It's the little things....

Today, my heart is heavy. I know I normally post lighter stuff but today I thought I would share some sad news. A co-worker's wife and kids were in a tragic accident yesterday morning. His wife is now in stable condition but broke her back. His two kids, ages 3 and 5, did not survive.

The article is here:

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10611623

I can't possibly imagine having to go through any of that. It's a humbling time for me. I hugged my kids and loved my husband extra last night!

This news hit me harder than I imagined it would and so here you have a post about the little things. You never know when your life will change in an instant.

Have you ever walked around your house, gone through your normal routine, or sat at your desk and just noticed the little things? The little things that make you smile and remember your loved ones?

In the wake of this devastating news, here are the little things I have noticed so far today:

• on the windowsill in my bathroom sits one penny and one dime. I smile. Why? B/c Gracie put those there one day while trying to use the 'big girl potty' and proclaimed 'Mine!' They remain there to this day.


• the sight of my son holding his own bottle makes me smile. I love little fingers and the fact that is he is here, relatively healthy, is a true miracle.


• having a very helpful husband who not only changes diapers, dresses the kids, and packs their diaper bag but also loads them into the car every single morning.


• upon unloading the kids at daycare, I see a tiny line across my back window where the dirt has left a 'ring'. You see, my window only rolls down half way and every single morning I have to roll the window down so she can tell daddy 'bye bye see you later' and get one last touch of his hand. Precious.


• seeing my daughter walk proudly into school, plop down on a chair and proceed to eat her 'poptar' (pop tart). She's growing up way too fast and I'm reminded to cherish every second. I hated to leave them today.


• scratching one Doctor off the list of Specialists my son sees after yesterday's follow up appt.


• getting out of the car at work and noticing a little blue paci. smiles.


• walking in my office every day seeing a painting my little man painted at school with his feet.


• arriving at work and being thankful that I have a secure job and work at a stable company.


• thankful for the people that I work with and around and I know that any of them would be there if I needed them.

And what is to come....

I know that when I walk in my children's classes this afternoon they will be happy to see me- one comes running for my open arms yelling "Mommy!" and the other leaps forward from whoever lap he is on (yes, they hold him most of the time) with open arms. What a blessing and what a gift.

You see, it is all about the little things.....

(PS--ignore the pink blanket on said son, it was all I could grab when he was tired and not feeling well....little things.)

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My Thrifty Treasures

So, I am joining Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures again. I think I am early though.
You can check out her blog here. She is very crafty and has a great eye for design.
The tray below is a find from His House for $1 I picked up the other week. I finally got around to turning it into a chalk board and love it. I plan to hang it probably on this wall and remove those wall hangings.
This tray is also a find from a recent trip to Hobby Lobby. It was $3 and I decided to redo it somewhat. I painted over the too bright red with a darker red then painted black on top of that and wiped some off w/ a rag. I am going to clear coat it so the color is brighter then put scrapbook paper on the bottom (the paper is off white w/ gold cursive writing...pretty). Then, I am going to hang in in the kitchen somewhere.
This is the first step, w/ the red

This is the second step after the black I need to get some clear coat so I had to stop. :(

And I plan to put the fleur de lis back on it when I am done.

This is a candle holder (I think) but loved the wicker look w/ metal. It was .70 at Good Will and I think I am going to spray paint it black or leave as is w/ a flower bud in it.

I spotted this bowl at GW too....fell in love w/ the color and the shape. I plan to use it for food until I get a grouping of white pieces for my dining room. It was .70!

I LOVE anything Christmas so had to get this plate. It cleaned up well and was .50!

It's hard to see the tray on the left but it's a silver (not real, of course) and has a tree looking design on it. I am going to spray paint it but not sure what color yet....

and the little mini casserole dish I found was a score I thought. It was .70 and made my Pfaltzgraff made in 1983. It's got a little chip in it but didn't care b/c I love the look, size, and color.

This is my favorite/best find. I have been looking for something like this for G's newly redone room (soon that is). I want to paint it antique white and hang her coming home outfit on there (see the little rod going across where that door is --that door is not attached either so will take it off). I saw this idea somewhere so when I ran across this at GW for .....wait...... .75 I squealed!!!

And here are a few other finds. I loved this basket and it's well made and kind of squared off. $1!

The pink container was $1 also and it came w/ a bunch of kitchen utensils (most of which were wooden spoons--which we LOVE). I may leave it pink but may paint it to go in G's soon-to-be room with flowers in it. You can't see it but it had little bead details around the top...pretty.

The other flat-like 'basket' was .50 and is currently gold but will be repainted another color when I figure out where it is going to go (thinking coffee table w/ magazines on/in it).

Those are my finds for now. I need to get some projects going but just haven't found the time. And I am so addicted w/ thrifting that I am already excited to go by GW one day this week!

And go check out everyone elses thrift finds at Rhoda's. You can see the links here. I get so many ideas and encouragement each week!

Thanks for hosting Rhoda!

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Show us where you live Friday-Master Bedroom

It's that time again. Does anyone else feel like they are on Cribs? I haven't watched it in a while but I sure, especially this week.

It is Show us where you live Friday again hosted by Kelly at Kelly's Korner. You can go visit her blog here. She has an adorable little girl!

This week is Master bedrooms and I am excited. This is one of my favorite rooms in the house but will admit beforehand, is not decorated fully. Just like most rooms of my house, there is little (if any) decor on the walls. I'm working on finding thrift finds for that so more may be coming there.
Off we go.....

This is looking into our bedroom from the den. You saw my den here.

And here is what you see when you walk in.

This is right inside the doorway, to the right. I love having a door that opens onto the porch. On rainy nights we leave it open if is it not unbelievably hot that is. It is so nice.

This is my side of the bed. The dresser my mom bought me when I bought my first house. LOVE that thing. The mirror was my grandmothers. Notice another 'A'. I addicted. Thanks TJMaxx!

This dresser was my grandmothers also. It was part of a set and was originally painted white. I refinished it but will repaint it white one day for my daughter I think. Love the camel lamp--another gift from my mom.

This is the view from that door leading to the porch. I'm not wild about the scrolly stuff in the wood around this inlay but for now, it stays. DO, love the inlay though. Works nicely for the Tv. Now, someone give me ideas how to conceal it. Maybe shutters?

And the couch used to be in our den until kids. Then, I decided I didn't need a white slip covered couch in there, and got leather instead.

Close up of the inlay.

This is a funny picture. Know what this is? Or what the area is known as in our house?

This is the naughty chair! hahaha

I tried to get a close up of the area because when I was taking the pictures for this post, I noticed there are a few little greasy hand prints above the stool. You can kind of see them. Funny.

This is also a view from the porch door, into our bathroom. You saw that here.

Here is a close up of our bed and headboard. Which is one of my favorite things and ideas in our house. We found these two (you can hardly see one for all the pillows) old doors at His House for $10 each. They were both covered in white paint and no door knobs. We stripped them and stained them to match some of our furniture (remember, I like unmatched stuff). I had found the glass knobs several years before and had the brass plates from my first house. And we actually bolted them to the wall and slid the mattress right up to it. Voila!

We talked about putting some kind of moulding at the top (kind of like the mirror to the left) but decided we liked it just like it was and also didn't want more height.

What do you think?

This is the view going into our den.
*Note: notice the two black (mirrored) diagonal pieces? I'm so bad....these pictures were taken all in the same night and midstream I changed out some family photos for the beauties I found at Hobby Lobby last week. Terrible, I say.

And because I am a complete Christmas freak.....I just HAD to include one from this past Christmas...I loved the tree I put in here and loved how it looked at Christmastime.

It is hard to see the details of the tree, but it was done in white with a touch of silver and was mostly white little mittens, ice skates, and icicles.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. Come back any time!

Monday I will be joining Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures because I got some good deals at Good Will the other day. So, if you want to see some good ideas and great style, go on over and see her here and check back Monday because everyone has some great finds and ideas!

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My Weekend Treasures

Or really, mostly Thursday and Friday's treasures since I never make it to an actual yard sale.
These are finds from clearance isles mainly.

I am joining Rhoda's weekly deals post for the first time. You can see all about her lovely taste in decor here. I stumbled upon her a few weeks ago, and have been watching her blog ever since. Great ideas can be found there!

Now, more about my treasures. (And sorry in advance for poor pictures. I was playing w/ my new lens, and obviously don't have the hang of it. I finally resorted to my other one...)
First up are these little lanterns I found at Big Lots for $6 each. They weren't on clearance but I've been looking for some for a while now and these were the cheapest I've seen. I love that store for some reason....crazy.

I found this platter at His House for $1. It's not real, of course but that is ok because I plan to paint the inside with chalk board paint and hang it in the kitchen. Hubby has already gotten wind that I will be writing love notes to do lists on it.
And another poor quality picture but hope you get the gist of it. Cute little red and gold frame found at TJMaxx for .............. .70!!

More TJ finds....

The letter 'A' wasn't on sale but I had to have it since I have an addiction to them and this one was in red.

The metal wall hanging was $3.

And there's the little frame again.

Here are my Target finds. I just LOVE when Target puts things on clearance and I go NUTS when I see those little red tags.

The long picture was $10.

And those little wall hangings were .......... $1.48 each! I got two different looking 'sets'.

The three on the bottom will go together (somewhere) since they are like pictures.

The beachy one (upper right) will likely go in Son's room and the other four will go together somewhere. Those four are scenes from old doors, which I just love, with a pop of worn red.

Love them!

Closer up on those little ones.

And here is my favorite find. Admittedly, it wasn't found this weekend, but had to include it since it was such a great find.

You won't believe it.

No, really, you won't.

It was free. Yes, I said FREE!

And it was found in Lake Murray

We are habitual 'trash-picker-uppers' when we are on the lake. One day, we came up on this and though it was drift wood--much to our surprise when we raised it out of the lake. I couldn't believe how good of a condition it was in! Of course my daughter promptly claimed it as 'MINE'.
That is fine--that was my first thought when finding it. I will probably paint it to go along w/ her new room decor (when we decide what that is).

Thanks for stopping in and feel free to leave a comment-I love hearing from everyone!

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A Giveaway from .....

.....this lady.

I LOVE giveaways and don't participate in nearly enough but this one caught my eye. Plus, I love her site. I have begun following several design/decorating blogs and have gotten alot of inspiration. Just wish I had time to do alot of projects around my house. *sigh*

Anyhoo--check out her giveaway here and sign up yourself. I would love to win--I LOVE LOVE LOVE that pillow!

It would look smashing here, in that red chair.

Enjoy!

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Show us where you live Friday-Room of choice

Kelly at Kelly's Korner is doing another session this Friday. I just love Friday's because of this and normally 'walk' away from these tours very inspired and normally spend my lunch hour rummaging through thrift stores instead of going to the gym. Terrible for the body, but good for the soul!
I don't have an additional room that we haven't covered or will cover so I am chosing to include a few pictures of my new tablescapes in my dining room and breakfast area. I got inspired by some folks and decided a change was in order so here we go.....
If you will recall, my dining room was the same, but the tablescape was different. You can see the old set up here.
I fell in love with white/creme colored plates recently and I stumbled upon some at TJ Maxx that were on clearance. Hubby thought I had lost my mind when I came in w/ all those plates. You can see a close up later. And I found the candelabra on clearance also at TJs ($7 and candles were on sale at Hobby Lobby for .25 each!)
Another view. I have another runner that is black and white but didn't change it out because I wasn't sure how it would look and didn't feel like moving the candelabra because I had just gottent he candles somewhat straight. I really don't like the gold now. But, both runners were $7 at TJ's too)

Here are the plates I got. The larger one is technically a charger (b/c they had an inbetween size plate but I only got one those and plan to hang a collection of white plates on the wall). The smaller one is so cute. It technically wasn't from the same lines, but if you know me, you know I like mis-matched things!

A close up of the glasses. I LOVE these glasses. They were my grandmothers and as I was searching for a pretty glass to set out on the table, I spotted these in my china cabit. Perfect! I love shopping but when it's at my own house it's even better!

And this is a shot of my breakfast area. You can see the old set up here.

I haven't found the right dishes yet, but hope to find some 'rustic' type dishes (and hope mis-matched and in different colors) to put on here. Odd placemats huh? I found these at Ross on clearance for $2.59 for two. The 'wicker' bowl came from Hobby Lobby and was 66 % off, priced at $7.99. Now, what should I put in here?? Right now, is some random fruit I got the other day, but I would like to keep something in here but not sure what.

Hope you enjoyed my mini makeovers!

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My new 'do'.....

I know everyone that cks this blog will have seen a picture by now but had to share my new hair do w/ the blogging world!
This is a picture taken a few weeks ago, outside. You can see how dark my hair is and the highlights I got last year are pretty much gone. And it has grown so much that I keep/kept tucking that front part behind my ear.
And this is after my new do on Tuesday. I really wanted something different and I think I got it. This is a self portrait inside so the colors look out of whack but you get the jist. I went shorter, did major highlights and got a few bangs. LOVE it and LOVE the bangs (I was nervous about this part the most).

What do you think?
Surprisingly enough hubby likes it.
And most people say it makes me look younger....as if I needed to look any younger! (you'd be surprised to know how old I really am- if you don't already that is)




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This is the first time I have joined on Rhoda's Thrift Finds. I typically don't go to yard sales, although would like to and have held one before so do I qualify? Hope so.
And I don't go to yard sales because we are normally sleeping in. I take advantage of that sleep when our babies let us.


But, I did manage to go by Hobby Lobby at lunchtime and scored alot of clearance items. I just love power shopping at lunchtime or when I get to grab a solitude hour or so without said kids.
So, this isn't all I got (some were already in a 'tried space') but here we go:
*The little framed glass letters were on sale and $2.50 each. The 'G' is for daughters room and the 'A' is for me/us when I remodel a bathroom or kitchen.
*It's hard to see, but I got a red and gold tassle (it's large) for $5. Location yet to be determined
*The little black scroll looking square things are about 4x4 and have a mirrored back. I got them for $2 each and am thinking of hanging them at an angle and not squared (that's how they are wired)
*There is a burlap canvas wall hanging there. Has a black scroll design on it and I got it for $6. A little high but I know the perfect spot for it when I redo a room.
*Next, the little 'basket' that the A is in was $2 and looks kind of like rough bamboo and I plan to paint it a fun color that will go w/ daughter's room when we redo it (soon).
*My next piece is one of my favorite. It's the glass and 'black metal' little urn looking thing behind the 'A'. I am thinking of putting it in my bathroom w/ cotton balls or Qtips in it (or the new bathroom we're building). Score for $7.
*And for this picture, lastly, and you can't see them well....two little plates in the back. They are black and white and I got them for $2.50 each, on sale. One is square and one is round. I LOVE these.
Sorry didn't get a closer pic of things! Ignore the stack of junk in the background...I am already packing for the beach in a few weeks!
This is one of my favorite things I found today so it gets it's own picture. It was $10 and the most I paid for anything but I just fell in love for it! I rearranged some things in my kitchen and put it out immediately. I put hid some leftover Easter candy in here...shhhhhh...
Oh, and you can see my kitchen here. It's terrible but for now, it's ours. We do want to remodel it one day soon I hope.

I can only imagine the finds I would score if I DID go to yard sales!

Thanks for stopping in-feel free to give me your feedback!

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Show us where you live Friday...Bathrooms....aka trainwrecks here

So, for the most part I am not excited about showing you my bathrooms, BUT I have shown you every other room disaster of my home so here we go....

Thanks to Kelly's Korner for doing this every week. What, o what, will I do when it's over!?!?!
Anyway, off we go.........
I'm started with my worst bathroom. And, I will preface this by saying that all bathrooms are wallpapered and I dislike hate that. This bathroom is upstairs and is in between the babies' room and my step son's room. The babies have not used it yet as step son has claimed it mainly for him. But, once he is moved to our rennovation, I plan to clean really well and redo it.
The wallpaper is thin striped tan and off white


This is from inside out. Lovely fixtures huh? (you'll see this common element throughout...ugh)

Ok, now back downstairs where things are a tad less hidious. Just a tad.

Looking into the guest bathroom from the foyer. Again, wallpaper. Again, hidious fixtures. All gold tones. Can we say DATED!?!?

This is the same bathroom but from the opposite view. Very small but that's ok.



Ok, here is where you will say 'Ewwwww'. This is our Master Bath. While it had some good features, it has it's share of bad.
For starters, the G-G-Gold ...everything! I hate this shower but for now it will do. This view is looking into the bathroom from our bedroom. Love the roomy-ness? Us too! It's THE plus!

Here, I am standing in the bathroom, near the shower you saw above. Now, get this....the sink faucets are gold tones, and the light fixtures are silver...AND retro. NICE! (NOT). Can we say DATED!?! I did replace the cabinet hardware a few years ago b/c they were all gold and it drove me nuts..although I don't know why b/c as I type this, I realize my kitchen is gold too!!! Ugh.
That door opens to our walk in closet that I will spare you of. (my side is neat! :))
And this is Hubby's side of the sinks
This is my side. OOPS....I see I need to replace a light bulb. Making a mental note to do that! :)
What is that you said? Where do all these doors go?
Well, the one in the middle is the closet as I said before. The next one (from left to right) goes into our toilet 'room', and the last one is our linen closet IN the bathroom...LOVE this and LOVE all our room in here.

This is the tub area. I purposely didn't do a close up or brightly taken pics. It needs some TLC and the faucet is really bad here. This is where we bathe our kiddos so there is also toys and bath colors crayons spread around the area.
BUT, we love our tub or we did before kids.


Ok--that is it until next week! Any suggestions you have for me as to what to do WHEN we DO get to upgrade, let me know. Our plan is to redo or upgrade all of these...in time.
Thanks for looking and please leave a comment if you visit...thanks!


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