Steal on a Rug !

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A well dressed home

This rug is available at Garden Ridge, YES Garden Ridge for 99.99 for 8 X 10 and 49.99 for a 5 X 7.  That is an Awesome price on a rug.  I did find the rug to be very Gray, more like the bottom picture.  I was hoping for a more brown, like the first photo because I have a hard time being adventurous.  I still may go back and get it ??  But if you are in the market for a rug, run on over !  Have a great day ;)

Where the magic happens...

I got new lamps for the master bedroom, I'm attempting to make our room more elegant, glamourous, and inviting.  Because, this is where "the magic happens" right ?

Where you fall asleep mid sentence because your so tired...magic ?

or you have little people sleeping with you because they peed their own bed....magic?

or he is already asleep with ear plugs (yeah, I feel safe) because you stay up all night on pinterest....magic?  This is also on my update list ;)

FYI:  The lamp is from Homegoods, sea shell bottle is Potterybarn

Sleeping Baby and Forgotten Apron...no sewing !

I realized while Kate was sleeping that Courtney needed an Apron for Art.  My sweet, yet type A daughter had even put the bright yellow paper on my fridge.  I was sure I had something in the house to use, while not being too hokey or having to go completely Martha Stewart.

Thanks to Google and Blogs, I browsed many sites finally coming up with a plan; a combo of many (please search and find a plan that works best for you)... or you can follow my easy no sew plan.

I went straight to my neat fabric/goodwill/I don't feel like cleaning this now bin.

When looks like this:

I rummaged through and found a 2 size 2 small long sleeve dress, which wasn't worth saving for 3 years to give to Kate and this is TX, we wear long sleeves twice a year ;)

                           Here is what I started with

Right away I cut the arms off

Next, I use a scientific measuring device and eyeballed the middle back area

  

I cut from the bottom up, leaving a rectangle middle for the straps

I then cut out the rest of the back following the lines of the dress

And there you go, free up cycling and I even got to shower before Kate woke up !

I hope you all had a great weekend too ;)

I want Chocolate !

But I'll pass, these are NOT my abs but I want them ;)

Letter Practice and FREE printables

Here is the LINK, to custom writing printables that are Free.

My kids always need to practice their letter writing, I print these out and they work on them for a few minutes while I fix dinner.  They are young and don't have homework yet, so this is a nice way to get in the habit. 

They have an option for cursive, print dot, print dash.

One word, letter, or complete sentences.

Enjoy !!

Back to the daily grind

Don't get me wrong, my life is easier with one kiddo at home, but were back to alarm clocks, schedules,sports, and homework.  The transition from lazy summers to busy school year always takes me a little while. My two oldest started school today,  one in Kinder and one in 1st grade.  Here are some pictures of their day.

Thank you Crafty Texas Girls for the grade poster free printables.

They really care for each other and missed each other so much.

I also worked hard to pack them cute healthy lunches, we started the day off right with whole wheat french toast with real maple syrup, 2 Applegate farm sausages, and OJ.  My theory on lunches is to pack nutritious food but also focus on them eating it.  Just because something is really healthy, if it doesn't get in their belly it doesn't count. I'm finishing putting our google calendar of meals for the month together,  I will post it soon.

I couldn't resist the notes...I'm a sucker for most things Pottery Barn.

I snuck a Kissing hand in there to remind Logan I was thinking of him.  He said, I knew you were thinking about me all day even before I saw the hand ;)

Here's to a great school year!

I'm excited to get to my laundry list of projects !

End of Summer....Warning Sappy !

God gave me you for the ups and downs

God gave me you for the days of doubt

For when I think I’ve lost my way

There are no words here left to say, it’s true

God gave me you

I started a blog to write about days with my kids, storing wonderful memories and remembering the joy I take in mothering them.  I haven’t posted one thing about them.  Then it hit me while driving in the car, I switched off whatever ABC singing cd was on  and put on The Best of Van Morrison, I explained to the kids that Moon Dance is Rob and my wedding song and it got me feeling all emotional.  Ironically, I received a Brown eyed girl not to long after that wedding song.

I realized for the last month, I’ve be rushing through each and every day, driving back and forth, going to work, going to study, attending sporting events, going on errands, cleaning the house, and an ongoing list of other activities that kept me busy. We tell ourselves that we are doing most of it for our families, for our children. But what they need most of all from us is to know that we care, to be reminded. The kids start school Monday, so I thought take the time to do that - right now!

I was present today with them and captured some of our fun morning together:

I say "smile", Kate puts a shovel on her face ;)

This wonderful little man will be in Kindergarten

I love Kate cracking up in the back ground

Just because I'm obsessed !

 Sometimes I ‘m so blessed in my life that I take it for granted.  I often assume they know I love them and I hope they do know but we all need reminders.  Being their parent has been one of the greatest gifts in my life.

The Goodwill has Interior Decorators ;)

 Well, not really !!  Thank goodness they don't or I would have never gotten this steal of a deal.

Here is what I found:

They were marked 7.99 each, which I was happy to pay.  I brought them to the counter and the check out lady looked at them; looked at me (with questioning eyes); I smiled. She looked back at the pictures, back at me and said "7.99 each seems a lot for these. How about 7.99 for the pair"  I said SURE, trying to hide my excitement as not to allude her to the fact they were worth more.  She obviously didn't understand the power of paint.

I quickly started to rip all the pieaces apart.

Green swirly...yeah baby !



But I knew, I loved the Magnolia prints...they seem so coastal to me.  AND I know with a little TLC they can look like this

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and they are asking 184.99 framed each !

Score !  Wish me luck ;)

And on a Magnolia side note, if you'd like to smell like one

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In-between Room and Design Help !

My first order of business when the kids start school on Monday is to clean, organize,exercise, complete Kate's Room, I'm having trouble deciding on a fabric to slip cover her chair.  I really like the below fabric but I'm not sure if the two patterns together make it too busy.  Let me know your thoughts !

decorating while mothering ;)

This is the fabric I'm using for her duvet, it is from Fabric.com, Amy Butler Midwest Poppies

Here is Kate's shelf but I'd like it to look more like the one below, the same size shelf may make me happier?  I can't paint the walls so I'm just pretending they are more tan than yellow.

if you know where this photo is from please let me know..saved on my hard drive ;(

So please leave me your thoughts and I'll show the completed job soon ;)

A Heartfelt Thankyou !

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I’d like to THANK,  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Kristin for featuring me and completely welcoming me to Blogland.  It was such a compliment to know that she thought that I had "style".  I have been reading her blog regularly for a long time.  It was a huge honor to be featured.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with Kristen’s blog but if you haven’t seen it, please go there and  read it.  Be prepared to drool over her amazing decor (DIY) and die for closet.  Her kitchen makeover is jaw dropping as well.

 I’m also from California, so that makes her extra awesome in my book.  I’d love to meet in La Jolla for a coffee and chat about life with three kids and decorating.  I will have to settle for a virtual cup, I guess ;)

And to my peeps, otherwise known as, followers; I hope to keep my projects coming and look forward to sharing them with you.  I also LOVE your ideas and copying them. Thank you, for the kind comments.  I wish I knew how to  respond to comments? other than emailing you.  Also, this blog is still a baby blog and changing all the time, so bear with me as I get it formatted…things of techy nature are not my strong suit.

Grinning from ear to ear ;)

Gina

Days in the Yard

When we moved to the Rental, the yard looked like this.

We first started with some lawn repair and mulching the back under the trees.

We repaired the fence and built a planter around this random plant with left over cinder blocks

I love to hang outside with the kids so we decided to put a patio in.

The patio had to be something removable in case the owners wanted it gone when we leave.

This is what we came up with.

We removed the odd lack of flower bed and framed out a large 8 X 10 rectangle with 2 X 4's, using L shaped brackets to hold it in place.

We filled the frame with pea gravel, over filling slightly.

We also collected random bricks through-out the yard and made a wall to cover the air conditioning unit.  YES, there were that many random bricks !

We saved the grass for sodding the empty spots in the yard.

I purchased an 8 X 10 outdoor rug and covered the top of the pea gravel.

Outdoor rug

I purchased the umbrella at Walmart (I'm not totally happy with the size of it) but I know we will move again in 18 months, I didn't want to purchase something really expensive that wouldn't work in the next house.

I plan to pressure wash the bricks but I need to wait for the kiddos to get back into school.

So here it is one more time

The whole project cost about 375.00 dollars and ONE day of work, SO worth it !

Thanks for looking ;)

I'm linking to:

http://www.frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

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