Decked Out…

I snapped a few photos of our deck the other day and thought I would share those….What I REALLY want is a screened in porch….but what I thought I would settle for is a covered deck….sooooooo Steve and I went to Lowes and he had measured and drawn off and re-measured and made a list of all the lumber and whatnot he would need in order to cover said deck….as I stood there watching him load the cart at Lowes down with various and sundry building materials I thought….this is going to be a BIG job!  And then I had an epiphany!  I love it when that happens!  I decided we could just get one of those tent thingys and put that on our deck!  So, I told Steve, let’s just put all this stuff back and go to Big Lots.  LOL  He was not so thrilled with me at that point….but it got better and he agreed it was a good idea, WAY cheaper and WAY WAY WAY less work for him!

We got a 10x10 and it fit just perfectly into this area of the deck….got the cushions at Aldi for $12.88 each…

My ferns really LOVE it….they are getting HUGE!

 

the wagon I found at a yard sale down the street from my office…

the back yard…

don’t you love my hose….(or hose pipe as we call it in the south)

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

Window Box and a Win!

Hello everyone!  I have been MIA for quite some time, but I really have been SO busy!  And we were at the beach for a week which was heavenly….I want to go back!

A while back I entered a give away at Cindy’s Fractured Fairy Tale….if you know her blog at all (and I highly recommend you becoming familiar with it) she is SUCH a talented artist, with a great eye for design as well!  I LOVE her blog….anyhoo….she had a give away for one of her fabulous paintings….an original….it was hydrangeas….my VERY favorite flower….needless to say, I entered!  And guess what????  I WON!!!  I can’t tell you how excited I am to have a piece of Cindy’s art in my home!  I was so picky about the frame I wanted to put it in and changed it TWICE….painted it once….tweaked it countless times!  But alas….here it is…

the touches of pink….love it!

the frame….

in the room……

Thank you Cindy!!  I love it so much and it is PERFECT in my dining room!!!  I knew it would be 

THEN Steve built a window box for the window on the front of our house….it used to look like this…

Now it looks like this…

 

we yanked out the shrubbery that was here…I don’t miss them…

 

Cameron got me the mini hydrangeas for Mother’s Day…

 

sweet potato vine, petunias…

 

lantana, vinca (periwinkles)

 

Fred…(my wild cat that I feed twice a day buthewon’tletmetouchhim!

I LOVE it!  You know, I think I could hire Steve out!  We make a great team!  He told me I had bought too many flowers and was not going to be able to fit them all in the window box….I said, “Are you smokin’ crack?” 

Yes, they all “fit”…instant gratification!

Thank you all for stopping by!

 

Implanted…

I have been somewhat amiss lately, but there has been SO much going on!  First and foremost I had to undergo some dental work, alas the title of my post…I had to have an implant…that sounds so ominous doesn’t it??  A while back I broke a tooth…which tooth you ask?  My FRONT tooth!  Yeppers, I did!  My “then” dentist glued it in several times which was a temporary fix and I had to have an implant.  So I found a “new” dentist who does this sort of thing and he was fabulous!

Some people get really worked up about going to the dentist, but I have had every procedure known to man done to my mouth at one time or another in my lifetime, so I was really chill about the whole implant thing, especially after meeting Dr. Chris Harper in Guntersville, AL.  He was wonderful, his staff was wonderful…it was all wonderful!  Had the implant done last Friday and it was totally painless…even the “numbing” ergo the shots in the mouth….pain-less!  He is that good! His assistant, Cindy, is that good!  Especially in light of the fact that an “implant’ has to be placed in your bone…as in screwed in….the bone….with a little bitty rachet sort of thingy…then there were a few stitches…some blood…who knew? Oh, and  I should mention that the part of my tooth that broke was still in there and had to be removed…I think the proper terminology is “surgically remove erupted tooth”…

didn’t hurt one bit…

SO!  We are in the 6 month waiting process now….thankfully his staff created a wonderful temporary for me to wear in the meantime….did I mention it was my FRONT tooth??  Okay….just checking…I do NOT want to be called  SNAGGLE….just sayin’…

In other areas of my life, Cameron’s sweet, precious, gorgeous girlfriend, Malory got a scholarship to play volleyball!  We are thrilled to the moon and back for her and I went to the signing yesterday…

Words do not begin to express how excited we are for Malory or how blessed I feel to have her in my life. As you know, she and my son, Cameron have been together since he was 14 and Malory was 13….a long time… She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside and I know she will accomplish everything she dreams of.  The future is bright!

And on another note….did any of you see the Super Moon last weekend?  I walked out on the deck and snapped a few photos…

I have a couple of things I have been working on and hope to get some photos of those ASAP!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Lou Cinda :)

I ain’t Crafty!

I call myself creative….or maybe I have an “eye” for things….you know…I like to think that I do anyway…from time to time…I can arrange things…or pick colors and fabrics that work well together….”marry them” if you will….but I have now reached the point that I must admit that “crafting” is NOT my forte’…I do not have the patience for it and more often than not, I end up with some sort of injury….or burn…or cut….or all of the aforementioned….

HOWEVER, that does not mean that I won’t TRY to make something….

case in point….I saw this on the blog Classicly Amber and thought it was SO cute!  I pinned it and looked at it and loved it and wanted it and while I sincerely would love it if Amber just popped that puppy in the mail to me…I highly doubt that that would  happen….isn’t it cute?

SO….one Sunday a few weeks ago I set about making myself one of these here wreaths….I mean, how hard could it be?  You just roll fabric to make the roses and wha la!  Cutie Patootie Wreath~!

Not so fast little missy!

This here craft calls for the use of the dreaded GLUE GUN!!  DEAR HEAVEN!!! 

First of all it took me an ENTIRE DAY to roll and twist and glue my little rosettes to said circular wreath form!  I sat and cut and rolled and twisted and glued and burned and cursed and rolled and twisted some more!  My knees were locking up and my back was cramping where I was sitting for HOURS all hunched over said project at hand….and I truly made the BIGGEST mess you have ever seen…fabric remnants all over the den…strings…glue sticks…threads…a HOT mess!

Then… I didn’t like some of them….so I REROLLED and RETWISTED and REBURNED myself again!!!

Then I arranged them on said circular wreath form and this is where I incurred a third degree burn to the wrist…I laid my arm right down in the hot glue that I had just squirted out and then pulled the glue off my wrist and the skin came with it and I thought, well….that will leave a mark….and it did!

But I am nothing if not PERSISTENT…so I did manage to create said wreath….I used the fabrics that I have in my dining room…

SO here is the final product…

So, there you go!  422 hours….a third degree burn….much gnashing of teeth and a teeny tiny bit of cursing later…..this is the end result…LORD HAVE MERCY!!  It was comical!  I ain’t even lyin’…COMICAL!

You crafty girls have my heartfelt admiration and adoration and respect….cos’ I have to admit…I AIN’T crafty!!!

And yes, I will sell this gawgeous piece of art….the price is $2,445,332.99.

Just sayin’….

Thank you for stopping by!!

Lou Cinda :)

More Kitchen

I had several people request additional pictures of the kitchen after our recent rehab of the countertops using birch doors….I took some photos Saturday in an effort to get better lighting….and I stress the word “effort”…

this small section was the “test” piece as far as staining and sealing went…we figured if we messed this one up, it would be easier to replace….being that it was small and all…

We went from this….

to this…

to this….

to this…

There you go!  Hopefully this is enough so that you can see what we did!  Steve has to do all of the technical stuff…like MEASURE ACCURATELY!  I am of the “round up” or “round down” methodology….I just don’t get 16ths of an inch…Steve says they are very important!  WHO KNEW?  I have gotten the countertops sealed now.  I used Watco sealer from Lowes….it is for use on butcher block and is not toxic.  Most of the sealers I researched were food safe AFTER they were completely dry and cured….just make sure before you do it.  I use my cutting board on my island for chopping food and rolling out dough and stuff like that, not my countertops anyway.  I am still LOVING them!  I think it transformed the whole feel of the kitchen! I also think that painting the newly installed beadboard the same color as the cabinets made a HUGE difference.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

I am linking to the Talent Scouting Party at Whisperwood Cottage!

 

and…Restore it Wednesdays at Restore Interiors.

 

Lou Cinda :)