Paint, paint everywhere... and an organization backfire!

What do you think?  We voted the VERY pale yellow - what do YOU say?

I got a can organizer (or two) and I'm not sure it helps when you have SOOO many cans to begin with!  And boxes - oh, my!!!

Ice Skating with the kiddo's!

Skating fun - for most of the 8 kids this was the FIRST time they had ever been on the ice.

This is the 5 girls - three I brought, two met us there - two more joined later... and we also had three boys with us too - a good crowd of teens!

Where am *I*?  I learned my lesson with roller skates.. I was in the bleachers having a nice chat with Ms. T :o)

 NOT speedy, but in their defense... they did speed up eventually!

And no picture of Angela - she decided today would be a great day to start ditching photo ops... sigh... here we go with THAT stage!!

LOOK - a CAR full - and I do mean full - every single seat was taken!!

Wild hairs and lost minds...

Why lost minds too?  Well, I think I'm officially loosing my MIND.

I go into Goodwill, find a treasure (see below) I buy said treasure for $25 plus tax (bonus!).... I head out the door to put this in the car... I unlock the car, I get the seats all folded down and for the life of me can no longer find my kids KEYS  (thanks for the correction was stuck on partial KID fault!).. what the heck?  Did I have them in my hand and decide at some moment that it was just too much trouble to keep hold of them?  Where did I finally find them (AFTER dumping my treasure on the ground and breaking off a corner - insert wailing and crying here)??? UNDER the VERY back seat.  Apparently in my rush to REMOVE the head rest some child decided to wrestle out of it's hiding place under the VERY back of the car and put on -which it's NEVER on so I can drop the back seat at, well, the drop of a hat... goodness.... talk about loosing my mind!!  I thought I was going to have to have Butch get my keys from home and come get me... now THAT would be a pickle.

Anyway, keys found, mind still lost and pretty little treasure made it home and put back together with glue and a clamp.  Whew!

BEFORE:

After a bit of sanding, and I'm thinking I rather LIKE the distressed look and may not even paint it.. what do you vote?  To paint or not to pain?  Think of it as french shabby chic...

what do you think?

 All that is needed are some cute glass knobs - Target here I come!!!

Projects for the last few weekends.

Last weekend I got the wild hair to finally remove the boarder in the kitchen in prep for painting.  I started on the opposite side of the room and turned around to find Butch up to his elbows in the deconstruction... to which he fesses up that he HATES construction, but the deconstructing and tear down is so much fun.  Sigh... So, I had a little help and a few places to patch as well.  Ah, well - the boarder is now gone, gone, gone from the kitchen.  Believe it or not BOTH girls are sad to see it go.  I have to admit it does look a bit naked without it up there...

 And today, I finally put my my saying for the laundry.  I'm still unsure if I like this version...

but I can always change it out if it doesn't grow on me :D

How appropriate that the floor is FULL of laundry?  ha!

Where has all my time gone?

I was looking at my leave calendar, planning all my AWESOME upcoming trips for the new year and wondering just WHERE all my leave has gone.  I didn’t have much, but should have been earning this “much faster” now that I’m earning that big “pie in the sky 8 hours a pay period”.  Someone said I’ll earn it so much faster I won’t believe how fast it accrues.  I have to laugh at that theory, as I am firmly ensconced in the “earn and burn” philosophy.  Sad but true, and my leave records will attest to this too!

So I went back and was looking at where my leave started to take a nose dive this year… I was going along great – just a few hours here and a few hours there max of 8 hours in any given pay period, which in and of itself will kill your leave when you only earn 6 in that given pay period.  Ok, it’s growing quite well then July happened and a glorious trip to Alaska with my family for Dad’s 80^th birthday.  We had such a ball fishing and sight seeing and just enjoying our time in the great outdoors!  We did celebrate his actual birthday last night and not a single picture even with Mom bringing her camera with her to the restaurant.  We went to Olive Garden and had a yummy dinner then on to the High School for Liz’s band concert.  All in all a great night in my books.  Could have been better with a little push the dummy, but beggars can’t be choosers some nights J  Tonight we get to go to Middle School Band concert – yeah us.

Ok, back to the leave count down! (Leave – 48 hrs)

Moving right along and little leave taken here and there to take care of doctor visits, braces, and chiropractor visits.  No complaints… did I mention I enjoy my time off no matter how it comes to me.  Well, with one exception, and we’ll get to that at the bottom!

Next big chuck of time was my Trip with Angela to Jekyll Island.  Now that was an experience… bugs and heat and LOTs of hormonal pre-teens.  Fun, fun, fun!  An experience I will not repeat, thanks.  I think I’m more of the lay on the beach on a blanket than a trudge through the swamp person.  Especially in September in Southern Georgia.  You would have thought it would have been a bit more breezy, and cool – no such luck! (-24 hrs)

The very next pay period was my saving grace and a week in Orlando at a very nice resort and our first visit to Universal Studios (-40 hrs)

The last few nails in the leave coffin was 1) Thanksgiving but only a little as I did partial days off and used comp time I had on the books (-13 hrs) 2) Christmas – I’m still not sure how much time Christmas will cost me… it will either be 28 hours (two full days and three ½ days) or 5 full days for 40 hours… time will tell

Sick leave is a whole other story.  This was my year for visits to the docs.  Mostly the dermatologist, but we’ll throw in some chiropractic visits for good measure.  This was the year for skin cancers and partial ear removal and lots of time off between grafts not taking quickly and the actual surgery itself, thus my one reason I wouldn’t be happy about THAT time off.  I think I racked up 90 hours alone for all of that.  Add to this – Elizabeth had to have all 4 of her wisdom teeth removed this year as well along with orthodontist visits and actual sick kids and I am NOT looking good on sick leave this year either. 

But all in all, I can look back at Alaska, Jekyll and Universal Studio’s trips along with a short trip to Utah to scrapbook and I’ve had a VERY good/bad year for leave.  I had a ball burning through it all!

Christmas... what little I have up...

Was in all reality in place on or about Thanksgiving... and it consists of this:

One nativity that Grandpa Ashwood made.  Butch's mom was sweet enough to bring this down for us this year, so it was promptly put up on the entry table.  I think for safety we should move it to the one behind the couch, but I haven't gotten that far yet!

Another thing from Sally - some very cute place mats with snowflakes stitched on them, matching napkins and some cute napkin rings the girls helped make - such a festive table isn't it?

... up on the roof top reindeers pause....

Oh, wait, no… that’s the squirrels above the drop ceiling running around, disregard.

Ha!  Can you imagine what will happen if one of those ceiling tiles happens to fall with one of those chubby little squirrels on it?  All heck is going to break loose!!!  There is a missing tile in one gals office and she turned around one day to see a squirrel peaking out at her.  Ha!  Love it!

The Bench with promise....

One more of my MANY projects that are ongoing is this lovely (?) bench... to it's defense, it is a very sturdy and comfortable little bench... and it has springs... and for $10 it was really screaming to come home with me as my FIRST ever upholstery project.  I MAY regret this decision yet!

 the bottom is looking OK, but not knowing what those strings are all about.. to keep the springs from springing too far up?  It's a mystery for now...

 So, let the great reveal happen... Angela and I grabbed some pliers and started ripping off the cover to find THIS underneath... EWH.  NOT what I was thinking would be under there.  I'm not SURE what I expected but lovely 50's bridge scenes was not it. 

 Looks like the original/original fabric was in oranges and reds.  No telling what that looked like.

 Angela is definitely my helper of helpers, but she is getting grossed out by this fabric and it's age as well - ha!

 string mystery solved.  Apparently the buttons came off ages ago and the "fix" was to pull the string through the bottom of the bench and affix them to the side with nails.  Interesting approach.  I don't think I'll do it that way.  But OK.  Also the batting is very loose batting, so we opted to chuck it as well.  The strings are stiff with age and heaven knows what else, so I think it's time to go back to the basics for this poor thing!

 all that is left is the burlap.  I debated removing it too, but it's stapled to the springs, and that's just a bit more work than I plan on doing.  I will have to put another layer of fabric over the burlap to "help" it stay in one piece, but for now, it stays.

I have painted the legs white... but pictures of that process will come in a few more weeks as we make progress.

The *&^#$%&*( lockers

After the parade, I decided to cut the back way and head on to the house - well, after Liz passed in the parade - and they were near the first ones in the parade, so it was early.  I kept seeing blue lights flashing pushing me farther and farther from the house, so by the time I hit Green Street I gave up and decided I would see what Salvation Army Thrift store had to offer me this fine Saturday.

I wandered the store and found... nothing.  Then I noted they were having a yard sale - they have a HUGE 3 sided pole barn setup outside the building, so I hoofed it out there to see what they had.  They had lots and lots and lots of projects out there, but this one caught my eye.  I have always wanted some old lockers to refurb... and look what I found for a whopping $15.00

 This is the part both girls fell in love with - of all things - the cow stickers on the front of one of the doors.  How very funny is that?  They both want to be able to keep the cows.  ha!

 HERE is why I got them for $15 - two of the door are damaged.  This door is the worst - I have no idea what could have ripped the thing off the hinges and NOT dent the door. That is some talent, for sure.  However, being the pragmatic girl I am, I think the center middle can be an open shelf type area with contrasting colors painted... what do you think?

 I'm telling you talent - the bottom hinge is ripped ALL The way off - whowzer - someone with strength!!

"Orange" you glad it's December?

I've had a hankering to find one of these old type juicers for a while... and wouldn't you know it, I found one at Goodwill for a whopping $2.02  I'm telling you, it really IS the little things in life.  I got this, washed it up and gathered ALL my oranges and tangelos from the fruit sale at schools - yes, as in plural.  Both the High School and the Middle School band chose to sell fruit THIS year.  Grrrr - so our fruit bowl over floweth.

 Here is the "pile" of fruit to be done.  most were still good - a few had some molding at the seeds - YUCKO!

 So, I'm there juicing away happily when Angela saw what I was doing SHE wanted to try.  Can you see something like Huck Finn here?  No *I* want to do this, I have wanted to do this for a while... if you insist you can HELP with one or two... really, I want to do this, don't do them all - hahahaha.  She did majority of them with me on clean up duty.  We got almost a full gallon of juice - something I wasn't anticipating, and it is soooo good!

 Being in the kitchen and seeing the wish bone it was determined it was TIME to wish on that bad boy... so they pulled ....

 and readjusted fingers and PULLED... and pulled...

 and the wishbone won for now... we'll dry this a bit more and try again in a week or two more!

High School Christmas Parade

After a two hour wait while I did laundry at the laundromat ... here they come!!!

 I see Lizzie - do YOU see Lizzie?

 THERE is Lizzie and for once - on MY side of the street!!!  Yeah!!  I even got a sly wave from her (although a HUGE no-no in the parade from band members!)

 And there she goes!!!  By Lizzie - have fun marching!

And not to be outdone - with time off for Thanksgiving came some projects!

A truly scary before on the right - this was BEFORE I scrubbed them.  Ewh.  Can you say years of dust and grease?  GAG.  however, to their defense, they really did clean up nice (left) ($.50 each)

 And painted up even cuter :)

Have the throw in a non "craft" project - the backsplash all installed and looking better than it ever has!

 AND Butch hung up my new mop/broom/crap hanger in the room as well!  Yeah!!  I think now all I have left to do is the vinyl and I'm DONE with this room and can move on to the Kitchen (insert sound of heels dragging!)

Ok, ANOTHER one that I swore I had a before picture of before I started.  Hum.  What happened to the before?  I don't even know when I bought this for a whopping $5.xx  it was on 75% off at my favorite thrift store and I actually had walked away from it and we had driven back out of town, however stopped at a local hamburger joint for lunch... while we sat there, we discussed this piece and figured out it would look cute in the girls bathroom over the toilet... and it sure does!  We drove back and picked it up before it was gone..

 The only issue it had was it was missing one of the wooden slats that separate the inside from the corner shelf.  It's just thing bolsa wood, so I went to Michaels and found a piece just the right height... the cost?  $5.xx  So my $5.00 shelf is now a $10.xx shelf, but oh, so cute.

 And started to be used to get some of the stuff off of the sink - yeah!!

I'm on a white kick and finally put the last coats on this cute little table as well.

Another very inexpensive find at $8.00 a little paint and wallah!

If you're thinking what I'm thinking... that the paint prior had a lot more "character" you're correct, but I haven't had the heart to "distress" this one yet...

maybe someone will give it a happy home where it won't be distressed?  Hard to know for sure.  I've debated putting it on Etsy to see if I could sell some of my finds.. but I'm not there yet.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving could have been MUCH longer and made us all much happier, however, we're still eating Ham and Turkey - what's not to love there?  Yum!  I was the cook this year, with a lot of help from Angela.  She has turned out to be quite the helper and a good hand in the kitchen as well.  She helped inject Mr. Tom and get him all set with some Cajun season and everything - she loved it. 
Our menu this year was: Turkey (roasted), stuffing, gravy, Ham, Sweet Potato souffle (thanks Sue Brumbaugh!), Mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, strawberry jello salad and of course the olives and pickles.  Can't forget the pickles and olives!

Sally was able to join us from Florida and Mom and Dad came over for the feast as well.

The table all set and ready to go with extra room added on to get everyone in!

 Sally Making the gravy!

 Of course we have to have three shots to get everyone in... I should have just photo shopped me in from the next picture (picking the best of course - ha!)

Think Angela is tired of getting her picture taken?  ha!

 The aftermath!  Look at the turkey - all picked clean - oink!  Kidding, my favorite part is to pick the turkey, so while we were all digesting, that's just what I did - I sat there and picked the turkey clean :D

After a little more digesting, we broke out the "Push the Dummy" and finished off the night with a piece of carrot cake, pecan pie or Pumpkin pie - your choice!

Angela even left a lot of turkeys outside for us too :)