A little paint and $3.60

 

     It is well established that I am not a "crafty" person. I know my strengths and I also know my weaknesses and so do my fellow bloggers! So, when I do a craft project and it turns out the way I want it to...it generally means that a first grader could do it! I found this Fleur-de-lis in the 90% off section at Hobby Lobby. It had been $36 and I paid $3.60 for it. I thought that I could throw it away if I failed. I had some Annie Sloan chalk paint that I hadn't tried yet and it seemed like a good first project. I didn't do anything except wipe the store dust off the piece before starting. I painted 2 coats of paint, let it dry and sanded a few spots to age it. I also used the clear Annie Sloan wax when it was done...I have no idea why or what it was supposed to do...but, I had it, so I used it. I was really pleased with the results! What do you think?

 

 

     Do you realize that Easter is March 31st? We actually change the clocks to Daylight Savings Time next weekend. So, I spent yesterday putting away all the snow-covered, pinecone type decorations and brought out spring. Of course we have snow coming and it is cold, cold, cold here...but, it looks like spring inside the house!

 

 

 

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

and

Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday

 

 

 

What started my spring cleaning...and what stopped it!

     I mentioned last week that I was on a spring cleaning frenzy at my house. The project that started it all was the small antique spool cabinet that belonged to my in-laws. You have seen several pictures of the larger spool cabinet that I brought home from their house, but this small one had been waiting for me to find a place for it. I decided to line it with a neutral paper and use it as a jewelry box. Of course it didn't hold nearly as much as I thought it would. I opted to only put casual bracelets in one drawer and necklaces in the other. It forced me to clean out all of my jewelry...and eventually the dressers and closet.  

     I was doing great until last Wednesday. The picture below is what the trees in our yard looked like last Tuesday. They were still brown, there were a few buds just starting to show. We slept with our bedroom window open Tuesday night. Wednesday morning I woke up with an allergy migraine because...

...this is what happened to all of our Bradford Pear trees,

literally in just a few hours.

     Our yard is full of these trees, as is the rest of our town. I have never seen anything like this. The trees went from winter to spring in less than 24 hours. I guess when it is over 80 degrees in March, anything can happen. They are gorgeous but everyone I know is complaining of allergies. Mine just happen to take the form of headaches. Needless to say, the air-conditioner came on and the cleaning stopped! So did the blogging. I need to do some catching up this week!

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

 and

Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.

Please visit our hostesses!

The Empty Shelf and a Giveaway!

Giveaway Has Ended.

     I mentioned last week that my husband was working on a shelving project in my "dish room" and he finally finished them yesterday. I thought I would post a picture of them empty, because by the time I get done with them...they won't look all that pretty! I actually wanted them for open storage and I'm not going to try to make them decorative. The room I use for a dish room is a basement bedroom and no one ever sees it. This room is better suited for an office, so we wanted the shelves to be able to function for books etc. when we decide to sell the house.

     The main goal was to make them very strong so that I could stack lots of china on them. The last thing I want to hear is a loud crash coming from the basement. You can see all of the support he put under each shelf. The inspiration came from the picture below that I found on Pinterest. You can see the blog where it was originally posted here. My husband made my upper shelves shorter because he already had the wood and we were trying to make this project as economical as possible. As you can see, the Pinterest photo has the beautiful whites and grays displayed perfectly. Mine won't look like that! I may let you see how mine do look after I get the rest of the room arranged. It will be such a disappointment after seeing the Pinterest photo!

Now for the Giveaway!

   A representative for Celtic Woman has given me the opportunity to review and giveaway the new Celtic Woman CD and DVD, Believe. If you aren't familiar with the Celtic Woman group, they are an all-female musical ensemble conceived and assembled by Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance in 2004. Their music ranges from traditional Celtic tunes to modern songs. Celtic Woman has been described as being "Riverdance for the voice."

     I was familiar with Celtic Woman after seeing them on PBS. I also had a friend who saw them in concert and couldn't say enough about how talented they are. I can sum it up in just a few words. They sing like angels. Their voices are pure and clear, you simply feel better after listening to their music. It is also so relaxing that you just may want to close your eyes and nap while the CD is playing. The songs range from traditional to a bit of Broadway. I really loved their version of Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

     My husband and I watched the DVD Friday night and really enjoyed the performance. You can see a clip from the DVD here, or listen to a little bit of the CD here. They are both available for purchase on Amazon, the DVD is $13.99 and the CD is $11.88. However, a representative for Celtic Woman is going to send 1 of my readers the DVD and 1 of you the CD. They will be signed copies, how cool is that?

     All you have to do to enter is be a follower of I Need Mom! Just leave a comment telling me that you are. The Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada only. The Giveaway ends on Sunday, Feb. 23rd at Midnight EST. Good Luck!

Celtic Woman are currently on tour. If you get a chance...go see them in person!

Tour Dates
Feb 22, 2012 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena
Feb 24, 2012 North Charleston, SC North Charleston Performing Arts Center
Feb 25, 2012 Asheville , NC Asheville Civic Center
Feb 26, 2012 Columbia, SC Koger Center
Feb 28, 2012 Roanoke, VA Civic Center
Feb 29, 2012 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall
Mar 2, 2012 Raleigh, NC Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts
Mar 3, 2012 Fairfax, VA Patriot Center
Mar 4, 2012 Baltimore, MD Hippodrome Theatre
Mar 6, 2012 Hershey, PA Giant Center
Mar 8, 2012 Philadelphia, PA Liacouras Center
Mar 9, 2012 Boston, MA The Wang Theatre
Mar 10, 2012 Boston, MA The Wang Theatre
Mar 11, 2012 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
Mar 13, 2012 Syracuse, NY Landmark Theatre
Mar 14. 2012 Albany, NY Palace Theatre
Mar 16, 2012 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
Mar 17, 2012 Wallingford, CT Oakdale Theatre
Mar 18, 2012 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
Mar 20, 2012 Richmond, VA Landmark Theater
Mar 21, 2012 Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
Mar 23, 2012 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre
Mar 24, 2012 Cincinnati, OH Aronoff Center for the Arts
Mar 25, 2012 West Lafayette, IN Elliott Hall of Music
Mar 27, 2012 Akron, OH Civic Theatre
Mar 28, 2012 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
Mar 30, 2012 Chicago, IL Rosemont Theatre
Mar 31, 2012 Chicago, IL Rosemont Theatre
Apr 1, 2012 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Apr 3, 2012 Champaign, IL Assembly Hall Star Theatre
Apr 4, 2012 Kansas City, MO Music Hall
Apr 5, 2012 Little Rock, AR Robinson Center
Apr 6, 2012 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
Apr 7, 2012 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
Apr 10, 2012 Louisville, KY The Palace Theater
Apr 11, 2012 St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre
Apr 12, 2012 Wichita, KS Century II Performing Arts Center
Apr 14, 2012 Dallas, TX Verizon Theatre
Apr 15, 2012 Baton Rouge, LA River Center Arena
Apr 16, 2012 Houston, TX Jones Hall
Apr 18, 2012 Denver, CO Wells Fargo Theater
Apr 19, 2012 Salt Lake City, UT Energy Solutions Arena
Apr 21, 2012 Portland, OR Keller Auditorium
Apr 22, 2012 Spokane, WA INB PAC
Apr 23, 2012 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
Apr 25, 2012 Sacramento, CA Memorial Auditorium
Apr 27, 2012 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre
Apr 28, 2012 Los Angeles, CA Nokia Theatre L.A. Live
Apr 29, 2012 Las Vegas, NV The Smith Center for Performing Arts

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday.

Please stop to say hello to our hostess!

Wild Weather Weekend-Small Project

Don't let those sweet smiles fool you!

     It was a very strange weekend in my part of the world. In fact, I don't really remember ever having such strange weather. We had our grandsons here for the weekend. We were supposed to pick them up late Friday afternoon about 30 miles from here, but after watching the weather reports...we met their mother at noon, thank goodness.

     I actually took this picture Sunday morning, just a reminder of what happened here on Friday night. When my husband got home from work just before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, there was a slight mist in the air. When he stepped out on our deck about 15 minutes later to take one of the dogs out...he almost fell it was so slick. Within a matter of minutes, our area was a sheet of ice. They say that we had more than 100 accidents and because I live where 2 interstates meet, many of those accidents involved semi-trucks. We can actually see the interstate in the distance from our home and traffic was stopped completely for around 7 hours. It was one huge parking lot, can you imagine? I understand that the truckers were letting people into their trucks to stay warm. Every road in and out of our town was blocked by an accident. We only left the house to pick up my son, which we would never have done if his kids hadn't been here. It was a nightmare. Saturday was still very icy and yesterday...we woke to heavy fog and black ice. The roads were clear when we returned the boys, but the fog was thick. Last night, we warmed up to 52 degrees, the fog was horrible and huge thunderstorms passed through. What is up with this weather??

     I only worked on one tiny little project last week. For many years I have had a datebook calendar on my desk. I walk past the calendar shops in the mall and while I may drool over the lighthouses, beach photos and florals...a datebook has always been more practical for me. Until I became puppy obsessed this year...

     Who could pass this up? The pictures are so cute and with a new puppy in the house, well I gave in to temptation. Of course I didn't think about having no where to put it when I got it home. I can't keep a calendar this size on my desk and since putting the stainless appliances in the kitchen, I'm just not into putting things on the front of the frig anymore. I had a wall in the kitchen with nothing on it, but I couldn't imagine just putting a nail in the wall and hanging the calendar, so I tried to think of some way to hang it where it would still be easy to write on, yet not look terribly tacky!

     I saw some small bulletin boards from Ballard Designs, for around $70. Well, that wasn't in my budget. I had a small bulletin board in my closet, so I pulled it out, gave it a quick coat of paint and added a few felt circles to "dress it up" a little bit. I knew it wasn't really going to show once the calendar was hanging. It isn't ideal, but I do get to see my puppy pictures...the felt circles add a finished look that I wouldn't have if I just stuck the calendar on the wall and my refrigerator still has nothing on the front of it. Sometimes you just have to make it work! Money spent...$0.

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

for Met Monday. Please visit our hostess!

A Little Sunday Afternoon Project

     My china cabinet is a very old piece that we bought from a family friend of my parents, many years ago. I don't love it, but it works in the spot where I need it for right now. I would love to paint it, but my husband has a real issue with painting wood furniture and even more so when he remembers how hard he workded to strip it to the natural oak. After reading this post on Tatertots and Jello, I decided to try my hand at a dreaded "craft project" which we all know, I don't do very well.

     I forgot to take a picture of the cabinet full and with the light reflection, it is almost impossible to get a good photo. Let's just say that my love for crystal and cut glass had turned this cabinet into more of a storage piece than a display piece. I had it way too full, so I removed and washed everything and put my Fostoria  stemware which took up the entire first shelf and part of the second in the mini-kitchen in the basement.

     I removed the shelves and got to work. Jen used wrapping paper for her project, but I couldn't find any locally that didn't look like wrapping paper. I bought a roll of wallpaper at Menards and got to work. I did find that my cabinet is very difficult to work with. It is a wide piece with a narrow opening, so I almost had to crawl inside of it to put up the paper. I also found that the double-stick tape didn't want to stick to wood that had been oiled many times over the years. I finally combined foam double-stick tape and double stick scotch tape to make it hold.

     I do think it lightened up the cabinet a bit and it certainly looks better with less in it. I think painting the back would have been easier for a non-crafty person like me...but, I do like the subtle pattern of the paper.

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday!

Boo!

Halloween arrived at my house a few weeks ago.

I thought I would let the pictures speak for themselves.

  

The winner of the Daryl Hall CD is

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style.

Congrats Kim!

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday and

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Please visit our wonderful hostesses!