. Carrick and the district's 4th graders marched in the parade with their recorders playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy". A good way to get them interested in Marching Band. Which makes this momma happy since I was the "Head of the Band Fags" as my wonderful husband likes to call me (stupid pants). I was in Marching Band for over 4 years -- two of those as Drum Major. I have do many wonderful memories from being a part of the band.

Here's a shot of Carrick from behind since I didn't see him until he was almost past me. He's the the left of middle.

I was also busy making lots of table runners, 5 in all. I made one for my mom for Mother's Day, one for DH's Grandmother who recently turned 100, and these three for my kids' teachers gifts. They are pretty easy to make with the tutorial here.

The first one in the top photo was for Cade's teacher that loves the Wizard of Oz, the second for Carrick's teacher made with Denise Schmidt fabric from JoAnn, and the third for Cole's teacher that likes pink and made with various fabrics from my stash and a heart batik from JoAnn. I can say that I was successful in getting them all done on time and the teachers loved them. I hate just giving them something bought like a mug, and I thought something handmade would be better. Nice to know what I made was appreciated!

Today is the last day of school and they will only be there 2 hours. Here's to hoping I will keep my sanity over the summer. We have a trip planned to Williamsburg, VA with just the kids and I since DH will be traveling to

China and Korea for work, trips to my parents cabin up north, and of course Football starts July 25th!

I am also working on Cole's quilt, painting around the house, and cutting more grass!

My newest pursuit

2011-04-18T20:05:00.028-04:00

The kids have been enjoying the warmer weather. If it would just moderate and stay around 70°, I'd be happy! I hate it when it's warm one day, cold the next. It was so windy yesterday -- that's why they have the tarps -- to pretend they were parachutes.

Or tents.
I already have cut the grass once ad rolled they yard. We must have a huge family of moles living in our front yard. The whole thing was all torn up with mole tunnels, so I had to roll it before cutting so that the mower blade didn't chew up the high parts.

I plan on starting my Spring Cleaning this week. Lots of dust and dead stink bugs to remove. Yuck.

This is my newest pursuit. I started quilting. I made my first smaller project from a kit that I found here (but now out of stock). It came with all the fabric, all I had to do was follow the directions for cutting and sewing. It was good to start out on something smaller. The quilting was hard to get the hang of -- it's something I'll have to get more practice on. I did enjoy the whole process.

I must say that one of my favorite aspects of quilting is all the fabric. I love to pick out prints! There are a few shops not too far away, and there are lots of fabric on Etsy. That's where I've gotten the majority of mine.

And here's why I wanted to learn to quilt:

I had fallen in love with these types of quilts. So I wanted to do a quilt for each of my boys (and one for me). This is only one block of Denyse Schmidt's Run, Hop & Jump quilt. I'm using a random grouping of fabrics from my stash for this. I have 4 blocks done, but still need to do about 26 more! I enjoy the cutting and piecing process...I did all 4 of these while watching the NASCAR race yesterday. I can't wait to see what it turns out to look like! This particular quilt is for Cole.

Signs of Spring!

2011-03-23T09:07:00.000-04:00

What is this in the field?

Oh! It's Mrs. Duck from the creek.

A daffodil ready to bloom.


And crocus in bloom.

Happy Spring!

Master Bathroom Reveal

2011-03-18T13:38:00.003-04:00

OK, I told you when we had a sunny day I'd take photos. I kept my word. Welcome to my Master Bathroom...

This is the view from my bedroom into the bath. Please ignore those two stink bugs on the floor! Now that the weather is warmer, they are popping up everywhere. Yuck.

This room was a new addition to our house, built on over where the old porch was built. The previous owner told me a story about when he and his wife first moved into the house over 50 years ago...she was out on the back porch cleaning the windows when the whole thing fell in on her! Can you imagine? At the time he had bought the house it had been vacant for a couple of years (like when we bought it) and was in disrepair...but they moved in to their first house and fixed it up and lived here for almost 50 years!

Anyway, I knew that I wanted a bigger bath with room for a clawfoot tub (had one in my last house), separate shower and toilet. This is what I came up with. It was all done by DH and me, with the exception of some of the plumbing and electric. I must also tell you that as everything in our house, most everything was bought at discount. I scour sites and the big box stores for deals and make things work for a fraction of the price.

I painted the walls my favorite Martha Stewart Araucana Blue. I love this paint because it changes colors as the light changes -- sometimes it looks blue, while other times it looks green. It was Valspar MS313 when they still carried her colors. I think they can still mix it. The sinks are Pegasus from HD and faucets are these from Overstock. The mirrors are from IKEA. Not my first pick, but they work for now until I get the money for these medicine cabinets. The angel above the sinks is from The Wooden Hen, one of my favorite craftswomen. I love her creations, but they had a fire a while back so I'm not sure if she's still making items.

Other items here include a Baldwin Brass towel bar I got on clearance at HD, towels from T.J. Maxx, and see that wooden box on the wall? I got that at the Salvation Army store. I knew exactly what it was when I saw it. Can you believe it is from David T. Smith? I think that I paid $4.00 for it and it had a tag on it from an interior decorator that is cost $90.00! (Just ignore that hole right by the can light...still fixing where DH cut the holes a little too big!)

Door to toilet.

On the opposite side of the room we have the toilet room. It's nice to have this when you have kids that don't know how to knock before entering! The floors in the bath are 18 x 18 travertine from HD, Kohler toliet (no longer made).

Inside are photos of my little ones with bare bottoms. :)

Bedside the toilet is the shower.The floor is travertine and walls are marble with a green/blue rock insert. The marble is a pinkish-brown-gray mix. I'm not sure I would go with this again. I'd probably go with white marble or white subway tiles in a running bond. But at the time, the price was right. The fixtures are from Kohler that I bought from the HD Expo when they were going out of business 5 years ago.

And the shower curtain that I made myself, based on this inspiration.

Here's the full shot. The top piece is made from white heavy cotton decorator fabric I bought at JoAnn's on sale from the clearance bin. The patterned fabric is Heather Bailey Nicey Jane. I needed a curtain a little longer than normal, so it made sense to make it myself. It total it cost about $30.00. The branch hook on the wall is from Tag -- a Marshall's purchase for $3.99! The blinds were also another bargain at Lowe's for $16.99 each in the clearance section.

Next is my pride and joy. My clawfoot tub.

This has been sitting in my backyard for over 5 years, after I bought it in Chicago before we moved. I finally got it refinished through Miracle Method in January. I also had to find matching feet, which is not an easy feat! Not all feet are the same and vary from tub to tub. So after a lot of research, I found the right ones on eBay. I had the pillow and rack from my last tub, but all the fixtures are new and also from eBay. It was a job to find all the pieces that needed to work together, but I think it looks beautiful. So nice to take a bath in this deep tub.

And last, my cabinet that holds all my bathroom supplies. This was found in our garage, but it must have been part of the original china cabinet in the house. It was really dirty and had red plastic where the windows had been. I had originally intended to paint it, but I kind of liked it after I had stripped off many layers of old paint. I still have yet to fix the right hand door (it needs some TLC) and add some chicken wire or screen to the door openings along with a barn board top. What do you think? Should I leave it with the paint or paint it?

I hope you enjoyed my tour. Please ask questions if you have any!

Where I've been for the past 3 months...

2011-03-16T13:12:00.001-04:00

...mostly at home, doing projects. Hockey Start also began for all 3 boys. And Mark was traveling a bunch for work to Austin, San Francisco and Boston.

First on the project list was doing Coaches' gifts for all the coaches on my sons' football team. I didn't have a huge amount of money to work with and 6 coaches to buy for, so I had to get creative. I got hooded sweatshirts on sale at Kohl's and also bought a matching t-shirt that I cut up for the freezer paper stencil I did on each.

Here's how they came out:

I wanted them to look a little distressed, so I stenciled in a rough font and then sewed around it a couple times randomly. I also used a football button for the apostrophe.

I also added an iron-on on the inside for identification.

I added the bulldog from the shirt I bought to the back of the head coach's shirt.

I hope that they liked them. We gave them their shirts at the banquet, but that was chaos. It was a lot of work. Each stencil was cut out by hand, stenciled, ironed on, and sewn on x 6! If you are interested in the freezer paper stenciling technique, check out this link where I learned.

We also got to finishing our Master Bath. It was mostly done with the exception of installing my clawfoot tub. The tub had been sitting in my back yard for the past 5 years where it had sat since buying it in Chicago before we moved back. I got it refinished in January for my Christmas gift. It took a while to get all the pieces together! I had to find feet to fit (not an easy task, but I found them on eBay after a lot of research) and a faucet (eBay again - from England), adapters so that it would fit the holes on my tub (another eBay find) and the fittings and drain.(eBay again!).
After getting everything together, we found out that the pipes where plumbed in at the wrong space. So we had to pull up 6 travertine tiles and subfloor to move them. After moving the pipes and replacing the tiles, we were ready to move on. It took a while to get that all done, and now I am happy to say it is all done! I will share photos soon when we have a sunny day...
I also made a new shower curtain for my shower. I based the design on this dishtowel I found on Etsy.

The fabrics are all from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane fabric. Like I said, I'll share more photos when we get a sunny day!

I also made a few things for my Etsy shoppe. Here they are

I enjoy making these things, but it gets hard to make them when they don't sell. I just keep making things that I would like to have in my own house. And it gives me creative outlet!

And the last thing that I have been doing is getting myself back in shape. I've lost almost 10 lbs. since the beginning of December. I got EA Sports Active 2 for XBox. I'll tell you, it kicked my butt for the first couple of weeks! I could hardly walk. But after keeping at it, I actually enjoy it. It's easy because you can do it even when the weather is crappy (which is most of the time here during the winter), it keeps track of your calories burned (I've burned over 5500 calories) and you can miss days and go back and make them up. I had a bunch of that back in January and February because I got a sinus/ear infection. Good times -- not! I'm also eating better and keeping track of what I eat online.

I promise to share more of my renovations when it gets sunny and I can take better photos!

Have a great day :)

My Christmas Home

2010-12-17T11:56:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd share some photos of my home decorated for the holidays. Our Christmas tree is artificial due to the fact that our house is very dry and the needles would be dropping soon after decorating! I also need a very thin tree for the space I have available. There are a ton of ornaments on the tree, some mine from when I was a kids, and many for my kids (we pick a new ornament each year, usually a Hallmark, and they will go with them when they start their own family). *Please ignore the fact that we still do not have any railing on our stairs or that all the trim is not painted!*

The kids' Playmobile Advent scene. This is something we have done for about the past 5 years. Usually involves fighting as to whose turn it is to put the piece on, but this year oldest DS made out a list for each day and that has cut down on the fighting!

My wonderful hutch that I got many years ago. It holds some of my china, cookbooks, kids activity books, silverware, and other odds and ends. Right now it has a display of my Santas, vintage pieces and the big ceramic Nativity set my mom made for me while I was in High School.

My chandelier in the dining room all decorated up.

Feather tree and various new and vintage items on my victorian side table.

Collection of music boxes and snowglobes on the windowsill.

Collection of snowmen on top of the TV.

The cozy fireplace and decorated mantle.

Shelves I made in my kitchen. Vintage-y Christmas. Most of the decorations found at TJ Maxx or Marshalls. I love it when I find Bethany Lowe, Nicol Sayre and similar products there!

My Cat's Meow Colonial Williamsburg houses on top of my cabinets.

And the door to my pantry.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour! Have a wonderful holiday!

My Special Furniture Piece

2010-12-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

I just got this piece. It's not an expensive antique, but to me it's priceless. It was my grandmother's china cabinet. It had been stored for many years in my aunt's garage, but now it is mine. The piece is probably from the 40s, but I'm not sure. My dad has 9 brothers and sisters, so money was not something that they had to spare. That's why it's special to have this piece. I think it is the only material thing I have from my grandparents. My grandfather died when I was pretty young and I was probably 12 when my grandmother died.
Now I need to find a place for it in my home. I don't have a lot of wall space, so I am limited as to where it will reside. It does need a through cleaning and polishing. But I am so happy it is here.

2010 Christmas Card

2010-12-02T18:59:00.004-05:00

Ribbon Wishes Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I almost forgot!

2010-11-04T17:22:00.000-04:00

I never mentioned Carrick got his braces off! It was during football season right after his birthday. He may be totally done (with the exception of wearing his retainer at night) now and not have to have any more work done! Yay! Now I only have one more to go (Cole is already in braces, Cade is next).

Doesn't he look handsome?

I'm thinking of Christmas...!

2010-11-03T11:38:00.000-04:00

...cards, that is! I like to get mine done early and out of the way. In the past I have done a yearly wrap-up letter, but this year I think I'll just stick to the card. I picked up my cards in the beginning of summer. Summer, yes! I know that this is the best time to pick them up at the Hallmark store in the clearance section. I think that I got a box of cards for around $3.50, so that equals about .29¢ each! (I bought 5 boxes.)

I also like to include a photo card each year so that those we longer see on a regular basis can see how the kids have grown. I love all the options they have at Shutterfly. Something for everyone! You can see for yourself here. I think that I will be picking "Merry & Bright".

The size works with my card and I like the clean design. Now I just have to get the kids to cooperate in the photo-taking department!

I also usually do a yearly calendar for relatives each year. Works well for those "you-don't-know-what-to-buy" people on your list. I have ordered yearly calendars from Shutterfly in the past and they were high-quality and looked great. They also shipped fast, too. Not sure if I will go with a Desk Calendar or a Wall Calendar . What's even better, they're on sale right now, 30% off after you buy the first one at full-price!

I really like the Photo Gallery Style and the fact that you can add in dates to be printed right on the calendar.

So there you have it. Easier ways to get some of that Christmas stuff done before the rush starts! Now I'd better get cracking!

Change of Seasons

2010-11-03T10:45:00.001-04:00

Here's all the Halloween stuff together, ready to be put away for another year. Sad to see it all go, but it's time to move on to the next season! And it's almost Christmas. I love to decorate for each season.

The mantle was all cleaned off and is ready for Thanksgiving/Fall decorating.

Last night I did my weekly shopping. I had plenty of places to go (returns at Michaels and Target), prescription to pick up at Walgreens, Kohls to look at sweatshirts for the Coaches gift (I'll get your opinion on this soon), and my grocery/household shopping

at Walmart. I also made a stop at Marshalls for pants for DH. I love to see what I can find there and I know that when I find something I like, I'd better buy it or be out of luck. Last night I found Shiny-Brite ornaments, KD Sparkling Icicles and a bottlebrush tree. All for about $25. I love to decorate for Christmas (my kids do, too) and I like to change it up each year with a few new things. When I put things away for the season, I go through what I haven't used in a while and decide if it is "keep" or "pitch". If it is still useable, I donate it to the Veterans. Otherwise I throw it away. I no longer have the space or inclination to keep everything just in case I might use it.

If you are ready to get in the Christmas spirit, check out Amy Powers Inspired Ideas Christmas magazine.
It has so many great ideas for crafting and inspiration!

Patriotic Day

2010-11-02T13:15:00.000-04:00

Last night was the PTA Veteran's Day Program featuring the 3rd Graders. I didn't get very good photos as you can see above, but they are still precious. It was wonderful to see all the Veterans get a little recognition. I was surprised to see how many in the audience were Veterans. I brought a tear to my eye and a swell in my heart.
The students sang about 5 songs and some of the students were picked to read their poems they wrote. Cade was picked, but Cole was not. He was upset about this because he thought his poem was better than his classmates, and also I think because Cade got to read his.

I voted this morning too. I was number 184 I think (at about 10:30). Mark voted before he went to work at was 7th in line. I am so glad that I have the right to vote. I hope you all vote too!

Some Layouts

2010-11-01T11:55:00.000-04:00

I got some layouts done recently. The first I've done in many months. I have a bunch of kits to use up even though I stopped my Studio Calico sub because I couldn't justify keeping it going since I wasn't using them and money is tight. I do use a lot of stuff from my stash along with what is in the kits.

This one is a recap of my son Carrick's 2nd year of playing football. He had an awesome year, starting on both offense and defense. Such a difference from last year because he hardly got to play. They even made it to the playoffs this year (last year the same team only won one game). So proud of him! I based the LO on one that was featured at 2 Peas called My Little Pirate. I wanted to add in a photo I had taken at each of the games. He's in each of the photos.

This one had been sitting on my desk from July. I hadn't gotten to it since I was working on items for my Etsy shop (I only ended up selling 2 items, so I'm not sure it was even worth the effort :( ). So now I am getting back to scrapping and doing things that make me happy. I've had a rough time of it lately. I'm not sure if it is just me, but things have been not too sunny. Here's to hoping things brighten up. Send me some good thoughts.

Finally, here's the delicious cookies my mom made for the boys. She always made us cookies for all the holidays when I was growing up and they are so good! Today I have to make cookies for the twins' Veteran's Day program they are doing at the PTA meeting tonight. They are so proud that they get to sing patriotic songs and Cade even had his poem selected to be read. Yay!

Tomorrow is election day. I will be glad that I don't have to see any more political ads or get any more phone calls. I plan on voting. Do you?

Just when I thought it was over....

2010-10-28T10:55:00.001-04:00

....It wasn't. The next team up from Carrick's had won their play off game that week, so they asked for some the kids that would be moving up next year to come practice with them. Carrick was all excited. That was until he did one practice with them. He found out if was a lot more work than he did in Termites. While I did feel bad for him, I didn't give into his pleas to let him stay home the second night because "it was boring, I'm tired, I don't want to go...". I was brought up that when you start something, you have to follow through and finish it. So, that meant he was going. I figured it was because the kids were bigger (and hit harder) and because it was a lot more work. At any rate, I had a very sullen and mad little football player on my hands.

After days 2 and 3 there wasn't any more complaining. He got used to it and I think he even enjoyed it. I told him he was lucky to get this opportunity, that now he had an edge on many of his teammates that would be playing next year (only about 5 boys from the Termite team did this for the Mitey-Mite team). That his coaches would know him and he'd have a better chance of playing next year because of it. He did end up thanking me for making him go.

In the end, the boys that moved up for the week got to dress for the playoff game last Sunday. They didn't get to play, but I think it was still exciting that they got to be there. The team ended up losing 46-0. I felt so bad for the boys on the team. It must be so hard to come that far and then hae a game like that. But it was a really good season. And we're happy for the time off before hockey starts, but I know they are looking forward to next year (and I am too). Sometime I'll tell you the story about how I was a Freedom Lil' Bulldog too.

Pumpkin Carving Time

2010-10-28T10:40:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again! Time for the boys to carve their pumpkins. I got three interesting specimens (the pumpkins, not the kids!) at Walmart for $3 each. This was the first year for each of them to take out their own pumpkin "guts". Cade still ended up asking me to take over shortly after starting.

Take at a look at Cole's face. He thought the "guts" felt weird.

After cleaning them all out, they started to work on their faces. I had to help Cade and Cole out a little with the cutting, but Carrick did his all on his own.

Here's the final product. Aren't they cute? Cade's is first, Cole's is second, and Carrick's is last. Tonight is Trick-or-Treat night. Kinda weird to have it so many days from Halloween, but that's the way they do it here (not on Fridays because of football games, not on Sunday because it is Sunday...). At least it won't be too cold or rainy. The kids are counting down the hours... and their school party is tomorrow.

Last Day of Regular Season Practice!

2010-10-07T12:46:00.000-04:00

taken in early August 2010

It is so hard to believe that today is the last day of regular season football practice. Where has the time gone? 11 Weeks. This week has been the worst weather-wise. Cold and rainy all week and it gets dark so early now that practice ends at 7:15! At least this practice will be nice -- no rain and 65°.


Blackhawk vs. Freedom Termites - 10/2/10

The boys pulled off another big this last weekend. They were really fired up! (I guess it's all those Hit-Its Coach made them do before the game!)

They are now 4-1-0 in the division, 4-2-0 overall. This week they play against an undefeated team, the Ellwood City Wolverines. If they pull off another win, they will be tied for Division Champs and will have a better seed for the playoffs. They really have worked hard this year as a team. And overcome adversity (one player's mom died just a few weeks ago). What an awesome group of boys. There are 34 of them on the team and not a single one quit. This is a team that won only 1 game last year. That is a tribute to the new coaches and the boys!

If you can spare a minute, they'd love to hear your comments!

Final Score : Lil' Bulldogs 33, Cougars 7

My Newer Chair

2010-10-04T09:28:00.000-04:00

This is my old chair that I bought probably over 12 years ago. It is a antique rosewood chair that I use as my chair at my computer desk. As you can see, the fabric on the seat has seen better days. I decided to redo it myself with some fabric I had found at Joann's.

Here's one of the fabrics. A Tommy Bahama fabric that is heavy-weight and I got for over 70% off. I used the wrong side because it matched better with the fabric I used on the top. I also used the wrong side of that fabric because the right side was too shiny.

I started on the top and back of the chair. I got the nailheads from eBay. I just took my time and worked each side so that it was equal and pinned it in place before I started so that it wouldn't move.

And here is the final product. It only took me most of the summer, because I started on the back and then got to doing other things... but now it is finally done!

Halloween Mantle

2010-09-29T11:09:00.001-04:00

I just updated my mantle a few days ago for all of my Halloween items I just finished. I love Halloween and I love decorating for it. This year I focused in on more of the black and white palette. Not the best light in these photos as it has been pretty gloomy here the past couple of days.

You can read more about my mantle and how I made it into this here.

Most of the items on the mantle were made by me, with the exception of the 2 signs that I got from Marshalls. I love Marshalls for all the treasure hunting! You never know what you will find. ;)

First up is the spooky-fun pumpkin head. I made it from a Funkin™ that I painted white and added the face. It sits on a vintage Black Amethyst glass candlestick from L.E. Smith.

Then I made a paper mache cone with some vintage-looking scrapbook papers I had and added vintage copy of a crow.

And lastly another Funkin™ that I hand-painted again (they were orange originally) and covered in sugar glitter. This one also sits on a Black Amethyst glass candlestick from L.E. Smith.

I'm selling these on Etsy, but even if they don't sell, I'm more than happy to keep them for my own house!

Now that the mantle is finished, I need to go back to my Fall house cleaning (I didn't do much in the Spring, so now I have lots of dust and dead bugs to clean up) . It's been slow going since I've been trying to repaint my bedroom at the same time. Hopefully I will have DONE photos to share soon. Then I can do the decorating in the rest of the house. Wish me Good Luck!

A Beautiful Saturday!

2010-09-27T15:16:00.001-04:00

Another beautiful Saturday at the ballfield. And another win for the boys. They are 3-1 so far. They did lose last week in a tough loss to the undefeated Aliquippa Indians, but rebounded this week with a 26-7 win over the Monaca Indians.

Here's the boys with one of their coaches. They have a total of 6 teaching them the game. My hats off to them, it's a big commitment of time to coach (11 weeks +) and they have done a really good job. This same team only won one game last year. And as team mom I hear what they tell them at half-time. They never yell or make them feel bad even if they are losing.

I marked where Carrick (#61) is in this shot of the boys. Isn't the location beautiful ? The stadium is right along the Ohio River.

This shot was from later in the game when the 2nd string offense got to play. I marked Cole's position.

Cade got to play, too, on defense and helped to get a tackle.

Great job, boys!

They Won!

2010-09-13T09:08:00.001-04:00

The final score. A Sunday afternoon game vs. the Rochester Rams and a game that counts on the record. They are 2-0.

Cade (30) and Cole (55) got to be Captains for the team and went out for the coin toss.

The boys in action. Carrick (61) is in this photo on the line. Hats off to the Coach who got all the kids into play. He understands that kids do get hurt and it's a good idea to get everyone in to play so they have the experience and can fit in when they have to. That's why the final score was close -- he left the 2nd string in to play most of the 2nd half. All the boys had a great game. Carrick started both offense and defense, Cole played Guard on offense for most of the 2nd half and has his defender pushed clear into the backfield most of the time, and Cade made a kick-off recovery! So proud of them.

Old Friends

2010-09-11T22:34:00.000-04:00

I went to a birthday party tonight for my sorority sister Kerry. She and I suffered through a lot of boring History lectures together (we were both History majors in college). Since our names were the same, I was Car-e and she was Keery. That was how one of our professors differentiated between us in class (we generally sat next to each other). It was good to see her and some of our friends that could make it -- Lou Ann, Zimmer and Sweitz.

Here's a photo of us in college at a sorority event. Must be about 1990. We went to Thiel College in Greenville, PA. I am right in the bottom middle of the photo and Kerry is to my right (left of me in the photo).

We don't get together nearly enough and I hope we will still keep meeting up over the years!

Here's Sweitz, Zimmer and family.

And my wonderful husband and Lou Ann all sitting on Bob's beautiful new deck he just finished.(Bob is Kerry's husband and my husband's fraternity brother). Good Times!

Tomorrow we have another football game! The boys are ready. Too bad it is the same time as the Steeler game. Good thing we have Tivo. I'll let you know how it goes...

I've been a bad blogger...

2010-09-11T10:39:00.000-04:00

I know. I'm pitiful. I leave this poor blog hanging with weeks in between posts. I do have excuses, but don't we all?
I've been busy with the kids going back to school, continued football practice and games (I'm team mom), but I've been working on some new things to go in my Etsy shoppe, Hootenanny. Here's a shot of my Fall mantle with some of the new things.

A collage that I did on a 5x7 canvas with a copy of a vintage photo that I have in my collection. I used patterned paper from Pink Paislee, October Afternoon and Foofala. I also used fine black glitter, vintage buttons, vintage and The Girls' Paperie letters and the Martha Stewart Halloween punch. If you are interested you can see it here.

And here's a closeup of the "HALLOWEEN" banner that I made with decoupage, and glitter and a lot of Halloween paper scraps. You can see it here.

For my dad

2010-08-20T16:15:00.000-04:00

I made this canvas for my dad for his birthday from a photo he has of his Aunt and Mother. It was a poor copy and I had to do some work in Photoshop to getting it looking this good. I printed it on canvas paper from OfficeMax and then put it over cardboard to make it like a little canvas.

I also added paper over a 5 x 7 canvas I purchased at Michael's. I glued the paper on with Mod Podge and then covered over the paper with the same. I also used van dyke brown ink to antique the edges of the canvas and little photo. After inking, I sprayed with a sealer.

After attaching the little canvas, I added the victorian scrap aroundit. The word "sister" is made from antique school letters and inked . The two daisies are also antique.

I hope he likes it!

Some New Stuff

2010-07-28T10:32:00.012-04:00

I uploaded these the other night at Studio Calico, but I thought I'd put them up here too.

The first one is a mini album I made for Cade. They each had Flat Stanley that they made and asked to have him sent to someone or to go with you to other places. We took him to Las Vegas when we went on our family vacation.

This one is about my son's experience at his elementary Olympics. He ended up getting athlete's foot a few days before the race and had a hard time running in the race.

I did this one about my parent's new puppy, Annie. She's quite a handful!

The last one is of my kids having fun in the sprinkler on a hot July day. As you can see, they had a ball.

All the papers, embellies, etc. were from Studio Calico kits from the past several months.

Bathroom Part 2

2010-07-22T14:07:00.000-04:00

I fell off the wagon with my updates on the bathroom redo at my FIL's. But now I'm back on the case. These are shots from our second weekend at work. You can see that we got all the green board installed along with the tile and tub. Nothing is grouted here, but we left that for the next weekend.

The tile were just regular subway tile in a running bond. The inserts were glass tile in a variety of blue tones.We bought all of the things for the bathroom at Lowe's.

Below is the other side of the bath. All of the wallpaper was removed and all the surface defects were fixed with drywall patch.

View from the doorway. We kept the original layout intact because there was really no way to change things around.

Summer Mantle

2010-07-22T13:53:00.001-04:00

I thought I'd also share my summer mantle. It has lots of my favorite blue colors.

I got these two pieces from a local antiques shops, The Antique Emporium and Wexford General Store.

The first is a candy dish (I think) and the other one with the bird on it is a mustard pot.

I also got this wonderful photo at the WGS too. I love the people hiding behind the tree!

Here's the other side. My Tiffany candlesticks I got when I got married. The large ceramic sand dollar I picked up at Tuesday Morning for $2.99, the rabbit is one of my creations, and the little vase from Wexford General Store.

My Dining Room - DONE!

2010-07-22T09:56:00.066-04:00

While I was going through my photos the other day, I noticed that I hadn't shared photos of my dining room since I repainted it. It had been painted the same color as all the other rooms when we moved it just so it was done! Since I had to do the whole house at one time, I didn't have time to make those decisions. Now, 3 years later it is done. The wall color is Silver Fox (2108-50) from Benjamin Moore. I chose that color after seeing it in Stefanie's home here. (You can click on the photos to see them larger).

The table was acquired when I lost my round one in the trailer fire when we moved back to PA. This was a quicky replacement, but I do like it. I may repaint it and stain the top darker in the future. The flooring is from Lumber Liquidators, Bellawood Brazilian Cherry. We installed it ourselves, as we did everything in our house. The ceiling medallion is from Fypon. It was something that I wanted for a while and it wasn't that expensive. I'd like to change out the light fixture to a vintage crystal chandelier. Keeping the search up on eBay!

This is the view to the left side of the table. I bought this hutch over 15 years ago at a outlet store in Chicago. It is from Lane and has the most beautiful crackle finish on it. It houses my cookbooks, kids activity books, some of my china and misc. other stuff. The doorway you see here goes to the powder room.

My beautiful piano. I wrote about it here before. This bump out was original to the house, but it was in sad shape. The whole thing was leaning and the windows were all wonky. So, after tearing everything down to the studs, we found out that the foundation was only set on a few block a few inches in the soil. Ugh. We had to tear the WHOLE thing off and start again. This time with an actual foundation down to the frost line, new walls, and new windows.

This is the view to the right of the right of the table. The doorway goes to the living room. All of the drywall and trim are new in this room. I originally wanted a smaller crown moulding, but the small was more expensive than this big one. Can you explain that? Most of the prints on the wall are antique and the plates are from Laura Ashley. I worked there for over 5 years while I was in college and after. I wish they were still in the states!

July Flood

2010-07-13T10:31:00.001-04:00

NOTE: This post is VERY photo heavy!

Look at what happened here at the Skuse household last Friday. We were forcasted to have some heavy rain and storms after about 10 days of no rain. It started to pour shortly after 2:30 in the afternoon. Our driveway started to look like a small stream.

Here's the shot off the front porch looking to the road. See all the water coming down the hill to the drain and the stream of water in the front yard? At the time I didn't know it, but this was just the beginning of more water.

This is what the front yard looked like at 2:52.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here it is a half an hour later. Thinking that it was going to be a usual flooding of the creek, I had gone back into the house to continue my Friday housecleaning. When I happened to look out the window, this is what I saw.

We stood and watched the water come up really quickly, This is the first time I have even see the road flood.

It only took a minute for the water to completely cover the road. Logs that we had sitting on the side of our yard floated away.

And there goes my chair, never to be seen again.

I had saved it numerous times, but that was over. Who knows where it ended up!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One hour later from the original photo.

There's our bridge. Luckily the trees stopped it from going any further. And it was not a small one, the bottom made from telephone poles!

The back of our property was just as bad. This is the view across the creek to our lower pasture completely flooded.

And further back it was the same. So hard to believe.

I am happy to report that it did stop raining and the water went down about 2 hours later leaving behind a lot of mud and debris. I just thank the farmer who sited our house like they did up on the hill away from flooding. Even though we did get some water in the basement, it was not more than usual. I just hope that we don't have another storm like that for a long time!

Last weekend's work and this one too.

2010-06-18T18:32:00.001-04:00

Here's Max on the way up to my FIL's. It's about a 2 hour trip from our house.

We decided that he needed to have a bathroom redo. Since we have the Pig Roast there every year for a long weekend, it used to get a big workout. That was before we got the port-o-potty, but now it mostly gets used by a few for showers. The bath was over 30 years old and needed a big update. It's pretty small (5'x9') and was BLUE (blue toilet, blue bath tub, blue wall paper). I forgot to take before photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it! The whole demo took us probably only 4 hours.

Here is Carrick standing where the tub now sits.

The same shot without Carrick.

The opposite side where the sink cabinet goes. The missing drywall on the side wall was due to a leaky toilet and water damage. We'll replace with green board.

As it was late in the day on Sunday when we finished, I didn't take any final photos. We had completed installing the tub and changes to the plumbing (I did all the soldering!) and then the floor tile was installed so that I could grout ASAP when we return this weekend. We were all exhausted after all that work and the heat. Here's Cole and Cade on the way home.

In my next post next week I'll tell you about all my design choices. We pretty much did the whole bathroom for less than 3K!

Help!

2010-06-10T09:05:00.001-04:00

We had a bit of a flood yesterday! We've had rain and storms pretty close to everyday for the past week. Yesterday it rained and poured. And this was the result. The little creek beside our house went over it's banks. That chair you see there is sitting on our bridge (hidden under the water) to the pasture on the other side.

Here's the shot up the creek. Normally this is maybe 3" deep and sometimes it even dries up in the summer.

Shot down the creek where it goes under the road. Normally there is a bank here that goes out about 4 feet from the bottom of the pines.

Here's where two parts of the creek come together. Looks more like a pond!

Good thing our house was built was up on a hill away from this. But even though we are, our basement is quite damp due to the old stone basement and the fact that our dehumidifier just died. Anyone have a good suggestion for a new one?

Ballooning!

2010-06-09T14:11:00.001-04:00

Memorial Day weekend we helped a friend of ours take his balloon out. We went out Saturday night after working on the garage all day. I always enjoy doing this. It was our 3rd or 4th time in his crew. It takes quite a bit of work to get him up and away.

Here's DH looking on while David and his wife get everything ready. David has to get so many hours in each year for certification, and this was one of those flights.

I don't have any photos of blowing up the balloon of it taking off because I was busy holding it open to fill it up (they use a really strong fan, and then the hot hot hot burners get turned on).

And here David and John are up in the balloon.

Half of the fun is the chase. We follow them until they land (usually in someone's field) and then we help pack up. This time we had some trouble finding exactly where they landed. Even though we saw them, we couldn't find how to get there!

Hopefully the next time I will get to go for a flight! :)

A Story of a Garage

2010-06-04T10:48:00.000-04:00

Ok, you can bring the dogs back in. I'm not lost! I've just been ...busy. Yeah, that's it!

Anyway, there has been progress here at the homestead. See this photo below? It's what the house and garage looked like in October of 2006. Nice, huh?See the garage in the background?

Here is the same garage a few weeks ago. This is what it looked like just before we sided it. You'd think that was a pretty straight forward job, right? Nah. Not here.

It turns out that when he started working on the garage, it started tipping sideways. It was due to years of the hillside beside it pushing on the side of the garage and poor construction. So we had to take off the siding we had already put on and rebuild the front corners of the garage. The roof was jacked up and secured so that the block could be taken down and reset plumb.

Here's a photo of the work on the opposite side. Fun, huh?

OK, so after finishing that fun side-track, we got back to work on the front and side. Looks a little better, no?

Here's the side. DH's pride and joy. The thing that may have added to the whole sliding garage.

The outside TV! Placed just so he can watch from the hot tub.

Anyhow, we still have more to do on this project. The back corner also needs to be rebuilt. Aluminum trim must be bent on the press and installed, gutters need installed, wood needs to be painted and the rest needs to be sided.

A little note about this guy. When we were doing the garage, this nest was in the eves on the roof. We took it apart and the nest fell out. Luckily, the two babies (pretty young) in the nest were not hurt, but I was afraid that the momma wouldn't come to get them. She did that night (I had put the nest in a box near where it was in the garage). Fast foward about 3 weeks later, we found this guy hopping around in the backyard. He'd follow us around the yard. We left him alone and later in the afternoon, momma came and got him and took him back to the nest in a huge tree. He was so funny hopping around in the grass and napping in the sun. We haven't seen him since, though.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-01T10:10:00.005-04:00

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! I thought I'd share my spring mantle with you.

We plan on being outside most of the weekend since the weather is to be in the 70s and 80s. I have a ton of outside work to do, including weeding, cleaning up the old stuff, cleaning up huge (and I mean huge) branches that broke off trees when we had that 30" of snow, and the start of a outdoor project. DH wants to start siding the garage. We have most of the material, but some other jobs need to be finished up before that starts.

I got my new camera and I'm still trying it out. It seems good so far, but it does have it's limitations. I know it's not my DSLR, and I have liked it so far. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance!

I've also gotten out of my scrapbooking slump. I got 4 pages done this week.

Carrick's first year of football. I have two more of these to do for the twins.

Cade's crazy hair day at school.

Typical Carrick these days.

And the last one I did a few weeks ago of the twins and hockey.
All supplies are mostly from recent Studio Calico kits.

The fireplace mantle how-to

2010-03-25T13:33:00.000-04:00

Here's the blank slate I started with. This was after I tore out part of the old mantle (brick) and then was drywalled. We added furring strips to the fireplace so that we'd have something to attach the drywall to. The hearth was also leveled and straightened with mortar and 2" concrete block. The original hearth was concrete and had sunk and cracked.

This was how it looked before attaching everything. Notice how the cast-iron surround looked before modification.

And here's how it looked after everything was attached. The mantle was a bit out of line and I had to take it apart partially so that I could reattach some of the loose trim. Wasn't too hard. It was attached to the wall with 2 1/2" trim nails from a Paslode cordless trim nailer. If you are doing a lot of trim work, I would highly recommend it. We found ours in eBay many years ago. As you can see the cast-iron surround was modified. Since it was too narrow for the electric fireplace insert, we cut off the sides with a metal cutting saw.

The top of the surround was attached with lots of Liquid Nail. That stuff holds anything! Then I painted the mantle because I didn't want to have to paint around the tile that I was adding next (it turned out I still did because the grout took some of the paint off).

After tiling and grouting the face and hearth, I was getting closer.
I wanted to change the surround to match the other finishes in our house. Most everything is nickle or silver. I decided to silver leaf instead of just painting. I started by sanding the surface to rough it up some.

This is the leafing I used. I got it at Michael's along with the sizing (used to stick the leafing) for less than $10.00 with my coupon.

I masked off the area I wanted to leaf since I didn't want to get it on the tile or the grout.

The next step was to put on the sizing. Make sure to get it all over the area you plan to leaf. It just needs to dry a bit until it is no longer wet, just tacky.

After it is ready to go, just take the leafing and put it on the surface. The leafing that I bought was stuck to the paper. I'm not sure this was the best for this project, because it might have been easier with the detached sheet. Anyway, I just kept putting the sheet over the missing sections on the surround and rubbed with my finger until it was all covered.

To clean off the little bits that stuck up or were not attached, you simply run a soft brush over the surface until done.

After I was happy with the coverage, I had to seal the leafing to protect it and so that it won't tarnish. I used a non-water based sealer.

After that was done, I added trim to the hearth since it sits higher than the floor. We had to scribe it and fit it a couple of times to make sure it was flush. It was also attached with lots of Liquid Nail.

And here is the finished product. I am so happy with how it turned out.

The end of hockey

2010-03-25T10:10:00.002-04:00

This was our last week of hockey. Hard to believe that 10 weeks have gone by! And they have improved so much. They can skate forward and backwards and even got to play in two scrimmages. A big thanks to the Penguins and Sidney Crosby. They really enjoyed themselves and got the opportunity to learn a new sport.

Here's a shot from the scrimmage this week. They had 3 games going at once, hence all the kids on the ice. Cade is the taller one in the middle of the photo.

We also had Crazy Hair Day. Cade's class has weekly spirit days, and last week it was time for crazy hair. I put plenty of hairspray on it and spiked it. It didn't last the whole day though. What a cutie.

And then there was this crazy guy. Everything is funny with him. Turning in to quite a character. Mr. Sarcastic.

In other news I got all the painting done in the dining room. I'll post photos once I get the crown moulding up. That is the final part of the project!

I also looked for a new point and shoot camera. I needed something other than my Canon Rebel that I could carry with me all the time. After a lot of research and then finally seeing the camera in person and checking out the features I chose this one:

It's just been released. I really liked the touch screen and all the features. I'll give a review after I get it.

I've also been reading a lot. I just got this book

If you love L.M. Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables) you'll love this book. I think it is one of her best. It includes short stories and poems that in some way are related to the Blythes - considered to be the 9th book of the Anne series. This book is a little hard to find in the U.S. because it is a Canadian book, but it is well worth the hunt. I am also reading this one:

I just finished Pat of Silverbush last week (yes I am on a L.M. Montgomery marathon). I enjoyed this book -- especially Judy Plum. It makes me think of how my great grandparents would have spoken. Some have said that they thought that Pat was a little flat, but I didn't see it that way.

Now that the dining room is almost done, I may get my tutorial done for how I did the silver leaf on the fireplace.

Completed Living Room

2010-03-05T18:41:00.005-05:00

Just so you understand what I started with...here is what the living/tv room used to look like before we renovated. Pretty scary, huh? Love that shag carpet and paneling.

This was the view into the corner of the room and the foyer and stairs. More of the same ugly.
And here is what it looks like now. What do you think? I really love it. I have to point out that we did ALL the work ourselves (I guess that's why it has taken almost 5 years!).

I wanted to redo the fireplace and make it more in keeping with the feel of the house, which was built in the early 1900's. Since the fireplace was so old, it was not safe to use as a wood-burning fireplace. It was totally unlined and much of the mortar was not the best. So I went with the next best thing. I went with an electric insert. We do not have gas service to the house, so this was about the only alternative.

The fireplace mantle was from an 1890's farmhouse in Ohio. I got it at a great price at a local antique store. I went with the marble hearth and the surround is white glass tile in a matchstick pattern. I love how it glitters. And I am glad I went with this size of tile because the larger subway tile was too big for the scale of the area. The hood on the top was from eBay. You can see more about the original here. You might notice that they hood is now silver which matches the other finishes in the house. I will show how I did the silver leafing in another post. And it cost less than $8 to do!

My huge IKEA couch. It is rather big, but we do have 5 people in our family. And even though I have 3 boys I did go with a white couch. The slipcovers are easy to wash and I have 2 sets. I also have a matelasse coverlet across the seat that I can easily throw in the wash and I like the texture. I also change out the pillow covers as the seasons change.

Another view of the couch and foyer. Max loves to lay by the fire and sleep.
The view of the room from the foyer.

Here's that corner again. I'd have to say that it is improved. If you look in the foyer, you can see one of our remaining projects --the railing on the stairs.

Sources: Flooring - Brazilian Cherry, Lumber Liquidators; Wall Paint - Pottery Slip Eggshell, Valspar; Trim - ProClassic Semi-Gloss in White, Sherwin Williams; Glass Matchstick Tile- Oyster, Designer Stone Outlet.

We had to keep pretty much the same footprint as we started with due to support walls, but I think I succeeded in getting more of an open feeling to the house.

I'd love to hear what you think!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T10:56:00.003-05:00

I hope you all get a little love today. ;)

Graphic courtesy of here.

And a Layout too!

2010-02-12T19:25:00.003-05:00

I did get a layout done yesterday too. It is based on the Inspired Blueprints sketch #33. I used my January Studio Calico kit too (and a little of Feb.). It felt good to do one since I haven't scrapped since November. A quick one about the twins' hockey. (Ignore that shadow...I didn't have the best light!)

What's been happening here?

2010-02-12T18:53:00.003-05:00

Not a whole lot, but at least the kids made it back to school today after being off the whole week. They had a two hour delay and then seemed to goof off the whole day anyhow. Movies and a Valentine party. At least I got a little free time. I worked on some taxes and then painted the fireplace. I had primed and filled in all the holes earlier in the week. I also had a lot of caulking to do. So much that I needed to let it dry 24 hours. Either our wall isn't straight or the mantle was warped. Maybe a little of both. I took Lisa's advice and painted it white. It is true that all the rest of the trim in the house is painted white. I do think I like it better painted white. I have at least one more coat of paint. I use Sherwin Williams Proclassic Acrylic Gloss Enamel trim paint. It covers the best and holds up well, even though it is pricey. I have tried the others and this works and looks the best. Maybe we'll get the tile done this weekend!

I also got a present this week. I loved the serverware from Martha Stewart, but really didn't need it. I had gotten a $25 gift card for Christmas from my sister-in-law. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I waited. I had ordered the smaller version of this compote first, but it ended up being out of stock. Then I ordered the bigger one. It ended up being the same price as the smaller one after the sale and discount. I am guessing the line is being discontinued since there are only a few pieces remaining online at Macy's.

Here's a view outside of our house. The ice is crazy. Even though it is not warm out, we still are getting melting snow. That long one is getting close to touching the ground. We'll have to knock them down soon. I knocked down the ones I could reach in the house because they are heavy and I don't want the gutters to come down.

A beautiful end to the day. It was mostly sunny out today, even though it is cold. Supposed to be the same everyday for a week.

Looking forward to the Daytona 500 this weekend. Kasey did a great job winning the 2nd Duel yesterday, now he'll start 4th. Seems like the Fords are agreeing with him. I hope it goes better for him this year.

Ok, that's ENOUGH!

2010-02-06T15:14:00.002-05:00

I get the picture. I guess I shouldn't have complained about the snow yesterday. Yes, that's 19" of snow there. We were projected only to get 4-8". I guess they were wrong.

Here's a collage of a 360° of what my house and front yard look like. You can see my footprints in the snow. It was up past my knees. I had to go out to shovel a path for Max so he could go potty.

Here he is. The snow is almost taller than he is. He's trying to run here. Good Luck. Of course he couldn't go where I had shoveled for him.

Here's a view of the back deck. There's a patio set and a gas grill under all that snow!

After I took Max out, I had to go around the yard and try to knock some of the snow off the trees. The weight was making them bend to the ground and in some cases, breaking off large branches. The poor birch at the end of the drive didn't fare so well. One of the side branches was touching the ground and made the whole thing split, so we'll have to cut it off in Spring. I also had to pull one of the fallen branches from the large pines along the road. It had fallen right in the middle of the road. Boy was that sucker heavy! So much so that I could only move it right to the side of the road (at least out of the way). It didn't matter anyhow since no one was out. I haven't seen any cars today other than my dad who came to check on me and plow a path out the drive. Of course all this happens when I am home alone. It always does. I guess it didn't snow any up in Corry. I bet Carrick's gonna love it when he gets home. I swear that kid could live outdoors.
Mr. Lubert is here right now plowing out the bottom of the drive, thank goodness. I know I couldn't get out until that was done and I still have to dig my car out.

One bright spot of the day is that it is Qualifying Day for the Daytona 500. I'm always glad when the long season is over, but really ready when it starts back up. I've been watching NASCAR for a long time. I've been a fan of Kasey Kahne's since he started. I haven't gotten to go to any races in the past two years, but maybe this year! My favorite track is Bristol. The kids all have their favorite drivers too. Carrick's is Ryan Newman, Cade's is Jimmie Johnson, and Cole's is Kasey. Mark's was Sterling Marlin, but since he's retired he hasn't picked a new one. The kids used to watch entire races when they were just babies and sat in their bouncy chairs. They would watch and be content the whole time.

The Blahs...

2010-02-05T10:43:00.004-05:00

Not looking forward to the snow we are going to get today and tomorrow. Right now (11:00 am) it hasn't started yet, but it will soon.

Ok, I admit it. I hate winter. I liked Winter when I was young and played in the snow, but now it hate when it gets cold and things die off.
I guess that I should live where it is warm year-round but the family would have none of that. In fact, they are going skiing this weekend (not me, I don't know how to ski). I guess a lot of it stems from the fact that I get so cold so quickly when I am outside. I can never keep my fingers and toes warm no matter how many layers I have on. I guess I must have Raynaud's disease.

Oh, well. I can dream of warmer temps and look at these photos to remind me of that. The top photo was from our trip to the Outer Banks this past Labor Day. The other photo is from the yearly Pig Roast held in July 4th weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This was the 17th annual (anniversaries + 1)!

The kids have a ball playing in Grandpa Bundy's (nicknamed after Al Bundy) creek (that is pronounced crick here in Western PA). They spend all day building a dam with rocks.

Not much work on the homefront. Here's what the fireplace looks like. The top piece is attached with Liquid Nail. Not sure if I will add the side pieces. I also don't know if I should paint the fireplace white. I like the wood, but the problem is that the mantle top is a different color than the rest of the mantle. So I would have to stain it somehow to get it to match. My original paln was to paint it, but I liked the plain wood after it was put up. What do you think?
I did decide on this tile. I had bought the other marble subway tile, but it was too much in such a small area around the firebox. I think this will be a better alternative. I will show it off when I get it done (hopefully soon!). I also plan on getting some painting done along with Spring cleaning at the same time since I have to move things out of the way.

Here is my latest piece. It is about 3/4th done. I still have to finish it with the addition of a collar and some finishing touches. This is what it looks like after molding, painting, glittering and sealing. I hope to have it listed today or tomorrow on Etsy after it dries and I can finish it.

I Made My First Sale!

2010-02-03T14:03:00.004-05:00

Hurray! I made my first sale. I decided yesterday after reading Rebecca's post on Haiti By Hand that I would donate one of my pieces to be sold for their benefit. It means a lot that I could help people in Haiti and that someone wanted to buy one of my creations. Here is the address for HAITI BY HAND , please stop by and help them out. The piece that sold was the Valentine's Day Chick I showed a few days ago.

I also wanted to let you know that I am having a "Grand Opening Sale" at the shoppe. Go on over and check it out! Hootenanny Shoppe . I plan on finishing an other Easter Bunny like the one I originally made for my sister-in-law. It should be done before the weekend.

I also purchased something from the shop a couple of weeks ago. It was a piece done by Charlotte Lyons, one of my favorite artists. It now hangs over my worktable with two pieces I have from Rebecca.

Grand Opening Sale!

2010-02-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

I opened my Etsy shop about a week or so I thought I'd have a SALE since I have three things in the shop. Here is the newest creation:

Chicky Chick. I love how this one turned out. Lots of cute details. I priced it at $25. It is so hard to price this stuff, I have about 3 days work in each one (molding, then painting, then decorating), so I think this is a bargain considering that it is totally hand-made and one of a kind. You can find her here for sale along with my other creations. I hope that someone likes them because I haven't sold anything yet.

I used vintage letters that I got through Jenni Bowlin when I won a give-away from her a few years ago and then through the Junque Boxes she sells. The other objects are things I have collected over the years.

I find these very relaxing and fun to do. So much that I haven't scrapped since November! I really need to get back to that since I have at least three Studio Calico kits that I haven't used.

Tonight is Hockey Night again -- so it's Pizza for supper at 4:30. This will be their 3rd time.

Carrick has been home from school today with a stomach ache and a bad cough. It seems sleep has done him a lot of good --he's feeling better now. You see, I am a mean mom. I make my kids stay in bed when they stay home sick from school. I do that so that they think twice about staying home if they really aren't sick, and for the fact that I have things I must get done. I will admit that I did take a nap with him this morning!

I did it again!

2010-01-26T20:14:00.002-05:00

I got another figure uploaded for selling at Etsy! Come take a look...
We had another hockey session again tonight. They both enjoyed themselves and I guess that's all that matters. Still working on getting the hang of skating. Maybe we'll try some skating lessons. Carrick needs some so he can do Hockey Start in the next session.

I Finally Did it!

2010-01-23T17:49:00.000-05:00

Today I finally got my act together and opened up my Etsy shop! I only have one item there currently, but I have two more to finish up in the next two days. They are two chick boxes, one for Valentine's Day and one for Easter.

Here are my little hockey players. They had their first time at hockey school this week. Even though they aren't the best skaters yet, they still loved it. It is so funny to see all those little kids out there skating. Some are expert skaters, while others had issues with letting go of the wall (luckily mine can skate on their own).

And here is a photo of my kitchen right after a bomb went off. No, no bomb...but it does look like it. I was cleaning out cabinets and moving around the dishes. I also got my grandmother's Depression glass out of storage. She had a lot of it, mostly in the American Sweetheart pattern. There are a few dishes of other patterns, just one here, one there, so I may sell those ones. Some of the prices of that stuff is crazy!

I also put away all of these Christmas ornaments. I hate this task! It's just such a pain and so sad to take the tree down. I still have one more to do in the "Man Cave" upstairs. That one is not as big, but I still am not looking forward to it!

Have good weekend!

I'd Like Your Opinion!

2010-01-13T12:55:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking about opening an Etsy shop for a while and finally got my act together.
I have started making these:
Paper machè figures from vintage candy molds. It took me awhile to get the molding correctly for these, but now I think I have it. I hand-paint each one and then it is glittered. This one measures 7" tall by 4" across. I have others like a larger rabbit with a back basket and little chicks to do too. This one I made for my sister-in-law's birthday.I also added some handmade details with the collar. Those are little rusty bells sewn on a velvet ribbon with vintage silk thread and topped with vintage-y tinsel.
So what do you think? Do you think they would sell on Etsy? Would $25.00 be too much? Please leave a comment below and let me know! Thank you so much for your help. It really means a lot!

Here's What We'll Be Doing Every Tuesday ...

2010-01-11T21:38:00.004-05:00

...for the next ten weeks.

We picked up all their gear tonight for the start of hockey next week. Cole and Cade are excited to learn to play hockey. This program is awesome. Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and other sponsors pay for all the equipment and we just had to pay a fee for them to play. All brand-new equipment! The kids in the program are ages 4-7. And you had to sign up online and it sold out quickly.
I've been taking them skating for the past couple of weeks since they found out they made it in. They had never skated before, but now they can skate all by themselves. It took about three sessions at 2 hours each, but they never gave up. I am not a great skater by any means, but we did it together!

I will post photos when we open the boxes tomorrow. It was too late tonight since we had to wait for Mark to get home since my car is on the fritz. Good thing, too, since it had really started snowing and the local roads were bad. After getting the huge boxes, we ate supper at Buffalo Wild Wings and then headed home. By the time we got home it was 9:15, and they went to bed.

So thanks, Sidney, for this awesome opportunity.

Half Bath Redo

2010-01-08T14:06:00.003-05:00

I thought that I'd share with you my downstairs 1/2 bath redo. I finished this right before Christmas. This is a "new" space we added on to the house when we remodeled. It was formerly the site of the old back porch that fell in on the old owner's wife!

The only thing I really did was repaint all the walls and paint the trim. I saw in November's Country Living magazine this paint color and loved it. It is Ralph Lauren in Mercer. The paint went on really nice and had a very good coverage. The color of the room was a Sage green that I had mixed myself (two mis-tinted cans of Mystic paint I bought in Chicago long ago). It was nice, but not what I was looking for. I had to do a lot of patching on the walls because for some reason there were many screwpops. I couldn't use the original paint color to repaint because there wasn't enough left.

Anyway, here is the finished product. This in the view looking into the bath.

The floors are travertine, like we have in the kitchen and master bath. I used frosted vinyl window cling from the Home Depot on the bottom of the window for privacy. Only need it for those occasions when someone else is in the back yard or hot tub. I hated covering the window because of the light and view. I think this was a good alternative.

Here's the sink. It was a Pegasus from Home Depot that I think is now discontinued. The faucet and light fixture were from the Expo and I got them on clearance when the store was closing. I bought a lot of stuff there. The mirror is from IKEA and about $20.
(Ignore that tape on the sink inlet!)

This is my collection of old children's school photos over the lav. I started collecting them a couple of years ago and recently added a few more. Just need one more! They are so cute. The first one on the left has all the kids in their Halloween costumes.

This is the corner opposite the toilet. There are two of these prints in here. They are from the same artist and have matching frames. My mom bought these for me.

The next photo is of one of my most treasured items. I bought this when I was still working in Chicago. It is a Chickering square grand piano made in 1855. I bought it through a piano broker and it came from Canada. It was quite a process to get it through customs because the keys are actual ivory. I love it and the history that goes with it. It was a beautiful tone. I have played piano since I was 5 and all through college. After having a family, it has sat neglected. This is going to change. I am going to start back at it.

I love all the light at my house. The old timers knew how to site a house to get the best light. Now if they could have only built straight walls and square rooms!

The Christmas That Was...

2010-01-06T18:39:00.001-05:00

Well, the fireplace mantle didn't get done (as you can see), but we at least got the fireplace and mantle installed. This was a shot I took Christmas Eve after putting together a basketball hoop (note: do not try to put kids' toys together at home…they couldn't sleep and ruined the surprise).

Here they are in the mad scramble to open all their gifts! I think that everyone got what they wanted.

And finally here is a shot of the house with a beautiful covering of snow. This was a week ago. I no longer think the snow is beautiful and wish it would go away. It has snowed here and been very cold. Hasn't been over 30° here in over a week I think. Ignore the unpainted trim on the eves of the house. We'll get to it — I promise!

I haven't posted in a while because I have been working on something new that hopefully will be a successful venture. I'll give you a hint and say it has something to do with candy molds, but it's not edible.
I also changed up the blog a little and added a design. Like it?

Look At What I Got Today!

2009-12-18T17:28:00.003-05:00

I have been waiting for about 3 years to finish this fireplace. It was just something that didn't HAVE to be done. More of a luxury...and I had to look at the blank wall everyday because it is in the living room, right off the foyer. Now we are finally finishing it!
It was too far gone to use as a wood-burning fireplace. Not lined and bricks were crumbling AND the chimney is located inside the house. We do not have natural gas, so that was not an option. So I found an electric insert that was pretty cheap (not shown in the photo) that was already in a tiny moveable fireplace. We just have to take it out and put it in here.
I had been looking for a mantle for quite a while. I even had plans to make one. Here it is--from the Seasons of Cannon Falls Idea house. (Photo from Home Companion Magazine, Dec/Jan 2008.) On a side note about the house renovation -- I based a lot of what I did in my house on the Seasons of Cannon Falls River House. This book was so helpful. I practically have my copy worn out!

But I happened along this mantle while at the local antique shop. The price wasn't bad, but I wasn't sure it was what I really wanted. So I kept it in the back of my mind.
I found the cast-iron surround on eBay for $40. I love it, but the dimensions are different than those that were listed in the auction, so it is a pretty tight fit with the insert...we'll have to see what can be done with it.
I finally decided that it would be easier if I bought the mantle since the one I wanted was a lot of work with all the trim to cut. So I went today to the shop hoping that they would still have it. And they did, and ON SALE!!

The mantle is from a 1890's farmhouse in Ohio. It has been mostly stripped of all the paint. I'm not sure if I want to repaint it or leave it as is. What do you think? (That's Max the wonderdog in the photo.) And the best part? It was only $100!
The hearth area will be done in Carrera marble. I am thinking about using the same marble in subway tile size or this tile as the surround tile.
I really like the finger tile, but I'd have to order them. The subway tile are in stock at Home Depot. May just go with those. Hopefully it will get done this weekend so we have somewhere to hang our stockings!

Here is a little project I did the other day. The snowflakes are styrofoam from Michaels. On clearance for $1.49 for two. I then covered them with Mod Podge and glitter. I love the Martha Stewart Snow glitter (used my 40% off coupon). Then I hung them from fishing wire and the branch was one I cut from the yard. (Ignore the unpainted trim!) It sits on top of my TV armoire.

Feeling Better Now

2009-11-19T09:45:00.003-05:00

I've been missing due to the fact that I ended up with H1N1. The Dr. wouldn't give me Tamiflu because I never got a fever. Bah. Didn't she read that not all cases get a fever?
Then I ended up with a horrible sinus headache for 2 days. I just have to let those run their course. No amount of meds seem to help.
But now I am feeling better.

Here are three layouts I did before I got sick.

Finished some photos I had laying around since last Christmas. I had to reprint them because they had faded so much! I got some glitter mist that I just love. It's called Marshmallow and it is shimmery and somewhat clear. Just makes a nice sheen over the whole layout. I also like how it curls the paper a little to make the parts more distinguishable. Not for all pages, but some.

I've been working on many of my knitting projects for presents. Not as fun when you are on a schedule.

Carrick's room got cleaned and moved around. He sure is a packrat! Wonder where he gets that?
Ha ha. Gives him more room and even room for a chair to sit in read in. Now I just have to clean up the rest of the house. And I need the motivation. I guess the fact that Thanksgiving is next week should be motivation enough. I did get the front porch steps repainted yesterday and some of the Christmas lights hung...

Thank you to all the Veterans!

2009-11-11T09:53:00.003-05:00

We appreciate your service and what you give up for us everyday.
Thank you.

image courtesy Just Something I Made

Some Creativity

2009-10-30T11:46:00.005-04:00

Here are some Layouts that I have done in the past couple of weeks. I think my favorite is of Cole and Cade from Football.

This one is on the first day of school.

The last one is from our vacation to the Outer Banks. He stopped at the Grave Digger shop on the way home.

On other topics, we are still missing Millie. It seems strange not to see her sleeping in her usual places.
Mark is in Vegas on one of his twice yearly trips there. Wish I had the opportunity to go somewhere, but I can't since I have the feeling that I just can't dump the kids on someone and go have fun. The plan is for all of us to go in May of next year. The twins have been wanting to go for a long time since they don't remember the last time they were there (they were in the womb!) and Carrick wants to go back...he was there two or three times when he was little.
I have had no urge to do any work this week other than what I have to. I guess it's because of the passing of Mil and the dark weather. Blah.
Cole and Cade have a birthday party tonight with a Halloween theme. Tomorrow is Trick-or-Treating up in my parents' house. If you can believe it, we get no one at our house. The houses are so spread out and there aren't any kids too close by so I don't have to buy candy!
But up in my parents' neighborhood where I grew up, there are lots of houses and lots of Trick-or-Treaters. Hopefully the rain will stay away.

Sad News

2009-10-27T10:25:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was a very sad day. We had to make the decision to put our Millie to sleep. It wasn't an easy decision, but it was time. She was about 14 years old.

We got Millie as a rescue dog when she was about a year and a half old. We already had two border collies and I wanted another. She was a bit of a handful, but I am glad she became part of our family. She was never happier (though I doubt Buck and Cap were) than when she was hearding and nipping the other dogs when we played frisbee.

She was a patient dog and never really gave us trouble other than the nipping. She moved with us through 3 houses and 1 apartment, and 2 two states. She was at 13 pig roasts. She lost two of her best friends and gained a pesky new brother. She will be missed.

Carrick took it harder than I thought. Millie was never very affectionate, especially to the kids, but I think because she had been with him all of his life it was hard to say good-bye. He even went with his dad to the vet. He was there when she left. He is braver than I. I knew I couldn't do it. I don't think the twins really understand what it means.

So now we are a one dog family. It hasn't been that way in a long time. Max cannot figure out what is going on. I think he is still looking for her, waiting patiently by the door for her to come back home.

Go Away H1N1

2009-10-23T08:43:00.006-04:00

Since the last time I posted, Carrick got sick with the flu and didn't get to play in his last game. He still hasn't gotten over it, and it's been two weeks! Now it seems he has moved on to a sinus infection. I can commiserate with him since I have one too. Now Cade is sick with a back hacky cough and is in bed...so I have two home today. So much for going to JoAnn to use my 50% off coupons! It will just have to wait.

I've started a new obession -- knitting. I always wanted to do it, but never had luck figuring it out until now. I have knitted scarves for the boys and now I am working on dishcloths with a little more of a pattern. Still working on that purl stich. There are some great videos on YouTube. Here are my favorite... How To Knit . Make sure you watch the video...makes it easy to understand.

We had our first hard frost of the season this week. Most of the flowers are done now, with a few exceptions. The day after the frost, we had a big warm-up to 65 degress. And we got over-run by ladybugs and stinkbugs looking for a place to spend the winter. Take a look...you even get a peek at what the house looks like. See all the specks? They're the ladybugs!

Since I am showing off pictures of the house, here is one of the front door and porch. See the cute doggies at the window?
The pumpkin hanging and the green vase I bought at T.J Maxx (my favorite) for around $12 ea.. The crate was from a local antique store for $10. I got the owl many years ago at Cracker Barrel. The stuff around the door is grapevine from a wreath taken apart. I also have lights in it.

This past weekend we worked on moldings for the house. What a difference! That and the fact I don't have to keep tripping on them in the foyer, where we were storing them for the past 3 months before installation. I will take photos as I get them painted. I really hate painting trim. So much prep work (filling nail holes, caulking the corners and voids, taping,....ugh) to finally get to the finished project. Now we have to trim out all of the windows. Not such an easy job since most of the windows need extra extention since the walls of the house were thicker than the average house and we didn't realize that when we ordered them. So it is custom for each window! Ah, it will be so nice to have windowsills! Ha.

Have a good weekend!

Bittersweet Week....

2009-10-09T10:00:00.006-04:00

This week is bittersweet because it is the last week of regular season football for the boys. Last night was the last night of practice. So after 2 1/2 months of practice almost everyday, we are done unless they win their games on Saturday -- then they go to the playoffs. I'm very proud of them. They have done an awesome job in their first year. Some of the kids have played since they were 5, so my boys were not starters and didn't get a lot of playing time. They still stuck it out and I think that they learned a lot. They also made new friends they wouldn't have met otherwise (kids from the other school in our district).

We had Open House a few weeks ago and it was nice to meet their teachers. They are doing well in school and got all A's on their progress reports. Carrick is home sick today from school...not sure if it is a cold or allergies, but he was running a fever of 100, so I had him stay home and sleep.

We are going to see Bruce Hornsby on Sunday. The kids and I are excited. He is our favorite and his concerts are so enjoyable. Carrick will be sure to make a request list for Bruce...he'll play requests from the audience. Then he'll save them and put them on his website. I made a scrapbook layout of the last one he did.

On the crafty front, I have been teaching myself to knit. I really enjoy it and get a lot done while watching TV in the evening. So far I have done two scarves...now I have two more for Carrick and Cole. I have also been sewing Pjs for the boys. I completed one for Carrick and 1/2 for Cole. Need to finish up the bottoms on that one.

Nothing has been going on in the house department. Still have a pile of baseboard and trim sitting in the foyer (for the past 3 months) needing to be installed. We have a lot that needs to be finished outside before Winter. A little siding, fixing overhang, gutters, painting window trim, and outdoor furniture put away. Those are just the things that have to be done. There's plenty more in the queue that needs done too....

I'm Found!

2009-09-22T12:53:00.007-04:00

Boy. I have been missing for a long time! Summer was so short it seems.

We started with Football practice on July 25th and that seemed to cut our summer short. Practice everyday from 6-8. I'm glad that the boys wanted to play. My brother played for many years when he was younger and I even was the Manager (water girl) of his team for a year! So I don't mind the expense of time lost... and they enjoy playing. We have 2 games to go to each week (sometimes 3 if there is a scrimmage).

The other events of the summer were going to stay at my parents' cabin at Jamestown, PA; a wedding of two of our friends, and a week at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The Outer Banks vacation was over Labor Day so that the kids didn't miss that much school. Too bad the weather was less than cooperative. It rained about 1/2 the trip.

This week we have

bookfair
Open House
2 football games
orthodontist appointment
new freezer delivery.

Good Luck with getting too much done. At least I got the grocery shopping done yesterday!

P.S. - I uploaded a bunch of layouts to Studio Calico today. Check em out.

New Layout.s

2009-06-12T14:18:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd post some of the projects I have been working on. Some of them were done last month, and some recently.This one is about my little Cade. Such a cutie!

This one is about Popcorn time at home.

This one is about my other cutie, Cole and how he seems older than 6.This one is about Carrick and how he started the summer off wrong.This final one is about the last day of school. Hard to believe that the year is over already!

I think that all of these pages are from the past two Studio Calico kits. Just love them.

Feeling kind of under the weather today. Not sure if it is that monthly thing or something else, but I have been crampy and my back has hurt all day. Not even 1000mg of Tylenol could help.
Hopefully it will go away soon. I have a birthday party to take Cole to tonight and then watch the Pens win the Stanley Cup! Gotta have faith.

Today was also weekly house cleaning day. Haven't done it in a few weeks, so it really needed done, especially since the kids have been dragging dirt in from the dirty driveway. I'll have to go into detail one time about how I have changed to "green cleaning" and how much better I like it.

I didn't think it had been that long!

2009-06-11T16:07:00.006-04:00

My goodness! Where has time gone? I guess I have just been busy. Working outside. Putting in a garden, doing daily outside work like weeding and grass-cutting, and trying to keep the kids busy now that they are out of school.

There has been plenty else going on too. Carrick fractured his arm over Memorial Day. Spent 3 hours in the ER. He fell off the back of the hot tub while goofing off (we told him to stop, but did he listen?). He had to wear a splint for 4 days until we could get in to see a specialist at the new Childern's Hospital in Pittsburgh. He had a bone chip in his elbow and they were not sure where it had come from. He ended up having about 8 x-rays and a CT scan until it was determined they would not have to operate and he could be casted. A whole day spent at the hospital, $20 for parking and I had to have CASH to pay for lunch! Huh? So I had to pay $2.00 to get out $20 from the ATM. #$&(*%. At least everything turned out well. He goes back to see the Dr. on the 26th. At least we don't have to travel downtown for that.

Then we had the last day of school last week. They have been home for an entire week now and I have heard "I don't know what to do." about a million times. They are getting better at keeping themselves busy as the days go by. They only get to watch a little TV in the mornings and then from 2 to 5 they have to share playing Wii. I have also started quiet time from the end of lunch until they play Wii. They have to keep quiet and not bother me for that time --reading, coloring, playing. But they have to be quiet. It worked pretty good today and I got a whole layout done.
Been working on the house outside a lot too. Still grading for the new driveway, putting in the stone steps in the front with walls (we used stone from an old barn foundation here in the property) and planting beds. Have been planting lots of plants (roses, perennials, trees) and cutting lots of grass. I'll post photos of the front when I get a chance. It's raining out right now.

Lastly, we have been watching the awesome Pens. Hope they can come out victorious tomorrow. I know they can, but Joe Lewis seems to have a spell over them. Let's hope it is broken along with the Redwings chances. Go Pens! At least I have that to look forward to since we are not going to the Michigan race this weekend. It's always nice to go and camp out with relatives, but Mark says we have too much work. He always says that...

On to the Second and Third Floors...

2009-04-17T09:46:00.006-04:00

Sorry, I tried to fix this photo so it was right, but Blogger wouldn't let me. This was the view going up the stairs. Don't you just love the shag carpet and paneling?

This was the view looking down the landing on the stairs from the second floor. Pretty dark.

Looking down from the landing on the stairs to the first floor.

Wow. Was it really this bad? This was the first bedroom at the top of the stairs to the left. Just look at those pictures on the wall. They always freaked me out when I was a kid because they has such huge eyes. Red yuckky carpeting and stairs that lead to the third (attic) floor. Kinda goofy to have the stairs in a bedroom.

Here are the stairs to the third floor. These stairs gave us fits. We didn't want them to be here anymore, but it was tough to figure out how and where to put them. Eventually I won out and the stairs were relocated to where they must have been originally. This bedroom eventually was remade into the bathroom and laundry (that was another headache fight between DH and I..I won).

The second bedroom . How do you like the curved wall by the door? We reconfigured this room and it became the boys' room. We had 3 boys sleeping here for over a year until be got the attic done were Carrick now has his room.The other side of the room and the closet.

The master bedroom. Not much to look at.
The other side of the room. Look at how little Carrick is in the photo! He must be twice as tall now!

The bathroom at the top of the stairs. This was the only bathroom in the house (with the exception of the toilet in the basement). There had been a leak in the roof and it had caused damage in the house, but a lot of the water went right into the bathtub.This toilet must have been the original.
The hole in the ceiling where the leak was.And the sink. This area became the stair landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors and my scrapbook area. I love it. It has great light now and wide open.

Up on the third floor, was an interesting room. This was a girls' bedroom. See the chimney here. We ripped that out because we no longer needed it (it was the exhaust for the coal furnace).

Looking to the front of the house. When we redid the attic, we cut it into two rooms and made it a lot wider. We also had to install a dormer window so we could incorporate the new staircase. This side is now the kids (and Dad's) playroom. The other side is Carrick's bedroom.

New Projects

2009-03-25T09:44:00.005-04:00

I have been going back and scprapping older photos of my kids that I hadn't done before. Here is one of the twins at the Wattsburg Fair in 2003. This photo is just too funny!

This one is a comparison of me and the twins with clothesbaskets. I loved this new paper from Imaginisce. Just so cute! I did a bunch of stiching on this one and a bunch of punching.

Look at My Finds!

2009-03-24T12:03:00.007-04:00

I went out shopping for a little while yesterday morning. I usually do laundry on Mondays, but I had finished 2/3 of it on Sunday, so I treated myself. I went to an antique store I hadn't been to in a long time. Look at what I got:Isn't this chair the cutest? I got it for the twins' room since they had no where to sit while they read. Has original paint (black and red). The seat is a little worn, but I thought it was a good purchase at $25.

I was excited to get these buttons for a quarter a card!

I got this jar of buttons for $5. There were tons of great ones in here!

I got these plates at the antique store too. The large plate was $6 and the little bowls were $1, but they were 50% off - so only 50 cents each! The pattern is Virginia Rose. I plan on putting them on my new shelves in my kitchen when I finish them (got the wood last night).
All the other stuff was from The Yorktowne Shoppe. That wooden basket was only $7.48, the green bunny was $4.99, and the fabric carrot was $3.99.

Then last night on my weekly shopping for groceries, I stopped at Marshalls and found 2 of these (wish they had more!) for only $2.99 each! I plan on putting them on the front porch.

I also found this for $6.99. I plan on using it outside on my deck were the wall is pretty bare. I'll put some plants in little terracotta pots in there.
I think I got some awesome bargains. What do you think?

On a parting note, here is a photo of my kids waiting for their favorite snack of the day...

Some Background to the Story

2009-03-24T08:44:00.004-04:00

I thought that before I go any further, I would give a little background on how we came to buy the house that we now live in.

We moved out to Chicagoland right after finishing college. While it was a nice place to live, we still wanted to move back to the Pittsburgh area someday. We finally made that move in 2005, after living in the western suburbs of Chicago for 13 years. My dad had found the property for us--almost 23 acres and it was close to where I grew up, close to my parents and my brother. It was definitely a fixer-uper, but we had plans to build a new house on the property and just fix up the old house to be livable while we built it. HA.

After tearing into the house, it needed WAY more work than originally thought. 4 years later we are still working on it.

We have done ALL of the work ourselves. The only paid help we had is with the install of all the heating, plumbing and wiring. Other than that, the only help we have had in this project has been family. Lots of man hours. We did have lots of experience in doing the work ourselves. We did a lot of rehab on the last house we owned in Oswego, IL. It was stuck in the '70s when we bought it and totally updated it.

So that's how we came to where we are. Just so you don't think we haven't gone off our rockers, he is a photo of what the house looks like today:
Still a little rough around the edges, but most of the hard work is done.

Floor One - Before Work

2009-03-23T14:05:00.010-04:00

We'll start our tour here. This is the front porch that had been enclosed at some point in time. It was rather dirty and had no heat except for the hole in the wall that lead from the living room. We designated this the area for the kids to play in and stay out of our hair while we worked. On the top photo, you can see the doors on the left that did not open (at least easily) and how much the floor sloped away from the house.

Here we are in the living room looking at the foyer and the stairs that lead upstairs. Just look at all that wood paneling. Yuck. And notice the dirt by the registers. The house was heated by coal. That's right. When we started demolishing, we found coal dust everywhere. Everything was filthy. The door way in the middle (where you can see the door) led to the kitchen and also outside.

Look at this kitchen. Stuck in the 70s. Gold counter tops and bad linoleum on the floor.

A photo of the dining room. Note the all the paneling again. And the brown shag carpet. And that cool light fixture. And the built-in!

In the foyer, looking into the living room. Just look at that fireplace!

We are beginning the deconstruction phase. Removing the paneling. Notice the original wallpaper underneath. The carpet is gone too, but the wood floors underneath were not good enough to salvage.

Removed paneling in the dining room reveals the same wallpaper. And patched wood floors.

See the hole were the stove pipe went through? There was a chimney there that we totally removed. The doorway to the right goes to the kitchen.
Here my dad is getting into the nitty gritty of the tear-out. We tore every bit of wallboard and nasty blown-in insulation out. What a mess. We were black every time we did work there from the coal dust and insulation.

Wall in the living room, bordering the dining room and kitchen.

Wall in the living room along the front of the house. Notice the balloon framing (runs from roof to floor). We did find several of the boards marked from Sears (as in kit house) but I am not sure if it is one or they just used left overs for part of the house. We are close to the railroad (Freedom) so it could be a possiblity.
The fireplace in the living room with all the stuff removed. I tore off the brick too and maybe someday will have a fireplace that looks like a fireplace in this area.

This photo shows the old knob and tube wiring and the gas lines for lighting. We had a gas well on the property at one time, so that must be where the gas came from. We have no gas now. All electric.
This was a disaster area. After we look all the wall materials off, we found out the bump-out was sinking quite a bit. We found out the problem was whoever built it did not install any foundation, just laid stone and block on the ground. We tore the whole thing off, made a new block foundation, and rebuilt it.
This is a view from the kitchen to the dining and living rooms. Note the floral wallpaper.

This was another disaster we had to rip out. The sewage and water to the 2nd floor bathroom. It was leaking and we wanted it out of that wall.

Here is a shot from the kitchen to the foyer. More paneling. We tore this room down to the studs too as we did with all the rooms in the house.

Next time I will tell you about these two disasters.

New things for Sale

2009-03-11T18:09:00.007-04:00

I've been cleaning out again. Here is Ali's first book in excellent condition. SOLD to Powell's Books.

Digital Scrapbooking from Scrapbooks, Etc. In good condition from 2007. SOLD on eBay.

Free Style Book from Autumn Leaves. In excellent condition. $10.00 shipped media mail.

And last, but not least, the 3 tier shelf from Target last Easter. I used it to store lots of things, but had to make room for new stuff. In excellent condition. $10.00 plus shipping. It is large and semi-heavy.

So I Tried It!

2009-03-11T16:33:00.007-04:00

And it worked this time much better than last. I did have a few issues with thread getting stuck in the bobbin compartment, but I cleaned it all out and re-threaded the needle. And it worked. Tell me how you think I did....

I did a zig-zag stitch around the flower paper and a straight stitch around the gingham part.

I also got a few other LO done this week. All for challenges I do on 2 Peas and Studio Calico.
This one is about how the twins decided that they should try artwork on the walls of their playroom when they were two.

This one is of the twins when they were first born and how they would cuddle together when they slept.

An the final one is a LO of their "Loveys". They have had them since they were born. A little worn now.

Stitching on your Layout

2009-03-10T12:43:00.003-04:00

I found a great tutorial today for stitching with your sewing machine on paper. I have had less than success with this before because my tension was not set correctly.

Sewing Link

I think I will try it again!

Scrapbook Goodies for Sale

2009-03-05T16:12:00.011-05:00

I have been cleaning out my scrapbook area since I have entirely too much stuff. I made up these embellishment kits based on themes.

1.) Valentine's Embellishments
Most of the items fit either the theme or the colors of the holiday. There are lots of items here, some of them vintage (the cupid, tickets, cigar bands, etc.) and other items I have too many of.
Cost :$10 + Shipping

2.) St. Patty's Day Embellishment Kit
Again, items that are related or the color palette of the holiday. Metals, vintage tickets, and various embellies.
Cost : $5.00 + shipping

3.) Easter Embellishment Kit
Various Spring and Easter -related embellies. Some vintage items and other embellishments.
Cost: $ 5.00 + shipping

Contact me with your zip code for shipping costs. I will try to send the cheapest way. Email me :
cskuse@gmail.com

I accept payment through PAYPAL ONLY.

Each kit is packaged like this:

I will be putting together more kits in the coming days of both embellishments and paper. I will have some books for sale too.

What I have been working on for the past 4 years...

2009-03-05T09:21:00.015-05:00

This is what we have been working on for the past 4 years. These are the BEFORE photos. I am going to be adding photos every couple of days -- since I have a lot. The house was built around 1905. We have found boards labeled with Sears shipping labels, but I don't think that it was a Sears house.

This is a photo of what the house used to look like. Pretty bland. Ugly front porch that had been enclosed somewhere along the way. Front doors that don't open. Old aluminum siding. Overgrown vegetation. And it hadn't been lived in for years by humans (but had been by animals).

A shot of the garage (still looks about the same today). That red building had an unknown purpose. It was pretty gross on the inside. Smelled. Held old bags of dog food and miss-matched office furniture. Needless to say we tore it down and also removed that nasty black walnut tree (they must be the dirtiest tree on earth).

Shot of the front yard looking to the right side. There is a creek down there in the weeds. On the other side is land that used to be a pasture for cows. It is pretty flat, but can stay wet.

This is the view to the left of the house. Quite a steep hill that used to be a pasture for sheep. The hill is pretty overgrown with brambles and scrub trees. I need a DR Brush Mower for cheap!

This is a shot of the backyard behind the house. To the right is the back porch that had no real foundation so it had sunk. We removed that and put on an addition. We also added a deck off of that.
To the left is an old screened in porch (attached to the garage) that was no longer screened in. It was used as a place to store firewood by the previous owner. The squirrels used it as a storehouse for their food. We tore this down. It is now just a cement pad that we plan on tiling with slate. The hot tub currently resides here.

This is the view up the back from the house. There used to be a barn on the right and the red building up there used to house the farm equipment. Now it is just falling down. It will be burnt down sometime in the future.
The area is not as grown over now. I have trimmed it back, but there is still plenty more to do. Behind the building, to the right is another pasture.
Over the hill to the right of the building is a mine of some sort, closed off by a previous owner, and a spring that runs most of the year.

This is the view from the top of the hill to the left of the house. Quite a hike. We plan on building a new log home here in the future....the far off future! We currently own 22 acres. There is another piece for sale at the back of our property that we would like to buy. It would add another 20 acres.

This is the view in the opposite direction on top of the hill.

Ok, one more. This is the view from where the barn used to be. This is the creek and the pasture on the other side. It is not as over-grown now, but I need a bigger tractor to keep all this cut!
The pasture is to be the future place of a dirt bike track. I'm sure the neighbors will love that.

Stay tuned for new photos in the next week. I will take you on a tour of the house before we started work.

It's Been a LOOONNNNG Time

2008-01-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

I have been a very bad blogger.

Same old same old going on here.

The weather has been crazy. 70 degrees in January? Nuts.

I think I have been fighting off a double ear infection for a couple of weeks. I think it has won. Time to go to the Doctor.

Taking down the Christmas tree today. I hate that job. Got all the other stuff put back yesterday. Much easier to do when it is not freezing out (since I store all of the stuff in the garage).

Max has been a really bad dog recently. Not listening at all and getting into no end of trouble. Let's hope he wises up.

How can it be?

2007-07-29T23:46:00.000-04:00

Where have I been for almost a month? I guess there has been a lot going on. Races to go to (with Kasey Kahne), trip to cabin (my parent's new one), deck building (got that almost done today), and general laziness. We also had a birthday party somewhere in there too for the twins who are now 5. And a "Meet your 1st Grade Teacher" picnic (my son's teacher is the same teacher I had 30 years ago--her first year teaching--and don't be doing math to figure my age!:)
Lots going on and more to come in the next month---lots of birthdays, work on the house.......

At least I got my DW layouts done early this month...even worked on one for August already!

It's That Time of Year Again!

2007-06-28T22:31:00.000-04:00

Yes, it is Pig Roast time again. My supposed anniversary gift from my husband for the past 15 years. This is our 14th anniversary. Hard to believe. Since I have gotten older, I just don't enjoy the pig roast as much as I should. It's really just a party for Mark, a time for him to unwind and have a good time with all his friends. I hope he does because he has been working a lot of hours and he needs a break.

The kids, my mom, & I went to Ikea today. Finally got the mirrors I had been waiting 4 months to get back in stock. Will be nice to see my smiling face again while I brush my teeth. The kids had a blast in the ball pit while my mom and I shopped. It is like a holiday for them when we go to Ikea. At least they could get in today. The past couple times it was full and we couldn't wait for other kids to leave. Glad they got their chance today! Also got some Ilford photo paper at CompUSA. It goes so fast when I get scrapping done. Got three more done this week for July's DW challenge. Ahead of schedule for once. I'll post the after I get back from this weekend.

The kids have really been hepped up this week. I guess it is the anticipation of going to Ikea, the Pig Roast and being stuck in the house. It has been so hot (90) that most days we have stayed mostly in the house. Last night we had quite a storm and the electricity was off for 4 hours. A pain to be with out it, but I did get a LO done before it got too dark to see.

Have a great weekend!

I just realized...

2007-06-15T10:39:00.000-04:00

... that it has been a while since I blogged. Days just seem to fly by!

Been working on the house outside. Got all the old shrub stumps and tree stumps pulled out around the house. Mark roto-tilled the whole front and got rid of all of those awful weeds and groundcover. Looks so much better. Got some flowers planted. Not where I wanted, but they had to go in the ground before they died. Have 6 more roses that have to be planted today before we go away for the weekend. That will get done tonight.

The kids had been driving me crazy with some of the really stupid things they had been doing. Really stupid. Especially after I had just got done telling them not to do it. Or things that common sense should tell them not to do. Have been a little better yesterday and today.

Mark is golfing today. I felt bad for him when he made the big mistake of scheduling to go to the race the same weekend as his 20th class reunion. But that was his mistake...but he made me feel like it was my fault...that I was making him go to the race. Well, we had spent all that money on tickets and I couldn't see missing the race just because he wanted to see a bunch of people that he will be seeing in two weeks at his Pig Roast. I guess I just don't understand. So, hopefully he won't be as much a pain since he gets to golf with some of them today (yes, the same ones he will golf with in two weeks) and go to a mixer at a bar in town tonight. Who knows.

We are going to the NASCAR race at Michigan this weekend. We went last year and had a fun time camping out and going to the races. We even got soaked on Sunday and Kasey won the rainout. We are going to both races this year, but the one in August will be an adult-only outing.

Still trying to get over this cold-allergy thing I have. Awful coughing and drainage. The Dr. prescribed a codine cough medicine. Hopefully it will help.

Above, the second LO I did for the month. Posted last week. Need to get on the third.

The last one for May and first for June!

2007-06-03T14:31:00.000-04:00

My last for the month of May just done before the buzzer went off! Got a lot of goodies on this one! Had to order more embellies since I used so many in the last couple of layouts and getting low on vintage stuff. This one was a pretty quick one to put together. It is easier now that I put most of my embellishment by color.
The second Layout is my first for June. (How can it be June already?) This was another quick one after I did the computer work on the photo and got it just the way I wanted it. Love the Scenic Route paper! Made it so easy! Now I need to pick out more photos to finish off my last 3 for the month. It has been easy since I have been in the mood recently to do scrappin'! Yesterday we went to a graduation party for Mike's nephew. It seems hard to believe that we were that age 20 years ago. I feel so old when I look at people younger than me. Spent most of the afternoon there. Only got the new storm door installed this weekend. Mark and the kids went to Corry to visit and sell his truck cap. So I am having a rare day to myself! Spent the morning filing bills in the container and removing old ones to burn. THAT took quite a while. It sure accumulates quickly. Got some more things put away in their rightful places and cleaned up a bit. Maybe I will go out for a while --go to the Scrapbook Gallery and Wal-Mart for a few things. Quite tired today--my back really hurts for some reason.

Max goes back to dog training after a week off for Memorial Day. Hope he behaves better this time and not so much barking!

Two Layouts For DW 2007

2007-05-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

Finished up the two layouts I was hoping to get done for the challenge.
Here's the first based on May16th....

It looks a little wonky because of the scan and colors that doen't match.
Here's the second, based on May 1st....

You can check them out on 2peas also. See my link on the left.

Now, only 1 more to go! And only 1 day to do it in.

A busy Memorial Day weekend!

2007-05-30T14:37:00.000-04:00

But I think we got lots done...worked on the front siding (didn't get done because we ran out and had to order more), completed the wainscoating on the porch ceiling (which I am now priming) and had a picnic at Grandma and Pa's house. I will post photos of the work later!

Why does it have to go straight from winter weather to summer!? It is already almost 90° here and it's not even June. The grass is already dying in patches because we haven't had enough rain. (Cut grass today too.) Crazy.

Carrick only has 5 more days of school. Have to formulate a plan to keep them busy this summer. Now that they are older I think we will go do some fun things like the zoo, childern's museum, etc.
I think that we will also have to implement this points chart from Lisa. Too much whining and back-talking going on here.

Off to do some scrapbooking. Need to finish up my layouts for the DW challenge.

Oh, No, it's only been one day!!!

2007-05-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

How can they be driving me crazy already? They have only been home for one day! How can two little boys not be able to find something to do together outside without injuring themselves? UGH. I hope that summer will go better than today.

On a much brighter note (not) I went back to cleaning up all our junk in the garage. What a pain cleaning all the smoke damage from the trailer fire and just dinging out the junk. How do we accumulate so much STUFF? The big problem is this house is smaller than our last and some of the things we had just have no place here --like my china. We have no formal dining room here, so my Wedgewood china sits in boxes in the garage. And all my books because I have no bookshelf to put them on. Will have to work on that one.

The LOST finale was good, but it seemed to be drawn out more than it needed. Now if they would only bring back Jericho. That cancellation left me with too many unanswered thoughts. 77K people have signed the online petition to bring it back. Who knows.

MIA and Graduation Day

2007-05-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was MIA all day. Had one of my awful sinus problem days. Spent about 80% of the day in bed. Still felt bad this morning... congested and feeling the effects of all that allergy medicine. Yuck.

Today was the twins' graduation day! Hooray for them! So happy and sad at the same time. The days just seem to fly by. Their "Goodbye" song at the end of the program brought tears to my eyes. Carrick saw me and said he was happy too--what a sweetie. Now they will be all mine for three months until Kindergarten starts at the end of August. Carrick still has 2 more weeks of school.

Not Your Normal Monday

2007-05-21T23:26:00.000-04:00

My day started at 3:25 with Carrick waking me up that he was sick. Soon after he threw up. Must have a viral infection...poor guy. He even stayed in bed most of the day. Hope he's better tomorrow.
The school days are winding down. Today was Cole and Cade's last normal day of pre-school. They have their graduation ceremony Weds. night. That should be a fun time. They enjoy school so much!

This weekend though, they were not quite so enjoyable. Pains in the behind to get to bed Friday and Saturday night and then they did this on Sunday.....Let's just say they were a real mess after squirting each other with the hose in the backyard. Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal, but our backyard is mud from building the addition AND they had been in trouble for the same EXACT thing on Friday night! BOYS!
The day ended with a trip to Home Depot (we had to replace the porch ceiling we just installed because we used interior paneling-duh!) and dinner at Wendy's. Frostys for all!

Today was Max's first dog training session. It turned out good even though he was aggressive towards the other dogs and overly excited. Hopefully he will be better at the next session in two weeks! He learned to sit, lay, do doggie pushups, come to me, and spin (the first trick). He was tired out when it was over. Lots to work on this week.

Just another Saturday

2007-05-19T23:28:00.000-04:00

Not much going on here.
Just another Saturday.
Got some work done on the front porch -- columns boxed in. But not much else.
Mark was out of it today after being stupid last night.
The kids rode dirt bikes most of the day.
Went to Pondagrossa for supper. Made me wish I hadn't (as always).
Went to Home Depot for much needed nails.
Watched the All-Star Race- Harvick won. Kasey was in the pooper in 14th. Need to get that boy un-cursed.

Better Late Than Never

2007-05-18T17:07:00.000-04:00

Well, this is my second attempt to become a blogger. My last attempt only yielded one entry, so hopefully this one will go better.

Finished my FIRST layout for the monthly Designing with Calendar for the month of May. Here it is...Working on teacher gifts and the house is not conductive to getting these pages done. Now I just have 3 more to do before the end of the month.
I cannot believe how big the boys have gotten already. Time just flies. Weren't they just little babies last month? Speaking of scrapbooking, I saw the coolest idea in the latest issue of Simple Scrapbooks. Check it out here--A Guide to Life .
What a cool idea. I plan on doing something like this for my boys. Got the Maya Road album already in prepartion. Now I just have to come up with the things I want to pass on to them!

I have been on such a Bruce Hornsby kick recently. Don't know why. He's been one of my favorites forever. Valley Road was the very first CD I ever bought. Hope to see him this year on tour--if only he would be somewhere closer. If you ever get the chance to go to one of his concerts, GO! It is such an awesome experience. He never has a set list. The audience gives his suggestions by throwing up pieces of paper to the stage and sometimes he even invites the audience to come up on stage and dance along! I have been to about 4 or 5 of his concerts and they are always a great time.

The twins got to celebrate their birthdays today at preschool since they are during the summer time. I am glad they do this as I never got to celebrate my birthday at school since it is in August (Carrick will celebrate his at the end of the month at Kindergarten.)

Looking forward to the All*Star Race this weekend (GO KASEY) and I hope that we get lots done on the house and have time for fun too. Want to take the kids to a racing complex nearby that has kart racing. Anything to go fast!