For You Dottie

OK, I tried to get pictures of my wall mural for you. I really can't get far enough away to "capture" the entire thing. It's 22 ft high and runs the length of the room. I had to take two pics and stitch them together. Because of the upper part requiring a different angle it didn't stitch quite right.... my ceiling in my kitchen is NOT two different heights but my poor stitching software did it's best to merge the two pics. The second pic just shows the bottom half with the archway into the kitchen/dining nook. I had to even post this because it shows my blank wall in there. Yep, been here three years and have still not decided just what I want on that wall....hmmmm, this house is still a work in progress for sure. Also looking at these pics makes me realize that I seriously DO need to get something up there on top of my kitchen cabinet. Needless to say this mural has established the "feel" for this room and it's been pretty hard to work around. When people first walk into our house it's kind of a shocker....was one of the selling points on this house for me though...cause I'm kind of weird like that! The lady that owned this house before us was originally from Spain (so my neighbors tell me) and she's the one that had it painted. It photographs different than it looks IRL for some reason. The green "shutters" are just not that GREEN and bright. I should have waited till daylight to take the pics instead of using a flash but oh well, this gives you and idea. And the weird "thing" top right in the picture is just the air intake/filter thing on the ceiling of the upstairs hall...lovely!

It All Started With A Yankee Candle

Ah, I've got a serious case of "if you give a mouse a cookie" syndrome. I was MIA from scrapping for a week or so because I went into decorating mode. It happens a few times a year. Almost always at the change of the season. Go figure! This year we got a few early days that felt like fall and well, you know...that calls for a new scent in the house..... Autumn Wreath was the choice for fall...ummm, smells so good. It's burning right now in fact. Anyway, that led to pulling out the fall decorations and of course, discovering I NEEDED more stuff. Trip to Hobby Lobby of course and you see, I had this 40% off coupon and there was SOOOOOO much stuff on sale at 50% off ....how could a girl have had any will power. Now it was not really the "fall decorating" that cost me that much money there. Instead it was this "empty wall" in my family room. That room has been a PITA to decorate. It's taken me almost 3 yrs of living here to get it where it feels homey and comfortable to me. Not quite all the way there yet but almost. Anyway, back to the subject of the empty space. I thought I wanted a large armoire for that space and had been keeping my eyes open for one. Everything I looked at was so expensive and just couldn't be budgeted in. Plus, there was a problem with it seeming "too heavy" for the location. Finally the light bulb came on and I decided to try a baker's rack or etegere there...hey, it wasn't that heavy, it folded up, and I could get it home by myself and if I hated it I could return it...right? Found this one at my beloved Hobby Lobby and used that 40% off coupon on it. Loved it...perfect size...not too heavy looking. You know I had to buy all new "stuff" to fill it with too. Every single thing I bought was on sale for 50% off that week! woo hoo! I'd been wanting to get more family photos out somewhere in that room and this sure did the trick. It's pretty much loaded with kid pics. A few things have been shuffled around since I took this picture but you get the idea. I've now got my two most recent family scrapbooks on it bottom left. The album covers are "not right" though. Those were purchased for my bedroom so I can see new purchases in THAT department in the near future.

OK and while I'm sharing family room pictures. I'll show you what my last little Hobby Lobby "project" was. Guess I completed this nook about 6 months ago. It's my "bistro". Never could figure out just how you decorate the area "outside" the "window" of a wall mural until the bistro idea came to me. Before I'd had plants and picture frames up in that "window" and all the frames just didn't look quite right. Here's what I came up with. For fall I've changed the window sill up a little bit. Some fall color to tie the room together and some little fake pumpkins, goards, etc in a wire basket. You get the idea.

I'm planning on scrapping this weekend and then next week it's moving on to the next project....ugh...Chels' room. Wish me luck there...going to be a major undertaking!

In Need Of A College Kid Fix

Yes, I admit there are days I really miss them. In fact if all of them wouldn't be cruising this way within the next couple of weeks I'd be making a trip either north or south to annoy whoever could work me into their busy schedules. Sometimes 4 hrs away just seems too far. At least Brooke is still in freahman mode and calls almost every day. I love that. Val is way beyond that now and even though Britt called alot for the first two years away it seems she's backing off now on the need to tell mom everything. Damn! LOL

I'm trying to gear myself up into HS football mode. First home game is tonight...go Mustangs! Can you feel the excitement? Not hardly, huh? Chels will be performing so I'll be there ..at least until after half time. Next week Val should be home and I might get her to go with me. It's the annual Bob/Sue dance. David has to do a father daughter dance with Chels. Their practices start tomorrow. Should be funny. Too bad I won't really be able to get pictures I'm sure. The Sophomores and their dads are on the back row...don't make it to the front till your senior yr.

It's been one of THOSE days

you know the kind I'm talking about I'm sure. Nothing big and terrible going wrong....just the little annoyances. It was supposed to be a day when I was just going to scrap. Well, that didn't happen.

It started out simple enough. I decided I wanted to set up a collage frame I keep in the kitchen window sill with seasonal pictures. I started digging for old Halloween pictures and got frustrated with my lack of organizational skills in the old photo department. OMG, that took me forever. Now I'm on a mission to get all that mess organized. I may never scrap again. This project could take a good ten yrs!

I didn't get too far on that project though before we had a minor doggy emergency. Poop on the butt! eeeewwww .... now this is no fun when you have a long haired dog...especially one that freaks out when it happens. He acts as if he is paralyzed and shakes all over ...UNTIL you get close to him...then he runs quite well. Chasing him down sort of resembles one of those calf scrambles at the rodeo. Catching him is not the only problem though. When you get hold of him he goes into Cujo mode.... growling and acting as if he's going to tear you apart. You pray this is only an act to scare you away, but do your best to hold him away from you were he can't bite you. Of course, it's straight into the bathroom for Gizmo where I have to put his Elizabethan collar thingie on him before attempting to clean him up because he gets even worse in the bath tub. He's so strange.... the minute he's cleaned up and knows he's about to be let out of the tub he's all kisses for you and happy as can be again.

After that ordeal I was in need of a glass of iced tea. Filled up a glass with ice, reached over to set it on the center island while I got the pitcher out of the refrigerator and just plain downright missed ...it went crashing to the floor. It's amazing just how many tiny shards of glass you can end up with when a drinking glass meets a concrete floor.... I'm not sure what those tiles are made of actually. It's not ceramic tile and it's not marble but it sure is HARD and it sure can bust a glass up. You can imagine the fun I had cleaning THAT mess up. Damn...it felt like I had toddlers in the house again today!

I'm hoping things go just a wee bit better the rest of the day. I've taken this as a sign it would be best for me NOT to attend the booster club meeting tonight...you know the one I "forgot about". LOL Keep your fingers crossed that I don't burn myself taking dinner out of the oven ... guess that's not likely though. I didn't get bit by the dog and I didn't cut myself so it's just more likely that I'll drop the roast on the floor

Chillaxin

Oh, it's one of those rainy lazy days. Gotta love them! Maybe some people aren't too happy since it's Labor Day and this weather has sure screwed up lake/outdoor plans. Since I have none of those it's OK with me. We need this rain so bad. Today I'm doing as little as possible and lovin every minute of it.

I SOOO love college freshman. They call home lots and they even share pictures right away. You know I love that part. However Brooke's camera is taking crappy pictures all of a sudden...not good. Will be talking to Santa about a replacement for sure. I swear, they really should have crash tests for digitals just like they do for cars so us parents could be informed as to what brand/model is most likely to endure the high school/college years. The testing should be done by college freshman I think. Anyway, here's a few pics she shared with me from her first home football game. Non conference game...we won...think she said the score was 54 - 10. This first one is tailgating with the shortest girls' parents who were up for the game.

We bleed orange baby...as Brooke's shirt says...here's the view across the field. This was a non conference game and lots of kids left school for the long weekend so attendance was down from the norm.


And here's a pic of the girls at the game

Back Among The Living

It was touch and go there for awhile. Well, my doctor wouldn't agree with that I'm sure but he wasn't in MY shoes for sure! Fortunately I've not been an abuser of antibiotics so when I do need them they work very well for me. Yesterday I did a little scrapping...today I did a little shopping. Must replenish my supply of scrap crap right? Use $5 of supply.... purchase $100...hmmm, could this be why I have a regular LSS at my disposal right here at home. I was never good at math or economics. LOL



this one I actually did a few days ago but forgot to share