Absenteeism

I have been MIA for the last week or so....I have decided that I have GOT to get a new camera, and am shopping for one now. My photos just do not come out very clear and they just aren't good :( This past weekend, I painted my front door black. It was red and I painted it black, which I do love. However, I got all crazy and painted the sidelights black too....and I am just not sure if I like that or not. One minute I do, the next....not so much. Can you imagine how many coats of white paint it will take to cover BLACK! I do not relish that thought, because, though I paint things all the time. I don't enjoy it! I would rather stand back and tell someone else what a good job they are doing, but that is too pricey, so I paint it myself. However, I am not happy when I am doing it! Afterwards, yes ~ during, no.

I walked out in the front yard Sunday and was just standing there studying the door and all the blackness of it, and my neighbor walked over and we stood and studied it together. She said she loved it, but she is kind. I told my girlfriend Robin at church that I painted the door and sidelights black. She looked at me like I had two heads and said, "the sidelights are black???"
Not a good sign....friends are wonderful...really. So......I am still studying it, for now.

After I finished painting, and I was putting the little suction cup thingy back up on my storm door for my flower bucket thingy, it looked a little crooked, so I reached up there and tried to straighten the little hook up, WITHOUT unsticking it. It broke! Trip to Lowes, could not find a suction cup thingy so I got those little things that you stick on the door and it is supposed to hold until you "remove" it, the 3M things. Came home from work yesterday, laying on the porch! I guess it just decided to "remove" itself. My hubby told me I bought the suction cup hook at Hobby Lobby. I love it that he remembers these things. Went to Hobby Lobby today and got me another one. Flower bucket will be back up on the door by nightfall. I think it will break up all of the "blackness", that and brass house numbers.

I will post photos of the door/sidelight redo and you can tell me what you think. Be honest....gentle, but honest!

Bella Shabby is having a 50th post give away!! If you haven't visited her blog, I encourage you do go there! I really enjoy it!!! You can link to her on my sidebar under "Blog List". She has some beautiful things to give away! I want them all!

I will post again, soon, hopefully with clear photos!!

Have a great day!!

Lou Cinda

Spring Fluffing :)

Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality is hosting a Spring Fluffing party, so let's get our Spring on!! My Spring flowers on the door Welcome the Season and hopefully everyone in!

My Rabbit is festooned to match with her pink bow and Easter Egg! (That sounds like something you would say at a fashion show doesn't it? "Festooned") I found the egg at Hobby Lobby for 40% off! Her bow is changed with each season! The fern, unfortunately, is not real! It's a prop!

This little vignette is on top of my armoire in my kitchen! I have been thinking about painting it black (the armoire, not the vignette) lol. What do you think? Too much black? hmmmmm
I got the little chair at TJ Maxx for 2.99 and also the black and white plate and the white platter as well. I LOVE the MAXX! The pot of pansies came from Tuesday Morning.

My little bird is so happy! She is ready for Spring and so am I!! Of course, I need to get this 10 pounds off my tail before I can even entertain the thought of shorts or, heaven forbid, a bathing suit! (Let's NOT visualize that ) :(

I love this rabbit too! I got it at Tuesday Morning for 16.99. I saw the SAME rabbit in a shop this weekend and it was 56.99! I was so excited that I got such a good deal.

Hop on over to Rhoda's and see how everyone else is Gettin their Spring On!! And thank you so much for visiting :)

Busted Metamorphisis Monday

Okay, the saga of the "flippin" dining room redo....continues. Jump to Sunday, if you will. One thing I did not share on the previous partial reveal of the dining room is, the burlap tablecloth was too short in the front and back. I don't know why....got no clue. However, Sunday I make a move to heal and correct said too short burlap tablecloth.

Got more burlap, sat in the floor, measured off another panel for the front and back. Drag said 300 pound burlap tablecloth, spewing fuzz and fibers every step of the way, into the laundry room to the DREADED sewing machine! Zip me up a seam on the front an back of that baby and problem is solved. I am feeling so good about my relationship with the sewing machine at this point, I decide to sew the trim on the velvet overlay. Right now it is just pinned, as I have been studying it. I decided I like it so, I forge ahead with the trim.

No prob! Trim on...life is good, I tell you it is good! I am really feeling good at this point and decide I can do anything!! So, I move on to the skirt around my vanity in my bedroom. I need to sew the velcro onto the skirt. Right now it is pinned, cos' I am too scared to sew and it was too thick for hem tape. So, away I go. I start sewing...now people, this is just a straight seam, nothing fancy. I am going along and ..oops..the needle breaks. No problem, I have more. I go in search of the needles I bought. I find one, but it isn't the same one. I put it in, it keeps hitting something underneath, metal on metal sound, not good. Thread keeps breaking, wadding up underneath, now it's stuck. Needle won't go up, won't go down, stuck in fabric and I am now officially dead in the water! I flip open the little thingy underneath to look at the bobbin. All those guts under there just fall out. Fall out I tell you!!! Now, my hands are sort of numb, cos' I have also been spray painting those **@@### chairs and so I am literally handicapped trying to get it put back together, but I am trying!! Over and over I try. What did I do you ask? How does this saga end?

Well.....drum roll please.....I cry! Not a little, Oh, I am so frustrated with this sewing maching kind of little sniffle. Oh No, No, No! I BAWL!! I am heaving and just sobbing over this stupid sewing machine that I so loved 30 minutes before! My husband hears all the snubbing (and slamming) I am making, and though he was scared I am sure, (he knows me well) he did venture into the laundry room and look at me in all of my hysterically tear streaked face, and ever so softly said, do you want me to see if I can fix it? He is so sweet! I just got up and let him at it and low and behold, he healed it! Seems there are some little things that flip over all that stuff underneath and I didn't have it secured! Well, I rethread that puppy and off I go! Job finished! Dear Lord thank you! I was able to sew not one, not two, but 5 straight seams in ONE day!!!! I may tackle something really hard next, like......a valance or a runner!! The sky is the limit at this point! I AM WOMAN!! HEAR ME ROAR! Chair and completed dining room coming soon....

Ramblings....literally

This has been a busy week! Work has been nuts, we had a trial and I have to go to those and work like the proverbial dog! But it worked out well for our client and that is a good thing! I have also been working on my dining room chairs, which as you will remember, I said looked a little "flat", so at night I am all hunched over those chairs, "tweaking". I have two done, but the rain is coming in and I haven't gotten the other two painted yet! Typical! My husband asked me last night if I just sit at work and think of things to do. I said no, but you know, my mind is always working! Always! If they didn't know me so well in Hobby Lobby, I swear they would think I was a shoplifter! I am in there ALOT! I just meander through, looking, studying, plotting.....sometimes I don't even know what I am looking for. Like what to do to my chairs....I just go and wander and stare and more often than not, something will scream out at me! Hey, here I am. Use me!!

And there you go! My husband usually calls me at lunch to check in and I know he probably cringes a little when I say I am in TJ Maxx or Hobby Lobby or dreaded LOWES! If I am in Lowes, I am dead serious about something and there may be lumber purchases involved, which means I am going to need his help, cos'....um.....I can't measure worth a flip! All those little lines between the inch and half inch! I have NO IDEA what those are. He always has to measure for me.

Anyway, I will be working on the chairs this weekend again, as I am feeling like Cammie Pie's games will be rained out. It ain't lookin' good at this point. I have always called him Cammie Pie, he doesn't seem to mind. I am a yeller at his ballgames. A yeller in a good way, I mean, I don't scream out bad stuff, like "Are you blind, you gotta swing at that!" No, no, no, I hate those kinds of yellers. I am a, "Come on Cammie Pie, you just need one baby, you know what you like!" (that is when he has 2 strikes on him). Or, "It's okay, shake it off." (that's when he strikes out) And, when he gets one of those big hits, "RUN BABY RUN, RUN, RUN" Luckily, he is blessed to be very talented and rarely strikes out and he pitches which is the MOST nerve wracking thing for a mother! I don't say a word when he is pitching, until after he strikes someone out, or when the inning ends. I am busy during that time trying not to throw up on the ground in front of me cos' I am so nervous for him!!! It is insane! These babies that we bring into this world and we would fight to the death for! Don't even get me started on an umpire who has a strike zone the size of a dime! They kill me! This is baseball man, not brain surgery! I WILL yell at an umpire! Upon occasion, when the need arises...when they are wrong...which is often....if the call is against my Cammie Pie (lol) So, anyway, people write on Cam's windshield of his car (girls) before they have a game, and the other day someone wrote "Cammie Pie Rocks My Socks" on there. I laughed and said, they really know you. He said, no, mom, they know you!
I told him, you gotta love me!!

Have a great day!!

Lou Cinda :)

Vanna at Delusions of Grandeur gave me my very first award and I am so grateful and thrilled!! She also tells me that I need to pass this on to 8 other deserving bloggers. Now, I am having a difficult time trying to attach links to other blogs and can't seem to figure it out, BUT I am still trying. :) So if you get an award from me and you have no idea who I am, suffice to say that I visit your blog and am a fan!

Here are the rules for this award:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.” Also put a link to their blogs and then let them know they have been selected!

Mishelle at: http://thecrownedcasa.com/

Nancy at: http://southernlady.blogspot.com/

Jennifer at: http://themagicbrushinc.blogspot.com/

Rhoda at: http://southernhospitality.blogspot.com/

Rose at: http://asantamakersjourney.blogspot.com/

Nancy at Southern Lady had the post that I saw the black trim and the black french doors. She featured a home on her blog that she had seen on RMS. If you haven't seen it, check it out, as her home is gorgeous!

Have a great day :)

Metamorphosis Monday

This is my very first Met Monday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch and I hope I am doing this right and more importantly, I hope I am "worthy"... I'm so excited to be a part of it as I have been a fan forever! Thanks Susan!!

This has been a whirlwind of a weekend!! Cameron had a double header Friday night and another doubleheader Saturday! And to complicate matters further, they were all away games! That plus trying to get my projects done, have kept me in constant motion! It's good for me though! lol I had several projects lined up for this weekend, so let's get started!

This is the best before photo I could find of my dining room. Kind of blah! (Chloe is ever present on the scene.) I have my eye out for a new table and chairs, but this old cheapie is what I have right now. I covered the seats and I liked this fabric at the time, but it competes with the rug. What was I thinking?

BEFORE:

I have mentioned that the sewing machine and I are not that good of friends and that, sadly is still true. And, I have also mentioned I can't measure! Even with all of those obstacles, I think things turned out fairly well. It was not smooth sailing though, not but a long shot. My girlfriend, Janice, gave me the sewing machine and told me that would neet a "foot". I said, do I have to have one? She said YES! So off to the sewing machine place I go (this is on Friday afternoon). I tell the woman I need a foot. She says, long shank or short shank. I have no idea! Give me one of each! Brought them home, it was a short shank. Put the foot on and then start to try to figure out how to thread the thing. So many little thingys to run it through. I think I have it figured out and the thread just wads up in a tangled mess! I obviously do not have it right. Had to leave to go to doulble header number one. Saturday morning, 7:00 a.m. I am up and back at the sewing machine. Rethread and rethread and rethread and I finally get it right! Thank goodness!
AFTER:

I bought 6 yards of good ole burlap. $1.87 a yard! And I made a round tablecloth to go over the table. I had forgotten how much of a mess burlap can be. I had fuzz EVERYWHERE after I was through cutting and dragging it around the house. I am still getting that up. Anyway, then I took a deep red velvet and sewed fringe onto the ends and threw it over the burlap. I also covered the chair seats and painted them black. I'm wondering if I should have painted them some other color. I think the chairs "need" something.

I think I am going to get another piece of velvet and throw it on there going the other way, so they will cross each other.

I added dishes and my centerpiece. I almost have a tablescape going here. Well, I need silverware and napkins and napkin rings...but it is a start!

There are my dishes. I found them at TJ Maxx and loved them.

BEFORE:

Now the second project was my island in my kitchen. My husband made this for me and I truly love it and use it all the time! But it seemed plain to me. So.....
AFTER......

First, I painted the trim black....that looks better but.... it still needs something...

AND AFTER AGAIN....

VOILA!! An applique and a plant and I think it looks so much better! See that french door in the background over there to the left? I'm thinking about painting that black too. I saw this on another blog and I thought it looked so pretty! And her walls were very similar to the color of mine! I do HATE the tile floor in this kitchen. What were they thinking! It is almost stark white! That is on my list of things to replace, but I could not get to that this weekend!

WOO HOO!

I have thought about getting a big rug and just throwing it down to cover up as much of that tile as possible. It is almost impossible to keep clean!!

BEFORE.......

The last project of the weekend was this old chair I had. I neede something to sit in when I am "blogging" :) So I took this little chair....

IN THE MAKING......

took off the seat and covered it with some fabric I had that matches the chair in my den...

AFTER!!

it black of course, and there you go! It looks alot classier don't you think??

She's so happy now :)

I'm going to get a pillow to lean against the back and I think she will be complete! I have gotten so many things done this weekend that I have been meaning to get done! This blogging has been good for me!

Let me know what you think!! :) And be sure to check out all the other metamorphosis' that have taken place :) over at Susans @ Between Naps on the Porch. Thanks for stopping by!

A Heartfelt Thank You

Stacey over at Poofing the Pillows left me a comment talking about how her friends think she is crazy when she talks about her blogging friends, and that is so true. Unless you have ventured into this world, which I did totally by accident, you have no clue. I was looking at a room on RMS and it said "Visit My Blog" and I did. And I just stared wide eyed at all of these blogs as I jumped from blog to blog to blog just taking in all of the gorgeous homes , rooms, and redos, funny stories and sad stories from these people I did not know, but began to feel like I did! I have laughed with you and cried with you and prayed for you, and you didn't even know I was here...so...I started my blog and I am so glad I did!!! I have simply wonderful friends that I adore! Sadly, though, only one of them, Janice, likes to decorate and shop like I do. She is actually a decorator and she is wonderful. So this blog is a wonderful way to be able to say "does this look okay?" or "Lord, what was I thinking?" and get kind, gentle feedback! I just love you guys!!

So, thank you for welcoming me into your Wonderful World of Blogging with such open arms! I am so truly thankful!!

Now, on to more serious business! Vanna sent me an award, and I was so thrilled!!!! She has been SO fantastic! However, she has pointed out to me that there are rules to this award and I have not done my part! I am such the little renegade!!! So, I am going to get on that and send this award out to 8 others. So, if you get an award from me, and you have absolutely no idea who I am, well, suffice to say I have been stalking your blog and am a fan!!

I am still working on my projects and hope to have them done by this weekend and will get them posted! I am so looking forward to seeing what you think!!

Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!!

Lou Cinda :)

A Tickler for Upcoming Projects

This is going to be a quickie, but I just wanted to let you know I have several projects in the works! I am so excited! I have to work around my adorable youngest son, Cameron's (whom I affectionately call "Cammie Pie") baseball schedule. Which, for those of you who know, there will be anywhere from 4 to 7 games a week! I adore watching him play, but it does cause me to be creative with the time I need for my projects!

The projects I will be tackling this weekend will entail black paint, paintbrushes, appliques, burlap, velvet and the dreaded sewing machine! Now, I am no master of the sewing machine, but I am up for the challenge! How is that for a tickler of things to come? Check back and I will include photos as we go. I hope it turns out in reality the way I have it looking in my head. You know how that can be.... :)

Hubby Don't Get It...

When I told my husband I was going to start a blog, he said "a what?" I explained to him that it was women that love to do the same kinds of stuff I do, like decorating, yardsales, estate sales and that kind of thing. He just stared at me with that blank look....you know the one they give you....I could just see the wheels turning in his head....what is she up to now? Then, when I was taking photos of the house and made him move out of my "shot" and fluffed the pillows and made him move his shoes and the newspaper, he was standing there holding his shoes and the newspaper and he asks "what are you doing with these pictures?" I told him, I am putting these on my BLOG! Duh!! He said, "why?" Because it's what you do!! Another blank stare......Then came time to TRY and get the pictures from the camera to the computer...he did take that project over and got them on there for me, and listened patiently as I fussed and fussed trying to UPLOAD them and the picture would post OVER where I wanted them to post. I wanted them to post UNDER my descriptions. So then he showed me how to click and drag the photos to where I wanted them to be. He really is a sweetheart, he just doesn't get this new ADVENTURE of mine!

Then, I checked my Blog and had some comments and I was just sqealing and he asked why and I told him I HAVE 4 COMMENTS! I AM BEING FOLLOWED!!! ...another blank stare...."Oh", he says. Lord Have Mercy Man, this is not rocket science! It is a way to learn and grow and exchange idease with other wonderful Bloggers. "Okay", he says.

I will be reading a Blog and I will start laughing and he asks what I am laughing at. I'll say, oh, Mishelle, she lives Washington and she is so funny! Blank stare........

MEN! Now if I told him I had just seen a 12 point out the front window and three does behind him, and I was pretty sure they were all up in the RUT he would have sprung up and into action in a New York minute! However, he just doesn't get the Blog thing. But that's okay, cos....I do!

Have a Great Day!