'Cozy Country Cottage' Guest Bedroom -

       When our friends bought their cottage a few years ago, they had decorated it with items picked up here and there, stuff out of her dad's storage unit, etc.. Time passed, and after getting a feel for their cottage, what they do there, looking through magazines, visiting cottage shows, etc., Julie had decided what theme she's like to go with and how she'd like to do her cottage. One time, while we were sitting out on it's deck, she shared that she'd decided to let me handle the re-do of the guest bedroom.
      I was both honored and THRILLED!  I LOVE decorating!!!  She gave me 'X' amount of dollars towards the project and I started spouting off ideas. She asked if I wanted to paint the room. I shrugged and said I didn't know.  We decided that I was to take my time with the project, thus being able to scout for "finds".  What fun I had doing just exactly that!
    Time passed. One day, as we were again sitting on her deck, this time discussing some of the treasures I'd found, she again asked if I was going to paint the room.  "That's the second time you've asked me that, I take it you want me to paint the room?"  "I've hated what they did with that room since the first time we walked through this cottage!!!"
    You know how when you have an overall idea for something, there is always a big gamble involved with how close to your concept the finished thing will actually turn out?  It's that way with cooking, baking, customizing cars, sewing, crocheting, and decorating, among-st many other things. I am so-o-o happy to report that the bedroom turned out exactly as I had envisioned!!!  I wanted to create a 'cozy cottage themed bedroom', incorporate some of the colors she'd chosen for her decorating, as well as some of the wood tones from the cottage itself, and some relaxing and encouraging touches.

     I so-o wanted a particular type of bed frame. I looked and I looked and I looked.... had started debating if I should change my goal, when it showed up while we were out shopping together. I was ecstatic!! Another shopper was quite befuddled why I would want that bed frame.  I explained the theme I was going for. With quite the expression on her face, she questioned if I was going to strip and redo it then.  "Nope, I'll just get a dark brown colored paint and paint very thin lines between each of the balls, which will change the whole appearance and make the whole frame really "pop". She wasn't convinced, but another shopper whom had been listening in, exclaimed that was a brilliant idea.
      Before -

   After - (I had brought along several small sized (even kid type) paint brushes... ended up wiping each one off and using a tooth pick... yes, a tooth pick.

                   

    I wanted several wood shelves... but had troubles finding enough that weren't painted over or that fit the size and styles I wanted.... so I ended up picking up a couple which had been painted over and painting over them again.
     Before -

     After - (besides just paining the shelf, I also painted thin lines to make the trim part "pop".)

         (reminder, you can click on picture to see them larger / clearer)

  

     Julie had wanted the room repainted for two reasons. One, was how poorly of a job they had done applying the white paint, the other was how bad the corners of the room looked.
     Before -

    After - (It had taken Brian quite a bit of time and effort, applying filler/spackle.. wait for it to dry, add another layer.... but once the two coats of paint were applied and dried, it showed how worth it his efforts had been!!! )

  This is what catches your eye when you first open the door -

    Close up of the frame - (At first I had printed off what we had come up with... didn't like the effect hanging in the room, so re-did it using colored pencils)

              [Reminder - you can click on pictures to see them clearer/closer up]

    Close up of the little shelf - (the gate is bolted to the frame seeings how it sits above where they sit up the port-a-crib ;->)

This is what you see when you look down upon entering the room -

        The wicker hamper holds sheets and blankets for the port-a-crib and works as a night stand. The rug feels good on your feet in the morning.


       Placed four (4) pillows on the bed, 'soft', 'medium', 'firm' and 'extra firm'.  It's a guest room, thus it's used by lots of different people.  Marked the pillows so it's easy to figure out which one you might prefer (also cut off all of those huge annoying tags they come with)  -
       

    I was again ecstatic when I stumbled across the quilt. It had the blue and white with touches of red of Julie's main theme, it totally fit the "cozy cottage" style I was going for, and the price was perfect!!
    Julie had thought I should make one of my wreaths for the room, I was again honored. It hangs above the bed -

   

      (PLEASE click on the above picture to see it clearer/better)

     A larger sized wicker hamper is the night stand on the other side of the bed. Brian made the lamp for me out of a large Ball canning jar. Picked up the shade at Menard's. Plan to fill the jar with acorns out of the yard this fall.  The jar didn't like to sit balanced on the hamper, so found the solution in this wooden board from a mission store. It had a wire attachment on it that Brian said had been used for .. unscrewed the screws, the ring came right off, turned it over, and wa-la, love the look!  The book under the tissues is a four version Bible. There is also a blue rug on the floor on that side of the bed. 

    While this picture is included above, here is what is above the bed in that corner of the room -

 The candle on the side wall is a battery operated one.

     The wicker look container on the bottom shelf holds hand lotion.

     The second shelf up holds favorite books from my youth. Books that would now be easy to read through on a rainy weekend. From right to left - 'Farmer Boy', 'The Boxcar Children', 'Little Men', 'Little Women', 'Anne of Green Gables', 'Heidi', 'Pippi Longstocking', 'The Trumpet Swan' and a Hymn Book (because old hymns can ease a down spirit wonderfully!)  Found all but the Hymn Book via Abe books on line.

    The wicker look trunk on the top shelf is currently full of whatever your imagination deems to be in there... ;-]

 

    The wall on the bathroom side of the room had not gone all of the way to the ceiling. It does now.

 

      Brian also replaced the outlets and the outlet covers in the room.

    The other outside wall of the room -
         If you pull the curtains tight to both ends, your get the black out effect. Seeings how it's a east facing room, that's a bonus when you have young ones in the port-a-crib!  (the little white nob hanging down in the picture is connected to the ceiling fan/light)

    
   Close up of the two (2) quotes (also made using colored pencils) -

     Julie had picked up the frames the quotes are in... we had both really liked the frames... here is what they looked like before -

    The mirror is actually a gold colored plastic framed mirror, sanded down and painted with some of Kayla's 'shiny bronze' finger nail polish. Then inserted into a picture frame after the picture had been removed and the frame had been painted and fine lined.

    Julie, THANK-YOU for allowing me the privilege of re-doing your guest room for you!  I had so-o much fun doing the 'hunt' for the re-do and 'planning' everything.  :-D !
   Brian, thank-you so-o-o much for all of your labor in helping me actually re-do the room! ;-} !
    

Sunday was FUN!!!

     The play [Menopause the Musical] Robin P. treated me to Sunday, was wonderful! It definitely is a secular play, so there were some spots we just shook our heads at, but overall, it was downright spot on about Menopause.  And being in a theater with LOTS of women who are also laughing, in great part due to relating to the subject matters = reassuring (aka: it's not just me!). So attending the play was GREAT!
    Spending time with one of my closest/dearest friends - What A Blessing! When I suddenly got very overwhelmed by the thrust of the departing crowd, her touch and reassuring words helped so much! When I was talking over dinner and stated "That word that I just had, but it suddenly went flying out the window" and in a bound she leans forward to get a better look out the window and states, "Man, it was fleeing fast, I couldn't even catch a glimpse of it" - wonderful combination of hilarity and acceptability! :-D
     The theater itself was BEAUTIFUL!!!  LOVED all of the architectural detailing! Got quite dizzy climbing the stairs to the balcony, due to my awe struck gazing at the ceiling. 

    Overall, or should that be 'lots more frequently lately' (?), my vertigo symptoms are a lot lower and thus easier to deal with/accept. Sunday's outing pushed them all way up again. I am still literally reeling from it. But I'm not really complaining, because the time spent with Robin and the laughter therapy of the musical, makes dealing with the current symptoms worth it!!!

more Wreaths

My friend Joanna was trying to figure out what to give her boyfriends parents for Christmas. It was decided that I would make a wreath for her. The family has a 'cottage'. The dad loves to fish. So I tried to make a wreath fit in there. This is what it ended up looking like:

(Brian's pic.'s 3/28 - #532)
the blue across the back of the bottom is suppose to represent water and the shinier green plants under that, then be underwater plants.

Amy and I had spotted these green 'Easter Grass' squares on sale at Hobby Lobby one time back before Easter and I was intrigued. There had to be a way I could make a cute wreath out of them. There was :-D

(Brian's pic.'s 3/28 - #735)

then I decorated it and it turned out like this -

(5/7 'early May' - # 023)
For the record, it took four squares of 'Easter Grass' to fill the wreath.

I made this one just because I was curious how these flowers would look on a wreath -

(5/7 'early May' - # 060)

My friend Debbie G. had 'ordered' two wreaths for Mother's Day gifts. Her mom's favorite colors are orange and yellow, but Debbie wanted lots of color and types of flowers. This is what she got all excited about when I delivered them last evening -

(5/7 'early May' - #024)

Her Mother-in-law literally lives in the middle of the woods. We've been there. So I tried to go with a more 'wild flower' type theme, yet make it bright and colorful like Debbie requested. Debbie liked it too -

(5/7 'early May' - #064)

This concludes this episode of Wreath Show and Tell :-D

We seem to have become the 'partying' type -

    For the past month now, we've been 'partying' every weekend.
    But the 'partying' actually started back on April 28th, when our nephew James married his Lauran.

            June 2012 # 047 - (sorry it's a little blurry)

     Dear Boo had passed on May 5th. A short time later, Brent and Kayla adopted "Brain". A cute little puppy who was so fun to watch interact with Elliot!!! Brent named him "Brain", so that when people asked if he had a brain, he could answer 'yes'. :-p!   They had been told by the rescue place they adopted him from, that all of the little bumps on his head were 'puppy acne'. But it kept spreading, over more and more of his body. And the different vet's they called and asked advice from, never once mentioned the possibility of it being mange. Which is what the humane society diagnosed it as, when they took him there. The humane society also wouldn't let them keep the puppy, declaring 'animal cruelty', even though they had been doing ALL of the treatments that the other places had recommended they do. I had so-o been looking forward to Elliot and Brain growing up together...

               June 2012 - #084

    On May 20th, the partying started up again, when Byron picked the kids back up. Within five minutes of them being here, we headed to the pond.

           A. -  #106   (Grammy has since purchased a larger sized swim suit for our growing girl :-D)

           E. -  #110

    Sadly, two hours later when was Brian injured his Achilles Tendon. He is progressing well. He'd like to be "all better" right now. Then again, he gets to stay at home in front of a fan instead of being at work in this heat.

         #249

    On May 27th, we attended the 80th birthday party for (our legal) Aunt Billie. Here is a picture of her with Grandpa "Honey" at James and Lauran's wedding.

         #033

    June 10th, Cyndi and her family came to MI, to do their own little birthday party for Analyse. Different things we did while waiting for them to arrive -

           #125 headed to the swings with Uncle Benson

        #128 playing with Poppa

        #132 tossing stones into the creek

        #138 learned to fly a kite

     After they arrived, we ate. Then Analyse went swimming with her daddy, mommy and aunts and uncles.

        #139 - Cyndi and Analyse. Grammy hadn't yet got a new suit and the old one was now too small.

        #146 - Auntie's Kayla and Emma

       #147 - Auntie Emma's Steve and Uncle Brent

       #144 Uncle "Bubba"
     While they swam, Elliot took a nap.

       #158
     After swimming, Auntie Jammie said it was cake and presents time.

    

        #161

     Elliot liked the brownie cake too!

           #177

     The party we gave for Analyse, was on Saturday June 16th. I'm going to be doing a whole posting about it later. So for now, I'll just share but one picture. It's of Analyse and Byron during gift opening time.

     #442

     Saturday June 23rd, we helped do the graduation open house for our neighbor Erin.

     June 30th our niece Jenelle married Simon.

       2011 - 06 - 24 - random pictures        (This picture was copied off of Simon's mom's facebook pictures. THANKS Ranita ;->

      I took this picture while we were waiting for other pictures to be taken. I found the shot irresistible ;->.

       June 2012 - #536

   
    This past Friday (July 6th), we helped do the reception for Crystal's wedding. It was 107 degrees. 'Helped' as in, grilling chicken and vegetables and working in a small kitchen baking lasagna, heating sauce for the chicken, etc., then running in and out to keep the buffet filled, etc.. We couldn't keep pouring the water in us, as fast as it was sweating off of us. Right out loud we thanked God when he did send a small breeze our way.
     Sorry, no pictures to share, at least yet. Might need to 'borrow' some from Crystal after she puts them on Facebook. It was a BEAUTIFUL outdoor wedding ceremony (wooden folding chairs out under the trees, facing a custom built arbor), with a custom built (by her father-in-law) greenhouse styled dining tent. Then dancing inside the beautiful wood lodge. Dreamy!

    Next weekend is Elliot's first birthday party. :-D

    After that?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Geesh!

   As we have the last couple of years, we got together with our neighbors, Chris and Amy and family, for dinner and fireworks last night. I had said that I would bring dinner this time, but it was at their house seeings how they have central air!
   Sunday afternoon, as Byron started up his van so we could head home from Grandpa 'Honey's' house, the noise his van made, went from "we better look into that", to "pop the hood and let's see if it's even safe to drive this thing home". It was, but it was decided it should be parked upon arrival. Something to do with the fan belt connected to the non working air conditioning unit.
    Tuesday evening, Brent and Byron got together to replace said belt. The idea had been, that once they were done, Byron was going to drive us out for dinner, where we could sit in air conditioning for awhile. A few hours later, I called them. Just the sound of their voices told me things were not going well. It was a few more hours later before Byron came in to clean up and head to work and Brent headed home. There went the idea of Byron taking me grocery shopping early the next morning.
    I already had a lunch date scheduled with Joanna. We didn't linger as long over lunch, but instead headed to the grocery store. (Thanks again Joanna!)
    I still got the menu I had planned on, due to now having a hunger for it. The menu was going to be Country Style Boneless Ribs, slow cooked in a crock-pot with BBQ sauce. My Pasta Salad (made with corkscrew noodles, broccoli, red pepper, colby jack cheese, miracle whip, ranch dressing and milk). And chocolate ice cream pie for dessert. Simple, but yummy.
     I put the noodles on to boil, mixed up my own BBQ sauce, and started to put the country style ribs in the crock-pot. Thing was, I guess I hadn't fully read their package label. While it did say "Country Style", and it was "pork ribs", they weren't the boneless variety. Instead, they were shoulder cut styled. That meant they didn't curve around in my round crock-pot the same. Bother!  Thankfully, the Lord intervened on my behalf and Byron came through the back door and offered to cut the meat into chunks for me, thus removing the bones. (Thanks again Byron!!)
    Got all of the cut up meat into the crock-pot, poured my sauce over it, used my hands to make sure it was mixed together good, plugged it in and went to work on the salad, then the dessert.
    Part way through, Brian came hobbling via one crutch in to the kitchen, pulling a fan behind him, which he plugged in and turned my direction. "That feels amazing! I've looked up at the ceiling fan several times, questioning whether or not it was really working." (Thanks again Brian!!)
   At six o' five, I checked the temp. of the meat. It was up to 105o. We decided to wander on over and just come back to get the food later. We knew that they wouldn't mind waiting a bit. I figured another hour to hour and a half and the meat would surpass 160o. It wouldn't be falling apart tender like it would have been if I'd been able to get it started first thing in the morning, but it should still be juicy and good.
   Their daughters and I came back at seven thirty to get everything. The meat thermometer now read 110o. "What?!?" "Maybe it needs recalibrated." But I couldn't find the other ones. "We'll just take everything over and recheck it with your dad's thermometer." It too read 110o. "Really?!?" I guess that 'new to me' crock-pot I had picked up at a mission store only heated to that temp. Bother!  It will work great for nacho or cheese dips, etc., just not for cooking meat in! (Yes, I'm marking the crock-pot, seeings how I have two identical ones).
   Chris suggested we put half of the meat into a baking pan and in to their oven for a half hour. It worked!  It was just by then we were all r-ea-l-l-y hungry. As soon as we pulled the first pan full out of the oven, we put the rest of the meat in in a different pan. So-o glad they had central air!
    While only half of everybody liked the pasta salad, everybody loved the meat (re-leaf!), as well as the dessert.
    Ya know, I had a bowl full of that salad about a hour and a half ago... I think it's now time for dessert! o:-D

    [ Why do I cook the ribs in the crock-pot instead of grilling them? Because they turn out ever so falling apart on your plate tender, you don't have to try and gnaw them off the bones, and you don't have to sweat in 90 plus temps over a grill. ]

Peeps Wreath

    As I had mentioned in THIS posting, I had made two wreaths. Today's posting is about the other wreath.
    My dear friend 'Jewels' birthday was quickly approaching and I wanted to do something both fun and special for her. She LOVES  Peeps(R). I had been seeing all kinds of ideas of things to do with Peeps over on Pinterest. Humm... which should I do? She unknowingly answered the dilemma herself. She had sent me a message asking if I had any old magazines she could have (it'd been awhile since I'd given her any). When I dropped them off on her porch, I decided that her front door NEEDED a spring type wreath. Thus the choice was made. I would make the Peeps wreath I had seen, pinned and debated over.
    To see the pin of the idea on my Pinterest board, go HERE. To see the blog posting the wreath had originally been pinned from, go HERE.
    Knowing myself, I had looked up that posting and written down the list of needed materials before Amy and I headed out. The thing was, the blog owner hadn't specified whether the amount of packages needed to make the wreath, were single or double packages. 'Tis better to error on the side of caution'. So I purchased nine of the double packs. Thankfully, Amy knew that Walmart had them on sale. :-D
        I gathered together my materials.

    I ended up not hanging the bunny in the middle of the completed wreath like I had intended to do. There just wasn't room.
         After rereading the instructions on the blog posting, I got started. Insert a toothpick up into the bottom of a peep, until the top tip just barely doesn't break through the top of the head of the Peep. If it does, back it out a bit and squeeze the Peep. They heal wonderfully.

     Push the toothpick down into the straw wreath.

     That took a bit of doing. After having done a bunch, I questioned if perhaps I was suppose to have removed the plastic covering.

       I decided to cut off just one small area and try it. (if you squint just right, you can see the difference. :-p)  Oh yeah! MUCH easier!  So a snipping I went. Used a pair of scissors (Why is it a "pair of scissors"? It's only one thing, right? Or are the two blades that come together actually the 'scissor' part?) and cut a line all of the way around the wreath, figuring that would be the easiest method to remove the plastic.
     It was. The thing was, I didn't realize that I had also cut through a lot of the plastic string binding the straw into the wreath form. :-[

     BOTHER!!! !!!
     I didn't want to bother Amy into running to get a replacement one. I believe in 'waste not want not'. 'Think, think, think'... "Thank you Lord!"  I got the twine out and rebound the wreath.

      I went the whole way around 'just in case'.

     As you can see, my 'oops' had made a mess!
     Thankfully I was working at the table. It eased clean up tremendously! Hold the trash bin at the side of the table with one hand and brush the extra straw into it with the other hand.

     I only shared all of that with you to hopefully save you from doing it yourself. Your Welcome! o:->

    As you might have noticed in the picture of the supplies I bought, I had only picked up one package of the blue Peeps. Yes, on  purpose! Gee-sh... ;-p
    I put one row of the blue Peeps around the middle of the wreath.

    Next step was to add some pink ones.

      I had thought it would be neat to do a every other side pattern with the pink and yellow ones.

     While the 'plan' made sense... it didn't stay that way the whole way around as I got really into working. I wanted as little of the straw to show through as possible. So at first I stuck them in this way. Then I pulled some back out and changed them a bit. Then again. Then I told myself that 'Jewels' would love it, whether the pattern was O.C.D. perfect or not. Deep breath.

    And the whole filled in wreath -

     And from a hanging type position -

     And after Brian had sprayed it hardily with the clear coat paint, and I had added the white ribbon to the top I was going to hang it with -

     In the future, I see no reason to spray one. No, the blog had not instructed me to do so. It was just an idea I had had. One I hoped would help make the wreath last longer. By the time I got it to her house and hanging, I had put three of the Peeps back in, three times! (no, I didn't keep track if they were the same three Peeps.) I should have just left it alone and allowed her the privalage of snacking on them every time she came and went from her house.
     But I did allow her some snacking pleasure. It turned out that I only used seven and a half of the double packages. I wrapped up the two unopened packages and left them for her too. And yes, I let her know not to eat the ones on the wreath itself. I want to keep her around for a long time! :-b
    I didn't take the camera with me, so I don't have a picture of the wreath hanging on her front door.  But I will tell you that as I started to get back into Amy's van she declared "That's really cute!". And that type of a comment is not A-typical of Amy. I was thrilled!
     Did Jewels like it? She left this comment on her Facebook page shortly after having arrived home that evening - "oh my do i have some amazing friends... came home to a peep wreath on my door and peeps to eat by my friend cheryl b. and had an awesome time with sandy j. last night... birthdays are not about getting older, they are about understanding how much you are loved..! ! ! thank you both!"
     Mission Accomplished! :-D

(For those of you whom get our postings via email. Thought I'd let you know that our blog is now decorated for Easter. You can see it HERE.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:
  ~ "Amaze Me Monday('s)", are hosted by Carrie, at 'Dittle Dattle' (http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)'  (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven'  (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
  ~ Show Me What Ya Got" (Tuesday's), hosted by Stacey, at 'Not JUST A Housewife' (http://www.notjustahousewife.net/)
  ~ "Anything Goes" (Tuesday's), hosted by Tammy, at 'Type A Decorating' (http://typeadecorating.blogspot.com/)
  ~ "Hookin Up With The Hepworths Every Thursday", hosted by Allison, at 'House of Hepworths' (http://www.houseofhepworths.com) 
 ~ "Inspiration Friday('s)", hosted by Vanessa and Heather (sisters), at 'At The Picket Fence' (http://www.atthepicketfence.com)
  ~ "Feathered Nest Friday('s)", held at 'French Country Cottage' (http://www.frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com)
 ~ "Saturday Is Crafty Day", hosted by Laura, at 'Along For The Ride' (http://iamalongfortheride.blogspot.com/)
 ~ "the simple things", are hosted by Rebecca, at 'simple as that' (http://rebeccacooper.blogspot.com/).