This and That

Do you remember Caleb pointing out the pink rose bud that was about to open? Well it turned out to be this beautiful rose.

I am enjoying my flowers this year. I think it is because I always worked a job that had me physically and emotionally drained and when I came home I plopped on the couch and didn’t get up. Now I am working a job that I love and come home at a decent hour and still have energy to enjoy life. Life is good.

This cute little toad is enjoying the bugs that surround this dog that lights up at night. The two are a matching pair. I love the little guy but Mike is afraid that if he ventures into the backyard that Max will eat him and make him very sick. He keeps taking him back to the creek but the next day the toad is back in the front yard. haha Toad 3, Man 0. hahaha

This is the dog that lights up green at night. It is solar powered and I love this guy. I found a frog that does the same thing at Big Lots and I might have to go back and get it.

Mike and I are trying our hands at Square Foot Gardening. We built these raised beds and placed them on the side of the house far enough away so that when the new siding goes up in a few weeks it won’t be a bother. I have planted tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, butternut squash, lettuce, spinach, basil, cilantro, oregano and eggplant. I planted all but the tomatoes from seed so time will tell if it will come up. I don’t generally have a green thumb so I have to learn this stuff now before we get onto the farm and go big.

Mike and I went to the local Milton HalfWay Market and I found this cute little shelf sitter that I just had to have. Isn’t he cute?

I think he goes well with the pictures that are on the opposite wall.

Well this is enough to bore you with today.  The home remodeling is coming along. I can’t get over how nice it is looking and then we will sell it and start all over again somewhere else. I am enjoying it but don’t tell Mike.

Yardsale Mirror

A couple of weeks ago Caleb went to yardsales with me. Now shopping with Caleb is an adventure all on its own but today was priceless. We came to this huge yardsale that had several family members all combining their items on the lawn to sell. Caleb made a beeline for the toys and was busy picking out figures from the Cars movie.

I found a mirror that I knew I could alter to fit my needs when all of a sudden Caleb was beside me looking into the mirror and said, “I see my nose.”  Well, the ladies all found him to be so cute that they let me have the mirror for only $3. They even stuffed his little pockets full of hotwheels. He was a happy little boy and I was a happy Grandma.

This was the before picture of the mirror. I love all of the flowers around the edges.

Mike helped me to remove the back and mirror and I took it outside to spray paint it with the rubbed bronze spray paint that I love.

I put the mirror back in it and Mike hung it on the wall in the dining room overlooking the diningroom table. I love this mirror.

Not bad for $3 huh? I love this mirror and can’t wait to see where it will hang in the new house. I am guessing it will end up in the master bedroom over the bed there. Time will tell.

My Talented Husband

I was working on the final items for the master bedroom today and I had a difficult time deciding which glass items that I wanted to put in there. Mike made all of them while we were dating and the first couple of years that we were married.

I have several boxes in closets and there were many items to choose from. I have some of his work in every room. When we do the final kitchen touches I will show you what I have over the  cabinets in there. For now here are a couple of pictures from the bedroom.

The vase and yellow flowers  Mike actually made for my grandmother. After she died family members gave back to me to keep.  I added my own red flowers that he had made for me and it looks perfect on the dresser.

Is it really Sunday already?

Is it really Sunday already? Wow, this week seems to have escaped me and tomorrow I go back to work. I am not ready. I have too much to do here at home. This week Mike got the new trim up on the baseboards in the master bedroom. He also stained and added a new door. This is picture of one of the hall closets that we haven’t changed yet. You can see how dark the doors are that we are replacing.

This is the after. I love this color. We changed the door knob to rubbed bronze. Speaking of rubbed bronze.

We took down the ceiling fan and spray painted the brass sections with the rubbed bronze as well. I love the look. The first pic is the before and the second is the after. We also flipped the fan blades over to only use the wood side. What do you think?

I keep making trips to the stores to find the right curtains. I bought an unusual quilt for the bedding and finding curtains to match it hasn’t been easy. I think I may have found one yesterday and hopefully this will work. I am going to the store later today to see if actually matches in person. It is difficult to tell shades online.

Last night we went to Lowes and bought the trim work for the new window that we will be putting in Caleb’s room. We also bought the closet door for his room as well. He spent yesterday with us and I had a great time with him. We went shopping for pillows, curtains and new shoes. This is a pic of him in the backseat of my car on the way there.  Don’t worry. Grandpa was driving.

It is hard to believe that he will be 3 in 2 weeks. It seems as if he has always been in our lives. He is such a great kid. He is excited about the move to a farm. He keeps telling me that we need to get a horse and a moo cow. The more that we think about it I think we need a moo cow too. I am dreaming of being on the farm and making my own butter and cheeses.

Rubbed Bronze

Since we are staging the house to sell we noticed we had too many finishes throughout. We didn’t want to break the bank to buy new so what we can spray paint with a rubbed bronze finish we are. My sister had given me a double swing arm lamp for over my bed. It had a gold finish to it.

Mike stretched it out and sanded it a bit to make it hold the paint.

Once it was spray painted with the rubbed bronze finish we attached it to the wall behind our bed and added the lampshades. I have bought new bedding and will share the finished room soon. This is the headboard of the bed with the new lamp on the wall.

We have also painted the lamp over the sink in the bathroom. I didn’t take before pictures but it turned out great too. Mike plans to take down the ceiling fan in the room and paint it too. I will share that eventually.

We got a lot done this weekend. Mike painted the ceiling and finished casing the new window in the bedroom. I love it. We haven’t bought curtains for it yet but we did install the blinds for privacy and to keep the sun from waking us so early.

I can’t wait for it to all be finished. We decided that we would attack one room and completely finish it before going to the next. Caleb’s room has the least work that needs done to it. I am hoping that this week we will get the master bedroom finished. Yesterday we went to Lowes and bought all of the baseboard trim to match the trim on the windows, closet and door to the closet. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get it all attached.

We worked late into the evening and got the new closet doors on. Mike stained them to match the trim from the windows. This is the before picture.

This is the after picture. We added rubbed bronze door knobs as well.

We love the way it turned out. Now we need to replace the door to the room, install the trim that is already stained and add the new bedding and curtain and we are done with this room.

I want to be done with this room by next weekend. I think it is a doable.