A#3's room- complete

This is about as much pet as the Blaine's can handle at the moment. Sometimes this is too much trouble. We actually have 2 of the loveable, cuddly, furry little balls of fun in our house (that was a little sarcasm if you couldn't tell). This one belongs to A#3 and she named hers Nemo (of course).

These pictures are made from A#3's bumper pad that shredded in the washing machine. I could not bring myself to throwing the fabric away so for the time being this is what I came up with. I cut the fabric into pieces and decoupaged them onto flat artist canvas. Those are all individual pieaces of fabric. After they were dry I took one of my stamp pads and rubbed across to "age"it slightly. I think I might try to find some old frames to put them in. Right now they are just on the walls with velcro and I think they need a little more dimension.

These are the canvas pictures I painted after spotting a few in Target that I liked. Although I am certainly not an artist, they were cheaper. A#3 likes to tell people "Mommy painted these when I was in her belly."

Every girl needs a chandelier. I had looked everywhere for an old one to redo but had no luck. This one came from Lowe's and I added some pink ribbon to the shades.

This is her bedside table and her el cheapo lamp. Target clearance for $5. Don't you love Target?

I swear I must buy stock in that place just to get some of my money back.

Regular tab top curtains. I know you can't see them but I have some beads strung on her curtain rods and they are soooo cute. Daddy finished her crown molding painting a few months ago and I love how it turned out.

Again, Target clearance. The shelves were only $3 a peice. I could kick myself for not buying more.

This little darling was rescued from the trash. Our old neighbors left it out for the trash man when she was moving and you should've seen it. Brown and gross! A#1 was so embarassed when I told him I needed his help carrying it inside. "Mom, it's trash!" Not when I'm finished with it :)

It's hard to tell but it's a very pale pink with the yellow stripe. Hubby made the new feet and I changed the knobs and sanded it after it was painted to age it a little. I LOVE it!!!

So one more room complete- sort of. The floor man has to put new floors down then she will be 100%.

Project complete-again

Before

After

So I have not been happy with the tab top curtains that have been acting like a shower curtain since I put them up. After chatting with the Nester and looking back on some of her projects, this is what I came up with. And guess what, they are no sew thanks to my handy dandy glue gun. This is the fabric I had left over from the table cloth in our bedroom and I had just enough. Now the bathroom is finished!

Ahhh Spring

Signs of Spring everywhere we turn. These are just a few of the beauties that me and A#3 got to witness on our walk this morning. She was finally up for going out so we took a lap and now she's pooped. We had a great talk about the flowers and birds all while blowing bubbles with the bubble gun the easter bunny left for her.

This is our peach tree. Unfortunately the frost got to her last year so it's a joy to see the pink blooms this year. Hopefully we will have a harvest to go along with it. As we were walking I realized just how much work needs to be done to the yard. YUK! Does it ever end?

This lovely was in the nieghborhood behind us. A#3 said she couldn't believe it's leaves were changing :) I guess she was thinking fall colors. I never have planted one of these but would love to have one just because of the spring time joy they bring. What do the flowers and trees look like where you live? Please share.

Date night- Daddy/daughter style

Hubby and A#2 had their very own date night last thursday. I had bought tickets for them to see the Harlem Globetrotters back in January and didn't tell them. I finally gave in and told hubby because he needed to be home in time and because we had to get on our knees and pray even harder that they both were feeling better. The whole time A#2 had the stomach bug, hubby had a respiratory infection. It has been so much fun around here I'm tellin ya.

Hubby was so excited!!!! He had always wanted to see the Globetrotters since he was younger and never had the chance. A#2 had just wrapped up her 1st b-ball season and loved it so we figured she would enjoy it. When her daddy asked her what she wanted to do on their date night (rememeber she didn't know where they were going) she said she just wanted to go the rec center and play b-ball. She was a little confused as to why she had to take a shower and dry her hair before her and daddy went to play ball but I just told her to go with it and stop asking questions. So in typical A#2 style, she was disappointed when daddy told her they were not going to the rec. This was NOT what she wanted to do AT ALL! Thank goodness a few minutes into the show, she turned to daddy and said, "Ok Dad, this is better. I'm very glad we came." Thank the Lord!

Old school style.

She was watching pretty closely for a girl that didn't want to be there.

The after effect. NICE!!!!! They had a great time together and as usual she thinks her daddy is "The BOMB" for taking her on such a great date. Your welcome Honey ;)

Good Grief

In Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Became known as "the sick bed".

Well, what an Easter at the Blaine's! Last week A#2 had a tummy bug that ran from sat-wed with a bad case of sitting on the potty for days. We were lucky as she only threw up once. So then on thursday A#3 started complaining with the tummy and did the throw up thing once too. So then friday at 2am it went full speed ahead. A#3 threw up off and on all day. She slept all night without getting sick so we thought things were looking up. NOT! As soon as she woke up she was at it again. All day!!!!! I had spoke to the nurse and it was clear that she had no signs of dehydration so we kept dealing with it and pushing fluids. Saturday night she slept all night again with out getting sick. Yippeee, we are getting over it. NOT!!!!! She started within 10 minutes of waking up only this time it was different. She wouldn't talk to us or cry. I called the dr. and we rushed her to the E.R. She was dehydrated and had to have an I.V. Yeah that was horrible! We were there most of the day. Thanks to family the other kiddos were taken care of and were able to go to church. When we were able to take her home, hubby and I slept with her while she was napping mainly because of our fear. Then of course, she started again. Two more times she threw up that evening but the dr. said only bring her back if it continued thru the night. They had given her enough fluids that she would be ok for awhile. Thank you Lord it has stopped. The poor little thing was so hungry yesterday. They didn't want her to have any solids for 24 hours after the last episode to give her belly time to settle. That was hard but thank goodness for lollipops!!! They did the trick. Just enough sugar to curb the hunger. Things are looking up today. She is up playing with her goodies from the Easter bunny and has been her sassy self a few times. I just realized that we have no Easter pictures to show this year. That stinks. Thanks for everyone's prayers! I know how special A#3 is especially to some of you and I know the Lord looked out for her.

Finally feeeling better and eating a banana.

Good Friday

From Our Daily Bread-
The immoraltality Jesus offers has nothing to do with anything we DO. In fact, after giving His disciples the authority to do truly remarkable things (Luke 10:17-19), Jesus said, " Do not rejoice....that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven."
At Golgatha, an unnamed thief believed that message just in time (Luke 23:40-42). He understood that eternal life had nothing to do with what he had done-good or bad. It had to do with what Jesus was doing-giving His own life so that even the undeserving could be welcomed into heaven by God. The important thing is being remembered not by otheres, but by God.

Next project- completed

This is our master bathroom. After the ist project which was our closet, we tackled this room. About this time last year hubby started taking down wallpaper (it was on the walls from the chair rail down) and put up some bead board. He painted the bath the same color yellow (it's called wicker ware) that was in the closet and going in the bedroom. Right about the time he finished, his back went totally out on him and he was in bed for 3 weeks and then had surgery. He was not very happy with a project unfinshed and neither was I. So one night I jumped in a took over (imagine that!) Hubby talked me thru how to disconnect the toilet and A#1 helped me lift it out of the way so I could lay the new tile floors. Not bad for a first timer. It helps to have your own pro talking you thru it step by step.
I Love the look of the slate tile and what a difference it made. Have I told you how much I hate the white tile that's all thru the house. If you think I hate it you should talk to hubby. Remember, he's the pro floor installer and is a LITTLE picky.

This is the crown molding that was just installed and the new light fixture. Of course I'm terrible about taking before pictures so all I'll say is think big and brass! That would be what the before shot would've looked like.

As for the vanity, nothing has changed except for the knobs. Again, think brass.

New towel bars. Yep, you guessed it. The before shot, brass again.

So I'm hoping the Nester can give me an idea for a shower curtain. We have a garden tub with the shower and for now this is my only solution. These are just inexpensive tab top curtains. There is a plastic liner on a seperate rod behind these but I just have not ever been too happy with them. Maybe she can give me a "mistreatment" to use.

This is the cute little topper I have in there. I actually have these in our bedroom as well and I like them. They were a good bargain at Target that I bought when we lived in the townhouse and I just held on to them. They are a black and white Waverly fabric.

Here you get a look at the bead board handy work from the hubster.

Cute, cheap little pictures on the walls are the choice for the moment. Again, like the closet, I need a few goodies to hang up. I have visiting a few thrift stores looking lately but so far nothing.

So other than the shower curtain and some things on the walls, this room is F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D.

1st project

Well our first project at home was our closet in the master bedroom. When we first moved in the closet had 2 rods running the length of the closet, one lower than the other. Hubby did not like it at all. He took his regular daily trip to Home Depot and pondered all of the many things he could do. The back wall where you see the dresses etc , there was nothing. I needed some place to put skirts and dresses so they weren't hanging on the floor so this is what the wonderful W.B. came up with. I love it! Underneath them you can see some hat boxes which are used for hiding Christmas goodies as the year goes on. The red storage containers were purchased at Walmart. The big ones keep shoes and stuff as the seasons change. The smaller ones below are where hubby keeps his hats.

If you notice he even painted the closet before he he installed the gadgets and gizmos. What a guy! Now, pay close attention to the hangers. See how some are plastic and others are not? This is a work in progress. You will see my plan at the bottom of this post.

Imagine how pleased I was to find this little baby installed. A shoe organizer!!!! Ahhhhhhh, dreams do some true. Then there is the BIG corner system. How cool is that? I keep all of my purses, sweaters, purses and there is a gift shelf that I keep a few things on hand for last minute gift ideas.

I have a picture frame with pictures of me and the hubby up in here. These are fun to look at when I walk in. Good memories. I have been thinking of something else I could hang up in there but I'm a little stumped. I thought about some of my wooden letters with scarpbook paper but I don't know what they should say. Got any ideas? Something to do with clothes maybe?


So here is my new favorite thing of all times. Ever heard of Huggable Hangers? Holy Moly I love these babies. You can find them at http://www.hsn.com/ This is what I am working on putting in our closet, little by little. They are the BEST hangers! I just recently found out that Target carries them as well. Next time you go there, find them and pick up one pack of 5 hangers for $5 and try them out. You won't be sorry!

Home Sweet Home

*Caution, long post ahead. Lots of pictures.

This is our beautiful home that we bought 1 1/2 years ago. This picture was taken around the 4th of July last year that's why the red,white and blue. I wanted to post this because I plan on putting alot of house stuff up on our blog as we're starting to do a few things around here to make it more "us". Out front there is really nothing that "needs" to be done but that never stopped me before. Due to the drought we had last summer there will be alot of yard work and some new shrubs going in. Our grass was green at this point but by the end of the summer, YUK! Due to that The Blaine's will be busy planting very soon now. We even had 2 holly bushes bite the dust. I love the pear trees in the front yard but we have debated on taking them down and planting new ones because they are leaning way too much. My awesome step-dad might be able to help us with saving these. What do you think about flower boxes on the windows? I have seen some that are so pretty and some that are way too much. Don't know if hubby will go for that.

This is the back of the house. This is part of what made us fall in love with this house. We live out here in the spring and summer. I have always wanted a house with a big front porch but I "settled" for a back porch this time.

This is our personal getaway. I can't wait for warm weather after looking at these. We should be open in a several weeks.
This is the garage that is detached and behind the house. When you walk out of the back door you see the deck and the garage right in front of you and the pool is to the left. There is a seperate private drive for the garage.
This is the walkway leading to the garage. You come off of the deck and walk up to the garage. I just realized as I sit here that I don't have any pictures from the back yard down to the garage and the rest of the yard. The little red looking tree at the back of the picture is a peach tree. When we moved in the peaches were dripping off of this little sweetie.
This is our little "pond" in between the house and the garage. This is where our fish, Rachel Ray, Paula Deen and Emeril Lagassi lived for a short while. That is until the neighborhood cat snuck in under the fence and had a snack. Not liking that cat very much! A#2 named the fish. Can you tell she LOVES to watch food network?

Walking off the deck heading to the pool.

What it's all about, Daddy with A#2 & A#3. Family Time!!!!!!!!!