wall art ...finally!

We've been in the house over a year now and there is still one box to be unpacked and some pictures to be hung. I'm just not a very motivated person. So I was in no hurry to put something up on the living room wall. I knew I'd find something I liked and was cheap not too expensive.

Back in January, on the way home from visiting a friend, I stopped at an outlet mall. In Carolina Pottery I saw the coolest wall "tiles." I use quotes because they looked kinda like ceramic tiles but were really light-weight metal. Anyhoo...They were big (check!), blue and brown (check!) and $17 a piece (check!). However, when I got them home, I decided it was too much blue on blue. I thought some sort of backing would look good. Long story short and 9 months later... I finally have them hanging on my wall!

Tada!!!

I cut an old political sign (corrugated plastic) to size and then spray painted it brown because the white showed through the burlap. Then I sprayed adhesive onto it and placed my burlap over it. I folded the corners giftwrap-style and used duct tape to hold them down. I nailed straight through sign to hold it and each of the tiles in place.

Ok, so it's not Goodwill cheap, but not bad for less than $75!

I'm participating in:

Designer's Challenge

I need some decorating help here. So all 3 of you that read this blog, let me know what you think:
I want to put some curtains in our bedroom. Not so much for privacy or light, but I just think they'd look nice. I was looking at the latest issue of Southern Living and I got curtain envy. What can I say?
Here's my problem...there is a window and a set of french doors with a transom. I want to put curtains on both. I want them to be a little above the actual window/door frame by a few inches. If I do that, I need curtains approximately 98 inches long. In my brief curtain shopping experience, They only come in 63, 84 and 95 inches. Do I go with the 95 inch and let them be short a few inches? Do I go with the 95 inch and add on some fabric myself? You know me...I am not paying for custom made curtains.

So, what do you think?

Snowtorius!

(I stole that from a friend on facebook!)
I am eating my words because we got snow! Yes, usually us Southerners don't quite know what to do with ourselves when we get this much snow (about 6 inches here) but we played and built snowmen and sledded and all that good stuff!
It started yesterday around 3:00 and quit sometime during the night. We got out around 8:00 this morning and took some pics of the fresh snow.

Beautiful, isn't it? My dad found an OLD sled (wooden with metal rails) and we drug that behind the golf cart and 4-wheeler. What else do you expect a couple of rednecks to do when it snows?!

Savannah had a blast! After about 45 minutes though, she was done!

So pretty in the trees!

And now, almost 24 hours later, the snow is 90% gone! Yep, that what some sun and 45 degree weather will do for it. And we're glad! It's nice to see it come and nicer to see it go.

Now, who's ready for summer?

Catch Up

So I'm sitting here watching the Grammy's and thought I would stop by for a visit. Might I say, how the heck did Pink do that?? Amazing!
In the past week, the weather has been freezing and it has been gorgeous (65 degrees). In the past week, Steve has been home for 48 hours. He's off again to CA this week. He's gone much of the next few months. It's kinda nice having some time to myself, but I'm not so thrilled about playing single parent. Oh well...
We did finally buy a new couch! From Big Lots, of all places! It's a little more contemporary than my taste, but it's super comfy and was a great deal at $700!Speaking of catching up, I finally went and visited one of my BFFs last weekend. I hadn't seen her in forever so it was lots of fun and fabulous to see her. Here we are imposing our bad habits on Savannah...

I also realized that I had bragged on Christmas in the new house and I never posted any pics. It's only one, but this is my favorite. I just love this angle and how everything looks together. That's the old sofa, BTW...

And I bragged on the Christmas sercys I made for Savannah's class and never shared a pic. Here's that, too...

Otherwise, we're doing good. Hope ya'll are staying warm!

YAGBTS- White Trash

What the heck is YAGBTS? Go here.
So ya'll know we moved in our new house this summer. I gotta tell you- one of the BEST parts is that we live next to my parents. I know, it could be scary, but really, it's a good thing. Even Steve will tell you that. But one of the BEST parts about that is Daddy takes off our trash.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with such rural traditions, we have to load up our own trash and recyclables and take them to the nearest collection station. You could pay out the wa-zoo and have the big garbage truck come by, but we don't want that bill.
When I was a kid, we just had a burn barrel. Stay with me...we took all our trash, put it in a big metal drum out back and burnt it. Sounds crazy, but I was about 10 before I realized that not everyone did this. The dump (as we call the trash collection place) was where you took things that did not fit into the burn barrel and occasionally scored something to take home. No lie. I remember getting a table from the dump that I used for years and years. I finally took it to Goodwill this summer when we moved.
Now, the dump is closely monitored and you have to play by the rules. No scavenging and no putting any and everything into the trash compactor. They have little stations for everything from magazines to colored glass.
So as I was saying, Daddy comes and gets our trash about once a week which is great, in my opinion, because Steve absolutely sucks at taking off the trash. If left up to him, once a month is perfectly acceptable. But then he has the nerve to be offended that Daddy takes over this job for him. He should be glad b/c that's one less thing for me to gripe about and one less thing for him to do. If he wants to get offended, he needs to hang out in the garage when the trash has NOT been taken out for a month.

Hostess with the Mostess...anxiety attacks

Is it November yet? Seriously, while this time of year is filled with so many good things...it's filled with SO many good things, and work things, and social things, and travel things, and church things....AGH!!!
We are having our real house warming party this week and I'm a little overwhelmed. I don't "entertain" well. A few friends and a six-pack. OK. No problem. More than 5 friends and a planned menu? OMG! I have to do this and this and buy food and Oh, I don't have anymore trash bags and NO!! Don't eat that! It's for the party! Savannah go brush your teeth for the 10th time! What stinks? Ugh! The dog never got a bath. I think I liked the square tray better. Do we have a bottle opener? Steve? STEVE! Hey! Will you take a shower already?!? People will be here in 20 minutes and I still have to put out some ice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to our new home!

Hey! How are you? Glad you could stop by our little virtual-housewarming party! Did you have any trouble finding us? Oh, good. You knew to look for the rock. Grab a drink and let me show you around...
Yes, the grass is still patchy, but it's coming along nicely. We're going to hold off on landscaping until the fall when it's cooler.
The bookshelves in the living room are still a little "busy" but I think I put together some nice displays of family photos and items I had. I love my print above the fireplace. Can you believe the whole thing only cost me $100?!

Here's the kitchen. I'm happy with how it turned out. We have so much space now! But look, I told Steve to move his junk off the counter!

And here's our dining area. I never wanted a formal dining room. Here's the made over table and chairs I got off of Craigslist for $100!

Here's our bedroom. I still want to get something to put on the walls, but I don't know what just yet. This is the only "brand new" furniture we bought.

I've only taken time to use the big tub once so far, but I will use it! Notice the lack of mirrors...I STILL haven't found what I am looking for! We may just have them made at this point.

Here is Savannah's room. She loves to sit and play in here (thank goodness!) Her furniture was bought second-hand as well.

The hall/kids' bathroom. The ceilings throughout are 10', except for the living room which is 12'.

Oh, don't look in the guest room/craft room! That's the room that still needs a lot of attention!

Here is the FROG: aka the man-room. Yes, Steve HAD to HAVE a huge screen and his weights up there!

Here's my favorite place: sitting on the back porch at night. So peaceful! It's needs a little decorating, but I'll get there eventually.

Here's the damn, pain in the ass pool. It's been a hassle from day one, but at least we can use it now. Of course, it's raining today so we'll just have to admire it from the porch.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for coming! Ya'll come back now!

You're Invited

You are cordially invited to a housewarming party!

At this blog

on Saturday, August 15

at noon EST

YAGBTS - Ben the Builder

Contrary to popular belief, building our house was not horrible and we did not once contemplate divorce because of it (the moving in part is another story). Overall, it went pretty well. We got along with our builder great! Sure, there was a misunderstanding or two, but no biggie. Just how well do we like our builder? Here he is with his #2 in charge, cozied up on the back porch with Savannah. With a beer in his hand. On a Wednesday afternoon.
Yep, that's how a good ole' boy rolls.

Excuses, excuses

I can relate to Austin Powers. I need some mojo. For putting away the last of the little crap and for blogging.
As I mentioned before, most of the stuff has been put away in the new house, but other stuff lingers. Like garlic bread. Like pregnancy pounds. Like Halloween candy. Maybe I'll have a bloggie housewarming party soon to show you around the place. You're all invited. That's the least I can do seeing as how many of you have been with me since we started building. Look for your invites soon.
I feel like I've lost my blogging groove. Being busy was an excuse, but it really only gets worse now that school is starting and I go back to work. As much as I have made fun of Facebook, it achieves the same purpose: see what other people are up to and share some of your own moments, if desired, and I don't have to write a while post. Just don't take any of those damn quizzes!!
PS- I'm shopping tonight at the big children's consignment sale and I am very excited! Not only am I staff this year, but that means I get to be first to shop! Whoo-hoo!

I'm back!

Just thought I would take a second to come up for air and say "hello" to my bloggie friends. I'm good. The new house is good. Our 4th of July was so-so. The new pool is not so good. Moving is going slow, but good. Or rather, the unpacking is slow but good. My stuff has the potential of being there for the next 40+ years so I want to make sure I put it in the right spot!
I'll finish up the Paris trip too, but for now I just wanted to say, "Hey!"

Heaven and Hell

The day has come.
We finally moved.
What started last July, has been completed.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
We worked hard yesterday.
Sweated our hineys off.
In 100 degree heat.
Hottest of the year so far.
New house didn't even have air until after noon.
Thank goodness for the pool!
(never thought I'd say that...)


(I'll be on hiatus for a while. Catch you later!)

Commercial Break

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program, An American in Paris, to bring you this important message:
This is it peeps. Tomorrow is the final house inspection. The day where the fate of our house lies in the hands of some county employee. So I am selfishly asking you all to say a prayer, send good thoughts or whatever that it passes and we can finally move in our new house!!!

I smell...

...a bargain! I had another day of deals this past Saturday and was waiting until I had my photo to write the post. And wouldn't you know that Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is having a Mr. Linky yard-sale-a-pa-looza!?! I love Rhoda. She is very sweet and has a beautiful home with lots of great decorating advice.
So mama and I hit the big highway-long yard sale that started in one little town and ended several towns over. We didn't make it the whole way, but let's say we made it far enough! We started at 7:00 and I left Steve and Savannah home in bed! Whiny husbands and 3 year-olds do not make good yard sale companions.
I took a "group pic" of my finds because I'm too lazy to take a pic of every little thing and then upload it. Sue me! I got a small Christmas tree, an old table runner, an old basket, a vintage pair of Mr. & Mrs. Claus salt & pepper shakers, a Pottery Barn Kids step stool, two small paintings, a striped storage bin, a milk-glass vase and a Southern Living at Home plate all for $15.50! Yeah, baby! Mama got several things including a $5 chair, plant stand, a few dishes/pottery and a braided rug.

After mama drops me off back home, she calls me about 20 minutes later. She's stopped at a few more sale on the way home and finds a bedroom suit that would be good for Savannah's room. So, me and Savannah load up and check it out. 30 minutes later and I have bedroom furniture for Savannah for $300. It's a little more than I would normally pay for used furniture, but it was in good shape and it was a chest of drawers, dresser with mirror, nightstand, twin headboard and mattress. Here's the chest of drawers with one little ding on the bottom that daddy can fix.


Wow! I'd say that was a good yard sale day! Some of you had asked about the furniture I got last week for the thrift stores. I don't have before pics. We got to scrubbing and painting before I could get a pic!
Here's my $7.50 chair after some serious TLC. That's my $6/yard fabic on that seat. I feel like I "rescued" this one because someone had "inscribed" on the back of the top: Weed, 2008 and drew a marijuana leaf. Nice.
Here's the chandelier. Before, it was your typical 1989 shade of brass. I'm holding out for finding some shades, Rhoda!
Here is the table I bought a while back on Craigslist. I got a table and 6 chairs for $100!!! The top was scratched and stained but we sanded the crap out of it and stained and finished the top. The chairs will be recovered in the same fabric as above.

Here's my $7.50 mirror. Before, it had a weird grey-ish paint wash on it. We scraped 90% of it off with our fingernails. The rest took a little more muscle, but wiped it down afterwards with some wood oil and it looks great!

Detail of the top of the mirror.

So there you have it!!! Soon, I will be moved into our new house and take all my yard sale and His House junk with me. I love it!

Hole-y Moley!

We were supposed to have the final inspection done on the house Friday, which would mean we could close on it and finally move in. Nope. This happened instead...

My cousin, the electrician, fell through the ceiling. No lie. He didn't fall all the way through, but as you can see, that is a 40-year-old man sized hole.

Ok, well, that isn't the only reason we didn't have the inspection. All the hand railings hadn't been put up either and we need those to meet code. But still...there is a HOLE in my kitchen ceiling!! Easily repaired and my cousin is ok so, we'll try again next week.