Cloche Consideration

Remember these guys?

And how I filled them with shells?

And then I got these guys.

To me they looked a little lonely so, when I was visiting a friend with a moss riddled yard I took a little off of his hands and gave them a nice cushy place to play. 

Sorry for the dark pictures, I took them at 2 am!  I would like for them to have a little bit of landscaping with some tiny succulents or branches but for now it will do. 

What do you think about the plates? I go them as a wedding present in a set of 4 but they don't match anything and so they have only been used as candle bases and water saucers under plants. I was worried that the moss would rot the wood bases that the cloches are made out of. 

How about you? playing with anything under glass lately?  I have 3 cloche settings pinned in my 

"2 B Knocked Off"  board on Pinterest that I am just in LOVE with!  Isn't glass just so fun to play with?

Guest Bathroom- Before

I hope these will serve as "before" photos one day, hopefully sooner rather than later but it will all depend on what I happen upon in my thrifting. So here it is straight. 

This is the door, right next to the turtle tank, joy. That amazing slat door means Fred the turtle hears every detail.  

Walking inside you can see how small and bland it is. I made the vinyl on the shower door with my Cricut. 

I actually had to stand in the shower to get this one, one of my light's is out. Look at all that lovely wooden....backs plash? I think the previous owners were just trying to make the sink work even though it wasn't meant for a corner.

Speaking of the inside of the shower look at this! I actually really love this little bridge mural. It was here when we moved in.

Oh, yeah. You know dragon art is sexy in the bathroom.  *snort*

Speaking of things they tried to make work......I'll let you draw your own conclusions on this.

Just in case you missed it- the top and bottom are metal, the sides are wood.

This is the sink. It's clean. As clean as it's humanly possible to get this old, cracked, scratched, and who knows what else sink.

Oh, yeah. My dark wood hating self is just loving this towel rack.

And the cabinet for the sink is just as much of a turn on as the sink itself!

Now, this is my fault. I needed to get this light up ASAP and I didn't have time to go buy a can of texture so I just painted over it. A big no-no!

Well, wish me luck. I know I've also told you about the zillion other rooms I'd like to makeover but They just each have to come as the money comes and the good deals/free stuff comes. BUt now you know about our guest bathroom.

Backyard Update

This is just a quick glance of all the stuff that is ripening before my eyes!

These raspberries seem to ripen over night!

Still waiting on the gooseberries to turn purple but there are going to be HUGE!

We love sampling strawberries on a daily basis. And look! The other basket decided to join in the growing fun!

This is my hubby's pet project. He plants potatoes in garbage cans and fills it up with dirt as they  grow. At the end of the season we just turn out the can to harvest!

These little buggers are turning up EVERYWHERE!!! I don't even know how they got most of the places they are growing!

Luscious Lilacs

Lest you think the only thing I've been up to is braiding fabric, check out what we got from a friend:

 You'll have to just deal with the mess, we actually play back here!

 This is actually 1 of  4 mature lilacs but the computer an I are having issues. If they look a little lopsided to you that's because they are! Our friends were digging them out and tossing them because they were planted too close to the foundation. I'll have to deal with the lopsidedness for the rest of this summer but next year they should fill in great and I'll have the fragrant smell of lilacs all around my house! I'll even have something to get cuttings from to bring inside! Yipee!

The makings of....

Ok, I know I have been pretty much MIA since vacation but I promise you I've been up to something very big!

Here's my sneak peak:

Yup, that's all you get. It will probably be a week or two before you actually get the reveal but it's a lot of work, especially when you have to deal with this yanking on your camera strap.

She's reason for procrastination. Too stinkin' cute for her own good. I love her!

I Have Discovered Pinterest

Well, It's taken me long enough but I finally go on Pinterest an I LOVE it!!!

I am such a scatter brain add to that I'm easily distracted and  you have a thought process spaghetti bowl!

Pinterest is awesome for me since it helps categorize and file the ideas I see. 

Here is my board entitled "Home Inspiration"

Can you tell what color I have taken a liking to?

Here is one of my boards entitled "Organization" 

I am such a sucker for beautiful organization. 

One of my favorite things is using this idea for holidays. I always see really neat ideas that I'd like to try but then, by the time the holiday comes around, I've forgotten what it was. 

Thanks to Pinterest I'll have lots of inspiration when the holiday comes around. 

If you haven't checked it out yet give it a try! You will need an invite to get started. If you want one send my your e-mail and I'll get one to you!

Tire Garden Update

Well, here she be! 

You may remember the funny little mishap that occurred when we  got her started back in this post, but now here she is alive and well!

See what I meant about he grass growing up around the sides? You can hardly even tell that it's two tires deep.

The strawberries I bought were a bust so instead the majority of the leafy stuff is cauliflower, the front 3 tires are onions, and there's some lettuce, mint, and basil in there too. 

We've already used the lettuce and it is AMAZING! One of the biggest reasons why we don't have salad more often is because of  size. We never eat a whole bag of salad before it goes bad. Being able to pick off just a few leaves at a time is a life saver!

And here's a peek at some of the other things we have going on :) 

Strawberries- DE-LISH!!!

Rhubarb and LOTS of goose berries

Sweet peas- finally making their way onto the trellis!

TONS of raspberries

Little green apples = fall pies!

Happy summer gardening!

Breathing Legs

Getting back into the swing of things and thinking of the 3 chairs I posted about a earlier, I decided to start with the table. 

 Originally I was going to paint the chairs different colors and the table too but I decided that this space it just too small for all that funk.  

Then I was going to leave them wood with accents of Leaping Lizards, the color of my dresser  and the kitchen cabinets. I decided that if I did that and then found my dream table I wouldn't be able to convince anyone that they wanted a slightly greenish-white table. 

Last thought was that if I just stuck to white at least I wouldn't have to repaint the highchairs and that did it, white it was. 

Since the high chairs have 2 different kinds of wood and I will be bringing in other chairs with different woods I thought I'd just leave the top the way it was, and you know what? Just changing the legs makes a HUGE difference!

If you're eyeballs are functional you will see that I replaced the rug in there too. It comes across as blue in pictures but it's really grey and it plays so much better int his room than that red one did. (Pretend you don't see old red trying to make it's way back into the picture) 

Anywho... There are 3 chairs calling my paint brush so I've got to go. 

Cost Break Down:

White paint: $0- left overs house paint, it's also been used here, here, and here.

Grey rug: $0- hubs found it for free on craigslist

Total Cost: $0

Storage tricks anyone?

This fall my goal is to redo our mater bedroom. Well, if you can call it that. All of the rooms in our house are about the same size so there's nothing really "master" about it, especially since fitting a queen size bed in there is pushing it. 

What's it look like now? Well, I will spare you any current pictures until a before and after since I let my husband help pick out the colors but here's a ROUGH lay out for now. 

What's got to go top 5

1. The closet needs an over haul- big time.The 2 sets of bi-fold doors on the closets. They are cheap, fake wood, they never shut right, and they take up some very valuable space. The insides are just as bad. My husband has hauled a gun safe in there! The space between the doors goes unused because of that little section of wall in between. 

2. The dogs have to go! Dog kennels do not belong in bedrooms!  I would just ditch the kennels and let the dogs sleep on the floor but Lexi has eating issues-just trust me, she needs a kennel. 

3.  The furniture is too big for the room. The headboard is actually 3 pieces and the dresser covers up part of the closet AND the window!  Downsizing furniture is going to be the hardest part because my husband doesn't want to let them go. There's no special meaning to them he just bought them while he was living at home, he picked them out, he likes that they are dark wood, and he does have a point with the storage space. How do you pry things like this out of your hubby's hands? 

4. Do you think I can get rid of a door? If so which one? The regular door leads into a main hallway and the pocket door leas into a bathroom. There is another door in the hallway that goes from the hall way into the bathroom so I am thinking the pocket door could go.

5.  The color has to go. I know you can see it here but it is primary yellow and a dark purple. Yeah, It's as bad as it sounds and covering it up is going to be a nightmare. 

What do I like?

Pretty much anything you  could find on House of Turquoise would be awesome! It think blues/greens can lighten up a space SO much. 

Here are some I found through Google (click to go to their source)  

I am loving the simplicity of this look.

This one is a little dark for my taste but I like the black as a contrast.

Look at all that BIGHT! I'm in LOVE!!! Can just wrap this one up and send it home please?

As you can probably tell, I'm not really set on the color just yet. Anything on the teal-blue spectrum is still on the plate. I am LOVING white right now though, which is really strange for me. Usually I am all for a weird wacky color and I did see a few teal/ orange ones that looked pretty good so..... 

The one thing that is always attracting me though is the white. It think mostly because I REALLY need this space to seem as big and relaxing as possible.  Some board and batten would be nice.

What do I NEED?

The number 1, must have, biggest, most important thing for this room is that this space needs some seriously creative storage which none of these pictures really captured.

I'm thinking under-bed storage, wall hooks, storage seating, night stands, revamping the closet, and floor to ceiling shelves. Maybe I'll just nix all that and make the whole wall behind the bed custom built in storage. It's not like the next people who live here will have any choice on where their beds going to go either...

My ears and eyes are open!  If you have seen something seriously ingenious as far as storage goes let me know!!! 

Good thing I 'm giving myself a few months to figure out how I'm gonna pay for all this!

Mission Fundraiser

My sister, Kristina, has chosen to serve a mission and was recently called to Rome Italy! 

Rome! 

I know I'm SOOO  jealous! 

To help her fund her mission I am hosting a fundraiser on my Scentsy site petros.scentsy.us.

Now through July 31st ALL of the sales commissions (from the "Kristina's Mission Fundraiser" party ONLY ) that I would receive as a consultant will be donated to help Kristina on her mission. 

Please help support her as she travels to Italy to spread the word of Jesus Christ.

The Hubby Does It Again!!!

These babies are what I happened upon what I came down stairs this morning! What a great collection of sturdy little misfit chairs!!! Granted they need some work, but that's what this is about. The hubs found them for free on Craigslist and brought 'em home for me. 

They are on the list with the thousand other things I have to get done around here though. 

Can you spot the 2 other projects in the works in just this picture alone?

My Favorite Finds

The one thing that I REALLY wanted to do on vacation was got some antique shops but with two little kids toting along and vast amounts of travel time and spending time with family it didn't really happen as much as I had planned. The only time we went actually was in California. I found a few skeleton keys that I thought were pretty cute. The dealer there says they go through antique keys like candy though.

 I didn't really find anything else I wanted bad enough to buy it BUT, I had told my husband's grandmother that what I really wanted was a pewter bird. I wanted it old, natural, and unbreakable.  A little while later she came back with 3 little birds.

Their big eyes kind of freaked me out for a little bit but now they've grown on me. 

My husbands great grandmother liked to travel all over the world and his grandma thought that maybe she'd gotten them while she was abroad but the signature on the bottom puts them right here in the states. Looking at her web site the artist died in 2001 and this little trio isn't on there so I wrote to them and I guess we will find out more with a reply.

I just love finding history in little things like this. It's what makes them special.

A Harvest

One thing about being gone is that when you come back all of y our lovely plants have grown like crazy! Why they can't do that when you watch them and care for them every day I have no idea. Any who... When I cam home my rhubarb was in desperate need of a harvest. Don't believe me? Here is what I picked just yesterday:

Check out how thick these guys are!

Now, you might be thinking that that is all of my plants and I would have to tell you no. Not only is this not even half of any of my plants but  about 2x this much still needs harvested!!!  I could wait until they were a little more red but there are so many stalks that they are hindering each others growth.

Now the question may arise, what did I do with it all? 

I chop it all up and get to work, that's what!

I made 3 Royal Rhubarb Coffee Cakes which is a favorite around here.

And then I made 4 containers of jam, froze a gallon bag worth and gave another bag away. 

So, now my question is what to do with all the rest that I have coming my way?

When the strawberries finally catch up (it would probably help if I stop eating them as they ripen) I'll make a few strawberry-rhubarb pies, my favorite!!!

How about you?What's your favorite rhubarb recipe?