Veteran's Day

Today is a day to remember a day to thank others.

A day to thank all of those that do so much so the rest of the country can have a better life.

I come from a long line of military. My grandfathers both served during wars. My dad is a Vietnam veteran and a retiree of 20 years with the Air Force. My mother served. I served for 4 years. My youngest brother served also.

My husband serves now in the Air Force. He has been a computer software engineer while he waited for his pilot slot to open up. Then he went to his dream job- an A-10 pilot.

He went to Iraq many times. He has had buildings he has been in bombed. He has had to spend many days and months away from home. He has served 2 remote tours of one year each in Korea and he is off to Afghanistan December 9th.

He has missed many birthdays, many holidays and almost every anniversary we have ever had.

He will miss our 4 year olds Christmas program this year, Christmas itself, New Years, Sophies 5th birthday, Jon's 15th birthday, My birthday, valentines day, st patty's day, Easter, our anniversary - again, Josh's 19th birthday, Memorial day, Sophie's preschool graduation and probably the 4th of July.

He misses all of this so he can do what he loves. Serve his country.

I will not lie...I get tired of work always taking away our family time. I hate having to see my kids cry when he leaves. I hate having to hold them and try to make them understand he will be okay and will come back home. I hate trying to explain why he leaves and none of their friends daddy's do.

But even with all of that - we are proud of him and all the others that do serve.

Whenever I see a uniformed soldier anywhere we make sure to think of all they do.

We say thank you when we see them at the airport.

We tell the kids all the things they do for all of us. Because even though Daddy goes to war to keep everyone safe. Other daddys and mommys go to keep us safe.

God bless all of you and God bless your families as it is sometimes harder for them to be left alone to wait and pray and wait.

Jon's desk

Well it is make over time. My son, Jon is really into gaming on the computer and our old family computer one just wasn't hacking it he said. So, he wanted to get a new computer and took the "how can you refuse me" tactic of getting one. He said, "mom I need a computer that works on the games I am willing to earn half of it can you match it?" Well how can you say no to a kid how is willing to work for it. So, he earned his half and I ponied up my half. It arrives today via the package guy- UPS. And he needed a desk. I found this lovely item below. Sorry forgot to take pictures before I took the drawers out to paint but here it is:

I thought the yellow color was quite charming - he did not agree. All his requirements consisted of were - drawer space and not girlie. You can paint anything I know you can change that. So, off to primer coat..
Then first coat of Kettle Black from Valspar.
Then after 3 coats of paint it is all done. He is not loving the hardware but I said that is easier to fix than the paint job. Now we are going to cut a big piece of thick plexi glass to go on top to keep it from getting scraped up so much. He is very excited. I can only imagine how he'll be when the "package man" gets here. Heres to you my little hustler.

This is being linked to:

Trash to Treasure at Reinvented

Do It Yourself at ASPTL

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Creative Cats Friday at Poppies at Play

Organization - I love it

Okay I will admit it I have a sickness. I am a type A personality and I LOVE to have things organized. So, much so that it consumes me at times. I love things in their places and to remain there. Unfortunately it is not the love of my family room. I strive or rather I expect it to be neat and tidy but am so let down because my kids don't see that it is that important.

So, this week I finally found the jars I needed. I found them at my lovely Target - they are called cracker jars and why I never saw them until they did a display for Christmas I have no idea. I still need to paint the lids so they all are the same - it will be ORB of course. But here is my ribbon.. All color coordinated.. All organized... and all Lovely. I would say I am full of ribbon now-so if you see me anywhere looking at ribbon or thinking about buying some just tell me "to step away from the ribbon".

Next you'll notice my two baskets that I got on clearance at Target also- they were Smith and Hawken.. Love their stuff but can only afford it on clearance. I am using these two to store my trims I use to do tassels and pillows. I have a couple more baskets that are red so they are in the process of being painted so I can add them to my organizational dream. :)

The center item is a wire birdhouse the top latches and swings open so I put the small eyelash fringe in there. Cute way to break up all the baskets..Lastly, I'll just put in a picture of someone that I love more than organizing and is so much cuter than ribbon jars. She is 4 1/2 and has decided that she needs curly hair. Alas, she has learned about foam rollers. What a cutie. She makes her grandma proud as grandma is the queen of curlers.

Have tons to do at my sisters house this weekend. Hope to have some major - remodel photos coming up from that. Until them - go out and conquer your clutter - just organize it.

Halloween 2009 Recap

Ahhh Halloween night. What fun it was. Here are the two that still enjoy trick or treating.

Yeah a storm trooper and a fairy princess who dressed herself- such the independent one these days.

Here it is at dark with the fog machine going. Have to find a way to make the steps less hazardous with the fogger though.
Woooo spooky skeleton entrenched in fog.
This guy has been in the ground for so long with all the rain that the weeds are growing over him. Sure was hard getting him out of the ground.

Hope your Halloween was fun. Now time to pack it all up and put it away till next year.

Did anyone get any really good deals for next year? We got a few inside items.

my Heather Chadduck light

So here is my fave light. It is from Heather Chadduck's kitchen. Of course she created it by finding lamp parts etc..she is sooo creative.

I really wanted one but of course you CAN'T buy it. So, I looked around the humble abode to see if I had anything that could be made into it - well as closely as I could.

Here is the gosh awful shade I had in the garage. It was on top of an antique lamp I got at an auction. Not sure why as it is plastic ribbon wrapped around it - just plain gross.
Here it is after I tore off all the horrible plastic ribbon. Not as adorable as Heather's frame but it is what I had to work with. I sprayed the frame with the handy dandy oil rubbed bronze spray paint.
Next I sewed a ring of burlap and finished the ends.

Then I hooked it to the frame using clothes pins. Here I am measuring it out at the top leaving appropriate spaces to match up with the bottom.
Here it is all ready and pinned. Time to sew the ribbon on for the ties.
And voila- here is my version all done. Hubby hung it for me over my craft island. So, now thank goodness there is light.
And here is another shot. I love it. I do need to make a cover for the cord but I will do it later. I also took the kids IKEA hanging galvanized light and covered it with burlap to hang over their craft table in the room. It had to coordinate. :)
I am linking this up to: Susan's Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
The Knock Off Knock Out with It's so Cheri
Before and AFter Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
Trash to Treasure at Reinvented
Do It Yourself with Kimba at ASPTL
Transformation Thursday with The Shabby Chic Cottage
Creative Cats Friday at Poppies at Play

Join them all to see amazing projects.

Happy Halloween

Have a great day and a somewhat frightful evening. Eat some candy to appease the child in you. And just enjoy the innocence of the young ones in the evening.

I'll be off with soccer, some thrifting, some Michaels shopping and then some spooky - scaring the little ones. Oh and sneaking candy from the bowl.

Until Monday - enjoy.

Related Houses?

Okay I live in a Four Square with Bungalow influences built in 1929 in a Historic District in North Carolina. So, imagine my surprise when I got a comment from Tanna of The Brick Street Bungalow saying how similar our porch columns were. I had to go take a look. And to my further surprise we had a quite a few things very similar. She lives in a historic district in Tyler, Texas in a bungalow.

Now see her porch columns:

Now look at mine (please disregard the Halloween decor). I love her new stained floors though. Much nicer than my painted ones that need redone.
Next check out her built-ins with columns in her house:

They are identical to mine.. Wierd huh?

And lastly our fireplaces share similar looks in the materials used also. Check out hers:

Now see mine. They both have grey colored bricks and then have a sort of cement looking corbels. Hers makes me wonder if our mantle was not cement in structure too and then changed sometime along the way.

I am thinking that we need to take lots of pictures of our house and make a comparison chart.

Thanks Tanna for pointing out this to me- it was very interesting to go back and read all of your blog and to see all the aspects of your home. I love your town also but then I do love Texas as having lived there previously.