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Remember Your First Fish?

Went over to South Mill Creek Lake this evening. We all caught several fish..............all huge of course..............OK, maybe not. Joshua's fish was about average size for this evening. You can definitely see how proud he is.

"NORA: Practice Makes Purr-fect"

John's got some competition. This looks like our cat...Smokey.

Swag Bucks

Today was a great day for Swag Bucks. I won a lot today. If you don't know about it, check out there website on the box below. It's just another search engine like Google or Bing but you get viral money (swag bucks) for your searches.


It's a great way to get gifts for FREE for your family and friends. 450 swag bucks gets you a $5.00 Amazon gift card. The cool thing the more family and friends you get to join the more swag bucks you will get. Check it out. They are having Summer Swag right now with more chances to win.

Featured on Better After

My bedroom was featured on this website today. So exciting!!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Steel Cut Oatmeal

A new favorite at our house is steel cut oatmeal. Steel cut oats are the whole raw oat cut into smaller chunks. It is less processed and therefor better for you. The down side it takes much longer to cook. 30 minutes vs 5 minutes. I found this recipe yesterday for making them in the Crock Pot overnight. They were creamy and delicious. I just added brown sugar, cinnamon and a little milk this morning. This was great!!

You could add anything you like...nuts, raisins, craisins, apples, maple syrup...the list goes on on. Give it a try! It was so easy.

Mulch

Before and After Photos

Before




















After



















I used some more of this. It looks a lot better. I LOVE spray paint.

What turns up the heat in your life?

While mowing today, I got this call because someone used too much TP. Water was all over the floor. Needless to say I did not extend grace. I was quite the opposite. I did go and apologize for yelling but I wish I could remember in the "heat" of the moment to stop and get a grip. It could happen to any of us.

Reveal of the black paint

The paint is finally dry. I hate waiting for paint to dry...well I hate waiting in general but that is another topic. On to the reveal......I have been wanting an armoire for my bedroom but I didn't have the money for one right now. I was thinking and this bright idea can to me...(I think it was from God). I have an armoire in the living room. I could move it to the bedroom. I ran it by Matt and he thought it was a good idea too. So that is what I did I moved the armoire from the living room to my bedroom and the dresser to the living room.


Before






















After






















It looks so much better in black.

To make it work in the bedroom, I had to add a shelf in it. I had some boards left over from the pantry project.






















Total cost was the cost of paint....$16.



With dresser















Without dresser. Much more room to move around.

An ah ha moment

Yesterday, I had one of those moments. I really can't believe I hadn't thought of it sooner. I don't want to tell you about it just yet. I want it to be a surprise.

But I will tell you that it includes some black paint. I'm so excited. Can't wait to paint tomorrow.

Lastest Flea Market Finds

Games $2 each. The Guess Who game on is a collector game on Amazon for $24.95 and rat-a-tat-cat sells for $9.45.

The boys are having a blast with the Guess Who game. We haven't play the other one yet.


















Brand new Skechers for only $2. They are so comfortable. I found them here for $60.

Introducing........Tabby

Matt got her at work today. Isn't she cute? She's only 5 weeks old. Smokey, our other cat, doesn't know what to think. He does like her food though.

Rusty Registers?

A little spray paint and you have a new looking vent register.

A Blessing

A sister of a friend of ours blessed us with a couch. We now have tons of setting for everyone. This will a big change from everyone piling on one couch. God was good to us and kept it dry. It has rained on and off all day. It was raining right before it was dropped off and right after. Thank you Lord for being so very good to us.

Kitchen Paint * warning bright paint*

Here is my inspiration photo. (I like it a lot better than my kitchen.)























I painted the kitchen, but I don't like the paint. It is too bright for my taste. I'm going to leave it like this for awhile though. I will repaint this summer. It does look cleaner and fresh. I do like that.

Before


















After










































(The plates are under the table/island because I paint it too.)

Kitchen

Here is a photo of our kitchen before we moved in our house. It was so totally gross. I can't believe we wanted to buy it. Look in the window......2 air fresheners. Yuck!!




















Here is a photo of what it looks like now. It is okay but quite plain. We were planning on selling our house, so we stuck with neutral colors.



















But I'm in the mood for change. Since the bedroom painting turned out good, I want to paint my kitchen now. I'm thinking green. Here is a photo that I like.

Bedroom Before and After

Sept 2002
















Oct 2002
















2009

















March 2010


















I have completed what I can for now on my room. There are a few more things to do but I will have to wait. I want to get an Armoire for our clothes and get rid of the dresser. The dresser takes up way too much floor space. We need to go vertical with the Armoire and have more floor space. I also want to paint the mirror black and frame some Paris photos, get another nightstand for my side of the bed, and an area rug. Most of those are wants that will have to wait.

(you can click on the photos to make them larger.)




































It took me a while to find a pillow that matched that I liked. Many stores were visited but I finally found the blue pillow at Pier 1 on clearance. It was a little pricey at $19.98 on clearance but it was the last thing to buy and it was exactly what I wanted so I got it. I love the beads.



















Here's a run down of the costs:
nightstand- $10
lamp- $10
lamp- $2
candles-$3.50
candle holders- $1
sea shells-$3
curtains- $3
vase- $1
mirror- $20
chair- $7
black pillows- $20
blue pillow- $20
comforter- $37 (clearance + 20% off)
throw- $23
sheets- $10
paint $15
Total $194.50

Trying to be more organized

This a really hard part of life for me. Trying to be more organized in school, with our money and time.

I must admit, school has been too loose this year. John has been doing most of his school by himself which is okay for him. But we are starting way too late and not very organized at all. Joseph does all his school with me and I feel he is on track. I don't know if it is where John is working on his own that I feel like he is not learning anything. Time will tell on that because we had testing last week.

Being better stewards of what money God has given us. We are very loose in this area too. We are currently working on a budget and envelopes to pay cash for things like food and gas. Matt has reread Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover and has me reading it too. We are realizing we are not planning very well at all and need to make big changes in this area. We are working on paying off our house and hope to be done this year. Then on to saving for a van, retirement and college. It really doesn't look like Matt will ever be able to stop consulting but maybe slow down some.

Planning my time. I have got to start a schedule, planning meals and not just let things happen. Things seem to get done but not like I would like them too. I send way too much time on the computer.

Well, you can see I need lots of prayer. God does have the grace for me to do it. I just need to trust him more and prayer harder for sure.

Flea Market Style

Flea Market Style is a new magazine. You can check out their blog here. They also have a huge list of blogs you can read here. I will definitely be checking out the blogs. It's fun to get inspiration from other people's hard work.

Bedroom Redo

I'm in love with Pottery Barn but not in love with the Pottery Barn price. I want to recreate the Pottery Barn look and feel on a low budget in my master bedroom. As many of you know, I have had a deer mount in my bedroom for many years but with some rearranging of our house, it is no longer in my room. With that said, here is one of my inspiration rooms. I have several rooms with the overall same feel. I love this color. It feels so calm and cozy.

















So far I have painted the walls Bridgewater blue. It's a medium gray blue. (you can see the color in a few of the pictures below)

Here are some of the deals with their price that I have found to decorate my room so far. The cabinet that I am using as a night stand is my best deal. I love thrift store shopping.

I can't post a photo of the whole room. I haven't got new bedding yet. So here is a sneak peak.

Visitors

Here some our new visitors.... They really like Joseph's corn.

Budear and Hoody

Does your kids have funny names for things? My 2 year old has all kinds of funny names, but right now my favorite is Budear and Hoody. He really does love them too.