The Mother Load...

at my mother's house!

I love when my mom does a little bit of cleaning...and then calls me over to pick through the things she is tired of. Thanks to the blog world and new found appreciation for spray paint, I look at things in a much different light. And there's no greater thrifty find when it's FREE.

Cute Southern Living Candle holder. Don't think I'll be painting this one....yet.


I'm planning on a healthy dose of black for this platter:

(Blogger picture up-loader-thingy, why is this cross on its side?) This is staying as is...and going in my guest bathroom.
And some things, you want just because they old sentimental value. Like this miniatures shelf thingy. Mom has all the miniatures that go in it and I remember it as a staple in my childhood home. And since Dad bought them for Mom...well, I'll probably display it just as I remember it.
Not sure what these things are...but I'm sure I can find a purpose for them! (and paint for that gold platter thingy.)
This picture is another memory for me. I always thought it was my Mom. It's not. But I can remember staring at that picture trying to figure out what she was thinking about. The trivet is getting painted...some color....not sure what yet. I loved the grooves in it, though. Eh, we'll see.
This mirror is about 5x5" but the frame is about six inches around it. Interesting. I think I can see my whole nose in the reflection, but that's about it.
This shelf I'm stalking for my laundry room....
Another memory here...but these, I have no problem changing. I just wanted the ovals around my house to soften the harsh lines I have all over of shelves and square or rectangular mirrors.
Love this wire tea pot. It's a candle holder...who knew?? Thinkin' of painting it green....
But my favorite find of the day is this lock. Yes, the lock. The other great thing about shopping at Mom's house is that you find little treasures like this and even though you have missing pieces, you take it anyway because, hey, it's Mom's house and she just. might. find. it.
And she did.
That lock has a small hook on the bottom to house a skeleton key. And she found the key.
I love that woman.

And here's something that I did have to buy, but it was in the $1.50 bin at Walmart. I'm thinkin' of these fabrics to make curtains for my kitchen. At two yards of fabric for under $5...hubby was proud. I even paid with cash....hehe. The color swatch (named Apple Green) is the color I'm going for in the kitchen and I didn't think this fabric was too far off.



Ok...I'm done...finally!

Head on over to Rhoda's place at Southern Hospitality to see what great things other people dug up!

I'm home. But not for long.

If you are reading my blog today...can you go visit my favorite blogger? Today is his birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Honey!!!!!!

I'm back from a four day stay at my parents house. You know, you never want to over-stay your welcome...and since we'll be back there at least by Saturday...gotta have a couple days of a break. Air conditioner is still broken. 101 today says the weatherman who is not always right but tends to be at least within a five degree marker. Hmph.

But we have a lot to be thankful for! We found renters, we are alive, well, and making do in heat that could DEFINITELY be worse in the Valley. I got married when it was 107, I'm sure I can handle this. At least, that's what I've been telling myself.

So, my day has consisted of:

Ice cream.

Water.

Ice.

Cold showers.

And a PROJECT! (You knew if I was back at home I was doing something, right?)

So, I'm sure if you have your nose ANYWHERE in blogworld, you've seen Uppercase Living or something like it. L.O.V.E. I.T. The great thing is, you can go on their website and get samples of quotes they sell...and then do.it.yourself. (With the help of a computer, printer, and exacto knife, of course.) And save yourself quite a bit of money!

The hubs has me on "spending lockdown" so this has forced my creative hand a bit. And with at least likeable results, I think:

How much do I love those windows next to my door? Go on, ask me how much...'cause I really, really love them. As in: XOXOXOXOXO love.

Here's a closer picture:



Anybody have wording around their house that they just love? I'm trying to think of something creative for the kitchen...that is in a language I can understand! :)

UPDATE: Pssst.....today(as in Thursday) is DIY day at A Soft Place to Land...go check her out!

Easy-peasy crafts

So, I realized that with all these (alright, just two) "L's" around our house (staircase, plate in kitchen) that I didn't have anything signifying our faith up in our house and I was beginning to feel a bit narcissistic. It wasn't for a lack of trying, though. The perfect place for a cross or scripture hasn't made itself known to me, yet.

Until I was thinkin' about those black plates. You know...the ones in the previous post that you can't hardly see?

Well, I took me to Michael's (alright I took me, Big, Bigger, Little, and Shrimpy-otherwise known as my kids) and found this laser cut cross...painted it and hot-glued it to my other black plate. I love me some black plates.

That's better. My hubs graciously got some ink for our printer, so the wheels in my head are turning in regards to scripture. I take the scripture that says to write God's Word on your posts and lentils seriously, people.

Here's my other craft.

Don't let it's simplicity fool you....it really took me about an hour.

But it was well worth the effort!

Kitchen cabinets: Done. For now.

What do you think? (No, I haven't done the dishes....I'm sure you don't mind!)

Before:


After:


I actually left FOUR doors off (you can't see the others from the front but they are right next to the other 'non-doored' cabinets). I'm debating if I like it like that and then if I decide that I do, I'll put glass in the doors. From where I walk down in the morning to make coffee and greet my day, I love the four cabinets open...even though it's not symmetrical when you see it from the living room. Would you leave it like that? I'm looking for some black/white scrapbook paper to put behind the dishes and decor there and am also toying with accent colors.

And here are two dilemmas:
My biggest question is: If you were a black/white kitchen...what color would you want your walls/accent color? Keep in mind that the main wall with the window shares space with the breakfast nook AND the family room so I'd have to be able to carry the color into those rooms. I tend to decorate with red, green, yellow, and a little blue. In our old house, they were darker colors and I'm thinking I might wanna brighten it up a bit...what say you?
AND...
Would you leave the doors off?

Here's my view when I walk down in the morning. Can you tell I'm trying to find colors?

Those black plates on the wall were a garage sale find. For a buck I brought home floral plates with pretty scalloped edges and painted them black. The top one, I painted an "L" on. The bottom one is still undecided. (Oh my gosh...my sink is so full! That's one half day with four kids, peeps!)

Now that I see the pictures, I'm thinkin' the blue has definitely got to go. Still like the yellow, but I don't like any pictures I've seen of yellow walls with black and white kitchens. At least not with a brighter yellow.

Anyway...what do you think? What should I do?

Oh...here's what I caught Trouble Maker #2 doing:

Yeah, putting toys on his lamp blades from the top bunk. Who KNEW?

Shock and Awe!

A new post!

I know...where do I find the time, right? Well...I steal it. ;) The real trick is not stalking everyone else's blogs and realizing I just took an hour to do it!

Remember those hideous gold thingies that I was gonna put in my dining room in the last post?

Well, I painted them black (can we say INSTANT improvement?) but here's where they ended up:


Someone suggested it in the original Goodwill post and I LOVE the way they turned out. The third one is above the master bedroom door. These are the two kiddo bedroom doors. It works out perfectly and blends in nicely with the downstairs since you can see all three bedroom doors from the entry way. So, whoever suggested it...hey, thanks!

I'm never moving again.

At least, that's the plan.

You know what moving does for you? It makes you willing to get rid of all those things you've been holding on to, like, FOREVER, for those 'what if' moments that never come anyway. (If only hubby could learn that lesson with his high school-yes, HIGH SCHOOL-curriculum books.)

I'd love to show you pictures, but you'd only see boxes to your left...and boxes to your right. (Stand up, sit down, fight! fight! fight!)

I do have a couple major projects in the works. Now that the dead mouse under the dishwasher is gone along with the remains of one of his family members, and the roach eggs, dead roaches, mouse poo, and some things that I can't even find a name for that I just call nasty goop-are gone from the kitchen and bathroom areas, I can start working on them. I'm doing a family rules canvas for our breakfast nook (as soon as B&B-otherwise known as Becky and Brooke-get their booties moving too!), painting kitchen cabinets (OH MY GOSH! What a difference!), and caulking every little crevice I see that could potentially invite a bug into my house. Did I mention that we had belly up (read: dead) cock-roaches showing up in rooms every morning for about five days? Yeah. My daughter managed to grab one, yank its body apart and hubs thinks she might have ate some of it. Yummy.

That being said...we have internet! Yay! And DVR again! Yay! SYTYCD is calling my name!

K...gotta get back to work...which really means get dressed and get the kids over to pictures which I managed to forget to do in April for my two April babies! Pictures will come soon, I promise!

Goodwill is my new best friend.

Fur Real. I technically didn't do yard sales for her (Southern Hospitality) thrifty post...but I figured it was close enough!

Check out these beauties!
What? You don't think they are pretty? Imagine them with black spray paint...up on the wall by my dining room table....in the new house.

See? Can you see it??? NICE. Still no? Yeah. My sis wasn't too excited about these either.

But she will be. She. Will. Be.

And then she'll be SO irritated that I bought them despite her gnarled lip and furrowing brow.

I also scored a jingle bell wreath (have been wanting and stalking them for YEARS-$2), a lazy susan (that needs some paint and mod podge-$3), this cute table for baby girl's room (it will be painted, of course-$8)
See that cute doll changing table? My sis scored that for Hannah's birthday. $6!

And these:
Oh, how I love them!!! They were randomly placed through the store and I was so excited to keep finding yet another canister...and then another...and then the oil and vinegar jars! AGH! I believe I got all of them for $12. They will greatly aid me in my quest for organizing AND talking hubby in to leaving a few cabinet doors off in our kitchen.

And not to forget the reason I was able to score these deals....Hubby let me have all day yesterday to play with my sis and go shopping. We hit two Goodwills, Sonic Burger (for drinks), and Joann's. I had to buy jute for a project and black enamel paint for this:

PROJECT! love it!! 75% off at Joann's because of one corner that's broken...but fixable! Can't wait to do it....but it will have to wait until we move.

What is the one down-fall of scoring all these deals yesterday? Hubs would say, "It's the money." No, Honey!

I have to pack it all.

Minor detail.

Here's my mom, me, and my sister on Mother's day:

Apparently, great minds think alike, because we ALL wore green. Must be genetic.

Thanks for a great day, Husband! And thanks for going with me, Sis!