I can't believe I just found this out. Has it been there all along and I have passed right over it? Ignored it? Say it isn't so! As much as I'm on the computer I can't believe I haven't known about this little print option. Let's say you are on a website which has a ton of content but you are especially interested in one paragraph. You can highlight only the area you are interested in, press the print key so the print box pops up and before you hit PRINT, you select "selection" and then hit print. It will then only print the highlighted area or rather the selected area. Do you know how many trees I have hurt throughout the years? Maybe this is a new option?!

Onions.
Found this video (courtesy of Rachel Ray) on one way to chop an onion. I've tried it once but was a bit uncomfortable. However, I think it has great possibilities! I'm unable to copy the video but here's the link titled How to cut an onion - check it out.

Weekend Updates:
Curtains - I did work on the curtains. I cut some more fabric - yeah! Should be able to start sewing soon.

Blackberry and Outlook - I was able to finish setting up Outlook as my personal contact management system and synch it to my Blackberry. This is the first time since I've had my blackberry that it's set-up properly. I'm still tweaking it but it's close enough to make me very happy. I also set-up the bluetooth capabilities on my computer so I don't need wires. Lovely that is. I think it should be law that everything become wireless. Seriously.

Pumpkins - Copied this idea from Patti last year and liked it so much that I decided to make permanent ones for each year. Picked up the faux pumpkins at Garden Ridge several months back and painted them white. Of course after I had the first coat of paint on them I ran up to Michaels to get more paint and saw they had off-white pumpkins I could have purchased instead. Oh well, decided to go forward with what I had started. Pretty happy with the results. Thanks again Patti for the great idea!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. My mom passed away from breast cancer when she was 35 years old. I miss her. Please visit FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered if you need information on hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

Edit - I'm adding some photos of the items listed below today (10/07/2007).

My house is starting to come together finally and it's beginning to feel like Home Sweet Home. However, I've been having a problem of staying focused on the decorating task at hand. Here are some to do's and want to do's that keep clogging my mind lately:

Family Room Curtains
Tomorrow I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to begin sewing my family room curtains. I've only had them hanging there for a year as strips of material. Will post pictures once they are done.

Kitchen Curtains
It's time I finally get curtains in my kitchen. I need to soften up the space!

TV stand
I want a unique TV stand for our new TV (that we don't have and aren't planning on getting anytime soon). We have a TV in there now so it wouldn't be like this would be wasted space. Right now I'm using my coffee table and I'm really ready to have that back. Only problem, I don't know exactly what I want or where I want to get it. I'm thinking something long and low. Thinking antique or really used piece. Maybe three like pieces (new) pushed together. I want to use it for storage and be able to put our equipment in there. Will need one portion to have glass panels so the remote will work. Any suggestions? I'm open to using something meant for another purpose.

Family Room Bookshelves
Not only do I need to finish putting these up but I need to display my things properly. I need to post a picture because these shelves are pretty cool. I found inexpensive shelves and replaced the back with beadboard that I stained and painted to match. I can't wait to get these done!

Decorative Sofa Pillows
I made some really cool pillows with fringe but I cut the fabric a little too short and I'm having a hard time sewing them closed. Not sure how I'm going to do it but I need to get it done! They look really good because dispite the fact that only 3 sides of each pillow is actually sewn I have them on the couch anyway. But, we all are getting tired of sitting on pins - literally. Oops.


Firepit
Our outside living space needs a firepit. I have it all picked out I just need to order it but I keep spending the money I set aside for it. I think today I spent it at Costco when I just ran in there for drinks for our garage refrigerator. How sad is that?! Originally this was going to be a good ole wood firepit but have recently begun considering turning it into a gas firepit instead. A good friend of ours did it and he said he could help us. He loves his and it would be so nice! I'm just really afraid of drilling a hole in our new stamped concrete patio! So I'll probably go with the normal firepit for now and add that later. The structure of the pit I want can be used in either situation.


Outdoor Living Area
I totally have figured out how I want to arrange the furniture on our deck outside. It's always interesting to me how I have to live with a space for awhile before I can determine how I want to really live in it. DH and I found some great outdoor wicker chairs on clearance at Target a month ago, we picked up six and every since then it has started coming together in my mind. Now I just need to build a table with pedistal legs and a copper top, find a 6-8 foot bench for one side of the table, find (or build) two sofas and then find a cool coffee table - all weather resisitant. It's going to be awesome out there!

Kitchen

I'm really itching to order and install my backsplash as seen here but before I do this I need to finish some other outstanding projects. One such project is the semi-kitchen remodel I started back in June. Yes, I STILL haven't finished painting my cabinets. Too much going on! I could go on and on about kitchen issues but I will spare you - this post anyway.

And all these thoughts are only for the back part of my house on the first floor! I will just take things one step at a time and keep plugging away. I will post pictures as I go along. Wish me luck!

Dad is gone so the boys and I had our standard date night. We always get sushi when he is gone. Yummy and becomming quite the tradition! We used to have to drive quite far to get our sushi fix but recently a new restaurant Kitaro's opened up and we decided to give it a try. Actually we have had sushi from there before but it's always been take-out. This time we decided to dine-in and man did we have fun. Chad said it's his new fav!

So, yes, my boys eat sushi but really we are still simple and safe sushi eaters. We have sushi rolls where little is raw. We did order (3) red snapper pieces, one for each of us (very good!) but that was as crazy as we got.

Everytime my boys and I do this I'm so proud. Proud that they like to try new things, proud that we can enjoy time together, and proud that we have developed our own little tradition. I just love my date nights with them!

Notice a change to the blog? I've totally been neglecting other responsibilities and playing with this - a lot. Having fun and getting closer to the look I've been wanting for awhile. I really like the 3-column templates but wasn't able to find one for the "new" blogger. Apparently they were being updated and are now available from sources other than through Blogger. Also found some good widgets which I added - do you like?

What's next? I'd like to work on better content, more pictures, "tweaked" banner for a start. Soon.

Alex with his first tie(s). One when he was little and going out with Daddy and one over the summer as he got an award. Tonight was another first for Alex, his first broken bone. He "chipped" or broke his index finger in gym class yesterday. Hoped yesterday it was just jammed or sprained but when he came home today it was swollen more and becoming a bit bruised. So, after hockey I took him to get an x-ray. Not sure what we are going to do because he is telling me he IS playing hockey for the middle school this year! Oh boy!

... Blogger lately? I'm having the hardest time with formatting. It's not allowing hyperlinks, italics and I keep having spacing issues... Is it just me?

I just had to share this one with you. I don't think Oscar would fit in one of these too well:

If you just have to have one of these beauties, you can get them at www.feeltheflo.com but I want to see real life pictures of it in use!

I was "tagged" for a fun internet quiz by Tammy last week (ok, maybe a tad bit longer then a week ago). It would be rude of me not to play, so here are my answers:

I've been attempting to re-organize my photos and what I've noticed is I'm beginning to have a pretty good selection of inspirational design photos. Thought I'd share a few (sorry, haven't kept track of where I got them or who did them but I applaud anyone who had any involvement in creating these spaces):



Love the walkway, the skylights, the space in general.

These are raised flower beds - love it. They are Thinking Outside the Box. Just picture these fully planted and blooming! I also love the fence. I was thinking of doing something like this on my deck but ended up changing the design and look because of code issues - darn code issues!

I love how the grass edges next to the pool (although I can hear my dh's reaction about grass in the pool!). I love how clean everything is and how balanced. Unique and what a special retreat.

Love the thought of benches instead of chairs. Thinking of this for my outside living space I'm creating.

I've just been asked to do my first photo shoot for a sweet young lady for her Senior pictures. She remembered the photos I took of my family for my 2006 Mothers Day gift to myself (a couple are shown below, along with the blog banner). She wanted to know if I'd be interested and of course I said YES! We decided to wait for for the leaves to begin to change and for it to get a little bit cooler outside. Now the challenge is going to be to try to find some really unique backdrops. I have some ideas but am open to suggestions - Tammy? Patti? Anyone else?

Some things you just don't do for any reason, period! These things include but are not limited to:

• Laying things on the top of the stove when you are not cooking such as papers or fabrics of any kind.
• Park the car half in and half out of the garage.

And why do I say this? Let's say nothing has been burnt yet. My "new" car, not so lucky. I think my family understands this now.

[ Sorry ahead of time for spelling - or lack thereof. I'm tired, been working non-stop for many days. Wanted to post here for fun but not taking the time to make sure spelling is correct. Please forgive. ]


These are things that are making me happy lately, things that as I go through my crazy life when I come upon I stop, smile, breathe and think how crazy that this particular item makes me happy. I guess I'm materialistic to some point - is that all that bad?


Scoopfree Automatic Cat Litter Box:

Got one of these a month ago and just changed it for the first time today. Yes, today! All I can say about this little beauty is AWESOME! If you have a cat, stop everything you are doing and get one of these. I got it at my local Petsmart after my previous LitterMaid Automatic Cat Litter Box died. Now, don't get me wrong. I went to Petsmart to buy a 2nd LitterMaid Automatic Cat Litter Box but was intrigied by the Scoopfree version because it suggested that I might not need to change it for one month - one month! How could I not give it a try. Guess what, it worked! Happily for me, Zoe doesn't do her biz too much and I was absoluately able to wait one entire month before changing the litter box. I keep it in the basement and my husband has a nose like no one I know. I highly recommend it. (NOTE: Previous litter box died only because I was lazy in cleaning it. I took it in the yard, dropped liquid soap in it and spraid it a lot with our lawn hose. An electrical unit of any type wouldn't be able to handle what I did with it - and I proved that.



Linksys Wireless G Router:
I am a self-proclaimed tech geek. I have no formal training but am at the level where I possibly know enough to be dangerous. I am known as the tech help rep of my friends (although the only qualifications I have is that I am the only one that knows the most). Even though I am a techno-geek I am slow to get on the wireless bandwagon. We just recently joined this group and I LOVE it! I haven't been able to fully enjoy the benefits of it but I can already tell a whole new world is opening up to me. I highly recommend this! (Note: Only reason I didn't join up earlier was because it was prohibited from our work - I work from home. They have since given their approval and this was the baby we got. AWESOME!).


Dell D630 Laptop:
Just got this little beauty, it's what I'm using to create this blog entry. It is the only reason I'm doing it now - convenience. I have only had one laptop in my life and I have missed it. Desktops have some good advantages but laptops offer so much more freedom. I am so ready to get some work done - but in different locations other than my home office. I am currently in bed adding this entry (was that TMI?). How awesome is that?!




Bedford Smart Recharge Station:
Ok, I've had my eye on this beauty for a bit from Pottery Barn and decided to go ahead and get it a few weeks ago. This is another thing I'm really into. It's a central place to store all our chargeables and miscellaneous items. I picked it up in black (black is my favorite color. It allows all the same stuff to occupy the same spot but in a much more organized and less clutter looking fashion. It's a keeper!




Pottery Barn Circular Pen/Stuff Holder:
Ok, I couldn't find the real name of it so I made up my own. My birthday was in July and ever since then I've been hanging onto some birthday stash that I finally decided to part with. I ended up getting two of these items; one for "my room" (a/k/a scrapbook room) and one for our home office @ my personal desk. Although I haven't fully used the one in "my room" because of lack of time and other obligations, I have used the one on my desk - a lot. It frees up space on my desk, allows me to organize and have at my fingertips my most used pens, pencils, highlighters, paperclips, binderclips and one free space for our TV remote. (Have to have a TV in our office so I can catch up on stuff happening throughout the day!).

All-Weather Wicker Chairs:
No picture - sorry! But picked up six of these at Target the other day with dh, on Clearance for next to nothing. AWESOME! Got to love that. Now, I'm just trying to find the designer table I have in my head. Of course this is impossible and I'm trying hard to fiqure out how to build it myself. Like I have time to do that - but of course will try. Will share photos eventually.

Love it all. It all makes my life easier in one way or another and at this point, that means a lot. : )

Love, love, love these! Enough said.

I've been away so long I was afraid I forgot my password to post! Obviously that wasn't the case - whooooo (picture back of hand sweeping across forehead).

So much has gone on and so much I could share but instead of all of that I'm going to share the most recent thing on my mind - TIVO. So here's the story...

I bought into this TIVO thing two years ago and we (I) used it initially. I taped ALL my design shows and all those shows I wanted to watch but could never watch when they were on. I LOVED it. But, eventually we (I) quite using it because we didn't have a phone outlet on the wall the TV was on. To upload the data and to stay current I had to run the phone cord from one room to the other and hope that no one tripped over it (which of course did happen but luckily no one was hurt in the taping of my programs!). It ended up being too much of an ordeal to get updated programming. So, it just didn't happen - however, I was still paying the monthly fee! Then this weekend came.

I have been working and working and working. No time for much play - and when I did have time to play I was too exhausted to enjoy it. This Labor Day weekend was different. I decided to honor the spirit of the long weekend and do NO work. It was fabulous! I enjoyed myself so much I actually began to get energy again. As a result, I decided I was awake enough to plug back in TIVO to begin using it's services again. Alex (my oldest son) was ALL over this. Apparently sometime recently he has become aware of TIVO and all it offers. We pulled out the trusty cord, sat with anticipation as it would surely tell us it was uploading all the data it needed to allow us to begin playing with it but nothing happened. We couldn't get passed the TIVO IS POWERING UP screen. I have come to understand this screen is not a happy screen. Rather, it's a very bad screen indicating the hard drive has failed!

I ended up calling TIVO and the rep I spoke with informed me that the last time we had connected to TIVO was 6 months earlier. He then told me the fate of our unit and was amazed because normally they have a life of at least 4 years. To help us out he could exchange the unit for the newest unit they have for just $149. Of course it was OUT OF WARRENTY! I was NOT happy! Obviously from their records they could see we barely used the unit, only had it two years, yet he couldn't offer me anything. I told him I was very disappointed and wanted to cancel my subscription. I was NOT going to do any sort of upgrade to a unit that has limited warrenty and would break so soon - with no use. He said he understood, created a case and I thought was transferring me to a cancellation rep. Apparently she had more authority then just to cancel service. She said that the previous rep was not authorized to give me anything but she did have the POWER to help me out. She offered to exchange our unit (40 hours of recording power - a baby) to a refurbished unit with 80 hours of recording capabilities for no cost. I told her I definately would agree to that. I don't care it's refurbished, it should work - right? I then told her of my sad cord story and she said they do have a wireless-G USB network adapter that would connect into our wireless network. Just so happened we just went wireless less then a month ago and it's a wireless-G unit. Now, I believe in signs - this was a sign! I decided to hold off on that piece of equipment but kept it in the back of mind for future research.

I now have the broken unit ready to be shipped out for replacement. But, tonight, I did some research on this wireless thing and ended up ordering the missing piece off Amazon. For not much money I no longer have to run the cord from one room to the other. Instead it's wireless - obviously. LOL! But, it comes with bells and whistles! We will be able to put our photo album on our TV. I have all our photos on our network and we will be able to hook up to that. Further, we will be able to download movies to our laptops and/or our video iPods (if we had one!). Lastly, and most exciting, we can then burn the movies onto DVDs for future keeping! I am so excited about this and even more excited that my boys are really into computers and would love to do this for me! Ok, maybe not love doing it but could be talked into doing it since we just got them their own computer. I'm using that leverage for a lot of things lately!

To make this deal even sweeter, I got a great price on the adapter and didn't have to pay shipping. I save $20+! Yeah!!!!

Just received this email from my step-sister who is the Senior Regional Director - Midwest for Autism Speaks:

"A Cure for Autism" is one of the top 25 semifinalists in American Express's Members Project competition. Autism Speaks is the "Fulfilling Organization" for the project, which was submitted by the mother of nine-year-old twin boys with autism. In order to advance to the next round, we need enough votes to land in the top 5. If this project wins, Autism Speaks can receive
up to $5 million from American Express. Voting for this round ends at 11:50PM EST on Sunday, July 22. If you are an AMEX cardholder, please visit: http://www.membersproject.com/Health_Fitness/50, and vote for "A Cure for Autism."

Please help us get the word out to as many people as possible!

It's almost done! I know I posted previously that the deck and patio were done but that really only meant it was built. We've been waiting on the staining of it and that began today. They were only going to do the deck part today, with the pergola waiting until either tomorrow or Monday. So I decided to go get my nails done. DH is at the doctor, boys hanging out, I'm off to get my nails done. Yes, peace and quiet...

Nope. Right in the middle of it I got a frantic phonecall. Panic I tell you. Shear panic! "It's BLACK. SOLID BLACK. NO WAY. IT'S TOTALLY WRONG. NOW WHAT CAN BE DONE? THE. WHOLE. POST(S). ARE. DONE. #@*&!jl*&@@@." (That is not word for word but you get the point and the #@%$()%( were actually nice, not so nice words). Now, I was stuck. Apparently while I was gone the workers got the approval to start the pergola. DH came home after several posts where done and totally FREAKED. When he called he asked when I was going to be home and I didn't know what to say... 30 minutes? I didn't dare say maybe 45. The poor guys staining I know didn't know what to do. One guy just wanted to work, the other apparently really concerned with my dh's opinion. I found out later that dh told them after completely freaking out, "Really, don't pay any attention to me. I'm not the one that is driving this project and I don't know what I'm talking about!" LOL! I'm sure that did nothing to settle their nerves as this was one of the guys (the caring guys) first day. What a way to break him in!

Now I must clarify. DH always knew the pergola was going to be black. I have been going over this detail with him for a very long time. I have drawn colored pictures for him. I have gone as far as to take actual pictures of the real deck after it was built and used black markers to color the pergola black on the actual photo. I wanted him (and neighbors) to be prepared for a black pergola. I only hesitated briefly over staining it black but ultimately my design sense overtook that feeling and enabled me to declare - Black, black it should be!

The part I struggled with was the actual shade of black to go with. The original color sample I had picked up with a solid color stain. I learned that you cannot paint cedar, it will not adhere for long term due to the oils in the wood. You can however stain it a solid color. However, staining it a solid color you don't get to see the pretty wood grain. The color sample had another choice of black which was a semi-transparent BLACK that looked on the sample chart to be more of a dark grey. The wood tone (grain) showed through though. It was between these two choices and something we discussed for weeks! Ultimately this afternoon, minutes before the stain would be ordered and picked up, I agreed on the semi-tranparent stain in black. DH was standing right there. He heard the whole conversation and as a matter of fact he completely agreed (since he knew he had already lost the fight that staining it the same color was not an option).

So there I am, minding my own business, getting all pretty and everything and then the call... Dang it. I knew better. I should have waited and found out for sure that they weren't going to start on it before I got back. The worse thing could happen would be for them to begin with dh home and without my being there. DH is a visual person. He cannot imagine what anything is going to look like. I understand that, and I respect that. I help him understand by drawing him pictures, talking things through with him, what ever I need to do to help him understand. I knew even with all our discussions, no matter what shade, this was going to be a shock to his system.

I did my best to talk dh out of his panic attack and explained that all color chips are samples and are not 100% accurate. I also reminded him that if he remembered I originally wanted solid BLACK. It's not like we were wanting TAN and it came out BLACK! So I finish up with my nails, get in the car, and call home. DH answered and sounded oddly calm. He said he decided to throw up his hands and defer to me. Actually I'm pretty proud of him for that!

So I drive home wondering the whole time what I'm going to find when I get there. I knew the guys had already left because they were afraid to go any further. I pass our neighbors house where I can our deck, I barely peek out of fear on whether I'm going to like it or not but I did catch a glimpse... LOVE IT! I pull up to the house and walk around back. LOVE IT!!!! DH hanging on every word and watching me so close. Does she really mean it? Could it be... the right color? I pull my sun glasses off and I see the wood grain. This means it is the right color. I LOVE IT. It's the perfect combination of what I was wanting. I might have made a mistake if I would have gone solid. It's awesome! DH immediately relieved. We discuss, I talk him through it, show him the wood grain, explain the differences in board colors... all the stuff he already knows but forgets. We go in and call the owner of the stain company. DH talked to him. All is good.

DH keeps walking by the window and processing what I've done, the black. He knew about but now it's real. Although he does have a sense of peace about him now that I've given my approval. It's growing on him. He's content that it's the right shade and I'm fine with it. I know he will like it, I have not doubt. He just always needs a little more hand holding and time to Think Outside the Box.

All of this for a deck. And to think someday I wanted to build a custom house with dh. How will that go? Also, I've considered starting my own design biz. Maybe dh would be my toughest client. Everything happens for a reason - right?!

Once the deck is all done I will post official pictures. Soon!

Just got a tip on these bowls thanks to the Hostess Blog and decided to place an order.



These will be great for my son who is diabetic. It's important for him to accurately calculate the number of carbs he eats but who wants to bring out the measuring cups each and every time! I suspect one of our biggest problems is cereal in the morning. It's far to easy for the serving size to increase. Not a problem as long as he gives himself more insulin to cover it, however, that doesn't always happen. Son response: "But mom, I only had one bowl of cereal. That's always X carbs." Mom response: "But not all bowls are created equal. That one is a lot bigger!" That was a mock conversation to get the point across - LOL!

Anyway, these bowls have a visual of the serving size. The full size circle means ONE CUP. The two circles, TWO CUPS. I got the set with 6 sizes but you can order singles of the most popular sizes. Any help we can get I say!

My Nanny's Rosie the Riveter drill that still works and is used periodically. It possibly could be my grandad's but we say it's Nanny's Rosie the Riveter drill because the other one they used to have looked very similar.



It's oh so special. Nanny was the best. Will have to dig out some pictures and share! No wonder I have such a love for tools! I got to use a belt sander this weekend and it was AWESOME. I so want one now!

This was Chads contribution to our Fathers Day/Mothers Day dinner we had last weekend. He saw this dessert on Take Home Chef, googled the recipe and helped me make it for our dinner dessert. It did take a lot of time but really was not a hard dish at all. It was so fun! We love all the cooking shows:



The link above directs you to the recipe for Chocolate Boxes Filled with Chocolate Crème with Raspberries. Serves 4. YUMMY!

Missy, I know we have never met but I feel like I know you a bit. I heard from a little blue bird that you wished you would have gotten one of these at the local Komen Race. Well, I scored one for you! See below:






Patti will deliver it to you next time she sees you. Enjoy!


P.S. We can thank my father-in-law for this little beauty. He walked/ran in the race and got one. He isn't too fond of pink so it founds it's way to me. I thought of you immediately! It comes with it's own set of pink bunny ears.

A previous blog posts back I shared a couple videos of Oscar skateboarding. Well, in order to be able bring those posts to you I had to post them on YouTube. Chad just checked YouTube this evening and Oscar has received 396 views for one of the videos and 54 views of the other. And, we received 1 comment (not counting my sons). LOL! Ok, so the comment wasn't anything important but still (who knows who the Naked Brother Band is?). Now I wish I would have held out for a good video of him. I must try again!!!!

It seems (just like kids) whenever you want them to preform they won't or they will test your patience while waiting. We had a bunch of people stop by this weekend and one of the requests was to see Oscar skateboard. It was as far as Oscar was concerned about 110 degrees outside and he had already been playing for awhile. This meant he was VERY hot and tired. We went through three skateboards before we finally found the one he wanted to perform on. He did awesome, all four paws up right away and across the culd-de-sac. LOL! Man, I was sweating it though. I just knew he wouldn't do it! With that said, I will post a new and better video once captured. Oscar's so awesome!


Here's a recent photo of Chad and Oscar on the last day of school. My handsome boys.

What is the proper blog etiquette for posting different random thoughts? Up until now I have posted what ever was on my mind at each setting. But, I have recently been really into design blogs (see links on the sidebar for some of my new favorites). With most of these blogs they are doing a seperate entry for each topic. I used Bloglines to keep all new blog entries at my fingertips and it's common for many of the design blogs to have 5-6 new entries per day. My question, what is the proper etiquette? I rarely have only one thought or theme I want to share each day. Would you rather read one entry with a variety of thoughts or one entry per thought? Today I will try to one entry per thought. Here goes...

Starting this off by saying sorry no pictures but I am including links this time!

The Beaudoin bunch was busy again as usual this weekend. It all started Thursday evening when we had an event at the Rascals ballpark. Fun time had by all. Took up the entire evening but was a blast and Chad got to go again this year. He took a friend with him and got to eat dip 'n dots, cotton candy, hotdogs and soda to name just a few. Quite amazing that he didn't have a stomach ache.

Then Friday morning we had a wonderful lunch with a wonderful person named Olivia. I'm linking you to Patti's site because she has already covered all the details. It was such a joy and what a great meal. I really must get the recipe for Chicken Salad. I've never made it before and it was so yummy! Seriously good.

On the way home we stopped by a friends house to take a look at his son (age 12) new Legend series race car. Boy am I glad my boys got out of racing when they did because I saw both my husbands and son's eye get that "really want one" look. No boys, it's too late. We are done!

Next we met with a personal trainer who is going to give dh and I workout advise and instruction. We liked her immediately! Her personality seemed to fit just right with ours. At least that's what I'm saying before our first workout! Will have to keep you updated on this one. My first attempt at working out with her is going to be on Wednesday of this week. Need to get an exercise ball and some small weights. Oops, forgot to pick those up this weekend! Must. put. on. TO DO. list.

Then Friday evening we went to our nieces sweet 16 surprise birthday party. There is no way she is 16. No way! But, she insists she is so we had to go with it. LOL!

Yes, and we are not done yet... Saturday mornish we (JB, Chad, father-in-law, and myself) went to volunteer serving food at the Mary Ryder Home. What a delightful experience and one I am so glad to have shared with both my son and my father-in-law. We ended up being there longer then expected but we really had a good time. Chad and I manned the bbq sauce. Chad drove the cart and I put the sauce on all the ladies (and one mans) hamburger and hotdogs. So much fun! I could not believe some of those ladies had 3 hotdogs! The favorite were the deviled eggs and sugar free cake at the end. This is definately something we will do again next year and hopefully Alex will be able to attend as well. It was a memorable experience and was so sweet when the ladies would thank us for our help. The bbq was something they look forward to every year. Was great to be a part of it.

On the way home I made the guys stop at a couple estate sales. You know how much I love those! But, I just wasn't into them this time. Chad summed it up perfectly. Kind of odd going from the Mary Ryder Home where these ladies (and one man) are very low income and need a home and help to looking for material objects at estate sales. So, we stopped doing that and headed home. Just great to be with my boys (and thinking of Alex).

Saturday night was the first time we just hung out, with our neighbors again. So much fun and always a joy to be with them.

Sunday bright and early dh and I ran to the grocery store and got some food. Big deal at our house! Chad was oh so happy!! Then we spent the rest of the day at our neighbors house helping her get ready for their baby which is due in the next couple of weeks. They recenly moved in and have too much to do before the due date so neighbors to the rescue. We ended up putting up chair rail in the baby's room and the Dining Room. Put together 3 ceiling fans and hung up 10 window treatments. It was a full fledge Trading Spaces type of day - without the trading part. LOL! The plan was Chuck and I were going to do the chair rail but dh ended up helping him and I worked a majority of the day making blocks of wood for four window treatments to extend the brackets because they were cut too short (oops, wrong measurement - not me!). But it all got done and made us all feel really good to be able to help.

To finish off the weekend, this evening we went out to dinner with our niece to celebrate her actual birthday.

Man am I tired! Although we are normally busy, this weekend was unusually busy. I told dh that I didn't want another weekend like this one for awhile. I need some downtime. I need to be able to work on a quilt for this baby and work on finishing our kitchen update. Fingers crossed I'll have time soon!!!

He wasn't too into this evening (we are all running a little slow today for some reason) and I didn't have our official video camera but I was able to catch this:





Our silly little Oscar.

Early Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers!

Been busy. Lot's of work, lot's of deck/patio, no kitchen, little sleep, lot's of boys, much less crying (or tearing up) - (Alex is gone for three weeks and I'm soooo worried about his diabetes), book to read but no time to read it, getting ready for a day full of food for Fathers Day, need to video Oscar skateboarding because I understand some don't believe he really tries to do it (LOL!), need to exercise because I'm uncomfortable!, oh, and I got an award. That's just some of it. Will update on most of this later - cause I'm tired now and don't want to take the time - sorry! Just wanted to drop in and say -

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers!

My dh has been out of town since Monday. He was supposed to be back this evening but his plane was cancelled due to mechanical issues. Unfortunately this means he won't be home until tomorrow afternoon now. Even though I'm very happy he wasn't on a defective plane I am ready for him to come home. Getting ready to call it an early night and ran across this YouTube video reminding me of him . Thanks Hostess with the Mostess for sharing this video so I too can share. Warning, warm fuzzies all over this!

My life in pictures:

Kitchen:

Love it!


Turning out how I had it in my head.


Looking good.

Deck:

Just a little deck.


Awesome!

Other:

Cat-Dog. Zoe with a dog cut. Oscar slobs all over her and matted her hair so badly she had to be shaved. I as her mom couldn't do it all, so sad. So, we compromised and did a Cat-Dog haircut. Really it's not as bad as it seems. I didn't cry when I picked her up although I was afraid I might have a tear so I took Alex with me for moral support. Picture is blurry but the best one I have with her standing up. She is always on the move these days. Hmmm, maybe it's to get away from slobby dog. ???


A new favorite picture of mine - darn that coat! Our subdivision had a garage sale this weekend and we at last minute decided to participate in it. My dh is the best garage saler around - seriously! Here JB and Oscar are watching the action - or rather waiting for more. It was the end of the day - all were tired.

Celebrity Update:
One note on Oscar. He is getting to be quite the mini-celebrity I'm finding out in our subdivision and a definate hit with the kids. One lady told me she was leaving her husband to marry Oscar - and her husband came down to see him and he confirmed she told him that too! I'm afraid pretty soon kids are going to be coming to the door not to see if Alex or Chad can play but if Oscar could come out and play. He has been skateboarding up a storm this weekend.

He has been working so hard on perfecting his skatboarding skills. We all try to take him out at minimum once a day to practice. He absolutely loves it and I find it theraputic for me as well to just watch. He is a bit sporadic in how he goes about it - a lot of it depends on his mood - and he hasn't quite figured out the concept of all four paws on the board. The way he goes about it is actually much harder on him so I'm looking forward to the day when he knows exactly what to do. However, having said that just yesterday, two times, he did actually have all four paws on the skateboard and skated across the culd-e-sac. I only saw it once but it was a hoot. I think it happened on accident and he was just tired. He was going so unbelievably slow - turtle like - but it went from one side of the culd-e-sac to the other, inching along but moving the whole time. He just stood there. Everyone who was outside (which were a lot) completely stopped what they were doing and watched. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Then he got to the other side, put a foot down and everyone went crazy. I'm talking hands in the air, belly laughs, the whole thing. LOL! Tooooooo funny!!!! I know he is on a lot of peoples cell phones as photos because I saw them taking pictures. I think today I'm going to video him and attempt to post it. Too funny!

I have planned to post this for at least a week now (actually over a week) but each time I try to do it I have problems with the photos. So, I think it may actually work this time here goes... Spoke too soon. Something is going on with my computer (never good!) where the cookies or re-visiting certain sites locks up that portion of my computer. Seems online banking and Flickr are the two sites I have the most trouble with.

Anyway... been working slowly on the kitchen. I put up all but one panel of the beadboard and am waiting on an order of trim to come in so I can finish putting that up. I will then apply some stain to the beadboard and trim and after a couple days I will begin painting. I'm going to visit a glass company this week and order some glass panels for a few of my cabinet doors - fairly inexpensive so I've heard. I'm experimenting with some additional trim ideas and now exploring the idea of creating a wall oven. Yes, this project is getting a bit out there but I'm still extremely budget conscious. However, I'm also into improving the value of our home.

Today the carpets got cleaned - YEAH! Have to say, they were bad but not that bad seeing as we've never had them professionally cleaned since we moved in 5 years ago!

Oh yeah and did I mention the thing about a deck? Can't remember what I posted before - it's been so long. We are putting on very nice deck and outside entertainment area. We were going to do it in phases but our phases have started merging together - lol - that's dh's doing. I'm not arguing mind you. He has to come up with the money or financing, I do the designing. Turns out we are doing the deck with pergola (large and small) and a patio with firepit. That was supposed to be three phases - merged into one. Next phase will be where we build a grill area and landscape. They should be starting in a week - I can't wait! Although I'm still tweaking the design so additional time is fine with me.

The boys are doing good but seriously questioning what the heck we are doing. When we moved home we only thought we were going to be in this house for five years. Turns out we are staying here longer then originally planned. We LOVE our neighbors, the boys LOVE their school and friends... not ready to give that stuff up so we are deciding to make out house the way we really wanted it originally. We are done spending all of our time on our business, we are ready to enjoy spending time with our friends and family. I want to start cooking. I want to relax. DH needs to relax...


Got to go.....

I know I've been MIA lately but have been so busy - as most people are these days. I have lots swirling in my head that - must - come - out! I really want time to free up so I can focus on home improvements. I'm in a creative zone now and I must go with it.


Kitchen
I'm going to redo my kitchen on a low budget. I am not replacing my horrible cabinets but am going to paint them in my favorite color of choice - black. Yep. I'm so siked to do this. I've already done two test doors (doors we had replaced when we moved into the house but I hung onto just in case I needed them). They are AWESOME! But I haven't begun the official painting of the real thing because of course this idea leads to other ideas namely; cutting out the center of several upper cabinets so I can install some bubble glass (that's what I call it), exploring the option of bumping out the cabinet over my refrigerator to add some interest, adding bead board to the sides of the cabinets and over the entire island, adding architectural elements to other parts of the cabinets (ie: feet under cabinets) to give it a more cohesive look and a built-in custom look, over and under cabinet lighting and adding some interest of some sort to the top of the cabinets. Remember I try to Think Outside the Box so of course I'm going with this philosophy for this project as well without going to crazy. I will document my process through out because I enjoy watching other peoples home improvement projects. Here's a before picture:






So right now I've got my station set up in the garage and I'm in the process of doing some staining/painting testing on the bead board DH and I picked up at Lowes last weekend. We did have to wait an hour for them to make 14 cuts so I have little to cut at home which is AWESOME. He made all those cuts for a whopping $3.50. LOL! Really, if they were smart they would charge more for that but I'm not going to tell them! Now, I just need to find the time to do this.


Outdoor Living Options:
I have designed an outdoor living area (ie: deck and patio) and we are exploring bids on getting this done. Of course my originally plans provides a deck big enough to land a helicopter on but it would be awesome if done according to what's in my head. It's interesting talking to all the different companies. Some build decks, some are interested in design, some are small, some are large (companies that is). Yesterday we found the one person who does it all and gets what I'm trying to accomplish. We have some more components of this to discuss and plan for but we think we are going to do it. We really want a place to hang out with our neighbors. The culd-e-sac is fun but sometimes sitting in the back with a nice firepit would be great! Last night I made a couple drawings for dear DH to see the vision of what the latest guy and I discussed. Fingers crossed this actually gets done sometime in the next couple years!


Family Room:
My kitchen connects to the family room. This room is still not done and one thing that has prevented me from finishing it was my lack of commitment to both sides of my fireplace where we bumped out the walls. Originally I was going to have built-in book cases put in there - you know the classic open shelving above and closed cabinets below. While that would be the safe thing to do and provide quick shove it in the cabinet so no one sees it storage, it's a bit to normal for me. I've finally decided to do a shelving unit there but it will be a bit different. I'm thinking it will mimic what I'm considering doing above my kitchen cabinets. I will fill you in more wants I do a little bit more experiments with wood and do some more drawings.

That's just a few of the things swirling in my head. It's going to be so much fun!