My Best-laid Weekend Plans…

got derailed.  I was planning to work on the desk this weekend, but instead this is what I was doing:

 

 

We’re getting a bumper crop of beans and cucumbers from our garden, so lots of pickling and freezing went on around here.   And now I’m working on this:

 

I’m thinking peach preserves?  I already made peach cobbler tonight…yum!!  I heart summer!

And now, back to work on the desk…maybe.  Or, back upstairs to eat another delicious peach :)

School days…

School is fast approaching…and I have a kindergartener this year!!  Wow, where did the time go?  Seems like my oldest was a baby just yesterday…(sobs into keyboard)…

So, she needed a desk to do her schoolwork at.  I found one at a garage sale a few weeks ago.  Here it is in all its (un) glory:

Just a basic, plain Jane metal desk from days gone by.

 

These pictures do not do it justice.  It has ancient glue spilled all over the inside, rust on the legs and lots of scratches on the top.  And yep, a little brittle gum on the bottom :)

I’m working on it right now so I hope to have pictures and a tutorial coming up this weekend or early next week if I’m unlucky. 

Guest Post at Remodelaholic!

I’m super excited to be guest posting over at Remodelaholic today!  The talented Justin and Cassity are featuring our white kitchen remodel (from our previous home) today over there…hop on over and read the feature (I’m talking more about our thrifted cabinets) and then gawk at all the amazing projects they have done in their multiple homes so far.  Wow, that is dedication for sure!

Thanks to Remodelaholic for inviting me over!

Organized Chaos

Instead of any big changes around here, most of my victories have been small and inconsequential to most of the world.  Take our closet, for instance.  It was a bit chaotic, and we had a hard time finding anything since our move.  Boxes of random stuff, clothes, decorating stuff, and (before I took this picture) a pack and play.  I cleaned actually quite a bit before I took this picture…I’m not ready for the blogosphere to see my messy house.  :)

After an afternoon of much needed organizing, it looked like this.

Certainly not earth shattering, but much needed around here!  Now my husband can actually find his shirts!  (Although his favorite comfy pants are still missing since the move…)

First comes organizing and then comes prettifying!  I do have lots of ideas for this space.  I’m still surprised that we have a window in our closet!  Wierd (but nice)!

Baby steps, right? 

And the curtains come down…

While there are many aspects of our new home that I like, the curtains are not one of them.

Exhibit A:

The 90’s called and they want their curtains back!

B:

C:

  Grape curtains and golden oak.  The new bread and butter?

D:

And E:

Now, I realize this could be much, much worse.  I could be dealing with pom-pom curtains and looots of old-lady lace ones like in our last house.  These are fine.  I think I actually made some similar to this when I was a kid.

But I don’t like them.  They aren’t me at all.  I am not a kid in the 90s anymore!

They have to come down.  They are actually already coming down, yay!  I promised my husband that we would not be undertaking any  projects for the first few months of owning our new home so we could have a bit of a break from home chaos…but curtains aren’t a project now are they!  They’re an essential part of home decorating.  :)

New curtains coming up!

Meet our new house!

Here is house number two for our family:

 

I finally went out and got better pictures of the front.  There are many beautiful oaks that surround the house so that makes it more difficult to get a good picture, but we love them for their shade and greenery!

See, hard to get a good picture with all the trees in front!  They’re great for privacy though!

Our front door.  I’m not sure if you can see it or not, but there’s a big lion statue on our front steps.  It came with the house and my husband is quite taken with it.  :)  There is also a lion door knocker.  I actually like those.  I think with some other type of house it would look silly, but being that our home is a more traditional style, they don’t look so out of place. 

I’m not going to show much of the inside today.  We’re slowly getting things where they belong, though it will be a long road.  It doesn’t look quite this bad anymore, but there is still a lot of unpacking to be done. 

Instead, let’s look around the outside!!  Which is what really drew us to this house in the first place. 

Huge yard from the vantage point of the deck/sunroom:

And then looking toward the deck/sunroom from the borders of our property:

Lots of space for kids (and adults!) to play, plus 3 more acres of woods (with trails that have Lord of the Rings names!  Posted on signs! ???)

Chicken coop (in need of inhabitants to eat the weeds in the chicken run):

 

Secret garden which has already been claimed by our 5 year old:

Wild black raspberries:

And mulberry trees:

We’re really enjoying our new home!  Especially in the heat of summer…we moved from our old home just in time!  (We didn’t have AC there!)  Since we’re a little ways from the city it is much cooler here with the breezes and lack of hot parking lots to warm things up.  We do have AC now which we haven’t had to use much so far, though I’m sure there are many hot days ahead this summer. 

I look forward to showing you more as this house evolves!