Our Lady of Garabandal

http://www.garabandal.org/

While at Adoration Saturday night, I picked up a book called, " Our Lady at Garabandal" by Judith M. Albright. This is about the apparitions in Spain in the 1960's. The church has not approved of the apparitions because the prophecies have yet to occur but nor have they been condemned. The visions stress the importance of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood. I found it very compelling.

Disney Magic Artist

LINKY: http://disney.go.com/magicartist/index.html
Hello Summertime fun!! This is a great FREE site where you can print out activities for your kids. This morning we printed out a calendar to keep track of the library programs we will be attending, printed coloring pages, made a personalized story book, and made a Thank you card. There are lots of things to do and each child can choose their favorite Disney character.

Memorial Day

It is the VETERAN who serves under the Flag,

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM!!

First Bath in the New House!!!

We moved in last week, but we haven't been able to use the upstairs bathroom because of a leak. I was cleaning around the toilet and noticed that the flooring felt spongy and that the toilet was dripping. Then we pulled up the floor(both layers) and discovered mold and wood rot. Fun times.

So Don removed all the rot and mold and tiled the bathroom floor.....it looks awesome!! The other bathroom just has a shower and it wasn't much fun bathing 2 toddlers in a shower. It's amazing how good and rewarding it is just to be able to give the kids a bath. Aaahhhh, it's beginning to feel like home!

My Confession....

Here it is...........I HATE TO COOK! I really do, I love to bake, but detest cooking. I stumbled across a website where a lady cooked in her crockpot for 365 days! WOW! See now I don't consider using a crockpot cooking, so it's something I can do. Especially now that summer is approaching, using the oven heats up the house too much. I thought some of her recipes sounded pretty tasty. Here is her link: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

I think I may have to try her deep dish pizza recipe.

Ode to My Flip Flops

Oh my flip flops, I love you true

Yes, I really really do!

We have been through the mill

And yet our love holds still.

We met in Florida fair

Where my toes met the open air.

I chose you from the bargain bin

If I had to, I would again!

$1 is such a small price to pay

For the comfort and style, all without fray!

We stained the fence

Paid bills with pence,

Painted walls

Frequent falls,

Climbed the stairs,

Chased nightmares,

Rode bikes,

Went on hikes(up and down the driveway)

Shopped for food,

You're all good!

Ode to you my dear,

You shall have no fear.

I won't sell you,

Recylce you,

Trash compact you,

or ever forsake you!

When this life is done,

Know my heart you've won.

For nothing more than this,

You were there, not amiss.

Times both in joy and sorrow,

For now we have tomorrow.

And maybe even next Tuesday!

Window Seat

Before: Hunter green walls and damaged brown trim.After: Soft green walls and balloon shades(Shabby Chic collection from Target, painted white trim along with new trim to surround the window seat and some comfy cushions from Target.(Waverly Home)

Kitchen Curtains

The Serenity Prayer hangs right outside the Kitchen.....

Design elements for the Kitchen.

The new curtains in the kitchen.

This is an empty space that I didn't know what to do with initially, so I added some curtains and it's now a trash/recylcing center. The curtains were purchased from Walmart and it was one of the only prints that contained both paint hues. We are still working on painting and replacing the trim.


Closeup

Olay Simply Ageless Covergirl Makeup

Before Covergirl/Olay Makeup

Ok, so I am a BzzAgent which is basically a product tester. I was sent a makeup kit that contained a concealer, corrector, foundation and blush. I took a before and after pic. I have to say that I was surprised by the great coverage of the foundation and the light and natural look and feel, something that is lacking in traditional liquid foundation. The foundation comes in a compact and has swirls of the Olay product mixed with the foundation. I still like my usual foundation which is Bare Minerals, better. I didn't think the corrector or concealer were anything special. The blush is nice although I like my Bare Minerals bronzer better. I think it's a great product and I can totally see myself switching to the foundation once I get more wrinkles because Bare Minerals seems to show off creases and wrinkles due to the iridescent quality of the product.

After

Crazy Carpet Conundrum

Before: With the house having been abandoned and left literally to the dogs, the carpet was in horrible condition.

We tried cleaning it, but it still smelled and the stains wouldn't come out. What options were there?? Unfortunately there weren't hardwoods underneath the carpet.

The estimate to carpet the house with budget carpet was about $4,000.00.

Since we hadn't sold our house, that was out. So we went on a hunt for remnants with bound edges sold at Jabara's, but even that would have been pricey and only temporary, not too mention that would be mis-matched. I know that God heard my plea for a solution....see below

After: Gorgeous carpet for a bargain price....and a little hard work:)

I was searching Craigslist for carpet or remnants or rugs...anything. I stumbled on an add for the sale at the Broadview hotel, they were selling the carpets out of the guest rooms for $25 each with a minimum purchase of 5 rooms.

 Only catch....remove and haul yourself! Easy huh??? Well not really, they told us to come back on a Sunday so could use the freight elevator. We went through 60 hotel rooms trying to pick the perfect stain-free, smell-free carpet. We found 5 good size rooms to buy.

 So we went on a Sunday and guess what wasn't working???? Yes, you guessed it...THE FREIGHT ELEVATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, we(Don and our friend, Nick(I was supervising;)) had to roll it up fold it in half(not an easy feat!) and smoosh into the ancient small guest elevator. That took forever and we were running out of time, so guess what we discovered??

 Apparently carpet rolls down stairs(4 flights) pretty darn well when it's tied up with old phone cords!(only thing we could find)

Okay, so now we have the carpet home and we hired an AWESOME carpet guy named Vinny to install it. For the price of 1 room of carpet, we have a house full!!!

God is AMAZING!

Axe-Murderer's Kitchen turns Modern Cottage

Before: Axe-Murderer's Kitchen

Our lovely Realtor, Laura enjoy's the decor...

Black wooden plank flooring with huge bolts, blood red soffits(sp), hinges, and knobs, dingy white painted cabinets and off white walls.

After: Modern Cottage Kitchen: Design elements We can't afford an extensive remodel at this time, so we went with a budget friendly face-lift for the kitchen. We painted the walls Peeled Cucumber, the floors with Green Pear(a darker tint of the Peeled Cucumber)Finally, a fresh coat of Ultra white paint on the cabinets.

I spray painted the hardware and hinges in a Satin Nickel finish along with a Wood Applique applied to the sink base to tie it all together.

The curtains under the cabinet hide the trash/recylcling.Aahh...Sweet Serenity!

I'm posting this renovation in Thrifty Decor Chic's Before and After Party...Check it out at http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/

Springtime Fun!

This is so easy, even a baby could do it!

Just like big brother, Noah, Charlie wants to help mow.

Math Cookies, baking is actually a great way for the kids to learn fractions, a few times a month, they talk me into substituting baking for Math....when it turns out this sweet, how could I say No??