Happy 2010!!!

A project for you...

Take a big ugly picture-one with no glass...

cover with pretty paper you like.

(I used glue/water)

I was going to use this as an inspiration or photo board upstairs in my craft room but decided it would look pretty right here with one of my saved calendar pictures.
I applied the water/glue solution over the top and probably will add another coat. I will not glue the butterfly picture in case I want to change that or use it for a photo board later. It was a fun way to use some of my scrapbook paper, especially since I don't scrapbook!

I spent almost the entire day yesterday cleaning and reorganizing the craft room upstairs. I can now call it a craft room and not a junk room. I'd say it is 90% finished and that is a great feeling!

Christmas Break

Hope you are relaxing and enjoying your Christmas break. The Smith Christmas had to be postponed due to all the snow(23 inches!) total down in Jackson and Sioux Falls. Our roads haven't been that great either. So we have that to look forward to next weekend instead.
I like this kitchen but the tile wouldn't work with our countertops.

A fun idea for next year??

A cozy kitchen and peek into a pantry.

Like the subway backsplash~hope to pick it out this week.

Merry Christmas!!!

I forgot how much fun Picnik is! We are looking forward to celebrating with our families. We can't wait to see everyone! It will all go too fast! Have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season.

Christmas around our house

This little snowman was given to me, years ago, from one of my first graders. I think it's so sweet and creative. The arms are made of copper wire and so is his hat. I see I need to dust up here, hmmmmm.
I LOVE this towel-found it while working at the Bargain Bazaar last summer.
After this picture, I moved the pine way to the left and right. I don't want you to worry about me setting our house on fire. :)

Shopping

Mom and I are meeting Nancy in St. Cloud tomorrow to do a little Christmas shopping and lunch. I don't have a lot to shop for so not a lot of pressure. Both of our families focus more on just getting together now.

My tart cookies did not come out of their little tins very well. It may be a LONG time if I ever make them again. I must put mints on my list for tomorrow so I can make Dan's new favorite cookies.

It was a very fast week at school! Can't believe it's Friday already. My staffing had a very desirable outcome this morning. Thank goodness!!!!

Have a great weekend!

December Reading

This is our December book club selection and I highly recommend it! Rosemary bought it for Mom's birthday and Mom enjoyed it so I suggested it for book club and it was picked for the very next month. We are meeting next Thursday, but I've heard good feedback already. I really liked this book and I think all of my "blog fans" out there would too. Kris is also reading it and enjoying it as well. It's historical fiction about the German occupancy of Guernsey Island which is one of the Channel Islands off of France. It's a collection of letters that altogether tell a painful but inspirational story.
My book club REFUSES to read any more books written by David Sedaris, so I must read them on my own. Nancy and Shari are both fans of his and so is our head public librarian so he can't be that bad. I enjoy his humorous short stories, some are hilarious. Christmas on Ice was one of the books I had my book club try for the second time and that didn't go over either. Engulfed in Flames his newest and I have three stories under my belt, none of which I find offensive at all.

Christmas baking

I don't have any new pictures to show you, so here are some I've collected on the web. In the last couple of years I haven't done a lot of baking but with yesterday's cold weather it just seemed like time. Yesterday, I made Russian Tea Cakes and Peanut Star Blossoms. I thought the Blossoms were Dan's favorites, but he informed me he has a new favorite...Shari's mint cookies. Luckily, they aren't too difficult to make. Tonight, I made Pecan Tassies. I love them but now remember how tedious they are, especially to get out of their little tins. I got about a dozen out and the rest need to cool more-at least I hope that does the trick.

I have had a lot of meetings lately. Today, I started and ended my day with one. We have a reading comprehension group that has been meeting all fall and I think we are almost done. It has been a very worthwhile way to spend my time, we're not getting paid but can get cont. ed. clock hours for it.
I love this black hutch. I have thoughts about painting our white pine hutch but am chicken, plus like Dan reminds me, there's plenty of other painting to do around here.
I like the white pottery pictured here. This summer I picked up a bunch of neat white pieces (most were Haagar) at a rummage sale up in Hibbing-dirt cheap-fun!!
Besides baking, I actually made a craft recently too! Remember those little notepads I posted a week or so ago? I bought a six pack at Wal-Mart and found some pretty scrap paper-very easy and it felt so good to do a project again that wasn't house related. Besides that, I've been doing a little more Christmas decorating and continue to clean up and reorganize remodel piles.

School is going fine. The good days outnumber the bad and I am finding ways to reduce my paper work. On Friday, we will find out if a certain child in my room will get the help he needs, if not, I may need a very long term sub. There are only 10 days 'til Christmas break-but who's counting?!???

From the Outside

When I was taking pictures of the moon, I tried a picture of the interior from the outside. This is how I figured out how to take a picture without flash to eliminate the window glare. It helped later with a moon picture too. Have you ever gone walking or riding bike in the evening and enjoyed a glimpse into the homes of others? I know some of you do, because I've done it with you!!! As long as you keep walking and stay on the sidewalk it's not a crime! :)

Countertops!!

We put these hunter green laminate counters in the first year we lived here. Royce put them in for us in fact. I have always been very happy with them. They were in very good shape and it seemed a shame to part with them.
However, I am totally in love with my new counters, ugly backsplash and all!

When we ordered these, we were able to get a free sink and counter edge upgrade. We did a beveled edge and chose a large single sink. Not sure if I'll miss the double sink-ask me in a couple of months.

So, now tell me what you think we should do for the tile backsplash? We have a couple ideas, one is an off white subway tile-nice and simple. Another idea is to go with a smoky grayish brown glass tile-not too dark. I will have to research kitchen photo's online this week. Also, any tips on hiding ugly cords on your countertops? My old method was to put vintage trays up around the perimeter but I'd like a cleaner look now.

Moonlight

I took these pictures this evening with my new Canon that I don't use very often, mainly because it is so big. I do like it and am figuring out all its features little by little. I realize the above picture is crooked but I kind of like it that way.

Lights

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Mother Nature's Light

Dan put these pergola lights on a timer for me-very convenient!!
It would be handy to have these on a timer too-we will see. I still need to hook up my deer and that will be it for the outside light show.

Painting and Decorating

Painting the patched up yellow an olive green...
Hooks in place and new Target rug....
a curtain and a little tweaking in the decor and it's finished!

This corner is finished too. You can see my handy spot for paint storage too! How did I turn on the underline feature-better yet-how do I turn it off????

Painting Progress

The green that you see in the living room is now the color of our dining room. It's called Dusty Olive from HD and I really like it! I decided it was time for the yellow that we've had for years, to change and thought using the same color would tie the rooms together or help the flow. I think it worked! The reds and yellows that I have in my decorating really pop against the green. After painting all the green, I moved back to painting the wainscott paneling white. I will finish the DR tomorrow and then hopefully can decorate some of the spaces and share a few pictures with you.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving down in SF at Tim and Deb's house. The turkey was delicious along with everything else. Learned how to play a new game called Imagine If & that was a lot of fun for all ages. We had beautiful traveling weather both ways. Decided to take advantage of the Home Depot in SF and picked up the green paint, not bad there but Target was pretty crazy! We needed to get cat food and while Dan was getting that, I managed to find a cute circle rug for the entry for 19.99! You will see it in a photo later. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving too. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Making up for lost time

Since it's been over a week since I last posted, I feel a need to make up for it. These are just some random pictures I've collected just because they spoke to me. This horse has a nice life, don't you think? The opening in the branches reminds me of the path to the beach at Captiva. No horses there though.

Big Kitty waits patiently. She looks like she's planning something naughty though!

Sorry, there aren't any new remodel pictures. Not a lot going on. The insulation will be blown in next week above the kitchen and under the new bathroom. We decided to add new countertops in the kitchen and that goes in next Monday. Then we will have to pick out tiles for the backsplash. We picked out a neutral granite with cream, brown and a little black. The sink is a little different but I will let the picture show that. We were going to wait and do it later but Dan convinced me that we should just do it now and enjoy it....it didn't take a lot of arm twisting!

Christmas decor idea

This is a pretty and simple way to recycle Christmas cards. You could use vintage or current cards. I always hang onto a few every year and like to find ways to use them. I don't know what I will do for Christmas cards this year. Last year I cut out old recipes and put them into little folders. I'm not doing anything like that this year. I'm waiting for a creative urge or idea to happen.

Thanksgiving Break

Tuesday is my last day of school before Thanksgiving break-yes that's TOMORROW!!! Normally, we have school on Wed but got it off for our conference comp. day this year. I'm sure the kids are looking forward to it but not as much as the teachers in my school!! It's been a busy two weeks with the end of the first quarter and then conferences and all the preparations they require.

On Thursday morning we are heading down to Sioux Falls as Tim and Deb are hosting the Smith family this year. We're spending the night at a local Marriott and heading back home on Friday. I told Deb that I would try to come up with a Christmas craft and I'm going to start looking very hard!

Fall Images

I've never seen a gourd decorated in this manner and thought it was very pretty. You could hang it anywhere.
This picture just gives me a warm and happy feeling. I'd like to add crackers to that plate, walnuts too and a little glass of red wine. I have been loving this beautiful fall weather and hope it lasts for a good long time to make up for October.

craft ideas!

I won't be making this but saved a picture of it just in case. It's in my favorite Waverly vintage rose material. Shari has this apron pattern, I believe.
I'm into super easy craft ideas at the moment. I thought this was a cute way to store extra ribbon-wrapped around clothesline pins.
This is a fun and easy way to use some of your paper scraps. It makes a cheap notebook special & sweet!
I thought these little gift tags were very cute. I like the use of yellowed paper for the pots. Who knows if I will ever make them but maybe you will!