Saturday Spotlight at Junk Chic Cottage

I have been honored as one of Kris's Saturday Spotlights...what a true treat for me since I absolutely love everything she does!

If you've never visited her blog, which I say is most unlikely, please go for a visit.  She has inspired me greatly along with so many others.

Junk Chic Cottage

And here is a little update on my peonies....

What one day can do....

Those little ants have done their job so well!

And they smell Heavenly!

Hope you all have a great weekend, 

Flowers and More

I thought I'd share a little with you on what I've done this past month before Aunt Judy became sick.

We worked on the drop ceiling adding moulding but those photos will come later since I haven't had time to take any.  But I did add some fencing to the cornice dividing our bedroom and office along with beefing up the cornice up above our bed.

I love the fencing!

I really love how this piece added some "oomph" to the cornice.  You can see the before and after in these two photos.

Then I had an old door stored away that really was wanting to be used somehow...so I used it as the door to our electric panel.   Love it!

Now on to our porch in the front.  I've kept the cushions I made last year off since our cat loves to lounge on them all.  He's an outside cat so he gets everything a little dirty.  But don't worry, he has his very own cushion and so does our dog Gabe.  They have to be comfortable too!

I did paint the "welcome to our porch" sign above the swing so it would stand out a little better.  It's all about the welcome  feeling when you visit our home!

See the beautiful HUGE flower basket my Hannah bought for me on Mother's day?  Now that's definitely a welcome to me when I come home!

I just can't get enough pink!  Mom bought me these begonias and I thought they looked cute in my watering can...

Our snowball bush done great this year but definitely not long enough with the blooms.  Last year they lasted a lot longer.  I think it was the cooler temps we had that did them in this year.

I am patiently waiting for my "endless summer" hydrangeas to bloom.  They smell so good!  They are loaded so I cannot wait!

I have a total of 4 peony bushes.  Two have already bloomed which was a huge let down....just 4 flowers.  But these other two are loaded, I counted 40 blooms!  My house is going to smell so good!

Isn't this gorgeous?

The ants have really been working overtime!

I think it's the only time I ever get excited to see ants!

I love when all of the flowers start to bloom....God's creations great and small!

Well, that's it for now.  Please keep my Aunt Judy in your prayers.  Things really haven't moved forward but thankfully not backwards either.  

Prayers for my Aunt Judy

Things have been a little crazy around here this past week.  My Aunt Judy became deathly sick with severe back pain which led her to the ER.  After many tests, they thought she had diverticulitis and admitted her to run more tests and to keep her under observation.  Pain meds were given and she began to feel a little better.  More tests were scheduled for the following day and while my Mother and Uncle were with her awaiting them, she began to slur her words. My mother alerted the nurse and the first thought was that it may be from the pain meds.  Thankfully a cancer nurse had come in and checked her right arm which was paralyzed and got things moving STAT.  They were able to administer the clot busting medicine and got her stable in time.  The CT scan showed that there was no major damage to her brain (Thank the good LORD) and she was able to speak(softly).  She knew who my Mother and Uncle were afterwards but said that her right side was numb and her back hurt.  Family has been with her around the clock and she is showing more and more positive signs.  My husband and I saw her wiggle her right toes a few times and I saw her jerk her right arm as a nurse hurt her while trying to put in an IV.  The nurse then said that was a GREAT sign!  

Please keep her in your prayers.  If you all may remember, while I was in the hospital on life support 3 years ago, she was by my side.  When I woke up, she told me about all that had happened and how she pleaded the blood of Jesus over me and spoke peace and claimed healing for me.  I remember thinking that if anyone was to be with me, that I wanted it to be my Aunt Judy along with my husband.  The two of them took care of me and after I came home, Judy was right there with me again along with my Mother. 

Judy helped raise me so instead of calling her Aunt Judy, I called her Judy.  We all call her "Dooder" for short when we are having fun.  She taught me all about God, took me to church and to Bible school.  I spent most of my days with her and her family so we were more like brothers and sisters instead of cousins.  I remember one day as she was driving, she asked me what color I thought was God's favorite color.  As I looked around I said green....she said she thought blue because of the sky.  I never look at the sky without thinking of that moment.  

Not quite a year later,  Mammaw had a stroke and then passed away.  We were all devastated and with it being so close to Christmas, we decided to have Christmas at Judy's home.

We cried but then as Mammaw all taught us, we began to have fun and laugh playing with some bows.  

We all say that she just sparkles...and she does!  She has taken care of many people and has been there as they have taken their last breath.  Her spirit is so loving and giving, always has been a hard worker and loves to joke.  

I love my Aunt Judy more than anyone could possibly understand.  So if you would, please keep her in your prayers and agree with me that she will be blessed with a long and healthy life and will regain what was taken away.

I could write a book about my life with her...she is truly a wonderful woman and if I haven't said it enough....I love her dearly!

Playing Hairdresser

This past weekend I spent Friday evening, Saturday and part of Sunday doing the girls hair.  My oldest, Sara, has been wanting to go a bright red for a year and I think she finally convinced me that it was ok.  All I could vision was Ronald McDonald red!  My youngest, Hannah, wanted to go platinum.  So we went to Sally's Beauty Supply for everything.  

I have horror stories with my hair when I was a teen trying to go blonde.  It always turned out orange so I was a little scared to do Hannah's hair but at least I could buy bleach for her instead of using Sun In back in my day.  Things have sure come a long way with what we can buy for our hair.

First off, I watched many You tube videos....learning by other's mistakes.  Thank God for You Tube!

I had been told that Sara couldn't go red without first bleaching her hair and then having to wait a bit to do it red along with cutting her hair by about 5 or 6 inches.  She was not about to do this so she just kept the "going red" as a dream.  But we all know as Mothers, we want our kids to be happy so I searched high and low trying to figure out a way to do it without damaging her hair.  Her hair had been colored years ago to a dark brunette from a natural blonde.  So it was very dark, almost black.  Blonde roots constantly growing in looked like she had grey hair.  So instead of dying it again, we went for the dream!

Let me say that L'oriel High lift for dark hair only products ROCK!!!  

It is for highlights but I found by watching You Tube that it could be for the whole head application.  Sally's didn't have enough of the blonde for Hannah so we opted for bleach.  

This is basically what they both looked like before going to red and blonde.

Here are a few of the supplies I bought to do their hair.  The L'oriel box to the right is for red hair.  It is crayon red....I was biting my nails at this point!

We used four tubes (boxes) on Sara's hair.   You mix one tube with 2 parts of developing cream (I used the 20 the first time 30 the second time).  I did this all at once and used the brush to put it on her hair that I had sectioned off.  We left it on for about a half an hour.  Her roots were bright red and the rest of her hair was a burgundy red.  It didn't blend at all.  For virgin hair (natural) it would have been dead on the color.  Poor girl....she handled it so well.  But she knew I could fix it so she slept well that night.  

Then it was Hannah's turn.  I sectioned off her hair and had foil to wrap each section up with.  I knew to do this based on all of my hair experiences.  I mixed up the bleach and developer as the directions said.  I told Hannah that she shouldn't get her hopes up that we'd probably have to do it a second time since her hair was so dark.  As I was applying it on, she asked if it were normal that the foil was hot.  I felt it and that's when I got scared!  I was half way through and then started to panic, taking off the foil scared it would damage or break off her hair.  I mean it was HOT! I finished applying it and let it stay on for about 15 more minutes without the foil.  Totaling about 30.  It turned out kind of brassy.  So the next day, we went to all of the Sally's around us and bought the L'oriel high lift in the blonde since one store wasn't enough.  I didn't want to bleach her hair again so close together.

This was a photo they posted on Instagram that was titled "on our way to fix our screwed up hair"...lol.  Sara had on a taboggan that matched her hair perfectly.  Hannah on the other hand couldn't cover hers up with anything.  Thankfully we all have a good sense of humor!

Well, long story short, I got it fixed!  I did Sara's hair twice with the High lift and then used a burgundy hair kit from a local market on her roots to make it blend.   

Sara has loved Ariel (Little Mermaid) ever since she was a wee little girl.  We didn't have to cut her hair and it wasn't damaged at all!  This stuff is amazing.  I did however put some Argan Oil of Morocco to their hair afterwards which is amazing too!  

Look how shiny!

I used Wella toner on Hannah's hair in the Palest Ash blonde (T18) after I put on the L'oriel high lift blonde on her hair that I has sectioned.  It takes out the brassiness. We'll do her hair again in a few weeks to get her to that platinum color she is wanting.  But for now, I think she looks pretty cute!  It's almost her natural color...which amazed me!

I did have to trim her hair on the ends because of the bleach.  Next time I won't use it, I'll just use the high lift.  Her hair is so soft after applying the oil.  I highly recommend the L'oriel High Lift Highlights for Dark hair only if you are wanting to do such a drastic change in color.  I definitely learned a few things ...wear gloves, open a window, turn on a fan and be prepared to make a few trips to the beauty supply store, lol!

Happy Mother's Day

Wanting to wish all of the Mom's out there a Happy Mother's Day...for we are so very blessed by God to be called Mother!

May your day be blessed with lots of love and laughter.....

Adding the Peak

It's a miracle....the hubby felt good enough today to add the peak to the entrance to the deck!

Tee Hee Hee Hee

He really does love me because he hates doing my "honey do's" because my list never has an ending.

But here is an update...doesn't it look perfect?

Something as simple as two boards made such a HUGE difference!  I feel like I am in a fairy tale with how this is all turning out....

as I said, my list just keeps growing.  I want to add a tree to the left of the little porch like the one on the right and then add some mulch all around the pavers.  Also, I want to add a pretty post to the end of the picket at the end of the porch to cap it off...maybe a little hand rail too.  I have the grill sitting down here which gave me so much more room for the table and chairs.

I made the screen to hide the grill from the front of the house.  Why are grills so ugly?  Even the stainless ones are ugly to me...even built in ones.  But that's just me...so for now, at least it's in a spot that if the hubby spatters grease, it won't make any difference and we won't have to pull it out so we won't melt the siding.

I had these little hooks stored away and thought one of them would look pretty on the gate with this little bucket.  For now, I have fake flowers in it until I can get to our Farmers Market for more fresh flowers.  I can't wait...Mother's Day can't get here soon enough!  That's going to be my present from the girls and my sweetie.

For now, these will do.

It is a simple touch that adds some charm, don't ya think?

I sure do wish these petunias would get bigger.  I'm still loving the fencing though!

Look who photo bombed my picture....can you spot him?  He's such a stinker!

So there ya have it...the peak has made such a huge difference in breaking up all of the straight lines!  My little paradise is coming along nicely!

Picket Fences

Here's a little update on what I've been up to.  Remember me saying that I wanted to do a little something to add some character to the built in seating?  Well, I decided on a picket fence and a gate.  We still have more to do, but you'll get the idea.  

I am in love!

I want to continue it around but now the hubby is sick so I have to wait until he recovers so we can do it together.

So today I painted the picket fence and gate along with some furniture for others.

I have so many people wanting me to paint their furniture for them...but all I have in my head is wanting to get the back deck finished, lol.

I have had some old insulators and was inspired by the chandy on the left that I found on Pinterest.  My table needed something so I made my own rendition of it.  I want to keep little flower clippings in them once they start blooming.  Peonies especially...they will smell heavenly!

I want to add a peaked roof line to the entrance so I made up a fake photo to see if I like it with or without.  I like it with...what about you?

I think it will really make that scrolly piece stand out more.  It will give it a nice frame.  I am so tickled with how everything is turning out!

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend....I sure am!