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.

Snowing In Alabama

Here's some pics from my sister and brother-in-law. They live in Southern Alabama about 30 minutes north of Florida panhandle. They are freezing down there. The last snow they had was in 1993.

Thankfulness

Things I am thankful for:
1. Loving husband
2. Warm house
3. Health
4. dh jobs
5. Pretty birds
6. Boys laughter
7. Food to eat
8. Blogs to read
9. Time together
10. The most important reason of all...God that knows the best for us.

Wouldn't this be nice right now

Monroe Funnies

To Make your own funny go to Befunky.com.

The secret is out

This is one of my favorite websites. All the recipes have ratings, comments of changes people have made, you can search by the title of a recipe or you can search by the ingredients you have. That is the best. If you have chicken, cheese, and mushrooms, you can search for recipes with those ingredients. How cool is that?

Question: Do Asian Lady Beetles like Maple Cotton Candy?

Answer: Yes............ that is what they are all piled on in this photo. Joseph thought that his little friends would like to share his special treat that I picked him up at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. They had a sugar buzz for a couple of days after, ha ha

Website

A neat website for tracking your weight goals, exercise goals and even keep a food journal. SPARKPEOPLE is also free to join.