IT MUST BE CHRISTMAS!!! At least it was for me today : )

Ready for the story behind this one? Over a year ago I bought this lovely light fixture from Ebay. I won it for $80.00. The ad said it was originally $400.00...who knows??? But it weighs about a million pounds and once I opened it, it looked like it belonged in a huge Hotel foyer. So it sat in it's box in my front room for awhile, while I questioned my sanity and wondered how it was ever going to get installed in the first place. Let me tell you, many people offered. But every time I said, "Uh... no thank you...I will not have your death on my hands." So then it spent some more time in the garage, then on the back porch because I needed more room in the garage, then back in the garage again. My sanity was no longer in question...I had my answer! But today the clouds parted and the heavenly angels sang. Miracles still exist. : )

Okay, if I must...I must!!! The 'before' of light fixture # 1.

The 'before' of light fixture #2.

Amazing husband and wife team whom we hired. They rented the scaffolding from Home Depot for the day. They were adorable while they worked together and did a perfect job!

You'll have to excuse me for taking so many photos of this new fixture...I could not help myself.

Okay, time to move on to the light fixture over my entry way. Not as grand, but perfect for the spot. I've had the luggage/camera display up there for forever and the old fixture always covered part of it.

Moving down the wall.

Close-up of my display.

The camera in this frame is actually 3-D. They used spacers behind the cut out camera.

Photos Sara took on our New York trip a few years ago. One of them won her a 1st place ribbon in her photography class that year.

Wednesdays With My Mom:

Well, it's crunch time because the first of my lovely guests arrive on Friday. So I asked my mom if we could spend the day at my house. I needed to take a dinner over to a family who attends my Church, (they're facing a huge medical challenge right now), and when my mom asked if she could do anything to help, I put her to work cutting up the tomatoes for the salad. I've always noticed how happy it makes her to help me in the kitchen.

When I took my mom back to her place tonight, I hung out for about an hour and was about to leave, when a PBS special came on about Erma Bombeck. I stood and watched for awhile, but then couldn't resist...I sat down at watched the rest with my mom. I ended up leaving at about 11 p.m. Well worth it! : )

Linking to:
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

A Pix Fest of My Home......Why?......

Because...say it all together now. "Company's coming." Yea!...company is always a blessing. Look at the rewards. But before we go on...CAUTION! I want you young gals to remember that I got married decades ago and if you could see some of our first humble abodes, you'd die laughing. My husband was in school for the first eight years of our marriage (earning three degrees) and we didn't finish paying off our student loans until our oldest was 16. So keep that in mind as we go along today. Maybe one day I'll post pix from our first apt. and our two student housing apartments. Great times!! : ) Okay, enough preaching.

I'm just going to take you in one big circle. We're going left, starting at the couch. Close ups of side table : Aren't these the coolest things? They're real pine cones dipped in colored wax.

Here's a close-up of my little jewels. We got the three little cousins together for this photo because Nana (that's me) bought this picture frame and THEN got the idea of how to fill it. Wish you could have been there that night. Like trying to corral a bunch of wild cattle. Could have been a 3-Stooges movie. But look what we got. : )

My last baby...Sara.

I've had this little sign up by my front door for years. Not only to remind all of us to live so that we can proudly return to our real home one day, but also I wanted all the teenagers to see this as they were leaving our home each day and in the evenings when going on their dates. I'm a mom...what can I say? Just tryin' to do my job. : )

Okay, so standing with my front door to my right, we're looking down the hall (which Mr. Chem-Dry came and cleaned today along with the rest of the downstairs carpet). I can't wait till the office behind those double doors is clean so I can take you on that tour. It's my pride and joy.

But something's not right...something's missing.

That's better. Now that the carpet is dry, I put my Nana things back in their place. : )

Standing in front of the office doors looking down the hall.

I added this little squirrel to the cage since I last posted about this table.

And I also added this little framed stitchery.

On the other side of the hall is my "Hall of Fame" with my four wonderful children.

Here is a close-up of what the sign says. How perfectly true.

Back in the Living room.



Here is the bookcase/cabinet to the right of the couch with the infamous dead tree.

Top shelf.

Middle shelf.

And my lovely architectural church I got on clearance a few years ago.

That's it for today. Oh yeah...no cackling from the peanut gallery (my family and friends) who know what a bad housekeeper I usually am. I would rather be creating than cleaning any day, but you know...real life is always beckoning. In a perfect world...you know the rest. : ) Thanks for stopping by today.

Yipee! "Company's Coming"...My two favorite words...

I am re-posting this for a Mr. Linky party over at Frills, Fluff, and Trucks. She is having a party and a giveaway. Be sure to check it out by clicking on her highlighted blog name in my first sentance. Have fun!

IF...I have at least two weeks notice. : ) Because "company's coming" always puts the fire under us to get things done we've been procrastinating . Case in point...the upstairs bathroom.
Here's how it all started. One day while at Lowe's I noticed this gallon of paint on the "oops" table for $5.00. It was the exact color Sara had been asking for in that bathroom. For some reason, when we moved into this house many moons ago, the girls claimed the upstairs bathroom and the boys claimed the downstairs one. Lately, Sara has wanted this bathroom to be a little more "hip and happenin' " (she loves it when I use that term.....not!) Hee-hee. : )

This bathroom use to be a mint green with all ice cream parlor colors for the accessories...pastel green, yellow, pink and blue. This new color is more of an olive green.

Sara picked out the new shower curtain and I got all the new towels and rug from my favorites...Ross, Marshall's and TJ Maxx.

Some new art work was definitely called for! I suppose this little number was clearanced because of a scuffed up corner and a nick on the side.

I decided to cover it with a great piece of scrapbook paper and a print I distressed the edges of.

I put some 3-D spacers on the back of the print so it would stand away from the plaque. (Photo below).

Below: FLORAL, JUST OKAY

BETTER

BEST

Below: a close-up of my rolled up wash cloths.

Next: More art work. I bought these three square plaques for about $11.00 each. I know styrofoam is cheaper, but I was feeling lazy. And since no one in this household drinks alcohol, I knew I would need to cover them.

Time to slap some more scrapbook paper on.

These three prints of daisies were originally on a card I bought a long time ago. I just enlarged them, cut them apart, distressed the edges and applied them to the center of the plaques.

I'm so happy with the results. I used a level to make them all straight on the wall.

One room clean...many to go...why oh why do I procrastinate??? Oh well, more to post about as I get the house ready. : ) A happy thought!