Happy Birthday and New Year

It seems as if this past year flew by.  Don't you think?  Or is it because I am getting older?  I know as a kid, time seemed to stand still...now, not so much!

I recently had a birthday and my little family made me feel so very special.  I have never been into material possessions and feel that when someone takes time to make me a card or put thought into what I really love, then that's when I feel loved.  Everyone knows that I love to shop at Home Goods.  I could just wander around that store for hours.  Anytime I work for friends, that's where we shop first if they need anything.

So, with all that being said...my sweet girls took their Momma there for her Birthday.  And look what we found!

Hannah spotted the white center piece in the marked down Christmas section.  I'm so glad she did because it is so me!  Won't it be beautiful decorated up with ornaments, lights and my pink poinsettias?!  I got tickled when Sara told Hannah  that she wasn't buying anything for me that was Christmas-ey.  Hannah and I won!

The Joy candle holders were spotted because of the box having 3...then I noticed that it said JOY.  How happy I was!  Now I can't wait until next Christmas to use it!  It's sitting on my window seal in the kitchen for now.

They both made me a card...which I love so much better than a store bought one.  Anyone can have that, but a home made one is totally from the heart.  Of course it made me tear up reading their heart felt words inside.  

The 3 jars are perfect for storing cotton balls and Q-tips in our bathroom.  See...this is where I talk about memories being sweet.  Every time I use a cotton ball, I will remember my girls buying these for me.

Now, my Sweet Hubby bought me lot's of paint brushes and white spray paint, but this little coupon book had my heart!

It's full of coupons that say "1 breakfast in bed", "1 back rub", "1 butt rub" (that one still makes me laugh) and so on.  But this coupon made me really feel loved because if any of you all know...we always spat when we work together on my projects.  He hates my projects, lol.  He says I just fly by the seat of my pants with no plans and he is a planner....so you can see how we butt heads.  

These are the little things that I cherish.  Things like this make me feel so very blessed and thought of.

So as you can see, my house has been full of love this past year.  From health scares, to spats, to being thrilled...this little family of mine is my true love that God has blessed me with.  As I look at our home with all of it's beautiful decorations...nothing is more beautiful than LOVE.

So I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year and my prayers are that we are all blessed with lot's of love, peace and laughter...because laughter is a result of being blessed and drives the devil far away.  

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas Eve

What a wonderful time of year!  I have had so many ups and downs this year with my health.  The latest being a bad mammogram and another endoscopy.  But thanks to my Father up above, all is well!  

I told you all that when I started decorating back before Halloween, the reason being that I wanted to enjoy this Christmas.  I didn't want to feel rushed.  Well, I have had the most wonderful time this year!

We had a breakfast and gift exchange at our Church.  Love having my little family together in church!

Couldn't get any better than that for a Momma's heart!

Our Pastor told the Christmas Story to the little ones as they huddled together on the floor to listen.  Now that brought tears to my eyes, remembering my "not so little" girls sitting and listening many, many years ago.   See how very blessed I feel?

I started baking last night, and made a Ginger Bread house.  My very first one ever.  Years ago, the girls made me one as a Christmas present.   I loved it so much, I made them one this year.

Of course, I had to make their favorite cookies too.  Tonight, they'll decorate the plain sugar cookies like they do every year with icing and sprinkles and whatever their little minds can think of.  I hope, that no matter how old they are, they'll always come back home and keep this tradition with their Momma.

All of the presents have been wrapped for some time, but Sara still has to wrap some of hers.  Between working and school, she hasn't had time.

I thought I'd share our stair well and it's simplicity for Christmas.  I just love those old ice skates sitting on that stool.  The pine swag above makes you feel like you're walking into a little tunnel of warmth about to see something wonderful.  And you do at the bottom of the stairs....our Master Retreat!  It's where I get some wonderful rest.

One last room to share is the spare room that the girls love.  It houses all of the games, a tv, and a spare bed for guests.  We all love this room!

Just a little tree and a few decorations made it feel Christmas-ey.

Touches of pink glitter snowflakes makes it a perfect tree for this room. I love the urn it came in...but you had to know I painted it a long time ago.

The warm glow it gives, feels so nice too.  And see my little pig?  That's a sweet Christmas Memory from my hubby back when we were first dating.  He knew I adored pigs...and this sweet little one will always be special!

We love to lounge and relax here.  Plenty of blankets to go around too!  I just have them hid well.

Trees, an Angel my Mom gave me and some spare ornaments just added the right touch for the end table.  The little plates are perfect for coasters.

I love how the swag on the window gives that icy touch.  I added the pale pink ornaments to it  a few years back.

Just a little simple wreath with a bell ornament adorns the armoire.  I am loving wreaths this year!

So Merry Christmas Eve!  May yours be blessed and may you know the true meaning of it all, why we celebrate it and how we are loved so very much. 

Happy Birthday Jesus, I love you!

Blue Christmas

For years, I dreamed of this space being done in blue and white.  Being a basement, the colors are so soothing and convey light so very well in what is normally a dark space.

At Christmas time, it is one of my favorite spots to spend the evenings.

Normally, the hubby spends his time here but now he has me to hog the tv remote, lol!

The white Christmas tree has yellowed some through the years...which I really like better now.

Done in silver and blue along with rag garland, it is a sweet little tree.

The rag garland was made up of some Shabby Chic sheets I had. 

This year, I've used quite a bit of wreaths everywhere.  I adore them on armoires!

Over the sofa, it adds a touch of green which I love!

Faux pine garland is another fav of mine.  

A sweet tulle wreath that was given to me by a sweet lady hangs on the mirror at the bottom of the stairs.

A little Christmas ornament adorns a body form that I made a skirt for years ago for my Hannah's room. She no longer wanted it, so it sits beautifully beside the tree hiding the outlet.

My sweetie and I had fun decorating our bed. 

I 

 The lights were his idea,  he said it would be romantic.  I would have to agree!   I think I have rubbed off onto him after all of these years!

Another little tree sits by the old gun cabinet.  I think this is another fav of mine.  I love the little white bows tied onto the branches.

I hate how pine shows up as being black in my photos...the green on the white door really pops and looks so pretty!

The little star bell is perfect in the center of the wreath...adding that blue I love so well!

Trees of all sorts are throughout our home.  These, at our office space, add a nice festive touch. The photo makes me smile as I work and remember how little my girls once were.  Sara has always been tall, but look at little Hannah's head barely popping into the photo!

How I love both of my girls!

This is the spot the hubby and I love to relax in.  And of course, I have to have reminders of "let it snow" because I love snow!  How I pray for a miracle of having a white Christmas!  You just never know.....

After all, God holds the keys to everything, not man.

My hopes are that all of you are blessed this Christmas and throughout the year.  And I pray that each of you know that God truly loves us all.

  

Oh Sara

I have two daughters...the youngest is so much like me and my oldest is so much like her dad! 

They are both little pigs!  I took this photo one day in hopes that I could possibly blackmail my Sara into cleaning her room with the threat of plastering it everywhere online.  Well, I didn't have to threaten her...she cleaned it all by herself!

GASP and a BIG GULP

You see, awhile back, she wanted her room re done.  Her walls were a pale lavender with a beautiful antique bed and lot's more furniture.  

She had a very large desk too.  I cut it down and made this new desk to fit in the corner.  The arguments we had about where it would be best at...I tell ya, I really go through the wringer sometimes with her!  She needs to just trust her Momma and her vision.

I found this gorgeous chest (I had to repair and paint it) to replace an armoire she had.  I really can't stand to see a tv in a room, but this isn't too bad.

I did a two tone affect on it with the taupe-ish wall color and white.  It holds so much more than the chest and armoire that she used to have...leaving more space in her room.

She had expressed to me that she wanted things to look and feel clean and bare. Guess that's because she normally has a room that looks like the first photo, lol.

I took down her closet doors as per her request and hung these panels.  Guess what they are?  Painter's drop cloths!!!  Cheap and heavy...and I didn't have to sew anything.  I just used clips and hung them.

I made her this headboard after her saying she no longer wanted that beautiful antique bed.  We looked at photos and she seemed to be leaning towards this type of design.  So I went to the garage, pilfered through my lumber and came up with this.

Each or our daughters love to have lights up all year long...so I hung them on her headboard one day while she was at school.  She loved this idea!  And she is hard to please.

I had an old vanity that I ripped apart and made two night stands out of it.  They are perfect for extra storage and by her bed.  Any bed as a matter of fact!

I found the two lamps at Home Goods with my youngest.  We took photos and sent them to Sara and let her pick out which ones she liked best.  She chose these...they are the perfect height and I love all of the detail.  Not too big for the nightstands either.

I went looking for an office chair for her one day.  I saw this one and sent her a photo of it, she didn't want it.  She wanted a black chair.  So I bought one of these white ones for our office and after she came home and saw it in person, sat in it...she changed her mind.  So back to Office Max I went to return the other chair and buy another one of these.  See what I go through?  

One side of the desk is for her make up and the other side is for school work.  It's a mess usually with make up everywhere on the surface.  But thankfully she made sure I knew to get a surface that was laminate so it wouldn't stain.  We've had a few fights about how sloppy she is and I guess she didn't want to argue anymore, lol.  The other desk surface was just painted.  

Her clothes hamper used to be inside of her closet...it was just one of those white basket types.  She wanted one out in her room so it wouldn't be hard to get the hamper out.  We found this hamper at Home Goods as well and I recovered the top with some of the drop cloth.  It's full of dirty clothes that she picked up and that's why it's not closed completely.  But, hey...I'm not complaining.  At least her room is clean now!

She had just a few pieces that she wanted to keep in her room.  One of them being her framed poster of the Beatles.  I thought the British pillow I made a few years ago, went nicely with it.

Her room did turn out really nice...it just took some time to get it all right.

She wanted a large mirror and I found this one at Walmart for around $60.  I'm still debating on painting it.  She likes it brown though.  It tucks nicely behind her door.

See, you can't even see it when the door is open.

I found these mirrors in a set of 3 at Home Goods for $10.  I loved that deal!  The glass mercury holder came from Dollar Tree last year.  They look like the real thing too!

Can you tell that I am quite pleased?  I can walk on the floor without crippling my ankles.  

 Do any of you have a kid like this?  I know Mom reminds me of how bad I was...but she'll admit, I was never this bad, lol!